ever, that even in this cheap production our British manufacturers are successfully competing with the Americans in their own market, large quantities of coarse sacking, manufactured from jute at Dundee, having been exported to the States, for the purpose, as I am told, of packing the cotton of the South.

There is a limited manufacture of sewing SILKS in America, and there are a few ribbon and silk-trimming manufacturers in New York and Philadelphia; but almost the whole of the silk goods consumed in the United States are imported from Europe.

We thus see the extent of the manufacture of woven fabrics in the United States. In comparison either with the requirements of the country, or the productions of other nations, this branch of industry assumes comparatively small proportions. I have been the more anxious to dissect this branch of manufacturing industry, because I have been especially desirous neither to be misled myself, nor to mislead others respecting it. Papers are issued and published from time to time, which shew something most astounding as the result of the manufacturing products of the United States. I think these documents are illusory, and I much fear many of them are issued for party and political purposes.

One of the last documents submitted to me gave the value of the products of manufacturing industry in America in 1860, at nearly 400,000,000l. per annum. I do not doubt that this paper was fairly compiled, according to American notions of "manufactures,"—namely, that

all the corn that is ground at the mill, all the trees that are sawn and planed, all the fish that are caught out of the seas and rivers, all the boots and shoes that are made out of leather, all the pianofortes that are tuned, all the spirituous liquors that are distilled, all the beer that is brewed, all the dress-coats and trousers that are made up, and all the printing, all the gas, all the furniture, jewellery and silverware, soap and candles in America, in addition to all the products of the mines, the coal raised, the iron smelted, the machines erected, and the salt and other minerals produced, are "manufactured articles." In this point of view, 400,000,000l. is, I think, a very moderate estimate of the products of the manufacturing industry of the United States. But on this side of the Atlantic, we are not accustomed to regard "manufactures" in this point of view. And having regard to textile manufactures only, I very much doubt if it can be shewn that the United States produces more than 40,000,000l. per annum (or one-tenth of what is claimed as the product of her manufacturing industry) in this form : indeed, I think that the estimate is rather in excess than otherwise, of the real figures. And how small this gross amount must be to the European total, the preceding figures shew conclusively.

During the civil war in the United States, the production of textile manufactures, as I understand, considerably increased. This is to be accounted for by two circumstances: first, in Europe, we were deprived of our supply of cotton, which occasioned a great increase in price in all our fabrics, cotton, woollen, and linen :secondly, very heavy additional duties were laid by the

United States government upon all the imported articles of manufacture, thereby stimulating home production. The first cause will speedily abate. From America herself, or if not, from other portions of the world, the great manufacturing interests of Europe will be speedily supplied with all, or nearly all the raw material they want. The second cause must depend on the action of the Americans themselves. If they like to pay half as much again, or in some cases double the money needful to be paid, for a cotton, woollen, or linen fabric, simply because it is of "home manufacture," they are, of course, entirely at liberty to make that sacrifice. We, in England, were oppressed in that sort of way, and made to pay twice as much as we ought to have paid, for a great number of years after the Continental War, under the pretext that it was necessary to protect our agriculture. We found out the enormity of that abuse: we raised our voices against that injustice, and against all the influences of our aristocratic country, we put it down. If the Americans choose it, they may suffer under the extortions of their manufacturers, just as we suffered under the extortions of our agriculturists. But I do not believe they will. I believe that they will demand FREE TRADE, as we demanded it; and they will do so with equal prospects of advantage to themselves and others. England demanded free trade as a manufacturing country anxious to sell the commodities she produced in the best markets, and to import, in lieu of those commodities, what were to her the luxuries of human existence, such as corn, flour, pork, and beef. America will demand free trade as an agricultural country

anxious to sell the commodities she produces in the best markets, and to import, in lieu of those commodities, what are to her the luxuries of existence, cottongoods, linens, silks, and woollens.

The cry in England, some years ago, was "Who wants "all your cotton-prints? If you get free trade, you will "never be able to export your products." But under the free trade system, the exports of England have increased ten-fold. And so will those of the United States. Europe requires American corn, bacon, timber, cotton; her rice, her tobacco, her cheese, and everything in the shape of produce she can send us. And Europe can send her in return abundant supplies of commodities which she cannot produce so well for herself.

On our side, such are the advantages free trade has produced, that there is no party-I may say, scarcely an individual, in Great Britain-who doubts the advantage of the system: I am sure there is not one who would desire that this country should revert to the days of so-called "protection." I do not believe that the people of America are behind ourselves in estimating the advantage and value of a commercial policy which has done so much for every European nation that has adopted it. Some amongst them may be misled, as, for an interval, many were amongst ourselves, by fears and apprehensions, by the conflict of interests, and the natural desire to retain a state of things by which certain parties seem to profit. But the time must come, and that at a very early date, when all delusions respecting a tariff for the protection of native industry must

assuredly be swept away, and when the people of the United States, with one accord, will acknowledge the immense advantages which result from the adoption of the great principle that nations, like individuals, should "sell "in the dearest, and purchase in the cheapest market."

CHAPTER III.

MACHINERY.

OUR American cousins are not generally credited with too large a share of generosity when speaking of the productions of others in contrast with their own. But here is a passage from the Report of Mr. Edward Riddle, the Commissioner sent by the United States Government to England, to report upon the Great Exhibition of 1851, in which full credit is given to English machinery :

"The genius of Great Britain is mechanism. More than in any country on the globe, mechanism is there, extending its dominion over the whole empire of labour. In textile fabrics, in fashioning iron like wood to the most exact proportions, in working the printing-press and navigating the ocean, in all agricultural pursuits, everywhere, in everything, lightening the burden of toil and rescuing human life from dangerous pursuits, mechanism reigns supreme. Beyond this the genius of Great Britain has not gone. Ornament in all her productions is inseparably wedded to usefulness. The crea tion of the beautiful, with her artisans, rests only in the adaptability of mechanism. It is said that a better and purer style of national industry is beginning to be observable in England; but however this may be, her best productions, when placed beside similar productions from the Continent, show violation of harmony in colour and design, and evidences of neglected taste to the most casual ob

server.

But in mechanism-in its highest and noblest ends, in its