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our wine presses, our process of fermentation, and the quality of the beverage; as well as created an industrious population, which would progressively have increased in numbers, in wealth, and in influence. Had we ever hazarded such an experiment, there can be no question but that the condition of our wine farmers would have been similar, at the present juncture, to that of the silk manufacturers of Spitalfields. They would have had the same claims upon government for protection as the weavers of ribands and sarsenets; and petitions to parliament from the vine growers of Kent, Sussex, and Devonshire, against the new principles,' would have been as urgent, and as numerously signed, as are the present memorials of distress from Macclesfield and Coventry.

In considering the present question, therefore, it ought always to be borne in mind, that the Silk Trade of England has been created by the ancient and exclusive policy of England. Whether this policy was sound or unsound, is not now a matter of inquiry. Such is the origin of the manufacture, and the point under consideration is nothing more than whether this trade, so artificially formed, is sufficiently valuable to entitle it to protection; and if so, whether it can be protected otherwise than by the former policy of strict prohibition?

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As to the extent of the trade, it will be sufficient to notice the evidence given before the select committee of the House of Lords. Mr. Hale, an intelligent manufacturer, states that in 1821 the Silk Trade was 'increasing,' was in a very flourishing condition,' and gave employment to 500,000 persons. Mr. Wilson, also an eminent manufacturer, says, that it' 'gives employment to 40,000 hands in throwing it for the weaver,' whose wages he estimates at £350,000. He says that half a million of pounds of soap, and a large portion of the most costly dye-stuffs, are consumed at a further expense of £300,000, and £265,000 more paid to 16,500 winders to prepare it.' 'The number of looms,' he adds, may be taken at 40,000, and including weavers, warpers, harness-makers, enterers, twisters, canespreaders, quill-winders, and draw-boys at two hands to a loom, will employ 80,000 more persons, whose wages amount to £3,000,000.' * If we include infants and dependents,' he further adds,400,000 mouths will be fed by this manufacture, the amount of which I estimate at £10,000,000.' This evidence shews the extent of the trade, and demonstrates how exceedingly impolitic it would be to tamper with its prosperity, or expose it to the operation of any legislative experiment, which might eventually prove injurious to it.

As to the second point, whether this manufacture cannot as effectually be protected against foreign competition, by a rate of duty on the foreign commodity, as by this being prohibited: we think that it is satisfactorily demonstrated that the former is not only the most efficient mode, but the one most likely to operate as an encouragement. There can exist no difference of opinion on this point amongst intelligent men, although considerable differences do prevail as to the amount of that duty.

But before we discuss this part of the question, let us shortly advert to the state of the trade previous to the late change in the silk laws. The raw silk, of which our manufactures are formed, is received from Bengal, China, Italy, and Turkey. The average quantity imported from these places, for five years, viz. from 1819 to 1823, both inclusive, was about 2,064,234 lbs. annually. Of this quantity Bengal furnished 1,035,328 lbs.; China 260,588; and Italy and Turkey 768,318 lbs. All this, be it remembered,

except a very trifling quantity, was actually used in our manufactures. The Bengal was subjected to a duty of 4s. 21d.; the China 6s. 3d.; and the Italian and Turkish 5s. 6d. per lb. But, in addition to these different kinds of raw silk, the average annual quantity of Italian organzine, or spun silk, imported within the same period, amounted to 561,541 lbs. This last kind of silk, which is considered superior to home-twisted silk, or English organzine, and is still indispensably required for warps, was subjected to a duty of 14s. 8d. per lb. In 1824 the whole of these duties were repealed. On the silk of Bengal, China, and Italy a duty of 3d. per lb. only was imposed; while on Italian organzine it was reduced from 14s. 8d. to 7s. 6d. It was enacted at the same time, that all foreign wrought silks should from and after the 5th July, 1826, be importable into Great Britain, on paying a duty of 30 per cent. ad valorem.

So far as regards the reduction of the duty on the raw silk there can be no difference of opinion. Every man who understands the subject, must be satisfied of the expediency of the change. The difficulty which it is desirable to unravel is, whether this retention of 7s. 6d. per lb. on the Italian organzine was no more than an adequate protection to the manufacturer of English organzine; and, if so, whether the 30 per cent. on foreign silk goods was a sufficient protection to the English silk weaver? There can be no question that, as far as related to Italian organzine, it was extremely embarrassing to legislate. If you lower the duty below 7s. 6d.,' said the English throwster, you will ruin our establishments-our apprentices will starve our immense property, which we invested under arrangements which guaranteed us a protection of 7s. 6d. per lb., will not only be deteriorated, but irretrievably lost!' While Mr. Huskisson was assailed by these remonstrances on the one hand, he was attacked by another party of alarmists on the other. 'If you continue this enormous duty on Italian organzine,' said the manufacturers, we must discontinue our business, and our workmen must be reduced to pauperism; for it is impossible to contend with the French in manufacturing a commodity, the one half of the raw material of which, while it costs us 10s. 6d., costs them only 3s. 9d. per lb.

That there was much truth in both of these representations is not denied. It is stated by Mr. Ellice, on behalf of his constituents of Coventry, that 5s. per lb. on Italian organzine was equal to 7 per cent. of the 30 to be imposed on foreign wrought silks; which, if true, and the whole 7s. 6d. per lb. had continued to be levied, would have reduced that protection from 30 to 20 per cent. The minister saw the dilemma into which he had precipitated himself, and that not a moment ought to be lost in making his selection between the contending interests. To have increased the 30 per cent. protection of the manufacturers, would have been to retrace his steps, and hold out an encouragement to smuggling. It would have been sacrificing his principles to necessity, and virtually admitting that he had been legislating in the dark. Without delaying, therefore, till parliament should meet, and thereby afford his antagonists an opportunity of reprehending the fluctuating policy by which their property had been hazarded, he, by an order of the treasury, reduced the duty on Italian organzine from 7s. 6d. to 5s. per lb.

To what extent this reduction will prove injurious to the property of those who are engaged in the throwing of silk in this country, time will demonstrate; but there cannot be a doubt that, as far as regards the reduction in

the price of the stock on hand, thrown between the period of the first alteration of the law in 1824, and the Treasury amendment in 1826, and which may be effected by the reduction of Italian organzine, government are extremely culpable, and are, in some degree, chargeable with having introduced changes, the consequences of which they did not anticipate.

But let us proceed to inquire how far the 30 per cent. duty will protect the English manufacturer against foreign competition. It is well known that these alterations in the laws relating to the Silk Trade are founded upon a report presented to the House of Lords in June, 1821, by a select committee of their lordships. That committee, after examining a number of witnesses, among whom were many extensive silk manufacturers and mercers, resolved that 12 or 15 per cent. was a sufficient protecting duty to the British manufacturer, provided that the whole of the duties upon the raw material were repealed. The language employed in that report is so remarkable, that we cannot avoid repeating it here. A very small diminution of the duty upon the raw material,' say their lordships, 'might be expected to produce considerable effect in giving an increased steadiness to the manufacture; and, if the circumstances of the country allowed it gradually to be taken off, a small duty only being left upon the organzine, our manufacturers would have nothing to dread from the competition of French silks, even if permitted to be introduced upon a duty of from 12 to 15 per cent., and a considerable augmentation upon the export might, at the same time, be reasonably expected.'

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How the committee came to this resolution has surprised not a few sensible men; for most assuredly there is not a word of evidence in the minutes to warrant it. All the witnesses who are examined by their lordships singularly agree in representing the difference in price between two articles of the same quality, the one French and the other English, at from 25 to 30 per cent. This was distinctly the opinion of two individuals, natives of the United States of America, dealers in the commodities in question, and consequently conversant with their relative value. On this subject also, Mr. Wilson, whose evidence has been much relied on, upon being interrogated 'Have you made any calculations as to how far the duty on the raw material tends to raise the price of the manufactured article ?' answers, 'I reckon Italian organzine to be increased to the consumer 84 per cent., Italian raw 48 per cent., and Bengal raw 45 per cent., by the loss upon silks in their various processes, and by the interest of money, commissions, and profits. If, therefore, upon the Italian organzine, the duty be reduced two-thirds, that is to say, from 14s. 8d. to 5s., all this extra loss must still remain, minus only the reduction of duty, leaving in the article of organzine alone a bounty in favour of the French of full 20 per cent.' This is extrinsic of the advantages which the French derive from the low rates of wages, and the low prices of soap and dye-stuffs in France, as well as from raising within their own territory the one half of the raw silk they consume, and which pays no duty whatever. For these reasons it appears perfectly inexplicable how the committee came to recommend the admission of French silks into this country, on paying a duty of only 12 or 15 per cent. !

Desirous as Mr. Huskisson was to open the trade on the most liberal terms, he could not accede to this almost nominal rate of protecting duty. He was aware, that admitting the skill of the workmen, and the profits of the manufacturer, to be equal in Lyons and London; yet, if in the former

place, the quartern loaf, the staple aliment of the labourer, was sixpence, and in the latter eleven-pence, and rents and other commodities nearly in proportion, the former possessed advantages, as respected the value of labour, over the latter, to a much larger amount than 12 or 15 per cent.; which advantages would be still further increased by the disproportion of skill between the workmen of the two countries. It is conceded that there are a few workmen on this side of the channel who can compete with any in France; but it is also well ascertained, that of this description of workmen France is supplied in the proportion of the difference in the cost of subsistence between the two kingdoms. Hitherto we have not been able to manufacture those fabrics which required such superior workmen, owing to the excessive duties on the raw material, and the other heavy charges on their production. We were furnished, by illicit means, cheaper than we could manufacture ourselves. Had the duties on the raw material been repealed, and the prohibition, or a higher rate of protecting duty, continued for ten years longer, the case might have been different. Our continental dealers would have had less temptation, and our manufacturers would have had more encouragement. It will indeed be our interest and

our object to equal the French in skill, and preserve our trade by our own consumption; but it is to be feared that the obstacles are insurmountable. In a prosperous country, in a state of profound peace, new improvements will be as rapidly introduced as we are expert in copying them; and it is but reasonable to say of the French manufacturers, what is maintained respecting the English, that it is impossible for foreigners to compete with us in the cotton trade, since every day introduces some improvement which, before it can become known, or be introduced to the continent, is exploded here, and supplanted by one still more ingenious and available. What is true in the one case is true in the other. We must not expect to be speedily enabled to compete with the French upon equal terms, as far as regards. skill, even supposing that the protecting duty of 30 per cent. operated in such a manner as to render the prices of labour in the two countries the same. Our looms, as well as our workmen, are inferior to those of France. Political economists may express their surprise at this, and ask why it is so? The question can only be answered by inquiring, how it happens that we excel the French in cottons and in hardware? It may be instructive to dive into the reasons of this superiority in one manufacture, and inferiority in another; but here we must grapple with facts. The superiority on the part of the French is proved by Mr. Huskisson's own admissions; for it appears, that of a certain quantity of goods said to be manufactured in England, and manufactured so as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to tell whether they were not French, the whole of the pieces, with one or two exceptions, so finished, were the workmanship of French artizans, in the employment of a French manufacturer, recently encouraged by the government to establish himself in this country. It is also worthy of notice,. that the proof of these goods being manufactured in England is not altogether untainted. It appears that the French manufacturer had obtained permission of the British Government to import his raw silk free of duty, for the purpose of enabling him to make the experiment; and what is not a little extraordinary is, that the reply of the officers of the customs to the information which accused the manufacturer of importing the wrought goods, as well as the raw produce, had the singular effect of corroborating

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the suspicion that Mr. Huskisson had been deceived, and that the silks were really French.

But conceding the practicability of competing with the French manufacturer to a certain extent, and with regard to particular kinds of silks, it still remains disputable amongst certain persons, whether the new regulations will afford efficient protection to every branch of this invaluable and extensive manufacture. On this point, however, after the most careful examination of uncontradicted facts, we are decidedly of opinion they will not. With respect to satins, gauzes, and some other of the more elegant and fanciful specimens of the silk loom, we must cease manufacturing them. The labour expended upon these commodities is so immense, that independently of skill, and of taste, of which, by the way, we are only imitators, we must be expelled from competition in our own markets. Our neighbours have long had the superiority over us in these articles; and what with this superiority, the price of labour, and Italian organzine, which enters largely into these fabrics, it is impossible to contend with them. Let it be borne in mind too, that all ad valorem duties are found to operate considerably under their nominal amount. This fact has not been sufficiently attended to. It is impossible for an officer of customs to be as familiar with the qualities of commodities, and their ever fluctuating prices, as the regular dealer. Should he even be a judge of the article, and able to appreciate its value, still, if he should become fastidious, his conduct will be liable to censure, and be certain to be represented as vexatious. On the other hand, if he be lax, or, if you please, 'liberal,' in his estimate of the prices of the goods, he opens a door to deception and underrating on the part of the importer. Take the article of ribands for instance. A vessel arrives in the Thames with a quantity of this commodity, packed and entered according to the regulations. If they are of the newest and most fanciful patterns, their selling price will have no relation to the prices of other ribands. We shall suppose them to be invoiced at the rate of 50 per cent. below the price intended to be affixed to them; and which might be procured for them, at that very instant, in the French metropolis. What is the officer to do? To seize such goods is far from being a desirable course of procedure, and rarely a profitable one; because, before they can be brought to sale, a considerable importation has probably taken place, the fashion has changed, the price has fallen, and the revenue suffers in the end. But if these silks are allowed to pass at the rate of invoice, as the probability is they would be, then they are ushered into the London market at a duty of 15 per cent. only. This, we confess, is an extreme case; but we do not hesitate to affirm, that as the law will operate after the 5th July next, none of the French silks which shall be imported for sale, will pay more than from 20 to 25 per cent. Who, therefore, would go to Coventry-for ribands?

But if the British manufacturer is to be exposed to this successful competition on the part of the French, he will be affected by one of an equally serious nature, which, we regret to say, has either been overlooked altogether in the hurry of legislation, or has been treated with too much indifference. We allude to the silk manufacturers of Canton. In reference to these we beg leave to quote the evidence of Mr. Farnsworth, an American gentleman, examined by the select committee. He is askedPutting price out of the question, do you consider our best quality of silk goods to be equal, or nearly so, to the best quality of French silk

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