Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

together; in 1815 things came down a little, and he sold about £5000. worth; in 1817, 1818, 1819, he sold rather better than £ 6000. worth; in 1820 about £5000. worth; in 1821 about £4000. worth; in 1822 and 1823 about £3000. worth, and a little more than half of it paid for at Christmas. He is a person of property, and in the habit of giving credit-In 1824 he sold about £4000. worth; in 1825 about £5000. worth, and had his bills paid up; nearly as it used to be before the depreciation. Since then his average has been about £3000. worth; and because he had such heavy debts in his book, on all his payments he gives a discount of five per cent; till within this last three months. Those that were taken on credit, he counted at about six months, and he allowed five per cent discount for cash payments, and still he cannot get paid up so well as he did at one part of his time.

Do you know that shop-keeper well?Yes; I see him nearly once a week.

It is scarcely necessary to state that during 1823, 4 and 5, as well as 1817, 18, prices were higher, because of a more extended circulating medium.

Let any impartial man go to the provincial towns throughout the country, and ask the tradesmen whether their books will not tell a similar tale to this related by Mr. Merry. We have enquired of many, and with the same result. The chief trade of London is retail, but London owing to the fashion of resorting to it by country families, and by being the seat of the legislature, will necessarily feel distress the last; and yet to what do we owe the remission of the house tax? To nothing else under Heaven than the distressed state of the shop-keepers of London. The taxation or low prices operating on members of the legislature and country families resorting to London, caused them to spend less in London shops; the London shop-keepers then found that it was their customers who had paid their taxation. They clamoured and besieged the Chancellor of the Exchequer until he could stand out no longer. It was high time for them to clamour, if their tale was true, that in all the great thoroughfares from Regentstreet to St. Paul's every third house had been a bankrupt within the last twenty years. They clamoured against the house tax; but was it the house tax in particular they objected to? No; it was because at a fixed time the tax gatherer came round and they could not evade him. Indirect taxation they could evade by denying themselves the indulgence of the articles on which it was charged: but they could not pay hard cash out, where hard cash never came in.

The shop-keepers all over the country, (except a few of them who saw further) till about three years ago, were seduced by the

inviting sound of cheap bread, no corn laws and low prices. Their tone is entirely changed. They now look on the agricultural interest as their great purse; if the purse be full, they know they will come in for a share of it; if it is empty, they have learnt from sad experience they have no other purse to go to. Alas, they wanted no King's speech to tell them they had found the bottom of the great agricultural money-box.

There is indeed an astonishing coincidence of opinion at this moment on the subject of low prices-the sellers of the country, the sellers of labour, as well as the sellers of the produce of labour, have learnt the salutary lesson, that their powers to buy depend on their powers to sell. And they are convinced that if they cannot themselves sell, it is useless other things being cheap for them to buy, when they have no returns wherewith to buy them.

We now despair less of our country: when all are agreed as to the cause of a disaster, we may rely on a united effort to secure its removal. The shop-keepers are mainly the electoral body of towns: two Sessions of the Reformed Parliament have shewn an indisposition to do any thing effectual to relieve distress. We shall see if the present conviction of the shop-keepers of the country will not (without reference to Whig or Tory) operate on their choice of members to be sent to the next Parliament. We are mistaken if their opinions on distress won't be the main test applied to every candidate.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURE.

γ.

THE rapid extension and increase of this very important branch of our national industry, is, perhaps, without parallel in the history of manufactures, and more especially within the last eighteen years; a period in which bankruptcy, ruin, and distress have been greater, and the consequent complaints more general, than had been ever known before. These disasters, moreover, befel those engaged in this apparently prosperous business. Every observer unacquainted with the facts of the case must have been struck with surprise and astonishment at the conflicting opinions maintained on this subject. Statements of distress, with facts to prove it, have been reiterated by the productive class employed in this manufacture, on the one side; while "the thrice-told" tale of prosperity has issued from another quarter (here to be nameless), drawn solemnly from figures, which shew an amazing increase in the exports of cotton manufactures. It will be our endeavour to point out the manner in

which this subject is treated by these par- and aid of machinery or otherwise, should ties. not be abused; and so surely as we take improperly from those who labour, and give it to those who do not labour, so surely will a day of retribution and vengeance overtake the oppressors." A little farther on, in the same letter, Mr. Fielden proceeds, "I shall be told, Sir, that this reasoning makes out a strong case for the repeal of the Corn Bill. I admit it; but such repeal ought to be preceded by a large reduction of taxes: and if the landed interest will not cause such reduction of taxes to be made, they must have the Corn Bill wrested from them, and take the consequences. The taxes press so severely on those engaged in agriculture, that, notwithstanding they get the little clothing they can purchase so much cheaper, all the evidence taken on the subject tends to shew that they are in a condition which it is frightful to contemplate. They give at least three quarters of wheat for the same amount of taxes that could be paid with two quarters during the war; and this, with corn at the present price, I do not believe they can do so much longer.

Mr. Fielden, the member for Oldham, in a letter to Mr. Fitton, one of his constituents, published about a year ago, inserts four tables, shewing the downward progress of the cotton manufacture, well worthy the attention of all who feel interested in acquiring information on this subject. We shall give Mr. Fielden's own words, immediately following his tables in the letter. He says, "These tables present a history of the works of those engaged in the cotton trade for the eighteen years ending 1832; and I have no hesitation in saying, that history presents no parallel to a like increase of production, or to a like increase in the taking away from the producers, for the use of those who do not produce. Industry is deprived of its just reward; and, in the midst of unexampled plenty, those who labour and toil, and that more effectually than any other people, are not allowed to have what is necessary to supply their wants. The fear of want increases, the hope of reward is blighted, and laudable individual selfishness is disappointed amongst those who toil, in more than the ratio of increase of production; in fact, the harder they labour-the more they produce, the less they have.

་་

Whether we look to the products of manual labour, as instanced in the case of the hand-loom weaver, or of manual labour, aided by the most improved machinery employed in the cotton trade, we find that, for a nearly three-fold quantity produced in 1832, the manufacturers and their workpeople had a much less command over the first necessary of life than they had in 1815, for little more than one third of the quantity. Truly it may be said, we labour for that which is not bread, and spend our strength for nought; while those who tax us and live on fixed money incomes, get an additional increase of the fruits of our labour, more than correspondent with the increase of our production, and for which we receive no equivalent whatever. And can this course of proceeding last? No, it cannot. The manufacturers cannot go on in this course much further, however disposed they might be to do so. Seventy parts out of one hundred, constituting the whole for labour, expences, and profit, have departed between 1815 and 1832, both years inclusive, and many parts more will be found to have fled in 1833; and there is no possibility of preventing the mass engaged in this business from being involved in one common ruin, unless they retrace their steps. They are contending against nature. Providence designed that the gifts she has bestowed on man for increasing his supply of the necessaries and comforts of life, by the invention

"But how do the taxes affect the manufacturer with his increase of production? This is shewn in table No. 1, column 12, in which you will see that all living upon fixed-money incomes, have experienced a progressive increase, in the command a given sum of money has afforded them over manufactured articles since 1815; that £3. at that period would only buy three pieces and one third, whereas, in 1832, the same sum would purchase ten pieces and two thirds, an increase of 220 per cent. drained out of the labour of the manufacturer."

The evidence of many respectable witnesses before the Committee of Manufactures, Shipping, and Commerce, as future numbers will afford us the opportunity of shewing, fully corroborates the statement of decline given by Mr. Fielden. No sooner, however, was Parliament assembled in 1834, than the country was treated with a very different version of the state of manufactures, in the speech from the throne, and in the speech of Mr. Morrison, the member for Ipswich, who seconded the Address. Agricultural distress was deplored, and with too great reason, for two thirds of the farmers are insolvent; but manufactures were declared to be in a state of progressive improvement. Mr. Morrison, to confirm this opinion, gratified his hearers with a flourishing announcement of the increase of exports, as instanced in cotton manufactures; the cry of the prosperity of our manufacturing interests was echoed by the press, and even our courts of law were made available to render as public as possible the pleasing and joyous news. These two speeches made a strong impression on the manufacturers out

L

Cotton in 1833, 296,076,640 lbs. at 8d. 10,640,254
Cotton in 1832, 262,221,780 lbs. at 6 d.

Paid more for the raw (foreign) mate-
rial in 1833

From which deduct Mr. Morrison's
boasted surplus

[ocr errors]

7,374,987

3,265,267

2,261,294

of doors, who declared that, in the year just in 1833, I found it to be 83d. per lb. Then
closed, a great many proprietors of cotton I reckoned thus:-
factories had only employed their hands
three or four days a week during at least
one fourth part of the year; that many
failures had occurred, and that a continuance
of such prosperity would ruin many more.
An answer to Mr. Morrison, by a corres-
pondent in the Manchester and Salford Ad-
vertiser of the 15th February, 1834, is so
pertinent for exposing the fallacy of relying
on an increase of exports as indicating a
state of prosperity among the producing
classes in this manufacture, that we shall
close our remarks on this subject, in this
number, by inserting the letter.

"

PROSPERITY OF THE COTTON TRADE.

To the Editor of the Advertiser.

A COTTON SPINNER V. MORRISON.

"Sir,-Having, according to custom, taken stock on 31st of December last, and thereby seen how badly the trade of cotton spinning had paid in 1833, you may judge of my surprise when I read Mr. Morrison's prosperity speech, on seconding the Address to his Majesty in the House of Commons. I became quite dissatisfied with my success in business, thinking I had not had 'neighbour's fare.' With this impression I sat down to take stock for the trade generally, vastly wondering where this excess of £2,261,294 had gone to. As I have neither statistics nor official documents to refer to, I will take the thing up as Mr. Morrison has laid it down. He says, the quantity of cotton entered for home consumption

In 1833 was
The same in 1832

lbs. 296,076,640 262,221,780

[blocks in formation]

"Yes, sure enough, here is the excess; and, to persons unacquainted with the true state of the case, would seem matter of congratulation; but, from my own experience in the business, I was sure there was 'something wrong;' that neither the cotton spinner, nor the manufacturer, nor the workman had got it. In order to ferret it out, I sat down and looked over my Liverpool cotton brokers' circulars of the prices of good fair upland cotton in 1832 and 1833. Taking the price at thirty-six different periods (nearly every week) in 1832, I found the average to be Gd. per lb.; doing the like forty times

Amount screwed out of the cotton

trade extra in 1833

[ocr errors]

£1,003,973

Besides having had to work this abundant
supply of the raw material, according to Mr.
Morrison, 33,854,860 lbs. Aye, aye, I find
where the surplus is gone; I see I have had
neighbours' fare. The foreigner and the
speculator have pocketed it.

[ocr errors]

"Now I do really think we have neither more of the raw material, nor of cotton goods and yarn, in the kingdom at the end of 1833, than we had at the end of 1832. I believe the whole production of 1833 has been absorbed either by a legitimate demand, or by the system of consignment and advance; consequently all has been brought into the account.

"My countrymen (I mean in this dis-
trict)-this puff has probably been put forth
to cheat you out of a reduction in taxation,
or a change in the Corn Laws; but the
most charitable construction that can be
put upon it is, sheer ignorance of the thing
they are speaking about.

"The trade in cotton spinning (if not in
manufacturing also) was at its climax in
1822, 1823, and 1824; not as regards quan-
tity, but as regards all the objects for which
trade is carried on, namely wages and profit.
Since that period it has been woefully on
the wane;
and I do not remember a time
when there was so small a sum of money
for making one pound weight of cotton into
one pound of thirty hanks water twist, as in
January, 1834.

"It was said by a former Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Lancashire will uphold the
revenue.' Let not my Lord Althorp lay
this flattering unction to his soul; for with-
out an improvement in the value of trade,
Lancashire will fail him. Human ingenuity
and human industry have been exerted to
the utmost pitch, and still we find ourselves
unable to bear up under it.

"I am no politician, no regenerator; I propose no remedy, but merely state that these things are so. My object in addressing this to you is, to prevent persons unacquainted with the cotton trade from running away with the idea that we are in a prosperous condition, and so cry, 'Peace, peace,* when there is no peace.

"A COTTON SPINNER.

"Manchester, September 11th, 1834."

Ω.

1

IRELAND.

THE actual state of our sister isle will, of course, engage our most attentive consideration; its wants shall be made known; its fine resources developed; its condition improved; this we shall be enabled to effect by our local knowledge of the counties of Ireland; of which, for the present, we offer the following view, and invite correspondence from each province.

LEINSTER.

ULSTER.

Province.

MUNSTER.

CONNAUGHT.

Counties.

Area

1832

A FABLE.

THE WOOING OF MASTER FOX.

In

Once upon a time "there was no particular enmity between the various species of brutes; the dog and the hare chatted very agreeably together, and all the world knows that the wolf, unacquainted with mutton, had a particular affection for the lamb. these happy days, two most respectable cats, of very old family, had an only daughter; never was kitten more amiable, or more seducing; as she grew up she manifested so Houses. Mouths. many charms, that she in a little while became noted as the greatest beauty in the 1832 neighbourhood; need I to you, dearest Nymphalin, describe her perfections. Suf281 42570 379739 fice it to say that her skin was of the most 788 18605 delicate tortoise-shell, that her paws were smoother than velvet, that her whiskers were twelve inches long at the least, and that her eyes had a gentleness altogether astonishing in a cat. But if the young beauty had suitors in plenty during the lives of Monsieur and Madame, you may suppose the number was not diminished, when, at the age of two years and a half, she was left an orphan, and sole heiress to all the hereditary property. In fine, she was the richest marriage in the whole country. Without troubling you, dearest Queen, with the adventures of the rest of her lovers, with their suit, and their rejection, I come at once to the two rivals most sanguine of success ;the Dog and the Fox.

in sq. miles.

Dublin...

Wicklow

Wexford

868

[blocks in formation]

122301 30011 182991 346 13906 81649 599 17432 111141 760 30864 193432 345 19377 112391 220 22090 125546 24370 148984 145843 166883 190309

6927 2963691961109

372938

760 58778 332 39736 220653 600 38982 228040 Down 682 66920 360853 Donegal 1493 49804 300694 Londonderry 630 39980 222416 Tyrone.. 931 54586 304247 Monaghan.... 463 37381 195532 Fermanagh 530 35856 147555

"Now the Dog was a handsome, honest, straightforward, affectionate fellow; For my part,' said he, I don't wonder at my cousin's refusing Bruin the bear, and Gauntgrim the wolf; to be sure they give themselves great airs, and call themselves 'noble,' but what then? Bruin is always in the Total....... 6421 412023 2353928 sulks, and Gauntgrim always in a passion;

[blocks in formation]

a cat of any sensibility would lead a miserable life with them as for me, I am very good tempered when I'm not put out; and I have no fault except that of being angry if disturbed at my meals. I am young and good-looking, fond of play and amusement, and altogether as agreeable a husband as a cat could find in a summer's day. If she marries me, well Total....... 7387 341438 2163694 and good; she may have her property settled on herself-if not, I shall bear her no malice; and I hope I shan't be too much in love to forget that there are other cats in the world.'

Galway....... 2500 77367 429211
Leitrim... 647 31259 145457
Mayo.... 2001 56801 367961
Roscommon... 877 41788 246601
Sligo...... 638 30704 171508
Total....... 6667 237919 1360738

Grand Total 27402 1287749 7839469 It will be seen from the foregoing, how densely peopled Ireland is; the total average being 286 to the square mile, which is equal to that of China, with its 368,000,000 mouths.

"With that the Dog threw his tail over his back, and set off to his mistress with a gay face on the matter.

"Now the Fox heard the Dog talking thus to himself-for the Fox was always peeping about in holes and corners, and he burst out a-laughing when the Dog was out of sight.

'Ho, ho, my fine fellow,' said he, 'not so fast, if you please; you've got the Fox for a rival, let me tell you.'

"The Fox, as you very well know, is a
beast that can never do any thing without a
manœuvre; and as, from his cunning, he
was generally very lucky in any thing he
undertook, he did not doubt for a moment
that he should put the Dog's nose out of
joint. Reynard was aware that in love one
should always, if possible, be the first in the
field, and he therefore resolved to get the
start of the Dog and arrive before him at the
Cat's residence. But this was no easy matter;
for though Reynard could run faster than
the Dog for a little way, he was no match
for him in a journey of some distance.
'However,' said Reynard,' those good na-
tured creatures are never very wise; and I
think I know already what will make him
bait on his way.'

"With that, the Fox trotted pretty fast by a short cut in the woods, and getting before the Dog, laid himself down by a hole in the earth and began to howl most piteously.

"The Dog, hearing the noise, was very much alarmed; 'See now,' said he, if the poor Fox has not got himself into some scrape. Those cunning creatures are always in mischief; thank heaven, it never comes into my head to be cunning.' good-natured animal ran off as hard as he And the could to see what was the matter with the Fox.

""Oh dear!' cried Reynard; 'what shall I do, what shall I do! my poor little sister has gotten into this hole, and I can't get her out-she'll certainly be smothered.' And the Fox burst out a-howling more piteously than before.

"But my dear Reynard,' quoth the Dog very simply, 'why don't you go in after your sister?'

"Ah, you may well ask that, said the Fox; but, in trying to get in, don't you perceive that I have sprained my back, and can't stir; oh dear! what shall I do if my poor little sister gets smothered.'

'Pray don't vex yourself,' said the Dog; 'I'll get her out in an instant;' and with that he forced himself with great difficulty into the hole.

"Now no sooner did the Fox see that the Dog was fairly in, than he rolled a great stone to the mouth of the hole, and fitted it so tight, that the Dog not being able to turn round and scratch against it with his forepaws, was made a close prisoner.

"Ha, ha,' cried Reynard laughing outside;

amuse yourself with my poor little sister, while I go and make your compliments to Mademoiselle the Cat.'

"With that Reynard set off at an easy pace, never troubling his head what became of the poor Dog. When he arrived in the neighbourhood of the beautiful Cat's mansion, he resolved to pay a visit to a friend of

his, an old Magpie that lived in a tree, and place. For,' thought Reynard, 'I may as was well acquainted with all the news of the well know the weak side of my mistress that is to be, and get round it at once.'

cordiality, and inquired what brought him "The Magpie received the Fox with great so great a distance from home.

so much as the pleasure of seeing your lady-
666 Upon my word,' said the Fox, 'nothing
ship, and hearing those agreeable anecdotes
you tell with so charming a grace; but, to
let you into the secret-be sure it don't go
farther'-

the bird.
"On the word of a Magpie,' interrupted

"Pardon me for doubting you,' contithat a Pie was a proverb for discretion; but, nued the Fox; 'I should have recollected as I was saying, you know her majesty the Lioness.'

"'Surely,' said the Magpie bridling.

is to say-to-to-take a caprice to your "'Well; she was pleased to fall in—that humble servant, and the Lion grew so jealous that I thought it prudent to decamp; a jealous Lion is no joke, let me assure your ladyship. But mum's the word.' Magpie. "So great a piece of news delighted the kind, by all the news in her budget. She She could not but repay it in Gauntgrim, and she then fell to work on told the Fox all the scandal about Bruin and the poor young Cat. She did not spare her foibles, you may be quite sure. listened with great attention, and he learnt enough to convince him, that however the The Fox ceptible to flattery, and had a great deal of Magpie exaggerated, the Cat was very susimagination.

'But it must be very unfortunate for you to
"When the Magpie had finished, she said,
be banished from so magnificent a court as
that of the Lion.'

""As to that,' answered the Fox, 'I con-
his majesty made me on parting, as a reward
soled myself for my exile, with a present
for my anxiety for his honour and domestic
tranquillity; namely, three hairs from the
think of that, Ma'am.'
fifth leg of the Amoronthologosphorus. Only

her left ear.
"The what?' cried the Pie, cocking down

"The Amoronthologosphorus.'
"La!' said the Magpie, and what is
that very long word, my dear Reynard?'

that lives on the other side of the river
""The Amoronthologosphorus is a beast
Cylinx; it has five legs, and on the fifth leg
three hairs, can be young and beautiful for
there are three hairs, and whoever has those
ever.'

"Bless me: I wish you would let me
see them,' said the Pie, holding out her claw.
"Would that I could oblige you, Ma'am,

« AnteriorContinuar »