WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



oppofition of any laws by fea or land ; of fuch, force, fub- 

 tilty, and violence, is the general courfe of trade." 



The fame enlightened writer appears to have been tlie 

 firft Englifhman who faw the injuftice, abfurdity, and im- 

 policy of the numerous reftriftions by which the manu- 

 fafturers were obhged to make cloths of certain weights 

 and lengths, to keep only a certain quantity of looms, 

 or to prohibit dyers, fullers, &c. from carrying on other 

 branches of the trade. " It would be (hejuftly obferved) 

 for the advantage of the trade of England, to leave all men 

 at liberty to make what cloth and fluffs they pleafe, how 

 they will, when and where they will, and of any lengths or 

 fizes." 



One of the principal caufes of the decay of our woollen 

 manufaftures fir Jofhua Child might not think it prudent 

 to flate. This was the encouragement given to the con- 

 fumption of French cloths and woollens in England, 

 together with the total prohibition of Englifh goods im- 

 ported into France, or the impofition of duties which 

 amounted to a prohibition. The French, under the admi- 

 niftration of Colbert, had been extending and improving 

 every branch of the woollen manufafture, and were become 

 our great rivals in foreign markets, as well as at home. 

 In the year 1678, afts were paflTed, the 29th and 30th of 

 Charles II., prohibiting the importation of French com- 

 modities for three years. From this time trade began gra- 

 dually to revive, and would have greatly increafed, had not 

 political caufes operated as a check to our profperity. 



The improvements introduced in the manufafture of fine 

 cloths by Brewer in 1668, and the more extenfive con- 

 fumption of Spanifli wool, enabled us to oppofe, with 

 fome fuccefs, the rivalry of the French. 



After the acceffion of William, our manufafturers, who 

 were warmly attached to the caufe of rehgious liberty, 

 being the greater part Proteftant diffenters, were animated 

 to uncommon exertions in the refloration of tiieir trade. This 

 is evident from the ftate of our exports in the following 

 year after the revolution in 1689, when they amounted 

 to near feven millions, of which the woollens were nearly 

 three millions. This is the largeft amount till the year 

 1 7 15. A fhort time after the revolution, about the clofe 

 of the century, our writers on Political Arithmetic, Mr. 

 King and Dr. Davenant, give the following eftimate of 

 our national wealth, including wool, &c. ; 



The annual income of England, of which the 1 



people fubfid - - - - . I 43.000,000 



' Yearly rent of land ----- 10,000,000 



Value of wool yearly fhorn ... 2,000,000 



I Woollen manufadure of England - - 8,000,000 



! Woollen manufaftures exported - - 2,000,000 



From this period, the woollen trade of England kept 

 ' progefTively increafing, though fubjeft to fome iluftuations. 

 In the following years the amount exported were as under: 



£ 



1718 value of woollens exported 2,673,696 



1719 ' 2,730,297 



1720 3,059,049 



1721 2,903,310 



1722 3'384j^42 



About the year 1722, the plague at Marfeilles, by prevent- 

 ing the exportation of French woollens, increafed the de- 

 mand for Englifh manufaftures confiderably. In the year 

 1737, the woollen exports amounted to 4,158,643/. ; and 

 it is remarkable, that at that period the price of wool was 

 uncommonly low. 



->• 3.327.057 



The yearly medium value of woollen exports,' 

 from 1739 to 1748, or to the peace of Aix- 

 la-Chapelle, was 

 Yearly medium of woollen exports, from 17497 o 



to 1753, was |4.i*'9.i9S 



From this time to the period of the American war in 

 1775, the woollen manufaftures, and particularly the worfted, 

 ftill continued to increafe, with occafional checks. The 

 quantity of long combing-wools grown in England had 

 given to the manufafturers of worfled goods a decided ad- 

 vantage over thofe of France, though the ingenuity of the 

 latter in the manufafture of les petites draperies, as the 

 worfled goods are called, was greatly fuperior to what our 

 own workmen had ever fhewn. The demand for worfled 

 goods at home, for tammies and fluffs, which were the gene- 

 ral drefs of females before the year 1775, was very great ; 

 befides which, we fupplied with worfled goods many of the 

 fouthern parts of Europe, and particularly Spain and Por- 

 tugal, for the ufe of their South American colonies, and 

 for the dreffes of the clergy, monks, and nuns, which form 

 no inconfiderable part of the population in thofe countries. 

 About the year 1775, the introduftion of Arkwright's 

 inventions for fpinning, carding, &c. into the cotton trade, 

 produced a great change in the article of female drefs in 

 England, fluffs and tammiesbeing fupplanted by cotton goods, 

 which were become extremely cheap. The failure of the 

 foreign trade alfo greatly affefted our manufafturers, both 

 woollens and worfleds. The price of Englifh wool at the 

 latter end of the American war was lower than it had been 

 in any period of our hiflory, when money was of much 

 higher relative value. A tod of 281bs. of the beft Lincoln- 

 Ihire wool for combing was not worth more than nine 

 fhillings, and the inferior kinds fix fhillings, or about three- 

 pence and four-pence per pound. Fi'om the time of 

 EHzabeth to the middle of the lafl century, fcarcely any 

 alteration or improvements had taken place in the procefTes 

 of manufafture, either in woollen or worfled, beyond the 

 variation of colours or patterns, to fuit the fafhion of the 

 day. The ingenious mechanical inventions of Arkwright, 

 applied to the fpinning and carding of cotton, were foon 

 after modified, and applied to the woollen and worfled trade, 

 and produced an entire revolution in fome of the feats of 

 their manufafture. Before that period, the manufafture of 

 heavy woollens and coarfe worfled goods had been gra- 

 dually concentrating into Yorkfhire and Lancafhire, where 

 the cheapnefs of living, the aftive induflry of the inhabit- 

 ants, and, above all, the cheapnefs and abundance of coal, 

 gave the manufafturers a decided advantage over thofe in 

 the midland and weflern counties. The following table, 

 fliewing the amount of broad and narrow cloths made in 

 the Weft Riding of Yorkfhire, will prove the faft moft 

 decifiv^ly. It may be proper to remark, that eighty years 

 fince, about 1738, when our woollen exports exceeded four 

 millions fterling, the total number of pieces of broad and 

 narrow cloth made in Yorkfhire was only fifty-fix thoufand 

 nine hundred. At prefent our woollen exports are only 

 about double what they then were ; but the number of 

 cloths manufaftured in Yorkfhire is not lefs than four 

 hundred and ninety thoufand pieces, or eight times more 

 than the quantity made at the period above referred to. 

 It mufl be remarked alfo, that this account does not in- 

 clude the cloth manufaftured in Lancafhire, and the borders 

 of Chefhire adjoining Yorkfhire, nor the blankets, ferges, 

 baizes, flannels, caffimeres, toihnets, carpets, rugs, worfled 

 goods, or any other defcription of woollens or worfleds, 

 except plain and narrow broad-cloths. The total amount 

 of thefe different woollen articles exceed, we believe, in 

 weight, if not in value, that of the woollen cloths. 



^ An 



