SILK. 
be above twenty times as great as it was 
in the year 1664 ; and that all sorts of as 
good black and coloured silks, gold and 
silver stuffs and ribbons, are now made 
here as in France. That black silk for 
hoods and scarfs, not made here above 
twenty-five years ago, hath amounted an- 
nually to above three hundred thousand 
pounds for several years past, wliich before 
were imported from France, &c.” As not 
only persons concerned in the silk trade, 
but most other manufacturers and mer- 
chants, were against the articles of the 
treaty whicli caused this petition, the bill 
was rejected by the House of Commons, to 
the great joy of the drapers, mercers, and 
weavers of London, who expressed their 
satisfaction at the event by bonfires and 
illuminations. 
A few years after, the art of throwing 
fine raw silk into organzine was introduced 
into this, country by Messrs. Thomas and 
John Lambe ; but some impediments arising 
to the success of the undertaking, their ma- 
chinery was afterwards applied to throw- 
ing train and singles. See Organzine. 
The decline of the Turkey trade being 
attributed at this period to the French ex- 
porting woollens to Turkey and taking 
raw silks in return, which were afterwards 
brought from Italy into this country, an act 
was passed prohibiting the importation of 
raw silk the produee of Asia, from any ports 
in the Straits or Levant seas, except such 
ports and places as are within the domi- 
nions of the Grand Seignior. It was also 
thought proper to pass an act for encourag- 
ing the consumption of raw silk, by render- 
ing more effectual a former act respecting 
the trifling articles of buttons and button- 
holes. In 1721, a much more important 
act was passed, allowing drawbacks on dif- 
ferent descriptions of manuractured silk 
goods, when exported. In 1750, an act 
was passed for reducing the duties then 
payable on the importation of China raw 
silk to the same duty as was payable on 
raw silk imported from Italy, which was 
certainly an advantage to the manufacture, 
China silk being of a quality peculiarly 
adapted to several purposes, particularly 
in the gauze branch, which at one time con- 
sumed a large proportion of it, though it 
has since, become inconsiderable. By the 
act just mentioned the East India Company 
were enabled to increase with advan- 
tage their import of silk, which at that 
time was not very considerable, raw silk 
being still principally brought from Turkey. 
Total quantity of raw silk imported inlo 
Great Britain in the year 1750. 
From Flanders i,i07lbs, 
Spain and Portugal.. 2,564 
Streights 14,897 
Italy 36,301 
Turkey 132,894 
East Indies 4a,876 
231,939 
In 1763 an act was passed for rendering 
more effectual the act of 19 Henry Vll. 
by imposing fines on the importers or 
venders of the articles therein prohibited, 
in addition to the forfeiture of the goods. 
This measure, though it might in some de- 
gree check the introduction of foreign ar- 
ticles, was by no means adequate to the 
object it had in view, as the importation 
still continued, which from the jealousy 
and discontent it excited among the work- 
men in this manufacture, appeared likely, 
in the beg'aning of the year 1765, to be at- 
tended with serious consequences. The 
journeymen weavers and others connected 
with the trade, who conceived themselves 
injured by the common use of French silks, 
assembled in Spitalfields and' Bloorfields 
by beat of drum, in order to petition par- 
liament for redress by a total prohibition 
of such articles, and from thence proceeded 
in different bodies to St. James’s and West- 
minster Hall. This disposition, and the 
report that the weavers in the inland towns 
were coming to London to join their 
distressed brethren, excited considerable 
alarm ; they were, however, prevented 
from committing any great outrage, and 
finally appeased by a seasonable subscrip, 
tion for their relief, and an association 
among the principal mercers to recal all 
the orders they had given for foreign manu- 
factures. An act was also passed prohibit- 
ing the importation of foreign manufactured 
silk stockings and gloves into Great Britain 
and the British dominions, and for ren- 
dering more effectual the act passed in 
1763 for prohibiting other articles. For 
the encouragement of the throwing part of 
this manufacture, an act was likewise pass- 
ed in 1765, for reducing the duties then 
payable on the importation of raw silk, for 
allowing a drawback on the exportation of 
raw and thrown silk to Ireland, and for pro- 
hibiting the exportation of raw silk from Ire- 
land. In the next year, an act was passed 
to prohibit the importation of foreign manu- 
factured silks and velvets, and for prevent- 
