(55.) British Woollens rivalled by those of Sweden.—Before the peace of Utrecht in 1713, we had no rival in the woollen trade but the Dutch, over whom we had many natural advantages, such as situation, goodness of our ports, and excellence of the principal constituents of the manufacture. They were obliged to furnish themselves with the materials at second-hand. When the trade in woollens was properly set a-foot in England, during the long and happy reign of Elizabeth, the interest of money was pretty much the same in both countries; but the Dutch were engaged in a hazardous and bloody war, and in establishing their Commonwealth, and East India trade; and, therefore, had not much time to think of improving any manufacture. Owing to these circumstances, we came into possession of all the principal marts for woollens, both in Asia and Europe, and retained them till the beginning of the war with France and Spain; we then prohibited trade with both these countries.

About the year 1720, our exportations to Sweden, of cloth, stuffs, and other woollen manufactures, amounted to £50,000. The Swedes, however, though situated in a severe climate, tried experiments with English sheep, and with so great success, that, in 1765, they could boast of wool little inferior to that of England. They then erected manufactories, and we were compelled to relinquish a market, which we had long held to our profit and advantage.

(56.) Regulations from 1740 to 1742.—In the 12th year of King George II. it was enacted by a statute (cap. 21), "That whereas the taking off the duties upon woollen or bay yarn imported from Ireland, may be a means to prevent the exportation of wool, and of woollen manufactures, from Ireland to foreign parts, and may also be of use to the manufacturers of Great Britain, that from the first of May, 1740, the same shall be no longer payable; excepting only the duties upon worsted yarn of two or more threads twisted or thrown, or on crewel imported from Ireland." At this time more than 1,500,000 persons were employed on woollen articles, and were supposed to earn, one with another, sixpence a-day for 313 working days, amounting in all to £11,737,500 yearly.

In 1742, the English poor suffered much from the contempt with which home manufactures were regarded by the nobility, in consequence of which the latter were speedily the losers. The importation of woollen broad-cloth, of the manufacture of France, into ports of the Levant, on behalf of British subjects, being not only prejudicial by discouraging the woollen manufactures of Britain, but likewise a means of affording relief to an enemy, and discoveries having been made of British subjects fraudulently shipping from Leghorn quantities of French woollen goods for Turkey, under the denomination of British, to the great detriment of English woollens; an act was passed in the 23d year of King George II. by which provision was made against these and other fraudulent practices.

(57.) Improvements in the manufacturing of Woollens.—At the commencement of the reign of George III. the woollen manufactures advanced with a rapidity almost unparalleled in modern times as regards other branches of trade. Till about the year 1770 most of the processes were conducted by hand. The wool was spun by various persons at scattered residences, the manufacturers receiving the yarn periodically from the numerous spinners. This arrangement caused much loss of time, and gave rise to frequent squabbles between the masters and their workmen. In fact, all the operations were tardy in the extreme. But at this period, the spirit of public and private inquiry was happily directed to our deficiencies in the machinery of manufactures. Inventions of great beauty and ingenuity were slowly brought forward to facilitate our commercial acquirements. Human labour has thus been lightened and abridged,—a greater number of hands have been profitably employed, and an excellent lesson afforded to the lovers of use and wont, which will not speedily be forgotten.

By these improved means the cloth is possessed of greater evenness, less injury is sustained in the dressing and shearing, and greater beauty is imparted to its appearance. A great advantage is also obtained by the master knowing the exact duration of each process, so that he can time his goods for any hour, or market, and is enabled to circulate his capital with a degree of certainty, and despatch, formerly looked upon as quite impossible. A few years ago the late Sir John Throckmorton sat down to dinner, dressed in a coat, the wool of which, on the same morning, was on the sheep's back. The animals were sheared, the wool washed, carded, spun, and woven; the cloth was scoured, fulled, sheared, dyed and dressed, and then made into a coat. All these complex operations were gone through without hurry, and without deducting from the work any part of the time usually devoted to similar fabrics. So great was the advantage derived from this application of machinery, that in the year 1800 the produce was three times larger than in the year 1739, though the number of persons employed was the same in the one year as in the other.

(58.) Duty imposed on imported Wool.—For three centuries a free importation of foreign wool was permitted by our government, and it was not till 1803 that any one thought of laying a duty upon it. This duty was at first comparatively light, amounting only to a halfpenny a-pound, and it continued under a penny a-pound, till 1819, when Mr Vansittart raised it to six-pence. The impolicy of this measure is evident, when we consider, that we were losing our ascendancy in this manufacture, that our export of woollen goods had been declining for three years previous to 1819, and that the competition was becoming every moment more severe. This tax was much dreaded by our merchants, who, clearly perceiving the state of matters, warned Mr Vansittart, by representing to him, in the strongest terms, the fatal influence it would have upon our trade. Its effects are best exhibited by its disastrous influence on the foreign trade in woollens, which fell off about a fourth in value, almost immediately after the imposition. The following table places this in the clearest point of view:—

Declared value of woollens exported.

1816, £9,387,455
1817, 7,847,280
1818, 7,177,335
1819, 8,145,327
1820,(duty increased)5,989,622
1821,(ditto)5,587,758
1822,(ditto)6,465,988
1823,(ditto)6,490,454
1824,(ditto)5,635,776
1825,(ditto)6,045,240

The opinions of our merchants ought to have formed the best of all beacons in pointing the course to be pursued by Mr Vansittart; but, even if they had been silent on the subject, the evidence of Mr Bainbridge, before the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1820, to inquire into the state of the foreign trade of the country, might have informed him of the true position of the wool trade, and directed him in so hazardous an undertaking. When Mr B. was asked whether he thought that an increase in the means of paying for our manufactures would produce an increased consumption of them in Russia, Sweden, and Prussia, he replied:—"I believe the woollen manufactures in Prussia are in such a state as to be able to compete with us completely; I speak of it particularly, because we are in the habit of having transactions with the United States of America; and I find that a very considerable proportion of fine woollens, and stuffs, are absolutely shipped from the Netherlands, and from ports contiguous, part of which I understand to come from the interior of Germany, and from Saxony in particular; so that a portion of the trade, which we have been in the habit of transacting with the United States, is finding its way from the north of Europe. I, therefore, conceive, that their manufactures are competing with the manufactures of this country, and, consequently, they would not come to us to receive a supply of those articles which they can purchase from their own manufacturers at home." In 1825, at the earnest and obviously well-founded representations of the manufacturers, Mr Huskisson reverted to the old system: and it was then wisely enacted, that all foreign wool imported for home consumption, of the value of 1s. a-pound and upwards, should pay a duty of 1d. a-pound, but when the value of foreign wool was under 1s., the duty was reduced to a halfpenny per pound. A boon was at the same time conferred upon the agriculturists, by the introduction of a new system with respect to the exportation of British wool, the growers of which were allowed, for the first time, to send it to foreign markets, on payment of a penny per pound.