498 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



ceeds the rate of 5s. in the pound, they might 

 apply to the Poor Law Board, who could make 

 a general order on tne unions of the county 

 to contribute to the aid of the union thus dis- 

 tressed. The act is limited to the counties of 

 Lancashire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire, and ex- 

 pires the 1st of March, 1863. The session was 

 closed on the 7th of August, with an address, 

 as usual, from the throne, in which Her Maj- 

 esty averred her determination to continue to 

 observe a strict neutrality in regard to Ameri- 

 can affairs, and discussed in general terms mat- 

 ters appertaining to the state of Europe, and 

 the condition of the suffering operatives in 

 Lancashire* 



The diplomatic intercourse between Great 

 Britain and the United States (see DIPLOMATIC 

 CORRESPONDENCE) during the year has been 

 courteous and friendly ; but the IT. S. Govern- 

 ment has felt aggrieved at the persistency of the 

 attempts of English merchant vessels to break 

 the blackade, and at the construction in English 

 dockyards of several vessels for the Confeder- 

 ates, intended to prey upon American com- 

 merce. There is no reason to believe that these 

 vessels were thus built and fitted out by the 

 connivance or tacit permission of the British 

 Government, but the position taken by Earl 

 Russell, that the case was similar to ours in 

 1855 when war vessels were built for Russia, (see 

 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE,) was such as to 

 render that Government nearly powerless to 

 prevent the construction of such vessels on 

 British territory. 



In the cotton manufacturing districts, espe- 

 cially in the counties of Lancashire, Derbyshire, 

 and Cheshire, the continuance of the war in 

 this country and the consequent scarcity and 

 greatly enhanced price of cotton led to the stop- 

 ping of most of the mills, and entailed a terrible 

 amount of suffering upon the operatives. 



Lancashire has been for many years the prin- 

 cipal seat of the cotton manufacture. The 

 number of persons directly occupied in the va- 

 rious branches of the cotton trade in that coun- 

 ty is said to be about 400,000, and at least 400,- 

 000 more are dependent upon it. The average 

 wages of an operative, taking children and adults 

 together, were 10s. 3gd. or $2.49, which would 

 amount to $996,232 per week, or $51,560,520 

 per annum. The number of spindles was esti- 

 mated in 1859 at 28 millions, and the number 

 of looms at 300,000. The capital invested in 

 that county alone in the cotton manufacture 

 was about $250,000,000. Of the 400,000 oper- 

 atives usually employed, Mr. David Chadwick 

 of Manchester, a careful and accurate observer, 

 states, that in October, 1862, 150,000 were en- 

 tirely out of employment, and 120,000 more 

 were working on short time, not exceeding 3 

 days in the week. This would be equivalent, so 

 far as loss of wages was concerned, to 60,000 

 more entirely unemployed. The entire loss of 

 wages amounted to 105,000 ($508,200) per 

 week. It was expected that by Christmas the 

 number, including trades dependent upon the 



cotton manufacture, would be doubled, and a 

 loss of wages equivalent to $1,000,000 per week 

 would ensue. Of course it was out of the ques- 

 tion for such a sum to be deducted from the 

 earnings of a laboring population of 400,000, 

 weekly, without inducing very soon terrible 

 suffering. That this suffering was not sooner 

 made public was due to the previous condition 

 of the people. The operatives of Lancashire 

 were, as a class, in much better circumstances 

 than the manufacturing population of most old 

 and densely populated countries. "Working but 

 ten hours a day for five days in the week, and 

 seven hours on the sixth ; men of ordinary ability 

 and industry would earn from $5 to $10 a week, 

 while skilled mechanics often received $15 or 

 more. Women earned from $3.75 to $4.50, 

 and boys and girls of 13 to 16 years from $1.75 

 to $2, while still younger children, who were 

 obliged by law to spend half the day in school, 

 would earn from 25 to 62 cents per week. It 

 resulted from these liberal wages and the con- 

 stant employment which up to July, 1861, these 

 operatives had had, that they had been in cir- 

 cumstances of material comfort and, in some 

 sort, independence for some years. This com- 

 fortable condition had been greatly enhanced 

 by the very general diffusion of education among 

 them by evening schools, scientific lectures, and 

 a cheap but instructive literature. It was not 

 a remarkable thing for a workman to rise from 

 the masses to a position of responsibility and 

 liberal remuneration ; and not very rare for 

 one to become himself an employer. Savings 

 banks, temperance and teetotal societies had 

 also done much for them. The use of intoxi- 

 cating liquors had greatly diminished within a 

 few years in the principal manufacturing towns, 

 and reading rooms and libraries had taken the 

 place of gin palaces. Thrift naturally followed 

 from temperance and intelligence, and within 

 the past ten years cooperative associations have 

 made great progress in the manufacturing 

 towns of Lancashire. There were at the com- 

 mencement of the famine, about 100 of these 

 associations in the county, with an aggregate 

 capital of over $1,000,000, and doing a yearly 

 business of about $5,000,000. Most of the more 

 intelligent operatives who were heads of fami- 

 lies were members, and had either put their 

 small excess of earnings monthly into them, or 

 had left their share of the profits after a first sub- 

 scription to accumulate. Through the stores thus 

 established they had been able to obtain better 

 food and clothing for a smaller sum, while they 

 shared in the moderate profits of the business. 

 In some instances, as at Rochdale, the Coopera- 

 tive Society has not only supplied its members 

 with goods and provisions, but has erected mills 

 for the manufacture of flour and meal, and fi- 

 nally has undertaken the manufacture of cotton 

 and woollen goods. 



The operative who had laid up his little sav- 

 ings in these societies or in the savings banks, 

 had a small capital which, though not intended 

 to be expended for his support, yet served as a 



