CHAPTER II.
WOOL.
(24.)Wool-Bearing Animals.—In most dictionaries wool is defined as the fleece of sheep, as if, in fact they were the only animals which yield it, than which nothing can be more erroneous; since we are assured by the ablest naturalists, that almost every animal, from the butterfly up to man, possesses more or less of this covering, and that some indeed rival the sheep in the quantity they bear.
Though wool is possessed in considerable quantity by carnivorous animals, especially bears, yet the herbivorous quadrupeds, never to mention the sheep, are principally noticed for its growth, and for affording a commodity which becomes an article of profit in the hands of some tribes. Heriot, in his travels through Canada, remarks, that "the savage women manufacture thread of the wool of the buffalo, and weave it into cloth. Most parts of the body are invested with a dusky wool, which is of a quality extremely fine—is much valued—and can with great facility be used in manufactures. The quantity usually contained on one skin is about eight pounds."
So far from the sheep being invariably a wool-bearing creature, it would appear as liable to be entirely destitute of it as some other animals; for in Tartary, the eastern parts of India, China, and some parts of Africa, a hair of varying quality forms their sole covering; and Sir Joseph Banks imported three from Spain, which were smooth, sleek, and as short-haired as a horse.
(25.)Structure of the Skin.—The skin is composed of three coats, or layers; the outermost, the cuticle or scarf-skin, is a thin delicate membrane, devoid of feeling, and of a scaly texture, pierced by innumerable small holes, for the passage of the hairs, and perspiration, and covering the next, or mucous coat, so named from its pulpy appearance. In this resides the colouring matter, which imparts its peculiar tints to the hair, and which can only be satisfactorily demonstrated in the dark races. The existence of this coat has been by some denied; but it is probable that, though present in all, it can only be exhibited in such as have depth of tint, to admit of the display. It is here that sensation principally resides; the nerves, or rather their terminations, ramifying minutely in its substance, at which they have arrived by piercing the third tunic, or true skin, a dense firm elastic membrane, in which the roots of the hairs are imbedded, and from which, in fact, they take their origin.
(26.)Sebaceous Follicles.—The skin is studded over by small glands, or what, in anatomical language, would be called sebaceous follicles, which vary in number in different breeds, and different parts of the body, being most numerous on the breast and shoulders, and secreting a peculiar unctuous semi-solid matter, which, as we shall immediately see, possesses alkaline properties.
(27.)Connection of the hair with the skin—Yolk.—A hair implanted in the skin may be compared to a plant growing in a flower-pot which has been sunk in the earth, as the root of the hair does not rise directly from the true skin, but from a little cup extending from it to the cuticle, and receiving nourishment from surrounding vessels. After coming to the surface of these tunics it has, in the sheep, yet another, and, in some respects, remarkable covering to pierce, one which has occupied the attention of the most distinguished chemists, and given rise to a good deal of disputation on the subject of salving—we allude to the Yolk. It is supposed by many to be the inspissated secretion of the sebaceous follicles, and receives its name from its adhesiveness and colour. It is most plentiful on fine-woolled sheep, those of the south possessing more than those of the north of our island, while merinos possess most of all; so that there is apparently some connection between a fine fleece, and a good supply of this matter. According to the analysis of M. Vauquelin, it consists principally of a soapy matter, with a basis of potash; a small quantity of carbonate of potash; a minute quantity of acetate of potash; lime in an unknown state of combination; and an atom of muriate of potash. It owes its odour to a small quantity of animal oil, and is in every respect a true soap, which would permit the sheep to be completely washed in a stream, but for the existence in the fleece of an uncombined fatty matter, which remains attached to the wool, and renders it rather glutinous.
Many have tried to account for the uses of the Yolk, but nothing like satisfactory conclusions have been come to: some considering it goes to form the filament, and is consolidated into a transparent mass while the pile is growing; while others argue, that it is a peculiar secretion which exudes through the skin, and by mixing with the pile renders it soft and pliable, affecting it in the way that oil does a piece of leather. In the latter opinion I coincide. For my part, I view it as a secretion, depending very much on good food and steadiness of temperature, and, therefore, indicative of a fine fleece only so far as the health of the animal is concerned. In the human being the state of the skin may often guide us, though blind-fold, to the quality of the hair, so that the latter may be pronounced either dry and coarse, or glossy, soft, and silky, as the skin may prove either harsh and ungrateful, or pleasant, and, if I may be allowed the expression, alkaline to the touch. Every thing having a tendency to affect the health may always be considered as calculated to diminish this secretion, and, consequently, to deteriorate the quality of the wool.
The relative positions of the layers of the skin, the mode in which the hairs rise from them, and the form and situation of the sebaceous follicles, will be better understood by referring to the following cross section Fig 5. Pl. V., in which the line marked
(28.)Periodical decidence of Wool.—It is affirmed that the only real difference between hair and wool is in the latter falling off periodically; but the same change takes place in animals totally covered with hair; in fact, almost every animal is subject to moulting, or a periodical decidence of its protecting covering. The fleece of the sheep has been proved in many instances not to be liable toannualchanges of this description;—Lord Western having, among others, shown that the wool of the merino may be retained at least three years without the slightest disposition to separate.
The annual employment of shearing, to anticipate this falling off of the wool, is now common in most parts of the world; yet some, as the Icelanders and Kamtschadales, still retain the primeval custom ofrowing, or pulling off the fleece in a mass, about the end of May, at which time it is nearly loosened. This loosening of the attachments of the fibre is supposed to be owing to a diminution, during winter, of the nutritive process at the root of the hair, so that the fibre is liable to give way at the tender part when the fleece becomes heavy during Spring. This attempt at an explanation meets, however, with the insurmountable objection, that long-woolled are less liable than short-woolled sheep to this occurrence, a circumstance which ought to be the reverse, if weight had any thing to do in the case.
(29.)Falling off of Wool prevented by Clipping.—Clipping has a curious influence over the duration of the covering of animals, as is well exemplified by the correct popular idea, that the only way to prevent the hair of children dropping off (as it sometimes has a tendency to do) is to cut it short: we may suppose the benefit in this case to result from the removal of aportionof each hair, which, if allowed to remain, would lead to a sacrifice of thewhole, by robbing the root of a quantity of nutritious matter, which, owing to a diminution of reproductive power, it could ill afford. In this way only can we account for the power which shearing evinces, in putting a stop to the attempt sometimes made by nature to change the coverings of some sheep. In the valley which separates the most eastern chain of the Cordilleras from the central, the wool grows upon the lambs in the same manner as in temperate climates, provided they are sheared so soon as it has arrived at a certain thickness; in which case the wool grows again, preserving the same order. But, if the period for denuding the animal be allowed to pass, the wool detaches itself in flakes, leaving behind a short, glossy, and compact hair, exactly resembling that of the common goat in the same climate.
(30.)Form of woolly fibre.—The fibre of wool is circular, differing in diameter in the various breeds, and different parts of the same fleece. The followingà proposobservations are from the article on the Sheep, in the Library of Useful Knowledge: "The filaments of white wool, when cleansed from grease, are semitransparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, in others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a very pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering appearance. Very irregularly placed minuter filaments are sometimes seen branching from the main trunk, like boughs from the principal stem. This exterior polish varies much in different wools, and in wools from the same breed of sheep at different times. When the animal is in good condition, and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the fibre is really brilliant; but, when the sheep has been half starved, the wool seems to have sympathized with the state of the constitution, and either a wan pale light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected."
The more transparent the filament the better is the fleece, and its value is impaired by the transparency being different in the same fleece, or, as often happens, in the same filament; while that which possesses fineness with a close ground, pureness, elasticity, colour, tenacity, and not much pitch-mark, is the most esteemed, and preferred by the manufacturer. Wethers have considerably more wool than ewes. In every fleece there are several qualities, even so many as nine different sorts, which are all separated from each other in England by men called woolstaplers, who are appointed for the purpose, and sworn to do justice between the grower, and the merchant or manufacturer. In this manner the latter obtains, without trouble or risk, the very kind which he knows will suit his purpose; for though the sorter, surrounded by a number of baskets, divides the wool according to its properties without the slightest hesitation, and with a rapidity truly surprising, yet such is the amount of the dexterity acquired by practice, that a mistake seldom occurs, and his judgment can as rarely be disputed.
(31.)Structure and properties of Hair and Wool.—Each hair is composed of a number of filaments, or smaller hairs, ranged side by side, and this we can perceive without the slightest trouble, from the tendency it sometimes has to unravel at the apex; and again, by drawing a hair through the fingers from point to root, when we feel a roughness occasioned by projecting filaments, which only proceed a certain distance up the trunk, the longest being most internal.
Pl. V. Fig. 5,e, exhibits those points in a hair considerably magnified.
These projections, or serrations, which vary in number in different specimens of wool, are what it depends on for its felting properties. They are sharper and more numerous in felting wools than in others, and the better the felting properties of the wool, the more numerous the curls; because what induces curling on the animal's back leads to felting in the hands of the manufacturer. In felting, these projections catch one upon another, and occasion the hair to move in one direction, which is invariably root foremost, as we perceive on giving it a twirling motion between the finger and thumb; and it is only by the union of curve and serration, that felting can be accomplished certainly and perfectly.
Woolly fibre consists of a semitransparent stem, or stalk, supposed to be hollow, as represented at Fig. 4, Pl. V. and is partly distinguished from hair by the latter being opaque. Next to soundness, there are few qualities deserving of so much attention as softness, of which the ancient writers make frequent mention, and for the prevalence of which in our present wools fashion has done not a little. It is a quality that tends, in a material degree, to the cheap and easy working of the cloth, and, as such, is said to render wool 25 per cent. more valuable to the manufacturer than a harsh and brittle pile. It apparently depends on the fineness of the fibre, which should not, however, go the length of weakness. Fineness is in turn mainly connected with the yolk, the secretion of which ought, on that account, to be promoted by attention to the general management of the animal, as it is well known to undergo a change of properties by starvation, exposure, or any neglect whatever.
(32.)Particular soils injurious to Wool.—Soil, also, has much influence on the pliability of wool. Chalky lands, which are so notorious for injuring the fleece, are supposed to act in the manner of a corrosive, but the correct explanation is, not that the chalky particles attack the fibre in a direct way, but that they render it brittle, by absorbing the oily moisture with which it is naturally imbued. Moreover, the plants growing in such situations cannot but be injurious to sheep, owing to their impregnation, though a slight one, with calcareous matter; for grooms know well how soon a horse's coat becomes disordered by the frequent use of hard or well water, and prefer, therefore, the river for their steeds.[4]
(33.)Felting.—The felting of wool may be defined as a property depending on the curls and serrations of the fibre, by which it is allowed to move only with the root foremost, and by which it is enabled to catch and retain a hold on fibres that are near it, so as to form a web or cloth. Felting is best brought into operation by alternate pressure and relaxation, which may be produced in a variety of ways: the ancient method, and one still pursued by the Tartars, was to tramp on a mass or layer of moist unwrought wool, so as to form a coarse cloth or carpet; while the modern, and more perfect plan is, either, as in hat making, to apply pressure with the hands, or, as in the finishing of cloth, to pass the fabric repeatedly through rollers. The way in which a close fabric is formed, by the juxta-position of a few scattered hairs, gave rise for long, as well it might, to serious disputations among philosophers; and the favourite theories of each, unbased as they were on observation, might till now have agitated the scientific portion of our manufacturers, had not the microscope brought to light much of what is true and valuable in our researches.
Moisture appears to be of service during the felting of wool, as it induces it to curl, enabling the fibres to expand, and catch one on another, after they have been bent and compressed, by the force applied to them, and is of itself sufficient to felt a fabric, as we frequently perceive in the instance of stockings, which have been allowed to remain too long in water, when they become short from undergoing contraction, and resemble after such treatment an imperfect cloth. It is for this reason that the hatter, after tumbling over, in all directions, the fur of which the hat is to be made, wets it before applying pressure; and, that the woollen manufacturer, after freeing the web from grease, soaps it before its subjection to the action of the rollers.
Without felting, cloth would resemble a net, and would unravel on being cut, from the fibres crossing only in two directions; but the strokes of the mill put an end to this, by laying the fibres in every possible direction, and so twining them one with another, as to render them a coherent mass.
(34.)Different kinds of Wool.—The wool of this country is divided into two great classes—long and short: the former varies in length from three to eight inches, and before being made into stuffs and worsted goods, requires to be deprived of its felting tendencies, by passing it through heated iron combs, which remove the feathery parts, or serrations, and make it resemble silk or cotton.
The shorter combing wools are in general used for hose, and are softer than the long combing wools. Short wool is employed in the cloth manufacture, and is, on that account, frequently called clothing wool. It should approach in colour as much as possible to white, as a clear white ground is required for all cloths that are to be dyed bright colours, as well as for those dressed white: grey or black hairs injure the fleece very much, even though few and minute, as they give rise to reddish spots where the cloth is stoved. Herefordshire sheep are entirely free from this defect, and are, therefore, reckoned particularly valuable for clothing purposes.
(35.)Alterations induced by Crossing.—The breed exercises considerable influence on the wool, some sheep, as the merinos, being distinguished for the softness and beauty of the fleece; while others, as some of our small northern varieties, are famed for the very opposite characteristics.
According to the opinion on the continent, any race of ewes, however coarse and long in the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the merino ram, give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. The truth of this proposition is however doubted, in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, by Dr Parry of Bath; but it is certain, he adds, that one cross more will in most cases effect the desired purpose. "If we suppose," he says, "the result of the admixture of the blood of the merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, and state the native blood in the ewe as 64, then the first cross would give 32/64 of the merino, the second 48/64, the third 56/64, the fourth 60/64, the fifth 62/64, and so on. In other words, the first cross would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English quality; the second 16 parts, or one-fourth; the third 8 parts, or one-eighth; the fourth four parts, or one-sixteenth; the fifth 2 parts or one-thirty-second; the sixth 1 part, or one-sixty-fourth; and so on. Now, if the filament of the Wiltshire, or any other coarse wool, be in diameter double that of the Ryeland, it is obvious that, according to the above statement, it would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid wool of the former to the same fineness as that of the latter. This, I believe, very exactly corresponds with the fact. The difference between one-eighth and one-sixteenth is very considerable, and must certainly be easily perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the cloth which is manufactured from such wool. In the latter method, it certainly has been perceived; but I have had hitherto no opportunity of trying the difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have before observed, brings the merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as the merino-Ryeland."
(36.)Bratting injurious to Wool.—Wool rendered fine by clothing sheep, is never equal to that which owes its perfection to natural causes. The Saxon wool, which is principally produced byartificialmeans, has been compared, from its inelastic sickly appearance, to grass that has been secluded from the sun. The custom ofbrattingis therefore not to be recommended, and indeed is now nearly laid aside. Housing sheep with the same intentions is also bad, inasmuch as it must affect their health, and destroy the curl of the fibre. Shelter is however absolutely necessary from extremes both of heat and cold, as temperature has much influence on the covering of animals, and in none more than the sheep.
CHAPTER III.
BRITISH WOOL TRADE.
(37.)Origin of the Wool Trade.—Wool, since Eden closed its gates on our progenitors has been a current coin, an important material, on which has been employed the skill and industry of almost every tribe, and been the means of raising many a petty people to the hard-won dignity of a nation. Man, at first placed in a comfortable temperature, needed little as a defence against the weather; while fashion, then unthought of, or only as a sport, failed to interest the simple-minded races in the cut or texture of the coverings they wore. That the first dresses of mankind were formed from vegetable materials, we have the highest authority for believing; and even at present, the garb of the natives of some of our lately discovered islands, consists of a simple girdle formed from rough-cut reeds. But as the dawn of knowledge smiled upon the savage, and animal sacrifice tutored him in the uncouth rudiments of a coarse anatomy, the superior comfort, even of the untanned hide would be remarked, and the clumsy mantle of the Caffre hordes welcomed as a change. Time would not long elapse till roving dispositions, and the encounter of unstable climates, would show the wanderer the necessity of a fabric better adjusted by shape and pliancy, to the nature of his wants; while the clinging of lock to lock of woolly fibre would plainly tell the superfluous nature of the supporting skin, and point the way to make an ill-closed cloth.
(38.)Invention of Weaving.—Weaving is not absolutely necessary for the manufacture of cloth, since wool will felt, though far from evenly, without the preliminary process of being laid in threads, so that cloth may have been almost coeval with mankind without our being required to assign much mechanical ingenuity to its inventors. But we have tolerably clear evidence in the inspired writings, that weaving was known in the earliest ages, and that it was trusted principally to the women:—Thus Delilah wove Samson's hair when he slept in her lap; and a short time after, it is written, that the mother of Samuel "made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year." At a later period, Solomon thus describes a good wife:—"She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."[5]That garments were in those early ages made of several pieces, joined by needle work, is evident on a perusal of Genesis, xxxvii. 3; Judges, v. 30; and 2 Samuel, xiii. 13; and this plan is allowed to be even more ancient than the weaving of flax. Job, who flourished, or is supposed to have flourished, before the Israelites left Egypt, shows clearly by his words that flannel clothing was then in vogue: "Let me be condemned if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;" and that the cloth was woven, and not produced by beating, is evident from his saying, when complaining of his sad estate, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle."
(39.)The early progress of the Wool Tradeis veiled in much obscurity, and only to be discovered by seeking for it in a mass of fable, which in many instances enabled the old writers to string together the dry details of history, in a manner suited to the taste and habit of their time. The following may be taken as a specimen. Phryxus, the son of Athamas king of Thebes, fleeing with his sister, Hellé, from their stepmother, and riding upon (carrying with him) a ram which had a golden (valuable) fleece, sought to cross the Dardanelles, when Hellé was drowned, and the sea was ever after called the Hellespont: but Phryxus arrived safely at Colchis, between the Black and Caspian seas, and having sacrificed the ram to Mars, hung the fleece in a temple dedicated to that god. By this the ancients no doubt meant to intimate, either that Bœotia, the birth-place of so many talented Greeks, furnished the people of Colchis with sheep, or that they sent them sums of money in exchange for the wool of Caucasus. That the latter is the more probable, is apparent from Ovid's account of the Argonautic expedition, in which he shows the hardships which Jason encountered in his successful endeavours (B.C. 1225) to bring the golden fleece from Colchis back to Greece—implying the value of the article, and leading us to believe, that the Colchians had, by the aid of severe penalties, long monopolized the growth of wool. Moreover, Mount Caucasus and its neighbourhood form the favoured nursery whence the improved fleece-bearing animals have gradually spread over the world; and as such would be looked upon, at the time I speak of, by adjacent tribes with jealousy and hatred; for where is the nation that can calmly behold a compeer engrossing a hoard of wealth, without struggling to lower their prices by a market of their own?
Thus one country after another became impressed with the advantages to be derived from the husbandry of sheep. Nation after nation improved its agriculture, by the introduction of the animal, till at last the Romans became pre-eminent for their attention to its culture, and to the manufactures of which it is the fruitful source. Generous even to an enemy, and attacking only to enrich the countries they subdued, England may bless the hour which saw the legions of the world's mistress planting the Imperial Eagle on her shores.
Instead of following the progress of the wool trade among foreign nations in later times, the limits of the present work compel me to confine myself to an outline of the British trade from its origin, at the time of the invasion by the Romans, to the present period.
(40.)Introduction of Weaving into Britain.—It is evident from ancient history, that the first inhabitants of all the countries of Europe were either naked, or nearly so, owing to their ignorance of the clothing art. Such, in particular, was the uncomfortable condition of the inhabitants of this island, who are supposed to have used the bark of trees, and to have smeared themselves with unctuous matter, after the manner of other savages, to protect themselves from cold. Some writers are of opinion, that the inner bark of trees alone was employed, and that not till woven into a kind of cloth, such as the South Sea islanders at present make. They continued the abominable practice of anointing their bodies, long after the people of France, Spain, and Germany, were decently clothed, so differently were they situated in regard to intercourse with strangers, and opportunities of acquiring the useful arts. It is impossible to discover with certainty when, or by whom, the custom of wearing clothes was introduced into Britain. Some suppose that the Greeks, and after them the Phœnicians, who visited the Scilly islands, and sometimes the continent of Britain, for trading purposes, first awakened in the breasts of our savage ancestors a desire for comfortable coverings, as both these nations were celebrated for elaborate attention to their attire.
"The Britons," says Cæsar, "in the interior parts of the country are clothed in skins." These are supposed not to have been sewed together, but to have been cast over the shoulders as a mantle. Their stiffness, however, rendered them aught but pleasant, as we may guess from their endeavours to make them soft and pliable, by steeping in water, beating them with stones and sticks, and rubbing them with fat. The people of the southern parts are supposed to have been well acquainted with the dressing, spinning, and weaving, both of flax and wool, having been instructed by a Belgic colony, long before the invasion by the Romans. Two kinds of cloth, which they manufactured at this period, were much esteemed by their invaders; the one a thick harsh cloth, worn in cold climates as a sort of mantle, and agreeing in many respects with our Lowland plaids; the other made of fine wool, dyed of different colours, woven into chequered cloth, and corresponding to our Highland tartan. They are also believed to have made felts of wool, without either spinning or weaving, and to have stuffed mattresses with the portions shorn from it in dressing. The Britons must have been well acquainted with the dyeing of wool, as the Gauls were then celebrated, according to Pliny, for the invention of a "method of dyeing purple, scarlet, and all other colours, only with certain herbs." The plant, which they chiefly used for the purpose, was the glastum or woad, and they seem to have been led to the discovery of its value in dyeing cloth, from their former use of it in staining their bodies. A deep blue having been the colour they stained their skins, it long continued a favourite; particularly, with the Caledonians, as a tint for all their dresses. Though the most civilized of the ancient Britons were tolerably versed in the most essential branches of the woollen manufacture, yet that useful art was not diffused over our island till the landing of the Romans, whose soldiers, being almost all drawn from the plough, were well adapted, when settled in the country, to foster the arts of peace. In order to benefit themselves and the island, their emperors were at great pains to discover and procure the best artificers of every description, particularly the best manufacturers of woollen and linen cloths, whom they formed into colleges, or corporations, endowed with various privileges, and governed by a procurator, who was under the direction of that great officer of their empire, the Count of the Sacred Largesses. In this manner it appears that the first woollen manufactory was established at Venta Belgarum, now Winchester, a hundred years after the conquest of the country.
It has been believed, from Britain having been partly peopled from Spain, that our sheep were originally Spanish; and, as Giraldus Cambrensis (Collectan. de Reb. Hibern.) affirms, that the Irish in his time were clothed in black garments, from the wool of their sheep being so coloured, some have supposed the sheep of that island were imported from Spain, a supposition rendered probable by Southey telling us, in his letters from that country, that in the north of the Peninsula the animals are almost all of a black colour.
No mention ever occurs in the ancient writers, of the importation of sheep into Britain, from which it may be supposed, that they had found their way into it long before its forcible separation from the continent by natural convulsions. Cambden, in his work on Britain, quotes from an old orator, part of a beautiful panegyric on the great Constantine, in which the happiness of Britain is eloquently described, and its advantages in regard to sheep graphically depicted. "Innumerable are thy herds of cattle, and thy flocks of sheep, which feed thee plentifully, and clothe thee richly." So that, even allowing for the high-flown nature of the verbiage, the sheep of the island must have been far from indifferent, and well worthy of any trouble the grasping Romans may have been put to, in the erection of manufactories.
(41.)Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture.—The history of our wool, and the woollen manufacture, is, at one period and in one point of view, the history of our public revenue, while in a succeeding period it becomes the capital object of our commerce, and the important subject of our political councils. The preserving and supporting it against foreign rivals, the due regulation of its numerous branches, and the proper restrictions deemed requisite to ensure to this country the commercial benefits resulting from it, have occupied our ablest statesmen for many centuries.
The wools of England have always been in the highest repute, and that more abroad than at home. Their fineness and abundance have been ascribed by many to the sweet short grass on most of our downs and pastures, and to the sheep having the privilege of feeding, all the year round, without being shut in folds; but it cannot be denied, that, though food and climate may have much concern in the matter, the energetic industry and persevering attention with which an Englishman devotes himself to the attainment of an object, have tended more than any other circumstance to the advancement of our wools, and woollen manufactures, and to the consequent prosperity of our island.
The reason of the existence of so many laws relating to wool is, that it continued for ages to be the principal commodity, meeting all demands for the support of armies, and payment of public revenues, and affording aids to the crown, which were in general granted therein. The scarcity of money in England before the discovery of America, rendered it necessary to levy taxes frequently in kind, and as wool was abundant, it often figured as the representative of a more portable currency. Part of the £300,000 demanded by the Emperor of Germany as the ransom of Richard I., was raised by a loan of wool. Edward I., the great reformer of our laws, imposed a duty of 6s. 8d. on every sack of wool exported, and the like sum on every 300 wool-fells; but soon after, when his necessities demanded a larger income, he laid those additional duties on foreign merchants, which afterwards became the tonnage and poundage, so famous in England's history. Among these additions, the former taxes on wool and fells were increased by forty pence, while at the same time, like other monarchs of the period, he occasionally received subsidies of wool. In the same way Edward III., in attempting, during the twelfth year of his reign, to wrest the crown of France from the house of Valois, procured a grant of half the wool in England, amounting to 20,000 packs, which, taking it as valued by some authors at £40 a pack, must have realized the sum of £800,000.
(42.)Weavers brought from Flanders.—Commerce and industry were at a very low ebb during the time of Edward III., the principal export being wool, which only brought into the kingdom about £450,000. Edward promoted the woollen manufacture by bringing, in 1331, John Kemp, with seventy Walloon families, weavers, from Flanders, and, owing to the want of native skill in this department, gave every encouragement to foreign weavers. (11 Edward III. cap. 5.)[6]A further encouragement was given to the home manufacture, by the enactment of a law (11 Edward III. cap. 2) which prohibited every one from wearing any cloth not of English fabric. Parliament, however, in an evil hour, thwarted these benefits, by prohibiting the exportation of woollen goods, certainly an injurious step, so long as wool was allowed to be shipped from our ports.
On the introduction of the Flemish weavers, Kendal became the metropolis of this branch of industry, and was soon equalled in the extent of its manufactories by many other towns, as Norwich, Sudbury, Colchester, and York; while woollens were spun and wove, though to a less extent, in Devonshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Berkshire Sussex, and Wales.
(43.)Regulations regarding Staples.—Thestaple, or market for wool, was fixed by act of Parliament (27 Edward III.) in particular towns of England, but was afterwards removed by law to Calais, and English merchants were prohibited from exporting any goods from the staple, or, in other words, foreign navigation was abandoned. To the custom of taking subsidies in kind, may be traced the principle of those multifarious regulations which fixed the staple in certain towns, either in England, or more commonly on the continent; and to the fluctuating state of politics may be ascribed the shiftings which those staples so frequently underwent; but it is not easy to see the drift of many of the provisions relating to it, some of which tend to the benefit of foreign, rather than of British, commerce.
(44.) The progress which this manufacture made in a very short period, may be well illustrated by the following table of exports and imports in woollen, about the middle of the fourteenth century, or twenty years after the arrival of John Kemp and his establishment.
That the imported cloths were much finer than those exported, may be inferred from their comparative value as here stated, and we may conclude pretty justly, that the fabrication of coarse cloths exclusively occupied the manufacturers of Britain, while the finer fabrics were still brought from abroad, and that, in fact, the wants of themassof the people were the regulators of British industry.
(45.)Subsidies raised by Edward III.—In 1338, Edward took a fifteenth of all the commonalty of his realm in wool, rating the price of every stone of 14 lbs. at 2s., although, in the previous November, he had sent the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earls of Suffolk and Northampton, with one thousand sacks of wool, into Brabant, which, being sold at L.40 a sack, procured him L.40,000. Edward was apparently not very sure how far his subjects would submit to so sweeping a taxation, as we find him addressing a letter, dated Berwick-upon-Tweed, March 28th, 1338, to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, desiring the favour of their prayers, and requesting that they would excuse him to his people, on account of the great taxes he was obliged to lay upon them. During the summer of 1339, the laity granted to the king the one-half of their wools throughout the whole realm, a favour his majesty is reported to have received most graciously; but of the clergy he levied the whole, compelling them to pay nine merks for every sack of the best wool. Knighton, who held an office in the Abbey of Leicester, says that that house alone furnished eighteen sacks. The revenue officers during this reign appear to have exercised their calling with great strictness, and to have interfered in an especial manner with the secret trade of the inhabitants of Bristol, but this was terminated by the king granting a licence, dated Langley, November 25th, 1339, to their weavers, allowing them "to make woollen cloth without being liable to any molestation from the king's officers."
(46.)Progress of the trade under Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI.—During the bloody and destructive wars of the white and red roses, when success graced the arms alternately of York and Lancaster, commercial enterprise was almost at a stand. This unhappy period brought, however, with all its evils, blessings in its train, and Henry VII. not only did more for the advancement of the wool-trade than his predecessors, but also gave it greater vigour than it could lay claim to at any former period. Fine cloths were much improved in his reign, and luxury began to be attended to in an article, which, till then, had only been rendered amenable to comfort. The ostentatious reign of Henry VIII., gave an additional impulse to the trade, and cloth was sold in 1512 for five merks, which fifty years before would only have brought about forty shillings; while, in consequence of increasing wealth, population, and consumption, the demand was materially increased. A new market was also opened up for the exit of their woollens, by the establishment of an intercourse in 1516 with several islands in the Archipelago, and a few of the towns on the coast of Syria.
Edward VI., or rather his ministers, for he was then a minor, attempted to lay a poll-tax upon sheep, every ewe kept in a separate pasture being charged threepence, every wedder twopence, and all sheep kept on commons three-halfpence; but it was found to be so oppressive, so annoying to the people, and so difficult to collect, that it was repealed during the next year. England made a distinguished figure in this reign as a commercial nation. The manufacture of woollens was raised to a great height. Cloth, besides being exported to Flanders, found its way to Holland, Hamburgh, Sweden, and Russia, whose coarse warm stuffs were very much wanted, and the trade wore such an air of affluence, that a tax of eightpence in the pound was laid upon all cloth made for sale in England. This, however, was speedily repealed, a very short time serving to point out, that, though made for an endurance of three prosperous years, the people who were galled by a trifling impost on their sheep, would not, unless under very favourable circumstances, submit to imposts on the fabrics which they wore.
During the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI., an undue preference was given to grazing. Acts were framed to put a stop to this mismanagement, which was fast ruining the country, by driving people from it. Henry VII. exempted Norwich from the penalties of the law, on account of the decay of manufactures from the want of hands; and shortly after the whole county of Norfolk obtained a like exemption in regard to some branches of the woollen trade. The practice of depopulating the country, by abandoning tillage, and throwing the lands into pasturage, had run to so great an extent in the time of Henry VIII., that an enactment was made, whereby the king became entitled to half the rents of the land where any farm-houses were allowed to fall to decay. The number of sheep in a flock was at the same time limited to two thousand. Hume conjectures, in hisHistory of England, that unskilful husbandry was probably the cause why the proprietors found no profit in tillage;—thus leading a farmer to keep a flock sometimes of twenty-four thousand as expressed in the statute. This had the effect of increasing the price of mutton, a remarkable coincidence, which parliament attributes to the commodity having gotten into few hands, though Hume ascribes it to the daily increase of money, thinking it almost impossible that such an article could be engrossed. At the commencement of the reign of Edward VI., the people were still sadly deficient in a knowledge of agriculture—a profession, which, as Hume wisely remarks, of all employments, requires the most reflection and experience. A great demand having arisen for wool both at home and abroad, whole estates were laid waste, while the tenants, regarded as a useless burden, were expelled their habitations, and the cottagers deprived even of the commons on which they fed their cows; no wonder there was a decay of the people!
(47.)Wool Trade encouraged by Elizabeth.—Elizabeth extended her protection to the Protestants who fled from the persecutions of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, and the woollen manufactories became more flourishing than ever—so much so, that, although in 1552, a large quantity of raw material was exported, yet in less than thirty years, the people of Germany, Poland, France, Flanders, Denmark, and Sweden, were covered with British cloths; two hundred thousand pieces being annually exported, though the price was nearly tripled. At that time the processes by which woollens are rendered beautiful were unknown in England, and as our exports consisted in white undressed cloth, the profits upon dyeing and finishing, amounting to nearly a million a year, were lost. This was attempted to be remedied by prohibiting the exportation of white cloths, but the Dutch and Germans, who benefitted by the dyeing processes, forbade the entrance of any English woollens dyed in the piece, into their territories, and the export consequently fell immediately from 200,000 to sixty pieces. Then the restriction was taken off. It was at this crisis that the fabrication of medley cloths, or mixtures of wool dyed of different colours and wrought into the same web, was commenced.
(48.)Woollen Cloth monopolized by the merchant adventurers.—Though nine-tenths of the commerce of the kingdom consisted in the time of James I. of woollen goods, wool was allowed to be exported till the nineteenth year of his reign, when it was forbidden by proclamation, but never strictly enforced. The cloth was very little admired even at home, and though it was the staple commodity of the realm, a company of merchant adventurers were allowed by a patent, to possess the sole disposal of it. Elizabeth at one time attempted to rescue this important trade from the hands of these merchants, but they instantly conspired, and ceased to make purchases of cloth, when the queen was necessitated to restore the patent. A board of trade was brought together by James I. in 1622, and one of the purposes contemplated was to remedy the low price of wool, which was leading the people to complain of the decay of the woollen manufacture; but Hume supposes, and with every appearance of probability, that this fall of prices proceeded from an increase of wool.
(49.)English consumption of Wool increased.—Till the fifteenth century our wool was sold in the fleece to such as came to buy it. Among the principal of our customers were numbered the Flemings, and Brabanters, and in particular the merchants of Ghent, and Louvain, who took off vast quantities for the supply of two manufactories, that had flourished in those cities from the tenth century, and had furnished the greater part of Europe, and even England itself, with every kind of woollen cloth. Thus they might have continued, to the great loss of our island, had not the democratic hands employed in those manufactories repeatedly revolted, owing to their determination to resist a tax on looms, and being at length punished and dispersed, found their way in no long time to Holland. While in the last place, the spirit of sedition still being dominant, certain of their party attacked and killed some of the civil authorities, for which they had to make a precipitate flight to England, where they settled as peaceful citizens, and instructed our people in the working of wool. This occurred in 1420, from which time neither skill, money, nor enactments, have been spared to enable us to retain so valuable a trade. In the reign of Edward IV., every pack of English wool was liable when exported to a custom of 50s., a goodly sum in those days, and one which brought a yearly revenue of L 250,000. This excessive custom, almost amounting to a prohibition, added to the above mentioned opportunities, in a manner compelled the people to manufacture for themselves, and in this they succeeded so well, that by the time of Elizabeth, the exportation of live sheep and wool was prohibited on pain of having the right hand struck off. It does not appear that this enactment was ever repealed, though supposed to be so by the 12th of Charles II. cap. 32, see. 3, which, without taking away the penalties imposed by former statutes, imposes a new penalty;—20s. for every sheep exported, or attempted to be exported, together with the forfeiture of the sheep.
(50.)Severity of prohibitory enactments reprobated.—By the 14th of Charles II. chap. 18 the exportation of wool was deemed felony, and punished accordingly. This tended in no slight degree to the defeat of the ends intended, by hindering all who were not cold-blooded from bringing to justice the actors in so trifling an offence. This was soon however seen through, and corrected, by the 7th and 8th of William III. chap. 28, sec. 4, in which it was declared, that "Whereas the statute of the 13th and 14th of King Charles II., made against the exportation of wool, among other things in the said act mentioned, doth enact the same to be deemed felony, by the severity of which penalty the prosecution of offenders hath not been so effectually put into execution; be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that so much of the said act, which relates to the making the said offence felony, be repealed and made void."
Adam Smith, when commenting in his "Wealth of Nations," on the laws relating to wool, reprobates severely the ill-judged compliance of our government, in yielding to the solicitation of our merchants, and allowing them to sway with iron rule the commerce of the world. "The severity of many of the laws which have been enacted for the security of the revenue, is very justly complained of, as imposing heavy penalties upon actions, which, antecedent to the statutes that declared them to be crimes, had always been understood to be innocent. But the cruelest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are mild and gentle in comparison to some of those which the clamour of our merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for the support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the laws of Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood." None of the laws, however, were effectual, not even the one passed in the middle of the seventeenth century, by which the offence was rendered capital. In spite of the vigilance of our government, a contraband trade in wool was long carried on between the inhabitants of the French and English coasts, especially those of Sussex, by a class of men calledOwlers, from their only venturing abroad in the night, and who were tempted to despise the penalty, with an intrepidity astonishing to the rest of Europe, by the high prices that were sure to be afforded to them in the Gallic market. Again, during the first half of the eighteenth century, large quantities of wool were constantly smuggled from Ireland to France, by which our trading interests were considerably injured, and the plans for suppressing exportation shown to be worse than useless.
(51.)Prosperity of the Dutch Manufacturers.—The woollen manufactures of the Hollanders were first established in 1636, or 1637, by one hundred and forty English families, who went from Norfolk and Suffolk, to settle at Leyden, and Alkmaer. The Dutch manufacture of fine woollen cloths was, however, commenced much earlier, or about 1624, at which time they began to interfere with the English trade in the Netherlands; insomuch that, in the twenty-second year of the reign of James I., a certificate was given to the Parliament of 25,000 cloths having been made that year in Holland. Upon this the House of Commons resolved, 1st, "That the merchant adventurers setting impost upon our cloth, is a grievance, and ought not to be continued; and that all other merchants promiscuously, as well as that company, may transport everywhere northern and western kersies, and new draperies."
2dly. "That other merchants, besides the Merchant Adventurers' Company, may freely trade with dyed and dressed cloths, and all sorts of coloured cloths, into Germany and the Low Countries." Much annoyance appears to have resulted to this island, from the progress which the manufacturers in Holland still continued to make, and some curious speculations were of course formed in the minds of the ingenious. In 1651, a scheme was laid before the English commonwealth, for obtaining from the court of Spain an exclusive right to purchaseallthe Spanish wool; or, in other words, to ruin the Holland market, by stopping the supplies. The projector observed, "That this proposed preemption would totally dissolve the woollen manufacture of Holland, which, by means of that wool (Spanish), hath of late years mightily increased, to the destruction of the vent of all fine cloths, of English manufacture, in Holland, France, and the east country; and hath drawn from us considerable numbers of weavers, dyers, and cloth workers, now settled at Leyden, and other towns in Holland, by whose help they have very much improved their skill in cloth, and have made in that one province (one year with another) 24,000 or 26,000 cloths yearly. That the Hollanders have of late years bought and exported from Biscay, four-fifth parts at least of all their wools, and have sold there proportionally of their own country stuffs." This was certainly a novel method of accomplishing an end by a sweeping monopoly; but the theory was too fine-spun ever to be reducible to practice.
(52.)Fluctuating State of the Trade between 1635 and 1693.—By the great act of tonnage and poundage, passed in 1660, on the restoration of Charles II., taxes were imposed, among other things, on the exportation of woollen manufactures, and it was not till the reign of William, that the wretched policy of such regulations was discovered, and a law was passed in 1700, by which the duties on woollens were abolished, because in the words of the act (ll & 12 William III. chap. 20), "the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom doth, in a great measure, depend on the improvement of its woollen manufactures, and the profitable trade carried on by the exportation thereof."
In the time of Charles II., an act was passed for the erection of manufactories (Par. I, Sess. I, Cap. 40), by which it is enacted, that no native or stranger is to export wool nor skins with wool upon them, until made into work, or put to the best advantage, under the pain of first value thereof, half to the king, and half to the informer. It is also, in this act, ordered, "that none forestall the mercat of wooll, nor keep up the same to a dearth, under the pain against regrators and forestallers, and that for eschewing the deceit of putting stones, or the like stuffs therein, no wooll be wrapt up in the fleece, under the pain of confiscation, half to the king, and half to the discoverer and pursuer, declaring always that the Exchequer may licence the export of wool and skins, as they shall see cause."
The French refugees, in 1635, brought money and talent into England, and contributed greatly to the erection of manufactories forslightstuffs, and other French fabrics, never before made in England. The former law for burying in woollen not being well observed, it was repealed by an Act of Parliament, in the thirtieth year of that king (cap. 3.), which enacted a register to be kept in every parish, by the incumbent or his substitute, that every thing about the corpse of the deceased was made of sheep's wool, of which an affidavit was to be made by the relation of the deceased, and lodged with the incumbent, under the penalty of £5, a moiety of which went to the poor of the parish; the rest to the informer. But this was a sorry check, as vanity was so predominant among the rich, that they paid the penalty rather than want the pleasure of adorning their departed relatives with lace and linen.
In 1667, France supplanted England in many foreign markets, owing to the care that Colbert at that time took to bring the French woollens to perfection. The English immediately turned their attention to other manufactures, in which, as in that of paper, they quickly excelled, and thus compelled the French to abandon markets, in which they had long remained without a rival.
In 1698, a problem was started concerning the manufactures of the country—whether or not a general linen manufacture would prove beneficial to England? As London at this time abounded with new projects and schemes, all promising as usual a hoard of wealth, the question caused much excitement. It was at last determined that a novelty of this kind would lead to the sowing of a great quantity of flax in England, and the neglect of the woollen manufacture, which would follow, might probably lower the price of land; for, as they said at the time, "it requires about twenty acres of land to breed wool, for setting on work the same number of hands which one acre of flax would employ; and yet, in the end, the woollen manufacture will be found to employ by far the greatest number of hands, and yield the most profit to the public, as well as to the manufacturers."
(53.)Irish Manufactures discouraged.—In the same year (1698), the English house of Peers addressed King William with the view of inducing him to discourage the woollen manufactures of Ireland, which, in spite of many restrictions, still continued to cause much vexation to the monopolizers of England. The address ran thus:—"The growing manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the cheapness of all sorts of the necessaries of life,[7]andthe goodness of materials for making all manner of cloth, doth invite his subjects of England, with their families and servants, to leave their habitation to settle there, to the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, which makes his loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive, that the further growth of it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; and praying, that his Majesty would be pleased, in the most public and effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of Ireland, that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture there, hath long, and will ever be, looked upon with great jealousy by all his subjects of this kingdom." A similar address was presented by the Commons, and this most liberal and enlightened monarch was pleased to answer, "Gentlemen, I will do all that in me lies to discourage the woollen manufacture of Ireland." This was certainly altogether a strange proceeding, especially when viewed in conjunction with the cruel prohibitions of former periods.[8]Their foreign trade is said by some to have been much diminished by this coolness; but much of the poignancy and crushing animosity of the request are lost when we consider that encouragement was at the same time given by England to the making of Irish linen, his Majesty being desired in the same address, to forward that manufacture, pursuant to the dictates of an act passed in 1696. Nay, some are of opinion that these measures resulted from the soundest views of the relative situations of the countries, and that the prudent tenor of English enactments was never better exhibited, than in the discouragement of the woollen and encouragement of the linen manufactures of Ireland.
(54.)British Trade in 1699.—In 1699 there were 12,000,000 sheep and lambs in Britain, and the yearly increase was supposed to be about 3,600,000. The value of each sheep, besides the skin, was 7s. 4d. The stock was valued at £4,400,000. The value of the wool yearly shorn, at 3s. 4d. per fleece, came to about £2,000,000. The woollens manufactured in Britain amounted in value to £5,000,000 per annum, while our yearly exports of the same were valued at £2,000,000. Many were at that time afraid of the sinking of the woollen manufacture, because the accounts of the fine draperies exported were larger than usual; but, says an anonymous essayist of the period, "such do not contemplate, that, though the old may be lessened, what is commonly called the new draperies have increased, consisting in bays, serges, and stuffs. So that upon the whole, infinitely more of the material of wool has of late years been wrought up for foreign use, than in former times; and herein our merchants have been only forced to follow the modes and humours of those people with whom they deal, and the course they have pursued has hitherto not been detrimental to the public."* * *"'Twere better, indeed, that the call from abroad were only for the fine draperies, because then we should be in a manner without a rival; no country, but England, and Ireland, having a sward or turf that will rear sheep, producing the wool of which most of our draperies are made. 'Tis true the wool of Spain is fine above all others; but 'tis the wear only of the richer sort, and of Spanish cloths not above nine thousand pieces are sent abroad, one year with another."
(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.
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.
(59.)Removal of the Restrictions on Foreign Wool.—The importation of wool was, by these reductions, speedily increased, and with it the consumption of our woollens by foreign nations. The wool of our own gradually augmented flocks being inadequate to the demand, and that of Spain having been absorbed by our manufactories, large quantities were imported from Prussia, Saxony, and many parts of the continent of Europe, from which, antecedent to this run, little had been drawn. The average annual import of wool during 1765-66-67 was 4,241,364 pounds—the average annual export of woollens during the same period was £4,630,384; while the average annual import of wool for the years 1822-23-24 was 18,884,876 pounds, and the average annual export of woollens during the same time, amounted to £6,200,548, showing that the importation of foreign wool was absolutely necessary for the well-being of our manufactures. The importation of forty-four millions of pounds weight, in the year ending 5th January, 1826, must be ascribed as much to the spirit of over-trading, which then affected every branch of industry, as to the reduction of the duty; but the large importations during 1827, afforded an additional proof of the necessity of foreign wool to the successful formation of a most important article of commerce. Mr Gott of Leeds, in his evidence before the Lords' Committee, on being asked if he could carry on to the same extent as at present, if he manufactured his cloth of British wool, replied, that, in certain descriptions of cloth, "he could not make an article that would be merchantable at all for the foreign market, or even for the home market, except of foreign wool." He then proceeds to state, that though the competition is very strong in every department of the manufacture, yet that foreigners are decidedly superior to us in some description of low cloths. The following question was then put, and plainly and emphatically answered:—"Speaking of the finer cloths, is the competition such as to render an additional duty on the importation of foreign wool likely to injure the export trade?I have no doubt, speaking on my oath, that it would be fatal to the foreign cloth trade of the country. I would further say, that it would be equally injurious to coarse manufactures of all kinds made of English wool.The competition now with foreigners is as nearly balanced as possible, and the disturbing operation of attacks of that description would necessarily enable the foreigner to buy his wool cheaper than we should do it in this country; the result would be, that foreigners would, by such a premium, be enabled to extend their manufactures to the exclusion of British manufactures of all descriptions." In another part of his evidence Mr Gott says, "If two pieces of cloth at 10s. a-yard were put before a customer, one made of British wool, the other of foreign wool; one would be sold, and the other would remain on hand; I could not execute an order with it. If any person sent to me for cloth at 7s. or 8s. a-yard, and if it were made of English wool it would be sent back to me, and I must resort to foreign wool, or foreign mixed with British, to execute that order." In fine, the British wool could not be got rid of without a copious importation of foreign wool to aid the manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths are so much better and more durable in their wear than coarse cloths, that they are coming more and more into demand, to the almost total exclusion of the latter. Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun cloth is reviving among our farmers, and as it is excellently suited for work-day wear, though necessarily of an inferior gloss, coarse cloths will, to a considerable extent, cease to be the concern of our manufacturers. The only cloth, indeed, which the bulk of the people will require, will be a finer material to form the garb for Sunday and holiday recreation.
(60.)Countries from which we derive our Wool.—Our markets are supplied with foreign wool principally from the following places:—Australia, Van Dieman's Land, Cape of Good Hope, Peru, Germany, Spain, and Russia. The Tasmanian fleeces are preferred to the Australian, and fetch, in general, higher prices, owing to their being fit for combing, while the latter, though making considerable advances in fineness, are still of short staple. Both are favourites with our manufacturers, from their being firm in the pile, a quality resulting from the constant good health of the animal in those countries. The German wool takes precedence of the Spanish, and has done so since 1819 or 1820. The King of Spain, about the year 1800, presented the Elector of Saxony with a small merino flock, and, from that period, our importations from Spain have diminished, as those from Germany have increased. From the period of its first introduction into Germany, till 1814, when peace once more fell to the lot of Europe, these sheep were gradually spread over the kingdom of Saxony, and when, by the events of 1815, the continental trade was thrown completely open, the Saxon dealers, perceiving the value of this new commercial article, commenced a regular trade in it with England. By this new supply, the Spanish wool, as here shown, was slowly beaten from its hold on the British manufacturers.