Glasgow

GLASGOW. The Encyclopedia contains an sic. count of the city of Glasgow, and of its various es tablishments; but, since that article was written, this city has made a great advance in wealth and population; and we propose to lay before our readers a short view of this progress, and of the change which has taken place in its manufactures, com merce, and public institutions. from that time.

The cotton manufacture, now the great staple of Glasgow, was, at the period we allude to, in its in fancy. The inventions and improvements in the processes of cotton-spinning which Hargreaves, Ark wrigbt, Crompton, and Kelly, had, a short time be fore, successively brought forward, had furnished the means of producing, in Britain, the cotton goods which till then had been exclusively supplied by In dia. The people of Glasgow had found the mann facturing of these articles very profitable ; and, about the year 1786, had begun to abandon the manufac ture of carabrics, lawns, gauzes, and the other light fabrics of linen, which had grown up there in the course of the century ; and, before the year 1792, the making of these goods had been nearly super seded by the manufacture of cotton.

We shall not here ester

into a detail of the unpre cedented rapidity of the growth of this new branch of trade, the particWars of which, with an account of the different descriptions of cotton goods which are pro duced at Glasgow, have been given at length in another part of this work. (See the article COTTON MA NINA Oa Tuna.) But to mark,in some degree, its extraordinary progress in this city, we may mention, that, at the pe riod of its commencement, the annual value of the whole manufactures of Glasgow was not estimated at above L.800,000 ; and, in the year 1818, about tbir ty.two years after its introduction, it was computed that 105,000,000 yards of cotton cloth, valued at L.5,200,000, were manufactured in Glasgow, and be. tween 13,000,000 and 14,000,000 pounds of cotton wool used in their production.

In the spinning department of this manufacture, there are now fifty-four mills employed, containing nearly 600,000 spindles ; and the capital invested in the buildings and machinery, for carrying on this branch, is estimated at above L.1,000,000 Sterling. For weaving the yarn, there are 2800 looms, moved by mechanical power, producing weekly about 8400 pieces of cloth ; and there are, as nearly as can be as certained, 32,000 band-looms.

The calico printing business, begun here about the year 1742, stands next is importance to the cot ton manufacture. There are eighteen calico printing works belonging to Glasgow, some of them of great extent ; but there has not, for some time, been the same amount of business carried on by these con cerns as was formerly the case; owing partly to the change which has taken place in the dress of the this part of the country increased, and with these the means of consuming West India commodities, traffic which the merchants of Glasgow carried on with the planters increased also The war of 1793 having given to Britain the co.

lonies of the other European states, and, for a time, the exclusive access to the markets in which their products were to be sold, the merchants of Glasgow availed themselves of their favourable situation for carrying on this trade, and got possession of a large share of the business. In this commerce consider able fortunes were made, and Glasgow having be come a more known and established medium for sup plying West India commodities to the Continent, an extension ofher general West India trade has been the effect. This will probably continue after the mo nopoly from the temporary possession of the foreign colonies has been done away. The imports of West India products into the Clyde, for the years 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1819, were as follows:.

Soon after Parliament had laid open the trade to the countries lying to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, Glasgow entered largely into the business. This new branch, when freed, as it must soon be, from every remaining restriction, promises to be one of the most important we have ever possessed. It is impossible, indeed, to form even a conjecture of what may be the results to our commerce, and the spring to our industry, from a free intercourse with the countries lying around the Indian seas-rich in na tural productions and works of art, and containing a population of more than four hundred millions. Al. ready we have found in these countries a growing sale for our manufactures, and, what is most extraor dinary, for our muslins and other cotton goods. Such is the power of our mechanical contrivances, it would appear, that we are enabled to bring the cotton wool from India, to work it up here, and sell the cloth again in that country,. at a price below that at which the natives, with all the advantages of cheap labour, and unexampled manual skill, can produce it The foreign commerce of Glasgow for the lasbfew years has suffered, no than her manufactures, from the want of market, and proceeding from the same cause-the disability of the country to purchase and consume the commodities imported.