3^5 



imported into England fuch a quantity of filk manufaftures, that they were 

 'n danger of being reduced to poverty; an aft paffed, (33 Hen. 6.) prohibit- 

 ing the importation of any fuch articles, as were manufaftured by the filk 

 women. 



In a poor country, where the fpirit of commercial fpeculation, is not pre- 

 valent ; where there is a deficiency of capital ; — where the fpirits of the peo- 

 ple are low ; and the projeftor apt to defpond ; — manufadures that may re- 

 quire a large capital, extenfive, and elaborate machinery, and a coftly ap- 

 paratus ; extenfive experimental undertakings, which are attended with 

 confiderable rifques ; — all thefe are ill adapted to the temper and circum- 

 ftances of fuch a country. Individuals, will be deterred, by the heavy 

 preliminary expence, which muft be incurred, antecedent to any operation 

 of the manufafturer, or any hope of profit ; and the fear of total ruin, 

 fliould the undertaking mifcarry. There are works of great promife, both 

 as to public utility, and private emolument, which, even in thriving coun- 

 tries, and amidft the abundance of capital, exceed the means of the genera- 

 lity of individuals, and are of a character fo hazardous, that it would be un- 

 wife in any individual, to embark his whole capital in them. Such is the 

 working of mines, the forming of canals, a great iron work, an extenfive 

 cotton work, and a colliery, — In a great iron work, for example, the houfes, 

 and furnaces, for melting the ore, the forges, the flitting mills, the fteam- 

 engine for working the bellows, are inftruments of trade, or manufacture, 

 which cannot be procured without heavy expence. So, in a mine of any 

 kind, the timber for propping the excavated ground, the machinery of va- 

 rious kinds, above all, the ftcam engine, for difcharging the water, are 

 highly expenfive. The machinery, in a cotton work is fcarcely lefs fo.. In 

 all new undertakings, of formidable afpeft, from the great preliminary exr , 

 pence, which they necefi!arily require, and the heavy contingent lofiTes, to 

 which they are expofed ; people, in rich commercial countries are in the 

 fame predicament (as to thofe particular inftances) as all people were, in the 

 infancy of commerce, with refpeft to manufaflures, in general, and in all fuch 



cafesj 



