During the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV. there were repeated grants or subsidies of wool to the king, petitions from towns concerning the places for the staple, alterations in the customs' duty, and licences granted to particular parties in respect of exportation. The same, indeed, may be said respecting the next two reigns ; but by the time of Henry VI. the merchants of the staple appear to have acquired a kind of monopoly, which was often made a subject of complaint. Edward IV. enacted that no alien should export wool, and that denizens should export it only to Calais; and in the next three reigns the policy pursued, however mistaken, seems to have arisen rather from a hope of encouraging woollen manufactures in England than to fill the coffers of the king. In the reign of Edward VI., the land owners of England, finding the sale of wool profitable, began to inclose common lauds as sheep pasturages with so much eagerness as to cause great complaints to be made ; and this may perhaps be taken as the commencement of a new order of proceedings, so far as the cultivators took up a position really or apparently opposed to the interests of the people. It was not, however, till the time of Charles I. that the abso lute prohibition of exportation was determined on seriously ; and this seems to have been, in the first case, not so much a measure demanded by the manufacturers, as a source of revenue to the king by granting lieences to favoured persons. After the Restoration, in 1660, however, the prohibition became distinctly enacted.
From 1660 to 1825, the export of wool was strictly prohibited. The consequences of this prohibition soon showed themselves. The wool growers, shut out from a foreign market, suffirred from diminution of price ; all kinds of extravagant expedients were resorted to, to increase the consumption of wool ; a system of wool-running, or smuggling, became very prevalent ; and many pamphlets appeared from parties taking opposite sides of the question at issue. The agriculturists, thus restricted in respect to wool, insisted on the prohibition of the import of Irish cattle, as one means of maintaining their rents ; this disturbed the course of trade between England and Ireland ; and the attempts made, at the instigation of the woollen manufacturers, to compel the use of woollen goods, excited the hostility of the silk and linen trades; and thus the whole commercial system became disarranged. Nume rous pamphlets were published in the last century, of the following general tenor : from English wool-growers, to show that Irish wool ought not to be imported into England ; from English manufacturers, to show that Irish wool ought not to be sent to foreign countries; from Irish graziers, to show that both of these restrictions were unjust ; and from foreigners, to show that the non-exportation of British wool led to retaliative measures on their part. The agricul tural and manufacturing classes felt that they were by legislative mea sures thrown into antagonism ; and there arose from time to time complaints on both sides. A slight sketch of what occurred in 1781 w ill convey a correct idea of the usual state of party feeling concerning the wool trade, for a period long subsequent, as well as long previous, to that date. The price of wool being low, meetings were held in Lincolnshire and elsewhere, under the auspices of the great landowners; at which petitions to parliament were agreed to, praying that British wool might be exported, and that Irish wool might be excluded from England. Thereupon the Yorkshire manufacturers met, and came to resolutions that the exportation of wool would be ruinous to the trade and manufacturers of England ; that the manufacturers would be obliged to leave the kingdom for want of employment ; and 'that the importation of Irish woollen yarn ought to be interdicted. The
worsted manufacturers were particularly vehement, for they had a notion, whether correct or not, that no other country produced long combing or worsted wools equal to that of Lincolnshire ; and that if they could keep the whole of this wool in England, they might perhaps retain a monopoly of the worsted trade.
The union with Ireland, in 1800, was another cause of disagreement in the wool trade. By one of the resolutions of parliament prepara tory to that measure, it was determined that the two countries should be placed on an equality as regards bounties, prohibitions, &c., on the natural produce of each. One effect of this would be to legalise the transit of wool from England to Ireland ; and the manufacturers in a body opposed it, but without success. Thus was effected one step in the attainment of increased power on the part of the English wool growers ; and another step was made in 1802, by the imposition of a duty of 5s. 3d. per cwt. on the importation of all foreign wool. This latter measure of course enhanced the comparative price of English wool. It had long been urged that foreign wool was indispensably necessary to the manufacture of some kinds of goods, and towards the end of the last century the imports became considerable. Year after year the quantity increased, and by 1800 it reached 4,000,000 lbs. in the year, being about part of the quantity required in the manu facture. This alarmed the landowners, who thereupon procured the imposition of a duty of Ss. 3d. At various times the leading agricul turists made laudable attempts to improve the quality of English wool, by introducing the Spanish merino sheep; but they still found that when their wools came into the market with these from Spain and Saxony, the latter, notwithstanding the import duty, commanded a more ready sale for the manufacture of the finer cloths. Hence au increase of the import duty was constantly urged upon the government, and such an increase was made to a small extent in 1813, by fixing the duty at 6s. 8d. instead of 5s. 3d. per cwt. But this not satisfying the landowners, renewed demands were made ; and by the year 1810 parties were placed in a curious antagonism, which may be thus represented :— The landowners wished to keep out foreign wool, that their own might command a higher price ; and at the same time wished far an unrestricted foreign market for their own wool. The manufacturers, on the other hand, wished for a free import of foreign wool, because it was best adapted for their work ; and at the same time wished to pre vent the export of British wool, as a means of monopolising woollen manufactures. Each party argued consistently with liberal policy in one instance, but displayed the narrow spirit of monopoly iu the other : there was a right and a wrong on each side—a liberal and an illiberal ; and the two parties were so far pretty equally matched. In most of the subsequent measures taken by the two parties in reference to the wool trade, the peers and commoners belonging to Yorkshire generally took the manufacturers' view of the question ; while those in the sheep-rearing counties took the opposite view ; and petitions and reso lutions were poured forth in abundance by both parties. In 1818 the matter was brought on in parliament by the agriculturists, and lest by only a very small majority ; bnt in the following year the country was taken by surprise by a government proposition, which was carried by a large majority, to increase the import duty on foreign wool from es. 8d. to 5Gs. per cwt.