In addition to these proofs of the very great supply and consumption of coal, the following miscellaneous facts may be stated : The quantity of coals raised year ly in Northumberland and Durham, is estimated by Mr Bailey at 1,000,000 chaldrons, Newcastle measure, (which contains 68 Winchester bushel, and weighs 53 cwt.) and he supposes that in those counties there are 200 square miles, or 128,000 acres of coal proper for exportation. In the year 1800, a committee was appointed by Parliament to inquire into the state of the inland coal trade ; and from the evidence adduced, it was proved that in the neighbourhood of Dudley, very thick and rich seams of coal were wrought ; that at Swansea, upwards of 300 vessels were annually em ployed in the trade, besides that the copper works there consumed from 1500 to 2000 tons per week ; that in Leicestershire, there are many beds of coal very im perfectly and partially wrought ; that a supply of coal to the amount of between 50,000 and 100,000 tons might be brought from Newport in Wales to London annually ; and that not less than from 150,000 to 200,000 acres of coal arc found in the neighbourhood of Leeds, Wakefield, &c. Besides our own consumption, it is calculated, that in time of peace, nearly 150,000 New castle chaldrons of coals are exported, principally to Holland, Hamburgh, the Baltic, Spain, and Portugal ; and that between 300,000 and 400,000 chaldrons (Win ton measure) are sent from Whitehaven, Workington, Sz.c. in Cumberland.
The number of people employed, either directly or indirectly, in the coal trade, must also be very great : In 1792, it was calculated, that on the rivers Tyne and Wear, there were 64,724 men and boys employed : it has also been estimated, on tolerably good data, that in Durham and Northumberland, the proportion of men is as 10,650 to 1,480.080 chaldrons of coals :—in both these estimates, however, it is proper to remark, that the seamen who navigate the colliers are taken into the account. .
It appears that the iron mines of this country were wrought at a very early period, since iron works are known to have existed in the Forest of Dean, in Glou cestershire, before the year 1066. In 1581, in conse quence of the great consumption of wood which they occasioned, they were restrained by act of Parliament. In 1624, a patent for smelting iron with pit coal was ex empted from the law against monopolies: but the use of wood for this purpose seems still to have continued ; for in 1719, complaints were made that the waste and de struction of the woods in the counties of Warwick, Staf ford, Worcester, Hereford, Monmouth, Gloucester, and Salop, by the iron works, was not to be imagined. At this period, about 20,000 tons of iron were annually im ported into England from abroad ; and subsequently, when our manufactures increased, and before our own mines were probably wrought, the importation was still greater. In 1737, it was computed that England made annually at home about 18,000 tons of bar iron, which, at the rate of three tons of pig iron for one of bar iron, would give 54,000 tons as the produce of our mines. In 1785, a method was invented of converting pig iron into bar iron, superior to the Swedish bar iron; by which improvement it was given in evidence before the House of Commons, in the year 1812, when application was made for a parliamentary reward for the invention, that whereas, about 30 years belo•e, the importation of fo reign iron averaged about 50,000 tons, in 1810 it was reduced to 20,500 tons ; and that our export of iron, which at the former period was only a few hundred weights, in 1810 amounted to 24,500 tons. From other documents laid before Parliament, it was ascertained, that our average import of foreign iron (principally bar iron) from 1800 to 1805, was 38,218 tjtis, of which 4590? were exported, leaving 33,628 tons for home consump tion; and that the average of British unmanufactured iron exported from 1800 to 1805, was of bar iioi 91,797 cwt., and of pig iron 40,186 cwt.: the increase between the beginning and end of that period was considerable, since in 1800 there was exported only 56,892 cwt. of bar iron, and 32,207 of pig iron; whereas, in 1805, there was exported of the former, 131,896 cwt., and of the lat ter 65,520. The average real value of pig iron export
ed from 1796 to 1805, was upwards of 14,0001. ; and of bar iron, upwards of 92,000. At present, the iron mines of England are supposed to supply ore sufficient to pro duce considerably upwards of 150,000 tons of pig iron: 10,300 tons of which are made in Derbyshire, the re mainder in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Lan cashire, Monmouthshire, &c. In the last county, there are nine furnaces, each of which makes about 2000 tons of pig iron yearly. At Myrthyr Tydvel, also, in Glamor ganshire, there are furnaces for making pig iron, which produce 250 tons weekly, and consume 240 tons of coals daily.* Copper mines were first wrought in England in the year 1189 : in 1561, mines of this metal were discover ed in Cumberland ; and in 1622, they were wrought in several counties. In 1690, copper was discovered in Wales, but it would appear, that during all this period, little attention was bestowed on working any of these mines ; nor was it before the commencement of the 17th century that the valuable copper mines of Cornwall were properly and effectually wrought; and in a few years, the quantity produced had attained to a consider able amount. From 1726 to 1735, there was produced 64.800 tons of ore, which afforded the annual quantity of about 700 tons of fine copper. From 1736 to 1745, the ore amounted to 75,520 tons, producing 830 tons of fine copper. From 1746 to 1755, the produce of the former was 98,790, and of the latter 1080. From 1756 to 1765, 169,699 tons of the former, and 1800 tons of the latter : and from 1766 to 1775, 264,273 tons of the for mer, and 2650 of the latter ;—thus exhibiting an increase in the produce of copper in 50 years, from 700 tons per annum, to 2650. About the year 1773, new copper mines were discovered in Derbyshire, which circum stance, added to the discovery of the famous copper mine in Anglesey, forms an important era in the history of this branch of English mining. As long as this lat ter mine continued productive, it furnished from 5000 to 10,000 tons per quarter, exclusively of what was obtain ed from the Mona mine, which probably was nearly as much; both together employing 1200 miners, and 90 smelters. But both the Parys and the Mona mines have for some years produced comparatively little copper ore. In the mean time, the Cornish and Derbyshire ores were wrought with great spirit and success; so that the pro duce of them, and of the other mines in England and • Wales, about the year 1791, had rendered this country one of the principal sources from which the world was supplied with this useful metal, instead of her depend ing, as formerly, upon foreign mines for a supply of it. It has already been shewn, that the Cornish mines in 1775, produced about 2650 tons a year in 1798, the produce had increased to 5427 tons. At this time, the average annual cost of working them amounted to 313.5891., of which the labour was 197,640, and the ma terials employed about 115,950: the number of men em ployed was about 5000, or perhaps nearer 6000. With in a very few years afterwards, the copper mines of Devonshire began to be wrought with spirit and suc cess: in 1800 they (lid not produce more than 100 tons of fine copper : in 1804, the produce had increased to 300 tons. In 1805, owing to great exertions made in consequence of the high price of copper, the returns of the Cornish and Devon mines reached to 7000 tons of fine copper, producing the sum of 1,260,0001. At pre sent, according to Mr Grenfel's Observations on the cop per Coinage, the Cornish and Devon mines yield 80,000 tons of ore annually ; and the metal thus obtained being on an average from 5 to 15 in the 100th part, may be stated at 8000 tons of copper : almost all the ore is smelt ted in Wales. The consequence of this great increase in the produce of our own mines, notwithstanding the increased demand for copper, was visible in the diminu tion of our importation of this metal from Foreign coun tries. In 1806, we imported, chiefly of copper ore, 53,600 cwt.: in 1807, upwards of 96,000 : in 1808, 91,000 : in 1809, 49,000 : in 1810, 50,000: and in 1811, only 20,000 ; -the ore itself having fallen from 73,800 cwt. which it was in 1807, to about 7000 cwt. in 1810.