all thofe who are either unacquainted with the woollen trade, or who have not made particular inquiries. It is, however, fo perfectly falfe, that English wool is in any respect neceffary for the making of fine cloth, that it is altogether unfit for it. Fine cloth is made altogether of Spanish wool. English wool cannot be even fo mixed with Spanish wool as to enter into the compofition without spoiling and degrading, in some degree, the fabric of the cloth. The effect of thefe regulations has been to deprefs the price of English wool, not only below what it naturally would be in the prefent times, but very much below what it actually was in the time of Edward III. The price of Scots wool, when in confequence of the union it became fubject to the fame regulations, is faid to have fallen about one half. It is obferved by the very accurate and intelligent author of the Memoirs of Wool, the reverend Mr. John Smith, that the price of the best English wool in England is generally below what wool of a very inferior quality commonly feils for in the market at Amsterdam. To deprefs the price of this commodity below what may be called its natural and proper price, was the avowed purpose of thofe regulations; and there feems to be no doubt of their having produced the effect that was expected from them. This reduction of price, it may perhaps be thought, by difcouraging the growing of wool, muft have reduced very much the annual produce of that commodity, though not below what it formerly was, yet below what, in the prefent ftate of things, it would probably have been, had it, in confequence of an open and free market, been allowed to rife to the natural and proper price. I am, however, difpofed to believe, that the quantity of the annual produce cannot have been much, though it may perhaps have been a little affected by thefe regulations. The growing of wool is not the chief purpofe for which the fheep farmer employs his industry and ftock. He expects his profit, not fo much from the price of the fleece, as from that of the carcafe; and the average or ordinary price of the former. Whatever regulations tend to fink the price, cither of wool or of raw hides, below what it naturally would be, muft, in an improved and cultivated country, have fome tendency to raise the price of butchers' meat. The price both of the great and fmall cattle, which are fed on improved and cultivated land, muft be fufficient to pay the rent which the landlord, and the profit which the farmer has reafon to expect from improved and cultivated land. If it is not, they will foon ceafe to feed them. Whatever part of this price, therefore, is not paid by the wool and the hide, must be paid by the carcafe. The lefs there is paid for the one the more must be paid for the other. In what manner this price is to be divided upon the different parts of

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the beaft, is indifferent to the landlords and farmers, provided it is all paid to them. In an improved and cultivated country, therefore, their intereft as landlords and farmers cannot be much affected by fuch regulations, though their interefts as confumers may, by the rife in the price of provifions. According to this reafoning, therefore, this degradation in the price of wool is not likely, in an improved and cultivated country, to occafion any diminution in the annual produce of that commodity, except fo far as, by railing the price of mutton, it may foniewhat diminish the demand for, and confequently the production of, that particular fpecies of butchers' meat. Its effect, however, even in this way, it is probable, is not very confiderable. But though its effect upon the quantity of the annual produce may not have been very confiderable, its effect upon the quality, it may perhaps be thought, muft neceffarily have been very great. The degradation in the quality of English wool, if not below what it was in former times, yet below what it naturally would have been in the prefent ftate of improvement and cultivation, muft have been, it may perhaps be fuppofed, very nearly in proportion to the degradation of price. As the quality depends upon the breed, upon the pasture, and upon the management and cleanlinefs of the fheep, during the whole progrefs of the growth of the fleece, the attention to thefe circumitances, it may naturally enough be imagined, can never be greater than in proportion to the recompence which the price of the fleece is likely to make for the labour and expense which that attention requires. It happens, however, that the goodness of the fleece depends, in a great meafure, upon the health, growth, and bulk of the animal; the fame attention which is neceffary for the improvement of the carcafe is, in fome refpects, fufficient for that of the fleece. Notwithstanding the degradation of price, English wool is faid to have been improved confiderably during the courfe even of the prefent century. The improvement might perhaps have been greater if the price had been better; but the lowness of price, though it may have obstructed, yet certainly it has not altogether prevented that improvement. The violence of thefe regulations, therefore, feems to have affected neither the quantity nor the quality of the annual produce of wool fo much as it might have been expeccd to do (though I think it probable that it may have affected the latter a good deal more than the former); and the intereft of the growers of wool, though it must have been hurt in fome degree, feems, upon the whole, to have been much lefs hurt than could well have been imagined. Thefe confiderations, however, will not judy the abfolute prohibition of the exportation of wool. But they will fully justify the impofition of a confider

able tax upon that exportation. To hurt in any degree the intereft of any one order of citizens, for no other purpose but to promote that of fome other, is evidently contrary to that juftice and equality of treatment which the fovereign owes to all the different orders of his fubjects. But the prohibition certainly hurts, in fome degree, the intereft of the growers of wool, for no other purpofe but to promote that of the manufacturers. Every different order of citizens is bound to contribute to the fupport of the fovereign or commonwealth. A tax of five, or even of ten fhillings upon the exportation of every tod of wool, would produce a very confiderable revenue to the fovereign. It would hurt the interefts of the growers fomewhat lefs than the prohibition, because it would not probably lower the price of wool quite fo much. It would afford a fufficient advantage to the manufacturer, because, though he might not buy his wool altogether fo cheap as under the prohibition, he would ftill buy it at least five or ten fhillings cheaper than any foreign manufacturer could buy it, befides faving the freight and infurance, which the other would be obliged to pay. It is fcarcely poffible to devife a tax which could produce any confiderable revenue to the fovereign, and at the fame time occafion fo little inconveniency to any body. The prohibition, notwithftanding all the penalties which guard it, does not prevent the exportation of wool. It is exported, it is well known, in great quantities. The great difference between the price in the home, and that in the foreign market, prefents fuch a temptation to Imuggling, that all the rigour of the law cannot prevent it. This illegal exportation is advantageous to nobody but the fmuggler. A legal exportation, subject to a tax, by affording a revenue to the fovereign, and thereby faving the impofition of fome other, perhaps, more burdenfome and inconvenient taxes, might prove advantageous to all the different fubjects of the

ftate.

COTTON. The manufacture of cotton, formerly of little account, is now among the moft productive articles brought into ufe by the ingenuity and industry of British artifts. The great advantages gained by Great Britain in this particular are owing to the machinery employed, refpecting which, the following details are afforded by Mr. Macpherson. In the early part of the eighteenth century, an engine for fpinning cotton was invented by Mr. Paul, with the affiftance of fome others in London, who having obtained a patent, made trial of it at Nottingham and elsewhere, to the great lofs of all concerned. Other fchemes for fpinning cotton by machinery have fince been tried, and proved equally abortive. About the year 1767 the discovery of this great defideratum in n.echanics and manufacture was VOL. III. attempted

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attempted by three different perfons. The first, I believe, was Mr. Hargrave, of Blackwell in Lancashire, who conftructed an engine capable of fpinning 20 or 30 threads of cotton yarn fit for fuftians; but his machinery being deftroyed by popular tumult, he removed to Nottingham, where his patent right was overthrown by an affociation formed against him, and he died in want. Mr. Hayes invented a spinning engine and cylindrical carding engines, but never brought them to perfection. Mr. Arkwright, for whom the accomplishment of this great object was referved, after many experiments, finished his first engine in the year 1768; and in the following year he took out a patent. He still, however, continued to ftudy new improvements upon his invention; and in the year 1775, having brought his original machinery to a greater degree of perfection, and having alfo invented machines for preparing the cotton for fpinning, he obtained a fresh patent for his new invention. Hitherto he and his partners had reaped no profits from the undertaking; but now, proper buildings being erected, at the expense of 30,000! and the machinery being made capable to be put in motion by the ftrength of cattle, water, fteam, or any other regular moving power, it began, notwithstanding fome loffes from riots, excited by envy or ignorant apprehenfion, to be productive to the proprietors, and an object of great importance to the whole

nation.

Manufacturers and other men of property now wished to participate the benefit of Arkwright's invention; and several spinning mills were foon erected in various parts of the country, the proprietors of which contracted to pay him a certain annual rent for every fpindle contained in their machinery. Several spinning mills, established in Lancashire, the west part of Scotland, and elsewhere, together with the general ufe of the jennies (engines for spinning the woof or weft), produced fuch an abridgment of labour, and improvement in the fabric, the yarn being fpun upon truer principles than if done by the hand, that the prices of the goods were much reduced, and confequently the British manufactures of cotton goods of all kinds were greatly extended; and many thousands of people, including women and children of both fexes, were now inftructed in various operations of the bufinefs.

In the years 1782 and 1783 Mr. Arkwright petitioned the house of commons, in confideration of the great loffes and expenses incurred before his invention had begun to bring him any emolument, during which term his patent was running out, to extend the duration of his exclufive privilege for the original machinery, so as it might expire along with the term granted by his fecond patent. But the object being now of such mag

nitude and established importance, counter petitions came in from all quarters; and he was moreover attacked upon points of law, his antagonists alleging, that he was not the inventor of the preparing machine; in answer to which Mr. Arkwright argued that a pirate, who ftole the invention from another, would have appeared at once with his machinery in a perfect state; whereas it was well known, that he was many years employed in experiments, before he brought it to the degree of perfection it had now attained. After long litigation the cause was determined in the Court of Common Pleas (18th February 1785) in favour of Mr. Arkwright, and in the Court of King's Bench (27th June 1785) against him. And as his first patent expired about the fame time, the bufinefs became open to all.

It is proper to obferve, that at least four spinning mills were already erected in Ireland; and two were established near Rou en in France under the able direction of Mr. Holker, an English manufacturer, who, with his partners, was patronifed and affifted by the government. It was not long before Arkwright's machinery was even tranfported across the Atlantic, and a Spinning mill erected in Philadelphia.

Mr. Arkwright continued the business after he was deprived of the monopoly, and, probably, with fome advantages over his competitors, derived from his experience and established plan of conducting the bufinefs. If he made a great fortune, he certainly deserved it: for the advantages he conferred upon the nation were infinitely greater than thofe he acquired for himself, and far more folid and durable than a hundred conquefts. Inftead of depriving the working poor of employment by his great abridgment of labour, that very abridgment has created a vaft deal of employment for more hands than were formerly employed: and it was computed, that half a million of people. were this year employed in the cotton manufactures of Lancafhire, Cheshire, Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester. That computation was perhaps exaggerated: but the numbers must have been very great, as we find by the report of the committee of the house of commons this fame year on the business of the commercial intercourse with Ireland, that 6800 were employed by Mr. Peele, several thousands by Mr. Smith, and numbers proportionally great by other manufacturers of cotton. How many more, may we fuppofe, are now fupported by the cotton manufacture in its vaftly extended ftate? For that extension Great Britain is indebted to the ingenuity and perfevering patience of an originally obfcure individual. And it is but juftice to the memory of Sir Richard Arkwright to say, that he was

*

He was knighted in the year 1786, and died at his feat in Derbyshire in 1792.

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