The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-15 00:00:00

SPANISH MANUFACTURES.

MADRID, DEC. 4.—The long-promised exhibition of
national manufactures is now daily open to public view
in the Conservatory of Arts, but the specimens hitherto
forwarded are trifling in number, and by no means cal-
culated to give a favourable idea of the manufacturing
capabilities of Spain at the present day. There is only
one specimen of plain Barcelona crockery, and no cutlery
to be seen ; and the few castings for grates, fenders, &c.,
are far from neat. A plough is there, with a cast-iron
mould plate (a great improvement in this country)
strangely disfigured by a bar of wrought iron rivetted
across the surface thereof by way of strengthening it !
A Stanhope printing press appears, but so rude and un-
polished that it would be unsaleable in England. Glass
from Carthagena, of a fine clear material, which
in other hands would produce a brilliant article,
but the choicest specimens sent hither for the
admiration of Madrid aro disfigured with air
bubbles, specks, and oily manes. The silk manufacture
is by far the best, and it must be owned that Barcelona
has produced some exquisite fabrics, but the colours are
wretched ! Many specimens of superfine shawls, &c.,
perhaps intended to show off the delicate tints, strike an
English eye as already much faded, and all the ribands
are sad lack-lustre concerns. The blonde mantillas of
Almagro are truly beautiful, both black and white (not-
withstanding the misnomer) and the specimens of raw
silk perhaps superior to anything, at this side of China.
But with the exception of their silks, all their woven
fabrics are enormously dear, particularly the calicoes and
woollen broad-cloths of Barcelona. These calicoes, plain,
are marked from 4i to 51 reels per vara. (The real
about 2d., and the vara 9-10ths of our yard.) The
cotton prints of San Fernando factory, about three leagues
from Madrid, are from 51 to 11 reals per yam. Even
the coarse hard-spun mantas which serve the muleteer
for cloak and blanket and saddle-cloth, and have no
pretensions to finish or fine appearance, reach a price
to which they could only attain by the rigid exclusion of
articles of foreign manufacture which might fairly corn
pete with them. An immense benefit will doubtless arise
to the Spanish nation whenever any thing approaching
to free intercourse shall be attained, not only to the great
majority of consumers, but to the individual manufactu-
rers who now raise such a selfish outcry against competi-
tion, for they will be forced in self-defence into the path
of improvement, and not be permitted, as they now do,
to go idly plodding on in old, expensive, and (what Eng-
lishmen would call) exploded methods. As the case
stands between the two countries, your Board of Trade
need not be very anxious in the first instance to mould
the contemplated commercial treaty to anything like a
fair and reasonable level between nation and nation. Let
them get their goods into the Spanish markets on any
terms not absolutely prohibitory, as at present, and their
intrinsic excellence will always insure a sale placed side
by side with the unfinished workmanship of Spain.
I speak not merely of such ordinary articles as cot-
tons, woollens, cutlery, leather china, glass, &c. ; but
those more expensive ones, whose excellence depends in a
still greater degree upon figure and finish, and here the
difference is still more perceptible. Thus, these exhi-
bition-rooms contain a cabriolet and a grand piana-forte,
both turned out in such a style that I doubt if any ma-
nufacturer in London, who valued his character, would
affix his name to them. Here, on the contrary, they are
" very superior articles," and those who have never been
out of Spain cannot believe there is any thing finer in
in the world. As far as Spaniards have had an opportu-
nity of appreciating articles of English manufacture, they
manifest their opinion in a very decided way, and in fact,
will have them, whether licensed or contraband ; and the
Minister of Finance (who is well convinced of this, and is
intent on turning the dollars paid at present to the smug-
glers into the national Treasury) has only to make a good
beginning to enlist all the farmers and peasants of the
country in his favour. It is in truth a struggle of a class of
perverse manufacturers (who wish to go on in the style of
their grandfathers, taking little trouble and reaping large
profits), against the great mass of the agricultural po-
pulation, who want to send their corn, wine, and oil to
England in exchange for her manufactures, and who are
now kept in such a state of commercial destitution that
a good boot or shoe cannot be had for love or money
(not even in ester torte of Madrid); and throughout the
kingdom tea is only known and taken as a medicine.
The great difficulty and danger is in attempting to
make any extensive or beneficial alteration speedily in
Spain. The revolution that the conjoint Bourbon family
failed to effect might be brought about by the enforce-
ment of a liberal commercial tariff, for which the people
were unprepared. It must inevitably be debated and
wrangled about in the Cortes for a Session at least ; and
during that time the Ministers of State and of Finance
will assuredly " suffer for their country." Like the
Emperor of China, "in sleeping or eating they will
have no rest ;" but their prospective consolation will be,
that when th measure is carried, the receipts on British
goods imported will fill their Treasury without further
trouble, and a market be reciprocally opened for the
productions of their own soil, which will, in its happy
operations on the public spirit of industry (a spirit that
really exists to an admirable extent in Spain), secure a
working majority in their favour that will henceforth set
at nought the outcry of the selfish, smuggling, and manu-
facturing interests.

DARKNESS OF THE METRO-
POLIS ROADS.

On Monday afternoon a meeting took place in the
vestry-room of Hammersmith Church, and, by adjourn-
ment, in the large room of the Latymer school. The
Rev. F. T. Attwood, the vicar, having been called to the
chair, read the requisition and the notice issued by the
churchwardens calling the meeting ; and having briefly
r e s o -
explained the objects for which it had been called, Dr.
Bowling said he rose with great pleasurmeottoio move
excepting a
previously
lotion of more importance than any
moved in that vestry—(Hear, hear) not evilen
the emancipation of that parish from that of Fulham.—
(Hear, hear.) After the recent dreadful act of robbery
and desperate attempt at murder which had been made
at Turnham-green, it behoved, he Would contend, the
shopkeepers of the district, so
saw present, not to oppose the many
would have no purchasers at theirof whom he
—(Hear, hear.) The motion he proposeshoullidghti
adopted within the district the
shopsn g a, f after
wasrr t dark.h:—ey
" That the provisions of
the meeting proceed to General Lighting Act be
and fix the amountabove-named, and also that
of elect inspectors under the Act,
The Rev. T. T.
yeitr."
He contended that lighting ll ra,te to be granted for the ensuing
dbaenngefiertsthoef gAhNtiEnßgFtlhEeLDroadssecownodueldd
notthe so
much
motion.uch
higher
murderous
rates, who asthose
would
classes classes who paid no
u thereby be protected from the present
assaults and robberies—(Loud
cries of ,b,yHtehaerp,
uhbeliarc'2o—nvaenydaneferof the dangers from
Mr. WADDEN felt it to be a duty he owed himself and
his fellow-parishioners to oppose the motion.—(bear,
hear, hear.) After commenting. in strong terms on the
Report of the Committee appointed by the Vestry to
consider the subject of lighting the high roads, &c., the
speaker concluded by moving as an amendment, "That
the meeting, and the purposes for which it had been
called, be adjourned until th at day six months.ers.)
Mr. HEARDON said, as a poor ratepayer, he had stood
up to say that out of the ratepayers who would be
affected by the measure if the Act was adopted, there
were at least a third who already find it a matter of the
greatest difficulty to pay their poor-rates.—(Loud cries
of ~Hear, hear, hear," and " It's too true." He had
himself not long ago been obliged to pawn his watch to
pay them, and it therefore would be out of his power to
pay a lighting rate.
Several other gentlemen addressed the meeting amidst
continued interruptions from Captain Ackerley, who in
a stentorian voice, called out " Explain things fairly—
no humbugging."
The CHAIRMAN then proceeded to put the amend-
ment, for which an immense forest of hands was held up,
and against it but a comparatively small number, when,

Every one who travels by the railways in England
complains of the want of due regulation respecting the
luggage of passengers. It is surprising that the ma-
nagers of railways, who are for the most part clever per-
sons in their way, and who must naturally desire to
attract customers by giving them every reasonable ac-
commodation, should up to the present time have ne-
glected to " give satisfaction " in the matter of luggage.
Some people talk of the risk of travelling by railway ;
but it seems to be pretty generally admitted that the
risk of losing life or limb is by no means considerable.
The risk of losing luggage, however, is by all considered
to be imminent. It is snatched away from the dis-
tracted traveller at the moment that he is thrust into
his seat, fearing that if he delay half a second he will be
either left behind or killed. He knows not where his
luggage has been put, and, alas ! it is very probable he
will never know. When the train arrives all is con-
fusion. If he regain all his luggage without much trou-
ble the traveller is very fortunate—if he regain a part
of it he is better off than some of his neighbours--if he
lose it all, where is his redress ?
The great railroads have very arbitrary Acts of Par-
liament on their side, and as they are sole possessors
of the means of getting from one place to another,
we must be content to bear with the consequences of
great power upon which their is no efficient check. But
as the managers are powerful, may we not entreat that
they would be merciful also ? Will they not have pity
upon passengers, and not rend asunder those ties of
tender affection which commonly subsist between a man
and his luggage ? To be parted from it during a journey
is enough of trial for ordinary sensibility, but to be
separated from it for ever is too cruel.
They manage these things better in France, or at
all events in Belgium, which comes pretty much
to the same thing. There you deliver up your
luggage when you come to the railway, and you
get a recept for it. If beyond a certain weight,
you pay something for the surplus, but you have your
receipt, and feel quite comfortable about your trunks.
There is a luggage apartment attached to each train, and
your trunks are deposited therein, each box or bag having
chalked on it a number which corresponds with that on
your receipt. The luggage is numerically assorted in
the apartment assigned to it, and a guard is appointed
who attends to the luggage and nothing else. Surely
there is nothing in this so difficult but what it might be
copied in England, and the additional comfort in travel-
ling would be very great. We entreat the managers of
our railroads to take this matter into their serious con-
sideration. We know they need not do it if they don't
like, for they have their Acts of Parliament and their
"exclusive right of way." But if they would be pleased
to like to do what the public would like to have done,
they would set about reforming the luggage grievance
directly.—Post.