182 



CONDITION OF NORWICH. 



that I have so long j^redicted. For obvious reasons the wheels 

 of so mighty a machine cannot be set in motion without con- 

 siderable preparation. In the mean time, I desire to draw 

 your attention to claims nearer home — even to those of your 

 fellow- citizens. So inseparable is the union between the agri- 

 culture and home commerce of this great country, that it is 

 impossible for one to be advanced or depressed without the 

 other being similarly affected. They are the main pillars of 

 national prosperity ; for when provisions and wares meet a 

 ready sale, the labourer and artisan are employed, and the 

 farmer and tradesman flourish. Constant work facilitates con- 

 sumption ; it is therefore our duty and interest to promote 

 emplo3anent in every possible way, both for the labourer in the 

 field and the mechanic in the city. 



Under this conviction, I have been led to consider how far 

 the manufacturing towns in England would be benefited, pro- 

 vided the agricultural districts in which they are situated 

 derived those advantages from the cultivation of flax, and the 

 use of the seed, which I anticipate. It appears to me, that all 

 would reap considerable benefit except the city of Norwich. 

 The reason is obvious. Norwich does not manufacture the 

 articles which the agricultural population of Norfolk consumes. 

 She is, comparatively, the retail shop, at a prescribed profit, 

 for the manufactures of other places. For instance, Man- 

 chester, Birmingham, and Sheffield manufacture the articles 

 required by the rural districts. The artisans, therefore, of 

 those towns derive increased employment and wages, according 

 to the demand from, and prosperity of, the country. But as 

 Norwich merely sells the manufactures of Manchester, Bir- 

 mingham, and Sheffield, the briskness of trade in the retail 

 shops produces no corresponding advantage to the artisans of 

 the city. The value of the goods wrought by them is not so 

 materially influenced by agricultural prosperity as to occasion 

 an advance in the rate of wages. Hence the slightest rise in 

 the price of provisions lessens their means of subsistence and 

 increases their misery. 



If these remarks can be applied to the operatives who are 

 actually employed, with how much greater force may they be 

 directed to those who have no work at all, and who eke out a 



