Towards the end of the year 1767, it was determined, that all future court mournings should be shortened to one half of the time which had been usually observed. This was considered particular ly beneficial to the silk manufacture, and the Weavers' Company presented an ad dress to his Majesty on the occasion,in which they assured him that his benevo lent resolution would " greatly promote the silk manufactures of this kingdom, Five great spirit to the trade, tend to the improvement of it in many branches, and be the means of giving constant employ ment to the workmen, many of whom, owing to the late mournings, have been out of employ, and in want of bread." They also expressed their obligations to the Queen and the rest of the royal fa mily, for their patronage and encourage ment of the silk manufacture. An ad dress was likewise presented on the same occasion, signed by all the principal mer chants, manufacturers and others con nected with the silk trade.
The journeymen weavers, probably, supposing that, by their combination and riotous proceedings a few years before, they had obtained the exclusion of fo reign silks, now adopted the same mode for obtaining an advance in the prices paid for workmanship, which being resist ed by their employers, the men proceed ed to the moat disgraceful acts of violence and atrocity, associating together under the name of cutters, and going about in parties at night, disguised and armed with pistols, cutlasses, and other weapons ; breaking into the houses of those work men who did not join them, but fol lowed their employ u usual, and Gutting to pieces and destroying all the silk they found in the looms of such workmen. The value of the silks thus destroyed was very considerable ; and, in some instances, they ill-treated or mur dered those whom they found at work. Several were brought to justice ; but it was a considerable time before this law less disposition entirely subsided. In a dispute between masters and workmen, respecting pay, the opposite interests of the parties must always render it difficult to come to an amickble adjustment, and, after various attempts in this instance, an act was passed in 1773, to authorize the magistrates of the cities of London and Westminster, the county rof Middlesex, and the liberty of the Tower, to settle the pay of the workmen in the different branches of this manufacture, in their re spective districts.
On the extension of the war in 1779. much inconvenience was experienced from the want of a sufficient supply of Italian thrown silk, caused in a great measure by an act of 2 William and Ma by which the importation of Italian thrown wn silk was prohibited, unless im ported according to the Navigation Act, and directly by sea, from some of the ports of the country of its growth or pro duction : this regulation was therefore now suspended, and organzine silk, of the growth or production of Italy, was permitted to be imported from any port or place, or in any ships or vessels what soever. In consequence of this permis sion, the silks of Italy were brought to England by a circuitous route over land, and imported from Ostend and other ports of Flanders, till the peace. At a period of the war, when the falling.off of the silk trade was very considerable, Mr. John Callaway, of Canterbury, fortunate ly introduced a new article, which afford ed employment to many hands. It was called Canterbury muslin, by which name it is still known, and many elegant varie ties having been produced : it gives em ployment to many hundred persons in London and elsewhere.
As the prohibition of the importation of foreign manufactured silks did not ex tend to Italian crapes and tiffanies, which were permitted to be imported under a heavy duty, it was thought proper, in 1791, in consequence of improvements in the manufacture of these articles, to restrict this permission, by prohibiting the importation of silk crapes and tiffa nies, of the manufacture of Italy, unless brought directly from thence, and by dig continuing the allowance of drawback on exportation.
The continual frauds committed by the different classes of persons employed in this manufacture, by purloining part of the silk entrusted to them, and resorting to various expedients for increasing the weight of the remainder, which frequent ly rendered the part stolen but a small part of their employer's loss ; and the difficulty of convicting the persons who encouraged these practices by purchas ing the stolen silk, caused an act to be passed in 1792, by which, persons buying or receiving, in any manner, silk, from those employed to work it up, knowing them to be so employed, and not having the consent of the employer, are liable to punishment by fine, imprisonment, or whipping, although no proof should be given upon the trial, to whom the silk actually belonged.
In the year 1793, this manufacture was affected more, perhaps, than any other, by the general commercial distress which then prevailed. The merchants, and par ticularly the East India Company, had large quantities of silk in their ware houses and the manufacturers were over stocked with goods, which brought the trade into a state of almost complete stag. nation, by which most of the workmen en gaged in it were thrown out of employ, and experienced great distress. A public subscription was opened for their relief, and very liberally supported, from which the unemployed workmen and their fa milies were supplied with bread ; and when, from the approach of winter, their necessities increased, their relief was ex tended to other essential articles. By the report of the committee who superintend ed the distribution, it appeared that there were given away 795 cluddrons of coals, 583 parr of blankets, and in bread 121,741 quartern loaves. It was considered as a moderate computation, that 5,000 persons were totally unemployed, and that 5,000 more were only about half employed.
In the course of the succeeding three or four years, the manufacture recovered its usual activity, and in the year 1798 was in a more flourishing situation than it had been in for several years previous. In the following year, the revival of vel vets, as an article of female dress, proved very favourable to the workmen, as it ren dered the employment of a greater num ber of hands necessary ; and in 1800, few persons in this line were out of employ, although the trade was somewhat check ed by a considerable advance in the prices. of raw and thrown silks.
The annual quantity imported on an average of the above years, is 1,251,629 pounds, from which deducting 79,2u6 pounds, the average quantity of raw and thrown silk imported during the above period, it leaves 1,172,423 pounds for the quantity consumed in the manufacture.— Hence it appears, that the total annual value of this manufacture must be about 3,5 )0,000/. of which but a small propor tion is destined for exportation, the total annual value exported being about 700,000/.; more than half of which goes to America. During the year 1808, the exportation to America was suspended, and at the same time the interruption of commercial intercourse with the continent gif Europe stopped, for a considerable time, the usual supply of silk from Italy ; from which circumstances, the manufac ture was brought into a very unprece dented situation, silk being sold in Lon don at prices far greater than had ever been given before, while many of the masters were obliged to discharge the principal part of their workmen, from the demand for silk goods having, for a time, almost entirely ceased. These tempora ry embarrassments all manufacturers are liable to, particularly such as, like this, depend on other countries for their mate rials.