WOOL WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES OF GEEAT BEITAIN: RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT POSITION, SAMUEL BROTHERS. 1859. LONDON : PIPEE, STBPHBNSON, AND SPENCE, 23, PATERNOSTER ROW. 5 LONDON: THOMAS HABBILD, P*W*R, SALISBURY 8QITAEE, FLEET STBBET. PEEFACE. THE following pages are far from advancing any pretension to studied elegance of composition ; but we believe they contain a correct review of the most interesting phases in the rise and progress of British Woollen Manufacture. We thought, and still think, that a subject in which the nation at large is so greatly con- cerned cannot be without a peculiar degree of interest ; and we have been at great pains to search every record which we could get access to containing any fact or sound reflection. We propose to ourselves to submit the matter to our readers in the division which has rendered it most readily appreciable to ourselves ; and we trust that this division will be found equally convenient by others. The First Part will contain a rapid review of the commercial history of wool and its manu- factures : 283532 IV PREFACE. The Second Part, the natural history of wool : And the Third Part, the mechanical his- tory of woollen manufacture, comprising the manipulation of the raw material and of the fabric, during the various processes to which they are respectively subjected, and the engi- neering matters connected therewith. SAMUEL BEOTHEES. 29, LUDGATE HILL, June 24^, 1859. WOOL AND WOOLLENS; & f istotad piwto of PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION. No matter in what department of productive in- Solid merits c British many dustry we survey the condition 01 this country, facture. the result is ever to induce amazement. This re- sults not so much from a perfection in external means of captivation, such as artistic ^design, or the gloss of superficial finish, as from a solid and permanent usefulness, which commands the pre- ference of the world, and from the stupendous magnitude of our operations. In many parts of Europe, and especially in France, Italy, and some parts of Germany, we are greatly excelled in the lighter and more ephemeral graces of manufacture ; and we are very generally secondary in our pretensions to classical design. In the United States, where labour is far more costly than in Great Britain, we are outrun B / ' 2 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. in the production of many low-priced manu- factures. But still our own productions obtain the same preference as heretofore, even in the markets into which this class of American goods has found its way. Energy of Bri- But what is chiefly amazing in the position tish enterprise. * which we have achieved, and so long maintained, as a manufacturing people, is, that this success has been attained in spite of almost every possible adverse circumstance, arising from the mistaken views of the governing classes. If enactments could have chilled the ardour of our enterprise, or suppressed the heaving energy within us, it is hardly possible that we could have equalled the Dutch, Flemish, or Germans, or even the narrow-spirited Portuguese. If being periodi- cally plunged into artificial distress, by selfish or mistaken policy if expulsion, at the bidding of fanaticism or class interest if ruinous restraint could have for ever driven the spirit of advance- ment from our shores, we should certainly have been a nation feeble as to numbers, no less than as to our external influence. Whence de- It is a curious, instructive, and pleasant matter rived. for speculation to what then is due a result so strikingly contradictory. Is it to any peculiarity of national character, -which we owe to our mixed WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 3 origin and to the amalgamation of institutions originating in each fraction of the parent races ? Is it to geographical position ? Is it to mineral or vegetable wealth, which, without any very glowing character, has proved' a steady and swelling source of internal prosperity and external power \ Probably each of these causes has exercised its own peculiar influence, and all have, by their combined effects, contributed to the great result. In recent times our spirit of colonization, in which we enjoy a peculiar aptitude for success, has doubtless greatly tended to enhance our external influence and to stimulate our domestic industry. But our spirit of colonization is itself a result of national character, geographical posi- tion, and some other and social causes. More- over, the Venetians and Genoese were colonizers long before the Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch ; and all were colonizers, if not before us, at all events far more advanced than we. Maritime superiority has done much ; but this, again, is the result of the other causes mentioned ; and in this we have succeeded to the Venetians, Pisans, Genoese, Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and Danes. Even the French have been before us rg maritime enterprise. And it must be remembered that, whereas we 4 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. were already characteristically a manufacturing and mercantile people before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and made great progress in these respects from the time of the Restoration, our flag was, during the greater- part of the 17th century, insulted almost with impunity, even close to our own shores. Coal ani iron It is a favourite theory with some econo- important aux- iliaries, mists that the secret of national wealth, power, and prosperity is centred in agriculture ; that to be really independent at home, and powerful abroad, the industry of every people should fully feed them out of their own soil. But we are inclined to think that the peculiar mineral wealth of this country has done much more to develop its manufacturing skill, to promote its prodigious mercantile prosperity, and to secure a power and ascendancy quite out of proportion to its extent or numerical strength, than could have been achieved by any amount of agricultural abundance. We have ceased for some length of time to produce a sufficiency of food without sacrificing our independence, and to the great furtherance of our commercial ascendancy. Coal and iron are vast resources in our hands, which are exempt from vicissi- tudes of season. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 5 Probably our geographical position, occupy- Effect of ge o- ing as we do the salient situation of all mari- tion. 1C time Europe, may have been of some avail to the rising spirit of enterprise characterizing our modern history. We command the North Sea and the Baltic, and form an advanced work before the Flemish and Dutch ports, once so aspiring and still so flourishing. The Baltic, upon which a large proportion of the out-going and in-coming merchandise of the Hanse Towns, in their palmy days, was borne, is closed by nature for several months in the year. Ham- burg and Antwerp, subject to all the complica- tions of Continental oscillations of power and politics, were rather tributaries than dangerous rivals to the commerce of the Thames. Ger- many, remarkable for the steady, plodding, persevering industry of its people, could find no other outlets than those which were oppo- site to our shores. The watershed of central Europe, north of the Danube, all trends in our direction. The barrier of the Alps interposes between the German plains and the ports of the Mediterranean. Constantly harassed, more- over, by religious or dynastic contests, and accustomed to become the great battle-field of Europe in arms, Germany was not calculated 6 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. to be uninterruptedly productive ; and it must be allowed "that it is freedom from inter- ruption which is, more than anything else, indispensable to successful manufacture and commerce. That Genoa, Barcelona, Carthagena, Cadiz, and Lisbon ceased to control the trade of the world after having once done so, may probably be attributed to the absence of an energy of national character sufficient to resist the bane- ful influence of evil policy, and finally to direct the policy of the state. If one were ponder- ing in wonder that the fine bay of Naples, with its glowing climate and exhilarating atmos- phere should not be a great mart, one might perhaps explain the phenomenon satisfactorily for one's self in glancing at the slumbering in- dolence of the Lazzaroni. If one chanced to look upon Stamboul, and be struck with the site as the key of the whole Levant, wonder would cease at its commercial secondariness, after the sight of one group of listless Turks. All of these great emporia become the tribu- taries to our commerce, instead of its rivals, because we have the energy^ to explore them incessantly for the productions which can be found in them ; but above all, because we WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 7 have had the energy to make our own domestic industry, to a great extent, master of its own fate. Of all the branches into which our manu- importance of facturing industry and skill have been distri- SJS.* buted, none has been of more importance in its best days, none is of more remote origin, and none has had to undergo more trying vicissitudes than the preparing, spinning, weav- ing, and felting of wool. Since the close of the last century, to be sure, the prodigious progress of cotton manu- facture, whilst it has contributed improved spinning machinery for wool, has materially decreased the comparative value and importance of the woollen trade. Nevertheless, even now, British woollen manufacture is still deserving of great consideration. From the earliest ages of history we find instinctive ap- plication oft lie that the properties of wool, as applicable to properties of wool. the weaving of some sort of fabric for the purpose of human covering, had been turned to account. Instinct seems to have pointed it out as the most available and healthy mate- rial. In the hottest as well as in the coldest climates, in which the people had advanced in the art of clothing themselves beyond the 8 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Primitive spin primitive method of using the fleece, skin and ning. all, we find some sort of woollen fabric some ruder or more finished kind of homespun to have been made and used. In many parts of Europe, even to the present day, the simplest method of spinning with a hand-staff * and single spindle is still used, and found to answer all the purposes by supplying the do- mestic wants of the people. In some places the spun yarn is wrought entirely into a kind of knitted work. Sometimes it is rudely dyed, at other times it is used without any artificial colouring, whether it be white, black, or brown ; or, where two or more of these colours are at hand, it is mixed up before it is spun, in the most homely way being willied\ (or, more properly, combed) together with rude combs by the children. Ancient fables, as well as probable traditions, point to the estimation in which the fleece of the sheep, as the principal wool-bearing animal, was universally held ; and, seeing that * Some persons appear to suppose that this practice is confined to the manipulation of flax. This is a mistake. It is applied chiefly to long-stapled wool. Wool of short staple, even, and cotton are not always more or less carded and spun from some kind of wheel. The distaff and spindle are used by the natives of India. f So called process of disentangling. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 9 the earliest state of a very great part at least of the people of Asia and Europe, as well as of some regions of Africa and America, was wholly pastoral, no other use can be detected for the numerous flocks but the utilization of the fleeces. The milk was doubtless used for diet as well as the flesh ; but these uses would render a very small number of animals, whether goats or sheep, sufficient, and all others as worthless from superabundance : whereas, we have every reason to believe that wealth was calculated more by the number of the flocks than by any other criterion. Besides the method of knitting, already Primitive knit- ting and weav- noticed as one of those still in use in several ing- parts of Europe, for converting the woollen yarns into a spread .of stuff, there are several rude weaving-frames also still in use for the manufacture of this species of homespun ; and they have every appearance of being primitive, or very nearly so, and are probably of very remote origin. Indeed, we have the most credible authority for the fact, that the spinning and weaving of silk, cotton, and flax had been brought to a high state of perfection in China, India, and Egypt, full 2300 years ago ; and it is but reasonable to suppose that the same 10 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. art should have been applied to wool, where that was the prevailing staple. The simple hand-loom, so dexterously used by the natives of India, for the finest muslins as well as for the coarsest calicoes, is perfectly applicable to laying the web and weft of any material, still used in In the mountainous parts of Portugal, and notably in the provinces of Tras os Montes and Entre Douro e Minho, a simple and primi- tive apparatus of the same kind is still used by the peasantry for the manufacture of a rough kind . of woollen cloth, which is dyed a dark-brown. This apparatus consists of mere warp-beams and a hand-shuttle, and is very probably the same as that which has been, used from time immemorial ; for the Portuguese peasantry are not, and never have been, a very progressive people. Even in the palmy days of the great Dom Henry, and when the com- merce of the coasting towns vied with any in Europe, and even when the academies were in their highest prosperity, the peasant popu- lation of the hills was unimbued with any spirit of progress, and wholly uninstructed in any but the rudest arts directed to the supply of common wants. Nor could it be otherwise in a country where there are no roads, and WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 11 never have been any, and where the only monuments of engineering undertakings, other than those dating from modern wars, are 'such as remain the lasting evidences of certain Koman military stations. We know that the people of the Levant, Ancient wool- len fabrics of and especially of the coast of Syria, of Asia the Levant. Minor, and of Egypt, had attained considerable proficiency in the art of preparing, spinning, and weaving wool, as well as in dyeing it, at a period anterior to the age of Greek or Koman prosperity. The same circumstance has been noticed as attributed to some of the Tartar nations of Central Asia, and to the people of Northern India. It is difficult to judge of the relative antiquity of any art amongst these people, because their traditions and records are very imperfect very doubtful a t best and so mixed up with evident fables, that one is at a loss to determine how much of the whole is imaginary. Judging, however, from the general tendency of Asiatic customs to continue, with but slight alteration, age after age, it is not at all improbable that the ruder and more primitive methods of weaving wool were, in these countries respectively, coeval with their settlement. The dominant popu- 12 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. lation in our time, however, being mostly stamped with the Mogul type, it is difficult to say. whether these Tartar, and originally pastoral, nations introduced or adopted the method of wool-weaving such as we observe it. The probability seems to be, that they in- troduced it, because they were, from time im- memorial, engaged mostly in pastoral pursuits ; and, as their conquests in Persia and Northern India are comparatively recent, the art of weaving, if introduced by them into those countries, would have been of much more recent date there than in Western Europe. Of Persia, in- Yet there is reason to believe (as already dia, and China. stated) that the people of some parts of India were conversant with the art of spinning and weaving, as applied to cotton-wool, at an earlier date. It was noticed by Herodotus, and after- wards by Strabo (subject to very natural mis- takes) ; wherefore it might even be that the people of the north learnt to weave wool from the inhabitants of the cotton-growing regions. The ancient Persians had certainly attained a very advanced proficiency in the manufacture of fine woollen fabrics more than 1500 years earlier than the Mogul irruption ; and the country stretching to the south-eastward . of the WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 13 Caspian had been dimly known to the ancients as the emporium of sumptuous woven fabrics. The beautiful embroidered or pattern-wrought woollen fabrics of these regions, and the elabo- rate silk stuffs of China, were imported by the Greeks and Romans through the Levant ; and the Greeks themselves, even before the time of Herodotus, manufactured coarse woollen as well as linen cloths. When the Moguls swept across the southern territory of Russia, in the 13th and 14th centuries, and even reached the Car- pathians, threatening the confines of Bohe- mia, they do not appear to have arrived in the guise of naked savages, but to have as- tonished the ruder Europeans by the elaborate character of their woven fabrics, chiefly of silk (doubtless derived from China) and wool. Even at the earlier date, when the Roman Empire crumbled before the irruption of innu- merable and hitherto unknown hordes, poured from the same teeming centre of sandy wilder- ness, the barbarians do not appear to have been without woven covering, although some are de- scribed as wearing skins. And if, in occasional instances, the Latin writers, long accustomed to a finer class of manufacture (either as made by themselves or obtained from Asia Minor, 14 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Syria, and Egypt), superciliously describe the covering of their enemies as coarse and unseemly, it is not the. less evident that these so-called savages taught the conquered people more than they learnt of them in several respects. Again, no sooner had the Arabs (or Moors) made them- selves masters of territories in the south of Europe, than they proved themselves to be the most skilful and advanced manufacturing people of the modern world. And whence could these people have derived their know- ledge of fine weaving, and of the implements requisite for it 1 Or how, if they had not traditionally possessed it, would they have pre- served it through a career of mere military irruption 1 Could they have acquired this knowledge from the Egyptians, when compa- ratively few issued from or through Egypt, or at all events were never settled in that country? True, the Eomans, whether in Italy, Sicily, or in their Spanish colonies, had arrived at a high degree of perfection in the manufac- ture of woollen cloths. The beautiful carpets of the East exhibit in their use no traces whatever of very modern origin ; and they are the perfection of one kind of woollen spinning and weaving, no less than WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 15 of dyeing before manufacture. They are men- tioned with admiration at a very early period, and everywhere the immemorial custom of squatting, characteristic of most primitive people, but especially so of Orientals, is suggestive of the remote antiquity of these carpets. Might not the dais of Xerxes or Darius have been covered with material essentially similar 1 Is there anything in the positive records handed down to us by the Greeks which disproves the possibility of this 1 It is, at all events, evident from the description given of the Persians, whether in the days of Thermopylae, Marathon, and Salamis, or in those when Alexander tra- versed Asia by the Greeks themselves, who affect to despise all other people, that the Persians, or, more properly speaking, all the Levantine people, were far more advanced in the manufacture of textile fabrics than the haughty denizens of Athens, Sparta, or Corinth. It may properly be inferred that the Woollen f a - . brics of the pa- Hebrew Fathers, in their nomad or patriarchal triarchai age. days even, and before the sojourn in Egypt, were conversant with the art of weaving, and even of dyeing wool, or, at all events, were in intimate communicaton with people possessing 16 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. those advantages ; for draperies of various kinds are continually referred to in their history. What, for instance, could have been Joseph's coat? What were their tents and personal draperies I They were essentially shepherds, in countries in which wool was the most readily available fibre or pile ; and it is quite clear that, after the departure from Egypt, the Hebrews were, or soon became, highly profi- cient in the arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing in various ways, and that they found cunning craftsmen in these arts also amongst their immediate neighbours, or the people who were subjected by them in the territory of Canaan. It is a matter of doubt to how great an extent vegetable fibres, or the, more delicate animal fibre, silk, were used at those early times ; but as vegetable fibre is not so naturally presented to the ingenuity of men in a primi- tive state, and is not generally converted into a textile fabric except with more minute elabo- ration, it is highly probable that the wool of the sheep and goat, and even of some other animals, had been used at least as early as any other fibre. Nevertheless, it is historically very probable that the Egyptians used flax fibre WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 17 for weaving into fine cloths, the East Indians cotton, and the Chinese silk, at a very remote period. In some parts of Africa, as well as of North The use of wool -i n ^ ' i i unknown in and South America, we may meet with abori- some parts of , . Africa and ginal tribes who do not seem conversant with America, the art of spinning and weaving wool. The aborigines of the tropical regions of both con- tinents use the leaves of various palms for hut-covering, and are expert at plaiting or warping fine grasses, and threadling minute ornaments upon them. But where their per- sonal covering consists of other material besides these plaited or warped articles, it is mostly found to consist of skins, with or without the hair, decorated by being ripped into fringes round the edges. No texture of spun or woven wool, or even cotton is met with amongst them. In some parts of central South America, to be sure, coarse but well-wrought cotton tex- tures are met with, but they are made by the half-caste or semi-civilized Indians, who have learnt the arts of spinning and weaving from the Spaniards and Portuguese. The same general remarks apply to the Kaffirs in their aboriginal state, and as they have become by intercourse with the Dutch and English. c 18 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. We would infer from these various considera- tions, notwithstanding the few exceptional cases which present themselves as mentioned, that there is an universality in the manufacture of available fibre, and especially of wool, which renders its origin in any given quarter very obscure, but, in all cases, extra-historically remote. There is another curious fact which is, in some degree, suggestive in reviewing the rise and progress of woollen manufacture, namely, that the Oriental wool, whether of the goat or sheep, has at all times been susceptible of conversion into finer, if not more durable, fabrics than the European ; although, since the great improvements of Saxon wool, the latter has the advantage of softness, so essential to fine- napped cloth. In modern times, the arid hills of Spain have fed a race of animals yielding a very fine wool, and latterly the successful introduction of the same race into Saxony, where its good qualities have been greatly en- hanced by careful breeding and treatment, has raised the wool of that country to the pre- ference of the manufacturer for all fine fabrics. But still, as of old, Oriental wool continues to be unsurpassed in every essential quality WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 19 except that of softness, although it be not so accessible for the loom-worker of Europe. Strange is it, that after having flourished for so many ages, and attained such undoubted perfection, in the countries producing the finest wools, the manufacture of woollen fabrics should have finally found an asylum in which it was destined to rival, if not to excel, its greatest former excellence, and whence it was destined to affect, the commercial and even the political relations of all Europe, in England, which, though it produced wool in large quantities, never produced it of the finer qualities! In Great Britain it is doubtful whether the origin of len manufac- permanent introduction of woollen manufacture ture m Great Britain. be due to the Eomans or to their successors. The ancient inhabitants of this island, as they were found by the Eomans do not appear to have been conversant with the art of weaving wool. The Eomans, themselves very expert weavers and dyers, however, availing themselves of the advantages of British pasture, established woollen manufactories at every convenient sta- tion ; and we learn, in particular, that one of these, the principal market for the wool as well as the chief seat of the manufacture of woollens, was established at Winchester, then the most 20 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. important and flourishing town in the realm. "Whether or not this branch of industry was uninterruptedly sustained during the many vicissitudes which immediately followed the dismemberment of the Eoman Empire, is not certain. The Saxons certainly revived or con- tinued it, but whether unceasingly is not evi- dent. If it were so continued, it was subse- quently extended under the patronage of the Normans ; if it were not, it is said to have been re-introduced by them, during the reign of their first British Sovereign, through some Flemish weavers who were encouraged to im- migrate and settle near Carlisle. The Flemings were at that time the people of Northern Europe the most advanced in various branches of manufacture, and especially in that of linen and in that of preparing, dyeing, spinning, and weaving wool, and at this period they had already attained a high degree of perfection in cloth-working. There was, however, as it would seem, a very striking difference between the description of fabric made before this period and that which had previously been made by the Eonians, after a method derived by them from the Levant. The Flemish and Anglo- Saxon textures, of date anterior to the llth WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 21 century, and the Anglo-Flemish fabrics until the 14th century were simply spun and woven, and but very imperfectly dyed. In so far as they were felted at all, this was the result of mere accident, more properly speaking, than of art, whereas the Oriental and Eoman woollen stuffs (wrought from the soft Tarentine and Milesian fleeces) had, at an early period, been subjected to pressure, to secure the advantage of the felting properties of the wool, and pos- sessed the advantage of the use of Levantine dyes, then proverbially pre-eminent. Indeed, they had probably achieved a degree of per- fection which was not again attained until the end of the 17th century. It is a question if indeed in these early Early manu- factures, pro- stages European, and formerly a great part of periy speaking, m worsteds. the Asiatic, woollen manufacture did not more properly belong to that branch which we tech- nically call "worsted," than to that which we call "woollen," par excellence. Most of the homespuns of the European mountain pea- santry, or of remote colonial settlements, even to our day, are, strictly speaking, "worsted" workings. The wool requires to be combed rather severely to make it spin and draw off continuously from a single hand-staff, or from 22 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. a wheel if partially carded, and, what is more, none but wool of a longish staple is conve- niently available. Again, the spinning cannot be moderated without risk to the yarn, so that, after the combing and spinning, the wool has lost much of its "felting" property. In truth, fabrics of this kind are neither perfect " woollens " nor perfect " worsteds," but partake, to a certain extent, of the characteristics of both. And even where the web frame and shuttle were used, and the wool was all carded before spinning, sufficient care was not taken to sort the wool, nor was any special appliance used to answer the purpose of "fulling."* Felting or full- Some writers seem to infer that the felting ing of wool in remote times properties of wool were those soonest turned doubtful. to account in manufacture, and that the earliest production of the nature of cloth was neither spun nor woven, but simply felted by heat and pressure (or beating), as the beaver- wool is for hats. Upon what authority this state- ment is made does not so clearly appear ; and whoever pays attention to the history of cus- toms, whether of European or Asiatic nations, (the people of Asia Minor excepted) or exa- mines with care their most primitive woollen * Hereafter to be described. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 23 draperies, would, I think, arrive at a contrary conclusion. Softness is the quality most essential to Softness essen- effectual felting or fulling."* The operation result of cTre' j. i i i f -j. j-i A. ful tr eatment. itself depends for its success upon the most careful discrimination of practised hands, and upon more elaborate manipulation than any other process required to produce fine cloth. Besides that, the very essential quality of soft- ness in the material depends so much upon incessant attention to the rearing, feeding, and sheltering of the sheep as to be inconsistent with any condition but one of high social ad- vancement. Length and fineness were the qualities, of Length and fineness natural old, most universally esteemed in wool; and properties, these depend more upon the natural varieties of the animals, climate, soil, and so forth, than upon high artificial cultivation. Spinning and weaving are straightforward and simple operations in the ruder forms. These remarks do not, however, apply to Softness of the .,,,.- Tarentine and the Komans in the height of their prosperity, Milesian fleeces. or to the people of Asia Minor, who became subject to them; for it was the softness of the Tarentine (Italian) and Milesian (Asiatic) * Hereafter to be described. 24 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. fleeces which constituted their great excellence ; and it was the same quality, which they after- wards developed in the Spanish flocks by cross- ing them with African and Tarentine sheep, which produced this excellence of their fleeces an excellence which, through this race of sheep alone, has been preserved to our time, and has been subservient to our manufactures. Broad-cloth During the period of the Anglo-Saxon domi- manufacture not traced be- nation, that is to say, particularly, between the fore the 13th . r century. 6th and 10th centuries, and on its re-revival in this country, whether at the period of the Norman Conquest, or, as is far more probable, after the first Flemish Emigration (A.D. 1102), the woollen manufacture was clearly not di- rected to the elaboration of the finer fabrics, nor even of the coarser kinds of what are technically called broad-cloths. It is only from the beginning. of the 13th century that these latter fabrics are to be traced as having been made, and then to a much greater extent in Flanders. Flanders and Brabant, and more particularly at Ghent, Bruges (the principal linen market), and Louvain, than in England. It is doubted by some, upon apparently good grounds, whether broad-cloths were manufactured in England be- fore the middle of the 14th century. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 25 Indeed, so inconsiderable were still the England ex- manufacturing efforts of England, that this wool, country continued until the 14th century (as will be hereafter explained) .to export nothing but raw wool, and to import the greater part of the woollens required for consumption, whether coarse or fine, from Flanders, whither the raw wool was annually sent in large quantities. Even a century after the introduction of the fabrics called broad-cloths, and when the manufacture of woollens, in England, had been so greatly extended as to have brought about an annual exportation of manufactured woollens, it was only those of the coarsest description which our ancestors could supply to the con- tinental markets. In the advanced condition of the manu- facture, such as it was at the height of Flemish prosperity, and even long after that, moreover, we must judge of the fineness of the cloths by a species of mental comparison, bearing in mind that the Spanish wools had not yet been reinstated in their former excellence ; that the Flemish cloth-workers of this period had pro- bably used those materials, at most, in small proportions, even such as they were ; and that the manufacturers of England, before the end 26 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. of the 17th century, were not adequately pro- vided with the material for making what we should call very fine fulled stuffs ; for the wools of England, which were most largely used by the Flemings, and, naturally, by the English weavers (after they had become the consumers of the raw material), were not of the best clothing kind, although they were probably better than they are now for that purpose. English wool There were two or three varieties of English clothing kind, sheep yielding short and tolerably fine clothing wool ; but these were not unexceptionable as to colour (pure whiteness). Hungary, which possessed some breeds of sheep yielding ad- mirable clothing wool, was remote and inac- cessible, in a commercial sense, from the seat of manufacture ; and Saxony did not, until long afterwards, contribute its admirable soft wool to the loom. Such was the position of the trade, both as regards the raw material and the quality of the manufactured commodity, at the period when modern British woollen manufacture was destined to erect itself into an important in- terest. If, indeed, it be true that any substantial WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 27 encouragement was extended to foreign or state of the trade under native weavers by William the Conqueror the first Nor- man kings. whether, owing to the troubled reigns of his successors, or to a predominating ascendancy of territorial feudalism, suspicious and jealous of the plodding, enterprising, and improving burgher-class, which included all the manu- facturing population ; or to the rankling hatred of the unmixed races ; or to the scrambling excitement of the Crusades, and the confusion which they occasioned ; or to the domestic and dynastic troubles ; or to some external in- fluences, originating in the League of the Con- tinental Free Towns or in the aspiring re- publics of the South, the woollen manufacturers received but a scant share of countenance from succeeding sovereigns. They were either left to shift for themselves, and to struggle as best they could under social conditions not very favourable to their prosperity ; or, what was still worse, they were subjected to vexatious inter- ference and restraint, which, if not sufficient to damp their energy, seriously interrupted their progress. - The occasional acts, indicative of a solici- important epoch. Eeign tude on the part of the crown for the welfare of Edward m. of the trade, which was thereafter to become 28 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 'the principal craft of Great Britain, were fitful exceptions until the steady and systematic policy of Edward III. The reign of that sove- reign therefore may be said to form the most decisive and most important epoch in the his- tory of woollens. But, to render the progress of the trade the more readily intelligible, it will be necessary to recur to an earlier period, and trace its various fluctuations and their immediate causes. Eetrospect of It is perfectly clear that the Anglo-Saxons, 4-Vp +T*1357> at the Blackwell Hall. Still, in 1355, we were exporters only of coarse woollen cloths, of which some 5000 pieces were worth, then, 10,000 ; whereas we were still importers of fine cloths to the value of 10,000, being less than 2000 pieces in quantity. We do not infer from this that fine cloths were not made in England at that time ; but this branch of the manufacture was still in its infancy, and had not yet the command of any foreign market. Exportation Early in the 15th century the English of Woollens to Flanders from manufacturers had already secured a sufficient about 1400. ascendancy, and become expert enough to com- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 39 mand a market for their fabrics in that very Flanders whence their forefathers had derived their skill, and accordingly, in consequence of some jealousy on the part of the Dukes of Burgundy, they had endeavoured to close the Netherlands against our woollens a step which was met in England by the conditional exclusion of any goods exported from their territories. In the reign of Edward IV. the manufacturers of woollens in England had become sufficiently influential to obtain an enactment prohibiting the importation of certain varieties of woollen manufactured goods, which, practically, included all for which there was any demand, thus securing for themselves a complete monopoly of the market (3 Edward IV., c. 3); whilst, by a previous Act passed in the same year, the exportation of raw wool was confined to English merchants, and the destination limited to Calais. In 1489 the maximum price of the finest Price of finest . .,,. scarlet cloth scarlet cloth was fixed at sixteen shillings a limited to IG*., yard (equal to about 2 of our money). This, however, was cloth of the finest quality then known, and equal, if not superior, to the finest Flemish fabrics of the 13th and 14th centuries. Gradually declining in Flanders, this manufacture 40 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. had been as steadily improving in England for upwards of 150 years, until, by the close of the 15th century, it had attained its greatest perfection, amongst the similar manufactures of modern Europe, in this country. Not that the finest woollen cloth made in England, even at this period, was to be compared with the Spanish cloth, so called, of a century later ; because, as we have already had occasion to remark, the material for the manufacture of the latter was not yet employed, or was used only upon a very small scale, by the cloth- workers ; but that it was the finest that could be made with the wool until then used, pro- bably even in Flanders, certainly in England, Gradual intro- and continued to be so until the general use duction of > i i i'i -11 Spanish wool, oi bpanish merino wool, combined with the application of French improvements to machinery, brought the woollen cloth manufacture to a higher degree of excellence, afterwards perfected by the introduction of the machinery required for cotton fabrics, and of the still more appli- cable material furnished by Saxony. At what date the free use of Spanish wool was introduced into Flanders does not very clearly appear. It is probable that this very important change had been gradual, and that WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 41 before the period now in question, the finest of Flemish cloths, which continued to find a market in England until the prohibition of foreign woollens under Edward IV., had been made with an admixture of Spanish wools, the improvement of which had obtained much attention in Arragon and Castile during the 14th century. That the existence of a supply market for the raw material, in Spain, was known even to the English manufacturers, and had been so for a considerable time, is to be inferred by the provision (exceedingly impolitic as it was) inserted, in 1185, by Henry II., into the patent confirming the charter of the London weavers, which prohibited the use of Spanish wool, on pain of having the cloth burnt. It is not at all unlikely that during the intervals when the Flemings were prevented from obtaining supplies of English wool, they turned their attention more assiduously to the produce of Spain. Hence the period when a change of this kind occurred decisively was very probably to- wards the close of the 13th century. The pro- hibition against the exportation of raw wool passed in 1338, although it was but partial in 42 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. its operation, might also have tended to force the Flemings to seek more actively for other sources of supply. By degrees, from this period the large increase in the English manufactures had more effectually checked the exportation of wool in such a manner as permanently to reserve it for home consumption, and to stimulate a considerable increase in the breed- ing of sheep and the inclosure of pasture- lands for the supply of wool to the home looms. So great, indeed, had become the domestic demand for wool, that its high price, the increased rent of pasture-land, and the depopulation con- sequent upon the greed of the landed aristocracy for inclosure, led to serious complaints in 1521 and 1549. Home con- So that, independently of any international sumption of.. .. , . n wool so in- heart- burnings and restraints imposed upon ex- creased as to . , . , arrest expor- portation from other motives, there was a con- stantly decreasing prospect of any regular and permanent supply of raw wool in large quan- tities from this country long before the rigid prohibition against exportation which dates from the reign of James I., in 1622, and which was renewed from time to time in subsequent reigns, came into operation ; and, therefore, there was the greater reason why the manufacturers WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 43 of the Continent should look in another direc- tion for supplies. The depression of British manufactures during the 17th century, and the promising progress of the French woollens at that period, combined with the great increase which had taken place in the production of wool in England, occasioned the temporary return of a condition in which the exportation of raw wools became a natural operation, and the stringent statutes against it were more than a dead letter. But, in the meanwhile, Spanish wool had made its way, and established its reputation in all the prin- cipal manufactories of the Continent, and espe- cially in France and the Low Countries. It is not, however, to be taken for granted Quality of Spanish wool that up to the close 01 the 15th century them the isthand fine wools of Castile and Arragon, and notably those of Segovia and Saragossa, had obtained that perfection which 150 years afterwards ren- dered them so justly celebrated. The fine race of sheep founded by the Romans had been scattered during the convulsions of the Penin- sula. The divided state of the territory, the continual conflicts between one principality and another, the Moorish wars, and many other cu> cumstances, rendered the revival of any steady, 44 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. peaceful pursuit, such as that of properly tend- ing sheep, a matter of very slow growth. The hardiness of the Komano-Spanish breed had saved Efforts made it from the extinction which resulted to the in Castile and . Arragon to re- Milesian and larentine races; but it was more vive the breed of fine wool- or less bastardized. Ihe purity 01 colour was bearing sheep. , . lost, except in a few instances, and much time and very careful tending and breeding were required to bring the fleeces to their pristine perfection. If it be true that any advantage accrued to the Spanish fleeces from the introduc- tion of Cotswold sheep for the improvement of the Arragonese breed, this operation was Cotswold and only effected in the year 1468. And the re- in Spain. l newed importation of Barbary sheep by Pedro IV., which is said to have greatly contributed to restore the merits of the stock, only took place towards the latter end of the 14th century, and was not repeated until the beginning of the 16th century, when it was directed by Car- dinal Ximenes. The very fact of these steps being taken, seems to prove that the reproduction of the Merinos had been slow and imperfect until that time. It is sufficiently clear, however, that by the close of the 15th century, the manufacture of WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 45 woollen cloth in England was hardly second to any for quality, and had begun to occupy and support a very considerable part of the population. Independently of the evidence of this, derived from the frequency of legislative interference directed to regulate this trade, and from the multiplication of treaties and conven- tions with the Continental States, of which the ostensible object was to foster and encourage it, we derive additional and striking proof of the large share of popular interest which was centered in it from the . distress occasioned by any interruption to its prosperity. During the reign of Edward IV., no less Legislation and Conven- than seventeen Acts 01 r arliament were passed tions respect- ing the woollen to regulate the trade in wool, or the manufacture trade, i486 1496. of woollens, besides letters-patent, granted on the same subject, and the treaties of 1466, 1467, 1470, and 1472, with the Duke of Burgundy and the Hanse Towns. During the reign of Eichard III., four Acts of Parliament were passed for the same purpose. And early in the reign of Henry VII. (that is, in 1493) so much distress was occasioned by the inter- ruption of the trade with Flanders, owing to a dispute between Henry and the Archduke Philip, that an accommodation was quickly 46 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. entered into, and a new treaty concluded, in 1496. Suspension of Again, in the year 1527, when the commerce the trade and . , , T ~. . . riots in Suffolk, with the Low Countries was once more inter- rupted by the league between Henry VIII. and France against Charles V., the distress occasioned by the suspension of purchases on account of the merchants in the Blackwell Hall, drove the people of Suffolk into insurrection. Nor could the mischief be allayed by the attempt of Cardinal Wolsey to force the merchants to Renewal of buy. And it was found necessary to return to Convention re- . Flan- a commercial convention with r landers specially, as had already been done in previous reigns. Conflicting It might be inferred from some, at any rate, of these circumstances, that the true interests of the manufacturers and traders engaged in this branch of commerce, from the simple weaver who wrought the spinning frame or shuttle, to the merchant adventurers who bought in the Blackwell Hall for exportation, were properly considered and duly fostered. So far is this from being the case, however, that the multitude of regulations imposed, rescinded, remodelled, reimposed, and again rescinded, seem as if they had been devised to elicit conflicting interests and set them all by the ears. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 47 Even during the reign of Edward III., which, notwithstanding the fluctuating and vexatious legislation of which it furnished so many examples, was decidedly characterized by greater real encouragement than any period before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the variable influences which directed the resolutions of the Crown and of Parliament rendered the woollen manufacture one constant struggle with untoward circumstances. And even the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in which a series of exter- nal influences so decisively promoted the pro- gress of woollen manufacture, was marked by some of the most arbitrary and impolitic enactments. The landholders, the merchants of the staple, Conflicting and and the merchant adventurers had each their terests. respective pretensions to patronize. The Mer- chants of the Stillyard, as they were called (that is, the foreign buyers and sellers in the English market), had their interests. The very measures which were seemingly dictated by the most paternal solicitude, were doubly injurious : firstly, by promoting an artificial or coddled state of trade, which could not withstand the shock of external injurious circumstances ; and, secondly, by provoking disadvantageous combinations 48 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. abroad. And all the provisions made were alike vexatious and often offensive to the operatives. Mischievous The very fact that Cardinal Wolsey should restrictions on the establish- have fancied he could force a trade, by making ment of fee- . . . . . tories. the otate enter into competition as a buyer in the market, is evidence of the very crude ideas of political economy upon which the com- mercial regulations of the period were based. The guilds, intended to promote the respective handicrafts which they incorporated,, became I injuriously restrictive. The municipal regulations forced the operatives, in many instances, out of the pale of their operation. And thus York, which had been amongst the earliest seats of woollen manufacture, and where the trade had received a reinforcement of skill in the persons Distribution of the Brabant weavers, William, Hanks, and of York over their attendants, who were placed there by ding. Edward III., in 1336, poured forth its industry into the villages of the West Biding. The arbitrary limitation of manufacturing establish- ments to certain particular counties, and, for a length of time, to certain market-towns, was found exceedingly inconvenient. And nothing can be a stronger proof of this than the spon- taneous change which gradually took place in WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 49 the situation and distribution of the various branches of the trade. In the time of Edward III., and subsequently, so long as the disposition then made continued virtually in force, Kent was fixed upon for the manufacture of broad- cloths ; Worcester, Gloucester, Hants, Berks, Sussex, Westmoreland, and especially Kendal, of cloth in general ; Yorkshire of coarse cloth (afterwards known as Halifax cloth) ; Devon of kerseys ; Sudbury of baizes ; Colchester of sayes and serges ; and Norwich of woollens. The heavy exactions to which the manufacturers, or native, or foreign merchants, were from time to time subjected at the caprice of the Govern- ment, rendered operations too precarious for the trade to be really healthy. The stringent regulations for the measurement, material, mode of weaving, assortment, stamping, etc., of cloths, and the vexatious supervision of the official "searchers" and " aulnagers,"* to say nothing of the vicissitudes incidental to the tedious Civil Wars of the Eoses, and the fluctuating condition of all the various interests of the country, even to the social relations of the community, assuredly presented an assemblage * Officers dating from the time of Henry I. and Henry III. E 50 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. of circumstances which would have arrested all enterprise amongst most other people. What would now be thought of laws render- ing it penal to purchase and sell wool under anti- cipatory contracts ; to export wool, or certain woollen fabrics ; or to buy or sell them at other places than those prescribed by Acts of Parlia- ment, how inconvenient soever they might be ; or to traffic in those articles between certain districts of the interior? What would be thought of a prohibition against working at woollen fabrics except after seven years' appren- ticeship, skill .and capability notwithstanding ? What would be thought of restricting any manu- facturer to the use of one mill and two appren- tices, and of excluding him from carrying on two branches of the same trade, so as to com- plete his fabrics at home ? What would be thought of fixing upon the colours with which cloth might be dyed, and prohibiting all others ? Can anything be more absurdly harassing to industry than such a law as that passed in 1552, forbidding any cloth- worker to abandon or change his avocation without a license to that effect, or to resume it if so abandoned \ There is not so much objection to Acts pro- hibiting the admixture of inferior or spurious WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 51 materials, or the use of undue hot-pressing, starch, flour, or chalk, to give bad cloth a false appearance of gloss or substance ; and these enactments were so far laudable that they were directed to preserve the superiority of the British manufacture, and its credit in foreign markets, which was hazarded by bastardiza- tion. This is evident from the preamble of the Act of 1536, amongst others. But it is clear, from the results of such laws, that they are not so effective in working out a cure > for cheats of this kind as the deterioration of value itself. Meanwhile, as we have seen, the weavers, Progress of ,,,,., , -, . ,,. ^y , Bradford and who had hitherto exercised then: calling at York, Halifax, in virtue of the immunities granted to them by Edward III., having dispersed themselves in the villages of the West Eiding, were laying the foundation of new townships, which should ultimately eclipse the second city of England by their industry, populousness, and prosperity. Bradford, the manorial property of the family of De Lacy, was already provided with a ful- ling-mill before the year 1311 ; but it con- tinued to be little better than a poor strag- gling hamlet for some length of time. Subse- quently it became the centre of active and 52 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. thriving worsted factories ; and, even before the close of the 1 6th century, it had grown into a populous and thriving town, engaged largely in woollen manufactures. Halifax, which afterwards gave its name to the coarse cloths of Yorkshire, but which, at a later period, produced almost all varieties of woollen fabrics, was first noticed as the retreat of some of the migrating weavers in 1414. Little progress, however, was made in the manufactories of this place until > after 1443. Even ten years later (in 1453), it contained but thirteen ill-conditioned houses, and ninety-one inhabitants ; but twenty years after that, it had increased to 520 houses, and in 1580 it contained a population of 4160 souls. Effects of the About the same time that these internal Reformation . . n . and Disco- changes and vicissitudes were taking place, so Aeries. . as to endanger the ultimate prosperity of our woollen manufactures, the future of the world was pregnant with external changes of portentous importance. The Eeformation was in the course of progress, and new worlds were being dis- covered. Navigation, no longer limited to the narrow area of European waters, was opening out extended fields of enterprise, and markets for the productions of European skill and in- dustry, hitherto unexplored. The stream of com- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 53 mercial transport was about, perhaps, to effect a reflux upon the East, whilst it was simulta- neously pouring itself through the new channels of the West. Eastern and North-eastern Eu- rope were revealing people ripening in taste and want for the fabrics of the West, and uninstructed in the arts necessary to produce them. Two causes conspired to fill the ranks of the manufacturing classes, more than any other, with converts to the principles of refor- mation and progress : firstly, that these classes are by habit less tied to conventionalities ; secondly, that many who secretly entertained these unpalatable notions were prone to seek the mask of industrial pursuits to have the greater chance of enjoying their convictions unmolested. It happened to be the whim of Henry VIII. to second the Eeformation after his fashion ; and it became the State policy, if not to encou- rage it to the utmost, at all events to tolerate it. And the decided bias of Queen Elizabeth rendered her distinctly the protectress of those who were persecuted on account of the reformed faith. As the policy of the Courts of France and Spain (to the dominion of which the Low 54 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Countries had now fallen), on the contrary, was directed to oppress and destroy the Ke- formers, many who were suspected of a lean- ing to the new doctrines deemed it prudent to withdraw to the insular security of Great Britain, and these numbered amongst them generally the most skilful craftsmen of the Continent. The French had not yet begun to cut any distinguished figure as manufacturers of textile fabrics certainty not of woollens although manufactories were beginning to develop them- selves in the south and on the western coast, and expert weavers and dyers were not want- ing in those parts. But the temper displayed by the Government towards the native Keforni- ers, or suspected Eeformers, repelled a possible migration which might have taken place in that direction ; whilst Germany, harrowed with calamities no less trying, closed all hope of repose and security for the Flemish recusants in that direction. So that, denied all refuge to the south or east, the Flemings, exposed to persecution in their own country, had no resource but td fly to England. Effects of The force of these circumstances was en- state Policy. hanced by the admixture of political elements WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 55 with the growing spirit of religious indepen- dence. For, although the power and tyranny (so to call it) of the Crown never was more undisputed in England than during the reigns of the Tudors, and especially in those of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, it was evident that this was not so much owing to an irresistible ascendancy of the supreme authority, as to circumstances which rendered the acts of that authority, to a certain extent, congenial to the nation, and that there lurked under this domi- nion a growing power of popular energy, which would at all times, more or less, direct the bent of the reigning will ; whereas the Con- tinent of Europe was sinking, under the incubus of the policy founded by Louis XL in France, and Ferdinand in Spain, darkened by the ani- mus of the Jesuits and of the Inquisition, into a state of hopeless palsy. This baneful influence of the councils of Madrid and Paris, enveloping, as it did (besides France, Spain, and Portugal, and the depen- dencies of the latter both in the Low Countries and in the New World), Germany, through the Empire, Italy and the Levant, through both Courts in fact, the whole of Commercial Eu- rope, except the extreme north-east and the 56 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. British Islands, was probably one of the great causes which contributed to hasten the decay towards which the Hanse Towns, in the north, and the maritime republics in the south, were tending. And thus, whilst a chill was blown upon the commercial energy of the entire Con- tinent, the ardour of British enterprise was receiving a new and important stimulus : Eng- land was becoming the entrepot of a large por- tion of that trade which had hitherto flourished in dangerous rivalry ; the sturdy, but yet infant mercantile marine was meeting with unexpected encouragement, and the merchants, who, so short a time before, had been compelled to seek their choicest commodities in the marts of Flanders, were in a fair way to become, not only the depositaries of merchandise, but to bid for a large share of the carrying traffic of the world. Second most The presumption of the Court of Spain, the important ' 111 epoch of the cruelty and intolerable tyranny of its viceroys British Wool- . _ . len Trade. in the Low Countries, and the stupid and sui- cidal bigotry of the ruling influence in France, towards the close of the 16th century, brought about the climax of these circumstances, and rendered the reign of Queen Elizabeth the second most important epoch in the history <*>f English woollen manufacture. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 57 The most skilful operatives of Flanders and of the south-west of France, emigrated and settled in England, where their ingenuity and experience at once placed the woollen and wor- sted manufactures above the competition of any of the rival manufactures of the Continent, laid the foundation of other branches of textile fabrics (as of silk and linen), which, whilst they were destined to be carried to a high state of perfection themselves, contributed to further the improve- ment and extend the variety of woollens. This third great Flemish and first French im- migration added great importance to the second striking epoch in the woollen manufactures of Great Britain. A brief survey of the different seats of the geats of the trade, as they were fixed by Act of Parliament Legislation T -,-, . . ., thereon. or were gradually springing up in tacit evasion of such restrictions, will be useful to convey an accurate notion of the extent to which the operations of this branch of industry were already pursued, the degree of proficiency to which they had attained, and the nature of the products thereof, as compared with those of our own time. A large share of interest, moreover, will gene- rally be felt in this part of the subject, as 58 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Kendal and Sudbury. Colchester, Worcester, Nottingham, Norwich, and Bedford. Yarns, wor- steds, serges, and baizes. Gloucester- shire. tracing the rise and progress of those astonish- ing industrial communities which have finally rendered the manufacturing districts so many immense towns. Kendal, one of the earliest seats of woollen manufacture, had risen to a high degree of prosperity, which it subsequently resigned by degrees to the aspiring towns of West Yorkshire. Sudbury, in Suffolk, was the centre of the trade in worsted goods, or woven fabrics having a worsted web or warp. Colchester had acquired some celebrity both for its woollen market and for its fine and coarse cloths, woollen yarns, and worsteds ; and the villages of Dedham, Langham, etc., in its vicinity, were also peopled by manufacturers of the like commodities. Worcester, Nottingham, Norwich, and Bedford took part in various branches of the trade. It was only at the close of the 16th century that the specific trade of Colchester, in baizes and serges (bays and says), was brought to perfection by a new immigration of Flemish weavers. The earliest mention of a fulling and teazling mill in Gloucestershire bears date in 1175. This was in work at Berton. As early as the 13th century, the process of manufacturing fine cloths WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 59 in Gloucestershire seems not to have differed materially from that of our time, except in respect of finished machinery and dyeing. In the 14th century, and thenceforward, Narrow cloths. Gloucester and all the principal places in the broad cloths, county of that name were already celebrated, more particularly for the finer qualities of closely- fulled narrow cloths, and chiefly kerseys, upon the measurement and stamping of which a heavy duty was imposed by Eichard II., in 1394. This tax was rescinded by Henry IV., upon the earnest petition of the cloth-workers, in favour of all kerseys not exceeding 135. 4d the dozen yards in value. Hitherto, there" had been no limit to the length of the pieces, which commonly con- tained about eighteen yards each. Subsequently, however, the cloth- workers, whether to evade the fiscal regulations, or for some other reason, took to making the kerseys of much greater length, until this was prohibited by an Act passed in the 14th year of Queen Elizabeth. Besides these narrow cloths, however, Gloucestershire* as well as Wiltshire and Somersetshire, had become largely engaged in the manufacture of red and white broad-cloths, of which the breadth, was fixed by Statute, in 1551 and 1553,* at, * 4 and 6 Edward VI. 60 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Wiltshire and 60 Ibs. the piece. Oxfordshire. Broad-listed cloths. Worcester- shire. Wales.- Friezes. New limits prescribed. seven quarters ; the length of each piece being likewise fixed at 26 to 28 yards, and its weight, for white cloth at 64 Ibs., and for coloured at In Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire, also at the same period, a species of cloth, technically denominated broad- listed^ white and red, was also made. It was also denominated sorting-pack broad-listed cloth, and was directed by law to contain between 26 and 28 yards to the piece, weighing 6 4 Ibs., and being 6J quarters wide. In Worcestershire, besides the City of Wor- cester, numerous minor places had become engaged in cloth-making. So active was the extension, that it was thought to be prejudicial to the established factories, and, in 1535, an Act was passed, authorizing the manufacture only at Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, Kid- derminster, and Bromsgrove. In the Welsh counties of Caermarthen, Pembroke, and Cardigan, friezes (principally) were largely made. By an Act passed in 1558 (4 and 5 Philip and Mary, c. 5), the manufacture of cloth was limited to the same cities and boroughs as previously, excepting in North and South Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cum- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 61 berland, Northumberland, Durham, Cornwall, Suffolk, Kent, the town of Godalmin, in Surrey* parts of Yorkshire not within twelve miles of York city, and the towns and villages on the river Stroud, in Gloucestershire, "where cloths have been usually made for 20 years." But, besides these places and districts, it is worthy of remark that, in addition to these and to the* places already named, various branches of the trade were flourishing in London and its sub- urbs, in Wiltshire generally, at Sarum and Coventry, and in Warwickshire generally. A second Act, passed in the same year (1558), extends the privilege to the villages of Bqcking, Westbarfold, Cockshal, and Dedham, in Essex. In 1576, an Act was passed (8 Eliz. c. 16), extending the privilege of cloth-making to per- sons residing out of boroughs in Wilts, Somer- setshire, and Gloucestershire generally. In the reign of Henry VII. three Acts were Acts under Henry VII. passed especially relating to the woollen trade, and VIIL, Edward VI., besides others in which it was incidentally con- andp Mary. cerned, and six conventions were concluded having especial relation to it. In the reign of Henry VIII. twenty-four Acts of Parliament were passed respecting the woollen trade, besides one limiting the number of sheep to be owned 62 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. by one individual to 2000. Most of these enactments were directed to restrain the use of improper materials, to fix the price, to restrain dealings within certain prescribed limits, and to prescribe the processes, quality, and size of the cloth. One of these Acts forbade the exporta- tion of Norfolk wool fit for " making worsteds Coverlets only or stammins." Another limited the manufac- in York city. ture of woollen coverlets to the city of York. A third fixed the aulnage (measurement duty) to be received in Wales by William Webbe, to whom the king had granted this tribute for a term of years. This name of Webbe, or Webb, is celebrated in the western counties as con- nected with cloth-making. A treaty of com- merce 'also was concluded in this reign (in 1506) with Germany. In the reign of Edward VI. there were six Acts of Parliament passed spe- cially relating to the woollen trade, and a treaty also was concluded with Sweden (1550). In the reign of Philip and Mary, there were seven Acts of Parliament having the same object. Amongst these there is one (2 and 3 Philip and Mary, c. 13) empowering the inhabitants of Hali- fax to buy wool. The preamble recites that the place then contained above 500 households, the growth of forty years, and that the people were WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 63 employed in cloth- working, as well as the inhabit- ants of the vicinity. This is the first statutory mention of Halifax as a growing town. In this reign, also, negotiations were reopened for the establishment of intimate relations with Eussia. Finally, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Acts and Con- ventions under nineteen Acts of Parliament were passed, relating Elizabeth. especially to the woollen trade, and four conven- tions were entered into in which this branch of commerce was the main consideration. Amongst these was one which, though generally little heeded, exercised a very striking influence upon the progress of improvement in weaving and dyeing. It was that concluded in 1579, with Turkish Treaty 1579. the Sultan Amurath, whereby the English were placed upon the commercial footing enjoyed by the Venetians, Poles, Germans, and French. The result was the formation of the Turkey Com- pany, which traded chiefly with Constantinople, Angora, Scio, Alexandria, Smyrna, and Cyprus. The produce introduced from thence included wool, cotton, silk, and Indian dye, and, doubtless, also some Indian cotton stuffs. The Venetians had already, for some time, been familiar with the Oriental cotton and its manufacture, in which they had attained considerable proficiency. These 64 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Venetian fabrics (perhaps also some Indian cali- coes), through the same channel, had obtained considerable favour in England ; but the ac- quaintance with them was comparatively limited until the Levantine trade was thrown open to British enterprise. About the same time the manufacture of cotton stuffs received additional impulse from the Flemish immigration ; for the manufacture had previously found its way, on a limited scale, from Venice and Milan to the Cotton Fac- Low Countries. Thus, cotton factories were soon chter and established in the vicinity of Manchester, and MooS! e particularly at Bolton-le-Moors. In 1641, accord- ing to Eoberts, the trade was already consider- ably advanced. Colours allow- In 1552, the colours allowed bylaw for the ed in dyeing 1 . cloth, 1552. dyeing of fine cloths were scarlet, red, crimson, murrey, violet, pewke, brown, blacks (divers), greens, yellows, blues, orange, tawny, russet, marble-grey, sad new colour (?), azure, sky-blue (called watchet, and differing slightly from azure), sheep's-colour (probably not dyed), lion- colour, and iron-grey. To these were added, in 1557, friars'-grey, crane-colour, purple, and old medley. The Trade at Lincoln still continued to possess a thriving manufacturing population engaged in the wool- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. * 65 i len trade. Indeed, since the abolition of the Summary to -, T -.- . , end of the monopoly obtained by the Lincoln weavers in 16th century. 1348, which was rescinded in 1351, and the establishment, in 1353, of a staple or market for wool at Lincoln (as well as at Westminster, Chichester, Canterbury, Exeter, Winchester, New- castle, Norwich, Bristol, and Hull), the prosperity of the clothing interest had attained its greatest height. In Kent there were still some of the most Kent : broad- cloths ; wool successful of the broad-cloth factories, and Can- staple. terbury continued to be one of the most im- portant of the wool staples or markets, and was known to the French manufacturers of the 17th century as such. Lancashire and Cheshire (but particularly the Lancashire . and Cheshire. former) were already noted for some branches of woollen manufacture. Manchester, which had obtained a manorial charter in 1301, had grown up into a place of considerable importance before the close of the 15th century, and in 1520 it is mentioned amongst the places containing noted weavers. Martin Byrom, or Brian, of Man- chester, shared the reputation for skill with Hodgekins of Halifax, and Cuthbert of Kendal. In 1552 an Act was passed, regulating the length and breadth of Manchester cottons (then F 66 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Summary to woollen fabrics), rugs, and friezes. The manu- endofthe 16th century, factures of the same nature throughout Lanca- shire and Cheshire were further regulated by another Act passed in 1557. Bolton-le-Moors, with the neighbouring hamlets, was, after Man- chester, the most important manufacturing place in Lancashire at this period. West Riding In the West Eiding of Yorkshire, besides Bradford and Halifax (already noticed), Wake- field, Huddersfield, and Leeds were just em- barking into the competition of the woollen trade. Norfolk. At Norwich, and throughout Norfolk, the 1622> were accumulating upon the manufactures, or acting under the impulse of sectional interests, had interposed a series of empirical remedies against the mischief. Amongst these measures were the Eoyal Proclamation of James I., in 1622, prohibiting the exportation of wool (which was repeated in 1630 and 1632 by Charles I., temporarily suspended in 1640, and revived in 1647), and the prohibition of the exportation of Exportation of white cloth white (that is, undyed) cloth, which had hitherto forbidden, comprised the great bulk of the manufactured 74 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. exports. This latter measure was adopted in 1616. It was not perceived that the increased exportation of raw wool was, in fact, not the cause but the consequence of a decline in the manufacture itself, occasioned by other injudi- cious restraints, dictated by the spirit of mono- poly, and which rendered those manufactures unequal to the competition offered by those of the Continent, in which they were reviving under less prejudicial circumstances. It was not observed that, instead of depriving the Con- tinent of the materials for cloth-making, such a measure was stimulating the production of the raw material there, and discouraging it in England ; and that, inasmuch as the raw ma- terial would be consumed where it could be wrought at the greatest profit, it would certainly have found a market at home, where it was free from the expenses of freight, duties, etc., if the combined monopolies of the trade had not heaped such cost upon it, when wrought up, as to render it dearer in that state to the foreign consumer than if wrought abroad after incurring all the expenses of freight, duties, etc. Neither was it taken into account, whether at this period or subsequently, that the inevitable result of such a restriction, in so far as it was WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 75 really effective, would be to entail a deteriora- tion upon British wool by furnishing a strong incentive to the sheep-farmer to seek in the carcase for a new source of emolument, to the neglect of the fleece, or to the increase of weight in the latter, regardless of the quality. And Effect fthe * y prohibition this is precisely what has occurred. High feed- u P n she ep- farming. ing has the effect of improving the flesh, and increasing the weight of the fleece (that is, of producing a more abundant crop), but it also greatly impairs the fineness and softness of the staple. High feeding was the obvious resource of the sheep-farmers, so soon as they had reason to apprehend exclusion from a fair market for their wool ; and it became more profitable for them, not only on account of the flesh, but on account of a more than trebled crop of wool. Thus have we secured the finest mutton, at the expense of finer wool. It is not reasonable to urge that this effect does not properly descend to our own time from this cause, because the prohibition against the exportation of wool became a dead letter after the 17th century, on account of an extension of manufactures, which rendered us a consuming and importing nation. For not only had a decisively new impulse been given to the sheep- 76 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. farmers, but the confidence of this class was kept in abeyance by the bugbear of mischievous exportation, even in its chronic, but trivial con- traband condition, which haunted the manu- facturing imagination, and dictated a repeated revival of the prohibition, long after an export- ing condition had ceased to exist so as mate- rially to influence the market. The very tenor of the enactments restraining the out-transport of wool, as well as their spirit, was calculated to keep alive a feeling of chilling distrust amongst the sheep-farmers. By the Act Exportation (13 and 14 Charles II. c. 18) passed in 1674, of wool a .. felony, 1674. it was pronounced felony to export wool, the first parliamentary prohibition having been enacted in 1672 (12 Charles II. c. 32) ; and although this law was modified in 1697 (7 and 8 William III. c. 28), the prospect of a liberal policy was still completely excluded. The prohibition against the exportation of white (or undyed) cloth, conceived in the same narrow spirit, and having for its object to mono- polize the operation of dyeing for the home manufacturers, was more immediately and sig- nally disastrous. The markets of the Low Countries and Germany were instantly closed against all British coloured fabrics ; the exporta- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 77 tion sank, almost at once, from upwards of 100,000 cloths in the year, to less than 30,000 ; and albeit the terms of this exclusion suggested an ingenious invention designed to evade them, and which has been of permanent service (namely, that of ingrained coloured cloths, or those wrought out of dyed wool], the exclusion remained as a grievous cause of injury. The disheartened and impoverished manufacturers fled for refuge amongst their continental rivals, and helped to swell the tide of prosperity which they had jealously attempted to thwart, and had , thus done so much to promote. Meanwhile, the fine wools of Spain had been Spanish wool in perfection restored to the degree of excellence which they French im- J proving. had attained under the Eoman rule, and had been raised, perhaps, by two centuries of care and attention, to still greater perfection. Con- tinued efforts were made by the government of France to improve the wool produced in that country, whether by experiments upon the native sheep, or by the introduction of Spanish and other foreign breeds. In Germany, also, great efforts were being made to extend the produc- tion of available clothing wool. Colbert, so distinguished for his clear-sighted and laborious attention to the domestic prospe- 78 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Colbert's nty of France, had endeavoured to import some policy on the trad en ^ e k es ^ Breeds f English sheep. In this he failed, owing to the jealous vigilance of the English. The number of ordinances which ap- pear amongst the French records of this period (towards the close of the 17th century) afford abundant evidence of the assiduity with which the government watched over the progress of the woollen manufactures. We have already intimated that this trade had existed, and even flourished, to some extent, in France long before. As early as the year 1511, it appears from a rescript of the Emperor Maxi- milian, imposing restrictions upon the importa- tion of foreign merchandise into the territories of the House of Burgundy, that France, even at that time, exported cloths thither to the value of some 300,000 guilders, annually, whereas the value of English woollen cloths brought into those markets at the same period only amounted to 200,000 guilders, and the value of Scottish cloths to 100,000 guilders. un til the middle of the 17th century, provement of J French manu- the French woollen manufactures did not, upon fecture in the 17th century, the whole, molest the prosperity of the English. Their progress must have undergone serious vicissitudes, insomuch as France continued to be WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 79 a large customer for English woollens even until the adverse tariff of 1667. Indeed, there is every reason to believe, from the manner in which those circumstances affected the English woollen trade, that the persecution to which the Protestants were subjected during the latter part of the 16th century, almost arrested the opera- tions of all French manufactures for the time. In the days of Colbert, however, the state of England favoured the restoration and promotion of French woollens ; and had that minister's more enlarged views of international trade not been discountenanced after his death, France might have continued to vie with England (perhaps even to excel her) in the other markets of the world. The illicit exportation of wool from England received the utmost encouragement which high prices and free admission could afford it, and the French writers on this subject boast that their cloth-workers could always obtain sufficient supplies of wool from England, as well as from Scotland and Ireland. There was also a regular importation from Spain, Portugal, Holland, Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, Aleppo, Cyprus, the Morea, and Bar- bary. The best wools of the Levant were those of Constantinople and Smyrna. 80 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. The best Spanish (Castilian and Aragonese wools), from Segovia and Saragossa, were im- ported by way of Bilboa, subject to a small duty. These were divided into three classes, the first and finest of which was used for superfine cloth, the second for the cloth of Elbeuf, so called from that place, where it was chiefly made, the third for the coarser cloth of Eouen and Arnatal. feri w o1 The French wool > generally speaking, was and is of inferior quality. It was chiefly pro- duced in Languedoc, Berry, Normandy, Bur- gundy, Champagne, and Picardy. That of Va- logne and the neighbourhood, in Lower Nor- mandy, was the best, and was almost exclusively used in the manufacture of Valogne, Cherbourg, and Yar cloth, and of the better sorts of St. Lo and Caen. That of Berry was next in quality, and was used, with the admixture of a little Spanish, in the cloth of Valogne and of Berry. The cloth manufactories of Poitou were chiefly employed in making the finer fabrics of pure Spanish wool. The wool of Champagne was all of ordinary quality, and was scarcely used for any but the coarsest fabrics for domestic use. Tapestry Besides the manufacture of cloth, with the extension of woollen manufactures arose the trade (till then peculiar) in what were called tapestry- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 81 , wools, which acquired celebrity and importance Gobelin tries. from the beautiful Gobelin fabrics. These tapestry-wools were spun chiefly at Abbeville and Bogieres (near Amiens), mostly dyed at Paris, and, to a considerable extent, exported to Germany and, by way of Lyons, to Savoy and Italy. Amongst the latter, three distinct qualities were reckoned. With respect to the Gobelin tapestries, although they are so well known, we cannot pass them without some more particular notice. The magnificent designs wrought in this species of fabric which adorn the walls of Versailles, the Louvre, and others of the French palaces, con- ceived by Le Brun, and executed at the Boyal Factory of the Gobelins in the Faubourg St. Marcel, are universally known and admired. This factory was originally established prin- cipally for dyeing. It was founded by Giles and John Gobelin, the most noted dyers of their time, who were particularly famous for having been the first to introduce into Paris their celebrated scarlet. They established their workshops on the banks of a little stream called the Bievre (and since then the Eiver of the Gobelins), close to Paris ; and these work- shops continued to be called the Gobelin Folly G 82 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. until the year 1667, when the whole was pur- chased by the King at the instance of Colbert, and converted into a royal factory for all kinds of artistic articles, still including the celebrated tapestry, and comprising also ebony work, gold- smithery, painting, sculpture, designing and modelling, etc., etc. The immediate object of this step was to congregate,, all the art and talent of the world into one focus ; to complete the decorations of the reconstructed Louvre and Tuileries ; and to adorn Versailles with the most choice achieve- ments of art. The directorship of Le Brun has probably tended to perpetuate and adorn the reputation of this establishment. The tapestries were justly celebrated long before this, but they had never been applied to such masterly designs. French fine There can be no doubt but that the .French cloths. fine cloths, no less than those of the Dutch and Germans, and perhaps rather more than they at this particular epoch, established themselves in dangerous rivalry against the English, and did a great deal of injury to the interests of the British cloth-workers. And it is a remarkable proof of the difference between the genius of persistent energy in the one nation, as compared WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 83 with the other, that immediately after a period of such severe trials and reverses, in the pre- sence of such aspiring, wealthy, industrious, and opulent competitors as the Dutch, and notwith- standing the steady efforts of the French Government, combined with the superior taste and operative skill of the French people, the British woollen manufactures should have sud- denly revived with such redoubled animation not only in England, but in Scotland and Ireland also, whilst those of France sunk into comparative insignificance. True it is that external circumstances once more contributed to bring about this result ; nevertheless, the results were apparently out of all comparison to these causes. It was during a period of the greatest un- Progress of the certainty and distress in England that the wool- land 6 and ire* len manufactures of Ireland, and probably of Scotland, were firmly established, although those of Scotland are mentioned long before. Early in the Civil War, a number of cloth- workers settled, and resumed their trade at Dublin, Cork, Kin- sale, and Clonmel, and some French drugget manufacturers, who had previously sought a permanent establishment in England, founded factories at Waterford. 84 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Spanish wool The introduction of Spanish wool into this introduced about 1660. country became a decided feature in the trade only at the time of the Kestoration, in 1660, just when the French fine cloths, made exclusively of that material, were in their highest repute. The object of the direct encouragement given to the use of Spanish wool was to enable the English cloth- workers to equal or excel the French in the production of superfine fabrics, and subsequently this result was achieved. But notwithstanding many artificial efforts to revive the prosperity of this trade at that period, the attempt failed, the distress went on increasing, and the trade, both domestic and foreign, was sinking to nothing. fhe^port f In 1665 ' the ex P ortation of cloth nad become trade, 1665. merely nominal, not more than a tenth of what it had been a century before, and some 2000 or 3000 cloth-workers emigrated in a body to the Palatinate, where they established woollen manu- factories. Nothing seemed to restore the British cloths to the position in the continental markets which they had secured before the ill-advised prohibition issued against the exportation of undyed cloth. About the same time the French Govern- ment was receiving, protecting, and encouraging WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 85 one Van Kobey, a Dutch Protestant, who settled and founded fine Spanish cloth factories at Abbeville. The Plague also of 1665, and the Fire of Lon- don of 1666, respectively tended to exacerbate the condition of manufacturing depression in England, and, certainly, not without some ground for super- stitious alarm, contributed to engender a great degree of despondency, so universal and increasing seemed the calamities of the country. Between this period and that of the Revo- Period of the greatest de- lution (1688), the unsettled state of the country, pression, 1665 the lack of administrative talent, and the reck- lessness or bigotry of the Court conspired to arrest any tendency to revival, and these thirteen years may be mentioned as the time of the greatest depression which the woollen trade had suffered since the days of Edward III. The very profusion of attempted remedies is Perplexity as to remedies for a proof of the sickly state of the trade. A pro- the calamities of the trade. digious number of causes were accused of occa- sioning this deplorable depression. In a remon- strance addressed to the Lords Commissioners for the Treaty of Commerce with France, in 1 764, it is represented that the total exports of manufactured articles (woollen and silk) from hence to France in the year 1668-69 only amounted to a value of 86 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 84,621 6s. 8d., whereas the linen and silk fabrics imported hither from France, in the same year, amounted to a value of 807,250 4#., besides some 300,000 for wines, brandies, etc., and the value of an incredible quantity of toys, rich apparel, point-lace, etc., etc. Between 1660 and 1680, the contraband exportation of wool, especially to France, is continually lamented as the great cause of the decay of English manufactures. Others complained bitterly that instead of manufacturing Spanish wools into fine cloths, the fine Dutch fabrics made of this material, especially Dutch blacks, were imported in large quantities for con- sumption into this country. And amongst other notable schemes devised for the revival of the cloth-working trade, was a regulation established by the Corporation of London, prohibiting all persons not free of the city from dealing in " any way in the Blackwell Hall, Leaden Hall, or Welsh Hall, where the cloth-dealings were transacted. Amongst the foreign cloth manufactures of which the British monopolists had become jealous, we hear much of those of Silesia. It was averred in- 1655 that Silesia annually produced some 220,000 cloths, and that the exportation of them to Brandenburg, and other parts of Germany, had totally displaced cloth of British manufacture. At WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 87 times, and especially in 1660, the Merchant Adventurers were blamed for the decay of the trade. At other times, even the East India Company incurred its share of the perplexed dis- content of the weavers. It was alleged by the private merchants, or Interlopers as they were called, that from June 24 to September 29, 1661, the Merchant Adventurers had only bought and exported from Exeter 225 pieces in all, including serges, broad-cloths, kerseys, Devonshire dozens, and bays ; and that the private merchants of Exeter had, during the same period, contrived to export and find a market for the same goods, in the same foreign markets, to the extent of 9254 pieces. Accordingly, in 1662, temporary license was granted to all persons to buy and ship woollen manufactures. In 1663, however, the clothiers themselves petitioned for the revocation of this license. In a pamphlet, published in 1663, " woollen Value of the cloths, woollen stuffs of all sorts, stockings, and imports to and ribandings," are named as the chief existing 1663. manufactures ; and the large importation of French goods is again lamented as the cause of the deplorable depression of the home trade. As it is curious and interesting, from exhibiting the details of the entire trade, between 'the two 88 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. nations at that period, we transcribe the enume- ration as we find it : " Velvets plain and wrought, satins plain and wrought, cloth of gold and silver, armoysins, and other merchandises of silk, which are made at IJions, and are valued to be yearly worth ... , -, . . . . .150,000 In silks, stuffs, taffeties, poudesoys, etc. ; tabbies, plain and wrought silk, ribbands, etc., made at Tours . . . 300,000 In silk ribbands, gallowns, laces and buttons of silk, made at Paris, Eouen, etc. . . ^ . . . . _. 150,000 A great quantity of serges made at Chalons, Chartres, Estamin, Eheims, Amiens, etc. . . ..-,,-.'..'.. . . 150,000 In bever, demicastor, and felt hats of Paris, etc. . . . 120,000 In feathers, belts, girdles, hatbands, fans, hoods, masks, gilt and wrought looking-glasses, cabinets, watches, pictures, cases, medals, tablets, bracelets, and other such-like mercery wares, above . . . . . . . . 150,000 In perfumed and trimmed gloves 10,000 In all sorts of ironmonger wares 40,000 In linen cloth made in Brittany and Normandy . . . 400,000 In pins, needles, box-combs, tortoiseshell-combs, etc. . . 20,000 In papers of all sorts, above . . . * .... .' . 100,000 In household stuff, beds, bedding, etc. . ... . 100,000 In wines, above . . . . . . > V - . , . 600,000 In aqua-vitse, cyder, vinegar, verjuice, etc 100,000 In saffron, Castile soap, honey, almonds, prunes, etc. . . 150,000 Besides five or six hundred vessels of salt. Total, above .... 2,540,000 " The commodities exported out of England into France, consisting chiefly of woollen cloths, serges, knit-stockings, lead, pewter, alum, and all else, do not amount to above 1,000,000."* Prohibitory These unfavourable conditions were attributed, duties in France. not without reason, to the exclusive policy of * " England's Interest Considered," by Samuel Fortrey. London, WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 89 France, which, whilst it lavished rewards upon its own operatives, imposed an increasing rate of duties upon English-wrought commodities, until they became practically prohibitory. In 1632 a duty of 6 livres was imposed upon each piece of English broad-cloth. In 1644 this duty was raised to 9 livres, in 1654 to 30 livres, in 1664 to 40 livres, and in 1667 to 80 livres, when it practically closed the French ports against this article as well as against all serges, upon which duties had been progressively heaped in the like proportion. In 1678 (see the Act 29-30 Charles II. c. 1), a clause was inserted into the Act of Parliament then passed, prohibit- ing French commodities for three years, and the ^g ch goods ' " Protectionists' 7 loudly boast of this Act as the first cause of reviving prosperity for British manufactures. At the period at which the force of this clause was to have expired there was no session of Parliament, so that it continued active until repealed in 1685, under James II. Repealed 1685, revived (1 Jas. II. c. 6); and it was revived in 1689 I689andi693 in the Act 1 W. & M. c. 34, and in 1.693 in the Act 4 and 5 W. & M. c. 25 ; whilst the Methuen Treaty with Portugal, in 1706, was a confirmation of the same line of policy. Sir Josiah Child, writing in 1667, although 90 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. lie harps upon the popular error that the illicit export of wool (runnage) was the great cause (instead of the effect) of the depression of manu- factures, seems to have been partially alive to some of the most powerful causes of industrial decline. Mischief of re- He blames all the absurd restrictions imposed strictions and monopolies, upon the establishment and locality of factories, the forced distribution of labour, the restriction upon looms, the laws rendering the use of cer- tain materials, and the making of certain kinds of fabric, compulsory, notwithstanding changes in tastes and requirements ; and he just dimly perceives the grievous mischief of the monopolies. As a picture of the past and surviving trade of Great Britain at that period, we transcribe his enumeration of the trades which have declined or been lost, and of those which continue : "Trades lost to this kingdom are 1. The Eussia trade, where the Dutch had the foregoing year twenty-two sail of great ships, and the English but one. 2. The Greenland trade, where the Dutch and Hamburghers have yearly at least four or five hundred sail of ships, and the English but one the last year, and none the former. The great trade of salt, from St. Vuat's, in Portugal, and from France, with salt, wine, and brandy WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 91 to the eastlands. 4. All that vast trade of fishing for white herrings upon our coast. 5. The east country trade, in which we have not' so much to do as we had formerly, and the Dutch ten times more than they had in times past. 6. A very great part of our trade for Spanish wools from Bilboa. 7. The East India trade for spices. 8. The trades of Scotland and Ireland are lost to the Dutch. The trade to Norway is in great part lost. 10. A very great part of the French trade, by reason of great impositions laid there upon our draperies. 11. A great part of the plate trade to Cadiz is lost to the Dutch. 12. The trade of Suriaiiham also since the Dutch got possession of that country. 13. The trade to Menades. 14. The English trade to Guinea. Most of the forementioned are the greatest trades in the world for the employment of shipping and seamen." "The trades we retain are 1. The fish trader of red herrings at Yarmouth, etc. 2. A good share of the Turkey, Italian, Spanish, and Portugal trades. 3. Our trades to and from our own plantations." As a set-off against the many calamities which A few favour- able circum- pressed so heavily upon British industry during stances. this disastrous period, we have but a few favour- 92 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Godolphin Treaty with Spain, 1667. All material saye sheep's wool for shroxids prohi- bited, 1679. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. able circumstances, of which one was the (Godol- phin) Treaty of Commerce with Spain, in 1667, which it was hoped at the time would prove highly favourable to our clothiers. Another circumstance which attracted considerable attention at the time, and was thought of great importance, was the return and resettlement in England of an expe- rienced clothier and dyer, called Brewer (a man of English extraction), who was accompanied by some fifty operatives, reputed amongst the most skilful of the Low Countries. It is to this Brewer and to his assistants that the greatest improve- ments in the dyeing of white cloths is attributed. Amongst other measures devised for the pur- pose of giving an impulse to the revival of the woollen manufactures,, was the curious expedient of prohibiting the use of any material for the shrouds of corpses save those wrought of sheep's wool. This law was passed in 1679. Meanwhile, however, the genius of Colbert had given place to the bigotry of Tellier and the debauched enervation of Louis XIV. ; and during the very interval when British woollen manufac- tures seemed to have suffered an incurable palsy, the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes (which had secured some degree of toleration to the Pro- testants, comprising the most industrious opera- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 93 tives of France), extorted by a minister dying Emigration of French, wea- the incarnation of bigotry from a monarch ^ers to Eng- land, emasculated by his vices, produced a panic which; drove the most skilful spinners, dyers, and weavers once more to seek an asylum in England. Sud- 1 denly reduced from prosperity to comparative indigence, in a foreign country, these emigrants were compelled to apply themselves immediately to the pursuits with which they were familiar ; and fortunately the Eevolution, which took place ' soon afterwards, secured to them the protection and encouragement prompted by the new policy of the State. These emigrants included silk and' linen, as well as woollen, manufacturers ; and ' whilst the silk and linen manufactures, which ' had been founded in England a century earlier, upon the previous French immigration, were con- firmed, improved, and extended whilst Spital-' fields became the seat of the important trade' which since then has continued to flourish, the woollen manufactures concentrating in the western counties, the West Eiding of Yorkshire, and the south-west of Scotland, derived the additional advantage of the skill to be borrowed from the sister handicrafts. , . . .Third great Thus, then, we have arrived at the third' epoch in the history of Bri- great epoch in the history of British woollens,, tish woollens. 94 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. being that of the second great French immi- gration. Butch spirit of The rivalry of the Dutch was rendered less t8.' an formidable by the Dutch themselves. With in- creasing prosperity, they had become more and more narrow in their principles of commerce. As phlegmatic, enduring, and plodding as the English in their character, they were less bold and enter- prising. The system of monopoly which had so fatally destroyed the vitality of British manu- factures, and incapacitated them from sustaining the shock of reviving competition from Germany, Holland, and France, now reacted with uninter- mitting effect upon Dutch industry, and deprived it of that buoyancy which alone could have enabled it to resist the reviving rivalry of British energy. The temper of Dutch commercial principles, which rendered that shrewd and laborious na- tion unequal to the subsequent competition with British enterprise, when by its daring and energy it gradually, though slowly, forced the barriers of restriction and monopoly, was that so ad- mirably and pithily expressed by Canning in his celebrated Despatch : " In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch, Is giving too little and asking too much." WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 95 This mania of monopoly which had cha- Monopoly in England gra- racterized the operations of all the mercantile dually re- trenched. communities of modern Europe up to this time, and which continued until very recently to sur- vive in our own commercial institutions, was differently seasoned in England and in Holland. The English character furnished a spice of daring in adventure (added to the shrewdness, solidity, and perseverance common to the Dutch also), which prompted British enterprise to deride the difficulties erected in its track, and to defy the precautions devised to limit its career. Gradually whole piles of Acts of Parliament and charters came to be virtually disregarded, in so far as their most obnoxious provisions were concerned. Though unrepealed, or even unmodified, they fell into comparative desuetude, as it were, by common consent ; until, finally, interests sufficiently powerful had been erected to erase them from the statute-book. With some few exceptions, if new monopo- lies were called into existence, they obtained countenance only under the mask of very specious pretences, whereby it was sought to represent them as no monopolies. Even powerful corporate bodies, like the East India Company, which commanded most of 96 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. the avenues to the Parliament and the Council Chamber, were compelled, after a severe but un- availing struggle, to part with one exclusive privi- lege after another, in order to obtain the renewal of the rest ; and this, not because ministers were averse to India House patronage, or the House of Commons was easily shocked at chartered corruptions, but because the vigilance of the nation was awakening, and the keenness of its impulse to enterprise made itself so felt at St. Stephen's, that ministers were fain to confess they durst not wholly disregard the known will of the country at large. ^ e memora kle " Manchester Act" as it was called, was passed in 1736 (9 Geo. II. c. 4), practically to annul the provisions of an Act passed only fifteen years before (1721), at the bidding of the woollen traders, to restrain the use of "printed, painted, stained, and dyed cali- coes' (7 Geo. I. c. 7), because it was alleged that the use of such stuff was " highly injurious " to British woollens. To furnish their parlia- mentary accomplices with plausible pretences for the support of such a measure as this Act against calicoes, the clothiers had piled the table of the House of Commons with petitions, imploring protection for the distressed weavers since 1719. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 97 Nevertheless, in a very few years this restriction became odious* As early as 1715, we find Parliament taking First stroke of liberal policy, what was then a very exceptional step in the right direction ; it related to the woollen trade of Colchester. Regardless of the former right of those who had served their time to any branch of woollen manufacture in that place to establish themselves and pursue their calling there, the corporation, composed for the time being of baize-makers, made a bye-law in 1706, restrict- ing the privilege of the trade to those who had served apprenticeship to their own parti- cular branch. The Act of 1715 (1 and 2 Geo. I. c. 41) wholly set aside this bye-law, and restored the privilege of making any woollen stuff, to every person who would have possessed it before 1706. That the provisions of this Act were but very moderately liberal is true. It is also true that there were many and grievous exceptions to this spirit of commercial emancipation ex- ceptions of which we will enumerate some par- ticulars directly. Nevertheless, it was the tendency to com- mercial emancipation, to which we have alluded, that constituted the chief difference between us H 98 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. and the Dutch, and gradually exalted our trade out of theirs, as they had formerly erected theirs out of that of the Hanse Towns and Spain. The jealousy of the Dutch, too, drove them to provoke disputes in which they were not strong enough to achieve a decisive success. They at- tempted to check the aspiring maritime and colonial pretensions of this country, by a series of petty vexations, which only served to expose them to periodical chastisement, and to pro- gressive reduction of influence. Else, progress, Here it may be useful, as well as interesting, and condition - , . , ,, . -. of the Dutch to take a rapid survey of the rise, progress, and contemporaneous history of Dutch woollen manu- factures, and of the commerce through w^hich they were distributed. The woollen manufactures of Holland proper are traced, first, to the immigration of clothiers, dyers, etc., from Flanders and Brabant, in the 14th century, in consequence of the troubles of the latter countries. Leyden was one of the first places where they settled and wrought. By 1487, the trade in wool and woollens was already considerably concentrated at Amsterdam, which rose in rivalry to Antwerp. Hardy, enduring, much engaged in fishery, the Hollanders num- bered amongst them many good seamen. To- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 99 wards the close of the 16th century, the furious persecutions suffered by the industrious classes in the Spanish Netherlands, drove numbers more of the most able manufacturers and operatives into Holland, which was rendered the most available asylum for them by the immunities which were extended to them, whilst jealous exclusiveness was prevalent in England and in the Hanse Towns, where aliens were not only subjected to double taxation, but were limited in the exercise of . their industry to trades already in existence. The war between France and Spain, which broke out in 1634, drove many more of the manufac- turers of Flanders and Brabant into Holland, and thus served to heighten the industrial pros- perity of the Dutch. Meanwhile, the Dutch themselves had not been idle. They had taken advantage of the truce concluded with Spain in 1609, to extend their commerce by every means. Their commercial fleets swept the seas. In 1612 they concluded, a commercial treaty with the Sultan, whereby they opened out the trade of the whole Mediterranean, and especially of the Levant, where, in exchange for cloth, they obtained raw silk, the beautiful wool of Persia, and that of Asia Minor. Soon afterwards they alone amongst all European nations, established 100 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. commercial relations with Japan, where they found a good market for their woollens. Then came the peace with Spain by the treaty of Munster, which was greatly beneficial to Dutch trade. Polish wool In 1680, we find the Dutch ransacking the introduced by the Dutch, world for the raw material wherewithal to feed 1680. their woollen manufactures, and obtaining wool from Poland (which the French at that time also imported) for the manufacture of coarse cloths, druggets, and stuffs, for the markets of Spain, Portugal (with their colonies), and Germany ; and deriving what they termed Sclavonian "Wools, in small quantities, and of less value than the English, probably from Transylvania and Wal- lachia. With France, their relations were not always on the most satisfactory footing ; but the jealous exclusiveness of the French reacted rather upon themselves than upon the United Provinces. As early as 1659, the trade between these two countries was very considerable, and very advan- tageous to both. In that year the Dutch im- ported French goods to the value of 35,000,000 livres, of which no less a sum than 1,500,000 was for worsted spun in Picardy alone. In 1662, the Dutch concluded a reciprocal treaty WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 101 of commerce with France; but in 1667 all foreign commodities (Dutch included) were sub- jected to the exorbitant tariff aimed at the Eng- lish, notwithstanding the treaty of 1662. The Dutch complained of this flagrant violation of engagements, but obtained no redress, and re- torted by prohibiting French commodities. In 1672, war broke out between the two countries, and all commercial intercourse was stopped ; but, in 1678, by virtue of the treaty of Nime- guen, the Dutch obtained an exceptional re- laxation in their favour, and a return to the respective tariffs of 1662. The death of Colbert once more put an end to this mutually advan- tageous understanding, and the duties of 1667 were again imposed upon all Dutch goods im- ported into France; whereupon, the Dutch re- torted by setting up manufactures on a large scale, of silk ribbands, laces, gold and silver bro- cades, hats, paper, and all other articles hitherto supplied to them by France. And from that time, the maritime trade in French manufactures sensibly declined, and the struggle continued between the Dutch and English, whose mer- cantile fleets brought them into constant and direct competition, and gradually tended to esta- blish the supremacy of the latter. 102 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. At the close of the 17th century we may sum up the Dutch trade, in so far as it affected wool and woollens, as follows : Seats of maim- Amsterdam, Ley den, and Haarlem were the facture in Hol- land, most important markets for wool and woollen fabrics. At Leyden the best and finest serges, camlets, etc., were the principal articles made. At Haarlem, cloths, camlets, and all sorts of wool and hair stuffs were made in great perfection. whence the The Dutch imported wool from Spain and Dutch drew r supplies of Portugal, England, Ireland, and Scotland (pro- wool. hibitions notwithstanding), from all parts of Germany, from Pomerania, Poland, Silesia, the Levant, Persia, and South America. To Spain they shipped drab stuffs, serges, fine and coarse camlets, and -black anacost cloths, a great part of which were destined for the South American colonies. To Portugal they ex- ported various kinds of woollens and silk -fabrics. To Smyrna, for the. Levant trade, and for the caravan transport to the interior of Asia, they shipped, chiefly, cloths, importing in exchange, raw and spun silks, twisted goats' and camels' hair, coloured camlets, and wool, amongst which was the beautiful Persian red wool (of Cara- mania), the most highly prized then known. To WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 103 the Italian ports (Venice excepted) that is, to Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, and Messina they ex- ported cloths, serges, and camlets. To Venice they sent many varieties of woollens, but no cloth, as that was prohibited. To Surat they shipped many cloths destined for the court of the Moguls. To Bengal they sent cloth ; to Tonquin, the same ; and to Japan, cloth and wool (which the Japanese, it seems, also manufactured in some way). To Kussia, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, the Dutch also exported many coarse, and some fine, woollen draperies, receiving in exchange metals, skins, some coarse wool, timber, and other goods. To Konigsberg, in Prussia, they shipped cloth and other woollen fabrics, and the same to Poland, in large quantities. Through Hamburgh they supplied nearly the whole of Central Germany with ene or other, or with several varieties, of their woollen fabrics (those parts excepted in which the manufacture was already established) ; by way of Emden and the Ems they obtained the woollen cloth of Pader- born and Munster ; by way of the Weser they distributed woollens, in exchange for wool, through Lower Germany ; by way of the Rhine and Moselle they poured their woollen fabrics 104 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. into all the towns lying near these streams, col- lecting raw material in exchange ; at Frankfort there were two fairs every year, where Dutch commodities were those most plentifully fur- nished ; by way of the Meuse, the serges of Leyden found their way to Liege, and the varied fabrics of Haarlem to Aix-la-Chapelle. Prices of wool In 1719, the average prices of the various in HolliUid, 1719. qualities of wool most used in Holland are au- thentically stated to have been as follow : North German wool, from Wd. to lid. (British sterling) the Dutch pound- weight ; for Liinenburg and Bre- men wool, *7d. ; Polish summer clip, lid. to Is. ; Caramanian red wool (Persian), from 2s. "Id. to 4s. 2d. ; best Spanish, 3s. lOd. ; Portuguese, 2s. 6d. British wool- After the Kevolution, the history of British lens since the ^ Revolution of woollen manufactures is one of steadily increas- 1688. ing prosperity and opulence. Even during the reign of William III. the trade had not only recovered the ascendancy and importance acquired a century before, and since well-nigh extinguished, but had surpassed its greatest former success. At the close of the 1 7th century, a very reliable estimate fixes the annual value of woollen manufactures in Great Britain at nearly 10,000,000 ; of which goods to the value of nearly 3,000,000 were annually ex- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 105 ported. King and Davenant thus divided the Value of the manufacture wealth of England at that time : and ex P ort trade. Annual income of England . > , 43,000,000 Yearly rent of land . . * . . 10,000,000 Value of wool yearly shorn . *'', , . 2,000,000 Value of woollen manufacture made here . 8,000,000 Value of wooUen manufacture exported . 2,000,000 But in the "British Merchant" for 1699, the value of woollen goods exported in that year is stated at 2,932,292 17s. 6d. The vicissitudes experienced by the woollen trade during the 18th century were few and, upon the whole, unimportant. The extent and quality of the manufactures, the variety of the fabrics, the skill of the operatives, the inventive application of the master clothiers, and the ex- portation of woollen manufactured goods now once more the great staple commodity of British industry went on continually increasing. The untoward aspect of external affairs upon the breaking out of the American War of Indepen- dence, and from that time until after its close, no doubt checked the exportation of woollen fabrics ; yet there is nothing in the .recorded condition of the trade to show that any retrogression, or even any serious depression, ensued even during that calamitous period. 106 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. In fact, it was just when our commerce was threatened by the debilitated condition of our navy, the loss of our principal colonies, and afterwards by a general maritime combina- tion against us, that those decisive changes were being carried out in the mechanical departments of yarn and cloth manufacture, which formed the fourth great epoch in the history of our manufactures in general, and of our woollen manufactures in particular. Yet, as we have already intimated, the revival and steady advance of the woollen trade after the Revolution, was neither characterized nor accompanied by very many or very striking applications in practice of those more enlight- ened views respecting the true principles and interests of trade which were beginning to acquire currency. Prohibitions The prohibition against the exportation of against export- , , " . ing wool re- wool was renewed by stringent enactments as occasion seemed to call for the security of new provisions. Such was the Act in 1688 ; in which, however, exceptions were made as re- garded limited quantities of wool to be shipped only at Southampton for Jersey, Guernsey, Al- derney, and Sark. Such, also, was the Act of 1695 ; in which it was additionally provided, WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 107 that wool might be exported from Ireland, but only to Whitehaven, Liverpool, Chester, Bristol, Bridgewater, Minehead, Barnstaple, and Biddi- ford. Cruisers were by this Act directed to watch between the North Foreland and the Isle of Wight, to intercept any running of wools across Channel. Such, also, was the Act of 1697, which forbade the exportation of wool and fuller's-earth, even to Ireland. Another Act, passed in 1695, avowedly for the encourage- ment of linen manufactures in Ireland, was preparatory to the atrocious law enacted in 1698 and confirmed in 1700, prohibiting the exportation of woollen fabrics from Ireland. It was estimated that Ireland then con- Enactments tained some 50,000 people, mostly English im- ien manufac- . , . n i . .. tures in migrants or their descendants, who depended Ireland, 1698- upon the woollen trade they being clothiers, weavers, dyers, worsted-combers, and hatters. Even as early as 1672, that is, before any favourable reaction had taken place in the English manufactures, the wool exported from Ireland by far the greater part of which was sent to England and Scotland was estimated to have amounted to 2,000,000 Ibs. ; and that retained for the consumption of the Irish fac- tories was calculated at 6,000,000 Ibs. ; the 108 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Period 1698- tota i number of sheep being estimated at 4,000,000. Consequent The enactments of 1698 and 1700 were, decrease of the as ma y ke su PP ose( i f atal to Irish woollen manufactures, and produced for some years what was esteemed as a desirable reaction in favour of the English manufacturers, both by lowering the price of raw wool and by liberat- ing an increased supply of material for the use of the English clothiers. Thus, the price of good English wool, which had ranged but little below 28s. a tod of 28 Ibs. in 1694-5-6, sunk almost uninterruptedly to between 165. and 14s., which was the current rate between 1736 and 1743; the exception being a tempo- rary reaction in 1717 and 1718. And as re- gards the supply of raw material obtained by the English clothiers (besides the very consi- derable quantity smuggled into France), we find from the official records, that from 1700 to 1728 the annual importations from Ireland into England amounted to 4,086,000 Ibs. ; in 1723 the quantity was 4,883,238 Ibs. But the ulti- mate result of so selfish and short-sighted a policy was evidently as disastrous to the Irish sheep-farmers as it had previously been to the weavers, etc., and thus eventually recoiled, with WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 109 merited disadvantage, upon the English clothiers, since the average annual importation of wool from Ireland into England between 1725 and 1730 had sunk to 2,430,000 Ibs. ; and though in 1741 .it still amounted to 2,604,600 Ibs., in 1744 it had dwindled to 1,869,102 Ibs. In the like narrow and mischievous spirit were conceived the innumerable laws and regu- lations which continued to be directed against the great bugbear of wool exportation. In 1716, we find an Act of Parliament and an Order in Council on that subject. In 1719 the penalty of Transporta- tion the transportation for seven years, under certain cir- penalty of running wool, cumstances, was assigned to the crime of running 1716 me. wool (4 Geo. I. c. 2). In 1718 an Act was passed intended to restrain coasting vessels from running wool. On the 19th of May, 1720, the exporters of wool, woolfels, fuller's-earth, etc., had a Royal Proclamation hurled at their heads. Of a similar character were a heap of other Preventive precautions restrictive enactments passed from time to time, alon s the coast. and whereby it was forbidden to export not only wool, but coverlids, which could be reduced to wool again, or beds stuffed with wool, etc. (12 Geo. II. c. 21). Every precaution was adopted to watch even the coasting trade, lest a single pack of wool should happen to escape 110 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. to France or the Low Countries, under pretence of being intended for some other British port. AH these mea- Nevertheless, it is admitted on all hands sures ineffec- tual, that every precaution failed in preventing the illicit exportation from going on ; a circum- stance illustrative at once of that peculiar bent of national energy to which we have already attributed much of our superiority to the Dutch, and of the utter stupidity of laws which offer a premium to their own violation. Smuggling of Not only from the south and south-east wool out of i^ nd> 170 " coas t of England was this practice carried on -L / vo in defiance of the cruisers, but also, and to a still greater extent, between Wexford, Waterford, Youghal, Kinsale, etc. ; and the ports of Nantes, St. Malo, Rochelle, and Bordeaux. It was the habit of the Irish smugglers of woof to pack it in beef barrels ; and there are authentic proofs that, between 1700 and 1708 alone, a fleet of more than thirty vessels was actively and incessantly engaged in this traffic. Smuggling As m 1670, Canterbury and Dover con- frorn the south and south-east tinued to be represented as villanous dens in- coast. fested with atrocious smugglers, the bold shore of Kingsdown was then, as since, a favourite place of embarkation and debarkation. The shoals and tortuous channels which embarrassed WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Ill the mouth of the Stour, and covered the ap- proaches to the Sandhills and Sandwich, and the shaded glades of the New Forest, affording ready means of concealment on the shores of Southampton Water, were peculiarly favourable to contraband trade. And all these facilities were enhanced by the fogs and storms of the whole coast, which, whilst they served to cover the operations of the smugglers, interrupted the vigilance of the cruisers, by creating dangers which could be lightly regarded only by the experienced, bold, and skilful smuggling sea- men, prompted by the incentive of large and rapid gains. These gains were double. The French and Dutch bid high for wool ; the enormous duties levied upon French and Dutch liquors, in England, left a large margin for illicit importation, and those commodities found a ready sale in this country. Eegardless, there- fore, both of the dangers of the coast, and of the penalties imposed upon them, the smugglers went on smuggling. The French bought the wool, and wondered. The smugglers smiled, drank, and sold brandy freely. Public morality and revenue suffered. The clothiers continued to growl ; Parliament and the Council issued more decrees ; and the world wagged on. 112 WOOL AND WOOLLENS, Restrictive Besides the restrictions imposed upon the laws regula- ting the manu- exportation of raw wool, there were also other facture of woollens, measures adopted during the same period, and hardly less indicative of the manner in which monopoly still struggled to retain its hold. Such was the Act of 1720 (amended and explained by that of 1724), for preventing frauds in the making of serges, plaidings, and fingrums, and for regulating the manufacture of stockings in Scotland. Such, also, were the Acts of 1725 and 1726, for regulating the manufacture of woollens in Yorkshire, and for preventing the. combination of workmen engaged in that trade. Methuen In 1703 was concluded the commercial and its' effect.' treaty with Portugal, known as the Methuen Treaty, by virtue of which, upon granting a special degree of encouragement to Portuguese wines, we secured for our woollens admission at duties which left them in command of the market. Portuguese The history of Portuguese woollen manufac- woollens. tures, in so far as they affected external com- merce, had been very " brief," but we cannot add very " bright,' 7 or very " glorious." There had from time immemorial been, as we have already stated, a rough kind of woollen manufacture WOOL. AND WOOLLENS. 113 for the supply of the coarse stuffs in common use. It was not, however, at this, but at an improved and extended manufacture, dating from about 1681, that the treaty of 1703 was levelled. In that year, one Courteen, an Irish- man, who had been in the household of Catherine of Braganza, emigrated to Portugal, together with some baize-makers, and manufactories of that article were quickly set up at Porto Alegre and CWilha, where they soon attracted attention. Portugal, like Spain, produced good wool. Auspices of Portuguese That of Spain (the best in Europe at that period) manufacture. was easy of access ; but it was soon found that this wool was too short and too good for baize-making, and cloth manufacture was accordingly set up in its stead. Conducted by experienced workmen from England, this cloth-making quickly attained a high degree of perfection, insomuch that in 1684 the importation of foreign cloth was pro- hibited after 1685. The English merchants endeavoured to evade this prohibition by shipping cloth serges and doth druggets to Portugal ; but in 1686 these also were excluded. By this time the Portuguese clothiers were Portugal secures the sufficiently advanced to monopolize the whole whole trade with Brazil. supply required by Brazil ; and as that country, as well as the Spanish South American colonies, i 114 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. f rmer ly to k ff a 'considerable quantity of British Treaty there- WO ollen goods, the loss sustained by the success of Portuguese manufacture was bitterly com- plained of by the English clothiers. Thus, how- ever, matters continued until 1703, when the dependence of the House of Braganza upon British support, combined with the selfishness of the vineyard proprietors, extorted from the Por- tuguese Government the well-known Methuen Treaty. This convention, acting upon the spirit- less temper of the Portuguese, was fatal to their woollen manufactures, insomuch that the English woollens were soon restored to a complete com- mand of the market; and by 1713, the exports of those commodities from hence to Portugal amounted in value to 600,000 during the year. Union of Scot- It was at this period that the union of land, and its effects. Scotland with England into one realm was effected, and that the jealousies existing between the manufacturers and wool-staplers of the two countries were brought to an end by the uni- formity of the restrictive policy thenceforward extended over the whole of Great Britain. Whereas, previously, and even as late as the year 1704, considerable quantities of English, Irish, and Scotch wool had been exported, prin- cipally to Holland ; for notwithstanding the Acts WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 115 of the foregoing reign, which forbade the expor- tation of wool from Ireland even to Scotland, a large quantity of Irish wool found its way to the western coast of Scotland ; and the Scot- tish Parliament of 1704 had rather encouraged than opposed the exportation. This circumstance is the more noteworthy that it was under this system of indulgence respecting the raw material that the Scottish woollen manufactures made decisive and rapid progress, at the period when those of England, hitherto flourishing, were barely able to maintain themselves. Not that this was the origin of woollen manufactures in Scotland, as we have already had occasion to state, in speaking of the French trade (at pp. 83, etc.). Scottish cloth is mentioned as a considerable article of export, as early as the year 1511. And besides this, it is well known that home-spinning, knitting, and even weaving, for domestic use, were 'everywhere practised at obscurely remote dates, and that plaids a species of woollen fabric till then peculiar to Scotland had been made for the use of the population long before the time of which we are now speaking. It does not, however, appear that the woollen manufactures of Scotland were either so much 116 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. multiplied, diversified, or extended, or contri- buted so largely to the external commerce of the country, until about the time of the Union. But in the beginning of the 1 8th century we find the Scottish woollen manufactures already advanced to a considerable degree of prosperity and importance. Seats and con- In 1705, wool spinning and stocking weav- ditionofScot- . L ? tish woollen ing are mentioned as employing many hands manufactures, 1705. at Aberdeen ; and amongst the woollen manu- factures of Scotland generally are mentioned "broadcloth, fingrines, serges, bays, crapes, tem- min, Glasgow plaids, all sorts of fine worsted camlets, together with other stuffs, and coarse (felted) hats." The worsted camlets of Hamilton and Glasgow in particular are quoted " as very near those stuffs in England ; for what they want in the fineness of the wool they are finer in the thread " (better spun ?), and " well wrought" (woven 1). It is, however, to be re- marked that up to this period the Scottish manu- facturers had not paid sufficient attention to the proper sorting of the wool, for it was a matter of complaint against Scotch fabrics, that the hairy parts of the fleece were so mixed up in the working, that they damaged the finer fibre in the stuffs. Not improbably they were ill WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 117 felted, for the finish is sadly impugned. It was also a matter of complaint that they were ill dyed and dressed, and that the colours produced were deficient of that gloss and brilliancy characteristic of the finer French fabrics of the time, and of the then pre-eminent broad- cloth of Somersetshire, Worcestershire, and Glou- cestershire. Aberdeen woollen stockings were made at Quality and . prices of Scot- irom 10 a. to 30 a. a pair, and the best Scottish tish woollens, broadcloths commanded 12$. a yard, which was not much below the current price for English fabrics. So that there must have been some superior broadcloths made in Scotland, all the complaints against them notwithstanding. It is further worthy of some notice that, according to official records, Scottish cloths to the value of 100,000 guilders annually were imported into the dominions of the House of Burgundy as early as 1511. It is a question whether the term Scottish was merely a nomen- clature, or indicated the real origin of the fabrics. Scotch authorities are wanting. ^ Whilst these extensions were being achieved Circumstances . affecting the by the manufactures of Great Britain, the mar- British trade, kets in which they had to seek for a profitable market were more or less affected by a variety 118 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. of circumstances, besides those which have been already mentioned, amongst the most important of which was the contemporaneous condition of French commerce. The establishment of woollen manufactories in various foreign countries, and in our own co- lonies, the extension of our establishments in the East Indies, our relations with some other states, and chiefly with Spain, and some few domestic events, are all entitled to some consideration. Manufactures Of these, we would notice the least important of Poland and Silesia. first ; and such were the coarse woollen fabrics now made in Eastern Europe. In Poland, as well as in Silesia, as early as in 1648, manufac- tories had been established by Dutch and other weavers invited thither for that purpose. Of Mexico. Early in the 18th century woollen manufac- tories had been established in Mexico princi- pally at Puebla where cloth was made which vied with the finest Spanish in quality, and that almost entirely out of Mexican and Guatemala wool. of the North About the same time, that is, in 1715, we find that numerous manufactories of the rougher kinds of woollens had been established in the British North American colonies, a circumstance which was, in a great degree, attributed to the WOOL AND WOOLLENS. . 119 uncertainty and costliness of supplies obtained from the mother country during the European wars of that period. In New England, various woollen stuffs, kerseys, linsey-woolseys, and flan- nels were made, In Maryland some linens and woollens were made at all events by 1746. Woollen and linen cloths were also made in the provinces of New York, Connecticut, Ehode Island, and Penn- sylvania, and druggets in Carolina. If, however, these colonial manufactures at any time materially affected the prosperity of British industry, it is quite clear that they have not continued to do so since the War of Inde- pendence. Even the interruption of our mutual commerce, occasioned by that struggle, was pro- ductive of a prejudice to our woollen trade which was very slight, when compared with the prodi- gious advantages which that branch of industry derived from our subsequent intercourse with the United States. Probably the woollen manufac- tures of North America were exotic, and little calculated to maintain themselves under circum- stances of commerce less hampered by foolish prejudices. Wool is not abundant, although it is said that there is, or was, a native breed of sheep, having spare fleeces of the finest quality. 120 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Certain it is that the United States became our best and most constant customers for woollen fabrics. Keiations with As regards the relations existing between tiS^effects. this country and Spain, in so far as they affected the prosperity of our woollen manufactures, the latter country was too much under the influ- ence of France for our intercourse to be on the most advantageous footing ; although, as for Spain, in its own proper national capacity, it was so rapidly sinking in the scale of world- wide influence, as to render its councils and its stupid, exclusive policy of comparatively less and less importance from year to year. The terms The Treaty of of the Godolphin Treaty of 1667 were yet in Utrecht, 1712. force when the intercourse between Spam and England was interrupted by that conflict, or series of conflicts, which terminated in the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1712. By the treaty of 1667, the duties imposed upon English mer- chandise were fixed at 11 per cent, in Anda- lusia, 5 per cent, in Valencia, and 7 per cent, in Catalonia terms which were, or naturally seemed to be, highly favourable at that period, when France was saddling the same commodities with duties amounting to at least 50 per cent. By the explanatory articles appended to the WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 121 Treaty of Utrecht, however, the duties imposed increased TA , . ! ^ -,. . -..,. duties in Spain upon British merchandise in Andalusia were upon British raised to 27J per cent. An universal outcry was, g< consequently, raised in England by all those directly or indirectly interested in the staple trade of woollens, both against the treaty, and against the Earl of Oxford, as the minister by whom it had been negotiated. Loud were the complaints of the British merchants at Cadiz, and so weighty was the matter conceived to be, that upon the accession of George I., one of the first considerations submitted to Parliament was the desirableness of negotiating new terms. That the explanatory articles appended to the Treaty of Utrecht, as regarded the importation of British woollens into Spanish territories, were highly disadvantageous, is true enough. It is, moreover, evident, from the very facts adduced by the apologists of that instrument, that the result upon this branch of our exports was anything but satisfactory, bearing in mind the encouragement which trade in all departments (especially the export trade in manufactured articles) might have fairly been expected to derive from a general peace after an exhausting war. Subjoined are the average quantities of woollen fabrics exported from, and of Spanish raw wool 122 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Returns of the imported into, England, in the three years before trade in 1709 J 1714. the peace (1709-10-11), and in the three years after the peace under the influence of the ex- planatory articles above named (in 1712-13-14), respectively, viz. : In 1709-10-11. In 1712-13-14. Bays exported 127,493 pieces. 158,904 pieces. Cloth, all sorts . 107,888 152,642 Cottons . '. . 273,017 '525,227 Kerseys . . . 59,885 83,110 Perpets and Serges 8,250,805 Ibs. 8,643,505 Ibs. Flannel ... 990,451 yards. 1,213,949 yards. Stockings .... 81,472 doz. pairs. 96,939 doz.pairs. Stuffs . . v<~ 3,186,031 Ibs. 5,586,968 Ibs. Says .... 495,457 619,262 Northern dozens . 19,385 52,151 Hats .... 25,383 doz. 29,373 doz. ish wool imported . . 13,986 bags. 20,388 bags. New Spanish In 1715, the negotiations above mentioned had treaty, 1715. already been completed, and a commercial treaty had been concluded with Spain, reinstating the conditions and duties fixed by the Godolphin interrupted, Treaty in 1667. In 1718 the relations founded -L/-Lo upon this treaty were again interrupted by a war, in no small degree occasioned by the wilful neglect or violation of its conditions on the part of Spain, secretly, if not openly, instigated thereto by France. New Spanish In 1720, peace was once more restored, and in 1721 a new commercial treaty was concluded WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 123 between Great Britain and Spain, upon the basis of those of 1667 and 1715. Amongst the circumstances of minor import- ance (besides those already noticed), it is now proper to mention some other seats of the woollen trade which had been exalted into notice, or had attracted attention, partly owing to the activity of the principal manufacturers and partly owing to their commercial rivalries, during the latter part of the 17th, and the beginning of the 18th centuries. From Persia some very elegant worsted Woollens of J p f Persia, Kussia, druggets were obtained. In Kussia coarse Bohemia, Prussia, etc. woollens were made for domestic consumption from inferior native wool ; in Sweden the same. In Bohemia the woollen and linen manufactures were rising to some degree of consequence, par- ticularly the former, well supplied as they were from the abundant native flocks which furnished a surplus of raw material for exportation chiefly into Holland. In Prussia woollen manufactures had been established to a very considerable extent. In Transylvania fine cloth was made. At Dil- lenburg various woollen stuffs were made, and the trade was thriving. At Zurich, in Switzer- land, woollen crapes were made ; and at Venice the manufacture of superfine cloth, and of other 124 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. woollen stuffs, continued to be carried on with great success ; whilst Hesse furnished the best of German wools, Parma the best of Italian, and the Veronese the most abundant ; and the fleeces of Hungary and Styria found their way either to Transylvania or to Vienna, but mostly to the latter. Condition of Now, however, we come to consider those con- the French . trade under temporary manufactures which continued most extreme pro- t m . tection. to irritate the jealousy and to alarm the sus- ceptibility of the British clothiers, dyers, and all their associated capitalists and operatives. These were the woollen manufactures of France. Weary of abusing the Dutch, the British woollen traders concentrated all their spleen upon the French, oddly enough, when the policy of the latter, and of which the English traders complained, was telling with fatal effect upon themselves, and doing more to secure a supremacy to the British woollen trade than the latter's own efforts could have otherwise hoped to achieve. Though out of place in point of date, it is worthy of remark here, that when a man of the greatest genius ruled the destinies of France that man being Napoleon I. his so- called " continental system," which was an attempted generalization of the like policy, in . WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 125 like manner recoiled with signal disaster both upon himself and upon his country. At the time of which we are speaking D Distribution (between the latter end of the 1 7th, and the of th e French trade. middle of the 18th centuries), woollen manu- < factures occupied the most extended sphere of operations which they ever attained (cateris paribus). The trade, whether for raw material or for fabrics, was largely distributed over the greater part of France. Picardy was celebrated for its manufacture of fine linen and of woollen cloths and worsteds ; Meaux was a market for the raw wool ; Chalons contained considerable cloth fac- tories ; Champagne produced wool and coarse woollens, as well as some worsteds. In Pro- vence, cloths and serges were largely made ; in Languedoc, cloth, besides various other woollen goods, was manufactured. At Toulouse, Alet, and Castres, there were extensive manufactories of serges, bays, etc. ; at St. Pons, of various woollen draperies. At Carcassonne, various wool- lens, and at Lodeve fine druggets were made. Montpellier was an active rallying point for the trade, both in the raw material of the Levant, and the manufactures of the south and south- west. At Nismes, the manufacture was carried on ^ in great variety. At Gevaudan, serges 126 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. and other woollen draperies were made ; and at Alais, druggets and serges. The beautiful province of Eoussillon was celebrated for the fine wools produced upon the rugged but sunny steeps of the Pyrenees, and yielded a few woollen fabrics also. At Rochelle, some stuffs and serges were made ; at Poictiers, worsted stockings ; at Parthenay, druggets ; and at Niort, woollen draperies in great variety. Maine contributed its serges and stuffs ; Orleans its woollen stuffs and worsted stockings ; Blois, its serges and stuffs ; Lyons its fine and coarse woollen cloth ; and Auvergne its serges, and other light fabrics. At Romorantin, Aubusson, and Telletin, considerable quantities and varieties of woollen draperies were made. In Touraine, which had been celebrated for its cloth manu- factories during the latter part of the 17th century, the trade was already confined to Amboise.* Anjou contributed its various slight woollen stuffs. Yet, withal, were these promising enterprises languishing under the influence of that so-called " protection, 77 by which it was expected to have fostered and encouraged them. The blow intended to be dealt to British industry had recoiled with terrible effect upon France. Instead WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 127 of extinguishing the British woollen trade, the exclusion of its products had only served to put a stop to the immense traffic in other manufactures, till then exclusively French, which the English (like the Dutch) quickly established at home, and with which they contrived to supply, not only their own wants, but the requirements of other markets also. The prohibition of French merchandise in Effects of the -n i n* French pro- 1678, consequent upon the French tariff of hibitoiy duties . upon British 1667, was estimated to have resulted in pro- trade, moting new branches of manufacture in England (exclusive of paper, hats, and some minor articles) in the following proportions, viz. : Instead of Brandy, native malt spirit, annual value . . 60,000 Linen, Irish, ditto 80,000 Ditto, Cheshire and Lancashire, ditto . . . 240,000 Ditto, Dorset and Somersetshire, ditto . . 100,000 Silks, English black, ditto ...... 300,000 Ditto, ditto, linings 150,000 Ditto, ditto, handkerchiefs . .'..'. . 200,000 Annual Total . . 1,130,000 That the restrictive policy of France, of which the English cloth-workers so bitterly complained, did not really injure British commerce to the extent which their imaginations represented to them, is evident from the following facts, viz. : 128 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Plague at Marseilles, 1720. That in 1662 (before the severe French tariff of 1667), the total value of British merchandise exported to the whole world only amounted to 2,022,812 ; in 1669 (two years after the odious tariff had become in force), it amounted to 2,063,244 ; in 1699, to 6,788,166 ; and in 1703, to 6,644,103. To return once more to the minor incidents which exercised some share of influence upon British woollen manufactures, it would be improper not to notice amongst these the plague which afflicted Marseilles in 1720 ; because such a cala- mity, assailing the most prosperous commercial port of France, and one in which so large a pro- portion of its woollen trade was centred, could not but affect English commerce more or less. In fact, it will be readily discerned from the sub- joined table, showing the annual value of British woollens exported from this country for a series of years before and after the date in question, that there was some increase in 1720, and the ensuing years, as compared with the pre- ceding : TABLE OF THE ANNUAL VALUE OF BEITISH WOOLLENS EXPORTED. Return of British wool- lens exported, 1718 2,673,696 17181724. 1719 2,730,297 1720 1721 3,059,049 2,903,310 1722 3,384,842 1723 2,920,601 1724 3,068,373 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 129 In 1738 there were great complaints of dis- Local distress. Kiots in Wilts. tress amongst the cloth-weavers, especially those of Wiltshire and the Western Counties. A very serious riot of the operatives, which resulted in the demolition of some factories, broke out in Wilts. Yet there is no evidence that the trade generally was depressed. On the contrary unless there were any particular circumstance peculiarly unpropitious to the manufacture of broadcloth, which could not, however, counterbalance the prosperity of other branches of the trade if one could judge from the export returns, woollen manufactures in England had never been so prosperous, and were long before they again reached so high a pitch of activity ; .witness (as Prosperity T \ i i -i 1 1 snown by the compared with the foregoing) the subjoined table, annual value of exports. showing the annual value of British woollen manufactures exported for a series of years : In 1738 . . ./ . . 4,158,643 1739 3,218,273 1740 3,056,720 In 1741 3,669,734 1742 . ..... 3,358,787 1743 3,541,558 Annual average value during six years ending in 1790, 3,544,160. The annual average value for the ensuing five years (1790 1794, both inclusive) amounted to 4,880,759, and that of the next ensuing five years (1795 1799, both inclusive) amounted to 5,899,330 ; but the particularization of the operations then carried on belongs more properly K 130 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. to the next period in the history of British woollens. Before proceeding with that section of the subject, we think it will be useful, and not unin- teresting to some of our readers, to quote the fluctuations which had occurred in the price of wool up to this time ; the statement being founded upon the reduction of all the moneys cited, uniformly* to their respective equivalents in coin at the latter end of the 18th century. Prices of raw Assuming this rate, the price of one tod (28lbs.) ous times. o f wool in 1198 was 15s. ; in 1339, 21s. to 35s. ; in 1353, 30s. In 1390, owing to the enactment restricting the markets, dealings, and transport from place to place, the price declined to between 8s. and 14s. In 1425, it was between 15s. 6d. and 19s. 6d. ; in 1533, 13s. 4rf. ; in 1581, 21s.; in 1622, 18s. ; in 1641, 24s. ; in 1647, 38s. ; in 1648, 40s.; in 1651, 28s. Between 1651 and 1660, the price rose as high as 60s. ; but in 1660 it declined again to between 37s. and 42s. In 1670, it was 28s.; in 1677, between 13s. and 15s.; in 1694-5-6, 28s.; in 1698, 21s. In 1706, the price in England was 1 7s. 6d. ; and in Scotland, 30s. to 33s. 6d. In 1707, it declined to 16s. 6d.; and in 1712 to 15s. In 1713 and 1714, it was 18s.; in 1717 and 1718, between 23s. and 27s. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 131 From 1737 to 1742, the price again declined to Fourth great between 11s. and 14s. In 1743, it was between SoSieJftrade. 19s. 6d. and 21s.; in 1744, 17s.; and in 1745, 16s. ~ In the meanwhile the manufacture was pro- ceeding, through a series of measures of greater or less importance, as affecting the profit de- rivable from the various branches of the woollen trade and the prosperity of the large class engaged in it, towards those essential changes in the rapidity and economy of manipulation which were destined to perfect the workmanship. These changes related chiefly to the modes of spinning the staple and weaving the yarns into cloth or other fabrics. The other processes were not so susceptible of great amelioration. Until the close of the 18th century, all weav- First sugges- tion of motive ing looms, whether lor wool, silk, cotton, or power for weaving. linen, were wrought by hand. A project had been set on foot in France, as early as the middle of the 17th century, for the application of some motive power to the spinning and weaving of linen thread ; but this project does not seem to have been carried out in practice. Spinning was also an operation rendered somewhat tedious and precarious by the rude piece of machin- ery employed for it, and worked entirely by hand. It has indeed been alleged that so late as the 132 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. year 1730, the spinning- wheel, called the Saxon wheel, was still the best contrivance in general use for the spinning of woollen yarn, and that the distaff and spindle were even commonly em- ployed ; but there is reason enough to believe that several spindles had been already so arranged together as to be propelled by one and the same action of the spinner. The mischief was, that the service of the slivers of carded wool and their extension (the most important part of the pro- cess) were irregular. Wyatt's first In 1730, John Wyatt, of Lichfield, conceived roller spin- ning-machine, the plan of making a machine which would 1730. . materially lessen this irregularity. Such was his roller spinning-machine (intended chiefly for cotton spinning), of which he completed the model in 1733, when it was successfully tried, near Sutton Coldfield, where Wyatt was then living. In 1738, this machine, or one constructed upon the same principle, was patented by a Mr. Paul ; and in 1741, a factory, provided with this contrivance, which was served by girls, and pro- pelled by donkeys, was established at Birming- ham. This factory, however, failed, and the machinery was sold in 1743. Not long after this, a similar machine, upon a larger scale, was established at Northampton. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 133 In 1738, also, one step towards improvement John Kay's _ . _ fly-shuttle in was taken in the weaving of cottons. This the hand- loom, 1738. consisted in the substitution of the fly-shuttle in place of the hand-shuttle in the hand-loom. This invention is due to John Kay, a weaver of Bury, in Lancashire. But matters did not stop, or even flag here. So great an impetus had been communicated to cotton manufacture, from the passing of the "Manchester Act," that ingenuity was every- where at work to devise more economical, effi- cient, and expeditious means of working. In 1767, Hargreaves invented his " jenny," Hargreaves' ,, . . "jenny," a great improvement on the roller spuming- 1767. machine. This machine, when first introduced, And the &&- bing billy. mounted eight spindles, but it was soon excelled by a modification mounting eighty spindles, and called the slubbing billy. In 1769 the first step in the crowning effort Arkwright's power-jenny, was achieved, namely, the application of mecha- nical power to spinning. The substitution of the mule for the jenny was not so great a gain to the spinner. The application of power to spinning, as is well known, was due to Sir B. Arkwright, and rewarded him with one of the most colossal fortunes ever acquired. The great impetus thus given to spinning 134 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. rendered the application of power to weaving also a matter of essential consequence, in order that the spun yarn should not quickly exceed the demand for it, from the lack of sufficient expedition in weaving. Dr. Cart wright, in England, and Dr. Jeffrey, power-looms, in Scotland, simultaneously applied themselves to 1*787 the construction of a power-loom, about the year 17B7. The former soon brought out an engine, but it was found imperfect in some essential par- ticulars, and Dr. Cartwright sunk some 30,000 or 40,000 in the enterprise, and ultimately failed. Messrs. Grimshaw, of Manchester, took up Dr. Cartwright's machine, and attempted to perfect it, but their mill was wilfully destroyed by fire in 1792, in consequence of the animosity which it provoked amongst the operatives. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeffrey's labour had been more successful ; and although he did not carry on his enterprise to the application of his invention, it was very shortly brought into successful operation by Mr. Miller, of Glasgow, and did not excite such ill will in Scotland as it did in the manufacturing districts of England. These improvements in the machinery em- ployed in spinning and weaving were invented, as is well known by persons interested, in cotton WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 135 and linen, and not in woollen or silk manufac- tures; but it needs no particular explanation to make it understood how readily and immediately discoveries so important to the manufacturer en- gaged in the elaboration of any staple whatever, could and would be applied to wool, silk, or any other fibre which it was required to work up. The improvements and facilities applicable Resistance of operatives in to the spinning of woollen and worsted yarn, woollens to power-ma- indeed turned to account for that purpose, and even the power-jenny was employed by some of tKe principal master spinners ; but so great was the animosity of the operatives in this trade to the use of multiplying engines generally, that the progress made in spinning woollen yarn by such means was slower than that achieved by the cotton manufacturers. It was soon found that even for spinning yarn adapted for the making of fine felted cloths, the power-engine could not be suffi- ciently controlled to preserve the looseness ne- cessary for effectual fulling; and as to the power -loom (applied to the weaving of yarns into cloths), even till our own time, it has been comparatively little used for cloths and other fine stuffs. Nevertheless, the application of independent / 136 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Fourth great or multiplying machinery to various branches ien manufac- of woollen manufacture, had effected a sufficiently decisive change in them to justify us in fixing upon the close of the 1 8th century as the FOURTH GREAT EPOCH in the history of the trade. Already, before the year 1800, gig mills, as well as shearing and brushing machines, had been in use for napping and finishing even the finest cloths, much to the disgust of the opera- tives in many districts. Riots adverse In 1802 there were serious riots in Wilt- 1802. ' shire and Somersetshire, of which the object was the destruction of all these appliances. It was, moreover, agitated by the partisans of the operatives that the restrictive Acts of the reigns of Edward VI. and of Philip and Mary against the multiplication of machinery should be en- Committee of forced ; and in 1806 a committee of the House J< of Commons was engaged in considering these demands and complaints. This committee wisely Repeal of re- reported in favour of the free use of machinery ; isoy! 011 and the restrictive Acts above named were repealed in 1807. Shawl manu- it was iust about the time when these most facture of Paisley. essential changes were taking place, that a par- ticular branch of the trade in fancy woollen goods was transplanted to Paisley, in Kenfrew- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 137 . shire, where it has since attained the utmost perfection, and where it has also been vastly multiplied by the taste and ingenuity applied to it. This was the manufacture of shawls, which had hitherto been mostly made at Nor- wich and Stockport, places which had acquired some celebrity for their successful imitation of Indian patterns. Besides shawls, other light fancy articles of wool and worsted materials were thenceforward made at paisley. But Paisley was no new retreat of manu- Origin and progress of facturing skill and industry. It had already Paisley manu- J factures. become one of the most flourishing seats of the linen, silk, ribbon, and cotton trade, and since 1759 had severely tried the Spitalfields' silk weavers, by the eagerness of the competition which it opposed to them in the market of wrought silks. Before the close of the 17th century, Paisley was chiefly interesting from its old abbey, which figures in Scottish ecclesiastical history. In 1695, it numbered a population of no more than 2200 souls. Before 1710, it contained some flourishing manufactories of linen and muslin. During the year 1744, the linen made at Paisley was valued at 18,887. During the year 1784, the value of this article made amounted to 138 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 184,386. Before 1722, linen thread was also made at Paisley to a considerable extent, and this single article was soon manufactured annually to the value of 100,000. Cotton thread was soon added; and in 1759 to 1760, silk gauze, and some other silken articles, were first made. In 1772, the manufacture of other silk goods was introduced, but subsequently declined a little, in consequence of the great increase in the use of cottons. Woollens had, however, been introduced, and the shawl trade soon rose to great importance, so that in 1784 the total value of the manufactures of all kinds amounted to 579,186, and in 1789 to 660,386. The population of Paisley had necessarily increased with its progressive prosperity. In 1755, it numbered 6799 inhabitants; in 1781, 11,100; in 1791, 24,592 ; and in 1801, it had risen to 31,179. Review of the Here, as the account will apply equally to entire trade. rr J \ * the entire course of the 18th century (since the third great epoch), and to the distribution of the various branches of woollen manufacture down to our own time, it will be desirable to pass the whole trade, in the state in which we find it at the close of the 18th century, in more comprehensive and general review, and to enter WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 139 into more specific details respecting the West Biding of Yorkshire. To render this review quite intelligible, it will, however, be needful, first of all, to notice the important change which had ere this taken place, or was in the course of taking place, in the sources of supply whence the raw material was derived. In 1765, between 200 and 300 merino rams and ewes had been imported into Saxony (where every effort was being made to perfect the wool), and were carefully tended in the elec- toral farm of Stolpen. In 1778, a second and more considerable importation of merino sheep was effected in Saxony, and this time the sheep were distributed through various farms. In the meanwhile, the farm at Stolpen had produced a new (the mixed Saxon and merino) breed, of which, in the course of the thirty years ending in 1810, some 15,000 head had been distributed amongst various private proprietors. The like importation of merino sheep had been effected in England (chiefly in and after 1789); but although a society had been organized for the especial purpose of cultivating the perfection of native fleeces, the introduction of the Spanish breed produced no such beneficial result here. 140 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. As early as 1793, however, the introduction of the merino into New South Wales, and sub- sequently into Van Diemen's Land, laid the foundation of a breed of sheep destined to yield wool second only to that of Saxony. At the Cape of Good Hope the experiment was pro- ductive of the like satisfactory results ; and there seems to be no reason for supposing that, when a sufficient amount of pains and labour can be bestowed upon the sheep, and still more upon the cleansing of the wool, our colonial wools may not fully rival those of Spain and Saxony. On the other hand, the fine wools of Spain had declined in quality, even before the Saxon and other German farmers had secured the ex- quisite softness which gave such pre-eminence to their fleeces. Even in 1780, no Spanish wool could be found as good as the Saxon ; still the Spanish had the command of our market until after the year 1800. The policy forced upon Spain towards England by Napoleon, the subsequent wars in the Peninsula, and, after them, the continual domestic troubles of the country, not only impaired the quality of Spanish wool more and more, but also decreased the quantity. The trade with England dwindled away. In 1714, and as late as 1799, nearly WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 141 5,000,000 Ibs. had been annually imported into this country ; in 1830, the quantity was less than 2,000,000 Ibs. ; and in 1848, it was re- duced to 106,638 Ibs. The subjoined table will serve to show how great a proportion of the wool imported by us before the year 1800 was furnished by Spain : 1791 Spanish wool. . . 2,644,653 . Other wool. . 131,401 . Totals imported. . 2,776,054 Ibs. 1792 . . 4,350,819 . . 163,157 . . 4,513,976 1793 . . 1,750,151 . . 141,234 . . 1,891,385 1794 . . 4,423,893 . . 61,689 . . 4,485,582 1795 . . 4,764,264 . . 138,236 . . 4,902,500 1796 . . 3,400,236 . . 53,975 . . 3,454,211 1797 . . 4,602,805 . . 50,891 . . 4,653,696 1798 . . 2,362,469 . . 35,657 . . 2,398,126 1799 . . 4,891,305 . . 44,534 . . 4,935,839 In the year 1800, the total quantity of wool imported into the United Kingdom amounted to very nearly 9,000,000 Ibs. ; and then, as thenceforward, two decisive changes had taken place : the first, to the effect, that although the prohibition against the exportation of wool still remained unrepealed, it became a mere dead letter, as we became more and more largely consumers beyond the utmost supply of home- grown material ; the second, to the effect that Germany began to furnish a considerable quan- tity to meet our increasing wants, to which it 142 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. afterwards became the chief contributor, until it was, in its turn, supplanted by our own co- lonies. In 1800, Germany supplied us with nearly half a million pounds of wool ; in 1814, with three millions and a-half ; and in 1827, with twenty-two millions. Another circumstance, which it will be con- venient to notice in this place, is the decisive change which had set in as affecting our ex- port woollen trade, and which warrants the ob- servation, that the United States, since their independence, almost immediately furnished a profitable outlet for our manufactures, which they had but sparingly consumed when yet sub- ject to the British Monarchy. The French Ee- volution, no doubt, did a great deal to stimu- late our woollen trade by extinguishing almost all enterprise in that line in France ; and as the French Kepublican Government, with ex- tremely impartial folly, committed outrages as well against its grateful friends, the Americans, as against its hereditary enemies, the English, it repelled the revival of external commerce through those active traders, and drove them back to renew amicable and mutually profit- able relations with Great Britain. Subsequently, even the huge combination WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 143 which Napoleon contrived to erect against the commerce of England signally failed in dealing any severe shock to our woollen manufactures. For though it be true that between 1802, when the total value of our exported woollens amounted to 7,321,012, until 1836, when their value amounted to 7,998,044, the general range of the trade was considerably lower excepting, indeed, the year 1818, when the value of woollens exported reached 8,145,327 it must be borne in mind that a multitude of causes conspired together to reduce the external com- merce of every country in Europe (or even in the civilized world), during some portion of that period, and that the woollen trade particularly was affected by the more active, enterprising, and progressive character of the cotton trade. Between 1789 and 1800, the state of our export trade in woollen fabrics may be dis- cerned from the subjoined table, in which the declared values of those goods, as exported to the whole world (including the United States), are placed in juxtaposition with the declared values of such of them as were exported to the United States alone, evincing the large propor- tion in which our former fellow-subjects con- tributed to our manufacturing prosperity : 144 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. To the whole world. To the United States alone. 1790 . . . 5,190,638 1,481,379 1791 . . . 5,505,034 1,621,797 1792 . . . 5,510,668 1,361,754 1793 . . . 3,806,536 1,032,954 1794 . . . 4,390,920 . . . ... 1,391,878 1795 . . . 5,172,884 . . .' . . . 1,982,318 1796 . . . 6,011,133 . . . . . . 2,294,942 1797 . . . 4,936,355 1,901,987 1798 . . . 6,499,339 2,399,935 1799 . . . 6,876,939 2,803,490 After the United States, the next best cus- tomers for British woollens were Ireland (before the Union), the East Indies, Portugal and its dependencies, Germany, Holland till 1795 (when it became virtually a part of France), Spain till 1798 (when it fell completely under the dictation of France), Italy until 1797 (when it became virtually a great French province), the remaining British North American colonies, and the West Indies. Let us now return to the consideration of the progress and distribution of our woollen manufac- tures at home. In the West of England, whether during the last century or in our own time, we find Gloucestershire occupying the most impor- tant position in the manufacture especially of the finest broadcloth, as well as of some other cloths, mostly made of the best Spanish wool, and subsequently of the finest Saxon or Austra- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 145 lian material. Wiltshire, which is somewhat equivocally included in the same section, may be said to rank second, not so much as to the quality of its broadcloths as in respect of the extent to which the manufacture is car- ried on. In Somersetshire, the manufacture of superfine cloth is limited to one or two places. In Dorsetshire, the woollen fabrics prin- cipally made are baizes and flannels. Devonshire contributes the fabrics known by the technical name of long ells, which are mostly finished at Exeter, whither they are conveyed for sale by the scattered makers. But this trade has greatly decayed of late years. In the same district is included the formerly noted seat of plusli manu- facture, which, however, has likewise fallen off. This kind of stuff was formerly the staple article produced at Modbury. The districts called the Bottoms, in Gloucester- Gloucester- . shire. shire, of which Stroud is the centre, and which include Stonehouse, Painswick, Biesly, Leonard, Stanley, Horsley, etc., as well as the neighbour- hood of Dursley, Wickwar, Cam, Wotton-under- . Edge, 'Alderley, comprise the greater part of the cloth manufactories. In Wiltshire, Bradford boasts of one of the Wiltshire, most active and important places in the realm for L 146 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. the manufacture of superfine cloth. Heytesbury, Warminster, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Melksham, etc., besides Wilton, also contribute much fine cloth. West Elding Next in importance to the West of England, of Yorkshire. in the manufacture of all kinds of woollen cloth, is the West Eiding of Yorkshire. As to the extent and activity of its trade, this part of Eng- land may more properly be said now to have attained the first rank, especially since, of late years, it has not been wanting even in the pro- duction of the finest of broadcloths, such as even Stroud, Dursley, or Bradford (in Wiltshire), might have been proud to claim as their own. Formerly, however, the West Eiding had the reputation rather of endeavouring to produce substitutes for superfine cloth, which could be rapidly and economically made, than of striving to vie with Gloucestershire and Wilts in point of quality. The good clothiers of Yorkshire are much accused of having been addicted to the admixture of inferior materials, as is evident from the multitude of regulating laws which they drew down upon themselves from a Parliament so zealous in " preventing frauds," and in providing for the "good and proper making of woollen cloths!" WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 147 The imputation we believe to have been as unjust as the laws in question were impolitic. The Yorkshire clothiers, shrewder than their southern and western brethren, very early dis- cerned the advantage reaped by the Dutch, and by the rising manufactures of Germany, from the supply of coarse, inferior kinds of cloth and other woollen stuffs for the German, Baltic, and South American trades especially, to say nothing of our own colonies. They argued very justly that all they attempted to do was to make such stuff as the consumer wanted, and to meet their com- petitors as well as they could, both as to quality and price ; that comparatively few people, even in England, Holland, France, Spain, or Italy, where refinement was much advanced, were pur- chasers of superfine cloth ; whereas, in all the world, they found a large demand for the inferior stuffs which had offended the fastidious ; and that as they and the other English clothiers were restrained from making such marketable cloth, they had lost a great part of their foreign trade, and had succumbed before cotton at home. Notwithstanding these little vexations, how- ever, the Yorkshire clothiers were too earnestly engaged in their craft to be arrested in their 148 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. career. Rapidly did they increase in substance and influence, multiply in numbers, and spread around them a sphere of congenial activity. Else and As early as the beginning of the 17th cen- progress of Leeds. tury, Leeds (since and to our time the great rallying point of the West Biding cloth trade) had already grown into some consequence. In 1626, the borough was incorporated by charter granted by Charles I., and this charter was confirmed in 1661 by Charles II., and again in 1684 by James II. In 1627, the foundation was laid of the plan for connecting Leeds and Wakefield, by rendering the rivers Aire and Calder navi- gable an undertaking which has greatly facili- tated the district woollen trade. In 1767, the line of canal was surveyed for the connection of Leeds and Liverpool, and powers were con- ferred for the completion of this undertaking by Acts passed in the 10th, 23rd, and 30th years of the reign of George III. Thus was the whole of the West Riding brought into easy communication with the ship- ping port most conveniently situated for the transatlantic trade. The population of Leeds latterly increased very fast. In 1775, it numbered 17,117 souls ; in 1801, 30,699; in 1811, 35,950; in 1821, WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 149 48,603 ; besides 35,143 contained in the adjoin- ing townships. In 1851, the population of Leeds alone proved once more largely increased. At Leeds there are two cloth-halls, or mar- kets, in which the small makers (chiefly) offer their unfinished fabrics for sale to the owners of finishing factories. One of these halls is de- voted to the mixed cloth trade, and was founded in 1758 ; the other is appropriated to the white cloth trade, and was founded in 1775. There are similar halls at all the principal manufac- turing towns of the West Biding. Huddersfield (unlike Halifax and Wakefield, Rise and progress of of which we have already spoken) dates its rise to consequence within the last century. Its cloth-hall was founded in 1766. It is connected with Manchester on the one side, by means of the Huddersfield Canal, and with Halifax, Wake- field, Leeds, York, and Hull on the other, by means of the Kamsden Canal.* Halifax, which in 1580 (see antea) contained Rise and progress of 4160 inhabitants, had increased to 1973 houses Halifax. and 8886 inhabitants in 1801, and to 2734 houses and 12,628 inhabitants, in 1821. At the last-named date, the population of the entire * Since the construction of such a network of railways as that which has taken place of late years, these canals have lost much of their im- portance ; nevertheless, it would be neglect to leave them unnoticed. 150 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. parish was 92,850, and in 1828 it had increased to 104,269. Quantities of But the rapid progress of woollen manufac- broad and narrow cloths ture throughout the West Eiding of Yorkshire made. t . is rendered still more appreciable by a review of the quantities of broad and narrow cloth offi- cially returned as having been made within that district at different periods. Thus In 1726 there were only 746,788 yards of broad cloth made. In 1738 there were 1,187,312 yards of broad and 405,860 yards narrow. In 1800 9,263,966 6,014,420 In 1805 10,079,256 6,193,317 In 1813 11,702,837 5,515,755 Worsteds, And these were exclusive of the great and rapidly baizes, and flannels. increasing trade in worsteds (especially at Brad- ford, Halifax, and Leeds), the baizes and flannels of that portion of the West Eiding which is in the vicinity of Eochdale (in Lancashire), and of the endless variety of miscellaneous articles which were added "from year to year to the list of wrought goods. In the neighbourhood of Eochdale, yet within the West Eiding of Yorkshire, besides broad- cloths and kerseys, there were also considerable quantities of flannel and baize made. In fact, this district has supplanted Colchester, formerly the seat of the latter trade (in baize), and shares WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 151 the greater part of this manufacture with Bury, in Lancashire, a small quantity of baizes being also made at Chichester. Wakefield and the immediate neighbourhood Wakefieid and Saddleworth. are chiefly celebrated for superior dyeing and for the making of white cloths ; whilst Saddle- worth vies with the West of England in the manufacture of superfine broadcloths and kerseymeres. At Dewsbury, a comparatively recent branch of the trade has attained a flourishing condition. This is the manufacture of what is called shoddy dotli, a texture which contributes largely to the supply of the army and navy contract clothing, and also finds vent in the rough pilot and Peter- sham cloths. The peculiarity of this stuff is its material. It consists of waste ends of miscel- laneous woollen stuffs and rags, which are un- ravelled and remade. The market of Leeds is the chief depot for white and mixed cloths. Halifax and the im- mediate neighbourhood are more particularly engrossed with the narrow cloth trade, and with that in flannels and baizes. The white cloth manufacture is mostly concentrated between the valleys of the Aire and the Colder, whilst that of mixed cloth for the most part occupies 152 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. those two valleys either around Leeds or near Wakefield. Blankets are made in the district between Leeds and Huddersfield. Worsteds of Bradford has long since stripped Norfolk of a Yorkshire. large part of its trade in worsted yarns and fabrics, just as Paisley has supplanted it in the manu- facture of shawls. The greater part of the worsted yarn required to supply the looms which are still wrought in Norfolk (formerly the chief seat / of the manufacture of camlets, crapes, and bom- bazines, as well as of shawls), is now spun at Bradford, or in Lancashire, Warwickshire, or Leicestershire. With respect to other branches of the woollen trade, and other districts, we find the most noted market for blankets still centred at Witney, and an active manufacture carried on at Dewsbury, and in the neighbourhood ; besides what are made (as already observed) in the West Biding of York- shire, and the very considerable trade carried on in these goods in Glamorganshire, and manu- factures on a more limited scale at Chichester, and near Kilkenny, in Ireland. Worsted Worsted hosiery is chiefly, made in Leicester- shire, and particularly at Loughborough ; but this branch of the trade also still subsists at Godalniin, WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 153 in Surrey, and is more actively carried on about Hawick, Selkirk, and Dumfries, in Scotland. The manufacture of flannels has its chief seat Flannels of North Wales in JNorth Wales (besides the districts already and Scotland, named), at Galashiels and Jedburgh, in Scotland, and in Shropshire. The flannels made in the county of Wicklow, in Ireland, are comparatively trifling in quantity. The principal market for Welsh flannels is at Welshpool, but the trade is largely carried on throughout Montgomeryshire. Carpets are made chiefly at Kidderminster, Carpets of _ ^. TTT . Kidclermin- wilton, Cirencester, Worcester, Axmmster, in ster, Axmin- England, and in Kilmarnock and Stirling, in Scotland. The finest are those of Wilton and Axminster, which rival Oriental fabrics. Druggets are still made to a considerable extent Druggets of in the district of Kendal, Ambleside, and Keswick, which has yielded almost all its other important branches of trade to the West Eiding of York- shire. These goods are also made in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Somersetshire. The remaining branches of the trade are also trifling, and need be noticed only to render this review complete. Of this nature are the shalloons, serges, and worsteds of Andover, Basingstoke, and Alton, in Hampshire, the coarse cloths of Taunton 154 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. and Chichester, and the eoarse woollen stuffs of Kendal and Keswick. Tartans and In Scotland there is an active trade in a variety Scotland. of woollen goods, which are, as it were, nationally peculiar : such as tartans, plaids, etc. (besides the fine shawls of Paisley), which are made at Gala- shiels and Jedburgh, as well as in Argyleshire, Stirling, and Inverness. The cloths made in Scot- land are chiefly coarse, but there are also some fine cloths made, particularly in Aberdeenshire. In North Wales, besides flannels, we should notice the webs of Merioneth, and the socks, stock- ings, and gloves, which are, more or less, made throughout the whole district. Irish woollen Only a little broadcloth is made in Ireland, and that in the neighbourhood of Cork and of Dublin. The woollen trade has never revived in that country since the iniquitous Act of 1698. The removal of the prohibition against the exportation of Irish woollens to foreign markets, in 1779, came too late. Moreover, several restrictions were still left to trammel woollen manufacture in Ireland until 1823, although by the Act of Union, in 1800, some important facilities had been conceded, not- withstanding the opposition of the British clothiers, supported as it was by the exaggerated statements of their advocate, Lord Ellenborough. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 155 That there had been a prodigious increase in the woollen manufactures of this country during the 100 years which ensued after the Ee volution of 1688, is very evident, from the rapidly-increasing population and prosperity of the districts in which they were concentrated, as well as from the multi- plication of these districts, besides the important fact of the increased production and consumption of the raw material, and the gradual decrease of its (illicit) exportation. Near, and shortly after, the close of the last century, other and more striking evidence of this increase was furnished by the great addition to the quantity of wool imported more even than by the additional value of exported woollens which is, in some degree, to be attributed to ex- orbitant war prices. Since the general peace of 1815, these evidences are still more marked. Yet, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when Progress of the produc- this country was only estimated to produce some tjon, importa- tion, and 30,000,000 Ibs. of wool annually, and when but consumption of wool. little was imported, the manufacture of woollens was supposed to have employed some 700,000 hands. Towards the middle of the 1 8th century, . when the United Kingdom was estimated to pro- duce annually some 80,000,000 Ibs. of wool, the manufacture was supposed to employ about 156 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Number of 1,500,000 hands. In 1774, it was estimated that operatives employed. the quantity of wool annually produced in England alone amounted to some 60,000,000 Ibs., from about 12,000,000 sheep (an estimate which, if correct, points to considerable deterioration of quality, when each fleece averaged 5 Ibs. in weight), and valued at about 3,000,000 ; and that the manufacture employed 1,000,000 hands, and was worth about 9,000,000 annually. This estimate would have given a total quantity of wool pro- duced in the United Kingdom amounting to some 78,000,000 Ibs. annually, and the net im- portation introduced about 3,000,000 Ibs. more. In advocating the cause of the English clothiers in 1800, Mr. Law (since Lord Ellenborough) urged that the number of hands employed in the woollen trade at that time amounted to at least 1,500,000, and that no less than 5,000,000 persons were directly or indirectly interested in the prosperity of the trade. This was, obviously, a great ex- aggeration. Subsequent calculations have been much more moderate. Mr. Stevenson reckoned the total value of the woollen manufactures at 18,000,000, and the number of hands directly employed at 500,000 ; and Mr. M'Culloch, writing 1 as late as 1854, pronounces the annual value of the manufactures to be 26 X 000,000, and the WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 157 number of hands employed under 400,000. We think this must be somewhat underrated, for the woollen trade still employs more hands in pro- portion to the quantity of materials elaborated, than either cotton, silk, or linen. And, notwith- standing the observation of so high an authority, founded, as it is, upon the statement of some persons eminent in the trade, we cannot but think that the two more recent estimates may be nearly reconciled with the others, always excepting Mr. Law's. For, in the first place, it is not unlikely that the estimates made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in 1739, may have been intended to include all persons indirectly as well as directly concerned in sorting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, teazle growing, etc. ; in the second place, the rapidity introduced into the various processes of manufacture has certainly occasioned a great pro- portional decrease in the number of hands re*- quired for the work, and the great increase in the manufacture of cottons, silks, and linens has gradually drafted off a very much greater number of the operatives to those kindred crafts than can readily be imagined, so that the enumeration of weavers, spinners, dyers, etc., specifically engaged in manipulating wool and woollens, has been rendered comparatively small. 158 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. It is hardly reasonable to suppose either that Mr. M'Culloch's painstaking calculations are materially erroneous, or that the reckonings made during the last century are so. Both were founded upon somewhat ample materials. During the last century, accounts were regularly kept of the details of the manufacture in each district, to subserve to the fiscal regulations then in force ; and as to present materials, the last and previous census of the population, by furnishing an analysis of the avocations of people residing in each district re- spectively, have effectually supplied the place of the manufacturing accounts above-named, and which have been discontinued since 1813. How then, but by some such considerations as we have suggested, is it possible to explain the dis- crepancy between a calculation numbering some 1,000,000 of persons engaged in elaborating about 80,000,000 Ibs. of wool, and the present enormously increased quantity of wool (about three times that just mentioned), wrought up by less than 400,000 persons ? In the year 1800 it was very credibly estimated that the total production of wool in the United Kingdom amounted to 96,000,000 Ibs. The total importation in that year amounted to nearly 9,000,000 Ibs. In the year 1854, the total quan- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 159 tity of wool produced in the United Kingdom was reckoned at 129,600,000 Ibs. ; and the total quantity imported, including alpaca, and llama, etc., amounted to 106,121,995 Ibs. The quantity exported was comparatively trifling. With respect to the importation of wool into changes in this country, which has become so large a trade in importations, recent times, the most interesting features are the changes which have occurred in the source of sup- ply firstly, German wool supplanting Spanish, and then British colonial (chiefly Australian) supplanting both in a great degree. We have already alluded to the respective situations of German and Spanish wools in the British market, during the early part of the present century. The permanent and increasing demand was not so strikingly evinced until after the peace ; and colonial wools only began to make a figure in the market from about 1 820, and to make rapid way after 1830. A return, presented to Parliament in 1846, thus states the quantities of foreign and colo- nial wool respectively imported during a series of years, together with contemporaneous prices of Southdown and long Kentish wools, presenting facts which, whilst they illustrate the foregoing remarks, are of great interest in themselves : 160 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. Years, Foreign, in Ibs. Colonial, in Ibs. Totals, in Ibs, Price per 11). Of Southdown. Long Kent, Return of the 1818 ... 24,720,139 s. d. ... 2 6 ... s. d. 2 quantities of 1819 ... 16,094,999 1 7 1 3 foreign and colonial wool imported, and prices of British wool. 1820 1821 1822 1823 ... 9,653,366 ... 16,416,806 ... 18,859,265 ... 18,863,886 ... , 122,239 ... ... 205,761 ... "... 198,815 ... 502,839 ... 9,775,605 16,622,567 19,058,080 19,366,725 ... 1 5 ... ... 1 3 ... ... 1 3 ... ... 1 3|... 1 4 1 1 11 1 1824 ... 22,147,540 416,945 ... 22,564,485 ... 1 2 ... 1 1 1825 ... 43,465,282 "... 351,684 ... 43,816,966 ... 1 4 ... 1 4 1826 ... 14,747,103 ... 1,242,009 ... 15,989,112 ... 10 ... 11 1827 ... 28,552,742 ttf t 562,599 ... 29,115,341 ... 9 ... 10 1828 ... 28,628,121 ... 1,607,938 ... 30,236,059 ... 8 ... 1 1829 ... 19,639,629 ... 1,877,020 ... 21,516,649 ... 6 ... 7 1830 ... 30,303,173 ... 2,002,141 ... 32,305,314 ... 10 ... 10| 1831 ...29,110,073 ... 2,541,956 ... 31,652,029 ... 1 1 ... 10i 1832 ... 25,621,298 ... 2,461,191 ... 28,142,489 ... 1 ... 1 Oi 1833 ... 34,461,527 ... 3,614,886 ... 38,076,413 ... 1 5 ... 10i 1834 ... 42,684,932 ... 3,770,300 ... 46,455,232 ... 1 7 ... 1 71 1835 ... 37,472,032 ... 4,702,500 ... 42,174,532 ... 1 6 ... 1 6 1836 ... 57,814,771 ... 6,425,206 ... 64,239,977 ... 1 8 ... 1 8| 1837 ... 38,945,575 ... 9,434,133 ... 48,329,708 ... 1 3 ... 1 3 1838 ... 42,430,102 ... 10,164,253 ... 52,594,355 ... 1 4 ... 1 5 1839 ... 44,504,811 ... 12,875,112 ... 57,379,923 ... 1 4 ... 1 5| 1840 ... 36,498,168 ... 12,938,116 ... 49,436,284 ... 1 3 ... 1 2J 1841 ... 39,672,153 ... 16,498,821 ... 56,170,974 ... 1 ... 11 1842 ... 27,394,920 ... 18,486,719 ... 45,881,639 ... o iij... 10 1843 ... 26,633,913 ... 21,151,148 ... 47,785,061 ... Hi... 11 1844 ... 42,473,228 ... 22,606,296 ... 65,079,524 ... 1 2 ... 1 2 1845 ...*44,524,183 ...*32,289,672 ... 76,813,855 ... 1 4 ... 1 3 It was during the period included in the foregoing statement, that the duties upon foreign and colonial wool were successively abolished. The restrictions upon the trade in the raw ma- * These amounts are not in the return of 1846, but appear in two returns furnished in 1853 and 1854. . WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 161 terial had been gradually removed since the peace of 1815, and, ten years later, exportation was allowed, and has continued to be so, the former prohibitions having been at last acknowledged to be nugatory as respected consumption and price, vexatious as regarded the dealers as well as the producers, and injurious to commerce in general, by barring those dealings (a constant source of national profit) in which we interpose as the middlemen between foreign markets. The duties imposed upon all wools imported in 1818 amounted to f< a pound. In 1819, and until the close of 1823, they amounted to 6d. a pound. In 1824, a sliding scale of duty in proportion to value was imposed, that duty being \d. a pound on all wool worth more than Is. a pound, and \d. on all wool worth less than Is. In 1825, and thenceforward, colonial wool was admitted free, and in 1844 the duty on foreign wool was also abolished. Of the quantities of British wool exported, we have only occasional records. In 1845 the quantity amounted to 9,059,448 Ibs., when that of foreign or colonial wool re-exported only amounted to 2,662,353 Ibs. Kespecting the re-exportation of imported foreign and colonial wool, however, we have M 162 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. more particulars : witness the following return, which shows of how much consequence must have become the untrammelled operation of our dealings as warehousemen : In 1841 ... 2,554,455 Ibs. 1842 ... 3,637,789 1843 ... 2,961,282 In 1846 ... 3,011,980 Ibs. 1847 ... 4,809,725 1848 ... 6,575,584 1844 ... 1,972,674 1849 ... 12,450,497 1845 ... 2,662,353 1850 ... 14,388,674 Eecurring, on the other hand, to the impor- tations, we find them exhibiting a general ten- dency to increase. Inclusive of the alpaca and llama wools, the sum of foreign and colonial yearly introduced of late years is shown, in the following figures : In 1846 ... 65,255,462 Ibs. 1847 ... 62,592,598 1848 ... 70,864,847 1849 ... 76,768,647 In 1850 ... 74,326,778 Ibs. 1851 ... 83,311,975 1852 ... 93,761,458 1853 ... 119,396,445 and in 1854, 106,121,995 Ibs., of which 1,267,513 Ibs. were llama, alpaca., etc., and 47,489,650 Ibs. Australian. The declared values of these quan- tities were as follows : for 104,854,482 Ibs. mis- cellaneous, no less than 6,372,253 ; and for the 1,267,513 Ibs. of llama, alpaca, etc., 126,751. These latter kinds of wool had, during the course of the ten years then expiring, been in tolerably regular demand. In 1845, the quantity im- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 163 ported amounted to 1,261,905 Ibs., of which 53,192 Ibs. were re-exported. In the same year we find also that 1,241,623 Ibs. of mohair were imported, of which 114,001 Ibs. were re- exported. Of the relative importance of different foreign countries, as sources of supply, and especially as compared with our Australian colonies, the following particulars will convey a correct idea : QUANTITIES OF WOOL IMPOETED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM Spain. Germany ex Prussia. Prussia. Australia. Years. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 1841 ... 1,088,200 ... 20,958,775 ... 165,125 ... 12,399,090 1842 ... 670,237 ... 15,613,269 ... 171,012 ... 12,959,671 1843 ... 597,091 ... 16,805,448 ... 132,317 ... 17,433,780 1844 ... 918,853 ... 21,847,687 ... 271,845 ... 17,602,247 1845 ... 1,074,540 ... 18,484,736 ... 211,844 ... 24,177,317 1846 ... 1,020,476 ... 15,888,705 ... 343,847 ... 21,789,346 1847 ... 424,408 ... 12,673,814 ... 51,131 ... 26,056,815 1848 ... 106,638 ... 14,429,136 ... 70,919 ... 30,034,576 1849 ... 127,559 ... 12,750,011 ... 17,062 ... 35,879,171 1850 ... 440,751 ... 9,166,731 ... 29,523 ... 39,018,221 Besides the supply obtained from Australia, considerable quantities of wool have been, and are, also furnished by British India and South Africa. These supplies, with those of all other British dependencies, will appear in direct com- parison from the following statements : 164 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. QUANTITIES OF WOOL IMPOETED INTO GEEAT BEITAIN FEOM Years. British India. South Africa. Gibral- tar. Malta and Gozo. N British . America. Mauri- tius. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 1841... 3,008,664... 1,079,910 ... 25,678.. .124,989... 4,881 ... 1842 ... 4,246,083... 1,265,768 .. . 36,653... 12,122... 912 1843... 1,916,129 ... 1,728,453 ... 5,663.. . 20,723... 13,125... 37,983 1844... 2,765,853... 2,197,143 ...372,167.. . 15,496... 12,887... 18,721 1845... 3,975,866... 3,512,924 ...484,291.. .116,721 ... 18,280 ... 1846... 4,570,581 ... 2,958,457 ... 809,524.. . 22,448... 40,366... 32,801 1847 ... 3,063,142... 3,477,392 ...336,358.. .326,061 ... 37,550... 20,207 1848... 5,997,453... 3,497,250 ...286,075., . 94,145... ... 8,222 1849... 4,182,853 ... 5,377,495 ... 288,143.. .176,304... 55,262... 1850... 3,473,252... 5,709,529 ...489,476.. . 51,282... 7,582... _ British West Channel Years. Indies. Islands. Ibs. Ibs. 1841 ... 5,014 1842 ... 2,163 1 1843 ... 12,807 1844 ... 2,701 1845 .... 4,103 ... 170 1846 ... 5,430 ... 862 1847 ... 5,141 ... 112 1848 ... 7,934 1849 ... 4,794 14 1850 ... 5,728 ... 8,446 Western Africa, New Zealand, and Falkland Islands. From Western Africa, in 1846, 4095 Ibs. ; from New Zealand, 272 Ibs., in 1841 ; and from the Falkland Islands, 112 Ibs. in the latter year; that is to say, until 1850 merely casual supplies from these parts. With respect to the trade in British manu- factured woollen goods, exclusively of the great enhancement of demand for home consumption evinced by the prodigious increase in the quan- tities of raw wool required for manufacture, the steady progress of exportation, although small in proportion to that of some other goods, will WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 165 serve to show that there has been a healthy activity of late years, although after a decade of great depression. The total value of wool- lens (including worsted and woollen yarns) an- nually exported from Great Britain for a series of years will be discerned from the following figures : In 1818 8,145,327 In 1837 ... 4,989,075 1819 5,989,622 1838 6,179,604 1820 5,586,138 1839 6,694,965 1821 6,462,866 1840 5,780,810 1822 6,488,167 1841 6,300,821 1823 5,636,586 1842 5,822,350 1824 6,043,051 1843 7,533,120 1825 6,185,648 1844 9,163,053 1826 4,966,879 1845 8,760,042 1827 5,245,649 1846 7,243,373 1828 5,069,741 1847 7,897,402 1829 4,587,603 1848 6,510,803 1830 4,728,666 1849 8,432,946 1831 5,389,124 1850 ... 10,040,332 1832 5,479,786 1851 9,861,727 1833 6,540,726 1852 10,161,074 1834 5,975,415 1853 11,625,720 1835 7,149,602 1854 10,681,371 1836 7,998,044 In the detail of this export trade, there is one feature interesting from its curiosity, and as suggestive of a very widely-extended sphere of demand, which, by judicious management, may properly be secured hereafter, and this is the share which the Chinese market has latterly 166 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. taken in the consumption of our woollens. It was formerly thought that the Dutch had greatly the advantage of us in the Eastern seas, owing to their exclusive intercourse with Japan, of which the climate was supposed to be more generally congenial to the use of woollen fabrics than that of China. But we are well aware that the immense area of China presents climatorial varieties of great range. We also know that even high temperature is not a bar to the use of woollens, although it favours the use of the lighter kinds. The prodigiously numerous population of China (if it be not overrated at between 350 and 400 millions) naturally suggests a very expansive market, when once fairly opened. And even in Japan we are now on an equal footing with the Dutch, or per- haps enjoy much greater facilities of trading than they heretofore possessed. The tendency of events, notwithstanding in- terruptions and delays, the zeal and ability of the agents of Government, and the eager readi- ness of British enterprise to push on whenever and wherever the way is open, are all circum- stances which point out the likelihood of a very great market for our woollens in this direction. WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 167 Of old, the East India Company entered into an engagement to take up British woollens an- nually to a given value, and to export them and force their sale within the sphere of its peculiar trade. This was a sop thrown out to secure the influence of all those concerned in the British woollen trade in behalf of its own pretensions to monopoly. When reproached, without very much reason, with having been instrumental in bringing about the depression which afflicted the woollen trade nearly through- out the 17th century, the East India Company boasted that it had continued to force the sale of British woollen goods at a loss. Tte truth of the matter was, that the Company did un- dertake to dispose of certain quantities, and (for its own purposes) took up those quantities, whether it was or was not in the way of dis- posing of them to great advantage, but that it failed in securing its opportunities for such operations. China was, until 1833, within the pale of the Company's exclusive privileges ; and it was a stereotyped argument in the mouths of those who advocated the continuance of these interests, that the trade with China would neces- sarily fall to the ground as soon as it was 168 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. thrown open ; whereas, the adverse party argued that the trade must necessarily be increased to a great extent by being rendered free. Both parties were wrong to a certain extent : the Company, in supposing that the exclusion of its countrymen secured admission from the Chinese ; the opposition, in supposing that freedom from the Company was freedom with the Chinese. The result was, that no very decided change occurred for a considerable time. Ultimately, however, the continual presentation of great numbers of people rendering the Chinese more and more familiar with Western civilization, power, wealth, enterprise, and industry was, and is, certain to lead to such a change in the Chinese mind itself as to worm through the heart of that curious and prolific nation. Nothing can be more convincing evidence that this change is not only in steady progress, but that it is already far advanced, than the dispersion of Chinamen amongst transmarine people as in Australia, California, and Europe, for instance (for the distribution of the servile coolies in various parts is hardly a fair example) and the readiness with which they adapt them- selves to the crafts and habits of Western civilization, returning, as they do, with accu- WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 169 mulated wealth to their own country, where they cannot but inoculate their own people with new tastes, new principles, and new ideas. The revolution which has long been in pro- gress in the interior of China, and which gra- dually makes head, and streams away towards the seat of the central power, is also a proof that great social innovation is going on. And the calmness (almost indifference) with which all other ports to which we have had, and con- tinue to have access, in China, observed what had been taking place at Canton, is a proof that the principle upon which the Viceroy's opposi- tion was founded had lost much of its national vitality. In 1833, however, when the East India Com- pany's charter was lopped of the exclusive trade with China, and for some years afterwards, that country was almost an unknown land. The merchants of the Hong, and those of the rapid borough of Liverpool, looked quaintly at each other. The former had been represented as little better than ogres to the men of Lancashire. Then came the opium quarrel. - The values of British woollen manufactures annually taken by the Chinese, from 1824 to 1845 (both inclusive), were as follows : N 170 WOOL AND WOOLLENS. In 1824 532,221 In 1835 527,134 1825 652,047 1836 .659,588 1826 849,024 1837 246,536 1827 461,472 1838 409,672 1828 618,412 1839 335,210 1829 491,122 1840 164,142 1830 474,493 1841 212,565 1831 399,885 1842 146,680 1832 466,102 | 1843 417,815 1833 534,670 1844 .'.,. 565,428 1834 583,055 1845 539,223 Having now noticed most of the incidents and fluctuations in the history of the woollen trade, both at home and abroad, which are likely to be of general interest to the reader^ and hav- ing thus traced this very important branch of industry and commerce down to our own time, we feel that the first section of our subject is as complete as we can hope to render it within the necessarily circumscribed limits of a publi- cation of this kind. In continuing our subject, as it were, dis- cursively, from time to time, as may be most conveniently and interestingly done, there are many instructive and amusing particulars which we propose to ourselves to introduce. But this we must defer until we have fulfilled our purpose, WOOL AND WOOLLENS. 171 arid fairly finished the two supplementary sec- tions, without which the allusions which we were obliged, for conciseness' sake, to leave unexplained in the foregoing pages, would, in many cases, be more or less obscure. THE END. LONDON: THOMAS HABBILD, P*W*R, SALISBURY SQUARE, FLEET STREET. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. r*M ft 1tt: OAW ** v ~- - V 28JU149AM t ,-> i . .. ., ...w wnv271963 "NU" ** J REC'D LD .... /'RA-1P 1 JAM 6 b " I LD 21-95m-7,'37 YB 1,89. 2S .5* S3 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY