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Leader (1850-1860), 4th February 1854, Edition 1 of 1, Page 111, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      alone , lie is , entitled to th 0 respect and admiration orposteiiti ^ B is a Wmsktfpot in tlie history of cotton manufacture t&a ^ the great inventions of Arkwri g ht and Ha £ gffeaV « s- were received by the working classes -with toe most savage and obstinate opposition ; that- ' they mobbed the dwelling and destroyed the : p . i * operty of the ingenious inventor of the jenny * and drove him to j die in penury and unknown ; that , they chased Richard Arkwright from Nottingham to Preston , and from Freston to Crotnford , in Derbyshire ,- —yhere at last he iound a haven , and where he built a mill , worked by water-power , * and a house , where he continued to reside during the remainder of his days . 1 do

      not -wish to ' dwell unnecessarily upon this painful topic , bat it should Tender us a little distrustful of the impelling sense of the operative classes , when we find that they have invariably and with lawless violence opposed the introduction of great mechanical improvements . Some o £ these terrible convulsions are , within the recollection of living men .. After referring to tne violence with which the great fathers of cotton-spinning had been treated , arid to the secret ; combiriationsi , vitrJot-iiHrowing ^ and assassinations in Glasgow , Sir James Kayghufctleworth testifies : — "Ihave myself seen crowds of machine-breakers dispersed ! , not mthout bloodshed ! I saw an Irish mob f

      ' run a-m « ck : in Manchester , andy mi two , or three hofursy before , interrupted by the military , ffu <^ evdral mills of power-looms in- Ancoats , and burn one . to the- ground near St . . Michael ' s Church . The resistance to the steam-loom prevented its introduction for many years in the neighbourhood of Burnley , and gave to -the Ashtqn , Hyde , and Staleybridge . district a prodigious start in the race of competition . In like mannei , machine-priftting , the self-acting mule , and naany of the minor inventions which have

      lightened and economised laboiwr , to the advantage both of the capitalist and workmen * have encountered resistance . There have always heen men above the working classes , either incapable of discerning an abstract principle , or too- passionate for calm , searching thought , or swayed by selfish or _ party motives , who ' have in such struggles taught the false and wicked doctrine of a necessary antagonism between Capital and Labour . " It is a subject for great thankfulness and congratulation that , these feelings are less violently manifested than before , but I fear that they are hot the leas deep-seated or powerful on that account .

      The third great epoch in the history of cottonspimiing occurred' about ten years after the invention of Arkwright ' s spinning-frame , when Samuel Crompton , of Hall-in-the-Wood , near Bolton , invented the mule . This extraordinary machine is fi , combination of the princi p les involved in Hargreares ' s jenny and Axkwnght's spinning-frame , and its great effect consisted not so much in increasing the production as in enabling the spinner to produce yarn-of much finer quality - than had ever before been attempted . The effect of this invention may be gathered from the fact that , up to that time , the fabric called muslin had never been attempted in this country ; but that within

      two years after the invention ( 1787 ) 500 , 000 pieces of muslin were made in Bolton , Glasgow , and Paisley . The power of this machine in taking the utmost possible advantage of the tenuity of cotton-wool was . exemplified at the Great Exhibition of 1851 , when a piece of muslin was exhibited by Messrs . Mair and Son , of Glasgow , made with No . 5048 yarn , spun by T . Houldsworth and Co ., of Han Chester . This is quite as extraordinary as the Dacca muslin , or «* woven wind" of India , f which is manufactured by hand , a power far better adapted for delicate fabrics than that of steam .

      So highly was this mule-spun yarn prized upon its introduction , that the Glasgow manufacturers at first paid for the finest description no less a sum than twenty guineas per pound ! The rapidity with which this mode of spinning spread through the country may bo imagined , when it is known that in 1832 the number of mule-spindles working in

      Untitled Article

      A * * Sra&Ifi&iEE ~ IN PABLIAMENT . The first question suggested ; to a ptiilosdphtQ observer bf the opening of the Great British Parlia ment is—why open the < 3 reat BritiBli Parliament ? The eiiliffhtened DUtpotism ^—of clever Ministers and a conscientious J ^ mce'CibnsortV botix ixncoiiidrbllea ^ - except by each other ^ wliicK wa « in progress during the recess , seems to hiv-tf answered Terr weHVaha ^

      at any rate ; the odd IJBeraJjournals , WHlch-hare been putting lueationa in largo ty ^ etCTsii ^ Atigttrt ^ 1853 ; must now l > e < K > nriace 4-tbat Pai ^ ament only shelter the enlightened I > e ^ tiBmM rendering more respectable it « v 4 g ^ rw » irr ««| MMiii-J Ttiesday * nie 1 ; ' 0 n ^ : td ^ 6 tth * € 6 writ '¦• • ' * . ' ¦ - ¦ > ¦' ' - ¦ : ' - ' ' ¦ y - ^ igM . ¦ & § & : '

      The manifest fact of tie day i « ^ that the eounflff haa ml > ounded confidence in th © ParUaB ^ nt ^ tt * a that the Parliamentttffetf unbounded alle ^ ance to theMhiistiy : and tne is «^ suggested by the SpeecH from the 3 &iriii&N > lii |^ day—why recommend , oh , your Majesty , a Eeforia of the Great British ParlMi ^ ent ? ¦ ; - >;^ - The eccentric prfhciplie'df th > - ^ tittt ^ i ^ i € e ^ i ||^ B . isatibn of the Grat British" 1 ^^ in of

      at the outset ^ the imtiatoiy pttgeantry tha " Openiag ; . ** l&everjfoimsgein ^ pomp there is to be observed a remarkable sy « ten % of constitutional d « lutiou . - In the d * j the peop 3 were hasalng the Court , on th © asnunptkHi that tko Court governed ; and had nonght ^> - ^ Ternw ^^ iit >| & evening the MfriisterBj ainiti the ^ plaudits of ^ Homes * were demonstrating that t £ e ^ € &iu ^ hi ^^ a right to- govern * and that the Court did goirernv ;¦ ¦ > ¦

      " The people ? were m the strata on Tuesday . Surrey bad poured o ? rte WestmiactWfbrid ^ ioto Palace-yard * and thePajrkhtrl « cr ^ coitermoageiy - —a melancholy race : filthy , deformedideb * iecl , savage—a people the dismal » in ot a civiliaed «» d Christian capital ; « nd they roarecl cheer * for a Mohammedan ambassador ^ and they roared executions for a Cbjiat ^ n , prtniqie- ^ their Sovereign ?* fctwband . "Why ? From the ^ ne , sympathies of a people spoiled by the traditional faith that they are fi « e » They cheered M . Mussurus because lie , represents

      Ikeoppressed , and they hissed Prince Albert because they believe Prince Albert has sided with , an qppressor . But the roars were not reapectable , roa t * The roarers we ^ e roaring mistakes ,, This , wan " public opinion" in England ; but you could not esteem it . Ignorant : and impotent , these unhappy wretches dad 1 not manifest any right to roar . Was Prince Albert interfering with them f If the populace of St . Petecfburg hissed the Czar for not driving the British out of Buimah ., they would be just as logical and just as ludicrous as the populace of London in hissing the

      Court for not ejecting Russia from the Principalities Paat the costermongeia on Tuesday drove carriage after carriage , to the number of hundreds , . conveying to the new Palace at Westminster reftaed and powerful men , beautiful and resplendent women ? these being the class who govern the costermongers , and with whom the costermong ^ ra have as slight a constitutional political connexion as a Russian peasant main

      tains with a Russian prince . Yet the costermongers , excited by costermonger journalism , yelled and yahed at the Court , because the Court was supposed to intorfere sometimes with the arrangements of the governors of the costermongers . —The Prince , screamed at , being a man who has spent his manhood in the attempt to cleanse the persons , cheapen the fbod , ornament the clothing , and refine the mind of the great British , self-governed , costeriaongery . All the eeremonieB and all the facts of the opening of our Parliament are surprising . The speech from

      Untitled Article

      « H . rf li i i , or Arkwr'K »> t' 8 Bpiniiin -fraiiio being t £ l > vorkod hy water-power , ft took tho name of TKe IValor-k pinning-Frame . The Throstle-Frame is merely an iinprovonmiit or this , and tho yarn used for warp w * ] y » ln- < ln ^ tln-ostlo-HphmiMB in to this dny called Water- Twist . n , \\ calcul « tcd tliat twenty yards of tho yarn used for mo UiLcca inuslin weighs nno grain , and that a pound of < ottoii may bo spun into thread r « ncliiiif < 115 milos . In Enirj anil , 11 pound of cotton has bocn Npun to reach 107 miles , v ,.... ° luaclun « ry in tho country could havo woven such

      r tl > e country was" coinputed at eight millions , and that it is thought by practical men , that at the present day that enormous total must at least be trebled . ^ I will endeavour by a few startling , but ( I believe ) unquestionable calculations , to illustrate die effect of toe great inventions enumerated upon the cotton-manufacture of the country . It is com- » puted that theentire . stock df yarn produced annually ia this kingdom , before the introduction of the spintaW-frame , did-riotf ' eiseeed-tHe ferodirce

      of forty thousand modern sptndlesi and that eighty spinners -with modern first ^ eliass mules would liow , produce as much yarn as Iwenly miliionsoS spinners with one-thread spinning-wheels ^ . ., ¦ Before- the introduction of naftohiiiery ^ cjottan goods vexce so expensive that they were only wpra bythe rich * Even so late as 1790 ; tfie aver % e ? price of cottorf-stuff was about six shillings a yard , and in 1 S 1 O it / waar about twoshiRtngs-attd sixpeilce : the same class of stuff would now range at about threepence . Twenty years after the invention of

      the 8 piitmng * frame the price of a sort of yarn much , used in makiaig ; calico was thirty-e % ht shillings per pound : now it ia about tenpence . in 1760 , the total value of cotton goods manufactured in Great Britain , was estimated at 20 O ^ OOL : in the month of December , 1853 , the exports alone of cottott manufacturesandcottonyarn t « rer : e rated at 2 , 92 T , 023 Z , In J 7 SI ; , the ^ exports ; 6 f ^ cotton jraifn " were estimated' at 96 , 786 1 M . —^ in 1 B 82 T tltey mud riaento ^^ OOiOOalbs . Tn 1781 ( fourteen years after tne- invention of the jenny > - the totait inaports

      ^ of raw cotton wool were 5 , lS 8 i 788 lbsi ; an 4 ? in 1853 j the-cotton sold for home tionsumption at ffte Xtve ^ o > ifKar / ce « aZone , amounted : ± o-834 , 384 ^ 400 ll » s r 3 ! he immense advantages bestowed upoa the country by mechanical inventions have not escaped the noiice . of our nei ^ hbour ^ aiiid rivals . " - " v \ Ta ^ V said tne . celebrated civil engineer , M . Dupip , in aq address to the mechanics of Paris in ^ 1 ^ 2 ^ - > p •* Watt Improves tBe steam-engine , and this single 'improvement causes the industry of England to make an immense stride ; This machine represents , at the present time , the power df three of of

      hundred thousand horses ^ or two millions men , strong and well fittectfor labour , who should work day and' night- without interruption and without repose , to augment the xiches ; of a country-not more than two-thirds the extent of Stance . A hair-dresser invents , or at least brings into action , a machine for spinning cotton ; this alone gives to British industry an . immense superiority . . Only fifty years after this great discovery more than one million of the inhabitants of England are employed

      in those operations which depend , directly or indirectly , on the action of this machine . Lastly , England exports cotton , spun and woven by an admirable system of machinery , to the value of four hundred millions of francs yearly . The Indies , so long superior to Europe , th « Indies are conquered in their turn . The British navigator travels in quest of the cotton of India—brings it from a distance of four thousand leagues—commits it to an operation of Arkwright ' s machine , and of those that are attached to it—carries back

      their products to the East—making them travel again four thousand leagues—and in spite of the loss of time , in spite of the enormous expense incurred by this voyage of eight thousand leagues , the cotton manufactured by the machinery of England becomes less costly than the cotton of India spun and woven by the hand near the field that produced it , and sold at the nearest market . So great is the power of the progress of machinery . " To illustrate the effect of this" state of things

      upon the working classes , one fact alone will suffice . In estimating , the otb * r day , the amount of wages paid weekly throughout the cottondistrict , for the purpose of assessment in raising the defence-fund to assist the Preston manufacturers , it was estimated at 250 , 000 / . So that the sum of money paid weekly to the cotton operatives exceeds hy twenty per cent , the total annual value of the cotton manufactures of the kingdom ninetythree years ago .

      Narrowing our inquiry to Preston alone , the rapidity of advance becomes still nv > re manifest . Tn 1886 , the total number of operatives employed in the cotton manufacture of Preston was estimated at 85 00 ; it is now nearly 30 , 000 . When Preston is in full activity it produces more than two thousand miles of cloth j > er week ;* and tho effect

      Untitled Article

      • EstimntiiiK tho avortiffo quality of this cloth ntt 1 Q pick . 60 rood , 4-0 inch shirting , tho imriivollcd thron < l » would extend 9 , 1 ) 20 , 000 miles , or upwards of four hundrod , and thirteon tinias round tho earth .

      ° i } £ P ^ sent partial inadtivity is ^ wit | idi * ir 70 , 000 pieces of fchirtuig ftt > m the Manchester market . One most important reflection is eugreafeed by the consideration of these extraordinary facts , viz ; ., how long thifc mighty producing power could be suffered to proceed without fUling ^ the toaxki ^ to repletion ? How fiur , in . fact ,, the rnaou | actuEe » themselves are amenable to the charge of kitting the gooses that lays these golden eggs PI must leave , however , to another chapter toe discussion of this important point . J ^ lMtBS LOWB ^

      Untitled Article

      \ ¦ February 4 , 1854 . ] THE LEADfefi . jj ! ————————^—~~ » ^ L — _ - a Bgw *« w— . »—— ' ^^—j ** .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1854, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2024/page/15/