“Calcutta, 1st. Sept. 1831.“To the Right Honorable the Lords of His Majesty’s Privy Council for Trade, &c.“The humble Petition of the undersigned Manufacturers and Dealers inCottonandSilk Piece-goods, the fabrics of Bengal;“Sheweth—That of late years your Petitioners have found their business nearly superseded by the introduction of the fabrics of Great Britain into Bengal, the importation of which augments every year, to the great prejudice of the native manufactures.“That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal, without any duties being levied thereon to protect the native fabrics.“That the fabrics of Bengal are charged with the following duties when they are used in Great Britain—“On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent.“On manufactured silks, 24 per cent.“Your Petitioners most humbly implore your Lordships’ consideration of these circumstances, and they feel confident that no disposition exists in England to shut the door against the industry of any part of the inhabitants of this great empire.“They therefore pray to be admitted to the privilege of British subjects, and humbly entreat your Lordships to allow the cotton and silk fabrics of Bengal to be used in Great Britain free of duty,or at the same rate which may be charged on British fabrics consumed in Bengal[463].“Your Lordships must be aware of the immense advantages the British manufacturers derive from their skill in constructing and using machinery, which enables them to undersell the unscientific manufacturers of Bengal in their own country: and, although your Petitioners are not sanguine in expecting to derive any great advantage from having their prayer granted, their minds would feel gratified by such a manifestation of your Lordships’ good will towards them; and such an instance of justice to the natives of India would not fail to endear the British government to them.“They therefore confidently trust, that your Lordships’ righteous consideration will be extended to them as British subjects, without exception ofsect,country, orcolor.“And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.”[Signed by 117 natives of high respectability.]
“Calcutta, 1st. Sept. 1831.
“To the Right Honorable the Lords of His Majesty’s Privy Council for Trade, &c.
“The humble Petition of the undersigned Manufacturers and Dealers inCottonandSilk Piece-goods, the fabrics of Bengal;
“Sheweth—That of late years your Petitioners have found their business nearly superseded by the introduction of the fabrics of Great Britain into Bengal, the importation of which augments every year, to the great prejudice of the native manufactures.
“That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal, without any duties being levied thereon to protect the native fabrics.
“That the fabrics of Bengal are charged with the following duties when they are used in Great Britain—
“On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent.“On manufactured silks, 24 per cent.
“On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent.
“On manufactured silks, 24 per cent.
“Your Petitioners most humbly implore your Lordships’ consideration of these circumstances, and they feel confident that no disposition exists in England to shut the door against the industry of any part of the inhabitants of this great empire.
“They therefore pray to be admitted to the privilege of British subjects, and humbly entreat your Lordships to allow the cotton and silk fabrics of Bengal to be used in Great Britain free of duty,or at the same rate which may be charged on British fabrics consumed in Bengal[463].
“Your Lordships must be aware of the immense advantages the British manufacturers derive from their skill in constructing and using machinery, which enables them to undersell the unscientific manufacturers of Bengal in their own country: and, although your Petitioners are not sanguine in expecting to derive any great advantage from having their prayer granted, their minds would feel gratified by such a manifestation of your Lordships’ good will towards them; and such an instance of justice to the natives of India would not fail to endear the British government to them.
“They therefore confidently trust, that your Lordships’ righteous consideration will be extended to them as British subjects, without exception ofsect,country, orcolor.
“And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.”
[Signed by 117 natives of high respectability.]
[463]This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India cotton being still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3½d.per yard on printed cottons was taken off when the excise duty on English prints was repealed, in 1831. English cottons imported into India only pay a duty of 2½ per cent.
[463]This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India cotton being still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3½d.per yard on printed cottons was taken off when the excise duty on English prints was repealed, in 1831. English cottons imported into India only pay a duty of 2½ per cent.
[463]This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India cotton being still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3½d.per yard on printed cottons was taken off when the excise duty on English prints was repealed, in 1831. English cottons imported into India only pay a duty of 2½ per cent.
Dacca, notwithstanding its present insignificance as compared with its former grandeur, may nevertheless still be classed among second rate cities. It has a population of 150,000 inhabitants, which is nearly a third more than the city of Baltimorecontains. Some new brick dwellings have silently sprung up here and there, it may also be observed, within the last few years; and this city can now boast an Oil Mill driven by steam, and an Iron Suspension Bridge. Three more steam engines are in the course of erection[464]. On the whole, an increase may be looked for, rather than the contrary, in the wealth, population, and importance of the city of Dacca.
[464]Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii.
[464]Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii.
[464]Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii.
It would be curious to compare the gradual decrease of the population, with the falling off of the manufacture of those beautiful cotton fabrics, for which this city was once without a rival in the world[465]. The first falling off in the Dacca trade, took place so far back as 1801, previous to which the yearly advances made by the East India Company, and private traders, for Dacca muslins, were estimated at upwards of twenty-five lacs of rupees[466]. In 1807, the Company s investment had fallen to 595,900, and the private trade to about 560,200. In 1813, the private trade did not exceed 205,950, and that of the Company was scarcely more considerable. And in 1817, the English commercial residency was altogether discontinued. The French and Dutch factories had been abandoned many years before. The division of labor was carried to a great extent in the manufacture of fine muslins. In spinning the very fine thread, more especially, a great degree of skill was attained. It was spun with the fingers on a “Takwa,” or fine steel spindle, by young women, who could only work during the early part of the morning, while the dew was on the ground; for such was the extreme tenuity of the fibre, that it would not bear manipulation after the sun had risen. One retti of cotton could thus be spun into a thread eighty cubits long; which was sold by the spinners at one rupee, eight annas, per sicca weight. The “Raffugars,” orDarners, were also particularly skilful. They couldremove an entire thread from a piece of muslin, andreplace it by one of a finer texture. The cotton used for the finest thread, was grown in the immediate neighborhood of Dacca, more especially about Sunergong. Its fibre is too short, however, to admit of its being worked up by any except that most wonderful of all machines—the human hand. The art of making the very fine muslin fabrics is now lost—and a pity it is that it should be so.
[465]If Providence should continue to bless the work of our hands, and our life and health be preserved, we indulge the hope of being able, at no very distant period, to investigate this subject more fully.[466]Lac of rupeesis one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents each amount to fifty-five thousand dollars, or at 2s.6d.sterling, to £12,500.
[465]If Providence should continue to bless the work of our hands, and our life and health be preserved, we indulge the hope of being able, at no very distant period, to investigate this subject more fully.
[465]If Providence should continue to bless the work of our hands, and our life and health be preserved, we indulge the hope of being able, at no very distant period, to investigate this subject more fully.
[466]Lac of rupeesis one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents each amount to fifty-five thousand dollars, or at 2s.6d.sterling, to £12,500.
[466]Lac of rupeesis one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents each amount to fifty-five thousand dollars, or at 2s.6d.sterling, to £12,500.
In 1820, a resident of Dacca, on a special order received from China, procured the manufacture of two pieces of muslin, each ten yards long by one wide, and weighing ten and a half sicca rupees.—The price of each piece was 100 sicca rupees. In 1822, the same individual received a second commission for two similar pieces, from the same quarter; but the parties who had supplied him on the former occasion had died in the mean time, and he was unable to execute the commission.
The annual investment, called the “Malbus Khás,” for the royal wardrobe at Delhi, absorbed a great part of the finest fabrics in former times: the extreme beauty of some of these muslins, was sufficiently indicated by the names they bore: such as, “Abrowan,” running water; “Siebnem,” evening dew, &c. The cotton manufacture has not yet arrived at anything like this perfection with us, and probably never will.[467]
[467]The manufacture of fine muslin, was attempted both in Lancashire and at Glasgow, about the year 1780, with weft spun by the jenny. The attempt failed, owing to the coarseness of the yarn. Even with Indian weft, muslins could not be made to compete with those of the East. But when the mule was brought into general use, in 1785, both weft and warp were produced sufficiently fine for muslins; and so quickly did the weaver avail himself of the improvement in the yarn, that no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in Great Britain in the year 1787. In a “Report of the Select Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company upon the subject of the Cotton Manufacture of this Country,” made in the year 1793, it is said, that “every shop offers British muslins for sale equal in appearance, and of more elegant patterns than those of India, for one-fourth, or perhaps more than one-third, less in price.” “Muslin began to be made nearly at the same time at Bolton, at Glasgow, and at Paisley, each place adopting the peculiar description of fabric which resembled most those goods it had been accustomed to manufacture; and, in consequence of this judicious distribution at first, each place has continued to maintain a superiority in the production of its own article. Jaconets, both coarse and fine, but of a stout fabric, checked and striped muslins, and other articles of the heavier description of this branch, are manufactured in Bolton, and its neighborhood. Book, mull, and leno muslins, and jaconets of a lighter fabric than those made in Lancashire, are manufactured in Glasgow. Sewed and tambored muslins are almost exclusively made there and in Paisley.”—Encyclopædia Britannica.
[467]The manufacture of fine muslin, was attempted both in Lancashire and at Glasgow, about the year 1780, with weft spun by the jenny. The attempt failed, owing to the coarseness of the yarn. Even with Indian weft, muslins could not be made to compete with those of the East. But when the mule was brought into general use, in 1785, both weft and warp were produced sufficiently fine for muslins; and so quickly did the weaver avail himself of the improvement in the yarn, that no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in Great Britain in the year 1787. In a “Report of the Select Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company upon the subject of the Cotton Manufacture of this Country,” made in the year 1793, it is said, that “every shop offers British muslins for sale equal in appearance, and of more elegant patterns than those of India, for one-fourth, or perhaps more than one-third, less in price.” “Muslin began to be made nearly at the same time at Bolton, at Glasgow, and at Paisley, each place adopting the peculiar description of fabric which resembled most those goods it had been accustomed to manufacture; and, in consequence of this judicious distribution at first, each place has continued to maintain a superiority in the production of its own article. Jaconets, both coarse and fine, but of a stout fabric, checked and striped muslins, and other articles of the heavier description of this branch, are manufactured in Bolton, and its neighborhood. Book, mull, and leno muslins, and jaconets of a lighter fabric than those made in Lancashire, are manufactured in Glasgow. Sewed and tambored muslins are almost exclusively made there and in Paisley.”—Encyclopædia Britannica.
[467]The manufacture of fine muslin, was attempted both in Lancashire and at Glasgow, about the year 1780, with weft spun by the jenny. The attempt failed, owing to the coarseness of the yarn. Even with Indian weft, muslins could not be made to compete with those of the East. But when the mule was brought into general use, in 1785, both weft and warp were produced sufficiently fine for muslins; and so quickly did the weaver avail himself of the improvement in the yarn, that no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in Great Britain in the year 1787. In a “Report of the Select Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company upon the subject of the Cotton Manufacture of this Country,” made in the year 1793, it is said, that “every shop offers British muslins for sale equal in appearance, and of more elegant patterns than those of India, for one-fourth, or perhaps more than one-third, less in price.” “Muslin began to be made nearly at the same time at Bolton, at Glasgow, and at Paisley, each place adopting the peculiar description of fabric which resembled most those goods it had been accustomed to manufacture; and, in consequence of this judicious distribution at first, each place has continued to maintain a superiority in the production of its own article. Jaconets, both coarse and fine, but of a stout fabric, checked and striped muslins, and other articles of the heavier description of this branch, are manufactured in Bolton, and its neighborhood. Book, mull, and leno muslins, and jaconets of a lighter fabric than those made in Lancashire, are manufactured in Glasgow. Sewed and tambored muslins are almost exclusively made there and in Paisley.”—Encyclopædia Britannica.
Coarse cotton piece goods still continue to be manufactured at Dacca, though from the extreme cheapness of English cloths, it is not improbable that the native manufacture will be altogether superseded ere long.
In 1823-4, cotton piece goods, mostly coarse, passed the Dacca Custom House, to the value of 1,442,101. In 1829-30, the value of the same export was 969,952 only. There was a similar falling off insilkandembroideredgoods during the same period.
In the export of the articles of cotton yarn again, there has been an increase. In 1813, the value was 4,480 rupees only; whereas in 1821-22, it amounted to 39,319 rupees. From that period it has, however, decreased; and in 1829-30, the value of the native cotton yarn exported from Dacca, amounted to 29,475 rupees only.
Annexed are two statements—one showing the comparative prices of muslins now manufactured at Dacca, and of the same description of cloth, the produce of British looms.—The other, the comparative prices of Dacca cloths, manufactured from yarn spun in the country, and from British cotton yarn. These cannot fail to be interesting at the present moment, and their general accuracy may be relied on.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF DACCA CLOTHS, MANUFACTURED WITH COTTON YARN SPUN IN THE COUNTRY, AND FROM BRITISH COTTON YARN.
The manufacture of cotton, as we have seen, was general in India and had attained high excellence in the age of the first Greek historian,that is, in the fifth century before Christ, atwhich time it had already existed for an unknown period; yet eighteen centuries more elapsed before it was introduced into Italy or Constantinople, or even secured a footing in the neighboring empire of China. Though so well suited to hot climates, we have seen that cottons were known rather as a curiosity than as a common article of dress in Egypt and Persia, five centuries after the Greeks had heard of the “wool-bearing trees” of India: in Egypt, as has been shown, the manufacture never reached any considerable degree of excellence, and the muslins worn by the higher classes have always been imported from India[468]. In Spain the manufacture, after flourishing to some degree, became nearly extinct. In Italy, Germany, and Flanders, it had also a lingering and ignoble existence.
[468]In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually into use; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories subdued by their arms. “It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn intwelveplaces; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff.”—Crichton’s History of Arabia,vol.i.pp.397, 403.
[468]In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually into use; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories subdued by their arms. “It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn intwelveplaces; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff.”—Crichton’s History of Arabia,vol.i.pp.397, 403.
[468]In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually into use; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories subdued by their arms. “It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn intwelveplaces; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff.”—Crichton’s History of Arabia,vol.i.pp.397, 403.