I79*« ^f /cotton manufactures. 167 



this branch of businefs within these last seven years, 

 we may p:esuTne he tra ibition is not difficult, far 

 lefs iapofsiblc. And if tliis supposition be well 

 founded, it would be c-asy ro Ihew tliai Scotland pof- 

 sefses other advantages, which would e.able it to 

 cope uith, if not 10 rival, and even outdo Eng- 

 land in c -tton, as much as it has done in gauze and 

 lawns. Every where in Scotland the accefs to Lon- 

 don, by sea, is easy and expedit ous. In England 

 much of tlie cotton is sent, and the goods returned, 

 hund'cds of miles, by laid carriage. Fuel is equal- 

 ly cheap, labour much c!ieaoer, also materials for 

 building are every where at hand, a-.;d the people ar© 

 equally industrious, much soberer, and more easily 

 maintained Neither need we fear that the cream 

 of the businefs is over, or the market in danger of 

 being over stocked. Hitherto the demand has sur- 

 pafsed the means of supplying it. And will not this be 

 the case for many many years to come, if cotton can 

 be introduced in the place of linen ? What avast car- 

 reer is opea for this manuiacture I estimating the 

 German linen imported into Great Britain at twctity- 

 five millions, the Irifh at fifteen millions, and the 

 Scotch at as much, not to mention the number of 

 woollen fabrics which cotton is likely to supplan ! 

 The immense wages earned by the cotton manufac- 

 turers is a strong confirmation of this opinion. 

 Children of eight yearsold earn 2S. aweek, no weaver 

 lefj than thai sumper day, many of them 30 and 35 s. 

 a week, a woman by spinning can get a fliilling a 

 di/. The towns where it is carried on are increa- 

 sing amazingly in population. The country no lefs 



