The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-18 00:00:00

SILK DUTIES.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS SPIRITUAL
AND TEMPORAL IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
The Petition of the undersigned Journeymen Silk
Weavers of Macclesfield, in the County of Chester,
HUMBLY SHOWETII,--That your petitioners were
examined in the year 1832 before a Committee of the
Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom,
appointed to inquire into the silk trade ; and the re-
sult of the voluminous evidence delivered decided the
then President of the Board of Trade not to attempt
any further changes in the protection given to the
silk trade, although he might entertain great ideas of
free trade in the abstract.

That, as your Lordships' petitioners' subsistence
depends upon the silk trade, they have collected many
official returns in reference thereto, which they now
respectfully submit for your Lordships' consideration.
In 1824 the British silk manufacture had arrived at
the highest point of prosperity, as by the
Trade and Navigation Returns it took into home
consumption—of raw and thrown silk, 3,877,7911b5.;
and of knubs, husks, and waste, only 133,2571b5.
The rapid advance of the silk trade from 4818
was remarkable ; but on the one hand a taste for
the wearing of silk goods had arisen in the coun-
try ; and on the other the introduction of power-
looms in the cotton trade furnished an abundant sup-
ply of weavers, displaced by power machinery. From
that time until 1826 the building of factories for the
throwing of silk was extensive; this operation being
chiefly dependent upon manipulation rather than
steam or water power, silk coming from the worm in
a thread, the integrity of which is not destroyed in any
subsequent stage of its manufacture by any peculiar
machinery, the same- easy process being as incapable
of improvement then as to this day, both in this coun-
try and abroad, the whole produce finding a good and
sure home market.

That, in 1824, f ee-trade principles were tried as
an experiment on this prosperous trade, by the reduc-
tion of duties on its raw material of manufacture ;
and in 1826 foreign wrought silks were admitted to
be brought into competition with the labour of your
Lordships' petitioners, with a view to induce other
nations to embark in reciprocal principles. From
1826 most disastrous results followed to the silk-trade,
wages were immediately reduced from 40 to 60 per
cent., as proved by the Reports of the Hand-Loom
Weavers' Commission, and also the evidence delivered
before the Committee appointed to inquire into the
silk trade in 1832 ; inasmuch as the maximum
price paid by the British manufacturer must
be that which would enable him to meet the fo-
reigner in the home market. By official returns it
appears that the revenue derived from raw and thrown
silk, (it being an article of luxury), before it was in-
terfered with, during several years was about 750,0001.
annually, which, with the duty on soap used, and the
excise on silk printing, raised it to near 800,0001. on
only about 2,400,0001b5. weight of the raw material.
By the official returns it appears that since 1824 the
annual consumption of raw and thrown silk, in some
degree, has remained stationary at near 3,600,0001b5.
That your Lordships' petitioners respectfully sub-
mit to your Lordships, that if the silk trade had not
been interfered with the 3,600,0001b5. would have
produced a probable revenue of from 1,000,000/. to
1,100,000/. annually, which demonstrates a national
loss of revenue in eighteen years or upwards of
20,000,0001. sterling. Upon this importation of fo-
reign silk goods, however, a revenue of from 200,0001.
to 240,0001. has annually been derived, but by the
fall of wages a far greater loss in exciseable articles
consumed by British artisans has accrued to the re-
venue, and the distressed condition of the hand •loom
weavers and silk workers is proportionately aggra-
vated ; and, therefore, your Lordships' petitioners
conceive themselves justified in stating that the re-
venue has sustained the loss before stated.

That by the official returns there was taken into
home consumption of raw and thrown 5i1ki3,477,2131b5.,
leaving a deficiency, as compared with 1824, of
400,5731b5., but oft knubs, husks, &c., 1,379,3141b5.
Your Lordships' petitioners have to state that I,ooolbs
of raw silk employ from 1100 to 600 hands to
prepare it for the weaver, and that only about fifty
people suffice to prepare 1,00,01b5. of knubs, husks,
&c., into yarn fit for the same purpose, which at
the best is but a spurious article called spun silk.
That, by the new tariff, it is proposed to reduce the
3s. 6d. on foreign thrown organzine, and the,2s. duty
on foreign tram ; and is. 6d. on singles, to one uni-
form duty of Is. per lb., without any regard to their
different cost of manufacture.

That further, in the schedule of silk duties, it is
proposed to reduce the 20 per cent. duty on
India silk manufactures to 5 per cent. ad
valorem. Until the new light of the political
economist had arisen, it was held desireable to
promote the growth of the raw material in the colonies,
and that this country in exchange should supply them
with manufactures. Seventy years since, when
India began to reel silk, every encouragement was
held out by the India Company and the Government,
that factories should be raised, and that British in-
dustry should be trained to work up their silk pro-
duce ; yet, under the pretence of doing justice to India,
it is now proposed to raise a new race of weavers in
India, and bring them into competition with your
Lordships' petitioners, with only five per cent. pro-

tco.,aand live upon lid.
tection. -
That your petitioners believe that
great
te com-
petitorsenxetewnt,andsubsist
eare still
untaxed he l
rice,
ei ne , slavery
sugar,
Bz.
or 2d. per day. Your Lordships hips' petitioners humbly
statements,. drawn from
submit for your Lordships'. gracious consideration,
ing the inability of the
whether it be a matter of justice to reduce the arti-
sans of this country to the same level, or to encou-
rage such an unequal competition...
That your Lordships. petitioners were examined
before the Select Committee on East India Produce
resdhow
thein lB4O,
highest and del
authority,ive
1 people of this country to compete with foreigners,
under a system of free trade, until they were
freed from the taxes which press opon their in-
dustry, and demonstrating the cause of the difference
of wages from the area population, revenue, debt,
and proportion of each, to each individual, in the
various States of Europe., and British India, from
which it appears that, in the United Kingdom,
the proportionate amount of the public debt to
each individual was, in 18.34, 321. 10s. 7d., and
the revenue to the population 21. Os. Bd. each. In
France, the highest taxed nation in continental
Europe, the proportionate. amount of the public
debt to each individual is 51. 19s. 7d., and the
revenue to population, 11.45. ; while in British India
the revenue was, as compared to the population, 3s. 9d.
each, and the public debt, i
9s. each.. Your Lordships
will perceive the impolicy and injustice, in the pre-
sent state of the country,, and the great number of
unemployed artisans, of still further aggravating the
public distress by bringing the impoverished artisans
of the silk trade in competition with the untaxed
natives of India.
That your petitioners entreat your Lordships to
consider whether this be a wise occasion to introduce
infractions on the scanty protection to the labour of
this country, when Mr. Clay, one of the ablest men
amongst the American legislators, has lately laid down
such opposite principles for the future guidance of his
• own Country; when France has, notwithstanding our

concessions in silk in 1826, so uniformly pursued a
contrary course ; and when Prussia and the German
League are meditating heavier duties on woollen
goods. And justly did an experienced Commissioner,
before his departure to America, enter his protest
against the removal of essential protections, when all
the surrounding countries were beginning to foster
their own industry.

That the follow'ing is a very brief summary of the
injury which will be sustained by the silk trade,
should the intended tariff become the law .of the
country :-Ist. It will reduce the duties upon Euro-
pean silk goods exported to our colonies, from 30 to
15 per cent.-2d. By abolishing the debenture
system, it operates against the exportation of silk
goods from England.-3d. By reducing the duty
upon foreign thrown silks to ls. per lb., without
any reference to the various qualities, or the different
cost of production, it will operate most injuriously to
the throwing trade—although it formerly received
the greatest encouragement.-4th. It%vvill reduce the
duty upon India silk manufactures from 20 per cent.
to 5. Your Lordships' justice and humanity, your
petitioners trust, will avert these impending evils.
Your Lordships' petitioners, therefore, at even the
eleventh hour, implore your Lordships to rescue
them from the pernicious principles of a system
of policy, which, under the specious plea of free
trade, by an anomalous fiat, encourages free-
dom in the superfluities, and restriction in the
necessaries of life—cheapens manufacturing produc-
tions, but supports the price of food, encourages low
wages and dear provisions, brings the competition of
the Indian weaver in contact with the British arti-
san, with only 5 per cent. protection, when
agricultural produce and manufacturing labour
should be both placed upon equal terms, because equal
justice should be the basis of all legislation.
Your petitioners will not manifest such distrust of
the wisdom, and kind disposition of your Lordships
to attend to their prayer, as further to enlarge
upon these various subjects, but, on behalf of their
fellow-countrymen, humbly pray your Lordships to
rescue the industrious classes from the evils which will
result from the further reduction of the protective
duties which are necessary under the present circum-
stances of the country, to retain many of the valuable
handicraft trades that exist in the empire.

And your Lordships' petitioners will ever pray, &c.
JOHN PROUT, Water-street Macclesfield.

THOMAS COPE, Fountain-street.
Macclesfield, July 7th, 1842.

DRAINAGE (IRELAND) BILL.
We called attention to this subject a few days since,
and are glad to find that some Noble Lords connected
with Ireland have looked into the matter, and the Bill
was yesterday postponed to give time for further consi-
deration and extensive change. We were of opinion
that, as was at the time stated, the Shannon Act was not
to form any precedent, and yet here it appears general-
ised, with all its arbitrary and taxing powers, extended
over the whole of Ireland, and devised with an ingenuity
which seems to have for its sole object the crushing pri-
vate enterprise, by the erection of a favoured rival in the
shape of a well-paid and expensive Government Board.
We thought better things of Lord Eliot than that he
should have been so far imposed upon as to bring in this
novel, incongruous, and expensive mode of draining
lands, or, rather, draining the owners, whose good lands
are to be responsible for any sum the Commissioners
and their solicitor wish to expend upon the bad.
Really people ought to be permitted to do their own
business, and if Government go on this way we do not
despair of the immediate creation of a board for sowing
potatoes.
. . . . . . . .

[This article, by mistake, was beaded "Rivers," in-
stead of " Drainage," Bill, in our publication of Satur-
day night. The Rivers Bill is one of a very useful cha-
racter, permitting the owners of pro, erty to improve
their own lands by deepening wnter-courses and rivers.
under the sanction of the Lord-Lieutenant in large, and
the Grand Juries in small drainages. This economical
method of doing one's own business, as contrasted with
the interminable expenses of a Board of Works, as in
the Drainage Bill, is certainly creditable to Lord Eliot.]

TRAGICAL DEATH IN THE PRISON OF DORNOCIL-2
Mr. Robert Lesson, vintner and flesher in Helmsdale
was, on Wednesday, the 29th ultimo, incarcerated
in this gaol on a Crown Warrant from Exchequer for a
penalty of 50L, which, it is understood, was incurred by
him for resisting a constable, when in the act of ex-
ecuting a poinding of his goods for the sum of eight
shillings, the tax or duty on a dog. Kesson, who was
an illiterate man, and of a keen and sanguine tempe-
rament, could not be persuaded but that he had
met with the grossest injustice, and from the hour of
his entering his cell, his mind seemed a prey to the
deepest vexation. His stomach having rejected the
feed that was offered him, he was on Friday visited
by the surgeon of the prison, who gave him some me-
dicine, but did not apprehend danger. The same
evening, however, when the gaolers went to lock up
for the night, he began talking incoherently ; his
mind seemed to have assumed a deep colour of reli-
gious terror ; he said that his eleventh hour had
come, and desired them to give his watch, almost his
sole property, to a nephew whom he named, when ho
should be no more. The gaolers seeing• him in this
condition, remained by him for a considerable part
of the night, and read from time to time portions of
Scripture. They left him a good deal composed about
two o'clock in the morning and retired to rest ; but
scarcely had an hour elapsed when the unfortunate
man appears to have become excited to a state of
frenzy. About three o'clock they were roused by the
crashing of the prison window, which he had smashed to
atoms in the hind fury of his delirium. Upon returning
to his apartment they found him stretched on the
floor apparently lifeless. The nearest medical aid was
procured, but every eGrt to restore animation was use-
less. Kesson was a native of Dunfermline, and resided
in Helmsdale for the last twelve years. He was of
gigantic stature, and of prodigious muscular strength, for
which he has not left his equal in the north.—Ross-shire
Advertiser.

FlRE.—Shortly before four o'clock on Saturday
morning a fire broke out on the premises belonging to Mr.E.
Roffey, wheelwright, in an extensive way of business, situated
in High-street, Camberwell, within a short distance of the
" Green," and owing to the combustible nature of the stock
upon the same, the place was in the course of five minutes com-
pletely enveloped in flames. In an incredibly short space of
time, the powerful engine belonging to the West of hngland
Company way on the spot, under the superintendence of Mr.
Connorton, the foreman, and a strong body of men, followed
by several others belonging to the London Brigade and parish,
and owing to a plentiful supply of water being soon obtained,
the engines were got into work; but notwithstanding
that the firemen exerted themselves to the utmost, upwards of
three hours elapsed before the fire was extinguished, and not
until the premises, with the valuable contents belonging to
Mr. Roffey were entirely consumed, and three other houses
seriously damaged.
THE HERRING TRADE.—On the west coast we
hear the herring fishery is very successful. On the north and
east coasts they are considerably behind. We had fresh her-
rings in town last week, which is, we think, somewhat earlier
than usual.—lnverness Courier.

A gentleman residing about four miles from Har-
borough, was recently angling with a friend on the banks of
the Tees, in Yorkshire, when the waters suddenly rose to an
alarming height; to avoid which they reached au eminence,
but were speedily surrounded by the flood, and all possibility of
escape was cut off. Persons at a distance soon discovered their
situation, but could offer no assistance, and here they remained
from Friday until Saturday morning, deluged with rain. The
flood at length retiring, they gladly left their perilous situation.
—Lincoln Mercury. _

RAILROADS ;OR • WAR PURPOSES.—The Berlin
Gazette states that an experiment has been made on the Ber-
lin and Potsdam Railroad, as to the possibility of using the line
in case of war, as the means of transporting artillery. For
this purpose a park of guns, with all their articles, and the usual
number of men and 'horses, was placed on the common car-
riages of the railroad, and was transported with the greatest
safety, by a single locomotive, from one town to the other in
twenty minutes. _ _

EXETER.—MORTALITY.—The Act lof Parliament
appointing Land-tax Commissioners, passed in 1827, contains
the names of about 140 gentlomen, who were authorised to act
as Land-tax Commissioners for the city of Exeter, and of that
number not forty are now living.— Somerset County Gazette.
The Port Admiral has framed a code of signals, to
be adopted at Mount Wise, in case of a fire occurring in any of
the Government departments. In such case they will bring
instantaneous and effective assistance to the required spot.—
'Western Tinies (Exeter).
DEATH OF MR. RICHARD POTTER.—It is with
feelings of no ordinary kind that we annoucce the death
of Mr. Richard Potter, late M.P. for Wigan, a gentle-
man who—although from continued 'bodily affliction of
the severest kind he has been recently lost sight of by
the inhabitants of Manchester—will not soon be forgot-
ten by those who had to fight the battle of local and ge-
neral reform, under the adverse and discouraging cir-
cumstances which existed twenty or thirty years ago.
Mr. Potter, who was in the Gsth year of his age, died on
Wednesday last at Penzance, where he has been resid-
ing for some time past.—Manchester Guardian.
Miss Hamblin, charged with the murder of Mr.
Ewing, of the Theatre, in March last, gave herself up to
the authorities on Tuesday, and was examined that
evening before Judge Bragg. The result was, she was
committed for trial at the next term of the circuit court,
but admitted to b :i1 in the sum of 1,000 dollars. Coun-
sel for the prisoner, W. D. Dunn and Daniel Chandler,
Esqrs.—for the State, the Solicitor, Percy Walker, Esq.
—Mobile Register.
ABSURD RUMOURS IN PARIS.—The following ap-
pears in the National of Thursday ; it is difficult to
account for such an absurd and dangerous rumour:--
"There was a report at the Bourse that an insurrection
had broken out in London, and that the Queen had been
made prisoner in her Palace. The English journals, re-
ceived to-day, take no notice of such an affair."
HAMBURG MARKETS.
Gil AIN.

Wheat, Marks 414 to 492 Barley, Mecklenbargh 165 to 189
-- Magdeburg :575 to 5041 Magdeburgh... 181 to 19/.
Anhalt, White 432 to 510.--- Holstein . 165 to 199
red :475 to 504 -- Oderbruck 165 to 184
.---- Brunswick 414 to 492 Oats, Elder l6O to IP ~i
--- Mecklenburg.. 375 to 495 -- Mecklenburg
--- Polish
456 to 549.- Holstein 1.9 tr. 901

Holstein . 375 to 4981
Rye, Mecklenburg 165 to 189
--- Marks lBO to 195
Eibing and Ko '
nigsburg lBO to 195
--- Pomeranian lBO to 195
Anhalt
Con
Carolina and Tennessee 7 %to 9%
Georgia, Ist sort 7% 8
2d 6 6%
3d and 4th
COE]

1-- Upland ------ 174 to 11)8
(Pease, Mecklenburg 225 to 284
IL Beans ee • . ••••••••••••••• 258 to 247
Buck Wheat.... 231 to 301
Rapeseed, Hanover
Malt •••••••••• 165 t. 186
Tares ........................ 220 to 2W
SON.
Marpnhani •••••••••••••••• 6 to 6%
Madras •••••••••••••••••••••• 4 ,c,i 5
SUZatg., ••• •«•••••••• 3% 4 %
laming° ...... ..... ....... 5 6

Mocbs. 13 to 13%
B3tavla
Sumatra —
Rio 2.114 3%
Bahia 2% 5%
- ....

Domingo 3% to 4%
Ls 4 7
Porto 5% 6%
Ilitvannah 00000 .1; 6%

AJUAC.—
Havannah, White...— 3 to N?:
Brown •2!,i,
Rio, White 2'S3 4
Brawn ,
Manilla. Brow

:h Ei?, Discount.)
Bahia, White "44 to 2;
Brown leg
Perrambuco, White
Urown ..,1% 3
rni 2% to 2%