Can you state to the Committee, from your observation, what proportion the foreign trade generally bears to the trade for home consumption?... I should think it was considerably more than one half, including the United States.
Do you think it would amount to two-thirds? I should think not far from it.... Do you think the foreign trade is equal to two-thirds of the whole manufacture?—When the foreign trade is the same as in the year 1810, not in its present state; it is now very different....
To what cause do you ascribe the diminution of your trade to the Continent?—The risk of sending goods into many ports of the Continent is too great....
Then it is the French, Berlin, and other decrees that have produced this diminution of your trade to the Continent?—To my own particular trade. I cannot say how it is as to others.
[Evidence of John Bailey, exporter and home factor of Sheffield goods.]
What are the principal articles manufactured at Sheffield?—They are very numerous, I can present a list of them to the House; the principal articles are cutlery, files, edged tools, saws, and a great variety of other heavy articles.
Can you speak to the population of Sheffield, and such parts of the neighbouring parishes as are concerned in the Sheffield manufacture?—The population of the parish of Sheffield, as returned by the overseers in the year 1811, was 53,000 odd; but including those parts of parishes in which Sheffield goods are manufactured, the population amounts to 60,000 at least.