i II 



ENGLAND. 



- .,-> -.-.. 



I ausA of 

 iheir supe- 

 riority. 



Political 



and on il 

 Iretdom. 



Protection 

 of the legis- 

 lature. 



Machinery. 



CHAP. l\. 

 Manufactures. 



BEKORK we proceed to the consideration of the ma- 

 nufactures of this country, it may be proper to premise 

 some remarks on the principal causes which have con- 

 tributed, either directly or indirectly, to advance and 

 extend them to their present state. ' This inquiry will 

 not only be in a high degree interesting, but also im- 

 portant and useful ; since, undoubtedly, if we can open 

 up the causes which have produced the flourishing state 

 of our manufactures, we shall, at the same time, ex- 

 plain ami detect the causes of our national wealth and 

 prosperity. 



In the first place, much must be ascribed to the free- 

 dom of our constitution ; for it would be in vain to at- 

 tempt the regular and permanent establishment of any 

 manufacture, where the lives and property of those 

 who were to be engaged in it were not secure. At the 

 same time, this position must be taken with some limi- 

 tation, since the love of wealth with some, and the spi- 

 rit of industry and enterprize with others, is so strong 

 and overbearing, as to urge them on to risk their pro- 

 perty, and the fruits of their industry, even under an 

 unstable and tyrannical government. But certainly a 

 free constitution, though not absolutely essential to a 

 limited and trifling degree of manufactures and com- 

 merce, is a necessary requisite for their flourishing 

 and permanent condition. 



In the second place, the Britisli government, though 

 it is not by any means free from the charge of an in- 

 termeddling spirit with regard to commercial legisla- 

 tion, has, perhaps, less than most other governments, in- 

 terfered in an abrupt and improper manner; and, in- 

 deed, it may justly be doubted, whether the interfe- 

 rence of government, in all cases of trade and com- 

 merce, is so necessarily and clearly prejudicial to their 

 interests and flourishing state, as has generally been 

 imagined. There can be no doubt, that the protection 

 and encouragement of government, like the protection 

 and encouragement of individuals, may be beneficial 

 to the exertion of human industry. It is not essential- 

 ly and necessarily fatal to it, but only so far as it is 

 exerted in an improper manner, or at an improper 

 time, or continued when circumstances render it expe- 

 dient that it should be withdrawn. At any rate, what- 

 ever may have been the consequences to the nation at 

 large, of the duties on foreign manufactures, and the 

 bounties and drawbacks en home manufactures, which 

 the British legislature has at varipus times, and on va- 

 rious occasions, enacted, in obliging them to purchase 

 the latter when they could have procured the former at 

 a cheaper rate, there can be no doubt, that these enact- 

 ments have contributed to the present flourishing and 

 extended state of our manufactures and commerce. 



In the third place, infinitely more must be ascribed 

 to our improvements in machinery, and our consequent 

 saving of labour, than to either of the preceding causes ; 

 though, if we trace this cause up to its source, we shall 

 find, that these improvements in machinery, and this 

 saving of labour, would not have taken place, unless 

 the manufacturers had been protected by a i'ree govern- 

 ment ; and probably not unless they had been further 

 protected by duties on foreign goods, and bounties and 

 drawbacks on their own. But whatever may have 

 been the disposing causes of these improvements in 

 Machinery, by which so much labour is saved, there 



can be no doubt, that to them we should mainly as- Statistic*. 

 cribe the flourishing state and extent of our manufac- ^^"Y"'' 

 tures at present. It is sufficiently obvious, that men 

 will prefer those articles, whether of necessity, com- 

 fort, or luxury, whicli are offered to them of the best 

 quality, and at the cheapest rate ; and it is equally ob- 

 vious, that cheapness of price must depend, in a great 

 measure, on the smallness of the quantity of labour by 

 which they are produced, or on the low rate of wages 

 or mercantile profit. The low rate of mercantile profit 

 will afterwards be considered; but with respect to the 

 low rate of wages, it may be remarked, that where it 

 exists, the workmen are dispirited, and by no means 

 disposed to exert themselves with that industry, atten- 

 tion, and skill, which are requisite to produce articles 

 of a superior quality ; but, by the introduction of ma- 

 chinery, though the rate of the workmen's wages is 

 high, the actual sum of wages which enters into the 

 price of any article is very low : Thus machinery at 

 once enables the manufacturer to sell his goods cheap- 

 er, and to continue the same rate of wages, or perhaps 

 to increase it, to his work people. 



In the fourth place, the immense capital possessed by Capital, 

 the manufacturers of this country must be regarded as 

 one cause of the flourishing state of our manufactures. 

 This acts, in many respects, in the same manner as 

 machinery ; by enabling the possessor of it to buy his 

 raw material cheaper than he could otherwise do, it 

 enables him to sell it cheaper. He can also afford to 

 give longer credit, which is, in fact, to sell goods 

 cheaper. But the most striking analogy between the 

 effects of large capital and of machinery, remains yet to 

 be pointed out and explained. We have just seen, that 

 where machinery is used in the manufacture of goods, 

 the value of the labour which enters into the price of 

 those goods is much diminished, though the wages of 

 the labourers continue the same; in like manner, when, 

 a manufacturer is possessed of a large capital, the rate 

 of profit which he derives from the sale of his goods 

 may be diminished, and yet his actual profit may remain 

 the same ; so that he can, by means of his capital, af- 

 ford to sell his goods cheaper, and yet derive the same 

 pecuniary benefit from his trade, which he did before 

 his capita! was increased. It is obvious also, that as the 

 possession of a large capital is necessary to the erection 

 and maintenance of machinery, and to the payment of 

 the numerous labourers which it requires, capital, in this 

 view of it, may be regarded as contributing to a diminu- 

 tion of price, and to superiority of quality, and conse- 

 quently to an extension of demand, of trade, and of 

 profit. 



In the fifth place, the division of labour is car- Division of 

 ried much further in this country than in any other labour, 

 part of the world ; on the consequences of this, so far 

 as regards dispatch and dexterity (whatever may be its 

 effects on the mind,) it is unnecessary to enlarge. 



Lastly, besides these causes of the present flourishing Greater in- 

 state of the manufactures of this nation, all of which Uustry. 

 have been frequently pointed out and explained, there 

 seems to us to be another cause which has not been suf- 

 ficiently attended to and appreciated, in considering 

 this subject. It is, we believe, generally admitted, 

 that an English labourer will work with much greater 

 and longer continued exertion than the labourers of most 

 other nations. In two respects he is superior to them : 

 in the first place, he possesses more activity and energy, 

 both of body and mind, than the labourers of those na- 

 tions who can plod at their work with equal steadiness, 

 and for an equal length of time ; and in the second 



