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i
ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
MUA
TUEBOR
SL QUÆRIS PENINSULAN-AMINAM
CIRCUMSPICE
ECONOMICS
LIBRARY
LI
Leone Levi org
with Henny Ashworth's resp


THE FACTS
OF
THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
BY
JOHN WATTS, PH.D.,
MEMBER OF THE CENTRAL RELIEF COMMITTEE.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
MANCHESTER: A. IRELAND & CO.
1866.
ALEXANDER IRELAND AND CO., PRINTERS,
MANCHESTER.
13429
PREFACE.
In producing this volume, my only motive has been to secure a
reliable record of the main facts of the cotton famine. The great
extent and importance of the cotton manufacture, its rapid rise and
progress, its direct and reflex influences at home and abroad, its
sudden paralysis by the indirect shock of the American war; the
bearing of the people under their unexampled trials; the immense
flow of benevolence to their aid; the various and manifold organi-
sations which were improvised for the collection and distribu-
tion of the means of sustenance;-all seemed to me to demand
registration for future reference. A hurried compilation, got up to
hit the humour of the passing hour, could not possibly meet the
want; and I suggested successively to several gentlemen, who were
fully competent, that they should undertake the work. The
result surprised me. It was an urgent request, from every quarter
to which I applied, that I should myself prepare the record; and,
seeing no other way of filling the void, I reluctantly consented;
and have, for the last twelve months, given to the object all the
leisure which my ordinary and imperative engagements would
allow.
·
iv.
PREFACE.
It is said that a sculptor is never satisfied with his own work,
and I can well understand the feeling; for I am anything but
satisfied with my book, and know that if it had to be re-written it
would be materially improved.
I have, however, endeavoured to render it useful as well as
interesting, by including a sketch of the rise and progress of the
manufacture, up to the occurrence of the American war; and of the
later social developments amongst the working classes, such as
strikes for wages, and the establishment of co-operative stores and
manufacturing companies; and seeing that the home trouble arose
from our almost total dependence upon one foreign source of supply,
I have set forth the efforts which have been made from time to
time to abate that evil; and have discussed the helps and hin-
drances of the government, particularly as regards the attempts
to extend and improve the growth of cotton in India. I have gone
into considerable detail on the principal aspects of the crisis, and
upon the principles and actions of the central executive; and have
fully discussed the various remedial measures which were adopted,
including the Rate in Aid Act, the Public Works Act, and the
Union Chargeability Act; and have freely, but, I hope, fairly,
criticised the various prominent actors therein. As "it is an ill
wind which blows nobody good," I have endeavoured to find out
who have got the good out of the cotton famine, and to apportion
the gains and losses, amongst the cotton, woollen, and flax traders
and their various dependants.
PREFACE.
V
In the earlier portions of the book I have been much indebted
to Mr. Mann's History of the Cotton Trade; the late Archibald`
Prentice's Historical Sketches of Manchester; and Mr. David
Chadwick's pamphlet on wages; also to Mr. Henry Ashworth, and
Mr. Bazley, M.P. In the sanitary portion, I have made free use of
Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth's valuable book on education. In the
narrative of the famine itself I have to acknowledge great and
willing assistance from Mr. Maclure, the honorary secretary to the
central executive; and I have quoted freely from Mr. Edwin
Waugh's descriptive sketches of the condition of the people, con-
tributed to the Manchester Examiner and Times. To these, and
to all who have rendered aid, I tender hearty thanks; and in the
hope that my own labour may prove in some degree useful, I
dedicate this volume to all who subscribed to the funds of the
various relief committees, and to all who aided in the distribution
of those funds; in the full conviction that the munificent gifts of
the subscribers, and the arduous and pains-taking work of the
distributors, saved thousands of valuable lives, and kept thousands
also from worse than death.
5.
JOHN WATTS.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction—Antiquity of Cotton Manufacture-The Cotton Fibre-The Term
Spinster-Inventions of Whyatt and Kay-Domestic Loom Shops-Habits of Early
Cotton Operatives-Character of the Population-Holidays-Marriage Rise of
the Factory System-Cost of Cotton Goods in 1741 and 1860-Inventions of Har-
greaves and Arkwright-The Bridgewater Canal-Silk Factories-Turkey Red
Dyeing and Calico Printing-Crompton's Mule-Cost of Spinning in 1779 and
1860-Cartwright's, Bell's, and Miller's Power Looms-Richard Roberts's Self-
Acting Mule and Loom-Watt's Steam Engine-Application of Coal Gas-
Government Helps and Hindrances
CHAPTER II.
1-19
Views of Employers and Operatives on Improvements of Machinery-A League
against Machine-spun Yarns-Machinery Riots in 1779-Measured Madness-The
War of 1793 and its Effects upon Trade-The Wage Question-Machinery the
Scapegoat for War-Bankruptcies in 1793-The War of Tariffs and the Price
of Bread-Import Duty on Cotton, and its Effects - Prohibition to Export
Machinery-Government Nursing-The State of Blockade, 1806, and the Orders
in Council-The American Embargo on Foreign Trade-Machinery and Food
Riots at Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester, &c. - Economical Errors of Em-
ployers-Prejudices against Foreigners-Riots of 1826 and 1829-Destruction of
Power Looms-Commencement of Working Class Day Schools, and Rise of Poli-
tical Feeling
20-33
CHAPTER III.
Comparative Increase of Population, 1801-1861-Increase of Real Property-Manu-
facturing and Agricultural Hundreds-Classes of the Population-Comparative
Increase of Various Classes-Effects of the Excise on Paper-Progress of Manu-
facture, 1830-1860-Wages in 1844 and 1860-Influences of Factory Life on
Physical and Moral Health-Old and Modern Mills-Plurality of Tenure-The
Short-time Agitation-Richard Oastler-The Factories Education Act-Man-
chester Meetings-Comparative Mortality of Large Towns-Infant Mortality in
Manchester and Liverpool-Relative Progress of Cotton, Silk, and Woollen Manu-
factures-Immigration of Silk Operatives-Jealousy of Old Hands-Subsidiary
Trades-Relative Progress of the Cotton Industry in England and America-
American Tariffs-Yankee 'Cuteness-The French Treaty, 1860-Prejudice at
Coventry-Imports of Silk Goods-The Flax Trade-Mr. Bazley on the Cotton
Trade-American and Indian Cotton-A Century of Progress-The Wisdom of
Figures
34 62
viii
CONTENTS.
→
CHAPTER IV.
Regularity and Punctuality a Feature of Lancashire Life-Effects of Discipline on
Workpeople-Trades Societies-Strikes for Wages-Effects of Strikes-Policy of
Employers-Proposed Reconstruction of Trades Societies—Advantage of Rapid
Accumulation of Capital-The Employers of South Staffordshire and the Dis-
charge Note-The Strike at the Manchester New Prison-The Architect and the
Hodman-Proposal to give the Workmen an Interest in Profits-Application of
the Principle-The Limited Liability Act — Co-operative Stores and Relief
Committees
63-72
CHAPTER V.
Co-operative Stores and Manufacturing Companies-Robert Owen and Infant Schools—
The Queenwood Community-The Friendly Societies Act and its Improvements—
Socialism and the First Co-operative Stores-The Rochdale Plan-Principle of a
Store-The Wholesale Society-The Corn Mill-Joint-Stock Companies and the
Cotton Crisis-Division of Profits amongst the Operatives-The Relief Committee
and Co-operation-Lord Derby's Minute-The Haslingden Guardians and the
Stores-The Property of the Working Classes
CHAPTER VI.
73-89
Manchester in 1832-Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth on the Habits and Sanitary Condi-
tion of the Poor-Cellar Dwellings and Typhus-Causes of Pauperism-Improve-
ments from 1832 to 1861-The Gasworks and Waterworks-The Public Parks-
The Free Library-Progress of Liverpool from 1730 to 1863-The Docks and the
Railway-Education Aid Society of Manchester-Secondary Education-The
Union of Institutes, Lancashire and Cheshire
CHAPTER VII.
90-101
The American War-Democrats and Republicans-The "Dred Scott" Case-Progress
of the Republicans from 1840 to 1860-Senator Douglas on Kansas-Election of
Lincoln and Fall of Fort Sumter-Feeling in England-Slavery and the Terri-
tories—The Abolition Proclamation-Misrepresentations of Lincoln-The End of
the War-Punch's Recantation. .
CHAPTER VIII.
102-111
Incredulity about the American War-Test of Prices-The Paper Blockade-Specu-
lations in Cotton-Stoppage of Mills-Rapid Increase of Pauperism-State of
Ashton, Preston, Stockport, and Glossop, in February, 1862-Newspaper Com-
ments-Free Labour Cotton-Outside Help for Operatives-Surat Cotton-A
Month's Addition to the Recipients of Relief-Comparative Condition of Chief
Unions in November, 1861 and 1862-Cotton Mills and Poor Rates-Condition of
the Small Shopkeepers-Itinerant Singers-The Distress in France North and
South-Test Labour in Manchester
112-131
CHAPTER IX.
Progress of Preston, 1851-61-Condition in May, 1862-Organisation of Relief Com-
mittee-Visits to the Poor-The Soup Kitchen-Out-door Work for the Guar-
dians-Increase of Blackburn-Large Proportion of Small Employers-Condition
CONTENTS.
ix
of Co-operative Stores and Joint-Stock Companies-The Political Relief Com-
mittee Specimens of Paupers-Mr. Farnall's Report-Condition of Wigan-
Visit to Amy Lane-Stockport To Let-Operative Beggars-Lord Egerton and
the Public Works-Mr. Farnall on the State of Ashton
132-155
CHAPTER X.
Origin of the Mansion House Fund-Letters of "A Lancashire Lad"-Deputation to
the Lord Mayor-Balance Sheet and List of Subscriptions
156-168
CHAPTER XI.
Origin of the Central Committee Meeting in Manchester Town Hall-Reasons for
Doing Nothing-Proposal for Loans to the Poor-Meeting at Bridgewater House-
Revolution in Central Executive-Mr. Cobden on the Prospects of the Operatives-
Formation of a Collecting Committee-Character of the Manchester Subscrip-
tion-The Times and Professor Kingsley-The County Meetings-Lord Derby
the Advocate of the Helpless-The Bridgewater House Principle of Distribution
and High Poor Rates-How Rich Traders Escape the Poor Rate-The Man-
chester District Provident Society-The Rival Committees at Ashton-Various
Rates of Relief-Disciplinary Labour-Origin of the Adult Schools-The Aus-
tralian Fund Appropriated to Education-Misunderstanding in the Colony-
Effects of the Schools-Manual for Relief Committees-Tabular Return of School
Attendances .
169-212
CHAPTER XII.
The Policy of Emigration-The Emigrant's Aid Society, and National Colonial Emi-
gration Society-Attitude of Employers-Disappearance of Operatives—Mr.
Farnall's Blunder-Government Emigration Returns-The Maximum Pressure
of Distress-Decrease of Indigence and Revision of Relief Lists-Pressure by
Central Executive-Difficulties of Traders-Raw Cotton dearer than Calico-
Illegitimacy at Wigan-The Bastardy Promotion Fund-Decrease of Employ-
ment in October, 1863—The Turn of the Tide-The Peace Panic and its Effects-
The Death of the Confederacy--Mr. Maclure's Last Report-Close of the Ashton
Committee-Percentages of Persons Relieved to those Out of Employment at
various periods.
213-229
CHAPTER XIII.
66
King Cotton-Mistake of Southern Sympathisers-Sufferings of the People-Sick-
ness and Mortality not Increased-Analysis of the Subscriptions-Colonial and
Foreign Contributions-The George Griswold"-Address to Captain Lunt
Contribution of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours-Mr. Ansdell-
List of Subscriptions and Balances remaining in Hand-Comparison of the Sums
Subscribed to the Cotton Famine, the Royal Patriotic Fund, the Indian Mutiny
Fund, the Hartley Colliery Fund, &c.—Comparative Statement of Local Sub-
scriptions, Poor Rate, and Central Executive Contributions-Causes of the Varied
Pressure of Distress--Remissions of Rent in Various Localities-Percentage of
Uncollected Rates, 1861-4-Rates and Factory Assessments at Ashton, Bury, and
Glossop-Adjournment of Central Executive sine die-Proposed Disposal of the
Balance of the Fund
α
·
230-261
*
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Reduction of Relief, and Introduction of Ticket System, at Stalybridge-Excitement
of the Operatives-Position of the Clergy-The Ragged Trousers in the Pulpit—
The Strike against Tickets-Assault upon the Officials-Window Smashing—The
Police Defeated-Sacking of the Relief Stores and Shops-The Riot Act Read-
The Soldiers and the Police-Sunday Visitors-The Mob at Ashton-Sacking of
Provision Shops-The Riot Act and the Charge of the Military-Excitement at
Dukinfield-Sacking the Co-operative Store The Police and the Roughs at
Ashton-The End of the Riot The Deputation to the Mansion House-The
Premium for Violence-Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth at Stalybridge-Address of
The Central Executive-The Rev. Mr. Eagar at the General Committee-The
Apology for Riot .
262-282
CHAPTER XV.
Action of the Poor-Law Board-Mr. Farnall's Appointment-Debate in the House
of Commons-Mr. Villiers's Reply-Messrs. Bright and Cobden on the Distress—
The Rate in Aid Bill-Objections to Borrowing Powers-Defects of the Act—Mr.
Cobden on the Forty-third of Elizabeth-Tabular Return of the Orders for Aid,
and of Sums Borrowed Under the Act-Instructions to the Special Commissioner-
His Interpretation of the Poor-Law and the Consolidated Orders-Exceptional
Conditions require Exceptional Remedies-Inequality of Rating The Union
Chargeability Bill and its Probable Effects-Policy of Public Works--Mr. Farnall's
Failures
283-307
•
CHAPTER XVI.
Growing Monotony of Disciplinary Labour-Conditions of Grants to Superintendents—
Rules for the Execution of Public Works-Suggestions as to the Adoption of the
Local Government Act, 1858-Introduction of the Public Works (Manufacturing
Districts) Bill-Conditions of the Bill-The Principle of Public Loans Vindicated—
Mr. Rawlinson's Report-Debate on Second Reading of the Bill-The Policy of
Emigration-Mr. Ferrand's Error-Mr. Farnall's Estimate of the Numbers who
would be Employed under the Act—Disappointment of the Executive Committee
Misappropriation of the Loan at Manchester, Stockport, and Blackburn-The
Manchester Board of Guardians-The Hulme Park Movement-Protest of Working
Men against the Pauper Passage to Labour-Class of Men Engaged on the Stock-
port Works-Mr. Rawlinson's Erroneous Estimate of Numbers Slow Progress—
Official Reflection and Delay-Account of the Works Undertaken-Applications
Refused and the Grounds thereof
308-332
CHAPTER XVII.
Condition of Friendly Societies-Ingenious Suggestions to Avoid Illegality-Value of
Registrar's Reports-State of the Oddfellows (Manchester Unity)-The. Amal-
gamated Engineers, &c.-The Warehousemen and Clerks' Society-Condition of
the Savings Banks-Deposits and Withdrawals, 1861 to 1864-Classes who Invest
in Savings Banks--Effects of the Crisis on Co-operative Stores-Condition of
Fourteen Sample Stores-Withdrawals of Capital-Joint-Stock Spinning and
Manufacturing Companies-Share List, 1861 and 1864-Fabulous Profits of
1860-1-Dear Experience-Instances of Failures-Influence of the Crisis on
Railway Traffic and Dividends.
333-347
CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER XVIII.
Effects of the Cotton Famine on Marriages-Tabular Return, 1861-4-Illegitimate
Births, 1861-4-Special Return-Comparative Illegitimate Births in England and
Wales and in Lancashire-The Factory System not specially Promotive of Sexual
Immorality-Prostitution in Various Districts-Slow Improvement Effects of
the Crisis on Crime in Lancashire-Percentages of Crime in Various Districts-
Excess of Female Crime in Lancashire, and its Probable Cause
CHAPTER XIX.
348-355
Gains and Losses-Consumption of Cotton in 1861 and 1862-Effects of American
News on Prices-Average Condition of the Trade in 1860-2-Speculators in
Cotton-Gains by Running the Blockade-Consumption of 1863-Large Extra
Capital Required-Effects of Peace Rumours-Bankruptcy Return-Decreased
Consumption of Indian Cotton-Condition of the Trade in 1863-4-Adulteration
of Goods-The Trade Losses in Three Years-Messrs. Frazer's Circular-Mr.
McHaffie on Cotton Losses
356-383
CHAPTER XX.
The Flax Trade-Calico versus Linen-Irish Energy Exhibited in Flax Cultivation-
Returns of Cultivation, and Imports of Flax and Yarns-Increase of Trade-Sir
Robert Kane at the Society of Arts-Return of Spinning Mills, and Wages of
Operatives-The Value of a Mill at Two Periods-Estimate of the Gains of Flax
Spinners and Manufacturers by the Cotton Famine
CHAPTER XXI.
•
384-390
The Woollen and Worsted Trades-Progress of Eighty-five Years-Wages in 1800, and
1833, and 1858–Mr. Baines, M.P., on the Woollen Trade-The Trouble of Lan-
cashire the Opportunity of Yorkshire The Increased Imports of 1862-4-Exports
of Yarns and Manufactured Goods-The Price of Spinning in 1861-4-Yorkshire
Gains by the Cotton Famine
CHAPTER XXII.
391-401
Origin of the Cotton Supply Association-Cotton Prospects in 1860-Assistance of the
Foreign Office-Constitution of the Association-The Work of Eight Years-The
Mission to India and its Results-Concessions by the Turkish, Egyptian, and
Portuguese Governments-The Times' Bombay Correspondent on the Gains of
India-Whimsical Tastes-A Bombay Share List-Reports of Government Col-
lectors-Indian Superstition the Cause of Insolvency-Eighty-six Millions Sterling
Extra Paid in Four Years to India-Decreasing Consumption of Indian Cotton-
Mr. Shaw's Calculations on Dharwar Cotton-Efforts towards Extension of
Cotton Cultivation by Mr. Frederic Warren-Messrs. Cross and Hacking-Mr.
Thomas Clegg, &c., &c.—African Cotton-The Principle of Protection amongst
the Merchants
402-419
CHAPTER XXIII.
-
Constitution and Utility of Chambers of Commerce Limits of Government Inter-
ference on Behalf of Trade-The Government Landlord of India-Opinions of
Chambers of Commerce as to the Requirements of British India-India Capable
xii
CONTENTS.
of Competing Successfully in Cotton Production-Examples of Defective Laws of
Contract-Proposals of Lords Stanley and Canning on Waste Lands-Sir Charles
Wood's Veto, and his own Plan-The Import Duty on Lancashire Manufactures—
Deputation to Mr. Massey-The Red Tape Bond-Sir Charles Wood's Budget
Speech-Comparative Expenditure on Improvements of the Landlord Govern-
ment in India, and of the late Duke of Northumberland at Home
CHAPTER XXIV.
420-436
Objects of the Manchester Cotton Company-Expectations of Government Help-
Promises of the Indian Secretary-Dr. Forbes on the Necessity for Roads and
Piers in India-Evidence of the Indian Manager of the Company-The Madras
Times on the Necessary Measures to Insure Cotton Cultivation-Loss of Capital,
and Winding-up of the Company-The Anglo-Indian Cotton Company--
Conclusion
APPENDIX No. 1.
APPENDIX No. 2.
437-459
460-467
468-472
*
THE
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction—Antiquity of Cotton Manufacture-The Cotton Fibre-The Term
Spinster-Inventions of Whyatt and Kay-Domestic Loom Shops-Habits of
Early Cotton Operatives-Character of the Population-Holidays-Marriage—
Rise of the Factory System-Cost of Cotton Goods in 1741 and 1860-Inventions
of Hargreaves and Arkwright—The Bridgewater Canal-Silk Factories-Turkey
Red Dyeing and Calico Printing-Crompton's Mule-Cost of Spinning in 1779
and 1860-Cartwright's, Bell's, and Miller's Power Looms-Richard Roberts's
Self-acting Mule and Loom-Watt's Steam Engine-Application of Coal Gas—
Government Helps and Hindrances.
It is probable that the manufacture of clothing from vegetable
fibre is almost as old as the existence of man, varied in different
countries by the indigenous productions of each locality, and the
varying necessity and ingenuity of the inhabitants. The most
ancient mummies of Egypt are found wrapped in linen, and the
earliest records of India show the existence of the cotton manufac-
ture there as nearly as possible in the condition which subsists in the
interior of that country at the present time, and which was universal
until the recent establishment of cotton mills in Bombay. The
distaff is still used for spinning, and the looms are still of the rudest
construction, and yet some of the woven fabrics vie with the finest
productions of Lancashire or Lanarkshire—showing that in this, as
in many other arts, our progress has not been in delicacy of mani-
pulation, but simply in the quantity of goods produced within a
given time, by the substitution of machinery for hand labour.
Cotton goods were exported from India in the second century of
い
​B
2
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the Christian era, and the muslins of Bengal were even then
famous for their beautiful texture, and Surat produced at that time
some such goods as the coloured chintzes which are now made in
Lancashire, and used for bed furniture, or for chair and sofa covers.
But the trade of Lancashire is the growth of not more than a
single century, during which time it has risen to such a position
as to enable the poorer portion of the population of the world to
clothe themselves almost wholly in garments made from the filmy
wings of the cotton seed. If these delicate fibres were not gathered
by man, they would serve the same purpose to the cotton seed
which the filaments attached to the seed of the dandelion perform
for it-they would waft it through the air, or float it upon the water,
until wind or waves found it a new home, so that, if deposited in
proper soil, it might reproduce its kind. The genius of man econo-
mises the productions of nature, and, whilst appropriating to his own
use the wings of the cotton seed, he performs by deputy the office
of those wings for such a proportion of the seed as is necessary for
his own future enjoyment. He carries it with certainty to earth
already prepared for it, and is thus enabled to otherwise utilize
the large proportion of seed which, apart from his superintendence,
would fall "by the way side, or amongst thorns, or on stony
ground," and produce no fruit.
The universality of the term "spinster" is proof enough of the
former employment of one half of the unmarried population; and we
know from history that matrons as well as maidens frequently spent
a large portion of their time in preparing the materials of clothing
for the family. At the present time, some 600,000 of the popula-
tion of Lancashire, Lanarkshire, and their borders, produce the cotton
clothing for half the world; a large proportion of this production
being exchanged by our merchants for the comforts and luxuries of
almost every clime. The tea of China, the coffee and corn of
Turkey, the spices and dye stuffs of India, the tobacco of South
America, the gold of California, the tallow and flax of Russia, the
silk of Italy, the wool of Australia, the fruits of the Ionian Islands,
and the furs of the Hudson's Bay settlements, are all bought
directly or indirectly with the manufactures of Lancashire.
The cotton manufacture, doubtless owes its great progress to
the durability, the cheapness, and the capacity for ornamentation
offered by the various products of its industry.
THE COTTON FIBRE:
3
The fibre of cotton is so fine and delicate as to need the use of a
microscope for familiar examination, yet it is spun into yarns vary-
ing from the candle and lamp wick to that which forms the meshes
of the finest lace; and the waste from these processes is made into
twines and cordage, for tying up drapers' parcels, and for the package
of heavy goods. Cotton yarns are woven into an immense variety of
commodities, from the heaviest moleskin to the finest muslin; the
bricklayer's labourer and the belle of the ball-room being alike
indebted for their clothing to the wings of the cotton seed. Cotton
yarn frequently forms the weft of silk velvets; it contributes one-
half the substance of Orleans and Cobourg cloths, lustres, and
lastings, and of many materials used for figured vestings. The march
of economy which has led to the manufacture of woollen waste, has
also opened up a new field for cotton yarns, and they now form the
warp for low-priced cloakings and trouserings; whilst raw cotton is
often also "scribbled in" amongst the wool which forms the weft of
these articles. The gorgeous silk damasks, which adorn the windows
and cover the sofas and chairs of the nobility, frequently have cotton
thread for weft; and the basis of the gimps, fringes, and trimmings,
which ornament the dresses of the most fashionable ladies, is com-
posed of cotton. And the refuse of refuse-the sweepings of the
cotton mill—which, to appearance, is beyond all utility, is sent, to-
gether with the ragged remnants of cotton clothing, to the paper mill,
is there torn literally to atoms, converted into pulp, and so diffused
in water as to be invisible whilst the water is in motion, and in this
condition is spread in a thin layer upon a blanket, pressed between
rollers, sized, and dried, and then made a vehicle of knowledge in
the shape of printing or writing paper, or it enters again into
commerce as wrapping paper, and has before it as wide a field
of usefulness as in its former and pristine condition. Up to the
year 1741 the various processes of converting cotton fibre into
useful articles constituted literally a manufacture in the proper
sense of the term, for handwork was everything, machinery
nothing. About that time the first step of improvement was
achieved in each of the twin processes,-spinning and weaving.
John Whyatt, of Birmingham, constructed a machine to spin a
number of threads at once, by means of rollers instead of the
spinning wheel, which produced only one thread at a time;
and John Kay, of Bury, produced the fly shuttle, to be driven
4
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMIN E.
by the picking peg, instead of being thrown by the weaver
from one hand to be caught by the other. By the old process a
wide cloth would need two weavers to one loom, for one man
would not be able to reach across the web. Kay's simple con-
trivance doubled the possible produce of a loom devoted to the
making of plain goods, and was soon followed by the invention
of the drop-box, which enabled the same contrivance to be applied
to checks, by the use of two or three shuttles, each of which
was supplied with a different coloured weft, as may be seen to this
day amongst the hand-loom silk weavers of Spitalfields, in London;
or amongst the same class at Middleton or Failsworth, in Lanca-
shire; or even amongst the lingering remnant of gingham weavers
by hand-looms in Manchester. At this date, and for many years
afterwards, the cotton manufacture was entirely a domestic occu-
pation. Spinners fetched their cotton and linen, weavers their
warp and weft, from their employers to their own homes, and
carried back the finished article to exchange for wages, just as many
silk weavers and stocking frame knitters do at present.
A walk through the older portions of the towns of the cotton
districts will exhibit clear evidence that the dwellings of the
working people were built with a view to other than the pur-
poses for which they are now occupied. The long ranges of
windows in the upper stories were never intended for sleeping
rooms, and their existence bespeaks a necessity which in later
years has passed away, and enabled modern builders to assimilate
their cottages to those of the workpeople of other localities. These
upper stories were loom shops; and the traveller of sixty or seventy
years ago through these streets would find the nicknack of the
hand-loom as familiar a sound in Lancashire as the click of the
stocking frame is in the villages of Leicestershire at the present
day. Outside the towrs the loom shop was often a one-storied erec-
tion attached to the back of the cottage, with unplastered walls,
unceiled roof, and soil for the floor. And, judging from the records
which remain to us, it would appear that the men of those days
were too frequently as rude as their dwellings and workshops; a
rough, honest, jovial, and hardy set of fellows, who worked when it
suited them, and played as heartily as they worked. A meeting of
hounds for a fox or stag hunt would stop most of the looms in a
village; bull-baiting, bear-baiting, badger-baiting were thoroughly
HABITS OF EARLY COTTON OPERATIVES.
5
popular sports, and in the absence of any such excitement, a cock-fight
or a duck-hunt would frequently be improvised, or "Saint Monday"
would be spent at foot racing or football during the day, whilst
the evening would be jovially spent at the public-house or “hush
shop" over cards or dominoes, with intervals for bacchanalian
songs. Of course, gambling was not then any more than at
present exempt from quarrelling, and the manner of settlement
of these quarrels shows the terrible energy and earnestness of the
Lancashire character. In the days when gentlemen thought it
necessary to show their sense of right and to prove their courage
by submitting in a quarrel to the chances of the best shot, the
working men of Lancashire under similar circumstances stript
themselves to the waist, and then grasped each other and fought
with hands and feet, striking with the fists, kicking with their
heavy clogs, pressing with the knees, strangling by grasping at the
throat, up and down, until one or other was forced to relax his hold
by sheer exhaustion.
The rudeness of the Lancashire character is, however, consi-
derably modified, and is accompanied by so much hearty generosity
amongst all classes, that it is at once forgotten in the genuine
hospitality which follows. A traveller will find the country
inns homely and cheap, and the landlords mostly intelligent and
obliging; but men who are engaged in public business will seldom
need to trouble the innkeepers. A guest to an educational or
social gathering will on arrival commonly find lodgings prepared
for him; he will be warmly welcomed at the festive board; his
feet will rest upon rich ottomans, or be buried in long woolled
snowy hearthrugs; and when the labours and enjoyments of the
evening are over, he will find sweet oblivion upon a bed of down
in a room heavy with decorations, and from which the light of
day is strictly excluded, until the footman comes in the morning
with hot water and announces the time to rise.
•
And the generosity of the poor is, except in its accessories, not
very different to that of their richer brethren. The men are cast
in the same mould; they give a rougher but not less hearty wel-
come; they unhesitatingly link arms with the visitor, and tell him
that he is to "go to Thompson's to tay;" and, during the progress
of the meal, he is frequently reminded that he is "aitin nought,'
whilst a brisk conversation is meanwhile kept up about the business
""
6
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
in hand. The tea is universally accompanied by hot cakes of flour,
or flour mixed with potatoes, baked specially for the occasion, and
soaked with butter. Oatcake of home production and cheese are also
commonly found upon the table. But the lodging accommodation
amongst the working class in the villages, during the first quarter of
the present century, betokened more friendliness than delicacy. It
happened too frequently that a workman's cottage consisted of but
one room down stairs and one up; and if the family was small, the
children would occupy a portion of the same room with the parents.
Where could the kind-hearted souls stow away a visitor? The prac-
tice (which we hope is now extinct) was for the visitor in such a case
to occupy a part of the host's bed-a male visitor sleeping behind
the husband, and a female behind the wife. The writer was once,
after attending a public meeting, taken to a lodging engaged for
him, and, after supper shown into a double-bedded room. Not
liking to complain about the accommodation which his good-hearted
friends had provided, and assuming that the other bed was for a
male lodger, he retired to rest, but had not got to sleep before the
hostess and her grown-up daughter made their appearance in the
room, and having partially undressed, extinguished the light which
they had brought, and in due time took possession of the second bed.
A slight noise disturbed the guest before daylight, but when the sun
had risen, he found himself the sole occupant of the room. The
hostess and her daughter had risen to work, and appeared at the
breakfast table without a blush, thoroughly unconscious of any
improper action. Breakfast amongst the operatives usually consists
of oatmeal porridge, with milk or treacle according to taste, followed
by a cup of boiled coffee, with bread and butter or cheese and oatcake.
It is said that one of the greatest disadvantages with which
trade has to contend in Roman Catholic countries is the frequent
holidays which interfere with and depreciate the discipline of the
workshop, and thus by hindering work enhance the cost of produc-
tion. In the days when the manufacture of cotton was a domestic
occupation, holidays were frequent in Lancashire also, and so popu-
lar that even the most steady-going people felt impelled to join in
them; and the physical exercise and enjoyment of these holidays,
whilst hindering production and preventing economy, had yet
their good side in promoting the health and longevity of the peo-
ple. They were worse housed, worse paid, and worse taught, but
HOLIDAYS-MARRIAGES.
7
outside the towns they were stronger and longer lived than at
present. The ceremony of marriage is regarded everywhere with
especial interest. Rich and poor invite their friends to rejoice
over the auspices of the new adventurers on the sea of life. In
many countries the visitors are bearers of costly gifts, which serve
not only as tokens of affection but aid materially in furnishing
the house for the young couple. In rural Lancashire the custom a
century ago differed somewhat from the usages of polite society;
and Manchester, being a very large parish extending to Oldham
and to Ashton, occasionally even now exhibits a remnant of the
olden time. Manchester Cathedral or Parish Church is the fa-
vourite place for marriages amongst the country people; and it
frequently happens that several couples, from the same locality,
arrange their weddings for the same day, and make holiday in
Manchester after the ceremony. Probably the blushing brides are
kept in better countenance by the largeness of their escort, and
stand the gaze of the smiling citizens better than they would
do alone. However that may be, it was not unusual a few years
ago for a company to adjourn from the church to the hotel, and
after liberal refreshment to parade the streets, preceded by a
fiddler playing some merry tune, and occasionally the confidence in
the future was so great that a cradle formed part of the procession
on the return home. The visitors to the weddings of the poor do
not bear many presents, but the feast is never stinted, and it is
common when all is over to share the expenses. This custom is
sometimes abused by regular topers, who, knowing that many
moderate people will share the payment, drink as long as they can
keep their seats, and turn the marriage feast into a drunken orgie.
These strong-limbed and shrewd lovers of liberty, who were
ready for any game requiring strength, agility, or endurance; ready
even to be drilled by moonlight upon the mosses and wastes, so that
they might be ready, in case of need, to fight for "their political
rights;" were to be disciplined to regular hours of work, to learn to
run at the sound of the factory bell as a serf at the command
of his lord, or a dog at the word of his master.
It is easy
for us now-a-days to set up the doctrine that all useful work
is honourable; easy for us to see that the lad who sweeps a cross-
ing to the best of his ability is a hero; that it is a duty for every
man to perform the work which is before him with all his might,
8
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
Foll
1
I
and that in so doing he is contributing to the progress of civilization,
and increasing the enjoyments of all by whom he is surrounded;
but the commencement of the factory system made great demands
upon the workmen of Lancashire. They had been used to control
their own time and to spend it as suited them; but factories
demanded regular work, because all the fixed expenses would be the
same whether all the hands were at work or not. Rents and
taxes would go on, fuel must be paid for, and the machinery kept
in motion if only half the proper number of hands were in attend-
ance, and the economy of production would therefore depend very
much upon the proportion of hands present to the machinery in
rotation. But the economy of the employer would often look like
cruelty to the workpeople, and there was a long and a hard
struggle against the change from liberty and domesticity to the
discipline of the factory; but it was the struggle of ignorance
against intelligence, of weakness against strength, the struggle of
man against the powers of nature.
Kay's fly shuttle appears to have been willingly and speedily
adopted, for it enabled each weaver to increase his production,
and if it did not find him more work to do would simply give him
more leisure for enjoyment. It required no costly alteration, sacri-
ficed no old machinery, and could therefore make its way with
"undertakers" who owned shops of looms, and spent their own
time principally in going to and from the warehouses and in general
superintendence of the workshop; and the drop-box would doubt-
less meet with equally ready acceptance for the same reasons.
Mr. Mann, in his history of the cotton trade, tells us that in
1741 (i.e., just prior to these inventions), the weaving of a piece
containing 12lbs. of one shilling and sixpence weft (a very coarse
quality) occupied a weaver's family about fourteen days, and that
the price for weaving was eighteen shillings; that spinning the
weft cost nine shillings; and picking, carding, and roving about
eight shillings; making a total cost for work alone, exclusive of
spinning the warp, of thirty-five shillings-add for the spinning and
preparing the linen warp eighteen shillings, and the total cost of
workmanship alone would be fifty-three shillings for a piece of
coarse cloth weighing about 24lbs. Just before the cotton famine,
good grey twills of pure cotton were freely sold at tenpence per
pound, or twenty shillings for 24lbs.
HARGREAVES AND ARKWRIGHT.
9
Improvements in the process of spinning were in quite a dif-
ferent category to those in weaving. A spinning frame producing
a number of threads at the same time threatened to annihilate the
spinning wheel,-threatened also the domestic arrangements which
had hitherto been carried on in harmony with the demands of trade.
Kay had simply doubled the power of the loom, but there was
no apparent limit to be set to the power of a spinning frame, and
it therefore threatened also to deprive some people of employment.
It would be a curious inquiry to trace out the causes which
lead to the centralising of any industry in a particular locality,
but it is beyond our present range. It is easy enough to see that
prior to the construction of railways and canals it would be diffi-
cult to conduct any operations of great magnitude far from the
market for produce, and thus, in trades dependent upon foreign
countries, the towns and cities upon navigable rivers would enjoy
a great advantage over those situate in the interior of the coun-
try. Cotton seems to have tried various localities before finally
settling down in South Lancashire. Whyatt's first frame for spin-
ning two hundred and fifty threads at once was set up in the Priory
at Birmingham, and was turned by cattle, and he afterwards tried
another at Northampton. Hargreaves, who worked a spinning
frame in 1767, was driven from Blackburn to Nottingham, and
was followed there by Arkwright with his water frame, and about
the year 1795 cotton was also spun on frames in the Priory at
Coventry; but in later years the trade has been almost confined
to Lanarkshire, in Scotland, and in England can hardly be said to
flourish beyond a forty miles radius from Manchester. Probably
the convenience of the rivers Mersey and Irwell, which practically
join Manchester to the cotton port of Liverpool, materially assisted in
this centralization, and the energy of the late Duke of Bridgewater,
and of his engineer, Brindley, practically settled the question, by
means of the canal which, having wharves close to various pits and
making an additional highway between Manchester and Liverpool,
distributes coals for consumption and also carries produce to market.*
The total amount of cotton imported into this country in 1781
was 5,198,778 lbs., or about 13,000 bales of 400lbs. each, which was
equal to the consumption of about a day and a half in 1860.
* The available coal of South Lancashire is estimated at 4,000,000,000 of tons.
10
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
The greater portion of that amount probably came from the
Levant, for the whole of the cotton exported from India fifteen
years later was 853,920lbs., and 864lbs. of this was sent to
America, where the cultivation of this important staple was just
commencing. In the year 1800 the consumption of cotton in this
country had reached about 129,000 bales of 400lbs. each, being
equal to about three weeks consumption in 1860.
No good results were achieved by Whyatt's spinning frame,
and the invention was practically neglected for a generation,
whether for lack of capital or from imperfect working does not
appear; but from the date of the invention of the jenny by
Hargreaves, and the application of the water frame by Arkwright,
progress was really begun, and has been steadily continued ever
since.
The great advantage of these frames was the increase of pro-
duction, but by their superior work they also enabled cotton to be
substituted for linen warp, and thus further economised the cost
of manufacture. Trade was rapidly extending and Manchester
merchants were growing rich, and to meet the ever increasing
demand they, about the year 1800, put out warp and weft for weav-
ing, not only to dwellers in their immediate vicinity, but to under-
takers from the surrounding villages, and from Oldham, Ashton,
Hyde, Bury, Bolton, and other places. A lounger on the outskirts
of Manchester would often see an irregular procession of weavers,
with their white aprons, coming to town in the morning with calico
pieces, and returning in the evening with wallets slung over their
shoulders loaded with warp and weft for the next week's work.
And not unfrequently would they turn into a favourite alehouse
on the road, and, forgetting that wives and children were anxiously
waiting their return, would carouse far into the night, and then
stagger home under burdens increased by inebriety but with
sadly lightened purses, and a prospect of short supplies until the
next delivery of goods.
Mr. Mann tells us that a person engaged for eight hours at
the spinning wheel could only produce about twelve ounces of
yarn of a low quality, and that the average cost of spinning would
be about three shillings per pound. A fair estimate of all the
improvements will be formed when we state that the cotton con-
sumed in 1860 was more than six hundred times as great as at
COST OF SPINNING.
11
the period spoken of, and that the cost of spinning alone, calcu-
lated at three shillings per pound, would be nearly thrice as much
as the total value of all the cotton goods produced; or, in other
words, that the improvements have reduced the cost of goods to
about one-twelfth their former price. One shilling in 1860 would
purchase nearly as much as twelve shillings did at the period
spoken of by Mr. Mann.
The invention of the spinning frames necessitated the erection
of large buildings, and pointed to the application of water or other
mechanical power, and the exchange of domestic for factory labour.
There is no difficulty in realising the fact that such a change would
be regarded with intense dissatisfaction by the jovial and liberty-
loving operatives of South Lancashire. It is easy enough to rise
early and to work long hours under excitement, for some special
object; but for boys and girls to rise regularly through the bleak
winter, and trudge a mile or more through rain, or sleet, or snow,
to be ready for the six o'clock bell, would be a great hardship.
When working at home a temporary headache or toothache would
be a fair excuse for an hour's extra rest, a feeling of listlessness
would be dispelled by a turn in the garden or up the field path,
and the accidental call of a friend from a distance would lead to
an afternoon's chat or a country walk; but factory occupation for-
bids all these indulgences; a slight ailment must not interfere
with work, and absence without leave would necessarily endanger
employment.
And factory work would not only destroy domesticity and free-
dom, but would also annihilate the capital of the workman. Many
a man who by hard work and strict economy had become the owner
of a few looms would, if he lost health, solace himself, and say to his
wife, "Well, lass, if aught happens me thou'lt ha' th' looms, and
they'll help thee along ;" and he would look upon anything which
lessened the value of this property not only as a misfortune, but
as a cruel injustice. Perhaps the natural repugnance of the
people to forsake their domestic occupations stimulated the resort
of manufacturers to the agricultural districts for families for the
sake of their juvenile labour, and to workhouses for apprentices to
learn cotton spinning and weaving. Persons who remember what
the workhouses were before the enactment of the new poor-law,
how the name workhouse, or house of industry, was an entire
12
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
mockery, will not be surprised that the transference of ignorant
youths from abodes of idleness into factories heated to sixty
or seventy degrees Fahrenheit, where the labour required con-
tinual and close attention for twelve hours per day, should
originate tales of the grossest cruelty; and that the "herding"
together of hundreds of persons of both sexes should have been
pronounced productive of great immorality. Nor is it likely that
the reports were all fictitious, for it would be difficult even now to
give scores of orphans into the charge of men whose only interest
is to extract out of them as much labour as possible, without
finding plenty of room for complaint; nevertheless thousands of
parish, apprentices have fulfilled their terms of service and become
clever workmen, and have seen reason to be thankful that they
were sent into the cotton districts, instead of being left to alternate
for life between southern agricultural wages and the workhouse.
We all dislike flogging at school, and some of us have had experi-
ence of brutal schoolmasters, but we learn in after life to see that
the faults were not all on one side, and all malice is dismissed, and we
shake hands heartily in our maturer years with the men who were
the terror of our youth; and the experience of the school is equally
applicable to the period of apprenticeship or any other servitude.
The progress of the factory system in Lancashire is being
enacted over again in the silk trade in the present day. During
the last half-century the "single hand loom," making one ribbon
at a time, has been superseded by the "engine loom," making
from four to thirty pieces at once; and that again by the
"power loom," adapted for domestic use by the substitution of a
windlass or a lever for the work of hands and feet at the batten and
the treddles; and many a man who, forty years ago, reckoned his
possessions at a hundred pounds in looms finds his fortune reduced
to the value of firewood. So strong was the feeling in Coventry
against the factory system, thirty years ago, that an intelligent
weaver, in a discussion upon the utility of the application of steam
power to machinery, declared that rather than let his children go
to work in a factory he would dash out their brains against the wall.
The strength of this prejudice burned down the first ribbon factory,
and has since led to an attempt at compromise between domestic
employment and the mill. Rows of cottages have been built with
loom-shops in the upper story, and a shaft running through the
TURKEY RED DYEING.
13
whole of the shops, turned by a steam engine erected in the centre
of the row. A charge is made for steam power in the rent, and the
engineer attends during a given number of hours per day ; but if the
weaver desires to continue at work after the engine has stopped
he resorts to the windlass, which he gets a boy to turn. The weak
point in this system is, that the vagaries of fashion render ribbon
weaving an irregular trade, so that in a row of twenty cottages it
will often happen that half of the looms are empty. Yet the
power must be paid for whether used or not, and the weaver finds
himself saddled with a burden which, under the factory system,
would be borne by the employer; and the consequence is, that on
the occurrence of bad trade the power-loom cottages are the first
to be deserted, and thus the landlord loses not only his steam-
power rent but that of the cottages also. The remedy will
probably be found by the employer owning the cottages, and
charging for power only when the looms are at work, which will
make it doubly his interest to keep the tenants employed.
In 1762 Wilson, of Ainsworth, began to dye Turkey red, and
in the following year grass bleaching was generally resorted to;
but it was a tedious process, requiring constant exposure and
frequent wetting of the goods for months. In 1774 it was
shortened one-half, by the use of diluted acid; and in 1786 James
Watt brought home from France the invention of Berthollet for
chemical bleaching, which reduced the time of the operation to a
few hours, and released the pastures, which, to a stranger's eye,
had for a quarter of a century looked like pictures of winter all
the year round. In 1764 calicoes were first printed in Lancashire;
and in 1786 machinery invaded this department also, substituting
cylinders with continuous patterns for the square blocks of wood,
from which patterns had hitherto been impressed by hand; and the
race of improvement has gone on until as many as fifteen cylinders
and fifteen different troughs of colour contribute simultaneously
to the most complicated and beautiful patterns which adorn the
furniture prints of the present day.
Hargreaves' spinning jenny commenced in 1767 with eight
spindles; in 1770 it had sixteen spindles, but it was only fit for
weft yarns, which require less strength than warp. Arkwright
followed closely upon the heels of Hargreaves, and in 1769 pro-
duced the water frame, which, whilst drawing out the roving, gave
14
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
it also the requisite twist to fit it for warp yarn. The drawing or
elongating was effected by passing the yarn between two sets of
rollers, the second pair of which revolved more rapidly than the
first, and therefore elongated the thread in the proportion of the
different rates of motion.
As this machine was an improvement upon, so it practically
superseded that of Hargreaves, and left him unrewarded for all his
labours. Arkwright succeeded in finding the necessary capital
for the erection of mills, and in producing largely enough not only
to repay his outlay but to accumulate a handsome competency.
In 1769 he erected a mill at Nottingham; and in 1771 he built
a second at Cromford, in Derbyshire, and increased the produce of
yarn to such an extent that he found it advisable also to procure
looms for weaving it.
The father of the first Sir Robert Peel had attempted cylinder
carding in Blackburn about 1760, instead of hand combing to
straighten the fibres of cotton, but the difficulty of stripping
the cylinders by hand caused its abandonment. Hargreaves, in or
about 1773, brought out the crank and comb for stripping the
cotton from the cylinders in one continuous sheet of fleece, which,
being contracted and drawn through a funnel, formed a "sliver" or
loose filmy roll, ready for twisting. Two years later this contriv-
ance was included in a patent by Arkwright, and poor Hargreaves
was again left stranded. Some authorities, however, it is fair to
say, give to Arkwright the credit of the invention, as also of the
drawing frame, which is connected with it in the patent. This
latter machine straightens the fibres by stretching the sliver
each time it is passed through, two or more slivers being united
into one before each passage. The sliver is then ready for the
roving frame, which being fitted with three pairs of rollers, each
revolving at different speeds, so as to continue the stretching
process and reduce the sliver to the requisite degree of fineness,
then delivers it into tall circular tin cans, which are kept
revolving rapidly, so as to twist the sliver or roving sufficiently
to allow it to be wound upon wooden bobbins. This machine
enabled spinners to substitute cotton for linen warp yarn, thus
achieving a measure of economy whilst supplying a more satis-
factory medium for calico printers. Microscopic examination
shows that the fine and delicate cotton fibre is a hollow cylin-
CROMPTON'S FIRST MULE.
15
drical tube, and it is said that the mordaunt used by printers
drives the colour into the interior of these tubes, and thus produces
fast colours; but that the colour rests only upon the surface of the
solid woody fibre of linen, and so more easily washes off.
In 1779 the inventions of Arkwright were in turn eclipsed by
the mule produced by Samuel Crompton, of Bolton, a machine which
derived its name from its combination of the principles of the jenny
of Hargreaves and the water frame of Arkwright. This machine
draws out the roving, as in the water frame, and when a certain
length is drawn out, it is then twisted by revolving spindles, and
wound into a somewhat conical form, called a cop, and is ready for
the shuttle. Crompton's first mule had only twenty spindles, but the
principle combining the greatest simplicity with the most econo-
mical and perfect result yet attained was there, and was capable
of indefinite extension. The best commentary upon the value of
this invention is the fact that, whilst the size of the mule has
been increased time after time, until it has reached twelve hundred
spindles, producing twelve hundred threads at once, the only con-
siderable variation from or addition to Crompton's arrangement has
been the introduction of the self-acting principle-moving the
carriage backwards and forwards by means of the steam engine in-
stead of by the hands of the spinner, and securing thereby the same
exact amount of twist in each length or stretch of yarn, instead of
depending on the judgment of the workman. The movable car-
riage upon which the spindles are ranged recedes from the rollers
more rapidly than they deliver the threads, and the yarn is there-
fore stretched and twisted at the same time, in addition to the
stretching produced by the increasing velocity of the different
sets of rollers. The mule in its rudest form sufficed to produce
what is called 80's yarn, but it has since produced usable yarn
so fine as to require eight hundred hanks of 840 yards each to
weigh one pound.
This machine-much more valuable for its saving of labour
than the water frame-was not patented; and the consequence
was that, whilst Arkwright amassed a very large fortune, and
received a baronetcy from the crown, to be converted into a peerage
in the son of his partner (Mr. Strutt, afterwards Lord Belper), it
cost a vast amount of labour to get from the government the
paltry sum of five thousand pounds for Crompton; and this sum
16
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
F
was the reward for all his labours, the value of which to society
would be beyond the power of estimate in money. In 1785 the
inventions of Arkwright also became public property, the validity
of his patents having been successfully contested—a circumstance
which is held by some persons to prove only the malice of his
competitors, and by others that his genius consisted mainly in
the clever manipulation of the fruits of other men's labours.
The cost of spinning 80's mule yarn in Crompton's time was
forty-two shillings; of 60's, twenty-five shillings; and of 40's, four-
teen shillings per pound; the cost of the same articles just prior
to the cotton famine was one shilling, sevenpence halfpenny, and
fourpence respectively.
In 1783 the atmospheric engine was applied to machinery in
Manchester, and in the next year Dr. Cartwright, of Glasgow,
endeavoured to secure progress in the weaving process, so as to
bring it more nearly into accord with the great advance made in
spinning machinery. The productive power of the spinner had
been increased a hundred fold, whilst that of the weaver had simply
been doubled.
With this view he constructed a loom to be worked by steam
power. It was a clumsy instrument and brought its author no
profit, but it was the commencement of a great revolution. The
necessity for improvement was obvious, and men's minds were now
directed to the subject; and the fortune accumulated by Ark-
wright seemed to say that there were prizes as great in store for
successful improvers of looms as had been already achieved by
**adventurers in the spinning department. England was becoming
famous for her machinery, but the legislature was exceedingly
jealous of foreigners, and a law was passed in 1786 which imposed
fines upon persons who were guilty of exporting it. Thus early
was the progress of one trade sacrificed to the mistaken idea of
protecting another, as if a trade in machinery would not have
served the interests of England as well as a trade in textile or
any other fabrics.
Cartwright's loom was never got effectually to work, and of course
brought him no profit, as it did society no positive service; but
in 1794 Bell, also of Glasgow, produced a power loom of improved
pattern; and two years later Miller, of Preston, tried his fortune
in the same direction; but it was not till 1813 (a generation after
WATT'S STEAM ENGINE.
17
Cartwright's attempt) that a really-useful loom was produced, by
Horrocks, of Stockport; and this invention, like the self-acting
mule, received its final form from the late Richard Roberts, of
Manchester, an universal mechanical genius, the owner of nearly
a hundred patents, who nevertheless died at last in great poverty.
One of the chief difficulties in power-loom weaving was the want
of an automatic dressing machine. In 1804 Johnson, of Stockport,
patented a plan for dressing a whole length of warp at once; and
two years later this machine was improved upon by M‘Adam, of
Glasgow, and a few years later still was further improved by
Messrs. Ross & Radcliffe, of Stockport.
The application of the power of falling water to the propulsion
of machinery would have enabled all the inventions of which we
have spoken to be utilized, but if water alone had constituted the
motive power, the manufacture would have been confined to the
river banks, and have been dependent to a most injurious extent
upon the state of the weather; so that the vast extension of the
last half-century, with its multiplied comforts and enjoyments,
would have been impossible. But simultaneously with the pro-
gress of cotton machinery, experiments upon a new motive power
were being carried on, and in 1785 Messrs. Boulton & Watt pro-
duced their steam engine—a giant so perfect in his advent that
five years only elapsed before Arkwright's mills at Cromford were
turned by the strength of his arms. From Hargreaves' jenny to
Crompton's mule were twelve years, from Cartwright's loom to that
of Horrocks were thirty years, but James Watt produced and success-
fully applied the steam engine at once, and the greatest industry
of the world was thus unchained; and, leaving the river banks,
climbed the hills and spread over the moors, reclaiming them from
waste to produce food for the tens of thousands of operatives, who,
by the help of the new power, were elaborating useful and luxu-
rious clothing for half the world.
The engineer of the Bridgewater canal is reported to have been
so enthusiastic in his profession as to have said that the chief use
of rivers was to feed canals; much more reasonably might an
enthusiast for the steam engine assert that the chief use of water
is to be converted into steam as a motive power, for its utility is
so vast and its application so varied as to be perfectly astounding.
A pint of water and two ounces of coals will, by the aid of a steam
C
18
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
engine, raise a weight of seventy-four tons to the height of one
foot, and a single bushel of coals will exert as much force as fifty-
four horses.
By the labour of the steam engine mines are sunk and drained,
coals and metallic ores are raised to the surface, thus providing its
own food and water; the metallic ores are crushed, the metal forged
and rolled, planed, turned, drilled, bored and polished, ready to be
fitted into machines of all kinds, including the steam engine itself,
which may therefore be called self-producing; by the aid of the steam
engine, stones are cut and dressed; clay is ground and compressed
into bricks; corn is converted into flour and kneaded into dough;
wool, flax, silk, and cotton are spun into thread, woven into cloth,
and stitched into garments; and when all these things are prepared
for use, the steam engine distributes them throughout the length
and breadth of the land, and carries them across the ocean, against
wind and tide to the uttermost ends of the earth, spreading civili-
zation and increasing enjoyment everywhere.
But one more invention was necessary to achieve the complete
independence of the cotton trade. The improvements in spinning
and weaving furnished immense powers of production; the steam
engine gave a wide range in the choice of locality for the trade;
the people learned in due time to respond to the factory bell as
the pious villager does to the Sunday chime: but wintry days were
short and dark, whilst the fixed charges of the spinner remained
the same as in summer, and the light of oil and candles was dear,
dull, dirty, and dangerous. The crowning point of invention was
reached in 1803, when coal gas was introduced into a mill in
Salford, giving light enough for efficient work independently of the
sun, and thus practically doubling the powers of production, and
minimising the danger of artificial light, by compressing twenty-
three candles into a single jet at less than a quarter of the cost.
The progress of the cotton trade would, in all probability, have
been even more rapid if it had not been an object of especial care
from time to time with the legislature. In 1798 an import duty
was levied upon raw cotton, and was continued with no less than
fourteen changes in the rate of duty till its final extinction in 1845;
so that this giant trade has only been completely unfettered at
home for twenty years.
But not satisfied with taxing the raw
material, the legislature imposed a ban upon the ornamentation
GOVERNMENT HELPS AND HINDRANCES.
19
of calico, in the shape of an excise, first of sixpence, and after-
wards of threepence per square yard on printed cottons, which
latter duty was only removed in 1831. Practically, they said
to the people, "if you will seek to increase your comforts by
importing foreign productions for manufacture, you shall pay a
fine for each offence, and when you have suffered the punish-
ment you may make plain calico if you like; but if you venture
to exercise taste upon it, or to gratify the love of colour in any
way, you shall pay an additional fine to the government." Thus
enterprise and improvement met with the same treatment as
misdemeanours, and the taxes imposed made an unnaturally large
capital necessary for the pursuit of trade, whilst the、 merchants
were converted into tax-gatherers, at salaries dependent on the
competition amongst themselves; but they were forced to pay the
taxes, whether they collected them or not; they paid not only
on their incomes but on their losses also, for if they never got
paid for goods sold they must still pay the tax, as well as losing
the goods. It is not wonderful that such legislation led to
schemes to cheat the government; and employées of the last
generation of calico printers tell strange stories about the
excisemen being plied with wine whilst charging the duty, and
forgetting their own duties in consequence. It is wonderful that
any trade should flourish at all when subjected to the incubus of
excise, but it is not wonderful that morality should give way,
before the prospect of large profit, by pleasing a corruptible official.
CHAPTER II.
Views of Employers and Operatives on Improvements of Machinery-A League
against Machine-spun Yarns Machinery Riots in 1779-Measured Madness—
The War of 1793 and its Effects upon Trade-The Wage Question-Machinery
the Scapegoat for War-Bankruptcies in 1793—-The War of Tariffs and the Price
of Bread-Import Duty on Cotton, and its Effects-Prohibition to Export Ma-
chinery-Government Nursing-The State of Blockade, 1806, and the Orders in
Council-The American Embargo on Foreign Trade-Machinery and Food Riots
at Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester, &c.-Economical Errors of Employers—
Prejudices against Foreigners-Riots of 1826 and 1829-Destruction of Power
Looms Commencement of Working Class Day Schools, and Rise of Political
Feeling.
IMPROVEMENT is never secured without labour and trouble. It
has often been asserted that teaching is the hardest work in the
world, and every thoughtful man knows that it is much more diffi-
cult to teach men than to teach children. The potter hath power
over the clay, but that is before it is burned; for after the action of
the fire of experience, or the hardening process of age with igno-
rance, it is very difficult to secure a change, however obvious the
advantage. The working classes are in these days often very
severely judged when they oppose obvious improvements, but they
are not more than two generations behind their employers in their
strongest prejudices.
The spinning wheels and primitive looms were commonly
either the property of the operatives who worked them, or of
undertakers who fitted up (gaited) the looms, and then occupied
themselves mostly in superintendence. The capital of the employer
purchased the raw cotton and the imported fine warp yarns of
cotton, or of home-spun linen, and paid the wages of the operatives.
Any improvement in looms seemed to the weaver to threaten his
employment, by needing fewer hands to supply the then present
demand for goods; to the undertaker it threatened to annihilate
the value of his property; and to the masters any improvement
which increased production by a competitor in spinning or in
weaving seemed as if it would rob them of a market for their
LEAGUE AGAINST MACHINE SPUN YARNS.
21
goods, the demand being looked upon by nearly all as a fixed
quantity. So when the inventions of Hargreaves and Arkwright
promised to increase the production of yarns beyond the power of
the then looms to weave, the employers of the weavers combined
amongst themselves in a determination not to purchase machine-
made yarns.
The intention was to ruin the frame spinners,
but the effect was to make Arkwright a manufacturer as well as
a spinner. And when the government had determined to tax
machine-made calico as if it was of foreign manufacture, and an
application was made to parliament for relief, this league of
employers opposed the application. This opposition failed, and
it became really clear that employers who meant to prosper must
invest capital in machinery, and then poor Hargreaves' patent
was pirated without scruple because he was poor, and Arkwright's
was legally contested and nullified four years before it would have
expired by effluxion of time. It was seen that the race for riches
would be won by the owners of spinning frames and power-looms,
and employers who possessed the necessary means entered heartily
into the contest, and left the prejudices against machinery as a
legacy to the operatives.
To these latter the future did not look so promising; they were
afraid of lessened employment, they saw their domestic machines
losing all value, and they disliked the prospect of factory life,
with its regular hours and its forced associations with persons
who were not desirable companions; and, before the new insti-
tution could get fairly established, the curse of war came upon
them, and, by shutting up foreign markets, brought about the woe
and want which they innocently ascribed to the effects of machinery.
Hargreaves was driven to Nottingham by the destruction of
his jennies in Blackburn; Kay, of Warrington (said by some
persons to have been the real inventor of the water frame), had
preceded him for a similar reason; and Arkwright sought the
same asylum after suffering the destruction of a mill at Chorley.
Mr. Mann tells us that "we have in the riots at Blackburn
(1779) evidence that the use of machinery was producing an effect
upon the working class." The mob scoured the country for
miles, destroying all the jennies and other machines with which
Hargreaves had supplied the spinners and weavers. And at this
time the middle and upper classes looked quietly on, for they also
22
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ignorantly supposed that the only tendency of the power afforded
by the machines was to contract the demand for hand labour, not
having yet learned that the improved and cheapened manufacture
would inevitably cause a corresponding increase of demand.
But there was a measure to this madness amongst the rioters,
for jennies having not more than twenty spindles were spared,
whilst all others were either cut down to that same number or
destroyed. A jenny of twenty spindles was a domestic imple-
ment, a larger one would scarcely stand in a cottage. A small
measure of improvement was allowable, but a great improve-
ment was mischievous! Such was the philosophy of the mob
eighty or ninety years ago, and not of the mob only, for the
rioters' cause was popular with those above them; and the destruc-
tion of Arkwright's mill went on in the presence of a large body
of special constables, who appear to have made no effort to prevent
it. The machinery belonging to Mr. Peel, the father of the first
Sir R. Peel, was also destroyed at Oldham, and he afterwards
retired to Burton-on-Trent. But amidst all this prejudice, and
tumult, and riot, the trade still increased.
The consumption of cotton in 1785 (when Arkwright's
machines became public property) was 17,992,888 lbs., and in
seven years after it had risen to 33,442,032lbs., an increase of
nearly a hundred per cent.
On 28th January, 1793, the King (George III.) in his message
to parliament, informed the members that he had resolved to
augment his forces "for supporting his allies, and for opposing
views of aggrandisement and ambition on the part of France, at
all times dangerous to the interests of Europe, but especially so
when connected with the propagation of principles subversive of
the peace and order of society."
In this year the consumption of cotton fell to 17,869,363 lbs.,
or back to the position of 1785, when a large proportion of the goods
produced were by the primitive spinning wheel and loom; and the
exports fell from £2,024,368 to £1,733,807, being fourteen and a half
per cent. Employment was scarce and wheat was rising in price, but
the French revolution had effectually frightened the nation, and the
war being popular could not of course be supposed to have pro-
duced scarcity of work, or to have added six shillings per quarter to
the price of wheat. The doctrine that reproductive labour alone is
THE WAGE QUESTION.
23
permanently useful had not yet found many preachers, and people
could not understand why the cessation of corn growing and calico
making for the employment of killing their customers should get
them into trouble. The general opinion amongst workmen was
that the rate of wages was according to the whim of the employer,
and that it could only be the new machinery which enabled him to
diminish their wages or to dispense with their services. They did
not know that as the only reason for the employment of new
machinery is the extra profit made by it as compared with the old,
so a considerable proportion of that extra profit being saved by
the employer goes to increase the employment fund, and must,
therefore, in order to realise further profit, be re-invested, and add
to the bulk of wages paid. It is true that the re-investment may
not be wholly made in the department which produced it, that is
to say, the profit got out of spinning may not all be spent in
spinners' wages, and that, therefore, a temporary displacement
may occur; but whether the profit be spent upon extra spinning,
or on the production of machinery, or on the building of mills
or houses, it must pay wages, must promote the prosperity of
the operatives, and must increase the demand for all necessary
and useful articles. They knew only that a larger proportion
of operatives were out of work than before the improvements
in machinery, and they looked no farther for the cause of
their distress. But Wheeler, in his history of Manchester, throws
a light upon the subject, for he tells us that in 1793 the
bankruptcies nearly trebled those of the preceding year, shewing
that the mercantile classes suffered not less than the operatives
in the diminution of their wealth, if not of their food; and he also
tells us that the peace of Manchester was only maintained by the
parade of troops with torches through the streets by night. Bad
harvests accompanied the war, and in three successive years the
prices of wheat ran up from forty-seven shillings and tenpence to fifty
shillings and eightpence-seventy-two shillings and elevenpence
and seventy-six shillings and threepence per quarter. With war
taxes, bad harvests, and the annihilation of foreign trade, it is not
wonderful that a disposition to riot was frequently manifested in
various parts of the country.
In 1796 the French, in order to strike a blow at the "nation of
shopkeepers," prohibited the import of English manufactures, and
24
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
thus commenced the war of tariffs, whilst the human war was still
raging; and, as if to punish the nations to the utmost for their
folly, the earth refused its customary fruits, and the price of wheat,
which in 1797 had fallen to fifty-two shillings and twopence, and in
1798 to fifty shillings and four-pence, ran up again in the next three
years to sixty-six shillings and elevenpence, one hundred and ten
shillings and fivepence, and one hundred and fifteen shillings and
elevenpence per quarter. In this last year (1802) old men say
that the sixpenny loaf was not larger than a man's fist, and was
nearly as black as peat bog, and that thousands of people died
from absolute want of food,
In 1798 the English government imposed a duty upon im-
ported cotton, varying from six shillings and sixpence to twelve
shillings and sixpence per 100 lbs., except on the productions
of the East Indies, which were taxed at four per cent ad valorem,
or five shillings and fourpence per 100 lbs. at the then price of
Surats. Cotton goods, being cheaper than linen, were rapidly
increasing in demand for home consumption, and this tax did not
actually diminish the imports, which, indeed, were 7,500,000lbs.
more than in the previous year; but the power of the spinners
had outstripped the demand of the manufacturers, and whilst
the import duty raised the prices of raw cotton greatly beyond
the amount of the tax, the prices of yarns fell off considerably.
Uplands cotton rose from twenty-four pence to thirty-three pence
per pound, Brazils from thirty-one pence to thirty-nine pence,
and Surats from sixteenpence to twenty-three pence per pound;
whilst mule twist, No. 100's, fell from nineteen shillings to nine
shillings and tenpence per pound. A large portion both of
the rise in cotton and the fall in twist was no doubt due to the
increased demand created by the new machinery, and the facility
of production by its means; but all experience goes to show that
a tradesman cannot be made to invest his capital in taxes at less
than a trading profit, which is always many times as much as the
mere cost of collection. And this is necessarily so, for if a trades-
man sells goods with the tax paid, and his customer becomes a
defaulter, the tradesman is in the position of paying taxes upon
his losses, and he must needs make his solvent customers pay for
these bad debts, taxes included, in order to save himself from
ruin.
GOVERNMENT NURSING.
25
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to understand the policy
of the legislature in its various enactments concerning the cotton
manufacture, for they are as inconsistent as the vagaries of an
ignorant mother towards a child, which she first pets, and then
scolds, and then pets again, just according to her own humour for
the time being, and without regard to the real interests of her
charge. In 1782 an act was passed prohibiting the export of
engraved copper plates and blocks, and imposing a penalty of
£500, or twelve months' imprisonment, for enticing any workman
engaged in calico printing to go beyond the seas. The operatives,
regardless of their own interests or inclinations, were to be kept at
home for the benefit of the employer; and the employer, in his
turn, was forbidden to sell the fruits of his enterprise to a French-
man or a Dutchman, but was to be satisfied with the prices
procurable at home. This was trade in a strait waistcoat, for fear
that it should be mad enough to ruin itself by finding out and
occupying the best markets.
In the next year (1783), the import duty on foreign muslins,
calicoes, and nankeens was reduced; and at the same time a bounty
was given on the export of British printed and dyed cottons. Here
there was in operation, at the same time, the removal of a piece of
protection by the lowering of import duties, and the enactment of
another by the gift of a bounty. Surely, if English prints needed
a bounty to send them into foreign markets, there was not much
need to prohibit the export either of operative engravers or of the
plates produced by them; for their work could not be in great
demand in markets which our finished goods needed a bounty to
reach. The operative was kept at home to engrave, and the whole
nation was taxed to make a foreign trade for him and for the calico
printer; whilst, on the other hand, the price of the raw material,
which employed them in common with all the cotton operatives,
was artificially increased by the import duty on cotton, and the
cost of dress was further enhanced at home by an excise on calico
prints; when the simple removal of these taxes would in all
probability have stimulated the whole of the trade, and have
served the calico manufacturer and printer vastly more than any
government nursing could do. But the nurse exacted wages
from its child, for, in 1784, calico printers, bleachers, and dyers
were obliged to take out licences, and an excise of a penny per
26
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
*
pound was imposed on all bleached calicoes. In the same year
a tax was also imposed on fustians, which so manifestly hindered
the trade that it was repealed in the next session of parliament.
These oscillations between government petting and government
punishment seem then to have settled down till 1802, when the
import duty on raw cotton was increased in ratio, without producing
an increased revenue; and was increased again in 1803, and still
again in 1805, when it reached its highest point; and from 1809
was reduced on various occasions, until finally extinguished in 1845.
In 1806 the famous Berlin decree of Napoleon declared the
British Islands in a state of blockade, and all captured British
goods lawful prizes, and excluded British vessels from trade in all
the ports of France, and all countries under her control; and every
vessel, of whatever nation, which had touched at any British port,
was put in the same category.
In February, 1807 (three months after this decree, and in con-
sequence of its promulgation), the "orders in council" announced
the blockade of the whole French dominions, and forbade any
neutral vessel from entering a British port if it had touched at
any French port, and justified the capture of all French produce;
and it further decreed that no British vessel should trade with the
enemy, so that all trade with France or her dependencies was
henceforth reduced to smuggling.
In the next year was issued the American embargo on foreign
trade, and the imports of cotton fell off to the extent of thirty
millions of pounds. The orders in council continued in force, not-
withstanding petitions against them from London, Manchester,
and Hull merchants, till 1812, when the cotton imports again fell
off about 28,000,000lbs. In that year, Mr. Brougham (now Lord
Brougham) brought evidence before the House of Commons, on
the state of trade and the terrible condition of the cotton opera-
tives. Wheat was one hundred and twenty-two shillings and
eightpence per quarter, and the food of the people was of the most
wretched kind; bread, or even potatoes, said he, are quite out of
the question; the luxuries of animal food, or even milk, they had
long ceased to think of. So pitiable was the state of the people,
that notwithstanding the vindictive feeling against France and
her allies, the orders in council were upon these representations
immediately repealed.
MACHINERY AND FOOD RIOTS.
27
Bad harvests, war taxes, and an inflated currency, which raised the
prices of all articles, except labour, had all contributed to this ter-
rible distress, but the operatives saw principally one cause at work.
Improved machinery had enabled one man to vastly increase the
produce of his labour, and they concluded that if the machinery
was out of the way, there would be more work and more wages for
each of them. They did not know that the employment of more
hands for the same result would not increase the purchasing power
of the public, and that to raise the price of a commodity must
needs prevent its sale, and so in their instance, whilst robbing the
world of a large amount of clothing, would still leave the work-
man in the same miserable plight. How could they know these
things? The education of the masses was as yet a dangerous doc-
trine, their only teaching was from the pulpits, and this teaching
did not reach one half of the operative classes, and except amongst
the dissenting local preachers, the universal tenor was "obedience
to the powers that be, for they are of God," whilst want and
suffering gave practical proof of the bitterness of the lesson.
In 1811-12 the powers of nature embodied in improved
machinery for man's comfort were openly denounced as the cause
of, and made the scapegoat for, his sufferings. The riots against
machinery commenced at Leicester, where the workmen supposed
themselves worse off, because, by the aid of a wide frame, a man
could make more stockings in a given time than in a narrow one.
As if the farmer who would be well off by the produce of six
bags of wheat per acre should be ruined if the same land and
the same labour gave him ten bags.
In April, 1812, there was a food riot in Manchester, which was
quelled for the moment by an arbitrary arrangement of the authori-
ties to reduce the prices of potatoes from fourteen shillings or fifteen
shillings to eight shillings per load. A cart with fourteen loads of
meal was stopped at New Cross, and the meal carried away. The
cavalry were needed to preserve the peace, and the magistrates had
to promise full protection to the farmers to induce them to bring
produce to market for sale at all.
In the same month a riot took place at Middleton, where a mill
had been erected for weaving by steam, and the object of the mob
was to destroy the place. But the proprietors had been forewarned,
and armed defenders occupied the building, and when the place was
·
+
28
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
J
attacked and the windows broken, the crowd was fired upon, three
of them being killed and many more wounded. On the next day,
the crowd returned to the charge, being then also armed, but the
authorities were awake, and the factory was now defended by
soldiers; and the crowd, foiled in their first object, turned to the
house of the proprietor, and wreaked their vengeance by setting
it on fire. Here they were followed by the military, and five more
of their number were killed, and many others wounded. Four days
later (24th April), a mob assembled at West Houghton with the
declared intention of destroying the power looms which were at
work at that place. A troop of soldiers was dispatched thither from
Bolton, who, finding all quiet, returned home again, when the mob
immediately re-assembled, set fire to, and completely destroyed a
large factory. The operatives undoubtedly believed that the in-
creased facilities for the production of wealth by improved
machinery were the cause of their poverty, but this belief was, it
was shrewdly suspected, made use of by designing persons to
enable the government to crush out the new political life which
was now rising into being, and struggling for development. How-
ever that matter may be, it is certain that the most susceptible
prejudice was that against machinery, and that the next assize
gave evidence of the fearful amount of passion which had been
excited, and of the fearful retribution exacted; for, according to
Archibald Prentice, more than twenty persons were sent to the
gallows, and one of the poor fellows was so young as to call upon
his mother at the scaffold in the vain hope that she could save
him from a felon's death.
Amongst employers it was now well settled that the greater
the power of production the more valuable the machine, and an
improvement was tolerably certain of immediate adoption, the
chief care of the inventor being to prevent piracy; but the know-
ledge of political economy as a science was still to come.
The employers petitioned against the corn law of 1815, upon
the plea that its enactment would tend to raise wages, forgetting
that if more means were expended on food there would remain
less for clothing, and that consequently every addition to the price
of corn would lessen the demand for cotton and other manufactures,
and throw hands out of employ, and force those remaining at work
to accept less instead of demanding more wages for work.
PREJUDICES AGAINST FOREIGNERS.
29
The sons of these men when agitating for the repeal of these
same corn laws, from 1839 to 1846, thought it very foolish of the
Chartists to declare that "cheap food meant cheap wages," and
foolish enough it was, as the theory of political economy shewed,
and as events have since demonstrated; but the working men
Chartists were then only dressed in the cast-off clothes of their
employers, for their doctrine was a perfect counterpart of that
announced by the employers in 1815; they were just a generation
behind in this respect, and in some other matters not quite so far.
A foreign trade in yarns had sprung up, and it was predicted
that evil would arise from the exportation of twist; the assumption
being that if twist was not exported the demand for calico would be
increased proportionately, and thus thousands of extra looms be
employed. It was forgotten that twist was not given away, but
sold for a profit, and that so long as a profitable trade was done it
mattered not to the interests of this country whether it was in
yarn or cloth, for that if the sum spent by foreigners for yarn was
spent on cloth it would simply employ extra weavers at the ex-
pense of some of the spinners. And it was also forgotten that to
prohibit the export of yarns might possibly result in setting up
rival spinners on the Continent instead of bringing extra customers
for cloth; just as at an earlier date at home, Arkwright had been
forced into manufacturing by the refusal of employers to purchase
his yarns.
The same kind of foolish objections were urged against allowing
foreigners, resident in Manchester, to purchase fustians in the
grey instead of in the finished state, and it was even feared
that some of them might become manufacturers! What would
these old manufacturers think if they could return and look
down the long array of German, Greek, and other foreign names
which now adorns the list of merchants in the Manchester
directory? How heartily they would laugh at their own former
follies, and how glad would they be to see the demonstration
that the interests of a nation are not promoted by exclusiveness,
but by universal goodwill and fraternity. The foreigners are
amongst the most enterprising of our merchants, and, whilst
they do not obtrusively interfere with our local or national politics,
they are yet found prominent amongst the donors to charitable
objects.
*
•
30
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
We ought to be careful in our condemnation of the conduct of
the working classes, and charitable in denouncing their neglect of
opportunities for improvement, for so lately as 1825 a meeting of
Manchester merchants adopted the following resolution :-" That
permanently high prices of corn would be evidently and generally
injurious; they would either greatly depreciate the condition of
our manufacturing population, or, by raising the wages of labour,
materially increase the facilities for successful rivalship with our
productive industry abroad; and the declining condition of our
trade which would then ensue would eventually entail on the agri-
culturists, in common with every other class of the community,
the greatest suffering." Here was still the old fallacy that dear
corn meant dear wages, notwithstanding the fact that every bad
harvest had, by lessening trade, given the operatives into the
hands of the employers at almost any wages which it pleased them
to pay. So difficult is it to unlearn an erroneous doctrine, even
when demonstrably false.
The years 1823-4-5 were remarkable for heavy speculations,
which turning out unprofitable, resulted in the failure of fifty-eight
country banks, and of course brought trade to a standstill position,
not only in the cotton districts but in all parts of the kingdom.
Subscriptions were opened in Lancashire, and food was supplied to
the destitute, but the people not understanding the true cause of
their distress, again made machinery the scapegoat. In April,
1826, a mob broke the windows of a factory at Accrington, and
grossly ill-used the manager when he attempted to speak to
them. On the next day, manufacturers returning from Man-
chester on the coach were received in Blackburn with showers
of stones. Five days later (24th April), the mob gained admission
to Messrs. Sykes' mill, at Accrington, and destroyed sixty power-
looms, and the dressing machine, and also injured the steam
engine. They then marched to Rough Hey, and there destroyed
twenty looms, and thence to White Ash, where eighty more were
demolished. At Blackburn, a similar course was followed, and many
looms were destroyed before the arrival of the military, who killed
one man and dangerously wounded two others. On the 25th, the
soldiers were fortunate enough to save the mills of Messrs. Turner,
at Helmshore. On the 26th, two hundred and twenty looms were
destroyed at Rawtenstall and Edenfield. A similar act of vandalism
DESTRUCTION OF POWER-LOOMS.
31
took place at Messrs. Aitken and Lords's, near Ramsbottom, where
a collision with the military cost the lives of four men and one
woman. Seventy-four looms were destroyed on the same day at
Summerseat, and fifty-one cotton and some woollen looms at Bacup.
On 26th, a meeting of the unemployed was held in St. George's
Field's, Manchester, and the five or six thousand people there
present were urged to destroy the power-looms as the cause of
their distress; but, at this meeting common sense found an expo-
nent in the person of a working-man, named Hodgins, who told
them that the only possible result of such violence would be that
they would suffer under the swords of the military, and that not
the slightest alteration would be made in the system of which they
complained. The parish was bound to support the distressed,
and if the officers did not grant assistance, the applicants might
appeal to the magistrates, who would order them relief. Till all
these legal resources were tried, every attempt to obtain their
purpose by other means was illegal. This speech and the an-
nouncement by the late A. Prentice, to the effect that the first
subscription of eight thousand pounds being exhausted, a new one
had been commenced that day, and on the morrow, 20,000lbs. of
bacon and 100,000lbs. of meal would be ready for distribution,
sufficed to keep the peace, and the greater portion of the crowd
returned quietly to their homes.
What they wanted was food, and whilst they believed that the
new machinery had robbed them of bread, they were willing to
spare even the robber, if the necessary bread was supplied.
In 1829 a money panic, arising from the withdrawal of one
pound notes from circulation, had the effect of lessening employ-
ment and lowering wages, and of course produced serious discon-
tent, and again the rage against machinery was excited.
On 27th April, all the windows in Messrs. Brocklehurst's factory
at Macclesfield were broken. On 29th, a number of weavers at
Rochdale, who had turned out against a reduction, went round to
those who remained at work and demanded their shuttles, certainly a
most effective mode of stopping the looms; and next day the passion
assumed what was now the established form, and the machinery in
two factories was destroyed. Sixteen of the rioters having been
arrested and committed for trial, an attempt at rescue was made
and resulted in the deaths of six persons by the military on guard.
F
32
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
เ
At a meeting of hand-loom weavers in Manchester, on 3rd May, it
was resolved to request the power-loom weavers to strike rather than
submit to a reduction. Next day a mob broke into a mill in Mather-
street, turned out the hands, and cut to pieces the warps in the
looms; broke the reeds and all else which was easily destructible, and
tossed the cloth into the street, through the broken windows. From
thence they went to Pollard-street, and destroyed forty-six power-
looms and ninety-two dandy-looms (looms turned by a windlass at the
end of each.) They then returned to the factory whence they had
turned out the hands, and there destroyed fifty-three more looms,
knocked out more windows, and tossed warps and webs into the
canal. In Ludgate-street they were not satisfied with destroying
the power-looms, but having accomplished all possible internal
mischief, they then set fire to the building. A troop of soldiers
prevented any further destruction, but for two days longer provi-
sion shops were sacked, and forced contributions of money and food
levied at private houses.
During all the alternations of prosperity and adversity com-
prised in this short review, the political element had been constantly
growing up amongst the working classes. Lancasterian, Church,
and British day schools had also begun to work; and although social
and political economy formed no part of their instructions, yet they
did to thousands of people supply the means which led to self-
culture; and any violence against property henceforth perpetrated
by great masses of men may safely be credited quite as much to a
sense of political inequality and injustice as to the old prejudice
against machinery. It is true that amongst the uneducated,
and in the trades where machinery has yet to win its way,
the old battle will have to be fought over again, as it was in
1835 in Coventry, when steam power was first applied to the
weaving of ribbons; and as at present with the brickmaking
machine, which promises great economy in the cost of houses,
but has yet to fight its way amongst the class which most needs
its help. But in the plug riots of 1842, the object was almost
wholly political, it was an attempt on the part of the Chartists to
stop all work until the legislature should concede the doctrine of
universal suffrage in the election of the House of Commons; and
those who came to the determination thus to secure a share in law
making, sought to impose their wills upon other people by knocking
RISE OF POLITICAL FEELING.
33
out the boiler plugs and stopping the machinery. So also in 1848,
when the "citizen King" of France fled to England as plain
William Smith, and France once more announced herself a Republic,
with Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for motto, the operatives of
this country were fired with emulation to put down the "tyrants" at
home; and any mischief which was perpetrated against machinery
in the riots at that time, is not to be set down to the prejudice
against improvements; but is to be looked upon simply as a measure
of lynch law, a punishment for crimes which do not appear on the
statute book of the realm, but are yet marked in the minds of some
working men, who in this way enact the part of judges and execu-
tors of their own sentences. Simply a change in the fashion of
folly the reader will say; and this is quite true, for the perpetra-
tion of violence seldom if ever answers the good intended, whilst
it is always in itself a positive evil, and the fruitful parent of
evils to come.
it
Now that the great mass of the youthful population are able to
read, and the penny newspaper can be relied upon for teaching with
tolerable fairness and clearness the true causes of the distress which
may be our lot from time to time to suffer; we need no longer
fear any general rising against improved machinery, nor any physical
force demonstration against a government which must always bow
to a strongly expressed and general public opinion.
D
CHAPTER III.
Comparative Increase of Population, 1801-1861-Increase of Real Property-Manu-
facturing and Agricultural Hundreds-Classes of the Population-Comparative
Increase of Various Classes-Effects of the Excise on Paper-Progress of Manu-
facture, 1830-1860-Wages in 1844 and 1860-Influences of Factory Life on
Physical and Moral Health-Old and Modern Mills-Plurality of Tenure-The
Short-time Agitation-Richard Oastler-The Factories' Education Act-Man-
chester Meetings-Comparative Mortality of Large Towns-Infant Mortality in
Manchester and Liverpool-Relative Progress of Cotton, Silk, and Woollen
Manufactures-Immigration of Silk Operatives-Jealousy of Old Hands-
Subsidiary Trades-Relative Progress of the Cotton Industry in England and
America-American Tariffs-Yankee 'Cuteness-The French Treaty, 1860–
Prejudice at Coventry-Imports of Silk Goods-The Flax Trade-Mr. Bazley on
the Cotton Trade-American and Indian Cotton-A Century of Progress-The
Wisdom of Figures.
THE importance of the cotton industry will be fully appreciated
by the reader when the progress of Lancashire is compared with
that of England and Wales during the same period. For the
county has no peculiarity other than this industry to account for
its greater progress; on the contrary, many counties exceed it in
fertility of soil and in healthiness of climate; and it is a very
common circumstance for men who have acquired fortunes by
trade in Lancashire, to remove and become landed proprietors in
the midland or southern counties of England. By these means
much of the wealth gained in Lancashire is distributed over the
country, so that large as is the excess of progress it would appear
still larger except for this migration.
The progress of population in Lancashire, compared with that
of England and Wales at each census since 1801, is exhibited in
the following table :-
Population of
Lancashire.
Per Centage
of Increase.
Per Centage of
Increase in
England and Wales.
Excess of Increase
in Lancashire.
1801
673,486
1811
828,429
22
14
8
1821
1,052,948
27
18
9
1831
1,336,854
27
16
11
1841
1,667,054
24
14
10
1851
2,031,236
22
13
9
1861
2,429,440
20
20
12
8
INCREASE OF POPULATION.
35
An increase of population is, however, not inconsistent with an
increase of pauperism, but a considerable portion of the excess
of increase in Lancashire has been by immigration from other
counties; and when immigration is considerable it is a very fair
proof of prosperity, for operatives only throng where they expect
to improve their circumstances. And if we refer to the returns of
real property at different periods, our idea of the prosperity of
Lancashire will be fully borne out. Here are the returns of the
annual value of real property assessed for property tax in England
and Wales and in Lancashire respectively from 1815 to 1860-
1815
1843
1851
1860
England and Wales.
£51,790,879
85,802,735
94,809,106
112,802,749
Lancashire proportion
of total.
Lancashire.
£3,087,774
6.0 per cent.
7,756,228
9.0
8,640,695
9.1
11,453,851
10.2
Thus in 1815 Lancashire contributed one-fourteenth of the property
tax, in 1851 it contributed one-eleventh, and in 1860 one-tenth,
exclusive of the income from railways in each case.
But the results of the cotton industry will be rendered still
more apparent by reference to a table prepared by Mr. Henry
Ashworth, comparing the progress in the different hundreds of
Lancashire itself.
Real property assessed for land tax in Lancashire at two
periods :-
Hundred of Leyland
1692.
£5,774
1853.
Increase per cent.
·
£199,038
3,447
Lonsdale
""
•
8,500
298,275
3,509
Amounderness
10,288
414,691
4,030
Blackburn
·
11,131
574,607
5,161
""
West Derby
Salford
35,642
2,375,115
6,634
25,907
3,051,347
•
11,777
Readers who are acquainted with Lancashire will not need to be
told that the progress is about in proportion to the area occupied
for the purposes of manufacture and commerce in each case; that
in fact, the immense stride made by the Salford hundred is due to
the cotton manufacture, and that of West Derby to the same
cause, together with the additional fact that Liverpool is the grand
port of entry for the raw material and for the departure of manu-
factured goods.
36
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
£
And the character of the demand for labour in Lancashire will
be seen by the following table, which compares the distribution
of population per thousand into six classes in Ergland and Wales,
and in Lancashire respectively, according to the census of 1861 :—
RATIO OF THE POPULATION PER THOUSAND, IN SIX CLASSES.
1. The professional
2. The domestic
3. The commercial
4. The agricultural
5. The industrial
6. The indefinite
England and Wales.
24
Lancashire.
14
569
521
•
31
44
100
40
•
241
351
35
30
•
Difference.
10 less.
48 less.
13 more.
60 less.
110 more.
5 less.
1,000
1,000
The paucity of the professional class is simply indicative of the
fact that in a dense population more work can be accomplished by
one man than in a district where the same number occupy a
larger area.
But the smaller number devoted to domestic occupations, seeing
that the dependents on cotton comprise about one-half the popula-
tion of the county, shows an excessive demand for female labour
of at least ten per cent over the average of England and Wales,
which demand takes its subjects from home during the whole day;
and if the large number of females from other counties, who con-
stitute the domestic servants in the cotton manufacturing towns,
could be eliminated, the comparison would be still more telling.
The increase of the commercial class is the natural and inevit-
able consequence of a large trade; the commercial men are carriers
who take the risk of profit and loss; and the capital invested in
goods, and the intense activity of this class in finding markets
and supplying them with produce, has done much to increase the
manufacturing industry of Lancashire. But the peculiar condition
of the county, and the secret of its great progress, are shewn in the
small proportion of the population devoted to agriculture, and the
larger proportion engaged in industrial occupations. Remembering
that the cotton population is only one-half of the county, ten per
cent in excess of the whole county, means twenty per cent more
in the cotton districts than the general average of the whole
country, devoted to industrial occupation in the peculiar manu-
facture. It would be wonderful, indeed, if such a fact did not
tell upon material progress.
CLASSES OF .THE POPULATION.
37
But there is a dark as well as a light side to the picture. The
demand for female and juvenile labour leaves very few girls of
working age at home, and domestic duties are not learned in youth
so as to be made available in married life; and hence results
much ignorant extravagance and consequent domestic unhappiness.
Under the domestic class are included 376,893 scholars, being
15.3 per cent of the population, or 04 per cent lower than the
average of the whole country, which is equal to double that
amount in the manufacturing districts; where the general prosperity
ought to make the balance in favour of, instead of against, educa-
tional progress.
Bearing in mind that the increase of population in Lancashire
from 1851 to 1861 was twenty per cent, the following figures will
show in what directions there has been excessive activity, and who
have profited most by the last decade of prosperity.
INCREASE PER CENT OF VARIOUS CLASSES FROM 1851 TO 1861.
Inn and hotelkeepers.
Bricklayers. joiners, &c.
Letterpress printers
Merchants
Brokers
Coal miners
Commercial clerks
Paper makers
Engine and tool makers
Brickmakers
Railway officials
Iron miners
Coachmen in private families
Agents
Iron makers
Gardeners in private families
28 per cent.
29
""
37
11
41
""
43
45
49
""
50
50
68
99
83
99
133
180
185
"1
222
11
532
""
These figures deserve more than a passing glance. Drunken-
ness has probably not increased, but the fact that the increase of
hotelkeepers has outstripped the growth of population, indicates
considerable prosperity. This prosperity is further evidenced
by the progress of the building trades, which have done more
than provide for the mere growth of population, for their progress
would seem to indicate an extra expenditure of from five to ten
per cent on house and warehouse accommodation during the decade.
The extra increase of letterpress printers is doubtless due to the
38
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
removal of the stamp duty on newspapers and the excise on paper;
and it is satisfactory to know that there has been an increase of
seventeen per cent above the average in the class who are
employed mainly in the diffusion of knowledge; and this fact, taken
in connexion with the excess of thirty per cent in the increase
of papermakers, shows that if this latter class is to be ruined by the
French export duty on rags, they have enterprise enough to enable
them to fight a good battle and to die hard. The increase of
merchants, brokers, commercial clerks, and railway officials, `all
show the extra capital invested in trade, the intense activity in
the pursuit of wealth, and the greatly increased facilities for com-
mercial intercourse. The engine and tool makers have increased
two-and-a-half times as fast as population, so that they must have
supplied machinery not only for the increase of population, but
have renewed the old machines where the course of improvement
required it, and have done also a large export trade; and the
iron miners must have produced six times as much metal in Lan-
cashire as they did in the previous decade. But the most singular
revelation of these figures is, that five hundred and sixty-eight
persons have been added to the list of private coachmen; that on
an average one additional man per week has set up a carriage
during the ten years from 1851 to 1861; whilst eighty-seven per-
sons each year, or nearly 179 every week, have also commenced to
keep private gardeners. This is demonstration that, beyond the
general prosperity, great wealth has accumulated in the hands of
one person in each two thousand of the population.
The manufacture and export of cotton machinery will tend to
reduce the advantages of the home spinner and manufacturer to a
minimum in neutral markets, confining it to the skill exhibited in
management, and the comparative working power of the operatives
at home and abroad. That foreign spinners and manufacturers do
tread pretty closely upon the heels of those at home is proved by the
fact that during the cotton crisis Russian and Swiss yarns and French
calicoes were sold in the Manchester market. The keen competition
existing in some branches of the trade is also well illustrated by a
circumstance which was brought under the notice of Mr. W. E
Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, during the agitation for
the repeal of the paper duty. A considerable trade is done from
Manchester in sewing and darning cottons to America, north and
EFFECTS OF EXCISE ON PAPER.
39
south, to the Levant, and elsewhere. The sewing cottons were for-
merly exported wound upon wooden reels or bobbins, which usually
contained three hundred yards each; but gradually the practice
which calls a thirty-four inch cloth a yard wide, obtained to such an
extent in sewing cottons, that a reel supposed to contain three
hundred yards was often found to have only one or two layers
of cotton upon it, so that in fact wood was sold for cotton. The
German spinners wound their cotton upon small cards of paste-
board, so that the purchaser could see at a glance what he got for
his money; and the natural consequence was that the English
spinner must use pasteboard also, or lose the trade. But pasteboard
in England paid an excise of threehalfpence per pound and five per
cent additional. Now the card in use, together with the waste in
cutting it into shape, weighed nearly as much as the cotton wound
upon it; and as the tax was doubled by the profits of the paper
maker and the pasteboard maker, the difference between the cost
of these cards in England and in Germany was about threepence
per pound, or about ten per cent on the selling price of the cotton;
and when this cotton got to America, it was subjected to an import
duty of twenty-five per cent ad valorem, which reckoned on the
cost and consequences of the excise, raised the difference in favour
of the German spinner to twelve-and-a-half per cent, and of course
gave to him the foreign market. Crochet and darning cottons
packed in pasteboard boxes suffered in a similar manner, and the
export trade of one Manchester house fell off from a hundred
thousand gross per annum to nothing.
With perfect freedom of trade, Lancashire has nothing to fear
from any competitors, for it is the cradle of enterprise and the
home of inventions; it is supplied with cheap iron and coal, and
filled with skilful workmen, and can afford to pay the best price for
raw cotton, because its perfect machinery reduces the cost of its
manipulation to a minimum. But if governments interfere with
trade, either by taxing imports, excising manufactures, or encou-
raging colonies in the imposition of indirect taxation, they disar-
range the natural order of things, foster unhealthy production, and
develop all sorts of obstructions to progress, which nobody could
foresee; but which are no sooner established than they claim the
privilege of vested interests, and however mischievous in practice,
cost much labour and expense to get rid of. The agitation for the
40
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
[
repeal of the advertisement, the penny stamp, and the paper duties,
is probably the cheapest on record; but it cost fourteen years of
continuous labour on the part of its promoters, and some four
thousand pounds.
Mr. David Chadwick gives the following figures as representing
the progress of manufacture in thirty years :-
1830
1860
Yards of cloth produced.
914,773,563
4,431,281,728
Per cent of increase.
Increase, 384 per cent.
And the consumption of cotton was as follows, viz. : in-
1840
1856
1860
528,142,743 lbs.
891,400,000
1,040,000,000,,
Increase nearly 100 per cent.
The number of spindles employed in Lancashire and Cheshire in
1850 and 1856 is given in the miscellaneous statistics of the
government, as follows:-
1850.
17,099,231
1856.
23,619,167
And Mr. Chadwick says the number of spindles required to work
up the cotton consumed in 1860 would be about thirty-three
millions, turning off about 32lbs. of yarn each on an average for
the year. The manufacture of spindles, we are told, proceeds at
the rate of three millions per annum; one and a half millions
being the increase for home use, half a million for replacement,
and a million for export; so that the machinery sent to supply
our competitors is two-thirds of the amount of the increase for use
at home. Lancashire spinners will need to look to their laurels if
they mean to remain victors in neutral markets.
The improvements of twenty years in various departments, as
measured by increased production and increased economy, are given
by Mr. Chadwick as follows:-
In willowing and blowing machines .
In carding machines
In drawing frames
•
Per centage.
Increase of production.
Per centage.
Saving of labour.
20 to 25
20
20 to 25
20
20 to 25
100
20 to 25
40 to 45
In spinning and doubling, by in-
100
40
crease in size
In looms
25
50
In slubbing and roving
WAGES IN 1840 AND 1860.
41
It is estimated that thirty millons of spindles in 1860 would
turn off as much work as thirty-seven millions would have done
in 1840, so that whilst the increase in spindles has been seventy-
six per cent, the increase in production has been one hundred and
nineteen per cent; and instead of these improvements displacing
operatives, as the prejudices of the people led them to suppose
they would do, the manufacturers have had from time to time to
import thousands of families from the agricultural districts for the
sake of their juvenile labourers; and wages, instead of depreciating,
have advanced between the years 1844 and 1860 from ten to twenty
per cent, whilst the hours of labour have been materially shortened.
The rates, as given by Mr. Chadwick, are exhibited in the following
table:
Wages of willow tenter
Lap machine tenter
1844.
Per week of 72 hours.
1860.
Per week of 60 hours.
9s. Od.
14s. to 17s.
8s. Od.
•
12s. Od.
Card strippers and grinders
Drawing-frame tenter
12s. Od.
18s. to 20s.
9s. Od.
11s. Od.
Slubbing-frame tenter
9s. Od.
11s. 6d.
Roving-frame tenter
9s. Od.
11s. 6d.
Spinner
23s. 6d.
29s. Od.
Piecer
12s. Od.
13s. Od.
Juvenile piecer
6s. 6d.
9s. Od.
These were the average wages at the two periods named, but Mr.
Henry Ashworth, late the president of the Manchester Chamber of
Commerce, makes the following statement:-Prior to 1842 an
operative spinner earned four shillings and sevenpence for spinning
20lbs. of No. 70's yarn off a mule of four hundred spindles. In
1859 the wages for the same quantity of 70's yarn were three
shillings and elevenpence farthing. But in the former year the
net earnings of the spinner were twenty shillings per week, whilst
in the latter they were thirty shillings and tenpence. The increased
size of the mules, and the increased speed at which they were
worked, produced a so much larger quantity as to account for the
difference. So that, almost without effort on his own part, often
even in spite of his opposition to improved machinery, the genius
of invention and the capital of the employer had forced upon the
fine spinner a fifty per cent rise in his weekly income, forcing
him at the same time also to contribute to the enjoyments of
the civilised world by a considerable reduction in the price
42
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
of tasteful garments. The reduced cost of the production of
a week, as compared with the cost of the same quantity prior to
1842, was twenty-three shillings and tenpence; of which sum the
operative got ten shillings and tenpence, leaving thirteen shillings
for extra assistance to the spinner, interest on the extra capital
invested, and for reductions in price to the consumer.
A good idea of the rate of improvement in spinning is given by
the late J. Kennedy, of Manchester, and exhibits the progress in
speed resulting from the approach to mechanical perfection:-
Hanks spun per spindle per day.
Yarn No. 40's
1812.
2.0
1812.
1s.
Yarn No. 40's
1830.
2.75
Cost of labour per lb. at three periods
1830.
7 d.
1858.
2.75
1858.
5d.
It is thus evident that speed had almost reached the maximum
consistent with safety in 1830, since which period the extra
production per hand is chiefly due to the increased size of the
machines.
In connection with the particulars above recited, it will be
interesting to show the proportion of men, women, and children,
usually employed in a mill which does both spinning and weaving,
and for the following tables we are indebted to Mr. D. Chadwick:-
Class of work.
Stokers, engineers, lodge-keepers,
warehousemen, machinists, and
porters
Cotton mixing and blowing
Carding and preparing
Self-acting mule spinning
Throstle spinning, winding, and
warping
•
Power-loom weaving
Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total.
20 . 2. 5. 0. 27
. 7.
1. 0. 8
0.
•
17. 36
4
15
72
•
•
•
24
}
7.
•
Beaming, twisting, and sizing
0 . 10 . 1 . 35
39. 12. 11. 69
10 . 173 . 0.92. 275
2. 14
10 . 1
一​5一​19
1
251 . 33 121 . 500
•
The per centage of each class being. 19. 50-2 . 66 24.2
And the average total wages throughout the whole of the depart-
ments weekly was in 1859 as follows:-
95 Men.
251 Women.
33 Boys.
£87: 17: 6 £127:11:10 £11:11:0
121 Girls,
£30:5:0
Total, 500 persons.
£257: 5:4
FACTORY LIFE AND HEALTH.
43
The average individual wages being-for men, eighteen shillings
and sixpence; women, ten shillings and twopence; boys, seven
shillings; and girls, five shillings; making a general average of
ten shillings and threepence halfpenny for each person per week.
Much has been written at various times about the unhealthiness
and immorality of factory life, and there was doubtless considerable
truth in the first part of the charge as applied to the system of
work pursued thirty or forty years ago; for some of the old mills
are far from pleasant places to work in even now, after all the
improvements of a generation and a half of the greatest activity
which the world ever saw. Low ceilings, rooms inconveniently
crowded with machinery, so as to prevent proper cleanliness; an
atmosphere of seventy degrees, saturated with the vapour of oil,
and tinctured with the results of metallic friction, can never be
particularly healthful; and if, therefore, we look back to a time
when there was no government inspection, when the shafting of
the machinery was unfenced, and it was common to work four-
teen or fifteen hours per day, and not unfrequently all night as
well as all day, we shall have no difficulty in admitting the
unhealthiness of the occupation. With regard to the second part
of the charge, which asserts that factory life is immoral, it is clear
that the conduct of workpeople, in factories and elsewhere, will
always depend very much upon that of their superintendents and
overlookers. There is no necessary connection between immoral
conduct and the working of a hundred persons in the same room; on
the contrary, if the superiors set a proper tone, there is a sort of
semi-public opinion, which is quite as operative, if not quite as
powerful, as that which in a nation restrains a government from
wrong-doing. But if we look back to the time when popular educa-
tion had not commenced, and remember that youthful workhouse in-
mates from every part of the country were sent to be apprenticed
in Lancashire; it may readily be admitted that the passions of
ignorant overlookers, operating upon workhouse material before
the establishment of union schools, would often produce cases of
cruelty; and that orphans, whose legal guardians were poor-law
officials situate fifty or a hundred miles away, would, in the absence
of
proper supervision, out of the factory as well as within its walls,
not unfrequently fall into immoral courses.
But it is not the interest of an employer to occupy. an unhealthy
44
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
mill, for the lowered vitality of his workpeople would lessen their
production and his profit. A substantially-built mill, with plenty
of room and light, and the best machinery, is as profitable to the
master as it is agreeable to the workman, for whatever keeps the
workman healthy and cheerful enables him to give more attention
to his occupation, and to turn off more and better work. Indeed,
men often care more about being employed in a good mill than
about the exact price per pound for spinning, or per piece for
weaving, for they know practically what is the effect of each con-
dition upon the weekly wage. A fair estimate of the improvement
in mills may be formed by a comparison of the insurance rates
upon the two classes; for the elements which measure the
exposure to fire, such as crowded machinery, low ceilings, &c.,
are also the elements which are injurious to health. The old
mills are charged about fifty per cent more than those which have
been built since 1860, and which conform to the best model.
The old mills in towns are now, for the most part, occupied
under plurality of tenure; each occupant of a room having just risen
to the dignity of an employer, and making up by his own personal
work and strict supervision for the smallness of his capital, the age
of his machinery, and for other serious disadvantages. It is common
to see an announcement on the outside of an old mill to this effect,
"a room to let with power." The steam engine is the property of
the landlord, who engages and pays the engineer, and charges in
the rent to each occupier of a room for his services, as well as for
fuel, wear and tear, &c. We lately looked through one of these
old mills, and found on the ground floor and in the basement two
machine-making firms; on the first floor up stairs a wood turner
and a sewing machine-maker; on the second floor a braid manu-
facturer and a coach lace manufacturer; and in a shed at the back
a coffee roaster. One steam engine turned the shafting for the
whole of the tenants; but apart from this peculiar dependence,
each man was as much master in his own place as if he occupied
the whole of the mill. The engines in these old mills are like
horses, which, when no longer suited for the purposes of their first
owners, come to do hack work for the public; they are as useful
as ever, and afford the great convenience of their help to people
who, a short time ago, never thought of being able to command
them. The man who used to sweat the day through at a foot
THE SHORT-TIME AGITATION.
45
lathe now puts on a strap and has nine-tenths of his work done by
a dumb servant; the owner of half-a-dozen galloon or fringe
looms gets a shaft run through his shop and a wheel attached to
each loom, and occupies a floor or half-a-floor in an old mill, and
dispenses with what was formerly the principal work of the
weaver; and by and bye, if things go well with him, he will
build a place suited to his growing wants, and leave the old
room to the next aspirant for mastership.
To a stranger the temperature and peculiar odour of a cotton
mill or weaving shed are very disagreeable and oppressive, and the
noise of the machinery distracting; but when once inside, if the
place be kept clean and well-ventilated the feeling of oppressive-
ness is soon lost; and it is quite evident, from the conversation of the
hands, that a proper pitch of the voice overcomes the incessant noise
of the machinery. The carding and blowing rooms used to be very
unpleasant workshops, but late improvements have effected wonders
even here. They are no longer full of small fibres of cotton, which,
floating in the atmosphere, filled the nostrils and entered the mouth
at every inspiration. This cotton dust is now, by means of a metallic
tube, with a revolving fan to create a strong current of air, carried
into the outer-atmosphere, and entirely dissipated.
We have stated that it was a common practice in former years to
work mills fourteen or fifteen hours daily, and frequently during
busy times with relays of hands, all night as well as all day. This
practice which depreciated health and caused many accidents, when
fatigue prevented the vigilance necessary to avoid contact with un-
fenced shafting, led philanthropists and workingmen into an agitation
for a restriction of hours by legislative enactment. It is undoubtedly
bad policy to restrict a trade by the imposition of customs or excise;
but a government would neglect its highest duty if it did not inter-
fere in any case where helpless women and children are being sacri-
ficed, and the race depreciated by enforced and prolonged toil. If any
sensible man be asked whether children of six, seven, or eight years
of age ought to be kept at work in a close room for fourteen or
fifteen hours per day, where the utmost vigilance is required to
escape injury from the machinery; or whether it is wise to keep
pregnant and delicate women so long upon their feet, there can
be no hesitation as to his reply; but it is one of the conditions
inseparable from organised working in masses that the system is
!
46
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
deranged, and mischief results from the least irregularity. System
could take no account of tender years or of delicate health, the
engine was there, the machines were there, the material was there,
and the produce was in demand; once enrolled upon the staff,
therefore, the operative-man, woman, or child—must attend from
the starting to the stopping of the engine. Here was a difficult
position, the evil inflicted was patent, but how could it be dealt
with ? Man is his own master and able to take care of himself,
but women and children are under the control of men, and the
prospect of gain is so alluring, and the approach of danger from
overwork is so gradual and imperceptible, as to render disinter-
ested oversight desirable in order to prevent the abuse of power
to the injury of society.
Long was the struggle for the Ten Hours Bill, and bitter the
opposition of many of the manufacturers; nor was their opposi-
tion at all to be wondered at. The trade was hardly yet free from
government impositions upon the raw material and the printed cloth;
foreign competitors were coming into the market, and here was a pro-
posal to lessen the value of the investments in mills and machinery
by lessening their annual production. Could trade never be let
alone? If men did not like to send their wives and children to
work they might keep them away, but what had the government
to do with it? Surely grown men were the best judges of the
interests of their own families, and the masters wanted no govern-
ment spies about their premises. But many of the working men
were like drunkards, who would be very glad to have the Maine
Law to keep drink out of their reach, but who cannot resist the
temptation whilst they can procure it; and the leaders of the
working men were for the most part thoroughly disinterested and
in earnest in the work. They were not cotton operatives alone, but
men connected with various trades, who spent their days at work
and their nights in agitation. They kept up a regular organisation,
and sent out, principally from their own body, honorary lecturers
and deputations to public meetings, composed of men who would
frequently, after a day in the workshop, walk ten or twelve miles
out and home to attend a short-time bill meeting. Tens of
thousands of pamphlets were issued, and every session saw heaps
of petitions to parliament, with memorials and deputations to the
executive government. And the operatives were not entirely
RICHARD OASTLER.
47
without help from the middle and upper classes. Subscriptions
were raised in various parts of the country, and amongst all classes,
in aid of the expenses.
The late Richard Oastler threw himself so thoroughly into the
movement that he was familiarly called "The factory king," and
portraits of him, with a factory child between his knees, adorned
the cottage walls of thousands of operatives. He travelled through-
out the manufacturing districts, and his handsome figure and
powerful oratory rendered him a general favourite. The Earl of
Shaftesbury, then known as Lord Ashley, also took up the cause,
and attended many meetings, and fought out the battle manfully
in parliament. His lordship is long used to shaking hands with
labour, but never was he more heartily received than in Lancashire
during this agitation.
The late John Fielden, M.P., and the late Joseph Brotherton,
M.P., were the only manufacturers, so far as we know, who joined
the working men in favour of the short time bill; but they, who
had both been operatives themselves, worked hard both in and out
of parliament, from the commencement of the agitation to its close.
Of course, there were some opponents amongst the working
class, a few vigorous-minded men who feared that if the govern-
ment once set its foot inside the mill its interference would be a
growing evil; and others whose greediness for gain overcame every
other feeling; and a third class who forgot their own manhood and
the true interests of their wives and children in obsequiousness to
the masters. There were also among the working men violent
partizans, with whom the opposition of the masters would be a
sufficient reason to secure their support for any proposition.
These men demanded that it should be made a crime to run the
engines for more than ten hours per day, which requirement, if
adopted, would have limited the possible production of the country,
and have been a practical bounty to foreign manufacturers, who
were subject to no such restriction. But the great majority of
workmen felt themselves victims of a system to which they con-
tributed by their labour, but which they could not control, and
they asked parliament to take away their power of self-destruction.
The legislature in this, its first concession to the agitation of
working men, judged wisely; and whilst restricting the labour of
women to ten hours, and of children under thirteen years of age to
48
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
five hours per day, left the men to take care of themselves, and the
employers to run their mills as long as they chose; provided the
extra hours were due to the labour of up grown men alone. And
the government having got inside the mills did not rest satisfied,
but their interference has not been an unmixed evil; they
obliged the shafting, wherever dangerous, to be fenced off so as to
prevent accidents, and have thereby saved many lives. The late
Sir James Graham, whilst Secretary of State for the Home
Department, brought in and carried a bill to oblige every factory
master, who employed children under thirteen years of age, to pro-
vide for their instruction during the half days when they were not
at work. This bill was also fiercely contested by the manufacturers,
aided by supporters of the doctrine that education is the business
of the parent, and ought to be the result of voluntary effort alone.
A town's meeting was called in Manchester during the mayoralty
of the late James Kershaw, M.P., to oppose it, but resulted in the
adoption of an amendment in favour of the bill. A second meeting
was tried in the Free Trade Hall, under the presidency of W. R.
Callender, alderman; and was addressed by Revs. Dr. Halley and
Dr. Massey. When an opponent rose to move an amendment in
favour of the bill, a scene of the most indescribable confusion
ensued, and the meeting broke up without any definite result.
And now that the Short-time Bill and the Factories Education Bill
have been Acts of Parliament for upwards of twenty years, the
promoters may fearlessly appeal to their former opponents for a
favourable verdict as to the results of both measures. Indeed, it will
now be very generally conceded that if it would please parliament
to generalise the Factories Education Act, so as to make it cover
all employments where children are engaged, and to subject the
teachers of all factory schools to an examination to prove their
fitness for the task of teaching, they would confer a very great
boon upon the country. The reports of the factory inspectors
show that where the spirit of the Education Act has been
observed, the results have been most gratifying; and that the
educational progress of the half-timers does not differ very much
from that of the whole-day attendants at school; whilst manufac-
turers bear witness that children who have passed through well-
conducted factory schools are generally better-conducted workmen
than the hands who are casually picked up.
CONVENIENCE FOR WORKPEOPLE.
49
In the modern mills light and cleanliness are prominent features;
the rooms are lofty and well ventilated, and are kept well lime-
washed; the floors, in consequence of the small overflow of oil being
trodden in by the bare feet or slippers of the workers, look like
polished oak; whilst the pride of the engineer keeps his engine bur-
nished as if it was a drawing room toy. Not unfrequently a bath is
provided, into which the waste water from the engine is turned, so as
to supply a hot bath at any time for the health or convenience of the
workpeople. Ovens are also frequently attached to the furnaces, so
that workers who come from a distance may enjoy the luxury of a
hot dinner without loss of time, and a room is commonly set apart
for the convenience of dining. In some instances, the dining room
or the factory schoolroom is occupied in the evening by mutual
instruction classes, and in some large establishments the proprietors
patronise co-operative stores, which are established and managed by
the workpeople, and thus cultivate the good feeling of their hands
by substantially promoting their material interests. These features
are well worthy of imitation, for they cost the employers very little
except goodwill, but they prove to the workmen that their masters
have a care for them beyond their weekly work and wages.
The visitor to a modern mill will not remark any peculiarly-
unhealthful appearance amongst the operatives. They are paler
in complexion than outdoor labourers, and not so muscular in
build, and their clothing is necessarily adapted to the temperature
in which they work; but the bills of mortality do not compare
unfavourably with other districts, and serve to demonstrate that
the labour is not unhealthful; and it is not uncommon in the
rooms which are principally occupied by females to find enjoyment
in the midst of work, and the noise of the machinery overpowered
by the singing of a favourite hymn or a popular ballad. Indeed,
the popularity of factory employment is so great that domestic
service is at a discount, and the bulk of the domestic servants in the
cotton districts are immigrants. Wages for female domestics
vary from eight pounds to twenty pounds per annum, and good ser-
vants are difficult to procure at these prices. Even these wages, and
the presents by which they are often accompanied, fail to tempt girls
from the associations of factory life, with its evenings of freedom
for visits and gossip; and this popularity of the factory is probably
the best reply to persons who think that factory work is unhealthy.
E
50
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
•
(C
That there is great mortality in large towns we know from Dr.
Farr, of the General Register Office, who, in his supplementary
volume on the mortality of England and Wales, from 1851 to 1860,
says: "In the ten years, 1851-60, the deaths in thirty large towns
in England, with an aggregate mean population of 2,541,630, com-
prising seven London districts and the principal provincial town
districts, averaged 71,194 a year, while the average, according to
the rate in healthy districts would have been only 38,459-an
annual loss of above 32,000 lives in much less than a seventh of the
population." But this mortality is not peculiar to the cotton districts,
but seems to occur generally in densely populated places. If the
mortality of all England be arranged in five great groups, the fol-
lowing result appears:--where the mortality was 14, 15, or 16 per
1000 living, the population was only 86 to the square mile; where
the mortality was 17, 18, or 19 per 1000, the population was 172
to the square mile; where the mortality was 20, 21, or 22 per 1000,
the population was 255 to the square mile; where the mortality
was 23, 24, or 25 per 1000, the population was 1,128 to the square
mile; and where the mortality was 26 and upwards per 1000, the
population was 3,399 to the square mile." Yet, says Dr. Farr, if
an adequate water supply and sufficient arrangements for draining
and cleansing be secured, the evils which make dense districts so
fatal may be mitigated, and he instances the fact, that Bermondsey
is much less densely populated than St. James's, Westminster, and
yet that the mortality of Bermondsey is considerably greater. So the
Westminster districts of St. John's and St. Margaret's have only an
equal density with St. George's, Hanover Square, but the mortality
in the former is far heavier than in the latter. It is clear, there-
fore, that other circumstances besides mere density of population.
contribute to this heavy mortality, and Dr. Farr remarks that "at
45 to 55 years of age, the mortality of London men is not far from
double that of men at the same age in the healthy districts of the
country." The mortality of men in London is much higher at
every age than that of women, and he speculates that ill-ventilated
workshops may have something to do with this, and so may indul-
gence in spirits and other stimulants. But we learn that the work-
men in all large towns suffer as much as and often more than the
workmen of London, and that from 25 to 55 years of age, the work-
men of Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne
INFANT MORTALITY.
51
die at a still greater rate than the workmen of London. Here again,
although the mortality is fearfully great, and ought to excite pro-
minent and careful attention, we learn that it is not peculiar to the
cotton districts. But in infant mortality, whatever the cotton dis-
tricts as a whole may show, Manchester and Liverpool ought to
blush for shame, and to seek for speedy improvement. In the ten
years, 1851-60, the mean annual mortality amongst infants under
five years of age was 10:149 per cent in the city of London, east
division; 10.219 in Nottingham; 10-852 in St. Giles'; 11725 in
Manchester district; and 13.198 in Liverpool district; whilst in the
more healthy districts of England the mortality was but little over
four per cent; and amongst the children of the clergy a little over
three; and amongst the children of Peers a little over two per cent.
Let us hope that the lessons of domestic cleanliness, of thrift, and
of ingenuity lately taught in the sewing schools, may realize, as
one of the indirect blessings of the cotton famine, a saving of infant
life, resulting from improved sewing and cooking, from a higher
moral tone, and from the increased means left at command for
other comforts.
The census returns enable us to exhibit the textile industry of
Lancashire in the three branches of cotton and flax, woollen and
worsted, and silk, as they existed in 1861.
PERSONS EMPLOYED UPON TEXTILE FABRICS IN LANCASHIRE, 1861.
Cotton and flax
Males,
173,008
Females.
Total,
210,666
383,674
Silk
9,923
16,699
26,622
Woollen and Worsted.
9,402
6,424
15,826
192,333
233,789
426,122
Assuming the moderate estimate that each of these workers
represents an average of two-and-a-half persons, then 1,065,305
individuals are directly dependent upon these occupations in Lan-
cashire. The returns of the Central Relief Committee account for
535,750 cotton operatives, but the cotton districts include parts
of Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire, and the returns probably
include the subsidiary trades, such as dyers, calico printers, &c.
The census returns enable us also to compare the relative progress
of these three branches of trade in the ten years ending 1861.
52
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
NUMBER OF HANDS ENGAGED IN COTTON, SILK, AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE,
AT TWO PEriods.
Manufacture of
Cotton
1851.
1861.
Increase.
Decrease.
•
287,076
356,191
24 per cent
Silk
29,793
25,421
14 per cent
Woollen
10,999
12,074
10 per cent
Thus, whilst the cotton manufacture increased rapidly, and
woollen moderately, the manufacture of silk seriously declined.
A series of failures in the silk crop, together with political
troubles in India, China, and Italy, sufficiently account for this
decline, and it is not wonderful that the silk manufacturing
districts of Warwickshire should have sent flocks of immigrants
into the cotton factories of Lancashire in 1859-60. The deli-
cate and trained hands of the ribbon weavers would be a great
gain as compared with the raw juvenile labour from the agri-
cultural districts, for the ribbon weavers would have only one
difficulty to surmount in order to become first-class cotton opera-
tives. The speed of the machinery (120 picks or crossings of the
shuttle per minute) would "mither" them, and the excessive noise
would make them "mazy." But the employers had another diffi-
culty to cope with. The cotton operatives are excessively jealous of
strangers, and generally harbour the suspicion that the introduction
of new hands is a preparatory movement to a reduction in wages,
and they don't hesitate to "send the intruders to Coventry;" whilst
some of the less scrupulous will not be satisfied by imposing this worst
of all solitudes (silence in the midst of company), but will get up all
sorts of petty annoyances and practical jokes, until many of the poor
fellows feel that they would rather return and starve at home than
be persecuted to death elsewhere. To such an extent did this feeling
of jealousy go in 1859-60, that employers who needed fifty or a
hundred extra hands were obliged to introduce them stealthily, one
or two at a time, in order to avoid a general turn out. The policy of
the established weavers is to try to manage more looms by means
of helpers found and paid by themselves, instead of admitting
additional regular workmen; but this course does not suit the
manufacturer, because it often results in a worse quality of cloth.
But some thousands of the former wanderers through the green
lanes and rich woods of Warwickshire, are now located in the stony
valley of Rossendale, or on the bleak hill sides of East Lancashire,
having exchanged the call of fickle fashion for the more certain,
regular, and substantial cotton manufacture.
རྞ
SUBSIDIARY TRADES.
53
The tendency of the cotton trade seems to be towards an
increase of female employment, for the ratio from 1851 to 1861
increased to the extent of forty-four in every thousand; the propor-
tion of females in 1851 being five hundred and twenty-five, and in
1861, five hundred and sixty-nine in a thousand hands; and it is
probable that the cotton famine, by driving a large number of men
to out-door employment, will have further increased this proportion.
In addition to the persons employed directly in the manufacture
of cotton goods, there are upwards of twelve thousand persons
engaged in dyeing and calico printing; and a further subsidiary list
is given by the census as follows:-
Packers of cotton goods
Warehousemen
Cotton and calico dealers
Cotton waste dealers
Porters
Bleachers
1,568
2,126
651
388
1,977
. 930
7,640
There is also a remnant of hand-loom weavers still existing, mostly
of Irish origin, and engaged in weaving checks, ginghams, and
fancy dresses, and numbering about fifteen hundred persons. They
occupy attics and cellars, principally in the vicinity of Rochdale
Road, Manchester, and earn when in full work seven or eight
shillings per week, but they vibrate between the employers' ware-
houses and the Poor-law Union Offices continually.
The Reports of the Factory Inspectors give the number of
cotton factories, the number of spindles, and the amount of the
moving power existing in 1860, and we have added the same infor-
mation for 1850, so as to show at a glance the progress of ten years.
COTTON FACTORIES, SPINDLES, LOOMS, AND MOVING POWER, IN LANCASHire,
AT TWO PERIODS.
No. of factories
1850.
1,235
1860.
1,979
Increase.
No. of spindles
13,955,497
21,530,523
60 per cent.
54 ""
No of power-looms
Power in horses
176,947
50,286
306,423 73 ""
205,827 300
It will be interesting to compare the progress of the cotton
manufacture in England and America. To America we have been
indebted for the bulk of our raw cotton for a long period prior to
54
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the civil war in that country; and America has been a good
customer to us for cloth produced from the cotton sent to us in
a raw state. Why should not they have worked up for them-
selves all which they needed, instead of sending it six thousand
miles out and home to be manufactured? They have tried but
have not yet succeeded. Their manufacture commenced about
1810, so that practically we had about thirty years start of them.
In 1862 the number of spindles employed in America was—
In New York and the New England States
In the Western States
In the Southern States
4,820,958
50,000
164,000
5,034,958
The English manufacture is, therefore, six times as large as the
American, and this progress has been assisted by a large export
trade to America, in the face of a tariff of twenty-five per cent.
It is, therefore, clear that there is occupation in America which
pays better than the manufacture of cotton, even with the power
to charge thirty or forty per cent more than the natural price
of the articles produced, and the secret is not difficult to fathom.
America grows corn in her Western States almost without labour,
and in such profusion that it is sometimes used for fuel on the rail-
ways, whilst in England it is worth from thirty-eight shillings to
fifty shillings per quarter. The English demand for corn makes it
a more profitable crop to the Western States of North America
than manufacturing can ever be, and England can only pay for
corn in manufactures or in gold; and if she pays in gold she must
first pay for the gold with manufactured goods. It is, therefore, of
little consequence whether the English merchant first does a
trade for gold and a second trade for corn, or the American mer-
chant first trades for manufactures and then for gold, the result is
the same-American corn reaches England and English manufac-
tures reach America, to the mutual benefit of both nations. And
if the American tariff was removed this exchange would be much
larger, because all which is now paid for tariff charges, and all
which American manufacturers are now enabled, in consequence
of the tariff, to charge extra upon their own productions, would
remain in hand for the purchase of extra quantities of goods, which
would create a demand in England for extra corn. And the war
or Morrill tariff of seventy per cent is simply leave given to the
YANKEE 'CUTENESS.
55
American manufacturers to charge eighty or ninety per cent more
for their goods than they are worth, for the sake of collecting a
small revenue upon imports. The American people are, therefore,
taxed upon cotton goods, first, by the government, upon imports,
for the purposes of the nation; and then by the manufacturers
for their own purposes, in the proportion of the home produc-
tion to the imports. Yankees are generally supposed to be pretty
cute how long will they thus bolster up a manufacture, the
measure of whose prosperity is also a measure of the adversity of
other employments, upon whose vitals it lives and fattens? With
such an amount of protection it will cause no surprise that in
November, 1862, all available hands at Lowell were fully employed,
and the savings bank deposits larger than ever, whilst hundreds
of thousands of operatives in Lancashire were out of employ; for
the war had created an extra demand in America, whilst imports
were virtually prohibited.
And when the time comes, as come it must, when either by
abolition of the tariff, or by increased home competition, this
protection ceases, there will be a season of distress and suffering
amongst the manufacturing population of North America which
must be experienced in order to be fully understood.
The following table will shew the condition of the silk trade in
Lancashire at three periods, and will sufficiently illustrate the
uncertainty of employment in that department of industry.
HANDS EMPLOYED IN THE SILK MILLS OF LANCASHIRE AT THREE PERIODS.
1850
1856
1861
Spinning.
Weaving.
Spinning and
Weaving.
Other hands.
Total.
2,887
1,647
3,538
136
8,208
1,332
4,865
4,361
10,558
2,943
5,277
593
118
8,931
From these figures it is evident that in the first period there was
a large increase of silk weaving, concurrently with a considerable
decrease in spinning. In the second period of five years, the mills
which combined both processes have nearly disappeared, but with-
out any corresponding increase in the mills which are devoted to
the separate processes. The number of hands employed had in
1861 fallen in five years back almost to the position of 1850.
Opponents of free trade set down this great depression to the opera-
tion of the French Treaty of 1860, negotiated by the late R. Cobden,
M.P., which abrogated all import duties on French manufactures;
56
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
but unfortunately for this theory, the silk trade was almost as
depressed in France as in England. It is true that the accumu-
lated stock of the French factories, being only subject to the cost
of freight, was sent over in large quantities to try the new market,
and was sold as old stock often is at ruinously low prices; but the
later imports have been considerably less in quantity, whilst suc-
cessive failurcs of the silk crop and the political troubles of the
silk-producing countries, sufficiently account for the depression of
the trade. The great increase of alpaca wool and the enterprise of
the Yorkshire manufacturers have also supplied a light, cheap, and
beautifully glossy substitute, for the satins and lutestrings, whose
prices, notwithstanding the depression of trade, have ruled too high
for the wear of ordinary people. But the French treaty has been
the scapegoat in the silk trade, as improved machinery was for-
merly amongst cotton operatives, for the troubles of the people;
and this prejudice was so strong in Coventry, that at the death of
the late Right Honourable E. Ellice, who had sat in parliament for
the borough for nearly forty years, he was replaced by a man who
had been rejected at three or four previous elections, who avows
himself a thorough protectionist, and whose speeches at the elec-
tion were chiefly remarkable for boasting his possession of a talk-
ing parrot, whose vocabulary enabled it to "damn the Whigs;"
and the more recent death of Sir Joseph Paxton has added another
of the same school of politicians to the legislature, for the same
borough. Probably the constituents of these gentlemen would
hardly agree with them to re-enact a law to pay the farmer eight
or ten shillings more than is necessary for his corn, or to make any
of the foreign-grown luxuries which now enter into the enjoyments
of the common people dearer, by the imposition or increase of cus-
toms' duties; they would only prevent us from purchasing cheap
ribbons from the French and the Swiss manufacturers; perfectly
unconscious that if other constituencies followed in the same course,
their command of the market for ribbons would not benefit them,
because any extra price secured would be absorbed in the extra
cost of other protected articles to the general injury of the whole
country. But whatever has been the effect of the French Treaty
upon the silk trade in general, it is clear from the Trade and Navi-
gation Returns, that the Coventry people cried out before they
were hurt. The imports of ribbons have been as follow:-
1860.
IMPORTS OF SILK GOODS.
IMPORTS OF RIBBONS DURING FIVE Years.
1861.
1862.
1863.
854,223 lbs. 525,095 lbs. 566,618 lbs.
1864.
544,151 lbs.
57
530,795 lbs.
So that after the first effort, which cleared out the accumulated
stock of years, and which accounts for the fact that bonnet ribbons
of French manufacture were bought retail at about the price of raw
silk, the imports fell back to their old mark, and have since ad-
vanced only about three per cent.
If anybody complained, it should be the broad silk weavers of
Spitalfields, for the imports in their class of goods have largely
increased, as the following return will prove :-
1860.
539,947 lbs.
1861.
IMPORTS OF BROAD SILKS.
1862.
1,140,267 lbs. 1,475;715 lbs.
1863,
1,504,848 lbs.
1864
1,812,588 lbs.
But the public will certainly not complain that the French Treaty
has lowered the prices of silk dresses; nor will the silk throwsters
complain that they have been enabled to export an increased
quantity of their productions. The total exports of home thrown
silk have been as follow:—
EXPORT OF BRITISH THROWN SILK.
1860.
435,818 lbs.
1861.
538,954 lbs.
1862.
1863.
1864.
EXPORTS OF
461,584 lbs.
452,723 lbs.
647,109 lbs. 461,770 lbs.
SILK TWIST AND YARN.
620,401 lbs.
468,591 lbs.
462,308 lbs.
522,953 lbs.
An effort was evidently made on both sides of the channel, to test
the effects of the Treaty of 1860, and it results in a small increase in
the silk trade in both directions, except in broad silks, where it is
evidently our interest to purchase from France rather than manu-
facture; but after the reductions yet to be made in the French
Tariff, the tide will be more in favour of the English producers.
There are one hundred and one woollen factories in Lancashire,
situate principally on the borders of Yorkshire, and the progress
of ten years is exhibited in the following table :-
HANDS EMPLOYED IN WOOLLEN FACTORIES AT THREE PERIODS.
1850
1856
1861
8,816
9,409
9,227
So far as Lancashire is concerned, therefore, the woollen trade
made very little progress in the decade ending with 1861, and even
receded during the last five years of that time, and its condition
prevents any surprise at the removal of the flannel market during
58
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the past year (1864) from Rochdale to Halifax. Trade in all the
great textile fabrics appears to sympathise with the centralization
principle; as the retail dealer in any given article, instead of looking
for a spot where no shop in his trade exists, looks rather for a place
where tradesmen of the same class throng, so that he may at once
share the casual custom; so the manufacturer who is nearest to the
central market seems to stand the best chance of success. Perhaps
the electric telegraph, by rendering the transmission of orders and
consultations with principals independent of distance, has some-
what lessened this advantage; but promptitude of delivery is most
important, and railways, however useful and well-managed, are
not independent of time in their operations.
It will be noted that the number of hands engaged in the
woollen mills does not agree with a former table, giving the num-
bers engaged in the woollen trade; and the explanation is that the
woollen trade to a much greater extent than the cotton manufac-
ture, is a domestic occupation, and the two thousand eight hundred
and forty-seven persons who do not appear in the mill returns are,
doubtless, employed at home. During the cotton famine many
cotton looms have been employed for the manufacture of Orleans,
Cobourg, and other worsted fabrics, which are made of cotton
warps with worsted weft; and it is probable that this trade will
become permanently located in Lancashire, so that the next
census may tell a different tale as to progress, and Manchester
may become a market for what are familiarly called Bradford
goods. This course would be very convenient for Manchester
merchants, many of whom find it profitable at present to keep
warehouses in Bradford as well as in Manchester.
The flax manufacture has never quite lost its hold on Lanca-
shire, although cotton has succeeded in supplanting it for almost all
ordinary purposes. During the cotton crisis it has, doubtless,
raised its head again, and done good service at a time of utmost
need. In 1861 the position of the trade was as follows:-
FLAX MILLS IN Lancashire, 1861.
Factories.
Spindles,
Horse power.
Spinning .
Weaving
8
108,120
1,430
Hands,
2,645
1
16
55
Spinning and weaving.
4
9,292
350
681
|
13
117,412
1,796
3,381
MR. BAZLEY ON THE COTTON TRADE.
59
The rapid progress of population and of production, accom-
panied by a substantial increase of wages, will lead naturally to
the inference that in ordinary times pauperism must be very low,
and this inference is quite borne out by experience. The cost of
relieving the poor throughout England and Wales is equal to a
poll tax of five shillings and ninepence halfpenny per annum on
the whole population, but in Lancashire it is equal to three shillings
and sixpence only. The assessment for poor rate throughout
England and Wales is equal to one shilling and eightpence in the
pound, whilst in Lancashire it is only one shilling and threepence,
and in some of the most distressed districts it was from tenpence
to one shilling and twopence in 1861, which, so far as employment
was concerned, was a fáir average year.
Mr. Thomas Bazley, M.P., formerly chairman of the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, says, in a paper read in 1862 at the
Society of Arts, "The last year of full occupation for the cotton
trade was 1860. The number of spindles then employed was
about thirty-two millions, and the number of looms employed
would be about three hundred and forty thousand. The produc-
tion in the machine-making trade had doubled within ten years.
Bleach works, print works, and dye works, had been largely
extended during the same period. The fixed investments, includ-
ing the value of land and rights to water, amounted to not less
than sixty millions sterling, to which must be added a working
capital of twenty millions; add to these again the value of mer-
chants and tradesmen's stocks at home and abroad, the value
of raw cotton and subsidiary materials, and of bankers' capital, and
the grand total of capital employed in the trade will not be less
than two hundred millions sterling.
In 1860 the total consumption of cotton in the United King-
dom was two millions five hundred and twenty-three thousand two
hundred bags, consisting of—
41,094 bags weekly of American, or
3,968
85 per cent of the whole.
•
3,461
99
Egyptian or Brazilian, or 8
East and West Indian, or 7
48,523 × 52
2,523,196
100
""
11
And the value of this cotton was £33,520,919; but the value
of the Indian portion did not exceed £1,520,919, instead of
60
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
་
:
£2,760,546, which was the average price of the whole quantity,
and this difference of £1,239,627 was solely due to the inferior
quality of the material supplied by India.
The consumption of 1861 was largely maintained by stores
accumulated from the growth of previous years, and from the
working up of old stocks, but there was an important change
in the sources of supply. The total consumption was two
million three hundred and sixty-three thousand six hundred and
twenty-eight bags, composed as follows :-
34,792 bags weekly of American, or
3,726
6,946
77 per cent of the whole.
Egyptian or Brazilian, or
East and West Indian, or 15
8
45,454 × 52=2,363,628
100
""
""
Not choice, but dire necessity, brought about this increased con-
sumption of Indian cotton, for the masters knew that the production
of yarn and cloth would be far less in quantity, and of greatly
inferior quality, and the hands knew that it needed extra toil for
greatly diminished wages; the calico printer complained that the
hard and uneven cloth spoiled his patterns, and the tradesmen and
consumers refused to believe that cloths which felt so thin to
handle were produced out of the accustomed counts of yarn and
weft with the usual number of picks to the square inch.
Mr. Bazley compiled from the Board of Trade returns the follow-
ing tables, showing the production, home consumption, and exports,
for 1860 and 1861 :-
Exports of manufactures and yarns,
1860.
1861.
with two-thirds of the apparel, mil-
£56,119,653
£50,554,792
linery, &c.
•
Value of home consumption
28,880,347
27,445,208
£85,000,000
£78,000,000
And Mr. Bazley divides these grand totals as follow:
Value of raw cotton, dyes, oils, &c.
£36,195,562
£37,805,552
Wages, interest, and profit
48,804,438
40,194,448
£85,000,000
£78,000,000
And he again divides the second item in the last estimate into-
Operatives' wages
£26,804,438
£22,194,448
Capitalist's interest and profit
22,000,000
18,000,000
£48,804,438
£40,194,448
A CENTURY OF PROGRESS.
1
61
And Mr. Henry Ashworth sums up the progress of the cotton trade
and of the county of Lancaster in a very few words, or to speak
more truly in a very few figures, thus-
In 1760 Dr. Percival stated the value of one year's production at
In 1860 Mr. Bazley
19
19
17
£200,000.
£85,000,000.
3,870,000 lbs.
1,083,600,000 lbs.
10s. 11d.
In 1769 the cotton imported into the United Kingdom was
In 1860
In 1784 the value of 1lb. of No. 42's yarn was
In 1860
""
In 1786 the value of 1ib. of No. 100's yarn was
In 1860
""
99
19
11
Os. 11d.
38s. Od.
2s. 6d.
And the effects of this giant industry upon the port of Liverpool
and the county of Lancaster are thus tersely stated :—
In 1760 the sum received for dock dues at Liverpool was
In 1860
""
""
""
In 1692 the real property assessed for land-tax in Lancashire was
In 1815
""
""
In 1851
""
19
In 1860
""
""
""
""
£2,330.
£444,417.
£97,242.
•
£3,087,774. ·
£8,640,695.
£11,453,851.
And the cause of all this immense development is seen at a glance
in its final result; it is the possible economy of cotton, as com-
pared with its competitors-wool and flax. In the normal condition
of the cotton trade, as it existed in 1860, Mr. Ashworth says:
:-
1lb. of flannel would cost
1lb. of linen
1lb. of calico
3s. 1d.
2s. 4d.
1s. Od.
""
What a world of wisdom is contained in those three little
lines; it has taken the ingenuity of a century to develop it;
clever men without number have spent their days in toil, and
their nights in thought, to facilitate the operation; the world has
been scoured round, first for the material to work upon, and then
to find consumers for the productions; each man pursuing what be
deemed to be his own interest solely, has yet been yoked inevitably
to the car of progress; inventors increasing the powers of produc-
tion, or the facilities for distribution, and seeking patent prices as
their reward; employers investing capital, organising and super-
intending labour, in order to share largely in its fruits; merchants
traversing the ocean and the desert to find out the markets which
would leave the largest margin between the buying and the sell-
ing prices ; retail dealers holding stuck ready for the consumers, and
62
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
:
hoping to grow rich by payment for the convenience provided; all
self-seeking, although all not succeeding in their designs; yet all
combining, whether knowingly or not, by their constant efforts to
secure good bargains for themselves, and by their competition with
each other, to aid in the grand result of increasing the means of
human enjoyment, without increasing the toil necessary for the
purpose. The possibility of this economy has built up the cotton
industry; whilst the inventive, organising, productive, and mer-
cantile enterprise employed in it, have done much to educate the
people of this kingdom, and to carry civilisation to every country
upon the earth.
CHAPTER IV.
Regularity and Punctuality a Feature of Lancashire Life-Effects of Discipline on
Workpeople-Trades Societies-Strikes for Wages-Effects of Strikes-Policy of
Employers-Proposed Reconstruction of Trades Societies—Advantage of Rapid
Accumulation of Capital-The Employers of South Staffordshire and the Dis-
charge Note The Strike at the Manchester New Prison-The Architect and the
Hodman-Proposal to give the Workman an Interest in Profits-Application of
the Principle The Limited Liability Act-Co-operative Stores and Relief
Committees.
THE discipline of the cotton mill has spread its influences beyond the
walls of the workshop, and regularity and punctuality have become
essential parts of Lancashire life. A public meeting commences at
the exact time for which it is called, business engagements are
kept to the minute, terms of credit are short and payments
prompt. A stranger introduced into the Manchester Exchange at
one o'clock on a Tuesday, sees a crowd of well-dressed and brisk
looking men, who appear to be shaking hands and passing com-
pliments with each other, for an hour or an hour and a half, and
then to go home to dinner; and he is astonished to learn that in the
short space during which he has been looking on, business engage-
ments have been entered into, without any exchange of written docu-
ments, and without the use of a single stamp, to the amount of a
million sterling. And this association for business purposes begets
an esprit de corps for common objects which is often available and
most valuable in matters of international commercial intercourse.
Since the adoption of the doctrine of free trade as the national
policy, the merchants of Lancashire can by means of the Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce, bring their concentrated intellect
and energy to bear, in extending the system with its blessings to
other nations, with the full knowledge that those blessings will be
reflected in their consequences to this country, thus blessing both
the receiver and the giver.
-1
64
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
"
#
་
And the effects of manufacturing discipline have not been less
upon the workpeople than upon their employers. The habit of
working together has taught them to associate for other purposes,
and the necessity of submission to strict rules within the mill, has
led them to make rules for their own guidance in matters which
seem to concern themselves more immediately. The old error under
which men believed that it was within the power of employers to
pay whatever wages they pleased, together with the feeling of
individual weakness, led to the construction of societies of workmen
to resist reductions; and the task of regulating wages which the
government had tried at various periods, and had failed to ac-
complish, fell into the hands of working men. Although the
conviction which led to the establishment of these societies is
considerably modified, yet associations for the protection of wages
are still in active existence in the cotton trade, and whilst occasion-
ally useful in healing differences, quite as often do much mischief,
by interference which is uncalled for and unacceptable. The days
of machine breaking, in the ignorant belief that new machines
permanently lessen employment, are over in the cotton trade; most
of the improvements of the last twenty years have been either to
economise waste, or to increase the size of the machines; and as the
greater part of the labour is "piece work" (and is paid for at so
much per pound for spinning, or so much per piece for weaving), the
hands do not object to an investment of capital to increase the size
of the machinery provided there be no proposed reduction of wages
involved. But as manufacturers do not always consent to spend
extra capital without extra returns, these improvements occasionally
cause dissensions, and "strikes" for wages follow. During the rapid
progress of invention in the last half century, it has been necessary
for an employer, who wished to keep up with his competitors, to
allow something like seven and a half per cent per annum on the
cost of his machinery, for depreciation or renewal, else he would
very soon be out of the market. The immense increase of the
trade has rendered this course imperative, for the proprietor of a
new mill would of course seek to stock it with machinery contain-
ing all the latest improvements; and then older establishments
would be obliged to follow, in order to be upon equal terms with
the new man in the market. Thus inventions and improvements,
which if brought out in connexion with a trade of less expansive
STRIKES FOR WAGES.
65
power, might have waited, as Wyatt's original spinning machine did,
for a generation before being utilised, have in the last half century
only come to supply actually existing wants, and have generally
therefore found eager purchasers. The difference in the machi-
nery alone, as between one mill and another, has often resulted in a
difference of production, and consequently of wages, to the extent
of ten per cent, where the nominal piecework prices were the same;
and a mill in which one employer has realised a large fortune, has,
by simple neglect of improvements which have made their way
the market, speedily ruined its next occupant.
in
But the chief strikes for wages originate either when the
workmen think that trade is good enough to allow an advance,
which advance the employers are not willing to concede; or when
employers find trade unprofitable, and seek to turn the scale by
lessening the cost of production through a reduction of wages,
which reduction is resisted by the workpeople. Whatever may be
the causes of strikes, there can be but one opinion of the results
which they produce, viz., that they are disastrous to trade by waste
of capital; injurious to health and morality, by the privation of
food, by hindrance to education, by idleness, by dissipation, and by
temptation to crime; and injurious to society by the ill-feeling
which is generated between employers and their workpeople. The
mere money loss which is incurred is sometimes enormous.
A paper on this subject was read by the author, before the
British Association, in 1861, from which the following table is
extracted.
EXAMPLES OF UNSUCCESSFUL STRIKES, WITH ESTIMATE OF Loss TO SOCIETY.


Name of Town,
No of
Hands.
Weeks on
Strike.
per Week.
Wages
Amount
of Loss
Profit at
12
per cent
of Wages on Capital.
Preston
Padiham
Clitheroe
Blackburn and district.
Ashton and district
Colne
Bolton.
F
Subscrip-
tions at
One-fourth
Wages.
Total
Loss.
8
£
£
£
£
15,000
38 15 427,500
92,625 |106,875
627,000
800 29
17,400
3,770 4,350
24,520
3,000 6
13,500 2,925 3,375
19,800
40,000 3
90,000 19,500 22,500
132,000
.
22,000 6
99,000 21,450 24,750
145,200
12,000
1,500 50
6
54,000
56,250 12,187 14,062 82,499
11,700 13,500 79,200
757,650 | 164,157 189,412 1,110,219
66
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
The only explanation needed is that some of these strikes were
amongst weavers and some amongst spinners, and all within about
five years; and that the average capital employed is assumed at
sixty-five pounds per hand, in order to get at the employers' losses.
But the loss here set down is by no means the total loss
sustained by society. The lost wages would, if the people had
kept at work, have passed through the hands of shopkeepers,
making an average of fifteen per cent gross profit, and one half of
the profits of the employer would also have passed through the same
course; so that we have to add to the total given in the table, the
sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand nine hundred and
sixty pounds as shopkeepers' losses. Then the other half of the
profits of the employer (eighty-two thousand and seventy-eight
pounds), and the savings of the shopkeepers, say one quarter of
their profits (thirty-one thousand four hundred and ninety pounds),
would have been invested, and so added to the permanent employ-
ment fund; and at the rate of sixty-five pounds per hand would
have required one thousand seven hundred and forty-five more
workpeople; so that the result to the workpeople themselves,
besides the present loss, is like the annihilation of a whole village.
The demand for the labour of one thousand seven hundred and
forty-five extra hands, who, apart from the strikes, would have
found wages and homes, is gone; the covers at nature's board,
as Mr. Malthus would have said, have been wilfully removed;
so that, if this extra number be provided for at all, it must
be by a workhouse allowance, or a levy upon the plates of
the other workpeople, i.e., by a reduction of wages. The money
loss of the workmen by strikes may be further illustrated by
the following table, also extracted from the paper above alluded
to. It is assumed that fifty weeks will represent a working year,
and that the wages of a week will represent two per cent of the
wages of a year. If, therefore, a strike for five per cent succeeds,
after a duration of any of the terms set forth, its results will be
roughly exhibited thus:-
The loss of 1 lunar month's wages will require to make it up
Years of Work
at the Extra Rate.
1%
2
3}
19
"1
19
"1
3
4%
""
6,
93
""
19}
12
""
""
""
""
20
121
"}
11
"
EFFECTS OF STRIKES.
67
But as money is worth five per cent at interest, it follows that if a
strike for five per cent lasts twelve and a half months, and then
succeeds, and if the increase of wages be maintained for twenty
years, the workman will then have lost in interest much more than
he has gained in wages, and that, therefore, no part of the loss of
such a strike can ever be made up; because if he could have
worked for the lower sum during the year of strike, and could
have invested instead of spending the money, the year's wages
would have grown into almost three years' wages by the time in
which the money gained by the strike would make up for the loss
of a single year's work. If such be the results of a successful
strike, what shall we say of the four-fifths which are failures,
especially when we learn that wages in the cotton districts
undergo a sort of general adjustment, on an average, every
three or four years? We may safely affirm that it is utterly
impossible for the loss by a strike for a small amount ever to be
recouped to the workpeople. General adjustments of wages occurred
in 1853, in 1857, and in 1860, and another will probably take
place in the present year (1865), so soon as employment becomes
again general. Some well intentioned people encourage workmen
in combined resistance to reductions of wages, under the impression
that it is their only resource, and that, apart from strikes, they
would become simply slaves of their employers. If these persons
would place themselves in the position of a manufacturer who
employs five hundred workpeople, and who has looms prepared for
two hundred more waiting for hands, they would soon tell a different
tale. The capital is invested in, the building and machinery,
and is waiting for workpeople before a return can be secured.
How, in a time of good trade, when all the best workmen are
engaged, must such a man act? Evidently the only course by
which his looms can be got to work is by offering an advantage in
wages. And in a large and thriving trade, there are always exten-
sions in progress in some locality. And, as it is only in a time of
good trade that advances of wages can possibly be secured, this ele-
ment of extension might be made to answer all the purposes of a
successful strike, without any of its expenses or injurious conse-
quences. For instance, if the associations of workmen were to act
simply as registration offices, collecting information of the state of
trade and wages from the various districts; then, on the occurrence
ན
1
68
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
of a misunderstanding, a portion of the workpeople could leave at
once, if it were possible to get placed elsewhere with advantage.
Assuming this possibility, the removal of a number of hands, after
proper notice given, would test the ability of the employer in ques-
tion to give an advance, or to abstain from a reduction, for he would
naturally prefer to give up a portion of his profit to losing the
whole of it by the loss of his workpeople. And, if the removal of a
portion of the hands served only to get their places supplied by
others at the same price, the fair conclusion would be that a
strike could not have been successful. And so also, if the informa-
tion as to the state of trade showed that no advantage could be
gained by removal, the fair conclusion would be that the wages
paid were the best which the market could give, and that it would
be folly to strike for an advance. It is quite true that there may
be short periods when large profits are making by the employers
generally, without any immediate advantage to the work people,
but this can only be for a short time and when hands are plentiful
in the particular department; for capital will immediately flow in
that direction, and new machinery will be rapidly prepared which
will absorb all the hands and make a rise not only possible but cer-
tain, if the good demand continues. The interest of the workman,
as of all the world, is that capital should accumulate rapidly; if it
accumulates in the hands of the workmen, and is thriftily managed,
it will promote employment, and give a chance of improved wages ;
if it accumulates in the hands of shopkeepers, it will likewise pro-
mote employment; and if it accumulates in the hands of masters,
it will still promote employment and increased wages; and the
more rapidly it accumulates the more demand for labour will
there be, and the higher will be the rate of wages.
Wages,
measured by the weekly income, have risen during the last twenty-
five years in the cotton trade, from fifteen to twenty-five per
cent, whilst the hours of labour are less by nine per week.
This result has been accomplished not by strikes but in spite
of them; for amidst all their evils they have occasionally, by
stimulating genius in the production of self-acting machinery,
done some good also. But whilst this ameliorating process
has been going on, strikes by workmen and lockouts by employers
have sacrificed some four millions sterling, which, if it could
have been saved and used, would by this time have required
#
POLICY OF EMPLOYERS.
69
more than a hundred thousand extra hands. Some persons will
contend that the above inference is not true, because, as they say,
if the strikes had not happened, over production would have forced
on short time working, and would thus only have spread the
assumed loss of capital over a large surface. But these persons
forget that what they call over production lowers prices until
profits disappear, and thus induces shippers to seek new markets,
which, when once found and established, make an enlarged per-
manent demand for produce and provide for increased employment.
Over production thus, by a reduction of prices, cures itself; and the
greater the reduction the wider will be the range of increased con-
sumption. And if the new markets are not permanent, then capital
will seek other means of productive investment, and will still find
employment for extra men, although in a different trade, which in
time will create new customers for the trade from which the capital
has been withdrawn.
In December, 1864, some three hundred employers in the
midland counties agreed that, on the occasion of a strike, they
would not take on new hands without requiring a "discharge note"
in each case from the last employer. The workmen denounced
this step as gross tyranny, and as calculated to reduce the working
man to the condition of a serf. The employers replied that the
step was only adopted to remedy the tyranny of the workmen, and
related two instances as samples of the treatment to which they
had been subjected. They were as follow:-First, a contractor
was engaged upon some heavy brick works near a canal, so he
had his bricks brought to the place in barges, and set his labourers
to wheel them to the works; the bricklayers, alleging that this
was a violation of their trade rules, insisted that the bricks should
be unladen on the canal bank, and then picked up one by one, and
carried in hods to the site where they were needed. Second, a
builder was engaged in erecting a chimney at a large railway sta-
tion; and just when the shaft was ready for its stone base, the
masons, sixty in number, went off on a drinking bout; so the
bricklayers, after waiting some time in vain for the return of the
masons, set the stones themselves, and went on with the building
of the shaft. When the masons returned they at once struck
work, and declared that not another stone should be set till the
chimney had been pulled down again to its base, and the stone
*
70
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
work done over again by themselves. In both these cases the
contractors were forced to submit, and out of conduct such as
this originated the discharge note proposal. The measure was
undoubtedly tyrannical, and, if such a practice gets established,
it is not likely to be confined to cases of strikes, and will, probably,
cause much trouble; for a master might refuse for any reason, or
for no reason, to give a discharge note, and then, except in very
busy times, when the prospect of gain would practically negative
all such arrangements, the non-pliant workman would be perma-
nently chargeable to his trade society. The Manchester Examiner,
writing on this subject, 18th January, 1865, said, “Let it be
observed that the masters are acting strictly within their legal
rights, and that in adopting the discharge note system they are
merely borrowing weapons which have been turned to deadly use
against themselves. In most trades (where trades unions are
strong) the best workman in the country cannot get a job unless
he brings with him a clear union ticket. If such a man by chance
obtained employment, all the other union workmen would strike
against him. In point of fact, they insist upon a discharge note,
only in this case the note is issued by a committee of workmen,
and certifies that the bearer is a loyal member of the trade.
We hold the discharge note system to be morally indefensible;
but we hold the same of the entire system of trade coercion,
whether practised by the masters or the men. It is a huge out-
rage on the rights of labour, a grinding despotism, worked mainly
by the men themselves, but full of injustice and misery to their
own order, and equally mischievous and burthensome to society."
And the editor tells the tale of a strike which commenced at the
Manchester new prison, in June, 1864; and in January, 1865, had
spread to all the jobs of the same contractor, and to all the work
under the superintendence of the same architect. It seems to be
a traditional usage that the labourer who is first engaged to carry
bricks and mortar at a job shall head the procession of hodmen to
the scaffold; but on the occasion in question, the foreman brick-
layer, for reasons of his own, changed this order, and straightway
the labourers struck work. He then engaged "navvies," with
barrows to wheel the bricks to the bricklayers, but at this inno-
vation the bricklayers struck, and demanded the discharge of the
foreman. The contractor refused compliance, and the country was
* *
THE ARCHITECT AND THE HODMAN.
71
then scoured for fresh hands, and on these being obtained, the
bricklayers appealed to the joiners at the adjoining building (the
new assize courts), and they also struck. Fresh joiners were
engaged, and then bricklayers and joiners struck at all the
jobs of the same contractor. When this measure failed to procure
the discharge of the obnoxious foreman bricklayer, the architect was
appealed to for help; and after he had failed in his mission to the
contractor, the strike extended to all the jobs under his superin-
tendence, and he was punished because he had not succeeded, at
the request of the bricklayers, in getting another man's servant
discharged. And lime merchants and brickmakers declined to
serve contractors under this architect, for fear of the vengeance of
the workmen. In January, 1865, the builders and contractors of
Birkenhead received formal notice from the bricklayers of that
town that after the month of July, no more steam-power made bricks.
would be laid! Is it not time that the system of employment
should be changed? Would any such quarrels occur in the build-
ing trades if masters, in addition to minimum wages, agreed to
give to workmen who stayed to the end of a job a share in
twenty per cent of the profits? And is it not probable that the
extra speed with which a job would be accomplished, and the
economy of waste, would render the eighty per cent left to the
employer more than a hundred per cent under the old conditions?
It may be objected that to introduce the principle of a division
of profits would only shift the ground of a strike; and that the
workmen would declare for a larger proportion than twenty or
twenty-five per cent, and would strike for that larger amount.
But our belief is that a short trial would prove what propor-
tion of profit an employer could give up without substantial loss;
that such proportion would soon become the rule, and that wages
would be a fixed sum per piece or per day; all variation therefrom
being dependent on profits, which the hearty exertions of the men
would increase, and their neglect diminish, to a serious extent.
There are only three conditions of employment possible where
trade associations prevail. First, a continual state of war, or prepa-
ration for war, between employers and workmen, with all the means
for attack and defence which the genius of either side can suggest;
second, the erection of a court of arbitration, into which the repre-
sentatives of either side might take a case of dispute for settlement;
+
72
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
and third, a participation in profits by the workmen, so as to interest
them in the quality of work done and in the speed of its perform-
ance. Arbitration would prevent much mischief in the meantime,
when the question in dispute was capable of being arbitrated; but
society seems to be progressing rapidly towards the third position.
Trades societies are very good things if kept within legitimate
bounds; i.e., to supply information at all points as to the state of
trade and wages throughout the country, and to assist in the removal
of workmen to the best situations; and to comprise also sickness
benefits, which would not be vitiated by change of locality; but
they become very injurious things when they seek to render labour
artificially scarce in order to raise its price; or try to draw sharp
lines of demarcation between one trade and another; or to dictate
to employers as to who shall be employed or who shall be discharged.
What would be thought of a speculator who, in a time of scarcity,
should buy up large quantities of corn and destroy a portion of it
in order to raise the price of the remainder? When corn is scarce,
speculators by purchasing and withholding it from the market force
on a measure of economy, which, by lessening the daily consump-
tion, spreads the supply over a longer period, and saves the lives of
the people; but to make an artificial scarcity by the destruction of
food would be great wickedness. Labour is rendered artificially
scarce by a strike, and to withhold needful labour for a day is equal
to the destruction of the labour of a day; and the produce of the
industry in question, whether it be clothing, machinery, houses, or
other means of comfort, is rendered scarce thereby. It is for the
benefit of the individual and of society that so long as an acre of
land remains untilled, or a pound of raw material remains to be
worked up, that the land should be tilled and the material wrought
if the labour thereon will afford living wages; for whatever
adds to the world's wealth not only increases the comforts of the
people for the time being, but increases also the savings, out of
which come the demand for increased labour, and the payment of
increased wages for the future. If the speculator shuts up corn
from the market, and unduly raises its price, he is punished when
he brings it out again, by suffering depreciation, whilst society
gains by increased cheapness; but labour kept out of the market
is not economised, but lost for ever-its absence can never be atoned
for; its loss can never be made up, and never compensated.
up,
CHAPTER V.
Co-operative Stores and Manufacturing Companies-Robert Owen and Infant Schools-
The Queenwood Community-The Friendly Societies' Act and its Improvements-
Socialism and the First Co-operative Stores-The Rochdale Plan-Principle of a
Store-The Wholesale Society-The Corn Mill-Joint-Stock Companies and the
Cotton Crisis-Division of Profits amongst the Operatives-The Relief Committee
and Co-operation-Lord Derby's Minute-The Haslingden Guardians and the
Stores-The Property of the Working Classes.
ONE of the most interesting and important developments of
recent years amongst working men is embodied in the co-operative
stores and manufacturing companies. Arising out of improved
education and business experience, and perhaps also from a convic-
tion that in the organization of labour the employers have the
best of the bargain; they mark an epoch from which industrial life
takes a new start, and promises within a short time to alter the
principal features of trade and employment. The late Robert
Owen, of New Lanark, having seen the method of teaching pursued
by Pestalozzi and Fellenberg on the continent, and being interested
in the well-being of his own workpeople, set up the first infant
school in the kingdom, at the village of New Lanark, in Scotland.
The children were so pliable, and the results of object teaching
so good, as to bring Owen to the conclusion that if he could
control men's surroundings he could produce them to order; and
he formulated the doctrine that "man's character is formed for
him and not by him." Having noticed also the tendency of
the factory system to centralize people in large towns without
efficient sanitary arrangements, and that the rapid growth of
real property did not prevent the growth of pauperism; he
advocated the establishment of "communities" of about two
thousand persons each, properly proportioned for agricultural and
manufacturing operations. In these communities there was to be
no private property; each person was to produce according to
74
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
his ability, and to consume according to his necessity; and all
accumulations were to be common property; all were to work
productively until they reached sixty years of age, when they were
to become legislators and administrators.
These ideas were published by means of public meetings,
lectures, and pamphlets; and from about 1835 to 1844 "Socialism"
was one of the most common topics of discussion in English society.
A Communistic Association was formed, and branches opened in
every considerable town and village; and land was leased, and the
first side of a parallelogram for the first community was erected at
Queenwood, in Hampshire (now known as Queenwood College). In
the meantime, and in order to get rid of one of the "evils of com-
petition," the members of the association, in various places,
clubbed their money and bought grocery and drapery goods by
wholesale, and divided the profits amongst themselves. In many
towns provision shops were opened, but as the law did not allow
Friendly Societies" to trade, the sales were either confined to the
members, or else the shops were obliged to be put into the names of
one or two persons without any security for their honesty. The
division of profits was according to the capital invested, and was
soon found to be a fatal error, because it did not bind even the
members of the society to purchase at the stores; and the errors
of managers and the prejudices of the women led to accumulations
of bad stock. This error in principle, together with the ignorance
of some and the dishonesty of other managers, coupled with the
failure of the Hampshire community, sadly disappointed the
sanguine hopes of the promoters, and swept away most of these
stores in 1844-5.
cr
To the men connected with the principal store at Rochdale, is
due the establishment of a basis which has retained all which was
good and practicable in the first stores, whilst avoiding the cardinal
error of divisions according to capital. Co-operation, as estab-
lished by them, retains much of the good of communism, but gives
to people according to their successful exertions, instead of accord-
ing to their necessities. Upon the Rochdale model there are now
about ninety stores in Lancashire, turning over about a million
sterling annually.
Various alterations have within a few years been made in the
Friendly Societies' Act, so that co-operative stores can now sell
PRINCIPLE OF A STORE.
75
not to their members alone, but also to the public; the restriction
as to holding land is done away with; one society can invest
funds in another, either as shares or on loan, and the liability
of each member is limited to the amount of his shares. The usual
constitution of a co-operative society for the sale of articles
of provisions and clothing is as follows:-Each member is a
proprietor of one or more one pound shares, on each of which he
must pay threepence per month until they are paid up. A com-
mittee of management is chosen by the shareholders, and this
committee engages and discharges servants, and overlooks the
business transactions, accounting to the members quarterly. The
manager of the store goes to the best market which the means at his
disposal will allow, and makes his purchases for cash; securing so far
as possible pure articles, and the best terms. The sales at the shop
are generally all made for cash; or if credit be given it is limited to
one-half or three-fourths of the amount invested in shares by the
member seeking credit. Stock is taken and a balance-sheet made
out and presented quarterly or half-yearly, and the proposed
appropriation of profits is submitted to a meeting of the members.
The amount allotted to capital is always at the rate of five per
cent per annum on all paid-up shares; it is common to devote
two and a half per cent of the nett profits to the formation or
support of a library and reading-room, or to other educational
objects, and the balance is divided at so much per pound as it
will make on the sales of goods; each person receiving according to
the sum of his purchases; but the non-member a less proportion
than the member, because he incurs no risk of loss from failure.
In a well conducted store, the ordinary dividend is about one and
sixpence in the pound on purchases; and it is common for these
societies to turn over their capital about six times per annum.
During the year 1864, a combination of these stores set up a
wholesale society, with the intention of going to market for fifty or
a hundred stores at once, and thus securing still greater advantages.
This society is formed by a subscription of capital from the various
retail stores, and its manager buys in the best markets; and after
distributing to the different stores at the usual wholesale prices,
and paying the usual five per cent on capital, the profits are divided
amongst the constituents of the store, according to the sum of
their purchases. The wholesale society has turned over a capital
76
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
of two thousand pounds, so as to do a business of forty-six thousand
pounds in six months. One of the Rochdale societies works a corn
mill, the capital in which is chiefly composed of loans at five per
cent from the various stores trading with the mill for flour, &c.
When a store has more capital than it can use profitably, the corn
mill society acts as a bank, receiving its deposits at five per cent,
and sharing profits according to purchases as in the wholesale
society, so as to secure the store from loss, whilst paying the
same amount on all paid-up shares to its own members.
Buying and selling is, in ordinary cases, a comparatively easy
matter; and the advantages of cash are so great that a large pur-
chaser, who goes to market weekly, with money in his pocket, is
tolerably certain to be fairly dealt with; and as to the operative, if
he can manage to spend his whole income at the stores, one shilling
and sixpence in the pound dividend on purchases is equal to a rise
of seven and a half per cent on his wages. It will not be wonderful
if, in a few years, these co-operative stores succeed in banishing the
small shops, at which a large proportion of the working classes now
deal; and in destroying the foolish system of credit, which leads to so
much demoralisation of workmen, and which ruins so many shop-
keepers. It is now common for a modest-looking store to turn over
a hundred pounds per week, in a shop where the former individual
occupier would have thought himself well off in taking twenty
pounds. Owen's error was in thinking too well of humanity. He
looked upon man as if he was always a child, and upon hereditary
predisposition as a matter of no importance. According to him, a
rascal removed from the scene of his rascality, and placed in a pure
country atmosphere, ought to become arcadian. But the co-opera-
tors, without removing a man from the position in which he has
grown up, appeal to a motive which is common to all, and powerful
in all of us; and they reform the man whilst apparently pandering
to his love of gain. They progress towards purity of food (which
the legislature has in vain attempted to enforce), by doing away
with the motive for adulteration; and, as the secretary of a building
society invites a man to buy his house with its own rent, so the
promoters of co-operative stores invite people to set up shops for
themselves out of the profits which they have hitherto given away
to individual shopkeepers.
It is only natural that the success of co-operative stores should
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES-COTTON CRISIS.
77
lead to further effort in the direction of making working men their
own employers; and since the passing of the Limited Liability Bill,
a large number of joint-stock companies, for manufacturing pur-
poses, have been established in Lancashire. In a considerable
proportion of these the shares are largely held by working men ; and
it is not at all an uncommon feature for an ordinary workman to
find that he has an additional overlooker at his side in the shape
of an operative shareholder. Some of these companies had got well
established before the cotton crisis, and have weathered the storm as
well as many of the rich individual employers; others, which had
been established on a large proportion of loan capital at five per
cent, paid very large dividends on their small share capital during
the time of prosperity, but have had considerable amounts to refund
during the latter part of the cotton famine, in the shape of interest
on loans, whilst the establishments have either been stopped or have
been losing money by working. Others, again, which were just
getting to work when the crisis came-having borrowed money,
and also mortgaged their buildings and machinery, in the hope
of speedily paying all off out of profits—have been entirely swept
away. The difficulties of the crisis have also caused considerable
contraction in the numbers of shareholders, so that some of the
establishments which were intended to be co-operative, will simply
result in setting up additional individual employers, or in estab-
lishing small partnerships.
In production, as in distribution, Rochdale has taken the lead,
and mills belonging to a Friendly Society have been erected
at a cost of about £60,000. In these establishments it was
intended to develop still further the power of co-operative effort
by a division of profits amongst all the workers. The object aimed
at was to engage all the mental faculties of the operative in his
work; to give him an interest in quality as well as in quantity of
production; to induce him to turn out good work, not only to
escape stoppages by the overlooker, but also to secure for the estab-
lishment a good name in the market, and thus to command good
prices and make large profits. Many of the shopkeepers of Roch-
dale joined this society, and before the plan of sharing profits with
the workers had been fairly tested, the desire to secure the present
penny became so strong that the rule was overthrown; so that
although the mills are the property of a "Friendly Society," and
78
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
many of the shares are held by working men, there is now no prac-
tical difference between the working of this establishment and that
of an ordinary joint-stock company.
There is a small company in Manchester which contains a
provision in its articles of association to divide profits with the
workpeople, but the cotton famine came before it was ready to
work, and it is at least doubtful if it will ever make a profit at all.
A large company at Blackburn, which only got ready for
business after the cotton famine had commenced, is now winding-
up in Chancery, being unable to pay six shillings and eightpence
in the pound; and the probability is that the expense of winding-
up will leave the creditors without dividend, and will shew the
prudence of providing other and cheaper means than the Court
of Chancery for winding-up an estate under the Limited Liability
Act.
But these losses and failures will not deter working men from
further effort. The next turn of prosperity will inaugurate joint-
stock companies in every direction; the best and most prudent
workmen will become investors, seeking to be their own employers,
and to realize twelve and a half per cent (the average profits of
manufacturing enterprise), instead of three per cent (the savings
bank interest) for their savings. Naturally, these prudent inves-
tors will seek and obtain employment in the mills and factories
where they respectively hold shares; and they will as naturally be
preferred by the managers, because, being interested in profits as
well as in wages, they will require less overlooking, in order to
secure quality as well as quantity of workmanship. Enquiry at
the office of a large machine making firm in Manchester, which
had been recently converted into a joint-stock company, led to the
following explanation. The managing partners in the firm had
come to the conclusion that a little more leisure would be agree-
able, if they could only indulge it without injury to the progress of
the work in hand; and after serious thought the conclusion arrived
at was, to convert the firm into a joint-stock company, retaining
sufficient shares in the hands of the proprietors to secure the manage-
ment, and offering the remainder to officials in the establishment.
The result is, that every person in employment, from the foremen
upwards, are shareholders, and are interested in the profits of
the company; and the managers now feel that during their own
DIVISION OF PROFITS AMONGST OPERATIVES.
79
absence there are still a hundred pairs of eyes sharpened by the
prospect of proft, to secure perfect work and punctual delivery,
and to economise waste and prevent breakages. Why should not
this company extend the application of the principle which led to
its formation, and either enlist the whole of the workmen as share-
holders, or else divide profits with them in addition to paying
ordinary wages; and so secure the interest of every workman in
the success of the establishment? At present, the interest of the
workman is confined to the production of wages, and the welfare of
the trade society, which, in the event of a dispute, will assist him
to fight a battle with his employers. He cares but little about the
ruin of an establishment, for that event will not lessen employment,
but only cause a change of masters. But, if made a partner in profits,
the case would be changed. In many large warehouses the heads
of departments are paid a certain stipulated sum per annum; and in
addition to this, they take as wages a given proportion of the nett
profits of their respective departments; and it is believed that
this arrangement contributes materially to the success of the
various concerns where it is practised. If this principle be good
for the heads of departments, what reason is there to predicate its
failure when applied throughout? If it serves the purpose of a
joint-stock company to apply it to foremen, what reason is there
against extending it to the whole of the workmen employed?
Yet this is all which is involved in the principle of co-operation.
Working men seek to become their own shopkeepers, and thereby
to economise the employment of capital, and to do away with all
temptation to adulterate food, or to cheat in weight and measure.
If the storekeeper be simply a servant at wages employed by
the customer, instead of a capitalist, who invests in food and
clothing, and taxes for the consumer, and who charges interest in
the shape of profit, at the highest rates which the ignorance of the
customer and the competition of the neighbouring shopkeeper will
allow, the economy must needs be great. And if investments in
the distribution of wealth be profitable, it is certain that the working
classes will not rest till they have experimented in production also.
It is true that manufacturing involves much more tact and skill than
mere buying for and selling to a known list of customers, whose
wants and tastes are easily learned. A cotton spinner's purchases
involve not only a knowledge of the qualities of different kinds of
80
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
cotton, but also a judgment as to the probability of the price of the
raw material rising or falling during the process of working up;
his management includes not only a superintendence of all the
processes, but a knowledge of the best mixings to produce a given
yarn of good quality out of the lowest priced cotton which the keenest
ingenuity can render fit for the purpose; and the great difference be-
tween co-operative stores and joint-stock manufacturing companies
consists in the fact, that the bulk of the customers of the stores
are partners in the concern, making profit for themselves; whilst
the customers of the manufacturing companies will care only to get
the best possible article at the price, whether it be the produce of
joint-stock or of individual enterprise. Unless the workman can
be interested in the quality of his workmanship, a joint-stock com-
pany will enjoy no advantage whatever over the individual spinner
or manufacturer; but if the workmen in a joint-stock mill under
good management be shareholders, it will be strange if the pro-
ducts do not command such a character in the market as to secure
an advantage. And the same effect would probably be produced
in a mill with ordinary workpeople, if in addition to ordinary wages,
a proportion of the nett profits of the concern (say one-quarter)
were divided amongst them, according to the wages earned by each.
And in the event of the spread of establishments, owned in great
part by the working classes, this division of profits amongst the
workpeople will probably be resorted to by the individual employer,
in order to retain his best workmen. The problem for solution is
whether, by giving up one-fourth of his profits, the remaining
three-fourths belonging to the employer would or would not become
equal to the whole former sum. The amount of capital invested
in the cotton manufacture will average about £65 per hand, and
make an average profit of twelve and a half per cent per annum.
Our problem assumes, therefore, this simple shape: Can the em-
ployers, by giving up forty shillings and sevenpence per annum per
hand, get recouped by larger production, better quality, economy
of waste, and fewer breakages? A good character in the market
is often worth five per cent in the price of goods; one-half of this
upon £65 would secure three-quarters of the sum. The man who
works only for wages seeks to turn off the largest possible amount
of yarn or cloth; but in looking only to the largest production, he
is apt to forget the matter of waste; and the roadsides of country
1
DIVISION OF PROFITS AMONGST OPERATIVES.
81
mills, and the water-closets in towns, often show how much of the
manufacturer's capital, and the spinner's labour and wages, have
been simply thrown away. If an interest in profits given to the
hands saved one-half of this waste (which is quite a possible result
by the exercise of greater care), the whole of the proposed share
of profits would be recouped. From the whole of these sources,
therefore-larger production, better quality, and less waste-it is
not unreasonable to believe that the employer who gave up one-
fourth of his profits would be saved from loss. And if saved from
pecuniary loss, would he not also be saved from the annoyance and
injury resulting from strikes for wages? Would not mutual con-
fidence grow up between employers and workpeople, in place of the
distrust which is now so common, and which forces them to range
themselves in rival armies, always ready on the least provocation
for battle? Would not wages settle at something like an average
rate, and leave the results of good times to be gleaned out of
profits? If this should be the effect produced by workmen's
investments in joint-stock companies, society will have much to
thank them for.
One difficulty in giving up a share in profits is in the fact that
more profit is often made out of a fortunate speculation in the
purchase of cotton than in its spinning or manufacture; and as in
these purchases the hands have no possible concern, it does not seem
reasonable that they should be partakers in the results. This diffi-
culty would be got over if the cotton or yarn was charged, in each
case, at the average price of the month, and all the calculations for
division of profits based upon that standard; for it would leave the
proprietor to win or lose by his own speculations, and would leave
to the workpeople an interest in all which the quality of their work
could possibly influence.
The act for limiting the liabilities of shareholders in joint-stock ·
companies bids fair not only to increase the productiveness of
capital but to revolutionise the manner of its employment; for it
enables men who have accumulated fortunes to give up trading,
and to spread their capital over many concerns, thus averaging
the risk, and securing average profits, without personal superinten-
dence. It also enables working men to club their small savings, by
taking shares in public companies, with the prospect of becoming
their own employers; and the co-operative stores, by securing the
G
82
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
}
ordinary profits of shopkeeping to the consumers, provide the
means which, if allowed to accumulate, will suffice to build mills
and stock them with machinery and raw material. The average
profit of these stores is seven and a half per cent on purchases, and
the average profit of the cotton manufacture is twelve and a half
per cent per annum on capital; so that if a working man spends
fifteen shillings per week at a store, and pays his dividends into a
joint-stock company making ordinary profits, the accumulations at
the end of about twenty years would be about £350, which, at
twelve and a half per cent, would give a very fair annuity to its
owner (upwards of £43 per annum).
During the cotton crisis the jealousy of some shopkeepers and
the opposition of some few employers to these establishments
caused consideráble ill-feeling. Several cases were reported to the
central relief committee, in which local committees had either
refused relief to members of co-operative stores, or had refused to
let the tickets for relief in kind be spent in these establishments.
Two instances were mentioned of applicants for relief who had
each a few shillings invested in a store, and who were required to
withdraw these sums before any relief was granted. A sum of two
shillings is ordinarily charged on withdrawal from membership, and
when this fine had been paid, one poor woman had to take out the
magnificent sum of fourpence halfpenny to entitle herself to relief.
The discussion upon this subject in the central committee led to
the following minute, which was drawn up by Lord Derby, and
unanimously adopted :—
66
(C
'FUND FOR RELIEF OF DISTRESS IN THE MANUFACTURING
DISTRICTS.
Appendix to Report presented to General Committee, 19th
January, 1863, being suggestions offered to the Central
Executive Committee, at their Meeting on the 12th Janu-
ary, 1863, by the Right Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G.,
Chairman
"In the administration of the relief contributed by charitable
persons from all parts of the United Kingdom and its dependencies,
and from many foreign countries, the Central Executive Committee
have undertaken a deeply-responsible task. It is, not only to
LORD DERBY'S MINUTE.
83
distribute the alms entrusted to them by public beneficence, but
so to distribute them that, on the one hand, they may not place
the honest and industrious upon the same footing with the idle
and the profligate; and, on the other hand, that they may not
abuse public liberality, by making their funds contribute to the
relief of those who have unexpended means of their own.
"The experience, and the practice, of various local committees
show the extreme difficulty of drawing any line which should
precisely effect these objects; while, at the same time, it is very
desirable to lay down some general principle for their guidance,
and for the satisfaction of the general body of subscribers.
"It will be at once admitted that the object of the public
subscriptions is to furnish the means of existence, from day to day,
to those whose ordinary resources have been cut off by the failure
of the cotton supply; a failure, however, which affects not only
those engaged in the cotton manufacture, but, through them, a
large proportion of the population, who, as tradesmen or otherwise,
are indirectly interested in their earnings. The loss of those
earnings, exclusive of the great loss of wages in other dependent
trades, has been estimated at not less than one hundred and sixty-
eight thousand pounds a week, or eight million five hundred
thousand pounds a year. How, then, is this loss distributed ?
What are the classes on whom it falls? and, of those classes, who
are they who are entitled to share in the relief to be administered
through the central, and by means of the local committees?
"There can be no doubt that the workmen actually engaged
in the cotton manufacture, and thrown out of employment by the
failure of that branch of industry, have the first and primary claim
on the relief committees, and it ought to be a main object so to
relieve those among them who are thrown out of work by the
present cotton crisis, as to place them in a better position than
habitual paupers. In the present exceptional condition, however,
the principle of supplementing the parish allowance by additional
relief is, in some cases, excusable, and may become indispensable.
But what shall be a disqualification for obtaining relief?
The first answer obviously is, that, the relief being intended for
those who have no other resource, the possession of property must
strike an applicant off the list. And it is easy to see the abuses
to which a departure from this rule are liable. Nevertheless,
((
84
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
there are cases which have been brought before both the local and
the central committees which require very careful examination.
"Among them are the following:-1st. The case of those who by
persevering industry have accumulated a small sum of money, and
have invested it in savings banks.—2nd. Those who, under similar
circumstances, have invested (a) in benefit societies, (b) in co-ope-
rative societies.-3rd. Those whose property is invested in cottages,
of which they are unable to obtain the rents, and are consequently,
though in possession of freehold property, in a state of actual des-
titution.—1th. Small shopkeepers, dependent on any of the above.
"I. However harsh it may sound, and however painful it may
be to say that before receiving relief under such circumstances as
the present, a man must be compelled to sacrifice the accumulations
of a long life of industry, it is difficult to suggest any alternative.
The greatest caution must be exercised in dispensing, to those who
have any resource to fall back upon, the relief intended for the
preservation of life.
"II. (1) It is impossible to allow the funds subscribed for the
relief of destitution to be applied for the payment of the contri-
butions of members to sick clubs or other benefit societies. These
cases must be left to be dealt with by the societies themselves.
(2) The co-operative societies stand upon a peculiar footing. The
societies known by this name comprise provision and clothing
stores, and flour mills, which are conducted, to a great extent, on
co-operative principles; but cotton manufactories, called co-
operative, are generally, if not universally, simply joint-stock
companies of limited liability, the capital of which has been
subscribed in small shares, chiefly by workmen in the cotton
districts, and which are often built and conducted with the aid of
loans. They have arisen out of motives which do the highest
honour to the operative classes; and there is no question but that
they have induced habits of frugality, temperance, and self-
restraint, which have operated greatly to the benefit of the
working classes, morally and physically. But it is indisputable
that the shares in some of these co-operative societies are at the
present moment greatly depreciated, and in some cases actually
valueless. Is, then, the possession, say of one or more shares in
one of these societies, to exclude the holder from a title to relief?
On the principle applied to the savings banks, the answer should
LORD DERBY'S MINUTE.
85
be in the affirmative; and the more so, as the investment has
hitherto yielded a larger interest. But it is to be remembered, on
the other hand, that whatever has been invested in the savings
banks realises, on its withdrawal, the whole of its nominal amount;
whereas the co-operative shares are in many cases not only depre-
ciated, but, if compelled to be sold, would realise little or nothing
to the possessors. The utmost, therefore, which can fairly be
required is that the holder shall have mortgaged his share, and that
he is not at the present moment deriving any pecuniary benefit
from it. In such a case, I think the holder might fairly be entitled
to relief, as having, for the time, no other resources.
"III. There is, also, a class, and rather a numerous one, whose
case is in many respects similar to that of the owners of co-opera-
tive shares. It is not an uncommon case for persons who have
saved a small sum, to invest it in the purchase of one or two
cottages, the rent of which, in ordinary times, returns a full interest
for the money invested, a portion of which, however, is frequently
borrowed on mortgage of the property itself. But under the pre-
sent exceptional circumstances, this property has become absolutely
valueless, and worse than valueless, when any part of the capital
has been borrowed. The owner is still liable to the mortgage,
while it is impossible for him to collect any rent; or, if he should
attempt it, only by the harsh process of distraint, yielding little to
him, and sacrificing the little property of the tenant at a ruinous
loss. Those owners, therefore, although with visible property, are
in many cases on the very verge of destitution; and it would
seem unreasonable, in their case, to insist, as a condition of relief,
upon their divesting themselves of a property, which, for the time,
is practically unsaleable, as well as unprofitable. The wise and
humane policy would seem to be that recommended with regard
to co-operative or joint-stock shares: and in deciding upon the
claim to relief, to estimate only the amount of income actually
received, and to omit from calculation any property which, for the
time, is yielding no return.
“IV. A somewhat similar principle would apply to the case of
the small shopkeeper, whose sole capital is his little stock in trade;
and who, if from the distress of his customers, he does not realize
a sum sufficient for the subsistence of his family, may fairly be
considered to have a claim on the relief fund.
86
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
"V. No portion of the relief afforded must, in any case, be
granted for the payment of rent. No doubt, a plausible case
might be made out in favour of the opposite principle; but the
abuses which would arise are so obvious and so inevitable, that on
this point it is essential that the committees do not give way. A
knowledge, moreover, or a suspicion, that any portion of the funds
was devoted to the payment of rent, would at once check the flow
of public charity.
I am aware that some of the principles laid down in this
memorandum, are widely at variance with general rules; and I
am not insensible to the danger of their leading to abuse, and
encouraging too great a reliance on external aid. But the circum-
stances of the time are of a wholly exceptional character. The
first object must be to preserve the population from absolute des-
titution; the next, and hardly less important, is to draw a broad
line between habitual pauperism, and want, the consequence of an
unforeseen national calamity. It may be necessary, in considera-
tion for the poorer ratepayers, to supplement, from relief funds,
the amount given to the former from the rates; but with regard
to the latter, I feel confident that the lesser of two evils is, to err
on the side of over-liberality, rather than too great strictness; and
I am persuaded that such is the policy which will most commend
itself to the public feeling.
"Printed by order of the Committee,
"DERBY.
"JOHN WM. MACLURE, Hon. Sec.
"21, New Cannon Street, Manchester, 19th Jan., 1863."
But this minute did not permanently settle the question; for
in October, 1864, a correspondence with the Poor-law Board was
published in a report of the Board of Guardians sitting at New-
church, as follows:-
"A communication had been forwarded to the Poor-law Board
from Mr. Lord, the secretary of the Edgeside Holme Co-operative
Store, directing attention to a notice inserted on relief tickets,
stating, 'This ticket is not available at co-operative stores.' He
stated that when tickets had been offered at the store they were
obliged to tell people that the guardians did not allow them to
HASLINGDEN GUARDIANS AND THE STORES.
-
87
purchase at co-operative stores. He proposed to the Poor-law
Board the following inquiries:-1st. Have the guardians a right
to say to parties receiving relief where they shall or shall not take
those tickets for grocery goods? 2nd. Have the guardians a right
to stigmatise co-operative stores, when co-operative stores pay the
poor rate in common with other people? A copy of the commu-
nication had been sent by the Poor-law Board to the guardians
of Haslingden Union, requesting to be furnished with their
observations upon it.-The Chairman said that the reason for
the restriction was that the co-operative stores charged at a
higher rate for their goods than private shopkeepers. Mr.
Sleath confirmed the statement made by the chairman, and said
that they had put the question to the test by instructing the
relieving officer to purchase sugar at the co-operative stores and
at various other places; and on the samples being produced
and compared, it was found that there was a difference of fifteen
per cent in the price charged.—The Clerk said he understood
that at the co-operative stores there was a drawback allowed from
the profits. Mr. Sleath said the drawback at Bacup Co-operative
Stores was from two shillings to three shillings per pound. The
Chairman said that as long as the poor people had no more sense
than to support the co-operative stores, they could not expect to be
better off; because for every two shillings they get as a drawback
it cost them three shillings. He thought that poor people ought
to spend their money in the most economical way; and he was
certain that a man with 19s. to spend at the shopkeepers would
make it go as far as 20s. spent at the co-operative store.-Mr.
Sleath said that formerly persons receiving relief tickets could take
them to any shopkeeper they liked, but now they were prevented
from taking them to the co-operative stores.-Mr. Spencer said
that at Accrington the tickets were taken to each of the shop-
keepers in succession, so that they were all benefited in their turn.
A Guardian said that in his township the poor people were recom-
mended to take their tickets to the shops they were accustomed to
trade with.—The Chairman said that he formerly did business with
a co-operative store, but he found that it cost him from five to seven
and a half per cent more than he would have paid at other shops.
Mr. Henry Maden said he was a shareholder in the Bacup Co-ope-
rative Store, but he never spent a shilling there.—Mr. Sleath said
88
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
L
that his opinion was that the guardians would be acting quite con-
sistently if they said that the price charged at the co-operative
stores was ten per cent more than at other places.— Ultimately it
was decided that the clerk should be instructed to write to the
Poor-law Board, stating that the reason why the guardians had
made an exception was in consequence of the co-operative stores
charging a higher rate for provisions than other shopkeepers."
It is difficult to imagine upon what principle the guardians
would establish their right to dictate to the poor where to spend
the pittance allowed them. Such dictation could not contribute to
maintain the independence of the people, except upon the counter
irritant plan, which, whatever it may be worth in medical, is not
the most approved in moral practice. Enquiry on the spot con-
firms the very natural idea that people do not and will not pay
more at a store than at the neighbouring shops; but even if they
did so, and succeeded in economising the cost of management, it
would only be a round-about mode of saving money; for they would
get back the overcharge at the end of each quarter, just in the pro-
portion of their payments. It would surely be better to allow this
movement free scope, even if it should replace the whole shop-
keeping capital of the country; for by so doing it would set at
liberty for productive employment all which is now fixed in the goods
waiting for purchasers. Assuming the expenditure of each family
in England and Wales to average twenty shillings per week, and
the shopkeeper's capital to be turned over three times per annum,
the capital so invested will not be less than one hundred and fifty
millions of pounds sterling. What a field of enterprise such a
sum would open up and profitably occupy; and it will not be
less advantageous for being opened up gradually and imperceptibly.
At any rate, the freedom of the workman requires that he should
be let alone; and he is not likely to be satisfied or to put up with
a whit less than his due; and any hindrance to his operations,
where he is clearly in the right, will tend to make him feel
justified where he is as clearly in the wrong.
At the end of 1863, there were in the cotton districts one
hundred and eighteen co-operative stores, with a paid up capital
of £270,267, and they were receiving for goods sold £1,171,066
per annum, upon which they paid dividends amounting to about
£87,000. There were also about fifty manufacturing companies,
•
•
PROPERTY OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
89
whose nominal capital amounted to about £2,000,000, a large pro-
portion of the shares in which had been subscribed by working
men.
In 1861, the mortgages to building societies in Lancashire
amounted to about £220,000. The bulk of this sum consists of
deposits by the lower middle, and the upper stratum of the
working classes; and when taken in connexion with the fourteen
thousand and sixty-eight owners of the £3,800,498 in the savings
banks, and about half a million sterling owned by about twelve
hundred and fifty friendly societies, and probably half as much
more owned by trades' societies, shows an amount of prudent
forethought and practical frugality for which few people give the
working classes credit; and which must be productive of important
results.
*
CHAPTER VI.
Manchester in 1832-Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth on the Habits and Sanitary Condi-
tion of the Poor-Cellar Dwellings and Typhus-Causes of Pauperism-Improve-
ments from 1832 to 1861-The Gasworks and Waterworks-The Public Parks-
The Free Library-Progress of Liverpool from 1730 to 1863-The Docks and the
Railway-Education Aid Society of Manchester-Secondary Education-The
Union of Institutes, Lancashire and Cheshire.
DR. J. P. Kay (now Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth, Bart.), writing in
1832, says of the home of the Manchester operative-" Home has
little other relation to him than that of shelter-few pleasures are
there-it chiefly presents to him a scene of physical exhaustion
from which he is glad to escape. His house is ill-furnished, un-
cleanly, often ill-ventilated, perhaps damp; his food, from want of
forethought and domestic economy, is meagre and innutritious; he
generally becomes debilitated and hypochondriacal, and unless sup-
ported by principle falls the victim of dissipation. Those who are
employed in the process of spinning, and especially of fine spin-
ning (who receive a high rate of wages, and who are elevated on
account of their skill), are more attentive to their domestic
arrangements, have better furnished houses, are consequently more
regular in their habits, and more observant of their duties than
those engaged in other branches of the manufacture.
The population employed in the cotton factories rises at five
o'clock in the morning, works in the mills from six till eight, and
returns home for half-an-hour or forty minutes to breakfast. This
meal generally consists of tea or coffee, with a little bread. Oat-
meal porridge is sometimes, but of late rarely, used, and chiefly
by the men; but the stimulus of tea is preferred, especially by
the women. The tea is almost always of a bad and sometimes of
a deleterious quality, the infusion is weak, and little or no milk is
added. The operatives return to the mills and workshops until
twelve o'clock, when an hour is allowed for dinner. Amongst
those who obtain the lower rates of wages this meal generally
HABITS AND CONDITION OF THE POOR.
91
consists of boiled potatoes. The mess of potatoes is put into one
large dish; melted lard and butter are poured upon them, and a
few pieces of fried fat bacon are sometimes mingled with them,
and but seldom a little meat. Those who obtain better wages, or
families whose aggregate income is larger, add a greater proportion
of animal food to this meal, at least three times in the week; but
the quantity consumed by the labouring population is not great.
The family sits round the table, and each rapidly appropriates his
portion on a plate; or they all plunge their spoons into the dish,
and with an animal eagerness satisfy the cravings of their appetite.
At the expiration of the hour they are all again employed in the
workshops or mills, where they continue until seven o'clock, or
even a later hour, when they generally again indulge in the use of
tea, often mingled with spirits, accompanied with a little bread.
Oatmeal or potatoes are, however, taken by some a second time in
the evening.
"The population nourished on this aliment is crowded into one
dense mass in cottages separated by narrow, unpaved, and almost
pestilential streets, in an atmosphere loaded with the smoke and
exhalations of a large manufacturing city. The operatives are
congregated into mills and workshops during twelve hours in the
day, in an enervating heated atmosphere, which is frequently
loaded with dust or the filaments of cotton, or impure from con-
stant respiration, or from other causes. They are engaged in
an employment which absorbs their attention, and unremittingly
employs their physical energies. They are drudges, who watch
the movements and assist the operations of a mighty material force,
which toils with an energy ever unconscious of fatigue.
persevering labour of the operative must rival the mathematical
precision, the incessant motion, and the exhaustless power of the
machine. The state of the streets powerfully affects the health
of their inhabitants; sporadic cases of typhus chiefly appear in
those which are narrow, ill-ventilated, unpaved, or which contain
heaps of refuse or stagnant pools. The confined air and noxious
exhalations which abound in such places depress the health of the
people, and on this account contagious diseases are also most
rapidly propagated there. The records of the Manchester Fever
Hospital prove that typhus prevails almost exclusively in such
situations.
The
92
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
J
"The following table, arranged by the committee of classifica-
tion appointed by the Special Board of Health, from the reports of
the inspectors of the various district boards of Manchester, shows
the extent to which the imperfect state of the streets of Manchester
may tend to promote demoralisation and disease among the poor :-

No. of
District.
No.
of Streets
Inspected.
No.
Unpaved.
No.
partially
Paved
No. Ill
Ventilated.
No. containing
Heaps of
Refuse, Stag-
nant Pools,
Ordure, &c.
1 2 3 4 1 C 7 ∞ a
114
63
13
7
64
180
93
7
23
92
49
2
2
12
28
66
37
10
12
52
5
6
30
2
2 1
5
5
12
1
2
53
13
12
17
8
16
2
2
7
9
48
0
9
20
10
29
19
0
10
23
11
0
0
0
0
0
12
12
0
1
1
4
13
55
3
9
10
23
14
33
13
0
8
8
Total………….. 687
248
53
112
352
In the districts which are almost exclusively inhabited by
the poor, namely, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10, among four hundred
and thirty-eight streets inspected two hundred and fourteen were
altogether unpaved, thirty-two partially paved, sixty-three ill-venti-
lated, and two hundred and fifty-nine contained heaps of refuse,
deep ruts, stagnant pools, ordure, &c. No. 11 was not inspected.
"The replies to questions as to the condition of six thousand
nine hundred and fifty-one houses showed two thousand five
hundred and sixty-five which needed whitewashing, nine hundred
and sixty needing repair, nine hundred and thirty-nine where the
soughs were out of repair, one thousand four hundred and thirty-
five damp, and two thousand two hundred and twenty-one which
were without privies."
(C
Speaking of the banks of the Irk, the same writer says:-
The houses of the poor sometimes surround a common area
CAUSES OF PAUPERISM.
93
into which the doors and windows open at the Backs of the
dwellings. Porkers who feed pigs in the town often contract
with the inhabitants to pay some small sum for the rent of their
area, which is immediately covered with pigstyes, and converted
into a dung heap and receptacle of the putrescent garbage upon
which the animals are fed, as also of the refuse which is now
heedlessly flung into it from all the surrounding dwellings. The
offensive odour which sometimes arises from these areas cannot
be conceived."
The reader will probably be astonished to learn that in the
metropolis of the cotton trade, and even during its most rapid pro-
gress, pauperism has progressed more rapidly than population; but
when it is explained that a considerable proportion of the inhabi-
tants are immigrants from other places, and that a large proportion
of the immigrant population are helpless Irish, the wonder will
Dr. Kay enables us to present a table embodying the rela-
tive proportion of Irish cases without settlements, and of English
and Irish cases with settlements, which came before the guardians
in the four years, from 1827 to 1831, in the same districts, as set
forth in the Special Board of Health Report, as given above :
cease.



Districts.
Nov., 1827, to
Feb., 1828.
Nov., 1828, to
Feb., 1829.
Nov., 1829, to
Feb., 1830.
Nov., 1830, to
Feb., 1831.
Newtown:
No. 2, and 3-5ths of
No. 4.............
Ancoats:
No. 1, and 2-5ths of
No. 4............
Central:
Nos. 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,
14, and 1-4th of
No. 8......
Portland Street:
Nos. 3, 7, 12, 13, and
3-4ths of No. 8...
Irish.
English. Irish. English. Irish. English. Irish. English.
1,559 6,059 1,490 5,434 3,911 8,023 4,051 9,129
1,482 6,701 2,155 7,158 2,690 8,022 3,818 | 9,027
366 7,422 532 7,161 742 9,668 909 10,210
264 6,864 577 6,974 1,186 8,591 1,114 | 7,580
Total......... 3,671 27,046 4,754 26,727 8.529 34,304 9,892 35,046
The above table showing an increase of unsettled poor of one
hundred and sixty-six per cent, in a little more than three years,
whilst the settled poor increased only thirty-three per cent,
94
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
sufficiently explains much of the increase of pauperism. The
demand for juvenile labour, which prior to the passing of the
Factories' Education Bill, often led parents to live in idleness upon
the wages of their children, also rendered the children independent
of paternal help, at an age when in other employments their wages
would be quite insufficient for their support; and often led to the
abandonment of parents in age and decrepitude to the scanty
dependence of parish relief, and this practice frequently added to
the permanent pauperism.
At this period the mortality of Manchester seems to have
averaged for ten years about 35.22 per thousand, and the criminals
throughout Lancashire were about one in four hundred and ninety-
five of the population.
In 1834, inquiries by the statistical society showed that upwards.
of fifteen thousand of the two hundred thousand comprised in the
population of Manchester, were living in cellars, and Dr. Kay says
upon this subject—“The condition of a very large proportion of
these dwellings beneath the level of unsewered streets, was to the
last degree insalubrious-it was often pestilential. I have some-
times, as a dispensary physician, had to make my way to the bed
of a patient suffering from typhus, by stepping from one brick to
another, placed for my convenience on the flagged floor which was
covered with some inches of water. This occurred to me twice in
Little Ireland, where, on one of these occasions nearly a whole
family perished of typhus. The cellars were inundated during a
flood of the Medlock. It occurred also in 'Irish Town,' in the
valley of the Irk; and, during the prevalence of cholera, I remem-
ber carrying away some bad cases in canvas slings on the shoulders
of hospital bearers, from flooded cellars not far from Knott Mill.”
Such was the picture of Manchester, as painted by an able and
truthful artist in 1832. The place and the staple trade had grown
so rapidly that there was no leisure to attend to much besides the
production of wealth; and houses were hastily constructed, and
people were huddled together pretty much as in a new colony,
where taste and comfort, and even health itself, must all give way
to the one great necessity of productive work.
Between that date and 1861 (according to Mr. D. Chadwick),
the municipality of Manchester paved and drained, and flagged
the footpaths of one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight
་ -
PUBLIC PARKS-FREE LIBRARY.
95
streets, measuring upwards of sixty miles in length, and cover-
ing about two hundred and five statute acres. Ninety miles
of main sewers and forty-nine miles of cross sewers were also
constructed, and twelve thousand nine hundred and forty-eight
siphon traps were laid in connexion with them. In the adjoin-
ing borough of Salford, between the years 1844 and 1860, the
paving, &c., of two hundred and thirty-two streets had been
accomplished, at an expense of £61,546. Nearly one and a
half millions sterling has been spent in Manchester, to improve the
water supply; and a large area of the range of hills which divides
Lancashire from Yorkshire, is now drained to supply eleven and a
half million gallons of water, daily, in place of one and a half
millions supplied in 1842, and the annual revenue of the corpora-
tion from this source has increased from about £22,400 to £72,000.
More than a million sterling has during the same period been
realised as profits from the gas works, and spent upon street
improvements. In the seven years, from 1854 to 1861, the inspec-
tion of cellar dwellings had led to orders for the alteration of
eleven hundred and twenty-three, and the closing of four hundred
and fifty-four as unfit for human habitation.
In 1845 an agitation, originated by Mr. E. Watkin (now M.P.
for Stockport), resulted in a subscription of about thirty-three
thousand pounds, and the establishment of three public parks, of
about thirty acres each, for the free use of the inhabitants of
Manchester and Salford for ever.
The corporation of Salford shortly afterwards established a free
museum and a reference library and reading room, in the Peel
Park, which have become extensively useful; and in connection
with the museum an annual free exhibition of pictures is held, and
is visited during Whitsun Week and through the summer months
by hundreds of thousands of visitors. Eighty thousand three
hundred and nine persons passed through the museum in Whitsun
Week, 1865.
In the year 1851 the author urged the establishment of a free
lending library and mechanical museum in Manchester, and the
then Mayor, John Potter, Esq. (afterwards Sir John Potter, M.P.),
entered heartily into the project; a committee was formed and
about twelve thousand pounds collected for the purpose, and thus
the first free lending library under Mr. Ewart's Act was established
96
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMIN E.
immediately after the passage of the bill. The proposed museum
was given up because of the unsuitableness of the premises
purchased. The reference library now contains thirty-one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one volumes of great value, and is daily
resorted to by about one hundred and eighty readers; whilst
branch lending libraries and reading rooms exist in various parts
of the borough, and are all supported by a rate of one penny per
pound upon the assessment.
The population of Manchester and Salford in 1801 was ninety-
four thousand, in 1841 it was three hundred and eleven thousand,
and in 1861 it was four hundred and sixty thousand, showing a
progress in the latter twenty years of 4779 per cent. The assess-
ment rose during the same twenty years as follows :—
Borough of MANCHESTER ASSESSMENT.
1841
1861
ASSESSMENT, TOWNSHIP OF Salford.
1841
1861
•
£855,705
1,477,489
£165,397
195,406
ASSESSMENT OF ENLARGED Borough, 1865.
Township of Salford
£211,511
Pendleton
"9
97,846
Broughton
81,598
3,149
£394,104
Part of Pendlebury
There is still room for much improvement, and progress is still
making, but it is satisfactory in the meantime to know that the
death-rate of manufacturing towns is not necessarily much higher
than in the non-manufacturing towns. In the registrar's return the
deaths in one hundred and forty-two town districts are shown to
exceed the rate in the country districts by four-tenths per cent
only, from 1853 to 1862, the mean rate being 2:429. The deaths
in Lancashire from June, 1861, to June, 1864, averaged 2.665 per
cent per annum. In the township of Manchester during the
same period they were 3.20 per cent; but that this rate is not
dependent on the cotton trade is evident from the fact that in
Ashton, where a much larger proportion are engaged in it, the
deaths were only 2:44, and in Blackburn 25 per cent per annum
during the same period.
PROGRESS OF LIVERPOOL.
97
The port of Liverpool owes its growth almost entirely to the
cotton trade of Lancashire. The place is not even mentioned in
Doomsday Book. In 1533 a house in Castle-street was rented at
four shillings per annum, and the freehold of two others was
offered for sale at ten pounds. Since 1845 no less than two
hundred thousand pounds has been paid for the strand of the
Mersey for the building of docks and warehouses. In 1699 Liver-
pool was constituted an independent parish. The following table,
showing the later progress of the borough, is extracted from the
Financial Reformer Almanack for 1865-
Year.
Houses.
Population.
Tonnage.
Dock Dues.
1730
2,430
12,074
18,070
£847
1760
5,156
25.787
2,330
1770
6,800
35,600
4,112
1790
8,865
55,732
10,037
1801
11,784
77,708
459,719
28,365
1811
16,162
94,376
611,190
54,752
1821
20,339
118,972
839,848
94,556
1831
27,361
205,572
1,592,436
183,455
1841
45,385
286,487
2,425,461
175,506
1851
59,556
376,065
3,912,506
282,912
1861
65,999
437,740*
4,977,272
444,417
1863
4,809,778
399,750
The author of "Passages of a Working Life" says Liverpool in
1828 “was in a state of transition. It was a place for commercial
adventures of every kind. Twenty-two years only had passed since
the rival of Bristol in the slave trade had a hundred and eleven
vessels employed in that detestable traffic. When the Whigs during
their short term of power effected its abolition, there were many
who thought that the sun of Liverpool's prosperity had set. The
cotton trade was to do a vast deal more for the great port of the
Mersey than the trade in human flesh-far more than even its
tobacco trade. But the commerce of Liverpool was in its infancy
thirty-six years ago. Steam had surprisingly enlarged its traffic
with Ireland, but no steam vessel had yet crossed the Atlantic.
Cånals had opened cheap communication with the great seats of
manufacture; but railways were not yet.
There were
new docks forming, new streets and squares springing up all around
the old town; the first stone of a new custom house had just been
*
* Exclusive of between 12,000 and 14,000 seamen.
H
1
98
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
laid. *
*
* *
In Liverpool there was growth rapid and decided.
On the opposite bank of the Mersey there was scarcely yet a pro-
mise of growth.
* There was one work which for me had
a fascinating interest-the tunnel of the railway, which was then
in the course of formation. I saw the blasting of the solid rock
near the shaft at which I entered. I was led on many wearisome
paces to another shaft, at which I was to mount to daylight. I was
far higher up the steep ascent than at my place of entrance. I
had been walking in the tunnel beneath houses that stood as
securely as before, sewers that still emptied themselves, gaspipes
that still conveyed their unfailing light. Such a triumph of engi-
neering was then a wonder. When it was proposed, wise men
shook their heads. They were still doubtful whether the convey-
ance of goods could be cheapened by the railway to Manchester.
It had not entered into the conception of the projectors of the
railway that they could carry passengers a journey of thirty miles
in an hour. The locomotive was as yet little more than a dream."”
Now (1865) the question is discussed why a passenger who walks to
the booking office, and from thence to the train, and walks away at
the end of the journey, cannot be carried at the same rate as a
bale of goods, which needs collecting at one end of the journey,
and delivering at the other.
At the present time, the tonnage of vessels entering inwards
and clearing outwards at Liverpool exceeds that of the port of
London. The tonnage of the three years, 1860-1-2, at London,
was 16,733,096; whilst at Liverpool for the same period it was
16,893,336. According to the published accounts of the borough,
upwards of £100,000 per annum has, since 1854, been spent upon
paving and sewering alone. The value of alkali made in the United
Kingdom is estimated at £200,000, one half of which is made in
South Lancashire. These pictures of the progress of Manchester and
Liverpool apply in various lesser degrees to the other manufacturing
towns. Their progress has been achieved more recently; their
crowding is less dense; and their health is therefore better.
in many cases the cotton famine and the Public Works Act have
given the first real stimulant to improvement; and hereafter the
Public Works Act will be recognised as the silver lining to the
dark cloud which has for four years hung over Lancashire.
But
We have already intimated that in consequence of the great
THE EDUCATION AID SOCIETY.
99
demand for juvenile labour, education in Lancashire is a little
below the average of the whole country; and the proceedings of
the Education Aid Society of Manchester will show that there is
yet much to be done before we can congratulate ourselves upon the
intellectual position of the humbler classes. The society originated
in a meeting held in February, 1864, and has since that date issued
about twelve thousand school orders for the children of distressed
families. The practice of the committee is to decline all applica-
tions where the income of the family reaches three shillings per
head per week, exclusive of rent; whilst the average weekly income
of the cases in which aid has been granted does not exceed one
shilling and ninepence per head, exclusive of rent; and applica-
tions are still coming in at the rate of about two hundred per
week. Many of these cases are of course due to the cotton
famine, and will go off the books as soon as employment is plenti-
ful; but about one-third are either the children of widows, or
of wives who are worse than widows, being deserted by their
husbands. About one-fourth of the orders issued are unused;
some in consequence of the neglect of parents to send the children
to school, and the apathy of teachers in not looking after them,
when orders have been received; some in consequence of the want
of decent clothing; and others because of the inability of the
parents to pay the balance of the school fee where the society
grants only a portion thereof. And the inquiries of the society
seem to lead to the conclusion that, even apart from the offspring of
drunken and vicious parents, who dissipate their means, and whose
children it would certainly cost society far less to educate than, if
that duty be neglected, it will hereafter cost to keep them as paupers
or as criminals, there will still be plenty of work for the Education
Aid Society. There are a great number of trades which may fairly
be called pauper trades, for the wages earned at them can never
enable a man to rear a family in independence. Street sweepers,
nightsoilmen and policemen, hand-loom weavers and cotton dyers,
street hawkers, strikers in foundries, minders of planing and drill-
ing machines, railway porters, and the whole round of labourers,
belong to this class; their wages varying from twelve to eighteen
shillings per week. Deduct from this highest sum two shillings
and sixpence for rent, and how can a man keep and clothe himself,
wife, and four or five children on the remainder? Then we have to
זי
100
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
add to this list the sickly and infirm of all trades, and the people
of no trade, the camp followers of the great army of industry;
and it becomes clear enough that a regular organisation and a
regular source of income will be necessary to generalise primary
instruction, and that even this will fail, unless accompanied by
legal compulsion for the apathetic and the vicious.
In secondary education the Mechanics' and Literary Institutes
are doing a good work. They open their doors to those whose
primary instruction has been neglected, or who have wasted their
early opportunities; and there is scarcely a populous village in
Lancashire or Cheshire without one of these institutes, sometimes
with paid and certificated teachers, sometimes under the conduct
of honorary teachers, and sometimes on the mutual improvement
principle.
They have all circulating libraries and reading-rooms; many of
them possess classes for elementary, and a considerable number for
scientific instruction. Latterly an effort has been made to asso-
ciate these institutes for mutual help and mutual improvement by
competitive examinations of their students. Three examinations
are held annually—first, one in elementary subjects, upon papers
sent down from a Central Society in London; second, in specific
subjects, comprising mathematics, physical science, political eco-
nomy, language, and literature, upon papers furnished by, and
under the superintendence of, the Society of Arts in London;
and third, in physical science, upon papers from, and in con-
nexion with, the science départment of the Committee of Privy
Council. About one hundred and ten of these institutes are in
union, and eighty-four of them comprise about eighteen thousand
members, and have an annual income of about fourteen thousand
six hundred and sixty pounds. During the cotton famine about
five hundred and fifty persons have been admitted to these
institutes, in the most distressed districts, without payments.
In East Lancashire six or seven of these institutes are formed
into a sub-union, and employ itinerant teachers of science, who
teach their specific subjects in all the institutes, and the distribu-
tion of prizes shows that their labour is productive of very
good results. The council of the union for the two counties,
meeting in Manchester, employs a visiting agent, whose duty it is
to go round to all the institutes, to consult with the directors, to
+
LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE INSTITUTES.
101
examine the classes, and advise with the teachers; to bring as many
as possible of the institutes into direct connexion with the Society
of Arts, to multiply the science classes in connexion with the Com-
mittee of Privy Council, and generally to carry the excellencies of
the best of the institutes into the whole of the union. The results
of a year's work may be seen by the following table.
The subjects covered in the examinations are chemistry, geo-
metry, animal and vegetable physiology, botany, mechanical and
machine drawing, building construction, theoretical and applied
mechanics, magnetism and electricity, acoustics, light and heat,
geology, physical geography, elementary mathematics, mining and
metallurgy, mineralogy and zoology; and the certificates earned
in the government science classes have been as follows for the past
two years, viz. :—
First-class
Second-class
•
Third-cliss
Fourth-class
Fifth-class
1864.
1865.
68
46
91
118
128
212
148
226
122
251
557
853
In the Society of Arts' examinations the certificates earned were—
And in elementary subjects—
127
69
133
172
And in the special subject, social economy, during the past year
there have been earned two first and twelve second-class certificates.
If the possession of one of these certificates entitled the holder
to the elective franchise on reaching the age of twenty-one years,
the systems of examination would be made permanent and their
area extended; an immense stimulus would be given to self-culture;
and, in the course of a few years, a large number of intelligent men
would be added to the electoral constituencies. Surely such a
measure is worth the favourable consideration of all parties.
*
1
CHAPTER VII.
The American War-Democrats and Republicans-The "Dred Scott" Case-Progress
of the Republicans from 1840 to 1860-Senator Douglas on Kansas-Election of
Lincoln and Fall of Fort Sumpter-Feeling in England-Slavery and the Terri-
tories—The Abolition Proclamation-Misrepresentations of Lincoln-The End
of the War-Punch's Recantation.
AN attempt at secession by the Southern States of North America
was long held by intelligent persons on this side of the Atlantic as
probable, in the event of a republican being elected as President of
the union. But so incomprehensible was the state of parties in
America to, and so small the knowledge of the American Constitu-
tion by, Englishmen, that it is doubtful if one person in a million
believed in the possibility of war, as arising out of a presidential
contest. An American of the democratic party would be looked
upon as an aristocrat in this country, because democrats as a rule
upheld the doctrine of slavery, under which institution the owner
had in his own hands under various circumstances, the power
of life and death over his "chattels ;" and before the war, exer-
cised in elections the power of giving one vote for every three
slaves possessed by him. The American democrat was also a great
stickler for "state rights," that is to say, he denied the power of
Congress, or the supreme central government, to interfere in any
way with the constitution or laws of individual states, or with the
proposed constitution of new states, except in so far as interna-
tional matters are concerned. The American republicans are, on
the other hand, mostly advocates for the abolition of slavery; and
for the sovereign power of Congress over the constitution of new
states seeking for admission into the union; and also over the terri-
tories out of which such new states must be formed. This repub-
lican doctrine, prior to the war, would therefore, whilst recognising
slavery in existing states, have drawn a ring fence round the institu-
tion; and so, by preventing its extension, would have left it to exhaust
cr
THE DRED SCOTT" CASE.
103
the soil already occupied, and so to die out. The abolitionists were,
until within a very few years ago, looked upon as a fanatical but
powerless body; and perhaps they might long have remained so, if the
Southern representatives had been more moderate in their demands
whilst in power. It is true that the abolitionists often put slave-
owners to great expense by aiding the escape of their "property,'
and it was no doubt very annoying for a slaveowner to meet his
chattel in the streets of a city in a free state, and not be able to
carry it back and realize upon it. It was so strange that a step.
over the border line should convert a chattel into a man, and that
what would be only correction or needful discipline on one side of
a river, should be assault or murder on the opposite side. It was
more than could be borne, and so the dominant party projected
and carried the "Fugitive Slave Act," which required that escaped
slaves should be restored by the free states to their owners.
This measure did not cure the evil, but led to the establishment
of "the underground railway" (secret escorts for slaves to Canada).
The southern party were of course not satisfied, and sought for and
obtained still further power. If not distinctly the law, it had been
the universal practice, that if an owner took a slave into a free
state, that action was considered equivalent to manumission. But
in the now celebrated "Dred Scott" case, the Supreme Court
decided that the constitution of the United States protected
the property of the citizens wherever situate, and that as slaves
were property, the possession of them must be protected. This
decision, the crowning point, as it appeared to be, of the power
of the slaveholder, was really the knell which pronounced
his ruin. Nor is it wonderful that such a result should be
produced, for practically, this ruling converted the whole union
into one vast slave confederacy. If a man could take one
slave into a free state, and still hold him in slavery, he could
equally take a hundred; if he could hold a slave for a day in a
free state, he could equally hold him for a lifetime; and therefore
it rested only with the slaveowners, at their will, to annihilate
every free state by importing slaves into them all.
The abolitionists in 1840 had cast seven thousand votes for
Mr. J. G. Binney as President; in 1844, with the same candidate,
they cast sixty-two thousand one hundred and forty votes. In
1848 they cast two hundred and ninety-six thousand two hundred
104
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
•
and thirty-two votes for Mr. Van Buren, and in 1856 they
had risen to one million three hundred and forty-one thousand
eight hundred and twelve for Mr. J. C. Fremont. Yet, un-
warned by this progress, the slaveowners used their power to
extort concessions, and thereby increased their enemies. In 1858,
the late J. A. Nicholls, of Manchester, who had just listened to an
address in the Senate at Washington by Mr. Douglas, on the
admission of Kansas, wrote home as follows:-" With a fair chance
of succeeding Mr. Buchanan, the senator (Douglas), believing him-
self secure with the South-where, from his previous able advocacy
of state sovereignty, he has been a favourite has endeavoured, by
splitting hairs on Kansas, to curry favour with the North, and now
finds that between the two stools he has come to the ground, and
signed the death-warrant of his own political advancement. He
has, most unfortunately, divided the democratic party, and thrown
upon that section of it which belongs to the free states the onus of
either deserting the Southern section or of standing forward as the
advocate of slave institutions, necessarily fatal to its existence and
influence on either issue. Mr. Douglas expected to be the nominee
of the democratic party; his own move has broken up that party,
and strengthened the hands of the republicans. We may, therefore,
expect that at the next election the democratic party will be
defeated, and the republicans will come into power." And the
democrats were defeated in 1860, by the election of Mr. Lincoln.
The men of the Southern States could not be very much surprised
at the result of the election, for they had carefully prepared them-
selves for ulterior measures, and were determined that if they could
not rule by votes they would try what arms could do. It was reported
that Mr. Lincoln was to be assassinated on his way to Washington to
assume office, but the threat was looked upon as simply idle talk ;
and even the fall of Fort Sumpter, great as was the result in America,
caused very little emotion on this side of the Atlantic, for nobody
believed in the possibility of war in North America. It seemed to
be the universal opinion that either some agreement to continue the
union would be arrived at, or that the Southern States would be
allowed peacefully to set up a government of their own. When it
became evident that peaceful secession would not be allowed, there
was great rejoicing amongst some of the English aristocracy that
republican institutions had broken down;" whilst other persons
((
SLAVERY AND THE TERRITORIES.
105
thought that civil war in America would be a good thing for England,
because "it would lower the pride of the Yankees, and keep them
from quarrelling with us;" and many professing Radicals found
their faith in democracy oozing out, because universal suffrage had
not prevented civil war. The first doctrine of Radicalism, they said,
was the right of a people to self-government. They forgot that the
seceding states were already self-governed, except in international
matters, and that if a Southern Confederacy should be formed, each
state in that confederacy would still be subject, in international
matters, to a central authority. And the states had entered upon
a compact which Mr. Lincoln's legal advisers declared could only
be dissolved by a convention of the whole people; which convention,
if appealed to at that time, would not certainly have decreed a
dissolution of the union.
There is no doubt that the vast majority of the inhabitants of
the Northern States believed that "ninety days" would be enough
for the subjugation of the "rebels,", and even those who were most
opposed to war, and who as private citizens would have favoured
peaceful secession, would, if they had been in office, have found it
very difficult to have adopted any other course than the one which
was taken by President Lincoln. He was sworn to maintain a
constitution whose articles were headed with the title "perpetual,"
and whose last line repeated the title; and he was armed with all
the executive power of the union for the purpose of fulfilling his oath.
He was advised by his law officers that there was no liberty of seces-
sion in the constitution, and any laxity on his part to use the means
in his hands for the maintenance of union would have rendered
him liable to impeachment. He had clearly laid down his policy
on assuming the executive power; he did not mean to interfere
with slavery where it existed, but his influence would be exerted
to keep it out of the territories. This, therefore, was the issue
between North and South, whether or not slavery should be
extended to the territories. And when a meeting took place to
try and arrange the differences, the prominent, if not the only
question discussed was, whether or not slavery should be allowed
in the territories; the principal requirement of the South was
"give us the territories," and the simple reply of the North was
not to allow slavery for the territories. The principal abolitionists
in America, and their most intelligent sympathisers in England.
106
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
declared that the war was a war against slavery; and that the
South so understood it was shown by every speech and every
action; but in England some anti-slavery men denounced Mr.
Lincoln for not openly declaring war against slavery, forgetting
entirely the obligations of law upon the head of the executive
government; whilst others accused his sympathisers of putting
forward a sham plea for the war, and professing to fight for
abolition, whilst the real struggle was "the South fights for liberty
and the North for empire ;" and, in proof of the sham, the opinion
was freely expressed during the first two years of the war that if
the South had chosen to go back to union, the North would have re-
ceived them with open arms, slavery included. Both sides found
their convictions strengthened by the abolition proclamation, which
simply applied to the states in rebellion. The abolitionists hailed
the measure with joy, as indicative of the determination of the
President to use every proper means to achieve an object which
was believed to be dear to him. Under the constitution he could
not act against slavery where it existed, for he was bound to main-
tain that constitution, and it contained slavery, because it contained
slave states; but the Southern States had by the act of war put
themselves beyond the pale of the constitution; so far as the
President had any power with them it was the power of a military
commander-in-chief, a dictator against opponents in arms; and he
used that power with a view to cripple the enemy, and advance
the cause of abolition at the same time. His friends said that
this measure sealed the doom of slavery, and would hand down his
name to all generations as the great liberator; whilst his enemies
declared the proclamation to be horribly cruel and hypocritical.
They said it was intended to promote a servile war, intended to in-
duce the slaves to murder innocent women and children; that being
unable to subdue the Southern armies Mr. Lincoln had attempted
to destroy the families of the citizen soldiers; and in England it was
thought by many people to be proof enough of the hypocrisy of the
President, that the proclamation was confined to the states where
he had no practical power, whilst slavery was left untouched in
those which remained loyal. The number of slaves who escaped
during the struggle (estimated at one-and-a-half to two millions)
showed the power of the proclamation, for apart from its issue they
would have remained slaves at the end of the war; and the fact of
THE ABOLITION PROCLAMATION.
107
their escaping from, instead of killing the families of their owners,
showed how groundless were the fears of a servile war. But the
greatest justification of the wisdom of the proclamation is that it
rendered an amendment of the constitution not only possible but
necessary. The real truth probably is that Mr. Lincoln was a
sincere abolitionist at heart, and that the South was well aware
of that fact prior to his election. They saw also that the immense
immigration into the Northern States would, in every succeeding
election, put them and their peculiar institution into a continually
more hopeless minority, and that slavery must either gradually die
out, or they must seek an empire elsewhere. Apart from the
attempt at secession, Mr. Lincoln would have confined his attention
and have directed his power simply to the prevention of the spread
of slavery in the territories. In the state of war it is probable
that he would, at any time prior to the abolition proclamation,
have received the submission of the South on the terms of the
constitution, leaving slavery intact, and negotiating as to the
destiny of those who had already escaped, or leaving them to be
dealt with by the Supreme Court; but as the struggle grew fiercer,
and the hope of early submission died away, he availed himself of
his military power to deal a heavy blow at his antagonists, and to
advance the cause of abolition. The proclamation took it out of
the power of the law courts to deal with the escaped slaves-they
could no longer be made the subjects of negotiation; whether the
South submitted or not they were free, and free they would remain,
subject only to such municipal control as their ignorance and help-
lessness rendered necessary.
(C
The South had been offered amnesty on conditions, and had
preferred war even if it went to extermination, and they were to be
met on their own terms. Hitherto the North had tried only to
beat them in the field, now they would try to take away their home
support. The proclamation was understood by the slaves to mean:
Come to our lines and you are free," and it is sufficient proof of
the value set by the negroes upon the boon that, during the four
years of war, nearly two millions of them cast off their bondage;
and it is the one great consolation for all the horrors of such a war—
the end of which, prior to the evacuation of Richmond, no man
could see, and the cost of which, in treasure and in life, no man can
yet calculate—that this accursed institution will die; and that the
108
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
offspring of these four millions of negroes will achieve the dignity
of manhood and womanhood, with the rights of paternity, ma-
ternity, and education, and will prove to the next generation what
are their capacities for improvement.
But the end of the struggle is come, and the victory is achieved,
after more than four years of such fierce strife, and such terrible
slaughter, as the world never before witnessed. The last confederate
general has capitulated, the last army is dispersed, whilst the clever
and resolute Southern President-whose tact and determination had
for four years so ruled eight millions of people, that to outsiders
they appeared as one man, and who has, during the same time,
found generals and soldiers able to keep at bay, and often to beat,
greatly superior numbers-is now a prisoner, and together with his
chief advisers is to be tried for high treason. English people and
English newspapers take exception to the proceedings of the Federal
authorities, and call for magnanimous and lenient treatment of
the prisoners, but it would manifestly be very difficult to take any
other legal course than the one which has been adopted. When a
prisoner is taken, the only. proper delivery is by means of trial, and
for this also do the oaths of officials provide. It is possible, if not
probable, that if war had not degenerated into assassination, by
the perpetration of an act at which all civilised nations shuddered
with horror, Mr. Davis and his staff might have been permitted to
escape; but when he was so hotly pursued, he was believed to
have with him the treasure of the Richmond banks, and also to
have been privy to the conspiracy for the murder of Mr. Lincoln.
When he has been tried, then, if convicted, it will be in the power
of President Johnson to deal with him as he thinks proper, and it
will certainly add to the lustre of the final victory, and tend also to
the reunion of the states, if no useless blood be shed; if the
leader of the rebellion, shorn of all power, be allowed for the term
of his natural life, to exhibit in his own person the failure of all
his hopes; and perhaps, before he dies, to recognise the improve-
ment of the Southern States of the union under free labour.
With regard to the character and acts of the murdered Presi-
dent, much misunderstanding and misrepresentation existed in
England. The newspapers told that as a boy he had struggled
with hardships, that he had worked as an agricultural labourer,
splitting rails for fences before he could read; and it was therefore.
(C
'PUNCH'S"
RECANTATION.
109
concluded that he must be an ignorant man. When during the
first months of office, he hesitated occasionally before adopting
important war measures, he was accused of vacillation and
cowardice; when he had learned the extent of his power, and
finding himself surrounded by traitors, who communicated his plans
to the enemy before they were known to the Federal army, sus-
pended the habeas corpus, to enable him to deal promptly with
them, he was denounced as a cruel despot, who defied the con-
stitution to which he had sworn; and when he issued the eman ci-
pation proclamation, the abuse culminated in the charge of cruelty
and hypocrisy because he left slavery existing in the loyal states;
and he was denounced as promoting the foulest of all crimes
by inciting the slaves of the South to insurrection, and to the
murder of the families of their owners. He was said to be drunken
with power, made desperate by the failures of his armies, and to be
prosecuting a hopeless war of extermination against his opponents.
Gradually, yet speedily (for four short years completed the task),
the outpourings of ignorant passion ceased, and the character of
the upright, conscientious, careful, persevering man stood forth;
and it was found that most of his acts were justified by the cir-
cumstances of the time; that he had religiously kept his oath,
that his intelligence was far above the average; that he was
generous to a fault; and that his death, which was intended to
save the confederacy, was the real seal to its doom. The English
press, when he could no longer read its comments, did him justice,
but none so frankly as Punch confessed their former errors.
wrote his own recantation as follows:
He
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
FOULLY ASSASSINATED, APRIL 14, 1865.
You lay a wreath on murdered Lincoln's bier,
You, who with mocking pencil wont to trace,
Broad for the self-complacent British sneer,
His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face,
His gaunt, gnarled hands, his unkempt, bristling hair,
His garb uncouth, his bearing ill at ease,
His lack of all we prize as debonair,
Of power or will to shine, of art to please.
*
110
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
You whose smart pen backed up the pencil's laugh,
Judging each step, as though the way were plain :
Reckless, so it could point its paragraph,
Of chief's perplexity, or people's pain.
Beside this corpse, that bears for winding-sheet
The Stars and Stripes he lived to rear anew,
Between the mourners at his head and feet,
Say, scurril-jester, is there room for you?
Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer,
To lame my pencil and confute my pen-
To make me own this hind of princes peer,
This rail-splitter a true-born king of men.
My shallow judgment I had learnt to rue,
Noting how to occasion's height he rose,
How his quaint wit made home-truth seem more true,
How iron-like his temper grew by blows.
How humble yet how hopeful he could be:
How in good fortune and in ill the same :
Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he,
Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame.
He went about his work-such work as few
Ever had laid on head and heart and hand-
As one who knows, where there's a task to do,
Man's honest will must Heaven's good grace command;
Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow,
That God makes instruments to work his will,
If but that will we can arrive to know,
Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill.
So he went forth to battle, on the side
That he felt clear was Liberty's and Right's,
As in his peasant boyhood he had plied
His warfare with rude Nature's thwarting mights-
The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil,
The iron-bark, that turns the lumberer's axe,
The rapid, that o'erbears the boatman's toil,
The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer's tracks,
The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear-
Such were the needs that helped his youth to train :
Rough culture-but such trees large fruit may bear
If but their stocks be of right girth and grain.
So he grew up, a destined work to do,
And lived to do it: four long-suffering years'
Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through,
And then he heard the hisses change to cheers,
The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise,
And took both with the same unwavering mood:
Till, as he came on light, from darkling days,
And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood,
7
"PUNCH'S" RECANTATION.
A felon hand, between the goal and him,
Reached from behind his back, a trigger prest,-
And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim,
Those gaunt, long-labouring limbs were laid to rest!
The words of mercy were upon his lips,
Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen,
When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse
To thoughts of peace on earth, good-will to men.
The Old World and the New, from sea to sea,
Utter one voice of sympathy and shame!
Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat high,
Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came.
A deed accurst! Strokes have been struck before
By the assassin's hand, whereof men doubt
If more of horror or disgrace they bore;
But thy foul crime, like Cain's, stands darkly out,
Vile hand, that brandest murder on a strife,
Whate'er its grounds, stoutly and nobly striven;
And with the martyr's crown crownest a life
With much to praise, little to be forgiven!
111.
CHAPTER VIII.
Incredulity about the American War- Test of Prices-The Paper Blockade-Specu-
lations in Cotton-Stoppage of Mills-Rapid Increase of Pauperism-State of
Ashton, Preston, Stockport, and Glossop, in February, 1862-Newspaper Com-
ments-Free Labour Cotton-Outside Help for Operatives-Surat Cotton-A
Month's Addition to the Recipients of Relief-Comparative Condition of Chief
Unions in November, 1861 and 1862-Cotton Mills and Poor Rates-Condition
of the Small Shopkeepers-Itinerant Singers-The Distress in France-North
and South-Test Labour in Manchester.
UPON a population, containing half a million of cotton opera-
tives, in a career of rapid prosperity, the profits of 1860 reaching
in some instances from thirty to forty per cent upon the capital
engaged; and with wages also at the highest point which they
had ever touched, came the news of the American war, with
the probable stoppage of eighty-five per cent of the raw material
of their manufacture. A few wise heads hung despondently
down, or shook with fear for the fate of "the freest nation
under heaven," but the great mass of traders refused to credit a
report which neither suited their opinions nor their interests.
Whatever might be done amongst the despotisms of the Continent.
of Europe, members of the Anglo-Saxon family in North America
would never fight; their fathers had expatriated themselves for the
sake of freedom, religious and political; they had thrown off the
yoke of the old country on account of unjust taxation, they had
declared against all orders of nobility, and affirmed the equal
rights of all to self-government; they might bluster and boast, and
even destroy a few lives in a surface quarrel, but fight in real
earnest they never would. Such was the very general feeling on
this side of the Atlantic; and it was believed that even if they did
fight, the South would still be very glad to sell their cotton, and that
if our manufacturers went on carefully all would be well. There was
a four months' supply held on this side the water at Christmas
(1860), and there had been three months' imports at the usual
THE "PAPER BLOCKADE.”
113
rate since that time, and there would be the usual twelve months'
supply from other sources; and by the time this was consumed,
and the five months' stock of goods held by merchants sold, all
would be right again.
That this was the current opinion was proved by the most deli-
cate of all barometers, the scale of prices; for during the greater part
of the year 1861 the market was dull, and prices scarcely moved
upwards. But towards the end of the year the aspect of affairs
began to change, speculators in cotton were more than usually
active, and the prices of raw material began to rise in the market
without any corresponding movement for manufactured produce.
The Federals had declared a blockade of the Southern ports, and,
although as yet it was pretty much a "paper blockade," yet the
newly established Confederate government was doing its best to
render it effective. They believed that cotton was king in Eng-
land, and that the old country could not do without it, and would
be forced, in order to secure its release, to side with those who kept
it prisoner.
Mills began to run short time or to close in the month of
October, but no noise was made about it; and the only evidence of
anything unusual was at the boards of guardians, where the appli-
cations had reached the mid-winter height three months earlier than
usual. The poor-law guardians in the various unions were aware
that the increase was not of the usual character-it was too early
for out-door labourers to present themselves; still the difference
was not of serious amount, being only about three thousand in the
whole twenty-eight unions. In November, seven thousand more
presented themselves, and in December the increase was again
seven thousand; so that the recipients of relief were at this time
twelve thousand (or about twenty-five per cent) more than in the
January previous. And now serious thoughts began to agitate
many minds; cotton was very largely held by speculators for a rise,
the arrivals were meagre in quantity, and the rates of insurance
began to show that, notwithstanding the large profits on imports,
the blockade was no longer on paper alone. January, 1862, added
sixteen thousand more to the recipients of relief, who were now
seventy per cent above the usual number for the same period of
the year.
But from the facts as afterwards revealed, the statistics
of boards of guardians were evidently no real measure of the
I
114
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
distress prevailing. The worst workmen, who would naturally
be the first to fall out of employ, and the improvident-who, what-
ever the amount of their wages, are always penniless before the
next pay day—would have no other resort; but the savings banks
and the loan funds of co-operative societies were supporting many
unwilling idlers; whilst the contingent funds of friendly societies
were being drawn upon to keep good men in membership, by being
used to pay their overdue subscriptions. The trade societies, which
make allowances to members out of employ, were also supporting
those of the machinists, the bricklayers, and the joiners, who, being
usually employed in cotton mills, were thrown out by their stoppage.
The month of February usually lessens the dependents on the poor-
rates, for out-door labour begins again as soon as the signs of spring
appear; but in 1862 it added nearly nine thousand to the already
large number of extra cases, the recipients being now one hundred
and five per cent above the average for the same period of the year.
But this average gives no idea of the pressure in particular localities.
If all local troubles could be averaged throughout the kingdom we
should not have many heavy burdens to bear, but it is the pinching
of the boot in particular spots which causes lameness, and it is no
relief to be told that it is long enough or broad enough in general.
At Ashton the excess of pauperism was two hundred and thirteen
per cent, at Stockport two hundred and sixty-three per cent, at
Blackburn two hundred and seventy per cent, at Glossop three
hundred per cent, and in Preston no less than three hundred and
twenty per cent of the usual amount.
Even these figures are defective as guides to the pressure of
local distress, for they refer to unions; but poor-rates were not
levied at the same amount throughout an union, but every separate
township or parish levied for its own wants; and there is often a
difference of two hundred to three hundred per cent in the amount
of the poor-rate in the different townships of the same union.
It is not wonderful, under these circumstances, that aid extraneous
to the poor-law guardians should have been sought, and that
benevolent persons who valued the independence and respectability
of the operatives should have been found to organise soup kitchens,
and to get up relief funds in the places where the pressure was
beaviest. The cotton operatives were now, if left to themselves,
like a ship's crew upon short provisions, and those very unequally
NEWSPAPER COMMENTS.
115
distributed, and without chart or compass, and no prospect of
getting to land. In Ashton there were three thousand one
hundred and ninety-seven; in Stockport, eight thousand five
hundred and eighty-eight; and in Preston, nine thousand four
hundred and eighty-eight persons absolutely foodless; and who
nevertheless declined to go to the guardians. To have forced
the high-minded heads of these families to hang about the work-
house lobbies in company with the idle, the improvident, the
dirty, the diseased, and the vicious, would have been to break
their heaving hearts, and to hurl them headlong into despair.
Happily there is spirit enough in this country to appreciate nobility,
even when dressed in fustian, and pride and sympathy enough to
spare even the poorest from unnecessary humiliation; and organi-
sations spring up for any important work so soon as the necessity of
the case becomes urgent in any locality. Committees arose almost
simultaneously in Ashton, Stockport, and Preston; and in April,
Blackburn followed in the train, and the guardians and the relief
committees of these several places divided an extra six thousand
dependents between them. The month of May, which usually reduces
pauperism to almost its lowest ebb, added six thousand more to the
recipients from the guardians, and five thousand to the dependents
on the relief committees, which were now six in number, Oldham
and Prestwich (a part of Manchester) being added to the list.
Pauperism at Oldham was now one hundred per cent in excess of
the same period of 1861, whilst seventy-five per cent additional
were dependent upon the relief committee; and, notwithstanding
the action of these committees, the average pauperism of the whole
of the twenty-eight unions in the cotton districts was one hundred
and thirty-one per cent in excess of 1861.
The newspapers were loud and incessant in their denunciations
of the apathy of the manufacturers in general, and especially so of
the apathy of Manchester; and appeals from anonymous pens for
help in the most distressed districts were almost continuous. In
places where subscriptions had already been commenced, great
indignation was expressed against a few well-known rich men, who
discountenanced the proceedings, and refused to give. And the cas-
tigations of some of the newspapers, whose writers evidently knew
but little of the subject, were very severe, because master spinners
and manufacturers had not in years past turned cotton farmers, and
116
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
#
•
provided themselves with a staple, instead of depending upon the
broken reed of slave institutions. How many of those writers, or
the approvers of their articles, would, if all their capital was engaged
at home and making a reasonable profit under their own superin-
tendence, give up their own occupations, and invest and hazard it in
distant lands, to be managed by strangers, in order to provide for
a contingency which might never occur? Mr. Thomas Clegg, of
Manchester, interested himself for many years to introduce cotton
from West Africa, and regularly announced on his bill heads that
he was prepared to supply cloths made of free-labour cotton. And
how many applications does the reader suppose that gentleman
had from the trade for free-labour calico during ten years? Not
one! People want cheap calico; and to secure cheap calico manu-
facturers want cheap cotton, whether free or slave-grown; and it
may safely be affirmed that, if the annihilation of slavery had
depended upon the people of this Christian land paying knowingly
one farthing per yard extra for free-labour calico, slavery would
have gone on for ever. There are of course hundreds of thousands
of individuals who would willingly submit to privations for so noble
a purpose, if it was continually kept before them; but the essence
of trade is profit, and extended markets are secured by cheapness,
and therefore the pursuit of cheapness for profit supersedes every
other motive in trade.
The month of June sent six thousand more applicants to sue
for bread to the boards of guardians, and five thousand additional
to the six relief committees; and these six committees had now as
many dependents as the whole of the boards of guardians in the
twenty-eight unions supported in ordinary years. The cry of dis-
tress which attracted most notice in the newspapers issued in the
month of April from Wigan, where there was no relief committee
at work until the month of July following. The population of the
Wigan union is ninety-four thousand five hundred and fifty-nine,
and the number of cotton operatives about eight thousand;
the men of that town being principally employed as colliers.
At the time of " A Lancashire Lad's" appeal to the Lord Mayor of
London, pauperism was only some twenty-two per cent higher than
at the same period in 1861, so that a local effort ought certainly to
have borne the pressure at that time; for Preston was suffering
far more severely, and as yet bore her own burden. Pauperism
OUTSIDE HELP FOR OPERATIVES.
117
was there three hundred and thirty per cent in excess of its usual
amount, and seven hundred and sixty-three per cent in excess, if
we include the numbers relieved by the locally formed committee.
The alarm of Mr. Whittaker was rather early, but the need
was not far off, and to his efforts was owing the early help rendered
by the Mansion House fund, from which was eventually distributed
about half a million sterling.
In the month of July, when all unemployed operatives would
ordinarily be lending a hand in the hay harvest, and picking up
the means of living whilst improving in health and enjoying the
glories of a summer in the country, the distress increased like a
flood, thirteen thousand additional applicants being forced to appeal
for poor-law relief; whilst eleven thousand others were adopted by
the seven relief committees; Wigan being now added to the num-
ber, with seven thousand three hundred and fifty-eight recipients,
representing nearly one-half of her operatives. Mr. Whittaker's
cry had not been without cause, but the home response had not
been so prompt as it ought to have been; but in that town, as in
Manchester and elsewhere, pressure and proffered help from the
outside had forced on the movement which was so politic and
even so necessary. In August the flood had become a deluge, at
which the stoutest heart might stand appalled. The increased
recipients of poor-law relief were in a single month thirty-three
thousand, being nearly as many as the total number chargeable in
the same month of the previous year, whilst a further addition of
more than thirty-four thousand became chargeable to the relief
committees. An increase of nearly two hundred per cent of the
ordinary distress at this season in one short month! How could
any man with a knowledge of the facts, and any thought for the
future, contemplate for a moment the laying of such a burden on
the contributors to the poor-rates in the distressed districts? In
Preston the pressure was now nearly one thousand one hundred
per cent in excess of ordinary pauperism. More than twenty-
seven per cent of the whole population absolutely without the
means of procuring the commonest necessaries of life; one person
in every three and a half met in the streets being without the
possibility of earning a dinner, however willing and anxious for
work. A large portion of the poor-rates of a district are paid by
shopkeepers, and we know that shops increase so long as the
118
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
profits to be obtained will afford the merest living, after rent and
taxes are paid; and the prudent man always calculates these liabili-
ties to the utmost nicety before engaging in his enterprise. Thus
rents adjust themselves to the trade and profits of a locality, and
in a place where taxes are ordinarily high, rents are lower than they
would otherwise be. Any sudden and serious increase of taxation,
therefore, upsets the tradesman's calculations, and feeds the Court
of Bankruptcy. Now the average distress of 1862, in Preston, would
have required about eight times the ordinary poor-rate, for more
than half the operatives were entirely out of work, and the
remainder were not making above half time; and therefore, the
wages and profits of the town, and the consequent receipts of the
shopkeepers, would be reduced by from one-half to two-thirds. The
returns for September showed a further addition of twenty-four
thousand to the recipients of relief from the guardians, and thirty-
seven thousand to the dependents on the various committees, which
now numbered seventeen, the month of August having added
Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Garstang, Glossop, Haslingden,
Macclesfield, and Rochdale to the list. Facilities for the formation
of local committees were afforded by the central executive at
Manchester, which was appointed in May, and was now getting
slowly to work and trying to reduce the chaos of relief committees
into something like working order. Distress throughout the
whole of the unions was nearly seven hundred per cent in excess
of the ordinary pauperism, and still the numbers of claimants
were increasing by thousands per day.
Corn was cheap and plentiful in the land, and honest and
skilful hands were ready to work and earn it; clothes were needed
throughout the country, but they could no more be made without
cotton than the Egyptians could make bricks without straw; corn
could not be bought without something to give in exchange, and
the usual medium was absent, and the labour and the corn could
not, therefore, be brought together. Most of the cotton on hand
at this period was of Indian growth, and needed alterations of
machinery to make it workable at all, and in good times an
employer might as well shut up his mill as try to get it spun or
manufactured. But oh! how glad would the tens of thousands of
unwilling idlers have been now, to have had a chance even of
working at Surats, although they knew that it required much
A MONTH'S ADDITION TO RECIPIENTS.
119
harder work for one-third less than normal wages. Surat caused
the neglect of the literary institutes, for the hands said that it
was such incessant work to keep the ends pieced up, that they
were fit for nothing but to go to bed when work was done, and
hence the free memberships offered during the distress were not
generally taken advantage of. Another month is past, and October
has added to the number under the guardians no less than fifty-five
thousand, and to the charge of the relief committees thirty-nine
thousand more; i.e., twice as many recipients added in one month
as the total number chargeable a year before; and even Manchester
feels the necessity of something more than the aid of the district
provident society, which is supplementing the work of the guar-
dians, for pauperism is six hundred per cent in excess of ordinary
years. Three other relief committees have also been organised-
Barton-upon-Irwell, Chorlton, and Salford.
The relief committees in Chorlton and in Salford had at this
time about two thousand recipients between them. In Manchester,
it would no doubt have been possible to have done without a relief
committee, if it had not been desirable to save honest and proud
workmen from the humiliation of appearing amongst the idle and
the profligate before the union boards; but even in Manchester
a double poor-rate would be a serious infliction upon small shop-
keepers, and even more so upon small cottage owners, who fre-
quently during the crisis found themselves without rent enough
to pay the taxes demanded of them, and the repairs which were
needed.
And now dread winter approaches, and the authorities have to
deal not only with hundreds of thousands who are compulsorily
idle, and consequently foodless, but who are wholly unprepared for
the inclemencies of the season; who have no means of procuring
needful clothing, nor even of making a show of cheerfulness upon
the hearth by means of the fire, which is almost as useful as food.
All surplus clothing has been sold or pledged during the summer
to meet the pressing necessities of the time, and now a greater
necessity arises, and there is no chance of independent provision
for it. The month of November adds forty-four thousand to the
dependents on poor-rates, and a like number to the cases of the
twenty-three relief committees. The newly-organised districts of
The Fylde, Leigh, and Todmorden having contributed nearly four
120
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
thousand to the recipients. Again, an addition in a single month
of nearly twice the whole number usually chargeable to the guar-
dians of the twenty-eight unions. The habit of poor-law guardians
is to criticise keenly all the sources of an applicant's income, and
to apply unpleasant tests to keep away as many as possible, and so
to economise the expenditure of the rates; but here were tens of
thousands of starving operatives, who would rather have sat upon
cold hearths, through pinching wintry frosts, and have waited,
brooding over their sorrows, till the sharp pangs of hunger drove
them to desperation, than have passed through this ordeal. Sub-
committees had to be appointed for every locality, and house-to-
house canvassing was obliged to be done, as if for a contested
election; and gossipy people had to be asked about the condition
of their neighbours, in order to find out the respectable necessitous
cases, and to bring them into connexion with the means of relief.
By such means alone was Mr. Farnall enabled to report, that in
the midst of the direst distress which the county of Lancaster ever
saw, the health of the people had not materially suffered; and to
the work of these visitors was no doubt owing the absence of
famine fever; and to their perseverance thousands of persons in
all probability owe the preservation of their lives.
The total number of persons chargeable at the end of Novem-
ber, 1862, was, under boards of guardians, 258,357, and on relief
committees, 200,084; total 458,441; or eight hundred and sixty-
four per cent throughout all the unions more than were chargeable
at the same period in 1861, and they were more even at that time
than usual, for mills had begun to close in the September previous.
But, as already stated, the average pressure gives no adequate con-
ception of the real state of affairs, for average poor-rates could not
be laid, but each township must bear its own burden. The statistics
of the central executive, which are made up for unions, do not
adequately represent the full measure of suffering, for the law did
not allow union rating, and only about one-half of the ordinary
expenditure came out of the union common fund, nevertheless a
reference even to the union pressure will be instructive and
useful.
The following table is compiled from the returns of the hono-
rary secretary, and will show the great contrasts exhibited by
different unions :
T
COMPARATIVE CONDITION OF CHIEF UNIONS.
Per Centages of Population
:
121
Relieved by Guardians,
November, 1861.
Warrington
Lancaster
The Fylde
Clitheroe
Relieved by Guardians
and Relief Committees,
November, 1862.
TET
3.05
1.04
Blackburn
Glossop
Ashton-under-Lyne
*Preston
31.8
35.9
41.8
47.5
Thus whilst in Warrington, Lancaster, The Fylde, and Clitheroe,
where the cotton operatives are a very small portion of the popu-
lation, the distress had only just doubled the ordinary number of
recipients of relief; in Blackburn, Glossop, Ashton, and Preston they
had increased from ten to forty times the numbers at the same
period of the previous year. And if we look to the average of
the whole year 1862, we find the recipients of relief to have been
as follows:-Blackburn, 174; Glossop, 153; Ashton, 179; and
Preston, 26.1 per cent of the population. Even if the extent of
the pressure could have been foreseen, how would it have been
possible to levy rates to meet such circumstances as these?
Blackburn needed six times, Glossop fifteen times, Ashton six-
teen times, and Preston six and a half times its ordinary rates for
the purpose. How could cottage owners and shopkeepers have
borne the demand? And what of the small employers, whom the
previous five or ten years had enabled to commence business, and
who now, by no fault of their own, but in obedience to a national
policy, were thrown idle, whilst their machinery was rusting, and
all fixed charges were going on just as if they were profitably
employed? What would have become of them? The mills of the
cotton districts pay no inconsiderable portion of the poor-rates,
and whilst employed as in ordinary times can very well afford it;
but now their machinery was motionless, the atmosphere which
floated over them was as cloudless as in an agricultural district;
their busy hum was changed to solitude, but the taxes to be paid
by their occupiers were doubled, tripled, quadrupled; nay, even
multiplied ten, in some cases fifteen times.
The following return of the assessments upon mills in the cotton
districts, exclusive of The Fylde, Garstang, Macclesfield, Saddle-
worth, and Skipton, was obtained in 1861 :-
-
122
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
1
(
AMOUNT OF ASSESSMENTS TO POOR RATE.
Cotton mills rated at less than £500 per annum each
above £500, and under £1,000
£265,362
204,939
""
£1,000,
19
£2,000
""
19
99
""
,, £2,000,
£3,000,
""
£3,000
£5,000
167,392
49,489
35 596
10,000
Add for sixty or seventy small mills, not included in return, say
£732,778
The total assessment of the unions included in the above
returns was, at the same date, £5,451,618; so that the mill property
exceeds thirteen per cent of the whole; and if we add to the above
amount the assessments upon cottages owned by employers, it may
safely be said that the whole will amount to fifteen per cent of the
total assessment for poor-rates, and of course in the chief towns the
per centage is much higher. It will also be seen from the above
statement that more than one-third of the whole of the mill property
consists of small establishments rated under five hundred pounds
per annum each, and the owners of these establishments will
comprise more than one-half of the employers. It will be evident,
therefore, that the majority of employers in the cotton manufac-
ture are like employers elsewhere, not men rolling in wealth but
hard-working struggling tradesmen; living and working for the
most part from hand to mouth, or accumulating, by a long course
of industry, moderate fortunes; that only the few here, as else-
where, rise to eminence and acquire great wealth; and even in
these cases it is often by speculations, in which much capital is
risked, and which turn out ruinous almost as frequently as pros-
perous. A further illustration of the position of the majority
of the employers will be obtained by reference to the numbers of
mills assessed at the various rates. The total number of mills
included in the above return is one thousand seven hundred and
eleven—of these one hundred and sixty-seven are assessed at from
£1,000 to £1,500, and eighty-one at various sums exceeding
£1,500, so that only two hundred and forty-eight employers are
assessed at sums exceeding £1,000.
It is hard to have to suffer without being conscious of any
fault to deserve it; terribly hard for honest and willing workers to
see their little ones crying for food, and to have no chance of earn-
ing it for them. Here were nearly half a million of people, indus-
trious, prosperous, and for the most part happy, suddenly struck as
ITINERANT SINGERS.
123
it were with paralysis, and rendered thoroughly helpless. Effort
on their part was useless, for the cause of the disease was far
beyond their reach, whilst the only safe remedy would require
years of exertion, with a large expenditure of time and money, and
meanwhile much and patient waiting and suffering must be endured.
There were not wanting men who saw, or thought they saw, a
short way out of the difficulty, viz., by a recognition on the part of
the English government of the Southern confederacy in America.
And meetings were called in various places to memorialise the
government to this effect. Such meetings were always balanced
by counter meetings, at which it was shown that simple recognition
would be waste of words; that it would not bring to our shores a
single shipload of cotton, unless followed up by an armed force to
break the blockade, which course if adopted would be war; war in
favour of the slave confederacy of the South, and against the
free North and North-west, whence comes a large proportion of
our imported corn. In addition to the folly of interfering in the
affairs of a nation three thousand miles away, the cotton, if we
succeeded in getting it, would be stained with blood and cursed with
the support of slavery, and would also prevent our getting the food
which we needed from the North equally as much as the cotton from
the South. The advocates of recognition were reminded that the
loss of wages to the cotton operatives was at the rate of from ten
to eleven millions sterling per annum, whilst two years war with
Russia cost us about a hundred millions of money, and from thirty
to forty thousand lives, and that self-interest and honour alike
demanded our perfect neutrality. These meetings and counter
meetings perhaps helped to steady the action of the government
(notwithstanding the sympathy of some of its members towards
the South), to confirm them in the policy of the royal proclamation,
and to determine them to enforce the provisions of the Foreign
Enlistment Act against all offenders.
During the rapid decrease of employment, and before the
general absorption into sewing and disciplinary schools, many
shifts were resorted to by the workpeople to eke out a living.
One of the most common amongst those who were fond of music
was singing in the streets of large towns. The special correspondent
of the Manchester Examiner and Times thus describes them in
the streets of Manchester :-
124
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
((
Now, when fortune has laid such a load of sorrow upon the
working people of Lancashire, it is a touching thing to see so many
workless minstrels of humble life 'chanting their artless notes in
simple guise' upon the streets of great towns, amongst a kind of
life they are little used to. There is something very touching, too,
in their manner and appearance. They may be ill-shod and
footsore; they may be hungry, and sick at heart, and forlorn in
countenance, but they are almost always clean and wholesome-
looking in person. They come singing in twos and threes, and
sometimes in more numerous bands, as if to keep one another in
countenance. Sometimes they come in a large family all together,
the men with their different musical instruments, and the females
with hymn books. The women have sometimes children in their
arms, or led by the hand; and they sometimes carry music books
for the men. I have seen them, too, with little handkerchiefs of
rude provender for the day. Their faces are sad, and their manners
very often singularly shame-faced and awkward; but any careful
observer would see at a glance that these people were altogether
unused to the craft of the trained minstrel of the streets. Their
clear, healthy complexion, though often touched with pallor, their
simple, unimportunate demands, and the general rusticity of their
appearance, shows them to be
"Suppliants who would blush
To wear a tattered garb, however coarse ;
Whom famine cannot reconcile to filth;
Who ask with painful shyness, and refus'd,
Because deserving, silently retire.
"The females, especially the younger ones, generally walk
behind, blushing and hiding themselves as much as possible. I
have seen the men sometimes walk backwards, with their faces
towards those who were advancing, as if ashamed of what they
were doing. And thus they go wailing bashfully through the busy
streets, whilst the listening crowd looks on them pityingly and
wonderingly, as if they were so many hungry shepherds from the
mountains of Calabria. This flood of strange minstrels has partly
drowned the slang melodies and the monotonous strains of ordinary
street musicians for a while. The professional gleeman has 'paled
his ineffectual fire' before these mournful songsters. I think there
never was so much sacred music heard upon the streets of Man-
chester as during the last few months. With the exception of a
岸
​ITINERANT SINGERS.
125
favourite glee, now and then, their music consists chiefly of fine
psalm tunes,-often plaintive old strains, known and welcome to
all, because they awaken tender and elevating remembrances of
life. 'Burton,' 'French,' Kilmarnock,' 'Luther's Hymn,' the
grand Old Hundred,' and many other fine tunes of similar
character have been floating in the air of our city, almost daily,
for weeks gone by. I am sure that this choice does not arise from
the minstrels themselves having craft enough to select 'a mournful
muse, soft pity to infuse.' It is the kind of music which has been
the practice and pleasure of their lives, and it is a fortuitous thing
that, now, in addition to its natural plaintiveness, the sad necessity
of the times lends a tender accompaniment to their simplest
melody. I doubt very much whether Leech's minor tunes were
ever heard upon our streets until lately. Leech was a working
man, born near the hills, in Lancashire; and his anthems and
psalm tunes are great favourites among the musical population,
especially in the country districts. Leech's harp was tuned by the
genius of sorrow. Several times lately I have heard the tender
complaining notes of his psalmody upon the streets of the city.
About a fortnight ago I heard one of his most pathetic tunes
sung in the market-place by an old man and two young women.
The old man's dress had the peculiar hue and fray of factory upon
it, and he had a pair of clogs upon his stockingless feet. They
were singing one of Leech's finest minor tunes to Wesley's hymn :-
"And am I born to die,
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?
A land of deepest shade,
Unpierced by human thought;
The dreary region of the dead
Where all things are forgot.
"It is a tune often sung by country people in Lancashire at
funerals; and, if I remember right, the same melody is cut upon
Leech's gravestone in the old Wesleyan Chapel yard, at Rochdale.
I saw a company of minstrels, of the same class, going through
Brown-street the other day, playing and singing:
"In darkest shades, if Thou appear,
My dawning is begun.
"The company consisted of an old man, two young men, and
126
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
three young women. Two of the women had children in their
arms. After I had listened to them a little while, thinking the
time and the words a little appropriate to their condition, I
beckoned to one of the young men, who came 'sideling' slowly
up to me. I asked him where they came from, and he said
'Ash'n.' In answer to another question, he said, 'We're o' one
family. Me an' yon tother's wed. That's his wife wi' th' chylt in
her arms; an' hur wi' th' plod shawl on's mine.' I asked if the
old man was his father. 'Aye,' replied he, 'we're o' here, nobbut
two. My mother's ill i̇' bed, an' one o' my sisters is lookin' after
her.' 'Well, an' heaw han yo getten on?' said I. 'Oh, we'n done
weel; but we's come no moor,' replied he. Another day, there
was an instrumental band of these operatives playing sacred music
close to the Exchange lamp. Amongst the crowd around, I met
with a friend of mine. He told me that the players were from
Stalybridge. They played some fine old tunes, by desire, and,
among the rest, they played one called 'Warrington.' When
they had played it several times over, my friend turned to me and
said, that tune was composed by a Rev. Mr. Harrison, who was
once minister of Cross-street Unitarian Chapel, in Manchester.
And, one day, an old weaver who had come down from the hills,
many miles, staff in hand, knocked at the minister's door, and
asked if there was a 'gentleman co'de Harrison lived theer?'
'Yes.' 'Could aw see him?' 'Yes.' When the minister came
to the door, the old weaver looked hard at him, for a minute, and
said, 'Are yo th' mon 'at composed that tune co'de Warrington?'
'Yes,' replied the minister, 'I believe I am.' 'Well,' said the old
weaver, 'gi' me yor hond! It's a good un !' He then shook
hands with him heartily again, and saying 'Well; good day to yo!'
he went his way home again, before the old minister could fairly
collect his scattered thoughts."
The distress was most intense in Lancashire, because of the
great concentration of the trade in that county, and because the
heavy portion of goods are made almost exclusively there; but the
cotton manufacturing districts of France suffered in a similar
manner, and the difficulty had there also to be met by similar
charitable efforts.
The municipal council of Rouen made a subscription at the
end of 1861 (before any step was taken in this country), and in
THE DISTRESS IN FRANCE.
127
November, 1862, a new fund was subscribed, under the auspices
of the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and the president
of the Tribunal of Commerce; and a circular was issued, appeal-
ing to the benevolence of the public. From it we learn that one
hundred thousand persons were then dependent, and were expected
to increase to one hundred and fifty thousand. "On all sides, in
the cities, in the villages, and in the country districts, painful com-
plaints are being heard, and the communes have come to their last
resources. The small shopkeeper is at the end of his means and
credit, and the master cannot continue an impossible labour.”
The committee announced that it would receive gifts of all kinds,
and employ a portion for works of public utility, in order to give
the speediest possible satisfaction to the laborious habits of the
workmen, in order to preserve for them that moral dignity which
deserves the esteem of all, and in order to render fruitful for the
country the sacrifices which each imposes upon himself, by coming
to the aid of misfortune.
The Times, in its second notice of "Lancashire Distress," after
the publication of the balance sheets of the Poor Law Unions, up
to Michaelmas, 1862, seemed to support the view of Professor
Kingsley, that the poor-rates were not sufficiently relied upon.
The article quoted the average number of out-door paupers
relieved during twenty-six weeks, as one hundred and nine
thousand, at one shilling and twopence three farthings weekly
per head, or in round numbers, as £6,750 weekly, and reminding
its readers that the number had increased to more than two
hundred and thirty thousand, left them to make their own calcu-
lations for the future.
If averages were worth anything in the calculation, and the
public could have been assured that the distress had reached its
culminating point at Michaelmas, 1862, the reasoning could not
have been objected to, but the dependents upon guardians and relief
committees in the last week in September exceeded The Times'
maximum by more than forty thousand, and before the end of the
year more than doubled the numbers named in the article alluded
to, whilst the allowances were considerably augmented to provide
for the winter, and were then supplemented in tens of thousands
of cases by relief committees. Our facetious friend Mr. Punch,
who is not slow to lay his scorpion whip upon the backs of deserving
128
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
sinners, and who sometimes, in his anxiety to prevent wrong-doing,
castigates the innocent, saw the matter in rather a different light,
and wrote-
HANDS AND HEARTS.
NORTH.
There are hands by hundred thousands
In the crowded North,
Empty, idle, yet for labour,
Not for alms, stretched forth.
Hands all thin and white and bloodless,
Free from stain or soil,
Hands struck helpless, yet so willing
If they could to toil!
Hands that failing fitting labour,
Cannot long forbear,
Or to clench in desperation,
Or to fold in prayer.
Whirr of working wheels is silent,
Chimneys smoke no more :
Famine and her sister Fever
Knock at every door.
SOUTH.
Here are hearts by hundred thousands
Full of ruth and pain,
Till those hands struck sudden idle
Are at work again.
Humble hearts whose mite is ready,
Hungrier mouths to feed:
Haughty hearts brought low by thinking
Of their brothers' need.
Hearts that only seek for channels
Wherein best may go
All these streams of human kindness
Charged to overflow.
Then to work through clay and gravel,
Dull rock, thirsty sands,
From these brimming hearts make passage
To those failing hands.
On 7th December, Mr. Farnall reported to the central executive
that for the last eight weeks the out-door relief alone had cost
£13,734. 2s. 4d. per week, whilst the weekly expenditure of the
relief committees was £19,157. 6s. 4d., or nearly five and a half
times as much as the sum quoted by The Times at Michaelmas.
The then rate of expenditure, compared with that of the previous
year, gave the following results as to the assessment required in
each of the following places :-
TEST LABOUR IN MANCHESTER.
Ashton-under-Lyne
October and November, 1862.
8. d.
11 42
7 7
The year 1861.
& d.
0 7
1 0
Blackburn
Burnley
Bury
Glossop
Haslingden
+
5 4
4
6
Manchester (township)
Oldham
Preston
Rochdale
Stockport
Todmorden
•
0 92
1281
9 31
58
8
2/22
8 2
082
07/
0 61
1 01
0912
1 11
6
52
68/1/10
6 42
0 82
083
0 10/
129
In addition to the allowances of the guardians the relief com-
mittees were spending one and a half times as much, so that the
real pressure at that date is represented by the above sums,
multiplied by two and a half. And still no ray of light broke
through the dense cloud which shut out the future; no prospect
of the end of the fratricidal struggle in America, whilst there was
deep disappointment as to the anticipated great increase of raw
material from India; the unemployed were still increasing by
tens of thousands per week, and to prevent them from growing
desperate, were obliged to be drafted into elementary schools, and
set to teach each other, under superintendence, like children.
These schools lasted two and a half years, and varied in their
attendants from four thousand three hundred and seventy-nine
in November, 1862, to one hundred and thirty-five thousand six
hundred and twenty-five at the highest point in March, 1863, and
lingered on till the end, when, in June, 1865, there were still one
hundred and one men and boys, and five hundred and forty-seven
women and girls in attendance. Of this total of six hundred and
forty-three, five hundred and thirty-six were in the district of
Ashton-under-Lyne.
In the month of December, 1862, the total numbers relieved
were by the guardians, 250,588; and by relief committees,
236,207-total, 485,434 persons, or twenty-four per cent of the
whole population of the district. Philanthropists who are anxious
to improve the condition of society, have for many years made a
stock argument of the fact that twenty thousand persons rise in
London every morning who do not know how or where they will
K
:
130
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
r
breakfast; what would these gentlemen say if, by some sudden cala-
mity, this army of outcasts should be multiplied by three hundred
and seventy-five, so that almost every fourth person met in the
crowded Strand or in bustling Cheapside should be in that pitiable
position? What would the House of Commons say to any request
from such a crowd of petitioners; would it not be to ask and have?
Yet the same proportion of the inhabitants of the cotton districts
were, for months, in this terrible plight; and with the exception of
the riots at Stalybridge, not a single serious breach of the peace
occurred. Complaints enough there were, especially before the
central executive had got thoroughly to work, but they were all
directed against the "labour test" of the poor-law guardians.
At a meeting of operatives held in Stevenson Square, Man-
chester, 26th June, 1862, Mr. Thomas Evans, of Manchester, pro-
posed the following resolution :-"That it is the opinion of this
meeting, that it is unwise and unjust to compel honest working
men to perform that kind of labour which common felons are
required to perform, because it is neither advantageous nor wise, but
totally opposed to the true interest of society; and the tendency
of such a course of policy, if continued, will be to demoralise and
weaken the noble independence of the people, which is the glory
and honour of this great nation." He did not object to a labour
test; but he did object to that species of labour which degraded a
He complained most particularly of the mode of grinding
corn in the workhouses. The men who were put to the work had
to do a certain portion in a day; they did not see the corn measured
before it was put into the mill; neither could they see it while.
they were grinding; they were put into a kind of box where they
could see nothing but the ceiling, and knew nothing of the pro-
gress of the work, or the tricks that an unjust overlooker might
serve them. As at present dispensed, the poor-law was a law to
keep the poor, poor.
man.
Mr. Job Billcliffe, Manchester, seconded the motion. He con-
tended that every man ought to have pay commensurate with the
labour performed; the system at present adopted was to get as
much labour out of a man as possible, at a cost of the smallest
amount of relief, in the shape of victuals or money.
The resolution was passed.
Mr. J. Finnigan moved the next resolution :-"That this
20
TEST LABOUR IN MANCHESTER.
131
meeting is of opinion that the relief at present given by the Man-
chester board of guardians is totally inadequate to meet the wants
of the people in the present crisis; therefore, it is expedient to
form committees immediately in every ward, for the purpose of
finding out all those really deserving cases who are silently suffering
the pangs of hunger, and to do all that is possible to raise funds in
their behalf. The meeting also trusts that the central relief com-
mittee of the gentlemen of Manchester will further this benevolent
movement by their advice and generous subscriptions." He believed
that they had not yet arrived at the worst; and that it was most
important for immediate steps to be taken for the relief of the suf-
fering poor. He endorsed almost every word uttered by the two
preceding speakers in reference to the labour test-its impolicy,
its immorality, and the cruelty of the infliction.
The Mr. Thomas Evans, who moved the first resolution at this
meeting, was sent on a deputation to the guardians, and there
threw out the suggestion, which was afterwards so extensively
adopted, first by the guardians of the parish of Manchester, and
afterwards by the various relief committees, to establish the school
instead of the labour test. It is certain that before many months
had passed over, the labour test would have broken down, from
the sheer impossibility of finding work for the great army of de-
pendants; but none the less credit is due to the man who pointed
a way out of the difficulty, early enough to prevent the chaos and
the danger to public security which must otherwise have come
to pass.
CHAPTER IX.
Progress of Preston, 1851-61-Condition in May, 1862-Organisation of Relief Com-
mittee-Visits to the Poor-The Soup Kitchen-Out-door Work for the Guar-
dians-Increase of Blackburn-Large Proportion of Small Employers-Condition
of Co-operative Stores and Joint-Stock Companies-The Political Relief Com-
mittee-Specimens of Paupers-Mr. Farnall's Report-Condition of Wigan
Visit to Amy Lane-Stockport To Let-Operative Beggars-Lord Egerton and
the Public Works-Mr. Farnall on the State of Ashton.
In the ten years ending 1861 the population of the Preston union
increased fourteen per cent, and that of the borough nineteen per
cent. Of this population thirty-two per cent of the adults were
engaged in the cotton manufacture, and twenty-two per cent in
mechanical arts and trades, and in domestic service.
In May,
1862, there were twelve thousand and seven looms idle, out of
a total of twenty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-eight,
whilst about eight thousand others were working only three or
four days per week. Out of one thousand two hundred and sixty-
seven mules, six hundred and four were standing, and three
hundred and eighty-two working short time. The number of
hands out of employment was given at this date, by the relief
committee, as ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-one; who,
with their dependants, would amount to about twenty-two thousand
persons. The out-door paupers in 1861 were three thousand one
hundred and seventy; whilst in April, 1862, they had risen to
ten thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, being an increase of
two hundred and forty-three per cent, and they were still rapidly
increasing; and the relief committee's books contained at the same
date the names of nearly seventeen thousand persons. Many of
these were cases where the guardians' relief was supplemented,
and it is therefore difficult to get at the total number who were in
receipt of relief. The board of guardians were actively promoting
employment for their dependants, and had about one thousand
men at work levelling and improving "the moor," one hundred
ORGANISATION OF RELIEF COMMITTEE.
133
at "the marsh,” and one hundred and fifty at the "stone yard."
The approach to Preston by railway from Manchester is very
beautiful, and the labour of the cotton operatives has added in
no small degree to its interest, by laying out a large plot of land
on the river bank as public walks and gardens; and admirers of
the Ribble scenery in future generations will remember with plea-
sure the gift of the benevolent donor, and the work of the poor vic-
tims of the cotton famine. These men were working each two days'
per week at one shilling per day; and this labour, by making them
feel that they were usefully occupied, kept up their spirits, and
made them bear their privations even with cheerfulness. The men
of Preston knew how to bear trouble, for in 1856 they had inflicted
half-a-year's starvation upon themselves and families by a strike,
during which they did not fare even so well as at the present time
under the relief committee and the poor-law guardians.
About £17,000 had been withdrawn from the savings bank
since November, 1861; and the self-acting mule spinners and winders
trades' society had distributed about £700 amongst their own mem-
bers. The relief committee commenced its work in February, and
in May the local subscription had reached £7,500, the names of
four of the richest inhabitants being absent from the list. A
volunteer band of one hundred and twenty visitors was organised,
and the borough being divided into wards, a complete system of
visitation was established and carried on,
A spinning and manufacturing company, with a nominal
capital of £20,000, was commenced in 1861. About £14,000
was subscribed for, principally by working men, up to Christmas,
and the shares were then being taken at the rate of ten or twelve
per month; but in five months afterwards only four shares were
taken, and the payments upon those already subscribed were
obliged to be wholly suspended.
The co-operative store received, in March, 1862, about £160 per
week, and in May had fallen to £100 per week. A reading-room
at this store, well supplied with newspapers and periodical literature,
was opened freely to all visitors, and served a very good purpose
to the unemployed. The receipts at the London Road store had
fallen from £43 to £33 per week. The Oddfellows were paying
the subscriptions of their defaulting members by drawing upon
their contingent funds; whilst the Foresters were suspending
134
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
subscriptions entirely. Some of the lodges of Druids had not money
to pay their sick members. The burial societies were all suffering
heavily in their subscriptions, so that in the event of death it
very frequently happened that any funeral allowance was a
pure honorarium. The special correspondent of the Manchester
Examiner gives some characteristic anecdotes of the experience
of the relief committee. A visitor called upon a destitute family,
and found the man sitting alone, pale and silent. His wife had
been "brought to bed" three days before, and the visitor inquired
how she was getting on. "Hoo's very ill," said the husband;
" and the child, how is it?" said the visitor. "It's deed," replied
the man; “it deed yesterday." He then rose and walked slowly
into the next room, and returned with a basket in his hand, in
which the child was decently laid out. That's o' that's laft on it
neaw," said the poor fellow. Then putting the basket on the
floor, he sat down with his head between his hands, looking silently
at the corpse.
The loss of infant life is large in our manufacturing towns in
the best of times; but experience alone can realize the deep
melancholy of the strong man, who without active occupation, sees
the partner of his life passing through nature's sternest trial, when
he is totally unable to supply even ordinary comforts; and with
thorough independence of spirit finds himself helplessly cast upon a
charitable dole, for the crumbs which support life, and even for the
decencies of burial for his dead.
The visitor called on a family of ten persons, where four children
were under ten years of age, and five were capable of working, and
when all were in employment, the joint income was sixty-one
shillings per week. This family had been dependent on relief at
five shillings per week, for nine weeks. When the visitor called,
the weakly wife and one or two daughters were washing in the
inner room, and the whole place had a tidy, clean look, although
it was washing day. The mother had suffered severely from
inflammation, and yet, in spite of long-continued ill health and the
iron tooth of poverty, there was rarely seen a more frank and
cheerful countenance than that thin matron's, as she stood wringing
her clothes and telling her little story. The house belonged to
their late employer, whose mill had stopped some time ago.
Being asked how they managed to pay the rent, she replied “why we
VISITS TO THE POOR.
135
dunnot pay it, and we connot pay it, and he doesn't push us for it.
Au guess he knows he'll get it sometime. But we ow'n a deal o'
brass beside that. Just look at this shop book. Au'm noan
freetened at onybody seein my accownts. An' then there's a great
lot o' doctor's bills i' that pot theer. Thoose are o for me.
►
Ther'll ha' to be some wark done afore things con be fotched up
again. Eh! aw'l tell yo what, it went ill again th' grain wi' my
husband, to goo afore th' board; an' when he did goo he wouldn't
say so mich.
Yo known folk doesn't like brastin' off abeawt
theirsel o at once, at a shop like that. Au think sometimes it's
very weel that four ov eawrs are i' heaven-we'n sich hard tewin
(toiling) to poo through wi tother just neaw. But aw guess it'll
not last for ever." A visitor called upon a family where no appli-
cation for relief had been made, but some of the neighbours had
said they were "ill off." The visitor finding them perishing for
want, offered some relief tickets, but the poor woman began to cry,
and said “Eh! aw dar not touch 'em; my husban' would sauce me
so! Aw dar not tak 'em; aw should never yer th' last on't." In a
dirty pent up corner of a dark and damp entry, a low door stood
open; it led into a low, gloomy-looking hovel, not more than three
yards square, and without fire in the grate. No sunshine could
ever reach there, nor any fresh breezes disturb the pestilent
vapours that were festering in the sluggish gloom. In one corner,
a little worn and broken stair led to a room of the same size above,
where there was some straw for the family to sleep upon. The
furniture consisted of two rickety chairs and a little broken deal
table, reared against the stairs because one leg was gone. A quiet
looking, thin woman, of fifty years of age, sat there. She had
buried five children, and had now six living with her in that poor
place. They had no work and no income whatever, except from
the relief committee. The poor widow pointed to the cold corner
where her husband had lately died. She said "he had been oot o'
wark a long time afore he deed.”
A call was made at a little provision shop, where the stock
consisted of a mug of buttermilk and four or five glass bottles, and
the shop furniture of two or three deal shelves, and a doleful little
counter. The family consisted of man, wife, and five children.
The man was a spinner, and the wife had managed the little shop.
Just before short-time working, four of their children had been ill
136
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
་
1.
for months, and one of the lads had lost two fingers at the factory,
and so been disabled. The shop stuff had oozed away, partly on
credit to the neighbours, and partly to live upon themselves, until
at last they were forced to apply for relief. After they had been
on the parish for a few weeks some envious neighbour had reported
that the stock had been sold, and the money banked, and had thus
robbed them of a fortnight's allowance, until the calumny was
inquired into and refuted.
Another call was upon an Irish family, seven in number. The
mill at which they used to work had been stopped about ten
months. One of them had found about three months' work else-
where, and the old man got a few days' work occasionally. For
ten months past they had been relieved at the rate of five shillings
per week, and this sum, with the little occasional work, and the
sale of the furniture piecemeal, had formed their dependence. At
the time of the visit, there was not a vestige of furniture in the
cottage, except the chair upon which the old woman was sitting. In
reply to a question she said-"I did sell the childer's bedstead
for two shillings and sixpence, an' after that I sold th' bed from
under 'em for one shillin' and sixpence, just to keep 'em from
starvin' to death. The childer had been two days without mate
then, an' faith I couldn't bear it ony longer." The visitor had
called regularly for sixteen weeks, and on this occasion saw a fire
in the place for the first time. One family of operatives were all
fervent lovers of music; and, whilst in full work, had scraped up
money for a piano, and they clung to it to the last, and were advised
by the committee not to sell it; but, after a long struggle, it went
after the remainder of the furniture-the mental solace gave way
to provide bodily sustenance.
(C
Describing the soup kitchen, the writer already quoted says:—
Entering the yard, we found the wooden sheds crowded
with people at breakfast-all ages, from white-haired men, bent
with years, to eager childhood, yammering over its morning
meal, and careless till the next nip of hunger came. Here and
there a bonny lass had crept into the shade with her basin; and
there was many a brown-faced man, who had been hardened by
working upon the moor, or at the 'stone yard.' 'Theer, thae's
shap't that at last, as how?' said one of these to his friend, who
had just finished and stood wiping his mouth complacently. 'Shap't
I
THE SOUP KITCHEN.
137
that,' replied the other, 'aye, lad, aw can do a ticket an' a hafe
(three pints of soup) every mornin'. Five hundred people break-
fast in the sheds alone, every day. The soup kitchen opens at five
in the morning, and there is always a crowd waiting to get in.
This looks like the eagerness of hunger. I was told that they often
deliver three thousand quarts of soup at this kitchen in two hours.
The superintendent of the bread department informed me that, on
that morning, he had served out two thousand loaves, of 3lbs. 11oz.
each. There was a window at one end, where soup was delivered
to such as brought money for it, instead of tickets. Those who came
with tickets-by far the greatest number-had to pass in single
file through a strong wooden maze, which restrained their eager-
ness, and compelled them to order. I noticed that only a small
proportion of men went through the maze, they were mostly women
and children. There was many a fine, intelligent young face hurried
blushing through that maze—many a bonny lad and lass who will
be heard of honourably hereafter. The variety of utensils presented
showed that some of the poor souls had been hard put to it for
things to fetch their soup in. One brought a pitcher, another a
bowl, and another a tin can, a world too big for what it had to hold.
'Yo mun mind th' jug,' said one old woman; 'it's cracked, an' it's
noan o' mine.' 'Will yo bring me some?' said a little, light-haired
lass, holding up her rosy neb to the soup-master. 'Aw want a
ha'poth,' said a lad with a three-quart can in his hand. The bene-
volent-looking old gentleman who had taken the superintendence
of the soup department as a labour of love, told me that there had
been a woman there by half-past five that morning, who had come
four miles for some coffee. There was a poor fellow breakfasting
in the shed at the same time, and he gave the woman a thick shive
of his bread as she went away. He mentioned other instances of
the same humane feeling; and he said 'After what I have seen
of them here, I say, "Let me fall into the hands of the poor."
,
"They who, half-fed, feed the breadless, in the travail of distress;
They who, taking from a little, give to those who still have less;
They who, needy, yet can pity when they look on greater need ;
These are Charity's disciples-these are Mercy's sons indeed.
१
"In my rambles I was astonished at the dismal succession of
destitute homes, and the number of struggling owners of little
shops, who were watching their stocks sink gradually down to
138
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
nothing, and looking despondingly at the cold approach of pauper-
ism. I was astonished at the strings of dwellings, side by side, stript,
more or less, of the commonest household utensils,—the poor little
bare houses, often crowded with lodgers whose homes had been.
broken up elsewhere; sometimes crowded, three or four families of
decent working people in a cottage of half a crown a week rental;
sleeping anywhere, on benches or on straw; and afraid to doff their
clothes at night time because of the cold. Now and then the
weekly visitor comes to the door of a house where he has regularly
called. He lifts the latch, and finds the door locked. He looks
in at the window. The house is empty and the people are gone--
the Lord knows where. Who can tell what tales of sorrow will
have their rise in the pressure of a time like this,-tales that will
never be written, and that no statistics will reveal.
In one
cottage, where we stopped a few minutes, the old woman told us
that, in addition to their own family, they had three young women
living with them,-the orphan daughters of her husband's brother.
They had been out of work thirty-four weeks, and their uncle-a
very poor man-had been obliged to take them into his house,
'till sich times as they could afford to pay for lodgin's somewheer
else.' My companion asked whether they were all out of work
still. Naw,' replied the old woman; 'one on 'em has getten on
to wortch a few days for t' sick (that is, in the place of some sick
person). Hoo's wortchin' i'th' card-reawm, at "Th' Big-un." (This
is the name they give to Messrs. Swainson and Birley's mill.)
"We called at a cottage in Everton Gardens. It was as clean
as a gentleman's parlour; but there was no furniture in sight,
except a table, and, upon the table, a fine bush of fresh hawthorn
blossom, stuck in a pint jug full of water. Here, I heard again
the common story,-they had been several months out of work;
their household goods had dribbled away in ruinous sales, for
something to live upon; and now, they had very little left but
the walls. The little woman said to me, 'Bless yo, there is
at thinks we need'n nought, becose we keepen a daycent eawtside.
But, I know my own know abeawt that. Beside, one doesn't like
to fill folk's meawths, iv one is ill off.'
"The next house was quite as poor in household goods. There
was one flimsy deal table, one little chair, and two halfpenny
pictures of Catholic saints pinned against the wall. Sure, I sold
INCREASE OF BLACKBURN.
139
the other table since you wor here before,' said the woman to my
friend; 'I sold it for two-an-aightpence, an' bought this one for
sixpence.' At the house of another Irish family, my friend
inquired where all the chairs were gone. 'Oh,' said a young
woman, 'the bailies did fetch uvverything away, barrin' the one
sate, when we were livin' in Lancaster-street.' Where do all sit
now, then?' 'My mother sits there,' replied she, ‘an' we sit upon
the flure.' 'I heard they were goin' to sell these heawses,' said
one of the lads, but, begorra,' continued he, with a laugh, ‘I
wouldn't wonder did they sell the ground from under us next.'
In the course of our visitation a thunder storm came on, during
which we took shelter with a poor widow woman, who had a
plateful of steeped peas for sale, in the window. She also dealt
in rags and bones in a small way, and so managed to get a living,
as she said, 'beawt troublin' onybody for charity.' She said it
was a thing that folk had to wait a good deal out in the cold for."
From 1851 to 1861, the twenty-four townships comprised in
the Blackburn Union, increased in population about thirty-three
per cent, and the borough of Blackburn about thirty-nine per cent ;
and the borough assessment increased from £100,351 in 1851,
to £144,418 in 1864, or 439 per cent. In the year 1860, no less
that twenty-two new mills were in course of erection in Blackburn
and its immediate vicinity, and it was very difficult for immigrants
to find a cottage to let. Wages had risen from five to fifteen per
cent; and the agricultural districts had been scoured for hands,
whole families being imported from the southern and eastern
counties, for the sake of their juvenile labour; whilst many
prudent working men had risen within a few years into the ranks
of the employers. There were fifty-two weaving sheds, with less
than four hundred looms each, whilst thirty of the number employed
less than two hundred and fifty looms each; and these facts afford
fair proof of the position from which the employers had recently
risen. Pauperism had been falling gradually year by year, until it
reached its minimum in 1861. In 1858, the numbers in receipt of
out-door relief were four thousand and eighty-two; in 1859, they
had fallen to three thousand three hundred and forty-two; in
1860, there was a temporary rise to three thousand five hundred
and forty-five; whilst in 1861, they had fallen again to two thousand
eight hundred and twenty-three.
140
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
}
Five joint-stock manufacturing companies were commenced in
1860 and 1861 (principally by working men), with a nominal
capital amongst them of £141,000, of which about £32,000 had
been subscribed for, and £24,000 paid up in May, 1862. The
shares of the Blackburn spinning and weaving company were in-
creasing at the end of 1861 by twenty or thirty per week, but in
May, 1862, the progress had fallen to two or three per month.
Several co-operative stores had also been established within two
or three years. At Christmas, 1861, the receipts for goods at the
Blakey Moor store were about £90 per week, and in May, 1862, had
fallen to £70. Capital had also begun to be withdrawn, the reason
assigned being in every case want of employment. Eight thousand
five hundred and forty-nine persons (twenty-two and a quarter per
cent of the whole number of operatives) were out of employment
in April; and in May, the proportion had risen to twenty-five per
cent. The out-door paupers had risen to nine thousand five hun-
dred and ninety-seven, or two hundred and fifty per cent increase
on the number in 1861. The savings bank deposits had increased
rapidly for some years prior to 1861, the sum due to depositors
having risen from £71,652 in 1855, to £119,289 in 1860, but in
the latter portion of 1861 the pressure of the crisis had begun to
be felt, and the amount due to depositors on 20th November was
less by £600 than at the end of the previous year.
In May, 1862, a subscription for the relief of the unemployed
had been commenced, and had reached £3,300; the smallness of
the amount being attributed to the political complexion of the
committee. Soup tickets were distributed by the subscribers to the
fund, and the soup was sold to the holders of the tickets at a penny
per quart. Four pounds of bread and two of oatmeal per week
were also given to each person; and, as the subscribers were not
restricted from giving tickets to the dependants on the board of guar-
dians, it is probable that the best possible use was not made of the
funds. Conversation with shopkeepers, at this period, showed that
occupiers of heavily-rented and heavily-taxed shops were not taking
one-quarter of their usual receipts. The benefit societies were also
suffering heavily, but the Oddfellows and others were doing their
best to meet the crisis by borrowing from their contingent funds for
the general subscription fund. The board of guardians had raised their
scale of relief to three shillings for single able-bodied men, in return
SPECIMENS OF PAUPERS.
141
for three days' work; whilst a man with a wife and two children
would get six shillings for six days' work; and a man with four
children would get ten shillings. We extract a few samples from
the special correspondent of the Manchester Examiner and Times
of the people who applied for relief :
"A clean, old, decrepit man presented himself at the board.
'What's brought you here, Joseph ?' asked the chairman. 'Why,
aw've nought to do, nor nought to tak' to.' 'What's your daughter
Ellen doing?' 'Hoo's eawt o' wark.' 'And what's your wife doing?'
'Hoo's bin bedfast aboon five year.' A ticket for relief being given,
the man looked at it, and turned round, saying-Couldn't yo let
me be a sweeper i'th' streets i'stid?'
"A clean old woman came up, with a snow-white nightcap on
her head. 'Well, Mary, what do you want?' 'Aw could like yo
to gi' mo a bit o' summat, Mr. Eccles, for aw need it.' 'Well, but
you've some lodgers, haven't you, Mary?' 'Yigh, aw've three.'
'Well, what do they pay you?' 'They payn mo nought. They'n
no wark, an' one connot turn 'um eawt.' 'Well, but you live with
your son, don't you?' Nay, he lives wi me, an' he's eawt o' wark too.
Aw could like yo to do a bit a summat for us. We'se hard put to't.'
"Another old woman presented herself, with a threadbare shawl
round her head. 'Well, Ann,' said the chairman, 'there's nobody
but yourself and your John, is there?' 'Naw.'
you?' 'Aw'm seventy.' 'Seventy?' 'Aye aw am.'
is your John?' 'He's gooin i' seventy-four.' 'Where is he, Ann?'
'Well, aw left him deawn i'th' street yon, gettin' a load o' coals in.””
'What age are
'Well, what age
The workpeople very commonly nickname their workshops here
as elsewhere. A girl being asked where she worked last, replied—
"At th' Puff an' Dart." "And what made you leave?" "Whaw,
they were woven up." One poor, pale fellow said he "had wortched
a bit at Bang th' Nation,' till he was taken ill, and then they had
shopped his place" (given his work to someone else). Another,
when asked where he had been working, replied " At Se’nacre
Bruck (Seven Acre Brook), wheer th' wild monkey were catched;"
alluding to the capture of an ouran-outang which had escaped from
a menagerie.
In the midst of this distress there was no general movement
amongst the employers who continued working to reduce wages,
and if there had been, it would not apparently have been accom-
142
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
MA
་
plished quietly. For instance, "at one mill where the operatives
were receiving about eleven shillings per week each, for minding
two looms, the proprietor offered to give the hands three looms each,
and to guarantee them work for three months, at a penny farthing
per piece reduction; but they refused the offer, and worked on at
old prices on two looms, with a prospect of an early stoppage, the
three months' proffered order being declined by the employer."
or
A keeper of a provision shop, being appealed to, said "We'n
a deal of brass owin', but it's mostly owin' by folk at'll pay some-
time. An' then th' part on 'em are doin' a bit yo' known, an' they
bring'n their trifle o' ready brass to us, and so we're trailin' on.
But folk han to trust us a bit for their stuff, dunnot yo see
else it would be wo up! soon.” A beerhouse keeper had only
drawn eighteenpence for a whole week, and his children being fac-
tory operatives were all out of work. They would have been glad
of a few soup tickets, but the man said "Who'd believe me if aw
were to go an' ax for relief ?”
Speaking of the township of Blackburn alone, Mr. Commis-
sioner Farnall wrote, 29th May, 1862: “The increase of pauperism
over May, 1861, is five hundred per cent, made up mainly of mill
hands out of work. Six hundred and twenty of these people were at
work under the guardians, levelling a piece of land for the lord of the
manor, in exchange for relief, the guardians receiving for the work
twopence halfpenny per yard; and other men were employed by
the relief committee upon the land belonging to the infirmary.
The number totally out of work in the township alone is eight
thousand four hundred and twenty-four, whilst as many more are
working short time, leaving only nine thousand one hundred and
thirteen out of twenty-five thousand nine hundred and seventy-
five in full work. One-third of the operatives are wholly without
the means of living, and another third are on half rations. The
full number of dependants on relief would be from seventeen
thousand to eighteen thousand. The public subscription had
reached £5,235, and there had been about £10,000 withdrawn
from the savings bank. The amount of a half-a-year's relief by
the guardians in ordinary times was about £1,850; but at this
period, including the sum distributed by the relief committee, it
was £5,881, or nearly three hundred and eighteen per cent in
excess, and indigence was still increasing rapidly." The ordinary
-*
CONDITION OF WIGAN.
143
poor-rate is about one shilling in the pound per annum on the
assessment; for the year ending Lady-day, 1862, it had been one
shilling and fivepence one-eighth; the usual rate had since been
levied, and Mr. Farnall calculated that another rate of three
shillings would be necessary, in addition to the public subscription,
to carry them through the year 1862; but at Lady-day, 1863,
there had been expended a rate of four shillings by the guardians,
and of five shillings and twopence farthing by the relief com-
mittees, not in Blackburn township alone, but throughout the
union, being more than eight hundred per cent in excess of the
ordinary expenditure under the guardians. In addition to the
relief afforded by the guardians and the relief committee, several
employers whose mills were closed, were providing one meal per
day for the persons who were ordinarily employed by them; whilst
a special committee had collected subscriptions and established
several "mother's kitchens," where many poor women and their
little children resorted for a daily dinner.
In Wigan, nineteen per cent of the population are dependent
on the cotton manufacture, whilst a similar proportion are sup-
ported by the collieries, and it very commonly happens that
whilst the male portion of a family work at the colliery, the
females who are of working age are employed in the mill or
weaving shed. Where several staple trades are carried on in the
same town, the deficient demand in one is often in some degree
compensated by the continued prosperity of the rest; so that
although such a locality will seldom increase in wealth or in
population so rapidly as if devoted to the production of a single
staple which is in great demand, yet the division of employments
will also prevent its falling to so great a depth of suffering as the
annihilation of the single employment would otherwise cause.
But the productions of the Wigan collieries are consumed in so
large a proportion in cotton manufactories, and by people depen-
dent thereon, that they sympathise with the cotton trade in
prosperity and in adversity; and short time working in the mills
is commonly followed at no great distance by want of employment
at the pits; so that Wigan, whilst only at first sight half dependent
on cotton, is really not much better off than if the whole of its indus-
trial adult population relied solely for employment upon the mills.
144
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
The increase of population in the ten years ending 1861 was,
in the borough, eighteen per cent; and in the poor law union, nine
per cent, shewing a little lower rate of increase than Preston, and
very much less than Blackburn. The borough assessment rose
in the same period from £51,520 to £72,516. The number of
persons who were dependent on out-door relief in April, 1857,
was two thousand six hundred and seventy-six; at the same
period in 1861 it was two thousand two hundred and forty-six ;
but in December, 1861, it had risen to three thousand and eighty-
five, being fifteen per cent higher than in the panic year, 1857,
and showing nearly thirty-three per cent rise between April and
December, 1861. From this period distress increased rapidly;
and early in 1862 a relief committee was formed, and the town
canvassed for subscriptions, the result being a fund amounting to
£3,800. In May, 1862, there were about four thousand cases,
comprising from nine thousand to ten thousand persons, dependent
upon the guardians and the relief committee; for here, as else-
where, the committee commenced work by supplementing the
relief given by the guardians, and so made it difficult to ascer-
tain the total number receiving assistance, and equally difficult to
ascertain whether all that was given was actually needed. A
sub-committee sat in each ward of the town, and after visitation,
distributed relief, in the shape of tickets on the various shop-
keepers; who, having taken them in exchange for goods, got their
cash from the committee, which, sitting in the centre of the town,
superintended the operations of the various districts. At this
period only one mill was working full time, and a considerable
reduction of wages had taken place there. The withdrawals from
the savings bank in 1861 were £2,000 in excess of the deposits ;
whilst in the early part of 1862 the deposits of the working class
and small shopkeepers had almost ceased. There were four soup
kitchens in operation, three of which were carried on by private
citizens at their own cost, and the fourth by the relief committee;
whilst one or two men who had recently risen to wealth had so
far forgotten their own early troubles as to refuse to let their
names appear in the subscription list. The weekly expenditure
of the relief committee was from £200 to £250.
The sale of goods at the co-operative store had fallen from
Christmas up to May from £70 to £50 per week; and a publican,
VISIT TO AMY LANE,
145
at whose house thirteen benefit societies met, and which was also
a considerable resort for the poorer class of market people, said his
daily receipts had fallen two-thirds. One burial society had given
up collecting for a quarter, whilst others had lowered their contri-
butions, in order to meet the pressure, and in cases of death,
deducted the difference from the claims payable. The Foresters
and Oddfellows' societies here, as in other towns, paid the sub-
scriptions of distressed members out of their contingent funds, so
long as they lasted.
From this town Mr. John Whittaker wrote his letters to The
Times, under the signature of "A Lancashire Lad," and thus origi-
nated the Mansion House fund. We add to his description (which
will be found further on) an extract from the special correspon-
dent of the Manchester Examiner and Times, of 2nd September,
1862. He is describing a visit to Amy Lane.
"A few yards up the street we came to a few rude steps,
which led up, on the right hand side, to a little terrace of poor
cottages, overlooking the river Douglas. We called at one of
these cottages. Though rather disorderly just then, it was not an
uncomfortable place; it was evidently looked after, at the right
time, by some homely dame. A clean old cat dosed upon a chair
by the fireside. The bits of cottage furniture, though cheap, and
well worn, were all there; and the simple household gods, in the
shape of pictures and ornaments, were in their places still. A
hardy-looking, brown-faced man, with close-cropped black hair,
and a mild countenance, sat at a table by the window, making
artificial flies, for fishing. In the corner over his head a cheap,
dingy picture of the Trial of Queen Katharine, hung against the
wall. I could just make out the tall figure of the indignant
queen, in the well-known theatrical attitude, with her right arm
outstretched and uplifted, and her sad, proud face turned away
from the judgment seat, where Henry sits evidently uncomfortable
in mind, as she gushes forth that bold address to her priestly foes.
and her accusers. The man, sitting beneath the picture, told us
that he was a throstle overlooker by trade, and that he had been
nine months out of work. He said 'There's five on us here when
we're o' i'th heawse. When th' wark fell off I had a bit o' brass
save't up, so we were forced to start o' usin' that. But month
after month went by, and th' brass kept gettin' less, do what we
L
146
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
would; an' th' times geet wur, till at last we fund ersels fair
stagged up. At after that, my mother helped us as weel as hoo
could,-why, hoo does neaw, for th' matter o' that, an' then aw've
three brothers, colliers; they've done their best to poo us through.
But, they're nobbut wortchin' four days a week, neaw; beside
they've enough to do for their own. Aw make no accawnt o'
slotchin' up an' deawn o' this shap, like a foo. It would sicken a
dog, it would for sure. Aw go a-fishin' a bit, neaw an' then; an'
aw cotter abeawt wi' first one thing an' then another, but it comes
to no sense. It's noan like gradely wark. It makes me maunder
up an' deawn, sometimes like a gonnor wi' a nail in it yed. Aw
wish to God yon chaps in Amerikay would play th' upstroke, an'
get done wi their bother, so as folk could start o' wortchin' again.'
As we passed the doors of a row of new cottages, at the top end of
Hardy Butts,' a respectable old man looked out at one of the
doorways, and said to my friend, 'Could aw spake to yo a minute?'
We went in, and found the house remarkably clean, with good
cottage furniture in it. Two children were peeping in at the
open
door. The old man first sent them way; and then, after closing
the door, he pointed to a good-looking young woman who stood
blushing at the entrance of the inner room, with a wet cloth in
her hands, and he said, 'Could yo do a bit o' summat to help this
lass wohl sich times as hoo can get wark again? Hoo's noather
feyther nor mother, nor nought i'th world to tak to, but what aw
can spare for her, an' this is a poor shop to come to for help.
Aw'm uncle to her.' 'Well,' said my friend, And cannot you
manage to keep her?' 'God bless yo!' replied the old man, getting
warm, 'Aw cannot keep mysel'. Aw will howd eawt as lung as
aw can; but, yo know, what 'll barely keep one alive 'll clam two
very ill. Aw should be thankful iv yo could give her a bit o' help
whol things are as they are.' Before the old man had done talking,
his niece had crept away into the back room, as if ashamed of
being the subject of such a conversation. This case was soon
disposed of to the satisfaction of the old man; after which we
visited three other houses in the same block, of which I have
nothing special to say, except that they were all inhabited by
people brought down to destitution by long want of work, and
living solely upon the relief fund, and upon the private charity of
their old employers."
STOCKPORT TO LET.
147
Stockport, from some cause not very clearly ascertained, seems
to have had less than a fair share of the prosperity which the last
half century has spread over the towns in the cotton manufacturing
district. It suffered so heavily in the troubles of 1842 that some
wag, in passing along and noticing the large proportion of empty
cottages, wrote upon a shutter-"Stockport to let," which satire
Thomas Carlyle has immortalised in his "Chartism;" and in the
ten years ending with 1860-1, the increase of population was seven
and a half per cent below the general increase in England and
Wales, and fourteen and a half below the average of Lancashire,
manufacturing and rural. A Manchester manufacturer, who went
to look at a mill there in 1862, with a view to purchase, left the
place and declined the offer of the vendor, not from any fault in the
building or machinery, but because he heard that the operatives
were apt to be troublesome. And about the end of 1861, a letter
from the Operative Spinners' Society of Stockport was published
in one of the Manchester papers, naming certain employers of that
town, and affirming that they would not be forgotten on the return
of good times. It is certain that localities do acquire a character
in the market for the quality of their goods, which, if it be good,
prejudices buyers in their favour; and, if bad, often does an unde-
served injury. Thus, bitter ale from Burton-on-Trent would sell
better than the same article from Birmingham; and narrow woollens
from Huddersfield command better prices than if made at Golcar or
Dewsbury, which places are famous for the manufacture of shoddy.
A Stalybridge brewing firm, a short time ago, were or professed
to be ruined by having their ale christened "Surat ale," an indi-
cation that its quality was as wretched as much of the cotton
known by the name Surats. If the same rule of prejudice has
operated against Stockport as a cotton-manufacturing town, the
place has met with a severe punishment for the real or supposed
misconduct of its workpeople.
The industrial statistics issued by the poor-law board tell us
that 374 per cent of the adult population is engaged in manufac-
tures. The borough police returns inform us that, out of a popu-
lation of fifty-four thousand six hundred and eighty-one, there are
usually seventeen thousand and thirty-eight, or nearly one-third of
the whole, dependent on cotton mills. In June, 1862, there were
six thousand two hundred cotton operatives wholly out of employ,
148
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
five thousand and sixty-eight in full work, and the remainder (five
thousand seven hundred and seventy) on short time. So that em-
ployment was nearly half extinguished, whilst one-third of the
operatives were getting two-thirds of the wages which were then
being paid. The year 1861, measured by its pauperism, had been
most prosperous.
In the troublous year 1842, the poor-rate
amounted to £22,000; in the panic year (1857-8) it was about
£24,000; but in 1861 the amount levied was only £14,816. The
numbers dependent on the guardians were two thousand four hun-
dred and sixty-three in April, 1858, whilst in April, 1862, they
were five thousand and eighty-one, being one hundred and six per
cent in excess of 1858, and two hundred and twenty-six per cent
in excess of 1861. In the latter year the savings bank deposits
exceeded the withdrawals by £5,360, but, by the beginning of May,
1862, the withdrawals were already some £10,000 in excess of the
deposits. The relief committee were at this date aiding about
twelve thousand persons, whose income, apart from such aid, was
about ninepence halfpenny per head per week. The board of guar-
dians had some four hundred or five hundred men at work at road
making, in return for relief to the extent of two shillings and six-
pence per week for man and wife, or from five shillings to six
shillings per week for large families. The general relief fund in
May, 1862, stood at £2,487, whilst some ten or twelve firms were
aiding their own unemployed hands. The system of relief was com-
menced by Messrs. Kershaw and Co., in January, 1862, and gradu-
ally extended until every ward had its committee, whilst a central
committee controlled the whole.
The sales at the co-operative store, which at one time reached
about £600 weekly, had fallen in May, 1862, to about £300. A
very small amount of capital had been withdrawn, and the decrease
in the returns was therefore due almost wholly to the absence of
employment. The friendly societies, such as Oddfellows, Foresters,
&c., were lending out of their contingent funds to pay the contribu-
tions of those members who were out of work, and in some cases
giving the necessary amount as a gratuity. One burial society,
with about five thousand members, had lost five hundred in five
months, solely from inability to pay, although they had commenced
to collect monthly instead of fortnightly, thus reducing the sub-
scription by one-half. Before the relief committees were fully
•
OPERATIVE BEGGARS.
149
organised the sharp pinch of hunger had forced many of the proud
spirited operatives to beg; but this, like every other distasteful
job, was mostly left to the women, and here is a description by the
Examiner and Times' special correspondent of a group of Stock-
port weavers returning home after a day spent in begging:
"Three young women stopped on the footpath in front of the
inn, close to the place where we stood, and began to talk together
in a very free, open way, quite careless of being overheard. One
of them was a stout, handsome young woman, about twenty-three.
Her dress was of light printed stuff, clean and good. Her round,
ruddy arms, her clear blond complexion, and the bright expression
of her full open countenance, all indicated health and good-nature.
I guessed from her conversation, as well as from her general
appearance, that she was a factory operative in full employ—
though that is such a rare thing in these parts now. The other
two looked very poor and downhearted. One was a short, thick-
set girl, seemingly not twenty years of age; her face was sad, and
she had very little to say. The other was a thin, dark-haired,
cadaverous woman, about thirty years of age, as I supposed; her
shrunk visage was the picture of want, and her frank, child-like
talk showed great simplicity of character. The weather had been
wet for some days previous; and the clothing of the two looked
thin and shower-stained. It had evidently been worn a good
while, and the colours were faded. Each of them wore a poor,
shivery bit of shawl, in which their hands were folded, as if to
keep them warm. The handsome lass, who seemed to be in good
employ, knew them both; but she showed an especial kindness
towards the eldest of them. As these two stood talking to their
friend, we did not take much notice of what they were saying
until two other young women came slowly from townwards, look-
ing poor, and tired, and ill, like the first. These last comers
instantly recognised two of those who stood talking together in
front of the inn, and one of them said to the other, 'Eh, sitho;
there's Sarah an' Martha here!
* * Eh, lasses; han yo bin
a-beggin' too? Aye, lass; we han; replied the thin, dark-
complexioned woman; 'Aye, lass; we han. Aw've just bin tellin'
Ann, here. Aw never did sich a thing i' my life afore-never!
But it's th' first time and th' last for me, it is that? Aw'll go
<
*
whoam; an' aw'll dee theer, afore aw'll go a-beggin' ony moor,
150
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
an' that wur o'.
Well, at after that
an' that's o' at we'n
* * *
aw will for sure! Mon, it's such a nasty, dirty job; aw'd as soon
clem! *
* See yo, lasses; we set off this mornin'-Martha
an' me, we set eawt this mornin' to go to Gorton Tank, becose
we yerd that it wur sich a good place. But one doesn't know
wheer to go to these times; an' one doesn't like to go a
beggin' among folk at they known. Well, when we coom to
Gorton we geet twopence hawpenny theer,
Now, there's plenty moor beggin' besides us.
twopence hawpenny, we geet twopence moor,
getten. But, eh, lasses, when aw coom to do it, aw hadn't th'
heart to ax for nought; aw hadn't for sure.
Martha
an' me's walked aboon ten mile iv we'n walked a yard; an' we
geet weet through th' first thing; an' aw wur ill when we set
off, an' so wur Martha too; aw know hoo wur, though hoo says
nought mich abeawt it. Well; we coom back through t' teawn;
an' we were both on us fair stagged up. Aw never were so done
o'er i' my life, wi' one thing an' another. So we co'de a-seein' Ann
here; an' hoo made us a rare good baggin'-th' lass did. See yo;
aw wur fit to drop o'th flags afore aw geet that saup o' warm tay
into mo-aw wur for sure! An' neaw, hoo's come'd a gate wi' us
hitherto, an' hoo would have us to have a glass o' warm ale a-piece
at yon heawse lower deawn a bit; an' aw dar say it'll do mo good,
aw getten sich a cowd; but, eh dear, it made mo as mazy as a tup;
an' neaw,
hoo wants us to have another afore we starten off whoam.
But it's no use; we mun' be goin' on. Aw'm noan used to it, an'
aw connot ston it. Aw'm as wake as a kittlin' this minute.' Ann,
who had befriended them in this manner, was the handsome young
woman who seemed to be in work; and now, the poor woman who
had been telling the story, laid her hand upon her friend's shoulder
and said, 'Ann, thee's behaved very weel to us o'roads; an' neaw,
lass, go thi ways whoam, an' dunnut fret abeawt us, mon. Aw feel
better neaw. We's be reet enough to-morn, lass. Mon, there's
awlus some way shap't. That tay's done me a deeol o' good.
Go thi ways whoam, Ann; neaw do; or else aw shan't
be yezzy abeawt tho!' But Ann, who was wiping her eyes with
her apron, replied, 'Naw, naw; aw will not go yet, Sarah !'
And then she began to cry, Eh, lasses; aw dunnot
*
*
* *
*
like to see yo o' this shap-aw dunnot for
far enough to-day. Come back wi' me.
(
sure! Besides, yo'n bin
Aw cannot find reawm
་
LORD EGERTON AND THE PUBLIC. WORKS.
*
151
* *
* *
for both on yo; but thee come back wi' me, Sarah. Aw'll find thee
a good bed; an' thae'rt welcome to a share o' what there is- -as
welcome as th' fleawers o' May-thae knows that.
Thae'rt th' owdest o' th' two; an' thae't noan fit to trawnce up an'
deawn o' this shap. Come back to eawr heawse; an' Martha'll go
forrud to Stopput [Stockport]-winnot tho, Martha ? *
Thae knows, Martha,' continued she, 'thae knows, Martha, thae
munnot think nought at me axin' Sarah, and noan o' thee. Yo
should both on yo go back iv aw'd reawm-but aw havn't. Beside,
thae'rt younger and strunger than hoo is.' 'Eh, God bless tho,
lass,' replied Martha, 'aw know o' abeawt it. Aw'd rayther Sarah
would stop, for hoo'll be ill. Aw can go forrud by mysel', weel
enough. It's noan so fur, neaw.' But here, Sarah, the eldest of
the three, laid her hand once more upon the shoulder of her friend,
and said in an earnest tone, 'Ann! It will not do, my lass: go aw
mun! Aw never wur away fro' whoam o' neet i' my life,-never!
Aw connot do it, mon! Beside, thae knows, aw've left yon lad, anʼ
never a wick soul wi' him! He'd fret hissel' to deoth this neet,
mon, if aw didn't go whoam! Aw couldn't sleep a wink for
thinkin' abeawt him! Th' child would be fit to start eawt o'th
heawse i'th deead time o'th neet a-seechin' mo,-aw know he
would!
Aw mun go, mun. God bless tho, Ann; aw'm
obleeged to thee o' th' same,-thae knows heaw it is.''
*
Mr. Farnall was at Stockport on June 20, 1862, and reported the
nett ratable value of the township at £61,833, of which £11,946
was on mill property. The ordinary pauperism of the union was
1.5 per cent, but at that date it was 60 per cent in the township of
Stockport. The expenditure up to Lady-day had been for the past
year at the rate of 1s. 13d. in the pound; in 1862-3 it was 3s. 2ğd.
by the guardians, supplemented by 5s. 57d. from the relief committee,
being an increase of eight hundred and fifty-two per cent over 1861,
exclusive of the relief given direct by employers, as also of all private
charity. The guardians employed a considerable number of the able-
bodied men on road making, and other out-door labour, in return for
relief; and it is only due to Lord Egerton of Tatton, to say that this
latter work was mainly on his land and at his expense, and that from
unsuccessful attempts by the central executive to get this kind of
employment extended from private sources, originated the first idea
of the Public Works Act. The distribution by the relief committee
+
152
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
was at this date wholly in kind, and apparently afforded entire satis-
faction. The expenditure up to June, 1862, had been £2,888. We
visited the union offices in May, 1862, and noticed the class of people
who were waiting for help. The usual recipients of poor-law relief
are the old and infirm, the sick and disabled, mingled with a few profli-
gates, who have lost all self-respect, and who don't care how they get
the means of living, so that it be not by working. But here were
hundreds of honest, sober, industrious, simple-minded men, who had
been used to regular work and could not be happy without it; but who
were driven by the sad necessity of want to do violence to their own
consciences, and for the sake of their wives and children to submit
to the ordeal of the poor-law guardians. It was a curious but a
mournful sight. The poor fellows shuffled along as if ashamed of
what they were doing; some of them, as they neared the place,
stopped and hesitated whether or not to proceed, until joined by
acquaintances; when, doing their best to keep one another in coun-
tenance, they would arrive at the offices together, take their places,
and wait their turns for audience. Meanwhile the conversation
would turn upon the latest news from America, and the probable
continuance or termination of the war; then they would gossip
about the condition of their neighbours who were not yet upon the
relief lists; joke about the sacrifice of furniture for food, and tell
how long the round table or the chest of drawers had served them
to live upon; but it was mournful mirth, such as the serio-comic
attempts to keep up the spirits of a funeral party, and it brought us
to the conclusion that no cripple or invalid could excite the amount
of pity or sympathy which must be felt for men who have the will
and the power but not the opportunity of earning their own bread.
The dependence of the cripple and the invalid we expect as a matter
of course, and we know that the chapter of accidents will always
supply new cases; they are inevitable, and benevolence is always
ready to supply their wants; but to see an army of workers, with
all the mental and bodily capacities for labour, made suddenly
powerless for self-help, is so contrary to the established order of
nature, as to excite emotions which defy expression in words, and
which will only be satisfied by prompt and vigorous action.
Mr. Commissioner Farnall, who visited Ashton in May, 1862,
reported as follows:-
STATE OF ASHTON.
153
“The union of Ashton-under-Lyne contains thirteen townships
within an area of thirty-eight thousand six hundred and fifty-
seven acres; its population numbers one hundred and thirty-four
thousand seven hundred and sixty-one persons; and its nett rate-
able value in 1856 was £285,357. The present weekly expenditure
of this union in out-door relief is £2,169, and the weekly cost of
in-maintenance, at the rate of three shillings per head per week, is
£79, making a total weekly expenditure in relief alone of £2,248,
which is at the rate of £116,896 per annum. The expenditure
of this union out of the poor-rates, for all other purposes than
relief, for the year ended Lady-day, 1861, was £10,712; this sum,
therefore, added to £116,896 spent in relief alone, makes a total
annual expenditure of £127,608. The nett ratable value of the
property in this union was in 1856, as I have already stated,
£285,357; the total present expenditure, therefore, is now at the
rate of eight shillings and elevenpence farthing in the pound on
that value; but it is necessary to make a deduction of twenty-five
per cent from the nett ratable value of £285,357 for irrecoverable
rates, empty property, &c.; and therefore the nett ratable value
is reduced to £214,017; so that the present expenditure is at the
rate of eleven shillings and elevenpence in the pound on that
value. I may mention that there are now thirty-two thousand
eight hundred and eighty-one persons receiving parochial relief in
this union; and that in the corresponding week of last year one
thousand nine hundred and sixty-two were so relieved; and further,
that the weekly cost of out-relief is now £2,168. 11s. 8d., while in
the corresponding week of last year it was £93. 8s. 2d. The pre-
sent percentage of pauperism on the population in this union is
244; in the corresponding week of last year it was 15. I will
now pass on to the township of Ashton-under-Lyne. This town-
ship contains a population of sixty-six thousand eight hundred and
six persons, and its present nett ratable value is £156,054; the
owners and occupiers of mills paying one-third of the poor-rates.
This township is now spending weekly in relief alone £1,189, being
an expenditure in relief alone at the rate of £61,828 per annum,
The expenditure of this township out of the poor-rates, for all
other purposes than relief, for the year ended Lady-day, 1861, was
£5,620; this sum, therefore, added to £61,828 spent in relief alone,
makes a total annual expenditure of £67,448. The present nett
154
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ratable value of this township is £156,054; the total present
expenditure, therefore, is now at the rate of eight shillings and
sevenpence three-farthings in the pound on that value; but it is
necessary to make a deduction of twenty-six per cent from the
nett ratable value of £156,054, for irrecoverable rates, empty
property, &c.; and therefore the nett ratable value is reduced to
£114,700, so that the present expenditure is at the rate of eleven
shillings and ninepence in the pound on that value. I may add
that there are now sixteen thousand seven hundred and sixty
persons receiving parochial relief in this township, and that the
percentage of pauperism on its population is 25·1. It is also
necessary to state that, independently of the sixteen thousand
seven hundred and sixty persons now receiving parochial relief, the
resident local committee of charity of the township of Ashton-
under-Lyne relieved last week two thousand six hundred and
twenty-six persons, who are not relieved out of the poor-rates, so
that the percentage of persons, aided by the poor-rates and by
charity, on the population of this township, is at present 29·9 per
cent; and I am obliged to add that the poverty of the township
is still increasing. Since Lady-day last, two poor-rates, each at
one shilling and sixpence in the pound, have been allowed and
collected in this township; these two rates should have produced
£21,727. 3s. 4d., but the distress in the township lessened this pro-
duct by £3,420. 5s. 8d., and consequently the treasurer's account is
overdrawn, and it has now become necessary to ask for another
rate of four shillings and sixpence in the pound, which should
produce £32,712. 3s. 6d.; but which, it is believed, will produce
only £24,000, a sum which it is hoped will meet the expenditure
of the township to Lady-day next. I have to state that the Rate
in Aid Act was brought into operation in this union by the board
of guardians at Michaelmas last, and that five townships within it
were then enabled to avail themselves of the provisions of the first
section of the Act adverted to, by transferring the excess of their
expenditure of ninepence in the pound, 'in and about relief,' on
their nett, ratable value, to the common fund of the whole union,
but that the township of Ashton-under-Lyne is not one of the five
townships referred to. I know that this union spent during the
week ended on Saturday last £2,346 in relief alone. Now, pre-
suming that this rate of expenditure shall have been
reached in
STATE OF ASHTON.
155
each week of the current quarter, it is clear that the expenditure
in relief alone will be, during the quarter, £30,498, or two shillings
and one penny three-farthings in the pound on the nett ratable
value of the whole union. I close this statement by saying that
the situation of Ashton-under-Lyne illustrates that of such places
as Preston, Blackburn, Stockport, and other similar localities; and
perhaps I may be permitted, even in this official communication, to
assure those benevolent persons in England and the colonies who are
now charitably aiding the Lancashire workpeople, that their sub-
scriptions are saving thousands of meritorious operatives and their
children, whose spirits are yet unbroken, from the necessity of
applying for parochial relief, and are, at the same time, attaching
to themselves a class of people whose present conduct is a guarantee
of their sterling goodness."
+4
CHAPTER X.
Origin of the Mansion House Fund-Letters of "A Lancashire Lad"-Deputation
to the Lord Mayor-Balance Sheet and List of Subscriptions.
*
IN The Times of April 14, 1862, appeared the first of a series of
letters from "A Lancashire Lad," pleading with true and simple
eloquence the cause of the distressed operatives. He said: “I am
living in the centre of a vast district where there are many cotton
mills, which in ordinary times afford employment to many
thousands of 'hands,' and food to many more thousands of
mouths. With very rare exceptions, quietness reigns at all those
mills.
It may be that our material atmosphere is
somewhat brighter than it was, but our social atmosphere is
much darker and denser. Hard times have come; and we have
had them sufficiently long to know what they mean. We have
fathers sitting in the house at mid-day, silent and glum, while
children look wistfully about, and sometimes whimper for bread
which they cannot have. We have the same fathers who, before
hard times came, were proud men, who would have thought
'beggar' the most opprobrious epithet you could have hit them
with; but who now are made humble by the sight of wife and
children almost starving, and who go before 'relief committees,'
and submit to be questioned about their wants with a patience
and humility which it is painful, almost shocking, to witness. And
some others of these fathers turn out in the morning with long
besoms as street sweepers, while others again go to breaking stones
in the town's yard or open road-side, where they are unprotected
from the keen east winds which add a little more to the burden of
misery which they have to bear just now. But harder even than
this, our factory women and girls have had to turn out; and plod-
ding a weary way from door to door, beg a bit of bread or a stray
copper that they may eke out the scanty supply at home. Only
•
LETTERS OF "A LANCASHIRE LAD."
* *
157
the other day, while taking a long stroll in the country lying about
the town in which I live, I met a few of these factory girls, and
was stopped by their not very beggar-like question of 'Con yo
help us a bit?' They were just such as my own sisters; and as I
saw and heard them I was almost choked as I fancied my sisters
come to such a pass as that. Con yo help us a bit?' asked these
factory girls.
I have heard of ladies whose whole lives
seem to be but a changing from one kind of pleasure to another;
who suffer chiefly from what they call ennui (a kind of disease from
which my sisters are not likely to suffer at all), and to whom a
new pleasure to enjoy would be something like what a new world
to conquer would be to Alexander. Why should they not hear our
Lancashire girls' cry of 'Con yo help us a bit?' Why should not
they be reminded that these girls in cotton gowns and wooden
clogs are wending their way towards the same heaven—or, alas,
towards the same hell-whither wend all the daughters of Eve,
no matter what their outer condition and dress? Why should not
they be asked to think how these striving girls have to pray daily,
'Lead us not into temptation,' while temptations innumerable stand
everywhere about them?
Those of us who are men
would rather do much than let our sisters go begging. May not
some of us take to doing more to prevent it? I remember some
poetry about the
*
*
*
Sister bloodhounds, Want and Sin,
and know that they hunt oftener together than singly. We have
felt the fangs of the first: upon how many of us will the second
pounce ?"
In a second letter inserted in The Times of April 22, 1862, the
same writer says: "Even during the short time which has elapsed
since I wrote last week many things have combined to show that
the distress is rapidly increasing, and that there is a pressing need
that we should go beyond the borders of our own county for help.
* * * I remember what I have read of the Godlike in man,
and I look with a strange feeling upon the half-famished creatures
I see hourly about me. I cannot pass through a street but I see
evidences of deep distress. I cannot sit at home half an hour
without having one or more coming to ask for bread to eat. But
what comes casually before me is as nothing when compared with
158
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
that deeper distress which can only be seen by those who seek it.
* * * There have been families who have been so reduced
that the only food they have had has been a porridge made of
Indian meal. They could not afford oatmeal; and even of their
Indian meal porridge they could only afford to have two meals
a-day. They have been so ashamed of their coarser food that they
have done all that was possible to hide their desperate state from
those about them. It has only been by accident that it has been
found out, and then they have been caught hurriedly putting away
the dishes which contained their loathsome food. A woman, whose
name I could give, and whose dwelling I could point to, was said
not only to be in deep distress, but to be also ill of fever. She was
visited. On entering the lower room of the house the visitors
saw that there was not a scrap of furniture; the woman, fever-
stricken, sat on an orange-box before a low fire; and to prevent
the fire from going quite out, she was pulling her seat to pieces for
fuel bit by bit. The visitors looked up stairs. There was no
furniture there only a bit of straw in a corner, which served as
the bed of the woman's four children. In another case a woman,
who was said to be too weak to apply for relief, was visited. Her
husband had been out of work a long time by reason of his illness;
he was now of a fashion recovered, and had gone off to seek for work.
He left his wife and three children in their cellar-home. The wife
was very near her confinement, and had not tasted food for two or
three days. * *
There are in this town some hundreds
of young single women who have been self-dependent, but who
are now entirely without means. Nearly all of these are good
English girls who have quietly fought their own life battle, but
who now have hard work to withstand the attacks this grim
poverty is making. I am told of a case in which one of these
girls was forced to become one of that class of whom poor Hood
sang in his 'Bridge of Sighs.' She was an orphan, had no rela-
tions here, and was tossed about from place to place till she found
her way to a brothel., Thank God, she has been rescued. Our
relief fund has been the means of relieving her from that degra-
dation; but cannot those who read my letter see how strong are
the temptations which their want places in the way of these poor
girls?"
It was not likely that such appeals, carrying conviction to the
DEPUTATION TO THE LORD MAYOR.
159
mind of every reader, would be long without response, and we learn
that, on 25th April, a number of city merchants, most of whom were
interested in the cotton manufacture, waited upon the Lord Mayor of
London, with a view to interest him, and through him the public at
large, in the wide-spread and increasing distress among the opera-
tive population in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire. The
"Lancashire Lad" had preceded the deputation, for he had written
direct to the lord mayor, and urged upon him to do for Lancashire
as he and former occupants of his office had done for other places
and other purposes, viz.,-to become the recipient of voluntary
contributions. With true modesty, he set forth the case thus:-
"Local means are nearly exhausted, and I am convinced that
if we have not help from without, our condition will soon be more
desperate than I or anyone else who possesses human feelings can
wish it to become. To see the homes of those whom we know and
respect, though they are but working men, stripped of every bit of
furniture-to see long-cherished books and pictures sent one by
one to the pawn shop, that food may be had—and to see that food
almost loathsome in kind, and insufficient in quantity, are hard,
very hard things to bear. But those are not the worst things. In
many of our cottage homes there is now nothing left by the pawning
of which a few pence may be raised, and the mothers and sisters
of we 'Lancashire lads' have turned out to beg, and ofttimes knock
at the doors of houses in which there is as much destitution as there
is in their own; while the fathers and the lads themselves think
they are very fortunate if they can earn a shilling or two by street
sweeping or stone breaking. * Will you not do for us what
you have done for others—become the recipient of whatever
moneys those who are inclined to help us may send to you?" The
lord mayor, having listened to the deputation, read them the per-
sonal appeal, and, "before separating, the deputation engaged to
form themselves into a provisional committee, to correspond with
any local one which circumstances might render it desirable to set on
foot in some central part of the distressed districts." Immediately
afterwards the lord mayor, on taking his seat in the justice room,
stated that “he was ready, with the assistance of the gentlemen of
the deputation, to act in the way desired.
He could
not himself take any part in the distribution. All he could do was
to be the medium of transmission, and as soon as he knew that
* *
*
160
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
:
I
4
some organisation had been formed, either in the great city of
Manchester, or in some other part of Lancashire, in which the public
might feel confidence, he should be ready to send the small sums
he had already received, and any others that might be entrusted to
him from time to time." And thus originated the first general
subscription for the cotton operatives, and which, before it closed,
reached the magnificent sum of £528,336. 9s. 9d. The first grants
were made 8th May, 1862, and grants were continued weekly until
6th June, 1865, when the committee adjourned to 3rd October, and
to each of the local relief committees a copy of the following
circular was sent:
"Mansion House, London, 6 June, 1865.
"To the local relief committee of
Gentlemen, I am directed by the Mansion House relief
committee to inform you that, after having been enabled (since
their formation in April, 1862) to forward, by the liberality of the
public, to the distressed cotton districts, through the medium of
some two hundred and sixty local relief committees, upwards of
half a million of money, in addition to large supplies of blankets
and clothing, they consider that the time has at length arrived
when the committee should suspend their labours, at least for the
summer months. Accordingly, it was resolved at a meeting of the
committee to-day, that notice should be given to the various local
relief committees, with which they have been so long in communi-
cation, that no further grants would be made; that the committee,
at their rising, should adjourn to Tuesday, the 3rd October next,
and that the small balance remaining in hand, viz., £9,222. 17s. 5d.,
should be invested in government securities till the 4th October next.
"In thanking you for the cordiality evinced by your committee
towards the Mansion House committee during our long corre-
spondence and connection, I remain, gentlemen, yours very truly,
"JOSEPH GIBBS, Secretary."
The last cash statement, made up to 5th June, was as follows:-
To amount of subscriptions
Dr.
ditto
ditto
""
for emigration
""
bank interest to 3rd May .
£522,904 3 5
1,060 11 1
4,371 15 3
Total receipts
£528,336 9 9
1
1
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
By remitted to Lancashire
ditto
ditto
"9
returned to parties
Cr.
special
£508,806 3 11
52 10 0
109 7 2
,, grants to emigration committees
4,836 15 0
£513,804 16 1
19
balance at Smith, Payne, & Smith's*
,, petty cash
10,152 17 5
disbursements
11
31 1 -0
4,347 15 3
14,531 13 8
£528,336 9 9
161
As in the subscriptions sent to Manchester, so in the Mansion
House fund, every part of the civilised world was represented, and
no less a sum than £183,031. 2s. 5d. was sent from the British
colonies or from foreign countries, and a list of these subscriptions
will no doubt be interesting to the reader.
LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE OPERATIVES RELIEF FUND.
A RETURN, SHOWING THE NAMES OF THE SEVERAL PLACES ABROAD WHICH SENT
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MANSION HOUSE RELIEF COMMITTEE, IN AID OF THE
above Fund, AND THE RESPECTIVE AMOUNT SENT FROM EACH PLACE.
Austria-
Belgrade
Smyrna
•
EUROPE.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
10 0 0
10 0 0
Trieste
122 12 8
Venice
Belgium-
Brussels
Bruges
Ostend
Channel Islands--
Guernsey
Jersey
Alderney
500
98 18 8
28 1 0
26 0 0
1,029 0 0
.509 3 2
5 0 0
Denmark-
Copenhagen
Schleswig
Carried forward
147 12 8
152 19 8
1,543 3 2
103 18 7
13 8 0
117 6 7
£1,961 2 1
* Grants to the amount of £930 were made from this balance on 6th June.
M
+
162
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
+
£ s. d.
£
France-
Paris
Lyons
<
Bagnares-en-Bagorre
Biarritz
Boulogne
Bordeaux
•
Brought forward
974 6 5
1,260 4 3
20 13 0
25 0 0
148 10 0
s. d.
1,961 2 1
133 10 3
Caen
Calais
Dinan
Dunkirk
•
Elboueff
Havre
Lille
14 0 0
76 4 6
32 14 2
10 0 0
500
22 0 3
175 10 4
Marseilles
54 6 9
Mentone
31 11 0
•
Nantes
10 0 0
Nice
673 0 0
Pau
45 1 1
St. Germain-en-Laye
St. Etienne
Tours
30 6 0
500
37 2 7
3,784 0 7
Germany-
Baden Baden
Heidelberg
Leipsic
35 14 2
7 15 0
5 3 5
Munich
23 16 5
Stuttgart
49 9 0
Wiesbaden
45 5 0
167 3 0
Gibraltar
924 3 3
Greece-
Athens and the Piræus
25 0 0
Holland-
Amsterdam
67 5 3
46 10 0
244 5 0
358 0 3
The Hague
Rotterdam
Ionian Islands-
Cephalonia
Cerigo
Corfu
Italy-
Bronte
Florence
Carried forward
7 1 4
9 1 6
20
0 0
36 2 10
300
507 15 4
510 15 4
£7,766 7 4
Italy (continued) —
Genoa
Leghorn
Messina
Milan
Naples
Palermo
Stettin
Sampierdarena
Malta
Portugal-
Lisbon
Oporto
Prussia —
Aix-la-Chapelle
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
163
£ s. d.
£
Brought forward
s. d.
7,766 7 4
42 19 3
56 5 9
92 15 6
43 11 0
153 0 0
175 0
0
2 2 0
20 0 0
585 13 6
97 6 11
602 0 0
178 10 0
780 10 0
30 3 8
20 0 0
Crefold
Creusnach
5 1 8
55 5 4
Russia-
St. Petersburg
969 13 4
Archangel
Cronstadt
33 6.8
23 11 2
Spain-
1,026 11 2
Bilboa
122 0 0
Grenada
64 4 3
Malaga
Sweden-
100 16 10
287 1 1
Stockholm
59 10 0
Gothenberg
157 13 5
217 3 5
Switzerland-
Basle
Geneva
Lausanne
La Ture
Lucerne
218 13 2
119 19 10
108 5 0
36 10 0
40 0 0
Montreaux
Zurich
128 13 1
143 2 11
795 4 0
Turkey-
Galatz, Ibraila, Toultcha, and Sulina
300 0 0
Aden
Beloochistan
ASIA.
35 9 8
40 0 0
Carried forward
£11,986 12 5
164
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Burmah-
Moulmein
Ceylon
China-
Amoy
Canton
Foo Chow
Hong Kong
Kew Kiang
Macao
Shanghai
Taku Forts
India-
Calcutta
Bombay
Madras
Bareilly
Bulundshuhur
Bangalore
Baroda
Cannanore
Gorrick pore
Hyderabad
Jeypore
Kurrachee
Lahore
Mhow
Negapatam
Oude
Peshawur
Puttiala
Rajpootana
Sanaweir
Saharumpore
Sealkote
Simla
+
Brought forward
•
•
£ s. d.
£
s. d.
11,986 12 5
62 0 0
1,587 0 10
664 11 8
503 4 0
423 19 2
6,492 11 9
249 2 6
50 0 0
4,834 13 7
119 1 4
.54,021 18 9
.39,329 11 9
7,772 7 8
·
2,956 0 8
78 7 7
90 9 10
95 15 0
38 9 0
71 17 7
24 6 5
20 0 0
866 7 11
19 19 9
77 4 0
23 7 0
20 0 0
500
1,979 13 4
5 0 0
20 0 0
5 15 7
27 0 0
202 8 6
13,337 4 0
Surat
Tutacorin
Japan-
Yokohama
Java-
Batavia
Luzon-
Manilla
Penang
516 2 5
25 0 0
108,292 2 9
572 0 0
514 6 6
518 5 10
1,286 19 6
.
Carried forward
£138,156 11 10
Persia-
Tabreez
Singapore
Turkey-
Bagdad
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
£ s. d.
£
Brought forward
122 13 2.
9 6 2
165
s. d.
138,156 11 10
35 8 0
1,233 19 4
Jerusalem
British Kaffraria
Cape Colony-
Cape Town
Cradock
Kalberg
Port Elizabeth
Natal-
AFRICA.
131 19 4
500 0 0
120 10 5
346 19 9
17 0 0
65 0 0
549 10 2
D'Urban
834 5 2
Pietermaritzburg
630 14 0
Queen's Town
Ascension Island
Egypt
Gambier River
Madeira
Mauritius
Morocco
56 13 0
1,521 12 2
37 6 5
1,000 0·0
200
50 0 0
72 17 7
133 5 7
10 0 0
Teneriffe
Canada-
Montreal
•
AMERICA, NORTH.
Toronto
Quebec
Almonte
Ancaster
Belville
•
7,032 15 2
5,229 16 6
2,622 12 10
97 18 0
153 6 0
140 3 0
Beckwith
81 9 0
•
Barrie
Beverley
Blanchard
Bowmanville
Brentford
Brockville
Buffalo and Lake Huron Railway
Carleton
•
Cavan
Coburg
Cornwall
Carried forward
50 7 2
144 19 6
13 0 9
68 17 5
20 5 5
129 7 8
161 17 8
199 11 2
29 0 0
326 4 9
118 18 9
16,620 10 9
£160,055 1 2
166
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Canada (continued)—
Dundas
Elgin
£ s. d.
Brought forward
£
ɛ. d.
160,055 1 2
139 2 10
470 0 0
Eranmosa
Garafrana
Goderich
Guelph
Haldinand
Hamilton
Hay and Huron
Kincardine
Kingston
Lambton
•
55 3 2
20 9 0
217 2 4
251 17 7
312 13 6
1,071 0 0
518 2
30 10 10
557 7 3
214 1 7
Lancaster
20 9 3
Leeds and Grenville
81 1 7
Nassau
46 0 0
Newcastle
24 11 5
202 16 0
Norfolk
Oakville
Ottawa
Owen Sound
Peterborough
Picton
Prescott
Prince Edward's County
Port Hope
Puislinch
Reach
25 0 0
300 0 0
83 4 0
498 12 6
100 0 0
10 0 0
200 0 0
141 0 0
103 13 0
32 18 8
>
St. Catherines
133 17 4
Sarnia
Seymour
Sherlock
Simcoe
76 5 7
6 0 0
83 18 1
523 12 3
56 1 7
Smith's Falls
Tilsonburg
Waterloo and Woolwich
Welland
•
West Iona
West Oxford
Whitby
Woodstock
Columbia, British
Victoria
Panaimo
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
11 0 10
94 13 9
30 6 0
21 6 1
24 3 0
•
94 10 2
204 17 3
1,174 15
1
Carried forward
76 7 3
101 0 5
13 7 6
7,940 14 10
£167,995 16 0
Canada (continued)—
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward's Island
Mexico-
Matamoras
Tampico
Mexico
United States-
New York
Milwaukie
New Orleans
West Indies----
Antigua
Bahamas
Barbadoes
Bermudas
Dominica
Hayti
Jamaica
St. Lucia
Trinidad
Argentine Republic
Brazil-
Bahia
St. John del Rey
British Guiana-
Berbice
Chili-
Copiapo
Costa Rica
Columbia-
Bogota
Falkland Islands
Panama-
Aspinwall
Paraguay——
Ascension
Peru-
Lima and Callao
Iquique
Uruguay-
Monte Video
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.
•
167
£ s. d.
Brought forward
£
8. d.
167,995 16 0
51 5 0
365 0 5
416 5 5
AMERICA, SOUTH.
•
158 10 11
135 G 0
16 0 0
145 0 0
10 0 0
500
101 16 8
1,079 19 4
168 3 11
39 14 6
5 0 0
515 11 6
620 1 0
16 11 9
5 0 0
309 10 11
160 0 0
2,551 18 8
10 0 0
174 11 0
56 10 2
231 1 2.
64 13 11
178 0 0
80 0 0
1,345 4 7
40 1 8
258 0 0
10 10 0
24 0 3
26 4 0
121 4 0
1,385 6 3
775 14 6
Carried forward
£174,340 5 1
168
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
£ s. d.
Brought forward
£ s. d.
174,340 5 1
AUSTRALASIA.
New South Wales-
Sydney
Queensland
Brisbane
Darling Downs
South Australia
Adelaide
Tasmania-
Hobart Town
Victoria-
Melbourne
Geelong
Western Australia-
Perth
New Zealand—
Auckland
Blenheim
Canterbury
Port Napier
Taranaki
New Caledonia
POLYNESIA.
MELANESIA.
:
191 17 0
218 17 7
26 3 0
245 0 7
3,992 11 0
872 0 0
365 0 0
43 7 2
571 18 6
48 5 9
1,213 0 0
2 0 0
365 13 2
408 7 2
776 5 5
2,200 17 5
3 18 9
£183,031 2 5
CHAPTER XI.
Origin of the Central Committee-Meeting in Manchester Town Hall-Reasons for
Doing Nothing-Proposal for Loans to the Poor-Meeting at Bridgewater House—
Revolution in Central Executive-Mr. Cobden on the Prospects of the Operatives-
Formation of a Collecting Committee-Character of the Manchester Subscrip-
tion—The Times and Professor Kingsley-The County Meetings-Lord Derby
the Advocate of the Helpless-The Bridgewater House Principle of Distribution
and High Poor Rates-How Rich Traders Escape the Poor Rate-The Man-
chester District Provident Society-The Rival Committees at Ashton-Various
Rates of Relief-Disciplinary Labour-Origin of the Adult Schools-The Aus-
tralian Fund Appropriated to Education-Misunderstanding in the Colony-
Effects of the Schools-Manual for Relief Committees-Tabular Return of School
Attendances.
ON 29th April, 1862, a meeting of gentlemen residents, called
by Thomas Goadsby, Esq., mayor of Manchester, was held in the
Town Hall of that city, to consider the propriety of forming a
relief committee. The general opinion expressed at the meeting
was that there was no necessity for any other than existing agen-
cies to deal with the distress, and a majority decided against
taking any action. The view of the gentlemen present appears
to have been confined to Manchester, including Salford, which, from
its cosmopolitan character, must always suffer less in commercial
crises than the surrounding towns, where the bulk of the popula-
tion is dependent upon the cotton manufacture. In Easter week
a great fair is annually held on Camp Field, in the west end of
Manchester, which is attended by all the holiday-makers of the
district, for many miles around. Theatrical booths, wild beast shows,
exhibitions of giants and dwarfs, tents for equestrian and acro-
batic performances, &c., &c., then fill the space upon which, in the
early annals of Britain, the soldiers of the Roman empire were
once encamped; the stalls of itinerant confectioners and toy
dealers occupy half the width of the main streets in the vicinity,
and the throng of visitors at night is frequently so great that a nim-`
ble acrobat would find no difficulty in running for half a mile upon
the shoulders of the people. The corporation of Manchester derives
170
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
considerable revenue from these street tenants of a week, and one
of the arguments for doing nothing used at the above-named
meeting was that "Knott Mill fair" had been very successful; and
another was that the rents of cottages owned by the speaker were
being very well paid. Persons removed to a distance, either by
space or time, are often better judges of events than those who are
on the spot, or who are engaged in the transactions under review.
The country was already alive to the troubles of Lancashire. The
newspaper press was urging all influential persons to immediate
exertion. The Lord Mayor of London had a fortnight before
announced his willingness to receive subscriptions, and money was
pouring into the Mansion House fund; whilst a meeting of influen-
tial gentlemen, in the centre of the distressed district itself, decided,
after due consideration, to do nothing. And the majority of the
meeting were earnest and conscientious in the decision to which
they came; their conclusion implied no want of sympathy in real
suffering, but simply a belief that the distress was not so great as
it was represented to be; that the agencies already at work were
sufficient for the occasion; and that certainly no outside help was
needed for Manchester. The editor of The Telegraph newspaper,
laudably anxious for a thorough knowledge of the state of affairs,
and anxious also to learn how his powerful pen could be made most
useful for help, is said to have found the spirit of independence in
Manchester Town Hall so strong that he, as an outsider, was scarcely
received with courtesy; nevertheless he appealed to his numerous
readers on behalf of the suffering poor, and afterwards made the
central executive his debtor, by remittances of £6,302. 12s. 6d. But
there were men in Manchester who saw farther than the majority
of the meeting; and who, as the dark cloud continued to gather,
resolved to make another effort.
In the course of one short month the mayor found himself
compelled to convene a second meeting; this time to consider the
propriety of adopting a scheme for loans to the unemployed oper-
atives. It was argued in the meeting that the independence of
the Lancashire character was so great that the workmen would
much more readily accept loans than donations; and that it was
most important to preserve this feature of self-reliance by lending
present help in a manner which would not pauperise. On the
other hand, it was. urged that manliness was much more likely to
•
MEETING AT BRIDGEWATER HOUSE.
171
be destroyed in men over-burdened with debt, than in those who
accepted a free gift to help them through a trouble which arose
from no fault of their own; and that it would be much better for
the future of such men, to let them start free from all unnecessary
incumbrances when trade revived. It is very likely that if the
proposers of loans had foreseen three and a half years suspension of
labour, they would have been startled at the magnitude of the neces-
sary accounts to be opened and managed; and would have given up
their project from the thorough hopelessness of repayment. There
were also advocates in this second meeting for the "do nothing"
policy, but they were outnumbered; and it was ultimately resolved
to adjourn for a week to give time for practical suggestions.
But the movers of the adjournment had already decided what to do ;
and in the interval the formation of a committee was announced,
with the name, but, as stated at the adjourned meeting, without
the authority, of Mr. J. W. Maclure for honorary secretary. This
list was composed principally of Manchester men, and to it were
afterwards added the mayors and ex-mayors of all the boroughs in
the cotton districts.
At the adjourned meeting, it was announced that ten Man-
chester gentlemen had subscribed £100 each towards a relief fund,
and that the incumbent of Cheltenham (the Rev. E. Walker, for-
merly of St. Jude's, Manchester) had made a collection in his
church, amounting to £384, for the same purpose. These subscrip-
tions settled the question as to the character of the fund to be
raised; but the resolution adopted by the meeting, although it
extended the care of the committee to the whole of the cotton
district, yet showed that they had still a very inadequate concep-
tion of the crisis, for it only engaged them to receive and distribute,
but not to collect, funds for the operatives. The London and pro-
vincial newspapers still urged energetic action, and on 19th July a
meeting was held in London of the noblemen and members of
parliament connected with Lancashire. This meeting, called at
the joint suggestion of Colonel Wilson Patten, M.P., and the Earl
of Derby, was held at Bridgewater House, and the subscription
originated in the room reached in five days the sum of £17,000,
and ultimately amounted to £52,000. Lord Derby was constituted
chairman, Colonel Patten, treasurer, and Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttle-
worth, honorary secretary of the committee. The Manchester
5
172
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
subscription, at this date, was about £30,000, collected by local
committees which were afterwards allied with the central execu-
tive, with the addition of sums voluntarily sent in without can-
vassing. Lord Derby immediately took an active interest in the
work, and, after some conversation with Mr. Maclure, in which
the desirableness of having only one principal relief committee was
discussed, it was arranged that if the executive at Manchester could
be reconstituted, so as to render it more influential, the Bridge-
water House committee would send its funds to Manchester for
distribution. A consultation with the committee which had been
formed at Liverpool led to a similar agreement, and the result
was that a new list for a central executive was drawn up, to which
the name of Mr. Farnall (the special commissioner of the poor-
law board) was afterwards added, at his own request, by Mr.
Maclure. The committee, as reconstituted, embraced noblemen
and gentlemen of every shade of religious and political opinion, but
they were all men of wealth and influence in their various localities.
When, at the next meeting of the general committee, the proposal
for re-organisation was made, with the statement that only on these
conditions could the co-operation of the Bridgewater House and
Liverpool committees be obtained, there was a general feeling that
some underhand influence had been at work to revolutionise the
executive; but the advantage of united action was so great, and the
necessity so pressing, that the dissatisfaction only found expression
in earnest whispers, and the resolution appointing the new executive
was passed unanimously. If at this time the general committee had
been formally dissolved, the working of the system of relief would
scarcely have been affected; for they had really and knowingly
superseded themselves, and could very seldom afterwards be said to
render any effective service. The business of general discussion was
now over, the time for active work was at hand; and the future
meetings of the general committee listened to the reports of thế
central executive very much as the House of Lords listens to money
bills, knowing that they must pass them whether they like them or
not; and very soon the attendances fell off, until practically the
meeting of the general committee was simply an adjournment of
the executive into another room to read over again their own pro-
ceedings; but with the mayor of Manchester, instead of Lord Elles-
mere, or his successor, Lord Derby, for chairman. Subscriptions
MR. COBDEN-PROSPECTS OF OPERATIVES.
173
in money and in kind poured rapidly in, but not so rapidly as in
the estimation of the best judges of the crisis was necessary for
the occasion.
There was one notable exception to the routine of the general
committee, when, at a special meeting (3rd November, 1862), Lord
Derby, in the absence of the mayor, being chairman, the late Mr.
Cobden attended, and recommended a bold appeal to the whole
country; declaring with prophetic keenness of vision that not less
than £1,000,000 would be required to carry the suffering operatives
through the crisis, whilst the subscriptions up to that date amounted
only to £180,000. On the motion for a vote of thanks to the
mayor of Manchester, who was retiring from the mayoralty-
Mr. Cobden, M.P., said: "Before that resolution is passed I
'will take the opportunity of making an observation. I have had
the honour of having my name added to this committee, and the
first thing I asked of my neighbour here was-'What are the func-
tions of the general committee?' And I have heard that they
amount to nothing more than to attend here once a month, and
receive the report of the executive committee as to the business
done and the distribution of the funds. I was going to suggest to
you whether the duties of the general committee might not be very
much enlarged-whether it might not be employed very usefully
in increasing the amount of subscriptions. I think all our experi-
ence must have taught us that, with the very best cause in the
world in hand, the success of a public subscription depends very
much upon the amount of activity in those who solicit it; and I
think, in order to induce us to make a general and national effort
to raise additional funds in this great emergency, it is only neces-
sary to refer to and repeat one or two facts that have been stated
in this report just read to us. I find it stated that it is estimated
that the loss of wages at present is at the rate of £136,094 per
week, and there is no doubt that the savings of the working classes
are almost exhausted. Now, £136,094 per week represents upwards
of £7,000,000 sterling per annum, and that is the rate at which
the deduction is now being made from the wages of labour in this
district. I see it stated in this report that the resources which
this committee can at present foresee that it will possess to relieve
this amount of distress are £25,000 a month for the next five
months, which is at the rate of £300,000 per annum; so that we
174
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
foresee at present the means of affording a relief of something less
than five per cent upon the actual amount of the loss of wages at
present incurred by the.working classes of this country. But I
need not tell honourable gentlemen present, who are so practically
acquainted with this district, that that loss of seven millions in
wages per annum is a very imperfect measure of the amount of
suffering and loss which will be inflicted on this community three
or four months hence. It may be taken to be £10,000,000; and
that £10,000,000 of loss of wages before the next spring is by no
means a measure of the loss this district will incur, for you must
take it that the capitalists will be incurring also a loss on their
fixed machinery and buildings; and though perhaps not so much
as that of the labourer, it will be a very large amount, and possibly,
in the opinion of some people, will very nearly approach it. That
is not all: Mr. Farnall has told us that at present the increase of
the rates in this district is at the rate of £10,000 per week. That
will be at the rate of half a million per annum, and, of course, if
this distress goes on, that rate must be largely increased, perhaps
doubled. This shows the amount of pressure which is threatening
this immediate district. I have always been of opinion that this
distress and suffering must be cumulative to a degree which few
people have ever foreseen, because your means of meeting the
difficulty will diminish just in proportion as the difficulty will
increase. Mr. Farnall has told us that one-third of the ratable
property will fall out of existence as it were, and future rates must
be levied upon two-thirds. But that will be by no means the
measure of the condition of things two or three months hence,
because every additional rate forces out of existence a large amount
of salable property, and the more you increase your rates the more
you diminish the area over which those rates are to be productive.
This view of the case has a very important bearing, also, upon the
condition of the shopkeeping class as well as the classes of mill-
owners and manufacturers who have not a large amount of floating
capital. There is no doubt but a very large amount of the shop-
keeping class are rapidly falling into the condition of the unem-
ployed labourers. When I was at Rochdale the other day I heard a
very sorrowful example of it. There was a poor woman who kept a
shop, and she was threatened with a distraint for her poor-rate. She
sold the Sunday clothes of her son to pay the poor-rate, and she
MR. COBDEN-PROSPECTS OF OPERATIVES.
received a relief-ticket when she went to leave her rate.
175
That is
a sad and sorrowful example, but I am afraid it will not be a soli-
tary one for a long time. Then you have the shopkeeping class
descending to the rank of the operatives. It must be so. With-
draw the custom of £7,000,000 per annum which has ceased to be
paid in wages from the shopkeepers, and the consequence must
present itself to any rational mind. We have then another class—
the young men of superior education employed in warehouses and
counting-houses. A great number of these will rapidly sink to
the condition in which you find the operative classes. All this will
add to the distress and the embarrassment of this part of the
kingdom. Now, to meet this state of things, you have the poor-
law relief, which is the only relief we can rely upon, except that
which comes from our own voluntary exertions. Well, but any
one who has read over this report of Mr. Farnall, just laid before
us, must see how inadequate this relief must be. It runs up from
one shilling and a halfpenny in the pound to one shilling and four-
pence or one shilling and fivepence; there is hardly one case in
which the allowance is as much as two shillings per week for each
individual—I won't call them paupers each distressed individual.
Now, there is one point to which I would wish to bring the atten-
tion of the committee in reference to this subject-it is a most im-
portant one in my appreciation. In ordinary times, when you give
relief to the poor, that relief being given when the great mass
of work people are in full employment, the measure of your relief
to an isolated family or two that may be in distress is by no means
the measure of the amount of their subsistence, because we all
know that in prosperous times, when the bulk of the working people
are employed, they are always kind to each other. The poor, in
fact, do more to relieve the poor than any other class. A working
man and his family out of employment in prosperous times could
get a meal at a neighbour's house, just as we, in our class, could
get a meal at a neighbour's house if it was a convenience to us in
making a journey. But recollect that now the whole mass of the
labouring and working population is brought down to one sad level
of destitution, and what you allow them from the poor-rates, and
what you allow them from these voluntary subscriptions, are actu-
ally the measure of all that they will obtain for their subsistence.
And that being so general, producing a great depression of spirits
176
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
as well as physical prostration, you are in great danger of the health
and strength of this community suffering, unless something more
be done to meet the case than I fear is yet provided for it. All
this brings me to this conclusion-that something more must be
done by this general committee than has been done to awaken the
attention of the public generally to the condition of this part of
the country. It is totally exceptional. The state of things has no
parallel in all history. It is impossible you could point out to me
another case, in which, in a limited sphere, such as we have in
Lancashire, and in the course of a few months, there has been a
cessation of employment at the rate of £7,000,000 sterling per
annum in wages. There has been nothing like it in the history
of the world for its suddenness, for the impossibility of dealing
with it, or managing it in the way of an effective remedy. Well,
the country at large must be made acquainted with these facts.
How is that to be done? It can only be by the diffusion of
information from this central committee. An appeal must be
made to the whole country if this great destitution is to be
met in any part by voluntary aid. The nation at large must
be made fully acquainted with the exigency of the case, and
we must be reminded that a national responsibility rests upon
us. I will, therefore, suggest that this general committee should
be made a national committee, and we shall then get rid of
this little difficulty with the lord mayor. We shall want all the co-
operation of the lord mayor and the city of London, and I say that
this committee, instead of being a Manchester or Lancashire
central committee, should be made a national committee; that
from this should go forth invitations to all parts of the country,
beginning with the lords-lieutenant, inviting them to be vice-
presidents of this committee. Let the noble lord continue to be
at the head of the general committee-the national committee-
and invite every mayor to take part. We are going to have new
mayors in the course of the week, and, though I am sorry to lose
our present one, yet when new mayors come in they may be
probably more ready to take up a new undertaking than if they
had just been exhausted with a year's labour. Let every mayor
in the kingdom be invited to become a member of this committee.
Let subscription circulars be despatched to them asking them to
organise a committee in every borough; and let there be a
MR. COBDEN-PROSPECTS OF OPERATIVES.
>
177
secretary and honorary secretary employed. Through these bodies
you might communicate information, and counteract those mis-
representations that have been made with regard to the condition
of this district. You might, if necessary, send an ambassador to
some of those more important places; but better still if you could
induce them to send some one here to look into the state of things
for themselves; because I am sure if they did, so far from finding
the calumnies that have been uttered against the propertied classes
in this county being well founded, they would find instances—and
not a few-of great liberality and generosity, such as I think
would surprise any one who visited this district from the southern
part of the kingdom. This would only be done by an active effort
from the centre here, and I submit that we shall not be doing
justice to this effort unless we give to the whole country an oppor-
tunity of co-operating in that way, and throw upon every part of
the kingdom a share of the responsibility of this great crisis and
emergency. I submit that there is every motive why this
community, as well as the whole kingdom, should wish to preserve
this industrious population in health and in the possession of their
energies. There is every motive why we should endeavour to
keep this working population here rather than drive them away
from here, as you will do if they are not sufficiently fed and
clothed during the next winter. They will be wanted again if
this district is to revive as we all hope and believe it will revive.
Your fixed capital here is of no use without the population. It is
of no use without your raw material. Lancashire is the richest
county in the kingdom when its machinery is employed; it is the
poorest county in the kingdom when its machinery and fixed
capital are paralysed, as at present. Therefore, I say it is the
interest not only of this community but of the kingdom that this
population should be preserved for the time—I hope not a distant
time, whẹn the raw material of their industry will be supplied to
this region. I submit then to the whole kingdom-this district as
well as the rest-that it will be advisable, until parliament meets,
that such an effort should be made as will make a national subscrip-
tion amount probably to £1,000,000. Short of that it would be
utterly insufficient for the case; and I believe that with an ener-
getic appeal made to the whole country, and an effort organised
such as I have indicated, such an amount might be raised.”
N
178
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
At a meeting of the central executive, held at the close of the
general meeting, and at which Lord Derby also presided—
"The honorary secretary (Mr. Maclure) reported that cheques
for the amounts voted at the last meeting had been forwarded to
the various districts and duly acknowledged, and that the amount
received and promised during the past week was £9,175. 8s. 9d.
Letters had also been received from the bishops of Durham
and Hereford enclosing copies of letters to their clergy. The
clothing sub-committee had met and ordered the despatch of
all clothing specially consigned, and voted forty thousand articles
to the various district committees. The sub-committee for the
division of the district had also met and carried out the duty
intrusted to it. In order to prepare the report, the hon. secretary
stated that he had issued circulars to every board of guardians and
relief committee in the district, and he was therefore confident in
stating that the figures given in the report were reliable as a
correct return for the week ending October 25. In addition to
the twenty-four unions referred to, he regretted to find that in
four other small unions distress was becoming very severe, as
compared with the corresponding week last year. In The Fylde
there was an increase of two hundred and nine; Garstang, two
hundred and eighty-three; Hayfield, three hundred and thirty-
six; Saddleworth, one thousand five hundred and eight recipients
of relief. The honorary secretary further stated that he had received
three thousand needles from Messrs. John James and Son, of Red-
ditch, and also a letter from the Rev. E. Walker, of Cheltenham,
who sent the first amount to this fund, stating that a second collec-
tion had been made, at the request of the bishop of Bath and
Wells, in that town, amounting to £1,076. 1s. 7d.”
It thus appears that the central executive were slowly awaken-
ing to the necessity of some more active effort, and the minutes
show that they had already written to the lords-lieutenant of Lan-
cashire and Cheshire with a view to county meetings; and it was
at that time hoped that an appeal to these two counties would be
sufficient. They had already adopted the plan of deprecating public
discussion; they were for doing everything quietly, and although
they were often far from unanimous, and sometimes even not very
courteous amongst themselves, all which came before the public
was the act of the committee, and appeared to have been adopted
FORMATION OF A COLLECTING COMMITTEE.
179
1
unanimously. But Mr. Cobden was not in their secrets; he had
not been, informed of what was done or doing, and spoke only in
accordance with a rapidly growing feeling that it was quite time
to put off the genteel and to go thoroughly and earnestly to work.
The speech of Mr. Cobden fairly roused the general committee, but as
there was no question before the meeting, except the formal vote of
thanks to the mayor, and as no previous arrangement had been made
for a motion, each one looked round upon the others when he sat
down, and in the confusion which ensued, Lord Derby vacated the
chair. This incident was treated in one of the local papers as an
intentional discourtesy to Mr. Cobden, and brought forth an earnest
disclaimer from the noble lord at the next meeting, when, also in
accordance with Mr. Cobden's suggestion, a collecting committee,
with power to add to its number, was appointed. Manchester was
then divided into districts and apportioned for canvassing; and by
the end of January, 1863, there had been collected, in Manchester
and Salford, by this and the various local committees, not less than
£130,000. It was at last really felt that if the people were to be saved
from famine and pestilence, a great effort was necessary; that if Man-
chester did not need help from without, it had a duty to perform
to the smaller places, whose industry continually enriched its mer-
chants and traders; and the effort was made, and was nobly re-
sponded to. Never were donations so freely or so generally given.
Men accustomed to the sneers and excuses which are commonly inci-
dent to begging, in however good a cause, were astonished; for they
found themselves very generally thanked for having undertaken the
duty, and were everywhere encouraged to persevere. And it was not
so much the amount of money immediately realised, as the character
of the gifts which was most worthy of remark. In very many cases
the donations were not in a lump sum, but with a proper apprecia-
tion of the uncertain term of the pressure, monthly subscriptions
were announced, to last as long as the necessity existed. And if the
general public had been less liberal, these Manchester subscriptions
would have realised a much larger sum; for the income from this
source was very considerable, when the conclusion was arrived at
that the fund did not need further active exertion. During the win-
ter of 1862-3 a ladies' committee was formed in Manchester, with the
wife of the ex-mayor (Alderman Goadsby) at its head; and a special
fund was raised, to release from pawn the clothes of the almost
180
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
naked operatives, who had been forced to part with every spare
garment for food; and hundreds of poor families found themselves
unexpectedly provided against the inclement wintry weather from
this source. Many leading articles in The Times newspaper were
devoted to the advocacy of general subscriptions throughout the
country, combining at the same time severe animadversions upon
the manufacturers and merchants of Lancashire, who, it was de-
clared, were shirking their duty; whilst the Rev. Professor Kingsley
occupied the correspondence columns of that paper by comparisons of
the amounts of poor-rate paid in Lancashire and the towns of Wes-
sex, and pointed to a heavier poor-rate as the proper mode of relief.
He joined also in the charges against the manufacturers and mer-
chants, and said that the people of Wessex would give, in order to
keep the Lancashire operatives from starvation, but they would
give grudgingly, and as feeling that they were performing the
duties of others. These articles were copied and commented upon
by local papers throughout the kingdom, and led to much corre-
spondence with places where there was a willingness to help, but
also a desire to be satisfied that the help given would not simply
save the pockets of those upon whom the duty was more direct.
Deputations from Manchester were asked for, to attend public
meetings for the origination of subscriptions, and gentlemen were
sent to Marylebone, to Bath, to Newcastle-on-Tyne, to Stoke-upon-
Trent, and other places, which course gave almost unanimous
satisfaction, and resulted in every case in large subscriptions. And
here it may be proper to say, that from the commencement to the
close of the work of the central committee, notwithstanding that
deputations were very numerous and travelling expenses very
heavy, not one penny of the funds intrusted for distribution amongst
the poor was ever abstracted for these purposes.
A considerable number of county meetings were held, in
compliance with the request of the collecting committee; and
there was scarcely a borough or parish in the kingdom in which
the wealthy and the patriotic did not freely respond to the cry
of distress. Of course the meeting of the county of Lancaster
was looked forward to with great interest, and its delay till the 2nd
December, provoked many an ill-natured sneer, and sharpened many
of the arrows which anonymous writers let fly at the "wealthy and
neglectful residents who were shirking their manifest duty in the
LORD DERBY.
181
midst of this dire distress." It certainly seems a difficult matter
to explain why this meeting should have been so long delayed; why
the rich men who, if at home, could not pass a day without hearing
the wail of the breadless, should not earlier have been called
upon to set an example of liberality and philanthropy; but it is
cheering to know that after the meeting did take place, no more
was heard of Lancashire failing in its duty. The thirteen hundred
circulars issued by Earl Sefton, the lord-lieutenant, brought
together such a gathering of rank, and wealth, and influence, as is
not often to be witnessed; and the eloquent advocate of class distinc-
tions and aristocratic privileges (the Earl of Derby) became on that
day the powerful and successful representative of the poor and
helpless. Called upon by the chairman, the Earl of Derby said:
"My Lord Sefton, my Lords and Gentlemen,-We are met
together upon an occasion which must call forth the most painful,
and at the same time ought to excite, and I am sure will excite,
the most kindly feelings of our human nature. We are met to
consider the best means of palliating—would to God that I could
say removing!—a great national calamity, the like whereof in
modern times has never been witnessed in this favoured land—a
calamity which it was impossible for those who are the chief
sufferers by it to foresee, or if they had foreseen to have taken any
steps to avoid-a calamity which, though shared by the nation at
large, falls more peculiarly and with the heaviest weight upon this
hitherto prosperous and wealthy district—a calamity which has
converted this teeming hive of industry into a stagnant desert of
compulsory inaction and idleness-a calamity which has converted
that which was the source of our greatest wealth into the deepest
abyss of impoverishment-a calamity which has impoverished the
wealthy, which has reduced men of easy fortunes to the greatest
straits, which has brought distress upon those who have hitherto
been somewhat above the world by the exercise of frugal industry,
and which has reduced honest and struggling poverty to a state of
absolute and humiliating destitution. Gentlemen, it is to meet
this calamity that we are met together this day to add our means
and our assistance to those efforts which have been so nobly made
throughout the country generally, and, I am bound to say, in this
county also, as I shall prove to you before I conclude my remarks.
Gentlemen, I know how impossible it is by any figures to convey
182
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
an idea of the extent of the destitution which now prevails, and I
know also how impatient large assemblies are of any extensive use
of figures, or even of figures at all; but, at the same time, it is
impossible for me to lay before you the whole state of the case, in
opening this resolution and asking you to resolve with regard to
the extent of the distress which now prevails, without trespassing
on your attention by a few, and they shall be a very few, figures,
which shall show the extent if not the pressure throughout this dis-
trict of the present distress. And, gentlemen, I think I shall best
give you an idea of the amount of distress and destitution which
prevails by very shortly comparing the state of things which existed
in the districts to which I refer in the month of September, 1861,
as compared with the month of September, 1862, and with that
again only about two weeks ago, which is the latest information we
have-up to the 22nd of last month. I find then, gentlemen, that
in a district comprising, in round numbers, two million inhabitants-
for that is about the number in that district-in the fourth week
of September, 1861, there were forty-three thousand five hundred
persons receiving parochial relief; in the fourth week of Septem-
ber, 1862, there were one hundred and sixty-three thousand four
hundred and ninety-eight persons receiving parochial relief; and
in the short space which elapsed between the last week of September
and the third week of November the number of one hundred and
sixty-three thousand four hundred and ninety-eight had increased to
two hundred and fifty-nine thousand three hundred and eighty-five
persons. Now, gentlemen, let us in the same periods compare the
amount which was applied from the parochial funds to.the relief
of pauperism. In September, 1861, the amount so applied was
£2,259; in September, 1862, it was £9,674. That is by the week.
What is now the amount? In November, 1862, it was £17,681
for the week. The proportion of those receiving parochial relief
to the total population was two and three-tenths per cent in Sep-
tember, 1861, and eight and five-tenths per cent in September,
1862, and that had become thirteen and five-tenths per cent in
the population in November, 1862. Here, therefore, is thirteen
per cent of the whole population at the present moment depend-
ing for their subsistence upon parochial relief alone. Of these two
hundred and fifty-nine thousand-I give only round numbers-there
were thirty-six thousand eight hundred old or infirm; there were
LORD DERBY.
183
nearly ninety-eight thousand able-bodied adults receiving parochial
relief, and there were under sixteen years of age nearly twenty-four
thousand persons. But it would be very far from giving you an esti-
mate of the extent of the distress if we were to confine our
observations to those who are dependent upon parochial relief
alone. We have evidence from the local committees, whom we
have extensively employed, and whose services have been invalu-
able to us, that of persons not relieved from the poor-rates there
are relieved also by local committees no fewer in this district than
one hundred and seventy-two thousand persons-making a total
of four hundred and thirty-one thousand three hundred and
ninety-five persons out of two millions, or twenty-one and seven-
tenths per cent on the whole population—that is, more than
one in every five persons depend for their daily existence
either upon parochial relief or public charity. Gentlemen, I have
said that figures will not show sufficiently the amount of distress;
nor, in the same manner, will figures show, I am happy to say, the
amount that has been contributed for the relief of that distress.
But let us take another test; let us examine what has been the
result, not upon the poor who are dependent for their daily bread
upon their daily labour, and many of whom are upon the very
verge of pauperism, from day to day, but let us take a test of what
has been the effect upon the well-to-do artisan, upon the frugal,
industrious, saving men, who have been hitherto somewhat above
the world, and I have here but an imperfect test, because I am
unable to obtain the whole amount of deposits withdrawn from
the savings banks, the best of all possible tests, if we could
carry the account up to the present day; but I have only been
able to obtain it to the middle of June last, when the dis-
tress could hardly be said to have begun, and yet I find from seven
savings banks alone in this county in six months-and those months
in which the distress had not reached its present height, or any-
thing like it-there was an excess of withdrawals of deposits
over the ordinary average to the amount of £71,113. This was
up to June last, when, as I have said, the pressure had hardly
commenced, and from that time it has been found impossible to
obtain from the savings banks, who are themselves naturally unwil-
ling to disclose this state of affairs-it bas been found impossible to
obtain such further returns as would enable us to present to you
184
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
any proper estimate of the excess of withdrawals at present; but
that they have been very large must necessarily be inferred from
the great increase of distress which has taken place since the large
sum I have mentioned was obtained from the banks, as represent-
ing the excess of ordinary withdrawals in June last. Now, gentle-
men, figure to yourselves, I beg of you, what a state of things that
sum of £71,113, as the excess of the average withdrawals from the
savings banks represents; what an amount of suffering does it
· picture; what disappointed hopes; what a prospect of future dis-
tress does it not bring before you for the working and industrious
classes? Why, gentlemen, it represents the blighted hopes for life
of many a family. It represents the small sum set apart by honest,
frugal, persevering industry, won by years of toil and self-denial,
in the hope of its being, as it has been in many cases before, the
foundation even of colossal fortunes which have been made from
smaller sums.
It represents the gradual decay of the hopes for his
family of many an industrious artisan. The first step in that
downward progress which has led to destitution and pauperism is
the withdrawal of the savings of honest industry, and that is repre-
sented in the return which I have quoted to you. Then comes
the sacrifice of some little cherished article of furniture, the cutting
off of some little indulgence-the sacrifice of that which gave his
home an appearance of additional comfort and happiness-the
sacrifice gradually, one by one, of the principal articles of furniture,
till at last the well conducted, honest, frugal, saving workingman
finds himself on a level with the idle, the dissipated, and the im-
provident obliged to pawn the very clothes of his family-nay,
the very bedding on which he lies, to obtain the simple means of
subsistence from day to day, and encountering all that difficulty
and all that distress with the noble independence that would do
anything rather than depend upon public or even on private charity,
and in his own simple but emphatic language declaring, 'Nay,
but we'll clem first.' And, gentlemen, this leads me to observe
upon a more gratifying point of view, that is, the noble manner, a
manner beyond all praise, in which this destitution has been borne
by the population of this great county. It is not the case of ordi-
nary labourers who find themselves reduced a trifle below their
former means of subsistence, but it is a reduction in the pecuniary
comfort, and almost necessaries, of men who have been in the
}
LORD DERBY.
185
habit of living, if not in luxury, at least in the extreme of comfort
-a reduction to two shillings and three shillings a week from
sums which had usually amounted to twenty-five shillings, or thirty
shillings, or forty shillings; a cutting off of all their comforts, cut-
ting off all their hopes of future additional comfort, or of rising in
life—aggravated by a feeling, an honourable, an honest, but at the
same time a morbid feeling, of repugnance to the idea of being
indebted under these circumstances to relief of any kind or descrip-
tion. And I may say that, among the difficulties which have been
encountered by the local relief committees-no doubt there have
been many of those not among the most deserving who have been
clamorous for the aid held out to them-but one of the great diffi-
culties of local relief committees has been to find out and relieve
struggling and really distressed merit, and to overcome that feeling
of independence which, even under circumstances like these, leads
them to shrink from being relieved by private charity. I know
that instances of this kind have happened; I know that cases have
occurred where it has been necessary to press upon individuals,
themselves upon the point of starvation, the necessity of accepting
this relief; and from this place I take the opportunity of saying,
and I hope it will go far and wide, that in circumstances like the
present, discreditable as habitual dependence upon parochial relief
may be, it is no degradation, it is no censure, it is no possible cause
of blame, that any man, however great his industry, however high
his character, however noble his feeling of self-dependence, should
feel himself obliged to have recourse to that Christian charity
which I am. sure we are all prepared to give. Gentlemen, I might,
perhaps, here, as far as my resolution goes, close the observations
I have to make to you. The resolution I have to move, indeed, is
one which calls for no extensive argument, and a plain statement
of facts, such as that I have laid before you, is sufficient to obtain
for it your unanimous assent. The resolution is-
"That the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and the
adjoining counties are suffering from an extent of destitution
happily hitherto unknown, which has been borne by the working
classes with a patient submission and resolution entitling them to
the warmest sympathy of their fellow-countrymen.'
"But, gentlemen, I cannot, in the first place, lose the oppor-
tunity of asking this great assembly with what feelings this state
186
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMIN E.
t
;
of things should be contemplated by us who are in happier circum-
stances. Let me say with all reverence that it is a subject for
deep national humiliation, and above all, 'for deep humiliation for
this great county. We have been accustomed for years to look
with pride and complacency upon the enormous growth of that
manufacture which has conferred wealth upon so many thousands,
and which has so largely increased the manufacturing population
and industry of this country. We have seen within the last twelve
or fourteen years the consumption of cotton in Europe increase
from fifty thousand to ninety thousand bales a week; we have
seen the weight of cotton goods exported from this country in the
shape of yarn and manufactured goods amount to no less than
nine hundred and eighty-three million pounds in a single year. We
have seen, in spite of all opposing circumstances, this trade con-
stantly and rapidly extending; we have seen colossal fortunes made
and we have as a county, perhaps, been accustomed to look down
on those less fortunate districts whose wealth and fortunes were
built upon a less secure foundation; we have reckoned upon this
great manufacture as the pride of our country, and as the best
security against the possibility of war, in consequence of the mutual
interest between us and the cotton-producing districts. We have
held that in the cotton manufacture was the pride, the strength,
and the certainty of our future national prosperity and peace.
I am afraid we have looked upon this trade too much in the
spirit of the Assyrian monarch of old. We have said to our-
selves-'Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the
house of my kingdom by the might of my power, and for the
honour of my majesty? But in the hour in which the monarch
used these words, the word came forth, Thy kingdom is departed
from thee!' That which was his pride became his humiliation;
that which was our pride has become our humiliation and our
punishment. That which was the source of our wealth—the sure
foundation on which we built has become itself the instrument of
our humiliating poverty, which compels us to appeal to the charity
of other counties. The reed upon which we leaned has gone
through the hand that reposed on it and has pierced us to the
heart. But, gentlemen, we have happier and more gratifying
subjects. of contemplation. I have pointed to the moble conduct
which must make us proud of our countrymen in the manufacturing
'
LORD DERBY.
187
districts; I have pointed to the noble and heroic submission to
difficulties they could never foresee and privations they never
expected to encounter; but, again, we have another feeling which
I am sure will not be disappointed, which the country has nobly
met—that this is an opportunity providentially given to those
who are blessed with wealth and fortune to show their sympathy-
their practical, active, earnest sympathy-with the sufferings of
their poorer brethren, and, with God's blessing, used as I trust by
God's blessing it will be, it may be a link to bind together more
closely than ever the various classes in this great community, to
satisfy the wealthy that the poor have a claim, not only to their
money but to their sympathy-to satisfy the poor also that the
rich are not overbearing grinding tyrants, but men like themselves,
who have hearts to feel for suffering, and are prompt to use the
means God has given to them for the relief of that suffering.
Gentlemen, a few words more, and I will not further trespass on
your attention. But I feel myself called on, as chairman of that
executive committee to which my noble friend in the chair has
paid so just a compliment, to lay before you some answer to
objections which have been made, and which in other counties, if
not in this, may have a tendency to check the contributions which
have hitherto so freely flowed in. Before doing so, allow me to say
(and I can do it with more freedom because in the earlier stages
of its organisation I was not a member of that committee) it is
bare justice to them to say that there never was an occasion on
which greater or more earnest efforts were made to secure that
the distribution of those funds entrusted to them should be
guarded against all possibility of abuse, and be distributed
without the slightest reference to political or religious opinions;
distributed with the most perfect impartiality, and in every
locality, through the instrumentality of persons in whom the
neighbourhood might repose entire confidence. Such has been
our endeavour, and I think to a great extent we have been suc-
cessful. I may say that although the central executive committee
is composed of men of most discordant opinions in politics and
religion, nothing for a single moment has interfered with the
harmony-I had almost said with the unanimity-of our proceed-
ings. There has been nothing to produce any painful feelings
among us, nor any desire on the part of the representatives of
188
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
different districts to obtain an undue share for the districts they
represented from the common fund. But there are three points
on which objection has been taken to the course we have adopted.
One has been that the relief we have given has not been given
with a sufficiently-liberal hand; the next and I think I shall
show you that these two are inconsistent, the one answering the
other—is that there has not been a sufficient pressure on the local
rates; and the third is, that Lancashire has not hitherto done its
duty with reference to the subscriptions from other parts of the
country. Allow me a few words on each of these subjects. First,
the amount to which we have endeavoured to raise our subscrip-
tions has been to the extent of from two shillings to two shillings
and sixpence weekly per head; in this late cold weather an addi-
tional sixpence has been provided, mainly for coal and clothing.
Our endeavour has been to raise the total income of each individual
to at least two shillings or two shillings and sixpence a week. Now,
I am told this is a very inadequate amount, and no doubt it is an
amount very far below that which many of the recipients were in the
habit of obtaining. But in the first place I think there is some
misapprehension when we speak of the sum of two shillings a week.
If anybody supposes that two shillings a week is the maximum to
each individual he will be greatly mistaken. Two shillings a head
per week is the sum we endeavoured to arrive at as the average
receipt of every man, woman, and child receiving assistance; con-
sequently a man and his wife with a family of three or four small
children would receive not two shillings, but ten or twelve shillings
from the fund-an amount not far short of that which in pros-
perous times an honest and industrious labourer in other parts of
the country would obtain for the maintenance of his family. I am
not in the least afraid that if we had fixed the amount at four
shillings or five shillings per head, such is the liberality of the
country, we should not have had sufficient means of doing so.
But were we justified in doing that? If we had raised their income
beyond that of the labouring man in ordinary times, we should
have gone far to destroy the most valuable feeling of the manu-
facturing population-namely, that of honest self-reliance, and we
should have done our best, to a great extent, to demoralise a
large portion of the population, and induce them to prefer the
wages of charitable relief to the return of honest industry. But
LORD DERBY.
189
then we are told that the rates are not sufficiently high in the
distressed districts, and that we ought to raise them before they
come on the fund. In the first place, we have no power to compel
the guardians to raise the rates beyond that which they think suf-
ficient for the maintenance of those to be relieved, and, naturally
considering themselves the trustees of the ratepayers, they are
unwilling, and, indeed, ought not to raise the amount beyond that
which is called for by absolute necessity. But suppose we had
raised the relief from our committee very far beyond the amount
thought sufficient by the guardians, what would have been the
inevitable result? Why, that the rates which it is desired to
charge more heavily would have been relieved, because persons
would have taken themselves off the poor-rates, and placed them-
selves on the charitable committee, and therefore the very object
these objectors have in view in calling for an increase of our dona-
tions would have been defeated by their own measure. I must
say, however, honestly speaking all I feel, that, with regard to the*
amount of rates, there are some districts which have applied to us
for assistance which I think have not sufficient pressure on their
rates. Where I find, for example, that the total assessment on the
nett ratable value does not exceed ninepence or tenpence in the
pound, I really think such districts ought to be called upon to
increase their rates before applying for extraneous help. But we
have urged as far as we could urge-we have no power to command
the guardians to be more liberal in the rate of relief, and to that
extent to raise the rates in their districts. And now a word on
the subject of raising rates, because I have received many letters
in which it has been said that the rates are nothing-' they are
only three shillings or four shillings in the pound, while we in the
agricultural districts are used to six shillings in the pound. We
consider that no extraordinary rate, and it is monstrous,' they say,
'that the accumulated wealth of years in the county of Lancashire
should not more largely contribute to the relief of its own distress.'
I will not enter into an argument as to how far the larger amount
of wages in the manufacturing districts may balance the smaller
amount of wages and the larger amount of poor-rates in the agri-
cultural districts. I don't wish to enter into any comparison; I
have seen many comparisons of this kind made, but they were full
of fallacies from one end to the other. I will not waste your time
190
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
#
by discussing them; but I ask you to consider the effect of a sud-
den rise of rates as a charge upon the accumulated wealth of a
district. It is not the actual amount of the rates, but it is the
sudden and rapid increase of the usual rate of the rates that
presses most heavily on the ratepayers. In the long run the rates
must fall on real property, because all bargains between owner
and occupier are made with reference to the amount of rates to
be paid, and in all calculations between them that is an element
which enters into the first agreement. But when the rate is sud-
denly increased from one shilling to four shillings, it does not fall
on the accumulated wealth or on the real property, but it falls on
the occupier, the ratepayer-men the great bulk of whom are at
the present moment themselves struggling upon the verge of pau-
perism. Therefore, if in those districts it should appear to persons
accustomed to agricultural districts that the amount of our rates
was very small, I would say to them that any attempt to increase
those rates would only increase the pauperism, diminish the num-
ber of solvent ratepayers, and greatly aggravate the distress. In
some of the districts I think the amount of the rates quite suffi-
cient to satisfy the most ardent advocate of high rates. For
example, in the town of Ashton they have raised in the course of
the year one rate of one shilling and sixpence, another of one
shilling and sixpence, and a third of four shillings and sixpence,
which it is hoped will carry them over the year. They have also,
in addition to these rates, drawn largely on previous balances, and
I am afraid have largely added to their debt. The total of what
has been or will be expended, with a prospect of even a great
increase, in that borough exceeds eleven shillings and elevenpence
in the pound for the relief of the poor alone. And, gentlemen,
this rate of four shillings and sixpence about to be levied, which
ought to yield about £32,000, it is calculated will not yield £24,000.
In Stockport the rate is even higher, being twelve shillings or more
per pound, and there it is calculated that at the next levy the
defalcations will be at least forty per cent, according to the calcu-
lation of the poor-law commissioner himself. To talk, then, of
raising rates in such districts as these would be absolute insanity;
and even in districts less heavily rated any sudden attempt consi-
derably to increase the rate would have the effect of pauperising
those who are now solvent, and to augment rather than diminish
E 1
*
LORD DERBY.
191
the distress of the district. The last point on which I would make
an observation relates to the objection which has been taken to
our proceedings, on the ground that Lancashire has not done its
duty in this distress, and that consequently other parts of the
country have been unduly called on to contribute to that which I
don't deny properly and primarily belongs to Lancashire. Gentle-
men, it is very hard to ascertain with any certainty what has been
done by Lancashire, because, in the first place, the amount of local
subscriptions and the amount of public contributions by them-
selves give no fair indication of that which really has been done
by public or private charity. I don't mean to say that there are
not individuals who have grossly neglected their duty in Lanca-
shire. On the other hand, we know there are many, though I am
not about to name them, who have acted with the most princely
munificence, liberality, and generous feeling, involving an amount
of sacrifice of which no persons out of this county can possibly
have the slightest conception. I am not saying there are not
instances of niggard feeling, though I am not about to name them,
which really it was hardly possible to believe could exist. Will
you forgive me if I trespass for a few moments by reading two or
three extracts from confidential reports made to us every week
from the different districts by a gentleman whose services were
placed at our disposal by the government?
These reports being,
as I have said, confidential, I will not mention the names of the
persons, firms, or localities alluded to, though in some instances
they may be guessed at. This report was made to us on the 25th
of November, and I will quote some of the remarks made in it.
The writer observes-'It must not be inferred when such remarks
are absent from the reports that nothing is done. I have great
difficulty sometimes in overcoming the feeling that my questions
on these points are a meddlesome interference in private matters.'
Bearing that remark in mind, I say here are instances which I am
sure reflect as much credit on the individuals as on the interest they
represent and the county to which they belong. I am sure I shall
be excused for trespassing on your patience by reading a few
examples. He says, under No. 1,—' Nearly three thousand opera-
tives out of the whole, most of them the hands of Messrs.
and ———. Mr. ——, at his own cost, employs five hundred and
fifty-five girls in sewing five days a week, paying them eightpence
#
192
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
wages, Mr.
are
a day; sends seventy-six youths from thirteen to fifteen years
old, and three hundred and thirty-two adults above fifteen, five
days a week to school, paying them from fourpence to eightpence
per day, according to age. He also pays the school pence of
all the children. Mr. has hitherto paid his people two days'
wages a week, but he is now preparing to adopt a scheme like
Mr. to a great extent. I would add that, in addition to
gives bread, soup, socks, and clogs. 2. Mr.
has at his own expense caused fifty to sixty dinners to be provided
for sick persons every day. These consist of roast beef or mutton,
soup, beef tea, rice puddings, wine, and porter, as ordered; and the
forty visitors distribute orders as they find it necessary. Ostensibly
all is done in the name of the committee; but Mr.
pays all
the cost. An admirable soup kitchen is being fitted up, where the
poor man may purchase a good hot meal for one penny, and either
carry it away or consume it on the premises. 3. Messrs.
giving to their hands three days' wages (about £500 a week). Messrs.
and are giving their one hundred and twenty hands, and
Messrs. their two hundred and thirty hands, two days' wages a
week. I may mention that Messrs. are providing for all their one
thousand seven hundred hands. 4. A great deal of private charity
exists, one firm having spent £1,400 in money, exclusive of weekly
doles of bread. 5. Messrs. are providing all their old hands with
sufficient clothing and bedding to supply every want, so that their
subscription of £50 is merely nominal. 6. The ladies of the village
visit and relieve privately with money, food, or clothing, or all, if
needed urgently. In a few cases distraint has been threatened, but
generally the poor are living rent free. 7. Payment of rent is
almost unknown. The agent for several landlords assures me he
could not from his receipts pay the property-tax, but no distraints
are made. 8. The bulk of the rents are not collected, and distraints
are unknown. 9. The millowners are chiefly cottage owners, and
are asking for no rents.' That leads me to call your attention to
the fact that, in addition to the sacrifices they are making, the mill-
owners are themselves to a large extent the owners of cottages, and
I believe, without exception, they are at the present moment
receiving no rent, thereby losing a large amount of income they
had a right to count upon. I know one case which is curious as
showing how great is the difficulty of ascertaining what is really
LORD DERBY.
193
done. It is required in the executive committee that every com-
mittee should send in an account of the local subscriptions. We
received an application from a small district where there was one mill,
occupied by some young men who had just entered into the busi-
ness. We returned a refusal, inasmuch as there was no local sub-
scription; but when we came to inquire we found that from last
February, when the mill closed, these young men had maintained
the whole of their hands, that they paid one-third of the rates of
the whole district, and that they were at that moment suffering a
yearly loss of £300 in the rent of cottages for which they were not
drawing a single halfpenny. That was a case in which we thought
it right in the first instance to withhold any assistance, because there
appeared to be no local subscription, and it shows how persons at
a distance may be deceived by the want apparently of any local
subscription. But I will throw out of consideration the whole of
those amounts-the whole of this unparalleled munificence on the
part of many manufacturers which never appears in any account
whatever I will throw out everything done in private and unos-
tentatious charity, the supplies of bedding, clothing, food, necessaries
of every description which do not appear as public subscriptions,
and will appeal to public subscriptions alone; and I will appeal to
an authority which cannot, I think, be disputed—the authority of
the commissioner, Mr. Farnall himself, whose services the govern-
ment kindly placed at our disposal, and of whose activity, industry,
and readiness to assist us it is difficult to speak in too high terms
of praise. A better authority could not be quoted on the subject
of the comparative support given in aid of this distress in Lanca-
shire and other districts. I find that, excluding altogether the sub-
scriptions in the lord mayor's Mansion House list—of which we
know the general amount, but not the sources from which it is
derived, or how it is expended-but excluding it from consideration,
and dealing only with the funds which have been given or pro-
mised to be administered through the central executive committee,
I find that, including some of the subscriptions which we know are
coming in this day, the total amount which has been contributed
is about £540,000. Of that amount we received—and it is a most
gratifying fact―£40,000 from the colonies; we received from the
rest of the United Kingdom £100,000; and from the county of
Lancaster itself, in round numbers, £400,000 out of £540,000.
194
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Now, I hope that these figures, upon the estimate and authority of
the government poor-law commissioner, will be sufficient, at all
events, to do away with the imputation that Lancashire, at this
crisis, is not doing its duty. But if Lancashire has been doing its
duty-if it is doing its duty-that is no reason why Lancashire
should relax its efforts; and of that I trust the result of this day's
proceedings will afford a sufficient testimony. We are not yet at
the height of the distress. It is estimated that at the present
moment there are three hundred and fifty-five thousand persons
engaged in the different manufactories. Of these forty thousand
only are in full work; one hundred and thirty-five thousand are at
short work, and one hundred and eighty thousand are out of work
altogether. In the course of the next six weeks this number is
likely to be greatly increased; and the loss of wages is not less
than £137,000 a week. This, I say then, is a state of things that
calls for the most active exertions of all classes of the community,
who, I am happy to say, have responded to the call which has been
made upon them most nobly, from the Queen down to the lowest
individual in the community. At the commencement of the dis-
tress the Queen, with her usual munificence, sent us a donation of
£2,000. The first act of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,
upon attaining his majority, was to write from Rome and to request
that his name should be put down for £1,000. And to go to
the other end of the scale, I received two days ago, from Lord
Shaftesbury, a donation of £1,200 from some thousands of working
men, readers of a particular periodical which he mentioned, the
British Workman. To that sum Lord Shaftesbury stated many
thousands of persons had subscribed, and it embraced contri-
butions even from the brigade of shoe-black boys. On the part
of all classes there has been the greatest liberality displayed;
and I should be unjust to the working men, I should be
unjust to the poor in every district, if I did not say that in
proportion to their means they have contributed more than their
share. In no case hardly which has come to my knowledge has
there been any grudging, and in many cases I know that poor
persons have contributed more than common prudence would have
dictated. These observations have run to a greater extent than I
had intended; but I thought it desirable that the whole case, as
far as possible, should be brought before you, and I have only now
THE BRIDGEWATER HOUSE PRINCIPLE.
195
earnestly to request that you will this day do your part towards
the furtherance of the good work, I have no apprehension, if the
distress should not last over five or six months more, that the
spontaneous efforts of individuals and public bodies, and contri-
butions received in every part of the country, will fall short of
that which is needed for enabling the population to tide over this
deep distress; and I earnestly hope that if it be necessary to apply
to parliament, as a last resource, the representatives of the country
will not grudge their aid; yet I do fervently hope and believe that
with the assistance of the machinery of that bill passed in parlia-
ment last session (the Rate in Aid Act), which will come into opera-
tion shortly after Christmas, but could not possibly be brought into
operation sooner, I do fervently hope and believe that this great
manufacturing district will be spared the further humiliation of
coming before parliament, which ought to be the last resource, as a
claimant, a suppliant for the bounty of the nation at large. I don't
apprehend that there will be a single dissentient voice raised
against the resolution which I have now the honour to move."
An inspection of the list of subscriptions handed in at this
meeting, showed that about £70,000 had been added thereby to
the relief fund.
The Bridgewater House committee, in handing over their funds
to the central executive for distribution, laid down the principle
that they should be applied only to such operatives as were not in
receipt of relief from boards of guardians—thus opposing directly
the doctrine of The Times and the Rev. Mr. Kingsley. If a pre-
judice be ever justifiable, surely that which inculcates a wholesome
fear of a board of guardians, and makes a man hate the workhouse
(familiarly called, in Lancashire, "th' Bastile"), must take high
rank; for it keeps up the feeling of self-reliance under many diffi-
culties, and often stimulates exertion when rest or the expectancy of
help from without would be ruin. And there is no doubt that if
the central committee had been first in the field, and had deter-
mined that, come what would, no well-behaved cotton operative
who had been thrown out of work by the cotton famine should be
allowed to go to a board of guardians for relief, they would have
engaged in a noble but also in a most difficult task; for, clear and
well-defined as the term cotton operative appears to be, a little
reflection will show that the line between cotton and other operatives.
196
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
is practically very difficult to draw. Each cotton mill requires
"mechanics" (machinists) and joiners for the repairs which are
daily needed. Are these cotton operatives? Engineers, carters
and labourers, clerks and warehousemen are also required. Are
these cotton operatives? The makers of machinery, and the brick-
layers, and other operatives in the building trades, who would,
under ordinary circumstances, be in full work, preparing and fitting
new mills for the natural increase of trade, were also idle. Were all
these to be sent to the boards of guardians, whilst the persons who
directly handled the cotton fibre were kept away? Or should the
whole of the persons whose livings were swept away by the Ameri-
can war be maintained by the relief committees, leaving to the poor-
law guardians simply the normal amount of pauperism to deal with?
This latter would probably have been the wiser course, if it could
have been thought out and planned beforehand, and funds sufficient
for the purpose secured; but where were such funds to come from ?
The workers amongst half a million people, used to average wages
of ten shillings each per week, were either already or would probably
soon be out of employ. How could they be kept? Evidently funds
sufficient could not be calculated upon, and some modification of the
Bridgewater House idea was therefore necessary. The normal pau-
perism of the cotton districts is not quite two per cent, and the average
poor-rate ranges from about one shilling to one shilling and sixpence
in the pound per annum. If this state of things was to be main-
tained whilst subscriptions were received from places where the ave-
rage rate was from three shillings to five shillings in the pound, what
reply could be made to such arguments as those of the Rev.
Charles Kingsley, who pleaded that the subscriptions raised would
go simply in abatement of poor-rates? The law provides a resource
for the indigent poor, and makes houses and land responsible to
the last penny of their value for the maintenance of the helpless;
why should not the poor of every locality be kept by the local pro-
perty? The only possible reply to such reasoning is the value of
the anti-pauper prejudice already alluded to, and the wide-spread
ruin which excessive rates would have brought upon shopkeepers,
cottage owners, and others, whose mainstay was already gone in the
loss of their customers and the indigence of their tenants.
It was argued in the newspapers that property in Lancashire
was not doing its duty, and that the only way to reach it was by
HIGH POOR RATES.
197
higher rates. But those who so argued, did not know that in the
most distressed districts cotton mills bear a large proportion of the
assessment, and that one half of these were stopped, and yet cost
heavy sums to maintain them in idleness, whilst their occupiers had
also to pay poor-rates as if they were in full work. And it is only real
property which is assessed to the poor, whilst a great proportion of the
wealth of our richest men consists of personal property, in the form of
goods at home, on the sea, or in foreign lands, together with balances
in their ledgers due from various places. Thus a man who is the
owner of property to the extent of a million sterling may rent a ware-
house at £100 per annum, and be assessed to the poor of the distressed
district at five-sixths of that amount; his residence being situate
beyond the distressed boundary, and the bulk of his property entirely
beyond the reach of the assessors. So that a rate which would crush
the poor shopkeeper and cottage owner would scarcely be felt by the
rich merchant, or the large stock or fund holder. Level taxes cannot
reach the rich; and if duty is to be measured by pecuniary posses-
sions, then there is no course left but voluntary organisations and
the power of public opinion to make the owners of property feel
that to whom much is given from them much also is required. But
even if there had been no other difficulty, the fact that various local
committees were already in existence, and had adopted modes of
action which could not be at once given up without much difficulty
and some danger, would have rendered the suggestion from Bridge-
water House impracticable. In Manchester alone there were two or
three committees at work collecting and distributing funds, and
discussion in the central committee brought about a resolution to
affiliate these to the District Provident Society, which had already
an organisation for the investigation and relief of cases of distress,
and which had for years past also stimulated provident habits, by
taking charge of the smallest savings of the poor. But this
society had adopted as a practice, whether or not enforced by rule,
to relieve, except in rare instances, only such as had already been
accepted by the boards of guardians. And in the discussion of the
Bridgewater House proposition, one of the committee of this society,
replying to the arguments for keeping people away from the parish,
said that the best cases of the provident society were parish cases.
They might well be so under the existence of such a practical rule
as that above alluded to, which, had it been made known at the
•
198
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
time, would possibly have given another turn to the discussion,
and have prevented the immediate reconsideration of the resolu-
tion of the Bridgewater House committee. Under existing circum-
stances, the conclusion arrived at was, that each local committee
must use its own discretion as to the persons to be sent to the guar-
dians, and those to be kept away, but subject from time to time to
instructions from the central executive. The District Provident
Society was adopted as the distribution committee for the townships
of Manchester and Hulme, and other existing committees in the
borough of Manchester were made branches of that society and
subjected to its control, whilst Salford had an independent local com-
mittee. In dealing with the outlying towns, the central executive
decided that in order to secure uniformity of action they would
recognise only one committee in each place; so that where more
than one had been already formed it was necessary either for them
to unite, or to make a representative committee of one, whilst the
others either dissolved or became sub-committees of the principal
existing committee.
In Ashton-under-Lyne, where religious and political feeling
ran high, there were already two committees: the manor com-
mittee and the borough committee. The most active man in
the first was the Rev. Mr. Williams, a Church clergyman;
whilst the second committee, of which Mr. Hugh Mason was the
most energetic member, excluded clergymen and dissenting
ministers. The first, or manor committee, had obtained a grant
from the Mansion House fund, which constituted its main pecuniary
strength; whilst the members of the borough committee had sub-
scribed liberally amongst themselves, and thus established a large
fund. The central executive had resolved that, so far as possible,
each local committee should contain representatives of every reli-
gious sect and every political party; and they sent over a deputa-
tion to try to reconcile the two committees at Ashton, and to weld
them into one. But in this effort they signally failed; and being
obliged to choose which they would recognise, they adopted the
borough committee, because it fairly represented the wealth of
the district, had collected the largest funds in the locality, and
also consented to modify its own constitution, so as more effec-
tually to represent all sects and parties.
As the constitution of the central executive rendered it in a
VARIOUS RATES OF RELIEF.
199
rude sense representative of localities, one of its earliest duties
was to group the existing committees round certain central points,
so that, when the boundaries had been drawn, each member of the
central executive might represent the wants of his own locality.
Thus, Mr. Platt, M.P., represented not the township of Oldham alone,
but also the whole of the committees existing in the poor-law union
of Oldham, which comprised committees at Chadderton, Crompton,
Hollinwood, Middleton, Royton, Thurnham, and Tonge. The wants
and wishes of these various sub-districts were made known to the
Oldham committee, and presented on a schedule to the central
executive by Mr. Platt, and money was voted in certain proportions,
according to the necessity of each case, over the whole district.
The principles by which the executive should regulate its
distribution of funds raised some nice points for discussion. It
was requisite to secure active exertion in every quarter to meet
the emergencies of the crisis; and it was a great object so to distri-
bute funds as to stimulate, rather than supersede, the necessity
for a thorough canvass in every locality. It was therefore proposed
that before a local committee should be recognised a subscription
in the locality must have been raised, and that the sums voted by
the executive from time to time should have regard to the amount
of funds subscribed, and to the presumed wealth of the district. It
was objected that this principle might leave the most needy places
without aid, either in consequence of their poverty, or of the nig-
gardliness of the richer inhabitants; but the importance of a strong
moral spur to duty was felt to be so great that the principle was
ultimately adopted, with the understanding that it was not like the
laws of the Medes and Persians, to be inflexibly carried out in every
instance. Next came the question of the scale of relief to be allowed.
The cotton operatives were accustomed to good wages and good
living, and their expenditure for rent and other fixed charges was in
accordance therewith. The amounts ordinarily allowed by boards
of guardians would make payment of rent impossible, if health
was to be maintained; whilst too liberal an allowance would lessen
the inclination to seek for independent work, and would thus pro-
duce the permanent demoralisation which it was the grand object of
the committee to prevent. The central executive ultimately adopted
a scale which would average about two shillings per head per week,
giving rather more to small and rather less to large families. But
200
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
•
it was a matter of considerable difficulty to assimilate the rates
already in use by existing local committees, which varied from two
shillings to four shillings and sixpence for a single man, and from
seven shillings and sixpence to seventeen shillings and sixpence for
a man and wife with five children; and this assimilation was not
entirely effected until the month of October, 1863, when, in a
manual issued as a guide to the various committees, the executive
submitted the following three specimen scales, but allowing also in
winter a supply of fuel and clothing in addition :-
Single person
Man and wife
Man, wife, and 1 child
Man, wife, and 2 children
Man, wife, and 3 children
Man, wife, and 4 children
Man, wife, and 5 children
Man, wife, and 6 children
3.
1.
2.
3s. 6d.
3s. 6d.
5s. 6d.
5s. 6d.
3s. Od.
58. Od.
6s. 9d.
68. 9d.
6s.
*
3d.
8s. Od.
8s. Od.
8s. Od.
•
9s. 9d.
9s. 3d.
9s. 9d.
11s. 3d.
10s. 11d.
11s. 6d.
12s. 9d.
12s. 8d.
13s. Od.
•
14s. Od.
14s. Od.
14s. Od.
It was assumed, and probably with good reason, that such a
scale, varying from one-fourth to one-third of ordinary wages,
would not materially lessen the inclination for any kind of work
for wages, whenever such work was to be had, especially as relief
was coupled with what the executive called "disciplinary work,"
which consisted either of out-door labour, or of elementary instruc-
tion in schools for men and boys, and instruction in sewing-schools for
women and girls. The importance of these arrangements cannot
well be over-rated, for an economic and fair system of relief with-
out discipline would have been utterly impossible. An officer
under a board of guardians is required from time to time to visit
the recipients of out-door relief, and if any are reported on two or
three successive visits as absent from home, it is assumed that they
are deriving income from some source, and they are either struck
off the list, or are required to work at an occupation provided by the
guardians. If such an inspection be constantly necessary with the
forty or fifty thousand ordinary recipients of out-door relief, it is
certain that it would not be less so with some thousands out of the
half million who were dependent during the cotton famine upon
guardians and relief committees; and if there be any truth in
the adage that "one black sheep spoils the flock," a mischievous
example of laxity, if once allowed, would soon have become very
ORIGIN OF ADULT SCHOOLS.
201
infectious. But what disciplinary labour could be provided, which
would answer the purpose of mustering the men and women under
superintendence, and be useful without being felt to be degrading?
Inherently all useful labour is honourable, and persons in seaport
towns do manage to earn a decent livelihood by tearing up worn-out
ropes, so that the hempen fibres may be respun. But this employ-
ment, when introduced into a Rutlandshire gaol, became at once a
mark of degradation, and its value as a pauper occupation may be
judged by the fact that the earnings of "oakum" pickers under
boards of guardians do not average twopence per head per week. It
was easy enough to provide for the children; a recent alteration of
the Poor-law Amendment Act allows guardians either to establish
schools or to pay for the teaching of the children of the recipients
of out-door relief at schools chosen by the parents; and the guar-
dians of Manchester had before the occurrence of the cotton famine,
in cases where children were neglected, required as a condition of
relief that they should be sent to school. But for the men it was im-
possible to find sufficient out-door labour, and the objection to oakum
picking and stone breaking was so great, and the pecuniary results
were so contemptible, and the system was consequently so demora-
lising, that some substitute was in the highest degree desirable.
During an interview between the guardians of Manchester and a
deputation of operatives on the subject of this "labour test," an intel-
ligent member of the deputation named Evans, in reply to a member
of the board, who asked how they were to prevent imposition with-
out a test, and if those in operation were objectionable what they
could substitute, asked, "Why not adopt an educational test?"
This simple question excited some thought at the board, and being
anxious to treat as kindly as possible these victims of a social
convulsion, the guardians concluded to try the effect of mental im-
provement instead of depressing physical labour. Mr. C.H. Rickards,
the chairman of the board, and Mr. Daniel Clarke went heartily
into the project, and originated the establishment of elementary
schools for men and youths; the plan of which, being approved
and adopted by the central executive, soon spread throughout the
cotton district.
In these schools might sometimes be seen the extraordinary
spectacle of youths with their fathers and grandfathers, all learning
to read and write in the same class. Men who had passed through
202
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the snows of sixty winters, and whose means of gathering knowledge
had hitherto been limited to the observation of occurrences passing
under their own eyes or appealing to their own ears, learned now
to read the thoughts of other men and to write their own reflec-
tions thereon, and rejoiced in the new world of wisdom thus
opened out to them ere they were called away from all earthly
pleasures and troubles.
ance.
In the winter of 1862-3 there were at one time no less than
forty-eight thousand men and youths in attendance at these
schools, and great efforts were put forth to render them in-
teresting as well as useful. Competent masters were provided,
at wages varying from fifteen shillings to thirty shillings per
week, together with assistants selected from the most intel-
ligent pupils, in the ratio of one assistant to fifteen scholars,
who were also paid a weekly sum in addition to their relief allow-
Conditional grants were also made every three months in
aid of the salaries of the head-masters, at the rate of £20 for every
one hundred and fifty scholars in regular attendance. The
attendance required in order to secure. relief was only in the
day time, but many of the schools were also open in the evenings
for instruction and recreation; and in Manchester and its vicinity
a scheme of lectures and concerts was arranged, in which, very
much to their credit, the professors at Owens College took an active
share. By these means the minds of the adult pupils were kept
occupied with disquisitions on popular science or with social topics;
or they were recreated with music and recitations, and thus kept
from brooding over their own misfortunes. The rooms occupied
were in many cases those of old cotton mills, the heavy unceiled
rafters of each floor being supported by iron columns, exposing
the timbers above. In some cases water-colours and brushes were
procured by the operatives, and in a few days the rooms would be
cleaned up and coloured in panels with ornamental devices until they
were rendered almost fit for ball rooms; and the effects produced
upon the minds of the people by these efforts were most exhilarating
and healthful. Sir James P. Kay-Shuttleworth, the vice-chairman
of the central executive (who was the first secretary to the Com-
mittee of Council on Education, and to whom the cause of elemen-
tary instruction in England is probably more indebted than to any
other man), expressed his warm approval of the scheme; and very
manner.
THE AUSTRALIAN FUND.
203
opportunely there arrived from Australia a large fund consigned
to the care of Sir D. Cooper and Mr. Edward Hamilton, and which
they in a letter to the committee desired to devote in some special
Sir James immediately proposed, and the consignees of
the fund agreed, that to our Australian brethren should be given
the honour and privilege of providing for the mental occupation
and improvement of the operatives, so as to fit them for the more
complete performance of their social duties whenever physical
labour could be again provided for them. Sir James stated to
the central executive, that he was authorised by Sir Daniel Cooper
and Mr. Hamilton to inform them that the whole of the New
South Wales fund was to be specially appropriated to schools for
youth, sewing classes for females, and the payment of the school
pence of children. This fund would probably exceed £15,000; but,
reckoning on the basis of that sum only, he (Sir James) was de-
sirous to submit for the consideration of the committee a scale
of distribution which, if adopted, it might be desirable to make
known for the guidance of local committees in their administra-
tion. If, as was too probable, two hundred and fifty thousand
factory operatives were out of work at Christmas, and one-half of
them were dependent on the relief committees for support, they
would consist of the following classes :-Five-tenths of that half,
or sixty-two thousand five hundred, would be women; about three-
tenths, or thirty-seven thousand five hundred, boys and girls; and
about two-tenths, or twenty-five thousand, men and youths. If
thirty-five thousand females attended the sewing classes, twenty-
seven thousand five hundred would be left at home to attend to
the families of one hundred and twenty-five thousand factory
workmen. If thirty-five thousand females were divided into two
hundred and thirty classes of about one hundred and fifty each
on the average, the superintendents would require stipends of
£18. 15s. for six months, or fifteen shillings per week, making a total
of £4,312. Twenty-four weeks' schooling for an average attendance
of thirty thousand boys and girls, at twopence per week, would cause
an outlay of £6,000, and £1,000 might be granted towards the
cost of the schooling of younger children of families in receipt of
relief. The stipends of masters of one hundred schools, containing
fifteen thousand youths, would, at thirty shillings per week, amount
in six months to £3,750.10s. These schools would also each require
204
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
+
eight assistants, selected from well-qualified youths out of work,
and remunerated by an extra rate of relief. The superintendence
of the work of thirty-five thousand women, the schooling of thirty
thousand boys and girls and of fifteen thousand youths, might
thus be provided for £14,062, and £1,000 might be applied towards
the school pence of the children who were too young to work. The
anticipated further remittances from New South Wales would pro-
vide, at least partially, for any increase of these forms of dependence
beyond these limits during six months.
It was then resolved, "That with due regard to the local circum-
stances, and to the information to be given in the schedule appended
to the circular issued by this committee, applications for aid from the
New South Wales fund be regulated on the basis of this estimate,
on the understanding that any grant for schools for youth or for
sewing classes is also applicable to the hiring of rooms and inci-
dental expenses, and in sewing classes for the purchase of material
to be made into clothes and distributed as relief; that the grants
from this committee will be made in support of any school or
sewing class for three months, so as to enable the local committees
to engage teachers and superintendents for that period; and that
applications may be received prior to the expiration of that time,
to enable them to renew the engagements."
By these means the scheme was perfected and the staff of
teachers and assistants organised, and the daily tasks carried on until
the gradual increase of employment in mills, and on public works,
the migration to other counties, and the emigration to America,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, had drained the schools of their
pupils, and enabled the committee to relinquish this portion of
their duties; but leaving them the consolation that tens of thou-
sands of men and women had there learned valuable life lessons,
which would be carried to every quarter of the civilised world, and
make of the recipients better husbands, better wives, better parents,
and better members of society. Men who were earning their own
livings before popular education began, have in these schools, mas-
tered the rudiments of knowledge; men who were neglected by their
ignorant parents have, in some measure, repaired the evil; men
who wasted their opportunities at school, and bitterly repented
their folly as soon as hard-working life began, have had another
chance; whilst the children of drunken or vicious parents, who, in
1
MISUNDERSTANDING IN THE COLONY.
205
ordinary times, would have got only the education of the streets,
have been regularly subjected to good tuition. Tens of thousands of
girls-who were sent to factory labour as soon as they had passed the
legal age of thirteen years, and who had never been accustomed to any
domestic occupation; who could not darn a stocking, make a pinafore,
or even properly cook a potato-have also learned to read, and write,
and sew, and cook; have listened to, and been instructed for months
by, wealthy and refined ladies—the result being a great improve-
ment in manners, and the acquirement of knowledge and skill in
various domestic occupations upon which it would be difficult to
set too high a value. The number in attendance on the sewing
classes in March, 1863, exceeded forty-one thousand.
It is a great pity that the honour intended for Australia was not
at once as highly appreciated in the colony as at home. The Austra-
lians have apparently shot ahead of the old country in the matter
of education; they love fair play, and, not being encumbered with
our traditions, our prejudices, or our religious establishments, they
dislike the denominational system (the only one at present possible
in this country); and knowing that Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth
had been the principal instrument in its establishment here, they
feared the diversion of a fund, sent to find bread for the people, to
the purposes of religious proselytism. This misunderstanding
could scarcely have arisen if the whole plan, as sketched in the
minutes submitted by Sir James to the consignees of the fund, had
been forwarded to the colony; much less could it have arisen if
they had known that the man whom they so fiercely denounced
was, at the very time, actively engaged in removing the denomina-
tional character from the very few sewing schools, which, as origi-
nally organised, were open to the charge. But the feeling in
Australia against the appropriation was so strong that, when the
mail arrived, bringing accounts of the meetings held in the colony,
the central executive proposed to the general committee to repay
out of the general fund the amount already spent upon these schools;
but if they had waited the result of an explanation, no such revo-
cation would have been needed, for the colonists, when they
properly understood the matter, were not only satisfied with the
proposed devotion of the fund, but proud of the distinction con-
ferred upon the donors. The schools were, from this period, how-
ever, supported out of the general fund.
206
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
It has already been intimated that at the origin of the central
committee, many reasons made it necessary to allow existing local
committees to decide for themselves what applicants to relieve,
and whom they should send to the boards of guardians; and also to
allow them as much general liberty of action as was consistent with
efficient and economical working. But the members of the central
executive could not meet week after week without discussing and
comparing the different systems of procedure; and a desire to
economise the funds in their charge would naturally lead towards
some common and generally-approved plan of operations.
Ultimately, the results of the experience of the executive were
embodied in the manual already alluded to, for the use of the local
committees. This manual recommended that a local committee
should include the chief landed proprietors and large employers of
the district, certain of the clergy and ministers of religion, and other
influential persons. That an executive should be composed of such
of the most experienced and active members of this committee, as
would devote themselves to the administration of relief. That
such sub-committees as were needed should be appointed for store-
keeping and for the administration of relief in kind—for superin-
tendence of labour and finance for the management of the sewing
and adult schools, &c., &c. Specimen forms of accounts, relief cards,
relief books, &c., were also provided.
Originally relief was not confined to factory operatives, nor
even to those immediately dependent on factory work; and whilst
some committees confined themselves to supplementing the relief
given by boards of guardians, others relieved only such as kept
away from the guardians. The manual endeavoured to define the
classes to be relieved, and reminded committees that the funds.
were entrusted primarily for the relief of persons deprived of
work in cotton factories, and secondarily only for other partially
dependent occupations; that cases of chronic indigence, and cases
of indigence not connected with the cotton trade, had no claim on
the funds; that families who had been wantonly deserted, or whose
heads had emigrated, should in all cases be referred to the guardians,
as likely to be permanently dependent; and that the public works
were intended to absorb the able-bodied men.
Relief had been given in money and in kind, the latter either
from a general store, or by tickets on shopkeepers; and these
3
MANUAL FOR RELIEF COMMITTEES.
207
tickets were in some cases upon particular shopkeepers, and in
others were left to the discretion of the recipients. The manual
approved of relief in kind, because it prevented the waste of help in
money on intoxicating liquors, and secured the largest amount of
wholesome food, but still allowed some money for articles not
otherwise provided. It also recommended that when tickets were
used they should bear the name of a particular shopkeeper, in
order to prevent their being purchased by improper persons (beer-
shop keepers or others). The same precaution which dictated relief
in kind originated also this recommendation; for cases had occurred
where men had sold their tickets for money, and dissipated the
money in intoxicating drink. It was recommended that single men,
or youths of sixteen years and upwards, should be assisted to find
employment on public works, or should be referred to the guardians;
the only justification for which latter course would be in the belief
that a reference to the guardians would stimulate to extraordinary
efforts to find employment somewhere; for it would be a great
mistake to familiarise young men with the brand of pauperism and
thus permanently lower their self-respect. Practically, we know that
the poor-law is an embodiment of benevolence and of self-interest
at the same time, and that it is as necessary to the public as to the
recipient that the helpless poor should be relieved; but we also
know that the poor-rate is a forced dole, and that the practice of
saving the pockets of the ratepayers makes guardians act with
suspicion, and give grudgingly. On the other hand, the funds of
the relief committee were of the nature of a free gift, which any
needy man might accept without feeling ashamed.
The manual recommended an entire separation between the
cases relieved by the guardians and the relief committees, on the
ground of economy; and, as a measure of discipline, that any men
who were not diligent in out-door work, or who were irregular at any
other required occupation, or who misconducted themselves in any
way, should also be sent to the guardians. It was also urged that
the reports of individual visitors should always be reviewed and
checked by a committee, so as to prevent the possibility of favour-
itism or fraud; and, as a further security, it was recommended that
the districts of the visitors should be periodically changed, and that
the relief given should not be distributed by the visitors, but by a
responsible person at the office of the committee. Schedules, to
208
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
be filled up periodically by employers, were to be required at stated
periods, so as to show the earnings of the family when any portion
of them were in employment; and frequent revisions of the relief
lists in connection with the employment schedules were urged, in
order to prevent cases of imposition.
Work was in every instance, if possible, to be required in return
for relief, because, if wisely ordered, it promotes cheerfulness and
health, and prevents demoralisation; and such labour was to be
paid for by the hour, and so many hours' labour to be required per
week as would amount to the sum given in relief. Thus in the
sewing schools the rate was from three farthings to one penny per
hour, which latter sum, at five hours per day, would give as
relief two shillings and sixpence per week. The salaries of super-
intendents of schools varied from ten to twenty-five shillings per
week, with conditional quarterly grants of £10 for every one hun-
dred and fifty females in attendance. On applicatious by local
committees, the central executive also paid twopence each per
week for the children of the recipients of relief, to enable them to
be kept at school.
When the provision of out-door employment was urged, some
of the committees, being desirous of progress in that direction,
undertook contracts of various kinds. On this subject the manual
contains the following minute, dated 14th September, 1863:
"Minute as to contracts by relief committees, and employment of
indigent cotton workmen on such contracts.
The relief of indigence in the cotton districts has hitherto
proceeded mainly from two sources, viz.,—the legal charge on pro-
perty, and the voluntary contributions of charity to public funds.
These two sources of relief are subject to a law of economy.
When the poor-rates and the relief funds have provided to the
indigent the means of sustaining health, they have discharged their
function.
"1. The laws for the relief of the poor never were intended to
provide employment with wages. Such an obligation would con-
vert the poor-laws into an organised system of labour conducted
by the state, and establish a form of socialism destructive to pri-
vate capital and demoralising to labour. Every step, therefore,
from that legitimate use of the poor-rates, or of public charitable
MANUAL FOR RELIEF COMMITTEES.
209
funds, which restricts them to the maintenance of health, to
another which proceeds to assume obligations to provide wages
from such sources, is full of danger.
"2. Wages are given to the able-bodied without respect to the
wants of their families. A single able-bodied man receives as
much, at piece-work, as a man with a wife and four children. To
find employment with wages, therefore, if general, necessarily
creates a heavier charge than the simple maintenance of health.
"3. A relief committee has no corporate power to enter into
any contract to secure employment for those whom it relieves.
Such a contract could only be legally entered into by individual
members of the relief committee in their private capacity. If
such private persons enter into such a contract, they can receive
no legal security for its fulfilment from the committee.
"4. Supposing these technical difficulties to be overcome, and
that the majority and most influential members of such a com-
mittee sign such a contract-if they determine to provide from
their relief funds ordinary wages, either for piece-work or day-
work, they have no warrant to expect any aid from the central
executive committee, to carry out a scheme inconsistent with the
economy of funds intended simply to support health.
"5. It is possible to adjust a scheme of labour to a scale of
relief adapted simply to sustain health, by paying for work done
by the hour at the usual rate, and not requiring more hours' work
than will enable the workman to make his labour and that of his
family equal, at that rate per hour, to the scale of relief intended
to sustain health. Any other plan involves a very grave departure
from the true principles of relief administration.
"6. Contracts for public or private works can only be safely
entered into by boards or committees charged with the execution
of such works, apart from the question of relief of indigence. Such
boards or committees of public works reduce the sum of indigence in
the same way as any private capitalists may do, by such works as they
undertake. But they assume no obligations to find employment, and
they strengthen the relations between capital and labour by increas-
ing the employment of capital and the demand for labour. These
functions, though they indirectly relieve indigence, are not to be in
any degree confounded with the functions of boards or committees
whose primary duty is to relieve indigence, so as to sustain health.”
P
210
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Some committees had also supplemented full time wages, in
cases where the material to be worked up was so wretched that
weavers, who used, in ordinary times, to earn from ten shillings to
twelve shillings per week, could not earn the amount of relief as
wages. This practice also was condemned by the manual, which
declared" It is better that such operatives should be entirely
withdrawn than that they should labour sixty hours weekly for
little more, or even less, than the scale of relief." There is no
doubt that such work would add somewhat to the wealth of society,
but it would terribly depress the workers; and it is false economy
to uphold an employment by which men cannot live. Labour as
discipline, even if it does not pay, is justifiable; but labour for
wages ought, in every case, to mean living wages.
But, whilst discouraging any systematic addition to wages, the
central executive, subsequently, in the cases of men employed under
the Public Works Act, sanctioned aid during the first six weeks of
such employment, which they considered to be sufficient training
to enable a factory operative to earn twelve shillings per week on
out-door work.
These arrangements, although not embodied in the manual until
5th October, 1863, were in process of adoption from an early
period, and were constantly being pressed forward by the executive,
amidst much obstruction and many difficulties. They were never
completely carried out, for the honorary secretary's report for May,
1865, shows that a month before the executive adjourned sine die,
"the relief of three thousand eight hundred and seventy-two per-
sons from the guardians was being supplemented by the local
committees at a cost of £901 per month, when the total expendi-
ture of the relief committees was only £5,090 per month." We
have never been able to learn why the central executive allowed
its own rules to be set at defiance; but it is probable that they were
not unanimous in their proceedings, and could more easily adopt
rules than enforce them, or they would certainly have put forth
a strong hand and have stopped the grants of such committees as
continued to supplement poor-law relief.
The following table will show the numbers who were employed
out of doors, or sent to the various schools by committees, during
the period of the distress :—
RETURN OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCES.
211
NUMBER EMPLOYED UNDER THE COMMITTEES, EITHER IN WORK OR EDUCATIONAL
CLASSES.


Men.
Boys under 15.
Women
Children
at School
School.
Outdoor School.
Labour.
Outdoor
Labour.
and
Girls.
for whom
Committee
Total.
pay.
1863.
January
17,638 2,670 | 22,111
22,756
19,360 | 84,535
February
19,752 2,916❘ 28,395
22,207
24,480 95,750
March
20,348 3,800 16,740
41,034
53,703 135,625
April.
16,251 5,483
May
•
June
July
9,850 6,621
6,157 7,263 2.742
2,487 7,552 2,025
6,203
3,578
33,836 | 52,392 |114,165
23,958
43,921 87,928
19,411 39,412 74,985
11,915 | 30,857
54,836
August
2,219 6,968 1,417
9,190 26,925
26,925
46,719
September .
2,552 4,304 1,340
7,214
21,834
37,244
October
3,036 -2,992
1,532 73
6,906
19,155 33,694
November
1,526 4,239
790 533
6,790❘ 18,772
18,772 32,650
·
December
1,661 4,655
1,034 208.
7,045
18,154 32,757
1864.
January
2,208 3,938
February
March
2,232 3,602
1,169 211
2,593 2,628 1,319 31
1,225
7,500
16,549
31,575
7,804
17,740 33,115
64
7,322
17,489 31,934
April.
1,545 2,360 1,210 4
5,672
16,813 27,604
May
669 1,646
733
20
4,337
16,012 23,417
June.
256 1,040
644
2,362
10,217
14,519
July.
188
593
455
9
1,943 7,127
10,315
August
142 299
372
1,766
6,732 9,311
September.
165
337
366
1,717
6,017
8,602
October
200 1,176
359
2,225
8,207 12,167
November.
219 |1,215
404
3
2,179 9,284 13,304
December
185 970
212
4
1,747
8,946 12,064
•
1865.
January
334 1,008
212
11
1,630
9,220 12,415
February
297 1,103
217
6
1,556
9,326 12,505
March
331 813
204
12
1,171
9,056 | 11,587
April.
132
591
151
7
1,132
7,030
9,043
May
39
160
101
547 4,402
5,249
Of course these schools, especially under boards of guardians,
had their dark as well as their bright side. The ordinary able-
bodied recipients of poor-law relief jumped at the change from the
stone yard, the oakum shop, or the hand corn mill, to the school;
because it enabled them not only to dispense with a disagreeable
212
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
task, without loss of income, but even gave them a chance of
getting poor-law relief supplemented by a relief committee, and
occasionally, through laxity in the management, to get a further
supplement by earnings from irregular employment. Rascaldom
was in clover during the early period of the distress, and the revi-
sion of the school lists, in the spring of 1863, turned out domestic
servants from the sewing schools, sent hand-loom weavers to their
normal dependence upon the poor-rates, and even committed to
prison swindlers, who, whilst in regular work, and in receipt of
good wages, were also getting assistance from the relief committees.
But these cases of imposition occurred only amongst large popula-
tions, and certainly did not at any time comprise five per cent of
the recipients of relief.
1
2
CHAPTER XII.
The Policy of Emigration-The Emigrants' Aid Society, and National Colonial Emi-
gration Society-Attitude of Employers-Disappearance of Operatives-Mr.
Farnall's Blunder-Government Emigration Returns-The Maximum Pressure
of Distress-Decrease of Indigence, and Revision of Relief Lists-Pressure by
Central Executive-Difficulties of Traders-Raw Cotton dearer than Calico-
Illegitimacy at Wigan-The Bastardy Promotion Fund-Decrease of Employ-
ment in October, 1863-The Turn of the Tide-The Peace Panic and its Effects-
The Death of the Confederacy-Mr. Maclure's Last Report-Close of the Ashton
Committee-Percentages of Persons Relieved to those Out of Employment at
Various Periods.
In the first few months of the cotton famine, many persons at a
distance from Lancashire advised that the only proper remedy for
the distress was a large measure of emigration; and if means had
been supplied, a very large proportion of the operatives would
doubtless have left the country. But the employers having faith
in the future, and probably calculating that the pressure would be
over in a year or two at the utmost, discountenanced any such
proceeding, and refused to aid it pecuniarily. Nevertheless, emi-
gration committees were formed in most of the distressed districts,
and an “Emigrants' Aid Society" was established in Manchester,
in April, 1863. The expressed object of the society was not to
encourage emigration or to seek out emigrants, but simply to aid
such as were determined to go to the colonies. This society sought
an alliance with the National Colonial Emigration Society, but its
work was very limited in extent. The total funds placed at its
disposal were as follow:-
Subscriptions and donations, with bank interest
Mansion House grants
£2,279 3 6
National Colonial and London Branch Committee
1,021 15 0
1,300 0 0
£4,600 18 6:
These funds assisted in the outfit of eight hundred and thirty-
four statute adults, and aided the passages of three hundred and
eighty-five, many of whom were also included under the former head.
But the National Colonial Society continued to act indepen-
dently of the Manchester committee, and scarcely played a fair part
either towards the public generally or to Lancashire in particular.
214
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
From the tenor of its advertisements, subscribers would
naturally suppose that what they gave to the society would go to
relieve Lancashire distress, but its emigrants were selected not
from the cotton districts alone, but from the whole surface of the
United Kingdom. The distress in Lancashire directed attention
to emigration, and assisted the funds of the society; but they
wanted labourers, not cotton operatives; and took the latter, either
when the former were not to be had, or only to the extent that
they were composed of readily convertible material. Nevertheless,
with or without help, many thousands of operatives must have
got away.
The first return by Mr. Maclure of persons out of
work was obtained from the mills and factories, and was based
upon the numbers usually employed in those establishments;
but so soon as it became evident that considerable migration was
going on, the return was corrected from time to time by house-
hold visitation. The return in January, 1863, comprised five
hundred and sixty-three thousand seven hundred and twenty-
three operatives; but by December, 1864, they were reduced to
four hundred and forty thousand eight hundred and one, showing
a decrease of more than twenty per cent. What had become of
one hundred and twenty-three thousand operatives it is not easy to
learn. The great bulk of emigrants who belong to trades which
do not obtain in their chosen colony, either register themselves as
"labourers," or in some handicraft of which they have a smat-
tering knowledge. Thus the government emigration agent can
give no account of them, and it may be assumed that the following
return is wholly fallacious, so far as Lancashire is concerned :—
RETURN SHOWING, SO FAR AS CAN BE ASCERTAINED FROM THE PASSENGER LISTS
FURNISHED BY THE CUSTOM-HOUSE AUTHORITIES, THE NUMBERS OF SPINNERS
and WEAVERS WHO LEFT THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864.

Year.
Spinners
and
Weavers.
Woolcombers
and
Sorters.
Persons whose Trades or
Occupations are not
Specified in the Lists.
1861
123
12
3,930
1862
568
9
7,728
1863
2,086
9
7,601
1864
1,157
1
7,862
S. WALCOTT, Government Emigration Office.
1
MR. FARNALL'S BLUNDER.
215
If we assume that the whole of the fourteen thousand extra
emigrants over the average of 1861 in these classes were cotton
operatives, they still furnish no proper solution of the great disap-
pearance of hands.
Mr. Farnall fell into a gross blunder in his report on emigration
to the poor-law board, which happened thus: Macclesfield, which
is principally a silk manufacturing town, had a relief committee,
and, as in other places, did not at first restrict its relief to cotton
operatives, and the whole of the unemployed at Macclesfield there-
fore figured in the early returns. But, when the time for revision
came, silk operatives were pronounced ineligible, and the proportion
of the Macclesfield operatives who were employed upon silk were
dropped out of the returns. Mr. Farnall, in making up his table,
referred to the early and the late returns from Macclesfield, and,
finding the hands accounted for immensely decreased, jumped to
the conclusion that all who had ceased to appear in the returns had
either migrated or emigrated, and that the operative population of
Macclesfield was reduced by 78.42 per cent, or from fifteen thou-
sand six hundred and twenty-three to three thousand three hundred
and seventy-two between May, 1863, to May, 1864. This portion
of the report the poor-law board very wisely suppressed.
Nor is the emigration movement likely to cease until employ-
ment has reached its old standard. The following paragraph, which
appeared in the Manchester papers, 25th September, 1864, exhibits
the feeling of the operatives upon this and other subjects:—
"At a delegate meeting of the Associated Operative Cotton
Spinners of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire, just
held in Manchester, the following, amongst other resolutions, were
passed: That the question with reference to the organisation of a
central plan of emigration be adjourned for the present, and that
each locality be urged to carry out, if possible, more extensively than ·
ever its own system of emigration, experience having proved that
it is only by emigration that the position of the working classes
can be improved. It is, moreover, equally certain that any indi-
vidual member of this association who neglects to promote to the
utmost of his power the emigration movement at this important
crisis, neglects a duty which he owes to himself, while inflicting a
serious injury upon his fellow workmen. That the spinners of
Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire be requested to
216
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
constantly bear in mind, so that when trade shall have once more
assumed its normal character they may be prepared to vindicate an
equitable price for spinning on coupled mules and compensation of
extra turns. That Lancaster be admitted a district of the associa-
tion. That our fellow members of Chorley, having been wholly
and entirely thrown out of employment by the dispute now pend-
ing between the cardroom operatives of that locality and their
employers, this meeting begs most respectfully to recommend the
case of those connected with this society to the kind and humane
consideration of their fellow members throughout the district, and
to request that they will spare no exertions on their behalf, but
obtain for them all the assistance in their power. The following
state of employment was submitted to the meeting :-
Mules
running.
Mules
standing.
Total.
Tyldesley
Preston
Blackburn
189
none
189
938
465
1,403
718
418
1,136
Over Darwen
Farington
Hyde
Bolton
87
10
97
42
3
45
•
443
254
697
300
20
320
•
Heywood
234
90
324
Accrington
98
26
124
Another district (not named)
236
76
312
West Leigh
211
none
211
Total
3,496
1,362
4,858."
Of course, even if the above return be correct, it is only an
approximate guide to the state of employment, because of the great
diminution of operatives in the district.
Agents came from the United States during the crisis and
sought out hands for weaving and spinning; and, having made en-
gagements with them, paid their passage fees to America. But as
these would all go by ordinary passenger vessels they would pro-
bably not be reckoned as emigrants. Nevertheless, the fact remains
that a larger number than any government measure would have
been likely to provide for as emigrants to the colonies, did manage
by some means at home or abroad to provide for themselves and
their families, and thus relieved both the poor-law guardians and
the various committees from a very heavy extra charge upon their
funds and their care.
DECREASE OF INDIGENCE.
217
The maximum pressure upon the relief committees was reached
early in December, 1862, but, as the tide had turned before the end
of the month, the highest number chargeable at any one time is
nowhere shown. The highest number exhibited in the returns is
for the last week in the year 1862, viz.: four hundred and eighty-
five thousand four hundred and thirty-four persons; but in the
previous weeks of the same month some thousands more were
relieved. The public waited with eager anxiety and with trembling
hope for the January return, and when that showed only four hun-
dred and fifty-one thousand three hundred and forty-three recipients
of relief, the rejoicing was mingled with fear that there was some
mistake in the figures, for they showed a diminution of above thirty
thousand dependants as compared with December. The news was
thought too good to be true; for there was no visible circumstance
to account for the change. Cotton, which in December sold at
twenty-three pence halfpenny, was in January twenty-six pence per
pound; and mule yarn, which in December was twenty-two pence,
was now only twenty-six pence per pound, thus showing no margin
whatever for spinning; and shirtings, which in December were
twenty-three pence, were in January twenty-five pence per pound,
being in each case less than the price of middling fair Orleans
cotton; so that any increase of employment must have been based
entirely upon the speculation that goods would rise; whilst cotton,
if it did not fall, would at any rate not exceed its then present
price in the market.
The truth is, probably, that the committees had now become
masters of their work, and found that, in their early anxiety not to
let any person die from neglect, they had gathered into their nets,
amongst the proper and deserving objects of charity, many who
were neither proper nor deserving; and that the organisation, which
was now getting perfected, enabled them to dismiss some of their
dependants without danger either to health or life, whilst the
remainder were absorbed into employment; for the returns showed
about twenty-six thousand more on full-time, with a decrease of
five thousand on short-time, so that upwards of twenty thousand
were demonstrably so absorbed. The February report showed a
further decrease of about nineteen thousand dependants, and the
rejoicing now became earnest: men shook hands with each other
heartily; and, instead of the usual empty compliments about the
218
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
weather, the mutual congratulation was to the effect that the worst
was past-that the substitution of linen and worsted and woollen
had reached its limit, and that the world must have calicoes and fus-
tians, even at famine prices. But there was still no margin between
raw cotton and 40's mule yarn, whilst shirtings were one halfpenny
per pound below the price of raw cotton. Six thousand persons had
been reduced from full to short-time since January. Employment
was considerably worse, and nineteen thousand fewer persons were
relieved : · organisation was evidently at work, and pressure was
beginning to be employed somewhere. The March return showed
a further decrease of about twelve thousand recipients; whilst
the employment schedule exhibited an increase on full-time of
about seven thousand, and a decrease on short-time of sixteen thou-
sand; so that nine thousand more were entirely out of employment,
whilst the recipients of relief were diminished by a still greater
number.
•
April showed a further decrease of recipients of some fifty-eight
thousand, above an eighth of the whole number, partially accounted
for, on this occasion, by an increase of employment, which was very
gratifying; nearly thirty-four thousand more were in full work, and
twenty thousand less on short-time; so that some fourteen thousand
additional hands had been absorbed during the month, whilst nearly
four and a quarter times that number had disappeared from the
relief lists. Well might the central executive boast its economy,
but such pressure furnished an excuse to the newspaper correspon-
dents who charged them with unfairly withholding funds given for
the support of the poor, and which were much needed by many of
those who were declared ineligible as recipients. In Hulme, in
Salford, and in Chorlton, members of the relief committees declared
that the central executive were starving the people. But these sen-
timents were not held by the guardians of the township of Man-
chester, who declared that they would have been quite equal to the
task of supporting the poor without the aid of any relief com-
mittee; and it is tolerably certain that more imposition was prac-
tised upon the different committees in Manchester than in any
other place, Ashton district perhaps excepted. And it is singular
that the only breach of the peace, induced by this extreme pres-
sure of the central executive, through the committees, was at
the very place where the allowances had been largest and the
PRESSURE BY CENTRAL EXECUTIVE.
219
management, owing to the existence of two competing commit-
tees, most lax, and where pressure was therefore most needed,
in fairness to the fund and to the interests of other places. The
result of the revision of the relief lists by guardians and com-
mittees will be readily appreciated when we state that, in Decem-
ber, 1862, the total cost of relief was £289,225, being equal to
elevenpence halfpenny in the pound on the assessment of the
whole of the unions. In June, 1863, the total cost was £102,241,
whilst the numbers relieved were two hundred and fifty-six thou-
sand five hundred and seventy-eight; so that, whilst the recipients
had decreased about forty-nine per cent, the expenditure had
decreased sixty-five per cent. Whether wholesome or not, this dis-
cipline drove a large number of operatives to seek employment at
other occupations; and an inquiry, undertaken by the honorary
secretary, on its being pointed out to him that his successive returns
accounted for a continually decreasing number of hands, led to the
conclusion that some fourteen thousand had been absorbed into
other employments, whilst some thousands more had migrated into
different counties, or emigrated to America and the colonies. The
plea of the executive for such severe pressure was-first, to oblige
every possible source of independent employment to be tried, so as
to prevent men from settling down into permanent pauperism;
second, to get the able-bodied men into training for employment
under the Public Works Act; and, third, to economise their funds
for the ensuing winter; when, unless the supply of cotton should
exceed every prudent estimate, there would be, on the cessation of
out-door labour, a large accession to the list of necessary recipients.
The month of May, 1863, further reduced the recipients by the
immense number of seventy-two thousand, thirteen thousand more
going to work full-time, with no decrease of short-time workers; so
that, for thirteen thousand absorbed into the mills, five and a half
times as many were struck off the relief lists. The Stalybridge
riots had only increased the determination of the central executive
and of the guardians, who were determined that, at any rate during
the summer months, the operatives should be obliged to look out for
themselves. The increase of full-time working since December had
absorbed eighty-four thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, of
whom thirty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine had
gone from the ranks of the short-time workers, leaving the nett
220
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
increase of persons in employment forty-nine thousand and twenty;
but the relief lists had in the same time been depleted to the extent
of one hundred and ninety-five thousand four hundred and fifty-
nine, or, as nearly as possible, four times that number.
Notwithstanding this gratifying increase of employment, the
difficulties of trade were very great, as will be seen by the prices
quoted for cotton yarn and cloth at various periods.
1863.
March 24.
Fair Dhollerah.
Mid. Fair
Orleans.
32's Twist.
36's Twist.
39in:
Shirtings.
17d. to 17 d.
24d.
23 d.
231d.
25.0d.
June 23.
18d. to 18 d.
23d.
25d.
25d.
26.9d.
Sept. 24.
22d. to 221d.
24 d.
30d.
30d.
28.9d.
Dec. 22.
221d. to 22 d.
28jd.
31d.
31d.
31-2d.
It will here be seen that between the prices of Orleans cotton
and shirtings there was never so much as fourpence per pound
during the whole nine months from Lady-day to Christmas; and
that between Dhollerah cotton and shirtings the highest margin
at any time was ninepence per pound, whilst between yarn and
cloth the largest amount was one penny three farthings; and that the
balance was occasionally nearly twopence per pound against the
manufacturer. Persons who are acquainted with the trade will
affirm that it was possible, even under these circumstances, to con-
duct it without loss; and those who are unacquainted will ask, if
that were possible, why did not more spinners and manufacturers
get to work? The reply is, that employers were quite as anxious
as the operatives to get to work, and that quite as many did as
could do so without ruin; but the operatives are not more sensitive
to the introduction of "strangers" in times of good trade, than the
cotton market was at this time to an extra purchase of cotton; for,
if on any day the sales were much in excess of the known consump-
tion, the prices immediately went up, and the margin between
cotton and cloth disappeared. Nevertheless, the increase of employ-
ment went on till September, when the additional hands on full-time
had reached one hundred and forty-six thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three since December, and the decrease on short-time was
sixty-one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine; showing a nett
absorption of eighty-five thousand two hundred and four into em-
ployment. But the relief lists had decreased, in the same time, by
three hundred and one thousand two hundred and ninety-eight, or
more than three and a half times as many as the extra workers.
1
(( THE BASTARDY PROMOTION FUND."
221
Reckoning each worker to represent two and a half persons, we may
ask, what had become of sixty-eight thousand two hundred and
eighty-eight of these people, whose guardians were neither in the
mills nor yet dependants on the poor-rate or the relief committees ?
It is evident that twenty-seven thousand three hundred and fifteen
persons had found means by out-door work, absorption into other
employments, migration or emigration, to support themselves and
families, for no coroner's jury accused either relieving officers or
relief committees of manslaughter; the tables of mortality tell no
tales of cruelty or deprivation; nor do the sanitary returns speak even
of increased sickness. The central executive were evidently justified
in so regulating their grants as to seriously reduce the balances at the
command of the committees, and thus to necessitate great circum-
spection on their part in distribution. The pressure brought to
bear was very severe, but it was upon the whole very healthful.
No doubt great hardships were felt in some localities and in
many individual instances, but the result was, in the main, good;
and in cases where relief committees felt that it was impossible
to carry out their instructions without danger, and overdrew their
banking accounts, the next meeting of the central executive gene-
rally restored the balance by extra grants. One of the recom-
mendations of the central executive was, that all cases of suffering
induced by improper conduct should be referred to the poor-law
guardians, and a singular result was produced at Wigan by the
attempt to enforce this rule. It appears that in this town ille-
gitimate births had considerably increased during the distress, and
of course the victims would, by the arrangements of the central
executive, be excluded from relief. But the Wigan distributing
committee were of a different opinion, and having appealed in
vain against the rule, they actually resigned and made an applica-
tion to the Mansion House committee, and got a grant of £200
towards what was designated in Manchester "the bastardy promo-
tion fund," which fund was distributed separately.
There may, perhaps, have been reason to complain that the
central executive were too severe upon this point, and that they
added punishment where nature and society were already over-
whelming in their inflictions; but the existence of a separate fund
for this particular class was not likely to tend much to the improve-
ment of the morality of Wigan.
222
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
The month of October showed that work had been going on too
rapidly. Middling Orleans cotton was twenty-eight pence half-
penny, whilst shirtings were twenty-eight pence per pound; and the
operatives on full-time were decreased by one thousand five hundred,
whilst those on short-time had increased by three thousand ;
but the numbers relieved were again reduced by sixteen thousand
five hundred; that is to say, six thousand five hundred and eighty-
three operatives additional had to shift for themselves and families,
although the staple employment gave evidence of retrogression.
But the elasticity of the operative element was now exhausted,
and could be pressed no further; for November showed a further
decrease of nearly eighteen thousand on full-time, and an increase
of ten thousand on short-time, thus adding about eight thousand to
those wholly out of employment. The increase in the number
of persons relieved, however, instead of being twenty thousand,
was two thousand six hundred only; so that the strain upon the
committees was not relaxed, and great vigilance was evidently exer-
cised as to the admission of any additional recipients.
In December the full-time workers were again decreased by
ten thousand six hundred, all of whom were added to the unem-
ployed; and the relief lists were also swollen not by twenty-six
thousand (the number of individuals represented), but by less than
the additional number out of work. The price of money had some-
thing to do with this decrease of employment, for the rate of
discount rose in a month from four to eight per cent, owing, pro-
bably, to the immense amount of specie required to pay for a half
crop of cotton. We had been used to pay America with manu-
factured goods both for cotton and corn, but India demanded gold
and silver; and men who could work and pay their agents five per
cent for advances, were stopped by the demand for eight per cent
on balances, whilst all other charges were, by the altered value of
cotton, at least doubled. January, 1864, decreased the full-time
workers again by more than twenty-seven thousand, and increased
the short-timers by more than eight thousand, thus adding eighteen
thousand and ninety-five to the numbers out of work; and this
time the relief lists responded a little more liberally, for they
admitted twenty-two thousand four hundred and eighty-seven addi-
tional recipients. They admitted also an extra six hundred in
February. But in the meantime the tide had turned again; money
THE TURN OF THE TIDE.
223
had fallen two per cent; middling Orleans had fallen one penny
per pound; and more than thirteen thousand additional hands were
in full employ, whilst those on short-time were eight thousand less,
giving a nett addition of five thousand workers from the lowest
point.
Mr. Commissioner Farnall had recorded his judgment in the
autumn of 1863 to the effect that in March or April, 1864, the relief
committees would be able to suspend their labours. But he had
no sooner committed himself to writing than the panic came, and,
notwithstanding the severe pressure exercised by guardians and
relief committees, added in four months no less than thirty-five
thousand four hundred and ninety to the number of recipients of
relief. How he must have wished he could erase that line in
his report before it reached the inevitable blue-book for future
reference!
From the month of February the increase in employment was
regular, but not rapid, betokening the growth of a healthy demand
for goods; and merchants began to say that what was wanted was not
so much lower prices as steadiness and confidence. From January
to August, 1864, the increase of operatives on full-time was eighty-
eight thousand four hundred and ninety, and the decrease on short
time sixty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-two; so that the
nett increase of workers was only eleven thousand seven hundred
and eight, showing that not many new places of employment were
opened, but that those who were in the mills worked longer hours.
At the time indicated by Mr. Farnall for closing the relief com-
mittees, there were still one hundred and forty-seven thousand two
hundred and eighty on the relief lists, being two hundred and
seventy-two per cent in excess of 1861; but by August, whilst the
additional workers were as above stated, the relief lists had been
decreased by nearly eleven times that number; and we are again
entitled to ask what had become of ninety thousand eight hundred
and thirty-five persons, whose guardians, to the number of thirty-six
thousand three hundred and fifty-four, had been left to shift for
themselves?
In September, discounts again advanced to eight or nine per
cent; middling Orleans was at thirty-one pence, and shirtings were
thirty-three pence per pound; and again employment decreased.
But another and a more powerful cause than the price of discounts
224
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
was now at work. For three and a half years had the terrible Ameri-
can struggle gone on with the usual varying fortunes of war, and trade
was gradually accommodating itself to war prices, when a rumour
crossed the Atlantic that men were meeting at Niagara Falls, to try
to arrange the terms of peace. Straightway men, instead of shaking
hands and throwing up their hats in thankfulness that the mutual
slaughter of their American brethren was at an end, looked into
each other's faces with blank despair, as if peace, instead of war,
was the greatest curse upon earth. Nor was it without reason that
this fear and terror was felt and expressed. Middling Orleans cotton
fell from thirty-one pence to twenty-three pence halfpenny, and
shirtings from thirty-three pence to twenty-four pence per pound;
and men who held largely of cotton, twist, or cloth, found their for-
tunes vanished in a night at the breath of this rumour. All trade
arrangements were again in chaos. The workers on full-time were
reduced in two months by one hundred and forty-four thousand and
fifty-nine, and those on short-time were increased by sixty-six thou-
sand two hundred and twenty-two, thus throwing seventy-seven
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven persons entirely out of
work; whilst employers, merchants, and cotton speculators fell like
hail on every side. At the same time the relief lists were increased
by fifty-three thousand two hundred and five, and, in November,
by an additional thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty-five. The
panic had done its mischief before the news of the failure of the
negotiations reached England; but peace was not to be achieved at
present. The men who were strong enough in means, and coura-
geous enough in spirit, to risk the result, saw cotton and goods on
the rise again before Christmas; and those who were both rich and
prudent, having often watched the effects of panic, and calculated
on the rebound, bought cotton and yarn at the lowest prices and
prepared for work. During November and December, 1864, the
operatives in full employment were increased again by eighty-six
thousand one hundred and ninety-seven, whilst those on short-time
decreased by fifty-two thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine,
thus adding thirty-three thousand three hundred and fifty-eight to
the numbers at work, or about one-half of those who were thrown
out by the peace panic.
January, 1865, added nine thousand one hundred and twenty-
four more to the full-time workers, and three thousand nine hundred
CLOSE OF THE ASHTON COMMITTEE.
225
and six to the short-timers, being a nett increase of thirteen thou-
sand and thirty in employment. During the same period, from
November to January inclusive, the relief lists were decreased
by thirty thousand three hundred and seventy-nine.
In February, when it became evident that the Confederate
government in America must die, the fall of Richmond renewed the
panic in this country, and again the prices of cotton and cloth fell
suddenly and considerably; the full-time workers were again reduced
by eleven thousand two hundred and twenty-four, whilst the short-
timers were increased by nine thousand nine hundred and twenty-
five, thus throwing one thousand two hundred and ninety-nine out
of employment; and the relief lists, for once, more than responded
to the increased necessity, for they registered six thousand three
hundred and forty-one additional recipients. But although the
news of Confederate disasters was on this occasion true, and the
proclamation of peace in America speedily followed the fall of the
Confederate capital, whilst the most fabulous accounts were given
of the quantity of cotton in the Southern States, yet the mischief
of October could not be repeated; the rebound of prices came
within a month, enabling employment henceforth to increase regu-
larly and rapidly, up to the date of the last meeting of the central
executive in June, 1865.
The last report of Mr. Maclure shows the increase on full-time,
from February to the end of May, to be eighty thousand three
hundred and forty-nine, and the decrease on short-time forty-eight
thousand persons, thus making a nett increase to the number
employed of thirty-two thousand, three hundred and forty-nine.
The relief lists also showed a decrease in the same period of
fifty thousand one hundred and one, leaving only seventy-five
thousand seven hundred and eighty-four persons chargeable to
boards of guardians and relief committees; or about one hundred
per cent in excess of the same date in 1861. In Ashton union—
for the benefit of which locality the central executive was smi-
lingly said to have existed for the last six months-the numbers
relieved were still six hundred per cent in excess of 1861; but
the committee, even there, had passed a resolution to close in a
fortnight; and the passage of such a resolution, under the circum-
stances, is the best possible commentary upon the evil of having
two local committees, with two principal sources of supply. Had
!
226
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the central executive forcibly closed a committee twelve months
before, where the persons chargeable were in the same proportion
as in Ashton at the end of May, 1865, the whole country would
have cried shame upon them for cruelty; yet what would then
have been charged as gross cruelty was now voluntarily done by
the committee itself, and quietly submitted to by the people. Evi-
dently, a greater pressure, at an earlier period, would have ope-
rated as healthily at Ashton as elsewhere.
With one exception, the decrease in the number of operatives,
accounted for by Mr. Maclure's returns, was regular, month by
month; the exception being after the harvest of 1864, when in
October, two thousand, and in November other six thousand, seem
to have returned into the lists; but at Christmas, 1864, they had
decreased again by eighteen thousand. It is impossible to say what
has become of the greater portion of these people, or whether they
will appear again in the list of cotton operatives on the return of
prosperity. If any considerable number have emigrated, it must
have been at the expense of their own hard-earned savings, or by
means of private assistance. That some thousands have gone to the
United States is certain, some upon their own means, some by the
help of relatives and friends on either side of the Atlantic; and
some by the help of American agents who have engaged workers
on this side, and paid their passages to New York, intending some
for factory work, and others for the Federal armies. The author
was applied to on behalf of one of these agents in search of spin-
ners and weavers; and having heard of a district where the chief
employer was using his workpeople very unfairly, tried to arrange
to send the whole of them to America, but soon found that passages
would only be paid for actual workers; that our Yankee cousins did
not want "incumbrances;" and he therefore gave up the attempt.
The trade of Yorkshire has received such an impetus during the
famine that it is probable many thousands of operatives have only
crossed Blackstone Edge. Mr. Baines estimates the total hands
engaged in the woollen and worsted trades in 1856 at two hundred
and seventy-five thousand, and as the imports of foreign wool in-
creased by thirty-three per cent from 1861 to 1864-in which latter
year they exceeded the estimated home-growth by twelve and a half
per cent we may safely assume from twenty to twenty-five per
cent increase of trade; and at twenty per cent increase there would
PERCENTAGES.
227
be room for fifty-five thousand additional hands. It would not be
wonderful if the cotton districts supplied one-half of this increase;
so that in the event of sunshine returning to Lancashire, most of
these people would be ready to return, unless already employed at
increased wages. Some thousands have also doubtless found employ-
ment by the vast increase in the linen trade, and they will also be
ready to return whenever cotton wages will pay them better. And
about six thousand have been absorbed for the present, under the
Public Works Act and in other out-door employments.
These absorptions and migrations do not affect the per centages
of persons relieved to those out of employment, and the following
table, representing the continually increasing pressure of the central
executive and the boards of guardians, will be perused with interest.
It will be seen that on the assumption that each unemployed ope-
rative represented two and a half persons, one-fifth of the whole
were without relief when the proportion was at the highest ; and
that with the exception of three months in the depth of the winters
of 1863-4 and 1864-5, the percentage relieved regularly decreased
from two hundred down to seventy-seven per cent of the numbers
out of employment; and these percentages relate only to those
who were entirely out of employment, including the normal depen-
dánts on the poor rates, whilst there have been from two-thirds to
three-fourths as many more working short-time, varying from two
to four days per week, and in many cases earning wages very little
above the relief standard.
NUMBERS OUT OF WORK, NUMBERS RELIEVED, AND PROPORTIONS OF PERSONS
RELIEVED TO THOSE ENTIRELY OUT OF WORK.
1862.
June
Out of Work,
Relieved,
129,774
July
153,774
August
September
•
216,437
277,198
October
371,496
November
244.616
458,441
187 per cent.
December
247,230
485,434
196
"1
1863.
January
228,992
451,343
197
February
239,751
432,477
180
19
March
240,466
420,243
174
""
April
215,512
362,076
168
May
191,199
289,975
151
June
168,038
255,578
152
113
228
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1863.
t
Out of Work.
Relieved.
July
178,205
213,414
129 per cent,
August
171,535
204,603
119
""
September
160,835
184,136
114
October
•
154,219
167,678
108
97
November
159,117
170,268
107
11
December
149,038
180,298
120
""
1864.
January.
158,653
202,785
127
February
153,864
203,168
132
March
•
148,920
180,027
120
""
April
May
June
124,828
147,280
117,
17
116,550
116,088
99
17
105,161
100,671
95
99
July
101,568
85,910
84
17
August
•
102,090
83,063
81
17
September
135,821
92,379
68
""
October
171,568
136,268
78
19
November
153,295
149,923
97
19
December
126,977
130,397
102
19
1865.
January.
114,488
119,544
104
97
February
115,727
125,885
108
19
March
•
113,794
111,008
97
April
104,571
95,763
91
May
86,001
75,784
88
It is abundantly clear from the above table that the central
executive were very early alive to the danger of promoting per-
manent pauperism, and that they repressed with firm hands all
tendencies in that direction; first by the exclusion from relief of
all except cotton operatives, and then by continual pressure upon
the able-bodied, so as morally to compel them to seek for other
employment. To the return issued in June, 1865, the following
foot-note was appended by Mr. Maclure:-
"The impetus recently given to the cotton trade, which there
is every reason to believe will be steadily maintained, has enabled
all but nine of the one hundred and seventy local committees to
either discontinue, or give notice that they will immediately sus-
pend the distribution of relief. Under these circumstances I do
not intend to publish further returns; and therefore take this
opportunity of stating, in justice to the honorary secretaries of the
various local committees, that it is mainly due to their care that
so accurate a statistical record of the cotton famine has been kept
during the years 1862-5."

}
THE FOLLOWING TABLE WILL SHOW THE PROPORTIONS OF PERSONS, BELONGING TO VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS,
WHO WERE CHARGEABLE JUNE 20TH, 1863 :-
}
Factory
Operatives.
Joiners.
Mechanics.
Shopkeepers.
Colliers.
Agricultural and
other Out-door
Labourers.
Domestic
Servants.
Others not
included in the
foregoing.
No.
District.
Total.
Workers
Depend-
Workers
Depend-
Workers
ants
ants
Depend-
ants
ants
Workers Depend-Workers
Depend-
ants
Workers
Depend Workers Depend-Workers
ants
ants
Depend-
ants
123
Ashton-under-Lyne
25,198 16,272
26
42
131
226
42
109
335
716
407
1,043
60
6
722
255
45,690
Barton-upon-Irwell
248
369
3
18
20
35
693
Blackburn
·
2,209
..3,271
11
71
36
4
Bolton
2,322
615
6
7
74
88888
4
22
2
3
73
7
34
176
326
9.
5
77
457
6,438
31
84
117
77
*256
1,826
290
5,389
5
Burnley
257
427
1
2
7
12
19
6
5
17
12
3,788
6
Bury
3,636
4,571
11
36
76
164
14
7
Chorley
·
1,057
2,364
1
2
9
8
Chorlton
1,312
3,712
33
143
130
432
14
བཐ
56
30
86
135
365
6
8
1,097
1,161
11,923
21
6
188
57
1
1
134
497
47
4
60
585
4,301
10
695
2,421
9,598
9
Clitheroe
66
112
347
10
Fylde (The)
81
348
429
11
Garstang
16
16
32
12,, Glossop
2,421
13
Haslingden
2,604
2,067
5 4
4
8
14
15
Lancaster
Leigh
16. Macclesfield
50
128
573
20
10
15
11
6
2
8
29
64
29
72
·
| |
·
445
1
[ 1
1
111
1
|||
8
222424
2,000
300
4,476
135
6,065
6
15
238
| |
130
3
720
17 Manchester
4,242
9,105
196
573
317
803
36
108
4
स
13
390
959
*200
95
1,596
3,523
22,160
18
Oldham
4,993
2,496
78
27
220
285
6
10
163
97
146
107
9
1
771
55
9,464
19
Preston
1,544
10,722
1
35
1
157
4
42
20
Prestwich
430
535
7
8
21
Rochdale
3,977
2,942
4
10
47
135
22
Saddleworth
57
128
|
23
Salford
1,995
4,317
174
997
5
24
10
1
||
12
350
187
20
9,142
22,333
42
57
8
194
115
1,904
17
96
244
97
299
8
Co
8
399
.858
9,145
I
19
24
Skipton
1
| | |
111
185
29
29
243
691
8,499
25 Stockport
11,510
1,656
19
62
26
Todmorden
431
342
2
1
++ G
22
27
84
4
2
7
333333
65
165
178
13,833
12
.10
118
11
3,158
•
27
Warrington
28 Wigan
3,379
9,250
2
2
5
11
3
9
7
ས
7
9
20
2
2
83
75
12,866
Sundry Unions not
in cotton districts
8
1,255
1
2
20
85
2
4
I
7
2,161
proper
Total
72,488
77,000
380
940
¡
1,258
3,413
167 | 472
783
1,563
1,780
4,503
619
360
+9,771
2,059 206,465
* Some of these are persons who are merely nurses, &c., for operatives, being too old for permanent service.
+ These returns, in many instances, include fustian cutters, dyers, hand-loom weavers, &c.
JOHN WM. MACLURE, Hon. Sec.
CHAPTER XIII.
King Cotton - Mistake of Southern Sympathisers-Sufferings of the People-Sick-
ness and Mortality not increased-Analysis of the Subscriptions—Colonial and
Foreign Contributions-The "George Griswold”—Address to Captain Lunt-
Contribution of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours—Mr. Ansdell—
List of Subscriptions and Balances remaining in hand-Comparison of the Sums
subscribed to the Cotton Famine, the Royal Patriotic Fund, the Indian Mutiny
Fund, the Hartley Colliery Fund, &c. -Comparative Statement of Local Sub-
scriptions, Poor Rate, and Central Executive Contributions-Causes of the Varied
Pressure of Distress-Remissions of Rent in Various Localities-Percentage of
Uncollected Rates, 1861-4— Rates and Factory Assessments at Ashton, Bury, and
Glossop-Adjournment of Central Executive sine die-Proposed Disposal of the
Balance of the Fund.
THE word famine has hitherto been almost exclusively applied to
the existence of a short supply of food, resulting from bad harvests;
and much foolish fury has from time to time been vented against men
who have "forestalled the market" and hoarded stocks of grain for
the sake of higher prices; but who, whilst pursuing only their own
selfish interests, have really performed for society the office which
the captain of a ship disabled at sea does for his crew, when he puts
them upon short allowance to enable them to reach the destined
port alive. In Lancashire, in 1861-5, whilst bread was plentiful
and cheap, we yet had all the evidences of famine except fever
and pestilence; and these were only prevented by the extraordi-
nary liberality by which the universal public, from the Queen on
the throne to the brigade of shoeblacks who ply their vocation in
the streets of the metropolis, met the cry of distress, and rushed to
its relief. The advisers of the Southern States of North America,
when they declared Cotton to be King in England, and calculated
upon the aid of Great Britain in their struggle for independence,
knew that the arrangements of modern society had rendered cotton
almost as important and necessary to the well being of Lancashire
as even corn itself. They foresaw the trouble of the Lancashire
operatives, and perhaps remembered the former reputation of the
SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE.
231
county for lawlessness, as illustrated by the frequent inquiries of
the second King George, who, when visitors from that county came
to court, frequently asked, "Well, well, well; are you all quiet in
Lancashire now?" They doubtless calculated that the operatives
of Lancashire would oblige the government to fetch them cotton to
spin at all hazards. They saw clearly enough the trouble which
must arise from the blockade of the cotton ports, but they did not
see the hundreds of thousands of hands which would be stretched
forth to help; they saw half a million of men, women, and children
deprived of the means of earning daily bread, but they did not
see that, whether earned or not, bread would be supplied; and that
the moral tone of the people would even be improved under their
sufferings, by the universal sympathy extended towards them. Nor
did they calculate upon the appreciation of causes and the intense
love of fair play, which now forms a large element in the conduct
of the operative classes of this country. In matters where they
can, or think they can, trace their sufferings home to the conduct
of an individual or of a class, the operatives are still a formidable
body to deal with; but when a trouble is inevitable, being demon-
strably due neither to the conduct of employers nor of the govern-
ment; or when they believe that they suffer in a good cause, the
trouble is borne just as bodily illness would be-patiently, if not
stoically, and with a belief that, in some way or other, good will
come out of it. So much we owe to the influence of day-schools,
to penny newspapers, and other cheap literature. The suffering
during the cotton famine was very great and was nobly borne ;
the small hoards of the most prudent operatives were gradually
exhausted-the best clothes were turned into food-the neat
household furniture was consumed-the beds were exchanged for
straw-the much-loved musical instruments and the little cottage
library were sold and the trim cottage itself was often ex-
changed for a single room, an attic, or a cellar; until many a
well-conducted and saving man found himself at last, after all-his
struggles, and all his self-denying care, at the door of the relief
committee or the board of guardians; on a level with the idler or
the spendthrift who had for years despised advice, and who had
long lost all sense of shame. But now came in the strong help-
ing hand, nerved by the patriotism and benevolence of the whole
empire; and the last and fatal effects of famine-pestilence and
232
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
2
death-did not follow. Food, clothing, bedding, and fire, were sup-
plied in sufficient proportions to maintain life and health; and the
three years of severe suffering passed over the cotton districts with-
out any sensible increase of disease, and without increasing the fre-
quency of the death toll. Every inquiry set on foot by the central
executive resulted in the confirmation of these pleasing facts, and in
the last health report issued, the honorary secretary wrote as follows:
“The year 1864 tells the same tale as the two which went
before it. Its statistics demonstrate that in so far as registers of
death and disease tables may be looked upon as an evidence of
the public health, the cotton famine has failed to bring in its train
any of those evils which the most sanguine might have feared.
In the country generally the death toll was unusually high. A
tolerably extended series of statistics, embracing the experience of
ten years, shows that the average annual rate of mortality among
the dwellers in towns in England is expressed by 24-2 in the
thousand; last year it reached the higher aggregate of 25.8.
Such being the result of the returns from the country generally,
it is satisfactory to find that, in so far as these districts are con-
cerned, not only was there no proportionate increase over preced-
ing years, but the actual mortality fell below the average of the
last three years; the period embraced in the Sanitary Association's
returns. In other words, the deaths for the year were at the rate
of twenty-eight to the thousand as compared with twenty-nine, the
average for the three preceding years.
""
Higher praise than this the relief committees could not have;
the grim king Death himself affirms that their arrangements,
including the extra liberality of boards of guardians, have not only
prevented an increase of his harvest, but have even hindered his
usual work. Under these circumstances we can afford to think
lightly of the impositions practised from time to time upon the
committees by undeserving recipients, and to look with interest to
the sources and the character of the means by which this great
result was achieved.
The books of the central executive show thirty-nine thousand
eight hundred and ninety-eight separate entries of subscriptions up
to the end of December, 1864, conveyed in eighty-six thousand seven
hundred and sixty-four letters; which letters, in December, 1862, and
January, 1863, came to hand at the rate of eight hundred per day.
ANALYSIS OF THE SUBSCRIPTIONS.
233
The letters despatched up to the end of December, 1864, were one
hundred and fifty-five thousand eight hundred and sixty-three,
besides five hundred and eighty-two printed documents, which
numbered one hundred and sixty-five thousand seven hundred and
twenty-four copies.
The total sum dealt with in the balance sheet of 31st December,
1864, is £931,398. 1s., of which amount £13,510. 7s. is set forth
as "promised but not collectable." In some instances the donors
have themselves, after partial payment, fallen victims to the crisis ;
in others, payment is probably refused upon the plea that the
money is not needed; and we hope that the men whose consciences
will allow them to enjoy the reputation of having given, whilst the
money is still in their own purses, are very few indeed.
The total sum distributed in relief by the central executive
through the various committees was £841,809. To this the Mansion
House committee added £419,692, besides sending £53,531 to com-
mittees in Ashton-under-Lyne district which were not recognised
by the central executive; and the various committees themselves
made local collections amounting to £297,008, and received direct
from other sources £49,659. To the amount of local subscrip-
tions is to be added about £80,000 collected in Manchester, and
paid direct by the collecting committee into the funds of the
general committee. Thus the total sum of money distributed by
committees was £1,661,679; in addition to which there passed in
food and clothing, through the hands of the central executive,
sixteen thousand five hundred barrels of flour, nine hundred and
ninety-seven barrels of beef, bacon, &c.; five hundred barrels of
biscuits; four hundred and ten cases of fish; two hundred and
twenty-eight sacks of potatoes, carrots, turnips, &c.; two hundred
and twenty-five deer; with many hundreds of pheasants, hares,
rabbits, &c.; twenty-eight chests of tea; two and a half pipes and
one hundred and eight dozens of wine; eleven thousand five
hundred and nineteen tons of coal; and eight hundred and ninety-
three bales of clothing, blankets, and clothing materials. The
whole of these contributions in kind were valued at £111,968,
making the total amount of public subscriptions, £1,773,647.
Large contributions of clothing and materials for clothing passed
also through the Mansion House committee, but of the value of
these no accurate estimate seems to have been made.
234
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMIN E.
The balance-sheet of the central executive to 31st December,
1864, shows the receipt of twenty-five thousand nine hundred
and ninety-nine separate individual donations, amounting to
£242,865. 12s. 8d.; collections at three thousand and ninety-three
churches and chapels of £53,265. 6s. 9d.; collections from five
thousand four hundred and three parishes of £65,517. 8s. 2d. ;
collections amongst the workpeople of one thousand four hundred
and eighty-four firms of £15,715. Os. 4d. Collecting committees
were organised in one thousand two hundred and forty-one places
in connection with the central committee at Manchester, exclusive
of the committees in connection with the Mansion House fund; and
the exertions of those who remitted to Manchester resulted in the
sum of £497,782. 15s. 1d. So that, deducting from the individual
donations the above-named £80,000 paid in by the Manchester
collecting committee, we find that about three-fifths of the
fund resulted from regular organisation and sustained effort;
one-sixth from spontaneous individual benevolence, one-seventh
from collections in places of worship, and about one-sixtieth from
the working people employed by various firms. Looking to the
localities from which the subscriptions came, we find every quarter
of the globe represented, illustrating at once the immense field
covered by the Anglo-Saxon race, and how impossible it is for either
space or time to separate man from home sympathies or home
interests.
Much fear and some anger was expressed by the newspapers
from time to time that Lancashire was not doing its duty. The
returns of the honorary secretary, compared with the balance-
sheet, show that the collections by local committees, including the
Manchester collecting committee, were equal to forty-one per cent of
the whole central fund; and to twenty-four per cent of the total sum,
including the amount distributed by the Mansion House committee.
The reader will form his own conclusion as to whether a district con-
taining about ten per cent of the population of England and Wales,
whilst suffering under such a paralysis as the cotton famine, which
destroyed one-half of its principal industry, and inflicted a large
extra burden of poor-rates, did its duty by finding twenty-four per
cent of the relief fund, in addition to the immense amount which
is known to have been distributed in private charity, but which
cannot be reduced into statistical shape. For ourselves, whilst we
THE
GEORGE GRISWOLD."
235
are utterly ashamed of the few rich men who in various localities
refused to subscribe, we are yet eminently satisfied with the total
result; and feel that Lancashire may stand any amount of honest
and fair criticism without a blush.
Of the whole amount of foreign and colonial subscriptions
(£93,041. 17s. 1d.), fifty-five per cent was sent from Australia,
including New South Wales; a sum which, compared with the
population of the colony, had no equal out of Manchester; and
this contribution speaks very eloquently for the character of the
people, and for the prospects of emigrants to that country. Next
on the list of foreign donors stands North America, credited for
£1,333. 5s. 11d. in money and about £27,000 in provisions.
This subscription from America, occurring during their own
terrible civil war, was so unprecedented, that some people thought
it a bribe to induce England to take sides with the Federals in the
struggle; but conversation with persons coming from the Northern
States always tended to show that all they wished and cared for
was to be let alone; and the various official or unofficial offers at
mediation, from this side of the Atlantic, were always similarly
met by the Federal government. The subscription originated with
George Griswold, a merchant of New York, who freighted his own
ship, bearing his own name, and paid the salaries of the officers and
sailors, and sent them across to the old country, to help the dis-
tressed operatives of Lancashire. And it is probable that his noble
example, aided by the knowledge that the United States were indi-
rectly the cause of the trouble, increased this solid expression of
sympathy, and sent supplies of food to tens of thousands of unwil-
ling idlers on this side the water. When the "George Griswold"
arrived in Liverpool, the Custom House officials had learned
from the government that they had no duties to perform on board;
the Liverpool authorities declined to receive dock or town dues;
and everybody engaged, down even to the dock porters and landing
waiters, alike declined to be paid for their services. So great an
act of benevolence on the part of foreigners even broke through
the red tape bands of the government, and inspired everywhere the
same benevolent inclination; in which the railway companies also
joined, carrying the cargo free of cost; and the occasion was fitly
celebrated by making the captain of the "George Griswold"
the guest of the corporation of Liverpool, and of the general
}
236
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
committee at Manchester. At the Manchester dinner, the fol-
lowing address, enclosed in a morocco case, was presented to
Captain Lunt:-
"To Captain Lunt, commander of the ship 'George Griswold.'
"Sir,-The general committee of the fund for the relief of the
distress in the manufacturing districts feel that in meeting you, as
the representative of the New York international relief fund, no
ordinary words can express the welcome they desire to give to the
munificent contribution which you have borne from the New World
to the Old. They welcome you as the citizen of a great nation,
which, in the troubles of her own domestic strife, cannot forget the
sufferings of those whose language, traditions, and faith are insepa-
rable from her own. They recognise in this generous sympathy
for the unmerited privations of the cotton workmen an overflow of
that charity which is alike the bond of social harmony and one main
security for international peace. They desire to say, on behalf of
the workmen who have endured with such intelligent patience the
calamity which you come to mitigate, that the remembrance of this
help in the time of need will be treasured up, to yield hereafter an
abundant harvest. For themselves, as representing those possessed
of wealth and all its attendant advantages, they assure you that,
in proportion as their own hearts have been stirred by the danger
and misery of their poorer countrymen, are they rendered suscep-
tible of all the grateful emotions which they desire to express to you
from the whole English people, who have succoured the cotton
workmen in their need, and especially from those counties which
have been the scene of a crisis marked by a wonderful concert of
exertion, sacrifice, and patience. They hope that, on your return to
America, you will, on behalf of all classes in this country, express
the united British wish that nothing shall ever occur to interrupt
that brotherly feeling which now exists between the two countries—
a feeling which this noble and generous act must tend greatly to
strengthen and cement. They desire, finally, to thank you, per-
sonally, most warmly, for the generous self-devotion which induced
you to take charge of the 'George Griswold,' and they ask you to
convey to the owners of that vessel their grateful acknowledgments
for the noble manner in which they placed it at the disposal of the
munificent donors of its precious freight. These acts have awakened
ADDRESS TO CAPTAIN LUNT.
237
a corresponding feeling in this country. Your cargo has been
received without port or dock dues, and carried to its destination
without charge. In conclusion, they desire to express a hope that
you may long enjoy the cheering recollection of having been able
so greatly to assist in this work, and thus inseparably to connect
your name with this great proof of international sympathy.
"Signed, on behalf of the general committee of the fund for the
relief of the distress in the manufacturing districts,
"ABEL HEYWOOD, mayor, chairman.
"JOHN W. MACLURE, honorary secretary."
Captain Lunt, in responding, said: "Gentlemen,-The address
that has now been read to me, I have listened to with greater plea-
sure than I have words to express; and I tender you my warmest
thanks, in the name of those I this day represent here—the owners
of the 'George Griswold,' and the donors of the cargo. They will
be highly gratified with this most cordial welcome. The contribu-
tions of the merchants of New York were given solely for their
sympathy with your suffering operatives. Stevedores, tug-boats,
pilots, shipping masters, all contributed their services. I am happy
to publish this, the right good fellowship of the labouring classes
in so good a cause. On my arrival at the port of Liverpool I found
the steam companies vieing with each other to tow my ship to port
free of charge. The dock and town dues were remitted—the ship
docked and discharged-the cargo coopered and landed-and trans-
mitted to its various destinations free of any charge. My heart
warms to each and every one of those volunteers whose liberality
I deem it only right to them publicly to acknowledge. I shall ever
cherish the friendly feeling shown to me in Liverpool and Man-
chester; and I shall carry back to my country the noble reception
given to the 'George Griswold' and her cargo, and the good feeling
expressed for the United States by many able gentlemen, at dif-
ferent times, since my arrival. God grant that the war desolating
our land may soon be settled that trade and commerce may
flourish once more-and that England and America may ever
extend the hand of good fellowship to each other.”
Subscriptions were also received (chiefly given by British resi-
dents) from Austria, South Africa, the Brazils, China, Canada, the
Cape of Good Hope, Egypt, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Holland,
238
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Italy, India, Java, Maderia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New
Zealand, Russia, Spain, Smyrna, South America, Sandwich Islands,
Turkey, and the West Indies.
Amongst the most interesting of the home subscriptions was
that of The New Society of Painters in Water-Colours, who resolved
at a general meeting to request each member to contribute one (or
more) painting or sketch in water-colours, to be exhibited in London,
Manchester, and Liverpool, and afterwards allotted to subscribers
as prizes. This design was admirably carried out, the exhibition com-
prising three hundred and eighteen contributions, valued at £4,500,
and resulted in an addition to the relief fund of £1,904. 16s. 9d.
Mr. Ansdell gave to the fund one of his finest works, "The Hunted
Slave," which was also disposed of by lot to subscribers, and realised
£696. 3s. The readers of the British Workman also subscribed
£3,564. 10s. 1d. At a meeting which the author attended in Mary-
lebone, Lord Radstock stated that a subscription had been made
amongst the London brigade of shoeblacks, and that some of the
gifts would, if measured by the circumstances of the donors, put
to shame many of the largest contributors. The reader will no
doubt find a list of the principal contributions interesting; nor is
it likely that time will lessen the importance of the record.
FUND FOR THE RELIEF OF DISTRESS IN THE MANUFACTURING
DISTRICTS.
RETURNS FROM THE PRINCIPAL LOCAL COLLECTING COMMITTEES IN THE UNITED KING-
DOM, SHOWING THE AMOUNT REMITTED TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, WITH THE
BALANCE NOW IN HAND, IN EACH CASE UP TO NOVEMBER, 1864.
Aldershot
Committee.
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds.
Balance in Hand.
£ S. d.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
968 14 6
Abergavenny
Alton
Arundel
118 19 0
238 9 1
1
Abingdon
286 8 11
12 0 0
Ambleside
Aylesbury
514 4 2
•
294 19 0
Amesbury
141 4 0
Carried forward £2,562 18 8
£2 0 0
"To the Mansion House committee.
| | |
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BALANCES.
239
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds.
Balance in Hand.
£ S. d.
Brought forward
2,562 18 8
£ s. d.
200
*
£ 8.
s. d.
Aberystwith
270 3 10
Aberdare
675 12 6
Alfreton
238 1 1 8
Aberavon
Birmingham
Bristol
•
Burton-on-Trent
Burton-on-Trent (Working
Men's)
Brierley Hill
Barnard Castle
Blackpool (Operative)
Banbury
77 1 3
90 0 9
800 0 0
Bromsgrove
Bradford, Yorkshire
10,500 0 0
Beaumaris
294 0 0
| | | | | | | |
30 0 0
8,000 0 0
6,816 19 7
5,000 0 0
665 15 2
120 0 0
280 0 0
286 0 7
24 13 7
11,178 0 4
Beccles
93 8 6
I
Buxton
156 0 0
2 |
7 6
Buxton (Special Fund)
8711 6 6
5 2 2
200 7 5
25
Bideford
38 16 5
Barnstaple.
322 6 2
497 11 11
Bridport
469 5 4
Bury St. Edmunds
1,167 11 2
Balham Hill, Surrey
194 10 1
Beverley
244 10 7
Buckingham
728 19 6
Batley
·
Bridgenorth
Birkenhead
Birstall
500 0 0
153 17 9
5150 0 0
.150 0 Q
1,240 0 0
23 11 0
227 9.9
Bilston
200 0 0
156 4 8
Barnham (no return)
Brentford
171 9 10
Brighouse
500 0 0
6333 17 7
718 0 0
1 18 3
50 9 7
Bournemouth
300 0 0
Briton Ferry
Bedford
170 0 0
Bath
$2,333 10 9
38 10 8
Carried forward
¹To Macclesfield.
£36,647 19 6 £3,667 14 3
£18,645 17 3
"To the hospital fund, for cotton operatives' benefit.
"To the hospital fund, for cotton operatives' benefit. Balance not available for the general pur-
poses of the central relief committee.
*To Halliwell, £30; to Oldham, £48. 16s. 7d.; to West Buckland, £10; to Hindley;£8. 158. 4d.
"To Sheffield. £218 value in goods sent to the central committee in addition.
"To the Mansion House committee.
"To Ripponden Various sums still to collect.
240
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund,
Amount Remitted
£ 8. d.
Brought forward
Bath Easton
36,647 19 6
138 3 9
to
Other Funds.
£ s. d.
3,667 14 3
Balance in Hand.
£
s. d.
18,645 17 3
Berwick-on-Tweed (English
side).
1557 7 3
Cotton Districts Relief Fund
85,732 12 0
53,995 0 0
Canterbury
Chapel-en-le-Frith
1,748 14 0
200 0 0
¹1,000
0 0
232 14 9
38 5 7
Cheltenham
3,678 7 2
8428 7 1
Cirencester
148 19 6
Carmarthen
548 0 4
Cambridge University
3,301 3 10
428 15 0
Chichester
1,303 5 10
Chester (City)
1,685 3 6
Chester (County)
4,105 3 3
Crewe
1,138 6 6
4 5 0
Cleckheaton
Cardiff
Cockermouth
406 6 1
Chelmsford
Craven
Chesterfield
1,200 0 0
140 8 8
Chestal
Castletown, Isle of Man
156 12 5
Carnarvon
Christchurch
212 14 1
Dudley
Darlington
Doncaster
Devonport
Durham
Derby
2,500 5 1
1,358 13
0
902 17 3
1,590 17 9
| | | | | | | | |
Dewsbury
Dowlais
500 0 0
141 3 3
$100 0 0
330 0 0
Dolgelly (no return)
Dartmoor
Droitwich
Dorsetshire
Dorchester
527 12 9
130 6 1
Dursley
Denbigh
Exeter
141 9 3
188 6 2
Carried forward
£150,502 16 3
£5,814 18 4
£75,284 2 7
¹To the Mansion House committee.
3To various local committees.
"Distributed locally. Balance reserved for local distress.
*To Rev. F. H. Williams, Ashton-under-Lyne, £13. 5s.; to Queensland emigration fund, £15. 10s.
"To Sheffield.
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BALANCES.
Amount Remitted
· to the
Central Fund.
£ 8. d.
Brought forward
150,502 16 3
Evesham
534 12 5
Elland-cum-Greetland
303 11 1
Earlsheaton
180 0 0
Ebbw Vale
422 4 10
Eccleshall
140 19 7
East Moulsey
60 0 0
East Dereham
202 8 4
Faversham
Fenton, near Stoke
185 7 11
Falmouth
147 3 11
Felstead, Essex
Fleetwood (no return)
Great Malvern
Gateshead
241
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds.
£ 8. d.
5,814 18 4
Balance in Hand.
£
s. d.
75,284 2 7
32 0 0
1,141 0 9
362 19 2
5,752 6 0
12,942 12 2
776 18 11
Gloucester
Grantham
Gainsborough
Godalming
Grimsby
Guisborough
Gladestig (no return)
Grangemouth
Greenfield
Gosport
Hastings
Herne Bay
Hanging Heaton, Dewsbury
Huddersfield
T
343 6 3
117 12 10
45 0 0
300 0 0
3,080 0 8
Harrogate
Hitchin
Huntingdon
20 0 0
1 11 0
11
4 14 8
10 16 0
2,000 0 0
2972 0 0
550 0 0
450 7 4
5,134 5 0
90 0 0
374 19 2
Hazel Grove
Heckmondwike
Horncastle
Hertford
Howden
Hanley
Hartlepool
50 0 0
314 12 0
149 1 6
169 12 9
543 2 10
191 8 7
793 19 8
106 3 6
Holywell
Carried forward
£170,153 10 9
£9,729 10 6
£80,715 14 9
¹Sent through various channels.
'Distributed in local relief.
Cloth and materials, purchased at a cost of £307, sent in addition.
£500 for Sheffield has been placed at the disposal of the committee, and £100 has since been voted to
the guardians for the relief of local distress, and more is likely to be required for this purpose.
Ꭱ
242
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Honiton
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds.
Balance in Hand.
Brought forward
£ S. d.
170,153 10 9
£
8. d.
£
s. d.
9,729 10 6
Holmfirth
1599 19 4
80,715 14 9
90 0 0
Harting, Petersfield
86 19 6
Horsham
Hereford (City)
346 14 8
302 8 4
Hungerford
Hetton-le-Hole
Handsworth
Hatfield
| | | | | |
63 9 6
124 6 4
150 0 0
180 3 4
147 7 8
Halifax
1,000 0 0
23,271 3 2
1,977 0 0
Ipswich
2,000 0 0
1,033 0 0
Kidderminster
215 0 6
Kentish Town
Kensington
1,670 0 0
1,100 0 0
Kendal and Lonsdale Wards
1,900 0 0
8392 1 8
1,600 0 0
Kingswinford
186 14 0
Kingston
Keswick
25 0 0
Kingsbridge
95 0 0
Kettering
261 3 0
Knaresborough
200 0 0
15 13 8
Liverpool
57,125 0 0
*1,544 0 0 35,579 11 11
Lewes
Llangollen
133 3 2
Leeds
567 4 0 18,064 2 2
Lowestoft
Launcestown
7,000 0 0
314 1 9
44 0 0
260 0 0
Longton
Llanelly
Leicester
660 0 0
5,265 16 0
Leek
370 0 0
Lichfield
886 10 4
Leominster
*50 0 0
Langholme
283 6 7
Loddon
Lambeth (no return)
Louth
79 17 0
London University College
255 10 0
•
Long Buckby
5 15 6
741 15 0
Carried forward
£252,130 17 3 £15,655 14 4
£140,175 2 6
¹Goods purchased at a cost of £260 sent in addition.
"To various local committees.
"To whom not stated.
³To various local committees, £192. 1s. 8d.; to Sheffield, £200.
*£200 to Lisburn, for Irish distress; and £367. 4s. to the Leeds ladies' relief committee.
"To the Society of Friends' committee.
"To the Mansion House and Daily Telegraph committees.
Llandaff
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BALANCES.
243
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
to
Other Funds.
£
Brought forward 252,130 17
s. d.
3
£ 8. d.
15,655 14 4
Amount Remitted
Balance in Hand.
8.
d.
£
140,175 2 5
100 13 9
Mold
Maidstone
Monmouth
Malton
Llandudno
Little Harwood
Middlesborough
Merthyr Tydvil
131 14 1
30 0 0
265 0 0
257 15 7
1,140 0 0
219 12 7
1,546 9 6
Mountain Ash
Mirfield
•
61 6 1
1575 15 6
Masham
55 15 6
Moreton in the Marsh
29 3 9
Marazion
117 19 0
Melton Mowbray
Maidenhead
Northampton
Netherfield
Northwich
•
•
Newport Pagnell
309 7 6
210 1 3
684 10 0
1,213 4 2
15 0 6
286 17 11
273 1 8
Newport, Monmouthshire
789 18 2
Norwich
Newcastle-on-Tyne
Newark
662 7 10
4,023 18 3
532 11 3
Newcastle-under-Lyme
205 19 0
Newbury
New Swindon (Great Western
Railway Company)
226 17 2
Oxford (University) .
5,574 3 4
Oxford (City).
1,100 0 0
Oxford (County)
2,098 15 2
Oswestry
Ossett
500 0 0
272 13 2
Oldbury and Langley
159 2 6
. Otley
Oaken Gates
Plymouth
300 0 0
63 9 5
1,550 0 0
Penrith
335 10 8
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Penzance
Presteign
Portsmouth
Pimlico
618 12 6
4 10 11
0 10 0
10 10 0
1,000 0 0
94 2 5
50 0 0
2 13 3
157 17 5
263 4 11
3,278 8 9
Carried forward
£282,157 13 10 £15,665 15 7
£141,337 9 1
¹Goods purchased at a cost of £35 sent in addition.
"To Hyde.
244
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds,
Balance in Hand
Brought forward
Poole
Pontypool
Ripon
£ S. d.
282,157 13 10
280 16 1
2 4 0
1.162 4 0
£ 8. d.
15,665 15 7
£
s. d.
141,337 9 1
127 18 7
Richmond
915 0 9
Reading
*2,180 0 0
18 15 11
Rhyl
233 18 0
Runcorn
848 9 1
*20 0 0
Redditch
Rugeley
Ruthin
429 8
6
222 13 6
50 0 0
Rainhill
210 0 0
Romsey
Ruabon
Rye
122 15 6
132 13 10
68 18 6
Ryde
Romford
Retford East
Rotherham
Shrewsbury
St. Pancras
603 0 0
181 9 8
83 0 0
1,041 0 0
1,603 10 1
return)
St. Marylebone
St. Helens
Stroud (Borough)
Staffordshire (County)
St. Margaret's and St. John's,
Westminster
St. Bartholomew's
St. Luke's, Middlesex (no
2,739 19 0
1,540 9 11
49 11 0
10,000 0 0
2,550 8 6
2,052 16 0
4,936 1 11
| | | | | |
889 10 10
Southport
3.963 4 7
Sydenham and Forest Hill
721 4 1
Scarbro❜
250 0 0
*440 0 0
Settle
506 7 11
Swansea
1,500 0 0
450 0 0
Sunderland
Seaham Harbour
Seven Oaks
Shaftesbury
Stoke-upon-Trent
Stonehouse East
1,787 4 6
98 18 6
249 14 10
638 1 6
115 12 9
11
Smethwick
300 0 0
69 5 0
163 0 9
10 0 0
Carried forward
£326,691 11 1 £16,163 14 2
£142,765 0 10
¹To the Daily Telegraph fund.
"To Bredbury.
"Balance to be applied to the building of almshouses.
*To the Mansion House committee.
"To Oldham.
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BALANCES.
245
to
Other Funds.
Brought forward
Sheffield
£ S. d.
326,691 11 1
2,500 0 0
Amount Remitted Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Balance in Hand.
£ S. d.
142,765 0 10
8,161 0 0
£ 8. d.
16,163 14 2
Stockton-on-Tees
433 16 3
South Shields
Saltash
Sudbury
80 10 0
199 12 3
Shelf
177 14 1
Sandwich
61 10 1
Sowerby Bridge
10 0 0
1424 7 0
334 14 3
Sandown
Southwark (no return)
Tunbridge Wells
733 8 2
Teignmouth
Tewkesbury
215 15 7
203 11 5
21,080 8 6
$70 0 0
Tavistock
107 19 10
121 8 8
Thetford
84 7 4
Tilbury (no return)
Tredegar
170 0 0
Tunstall
268 8 0
Tenby
167 8 4
Uttoxeter
144 11 4
Upper Edmonton
145 17 9
| | | | | | |
Ulverstone (no return)
West Bromwich
500 0 0
4114 0 0
163 2 11
West Hartlepool
304 12 6
Wordsley
356 5 11
Worcester
2,000 0 0
740 0 0
Wolverhampton
3,616 0 6
$188 19 6
Whittington (no return)
Workington
247 3 6
Wetherby
240 0 0
Wellington, Somerset
215 6 4
Wilton, Salisbury
75 0 0
Wakefield'
Wimbledon
745 1 4
Ware
321 12 11
Walsall
1,020 5 2
617 10 6
Warwickshire
6,017 11 4
755 0 0
Carried forward
£348,055 1 0 £18,113 19 8
£152,285 6 8
¹£178 to Ripponden; £10 to Blackburn; and £236. 7s. distributed in local relief. Balance
required for the same purpose.
2Disbursed in various ways.
STo whom not stated.
*To Sheffield, £100; to Mr. Lee, Manchester, £14.
*To Blackburn, £151. 11s; to the Mansion House committee, £33. 178 3d; to the Baptist relief
fund, £3. 11s. 3d.
"To Preston, £17. 108. 6d.
"To Salford, £50; to Blackburn, £5.
246
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
Amount Remitted
to
Other Funds.
Balance in Hand
Brought forward
Wolverton
£ S. d.
348,055 1 0
373 17 4
£ s. d.
18,113 19 8
£
8. d.
152,285 6 8
Whitby
368 7 7
Writtle
146 7 6
Whitehaven
513 10 6
1665 4 5
Warrington
Wrexham
· Willenhall
Wednesbury
3,060 19 0
900 0 0
100 0 0
82 4 10
11 4 7
Wareham
•
Worksop
York
Yeadon
Yarmouth
163 12 3
100 0 0
3,085 0 0
100 0 0
410
1 11
2715 0 0
1,930 9 5
2 16 6
119 0 7
Yeovil
Total
£356,970 16 2 £19,494 4 1
£154,431 2 7
IRELAND.
Belfast
Cork (City)
4,378 0 10
1,800 0 0
Cork (County)
1,550 17 11
227 7 3
Down (County)
313 0 0
Dublin
25,000 0 0
Tyrone (County) no return
Total.
£32,728 18 9
£27 7 3
£313 0 0
Alloa
Aberdeen
Arbroath
Alford
•
Blairgowrie
Banff
Brechin
Berwickshire
SCOTLAND.
250 0 0
8,000 6 2
1,136 15 8
1,063 18 11
485 8 6
| |
266 10 6
| |
Cambusnethan
Dysart
Dundee
401 0 0
263 19 1
6,125 9 2
11
Dumfries
4,500 0 0
Dumbarton
200 0 0 $150 0 0
138 0 0
Carried forward
£21,941 9 0 £235 8 6
£404 10 6
¹To Carlisle, £465. 4s. 5d.; to Dalston, £200.
3To the Dublin committee.
2To the Mansion House committee, £700; to Blackburn, £7. 10s.; to Preston, £7. 108.
*To the Aberdeen committee.
"To Duntocher, £120; to Kirkintillock, £30. Will send £70 in due course.
Dunkeld
Edinburgh
Falkirk
Forfar
•
Fife (County)
Galashiels
Hawick
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BALANCES.
Brought forward
Amount Remitted Amount Remitted
to the
Central Fund.
£ S. d.
21,941 9 0
163 13 0
34,265 4 8
550 14 6
317 11 6
2,379 0 0
488 19 0
240 7 6
to
Other Funds.
£ s. d.
235 8 6
111
247
Balance in Hand.
£ s. d.
404 10 6
Haddington
Jedburgh
527 7 7
Kelso
457 7 6
Kirkcudbright
135 5 0
Kincardine on the Forth
130 2 0
Kirkcaldy
787 2 0
Linlithgow
49 5 7
Montrose
1,110 0 0
Perth (City and County)
4,023 10 0
Port Glasgow
200 0 0
303 0 6
Peterhead
Renfrew
Selkirk (County)
Selkirk (Burgh)
Thurso
Tillicoultry
150 8 7
108 4 1
316 15 6
126 0 0
£68,641 5 6 £265 10 6
£404 10 6
•
Total
N.B.-Parochial collections are not included in the above returns.
Compiled for the central executive committee,
We insert also-
JOHN WM. MACLURE, Hon. Sec.
RETURNS FROM THE PRINCIPAL LOCAL COLLECTING COMMITTEES IN THE UNITED KING-
DOM, SHOWING THE BALANCES RETAINED IN HAND MARCH 13, 1865.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
Cheshire.
*Birkenhead
Crewe.
Derbyshire
*Buxton
23 11 0
4 5 0
27 16 0
200 7 5
*Chapel-en-le-Frith
*Chesterfield .
38 5 7
140 8 8
Dorsetshire
*Dorchester
•
379 1 8
130 6 1
Devonshire
*Plymouth
*East Stonehouse
*Tavistock
2 13 3
69 5 0
121 8 8
193 6 11
Carried forward
£730 10 8
"To the Perth committee.
248
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
£ s. d.
Brought forward
£ s. d.
730 10 8
£ s. d.
Denbigh
Essex
·
*Wrexham
*Brentford
Glamorganshire *Swansea
Lincolnshire. *Grimsby
Middlesex *Kensington
Norfolk
•
Yarmouth
·
82 4 10
1 18 3
450 0 0
1 11 0
1,100 0 0
119 0 7
·
Oxfordshire *Banbury
24 13 7
*University
City
Staffordshire. *Bilston.
10 10 0
1,000 0 0
1,035 3 7
156 4 8
*West Bromwich
* Willenhall
163 2 11
11 4 7
330 12 2
Surrey
*East Moulsey
Warwickshire
Westmoreland *Kendal
*Birmingham.
20 0 0
6,816 19 7
1,600 0 0
Worcestershire
Worcester
740 0 0
Yorkshire
Bradford
11,178 0 4
*Batley .
150 0 0
*Brighouse
*Dewsbury
Huddersfield.
*Harrogate
*Heckmondwike
•
*Knaresborough
*Holmfirth
Halifax
Leeds
*Otley
Sheffield,
Sowerby Bridge
*Yeadon .
*York
Outstanding in England.
Alloa
50 9 7
330 0 0
5,134 5 0
90 0 0
149 1 6
90 0 0
1,977 0 0
15 13 8
18,064 2 2
50 0 0
8,161 0 0
334 14 3
2 16 6
1,930 9 5
47,707 12 5
60,735 13 1
Dumbarton
266 10 6
138 0 0
404 10 6
Outstanding in Scotland.
404 10 6
£61,140 3 7
The committees marked thus (*) have remitted to the central fund sixty per
cent of their subscriptions.
Printed by order of the central executive committee,
JOHN WM. MACLURE, Hon. Sec.
The above list, whilst showing no great haste on the part of
some of the collecting committees to strengthen the hands of the
ANONYMOUS SUBSCRIPTIONS.
249
central executive, is yet, with the addition of the balance at the
command of the executive, the measure of the excess of benevo-
lence beyond the necessities of the crisis.
Many of the individual subscriptions were anonymous, and
consisted of very small sums, but they showed sufficiently that
knowledge of the suffering had become general, and that sympathy
was not confined to any class. We append a few specimens :—
A Child's Money Box
Spademan's Mite (various sums)
Tom Long the Carrier, ditto
A Poor Man's Mite
Budding Sympathies.
Humanitas
•
A Town Vicar (weekly)
Two Sisters in London, M. and R.
Review
Vain is the Help of Man
A Merry Convivium Germanium
An Artilleryman
A Family Dinner Weekly, per Fast and Give
Lizzie
A Friend, Shrewsbury
A Little Girl
A Few Working Men, Shrewsbury
A Marksman (prizes foregone)
A Friend to the Distressed
Sympathiser
A Police Sergeant, Market Bosworth
A Lady's Maid
•
Thank Offering of a Staffordshire Farmer
Polly (for two weeks)
Haud Ignarus Mali
•
Dispute at a Bachelors' Club
A Few Art Mechanics
Cyphon
•
£ s. d.
090
0 1 0
0 7 0
0 10 0
0 10 0
0 5 0
0 2 6
0 5 0
0 12
6
0 5 0
0 6
0 0
0
6
0 2 0
0 0 6
0 1 0
0 2 0
0 0 6
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 5 0
5 10 0
0 1 0
0 12 6
0 6 6
0 8 6
1 1 0
1 0 0
1 0 0
0 10 0
0 2 6
0 1 0
0 16 0
0 10 0
0 5 3
10
0 0 6
0 5 0
Winnings of a Party at a Game of Speculation.
0 2 0
A Little Boy at St. Andrew's (half of his whole savings)
Carluke
Pat
A Working Man of Cardross
A Parishioner, Wroughton
A Friend Abroad
Once a Week
Friend in Need
•
Susan and Jane, helped by Miss Mary
A Poor Person
•
A Factory Boy and Girl
250
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
A North Worcestershire Rector.
Odds and Ends (collected in Filey)
Six-Seventy
Alpha
£ s. d.
0 10 0
1 0 0
1 0 0
A Few Coachmakers, Driffield
Plain Roast and Boiled
A Labourer
A Widow.
A Poor Woman
Forty Little Boys (saved from pleasures usual on 5th November)
With G. P. D.'s Compliments
Savings of an Old Smoker's Pipe
0 2 0
030
04 0
0 0 6
0 0 1
003
700
0 14 1
Instead of Giving New Year's Gifts
Sympathy
Ada
Gertie
0 2 0
5 0 0
0 1 4
0 10 0
0 2 6
Sea N.
Compromise for an Offence Against the Game Laws
A Penny Lecture on Cotton
A Few Poor Boys, Boston,
Price of a Turkey, and Two Subscriptions
Three Children, Mirfield
A Trifle from a Housemaid
•
Schoolboys, Scholes, Cleckheaton
Servants in a Family
A Poor Woman.
Penny Gatherings, Creesbrook
·
An Unionist American, Hong Kong
A Lancashire Lad in Egypt
A Sunday School Class
Proceeds of a Raffle
0 5 0
096
0 16 8
0 1 9
0 14 0
2 0 0
0 3 0
06 0
0 26
0 1 0
60 6
5 0 0
200
0 1 0
0 14 0
It may safely be asserted that this outpouring of benevolence
never was equalled; and such a proof of the power of voluntary
effort is demonstration, that whilst for normal requirements ratable
contributions, under authority, are the proper sources of reliance,
yet that for any extraordinary or unforeseen occurrence, the public
spirit, the manliness, and the benevolence of the Anglo-Saxon race,
will always efficiently provide.
The subscription to the Indian Mutiny relief fund was in Lon-
don £440,200. 18s. 6d.; and in Manchester, £17,394. 10s. 5d.; and,
after supplying all calls, it left a disposable balance. The amount
subscribed to the Royal Patriotic fund was £1,459,739. 14s. 3d.,
and there remains a disposable balance; the Hartley Colliery fund
amounted to £83,234. 17s. 9d., and left a considerable balance; the
subscriptions to the sufferers by the Holmfirth and Sheffield floods
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT.
251
left in each case a disposable balance; and the cotton famine fund
leaves in the hands of the central executive about one shilling, and
in those of the Mansion House committee about sixpence, in the
pound, of the respective subscriptions unappropriated.
We have spoken of the contributions of Lancashire as satis-
factory; it will be interesting also to compare the amounts collected-
in each locality as measured by its ratable value, and the amounts
received by the same locality from all sources :—
Poor-law
Voluntary
Expenditure
per pound on
Assessment.
Assessment,
exclusive of
In-door, for
1864-5.
Contributed from Local Sources.
Extra
Collections per pound on
Local
Collection,
and Extra
Poor-law
Expenditure
combined.
1
Contributed
by Central
Executive,
Mansion
House
Committee,
and General
Sources,
per pound on
Assessment.
Total
Extra Ex-
penditure
from all
Sources,
per pound
on Assess-
ment,
1862-4.


8. d.
s. d.
1. Ashton-under-Lyne
2. Barton-on-Irwell
3. Blackburn
4. Bolton
5. Bury
6. Chorley.
•
1 9
9
21/0
s. d.
10 111
S.
d.
S. d.
19
97
30 9
2 4
0 43
2 83
1
7
4 41
·
4 6
4 42
2 2
1
68
4 0
2109
1 11/
1 81
7. Clitheroe
2 51
0 111
8. The Fylde
06
0 42
||||||||||||
8 102
9 25/05
18 1
3 88
2 48
6 1
6108
4 4
11 28
3
8
3 61
7 21
3 5
093
4 23
0 11
0 12
1 02
9. Garstang
0 41
0 67
0 118
0 18
1 1
10. Glossop .
4 0
6 4
10 4
22 23
32 68
11. Haslingden
3 71
4 12/2
7 91
7 43
15 21
12. Lancaster
2 10
0 3
3 1
0 722
3 82
13. Leigh
1
2
10급
​221
0 7/1/
2 91
14. Macclesfield
1 2
1
7
2 9
1
48
4 18
(Manchester,
s
15. Chorlton, and
5 1
5 8 =
10 9/1
2 93
136
Salford
16. Oldham
2
2
3 8층
​5 10/
8 01
13 11
17. Preston.
5 61
6
53
12 01
8 101
20 108
18. Prestwich
1 0
1 12
2 12
1 52
3 71
19. Rochdale
2 61
4 28
6 911
5 11
12 81
20. Saddleworth
0 41
391/2
4 12
04/2
4 61
21. Skipton .
3 81
051
4 19
0 7/1/
4 81
22. Stockport
5 11
3 72
8
9
13 11
22 8
23. Todmorden
2 2
161
38
3 23
6 111
24. Warrington
25. Wigan .
08
0 952
1 58
201
361
3 91 1
9ż
5 69/
6 03
11 7
252
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
materials which were laid before the central executive every month.
lated, and deserves to be preserved entire, as exhibiting the kind of
various contributions from which the above proportions are calcu-
The last report of the honorary secretary sets forth in full, the

No.
Local Committees in the
Unions of
Strictly
Local
Sources.
£
Central
General. Committee
£
Mansion
House
Committee.
£
SUMMARY OF RETURNS OF LOCAL COMMITTEES.
Amount received and promised up to this date.
Balance in hand-Less Liabilities for
Food and Clothing Distributed.
Promised
Subscript'ns
unpaid
(not included
in Balance
Total.
In Cash.
Value of
Food and
Total.
Clothing.
in hand.)
£
£
£
£
1234
Ashton-under-Lyne
Barton-upon-Irwell
27,806
11,431
19,324
82,274* 318,835
1,412
1,412
£
72
4,412
420
4,428
1,982
11,242
120
41
161
Blackburn
80
27,191
4,020
58,846
36,873
126,930
716
716
Bolton
402
14,216
1,119
17,546
11,848
44,729
557
100
5
Burnley
657
267
12,242
1,246
21,932
9,969
45,389
354
1
6
Bury
354
227
.
20,379
881
36,504
16,598
74,362
7
Chorley
1,060
28
•
4,092
1,088
973
960
12,329
9,443
26,824
314
4
8
Chorlton
318
83
10,682
3,100
37,307
13,692
64,781
25
15
40
9
Clitheroe
2,525
116
1,365
945
4,951
1,006
11
10
Fylde (The)
1,017
661
110
106
170
1,047
11
Garstang
179
166
100
40
485
12
Glossop
4,232
1,076
41,491
13,205
60,004
88
13
Haslingden
88
8
12,058
179
27,672
15,798
55,707
694
8
702
14
Lancaster
580
3,420
681
4,101
650
15❘ Leigh
650
2,188
148
530
784
3,650
385
385
16
17
Macclesfield
Manchester
3,364
603
5,947
4,251
14,165
320
320
28,737
2,539
54,393
29,881
115,550
18
Oldham
12,127
2,316
50,989
28,713
94,145
402
5
407
19
Preston
30,728
5,474
74,837
37,898
148,937
466
80
546
20
Prestwich
•
2,959
618
4,920
5,601
14,098
188
20
208
21
Rochdale
11,668
492
43,544
20,727
76,431
385
5
390
22
Saddleworth
331
105
200
410
1,046
23
Salford
8,718
1,325
24
Skipton
580
36
21,734
864
11,650
43,427
53
53
•
2,995
4,475
208
208
25
Stockport
24,088
3,455
73,887
36,380
137,810
998
998
100
gg|18g|51lg
13
60
26
Todmorden
3,234
1,387
6,453
3,958
15,032
332
339
27
Warrington
1,459
1,459
118
118
28
Wigan
17,937
3,077
40,261
19,290
80,565
1
I
33
Sundry Unions not in Cotton Dis-
tricts proper
►
4,795
2,579
5,830
4,317
17,521
143
143
Total
Total last week in April
297,008 49,659
297,104
841,339
49,598 836,069
419,692 1,607,698
418,463 1,601,234
10,995
324
11,319
3,286
9,743
451
10,194
3,333
Decrease
96
127
47
Increase
61
5,270
1,229
6,464
1,252
1,125
* In addition to this, £53,531 has been granted by the Mansion House Committee to Relief Committees which are not connected with the Central Executive.
CAUSES OF VARIED PRESSURE OF DISTRESS.
253
Judged by their wealth, Preston, Stockport, Manchester,
Blackburn, Bury, and Glossop were the largest voluntary contri-
butors to the fund; whilst the largest recipients were, according
to the same measure, Glossop, Ashton, Stockport, Blackburn, and
Preston; and the places which imposed on themselves the heaviest
local taxation were, Ashton, Preston, Glossop, Manchester, Black-
burn, and Rochdale.
The stranger to Lancashire will naturally ask why the distress
varied so widely in the different cotton towns, and why Ashton and
Glossop should have suffered so disproportionately to all other places.
It will readily be comprehended that the first measure of distress
must be looked for in the proportion of the inhabitants of any place
who were dependent on the manufacture. Thus, in Warrington, The
Fylde, Garstang, Saddleworth, and Skipton, where a very small sec-
tion only of the people are dependent on the trade, the distress was
only slight; whilst in places such as Ashton, Glossop, Blackburn,
Bolton, and Stockport, where the cotton industry forms almost the
sole maintenance of the people, it would naturally be expected to
be very severe. But this pressure would be modified where the
mills were devoted principally to the production of fine goods,
because the quantity of cotton required being less, and the cost of
labour much greater in proportion to the cost of the raw material,
the rise in the prices of cotton would produce much less effect, than
in places where coarse spinning and fustian weaving formed the
staple employment of the people. Thus Bolton, which spins fine
yarns, although almost wholly dependent upon the cotton industry,
suffered much less than Rochdale, where a considerable proportion
of the people are engaged in the woollen manufacture; because the
cotton goods produced by Rochdale required a large amount of the
very cotton which the American war had deprived them of.
Again, the pressure would depend to some extent upon the
character and position of the employers. When the demand for
goods is much reduced by a considerable rise in prices, it then
becomes a question who shall supply the reduced quantities; com-
petition is increased in keenness, profits fade away, and only the
most skilful or the most reckless continue the contest in full force.
If a man has plenty of capital, and can see sufficiently far into
the future to induce him to hold stock, he will go on working; but
in crises like the cotton famine this is a dangerous game, as many
1
254
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
men have found to their cost. In the early days of the famine, whilst
cotton was continually rising in price, work was very profitable, and
large sums of money were realised; but by-and-by came the reaction,
and owners of from £50,000 to £200,000 found themselves beggared
in a month, stript as completely and as rapidly as if they had
indulged in rouge et noir at Baden Baden. In such times it is
not wonderful that prudent men who have made money in the
regular course of trade should take advantage of the opportunity
for retiring from business; especially when the rates of discount
rule so high as to give them without risk, almost as much for the
use of money as the ordinary profits of trade will yield. In this
way many mills which were closed during the crisis have had, or
will have to find new proprietors, before getting to work again.
At Ashton, where the bulk of the productions are coarse goods, and
the population almost wholly dependent upon cotton, several large
establishments will have to change hands; add to these circum-
stances the fact that the existence of two committees, with diffe-
rent sources of supply, prevented the amount of pressure upon the
workpeople which elsewhere sent them in search of independent
employment, and the excess of distress is explained.
Lord Derby, at the county meeting held in Manchester, in
December, 1862, gave credit to employers and others for £200,000
distributed in private charity. The flow would doubtless decrease
as the central fund increased, but it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the succeeding two and a half years added one-half as much to
the above sum; and there were also in some places organised dis-
tributions by the Society of Friends, by the Swedenborgians, and
by other religious sects whose efforts have never been tabulated.
A considerable amount of controversy took place in the news-
papers on the subject of cottage rents, some persons asserting that
employers ruthlessly exacted their rents whilst the hands scarcely
earned salt, whilst others affirmed that large amounts were forgiven
in various places. Probably there was truth in both assertions, and
we have endeavoured to collect reliable information upon the sub-
ject, and here present the returns supplied, through Mr. Maclure,
in the spring of 1865-
RENTS REMITTED, &c.
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE.-Hurst: Arrears of rent are not less
than £1,500. Not aware of any voluntary remissions. Dukin-
REMISSIONS OF RENT.
255
field: Rents owing to employers, £5,115; voluntarily remitted,
£70. Denton: No voluntary remissions, but a large amount of
arrears. Mossley: Arrears of cottage rents, £8,147; almost all
uncollectable, but not voluntarily remitted. Newton Moor; Two
firms have remitted cottage rents to the amount of £4,000, and a
third firm to the amount of £300.
BARNOLDSWICK.-Only one employer owns cottage property,
and he has been a very heavy loser, without prospect of recovery.
BARTON-UPON-IRWELL.-Worsley: The position of one firm,
illustrative of the neighbourhood, is as follows: arrears, £150;
cancelled, £20; but not more than ten per cent of the balance is
recoverable.
BLACKBURN.-Livesey: One employer remitted about £560,
but his example has not been imitated. Rishton: The principal
owner has reduced his rents ninepence per cottage per week, but
there are no large owners, and although arrears are heavy, all hope
to be paid. Blackburn: No voluntary remissions, but very heavy
losses have been sustained, and rents have been considerably re-
duced, in some cases as much as one-half. Several small owners
of cottage property, who used to live upon their rents, have been
reduced to beggary.
BOLTON.—Belmont: Only thirty cottages belong to employers.
Cottage rents reduced one half, and very much in arrear. Opera-
tives getting work elsewhere are allowed to go without giving
security for rent. Farnworth: Much has been forgiven, many
operatives not having paid a penny for two years. Bolton Township:
Upwards of £4,000 has been remitted in rent. One employer kept
his own hands whilst out of work, and there have been large private
subscriptions.
BURNLEY.—Burnley Town: No voluntary remissions of rent,
but very little paid, and many forgiven on leaving the locality.
Higham: The collection of rents was generally suspended during
the distress, but none were formally remitted. Colne: No actual.
remission of rent, but present payment generally waived.
BURY.-Shuttleworth: One manufacturer, employing some
eight hundred persons, has paid wages to his hands during the
whole period of the distress, and not allowed one of them to go
either to the guardians or the relief committee. Another firm has
given about £150 in rent, and has also supported ten families.
256
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
About £100 in rent has been given by other firms. Blue Pits :
About £20 has been given by one firm in rents, besides their sub-
scription to the relief committee. Another firm distributed soup
freely for some time, besides subscribing to the fund. Rams-
bottom: The arrears owing to two firms amount to about £3,000,
of which, although not formally remitted, a very small portion will
be recoverable. There have been no distraints for rent for two
years and a half, except where the conduct of the tenants was
very bad.
CHORLEY.-Withnell: One firm has remitted rents amount-
ing to about £800. Horwich: No rent remitted, but one firm has
advanced £600 to their hands, expecting only a small portion
to be repaid.
GARSTANG.—Catterall: Rents remitted by one firm, £377.
GLOSSOP.-Glossop: Arrears of rent estimated at £20,000, but
not formally remitted; not many employers are owners of cottages,
and landlords and tenants are equally undesirous to make any state-
ment. Tintwistle: At least £5,000 must be owing for rent, but
many persons who never expect to get paid avoid the formal remis-
sion in order to retain the tenants. One firm has given from
£2,000 to £3,000, just beyond the boundary of this district.
HASLINGDEN.— Haslingden: No rents have been remitted,
and in one case an employer has rigorously exacted the fortnightly
rent, regardless of the amount of the balance. Newchurch:
Several cases of remission of rent, but the amount cannot be given.
Accrington: One gentleman has remitted about £100, but this is
the only instance. Stacksteads: The arrears of cottage rents is
about £700, of which only a very small portion will be recovered.
Helmshore: Rents considered lost, about £120; none voluntarily
remitted. Crawshawbooth: Uncollectable arrears of cottage rents
from £400 to £500. Bacup: Cottage rents are largely in arrear,
but have not been remitted; a lady, lately deceased, has herself
dispensed about £600 in charity during the distress. Oakenshaw :
The trustees of a deceased gentleman remitted rents in 1863
amounting to £243, and have reduced the cottage rents sixpence
each per week. Another firm paid during many weeks half wages,
amounting in the whole to about £700, and did not allow any of
their hands to go to the relief committee; another firm distributed
about £500 during the time their mill was closed.
REMISSIONS OF RENT.
257
HEBDEN BRIDGE.-There are only three employers who are
owners of cottages. The rents are in arrear, but not formally
remitted. £60 is owing to one of them, and he does not expect
to get any of it.
MANCHESTER.-Blackley: The only firm owning cottages has
remitted rents, but they decline to give a statement. Whitefield :
No actual remissions, but operatives removing from the neigh-
bourhood have not been distrained upon for arrears.
OLDHAM.—Thornham: In many cases the rents have been
remitted; there has been no turning out. With the exception of
two or three cases, the landlords are themselves working men ; and
those two or three almost contributed our relief fund. Chadder-
ton: Annual cottage rental, £5,050; remitted, £835; arrears,
£3,083; uncollectable, £1,041. Hollinwood: No rents volun-
tarily remitted, but heavy arrears, which are not expected to be
paid.
PRESTON.-Preston: Some owners have reduced their rents
by one half. In other cases the collection of rent has practically
been suspended during the distress, particularly by manufacturers
who are cottage owners. The absolute remissions are few, the
sum, so far as can be learned, not reaching £300. The rent roll of
the largest cottage owner in Preston shows £1,428 per annum, and
his receipts have been as follows:-1860, £1,420; 1861, £1,367 ;
1862, £962; 1863, £1,047; 1864, £1,176. Most of this property
being subject to building clubs, the collection, so far as possible,
has of course been a necessity. Bamber Bridge: The cottage rents
voluntarily remitted amount to about £950, a large portion of
which was by one firm. Farrington: Only one firm own cottages,
and they have remitted rents amounting to £4,090, and distri-
buted food and fuel to the amount of £2,100.
ROCHDALE.-Whitworth: The rule has been for employers not
to collect or ask for cottage rents during the distress; during the
last two or three months of 1864, some persons have paid whilst
they have had work, but many have left the neighbourhood without
any acknowledgment of debt.
STOCKPORT.-Stockport: No cases of remission of rent, but
very heavy amounts of uncollectable arrears.
Mellor: A great
amount of irrecoverable arrears, but no actual voluntary remission.
Marple: Rent in arrears, about £1,200, but no distraints. One
S
258
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
employer has advanced to his workpeople more than £1,000, of
which it is expected but a small proportion will be recovered.
Hazel Grove: One employer remitted all his rents (about £400)
from September, 1862, to April, 1864. He distributed in provi-
sions and coals about £300, besides giving largely to the relief
committee. Bredbury: About £737 are in arrear, a large portion
of which is irrecoverable. Heaton Mersey: Irrecoverable arrears
of cottage rents, £360. Offerton: The arrears are heavy, but there
has been no formal remission. The principal employers have
freely distributed bread, milk, and coals.
WARRINGTON.-Ashton in Mackerfield: One firm has remitted
£139; the only case so far as known. Warrington: One firm has
remitted rents amounting to £1,100.
WIGAN.-Hindley: No rents remitted; one employer stopped
arrears out of wages, leaving scarcely anything to live upon.
In connection with this subject, it will doubtless interest the
reader to learn what allowances the poor-law overseers have been
obliged to make; but in order to properly appreciate the following
table, it is necessary to explain that where the allowances are
smallest, the practice of compounding with owners induces them
to pay and to include the poor rate in the rent; whilst, where the
allowances are largest, the taxes are collected direct from the
occupiers of cottages as well as from others.
PERCENTAGE OF RATES UNCOLLECTED ON ACCOUNT OF EMPTIES, OR EXCUSED
ON ACCOUNT OF INABILITY TO PAY.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
Ashton-under-Lyne
2.80
4.25
5.87
5.70
Blackburn
Burnley
6.03
8.3
12.8
Bury
1.7
3.7
3.8
6.4
Chorley.
5.17
6.47
3.12
9.17
Glossop
4.75
9.75
14.0
11.25
Manchester
2.35
3.37
2.93
Oldham
5.06
15.29
16.31
Preston
3.50
4.25
5.0
5.50
Salford
3.37
3.68
4.87
5.12
Wigan
1.02
⚫07
⚫07
1.9
The following table of factory assessments will illustrate the
severe pressure upon employers, in the most distressed districts,
whilst their mills were stopped :-
FACTORY ASSESSMENTS.
COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENTS ON FACTORIES AND OTHER PROPERTY.
Factories.
Cottages, &c.
Shops, &c.
Total.
£
£
£
£
s. d.
Bury
•
9,645
19,287
44,815
73,747 3 4
Ashton-under-Lyne 22,100
52,105
74,205 0 0
Glossop
10,757
39,246
50,003 0 0
RATES LEVIED AND COLLECTED.
£
£
£
£
1861-2.
1862-3.
1863-4.
1864-5.
Bury.-Levied
6,214
11,636
14,399
11,023
Collected
·
6,096
10,946
13,406
10,626
Ashton.-Levied
·
9,096
9,331
72,706
Collected
8,932
9,101
58,651
Glossop.-Levied.
4,930
17,383
15,006
4,613
Collected
4,586
13,557
11,546
259
When the central executive, in June, 1865, adjourned sine die,
the circular to the general committee announcing the pleasing fact
stated that under the circumstances it had not been thought neces-
sary to call them together. Why this excuse should have been
made, it is difficult to say. It is quite certain that a meeting of
the general committee would have expressed its gratitude to the
executive for its arduous labours, constant care, and successful man-
agement, quite as heartily as the executive thanked the president
of the poor-law board, the government engineer, and the special
commissioner; and they would not have passed over the honorary
secretary, who for four long years had forgotten the claims of busi-
ness and of family, for the sake of the poor of Lancashire; who
had worked day and night in the collection, the management, and
the distribution of the largest benevolent fund upon record; and
who in his reports has left official documents which will be valu-
able for reference in all future time. "In the multitude of council
there is wisdom;" but with all the shrewd suggestions of the noble
chairman, and all the weight of his great influence; with all the
intense activity of brain and persevering energy and administra-
tive ability of the vice-chairman (Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth),
and the aid of other members of the central executive, the work of
the relief committees would soon have come to a dead lock, without
the earnest willingness, the untiring industry, the prompt decision,
the active control and practical frankness and kindliness of Mr.
Maclure. He was always at hand, to receive deputations, to give
260
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
information, to solve difficulties, and to put into practical shape
any suggestions or applications to the executive committee; and
the manner in which the various local committees replied to his
numerous requirements (frequently involving much labour, for
pur-
poses of which they were not aware, or of which they could not see
the utility), afford a demonstration that he had won and retained
their entire confidence.
The central executive committee is adjourned sine die, but there
still remains one duty which only the general committee can accom-
plish, viz., the disposal of the balance of the fund, amounting to
about five per cent of the collection; and this is a matter which
requires grave consideration, but which ought not to be long de-
layed. The fund was contributed for a special object, the relief of the
cotton operatives who were thrown out of employ by the national
policy in regard to the American war. Uncertainty as to the
duration of the struggle, and the fear of engendering permanent
pauperism, alike dictated that the distribution should be limited
to the amount necessary to preserve life and health. That duty
has been accomplished, and whilst about one-fourth of the opera-
tives have found other homes or other occupations for themselves,
returning prosperity is now rapidly absorbing the remainder; and
the occurrence of small strikes in various places for increased wages,
whilst the position of the employer in the market is still a lottery,
imperatively demand that relief committees should be disbanded,
and the trade be left to its natural course. And what is to be done
with the balance of the fund? Doubtless it could be well used in
paying the unavoidable debts of prudent operatives, who have been
reduced from comparative opulence to the deepest poverty; but
the invidious duty of picking out the men to be relieved would pro-
duce intense dissatisfaction; it might be funded for a case of future
necessity, but who knows what another generation of trustees would
consider themselves justified in doing with it, or to what purpose it
might be applied. And there is no need for such a course. Society is
not likely to grow worse, and the overwhelming benevolence which
provided enough and to spare for the cotton famine, will not fail in
any future calamity. It would be a heavy task to re-distribute the
remnant of the fund amongst the subscribers; nor would it be quite
fair to redistribute it in equal proportions, for a reference to the list
of localities will show that whilst from some places every penny
PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF BALANCE.
261
which was subscribed was also remitted to Manchester: other col-
lecting committees remitted less than sixty per cent of their sub-
scriptions, and have re-appropriated the remainder. If the general
committee were to propound a scheme for appropriating the balance
pro rata amongst the infirmaries and hospitals for the sick in the
cotton districts, according to the number of beds in each, and to
submit it to the different collecting committees for approval; they
might then, in the absence of objections, appropriate the balance
either to the general uses of these establishments; or, better still,
to grants by the trustees of each infirmary to convalescents, to assist
them until their renewed strength enabled them to return to work.
Persons who are acquainted with these establishments know that
a family will frequently manage to live whilst one of its number is
in hospital; but when he returns home, free, indeed, from disease,
but too weak for work, the extra burden breaks them down and
drives them to the boards of guardians. In such cases a convales-
cent fund would be of immense value, and would be appropriated
to cotton operatives and those of affiliated trades almost exclusively.
The honorary secretary has issued a circular containing suggestions
of this kind, which will doubtless have due consideration.
་
CHAPTER XIV.
Reduction of Relief, and Introduction of Ticket System, at Stalybridge-Excitement
of the Operatives-Position of the Clergy-The Ragged Trousers in the Pulpit -
The Strike against Tickets-Assault upon the Officials-Window Smashing-The
Police Defeated-Sacking of the Relief Stores and Shops-The Riot Act Read-
The Soldiers and the Police-Sunday Visitors-The Mob at Ashton-Sacking of
Provision Shops-The Riot Act and the Charge of the Military-Excitement at
Dukinfield-Sacking the Co-operative Store-The Police and the Roughs at
Ashton-The End of the Riot-The Deputation to the Mansion House-The
Premium for Violence-Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth at Stalybridge—Address of
the Central Executive-The Rev. Mr. Eagar at the General Committee-The
Apology for Riot.
IN the report of the central executive committee, dated March
30th, 1863, occurs the following paragraph :—
Many of the district committees have been engaged in a
careful revision of the cases of recipients of relief, in order both to
arrest every motive for undue reliance on the fund, and to increase
the number and force of proper incentives to salutary exertions.
The scale of relief during the winter season had in some districts
exceeded the standard which the central executive committee had
uniformly recommended. That standard was based on an average
of two shillings per head weekly, exclusive of fuel and clothing.
This amount of assistance having been found sufficient to keep in
health during the rigour of the season large numbers of people in
so many populous relief districts, where no extraneous aid has
been available, there can be no doubt that any excess beyond it is
unnecessary, and ought to be abandoned. Some variation in
scale, as adapted to the numbers in families, may properly occur in
different districts; but the average amount should not exceed two
shillings weekly per head, with fuel and clothing. The native
energy and independence of the population thus co-operating with
the exertions of the more wealthy classes, and of the district relief
committees, have diminished the number of persons dependent on
the relief funds; but the reduction in the weekly expenditure has
hitherto been confined to that incurred in the supply of clothing."
REDUCTION OF RELIEF.
263
The committee had for a considerable time, on the approach of
winter, anxiously endeavoured to get the various boards of
guardians to raise the allowance of recipients during the winter
to an average of two shillings per head per week, and had them-
selves made very liberal grants to the local relief committees. To
these exertions and this liberality, together with the mental
occupation afforded to adults and juveniles in the schools, was
probably owing the almost total exemption from the famine fever
and other epidemics, which had been very generally feared as
likely to break out in the winter season. But the danger was now
past, and the returning mildness of the spring invited, and the
growing ennui of the adult schools showed the necessity for, more
active employment to preserve the morale of the operatives; whilst
the prospect of the future dictated prudence in regard to expendi-
ture, so that the funds might not be exhausted, prior to a renewal of
the cotton supply, sufficient for the ordinary work of the operatives.
The scale of relief at Stalybridge had been unusually high, and
some of the recipients were quite as well off under the relief
committee as when engaged at their ordinary employments; and
pay night with this class of the population still retained its old
character, the publicans obtaining a large portion of the money
which ought to have provided food for suffering wives and children.
The committee, acting upon the hint of the central executive,
endeavoured at once to reduce the amount of relief to the average,
and to abolish drunkenness, by substituting payment by tickets
upon shopkeepers instead of money. They proposed also, in order
to facilitate their process of book-keeping, to retain one day's pay
in hand. Probably, if one of these proposed changes had been
inaugurated at a time, there would not have been much difficulty
in their accomplishment, although it is difficult for an outsider to
see the value of retaining a day's pay in hand; but it is easy to
understand that to the operatives, whose expenditure must have
been arranged in accordance with the former allowance, it would
look like robbery; and the shopkeeper who was supplying goods on
credit would also think that the sum would be quite as useful in
his hands as in the bank, to the credit of the relief committee.
The reduction in the weekly amount would, no doubt, have been
submitted to as an unwelcome necessity, if proposed alone; and it
is probable that a proper explanation of the reason for the ticket
264
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
system would have induced the sober majority to overrule the
drunkards, if that proposal had stood by itself; but when the
notice for the whole of the alterations appeared at once, an oppo-
sition was immediately set on foot, and an organised resistance
prepared. The retention of a day's pay was denounced as tyranny,
and the ticket system as an insult, displaying a thorough want of
confidence, and involving a general charge of misconduct. When
men are engaged at profitable work it may be desirable to retain
a day's pay, in order to enforce the fulfilment of a contract; but
the relief committee did not want to keep the people, and would
have been very glad to see them shift for themselves. Some of
the most active members of the committee were personally un-
popular; one in particular, who was a liberal contributor and a
hard worker, had the misfortune to be very rude in manner, and
much addicted to profane swearing, which made the operatives
complain that they were treated like dogs. They must have been
very much depressed in spirits, for a deputation appointed by them
to see the committee and protest against the ticket system did not
dare to show their faces; but appear to have led their companions
to suppose that their request had been submitted to the committee
and refused.
And some of the clergy, who were superintendents of the
schools, appear to have rather encouraged the resistance of the
people to the committee, under the plea that they were being
ill-treated. It is said that a dissenting minister, having got
hold of a ragged pair of trousers which had been given out by
the committee, held them up in the pulpit; and generalising his
remarks from the individual instance before him, ridiculed the
gifts which had poured in from all parts of the country, with the
benevolent intention of protecting from the wintry wind the bodies
of men and women who, at their ordinary occupations, experience
a constant summer temperature; and to fit their children for atten-
dance upon the gratuitous instruction which was provided for
them. Here again the Stalybridge committee had been at fault in
management. There was no necessity to distribute ragged clothes;
they had sewing classes at work, and the trousers might either
have been repaired or cut up for children's clothing, as such things
are in prudent families, and as they were in other localities under
relief committees. But here were all the necessary elements for a
THE STRIKE AGAINST TICKETS.
265
disturbance-three or four unwelcome and oppressive changes of
system, a cowardly deputation deceiving its constituents, disloyal
school superintendents, and an inflammatory dissenting preacher
haranguing an already excited and discontented crowd, and ridi-
culing their "tyrant rulers." The result of all this agitation was
that on the evening of Thursday, 19th March, a large meeting was
held on "the plantation," and a resolution adopted to turn out,
if the committee persisted in their notice. Accordingly, when
on Friday morning the officials went as usual to the schools to
pay the operatives, and for this purpose tendered the tickets
which had been prepared, the men at each school refused to
receive them, and turned out in succession, and crowded the
streets; and as the cab containing the officials passed along, they
assailed it with stones, breaking the windows, but fortunately
not injuring the occupants. The excitement had been growing
daily from the time of the announcement of the change, but
no breach of the peace seemed to be anticipated, and no provi-
sion was made to prevent it. The people had hitherto been so
submissive under their sufferings that they were treated as so many
machines, who were to work out, automatically, the dictates of the
authorities. But confidence was now to be rudely shaken. Mr.
Bates, although one of the most valuable, was the most unpopu-
lar member of the committee; and about three o'clock a crowd
assembled before the mill belonging to the firm in which he was
a partner, and smashed every window in the place, besides injuring
some of the machinery. The small constabulary force was called
into requisition, and made a charge upon the crowd, securing
several prisoners; but were in their turn assailed by showers of
brickends and stones, and driven from the field, and the prisoners
rescued. The mob then passed on to the clothing stores of the
relief committee, which were speedily broken open, and the stock
thrown into the street, where a regular scramble ensued, each one
helping himself or herself to the best which they could get hold of.
Attention was next directed to the shop of another member of the
committee named Ashton, which was also broken open, and the
stock of tea, sugar, coffee, and spices carried off, whilst window-
smashing soon became general. One of the police in his flight
took refuge in the shop of a druggist, and the windows of the
house were at once smashed; then several hands were held up in
266
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the crowd, and a cry was raised, "Now for Dyson's," and the stones
immediately flew to the other side of the street, and every window
in Dyson's eating house was speedily broken. Mr. Bates then
came in for a second benefit, the mob passing on to his house at
Cockerhill, where the windows were smashed and the furniture
broken by stones; many of which were thrown by girls in blue
jackets, which were the gift of a benevolent lady to the relief
committee. Mrs. Bates lay ill in bed, and the assault upon her
house hastened, if it did not cause, her death.
Another mob assembled at the central offices of the relief
committee, in Melbourne-street, where, also, every window was
smashed. The two adjoining houses were used as stores for
clothing, and these were broken open and the stock hurled as fast
as twenty pairs of hands could throw it into the street, where
women concealed it about their persons, or men carried it off in
bundles. Not satisfied with these appropriations, some villain
made an attempt (happily unsuccessful) to fire the premises. The
demon of mischief had now got firm hold, and more damage was
done in a few hours than many weeks could repair. Towards
evening a company of hussars arrived from Manchester; and the
crowd, with a loud shout of "The soldiers are coming!" dispersed
in every direction. Under cover of the sabres of the hussars, the
police recovered their courage, and some of the men who sacked the
relief stores were captured. Mr. Harrison, who, with Dr. Hopwood,
the mayor, accompanied the military, read the Riot Act amidst the
most discordant noises, when the soldiers very soon cleared the
streets, and the night closed in quietly.
The number of prisoners on Friday, 20th March, was eighty, of
whom twenty-nine were next day committed to Chester for trial ;
the bulk of them, as, indeed, of the rioters generally, being Irish
or of Irish descent. On Saturday, 21st, most of the shops were
kept closed, and the walls were plentifully placarded with the
announcement that the riot act had been read, and that crowds in
the streets were forbidden. Nevertheless the streets were crowded,
and in front of the police court, walls and windows were thronged
by people, anxious to learn what was going on inside; and evidently
expecting a renewal of disturbance. Two omnibuses had been
brought from Ashton for the removal of the prisoners, and the
soldiers with drawn swords guarded the front of the police office.
THE SOLDIERS AND THE POLICE.
267
Amongst the crowd were many women and girls, who continually
insulted the soldiers and police, and chaffed the male bystanders
for their cowardice. When a discharged prisoner made his appear-
ance he was hailed with vociferous cheers, whilst the insults of
the women to the soldiers became every hour more coarse and
brutal. At the least movement among the military the crowd
were panic-stricken, and ran in every direction; but as soon as
their fears were proved to be groundless, they gravitated again
towards the police office.
At half-past four there was a real movement; the police were
marched towards the railway station—the prisoners were brought
out-the omnibuses loaded--the cavalry faced about and followed
the vehicles at a rapid pace to the railway train. The police, on
nearing the railway, received their usual salute-a shower of stones,
one of which took such effect as to lay its victim senseless. Volley
after volley was discharged, and many injuries were inflicted before
the arrival of the military; but when they came, and charged by
detachments in various directions, the mob dispersed as if by magic,
with the exception of a few who stumbled, or were knocked over,
in their hurry to escape, and who lay sprawling and shrieking in
the mud. And whilst one crowd had thronged the neighbourhood
of the police office, and another had lain in wait for the police near
the railway, a third and most orderly one had organised a meeting
in "the plantation," and sent a deputation to the mayor; which,
returning after half an hour's conference, reported to the meeting
that, if they would wait till Monday, the mayor (Dr. Hopwood)
would try to get them tickets. At this announcement, there was
a shout for money and no tickets; and a second deputation was
sent, and returned with the same result. Another shout was raised
for "money and bread," and a rush was made past the market
house to the shop of Mr. Ridgway, provision dealer, who, finding
an attempt being made to force his shutters, threw out his stock of
loaves and cheeses from the window, and these were eagerly grab-
bed and carried off. One fellow, who supposed he had got a prize,
hastily opened an earthen jar, and finding it contained only mus-
tard, dashed it, with an oath, furiously to the ground, declaring
that "he'd ha' summut different to that." From twelve to twenty
bakers and provision dealers were visited and similarly treated
between seven and ten o'clock; and in most cases the proprietors
268
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
followed the example of Mr. Ridgway, and threw out their stock,
in order to prevent worse treatment. One man ran raving about,
with a piece of bread in his hand, shouting-" This is all I have
for a wife and seven children ;" and three lads fought over a loaf
until a strong man tore them asunder, and gave the prize to the
least.
From the departure of the train, with prisoners for Chester, at
five, till about eight o'clock, the town was in the hands of the mob;
but at eight o'clock, military and police united began again to
parade the streets. The police were regularly received with a volley
of stones, but wherever the soldiers appeared, the crowd vanished.
At half-past eleven, a company of foot soldiers arrived, and marched
through the streets with bayonets fixed; and about the same time,
another troop of cavalry rode into the town, but their active services
were not needed; the rioters kept good hours, and had retired for
the night.
During Sunday, the streets were more crowded than ever, but
it was with visitors from a distance, who poured in, by road and
rail, to spend a holiday in looking at the wrecks of the riot; or per-
haps even with the hope of seeing what a real riot was like. But
Sunday was a day of rest even to the angry mob and did not add
to the mischief; although the reflections of the day do not seem to
have wrought much repentance, but rather to have been used in
preparing a plan of future operations. The grievance was pecu-
liarly local, affecting the single township of Stalybridge; but on
Monday morning, emissaries proceeded to Ashton, Dukinfield, and
Hyde, with the avowed intention of turning out the "scholars" at
those places. At three of the schools in Stalybridge, most of the
usual attendants were present soon after nine o'clock, but from the
others there were numerous absentees, and only about eighty, out
of one thousand seven hundred, had accepted pay in tickets.
As soon as the schools were opened, a discussion commenced in
each of them on the subject of the grievance, and resolutions were
passed, almost unanimously, to refuse tickets. A message from the
relief committee was delivered, to the effect that tickets were ready
for those who choose to receive them, and that those who refused
would be referred to the board of guardians. The superintendents
and visitors at some of the schools advised the receipt of tickets
under protest, so as to give the committee a week for reconsideration,
THE MOB AT ASHTON.
269
but this advice was curtly and stoutly rejected. In the course
of the forenoon, men from the out districts made their appearance
in the streets, and rumours began to spread that desperate mea-
sures were in preparation. But all remained quiet till about one
o'clock, when a mob presented itself, and began to force the shut-
ters at the shop of a baker named Lowe, who thereupon threw out
a large quantity of bread from the upper windows. The soldiers
came up and galloped through the crowd, which, instead of dispers-
ing as usual, simply turned from the baker's shop to the landlord
of "The Feathers," and there demanded beer, which was supplied
to the extent of about fourteen gallons, causing a regular scramble
to "sup." Another beershop was similarly treated, when a posse
of police came up and were received in the usual manner. But
on this occasion they made a stand, and captured two of their
assailants, one of whom received a wound on the head with a cutlass.
The sight of blood surprised, alarmed, and quieted the mob; and
the prisoners were led away without any attempt at rescue. At
night, however, they made another venture, and sacked several
beershops in the neighbourhood of "The Hydes," forcing the land-
lords to supply beer to be quarrelled over and fought for by a
drunken mob, with whom the least resistance was met by very
severe treatment. The inns and beerhouses were ordered by the
authorities to be closed at seven o'clock; and soon after nine the.
military marched through the streets, and then to quarters; and
their example was soon followed by the bulk of the crowd, so
that at ten o'clock the streets were almost as quiet as on ordinary
occasions.
The crowd which went to Ashton consisted of some three
hundred men and boys; and, at about eleven o'clock, they made
their first stand at the shop of a baker in Old-street, and per-
emptorily demanded bread, which was at once thrown out to them.
At a second shop a similar demand produced the same result.
Reinforced by Ashton roughs they helped themselves to some £40
worth of bread and cheese in Market Avenue; then growing luxu-
rious, they visited a grocer in Stamford-street, and got a supply
of biscuits, and then to Henry Square, where bread was again
thrown to them through the windows. All this was the work of
but half-an-hour, and by this time nearly all the shops in town
were closed, and the streets filled with people. The authorities of
270
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Ashton were prompt, and two troops of hussars shortly arrived
upon the scene, accompanied by the police, with drawn cutlasses.
Mr. H. Mason, ex-mayor, and other magistrates came with them,
and the ex-mayor, mounting upon the shoulders of two policemen,
was received with a hearty cheer. Motioning for silence, he
addressed the crowd upon the gross illegality of their conduct,
and besought them not to commit any further act of riot. "It's
not a riot," a stentorian voice exclaimed; but Mr. Mason repeated
that a legal riot had already taken place, and that the only way to
avoid the consequences was to disperse peacefully; and he assured
them that means would be taken to preserve the peace at all
hazards. Shouts here arose of "We'll have bread," and a rush
was made to a shop in Cavendish-street, where they helped them-
selves to provisions. Meanwhile Mr. Mason read the Riot Act.
The police followed the crowd and were pelted with stones, when
Mr. Mason again rushed to the front, and the stoning slackened for
a space; and on a charge being made by the military the immense
crowd, including nearly all the roughs of the town and neigh-
bourhood, took to their heels, their iron-shod clogs producing a
deafening clatter upon the pavement. A detachment, however,
mustered courage to sack the shop of a fishmonger on their way;
and amongst these were some girls, who ran off with aprons loaded
with oysters. The magistrates lost no time; they immediately
swore in a great number of special constables, placarded the town
notifying the reading of the Riot Act, and telegraphed to Liver-
pool for extra police, who arrived the same night.
The mob which went to Dukinfield separated into two bands,
and spread over the township. The authorities, however, were on
the alert, and here also the Riot Act was promptly read; the police
were assembled, and special constables sworn in. Nevertheless,
some half-dozen shops were sacked, including the co-operative
store, where a large quantity of goods were seized, and an unsuc-
cessful attempt was made to fire the place. At a milkshop all the
stock was consumed on the premises; and a heerseller was forced
to give them the run of his tap, whilst they helped themselves to
the stock of nuts and oranges which filled his window. The police
evidently felt themselves no match for the mob, and so made no
violent interference, and towards night the crowd dispersed of its
own accord.
THE MOB AT NEWTON.
271
The mob which went to Hyde called at Newton on the way,
and helped themselves to cigars and groceries. When, at two
o'clock, they reached Hyde, they numbered about two thousand,
and they broke into the shop of a baker, and helped themselves to
about a hundred and fifty loaves and some hams and cheeses.
The few police who had not been sent to other places rushed
manfully forward and locked five of the rioters in the shop, and
kept their stand outside for hours; when, with reinforcements, they
removed their prisoners amidst the usual salute of a shower of
stones. These men, all strangers to the neighbourhood, were
taken at once before the magistrates and committed to Chester
for trial.
At Stalybridge on Tuesday morning all was quiet, and the
shops were opened as usual; the general feeling being that the
passions of the people were exhausted, and that all fear of violence
was over. How the feeling arose it would be difficult to say, but
the appearance of the operatives certainly justified it. Sad-looking
groups were collected here and there upon the pavement, talking
in undertones of their misfortunes; but the boisterous excitement
of the last few days was gone: it had died out in the night most
completely; and the men looked like ruined gamesters, who had
neither money nor hope left. Three prisoners were under exami-
nation at the police court, but the proceedings excited no interest
except amongst those immediately concerned, and there were
scarcely half a dozen persons besides officials present in court.
Towards eleven o'clock, men began to assemble on "the plantation;"
and, after some desultory conversation, a chairman was appointed,
and a deputation despatched to the mayor, and to the relief commit-
tee, to renew the request for money instead of tickets. The mayor
recommended them to send a delegate from each of the thirteen
schools to the committee, and this course was adopted, and the
meeting adjourned till one o'clock for a reply. At the relief
committee the deputation were reminded by the mayor of the
dangerous position to which they had committed themselves.
They were assured that the supremacy of the law would be main-
tained, and recommended to accept the tickets for the last and
present week, and to communicate their complaints formally to
the committee. At one o'clock nearly three thousand persons
assembled for the reply, and a sadder-looking crowd has seldom
272
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
been seen. The chairman took his place, and one of the deputation
stated the result of the application, and then appealed to his
"fellow scholars" to assist in restoring the peace of the town.
Another stated that notwithstanding their visit to the town hall
they were just in the same position as before, and that he was
convinced that "nowt could be done." The chairman said they
had been deceived by some of their own number, who, being
appointed a fortnight ago to wait upon the relief committee, had
not performed the duty. Several other speeches followed, to the
effect that an offer to receive half money and half tickets was
rejected by the relief committee; who said they could not forego a
resolution which was carried by a majority, and that, in fact, it
was no longer a question of tickets or money but of mastership;
that the matter was now in the hands of the magistrates, and no
step could be taken until peace was restored. The mayor had,
however, promised that if they returned to their schools the pay
for the present week should not be forfeited. The general opinion
was that the mayor and Mr. J. Cheetham, M.P., would take up
their cause, and that the ticket system would not last long; and a
resolution to return to the schools and accept tickets for the past
and present weeks was unanimously adopted. The passing of this
resolution removed the gloom from three thousand faces, and there
was shaking of hands in the cart which served for a platform and
in the crowd below; whilst the chairman congratulated the meeting,
saying "Now, my lads, in th' houses o' parliament it's olus a law
that th' majority rules; so let it be wi' us.
All of you go to your
schools, and let no man be missing when th' names are called in
th' morning." And then the crowd broke up, amidst shouts of
"Hurrah!" "Bravo!" "Th' riot's done," &c. A group of girls who
had been at the meeting met some soldiers loitering in the street,
and one of them, clapping one of the hussars on the shoulder, said,
Aye, owd chap, thee mit go whoam; th' riot's done."
66
Although there was an end to the violence at Stalybridge, a mob
of from three hundred to four hundred had proceeded to Ashton,
intent upon renewing the feats of the previous day; but in this
they were sadly disappointed, for the authorities were well prepared.
Their approach was telegraphed to the town hall, and a body of
police, with a troop of cavalry, headed by the mayor and ex-mayor,
marched to meet them. The police were received with a volley of
THE POLICE AND THE ROUGHS.
273
stones, as usual, some of which did mischief; but this did not stay
the advance, and, at the discharge of a second volley of stone
ammunition, the police drew their staves and rushed into the mob,
dealing some very heavy blows; and the rioters took to their heels,
fairly tumbling over each other, and over hedges and ditches made
the best of their way, panting, and fairly scared back to Stalybridge.
At about half-past two a mob of about two hundred strong
attempted to enter Dukinfield, but they were driven back by the
police without any further mishap than a little stone-throwing;
and the known determination of the magistrates to keep the peace
at all hazards probably helped to prevent further mischief.
In Hyde, in Stockport, and in Oldham, there was considerable
excitement amongst the people, and fears were entertained of
breaches of the peace, not by the inhabitants themselves, but by
mobs, which were announced as coming from Stalybridge; and
which would, of course, have been augmented by the offscourings
of each place to which they approached. Efficient preparations
were made in the several towns by the swearing-in of special con-
stables, whose active services, however, were happily not required.
Even in Stalybridge itself the mobs must have included only a
minority of the adult scholars, who were the principal sufferers from
the ticket grievance, if grievance it was, for the whole of these
amounted only to one thousand seven hundred; and whilst a
meeting of some three thousand persons was holding on "the
plantation," one mob of from two hundred to three hundred was
gone to Ashton, and another, of about the same number, to Dukin-
field. At the sessions house at Dukinfield seven persons were
committed for riot, and at Ashton two were committed on a similar
charge. The general opinion expressed by intelligent people was
that the exhibition of a little more promptness and firmness by
the Stalybridge magistrates would have wholly suppressed the dis-
turbance on the first day, and have prevented it spreading to other
towns, and would thus have saved a large amount of property.
Certainly the reader of the newspaper reports would conclude that
the soldiers and the police were rather present to superintend the
riots, as they would a horse-race or any other fête, than to suppress
or to prevent them-a matter which says more for the benevolence
than the discretion of the magistrates.
And now that the danger was nearly over, and the people
T
274
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
reduced to subjection, the evil of two principal sources of relief,
which had previously promoted some waste of money, and caused
much annoyance, was to be prominently brought out; and the
rioters, when beaten, dispirited, and submissive, were to find strong
allies in the Mansion House committee. This committee, when
first established, contemplated sending its funds to be distributed
through a competent committee in Manchester, and this fact, no
doubt, had some weight in the formation of the central executive.
But for some unexplained reason the plan was not carried out;
and local committees, having two sources to look to for supplies,
besides their own local funds, had less motive for exertion to collect
funds at home, and less reason for practising the stringent economy
which the character of the crisis, and the preservation of the inde-
pendence of the people, and the rules of the central executive all
alike demanded.
The rioters at Stalybridge, whilst wilfully destroying the pro-
perty of their fellow-townsmen and the stores contributed by the
benevolence of the whole country for their aid and comfort, being
uncertain of a victory at home with the relief committee, despatched
an agent to try what could be done in London; and on Wednesday,
25th March, the Mansion House committee held a special meeting
"to consider what, if anything, could be done by them in the
emergency, and especially in reference to a dispute between the
local relief committee and the men." The Rev. Mr. Floyd, of
Stalybridge, who had gone specially to London for the purpose,
attended the meeting. In reply to Mr. Cubitt, who stated that the
ticket system had been forced on the committee to prevent many
of the recipients from getting drunk with the money, Mr. Floyd
stated that very few, if any, of the men had figured in the police
courts for drunkenness; and that the ticket plan was objectionable,
because the men considered they would be obliged to spend the
whole at particular shops, and that they would not be as available
as money for the supply of minor wants. Mr. Floyd, not being a
member of the relief committee, might be excused for not know-
ing that in giving the whole relief in tickets, it was with the
understanding that the shopkeepers to whom they were presented
should give sevenpence in the shilling in goods, and fivepence
change in money, if required; and that, therefore, minor wants,
which had the sanction of the wife, were in each case provided for.
PREMIUM FOR VIOLENCE.
275
As to the fact-if it be a fact that not many of the men had
figured before the magistrates for drunkenness, we know that nei-
ther the laxity of the police, nor the quietness of the drunkards
would lessen the sufferings of the wives and children; and it is
wholly beyond belief that a relief committee, whose only wish was
to provide in the best manner for the wants of the people, could
have inaugurated such a change, in the face of the excitement
manifest as soon as it was spoken of, and which increased from day
to day, unless they felt that there was a real necessity for some such
measure. And another significant fact that may be mentioned is,
that when the tickets were issued, publicans were found who gave
money for them, and stuck them like placards in their windows, as
if to say to the members of the relief committee, "So you think
you have cheated us, do you? Look here; we'll sell drink to the
recipients of relief in spite of you." On Mr. Floyd's representa-
tion the Mansion House committee voted and sent down £500 to
Stalybridge, accompanied by a letter from Mr. Cubitt, recommend-
ing a return to money instead of ticket payments, and limiting the
distribution of their donation to the money plan. Mr. Cotton, of the
Mansion House committee, thought it behoved them to step in as
mediators in the emergency, and so endeavour to put an end to the
dispute; and the relief committee were told that if they felt any
difficulty as to the distribution of the £500, they might hand it
over to the Rev. Mr. Floyd and his coadjutors, the Revs. Mr.
Hoare and Mr. Bell. Curious mediation, this! The dispute had
resolved itself into a question of whether the relief committee or
the recipients were to be masters; and the self-elected mediators
dictated the submission of the committee; and in case of non-
compliance, they set up an opposition, with £500 to fight the
battle of the malcontents.
Did not this donation look like a premium for breaking the
law, and for wilfully destroying property? The rioters had at last
found out that helping themselves would be a losing game, and
had concluded to go back to their schools, and submit to the rules.
of the committee. On Tuesday, they unanimously resolved to go
back to their schools; they were advised by their chairman to let
no man be absent when the names are called on Wednesday morn-
ing; but they had no sooner returned to their allegiance, and
resolved to submit unconditionally, than they learned that one of
276
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the great monied committees had entered the lists on their side,
and had practically given them the victory. If the Stalybridge
committee had silently submitted to this indignity, they must
hereafter also have submitted humbly to any conditions which the
recipients of relief might please to dictate. They were reduced to
a terrible strait. The measure which they had adopted was not
carried unanimously amongst themselves; they had now learned
the indiscretion of enforcing so great a change imperatively and at
once the magistrates had hardly been equal to the occasion, and
for the greater part of a week the town had been at the mercy of
a mob composed of excitable youths, and of the rowdies who infest
every large population. The giant establishments, which in ordi-
nary times found employment for the people, and created wealth
for their proprietors, had not been safe from hour to hour; and now
that the proprietors had begun to breathe freely again, and were
congratulating themselves upon their restoration of authority, these
London magnates, at the request and upon the sole evidence of an
excited clergyman, dictated entire submission to the committee,
under the threat of setting up an opposition. And if the com-
mittee ventured to resist, what a cry would be given to the
populace! "You withhold from us £500, sent especially for our
immediate use; you may keep the Manchester fund, for that is
subject to the ticket nuisance; but this belongs to us in money,
and it is robbery to keep it back." It was a common complaint
throughout the cotton districts that anybody who wrote "Rev.” to
his name could get money out of the Mansion House fund, and
here was a fair exemplification of the fact. The Mansion House
committee knew that Stalybridge had been efficiently supplied with
funds by the central executive at Manchester; and if any appeal was
to be made against the committee at Stalybridge, surely the central
executive was the first court. Mr. Floyd and his coadjutors had seen
the proceedings of Friday and Saturday, and might have carried
any complaint to Manchester on Monday; but, instead of so doing,
they got up a memorial amongst the rioters, and carried it up to
London. The Mansion House committee evidently ignored the
central executive, and dictated to the local committee at Staly-
bridge. The local committee were indeed in a strait, and sought
their way out by passing a resolution to resign. Had this resolu-
tion been carried out, the victory of the malcontents would have
SIR J. P. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH AT STALYBRIDGE.
277
been almost as complete as if they had secured a return to money
payments, and riot would have won and worn the laurel, and have
become a precedent for future imitation. Of course the leaders in
the riots were in high glee at the news from London; they accepted
it as they only could accept it, as a declaration of the public opinion
of London that "they had been waging a holy war in smashing
windows, breaking machinery, and robbing shopkeepers, thousands
of whom were not making enough to pay their rents; and who had
their books full of bad debts, families to keep, and poor-rates to
pay for others, who were not much worse off than themselves.
But a wiser head was at the service of the relief committee.
Sir James Kay - Shuttleworth, accompanied by the honorary
secretary of the central executive, and the special commissioner,
sat with them during an interview with a deputation of the
discontented on Wednesday. Sir James had already effectually
remonstrated with the committee about their proposed resignation,
and had induced them to rescind the resolution, declaring that if
they declined he would himself sit and administer relief by ticket.
The deputation asked for payment in money, and relief from school
for one day per week, on account of the reduction of fourpence per
head in the weekly allowance. The committee could not concede
this, but offered to pay one-half in money; but, as the deputation
had no authority to make concessions, the interview ended without
result. Sir James and Mr. Maclure strenuously advised the com-
mittee not to give way, but it is said that the special commissioner
stayed behind, and gave contrary advice, thus again perplexing the
committee. After the committee, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth
and the honorary secretary made their way through the excited
crowd to the railway station, and, being suspected of strengthening
the local committee in its decision, they were met with sundry
unpleasant epithets and an occasional stone; but they pressed on
their way, and, except a blow on the shoulder of Mr. Maclure by
an old coffee pot, accompanied by an exclamation of "There goes
that damned Maclure, wi' his two-shilling kale!" they reached
their destination in safety.
On Friday, 27th, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth waș again at
Stalybridge, and addressed the scholars in the town hall. Sir
James in the course of his remarks reminded his audience that
the operatives of Lancashire had passed through the rigours of
278
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
winter with, in many cases, an increase of household comforts;
that public munificence had provided more bedding than was
common in poor families; and that the health of the people had
been preserved. He did not disguise the great hardship of having
only just enough for life and health, and the efforts of the whole
country to mitigate that hardship was proof that his feeling was
general. Especially was this proved by the unwearied attention
of the ladies of the middle classes to the wants of the population.
Thousands of ladies had devoted their whole time, or a great
portion thereof, to the daily attendance upon the sewing schools.
A feeling of sympathetic kindness had grown up between these
ladies and the wives and daughters of the workmen which would
last for life. The central executive committee had a general duty
towards the whole population. They had advised relief at the
rate of two shillings per head, but at Stalybridge the average had
been fivepence per head more than in any other part of the county,
except that immediate neighbourhood. The central committee
were bound to economise their funds, and to make them last into
next winter. They confided entirely in the local committee in all
matters of local differences, but they intimated their opinion that
the local circumstances of Stalybridge did not justify so wide a
departure from the general average. With respect to the substi-
tution of the ticket system for payment in money, he understood
that shopkeepers were willing to change these tickets. A deputa-
tion of working men had borne witness not only to the accommo-
dating disposition of shopkeepers, but that beerhouse keepers
would give a premium in the shape of a glass of beer for them;
expecting, doubtless, that the recipients would not be ungrateful.
Whatever their grievances, their first duty was a respectful
remonstrance or suggestion to the relief committee. The recent
destruction of property was in high contrast to the universally-
received opinion of the conduct of the unemployed. Had such
couduct occurred in September or October last (1862), instead of
the £1,200,000 which had been subscribed, Lancashire would not
have received £100,000. That act of impatience, of passion, of un-
reason, was deeply to be deplored, and those concerned in it would
reap the harvest in a change of feeling throughout the country.
They had done themselves and the working classes of Lancashire
a deep and lasting injury. They had given encouragement to those
SIR J. P. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH AT STALYBRIDGE.
279
who were desirous of lessening the political power of the people
of this county; who were anxious to represent it as of no import-
ance to the common weal, but rather as an element of disorder and
danger than of security and strength; and who would contradict
the sanguine hope of the friends of the working man, that we had
here, based upon increased intelligence, an increasing sense of
public duty, respect of property, a stabler condition of society than
existed in any other part of the empire. One of the most powerful
practical arguments for the extension of the electoral franchise
had been the temperate, wise, manly, patient, and intelligent
conduct of the Lancashire workpeople. But now, if any man
desired an objection to that argument, he would say, "That's a
delusion. These men are for the time being quiet, but they
cannot resist the pressure of the evils consequent upon dependence.
Let them be for a few months dependent on the bounty of the
public, reduced to one third of their usual earnings, dissociated
from the discipline of the factory-they are like children, they
quarrel with the first difficulty they encounter. Being incapable
of reasoning, they act with insensate passion, disturb the peace,
violate property, rob shops, injure defenceless people, assault the
house where a sick woman has since died, and, insensible to the
degradation of insulting a woman, they cause loss of life by their
violence and their senseless animosity." He was no enemy to the
working class, but he was so far their friend as to be determined
to speak the truth. The local committee had come to a conclusion
which showed their interest in the welfare of the neighbourhood,
and out of tenderness, of neighbourly feeling, they sought not an
unconditional submission, but offered that one-half the relief should
be given in money and the other half in kind. He was glad to
say that several of the schools had accepted that offer. Three
schools connected with the Church of England had sent in their
acceptance; but he had now before him, what he trusted was by
no means a final decision, a note from the central school, saying
that "they agreed to be paid three shillings in money after this
week, to have one day off in consequence of the fourpence
reduction, and to accept no payment by ticket." He earnestly
advised them to accept the decision of the committee. The
honourable baronet then read an address from the central execu-
tive, which was also circulated as a placard. The Rev. Mr. Hilton,
280
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
a Roman Catholic priest, then addressed the audience, heartily
exorting them to keep the peace, and the meeting separated quietly.
It was also currently reported that orders had been received
from London to stop the distribution of the £500 from the Man-
sion House committee; and this report doubtless had its effect in
producing a quiet acquiescence in the decision of the committee.
Here is the address of the central executive :-
"THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE RELIEF COMMITTEE AT MANCHESTER.
"To the operatives of Stalybridge and their families.
"We have been entrusted with large funds for the relief of
distress, and we are distributing them with every sympathy for
your wants, and with every care for your welfare: those funds
cannot be claimed by any particular district, but are to be given
where we think it best, taking into consideration distress, good
behaviour, and local circumstances generally.
"We deplore the disturbances which have recently occurred.
We hope they are not shared in by a very large number. If they
are continued, we know that there are many elsewhere who will
gratefully receive all we can afford them; and the boards of
guardians, the ordinary channels of relief, are always open to
others.
(C
We, therefore, appeal to all among you who value our relief,
to aid us in our wish to continue it to you. We beg you, conse-
quently, to avoid and discourage meetings which may lead to dis-
turbances, and to assist, to the utmost of your power, the local
authorities and others, whose duty is the preservation of order for
the good of all.
We deeply sympathise in your distress: none of us know how
long it may last. We must, therefore, be prudent in distributing
that relief which the generosity of the public has given, but which
disturbance will cause to cease. Unless order is duly preserved,
matters must pass from our hands into those of the constituted
authorities of the country.-Signed for the committee,
"JAMES P. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH, vice-president.
"JOHN WILLIAM MACLURE, honorary secretary."
After the above meeting the various schools again discussed
the propriety of accepting the decision of the relief committee;
THE APOLOGY FOR RIOT.
281
and in accordance with the advice of their various superinten-
dents, they all agreed: one of them coupling with the resolution,
that they did it out of regard to their reverend superintendent,
Mr. Bell, and not out of any respect to the relief committee.
At a meeting of the general committee, in Manchester, on Mon-
day, the 30th, the rioters found an apologist in the person of the
Rev. Mr. Eagar, of Audenshaw, who hoped the committee would
endeavour to remove a feeling of dissatisfaction which was gaining
ground, that they were too much disposed to reserve their funds,
and were losing faith in the generosity of the public. He also
took the liberty of suggesting to all local relief committees the
necessity of removing, as far as possible, any ground of complaint
from the patiently-enduring class of poor.
To this apology for riot, Sir J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth sharply
retorted that "the funds were administered first with a view to
supporting the life and health of the distressed population, and the
experience of the winter had proved that it could be done at a rate
considerably below that which had been given in the Stalybridge
district, which district he could not but characterise as notable for
the agitation of reverend gentlemen. The remarks of the reverend
gentleman were exactly those upon which the late disturbances
had been founded, and upon which they were now attempted to be
justified." Colonel Wilson Patten reminded the reverend gentleman
that whilst some time ago the receipts of the committee were £35,000
per week, they were now reduced to from £4,000 to £5,000; and the
honorary secretary stated that, instead of the grants of the central
executive having decreased, as stated by Mr. Eagar, the grants of the
committee, for seven months, had averaged £40,000 per month,
whilst the grants for the last month (February) were £50,000. Mr.
John Cheetham (now M.P. for Salford)—referring to the late riots
said that in Stalybridge there was a person (understood to be the
Rev. J. R. Stephens) who had, for the last few months been seeking
publicly to undermine the influence and discredit the exertions of
the relief committee. That individual was beneath his contempt;
but when he found gentlemen holding the same position as Mr.
Eagar laying upon the relief committee the blame of these disturb-
ances—one of them going up to London and sending down a
telegram to his colleague, saying, "The lord mayor has given us
£500; tickets must not be accepted on any grounds; placard the
282
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
walls if necessary"—he laid at the door of that reverend gentleman
the responsibility of what had occurred. He was informed that
the deputation appointed some time ago, by the operatives, to wait
upon the committee, had been dissuaded from the performance of
that duty by the advice of three clergymen.
It thus appeared that a feud between the relief committee and
the clergy, if not directly the cause of the riot, at any rate pre-
vented the exercise of the full influence of the reverend gentlemen
for its suppression-that, on the contrary, they espoused the cause
of the rioters, and sent one of their number to London to secure
the adhesion and support of the Mansion House committee. To
this miserable feud was mainly owing the great destruction of
property and the personal violence, which threatened to destroy
the confidence of the whole country in the conduct of the opera-
tives of Lancashire, and which consigned forty-two persons to
felons' cells. Who can predict the consequences which would have
resulted if the telegram of the ignorant and reverend zealot in
London had been placed upon the walls of Stalybridge? No doubt
the intention of the Mansion House committee was good, but they
were led away by the fervid eloquence of a thorough partizan; and
it was due alone to the discretion which confided the £500 to the
chairman of the relief committee, instead of the hands of the reve-
rend supplicant, that the passions of the people were not again
aroused, and the riot spread with tenfold force of mischief through-
out the whole district.
CHAPTER XV.
Action of the Poor-Law Board- Mr. Farnall's Appointment-Debate in the House
of Commons-Mr. Villiers's Reply-Messrs. Bright and Cobden on the Distress—
The Rate in Aid Bill-Objections to Borrowing Powers-Defects of the Act-Mr.
Cobden on the Forty-third of Elizabeth - Tabular Return of the Orders for Aid,
and of Sums Borrowed Under the Act-Instructions to the Special Commissioner -
His Interpretation of the Poor-law and the Consolidated Orders-Exceptional
Conditions Require Exceptional Remedies-Inequality of Rating-The Union
Chargeability Bill and its Probable Effects-Policy of Public Works-Mr. Farnall's
Failures.
It was reported in semi-official circles, that at a cabinet meeting
held in the week ending May 10, 1862, the noble premier told his
colleagues that he believed the member for Devonport (Mr. W. B.
Ferrand) meant to try to work mischief to the government for their
neglect of the distress in Lancashire; and that they must anticipate
him, and spoil his game, by sending down a government com-
missioner at once. It is said that, addressing the secretary of state
for the home department, he asked Sir George Grey if he had a
proper man at command for the service. Sir George, after thinking
over the matter for a few seconds, replied that he could not at the
moment name a man for the task. Turning then to the president
of the poor-law board, the premier asked Mr. Villiers if he could
supply a good man for the purpose, and received a prompt reply
that he had at command just the man for the job. "When can
he go?" asked the premier; "can he go at once?" Mr. Villiers
thought he could; and a note to Mr. Farnall brought back the
reply that he could go "to-morrow." Thus the statistical depart-
ment of the cotton famine fell to the lot of the poor-law board,
from the accident that Sir George Grey could not at once fix upon
a man for the work.
On the 9th May, the Honourable A. Egerton rose in the House
of Commons to put some questions to the president of the poor-law
board. He told the house that there were fifty-eight thousand
284
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
operatives entirely out of work in Lancashire, and that a much
larger number were working only short-time. The last return
gave fifteen thousand one hundred and thirty-three on short-time,
and seven thousand five hundred and sixty-seven out of work in
Manchester alone; seven thousand seven hundred on short-time,
and twelve thousand one hundred and five out of work in Preston;
and four thousand six hundred entirely out of work in Wigan. The
stock of American cotton in Liverpool was one hundred and twenty
thousand eight hundred and thirty bales, against six hundred and
seventy-nine thousand seven hundred and thirty bales at the same
period last year. The total stock in Liverpool was three hundred
and seventy thousand bales. Of Indian cotton there was at sea
two hundred thousand bales, against two hundred and seventy
thousand last year. The usual consumption of Great Britain was
about forty-five thousand bales per week; and the total stock in
the whole of Europe did not exceed seven hundred and twenty-
five thousand six hundred bales, or about seventeen weeks' supply
on half-time. It had been represented that the real object of the
deputation, who a short time ago had waited on the president of
the poor-law board, was to get aid or relief from the consolidated
fund, but nothing could be further from their intention. What
they really wished was to know whether the poor-law was well
administered in the distressed districts—whether all was being
done which could be done by legal means.
There was a general
feeling amongst the operatives that the poor-law was rather harshly
administered—that labour tests were imposed where they ought
not to be, and that the rigid rules laid down by the board ought
to be relaxed. The question had been mooted in the public papers
whether it was necessary that a large scheme of national charity
should be started. In his opinion the time had not arrived for
that, but he should be glad to hear the president of the poor-
law board upon the point. He should, in conclusion, express a
hope that the government would turn its attention to the develop-
ment of the resources of India, which those chiefly interested in the
subject held—perhaps selfishly-ought, while they produced for its
population manufactured goods, to produce cotton in return.
Mr. E. Potter, M.P. for Carlisle, reminded the house that one-
seventh of the population of the country was in some way depen-
dent on the cotton manufacture. The annual returns from the
MR. VILLIERS'S REPLY.
285
trade were about £80,000,000; but there was no prospect, for the
present, of more than half the usual amount. The crisis affected
not only the working classes, but the shopkeepers, and could not
be adequately met by any system of public charity. The inte-
rests of some six hundred thousand workpeople, receiving some
£15,000,000 annually in wages, were at stake.
Mr. Villiers said nobody could be more painfully alive than he
was to the extent of the distress, nor was he without daily evidence
of its magnitude, or of the generous and noble manner in which it
was borne. He had anticipated the distress, and in November,
1861, had issued a circular to all unions dependent on the American
trade, exhorting the proper officers to make provision for an un-
usual amount of distress. The present state was clearly temporary,
and even if the distress continued, the resources of the great and
wealthy county of Lancaster were more than sufficient to meet all
the difficulties arising out of the depression of the trade; and he
felt confident that the extremity of want and destitution which had
been alluded to did not exist. The ratable value of Lancashire in
1856 was £7,298,000, and the cost of the poor was £455,000. In
1861, the cost of the poor was £429,670. If the expenditure went
on at the rate of the last few months it would be £678,000 for the
year, or one shilling and tenpence in the pound. In Suffolk, and
also in Sheffield, two shillings and sixpence was paid; and that
rate would raise in Lancashire £912,318. St. George's in the East
and Shoreditch paid three shillings and threepence in the pound;
and that rate in Lancashire would raise £1,186,013. In Notting-
ham, and in the East and West London unions, the rates were three
shillings and sixpence; and as much as five shillings was paid in
many parishes in the midland, eastern, and southern parts of Eng-
land; and that rate in Lancashire would produce £1,824,636. He
did not mean to deny that in some particular towns the distress
was most intense; and in those localities the most vigilant atten-
tion was required in the administration of relief. But he had not
heard of any place in Lancashire paying more than three shillings
in the pound. In Preston the distress was most severe;
but upon
the whole it might be inferred that where the rates were so low,
the contributions of private persons were liberal, and that great
exertions were made to provide for the wants of the people. There
was no apprehension whatever that the poor-law guardians were
.
286
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
not equal to their position, or that they had not means at their
disposal to relieve the poor; but as it had been stated that some
misapprehension, however groundless, prevailed, as to the power of
the poor-law guardians, and as to the character of the rules and
orders under which they acted, the government had thought it right
to instruct some persons of experience and judgment to proceed at
once to the distressed districts, and to ascertain whether there was
any want of information on the part of the guardians, and whether
the system on which they acted was strictly legal. These persons
being men of experience, would be enabled to do something to
bring into harmonious action with the regular authorities all those
volunteer bodies who were doing so much good in giving relief.
He trusted that this arrangement would produce an useful effect
in preventing the waste of funds, and in directing persons anxious
to contribute where they should go. In this case the government
had been guided by precedent, as when Sir John Walsham was
sent to Burnley, where, in conjunction with the board of guar-
dians, he had provided-1st, for an increase of the relieving
power; 2nd, for the establishment of relief in kind on an exten-
sive scale; 3rd, for the organisation of out relief and settlement
committees in and for each district; 4th, for the organisation of
a visiting and finance committee; and, 5th, for the organisation of
a labour committee. After the representations which had been
made to the poor-law board, he had thought proper to send down
an experienced person, who would put himself in communication
with the authorities, in order that the best means of relief might
be resorted to, and that the government might be kept properly
informed.
Mr. Bright, referring to the statement of Mr. Potter, said he
should be very thankful for half trade if it could be spread at all
equally over the county; but whilst the people of Bolton had
whole trade, those of Wigan and Rochdale had not half trade:
averages would not, therefore, assist in the consideration of what
should be done. And the case must grow worse; for there were
thousands of families who had saved a little money, and could go
on for a certain time without relief, but the longer the distress
continued, the smaller would that class become. Nothing could
be sadder than the sight of men who for years past had saved all
they could, and performed all the duties of life without reproach,
MR. BRIGHT ON THE DISTRESS.
287
having their little stores gradually wasted under such a state of
things as was now beheld. We could not remove or prevent the
evil: the utmost that any person connected with the county or
the government could do would be to mitigate it. The guardians
were not spending the money of the chancellor of the exchequer,
and it would be wisdom to do nothing to check their liberality in
the distribution of the resources entrusted to their care. The
house would recollect that the money was not collected from men
according to their means, but according to the rent of the houses,
shops, warehouses, or lands which they occupied. There might be
a merchant whose income was £10,000 a year, or whose property
might be very large, but whose premises, and whose rates in
proportion to his property, would be very small. Rates were col-
lected from the owners of these lands and buildings, but an
immense amount of wealth was left untouched by the poor-law,
and there should be other assistance than that which the guar-
dians, from the resources of the poor-law, could give. In every
town and parish there should be committees who should collect
subscriptions; which should not come, like the poor rates, from
those who are verging upon distress themselves; but from those
who have greater means, and who under the present system do not
pay according to their means. In Rochdale there was such a com-
mittee, spending £80 or £90 per week, and they had still a few
hundreds of pounds in hand. The property of the county was
enormous, but there was no rate in aid yet, and he hoped we might
never come to such a pass. He would object to any great measures
of relief, in the shape of a committee in London or of government
interference, which would only add to the pauperism of the district
and prove most pernicious; yet if there was any one who was wil-
ling to aid an acknowledged distress, let him send quietly whatever
he could spare to any one he knew in the district.
Mr. Bright, clear-sighted and forcible upon all subjects which
he deals with, seemed to foresee the evils which might arise from
the distribution of relief by any committee situate beyond the
distressed locality; and whilst he deprecated anything in the shape
of government charity, he demanded that the people of Lancashire
should be at liberty to act for themselves; and to pledge their
future rates, if they thought proper, so as to spread the pressure
of the present trouble into more prosperous times, when its repay-
288
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ment would hardly be felt as a burden. He did not value the
parental control of the poor-law board, but thought the Lancashire
intellect quite able to take care of itself without the leading
strings of the officials at Whitehall; and no doubt he was right.
The ratepayers in each union know how to get rid of guardians
who act against the public interest; and the slight amount of
excitement and turmoil which attends an election of guardians is
tolerable proof that, upon the whole, the poor-law is well adminis-
tered. Neither Mr. Villiers, who talked about what a five-shilling
county rate would produce, but did not propose to legalise county
rating for the relief of the poor; Mr. A. Egerton, who thought the
time had not come for a large scheme of national charity; nor
even Mr. Bright, who trusted that we should not come to a rate
in aid, had any conception of the dire amount of distress which
would have to be borne, nor of the amount of help which would
be needed to enable the operatives to pass through the calamity.
The Mansion House committee was already in existence, and the
general committee at Manchester was organised a few days later;
and before the rising of parliament the Union Rate in Aid Act
became law, and included borrowing powers to boards of guardians,
very much against the wishes of the poor-law board.
The government was very slow to recognise that the state of
affairs in Lancashire was wholly exceptional, and to be met only
by exceptional legislation. Every question put in the House of
Commons was either made light of by a discussion upon the
doctrine of averages, or the case was attempted to be dealt
with according to precedent. When, in July, 1862, Mr. J. T.
Hibbert, the member for Oldham, asked the government to
introduce a measure enabling boards of guardians to raise the
sums required for the existing exigency by means of loans, and
spreading the repayment over seven years, the reply was that
the government proposed to resuscitate the old plan of rates
in aid. The request was that the different parishes and town-
ships should be enabled to bear each its own burden and maintain
its independence; the reply was that independence was to be
sacrificed and ill-feeling generated by a power to charge the
excessive expenditure, perhaps the extravagance, of one parish or
union upon its neighbours. If the reply had been that the
government had come to the conclusion that a wider area of rating
THE FORTY-THIRD OF ELIZABETH,
289
was desirable in permanence, and that a poor-law amendment act
would be introduced to legalize union, county, or even national
rating, it would have been seen that there was a principle for
discussion and for serious consideration, if not for adoption. And
if power had been given in the meantime to boards of guardians,
with the sanction of the poor-law board, to borrow any sum not
exceeding the amount levied during the previous five years, and
extending the repayment over fourteen years, the guardians of the
poor throughout the distressed districts would have felt strength-
ened in their arduous task, and would have been able to find useful
labour for a large proportion of the able-bodied dependants on the
rates. Every speaker from Lancashire was in favour of borrowing
powers, whilst Mr. Bovill objected to the Rate in Aid Bill in toto, as
calculated to undermine general confidence in the stability of the
permanent law; and Mr. Henley preferred a rate in aid to borrowing,
because it was in accordance with the Forty-third of Elizabeth.
It is not difficult to conceive that men whose conservatism seems
to consist of a graduated reverence for institutions according to
their ages would, if they had the chance, object to the use of the
power-loom or the self-acting mule, as Mr. Henley did to the
borrowing clause "because it was an innovation." Mr. Cobden
said that, however well the Forty-third of Elizabeth might be
adapted to Oxfordshire, it would be found very ill adapted to the
condition of Rochdale. An attempt to equalise the rates of a
parish which had usually paid one shilling, but where the factories
were now stopped, with another which paid four shillings, whilst the
people were in employment, was out of the question; they might
as well go back to the legislation of the Romans as to the Forty-
third of Elizabeth. A vast number of the operatives lived in their
own houses, built by means of benefit societies, which parliament
had promoted and fostered. These cottages had been largely
built with borrowed money, and if the owners, at the very time
when they had lost their income from wages, should be called on to
pay an extra poor rate on their houses in addition to interest on
mortgages, the whole of the property must be transferred from
these poor people to other hands. If parliament believed the
present unnatural paralysis was more likely to be temporary than
permanent, and if they hoped that in six or twelve months it
would come to an end, would it not be better, acknowledging that
U
290
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the present state of things was exceptional, to tide over that period
by borrowing on the security of future rates? He was opposed to
borrowing money on the security of rates in ordinary circum-
stances; but no person who realised the condition of affairs in the
cotton districts, could object to the inhabitants taking the course
which they thought most advantageous to themselves. We boast
of our powers of self and local government, and if there be one
subject upon which more than another the people may be safely
trusted, it is the subject of taxation: and it is quite certain that
any great extravagance in the manufacturing districts, either by
corporations or boards of guardians would be very speedily checked
and controlled. The poor-law does not allow overseers to get a
parish into debt, and, in order to act effectively, makes any such
debt the personal debt of the overseers. The Rate in Aid Act was
professedly a provision against great inequality of rates in adjoining
parishes, and it also professed to give relief by spreading excessive
expenditure over a series of years. But the borrowing power given
was confined to the excess of expenditure between three shillings
and five shillings in the pound; and obliged either the, excessive
rate which it professed to remedy to have been already levied and
expended, or forced the overseers to break the law by getting into
debt, before they could avail themselves of its provisions. Thus
unions whose dependants were increasing by thousands weekly,
and whose expenditure was rising in a ratio sufficient to make the
strongest nerves tremble, were obliged either to levy additional
rates upon unproductive property, and upon ruined shopkeepers,
or to spend the money which the law authorised them to borrow,
long before they could get hold of it. Such was the Tantalus cup
presented by the government to the unions of Lancashire.
The act, as first passed in 1862, enabled the guardians of any
union, where any parish in the union had spent in the quarters
ending at Michaelmas or Christmas, 1862, more than ninepence
in the pound upon the assessment, to charge the excess upon the
other parishes in the same union according to their ratable value.
If the expenditure of the whole union had exceeded ninepence in
the pound for the quarter, then the guardians of the union were
empowered to borrow the amount of the excess upon the security
of future rates, to be repaid within seven years. And if any union
had exceeded one shilling and threepence in the pound, the poor-
THE RATE IN AID ACT.
291
law board might, on application, call upon the several unions in the
same county, whose expenditure had not exceeded ninepence in the
pound, to contribute according to their ratable value towards such
excess. The operation of the act was limited to Christmas, 1862.
In March, 1863, the act was renewed till Midsummer, with the
following alterations:-The time for repayment of loans was
extended from seven to fourteen years; any union requiring the
rate in aid, if situate in two counties, to be aided from both
counties, according to the ratable value of the part of the union
situate within each of the counties called upon; the power to
borrow was extended to overseers under separate boards of guar-
dians; and the time for issuing orders was limited to 1st Septem-
ber, 1863. In July of the same year, the act was again extended to
Christmas, 1863; but the necessary expenditure of unions applying
to other unions for aid, was raised from one shilling and threepence
to one shilling and sevenpence half-penny for the quarter; and
power was given to the Public Works Loan Commissioners to
advance any sum not exceeding two hundred thousand pounds
on the security of the borrowing unions.
Upon the propriety of this act the central executive declined to
express an opinion; their object being to keep as many persons as
possible away from the boards of guardians, whilst the Rate in Aid
Act provided only for those who were already paupers, and was in fact
a sort of tentative effort towards union rating-a question which was
often and keenly debated, but the propriety of which had never been
satisfactorily settled. And in the central committee, as elsewhere,
there were considerable differences of opinion upon the subject.
About the propriety of the borrowing powers there was unanimous
agreement; and if fuller liberty had been given to the guardians
in that respect, the act would have been much more welcome.
The borrowing clause, however, did not originate with the govern-
ment, and was keenly contested when proposed, and with diffi-
culty carried against the administration; but the local opinion
may be very well understood from the fact that twenty-one Lanca-
shire members voted in its favour, and only six against it. At the
meeting held 16th December, 1862, Mr. Farnall spoke of the
"valuable provisions of the act," as having enabled the Blackburn
union to borrow £3,517, being the amount spent in excess of nine-
pence in the pound up to Michaelmas.
292
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Mr. Hugh Mason took exception to this word "valuable,” and
said that although at Ashton-under-Lyne they were then submitting
to a crushing expenditure, they would have to continue without
relief till the middle of January, because they had to average the
high expenditure at the end with the low expenditure at the
beginning of the quarter. He also pointed out another defect. The
act provided for the union needing aid, to go to the county in which
the larger portion of the union was situate. Now the larger ter-
ritorial portion of Ashton was in Cheshire; but the larger portion
of the population and property were in Lancashire. To which
county must they apply? Mr. R. H. Hutchinson, ex-mayor of
Blackburn, also complained that whilst it was true that they had
borrowed money under the act on the 29th September, they had
not received authority to borrow until early in December.
The borrowing powers of the act were made use of as follows,
up to March, 1864 :-
Ashton-under Lyne
Blackburn
•
Glossop
Haslingden
£
31,328
5,000
6,650
2,600
Preston
28,921
Rochdale
•
5,659
More recent orders to various places, to March, 1865
6,662
Total
£86,820
And orders for aid were made upon various unions in favour of the
following places, viz.:-
Ashton-under-Lyne
Glossop
Preston .
Total
£ s. d.
7,000 18 8
4,554 0 0
10,844 0 0
£22,398 18 8
And it is a singular commentary upon the infelicity of the act that
Wigan, where the distress and the local subscription were not very
much less in proportion to the population than at Preston, had, as
a punishment for its efforts to keep people off the rates, to pay a
rate in aid to Preston.
The speech of the president of the poor-law board on 9th May,
whilst exhibiting very good feeling and a desire to be of use to
Lancashire, was yet inconsistent and unsatisfactory. He spoke of
INSTRUCTIONS TO SPECIAL COMMISSIONER.
293
the distress as evidently temporary, and of the wealth of Lanca-
shire as quite capable of bearing it, even if of long continuance;
which would have been a very good argument, provided county
rating could have been resorted to to sustain the poor. He pointed
to the comparatively low union expenditure even of the most
distressed towns; that expenditure referring necessarily to the
very commencement of severe distress, whilst the increase of
paupers was at that time reckoned by many thousands per month,
and the union expenditure was rapidly rising; tens of thou-
sands of people also were kept away from the guardians by the
consumption of their own small savings, and the funds of their trades
societies; by sales of furniture and trinkets; and by the aid afforded
from public subscriptions through relief committees. He stated
that there was no apprehension whatever that the poor-law
guardians were not equal to their position, or that their means
were inadequate; yet the government had sent down a special
commissioner to ascertain if there was any want of information on
the part of the guardians, and whether the system on which they
acted was strictly legal.
Mr. Farnall, the special commissioner, was instructed (May 12th)
to make inquiry into the operation of the poor-law and the orders
of the poor-law board at the present time, and on the condition and
habits of the workpeople. He was to communicate personally with
all authorities and special organisations for administering relief and
succour to the poor; to interpret and define the true spirit and
breadth of the poor-law; to create and sustain harmony between
the guardians and the relief committees, and to promote judicious
action; to examine the manner of relief; to find out what labour
was required of the operatives, and to suggest the most suitable
forms of employment. A wide task, certainly, and more than
usually difficult for Mr. Farnall, unless he could manage to forget
the experience which Mr. Villiers quoted as his special qualification,
namely, that he had formerly spent some years in the district.
Mr. A. Egerton complained, on the part of the operatives, that
test labour was unnecessarily imposed, and asked that the rigid
rules of the poor-law board should be relaxed; and the task of Mr.
Farnall was now to show the flexibility of rules, the rigidity of
whose application was in a great degree due to his own former
work. It is quite true that the prohibitory order, which precludes
294
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
boards of guardians from giving relief to able-bodied persons
except in the workhouse, has never been applied to the manu-
facturing districts, but the general advice of the poor-law board
has always been to make free use of the workhouse test. Mr.
Farnall, as special commissioner, told the Preston guardians that,
in an experience of twenty-seven years as an ex-officio guardian,
he had never known a board require a poor person to sell his or
her furniture. No one will doubt the truth of the assertion, nor
will such a credence at all affect the thousands of instances where
the deserving poor relinquish relief rather than break up their
homes to go into "the house;" for how is a poor man or woman to
accept a workhouse order and not break up home? We do not
question the wisdom of the workhouse test in ordinary times and
with ordinary paupers; and if Mr. Farnall, instead of implying
that boards of guardians were ignorant of their duties, had simply
said, "these are exceptional circumstances, and must be met with
exceptional measures," he would have made friends amongst the
guardians as well as amongst the poor. But instead of this course,
he gave instructions the very contrary of the spirit of the con-
solidated orders; by urging increased allowances, denying that the
poor-law required test labour, and recommending the work which
was best adapted to the people; and all this, as he affirmed, under
the authority of the poor-law; whilst every reader of the reports of
the poor-law commissioners knows that, in the manufacturing
districts, where the prohibitory order does not apply, unpleasant
test work has been always strongly recommended.
In a circular letter, issued in 1836, upon this subject, the poor-
law board said "that the best form of out-door labour at task
work for the parish, however well devised and enforced, is but
secondary to the application of the workhouse system, and can
only be sanctioned as a palliative for a time. * * * The
work to be provided for paupers should be of a laborious and
undesirable nature in itself, and the remuneration should be
less than would be paid for work of equal quantity if performed
by independent labourers. * * * The most usual mode of
*
setting able-bodied paupers to work is in the repair of the roads,
or in the preparation of materials for that purpose. *
Much of the labour on the roads is defective as a test of pauper-
ism, in consequence of the difficulty of ascertaining the quantity
THE POOR-LAW BOARD.
295
performed, and of ascertaining its performance; and it has been
found better in most cases to confine the paupers solely to the pre-
paration of road materials in a yard or other enclosure set apart
for the purpose." Here is the odious stone-yard test, to which the
operatives so strongly object. And there is also a proposal to pay
according to the quantity of work done, which, if carried out in
practice, would give to many heads of pauper families from two-
pence to sixpence per week.
In 1840 the poor-law board reprinted from a blue-book the
evidence of Mr. John Ashworth, junior, on the distress in 1826 at
Darwen, for the purpose of showing the great importance of a
labour test, and of relief in kind. Mr. Ashworth states that the
weavers were so generally out of employ, that a large subscription
was got up; and relief was at first given in money, which, being
found ineffectual, they resorted to provisions, and then ultimately
found work for the people at road-mending, stone-quarrying,
reservoir-making, &c. Of thirty or forty men sent on a given day
to the stone quarry, only six or seven remained till wages time
(five o'clock in the afternoon).
In 1849 the poor-law board indicated a dislike to remunerative
labour. The manufacturing districts were greatly distressed in
1847-8, and the board issued the order requiring task work in
return for relief to the unions where the prohibitory order was not
in force; and in reference to it they say: "The existence of the
order has induced many boards of guardians to endeavour to pro-
vide the means of supplying employment to labourers who require
relief on account of their being out of work, by purchasing or
hiring some portions of land contiguous to the workhouse for cul-
tivation. To a certain extent this has, in a few instances, been
sanctioned; but the board have not been prepared to assent, as a
general proposition, to the guardians engaging in any considerable
undertakings of a farming character, which appear to the board to
be open to serious objection."
And in 1852 the board issued a general order, not only requir-
ing work in every able-bodied case, but retaining also a veto power
over the kind of work to be supplied. They say (Article 6): “Every
able-bodied male person, if relieved out of the workhouse, shall be
set to work by the guardians, and be kept employed under their
direction and superintendence so long as he receives relief."
296
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Article 8: "The guardians shall, within thirty days after they shall
have proceeded to act in execution of Article 6, report to the poor-
law board the place or places at which able-bodied male paupers
shall be set to work, and the provision made for superintending
them while working; and shall forthwith discontinue or alter the
same, if the poor-law board should so require." Article 5 prohibits
the relief of able-bodied persons whilst employed for wages. But
this order was found so unworkable that in a few months it had
to be modified so as to allow guardians, where a person worked
one or more days per week, and still needed relief, to consider the
relief as for the days when the recipient would be out of work.
Guardians were also allowed to break through all the articles of
this order (except Article 3) on condition of reporting within fifteen
days the case, and the grounds of action; and if not then disal-
lowed by the board, they might continue so to act.
It is abundantly clear that, whilst the provisions of the poor-
law are sufficient for all ordinary cases of pauperism, and for
all ordinary times, yet when, according to the language of the
commissioners, the workhouse would be "swamped" by a class
whom only the direst necessity would drive to the board, very
different arrangements are required; for it is equally beneficial to
the recipients of relief and to the country that they should be
saved from degradation in their own eyes. The special commis-
sioner for the cotton famine would need rather to forget than to
remember the experience of Mr. Farnall, the poor-law inspector,
in order to be of real service; and in recommending boards of
guardians whilst distributing relief to take no account of the
supplementing by employers or relief committees, and in pre-
ferring the sewing and adult school test to the stone yard, to oakum
picking, and logwood grinding, he did manage so to forget himself.
Other people, however, were not so oblivious; but when they found
out what very different sermons could be preached by the same
man from the same text, they held up their hands in astonishment.
Nevertheless, in this respect Mr. Farnall did good work, by giving
the authority of the poor-law board to the wishes of the central
executive; by raising the weekly allowance, and aiding an organi-
sation which would otherwise have been more difficult, if not
impossible. The reports of Mr. Commissioner Farnall are upon
the whole very valuable documents, and will serve as references for
INEQUALITY OF RATING.
297
many years to come; for, although they contain much less matter
than the reports of the honorary secretary, and go sadly astray
when they deal with politico-economic problems, or attempt to
foretell future events, yet their facts are incontrovertible; and
being communicated by an official specially deputed by the govern-
ment, they doubtless commanded more attention than any merely
unofficial documents could have done; and they have already
borne fruit in the Union Chargeability Act.
The pressure of distress, and consequently of the rates, was
most unequal, and the general effect of the relief funds was to
equalise in some degree the burden of the ratepayers, by granting
help according to the needs of the different localities.
The average rate levied throughout the cotton districts in the
poor-law year ending Lady-day, 1861, was 1s. 03d. in the pound
upon the assessment, and the variation was from 73d. at Prest-
wich, a semi-rural union adjoining Manchester, to 1s. 31d. at
Skipton, on the borders of Yorkshire. The effect of the short
supply of cotton began to be felt in the last quarter of 1861, and
by Lady-day, 1862, it had shown itself in the poor-rates by raising
the average from 1s. 0ğd. to 1s. 2 d., the variation being from 81d.
in Prestwich to 1s. 41d. in Manchester. In the course of the year
1862 the means of the workmen were exhausted, their little hoards
were gone, and the savings banks had been drawn upon to the full
extent of the operatives' deposits; the trades and friendly societies
had contributed to the necessities of their unemployed members
to the exhaustion of their contingent funds, and a large amount of
capital had been drawn out of co-operative stores; so that the
trouble had become wide-spread and deep, and could no longer
be silently borne. The great heart of the British public had been
appealed to, and had nobly responded; the voice of mourning had
reached across the great waters, and help had come from Australia,
and from India; and even the people of the Northern States of
America, in the midst of their own death struggle, had found
opportunity to send several ship-loads of food to the starving
operatives of the "old country." In the year ending Lady-day,
1863, the average poor-rate had risen to 28, 9 d., the variation
being from 1s. 31d. at Barton-upon-Irwell, a rural union near
Manchester, to 4s. 10ğd. at Glossop, and to these amounts the
relief committees had added an average of 2s. 8d., varying from
298
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1s. Oğd. at Garstang to 8s. 81d. at Ashton-under-Lyne, Glossop
receiving at the rate of 6s. 63d.; so that the total relief at Ashton
was at the rate of 12s. 107d., and at Glossop 10s. 9ğd. for the whole
year. What a practical commentary was here upon the speech
of the president of the poor-law board, and the sufficiency of the
county of Lancaster to bear permanently the burden of the cotton
famine!
But this statement does not fully display the inequality of rating;
for there are generally many townships in an union, and the extremes
of rating would often be found in the different townships of the same
union. The average rate throughout the cotton districts, in ordi-
nary times, is about one shilling in the pound on the assessment;
the average in the heaviest year of the distress, and including the
contributions of relief committees, was 5s. 57d., or an increase of
about 410 per cent. Large as was the increase of indigence, it
could have been borne for a year if the burden had been equally
spread; but whilst the expenditure in the Ashton union was at
the rate of 13s. 101d.; Glossop, 11s. 5d.; Preston, 9s. 2d.; Black-
burn, 9s. 17d.; Stockport, 8s. 84d.; Haslingden, 7s. 7ğd.; Oldham,
7s. 3d.; and Rochdale, 6s. 64d.; at Leigh the whole cost was
2s. 2d.; at Lancaster, 1s. 97d.; and at Garstang, 1s. 74d.; and it
is quite possible that the contrast was not much less in some places
between the different townships of the same union. These facts
evidently point to something broader than even union rating for
an efficient provision, under the poor law, against any future wide-
spread calamity, such as the cotton famine. It is common for the
wealthy men of a locality to reside beyond the boundaries of the
poor-law union in which their manufactories or warehouses are
situate, and where the workpeople must needs live. Thus many
of the rich men of Manchester either reside in the rural townships
of the Chorlton union, or in the unions of Prestwich or Barton-on-
Irwell; many of them go to Bowdon, to Alderley, or to Lymm ; and
some few reside principally in Wales;—none of which places could,
under the old law, be much affected by any trading calamity.
The whole of the calculations of the president of the poor-law
board, when he replied to Mr. A. Egerton, in May, 1862, were
based upon the assessment of Lancashire, where 5s. in the pound
would raise £1,824,636; so that if county rating could have been
resorted to, an extra rate of about 2s. 2d. in the pound, per annum,
THE UNION CHARGEABILITY BILL.
299
would have covered the whole extra outlay which was made by
⚫guardians and relief committees, up to the end of 1864. This
statement illustrates at once the power of an extended area to meet
great and unforeseen difficulties, and the fallacy of trying to reason
down the existence of distress by showing how an extended area
of rating would provide for it, when that area is not available
for the purpose. And if county rating be so valuable, why not go
still further, and make the rating national, so that the same col-
lectors could officiate for the central government and for boards
of guardians, and at the same time get rid of all the trouble and
expense incurred in the administration of the law of settlements ?
If we had a national rate, the poor might be left, like the rich, to
settle wherever it pleased them to go; for they would no longer
burden a particular locality upon which they had no legal claim;
and there would be no reason for union after union trying to get
rid of them.
1
The Union Chargeability Bill, passed in the session of 1865, is
a step in the right direction, and shows that the president of the
poor-law board, although a timid, has not been a dull scholar; but
has apprehended the real teaching of the cotton famine. If the
Union Chargeability Bill had been in force in 1861, it would have
sufficed to meet the distress in many of the cotton manufacturing
unions. The pressure would still have been very severe at the
following places, where the extra expenditure of guardians and
relief committees for three years during the famine, exclusive of
the cost of in-door maintenance for 1864-5, was—
30s. 9d. in the pound on the assessment.
18s. 1d.
Ashton-under-Lyne
Blackburn
Glossop
32s. 6d.
""
""
Haslingden
15s. 2d.
"}
""
Preston
Stockport
20s. 0ğd.
22s. 8d.
"9
""
99
The inequality of pressure, under the old law, may be judged
of by the following returns from the unions of Chorlton-upon-
Medlock and Prestwich, the first of which includes a considerable,
and the second a small portion of the borough of Manchester :—
300
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
CHORLTON UNION.
RATES LEVIED IN THE YEARS 1861-4.
Name of Township
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
Total.
Average.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
s. d.
8. d.
s. d.
* Ardwick
2 8
3 0
5 4
5 0
16 0·
4 0
Burnage
1 9
•
2
3
4
6
2 6
11 0
2 9
*Chorlton-on-Medlock 2 6
2 4
5 0
4 10
14 8
3 8
Chorlton-cum-Hardy 1 6
2 0
5 0
none
8 6
2011
Didsbury
1 6
1 6
4 0
2 6
96
2 421
Gorton
.14
18
30
20
8 0
2 0
*Hulme
3 0
20
6 2
4 0
15 2
3 91/
Levenshulme
. 1 0
2 3
2 6
20
7 9
1 11/1/
Moss Side
0 8
2.0
2 6
1
0
6 2
161
Openshaw
1 4
1 4
1 4
1
8
5
8
1 2
Rusholme
1 0
1 6
4
6
2
6
9
6
2 42
Withington
1
0
1
4
4 0
2
0
8 4
2
1
PRESTWICH UNION.
*Blackley
2 6
4 8
2
4
1
0
10
6
2
7
Bradford.
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 6
4 6
1
11
* Beswick.
2 0
4 4
5 2
4 2
15 8
3 11
Cheetham
1 9
2 4
2 8
2 8
9 5
2 41
Crumpsall
0 11
19
20
1 0
5 8
1 5
Failsworth
1 8
4 4
2 8
none
8
8
2
2 2
Harpurhey
09
2 0
1 6
1 0
5
3
1 3/1/20
Heaton Great
1
0
2 10
1 8
1
0
6 6
1 74
Heaton Little .
2 6
2 0
3 0
none
7 6
1 10
Moston
2 0
2 0
•
2 0
1 8
7 8
1 11
Newton
10
16
20
20
6 6
1 7
Prestwich
1 6
4 6
none
none
6 0
1 6
* These townships received also large sums through the relief committees.
The operation of the Union Chargeability Act will be to charge
the poor-rate upon the latest assessment, and to levy equal rates
throughout an union, so far as the cost of the poor are concerned,
leaving to each township its own extraordinary expenditure, and
leaving the inequalities between union and union as before.
One fault, and one only, could be found against leaving a heavy
calamity to be provided for out of a properly apportioned poor-rate,
namely, that it would promote permanent pauperism. For persons
who are unable to provide for themselves by working, and who are
without friends-for those who are able, but unwilling to work, and
who prefer a vagabond to an industrious life—and for the slaves
to vicious habits, the poor-law, with its varying provisions for
different cases, is sufficient; but for prudent, well-conducted, and
industrious people, who would prefer to work their fingers to the
1
THE UNION- CHARGEABILITY BILL.
301
bone, rather than eat the bread of idleness; and who are simply
overwhelmed by misfortunes which are as far beyond their own
power as the fall of an avalanche or the crash of an earthquake; it
is open to grave doubt whether it is wise to oblige them to hang
about the workhouse doors, in company with habitual paupers; to
be first shocked by the hated companionship, then jeered at for
their pride, then encouraged to demand relief as a right. Under
such treatment men soon lose the feeling of shame at having to
pass the board, and learn gradually to feel themselves insulted by
being set to unproductive labour, and to proportion their exertions
to the relief given in exchange; until eventually idleness becomes
habitual, and cheating the overlooker a matter of pride. But if,
in addition to the adoption of county or national rating, the Public
Works Act could be rendered a permanent institution, and the
public works loan commissioners have a permanent fund at their
disposal for loans to distressed localities, to be expended on
approved public works, so that honest and industrious operatives
could at once be set to work for wages; then the independence of
the people would be maintained, the poor-rates economised, and the
health of the workmen improved. Under this act, if a trade fell
into permanent decay, the way of the operatives would be smoothed
to a new and permanent occupation, and they would be at the same
time rendered fit for emigration; so that such of them as preferred
to try colonial life, might leave the old country with a certainty of
finding the means for a comfortable livelihood abroad. In the
cotton crisis the depth of the distress was passed before the act
could be got into operation; so that in some places ordinary
labourers were obliged to be employed, where, if the means had
been supplied a year earlier, cotton operatives would have done
the work; whilst in others the work was let to contractors, whose
interest it was to get the job done as quickly as possible, and who
did not therefore care to be troubled with unskilled labourers.
Of course the application of such a fund would need to be
restricted to localities which were suffering from extraordinary
causes, and the security of the rates ought in every case to be
taken for repayment of the principal and interest. Under such
conditions, government money lent for a term of years at three and
a half per cent ought, with proper management, to leave a margin
of profit for the investment, and to promote at once the health
302
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the wealth, and the morality of the people. To prevent the misuse
of the money, or its being even lent in unnecessary cases, the
application might first be sent to the lords of the treasury, who
would decide whether the necessity was sufficiently pressing; then
the government engineer might be required to report upon the
utility of the works proposed, and to what extent they would
employ unskilled labour; and, in case of a favourable report, an
order in council might issue to the loan commissioners, who would
take charge of the financial operation, and who ought to report
annually to parliament. Such an arrangement would enable any
future crisis to be met and grappled with at once, without resort
to any extraordinary organisation or agitation; and at a cost to
the distressed places which, being spread over a series of prosperous
years, would scarcely be felt. In the House of Commons, union
rating was opposed, on the ground that it would lead to increase of
expense, and that it was sought in order to sacrifice the country to
the town parishes.
In reference to the first charge, it may be stated that at Docking,
in Norfolk, union rating has existed since 1849. In the three years
preceding 1849 the average expenditure on relief was £9,828. In
the three years 1856-7-8 it was £8,773, being a decrease of 1073
per cent; whilst, in the seven unions nearest to Docking, the
decrease during the same period was only 1.82 per cent. On the
subject of sacrificing the country to the town parishes, every intelli-
gent man who is acquainted with rural districts can point out
parishes in which, for half a century past, the process of demo-
lishing labourers' cottages has gone on, without any re-building,
and has become a nuisance which calls loudly for remedy; and
the Union Chargeability Bill, by rendering such transactions un-
profitable, will effectually stop the practice; for a little rent will be
better than none, when the sacrifice of rent ceases to save the rates.
In this measure Mr. Villiers was wise, for he at once abolished a
cruel nuisance, and provided to a small extent against local calamity.
It is a small step, but government establishments are difficult to
move. Let us hope that, now the inertia is to some extent over-
come, the matter will not be allowed to rest until something more
has been accomplished.
At the meeting of the central executive, held 20th June, 1865,
Mr. Farnall stated that, in accordance with instructions from the
POLICY OF PUBLIC WORKS.
303
poor-law board, his connection, as special commissioner in connec-
tion with this district, would cease, and that this would be the last
meeting of the committee.at which he would have the opportunity
of being present. He expressed the satisfaction be had experienced
in co-operating with a body that had so ably discharged the impor-
tant public trust committed to its care. The central executive
then recorded the following resolutions:-
"That this committee desires to record its sense of the very
cordial manner in which the Right Honourable C. P. Villiers, the
president of the poor-law board, has, from the commencement of its
labours, promoted the co-operation of the boards of guardians of the
cotton districts with the local committees. It would in particular
acknowledge Mr. Villiers's appointment of Mr. Farnall as special
commissioner, and his success in promoting harmony between the
various relief committees and public works boards. This committee
further desires to express its conviction of the important influence of
the Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act, carried through
parliament by Mr. Villiers, in providing employment, and of the skill
with which that act has been carried into execution by Mr. Raw-
linson and the officers who have acted under him. This committee
wishes to give public expression to its conviction that the advan-
tages derived from the Public Works Act cannot be measured by
the amount of employment provided, but that its indirect influence
on the discipline of labour and as a stimulus to the profitable
application of capital have exceeded the more direct, and therefore
more apparent, benefits derived from it. It desires, likewise, to
convey its acknowledgments to Mr. Villiers for the readiness with
which he assented to its request, that he would place at its disposal
the services of the two inspectors, who have materially promoted,
by their reports, the economical administration of the relief fund.
The committee desires to record the expression of its thanks
to Mr. Farnall, for the persevering attention which he has given to
its deliberations, for the amenity with which he has mingled in
them, and for the promptitude and skill with which he has on all
occasions aided the committee.
"To Mr. Rawlinson the committee wishes to convey its convic-
tion that the general adoption and successful operation of the Public
Works Act have been greatly promoted by the confidence which
the local boards have felt in his sincerity, experience, and skill."
304
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
、
Mr. Farnall and Mr. Rawlinson briefly returned thanks, the
latter gentleman observing that, if his life should be spared so long,
he hoped to see the public works in this, district completed as suc-
cessfully as such operations could possibly be, that Lancashire might
not only have received relief from them in her great distress, but
that she might receive permanent sanitary benefit. The conduct
of these works might afford an administrative precedent in the
relief of similar future distress, as well as a lasting stimulus to
municipal improvements.
On the motion of Mr. Ross, it was then resolved-" That this
committee at its rising adjourn sine die, subject to the summons
of the chairman, vice-chairman, and honorary secretary."
Thus, quietly and unobtrusively, ended the official connection
between the poor-law board and the central executive. In the
vote of thanks to Mr. Villiers there is not a word too much of
praise; for when once convinced of the gravity of the crisis, he
lent a willing ear to the committee and gave a ready compliance
to all their suggestions, and aided them by every means in his
power. To the skill of Mr. Rawlinson the whole country testifies :
his assiduity and kindness have been experienced by all who have
come in contact with him. Even the error of certifying for so
large a proportion of the loan for Manchester, where only a small
proportion of skilled labour could be employed, no doubt arose
from his desire to get the act speedily into operation.
We have already expressed the conviction that the appoint-
ment of Mr. Farnall was a mistake. He was not popular when
regularly employed in the district, and has not much improved his
position by his special services. We believe that it is a departure
from the rule generally observed at the poor-law board to super-
sede an official except for incompetence; and those who have
come in contact with Mr. Farnall and his successor as poor-law
inspectors will certainly not vote the late Mr. Mainwaring incom-
petent. But the appointment of Mr. Farnall as special commissioner
implied incompetence and ignorance on the part of Mr. Mainwaring;
for it is the regular duty of a poor-law inspector to do all which Mr.
Farnall was charged with, except the promotion of harmony between
guardians and relief committees, and the preparation of special
reports.
The minute book of the central executive shows that on the
MR. FARNALL'S FAILURES.
305
1st September, 1862, Mr. Farnall was "requested to write to the
relief committees, or other sources of information in the distressed
districts, requesting them to give him a report for the use of the
central relief committee, as to the amount of subscriptions raised
in their respective localities, and the supposed amount of aid pri-
vately given by manufacturers in such localities. Also the number
of hands fully employed, partially employed, or unemployed, and
the weekly loss of wages sustained; and further as to the forms
of work employed by the said committees." We suppose the
honorary secretary thought this resolution trenched a little on
his domain; for the result was that two reports were presented,
and the committee, having to decide between them, adopted the
one by Mr. Maclure on its merits; and thus originated the sys-
tematic and detailed statistics which were afterwards regularly
furnished.
On the 8th September, 1862, Mr. Farnall was "requested to
visit Ashton and Hurst, and by personal communication to induce
the committees at these places to co-operate; which request Mr.
Farnall accepted, as he considered it part of his duty to govern-
ment." The tone of this "minute" looks as if some request had
been made to Mr. Farnall which he had not accepted, and indicates
a want of thorough harmony between him and the committee; and
although the minutes of the next week show that communications
with Ashton and Hurst were left in Mr. Farnall's hands, yet there
existed up to the end of the crisis a separate committee at Hurst,
which was receiving aid from the Mansion House fund; nor was
the matter out of Mr. Farnall's hands on the 8th September, 1863,
for he then “read a report upon Hurst.”
January 5, 1863: A correspondence was read between Messrs.
Birley and Co., spinners and manufacturers, and the guardians of
the Chorlton union; showing that Messrs. Birley were desirous to
continue to supplement the union relief to persons who had for-
merly worked for them, if the guardians would consent not to lessen
the union allowance in consequence thereof; and “Mr. Farnall
was deputed to bring about an accommodation of the dispute."
This was a case peculiarly his own; for he had already, in various
published speeches, recommended guardians not to take account
of any supplementing, by relief committees or other persons, to the
allowance of those who were suffering from the cotton famine. This
X
306
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
mission failed, and Messrs. Birley ceased to relieve their own work-
people, and left them entirely to the guardians and relief committees.
March 16, 1863: A letter was read from the Dukinfield com-
mittee, announcing their intention to discontinue, and Mr. Farnalł
was requested to make inquiry as to the proceedings and expen-
diture of the committee; and as the grants to Dukinfield were con-
tinued, this undertaking was no doubt a success.
In the chapter on the Stalybridge riots; it is shown that a
dangerous difference of opinion existed between Mr. Farnall and
the vice-chairman of the central executive, on the question of
conceding the demands of the rioters; and on March 23rd, 1863,
Mr. Farnall reported on the disturbance at Stalybridge, and inti-
mated to the committee that he would make another visit in his
official capacity as government commissioner.
Here again it looks as if all was not quite as it should be. But,
disagreeing as Mr. Farnall evidently did with the central executive,
whose deputy he had been on the former occasion, it would be diffi-
cult to define how he was to promote harmony as government
commissioner. If he reconciled the Stalybridge committee to the
rioters, by inducing them to concede the point in dispute, he would
set them at variance with the central executive, of which he was
also a member; and we know that harmony was ultimately restored
by the firmness of the committee, who afterwards, as an act of
grace, cemented the peace by conceding one-half of the demand,
and paying half the weekly allowances in money, and half in tickets.
There was one particular district where the trade was entirely
in the hands of a few very rich men, all of whom early in the crisis
stopped their works; and, contributing to the relief fund in the
proportion of about ten shillings, or one week's wages per hand,
threw all their workpeople upon the relief committee. One of
these men is familiarly reported to have realised about £120,000
by the rise in the value of his stock. On the 15th June, 1863,
Mr. Farnall was "requested to convey the views of the committee
most strongly to the local millowners." Mr. Farnall no doubt
undertook the task, and brought all the weight of his official
influence to bear; but the subscription list bears no evidence of
success: the millowners resisted even the "suasive eloquence” of
the special commissioner, for the total extra sum subscribed up to
the close of the fund was £21.
MR. FARNALL'S FAILURES.
307
On September 21st, 1863, Mr. Farnall was "requested to visit,
Oldham immediately, and to recommend to the relief committee
there the discontinuance of any future relief to persons who were
also relieved by the guardians." At the end of August the number
so relieved in Oldham was one thousand and eleven; at the end
of December it was seven hundred and forty-four; at the end of
April, 1864, it was seven hundred and fifty-four; at the end of
June it was one hundred and seventy; and it finally faded out
in August, 1864, just eleven months from the date of the mission.
With regard to the Chorlton board of guardians, where Mr.
Farnall had declined to go a second time, it was afterwards found
advisable, in the interests of the poor-law board, to put Mr. J. W.
Maclure upon the commission of the peace, in order that he might
attend the board ex officio. It may not have been due to any fault
in Mr. Farnall that he could not reconcile the various committees
at Ashton, for the task failed in other hands as totally as in his;
but the minutes of the central executive prove that there was at
least room for a difference of opinion as to the value of his appoint-
ment. He no doubt did his best, and it would have looked
invidious to part with him without a vote of thanks; but, as
disinterested judges and faithful recorders, whilst we give greater
praise to the president of the poor-law board for his personal efforts,
and to Mr. Rawlinson for his great skill and active co-operation, we
by no means wish to undervalue the services of Mr. Farnall. We
have said that his task was not an easy one, and he could doubtless
tell of more difficulties encountered and overcome than were visible
to an outside observer.
•
CHAPTER XVI.
Growing Monotony of Disciplinary Labour-Conditions of Grants to Superinten-
dents-Rules for the Execution of Public Works-Suggestions as to the Adoption
of the Local Government Act, 1858-Introduction of the Public Works (Manu-
facturing Districts) Bill-Conditions of the Bill-The Principle of Public Loans
Vindicated-Mr. Rawlinson's Report-Debate on Second Reading of the Bill-
The Policy of Emigration-Mr. Ferrand's Error-Mr Farnall's Estimate of the
Numbers who would be Employed under the Act-Disappointment of the Execu-
tive Committee-Misappropriation of the Loan at Manchester, Stockport, and
Blackburn-The Manchester Board of Guardians-The Hulme Park Movement-
Protest of Working Men against the Pauper Passage to Labour - Classes of Men
Engaged on the Stockport Works-Mr. Rawlinson's Erroneous Estimate of Num-
bers-Slow Progress - Official Reflection and Delay-Account of the Works
Undertaken-Applications Refused and the Grounds thereof.
THE disciplinary work, mental or physical, found by relief com-
mittees for their dependants, answered very well until the novelty
had worn off, and then it gradually became almost as unsatisfactory
as pauper or prison labour. Being necessarily spread over the
whole week, so as to afford a positive check against imposition, it
left the operatives no liberty of action to shift for themselves, with-
out renouncing all claim upon the funds; and a certain rate of
relief being given to all alike, it gave no reward for, and therefore
afforded no stimulus to, industry. The natural and almost inevit-
able consequence was, that men worked not as at a task, for the
accomplishment of which they would be rewarded according to their
exertions, but listlessly, waiting, like tired children at school, for the
hour of dismissal; knowing that the connection between the work
done, and the relief-wages to be procured, was not a natural but a
forced relationship-a make-believe, which produced no sympathy,
and therefore no fruitful result.
The central executive committee felt this, and attached to its
report of 30th March, 1863, as an appendix, the following extracts
from the minutes of the meeting held on the 5th March, 1863-
GRANTS TO SUPERINTENDENTS.
309
Resolved: "That grants be made from the employment and
school fund towards the payment of the wages of superin-
tendents, in order to promote the employment of men and
youths above eighteen, on the following conditions and scale :-
1st. The work is to be of public advantage, such as the improve-
ment of public roads and footpaths; of the sanitary condition of any
town or village; or for the provision of places of public recreation.
These works are to be distinguished as far as possible from such
labour on private property as will be an advantage to the owner.—
2nd. The grants will be made by payments towards the wages of
competent superintendents of work. Such aid will be at the rate
of sixpence weekly for every labourer at work under a foreman,
provided that no labour company, under one such overlooker,
exceed forty men.—3rd. The period during which the men are to
be required to work weekly, should be proportioned to the amount
of relief, at a rate of payment per hour; and the time not thus
occupied should be spent in school. The foreman should be
employed the whole day.-4th. A return of the number of men so
employed must be made in the form now approved, with the usual
monthly schedule of application for an ordinary grant."
And in the next report, dated 27th April, 1863, the executive
followed up their resolution by remarks, which showed that the
subject of labour occupied much of their attention; and that their
views were becoming more definite as to the absolute necessity of
promoting, so far as possible, the provision of work for wages
instead of for relief. In this report they said :-
"If any private work be done by men paid by the relief
committee, the proprietor should pay to the committee the cus-
tomary cost of the execution of such work by the piece. If
fairly valued on this principle, farms might be drained or fenced,
or prepared for crops; and private roads might be made, or
ornamental works carried out on estates, by relief committees.
And a landed proprietor may do all these works, on one of two
systems. He may either withdraw the workman wholly from the
receipt of relief, giving him full employment at ordinary wages; or
he may pay him the ordinary rate of wages per hour, employing him
four or five hours per day as a part of his means of subsistence.
This would make such work co-ordinate with the action of a relief
committee, which might employ the remaining members of the
310
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
* * *
family, and give them relief at a certain rate per hour, so as to make
up the relief of the family to the scale.
If contracts for
useful public works are undertaken, such engagements should be
made by some public body, such as a municipal corporation. But
public works would cause an outlay which would increase the
burdens of ratepayers. Unless, therefore, parliament, in consi-
deration of the gravity of the crisis, give greatly increased powers
to raise money on loan for public works, at low rates of interest,
and for long periods of years, it is scarcely to be expected that
when so large a part of the capital of the cotton districts is
unproductive, town councils will consider themselves justified in
charging their boroughs with any such large outlay as would be
required to set all the able-bodied men now relieved on work. But
if municipalities were enabled-for all purposes for which they are
now authorised by law to contract loans-to contract new loans-
to spread the repayment of all loans over a much longer period
of time, and even to postpone the payment of the first instalment
for five or more years, many works would certainly be undertaken
by town councils which would otherwise be neglected. Supposing
this to be done, it would be open to the town councils to set
the able-bodied either on piece-work, or on work by the hour,
at the ordinary rate of wages per hour. As in the supposed
case of the landed proprietor, town councils might allow the
workman to earn wages, in which case a limited number would be
wholly removed from the relief lists. Or they might allow a larger
number of men to labour four or five hours daily, or to work by
the piece until they had earned a given sum per week, as part
of their relief from the board of guardians or relief committee.
What has been said of town councils applies, in their respective
spheres, to improvement commissioners, to boards acting under
the Local Improvements Act, and to other local authorities now
more or less empowered to borrow money for public improvements.
Suggestions have been made by drainage engineers and others,
that the cotton districts offer a field for the profitable investment
of a large capital in the improvement of land. That is a most
obvious truth. A large extent of the land below the level of three
hundred feet above the sea, and a still larger tract from three
hundred to six hundred feet high, would pay the proprietor for
draining and liming. But no government would impose these
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT.
311
improvements as an obligation on proprietors, and enforce a charge
of the cost on landed estates, even with a renewal of the oppor-
tunity for repayment in twenty-two years, at six and a half per
cent per annum (the then rate of discount). All such improve-
ments are necessarily dependent on the progress, among landed
proprietors, of an intelligent foresight as to their own interests;
and nothing is more certain than that great tracts of land below
the level of three hundred feet from the seà remain undrained,
notwithstanding such powers as exist to borrow, through the
agency of land improvement companies. It is equally apparent
that a crisis which reduces the rents, and increases the burthens
of landed proprietors, is not one which they would select for charging
their estates with new burthens; unless the motives to do so
at this time were made to preponderate, in the same way as is
proposed in the case of town councils. * * * That which
remains as an obvious resource is to increase, with a view to this
object, all the existing facilities for loans for public and private
works within these counties-by lengthening the term of years for
repayment—by reducing the interest on the loans—and by post-
poning the repayment of the first instalment for five or more years."
Returning again to the subject in the report dated 25th May,
and looking forward to the succeeding winter, the executive
committee said that, in the absence of public works, there would
remain little or no means of subsistence for the operatives, except
the parochial rates. Private charity will have been nearly
exhausted by unwonted exertions continued through two years.
By far the greater part of the capital of the cotton districts will,
during that time, have remained unproductive and heavily taxed."
The minute of April was intended to attract public consideration
to works of municipal and parochial improvement, which might be
rendered practicable by reasonable legislative and other facilities,
in order to provide employment at ordinary wages for the able-
bodied men who were in receipt of relief. After enumerating the
various works suggested, the executive said: "Your committee
has not entertained any doubt that many of the principal muni-
cipal corporations, and also townships, acting under the clauses of
the Local Government Act (1858), would be disposed to undertake
extensive public works, provided they were enabled to obtain loans
of money sufficient to defray the cost of such works, for long terms
312
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
of years, at low rates of interest. In order, however, that the provi-
sions of the Local Government Act may be brought into operation
early enough to effectually alleviate the distress, your committee is
of opinion that the following changes in that act are necessary :-
"1st. All the provisions as to the time which is to elapse between
notices for the adoption of the act should be greatly shortened.—
2nd. The adoption of the act would be promoted if power were
given to limit its operation to a few years, and to objects connected
with employment for the relief of distress. If that were done, the
power of appeal against the adoption of the act might be cancelled."
The same report pointed out the fact that a large portion
of the cotton operatives, ninety-one thousand three hundred and
seventeen of whom were in receipt of relief, resided in townships
where there was only the ordinary parochial government; and
to which, therefore, the provisions of the Local Government
Act (1858) did not apply. One-third of the distressed opera-
tives were beyond the reach of the act; and the executive
concluded their report with the remark that, "without separate
arrangements, such as are contemplated for outlying townships,
and facilities to encourage landowners to meet the charges of
extensive works of private improvement, your committee is certain
that such works would rarely if ever be undertaken in those parts
of the cotton districts which are not comprised in municipal
boroughs, and which are not under any local government board."
All these, reports, in addition to those of the special commis-
sioner, were supplied to the poor-law board; and on 8th June, Mr.
Villiers asked leave, in the House of Commons, to introduce The
Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Bill. It was called “An
Act to facilitate the execution of public works in certain manufac-
turing districts; to authorise for that purpose advances of public
money to a limited amount, upon the security of local rates; and to
shorten the period of notice for the adoption of the Local Govern-
ment Act (1858) in certain cases.” The act authorised the appropria-
tion of £1,200,000 (afterwards increased to £1,500,000, and further
increased ultimately to £1,850,000) by the public works loan com-
missioners, for works of public utility and sanitary improvement
within the cotton districts. The total amount to be lent to any
local board, or other authority, was limited to one year's ratable
value of the property assessable within the district, for which such
PUBLIC LOANS VINDICATED.
313
loan was required. The use of the money was limited to such
works as were authorised under the Local Government Act (1858),
or under some local act applying to the district in question. The
interest chargeable was three and a half per cent per annum, and
the repayment was to be spread over any number of years, not
exceeding thirty, and to be secured by mortgage of the local rates.
The loans were to be subject to the approval of the poor-law
board; which approval was to be conditional upon the board being
satisfied that all the conditions of the act were complied with, on
the part of the local authorities desiring the loan. The money
was also to be advanced in such instalments as the poor-law board
should direct; and the payment of any instalment was to be with-
held on the poor-law board certifying that the works in respect of
which the loan was authorised, were not being proceeded with in
conformity with the plan proposed, or to the satisfaction of the
poor-law board.
The principle of public loans for local purposes has often been
objected to; and since every loan out of the consolidated fund
necessitates either an addition to the national debt, or an extra tax
upon the nation, there is no doubt room for fear lest a precedent
be established, which would be productive of future mischief. But
if the case be exceptional, and the purposes of the loan promotive
of permanent utility, whilst the security for repayment is ample, it
is difficult to see how any person, who is really anxious for the
public good, can complain. In this case the suffering was endured
by the operatives, in obedience to a national policy (for a breach of
the blockade of the South American ports would have brought in
cotton and provided employment); and the loss of wages alone was at
the rate of from ten to eleven millions sterling per annum; fixed
capital was unprofitable and yet heavily taxed; the shopkeepers
were being rapidly reduced to the condition of the operatives, whilst
the operatives themselves were fast falling into the condition of
normal paupers. The immense rise in the price of cotton had
rendered the expenditure for the small supply so large as to have
crippled the money market; so that if corporations and landowners
had been disposed to go into improvements without the aid of
government, they could not have borrowed capital to invest, except
at such rates of interest as would have entailed severe losses.
And, apart from employment or an efficient continuance of relief,
こ
​314
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
what could be expected of the operatives? Hitherto they had
borne their sufferings with exemplary patience; they knew and
appreciated the cause of the evil: the penny newspapers had
taught them that neither the executive government, nor the local
authorities, nor their own employers, were to blame in the matter;
the news of the Cyclopean struggle across the Atlantic was brought
daily to their doors, and they were enabled to discuss its merits,
and to take sides according to their sympathies. But they and their
families had hitherto been kept supplied with sufficient food and
clothing to maintain them in life and health; what would be the case
if another winter found them without such supplies? Stalybridge
had given warning in the spring that a reduction of relief, or a
change of system, was very unpalatable. What if the necessity of a
further reduction in the amount of relief, or any interference with
liberty of action, should be felt in the next winter, and the Staly-
bridge feeling should become general? It will be universally
allowed that government ought not to lose money by loans for
local purposes. The law makes provision for the necessitous poor,
out of the assessable property in each parish; and it is quite right
that any facilities afforded, either with a view to preserve the
morale of the people, or to temporarily relieve the necessities of
the ratepayers, should be fully secured by the property of the
district so assisted. But government allows only three per cent
for money, and the bill proposed to charge three and a half; which,
upon £1,500,000, would leave a margin of £7,500 per annum for
management, decreasing gradually as the repayments were made,
but amounting to about £112,000 in the whole; so that the neces-
sary government expenditure would be very well covered.
Mr. Villiers was not directly urged to the introduction of this
bill by the central executive committee. He had found that it
was really desirable, so far as possible, to preserve the independence
of the people; for he had probably learned from the statistics of his
own department, that every increase of pauperism, from whatever
cause, always leaves a sediment behind it which becomes perma-
nently chargeable; and that such a flood as now overwhelmed
Lancashire would, if left to be dealt with by the guardians alone,
strand many thousands of families who would never get afloat again.
He had, therefore, sent down Mr. R. Rawlinson, the eminent
engineer, to inquire and report upon the desirability of the
.
MR. RAWLINSON'S REPORT.
315
public works, which would be likely to be undertaken, if facilities
were afforded for the purpose; and that gentleman had reported
as follows:-
"1st. There is plenty of useful work to be done at the several
distressed towns and places.-2nd. The local governing bodies, so
far as I have consulted with them, will commence such works if
they can obtain legal power, and the necessary money at a low rate
of interest.-3rd. A large portion of the able-bodied distressed
operatives, can and will do this work, if paid fair but reasonable
wages.-4th. There is sufficient local knowledge to design and
superintend any works commenced.-5th. Any advance of money
by government should be as a loan, on security of the entire.
ratable property of each district, at a remunerative rate of interest,
and repayable at stated intervals.-6th. For each loan a petition,
with plans and estimates, to be forwarded to some government
office or officer, on the spot if preferred; and a report and recom-
mendation, or otherwise, to be sent in before such loan is granted.—
7th. Advances to be made not in a lump sum for the whole amount
of the loan contracted for, but upon certificates monthly, as the
work is done.-8th. The local authorities to be enabled to stop short
at any point in the progress of the works, should trade revive so as
to call the hands to regular work.—9th. The money borrowed
should not be appropriated for other works than those scheduled in
the report leading to the sanction. One or two inspectors, as at
the Local Government Act office, ought to do all the government
work required. The action of the local authorities must be unfet-
tered, or there will be mischief. There may be advice when asked
for, as under the Local Government Act. The several town clerks
may with advantage be consulted, as to the legal clauses in a short
bill, if one is to be prepared. There are mostly some legal pecu-
liarities in each place, which block local improvements. I feel
the delicacy, and in some respects danger, in exceptional legislation;
but do not know how it is to be avoided in this case."
Mr. Rawlinson's estimate of the amount which out of the whole
sum would be appropriated to the employment of unskilled labour
was £431,756; and the estimate of the weekly loss of wages was,
at this time, nearly £150,000; so that this sum would barely sub-
stitute three weeks' wages. In the view of the central executive,
the measure was in every way wise, but they doubted if it would
316
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
prove sufficient for much effectual help. Yet, small as was the
measure of relief promised, considerable difficulty was expected
in the House of Commons in the passage of the bill; and a depu-
tation of the central executive went to London, and called meetings
of the members of parliament who were connected with the cotton
districts. With these gentlemen they waited upon the president
of the poor-law board, who expressed himself as glad to receive
their co-operation; and listened patiently to their suggestions.
One of these suggestions led to a provision for places where the
only constituted authority consisted of the poor-law guardians,
and without which provision the act would have been inappli-
cable to about one-third of the districts meant to be included;
and another suggestion, which was unfortunately not embodied in
the bill, was to make it imperative to employ a given proportion of
unskilled labourers. In London, and even amongst members of
parliament who were not connected with Lancashire, it was sup-
posed that the chief difficulties of the cotton districts were over,
after Christmas, 1862. A great effort had been made, and a very
large fund raised, for the relief of the operatives, and people con-
soled themselves that their duty was done, and that there could be
no further need for exertion; and they had the evidence of Mr.
Baker (the factory inspector) to the effect that new mills were
building in every direction—a fact which, to the ordinary mind,
was only consistent with a time of prosperity. They forgot that
men who deal heavily in the money market, always try to make
their largest investments when the funds are low, in the confidence
that a time will come, when they will be able to realise, at a large
profit. This was precisely what Lancashire employers were doing;
they were investing capital in fixed stock, whilst material was lower
priced, and labour more abundant, than it would be on the first
blush of prosperity; and they were stocking with new machinery,
which, reckoning lowered prices, and improved quality, in conse-
quence of its more leisurely production, would be worth thirty or
forty per cent more than average; and they were doing this in the
confidence that a not distant future would supply them with abun-
dance of cotton, which would be met from the occupiers of empty
warehouses by an enormous demand for manufactured goods.
Mr. Villiers, on moving the second reading of the bill (17th
June), cited, as a precedent for his proceeding, the fact that Sir
་
DEBATE ON THE BILL.
317
Robert Peel, when he abolished the corn laws, appropriated a
sum of £2,000,000 in loans, for agricultural improvement. He
pointed out the important fact, that this was not a proposal to set
up government works, but simply a measure to enable local
authorities to employ their own population. He expressed his
satisfaction that, by means of the active sympathy of the whole
empire, the people of Lancashire had hitherto got through so well;
but stated that it was now desirable to inaugurate healthier
relations. Full inquiry had been made, and every care had been
taken, and Mr. Rawlinson had arrived at the conclusion that the
public works recommended, would be of great sanitary importance;
increasing the value of life, and ultimately lowering the local rates.
He believed that the works would find employment for the dis-
tressed operatives, without injuring existing labour; that the opera-
tives were well calculated for this kind of work, and eager to embark
in it. The simple object of the bill was to remove the legal and
financial difficulties which prevented this employment.
Mr. Ferrand complained that the bill did not go far enough,
that government under-rated the extent and probable duration of
the calamity. Before the end of the session they would have to
ask for £3,000,000, and at least £10,000,000 would be required to
keep the operatives through the winter. The only effectual remedy
for the distress was a large measure of emigration.
Mr. Newdegate was afraid the expectations of the promoters of
the bill would be disappointed. They had raised a superstructure
in Lancashire on an unsound basis, and there was no doubt that
the means of production were excessive in this country. He also
advocated emigration. What a pity the hon. gentleman does not
introduce a bill to limit the ingenuity of man, and to prevent
improvements in machinery, and the cheapening of goods!
Mr. Cobden pointed out the fact that Lancashire operatives
had been used to wages which produced a degree of affluence, and
that it would be impossible to reduce them to the agricultural
level, without danger to the peace of the country. He did not
deprecate emigration; he said, “Emigrate if you can better your-
self." The agricultural labourers benefited by removal to Austra-
lia or America, but the mill hand could not plough, or reap, or tend
cattle, and if he emigrated would be destitute. The general scope
of the bill was good, but there was no universal specific. The
+
318
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMİNE.
1
)
object was a wise one, and his right honourable friend (Mr. Villiers)
had done his duty; and he hoped that every parish in Lancashire
^would feel it a duty to carry out the provisions of the bill. The
savings of the people were gone, and the manufacturing districts
must now rely on their own resources; but it was, above all, neces-
sary to relieve small shopkeepers, who would otherwise sink under
the burden of the rates.
The discussion on the bill was renewed on its committal (26th
June), when Mr. Bentinck and Mr. Ferrand reiterated the emigra-
tion argument, the latter gentleman asking for the appropriation
of £1,500,000 for the purpose. He also charged the manufacturers
with opposing emigration for selfish purposes, and complained that
some of the richest men had not given a sixpence to the relief
fund.
Mr. Villiers replied that the government was really anxious to
relieve the operatives, and he believed that the bill would attain
that object. He deeply regretted Mr. Ferrand's unfounded state-
ments, which were calculated to create discontent amongst the
operatives, who had hitherto been most kindly treated, and were
grateful for it. All they wanted was work, and the bill would
provide it.
The bill had been so carefully drawn, and the securities against
loss were so ample, that all serious opposition gave way, and
before parliament rose, it became law. The only point worthy of
notice raised against the bill, was the proposal of a large measure
of emigration; which is a very valuable remedy for a chronic disease
in the body politic, but very unwise when applied as a relief to
temporary distress. If cotton operatives emigrated, they could
only go out as labourers, and the colonies could only absorb them
very gradually. Many of the emigrants selected and sent out by
the colonial agents have had to suffer long and keenly before
finding much comfort in their new homes; what, then, would have
been the case if any such number had been despatched without
careful selection, as to make a sensible diminution of pressure in
• Lancashire? The United States afforded the only opening for
large numbers, and the British legislature does not send emigrants
beyond the boundaries of the empire. The British people would
not be likely to assist, however indirectly, in recruiting the armies
of the United States. A great number of operatives deported
•
MR. FERRAND'S ERROR.
319
themselves, and, arriving empty handed in the United States, were
to a great extent absorbed into the terrible struggle which agitated
that country. And if cotton operatives were to emigrate as la-
bourers, why not save the cost of the voyage, and let them labour at
home, and so be ready for the return of prosperity in their own trade?
This was what the bill proposed to accomplish, and the good sense of
the House of Commons approved the plan; and the day is probably
not distant when Mr. Ferrand, the farmer's friend, will also be glad
that his suggestion was not adopted. Cotton at sixpence or eight-
pence per pound, will find Lancashire short of from fifty to a
hundred thousand hands, and the agricultural districts will again
be resorted to, for weavers and spinners to fill Lancashire factories;
and if Mr. Ferrand's proposal of £1,500,000 had been adopted, and
one hundred and fifty thousand people sent away, the farmers
would on the return of prosperity have had cause to complain, that
the factories had taken away their labourers, and that the harvest
would spoil for want of hands to gather it. Whilst we write (in
October, 1865), with cotton at two shillings per pound, weavers are
difficult to find and not easy to please: what would be the state of
the case with the raw material at nominal prices ?
At the meeting of the general committee, 15th June, 1863, Mr.
Farnall, in order to remove the idea that the principal difficulties
of the executive were over, said "he and others had gone through
a vast number of figures, to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the
number who would be employed in these districts, of skilled and
unskilled labourers, whose work would be provided by £1,500,000,
to be lent at three and a half per cent. The result arrived
at was, that the total number who could be employed, both as
skilled and unskilled labourers (including the bricklayers, carpen-
ters, masons, &c., that had been spoken of as having become
dependent on assistance) would be thirty thousand at the very
outside."
Mr. Farnall seemed to anticipate that the number of persons
named by him would be set to work during the autumn and winter
of 1863, but the difficulty of dealing with red tape, however loosely
tied, was now to be experienced; and it is earnestly to be hoped,
that should Lord Derby ever again be premier, the knowledge
gained by him at the relief committee will be made available in
the practical business of government. By the end of August,
320
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
£178,739 had been applied for on loan for approved works, but
in the December report, the central executive expressed their
regret at the small progress made, in bringing the act into opera-
tion; mainly attributable to the late period at which it was
passed, and to the various formalities required by it; and to the
omission of any simple forms of security, to be given by local
authorities. A representation made by the committee, as to
the unnecessary multiplication of deeds, and consequent increase
of expense, had met with prompt attention; but the charges for
small loans were spoken of as still disproportionately high. Up to
16th January, 1864, only two thousand two hundred and eighty-
one cotton operatives were employed upon public works, and in
addition to the government hinderances, Mr. Rawlinson explained
that there were difficulties in the selection of proper works for un-
skilled hands; that there was often an inadequate staff in the
distressed localities, for the preparation of plans and estimates; and
that in places where the Local Government Act had been adopted
for the purpose, the whole machinery of administration had to be
improvised. It was the intention of the central executive to
chronicle the progress of employment under the Public Works Act
monthly, in their report, but the result was so unsatisfactory
that, in the report dated 7th March, 1864, whilst acknowledging
the advantages of the act, and hoping that the numbers at work
under it would steadily increase, they add: "But having regard
to the obstacles to the realisation of all the benefits expected
from this act which have been encountered, your committee
is not so sanguine as to expect that, in the most distressed
districts, the public works will supersede the necessity of aid from
relief committees." This was a very qualified expression of disap-
pointment; and after this time the committee seem to have left the
act to its fate; for it is not again mentioned in the reports until
October, 1864, when, in a meeting of the general committee,
Dr. Watts asked the mayor of Manchester, how much money had
been received by the city for public works, and how many cotton
operatives were employed under the act; and elicited the astonish-
ing reply that £85,000 had been received, and that thirty-five
cotton operatives were then being employed. The town clerk
explained that the corporation had employed all the men who had
been sent by the guardians of Manchester; that he had understood
:
DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE,
321
the Chorlton guardians had not till that time any able-bodied
paupers; that the corporation did not go about looking for cotton
operatives on purpose to employ them; and that with those already
sent, difficulties had arisen with the contractors. Dr. Watts asked
if it was necessary, under an act passed expressly to maintain the
independence of the workmen, for them to become paupers before
they had a claim to employment; but he received no reply. Lord
Egerton remarked, that he had always understood that the great
object of the act was to provide employment for distressed opera-
tives; and Lord Derby said he was afraid that a very painful
impression would be produced when it was known that nearly one-
sixth of the whole sum had been granted to Manchester, and that
the proportion of unskilled operatives employed was so meagre.
In the quarterly meeting of the Manchester town council, October
26, Mr. Alderman Neill stated that the corporation had embraced
every opportunity to give work to unemployed operatives, and that
from the beginning of September, the numbers had increased from
fifty-three to ninety-three; that in default of more operatives,
skilled workmen had been engaged, and if the operatives who had
since become chargeable to the guardians were to be employed,
the skilled workmen would have to be discharged, which would
throw them upon the parish. The council would bear him out,
that before they had a farthing of this money, he stated that the
work they were projecting would swallow up seventy-five per cent
for materials alone. Even the small sum left would have to be
largely employed in that kind of work which could not be done by
unskilled operatives. If the corporation had been sometimes
unable to employ unskilled operatives, it had not been from any
fault of their own. As chairman of the cemetery committee, he
had pressed these men upon the contractor against his will.
There are two matters in this defence which are unsatisfactory:
First, that only the operatives sent by the guardians were recog-
nised; and second, that a contractor, whose only interest was
profit, and whose employment was never contemplated by the act,
is introduced to bear the blame. If the work must needs be let to
a contractor, surely the spirit of the act required that he should be
bound to employ the people for whose especial benefit it was
passed; instead of which skilled workmen were imported, and then
their existence pleaded as an excuse, for not employing cotton
Y
322
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
operatives. But there is also implied in this explanation, a very
serious charge against Messrs. Rawlinson and Farnall, in the asser-
tion that they were made quite aware, by the plans and specifica-
tions, of the very small amount which would be at liberty for the
employment of unskilled labour; and as this charge was repeated
at the meeting of the central executive (November 7), in the
presence of Mr. Farnall, and not denied by him, the only possible
explanation is, that he and Mr. Rawlinson in their over anxiety
to keep up the credit of the government, encouraged the corpora-
tion of Manchester to apply for so large a sum, in order to secure
the speedy appropriation of the amount set apart by parliament.
The first application for a loan was dated 11th August, and
up to the end of the year the total applications, exclusive of Man-
chester, covered only £676,711 out of the £1,500,000; and the
total sum advanced up to the same date was £143,585, which, at
£100 per man, would be equal to the employment of one thousand
four hundred and thirty-six, instead of the thirty thousand men
contemplated by Mr. Farnall.
The total number of factory operatives employed by the cor-
poration of Manchester up to 8th November was two hundred and
four, and the amount received on loan by them was £135,000; so
that whilst the average capital per hand in the cotton trade does
not exceed £65, it took about £1,100 to find employment for one
man on public works in Manchester; and half the wages of the
whole number, at fifteen shillings each per week, would be paid
by the difference in the interest at which the money was borrowed,
and the six per cent, which at the same date the bank would allow
for it.
Nor was Manchester the only place where there was reason for
dissatisfaction, on these grounds. Mr. Alderman Walmsley, of
Stockport, resigned his office, because a majority of the town
council approved of what, in his opinion, was a misappropriation
of the loan; and it was shrewdly suspected that at Blackburn
men were kept on public works at relief allowance, instead of at
wages. But if in any similar future calamity a public works act
should be proposed, and some government official should rise in
his place and point to the act of 1863 as having been jobbed, it
will be a sufficient reply to say, that if the servants of the govern-
ment had been determined to see the spirit of the act complied
MISAPPROPRIATION OF THE LOAN.
323
with in every case, the local authorities could not have misappro-
priated; and if the suggestion of the central executive to oblige
the employment of a certain per centage of unskilled labour had
been adopted by the government, a further security would have
been held against any misuse of funds.
There is no doubt that Mr. Rawlinson had sanctioned all the
plans; and if the loan had been three millions instead of one and
a half, it might have been worth while to grant a quarter of a
million to Manchester, for works requiring but a small amount of
unskilled labour; for there is no doubt about the utility of the
works undertaken, or about their sanitary value. It was also very
liberal of the government to leave local authorities quite unfettered
in their application of the money; but it would have secured the
objects of the bill much more effectually, to have required a certain
proportion of cotton operatives to be employed, so long as they
were available. If places like Manchester had declined the loan
on such terms, the money would have been left for localities
which have either applied and been disappointed, or which have
simply not applied because they understood the fund to be ex-
hausted; and where a large proportion of operatives would have
been employed. The bill, as it is, has effected, and will yet effect,
a very good purpose throughout the district, and future generations
will reap its advantages; but it has not done, and will not do,
what its promoters intended and anticipated. It has not found
employment for any considerable number of cotton operatives, and
is in that respect a disappointment. The money will not be
wasted, as was much of that which was lent to Irish proprietors
during the potato famine; it will be well spent, and no doubt punc-
tually repaid; but it has not kept the cotton operatives from boards
of guardians and relief committees, and has therefore not main-
tained the independence of any considerable proportion of them.
At a meeting of the Manchester board of guardians, 11th
November, 1864, the clerk stated that there were eighty-eight
able-bodied men dependent, who were fit for employment on the
public works. And Mr. Leppoc, who had seconded the appoint-
ment of a committee to confer with the corporation as to the
employment of this class, withdrew from the committee, on learn-
ing that out of £227,000 borrowed, only £12,000 would be avail-
able for the employment of factory operatives. The chairman
324
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ཏྭཱ ན
of the board stated that a deputation of the able-bodied men had
waited on him, expressing anxiety to be placed upon the public
works, and complaining of the injustice which had been done to
them by the employment of skilled labourers, out of a fund which
was specially intended for unskilled labour.
The feeling of the men who were employed in Manchester, at
Christmas, 1864, is displayed in the following address, presented
to Mr. Maclure, 26th December:-
"To John W. Maclure, Esq., honorary secretary of the central
executive relief committee.
(C
Respected Sir,-We, the operatives employed upon these
works, respectfully beg leave to convey, through you, our sincere
expressions of gratitude to the lords and gentlemen belonging to
the above-named committee-of which we are proud to say you
hold the office of a distinguished member-for the past and present
sympathy accorded, in generously providing us with suitable
clothing, so essentially necessary in enabling us to endure the win-
ter's inclemency and the privations of out-door employment; which
we can amply testify, had it not been for the welcome boon afforded
us, and the timely distribution of such clothing, some, perhaps, of
the least robust among us might have literally succumbed, through
cold and exhaustion, to the present severity of the season. But we
are proud to say that such is now likely to be happily avoided,
through the assistance and liberality of which we are now partaking.
Trusting that this acknowledgment of our gratitude may be taken
as an earnest appreciation of the kindness we have already expe-
rienced and are presently receiving, come from whatever source it
may—whether it be from the members of the Manchester corpora-
tion, the board of guardians, or the central executive committee, it
is not for us to make any distinction-we heartily and gratefully
return our best thanks collectively to all whom we have named,
believing that they are justly entitled to our gratitude and esteem
for the kind manner in which they have severally attended to our
wants and solicitations; and particularly in coming forward disin-
terestedly and supplying us daily with a warm and comfortable
dinner, which, we must admit, reflects the highest honour and
credit to those who are the generous donors. In conclusion, we
also return a share of our thanks to the gentleman who acts as our
THE HULME PARK MOVEMENT.
325
worthy host, who, we must confess, endeavours, to the best of his
ability, to discharge the duty entrusted to his care in an orderly
and efficient manner.-We, are, sir, respectfully yours,
(Signed on behalf of the committee of operatives),
"JOHN MALCOLM.
"MATTHEW MORRIS."
Mr. Farnall reported to the central executive, October 31, that
there were nearly four thousand recipients of relief from boards of
guardians, within the cotton districts, who were fit for employment
on public works; and the committee adopted a circular to the dif-
ferent relief committees, requesting that they would put themselves
into immediate communication with the local authorities having
charge of public works, in order to secure employment, at wages, for
as many factory operatives as possible. The executive also recom-
mended district committees, in order to encourage the operatives
in the work, to provide a suit of warm clothing each, for such as
were likely to be long engaged; and to lend waterproof boots to
those who were required to work in water.
With a view to the improvement of Manchester, and the pro-
vision of employment, an agitation was commenced for the estab-
lishment of a public park for the townships of Chorlton and Hulme;
and, in 1863, resolutions were carried in township meetings in
favour of the plan, including a provision for repayment, out of the
rates of the two townships. An opposition was organised upon the
plea that the borough, and not the townships, ought to pay for the
park; and when this proposal had been negatived, a quarrel arose
between the two townships on the question of the site to be chosen ;
and, after twelve months' intermittent discussion, the whole project
fell through, and the hopes of the unskilled labourers were again
disappointed.
On 22nd October, 1864, a meeting of workmen was held in
Manchester, in which very strong expressions of indignation were
used, that men should be obliged to undergo the degradation of
pauperism in order to be sent to the public works. They were all
desirous of work, but, as matters were managed, regular navvies
were principally employed on the public works, which were intended
for the factory operatives. Special attention was directed to the
fact that the corporation of Blackburn employed the cotton opera-
326
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
tives in laying drainage pipes, and supplied them with good clothes
and water-tight boots for the work, whilst their earnings were not
less than three shillings per day. Why, it was asked, could not the
same thing be done in Manchester? A man, who towards the
close of the meeting said, if food was not given them, they would
take it, was severely reproved by the chairman, who said that the
only object of the meeting was to draw up a respectful statement
of their grievances, in order to get them remedied.
The engineer of the Blackburn and Stockport public works,
stated in the Manchester Guardian, November 15, 1863, that
up to that date there had been paid about £11,000 for unskilled
labour in Blackburn, and that the portion of the work done by
unskilled day-labourers had cost five per cent less than the contract
work. At Stockport, £5,319 out of £6,047 wages paid, was for
unskilled labour; and to prove that cotton operatives could do
excavations for sewers and drains, ballasting for new roads and
streets, improvements of water courses, the formation of parks and
cemeteries, and the drainage of land, he gave the following list of
two hundred and eighty-three workmen who were thus employed
at Stockport -
OCCUPATIONS OF WORKMEN Employed under PUBLIC WOrês Act, at Stockport,
FOR WEEK Ending SeptemBER 28, 1864.
Overlookers
Weavers
Self acting minders and spinners
Sizers, warpers, beamers, twisters
Strippers, grinders, feeders, mixers .
Candlewick slubbers, &c.
Calico bleachers, printers, dyers
Mill jobbers, cop carriers, &c.
Thread workers
Heald dressers
Engineers, mechanics, stokers, bobbin turners,
shuttle, and spindle makers
Carters and labourers
Warehousemen
Umbrella maker
Total
50
66
12
2002
12
46
12
14
36
21
17
12
2
1
283
In Bolton, at the same date, there had been paid about £7,000
in wages to factory operatives, out of a total expenditure of £10,575;
and in Glossop, £9,874 had been paid in wages to factory opera-
tives, out of a total expenditure of £12,507.
MR. RAWLINSON'S ERRONEOUS ESTIMATE.
327
At the end of October, 1864, the total number of men employed
upon the public works throughout the district was six thousand
four hundred and twenty-four, of whom four thousand and two
were returned as factory operatives; and the amount of money
advanced on loan was, at the same date, £742,260, or about
£115. 10s. per man, which is about the average capital per
man employed in coal mines. The weekly expenditure at this
time was, according to Mr. Rawlinson, about £10,000. The num-
bers employed under the act had not reached one quarter of the
estimate given by Mr. Farnall, in June, 1863; but Mr. Rawlin-
son, by adding two thousand persons as indirectly employed in
getting stone and other materials, and reckoning each person as
the head of a family, drew the extravagant conclusion that from
thirty thousand to forty thousand persons were deriving subsistence
from these works. The central executive found, practically, that
each operative would on an average represent from two and one-
third to two and a half persons, but Mr. Rawlinson made each one
represent four and a half persons. He also expressed the opinion
that, if a more rapid employment of factory workmen had been
made compulsory on local authorities, a very large portion of the
works would not have been undertaken. Such compulsory inter-
ference would, he thought, have been deemed an insufferable in-
fringement of the rights of private property, and of public conve-
nience. Upon this matter the reader will form his own opinion,
and many persons will certainly conclude that, if the works upon
which the smallest proportion of factory operatives were employed,
had not been undertaken under the act, the public convenience
would not have suffered much; for the rich community of Man-
chester would doubtless have found means for all needful works,
and many poorer districts would then have shared the advantages
of the loan at a low rate of interest.
And that the blame for the slight progress under the Public
Works Act was not wholly due to the local authorities, will be
evident from a comparison of the dates of some of the applications
for loans with the dates of the approval orders. Let it be remem-
bered that the districts had already been inspected before the bill
was passed. Mr. Rawlinson had seen many of the local authorities,
and discussed their various schemes before the act was even drawn.
Yet, as will be seen, the official mind required a considerable time
328
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
for reflection, before sanctioning plans to preserve the independence
of the operatives, which was the special object proposed by Mr.
Villiers to be accomplished by the bill.
DATES OF APPLICATIONS FOR Loans, and of APPROVAL ORDERS, UNDER PUBLIC
1863-Bury
Chorley
Glossop
WORKS ACT.
Applied.
October 27
September 8
-Date of Order.
March 11, 1864.
December 5, 1863.
December 30
February 12, 1864.
Great Harwood
August 16
December 29, 1863.
Hyde
October 6
December 31, 1863.
Macclesfield
August 24
October 12, 1863.
Oldham
Rochdale
1864-Newton
Newton
Pendleton.
Ramsbottom
November 23.
January 13, 1864.
December 5
January 28
February 29, 1864.
March 5, 1864.
•
January 28
May 7, 1864.
June 7
June 10
Royton
Royton
Salford
Skerton
February 3
June 28
Tyldesley.
Handforth
January 25
October 13
May 25
April 14.
•
August 16, 1864.
August 26, 1864.
April 30, 1864.
August, 31, 1864.
March 3, 1864.
December 31, 1864.
September 19, 1864.
August 24, 1864.
The above are extracted from an official document, issued under
the authority of the poor-law board.
At a meeting of the central executive, February 13, 1865,
"Mr. Rawlinson said he had facts to state which might be of interest
to the committee. The total amount devoted to the purposes of
the Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Acts was, as the gen-
tlemen would be aware, £1,850,000. The whole of that, with the
exception of £3,918, had been appropriated in about ninety places.
The £1,846,082 had been taken up in one hundred and fifty-five
separate loans. The larger portion of the expenditure was on
sewerage and street improvement works, including the formation,
paving and flagging, channelling, and kerb stones of streets, and also
the widening, re-forming, and improvement of highways in the
rural districts. The length of sewerage works thus undertaken,
exclusive of house drainage, would be five hundred and thirty-four
thousand four hundred and forty-five yards, or about three hun-
dred and four miles. The area of paving and other works of street
and highway improvement, undertaken in respect of the above-
OFFICIAL REFLECTION AND DELAY.
329
mentioned sum, was three millions seven hundred and eight thou-
sand three hundred and ninety-three square yards, or about seven
hundred and sixty-six acres. The total length of the streets and
highways was four hundred and eighty-five thousand five hundred
and sixty yards, or nearly two hundred and seventy-six miles. The
cubical contents of the reservoirs, forming the storage of the water-
works undertaken in respect of the sum of £414,629, were about
one thousand four hundred and eighty million six hundred and
seventy-five thousand gallons; equal to about three-days' flow of
the river Thames at Richmond in dry weather. Reports received
from local surveyors, showed that the cotton operatives had worked
most admirably at these public works; that the improvements were
highly appreciated in the several localities; and that they were
still progressing satisfactorily. In the week ending December 31,
the number of unskilled factory operatives employed was three
thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight, and of skilled labourers
two thousand seven hundred and forty-one; but he begged leave
to remark that many of those here described as 'skilled' were
originally factory operatives, who had passed from the unskilled to
the skilled list. The total number directly employed was six
thousand seven hundred and nineteen; but this was exclusive of
at least two thousand men employed in getting stone in the quar-
ries, and on other works contingent upon the Public Works Act.
The increase in the price of material over the district, through the
great demand, had certainly been from fifteen to twenty-five per
cent, but the increased value to property, in consequence of sewer-
age, paving, &c., had been more than equivalent. In addition to
the £1,850,000 granted by the government under the acts, he had
reason to know that, in many of the towns, private improvements
had been carried on to complete the public works, which would
represent a very large amount over the district. One important
result would be that the cottages of working men throughout
Lancashire would be very materially improved, in regard to the
comfort and health of the occupants.
"Major Leigh inquired if Mr. Rawlinson thought many of the
men engaged on these public works would ever go back to their
former occupations in the factories.
"Mr. Rawlinson: Never. Taking Wigan as an instance, it was
seen that men, formerly cotton operatives, after having twelve
330
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
months' experience on out-door works, had gone away to other
similar works elsewhere, tempted by higher wages or other consi-
derations. The same thing had been going on in other places."
There cannot be a doubt that the facts set forth in this report
are most valuable, and that Lancashire will reap much permanent
benefit from the investment made; but it is very remarkable that,
at the distance of two and a half years from the passage of the bill,
and after the appropriation of the whole of the money, employment
should only have been found for one-fifth of the predicted number,
including both skilled and unskilled operatives.
The following is Mr. Rawlinson's report to the central executive
at its last meeting, 20th June, 1865-
"Office of Public Works, St. Peter's Square,
"Manchester, 19th June, 1865.
"Public works have been in operation in the distressed cotton
districts for nearly two years, and about £1,000,000 has been
expended upon useful employment, at an average rate of some
£10,000 weekly, since the commencement of the works to the
present time. During the deepest portion of the distress, some
thirty-five thousand people, directly and indirectly, have received
relief from the money so expended. A considerable amount of
money has also been expended in connection with public works,
but derived from private sources; so that relief is not entirely
measured in the amount of money advanced by government.
Upwards of two hundred miles of streets have been sewered,
formed, paved, channelled, and the footwalks flagged. The average
wages earned by cotton operatives, have ranged from fourteen
shillings to sixteen shillings per week. There have been many
forms of labour, other than sewering and street-forming, such as
land-draining, which some noblemen and gentlemen have under-
taken. Highways and roads have been improved by boards of
guardians; owners of estates adjoining having, as a rule, given the
land required. The resident inspector (Mr. R. A. Arnold) has
made three hundred visits to the local authorities, and inspections
of the works. Three hundred and fifteen special reports have been
made, and Mr. Villiers, the president of the poor-law board, has
issued two hundred and seventy-five orders for loans and instal-
ments. The greatest number of distressed operatives employed
APPLICATIONS REFUSED.
331
directly at any one time was four thousand and two, besides
upwards of two thousand employed indirectly in getting stone and
other materials. But this is not the full test of the usefulness of
these works, as many, after learning to use their implements, have
found employment in other places. Cotton operatives are now
being rapidly withdrawn to the mills. Contracts have, however,
been entered into in some districts for the completion of sewering,
paving, waterworks, and the other various forms of work under-
taken.
"ROBERT RAWLINSON."
The following are some of the applications which were refused
by the poor-law board, together with the grounds of refusal :—
t..

Name of Local
Authorities Applying.
Amount
Asked for.
For what
Purpose.
Ground of Refusal.
Accrington Local
Board of Health
Newton Heath Lo-
cal Board
•
Nelson Local
Board.
Ashton-und.-Lyne
Town Council .
£8,000
For providing
a cemetery.
Requested forms to make
Application.
From £6,000
That the local board was consti-
tuted under 20 and 21 Vict., c.
81, and not under Local Go-
vernment Act, 1858, and there-
fore not within the meaning of
the Public Works Act.
That the amount at disposal
would be exhausted by pre-
vious applications.
tó £8,000 Water supply The like.
£18,000
Cemetery. The like.
Various other applications were refused, for the very proper
reason that the works proposed "would not afford a reasonable
amount of employment for unskilled labour;" and if the poor-law
board had taken up this position at an earlier date, Ashton, where
about four thousand persons had to be relieved in the week ending
27th May, 1865, and where the pressure of distress was then seven
per cent of the population, might have had its cemetery; Nelson-
in-Marsden its water supply; the Newton Heath application might
have been considered; and a way might have been found out of
the difficulty which barred the road to improvement at Accrington.
332
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
But, with all its defects of construction and of administration,
Lancashire ought to be grateful for the Public Works Act; and
may safely thank Mr. Villiers for his willing and compliant aid,
and Mr. Rawlinson for his sound advice, and valuable and willing
help;
and if this act should, as it deserves, become a precedent, to
be more promptly resorted to in the future, the whole country will
have reason to bless its promoters, for a most important and valu-
able provision against any future severe local distress.
#
;
CHAPTER XVII.
Condition of Friendly Societies-Ingenious Suggestions to Avoid Illegality — Value of
Registrar's Reports-State of the Oddfellows (Manchester Unity)-The Amal-
gamated Engineers, &c. -The Warehousemen and Clerks' Society-Condition of
the Savings Banks-Deposits and Withdrawals, 1861 to 1864-Classes who Invest
in Savings Banks-Effects of the Crisis on Co-operative Stores-Condition of
Fourteen Sample Stores-Withdrawals of Capital-Joint-Stock Spinning and
Manufacturing Companies-Share List, 1861 and 1864-Fabulous profits of
1860-1-Dear Experience-Instances of Failures - Influence of the Crisis on
Railway Traffic and Dividends.
TOWARDS the end of 1861 the registrar of friendly societies received
various letters from Heywood, Oldham, Preston, Hyde, Ashton,
and Manchester, of which the following is a fair specimen :-
(C
Ashton-under-Lyne.
"Dear Sir,-As a member of a friendly society enrolled under
act of parliament, I venture to address you on the unparalleled
amount of distress at present existing amongst our members,
through the failure in the supply of the raw material-cotton. At
a meeting held last night, various propositions were laid before the
society for consideration, but the officers find themselves in such a
position that they refuse to act, for fear of rendering themselves
amenable to the law. We have for the last six months relieved a
many cases from the management fund, until the fund has become
so low as to cause no little uneasiness to the officers. We are at
present about eighty-four in number, and we have about £60 in
the management fund, and £800 in the sick and funeral fund. I
was instructed by the members present last night to ask your
advice about the following propositions:-
"1st. Can we take money from the sick and funeral fund and
place it in the management fund?—2nd. Can a society relieve
distressed cases from the sick and funeral fund?—3rd. Can a
society divide equally a portion of the sick and funeral fund to
334
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
relieve its distressed members, by consent of five-sixths of the
members ?-4th. Can a society, by consent of its members at a
summoned meeting, agree to suspend its monthly subscriptions for
a certain time ?
"I, along with the officers, am convinced that all the proposi-
tions are illegal; but we find great difficulty in convincing our
starving members. Your earliest attention will much oblige,
yours most respectfully," &c.
The reader will see that a great amount of ingenuity was exer-
cised to try to find a legal mode by which money subscribed for
one definite purpose might be appropriated to another; but the
men, although starving and dealing only with their own property,
were not disposed to infringe the law. The registrar wrote them
as follows:-
"I am sorry to find that such distressing effects are caused by
the American war, as those which your questions indicate. Each
question is answered in the negative; but, as the emergency may
continue for a very long period, the enclosed rule may be passed,
and would probably give some relief to the members.
In any
case, the relief allowed by the rules should be paid to the members
so long as any funds remain.
"SUGGESTED RULE.
"That if the members be rendered incapable of paying their
contributions, through any emergency of trade, or any other cause
over which the members have no control, the president shall have
power to call a summoned meeting, to take into consideration such
emergency or other causes; such meeting to have power to suspend
payment of contributions for any period not exceeding twelve
months, if the majority of the members deem it necessary.
Should the cause of the distress continue longer than twelve months,
another meeting shall be held to consider the necessity of com-
mencing another period not exceeding twelve months under this
rule."
The registrar tells us that this rule has been generally adopted,
so that the friendly societies would generally suspend subscriptions,
and simply pay out sickness and funeral money during the crisis;
and unless some plan be adopted for greatly increasing the sub-
scriptions of the members on the revival of trade, in order to
VALUE OF REGISTRAR'S REPORTS.
335
replace the funds so paid out, a general bankruptcy of these societies
will ensue; and the registrar does not appear to suggest any such
measure of repayment.
The reports of the registrar of friendly societies contain very
valuable information, not only to the statistician, but even more
so to the members of the societies themselves; and their utility
would be greatly enhanced if they were regularly supplied to every
enrolled society, and kept to be consulted by the officers and mem-
bers thereof. At present the information leaks out to the general
public, through the newspapers, and that only once a year; when
a sort of general notice appears, containing the prominent features
of the report, but seldom if ever in such form as to be of use to the
persons most interested.
The officers of friendly societies, whose funds had become
exhausted, sought occasionally to constitute themselves into relief
committees, in alliance with the central executive. But, it being
evident that to multiply sources of relief in the same district, would
give facilities for fraud, it was necessary to deal with such cases
systematically; and on 8th December, 1862, two applications to the
central executive were read from trades societies (providing for
relief of members during sickness, as well as by superannuation
and burial funds), whose funds were approaching exhaustion. It
was resolved to inform the memorialists that, "as the central
executive committee are precluded from making grants except to
efficiently organised relief committees, they desire to suggest that
persons belonging to legally constituted benefit societies whose funds
threaten to become exhausted, by the burthens thrown on them
during the cotton famine, have enhanced their claim for relief by
all persons of frugality and providence; and that, when the allow-
ance derived from such societies becomes inefficient, it should be
raised to the settled scale of relief."
The publication of this resolution doubtless satisfied the officials
throughout the district of the course to be pursued, and no further
applications appear to have been made. There are more than one
thousand two hundred friendly societies in Lancashire, and in 1861
they owned more than £500,000.
A fair idea of the position of the friendly societies may be
formed from the following facts, supplied by the Manchester Unity
of Oddfellows. Their number of members in Lancashire exceeds
336
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
forty-eight thousand, and a subscription throughout the order,
in 1862, raised more than £5,000 for distribution in the dis-
tressed districts. The travelling cards issued to members seek-
ing employment in 1860 were four hundred and six; in 1861
they were seven hundred and fifty-five; in 1862 they rose to one
thousand three hundred and seventy-eight; and in 1864 they
were nine hundred and sixty-three, and of this number four
hundred and ninety-seven were issued in Lancashire and Cheshire.
In the quarterly report for October, 1864, a second appeal to the
order was inserted, signed by officials at Oldham, Ashton, Hyde,
Rochdale, Heywood, and Stalybridge. It ran as follows:-
We feel a deep and lasting obligation, and tender our most
sincere and unaffected gratitude for the munificent kindness
displayed throughout the order on your recent appeal to the bene-
volence of the members of the unity, and confess that the amount
collected exceeded our most sanguine anticipations; and we were
then of opinion that the sum realised might tide us over the crisis.
Alas! we are but short-sighted mortals, for we seem little nearer
now than we were this time last year; and the appeals made to
us night after night in our lodges, the narrowing of our means, the
pitiable and humiliating position to which many good members
are now reduced-thousands of whom are still in receipt of relief,
and hundreds who are but a small remove therefrom-these com-
bined circumstances have tempted us (though very reluctantly) to
again memorialise you to allow another petition to go round the
unity. At the same time we wish you to understand that nothing
short of the sternest necessity would ever have prompted or induced
us to hazard a second appeal to a body of members who have so
nobly and generously responded to your former call, and for which
we lack words to express our thankfulness."
Notwithstanding the report of Mr. Baker (the factory inspector),
regarding the erection of new mills during the crisis, there seems
to have been severe pressure amongst the operative machine makers.
As in the cotton trade, their greatest prosperity was reached in 1860,
and they appear to have been the first to suffer. It is evident that
the earliest news of the American war stopped the orders for ma-
chinery, although work in cotton manufacturing went on at almost
the ordinary rate for a year longer. The following table will show
the total amount paid by the society of Amalgamated Engineers,
&c., to members out of work, from 1860 to 1864 inclusive :—
!
Number of Members.
1860
20,935
1861
22,862
THE SOCIETY OF AMALGAMATED ENGINEERS, ETC.
7,841
337
Amount per Member.
£ 8. d.
0752
0 17 11
Amount paid in Donation.
£
1862
24,234
1863
26,056
1864
28,815
20,474
39,116
1 12 31
32,653
1 5 11
16,425
0 11 42
And the cause of the pressure will be evident enough, if we confine
our attention to the branches of the society in the cotton districts.
The following table will then exhibit the result:-
AMOUNT OF DONATION TO MEMBERS IN THE COTTON DISTRICTS, 1861-4.
Amount of Donation.
1861
1862
1863
1864
No. of Members.
Amount
£ 8. d.
per Member.
£ 8. d.
7,011
9,356 8 9
1 6 8
6,969
19,919 5 2
2 17 2
6,844
16,019 2 11
2 6 10
7,237
8,441 11 81
1
3 31
Thus, whilst the society showed continual progress, the Lancashire
branches fell off in members, and the proportion out of work was
nearly double the general average; it is clear also, that the orders
for new machinery commenced towards the end of 1863, when spin-
ners and manufacturers had recovered from the first shock of panic,
and began to look again with confidence to the future.
The Warehousemen and Clerks' Society of Manchester seeks to
do for a higher class what the trades societies do for the operatives;
and a view of its experience will show the effect of the crisis upon
the warehouses in Manchester, where most of the members are
engaged. The following table will show at a glance the number
of members and the cost of relief for five years :—
Claims Paid.
£ 8. d.
Number of
Members.
Lost
Average of
Situations. Weeks Unemployed.
1860
1,600
130
1861
1,746
185
2111/
39
968 7 6
1,510 2 6
1862.
1,561
158
3772
1,354 18 0
1863
1,436
99
269/10
913 7 6
1864
1,400
96
701 0 0
Here also there was considerable migration, or else many
striving and tolerably educated young men have been reduced
permanently to the ranks. Many of the officials employed by the
relief committees were of this class, but room could not be found
Z.
338
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
for all; and men of slender build, in seedy black clothes and with
famine-pinched faces, were obliged to mingle with the crowd, and
to ask for help from relief committees; or even to bear the hated
name of pauper, for the sake of wives and little ones.
Persons who are familiar with savings banks' reports do not need
to be told that only a small portion of the deposits in those institu-
tions belongs to the operatives, properly so called; the bulk repre-
sents in a much larger degree the savings of domestic servants, of the
children of small tradesmen, and of the lower stratum of the middle
class generally. The greatest use made of the banks by the operative
class, is to deposit the funds of their sick and burial societies; and
these are liable to depletion only from extra mortality, extra sick-
ness arising from epidemic diseases, or from radical defects in the
societies themselves; as when they charge insufficient rates for their
risks, leading thereby to exhaustion of funds as the members grow
old, and when they are consequently in greater need of help.
In referring therefore to the effects of the cotton famine upon
the savings banks, we get a measure of the pressure of the crisis
upon the small shopkeepers and the lower middle class generally ;
for if domestic servants withdraw their funds in an extraordinary
degree, it is because they are out of place, and need them to live
upon; and if an extraordinary proportion of servants are out of
place at any time, it can only result from a forced measure of
economy upon their employers. If the deposits of minors be
withdrawn from the bank, it will be because their parents and
guardians feel an urgent need to use the hoards which their fond
affection had made, with the intention of accumulation, till the
children should be ready to begin the world for themselves.
Society is like the human body, its different members and classes
are knit closely together; and as the toe or the finger cannot be
hurt without all the members of the body suffering with it, so one
class of society cannot be injured without the injury spreading to,
and through all classes. Trade in some one branch and in some
one locality fails, and the operatives are out of employ; at the end
of the next week, the returns of the shopkeepers in that locality
make known the fact, for their goods remain unsold, and conse-
quently, their orders through the wholesale dealers to the farmers
and the manufacturers are decreased; the profits and savings of all
these classes being thus decreased, the demand for the work of the
CONDITION OF SAVINGS BANKS.
339
architect, the builder, the decorator is also decreased; and last of
all, if the failure of trade be of long continuance, the landowner
fails to get his rents, and he feels the pressure also.
We have spoken of 1861 as an average year, and in order to
avoid all charges of exaggeration, have taken it as a standard by
which to judge of the losses of the three succeeding years; but the
savings banks' returns make it evident that prudent people had
begun to feel the pinch of poverty, and to draw upon their stores
before the financial end of the savings bank year, in November,
1861, for the withdrawals in the cotton districts then exceeded the
deposits of the year by £63,506. The returns of the four years
1861-4 are as follow:-
DEPOSITS IN AND WITHDRAWALS FROM SAVINGS BANKS IN THE COTTON DISTRICTS,
1861-4.
1861
1862
1863
1864
Deposits.
Withdrawals.
£730,383
£793,889
593,937
877,605
577,355
678,642
655,574
761,263
Total £2,557,249
Total £3,111,399
Thus the excess of withdrawals in these four years amounted to
£554,150.
Throughout Great Britain the sums due to depositors had
increased from 1854 to 1860 at the rate of 36 per cent per annum;
and in Lancashire, where many other opportunities for investments
had been presented, the increase in savings banks' deposits had
averaged 27 per cent per annum during the same period. As-
suming this rate of increase for the cotton districts from 1860
to 1864, there ought to have been added £361,451, so that the
real pressure of the crisis upon the savings banks is measured by
the excess of withdrawals and the decrease of deposits thus :-
Excess of withdrawals over deposits
Decrease of deposits compared with 1854-60
£554,150
361,451
£915,601.
And the only modification of this result is to be found in the
balance remaining to the credit of depositors in the post office
savings banks, which in March, 1864, amounted to £78,314; so
that, allowing the transactions of the succeeding eight months to
have raised these deposits to £100,000, the savings banks would
then have suffered in four years to the extent of £800,000.
340
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
E
In a few cases the reports show that, in the opinion of the
actuaries, withdrawals have taken place in order to secure more
profitable investments, but the bulk of this great reserve of
small savings has doubtless been consumed; and the result is
that the banks are suddenly thrust back to the position of seven
or eight years ago. Knowing, as we do, that the practice of saving
when once established becomes a firmly settled habit, we also
know that the pressure, which not only prevented accumulation,
but actually drew more than £500,000 out of the hoard of years,
must have been very severe; and indicates a difficulty in providing
the necessaries and ordinary comforts of life, in a class above the
genuine operative. And that this was the case, the evidence of shop-
keepers in the various cotton manufacturing towns furnishes ample
proof, for instances were very numerous where, for months together,
the receipts were barely sufficient to pay rent and taxes; and the
frequent changes of occupants in small shops were distressing to
behold. Family after family invested their small savings in stocks
of provisions or drapery goods, smallwares or toys, hoping in each
case thereby to utilise the services of the wife without taking her
from home; and found their stores rapidly vanishing in bad debts,
or consumed in rent and taxes, without prospect of return.
•
In testing the effects of the cotton famine upon co-operative
stores, the following fourteen stores are presented as fair specimens
of the whole-Manchester Equitable; Manchester Industrial;
Bury; Mossley; Ramsbottom; Blackburn; Bolton; Oldham, King
Street; Oldham, Greenacres Hill; Heywood; Rochdale, Toad Lane;
Stockport; Bacup; Todmorden. The united sales of these stores
amounted, in the quarter ending June, 1861, to £157,948; and,
with the exception of the December quarter of the same year, they
decreased quarter by quarter, until in March, 1863, they were
£113,392; and then they rose again gradually, till in December,
1863, they reached £133,381. The average falling off per quarter
for the two and a half years ending December, 1863, was £29,811,
and the total for the period £298,116. The total number of stores
in the cotton districts, at the same date, was one hundred and
eighteen; so that, if the fourteen large stores above named represent
one-third of the transactions of the whole, then the decreased sales
would be nearly £90,000 per quarter, or £900,000 for the two and a
half years. The total receipts for goods at the fourteen stores from
CO-OPERATIVE STORES. ·
341
March 24, 1861, to December 24, 1863, were £1,281,364, and
the dividends on this amount, at seven and a half per cent average,
would be £96,102; and the withdrawals of capital in excess of divi-
dends during the same period amounted to £83,007. If, therefore,
our assumption that these stores represent one-third of those in
the cotton districts be approximately correct, the stores may be
looked upon as having contributed up to the end of 1863, in the
shape of dividends, some £288,000, which their customers would
not otherwise have possessed to help them through the crisis ;
whilst they also released about £249,000 of capital, which they
had induced their members to save during better times, and which
now proved the immense value of prudential investments, however
small. Numerous small stores became insolvent, and wound up
during the crisis, their capital being nearly all withdrawn for
present consumption; so that they were left without the means to
make good markets, and with uncertain customers; the bulk of
their members being obliged to go where they could set up scores,
which would wait till better times for liquidation. The Rochdale
store alone paid out, from March, 1861, to December, 1863, £14,763
in excess of dividends, whilst their sales were £8,000 less in the
quarter ending December, 1863, than in March, 1861. In Wigan,
every penny of capital ever paid in, had been withdrawn; and at
Preston, where early in the crisis a free reading room was opened
at the store, no reply was given to inquiries in 1865, a fact which
indicates that all was not right there. At Stockport the sales fell off
fifty per cent, and the excess of withdrawals over deposits was £3,178.
If these stores weather the storm and flourish again, as we firmly
believe that most of them will do, they will prove the possession
of more power of endurance and more business qualities by a large
section of the working classes, than most people give them credit for.
Before us lies a list of forty-four spinning and manufacturing
joint-stock companies, in which the shares were very largely held by
working men. All, or nearly all, have originated since 1859, and
some of them are reported to have made fabulous profits in 1860-1.
The most favoured and famous is "The Bacup and Wardle," whose
shares, with £12. 10s. paid, sold freely in 1861 for £26. Rumour gave
them credit for dividing from thirty to fifty per cent per annum
upon their paid-up capital; and it is just possible, that by keeping
their paid-up capital low, and depending upon the bank, or upon
342
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
loans at five per cent per annum, for funds, they might, whilst
discounts were cheap, pay largely to their shareholders. It is no
secret that the average profits of the cotton trade are about twelve
and a half per cent per annum on capital; so that if a company can
manage to pay the banker and the mortgagee five per cent upon
three-fourths of their working capital, and can make in a good year
sixteen and a quarter per cent upon the whole, they may possibly, if
they dont care for providing a reserve or contingency fund, pay their
shareholders fifty per cent. But the bad years will come, when
with no profits, they must still pay the five or more per cent on
borrowed money, and pay also all establishment charges, even if
the chimneys be smokeless and the machinery dumb. And that is
the time of trial for the company, as for the individual proprietor
who has not a good reserve of capital. If a company has its shares
paid-up, it has one advantage over the individual employer; it is not
forced to pay dividends if it makes no profits, and the working capital
is to that extent saved; whereas the individual employer if he makes
no profit, must eat up his capital; if he has no harvest, he must
live upon his seed corn, and so lessen his own power of increase
for the future. But many, not to say most, of the joint-stock com-
panies, have gone upon the borrowing principle, and have during
the cotton famine, realised the old adage, “who goes a borrowing
goes a sorrowing." Some of them will doubtless weather the storm
of the last four years, and will yet do well; but some of the forty-four
in our list are probably paper companies, and some of them are
now winding-up in chancery; whilst many others have lost so
much by working or by standing still, that the bulk of their capital
is gone, and it will take years of prosperity to make them solvent.
Appended is a list of some of these companies, with the advertised
prices of their shares in 1861 and 1864.
PRICES OF SHARES IN JOINT-STOCK SPINNING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANIES.
Amount Paid.
Bury and Heap.
£ 8. d.
10 0 0
Price, May, 1861.
£ S. d
Price, June, 1864.
£ 8.
d.
£
s. d.
£ s. d.
13
0
0 to 13 10
0
8 7 0 to 8 15 0
Birtle Spinning .
. 10 0
0
11 5
0 to 11 8
0
6 15 0
Birtle, New.
10 0 0
10 5
0 to 10 7
0
6 0 0
Castletown.
10 0 0
10 0 0 to 11
0
0
9 5 0
Heywood Commer-
5 0 0
5 5 0
cial
•
·
Bacup Cotton Spin-} 10 0 0
10 0 0 12 0 0
2 5 0 to 2 11 0
8 2 6
}
} 8 0 0
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.
343
Amount Paid.
Price, May, 1861.
Price, June, 1864.
Rossendale Indus-}
£
d
£
8. d
£ 8.
d.
£
& d. £
S. d.
10 0 0
14
0
0 to 14 10 0
9 12
6
Bacup and Wardle. 12 10
Newchurch Spinning 10 0
0
26 0 0
15 10
0 to 14
0 0
0
12 10 0
10 0
0 to 10
7
6
Heywood Spinning. 6 0
0
6 15 0
{
paid in 1864,}
Shawforth Spinning 10 0 0
Whitworth Manu-
5 0 0
facturing.
•
Smallbridge Manu-
au-
5
0 0
facturing.
Alma Manufacturing 25
0 0
Cragg Vale.
5
0 0
Hebden Bridge
10 0 0
5 0 0
| | | |
Crawshawbooth.
Stoneholm
5 0 0
7 10 0
1 19 0 to 2 0 0
1 15 0
12 19 0
1 15 0
500
2 10 0
1 15 0
Great indeed must have been the troubles, and keen the heart-
aches of the men who, by the accumulation of a shilling or two
per week, saved out of family comforts, had bought these shares ;
and who, being thrown out of employment, and forced to realise,
found their little stores half vanished without touching; the funds,
which were to make them their own employers, and thoroughly
independent of all "tyranny," gone like a cloud, and all their
cherished hopes of an immediate future of prosperity thoroughly
blasted. Nor does this list exhibit the companies at their worst; for
at Christmas, 1863, many of the shares were absolutely unsaleable
at any price. They had always believed that when the master
talked of losing money, the real meaning was, that he had made
so much less than he calculated upon, and so reckoned that he
had lost the difference; but here was demonstration that losing
meant, not getting a little addition of wealth, but the absolute
vanishing of that which already existed. Thomas Carlyle says
experience is a good schoolmaster, takes high wages, but teaches
like none other; and here was experience out of which working
men will doubtless profit, for it was dear indeed.
In one instance which came under our cognisance, a company
was formed, and an agreement made to purchase a large mill, which
was already in full operation. Working men agitators were engaged,
who travelled from town to town, holding meetings and selling
shares, and in a comparatively short time £5,000 was collected and
paid over to the vendors; but, when the mills stopped, or ran short
time, and cotton was at three or four times its ordinary price, it
344
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
was useless to appeal for shareholders; and the company, failing
to pay its instalments for purchase, lost its whole capital of £5,000,
out of which, after much begging, the vendors considerately returned
£250. In another case, where a small company had collected
between £4,000 and £5,000, entirely from working men, and, being
ready for work, had prudently decided to lose £450 per annum for
standing, rather than risk working, the managers grew tired of the
suspense; and, being urged to try what they could do, commenced
to weave, and in the first six months managed to lose a little less
than by doing nothing, but, in the next half-year, although aided
by the best skill in the market, lost half their paid-up capital.
A gentleman who acts as auditor to many of these companies,
being applied to for information, wrote as follows :—
We have no tabular record of the dividends paid by the cotton
companies, but the following is a general view of the case: In 1860
we had only two or three companies working in this neighbourhood
(Rossendale), but they paid very large dividends—in one instance
nearly reaching fifty per cent per annum. In 1861, the first year
of the American war, there were a great number of new companies
started. Many of these companies had mills to build, but some
began to work places already built, and for the last four years the
dividends have shown no regularity. The results in the cotton
trade have depended so much more upon skilful buying and selling,
than upon the daily margin between the raw material and the
finished article, that dividends as high as thirty per cent have been
made in some instances, whilst very serious losses have occurred in
others, and in the most irregular manner, for the last three years.
1864 has been the worst year for losses, especially where there has
been a stint of capital; and the companies have seen their error in
paying such large dividends heretofore, instead of keeping the
money in the establishments, which I always insist upon as essen-
tial to the stability of trading companies."
In a third case, where nearly £90,000 has been invested in a
very large mill, nearly one-half the capital consists of loans at call;
and when the whole of the loans could easily have been converted
into shares, the shareholders refused to allow it, because they hoped,
by paying five per cent for loans, to be able to divide thirty or
forty per cent amongst themselves. The panic came, .and many
a shareholder, being left without dividend, and with increasing
•
INSTANCES OF FAILURE.
345
liabilities, has since bitterly rued his opposition to the proposed
conversion when it was possible, and will be quite willing to
exchange his trembling anxiety for a moderate dividend, when
prosperity returns.
In a fourth case, where a large mill had been commenced,
the panic stopped the share contributions, so the building was mort-
gaged to enable the contractor to be paid, and the mill was thus
got to work; but the first serious fall in the prices of yarns brought
down the company, which is now winding up in chancery, whilst its
secretary is imprisoned on a charge of embezzlement.
In a rapidly increasing and commercial country, the greatest of
all facilities for progress is the railway system. The cost of trans-
port is really one of the costs of the production of goods, and an
increased facility of transmission is equivalent to a reduction of
prices, because the freight is lower; and the certainty of receiving
goods when required, enables the shopkeeper to economise his
capital, by sending frequently to market instead of holding a heavy
stock. Railways are continually extending, opening up new fields
of enterprise by branch lines, enlarging and improving terminal
and other stations, increasing the lines of rails and adding to
rolling stock; and yet they never seem, in the manufacturing
districts, to overtake the demands of the public. Railway travel-
ling has, like tea and coffee, become one of the necessaries of life,
and the occurrence of an annual holiday despatches heavily laden
trains from every large town to the extreme ends of the kingdom.
Great therefore must be the pressure to produce a reduction in the
year's traffic receipts upon a long line of railway; especially, when
the trouble of one locality only adds to the prosperity of another
portion of the same system.
The cotton famine in Lancashire led naturally and necessarily
to the substitution of woollen and worsted for cotton fabrics, so far
as prices would allow; and the concurrence of the very high prices
of raw silk, also helped the trade of Yorkshire; and gave a much
larger traffic to and from the towns of Halifax, Bradford, Leeds,
Dewsbury, Barnsley, and Huddersfield, than they had ever known
before. Yet the goods traffic, exclusive of minerals, over the Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire Railway, for 1862-4, shows a large reduction
from the traffic of 1861. We append the returns :—
346
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
GOODS TRAFFIC, EXCLUSIVE OF MINERALS.
Tons.
Half-year ending December 31, 1860
1,410,276
""
""
June 30, 1861
1,393,433
2,803,709
Half-year ending December 31, 1861
1,390,706
""
June 30, 1862
1,189,180
Tons
2,579,886
Decrease 223,823
Half-year ending December 31, 1862
June 30, 1863
1,226,005
1,213,152
2,439,157
Decrease 364,552
Half-year ending December 31, 1863
June 30, 1864
1,373,268
1,390,820
2,764,088 Decrease 39,621
Total 627,996
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
Passengers.
Half-year ending December 31, 1860
8,395,165
June 30, 1861
""
7,637,904
16,033,069
Half-year ending December 31, 1861
8,390,581
""
""
June 30, 1862
6,905,159
Passengers.
15,295,740
Decrease 737,329
Half-year ending December 31, 1862
7,933,116
""
June 30, 1863
7,312,685
15,245,801
Decrease 787,268
1,524,597
Half-year ending December 31, 1863
8,701,215
June 30, 1864
8,201,876
""
16,903,091 Increase 870,022
A decrease of two-thirds of a million of tons, spread over three
years, is an unmistakable indication of severe pressure; for, in a
healthy trade, the traffic would have increased seven per cent at
least per annum.
Analysing the passenger traffic, we find that in first-class there
has been a regular increase, arising from the lessened occupation of
manufacturers in their ordinary vocation; and also from the more
frequent visits of those who continued working, to the markets of
Manchester and Liverpool.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC AND DIVIDENDS.
FIRST-CLASS PASSENGERS.
347
1860-1.
1,715,716
1861-2.
1,745,341
1862-3.
1,797,992
1863-4.
1,961,789
In the second-class passenger returns, the case was very diffe-
rent. They were—
1860-1.
3,900,305
1861-2.
3,636,566
1862-3.
3,453,524
1863-4.
3,817,202
Showing a decrease in the three years of seven hundred and ninety-
three thousand six hundred and twenty-three passengers. And in
the third class there is a decrease in the two years 1861-3 of nine
hundred and twenty-five thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight;
and then in 1863-4 an increase, compared with 1860-1, of seven
hundred thousand and fifty-two passengers, a result which might be
expected from the improving circumstances of the operatives, and
from the depression of shopkeepers and others, driving them to the
cheapest mode of conveyance.
Of course such a decrease in traffic made its mark in the cash
accounts of the company. The total receipts were--
1860-1.
£1,982,362
1861-2.
£1,799,852
1862-3.
£1,767,542
1863-4.
£1,957,565
Showing a deficit on the three years, as compared with 1860-1, of
£422,126, instead of an increase of about £400,000, which ordinary
trade would have given; and the successive dividends sympathised
with the changing fortunes of the company. They were as follow:
December, 1860-6 per cent.
June, 1861-5 per cent.
1861-5
1862-4
""
""
1863-42
""
1862-31
1863-41
1864-52
""
""
The London and North-Western company declined to accede
to a request to furnish their local traffic returns; but it may be
stated, without fear of contradiction, that, had they been furnished,
they would have fully confirmed the evidence above given, as to
the severity of the crisis.
#
}
CHAPTER XVIII.
Effects of the Cotton Famine on Marriages-Tabular Return, 1861-4-Illegitimate
Births, 1861-4-Special Return-Comparative Illegitimate Births in England and
Wales and in Lancashire-The Factory System not specially promotive of Sexual
Immorality-Prostitution in various Districts-Slow Improvement - Effects of
the Crisis on Crime in Lancashire-Percentages of Crime in various Districts—
Excess of Female Crime in Lancashire and its Probable Cause.
It is related that, during the year 1800, when the sixpenny loaf
was about the size of a man's fist, and almost as black as coal, a
young couple were engaged in the marriage ceremony in a village
church, when a hoarse voice called out, through a hole in the win-
dow, to ask if that "young fool knew that a pound of bread cost a
shilling." The brawler evidently thought that marriage ought to
be postponed until more prosperous times, and the prevalence of
similar opinions in the present day, is proved by the fact that the
percentage of marriages has long been considered a good indicator
of the prosperity and adversity of the people. A man of ordinary
prudence will not enter upon the married state without a fair
pro-
spect of a living; but hope tells a flattering tale, and the future
presents a very different phase to the intending bridegroom, to
that which is seen through any other than the lover's lens ; so that
the trouble which makes much difference to the marriage baro-
meter, must be very real and heartfelt. It will be instructive,
therefore, to turn to the marriage registers of the cotton districts,
to learn how affianced lovers viewed the cotton famine, and what
alterations it made in their arrangements.
Tried by this severe test, we find that the marriages celebrated
in the various quarters of 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864, were as
follows:-
MARRIAGES CELEBRATED IN THE COTTON DISTRICTS.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
March quarter
June quarter
4,527
3,927
4,073
4,032
4,870
4,243
4,608
4,780
September quarter
4,915
4,126
4,611
4,512
December quarter
4,843
3,967
4,941
4,166
Total for the year
19,155
16,263
18,233
17,490
EFFECTS OF THE FAMINE ON MARRIAGES.
349
So that nearly six thousand persons, who, under ordinary circum-
stances, would have entered into the marriage state in 1862, had
their hopes blighted, and their prospects of mutual happiness
destroyed; or were at best obliged to console themselves with the
"hope deferred which maketh the heart sick." Many of them,
instead of occupying their own neat cottages, probably became
dependent upon the charitable dole of relief committees, or even
upon the grudging allowances of the poor-law guardians; and the
year 1863, instead of making up for this deficiency, added nearly
two thousand more to the list of the disappointed and despairing
young people, who ought to have begun life on their own accounts;
to have enjoyed the rights of citizenship, and to have borne their
share of its responsibilities. Nor was hope restored with the spring
of 1864, for the marriages were still five hundred below the corre-
sponding quarter of 1861. Again, a thousand loving hearts were
kept asunder by the grim spectre, want; and pining and despairing
solitude ruled, where sweet communion should have been. These
phases of trouble do not appear upon the surface, and cannot be
estimated in pounds sterling; but the fainting, dragging misery,
the separations for ever, and the broken hearts arising out of years
of disappointment, are not less real, because they refuse to submit
to tabulation; and, however blunt and rude the expressions of the
sufferers, the feeling would not be much less keen amongst the
thousands of cotton operatives, whose prospects in life were thus
blighted, than it would have been in the same number of a more
highly educated class. Of course, some allowance is to be made
for the decrease of population by emigration and migration; but,
assuming these causes to have removed thirty thousand persons
from the cotton districts, the proportion would be about one in
sixty-six of the population; whilst the decrease of marriages was
one in thirteen and a quarter in 1862, and one in twenty-nine in
1863, as compared with 1861; and instead of these being made up
in 1864, there was a further decrease in the first two quarters as
compared with 1861, of five hundred and thirty-five, or one in
fifteen; and the decrease on the whole year was one thousand six
hundred and sixty-five, making the total decrease on the three
years, five thousand four hundred and seventy-nine. That the
affliction was nobly borne, is evidenced by another fact, which
speaks volumes in favour of the sufferers The returns of illegi-
350
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
timate births show clearly that these abstainers from marriage
were in the main prudent, moral, and well-conducted people. Men
of strong animal passions would probably abstain from the respon-
sibilities of married life under circumstances of great penury, but
they would not in consequence restrain themselves from the
indulgence of sexual passion; and girls, whose daily life is passed
in the semi-tropical temperature of a cotton mill, with its tendency
to early puberty, would, unless kept in good training, be likely to
give way to temptation; but the following tables, contributed
specially by the registrar-general, will show that, although the
abstinence from marriage was so extensive, yet sexual immorality
was but very slightly increased.
NUMBER OF ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS REGISTERED IN EACH OF THE YEARS 1861-3.
Years.
Districts.
Ashton-under-Lyne
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
316
342
372
296
Barton-upon-Irwell
Blackburn
Bolton .
99
96
86
98
266
287
277
261
401
412
417
375
Burnley
Bury
242
236
248
223
186
221
276
227
Chorley.
Chorlton
Clitheroe
Fylde
•
Garstang
*Glossop (sub-district)
Haslingden
Lancaster
143
128
143
125
367
418
425
399
44
44
41
35
80
80
65
88
30
32
35
30
47
46
42
9
139
138
129
148
•
66
101
73
100
Leigh
154
145
151
153
•
Macclesfield
172
235
197
225
Manchester (including Prestwich)
633
616
658
586
Oldham
253
254
235
260
Preston
346
-
366
382
375
+Prestwich. This sub-district is com-
prised in the Manchester district
(see note)
Rochdale
Saddleworth
Salford.
Carried forward
1
I
I
175
180
200
171
27
41
35
45
276
294
273
268
4,462
4,712 4,760
4,497
* Glossop is one of the sub-districts of Hayfield union or district; but the numbers in this table
include only the illegitimate births in the Glossop sub-district.
+ Prestwich (sub-district of), which is comprised in Manchester district, had thirteen, sixteen,
and fourteen illegitimate births registered in the three years 1861-3 respectively.
ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS.
Years.
Districts.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
Brought forward
4,462
4,712
4,760
4,497
Skipton
Stockport
80
75
85
84
240
250
255
202
Todmorden
68
61
66
73
Warrington
Wigan
•
111
100
•
107
106
457
508
462
544
5,408
5,706 5,735 5,536
351
GEORGE HOBSON, registrar-general.
General Register Office, Somerset House, 15th December, 1864.
Thus, whilst the marriages in 1862 were two thousand eight hundred
and ninety-two less than in 1861, the illegitimate births had
increased by 288 only, more than one-third of this increase being
in places scarcely affected by the cotton famine; and when 1863
had further increased the list of abstainers from marriage by nine
hundred and twenty-two cases, making the total decrease on the
two years three thousand eight hundred and fourteen, the total
increase of illegitimate births was only six hundred and five, or one
to each 6.3 cases of deferred marriage; and the returns for 1864
still maintain this pleasing feature. Probably much of this result
is due to the influence and discipline of the sewing schools; and the
ladies who devoted their time and talents to the instruction and
amusement of the poor girls, whose education had hitherto com-
prised no domestic accomplishment, may congratulate themselves
that they have not only fitted many thousands for the performance
of important home duties, and thus enabled them to render home
attractive to their future husbands; but that they have also, by
their inspiring presence, their kindly interest, their genteel man-
ners, and their insensible moral influence, saved thousands also
from irretrievable ruin.
It is very common for strangers to the factory system to suppose
that the employment is productive of great sexual immorality, but
the official returns give no countenance to the prejudice. The
following table is from the census of 1861 :-
PROPORTION OF ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS FROM 1851 TO 1860.
England and Wales.
Lancashire
Born in
Wedlock.
6,048,479
788,596
Born out of
Wedlock,
Percentage
of Bastardy.
6.99
7.27
423,171
57,366
352
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
So that with all the evil influences of the factory system, and the
overcrowding in large towns, Lancashire illegitimacy is only 0.28
per cent above the average of the whole of England and Wales.
The following return, extracted from the judicial statistics, will
show the variations in the different districts of the country :—
PERCENTAGES OF ILLEGITIMACY IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 1851 To 1860.
London
4.2
South-Eastern counties
6.5
South-Western counties
6.5
West-Midland counties
6.9
South-Midland counties
Monmouth and Wales
7.3
7.1 Average of the whole,
7.7 per cent.
North-Western counties
7.4
Yorkshire.
7.6
Northern counties
7.8
North-Midland counties
8.8
Thus Lancashire and Cheshire are exceeded in their proportion
of illegitimacy by Yorkshire, and also by the northern and north-
midland counties, where the employment of women and girls in
factories is not nearly so extensive; and it is very likely that the
non-compulsory powers of the Registration Act, will lead to errors
which will render the returns for the metropolis unreliable.
Of course, the returns of illegitimate births are far from con-
clusive as to the effects of the cotton crisis on morality; the letters
of "A Lancashire Lad" to The Times, and the communications of
various correspondents to local newspapers, all pointed out the
probability of greatly increased prostitution, unless the guardians
and relief committees were liberal in their allowances. The con-
dition of the milliners, the waistcoat makers, and shirt makers of
the metropolis, furnish proof enough that the fear was not
imaginary, and the following table will show that effective means
were adopted to prevent the growth of the evil in the cotton
districts. The woollen towns appear to have least prostitution,
and second on the list come the cotton districts; and the return
shows an actual decrease of prostitution during the pressure of
distress. Higher evidence there could not be of the guiding care
which piloted the people through the depths of their trouble, than
these simple figures give. Seduction and want are the two fruitful
causes of permanent pauperism, and here there have been blighted
PROSTITUTION IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS.
353
hopes and hard penury for three long years, opening the road for
the tempter, and yet without any sensible moral deterioration:-
PROPORTION OF PROSTITUTES IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS, 1860-1-2-3.
1860.
1861.
1862.
1863.
Woollen towns .
1 in 598.8
564.0
609.4
590.1
Cotton towns
1 in 506'4
541.7
524.5
531 1
Hardware towns
1 in 423.3
499.0
635.5
587.3
Metropolis.
1 in 366.8
452.2
574.5
576.3
Mixed textiles
1 in 357.2
462.1
483.5
494.0
Pleasure towns
1 in 248.2
246.8
252.3
247.5
Agricultural towns
1 in 241.0
268.4
258.6
271.6
Commercial ports
1 in 182.0
216.0
213.7
223.3
Totals
1 in 365.4
406.2
444.0
440-1
The country is slowly improving in this sad phase of life, except
in the pleasure towns; and the cotton districts, even during the
distress, partake of the improvement.
There is still another aspect in which to look for depreciated
morality. Famine years are generally expected to fill the prisons,
and to find plenty of work for the criminal courts. Men, with
whom, in the absence of a higher motive, the fear of punishment
is a sufficient preventive under ordinary circumstances, break
through all restraint under the pressure of want, and rush into
crime. Bad trade induces stricter economy and oversight amongst
employers; and officials, who, in the absence of efficient checks, have
given way to temptation, are then found out; and vagrants, who
during prosperity have found begging to be a better paying trade
than working, feel the pressure of bad times at second hand, by the
stoppage of supplies, and they resent the neglect of their old
patrons by helping themselves.
But during the cotton famine, the special correspondent of
The Times, the correspondent of the Manchester Examiner and
Times, and the special commissioner of the poor-law board, all bore
testimony, in May and June, 1862, that, notwithstanding the intense
pressure of distress in the principal unions, crime had decreased;
and the following special return will show, that although the trouble
spread and deepened up to Christmas, 1862, and continued to ebb
and flow, so as not to allow more than half work in 1863-4, yet the
character of the population was pretty well sustained to the end.
ᎪᎪ
354
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
X
RETURN OF NUMBER OF PERSONS BROUGHT BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES OF THE COUNTY
of Lancaster, IN THE DISTRICT IN CHARGE OF THE LANCASHIRE CONSTABUlary,
AND IN THE UNDERMENTIONED BOROUGHS, Holding their own Courts, and NOT
IN CHARGE OF THE LANCASHIRE CONSTABULARY.

1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
Appre- Sum-
hended. moned.
Appre- Sum-
hended. moned.
Appre- Sum- Appre- Sum-
hended. moned. | hended. moned.
Districts in charge)
of the Lancashire
constabulary
Ashton-under-Lyne .
Blackburn
Bolton
Lancaster
Liverpool
·
Manchester.
Oldham,
Rochdale
Salford
Stalybridge
Warrington.
Wigan
8,539 21,971 9,731 21,697 9,262 21,727 8,877 24,576
3,420
2,105
940 836 1,074 1,188
2,277 657
657 2,227 611 1,939 678 2,180 510
194 143 137 41 182 54 151 88
19,746 23,381 23,941 12,812 26,229 11,593 ||25,849 11,259
9,469
2,174 10,294 2,442
2,174||10,294
579 789 773
642 527 599
3,030 || 1,626 2,866
8,019 2,175 9,844 2,219
827 674 888 633 769
520 1,005 594 775 537
1,557 2,112 1,642 2,872 || 1,632
54 248 49 160
57
538 704 540 532 562 531
1,012 1,141 998 1,029 1,000 1,140
95 140 117
647 546
926 1,329
And here it may be remarked, that as the factory system does not
seem to bear out the opinion that it is particularly promotive of
sexual immorality, so the following return will show that the cotton
districts are not peculiarly remarkable for a large criminal class.
PERCENTAGE OF CRIMINAL CLASS IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS, 1860-3.
Metropolis
Cotton towns
Mixed textiles
Woollen towns
1 in 126.7
m
1 in 121.0
1860.
1861.
1862.
1 in 183.8
1 in 131.4
231.3
275.6
1863.
243.0
152.5
157.8
150.9
168.2
129.1
179.3
139.5
154.4.
128.3
94.3
80.8
1 in 99.9
120.4
1 in 91.5
108.5
111.3
92.6
116.7
105.8
1 in 67.8
98.6
101.9
108.6
1.in 103.8
96.5
•
Pleasure towns
Commercial ports
Agricultural towns
Hardware towns
But there is one aspect in which the factory system exhibits a
sorrowful picture. Sexual morality does not suffer materially,
and general crime is not above the average; but female crime is
much higher in Lancashire than in other parts of the country. Can
this be the result of the demand for juvenile labour, which renders
FEMALE CRIME IN LANCASHIRE.
355
girls independent of their parents at fifteen or sixteen years of
age, and frequently takes them away from parental control? It is
an important and a serious question, and worthy of prompt consi-
deration. Can it be that progress towards the independence of
women would develop vice as well as virtue, and that to render
woman equal to man in power, would also render her his equal in
crime? Here is a return from the judicial statistics showing—
THE PROPORTIONS OF FEMALE CRIMINALS IN 1851-60.
Males.
Females.
1851-5-England and Wales
107,768
30,090 or 27·8 per cent.
Lancashire
11,933
4,725 or 35.9 per cent.
1856-60-England and Wales
70,210
20,024 or 28.3 per cent.
Lancashire
10,594
4,999 or 40.72 per cent.
Clearly here are deteriorating influences at work which demand
careful inquiry with a view to reform. Female education is too
generally neglected, and Lancashire does not differ materially in
that respect from other parts of the country; but in the absence of
domestic habits, resulting from the practice of leaving home
at an early age to work, and which furnishes the means of living
without a knowledge of and without a taste for the various duties of
the household, the cotton districts are peculiar. To this peculiarity
must, we fear, be traced the prevalence of female crime; and if the
accomplishments of cooking and dressmaking taught in the sewing
schools become permanent, another moral influence will be at
work for the benefit of future generations, and another great con-
solation be established, to prove that out of temporary evil cometh
permanent good. The eyes of philanthropists ought to be con-
tinually directed to this sad picture; and no stone should be left
unturned, until the judicial statistics of Lancashire tell a different
tale as to the proportion of female criminals.
$
CHAPTER XIX.
Gains and Losses-Consumption of Cotton in 1861 and 1862-Effects of American
News on Prices -Average Condition of the Trade in 1860-2-Speculators in
Cotton-Gains by Running the Blockade-Consumption of 1863-Large Extra
Capital Required-Effects of Peace Rumours-Bankruptcy Return-Decreased
Consumption of Indian Cotton-Condition of the Trade in 1863-4- Adulteration
of Goods-The Trade Losses in Three Years- Messrs. Frazer's Circular
Mr. McHaffie on Cotton Losses.
THE consumption of cotton reached its highest point in 1860,
when it was one billion eighty-three million six hundred thousand
pounds, and cost £25,961,000. The raw material was then plentiful
and cheap, discounts were reasonable (averaging about four and a
quarter per cent), wages were high, and profits large. Every
spindle and every loom were engaged, and new mills were rising
in every direction. The progress in the consumption of cotton in
the previous ten years had been nearly sixty per cent. About thirty-
three million spindles were at work, and they were increasing at
the rate of nearly twenty-one thousand per week. Of course, every
effort was made to increase production, so long as it promised a
profit; but apart from a fall in prices, consumption could not go
on at the same rate as the production, and towards the end of the
year stocks began rapidly to accumulate. If there had been no war
in America, the large profits of 1859-60 would have been brought
down to average by a heavy fall of prices on accumulated stocks
in 1861; and these same accumulations served to prevent any
serious rise in prices, either of cotton or manufactures, till after
midsummer, 1861.
But the consumption of cotton fell in 1861 to one billion seven
million four hundred thousand pounds, or about eight per cent;
whilst the prices rose about thirteen and a half per cent, upon the
average of the whole year; and as the difference between December,
1860, and June, 1861, was only three-halfpence per pound, the
rise in price, reckoned upon the latter half of the year, would be
equal to twenty-five per cent upon the prices of 1860.
CONSUMPTION OF COTTON.
357
The year 1861 was looked upon as a fair average year; for
whilst there was no great room for complaints, the transactions
were not such as to make producers drunk with prosperity.
Measured by 1861, the doings of 1862-4 may therefore be fairly
tested, and the results of the famine be seen, as it affected em-
ployers and employed.
The consumption of cotton in 1862 was four hundred and fifty-
one million seven hundred thousand pounds, but it cost more by
£12,989,000 than the same quantity would have done at the
average prices of 1861. Thus forty-four per cent of the quantity
required eighty-six per cent of the capital of 1861 to purchase it.
As fully one-half of the machinery was idle, those who remained
at work must either have been rich men, or must have had free
recourse to the bankers, for forty-two per cent of extra capital. This
element alone would add very much to the anxieties of trading;
but producers care less about the prices of raw material, than for
certainty as to the results of their work. But cloth was frequently
sold on the same day at a less price per pound than raw cotton; and
every mail from America produced violent fluctuations, so that
trade became a mere lottery; but demanding much more skill and
labour than if the results were, as in ordinary times, certain*and
profitable. The news brought by each mail was eagerly discussed
on 'change; and many a wordy war was ended by a dealing in
Confederate loan, as a test of the sincerity of the disputants. The
weight of middle class opinion favoured the Confederates, and a
Federal disaster produced a drooping market; because it was looked
upon as likely to result in peace and recognition, and the opening
of the cotton ports.
The following table will show the average condition of the trade
in 1860-2 at a glancę :—
Middling Fair
Orleans.
per lb.
40's Mule
Twist.
per lb.
7ğd.
91d.
181d.
1118d.
12d.
1713d.
39in.
Shirtings.
per lb.
Margin between.
Cotton and Cloth.
1860.
1861.
1862.
14d.
131d.
per lb.
6zd.
4d.
181d. minus d.
So that, measured by Orleans cotton, shirtings were upon the whole
year one farthing per pound below the raw material; and any profit,
and even any payment for spinning and manufacturing, was there-
fore entirely dependent upon the admixture of lower-quality cotton,
358
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
and upon the element of time, which might raise the price during the
process. Averages give no idea of individual exertions and troubles
and disappointments; but, when we know that the fluctuations
in fair Dhollerah cotton were from eightpence to eighteen pence-
farthing, in fair Orleans cotton from twelvepence-halfpenny to
twenty-nine pence per pound, the reader will be better able to
appreciate the difficulties of the trade; and to see that every con-
siderable purchase of cotton or of yarn was at the risk of great
loss, if not of positive bankruptcy.
When it became indisputably evident, by the progress of the
war, that the source of eighty-five per cent of the raw material for
the employment of Lancashire spindles and looms was indeed cut
off, the prices of cotton rose rapidly, and immense fortunes were
made by cotton holders and speculators. Tales are told of adventu-
rous young men, each of whom in one short year converted a hundred
pounds into as many thousands, by purchasing and reselling the
staple from day to day, during the rise. In the Southern States of
North America the price of cotton was almost nominal, and it was
occasionally used as armour, for war vessels or for forts. But war
material, clothing, and medicines were very soon at fabulous prices,
and the prospect of gain led to the fitting out of many vessels
at Liverpool and London, on purpose to run the blockade. So
great was the temptation, that even New York itself contributed to
the blockade-running fleet, and much smuggling is believed also to
have been done across the lines of the Federal army. Between
the profits on goods carried in, and on the cotton brought out of,
the Confederate ports, it was calculated that one successful run out
of three would make a fair return, whilst five hundred per cent
profit was commonly spoken of, as the result of a single successful
venture.
The Confederate government also aided this process by their
cotton loan, which was borrowed mainly in this country, and made
payable in cotton at fivepence per pound, at one of the Confederate
ports; and they sought to restrict the trade to vessels which carried
in a certain proportion of Confederate bonds, which, being dis-
charged in cotton, enabled them to borrow again. Under these
inducements, seventy-one thousand seven hundred and fifty bales of
American cotton reached England in 1862; and, notwithstanding
the increased severity of the blockade, as shown by the rate of insu-
LARGE EXTRA CAPITAL REQUIRED.
359
rance, which stood at seventy-five per cent with twenty-five returned
in case of success, yet the year 1863 brought over one hundred and
thirty-one thousand nine hundred bales. The bulk of the cotton
consumed was, of course, from India, and for the amount of labour
employed upon it, the production was more than eleven per cent
less than it would have been on American cotton; and where the
Indian staple alone was used, the decreased production was fully
fifteen per cent as compared with American cotton, whilst the pro-
portion of waste was very much greater; so that to the man who
on full-time formerly earned twenty shillings it gave about seven-
teen shillings for the same number of hours, but with the exertion
of much extra care and skill.
The consumption of cotton in 1863 was five hundred and eight
million four hundred thousand pounds, being about fifty per cent
of the quantity used in 1861, but at a cost of £44,485,000, or one
hundred and forty-one per cent more than the cost of the same
quantity at that date. Still one half of the machinery was unem-
ployed, one half of the mills were closed; but for those which
remained at work an additional capital of £28,744,500 was needed,
being nearly three times the amount required for the same quantity
of the raw material in 1861.
It is impossible that the employers who continued working
could be owners of this extra capital, for, had they been so, it
would have found profitable occupation somewhere before the
crisis; the bankers must therefore have supplied it, and this fact
will help to explain the rise of the discount rates at the end of
the year, from four to eight per cent. Employers were risking the
capital of many persons who were not practically engaged in the
trade, and if the much-desired peace had then been achieved in
America, the fall in the prices of cotton goods would have caused
wide-spread ruin in Lancashire. Peace would have added to the
troubles occasioned by war, and the release of the working classes
from compulsory idleness, would have necessitated a new list of
employers, for many of the old ones would have been swept away.
The consumption of the year exceeded that of 1862, by about
thirty-three per cent, showing that the tide was slowly turning,
that stocks were exhausted, and the purchasing power increased;
so that under ordinary circumstances, and at normal prices, a largely
increased trade would have been done.
360
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
In 1864, the prices of Orleans cotton still varied with every
mail; but the news produced different effects to those which
occurred earlier in the struggle. A Federal victory caused a fall
instead of a rise in prices, for it was now tolerably well known,
that the road to peace would only be found through the submission
of the Confederacy. Every month's average was still affected by
the varying fortunes of the war, and cotton drooped from January
to April, rose from April to August, trembled in the balance in
September, and fell sevenpence per pound from September to
November, consequent on the peace rumours from Niagara Falls;
and then rose again threepence per pound before the end of the
year, when the negotiations had failed.
It is easy to understand how the peace rumours, with the pro-
spect of a not distant fall to normal prices, should produce a panic,
and how good and honourable men spoke of the probable cessation
of the most terrible war of modern times, as a thing to be dreaded.
Nor were the fears of these men groundless; for the mere rumour
of peace swept down small men as grass falls beneath the scythe of
the mower, until the employers of almost thirteen thousand hands,
with liabilities amounting to £1,500,000, were chronicled amongst
the failures; and large holders of cotton were named, whose stocks
fell in a few weeks from £120,000 to £150,000 in value in each case.
And besides the failures which were made public, many composi-
tions, by private arrangement, took place; whilst bills were renewed
and payments deferred to an extent never before known.
The bankruptcies registered in the court at Manchester, in the
years 1861-4, were as follow:-
1861 .
1862
1863
1864
•
175
370
261
387
Upon the whole of the year, employment was somewhat more
plentiful; the consumption of cotton being five hundred and sixty-
one millions four hundred and eighty thousand pounds, at a cost of
53,808,000; being fifty-five per cent of the quantity, and one
hundred and seventy per cent more than the cost of the same
quantity in 1861. A little more than half employment in 1864
required £38,067,500 more capital than it would have done in 1861,
for the use of which seven or eight per cent must have been paid;
EFFECTS OF PEACE RUMOURS.
361
whilst trade to the spinner and manufacturer was still a lottery,
depending more upon catching the turn of the market, than upon
any skill in the respective operations.
When, on the fall of Savannah, The Times' correspondent wrote
from New York that the thirty thousand bales of cotton, announced
as being captured there, would turn out to be not more than three
thousand, men—whose prosperity, in ordinary times, depends upon
the plentifulness and cheapness of the staple-were heard to
express eager hopes that the smaller would turn out to be the
correct quantity; and when peace was spoken of as probable, a
manufacturer exclaimed-"If that news should come true, some-
body would ha' to stick to me !" implying that there would be
danger of him committing suicide.
A large proportion of the failures were amongst manufacturers
(men who simply convert yarn into cloth), and the explanation is
that this part of the business, in ordinary times, requires but a small
amount of capital. A man who owns a few hundred pounds, rents
a weaving shed, where the engines, shafting, and fixtures belong to
the landlord. He fills the shed with looms, on credit for six or
twelve months, buys yarn at six weeks' credit, delivers the cloth
to his agent, and returns home with money for wages, and for
fresh purchases of yarn. If trade be ordinarily prosperous, the
goods do not lie long in stock; but if it be necessary to hold stock,
the agent charges five per cent for advances, besides the ordinary
commissions on sales, and for the guarantee of debts; so that if
there be at any time a serious fall in prices during manufacture, or
when a heavy stock is held, such a man must needs fail; and his
liabilities must be shared by the spinner who supplies the warp
and weft, and the agent who advances on the goods.
The moralist will of course ask, if this system be so disastrous,
why do Manchester merchants not only submit to, but even
encourage it? The reply is very simple. The system is occasion-
ally disastrous, but upon the whole it is sufficiently remunerative
to pay both spinners and agents. And as far as the public is con-
cerned there is no cause of complaint; capital is economised,
production and employment are increased, and goods cheapened
by the process.
The Manchester Guardian, of 31st December, 1864, wrote as
follows:-"The more sagacious seers are beginning to reason as
362
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
follows: The balance sheet of A exhibited assets equal to seven
shillings and sixpence in the pound, and as the creditors agreed to
take five shillings, the unfortunate man has now more capital than
he ever before possessed; and may now be more safely dealt with
on the old terms. In fact, that curious virtue, commercial confi-
dence, a compound of self-interest and rashness, is once more
exhibiting its marvellous power of recovery from a state of utter
prostration; and will soon be seen affording the old munificent aid
to the struggling occupiers of weaving sheds." But the return of
confidence had another foundation besides the improved position
of the compounding manufacturers. The prospect of peace was
soon dissipated, and the prices of cotton rose almost as rapidly as
they had fallen; and many houses which were trembling on the verge
of bankruptcy, again found firm footing, and could be once more
safely trusted.
Employment during the year averaged about twenty per
cent more than in 1863, the weekly consumption of cotton being
twenty-six thousand five hundred, against twenty-two thousand and
thirty bales. More than half of the imports of 1863 were bought
on speculation; but, in 1864, the proportion fell to little more than
a quarter, which was a good indication of the growing healthiness
of the trade. There was one remarkable feature about the cotton
consumed―viz.: that the quantity of Indian cotton was decreased
instead of increased. The following table will show the proportion
from different countries in 1862-4 :-
Deliveries FROM THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL AND CONSUMPTION.
Average weekly deliveries from this port
to the trade.
Average weekly
consumption of the
United Kingdom
in the years

Description.
To this date.
Average
of 1863.
1864.
1863.
1862.
1863.
1862.
American
Brazil.
Egyptian, &c.
West India, &c.
East India, &c.
3,400
2,390 3,580
2,620 1,980 2,020
5,180 3,750
790 .860
15,110 16,510 12,150
2,240
2,300
3,820
2,150
2,140
1,980
2,100
3,840
4,490
2,110
390
930
370
460
14,050
17,200❘ 13,660
China and Japan.
4,300
1,820
Total
•
31,400 25,490 20,240 25,030 26,500 22,030
CONDITION OF THE TRADE.
363
Thus, whilst the imports of Indian cotton increased about
eleven per cent, the deliveries to the trade actually decreased by
one thousand four hundred bales per week, although the total
consumption of cotton was considerably larger than in the previous
year. Whatever might have been the prejudices of the trade
against Indian cotton prior to the famine, spinners had been forced
to buy it, and to adapt their machinery to it. Yet the very first
opportunity was seized to thrust it again into the background.
Experience therefore confirmed the former prejudices, and pro-
nounced unmistakably, that unless the wealth contributed to India
during the famine be used to improve the staple, the demand for
Surats will shortly fall again to as low a point as ever.
The following table (supplied by Messrs. J. Munn and Co., and
Messrs. Richard Haworth and Co.) will show the condition of the
trade during 1863 and 1864; and it will be seen that, assuming
Orleans cotton as the standard, the margin between the raw material
and the cloth produced was, in 1863, very little over one penny, and
in 1864, three-halfpence per pound for all the processes. On the
other hand, assuming the prices of fair Dhollerah as a standard,
the average margin shown is as large as is given by the Orleans
standard in 1860. But cotton is almost always mixed of various
qualities, and the margin in 1860 would therefore be higher than is
shown in the table; whilst in the latter years it would be lower
than is shown in the Dhollerah table. The mixing would vary by
the introduction of from fifty to seventy per cent of Indian in
many varieties of goods, and would therefore reduce the margin
shown in the Dhollerah table from thirty to fifty per cent of the
difference in price between the two staples upon the average;
whilst the prices of goods would sometimes show as much as four-
pence or fivepence per pound against the spinner and manufac-
turer. It does not follow that these amounts would invariably be
lost, because in a rising market the element of time would often
rectify the position; but in a falling market, as in the latter part
of 1864, the apparent loss would not only be realised, but even
exaggerated, by the lapse of time during manufacture.
:
364
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
PRICES PER POUND OF ORLEANS COTTON, YARN, AND CLOTH, 1863-4.


Water
39 in. 37 yards Shirtings.
Middling Mules, 40's Twist 16/24
fair
Orleans.
good seeds.
20's
good seeds.
6 lbs.
7 lbs.
81 lbs.
January, 1863
26.50
26
25
25
24.95
24.72
June, 1863
23
26
25.50
26.50
25 28
25.45
•
Average of the year
25.25
27.62
26.75
.26.66
22.09
26.39
January, 1864
29.50
34
31
31.0
30.28
32.0
•
June, 1864
29.50
29
31
30.50 30.0
30.54
Average of the year
28.33 28.88 29.92 29.16 29.0
29.94
PRICES OF DHOLLERAH COTTON, YARN, AND CLOTH, 1862-4.

Dhollerah.
32's Twist. 36's Weft.
81lbs.
39 in. Shirtings.
Fair. Good Fair.
1862.
March 25
81
81
15
14
10/3=14.9 pr. lb.
June 27
111
111
161
16
11/3=16.0
September 23
174
171
26
26
18/0=26.1
""
December 23
171
17/
25
241
17/3=25·0 ""
1863.
March 24
17
171
231
231
17/3=25 0
"
June 23
18
181
25
25
18/6=26.9
September 22
22
221
30
30
19/6=28.9
December 22
221 222
31
31
21/6=31.2
=
1864.
March 22
22
23
301
30
20/0=29.0
June 21
September 20
December 20
212
22
311
311
20/6=29/8
""
191 20
28
271
20/0=29.0
20
201
30
291
19/9=28.4
The above table will show that, with the mixture of cotton in the
proportions assumed by us, notwithstanding the great number of
failures which have taken place, the limited trade which has been
done has, upon the whole, been remunerative. The facts thus
brought out confirm the reasonable theory, that a spinner or
manufacturer will only continue to work either when his trade is
remunerative, or when, considering his great stake in buildings and
machinery, working will be less disastrous than stopping. Any
ཎ་
T
CONDITION OF THE TRADE.
365
working beyond this point must be wholly speculative, and the
resulting losses must be set down to errors of judgment. Readers
who wish to go more minutely into this subject will find the follow-
ing table, supplied by Mr. Sam Mendel, full of interest. This table
will show that most of the difference between the prices of raw
cotton and calico has been absorbed by the spinners, and that
from the month of June, 1863, to March, 1864, shirtings were
continually below the prices of the year from which they were
manufactured, and will afford further explanation why most of the
failures were amongst manufacturers :—
#
PRICES OF 40's MULE YARN, 30's WATER TWIST, AND SHIRTINGS,
1862.
FURNISHED BY

January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
131 13
14 14 14
14
13/1/
40's Mule, Fair 12 13
131 13
Seconds.
13 13 13
13
134 13 14
14
Average
131
132
30's Water, Good 13 14
14 143
14 14
Seconds, Ind. .7
14 14 14
142
142 142 15
151
150 151 15
151
Average
142
15
151 15
Shirtings, per lb.-
Average
1863.
141
15 15
15 15 15
15
15
151 15
15 15 15
15
151
15 15 15
15
151
131 13
14 14 14
14 141
1331
141 142
15 151 15
151 15
151
151 15
15 15 15
1515
15
131 13
141 141 141
14
14
142 142
1515 15
15
151
151 15
15151 15
15
151
40's Mule, Fair
Seconds.
Average
30's Water, Good (
Seconds, Ind.
Average
Shirtings, per lb.
Average
1864.
40's Mule, Fairf
24 24
24 23
231 231 231
231
231 23 23
23
2321
231
27 27
27 27
26 25 25
251
26
25 241
25 24 24
24
2422
25 25 251
25
261
241 24
241 24 24
23
24
33 31
31 29
34 331 33
32
32 32 32
31
23 25
23 231 24
24 25
24
27 27
25 25 26
26 26
261
24 25
23 24 24
24 25
241
25 26
25 25 26
2965
25
27 25
26 26 27
27
261
25 251
251251 251
251 252
25/
26 251
26 26 26
26
26
25 25
27 27 27
27
261
251 26
251 25251
26
251
322/1
32 31
35 341 34
33
311
31 31
33 33 33
33
Seconds.
Average
30's Water, Goodf
Seconds, Ind. .1
Average
31 311
31
311
Shirtings, per lb.-
32 32 301
30
Average
314
30 30 31
311
31
331
321
29 271
271281
31 291 29 28 28 28
29
29
291
31 31
33 32 32
321 32
32
311 29
31 30 30
30 30
301
8888888
28
28
31 32
32 32 32
32
32
29 291
30 30 30
291
293
281 28
28 29 30
30 29
29
32 32
32 33 33
331 33
323
291301
31 31 31
31 30
303
The prices are given for the beginning and end of each month, and for each
A lower quality of water twist ("fair seconds") is about one penny, or when
FOR EACH MONTH, FROM JANUARY, 1862, TO DECEMBER, 1864.
SAM MENDEL, ESQ.


June.
July.
August. September. October.
November. December.
131 16
141 142 14
141
141
142 171
15 15 15
161
16
15 17
151 151 152
16
16
16 18
16 17 17
17 171
17
17 20
17 18 18
181 18
18
17 18
17 18 181
18 18
18
18 24
24 24
24 23
18 18 20
26
24 25 25
25 25
25 24 24
23
23 21
23 22 21
21
21 24
210 211 21
22 23
203
20 30
20 21 23
.28
233
181 251
19 19 20
21
201
24/
30 30
30 30 30
30 30
30
253 25
251
233
30 29
30 29 291
273
27 27 26
261
291
263/1
25 24
26 26 26
26 26
26 26 25
25
251
212
29 24
24 23
24 24 23
23
233
221
24 27
24 24 25
26 26
251
23 25
23 23 24
24 24
24
251 24
26 26 26
2524
251
25 25
27 27 27
261 261
261
26 24
26 26 26
25 24
251
24 24
241 241 24
24
241
25 26
26 26 26
27
26
24 25
241 242 24
25
242
24 273
24 24 25
261
251
26 28
27 27 273
29
271
25 26
25 25 25
26
25
27 30
27 27 30
30 30
29
28 31
29 30 31
31 31
301
26 28
26 27 28
28 28
271
301 34
30 32 33
331
321
31 34
31 33 34
351
331
28 31
28 30 31
31
30
34 34
33 33 33
334
331/2
34 36
351351341
34
35
31 32
31 31 31
31
311
34 33
34 34 33
33
33
331/
36 32
36 36 35
34 34
3432
32 31
321 321 31
31314
313
28 28
28 28 28
28
281
32 33
33 33 33
33
32312
30 31
30 30 30
30斤
​301
28 31
28 30 32
32
301
33 35
33 36 37
37
351
31 32
31 32 32
32
312
31 30
30 23
32 32 32
32 32
311 291 271
24
311
35 33
37 37 37
37 37
361
32 32
27/
33 24
36 34 33
321
321
23 21.
24 23 21
19
22
24 27
30 29 27
25
271
242 24
32 241
32 32 32
32 32
31 30 28
26
25 25 24
221
32
283
241
21 25
21 251 22
26 25
233
27 30
27 27 271
30 29
281
24 271
24 24 25
30 281
261
Tuesday during the month, with the average of each month stated beneath.
prices are high twopence, per pound below the quotations given herewith.
25 27
26 26 26
27
261
30 30
30 30 30
31
301
271 291
29 29 29
30
29
368
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
It will be noticed that in our estimates nothing is said about
adulterations as an element in manufacture, and the abstinence is
intentional; because, although adulteration is often profitably
practised, it is yet very doubtful if, upon the whole, it adds more to
the production of cloth than Indian cotton suffers by waste. There
are cases where it is carried to abominable excess, as where a glazed
calico has been found to possess only twenty-eight per cent of cotton.
Adulteration was practised before the famine, and will no doubt con-
tinue after it; and we may as well assume that the reply of an agent
to a buyer, overheard on 'change by the author, is expressive of a too
common practice. Complaint had been made of adulteration, and
the agent, touching the complainant on the shoulder as he turned
away, replied, “There's just one thing I want to say to you; our
cloth is weighted to as great an extent as it will hold." "I've no
doubt of it,” said the customer, interrupting the agent, who then
continued, "and it always was." And a man who at one time was
engaged in selling adulterants, has since produced a book, in which
he gives anecdotes of various manufacturers to whom he offered
his wares, extolling their qualities for the great weight which they
would add to goods. In some cases he met with indignant refusals
to purchase, whilst in others his reception was cordial, and the
result of such a visit is fairly illustrated by a manufacturer who said,
"Well, if it'll do what yo sen, it's just th' stuff we're wantin'; for
we need summat to mak cloth on, now cotton's so dear." It may
safely be affirmed that with some people the practice of adultera-
tion will only be diminished by the application of a test which,
discovering its extent, will make a proportionate discount in
price, so as to prevent it from paying the manufacturer.
Calculations upon the foregoing facts enable us to construct the
following table of losses, based upon the trade and prices of 1861 :—
Excess paid for cotton in 1862 over cost of the same quantity in 1861 £12,989,000
11
""
1863
1864
""
Total for three years
Average excess per annum
27,605,000
35,252,000
3) 75,846,000
£25,282,000
**
We
The excessive amount of capital employed for the same amount of
production was therefore more than £25,000,000 per annum.
turn now to the receipts for exports, to enable us to get a clear view
of the position of the trade during these three years, and find that—
TRADE LOSSES IN THREE YEARS.
369
The excess received for yarns exported in 1862 over the price of the
the} £1,330,000
same quantity in 1861 was.
The excess received for yarns exported in 1863 over the price of the
same quantity in 1861 was .
The excess received for yarns exported in 1864 over the price of the
same quantity in 1861 was .
}
4,100,000
5,215,000
The excess received for piece goods exported in 1862 over the price} 4,920,000
of the same quantity in 1861 was
The excess received for piece goods exported in 1863 over the price 13,464,000
of the same quantity in 1861 was
The excess received for piece goods exported in 1864 over the price
of the same quantity in 1861 was
Add three-fifths for the quantity consumed at home
Deduct, for interest on extra capital, at five per cent
20,146,000
49,175,000
29,505,000
78,680,000
3,792,300
£74,887,700
So that, without any allowance for increased rates of discount, the
profit for the amount of trade done was £958,300 less than it
would have been in 1861. Bankers and agents made more profit
than usual, and the merchants who held stock during the rise would
also realise very largely; but a large proportion of what was so
gained, would have to be deducted from the shares of the spinners
and manufacturers, the majority of whom are unable to bear much
stock, and would not participate in the gains thereon.
An average of one-half the production of 1861 gave during
three years nearly £500,000 less profit per annum than the trans-
actions of one-half of 1861 had produced. Mr. Bazley reckons the
profits of 1861 at £18,000,000; so that, according to his calculation,
the lessened profits of the trade for three years would amount to
£28,500,000. According to the same authority, the wages paid in
1861 amounted to £22,000,000; so that the absolute loss of the
working classes for three years would be £33,000,000; thus-
•
Employers' losses, three years, at £9,500,000
Workpeople's losses, three years, at £11,000,000
Add shopkeepers' losses on wages, at ten per cent
Add shopkeepers' losses on half employers' profits .
Total loss on three years
£28,500,000
33,000,000
61,500,000
3,300,000
1,425,000
£66,225,000
The difference between a good harvest and a bad one in England
and Wales, has been estimated at £20,000,000, or twenty shillings
BB
370
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
per head upon the population; here in the cotton famine we have
had, therefore, the effects of three bad harvests in succession, con-
centrated upon one-tenth of the population; being equivalent to a
loss of £10 per head per annum throughout Lancashire, up to the
end of 1864. Nor is the loss yet at an end, for although most of
the hands are now (October, 1865) in employment, yet the pro-
duction does not exceed four-fifths of the average of 1861. How
is it possible for any statistics, or for any pen, however eloquent, to
describe the effects of such a calamity? How possible to trace the
destitution, spreading like a plague from house to house, and from
street to street, in every town and village; beginning with the
careless and improvident, and gradually involving the prudent
man, who had hitherto toiled like a giant to keep up the respecta-
bility of a large young family; and whose children, when his
mule has ceased to revolve, or his loom to weave, first lose the care
of the schoolmaster; then eat up the club money; then consume
the savings bank fund, and the shares in the co-operative store ;
till at last the pictures which adorned the walls, the extra tables
and guests' chairs, and every bit of furniture which can possibly
be done without, including even the few favourite books, are all gone
for food; and the proud, prudent, intelligent man is found side by
side, at the relief committee or the board of guardians, with his idle,
improvident neighbour; who has worked only when his choice was
between the mill and the stone yard, and whose children have
always been left to the education of the streets, with the almost
certain result of being enlisted into the armies of future paupers
or criminals? Lancashire has seen tens of thousands of such
cases; and we have to thank the various influences which have
enabled men to see and appreciate the great cause of their trouble,
for the patience with which it has been borne; and for the small-
ness of the permanent pauperism and immorality, which have
resulted from it. That our estimate of loss is not overdrawn will
be seen from the following extract, taken from the trade report of
Messrs. Frazer, Son, and Co. :-
"Taking the board of trade returns of the exports of cotton goods
and yarn for the last five years, and adding to them an estimate of
the amount consumed at home, which we will take at one-third the
exports, we obtain a rough approximation to the whole value of the
cotton manufactures of Great Britain. If we deduct from this the
MESSRS. FRAZER'S CIRCULAR.
371
price paid by our spinners for the raw material consumed, we obtain
the amount of profit which the internal industry of the country
reaps from the trade. The following tables exhibit the diminution
of this profit:-
1860.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
Export of cotton 52,000,000 47,000,000 37,000,000 47,000,000 56,000,000
goods and yarns.
Add one-third for
home consump-17,000,000 16,000,000 12,000,000 16,000,000 19,000,000
•
Total value of pro- 69,000,000 63,000,000 49,000,000 63,000,000 75,000,000
duction.
Estimated price paid
by the trade for 29,000,000 $5,000,000 27,000,000 42,000,000 53,000,000
consumed
Profit to the country 40,000,000 28,000,000 22,000,000 21,000,000 22,000,000
"From these figures it will be seen that, in 1860, a sum of
£40,000,000 was distributed among the industrious population of
Lancashire, engaged in the cotton trade or the branches dependent
upon it. During the last three years this amount has declined to
to about one-half. Of course there are many modifying circum-
stances which might be mentioned, such as the profit made upon
old stocks held when the war commenced. But, again, it must be
remembered that the exports of 1861 and 1862 were greatly swollen
by the shipments of these stocks, and represent more than the real
production for these years. Taking all into account, and making
allowance for 1860 being a year of remarkable prosperity, it seems
fair to assume that the manufacturing industry of Lancashire has
suffered to the extent of £15,000,000 per annum, or more, for the
last four years, in consequence of the stoppage of the cotton trade
with the Southern States; and it is evident that, if this exhausting
drain upon its capital continues for another year or two, serious
consequences must follow, in the shape of commercial embarrass-
ment and want of credit. The crisis hitherto has been borne won-
derfully well, but, the day of trial is not yet over."
This report appeared at the end of 1864, and it will be inte-
resting now to learn to what extent any modifying influences have
affected the results indicated. The gains on stocks would, for the
most part, go to the merchants rather than to the manufacturers;
whilst the gains and losses on cotton, would be shared mainly by
372
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the importers and the larger spinners, who, if they do not directly
import, yet time their purchases, so as to hold or run out of stock,
according to their judgment of the future. The main portion of
the trade-composed of small capitalists, who can neither afford to
speculate in cotton nor to hold stocks of goods-must gain or lose
according to the turn of the market during the conversion of cotton
into cloth; or, at the utmost, during the time in which their agents
are able or willing to advance upon goods; so that the results of
speculation will scarcely affect either them or the operatives,
except very indirectly.
Cotton did not rise much in price till the latter half of 1861, when
the stock on hand was reckoned by Messrs. Chambers, Holder, and
Co., of Liverpool, at six hundred and ninety-nine thousand three
hundred bales. The imports of East Indian in that year had risen
from five hundred and sixty-two thousand six hundred and seventy-
four, to nine hundred and eighty-six thousand two hundred and
ninety bales; and, knowing the distaste in which this cotton was held,
we may safely assume that it made three-fourths of the stock at the
end of the year. Then, assuming three-fourths of the stock at the
end of 1861 to have been bought at the medium price of Indian
for that year (6ğd.), and sold at the medium price of 1862 (13łd.
per pound), there would be to the holders and various dealers in
this stock, a profit of £5,791,050; and, assuming the remaining
fourth of the stock to be American, there would be on that portion
£3,168,703; making a total profit of £8,959,753 upon the stock of
cotton. The stock of goods on hand at the end of 1861 was
estimated at three hundred million bales. Assuming that the
transactions in shirtings fairly represented this stock, and seeing that
their price varied from fifteenpence per pound in January, to twenty-
five pence three farthings in September, we may fairly estimate an
average gain to the holders of stock of sixpence per pound, or a
total gain upon the stock of goods of £7,500,000. So that cotton
speculators, merchants, and other holders of stock, would divide
amongst them about £17,000,000, which gain, or so much of it as
is retained, it may be hoped, will hereafter produce fruit in the
shape of productive employment for Lancashire operatives. But
the gains of 1862 have had to stand the chances of the inter-
vening years, and have been seriously diminished by the losses of
1865.
COTTON LOSSES.
373
Mr. McHaffie, of Manchester, wrote as follows, on 3rd April, in
reference to the losses on cotton and goods during the first three
months of 1865:—
What has been the loss on cotton during the first three months
of this year? I will class the loss under two heads-1st, loss on
cotton gone into use at a fall on its value since 31st December,
1864; 2nd, loss on cotton imported this year, and now n stock. I
am aware that the first item will not give the full extent of the fall,
as much of the cotton in stock on 31st December cost more than
the price of that day; but I prefer to be under in my estimates,
rather than in excess. The following table gives the three months'
consumption and export of each kind by itself, and shows the
quantity taken in each month :


Bales from Liverpool
Ameri-
can.
Brazil
Egyp-
tian.
West
India,
&c.
East China,
India. &c.
Total.
January-
Taken by Trade.
for Export
6,220 6,370 15,750 1,630
1,378 1,695 738
118
31,290 9,640 70,900
17,893 2,506 24,328
February-
""
Taken by Trade.
for Export
7,598 8,065 16,488
9,510 8,590 19,700
772 2,326 494
1,748
1,560
49,183 12,146 95,228
March-
(C
Taken by Trade .
""
for Export
43,640 13,360 96,360
26 11,779 2,762 18,159
17,880 18,981 36,682 3,334 104,602 28,268 209,747
15,310 8,580 36,190 5,770 64,140 19,420 149,410
1,415 1,259 1,278| 858 17,311 2,837 34,958
34,605 28,820 74,150 9,962 186,053 50,525 394,115
In
Starting with 1st January, 1865: The fall in middling Orleans
was, in January, 2ąd.; in February, 4ąd.; in March, 44d.; total,
11ąd. In Brazil, taking fair Pernambuco as a guide, the fall in
January was 31d.; February, 5d.; March, 41d.; total, 123d.
fair Egyptian, fall in January, 32d.; February, 51d.; March, 32d.;
total, 13d. In fair West India, fall in January, 34d.; February,
5d.; March, 41d.; total, 13d. In Dhollerah (East India), January,
2d.; February, 21d.; March, 4ąd.; total, 91d. And in fair China,
the fall in January, 2ąd.; February, 1ąd.; March, 2ºd.; total, 7½d.
It will not do to calculate the entire depreciation on this cotton, as
it went into use on a graduated scale of loss; but the following
calculation is as fair as can be:-The consumption in February
374
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
much exceeded January, and the fall was also much heavier. I add
the decline in January and February together, and then take two-
thirds of the fall as the real loss incurred; while for March I take
a fair average of the five weeks' fall added to the former decline.
The statement will then stand as follows, viz., loss on cotton used :-

From Liverpool.
Gone into
use, Jan.
Value.
and Feb.
Gone
into use,
March.
Value.
Total Value.
lbs.
Bales.
£
Bales.
£
£
Ameriean
440
•
17,880 5
163,900 16,725 72
238,051
401,951
Brazil.
Egyptian .
.
180 18,981 5
71,173|| 9,839 7
55,344
126,517
.
500
36,682 63
496,735||37,468 83
663,495
1,160,230
West India, &c. 200
East India, &c. 350
China, &c.
. 240
3,334 6
16,670 6,628 8
46,948
63,618
104,602 3
28,268 3
457,635 81,451 6
712,696
1,170,331
84,858 ||22,257 4½
£1,290,971
100, 155
185,013
£1,816,689 || £3,107,660
"This is the first item of loss, but the second is much heavier,
viz., the loss on imports during the three months and now on hand.
With the single exception of Egyptian cotton, to the market for
which we have had telegraphic communication all along open, I am
perfectly safe in saying that all the cotton imported this year, and
now on hand, cost at least the prices of 31st December, 1864, here;
and we have yet to get from some of our distant markets, cotton
that will have been shipped in December at these rates. The
following table shows losses :-

Stock in
Stock in
Liverpool, Liverpool, Fall since January 1, Total Loss on
same date,
1864.
March 31,
1865.
1865.
Stock.
tbs.
Bales.
Bales.
£
American
440
27,910 48,650
11ąd.
1,058,002
Brazil
63,940
*Egyptian
Turkey, &c.
West India, &c.
180 15,500
500 44,170 77,870 13d., taken as 9d.
350 9,160 16,200
200 3,360 12,840
12ad.
599,354
1,450,062
9d.
210,125
13d.
139,100
East India
•
350 130,630 274,940
91d.
3,707,637
China and Japan
240 66,330 85,570
71d.
620,382
297,060 | 580,010
£7,794,662
* Egyptian taken at only two-thirds of the fall.
COTTON LOSSES.
375
"In giving the fall in prices, I have taken as a standard, at
both dates, middling Orleans, fair Pernambuco, fair Egyptian, fair
West India, fair Dhollerah, and fair China. I have now brought
the loss up to £10,902,322; but I have still to add the loss on
stock in London:-One hundred and four thousand and twenty-
one bales East India, of three hundred and fifty pounds, at 91d.,
£1,403,199; eighteen thousand three hundred and ninety-two bales
China, of two hundred and forty pounds, at 74d., £133,342; and two
thousand five hundred and fifty bales Brazil, say of one hundred and
eighty pounds, at one shilling, £22,250. These, added to the former
amounts of loss, give a grand result of £12,461,113.”
If these calculations be reliable (and they have not been contra-
dicted), the gains on the stock of 1861 have been nearly balanced
by the losses of three months in 1865, the balance remaining to
credit being only £3,500,000. And a similar process has been in
operation in the goods market, although to a much less extent,
in consequence of the diminished stocks; so that, taken upon the
whole, no very great proportion of the great profits realised upon
stocks in 1862-3 remain in Lancashire. The operations of the
bankruptcy court are proof that the losses have not fallen upon the
shoulders of those who were best able to bear them; and it is
certain that some of the fortunate speculators for the rise, have
escaped any serious losses by the fall. But, apart altogether from the
results of speculation, our calculations show a nett loss by decreased
trade of £66,225,000. How far this loss has been compensated to
the employer class by other investments it is impossible to say;
but about one-half of the loss has been in wages, for which the
only compensations have been £2,857,460 in extra relief by boards
of guardians and by relief committees, the sums distributed in pri-
vate charity, the provision of employment under the Public Works
Act, and the labour at other occupations, found by the operatives
themselves.
The numbers of operatives out of employment, the stoppage
of the mills and factories, the release of capital from its ordinary
occupation, and the consequent losses of the cotton trade, witnessed
to by relief committees, and by the increased business of the court
of bankruptcy, are all demonstrable facts. The floating capital of
the employer was, however, not annihilated, as is that of an indivi-
dual farmer who suffers a failure of his crops, whilst the general
376
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ง
harvest is good; it was merely turned out of its ordinary course, and
obliged either to find other occupation, or to lie unproductive, and
to suffer consumption by standing charges, and by the living of its
owners. We know that, apart from the great staple trade, the time
of the cotton famine has been characterised by great commercial
activity; that many good modes of investment have been available;
and that discount rates and bank interest have ruled high; but a
reference to the income-tax returns of the principal distressed
townships will nevertheless surprise even the most sanguine believer
in the recuperative power of capital.
Liverpool has gained immensely by the rise in the price of
cotton, and individuals in various localities in Lancashire have
partaken of this prosperous chance; we know also that half trade,
at treble prices, has in the main paid agents and warehousemen
better than full employment, at normal prices; but the reader will
be surprised to learn that in Preston, where the distress was at first
most severe, and where the operatives suffered heavily even to the
end, the income of those who paid taxes, as shown by schedule D,
for the years 1862-3-4, exceeded that of 1861 by about £18,000
per annum; that Haslingden gained nearly £4,000 per annum;
whilst the same class in Blackburn seem to have lost less than
£700 per annum; and Manchester less than £8,000 per annum ;
and that the total deficiency of income under this head, in sixteen
of the principal towns and districts, compared with 1861, as calcu-
lated by the tax collected, amounts only to £2,130,336.
Of course it is both impossible and undesirable for any individual
to penetrate the secrets of the inland revenue office; but the offi-
cials make no secret of the fact, that the decrease of revenue has been
very large with cotton spinners and manufacturers; whilst the in-
crease in all other branches has been so considerable, as to prevent
any great loss of revenue. A few words of explanation are necessary
to a full understanding of the following tables. The inland revenue
commissioners say, in their report—"That the mere account of the
produce of the tax does not represent the assessments of the year,
because it is composed of nearly one-third of the tax from the
previous year's assessment, and two-thirds of the tax of the year in
question. When there has been an alteration in the rate, it is still
more difficult to arrive at any conclusion from the accounts of
receipts within the year." Thus the return for 1864-5 is really
ASSESSMENTS UNDER SCHEDULE D.
377
made up of two-thirds of the income of 1864, and one-third of
1863; so that when we read that the Liverpool assessments, under
schedule D, increased in 1864-5 by £997,000, we are to understand
that one-third of that increase is due to the profits of 1863, which
would include the enormous gains upon stock, which were realised
towards the end of 1862.
When incomes of £150 and upwards were charged at ninepence
in the pound, and lower incomes at sixpence, the produce of the
lower assessment, in the Manchester district, was from five and a
quarter to five and a half per cent of the whole tax; and in esti-
mating what the produce of the later years ought to have been,
we have taken the total assessments in 1861-2 and 1862-3 at eight-
pence-halfpenny in the pound. In consulting the following tables
(supplied by the chairman of the commissioners of inland revenue),
and the calculations thereon by the author, the reader must use his
own judgment as to the increase which ought to have taken place
in the revenue, and add that sum to the losses which are shown
to have been sustained. The total increase of assessments, under
schedule D, for England and Wales, in 1864, was £8,263,000 ;
assuming the same rate to have held good for three years, then
the Lancashire assessments ought to have increased by £2,478,900
since 1861, and the larger half of that increase should have accrued
to the cotton trade. The nett losses of income in the sixteen dis-
tricts tabulated, calculated from the taxes paid under schedule D,
and based upon the amount paid in 1861, appear to have been as
foliow :—
1862-3
1863-4
1864-5
LOSSES OF THREE YEARS.
£315,634
917,018
718,884
£1,951,536*
*Of the above amount, more than a quarter has been lost in a group of townships which are not
individually named, probably because they are so small that their publication would lead to the
identification of individuals. And the losses amongst employers do not seem by any means to have
followed the same track as the distress amongst the operatives. First amongst the towns which
are named figures Rochdale, where there is a considerable woollen manufacture, and which exhibits
a loss of nearly half a million sterling; next comes Ashton, which we should have expected to stand
first, but which has lost only two-fifths as much as Rochdale; Wigan, whence the first cry of severe
distress arose, stands third; followed by Bolton, where the distress was not at any time particularly
severe; Oldham, where one-fourth of the inhabitants are dependent on the production of machinery,
comes next; followed closely by Salford, which has suffered much more heavily than the sister
borough, Manchester; Glossop, the twin sister of Ashton in the severity of the distress amongst the
operatives, stands seventh; and Bury, another partially woollen manufacturing town, follows closely
after. The employers of Stockport, who, judging from the progress of the town, have been less fortu-
nate than their neighbours in past times, seem also to have suffered less during the crisis, for their
borough stands ninth on the list; Burnley being tenth; whilst the losses of the remaining towns
appear to have been almost insignificant. We have given the returns under the whole of the schedules,
for the double reason that we avoid thereby any alteration of official returns, and provide matter
which may hereafter be valuable for reference; but our own calculations are confined to the returns
under schedule D, which applies in particular to incomes under trades and professions.
378
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.


A RETURN OF INCOME TAX PAID IN THE UNDER-MENTIONED TOWNSHIPS UNDER SCHEDULES A. B. D. E.
FOR THE YEARS 1861-2, 1862-3, 1863-4, AND 1864-5.
The first portion of these tables is supplied by the chairman of the commissioners of inland revenue; the portion beyond the double line consists of the author's
calculations thereon.
PRESTON.
Amount of Duty paid under Schedules
Year
ended
5th April.
Rate of
Tax.
A.
Total.
Increase of
Tax
compared
with 1861.
Decrease
compared
Increase
of Income
with 1861.
B.
D.
E.
Schedule D.
Schedule D.
paid upon.
Schedule D.
Decrease
of Income
paid upon.
Schedule D.
£. s. d.
£.
8. d.
£. s. d.
£.
s. d.
£.
s. d,
£
£
£
£
1862
9d. and 6d.
10,807 0 0
16 0 0
12,469 0 0
642 0 0
23,936 0 0
1863*
9d. and 6d.
7,547 0 0
1864
7d.
6,016 0 0
1865
6d.
5,030 0 0
14 0 0
10 0 0
5 0 0
13,896 0 0
10,299 0 0
9,138 0 0
624 0 0
22,083 0 0
1,427
40,291
566 0 0
517 0 0
16,893 0 0
14,690 0 0
31
1,062
337
13,480
BLACKBURN.
1862
9d. and 6d.
6,798 7 8
42 10 3
8,627 7 1
1863
9d. and 6d.
6,776 16 21
42 1 1
1864
7d.
5,233 15 8
1865
6d.
4,207 14 11
31 18 10
23 16 5
8,993 0 6
6,918 12 8
5,944 8 9
168 2 10
203 7 1
197 15 3
169 8 4
15,636 7 10
1
16,015 4 10
12,382 2 5
10,345 8 5
366
11
10,344
1 1
186
6,377
146
1
5,840
WIGAN.
1862
9d. and 6d.
3,749 0 0
49 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
3,834 0 0
1864
7d.
2,949 0 0
1805
6d.
1,975 0 0
50 0 0
34 0 0
28 0 0
6,527 0 0
5,721 0 0
3,042 0 0
2,670 0 0
149 0 0
147 0 0
101 0 0
10,474 0 0
1
9,752 0 0
6,126 0 0
98 0 0
4,771 0 0
806
22,757
2,333
79,988
1,937
77,480
* The assessment on the North Union Railway Company, previously made in Preston, was in this year transferred to London. This accounts for the decrease
in Schedule A.



STOCKPORT.
1862
9d. and 6d.
3,101 0 0
18 0 0
8,714 0 0
121 0 0
6,955 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
3,122 0 0
18 0 0
3,214 0 0
116 0 0
6,473 0 0
500
14,117
1864
7d.
2,453 0 0
1865
6d.
2,132 0 0
11 0 0
12 0 0
2,150 0 0
1,729 0 0
83 0 0
4,698 0 0
908
31,131
80 0 0
3,955 0 0
892
35,680
BACUP.
1862
9d. and 6d.
1,483 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
1,494 0 0
25 0 0
22 0 0
1,308 0 0
1,370 0 0
5 0 0
2,821 0 0
8 0 0
2,894 0 0
62
1,750
1864
7d.
1,207 0 0
17 0 0
874 0 0
4 0 0
2,102 0 0
203
1865
6d.
1,129 0 0
15 0 0
543 0 0
3 0 0
1,690 0 0
380
I
1
6,960
15,200
INCOME TAX TABLES.
BURNLEY.
1862
9d. and 6d.
2,548 0 0
43 0 0
2,865 0 0
76 0 0
5,532 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
2,588 0 0
43 0 0
2,794 0 0
105 0 0
5,530 0 0
71
2,004
1864
7d.
2,006 0 0
34 0 0
1,835 0 0
81 0 0
3,956 0 0
524
17,965
1865
6d.
1,745 0 0
29 0 0
1,498 0 0
81 0 0
3,353 0 0
524
20,960
GLOSSOP.
1862
9d. and 6d.
1,088 0 0
41 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
1,065 0 0
1864
7d.
817 0 0
39 0 0
30 0 0
2,268 0 0
1,086 0 0
700
12 0 0
3,404 0 0
2,202 0 0
1,182
33,374
570 0 0
4 0 0
1,421 0 0
1,279
44,468
1865
6d.
665 0 0
40 0 0
626 0 0
5 0 0
1,336 0 0
975
39,000
379



380
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.

A RETURN OF INCOME TAX PAID IN THE UNDER-MENTIONED TOWNSHIPS UNDER SCHEDULES A. B. D. E.
FOR THE YEARS 1861-2, 1862-3, 1863-4, AND 1864-5.
HASLINGDEN.
Amount of Duty paid under Schedules
Year
ended
5th April.
Rate of
Tax.
A.
Total.
B.
D.
E.
Increase of
Tax
compared
with 1861.
Schedule D.
Decrease
compared
Increase
of Income
with 1861.
Schedule D.
paid upon.
Schedule D.
Decrease
of Income
paid upon.
Schedule D.
£.
8. d.
£.
s. d.
£.
8. d.
£.
s. d.
£.
8. d.
£
£
£
£
1862
9d. and 6d.
986 0 0
35 0 0
1,137 0 0
16 0 0
2,174 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
1,033 0 0
32 0 0
1,416 0 0
15 0 0
2,496 0 0
279
7,877
1864
7d.
820 0 0
23 0 0
912 0 0
17 0 0
1,772 0 0
24
823
1865
6d.
794 0 0
24 0 0
738 0 0
17 0 0
1,573 0 0
64
2,560
MANCHESTER.
1862
9d. and 6d
93,226 0 0
142,934 0 0
5,867 0 0
242,027 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
93,932 0 0
142,125 0 0
7,059 0 0
243,116 0 0
11
2,272
64,150
1864
7d.
67,759 0 0
115,563 0 0
4,830 0 0
188,152 0 0
3,037
104,125
1805
6d.
65,115 0 0
106,210 0 0
4,833 0 0
176,158 0 0
3,614
144,560
MANCHESTER-SECOND.*
1862
9d. and 6d.
31,403 0 0
618 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
32,141 0 0
1864
7d.
25,734 0 0
1865
6d.
22,553 0 0
619 0 0
493 0 0
408 0 0
22,929 0 0
21,466 0 0
17,404 5 0
13,895 0 0
423 0 0
437 0 0
342 0 0
818 0 0
55,373 0 0
54,663 0 0
43,973 0 0
37,174 0 0
* The two Manchester districts are thrown together in the author's calculations.
ROCHDALE-SALFORD HUNDRED.
1862
9d. and 6d.
17,929 0 0
441 0 0
20,106 0 0
321 0 0.
38,797
0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
18,315 0 0
428 0 0
16,909 0 0
345 0 0
35,997
0 0
1864
7d.
14,157 0 0
324 0 0
11,220 0 0
254 0 0
25,955 0 0
1865
6d.
12,216 0 0
307 0 0
9,669 0 0
208 0 0
22,400 0 0
SALFORD-SALFORD HUNDRED.
1 1 1 1
I
3,197
90,268
5,338
183,017
4,522
180,880
1862
9d. and 6d.
25,728 0 0
795 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
26,090 0 0
1864
7d.
20,491 0 0
1865
6d.
19,020 0 0
785 0 0
605 0 0
518 0 0
19,953 0 0
19,597 0 0
14,679 0 0
649 0 0
47,125 0 0
1
646 0 0
47,118 0 0
356
451 0 0
36,226 0 0
1,752
12,482 0 0
433 0 0
.32,453 0 0
1,602
BOLTON-SALFORD HUNDRED.
I
10,051
49,468
64,080
INCOME TAX TABLES.
1 1 1 1
1862
9d. and 6d.
18,336 0 0
450 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
18,329 0 0
427 0 0
22,325 0 0
22,939 0 0
330 0 0
41,441 0 0
I
320 0 0
42,015 0 0
614
17,336
1864
7d.
14,371 0 0
343 0 0
1865
6d.
13,260 0 0
327 0 0
15,493 0 0
13,554 0 0
234 0 0
213 0 0
30,441 0 0
2,892
81,656
27,354 0 0
2,205
1
88,200
OLDHAM-SALFORD HUNDRED.
1862
9d. and 6d.
8,204 0 0
38 0 0
1863
9d. and 6d.
8,454 0 0
1864
7d.
6,553 0 0
1865
6d.
5,515 0 0
38 0 0
29 0 0
26 0 0
8,346 0 0
7,168 0 0
4,556 0 0
206 0 0
16,794 0 0
227 0 0
15,887 0 0
1,178
149 0 0
11,287 0 0
1,317
4,117 0 0
145 0 0
9,803 0 0
1,774
83,260
45,154
70,960
381





382
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.

B.
D.
A RETURN OF INCOME TAX PAID IN THE UNDER-MENTIONED TOWNSHIPS UNDER SCHEDULES A. B. D. E.
FOR THE YEARS 1861-2, 1862-3, 1863-4, AND 1864-5.
Year
ended
5th April.
Rate of
Tax.
A.
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE-SALFORD HUNDRED.
Amount of Duty paid under Schedules
Increase
of Income
Decrease
of Incoine
Total.
E.
Increase of
Tax
compared
with 1861.
Schedule D.
Decrease
compared
with 1861.
Schedule D.
paid upon.
Schedule D.
paid upon.
Schedule D.
£. 8. d.
£. s. d.
£. 8. d.
£. s. d.
£. 8. d.
£
£
£
£
1862
9d. and 6d.
3,945 3 3
16 13 3
4,634 7 11
162 12 4
8,758 16 9
1863
9d. and 6d.
3,894 8 31
16 7 0
3,224 18 9
156 11 5
7,292 5 5
1,410
39,810
1864
7d.
1865
6d.
8,001 11 7
2,458 8 9
12 13 6
1,882 18 5
123 4 11
5,020 8 5
3,816
69,737
13 4 9
1,494 16 9
111 18 1
4,078 8 4
1,777
71,080
BURY-SALFORD HUNDRED.
1862
9d. and 6d
3,563 14 7
84 6 2
6,400 3 4
122 2 4
10,170 6 5
1863
9d. and 6d.
3,603 3 4
78 18 1
5,842 8 5
148 10 0
9,672 19 10
558
15,755
1864
7d.
2,808 18 1
61 5 10
3,904 16 4
108 10 0
6,883 10 3
1,366
46,834
1865
6d.
2,495 7 4
49 16 6
3,338 18 11
103 3 0
5,987 5 9
1,179
47,160
OTHER TOWNSHIPS-SALFORD HUNDRED.
1862
9d. and 6d.
12,522 3 11
1863
9d. and 6d.
12,700 8 21
1864
7d.
10,429 12 7
1865
6d.
8,487 5 0
448 0 0
441 3 8
337 8 5
303 14 0
13,724 10 3
9,946 12 21
4,882 5 5
3,989 17 4
115 15 11
111 13 6
26,810 10 1
23,199 17 7
3,778
106,673
91 18 5
15,741 4 10
6,420
240,114
81 8 1
12,862 4 5
5,698
227,920




INCOME TAX RETURNS.
383
During the cotton famine, The Times boasted that the cotton
trade, although important, was not everything, and that it was evi-
dent the country could do without Lancashire. These income-
tax returns make it evident that Lancashire capital has followed
the demand, and has made profit elsewhere; and that, so far as the
people who pay income tax are concerned, Lancashire itself seems
as if it could almost do without its staple industry. Of course the
returns given, being confined to townships, can only be understood
as specimens; but assuming that they cover one-third of the cotton
district, it would appear that, whilst the losses of employers in the
staple trade were, up to the end of 1864, £27,000,000, the people
who pay income tax had amongst them made up nearly four-fifths
of the loss.
There are, however, four exceptions to be taken to the conclu-
sions shown by these figures:-First, the losses consequent on the
peace panic-which occurred in the last quarter of 1864, and which
recurred on the establishment of peace in 1865—will not tell upon
the income tax until the returns for 1866 and 1867. Second,
great losses never show to anything like their full extent in income-
tax returns. A man who has been used to pay upon £20,000, may
be ruined by losing £100,000, and his return is nil. Yet, if there
be anything left, the officers take the returns of this man for the
two previous years, and charge him upon one-third of £40,000; so
that the income-tax return shows a loss upon £6,667 only, not
upon £120,000, which is the real loss of income. Third, the com-
missioners intimate that they are subject to great frauds, and it is
quite possible that, where incomes are extraordinarily large, per-
sons may not pay upon the whole: first, because they do not wish
the extent of their incomes to be known: second, under the idea
that, having once paid upon a large sum, it will not be easy to
satisfy the officials with a less amount in future. And, Fourth,
the districts of the surveyors have lately been subdivided, and it
is probable that keener oversight has brought many persons upon
the lists who have heretofore been overlooked.
CHAPTER XX.
The Flax Trade-Calico versus Linen-Irish Energy Exhibited in Flax Cultivation-
Returns of Cultivation, and Imports of Flax and Yarns-Increase of Trade—Sir
Robert Kane at the Society of Arts-Return of Spinning Mills, and Wages of
Operatives-The Value of a Mill at Two Periods-Estimate of the Gains of Flax
Spinners and Manufacturers by the Cotton Famine.
THE Irish famine of 1846, swept away tens of thousands of the
people into premature graves, and drove away a peasantry, who
were almost as devoted to the soil of their native land as to their
natural parents, thus reducing the population of Ireland by about
one fourth. Yet, in connection with this great scourge, there was
one consolation; it helped to repeal the English corn laws, and to
establish the Irish Encumbered Estates Court; thus equalising
the price of corn, except for the differences of freight, all over the
world; and furnishing the means for improvements at home, by
giving good titles to land which was otherwise unsaleable. England
has gained largely by the commercial policy which the Irish famine
helped to inaugurate, and Ireland has got back a considerable
instalment of the debt, out of the distress in Lancashire. Linen
cloth, which had almost disappeared from the wardrobes and
bedrooms of the middle and working classes, has again become a
necessity for common wear; and it was a frequent occurrence, during
the cotton famine, to see drays loaded with linen yarns in Man-·
chester streets. In ordinary times, a calico at sixpence per yard
is largely used for shirts and for sheets, but when it became neces-
sary to pay a shilling for a worse article, people preferred to stretch
a point, and buy a linen at fifteenpence, which would at once gratify
the requirements of fashion, and outwear the calico. So a portion
of the activity of Lancashire was transferred to South Yorkshire;
and Barnsley and Keighley operatives made up by their increased
activity for the enforced idleness of the weavers of Ashton, Stockport,
and Wigan. "Bonnie" Dundee also gained largely by the scarcity of
cotton and cotton waste; but the greatest advantage was to the
IRISH ENERGY IN FLAX CULTIVATION.
385
north of Ireland, where the numbers of spindles and looms rapidly
increased, whilst new mills were built to meet the great demand,
which arose out of the cotton famine.
Whatever may be said of the slothfulness of the inhabitants of
the south and west of Ireland, no want of energy can be charged
against the people of the north, for they went earnestly to work
at their peculiar industry, so soon as an extra profit was tolerably
certain to follow their exertions. The following table, contributed
by the Belfast chamber of commerce, will show the progress of
flax cultivation during the last three years :-
Acres under Estimated Produce.
Prices.
Hand per Ton.
Years.
Flax.
Tons.
Milled per Ton.
1861
147,957
20,000
40s. to 75s.
32s. to 52s.
1862
150,070
20,000
52s. to 85s.
42s. to 65s.
1863
214,099
60,000
52s. to 88s.
44s. to 64s.
1864
301,942
80,000
44s. to 83s.
36s. to 58s.
During the same period the imports of scutched flax and codilla of
flax, into the United Kingdom were as follow:-
Years.
1861
1862
1863
1864
Cwts.
1,333,679
1,798,351
1,458,962
1,842,947
Value.
£3,423,137
Per Cwt.
518. 4d.
5,205,992
57s. 10d.
4,271,059
51s. 8d.
5,283,260
57s. 4d.
The economy of labour in the production of linen yarns appears
to have made great progress during the last decade. Ten years
ago, nine or ten leas per spindle per week of No. 30's yarn was
considered good work; but in 1865 eighteen leas per week of the
same number were produced. The bundle is made up of two
hundred leas. In linen, as in woollen, the spindles were not equal
to the work to be done; and foreign countries were called upon
for increasing quantities of yarn, the imports being in—
Years.
lbs.
1861
58,866
1862
1,023,373
1863
3,997,106
1864
2,040,952
Value.
£3,268
52,220
145,320
142,449
Per lb.
1s. 12d.
1s. old.
Os. 87d.
1s. 3gd.
It is not in these islands alone that linen has taken the place
of calico, for our Irish neighbours have very considerably increased
their foreign trade, and are making the luxury of linen more widely
known, and probably creating an enlarged permanent demand for
the fruits of their industry; an operation which will be much more
CC
1
1
386
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
serviceable to them, than either the retention of the mimic court of
the viceroy, or the abolition of any one of their peculiar "grievances."
The exports of linen yarns have been as follow:-
Years.
1861
1862
1863
1864
lbs.
27,981,042
32,559,244
38,452,030
40,510,967
Value.
£1,622,216
1,852,451
2,530,404
3,010,109
Per lb.
1s. 1d.
18. 1½d.
1s. 3åd.
18. 5 d.
Thus an increased export of forty-four per cent has been estab-
lished, at prices which, compared with 1861, leave a large margin
of profit. A corresponding increase has also taken place in the
exports of manufactured goods, as the following table will show :-
Increase in Quantity
in Three Years.
Years.
Yards.
Value.
Per Yard
1861
116,322,469
£3,852,341
7ğd.
1862
157,794,813
5,133,936
77d.
1863
181,637,300
6,508,953
8 d.
1864
209,859,714
7,591,535
8ğd.
88 per cent
Other linen manufacturing countries have felt the pressure of
the cotton famine, and, although they have managed to send
increased quantities of yarn to the best market in the world, have
been obliged to use up at home most of the produce of their own
looms. The imports of linen manufactures have been as follow :—
Years.
1861
1862
1863
1864
Value.
£122,145
140,784
103,908
140,386
Sir Robert Kane, at the the Society of Arts, 14th December,
1864, stated that in Dublin, in Cork, and in Waterford, woollen
and worsted mills that had been abandoned, had resumed work, that
mills already in action had augmented their numbers of looms and
spindles, and new mills were being erected. Where there existed
nine mills in 1851 there were forty-three in 1863.
Many mills had been altered from cotton to flax spinning and
weaving, in order to meet the increased demand for linen goods.
This had been the case to a great extent with the factories of Messrs.
Pim, at Dublin, and Messrs. Malcolmson, at Waterford. The latter
firm employed, in the manufactory and machine departments, about
three thousand hands. Sir Robert gave the following return of
flax spinning mills in Ireland :—
SPINNING MILLS AND WAGES OF OPERATIVES.
FLAX SPINNING MILLS IN IRELAND.
387
Year.
Spindles.
1859
82 Mills containing.
651,872
1864
74
19
19
650,744
Unemployed Spindles.
91,230
8,860
Set to work in May, 1864.
50,638
1864
Employed in making thread
14,648
5 mills erecting to contain
45,000
LINEN POWer Looms.
Year.
Looms.
Unemployed Looms.
1859
28 factories containing
3,633
509
1864
42
""
8,187
258
Preparing for work in May
1,685
By hand spinning and weaving, Messrs. Richardsons, of Lisburn,
turned out a few years ago from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand
pieces of goods in twelve months. They now deliver two hundred
and fifty thousand pieces of bleached goods per annum.
return of wages quoted by Sir Robert was as follows:-
SPINNERS' WAGES.
The
On the domestic wheel from 2s. 6d. to 4s. per week; superior hands 6s. to 88.
WEAVERS'.
Hand loom, 6s. to 7s. weekly; an expert girl on two power looms,
10s. per week clear.
The progress of Belfast in ten years had been as follows
Year.
EMPLOYMENT IN BELFAST.
1854 Employed in Belfast and neighbourhood
1864
""
""
Persons.
17,000
25,000
The cultivation of flax received an impetus during the war with
Russia, but declined again as soon as peace was proclaimed, to rise
afresh with the cotton famine, as will be seen on comparing the
following with a former table:
心
​Year.
GROWTH OF FLAX.
1853
During Crimean war
1858
1863
1864
Acres under Cultivation..
174,579
91,646
214,099
301,942
Which last item, at thirty-five stones per acre, would give sixty-six
thousand and fifty tons of produce; and the value of the scutched flax
was thus set forth :-
1864
VALUE OF SCUTCHED FLAX.
10,567,970 stones, at 7s. 6d.
£3,962,989
The increased value of linen manufactures exported, was given as
follows:
1863.
EXPORTS OF LINEN.
}
£8,469,036 against {
1861.
£5,193,347
388
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
The machinery trade had fairly doubled in extent of business
and number of hands, and wages had increased in the last two
years from ten to fifteen per cent.
Lord Dufferin stated, that a mill offered for sale in 1862 for
£80,000, and then declined, had since been sold for £180,000.
Ireland is clearly ahead of the linen, as Lancashire is of the
cotton spinners and manufacturers of the world; and, if the
energy of the last three years be permanently exerted, the
Emerald Islanders are in no danger of being superseded. It
may be presumed that flax at the prices of 1861 paid the farmer,
as well as any other portion of his produce. And it appears
that, although no very great rise in cotton took place until 1862,
yet the same year established a rise of eleven shillings and three-
pence per ton average upon flax; and this rise added sixty-five
per cent to the land under flax in 1863, and trebled the produce of
the previous year. It is evident that the prospect of profit stimu-
lated not only to an extra breadth of land being devoted to this im-
portant staple, but also to more careful cultivation, and to greater
economy in the preparing processes, so as considerably to enlarge
the percentage of available fibre for manufacturing purposes. A
further advance of one shilling per ton took place in 1863, and the
cultivation was again extended by forty per cent, giving a further
increase in the yield of about thirty-three per cent. Even if this
result has been attained by the substitution of flax for other crops,
the farmers will have gained £70,000 thereby, over the price of
the same commodity in 1861.
Assuming that the prices of 1861 paid the flax spinners and
manufacturers, they will have gained, in the additional prices of
yarns exported, as follows:-
1862
1863
at
d. per ib.
at 2ąd. per fb.
£67,832
440,596
1864
at 4ąd. per fb.
776,779
And on manufactured goods—
1863
at ğd. per yard
473,013
1864
at åd. per yard
656,124
2,414,344
And, as measured by 1861, about 4 years' trade has been
done in 3 years; so that, assuming that 12 per cent of the
returns are profits, as in the cotton trade, we must add,
at 12 per cent on the extra trade
1,196,621
£3,610,965
મ
GAINS OF FLAX SPINNERS, ETC.
389
But the linen trade is done much more largely for home con-
sumption than for export; and to get at any approximation to the
real case, our calculations must include the whole of the produce.
Adopting this course, and adding the imports to the computed
produce of flax in Ireland for each year, we arrive at the following
statement of the extra profits for the conversion of flax into yarn,
viz. :-
:-
Years.
Cwts.
1862
2,198,351 at 4s. 8d.
£2,696,643
1863
2,658,962 at 25s. 8d.
3,412,339
1864
3,442,947 at 448. 4d.
7,632,024
13,741,006
Less the extra cost of home-grown flax
And of imported flax
•
£70,000
1,161,689
1,231,689
£12.509,317
Being the extra sum received over the prices of 1861 for the
conversion of the flax into yarn. If, then, we deduct from the
sum total of flax, the difference between the amounts imported, and
the amounts exported as yarn, the remainder will represent the
yarn left for conversion into linen thread, or into cloth. Then, if we
allow one-quarter as much extra profit per pound for manufacturing,
as has been secured by the flax spinners, the result will be as
represented in the following proportion, viz.: As the total con-
sumption of flax (eight millions three hundred thousand two
hundred and sixty-six hundredweights) is to the amount left for
manufacture (seven millions three hundred and seventy thousand
two hundred and fifty-nine hundredweights), so is one-quarter of the
extra profit on yarns (£3,127,329) to the extra profit on the manu-
facture (£2,776,926). The extra profits of the employers in the
linen trade arising out of the enhanced prices caused by the cotton
famine may therefore be taken roughly at £15,000,000, less fifteen
or twenty per cent for waste. In addition to the profits of the
employers, must be added about £3,000,000 for wages to the
operatives, for the extra trade which has been done in the last four
years. This total sum of fifteen millions has been shared by York-
shire and by Scotland; but the greater portion of it has gone to
Ireland; and such a gift of fortune ought, being entirely in addition
to ordinary income, to be well invested, and to find permanent
390
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
employment for one hundred thousand workpeople; who, with
their dependants, would represent two hundred and fifty thousand
persons, rising into permanent prosperity, out of the sufferings of
their Lancashire brethren.
That we have not over estimated the profits of the employers,
will be proved by the following list of prices for standard linen
goods, supplied by a leading manufacturer in Scotland, through
Messrs. Potters and Taylor, of Manchester :-
PRICES OF TWENTY-NINE INCH THIRTY PORTER* DOWLAS.
1862. May 8
August 13
September 1
September 9
•
5₁d. per yard.
1863. October 28.
8d.
per yard.
5ğd.
99
1864. January 27
7gd.
5ğd.
""
March 8
.72d.
"
•
57d.
""
June 20
8d.
62d.
July 29
81d.
August 5
•
October 12
6d.
""
October 24
7ğd.
19
September 15 . 67d.
""
1865. March 21
6 d.
""
•
78d.
""
June 23
62d.
1863. June 22
PRICES OF THIRTY-TWO INCH TWENTY-TWO PORTER TOW SHEETING.
1862. May 8
4ğd. per yard.
1863. October 28
63d. per yard.
August 13
4ğd.
""
1864. January 27
63d.
""
September 1
43d.
March 8
6ğd.
19
September 9
51d.
June 20
"
6zd.
""
1863. June 22
5gd.
July 29
7d.
August 5
5ğd.
October 24
""
6jd.
19
September 15 . 6d.
1865. March 21
52d.
""
October 12
6ğd.
June 23
6d.
""
PRICES OF THIRTY-SIX INCH TWENTY-EIGHT PORTER BROWN FLAX SHEETING.
1862. May 8
6дd. per yard.
1863. October 28
9ąd. per yard.
August 13
611d.
September 1
•
61&d.
1864. January 27
March 8
9d.
""
9ğd.
""
September9
•
7%d.
June 20
9åd.
""
""
1863. June 22
77.d.
July 29
92d.
August 5
September 15
7+ d.
October 24
""
91d.
""
October 12
8td.
9d.
1865. March 21
7ğd.
"
June 23
8d.
""
Thirty porter means thirty threads of warp to the inch in width.
These returns show a rise in price between May, 1862, and July,
1864, of about sixty per cent, so that the rise may be fairly
averaged at thirty per cent over the whole period.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Woollen and Worsted Trades-Progress of Eighty-five Years-Wages in 1800, and
1833, and 1858—Mr. Baines, M.P., on the Woollen Trade-The Trouble of Lan-
cashire the Opportunity of Yorkshire-The Increased Imports of 1862-4-Exports
of Yarns and Manufactured Goods-The Price of Spinning in 1861-4-Yorkshire
Gains by the Cotton Famine.
NEXT in the rate of progress to the cotton manufacture, during
the present century, must rank the woollen and worsted industry
of the West Riding of Yorkshire, which is its principal seat. The
imports of foreign and colonial wool in 1771, were one million eight
hundred and twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and seventy-two
pounds; and in 1856, the amount was one hundred and sixteen
million two hundred and eleven thousand three hundred and
ninety-two pounds, being an increase of six thousand two hundred
and fifty per cent. The total exports of raw wool, at this latter
period, amounted to forty-one million fifty-eight thousand five
hundred and sixty-seven pounds, leaving seventy-five million one
hundred and fifty-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-five
pounds, in addition to the total home-growth, to be spun or
manufactured.
At the beginning of the present century, the spinning of wool
and worsted was all done by hand, on a single-thread wheel, and
the cost for twenties yarn, as given by Mr. James, was from nine-
pence to a shilling per pound; the spinner earning about two shil-
lings and sixpence per week. A girl of fifteen years, being a good
spinner, would spin nine or ten hanks per day, of five hundred and
sixty yards each, for a halfpenny per hank, or six shillings per gross.
The first worsted mill was built in Bradford, in the year 1800, and
wages about that period ranged as follows:-
Combers
Weavers
Women, Spinners
Girls, Spinners
•
12s. Od.
108. Od.
2s. Od.
1s. 6d.
}
For a full week.
392
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
In 1819, a first-rate hand-loom weaver would weave three "plain
backs" of forty set, in a week, and would earn thirteen shillings
and sixpence. One power-loom will now weave five similar pieces
in a week; and allowing eleven shillings and threepence for weaving,
one shilling and sixpence for the cost of room and power, and two
shillings and sixpence for interest of capital, the whole cost of
working will be fifteen shillings and threepence, as against twenty-
two shillings and sixpence by hand-loom weaving. A comparison
of wages by hand and mill work in 1833 was made as follows:-
WAGES BY HAND WORK, 1823.
WAGES BY MILL WORK, 1833.
Sorters-
Overlookers
18s. Od. to 24s. Od.
Men
Overlookers from 18s. Od. to 26s. Od.
Woolsorters
Boys.
Combers-
Overlookers
Men
•
Boys .
Preparers-
Overlookers
40s. Od.
27s. 4d.
8s. Od.
40s. Od.
16s. 2d.
•
78. Od.
Warpers
Girls, 9 to 11 years
•
. 128. Od.
2s. 3d. to
3s. 9d.
278. Od.
Girls, 14 upwards.
8s. Od. to
8s. 6d.
Young Women
8s. Od.
Spinners-
Overlookers
25s. Od.
Boys.
Girls.
}
48. 7d.
Women, Reelers. 10s. Od.
Reelers-
Overlookers
20s. Od.
Weavers.
12s. 1d. to 13s. 8d.
Young Women
Warehousemen.
78.9d.
•
•
18s. Od. to 22s. Od.
All the economy which has been effected in production in the
woollen, as in the cotton manufacture, is due to machinery; for
weekly wages have not suffered any depression. In 1838 the
number of pieces of woollen and worsted goods exported, was one
million three hundred and fifty-eight thousand nine hundred and
eighty-four; and in 1856 the trade had increased to two millions
two hundred and nineteen thousand and ninety pieces; an increase
of sixty-three per cent in eighteen years in the export trade alone.
But to form a correct estimate of progress, the increased home
population supplied with woollens must also be taken into account.
The increase of population was about twenty-five per cent in the
period referred to; but the improved circumstances of the people
would doubtless render them better customers to the woollen
MR. BAINES, M.P., ON THE WOOLLEN TRADE.
393
merchants, and it is probable that the expansion of the home trade
would be nearly as great in proportion as in the export trade. Mr.
E. Baines, M.P., gives the following return of wages in 1858-
200 Men
40 Boys
WAGES IN A LEEDS WOOLLEN FACTORY.
averaging 22s. 2d. weekly
averaging 6s. 8d. weekly
£222 10 0
13 6 8
132 0 0
330 Women and girls averaging 88. Od. weekly
570
£367 16 8
Average of the whole, 12s. 11d. weekly; overlookers being excluded.
In an establishment in the shoddy district, comprising manufactur-
ing and finishing, the average wages of five thousand four hundred
and eight operatives, was fourteen shillings and a penny weekly. In
a spinning mill at Pudsey the hands averaged eleven shillings and
sevenpence-halfpenny; whilst in the cloth-dressing establishments
at Leeds the average was fifteen shillings and tenpence per week.
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," says the old proverb;.
and the trouble of Lancashire has been the opportunity of York-
shire. A considerable proportion of the cotton trade depends
upon the cheapness of the articles produced. In ordinary times, a
cotton moleskin jacket at seven shillings and sixpence would be as
warm, and would give as much wear, as a coarse woollen one at
twenty shillings; and the cotton garment has the further advantage
that it may be washed without injury to the material. But fashion
dictates the wearing of woollen garments, and if the price of the
cotton jacket be materially raised, the advantage which secures its
preference is lost; and the woollen garment will naturally be substi-
tuted. So whilst one-half of the machinery of Lancashire was for
three years idle, every spindle and every loom in Yorkshire was
increasingly busy; the absence of cotton increased the demand for
woollen and worsted goods, and whilst the raw material was
imported in considerably increased quantities, the demand for
manufactured goods increased so greatly, as to absorb the whole
supply. The quantities and prices of wool imported during the
last four years were as follow:
IMPORTS OF FOREIGN WOOL.
Year.
Per Pound.
1861
147,172,841 lbs.
£9,717,686
15ąd.
1862
171,943,472 lbs.
11,773,943
163d.
1863
177,377,664 lbs.
11,884,572
153d.
1864 206,473,045 lbs.
15,733,808
13ğd.
394
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
.
Thus the imports of 1862 were sixteen per cent in excess of
1861, with a rise of nearly one penny per pound; whilst a further
increase of three per cent in 1863-4 either brought in a lot of very
low quality wool, or more than met the demand in quantity; for
imported wool was nearly twopence per pound lower average in 1864
than in 1861. As there was a considerable rise, during the same
period, in the price of English wools, the probability is that the ex-
cess of imports consisted of very low qualities, and so reduced the
average price. This probability is rendered more evident by the
imports of 1864, which were forty per cent over those of 1861,
at nearly twopence per pound reduction.
The woollen, like the cotton trade, seems to have reached a cul-
minating point in 1860, for the imports of wool fell off by a million
of pounds in 1861, and prices also declined twopence three-farthings
per pound at the same time. Apart from the occurrence of the
cotton famine, employment must have fallen off in Yorkshire, as
well as in Lancashire, as is evidenced by the reduction in price
from 1860 to 1861; but the deficiency of cotton brought in two
million of pounds more sheep and lambs' wool in 1862 than in
1861, at a rise of nearly three-farthings per pound, or a little more
than half a million sterling, over the cost of the same quantity in
1861. And in 1863 the increase was about twenty per cent in
quantity, and the cost £369,536 more than the same quantity would
have cost in 1861. But Yorkshire spindles were evidently unequal
to the demand upon them, especially for very fine yarns; for the
increased importation of these was nearly fifty per cent in 1862, and
nearly 200 per cent in 1863, as compared with 1861, without any
sensible diminution in price, as the following table will show :—
Year
IMPORTS OF WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS.
1861 1,577,091 lbs.
1862
2,244,701 lbs.
1863 4,526,385 lbs.
£365,558
514,714
1,029,117
Per Pound.
4s. 7 d.
4s. 7d.
48. 61d.
1864
4,663,467 lbs.
And an increase took place at the same time in the imports of
woollen manufactured goods, showing that the Yorkshire looms, like
the spindles, were unequal to the work which was required to be
done. The following table represents the imports of manufactured
goods for three years :-
1861
£1,419,336.
1862 £1,574,281.
1863 £1,813,894.
EXPORTS OF YARNS AND GOODS.
395
A glance at the exports of sheep and lambs' wool, of home
growth, during the same period will further enlighten us as to the
intense activity of the West Riding of Yorkshire :-
1861
£1,143,358
EXPORTS OF SHEEP AND LAMBS' WOOL-BRITISH.
1862.
£756,310
1863.
1864.
£688,300
at 17 d.
15,715,288 Ib.
at 17 d.
10,200,544 lb.
at 20d.
8,320,214 fb.
£695,302
at 211d.
7,850,516 lb.
No raw wool could be spared for export, the home demand was
so great, that it used up all which could be obtained. But, after
conversion into yarn, so as to secure a profit to the spinner, there
was no objection to export; and whilst the price of foreign wool
had scarcely moved upwards, and imported yarns had actually fallen
slightly in price, the coarser home-spun yarns were exported in
increased quantities, and at improving prices, year by year, as the
following table will show :-
EXPORTS OF WOOLLEN YARNS.
1861.
27,512,352 I.
at 2s. 6ğd.
£3,552,976
1862.
27,821,378 lb.
1863.
32,542,609 Ib.
1864.
at 2s. 9d.
£3,852,998
at 3s. 11d.
£5,087,293
31,926,855 Mb.
at 3s. 4åd.
£5,422,162
And a similar rate of progress, both in quantity and in price, was
secured in the exports of manufactures, the increase in quantity
being thirty-two per cent in 1863, and forty-seven per cent in 1864,
over the exports of 1861.
EXPORTS OF WOOLLEN AND WORSTED MANUFACTURES.
1864.
1861.
1862.
1863.
164,398,181 yds.
at 1s. 4d.
£11,118,692
167,000,290 yds.
at 1s. 6åd.
£13,148,431
217,166,790 yds.
at 1s. 5d.
£15,489,564
241,484,954 yds.
at 1s. 6ğd.
£18,566,078
Thus, it will be seen that the increase of exports hardly made itself
felt in 1862; for only in the end of that year did cotton goods rise
materially in price; but, in 1863, the increase was thirty per cent,
with a further increase of eleven per cent in 1864, when the exports
exceeded those of 1861 by forty-seven per cent.
The following table, showing the prices of home-grown wool
for four years, ending 1864, has been supplied by Messrs. James
Akroyd and Son, of Halifax :-
396
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Statement SHOWING THE PRICES OF WOOL, PER PACK OF 240 pounds, DURING
1861, 1862, 1863, AND 1864.
Lowest Price
Quoted.
Highest Price
Quoted.
Average of
the Two.
Average of
whole Year.
1861.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
Lincoln Hogs (per pack) 18 0 0
22 5 0
20 2 6
21 0 0
Lincoln Wethers
16 10 0
20 5 0
18 7 6
18 15 0
""
Irish Wethers
16 10 0
19 0 0
17 15 0
18 2 6
Kent Wethers
17 0
0
19 0
0
18 0 0
18 7 6
"}
1862.
Lincoln Hogs
19 15 0
23 5 0
21 10 0
21 10 0
19
Lincoln Wethers
13
17 15 0
21 5 0
19 10 0
19 10 0
"1"
Irish Wethers
17 2
6
20 0 0
18 11 3
18 10 0
""
Kent Wethers
18 15 0
2015
0
19 15 0
19 10 0
19
1863.
Lincoln Hogs
22 0 0
26 10 0
24 5
0
24 5 0
11
Lincoln Wethers
20 10 0
24 0 0
22 5 0
22 0 0
Irish Wethers
20 5 0
24 0 0
22 2 6
22
2 2
6
Kent Wethers
20 10 0
24 10 0
22 10 0
1864.
Lincoln Hogs
29 0 0
32 10 0
30 15 0
Lincoln Wethers
23 10 0
27 10 0
25 10 0
22 5 0
30 2 6
25 7
6
""
Irish Wethers
24 0 0
28 0 0
26 0 0
26 5 0
19
24 0 0
28 0 0
26 0 0
26 5 0
Kent Wethers
Averaging the whole of the sorts in each year, we find the cost of
wool to have been in 1861, one shilling and sevenpence per pound;
in 1862, one shilling and sevenpence three farthings; in 1863, one
shilling and tenpence-halfpenny; and in 1864, two shillings and
threepence per pound. A trade which can stand a rise of forty-
four per cent in the price of raw material, and still flourish, must be
very sound; and that Yorkshire did stand it and flourish, the next
table, which is also supplied by Messrs. Akroyd, will demonstrate.
STATEMENT SHOWING PRICES OF WORSTED YARNS PER POUND, DURING YEARS
1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864.

1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
8.
d.
s. d.
8. d.
8. d.
8.
d.
Single 10's per b 2 0 to 2 2
21 to 2 1
2
&. d. 8. d. 8. d
32 to 2 512 8 to 3 0
Single 30's
Single 40's
""
25 to
-
2 62 to 2 92
2
10 to 3 1
3 61 to 3 81
99
2 112 to 3 1 3 0 to 3 7
3
62 to 4 2
4 0 to 5 1
Notwithstanding the extraordinary prices of wool, we find
by averaging all these yarns, from tens to forties, that the margin
for spinning increased every year. Thus, in 1861, the employer
got for spinning a pound of yarn elevenpence halfpenny; in 1862,
YORKSHIRE GAINS BY THE FAMINE.
397
he got one shilling and five-eighths of a penny; in 1863, he got
one shilling and twopence; and in 1864, he got one shilling and
fivepence.
Now, if we assume that the woollen and worsted trades in 1861'
paid a fair profit, we may, by comparing the later years with it,
form an approximate estimate of the gains of Yorkshire out of the
distress in the neighbouring county. Thus, if two shillings and
sixpence three farthings per pound was a fair paying price for
the yarns exported in 1861, the following table will show the extra
receipts under that head for 1862-3-4 :—
GAIN ON YARNS EXPORTED.
Year.
Value.
Increase of Trade.
1862.
27,821,378 ib. at 21d.
£260,867
1863
.32,542,600 lb. at 6¿d.
881,362
Nearly 11 per cent.
1864
31,926,855 fb. at 9d.
1,197,257
average.
So, if two shillings and fivepence per yard was a fair price for
woollen cloth piece goods in 1861, the following table will exhibit
the gains upon subsequent exports thus:-
Year.
1862
35,400,976 yards at 1d.
Value.
£147,504
Increase of Trade.
1863
27,762,256 yards at 51d.
607,299
1864
879,343
}
26 per cent average.
29,786,888 yards at 7½d.
The gain on blankets and flannels exported seems to have been
but small, the price per yard in 1861 and 1862 being the same,
namely, one shilling and sixpence and five-eighths of a penny;
but the demand in the latter year was greater by thirty-three
per cent. In 1863 the price rose only seven-eighths of a penny
per yard, and a further five-eighths of a penny in 1864; so that
the gain would be:-
Year.
1863
1864
Yards.
17,311,400 at 3d.
18,142,717 at 1½d.
Value.
£63,114
113,391
}
Increase of trade.
About 33 per cent
average.
The demand for carpets and druggets appears to have increased
considerably, but not to have secured any considerable advantage
in price. In 1861 the exports were:-
Years.
1861
Yards.
4,067,351 at 2s. 6d.
Gain in Price.
Gain in Trade Exports.
1862
5,378,562 at 2s. 6d.
1863
6,257,992 at 2s. 7d.
1864
5,988,633 at 2s. 11d.
£26,074
124,763
}
44 per cent.
398
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
1
In worsted goods great advantages have accrued, for it is here
that the substitutes for cotton prints have been found. The
exports in 1861, under the stimulus of the French treaty, were :—
Yards.
122,555,608 at 113d.
118,812,137 at 113d.
Year.
1861
1862
1863
165,835,142 at 12d.
1864
187,566,716 at 13ąd.
Gain in Price.
Gain in Trade Exports.
£86,372
1,465,361
}
20 per cent average.
These various sums make a total gain in the prices of export
goods, as compared with 1861, of £5,852,710, irrespective of an
increase of trade averaging at least twenty-eight per cent.
We have not been able to arrive at any reliable estimate of
the proportion of the foreign to the home trade. Mr. Baines
estimates the total production of the trade in 1858 at £20,290,079;
but this estimate is evidently very much below the mark, because
it is inconsistent with his own return of the quantity of home-grown
wool. It is founded upon the following calculation for 1858:—
Foreign and colonial wool
British wool
Shoddy and mungo
75,903,666 tb.
80,000,000 tb.
45,000,000 lb.
200,903,666 Ib.
But the foreign wool left for home consumption in 1859 was one
hundred and four million one hundred and seventeen thousand
eight hundred and eighty-four pounds; and the amount of British
wool exported was nine million fifty-four thousand one hundred
and fifty-one pounds; which, deducted from Mr. Baines's own esti-
mate of the growth, viz., one hundred and seventy-five million
pounds, would leave a total for manufacture into yarn and cloth
of two hundred and seventy million one hundred and seventy-seven
thousand eight hundred and eighty-four pounds, without any
allowance for British shoddy. So that if the quantity given by
Mr. Baines produces the value set down by him, the real quantity
manufactured in 1859 would produce £27,286,359; and if we
assume the profits, as in the cotton trade, at twelve and a half
per cent on the returns, then the twenty-eight per cent average
increase of trade during the last three years, which is mainly due to
the cotton crisis, will have added nearly £3,000,000 to the amount
given above. But this is not all; for £1,609,000 per annum has
YORKSHIRE GAINS BY THE FAMINE.
399
been added to the wages fund, so that the total gain of the woollen
and worsted trades, most of which has been absorbed by York-
shire, is as follows:-
Gain in price on three years' exports
£5,852,710
Gain in price on three years' home trade, at one and a
half times the exports
8,779,065
Gain on twenty-eight per cent increase of trade at
normal profits, say twelve and a half per cent.
Extra wages paid
818,589
1,609,000
£16,950,364
And the British farmer has had his harvest increased by the
distress of the Lancashire operatives; for whilst the relief fund has
prevented his suffering much in the price of grain, he has reaped
the following substantial benefit from his growth of wool:-
175,000,000 lb., at an advance of 2d.
1862
.1863
1864
""
Total
£546,870
31d.
2,552,083
8d.
""
5,833,323
£8,932,286
That the above estimate of trade profits is not unreasonable, will be
proved by another method of calculation. If the total exports of
wool and of yarn be taken from the total imports, the remainder,
together with the bulk of home-grown wool, may be fairly assumed
to have been manufactured. Messrs. Akroyds' tables give us the
cost of preparing and spinning in the worsted trade, and it is likely
that the cost of manufacturing will be about half as much as that
of the other processes; whilst, in woollen cloths, the balance will be
the other way, as the cost of weaving and finishing, will very much
exceed that of preparing and spinning. A woollen cloth, at eight
shillings and ninepence per yard, will cost-
For wook
Preparing.
Spinning.
•
8. d.
6 2
0 41
0 22
Warping, Weaving, &c.
09
Finishing and Pressing
0 10
Dyeing
0 5
8 91
400
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
A flannel at fifteenpence per yard will cost-
Wool
Spinning
Weaving
Finishing -
8. d.
8. d.
07 to 0 81
0 31/1
0 24/2
001
1 3
If, therefore, we add fifty per cent to the extra margin of the spin-
ner, for the gain of the manufacturer, we shall not err very widely,
and the table will stand thus-assuming one hundred and seventy
million of pounds as the amount of home-grown wool annually
manufactured-
1862
1863
1864
276,680,477 lb. at 1ğd. excess
265,490,778 lb. at 3ąd.
295,062,566 Ib. at 62d.
""
Add gain on yarns exported
£1,873,357
3,940,878
8,298,634
£14,112,869
2,339,486
£16,452,355
And this estimate takes no account of the extra normal profit
arising from increase of trade, nor of any gain upon the manufac-
ture of the fine yarns imported, and which are used chiefly for
waistcoatings; but there is probably an excess in the calculation,
arising from the average process, because the production of coarse
yarns and cloths will naturally be larger, than of the finer qualities.
This estimate also excludes the manufacture of British shoddy,
which, together with material of the same kind imported, exceeds
thirty million pounds per annum, but it also excludes all allowance
for waste, and the one item may be set against the other.
Thus, the trade of Yorkshire has been greatly and profitably
extended, first, by the French treaty in 1860, under which the
exports of woollen and worsted manufactures to France, rose at
one bound from £607,609 to £1,049,347; and since that period still
more, by the sufferings of the sister county, in consequence of
which the total exports of woollen and worsted manufactures have
risen from £11,118,692 in 1861, to £15,489,564 in 1863, and
£18,566,078 in 1864, or sixty-seven per cent. But this good for-
tune has not been quite all one-sided, for some thousands of cotton
operatives have doubtless found employment in the worsted trade,
and it is probable that much Lancashire capital has followed them;
YORKSHIRE GAINS BY THE FAMINE.
401
the worsted trade has also crossed the borders of Yorkshire, and
found work for a large number of cotton looms in Lancashire, which
are now busy producing orleans, cobourg, and alpaca cloths. The
mills erected for the manufacture of cotton goods in Warwickshire,
with the laudable view of finding a secondary occupation for the
ribbon weavers, have also gone ad interim into the worsted trade;
so that either a wider permanent market will be necessary for
worsted goods, or the occupation which promises to pay better
for the time being, worsted or cotton, will hereafter chiefly obtain
in these localities.
DD
CHAPTER XXII.
Origin of the Cotton Supply Association-Cotton Prospects in 1860-Assistance of the
Foreign Office-Constitution of the Association-The Work of Eight Years-The
Mission to India and its Results-Concessions by the Turkish, Egyptian, and
Portuguese Governments-The Times' Bombay Correspondent on the Gains of
India-Whimsical Tastes- A Bombay Share List-Reports of Government Col-
lectors-Indian Superstition the Cause of Insolvency-Eighty-six Millions Sterling
Extra Paid in Four Years to India-Decreasing Consumption of Indian Cotton-
Mr. Shaw's Calculations on Dharwar Cotton-Efforts towards Extension of
Cotton Cultivation by Mr. Frederic Warren-Messrs. Cross and Hacking-Mr.
Thomas Clegg, &c., &c.—African Cotton-The Principle of Protection amongst
the Merchants.
"THE Cotton Supply Association originated (1857) in the pros-
pective fears of a portion of the trade that some dire calamity must
inevitably, sooner or later, overtake the cotton manufacture of
Lancashire; whose vast superstructure had so long rested upon the
treacherous foundation of restricted slave labour, as the main
source of supply for its raw material.”
The above extract from the fifth annual report truly says that
it originated from the fears of a portion of the trade, for the
inauguration meeting was not large, and the subscriptions did not
indicate any wide spread belief in its necessity. And, although it
was predicted at the meeting that, at the thẹn rate of consumption,
there would not be a bale of cotton left in Liverpool at Christmas,
yet one of the largest manufacturers present declined, for want of
time, to act upon the committee. With the prospect, that in a few
months all his mills would have to stop for want of cotton, he had
not time to devote to seeking out a remedy for the evil Of such
material are the mass of mankind made: the present moment is
everything, the future nothing to them; and it is continually to
the few active, sensitive, and patriotic spirits, that the world is
indebted for its onward progress.
But, nevertheless, there was real need for the active services of
the association, even apart from any such catastrophe as the
ASSISTANCE OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE.
403
anticipated servile war, or the more serious war of secession, which
precipitated the trouble of Lancashire, in 1861. Between the
years 1840 and 1860, the American cotton crop increased about
one hundred per cent; but during the same term, the number of
spindles employed in England and on the continent of Europe had
increased about one hundred and fifty per cent. The United
States Economist, as quoted in the report of the Cotton Supply
Association for 1860, said: "The question is, whether the United
States crop is likely to increase in the same ratio as the demand?
We do not think it is. We have the soil for producing infinitely;
but our labour is already taxed to the utmost of its producing capa-
city.
The prospect, then, seems to be, that the steady
increase of the demand, as compared with the crop, will be still
continued; and that, as a consequence, the price of cotton will rise
to a yet higher standard.”
* *
The association, although not receiving such support as the im-
portance of its object deserved, yet steadily devoted itself to earnest
work, and opened up correspondence with every tropical and semi-
tropical country to which it could get access; and it is only just to
put upon record the fact that, by the aid of the home government,
the co-operation of the British consuls throughout the world was
secured, and that very valuable results accrued therefrom. The docu-
ments of the association were distributed with the despatches from
the Foreign Office, and the various consuls were requested to report
to the association, upon the capacity and adaptability of the various
countries and climates where they were stationed for the growth
of cotton. The association thus collected most valuable informa-
tion from all quarters, and learned how, most profitably, to expend
their energies.
In the report for 1862, we read: "A prize of from £30,000,000
to £40,000,000 per annum is at the present moment offered by the
trade of Lancashire, to be competed for by all nations capable of
growing cotton; together with innumerable social and commercial
advantages, resulting from successful competition. Never in the
history of nations was so magnificent an opportunity for national
aggrandisement afforded to tropical countries, as that which is now
presented through the failure of our supplies from the Southern
States of America." This is rather grandiloquent in style, but
India has since proved the truthfulness of its basis, for to the
404
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
increased purchases of cotton at famine prices for Lancashire
spindles and looms, is mainly owing the conversion of the deficit in
the revenue of that country into a surplus.
It is possible that if the trade could have been induced to
subscribe £1,000,000 for a joint-stock company, to establish agents
in all cotton producing countries, with power to purchase at
proper prices all the staple which they could lay hold of, the imme-
diate result would have been better than has yet been secured.
And if the cotton so purchased had been bought below the
ordinary market price, and had been auctioned amongst the share-
holders in the company only, a sort of moral compulsion would
have been exercised to enforce universal support for the project.
The association, however, has lived upon voluntary contributions,
and has confined its operations to the spread of information, to the
distribution of cotton seed, and the improvement of the machinery
for cleaning and packing. This more disinterested course has
given it a better claim to public sympathy and to government
help; has universalised its sphere of operations, and will doubtless
eventually fix the production of cotton in the most suitable climates
and localities; for to such will be the victory in the market, when
the supply at normal prices again overtakes the demands of the
trade. And the good done is not confined to England and her
colonies, for seed has been sent in considerable quantities to
Algeria and other colonies of France; and the Paris correspondent
of The Times, writing in September, 1864, says: "The attempt to
cultivate cotton in Algeria, Guyana, and the West Indies, together
with the encouragement given to it by the government, leads the
manufacturers to hope that, in a few years, there will be sufficient
cotton grown in the French colonies to supply all their require-
ments. The consumption during the first three months of 1864,
was one-third more than for the same period of 1863, and only one-
third less than in the first three months of 1860."
Of course
the supply of France, or any other country, direct from its own
colonies, will, by removing that country as a competitor from the
general market, be just as advantageous to England as if the
home supply was increased by the same amount.
In eight years, the association has distributed ten thousand
hundred weights of cotton seeds; sent out one thousand two hundred
gins, for cleaning the cotton from the seed, prior to its being packed
THE MISSION TO INDIA.
405
for shipment; and, besides a great number of fly-wheels, to be used
where steam power is not available; and of saws to supply the
gins, in case of accident, or destruction by ordinary wear and tear;
sixty-two ploughs, and a large number of agricultural implements.
Its supply of reports and pamphlets may be counted by millions;
and it has stimulated production and improvement, by the distri-
bution of eight gold, nineteen silver, and fifty-three bronze medals.
It has also given prizes for the best essays on the management of
the cotton plant, and the most improved method for its cultivation.
Corresponding agencies have been established in Turkey, Italy,
Egypt, Spain, Portugal, Australia, the Brazils, Paraguay, South
America, &c., &c.; and the association "has given careful attention
to about thirteen thousand letters."
All the information collected from time to time, pointed to the
conclusion set forth in the report for 1862:-"India is our chief
reliance, possessing as it does every element of soil, climate, and
labour, necessary to furnish us with adequate supplies of cotton."
In July, 1861, the association, in connection with the Manchester
Cotton Company, sent out Mr. Haywood, their secretary, as a
commissioner to India. The government aided this mission by
sending out Dr. Forbes Watson with Mr. Haywood, and the fol-
lowing are some of the conclusions reported to the association:-
"That had land and water communications been more exten-
sively opened throughout India, the present exports of cotton from
that country would now have been doubled. That the annual
growth of cotton in India is between four million and five million
bales. That the rapid completion of the various leading lines of
railway in India will prove an enormous advantage, by hastening
the establishment of European agencies in the interior, and by
bringing the crop down to the ports, before the setting in of the
monsoon. That branch feeders will be required to connect the
main lines with the remoter districts. That especial attention ought
to be given to the construction of bridges upon existing roads,
and this work would save thousands of miles of circuitous traffic.
That cotton can be grown in India, and laid down in Liverpool, at
a less cost than the New Orleans variety; and that the acclimated
American seed of Dharwar, when properly cleaned, is a fair rival
to New Orleans cotton. That adequate provision should be made,
by a sound law, to secure the fulfilment of contracts between the
10
406
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
contractor and producer; and that greater facilities should be pro-
vided for the settlement of disputes in the courts of the mofussil;
which are so few, so inaccessible, and so subject to corruption, as
to prove an insuperable barrier to the course of justice."
In accordance with these conclusions, we find by the report for
1864, that the committee of the association made strenuous efforts
in parliament, to obtain for India the adoption of measures which
they believe would have been of great utility; and subsequently,
suggestions were offered to the secretary of state for India, to
secure the services of well-qualified commissioners, in certain dis-
tricts; whose labours should be wholly devoted to the improvement
and extension of the cultivation of cotton, chiefly from exotic seed,
and to the prevention of adulteration and fraud.
The interest excited in foreign countries by the work of the
association was very great. The Turkish government has given land
rent free and tax free for five years, if devoted to the cultivation of
cotton; and also allows the import of machinery for the same
purpose free of duty.
In Upper Egypt, waste land devoted to the cultivation of cot-
ton, is free from all contributions to the state for ever.. The
Portuguese government has made a like exemption for thirty
years, in respect of land in its possession in India. The seventh
report of the association says: "The indifference of our Indian rulers,
so strikingly in contrast to the eager solicitude and enlightened
exertions of other governments, still renders the country which
was expected to become the most prolific source of supply, an
occasion of mortification and disappointment." Sir Charles Wood
had not only annulled the Canning minute for the redemption of
the land tax and the sale of waste lands; but when the governor
of Madras had given to the collectors discretion to remit the land
tax for five years, to holders of not more than thirty acres devoted
to cotton cultivation, he also requested that the instructions on
this subject should be withdrawn.
It is difficult to understand upon what principle the govern-
ment of India is conducted, for it seems certain that, if properly
encouraged, no better paying crop than cotton could be produced
in many parts of that country; and it is equally certain that un-
less such encouragement be given, Indian cotton will fall again out
of use, either by the cessation of the American war, or by a supply
DISTRIBUTION OF COTTON SEED.
407
from the various other countries, to which the efforts of the Cotton
Supply Association have introduced it; and that the principal cause
of the surplus revenue in India will then have vanished. In
1861, the association reported fifty-eight new, revived, or increasing
sources of supply. It is amazing, that whilst Lord Russell, as
minister for foreign affairs, so effectually aided the efforts of the
association, as to have produced the general impression in foreign
countries that the gifts of cotton seed were due to the British
government; and thus secured the utmost attention and help;
the secretary for India, "the finest jewel in the British crown,"
has acted as if he wished to exclude the cultivation of cotton from
a country, which, if properly encouraged, would be able to supply
with ease, all which Europe can need for many years to come.
From the report for 1864-5 we learn that the distribution of
seed for the year had been two thousand two hundred and ninety-
eight hundredweights, and that it had been sent to Constantinople,
Smyrna, Jaffa, Brussa, Acre, Latakia, Trieste, The Caucasus, Wal-
lachia, South of Spain, France, Greece, Piraeus, Carrea, Corfu,
Patras, Zante, Italy, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Kurrachee, Batavia,
Penang, Shangai, Kin Kiang, and other parts of China; Mauri-
tius, Leychelles, Natal, West Africa, Siberia, Cameroons, Mazagan,
Teneriffe, and various parts of Egypt; Maranham, Peru, Porto Rico,
Rio Janiero, Rio Grande, West Coast of South America, Berbice,
Vera Cruz, Gaudaloupe, Tobago, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola,
Cuba, and other places in the West Indies; Queensland, Port
Macquarrie, New South Wales, New Zealand, Navigator's Islands,
New Hebrides, and Fijii. Turkey would gladly have taken three
hundred tons of seed and have paid for it, had as much been available.
And the association received samples of cotton from the three
presidencies of India, from Java, Rangoon, Bokhara, Queensland,
Western Australia, New South Wales, the West Indies, Cape de
Verde Islands, Porto Rico, Costa Rico, New Granada, Venezeula,
Peru, The Argentine Republic, Bahia, Honduras, Brazil, Mexico,
Carthagena, and other places in Central and South America; Cape
Coast, Natal, Madagascar, Navigator's Islands, Turkey, Asia Minor,
Smyrna, Syria, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Malta, The Cauca-
sus, and the United States. Speaking of India, the report says:-
"Disappointed that so little has been done to render India
a satisfactory and permanent source of cotton supply, your
408
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
committee have renewed their appeals to the Indian council on this
subject; recapitulating the measures previously recommended,
showing by numerous samples that an improved quality can, with
proper care and effort, be grown, and urging that immediate steps
be taken, to preserve the magnificent cotton trade of that country.
Your committee also had an interview with the Right Honourable
W. N. Massey, the new finance minister of India, prior to his
departure, to whom they represented the importance of using such
means as might be in his power to promote the desired improve-
ment in Indian cotton. Whilst these representations were in both
cases received with courtesy and attention, your committee fear
that official procrastination and neglect will continue, until the
opportunity which should be used will be irrecoverably lost. A
consignment of Indian cotton from Dr. Shortt, of Madras, was
recently sold by your association at fourteenpence per pound, the
value of middling Orleans being at the same date fifteenpence-
halfpenny per pound; showing conclusively, in addition to former
evidence, that India is capable of producing a quality which will
bear comparison with that of American growth."
In the beginning of the year 1865 the Bombay correspondent of
The Times wrote to the following effect:-Up to 1860 the sum
paid by Europe for the whole cotton export of India was not above
seven millions sterling annually. In 1860-1 the import of bullion
into Bombay alone, was six and one-third millions sterling, chiefly
in
payment for cotton. But in the three following years, Europe
paid to India nearly forty millions sterling per annum, one-half
of which was in bullion. In Calcutta the trade is almost entirely
in the hands of Europeans, the Bengalese playing but a subordinate
part. But in Bombay the trade is largely in the hands of the
casteless native Parsees; and many of them, and a smaller number
of Scotchmen, who a few years ago were petty brokers, are now
millionaires. A Hindoo, named Premchund Roychund, lately a
subordinate clerk in an English house on £30 a year, has by daring
speculation amassed two millions sterling. Rustonjee, the second
son of the late Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, who inherited but a
moderate fortune, has become the millionaire of Bombay, his capital
being reckoned at two and a half millions sterling. Twenty such
cases could be named. Nor is the wealth confined to the merchant,
who acts as middleman between the peasant grower and the Liver-
WHIMSICAL TASTES.
409
pool buyer. The ryots of the Bombay presidency were (except
those of Madras) the most miserable in India: burdened with a
weight of hereditary debt, which every generation increased; they
were the veriest bond slaves of the native usurer, who bought their
crops at his own price. Now they are rolling in comparative
wealth, and the occupation of the usurer is gone. All are, according
to their ideas, comfortably clothed, housed, and fed to the full;
and the majority of them indulge in the most whimsical tastes.
One prides himself on his fine breed of bullocks, for which he has
paid five times the old price; another rejoices in his riding-horse ;
whilst a third has actually used English silver to make tires for
his cart wheels! and a worthy farmer in a festive procession exhi-
bited his wealth by carrying enormous bags of rupees at the ends
of poles! In this presidency, once so waste, and yielding com-
paratively so little to the revenue, there is not a culturable acre
unemployed. Even in Kandeish, the only country which has not
recovered from the effects of Mahratta devastations, there has been
witnessed in an obscure village, a crowd of peasants squatting round
two agents from Bombay; one with forty thousand rupees, and the
other with thirty thousand, paying for the growing crop at enor-
mously high prices.
Such an influx of wealth has raised the prices of all commo-
dities, to such an extent that persons who live on small fixed
incomes are in great difficulties; and subalterns and even captains
in Her Majesty's service, cannot afford to have butcher's meat on
their tables more than once a week. The youngest and ablest
men leave the service of the crown for merchandise. Speculation
is wild. In a single Bombay share list, there appeared thirty
banks, land reclamation, and financial companies, nearly all the
produce of 1864. Hardly one had paid a dividend, yet the shares
stood at premiums which the maddest speculator had never dreamt
of. According to the reports of the government collectors, the
cultivation of cotton is rapidly extending, and increased attention
is paid to the quality. Mr. Hume, the collector of Etawah, tells
the Suddar board of revenue, that the cotton growers begin to show
a desire to ship cotton on their own account to England, and
inquire the prices which could be realised in their own districts,
in Calcutta, and in England respectively. Mr. Plowden, secretary
to the board of revenue for the north-western provinces, says that
:
i
410
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
"the great majority of the profits have this year (1864) at least,
reached to those immediately connected with the soil," but there
does not appear to have been much saving of money. Mr. Forbes
(another collector) says: "It has been noticed by everyone that
the care bestowed upon the cotton lands this year, exceeds that
ever known before. Men, women, and children were continually
to be seen in the fields, weeding, clearing, and loosening the earth
about the young plants, and fondly contemplating the crop upon.
which all their hopes were centered." Mr. Martin, of Moozuffu-
mugger, says: "I am at a loss to conceive how the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce makes out that the tenure under which the
land is held in India impedes the cultivation of cotton; in reality
there is no such impediment. The cultivation is going on at
rapid strides, and displacing other crops. The minute sub-division
of landed property has no doubt the effect of preventing the growth
of capital, and thereby the means of purchasing cotton-cleaning
and pressing implements; but private companies are springing up
all over the country, and providing the necessary apparatus to the
trading classes. As long as prices remain steady, Manchester
need not fear any contraction of the breadth of land sown with
cotton." This evidence of Mr. Martin tells us that, so long as
from two hundred to three hundred per cent over the ordinary
price is paid for cotton, the cultivation in India will continue
to extend, and that the defective tenure of land will not be an
obstacle. But prices will not remain at those rates, and the tax,
which at present is unfelt, will again make itself evident; and
a needy government may again render the ryot's calculations as to
the produce of his crop perfectly useless. Unless the staple of
Indian cotton be greatly improved, its consumption in England
will infallibly fall again to the old standard; and it will have to
compete not only with its former successful rival, but also with
Turkey, Egypt, China, Japan, Brazil, and a host of other new
aspirants for a share of the vast sum which is now annually
disposable by Lancashire.
The Indian government has not done what it might and ought
to have done to aid. the cultivation of cotton; and there is one
monster evil which it cannot abolish if it would, and which is a
great hindrance to progress. The ryots are very superstitious, and
are born to hereditary debt, arising out of this superstition.
SUPERSTITION THE CAUSE OF INSOLVENCY.
411
According to their creed, it is necessary for each man to pay a
very heavy sum (often two years' income) to the priest, for the
welfare of the soul of his father; and it is necessary to provide
sisters and daughters with husbands before they reach a given
age, at whatever cost; and these two practices help to throw them
all into the hands of the native usurers, and to keep them there
generation after generation. It is proposed to erect insolvent
courts, to enable the ryots to shake off their load when it becomes
intolerable; but the influence of such courts upon the moral
character of the ryot is doubtful, supposing them to get into opera-
tion; whilst if they require the insolvent to surrender his land, it
is more than doubtful if they will ever get to work at all.
The gain to India by the cotton famine has been enormous, and
if that gain had been spread amongst a prudent population, would
have been sufficient to secure much permanent prosperity. But a
large proportion of it is in few hands, and will be, if it be not already,
spent in unprofitable speculations; whilst the remainder, it is to be
feared, will be freely spent in other directions than for land im-
provements, or the production of a quality of cotton which would
be permanently marketable.
Mr. Henry Ashworth, speaking at the annual meeting of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 30th January, 1865, said: "The
quantity of cotton consumed in 1860 was valued at £34,000,000.
Last year (1864), for a quantity probably not exceeding one-half
what we received in 1860, we had to pay, in round numbers,
£80,000,000. In 1860 our consumption was one billion eighty-
three million pounds. In 1864 it was five hundred and sixty-one
million pounds, or about fifty-one per cent of the former year. But
the inferiority of the material required much more labour; hence
the fifty-one per cent of cotton, consumed, required from sixty to
seventy per cent of the hands to work it up. In 1860 American
cotton furnished five days' labour out of six in every week; in 1864
it did not furnish enough for half a day per week. In 1860 we
paid for Indian cotton £3,500,000, and in 1864 nearly £40,000,000.
The quantity had increased two and a half times (from two hun-
dred and fourteen million pounds to five hundred and thirteen
million pounds), and the price had increased ten or eleven times."
Assuming the average price of Indian cotton, in ordinary years,
at fivepence per pound, then the payments of the last three years
may be set forth as follows:—
412
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
PAYMENTS IN EXCESS OF THE ORDINARY PRICES OF INDIAN COTTON.
lbs.
403,197,300 at 8ğd. over ordinary prices
Years.
1862
1863
1864
•
513,758,220 at 152d.
449,571,000 at 147d.
£14,489.903
27,822,368
33,715,283
£76,027,554
And the year 1865 will at least have added £10,000,000 more to
this enormous gain.
This immense sum has not been all retained in India, for en-
hanced prices of goods have necessitated a considerable return;
but whilst the payments for cotton have gone first to the merchants,
and speculators, and money lenders, and then, in a lesser degree, to
the ryots; the cost of goods has been drawn from the whole of the
consumers, and has also afforded a profit to the merchants. It is
impossible to get anything like an exact estimate of gains and
losses, because goods are exported in so many different forms that
the total weight sent to any place cannot be given. The imports
of cotton are given in pounds weight, but the exports of piece goods
are given in.yards; and it is not possible to arrive at the weight of
an average yard. The Times' correspondent says that about one-
half of the payments of 1862-3-4 have been in bullion; but, as
India imported much more largely than usual of other matters
besides cotton goods, one half of the extra payments for cotton will
not approximate very nearly to the absolute gain by the cotton
famine. Our exports of cotton goods to India have been as exhi-
bited in the following table :-
Per lb.
Excess compared
with 1861.
£338,122
COTTON YARNS.
Years.
lbs.
1861
at 141d.
1862
18,033,219
£1,476,338
at 19d.
1863
23,468,771
2,905,214
at 29ğd.
1,454,574
1864
17,686,636
2,349,940
at 31ğd.
1,280,438
MANUFACTURED GOODS.
Yards.
1861
Per Yard.
at 3d.
1862
514,662,198
£8,056,540
1863
559,364,030
11,708,984
at 3ąd.
at 5d.
£1,608,319
4,661,366
1864
476,976;102
11,346,676
at 5ğd.
4,388,842
£13,731,661
If we add fifty per cent for items overlooked, to the excess here
brought out, we shall see that the terrible Lancashire crisis has
given to India about £56,000,000, or more than a quarter of the
CON
DECREASING CONSUMPTION OF INDIAN COTTON.
413
whole capital invested in the cotton manufacture; and which gives
direct and profitable employment in the Lancashire district alone
to more than half a million of workpeople.
Let us hope that the merchants of India, instead of being
satisfied with their present prosperity, will adopt means to render
it permanent for themselves and the ryots. This can only be done
by stimulating the production of improved staples. Apart from an
earnest effort in that direction, Surat cotton will as surely be
superseded within a few years by the productions of other countries,
as it was in former years by that of the Southern States of North
America. In 1860, the proportion of Indian consumed in this
country was nearly seven per cent of the whole; in 1861, it rose to
fourteen and three-quarters per cent; and in 1862, to nearly fifty-
nine per cent; and in 1863, it reached nearly sixty-five per cent.
The actual increase of consumption, including the small amounts
received from China and Japan, for four years, is shown below :—
1860
1861
1862
1863
173,700 bales.
348,500
""
698,320 ""
892,800 19
But that the character of the cotton is not much improved, is also
proved by the fact that the consumption of 1864 showed only about
seven and a half per cent increase over the previous year (about
one thousand two hundred and seventy bales per week); whilst the
imports would have allowed eight thousand bales per week more
to be consumed. The total consumption of cotton increased about
seventeen per cent, but of East Indian only seven and a half per
cent; indicating very plainly that it is not prejudice alone which
prevents its use, and that it must either be considerably improved
in quality or fall again speedily out of use. In the first four weeks
of 1865 there was actually a less consumption of this cotton than
at the same period of 1863. The weekly deliveries from Liverpool
are thus given in the Manchester Guardian, 7th February 1865:
American
Brazil
Egyptian, &c.
West Indian, &c.
First four weeks in 1865.
1,560 bales
1,500
3,940
410
19
7,500
East India, China, and Japan. 10,230
17,730
First four weeks in 1863.
940 bales
1,360
2,600
120
5,020
12,290
17,310
""
414
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Thus, whilst the consumption of every other kind had increased
by fifty per cent, Indian cotton had decreased seventeen per cent.
Surat, which was used almost exclusively for yarns up to 40's
during the year 1862, has since been mixed to the extent of from
one-third to two-thirds of better cotton. Spinners and manufac-
turers follow this course, not because they choose to use higher
priced cotton, but because they are forced to it, in order to keep
their workmen and to sell their goods.
* * *
We have elsewhere spoken of the efforts of Mr. A. N. Shaw,
formerly government collector in the district of Dharwar, to improve
the character of the cotton grown in that district, by the introduc-
tion of New Orleans seed. Let us now calculate the pecuniary
result which would flow from generalising that improvement. From
a paper read at the Society of Arts, in 1863, by Mr. Shaw, we take
the following extract :-" New Orleans still maintained its position
at the head of the price current, being, on 12th November, 1862,
one hundred and fifty rupees per candy higher than the best cotton
in the Bombay market.
Allowing that it requires seven
acres of the New Orleans seed to produce a candy, or seven hundred
and eighty-four pounds, of clean cotton, and that thirteen acres of
the indigenous cultivation are necessary to yield an equal amount;
(the relative prices of the indigenous and New Orleans cottons
being, as quoted in Bombay at the above date, five hundred and
sixty rupees and three hundred and ninety rupees per candy,)#the
difference of the value of two hundred and eighty thousand acres
of these respective cultivations, taking the rupee at two shillings,
would be as £2,240,000 to £840,000; leaving in favour of the New
Orleans £1,400,000, to be divided amongst those concerned in India
in growing and selling the crop; and manifold more valuable to the
government and the country than the whole aggregate of the expen-
diture which has been incurred in all the experiments throughout
India." And the account given of successful improvement in
Dharwar, has since been repeated in Madras.
The difference between the indigenous cotton and that grown
in Dharwar, from New Orleans seed, was nearly fourpence three-
farthings per pound in November, 1862, and it would be at
least one-half as much in ordinary times. Assuming such an
improvement to be generalised upon the production of 1864, the
difference of price would be £4,281,318. Such an improvement
MR. FREDERIC WARREN'S EFFORTS.
415
would render a large portion of the demand upon India permanent;
and, whilst securing a market for a most important staple produc-
tion, would also pay interest at five per cent upon £85,000,000 for
irrigation and other necessary improvements. And if the calcula-
tions of Mr. Shaw as to the increased yield of New Orleans seed
be correct, the same effort, instead of displacing other crops, and
rendering India dependent upon imports for food, would actually
set at liberty nearly half the land which is now under cultivation
for cotton. Surely, if the immense influx of wealth of the last three
years does not effect this most important object, by demonstrating
in what direction the duty of government lies, all hope of the im-
provement of India may be given up.
Now that the cotton famine is nearly over, and the raw material
bids fair to return, at no distant date, to normal prices, even without
very large supplies from the Southern States of North America, the
reader will naturally ask why men of keen intellect and large
general knowledge ever allowed the great staple of their industry to
depend on the rotten foundation of negro slavery? All thinking
men believed that the institution which upheld property in man
as a right must, sooner or later, come to ruin; and it was some-
times talked of as a crime that Lancashire manufacturers should,
by their trade, encourage and tend to perpetuate its existence.
Everybody believed that the system would some day break down,
and the hopes of most people favoured their belief; but the con-
servative feeling which dictates that we should let well alone,
prevented people who averaged twelve and a half per cent upon a
continually-increasing capital, from troubling themselves much
about the future. Manufacturers were concerned chiefly in the
production of a cheap article; they bought all suitable material
which came to hand, and the doctrine of laissez faire taught that
cotton ought to be, as experience showed that it had hitherto been,
supplied in sufficient quantities to make a fair profit. Neverthe-
less, efforts were made from time to time, setting forth the danger
of the dependence, the capacities of India, and the necessity of
encouraging an increase of growth and improvement of quality
on that continent.
a
After the failure of Mr. Bright's motion for inquiry, in 1847,
working man, named Frederic Warren, who had originally been a
carter, and then an assistant to a drysalter, and afterwards a dry-
416
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
salter on his own account; and who had also been an active worker
in the operatives' anti-bread-tax union, set to work to enlighten
the public mind upon this subject. He issued a pamphlet, showing
from good authorities that Indian cotton could, with the encourage-
ment of the government, be laid down in Liverpool at twopence
halfpenny per pound. Having considerable mechanical genius, he
applied to a machine maker, and obtained leave to use the tools of
the establishment, and produced a complete and beautiful set of
working models of cotton machinery, from the steam engine to the
calico printing machine. With these models Mr. Warren travelled
through the country, and lectured upon his favourite topic in most
of the important cities and towns, at the universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, and at the Society of Arts in London; on which last
occasion the late Prince Consort presided, and so highly appreciated
his efforts, as to introduce him to the East India Company. But it
was too early for much useful result, either to the country or to the
lecturer. The carriage of the machinery was costly, and although
Mr. Warren was his own mechanic and his own labourer, the
lectures failed to pay expenses, and were obliged to be discon-
tinued. Lancashire manufacturers were in no immediate danger,
and did not value his self-imposed labour and energetic exertion
to produce a public opinion in this country, in order to enforce
Indian cultivation; and so left the lecturer to seek a new occu-
pation, and his machinery models to fill a lumber room.
About the same period, Mr. Thomas Clegg, a Manchester
manufacturer, appears, through his acquaintance with Mr. Thomas.
Bazley, M.P. (who has been a promoter of most of the attempts to
widen the area of cotton cultivation), to have been led to take more
than usual interest in the subject.
Messrs. Cross and Hacking, of Farnworth, attempted, in 1851,
to get up a company for the growth of cotton, but, as might have
been anticipated, they did not succeed. Men who could profitably
employ all their capital at home, were not likely to risk it in
Jamaica, or other far off colonies, entirely beyond their own
control; and they pleaded, "we are spinners," or, "we are manu-
facturers," and our employment requires all our care and absorbs
all our means.
Messrs. J. Pender, M.P., the late Joseph Sturge, of Birming-
ham, J. A. Turner, M.P., Thomas Bazley, M.P., and others, tried to
MR. THOMAS CLEGG.
417
procure cotton from the west coast of Africa, but without much
success. Mr. Clegg, desiring prominently to promote the growth
of free labour cotton, procured samples of indigenous African cotton;
which grows wild, in great profusion, and for the most part falls to
the ground and rots, from year to year, until it forms a coating upon
the earth, like the guano on the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
The samples from Sierra Leone were found to possess all the
qualities of American cotton, but were a little coarser, and not so
white as the cotton grown from New Orleans seed. Mr. Clegg set
up agencies at Lagos and Abbeokuta, where young Africans were
taught the principles of mechanics, to enable them to clean and
pack, whilst others purchased cotton for the English market; and
these efforts resulted in the following imports:-
1851. 1852.
lbs. lbs.
235
1853.
lbs.
1854.
lbs.
1855.
lbs.
1856.
lbs.
1857.
lbs.
1858.
lbs.
1859.
lbs.
3,036 4,814 1,548 3,485 12,750 35,319
219,389 417,087
Since which date, internal wars have reduced the imports again to
an utterly insignificant amount. This cotton was bought in the
seed at Abbeokuta at from a halfpenny to three farthings per
pound, whilst clean cotton realised in Liverpool, from sixpence
farthing to ninepence per pound. So that, whenever it shall
please His Majesty the King of Dahomey, and the rest of the
chiefs, to leave off fighting, England and Africa may be mutually
and largely benefited by a renewal of the trade.
In 1855, various motives induced Mr. Clegg to take a tour in
the east, and he travelled to Tunis, to Algeria, Constantinople, and
Egypt, taking with him a gentleman from Tunis, to enable him to
see the various modes of cotton cultivation. He reports that in
most places which he visited, he found that the English govern-
ment had interested itself by presents of cotton seed, or of gins for
cleaning, seeking by these means to promote the growth of cotton ;
but in no case were the gins found either at work, or in workable
condition; one, at Jaffa, was buried under sacks of grain, and
another, at Jerusalem, was going to ruin with rust.
The traveller was everywhere well received and over-loaded with
promises that the growth of cotton should be promoted; and the
Bey of Tunis gave a passage to Constantinople in his own steamer.
A company was afterwards formed for cotton growing in Tunis;
England was to provide one-third and Tunis two-thirds of the
EE
418
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
necessary capital, an American planter was engaged, and the Cotton
Supply Association was to furnish the seed. The seed arrived too
late for the first season, the planter was impracticable, the business
was badly managed, the experiment failed, and in a very short
time the capital was lost and the company wound up.
Since the commencement of the Cotton Supply Association
efforts have been made to procure cotton from new sources;
many
and Mr. Clegg says he has been consulted about the formation or
operations of more than sixty companies. In order to spread
information upon the subject of cotton cultivation, he prepared a
number of small tin boxes, in each of which, under glass, was a
range of compartments containing cotton seeds of various kinds,
the different varieties of cotton separated from the seeds; samples
of the fibre drawn out to show the length of each; and a printed
card, giving the name, the average length of fibre, and the average
prices in 1859, and showing the capacities of different varieties
of cotton for affording employment. The best modern mill for
coarse Indian cotton employs only three and a half hands to every
one thousand pounds of cotton used per week, whilst the finest
spinners employ about two hundred and fifteen hands for every one
thousand pounds of cotton consumed per week. These boxes were
sent to the Cotton Supply Association, to the South Kensington
Museum, the Society of Arts, and to many other public bodies. The
boxes were each accompanied by a little book, containing a descrip-
tion of each kind of cotton, the counts of yarn usually spun from
them, the length in miles of each pound of yarn, and the purpose
for which each kind was generally used, from the production of the
heaviest fustian to the finest muslin or lace.
Mr. Clegg also, with the help of Mr. Haywood, the former
secretary of the Cotton Supply Association, prepared a pamphlet
on the cultivation of cotton, which was largely circulated by the
association, by various merchants, and by the English govern-
ment, in all parts of the world where cotton was likely to be grown.
Of course he had many difficulties to encounter, and amongst
others was the opposition of an English consul in Africa, who
attempted to prove that the country would not grow, and that its
natives would not cultivate, cotton; and when a trade had really
been opened direct with the African chiefs, a leading Manchester
merchant actually remonstrated with him, for opening direct
PROTECTION AMONGST THE MERCHANTS.
419
communications, and thus spoiling the trade of the middlemen. And
the president of the late Commercial Association is said to have
repeated this nonsense, asking what the natives and other traders
on the African coast were to do, if Mr. Clegg was allowed to go
direct to the natives? The Liverpool cotton brokers also resented
this attempt at direct trade, and for a time refused to sell cotton
to the man who imported direct from Africa! So that the evils
of protection and of trades unions, are not confined to the working
classes, but make themselves known whenever the wheel of pro-
gress crosses the path of the defenders and supporters of existing
interests.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Constitution and Utility of Chambers of Commerce-Limits of Government Inter-
ference on Behalf of Trade- The Government Landlord of India- Opinions of
Chambers of Commerce as to the Requirements of British India-India Capable
of Competing Successfully in Cotton Production-Examples of Defective Laws of
Contract-Proposals of Lords Stanley and Canning on Waste Lands-Sir Charles
Wood's Veto, and his own Plan-The Import Duty on Lancashire Manufactures—
Deputation to Mr. Massey-The Red Tape Bond-Sir Charles Wood's Budget
Speech--Comparative Expenditure on Improvements of the Landlord Govern-
ment in India, and of the late Duke of Northumberland at Home.
THE Manchester Chamber of Commerce comprises amongst its
members the principal manufacturers and merchants of the cotton
districts. It is governed by a board of directors, and its special
business is to watch over and promote the interests of the trade
and commerce of the country generally, and of the cotton and its
affiliated trades in particular. Such a body, being practically
familiar with the productions and wants of the various countries
with which England is commercially connected, ought to have con-
siderable influence with the home government, unless their repre-
sentations are at any time contradicted by those of similar bodies in
other localities. Of course their evidence in regard to proposed
legislation would be looked upon as ex parte, but the adoption of
the free-trade principle as the rule of commerce, very much lessens,
if it does not quite annihilate, the danger of selfish representations.
The object aimed at in any proposals must be the increase of com-
mercial intercourse, and whatever facilitates this end, must mutually
benefit all the parties concerned.
There may still be a question as to the proper limit of govern-
ment operations in regard to trade; and bodies of merchants seeking
their own gain may occasionally call upon the government to spend,
principally for the benefit of a class, the funds of the nation; in which
case sound policy will, of course, dictate a refusal. But the proper
duties of a government must vary in different countries, according
THE GOVERNMENT LANDLORD OF INDIA.
421
to the relative positions of the governors and the governed. In this
country, where the whole of the land, except so much of the sea
shore as lies between high and low-water mark, is private property,
held in fee simple; it would be preposterous to expect the central
government to make roads, or to erect water works, in any one
locality. Individual proprietors often see their own advantage in
setting apart land for making roads, and giving them up to the
public; and if a given locality needs a road, an act of parliament
can be got to authorise the purchase of the land, and to authorise
the exaction of passing tolls to pay for road making and repairing.
So if a municipality wants water or gas works, it goes to parliament
and gets power to tax the inhabitants, who are to be benefited by
the works. But if all the land belonged to the government, and
the holders were simply tenants at will, liable to have their rents
doubled, or to be turned out at any time for non-payment, then they
could hardly be expected either to make roads or to lay out much
capital in improvements; and the consequences would naturally be
parsimonious outlay, slovenly farming, and an exhausted soil. Now,
during the reign of the East India Company, the condition of the
country under their rule was as above described, but with this
aggravation-that the landlord government was not certain as to
its own length of tenure, and its interest was therefore to extract as
much present revenue, for as little outlay as possible. Much of
the land of India is eminently suited for the growth of cotton,
which is indeed an indigenous plant; and, if properly cultivated,
the production of cotton would be sufficient for all the mills in the
world; but neglect renders it short in staple and brittle in fibre,
whilst the want of proper roads for its conveyance from the interior
to the shipping ports, subjects it to the deteriorating influences of
long exposure to weather; and to the accumulation of dirt, from the
bursting of the bales during the loading and unloading of the bul-
locks which convey it to port; and these disadvantages limit the
range of its consumption, and, by reaction, discourage its growth.
The Manchester Chamber of Commerce-with the double view
of enlarging the Indian market for manufactures, and of providing
against a possible failure in the principal source of cotton supply,
either from climatic influences, or from a revolt of the slaves in
America has continually appealed to the home and Indian govern-
ments, to adopt measures for promoting and improving the growth
422
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
of cotton in India. The principal requirements set forth have been,
the making of public roads, the improvement of the rivers, the pro-
vision of works for irrigation, the security of land tenure, and an effi-
cient law of contract. All these measures have also been advocated
by many independent authorities, and overwhelming evidence has
been accumulated to show their necessity and value to India, as
well as to England. It is true that the trade has not always been
quite unanimous in its recommendations; for when, in 1847, Mr.
Bright moved in parliament for a committee on Indian affairs, the
East India Company found apologists in Manchester; and a counter
petition to that from the Chamber of Commerce was presented, and
the motion was in consequence lost. In and out of parliament it has
been said that the growth of cotton in India was only a question of
price; that if Manchester men would pay for it, they would get it,
and that if it did not come at their call, they might go out to India
and grow it for themselves. But what is the use of cotton-growing
land without roads, when the products must be conveyed a thou-
sand miles to the sea coast; and what sensible man would invest
capital to improve land of which he had no secure tenure; or what
man would advance money upon a crop which he had no means of
securing when ready for market? There is no doubt that the growth
of cotton as of any other product is mainly a question of price, but it
is also certain that proper encouragement by the government would
enable the Indian ryot to compete with the American planter; and
until he does so, it is simply foolish to expect that Lancashire mer-
chants will go out of their way to buy an inferior article at an extra-
vagant price. The most useful quality of cotton to the manufacturer,
is received from the state of Alabama; and it has been ascertained
that the analysis of the soil and subsoil of the principal cotton regions
of India closely resemble those of Alabama. Moreover, the simi-
larity of effect under careful cultivation has been most fully corro-
borated by Mr. Shaw (the late government collector), who undertook
to cultivate the American cotton plant in the district of Dharwar,
and did it with signal success. Referring to his published state-
ment, we find that, with a cost of production of not more than
three farthings per pound, he received in Liverpool sixpence half-
penny per pound for this cotton, whilst at the same time only three-
pence-halfpenny could be obtained for the indigenous cotton of the
country. It is clear, therefore, that India could produce the cotton
INDIA COMPETING SUCCESSFULLY.
423
which is required, and that it would be much to the advantage of
India and of England that she should do so. But it would be idle to
expect Europeans to invest money in land, the rent of which is
annually and arbitrarily assessed by government officials.
The Calcutta Englishman, 20th July, 1864, wrote as follows:-
"Recent experiments in the growing of cotton tend to prove that
India, by judicious care and attention, the selection of lands in
districts well suited for that cultivation, and finally, the introduc-
tion of New Orleans and Egyptian cotton seed, can in time make
England independent of America. In fact, cotton from New Orleans
seed, in the instance brought before us, has rather improved than
deteriorated in quality and value, and we can now bring forward
the results of recent trials from that stock, showing a wonderful
improvement during the past three years. Dr. Bonavio, of Luck-
now, has cultivated, in an experimental garden, cotton from New
Orleans seed, and has sent several samples (which we have seen) to
the Agricultural and Horticultural Society. From that stock he
gave some seed to Dr. Brandis, who sent it to Rangoon, to be sown
in the government experimental cotton plantation. The result is,
that the samples sent lately from Rangoon to the Agricultural and
Horticultural Society, have turned out to be superior to those culti-
vated at Lucknow; and have been valued by the cotton committee
of that society as worth now, in London and Liverpool, two shillings
and threepence per pound. We attribute this improvement in
quality to the suitable soil and climate of Rangoon; and a proof
of the correctness of our opinion is to be found in the arrival from
Moulmein of some cotton superior to any we have yet seen in Cal-
cutta ; in bales, fifty and sixty at a time, which have been here as
high as fifty-four rupees per bazar maund. It is supposed that this
cotton is grown at Moulmein or in the Tennaserim district from
New Orleans cotton seed, probably distributed there by one of the
members of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, who receive
annually small supplies for experimental plantations, when applied
for. This cotton is put down by competent judges as being worth
now, in London and Liverpool, about twenty-four pence per pound,
and is of such a description and quality that the majority of buyers
in England prefer purchasing it. We have been told that it has
been imported here by an up-country native, and grown by natives,
and we are therefore anxious to mention its superiority, and the
424
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
high price it has realised, as an inducement to both Europeans and
natives to endeavour to extend the cultivation. However long the
American war may continue, cotton cultivated here, from New
Orleans and Egyptian seed, particularly in Burmah and Tenasserim
provinces, will always realise high prices, and it will always be
remunerative, though perhaps not so profitable as it is just now.
But as in this country nothing can be expected unless encourage-
ment and assistance are offered, we trust that the attention of the
minister of finance will be devoted to this important question."
Then as to the advance of money to native growers; Mr. Landon,
before the colonisation of India committee, July, 1855, says, in
reply to question No. 8,399:-"The native courts are corrupt
generally, from the judges downwards. I advanced money on a
contract. When the cotton should have been delivered, he (the
contractor) refused to deliver. I asked him-'Why do you refuse
to fulfil your contract?' In nine months I got a verdict against
him. The court examined a witness one day, then postponed the
case a month. The court then examined other witnesses, and
again postponed at his pleasure, and so on. The defendant
appealed to a superior court, who confirmed the decision in my
favour, for principal, without interest. The defendant, though a
man of wealth, had no property that I could seize; he had cor-
ruptly made it away. After two years, I managed to get about
seventy-five per cent, with interest, and paid my own costs.
Witnesses can be got to prove anything required. If there were
a summary process, money could be recovered. The natives practise
these frauds upon each other, and complain of the system of
administering justice. It took me two years to recover, from first
instituting the suit to the final decision of the upper court. So
much for civil courts.
""
The Honourable Mr. Scott, a member of the legislative council
of India, on 12th April, 1862, said, in a debate on the Breach of
Contract Bill, "No prudent European dare, in the existing state of
the law, establish such agencies (for advances to the ryots) on a large
scale, without some system of easy registration of contracts, and
without some summary law-for the enforcement of contracts
criminal or otherwise.
On 6th May, 1852, we contracted
with a person in the Dharwar districts for the delivery of a certain
quantity of cotton, and, according to custom, paid half purchase
* * *
DEFECTIVE LAWS OF CONTRACT.
425
money in advance. He failed to deliver, and we sued upon the
contract. We obtained a decree in the Sudder Ameer's Court, on
23rd November, 1853, and an appeal in the Judges' Court, on 27th
November, 1854. The defendant then appealed to the Sudder, and
his appeal was dismissed, with costs, 30th January 1857. His
property was then attached, and almost simultaneously he died.
Claimants then rose up against the attachment. We again obtained
decrees in our favour, and an appeal was again made in August,
1861. Ten years' fighting for a paltry sum which would have been
abandoned long ago, save that we objected to being “done." The
firm to which I belong is the only one on this side of India which
has attempted such operations (advances up country) on a large
scale; and in my own earlier career in India, I had a great deal to
do with their management up country. A history of our doings is
on the records of government, and I need not enter upon it here.
Suffice it to say that, after fighting against all difficulties for ten
years, after expending large sums in machinery and in the impor-
tation of foreign cotton seed, &c., &c., we were obliged to withdraw
our agencies, and abandon altogether a large sum in outstanding
advances. What caused our failure? The want of a system of
registration of contracts, and the want of some means of summarily
enforcing them. Give us these and we will commence again, and
so will many others; without them we can do nothing."
It is not wonderful that the East India Company (whose tenure
was insecure) sought to extract the largest possible present revenue,
whilst they were careless about permanent improvements; and
the transfer of the government of India to the Queen was, there-
fore, hailed on this side of the water with great satisfaction,
and accepted as a measure of consolation, for the immense losses of
life and wealth, in the mutiny of the sepoys. And the Queen's
government has accepted some of the duties, so often and per-
sistently urged upon its predecessor. It has either undertaken the
making of roads, or has given an Indian government guarantee of
five per cent, for the outlay on approved lines of railway. But,
although the prosperity of India obviously depends to a large
extent on the prompt completion of the system of railways and
canals which have received government approval, yet in a minute
by the governor-general, bearing date November, 1860, the state-
ment was made, that all necessary and useful public works had
426
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
been deferred and stopped, because of a deficit in the revenue.
Thus, the chief means by which the revenue is to be permanently
increased, were neglected, because they were urgently needed.
Representatives of the different chambers of commerce of
Manchester, Glasgow, Bradford, Halifax, Sheffield, and Liverpool,
met at the Westminster Palace Hotel, 19th February, 1861,
and adopted a petition to parliament, of which we append the
summary :-
:-
"Your petitioners, therefore, earnestly pray your honourable
house to take under your early consideration the important
questions which they have very respectfully ventured to bring to.
your notice, in order that measures may be devised to secure :—
1st. To India the benefits of good government.-2nd. To the
British and native capitalist free and secure tenure of land, the
want of which is now so severely felt.-3rd. The completion of the
railway system sanctioned for India, as well as the execution of
such other reproductive works as are necessary to develop the
agricultural and other resources of wealth, now lying dormant in the
country.-4th. The relief of trade from the existing duties which
are admitted to be founded on a system that is false and vicious in
principle.—5th. The production in parliament, as early as possible
in the session, of clear, simple, and distinct accounts of the revenue
and expenditure.-6th. To all who may proceed to India as set-
tlers and cultivators, and to all engaged in commercial pursuits, full
and effective justice, without oppression from the official class; the
interference of government being limited, 'to providing good laws,
good magistrates, good judges, and good police;' offices, now held
exclusively for the civil service, being thrown open to all who may
be efficient to discharge the duties attached to them; to secure, in
fact, the extinction of all invidious or class distinctions, such as
now exist; and to devise such other measures as may in the
wisdom of your honourable house appear to be well calculated to
promote the welfare of our fellow subjects in India.”
Lord Stanley, when secretary of state for India, seems to have
been inclined to do effective service; and he issued two despatches,
31st December, 1858, and 16th March, 1859, containing instructions
respecting the sale in perpetuity of waste lands, and the redemption
by purchase of the land tax. He proposed to sell the waste lands
at a fixed price, and to allow those already under cultivation to be-
LORDS STANLEY AND CANNING ON WASTE LANDS.
427
come the property of the holders, at twenty years' purchase, when
the land tax should have reached something like a permanent stan-
dard by assessment. One-third of India lies waste, and if action had
been immediately taken upon these despatches, some two hundred
and fifty thousand square miles of land, various in quality, and sub-
ject to various climates, would have been brought into the market
two years before the outbreak of the American war; when many of
the capitalists of Lancashire were of opinion that the American
planters were getting some £10,000,000 per annum more for their
cotton than was necessary to give them a fair profit; and were also
becoming fully alive to the danger of dependence upon one source
of supply. But these instructions were not attempted to be put in
operation until the blockade of the Southern ports of America
made it too evident, what would be the condition of Lancashire.
On 21st December, 1861, the late Lord Canning (then governor-
general) adopted and promulgated a scheme for the disposal of
waste or unoccupied lands, and for the redemption of the land tax;
which was received with general satisfaction, and was hailed by the
natives as a "golden opportunity" offered to India. He proposed
to sell the forest lands at five shillings, and the cleared lands at ten
shillings per acre. Here are the terms of the minute: "The sale of
lands shall be granted in perpetuity, subject to no enhancement of
land revenue assessment. There shall be no condition obliging the
grantee to clear or cultivate. No time must be lost in having a
survey made, and the survey need not embrace more details than
may be necessary to define rights, and insure identification of
boundaries. The collector will advertise the application for thirty
days, and if no claim is preferred, a document of sale is granted.
If after allotment any person shall establish a right to the property,
the possession of the buyer shall not be disturbed; but if the
claim shall be established within one year, the claimant shall
receive from the government full compensation for the actual
value of his interest in such land, and after one year all claims
will be altogether barred."
Under such regulations there would have been no difficulty in
Lancashire companies purchasing land, and employing Indian
labourers, with European tools, for the cultivation of cotton; for the
circumstances of the time were singularly favourable. The American
war had passed through the initiatory phase; the great battles had
428
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE. -
begun in real earnest; the Southern ports were blockaded; and
everything betokened a long and desperate struggle. Cotton was
rising rapidly in price; mills were stopping, and capital being
set at liberty; whilst the whole world was being scoured for supplies
of cotton. The land of India and the capital of Lancashire were both
at liberty; and capitalists would doubtless have been willing to in-
vest, for the need was great. The imports of Indian cotton have
been temporarily increased to an immense extent by the mere rise
in price, without security of land tenure, without a proper law for
the enforcement of contracts, and without any appropriation of
waste lands. What would have been the increase, if English and
Indian capital could have been safely spent in improvements? But
Lord Stanley had been succeeded in the India secretaryship by Sir
Charles Wood; who no sooner heard of Lord Canning's minute, than
he suspended, and virtually rescinded it. He condemned the plan
for the redemption of the land tax, as injurious to the Indian
revenue, and substituted another plan for the sale of waste lands.
To assume that the revenue of India would be injured by the
redemption of the land tax at twenty years' purchase, is to admit
that the measure of Lord Canning was a popular one, and would
have been extensively applied; and it is quite certain that native
capitalists would only have purchased for the sake of greater profit,
which profit could only have been secured by capital, expended in
improvements, so as to increase the produce. It is clear, therefore,
that in the proportion of the adoption of this measure by the land-
holders of India, the government would have had twenty years'
revenue in hand for public improvements; whilst the demand for
labour would have been promoted, and the wealth of the country
greatly increased. Capital must be worth five per cent to the
Indian government, for it guarantees that amount to the share-
holders in approved railway companies. On the other hand, if the
minute had not found favour with the landholders, the revenue
would not have been in any way affected, and therefore could not
have suffered. Sir Charles Wood's instructions for the sale of
waste lands were as follow:
"MODE OF PROCEEDING.
"Waste lands are available for purchase. No greater quantity
than three thousand acres shall be sold in one lot, except with the
SIR CHARLES WOOD'S PLAN.
429
express sanction of the government. No lot will be sold unless it
has been previously surveyed and demarcated, in consequence of
an application for purchase. The applicant shall deposit with the
collector the estimated expense of such survey and demarcation;
and, on completion of the survey, the lot shall be advertised for
sale by auction to the highest bidder. If the land is sold to some
other purchaser, the applicant will obtain repayment of the money
he has advanced for the survey. Should he (the applicant) become
the purchaser, he shall receive a deed, signed by the collector, put-
ting him in possession of the land; subject, nevertheless, to all
general taxes and local rates, and to any other claim, whether of
government or otherwise, that may have been, or may hereafter be
established, in any court of competent jurisdiction.”
It is not difficult to see that, compared with the instructions of
Lord Stanley, and the minute of Lord Canning, this plan would be
eminently injurious to the Indian revenue. If a man wants land,
he is first to pay for its survey, and then to advertise for com-
petitors against himself; and then, if he outbids all competition,
he is to remain without a title, and probably find that he has
purchased only the right to be ruined at law. In Ireland, some
years ago, many estates were subject to such complicated incum-
brances that it was found impossible to sell them in the market,
and they fell to an almost nominal value. Parliament passed an
act to enable such estates to be sold, and gave in each case an
indisputable title; and the influx of English and Scotch capital
immediately brought up the value of those estates to their proper
standard; and the estates were improved, the demand for labour
increased, and wages raised, whilst agrarian crimes were sensibly
diminished. Yet, with the full knowledge of this success, Sir Charles
Wood refuses in India to give to purchasers any security of tenure,
but would make the government title the worst of titles, by leaving
to itself a right to make further claims, or even to revoke the sale;
and leaving the purchaser liable also to have to contest either real
or pretended native claims. This must surely be one of the latest
governmental illustrations of "How not to do it!"
Add to this that a free-trade government, because of a deficit
in the Indian revenue, actually doubled the import duties on Lan-
cashire goods into that country, and the reader will not be surprised
at the irritation felt and expressed at various public meetings against
}
430
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
the secretary for India. The Manchester Chamber of Commerce
passed the following resolution:"That this chamber protests
against the present duty on yarns and manufactured goods, as crea-
ting a protection to native spinning and manufacturing; as an
oppressive tax on the consumption of the masses; as inoperative
for permanently increasing the revenue, as well as pernicious and
inconsistent on the part of a nation pledged to free-trade prin-
ciples.” The substance of this resolution was adopted by the con-
ference on Indian affairs, held in Manchester, 31st January, 1861,
and transferred into a memorial to Sir Charles Wood, and a petition.
to parliament by the representatives of the various chambers of
commerce who met, in London, 22nd April, 1861.
The Manchester Chamber of Commerce also presented a memo-
rial hereon to the late Lord Palmerston, which his lordship charac-
terised as a bill of indictment against Sir Charles Wood, “in whom,
however, he had the utmost confidence." Lord Canning, during his
short tenure of office, and whilst Mr. Laing was financial minister,
reduced the duty on yarns from about ten to five per cent; but the
value of that reduction has been since in great measure frustrated,
by charging the duty ad valorem, whilst goods are at double their
normal value. The late Sir Robert Peel laid on an income tax in
England when the revenue was suffering from a deficit, and adopted
free-trade measures to enable the country to bear the income tax;
and every succeeding step in the same direction by him and by
his pupil, Mr. Gladstone, has been eminently successful; every
reduction of the tariff having added to the total revenue, so that
continental nations are induced to follow in our track. Sir Charles
Wood takes just the opposite course; and, because the revenue
of India fails, he lessens the ability of the people to pay, by ficti-
tiously enhancing the cost of their clothing; and by encouraging
them to throw away money in manufacturing goods, which they
could get cheaper from England, if he would let them. So also, for
fear of injuring the revenue, he prefers to keep one hundred and
sixty million acres of land in waste, paying nothing and producing
nothing of value, to getting an average of six shillings and eight-
pence per acre for it, and raising up a flourishing population
upon it, who would contribute to all future taxes. If this be
statesmanship, we must confess that it is a science beyond our
comprehension,
IMPORT DUTY ON LANCASHIRE MANUFACTURES.
431
The only defence of Sir Charles Wood was fiscal necessity.
But Mr. Laing came home proclaiming a surplus in India, which
Sir Charles, although he disputed at the time, has since been forced
to admit; yet he delayed his reply to the memorial of the Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce, in 1864, until the day on which he
brought forward the Indian budget, and so prevented any comment
by the chamber through the representatives of the cotton districts,
in the House of Commons. The explanation through Lord Wode-
house of the ad valorem charge was, that it was made with a view
to correcting the inequality between goods charged with duty
according to the tariff valuations, and those charged according to
their current market values; to which the chamber replied, that
the goods charged according to market values were light fabrics,
which did not exceed one-fourth in value of the piece goods im-
ported into India; whilst the remaining three-fourths. were heavy
goods, costing little for labour, but a heavy sum for freight; and
that on these the manufacturers in India enjoyed a protection to
the extent of the duty, besides the loss of time and the cost of
freight of cotton from, and of manufactured goods back to, India.
It is impossible not to admire the perseverance and the temper
of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. They are convinced
that it would be greatly to the mutual advantage of England and
of India, that the latter country should grow cotton for Lancashire
manufacture, and their own interest certainly coincides with the
improvement and enrichment of our grandest dependency. They
have sent deputations and memorials ad nauseum to ministers at
home; and, although continually disappointed for twenty years,
they still let slip no opportunity of impressing their views upon
Indian officials. They entertained and reasoned with the late
Right Honourable James Wilson, who, whilst in England, was a
thorough free trader; but who, finding the Indian revenue deficient,
laid a tax upon the importation of Lancashire manufactures, suffi-
ciently high to induce the erection of mills in Bombay. They
appealed to, and apparently made a proper impression upon, the
late Lord Canning, in respect of the objectionable land tenure; but
his enlightened views were no sooner communicated home, than his
proposed alteration was vetoed. They appealed to Mr. Laing, and
he reduced the import duties; but, not being able to agree with
Sir Charles Wood, resigned his post before he had time to complete
432
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
his contemplated measures of reform; and, as if in very spite, he
had no sooner left, than Sir Charles Wood altered the definite duties
into ad valorem charges, which, being done when yarns and cloths
were at double their normal prices, was equal to a return to the
old duty which had been reduced by Mr. Laing. The chamber
appealed to Lord Elgin, but with no result; yet, when, in February,
1862, Mr. Massey (M.P. for Salford) was appointed finance minister
for India, they, nothing daunted by past failures, made an appeal
to him also.
Mr. Ross (the president) pressed upon the new minister the in-
justice and the impolicy of levying duties upon Lancashire yarns
and cloth-the necessity of inaugurating some comprehensive
scheme for the sale of waste lands of encouraging the influx of
British capital, skill, and enterprise-and he referred to a sugges-
tion for the establishment of post office savings banks.
Mr. Cassells showed, by letters from India, that native cotton
spinning at Bombay was beginning to interfere with spinners in
this country, in consequence of the protection afforded by the high
rate of import duties; and Mr. J. A. Turner (late M.P. for Man-
chester) stated that he had a tangible grievance, which admitted
of a practical remedy. With a number of other gentlemen, who
were anxious to promote the development of Indian resources, he
had assisted to set on foot a project for the construction of cheap
railways, without a government guarantee, and £2,000,000 of
capital had been subscribed for the purpose. They had obtained a
concession in Oude and Rohilcund, and intended to make eight
hundred miles of railway. They had constructed one section of
their line, which had been eminently successful; but now the com-
pany was so hampered by absurd and useless conditions, introduced
into their deeds by government legal officials, that, unless these con-
ditions were modified, the whole undertaking must be abandoned.
Of course the deputation was courteously received and listened
to. But the minister could give no pledge; all his sympathies lay
on the side of freedom from all restriction in commercial affairs, and
against any measure which had the tendency to uphold one interest
at the expense of another. The facts brought to his notice by Mr.
Turner would have his immediate and careful attention. And most
important were those facts. Hitherto every mile of railway made in
India has had to be guaranteed by the government a return of five
THE RED TAPE BOND.
433
per cent, whether earned or not. Here was an offer to make eight
hundred miles of railway at the sole cost of the shareholders, and
the bonds of red tape set the promoters fast. How different to the
state of affairs in Egypt! The same newspaper which reported the
interview of the deputation, published also an extract from a letter,
describing the opening of a cotton ginning factory, on the eastern
bank of the Nile, near Zifta, which covers six acres.
The gins were
fifty in number, made from the newest designs of Messrs. Platt, of
Oldham; the roofing of galvanised iron from Liverpool, the engines
from Manchester. An iron cistern covers the whole space of the
boiler-house; the pressroom is supplied with hydraulic presses; the
water for the engines is pumped by steam power from the Nile.
The Egyptians saw prosperity in these innovations; and an aged
Arab priest was present, performing religious rites at the opening
ceremony; whilst crowds of visitors looked on with a puzzled air, to
see the cotton entirely separated from the seed, and poured forth
in a continuous stream, without the aid of human hands.
Why is it that the wisdom which permeates various other cotton
growing countries finds no admission into India? Mr. Massey, full
of free-trade ideas, no sooner arrived at Calcutta as finance minister
than we got the following summary of news:-
"THE INDIAN BUDGET.
'Mr. Massey has promulgated his budget.
(C
Calcutta, April 1.
"The Times says: "Telegrams from Calcutta, dated April 3,
announce that the income tax has been taken off, and an export
duty of three per cent has been imposed on jute, wool, tea, and
coffee, and of two per cent on hides, sugar, and silk. At the same
time the duty on grain is increased one anna per maund, and on
rice it is to be three, instead of two annas. This intelligence has
created great surprise, since the evil of import duties has recently
been demonstrated to the Indian government by the results in the
instance even of saltpetre, of which it was supposed Bengal had
almost a monopoly; while the production of all the articles above
enumerated has opened a wide-spread competition, so that any
export duty imposed, will operate simply as a bounty to other
countries.'
"The Daily News' city article says: "These changes will be
viewed with regret by all interested in the development of the
FF
434
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
agricultural resources of our Indian empire, as they indicate a
retrograde policy. The duty on tea, coffee, and jute is quite new, and
seems especially objectionable, if regard be had to the importance
of fostering the growing trade, in these promising articles of Indian
produce. The alteration in the duty on rice is equivalent to an
increase of fifty per cent, while Indian production and commerce
are thus practically discouraged. The new finance minister for
India, in abolishing the income tax, betrays a desire to curry favour
with the official classes.""
But this measure was too much even for Sir Charles Wood,
who, on the news arriving home, vetoed the tax on exports. And,
judging from his budget speech, on 29th June, 1865, it might
almost be hoped that an impression had at last been made upon
the Indian secretary, who said :—
"Upon a judicious outlay upon public works of a remunerative
character depended the safety of the finances of India. He for one
was fully impressed with the necessity of a judicious outlay upon
public works; which facilitated communication, and developed the
productive resources of the country. He believed that the local
authorities, and the people themselves, would subscribe any amount
of money for these objects; and he himself had told the Indian
government, that he was prepared to borrow any amount, when they
supplied him with a well digested plan; but he certainly would
not go hand over head, and raise loans for any or every project that'
was started. During the last two years, there had been spent upon
railways and public works £11,000,000 out of the public funds, and
£2,500,000 from local sources, making, during the last seven years,
a total of £73,000,000 expended upon railways and public works
alone." The honourable baronet then detailed the instances of
assistance afforded by the government towards the cultivation of
cotton, which, he said, had been attended with great success; and
said he was informed that the capitalists and merchants of Bombay
were establishing in various localities, at the various railway sta-
tions, machinery for cleaning, pressing, and packing cotton.
•
But he had not re-enacted Lord Canning's minute for the dis-
posal of waste lands; he did not tell the house how much of the
expenditure on roads was for merely military purposes; the import
duties on cotton goods into India were still in operation; and he
did tell the house that capitalists and merchants of Bombay "were
EXPENDITURE ON IMPROVEMENTS.
435
also preparing to weave a description of cotton goods that would
not interfere with English manufacture, but would supersede the
wasteful process of hand-loom weaving, and allow the persons, who
were so employed, to engage in agricultural pursuits."
Here is the statement of an important fact. The import duties
on Manchester goods encouraged the building of mills for spinning
in Bombay, and their continuance has now secured the next step-
the commencement of weaving factories. It is indisputable, for we
have it even on the authority of Sir Charles Wood, that India could
profitably grow a good quality of cotton, as cheaply as any other
place upon earth, if the great quasi landlord (the government) would
only give them proper encouragement, by providing the means of
irrigation and of communication: it is equally indisputable that
Lancashire can manufacture cotton more cheaply than any other
country, and the interest of England and India, therefore, dictates
the freest possible commercial intercourse; and yet the secretary
for India prevents this intercourse, by the imposition of protective
duties, because that is the easiest mode of raising a present revenue,
although it sacrifices the growth in favour of the manufacture of
cotton. It is the fable of the goose which laid the golden eggs, put
into actual practice by Sir Charles Wood,
Large as is the sum spent during the last seven years on India,
it represents less than two years' revenue, after a hundred years
of neglect and extortion; and it must never be forgotten that
the first duty of a government is to develop the resources of a
country; and the first step in development is the provision of roads.
The Romans understood this duty when they came to Britain, and
performed it so well that we derive benefit from their work even
now. In India, works for irrigation, and piers for the convenience
of loading and unloading the imported and exported merchandise,
are equally necessary, and might all be made sources of permanent
revenue. But Sir Charles has indicated his willingness to spend
any amount of money for a well-digested plan, and perhaps the
profitable outlay of a great landlord at home may, in some respects,
exhibit a picture of what is to be desired for. India.
The Newcastle Chronicle, at the decease of the late Duke of
Northumberland, gave the following particulars respecting his
estates "The extent and nature of his grace's possessions in the
county may be summed up as follows :—
436
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Acres.
In woodlands
In hill pastures, grass lands, &c.
In tillage occupation
In waste rock, sea shore, &c.
3,000
116,200
38,900
4,700
. 162,800
་
acres.
In all
The average size of the farms is about two hundred and fifty acres ;
the largest arable farm belonging to the duke is nine hundred
The following abstracts of the amounts expended by the
duke on the estate since he came into possession, in 1847, will show
how clearly his grace understood his responsibilities as a large land
proprietor, and how fully he discharged them. The amounts, under
their respective heads, are made up to December 31, 1863, and are
exclusive of the large outlay upon Alnwick Castle and other resi-
dences, churches, parsonages, &c. :-
For roads, bridges, &c.
£39,689 0 1
For buildings, cottages, &c.
For draining
308,336 12 9
176,582 4 0
£524,607 16 10"
The Duke of Northumberland found it advantageous to him-
self to spend, in sixteen years, £3. 5s. per acre, or upwards of three
shillings per annum, two-fifths of which was for roads, bridges, and
draining alone, in a country supposed to be pretty well developed
already; whilst Sir Charles Wood boasts of an expenditure of six
shillings and a penny per acre in seven years, or a little over ten-
pence per annum, in a country where bullocks have to carry cotton
one thousand miles to port; and the fact is, that a large portion
of that amount will not sensibly benefit the people of India, being
intended mainly to facilitate military operations.
It is not assumed by the above parallel that the duties of the
government of India include a larger share of landlord responsi-
bilities than the provision of roads and piers, and the improvement
of water courses; if, in addition to this, they would do what is in-
cumbent on all governments-provide good laws, and see them well
administered—we should soon have a different state of affairs; and
India would, indeed, become "the brightest jewel in the British
crown."
>
CHAPTER XXIV.
Objects of the Manchester Cotton Company-Expectations of Government Help-
Promises of the Indian Secretary-Dr. Forbes on the Necessity for Roads and
Piers in India- Evidence of the Indian Manager of the Company-The Madras
Times on the Necessary Measures to Insure Cotton Cultivation-Loss of Capital,
and Winding-up of the Company-The Anglo-Indian Cotton Company—
Conclusion.
THE Manchester Cotton Company (Limited) originated in a meeting
held in the town hall, Manchester, 14th September, 1860. Its
nominal capital was £100,000, afterwards raised to £1,000,000. The
prospectus stated the objects of the company to be "To encourage
and promote the increased cultivation of cotton in every part of
the world suited to its growth; to create a direct and thoroughly
effective agency between the grower of cotton in India, Australia,
Africa, the West Indies, and other countries, and the consumer in
England." The suggested prospectus, which accompanied the
circular calling the meeting, said:-"India possesses the great
requisites for growing cotton for useful and general purposes of
consumption, and probably in no other country can it be grown so
cheaply, or better adapted to the wants of the most extensive sec-
tion of the great cotton industry. To the supplies of cotton from
the East Indies, it is therefore recommended that nine-tenths of
the capital of the company shall be devoted. * ** It is believed
that in the East Indies and in Australia, the government will ren-
der every possible facility, which can contribute to the success of
the great object of the company. The government will make free
grants of land, or concessions of land on terms almost equal to a
gift; and assistance, where needed, to procure labour would be
afforded. The government officers would be instructed to support
the just interests of the company, and to protect its rights and
property." The third paragraph in the prospectus, as ultimately
issued, ran thus:-"The company will endeavour to stimulate" a
largely-increased production of cotton of improved quality, by the
introduction of superior kinds of seed, the best agricultural imple-
438
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ments, machinery for cleaning, and presses for packing; and, with
the promised aid of government, will co-operate in developing in-
creased facilities of transport."
The rate at which new machinery for the cotton manufacture
was being produced, in 1860, was sufficient to use up an extra four
hundred thousand bales of cotton per annum; and there was no
possibility of any such increase of cotton being procured from the
Southern States of North America. This, and the fear of disasters
in America, were the pleas urged to prove the necessity for the
establishment of the Manchester Cotton Company. But no one pre-
sent at the inauguration meeting seems to have had the slightest
idea of the manner in which the immediately pending crisis would
be brought about. Mr. Bazley, M.P., who occupied the chair,
asked—“Is it safe, is it discreet, for a commercial country to de-
pend mainly on one source of supply—and that a foreign source—
for the chief part of its raw material ? If unhappily some great
calamity should arise-if disease should attack the black popula-
tion of North America-if a revolt should occur there-if tempest
should destroy a crop-what recriminations should we hear on
the part of statesmen, and merchants, traders, manufacturers, and
spinners, about the negligence and culpability of some persons who
had not, by provident regulation, arranged for more regular and
less dependent supply of this great raw material !
""
The first annual report showed that the executive committee
had, by deputation and otherwise, been in communication with the
Right Honourable Sir Charles Wood, the secretary for India, and
that the government had agreed:-1st. To order the completion
of the road at Kyga Ghat, from Dharwar to Sedashegur, without
delay.—2nd. To construct a landing and shipping pier at Sedashe-
gur.-3rd. To afford to the company the opportunity of purchasing
land at the new port of Sedashegur for the erection of cotton-gin
factories, presshouses, offices, and stores.-4th. To send out instruc-
tions to the various government officers to afford to Mr. Haywood,
the special commissioner of the company to India, all the assistance
and information in their power.
The special commissioner sailed in July, 1861, with instructions
to procure an interview, when in Egypt, with the viceroy, and to pass
through and report upon the cotton districts of that country. On
arrival at Bombay he was to inquire into and report upon the present
PROMISES OF THE INDIAN SECRETARY.
439
system of conducting the cotton trade; to seek out suitable agents
for the company's operations; to settle the position of the presshouse
at Sedashegur; to report on the progress of the harbour and pier,
and on the condition of the road from Sedashegur to Bunkapoor;
to visit the cotton districts of Dharwar, and to decide the place for
the head quarters of the company.
At the date of the first report (August, 1862) there had been
sent out seven hundred and twenty-four cotton gins, six large
hydraulic presses, ten screw presses, fifty bullock-power machines,
two steam engines and the requisite shafting, &c.; which, it was
estimated, would suffice to clean one thousand four hundred bales
of cotton per week, or seventy-two thousand eight hundred bales, of
four hundred pounds each, per annum; whilst the six presses would
press one bale per minute. A second ship load of machinery and
stores had also been despatched. But, when the special com-
missioner had completed his work, and was ready to leave India,
the road from Sedashegur to Dharwar was not available for use;
it had been made twelve feet wide, but so made, that the monsoon
had washed it away again.
The second report of the company, dated 4th September, 1863,
stated that a deputation to Sir Charles Wood on the 25th October,
1862, had complained of the non-fulfilment of the promises of the
government, to construct a landing and shipping pier at the Bay of
Beitcul, and to construct a road, leading from the Bay of Beitcul to
the cotton fields of Dharwar. Sir Charles repeatedly denied having
made any such promises; whilst Messrs. J. Platt (now M.P. for Old-
ham) and W. Wanklyn, both of whom were present at the time
when the promise was affirmed to have been given, reiterated that
the formation of the company was based upon the undertaking of
the government, to open roads between the port and the cotton fields.
To show the necessity of such roads, the chairman of the annual
meeting read from a communication by Dr. Forbes (the reporter
on Indian products to the government), dated 5th March, 1861,
as follows:-
"The want of good roads and other means of communication
between the interior and the sea-board, as well as of suitable con-
venience for the shipment of produce at the existing ports, are
still, as they long have been, the acknowledged impediments to the
development of India's resources. This is more especially the case
440
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE,
as regards the production of cotton; and nowhere is it more per-
ceptibly felt than in the provinces of the Southern Mahratta
country, to which you are turning your attention.
"The cotton exported from these districts is at present taken
to the port of Compta, whence it is conveyed in native open boats
to Bombay harbour, for final shipment to England. At Compta
there is what is called'an inland creek, in which these native boats
might find shelter in bad weather, were it not that a formidable
'bar' prevents them obtaining access to it. They are consequently
compelled to remain outside, at anchor in an open roadstead, exposed
to the dangers of a lee shore, should a storm set in; and during
the period of the south-west monsoon (which may be at any time
from May to September) they very rarely attempt to approach the
place. Owing also to the imperfect state of the communication
with the interior, only a very small proportion of the cotton of each
season, finds its way to Compta (even from the nearest districts) in
time for the boat transport to Bombay; the remainder being
detained at the places of growth, imperfectly stored, and ill pro-
tected from the wet and damp of the monsoon.
To add to this evil also, so ill adapted is Compta for the export of
produce, owing to local difficulties, such as unbridged creeks, water-
courses, &c., in the immediate neighbourhood of the harbour; that
cotton, after arriving at that place, has to undergo no less than five
changes of transport before it is deposited on board the native boats
in the roadstead; and the result is, that the actual cost of its trans-
port, even thus far on its way to England (about seventy shillings
per ton), very nearly equals that of its cultivation and production. If
to this is added deterioration of quality, from the causes mentioned,
and the interest of capital sunk by the time lost under the present
system of exportation—which rarely admits of the produce arriving
at home under eighteen months-some idea may be formed of the
disadvantages which India's cotton has to contend with, in competing
with that of America.
"It is to the necessity for the immediate construction of one or
two piers that I would beg to draw your attention; and in doing
so, I also wish to represent that the work can only be looked upon
as bearing directly upon commercial interests; and as far as
cotton alone is concerned, the result would be-taking the average
freight at fifty shillings per ton, and adding twenty-six shillings for
THE NECESSITY FOR ROADS AND PIERS.
441
inland carriage, and say two shillings for final pressing that the
produce would be conveyed from the cotton fields to Liverpool, at a
cost of £3. 18s. per ton, instead of being subjected to an expense
of £7. 5s., as is the case at present by the Bombay route; or, in
other words, that the Lancashire spinners might have it delivered
at their doors, at actually less cost of carriage than the Bombay
mills have to pay for it at present, which is about £4. 15s.
per ton."
These reasonings were intended to show the advantages of the
port of Sedashegur for the purposes of the cotton company; and
we add two more facts from the same authority, viz.: First, that
"there are no wharves at Bombay harbour; cotton bales have,
therefore, to be put on board ship by means of boats, and ship cap-
tains assert that, even in that port, where every convenience is pro-
vided, the expense of boat hire, superintendence, &c., amounts to
three rupees, or six shillings, per ton." Second, "a better harbour
than Sedashegur offers, with easy access to such cotton fields as
those of the Southern Mahratta country, cannot be shown upon the
map of India; and, besides the fact that by no other means can
the valuable cotton produce of these districts be obtained so cheaply
and expeditiously as by this channel, it can be shown that, of all the
projects now under consideration for increasing our colonial exports
of cotton, from India and elsewhere, there is not one capable of
being realised with such immediate results."
Here we have proof from a government official of the necessity
and the value, both to India and to England, of the work which the
company had engaged to perform. But it is impossible to give, in
a small space, a comprehensive view of the difficulties which the
company had to encounter. They (whether justified or not in their
conclusions) acted upon the full faith of a government promise that,
by the time their first vessel got to the port of Sedashegur, a pier and
road would be ready for them; instead of which they found no ap-
pearance of a pier, and were obliged to land their machinery from
deep water, three quarters of a mile from where it was needed; and
then found no road by which to transport it. Then there was a six
weeks' quarrel between the Madras and Bombay governments, as to
which the port of Sedashegur belonged, and the company could not
get possession until this was settled; then they had to build a pier for
themselves, in order to anticipate the arrival of the second vessel with
machinery and stores. If they had been ready to use the promised
442
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
road over the Ghauts the first season after their arrival, it would not
have been available; and when it was really made, it was so made
that the first monsoon washed it away. In March, 1863, the road
which was promised to be ready in November, 1861, was still incom-
plete; and the manager of the company had to send round by
Compta, gins, presses, cattle, engines, and machinery, for a workshop
at Hooblee, ninety-two miles from Beitcul. The Indian manager
says he rode over the Ryga Ghat road in April, 1864, and found it
still in a very unfinished state. The delays and difficulties to which
the company had been subjected, had then lost them two years' trade,
dissipated much of their capital, and dissatisfied the shareholders.
They saw, with great mortification, that whilst office clerks and men
without capital had, in Liverpool, in Bombay, and in Calcutta, made
tens of thousands of pounds, during the three years of the American
war, by dealing in cotton; they had £70,000 lying idle and melting
away, in the country from whence the bulk of this cotton had come;
and where its active use in cotton purchases, would probably have
realised a thousand per cent. But they were now ready for active
work, having established machinery at three stations in the inte-
rior, as well as at the port; and hoped slowly to retrieve their
disasters; and, whilst making good profits for themselves, to be of
considerable service to India and to England. They had surmounted
difficulties which, except for the extraordinary circumstances of the
times, and the absolute necessity of gathering the raw material from
every possible source, would have driven them from the peninsula;
they had missed a golden harvest for the present, but had laid the
foundations for future and permanent usefulness. The cultivators
of, and dealers in, cotton, in the Dharwar district, had also missed
the opportunity of dealing direct with England, during the season
of highest prices; and the export to England, being thereby les-
sened, the cotton operatives and the general public at home, had
also suffered from this governmental neglect. The duty of road
making, if not pier building, is admitted, and is promised to be per-
formed; but the neglect which ensues, and the manner of the work,
when done, are alike suggestive of the great "circumlocution office,"
and illustrative of the axiom-"How not to do it!"
The Madras Times (copied into the Manchester Guardian of
21st October, 1864), speaking of cotton cultivation in India, says:—
"Mr. Brown, of Aujarakaudy, whose practical knowledge of the
one.
THE "MADRAS TIMES" ON COTTON CULTIVATION.
443
subject we are now discussing few individuals, unconnected with
officialdom, will be prepared to question, attributes the ruin of
cotton cultivation in this country, to the selfish and oppressive
system of government, pursued for so many years by the late*
East India Company; and in a recently-published pamphlet upon
"The Supply of Cotton from India' he very succinctly sets forth
the reasons, and adduces the facts, which warrant the conclu-
sion to which he arrives. That conclusion is, to use his own
words, that a Sirkar proclamation should be put forth in the
most authoritative manner, and personally circulated by the col-
lectors of the provinces; suspending for five years, the tax on all
land, that in the yearly rotation of crops may be cultivated with
cotton; leaving the tax on all other land untouched.' No measure
short of this will, in the opinion of Mr. Brown, 'directly reach the
grower; nor will any other secure his receiving the price he ought
to get for his cotton; for no other will enable him to hold his cotton,
and save him from being obliged to take the Bunniah's price for it,
in order to pay his money land tax.' The proposition is not a new
Mr. Brown urged its adoption twenty-five years ago, and, in
a powerfully-written letter to government, dated August 10, 1862,
again pressed its consideration upon our local rulers. These autho-
rities condemned it as being not only 'opposed to sound policy,' but
liable also to render 'every experiment unsatisfactory and incon-
clusive.' Other objections, of greater force, have been brought
against it, which our space will not allow us to enter upon more
fully; and the fact that the home government have already more
than once expressly prohibited its trial, is perhaps quite sufficient
to render any further efforts to obtain even its experimental adop-
tion futile. In remembering, however, the acknowledged inability
of the government to aid the native cultivator, in his attempts to
compete with the slave owner of America, we should bear in mind
that ample evidence has been afforded, of the ease with which the
cotton plant can be naturalised in this country. It can be, and has
been, grown in every climate ranging from that which is rainless,
to tracts where the annual rainfall is from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and forty inches; and it thrives not only in that
rich black earth which has become identified with its name ('cotton
soil'), but also in the ordinary red clay which principally consti-
tutes the rest of the agricultural soil of India.
•
444
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Let us now, for a moment, turn our eyes from India to Tur-
key. There, also, for many years the cotton trade was comparatively
annihilated by American competition. But immediately the pro-
spect of a failure of the cotton supply from the United States pre-
sented itself, what did the Turkish government do? It abolished,
for five years, all taxes upon cotton-growing land, and set apart
money for the construction of roads. And what has been the result
of a step so (according to our government's views) 'opposed to sound
policy?' Let the following extract from a short article in the
Smyrna Mail bear witness:-'It is estimated that Turkey will
produce this year from five hundred thousand to six hundred thou-
sand bales of cotton-without Egypt; and should the present
high prices continue, it will give the startling result, that Turkey
will receive nearly one-quarter of the value of the whole Ameri-
can crop of cotton sent to England four years ago; thus proving
that circumstances may be such as to permanently enrich a country,
if the government fosters and protects its resources.' And not
only in Turkey is cotton cultivation making such significant strides
onwards. In Italy it is being carried on with marked and in-
creasing success. In Sardinia, in Elba, and even in parts of Pied-
mont, we read and hear of its rapid progress. But it is only to
poor misruled India, with its unblushing, obstinate, and inca-
pable state secretary, and its meek, helpless, and timid local
governments, that the retributive embarrassments of slave-driving
America, have failed to prove an opportunity for stimulating the
industry of the many, instead of pandering to the passion of the
gambling, grasping, speculating few."
Mr. Bazley, in The Exchange, for January, 1862, speaking of
the capacity of India for the growth of cotton, says: "From the
Dharwar district, cotton is now obtained of a quality quite equal
to middling American, and which yields satisfactory profit to its
cultivator; and for this boon a great debt of gratitude is due to
Mr. Shaw, who caused the average yield to be quadrupled, and its
market-worth per pound to be doubled, thereby affording an eight-
fold benefit to the ryots, who now declare that their cotton culture
is their gold gathering-their whole crop being now about two
hundred thousand bales. If every part of India, where cotton is
grown, were rendered equally productive, the entire crop would be
four times the extent of the present yield; and the market price of
WINDING-UP OF THE MANCHESTER COTTON COMPANY. 445
the superior produce being double that of the inferior, we should
have the eightfold advantage extended over the whole dominion;
and in place of a yearly production of four million bales, for which
the ryot has not been paid an average of twopence per pound, there
would be grown sixteen million bales, worth £96,000,000! Tempt-
ing as this picture is, it really only represents half the advantage
which would accrue from the improved cultivation of cotton in
India; because, any large portion of such a crop of cotton, coming
to this country, would only be paid for by extended exports, chiefly
of cotton manufactures.”
At the annual meeting of the Manchester Cotton Company,
held in the summer of 1864, the report of the governmental annoy-
ances and neglect, and the consequent loss of capital, was so dis-
heartening, that it led to a resolution to wind-up; and the whole
stock and plant in India, which had cost nearly £70,000, was ulti-
mately sold, to a firm of enterprising Indian merchants, for about
£17,000. Such a result is most disappointing and aggravating;
but there is still room for hope that the company proposed to be
founded, in India, upon these ruins, may, by active superintendence
on the spot, together with a fuller understanding of the necessities
and difficulties of the trade, meet with better success. The machi-
nery is there—the workshops are prepared―roads will surely be
some day ready—and earnings, which would leave the defunct
company without dividend, will suffice to pay six per cent to the
new operators.
But a little more energy, and a somewhat higher sense of jus-
tice, in the mind of Sir Charles Wood, might have saved the capital
of this company; and by aiding its operations, would, by securing
its success, have led to further efforts from this side; and have thus
induced a large measure of prosperity both here and in India. But
in whatever direction we look, the same complaints about the secre-
tary for India meet us; rendering it evident that the short-sighted-
ness of a single official is sacrificing the interests of both countries.
Lord Stanley saw the wisdom of the course proposed by the Cotton
Supply Association, the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and
the Manchester Cotton Company, and Lord Canning inaugurated
the change required; but Sir Charles Wood has stopped all pro-
gress; the waste lands are not sold, because they are not offered on
saleable terms; a proper law of contract is not passed, and the
446
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
required roads into the cotton districts, which are to open the way
to unexampled prosperity, are delayed, because prosperity is not
already achieved.
A company called "The Anglo-Indian Cotton Company" was
originated in 1862, also in Manchester; and the directors prudently
sent out their manager to India, before taking any practical steps;
and on the receipt of his report, setting forth the difficulties to be
encountered, they also prudently resolved for the present, to keep
their money in the bank. The great want of India is English
capital, accompanied by English energy; and any amount of Eng-
lish capital and English energy are ready for a good investment.
India and England hold out their arms to each other, ready for a
prosperous and permanent union, but the secretary for India for-
bids the banns. Lord Russell aids the cultivation of cotton in every
suitable foreign country; Sir Charles Wood hinders it in our chief
dependency. Either this hindrance is the work of one official, or
else the collective action of the government says practically—“ We
will aid in the cultivation and improvement of the staple of cotton,
anywhere and everywhere except in India; that is our great mili-
tary farm, and we don't want commercial settlers there."
We have no wish to adjudicate between Sir Charles Wood and
the various commercial bodies and cotton companies; but, after his
own acknowledgment of the successful experiments in Dharwar and
Madras, and after the stimulant of the great prices of the last three
years, we may surely hope for an improved quality and larger
quantity of cotton from India; and, since the revenue is now pros-
perous, we may also hope for the utmost freedom of commercial
intercourse between this country and the Indian peninsula.
We have now completed our task; and, to the best of our ability,
brought down the history of Lancashire industry to present date.
We have found that a county, which is inferior in soil and climate
to many in the United Kingdom, has yet, by means of its staple
employment, increased in population and in real property more
rapidly than any other. We have seen how, in consequence of the
CONCLUSION.
447
cheapness and the peculiar adaptability of the cotton fibre to almost
all the purposes of clothing, it has to a considerable extent super-
seded linen, woollen, and silk, amongst the majority of the inhabi-
tants of this country; and has also come to rank first in the annual
returns of exports. We have seen the growing demand for goods,
aided by the mechanical genius which necessity seems always to
develop, supersede the domestic wheel and loom by the most per-
fect machinery ever produced; and the free and easy home life of
the people, exchanged for systematic and associated work, carried
on with as much regularity and punctuality as the alternations of
day and night. Under this system, we have seen industrial life
develop into massive strength, and associations of workmen, by
means of trade and friendly societies, grappling on equal terms with
rich capitalists; occasionally doing great mischief, but struggling
gradually, and with much effort, into the knowledge and practice
of economical laws-saving and productively applying, instead of
wasting capital; and bidding fair to become ere long, as their great
grandfathers once were, owners of much of the machinery which
affords them employment.
We have seen towns rise so rapidly, under the stimulus of this
great industry, that there has been no chance for regular plans,
either for streets or for buildings, and no opportunity for sanitary
arrangements; so that, whilst population has increased much more
rapidly than ordinary, the grim spectre, Death, has also secured
much more than his proper share.
We have seen how Anglo-Saxon energy, even under the ener-
vating influences of a tropical or semi-tropical climate, in the
Southern States of North America, has yet practically superseded
the cotton growth of all other countries; and extended the accursed
legacy left to them by this country, until it threatened to become a
permanent slave empire. We have seen "vaunting ambition o'er-
leap itself," and the boasted strength of eight millions of people,
holding in bondage four millions of human chattels, completely
paralysed, and their country reduced again to chaos; whilst the
shock of the convulsion has crossed three thousand miles of ocean,
and has shaken the foundations of society in Lancashire; demon-
strating practically what many persons had attempted to teach-
the fatal danger of reliance upon one investment for safety and
progress.
448
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
་
We have endeavoured to depict the condition and sufferings of
the people under their great trials—the unexampled benevolence
which sprang to their aid—the organisations which were impro-
vised for the collection and distribution of funds-the action of the
poor-law board, and of the various boards of guardians; and we have
found that, whilst the provisions of the poor-law were quite
adequate to the requirements of ordinary times, special measures
were necessary for special occasions; and that a wider area of rating
will be a permanent improvement. We have also tried to calculate
the losses of workmen and employers; and to follow the course of
the diverted current of demand, from the cotton, through the linen,
woollen, and worsted trades; and we have tried to extract a moral
from the whole.
The master evil-dependence upon a single source of supply
for the raw material of a great manufacture-will probably be effec- .
tually dealt with, for many years to come, by the joint operation
of the Cotton Supply Association, or some organisation springing
out of it, and the abolition of American slavery, which latter mea-
sure will make the competition equal in all cotton-growing coun-
tries; but there are various minor features of Lancashire life which
will require earnest and patient attention.
The great demand for juvenile labour prevents education; and
it will be necessary, in. the absence of a rate-paid education in free
schools, with compulsory powers of attendance, to generalise the
Factories Education Act, so as to make it applicable to all employ-
ments, thus making employers responsible for the instruction of
their juvenile workers; and it will also be necessary to take
measures to secure the competence of the teachers in factory
schools. If, in addition to this, the elective franchise was con-
ferred upon all youths, as soon as they reach twenty-one years
of age, who shall have earned certificates, under the examinations
of the Society of Arts, the Government Science Department, or the
middle-class examinations of the Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham
universities, an immense impetus would be given to secondary edu-
cational institutes and to self-culture; and the examinations above
referred to would be extended and perpetuated.
One humiliating peculiarity of Lancashire is the excess of female
crime; arising, probably, from the early independence of girls, and
from the loss of the domestic and home influences, involved by the
*
1
CONCLUSION.
449
factory work of married women. How this great evil is to be
remedied is far from plain; and we can only hope that improved
education will achieve the desired result.
The Public Works Act, and the Union Chargeability Act, are the
immediate offspring of the cotton famine; and if the first of these
were rendered permanent, so that in any future calamity it might be
at once resorted to, much evil would be prevented; for a considerable
proportion of such works as are set forth in Appendix No. 2 could
be accomplished by unskilled labourers, under efficient superin-
tendence; and the sanitary results of these works, are quite a suffi-
cient recommendation for their being undertaken, in any locality
where there is a single mile of unpaved or unsewered street, or
where proper water works or cemetery do not already exist; whilst
the terms on which the money can be profitably lent by government
(three and a half per cent) makes the burden of repayment almost
unfelt. With regard to the Union Chargeability Act, its operation,
in any similar crisis, will inevitably point to the adoption of a still
wider basis for rating; because the differences of rating, between
union and union, will be quite as great, as were the differences
between township and township, in the same union, prior to the
passage of the bill; and there is no reason for equalising the rates
between township and township, which does not apply, with the
same force, between union and union, or even between county and
county, except that each union is under separate jurisdiction, which
matter is also capable of remedy.
The final business meeting of the general committee was held
December 4th, 1865, when the reports from the various districts
showed that the recipients of parochial relief had fallen to within
seven hundred and thirty of those at the same date in 1861, when
the stoppage of mills had barely commenced. So small a re-
siduum of pauperism, from a long period of severe distress, is
unparalleled; and speaks well for the independent character of
Lancashire operatives, and also for the management of the boards
of guardians and relief committees. It is singularly pleasing also,
to find that of the localities which suffered first and most heavily
from the cotton famine, Wigan alone remains more heavily bur-
dened than usual, having 1,178 more recipients of relief than in
November, 1861; whilst Ashton, Blackburn, Glossop, Preston, and
GG
450
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Stockport have respectively 410, 27, 26, 2,428, and 485 fewer
dependents than at the former season. In Bury and in Chorlton-
upon-Medlock distress still lingers; but elsewhere the guardians
of the poor feel that "the cotton famine has come and gone," and
they have now returned to their ordinary duties-looking after per-
manent and casual cases, and enforcing disagreeable tests to save
the pockets of the ratepayers.
The business of the committee ended very appropriately in a
hearty vote of thanks to the central executive; and the inaugura-
tion of a testimonial in recognition of the services of Mr. Maclure,
the honorary secretary.
The following report of the central executive was received and
adopted :-
"At the meeting of the general committee in March last, a
hope was expressed that it might be possible during the summer
months entirely to discontinue the distribution of relief through
the local committees. This anticipation, the central executive
committee is happy to state, has been fully realised, and since the
19th June last, no grants have been made to any district. Your
committee trusts that it will not be necessary to resume the dis-
tribution of relief; but in the still exceptional state of the cotton
trade, it is thought more prudent to defer the consideration of the
disposal of the balance remaining in the treasurer's hands. It is
with no little satisfaction that your committee contemplates the
extraordinary crisis which has been passed through since 1862.
There has actually been a diminution of crime under circumstances
when, from compulsory idleness and poverty, an increase might
have been expected. Notwithstanding the gloomy forebodings of
those who, in the early part of the distress, expressed their opinion
that the distribution of relief through exceptional channels, would
tend to a permanent increase of pauperism in the district, returns
from twenty-eight unions prove that the pauperism of the cotton
district has been reduced to the ordinary level. As the last week
in November, 1862, was the time when almost the largest number
of persons were in receipt of relief,* returns have been obtained
* The largest number relieved at any one time was in December, 1862, when
two hundred and thirty-four thousand eight hundred and sixty-six were relieved by
the local committees, and two hundred and fifty thousand five hundred and eighty-
eight by the guardians, making a total of four hundred and eighty-five thousand
four hundred and fifty-four persons in receipt of relief.
CONCLUSION.
451
from the guardians for the corresponding week in November, 1865;
and the following figures show the numbers relieved by them at
that time in 1861 and 1865, and by the guardians and relief com-
mittees in 1862, 1863, and 1864 :
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
1865.
Ashton-under-Lyne
1,827
56,363
23,568
20,638
1,417
Barton-on-Irwell.
663
3,910
1,230
1,220
896
Blackburn
4,110
38,104
9,457
10,012
4,083
Bolton
3,200
19,525
8,013
6,543
3,166
Burnley
1,503 17,502
3,016
6,948
1,557
Bury
1,782 20,926
10,048
15,113
2,932
Chorley
1,350
7,527
3,409
2,471 1,155
Chorlton
2,042
15,367
9,984
5,694
3,993
Clitheroe
624
1,379
976
1,138
547
Fylde (The)
633
1,282
1,086
771
699
Garstang
567
•
1,026
696
807
458
Glossop
221
7,605
6,752
3,263
195
Haslingden
946
17,346
3,340
7,108
1,243
Lancaster
903
1,129
1,025
901
789
Leigh
636
2,722
1,091
901
806
Macclesfield
2,158
5,609
2,775
2,429
2,319
Manchester
4,678 52,477
13,818
9,035
5,046
Oldham
1,622
28,851
8,371
9,164
1,892*
Preston
4,805
49,171
17,489
13,226
2,377
Prestwich
601
4,794
1,958
1,078
593
Rochdale
•
2,060
24,961
8,132
6,243
1,789
Saddleworth
237
2,414
1,287
988
261
Salford
2,507
16,663
5,600
3,600
2,265
Skipton
1,902
2,635
1,856
2,030
1,354
Stockport
1,674
34,612
10,661
8,593
1,189
Todmorden
795
7,590
1,689
2,696
668
Warrington
1,131
1,992
1,416
1,458
1,220
Wigan
2,360
14,959
11,527
5,855 3,538
Total
47,537
458,441 170,268 149,923 48,267
* Returns for previous week inserted, this week's not having been sent in yet.
"Your committee cannot refrain from expressing at this oppor-
tunity its highest sense of the credit due to the local committees
for the results it is now able to record; the self-denial, energy,
and judgment which these bodies have brought to bear upon their
labours cannot be over-estimated. The balance in hand of this
fund is now £37,546. 18s.; and of the cotton districts relief fund
£59,674. 5s. 3d. Signed on behalf of the central executive
committee,
"DERBY, chairman.
"JOHN WM. MACLURE, honorary secretary."
452
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
Mr. Ross, president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce,
read the minutes of a special meeting of the central executive
committee, at which it was unanimously resolved that a testimonial
from that committee should form primarily, a recognition of the
valuable services of Mr. J. W. Maclure, the honorary secretary of
the relief fund; and that the resolution be communicated to the
general committee, that it might take such steps as it deemed
proper in support of the testimonial. Lord Derby was requested
to make the communication. The members of the central execu-
tive committee had each contributed towards the object, and had
raised £1,096, which would remain a sum entirely distinct from
any additional subscription on the part of others.
The Earl of Derby said: By the direction of the central
executive committee, I have to bring before you the resolution,
which has been passed unanimously by that body, with reference
to the recognition of the services of Mr. Maclure. But before I
say a word upon that subject, allow me to congratulate you and
the county—which I think I may do most conscientiously-upon
the satisfactory character of the report which you have just heard
read. Not only has there been a reduction of the amount of
pauperism, after the severe struggle through which the county
has gone, to a figure very little exceeding that of 1861, which
was in the highest and most flourishing state of the cotton
manufacture, but there is a considerable sum still left in hand;
and, what I consider is of infinitely more importance than
either the one or the other, there has been an infinitely less
amount of demoralisation and deterioration in the independent
character of the working men of the county than could have been
possibly expected, when so large a sum was to be distributed in
gratuitous relief. I think those who were the most favourable to
expenditure of money for the charitable purposes in which we have
been employed, had forebodings, and I confess that I had myself
forebodings, that such a large sum of money could not by possi-
bility be expended, without a very injurious effect upon the
character of the working classes, who had to receive that amount
of relief. And it is most satisfactory to perceive—and the surest
test of it is that there is no increase in the demand for parochial
relief that though to a certain extent that result may have
followed, the result has been, in a very infinitesimally small propor-
CONCLUSION.
453
tion to the amount of relief which has been afforded, and the risk
which I don't hesitate to say was incurred. Gentlemen, in bring-
ing before you the immediate subject of the resolution, I wish to
state, in the first place, that I hope no discussion will take place
now with regard to the final disposal of the surplus still remaining
on hand. Still more do I hope that no discussion will take place
with regard to the best mode of dealing with that surplus, suppos-
ing we had it in our power. But I think it may be convenient to
say that in the course of the spring, the Bridgewater House com-
mittee, contemplating the possibility of a surplus being finally left,
thought themselves called upon to take the opinion of counsel
as to what powers they had of diverting the sum to any other
than the strict purpose for which it was subscribed. The opinion
of counsel was that we had no power to divert it to any other
purpose, except upon an application to the Court of Chancery; but
that the Court of Chancery, taking into consideration all the
circumstances of the case, would probably be disposed to look
favourably upon any scheme which might be proposed by the
committee, for the permanent disposal of the surplus still in hand.
Now, it is quite obvious that any scheme of that kind requires
very deliberate consideration, before it is submitted to the Court of
Chancery. On the other hand, I think I may say, as the unani-
mous opinion of the executive committee, that it is not desirable
to keep on hand a very large balance beyond the time at which we
may feel tolerably secure against any recurrence of the cotton
famine. I think that it will not be thought desirable that the
fund should remain in hand, to be looked upon as available for
meeting any casual and temporary fluctuation of employment. I
think that there would be very serious injury done if that principle
were acted upon, and that we ought to dispose finally of our
surplus, as soon as we are satisfied that there is no probability or
reasonable expectation of anything approaching to the distress
which we have gone through recurring again. But the state of
the cotton trade is so uncertain, and must be so uncertain for the
next few months, that I hope there will be a unanimous concur-
rence in the opinion, that it is advisable to keep this fund on hand
for a few months before its final disposal. Now, gentlemen, in
looking back to the period which we have gone through, of three
years of intense distress, there is one other most gratifying circum-
454
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
·
·
stance to which I must advert-the manner in which throughout
the whole of the country, all classes and all ranks, have each in
their several localities, exerted themselves towards the diminution
of distress; and not only by their pecuniary contributions, but by
their personal labours and their personal superintendence. To
the local committees the report does no more than justice, in
speaking of the judgment, the discretion, the ability and zeal with
which they have discharged the duties which were imposed upon
them-duties often very painful, very invidious-the duty of
keeping a strict watch over the funds entrusted to their charge,
and also the duty of bringing their cases before us without undue
pressure, or arguing too strongly in favour of their own personal
and local interests. With regard to all these matters, we cannot
but be most grateful, for the services which have been rendered
both by the local executive committees generally, and by those
gentlemen who have represented them on the central executive
committee. Members of that committee have also, each in their
own districts, laboured with a zeal, and diligence, and industry,
which I trust will in every case meet with their reward, in the
increased respect and affection borne to them by their poorer
neighbours. But among all those who have laboured, and laboured
diligently and earnestly, for the promotion of the great object we
had in view, I think I may venture to say, without fear of contra-
diction, that there has been no person whose services have been so
unflagging, so invaluable, and so unceasing, as those of the hono-
rary secretary, Mr. Maclure. For three and a half years he has
gratuitously performed the duties of that office, and has to my own
knowledge for weeks, I believe I might say for months together,
devoted, certainly very much to his own inconvenience and loss, a
period of not less than twelve hours out of every four-and-twenty,
to the vast amount of business which pressed upon him in reference
to this relief committee. That the accounts have been kept with
fidelity, care, and accuracy, that the money has not been wastefully
squandered, that a strict watch has been kept over its application ;
and finally, that as compared with the total amount expended, the
per centage required for superintendence and for expenses has been
infinitely lower than ever was known with regard to a subscription
of this magnitude—for a very great portion of this we are certainly
indebted to the care, the unceasing energy, and the vigilance which
CONCLUSION.
455
have been displayed by Mr. Maclure; and it was the unanimous
opinion of the central executive committee that it would be a
matter of positive ingratitude if, at the period at which we have
arrived, even although we have not possibly arrived at the final
close of our labours, we were longer to defer such a recognition of
his services as it was felt that they were fully and amply entitled
to. I must say also that, the question having been raised whether
it was competent or desirable that any portion of the public funds
should be taken in order, not to remunerate (because really such
services are beyond pecuniary remuneration), but to recognise the
services which have been so rendered-the moment that question
was raised, Mr. Maclure said that under no circumstances would he
receive a single shilling, in remuneration for his services, from the
funds which have been subscribed by the public. That being the
case, and we being desirous of showing our esteem for Mr. Maclure,
and the value attaching to his services-services which may in
many cases have brought down upon him no inconsiderable amount
of unpopularity in those districts where they felt the pressure put
upon them by the central committee, we felt that it would be
impossible for us longer to delay the expression of our own opinion;
and consequently, in the executive committee, it was agreed that
we should subscribe among ourselves, as from the central execu-
tive, a sum of money sufficient to give Mr. Maclure a very hand-
some testimonial of our esteem and gratitude, and at the same
time to accompany it with a sum of money in addition to whatever
testimonial might be finally decided upon. We have discharged
what we felt to be our duty in entering into this subscription, and in
reporting it to the general committee. It will now be for the general
committee, and for those who have had the opportunity of witness-
ing and estimating the value of Mr. Maclure's services, to say
whether they will or will not be willing to join in this expression
of gratitude and this recognition of his services; and we leave it in
your hands whether any further steps shall be taken in the matter.
A sub-committee was then appointed for the Maclure testi-
monial; and the following resolution was also unanimously adopted
by the meeting:-
"That the hearty thanks of the committee are due, and are
hereby given to the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, chair-
man of the central executive, who, by his high position, great influ-
456
FACTS OF THE COTTON FAMINE.
ence, and personal attendance, did much to secure the confidence
of the public in the committee; to Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth, vice-
chairman, whose previous official experience and great executive
power have been most valuable during three and a half years of
constant labour and anxiety; to J. W. Maclure, Esq., honorary
secretary, whose constant supervision and untiring energy and
activity, in the service of the committee have been unparalleled,
and whose statistical reports will be most valuable as references to
future historians of Lancashire; and to the other members of the
central executive for their great and efficient services in the distri-
bution of the largest benevolent fund upon record."
Lord Derby: I presume that it devolves upon me, as having
been the chairman of the executive committee-whose labours I
hope are now almost, if not finally, terminated-to return to you
our thanks, for the manner in which you have acknowledged the
services which it has been in our power to render from time to
time. But for my own part I must disclaim the amount of merit
which is attributed to me by the resolution, for in point of fact
my labours have been very slight; they have consisted simply in
attending, when more imperative duties did not call me elsewhere,
once a week at the meetings of the executive committee, and there
presiding over a body composed of men of various political and
religious opinions, but acting together with a unanimity, cordi-
ality, and harmony, which very seldom is to be found even in much
smaller bodies. This harmony and unanimity is due, not to the
chairman or to any influence which he might possess, but to the
general feeling which pervaded all members of that committee,
that they were working in one common cause, in which they had
one common interest and one common duty to perform; and to the
performance of that duty, I am satisfied each and everyone of that
committee have sacrificed every other sentiment; feeling that it was
imperative upon them to contribute anything they could do, towards
the relief of a distress so great and unparalleled as that through
which this county has recently passed. The best reward we can
hope for any services which we may have been enabled to render,
is in the first place to think that those services have been effectual;
that they have, to a great extent, mitigated the pressure of that
distress which this county has suffered; and that they have been
accompanied with less of evil or less of ill consequences than might
CONCLUSION.
457
have been expected, from the conduct of an experiment so novel,
and at the same time so large. Next to the satisfaction of having
contributed to the general good of the country, must be the satis-
faction we feel at the confidence which you, gentlemen, under
whom we have been acting, have been pleased to repose in us; the
approbation which you have given to the measures we have pur-
sued, and to the confidence you have been pleased to assure us we
have established, in our good intentions and discretion, throughout
the county which it has been our desire to serve and assist. I am
sure, in the name of the whole committee, I may offer you our
most grateful thanks for the manner in which you have appre-
ciated our services; and for my own part, I can only say you have
very far overrated anything it has been in my power to do.
The meeting then separated.
T
DR.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND BALANCE SHEET
FROM 9TH JUNE, 1862,

To 25,765 Donations
payable by instalments
To Subscriptions from 3,092 churches, chapels, &c.
19
""
215
""
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
1
5,402 parishes, &c.
1
Employés of 1,483 firms
1
1,213 Relief committees*
28
Total to 30th June, 1864
>>
""
for six months ended 31st December, 1864
Less: On account of subscriptions and donations,
payable by instalments, included in the account
to 31st December, 1862, as outstanding
To Foreign and Colonial Subscriptions, viz. :—
Australia (including New South Wales)
Nova Scotia
China
..
India
Canada
Cape of Good Hope..
Germany
France..
The Brazils
Turkey
Egypt
Italy
..
Holland
Spain
Gibraltar
Russia..
South America
Austria
Africa..
Newfoundland
Smyrna
•
•
•
·
•
•
•
•
•
..
•
To 30th June, 1864.
Lancashire
and the Cot- throughout the
General,
To
31st December,
1864.
Total.
ton Districts. Un. Kingdom.
·
•
£ 8. d.
89,724 6 2
117 0 0
52,628 2 10
6,343 17 3
£ 8. d.
89,132 11 0
314 18 11
11,380 12 0
£
8. d.
431 18 11
£
8. d.
178,856 17 2
•
•
9,274 8 11
•
·
•
8,194 6 2
140,930 18 0
3 0 4
46,921 9 6
12 10 0
56,242 19 3
0 13 7
7,520 14 2
1 10 6
356,851 17 1
1,645 12 6
64,008 14 10
53,265 6 9
12 10 0
65,517 8 2
0 13 7
1 10 6
1,648 12 10
15,715 0 4
497,782 15 1
120 0 4
1,975 5 6
2,095 5 10
875,146 2 4
2,095 5 10
877,241 8 2
30,642 7 2
To 30th June,
1864.
27,824 4 0
To 31st Dec.,
1864.
40
200 0 0
Total from
each Place.
58,666 11 2
818,574 17 0
52,188 5 10
52,188 5 10
5,751 11 3
5,751 11 3
·
2,056 2 6
2,056 2 6
..
1,899 17 7
6 18 6
1,906 16 1
•
2,560 9 7
2,560 9 7
3,234 10 3
3,234 10 3
1,032 1 0
1,239 4 6
4,638 4 11
0 10 0
1,032 11 0
1,239 4 6
793 4 0
1,527 3 0
4,638 4 11
793 4 0
1,527 3 0
777 8 7
777 8 7
556 5 6
556 5 6
230 16 2
230 16 2
105 16 0
105 16 0
716 14 3
•
•
2,067 6 1
207 14 8
426 14 2
716 14 3
2,067 6 1
207 14 8
426 14 2
• •
· •
313 7 1
•
728 16 0
313 7 1
728 16 0
3,088 8 4
2,955 2 3
1,288 11 5
283 16 8
772 17 0
3,088 8 4
2,955 2 3
44 14 6
1,333 5 11
283 16 8
•
•
1,050 1 8
772 17 0
1,050 1 8
92,542 13 3
499 3 10
16,338 3 0
7 14 7
::
3,435 9 4
499 3 10
7 14 7
19,773 12 4
931,398 1 0
New Zealand..
West Indies
North America
Java
The Sandwich Islands
Madeira and sundry Foreign
To Sale of sundry Consignments
To Tolls returned by Railway Companies
To Interest allowed by Bankers
Deduct for subscriptions included Dec.
31st, 1862, and transmitted direct to
the Cotton District Fund
,, Liverpool Fund
·
•
£10,240 0 0
10,100 0 0
""
other Funds and Subscriptions
promised but not collectable .. 13,510 7 0
:
33,850 7 0
* These sums include-The Cotton District Relief Fund
..
£85,732 12 0
Liverpool Fund
56,400 0 0
Edinburgh Relief Committee.
£897,547 14 0
34,425 4 8
Dublin Relief Committee
25,000 0 0
From the commencement of the subscription up to 4th December, 1865, the receipts in donations, subscriptions,
The expenditure to the same date was-for general grants, £751,822. 48. 4d.; for educational and employment grants,
£8,662. 128. 3d; making a total of £847,258. 10s. 8d. granted. Expenses, £10,265. 5s. 1d.; cost of carriage, £544. 138. 8d.,
difference between the subscriptions and the expenditure, including balance in hand, consists of subscriptions promised
OF THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
TO 31ST DECEMBER, 1864.
CR.
To 30th June, To 31st Dec.,
1864.
1864.
TOTAL
By Grants:-
For general relief to 161 committees to 30th June, 1864, and
to 58 since that date..
£ 8. d.
648,637 4 4
£
8. d.
65,130 0 0
£
8.
d.
,, Clothing to 204 committees
55,266 0 0
•
703,903 4 4
65,130 0 0
769,033 4 4
By Grants from the Employment and School Fund to 130 committees
to 30th June, 1864, and to 9 since that date:—
For educating youths and adults
>>
Sewing schools
4,962 8 2
4,833 18 2
85 13 10
52 0 0
>"
""
School fees of children whose parents are in receipt of relief.
Superintendence of labour
11,931 3 0
2,205 13 0
515 0 5
127 8 0
23,933 2 4
780 2 3
24,713 4 7
By Grants:-
For clothing to operatives employed for wages under the Pub-
lic Works Act
3,400 0 0
2,211 11 6
5,611 11 6
By Donations:
Appropriated to special localities as directed by donors
8,262 12 3
8,262 12 3
Printing and stationery
* By General Expenses:—
Advertising
Postage and bill stamps
Salaries and wages
Deputations' expenses, telegrams, and miscellaneous
Carriage..
Packing materials
Fixtures for the several offices
Rent of temporary warehouse, &c.
• •
..
4,439 14 3
1,179 8 1
559 14 9
1,941 16
6 15 0
133 17 0
..
• •
..
3
403 16 7
284 5 8
80 17 1
155 9 8
56 6 0
34 4 7
304 10 0
:
57 13 10
1 0 5
9 14 10
214
Tolls on coals distributed (which will be returned)
Balance:-
Cash at bankers
Do. with honorary secretary
Subs. outstanding (including those payable by instalments)..
Less:-
Amounts due to sundry tradesmen
Grants awarded not paid at date
..
Do. for clothing do.
9,101 8 4
541 13 8
549 17 0
9,651 5 4
541 13 8
134,261 8 11
43 6 5
8,929 7 6
71,864 3 0
32 14 10
8,729 7 6
143,234 2 10
80,626 5 4
31 4 0
360 19 0
500 0 0
·
892 3 0
79,734 2 4
* These items include expenses incurred in the receipt and distribution of the following donations
16,500 barrels of flour, estimated value
in kind, viz:—
997
500
410
""
beef, bacon, &c
biscuits
fish
228 sacks of potatoes, carrots, turnips, &c.
225 deer, sundry braces of pheasants, hares, rabbits, &c.
28 chests of tea
24 pipes and 108 dozens of wine..
11,519 tons of coal
8,933 bales of clothing, blankets, &c., repacked into 8,018
bales
£20,580 0 0
The larger portion
5,583 4 0 of these articles were
750 0 0) received through the
102 10 0 International and
54 0 0
the British Resi-
524 0 0
dents' Relief Com-
350 0 0
mittees of New York.
389 0 0
3,455 14 0
80,180 0 0
£111,968 8 0
ARTHUR H. HEYWOOD, Treasurer.
JOHN WM. MACLURE, Hon. Sec.
Verified this 13th day of January, 1865.
BROOME, CHILD, MURRAY & CO.,
897,547 14 0
PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS, MANCHESTER.
collections, sales of consignments, &c., amounted to £883,055. 12s. 4d. exclusive of bank interest, £20,780. 1s. 11d.
£25,096. 28. 7d.; for clothing grants, £61,677. 118. 6d.; and for special grants and donations to special districts,
of which a large portion has been returned; leaving a balance of £37,546. 18s. on hand, 4th December, 1865.
but not paid.
The
APPENDIX.
No. 1.
FUND FOR RELIEF OF DISTRESS IN THE MANUFACTURING
DISTRICTS.
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
The Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, K.G. (chairman).
Sir James P. Kay-Shuttleworth, Baronet (deputy chairman),
The Right Honourable Lord
Egerton of Tatton.
The Right Honourable Lord
Edward Howard, M.P.
Colonel Wilson Patten, M.P.
Major Egerton Leigh.
Thomas Ashton, Esq.
Edmund Ashworth, Esq.
G. L. Ashworth, Esq.
Robert Gladstone, Esq.
Nathaniel Eckersley, Esq.
Joseph Fenton, Esq.
J. Goodair, Esq.
Robert Hutchison, Esq.
R. H. Hutchinson, Esq.
J. Robinson Kay, Esq.
Hugh Mason, Esq.
Robert M'Clure, Esq.
John Platt, Esq.
W. Rathbone, jun., Esq.'
William Roberts, Esq.
Malcolm Ross, Esq.
J. S. Stern, Esq.
James Worrall, Esq.
The Worshipful the Mayor of
Manchester (chairman of
general committee).
H. B. Farnall, Esq. (special
commissioner, ex officio).
A.H.Heywood, Esq. (treasurer).
John William Maclure, Esq. (honorary secretary).
The following report was presented to the central executive in
November, 1864, but has not before been published; and Mr.
Maclure has since kindly furnished the return up to March, 1865:
APPENDIX No. 1.
461
1
"Manchester, November 21, 1864.
"My Lords and Gentlemen,—The accompanying tables afford a
comparison between the ordinary expenditure for relief of the poor
in the twenty-eight unions of the cotton district, and that of the
years which have been affected by the cotton famine.
"The excess of expenditure over 1861 (which may be taken as
an average year) in in-door maintenance and out-door relief, in-
cluding that of the local relief committees, in the year ended Lady-
day, 1862, was £40,221; in 1863, £1,287,597; in 1864, £949,554;
and during the six months ended Michaelmas, 1864, over £300,000;
being a total excess of expenditure of £2,577,372 in the three years
and six months, during which the present exceptional state of dis-
tress has continued.
(C
During the three years ended Lady-day, 1864, the guardians
expended in the relief of the poor £1,937,928, and the local com-
mittees £1,372,454, making a total of £3,310,382; whilst, in 1861,
the guardians of the poor spent only £313,135.
"Of the amount received by the committees, £289,938 was from
local sources; but, in addition to that amount, the central com-
mittee received £276,453 in subscriptions from the cotton districts;
and it is estimated that no less a sum than £220,000 was locally
distributed in private charity, beyond the large amount voluntarily
remitted by manufacturers and property owners for cottage rents.
For the information referring to the guardians' relief I am in-
debted to Mr. F. Purdy, of the poor-law board.
"I have the honour to be,
"My Lords and Gentlemen,
"Your most obedient servant,
"JOHN WM. MACLURE, hon. sec.
“N.B. With reference to the expenditure in the various unions,
as shown in the tables, I beg particularly to call attention to the
note at the foot of each page."
""
462
APPENDIX No. 1.
TABLE I.
EXPENDITURE FOR IN-MAINTENANCE AND OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY GUARDIANS IN THE TWENTY-
EIGHT DISTRESSED UNIONS OF THE COTTON DISTRICTS, FOR THE YEAR ENDED LADY-DAY,
1. Ashton-under-Lyne
2. Barton-upon-Irwell
3. Blackburn
4. Bolton
5. Burnley
6. Bury
7. Chorley..
8. Chorlton
9. Clitheroe
10. Fylde (The)
1
11. Garstang
12. Glossop..
1861.

Expenditure of
Guardians.
Population Assessment
UNION.
in
1861.
in
1861.
In-
Out-
mainte- door
nance.
Relief.
Expenditure
of Local Com-
mittees.
Total
Rate of Expen-
diture in the £
on Assessment. *
£
£
£
£
4
8. d.
134,761
313,350
2,144
4,197
6,341
39,050
136,828
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
1,013
2,398
:
:
0 43
3,411
06
119,937
272,448
2,290
6,957
9,247
0 81
130,270
360,729
3,131
9,067
12,198
08
75,888
185,142
644
5,505
6,149 0 8
101,142
328,223
2,209 6,142
8,351
0 63
41,679
150,215
890
3,524
4,414
0 7
169,573
475,905
5,293 5,849
11,142
0 5
20,476
93,525
620 2,179
2,799
0 71
25,263
117,761
723
2,513
3,236
0 60
:
12,411
72,168
306
2,050
2,356 0 72
21,140
:
:
:
:
:
53,445
468
621
1,089
0 47
69,782
143,952
922 2,705
3,627 0 6
24,006
106,625
544 2,810
3,354
0 71
37,700
104,954 1,088
2,128
3,216
0 78
61,517
198,688 2,967
6,130
8,197
097
185,040
:
111,267
:
110,488
:
:
58,578
91,758
18,630
789,203 16,250 12,628
226,201
331,704 5,118 7,194
182,170
565 1,645
254,208 2,162 6,512
53,997
669
28,878
0 9
3,889 4,087
:
7,976
083
12,312
087
2,210 0 21
8,674
0 81
713
:
:
:
1,382 0 6급
​105,334
•
:
31,185
337,719
142,427
3,718 5,339
648
:
9,057
0 68
5,855
6,503
0 11
:
:
:
:
:
:
91,361
242,361 2,787 3,768
6,555
0 61
:
29,727
89,696
3,417
3,417
0 91
:
43,788
149,249
1,695 4,169
5,864
0 98
:
94,559
266,193
2,529
6,617
9,146
0 84
2,060,000
6,036,659
64,382 126,719
191,101
0 78
13. Haslingden
14. Lancaster
15. Leigh
16. Macclesfield
17. Manchester
18. Oldham..
19. Preston..
•
20. Prestwich
21. Rochdale
22. Saddleworth
23. Salford..
24. Skipton..
25. Stockport
26. Todmorden
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
Total
•
*N.B. Beyond in-maintenance and out-door relief, the guardians expended £122,034 for the mainte-
nance of paupers in lunatic asylums, for the repayment of workhouse loans and interest, for salaries of officers,
and for other purposes immediately connected with relief. Thus the total expenditure in the year ended Lady-
day, 1861, was £313,135, or ls. 0ğd in the pound on the assessment of the twenty-eight unions.
APPENDIX No 1.
463
TABLE II.
EXPENDITURE FOR IN-MAINTENANCE AND OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY GUARDIANS IN THE TWENTY-
EIGHT DISTRESSED UNIONS OF THE COTTON DISTRICTS, FOR THE YEAR ENDED LADY-DAY,
1862.
Expenditure of
Guardians.
Population Assessment
UNION.
in
1861.
in
1861.
In-
Out-
mainte- door
nance.
Relief.
of
Local Com-
Expenditure
mittees.
Total.
Rate of Expen-
diture in the £
on Assessment. *
£
£
£
£
£
8. d.
1. Ashton-under-Lyne
2. Barton-upon-Irwell
3. Blackburn
4. Bolton
5. Burnley
6. Bury
7. Chorley..
8. Chorlton
9. Clitheroe
10. Fylde (The)
11. Garstang
12. Glossop..
13. Haslingden
14. Lancaster
15. Leigh
16. Macclesfield
17. Manchester
18. Oldham
19. Preston..
20. Prestwich
21. Rochdale
22. Saddleworth
23. Salford ..
24. Skipton..
25. Stockport
26. Todmorden
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
134,761
313,350
2,659
5,771
8,430 0 6
63
39,040
:
:
136,828
1,263 2,363
3,626
0 6
63
119,937
272,448
2,814 11,011
..
13,825
1 01
130,270
75,888
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
101,142
41,679
360,729 3,831
185,142
328,223 2,390 6,960
9,783
•
13,614
0 91
844
6,056
·
6,900
0 83
9,350
0 67
150,215
1,176 4,031
5,207 0 800
169,573
475,905
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
5,823 5,919
..
11,742 0 61
20,476
93,525
687 1,939
:
2,626 0 62
25,623
117,761
885
2,548
··
3,433
0 7
12,411
:
:
:
72,168
251
2,245
2,496
081
21,140
53,445
536
903
1,439
69,782
143,952
1,067 3,115
:
:
0 63
4,182
0 7
:
24,006
106,625
536 2,788
3,324
•
0 7
37,700
104,954 1,201 2,260
3,461
071
61,517
·
·
198,688
2,733 7,292
10,025
1 01
:
185,040
789,203
20,551❘ 17,198
37,749
0 11
111,267
226,201
4,364 4,850
9,214 0 92
:
•
110,488
331,704
6,314 13,275
19,589
•
1 21
2급
​:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
58,578
182,170
547 2,128
2,675
0 31
91,758
254,208
:
:
:
2,242
7,871
10,113 0 94
18,630
53,997
671
851
105,334
337,719 3,944 6,995
:
31,185
142,427
695 6,342
94,361
242,361
3,190 5,720
29,727
89,696
3,587
43,788
149,249 2,086 4,514
:
:
94,559
266,193
2,724
6,983
:
Total
•
2,060,000
6,036,659 76,024 155,298
1,522 0 63
10,939
0 72
7,037
1 0
8,910
081
3,587
0 98
6,600
0 108
9,077
0834
231,322
0 94
* N.B. Beyond in-maintenance and out-door relief, the guardians expended £123,838, for the mainte-
nance of paupers in lunatic asylums, for the repayment of workhouse loans and interest, for salaries of officers,
and for other purposes immediately connected with relief. Thus the total expenditure in the year ended Lady-
day, 1862, was £355,160, or 1s. 214d. in the pound on the assessment of the twenty-eight unions.
•



464
APPENDIX No. 1.
TABLE III.
EXPENDITURE FOR IN-MAINTENANCE AND OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY GUARDIANS AND LOCAL COM-
MITTEES IN THE TWENTY-EIGHT DISTRESSED UNIONS OF THE COTTON DISTRICTS, FOR THE
YEAR ENDED LADY-DAY,
UNION.
Popula-
tion
in 1861. in 1861.
Assess-
ment
1863.

Expenditure of
Guardians.
Out-
In-
mainte- door
nance. Relief.
Local Com-
Expenditure of
mittees.
Total.
Rate of Expenditure in
the £on Assessment.*

Local
Guar-
dians.
Com- Total.
mittees.
Lyne
1. Ashton-under-
2. Barton-upon-
Irwell..
3. Blackburn
134,761
£
313,350
£
£
3,055 61,545 136,228
£
CR
200,828
8. d.
4 13
8.
rd
s. d.
88 12 10
··
4. Bolton
5. Burnley..
6 Bury
7. Chorley.
..
8. Chorlton.
9. Clitheroe
10. Fylde (The)
11. Garstang
12. Glossop.
13. Haslingden
14. Lancaster
15. Leigh
16. Macclesfield
17. Manchester
18. Oldham..
19. Preston..
20. Prestwich
}
21. Rochdale
22. Saddleworth
23. Salford
24. Skipton..
25. Stockport
26. Todmorden
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
39,050 136,828 1,491 2,981 8,731
119,937
272,448 3,361 42,588 | 70,542
130,270 360,729 5,085 19,329 20,736
75,888 185,142 1,077
101,142 328,223 2,755
41,679 150,215 1,412
169,573 475,905 6,922
20,476 93,525
808
25,263 117,761
12,411 72,168
21,140 53,445
69,782 144,952
24,006 106,625
37,770 104,954
61,517 198,688
2,872 10,963
185,040 789,203 20,930❘ 87,605
87,605 84,925
111,267 226,201 5,143 23,242 46,746
110,488 331,704 7,646 60,401 73,486
58,578 182,170 1,248 5,018 8,868
91,758 254,208 2,440 32,228 40,857
18,630 53,997 760 4,122 659
105,334 337,719 4,728 24,419 25,296
31,185 142,247 821 7,855 2,965
94,361 242,361 3,729
29,727 89,696
13,203
0 73
1 3
1 111
116,491 3 41
5 21
8 6
45,150
1 41
1 12
2 6
20,630❘ 30,466
52,173 2 4
3 31
5 71
22,930 | 24,201
49,886 1 71
1 52
3 03
9,313 16,273
26,998 1 51
2 2
3 7급
​30,878❘ 31,878
69,678
1 7
1 41
2 111
4,066 3,111
7,985
1 08
07/1 1 81
992 3,471
754
5,217
09/1
0 1
0 108
267 2,958
300
3,525
0 10
0 18
1 03
646 11,208 17,446
1,175❘ 18,435
29,300
4 31
6 6
10 98
30,924
50,534
28/
4 3/2
7 0
673 3,657
2,170
6,500
0 92 0 4
1 24
1,384
4,073 2,701
8,158
1 01
0 61
1 6
10,963 | 10,305
24,140
1 42
1 01
2 51
193,460
2 9
2 1
4 101
75,131
261
4 1
6 78
141,533 4 11
4 51
8 63
15,134 0 81
0 119
1 73
75,525
2 83
3 23
5 11
5,541 1 92
0 21
201
54,443
1 111
1 51
3 4/
11,641
1 2§
0 5
1 78
28,194 67,760
99,683 2 71
5 57
8 1
9,840 9,191
19,031 2 28
2 09
4 3
:
43,788 149,249 2,599
6,536 1,341
10,476 1 23
20급
​3 27
94,559 266,193 3,117 14,910 | 40,307
58,334
1 44
3 1
4 5
$
Total..
2,060,000 6,036,659 87,136 573,395 809,167 1,469,698
2 23
281
4 10%
* N.B. Beyond in-maintenance and out-door relief, the guardians expended £163,257 for the mainte-
nance of paupers in lunatic asylums, for the repayment of workhouse loans and interest, for salaries of
officers, and for other purposes immediately connected with relief. Thus the total expenditure in the year
ended Lady-day, 1863, was £823,788, or 28. 94d. in the pound on the assessment of the twenty-eight unions.
•
APPENDIX No. 1.
465
nance. Relief.
TABLE IV.
EXPENDITURE FOR IN-MAINTENANCE AND OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY GUARDIANS AND LOCAL COM-
MITTEES IN THE TWENTY-EIGHT DISTRESSED UNIONS OF THE COTTON DISTRICTS, FOR THE
YEAR ENDED LADY-DAY,
1864.

Expenditure of
Guardians.
UNION.
Popula-
tion
in 1861.
Assess-
ment
in 1861.
In-
Out-
mainte- door
Expenditure of
Local
Committees.
Rate of Expenditure in
the £ on Assessment.*
Total
Local
Guar-
Com-
Total.
dians.
mittees.
1. Ashton-under-
Lyne
134,761
£
313,350
£
£
2,618 61,897 116,066
£
£
8. d.
s. d.
8. d.
180,581
4 13
7 48 11 6
2. Barton-upon-
Irwell..
3. Blackburn
39,050 136,828
119,927 272,448
4. Bolton ..
5. Burnley
130,270 360,729
1,403 8,729
3,153❘ 20,403
20,403 44,147
4,629 18,395 18,661
1,924
7,056
09
0 33
10용
​67,703
1 89
3 21
4 114
41,685 1 33
1 03
2 42
6. Bury
7. Chorley..
•
8. Chorlton
9. Clitheroe
10. Fylde (The)
11.. Garstang
12. Glossop..
13. Haslingden
14. Lancaster
15. Leigh
16. Macclesfield
17. Manchester
..
93,525
117,761
··
18. Oldham..
19. Preston ..
75,888 185,142
836 13,746 7,477
101,142 328,223 2,800 22,466
41,679 150,215 1,311 9,398
169,573 475,905 6,602 39,613
20,476
25,263
12,411 72,168
21,140 53,445 723 14,643
69,782 143,952 1,085 12,387
24,006
706
106,625
37,770
1,361 4,478
104,954
61,517 198,688 2,585 10,640 3,427
185,040 789,203 20,077
111,267 226,201
110,488 331,704 7,713
22,059 1 61
0 10
2 44
36,704
61,970 1 61
2 23
3 9
8,361
19,070 1 51
1 1/
261
24,673
70,888
1 111
1
211
727
3,675
492
4,894
0 111
0 11
1 11
948 3,890
166
5,004
0 94
0 94
254 3,043
185
3,482
0 113
0 111
28,903
44,269
5 9
10 10
16 7
14,604
28,076
1101
2 03/
3101
3,285
1,361
5,352
09
0 3
1 0
487
6,326
1 1
0 1
1 2
16,652
1 4
0 41
1 87
64,894
28,715
113,686
2 13
0 8/3/
2 91
4,824
19,695
31,324
55,843
2 2
2 91
4 11
51,074
56,462
115,249
3 61
3 42
6 111
20. Prestwich
21. Rochdale
22. Saddleworth
23. Salford
24. Skipton..
25. Stockport
26. Todmorden
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
..
58,578 182,170
91,758
254,208 2,501
18,630
675
53,997
105,334 337,719 4,338
31,185 142,427
94,361 242,361 3,674
575
6,232
4,432
11,239 0 9
0 531
1 21
27,398
27,267
57,166
2 4
2 1/8
4 61
5,651
387
6,713
2 41
0 18
25
19,266
17,162
40,766
1 41
1 011
2 41
869
6,651
828
8,348
1 08
0 18/
1 2
15,187
15,187
55,320
74,181
1 68
4 62
6 1룹
​•
..
29,727 89,696
43,788 149,249 2,627 6,133
94,559 266,193 3,079 19,052 28,883
7,744
4,859
12,603
1 81
1 1
2 92
....
8,760 1 2
1 2
51,024
1 8
2 2
3 10
Total..
2,060,000 6,036,659 82,693 494,675 563,287 1,140,655
1 11
1 101
3 91
* N.B. Beyond in-maintenance and out-door relief, the guardians expended £181,612, for the mainte-
nance of paupers in lunatic asylums, for the repayment of workhouse loans and interest, for salaries of
officers, and for other purposes immediately connected with relief. Thus the total expenditure for the year
ended Lady-day, 1864, was £758,980, or 2s. 6d. in the pound on the assessment of the twenty-eight unions.
HH
466
APPENDIX No. 1.
TABLE V.
EXPENDITURE OF GUARDIANS AND LOCAL COMMITTEES IN THE YEARS ENDED LADY DAY, 1861-2-3-4;
AND THE EXCESS OF EXPENDITURE IN 1862-3-4 OVER THAT OF 1861.

UNION.
Popula- Assess-
tion ment
in 1861. in 1861.
Total Annual Expenditure
of Guardians for In-maintenance and Excess of Annual Expenditure over
Out-door Relief
and Local Committees.
that of 1861.
1861.
1862.
1863.
1864.
1862.
1863.
1864. Total
CR
£
£
£
£
£
£
1. Ashton-under-
Lyne.....
134,761 313,350
6,341 8,430 200,828 180,581
£
2,089 194,487 174,240
£
£
370,816
2. Barton-upon-
Irwell..
39,050 136,828 3,411
3,626 '13,203
7,056
215 9,792 3,645
13,652
3. Blackburn.
119,937 272,448
9,247
13,825 | 116,491
4. Bolton
130,270 360,729
12,198
13,614
45,150
67,703
41,685 1,416
4,578
10,244 58,456
170,278
32,952 29,487
63,855
5. Burnley..
75,888 185,142 6,149
6,900
52,173
22,059
751
46,024 15,910
62,685
6. Bury
101,142 328,223 8,351 9,350
49,886
61,970
999
41,535 53,619
96,153
7. Chorley.
41,679 150,215 4,414 5,207
26,998
19,070
793
22,584 14,656 38,033
8. Chorlton.
169,573 475,905 11,142
11,742
69,678
70,888
600
58,536 59,746 118,882
9. Clitheroe
20,476 93,525
2,799
2,626
7,985
4,894
173
5,186 2,095
7,281
10. Fylde (The)
25,623 117,761
3,236
3,433
5,217
5,004
197
1,981 1,768
3,946
11. Garstang
12,411
72,168
2,356
2,496
3,525
3,482
140
1,169 1,126
2,435
12. Glossop
21,140 53,445 1,089
1,439
29,300
44,269
350
28,211 43,180
71,741
13. Haslingden....
69,782 143,952 3,627
4,182
50,534
28,076
555
46,907 24,449
71,911
14. Lancaster
•
15. Leigh.
24,006 106,625
37,700 104,954
3,354
3,324 6,500
5,352
30
3,146 1,998
5,144
3,216 3,461
8,158
6,326
245 4,942
3,110
8,297
16. Macclesfield
61,517 198,688
8,197 10,025
24,140
16,652
1,828 15,943
8,455 26,226
17. Manchester
185,040
789,203
789,203
28,878 37,749
193,460
113,686
8,871 164,582
84,808
258,261
18. Oldham
111,267 226, 201
19. Preston
110,488
331,704
12,312
7,976 9,214
19,589
75,131 55,843
141,533 115,249
1,238
67,155 47,867
116,260
7,277
129,221 | 102,937
239,435
20. Prestwich...
58,578 182,170
2,210 2,675
15,134
11,239
465
12,924 9,029 22,418
21. Rochdale
91,758 254,208 8,674 10,113
75,525
57,166
1,439
76,851 48,492 126,782
22. Saddleworth
18,630 53,997
1,382 1,522
5,541
6,713
140
4,159 5,331
9,630
23. Salford
105,334 337,719
9,057 10,939
53,443
40,766 1,882
24. Skipton..
25. Stockport
26. Todmorden
•
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
TOTAL.
31,185 142,427 6,503 7,037
94,361 242,361 6,555 8,910
74,181
29,727 89,696 3,417 3,587
19,031❘ 12,603
43,788 149,249 5,864 6,600 10,476 8,760
94,559 266,193 9,146 9,707 58,334 51,024
561 49,188 41,878 91,627
2,060,000 6,036,059 191,101 231,322 1,469,698 1,140,655 40,221 1,287,597 949,554 2,277,372
N.B. Beyond in-maintenance and out-door relief, the guardians have expended the following sums for the
maintenance of paupers in lunatic asylums, for the repayment of workhouse loans and interest, for salaries of officers,
and other purposes immediately connected with relief:-in 1861, £122,034; in 1862, £123,838; in 1863, £163,257;
and in 1864, £181,612. The total expenditure in three years ended Lady Day, 1864, i.e., from the commencement of
the cotton famine, was £3,310,382, or 10s. 11d. in the pound on the assessment of the twenty-eight unions, being
£2,277,372 in excess of that of ordinary times.
11,641
8,348
534
44,386 31,709
1,845
77,977
99,683
5,138
2,355 93,128
170 15,614 9,186 24,970
736 4,612 2,896 8,244
7,517
67,626 | 163,109
APPENDIX No. 1.
467
TABLE VI.
EXPENDITURE FOR IN-MAINTENANCE AND OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY GUARDIANS AND LOCAL COM-
MITTEES IN THE TWENTY-EIGHT DISTRESSED UNIONS OF THE COTTON DISTRICTS, FOR THE
YEAR ENDED Lady-day,
1865.
UNION.
Popula-
tion
in 1861.
Assess-
ment
in 1861.
In-
Expenditure of
Guardians.
Out-
mainte- door
Inance. Relief.
Expenditure of
Local
Committees.
Rate of Expenditure in
the £ on Assessment.*
Total
Local
Guar-
Com- Total.
dians.
mittees.
1. Ashton-under-
Lyne
134,761
£
313,350
£
£
£
2,666 34,422 59,220
£
s. d.
s. d.
8. d.
96,308
2 43
3 9
6 13/
2. Barton-upon-
Irwell
3. Blackburn
4. Bolton
5. Burnley
6. Bury
7. Chorley
8. Chorlton
9. Clitheroe..
10. *Fylde (The)
11. Garstang
39,050 136,828 1,534 3,411
119,937 272,448 3,667 17,464 | 10,899
130,270 360,729 4,378 14,938 3,754
75,888 185,142 792 11,142
101,142 328,223 2,881 22,204
41,679 150,215 1,075 7,056
169,573 475,905 8,579 20,146
20,476 93,525 661
25,263 117,761
72,168
346
5,291
0 88
0 0/12
09/1
32,030 1 7
0 91
2 41
23,070
1 02
0 21
1 31
6,470
18,404
1 3
08
1 11
10,270
35,355 1 699
0 77
2 1/8/
1,789 9,920 10급
​0 23
1 38
7,731 36,456
1 21
0 4
1 61
3,359
298
4,318
0 101
0 02/
0 11
964
3,306
127
4,397
0 89
100
081
12. Glossop
13. Haslingden
14. Lancaster
15. Leigh
16. Macclesfield
17. Manchester
18. Oldham
19. Preston
20. Prestwich
..
21. Rochdale
22. Saddleworth
23. Salford ..
24. Skipton..
31,185 142,427
25. Stockport
94,361
26. Todmorden
27. Warrington
28. Wigan
..
29. Sundry not in
12,411
21,140 53,445
3,769 12,904
69,782 143,952 1,135 9,369 7,523
24,006 106,625 658 3,108
37,700 104,954 1,249 3,514
61,517 198,688 2,097 9,268 109
185,040 789,203 20,323 29,510 1,910
111,267 226,201 4,399 12,531 13,771
110,488 331,704 7,834 21,874 | 17,646
58,578 182,170
3,408 523
91,758 254,208 2,567 15,002 7,445
18,630 53,997
3,121
105,334 337,719 3,889 13,076
818 5,621
242,361 3,383
29,727
89,696
43,788 149,249
94,559 266,193
262
2,816
3,078
0 101
0 101
612
17,285
1 79
4 10
6 58
18,027 1 51 1 02
2 61
3,766
0 812
08/
64
4,827
0 102
0 10
11,474 1 19
0 0
1 21
51,743 1 31
1 31
30,701 1 57
1 21
281
600
571
47,354
4,531 0 51
25,014 1 41
3,692
1 91
1 02
110
0 02
0 61
0 7
1 11
1 48
1 432
681
17,646 1 0
0 01
1 01
479
6,918
0 102
0 03/2
0 111
9,992
13,271
26,646
1 11
1 1
2. 21
5,654
441
6,095
1 31
0 11
1 4
2,948
3,297
5,438
8,386
1 18
1 1
13,718 | 10,341
27,356
1 31
0 91
2 04
Cotton Dis-
tricts proper
Total
2,059,310 | 6,036,659 83,839 308,237 | 188,012 | 580,088
1 31
0 732
1111
* This does not include the maintenance of paupers in lunatic asylums, the repayment of workhouse.
loans and interest, or salaries of officers, and other purely establishment charges.-J. W. MACLURE.
፡

468
APPENDIX No. 2.

TABLE I.
NAME OF CITY, BOROUGH, TOWN, PARISH, UNION, TOWNSHIP, OR PLACE TO WHICH LOANS HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY THE POOR LAW BOARD,
FOR THE SEVERAL PURPOSES AS PROVIDED FOR BY THE PUBLIC WORKS ACT, 1863-4.
NAMES OF PLACES.
Local Authorities.
Amount of Loans or-
Dates
of Board's
Orders.
વા
£
£
વો
£
£
1. Accrington
Local Board
3,000
10 Oct. 1863
8,000
4:
£
વો :
£
CR
£
Ditto
Ditto
24,200
5 Dec. 1863
429
23,771
•
Ditto
Ditto
11,900
29 Jan. 1864
2,500
•
2. Adlington (Chorley)
Board of Guardians
1,900
21 Sept. 1863
1,900
3. Ashton-under-Lyne
Town Council
6,343
9 Oct. 1863
3,760
2,583
..
··
Ditto
Ditto
59,489
17 Mar. 1864 | 10,246
49,243
··
Ditto
Ditto
1,700
30 Aug. 1864
874
826
Ditto
Ditto
57,500
8 Oct. 1864
57,500
•
4. Ardwick (Manchester)
Corporation
30,000
9 Jan. 1864
4,000
26,000
5. Atherton
Local Board
5,216
20 June 1864
1,063
4,153
Ditto
Ditto
8,669
24 Aug. 1864
8,669
6. Bacup
Ditto
14,600
24 Mar. 1864 10,040
3,060
1,500
Ditto
Ditto
5,000
29 Aug 1864
··
..
7. Barton and Eccles
Ditto
3,000
26 Aug. 1864
3,000
8. Bedford
Ditto
·
10,893
11 April 1864
4,543 6,350
9. Blackburn
Town Council
78,300
19 Aug. 1863
13,750
59,512
5,038
Ditto
Ditto
66,825
28 Oct. 1863
14,470 45,005
1,350
10. Bollington
Local Board
9,859
31 Aug. 1863
2,000
1,139
11. Bolton
Ditto
·
Ditto
Ditto
12. Bowdon
13. Bradford
Town Council
55,000
5 Oct. 1863
9,912
30,370 | 10,000
1,000
3,000
Ditto
66,000
29 April 1864
13,582
52,418
Ditto
4,934
10 May 1864
Ditto
52,000
13 Oct. 1864
40,000 12,000
Local Board
2,750
9 June 1864
2,750
[
Ditto
5,000
17 June 1864
500
4,000
14. Bredbury (Stockport)
Ditto
15. Brindle (Chorley)
16. Broughton (Salford)
Ditto
17. Burnley
Board of Guardians
400
11 Jan. 1864
400
··
Ditto
1,840
18 May 1864
1,840
Ditto
1,200
5 Oct. 1863
1,200
..
Town Council
9,500
4 Mar. 1864
4,250
5,250
Ditto
3,100
2 May 1864
3,100
●
Ditto
37,800
28 Nov. 1863
17,060
18,728
વો :
£
CR::
£ £
ચો :
CH:
£
9,400
•
•
5,000
•
•
4,934
6,720
718
5,000
2,012
500
NAMES OF PLACES.
Local Authorities.
TABLE I.—Name of City, Borough, Town, Parish, Union, Township, or Place to which Loans have been ordered, &c.-continued.
Amount of Loans or-
dered by the Poor
Law Board.
Dates
of Board's
Orders.
For Sewerage Works.
Road and Street Im-
provements.
Water Supply.
Public Parks and Re-
creation Grounds.
Cleansing, Embank-
ing, and Pitching,
Rivers, &c.
Land Drainage and
other Agricultural
Works.
Cemeteries.
Erection
sion
Places.
Gasworks.
or Exten-
of
Market
Street Bridges.
Public Baths.
£
£
£
£
23.
24. Chorlton (Manchester)
Ditto
Ditto (Lancashire)
18. Bury
• Ditto
19. Charnock Rich'd (Chorley)
20. Cheadle Bulkeley (Stockp't)
21. Cheadle Moseley (Stockp't)
22. Chorley (Cheshire)
Ditto
Im. Commissioners..
33,259
Ditto
15,000
11 Mar. 1864 10,150 23,109
29 June 1863
4:
£
..
4 ::
•
Board of Guardians..
£
£
£ £
15,000
£
£
4:
£
4:
9:
48:
48
•
·
1,200
2 Dec. 1863
1,200
··
Ditto
1,802
25 May 1864
1,802
Ditto
..
..
698
25 May 1864
698
Local Board
··
2,500
9 Oct. 1863
2,500
·
Ditto
10,000
24 Oct. 1863
3,000
Im. Commissioners.
7,000
•
..
14,250
21 Nov. 1863
14,250
•
City Corporation
13,000
11 Jan. 1864
13,000
•
·
Ditto
4,000
25. Cheetham (Manchester)
26. Clayton-le-Moors
27. Crompton
28. Cuerden (Chorley)
13 May 1864
1,000
3,000
Ditto
18,260
Local Board
10,709
9 Jan. 1864
9 April 1864
·
18,260
•
4,961
5,748
Ditto
•
2,330
9 June 1864
2,330
Board of Guardians
750
5 Dec. 1863
29. Darcy Lever (Bolton)
•
750
•
Ditto
1,400
22 Oct. 1863
370
1,030
30. Denton
··
Local Board
•
•
· ·
• •
2,222
30 Sept. 1863
2,222
Ditto
Ditto
2,035
29 Jan. 1864
535
1,500
..
Ditto
Ditto
1,521
18 Aug. 1864
1,521
31. Didsbury (Chorlton)
Board of Guardians
7,500
30 Oct. 1863
7,500
32. Droylsden
··
Local Board
2,800
9 Feb. 1864
2,500
Ditto
•
•
Ditto
11,421
14 April 1864
3,564
7,357
· •
·
300
500
33. Dukinfield
Ditto
2,010 24 Aug. 1863
578
1,432
Ditto
··
Ditto
9,000
21 Sept. 1863
2,495
6,505
Ditto
Ditto
8,400
10 Sept. 1864
2,760
5,640
Ditto
Ditto
6,700
1 Oct. 1864
1,723
4,977
Ditto
•
Ditto
9,000
29 Dec.
1864
34. Edgworth (Bolton)
Board of Guardians.
9,000
··
1,500
12 Oct. 1863
35. Euxton (Chorley).
36. Failsworth
37. Farnworth
..
1,500
..
Ditto
566
22 June 1864
566
. ·
•
··
•
Local Board
6,500
5 April 1864
1,090
4,635
475* 300
Ditto
17,500
26 Jan. 1864
38. Glossop
Ditto
Ditto
6,400
11,100-
·
Board of Guardians.
3,500
18 Sept. 1863
1,540
Ditto
1,138
12 Feb. 1864
1,138
Ditto
5,317
12 Feb. 1864
2,134
•
3,183
::::
:::
* Offices.
469
APPENDIX No. 2.
!

470
APPENDIX No. 2.
TABLE I.-Name of City, Borough, Town, Parish, Union, Township, or Place to which Loans have been ordered, &c.--continued.
NAMES OF PLACES.
Local Authorities.
Amount of Loans or-
dered by the Poor
Law Board.
Dates
of Board's
Orders.
For Sewerage Works.
Road and Street Im-
provements.
Water Supply.
Public Parks and Re-
creation Grounds.
Cleansing, Embank-
ing, and Pitching
Rivers, &c.
Land Drainage and
other Agricultural
Works.
Cemeteries.
Erection or
Places.
sion
of
Gasworks.
Street Bridges.
Public Baths.
Exten-
Market
£
38. Glossop
Ditto
··
Ditto
Ditto
Board of Guardians.
•
5,092
25 June 1864
48:
£
£
CR
£
£
1,370
1,122
Ditto
1,354
25 June 1864
1,354
Ditto
5,130
8 Dec. 1864
200
2,720
200
Ditto
7,500
22 Dec. 1864
7,500
39. Gorton
40. Great Harwood
Ditto
Ditto
41. Halliwell
Local Board
25,000
1 Mar. 1864
5,600
18,400
Ditto
8,000
29 Dec. 1864
3,000
5,000
Ditto
280
26 Sept. 1864
Ditto
500
5 Oct. 1864
500
Ditto
3,250
14 June 1864
2,000
1,250
42. Handforth (Stockport)
43. Harwood (Bolton)
Board of Guardians.
400
24 Aug. 1864
400
Ditto
1,614
12 Nov. 1863
1,614
44. Hazel Grove (Stockport)..
Ditto
2,000
30 Sept. 1863
2,000
..
Ditto
Ditto
900
25 June 1864
900
Ditto
Ditto
800
23 June 1864
800
45. Heaton Norris (Stockport)
Ditto
2,583
3 Mar. 1864
2,583
·
46. Heywood
47. Horwich (Bolton)..
48. Hulme (Manchester)
49. Hurst
50. Hyde
Ditto
51. Lancaster
52. Little Lever (Bolton)
Local Board
30,000
30 Aug. 1864 | 10,000
Board of Guardians.
4
1,600
18 Nov. 1863
20,000
1,600
City Corporation
7,600
13 May 1864
1,728
5,872
..
Local Board
1,000
31 Oct. 1863
500
500
Ditto
14,200
28 Mar. 1864|
14,200
Ditto
Ditto
·
14,790 | 22 June 1864
7,000 31 Dec. 1863
3,300 11,490
7,000
53. Macclesfield (Borough)
Ditto
Ditto
Board of Guardians..
Local Board
Ditto
Ditto
1,670
9 Oct. 1863
536 1,134
•
•
33,500
14 Sept. 1863 | 18,500
15,000
7,500
12 Oct. 1863
5,530
30 Dec. 1864
1,500
4,030
54. Macclesfield Union
Ditto
Ditto
Board of Guardians.
5,530
25 Sept. 1863
1,380
4,000
150
Ditto
5,000
13 Oct. 1863
5,000
Ditto
2,000
26 Feb. 1864
55. Manchester (City)
Ditto
56. Marple (Stockport)
Ditto
City Corporation
25,000
11 Jan. 1864
Ditto
130,000
14 Jan. 1864
130,000
Board of Guardians.
Ditto
730
1,400
9 Jan. 1864
730
14 June 1864
1,400
* Offices.
+ Slaughterhouses.
£
4 ::
£
2,600
1,960
£ £
43:
50
·
:::
1,000*
280+
£ £
4:
• •
··
··
..
•
•
..
··
3,500 2,500
2,000
25,000
•
1,500
£
9:

7
TABLE I.—Name of City, Borough, Town, Parish, Union, Township, or Place to which Loans have been ordered, &c.-continued.
NAMES OF PLACES.
Local Authorities.
dered by the Poor
Amount of Loans or-
Law Board.
Dates
of Board's
Orders.
For Sewerage Works.
Road and Street Im-
provements.
Water Supply.
Public Parks and Re-
creation Grounds.
ing, and Pitching
Cleansing, Embank-
Rivers, &c.
other Agricultural
Land Drainage and
Works..
Cemeteries.
Erection or
Places.
sion
Gasworks.
of
Street Bridges.
Exten-
Market
£
£
£
£
57. Middleton and Tonge
58. Mossley
Imp. Commissioners
6,000
17 Nov. 1863
1,209
..Local Board ..
4,791
5,000
9 Nov. 1864
3,550
£
200
૧ :
£
59. Newton in Mackerfield
Imp. Commissioners
9,000
5 Mar. 1864
9,000
:
Ditto
Ditto
1,000
11 Mar. 1864
Ditto
Ditto
3,620
7 May 1864
3,620
..
Ditto
Ditto
6,880
24 May 1864
3,000 3,880
60. Offerton (Stockport)
Board of Guardians
200
28 Sept. 1863
200
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
200
12 Mar 1864
200
Ditto
100
29 Aug. 1864
100
61. Oldham
Town Council
18,000
28 Sept. 1863
18,000
Ditto
Ditto
5,700 | 13 Jan. 1864
5,700
Ditto
Ditto
75,000
10 May 1864 14,993 57,022
2,985
Ditto
Ditto
4,200
29 June 1864
4,200
Ditto
Ditto
3,000
27 Dec. 1864
3,000
Ditto
Ditto
•
14,280
30 Dec. 1864 14,280
62. Openshaw
Local Board
20,000
21 June 1864
6,450
13,350
D
63. Oswaldtwistle
Ditto
22,738
12 Oct. 1863
3,000
2,138 | 17,600
64. Over Darwen
Ditto
2,000
28 Sept. 1863
2,000
· Ditto
Ditto
31,000
5 Dec. 1863
8,300
22,700
65. Over Darwen (Hoddlesden)
Ditto
1,000
5 Dec. 1863
700
300
66. Pendleton (Salford)
Town Council
1,000
25 April 1864
Ditto
67. Pennington
Ditto
15,505
18 Aug. 1864
7,289
8,216
Local Board
11,685
19 Feb. 1864
3,710
7,975
68. Poulton
Ditto
4,500
31 Dec. 1863
4,500
69. Preston
Ditto
28,500
24 Aug. 1863
25,500
3,000
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
19,739
24 Oct. 1863
3,141❘ 16,598
Ditto
15,000
18 Oct.
1864
70. Quarlton (Bolton)
Board of Guardians
460
9 June 1864
460
71. Ramsbottom
72. Reddish (Stockport)
Local Board
·Board of Guardians
8,500
26 Aug. 1864
300 17 June 1864
4,250
38
3,150
262
* Offices.
+ Slaughterhouses.
48 : :
1,000
CR ::
··
::
R::
::
£
4:
Public Baths.
418
£
£
520 1,000
1,000*
D
2001
·
··
:
··
15,000
350**
250
500
..
.
APPENDIX No. 2.
471


472
APPENDIX No. 2.

+
TABLE I.-Name of City, Borough, Town, Parish, Union, Township, or Place to which Loans have been ordered, &c.—continued.
NAMES OF PLACES.
Local Authorities.
Dates
of Board's
Orders.
73. Rochdale
Ditto
Ditto
74. Romiley (Stockport)
75. Royton
Ditto
76. Rusholme
77. Salford
Ditto
80. Sharples (Bolton)..
81. Skerton (Lancaster)
82. Spotland (Rochdale)
Ditto
83. Stalybridge
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
84. Stockport
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
..
£
£
£
£
£
£
CR
£ .
Town Council
5,000 14 Jan. 1864
5,000
48:
£
£
4:
£
Ditto
10,600
14 April 1864
1,050
7,050*
2,500
•
4:
£ £
Ditto
14,000
29 June 1864 14,000
Board of Guardians.
300
9 June 1864
300
Local Board
1,000
30 April 1864
164
836
Ditto
3,000
31 Aug. 1864
250
2,750
•
•
Ditto
3,000
29 Feb. 1864
3,000
Town Council
40,000
3 Mar. 1864
3,000❘ 17,000
Ditto
13,000
7,000+
760
Board of Guardians.
2,100
2 May 1864
20 May 1864
275
485
2,100
..
Ditto
600
31 Dec. 1863
·
600
Ditto
1,000
29 Feb. 1864
1,000
..
Ditto
2,000
24 Aug. 1864
2,000
Town Council
2,954
9 Oct. 1863
2,954
Ditto
3,000
6 April 1864
2,534
466
Ditto
5,834
26 Aug. 1864
982 4,852
Ditto
62,500
Ditto
25,493
Ditto
883
8 Oct. 1864
11 Jan. 1864
13 May 1864
62,500
25,493
833
Ditto
..
2,000
26 May 1864
Ditto
31,000
25 June 1864
28,000
Board of Guardians..
·
2,000
3,000
400
30 Oct. 1863
400
Local Board
•
7,100
26 Jan. 1864
842
6,258
Ditto
8,650
19 Sept. 1864
8,650
..
Board of Guardians.
Local Board
..
1,560 | 19 Dec. 1863
1,560
5,312
19 Feb. 1864
2,712
2,600
Board of Guardians.
700
19 Dec. 1863
700
Local Board
U
30,270
Ditto
17,800
21 Oct. 1863
11 Jan. 1864
30,270
17,800
Total
£ 1,846,082
370,946 839,007 | 414,629
58,285
12,453 52,550
0,2035,
13,038 12,453 52,550 59,139 10,832, 10,203|5,000
* For purchasing and preparing Site for Public Buildings.
† Manure Depôt.
85. Tintwistle (Ashton)
86. Tyldesley
Ditto
87. West Houghton (Bolton)..
88. West Leigh.
89. Wheelton (Chorley)
90. Wigan
Ditto

DIAGRAM OF FLUCTUATIONS
In the number of persons RELIEVED,
EITHER BY THE GUARDIANS OR THE LOCAL COMMITTEES,
IN SIX OF THE TWENTY-EIGHT UNIONS, IN THE
DISTRESSED COTTON MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.
0000S
1862
1863
1864
NUMBER
NUMBER
RELIEVED JAN FEB MAR APL MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APL MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APL MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC RELIEVED.
57.000
57.000
56,000
56.000
55,000
55,000
30
52,000
50.000 1.000
50,000
49.000
54,000
54,000
53,000
53,000
52,000
51,000
50.000
50,000
49.000
48.000
47,000
46.000
45,000
44,000
43.000
42.000
48.000
47,000
46,000
4,5,000
44.000
43.000
41.000
40000 40000
39,000
38.000
37.000
36.000
35.000
34.000
33.000
32.000
30,000
31.000
30.000
29,000
89
28.000
27.000
26,000
25.000
24,000
23,000
22.000
20,000 31000
20.000
19.000
18.000
17.000
16.000
15,000
14,000
13,000
12.000
10,000
11.000
10.000
9,000
8.000
7.000
6.000
5,000
4,000
3.000
2.000
1000
Monthly Expenditure
Unions
Population Assessment
£
of Guardians
January 1862
Monthly Expenditure of Monthly Expenditure of
Local Committees& Guardians Local Committees & Guardians
December. 1862,
December, 1864.
ASHTONunderLYNE
PRESTON
134,761
313,350
£
652
£9.147
£ 6.353
110.488
331, 701
2,048
7.071
3,007
BLACKBURN
119, 937
272.448
1.404
5,185
2.872
STOCKPORT
94.361
242,361
752
3,885
2.451
OLDHAM
111, 267
226,201
428
3.870
+4
2.744
ROCHDALE
91,758
254,208
876
4,216
2.198
Drawn by R. E. JOHNSON, from Returns compiled by J.W. MACLURE.
42.000
41.000
40000 40000
39.000
38,000
37.000
36.000
35.000
34,000
33.000
32.000
31.000 30.000
30.000
29.000
28,000
27.000
26.000
25.000
24.000
23.000
22.000
20000
21.000 20.000
19.000
18000
17.000
16.000
15.000
14.000
13,000
12.000
11.000
10,000
10.000
9,000
8.000
7.000
6.000
5,000
4.000
3.000
2.000
1.000
!
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:
HD
9881.5
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06699 8231