754 



ENGLAND. 



fntrmt on 



capital and 

 |>nitit. 



Number of 

 people em- 



, ' ^'1. 



this was considerably below the average rate of wage*, 

 though the rate paid at that period, we must reckon 

 their wages somewhat higher : perhaps 8s. will hi- the 

 average of all classes of labourers in this manufacture : 

 if, therefore, from the sum of L.I 2,000,000, we deduct 

 '20 percent, for interest of capital, wear of machinery, 

 &c. and manufacturing profit, the remainder will be 

 the amount of wages; and that sum divided by L.20, 

 which is about the amount of the annual wages at the 

 rate of 8s. per week, will give the number of people 

 employed in this manufacture. Now, 20 per cent, on 

 I. I u', 000,000, is L.2,400,000, which, being subtracted 

 from L. 1 2,000,000, will leave L..9,()00,000 as the amount 

 of manufacturing wages, which, divided by L.20, will 

 give 480,000 as the number of persons employed in the 

 woollen manufacture. \Vearefullyawareofonesource 

 of error in this mode of calculating the number of per- 

 sons employed in any manufacture, since, if the total 

 value of the manufacture, the value of the raw mate- 

 rial, and the rate of profit of the manufacturer, conti- 

 nue the same, by assuming a higher or lower rate of 

 wages, we, in the one case, diminish, and in the other 

 case increase the number of people employed, where- 

 as the number may have been nearly the same. But it 

 U impossible to do more than approximate to th truth 

 on these points ; and therefore, taking gross numbers, 

 we may state the woollen manufacture of England and 

 Wales as follows. 



Results. Total value of the manufactured article, L.I 8,000,000 



Value of the raw ma- 

 terial, - - L.b",000,000 



Interest on capital and 

 manufacturing pro- 

 fit, - - 2,400,000 



Manufacturing wages, 9,600,000 



18,000,000 



Number of people em- 

 ployed 480,000, or perhaps 500,000. 



SECT. II. The Cotton Manufacture. 



THE next branch of the manufactures of England 

 that we shall notice, is that of cotton. This exhibits a 

 more surprizing instance of rapid and extensive pro- 

 gress, than can perhaps be shewn in any country, with 

 ! regard to any species of manufacture. There is no 

 evidence that any article was made of cotton in this 

 country prior to the middle of the 17th century. In 

 the year 16*41, cotton was imported from Cyprus and 

 Smyrna, and made into fustians at Bolton, in Lanca- 

 shire. As this species of goods passed under the name 

 of Augsburgh and Milan fustians, it is not improba- 

 ble that the mode of manufacturing them was intro- 

 duced from Germany or Italy. About 20 years after- 

 wards, cotton was imported from our North American 

 colonies ; and, as a law was passed in the year 1660, 

 prohibiting it from being landed anywhere but in the 

 English dominions, it is probable that its value and 

 utility, as an article of manufacture, were beginning 

 to be understood and experienced. The cotton trade, 

 however, must have been for several years afterwards 

 conducted on a very narrow scale ; since, on an average 

 of five years, ending 1705, the total quantity of cotton- 

 wool ini|x>rted into England was only 1,170,881 pounds. 

 In the year 1765, the cotton-trade could scarcely be 

 said to be known here; and a considerable quantify of 

 the cotton-wool which we procured from oin colonies, 

 we exported to Holland. Two years afterwards, how- 



ever, an invention took place, which, though it is rude 9ttistiet. 

 and imperfect, compared with the machinery at pre- y *" i "Y""' 

 sent used in the manufacture of cotton, was of the 

 greatest importance in establishing and extending the 

 trade : we allude to the invention of the jenny. Some 

 years previous to this, however, the preparation of the 

 cotton for spinning had been facilitated by the inven- 

 tion of a rude carding machine. The jennies, or spin- 

 ning machines, were first used by the country people 

 in Lancaslu're, on a very confined scale, few or them 

 having more than 12 spindles. The awkward posture 

 required to spin on them, was discouraging to grown 

 up people, who saw, with sin-prize, children from nine 

 to 12 years of age, manage them with dexterity. The 

 liiences of this hivention were beneficial," not on- 

 ly to tlie master manufacturers, but also to the labour- 

 ing classes of the community ; for the younger branches 

 of their families, who previously had been without re- 

 gular and full employment, now gained considerable 

 wages, while the weavers, by employing their own 

 children at the spinning machines, were no longer at 

 the mercy of the spinners. But, notwithstanding the 

 manifest utility of this invention, and the benefits it 

 produced to the weavers, some risings of the people 

 took place, and the jennies wer demolished by the 

 uninformed populace. By degrees, their fears and jea- 

 lousy of this invention diminished ; and a general ac- 

 quiescence in their use, to a certain number of spindles, 

 was brought about, by the prudent and sensible con- 

 duct and admonition of some respectable people in 

 Lancashire. The labouring classes were not long in 

 reaping such general and undoubted benefits from them, 

 that the spindles were soon multiplied to three or four 

 times the original number ; and the demand for twist 

 for warps increasing in proportion as the quantity of 

 weft supplied by the spinning jennies became more 

 abundant, new machines were invented, for the pur- 

 pose of manufacturing twist, and a new impetus was 

 given to the cotton trade. 



These machines were the invention of Sir Richard Arkwright's 

 Arkwright : by means of them, thousands of spindles invention. 

 are put in motion by a water-wheel, and managed most- 

 ly by children, without confusion, and with less waste 

 of cotton than by the former methods. Soon after the 

 invention of Sir Richard Arkwright's machines, the 

 people of Lancashire were incited against them, and 

 some of them were demolished before protection could 

 be obtained : this arose from their producing such ex- 

 cellent twist for warps, that they soon outrivalled the 

 warps made on the larger jennies, which had yielded 

 good profit to the owners. But experience soon con- 

 vinced the people, of what, indeed, a little reflection 

 might have taught them, that if more warps were made, 

 there would be a greater demand for weft from their 

 jennies, and a better price for it. Upon these ma- 

 chines, twist could be made of any fineness proper for 

 warps, but it w^s not so proper for weft. On the in- 

 troduction of fine calicoes and muslins, which took 

 place in the year 1781, another machine was invented, 

 culled a mule, being a mixed machine between the jen- 

 nies and the machines for twisting, and adapted to spin 

 weft as fine as could be desired. 



As this invention, by creating the necessity and ad- 

 vaiit;;^e of large cotton manufactories, and by destroy- 

 ing what may l>c called the domestic system of the cot- 

 ton trade (at least so far as respects the spinning of 

 cotton), has altered not only the state of the trade, but, 

 in our opinion, the moral character and habits of the 

 manufacturing labourers engaged in it, it may not be 

 3 



