The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-08-14

men of the best business, habits and talents
are at leisure to engage i'm manufactures -
The more bulky is the raw material, and
the nearer 10 the place of its growth is the
manufacturer, the more sure and considera
BILE is the profit.
\ AS hemp and fax are universal produc
tons of the United States, it cannot but
happen, that the manufacture of them must
be general. increasing, and, before long, very
great. Ireland has lost, from various eau.
ses, much of her linen manufacture, aud
has not given us, for long time, very Ia pc
quantities of those kinds of linens, of which
we are deprived by the blockade of the
Baltic Sound. There is, therefore, the
greatest necessity for us to make our own
linen supplies, and especially those demand
ed by the army and navy
The linens OF Germany, Especially for
coarse shirts, frocks ,rowsers, 8<c.) with
some from the Dutch and Flemish manu-
factories; have constituted our principal
supplies for several years, particularly since
the agitations OF IRELAND, during the modern
revolutions of France. All these German,
| Dutch and Flemish linens, are liable to in
terrup;ion in their expiration, by the
French exclusion of our vessels frnn the
continent OF Europe. and the British cap
lures OF our vessels in going aud co,n
ing These things must give spring to the
production OF fax and hemp; and they must
occasion American substitutes from those
two raw materials and of cotton, to be made
In our families and manufactures. The
universal instruction of females in the art of
weaving. as domestic employment. would
contribute greatly TO such manufactures, and
10 the comfort and happiness of the sex -
1t should be condition of all females in
dentures, that the girls should be taught to
weave during heir time of service II can
be easily effected in few days, or in the
evenings OF very few weeks. IL MANY IF
the counties of England the women weave,
as large numbers do in our Eastern, n. nth
ern and Southern states. BY this exceilenc
lPractice, the men are left for the ,iutres OF
the farm. and other employments, requiring
lexPusure and strength If by water, horse
and steam, we cara and spin, and females
weave, cur manufactures will support the
agriculture of the men. 1t may DE safely as
lsumed, that, it the women of our country.
now unemployed in weaving, were to wo, K
at 1t during one half of six DAYS in the week.
they would make enough of woolIen, linen
ana cotton cloths, and hosiery, to furnish our
houses and ciothe the inha bitants, Including
war establishment of the army and navy.
In this way may our American ma'rons and
their daughters, contribute to Correct the
adthors of the indiguities and injuries, which
we suffer from foreign violence and impro
loity. They would furnish the hammocks
OF the honest tars, who are to bear our thun
Iders over the main, and the beds Of the sol
,diers, who are ( defend our affairs and our
homes. II is in possible for us to foresee
now soon our supplies may be cut oft, how
soon our means of paying for them in our
own produce, may be terminated: nor how
soon commitment in the outrageous con
.,c
that all our men and Women TOO should do
leheIr duty. Let us then turn our agricul..
ture, our business, our capitals and our
minds, In timely anticipation, to the bene
neral and necessary increase of manufac
lures requisite to comfort and defence.
In considering the subject of hemp and
max and their manufactures cut off from our
markets by foreign violence and improbiuy.
: we are not to forget that. it they amount to
seven or eight thousand tons, our surhius
cotton exported in one year, has been Sky
four millions ofpounds, which exceeds 2S 500
tons: Since the invention of he American
cotton gin, by which the powers of agricui-
ture IN the southern states have been set
loose, there is no limit TO our capacity to
bring Cotton TO market. but the demand for
manufacture or expectation Every year
does and will add to our list of goods made
from cotton. In no branch will these goods
; be more frequent, more easy, or more useful
, than IN that which furnishes substitutes for
goods OF foreign hemp and FAX. 1t is con
ceived, for example, thar one fiftieth part OF
our ordinary cotton crop would make as
much American twilled cotton drilling lin
lieu OF the hemPen drilling, ravens duck &
sheetiEgs of Russia) as would furnish two
sum mer suits for each man of an army of one
hundred and fifty thousand men. Consider
> ing the redundance and steady increase oil
' our cotton, and the numerous substitutes fol-
foreign goods. which may be made of il toe
frequent occasion cannot be taken to notice
) its applicability to old and new uses. When
we remember that cotton is much more easy
and less costly to raise or procure than fla X
hemp. wool, silk or leather, we cannot doubt
that 1t will fall in price, till the cheapes,
cotton shall be as loH as the cheapest of those
materials. To increase our cotton manu-.
features, and either to duty or to Danish those
OF the countries beyond the Cape of Good
Hope, which are neOer made of oDr cotton
would obviously be to encourage and support
the American Agriculture. Upon the whole
subject OF this paper, as it relates to public
supplies and those for private use, it. behoyes
us anonymously and deliberately to consider
the most easy. prompt, effectual and profita
bic modes of procuring, through the means
OF our various raw materials, substitutes for
the hemp and flax, and the hempen and
fiaxen goods. Of which foreign cupdity and
usurpation are likely to deprive us by orders
and decrees or captures and seizures. The
r = belligerent powers have really placed our