618 WOOL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1796-1850. Importation of Wool in Bales into the United Kingdom during the following years. Note.-There are no returns for the year 1813, owing to the London Custom House records being destroyed by fireFrom 1833 to 1838, inclusive, separate Returns were not kept of Wool importations from the ports of Port Phillip, South Australia, Western Australia, and New Zealand; and from 1839 to 1845, inclusive, many of the Wools belonging to these colonies were shipped via Van Diemen's Land. WOOL IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1796-1850. Importation of Wool in Bales into the United Kingdom during the following years. 2224 619 Total Danish. Sundries. Goats'. States. Bales. 7 5 1798 Note. Until the year 1845, the Wool imported into Great Britain from Buenos Ayres, Cordova, &c., was entered in the Custom House returns as South American, with the return of Peruvian; and the Goats' wool imported to the year 1840, inclusive, was entered as from Turkey, Syria, Egypt, &c. The Peruvian sheep and Alpaca wool is in ballots of 84 lbs. each. It will be seen that the total number of bales imported in each year, from every country, from 1796 to 1849 inclusive, is given in the last column of this page. 620 IMPORTANCE OF THE COLONIAL WOOL TRADE. Had we been dependent on foreign coun- in the palmy days of Phoenician enterprise, and when tries for the raw material of this staple purple and fine linen ranked among the choicest branch of British industry, our foreign and in Phrygia, also produced wools of superior quality, articles of commerce. Colchis in Thrace, Laodicea domestic trade would have been crippled, and a portion of the latter was naturally of a fine jet not only by insufficient supplies, but by black. Ireland, at one time, had numerous flocks high prices. Estimating the imports for of a similar breed. But Miletus, the Lord Western the year 1850 at about 300,000 bales, (or of his time, is stated to have produced in Caria, wool 70,000,000 lbs.), nearly two-thirds of this brought from a great city north of the Ganges, propreferred to all others. Pliny speaks of wool being quantity will be supplied from our trans-bably in Thibet, or Nepaul, by way of Bactria, also marine territories in Australia, at the Cape to supply the manufactures of Western Asia; it was of Good Hope, and in British India. I con- from these sources of supply, the material was obfidently look forward to a large progressive which, when dyed with Tyrian purple, conferred such tained for the manufacture of those costly fabrics, increase of this valuable branch of trade; celebrity on the commerce of Phoenicia. After the for if we calculate the population of the decline of the Tyrian manufacture, it appears to have United Kingdom at thirty million, it is not planted itself in Italy; Padua and Modena having, in an unreasonable allowance to allot six lbs. their turn, become celebrated for their woollen fabrics. weight of woollen garments annually to eachment of, the Christian era, had also attained celebrity Spain, antecedent to, or about the commenceindividual, if they could be cheaply obtained. for its woollen manufactures, and at that time exThis would require a supply of 180,000,000 ported largely. Soon after Caesar's time Britain lbs. of wool yearly, for domestic use alone. produced wool in great abundance, and in Anno Mr. M'Culloch estimates the entire produce times in the year at York, London, and Colchester. Domini 314, great fairs for wool were held several of British and Irish wool at 500,000 packs, It was about the middle of the tenth century when of 240 lbs. each 120,000,000 lbs.: the the woollen manufacture established itself on an home and colonial wools would therefore extensive scale in Flanders, and from that time to be only equal to the wants for domestic con- of the wool produced in Britain appears to have the commencement of the twelfth century, the bulk sumption, and leave nothing for the export been exported to the former country, and to such of woollen manufactures to our colonies and an extent, that it became proverbial that all the to foreign countries, a trade which is now nations in the world were clothed with English wool carried on to the extent of nearly £7,000,000 inundation of the Low Countries about the end of made into cloth by the Flemings. An extensive sterling annually, and is still capable of the eleventh century, having caused a number of great increase, as light woollen fabrics are Flemings to seek refuge in England, there they met as conducive to health in warm climates, as with a favourable reception, and gave the first stout fleecy garments in cold regions. characteristic impetus to the woollen manufacture I adverted, in the history of New South over the greater part of England. At this date therein; so that by 1189 it had become extended Wales, to the great national importance guilds of weavers had been established in Lonof the wool trade; but there are some other don, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Nottingham, Winchester, facts connected with this ancient branch of Oxford, and York, all paying fines to the king for traffic and manufacture, which deserve a granted to dealers in several large towns. their corporate privileges, and licences were also record in this work, in connection with the thirty-first of Henry II. (1185) the weavers of LonIn the valuable staple product of our Austral-Asian don obtained a confirmation of their charter, in which settlements. For this collection of data, I it was directed, that if any weaver mixed Spanish am indebted to Mr. Henry Burgess, one of wool with English, in making cloth, the chief magisthe best-informed practical men in England. breed of sheep had greatly increased, and that, trate should burn it. In 1216 it is stated that the The rise and progress of the growth and although the exportation of wool was still very coumanufacture of wool is associated with the siderable, the manufacture of cloth had also progresadvancement of society in Europe, and even sively increased, and that large quantities of cloth in in some parts of Asia, but especially in this exported; and in which state a good deal of cloth the grey unfinished or undressed state, were also kingdom; and the welfare of the Australian was also worn in England; it appearing that up to settlements has been so materially forwarded this time very little progress had been made in the by it, that the following summary of its his-art of dyeing, although we find the duties on woad tory, though almost too lengthy for these pages, may not be considered wholly inappropriate : "It is recorded of Phemius, the step-father of Homer, that he taught letters and music to the youth of Smyrna, and received wool in exchange for his instruction. The plain of Damascus supplied large quantities of wool for the manufactures of Tyre 1261 the barons enacted "that the wool of England amounting to £593 12s. 1d. in a single year. In should be manufactured at home, instead of being sold to foreigners, and that all persons should wear every superfluous extravagance of dress." How far woollen cloth made within the kingdom, and avoid this restrictive and sumptuary enactment was carried into effect, does not distinctly appear, but we find that in 1266, new regulations were enacted in respect to levving of duties on wool exported. In RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE WOOL TRADE IN ENGLAND. 1298 the king, by letter, directed that all wool and wool-fells of the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Derby, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Warwick, Leicester, Rutland, and Norfolk, should be shipped at Lynn; Newcastle, Hull, Ipswich, Southampton, Bristol, and London, being also other ports for the exportation of the same. It was in 1327 the king granted a patent in favour of the manufacturers of worsted stuffs in Norfolk; and in 1331, great inducements were held out to Flemish manufacturers to immigrate into England. In 1337 an act was passed, making it felony to carry any wool out of the kingdom, and at the same time, all persons, except the king and his family, were interdicted from wearing any cloth of foreign manufacture, on pain of arbitrary punishment; this enactment, however, appears to have been preparatory to the king (Edward III.) constituting himself the Mehemet Åli of that day, for we find him, immediately after, contracting for 20,000 sacks of wool, and for some years subsequent, the great wool-stapler of England, entering into and concluding negotiations with Flanders and other foreign parts, for the supply of wool, and for the year 1354, we find the following very circumstantial account of the exports and imports, viz. :— Exports. "By 1357 the king appears to have become tired of trading, for in this year, English as well as foreign merchants, were permitted to export wool and woolfells, to any country in amity with the king. About this time the woollen manufactures of Ireland had acquired great celebrity. The Catalonians, at this period, appear to have enjoyed the highest repute in Europe for their fine woollen fabrics, but were, at the same time, buyers of the stuffs called serges, manufactured by the Irish, for re-sale in Florence, where it is stated the luxury of dress was carried to the greatest height. A passion for what is termed luxury in dress, appears at this period to have become general over a great part of Europe; for we find that, in 1363, a sumptuary law was passed by the parliament of England, prescribing the kinds of cloth to be worn by the different classes of society. From 1363 to the close of the century, various regulations were enacted respecting the fulling, and the sale and exportation of both wool and cloths; and, although in the year 1391, the exportation of wool 621 is stated to have been much less than usual, the customs on it amounted to £160,000, over and above tonnage, poundage, aulnage, pellage, &c. In the same year, Guildford, in Surrey, is spoken of as the centre of an extensive manufacture, where the cloths had fallen into disrepute. consequent on the defective fulling and undue stretching. In 1399, cloths of certain descriptions, and below a certain value, should be exempt for three years from the charges of sealing and duty, for the ease of the poor. "In 1421 the following statement was presented to the king, as the proceeds of revenue for the year ending Michaelmas, 1420, viz.— "In 1429 it was ordained that, for the profit and wealth of England, the prices of wool and wool-fells should be raised, and that they should be sold to the merchants of Genoa, Venice, Tuscany, Lombardy, Florence, and Catalonia, for gold and silver only. In 1449, English cloths were prohibited in Brabant, Holland, and Zealand, which being judged contrary to the existing treaty, and found very distressing to the men weavers, fullers, and dyers, and the women websters, carders, and spinners, and all others concerned in the trade, it was resolved in parliament, that if the Duke of Burgundy did not repeal the injurious ordinance, no merchandise of the growth or manufacture of his dominions should be admitted in England. In 1463, the parliament, considering that the wool of England was the principal commodity of the kingdom, and desirous of promoting the industry of the people and the prosperity of the towns, prohibited foreigners from buying or shipping any wool, wool-fells, morlings, or shorlings, from England or Wales, except from the four northern counties, and the districts of Alverton and Richmond, in Yorkshire, and thence they were allowed to be shipped from the port of Newcastle only. In 1497, it is stated that woollen cloth was one of the greatest commodities of England, and that Henry VII. concluded a commercial treaty with the Archduke Philip, wherein it was stipulated that the woollen goods of England should be received in the Netherlands without paying duty; yet such appears at all times to have been the caprice and uncertainty resulting from the manufacturing mania, that, in 1530, we find foreign merchants, as well as English manufacturers, withdrawing from England, insomuch that the woollen manufactures very much declined, and foreign cloth was sold cheaper than the English, by which means much land was turned into sheep-walks for supplying the Netherlands with wool. "In 1534, an act of parliament (25 Hen. VIII., c. 13) represents the practice of engrossing farms and diverting land from tillage to the support of vast numbers of sheep, as an evil lately sprung up, and that some have 24,000, some 20,000, some 10,000, to 5,000 sheep, whereby a good sheep, that used to be sold for 2s. 4d. to 3s. at most, is now 622 WOOL TRADE OF ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. sold for 6s., or 5s., or 4s., at least; and a stone of wool, which used to be sold for 1s. 6d. or 18. 8d., is now sold for 48. or 3s. 4d., at least, &c., which things tend to the decay of hospitality, the diminishing of the people, and to the let of cloth-making, whereby many poor people have been accustomed to be set on work; for remedy it was, in substance, enacted, that none shall keep above 2,400 sheep (exclusive of lambs), and no man should hold above two farms. high time to do, the English manufacture of it being now too considerable, and so much sent into foreign parts as to employ or work up all, or nearly all, our own wool at home. "In 1608 it is stated that the English were but little skilled in the arts of dying and dressing their own woollen cloths, and therefore usually sent them white into Holland, where they were dyed and dressed, and then sent back to England for sale. It is surprising that those who made the finest cloths in the "In 1537, or thereabout, it is stated that the wool-world could not finish them, but the fact was really len manufacture was introduced at Halifax, in Yorkshire, and that, besides the largeness of its parish, which contained eleven chapels and about 12,000 people, nothing is so admirable as the industry of the inhabitants, who, notwithstanding an unprofitably barren soil, have so flourished by the cloth trade, that they are become very rich, and have gained a reputation for this above their neighbours. "In 1550, sixty vessels cleared from Southampton with wool for the Netherlands, so great (it is observed) was the demand for the woollen manufactures of that country, even when England had made a considerable progress in the same manufacture. "In 1552, the English company of merchantadventurers, who had had for the forty-five preceding years the sole command of the British commerce, had reduced the price of English wool to 18. 6d. per stone; in the preceding year they had exported 44,000 woollen cloths of all sorts, while all the English merchants together had, in the same year, exported only 1,100 cloths. "In 1560, the commerce between England and the Netherlands is represented to have attained a great height, the export of draperies from England amounting to 200,000 pieces, and the aggregate export to £2,400,000, to the great benefit, it is said, of both countries, neither of which could possibly (without the greatest damage) dispense with, of which the merchants on both sides were so sensible that they fell into a way of insuring their merchandise from losses at sea by a joint contribution. This then appears the period of commencing the practice of maritime insurance. so. Alderman Cockayne, and some other merchants, reflecting on the great profit thereby made by the Hollanders, proposed to the king to undertake the dying and dressing of cloths at home, to the great profit of the public and his Majesty; whereupon the alderman obtained an exclusive patent for it, and the king was to have the monopoly of the sale of such dyed cloths. The king thereupon issued a proclamation prohibiting any white cloths to be sent beyond sea, and seized the charter of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, which empowered them to export white cloths. In retaliation the Hollanders and Germans prohibited the importation of all English-dyed cloths; from this period the manufacture appears to have struggled with alternations of success and the reverse for a great length of time. "In 1630, King Charles is stated to have confirmed his father's proclamation against the exportation of wool, wool fells, and woollen yarn, upon pain of confiscation, &c., for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures, and ordering that for the better utterance of cloth within the kingdom all black cloths and mourning stuffs at funerals should be only of the wools of the kingdom, and the false dying of cloths and stuffs being a great hindrance to their vent, none should therein use any logwood or blockwood. The prohibition of the exportation of wool was further confirmed by parliament in 1647; and in 1660 it was further enacted that no live sheep, wool, or woollen yarn should be exported on pain of forfeiture thereof, and of the ships or vessels attempting to carry the same, and also a penalty of 20s. for every sheep, and 3s. for every lb. of wool, and three months' imprison"In 1567 the city of Norwich is spoken of as hav-ment for the master of such sheep, 12 Car. II., c. 22. ing recovered from the desolating effects of Ket's rebellion in 1540, and that its manufacture of fine and light stuffs had become famous all over Europe, and that the Flemings, about this time, introduced into that part of the country a taste for floriculture; this is also the period when Colchester, in Essex, was the centre of extensive manufactures of baizes, serges, and other light worsted fabrics. In 1662 several additional enactments were passed more rigidly prohibiting the exportation of wool. In 1666, 18 Car. II., c. 4, it was enacted, for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures of England, that no person should be buried in any shirt, shift, or sheet, made of, or mingled with, flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or other than what shall be made of wool only, upon forfeiture of £5 to the poor of the parish, towards a stock or work-house for their employment. In the following year, 1667, great improvements in dyeing and finishing of the cloth took place in consequence of the immigration of some workmen from Flanders. In 1685 an influx of refugees from France brought with them considerable improvements in the manufacture of fine worsted stuffs. In 1688-9 great complaints prevailed against the rivalry of the woollen manufactures of Ireland at the close of the century the total exportation of woollens from England was as follows, of which twothirds were exported from the port of London, viz :— "In 1582, the Hanseatic League (the German League of the present day) complained to the Diet of the empire that by the high duty laid on woollen cloth in England it had become twice or thrice as dear as it had before been, whereby the vast increase of England's wealth, 200,000 cloths being yearly imported from thence. The only remedy was to banish the English merchant-adventurers out of the empire, and absolutely to prohibit all manner of English woollen manufactures. The complaints of the League prevailed with the Diet, who passed sentence against the English merchants, and absolutely prohibited all English woollen goods. Notwithstanding the prohibition by the German Diet, it appears that in 1603 a duty of £1 138. 4d. was levied on every sack of wool exported by aliens, and the same for every 240 wool-fells, and by proclamation the exportation was afterwards prohibited, which indeed, it is said, it was and at the three following periods the value of all 1698 1701 £3,120,615 2,989,163 3,128,365 |