A Source-Book of English Social History

CHAPTER VIII
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EXTRACTS

INTRODUCTORY NOTES

A DEFENCE OF DISSENT

(D. Defoe’s Works, 2nd edition, A New Test of the Church of England’s Loyalty, p. 406 et seq.)

Our first Reformation from Popery was in the days of King Edward VI ... ‘twas under him that the whole Nation and Government embraced the Protestant Reformed Religion ... and here it began to be called the Church of England.

Some enquiring Christians were for making farther steps, and carrying on the Reformation to a higher degree ... but the return of Popery under Queen Mary put a stop to the work in general.... Queen Elizabeth restored it again.... Those who insisted upon the further Reformation were then called Puritans, because they set up for a greater purity of worship; and they separated themselves from the Established Church....

Before this time there was no such thing as Church of England, it was then the Church of Rome[30] that was the established National Church. The Protestants under the title of Lollards, Wickliffians, Hussites, what did they do? Did they, as our modern people say everybody should conform to what the Government commanded? No, the present Church of England party were the Dissenters, the Schismatics and Fanatics, in the days of Henry VIII were persecuted for not coming to Church, many of them put to death and always treated with scorn and contempt.... In the next Ages these come to have the power in their hands and forgetting that they had found it “Righteous in the sight of God to obey God rather than man,” they treat those whose consciences oblige them to dissent from them, with the same contempt which themselves had received from the Roman [church] government.

Thus far they are upon even terms, as to obedience to their Superiors.

The Dissenters have the first occasion after this to show their submission under extraordinary pressures. Queen Elizabeth discountenanced them continually, and as good a queen as she was, put some of them to death. King James I hunted them quite out of the kingdom, made thousands of them fly into Holland and Germany, and at last to New England.... Under the reign of King Charles I, the case altered, the King and Parliament fell out about matters of civil rights and invasion of the liberties and properties of the people; the Puritans or Dissenters, call them what we please, fell in unanimously with the Parliament.

And here ‘tis worthy of remark, that the first difference between the King and English Parliament did not respect Religion but civil property nor were the majority of the House Puritans, but true Church Protestants and English men. (There were but four Dissenters in all that Parliament).... (p. 408).

But the Parliament finding the Puritan party stuck close to their cause, they also came over [to] them when things came to a rupture ... the Whigs in 41 to 48, took up arms against their King, and having conquered him and taken him prisoner, cut off his head, because they had him: the Church of England took up arms against their King in 88, and did not cut off his head, because they had him not. King Charles lost his life because he did not run away; and his son, King James, saved his life because he did run away.... Nay if arguments may be allowed to have equal weight on both sides, the Whigs have been the honester of the two, for they never protested any such blind, absolute and undisputed obedience to Princes, as the others have done.

It has always been their opinion, that Government was originally contrived by the consent and for the mutual benefit of the parties governed, that the people have an original, native right to their property, the liberty of their persons and possessions, unless forfeited to the Laws; that they cannot be divested of their right but by their own consent; and that all invasion of this right is destructive of the Constitution, and dissolves the Compact of Government and Obedience (p. 411).

They have always declared that they understand their allegiance to their governors to be, supposing they govern them according to the Laws of the Land; and that if Princes break this Bond of Government, the Nature of it is inverted, and the Constitution ceases of course....

This has been the avowed doctrine of the Dissenters, and indeed is the true sense of the Constitution itself; pursuant to this doctrine, they thought they had a right to oppose violence with force; believing that when Kings break Coronation Oaths, the Solemn Compact with their people, and encroach upon their civil rights, contrary to the Laws of the Land, by which they are sworn to rule, they cease to be the Lord’s Anointed any longer; the sanction of their office is vanished, and they become Tyrants and enemies of mankind, and may be treated accordingly (p. 412).

SECTIONS OF DISSENTERS, 1705

(Ibid., The Shortest Way to Peace and Union, p. 456.)

The General body of the Dissenters are composed of four sorts, and those four so opposite in their tempers, customs, doctrine and discipline that I am of opinion ‘tis as probable all four should conform to the Church of England as to one another.

There is the Presbyterian, Independent, Anabaptist and Quaker.... The Independent could never bear Presbyterian Government, that has been tried already; for they once pulled it down by the ears as intolerable. The Anabaptists in general, declare the Presbyterian would set up persecution from the old principle, that Presbyteries are “Jure divino” and therefore to them, a Presbyterian Government would be all one with Popery. The Presbyterian would never brook an Independent or Anabaptist Government, because they count the one Sectary, and hardly admit the other to be Orthodox Christians. None of the three would bear the thought of a Quaker King, the Novelty would make mankind laugh at the proposal; the splendour and magnificence of a Court, and the necessary defence and offence which the Confederacies and interests of nations require, are things so inconsistent with this plain dealing Professor, that he must cease to be a Quaker when he began to be a King.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY HOME INDUSTRIES

(D. Defoe, Tour through Great Britain: Yorkshire, Vol. III, p. 124)

YORKSHIRE. LEEDS CLOTH MARKET.

Leeds ... is a large, wealthy and populous town, standing on the north side of the river Aire, with great suburbs on the south side, and both joined by a stately stone bridge, so large and wide, that formerly the cloth-market was kept upon it, and therefore the refreshment given the clothiers by the inn-keepers (being a pot of ale, a noggin of pottage, and a trencher of boiled or roast beef, for two pence) [was] called the Brigg-shot for a long time, though now disused.

... The trade soon made the Market too great to be confined to the Brigg; so that it was removed to the High Street ... this bridge was fallen into decay ... and by the narrowness of the road over, occasioned by the buildings and other encroachments, made or set up at both ends and abutments of the bridge, the way or passage over the same was greatly confined and obstructed, and became ... dangerous to passengers on foot and horseback....

But the Cloth market held in the Cloth-hall at Leeds is ... perhaps not to be equalled in the world....

The Clothiers come early in the morning with their cloth ... at about six o’clock in the summer, and about seven in the winter, the Clothiers being all come by that time, the Market Bell at the Old Chapel by the bridge rings; upon which it would surprise a stranger, to see in how few minutes, without hurry, noise or the least disorder, the whole market is filled, all the benches covered with cloth, as close to one another as the pieces can lie longways, each proprietor standing behind his own piece, who form a mercantile regiment, as it were, drawn up in a double line, in as great order as a military one.

As soon as the bell has ceased ringing, the factors and buyers of all sorts, enter the hall, and walk up and down between the rows, as their occasions direct. Most of them have papers with patterns sealed on them, in their hands; the colours of which they match, by holding them to the cloths they think they agree to. When they have pitched upon their cloth, they lean over to the clothier, and, by a whisper, in the fewest words imaginable, the price is stated; one asks, the other bids; and they agree or disagree in a moment.

The reason of this prudent silence is owing to the clothiers standing so near to one another; for it is not reasonable that one trader should know another’s traffic.... The buyers generally walk up and down twice on each side of the rows, and in little more than an hour all the business is done. In less than half an hour you will perceive the cloth begins to move off, the clothier taking it up upon his shoulder to carry it to the merchant’s house. At about half an hour after eight the Market Bell rings again, upon which the buyers immediately disappear, and the cloth which remains unsold is carried back to the inn.

Thus you see 10 or 20,000l. worth of cloth, and sometime much more, bought and sold in little more than an hour, the laws of the Market being the most strictly observed that I ever saw in any market in England.

If it be asked, how all these goods, at this place, at Wakefield and at Halifax are vended and disposed of? I would observe,

First, that there is an Home-consumption; to supply which several considerable traders in Leeds used to go with droves of pack horses loaden with those goods, to all the Fairs and Market-towns almost over the whole island, not to sell by retail, but to the shops by wholesale, giving large credit. It was ordinary for one of these men to carry a thousand pounds worth of cloth with him at a time; and, having sold that, to send his horses back for as much more, and this very often in a summer. But of late they only travel for orders, and afterwards send the goods, by the common carriers, to the different places intended. For they travel chiefly at that season, because of the badness of the roads.

There are others who have commissions from London to buy, or who give commissions to factors and warehouse-keepers in London to sell for them who not only supply all the shop-keepers and wholesale men in London, but sell also very great quantities to the merchants, as well for exportation to the English Colonies in America, which take off great quantities of the coarse goods, especially New England, New York, Virginia, etc., as also to the Russia merchants, who send exceeding great quantities to Petersburg, Riga, Dantzie, Narva, Sweden and Pomerania, though of late the manufacture of this kind set up in Prussia and other Northern parts of Germany interfere a little with them.

The third sort are such as receive commissions directly from abroad, to buy cloth for the merchants chiefly in Hamburg, Holland, etc. These are not only many in number, but some of them very considerable in their dealings, and correspond with the farthest provinces in Germany....

Another hall is appropriated for the sale of white clothes.... This, though large, is much inferior to the other.

THE WEST RIDING, 1724

(Ibid., pp. 144-6)

... the nearer we came to Halifax, we found the houses thicker, and the villages greater in every bottom; and not only so, but the sides of the hills, which were very steep every way, were spread with houses; for the land being divided into small inclosures, from two acres to six or seven each, seldom more, every three or four pieces of land had an house belonging to them.

In short, after we had mounted the third hill we found the country one continued village, though every way mountainous, hardly an house standing out of a speaking distance from another; and as the day cleared up, we could see at every house a tenter, and on almost every tenter a piece of cloth, kersie or shalloon; which are the three articles of this country’s labour.

In the course of our road among the houses, we found at every one of them a little rill or gutter of running water; if the house was above the road, it came from it, and crossed the way to run to another; if the house was below us, it crossed us from some other distant house above it; and at every considerable house was a manufactory; which not being able to be carried on without water; these little streams were so parted and guided by gutters or pipes, that not one of the houses wanted its necessary appendage of a rivulet.

Again, as the dyeing-houses, scouring-shops, and places where they use this water, emit it tinged with the drugs of the dyeing-vat, and with the oil, the soap, the tallow and other ingredients used by the clothiers in dressing and scouring, etc., the lands through which it passes, which otherwise would be exceeding barren are enriched by it to a degree beyond imagination.

Then as every clothier must necessarily keep one horse, at least to fetch home his wool and his provisions from the market, to carry his yarn to the spinners, his manufacture to the fulling-mill, and when finished to the market to be sold, and the like; so everyone generally keeps a cow or two for his family. By this means, the small pieces of inclosed land about each house are occupied; and by being thus fed, are still farther improved by the dung of the cattle. As for corn, they scarce grow enough to feed their poultry.

Such, it seems, has been the bounty of nature to this country, that two things essential to life, and more particularly to the business followed here, are found in it ... I mean coals, and running water on the tops of the highest hills ... Nor is the industry of the people wanting to second these advantages. Though we met few people without doors, yet within we saw the houses full of lusty fellows, some at the dye-vat, some at the loom, others dressing the cloths; the women and children carding or spinning: all employed from the youngest to the oldest; scarce anything above four years old, but its hands were sufficient for its own support. Nor a beggar to be seen, nor an idle person, except here and there in an almshouse, built for those that are ancient and past working. The people in general live long: they enjoy a good air; and under such circumstances hard labour is naturally attended with the blessing of health, if not riches.

THE COAL TRADE

(Defoe, The Complete English Tradesman, Ed. 1841, Vol. II, p. 172).

The Newcastle coals, brought by sea to London, are bought at the pit, or at the steath or wharf, for under five shillings per chaldron; I suppose I speak with the most; but when they come to London, are not delivered to the consumers, under from twenty-five to thirty shillings per chaldron; and when they are a third time loaded on board the lighters in the Thames, and carried through bridge, then loaded a fourth time into the great west country barges, and carried up the river, perhaps to Oxford or Abingdon, and thence loaded a fifth time in carts or wagons, and carried perhaps ten or fifteen, or twenty miles to the last consumer; by this time they are sometimes sold from forty-five to fifty shillings per chaldron; so that the five shillings first cost, including five shillings tax, is increased to five times the prime cost.

And because I have mentioned the frequent loading and unloading the coals, it is necessary to explain it here once for all, because it may give a light into the nature of this river and coast commerce, not in this thing only, but in many others; these loadings are thus:—

INDIA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

CAUSES OF THE LOSS OF CALCUTTA

(Evidence of David Rannie, Captain in E.I. Co.’s service, August, 1756)

(S. C. Hill, Bengal in 1756-57, Vol. III, pp. 283-4)

The causes of the war were principally three, viz., our acting unjustifiably by the Moors [Mahommedans]; our being tricked out of Cassim bazaar Fort, and the example shown on the coast of Coromandel, where the English and French have in a great measure, it is said, divided the country, while their respective Nabobs are no better than shadows of what they should be.

The injustice to the Moors consists in that being by their courtesy permitted to live here as merchants, to protect and judge what natives were their [our?] servants, and to trade custom free, we under that pretence protected all the Nabob’s subjects that claimed our protection, though they were neither our servants nor our merchants, and gave our dustucks or passes to numbers of natives to trade custom free, to the great prejudice of the Nabob’s revenue, nay more, we levied large duties upon goods brought into our districts from the very people that permitted us to trade custom free, and by numbers of their [our?] impositions [framed to raise the Company’s revenue] some of which were ruinous to ourselves, such as taxes on marriages, provisions, transferring land, property, etc., caused eternal clamour and complaints against us at Court.

INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH MERCHANTS ON COLONIAL POLICY

(Callender, Economic History of the United States, p. 140. Franklin, Causes of American Discontent, Works, IV, p. 249)

The colonists being thus greatly alarmed ... by the news of the Act for abolishing the legislature of New York, and the imposition of these new duties ... (accompanied by a new set of revenue officers) ... began seriously to consider their situation....

That the whole American people was forbidden the advantage of a direct importation of wine, oil and fruit from Portugal but must take them loaded with all the expense of a voyage, one thousand leagues about, being to be landed first in England, to be re-shipped for America, ... and all this, merely that a few Portugal merchants in London may gain a commission on those goods passing through their hands.... That on a slight complaint of a few Virginia merchants, nine colonies had been restrained from making paper money, become absolutely necessary to their internal commerce, from the constant remittance of their gold and silver to Britain....

Iron is to be found everywhere in America, and the beaver furs are the natural produce of that country. Hats and nails and steel are wanted there as well as here. It is of no importance to the common welfare of the empire, whether a subject of the King’s obtains his living by making hats on this or on that side of the water. Yet the hatters of England have prevailed to obtain an act in their own favour, restraining that manufacture in America; in order to oblige the Americans to send their beaver to England to be manufactured, and purchase back the hats, loaded with the charges of double transportation. In the same manner have a few nail-makers, and a still smaller body of steel-makers (perhaps there are not half a dozen of these in England) prevailed totally to forbid by an Act of Parliament the erecting of slitting-mills or steel-furnaces in America; that the Americans may be obliged to take all their nails for their buildings, and steel for their tools, from these artificers under the same disadvantages.

AMERICAN NON-IMPORTATION POLICY

(Callender, Econ. Hist. of U.S., pp. 151-54 (summarized). Journal of the Continental Congress, 1774, I, p. 75)

We, His Majesty’s most loyal subjects, the delegates of the several colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, deputed to represent them in a continental Congress, held in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th day of September, 1774, avowing our allegiance to His Majesty, our affection and regard for our fellow-subjects in Great Britain and elsewhere, affected with the deepest anxiety and most alarming apprehensions, at those grievances and distresses with which His Majesty’s American subjects are oppressed; and having taken under our most serious deliberation the state of the whole continent [of America] find, that the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a ruinous system of colony administration adopted by the British ministry about the year 1763, evidently calculated for inslaving these colonies, and with them, the British Empire.... To obtain redress of these grievances ... we are of opinion, that a non-importation, non-consumption and non-exportation agreement, faithfully adhered to, will prove the most speedy, effectual and peaceable measure; and, therefore, we do, for ourselves and the inhabitants of the several colonies, whom we represent, firmly agree and associate, under the sacred ties of virtue, honour and love of our country, as follows:—

A PETITION FOR RECONCILIATION, 1775

(Callender, Economic History of U.S., pp. 155-57. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, XVIII, p. 168)

Mr. Alderman Hayley said he had a petition from the merchants of the city of London concerned in the commerce to North America ... setting forth—

“That the petitioners are all essentially interested in the trade to North America, either as exporters or importers, or as vendors of British and foreign goods for exportation to that country; and that the petitioners have exported, or sold for exportation, to the British colonies in North America, very large quantities of the manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland, and in particular, the staple articles of woollen, iron and linen, also those of cotton, silk, leather, pewter, tin, copper and brass, with almost every British manufacture; also large quantities of foreign linens and other articles imported into these kingdoms, from Flanders, Holland, Germany, the East Countries, Portugal, Spain and Italy, which are generally received from those countries in return for British Manufactures; and that the petitioners have likewise exported, or sold for exportation, great quantities of the various species of goods imported into this kingdom from the East Indies, part of which receive additional manufacture in Great Britain; and that the petitioners receive returns from North America to this kingdom directly, viz., pig and bar iron, timber, staves, naval stores, tobacco, rice, indigo, deer and other skins, beaver and furs, train oil, whalebone, beeswax, pot and pearl ashes, drugs and dyeing woods, with some bullion, and also wheat flour, Indian corn and salted provisions, when, on account of scarcity in Great Britain, those articles are permitted to be imported;

and that the petitioners receive returns circuitously from Ireland [for flax seed, etc., exported from North America] by bills of exchange on the merchants of this city trading to Ireland, for the proceeds of linens, etc., imported into these kingdoms from the West Indies; in return for provisions, lumber and cattle, exported from North America for the use and support of the West India Islands, by bills of exchange on the West India merchants, for the proceeds of sugar, molasses, rum, cotton, coffee or other produce, imported from those islands into these kingdoms; from Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Flanders, Germany, Holland and the East Countries by bills of exchange or bullion in return for wheat flour, rice, Indian corn, fish and lumber, exported from the British colonies in North America, for the use of those countries;

and that the petitioners have great reason to believe, from the best informations they can obtain, that on the balance of this extensive commerce, there is now due from the colonies in North America, to the said city only, 2,000,000l. sterling and upwards; and that by the direct commerce with the colonies, and the circuitous trade thereon depending, some thousands of ships and vessels are employed, and many thousands of seamen are bred and maintained, thereby increasing the naval power and strength of Great Britain;

and that, in the year 1765, there was a great stagnation of the commerce between Great Britain and her colonies, in consequence of an Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, by which the merchants trading to North America, and the artificers employed in the various manufactures consumed in those countries, were subjected to many hardships;

and that, in the following year, the said Act was repealed ... upon which repeal, the trade to the British colonies immediately resumed its former flourishing state;

and that in the year 1767, an Act passed for granting certain duties in the British colonies and plantations in America, which imposed certain duties, to be paid in America, on tea, glass, red and white lead, painters’ colours, paper, pasteboard, millboard and scaleboard, when the commerce with the colonies was again interrupted;

and that in the year 1770, such parts of the said Act as imposed duties on glass, red and white lead, painters’ colours, paper, pasteboard, millboard and scaleboard, were repealed, when the trade to America soon revived, except in the article of tea, on which a duty was continued, to be demanded on its importation into America, whereby that branch of our commerce was nearly lost;

and that in the year 1773, an Act passed, to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to His Majesty’s colonies or plantations in America, and to empower the Commissioners of the Treasury to grant licences to the East India Company, to export tea, duty free;

and by the operation of those and other laws, the minds of His Majesty’s subjects in the British colonies have been greatly disquieted a total stop is now put to the export trade with the greatest and most important part of North America, the public revenue is threatened with a large and fatal diminution, the petitioners with grievous distress, and thousands of industrious artificers and manufacturers with utter ruin....”

AMERICAN APPEAL TO FRANCE, JANUARY 5, 1775

(Callender, Economic History of U.S., p. 167. Wharton, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, II, p. 245)

Sir,

The Congress, the better to defend their coasts, protect their trade, and drive off the enemy, have instructed us to apply to France for eight ships of the line, completely manned, the expense of which they will undertake to pay. As other princes of Europe are lending or hiring their troops to Britain against America, it is apprehended that France may, if she thinks fit, afford our independent States the same kind of aid, without giving England any just cause of complaint. But if England should on that account declare war, we conceive that by the united force of France, Spain and America, she will lose all her possessions in the West Indies....

We also beg it may be particularly considered, that while the English are masters of the American seas, and can, without fear of interruption, transport with such ease their army from one part of our extensive coast to another, and we can only meet them by land marches, we may possibly, unless some powerful aid is given us or some strong diversion be made in our favour, be so harassed and be put to such immense distress, as that finally our people will find themselves reduced to the necessity of ending the war by an accommodation....

B. Franklin,
Silas Deane,
Arthur Lee.

EFFECT OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE ON EUROPE

LETTER FROM FRANKLIN AND DEANE, PARIS, 1777

(Callender, Economic History of U.S., pp. 174-75. Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, II, p. 287)

All Europe is for us. Our Articles of Confederation, being by our means translated and published here, have given an appearance of consistence and firmness to the American States and Government that begins to make them considerable. The separate constitutions of the several States are also translating and publishing here, which afford abundance of speculation to the politicians of Europe, and it is a very general opinion that if we succeed in establishing our liberties, we shall, as soon as peace is restored, receive an immense addition of numbers and wealth from Europe, by the families who will come over to participate in our privileges, and bring their estates with them. Tyranny is so generally established in the rest of the world, that the prospect of an asylum in America, for those who love liberty, gives general joy, and our cause is esteemed the cause of all mankind. Slaves naturally become base, as well as wretched. We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature. Glorious is it for the Americans to be called by Providence to this post of honour. Cursed and detested be everyone that deserts or betrays it.

POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS RESULTING, 1788

(Callender, Economic History of U.S., pp. 176-67. B. de Warville, The Commerce of America with Europe, p. 8)

... this war has occasioned discussions important to public happiness—the discussion of the social compact—of civil liberty, of the means which can render a people independent, of the circumstances which give sanction to its insurrection, and make it legal, and which give this people a place among the powers of the earth.

What good has not resulted from the repeated description of the English constitution, and of its effects? What good has not resulted from the codes of Massachusetts and New York, published and spread everywhere? And what benefits will they still produce? They will not be wholly taken for a model; but despotism will pay a greater respect, either from necessity or reason, to the rights of men, which are so well known and established.... This revolution, favourable to the people, which is preparing in the cabinets of Europe, will be undoubtedly accelerated, by that which its commerce will experience, and which we owe to the enfranchisement of America. The war which procured it for her, has made known the influence of commerce on power, the necessity of public credit, and consequently of public virtue, without which it cannot long subsist....

These are the advantages which France, the world and humanity, owe to the American Revolution....

INVENTORS OF MACHINERY

(Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, Vol. IV, p. 77)

In the early part of the 18th century [1748] an engine was invented by Mr. Paul, with the assistance of some others in London, who, having obtained a patent [1748], made trial of it at Nottingham and elsewhere, to the great loss of all concerned. Other schemes for spinning cotton by machinery have since been tried, and proved equally abortive.

About the year 1767 the discovery of this great desideratum in mechanics and manufacture was attempted by three different persons. The first, I believe, was Mr. Hargreaves of Blackburn in Lancashire, who constructed an engine, capable of spinning 20 or 30 threads of cotton yarn fit for fustian: but his machinery being destroyed by popular tumults, he removed to Nottingham.... Mr. Hayes invented a spinning engine and cylindrical carding engines, but never brought them to perfection. Mr. Arkwright ... after many experiments, finished his first engine in the year 1768 ... and in the year 1775, having brought his original machinery to a greater degree of perfection, and having also invented machines for preparing the cotton for spinning, he obtained a fresh patent for his new invention. Hitherto he and his partners had reaped no profits from the undertaking; but now, proper buildings being erected at the expense of 30,000l. and the machinery being made capable of being put in motion by the strength of cattle, water, steam, or any other regular moving power, it began, notwithstanding some losses from riots ... to be productive to the proprietors.

JAMES’ ACCOUNT OF HARGREAVES

(Baines, History of Cotton, p. 164. Note)

“I knew Mr. Hargreaves very well: he was a stout, broadset man, about five feet, ten inches high, or rather more: he first worked in Nottingham with Mr. Shipley about 1768, and here my father first met him. He was making jennies for Shipley, who then wished to go into the cotton spinning. My Father prevailed on him to leave Shipley and embark with him in a new concern: and money was borrowed by my father principally on the mortgage of some freehold property, on which they were to erect their mill. The mill was erected, and two dwelling houses, in one of which my father resided and in the other was Mr. Hargreaves’ family.”

ARKWRIGHT OVERRATED

(Baines, History of Cotton, p. 195)

The marvellous and “unbounded invention” which he claimed for himself ... did not belong to Arkwright. It is clear that some of the improvements which made the carding engine what it was when he took out his second patent, were devised by others; and there are two prior claimants to the invention of spinning by rollers before the patent of Arkwright. [Possibly] the latter derived the principle of his machine either from Wyatt or Highs ... at the same time it is certain that Arkwright displayed great inventive talent in perfecting the details.

---

Wealth flowed in upon him with a full stream from his skilfully managed concern. For several years he fixed the price of cotton twist, all other spinners conforming to his prices.... In 1786 Arkwright was appointed High Sheriff of Derbyshire ... and [later] received the honour of knighthood.

CROMPTON’S MULE

(Ibid., p. 199)

“In regard to the mule, the date of its being first completed was in the year 1799: at the end of the following year I was under the necessity of making it public, or destroying it, as it was not in my power to keep it and work it; and to destroy it was too painful a task, having been four and a half years at least, wherein every moment of time and power of mind as well as expense, which my other employment would permit, were devoted to this one end, the having good yarn to weave; so that to destroy it, I could not.”

THE BANKING-HOUSE OF COUTTS & CO.

(Sir W. Forbes, Memoirs of a Banking-House, Ed., Chambers, 1860)

The founder of the Edinburgh house of business ... was Patrick Coutts, the fourth son of Alexander Coutts, provost of Montrose (p. 1) ... he carried on business in Edinburgh as a merchant at least as early as the year 1696. The books are kept in Scots money and very neatly and distinctly written. He appears to have been a general merchant, whose transactions were considerably extended, for in his books there are accounts of mercantile adventures to New York and Pennsylvania, to Amsterdam, to France and to the Canaries.... He left three sons, John, James and Christian ... (John) engaged in mercantile concerns in Edinburgh in the year 1723.... Their business was dealing in corn, buying and selling goods on commissions, and the negotiation of bills of exchange in London, Holland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The negotiation of bills of exchange formed at that period a considerable part of the business of Edinburgh; for there were then no country banks.... I see many notices of the difficulty, at that time, of effecting money transactions of any considerable extent in the country towns of Scotland.... A mercantile business was likewise formed about this time (1750) in London, by the Messrs. Coutts ... as the correspondents of the house in Edinburgh (p. 6).... In England the house had large quantities of corn shipped for them at Yarne and at Stockton in Yorkshire; at Lyme Regis, Fakenham and Yarmouth, all in the rich corn county of Norfolk; at Haverfordwest in South Wales, and by the noted Cooper Thornhill, who at that time kept the Bell inn at Hilton, was one of the most considerable corn factors in England.... Indeed, I have often thought it not a little singular that a banking-house ... should have chosen to embark so largely in the corn-trade, which is, perhaps, that most liable to sudden fluctuation.... Yet in this the Messrs. Coutts were not singular....

The other principal banking-houses in Edinburgh at that time were Messrs. Mansfield & Co., William Cuming, William Hogg and Son, and William Alexander & Sons. The two first confined themselves strictly to the banking-business, in which they rose to great eminence from a very obscure origin. From a slender start in life, as a draper, old Mr. James Mansfield began to deal a little in bills of exchange, and by degrees founded a banking-house of the first celebrity in Scotland. In the same manner William Cuming succeeded to his father, old Patrick Cuming’s cloth-shops in the Parliament Close, which he afterwards converted into a counting-house where he confined himself entirely to the transacting of money business and after a long life left a very large fortune. William Hogg & Son were not in very extensive business and they managed it very confusedly. William Alexander & Sons were very considerable money-dealers, though their chief employment was purchasing tobacco for the Farmers-general of France (p. 9).

“John Coutts, the second son (of the late Lord Provost Coutts) under whose eye chiefly I served my apprenticeship, was one of the most agreeable men I ever knew. Lively and wellbred, and of very engaging manners, he had the happy talent of uniting a love of society and public amusements with a strict attention to business.... Having received his mercantile education in Holland, he had all the accuracy and all the strictness of a Dutchman; and, to his lessons it is that I owe any knowledge I possess of the principles of business, as well as an attachment to form which I shall probably carry with me to the grave....

So strict was he in the discipline of the counting-house, that I slept but one night out of Edinburgh from the commencement of my apprenticeship in May 1754, till the month of September, 1760, when I obtained leave to go to Aberdeenshire with my mother to pay a visit to our relations” (p. 10).

... Our new copartnery commenced ... the Seven Years’ War had just been terminated.... The rate of exchange for bills on London was as high as three, four and even five per cent. against Scotland. This, of necessity, occasioned demands on the bank at Edinburgh for specie which they were unable or unwilling to answer.... In London the character and credit of Scottish paper was at the lowest ebb, and the Bank of England was extremely shy of discounting bills drawn on London from Edinburgh. It was therefore a task of no ordinary difficulty to conduct the affairs of our two houses with safety (p. 19).... Very soon after (1771) two important events took place, extremely memorable in the history of the house. I mean the commission from the Farmers-general of France for the purchase of tobaccos in Scotland; and the erecting of the Banking Co., in St. James’ Street, London. The great company in France, known by the name of the Farmers-general, from their having farmed the public taxes of that kingdom under the old government, enjoyed by consequence the exclusive privilege of importing tobacco into France, with which they were chiefly supplied from Scotland, the article being originally procured by the merchants of Glasgow from North America (p. 27).

ROMAN ROADS IN YORKSHIRE

(D. Defoe, Tour through Great Britain, p. 123)

From Ferrybridge, within a mile of Pontefract, extends a large stone Causeway, about a mile in length, to a village called Brotherton. A little to the south of this village, the great Road divides into two parts; one goes on to the right to York, and the other through Aberford and Watherley to Scotland.... This Causeway in many places is entirely perfect, although undoubtedly a work of 16 or 1700 years old, and in other places where it is broken up, the courses appear to be of different materials; the bottom is clay or earth, upon that is chalk, then gravel, upon the gravel is stone, and then gravel upon that.... This Causeway runs in a direct line from Doncaster to Castleford, where it makes an angle and runs in another direct line to Aberford, Tadcaster and York. It is very easy to trace its course over moors and open grounds which have not been cultivated; but there are few or no remains upon the enclosed lands. There is no doubt but that the Romans had communications between all their stations in this country, by roads of this kind.

THE ROMAN WALL

(A. Young, Northern Tour, Letter XVI, p. 112)

From Glenwelt I walked about half a mile to view some of the remnants of the famous Roman wall, a piece above five feet high and several yards long; the facing is of regularly cut freestone but I measured none of them above thirteen inches long and seven broad; the mortar in the facing is quite gone, but much of it remains in the middle, the filling up; very little of it is of that hard nature often found in ancient buildings, but crumbles with ease between the fingers. The stones of the facing are cut very regularly, and well laid; the workmanship undoubtedly very good. Not far from this wall the remains of an earth entrenchment, thrown up for the same purpose, are seen in a parallel line with it.

LANCASTER

(Ibid., Letter XVIII, p. 196)

Lancaster is a flourishing town, well situated for trade, of which it carries on a pretty brisk one; possessing about 100 sail of ships, some of them good burthen, for the African and American trades. The only manufactory in the town is that of cabinet ware. Here are many cabinet makers who work up the mahogany brought home in their own ships, and re-export it to the West Indies, etc.

MARLING

(Ibid., Letter XVIII, p. 198)

As to manures, marle is the grand one, which is found under all this country (Lancashire) and generally within sixteen or twenty inches of the surface ... it lies in beds, many of them of a vast depth, the bottoms of some pits not being found. It is white, and as soft and soapy as butter. They lay about a hundred two-horse cartloads to an acre, but some farmers less, on to lays[31] and stubble. It lasts a good improvement for twenty years: costs about £4 10s. 0d. an acre. Marle is their principal manure, both white, black, blue, sandy and some small marle. They sometimes find perfect cockle and periwinkle shells nine yards deep in beds of marle. It does best on light soil.

MANCHESTER

(Ibid., Letter XVIII, pp. 242, et seq.)

The Manchester manufacturers are divided into four branches—the fustian, the check, the hat and the worsted small wares. All sorts of cotton are used but chiefly the West Indian.... Many low priced goods they make for N. America, and many fine ones for the West Indies. The whole business was exceedingly brisk during the (7 Years’) war, and very bad after the peace, but now are pretty good again, though not equal to what they were during the war. All the revolutions of late in the N. American affairs are felt severely in this branch ... the interruptions caused by the convulsions in America very severely felt by every workman. None ever offered for work but they at once had it, except upon the regulations of the Colonies cutting off their trade with the Spaniards, and the Stamp Act. The last advices received from America have had a similar effect, for many hands were paid off in consequence of them ... America takes three-fourths of all the manufacturers of Manchester.

NEWCASTLE

(Ibid., Letter XV, p. 11. 1770)

This town is supposed to contain 40,000 souls, and to employ of its own 500 sail of ships, 400 of which are colliers. The people employed in the coal mines are prodigiously numerous amounting to many thousand; the earnings of the men are from 1/-to 4/-a day and their firing.

About five miles from Newcastle are the ironworks, late Crawley’s, supposed to be the greatest manufactory of the kind in Europe. Several hundred hands are employed in it, insomuch that £20,000 a year is paid in wages. They earn from 1/-to 2/6 a day, and some of the foremen as much as £200 a year. The quantity of iron they work up is very great, employing three ships to the Baltic that each make ten voyages yearly and bring 70 tons at a time.... They use a good deal of American iron which is as good as any Swedish and for some purposes much better. They would use more of it if larger quantities were to be had, but they cannot get it—which is worthy of remark.

In general their greatest work is for exportation and are employed very considerably by the East India Company: they have of late had a prodigious artillery demand from that Company[32].

As to the machines for accelerating several operations in the manufacture, copper rollers ... and the scissors for cutting bars of iron ... the turning cranes ... the beating hammer. There are machines of manifest utility, simple in their construction and all moved by water ... there are no impossibilities in mechanics, an anchor of 20 tons may undoubtedly be managed with as much ease as a pin.

AMERICAN TRADE

(Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, IV, p. 10)

The Consequences resulting to Great Britain from the independence of the American States, may, with great truth, be called advantages.... A great and obvious advantage was the relief from governing and protecting them ... relief from the payment of bounties ... the recovery of the valuable trade of shipbuilding ... sacrificed to the zeal for promoting the prosperity of the Colonies.

It was said ... that Great Britain possessed the whole of the American trade before the revolt.... It is well known that before the war the Americans carried a considerable proportion of their trade to other nations, contrary to law. Now they are at liberty to deal with other nations or with Britain; and for that reason alone some of them will choose to deal with Britain.... Experience has fully shown that there was no real cause to apprehend any decay of the British commerce in consequence of the new order of things in America: and moreover, what must effectually silence all controversy on the subject, the official accounts of the Custom House demonstrate that there has been a greater and more rapid increase in the general commerce of Great Britain, and especially of the commerce with America, since the era of American independence than ever there was.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENCLOSURES

(A. Young, Northern Tour, Letter IV, pp. 252-65)

There is scarcely any point in rural economics more generally acknowledged than the great benefits of enclosing open lands ... some ... it is true ... assert them to be very mischevious to the poor.

First: The proprietors of large estates generally agree upon the measure ... the small proprietor, whose property in the township is perhaps his all, has little or no weight ... and as little weight in the choice of commissioners.

Third: The attorney delivers his bill to the commissioners, who pay him and themselves without producing any account, and in what manner they please ... the expenses previous to the actual inclosing are from £1800 to £2000 all which is levied and expended by the commissioners absolutely and without control.

Fourth: The division and distribution of the lands are totally in their breasts.... Nor is there any appeal but to the commissioners themselves from their allotments, however carelessly or partially made. Thus is the property of the proprietors, and especially the small ones, entirely at their mercy.

I am not here arguing against inclosures, the advantages arising from them are certainly very extensive. I am only saying they do not always indemnify the present possessor from the great expense he is at in obtaining them, by the absurd and extravagant manner in which they are generally conducted.

PRICE OF LABOUR

(A. Young, Northern Tour, Letter XXXIX, pp. 445 et seq.)