A BRIEF DEDUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL, PROGRESS, AND IMMENSE GREATNESS OF THE
British
Woollen Manufacture: WITH
An
ENQUIRY
whether it be not at present in a very Declining Condition:
The Reasons of its DECAY; and the Only Means of its RECOVERY.
LONDON,
Printed; And Sold by J. ROBERTS in
Warwick-Lane,
and A. DODD at the
Peacock
without
Temple-Bar.
1727. [Price One Shilling.]
THE PREFACE.
AS all Evils are to be discovered before we can expect their Remedy, this Work proceeds in that Order.
We shall never attempt the restoring our Manufactures, if we do not first enquire into the Causes of their Decay.
The following Work does not complain of the Evil with Reproach, and to expose the Indolence of the Age, whatever Room there might have been for such a Satyr.
But seriously represents the Grievance, and earnestly moves our Superiors to apply the proper Remedies.
It is not the War, it is not the Ingratitude of This Power, or the Inveteracy of That, which can hurt the
British
Manufactures, at least not fatally.
Our Mischiefs are at Home, and the Remedy is at Home: We may cure the Evil with the utmost Ease.
But if we will be
Felo de se
in Trade, if we will cut the Throat of our own Manufactures, if we will pull them down with our own Hands, we should have our Trade Buried at a Cross-way, with a Stake driven thro' it, and an Inscription,
Here lies Buried the
English
Trade, having destroy'd it self.
This Tract regards no Faction or Parties; no Complaint against publick or private Persons or Management; but 'tis a Complaint of an unhappy Humour among us all, that we will Discourage and Destroy our own Manufactures, and ruin our selves.
May the National Wisdom restrain this Folly; may the Poor obtain such Help, and Trade such Relief, as the Distress of our Commerce and People call for, and the End of this Work, and the Author's Wish, will be fully Answered.
AN ACCOUNT of the
Present Condition
of the MANUFACTURES of GREAT BRITAIN.
The INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I enter into the Substance of the Question now before me, and that I may make as little Preamble as possible in a Thing of such Importance, it is necessary to lay down in plain and direct Terms, so as may admit of no Cavils or Disputes, what I mean, and how I would be understood by the Words,
The Manufactures of Great Britain.
By the Manufactures of
Great Britain
(and of which I suggest, that they are now in a declining and decaying Condition) I mean the Woollen Manufactures, such as Broad and Narrow Cloths, Serges, Kersies, Druggets, Bays, Sayes, Perpets, Stuffs, Stockings, Hats, Flannels, and all those woollen Goods generally used for Wearing-Apparel, Furniture of Houses, and such-like necessary Purposes; and as are made by the Labour of our People, for Use or Sale at Home (that is to say, in
Great Britain
) or for Exportation Abroad, of whatever Kind, and by whatever Names; for they bear so great a Variety of Names (especially the
Norwich
and
Spittle-Fields
Goods) that it would be as endless as it is needless to enter into the Particulars.
That this Manufacture is a thing of great Importance, of a vast Magnitude, and a Value beyond all possible Calculation, I suppose I need not spend time to prove; 'tis describ'd in the best manner to be understood, by taking Notice, that it not only uses and works up all the Wool which grows in
England,
but a very great Quantity both from
Spain
and
Ireland, Barbary, Turkey,
and other Places where-ever it can be had, and of which I shall have occasion to take notice again in its Place.
That this Manufacture was once in a flourishing Condition, vastly extended abroad, and prodigiously consum'd at home; was carried on to the Employment and Enriching of innumerable Multitudes of People, and Families of People, 'till it had made
England
(where its Center is fix'd) the most opulent, populous, wealthy, and powerful Nation in the World; all this I not acknowledge only, but if it should be disputed, am ready to make appear at large upon all Occasions.
It is likewise evident, that this flourishing Manufacture has risen from small Beginnings, and was at first rescued (as it were) out of Captivity in a strange Land, where (like
Israel
in
Egypt
) it suffer'd Bondage, and was engross'd by Foreigners who had no Title to it, having none of its Principles, no Materials for carrying it on
De Jure,
in their own Right, no, nor
De Facto,
in their Possession; but serch'd them from us, and then arbitrarily sold back the Goods made of them to us at their own Price, enriching their People with the Profits of the Manufacture, while (
Spaniard-
like) we starv'd with the Mines of Gold in our own keeping.
From this Captive-State, this miserable abandon'd Condition, it was rescued, by the Policy and Wisdom of our Government, and the impolitick and foolish Management of the
Spaniards,
who by their Religious Tyranny, and their Civil Fury, drove their own People over to us to seek Bread and Liberty, in return for which they gave us Wealth and Trade, taught our Women to Spin, and our Men to Weave; ever since this we have made the Manufacture our own, and are now able to teach our Teachers, having infinitely improv'd the Kinds, as well as encreas'd the Quantity; have made not only innumerable new-invented Sorts, but have also made those Sorts or Kinds of Goods much better than ever the
Flemmings
were able to make them before, especially the Broad Cloths, which are improved to such a Degree, and brought to such Perfection, as they were never capable of before, or so much as to believe possible.
That by this very Article,
England,
tho' not an Inch of Land larger, either in Length or Breadth, the Soil not an Ounce richer than it was capable of being made before, the Climate not one Degree warmer, and without any one Advantage of Nature, more than it had before; yet by a moderate, and I believe a just and reasonable Calculation, between the Year 1490, in the beginning of King
Hen.
VII. when we began to manufacture our own Wool, and the Year 1726, has encreas'd her People from under two Millions, to above seven Millions, raised the Value of Lands so, that what was then worth
50l. per Annum,
is now worth
1000l. per Annum,
as may be seen by the Rate of Subsidies, and by other Rules of Calculation, and which has raised the Value of Personal Wealth to such a Degree, as admits no Comparison, no Calculation, and hardly any Imagination; insomuch that Some are of opinion, that taking the Wealth of this Nation at the Medium of Time, between the Conquest, and the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth,
that is to say, about the Reign of
Edward
II. and excepting only the Wealth of Churches and Monasterys, which indeed was great, there is now more Silver in
England
than there was then Block Tin, more Gold than they had Copper, and more Diamonds and Pearl than they had
Bristol
Stones.
This Increase of People, and of the Real and Personal Wealth of
England,
may be said to be all owing to the Woollen Manufacture; and to bring it all to the Point,
viz.
that this Woollen Manufacture has gone on encreasing ever since, even to this Time, or (as I may more properly say) to Our time, 'till its Magnitude is such, that we may say it is too great, and that not too great for the Country only, but too great for the whole World.
It is a strange Advance made in this Argument, and at the beginning of it too, to say the Manufacture of
England
is too great for the World; but I cannot go back from it; and upon a serious Reflexion on its real Magnitude, as it now is; and yet how much greater it is possible to make it, that is to say, how many Countries, and, as I may say, Millions of People are yet unconcerned in it, and unemployed by it, I do insist, that were the Wool of
Great Britain
and
Ireland
kept entirely at home, the Quantity encreas'd as it might be, and all that Quantity manufactured at home, as it also might be, if those other Countries were set to work, the People of
Great Britain
and
Ireland
are able to make more Woollen Manufactures than all the known Inhabitants of the World would wear; To such a Perfection of Working are the People arrived; to such an immense Quantity is the Wool brought to amount, to such a prodigious Number are the People multiplied; and the last Article indeed is the most essential of all the rest, for not withstanding the Encrease of the Wool, which is a Prodigy in it self, yet to such a Degree are the People also encreas'd, that all the Wool of
England,
however (as I say) encreas'd, and all the Wool of
Ireland,
from whence no Wool was had in those Days, and all the Wool of
Scotland,
which was not used at all in
England
in those times, is now manufactured in
England,
by less than one quarter part of our People.
This may seem strange at first View, and especially when we see how many Thousands, nay, how many Millions of People are employ'd in this one Manufacture. But let me be allowed a short Digression, and I shall soon prove it by giving you a View of the several Countries in
England,
where the Woollen Manufactures are made, and where
not.
N.B.
Before I begin, I must observe, that when I say, such Counties make no Woollen Manufactures, I do not mean that many of the People might not knit their own Stockings, spin and weave Woollens for their own Use and Wearing, as in some Places they do Linnen, where yet we do not say the Linnen is carried on as a Manufacture; but it is to be understood that they make no Particular or General Manufacture for Sale, and for Trade, to be carried out of the Bounds of the Towns or Counties where they are so made.
1. The County of
Cornwall
is not known to have any Manufacture.
Devonshire
indeed, the next County immediately on this Side, is full of Manufacture; but we see nothing in
Cornwall
but Miners, and Diggers in the Earth for Lead, Copper, and Block Tin; as for the poor Women, they are employ'd in washing the Oar; and the Men who are not at work in the Mines are Refiners, Smelters, and Melters of the Oar and Mettals, or else are Husbandmen, Fishermen and Sailers; but no Woollen Manufacture.
2. The four large Counties of
Kent, Sussex, Surry,
and
Southampton,
have very little apparent Manufacture. In former times there were some Cloathings about
Guildford, Godlaming, Darking,
and
Farnham
in
Surrey,
and likewise at
Tenterden, Cranbrook, Goudburst,
and in the
Wild
of
Kent,
in both which Counties they made a very good (tho' low-priz'd) Medley Cloth for the middling Peoples wear, but 'tis all gone, extinct, except a little not worth naming.
3. The great City of
London
is now eminent for the Woollen Manufacture of Stuffs, Chamlets, and several Goods, such as were formerly made at
Norwich;
but as this is in a manner confin'd to
Spittle-Fields,
and a few adjacent Streets, and to a very little in
Southwark,
it may be truly said, that not one twentieth Part of the City and County of
Middlesex
are concerned at all in it.
4. The Inland Counties of
Bucks, Hertsord, Cambridge, Bedford,
and
Huntingdon;
these have none of them any Woollen Manufactures, except that of late Years the
Spittle-Fields
Manufacturers have employed some particular Places in those Counties for spinning Worsted Yarn, but 'tis sent up to
London
to be manufactured.
5. Even
Lincolnshire
it self, tho' it is the inexhaustible Fund of Wool for all the East and South-East Part of
England,
and is the chief Support of their Manufacture, yet has no Manufacture of its own, nor do we so much as see the Women and Children employ'd, or any Spinning among them; tho' it is also an exceeding large and populous County; but they are generally employ'd in Trade or Husbandry at home, or upon the Seas abroad.
6. The County of
Stafford,
and of
Chester
and
Darby,
being wholly taken up in making Cheese, breeding Horses and Cows, digging Lead, and making Crockery Ware, have very little or no Woollen Manufacture, except about
Tamworth.
7.
Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham,
and the East and North Riding of
Yorkshire,
are the same, and have no Woollen Manufacture, except a small Quantity of Yarn Stockings made at
Richmond
and
Barnard Castle,
and a ccarse strip'd Stuff for Hangings at
Darlington.
8. All the Counties of
Wales
put together, produce no Manufacture for Sale, or that come out of their own bounds, except Flannel, with a very few and very coarse Yarn Stockings.
9. Nor do the two large Counties of
Monmouth
and
Hereford,
and two Thirds of
Shropshire,
so much as pretend to any Woollen Manufacture, but are taken up with planting Orchards, making Syder,
&c.
So that notwithstanding the exceeding Greatness and Extent of the Woollen Manufacture, and that (as I have said) it seems to be too great, even for the whole World, yet it employs by far the least Part of
England,
and even the least Part of the People in many of those Counties where it is made.
Nay, even in those Counties where great Branches of the Woollen Manufacture are established, yet there are other Manufactures which employ greater numbers of their People: For Example,
The four Capital Districts where the Woollen Manufacture of
England
is seated, are thus divided:
1. The West-riding of
Yorkshire,
including the East-side of
Lancashire,
the County of
Westmorland
and
Richmondshire,
and Part of
Cumberland.
Yet in this very West-riding is the great Iron Manufacture of
Sheffield;
and the County round it, which is called
Hallamshire,
is said to employ at least an hundred thousand People.
2. The West Side of
Wilts,
and the whole Counties of
Gloucester, Warwicksbire,
and
Worcester,
and part of
Shropshire;
and yet in the two Counties of
Warwick
and
Worcester
are carried on the great Hard-ware Manufacture of Iron, Brass, Steel,
&c.
at
Birmingham,
and the Nailors which it is known to employ are a prodigious Number of People, many more than at
Sheffield;
as also, the Manufacture of Glass at
Sturbridge,
besides several other smaller Manufactures also of different kinds; add to which, the multitude of Dairies and Cheese-makers in those particular Counties.
3. The great and populous Counties of
Devon
and
Somerset,
the most intent perhaps upon the Woollen Manufacture of any in all
Britain,
yet how is the first diverted by the fishing Trade upon both its Shores, its Cyder Trade in the
South-Hams,
and also in their Sea-affairs as well the Shipping as the Merchandize; and the other in Grazing and Digging of Lead and Coal, which employs many thousands of their People.
4. The Counties of
Essex, Norfolk,
and
Suffolk
carry on the fourth, but not the least Branch of the Woollen Manufacture, and yet they tell us there are above thirty thousand Men employed out of those three Counties always at Sea.
Suffolk
is two Thirds of it, both Land and People, employed in Dairies and feeding Cattle and Fowls for
London;
and they tell us, that the two Counties of
Essex
and
Suffolk
only, send every Year to
London
fifty thousand Head of fat black Cattle, two hundred thousand fat Sheep and Lambs, fifty thousand Firkins of Butter, and twenty thousand Barrels of Oysters, an hundred thousand fatted Calves, with two Millions of Geese and Turkeys. How many of the People all That may keep employed, let others judge for me: However it will be granted that even in these three Counties where such prodigious Manufactures are produced, as
Norwich
Stuffs, the
Sudbury
Sayes and the
Colchester
Bayes, yet not one half of the People are employed in any.
Add to this, the Multitudes of People in
Lancashire
employed in making the Cotton Manufactures, about which alone they say there are two hundred thousand People employed in the Town of
Manchester,
and within twelve Miles round it.
Add to this also, the Multitudes now employed in the same County in the Linnen Manufacture, which is so encreased of late Years there as to employ near as many as the Cotton, only that it extends over a greater compass of Land.
Add to them all, That even in those Manufacturing Counties, where the greatest Part of the Woollen Work is carried on, and where the most People are employed by it, not the Lawyers, not the Physicians, not the Gentry, not the Clergy, not the Citizens, or Towns-people, that is to say, not the Shop-keepers, not all the Handicrafts, such as Smiths, Carpenters, Masous, Bricklayers, Shoemakers, and of the last, not their Wives or Children, so much as set a Hand, no not a Finger, to any Part of this great Manufacture, except it be to wear it out and consume it.
In a word, except the Weaving part, and the Managing part, the main Stress of the Manufacture depends upon, and is performed by the Women and Children, and that of those few Counties only.
The Conclusion from all this is directly to the Case proposed, thus:
If the Manufacture of
England
is so prodigious great, and yet employs but so small a Part of the People, what might it not be brought to, and how would it be (as I said) too great for the whole World, if all the Inhabitants, I mean all the looser Inhabitants, such as are fit to work, and who would gladly work if they could be employed, were set in upon it? What an infinite Quantity of Goods would they make, and how would they use up, not only all the Wool that
England, Scotland
and
Ireland
could produce, but even more Wool than they could produce, tho' the said Quantity was to be encreased to twice or three times as much as it is, and that none was clandestinely carried away to other Parts?
But as I said this Part should be treated as a Digression, I will not run it out too long. It comes of course next to consider the present State of this great Manufacture, how it stands, and then bring it all to these great and necessary Enquiries.
1. Whether it is under a declining and sinking Condition, or no?
2. What Effect this Decay of the Manufacture may have, and what it naturally tends to?
3. What are the Occasions of its Decay, and wherein it consists?
4. What may yet be done to revive it? With some other Observations which may fall in as we go.
And this is the Business in the following Sheets.
CHAP. I. Of the original State of the Woollen Manufacture of
Great-Britain,
with some just Deductions from what it has been in former Times to what it is Now.
AS I have observed in the Introduction that the Woollen Manufacture was (like the Children of
Israel
) rescued from a State of Captivity, and from a strange Land, we must make that out a little plainer: The Case was thus.
In the Reign of
Edward
III. of glorious Fame, tho'
England
was thought to be at that time in the most flourishing Condition that History gives us any Account of: The Glory of her Arms, the Vigour of the Monarch, and of his eldest Son, the Gaiety and Splendor of the Court were such as never were known before; the Last was the Resort of all the Nobility, Youth and Gentry of
Europe;
the second was the Admiration and Wonder of the World; the greatest Princes made their Court to them, and Kings were Captives in their Possession:
England
was the Terror of the World; The Battles of
Cressy
and
Poictiers,
and the reinstating the King of
Spain,
depos'd by his Rival, were Actions that brought all the Powers of
Europe
to stand at Gaze, and as it were to dread the turning of the Arms of
England
so much as towards their Dominions: History will confirm all the Particulars; I have no room for long Quotations:
Yet all this while Trade shared no Advantages among the Conquests of the Day; nor do we find the least Concern in any of the Councils of that Glorious Prince, or of his Ministers of State, for the Propagation of Commerce, at home or abroad.
Building publick and sumptuous Edifices, great Churches and Monasterys; making Feasts, Balls, Tournaments; adorning
Windsor-
Castle; instituting the famous Order of Knighthood; making League, and Alliances; expensive Enterviews with Foreign Princes, such as the Emperor and the Duke of
Burgundy,
and keeping a magnificent
English
Court at
Cologne,
for almost a Year and a half at a time: These things took up the Court, and turn'd the Eyes (I had almost said turn'd the Heads) of the Nation, during that whole Reign. Things which tended to the Glory of the Kingdom, and the Honour of the Majesty of the King, as
Nebuchadnezzar
said of his great
Babel
that he had built; but, as we may add, these glorious things gutted
England
of its Wealth, made the Monarch powerful and his People poor.
In all his Parliaments we see not one Act for the Encouragement of Trade, for the enlarging Commerce, for Employment of the Poor, for setting up Manufactures; to speak the Truth, I question if the Word Manufacture or Manufacturer were known in the Country; and, for ought I see, as the Taylors were the Only Merchants, so the Shoemakers were the Greatest Manufacturers in the Kingdom.
The bountiful Hand of Heaven had then, and from the Beginning, given
England
the greatest Gift of Nature that the whole World could be said to enjoy,
viz.
the Wool: The diligent and sensible Nations round us understood it, and how to value it; and, which was more, understood how to improve it; and for that end, throng'd to the very outmost Bounds of the Continent of
Europe
(this way) to be near it, and that they might bring it over as cheap as possible.
By this I mean the
Netherlands,
where the industrious People, by the Help of the Wool from
England,
fell to work in such a Manner as that there they made then, as we have since done in
England,
Cloaths for all the known Parts of the World.
This brought the many Thousands and Millions of People to inhabit those drowned, overflowed Bogs and Marshes, which before that were scarce thought fit for human Creatures to dwell in, and which were dwelt in only as Retreats and Fastnesses to secure the fugitive Nations from the Incursions of the
Gauls,
and afterwards of the
Romans.
This very Trade brought People, and built Cities and Castles, even where the Sea allowed no footing, and the Land no Foundation; from hence, I say, the numberless Throngs of People came to dwell in that Country, and by degrees, by the Encrease of their Wealth, and by their indefatigable Industry (all the Effects of Trade and Manufacture) have brought it to be the richest Soil, the fullest of People and of great Cities and Towns, of any Country in the World.
All this while
England
lay neglected to the last Degree; her Sons knocking their Heads against Stone-walls, and ranging the Field of War in foreign Countries, pursued their own Poverty, and sought Misery, for the Glory of their Monarch.
But at home it was all a Miscellany of Sorrow: Villainage and Vassalage comprised the Poor; Knighthood and Esquireship took up the middle Gentry; and Glory dwelt only among the Barons and Princes.
All the Trade we read of, was carrying their Wool abroad, to give Employment to the Poor of foreign Countries,
viz.
the
Dutch
and the
Flemings;
and this Wool, we may say, was the grand Fund of the Wealth, both of King and People.
If the King made any Wars, and demanded Subsidies of his Parliament, as was too frequently the Case in the time of
Edw.
III, the grand Article of
Ways and Means
was to grant the King ten Shillings a Pack upon Wool, or twenty Shillings a Pack upon Wool, like our two Shillings and four Shillings
per
Pound upon Land; and once they came to such a Height, (God forbid we should see the like of our Lands) that the Parliament gave the King one Half Part of all the Wool it self for his Wars in
France;
by the same Token that (as King
Charles
II. did too often) all the Money was spent, and no War with
France
begun neither; nor did the War break out 'till three Years after; so that when it came, they were sain to give the King new Subsidies again; that is to say, another Tax upon the Exportation of Wool, and so over and over again several times.
In this State of Indolence, or rather horrid Ignorance and Blindness, was this whole Nation, as it were, Philtred and Bewitched, notwithstanding all the Glory, the Wisdom, the Policy and good Government which King
Edward
III was so famed for.
Like People buried alive in Sloth and Idleness they sat still, ploughed and sowed as much Corn as served just to feed them, sheer'd their Sheep every Year, and, as it may be said, threw away their Wool; went to the Wars, were knocked on the Head for the Honour of
Old England,
and the Glory of their great Kings; and this was the Round of Life, even from the Nobleman to the meanest Vassal, Peasant or Labourer in the Nation.
As to the poor Women and Children, they sat at home, fared hard, lived poor and idle: the Women drudg'd at the Husbandry, and the Children sar still, blow'd their Fingers, pick'd Straws; and both might be said not to live, but to slarve out a wretched time, then Die, and go,
Where—
who knows!
As to Manufacture or Employment, we do not see room so much as to believe that they knew any thing of it; any farther than it may be to make some very ordinary things which Nature
Necessity put them upon for their own Covering, and hardly that
In this miserable Condition lay the Ancestry of this diligent Nation, who being but once let into the Method of working the Wool, and some Authority supporting as well as encouraging them by stopping the Stream of its Exportation, soon tasted the Sweets of it, soon fell heartily upon it, presently became Masters of the Performance, and in time supplanted the Encroachers; engrossed the Wool, for it was their own before; redeem'd the Captives, and at last brought not only the Manufactures, but the Manufacturers too, over to
England;
for thousands of the People followed the Manufacture for Bread, and that they might get Employment; and this began the multiplying of the People too, as well as of their Wealth; for as Trade brings Wealth, so Work brings the Workmen together.
It is just thus still in
England:
Where-ever we see the Manufactures seated, there we see Multitudes of People collected; the Labour gathers the Hands: and this was the first Occasion of making those strict exclusive Laws for Parish Settlements, that the particular Parishes where such Manufactures were set up might not be oppressed with the Numbers of Poor flocking in from other Parishes.
Where the first Manufacturer's settled or set up, the unemployed People presently throng'd about them for Business and Wages; and we find it to this day, that where the Manufactures are, the Country is always exceeding populous; This 'tis evident the Manufactures did not find, but made it so; 'tis true the Manufacture in most Places pitch'd its Situation in great Towns or Cities, such as
Norwich, Colchester, Canterbury, Exeter,
and the like; but 'tis also certain that those Cities, and especially the adjacent Countries, are grown infinitely more populous by the settling of those Manufactures among them, than they were before.
This is farther proved by a general View of those Parts of
England
where the People are not thus employed; for where the Inhabitants of a Country consist only, or chiefly, of Landlord and Tenant, Gentry and Shopkeepers, you see the Country much less throng'd; it is true that the Multitudes which live together in those Places where the Manufactures are established as above, do influence all the rest of the Nation by causing a greater Cultivation of the Lands, and greater Improvement of Estates, for Provisions, which the other consume; the Corn and the Cattle being brought from the remotest Parts for their Subsistence, and by consequence the People are encreas'd there also:
Yet we see the Country is inhabited in a more even manner, the People live more at large and dispersed, as the Farms and the Lands which they cultivate call them; they are spread as it were over the whole sace of the Land.
We see no such Villages there as
Leeds
or
Hallifax, Sheffield
or
Birmingham, Manchester
or
Froom, Taunton
or
Troubridge,
in most of which, or on very little Ground near them, twenty to forty thousand People are said severally to inhabit; and in three or four of them, as in
Hallifax, Manchester, Birmingham,
and
Froom,
many more.
But to go back to the Introduction of this Change: It was in the Reign of K.
Hen.
VII, and not before, when the
English
began the bold Adventure of Manufacturing their own Wool, (I mean began it in Quantity.) There had some Attempt been made before, and we are told of some Adventurers in Trade who having been over in
Flanders
and learned the Manner of it, but especially having seen the Advantage of it, had brought over with them so much Knowledge as to learn the People to spin, (so many of them at least as their Stocks could compass to employ) and others to Comb and Card the Wool, and so on, thro' all the other Parts of the Work; which went a little way, and was promising to go farther in time.
But it is to be observed, that from the first Part of the Reign of
Henry
VI, and thro' all that long Reign, and thro' the Reign of
Edward
IV, and
Richard
III, the whole Nation was miserably embroiled in the Civil Confusions, such as the Wars between the White Rose and the Red; the Houses of
Lancaster
and
York;
and the several Insurrections and Revolutions of Affairs which naturally attended those Quarrels.
Every one knows that War is no Friend to Trade: Arts and Improvements, much less Manufacture, and the Employment of the Poor, never plant, or at least never thrive, in the Flame and Heat of War, especially too the worst of the kind, an Intestine, Civil, or to speak justly of it, an Unnatural War.
Times of Feud and Faction, Rebellion, Insurrection, killing and plundering, are no times for Improvement; and this may be a just Reason why the Beginnings of the Manufacture, which I have mentioned as above, took no considerable root during the Confusions of War, both Civil and Foreign Wars, but especially Civil Wars, which for sixty Years almost without Intermission vex'd this Nation.
Perhaps a Manufacturer did, or suppose he had seated himself at any particular Town or Place in the Country, had brought together some People, and had instructed them in the Work,
viz.
some Women to spin, some Men to comb, to weave, to dress the Cloth, and had built a Fulling Mill to thicken the Cloths, and the like: Then come the two Armies into the Field, and they march over the Country where the poor Manufacturer is settled: If it be a friendly Army, and they are of the same Side, then the kindest thing that could be expected was to call all the Poor Workmen away, especially the young able-bodied Fellows, with their Bows and Arrows to encrease the Army: If it were the Enemy, then they all run away for fear of being forced. As for the Women and Children, they are no body without the Men, for they cannot spin the Wool 'till the Men comb it, and when they have spun the Yarn, 'tis of no use when the Men are gone that should weave it; and perhaps the Loom which it should be wrought in, burnt by the Plunderings and Ravagings of the Soldiers.
By this means (and I cannot doubt but this was often the Case) the Beginning of the Manufacture was check'd and put back, the poor Undertaker ruin'd and undone; and so you heard no more of the Attempt for some Years.
This is as good an Account as I believe can be given why the Woollen Manufacture began among us no sooner; why it had no Encouragement in
England,
at least no considerable Encouragement, 'till the time of King
Henry
VII, and about the Year 1480, to 1490.
The Reign of King
Henry
was the first
Halcyon
Season which
England
had selt, not for some Years only, but for some Ages, as will appear at large in the Histories of those Times: Either Wars abroad, or Wars at home, had vex'd the Nation, from the unfortunate Reign of
Richard
II. to that time; all the Circumstances of those Reigns will confirm it, I need not quote the Particulars, which are too many; the Nation was always in a Hurry and a Fright; here the Oppressions of Tyrants, there the Rebellions of People; here the Kings depos'd and murther'd, there the People ravag'd and plunder'd; now one King runs away, then another.
Hen.
VI. was upon the Throne, and in Prison, alternately, five or six times;
Edward
IV. upon the Throne, and fled out of the Country, twice at least; and so among the rest.
But
Henry
VII. took new Measures, and manag'd the Publick Affairs with the utmost Dexterity. He first humbled the too powerful Nobility, so to prevent Caballing and Rebellion; brought them to be all dependent upon him, and gradually impoverish'd them, while he hoarded up immense Sums of Money himself: In a word, his Reign was a whole Scene of Intrigue and Design, among the great Ones; the King ever talking of War, and blustering at his Neighbours as if he would quarrel with every body; and got great Sums of Money from his Parliament to begin a War (especially against
France
) but put the Money in his Pocket, and never made any War at all, and (as some say) never intended it.
But in the mean time (as these Cabals and Politicks at Court concerned no body but themselves) his Reign, as to the People, was all pacifick and quiet, and the Consequence was visible, for now Industry began to hold up its Head, Trade began to spread, the Merchants began to set up, and Navigation to be encouraged; the People of
England
began to look abroad and about them, and Colonies and Factories began in this very Reign to be planted, foreign Countries to be discovered, and new Worlds looked into; and Some tell us that
Christopber Columbus
having now discovered
America,
came over hither, and made the first Offer for a farther Discovery to King
Henry,
and particularly to take possession of it for him, but that the King (by the meer Narrowness of his Soul) declin'd the Expence of it.
Also 'tis affirm'd, that several Voyages were made in this King's Reign to the Western Shoars of
Africk,
and to the Gold Coast, and great Advantages made by it to the Merchants, bringing pure Gold back for the most worthless Trifles: But this is not to the present Purpose, only thus far, that this being a Reign of prosound Peace, Arts and Commerce began to relish with the People, and they began to turn their Hands to several kinds of Improvement.
Among the rest, this of the Woollen Manufacture came principally into play. The King, who had liv'd abroad, as well in
Flanders
as in
France
and
Brittany,
had seen with Regret, how not the
Flemings
only, but the
French
grew rich at the Expence of
England,
and how even they could not refrain mocking the Sloth and Weakness of the
English,
that should let their Wool be carried out of the Kingdom, to be work'd up into Cloths and Stuffs; and in a word, be manufactured abroad, and then buy even the Cloths they wore of their own Wool so manufactured abroad.
It must be consess'd it deserv'd Reproach, and when we come to look back upon it at this distance, we cannot help wondering at the Madness of the People, but there are so many other Examples of the unaccountable Stupidity of those Ages, especially of the common People, that if they were all to be brought upon the Stage, we should cease to wonder at any thing of this kind; as particularly, how they were blindly given up to the absolute Tyranny of the Nobility, in Civil Matters, and to the absolute Government of the ignorant Priests, on the Side of Religion.
But not to dwell upon the Folly of those Ages, I proceed to take a View of the Advances our Ancestors made in the recovering this glorious Trade; and even in that, I shall not enlarge upon the little Beginnings, and unsuccessful Attempts, which (as above) were made by private Purses, and on private Experiments, before the Reign of King
Henry
VII. for if we may believe
Fame,
there were several private Essays made, for the engaging in, and carrying on a Manufacture of Woollen Cloth, before that Time, some of which began to promise Success too; and the People began to relish the Thing, and taste the Profit of it before.
Had it not been so, we can hardly think that King
Henry
could, all at once, bring the People of
England
to a general Manufacturing, so as effectually to stop the Exportation of the Wool, as he certainly did in the eighteenth Year of his Reign, or thereabout.
But several People having attempted it before, some without Success, and some with; and the Thing beginning gradually to encrease and get ground in the Reign of
Edward
IV. the King, who (as above) having seen the innumerable Numbers of People working at it abroad, and being thereby fully sensible of the Advantage it would be to his own Subjects, if they could be brought to engage in it at home, first set heartily about it among his own Subjects, encouraging those that were engag'd in it, and promising Encouragement to others to go about it; so that he brought several Men of Interest among his Nobility, and others, to espouse it, and the Manufacture was set on foot in that manner in several Parts of
England,
and that with apparent Success; as particularly, (if we may credit private Accounts) the first Appearance of the Woollen Manufacture of Cloth was at
Wakefield,
in the West Riding of
Yorkshire,
being encouraged by an ancient Knight and Favourite of King
Henry,
of the Name of
Savil,
and some other Persons of Rank, who had Estates in that Country, and who encourag'd their Tenants and Vassals to the Work. This
Savil,
I suppose to be some of the Ancestors of the late Marquis of
Hallifax,
one of whose Titles is taken from the Town of
Eland,
in the same Part of the Country, and upon the Banks of the
Calder,
not far from
Wakefield,
of whom the Posterity are Lords
Eland
to this Day.
The next Place to which the Manufacture spread, was the Town of
Okingham
in
Berkshire;
where it did not continue long, or at least was not contain'd in the narrow Bounds of that small Place, but spread it self to the larger Towns of
Basingstoke
and
Andover
in
Hampshire
and
Wiltshire,
and to
Reading
and
Newberry,
in which four last Towns it continued even 'till within these few Years, to an extraordinary Magnitude; but it is now remov'd farther West, into
Wiltshire, Gloucestershire,
&c. Then the Countess of
Richmond,
Mother to King
Henry
VII, encouraged some money'd Men to set it up again in the Villages about
Woking,
on the River
Wey,
where, or near which, she liv'd, with a great and noble Hospitality, doing good to all the poor People round about her, and particularly by thus setling them to work, and that from thence began the Cloathing about
Guildford, Godlaming, Darking,
&c. all Towns in
Surrey;
and in other Places thereabouts, and which continues there (tho' decay'd) to this Day.
It was some time after these private Persons undertook the manufacturing of Wool, that King
Henry,
finding his Subjects begin to improve, and that the Goods they made were able to supply the ordinary Demand, or near it; caused the Exportation of Wool to be prohibited, and foreign-made Manufactures also to be excluded, encouraging his People thereby to make larger Quantities of those Goods at home.
Nor did there need any greater Encouragement to the Manufacture, than thus shutting out the foreign Manufactures; for this encreasing the Demand at home, the Price encreas'd of course, which sufficiently rewarded the Labours of the Workmen, and encreas'd their Wages.
I need not bring any Vouchers to prove, that this Encrease of Wages improved the Manufacture, or encreas'd the Number of the Workmen; for now, not only the
English
fell into the Trade with Courage, and with Multitudes, but (as above) Multitudes follow'd the Manufacture out of
Flanders,
encouraged by the Gain, and wanting Employment at home.
Nor were these of the labouring Poor only, but abundance of the Master Manufacturers, and of those the most skilful in the Workmanship; by whom the People here were soon instructed and perfected in the Knowledge, not of the Art only in general, such as in the Sorting, Combing, Carding, and otherwise managing the Wool, in Spinning, Weaving, Knitting,
&c.
but also in the several kinds of Goods fitted for the Markets, and demanded as well abroad as at home.
Thus the
English
secur'd the Trade to themselves, and became first Masters of the Woollen Manufacture; and the very
Flemings
themselves, who had for so many Ages eat the Bread out of their Mouths, were now their Assistants and Instructors, in compleating them in the Knowledge of Dressing, Sheering, Perfecting, and Finishing the working Part; thousands of the said
Flemings,
and their Families, coming over hither for Work, and settling among them, and whose Posterity became
English,
immediately after them, scarcely reserving their foreign Names, or changing them, to conceal their Original.
For it is to be observ'd, that it was not so easy a Matter for Foreigners to be naturalized among the
English
in those times, as it is now, which made those that found means to settle here, and turn their Hands to the Manufacture, take what care they could to conceal themselves, and so to change their Sir-names, or at least shorten and abridge them into differing Sounds, that they might be made to speak
English
as much as possible, that is to say, to sound like
English:
for Example;
Jean de Somteres
would be called
John Sommers; Guillaume de Tournay, William Turner; Esticnne D'Anvers, Stephen Danvers; Jaques de Franquemont, James Franks;
and so of the rest; by which all the
Flemish, Dutch,
and
Walloon
Names were presently turn'd into
English.
And thus of those who had two or three Christian Names (as is common among Foreigners) they turn'd the second Christian Name into a Sir-name, and from thence 'tis said we have so many Families of such Sirnames among us to this Day; for Example,
Jean Jaques de Buromeir,
leaving out the Sir-name, was called
John James; Guillaume Jacob Van Platten, William Jacobs; Guillaume Henry de Villangen, William Henry;
and many more of this kind, as we find the
French
Refugees of the last Age are doing at this very time;
Jean de Morlaix
is now
John Morley;
and but the other Day,
Jaques de Guilote
call'd himself
James Gill,
and the like is done every Day, so that the Families are no more known to be foreign. But this is a Digression.
We find very little upon Record, relating to the Wool being carried into
Flanders
after this; or of the
Flemings
making broad Cloth and Stuffs, nor indeed are our Laws much concerned about those Affairs, except that King
Henry
VII. towards the End of his Reign, had some Laws made to regulate the Lengths and Breadths of the Cloths made here, in order to bring the Clothiers into a Regularity of working, and that the several sorts of Goods should be all alike, equal to one another, and as near as possible of an equal Goodness and Value; so to establish the Price of every kind at Market, and prevent Frauds.
Hence came the fixing of Marks and Seals to the Cloths; at first, every Maker striving to add a Reputation to his own Manufacture, and pretending it to be superiour in its Fineness or Goodness, to his Neighbours, set his Mark at the End, wrought into the Cloth, in some different Colour, or (as afer some time was practis'd) Leaden Seals, with the Maker's Name, and the Weight of the Cloth stamp'd upon them; and hence after some time the several Towns and Corporations, denominating the Manufacture from the Place, obtained Privileges and Immunities, Powers and Authority to regulate the Length, and Breadth, and Goodness of the several Manufactures made in those Towns respectively, stamping the Leaden Seals with the Town Marks or Arms, as at
Colchester,
at
Norwich,
at
Leeds,
and several other Places.
It is true that in this Interval between stopping the Wool from being exported, and bringing the Manufacture at home to a Perfection, two Inconveniences happened.
1. The King's Revenue was greatly impaired, and even the Parliament were put to Difficulties for
Ways
and
Means
upon extraordinary Occasions to raise Money for the King's Business; for the usual Fund for raising Money, when the ordinary Subsidies, Tenths and Fifteenths were not sufficient, was by granting the King twenty Shillings or forty Shillings, as the Publick Occasion called for it, upon each Pack of Wool; whereas now the Wool being detained at home, the Clothiers paying no Duty upon that which they bought at home, nor any Tax upon the Cloths when made, the Revenue to the Crown was stopt at once; and this perhaps might be the reason, that notwithstanding the Prohibition in
Henry
VII's time, which perhaps was temporary and so might be expir'd, we find the Wool was exported again to
Flanders
in the Reign of King
Henry
VIII; and in the Fourth of King
Edward
VI, we find mention made of a
Wool Fleet
of sixty Sail bound to
Antwerp,
which I take to be partly also occasioned by this next Article,
viz.
2. That the Clothing being yet young in
England,
tho' greatly improved (considering the time it had been set up in) the Manufacturers were not able to work up the whole Quantity of Wool which grew in
England,
and so the Government was obliged either to allow or wink at its being carried abroad, as it certainly was all the Reign of
Henry
VIII, and of
Edward
VI also, tho' in the said fourth Year of
Ed.
VI they consulted much upon erecting a Mart for the
English
Cloth and Block Tin to be establish'd at
Southampton;
so that none of those Goods should be sold at any other Place, for the South-West Parts of
England,
and at
Hull
for the North Parts; this last to accommodate the Merchants of the East-Seas called the
Hans,
and also for the Ease and Advantage of the Northern Clothiers in
England;
for that it was observed even then, that the Clothing Trade flourished in those early Times in the West-Riding of
Yorkshire,
viz. at
Wakefield, Halifax, Leeds,
&c. more than in any other Part of
England.
However, as I have said, that the Clothiers were not yet able to work up all the Growth of the Wool in
England;
so there seemed to be a Necessity to let some Part of it be sent abroad; yet it was resolved in King
Edward
's Council, it seems, to stop the Fleet which was just then going for
Antwerp,
and to have the Wool kept at home, to encourage the Mart intended to be erected at
Southampton:
But the Fleet was sailed out of
Dover
Harbour, and out of the River of
Thames,
before the Order of Council was passed, and could reach them; and so the Wool went away; and the King's Death following soon after, those Resolves came to Nothing for that time.
In the next Reign,
Philip
II, King of
Spain,
marrying Queen
Mary
of
England,
it was not to be expected that a Prohibition so much to the Prejudice of the Trade of the
Netherlands,
which were King
Philip
's proper Dominion, should pass in
England;
so that we have Reason to believe the Prohibition of sending Wool over the Seas, was at least suspended for that Reign; and what happen'd in the next, we shall have frequent Occasion to mention as we go on.
Thus you see the Infant State of the Woollen Manufacture; from what rational Measures it received its first Encouragement in
England,
and how gradually it came on; for we must also observe, that as it was a thing of vast Magnitude, as well as of the utmost Importance to this Nation, so it was not easily, much less suddenly, brought to Perfection; the Stream or Channel of so great a Commerce was not soon changed, tho' our People came into it with Chearfulness, and made wonderful Progress for the time; yet
This Rome
was not built in a Day, it was many Years, nay Ages, before it came to Perfection.
The first Beginnings of it I take to have been in the Reign of
Edward
IV, that is to say, of its being attempted by private Hands: The first publick Countenance it receiv'd, was at nearest about the Year 1480, in the time of
Henry
VII, and it was from thence to the Year 1560
(viz.)
under Queen
Elizabeth,
before it came to its Perfection; so that it was above an hundred and twenty Years, as we may call it, in its State of
Nonage,
tho' all the while encreasing and growing, and in a promising View of a prosperous Magnitude, the same which we have since seen it arrive to.
It had indeed a most glorious Patron (or Patroness) and Protector in Queen
Elizabeth;
who not only promoted and encouraged it at home, but also extended the Trade for the Consumption of it abroad; for in her Time, the several Branches of the
English
Commerce were extended into almost all Parts of the known World; the
Turkey
Trade, and the
Muscovy
Trade established; the Colonies in
America
discovered and planted, by all which the Woollen Manufacture obtained a Vent in foreign Markets, and those great Branches of its Consumption, which have since been so large, and are still the most considerable, were first established in her time, particularly (I say) that of
Turkey
and
Muscovy.
But nothing contributed so effectually to the Prosperity of the Woollen Manufacture in this Nation, and which may be said (under the wise Conduct of that glorious Queen) to compleat the whole Fabrick, giving the mortal Stroke to, unhinging the whole Trade in, and shutting it for ever out from, the
Low-Countries,
as the long and bloody War between the King of
Spain
and his Subjects in those Countries, on account of the Liberties and Religion of the People.
By this, the People were distracted and separated, the Nobility murthered, the Towns ruin'd, the Country plunder'd, the United Provinces (now call'd the
States-General
) entirely broken off from the King of
Spain
's Government; thousands of the People fled over to
England,
where they were kindly received, hospitably relieved, courteously entertained, and (which was above all the rest) encouraged to set up their Manufactures in the Towns and Corporations, wherever they pleas'd; and this encreas'd and compleated the manufacturing Trade in
England.
And thus we have brought it within View (at least) of its present State.
CHAP. II. Of the Flourishing Circumstances of the
English
Manufactures in the Ages past, both Abroad and at Home; with a summary Account of its Gradations.
IT was not to be reckon'd a small Part of the Encrease of the Woollen Manufacture in
England
(considering its Original was from Abroad) that it was made capable of supplying the Demands of the Home Trade, and was considerable enough to cloath its own People: Nor was it under above an hundred Years Improvement from its beginning, that this could be attained to, as is Noted above.
The Manufacturers abroad not only out-work'd us, but under-work'd us; they made their Goods both better and cheaper; the
English
had great Advantages, but no Experience, so that still some of the nicer and better Manufactures were made in
Flanders
and
Holland,
nor was there any avoiding it at first.
But when the
Flemings
(persecuted and terrified by the Cruelty and Persecution of the Duke
D'Alva
) fled over hither, and Queen
Elizabeth
gave them Protection and Encouragement here, the
English
then became absolute Masters of the Manufactures, and from thence we may Date the Perfection of their Skill; then all foreign Importation might be said to cease, and the carrying abroad of the Wool was made Criminal.
But let us see how its Consumption went on.
1. At Home; the whole Country was cloathed, Poor and Rich; nothing so fine, but it was to be had in
Gloucestershire
and
Wiltshire, Worcestershire
and
Barkshire: Jack
of
Newbury
was a Clothier superior to any that are to be found among us at this Time, by many Thousands, as Money went then; and Mr.
Kenrick
's Will, of St.
Christopher
's (who was originally a Clothier, and then a Cloth Merchant, dealing to
Dort
) testifies how considerable the Trade was by that Time, (
viz.
King
James
1.) when he left above
40000l.
in Gifts and Charities, besides the Bulk of his Estate.
2. But let us also take a View of its Encrease Abroad, from Queen
Elizabeth
's Time, besides its being able fully to supply all the People at Home.
1. That Queen established a flourishing Company, called the
Levant
Merchants (the same we now call the
Turkey
Company) by which she extended the Trade of the
English,
for their fine Broad Cloths, into the several Courts of
Persia, Turkey,
and
Egypt;
for either the Queen, or the
Turkey
Company (I am not sure which) making some Presents to the Grand Seignior of fine
English
Cloth, of such exquisite Workmanship for the Fineness of the Cloth, and of such beautiful Colours, being dyed Scarlet and Crimson, the said Grand Seignior, and the Grand Vizier, caused fine Robes or Gowns to be made of the said Cloths; and also fine Vests, after their manner, which being surred with Sables and rich Furrs, presented them much about the same time from the Great Duke (so the
Russian
Emperor was then call'd) of
Muscovy,
made a most magnificent Appearance; the Grand Seignior and his Courtiers were so pleased with them, that they soon became the Mode or Wear of all the great Officers, and of the Grand Seignior himself, and so again of the Viziers or Viceroys of their remotest Provinces, and the same at the Court of
Persia.
Thus in a few Years, the fine
English
Cloth became the Robes of Majesty, and (as it were) the Badge of Greatness and Glory, at
Constantinople,
and at
Ispahan,
at
Alexandria
in
Egypt,
and at
Aleppo
in
Asia,
and every where else among the
Mahometans,
where they had Money sufficient to purchase them; and thus it continues to this Day, which is still more strange than all the rest
2. The same
Levant
Company included the Trade to
Alexandria
in the Mouth of the great River
Nile,
by which all the Country of
Egypt
was supplyed; and not only the great Court of the V
zier of
Grand Cairo,
(who, tho' a Subject or Slave of the Grand Seignior, yet keeps a Court almost as great and as magnificent as the Emperor his Master) but also the same C
oths were convoyed to
Suez,
a Sea-Port of the
Turks
in the
Red Sea,
and thence by Water to
Judde,
or
Ieddo,
the Sea Port to the City of
Medina,
the great Center of the
Mahometan
Superstition, where the Riches and Magnificence of their Priests is not to be describ'd; and where they are still cloath'd in the same manner, especially on their Days of Ceremony.
3. The same
Levant
Company extended the Trade for
English
Cloth to the City of
Venice,
at the bottom of the
Adriatick
Gulph, where they drove a very great and advantagious Trade; for I suppose that the Trade of
Smyrna
and
Scanderoon,
and the Caravans by
Aleppo
to
Persia,
were not at that time found out by the
English,
but were carried on (if at all) by the Merchants of
Venice;
who at that time engross'd indeed all the Commerce of the East, imported the Spices and all the rich Goods of the
Indies,
by the Gulph of
Persia,
and by the Caravans of
Bassora
and
Bagdat
to
Aleppo,
and sent back by the same Conveyance such
European
Goods as those Countries demanded; among which, the fine Broad Cloths of
England,
soon after that time, began to be the most acceptable, and were indeed of the greatest Value of any thing of that kind in the World.
4. Likewise in this Queen's Reign, the Passage to
Arch-Angel,
or the
White Sea,
being discovered, the
English
Merchants found Means to carry on a Trade from that Port, by Water-Carriage, to the great City of
Muscow,
a little way excepted, where their Goods were carried by Land about sixty Miles only.
Here they also found a Market for their rich Cloths, in the great Duke's Court; and upon this a new Society for Commerce was erected, and were call'd the
Muscovy
Company; who brought back a very gainful Return in Sables, Ermins, and other rich Furrs, the Produce of the wild and barren Desarts of
Siberia
and the North.
N.B.
These
Muscovy
Merchants found the Way, some time after this, to pass by the great River
Wolga,
to
Astracan,
and thence into the
Caspian Sea,
an Inland Navigation
(
reckoning from
Jerowslaw,
where they first embarked their Goods
)
of very near
2000
Miles on one River,
viz.
the
Wolga;
hence
(
unwearted in their Search after new Worlds of
Trade)
they pass'd the
Caspian,
landed in
Gerogia,
pass'd over the Mountains of
Armenia,
and reach'd into the Heart of the Kingdom of
Persia,
where they found an extraordinary Reception, sold their fine Cloths at an extravagant Price, such as was even surprizing to themselves; and brought back Bales of raw Silk to a very great Advantage also; so that notwithstanding the extraordinary Charges of so exceeding long a Travel, they made a very profitable Voyage.
These two new Trades gave a very great Encouragement to the
English
Merchants, and particularly to the Manufacture of
English
Cloth, which now obtain'd such a Reputation over the whole Trading World, that nothing was equally valuable in any, or perhaps in all the Courts of
Europe
and
Asia.
5. In the latter End of this Queen's Reign, the same Manufactures were demanded in an exceeding manner in the Northern Parts of the Empire, and the Countries bordering on the
Baltick;
and this Trade naturally fell into the Hands of the
Hans,
that is to say, the Society of Merchants who call'd themselves the
Hans,
a Word signifying a
Brotherhood,
or an
United Company;
and because there were so many (for there was once no less than Seventy two Cities of them) they were called the
Hans
Towns; these carried on the Trade of the North, as the
Venetians
did that of the South and East, mentioned above.
By these Towns, the
English
Manufacture was indeed wonderfully extended, that is to say, into all the Countries in the
Baltick,
the Kingdoms of
Denmark
and
Norway,
the Coasts of
Mecklemberg,
both the
Pomerens, Prussia, Courland, Livonia, Easthonia,
&c. and up the great Rivers of those Countries, into the very Heart of the Empire, and of all the Northern Countries; for Example,
1. By the City of
Bremen,
one of the chief of the
Hans
Towns, the
English
Manufacture passed up the
Weser,
into all the Circle of
Westphalia,
into the Countries of
Lunenberg, Hessia,
and some part of the
Lower Saxony.
2. By the City of
Hamburgh,
another of the
Hans
Towns, they had the like Passage into the Heart of the Dominions of the Empire, and even to the Hereditary Countries of the House of
Austria;
for the
Elb
carries its Navigation, by it self, and other Navigable Rivers, into and thro' the Electorates of
Saxony
and
Brandeburgh,
up to the great City of
Prague,
the Capital of
Bohemia.
3. By the City of
Lubeck,
the Capital and first of the
Hans
Towns, to all the Kingdom of
Sweden;
that City having at that time the Possession and Government of all
Schonen,
and the whole Commerce of the Kingdom of
Sweden;
(whose Power in Shipping was at that time very low) and the
Hans
were Masters of the Sea in all that Part of the World.
4. By the City of
Stetin,
another
Hans
Town, situate on the great River
Oder,
and by which the
Stetiners
carried on the like Trade into
Silesia, Lusatia, Austria,
and into
Poland.
5. By the City of
Dantzick,
another
Hans,
and by the Trade of that City upon the great River
Vistula,
the
English
Manufactures were spread into the Heart of
Poland,
and even to the Frontiers of
Hungaria.
6. By all the Sea-Ports of
Koningsburg, Riga, Revel,
and
Narva,
and the several Rivers call'd the
Duina,
the
Nicmen,
the
Pregel
and the
Narve;
by all which, the
English
Merchants found an exceeding Vent for the Consumption of the
English
Cloths, especially the Northern Cloathing of
Leeds, Wakefield,
and
Halifax,
call'd in general
Yorkshire
Cloth; which being not so fine, or dyed in such costly Colours as that which was sold into
Persia, Muscovy
and the
Levant,
yet suiting best with those Northern Climates, the Merchants found the Quantities which sold there exceeding great, and the Price sold for very encouraging.
7.
France
and
Spain
also, tho' the last was generally embroil'd with
England
almost all that Reign, were yet (during the rising Prosperity of the
English
Manufacture) glad to come into the Trade of it, and especially the Former took off great Quantities every Year; for
France
had not yet set their Hands to work to imitate (much less to rival) the
English,
in this particular Piece of Improvement. As for the
Spaniards,
the Peace or Truce between
Spain
and the
States-General,
which was first settled for twelve Years only, by which the
Spaniards
were obliged to acknowledge the
Dutch,
or
United Provinces,
to be a Free State; as it brought on with it a Peace, or a good Correspondence (at least) between
England
and
Spain,
so it wonderfully encreas'd the
British
Commerce, and especially the Consumption of the
English
Manufactures in all the Provinces of
Europe,
where they had been obstructed (if not prohibited) before.
Particularly the
Dutch,
by the Navigation of the
Rhine
and the
Maes
(two great Rivers, and one of them, without Comparison, the greatest River for Trade and Inland Navigation in
Europe
) carried those Goods up into the middle of the Southern Countries of the Empire; for now the
English
Woollen Cloth was become the general Favourite of
Europe,
and the Manufactures of
England
were the chief Article at the great Fairs of
Ausburg, Nuremberg, Francksort,
and
Leipsick,
the greatest Marts of
Europe
at that time, if not in the World; and which continue in a flourishing Condition to this Day, tho' sensibly declining in that particular Article which was their first Rise and Foundation; I mean that of the
English
Woollen Manufacture, as I shall sh
w in its Place.
By this means the
English
Manufacture, which the
Dutch
at that time gladly promoted, extended it self not only into the several Countries adjoining to those Rivers, but into other Countries, by the additional Help of other Navigable Rivers running into them, or running thro' other Provinces not far from them; such as
1. The
Moselle,
falling into the
Rhine
at
Coblents,
and taking into it the
Saar,
by which the Trade was supplyed into
Lorrain,
the Country of
Tryer,
the North-East Parts of
France,
the three Bishopricks of
Metz, Toul,
and
Verdun,
and into all that rich and fruitful Country between the
Saar
and the
Rhine.
2. The
Main,
a River Navigable almost 200 Miles, into the Circle of
Franconia,
and to the Countries of
Wurtzburgh, Bamberg, Baden,
and many other of the most populous Parts of
Germany,
passing then by
Francfort au Main,
and falling into the
Rhine
at
Mentz.
3. The
Neckar,
a Navigable River also, running thro' the fruitful rich Country of the Count
Palatine
of the
Rhine,
and passing by the Cities of
Heidleberg, Hailbron,
and the Mountains of the Black Forest, and within a few Miles of the City of
Ulm
upon the
Danube,
where that great River begins to be Navigable, and by which the said Trade had a Communication with all the great Cities and Rivers of
Suabia
and
Bavaria,
and even down to
Passau, Lintz
and
Vienna.
4. The
Aar,
a large River of
Swisserland,
also Navigable, which rising out of the same Mountains of the
Grisons,
from whence the
Rhine
it self proceeded, passes thro' the City of
Bern,
near that of
Zurick,
and other considerable Parts of the
Swiss
Cantons, and falling into the
Rbine
a little above
Basle,
carryed the
English
Woollen Manufacture into the Cantons of
Swisserland;
as it does now serve, to our great Mortification, to bring the like Manufactures now made in
Swisserland,
down into
Germany,
and to the great Fairs of
Nuremberg
and
Francksort,
where they Undersell and Supplant us, as shall be seen in its Place.
In this flourishing Condition Queen
Elizabeth
left the Woollen Manufacture of
England;
being at that time not the greatest Manufacture in
Europe
only (for so it may be called still, tho' sinking and declining a-pace) but the most encreasing, thriving, and rising Trade (at that time) in the World.
As the Woollen Manufacture had thus been about an hundred and fifty Years in its growing and encreasing Condition, like a young Oak in the Woods; so now being grown Major, or as we say
of Age,
and out of its
Nonage,
we may allow it to have continued above another Century in its flourishing and prosperous State; that is to say, it held its own, and continued in its full Glory, extended to an infinite Length and Breadth, triumphing over the whole World of Commerce, not rival'd, not imitated, I will not say, not envyed, but really not rival'd by any People or in any Country in the World; no, not so much as pretended to be rival'd any where: And this last hundred Years which I reckon to be the State of its full Glory and Perfection, I take to be from the Middle of Queen
Elizabeth
's Reign, to the End of the Reign of King
Charles
II. that is to say, near the End of it,
viz.
from the Year 1580, twenty Years before Queen
Elizabeth
died, to the Year 1680, being the latter End of the Reign of King
Charles
II.
During this time, the Manufactures were so far from receiving any Blow, any mortal Wound or sensible Disaster, either from abroad or at home, that the several Circumstances relating to the Vent and Consumption of them concurred to enlarge them and render their Condition yet more flourishing and prosperous, if that could be, than they were before. For Example,
First,
During that Interval of Time, many flourishing and now famous Colonies of
English
had been settled in
America,
and in other remote Parts of the World; the Discoveries of the indefatigable Adventurers of that Age; such as Sir
Francis Drake,
Sir
Walter Raleigh,
the famous Earl of
Cumberland,
Captain
Smith,
and others, too many to name, by whom the Commerce of the
English
was extended in a prodigious manner, and their Dominions also; as in the following Countries in particular:
1.
Virginia
1.
Barbadoes
2.
New Egland
2.
Bermudas
3.
Newfoundland
3.
Nevis
4.
Hudson's-Bay
4.
Antegoa
5.
New-York
5.
Montserrat
6.
New-Jersey
6. St.
Christopher's
7.
Pensilvania
7.
Jamaica,
&c.
8.
Carolina.
 
In all these, the succeeding Generations have so improved, the Plantations have been so spread, so well managed, and the Numbers of People are so surprisingly encreased, that whereas in the Beginning of King
James
's Reign it is creditably affirmed there were not Five thousand People in all of them, Negroes excepted, and not abundance of Them: 'Tis now as creditably insisted upon, that there are not less than a Million of
British
Subjects, Slaves included; which monstrous Encrease is not only an Addition to the Greatness and Glory of the
British
Dominion and to their Commerce, by the immense Return of their Product to
England,
such as from the Continent in Tobacco, Rice, Pitch, Tar, Turpentine, Train-Oil, Fish, Whale-fins, Furs, Drugs,
&c.
and to the other Colonies on the Islands in Corn, Meal, Peas, Pork, Beer, Horses,
&c.
and from the Islands to
England,
in Sugar, Rum, Melasses, Ginger, Cotton, Indico, Piemento, Cocoa, and many other valuable things. I say, this Encrease of People is not only an Encrease of Commerce, in the Returns above-named, but it adds to the Consumption of the
British
Manufactures in an extraordinary manner; not only all that Million of People being to be cloathed from hence, but that they have in all Places upon the said Continent taught the Natives of the Country to go cloathed also; and who are supplyed with Manufactures from
England;
all which is a meer Addition to the Trade, as well as to the Navigation of
England,
since the time above-named; nothing of those Countries being then known, much less any Trade to them.
It may be objected, and has been pretended, that the first Planters or Inhabitants of those Colonies coming from
England
is no Addition; for that the same Encrease would have been from them at home, if they had not gone abroad.
But as this requires a long and full Answer, such a full Answer may be given to it hereafter; and particularly this, that those Inhabitants generally going over thither in mean Circumstances, and growing rich there by their Industry, have quite altered the Case; and that the Encrease of the same People, if it had happened, had probably been an Encrease both of unprofitable Hands and Mouths; whereas here they have been just the contrary, and their Posterity being rich and industrious, have thereby encreased the publick Wealth as well as the Numbers of People: But this is not to the present Purpose.
It is certain, that since Queen
Elizabeth
's time, not our Colonies only, but the whole Kingdom of
England
is encreased in People in a wonderful manner; and that notwithstanding the prodigious Numbers who we can account for, as destroyed out of the ordinary course of Nature; such as by War abroad and at home, Plague, Shipwreck, peopling of
Ireland,
and other Cases, by which some Millions may have been destroyed, and no doubt have been.
All this Encrease of People has been an Addition to the Consumption of the Manufactures, and consequently an Encrease of it; and to say, that the Manufacture was encreased by its being sufficient to clothe the Inhabitants in
Edward
the Sixth's Reign, was to say little or nothing, compared to what the Importance of the same Article would be now, seeing we cannot doubt but that there are at least Four Millions of People in the Kingdom of
England
at this time, more than there were at the End of the Year 1500.
The first Foundation of this Encrease was, without doubt, said in the fixing the Manufactures at home, which were before settled in
Flanders,
as I have said; and the next Step was the Persecution of the
Spaniards
in
Flanders,
mentioned also above.
The last of those Articles, as some are of Opinion, brought over at least one hundred thousand
Flemings
into
England,
where Queen
Elizabeth,
far from being ignorant of the Benefit that Numbers of People would be to her Dominions, where she knew well there was Business enough to employ them gave them all imaginable Encouragement, appointed them Churches, admitted them to set up in Corporations, exempted them from Taxes, and the like; and we see their Posterity here to this Day, distinguished by Name in many of our Manufacturing Towns, as the
Rebows
at
Colchester,
the
De Vinks
at
Norwich,
the
Papilons
at
Canterbury,
and the like.
I might give Examples of the casual Encrease of the
English
Manufactures both abroad and at home; within the Compass of an hundred and twenty Years now passed, from the Death of Queen
Elizabeth,
as limited above, to this time; all which may serve further to prove the then flourishing Condition of that Trade; such as the several Factories of the
English
in other Parts of the World; and the Encrease of the
Spanish
and
Portugueze
Colonies in
America,
which have still added to the Encrease of the Manufactures of
Great-Britain,
the Consumption being so very great among those Nations.
Hitherto then we have seen the bright Side of the Subject, and have brought the Manufacture to its Meridian Height: It is only to be observed as an Addition to what has been said, that as the Consumption of the Manufacture encreased abroad, so the Quantity made encreased at home. The Manufactures encreasing, the Manufacturers encreased also; the Trade spread at home in Proportion as it spread abroad; and that which was at first the Work of a few Counties and Cities, became now the Employment of whole Provinces or Divisions of the Country, being a kind of District consisting of several Counties or Parts of Counties together.
Thus the Manufacture, first erected at
Norwich,
spread in a little after the said time, over the whole Counties of
Norfolk
and
Suffolk:
As the Bay Trade of
Colchester,
first confined to that Town and the adjacent Country, is now extended thro' the whole County, one of the largest and most populous in
England.
The Clothing Trade erected first at the Towns of
Oakingham, Reading, Newbery,
and
Andover,
in the Countries of
Wiltshire
and
Berkshire,
is now spread farther into
Wiltshire
and
Somersetshire,
extending along a vast Tract of Ground from the Edge of
Gloucestershire
to the side of
Dorsetshire,
for near an hundred Miles, thro' the richest and most fruitful Vale in all the West Part of
England
called,
the Vale of White-Horse,
and including the populous Towns of
Malmsbury
Tedbury
Cirencester
Stroud
Marshfield
Caln
Chipenham
Devizes
Bradford
Trowbridge
Froom
Warminster
Westbury,
And many more, with innumerable populous Villages.
The like in the Clothing of
Worcestershire,
extended into the Counties of
Salop, Hereford, Gloucester,
and the Counties adjacent.
Thus, I say, the Manufacture flourishing abroad, spread in Proportion at home, 'till at length it arrived
the Magnitude which we see it in at this time, when its Body is said to be too big for its Legs; and the Multitudes employed in it are such, that at the same time that the Markets are decayed abroad, the Extent of it not being limited at home, the Laws of Proportion have been broken; and tho' the Sale has been lessen'd, the People have still gone on making, 'till according to some, the Quantity has been superior to what the whole World could, or at least in the ordinary Course of Trade would consume. And this brings us to the present State of the Manufacture, as it stands aborad just now with respect to the Sale, and as it stands at home with respect to the Production, by which it will be easily seen, whether the Manufacture as a Trade or as a Business is in a thriving or a declining Condition.
CHAP. III. Of the Present State of the
British
Manufacture, as well abroad as at home; with a just Deduction from the Prospect of it to the Question in hand
(viz.)
Whether it is in a Declining Condition or no.
WE have seen something of the past State of the Woollen Manufacture: Queen
Elizabeth
brought it into a flourishing Condition, in which it continued with several large Additions to its Prosperity, and a continual Encrease of its Magnitude, and of its Consumption, to the Time of the late Restoration; in which time if it sunk in one Article, it rose in another; so that we might say, it was always flourishing, and was rather greater than less at the end of the next hundred Years, than at the beginning; that is to say, at the Year 1700, than at the Year 1602, when Queen
Elizabeth
died.
Certain it is that the Consumption was infinitely encreas'd, the Trade abroad perfectly good; Experience as well as History confirms that even in the Height of the Confusions of the Civil Wars in
England,
the Trade of the Woollen Manufacture was flourishing and prodigious great. Even during the Time of the Siege of
Colchester,
when that Town was, as it was called then, in open Rebellion; the Necessity of Trade obliged the Besiegers to give the Towns-People Leave to bring out their Bays to
Lexden
Heath, and to sell them to the
London
Merchants, who came thither to buy; and the Sellers were allowed to carry back their Money unmolested by the Soldiers who besieged them. The Reason was plain; the Demand from abroad made it necessary the Merchants should be supplyed, and the Trade ought not to be obstructed.
Nay such was the Consumption of the Woollen Manufacture abroad, that all the Encrease of it at home was not sufficient; but the
Irish,
encourag'd by the Merchants, and having Plenty of Wool, feel into the Making Part, and in a few Years Peace being restor'd in that Kingdom, and the
English
Inhabitants multiplying, the Woollen Manufacture came (by the Industry of People) to be as great there, in Proportion, as it was here.
France
about this time encreas'd in People, and flourishing in Peace under the prosperous Reign of
Lewis
XIII, and the exquisite Administration of the great
Richlieu,
began to extend their Trade; and the Demand they made of our Manufacture in that Reign, was prodigious great.
But here we must make a full Point, and look a little into the Trade as in a State of full Perfection, and standing for some time at a Stay.
That
Great Britain
grew immensly Rich in those Ages of Trade, is not to be deny'd, or indeed disputed; we might give a long Account of the Encrease of her Wealth and Riches, her Greatness and Glory, and how it was all rais'd by, and the Effect of, her encreas'd Commerce; but it is too long for a Tract of this Nature, it will be seen in its Consequences, and in nothing more than in the prodigions Efforts made by the whole Nation, in the late double War, from the
Revolution
to the Peace of
Utrecht;
in which, let but the immense Sums of Money which were rais'd upon Trade only be taken Account of, and they will give us a fair Sketch of the Improvement it self.
Nay, let the vast Sums rais'd Annually, to this Day, by the Customs upon Trade, speak something of the Encrease of it since those Days. I need not enter into the Detail of those Productions, such as the Duties on Wines, Tobacco, Brandies;
East-India,
and
Italian,
and
Turkey
Importations; the Excises on Beer, Ale, Malt, Spirits, Coffee, Tea,
&c.
which at this time raise such Sums, as no Nation in the World can show the like of, and as this Nation never came up to before.
I shall close the Abstract of it with this short Return of the late King
Lewis
XIV, to the Account of the last Year's State of the War in
England;
when he saw the Establishment of the
South-Sea
Company, and the Provision made by the Parliament for the old unprovided-for Debts, and for the Service of the growing Year, both which amounted to near Eleven Millions
Sterling,
a Sum so frightful, put into
French
Money, that the King upon sight of it, spread out his Hands, and said,
I see
'tis time
to put an End to the War! I never believ'd that
England
could have made such Efforts as these; let us make Peace upon the best Terms we can.
But I come in the next Place to the declining Part of our Trade, and to enquire where it began.
CHAP. IV. How and when the
British
Manufactures began to receive some Impression from the Influence of other Nations: And how they began to suffer any Lessening or Loss from those Impressions.
THE first Impression which the
British
Commerce felt upon the Greatness of her Trade, and especially upon her Manufacture, was from
Ireland.
It was in the latter end of the Reign of King
Charles
II, that
England
driving such an encouraging Commerce in the Export of her Woollen Manufactures, the Gain of it animated the
Irish
Merchants not only to Export the like from
Ireland,
but to encourage the People of
Ireland,
as well the
Natives
as the
English Irish
(so they call the Families risen up there from the
English
Race) to push into it, and to set up the Working all manner of Woollen Goods made in
England,
after the same Manner, and under the same Denominations as in
England;
with this Addition, that they soon found themselves able not only to do it as well as in
England,
the Wool and the Workmanship being as it were) the same; but that they were able to Make, Finish, Export, and consequently Sell at Market the same Goods, as good, and much cheaper, than the
English.
The first Discovery of this in
England
seem'd to be from
France,
and from
Spain,
where our Merchants, to their great Mortification, first sound themselves under-sold in the Markets; Goods of the same Fabrick, of the like Weight, Goodness, Value and Colour, being afforded much cheaper than from
England.
This was an Affliction in Trade, and a very great Disappointment to the Merchants; and, in its Turn, to the Factors, and to the Manufacturers in the Country; for
First,
Our Goods at the several Markets in
France
lay unsold; expected Orders were stop'd and interrupted; the Merchants in
France
wrote to
Ireland
for the Goods, the Markets were supplyed, and our Trade in a word decay'd.
It was not long so here, but we began to find the same in
Portugal,
and at
Cadiz
in
Spain,
and at other Markets, as at
Leghorn, Messina,
and the principal Ports of
Italy;
and thus it was going on to be, in all other Parts of the World.
But this was not all; Misfortunes seldom come alone; one Evil generally follows in the Neck of another. About this time Monsieur
Colbert,
that great and successful Manager of the
French
Commerce, after having (with a most happy and wonderful Advantage) put all the Southern Provinces of
France
upon the planting Mulberry Trees, and raising of Silk; obliging every Town and Village in the great Provinces of
Languedock, Provence, Dauphine,
and the adjacent Countries, to plant a proportion'd Number of Mulberry Trees for the nourishing Silk-worms, and by that means to establish a Fund for the Silk; he contrived the like, as far as in him lay, for the Wool.
But finding it impossible to form a Production of Wool in
France
(tho' he got over Sheep from
England,
from
Ireland,
and from
Scotland
) and that he could not make the Wools come on or grow there, as they did at home, he then apply'd himself to the settling Methods for getting Wool from
England,
and especially from
Ireland;
by This he immediately set up large Manufactures in
France,
as at
Rouen,
at
Caen,
in
Poictou, Guienne, Nismes,
and other Places, too many to enumerate; with this, and the
Spanish
Wool, and such other Supplies as he got from remoter Places, he soon advanced in his new Attempt, and made several sorts of Woollen Manufactures, and this in such Quantities, and so well performed, that we saw
France,
in a few Years, able to supply themselves with Cloathing of their own Making, tho' not of their own Wool, and even to transport the Manufactures they wrought to other Places; where they were sold in the same Markets with the
English,
to our great Mortification as well as Loss.
Nor was this all; but so far the
French
proceeded, that in a few Years they set up for Prohibitions, excluded our Merchandizes all over
France,
and pretended to shut us out from their Markets, so that we should not be allow'd to Import our Goods any more into
France.
This was a terrible Blow to
England;
and had we not soon after made our selves Amends upon
France,
by Prohibiting their whole Commerce with us, particularly their Wines, Brandies, Linnen, and wrought Silks, four Articles in which it was said we took near two Millions
Sterling
from them
per Annum,
more than all the Goods that they took from us amounted to; I say, had we not done this, it must have ruin'd our whole Stock, by draining away such immense Sums in Cash as must have been call'd off for the Ballance.
Here began the Breach between
England
and
France,
in Point of Commerce; and as it came with a War, it lasted so long, that it is not yet return'd, nor is ever likely to be: The Humour of the
English
ran off from the
French
Trade, neither their Wines, or their Brandies, or their wrought Silks, have ever come into Use again here, and perhaps would never do so again, tho' the Trade were to be open'd; at least, it would not as it did before: Our Taste is chang'd as to their Wines; our Fashions and Modes are chang'd as to their Silks; and the whole Vein of their Trade is turn'd (here in
England
) so as never to return into the old Channel again, no, tho' the Trade should be laid open, which yet it is not.
But still this was a Blow to our Manufactures, and lessen'd the Consumption of them abroad, and consequently the Exportation of them at home; the Effect of which was, that unless some new Vent of the said Manufactures was found out abroad, there would of necessity be a Stop, and some Hands must be taken off at home; the Quantity must abate as the Consumption abated, or else the Markets abroad would be glutted with Goods, and the Makers at home not be able to put them off; these must leave off making, or be undone; and if they left off Making, the Poor (at least so far) would be undone: for all Abatement or Declining of the Manufacture, is a degree of Ruin to the People.
To remedy this, Prudent Heads found out one immediate Help, tho' it was (in its kind) what we may call a Desperate Cure, namely, a Cure by Amputation; it was indeed cutting off a Member, a vast and important Member of our Manufacture,
viz. Ireland:
The Case was thus:
It was found that
Ireland
began to encroach, in a very dangerous manner, on our Manufacture, by running into every Branch of it, making every sort of Goods there, which the
English
made at home, and that in so great a Quantity, that they not only supplyed their own Nation, and sent over great Quantities hither, but that,
as before,
they fill'd foreign Markets with them, and even under-sold us abroad.
Upon this, and considering the Abatement of the Consumption by Prohibitions abroad, two Acts were passed in
England,
for the Encouragement of the
English
Manufactures.
1 An Act to take off the Duty of Tonnage and Poundage, paid here upon the Exportation of the Woollen Manufacture, which being about
5 per Cent
upon the Value, was considerable, and was done in order to bring down our Manufactures at foreign Markets, so as not to be under-sold by the
French
or
Dutch;
which Act continues in Force, and all our Manufactures are Exported free, to this Day.
2. An Act to Prohibit the
Irish
Woollen Manufactures being Exported to any Parts or Places beyond the Seas. This was indeed a terrible Blow to the
Irish
Merchants, and to the Manufacturers in that Kingdom; but there was no Remedy: it was apparent, that if the
Irish
were suffered to go on, they would reduce the Manufacture of
England
to nothing; as well by their Cheapness, as by their irregular Working, being bound to no Laws or Rules, to no Lengths or Breadths, or other such Limitations as the
English
are bound by.
It is not my Business, not have I Room here, to enter into the Reasons or Arguments made use of on one Side or other, at that time; 'tis enough to my present Purpose, that so it was, and that
England
found her self under a Necessity of taking that Step with
Ireland,
however Hard or Severe it might seem to be.
Nor can I enter into an Account of the Linnen Trade, established on this Occasion in
Ireland,
by the
English,
with the several Encouragements given to it in the late King
William
's Reign, being as a kind of Equivalent to the
Irish
for the heavy Article above, and which is since that grown up to an unexpected Height there, and by particular Encouragements in
England,
is become much more of an Equivalent than was even at first hoped for; but that is not our present Enquiry; I return to the Case before me.
This Stop of the Exportation of the Woollen Manufacture in
Ireland,
was a sensible Relief to the
English
Trade, and for a while the Manufactures flourish'd again; and tho' the
French
encroach'd (in a surprizing manner) upon us in some foreign Markets, yet there were some particular Articles which encreas'd our Consumption too very considerably, and these ought to be mention'd, because I must do Justice as I go, and let it be fairly seen where our Manufacture found some Helps, as well as where it felt its Decay; where it was reliev'd, as well as where it was wounded and hurt.
Besides this violent Step for the Relief of the Manufacture, it had had three Additions or Encreases in the ordinary way of Commerce, which were exceeding great, and which in their Turn greatly encouraged the People, and supported the Thing as a Manufacture or Employment.
1. The Trade to
Portugal,
the Encrease of which has been so surprizing great, and began to be so about the beginning of the first War, that it was apparent in the Second War the Export of
British
Manufactures to
Portugal,
from
England,
was greater than the whole Export to
Portugal
and
Spain
together was before.
2. The Trade to
Muscovy,
which by the Conquests of the late
Czar
in the
Baltick,
his building the Port of
Petersburgh,
his altering the Habits and Cloaths of all his People, and several other Encouragements given by him to Trade in General, and to the
English
Commerce in Particular, opened a new Door to the Consumption of the
British
Manufacture, where there was none before.
3. The extraordinary Trade to
Jamaica
By what Ways and Means our Merchants found it practicable to establish such a Commerce, it is not my Business to describe; but this is certain, that during that War our Trade to
Jamaica
was such, that the Number of Ships using that Trade was encreased to more than four times what they were in a few Years before the War; and that this Trade has continued to this time, or 'till within a very little while
(viz.)
'till the
Spanish Guard de Costa's,
or cruising Ships of War, took upon them to keep a better Lock-out than formerly, and interrupt it. Whether this Trade was justifiable by the Terms of the Treaties subsisting between
Great-Britain
and
Spain
or not, is not to the purpose in this Place. I may perhaps grant it was not: But 'tis the Fact, not the Legality of it, that I am now Enquiring about, and in that Part I am sure of being right.
These three Articles of Commerce may be allowed to make a great Addition to the Consumption of the Woollen Manufacture of
England,
and by these Helps, the Loss of the
French
Trade was for some Years the less felt, if perhaps at all.
And that I may give a full Latitude to this Part of our Discourse, I may add, for the take of the Argument only, that several other Branches of our Exportation seemed to have been encreased in the same Space
(viz.)
the last thirty or forty Years, and that not in a trifling manner, but very considerably; particularly to
Legborn,
the Trade of that Port being exceedingly advanced during the various Turns among the neighbouring Powers, and particularly occasioned by the late Convulsions in
Spain, Naples, Sicily,
and that were in
Piemont
and
Milan,
and other Parts of
Lombardy;
also by some Improvements among the
Italians,
which we are not particularly Judges of: Be it which way it will, 'tis evident the Exportations of
British
Manufactures to
Leghorn
are more than double to what they formerly were.
I might instance like wise in the End case of our own Colonies, which is very considerable in the last thirty or forty Years, as may be proved in many particular Circumstances in their Trade, and especially by the Export of
British
Manufactures thither, which is the Point I am upon, and which is manifestly encreased, as well to
New England,
and to
Virginia,
as to
Carolina
in particular, and to other Places.
But I need not enlarge upon these things; for were the Encrease of these foreign Consumptions much greater than it is, and were the Places, where that Encrease has been, five times larger than they are, the declining State of the Manufacture would still be made out, from other opposite Circumstances, too evident to be denied, and too strong to be balanced by those Advances.
First,
the unreasonable Encrease of the Quantity made is to be consider'd, the growing Condition of the Manufacture it self, in which we may venture to say there are some Circumstances that not only will not be equall'd by any Addition of Commerce either abroad or at home; but, to speak boldly to it, would not be equall'd, if all the Nations to whom our Manufacture is exported, were to encrease the Consumption of it in proportion to that of
Portugal
or
Legborn,
as above.
It is evident our Manufacture is encreased to a Degree almost inexplicable, insomuch that it is in itself too great for the Consumption of all
Europe.
Now it seems a little of a Paradox that I should bring the Encrease of the Quantity as an Argument to prove the declining of the Manufacture that is encreased: But a little Reflection will set that Part to rights in your Thoughts, and the Difficulty will immediately vanish.
In speaking of the Manufactures as Declined, we are not speaking of the Quantity made, but of the Quantity sold; or it you will, we must change the Terms, and distinguish betwixt the Woollen Manufacture as a Work or Fabricature, and as a Trade. There may be as many G
ods made in
England
as ever, but if there are not as many told as ever, the Trade will be allowed to decline; nay, the more there is made, the more the Manufacture is declined if they cannot be sold, because the Quantity becomes a Grievance to it self.
If it be apparent that the Quantity made, encreases faster than the Quantity sold off, or that there is more made than can be sold, the Manufacture is under evident Discouragement. On the other hand, if there are more made and less sold, that Discouragement encreases to a Distraction; the Manufacture languishes, and is in a kind of Dropsy, where the Repletion exceeding the Evacuation, the Body swells in Bulk, but declines in Strength, and dies of the worst kind of Consumption.
There is no question but that upon the apparent Encrease of the Manufactures in
England,
during those many Years mentioned in particular as above, the great Advantage made by that Trade, and the vast Estates acquired even by the Manufacturers themselves in their ordinary Business, encouraged others to fall into it, and even encouraged those that were in it to enlarge their Business, to launch out as their Stocks encreased, farther and farther, into that Trade.
This Humour continues to this day, and is now become the great Grievance of the Manufacture in general; and will, if not timely prevented, be ruinous to the Trade in the End, as I shall make appear in its Place.
While the Manufacture was in its full Extent abroad, while it was the Mistress of the World in Trade, had no Rivals, and no Attempts were made to mimick it, or imitate it, but that it had an uninterrupted Sale abroad; the Encrease of the Quantity at home was far from being a Grievance, either to the Country or to the Trade; and during the happy Years of its thus currently going off, vast Additions to the Quantity were made at home, such, as if you will give Credit to some People, would in a few Years have glutted the whole World with our Goods, tho' there had been no Check given to the Vent of it abroad.
I could give a long History of the Encrease of the Manufacture in
England,
I mean, as a Work or Fabrick; even whole Towns, nay, Parts of Counties, have, within the Memory of some still alive, been employed in it, who were never employed before.
I could likewise enter into the Detail of the Changes and Turns which the Manufacture itself has suffered by changing the Kinds, as particularly the changing the Clothing or Clothmaking into the making narrow and lighter Kinds of Cloth, such as we call Druggets and Ketsies, instead of Broad-cloth, in the Western Parts of
England,
such as the Counties of
Wilts, Berks,
and
Devon;
and Sagathies and Duroys, a thin and light sort of Stuff, instead of thick Cloth-Serges, at
Taunton
in
Somersetshire,
and other Parts adjoining; by which Exchange of Kinds, it is the Opinion of many Men of Judgment, the
English
Manufacture in general has suffered extremely, and a Door opened to the Attempts of Foreigners, who encroached upon us by those Imitutions and Delusions, but were not able to come up to us in the essential Part of the Manufacture
(viz.)
the Clothing Part. The Case was thus:
The
French
were the first who, as I have said, set up to rival our Manufactures, and having gotten Workmen as well as Materials from
England,
they set up a Cloathing Manufacture as well at
Rouen
and
Caen
and other Places in
Normandy,
as at
Nismes
and the adjacent Cities in
Languedock
and
Provence.
But the
French
(according to the known superficial Humour of that Nation) contenting themselves with keeping up to the Standard of Broad Cloth in
Languedoc
only; because they were oblig'd to follow the Pattern of the
English
there, for the
Turkey
Trade; in other Places made it light, loose, and spongy, thinner in Substance, and slighter in Workmanship; and this not being able to carry the Breadth of the Broad Cloth, they alter'd to the usual Stuff Breadth of half Ell, or half Yard, as their ordinary Stuffs were made.
These they call'd Cloths at first; but seeing they would not keep up the Credit of that Name, as the
English
Cloth did; they gave them several Names from the Towns or Counties where they were made, such as
Drap de Normandy, Drap de Berry, Drap de Lorrain,
and so of the rest.
Had we let the
French
go on their own way, and kept up at home to the old
English
Manufacture of Broad Cloth, the
French
to this Day had been distanc'd in their new Attempt; but with a Weakness, never to be defended, while they with Difficulty followed us, we faced about, and simply followed them.
They brought their Silk Stuffs, and
Spanish
Druggets, and light thin
French
Serges, into Wear, and into Fashion; and they were in the right, because they could make no better; We, to Ape them in their Mode, fall into the same sorts of Stuffs, and so made that, which was their Necessity, be our Mischief.
By this Means, not only we wore their sorry slight Manufactures, and even brought them privately from
France
it self, but (fond of our own Mischiefs) we quit the Broad Cloth, the ancient Glory of
England
(as to Manufacture) and fall into the making of light Stuffs for Men's Wear, to the Ruin of our own Manufactures, as much as in us lay; for these new foolish Things neither employ'd an equal Number of Hands, or consum'd an equal Quantity of the Wool, in both which they accommodated the
French,
who neither had at first a Number of skilful Workmen to make them, or a Quantity of Wool to make them with; but in both we weaken'd our own Country, for this at once caus'd the Wool to lye on hand unwrought, and thousands of Poor to go unemploy'd.
The great Promoter of this Debauchery in Trade (for such it might be call'd) was one
D'Oyly,
a Warehouse-Keeper in
London,
who, valuing himself upon that for which he ought (according to the Laws of
Persia
) to have his Name be made infamous, and his House be made a Dunghil, boasted of his Merit, and call'd his new
French
Mimickry of a Manufacture,
Doyly
's
Stuffs;
and such was the Vanity of the Day, that we saw the whole Town, nay, we might say the whole Nation, run into them, and the ancient Manufacture of Broad Cloth lay by the Walls; the substantial Woollen-Drapers had nothing to do, no Trade at their Shops; and the new Stuff-Merchant
D'Oyly
had his great Ware-house near
Exeter-Exchange
in the
Strand,
throng'd with Buyers from Morning to Night, and the Man got an Estate in one Summer's Trade.
It is true, God, and a hard Winter, should have the Thanks of the poor Manufacturers, while they live; the Severity of the great Frost (falling in immediately upon it) brought the good warm cloathing Trade into Mode again, and set the Poor at work in some tolerable Degree, so at least as to relieve them for that time.
But this unhappy Humour reviv'd so far, as brought our Manufacturers into the way of making a middle Kind, between Cloth and Stuff, so as on one Side to suit the Climate, and yet (as near as might be) on the other, to follow the
French
Folly also, and this introduc'd the making Druggets, Sagathies, Chamlets, Duroys, and the several kinds of Men's Stuffs, with which we have (as it were) made War with our own Manufacture, and jostled the Broad Cloth as much as we could out of the World; so that in short, if those light things which the
French
made, because they could make no better, did not become the universal Mode of our Country, and the better and more important Cloathing, on which the whole Nation depended, go quite out of use, it was none of our Fault.
The Truth is, tho' the first Madness wore off, and the
D'Oyly
Stuffs in a little time did sicken and glut the Town, yet This is certain that the wearing of Drugget and Stuffs, Chamlets and Duroys, and such-like slight things, was a terrible Blow to the antient Clothing Manufacture; to this Day it has not recovered it, and perhaps never will.
Thus far the Manufacture declined by our Own Folly: It is true indeed that these slight thin Stuffs, tho' they did not consume so much Wool, or employ so many Hands as the Clothing, yet, as they sent the People oftner to Market, the Quantity made seemed to be some Amends to the Manufacture, and to the Poor; But then, they opened a Door to the
French
to sell their slight, half-made Goods at foreign Markets; for the Fashion also took Root, whereas (if the Manufacture of Broad-cloth had been kept up) the
French
would never have been able to have hurt us, at home or abroad.
But this is not all; I shall give you a farther Account of the Declining of the Manufacture in its Sale abroad, and of the Reasons of it in particular, more ruinous than this. But here I must take notice too, as I have said above, how the Making encreased, whether the Sale encreased or no; and this we shall give you some unanswerable Evidence of in a few Examples.
First,
Upon this unhappy falling into the
French
Fashion of wearing Stuffs instead of Broad-cloth, I mean for the Mens Wear, a strange and sudden Metamorphosis in Trade followed here in
London.
Spittlefields
had been eminent for many Years for the Silk Manufacture, encouraged and greatly encreased by the coming over of the
French
Refugees in 1682 to 1684, and the Numbers of People encreasing there, the Buildings likewise encreased; so that what with Ribband-Weavers and Broad-Weavers, it was generally said there was an hundred thousand Weavers in
Spittlefields
and the adjacent Streets.
But the Trade was not equal to the Numbers of the People, the Streets began to be desolate, the Houses empty, and the People shifted about to other Places and to other Employments, as Occasion supply'd them; when all on a sudden, we were surprised to find Wool-combers and Staplers setting up in
Spittlefields,
and Shops began to open there for Worsted Yarn and for comb'd Wool, and abundance (of the
French
Women especially) went spinning about the Streets. This was employed at first among the Stocking-Weavers or Frame-work-Knitters, which Manufacture, about that time, took a new Turn all over
England,
from Knitting to Weaving or
Framemaking
to the great Loss of the Poor in the Countries where those Goods were usually made, where many thousands were formerly employed in Knitting, but now were quite struck out of the Work by the Gross of the Stockings being wrought in the Frame.
This began the Woollen Trade in
Spittlefields;
but when the
D'Oyly Stuffs
had, as I have said above, spread the Town, and the Humour continued for some time,
Spittlefields
took another new Turn, and in one Year more we saw it as full of Stuff and Worsted as before of Silk, the Silk-Weavers turned their Hands to the narrow Woollen Manufactures, and the Quantity of those Manufactures now made there of almost all Kinds, especially such as were formerly made at
Norwich
and the Parts adjacent, is such, that in a word,
Spittlefields
is become the principal Seat or Center of those Manufactures in
England;
and yet the City of
Norwich,
as above, is supposed to be in as full Employ as ever, or at least as usual; so that this whole Manufacture of
Spittlefields
is an Encrease upon the Manufacture in general, and must be answered for by a proportioned Sale somewhere or other, abroad or at home, or else so far the Encrease is too great for the Consumption, and is not a Benefit but a Loss to the Manufacture, and adds in the worst manner to its declining Circumstances.
I could give you a like Account of large Manufactures of Druggets and other Goods erected in several Towns and Places in
England
within these few Years, where no such or other Woollen Manufactures worth naming in this case were wro
g
before, a
particularly at the City of
Bristol
for Example. But this of
Sp
ttlefields
is so flagrant an Instance where such a prodigious Work is now carried o
and where, within the Memo
y
the Writer hereof, no Woollen Manufactures were made, that I need enquire no farther into it. I shall add but one other Capital Article of Encrease, and this is that of the Bay Trade in
Essex.
It is evident
Trade was contained within the particular Towns of
Colc
est
r
and
B
cking
in
Essex,
where the making
f Bayes was first begun, and was at least principally established, the Trade flourished, the Goods were current abroad, commanded ready Money at home, and were seldom or never w
thout a Market, nor was there a Manufacture in
Europe
which better maintained the Credit of its Make; Insomuch that a Merchant at
Cadiz
or
Lisbon
coming to an
English
Merchant's Warehouse to
Bays, has no more to do but to open one Corner of the Ba
e, and look upon the Seals of the Town of
Colchester,
and by that they were sure to know of what Value the Goods were, and were certain to find them answer both in Lengths and Goodness.
But the Neighbouring Towns finding the
Colchester
and
Bocking
Bay-makers grow rich, thrust themselves into that Trade, and now the Bayes are made at
Coggeshal,
at
Witham,
at
Kelvedon,
at
Braintre,
at
Halsted,
and in a word, at almost all the most considerable Towns in
Essex
beyond
Cbelmsford.
Nor is this all, but even the Bay-makers themselves, upon the least Start of the Trade, and upon any sudden quick Demand from abroad, push in with such Eagerness, and encrease their Quantity to such a Degree, that they bring more to the Market than all the World can take off.
This has, I may say, ruin'd the Trade; and the Consequence is, that as soon as ever that small Run is over, and the Demand from abroad ceases, the Market is immediately throng'd with Goods, they are pawned and pledged to every monied Man in the Place, 'till they can be put off; the Price sinks, the Labour of the Poor stops, and the Bay-makers are often broke and undone.
Nor is the Credit or real Value of the Goods supported, for the Bay-makers being now extended over the whole Country, and working out of the Jurisdiction of the Bay-Hall at
Colchester,
they put what Goods they please upon the Market, and what Marks or Seals they please upon the Goods; so that the Credit of the Manufacture is sunk, and no Man trusts to the Seals of the Goods any more, but takes Care to look into the Goods himself, and see with his own Eyes that he is not cheated.
I cannot but esteem this last to be one eminent Degree of the Declining of that Manufacture; for if once a Manufacture declines in its Credit, I shall always conclude it is declin'd in its Sale, or will soon be so;
but that by the way.
The present Article I am upon, and which I lay the whole Stress of the Question now upon, is the Encrease of the Quantity beyond the Demand; that more are made than are or can be consumed, which I think is apparent in many other Particulars.
I sum the whole Observation up in this one Head
(viz.)
that this very Encrease is a Grievance, which in the end may be ruinous to the whole Woollen Manufacture of
England,
if some new Doors of Commerce are not opened abroad to raise a Consumption equal to that Encrease, or some Method be not taken to put a Stop to the farther Encrease of the Fabrick at home, so as not to make the Manufacture be too great for the Sale, whether it be at home or abroad.
CHAP. V. Of the real Causes of the Decay of our Manufacture; arising partly from Prohibitions abroad, but chiefly from our refusing the Wear of it at Home; and something offered for the Remedy.
BUT 'tis needful now to enquire into the State of our Manufacture abroad, as to the Consumption of the several Species in those Countries where our Trade used to be settled: If we find the Sale or Demand encreasing abroad, the encreasing of the Quantity at home would certainly be so far from a Grievance, that it would be the Glory and Prosperity of our Commerce and of our Country; and if every County in
England
were as fully employed in manufacturing, as
Wiltshire, Devonshire, Norfolk
and
Essex,
every City as
Norwich
and
Exeter,
and every Market Town, as
Froom, Taunton, Leeds,
or
Colchester,
it would be the Wealth of the whole, and the greatest Felicity that this World ever produced to a Nation.
But the Case is not so, but far otherwise; instead of the Consumption encreasing abroad, instead of a larger Demand, we see all Parts of the World envying us, most Parts endeavouring to imitate us, and as many as can encouraging their own upstart Manufactures in the room of the
British;
and too many totally prohibiting the Sale or the wearing our Manufactures, that their own, however mean and ordinary, may take Place.
And not to dwell upon some late Prohibitions of the
English
Woollen Goods in
Spain
and in the Island of
Sicily,
at
Lintz, Passau, Vienna,
and other Places in the Emperor's Dominions, done rather by way of Insult to our Nation at this Crisis of their Affairs, than that they are able to carry on any Equivalent Manufactures of their own; I say, not to lay any Stress upon these, yet it must be said, that other Places have of late Years attempted our Manufacture, and some but with too much Success, and Prohibitions rather natural and consequential, than political, encrease upon us every Day.
It is the general Opinion (and I have joyn'd with it in Part, in the beginning of this Discourse) that there is no Wool to be found in any Part of the World, or at least not in
Europe,
capable of working into such Manufactures, and of making such several Sorts of Goods, as we at present furnish the World with; and upon this very Principle we carry our Boasts of the
British
Manufacture so high: Now in some particular Things we are right; I mean, right in our Judgment, namely, that the World has not the Wool, that is, has not any Wool capable of working into such Manufactures as we make; tho' as to Boasting, as we do, I shall never come into that Part, because boasting of our Superiority is but firing the rest of the World with an unwearyed Application to supply the Defect.
But let us distinguish here with a little more Temper than we usually do; There is a manifest Difference between having no Wool fit for any Manufacture at all, and not having the best and the finest Wool, of the longest Staple, the firmest Body, and the finest and softest Quality: There is a manifest Difference between the Wool being good for nothing, and being not so good as the
English
or
Irish
Wool. To descend to Particulars;
It is true,
Europe,
take it BY and LARGE (as we express it) from End to End, does not produce a Wool capable of making our fine Broad Cloths of
Warminster, Trowbridge, Bradford,
and
Froom;
or our fine
Gloucester
and
Worcester
Whites; no nor perhaps such as our
Wakefield
and
Leeds
Cloth, tho' what we call coarse, yet of Substance and Weight inimitable; nor of many several Manufactures of other Kinds, such as
Devonshire
Kersies,
Exeter
and
Taunton
Serges,
Devizes
and
Bristol
Druggets,
Andover
and
Newberry
Shaloons, and the like.
But to say therefore, that there are no other of our Manufactures that can be made abroad, and that even where they have no
English
Wool, that I cannot and must not grant, because Experience teaches us the contrary every Day, to our great Disadvantage in Trade.
Saxony,
a large and fertile Country in
Germany,
notwithstanding the Severity of the Winters, which are sometimes such as gives a Check to the Production of Wool, yet not only has a very good kind of Wool, but a very large Quantity of it; and the
Saxons,
an industrious People, are already advanc'd so far in the Manufacturing the Wool, that they make two particular Manufactures which are very useful in those cold Countries, and which they formerly bought from
England,
either brought thither to their Fair at
Leipsick,
by way
H
burgh,
or bought at the great Mart at
Frankfort,
and carried over Land to the
Elb,
at
Magdeburgb;
these were
Colchester
Bayes and
Welch
Flannels.
Every one knows, that as these Goods are soft and warm, and are suited very particularly for preserving the Bodies of those who wear them in th
se Northern Parts of the World from the Severity of the Cold, so they are not made of the coarsest and harshest of the Wool; on the contrary, they are made thick and downy, well mill'd, and the Nap raised, which would not be, if the Wool was not fine and soft, and the Workmanship close and thick.
Yet these they now make in
Saxony,
not only in sufficient Quantities to supply themselves, and their own Markets, but we see the Flannels and Bayes of
Saxony
sold every Year at
Frankfort,
at
Nurembergh,
and most of the other Fairs of Note in the Upper
Germany;
and what is the Consequence of this? Not any Prohibition of the
English
Bays and Flannels; no; we may send ours thither also, and may sell them there too, if we can; but Nature forbids it, the Thing is a Prohibition of it self; ours are not sold there, because their own are sufficient, and we need not say, are cheaper, for it would be very hard, if they can be made at all, that they should not be made cheaper than the
English,
which pass thro' so many Hands, so many Countries, pay so many Embarkations, Assurances, Commissions, and other Charges, and are carried so far, as well by Land as Water-Carriage.
It is true, the Wool of
Saxony
is of a brown, or a kind of Russet Colour, occasion'd by the Climate, or the particular Breed of the Sheep, or from whatsoever other Incident in Nature we cannot account for; but as the Bayes are generally Dyed, and many of the Flannels also, it is not distinguish'd, for that the Wool, however Russet, or of a Greyish Colour at first, and as it grows on the Sheep's Back, yet it is not at all the worse to take any Colour, in the Dying-fat, but (as some think) is rather the better.
I need go no farther for the Proof of this, than to appeal to those Merchants, who trading to those Countries, usually had Commissions from thence to buy great Quantities of those Goods here; and let Them tell us how many Bayes or Flannels they now have Orders for, for the Fair at
Leipsick,
or the Mart at
Frankfurt;
or rather, whether any
English
Bayes and Flannels are sent thither, or no.
But this is not all: Let us look in the next Place into the King of
Prussia
's Dominions, I mean that Part of his Country which was formerly call'd the Electorate of
Brandenburgh,
the Country about
Magdeburgh,
the Country upon the
Havel
and the
Sprhee;
there they have Wool, which, tho' coarse and harsh, yet the Government of
Prussia,
careful to improve the Country to the utmost, and to employ their own Poor for their own Work, causes all those coarser Manufactures which their own Wool is capable of making, to be made among themselves; and tho' these Manufactures are not equal to the
British,
yet as they are sufficient to the Demands of their own Poor, and serve to cloath the Boors and Pesants, that is to say, the Country People and Plow-men, and labouring Poor, they think it reasonable to Prohibit all foreign Manufactures, which usually were Imported for those Uses; such were our
Yorkshire
Kersies, double and single
Dosens,
the coarse Goods made in
Lancashire,
such as
Half-Thicks, Pennistones, Duffiels,
Blanketting, and other Woollen Manufactures made for the Cloathing and Covering of the Poor.
These were formerly Shipp'd off in great Quantities for
Hamburgh,
and for
Stetin
and
Straelsond,
and other Ports on the South Coast of the
Baltick;
but now the General Consumption of such Goods has been stopp'd for some Years, the People making all those Things at home.
It is the like in
Sweden,
where, tho' their Wool is still coarser, and the Manufactures they make the poorest and roughest that can be imagined, yet the setting their own Poor to work to make their own Cloathing, however mean, serves to employ them, keeps their Money at home, and all still shortens us in our Exportations of those Goods to that Country.
It is true our finer Cloths gain still an Admittance into those Countries, because the Wool (even of
Saxony
) is not fine enough for such a Manufacture; and this may shew us, that we have certainly been in the Wrong of it, and have weakened the Interest of our Manufactures abroad exceedingly, by leaving our Cloathing Trade to sink upon our Hands, and turn our Workmen to the lighter Manufactures, which other Countries with their coarse Wool are so much easier able to supply. But to go on;
So many of our Woollen Manufactures being thus excluded from
Sweden,
from
Brandenburgh,
from
Saxony,
and from so many Parts of
Germany,
let us look next towards the South; and here we find the
Swiss
of
Zurick
making Chamlets, Shalloons, and several other Sorts of Manufactures, as well for Mens Wearing as Womens, the same as are made in
Spittlefields, Norwich, Andover,
and several other Places in
England;
the
Swiss
perform these Works now with much Accuracy, and it is hard to know them from the like sorts of Goods made in
England;
the Workmen also who set them up being fetch'd from
Spittlefields,
where they learned the Art, and how to manage both the Wool, the Yarn, the Loom, the Dressing, and in a word, the whole Finishing after the
English
manner, and (without flattering our selves) as well perform'd.
Did the
Zurickers
only supply their own City, or their own Canton with these Goods, the Loss to our Manufacture would be no more than the meer Negative upon their Consumption; but I should not be just to the matter in hand, if I did not tell you, that, to the irreparable Loss of the
English
Manufactures, these Goods are brought from
Zurick
by the River
Rhine
to the City of
Basle,
and from thence down the
Rhine
to
Mentz,
and then still by Water up the
Main
to the Mart at
Frankfort au Main,
where they go too far in Supplanting the
English
Goods of the same Denomination; and to such a Degree are they arriv'd, that I am told there are very few
English
Goods of these Sorts now sold there; the
Zurickers
supplying the Fair with them, as good as the
English,
and considerably cheaper.
Thus we see our Manufacture cut short on every Side, by the Envy or Industry of the several Nations of
Germany
and
Sweden,
totally Prohibited in
France,
and very much supplanted in several other Places.
The Emperor has for some time encouraged Manufactures in
Bohemia,
in
Austria,
and in all the Hereditary Countries; and the Consequence of this, 'tis expected, will be a General Prohibition of all the
English
Woollen Manufactures. It has been attempted lately by way of Pique and Resentment between the Imperial Court and
Great Britain.
But that Part may be esteem'd a Jest, compar'd with other Countries.
However it may be well worth considering, whether if this general Humour of manufacturing should spread far in
Europe,
as we are just now told it begins to do in
Poland,
and in
Muscovy,
and is threatned in
Spain,
what the Impression it may make upon our Manufactures in
England,
may be in a few Years.
As these Invasions are Increasing, so our Manufacture must be Declining in proportion, unless it could be said that some yet farther Branch of Foreign Commerce can be found out for the Consumption of our Manufacture, which it is time enough to speak of when we see it in Prospect, and which I should be glad to say was probable.
I must acknowledge if the present War should proceed to Extremities, so as to lay open the Trade from
England
to the
Spanish West-Indies
directly, I should venture to say it would give our Manufactures a new Turn, and they would feel a Spring of Prosperity for some time, and that considerably too; especially if some Bounds were set to the Manufacturers at home, else (if they launch'd out in Quantity, according to Custom, as is mentioned above) they would glut the Market, tho' they were to have a new
America
opened to them for the Trade once in every five Years.
However, I see no room to argue upon this remote Prospect; they that are Sanguine enough upon the War to run on making, and lay up a Stock of Goods in expectation of a Market the next Fair at
Porto-Belo,
or when
La Vera Cruz
shall be turn'd
English,
may go on their own way, I am for sharing no
Bear Skins.
But I must come nearer home still, and must take the Freedom to insist, that our Manufacture is in a State of Decay too from our Conduct at home, much more than from all Prohibitions and Interruptions abroad. I am not dispos'd to make this Work a Satyr upon my own Country, but certainly we are the first, if not the only Nation in the World, who having the best and most profitable Product, and the best and most agreeable Manufacture of our own, of any Nation in
Europe,
if not in the World, are the most backward to our own Improvement.
A Manufacture valuable in it Self, infinitely profitable to the Poor, unexceptionably pleasant to the Rich; not too hot for the Summer, not too cold for the Winter; light enough for
July;
warm enough for
December;
beautiful as the finest Silks, suiting with Laces, Embroidery, and all manner of Ornaments, better than even Silk it self, and yet Ornamental and Rich in its own Lustre.
A Manufacture receptive of the brightest and deepest Colours; Gay enough for the Bridegroom, Solemn enough for the Widow; Rich enough for a Coronation, Grave enough for the deepest Mourning.
A Manufacture that has not one Exception to be made against it, or one Reason to be given for disliking it; except the weakest of all Reasons, the Love of Change and Variety, or that wicked Reason which a Man gave why he did not love his beautiful and agreeable Wife,
viz.
only because she was his own.
A Manufacture that all the World covets, envies us for, strives to imitate, nay, are vain of but thinking they can imitate it.
A Manufacture which those other Nations (when they have faintly imitated it) are obliged to Prohibit by the severest Laws, or else all their People would run into them, and which they do strive to come at and purchase, notwithstanding the strictest Prohibitions.
A Manufacture which is apparently declining for want of a Consumption equal to its Bulk, and because of the too successful Attempts of other People to set it up among themselves; and because of the Improvements that the Industry of Strangers, and the Indolence of the
British
Manufacturers assists them in.
And yet with such a Manufacture as this, we cannot persuade our selves to wear our own Produce, to propagate our own Industry, or employ our own People; but we are no sooner Prohibited the Use of one foreign Bauble, but we fly to another; first we turn'd our Backs upon our own wrought Silks, and run to
India
and
China
for all the slightest and foolishest Trash in the World, such as their Chints, slight Silks, painted Cottons,
Herba,
Silk and no Silks as if any thing but our own was to be thought beautiful, and any thing but what was best for us, was to be encouraged by us.
When this Extravagance was also check'd by a Law, we run then into another Extream, and still turning our Fancy against our own Manufactures, on a sudden we saw all our Women, Rich and Poor, cloath'd in Callico, printed and painted; the Gayer and the more Tawdry, the better; and though ordinary, mean, low-priz'd, and soon in Rags, the gayest Ladies appeared in them on the greatest Occasions.
Thus the Ancient Manufactures of
Great Britain
were despis'd by our own People, and the Bread taken out of the Mouths of the Poor; the Hands that would have laboured could get no Work; the Trade sunk; the Manufacturers slarved, and the Wool lay by in heaps unwrought, and unfold, to the general impoverishing of the People, and the Ruin of the Manufacture it self.
We are now by another Law of Prohibition restrained from the wearing of painted Callicoes; and what follows? the Temper is not at all reclaim'd, nor do they so much as incline to return to the Use of their own Manufactures, which is the main and best End of the Prohibition: But, as if we were resolv'd to run down our whole Country, and ruin our Poor with our own Hands, we run to the remotest Corners for some Shift or other to cheat our selves; and now we see the general Cloathing (of the meaner Peoplespecially) runs into the meanest, tawdriest Colours, stamp'd upon the most ordinary Linnen, fetch'd from
Scotland, Ireland,
or indeed any where; as if any thing but our own was to be our Choice, and as if we had forsworn our own Manufactures, and were asham'd to be dress'd in our own Cloths.
How shall we expect our own Manufactures should grow and encrease, while this is the Case? and if we will not encourage our own Growth, and the Labour of our own People, how should we expect Foreigners should do it?
In short, as I said of the Woollen Manufactures of
Saxony,
that they are an effectual Prohibition of the
English,
so I may say of our People's running into the Wear of printed Linnens, Callicoes,
&c.
they are a tacit Prohibition of the Manufactures; for what is a Rejecting the Manufacture by a kind of general Consent, but a Prohibition in effect? and how should the Manufacture be supported, when our own People turn their Backs upon it, and when even the People that make it will hardly be perswaded to wear it?
I believe no Man will ask me, after this, how I will prove the Manufacture to be in a declining State, or what is the Reason of it; no more can they ask what Remedy is proper to apply to this Evil: 'Tis an unaccountable Thing in a Manufacturing Nation like this, that Men should ask what will restore the Trade, when they see so evidently what has been the Ruin of it.
The Answer is short, and (according to my Title) the Only Way to restore our Manufactures, is to WEAR THEM. The Consumption at home is infinitely great: If our whole populous Nation were obliged to cloath only in their own Manufacture, we should neither complain of our selves, or value the Prohibition of others.
If you will not do this (and the next Direction is as short as that) you must abate the Quantity; and, as you Consume less, Make less; what will Encreasing the Work do for us, while we Decrease the Consumption? It will in the End not only ruin the trading People, but ruin the Trade it Self: But I have not room to enlarge upon that Part here.
FINIS.