The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-11 00:00:00

MORNING SUN

informant, "in business 26 years. I have never expe-
rienced such disastrous years of trade as the few last. The
working classes do not buy nearly so much as formerly in
amount, and what they do purchase is of a lower and
coarser kind. I have almost ceased to give them credit,
in consequence of their repeated losses, and their inabi-
lity to pay. Very many of the small shopkeepers have
become insolvent ; and those remaining, who had
saved a little money in good times, appear to me to be
fast approaching- to the condition of the others, who have
been already broken up. As far as my observation ex-
tends, I believe the working classes to be in a
most deplorable condition ; the common neces-
saries of life being, in many instances, barely
attainable by them. Nor is the class above them in
a much less distressed state—the dread of poverty
being ever present to their minds, without any present
prospect of relief." The next is the evidence also of a
gentleman engaged in one of the largest businesses in
Leicester. He says—" That the general or universal
experience of the small shopkeepers, who supply the
working classes with grocery and provisions, proves a
very great diminution in the consumption of articles of
commerce and necessity. The extreme poverty of the
majority of the working classes prevents them now ob-
taining credit as formerly, while, at the same time, the
extensive losses sustained by the small shopkeepers, have
reduced a large proportion of them to a state of actual
insolvency. The amount at present expended by the
same individuals and families in grocery goods, com-
pared with what it was a few years ago, is diminished
by at least one-half, and in numberless instances by
even two-thirds. Three parts of the working man's
wages are now expended in bread and house-rent, and
the remaining one-fourth is all wanted for coals, can-
dles, and grocery ; the consequence is, that many shop-
keepers have to retail their various articles in the
smallest possible quantities, and it is quite common for
the poor to purchase three or four articles for one
penny. Cheese and butter are dainties many cannot now
obtain. The lowtst and coarsest quality of goods arc
those which are most in request among them, and even
the poor luxury of tobacco is in many instances aban-
doned from necessity."—(Hear, hear.) The next is
the evidence of a partner in another large grocery con-
cern. He says :—" The working classes, who constitute
a large proportion of our customers, do not buy half so
much as they formerly did. Our weekly returns for the
last five years have decreased fully one-third ; while, at
the same time, we have had an increased number of this
description of customers, and an advance in price on
many of the articles sold them. Very many of the
small shopkeepers are in a state of insolvency ; for the
last five years our losses by them have been annually very
considerable." Again, another and concluding evidence of
this class of general dealers. Another grocer states :
"That part of my tradewhich is mo re immediatelyconnected
with the working classes has fallen off at least one-half.
In a majority of cases, working men do not purchase
:more than one-third of the quantity of provisions which
they did a few years ago. We are further great suf-
ferers in consequence of their inability to pay. The
small shopkeepers, to whom we sell, do not purchase half
so many goods as they formerly did ; they are many of
them insolvent, and some absolutely brought to poverty,
by giving credit to the working classes, and have no
chance or prospect of redeeming themselves. I know
.some cases where shopkeepers' returns were four years
ago from 16/. to 20/. weekly, and who now only return
from 31, to eV I have further evidence from other
gentlemen, who have kindly supplied me with infor-
mation
to the same effect ; but I presume that what
I have already adduced will be considered ample.
I now propose to introduce the evidence of two other
tradesmen occupied in the making of clothing ; the
first of whom says,—" Five years ago I employed
twenty-seven men weekly, on full work ; I now only
employ from ten to sixteen, and those but partially.
The middle classes neither buy so much as formerly,
nor pay so promptly. The working classes purchase
'very little of the tailors and their payment is still worse."
-The next, with which I shall conclude the evidence of
this class of tradesmen, says,—" There has been a gra-
dual falling off in the demand in my business for seve-
ral years, but to a greater extent within the last two.
My regular customers, who are principally among the
_middle classes, do not order so many clothes as formerly ;
and among those of them connected with business there
is a great deficiency in their orders ; credit is also more
hazardous. From Midsummer to Michaelmas last, the
trade was much worse than it has been from the time I
commenced business, in 1821. The demand this year for
winter clothing has fallen much below the average, and
the prospect for winter is most distressing. My case is
not an exception to the trade—it is so universally ; and
with those more dependent upon the working classes the
case is much worse."—(Hear, hear.) I now adduce the
'evidence of another tradesman, whose sales, from the
nature of his business would be principally among the
middle classes : and who deals in articles which may be
considered luxuries, and would be retrenched, probably,
as soon or sooner than any other ; he is a fancy jeweller,
watch-dealer, and toyman. He says,—" We find the
outlay on the part of the middle classes very much
diminished. During the last four years our business
has fallen off nearly one-third. We do not take half
the amount in ready money we formerly did." I now
propose to introduce the evidence of the owners and
proprietors of house property, and particularly of small
.houses tenanted by the working classes. The first of
these gentlemen gives me the following information :
" I own forty-five houses. I have owned house property
for forty years ; I never experienced a state of general
depression like the present. My rents fell short last
year upwards of loot. I lose at least one-fourth of my
rents. I have three times as many houses unoccupied as
at any former period ; the houses I used to let at 35., 6d.
per week I now let for 2s. 9d., and should be glad to let
ahem all upon those terms, but cannot. House property
'has depreciated at least from twenty to thirty per cent. ;
in fact it cannot now be said to be vendible at all. There
have been many attempts to sell houses by public auction,
but in no one instance have sales been effected. In some
cases there have not been even any bidders present. My
tenants are at present greatly in arrears, but I am fully
:aware that they absolutely cannot pay. If I were to
change them I should not get a better class in their
places." I now adduce the evidence of another house
proprietor—an Alderman and retired tradesman—who
says :—" My tenants never were so much in arrears
as at the present time. They all plead the badness
'of trade, as an excuse for non-payment. I have
more small houses empty now, than at any former
period. I think in property of that kind, within my
observation, there are at least two houses empty in eight."
I shall conclude this description of evidence, by citing
only one example more—that of another large house
proprietor, who says :—" I stn an extensive owner of
small houses. I have superintended the collecting of my
own rents for the last sixteen years. House property has
depreciated at least twenty per cent.; a great reduction
has also taken place in rents throughout the town, more
especially within the last two years. There is a much
larger proportion of houses untenanted now than in
former years. One reason for this is, that two or three
families are obliged, through poverty and want of em-
ployment, to be crowded together in one house ; and
another is, that many, after having pawned and sold all
their furniture, and lived upon the proceeds till they were
all consumed, have been then compelled to go into their
respective poor-houses. I have for some time observed
that the poorer class of tenantry are yearly and daily
getting worse ; they have less furniture than formerly,
Jess wearing apparel than they were wont to have, and
less of all those domestic comforts which make life
happy ; for, sure I atp, that these deprivations have had
a great effect in alienating their respect for their em-
ployers, and in injuring their morals. They feel them-
selves, us many of them tell me. as degraded beings ;
and lose altogether that self-respect which it is so neces-
sary.,. every human being should possess"—(Loud cheers.)
'The last evidence I propose to adduce in connection
•with the distress in Leicester, is that of an old gentle-
man, whose vocation afl'ords him ample opportunity of
making general observations, and whose integrity and
shrewdness entitle his report to credence and attention.
It is brief and rather recapitulatory. He says:—
' Within the last font- years, the numbers of persons in
the habit of pledging clothing has very much increased.
Very inferior articles Of clothing are now generally pur-
chased by the working Classes. Groceries are purchased
:in smaller quantities and of inferior qualities. The owners
'of small houses find great difficulty in collecting their
rents. A collector of rents for sixty owners of small
houses, having 400 tenants, says that 200 of them, or fully
one-half, are in arrears of rent. Keepers of small pro-
vision shops,
say that they have given credit to those
they consider honest, until they have not the means of
. affording the same assistance, aria many of those partially
dependent upon them are in extreme distress. This
-elms of traders say it is useless trying to recover debts
'of their poorer customers, as they are generally in arrears
to their landlords, who, upon finding their creditors y
possess!"
cla-
morous, immediately seize what few goods the
We have now, Gentlemen, concluded our case as it
respects the existence of the distress in Leicester, and
the country generally, and painful and disheartening as
:is this recital of declining business, reduction of wages,
depreciation of property, physical suffering, and moral
deterioration among the manufacturing population, I
rear that not only is there no present chance of remedy,
bL't that it' the present causes remain unremoved, there is
all west a moral certainty that it will become worse.—
(II 'tar, hear.) We have forced our corn-growing neigh-
bou.'s, and customers, on the Continent, to become ma-
nufae-eurers, and their cheaper labour is gradually beat-
ing ours out of every foreign market in the world. Not
contented with this, it is invading us at home; and the
Saxons are at this moment sending cotton gloves into
England, at just one-half the price for which English
manufacturers can afford to sell them. Without our
commercial policy is therefore quickly changed, these
:midland counties are fot-edoomed to inevitable and speedy
ruin; and while we ma nufacturers shall be gradually
...losing cur capitals, we eh all have the painful anxiety of
;living in the midst of a yearly impoverishing and natu-
r3.l:y discontented populatiron, who, feeling keenly, and
at the same time being only _half informed upon the sub-
ject of po!iticai eeono:nv, w;11 possibly consider us the
caaLle of distresses over the production or prevention
of which we, have not the glightest possiole control.
:.But, Gentlemen, I will m'w quote the concluding evi-
dence I propose to lay before you. on the sub.
ee of German competition and the growth of the
"eery manufacture on the Continent. One of the
est manufacturers in Leicester—in fact, the present
r—who once did a, considerable business v. ith Bel-
'sd Germany, informs me " that the demand for
,ry for the Continent commenced with him,
her manufacturers in Leicester and it
the close of the war, or about the
;17. The goods supplied to that market
e, twenty-two to thirty gage, stout and
black and slate colours, and men's
The trade increased for several
-feeble business was done in 1832,
and since that time it has been
e's„ d is now almost extinct—the
..se entirely supplied with hosiery
;sewers and those of Saxony.
f a gentlemen who has been in

the habit of consigning hosiery to the United' States. He
says—" For fifteen years, up to 1838, I have occasionally
shipped worsted and cotton hose to the United States.
Since that time I have regularly corresponded with my
agent at New York, whose long standing and integrity
will bear the strictest test of comparison. His advice
has invariably been--'send no more cotton hose here: the
Germans are beating you, in make and price, to such an
extent, that it would be folly to do so.'—(Loud cries of
" Hear, hear.") At his recommendation and introduction,
I have imported hose and gloves from Germany, to a
considerable amount, and which it is my intention to
continue. The hose, paying a duty of twenty per cent.
yield a fair profit in this country ; they have hitherto
been of a fine make, but I have just received samples of
a heavier style, which you may inspect, and which I
have no doubt will sell well. In men's brown and white
cotton half hose, I can meet with nothing in our market
to equal them for quality and price. Women's open
work cotton gloves, with twenty per cent. import duty
paid upon them, are then fifty per cent. less than they
can be made for here ; of which I have imported many
cases. Of these, the principal London houses make a
leading article, at a balte remuneration, to the exclusion
of our own. I know, further, that one of the first
houses in London, who are extensive makers of cotton
hose themselves, buy largely in the German markets
for home consumption." I now adduce the further
evidence of a large London house, who are exten-
sive importers of French and German gloves. They
say :—" We are importers of German cotton gloves, and
we have imported them for eight years. They are bought
by British merchants and factors, for British home con-
sumption and re-exportation, to a great extent. The
Germans now supply almost all the markets which we
formerly supplied with this article. Their manufacturers
are growing and gaining upon us very fast, and the im-
portation into this country is annually increasing. We
buy their gloves at 2s. 3d. per dozen, in bond, fully
equal in quality to what we can purchase of British ma-
nufacture at 4s. 6d. per dozen. Our opinion is, that we
shall ere long be obliged to buy all our cotton and Lisle
gloves from Germany. The portion of these articles
which we at present purchase of British manufacture is
entirely for home consumption, being in some instances
preferred to the foreign article, in consequence of being
made more to the taste of the English consumer ; but
this the foreigner will soon overcome. The merchant
invariably buys the cheapest article." The next is the
evidence of a manufacturer in Leicester, who has tra-
velled on the Continent, and has made particular inqui-
ries and observations upon the hosiery trade in Saxony.
He says—" I have travelled on the Continent and spent
many months in Saxony. While there I made extensive
inquiries as to the state and progress of the hosiery trade;
I found it was progressing with fearful rapidity. In the
year 1815, at the close of the war, there were not more
than 4,500 frames in Saxony ; in 1635 these had in-
creased to 13,481. There are now, in 1841, 25,000 ; so
that they have been increasing for the last ten years at
the rate of upwards of 1,000 per year ; while, at the
same time, the English manufacturers in these midland
districts have been for the last few years layint down
more and more of their machinery, till now at least one-
third is utterly unemployed. If it were not for the re-
striction laws as it respects machinery, I believe that
one-half the stocking frames in Leicester would be im-
mediately exported to the Continent. We ourselves
should not hesitate to send over 500 frames at once, if
there was any chance of sale—of course English work-
men would not follow them, on account of the low rate of
wages in Saxony ; so that they would be left without
frames with which to earn a scanty subsistence ; and as
every other department in the labour market is filled,
and more than filled, they would, after inevitably reduc-
ing agricultural and every other sort of labour, to which
they could apply themselves, have to be maintained as
paupers on the land. The amount of hosiery and gloves,
more particularly imported into England from Saxony,
is considerable, and is still annually increasing. In the
year 1827, the whole declared value of German hosiery
imported into the United States of America was 96,821
dollars. The statistics of Saxony now state that they
export to the United States, 1,500,000 dozen of cotton
hose annually, or 18,000,000 of pairs ; which is one
pair at least fbr every individual in the Union.
British cotton hosiery may be considered as almost
totally superseded in the United States. The Saxons
now further export extensively to South America,
both of which countries were formerly supplied exclu-
sively with British manufacture."—(Hear, hear.) I now
adduce the evidence of a Manchester factor, with which
I shall conclude the whole of the evidence I propose to
lay before the Convention. He says :—" I have an agent
at Chemnitz in Saxony ; he is there constantly, for the
purpose of buying on the spot, and sending me his pur-
chases, from week to week. I am regularly importing
German hosiery, and selling it to merchants, after paying
a twenty per cent, duty on import, cheaper considerably
than they can buy the same articles of British manufac-
ture. I bought last year 8,000 pair of English cotton
gloves for exportation ; now I buy them all in Germany,
and shall not be able to bny any more gloves of this
style, of English manufacture, at all. I can import them
from Saxony full fifty per cent. cheaper than I can pos-
sibly buy them in England. There is, beyond this, a
considerable importation of German frame gloves, for the
English home market, which is increasing from year to
year ; their goods I should say average at least thirty
per cent. cheaper, and some, particularly cotton gloves,
average fifty per cent. cheaper than ours ; they beat us
most in half-hose and regular made goods ; their
middle and fine qualities of wrought hose sell for the
same price as our best cut hose. They make five mil-
lion dozens of cotton hose and gloves per year, which
they sell on the Continent, in the United States, in South
America, and in England. We are shipping them now
in large quantities to South America, -which is compa-
ratively a new market for them. They have long been
shipped in large quantities to North America, and are
now bought by English merchants, and shipped out to
Canada and our own colonies, to the partial exclusion
of our domestic manufactures." Here, then, is evi-
dence collected from parties who have been in Ger-
many, who have agents at Chemnitz, who have for a
long time imported German manufactured goods ; all
tending to show that the continental manufacturers
can make leading articles in gloves particul;rly, 50
per cent cheaper than we can—that while our ma-
chinery is diminishing in actual amount, and while
one-third of that reduced amount is at present to-
tally unemployed, they are actually adding to theirs
at the rate of upwards of 1,000 per year. The end
of such a competition is inevitable. If the Corn-laws
remain unchanged, and this competition progresses, the
more markets the Saxons gain from us, the faster, of
course, will be our decline ; the more machinery shall
we have to lay down from year to year ; the less and
less employment will there be for operatives ; the more
and more will their wages of necessity be reduced—un-
til (for the painful alternative will force itself upon them)
whatever may be the price of provisions here as com-
pared with Germany, they must either leave the trade
altogether, and betake themselves to agriculture or some
other employment if they can (in which case they will
reduce agricultural and every other species of labour) or the
rate of manufacturingin this department, and many others
in England, will inevitably assimilate itself to the general
level of the wages of continental Europe. Nothing can
stave off this calamity but a repeal of the Corn-laws ; if
they continue unaltered it must inevitably overtake us ;
and, when it does, the condition of our population will
be wretched beyond the power of any language to de-
scribe. If the working classes could but see their own
real interests, a:-.d had had honest advisers, they might
still hope ; but in the absence of both, if the middle
classes cannot save them (almost in spite of themselves),
they are doomed by the landlords to wretchedness and
ruin.—(Hear, hear.) I have now, Gentlemen, gone
through an almost infinite amount of dry,
statistical details. I have proved the existence of
extensive distress and suffering in Leicester, as evi-
denced by the reduction in the wages of labour, to the
extent of nearly one-half, and that, too, in a manu-
facture which has never been interfered with by steam
power • I have proved it further by the number of fail-
ures and bankruptcies among manufacturers, by the de-
preciated value of the machinery employed, by the di-
minution of its actual amount, by the non-employment
of one-third which is at present in existence—further,
by the depreciated value of property in houses, by the
number at present unoccupied, compared to former pe-
riods, by the diminution in the amount of weekly rent
for houses, and the increased difficulty of collecting it,
by the ditnini4hed amount of necessaries and small luxu-
ries sold by shopkeepers and dealers to the poor, and by
their purchase .of coarser articles of consumption, and
by the diminished purchases of the middle classes them-
selves, in departments where retrenchments can be made.
In addition to ali this, I have shown the progress and
fearful operation of a gigantic foreign competition, which
has been nursed and fostered into vigorous operation by
our anti-national and suicidal Corn-laws, and which
threatens if unchecked and unaltered, to render all the
distress I have before referred to, as existing latterly in
Leicestershire, a permanent and confirmed calamity, that
no individual efforts, or private beneficence, or public cha-
rity, or even ultimately legislation itself, can alleviate or
alter. Now, Gentlemen, my deliberate opinion is, that wide
spread and deep-seated as this distress is, there is no real
occasion for its existence whatever ; and that it is a dis-
grace to a Christian Government, and to the advanced
thlcivilizationeaeto slited calamity,ofb foreign th ertehiagtew
nineteenthhaasr,or
r wasteddc
eesneotluuarrtlns.
substance
We have not
h pestilence,ee er
or
de-
stroyed our
years of nearly profound
population • '
end
pveeseaer,eanatd theatthof
twenty-six
esametirnehave
been in the Possession all this time of every natural ad-
vantage ; we have minseoriall
Navnedhcaolael ; weithalavea ad genial
n enter-
pcteliiimsear
waendhjaavefetrhtiele
most skilful artizacnaspin Europe • we
t
have the most exquisite machinery, and the first nationaleat'i
character in the world for energy, patient application,
perseverance, and industry ; and yet with all
ad-
vantages, both natural and adventitious, our manufac-
tures are decaying, our artisans are unemployed our
commerce is declining, foreign rivalry is surroudir;g us
on on all sides, while famine and discontent are stalking
ss
through the length and
my
hof the land.
that surrounding I
do not
hesitate to give it as decided opinion,
altered and awful state of things is produced mainly by
the existence of our corn-laws ; and I look with fear and
dread at the tremendous experiment which is making by
the landlords, in thus putting to hazard the security of
property and the existence of social order, for an advan-
tage to them of such a short-lived and questionable
character.— (Hear, hear.) No violations of great moral
laws can ever go unpunished—it is so arranged by the
Ruler of the Universe—and the Corn-laws are flagrant
violations of the laws of God, and the clearest rights of
man. Here we have warehouses loaded with goods which
we cannot vend, and operatives starving for want of em-
ployment. In the United States they have granaries
overflowing with corn, and interminable plains teeming
with easy fertility ; and we are not allowed to exchange
our mutual productions for the common benefit of both.
I believe some righteous retribution will overtake such
wicked and monstrous legislation.—(Loud cheers.) I
believe, further, that if the Corn-laws were repealed to-
morrow, that it would be immediately followed by the
prosperity of 1822, 1834, 1835, and 1836 ; and that this

would not be a temporary impulse, communicated to bu-
siness, but that it would be continuous, and might, hu-
manely speaking, be eternal.—(Renewed cheers.) I be-
lieve that, almost immediately upon the repeal of these
laws, the manufacturing interests of this country would
rise up like earth-born giants, and start forward with
newness of life, and that every year of our future exist-
ence would only teem with fresh and more convincing
evidences of local, social, and national happiness ; but if
they are not repealed, and that too in a short time, our
manufacturers will emigrate, or be overtaken with bank-
ruptcy and ruin, our operatives will be starved down to
the level of the Irish, or maintained as paupers on the
land ; or consequences may follow more serious and
fatal still—we may have the bonds of civil society torn
rudely asunder, and be overtaken with all the horrors of
a bloody revolution and a civil war.—(Great cheering.)
In the hope that our Legislators may take warning in
time, and that they may properly improve the informa-
tion, which it is the design of this meeting to make as
public as possible, I have pleasure in moving the resolu-
tion which has been placed in my hands.—(Cheers.)
Mr. Biggs concluded by moving the following resolution
—" That the manufactures of the Midland districts have
for several years been gradually declining, and lately
with unexampled and fearful rapidity, particularly the
framework knitting branches, which have sunk into a
state of sad and unprecedented depression. That since
the year 1815 the wages of those employed have been
reduced nearly one half, an instance the more remark-
able, from its occurring in a manufacture in which the
principle of its machinery remains essentially the same ;
nor have its manual operations been interfered with by
steam power. That property in stocking frames is de-
preciated in value, and a large number now unemployed.
That our export trade in hosiery to the European States
(formerly important) is nearly extinct ; and the trade
with America is almost superseded by German competi-
tion. That unless some efficient measures of relief be
speedily adopted by the Legislature, the trade of the
Midland counties will be irremediably ruined, and the
manufacturing population reduced more and more in the
scanty pittance of their earnings, will be borne down to
the extreme of penury and destitution, degraded in their
moral condition, and may be driven, it is feared, by the
miseries of starvation, into overt acts of treason and re-
bellion. That if social order be preserved, it can only
be by the fearful alternative of universal pauperism,
resting upon the resources and produce of the land."
Mr. JOHN JOHNSTONE, of Derby, seconded the resolu-
tion. He had to submit to them details of a very affect-
ing nature on the part of the manufacturing interests of
Derby, which, although in a rapidly declining state, was
much less distressing than other districts that had been
referred to. It had often been observed that the poor of
Derby suffered less in times of distress than other places,
and that he believed arose from the great variety of em-
ployments, 40 the industry of its artisans; and its pre-
sent comparative prosperity might be ascribed to the
introduction of the great 'lines of railway, and which
had added between two and three thousand inhabitants
to the town within the last three years.—(Hear, hear.)
Therefore it should not go forth, although Derby was
not in great distress, that itwas not free from the same

alflictiti; details. He would just take the jewellery trade,
when ad been cultivated in that town with great suc-
cess. It appeared from the statement he held in his
hand, and which might be relied upon as accurate, be-
cause they had exercised the greatest caution in forming
the information, because they were aware that the

slightest over-statement in any one part would damage
and injure the whole,—(Hear, hear.) On that account
he believed that many of the statements were
rather under the truth. He would observe from
them that there was a great disinclination on the
part of many firms to give them any information. The
years 1835 and 1836 were years of great agricultural
distress and great commercial prosperity, and contrasted
with the year 1841, they showed the great influence of
cheap food on the manufacturing interests of the.
country. In 1836 the average wages of the workmen
employed in that trade was 40s. per week, while at pre-
sent the average wages from short work of about two and
a half days per week was 14s. Bd. In 1936 there were
105 men employed in that manufacture, while at present
there were only fifty, although he believed the same care

and attention to business, which had obtained for the firm

so great a share of business, still prevailed. The diffe-
rence in wages paid between 105 men fully employed at
21. which was 2101. per week, and fifty men at 14s. 6d.
making 361. 55., was 1731. 15s. per week, or 1,8851. per
annum.—(Hear, hear.) The next case he would refer
to was that of a foundry, which had been established
nearly thirty years, and whose workmanship was equal
to any in the kingdom. Such was the rapid decay in
that concern, that the proprietor himself had stated to
him that while on the Ist of May in the present year he
had 144 persons employed full seven days in the week,
on the Ist December he had only eighty-five employed
five days in the week. The wages paid in May was 1801.
and in December only 761. 10s. per week, making a yearly
reduction of 5,3831. in one firm alone. With these
important facts before them connected with the staple
trade of their town, which numbered 35,000 inhabitants,
it was clear that there was a considerable diminution of

employment for the working classes. In smiths' work
generally there were 244 employed last year; the number
now was only 150, making a reduction of upwards of 7,0001.
per annum in the amount of wages paid. In one of these
establishments, where 60 or 70 of a superior class of
workmen were employed, and who were never without
full employment, they were obliged to send away one-
third, and had not sufficient work for the remainder.

In another branch, the making and repair of boilers,
where a few hands were enabled to do a large quantity of
work, where eighteen men were employed last year there
were now only nine, and these had very little to do, their
principal work being upon speculation. The reduction in
the millwrights' work was to the same extent. He would

now come now come to the frame-work-knitters' case,
which was the most important, as it employed the largest
number of hands of any trade in the borough, and he had
been at great pains to ascertain the truth of the state-
ments he was about to make. The number of silk-
frames partially at workwas 346, in the shops unemployed
198, in warehouses unemployed 60, and in frame-
smiths' shops 134, making a total of 739. Now he
would take the total numbers actually under repair in
1836 at 39. The round number in full work in the year
was 700, while at present the total number was only 346,
leaving a balance of 354 frames standing still.—(Hear,
hear.) Each frame employed one man and one female,
and the average wages in 1835-6 was 18s. per week, and
7s. for the female, making 255. In 1841 he found, from
the reduction of price, and the shortness of work, that
the average wages of the men was Bs., and the females
4s. The weekly reduction in wages in that branch
amounted to 667/., or 10,8031. per annum.—(Hear, hear.)
Now he believed that was even a better case than could
be made out in many of the manufacturing districts, but
still it was evident that it must be productive of great
destitution and famine among the working classes. When
he saw the change that had taken place of late years,
when he saw how badly the ingenuity and skill of the
artisans was requited, he thought it was high time for
all those who had any good sense or humanity to lay
their shoulders to the wheel.—(Cheers.) There was one
house in the silk trade which was in the habit of paying
2001. per week in wages, and it did not now pay 101.
Another firm, a hosiery concern, which paid 2501. weekly,
the proprietor had given up the business, and he be-
lieved his successor did not pay one-tenth of that sum
now.—(Hear, hear.) That would show them the down-
ward progress of their manufactures. There was another
house in the sandal-hose trade, which manufactured 300
dozen per week, and exported largely to North Ame-
rica and the United States. Time after time their
orders had decreased, and at last Saxon hose had Leen
sent down to them in a brown state to be bleached and
then sent out as English goods, which they had entirely
beaten out of the market. That branch of export trade
was now utterly extinct and lost to the country.—
(Hear, hear.) In the ribbon trade the falling off wLs
so great that there were not half the number of looms
employed, and the houses that were paying from 1801.
to 2001. per week in wages were not now paying 50/.
It appeared to him that the time was not far distant when
the same ruin would overtake the middle classes, and
when the landlords who persisted in continuiug these
iniquitous laws would be compelled to bow beneath the
storm they were creating.—(Cheers) At Nottingham
the price of gloves, whic in 1836 was 19s. 6d., was at
present only 7s. 6d.—(llear, hear.) Mr. Biggs had
clearly explained the cause of the tremendous reduction,
by the large increase of machinery on the Continent,
and the large quantity they had lying idle at home. The
distress might be inferred from the fact, that although
there was a great repugnance to go into the union work-
houses, where last year there were 168 inmates, there

were at present 245. He believed he could fully bear
out the statement of Mr. Biggs with regard to the Sav-
ings' Banks, from his own personal t bservation ; and he
hoped there were Hon. Gentlemen present who would
set the Right Hon. Baronet right if he resorted to such
an argument on any future occasion. He was satisfied

that they were no test of manufacturing distress or pros-
perity ; and Sir Robert Peel might as well have appealed
to his cook, his footman, or his butler, as have referred

to the Savings' Banks returns.—(Hear, hear.) There
was one other trade to which be would call their atten-

tion, and which had declined also, although the wealthier
classes might be supposed to be its chief customers. He
meant the hand silk weavers of Derby in plain and
figured gros de Naples, satins, velvets, and sarsenets. In
1835-6 one house employed 220 looms, which now em-
ploys only 120 ; another employed 140, which now em-
ploys only 90. In the years 1835-6, the average wages
of these workmen were 14s. per week ; the average now
was only 6s. Bd.—(Hear, hear.) It was well known in
the trade that although there was not a great reduction
in the price in velvets, yet the work being so much better
made, the reduction must be greater than it appeared. It
was said they were protected, but he would be glad to
show what protection the 30 per cent. duty was to these
unfortunate workmen, who received scarce 2s. a yard for
velvet worth 12s. The fact was, they were large ex-
porters, and the foreign price ruled the home price. He
believed the sooner they got rid of these fallacious and,
miscalled protective duties altogether, which were an
insult and a mockery, the better, and simpler, and clearer
would be their progress.—(Cheers.) In Derby, there
were several mills wholly unemployed, one of them be-
longed to Lord Scarsdale, and he was glad it was the pro-
perty of a nobleman, because it gave the fact greater
notoriety. That mill was filled with machinery, and
was valued at 1,2001., and had been unoccupied a consi-
derable time. It had been offered at the low price of 401
per annum, and nobody could be got to take it.--(Loud
cries of " Hear, hear.") The machinery was ultimately
sold a few years ago, and although it cost
1,2001, it fetched only 1501, and the mill
ben followedo.wrFma by
remained with its broken 'windows, as a monument
of their manufacturing decline, which he feared would
agricultural decline if they did not take
good care.—(Hear, hear.) There was another called
the Depot mill, which could not have cost the proprietor
less than 12,0001., and that had been standing still since
Christmas last. Surely it could not be said that they
were making artificial distress in this case, for the pro-
prietor was a staunch Conservative.—(" Hear," and a
laugh.) The distress in the trade of the town would, he