188 Teaxsacttoxs of the Amebic ax Ixstitute. 



and offers to the man wlio is now earning 83. a week 25s., if he will 

 but go and buckle to, and leave the garrets of Spitalfields for tlie neat 

 cottage allotments of Lancashire." The picture drawn by the London 

 editor is truly lamentable, and is the more grievous because the misery 

 and wretchednessarebroughtabout not by any fault of the poor weav- 

 ers themselves, but by " the inexhorable change which has subjected 

 their industry to foreign rivals." It is, however, a remarkable fact, 

 that so recently as 1859, the Manchester manufacturers petitioned 

 Parliament, through Mr. Bright, to at once abolish all the duty on silk 

 manufactured goods, as the trade had nothing to fear from foreign 

 competition ; nay, more, they boasted that their courage, their pluck, 

 their skill, talent and ability would soon prove that they were beyond 

 competition ; yet, on Saturday last, in a long leading article of Mr. 

 Bright's paper, the Horning Star, the Spitalfields weavers, and 

 through them all English weavers, were told to abandon their foi'lorn 

 trade, which had been ruined by foreign rivals, and not to cling to 

 their native homes, the abode of their God-fearing ancestors, but at 

 once go to Lancashire and "buckle to" power-loom calico weaving. 

 This urgent recommendation may be prompted by pure sympathy 

 for the ruined Spitalfields weavers, although cynics might interpret 

 otherwise. It is easy thus to recommend change of employment ; 

 but here is the difficulty. A man who has been employed all his 

 life in the weaving of fine silk, in a quiet garret, with his family 

 around him, could not himself become expert at weaving cotton goods 

 amidst the dim and clatter of a power-loom shed, nor could he recon- 

 cile himself to the change ; but his young family might become use- 

 ful hands in the somewhat genial employment of fine spinning in the 

 establishments of Lancashire and Cheshire. Whether the offer will 

 be responded to by accepting employment in the north remains to 

 be seen. 



Yours, etc., 



AX OLD SILK IIAXD. 



The cause for this distress is not far to seek. 



In 18G0, a free-trade treaty M'as made with France, and it has 

 affected the silk trade of England most adversely. The average 

 importation of silk goods from France before the treaty was 

 £750,000. 



