LINEN (in German, linηeη, leinwand’), a species of cloth usually made of thread of flax, but sometimes also of hemp. Linen seems to have been known and manufactured in Egypt from the earliest times, and used, if not as an article of ordinary dress, at least in swathing the bodies of the dead. But it was not worn by the Jews, the Greeks, or the Romans, under tunics of a finer texture having amongst them supplied the place of shirts; and hence the necessity of frequent bathing. Alexander Severus was the first Roman emperor who wore linen; but the use of this necessary article did not become common until long after his time.

The manufacture of this commodity has been prosecuted in England for a very long period, probably since the time of the Romans; but though its progress has been considerable, particularly within the last twenty or thirty years, it has not been so great as might have been anticipated. This is no doubt to be ascribed partly to the efforts which have been made to encourage and bolster up the manufacture in Ireland and Scotland, and partly to the rapid growth of the cotton manufacture, the fabrics of which have to a considerable extent supplanted those of linen.

In 1698, both houses of parliament addressed the king, William III., representing that the progress of the woollen manufacture of Ireland was such as to prejudice that of England, and that it would be for the public advantage were the former discouraged, and the linen manufacture established in its stead. His majesty replied that he would do all that in him lay to discourage the woollen manufacture in Ireland, to encourage the linen manufacture, and to promote the trade of England. Nothing can be more strikingly characteristic of the erroneous and illiberal notions which were then entertained respecting the plainest principles of public economy, than this address, and the answer made to it by the sovereign. But whatever the people of Ireland might think of the king of England deliberately avowing his determination to do all in his power to crush a manufacture in which they had made considerable progress, government had no difficulty in prevailing upon the legislature of that country to second their views, by prohibiting the exportation of all woollen goods from Ireland, except to England, where prohibitory duties were already imposed on the importation of such goods. The parliament and government of England, however, though anxious to protect the woollen manufacture of that country, never discovered any backwardness to promote the linen trade of Ireland; and ever since the reign of William III. it has been the object of regulation and encouragement. It may indeed be doubted whether the regulations in question have always been the most judicious that might have been devised, and whether Ireland has really been benefited by the forced extension of the linen manufacture. Mr Young and Mr Wakefield both contend that the extension of the linen manufacture has not been advantageous to that country; and it seems to be sufficiently established, that though the manufacture might not have been so widely diffused, it would have been in a sounder and more healthy state had it been less the subject of legislative interference.

Besides premiums and encouragements of various kinds, bounties were granted on the exportation of linen from an early period down to the year 1830. In 1829, for instance, notwithstanding the bounty had then been very much reduced, it amounted to about L.300,000, or nearly one-seventh of the declared value of the linen exported in that year. It would be difficult to imagine a greater abuse than this. Such a bounty, instead of promoting the manufacture, rendered those engaged in it comparatively indifferent to improvements; and, though it had been otherwise, the policy of persisting, during more than a century, in supplying foreigners with linens for less than they cost, cannot possibly be defended. There is no reason to doubt, that were the various sums expended in well-meant but useless attempts to force this manufacture, added together with their accumulations at simple interest, they would be found sufficient to yield an annual revenue little if at all inferior to the entire value of the linens which we now send abroad. In fact, the business never began to do any real good, or to take firm root, until this manufacture ceased to be a domestic one, and was carried on principally in mills, and by the aid of machinery; a change which the forcing system, so long pursued, tended to counteract. The only real and effective legislative encouragement which the manufacture has ever met with, has been the reduction of the duties upon flax and hemp, and the relinquishment of the absurd attempts made to force the growth of these raw commodities at home.

The following table, which it is to be regretted the parliamentary accounts do not furnish the means of continuing to the present day, exhibits an account of the quality and value of the linens exported from Ireland, during a period of nearly thirty years, from 1800 to 1829 both inclusive.
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Of these exports more than twelve-thirteenths have been to Great Britain. The total average exportation during the three years ending with 1825, was 51,947,413 yards, of which 49,031,073 were sent to this country; the exports to all other parts being only 2,916,340 yards. Since 1825, the trade between Ireland and Great Britain has been placed on the footing of a coasting trade, so that linens are now exported and imported without any specific entry at the Custom-house.

In 1727, a board of trustees was established in Scotland for the superintendence and improvement of the linen manufacture. It is not probable that the institution of this board could of itself have been of any material service; but considerable bounties and premiums being at the same time given on the production and exportation of linen, the manufacture went on increasing. Still it did not increase as fast as cotton and some others, which received no adventitious support, until machinery began to be extensively employed in the manufacture; and hence it is doubtful whether the influence of the bounty has been as great as it might at first view appear to have been. The regulations as to the manufacture, after having been long objected to by those concerned in it, were abolished in 1822; and the bounties have in like manner ceased.

Dundee is the principal seat of the Scottish linen manufacture, and its progress there has latterly been extraordinary. The manufacture appears to have been introduced into Dundee about the beginning of the last century; but for a long period its progress was comparatively slow. In the year 1745, the quantity of flax imported amounted only to seventy-four tons, without any hemp; and the shipments of linen cloth, during the same year, were estimated at about 1,000,000 yards; but no mention is made either of sail-cloth or of bagging. In 1791, the imports of flax amounted to 2444 tons, and those of hemp to 299 tons; whilst the exports of that year were 7,842,000 yards of linen, 280,000 yards of sail-cloth, and 65,000 yards of bagging. From this period the trade began to extend itself gradually. Previously to the peace of 1815, no great quantity of machinery had been employed in spinning; but about this period, the trade began to increase rapidly, partly in consequence of the improvement of the machinery, and its extensive employment in the manufacture, and partly also from the greater regularity with which supplies of raw material were obtained from the northern powers. Indeed its progress has been quite astonishing; the imports of flax having risen from 3000 tons in 1814, to 15,000 tons in 1830. The exports of manufactured goods have increased in a corresponding ratio. During the year ending on the 31st of May 1831, there were imported into Dundee 15,010 tons of flax, and 3082 of hemp; and there were shipped off 366,817 pieces, being about 50,000,000 yards, of linen; 85,522 pieces, or about 3,500,000 yards, of sail-cloth; and about 4,000,000 yards of bagging; making a total of about 57,500,000 yards. In the year ending on the 31st of May 1833, the imports of flax amounted to 18,777 tons, besides 3380 tons of hemp. The shipments of linen, sail-cloth, and bagging, increased in a corresponding ratio, and were this year valued at L.1,600,000.

It appears, therefore, that the shipments of linen from this single port are as great as those from all Ireland; and whilst the manufacture has been tardily progressive in the latter, it has advanced in Dundee with even greater rapidity than the cotton manufacture at Manchester. It is not easy to account, in a satisfactory manner, for this wonderful advancement. Something must be ascribed to the convenient situation of the port for obtaining supplies of the raw material from the north of Europe; and more, perhaps, to the manufacture having been long established in the towns and villages of Strathmore, the Carse of Gowrie, and the northern parts of Fife, of which Dundee is the emporium. But these circumstances do not seem adequate to explain the pre-eminence which this place has recently attained in the linen manufacture; a superiority which must, we think, be ascribed, partly to a concurrence of fortunate accidents, and partly to the increased skill, enterprise, and capital of the manufacturers. From whatever causes this pre-eminence may have in the first instance arisen, it is obvious, however, that, having once been attained by any place like Dundee, it must be exceedingly difficult for others to come into competition [7:13:361] with its manufacturers, who have on their side established connections, workmen of superior skill and dexterity, improved machinery, and constantly accumulating capital. Recently, indeed, the advantages possessed by old estab lishments have, to a considerable extent, been neutralised by the prevalence of combinations amongst the workmen; but it is to be hoped that means will speedily be devised for obviating this formidable, and, we fear, growing evil.
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ł-f Cì [7:13:362]There are no data sufficient to enable us to form an accurate estimate of the entire value of the linen manufacture of Great Britain. Colquhoun estimated it at L.15,000,000; but there cannot be a doubt that this is a great exaggeration. Sir F. Μ. Eden estimated the entire value of the linen manufacture of Great Britain, in 1800, atL.2,000,000; and if we assume that since that period the manufacture has been tripled in value, we shall not probably be far from the truth. Professor M 4 Culloch thinks that the entire produce of the manufacture in the united kingdom does not exceed L.7,500,000; but some very intelligent individuals, largely engaged in the trade, do not estimate it at so much; and, at all events, we may feel confident that this sum, if it err not in excess, is certainly by no means within the mark. If, then, we set aside a third part of this sum for the value of the raw material, and twenty-five per cent, for profits, wages of superintendence, wear and tear of fixed capital, coals, and other charges, there will remain L.3,125,000 to be divided as wages amongst those engaged in the manufacture; and, supposing every individual to earn at an average L.18 a year, the total number employed in it would be about 172,000. It may, perhaps, be thought that L.18 is too low an estimate for wages, and such would, no doubt, be the case, if Ireland were not taken into the average; but as a great many persons are there employed at very low wages, it may be inferred that L.18 is not very far from the mean rate, more especially as a vast number of persons in Ireland are only partly employed in the manufacture, whereas by this estimate it is supposed that 172,000 individuals are wholly employed in it.

It appears from official statements, which it is unnecessary to give in detail, that in 1830 the aggregate amount of the importations into the united kingdom, from various countries, of undressed hemp, flax, and tow or codilla, of hemp and flax dressed or undressed, and linen yarn, is, of the first, 506,771 cwt., of the second 944,096 cwt., and of the third, 19,211; the official value thereof being respectively, for Great Britain, L.411,832, L.l,923,428, and L.104,559, and for Ireland, L.15,926, L.18,803, and L.19,623. The official value of exports, ranged under the same heads, is, respectively, L.l 1,798, L.7720, and of linen yarn nil; so that the official value of hemp, flax, and linen yarn, left for consumption in the united kingdom, in 1830, was L.415,960, L.l,934,511, and L.124,182. From other accounts, it further appears that the consumption of foreign linens in this country is inconsiderable; in fact, the real or declared value of those entered for home consumption, in 1830, could scarcely exceed L.20,000.

The regulations as to the linen manufacture may be shortly stated. They are as follow: Ist’, Any person, native or foreigner, may, without paying any thing, set up in any place, privileged or not privileged, corporate or not corporate, any branch of the linen manufacture; and foreigners, practising the same, on taking the oath of allegiance, &c. become entitled to all the privileges of natural-born subjects. 2d, Persons affixing stamps to foreign linens, in imitation of the stamps affixed to those of Scotland or Ireland, forfeit L.5 for each offence; and persons exposing to sale or packing up any foreign linens as the manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, forfeit the same, besides L.5 for each piece of linen so exposed to sale or packed up. 3d, Any person stealing, to the value of L.10, any linen, woollen, silk, or cotton goods, whilst exposed during any stage of the manufacture, in any building, field, or other place, shall, upon conviction, be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond seas for life, o∖∙ for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years; and, if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice, publicly or privately whipped, as the court shall think fit. These regulations are founded on 15 Charles II. c. 15; 17 Geo. II. c. 30; and 7 and 8 Geo. IV.

c. 49, § 14. (See M‘Culloch’s Dictionary of Commerce, art. Linen.) (a.) Fossil Linen, is a kind of amianthus, which consists of soft, flexible, parallel fibres, and has been celebrated for the use to which it has been applied, of being woven, and forming an incombustible cloth. Paper and wicks for lamps have also been made of it.