813 



STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE. 



STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE. 



816 



these lines must be, relatively to those of the enemy, such that the 

 portions of the army moving on them may be more easily or rapidly 

 united than the enemy can be, moving on his, so as to be superior at 

 any particular point to the enemy. As a general rule, then, disregarding 

 the relative rates of marching of armies, cross roads, &c., interior 

 lines are such as are closer together. 



Strategy consists, therefore, chiefly in making choice of convenient 

 bases (fortified places or strong positions) hi order to place there in 

 security the military establishments of an army ; such as the barracks, 

 hospitals, and magazines of ammunition and provisions, previously to 

 commencing offensive operations, or in contemplation of the army being 

 compelled to act on the defensive. In the former case, it may be 

 Decenary to decide on undertaking the siege of some fortress on a 

 frontier, should there be none such in possession, for the purpose of 

 holding the neighbouring district in subjection, and commanding the 

 roads by which it may be thought convenient to penetrate into the 

 enemy's country, or by which the provisions and warlike stores may be 

 brought up to the immediate seat of the war. In the latter case, 

 choice is to be made of positions strong by nature, or which may be 

 made so by art, for the army to retire to while disputing the ground 

 gradually, harassing the enemy by frequent skirmishes, or preventing 

 him from receiving supplies by intercepting his convoys on the roads. 



Thus, after the battle of Vittoria (1813) the allied British and 

 Spanish armies being at a great distance from the original base of 

 operations in Portugal, and it being intended to carry the war into 

 France, Lord Wellington undertook to besiege St. Sebastian and to 

 blockade I'ampeluna, in order, by the possession of those places, to 

 have secure stations for his recruits and magazines while the army 

 advanced into the mountainous districts between St. Jean Pied-de-Port 

 and the sea. On the other hand, the conviction, in 1809, that the 

 British army would be compelled to act entirely on the defensive, 

 induced the English general to take measures for a retreat into Por- 

 tugal, and to commence, many months before the retreat took place, 

 two chains of strong redouts on the north of Lisbon, in the expecta- 

 tion of being able there to resist effectually the very superior forces of 

 the enemy. 



The project formed by Marshal Soult, in 1813, in opposition to that 

 of Lord Wellington, affords also a good illustration of the nature of 

 strategical operations. The French general decided to advance towards 

 Pampeluna in the hope of being able to succour that place, and after- 

 wards to unite his army with that of Suchet in Aragon : he expected 

 also to command the road along the Spanish frontier, by which he 

 might have got to the rear of the allies in a fertile country, where his 

 army could have found subsistence. (Napier, vol. vi.) This project 

 failing, and the battles of the Pyrenees having forced the French army 

 to act on the defensive, Marshal Soult took measures for protracting 

 the war to the utmost. 



In the defence of an extensive territory, since it is generally impos- 

 sible to cover the whole, the principles of strategy indicate that the 

 army should be kept in force on a few of the most important positions. 

 By securing these, the designs of the enemy may be more effectually 

 frustrated than if it were attempted to occupy every post in the coun- 

 try ; for the different divisions of the army being in the latter case 

 weak and ill supported, they are liable to be cut off in detail, whereas 

 the difficulty of dislodging a large body of troops from one strongly 

 intrenched position may deter the enemy from attempting it : at the 

 same time the occupation of that position by the defending army may 

 paralyse his movements by rendering it dangerous for him to leave in 

 his rear a force which might prevent him from drawing supplies from 

 his mtigmpT The evils attending the dissemination of troops over a 

 great extent of country are strongly exemplified in the surprise of the 

 Austrian) by Marshal Turenne. The French general caused the several 

 corps of his army to be drawn together towards Bef ort in such a manner 

 as not to excite notice ; and from thence suddenly penetrating into 

 Alsace, in the midst of the enemy's quarters, he defeated the troops 

 before they had time to unite. 



STRAW-PLAIT MANUFACTURE. The domestic character of 

 this branch of industry, which renders it peculiarly important as a 

 means of affording employment to women and children, especially in 

 agricultural districts, may probably account for the circumstance that 

 very little is known of its history. It is not known when the 

 manufacture of hats or bonnets of plaited straw first became important 

 in Italy, where ,it has long formed one of the leading pursuits of the 

 agricultural population ; but it appears from Coryat's ' Crudities,' 

 published in 1611, that " delicate strawen hats" were worn at that time 

 by both men and women in many places in Piedmont. Coryat states 

 that many of these hats had at least a hundred seams, from which it 

 it evident that very fine plait was made at that time. The straw-plait 

 manufacture does not appear to have been followed in England for 

 more than about a century. The wives and daughters of the fanners, 

 before that time, used to plait straw for making their own bonnets, 

 before straw-plaiting became established as a manufacture. Gipsy 

 straw-hats were worn by ladies in this country about 1745-6. When 

 Arthur Young visited Dunatable, in 1768, the straw-plait manufacture 

 appear* to have been established, though not very extensively. In 

 Kacphenon'i ' AnnaJa of Commerce,' published in 1805, Dunstable is 

 described as " a town in the neighbourhood of which the women and 

 children are employed hi making hats, baskets, and many fancy articles, 



of straw, which in their hands assumes a vast variety of figures and 

 colours, and produces considerable emolument, especially since the 

 straw hats have been in general request among the ladies." 



The large size of the wheat-straw used in this country for plaiting 

 prevented the home manufacture from entering into competition with 

 that of Italy in articles of fine quality; the straw grown for the 

 purpose m Tuscany being much smaller, as well as superior in colour 

 This difficulty was in some degree overcome by the expedient adopted 

 in England towards the end of the last century, of splitting the straw 

 and using the narrow splints, or slips of straw, in lieu of whole straws! 

 The operation of splitting is performed by small cutting instruments 

 called machine!, which have a number of sharp edges so fixed as to 

 divide the straw, by a motion in the direction of its length, into four, 

 five, six, or more equal parts. Before machines were invented, straws 

 were occasionally split with knives by hand ; a process which was both 

 tedious and unsatisfactory, since it gave no security for the uniform 

 width of the splints, upon which the beauty of the plait greatly 

 depends. Mr. Corston, in a letter addressed to the Society of Arts in 

 810, observes that " by the mere invention of the splitting of a straw 

 a source of employment has been discovered, which has increased the 

 returns in that branch not less than from 300,000/. to 400,000?. annually." 



Greatly as the British straw-plait manufacture had been encouraged 

 by the use of split straw, by improvements hi bleaching, and by 

 increased care in the selection of straws of uniform size and colour, it 

 was found, when the re-establishment of peace allowed the free 

 importation of Italian straw hats, that the home manufacture was 

 unable to compete with the foreign, notwithstanding the heavy pro- 

 tective duty levied upon hats or bonnets of straw imported from 

 other countries. The Society of Arts therefore, for a long series of 

 years, offered encouragement to attempts for the improvement of the 

 British straw manufacture, which called forth many interesting com- 

 munications, and has led to great improvement. As early as 1805, the 

 Society presented a gold medal to Mr. William Corston, of Lud'gate 

 Hill, for a substitute, of his invention, for Leghorn plait. His plait 

 was formed of rye-straw. More recently rye-straw has been tried for 

 the same purpose by Messrs. J. & A. Muir, of Greenock,who attempted 

 to establish the straw-plait manufacture in the Orkneys. In plait 

 made of split straw, unless two splints are laid together, with their 

 inside surfaces towards each other, as in the plait called "patent 

 Dunstable," it necessarily happens that the face of the plait exhibits 

 alternately the outer and inner surfaces of the straw, which differ from 

 each other in colour and gloss. Articles made of split straw are also 

 inferior to those of whole straw of equal fineness, in pliability and 

 durability. Another circumstance which greatly increases the beauty 

 of Leghorn plait is the mode of joining it, so as to form, by the com- 

 bination of several narrow strips, an extended sheet of plaited work. 

 British split plait is usually joined by making the several rows of plait 

 overwrap each other a little, and then stitching through the two over- 

 wrapping pieces with a needle and thread. The surface of a hat or 

 bonnet formed in this manner consists of a series of ridges ; and part 

 of each row of plait is concealed by that next above it, so that to form 

 a band one inch wide, with a plait a quarter of an inch wide, it will be 

 necessary to use Jive pieces of plait ; at least a fourth part of the width 

 of each being absorbed by the overwrapping joint. Leghorn plait is 

 formed iu such a manner that it may be joined without this loss ; the 

 edge of one row of plait being, as it were, knitted into the edge of the 

 other, in such a way that the pattern may appear uninterrupted, and 

 the line of junction be almost invisible. 



The home manufacture of Italian straw was introduced by Mr. 

 Parry in 1822. The ears are cut off with a knife, and the straws are 

 then carefully sorted to obtain uniformity in length, thickness, and colour. 

 The plait, of which an engraving is given below, consists of thirteen 

 straws. These are tied together at one end, and then divided into two 

 portions ; six straws being turned towards the left side, and seven to 

 the right, so that the two portions of straw may form a right angle* 

 The seventh or outermost straw on the right-hand side is then turned 

 down by the finger and thumb of the right hand, and brought under 

 two straws, over two, and under two. This being done, there will be 

 seven straws on the left and six on the right side of the angle ; and 

 the next operation is to turn down the outermost of the seven with the 

 left-hand finger and thumb, and to pass it under two straws, over two, 

 and under two. The right side will again have seven, and the left 



Fig. 1. 



side six straws; and the plaiting must be continued in the same 

 manner, alternately doubling and plaiting the outermost seventh straw 



