PROGRESS OP THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 445 
Birmingham supplied ..... 733,403 
London 344,802 
Making a total number of Enfield rifles sent \ * A ,,g oak 
to America of. ) ' ' 
The figures now brought before you, have shown what Birmingham 
is capable of producing ; but we must not wrap up in a mantle of self- 
satisfaction, and shut our eyes to what can be done elsewhere. It will 
not be uninteresting nor uninstructive to the gunmakers of this town, if 
we glance at what is being done by our competitors at Liege. 
We have seen that during the last ten years the total production of 
England was upwards of six millions ; but before we make a comparison 
with the Liege trade returns, we must deduct the number of arms made 
at the Enfield factory. This will bring our total to 5,611,203. The 
production of the Liege trade during the same ten years, according to 
their proof house returns, was 6,842,264, or something more than a million 
in excess of our make. It must be understood, however, that while the 
aggregate number produced in England is 17 per cent, less than that of 
Liege, the aggregate value of the English armsis greater. The Belgians 
make a very large number of pocket pistols at Is. O^d. to Is. lid. each. 
The proof house returns show that in ten years the number of pocket 
pistols proved was 2,305,176 — more than one-third of the entire make 
of Liege. In the English returns we have only 588,477 pistols, or little 
more than one-tenth, and none of these are sold at anything like the 
prices of the common pistols of Liege. As the demand for English work 
runs on superior qualities, the English makers have never attempted to 
make pistols of this very low class. 
We are enabled to arrive at a fairly accurate estimate of the value of 
the arms made by reference to the Customs' returns, which give us the 
number exported and their value. I have taken for my calculation the 
years 1857 to 1864 inclusive, as for those years I have also the value 
exported of Belgian guns, which is necessary for comparison. During 
those years the number of guns exported from England was : — 
Number of guns 2,685,309 
Declared value of ditto .... £4,552,628 
Value of each gun £l 13s. lOd. 
During the same years we have the Belgian value exported, but not 
the number of guns. I am obliged to assume that Belgium during those 
years exported as many of her entire make as England, although, in 
truth, she no doubt exported a great proportion, as we may be sure that 
the home consumption of Belgium would not be equal to that of 
England. The following statement will show the number of guns made 
and exported. The military guns made by the English makers for their 
Government, are excluded from the calculation : — 
