iBSaJ 



IRISH INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. 



facturer, or whether she must still be dependant upon the Con- 

 tinent. Tlie fact is, ■\\hilst the produce of Ireland has inci-cased 

 A'ery much, the home demand has increased souiueli nio'o, t.!i;\t, 

 though Ireland h;rs multiplied her pi'oduce nearl)' thveeibld, the 

 importatioijs from abroad La^e neailj' douMed. We do not 

 know on which to bestow most praise-^on the laudowncr, who 

 trebles his produce; cr on the m^uiufacturer, wdio so far out- 

 strips the farmer, as still to require ad\entitious supplies, and 

 hold oat to the farmer an ever impro\ iog marWfet, 



Linen foi-ms the most cliaracteristic portion of the Exhibition, 

 not only from the quality and quantity of the goods displayed, 

 but because it affords an example of the capabilities of Irishmen, 

 when they bring entei'prise and perseverance to the task, to in- 

 troduce into Ireland a great branch of industr}', second to few 

 in the empire in impoitance, and perhaps destined to ri\'al our 

 own cotton fabrics. The manufacture of linen is almost altoge- 

 ther confined to the north. There are a few f;ictorios in Drog- 

 lieda in which about a thousand hands are employed; but the 

 principal trade is carried on in Belfast, Lurgan, Donaghadee, &c. 

 In Mr. MulhoUand's factory, -which we had the pleasure of in- 

 specting a short time ago, there were between 800 and 1000 

 people at work ; their cleanliness and moral superiority contrast- 

 ing favorably with the lounging and listless peasantry of the 

 south and west, we had visited a short time before. In the north, 

 education, respect for the laws, and sturdy honesty are the rule. 



Turning from the representation of the raw materials to those 

 in a manufactured state, we have but little to greet the eye with 

 an attractive welcome, and that little, for the most part, so ill- 

 arranged, that it can only be seen at a disadvantage. It seems 

 almost incredible — yet, nevertheless, it is a positive fact — that the 

 only article in which Ireland, cuts a respectable manufacturing 

 figure is thrust in the background, as though it were necessary 

 to conceal it from public inspection. Instead of linens occupy- 

 ing a prominent position in the Exhibition, they are poked into 

 lateral avenues and into dark recesses, which require a moi'o than 

 common amount of research to find them out. This singular 

 arrangement is more Ilibernico, in every sense of the term, and 

 must speak for itself. 



THE J.INEN MAKUFAOTCRES CF IRELAND. 



'We have already endeavored to date the time when the manu- 

 facture of flax became an important branch of industi y ; but it 

 ■would be much more difficult to discover the origin of the manu- 

 facture of linen. We hear of it in the earliest accounts of Ireland 

 extant The principal garment worn by the ancient chieftains 

 was a shirt made of from 20 to 30 yards of linen cloth, and 

 sumptuary laws were even passed to set limits to the quantity 

 which cstentation would have used. We find linen also fVequont- 

 ly mentioned among the produce of Ireland; and Hakluyt, an 

 ancient rhyme-writer, in the year 1430, states, that " Ireland's 

 commodities be hides and fish, as salmon, hei-i'ing or hake, wool, 

 linen, cloth, and the skins of wild beasts." The cloth was proba- 

 bly the ancient Irish freize — of which presently. 



The linen manufacture, until a few years since, was altogether 

 confined to the cottages of the peasantiy, where the peasant, in 

 . the intervals of agricultural labour, wove by the hand-loom, the 

 yarn spun by the hands of the female and younger members of 

 Ms family. No great factories existed at that time, nor in fact, 

 until the discovery of spinning the- thread by the wet spinning- 

 process, could factories liave been established on their present 

 extensive scale. About the year 1825, the system known as 

 " wet spinning" was discovered in Manchester; the process con- 

 sisted in passing the fibre through hot water whilst it was being- 

 twisted. Improvements -were gradually made, and the English 



and Scotch factories soon began to undersell the handspun yarns 

 in the Irish niarkets. It became necessary, to enable the Irish to 

 campeto succcssfullv, to introduce this mode of manufacture; and 

 about the year IS'is, the first great spinning factory upon this 

 system n-as erected at Belfast. Others followed the same exam- 

 ple, and in 1841 there were no lesthan 41 mills, containing 280,- 

 000 spindles, at work in the Koith. In 18.30, the number had 

 increased to 73 mills, with 330,000 spindles ; and in 1852, there 

 were not less than 81 mills, having about 500,000 spindles, and 

 representing a capital estimated at between thi-ee and four 

 millions stexling, whilst upwards of £1,200,000 is annually paid 

 in wages. 



A large portion of the Southern Hall is dedicated to the exhi- 

 bition of linen. Almost all the mosteminent houses in the North 

 have contributed some of their choicest specimens. These con- 

 sist of damask table-cloths of a beauty and finish which have 

 made them objects eagerly sought for by more than one Sovereign ; 

 of cambrics, single and double damask napkins, sheeting, quilts, 

 muslins, and a \-ai-iety of other articles. 



SEWED MUSLIN. 



Sewed nnislin, or muslin embroidered with the needle, is an 

 interesting branch of Irish manufacture; the extent of which is 

 not sufficiently known, nor its value, as a branch of domestic 

 industry, enough appreciated. 



Although the sewed muslin trade is carefully fostered in the 

 south and west of the island, yet we nnist not conclude that for 

 that reason it is not capable of flourishing without artificial aid. 

 In the north it receives none : it is self-supporting in the widest 

 sense of the woi-d. The principal warehouses belong to Scotch 

 manufacturers; and the works are executed generally for Scotch 

 houses. For one article made to gratify the luxury of the great 

 a hundred are made for the use of the million ; and, in addition 

 to this, a demand from America is daily increasing, and the 

 trade bears all the symptoms of one with which machinery can 

 never interfere, nor the caprice of fashionable society ; but one 

 founded on the requirements of the people, and likely to increase 

 with the comfort and growdng prosperity of the middle classes. 



IRISH POrLINS AND TABINETS. 



Ths manufacture of tabinets is almost the only one of which 

 the Irish metropolis can now boast. There are, of course, several 

 other branches of manufacture, but they appear to exist almost 

 by suft(3rance. But that of which we are now treating has taken 

 a healthy root. 



The first object of skill that presents itself is the manufacture 

 of poplins, which may be tenned .a native industry. Three 

 Jacquard looms exhibit, in their several forms, the peculiarity of 

 the manufacture of figured poplins; and the cases immediately 

 adjacent contain some excellent specimens of the plain-work in 

 their several widths and qualities. There is no great consump- 

 tion, howr-vi-r, i\'v tiiis nitii'li', aUliough it is never out of date — 

 being cn-id^Ti'il. ii-irlv tlii-niigliout Europe, a kind of bread-and- 

 clieese ariicl<_', wliich can be adopted whenever the presentations 

 of fashion happen to pall upon the taste. The principal con- 

 sumption of poplins is in England; the least, perha))s, in Ireland 

 itself. Since the application of this article to paletots the manu- 

 facture has slightly enlarged ; but, as that is merely a temporai-y 

 demand, the ordinary production must soon resume its level. 

 The Messrs. Fr}-, perhaps, occupy the highest ground in this 

 branch of industry, and exhibit a Jacquard-loom -weaving a single- 

 oolou)-ed, but beautifully figured, poplin, which they designate 

 the Dargan Robe, in compliment to thfe lady of the spirited pro- 

 jector of the Exhibition, at whose order it is manufactured. 



