In 1795, Chorley was already known for its cotton factories and its bleaching and printing grounds ; and this favourite and flourishing trade had established itself at Wigan, notwithstanding the opposition of its original and celebrated manufacture of checks. But no place in the vicinity of Manchester perhaps exhibited, though on a small scale, such a picture of the extension of is trade, as a small village in the parish of Leigh. In 1780, there were only two farm houses, and eight or nine cot ; in the year 1795, there were 142 houses, and 976 inhabitants, who employed 325 looms in the cotton ma nufactures, as marseilles quiltings, dimities, corduroys, &c. and this rapid increase had by no means reached its utmost limits. At Warrington, Dr Aikin remarks, there had been a curious alternate reverse in the state of the staple manufacture of the place,—sail-cloth, and the manufacture of cotton. After the termination of the American war, the demand for the former necessarily ceasing in a great degree, several of the manufacturers introduced the cotton branches ; and as the cotton goods made were principally of the coarse kind, the sail-cloth weavers found no difficulty in turning themselves to the new manufacture; but when the French war broke o14, the demand for sail-cloth again becoming extensive and pressing, the original trade regained its footing.
The cotton manufacture, which, as we have seen, had its original scat at Bolton, and thence extended itself not only some way into the north of Lancashire, but also to its southern extremity, passed easily from the last in to Cheshire. The place where it seems first to have fixed itself, was Stockport ; and it is not improbable that the circumstance of there being here mills for winding and throwing silk, which were unemployed, by a decline of this trade, contributed to establish the cotton manu facture at Stockport ; for there mills were applied to cot ton spinning. Perhaps no town in the whole cotton dis trict of England exhibits more of the active and enter prising spirit of trade than Stockport : at first the inha bitants engaged in the spinning of reeled weft, then in weaving checks, and lastly in fustians; and scarcely had the invention of mules produced a thread sufficiently fine and soft, than they began the muslin trade, which in 1795 was as flourishing as the circumstances of the times would admit of;—the present state of the latter trade in this town, we shall afterwards notice. In 1795, besides a large number of cotton-spinning shops, there were 23 large cotton factories, four of which were worked by steam engines. At this period the cotton trade had been introduced into several other places in Cheshire adjoin ing to Lancashire, among the rest into Macclesfield, Mottram, where there were 12 large machines worked by water, besides a great number of smaller ones turned by horses,—and Duckinfield. In this last place, the pernicious effects of the cotton factories on the health and longevity of the inhabitants, were particularly stri king; while the trade had afforded employment to all ages, it had debilitated the constitution, and retarded the growth of many, and made an alarming increase in the mortality. This effect was principally attributed to the custom of making the children in the mills work night and clay, one set getting out of bed when another went into the same; thus never allowing the rooms to be well ventilated. Before the conclude this sketch of the state of the cotton trade in Cheshire in 1795, we shall mention one decided and striking proof of its rapid advancement ; in 1788, as we have already seen, there were only eight water-mills in the whole county ; in 1795, in Stockport alone, there were 23 large cotton factories, besides a great number of spinning shops.
Derbyshire also, at the latter period, had entered pret ty considerably into the cotton trade, not only in and near the county town, but also at Glossop, Chaple-le-Frith, Bakewell parish, (into part of which the manufacture of muslins had been introduced); Cromford, the residence of Sir Richard Arkwright, and the first place in this county in which he established his works ; Chesterfield, where a cotton mill had then been very lately erected ; and other places.
From these details a pretty accurate view of the cot ton trade in 1795 will be gathered ; and when it is re collected, that at this period mules had not been invented much more than 15 years, and water-mills not 28, and that prior to the invention of the latter there'could not properly be said to be any such trade as the cotton trade in England, we shall be disposed to admit, that no coun try can exhibit a more striking instance of enterprizing and successful industry.
One of the most obvious and accurate means of judg ing of the progress of any manufacture, and of its com parative state at different periods, is by ascertaining the relative quantity of the raw materials used at those pe riods. We shall therefore lay before our readers an ac count of the quantity of cotton imported in Great Bri tain, on an annual medium of four periods, of five years each, commencing 5th January 1772 ; premising, that the quantity imported for the use of England may be estimated at six-sevenths of the whole. On an an nual medium of five years, from 1772 to 1776, the quan tity of cotton wool imported amounted only to 4,414,757 lbs. ; during the next period, down to 1787, it had in creased to upwards of 16,000,000 lbs. ; in the next, down to 1792, the quantity was nearly 29,000,000 ; and in the last of the series of periods, including five years prece ding the 5th of January 1799, on an annual medium it amounted to upwards of 26,000,000 lbs. In the year 1796, there were printed in England and Wales, of English calicoes and muslins, upwards of 24,000,000 yards; in the year 1800, upwards of 28,000,000 yards: the value of the former being about 3,500,000/., and of the latter about 4,180,0001.; but as the quantity of white muslins and calicoes made in England and Wales, was probably much greater than that of the printed, they may be estimated at the value of 3,000,0001., even though their price, from not being printed, was not so high as the others. The annual exports of British cotton manu factures, from all the parts of the kingdom, on the aver age of three years, 1797, 1798, and 1799, was upwards 4,000,0001. In the year 1801, the import of cotton-wool into Britain was 42,000,000 lbs. and the estimated value of the cotton manufacture 15,000,0001. sterling. In 1802 the importation of cotton-wool was not less than 54,000,000 lbs. ; and the particulars of the trade were stated, on good authority, to be as follow : cc The raw material, when delivered on board the merchant ships, costs about 4,000,0001. sterling; upwards of 30,000 tons of shipping, and about 2000 seamen, are constantly employed in bringing cotton-wool to this country, and in exporting the goods manufactured from it. To work the wool in to thread, reqUires a capital in building and machinery to the amount of 19,225,0001. ; and those buildings and ma chinery are chiefly composed of bricks, slates, glass, tim ber, lead, iron, copper, tin, and leather, from most of which, in one shape or other, a considerable duty is col lected for the support of the state. This trade gives em ployment or support to upwards of 800,000 individuals; and the annual return of the manufacture is nearly as follows : Of which sum, at least 13,000,000/. sterling are naid in wages to the natives of Great Britain." Though these particulars relate to the star of the cotton trade in Great Britain, yet we have quoted them, as exhibiting a striking picture of its extent and impor tance at this period, and of its rapid advance, which pro ceeded in England in at least an equal degree as it did in Scotland.