The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-02 00:00:00

foreign competition ; there was abundant to account for
that effect, in the appearance of the new machinery which
had been erected in Manchester. In 1819 there was not
one of those mills existing in Manchester. In 1823 there
were seven, and since that year no fewer than five addi-
tional mills had been established, making together twelve
since 1819; and many of them mills of great power. It
was curious to observe how regularly, though gradually,
that town drew towards itself almost all the manufactures

of the country. Before 1823, the mills were of 146 horse
power ; subsequent to that year they increased to 193
horse power; and now they had risen as high as 242
horse power. He confessed himself somewhat at a loss to
understand how it was intended to arrange the difficulty,
Was it desired to go back to the 14.5., the is., or the ss.
duty? It really seemed to him that his Noble Friend desired
to prohibit the importation of foreign silks altogether ; but
did he think that any prohibition would be productive
of better effects than the existing duty of 30 per cent. ?
For his part, as be had already stated, he did not believe
that the distress in Coventry at all approached the extent
stated ; and he would refer to returns relative to the
poor rates, which would set the question at rest. I❑ the
last twelve months the poor rates diminished, instead of
increased. He had statements on the subject from the
year 1816, but he should not trouble the House with going
through them in detail. In 1829, the poor rates of
Coventry amounted to 12,4001. In the year ending July,
1830, they rose to 20,0001. ; but from all the inquiries he
could make, that difference was owing to causes no way
connected with the silk trade. In the year ending July,
1831, the poor rates of that city were again brought down
to 12,i'00/. ; and in the half-year ending in January in
the present year, they were so low as 6,6991. ; and there
was every reason to believe that for the whole of the pre•
sent year they would not exceed 13,0001. The House, he
trusted, would bear in mind that there actually had been
no increase of the poor rates, though the population of
the city had greatly increased in the interval. He con-
fessed he was somewhat at a loss to understand what his
Hon. Friend would have. He seemed to say that he
Tould protect the English manufacturer from the effects
of foreign competition. He might rest assured that
no mode would be more effectual for that purpose
than the duty which at present existed. It was a
duty, which, on French gauze, French gauze ribbons,
and figured silks, amounted to from 50 to 66 per
cent., and that was surely a sufficient amount of duty.
Whatever other Members might s►y, he entertained no
doubt that the Hon. Member for Thetford would give no
support to a prohibitory system. His opinions formerly
were—and of course they remained unchanged—that no-
thing could be more absurd than a prohibition ; it would
never prevent any article in demand from coming into the
market, nothing but a duty below the cost of smuggling
would prove a useful protection. Ladies would have any
article of French dress which they desired to possess, if by
no other means, through the medium of a contraband
trade. The existence of a contraband trade was in itself

an evil of the greatest magnitude, and nothing could pre-
vent it while a prohibitory duty remained ; and there was
this disadvantage, that nothing could be more difficult
than to distinguish between British and foreign silks. He
would contend, that in the three important points upon
which Mr. Huskisson had hazarded a prediction, that pre-
diction had been fully verified,—in the skill of our arti-
sans—in the perfection of machinery ; and in the amount
of capital, our trade had decidedly improved. The Noble
Lord had said that there was no advance in machinery.—
He would reply to that by calling his attention to the in-
troduction of the Jacquard loom at Manchester. He said
farther, that the silk trade of particular towns had not im-
proved ; but he would ask, in reply to that observation,
was it not a fact that the trade of the country generally
had been benefited by the changes which had been effected ?
Inferences to guide the decision of the Legislature were
not to be drawn from the misfortunes of individuals;
neither did the amount of capital employed at Mac-
clesfield decide any thing with respect to the increase
at Manchester. In 1824, the number of looms iu that
town was six thousand, they now amount to fifteen thou-
sand. His Noble Friend had left it to he inferred that the
depression in this trade had arisen from foreign competi-
tion. If this was the eve, the fact must be proved in one
of two ways—either by importations that had taken place,
or by the increase of the trade of smuggling. But be
thought that he should be able to show that this was not
the case, for which purpose he begged to refer the House to
some Custom-house returns which he held in his hand.
From these it appeared, that since the prohibition had been
taken off, there had been very little increase in the amount
of the importations over and above the first year, when,
owing to the alteration, some activity was evinced. Ac-
cording to these returns, the official value of the importa-
tions in 1827 was 556,000/. ; in 1828, 677,060/. ;
in 1829, 595,000/. ; in 1830, 595,000/. ; and, in 1831,
so far as the accounts could be made up, it appeared that
the amount was pretty much the same. This, then,
clearly proved that the alteration was not to be so much
dreaded, when, in the course of five years, no greater
increase than this had taken place. Now he would turn
to the question of smuggling ; and he would observe here,
that one of the greatest benefits he expected to de-
rive front the Committee was, that its labours would tend
to convince Hon. Gentlemen that nothing could be done
in the way that the petitioners suggested. With respect
to smuggling, he did not believe that the trade had in-
creased lately much beyond what it was before the prohi-
bition was taken off. According to the best accounts he
could get, smuggling was now carried on to abeut the ex-
tent of 200,0001. a year, while at the time of the prohibi-
tion its amount was about 250,0001. a year. Having
thus stated to the House what was the amount of the im-
ports, he would now call the attention of the House to the
exports, in order that they might have the whole question
before them : and it was a matter of some importance, be-
cause if the trade bad really declined, as was asserted, it
was certainly not a little extraordinary that both the con•
sumption of the raw material and the amount of the ex-
ports had considerably increased. The average export of
British silks during the three years prior to 1824 was
102,000/. ; and in 1828, 1829, and 1830, the average
amount was 215,000/. ; during the last two years (1830
and 1831) the average was 348,000/. ; and in the last
year it was nearly 500,000l.—(Hear.) After this, he
would ask whether it was probable that this trade
was in the declining state that had been represented,
or whether we really had so much to dread from
foreign competition ? In the statement just made,
he begged to remark that he bad referred to those
articles which were composed of silk alone, and bad
not included those in which mixed silk was used
the latter, however, showed a similar increase ; for the
amount in the course of the year to which he had al-
luded had risen from 30,000/. to 79,000/. After
this, lie would not trouble the llmpte with any more
statements, but merely confine himself to briefly express-
ing the ground on which the Government considered
that they were justified in consenting to his Noble Friend's
motion for a Committee of Inquiry, without in the least
dep.rting from the opinions or the principles which they
had always professed. He, for one, was actually rejoiced
that the Government hail come to this conclusion, because
he was satisfied, that if the inquiry was properly conducted,
the truth must be elicited, and that that truth would afford
a moat signal triumph fir the pt inciples on which the Go•
vernment had acted. If he had had any hesitation as to
the propriety of granting this Committee, it was because
he never could look without great fear at any thing that
was likely to stagnate and disturb any of the large trades
or manufactures of the country. That such would be the
result of this Committee it was impossible not to admit ;
for the House practically too well knew that, on whatever
grounds a Committee of Inquiry was granted into any
of the manufactures of the country, general uncer-
tainty always prevailed with regard to the result, and
individual speculations in consequence were no longer
undertaken with security. Feeling this, he should have
disregarded not only the desire of many who usually act
with Government—such as the Hon. Afemlwr for Mid-
dlesex—and who were anxious for inquiry, iu order that
It ntight be shown that the demands of the petitioners
mere unreasonable, but even also risked the opposition of
those who felt it to be their duty to support the prayer of
these petitions, had it not been that the peculiar circum-
stances under which this trade was placed were such as
seemed to mark out investigation as the wiser course, in
order that it might be distinctly shown what was the si-
tuation of the question. He was ready to admit that his
belief was, that there was a necessity for an alteration in
the laws which had reference to the silk trade ; but he
trusted that he had said enough to convince the House,
that so far from the duty being :30 per cent., as intended
by Mr. Huskisson and the Right Hon. Gentleman oppo-
site, it was in many instances 35, 40, 50, and 60 per
cent. This being the case, he was satisfied that it would
be found necessary to change these duties, not with the
view of increasing them, for their amount was already a
strong temptati ti to smuggling, but with the view of
reducing them to that point from which the Government
of time
cost Right
ofstiu lion.
ggljng Gentlemanjtiiatth had
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lull protection of the law, but on such a footing that no
inducement should be held out to the smuggler to break
the law. He was satisfied that the result of the
inquiries of the Committee would be to alter the
duty on thrown silk, and to give to the consti-
tuents of the Hon. Member fur Coventry that advantage
to which they were entitled, viz. having the raw material
to work with without the infliction of a heavy duty upon
it ; and lie hoped that they woold be able to gu as fall's