ma.
In the early part of last century, this im port did not exceed.
. 1,000,000 It increased very slowly, for, on an ave rage of five years, ending with 1776, it was not quite . . . 1,600,000 But in the five years ending 1787, it was nearly . . 2,000,000 . .
In the five years from 1787 to 1792, it .
tical causes, it has considerably increas ed, and now averages nearly . 6,000,000 Our cotton manufacture is entitled to the greatest attention on different accounts. Of all our tures, it affords the largest export, and exhibits the most rapid improvements in machinery. Its intro- duction, though not remote, is less recent than is commonly supposed. It appears to have taken place about two centuries ago, when it was established at Manchester; but it was long conducted on a very limited scale. The raw material, imported at first only from the Levant, in particular from Smyrna, began, after 1660, to be supplied by our West India The quantity imported amounted, about the year 1700, to 8500 bales ; but, increasing with the extended cultivation of our colonies, it averaged, about the year 1720, something more than 7000 bales. From the colonial conquests of the war of 1756, our import of cotton received a farther aug. mentation ; but the manufacture increased very slow.
a great part of our cotton being re-exported to Holland, for the supply of Dutch and German wea vers. It was not till after the peace of 1763, and the invention, first of a carding machine, and next of thespinning jenny, that this manufacture became considerably extended. In 1775, the average im port of cotton approached to 18,000 bales. A varie. ty of improvements, explained in our article on COT TON MANIITACTURE (pp. 396, 897), now took place, and increased the average import of the raw mate rial, in 1781, to 25,000 bales. Fine calicoes and muslin were now introduced ; the workmen were withdrawn from their detached dwellings, and col lected into large factories; and the price of the finished article experienced a reduction, notwith standing a rise in the raw material, and the wages of labour. The period that followed the peace of 1783 is perhaps unexampled in the history of human in dustry, for the rapidity of discovery, the reduction of price, and the extension of sale that took place in regard to cotton goods. The unexpected com mencement of hostilities in 1793 gave this branch of our industry a severe shock, but the improve.
meats in machinery continuing, the cotton manu factures soon recovered, and increased beyond ex pectation ; requiring a progressive and large aug mentation of the import of the raw material, as ap pears by the following table: Bales or Pack ago of275 . each.
Of these 'awe imports, a very small part came from the Levant, our original source of supply; our West India colonies contributed more ; the - East Indies sent at times large, at other times insignifi emit shipments; Brazil was more regular; but the grand supply was from the United States, where, in the southern provinces of Carolina and Georgia, the culture of cotton has been rapidly extended since 1790. Of the cotton now imported into Britain, a very small part, at present not more than a twen tieth, is sent out unmanufactured; a large propor tion (from an eighth to a tenth) is manufactured in Scotland; the residue is all worked up in England. The total value of the cotton manufacture of Britain (cloth and yarn) is computed at somewhat more than L..50,000,000 Sterling.
The rapid rise in the general price of commo dities, in the present age, has induced many to consider enhancement as the unavoidable conse quence of extended commerce, and to question the accuracy of Dr Smith's opinion, that the diffusion of productive industry has a tendency to cheapen pro duce, but never was there a more satisfactory con firm:don of the arguments of Dr Smith than in the progress of the cotton manufacture. The price paid for spinning a pound of cotton thread, which, in 1786, amounted to 10s. was reduced proi=vely to 8s., 6s. 8d., 4s., Se. and 2s. 6d., not by ning the gains of the workmen, but by a series of inven tions for abridging labour; until the great improve ments after 1795 led to a reduction of the spinning price to 8d. per lb., at which it has since eoutinued. In like manner, the sale price of cotton yarn has pro gressively decreased, notwithstanding the rise in the raw materiaL Price per lb. of Cotton Yarn. (No. 100.) Years. Price. Years. Prise.