The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-22 00:00:00

THE SUPPLY OF CO7TON.

In the sixth department of the Association for the Pro-
motion of Social Science, on Tuesday, Mr. T. Bazley read
a paper on cott) He said—ln the last few centuries ap-
prehension, had been entertained that the soil of Britain
was u a qual to the support of a continually increasing po-
pulation, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth restrictions
to the increase of clwellingsewere attempted to be enforced.
Improvement in agriculture, nevertheless, greatly relieved
the pressing necessity for the imported supplies of food,
and upon the whole to the commencement of the present
century home produce supplied increasing wants ; but in
I the reign of George the Third the agricultural products
were inadequate to afford abundance to the greatly en-
' larged population. The landed proprietors were aware of
this fact, and being pressed by heavy taxation, resulting
from the costly continental wars, obtained from the legis-
lature protection for corn, under the double plea of being
enabled to meet the demands of the people for food and of
the national exchequer for the exigencies of the State.
Under extraordinary difficulties, the system of protection
was continued to the year 1846, but then wise counsels pre-
vailed, and corn became essentially a free commodity of ex..
change. Food having, consequently, been provided for, and
its unrestricted foreign import being permitted, increased
productiveness at home of everything which could be con-
verted into exports for the payment of coming comforts in-
cited to unwonted activity. The industry engaged in the
fabrication of woollen manufactures has been circumscribed
by the limited production of home grown wool, and though
large imports of beautifully fine wool have given a great
impulse to this branch of business, yet neither tho wants of
the people in this or any other country of woollen fabrics
I could create a demand to employ increasing labour to the
extent of its existence, nor consume productions of this bless
to supply payment for the whole of those imports. Linen
yarns and fabrics have been produced by well paid and well
supplied labour, but this industry alone could not provide
payment for the large imports poured into this country.
Flax may be regarded as a foreign production as now con-
sumed by British manufactures, and no doubt the extent of
the industry employed upon it has been limited by the de-
ficient, irregular, and costly supply of this raw material,
great inconvenience having been sustained by capitalists
and labourers from its insufficient production. Other
foreign products, silks, skins, and woods, have afforded pro-
fitable labour to our constantly increasing workpeople, but
have only contributed a minor share of the payments re-
quired from imports. After exhausting the application of
native products to manufacturing employment, it is obvious
that materials, whereon to engage the skill and labour of
our people, must be obtained from foreign sources. Beyond
the materials referred to, cotton has contributed more im-
portantly than any other to sustain the social fabric, to
promote the industrial prosperity of the British empire, to
afford employment to the increasing population, to diffuse
support at home and abroad, to recompense capital and
labour, to replenish an ever-craving national exchequer, and
to raise the manufacturing (moral and intellectual) standard
of the working-classes of this country to a higher eminence
than has been attained in any other country. Mr. Bazley
contended that with cotton there would be employment and
food while without it there would be famine and expatria-
tion.