The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-12-21 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR Of' THE BRITISII PRESS.

THE SILK TRADE.

S 1 R,—l have with pleasure perbsed a very sensible and
accurate statement of facts connected with the Silk Trade
01 your intelligent paper of Saturday, particularly applica-
ble to that branch of the manufacture which is carried on
'in Coventry. There are so many vague reports and so
many condicting interests set forth to the public, thrbuglr
the medium of the public press, that I venture to offer the
following remarks, which arc applicable to every manufac-
turer in this city and neighbourhood :
Several of the leading manufacturers distribute—for la-
' hour only—from 13,000/. to 20,0001. yearly in the manu-
facture of ribands, which sum, allowing the average earn-
ings of a weaver to he I/. per seek, will give employment
to sOO or 400 weavers, and to SOO or 400 other persons,
tinder the denomination of winders, warpers, and quill-
winders. To carry on a trade on the above scale requires
the employment of a considerable capital in buildings, ma-
chinery, &c., and involves various interests connected with
a manufactory. It follows, therefore, that a very import-
ant capital must be applied by the manufacturers in this
branch directly to the support of our numeraus popu-
lation.

The certain consequence of removing the prohibition of
foreign wrought silks, and admitting them on ad valorem
duty, has already, by anticipation, thrown ttco-thirds of
the operatives out of employ, and the trade may now be
said to be actually at a stand. It is the determination of
several opulent manufacturers to direct their capital in a
different. channel, and abandon the trade to the certain ruin
which awaits it.
Individtials have effected such improvement in their ma-
chinery as to produce an article equal in beauty and texture
to the best specimens of French manufacture, which ma-
chinery is of a similar description to that now used in
France ; but the number of looms of that description in the
whole trade does not at present exceed two hundred.
This spirit of improvement was produced by the comp.-,
tition amongst British manufacturers themselves, ax mph!
improved machinery was in use in England before the' dis-1
suasion of this fatal theory in Parliament. It has been as-
certained by gentlemen in the trade, who bare been into 1
France and Germany for the express purpose of gathering
their information on the spot, that the very beat French fancy
ribands can be purchased and delivered in this country,
with all the expenses consequent on the importation, at
two-thirds of the actual cost of a similar article manufac-
tured in England ; and there is a still more fearful disparity
in plain descriptions of ribands. manufactured not only in
France, but in various parts of Germany ; how, then, can
an ad valorem duty of 30 per cent. (which, by-the-bye, can
never be fully collected) afford any protection to the Bri-
tish manufacturer, when the market he has heretofore
found for his goods can be supplied to any extent by fo-
reigners at his cost prices ?
I admit the Minister has a duty to perform to the
public, in affording them the means of obtaining the luxu-
PCS, as well as the necessaries, of life from the best possible
markets ; but I scarcely think our fair countrywomen
would wish their taste, in this respect, to be gratified at
the expense of hundreds of thousands of operatives, whom
it would reduce, with their families, to a state of utter
misery and destitution, and this too when the very rapid
improvements, and the spirit of emulation in their country-
Mell, will, in a reasonably short time, supply them with
articles of British manufacture of equal elegance and of
decidedly greater durability.
The opration of this free trade theory will be to ruin
and exterminate, as manufacturers, a great number of per-
sons new in trade; and those whose capital may enable
them to survive the wreck, and to continue in the trade,
%ill send their 20,000/. yearly, of gold, (for the French
will take nothing else) into France, in exchange for their
manufactured goods, instead of expending it in the em-
ployment of labour at home, and thus contributing to the
comfortable subsistence of our own industrious population.
A duty of 30 per cent., most certainly, will not prove a
sufficient protection to the manufacturers of this country ;
but if even it would do so, I would ask, where would then be
the policy of holding out to the French the prospect of a
free trade for their silk manufacture, and imposing a duty,
! the operation of which would keep them out of our market ?
It is also certain that the agriculture and manufacture of
this country cannot absorb the 500,000 persons employed
in the silk trade in its various departments, and if they
could be so absorbed, in the event of any political change
in the system of commerce, how could that number of
persons again be rendered available to the manufacture of
silk? I abstain from any remark on the various interests
other branches of the silk trade involve, and confine my-
self to the certain operation of the measure on the riband
manufactory; and it might be well if every other class of
persons, who avail themselves of the public press, would
confine themselves to subjects they personally understand ;
the public would not then be perplexed and misled by a
variety of communications on the silk trade, and on various
other subjects, which have no foundation in truth or
reason.

I am Yours, &c.
A MANUFACTURER.

THE AMERICAN COTTON MARKET.

New Vona, Nov. 23.
Cotton continues to come in very sparingly, and the arrivals are
not adequate to the demand. Our manufacturers are In want, and
erdera that are in market cannot be (*reined without further
arrivals. The sales of new crop, since our last report, amount to
stout 350 bales, ranging from 15 to 16 cents, principally for cosh.
A lot of upwards 01100 hales of old crop has also been sold at some-
thing over 10 cents. We do not alter our quotations. Import
since our last :
Front Sotith Carolina . - . 75 tales
Nmth Carolina - . - 154
Virginia . . . 134

Total - 364
Total import since Ist instant - - 2,798 bales
Expert, trout the Ist to the 16111 instant - 1,482
New (Weans - - ..
Upland, new . - - - 16 a 18
.1 laban.a, del - - - - —lO a 124
Tennessee,. seitl - - 10 a 12

FREIGHTS TO LIVERPOOL.
Sterling.
Cotton . lb. --s Old a --s Old
Tobacco hhd. 35s Od a 40s Ud
Ashes - too 258 Od a :111t
Rice . tierce 8s Od a B'. 64
Naval Stores - . bbl. 3s Od a 41 (ki
NEW ORLEAhI, OCT. 2C.
• • • -
- •

We have no inquiry, sales, or clearances of cotton to report tlds
week; and as to nominal prices or value, our friends all agree in
the impropriety of venturing an opini•.m. It Is supposed that the
first purchase will be made for the northern manufactories, which
are said to be in want of good qualities; next for the French mar-
ket ; and lastly, for the English. Arrived since our last from slis-
sissipi and the interior, 200 hales.
Bales.
Arrived since the Ist instant 547
Arrived in same time last year - - 2,416
Arrival in same time year before 1122
Arrived in the sante time In 1822 - 411
• Exported since the Ist instant - 1,344
Exported in same time last year - 24
Exported in same time year before 857
Exported in the same time its 1822 - 1,180
Stock on hand to-day, including all on ship l 2,tmo
board, not cleared -J
Stock on hard ssme time last tenon - 3,8 3
Stock on band same tine season before - 2,914
Stock on hard same time in 1822 11,111
CRARLISTOX. Nov. 14.

Coriow.—The quanti y arriving still continues Iln.,ted.
have had no altertiun of weather sinceour last report, cot sequently
the river continue. low. Sea Wands and Santee' are non 'nal, and
we know of no saint. Uplands go ofr readily for 13. to 11 cents.;
hut we are of the same opinion as per last report, that as soon as
the ri►ers will admit navigation of steam and other large boats one
supplies will be great, and toilette more favourable advice' are re-
ceived from Europe, we may look for a decline.