The Sun.
London, England, 1826-09-23 00:00:00

NpiraT OP TFTE PITSTAC JOURNAT.A.

The taxes of Engl#►nd nw.,t undergo a "large, bold,
and speedy reduction :" uve hate this more than
onee upon cool deliberation—and now deliberately and
decidedly we repeat, that otherwise the manufactures of
the kingdom will experience a prompt and general Foci
pitatim towards that ruin which already has partially
overtaken them. We have said that our manufac-

turers throughout the north of England have in many
instances c. shut up shop," from being unable to ma-
nufacture goods at such a price as was to be had for
them in the -foreigninarkets. Look at the myriads of
dismissed and starving journeymen, and answer what,
has become of the. establishmenta in which these men
formerly worked. We have declared our firm per-
suasion that the decline of British manufacture *as
not owing to a temporary glut in the foreign markets,
but to the successful eompetitior, br foreigners in their
effiorts to supply those markets;----this assertion we firmly
adhere to, repeating it emphatically, and challenging
the strictest investigation of Its truth. If the markets
were generally glutted) there would be a suspension iii
the manufacture-of goods elsewhere, as well as in
Enfland. the '‘e ,were no market for cotton cloths
in -;.urope, A 914 or America, there would be no de-
mand for the raw material, or-for the material in its
earlier atageg:ol-: preparation, abroad, any more than in
this emintry„ Foreign merchants would not purchase
raw cotte„,-if'foreign manufacturers had no consump-
tion 4:or the: cloth. Now what are the facts of this fro-
Ir.irtant veition ? On consulting the documents pre-'
tented to Parliament from the office of the Inspector-
General of the Customs, we find; as it is stated in our
city article, that there has been of late an enormous
increase in the exportation of raw cottons from this
country. In the year ending January 5,1824, the
export was 0,318,4031b5. ; in 1825, 13,299,5051b5. ;
1826, 18,004,9531b5.---doubled in the. coursui,of three
years. Was this the consequence of a ; sudden shock
of a -cliprice of 'fortune, or a transitory revulsion in the
cotton trade? We say it was not, but that the cause
permanent in our domestic state, the consequence
has been regular and growing. Again, did the foreigni
rivalship terminate; with the returns whence we have
drawn these unanswerable records of a.declining ma-,
nufacture ? We say it did not. For the preaent year,
1826, the Custom-house furnishes no official docu-
ments later than the sth of April ; but by those of the
preceding quarter we learn, that from the sth of
January, 1826, to the sth of April, the export was
6,701,7651b5., whereas the quantity exported in the
!corresponding quarter pi last year was only 505,7361b5.
This quarterly comparison 'at the same time we do not
stand 'upon, because accident may hive done some-
thing, and the momentary crisis in the cotton-market
more, to retain the commodity in the hands which
then possessed it ; but, upon the comparison of, the,
first quaeter of 1826 with an equal period of any
former year, we have a right to calculate, as likewise
On the prospeet which' it presented for ie remainder
of this year. There is a further ground' for reliance
on the. aboyez-mentioned quarter, as indicating some-
what for the rest.of the year, in the :intelligence de-
rived from :individual sources,: relative to the .exports
which have since last April been recorded. From the
accrnints of brokers having access to the fountain-bead
of information,, it appears that the total amount of cot,
ton wool'exported from the sth Of January, 1826, to
the middle of the present month of September, hail
been 79;107 !bags; which estimating the bag to con-
tain 3001bs. make 23 ,750,1001b5. ofcotton. - This rate
of -export continued down to the sth of -January,
IRV, (and, it goes on without thy least symptom of
diininution), would. carry the export of' raw cotton for
the present year to 33,512,2581b5., or, in round num-
bers, for the four last years--
18E3
1824 13A00,0001bs. 1820 13,000,00011i5.
After this, can it be said that we hate the magnitude
or speed of foreign rivalship beyond what the truth in-
disputably warrants? Why, in the name of IleaVen,
should raw cotton be sent abroad, if it were not to he
there manufactured ? and if to be manufactured on
this progressive scale, must not the consumption of
the foreign article be progressive also ? Ilut it
seems we are to derive consolation for the export
of raw cotton from that of cotton twist'! If -.England
were a new country, which had just begun .to " try
her 'prentice band.' at manufacture, it might be a
plausible hoist for her flatterers, that she was making
a, good commencement, and selling, that particular
branch of goods which bespoke an inflint industry,
viz; the cotton twist-.-being' one degree removed from
the Condition of a raw material : this, for 4 young
trade, was beginning at the right end : it was an ;in,
provementupon no export of manufacture at all ; but
.
can any thing short of the grossest ignorance or disho-
nesty adduce the inc teased export of cotton twist as an
indemnification for the comparatively 'decreased ex-
port.of cotton cloth ? Is twist,'Which may stand as 55.
to is., -I.b. for lb., hi proportion to the raw material, an
equivalent for cloth which:may be wrought up tolo6s.
for "Is ?. We said that England, when she was con-
' ceived to be. most prosperous, had a' monopoly of the
foreign market for manufacturing cottons ; and all the
world knows it to be true. Our argument, a few days
since, went On to state that she could' riot hope to pre-
serve that monopoly ; and is it not true that she has
already lost-it ? -Was ever demonitration more power-
fill than the facts which We have quoted ? Even yes-
terday at the India House, says the London Price
Currod, "a third part" of the whole amount Of 'cot=
ton sold, "is estimated to he taken by the exporters
—a small part by the trade—the remainder by speeu-
lator3! Are they riot satisfied yet---the bolsterers up
of :iickly colifidence and overweening and childish self-
love ? Our remarks upon the wages of the English
journeymen have, we understand, been distorted into
an assertimi that 4, the English jdurneymen's wages are
too high." It ia aimiligliant falsehood that we ever
uttered an opinion which, thus unqualified, would have
been equally absurd and ifilitiman. 'the sense of our
observation" ways Pr"i"lr this t- The wages Paid to
journeymen in England are tot low -hi One -respect,
ant too high in another, aithrnigli they are_ scarcely
adequate to support the poor .workman's lire--
yare so high as to dkable the manufacturerl from
'H*l7
inaintaiiling a competition with hie foreign rival. This
is the real condition of this country. The work::
man emigrates, because he cannot home; and
the- manufacture itself goes with him, -becaust, the
same wages which starve the weaver, are more than
jinn for his toil. If then
hia:master con afrord to pay
we have declared that taxes inthst he dinnmshed, have
inan answer the
we not nude out our Case r
Can
The country has
case which we have established /
become.:too "dear to inanufaettire in. The only Iniman
t
means of ameliorating fire Fnglish jiopula-
the lot o.
tiOnp are arm increase of bread, and of money applica-
alienator ble to the purchase:- of it. Ihe grand of
money froM the uses of private ease and comfort, is
the Governinent ; and of the sum of wealth so.alien-
ated one-third may be Set' dawn as extravagance and
. abuse., We are told that an i.mmense amount of taxes