84 ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 



eftabliihment of a Britijh Linen Company, with 3 

 capital flock of ioo,ocol. and which may be fur- 

 ther increafed as the affairs of the company fhal! 

 require. 



In 1782, the principal merchants and rnanufac-> 

 turers in Glafgow and its neighbourhood, formed 

 themfelves into a Society, by the name of The Cham- 

 ber of Commerce and Manufactures in the city of Glaf- 

 gow y comprehending the towns ofPaiJley, Port Glafgow, 

 Greenock) and the places adjacent. 



This fociety is eftablifhed by royal charter, and 

 is governed by thirty directors, one of whom is 

 their chairman. * 



Present 



The flars mark the Highland counties, whh, with the 

 Hebride Ifles, cbmpofe nearly one half of the kingdom, 

 exclufive of the Highland part of the mires of Perth, Elgin, ahd 

 Aberdeen. 



The proportion of linen made and {lamped for fale in the two 

 divifoofcs of the kingdom, is thus in value, viz. 



In the Lowlands 76.4,489 



In the Highlands and Hebride Ifles 10,611 



. 775,100 



Confequently* one half of the kingdom manufactures leventy-two 

 times the value of the other half, beiides a variety of other manu- 

 factures in the Lowlands, that are entirely unknown in the High- 

 lands. This great disproportion is not owing to any idle diipo- 

 fition, or incapacity of the Highlanders, as fome people wrongly 

 iniinuate, but purely from the neglecl: of that country, and its 

 want of towns and markets. It is well known that the High- 

 landers of both fexes, who are employed as fervants in the Low- 

 lands, arc equally dextrous and diligent, as the people amongft 

 whom they refide. Combining this circumflance with the finall 

 quantity of linen yet made in eleven counties of the Lowlands, viz. 

 Banff, Berwick, Clackmannan, Dumfries, Elgin, Haddington, 

 Kircudbright, Kinlithgow, Peebles, Selkirk, and Wigton, amount- 

 ing only to 1 0,46 1 1. 173. 3d. we may conjecture that when every fup- 

 port is given to, and every impediment removed from this manu- 

 facture, the numbers of yards may be extended to 50,000,000 an- 

 nually ; and, coniequently an additional demand for Englifh goods. 



* " The outlines of bufmefs committed to the charge of ths 

 Directors of the Chamber of Commerce, mall be : 



i . To confider of fuch plans and fyilems as fhall contribute to 



the 



