The National Register.
London, England, 1812-05-10 00:00:00

ORDERS IN COUNCIL.

it
, Pert of the Minutes of the. Evidence taken before the Commoris
$ Committee of the whole House has been printed. The following is

their substance :
Mr. Thomas Attwood, High Bailiff of Birmingham, was first ex-
amined. .He stated, that the population of Birmingham, and the neigh-
bouring manufacturing districts, amounts to 400,000, of whom *l,OOO
at least are emplo,•eti io manufacturiug iron, besides those who work in
brass founderirs, buttons, j-wt &c. Within these two years,
trade has been in a deplorable state. Labourers, who twelve months
rgd could obtain 20s. a week, get now only los. or 12s. and a great num-
ber of workmen are disntissed. Every manufacturer is.overioaded
with stock, and he cannot sell it at what it cost him. The principal
trade of Birmingham is to America, but for the last twelve months
there have been no exports to America. The value of the annual ex-
parts to America was 800,0001. or 1,000.0001. Has been informed that.
the Americans have erected steel furnaces, and are not likely to wan,
am,' more steel from England. The manufacturers hive with great re-
filctance dismissed any of their men. They have been accumulating
stock for the last twelve months. They have thus exhausted the r: hole
of their capital, partly from motives of interest, looking forwaid to
ntaxlcti opening to the trade. but principally from motives of honour-
ablo humanity. His heard that many orders have been received from I
fitnerica conditionally, on the repeal of the Orders in Council ; but
bails, and some other articles, have been omitted, on the ground of their
being now manufactured in America. If the American Non-Intercourse
Act conti.,ued to be enforced, the witness was of opinion that •it
create matich.ctories in America to such, an extent, that it would-
at' last become a part of the policy of the Government of the United
Staten to protect thin, by preventing the importation of British manu
flitotures. . .
William Whitehouse, nail-ironmonger, of West Bromwich, in Staf•
gore ;hire, about six n.iles from Birmingham, stated, that the nail manu-
factory hi hi district, when in a flourishing state, employed from twenty-
(rile to thirty thousand persons. In the manufactory with which the wit
pest was connected, the hands had been reduced from twelve hundred
tail. 'to five hundred pair. There are considerable orders in the country
to he execnted_ immediately on the intercourse .with America being
opened.
T Potts a merchant, residing at Birmingham, stated, that he had

Some knowledge of the nail trade in Birmingham. The w ges in this
business are Sir low, that a man can scarcely exist. Men in the button
ond plated line, who would formerly earn from forty to fifty shillings a
week. do not new get. half those wages. In the town of Birmingham
there were from twenty to twenty-five thousand labouring men out of
iempley. Distre.ses are universal. He thinks that in the course of two
rn4rnlis3;nec. ssity will ,blive the merchants to dismiss at least two parts'
e nien nt.t f three.—Tlie Americans were once considcred bad
Te!,•,• but they have improved progressively every year. Goods at
... from "inichesteraud Birmingham, were cheaper Than at the
tiring few ni. 'Die value of the export from Birminghrqn, pre-
vious to the diteresst.s, was about a million ; did not know whether it
/e/I fiff in 1809, Men had emigrated fr!)m 'Birmingham to America-.
Jol-eat l.a , Chaisman rte Chamber of Foreign Commerce of
Strtnitigh.im, ,tated,tnat the Ha! dware I.•xport Trade to Europe, Tur-
key, and booth America, had decreased since 18(4.! The trade to the
Conti' tilt Ind decreased since the Orders in-Council and was now al-
Most at an end. •
Jam f- 4 R ',land, a plater of roach harness, &c. stated. that his business
bad grew L. d-clin d by the American markets 6eing clo;ed.
, fticiiard Spooner, Banker, of armingham, corroborated the precidirt
atataments r•!‘,:ecting the falhot: off of the trade, and the distresses Of thc•
• tiioramen. The increase on their Poor rates.cn 44ht years amounted to
Biakeway, a lamp-maker, employed sixty pair of hands at
Divining yam. He stared r•at tile trade of this artirle ha 1 fait• n off, end
the geeater part of his st •Ck remained on hands, the American mar-
hying shur.shou'd he obliged to turn-off his hands it confined to the
Doane trade of ads coon- ry.