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THE UNIVERSITY 
 _ OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 CG Kae 
 W/i52mZ2 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. A 
 charge is made on all overdue 
 
 books. 
 U. of I. Library 
 
 mae O24 (36f 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER, 
 
 Che Father of American PMAanufactures. 
 
 CONNECTED WITH A 
 
 HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COTTON MANUFACTURE 
 
 IN 
 
 ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 
 
 WITH REMARKS ON THE 
 
 MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY GEORGE S. WHITE. 
 
 . “ Facts truly stated are the best applauses or most lasting reproaches.” 
 ‘The history of the origin and development or progress of every subject is of great importance, 
 _ because every thing relating to it can then be shown concentrated, as it were in a mirror, be 
 clearly seen, and correctly judged of.” 
 
 v 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PRINTED AT NO. 46, CARPENTER STREET. 
 
 ; ‘ 1836. 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Being always convinced that without an investigation of the 
 early state and progress of manufactures in Philadelphia, my 
 work would be very imperfect, I resolved on publishing the volume 
 in this city, expecting that, during my residence for the necessary 
 attention to the printing, I should be able to examine the evidences 
 of its early attention to manufactures. But I was not aware of 
 the amount of interest on this subject, which had been manifested 
 in Pennsylvania, from its early settlement. As an entire stranger 
 in the city, I should have been much cramped in mny investigations, 
 had it not been for the liberal assistance afforded me by Dr. Mease, 
 who entered into my eee with ardour, and with enthusiastic 
 patriotism. ~Lam especially indebted to that gentleman, for open- 
 ing to me avenues of information, which have enabled me to 
 obtain as much useful matter as would of itself fill a volume :— 
 my limits oblige me to make a selection. But I thus publicly ex- 
 press my obligations to Dr. Mease for the constant and unwearied 
 pains he took to afford me every facility for the attainment of my 
 object, which, #8: I had no personal claims on his attention must 
 have arisen in the deep interest he took in the subject. I fear that 
 I have presumed on his goodness, and intruded on time which 
 would otherwise have been devoted to a valuable work that he 
 
 is preparing for the press, and thereby. retard a publication 
 ~ anxiously expected by the citizens of Pennsylvania: in so doing 
 
 I ought not only to apologise to him, but to ask pardon of the 
 public, considering that he is himself engaged in preparing for the 
 press a work on the Geography and Statistics of Pennsylvania. 
 To other gentlemen of this favoured city, I return thanks, with- 
 out taking the liberty of designating them; which, however, if I 
 felt authorised to do, their names would add greatly to the re- 
 
 spectability of my work. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 18th, 1836. 
 
 PRIA ee yD OS 
 i o 5 bo ih 1 
 ge gS ee, ‘ 
 Btw § APs = 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 PREFACE. 2 
 INTRODUCTION. ; i 
 Cuap. I.—Memoir of later, how ie bith to jee ehvine Bneland: 29 
 Biography of Arkwright aad Strutt. 43 
 Cuap. I].—The State of Manufactures previous to 1790. 47 
 Samuel Wetherill’s Advertisement in Philadelphia, of the first Mbitie 
 facture of Jeans, Fustians, &c. 1782. ‘ : 48 
 Cuap. [11.—From Samuel Slater’s leaving England, to hits pales with 
 Hannah Wilkinson of North Providence, R. I. 71 
 Agreement of Copartnership. : 74 
 Mr. Slater’s Introduction of the Axktrcivitt Muaiithery| 83 
 Carders and Spinners’ Time List. Dec. 1790. Jo 
 Cuap. [V.—Moral Influence of Manufactures, 113 
 Cuap. V.—Value and Uses of Property. 129 
 —€uap. VI.—The Extension of the Cotton Bikes: 183 
 _~Cuap. VII.—Miscellaneous Documents. 285 
 _Cuap. VUI.——Extracts from the Spinning Master’s Avsistane 305 
 Article on Wages. ‘ 331 
 Cuapr. 1X.—Growth of Cotten. 345 
 Cuap. X.—Advancement of } Meceen 385 
 Bleaching and Calendering. 390 
 Cuap. XI.—Calico Printing. 395 
 Cuap. XII.—Silk Machinery. 405 
 416 
 
 Dyeing of Cotton and Silk. | . 
 APPENDIX. ; : 
 
 421 
 
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 FRontTISPIECE.—Portrait of Slater. 
 
 View of Belper. 
 
 Fac-simile of Mr. Slater’s cerita 
 
 Portrait of Jedediah Strutt. 
 
 Representations of Carding, Roving, Drawing, and Spinning, as intro- 
 
 duced by S. Slater. 
 View of Pawtucket. 
 View of Webster. 
 Mule Spinning. 
 Plan of a Factory. 
 Throstle Frame, &c. 
 Dresser. 
 Power Loom. 
 Calico Printing. 
 Tench Coxe. 
 
 Representations of Silkwarme, 
 
 Silk Machinery. 
 
 Silk Loom. 
 
 Other Machinery. 
 
 Profile of Samuel Wetherill 
 
 79 
 111 
 183 
 290 
 305 
 307 
 209 
 385 
 395 
 345 
 405 
 409 
 
 _ 416 
 
 wb. 
 421 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Independence is the pride and the boast of an American, 
 and when he contemplates his country, anticipating its glorious 
 destiny, he may well indulge in this exultation. The natural re- 
 sources of this republic—its enterprise—its skill—and its industry, 
 can give it something of independence besides the name. 
 
 A work, having for its objects the development of these re- 
 sources—the application of this industry—the reward of this 
 enterprise, should find in some one a patron. 
 
 To the President of the United States, elevated by his position 
 above all sectional preferences, public good being his aim, and 
 national prosperity being his strong desire, I have presumed, upon 
 due consideration, to dedicate this work : and shall continue to do 
 so with my succeeding volumes, whatever distinguished indi- 
 vidual may be occupying that high station. 
 
 I have the honour to be with much respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Tue AUTHOR. 
 
ve 
 iP 
 
 ‘ 
 
 4a ty 
 
 and 
 
 neem 
 
 od of qoned oI | 
 
.¢ 
 
 oe PA BOA CE. 
 
 a 
 
 eh) j 
 
 In want of facts, it appears to have been a common propensity 
 of our race to decina to fiction, The ancients, thus influenced, 
 were prone to recur to fabulous ancestry, and to attribute all their 
 improvements and inventions to deified powers. So, instead of 
 awarding to merit its due, and creating a spirit of enquiry and 
 panttdltions all their arts were gratuitously attributed to their fabled 
 Apollo. At this distant period of the world we can perceive at 
 once, that this was done by a prevailing ignorance and through a 
 defect of a suitable means for conveying useful and permanent 
 
 information. 
 
 We know enough of human nature to conclude that it will be 
 nearly the same andes similar circumstances, and that so far as it 
 is acted eapon by them, similar results may be expected from similar 
 
 causes.” Pi 
 
 * “The Rhode Island papers announce the death, on Monday last, of 
 Samuel Slater, Esq.—long known as one of the most enterprising and 
 respected citizens of that state, and as the father of the cotton manufacturing 
 business in this country. The first cotton-mill built in the United States was 
 erected by him, in Pawtucket, and was yet in operation at the time of our last 
 visit. There isa curious anecdote, connected with the original machinery of 
 this factory, which, as it is Riche true, we will relate for the edification of 
 Doctors hereroaetic and Macnish, and other enquirers into the philosophy of 
 dreams. Mr. Slater was an ingenious mechanist, and all the machinery was 
 constructed under his immediate direction. Of course, in the earliest in- 
 fancy of the business, and before the machinery to be constructed was 
 itself thoroughly understood, or the means for making it as ample as could 
 have been desired, imperfections to a greater or less extent were to be 
 anticipated. At og however, the work was complete, and high were the 
 hopes of the artist Al his employers All was ready, but the machinery 
 would not move, or at least it would not move as intended, or to any purpose. 
 
 1 : : . 
 a . . 
 
 7 ,» + > 
 
 Je 
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 - 
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10 PREFACE. 
 
 Ionorance and superstition produce precisely the same dark and ~ 
 dangerous disguises and consequences, in our day, as they did _ 
 anciently. | as 
 
 With the aid of letters, and every facility for printing, as yet _ 
 not a single publication has been presented to the Ameriean pub- 
 lic to give an account, and perpetuate the rise and progress, of the 
 cotton and other manufactures in this country. 
 
 To such an extent have they advanced and probably will 
 _ advance, without correct information the liability is, for the whole 
 account of their rise and progress at some future period to run 
 into fiction and fable; and the man who was most instrumental 
 in introducing them, instead of being viewed as a plain practical 
 mechanic, using honest means for his own benefit, and at the 
 Same time promoting the best interests of this country, to be 
 ranked among fictitious characters, and to have his name and 
 fame some way mysteriously associated with the business which. 
 he has permanently established. 
 
 Information is surely needed on these points, and this is the 
 author’s apology for collecting, compiling, and presenting to the 
 public, a work, including the Memoir of Samuel Slater, and giving - 
 a general account of the rise and progress of manufactures in this 
 country. In going into this unoccupied field much labour was 
 requisite to collect materials. They have been obtained from a 
 variety of sources, all of which the author wishes to acknowledge 
 with due deference. _ 
 
 General credit is due to the following writers:—Hamilton’s Re- 
 port to Congress, 1790; Niles’s Register; Edinburgh Encyclopedia ; 
 
 The disappointment was great, and the now deceased mechanist was in great 
 perplexity. Day after day did he labour to discover, that he might remedy 
 
 the defect—but in vain. But what he could not discover waking was 
 revealed to him in his sleep. 
 
 “It was perfectly natural that the subject which engrossed all his thoughts 
 by day, should be dancing through his uncurbed imagination by night, and 
 it so happened that on one occasion, having fallen into slumber with all the 
 shafts and wheels of his mill whirling in his mind with the complexity of 
 Hzekiel’s vision, he dreamed of the absence of an essential band upon one 
 of the wheels. The dream was fresh in his mind on the following morning, 
 and repairing bright and early to his works, he in an instant detected the de- 
 ficiency ! 
 
 “The revelation was true, and in a few hours afterwards, the machinery 
 was in full and successful operation. Such is one feature in the history of 
 American manufactures. The machinist has since led an active and useful 
 
 life—sustaining in all the relations of society an unblemished reputation.”— 
 Com. Advertiser. 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 Baines’s History of the Cotton Manufactures ; “Spinning Master’s 
 _ Assistant ;” Results of Machinery ; Babbage’s Economy of Manu- 
 actures; History of Derbyshire; Zec. Allen on Mechanics, and 
 ‘his Practical»'Tourist: and Ure’s Philosophy of Manufactures. 
 To others I am indebted for very important assistance and en- 
 couragement, whose names I do not feel at liberty to publish ; but 
 the impression of their kindness is recorded on a tablet that but 
 one event can erase. 6 
 
 With all the help afforded me, I have considered it little short 
 of presumption, for one, whose studies have been so devoted to 
 another department, to attempt mechanics. I have been led into 
 the subject gradually and accidentally ; at first J only intended a 
 memoir of my friend; but finding his whole life so connected with 
 manufactures, it became necessary that I should have a general 
 knowledge of the subject. Those whose opinions had weight 
 with me, said, the public needed an historical essay on the rise and 
 progress of manufactures ; at last a volume is produced. Whether 
 the public will receive my labours in good part, remains to be 
 proved. Po ee 
 
 The difficulty of understanding the processes of manufactures, 
 has unfortunately been greatly overrated. 'T'o examine them with 
 the eye of a manufacturer, so as to be able to direct others to 
 repeat them, does undoubtedly require much skill and previous ac- 
 quaintance with the subject; but merely to apprehend their general 
 principles and mutual | relations, is within the power of almost 
 every person possessing a tolerable education. Those who possess 
 rank in a manufacturing country can scarcely be excused if they 
 are entirely ignorant of principles whose developement has pro- 
 duced its greatness. The possessors of wealth can scarcely be 
 indifferent to processes which nearly or remotely have been the 
 fertile source of their possessions. ‘Those who enjoy leisure can 
 scarcely find a more interesting and instructive pursuit than the 
 examination of the workshops of their own country, which con- 
 tain within them a rich mine of knowledge, too generally neglect- 
 ed by the wealthier classes. 
 
 The more knowledge is accumulated and perfected, the more 
 easily it is acquired and recollected. I find this to be the case in 
 the study of mechanics; what appeared complex and obscure to me 
 at first, now appears pleasing and easy to be understood. The 
 subject is not so inexplicable as many imagine. 
 
 Arnott says: “The laws of physics have an influence so 
 extensive, that it need not excite surprise that all classes of 
 society are at last discovering the deep interest they have to 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 understand them. 'The lawyer finds that in many of the causes 
 tried in his courts, an appeal must be made to physics,—as in the 
 cases of disputed inventions: accidents in navigation, or among 
 carriages, steam engines, and machines generally: questions 
 arising out of the agency of winds, rains, water currents, &e. 
 The statesman is constantly listening to discussions respecting 
 bridges, roads, canals, docks, and mechanical industry of the 
 nation. The clergyman finds ranged among the beauties of na- 
 ture, the most intelligible and striking proofs of God’s wisdom and 
 goodness :—the sailor in his ship has to deal with one of the most 
 admirable machines in existence: soldiers, in using their projec- 
 tiles, in marching where rivers have to be crossed, woods to be 
 cut down, roads to be made, towns to be besieged, &c., are trust- 
 ing chiefly to their knowledge of physics: the /and-owner, in 
 making improvements on his estates, building, draining, irrigating, 
 road making, &c. The farmer equally in these particulars, and 
 in all the machinery of agriculture: the manufacturer of course ; 
 the merchant who selects and distributes over the world the pro- _ 
 ducts of manufacturing industry—all are interested in physics ; 
 then also the man of letters, that he may not, in drawing illustra- 
 tions from the material world, repeat the scientific heresies and 
 absurdities, which have heretofore prevailed. It is for such reasons, 
 that natural philosophy is becoming daily more and more a part 
 of common education. In our cities now, and even in an ordinary 
 dwelling house, men are surrounded by prodigies of mechanic art, 
 and cannot submit to use these, as regardless of how they are pro- 
 duced, asa horse is regardless of how the corn falls into hismanger. 
 A general diffusion of knowledge, owing greatly to the increased 
 commercial intercourse of nations, and therefore to the improve- 
 ments in the physical departments of astronomy, navigation, &c., 
 is changing every where the condition of man, and elevating the 
 human character in all ranks of society.” 
 
 It is my design to make this work permanently interesting and 
 valuable, and render it subservient to the cause of domestic 
 industry. I have raised an argument in favour of the immense 
 importance of manufacturing establishments of every description ; 
 and I think the work is calculated to promote a patriotic attention 
 to the general enterprise and prosperity of the country. 
 
 The following remarks, first made in reference to Edmund Burke, 
 are not inapplicable to one who was his great admirer :— 
 
 “Few things interest the curiosity of mankind more, or prove 
 so instructive in themselves, as to trace the progress of a powerful 
 mind, by the honourable exertion of its native energies, rising, in 
 
PREFACE. 13 
 
 the teeth of difficulties, from a very private condition to important 
 standing in society, with power to influence the destiny of nations. 
 Such a person, as sprung not from the privileged few, but from 
 among the mass of the people, we feel to be one of ourselves. 
 Our sympathies go along with him in his career. ‘The young 
 imagine that it may possibly be their own case; the old, that with 
 a little more of the favour of fortune it might have been theirs ; 
 and, at any rate, we are anxious to ascertain the causes of his 
 superiority, to treasure up his experience, to profit by what he ex- 
 perienced to be useful, to avoid what he found to be disadvantage- 
 ous. And the lesson becomes doubly instructive to that large 
 class of society who are born to be the architects of their own 
 fortune; when it impresses the great moral truth, that natural 
 Bhaeichty however great, receive their highest OTs and power, 
 their only secure reward) from diligent study—from continued, 
 unwearied application: a hifi homely faculty, within the reach of 
 all men, one which is certain to wear well, and whose fruits bear 
 testimony to the ta backs of the possessor, and to the intrinsic 
 value of the possession.” 
 
 Should the present attempt enable the citizens of the United 
 States to appreciate more justly the powers of one to whom this 
 country is under very important obligations, the writer will not 
 deem his labour misapplied. His testimony at least is impartial. 
 He has no party purpose to answer, no influence to court, no 
 interest to push; except it be the common interest felt by every 
 generous mind, of rendering to a distinguished and deserving 
 character those honours which are its due.* 
 
 The great importance of manufactures, is exciting a vast in- 
 terest in England, and on the continent of Europe; this year has 
 produced valuable publications in this new department of litera- 
 ture, and a series of volumes are promised by Dr. Ure, the author 
 of the Philosophy of Manufactures. France is alive to the all 
 absorbing subject, which they perceive has given England a pre- 
 eminence among the nations of the earth; the comparative 
 advantages between the two nations are nicely drawn, but in view 
 of these, England boasts that she shall be able to maintain her 
 superiority, against France and the world. 
 
 * At Grand Cairo in Egypt, they have such a profound respect to new 
 inventions, that whoever is the discoverer of any new art or invention is im- 
 mediately clad in cloth of gold, and carried in triumph throughout the whole 
 city, with trumpets and other musical instruments playing before him, and 
 presented to every shop to receive the joyful acclamations and generous 
 presents of his fellow citizens. 
 
J4 PREFACE. 
 
 Will any one, with the whole of this absorbing topic before 
 him, doubt, whether England could have advanced, and gained 
 ground against the nations on the continent which had long been 
 superior to her, without the cherishing protection and patronage 
 which has been carefully granted to every branch of her trade and 
 commerce? "Those who are well informed on this subject, can 
 have no remaining doubts. Home manufactures, in order to their 
 existence and perfection, must be protected—either by prohibitory 
 duties, or by a preference and patronage of the people; the latter 
 mode is the most effectual and the most advisable, in the present 
 state of American finances. And what American, who feels the 
 importance attached to the growing interest of the United States, 
 who will not exercise patriotism enough, so far to prefer our own 
 manufactures as to render us entirely independent of Hurope in 
 any emergency? Are we for ever to be the dupes of European 
 influence, and the fantastic vagaries of their customs and fashions, 
 ever varying, for the express purpose of making merchandise of 
 our weakness and vanity, and the faculty of imitation? Let us 
 rather assume a national character, a national costume. If we are 
 to be guided by fashion, let that fashion be American; the pro- 
 duce of American soil, of American invention and _ skill, and of 
 American industry and enterprise. The day is past and gone, 
 when any of our citizens will think it best to have our work-shops 
 in Europe; indeed America will soon learn the extent of her re- 
 sources to be such, as to render her independent of the old world, 
 and thus establish our independence on a basis that can neither 
 be shaken by the implements of war, nor by the stratagems of 
 peace. For it is now avowed that those strifes are in full opera- 
 tion, aiming at universal conquest. A conquest made of our 
 resources, rendering our labour and skill and raw materials in- 
 effective, would effectually impoverish and ruin us as a people, 
 making us the dupes of superior energy and capital. America 
 is already alive to those circumstances, but she must never 
 be off her watch-tower—for the enemy is ever on the alert, 
 making a breach at every weak point, and taking advantage of 
 our inadvertence and inactivity. 
 
 But if Americans make good use of their natural capabilities, 
 and take advantage of their free institutions, they may cope with 
 the whole world, in deriving the benefits of skill and enterprise ; 
 and thus establish on a permanent basis, such establishments of 
 industry and wealth as shall render America independent of the 
 world. ‘ 
 
 “A machine, receiving at different times and from many hands, 
 
PREFACE. 15 
 
 new combinations and improvements, and becoming at last of 
 signal benefit to mankind, may be compared to‘a rivulet swelled 
 in its course by tributary streams, until it rolls along, a majestic 
 river, enriching in its progress provinces and kingdoms. In re- 
 tracing the current, too, from where it mingles with the ocean, 
 the pretensions of even ample subsidiary streams are merged in 
 our admiration of the master flood, glorying, as it were, in its ex- 
 pansion. But as we continue to ascend, those waters which, 
 nearer the sea, would have been disregarded as unimportant, begin 
 to rival in magnitude, and divide our attention with, the parent 
 stream ; until at length, on our approaching the fountains of the 
 river, it appears trickling from the rock, or oozing from among the 
 flowers of the valley. So also, in developing the rise of a machine, 
 a coarse instrument, or a toy, may be recognised as the germ of 
 that production of mechanical genius, whose power and useful- 
 ness have stimulated our curiosity to mark its changes, and to 
 trace its origin. And the same feeling of reverential gratitude, 
 which attached holiness to the spots whence mighty rivers sprung, 
 also clothed with divinity, and raised altars in honour of, the in- 
 ventors of the saw, the plough, the potter’s wheel, and the loom. 
 To those who are familiar with modern machinery, the construc- 
 tion of these implements may appear to have conferred but slight 
 claim to the reverence in which their authors were held in ancient 
 times, yet, artless as they seem, their use first raised man above 
 the beasts of the field; and, by incalculably diminishing the sum 
 of human labour, added equally to the power and enjoyment of 
 the barbarous tribes of those ages to which their discovery is 
 referred. In their rudest form, they are nearly all the mechanical 
 aids that were necessary for the wants of nations, of shepherds 
 and of husbandmen. For refinement, in the formation of even 
 these simple contrivances, or for the invention and use of more 
 complex mechanism, we must look to communities that have 
 made considerable advances in the career of civilisation ; to those 
 regions where men, congregating in large masses, create numerous 
 artificial wants, and, by this peculiarity in their social position, 
 excite the natural rivalry of individuals to devise expedients to 
 remove them. Accordingly it is found, that the dense population 
 of some eastern countries, had there produced a state of society 
 eminently calculated to call forth the resources of inventive power. 
 From a remote period, the great wealth of the Egyptians, particu- 
 larly, had generated a taste for luxurious magnificence, which that 
 people early displayed in the erection of colossal and sumptuous 
 buildings. The remains of their vast pyramids, temples, and 
 
16 PREFACE. 
 
 palaces, evince a skilful practice of numerous devices to abridge 
 _ and facilitate labour, and to give a permanence, almost eternal, to 
 their gorgeous structures.”—Stuart’s Anecdotes. 
 
 - “The introduction of new inventions seemeth to be the very 
 chief of all humanactions. 'The benefits of new inventions may 
 extend to all mankind universally, but the good of political 
 achievements can respect but some particular cantons of men; 
 these latter do not endure above a few ages, the former for ever. 
 Inventions make all men happy without either injury or damage 
 to any one single person. Furthermore, new inventions are, as it 
 were, new erections and imitations of God’s own works.”— Bacon. 
 
 March 1, 1836. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A retrospective view of the colonial policy of Great Britain 
 
 may not be inapplicable to some introductory remarks to this 
 work. 
 
 It has always been the well known policy of that powerful 
 nation, to supply her colonies with the home manufactures. They 
 have of course, as a part of this plan, prevented the introduction 
 of machinery and of all mechanical operations and improvements. 
 ‘Through the influence of fashion, as well as by other means, they 
 have rendered their various dependencies entirely subservient to 
 the mother country; affording them a constant supply, not only of 
 articles of necessity, but those of ornament and fashion. This 
 was the avowed condition of the North American colonies, pre- 
 vious to the war of the revolution.* Chatham said, he “ would 
 
 * The state of the country, the state of the government, and the state 
 of manufactures at this period, may be learned from the following letter 
 written by John Adams, Dec. 19, 1816. 
 
 Extract of aletter from President Adams to Wm. E. Richmond, Esq. 
 Providence. Dec. 14th, 1819. 
 
 Sm,—I have received your polite favour of the 10th, the subject of which 
 is of great importance. I am old enough to remember the war of 1745, and 
 itsend. The war of 1755, and its close. The war of 1775, and its termi- 
 nation. The war of 1812, and its pacification. Every one of these wars has 
 been followed by a general distress, embarrassments on commerce, destruc- 
 tion of manufactures ; fall of the price of produce and of lands, similar to 
 those we feel at the present day—and all produced by the same causes :—I 
 have wondered that so much experience has not taught us more caution. 
 ‘The British merchants and manufacturers, immediately after the peace, dis- 
 gorged upon us all their stores of merchandise and manufactures—not only 
 without profit, but at a certain loss for a time—with the express purpose of 
 annihilating all our manufactories and ruining all our manufacturers. The 
 cheapness of the articles allures us into extravagances, and at length 
 produces universal complaint. What would be the consequences of the 
 abolition of all restrictive, exclusive, and monopolising laws, if adopted by 
 
 3 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not have the Americans make a “ hobnail;” and they will not have 
 “a razor to shave their beards,” was an.expression in debate, by a 
 member of the English parliament. Such was the condition of 
 these colonies, previous to their declaration of independence ; 
 hence, the inhabitants found themselves bare even of necessary 
 clothing, and of common utensils for the use of their domestic 
 economy. ‘This rendered the war more oppressive, and increased 
 the privations of the Provincials, altogether beyond the sufferings 
 of a state of warfare in modern times. 'The citizens had, from 
 their first settlement, looked to the other side of the Atlantic for 
 their clothing, their luxuries, &c.; in fact, for every thing, ex- 
 cept their fire wood, meats, and bread stuffs. So that at the com- 
 mencement of their resistance, they were nearly left without a 
 tool to work with ; the women were driven to the use of thorns, 
 when their supply of pins failed them. All kinds of hardware 
 and crockery were generally unattainable. Even the article of 
 leather, was very imperfectly prepared. So that not only the army 
 were badly shod, but many of the citizens were bare-footed, and 
 bare-headed. The following remarks will show, that these restric- 
 tions on trade constituted a part of the complaints and grievances 
 of the colonies. It was not easy for them to see by what principle 
 their removal to America should deprive them of such rights and 
 privileges. They could not comprehend the justice of restrictions 
 so materially different from those at “home ;” or why they might 
 not, equally with their elder brethren in England, seek the best 
 markets for their products, and like them manufacture such 
 articles as were within their power, and essential to their comfort. 
 But the selfish politicians of Britain, and her still more selfish 
 merchants and manufacturers, thought otherwise. A different 
 doctrine was accordingly advanced, and a different policy pursued. 
 Acts were therefore early passed, restricting the trade with the 
 
 all the nations of the earth, I pretend not to say: but while all the nations 
 with whom we have intercourse, persevere in cherishing such laws, I know 
 
 ° : . . : ‘ iF lh Bx #, 
 not how we can do ourselves justice without introducing, with great prudence , 
 
 and discretion however, some portions of the same system. The gentlemen 
 of Philadelphia have published a very important volume upon the subject, 
 which I recommend to your careful perusal. Other cities are co-operating 
 in the same plan. I heartily wish them all success, so far as this, at least— 
 that congress may take the great subject into their most serious deliberation, 
 and decide upon it according to their most mature wisdom. 
 Joun ADAMS. 
 
 Note—A meeting was held in London, to assist cotton manufacture, headed 
 by Earl Grosvenor, Lord Folkstone, H. Brougham, Sir Robert Peel, &c., 
 and liberal subscriptions collected. 
 
 ._ * 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 plantations, fas well as with other parts of the world, to British 
 built ships belonging to the subjects of England, or to her planta- 
 tions. Not contented with thus confining the colonial export 
 trade to the parent country, parliament in 1663 limited the import 
 trade in the same manner. ‘These acts, indeed, left free the trade 
 and intercourse between the colonies. But even this privilege re- 
 mained only a short period. In 1672 certain colonial products, 
 transported from one colony to another, were subjected to duties. 
 White sugars were to pay five shillings, and brown sugars one 
 shilling and sixpence, per hundred ;—tobacco and indigo one 
 penny, and cotton wool a half-penny, per pound. The colonists 
 deemed these acts highly injurious to their interests. 'They were 
 deprived of the privilege of seeking the best market for their pro- 
 ducts, and of receiving in exchange the articles they wanted, 
 without being charged the additional expense of a circuitous route 
 through England. 'The acts themselves were considered by some 
 as a violation of their charter rights; in Massachusetts they were, 
 for a long time, totally disregarded. The other colonies viewed 
 them in thesame light. Virginia presented a petition for their re- 
 peal; and Rhode Island declared them unconstitutional, and con- 
 trary to their charter. The Carolinas, also, declared thein not less 
 grievous and illegal. ‘The disregard of these enactments on the 
 part of the colonies——a disregard which sprung from a firm con- 
 viction of their illegal and oppressive character—occasioned loud 
 and clamorous complaints in England. The revenue it was urged 
 would be injured ; and the dependence of the colonies on the pa- 
 rent country would, in time, be totally destroyed. Here much 
 interesting matter mht be introduced, but nothing more than a 
 general sketch is iffptided: 
 
 A similar sensibility prevailed on the subject of manufactures. 
 For many years after their settlement, the colonies were too much 
 occupied in subduing their lands, to engage in other business. 
 
 | When, at length, they turned their attention to them, the varieties 
 \ were few, and of coarse and imperfect texture. But even these 
 __were viewed with a jealous eye. In 1699, commenced a systematic 
 
 course of restrictions on colonial Pilati Gteres. by an enactment 
 
 ror parliament, “That no wool, yarn, or weulleH manufactures of 
 
 their American plantations, should be shipped there, or even laden, 
 
 in order to be transported thence, to any place whatever.” Other 
 
 acts followed, in subsequent years, having for their object the 
 
 suppression of manufactures in America, and the continued de- 
 pendence of the colonies on the parent country. In 1719, the house 
 of commons declared, “ That the erecting of manufactories in the 
 
20 | INTRODUCTION. 
 
 colonies, tended to lessen their dependence on Great Britain.” In 
 1731, the board of trade reported to the house of commons, “ That 
 there were more trades carried on, and manufactures set up, in the 
 provinces on the continent of America, to the northward of Vir- 
 ginia, prejudicial to the trade and manufactures of Great Britain, 
 particularly in New England,” they suggested “ whether it might 
 not be expedient, in order to keep the colonies properly dependent 
 upon the parent country, and to render her manufactures of ser- 
 vice to the government, “ to give those colonies some encourage- 
 ment.” From the London company of hatters, loud complaints 
 were made to parliament, and suitable restrictions demanded upon 
 the exportation of hats, which were manufactured in New Eng- 
 land, and exported to various places, to the serious injury of their 
 trade. In consequence of these representations, the exportations of 
 hats from the colonies to foreign countries, and from one plantation 
 to another, were prohibited ; and even restraints, to a certain ex- 
 tent, were imposed on their manufacture. In 1731, it was enacted, 
 that hats should neither be shipped, nor even laden upon a horse- 
 cart or other carriage, with a view to transportation to any other 
 colony, or to any place whatever; no hatter should employ more 
 than two apprentices at once, nor make hats, unless he had served 
 as an apprentice to the trade seven years; and, that no negro 
 should be allowed to work at the business at all. 'The complaints 
 and the claims of the manufacturers of iron were of an equally 
 selfish character. 'The colonists might reduce the iron ore into 
 pigs—they might convert it into bars—it might be furnished them 
 duty free; but the English must have the profit of manufacturing 
 it, beyond this incipient stage. Similar success awaited the re- 
 presentations and petitions of this trade. In this year, 1750, par- 
 liament allowed the importation of pig and bar iron from the 
 colonies, into London, duty free ; but prohibited the erection or 
 continuance of any mill or other engine, for slitting or rolling iron, 
 or any plating forge, to work with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace 
 for making steel, in the colonies, under the penalty of two hundred 
 pounds. Every such mill, engine, or plating forge, was declared 
 a common nuisance ; and the governors of the colonies, on the in- 
 formation of two witnesses, on oath, were directed to cause the 
 same to be removed within thirty days, or to forfeit the sum of 
 £500. It appears that no sooner did the colonies, emerging from 
 the feebleness and poverty of their early settlements, begin to direct 
 their attention to commerce and manufactures, than they were 
 subjected by the parent country to many vexatious regulations, 
 which seemed to indicate, that with regard to those subjects, the 
 
INTRODUCTION. Pal 
 
 colonies were expected to follow that line of policy, which she in 
 her wisdom should mark out for them. At every indication of 
 colonial prosperity, the complaints of the commercial and manu- 
 facturing interests of Great Britain; were loud and clamorous. 
 Repeated demands were made upon the government, to correct the 
 growing evil, and to keep the colonies in due subjection. ‘“ The 
 colonies,” said the complainants, “ are beginning to carry on trade; 
 they will soon be our formidable rivals ; they are already setting 
 up manufactures; they will soon set up for independence.” 'T'o 
 the increase of this feverish excitement in the parent country, the 
 English writers of those days contributed not a little. As early as 
 1670, in a work entitled, “Discourse on 'T'rade,” published by Sir 
 Joshua Child, is the following language, which expresses the 
 prevailing opinion of the day :—‘‘ New England is the most pre- 
 judicial plantation to this kingdom; of all the American planta- 
 tions, his majesty has none so apt for the building of shipping, as 
 New England; nor any comparably so qualified for the breed- 
 ing of seamen, not only by reason of the natural industry of that 
 people, but principally by reason of their fisheries; and in my 
 poor opinion, there is nothing more prejudicial, and in prospect 
 more dangerous to any mother kingdom, than the increase of 
 shipping in her colonies.” Such was their condition, that if they 
 made a hat, or a piece of steel, an act of parliament calls it a 
 nuisa.ce ; a tilting hammer, a steel furnace, must be removed as a 
 nuisance. Cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, was 
 a principal reason that originated the declaration of independence. 
 All Europe, who dreaded America, were urging England forward 
 in her restrictive policy with the colonies. 
 
 These restrictions led to grievances, and complaints from the 
 colonies, which finally ended in their independence. 
 
 As soon as the United States were recognised and acknowledged 
 in her national compact, other nations as well as England crowded 
 their manufactures into the new and hungry market. The country 
 was then bare of European commodities. 'The flooding of the 
 
 - country with, foreign articles rendered it unnecessary and im- 
 
 practicable to establish manufactures in any part of the Union. 
 The condition of Europe soon called for the products of the soil, 
 and the activity of commerce caused the merchants to flourish, 
 and these, by furnishing a market, enriched the farmers-and other 
 inhabitants. This enabled them to give enormous \prices for 
 Huropean and India goods: so nothing was done of importance, 
 even to lay a foundation for future supplies of American domestic 
 goods. 
 
OR ite cr hee aeee INTRODUCTION 
 
 ie 
 
 French and Enplish fabHts were Misaediicea: by all the interest 
 of commercial men, and they were encouraged by all the rage of 
 fashion. ‘With sells seeming kindness, the power of the states 
 were rendered : inoperative, din their resources expended. ‘Their 
 condition was similar to that of the Corsicans, who after they had 
 gained and substantiated their independence under the patriotic 
 and heroic Paoli, were swindled out of their liberty and reduced 
 to servitude by an influx of Italian silks and trinkets from Naples. 
 (See Boswell’s Mistory of Corsica.) 
 
 Nothing but a particular exigence, and the state of European 
 affairs, during the reign of Napoleon, prevented the ruin of this 
 republic, by the astonishing importation of foreign productions. 
 The non-intercourse and non-importation laws raised the prices 
 of all articles, before any energetic means were used to manufac- 
 ture for ourselves. ‘Ihe rage for English goods, and for the 
 luxuries of the East, had become so general, that no cost could 
 prevent their use, and not merely a common use, but even an 
 extravagant expenditure. 
 
 The daughters of the self-denying matrons, known to fame, in 
 the stories of the first resistance to Great-Britain, in renouncing 
 the use of tea—used profusely the best hyson and gunpowder 
 imperial ; so that these expensive kinds were more generally used, 
 in the States, than in any other country in the world. Instead of 
 the homespun coats and gowns formerly prided in, British broad 
 cloths and French silks, were in common use, and the thirst and 
 demands of fashion were insatiable. 'The people had passed from 
 one extreme to another. No laws, either of non-importation or 
 non-intercourse, could prevent such articles finding a way into 
 our principal cities, and from thence into our country villages, 
 where they brought an exorbitant price. So that millions of 
 dollars were taken from us annually, to supply our wives and 
 daughters with chips from Italy, and bonnets from Leghorn. 
 
 Even the war of 1812 with Great Britain, did not stop the use, 
 but rather increased the desire for every thing foreign. 
 
 The restrictive policy failing, the state of the treasury urged 
 to the expedient of an equalised tariff, upon the goods of all foreign 
 nations at peace with the United States. This policy soon restored 
 the exhausted revenue, and enabled the government to sustain the 
 war, till a peace could be had on honourable terms. 
 
 The suddenness of the peace, unexpected and unforeseen, 
 caused a flood of every description of articles, so that the markets 
 were completely glutted. Many goods on hand, fell to one third 
 of their previous prices on the merchant’s hands. This dis- 
 
» 7 4 
 * a 
 
 INTRODUCTION. bts ee en . 2B 
 1 ey ve < ws - fr 
 
 couraged the infant establishments, which had been called into 
 existence, by the emergency of war, to supply our necessities ; 
 they were not only disheartened but ruined, and many companies 
 failed and lost their.all, This state of affairs even threatened 
 their total dissolution ; a few only weathered the storm, and main- 
 tained a firm standing. To the undaunted perseverance of those 
 few establishments, we owe the present progress and triumph of 
 our improved manufactures. 
 
 By the introduction of the best and latest machinery, and with 
 the advantages of New England water-power, they have survived 
 every attack, surmounted every obstacle, and. overcome every 
 difficulty. Irish linens and India cottons, which once supplied 
 our markets, are now but little known. An immense quantity of 
 our cotton cloths are sold at a very low price, and are consumed 
 in all parts of the Union, both plain and printed ; as well as large 
 exportations to South America, where they are in high repute, and 
 have driven the British and India goods out of those markets. 
 
 Samuel Slater, the father of our manufacture of cotton, lived to 
 see this astonishing change, and the successful operation of what 
 he had first introduced, by unwavering firmness, under various 
 and now unknown discouragements; which may teach us “ Not to 
 despise the day of small things.” Slater commenced with seventy-two 
 spindles, in a clothier’s shop at Pawtucket, and did not find ready 
 sale for his yarn after he had spun it. The first students of the 
 university of Oxford in England first recited in a barn, in the 
 time of Alfred; and the most splendid establishments, as well as 
 the greatest of empires, commenced from small beginnings. We 
 cannot, at present, foresee the wonderful extension of our manutfac- 
 tures; they are destined to supersede all that have ever existed 
 before them in any part of the world. 
 
 A cold indifference on this subject exists, even in the manufac- 
 turing districts. There is not that decided preference, and patriotic 
 attachment, to our own productions, as there undoubtedly ought 
 to be, but a deplorable infatuation, after every thing foreign and 
 
 far fetched. | 
 _ Are you sure that it is not American?” is the question often put, 
 when articles are offered for sale. Domestic goods have been 
 treated with too much contempt, even by those who earn their bread 
 by their production. 'This apathy, this monstrous destitution of 
 patriotism, must be removed, and the predilection for the fabrics. of 
 Europe and India goods, must be frowned down, before our 
 manufactures of fine goods and silks can be established on a per- 
 manent basis. If they ever arrive at greater perfection ; if they 
 
4" F y 
 a. +o 
 
 24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 \ 
 
 are to be enabled to vie with the old world, with their accumulated 
 capitals and cheapness of labour, they must be nurtured and 
 cherished at home. ‘This would be the most “judicious” course. 
 Let us all unite, as the heart of one man, in the resolution, to pre- 
 fer, and use nothing but the work of our own hands, and the 
 business will be completed: we have the power to say it shall be 
 done. ‘This will be the final and effectual “ tariff,” that shall 
 settle this subject of long and loud debate. ‘This course must 
 follow the “compromise or pacification,” and all will be well. 
 Employment will be necessary for our immense increase of popu- 
 lation, and the influx of strangers, from every part of the world, 
 invited to our shores, by the promise of liberty and plenty, must 
 find work to exercise their various abilities and habits of industry. 
 Many of them are valuable mechanics and artisans, of infinite 
 variety of skill, well adapted to assist in the rapid improvements 
 now commencing, unexampled in ancient or modern history. 
 Who knows but other Slaters may come over to us, and assist in 
 feeding and clothing the population that is forming new states in 
 the vast wilderness, destined to be great empires, to exist for many 
 generations—when Rome, and Paris, and Berlin, shall be no more. 
 The prospect of national greatness is as sure as that of national 
 existence. Weare too contracted in our conceptions, when we 
 talk of the southern and eastern interests. The rise and progress 
 of empires and nations yet unborn, are connected with our 
 prosperity. | 
 
 Columbus first led the way, and opened a path for the oppressed 
 to find freedom and peace. The old world had become tyrannical 
 and despotic, and the groans of the children of men had come up 
 into the ears of the Lord God of the universe. He inspired his 
 servant with wisdom and courage, and afforded him all necessary 
 means to open a new world to the eyes of astonished millions, to 
 whom it was marvelous and almost miraculous. The wisdom of 
 the wise men was turned backward, their knowledge turned to 
 ‘foolishness. All the maxims of political and spiritual tyranny 
 were turned upside down; and Luther and others, exhibiting a 
 mighty spirit of reformation, believed there would be deliverance, 
 though they saw not the way. Their faith saved them, and it has 
 happened according to their word. The iron arm has been broken ; 
 and the weak and despised have fled for refuge, and have found a 
 quiet habitation. : 
 
 May Americans remember their mercies and deep responsibilities! 
 Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset 
 
* A! 
 ‘ ere 
 4 ts toe 
 
 La 
 a 
 
 INTRODUCTION. eT 25 
 us; and let us run with patient perseverance in every good work, 
 anid we shall become the praise of the whole earth. 
 
 Had Columbus been discouraged, and turned back, at the mutiny 
 of his crew, or had he then hearkened to the timid caution of his 
 friends, we never should have reaped the wonderful harvest of 
 benefits, from their disinterested labours, that we now enjoy. It 
 is by constant self-denial and unconquered perseverance, that we’ 
 can obtain any great object: we shall reap if we faint not, but if 
 we are not faithful to the end, we cannot obtain the reward. 
 
 The strong and prominent trait of character in Slater, was his 
 unwavering and steadfast perseverance, and his constant applica- 
 tion to the fulfilment of his object. Had he failed in constructing 
 the Arkwright machinery, or had he finally failed in his extensive 
 business, the cause of manufactures would have been retarded : 
 indeed, no one can calculate the evil consequences of such an 
 event; but he held on his way; he fainted, but yet pursued. 
 And he has left us an example, to those engaged in the same cause, 
 or in a similar enterprise, to be stedfast, unmoveable, and faithful ; 
 till America shall rival, in the perfection of her manufactures, as 
 she does now in the freedom of her institutions, the nations of 
 the earth! Weare richly supplied, and we possess, in a high and 
 superabundant degree, all the natural capabilities for the purpose ; 
 all that is necessary, is the application of them to the proper 
 object. "Those philosophers who deny the bounties of Providence, 
 in their rich and exhaustless abundance, by teaching that this 
 globe is unable to support and sustain the natural increase of its 
 inhabitants, have the most contracted and degraded view of the 
 resources of nature, and the arrangement of her laws, not to insist 
 upon the inspiration. ‘They contradict the realities of all ages, by 
 an unbelieving scepticism, fostered by a selfish policy, and a mis- 
 representation of matters of fact. We have resources for hundreds 
 of millions. He is the true patriot who developes those mines and 
 riches, and who gives employment to the species, to dignify society 
 and ornament the country. We envy not those self styled patriots, 
 whose thirst for office and distinction allows them to deceive and 
 cajole their fellow citizens, by prejudicing them against the talented 
 and enterprising part of society. 'Thus teaching them discontent, 
 and prejudicing them against the necessary arrangements to pro- 
 mote the general welfare, making them the tools of their sordid 
 and selfish policy ; and yet these patriots imagine that their exalta- 
 tion is essential to the honour and safety of their country. 'The 
 path-way of virtue and truth, which only leads to honour and 
 immortality, is too hard for their tender feet. They are astonished 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that any person should go the round about way of self-denial, and 
 they declare that none do, with which a conscientious regard to actions 
 and motives ts always connected. A state of society, not founded on 
 the principles of honest industry, must be degraded and low; and, 
 like the inhabitants of South America, must be wretched and 
 miserable. Mankind must be usefully and honourably employed, 
 in order to be virtuous and happy. In proof of this position, 
 compare the condition of South America with the United States, 
 and more especially with that part of the United States, where 
 manufacturing establishments have come into being and risen to 
 eminence. ‘The mighty contrast in the condition and character of 
 the people, is altogether greater than that formed by the hand of 
 nature in the two countries themselves. South America, particu- 
 larly that part in the neighbourhood of the La Plata, in the hands 
 of New Englanders, would at once become the paradise of the 
 world, did they retain their moral and intellectual habits. With- 
 out these habits, we can pronounce what they would be, from what 
 a resident well acquainted with the country affirms the South 
 Americans are. With governments in distraction, and so enfeebled 
 as to exert no force except by the sword and bayonet, vice, disorder, 
 and confusion, every where prevail. The finest fields in the 
 world for agriculture are suffered to remain barren and desolate, 
 or to be traveled by wandering herds. Indolence and ignorance 
 enfeeble the hands and put out the eyes of the inhabitants. 
 Roaming in poverty, filth, and pollution, they are totally blind to 
 their advantages and privileges: they are tossed about by every 
 wind of prejudice and passion. ‘Trained to view labour as a 
 degradation, while trampling the most prolific fields and possessing 
 every thing requisite, and of the first qualities, for food and clothing, 
 they would be obliged to go naked and starve, were it not for the 
 industry of other nations. As it now is, robbers and assassins fill 
 their streets, and thousands are disappearing by the only species 
 of industry for which they have an adaptation, that of destroying 
 each other. The inhabitants of New England, barren and rugged 
 as she is, comparing her with this picture, and contrasting it 
 with their own condition, will bless that Providence which has 
 placed them as they are, and see at once that an introduction of 
 the manufacturing interest has added in no small degree to their 
 dignity and happiness. 
 
 Slater, by the introduction of machinery, and by his arrange- 
 ments in the various deparments of the manufacturing establish- 
 ments, opened the means of employment, and excavated a mine 
 more valuable than those of Peru, or than all the precious metals 
 
INTRODUCTION. Pad 
 
 of the earth; because the human capabilities are brought into 
 exercise. This gives to man his full enjoyment, in the pursuit of 
 happiness. In contrast with South America, it is pleasing to see 
 the spirit of enterprise and improvement rising in every part of 
 our country. ‘This spirit, if not now universal, is rapidly becom- 
 ing so. We see it breaking out every where, in the middle states, 
 in the northern, in the southern, in the western; and like the 
 kindling of fire, we see it gathering strength, as it rises and spreads., 
 Who does not see in this rising spirit, a subject of national felicita- 
 tion? Perhaps the greatest this country ever had before ; certainly 
 greater than any other country ever possessed. Was even the spirit 
 of liberty itself, which produced the revolution, and gave us our 
 independence, more a subject of national congratulation? Who 
 can estimate the value of this new born spirit which now animates 
 our country, when we consider our great and rapidly increasing 
 population, their characteristic ardour in every lucrative pursuit, 
 and the boundless scope which our country affords for the range 
 of this spirit? Here we have every thing to invite to enterprise 
 and encourage hope; the great and growing market afforded by 
 our commerce and our manufactures is rendering every article of 
 produce valuable and productive. Thus every department of 
 wealth aids and unites in replenishing the boundless resources of 
 our happy country. 
 
 “ An object is not insignificant, because the operation by which 
 it is effected is minute: the first want of men in this life, after food, 
 is clothing, and as this machinery enables them to supply it far 
 more easily and cheaply than the old methods of manufacturing, 
 and to bring cloths of great elegance and durability within the 
 use of the humble classes, it is an art whose utility is inferior only 
 to that of agriculture. It contributes directly and most materially 
 to the comforts of life, among all nations where manufactures 
 exist, or to which the products of manufacturing industry are con- 
 veyed ; it ministers to the comfort and decency of the poor, as 
 well as to the taste and luxury of the rich. By supplying one of 
 the great wants of life with a much less expenditure of labour 
 than was formerly needed, it sets at liberty a larger proportion of 
 the population, to cultivate literature, science, and the fine arts. 
 To England, these inventions have brought a material accession 
 of wealth and power. They are not confined in their application 
 to one manufacture, however extensive, but that they have given 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nearly the same facilities to the woollen, the worsted, the linen, 
 the stocking, and the lace manufactures, as well as to silk and 
 cotton ; and that they have spread from England to the whole of 
 Eatione, to America, and to parts of Africa and Asia: it must be 
 admitted that the mechanical improvements in the art of spinning 
 have an importance which it is difficult to over-estimate. By the 
 Greeks, their authors would have been thought worthy of deifica- 
 tion ; nor will the enlightened judgment of moderns deny that the 
 men to whom we owe such inventions deserve to rank among the 
 chief benefactors of mankind.”—Baines. 
 
 “ Cotton spinning, the history of which is almost romantic, has 
 been made poetical by Dr. Darwin’s powers of description and 
 embellishment. In his ‘Botanic Garden’ he thus sings the 
 wonders of Arkwright’s establishment on the Derwent, at Crom- 
 ford.” 
 
 “¢ Where Derwent guides his dusky floods 
 Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods, 
 The nymph Gossypia treads the velvet sod, 
 
 And warms with rosy smiles the wat’ry god, 
 
 His pond’rous oars to slender spindles turns, 
 
 And pours o’er massy wheels his foaming urns, 
 With playful charms her hoary lover wins, 
 
 And wields his trident while the monarch spins. 
 First, with nice eye, emerging Naiads cull 
 
 From leathery pods the vegetable wool: 
 
 With wiry teeth revolving cards release 
 
 The tangled knots, and smooth the ravel’d fleece : 
 Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine, _ 
 Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line; 
 Slow, with soft lips, the whirling can acquires 
 The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires 3 
 With quickened pace successive rollers move, 
 
 And these retain, and those extend the rove ; 
 
 Then fly the spokes, the rapid axles glow, 
 
 While slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below.” 
 
2 
 
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 et PTA OO eget A AE 4 
 
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 mi 
 
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 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS LEAVING ENGLAND. 
 
 “‘ Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail, 
 Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt, 
 Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair, 
 And what may quiet us, in death so noble.” 
 Mixon. 
 
 In writing the volumes of biography so frequently presented to — 
 the world, the motives of their authors have been various, and the 
 subjects diversified. Mankind take an interest in the history of 
 those, who, like themselves, have encountered the trials, and dis- 
 charged the duties of life. 'Too often, however, publicity is given 
 to the lives of men, splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in whom 
 the secret exercises of the heart would not bear a scrutiny. The 
 memoirs are comparatively few of those engaged in the business 
 and useful walks of life. ? 
 
 Biography, of late years, has been rendered interesting, chiefly, 
 by an extensive and learned correspondence ; so that the compilers 
 have scarcely room for narrative or reflection. These collections 
 of letters from eminent persons are read with avidity, as a matter 
 of curiosity, and as an indulgence to the inquisitive desire to 
 enter into the private moments and opinions of individuals ex- 
 tensively known to fame. It is of a man well known in the 
 business transactions of this country that we write. Notwithstand- 
 ing his business and acquaintance were so extensive, and his 
 success so complete, the materials for writing his memoir are scanty 
 
30 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and few. This is a complaint with all writers of biography who 
 write the lives of persons that have. passed through life in a 
 uniform course, being little subjected to serious and important 
 changes. ‘To make it up from letters is out of the question, as 
 there are only a few in existence, excepting those on business ; so 
 that this volume will be a counterpart to the publications above 
 referred to.* So that if I had not been favoured, in a personal 
 acquaintance with my deceased friend, I could not, in any satis- 
 factory manner, have accomplished my purpose, in wishing to 
 give the public an account of a man whom they have long heard 
 of, as the father of our manufactures; and as one who had been 
 successful in establishing the cotton business, on an improved and 
 permanent basis. 
 
 I am writing of a man of business; not of a man devoted to 
 literature, or what has been called the liberal arts; whose fame 
 has been spread by means of publications, or who had in any way 
 sought publicity, or made claim to any pretensions, but of one 
 who all his lifetime avoided it. It is well known, that the late 
 Samuel Slater, Esq. of Webster, Massachusetts, and for many 
 years a resident citizen in the village of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 
 was a native of England. I have the most direct information of 
 the place of his birth, and of his parentage. His father, William 
 Slater, inherited the paternal estate, called ‘“ Holly House,” near 
 
 * “The life of this gentleman presents nothing of that eclat and splendour 
 by which mankind are most commonly attracted and fascinated ; nothing of 
 the ‘pomp and circumstance,’ or stirring incidents of war; of murder and 
 pillage, burning and havoc, which, pursued on the large scale, makes the 
 man a hero; but, followed on a less extensive plan, would brand him as a 
 felon. His glory is not the flitting ignis fatuus that rises from the charnel 
 house, to dazzle and mislead ; but the bright, cheering, and durable halo of 
 a well spent life; passed in successful efforts to better the condition of our 
 race ; in the cultivation and extension of those useful arts, which, by multi- 
 plying our comforts and conveniences, advance the empire of civilisation, 
 and add to the sum of human enjoyment. If the mass of mankind were 
 wise ; if the chosen few, who sit in moral judgment on the actions of the 
 great, and record their sentence on the page of history, were just—then 
 would the false tinsel of military glory fade before the touchstone of truth, 
 and that ‘shadow of renown,’ which has followed the destroyers of our 
 race, ‘from Macedonia’s madman to the Swede,’ be no longer regarded. 
 The true interests of humanity, and the dictates of political justice and 
 wisdom, require, alike, that this should be the case; and that none but the 
 real benefactors of mankind should be held up as objects of our gratitude, 
 or examples for our imitation.”—Short sketch of the life of Samuel 
 Slater. 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 31 
 
 Belper, in the county of Derbyshire, England. This estate is now 
 owned and occupied by his son, William Slater. 
 
 The father of Samuel Slater was one of those independent 
 yeomanry, who farm their own lands, now almost peculiar to that 
 part of the country, as a distinct class from the tenantry of 
 England. He did not, however, confine himself altogether to the 
 business of agriculture, but added to his estate by the purchase of 
 lands. He did so for the sale of timber, and was in fact a timber 
 merchant. 
 
 Being a neighbour of Jedediah Strutt, of whom we shall have 
 occasion to speak, he once made a considerable purchase for him 
 containing a water-privilege, on which there is now a very exten- 
 sive establishment. He was otherwise engaged with Mr. Strutt 
 in making purchases of consequence, who had a high opinion of 
 his abilities and integrity as a man of business. This acquaint- 
 ance, and these transactions, led to the connection of Mr. Strutt 
 with Samuel, who was the fifth son, and is said to have resembled 
 his father in his person, and to have inherited his talents. This 
 enterprising son transplanted a branch of the Slater family into 
 the new world, where we trust they will grow and prosper for 
 many generations. The mother of Mr. Slater was a fine looking 
 woman, and lived a short time since with her third husband, whom 
 she survived, and often observed, she had been favoured with 
 “three good husbands.” She had by her first husband, William 
 Slater, a large family ; William, who now lives on the paternal 
 estate with many children, bids fair to keep up the family name 
 on the other side of the Atlantic. John Slater, son of the subject 
 of this memoir, visited him a few years since, at the Holly House 
 farm, the place of his father’s nativity, and viewed the establish- 
 ment where his honoured parent served his long and important 
 apprenticeship, as he did also the other mills owned by Messrs. 
 Arkwright and Strutt, at Crumford, six miles from Belper. When 
 on my last visit to Mr. Slater at Pawtucket, in 1833, he showed 
 me the prints of Arkwright and Strutt, and pointing to that of 
 Strutt, said, “Here is my old master,” and pronounced it a good 
 likeness. 
 
 Perhaps nothing could have had more influence on the subject 
 of this memoir, to induce him to leave his business, than the 
 desire to visit his aged mother, of whom he spoke always most 
 affectionately, and corresponded with her.* And to have viewed 
 
 * The following letter is just such an one as we should expect an affec- 
 tionate son would write to his mother, on the loss of a beloved and interesting 
 
32 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the place and scenes of his early days; his brothers and sisters, 
 and their little ones, to the third generation; his school-fellows, 
 
 child. And it is expressive of that strong parental affection, which was 
 peculiarly striking in Mr. Slater toward all his offspring. ‘Towards his 
 mother, Mr. Slater retained the fondest affection. 
 
 Extract of a letter sent by S. Slater to his mother at Belper, England, 
 March 28th, 1801. 
 Providence, R. I. 
 
 Dearly Beloved Parent,—In December last, I answered yours of June, 
 1800, in which I wrote you, that my little family enjoyed a good state of 
 health. But now, under the most. weighty load of sorrow and affliction, I 
 have to inform you that my first born and only son, William, was numbered 
 among the dead, January 31st, aged four years and five months. He was 
 taken sick with a severe cold, on Jan. 23d; the next day he had a bad 
 cough, but was playful, and anxious to ride about four miles, to see one of 
 my particular acquaintances. Therefore, to gratify him, | told him to go 
 and tell the boy to put the horse in the chaise, and we would ride; accord- 
 ingly he readily went to give his orders; but finally, we did not go to 
 ride, and he never went out of the house afterwards. In the evening he 
 was very much troubled with a shrill cough, and rested but little during the 
 night. On the 25th he still grew worse, and on the 26th, in the afternoon, 
 we called for a physician; he gave him some powerful medicine, but the 
 operation of it was trifling, and his cough and hoarseness kept increasing 
 during the day and night following. On the 27th, he was more troubled 
 with hard breathing; and of course a more particular attention was paid by 
 the physician, and medicine increased, but, alas! to no purpose. During 
 this day and night, and on the 28th also, all our efforts and hopes were 
 baffled. On the morning of the 29th, the physician judged him very 
 dangerous, and from his knowledge of my great love and affection for my 
 delightful child, he informed me that his case was very precarious, and said 
 he knew I should take every method to have him restored. He said if I 
 wished for further medical aid to assist and advise with him, he was entirely 
 willing. Therefore I sent immediately for the most eminent physician, and 
 on his arrival, they conversed, and pronounced his disorder the quinsey. 
 They proceeded to give large and strong doses of mediciné, which put him 
 in the most deplorable misery ; together with his most excruciating disorder. - 
 By this time his breath was so far stopped that he could not remain more: 
 than two or.three minutes in one place, and remained so that day and all 
 night following. On the morning of the 30th, his load of affliction was 
 increased, but he bore all with calmness, and appeared lovely. Towards 
 noon death had approached very near unto him, and about one o’clock his 
 eyes were nearly closed, his little fingers stiff and almost cold, and his 
 breath seemingly gone. He remained in that state till nearly three o’clock, 
 then he appeared to revive for a little while, and sat up in the bed, and called 
 for things to eat, and did eat freely ; which gave us some flattering hopes of 
 his recovery. But, behold, he was again seized as violently as ever, and 
 remained so until the morning of the 31st, when, about three o’clock, he 
 was summoned to quit this habitation of sorrow and trouble, for that of joy 
 
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a MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. ' 33 
 
 hisepleyraates, his schoolmaster, Jackson, who was then living; 
 the sons and grandsons of his old master, Strutt ; the old mill; the 
 meadows and orchards, &c. that starounded Holly house. He left 
 them all, in the bloom of youth, and retained a vivid recollection 
 of every particular. These early remembrances would cause the 
 tear to escape, even in his old age. But the state of his health, 
 the multiplicity of his concerns, and his concentrativeness, bound 
 him to Webster, and forbade the thought of a voyage across the 
 Atlantic. He refrained, denied himself, sent his love by his son, 
 and never returned to his father’s land. But he ever retained a 
 strong affection and lively concern in the welfare of his native 
 country. — 
 
 As is usual, Samuel went on trial to Mr. Strutt, previous to his 
 indenture of apprenticeship, and during this probation his father 
 fell from a load of hay. 'This fall was the occasion of his death. 
 During his father’s sickness, and perceiving that he was danger- 
 ously ill, he wished his father to article him to Mr. Strutt, as both 
 parties were satisfied. Asa proof that his father had confidence 
 in him, and that there was stability in the boy, he said to him, 
 “ You must do that business yourself, Samuel, J have so much to 
 do, and so litile time to do it.” It is believed that this was his last 
 interview with his beloved parent. 
 
 He lost his father in 1782, when he was fourteen years of age, 
 at a time when a father’s care and advice are much needed. 
 A boy left without guardianship, or watchful eye to restrain him, 
 is frequently exposed and led into temptation and ruin. Young 
 Slater, however, had an indulgent and faithful mother, and elder 
 brothers, so that he was not left entirely to his own resources. 
 The plate opposite is an engraved copy from the original indenture, 
 which is preserved in the family, as a relic of their father’s early 
 fidelity, and as a proof of his favoured means of knowledge. 
 
 Mr. Strutt was then building a large cotton factory at Milford, 
 and was a partner with Sir Richard Arkwright, in the cotton 
 spinning business ; the latter having been induced to this connec- 
 tion by the prospect which Strutt’s machines afforded, of an 
 increased consumption of yarn. Samuel Slater asked Mr. Strutt, 
 before he went into the business, whether he considered it a per- 
 manent business. Mr. Strutt replied, “ It is not probable, Samuel, 
 
 and perfect peace for ever. And we thereby are deprived of one of our 
 brightest earthly gems, the glittering of which, time will never efface. But 
 the Lord gave him, and he hath taken him away; and from henceforth and 
 for ever, blessed be his iva ” ei 
 
 5 | . 
 
 ~* 
 
34 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 that it will always be as good as it is now, but [ have no doubt it 
 will always be a fair business, if it be well managed.” It will be 
 
 recollected, that this was before Mr. Peel invented the printing 
 
 cylinder. Indeed the whole cotton business of England was, at 
 
 _that time, confined to a small district in Derbyshire, and its whole 
 
 amount not greater than that which is done at the present day in 
 
 a single village in New England. 
 
 In the early part of our young apprentice’s time, he manifested 
 the bent of his mind, for he frequently spent his Sundays alone, 
 making experiments in machinery. He was six months without 
 seeing his mother, or brothers and sisters, though he was short of 
 a mile from home. Not that he lacked in filial or fraternal affec- 
 tions ; but he was so intent, and so devoted to the attainment of 
 his business. 'To show the expertness and the propensity of his 
 mind, the following circumstance is related. Mr. Strutt endea- 
 voured to improve the heart-motion, that would enlarge or raise the 
 yarn in the middle, so as to contain more on the bobbin. Jede- 
 diah Strutt was unsuccessful in his experiments, and Samuel saw 
 what was wanting, and went to work the next Sunday, (the only 
 time he had to himself,) and formed such a motion, (a diagram 
 of which is given below) to the satisfaction of his master, who 
 presented him with a guinea. 
 
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 Mr. Strutt was an economist, and enforced his maxims on 
 Samuel, cautioning him against waste, and assuring him that it was 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 35 
 
 by'savings that a fortune in business was to be made.* During this 
 time, Samuel became an excellent machinist, as he had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the latest improvements. Arkwright and Strutt 
 were in company, and it was at a time when there was much 
 excitement and lawsuits on the patent rights; so that he was 
 initiated into all the crooks and turns of such controversies. This 
 may have prevented him applying for a privilege as the introducer 
 of Arkwright’s patents into the United States. 
 
 Slater served his indenture with Mr. Strutt, and faithfully per- 
 formed his part of the contract to the last day of the term, and 
 there was a good understanding between the parties to the last. 
 This accomplishment of his full time was characteristic of him, 
 and was praiseworthy and beneficial, as it laid the foundation of 
 his adaptation to business, and finally to his perfect knowledge of 
 it. He was different from those restless youths, who think they 
 know every thing before they have cut their eye teeth, and who 
 set up for themselves before their beards are grown, without either 
 knowledge or capital, and who fail and defraud their creditors, 
 during the time they ought to have been serving an apprenticeship. 
 Such boys break their engagements, forfeit all confidence, and 
 follow the example of Franklin, in that particular, though they 
 cannot be compared to him in any thing else. And in this, 
 Franklin was to be blamed; I praise him not. He himself 
 acknowledges it to have been a great error in his life. <A 
 conscientious regard to contracts is a principle by which every 
 person ought to be influenced, and without which, there is no 
 hope of their arriving at eminence in their profession. Mr. Slater 
 told me a short time before his death, that after his time was out, 
 he engaged with Mr. Strutt to have the oversight of the erection 
 of some new works, in addition to the mill, and this general 
 employment, with his close observation (for he always saw and 
 heard every thing, nothing could escape his notice,) and retentive 
 memory, was of great service to him in afterwards assisting him 
 to erect his first mill in Pawtucket. If he had been confined to 
 one branch of business, as is usual with an apprentice in England, 
 his knowledge would have been inadequate to perform what he 
 
 *The following anecdote is told:—‘‘ When Mr. Slater was yet a boy, 
 with Mr. Strutt, he passed by some loose cotton on the floor without picking 
 it up; Mr. Strutt called him back and told him to take up the cotton, for it 
 was by attending to such small things that great fortunes were accumulated ; 
 and Mr. Strutt observed to his wife, by way of still impressing the subject 
 on the mind of his favourite apprentice, ‘that he was afraid that Samuel 
 would never be rich,’ ” 
 
36 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 did on his first coming to America. But his residing in Strutt’s 
 family, his being the son of his deceased friend and neighbour, 
 as well as his close application to business, his ingenious experi- 
 ments, and his steady-habits, gave him the character of the “indus- 
 trious apprentice.” 
 
 He had the confidence of his master, and became his right-hand 
 man, and he might have attained the highest eminence by a con- 
 tinuance in England. Mr. Strutt afterwards declared that had 
 he known his intentions, nothing should have induced him to part 
 with him. But Mr. Slater told me that he contemplated trying 
 America for some time; and that his object was, to get a general 
 knowledge of the business, in order to come to this country and 
 introduce the manufacture of cotton, on the Arkwright improve- 
 ment, and that he remained after the time of his indenture with 
 that special object in view. 
 
 There were early indications that he designed embarking in 
 business for himself, and it is said, that he used to enquire of 
 Arkwright and others, if they thought the business would be 
 overdone in England. Yet it does not appear that he ever made 
 Known to any person his intention of leaving England. 'The father 
 of Samuel Slater must have been a man of considerable property 
 and business for those times, from the fact of his supporting 
 so large a family respectably, and giving them such an education 
 as was equal to any children who were calculated for business, 
 sixty years ago. Afier making provision for his widow, he left 
 to each of his children what was then a considerable sum for 
 persons in business. There was included, in Samuel’s portion, 
 two houses in Belper, a nail store, and another building ; all of 
 which sold as they were, under many disadvantages, for nearly 
 two thousand dollars. He did not touch this property when he 
 left home, but probably reserved it for a retreat in case of failure 
 of his object in coming to the United States. He had always that 
 kind of generalship which provides for a retreat in case of acci- 
 dent, or as he would say, “to lay up for a rainy day.” 
 
 Few persons who are extravagant when apprentices, ever gain 
 in business ; and it has been said, that few who saved money then 
 
 but what succeeded in after life. The following copy of a note* 
 Mien sy | 
 * “ Four-pence Stamp. Pee. Re 9 
 
 £2 2s.—I promise to pay to Samuel Slater, or order, upon demand, the 
 sum of two pounds two shillings, for value received, with lawful interest 
 
 for the same, as witness my hand this tenth day of January, 1768. 
 v k te 
 
 ¢ 
 
 Signed in the presence of us, Wituam Asumoe. mae pa 
 Wm. More, J. Pratt.” 2 ie Kiet ig 4 
 = ‘9 
 
 + 
 s 
 
 * 
 
af 
 
 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 37 
 
 which I have in my possession, shows the early savings of Slater : 
 economy and indefatigable industry were the foundation principle 
 of his fortune. Not by speculation, or by any circumstances 
 peculiarly favourable to the accumulation of wealth, but by the 
 dint of persevering attention to business for half a century. 
 
 The motive, ar inducement, and first occasion of his thinking 
 of leaving Mr. Strutt, and what finally determined him, was his 
 observing* in a Philadelphia paper, a reward offered by a society 
 for a machine to make cotton rollers, &c. 'This convinced him 
 that America must be very bare of every thing of the kind, and 
 he prepared himself accordingly. He probably knew the risk he 
 should run in attempting to leave England as a machinist, and it 
 was characteristic of him, never to talk of his business—where he 
 was going, or when he intended to return. John Slater, a sur- 
 viving brother, says he remembers his coming home, and telling 
 his mother that he wished his clothes, as he was going by the 
 stage to London ; this was the last time his mother, or any of 
 the family, saw him, till his brother John joined him in Pawtucket. 
 He was aware, that there was danger of his being stopped, as the 
 government restrictions were very severe, and very unjust ; the 
 officers were very scrupulous in searching every passenger to 
 America. He therefore resolved not to take any pattern, nor have 
 any writing or memorandum about him, but trusted wholly to his 
 acquirements in the business and to his excellent memory. His 
 appearance was also in his favour, it being that of an English 
 farmer’s son, rather than that of a mechanic. He told me him- 
 self he had nothing about him but his indenture, which he kept 
 concealed, and this was his only introduction and recommenda- 
 tion in the new world. ; 
 
 Though he left home for London, without making known his 
 intentions, he did not design leaving his friends in suspense; he 
 therefore prepared a letter for his mother informing her of his 
 destination ; which, however, he did not venture to put in the 
 
 * During the last year or two of his apprenticeship, his thoughts as to his 
 future course, and the establishment of the business on his own account, were 
 turned towards this country, by various rumours and reports which reuthied 
 Derbyshire, of the anxiety of the different state governments, here, to en- 
 courage manufactures. The newspaper account of a liberal bounty (£100) 
 granted by the legislature of Pennsylvania, to a person, who had imperfectly 
 succeeded in constructing a carding machine, to make rolls for jennies, and 
 the knowledge that a society had been authorised by the same legislature 
 for the promotion of manufactures, induced him finally to push his fortune 
 
 % in the western hemisphere. 
 __ Ps 
 
38 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 post-office, till just before he went on board the ship bound to New 
 York. : 
 
 While waiting in London till the captain was ready to embark, 
 which appears to have been a week or ten days, he spent his time 
 in seeing the curiosities; the Cathedrals, the Tower, and other 
 London shows. Of these he often spoke, in familiar conversation, 
 with a great deal of interest. He told of a circumstance that 
 happened to him in London :—a Jew accosted him, perceiving him 
 to be from the country, and told him, in a private manner, that he 
 had some silk stockings, that he would sell remarkably low, but 
 he wished the bargain to be between themselves 3 which overture 
 our young adventurer listened to rather incautiously ; and found, 
 on examination, after he went to his tavern, that he had bought 
 stockings without feet.. When he told this anecdote, he said, it 
 served to “sharpen his eye teeth.” Few countrymen, strangers 
 in London, spend even a short time there, without experiencing 
 some similar adventure ; the above, however, was not of serious 
 importance, and served only to laugh at, as a proof of his 
 credulity. 
 
 Young people should be cautious how they spend their time in 
 great cities, without the acquaintance of some of the resident. in- 
 habitants. 'The best way for strangers who only remain a short 
 time in a city, is to put up at one of the most respectable hotels. 
 
 We cannot help reflecting on the unforeseen changes which 
 take place in human life. When we are boys, we know not where 
 our lot will be cast, nor what will be our destiny in this changing 
 world. Nor is it proper we should—it is wisely ordered that 
 it should be otherwise ; “ sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” 
 Itis for us to do our every day’s duty, and leave the event ; “what 
 a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If we do well, we shall 
 receive the reward of our labours, even in the pleasure of well 
 doing. If young Slater had foreseen the difficulties he had to 
 encounter, before he spun the first cotton yarn in America, he 
 never would have undertaken it; but it is well that we have no 
 ‘such foresight, and that our strength is according to our day. 
 ‘Those who have left their native country, know something of the 
 trials of parting. Young Slater’s heart was full, when he looked 
 the last time on Holly House, and all that was within; but a 
 youthful ambition fired his soul, and enabled him to overcome his 
 feelings. He took a last look of his mother, he tore himself away 
 from his brothers and sisters, with whom he had taken sweet 
 counsel, and with whom he was closely united in fraternal affec- 
 
 tion. ‘The emigrant can understand all this, and feel it most in- 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 39 
 
 tensely, and it is better felt than expressed; words are cold and 
 imperfect to delineate such beatings of the heart, or the natural 
 attachment we feel to our nation, “for with all its faults, we love 
 it still;” it is our country, and no trifling consideration should 
 cause a person to leave his native land for another. But emigra- 
 - tion is the fashion of the day, for the traveling organ was never 
 more active, not even in Arabia. 
 
 The cotton business was then in its.infancy ; if Mr. Slater had 
 continued in England, and used the same exertions, and the same 
 economy as he has done here, he would have realised a fortune 
 there, equal to what Arkwright did himself; as the father of Sir 
 Robert Peel did, and several others far inferior to Samuel Slater— 
 in business talents, and mechanical genius. He himself entertain- 
 ed this opinion; but he was afraid the cotton spinning would be 
 overdone in England, and listened to the overtures held out from 
 the United States; we shall see how far his footsteps were prosper- 
 ed, and how far the country has been benefited by his labours. 
 He brought with him all Arkwright’s improvements in use at that 
 time, and made articles equal to those made in England. He was 
 not ashamed to send his first yarn home to Mr. Strutt, as it would 
 bear a comparison with his, and with any made elsewhere.* 
 
 Mrs. Mary Wilkinson, of Providence, R.I., has a pattern of 
 cotton check cloth, and presented me with a part of an apron, of 
 the first check made by Mr. Slater, which she says she paid for in 
 covering his rollers with leather ; a specimen of which is in the 
 Philadelphia Museum. I keep it by me as a curiosity, and it is 
 quite equal to the same article made in England. Genius usually 
 receives its early bias from some circumstances, in the general 
 character of the age, and some in the particular condition of the 
 person to whom it belongs: this observation is exemplified in the 
 genius of Slater. : 
 
 There were early indications of the genius of Samuel: when a 
 child he gave a patient attention to whatever he attempted. The 
 “boy is the father of the man;” he was his mother’s best boy to wind 
 worsted, for which purpose he made himself a polished steel spin- 
 dle; his inclination led him to the machine shop. His school- 
 master admired him as a good writer, and as good at arithmetic ; 
 observing that scholars well versed in duodecimals and vulgar 
 fractions; made more business men, than attention to the other 
 rules. Such early acquisitions gave indications of his great cal- 
 
 * A specimen of the first yarn, stocking and twist, is deposited in the 
 Philadelphia Museum. 
 
AO MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 culation, and his talents as an accountant, in which he afterwards 
 
 so much excelled. 
 
 When Jedediah Strutt, the partner of Arkwright, applied to his 
 neighbour Slater for one of his sons, expressing a wish to have 
 the eldest, which after some consultation was refused, Mr. Slater, 
 who had perceived his son Samuel’s inclination, told his friend he 
 had better take Samuel on trial, then not fourteen years of age, 
 observing that he “wrote well, and was good at figures.” ‘This 
 proved a judicious selection, which is a matter of great importance 
 in a parent apportioning his sons to proper employments. None 
 could have been more appropriate nor more successful, than the 
 choice which was made in this instance. It appears there were 
 strong and early developments of the bent of his mind. He 
 became extraordinary for comprehensive calculations, and never 
 forgot his good, plain, old-fashioned hand-writing. 
 
 Samuel was put to school to a Mr. Jackson, a very approved 
 teacher in Belper, of whom he acquired the rudiments of a com- 
 mon business education, and like most of Mr. Jackson’s scholars, 
 learned to write a good hand, and a free and easy style. He 
 always in after life spoke of this worthy gentleman with gratitude 
 and affection, and maintained a correspondence with him after he 
 came to America. ‘This old schoolmaster, who was proud of his 
 scholar, never forgot him; and the following letters were preserved 
 by Mr. Slater. | 
 Bewrer, 2ist Feby. 1790. 
 
 Dear Sir,—I am glad to have so favourable an account of your health 
 when your letters left the western world, the seat of patriotism and in- 
 dependence; your long and dangerous voyage I shall pass over in silence, as 
 I suppose the reflection will now afford you pleasure. There is something truly 
 pleasing in thinking upon calamities which we have surmounted and are 
 passed away. You are in a sphere of action now where you are likely to 
 see a considerable portion of this dirty globe: let me enjoin you to keep an 
 exact and regular journal of every day’s transactions and observations. It 
 will be an amusement for you at the time you do it. The other advantages 
 of it I need not point out, your own good sense will soon point them out: I 
 know from your particular turn, that you are well fitted for it. A number 
 of observations will often occur to you which would not be noticed by most 
 other people—make private remarks upon the leading features in the cha- 
 racters of all you have to deal with. I hope to live to see you in Britain 
 once again. Be particularly careful of your health; the countries you are 
 likely to visit, demand some adherence to regularity and care. I shall at all 
 times be happy to hear of your welfare. I have no local news to send you ; 
 I think Derbyshire wears much the same aspect (the difference of. seasons 
 allowed for) as when you turned your back upon it. At all events I can 
 assure you, that the morals of a particular set are not at all improved since 
 you left them. I am far from being well; I have the scurvy very ill, and am 
 age 
 
 Pd rey 
 PM | 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. Al 
 
 at this time troubled with a cold; however, Iintend this night drinking your 
 health ina bumper. Let us hear from you as often as convenient; your 
 opportunities will be frequent, perhaps as in your nautical travels you will 
 frequently meet with ships bound to England. 
 I am, dear sir, with every sincere wish for your welfare, 
 Yours, &c. Tuomas Jackson. 
 
 The Historical Society of Rhode Island voted, to request Mr. 
 Slater to give them such particulars as he should think proper, in 
 relation to his coming to this country ;* and the following was 
 found among his papers; which shows, that had he lived, he in- 
 tended to have granted their petition. “Samuel Slater was born 
 in the town of Belper, in the county of Derby, June 9th, 1768. 
 In June 28th, 1782, being about fourteen years of age, he went to 
 live with Jedediah Strutt, Esq., in Milford, near Belper, (the in- 
 ventor of the Derby ribbed stocking machine, and several years 
 a partner of Sir Richard Arkwright in the cotton spinning busi- 
 ness,) asa clerk ; who was then building a large factory at Milford, 
 where said Slater continued until August 1789. During four 
 or five of the late years, his time was solely devoted to the factory 
 as general overseer, both as respected making machinery and the 
 manufacturing department. On the Ist day of September 1789, he 
 took his departure from Derbyshire for London, and on the 13th 
 he sailed for New York, where he arrived in November, after a pas- 
 sage of sixty-six days. He left New York in January 1790, for 
 Providence, and there made an arrangement with Messrs. Almy 
 and Brown, to commence preparation for spinning cotton at Paw- 
 tucket. 
 
 * Provipence, R. I. Dec. 13th, 1834. 
 
 Sir—Ata late meeting of the board of trustees of the Rhode Island 
 Historical Society, a resolution was passed of which the subjoined is a copy. 
 
 Any communication that you may feel inclined to make in consonance with 
 the request, will, if addressed to me, be promptly laid before the board. 
 
 ' Tam, sir, respectfully yours, 
 THomas H. WeEsp. 
 
 In board meeting—At the instance of the secretary, it was resolved, that 
 Mr. Samuel Slater be requested to draw up and present to this society, a 
 history of the first introduction of cotton spinning into this country, together 
 with an account of the difficulties attendant thereupon, and of such other 
 incidents in respect thereunto, as he may deem important or interesting to 
 have preserved for the information of posterity. 
 
 A true copy from the records. Attest, 
 Tuomas H. Webb, 
 Mr. Samuel Slater. Secretary R. I. Hist. Soe. 
 
 6 
 
 | 
 
A2 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “On the 18th day of the same month, the venerable Moses Brown 
 took him out to Pawtucket, where he commenced making the 
 machinery principally with his own hands, and on the 20th of 
 
 December following, he started three cards; drawing and roving, — 
 
 and seventy-two spindles, which were worked by an old fulling 
 mill water wheel in a clothier’s building, in which they continued 
 spinning about twenty months; at the expiration of which time 
 they had several thousand pounds of yarn on hand, notwithstand- 
 ing every exertion was used to weave it up and sell it. 
 
 “Farly in the year 1793, Almy, Brown and Slater built a small 
 factory in that village, (known and called to this day the old 
 factory,) in which they set in motion, July 12, the preparation and 
 seventy-two spindles, and slowly added to that number as the 
 sales of the yarn appeared more promising, which induced the 
 said Slater to be concerned in erecting a new mill, and to increase 
 the machinery in the old mill.” The above was written by Mr. 
 Slater a short time before his death, and it is to be regretted that 
 he did not live to give a full account of the progress of his busi- 
 ness. 
 
 From the preceding account of Samuel Slater’s early history, 
 
 connections, and his enterprise and perseverance in laudable 
 pursuits, it appears that he came to this country in honour and 
 respectability. F'rom his connections, advantages, and business 
 turn, it is obvious that he might and in all probability would have 
 Decicd a fortune in his own country. In leaving his own country 
 with such promising appearances, and making America the theatre 
 
 of his operations, he manifests in his early life a spirit of enter- 
 
 prise which all admire. With a keen discernment, he undoubtedly | 
 had premonitions of future prosperity, and ultineatale ofertas” 
 himself permanently in America. 
 
 The invention ascribed to Arkwright, and on which his 
 renown for mechanical genius mainly rests, is said, by Mr. 
 Baines, “'To have been previously described, with the utmost 
 distinctness, in the specification of the machine invented by 
 John Wyatt, and that cotton had for some years been spun by 
 those machines. The patent for the invention was taken out, 
 in the year 1738, in the name of Lewis Paul, with whom Mr. 
 Wyatt had connected himself in partnership, but there is evidence 
 to show that the latter was the inventor.” 
 
 a 
 
 ¢ ; i 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 43 
 
 The following accounts of Messrs. Arkwright and Strutt will be 
 read with much interest, and this place appears to be appropriate 
 for their insertion. 
 
 Ricnarp ARKWRIGHT, was one of those great characters, whom nature seems 
 to have destined, by the endowment of superior powers, to be the benefactor 
 of their fellow-creatures. Born of parents who were classed among the 
 inferior rank of society, and brought up to one of the most humble occupa- 
 tions in life, he yet, by the aid of genius and perseverance, rose to affluence 
 and honour. Richard Arkwright, who was the youngest of thirteen children, 
 was born in Preston, in Lancashire, some time in the year 1732. In that 
 neighbourhood there was a considerable manufactory of linen goods, and of 
 linen and cotton mixed, carried on; and his acquaintance with the operations 
 he witnessed there, seems in early life to have directed his thoughts to the 
 improvement of the mode of spinning. This, however, he did not accom- 
 plish, till many years had elapsed, for prior to the year 1767, he followed 
 his trade, which was that of a barber; but at that period he quitted his 
 original business and situation at Wirksworth, and went about the country 
 buying hair. Coming to Warrington, he projected a mechanical contrivance 
 for a kind of perpetual motion. A clock-maker of that town, of the name of 
 John Kay, dissuaded him from it, and suggested that much money might be 
 gained by an engine for spinning cotton, which Kay promised to describe. 
 Kay and Arkwright then applied to Peter Atherton, Esq. of Liverpool, for 
 assistance in the construction of such an engine, who, discouraged by the 
 mean appearance of the latter, declined, though he soon afterwards agreed 
 to lend Kay a smith and watch-tool maker to prepare the heavier part of 
 the engine, whilst Kay himself undertook to make the clock-maker’s part of 
 it, and to instruct the workmen. In this way Arkwright’s fitst engine, for 
 which he afterwards took a patent, was made. Mr. Arkwright experienced 
 many difficulties before he could bring his machine into use; and even after 
 its completion had sufficiently demonstrated its value, its success would 
 have been for ever retarded if his genius and application had been less 
 ardent. His circumstances were far too unfavourable to enable him to com- 
 mence business on his own account, and few were willing to risk the loss of 
 capitalon anewestablishment. Having at length, however, the good fortune 
 to secure the co-operation of Mr. Smalley, of Preston, he obtained his first 
 patent for spinning cotton by means of rollers; but their property failing, 
 they went to Nottingham, and there, by the assistance of wealthy indivi- 
 duals, erected a considerable cotton-mill turned by horses; but this mode 
 of procedure being found too expensive, another mill, on a larger scale, was 
 erected at Cromford, the machinery of which was put in motion by water. 
 This patent right was contested about the year 1772, on the ground that he 
 was not the original inventor. He obtained a verdict, however, and enjoyed 
 the patent without further interruption, to the end of the term for which it 
 wasgranted. Soon after the erection of the mill at Cromford, Mr. Arkwright 
 made many improvements in the mode of preparing the cotton for spinning, 
 and invented a variety of ingenious machines for effecting this purpose in 
 the most correct and expeditious manner; for all which he obtained a patent 
 in the year 1775. The validity of this second patent was tried in the court 
 of king’s bench, 1781, and a verdict was given against him on the ground of 
 
44 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 ‘the insufficiency of the specification; but in 1785 the question was again 
 tried in the court of common pleas, when he obtained a verdict. This 
 verdict, however, raised up an association of the principal manufacturers, 
 who instituted another cause, by writ of scire facias, in the court of king’s 
 bench, when Mr. Arkwright was cast, on the ground of his not being the 
 original inventor. Conscious that this was not the case, he moved for a 
 new trial; the rule, however, was refused, and on the 14th of November, 
 1785, the court of king’s bench gave judgment to cancel the letters patent. 
 The improvements and inventions in cotton spinning, for which we are 
 indebted to the genius of Sir Richard Arkwright, and which complete a 
 series of machinery so various and complicated, are so admirably combined 
 and so well adapted to produce the intended effect in its most perfect form, 
 as to excite the admiration of every person capable of appreciating the diffi- 
 culty of the undertaking. And that all this should have been accomplished 
 by the single efforts of a man without education, or-even mechanical experi- 
 ence, is most extraordinary, and affords a striking instance of the wonderful 
 powers displayed by the human mind when its powers are steadily directed 
 to one object. Yet this was not the only employment of this eminent man; 
 for at the same time that he was inventing and improving machinery, he 
 was also engaged in other undertakings, which any person, judging from 
 general experience, must have pronounced incompatible with such pursuits. 
 He was taking measures to secure to himself a fair proportion of the fruits 
 of his industry and ingenuity ; he was extending the business on a larger 
 scale ; he was introducing into every department of manufacture, a system 
 of industry, order, and cleanliness, till then unknown in any manufactory 
 where great numbers were employed together. These advantages he so 
 effectually accomplished, that his example may be regarded as the origin of 
 almost all similar improvements. When it is considered that during this 
 entire period he was afflicted with a violent asthma, which was always » 
 _ extremely oppressive, and threatened sometimes to put an immediate termi- — 
 
 nation to his existence, his great exertions must excite astonishment. For 
 
 some time previous to his death, he was rendered incapable of continuing 
 his usual pursuits, by a complication of diseases, which at length deprived 
 him of life, at Cromford, on the 3d of August, 1792, in the sixtieth year 
 
 of his age. In the infancy of the invention, Sir Richard Arkwright — 
 
 expressed ideas of its importance, which to persons less acquainted | 
 With its merits appeared ridiculous; but he lived long enough to see all his 
 conceptions more than realised in the advantages derived from it, both to 
 himself and to his country; and the state to which those manufactures 
 dependent on it have been advanced since his death, makes all that had 
 been previously effected appear comparatively trifling. The merits of Sir 
 Richard Arkwright may be summed up by observing, “that the object in 
 which he was engaged, is of the highest public value; that though his family 
 were enriched, the benefits which have accrued to the nation have been 
 incalculably greater; and that upon the whole he is entitled to the respect 
 and admiration of the world.”—Rees’s Cyclopedia. Arkwright and Cotton. 
 JEDEDIAH STRUTT, the ingenious inventor of the machine for making ribbed 
 stockings, was a native of Normanton, where he was born in the year 1726. 
 His father, who was a farmer and maltster, is represented as a severe man, 
 who paid but little attention to the welfare of his offspring, whose education 
 
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 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. A5 
 
 he neglected during their early years, and in whose establishment in the 
 world when arrived at the years of maturity, he took no interest. Nature, 
 however, had invested them with understandings superior to those of the 
 class of society in which they ranked, and notwithstanding the many disad- 
 vantages under which they laboured, their abilities became conspicuous in 
 their ultimate success and prosperity. This remark is more strictly appli- 
 cable to his son Jedediah. Early in life he discovered an ardent desire for 
 his own improvement, which at last grew into an habitual and strong passion 
 for knowledge ; and unassisted by the usual aids for the acquisition of learn- 
 ing, he, by the powers of his own genius alone, acquired a considerable 
 acquaintance with literature and science. In the year 1754, Mr. Strutt took 
 a farm at Blackwell, in the neighbourhood of Normanton, and married. 
 Soon after this, about the year 1755, an event occurred which may be con- 
 “sidered as the foundation of his future prosperity—it was to him that moment 
 
 which the poet describes as the 
 
 ee tide in the affairs of men, 
 
 pt ny Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune.” 
 
 ets 
 
 “Wm. Woolat, his wife’s brother, who was a hosier, informed him of some 
 unsuccessful attempts that had been made to manufacture ribbed stockings 
 on the stocking-frame, which excited his curiosity, and induced him to 
 investigate that curious and complicated machine, with a view to effect what 
 others had attempted in vain. After much attention, labour, and expense, 
 he succeeded in bringing the machine to perfection, and in the year 1756, 
 
 in conjunction with his brother-in-law, obtained a patent for the invention, 
 
 _ and removed to Derby, where he established an extensive manufacture for 
 ribbed stockings. The advantages resulting from this invention were not 
 
 confined to the patentees, for a very short time after the patent was obtained, 
 another was granted to the Messrs. Morris of Nottingham, for a machine 
 on a similar principle, but applied to the making of silk lace, a business 
 which since has been carried on to a very great extent. Subsequently, the 
 principle of the invention has been applied to a considerable variety of other 
 work. About the year 1771, Mr. Strutt entered into partnership with the 
 celebrated Sir Richard Arkwright, who was then engaged in the improve- 
 ment of his improved machinery for cotton spinning. But though the most 
 excellent yarn, or twist, was produced by this ingenious machinery, the 
 prejudice which uften opposes new inventions was so strong against it, that 
 the manufacturers could not be prevailed upon to weave it into calicoes. 
 Mr. Strutt, therefore, in conjunction with Mr. S. Need, another partner, 
 attempted the manufacture of this article in the year 1773, and proved 
 successful; but after a large quantity of calicoes had been made, it was 
 discovered that they were subject to double the duty (six-pence per yd.) on 
 cottons with linen warp, and when printed, were prohibited. They had, 
 therefore, no other resource than to ask relief of the legislature, which after 
 great expense, and a strong opposition from the Lancashire manufacturers, 
 they at length obtained. In the year 1775, Mr. Strutt began to erect the 
 ©otton works at Belper, and afterwards at Milford, at each of which places 
 he resided many years. These manufactures were carried on for a number 
 of years by Mr. Strutt himself, and since by his sons and grandsons. 
 
46 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Mr. Need was partner of Mr. Strutt of Derby, and Mr. Strutt having 
 seen Arkwright’s machine, and declared it to be an admirable mvention, 
 only wanting an adaptation of some of the wheels to each other, both 
 Mr. Need and Mr. Strutt entered into partnership with Arkwright. Mr. 
 Strutt was brought up a farmer, but having a passion for improvement, and 
 a mechanical genius, he succeeded in adapting the stocking-frame to the 
 manufacture of ribbed stockings. He established an extensive manufacture 
 of ribbed stockings at Derby, and after his connection with Mr. Arkwright 
 he erected cotton works at Milford, near Belper; he raised his family to 
 great wealth. Some of the circumstances connected with Arkwright’s 
 settling at Nottingham, were communicated by the late Mr. Wm. Strutt, 
 the highly gifted and ingenious son of Jedediah Strutt, to the editor of the 
 ‘‘ Beauties of England and Wales.” 
 
 Even to the present time, the course of improvement has not stopped. 
 Mules have been constructed, which do not require the manual aid of a 
 spinner, the mechanism being so contrived as to roll the spindle-carriage 
 
 out and in at the proper speed, without a hand touching it; and the only © 
 
 manual labour employed in these machines, which are ullee “ self-acting 
 mules,” is that of the children who join the broken threads. ‘The first 
 machine of this nature was invented by the ingenious Mr. William Str 
 F.R.S., of Derby, son of Jedediah Strutt, the partner of Arkwright; § 
 the followins mention is made of it in a memoir of that gentleman, ° 
 by his son, Mr. Edward Strutt, at present member for Derby. 
 
 we may mention a self-acting mule for the spinning of cotton, invented more 
 than forty years ago, but we believe the inferior workmanship of that day 
 prevented the success of an invention, which all the skill and improvement 
 in the construction of machinery in the present day has barely accomplished.” 
 This William Strutt was the early companion of Slater, they" were ot d. in 
 the mill together. 
 
 tt, 
 
 written 
 William Strutt i 
 died on the 29th of December, 1830, and the memoir appeared shortly after 
 
 in a periodical journal :—“ Among hid other inventions and improvements, 
 
 4 
 
 Fin 
 t 
 
 4 
 
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. AT 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STATE OF MANUFACTURES PREVIOUS To 1790. 
 
 “ Neither affecting to conceal the smaller rills by which the stream was fed, nor to 
 bring them so much into view as to deprive the principal object of its consequence.” 
 
 In collecting the facts relative to the early attempts at manufac- 
 ture of cloths of various descriptions, I was much impressed with 
 the struggles which were to be made against obstacles nearly of 
 an insurmountable nature. The commencement was with im-.@ 
 perfect machinery, obtained at great expense ; ignorance of their 
 operations ; difficulties of constructing even from patterns and 
 models, by such persons, who had no practical knowledge, and no 
 
 means of knowing the theory or philosophy of the machinery. 
 a; Tn addition to these perplexities, they had to encounter the free 
 . importations of articles from Europe, at a much lower rate than 
 _ the home manufacturers could afford them. No wonder that they 
 - did not succeed, but we may be astonished that they persevered in 
 their attempt. And we can now perceive, that from those small 
 4 beginnings the present brightened prospects received their founda- 
 - tion. From the best information that I can gather, the jenny 
 ‘spinning, (with cards for rolls, and roving by hand), was first com- 
 7 menced in Beverly or Bridgewater, Mass.; and to the honour of 
 _ that state it must be recorded, that the proprietors received assist- 
 ance from the legislature. But even legislative protection could 
 not support those small establishments against the superior 
 _. machinery of England. Much individual sacrifice was endured, 
 but these losses and vexatious experiments eventuated in the 
 public good. ‘We can now only record, to the praise of those brave 
 spirits of untiring enterprise who laid the foundation of our pre- 
 sent prosperity, such facts which must be their lasting praises. 
 
 Few can now imagine the privations and disappointments, that 
 
 attended these incipient measures; but immense establishments 
 
 have grown out of them, matured and perfected by all the im- 
 
 provements of the age.” 
 
 -* The manufacturing business in this country, small as it began, is now 
 the first business of the age. It has already whitened the fields at the south 
 with the growing of cotton; and covered the hills of the north with flourish- 
 ing flocks; while the north is made alive with the busy hum of industry, and 
 
48 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Previous to the war of the revolution, notwithstanding the re- 
 strictions which the colonies laboured under, manufactures kept 
 gaining ground; but the war greatly retarded and embarrassed 
 many branches. Silk had made a good beginning at the south, 
 as well as at the north; and was receiving encouragement from 
 the mother country, in order to rival the French, in that important 
 national resource. Other manufactures in their incipient state, 
 were djscouraged, and entirely failed. ‘There was a great want 
 of mechanics, and but few emigrations from Europe. Even 
 tools and implements of husbandry were exceedingly scarce, and 
 sold at enormous prices. 
 
 Every attempt therefore to recommence, or begin anew any 
 domestic manufacture, had not only to contend with importations 
 from the East Indies, and from Europe ; but the want of machinery, 
 and the lack of artisans skilled in the various branches. ‘This 
 is evident in the first attempts of the jenny spinning, and the 
 carding of rolls for woollen cloths. ‘The evidence-that will be 
 
 a great proportion of its population provided with an honest and lucrative 
 employment; and with suitable economy, made contented and happy with 
 the luxury of abundance. It was the being a witness of such mighty and 
 benevolent changes in the condition of our country, and in the character and 
 appearance of its inhabitants, that operated, not asa moderate impulse with 
 the writer to present to the public the biography of the man who, amid dis- 
 asters and difficulties, first put their springs in motion; and to present before 
 the public some of the surprising results. 
 
 The following document is the earliest of any direct roof of anassocia- 
 tion to aid domestic industry, and as such it is worthy of preservation: “ A 
 number of inhabitants of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, having 
 entered into an agreement of co-partnership, under the name of the United 
 Company of Philadelphia, for promoting American manufactures, this is 
 to certify, that Tench Coxe hath paid his full subscription of ten pounds 
 towards the joint stock uf the said company, whereby he isentitled toa vote 
 in the business of the company ; of all the profits arising from the said — 
 manufactures, agreeable to the articles:—As witness my hand this eighth 
 day of November 1775. Joseph Stites, Treasurer.” 
 
 The above Mr. Coxe was appointed to congress, as R. Peters’ s letter from 
 the house of assembly, Philadelphia, shows: 
 
 ‘ Honourable Tench Coxe, Esq. 
 
 Sir,—I have the honour to enclose a copy of the minute of the general 
 Se iihiy: by which it will appear that you are appointed a delegate to re- 
 present this state in congress, until the constitution for the government of 
 the United States shall be in operation. I am, sir, a 
 
 gar 
 Your very obedient servi 
 Ricuarp PETers, Bipasker. 
 
 , & , 
 
 %, 
 : 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. | 49 
 
 incidentally produced in this volume, will show the weak and defi- 
 cient state of all kinds of manufactures, previous to 1790. This 
 period will be considered the era of their national commencement. 
 It was in this year that the legislature of Massachusetts resolved 
 more effectually to aid the Beverly company.* About the same time, 
 
 _ Jan. 15th, 1790, the house of representatives in congress called 
 
 on the secretary of the treasury to collect information on the sub- 
 ject, which led to a full and extensive enquiry, and resulted in the 
 report of Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 5, 1791. 
 
 In examining American writers on this subject, I find no in- 
 dividual who commenced so early, and who continued with such 
 unwavering perseverance, in the patriotic promotion of the growth 
 of cotton, as the only redundant staple which this country could 
 produce; and in the commencement and forwarding the cotton ° 
 manufacture, under every disadvantage and embarrassment—I find _ 
 no one appearing at the head and front of these measures equal to 
 Tench Coxe. From his refutation of Lord Sheffield,t to his last 
 draft of petition to congress on behalf of the tariff he continued 
 the same undeviating champion, through an active and useful life, 
 of domestic industry and economy ; and not even Hamilton feat 
 self deserves greater praise, in laying the foundation and in raising 
 the superstructure of the American system, than that enlightened 
 and energetic statesman. Incessantly engaged as he was, in those 
 departments of government which demanded. the ea of all 
 his energies, we find him always with the labouring oar; and 
 there can be no doubt that Washington’s first secretary of the 
 treasury is indebted for those valuable statistics, which enabled 
 
 i 
 
 * The following advertisement, April 3d, 1782, is from the Pennsylvania 
 Gazette. <A brief notice of the patriotic individual, who undoubtedly made 
 the first ‘‘ Jeans; ReaD. &c. in America, will ie inserted in the Ap- 
 pendix :— 
 
 “ PHILADELPHIA MANuracturEes—suitable for every season of the year, viz: 
 Jeans, Fustians, Everlastings, Coatings, &c., to be sold by the subscriber at 
 his dwelling house and manufactory, (whieh j is now standing), in South 
 Alley, between Market street and Arch street, and between Fifth and Sixth 
 
 _ streets, on Hudson’s square. SamveL WETHERILL.” 
 
 + The misconceptions in regard to American affairs, which prevailed in 
 many parts of Europe in the year 1791, and particularly “in the British 
 dominions, were deemed to be very great: they appeared to be founded, in 
 yarn degree, on the disquisitions of Lord Sheffield. Tench Coxe. de- 
 
 nstrated the errors of this writer, (whose observations had gone through 
 “six editions, from 1783 to.1791), first in the “Museum,” and then in his 
 “View of the United States.” 
 vis 
 
 a 
 
50 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 him to draw up his report on manufactures, to the important as- 
 sistance of 'ench Coxe. If my limits would allow me to insert 
 his correspondence with every department of government, the 
 above remarks would be clearly demonstrated’; but I must con- 
 fine myself to a few. 
 
 The various disorders of 1787, and the want of a national system, 
 affected very severely a number of persons in the large towns who 
 were engaged in the different branches of manufactures. ‘These 
 were more numerous and much more important than was at that 
 time perceived by persons of the closest observation. ‘The laws 
 of some of the states imposed considerable duties upon the 
 fabrics of all the rest, in some instances as high as the impost on 
 similar articles manufactured in foreign countries. ‘The remains 
 of the excessive importations of the four preceding years were 
 constantly offered for sale at prices lower than their cost in 
 Europe, and less than they could be made for in America. From 
 a deep sense of these inconveniences, exertions were commenced 
 in various parts of the United States, by persons of all descriptions, 
 to relieve the manufacturing citizens; which appeared the more 
 desirable to many, because the necessary measures tended at the 
 same time to promote the great cause of union among the states, 
 and to repress habits of expense which the war, and the peace 
 likewise, though from very different causes, had introduced into 
 most of the towns, and too many parts of the country. ‘The citi- 
 zens of Philadelphia took a very active part in these salutary / 
 measures, and instituted a society, which afterwards proved of 
 considerable utility, to carry their views into execution. An 
 address was delivered by Tench Coxe to an assembly of the 
 friends of American manufactures, convened for the purpose of 
 establishing a society* for the encouragement of manufactures and 
 
 * The Plan of the “Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of 
 Manufactures and the Useful Arts,” founded in 1787. 
 
 The wealth and prosperity of nations principally depend on a due atten- 
 tion to agriculture, manufacturesand commerce. In the various stages of her 
 political existence, America has derived great advantages from the establish- 
 ment of manufactures and the useful arts. Her present situation in the world 
 calls her, by new and weighty considerations, to promote and extend them. 
 The United States, having assumed the station of an independent govern- 
 ment, require new resources to support their rank and influence, both abroad 
 and athome. Our distance from the nations of Europe,—our possessing 
 
 within ourselves the materials of the useful arts, and articles of consumption .* 
 
 and commerce,—the profusion of wood and water, (those powerful and 
 necessary agents in all arts and manufactures, ) the variety of natural gee 
 tions with which this extensive country abounds, and the number of people | 
 
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 - 
 4 
 
 1% 
 
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 wi -~ . is 2" 
 
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EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 51 
 
 the useful arts, in the University of Pennsylvania, on Thursday, 
 the 9th of August, 1787, and published at their request. 
 
 in our towns, and most ancient settlements, whose education has qualified 
 them for employments of this nature,—all concur to point out the necessity 
 of our promoting and establishing manufactures among ourselves. From a 
 conviction of the truth and importance of these facts, a number of persons 
 have agreed to associate themselves. Xvery member, on his admission, shall 
 pay to the treasurer the sum of ten shillings, and the same sum annually, 
 which shall go into the general fund, to defray the necessary expenses of 
 the society, to confer premiums, and to accomplish every other salutary 
 measure consistent with the design of the institution. For the better 
 employment of the industrious poor, and in order to render the society as 
 useful as possible, a subscription, for sums of not less than ten pounds, from 
 any one person or company, shall be immediately opened to all persons 
 whatever, for the purposes of establishing factories in such places as shall 
 be thought most suitable ; to be called, “The Manufacturing Fund.” 
 
 The Hon. Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia. 
 Boston, June 14, 1792. 
 
 My dear sir,—I have perused with renewed pleasure your remarks on 
 the state of the Union, which you have obligingly inclosed to me. I shall 
 think it useful on every account to cause them to be republished in our 
 gazettes. The principles and facts are valuable as an acquisition to our 
 political literature. But their tendency to foster an affection for the Union, 
 in which self-love so plainly co-operates with patriotism, and their efficacy 
 against the silly charges of our own malcontents, render them peculiarly useful 
 and seasonable. A Briton, too, is ready enough to believe that the civilised 
 world reaches no further than the Land’s-End. You have furnished good 
 physic to cure him of his prejudices. It has been too long the fashion to 
 listen to the rant of eloquent ignorance. Our newspapers were formerly 
 stuffed with declamation, almost without a single fact. Your publication 
 not only furnishes knowledge to the public mind, but it establishes princi- 
 ples of discipline, which will assist in producing more for itself. Accord- 
 ingly I beg you to accept my thanks for your work. 
 
 The bank mania, though checked, is not cured. This state has rejected 
 a proposal for a state bank. But the defeated still hope success in some 
 other form. Happily, our interests as a state are better founded than our 
 opinions. Trade prospers, ships are in demand; the rate at which they are 
 chartered is said to be high beyond what has been known in common times. 
 
 Produce sells readily, and at a good price; yet the merchants complain 
 that trade is overburdened. In short, there is scarcely any thing that seems 
 to languish. . 
 
 I am, with sentiments of esteem and regard, your obliged and obedient 
 humble servant, FisHer AMEs. 
 
 ihe Hon. Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia. 
 
 - \% Bosron, July 11th, 1793. 
 fly gah, — will please, with my thanks for the inclosure of the 
 
 t ae a on the scheme of a manufacturing town, to accept an 
 
52 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 From the petition to the legislature of Massachusetts, and other 
 collateral facts, the evidence is conclusive that cotton spinning in 
 this country, further than the hand-card and one thread wheel, 
 was carried through its first struggles by the Beverly company in 
 Massachusetts. What was done in Bridgewater, must havebeen a 
 small concern. In accordance with the general spirit of euterprise 
 and indefatigable exertions among the citizens of Massachusetts, 
 in all local and national concerns, the Beverly company, with tre- 
 mendous obstacles in view and at the risk of their fortunes, made an 
 attempt to accomplish an object which they knew would ultimately 
 promote and extend the wealth and establish the independence of 
 the united colonies—who had just emerged from European oppres- 
 sion, and declared to the world that they were, of right, free and 
 independent ; the monarchs of the world having acknowledged 
 their national existence. 'The eagle-eyed legislature of the old 
 Plymouth colony foresaw, that, without protection of their national 
 industry, their independence was but a name, and that they had 
 
 apology for the delay of an answer. Knowing that printers are more fond 
 of publishing amusing than instructive tracts, I had doubts of the punctual 
 insertion of the piece, and I chose to delay my answer till it had been done. 
 The Centinel has at length given it to the public. While the discussion of 
 the subject affords pleasure and instruction to the political economists, it 
 coincides perfectly well with the prevailing temper and views of the eastern 
 states. Even if it should be doubted whether manufacturing companies 
 will prove profitable to the adventurers, yet as a very efficient means of 
 introducing and perfecting the arts among us, there can be no question of 
 their ultimate usefulness. . The spirit of enterprise has of late been uncom- 
 monly ardent. Your observations are well adapted to the making it both 
 inquisitive and cautious. I cannot forbear noticing, also, the great propriety 
 and advantages of interesting the hopes of our citizens in the operations of 
 a government of sufficient energy to protect and reward their industry and 
 enterprise. So much is done by incendiaries to make the people hate and 
 fear it, I think it a task worthy of a patriot and philosopher, to hold up the 
 bright side of the case. You have done so well heretofore, especially in the 
 refutation of Lord Sheffield, that the federal men have placed a reliance on 
 your continued attention to the same subjects, as time and circumstances 
 may render their further elucidation necessary. It is not many years since 
 the encouragement of the arts was deemed an Utopian scheme in our country. 
 One would think experience had fully proved the solidity of the principles 
 of the advocates for manufactures. But even yet the southern gentlemen 
 hold it up as a bugbear of usurpation of power, and dissipation of public 
 money. You have stated facts which ought to have the effect of undeceiving 
 them; and if the spirit of party could be reasoned down, I should suppose 
 you hed done it. I am, dear sir, with sentiments of esteem, &c. &c. 
 
 FisHer AMES. 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 53 
 
 lost the bravest of their sons, had fought and conquered, and 
 still remained subservient to the aggrandisement of their ene- 
 mies. 
 
 Rhode Island caught her spiritof manufacturing fromthe Beverly 
 company, which had been formed in Massachusetts, and from this 
 company she received her patterns of machinery and the mode of 
 operating the machinery; though it must be acknowledged, that 
 both states were indebted to foreign emigrants for instruction and 
 assistance in spinning and weaving, and also in preparing the 
 cotton. | 
 
 At the recent great meeting in Boston, on the subject of opening 
 a rail road to Albany, the infant difficulties of domestic manufac- 
 tures were thus adverted to by Mr. Hallet :— 
 
 “ We talk now of the future, in regard to railways, with doubt, 
 as of an experiment yet to be tested, and many look upon the cal- 
 culations of the sanguine as mere speculating dreams. Here isa 
 new avenue about to be opened to the development of resources, 
 and yet men hesitate to go forward. Let us test what we can 
 reasonably anticipate in this, by what we know has happened, in 
 the development. of resources once deemed quite as visionary, 
 through another medium of industry and enterprise—domestic 
 manufactures. ‘There is not an adult among us who cannot re- 
 member the time when it was a source of mortification to be 
 dressed in homespun. Now, our own fabrics are among the best 
 and richest stuffs of every day consumption, and the products of 
 our looms are preferred even in foreign countries. Forty years 
 ago, who would have dared to conjure up: the visions of such 
 manufacturing cities as Lowell, and Fall River, your Ware, Walt- 
 ham, and the hundreds of flourishing villages which now consti- 
 tute the most prosperous communities in this commonwealth ? 
 How small and feeble was the beginning of all this! In 1787, the 
 first cotton mill in this state was got up in Beverly, by John Cabot 
 and others, and in three years it was nearly given up, in con- 
 sequence of the difficulties which the first beginning of the deve- 
 lopment of the vast resources of domestic industry, in our state, 
 had to encounter. 1hold in my hand,” said Mr. Hallet, “a document 
 of uncommon interest, on this subject found in the files of the 
 Massachusetts senate; which will show the early struggles of 
 domestic hein tacttiree and the doubts entertained of their success, 
 more forcibly than any fact that can be stated. It is the petition 
 of the proprietors of the little Beverly cotton mill, in 1790, for aid 
 from the legislature to save them from being compelled to abandon 
 the enterprise altogether. 
 
 ty ead 
 
54 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Petition of the Proprietors of the Beverly Cotton Manufacture. 
 
 “To the senate and house of representatives of the commonwealth of Mas- 
 sachusetts, in general court assembled, June 2, 1790—The proprietors of 
 the Beverly Cotton Manufactory beg leave to represent, that the establish- 
 ment of a manufacture of cotton, in imitation of the most useful and ap- 
 proved stuffs which are formed of that material in Europe, and thence 
 continually imported into this county at a very great expense, has been 
 attempted by the said proprietors. This attempt commenced in the year 
 1787, from a consideration of the extensive public-advantages to be obtained 
 by it; and on this occasion your petitioners may be permitted to declare that 
 in that view of the subject, the hazard of their private property, and the 
 many obstacles which have since deprived them of every hope of present 
 emolument to themselves, were overlooked. The design has been prosecuted, 
 although it has proved much more arduous and expensive than was at first 
 conceived, and under very discouraging circumstances, so far as to demon- 
 strate that itis practicable ; and that the manutacture) being once established, 
 will be sufficiently lucrative to support and extend itself, and willafford not 
 only a supply for domestic consumption, but a staple for exportation. The 
 general use within the United States of imported cotton goods is well known 
 to this court. It may be necessary to suggest for their reflection, that articles 
 of this extensive consumption among us have been provided by foreigners, 
 whose commerce we have thus encouraged, and that in this, as in other in- 
 stances, we have been draining our country of a circulating medium to con- 
 tribute to the wealth and populousness of Great Britain. Removing the 
 occasion of this destructive traffic is not the only public advantage to be 
 derived from the manufacture of cotton, as undertaken by the said proprietors. 
 The raw material is procured in exchange for fish, the most valuable export 
 in the possession of this state, and, at this time, in great need of encourage- 
 ment. It must be evident that the cod fishery will be essentially encouraged 
 by extending the demand for the imports to be obtained by it. This manu- 
 facture finds employment and support for a great number of persons, and 
 among others for infirm women and children. In its immediate operation, 
 and in the commerce and navigation connected with it, this honourable court 
 will not fail to. discover the beneficial influence of this manufacture, and 
 especially upon the landed interest, by the increase of people and national 
 wealth, which may be expected from it. The said proprietors, in the pro- 
 secution of their design, have necessarily incurred a variety of expenses 
 and losses, which succeeding adventurers cannot be liable to. Among those 
 experienced by us, are the following, viz:—The extraordinary price of 
 machines unknown to our mechanics, intricate and difficult in their con- 
 struction, without any model in the country, and only to be effected by 
 repeated trials, and long attention ; one instance among many of the kind is 
 a carding machine, which cost the proprietors eleven hundred dollars, and 
 which can now be purchased for two hundred dollars.. The extraordinary 
 loss of materials in the instruction of their servants and workmen, while so 
 many are new, and the additional losses sustained by the desertion of these, 
 when partly informed, and by the increase of wages to prevent it, in conse- 
 quence of the competition of rival manufactories. The present want of that 
 perfection and beauty in their goods, which long established manufactories 
 can exhibit, from the skill of their workmen, but principally from the use of 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. ~ 55 
 
 machines which your petitioners have as yet found too expensive for them to 
 procure ; (meaning the Arkwright patents). But not to trouble your honours 
 with details which would encroach too much on the time of this court, your 
 petitioners have ever conceived that the government of this commonwealth 
 would at least indemnify them for these extraordinary expenses and losses ; 
 which cannot be reimbursed by any future success of their design, since the 
 models of machines, and the essential information obtained at their ex- 
 pense, is open to every succeeding adventurer. The expenditure of the said 
 proprietors has already amounted to nearly the sum of £4,000, the value 
 of their remaining stock is not equal to £2000, and a further very considerable 
 advancement is absolutely necessary to obtain that degree of perfection in 
 this manufacture, which alone can ensure its success. This necessary 
 addition to their stock will enable the proprietors to rival in beauty, perfec- 
 tion, and cheapness, the European manufactures ; and in that case, they shall 
 willingly trust in the prudence and patriotism of their countrymen for a pre- 
 
 ference. But the proprietors having already hazarded, some their whole 
 - fortunes, and others very large sums, are obliged to declare, that, without aid 
 from this honourable court, no further advancement can be made. And, 
 mortifying as it is, they feel themselves in the necessity of relinquishing a 
 design highly beneficial to the public, and undertaken by them from the 
 purest motives. The intended aid by a grant of land, made by a former 
 legislature to the said petitioners, has not in any degree answered the pur- 
 pose of it. Your proprietors now pray, that, in lieu of that grant, some more 
 real and ready assistance may be afforded them ; submitting to the wisdom 
 of the honourable court the particular mode of effecting it. Your petitioners 
 conceive that the establishment of a manufacture, which gives encourage- 
 ment to the most valuable branch of commerce possessed by this state, which 
 must in its operation increase the number of people, and prevent those emi- 
 grations which have become so frequent, and are so dangerous to the landed 
 interest ; a manufacture which, once established, will retain amongst us 
 large sums of our circulating medium, and greatly increase the wealth of 
 our country, cannot fail of the attention and protecting influence of this 
 honourable court, and in this confidence they still anticipate the success of 
 their design; and as in duty bound will ever pray, &c. 
 
 JoHn Casor, 
 
 Managers. 
 Josnua FisHer, . ? 
 
 “ This petition,” said Mr. Hallet, in a discussion of a proposed 
 rail road, in Faneuil Hall, Boston, “ was referred to the committee 
 of both houses for the encouragement of arts, agriculture, and 
 manufactures, (of which Nathaniel Gorham was chairman,) and 
 with all the lights which that intelligent committee then had on 
 this subject, destined to become one of the greatest means of de- 
 veloping resources ever opened to national prosperity, they 
 cautiously reported that ‘ from the best information we can obtain, 
 we are of opinion that the said manufactory is of great public 
 utility. But owing to the great expenses incurred in providing 
 machines, and other incidents usually attending a new business, 
 the said manufactory is upon the decline, and unless some public 
 
rs — = ’ 
 SS % 
 
 56 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 assistance can be afforded, is in danger of failing. Your com-— 
 mittee therefore report, as their opinion, that the petitioners spi 
 a grant of one thousand pounds, to be raised in a lottery?’ 
 condition that they give bonds that the money be actually iis 
 propriated in such a way as will most effectually promote the 
 Rh of cotton piece goods, in this commonwealth. 
 ae Where now is the little Beverly cotton 
 mill? ee what has been the mighty development of resources 
 in domestic industry in forty-five years, since the date of that 
 petition, when the wisest men among us had got no farther than 
 to a belief that the said manufactory was of great public utility ! 
 Is there any vision of the great public utility of railways,” said 
 Mr. Hallet, “which can go beyond what now is, and what will be 
 in forty years, that can exceed in contrast what we know once | 
 was and now is, in the development of resources by the invest- 
 ment of capital and industry in domestic manufactures? 'The 
 petitioners for the little Beverly cotton mill were doubtless deemed 
 to be absurdly extravagant, when they hinted that the manufac- 
 ture of cottons would one day, not only afford a supply for 
 domestic consumption, but a staple for exportation. But what do 
 we now see? Our domestic fabrics find a market in every clime, 
 and vessels, lying at your wharves, are receiving these goods to 
 export to Calcutta. 
 
 “lhe world is beginning to understand the true uses of wealth, 
 to develope the resources of the country ; and it is in great enter- 
 prises, which benefit the public more than those immediately con- 
 cerned in them, that we have a practical demonstration of the 
 doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. Much is 
 said, and more feared, about the divisions of the rich and the poor. 
 But in truth, in our happy institutions, we need have no poor, 
 forming a distinct class among the citizens. Where is your popu- 
 lace, your rabble? is an enquiry which has often puzzled the 
 foreigner who has passed through our streets when thronged by a 
 multitude.. We have no populace—no rabble, but free and in- 
 dependent citizens. What has made them so? The develop- 
 ment of our resources. What has stopped the tide of emigration 
 that once threatened to depopulate New England? The develop- 
 ment of our resources. Go on developing these resources, and 
 there need be no fear of setting the poor against the rich, for there 
 will be no poor to set against them. All will be rich, for they 
 will have enough ; and no man is in reality any richer for possess- 
 ing what he cannot use. When men of capital are found hoard- 
 ing it, holding it back from enterprises, and cautious of doing any 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 57 
 
 thing to develope the resources of a community, there is then just 
 cause to fear the operation of unequal and injurious distinctions. 
 ‘Take from industry and enterprise the means of acquiring wealth, 
 cut off commerce, manufactures, canals, and railways, and you 
 will lay the surest foundation possible for the despotism of one 
 class over another. But open all these great resources to all— 
 extend your facilities of intercourse throughout the country, and 
 you cannot repress the energies of men ; you cannot keep them 
 poor long enough to mark them as a class. Your gradations in 
 society will be stepped over, forward and backward, so often, that 
 no distinct line can be kept up. This is the vast moral power, 
 which is exerted on society by the investment of capital for public 
 benefit, without unjust privileges ; in great projects. Here are the 
 true uses of wealth, in a government like ours, and this great 
 specific lies at the bottom of the philosophy of our political 
 economy. Develope the resources of the country—place the 
 means of wealth within the reach of industry, and, you produce 
 the happy medium in society. All will then move forward evenly, 
 as on the level of a rail road, with occasional inclined planes and 
 elevations, but none that can stop the powerful locomotives which 
 impel forward every New Englander—enterprise and moral 
 . energy.” 7 
 
 The action on this petition, and the previous grant of land, 
 are the first acts on record of direct legislative encouragement 
 to domestic manufactures in the state of Massachusetts ; and there- 
 fore it is a document of great interest highly honourable to the 
 enterprise of the citizens of Massachusetts, and to the sagacity 
 of her legislature. Some assistance appears to have been granted 
 to Mr. Orr* of Massachusetts, and it is thought to have been done 
 previous to the grant to Beverly. 
 
 * In 1786, Robert and Alexander Barr, brothers, from Scotland, were 
 employed by Mr. Orr, to erect carding, spinning, and roping machines in his 
 works at Kast Bridgewater, where they were made. On the 16th Nov. 1786, 
 the general court of Massachusetts, to encourage the machinists, made them 
 a grant of 200/., lawful money, for their ingenuity, and afterwards added to 
 the bounty by giving them six tickets in the state land lottery in which 
 there were no blanks. 
 
 In March 1787, Thomas Somers, (an English midshipman,) under the 
 direction of Mr. Orr, also constructed a machine, or model, and by a resolve 
 of the general court of the same date 20/. lawful money, was placed in the 
 hands of Mr. Orr to encourage him in the enterprise. 
 
 The above machines and model remained in Mr. Orr’s possession, for 
 the inspection of all disposed to see them; and he was requested by the 
 
 8 
 
58 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 As there are several claimants from states and individuals, for 
 the honour of having commenced the first carding and spinning 
 of cotton, it will pishatly be more satisfactory to the parties con- 
 cerned, and to the public, to insert their own accounts of their 
 first operations, from which a judgment can be formed of the 
 merits of the case. 
 
 “ To the Board of Managers of the Pane sania Society for promoting 
 Manufactures and Useful Arts. 
 
 “The report of the committee for manufactures :—This com- 
 mittee, considering that the business in which they are engaged. 
 had attracted the public notice, and that it would be expected 
 some account should be given of the progress and present state of 
 the institution, in August began an enquiry into the state of their 
 funds, their stock of goods, machines, and utensils, by which they 
 are enabled to lay before you the following statement, and they 
 flatter themselves it affords a pleasing prospect of future success. 
 It is now about twelve months since this society was formed, and 
 subscriptions were entered into, some of which, for various causes, 
 have not yet been paid: hey therefore state the amount of the 
 subscriptions received to the 23d August, and show the manner in 
 which the money hath been applied. 
 
 ‘¢ Amount of cash received of contributors, when 
 
 exchanged for specie. £1327 10s. 6d. 
 From this, deduct for machines, utensils and 
 
 fitting up the house for the manufactory, £453 10s. 2d. 
 Which leaves a circulating capital of £874 Os. Ad. 
 
 ‘With a view to meet one idea of the subscribers, the employ- 
 ment of the poor, and to promote the other objects of the institu- 
 tion, the committee purchased a quantity of flax, and employed 
 between two and three hundred women in spinning linen yarn 
 during the winter and spring, and also engaged workmen to make 
 
 general court to exhibit them, and to give all information and explanation 
 in his power respecting them. 
 
 It is believed that the above, in 1736, was the first jenny and stock. card 
 made in the United States. 
 
 It is said that the first muskets ever made in America were made by Mr. 
 
 Orr. Also the first nails made by machinery were manufactured at Bridge- 
 water, Massachusetts. 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 59 
 
 a carding engine, and four jennies, of forty, forty-four, sixty, and 
 eighty spindles, for spinning of cotton ; and, as soon as the season 
 would permit the house to be fitted up, they were set to work. 
 It is unnecessary to observe on the difficulties which occur in so 
 arduous an undertaking as attempting to establish manufactures 
 in a country not much acquainted with them—such as finding 
 artists, and making machines without models, or but imperfect 
 ones. ‘The committee have further had various obstructions 
 thrown in their way by foreign agents, of which you have already 
 been informed. From these causes, it happened, that it was the 
 12th of April, 1788, before the first loom was set to work ; the 
 number has been since increased to twenty-six, and in them have 
 been wrought the following goods, to August 23d :— 
 
 “Of jeans, 29594 yards, corduroys, 1973, federal rib, 67, beaver 
 fustian, 57, plain cottons, 1567%, linen, 725, tow linen, 13373— 
 total 7111 yards. Besides in the looms two hundred yards of 
 jeans, corduroys, cottons, and linen; out of which manufactured 
 goods they had sold, at this time, of jean, dyed cotton and linen 
 yarn, fine and tow linen, &c. to the amount of four hundred and 
 forty-eight pounds, five shillings, and eleven pence half-penny, 
 besides which, in order to show the state of the factory to the 23d 
 of August, 1788, in a clearer light, they subjoin the following 
 statement of the stock account :— 
 
 STOCK, DR. 
 To cash, } : ; i . £13827 10 63 
 To debts due sundry persons, +  . : SFO IO). 
 To profit, . : : : : 3 : ‘ 72 A 93 
 £LL775 AA 
 CR. 
 By utensils, &c. d ‘ , Lun seh Sy) 2° 6 
 Goods on hand at the bleachers and printers, : 732, 14) 11 
 Materials and linen yarn on hand, 7 : 550 2 6 
 Outstanding debts, . ; , ; 38 16 9 
 £1775 4A A 
 
 “In addition to the enumerated articles manufactured ‘to the 
 23d of August, we annex the following to Nov. 1 :—Jeans, 759% 
 yards, corduroys, 383%, flowered cotton, 39, cottons, 2095, flax 
 
60 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 linens, 123, tow linens, 494, bird eye, 123—total, 4016 yards. And 
 about two hundred and forty yards of different kinds of goods now 
 in the looms, the whole amounting to eleven thousand three hun- 
 dred and sixty seven yards; and there has also been manufactured 
 by the twisting mill, about one hundred and eighty five pounds of 
 plain, coloured, and knitting thread ; since the first of August, 
 also, a hundred and ninety yards of cottons have been printed ; 
 and it may be observed, that the want of proper bleach-yards, and 
 the difficulty of procuring persons well skilled in bleaching, con- 
 tributed to prevent the quantity being printed which was intended. 
 
 “The committee have now laid before you a statement of their 
 proceedings, and might adduce many arguments to prove the 
 propriety, and indeed the necessity, of giving every encourage- 
 ment to establish this valuable branch of internal trade; but they 
 apprehend that the motives which gave birth to the association 
 have not lost their energy, either from the result of these experi- 
 ments, or the prospect of future success, and they do not hesitate 
 to add, that every view of the subject fully proves the peculiar 
 importance of the cotton manufacture to this country, and the 
 possibility (with proper exertions) of giving it a permanency, 
 which, they doubt not, will prove a source both of private and 
 public wealth. Impressed with these sentiments, and feeling 
 sensibly our late dependence on foreign nations for many of the 
 most useful articles of life, it is certain that, unless there are great 
 exertions of virtue and industry, we must still remain in the same 
 disadvantageous situation ; whilst on the other hand, if we pursue 
 the plan of establishing manufactures amongst ourselves, we 
 thereby open an extensive field of employment for persons of 
 almost every description.* 
 
 SamMuEL WETHERILL, Jr. 
 Chairman pro tem.” 
 
 * The views which led to the early encouragement of manufactures, are 
 in part expressed in the following extract from Hamilton’s Report. 
 
 “The expediency of encouraging manufactures in the United States, 
 which was not long since deemed very questionable, appears at this time to 
 be pretty generally admitted. The embarrassments about the period of 
 1791, are very generally acknowledged. The obstructions of our external 
 trade have led to serious reflections on the necessity of enlarging the sphere of 
 our domestic commerce ; the restrictive regulations, which in foreign markets 
 abridge the vent of the increasing surplus of our agricultural produce, serve 
 to beget an earnest desire that a more extensive demand for that surplus 
 may be created at home; and the complete success which has rewarded 
 manufacturing enterprise in some valuable branches, conspiring with the 
 promising symptoms which attend some less mature essays in others, justify 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 61 
 
 Notwithstanding the laudable and persevering efforts made by 
 the people of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and soon after, of 
 Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, they entirely failed, and 
 saw their hopes and prospects prostrate. In looking for the causes 
 of such disasters, we find no deficiency of enterprise or exertion, 
 none of funds, and none of men who were ready and willing to 
 engage in the business, and no lack of patronage from the govern- 
 ments, they having learned from experience the privations during 
 
 a hope, that the obstacles to the growth of this species of industry, are less 
 formidable than they were apprehended to be; and that it is not difficult to 
 find, in its. further extension, a full indemnification for any external disad- 
 vantages which are or may be experienced, as well as an accession of 
 resources, favourable to national independence and safety. 
 
 “Tt ought readily to be conceded, that the cultivation of the earth—as the 
 primary and most certain source of national supply; as the immediate and 
 chief source of subsistence to man; as the principal source of those mate- 
 rials which constitute the nutriment of other kinds of labour; as including 
 a state most favourable to the freedom and independence of the human 
 mind; one, perhaps, most conducive to the multiplication of the human 
 species—has intrinsically a strong claim to pre-eminence over every other 
 kind of industry. But that it has a title to any thing like an exclusive pre- 
 dilection, in any country, ought to be admitted with great caution. That it 
 is even more productive than every other branch of industry, requires more 
 evidence than has yet been given in support of the position. That its real 
 interests, precious and important as without the help of exaggeration they 
 truly are, will be advanced rather than injured by the due encouragement 
 of manufactures, may, it is believed, be satisfactorily demonstrated. And it 
 is.also believed, that the expediency of such encouragement, in a general 
 view, may be shown to be recommended by the most cogent and persuasive 
 motives of national policy.” 
 
 “The only thing that reconciled the British ministry to the peace of 
 independence was the prospect of our becoming one of their best customers. 
 The prejudices of Americans, who thought the country too young for manu- 
 facturing, and that the arts, by introducing luxury, would also introduce 
 vice, and wean them from that simplicity of manners which was believed 
 exclusively to belong to the agricultural life; the predilection which nearly 
 half the community, especially the rich, had for the fabrics of the mother 
 country, and the influence which the merchants have had in our councils, 
 all continued to prevent the introduction of clothing manufactories into these 
 states. ‘Time, however, and experience, have demonstrated, that luxury 
 and vice may find their way into a country where manufacturing is discou- 
 raged ; that, by a spirit of traffic, foreign luxuries are introduced, and a 
 restless migratory life robs a nation of its innocence and simplicity. Years 
 have weaned many from European attachments, and the intelligent part of 
 the merchants perceive that commerce would increase by multiplying and 
 diversifying the objects of our industry.”—Mease. 
 
62 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 revolutionary war. All must be attributed to the fact, that, 
 during all the incipient struggles, Great Britain had in operation 
 a series of superior machinery, which Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island had endeavoured to obtainin vain. The present state of the 
 American manufactures shows what has grown out of such dis- 
 astrous beginnings, and furnishes one among the many evidences 
 which may be found, not to despair in the day of adversity. 
 
 The following is the account, furnished by Wm. Anthony, of 
 the commencement of Cotton Spinning in Rhode Island :— 
 
 “ About the year 1788, Daniel Anthony, Andrew Dexter, and 
 Lewis Peck, all of Providence, entered into an agreement to make 
 what was then called “home-spun cloth.” ‘The idea at first was 
 to spin by hand, and make jeans with linen warp and cotton fill- 
 ing, but hearing that Mr. Orr, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, had 
 imported some model of machinery from England, for the pur- 
 pose of spinning cotton, it was agreed that Daniel Anthony 
 should go to Bridgewater and get a draught of the model of said 
 machine; he, in company with John Reynolds, of East Greenwich, 
 who env been doing something in the manufacturing of wool, 
 went to Bridgewater, and found the model of the machine spoken 
 of, in possession of Mr. Orr, but not in operation. It was not the 
 intention of Mr. Orr* to operate it, but he only kept it for the in- 
 spection of those who might have an inclination to take draughts. 
 The model of the machine was very imperfect, and was said to 
 be taken from one of the first built in England. A draught of 
 this machine was accordingly taken, and laid aside for a while. 
 They then proceeded to build a machine of a different construction 
 called a jenny; I understood that a model of this machine was 
 brought from England, into Beverly, Massachusetts, by a man of 
 the name of Summers. 'This jenny had twenty-eight spindles ; the 
 wood work was built by Richard Anthony, the spindles and brass 
 were made by Daniel Jackson, an ingenious coppersmith of Pro- 
 vidence. ‘This jenny was finished in 1787. It was first set up in 
 a private house and afterwards removed to the market house 
 chamber in Providence, and operated there. ; 
 
 “Joshua Lindly of Providence was then engaged to build a card- 
 ing machine, for carding the cotton agreeably to the draught pre- 
 sented, also obtained from Beverly. This machine was something 
 anne to the one now used for carding wool, the cotton being 
 taken off the machine in rolls, and roped by hand; after some 
 
 * Mr. Orr received a compensation from government for presenting it for 
 inspection. It was therefore called the State’s Model. 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 63 
 £ Ce" 
 
 delay this machine was finished. They then proceeded to build 
 a spinning frame after the draught obtained at Bridgewater. 'This 
 machine was something similar to the water-frame now in use, 
 but very imperfect; it consisted of eight heads of four spindles 
 each, being thirty-two spindles in all, and was operated by a crank 
 turned by hand. The first head was made by John Baily, an in- 
 genious clock-maker of Pembroke, Massachusetts, the other seven 
 heads, together with the brass work and spindles, were made by 
 Daniel Jackson of Providence, the wood work was made by 
 Joshua Lindly of said Providence. In 1788, Joseph Alexander 
 and James M‘Kerris, natives of Scotland, arrived in Providence, 
 both being weavers, and understanding the use of the fly-shuttle ; 
 they were engaged to weave corduroy. Mr. Alexander to weave a 
 piece in Providence, and Mr. M‘Kerris went to East Greenwich to 
 work there. A loom was accordingly built after the directions of 
 Mr. Alexander, and put in operation in the market house chamber ; 
 this was the first fly-shuttle ever used in Rhode Island. A piece 
 of corduroy was there woven, the warp being linen and the filling 
 cotton, but as there was no person to be found who could cut the 
 corduroy, and raise the pile which makes the ribs on the face of 
 the cloth, and give it the finish, it was thought best to abandon 
 that kind of cloth. Mr. Alexander left Providence, and went to 
 Philadelphia; Mr. M‘Kerris continued to work in Greenwich for 
 some years. ‘This appears to be the beginning of the jenny spin- 
 ning in Rhode Island, and undoubtedly originated with the above 
 company. 
 
 “ The spinning frame (the one attempted from the state’s model), 
 after being tried for some time in Providence, was carricd to Paw- 
 tucket and attached to a wheel propelled by water—the work of 
 turning the machine was too laborious to be done by hand, and 
 the machine was too imperfect to be turned by water. Soon after 
 this, the machine was sold to Mr. Moses Brown of Providence, but 
 as all the carding and roping was done by hand it was very im- 
 perfect, and but little could be done. This was the situation of 
 cotton manufacturing in Rhode Island, when Mr. Samuel Slater 
 arrived in this country; then all this imperfect machinery was 
 thrown aside, and machinery more perfect built under his direc- 
 tion. About the time the above machinery was being made, John 
 Fullem, a native of Ireland, a stocking weaver by trade, settled in 
 East Greenwich. He-had a stocking loom, and his object was to 
 weave stockings for the inhabitants generally ; but not succeeding 
 there to his wishes, he went to Providence, and sold his loom to 
 Moses and Smith Brown, and still continued to operate it under 
 
64 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the superintendence of Smith Brown ; but the business was found 
 unprofitable, and was abandoned. __ 
 
 “ About the time the above machinery was put into operation, 
 Herman Vandausen, a native of Germany, came to East Green- 
 wich, and undertook the business of calico printing, beinga calico 
 printer by trade; he went to work, cut his types on wood, and 
 began to print; his object was to print for the people generally, and 
 many people wove coarse cotton cloth in their families, and had it 
 printed, ‘The calico looked much like that imported from India in 
 that day, and was not much, if any, inferior to that cloth. Some 
 samples of the cloth printed by Mr. Vandausen was shown (by a 
 gentleman that now lives in Providence) to Mr. John Brown, who 
 was then about trading to India. Mr. Brown gave some en- 
 couragement of assistance, but as it was found cheaper to import 
 than to make them here, the business was given up.” 
 
 In addition to the communication of Wm. Anthony, in con- 
 versation with Joseph Anthony, of Providence, R. I., the oldest son 
 of Daniel Anthony, he fully concurred in the above statement. 
 He stated that his brother Richard Anthony made the first jenny 
 in Rhode Island, probably under the direction of his father, who 
 itis thought spun the first yarn from jennies, by the assistance of 
 his sons. There were thirty spindles on the jenny. ‘The card- 
 ing machine produced a roll eighteen inches long. It was then 
 taken by a woman, and roped on a hand wheel. ‘The same Daniel 
 Anthony made hand-cards during the revolutionary war; but no 
 machinery was obtained till after the independence of the states. 
 David Buffum bought a jenny, and Joseph Anthony spun on it 
 at Newport two years, and obtained warp at Slater’s mill, but they 
 failed in their attempt. 'These were the machines purchased by 
 Moses Brown, and referred to in the following letter to Mr. Slater. 
 
 Extract of a letter to Samuel Slater from Moses Brown. 
 ProvipENcE, 10th of 12th month, 1789. 
 _ We have two machines of this kind, one of thirty-two spindles, the other 
 of twenty-four. They have been worked, and spun about one hundred and 
 fifty skeins of cotton yarn, from five to eight skeins of fifteen lays round a 
 reel of two yards to the pound; but the person whom we let the mill to, 
 being unacquainted with the business, and the mills probably not perfected, 
 he could not make wages in attending them, and therefore they are at pre- 
 sent still. We then wrought hand roping and the carding machine was not 
 inorder. We have since got a jenny, and are putting on fine cards to the 
 machine: these with an eighty-four and a sixty spinning jenny, and a 
 doubling and twisting jenny, compose the principal machinery about our 
 manufactory. We have from Ireland a man and his wife, who are spinners 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 65 
 
 on the jennies, but we are destitute of a person acquainted with the frames. 
 We shall be glad to be informed what quantity of yarn your mills spin ina 
 day on one spindle. What number of spindles a lad can, or does attend, 
 and at what age? How your roping is made, what fineness, whether twist- 
 ed harder or softer than for jennies? Whether the cotton is soaped before 
 carding, as that for the jenny, or not atall? What the wooden rollers in the 
 ‘mills are covered with ? Ours have been done with calf-skin. How the taking 
 up is regulated. Ours is by leather strings? On what the spools play and 
 run, on irons ? 
 
 The following document will show the extent to which the firm 
 of Almy & Brown had carried their operations about this period : 
 
 An Account of the Cotton Goods manufactured by Almy § Brown, of Pro- 
 vidence, state of Rhode Island, since the commencement of the business, 
 say about the 11th of 6th month, 1789, to the 1st of 1st month, 1791. 
 
 Corduroy, 45 pieces, 1090yds.sold from 3s. 6d. to 4s. per yd. 
 Royal Ribs, Denims, &c.25 “ 558 del phot As. 
 Cottonets, 13. 24 324 om 2s.6d. 3s. 
 
 Jeans, 79% ¢ 1897 MOU Bed Hs" Qs) 6d. 
 F'ustians, Ps iy 687 * leSd.. 22, 
 
 — —— 
 
 Total 189 pieces. 4556yds. 
 
 aoe Ses 
 
 From the 1st day of the 1st month, 1791, to the present date. 
 
 Velverets, 30 pieces, 669yds.soldfrom4s. to 4s. 4d. 
 Thicksets, 30, 745 i: 3s.6d. 4s. 
 Corduroy, 45 1001 A: 38s.6d. 4s. 
 Fancy Cords, se 664 a 3s.6d. As. 
 Royal Ribs, Denims, &c.55 =“ 1284 h 3s. Ag.) 6 
 Jeans, ic ee 1769 ih 2s. .28. 6d. 
 Fustians, a 1691 : ls. 8d. _ 2s. 
 
 Total 326 pieces. 7823yds. 
 
 ee See 
 
 Autmy & Brown. 
 Providence, 10th month, 15th, 1791. 
 
 Andrew Dexter was an English goods merchant in Boston, and 
 removed to Providence in 1785. His store was near where the 
 Arcade now stands. He was the brother of Samuel Dexter, of 
 Boston, who was secretary of the treasury and of the war depart- 
 ment, and a senator of the United States. ‘This gentleman assisted 
 in the commencement of making machines for manufacturing 
 cotton. His‘debtor account with the business commenced Sept. 
 8th, 1788, in which I find a machine for calendering cotton goods ; 
 the first charge is dated March 8th, 1790 ; this calender was put 
 up in Moses Brown’s barn, and worked by ahorse. 'The extracts 
 
 9 
 
66 MEMOIR. OF i SLATER. 
 
 ey ie v 
 here furnished from his,leger show the connection existing between 
 Dexter, and Almy and Brown, and the operatives employed by 
 them; and very fairly elucidate the very limited nature of the 
 miavufacturing business in general. The extracts are all certified 
 as true copies, by George H. Peck. 
 
 Moses Brown to Andrew Dexter, Dr. 
 
 1789. Li is mule 
 May 18. To my obligation of thisday, .. . che he ee ee ee 
 
 To spinning jenny complete, sold him pay goreeuent 
 at the bills, viz: 
 To Nathaniel Gilmer’s bill, forging 60 spindles, 
 and otherjron work, . . ... #oqme 
 Slb. 7oz. steel for spindles, at 10d. 7 
 
 3 8 
 To Elijah Bacon’s bill for stuff,. . . 18 
 To Oliver Carpenter’s bill for 60 whirls, 10 
 To Daniel Jackson’s bill, vy. Ge ae 
 To Joshua-Lindley’s bill, . . .. 1158 3 
 
 co © 
 
 To cash paid for wire at several times, 3 8 
 To James Burrell’s bill for cylinder, 2 8 
 To Job Danforth’s bill for stuff, ; 8 6 
 To cash paid for ae Is. 4d., do. for wire 
 and line, 6d. . . + ke ae 
 To do. do. for screws ntde ice for wire, 
 dg fd 
 — 24 4 10 
 £69) 4040 
 1789. Cr. 
 June 27. -By one and half chest tea, received of Brown and o 
 Benson on his acct. nt. wt. as per bill, 
 383 
 188 
 
 —A57l1lb. at Is. 8d. 47 11 8 
 Nov. 5. By 1329lb. beef received of Judge Elen 16s. 8d. 410 ode 
 
 By one calf-skin. . . : ie: 12 
 Jan. 25. By 1284lb. sole eather at 14d. » pf ves, ste at (peng 
 1790. 
 By half the hide and tallow, 3004Ib.; the whole being 
 DOL as te ois ae ; on 8 a eA 
 £69 4 10 
 1790. — fae 
 
 Dr. Jenny, Carding and Spinning Frame, completed at the joint and 
 equal expense of Lewis Peck and Andrew Dexter. 
 To Lewis Peck’s bill, 61 11 5 
 To Andrew Dexter, do. 78 3 7 
 —— £139 15 
 
 a? 
 
Pat 
 ar ae 
 - / 
 ¢ 
 
 iw 
 
 De. : 
 EARLY STATE OF MANUF 
 T= mt a aia 67 
 Extract of Almy § Brown's account in Andrew Dexter’s Leger. 
 
 1791. April 16, I piece of Jean 20} yards 
 
 4 do. do. 1003 do. 
 
 1 do. do. 264 do. 
 1792. July 12, 114% cotton, at 2s. 74d. ——£15 2s. 
 
 The above is a true copy from the late Andrew Dexter Esqr’s. Leger. 
 Providence, Nov. 24th, 1835. 
 Grorce H. Peck. 
 
 From the above documents, there is undeniable proof that 
 Hargreaves’ jennies were in use, in various places in the United 
 States, previous to 1790, and that mixed goods of linen and 
 cotton were wove principally by Scotish and Irish weavers. But 
 I have not been able to ascertain, beyond a doubt, who first intro- 
 duced the jenny, or by whom they were first used for spinning in 
 America. 
 
 Moses Brown says—“ We had, in 1789, got several jennies and 
 some weavers at work on linen warps, and found the undertaking 
 much more arduous than I expected, both as to the attention 
 necessary and the expense, being necessitated to employ workmen 
 of the most transient kind, and on whom little dependence could 
 be placed.”* 
 
 ‘During this time, 1790, linen warps were wove, and the jenny 
 spinning was performed in different cellars of dwelling houses.” 
 There have been made by Almy & Brown, (Moses Brown found 
 money, they being poor) since the Ist of January, 1790, to No- 
 vember following, velverets, velverteens, corduroys, thicksets, a 
 variety of fancy cut goods, jeans, denims, velures, stockinets, 
 pillows of fustian, &c., 326 pieces, containing 7823 yards, there 
 
 * The difficulties under which these incipient measures towards the esta- 
 blishment of the business were pursued, can hardly be conceived at the 
 present day, even bya practical and experienced machinist or manufacturer. 
 The basin of the Narragansett Bay, and the small but invaluable streams 
 that fall into it on every side, did not form then, as they now form, a con- 
 tinuous hive of mechanical industry, enterprise, and skill, where every sort 
 of material, and every, even the most minute, subdivision of handicraft 
 ingenuity, could be procured at will. There were no magazines or work- 
 men. With the exception of scythes, anchors, horse shoes, ploughs, nails, 
 cannon shot, and a few other articles of iron, there was no staple manufac- 
 ture for exportation from Rhode Island. The mechanism then applied in 
 these manufactures was almost as simple as the first impulse of water or 
 steam. The compounds of gyration now obtained, in almost endless — 
 variety, by the application of the ellipsis, was then almost or wholly 
 unknown in this country. No sheetings, shirtings, checks, or ginghams, 
 were made previous to 1790. 
 
68 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 are also several other persons who manufactured cotton and linen 
 by the carding machines and jennies.”, We hear nothing of the 
 use of jennies after this period, and they produced but little advan- 
 tage to the community ; as Moses Brown observes :—“ Our com- 
 mencing the business at a period, when from the great extent of 
 it in England and Ireland, and other causes, many became bank- 
 rupts, their goods were sold at auction, and shipped to America 
 in large quantities, the two or three last years, lower than ever 
 before. Add to this, which is much the greatest difficulty, British 
 agents have been out in Providence, and, I presume, some other 
 manufacturing towns, with large quantities of cotton goods for sale, 
 and strongly soliciting correspondence of people in the mercantile 
 line to receive their goods at a very long credit, say eighteen 
 months, which is six or nine more than has been usual heretofore ; 
 for the discouragement of their manufactory here. "This bait has 
 been too eagerly taken by our merchants, who, from their activity 
 in business, mostly trade equal to or beyond their capital, and 
 so are induced by the long credit to receive the goods, in expec- 
 tation of turning them to advantage before the time of payment. 
 But the great quantities some have on hand, we have reason to 
 expect, will disappoint them; but others, being induced by the 
 same motive, are supplied, and thus the quantities of British goods 
 of these kinds on hand, exceeding the market, obstruct the sale of 
 our own manufactures, without the merchant trading in them 
 getting his usual profits by them. 'This English trade, therefore, 
 in time, would be reduced for want of profits ; but when the actual 
 sales of British goods fail, of the cotton manufacture, they are sent 
 and left here on commission. 'This, I am informed, by good 
 authority, was the policy of the English manufacturers, formed 
 into societies for that purpose.” 
 
 The abilities of the manufacturing interest of Great Britain to 
 intercept the sale of our own goods, at a price as low as theirs 
 has been heretofore sold by our importing merchants, the actual 
 combination of them to discourage other countries, eee a very 
 great discouragement to men of abilities to lay out their property 
 in extending manufactories ; the preparation for which, even before 
 they can be perfected, nee be left, if they cannot be continued. 
 _ Such was the incipient state of the attempt at jenny spinning, in 
 1790; and nothing but the introduction of the “ water-frame 
 spinning,” which had superseded the jennies in England, could 
 have laid a foundation for the cotton manufacture in the United 
 States. But that had happily commenced, by an individual who 
 was personally and practically acquainted with all its branches, 
 
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 69 
 
 and who had uncommon determination and perseverance to 
 accomplish his purpose. The following description of jenny 
 spinning, is from the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, under the article 
 “Cotton Spinning.” 
 
 “The jenny, in its manner of action, resembles the ancient 
 spinning with the distaff and spindle, but is so contrived, that one 
 person works a number of spindles at once. It was the earliest 
 improvement on spinning, after the one-thread wheel, and,was the 
 invention of Richard Hargreaves, weaver in Lancashire, in the 
 year 1767. The jenny is now entirely superseded by the mule. 
 For jenny spinning, the elementary process was called batting ; it 
 was next soaped, in order to make it more easily stretched in the 
 roving and spinning; the soaping was performed by immersing 
 the cotton in a solution of soap in water; it was next put into a 
 screw press, and afterwards dried in a stove. 
 
 “Hand cards first, and stock cards afterwards, were employed 
 before the invention of the cylinder cards. 
 
 “'The roving was performed, on similar principles to the spin- 
 ning jenny, on a machine. called a billy, which was driven by 
 means of bands from a cylinder, which receives its motion from a 
 vertical fly-wheel, driven by hand at one end of the machine. 
 
 “The jenny is a machine, similar in its operation to the roving 
 billy, but differs from it in construction in this respect, that the 
 clasp is attached to the carriage, while the spindles are disposed 
 in the rails of the frame which remain at rest. ‘The drawing out 
 of the clasp stretches the roves so as to reduce them into the size 
 proper for the yarn, at the same time the spindles twine it. Dur- 
 ing the return of the carriage, the yarn is built on the spindles by 
 levers and wires, and formed like the rovings into cops. It is 
 wrought with the hand by one grown-up person, assisted by a 
 boy or girl, called a piecer, in order to mend such threads as break. 
 The yarn, when taken off the spindles, is sometimes reeled, but 
 more frequently given to the weaver in cops, who has it wound 
 on the bobbins preparatory to being placed in the shuttle.” 
 
 James Hargreaves, a weaver of Stand Hill, near Blackburn, 
 was the* inventor of the jenny. Such a machine, it is_pro- 
 ble, would not be at once perfected; its construction would 
 probably occupy the author, who was a poor man, and had to 
 work for his daily bread, some years; and as Hargreaves went to 
 Nottingham in 1790, before which time his machine had not only 
 been perfected, but its extraordinary powers so clearly. proved, 
 notwithstanding his efforts to keep it secret, as to expose him to 
 persecution and the attacks of a mob, it is reasonable to think 
 
70 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 that the invention was conceived, and that the author began to 
 embody it, as early as 1764. Hargreaves, though illiterate and 
 humble, must be regarded as one of the greatest inventors and 
 
 improvers in the cotton manufacture. His principal invention, 
 
 and one which showed high mechanical genius, was the jenny. 
 
 Hargreaves is said to have received the original idea of this 
 faehine: from seeing a one-thread wheel overtirned upon the 
 floor, when both the arhiéel and the spindle continued to revolve. 
 The spindle was thus thrown from a horizontal into an upright 
 position; and the thought seems to have struck him, that if a 
 number of spindles were placed upright, and side by side, several 
 threads might be spun at once. 
 
 He contrived a frame, in one part of which he placed eight 
 rovings in a row, and in another part a row of eight spindles. 
 With this admirable machine, though at first rudely constructed, 
 Hargreaves and his family spun weft for his own weaving. Aware 
 of the value of the invention, but not extending his ambition to a 
 
 patent, he kept it as secret as possible for a time, and used it ) 
 
 merely in his own business. A machine of such powers could not 
 however, be long concealed; but when it became the subject of 
 rumour, instead of gaining for its author admiration and gratitude, 
 the spinners raised an outcry that it would throw multitudes out 
 of employment, and a mob broke into Hargreaves’ house, and 
 destroyed his jenny. So great was the persecution he suffered, 
 and the danger in which he was placed, that this victim of popu- 
 lar ignorance was compelled to flee his native county, as the 
 inventor of the fly-shuttle had been before him. ‘Thus, the neigh- 
 bourhood where the machine was invented, lost the benefit of it ; 
 yet without preventing its general adoption—the common peti 
 appropriate punishment of the ignorance and selfishness which 
 oppose mechanical improvements. The number of spindles in 
 the jenny was at first eight, when the patent was obtained it was 
 sixteen ; it soon came to be twenty or thirty, and no less than one 
 hundred and twenty have since been used. Before quitting Lan- 
 cashire for Nottingham, Hargreaves had made a few jennies for 
 sale, and the importance of the invention being universally appre- 
 ciated, the interests of the manufacturers and weavers brought it 
 into general use, in spite of all opposition. 
 
 It is mentioned, that Crompton, the inventor of the mule, learned 
 to spin upon a jenny of Hargreaves’ make, in 1769. 
 
 Notwithstanding the outrage and violence against him, Har- 
 greaves was enabled to live in comfort though not in affluence, on 
 the fruits of his invention. 
 
 “) 
 
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 71 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM SAMUEL SLATER’S LEAVING ENGLAND TO HIS MARRIAGE 
 WITH HANNAH WILKINSON, OF NORTH PROVIDENCE, R. [. 
 
 “ He that wishes to be counted among the benefactors of posterity, must add, by his 
 own toil, to the acquisition of his ancestors.” 
 
 The preceding chapter is designed to show, that every attempt 
 to spin cotton warp or twist, or any other yarn, by water power, 
 till 1790, had totally failed, and every effort to import the patent 
 machinery of England had proved abortive.* Much interest had 
 been excited in Philadelphia, New York, Beverly, Massachusetts, © 
 and in Providence, Rhode Island ; but they found it impossible to 
 compete with the superior machinery of Derbyshire. Distrust 
 and despondency had affected the strongest minds; disappoint- 
 ment and repeated losses of property, had entirely disheartened 
 those brave pioneers in the production of homespun. cloth. At 
 this moment, Mr. Slater had left Belper, and was on his passage 
 to America, with a full and decided plan to construct and erect 
 the Arkwright machinery in the United States. The evidence 
 adduced in this chapter, is designed to show, that previous to 1790, 
 no such machinery existed in this country; and that Samuel 
 Slater, without the aid of any one who had ever seen such 
 machinery, did actually, from his personal knowledge and skill, 
 put in motion the whole series of Arkwright’s patents ; and that 
 he put them in such perfect operation, as to produce as good yarn, 
 and cotton cloth of various descriptions, equal to any article of the 
 kind produced in England at that time. ‘This is the claim that 
 we make for the subject of this memoir, and if we are successful 
 in proving this point, we lay a foundation for sufficient praise for 
 any one individual. | 
 
 Mr. Slater’s passage from London to. New York extended to 
 sixty-six days. ‘This was a considerable imprisonment to a lands- 
 man who had never seen a ship before. 
 
 * Tench Coxe entered into a bond with a person who engaged to send him, 
 from London, complete brass models of Arkwright’s patents ; the machinery 
 was completed and packed, but was detected by the examining officer, and 
 forfeited, according to the existing laws of Great Britain, to prevent the 
 exportation of machinery. 
 
72 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival, he was introduced to the New 
 York Manufacturing Company, and engaged in their employment. 
 But the state of their business was low and inferior, compared with 
 what he had been accustomed to in his own country; so that he 
 was dissatisfied with his prospects, and he did not like the water 
 privileges which were shown him in this section of the country, 
 to commence any new works. 
 
 A captain of one of the Providence packets informed him of 
 Moses Brown, who was endeavouring to do something in the 
 cotton business, and advised Mr. Slater to write by him and offer 
 his services ; which advice he followed, and turned his attention 
 from Philadelphia, to which he had been first directed, as appears 
 by the following letter, dated— 
 
 New York, December 2d, 1789. 
 
 Sir,—A few days ago I was informed that you wanted a manager of cot- 
 ton spinning, &c. in which business I flatter myself that I can give the 
 greatest satisfaction, in making machinery, making good yarn, either for 
 stockings or twist, as any that is made in England; as I have had opportu- 
 nity, and an oversight, of Sir Richard Arkwright’s works, and in Mr. Strutt’s 
 mill upwards of eight years. Ifyou are not provided for, should be glad to 
 serve you; though I am in the New York manufactory, and have been for 
 three weeks since I arrived from England. But we have but one card, two 
 machines, two spinning Jennies, which I think are not worth using. My 
 encouragement is pretty good, but should much rather have the care of the 
 perpetual carding and spinning. My intention is to erect a perpetual card 
 and spinning. (Meaning the Arkwright patents.) If you please to drop a 
 line respecting the amount of encouragement you wish to give, by favour 
 of Captain Brown, you will much oblige, sir, your most obedient humble 
 
 servant, SAMUEL SLATER. 
 N. B. Sup igais to direct to me at No. 37, Golden Hill, New York. 
 
 Mr. Brown, Providence. 
 
 It appears from the above letter, that Mr. Slater claimed to have 
 a full knowledge of the business of Messrs. Arkwright and Strutt; 
 that he could make the machinery, and superintend the works 
 when erected; and that such were the works he wished to be 
 - engaged in; that he could make as good yarn either for stock- 
 ing or twist, as any that was made in England at that time. 
 The machinery in New York was very inferior, jennies on the 
 Hargreave’s plan ; but the Arkwright patent was not in existence, 
 and every attempt to establish it had been unsuccessful, as appears 
 by the following letter :— 
 
 Provipence, 10th 12th month, 1789. 
 
 Friend,—I received thine of 2d inst. and observe its contents. I, or 
 rather May & Brown, who has the business in the cotton line, which { 
 began, one being my Gravion and the other a kinsman, want the assist- 
 
OFFER OF MOSES BROWN. 73 
 
 ance of a person skilled in the frame or water spinning. An experiment 
 has been made, which has failed, no person being acquainted with the busi- 
 ness, and the frames imperfect. 
 
 We are destitute of a person acquainted with water-frame spinning; thy 
 being already engaged in a factory with many able proprietors, we can 
 hardly suppose we can give the encouragement adequate to leaving thy 
 ' present employ. As the frame we have is the first attempt of the kind that 
 has been made in America, it is too imperfect to afford much encouragement ; 
 we hardly know what to say to thee, but if thou thought thou couldst perfect 
 and conduct them to profit, if thou wilt come and do it, thou shalt have 
 all the profits made of them over and above the interest of the money they 
 cost, and the wear and tear of them. We will find stock and be repaid in 
 yarn as we may agree, for six months. And this we do for the information 
 thou can give, if fully acquainted with the business. After this, if we find 
 the business profitable, we can enlarge it, or before, if sufficient proof of it 
 be had on trial, and can make any further agreement that may appear best 
 or agreeable on all sides. We have secured only a temporary water conve- 
 nience, but if we find the business profitable, can perpetuate one that is con- 
 venient. If thy prospects should be better, and thou should know of any 
 other person unengaged, should be obliged to thee to mention us to him. In 
 the mean time, shall be glad to be informed whether thou come or not. If 
 thy present situation does not come up to what thou wishest, and, from thy 
 knowledge of the business, can be ascertained of the advantages of the mills, 
 so as to induce thee to come and work ours, and have the credit as well as 
 advantage of perfecting the first water-mill in America, we should be 
 glad to engage thy care so long as they can be made profitable to both, and 
 we can agree. I am, for myself and Almy & Brown, thy friend, 
 
 Moses Brown. 
 
 Samuel Slater, at 37, Golden Hill, New York. 
 
 In the above letter, Moses Brown offers Samuel Slater, if he 
 could work the machinery they had on hand, all the profits of the 
 business. On the proviso, that he was what he professed, and 
 would erect machinery such as he described, he should become 
 concerned with him as they might agree. 
 
 He holds out to him the promise of the credit, as well as the 
 advantages of perfecting the first water-mill in America. Under 
 these inducements and assurances, Mr. Slater left New York, 
 expecting to find the water-frame ready for operation. When 
 he came to Providence, he assured Mr. Brown that he could do 
 all that he had promised in his letter; for proof of which he 
 showed him “his indenture” with Mr. Strutt, who had been a 
 partner with Arkwright, and who spun the best yarn, both for 
 stockings and twist, that was at that time spun in England. 
 Moses Brown took Mr. Slater to Pawtucket, and showed him the 
 machinery that he had described in his letter, which they had 
 failed to operate, not finding any person who had wrought on 
 
 10 
 
74 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the Arkwright patent, or had seen any one that had wrought - 
 on it. | 
 
 Moses Brown told me, that, “ when Samuel saw the old 
 machines, he felt down-hearted, with disappointment—and shook 
 his head, and said ‘these will not do; they are good for nothing 
 in their present condition, nor can they be made to answer.’ It 
 appears that Mr. Anthony had tried them, and was unsuccessful ; 
 and different persons, who had seen these works, have informed 
 me that they were worth nothing more, than so much old iron ;” 
 these were the words of Wm. Almy, when speaking to me on the 
 subject. Such particulars may to some appear frivolous; but 
 such transactions as tend to illustrate the progress of the wealth 
 or manners of our country, merit the utmost attention. Even 
 minute events are objects of consequence when they tend to 
 establish important points in national history, and national 
 aggrandisement. After various disapointments, it was proposed 
 that Mr. Slater should erect the series of machines, called the 
 Arkwright patents, which he would not listen.to, till he was pro- 
 mised a man to work on wood, who should be put under bonds not 
 to steal the patterns, or disclose the nature of the works. ‘ Under 
 my proposals,” says he, “if I do not make as good yarn, as they 
 do in England, I will have nothing for my services, but will throw 
 the whole of what I have attempted over the bridge.” 
 
 The following document will show what was finally determined 
 on between the parties :— 
 
 ‘The following agreement, made between William Almy and Smith 
 Brown of the one part, and Samuel Slater of the other part,—Witnesseth 
 that the said parties have mutually agreed to be concerned together in, and 
 carry on, the spinning of cotton by water, (of which the said Samuel pro- 
 fesses himself a workman, well skilled in all its branches ;) upon the follow- 
 ing terms, viz :—that the said Almy and Brown, on their part, are to turn in 
 the machinery, which they have already purchased, at the price they cost 
 them, and to furnish materials for the building of two carding machines, 
 viz:—a breaker and a finisher ; a drawing and roving frame; and to extend 
 the spinning mills, or frames, to one hundred spindles. And the said 
 Samuel, on his part, covenants and engages, to devote his whole time and 
 service, and to exert his skill according to the best of his abilities, and have 
 the same effected in a workmanlike manner, similar to those used in England, 
 for the like purposes. And it is mutually agreed between the said parties, 
 that the said Samuel shall be considered an owner and proprietor in one 
 half of the machinery aforesaid, and accountable for one half of the expense 
 that hath arisen, or shall arise, from the building, purchasing, or repairing, 
 of the same, but not to sell, or in any manner dispose of any part, or parcel 
 thereof, to any other person or persons, excepting the said Almy and Brown; 
 
AGREEMENT WITH ALMY AND BROWN. 75 
 
 neither shall any others be entitled to hold any right, interest, or claim, in 
 any part of the said machinery, by virtue of any right which the said Slater 
 shall or may derive from these presents, unless by an agreement, expressed 
 in writing from the said Almy and Brown, first had and obtained—unless 
 the said Slater has punctually paid one half of the cost of the said machinery 
 with interest thereon ; nor then, until he has offered the same to the said 
 Almy and Brown in writing upon the lowest terms; that he will sell or dis- 
 pose of his part of the said machinery to any other person, and instructed 
 the said Almy and Brown, or some others by them appointed, in the full and 
 perfect knowledge of the use of the machinery, and the art of water spin- 
 ning. And it is further agreed, that the said Samuel, as afull and adequate 
 compensation for his whole time and services, both whilst in constructing 
 and making the machinery, and in conducting and executing the spinning, 
 and preparing to spin upon the same, after every expense arising from the 
 business is defrayed, including the usual commissions of two and a half per 
 cent. for purchasing of the stock, and four per cent. for disposing of the’yarn, 
 shall receive one half of the profits, which shall be ascertained by settle- 
 ment from time to time, as occasion may require; and the skid Almy and 
 Brown the other half—the said Almy and Brown to be employed in the pur- 
 chasing of stock, and disposing of the yarn. And it is further covenanted, 
 that this indenture shall make void and supersede the former articles of 
 agreement, made between the said Almy and Brown and the said Slater, 
 and that it shall be considered to commence, and the conditions mentioned 
 in it be binding upon the parties, from the beginning of the business; the 
 said Samuel to be at the expense of his own time and board from thence- 
 forward. And it is also agreed that if the said Almy and Brown choose to 
 put in apprentices to the business, that they have liberty so todo. The ex- 
 pense arising from the maintenance of whom, and the advantages derived 
 from their services during the time the said Almy and Brown may think 
 proper to continue them in the business, shall be equally borne and received 
 as is above provided for in the expenses and profits of the business. It is 
 also to be understood, that, whatever is advanced by the said Almy and 
 Brown, either for the said Slater, or to carry on his part of the business, is 
 to be repaid them with interest thereon, for which purpose they are to receive 
 all the yarn that may be made, the one half of which on their own account, 
 and the other half they are to receive and dispose of, on account of the said 
 Slater, the net proceeds of which they are to credit him, towards their 
 advance, and stocking his part of the works, so that the business may go for- 
 ward. 
 
 “In witness whereof the parties to these presents have interchange- 
 ably set their hands, this fifth day of the fourth month, seventeen hundred 
 and ninety. 
 Wm. Amy. 
 Smitu Brown. 
 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 Witnesses— 
 
 ‘Oziel Wilkinson, Abraham Wilkinson.” 
 
 In accordance with this agreement of copartnership, I find a 
 bill of account, settled Dec. 3d, 1792, signed Almy & Brown, 
 
76 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 in account with Samuel Slater; which contains the following 
 item of credit to Samuel Slater :—“ Nov. 25th, 1792. By the one 
 half of the proceeds from the sales of yarn spun at the mills, and 
 of credit taken to our account, and accounted for by us as sold— 
 £882 4s. 114d. Providence Dec. 3d, 1792. Atmy & Brown.” 
 
 I find also these charges on the same settlement :— 
 
 1792, Feb: 17. 
 To the one half of our account against spinning mills 
 for machinery, é&c. up to Feb. 11th, 1792, £252 16 
 To one half of do. for stock up to same date, 210 19 13% 
 
 The above documents show what was finally determined on 
 between the,parties in the business. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Smith Wilkinson, written at my 
 request, corroborates the above :— 
 
 Pomrret, May 30th, 1835. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Slater came to Pawtucket early in January 1790, in company 
 with Moses Brown, Wm. Almy, Obadiah Brown, and Smith Brown, who 
 did asmall business in Providence, at manufacturing on billies and jennies, 
 driven by men, as also were the carding machines. They wove and finished 
 jeans, fustians, thicksetts, velverets, &c.; the work being mostly perform- 
 ed by Irish emigrants. There was a spinning frame in the building, which 
 used to stand on the south-west abutment of Pawtucket bridge, owned by 
 Ezekiel Carpenter, which was started for trial (after it was built for Andrew 
 Dexter and Lewis Peck) by Joseph and Richard Anthony, who are now 
 living at or near Providence. But the machine was very imperfect, and 
 made very uneven yarn. The cotton for this experiment was carded by 
 hand, and roped on a woollen wheel, by a female. 
 
 Mr. Slater entered into contract with Wm. Almy and Smith Brown, and 
 commenced building a water frame of 24 spindJes, two carding machines, 
 and the drawing and roping frames necessary to prepare for the spinning, 
 and soon after added a frame of 48 spindles. He commenced some time in 
 the fall of 1790, or in the winter of 1791. I was then in my tenth year, and 
 went to work for him, and began at tending the breaker. The mode of lay- 
 ing the cotton was by hand, taking up a handful, and pulling it apart with 
 both hands, and shifting it all into the right hand, to get the staple of the 
 cotton straight, and fix the handful, so as to hold it firm, and then applying 
 it to the surface of the breaker, moving the hand horizontally across the card 
 to and fro, until the cotton was fully prepared. 
 
 The first frame of 24 spindles, was much longer erecting than 
 anticipated, because cards and other things, even tools to work 
 with, could not be obtained; all these were made by Mr. Slater’s own 
 hands, or by his directions. He laboured night and day under 
 
* 
 
 INTRODUCES ARKWRIGHT MACHINERY. 77 
 
 every disadvantage, to accomplish his purpose, but the hope of 
 future reward sweetened his labour.* 
 
 Mr. Slater once said to me, when speaking of labour, that he 
 had laboured sixteen hours a day, for twenty years successively, 
 and he might have added, in the most laborious occupations. 
 
 The assertions which have been made in public, representing that 
 Mr. Slater brought with him from England, models and patterns, 
 drawings of machinery, &c., we know, from the best possible 
 
 * In the fourth of July oration of Edward Everett, is the following valu- 
 able letter, and its accompanying remarks:—‘“‘I quote a,sentence from it, in 
 spite of the homeliness of the details, for which I like it the better, and be- 
 cause I wish to set before you, not an ideal hero wrapped in cloudy generali- 
 ties, and a mist of vague panegyric, but the real, identical man, with all the 
 peculiarities of his life and occupation. ‘ Your letter,’ says he, ‘gave me 
 the more pleasure, as I received it among barbarians and an uncouth set of 
 people. Since you received my letter of October last, I have not slept above 
 three or four nights in a bed; but after walking a good deal all day, I have 
 lain down before the fire, upon a little hay, straw, fodder, or a bearskin, 
 whichever was to be had—with man, wife, and children, like dogs and cats ; 
 and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the fire. Nothing would make 
 it pass off tolerably, but a good reward. A doubloon is my constant gain 
 every day, that the weather will permit my going out, and sometimes six 
 pistoles. The coldness of the weather will not allow of my making a long | 
 stay, as the lodging is rather too cold for the time of year. I have never had ! 
 my clothes off, but have lain and slept in them, except the few nights I have 
 been in Fredericksburg.’ If there is an individual, in the morning of life, in 
 this assembly who has not yet made his choice, between the flowery path of 
 indulgence, and the rough ascent of honest industry—if there is one who is 
 ashamed to get his living by any branch of honest labour, let him reflect, 
 that the youth who was carrying the theodolite and surveyor’s chain, through 
 the mountain passes of the Alleganies, in the month of March—sleeping on 
 a bundle of hay before the fire, in a settler’s log cabin, and not ashamed to 
 boast that he did it for his doubloon a day, is George Washington; that the 
 life he led trained him up to command the armies of United America; that 
 the money he earned was the basis of that fortune which enabled him after- 
 wards to bestow his services, without reward, on a bleeding and impoverish- 
 ed country. For three years, was the young Washington employed, the 
 greater part of the time, and whenever the season would permit, in this 
 laborious and healthful occupation; and I know not if it would be deemed 
 unbecoming, were a thoughtful student of our history to say, that he could 
 almost hear the voice of Providence, in the language of Milton, announce 
 its high purpose— 
 
 ‘ To exercise him in the wilderness :— 
 There he shall first lay down the rudiments 
 Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth 
 To conquer.’ ” 
 
78 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. & 
 
 authority, to be incorrect ; he told me that he had not a single pat- 
 tern or memorandum to assist him in his calculations in construct- 
 ing his first machinery; but he was favoured with an excellent 
 memory, which never failed him in a single particular, until he 
 accomplished his purpose. ‘This was corroborated by the testi- 
 mony of Moses Brown and William Almy. 
 
 It was then that his mathematical talents were put to the test. 
 Whoever is acquainted with “'The Carding or Spinning Master’s 
 Assistant, or the theory and practice of cotton spinning, showing 
 the use of each machine employed in the whole process,—how to 
 adjust and adapt them to suit the various kinds of cotton, and the 
 different qualities of yarn ; and how to perform the various calcu- 
 lations connected with the ‘different departments of cotton spin- 
 ning,” will be satisfied that Mr. Slater’s first work, in Pawtucket, 
 was a proof of his knowledge and experience, as well as of his 
 mathematical and mechanical genius. At the same time, it will 
 be evident how much assistance he might have derived from such 
 a publication; but nothing of the kind was then in existence.. It 
 is only within a few years that such helps have been prepared. 
 Mr. Slater had seen the spinning frames that were constructed 
 under the auspices of Arkwright himself, and had been brought to 
 a very high state of improvement. The machines which have been 
 
 | generally used, since his time, are constructed upon the very same 
 principle; any alterations that have been made, are chiefly upon 
 the form or framing of the machine: as that which was formerly 
 made of wood, is now made of cast iron, which gives it a more 
 neat and handsome appearance, and also renders it more durable. 
 In reference to the introduction of this machinery, Mr. Burgess 
 observed, in a speech in congress, in 1825, and also at a public 
 dinner in Pawtucket, R. I., June 16, 1828—“ At the commence- 
 ment of our present national government, a man arrived in this 
 very place (I do not call his name, because it belongs to history, 
 and must be known to all); and he brought with him that art, in 
 those manufactures, which enables England, in the progress of its 
 improvements, so to multiply labour, and accumulate wealth, that 
 she did, by the aid of her machinery, in the close of the last, and 
 the beginning of the present century, stand between the military 
 despotism of one part of Europe, and the entire liberties of the 
 world.” 
 
 The annexed plate represents the machinery which Mr. Slater 
 erected, and operated in the old fulling mill at Pawtucket. The 
 clothier’s shop alluded to by Mr. Wilkinson, was washed away Feb. 
 15, 1807; but the two frames which Mr. Slater first made and 
 
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 DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY. 79 
 
 operated, are now in the old mill in Pawtucket, and are frequently 
 shown to visiters as choice curiosities. I conversed with the son 
 of K. Carpenter, in whose shop 8S. Slater built his machinery, 
 who was the clothier, and then a boy; he was permitted to see the 
 ell yarn spun, about which he told me, and observed that listing 
 ~ was used for belts. The following description will aid in siuictisis 
 standing the engraving. 
 
 Bester nia! It received this name, from being the first done 
 by a water-wheel, and was patented by R. Arkwright. 
 
 Carding. After the cotton is picked, the usual process is to 
 card it ; first, by a carding machine, called a breaker ; and a second 
 time on another, called a finisher. 'The breaker consists of a larger 
 and smaller cylinder. he larger, or main cylinder, is covered 
 with sheet cards, and moves ata considerable velocity ; the lesser, 
 or doffing cylinder, is covered with a spiral fillet of card, wound 
 round it, and moves slowly. These cylinders revolve in opposite 
 directions, and nearly in contact with each other. Over the main 
 cylinder, is a kind of arch, covered with cards, at rest, called the 
 top-cards. 'The cotton is fed by means of rollers into the main 
 cylinder. ‘The main cylinder lays it on the doffing cylinder, from 
 which it is combed, and in an uniform fleece is wound round a 
 cylinder, or sometimes, instead of it, on a perpetual cloth. After 
 this cylinder or cloth has made a certain number of revolutions, 
 and thereby plying or doubling, (the fourth elementary process,) 
 the cotton is broken off, and is in that state, called a lap, ready to 
 be carried to the finisher. The finisher is similar to the breaker, 
 only that the fleece, instead of forming a lap, 1 is gradually brought 
 
 - into a narrow band or sliver, and is compressed by a pair of rollers, 
 
 ™* 
 
 , 
 
 which deliver it into a tin can, which is, afterwards removed to 
 the drawing frame. 
 
 The drawing frame. In this machine, drawing first occurs. 
 
 _ Drawing is a curious contrivance, and is the ground-work or prin- 
 
 ciple of Arkwright’s patent, for it is used in the roving and spin- 
 
 ning, as well as in the drawing frame. It isan imitation of what 
 
 is done by the finger and thumb, in spinning by hand, and is per- 
 formed by means of two pair of rollers. The upper roller of the 
 first pair is covered by leather, which being an elastic substance, 
 is pressed, by means of a spring or weight. The lower roller, 
 made of metal, is fluted, in order to keep a firm hold of the fibres 
 
 _ of the cotton. Another similar pair of rollérs are placed near to 
 ' those we have been describing. The second pair moving at a 
 
 greater velocity, pull the fibres of the cotton from the first pair of 
 rollers. If the surface of the last pair move at twice or thrice the 
 
S80 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 velocity of the first pair, the cotton will be drawn twice or thrice 
 finer than it was. This relative velocity is called the draught of 
 the machine. This mechanism being understood, it will be easy 
 to conceive the nature of the operation of the drawing-frame. 
 Several of the narrow ribands or slivers from the cards, (or as 
 they are sometimes termed, card ends,) by being passed through 
 a system of rollers, are thereby reduced in size. By means of a 
 detached single pair of rollers, the reduced ribands are united into 
 one sliver. These operations of drawing and plying serve to 
 equalise the body of cotton, and to bring its fibres more on end, 
 which, in the card-ends, were crossed in all directions. ‘These 
 slivers are again combined and drawn out, so that one sliver of 
 the finisher’s drawing contains many plies of card-ends. Hitherto 
 the cotton has got no twist, but is received into moveable tin cans 
 or canisters, similar to those used for receiving the cotton from the 
 cards ; sometimes, however, it does receive a small degree of twist 
 in the finishing drawing. 
 
 Roving. The roving is a process similar to the drawing, only 
 that it always communicates a degree of twist to the cotton. ‘The 
 roves are wound up on bobbins, and are then ready to be spun. 
 The operation of winding is in some cases performed by hand, and 
 in others by power. The bobbins containing the rove are placed on 
 the back part of the spinning frame. ‘The spinning is little more 
 than a repetition of the process gone through in making the rov- 
 ings. 'The spinning frame contains rollers similar to those of the 
 drawing and roving frames, which serve to extend the rove, and 
 reduce it to the required fineness ; at the same time it is twisted by 
 means of a spindle, but of a different kind from that of the common 
 jenny. 
 
 Previously to the year 1767, spinning was performed on the 
 domestic one-thread wheel, of which there were twokinds. ‘The 
 first, which had a simple spindle, required the material to be pre- 
 viously carded ; and, as we have seen, the common jenny was 
 founded upon this simple machine. The second, was the flax- 
 wheel, which was used for other substances that, from their 
 nature, but more particularly for the length of staple, did not 
 admit of carding, but were prepared by an operation resembling 
 combing. 
 
 The spindle of this machine had a bobbin and fly, which served 
 to wind up the yarn as fast as it was spun. This last kind of 
 spindle is that which was adopted by Arkwright in his mode of — 
 spinning. When the bobbins are full, they are taken off the 
 spindles in order to be reeled. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY. 81 
 
 The reeling is performed on a machine consisting of six wooden 
 rails, parallel to the axis, which winds a considerable number of 
 threads at once from the bobbins. It is one yardand a half in cir- 
 cumference, and is of such a length as to give room for the skeins 
 without danger of the threads getting foul of each other. At one 
 ‘end of the axis is wheel-work, constructed to strike a check at 
 every eighty revolutions of the reel. ‘These eighty revolutions 
 forma lay or rap, of 120 yards in length, and seven of these lays 
 constitute a skein, which measures 840 yards. Water-twist is 
 generally spun hard, and in that case is used for purposes requir- 
 ing much strength, such as the warps of fustians, calicoes, &c. 
 A softer kind of water-twist, which is very uniform and even in. 
 its thread, is used, when doubled and slightly turned, for making 
 stockings, and is denominated stocking-yarn. ‘The lower numbers 
 are sometimes used single, and are called double-spun. Water- 
 twist is used of all sizes, from No. 6. to No. 60. The above de- 
 scription answers precisely to the state of Arkwright and Strutt’s 
 mills in England, in 1790, and describes exactly the machinery 
 which Mr. Slater constructed in Pawtucket, during that year. 
 
 It is known, that Mr. Peel, as early as the year 1762, with the 
 assistance of Hargreaves, erected a carding engine with cylinders, 
 at Blackburn, which differed very little from the one now used, 
 except that it had no mechanism for detaching the cotton from the 
 cards, an operation which was performed by women with hand- 
 cards. Afterwards, this was done by the application of a roller 
 with tin plates, like the floats of a water-wheel, which, revolving 
 with a quick motion, scraped the cotton off the cards. The 
 first inventor of the cylinder cards, or the carding engine, was 
 probably Mr. Wyatt. But the carding engine was greatly 
 improved by Arkwright; in place of the roller with tin plates, 
 he substituted a metal plate toothed at the edge like a comb, 
 which, instead of being made to revolve like the other, was moved 
 rapidly in a perpendicular direction, by a crank, and with slight, 
 but reiterated strokes, detached the cotton from the cards in a 
 uniform fleece. In place of the sheet cards, with which the 
 doffing cylinder had hitherto been covered, he employed narrow 
 fillet cards, wound round it in a spiral form; by this contrivance 
 a continuity of the fleece was produced, which, as it left the card, 
 was gradually contracted by the conductor, and delivered by rollers 
 into the can, in the form of a continued carding, or rowan, called 
 acardend. The taking off the cotton from the cards, in this 
 ‘manner, is one of the most beautiful and curious operations in the 
 whole process of cotton spinning, and renders the carding engine 
 
 11 
 
82 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 one of the most important machines employed in the process. 
 Carding engines have sometimes been made to consist of one large 
 cylinder, and a number of smaller ones, called urchins, disposed 
 of at proper distances over above the main cylinder, and revolv- 
 ing in opposite directions to it, but nearly in contact ; by which 
 means the cotton was delivered from cylinder to cylinder, until it 
 came to the finishing cylinder, called the doffer—from which it 
 was taken off by the comb. : 
 At present, carding engines are generally made to consist of only 
 two cylinders; sometimes three—one at the feeding rollers. But 
 the main cylinder is covered with a kind of arch, composed of 
 several pieces of wood called tops, which have no motion, having 
 sheet cards fixed on them, and nearly in contact with the main 
 cylinder. If any machine in the whole process of cotton spinning 
 be of more use and importance than another, it is the carding 
 engine, nor do I see how its use can at all be dispensed with; 
 and in fact it may be said, that the process of cotton spinning, 
 (properly speaking) begins only at the carding; for all the previous 
 departments of the process are merely preparatory to this, and 
 consist, chiefly, in mixing, cleaning and opening the cotton, so as 
 that the cards may take the best effect upon it; and therefore are 
 called the preparation. Previous to the cotton being put through 
 the cards, the fibres may be lying in every direction into which 
 they may accidentally be thrown; but the use of the carding 
 engine is to draw out the fibres of the cotton, to straighten and 
 lay them side by side, and form them into a thread commonly 
 called an end; and this is the first formation of the thread of yarn. 
 It is first begun in the cards, and advanced onward, step by step, 
 through each successive machine in its order, until it is completed. 
 When the fibres are properly straightened, and the end equally 
 formed at the cards, there is good reason to expect a superior 
 quality of yarn, but failing this, an inferior quality is unavoidable ; 
 for no skill or attention applied to any subsequent department of 
 the process, can altogether remedy the injuries the cotton may 
 have sustained in this: hence it is an object of the highest import- 
 ance in cotton spinning, to have the cards always properly set, and 
 adjusted to suit the particular kind of cotton used, and the quality 
 of the yarn required. 
 ‘ In the adjusting and fitting up of cards, great care should be 
 taken to have all their parts properly leveled ; the bite of the feed- 
 ing rollers should especially be on a perfect level with the centre 
 of the main cylinder, and both cylinders should be turned to the 
 perfect truth, and always kept so if possible; but, through the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF YARN. 83 
 
 influence of the variations of the temperature, &c., the cylinders 
 are frequently found to go off the truth, notwithstanding all the 
 eare that may be taken to prevent it; when this takes place, the 
 only remedy is to strip them of their sheets, and turn them anew, 
 until they are perfectly just; for to work with card cylinders off 
 the truth is attended with the most injurious effects upon the 
 cotton. Seeing it is an object of some importance to keep card 
 cylinders from going off the truth, to which they have a great 
 tendency, particular care should be taken to have the wood well 
 seasoned before it is made into cylinders. New carding engines 
 should also be allowed to stand at least two months in their place, 
 exposed to the heat of the mill, before they commence operations, 
 during which they should be turned and adjusted several times. 
 
 The following letter refers to the first yarn that Mr. Slater made 
 on his machinery: it is rather singular that Moses Brown should 
 not name him, but speak of him “as an English workman from 
 Arkwright’s works,” when at the time he was proprietor of one 
 half of the machinery, while Almy and Brown had only a quarter 
 each :— 
 
 ProvipEnce, 19th of 4th mo. 1791. 
 
 Ksteemed Friend,—I have for some time thought of addressing the Be- 
 verly manufacturers on the subject of an application to Congress for some 
 encouragement to the cotton manufactory, by an additional duty on the cot- 
 ton goods imported, and the applying such duty asa bounty, partly for raising 
 and saving of cotton in the southern states, of a quality and cleanness 
 suitable to be wrought with machines, and partly as a bounty on cotton 
 goods of the same kind manufactured in the United States, or in some other 
 manner, as may be thought advisable. It is thought that the interest of all 
 the cotton manufacturers who work with carding and other machines, united, 
 would effect such encouragement as would effectually prevent the English 
 manufacturers from sending in such increased or large quantities as has 
 been of late, and establish the business advantageously to this country. Thy 
 sentiments, with those of the concerned, would be acceptable, and it is the 
 desire of those concerned, this way, that you, being the first and largest, 
 would take the lead, and devise such plan as may be most eligible to effect 
 the purpose. 
 
 My son-in-law, William Almy, has handed me three sizes of cotton 
 yarn: a lay of each I enclose for your inspecton. Almy and Brown, who 
 conduct the business of the cotton manufactory, with an English work- 
 man from Arkwright’s works, have often fourteen labourers of the various 
 mechanics necessary, completed the water spinning machines to the perfec- 
 tion as to make the inclosed yarn,—the former mills which | had purchased, 
 made from the state’s model at Bridgewater, proving not to answer. The 
 weavers inform me the yarn works better than any linen they have had, and 
 takes less trouble to warp and weave it. As the doubling and twisting mill, 
 by water, is not yet ready, Almy & Brown have had a number of pieces 
 
84 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of thicksets and fancy goods, made of single warps, which appear much 
 superior to any linen warp. The two coarsest enclosed answer this pur- 
 pose,—the finest would answer for cords, velvets, &c., when doubled and 
 twisted. Ifyou should incline to try some warps, they can supply you with 
 almost any size, weekly, monthly, or quarterly ; that of abont 12 skeins to 
 the pound at 6d per skein, of 1200 yards. Coarser or finer, will vary some. 
 As we find that warps cannot be made equally as good on jennies, and ap- 
 prehending that you wish to perfect the cotton manufactures, so as to 
 preclude foreign importation, induces us to make the offer of supplying you 
 in preference to any other works. Thy or the company’s answer will be 
 attended to by Almy & Brown, and by thy friend, 
 Moses Brown. 
 
 P.S. I have heard that I was censured by some of the concerned, as 
 being suspected of having enticed away your workmen, but as I knew my- 
 self clear, I did not write you. Butif any thing of that kind remains, and 
 I could know what it is, I doubt not I can remove every suspicion to your 
 satisfaction, and will endeavour to do it on notice; as I went to Beverly 
 disapproving such conduct, I acted on the same principles, and now disavow 
 any such conduct. I mention this, as I wish to live in harmony with all 
 men, and especially with those in the same line of business. 
 
 Moses Brown, 
 To be communicated to the proprietors of the Beverly Factory. 
 
 In a letter to John Dexter, Moses Brown gives the following 
 account, October 15, 1791:— 
 
 ‘“‘In the spring of the year 1789, some persons in Providence had pro- 
 cured to be made a carding machine, a jenny and a spinning frame, to work 
 by hand after the manner of Arkwright’s invention, taken principally from 
 models belonging to the state of Massachusetts, which were made at their 
 expense, by two persons from Scotland, who took their ideas from observa- 
 tion, and not from experience in the business. These machines made here 
 not answering the purpose and expectation of the proprietors, and I being 
 desirous of perfecting them, if possible, and the business of the cotton manu- 
 factures, so as to be useful to the country, I purchased them; and, by great 
 alterations, the carding machine and jenny were made to answer. The 
 frame, with one other on nearly the same construction, made from the same 
 model, and tried without success at East Greenwich, which I also purchased, 
 I attempted to set to work by water, and made a little yarn, so as to answer 
 for warps ; but being so imperfect, both as to the quality and quantity of the 
 yarn, that their progress was suspended till I could procure a person who 
 had wrought or seen them wroughtin Europe, for as yet wehad not. Late 
 in the fall I received a letter from a young man, then lately arrived at New 
 York, from Arkwright’s works in England, informing me, his situation, that 
 he could hear of no perpetual spinning mills on the continent but mine, and 
 proposed to come and work them. I wrote him and he came accordingly ; 
 but on viewing the mills he declined doing any thing with them, and pro- 
 posed making a new one, using such parts of the old as would answer. We 
 had by this time got several jennies, and some weavers at work on linen 
 warps, but had not been able to get cotton warps to a useful degree of per- 
 
DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY. 85 
 
 fection on the jennies; and although I had found the undertaking much more 
 arduous than I expected, both as to the attention necessary, and the expense, 
 being necessitated to employ workmen of the most transient kind, and on 
 whom little dependenee could be placed, and to collect materials to complete 
 the various machines from distant parts of the continent. However, we (I 
 say we, because I had committed the immediate management of the business 
 to my son-in-law William Almy, and kinsman Smith Brown, under the 
 firm of Almy & Brown), contracted with the young man from England, 
 to direct and make a mill in his own way, which he did, and it answered a 
 much better purpose than the former; but still imperfect, for want of other 
 machines ; such as cards of a different construction from those already made 
 and re-made over; with various other machines preparatory to the spin- 
 ning. ‘ All which, with the necessary appendages, the mechanics skilled in 
 working of wood, iron, brass, &c. &c., were more than a twelve-month com- 
 pleting, before we could get a single warp of cotton perfected. During this 
 time, linen warps were wove, and the jenny spinning was performed in “ 
 different cellars of dwelling houses. But finding the inconvenience of this, 
 we havenowa factory house and dye shop erected, and occupy other build- 
 ings for the singeing, callendering, and other machines. There being a 
 variety of branches in the perfecting of the cotton business, as the picking, 
 soaping, stoning or dyeing the cotton: roping it, by hand or on machines, 
 spinning, bobbin winding, weaving, cutting for velvets or other cut goods, 
 singeing or dressing, bleaching, dyeing, and finishing, renders it more diffi- 
 cult, and requires longer time to perfect than many other branches of busi- 
 ness, in a country where there are very few acquainted with it; but when 
 each branch is learned, it may be extended to any length necessary, by 
 means of the great advantage of the machines, in the saving of labour. 
 There are also several other persons who manufacture cotton and linen by 
 the carding machines and jennies, but when they make all cotton goods, they 
 have the warps from Almy & Brown’s mills,—Samuel Slater, the young 
 man from England, being also concerned therein.” 
 
 To this advantage, arising from the introduction of the Ark- 
 wright Patent, Alexander Hamilton refers, in his report, as secre- 
 tary of the treasury, made December 5, 1791, on the subject of 
 manufactures :—“ The manufactory at Providence has the merit of 
 being the first in introducing into the United States the celebrated 
 cotton mill (meaning Arkwright’s patent) which, not only furnishes 
 materials for that manufactory itself, but for the supply of private 
 families, for household manufacture.” 
 
 In allusion to this notice, Mr. Hunter, in his address before the 
 Rhode Island Agricultural Society, speaks very eloquently :—“ On 
 an altar raised in decoration of manufactures, we would transfer 
 one from a fact recorded on a more imperishable monument than 
 the altar and temple itself,—Hamilton’s report on manufactures, 
 in 1791, in which the introduction of the first cotton mill (meaning 
 the series of machines patented in England) in this country is 
 mentioned, and the introducer was—Slater.” 'The claim, which 
 
86 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 I have therefore’ made, is only an echo of public acclamation, 
 issuing from the first secretary of the treasury of the United 
 lates.” | 
 
 Hamilton recommends, “the encouragement of new inven- 
 tions and discoveries at home, and the introduction into the 
 United States of such as may have been made in other countries, 
 particularly those which relate to machinery. This is among the 
 most useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given 
 to manufactures. ‘The usual means of that encouragement are 
 pecuniary rewards, and, for a time, exclusive privileges. The 
 first must be employed according to the occasion, and the utility 
 of the invention or discovery. For the last, so far as respects 
 ‘authors and inventors,’ provision has been made by law. But 
 it is desirable, in regard to improvements and secrets of extraordi- 
 
 nary value, to be able to extend the same benefit to introducers, as_ 
 
 well as authors and inventors, a policy which has been practised 
 with advantage in other countries. If the legislature of the Union 
 cannot do all the good that might be wished, it is at least desirable 
 that all may be done which is practicable. Means for promoting 
 the introduction of foreign improvements, though less efficaciously 
 
 * The spinning machines of Arkwright and others had not been long 
 in operation in England, until they attracted the notice of traders in Scot- 
 land, who soon attempted what was then, to many, a most lucrative branch of 
 manufacture. But it is difficult to plant a manufacture in a new country, 
 even where there is no secret in the process; and the difficulty was still 
 greater in this instance, where pains were taken to keep the business involved 
 in mystery. Many, who had been employed in the works of Arkwright, left 
 his service, pretending to a knowledge of the business, which they did not 
 possess; and those men were eagerly sought after by new adventurers in 
 both kingdoms. But, in most cases, those adventurers were no gainers by 
 the acquisition. This may easily be conceived, when we consider how very 
 little a great proportion of the people now employed in cotton mills know, 
 and how much less they can communicate of the construction of the ma- 
 chinery, or the general system of the business; and, if such be the case at 
 present, what must it have been at the period and place of which we are 
 speaking. It is supposed thatthe first cotton spun by water, in Scotland, was 
 in the island of Bute, in what had been a lint mill, and was afterwards, for 
 some time, the corn mill of Rothsay. But this was only by way of trial, and 
 before the completion of the larger cotton mill. 
 
 In the year 1782 a large mill, of six stories, was erected at Johnson ; there 
 is reason to suppose this was the first in Scotland that was productive of 
 much profit to the proprietors. Originally, it was managed by people from 
 England, but they proved of the description alluded to above; and the pro- 
 prietors were indebted to the discernment, perseverance, and mechanical 
 genius of Mr. Robert Burns, for rescuing the concern from ruin, and render- 
 ing the business a source of affluence. | 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 87 
 
 than might be accomplished with more adequate authority, will 
 form a plan intended to be submitted in the close of this report. 
 It is customary with manufacturing nations to prohibit, under 
 severe penalties, the exportation of implements and machines, 
 which they have either invented or improved. There is some- 
 thing in the texture of cotton, which adapts it in a peculiar degree 
 to the application of machines. 'The cotton mill (the Arkwright 
 patent) invented in England, within the last twenty years, is a 
 signal illustration of the general proposition which has just been 
 advanced. In consequence of it all the different processes for 
 spinning cotton are performed by means of machines, which are 
 put in motion by water, and attended chiefly by women and 
 children, and by a smaller number of persons, in the whole, than 
 are necessary in the ordinary mode of spinning. This very 
 important circumstance recommends the fabrics of cotton, in a 
 more particular manner, to a country in which a defect of hands 
 constitutes the greatest obstacle to success. Among the most 
 useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given to 
 manufactures, is the encouragement of new inventions and disco- 
 veries at home, and of the introduction into the United States of 
 such as may have been made in other countries, particularly those 
 which relate to machinery. 
 
 ‘“ Manufactories of cotton goods, not long since established at 
 Beverly, in Massachusetts, and at Providence in the state of 
 Rhode Island, and conducted with a perseverance corresponding 
 with the patriotic motives which began them, seem to have over- 
 come the first obstacles to success, producing corduroys, velverets, 
 fustians, jeans, and other similar articles, of a quality which will 
 bear a comparison with the like articles brought from Manchester. 
 Other manufactories of the same material, as regular business, 
 have also been begun at different places in the state of Connec- 
 ticut, but all upon a smaller scale than those above mentioned. 
 Some essays are also making in the printing and staining of cotton 
 goods. ‘There are several small establishments of this kind already 
 on foot. The printing and staining of cotton goods is known to 
 be a distinct business from the fabrication of them. It is one 
 easily accomplished, and which, as it adds materially to the value 
 of the article in its white state, and prepares it for a variety of 
 new uses, is of importance to be promoted.” 
 
 Connected with the above report, Moses Brown states :—“ The 
 public spirit of the Massachusetts legislature on this subject, as 
 well as Pennsylvania, are to be applauded, and in justice to the 
 latter I mention this circumstance:-—-The publication of their 
 
88 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 grant to a certain person for a certain machine in this manufac- 
 tory, reaching England, and coming to the knowledge of the 
 workmen at Arkwright’s mills, occasioned the young man, 
 Slater, before mentioned, privately coming to America, and per- 
 (etnies the first water-spinning in the United States that I have 
 heard Ss) —though I am informed a company from England are 
 about to erect mills near New York, for which the machinery is 
 making at New Haven. It is an indeweene fact, authenticated to 
 
 me by divers persons from England, that the king has frequently - 
 
 made proclamation against any tradesmen leaving the kingdom, — 
 and called on his affivers for their most vigilant watch against 
 
 it, as well as against any draft of machinery being carried out. 
 
 This, also, Lieuid excite our attention to those advantages, which 
 they find of so much consequence to that country.” 
 
 These remarks of Moses Brown show that he was a man of en- 
 larged and sagacious views of the importance of the cotton manu- 
 facture, and in his joining with the introducer in his endeavours 
 to establish it, as appears also by his further remarks :—“I have 
 been lengthy on this subject, not only because my family have 
 engaged in it, but because I conceive from the-advantage of the 
 mills, and other machines, and the raising of the raw materials 
 among ourselves, this country may avail itself of one of the most 
 valuable manufactories, from which every part of the Union may 
 be supplied. Iapprehend this subject would have been laid before 
 congress, by the united representation of the cotton manufacturers, 
 had not some states liberally contributed to the promotion of it, 
 particularly Massachusetts, and the incorporated company at 
 Beverly have partaken largely of their bounty, in proportion to 
 what they have done. Whether under an idea that the assistance 
 _ they had received would have enabled them to go on, while others 
 would be under a necessity of discontinuing the business, (as some 
 have in fact, which they would not have done but for want of that 
 assistance in the same government, namely, the factory at Wor- 
 cester,) or whatever other reason the Beverly company may 
 have, they have not come forward as expected. I have men- 
 tioned yarn, as the importation of that article from India has been 
 suggested by the late manufacturing committee in Philadelphia, 
 at which time, no good yarn had been made fit for warps. But, 
 as the manufactory of the mill yarn (meaning the Arkwright 
 patent) is done by children from eight to fourteen years old, it is 
 as nearly a total saving of labour to the country as perhaps any 
 other that can be named, and therefore no importation of the yarn 
 ought to be admitted without a large impost, if at all—as the 
 
 * 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 89 
 
 secretary may be assured that mills and machines may be erected 
 in different places, in one year, sufficient to make all the cotton 
 yarn that may be wanted in the United States, both for warps and 
 for knitting and weaving stockings, were encouragement given to 
 protect the manufactures from being intercepted in the sale, by 
 foreign importation.” Such was the confidence that Moses Brown 
 had in the skill and enterprise of Samuel Slater, in July 1791, 
 that he believed he would cause to be erected sufficient machinery 
 
 to supply the whole continent with yarn, in a year from that time. 
 “There are also cotton and linen goods manufactured at Hast 
 
 Greenwich; their cotton warps are made at the aforesaid mills, 
 
 (meaning by Almy, Brown and Slater) the quantities manufactured 
 
 by those several persons, and others, in the common way of family 
 work, I expect will be given an account of by themselves, or col- 
 lected by the mechanical and manufacturing society of this town; 
 I therefore refer to them. For the degree of maturity our cotton 
 manufacture has obtained, and their different qualities, I refer to 
 the patterns of the mill yarn, and goods made from warps of it 
 herewith sent; the prices sold at are also marked.” 
 
 Some of Mr. Slater’s first yarn, and some of the first cotton 
 cloth made in America, from the same warp, was sent to the secre- 
 tary of the treasury, the 15th October, 1791, and may possibly be 
 preserved in the secretary’s office, as Mr. Clay says he has some 
 of the first yarn, which is said to be as fine as No. 40. As to the 
 impediments under which this business laboured, Moses Brown 
 observes,—‘‘ No encouragement has been given by any laws of 
 this state, nor by any donations of any society or individuals, but 
 wholly begun, carried on, and thus far perfected, at. private 
 expense.” I have never heard of any premium or advantage 
 conferred on Mr. Slater, for his introducing the cotton manufac- 
 ture, or for his establishing it on a permanent basis; but his own 
 money and time were pledged to the object. ‘“'The manufacture 
 of iron into blistered steel, equal in quality to English, has been 
 begun, within about a year, in North Providence, and is carried 
 on by Oziel Wilkinson, who informed me he can make a good 
 business at ten per cent. for the steel in blister, returning weight 
 for weight with the iron manufactured ; the drawing into bars of 
 any shape, being an additional charge. I thought of speaking, 
 also, of pig and bar iron, slitting it into nail rods, rolling into 
 hoops and plates, making it into spades and shovels, hot and cold 
 nails, anchors, &c. all in this district.” 
 
 Little more than sixty years since, every thread used in the 
 manufacture of cotton, wool, worsted, and flax, throughout the 
 
 12 
 
90 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 world, was spun singly, by the fingers of the spinner, with the aid 
 of that classical instrument, the domestic spinning-wheel. In 1767 
 an eight-handed spinster sprung from the genius of Hargreaves ; 
 and the jenny, with still increasing power, made its way into com- 
 mon use, in spite of all opposition. Two years afterwards, the 
 more wonderful invention of Wyatt, which claims a much earlier 
 origin, but which had disappeared, like a river that sinks into a 
 subterraneous channel, and now rose again under the fortunate 
 star of Arkwright, claimed yet higher admiration, as founded on 
 principles of more extensive application. Five years later, the 
 
 happy thought of combining the principles of these two inventions, | 
 
 to produce a third, much more efficient than either, struck the 
 mind of Crompton, who, by a perfectly original contrivance, 
 effected the union.. From twenty spindles, this machine was 
 brought, by more finished mechanism, to admit of a hundred spin- 
 dies, and thus to exercise a Briarean power. Kelly relinquished 
 the toilsome method of turning the machine by hand, and yoked to 
 it the strength of the rapid Clyde. Watt, with the subtler and more 
 potent agency of steam, moved an iron arm that never slackens or 
 ttres, which whirls round two thousand spindles in a single 
 machine. Finally, to consummate the wonder, Roberts dismisses 
 the spinner, and leaves the machine to its own infallible guidance. 
 So that, in the year 1834, several thousand spindles may be seen 
 in a single room, revolving with inconceivable rapidity, with no 
 hand to urge their progress or to guide their operations,—drawing 
 out, twisting, and winding up, as many thousand threads, with 
 unfailing precision, and indefatigable patience and strength; a scene 
 as magical to the eye which is not familiarised with it, as the effects 
 have beeen marvelous in augmenting the wealth and population 
 
 . of the country. If the thought should cross any mind, that, after 
 ‘all, the so much vaunted genius of our mechanics has been ex- 
 
 pended in the insignificant object of enabling men better to pick 
 out, arrange, and twist together the fibres of a vegetable wool,— 
 that it is for the performance of this minute operation that so many 
 energies have been exhausted, so much capital employed, such 
 stupendous structures reared, and so vast a population trained 
 up; we reply—an object is not insignificant because the operation 
 by which it is effected is minute. The first want of men in this 
 life, after food, is clothing ; and as this art enables them to supply 
 it far more easily and cheaply than the old methods of manufac- 
 turing, and to bring cloths of great elegance and durability within 
 the use of the humble classes, it is an art whose utility is inferior 
 only to that of agriculture. It contributes directly, and most 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. QO] 
 
 materially, to the comforts of life, among all nations where manu- 
 facturers exist, or to which the products of manufacturing industry 
 are conveyed ; it ministers to the comfort and decency of the poor, 
 as well as to the taste and luxury of the rich. By supplying one 
 of the great wants of life, with a much less expenditure of labour 
 than was formerly needed, it sets at liberty a large proportion of 
 the population, to cultivate literature, science, and the fine arts. 
 To England, the new inventions have brought a material acces- 
 sion of wealth and power. When it is also remembered that the 
 inventions, whose origin I have endeavoured carefully to trace, 
 are not confined, in their application, to one manufacture, however 
 extensive, but that they have given nearly the same facilities to 
 the woollen, the worsted, the linen, the stocking, and the lace 
 manufactures, as to the cotton; and that they have spread from 
 England to the whole of Europe, to America, and to parts of Africa 
 and Asia; it must be admitted that the mechanical improvements, 
 in,the art of spinning, have an importance which it is difficult to 
 over-estimate. » By the Greeks, their authors would have been 
 thought worthy of deification ; nor will the enlightened judgment 
 of moderns deny that the men, to whom we owe such inventions, 
 deserve to rank among the chief benefactors of mankind. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable that Watt’s patent, “for lessening 
 the consumption of steam and fuel, in fire engines,” should have 
 been taken out in the same year as Arkwright’s patent for spin- 
 ning with rollers, namely, 1769,-—one of the most brilliant eras in 
 the annals of British genius;—when Black and Priestley were 
 making their great discoveries in science; when Hargreaves, 
 Arkwright, and Watt revolutionised the processes of manufac- 
 tures ; when Smeaton and Brindley executed prodigies of engineer- 
 ing art; when the senate was illuminated by Burke and Fox, 
 Chatham and Mansfield; when Johnson and Goldsmith, Reid and 
 Beattie, Hume, Gibbon, and Adam Smith, adorned the walks of 
 philosophy and letters; and Whitfield, Hervey, and Cowper, re- 
 formed the protestant churches of Christendom. ' 
 
 To turn from these high names to the subject of our me- 
 moir. The Rhode Island society for the encouragement of domes- 
 tic industry always treated Mr. Slater very respectfully, and the 
 following letter was filed among his papers :-— 
 
 Samuel Slater, Esq., Pawtucket. ‘ 
 Provence, 28th Feb. 1820. 
 Sir,—By the primary laws and list of the officers of the Rhode Island 
 Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, herewith forwarded, 
 you will observe, that you are elected one of the vice presidents thereof. 
 
92 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The society will deem themselves highly honoured in enrolling, among 
 their chief officers, one of the earliest pupils of Arkwright, one who has 
 done so much for the promotion of domestic industry, peace and comfort, 
 and one whose private character is so deservedly and universally respected 
 by the whole community. 
 
 I perform a pleasing duty while I respectfully solicit in behalf of the 
 society your acceptance of the office to which you have been chosen. I am 
 with sincere respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 Ww. E. Ricumonp. 
 
 The state of Rhode Island justly claims the honour of being 
 one of the earliest seats of the mechanic arts and of manufactures, 
 on this side of the Atlantic. It has sustained, through the suc- 
 cessive periods of its history, the character of a manufacturing 
 and agricultural district. 
 
 A correspondent writes, in reference to the fact that Mr. Slater’s 
 mind was first directed to Philadelphia, some reflections on the 
 supposition that he had taken that course, instead of wending his 
 way to Providence :—“ Can there be any doubt that if Mr. Slater 
 had turned his steps towards Philadelphia, as he hati thought, that 
 his undertaking would then have been attended with success? 
 In such an event what would have been the relative position of 
 Pennsylvania and Rhode Island at the end of twenty years from 
 that time, compared with their actual state at the close of that 
 period, in regard to manufactures of cotton? Is it not seen that 
 almost the entire business of the country, which had become con- 
 siderable at that time, was made up of different ramifications from 
 the original stock imported from Belper, and planted at Pawtucket 2 
 Would the flood of labourers coming into the country and enrich- 
 ing it with their skill, have been directed to the village of Paw- 
 tucket? Or would it not have rather set in the direction of 
 Philadelphia? And would not the result of all this have been a 
 very different state of things, even to this day, than exists now ? 
 These reflections, or similar, may aid in determining who was the 
 principal, and who aided and abetted only. 
 
 “It is certain, that an individual in a distant land, with the defi- 
 nite and well matured design of establishing the cotton manufacture 
 in this country, on a plan the best then existing, did, after months 
 spent in perfecting himself at the fountain head in all the various 
 knowledge necessary to render success certain, leave bright pros-. 
 pects, and an eligible situation in his native land, and bidding 
 adieu to his home, embarked for this country, with a spirit which 
 it cannot be doubted, with his means, must with certainty, his 
 life being spared, have gained for him the merit, whatever it 
 might be, of first establishing on a firm basis the cotton business 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 93 
 
 in this country, without the aid of any one patron in particular ; 
 what the result was is pretty well known. You are aware that 
 before the introduction of the Arkwright process of manufacturing 
 cotton, there had been attempts made by Mr. Brown to prepare 
 yarns from cotton, on certain machines, to which he alludes in 
 his letters of that period, for the purpose of filling upon linen 
 warps. ‘I’hat these machines (for spinning only, for the carding 
 was done in families, by hand) did not answer the purpose, appears 
 from Moses Brown’s own letter, as also that there were no persons 
 who had seen the operation of the Arkwright machinery, and 
 that all the machines which an attempt had unsuccessfully been 
 made to operate previous to the year 1790, at Pawtucket, or else- 
 where in the United States, could not have been profitably carried 
 on with the greatest degree of skill, and must therefore have been 
 abandoned, must be obvious to those who are acquainted with 
 their utter worthlessness compared with the Arkwright machinery. 
 {am very much gratified at the aspect of testimony in relation to 
 the moral influence of manufacturing establishments, and think 
 that the facts of the case cannot fail to weigh favourably upon the 
 public mind.” 
 
 Mr. Slater’s connection with the Wilkinson family, as men- 
 tioned by Moses Brown and Tristram Burgess, was certainly a 
 circumstance which led greatly to the promotion of business in 
 Pawtucket. David Wilkinson became a machinist of great skill, 
 and carried on the business in an extensive manner. He isa man 
 of great enterprise and judgment, and his failure in 1829 was 
 very much regretted. ‘The capitalists of Rhode Island ought not 
 to have allowed David Wilkinson to leave the state. But he 
 is now planted at Caboose Falls, and that place has already felt 
 the benefit of his business talents, and his ardent zeal in internal 
 improvement. 
 
 Perhaps nothing will show more clearly the part which Moses 
 Brown took in early life, than the following letter :— 
 
 To Moses Brown, Esq. 
 Provipence, July 7th, 1791. 
 
 Sir,—I take the liberty to send you the enclosed, being the copy of a letter 
 which I received a day or two since, from the secretary of the treasury, and 
 to request you to give me, as soon as convenient, in writing, such inform- 
 ation as you may possess, (and which the secretary is solicitous to obtain,) 
 on the subjects stated in his letter. You will readily conceive that a trans- 
 mission of the information requested, to the secretary, may involve conse- 
 quences favourable to the manufacturing interest in this state. I address 
 myself to you on this subject with the more confidence from a full convic- 
 tion, that as no one in the state has more at heart the encouragement of our 
 
94 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 infant manufactures—has been more indefatigable and liberal in the esta- 
 blishment, improvement and use of them than yourself, so no one can 
 possibly possess a more competent knowledge of their commencement, 
 progress, and present state. I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Jno. S. DEXTER. 
 
 In connecting the name of Slater, with the first successful 
 introduction of manufacturing machinery into this country, it 
 will not be amiss to draw on the eloquence of a distinguished 
 statesman of Rhode Island. Mr. Burgess remarks :— 
 
 “ A circumstance worthy of the attention of the whole nation, and 
 worthy also, of a fair page in her history, is the art and mystery 
 of making cloth with machinery moved by water power. ‘This 
 was introduced into Rhode Island, and commenced in Pawtucket, 
 four miles from Providence, about the same time that the Ameri- 
 can system was established, by the impost law of July 4th, 1789. 
 Samuel Slater, an English mechanic of the first order of mental 
 ability, brought this invention to Pawtucket. He could not bring 
 out from England, models, draughts, or specifications. ‘The whole 
 art was treasured in his own mind; that alone, which could not 
 be rummaged and pillaged by any custom-house regulation. He, on 
 his arrival, addressed himself to Oziel Wilkinson and sons. ‘They 
 were blacksmiths, whose hands were as skilful as their minds 
 were intelligent and persevering. I have often thought Divine 
 Providence directed Slater, and brought him to lay his project 
 before the Wilkinsons ; because he had not fitted any other men 
 in this country, with minds and abilities, either to see, and at once 
 comprehend the immense benefit of it; or to understand and per- 
 form, what must be understood and performed, to bring this scheme 
 into full and perfect operation. I will not detain the house to 
 enumerate or even mention any benefits resulting to those who 
 have, from that time to this, engaged in the cotton trade. What 
 was the condition then, and what is now the condition, of the con- 
 sumption of cotton cloths in your country? A yard of cloth, then, 
 made by the wheel and loom, cost fifty, and never less than forty 
 cents. It may now be had for nine or ten cents. A trade so pro- 
 ductive of public benefit will be duty appreciated by all patriots. 
 The law of July 4, 1789, was enacted by the almost unanimous 
 voice of the whole nation. By this law the great scheme was 
 commenced. ‘The law of protection, enacted in 1816, was equally 
 national; men from the east, the north, the south, and the west, 
 equally supported the measure. The bill was laid before the 
 +house by the lamented Lowndes, of South Carolina. It was advo- 
 
 a 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 95 
 
 cated, in every stage of its progress, by another distinguished 
 individual of the same state. When it passed this house, Hall 
 _and Lumpkin of Georgia, Cannon and Powell of Tennessee, 
 Basset and Barbour of Virginia, voted in favour of its passage. So 
 far as the bill related to the cotton trade, it was enacted with the 
 _ sole view to the protection of that great and increasing interest. 
 It was then known and acknowledged, though it seems now to be 
 forgotten, that this law for the protection of the cotton trade, was 
 founded on a most able, luminous, and statesman-like report, 
 made to that congress, by the chairman of the committee on 
 commerce, another distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr. 
 Newton.” | 
 
 In repeating the evidence, in relation to the foregoing facts, it 
 appears that previous to 1790, the year in which Samuel Slater 
 arrived in this country, there had been introduced into the United 
 States, at Providence, New York, Beverly, Worcester, é&c. “jen- 
 nies,” and “billies,” with cards, for the spinning of cotton filling, 
 to be wove into velverets, jeans, fustians, &c., with linen warps, 
 chiefly by Scotish and Irish spinners and weavers; and the history 
 of these times declares the imperfection of the above machinery 
 to be such as to preclude the manufacture of cotton cloth, or cotton 
 yarn for warps, and that there was a desire to import cotton yarn 
 from India : that it was even inadequate and its operations deficient 
 and expensive in its immediate application ; and further, that under 
 such difficulties and perplexities, it was entirely beyond the power 
 of American manufacturers to compete with foreign goods intro- 
 duced by British agents and American merchants, even when they 
 received legislative aid, as they did at Beverly. 
 
 The citizens of Massachusetts—perplexed and involved in their 
 incipient and imperfect attempts at the manufacturing of cotton 
 goods, and fully aware of the importance of introducing a better 
 system of machinery, which they knew to be in successful opera- ~® 
 tion in England—exerted themselves to obtain a model of the 
 Arkwright patent. But finding no person able to construct that 
 series of machines, and unable to obtain one from England, in 
 consequence of the heavy, and severe penalties imposed by the 
 British government on the exportation of mechanism, they entirely 
 failed in their first attempts. In this downcast period of American 
 manufactures, Samuel Slater, then in the employ of Strutt & 
 Arkwright, having seen a premium offered by the Pennsylvania 
 Society, for a certain machine to spin cotton, was induced to leave 
 his native country and come to America. On his arrival, being 
 informed that Moses Brown had made attempts in water spinning 
 
96 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 at Providence, he immediately repaired thither. On. viewing 
 Moses Brown’s machinery, he pronounced it worthless, and in- 
 duced him to lay it aside. At this period, without the aid of a 
 single individual skilled in making machinery, Samuel Slater con- 
 structed the whole series of machines on the Arkwright plan, and 
 put it in operation so perfectly, as to supply all the establishments 
 with cotton warps, superior to linen—and in fourteen months, 
 Moses Brown informed the secretary of the treasury that ma- 
 chinery and mills could be erected within one year to supply the 
 whole United States with yarn, and render its importation un- 
 necessary. Such is the amount of evidence of the introduction 
 of the Arkwright machinery into this country. If the manufac- 
 turing establishments are in reality a benefit and blessing to the 
 Union, as Mr. Clay observes, the name of Slater must ever be 
 held in grateful remembrance by the American people. 
 
 Mr. Slater began his machinery under every disadvantage ; for 
 though he had full confidence in his own remembrance of every 
 part and pattern, and in his ability to perfect the work, according 
 to his agreement, he found it difficult to get mechanies who could 
 make any thing like his models. 
 
 His greatest perplexity was in making the cards; for which 
 purpose he employed Phinney Earl, of Leicester, who had never 
 before made any machine cards of that description. This cir- 
 cumstance gave rise to the published anecdote of his dream, by 
 which it was said he had been extricated from his embarrassment. 
 There is no wish to deny the possibility of such an occurrence, 
 if such had been the fact; but I enquired of Mr. Slater, two 
 years previous to his decease, and he assured me such was not the 
 case. He related to me the reality of his obstructions :—after his 
 frames were ready for operation, he prepared the cotton, and 
 started his cards ; the cotton rolled up, on the top cards, instead of 
 passing through the small cylinder. This was a great perplexity 
 to him, and he was for several days in great agitation. ‘The 
 family in whose house he boarded have since described his trial 
 tome. When leaning his head over the fireplace, they heard him 
 utter deep sighs, and frequently saw the tears roll from his eyes. 
 The family had become interested in his favour. He said but 
 little of his fears and apprehensions ; but Mrs. Wilkinson perceived 
 his distress, when she said to him, “art thou sick, Samuel ?” 
 When he explained to the family the nature of his trial, he show- 
 ed the point on which he was most tender :—‘“ If I am frustrated 
 in my carding machine, they will think me an impostor.” He 
 was apprehensive that no suitable cards could be obtained, short 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 97 
 
 of England-——-and from thence none were allowed to be ex- 
 ported. 
 
 After advising with Mr. Earl, and pointing out to him the defect, 
 he perceived that the teeth of the cards were not crooked enough, 
 as they had no good card leather, and were pricked by hand, the 
 puncture was too large, which caused the teeth to fall back from 
 their proper place. They beat the teeth with a piece of grind- 
 stone, which gave them a proper crook, and the machinery moved 
 in order, to his great relief—and to the joy of his friends. Moses 
 Brown told me, that the machinery was so much longer in pre- 
 paration than he expected, that he was discouraged. Mr. Slater, 
 knowing this anxiety, and that he was liable to lose the confidence 
 of his partners by the complete failure on his first trial of the cards, 
 and knowing that he could appeal to no one, who could judge of 
 the correctness of the machinery, it was no wonder that he was 
 distressed, or that it occupied his thoughts day and night—his 
 sleeping and waking hours. This circumstance gave rise to the 
 report of the dream. 
 
 Another rumour which has spread far and wide, calls for con- 
 tradiction and explanation. It has been positively asserted, that 
 the British government employed a person to assassinate Mr. 
 Slater, by means of an infernal machine ; similar, it is said, in 
 its operation, to the one employed to attempt the life of Na- 
 poleon. I never believed this story worthy of any attention, 
 till Mr. and Mrs. Slater made us a visit in Canterbury in 1827. 
 His coachman told it as an undoubted truth among the inhabitants 
 of the village; it received implicit credit, on account of the sup- 
 posed knowledge of his driver, and it was spread as a Canterbury 
 tale. I therefore applied to my friend for a correct exposition of 
 the circumstance :—he assured me there was no ground whatever 
 for such a representation. It arose from the circumstance of a 
 box of clothes being sent him from England, and it was stopped 
 in the custom-house in New York, which the following letter to 
 Moses Brown, Providence, and endorsed by him will show. 
 
 Pawtucket, July Ist, 1790. 
 
 Sir—I have received letters from England that there is a box at New 
 York with some clothes, which the officers have stopt, the impost not being 
 paid. The clothes are new, but made for my use, and I supposed they would 
 be free of duty. Should be glad if you would use such means as you think 
 best, to get them with little or no duty, and oblige yours, &e. 
 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 N.B. Isuppose there is more than a hundred dollars of clothes in the 
 box. 
 
 13 
 
98 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 As a box actually came from England, which was directed to 
 Mr. Slater, and as there was a correspondence with the officers of 
 the customs, relative to the detention of the box; with some re- 
 maining jealousies at that time towards old England, it was no 
 wonder under all the circumstances of the case, that such an evil 
 surmise should have arisen, and spread as a true report. 
 
 The public are assured that I have the fullest authority for the 
 above explanation. The tailor’s bill of these very clothes is now 
 in possession of the family, and some of the buttons of the coat. 
 The tailor, at Belper, occupied a store of Mr. Slater’s, which was 
 given him by his father, and these clothes were sent to pay the 
 rent. 
 
 As it has been observed, Mr. Slater started his cards in the 
 water-wheel belonging to the clothier’s shop, which was so ex- 
 posed that it was frozen every night, He could get none to expose 
 themselves to break the ice, in order to start the wheel in the 
 morning. ‘Those who can well remember the fact, informed me, 
 that he spent two or three hours breaking the ice, before brealfast, 
 till he was wet and cold, and his limbs benumbed, which affected 
 him very much. ‘This exposure laid the foundation of those 
 chronic disorders, from which he suffered so much in the latter 
 part of his life. ; 
 
 He took care to have his water-wheel, when he built his first 
 mill, under cover, having experienced the bad effects of a frozen 
 Wheel. ‘The first winter he spun on his frames, he endured great 
 hardships: and when he had produced an excellent yarn, there 
 was but little sale for it. 
 
 He had to instruct the boys who assisted in the mill, and com- 
 mence the factory regulations ; as nothing of the kind was known 
 here.* The following is his first account of time and wages with 
 his workpeople. 
 
 * The wise and active conquer difficulties, 
 By daring to attempt them ; sloth and folly ; 
 Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and danger, 
 And make the impossibility they fear. 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 99 
 
 CARDERS AND SPINNERS’ TIME LIST. 
 
 Decemb. | M| T w |r| F/S NAMES TIME. WAGES. MONEY PAID. 
 
 1790. |20/21/22'93 24'95]|No. D. SG Pe la 
 
 1 {Arnold, Torpen, 
 21 Do. Charles, 
 3 |Wilkinson, Smith, 
 4 |Jenks, Jabez, 
 
 ed teed ed te ee oe 
 
 27|28)/29|30|31| 1 
 
 or mor more?) 
 
 _—_—_———  — — | 
 
 Arnold, Torpen, 
 Do. Charles, 
 Do. Eunise, 
 
 Jenks, Jabez, 
 
 ‘Do. Jno. 
 
 Do. Varnus, 
 Borrows, Otis, 
 Wilkinson, Smith, 
 January |3}4/5|6)7)8 
 
 ioke 
 
 DIMA WW 
 APALSWAAIARN 
 
 ee 
 
 Arnold, Torpen, 
 Do. Charles, 
 Do. Eunise, 
 Do. Ann, 
 
 Jenks, Jabez, 
 
 Do. John, 
 
 Do. Varnus, 
 8 |Wilkinson, Smith, 
 9 |Borrows, Otis, 
 
 10/11)12)13}14)15 
 2} |2)| 1 |Arnold, Torpen, 
 
 Do. Charles, 
 
 Do. Eunise, 
 
 Do. Ann, 
 Jenks, Jabez, 
 
 Do. John, 
 
 Do. Varnus, 
 Wilkinson, Smith, 
 Borrows, Otis, 
 
 IAHR WWE 
 ARAAIAAAAAIAINH 
 
 a ns | ee 
 
 OOM TR WW 
 AAMAAAAAIHN 
 
 The factory system in England takes its rise from the period 
 of the trial concerning the validity of the patent, by Arkwright, 
 in 1785. Hitherto the cotton manufacture had been carried on 
 almost entirely in the houses of the workmen, the hand or stock 
 cards, the spinning wheel, and the loom, required no larger apart- 
 ment than that of a cottage. A spinning jenny of small size 
 might also be used in a cottage, and in many instances was so 
 used; when the number of spindles was considerably increased, 
 adjacent work-shops were used. But the water-frame, the carding 
 engine, and the other machines which Arkwright brought out in 
 a finished state, required both more space than could be found in 
 a cottage, and more power than could be applied by the human 
 arm. Their weight also rendered it necessary to place them in 
 strongly built mills, and they could not be advantageously turned 
 
100 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 by any power then known, but that of water. The use of ma- 
 chinery was accompanied by a greater division of labour than 
 existed in the primitive state of the manufacture; the material 
 went through many more processes, and of course, the loss of time, 
 and the risk of waste, would have been much increased, if its 
 removal from house to house at every stage of the manufacture, 
 had been necessary. It became obvious that there were several 
 important advantages in carrying on the numerous operations of an 
 extensive manufacture in the same building. Where water power 
 was required, it was economy to build one mill, and put up one 
 water-wheel, rather than several. This arrangement also enabled 
 the master spinner himself to superintend every stage of the 
 manufacture; it gave him a greater security against the wasteful 
 or fraudulent consumption of the material—it saved time in the 
 transference of the work from hand to hand, and it prevented the 
 extreme inconvenience which would have resulted from the failure 
 of one class of workmen to perform their part, when several other 
 classes of workmen were dependent upon them. Another circum- 
 stance which made it advantageous to have a large number of. 
 machines in one manufactory, was, that mechanics must be em- 
 ployed on the spot, to construct aa repair the machinery, and 
 that their time could not be fully occupied with only a few 
 machines. All these considerations drove the cotton spinners to 
 that important change in the economy of English manufactures— 
 the introduction of the factory system; and when that system had 
 once been adopted, such were its pecuniary advantages, that mer- 
 cantile competition would have rendered it impossible, even had 
 it been desirable, to abandon it. ‘The enquiry into the moral and 
 social effects of the factory system, will deserve our attention. 
 Though Arkwright, by his series of machines, was the means of 
 giving the most wonderful extension to the system, yet he did not 
 absolutely originate it. Mills for the throwing of silk had existed 
 in England, though not in any great number, from the time of 
 Sir Thomas Lombe, who in 1719 erected a mill on the river 
 Derwent, at Derby, on the model of those he had seen in Italy. 
 Wyatt’s first machines, at Birmingham, were turned by asses, and 
 his establishment at Northampton by water; so Arkwright’s first 
 mill, at Nottingham, was moved by horses ; his second, at Crom- 
 ford, by water. During a period of ten or fifteen years after Mr. 
 Arkwright’s first mill was built (in 1771) at Cromford, all the 
 principal works were erected on the falls of considerable rivers; 
 no other power than water having then been found practically 
 useful. 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 101 
 
 Those who have not taken the trouble to witness, or to enquire 
 into, the process by which they are surrounded with the conve- 
 niences and comforts of civilised life, can have no idea of the infi- 
 nite variety of ways in which invention is at work to lessen the 
 cost of production. ‘The people of India, who spin their cotton 
 wholly by hand, and weave their cloth in a rude loom, would 
 doubtless be astonished when they first saw the effects of ma- 
 chinery in the calico which is returned to their own shores, made 
 from the material brought from their own shores, cheaper than 
 they themselves could make it. But their indolent habits would 
 not permit them to enquire how machinery produced this wonder. 
 There are many amongst us who only know that the wool grows 
 on the sheep’s back, and that it is converted into a coat by labour 
 and machinery. They do not estimate the prodigious power of 
 thought—-the patient labour—the unceasing watchfulness—the 
 frequent disappointment—the uncertain profit--which many have 
 had to encounter in bringing this machinery to perfection. How 
 few, even of the best informed, know that in the cotton manufac- 
 ture, which from its immense amount, possesses the means of 
 rewarding the smallest improvement, invention has been at work, 
 and most successfully, to make machines that make the cotton 
 thread. There is a part of the machinery used in cotton-spinning 
 called a reed. It consists of a number of pieces of wire, set side 
 by side in a frame, resembling, as far as such things admit of com- 
 parison, a comb with two backs. ‘These reeds are of various lengths 
 and degrees of fineness, but they all consist of cross pieces of wire, 
 fastened at regular intervals between longitudinal pieces of split 
 cane, into which they are tied with waxed thread, and the ma- 
 chine cuts the wire, places each small piece with unfailing regu- 
 larity between the canes, twists the thread round the cane with a 
 knot that cannot slip, every time a piece of wire is put in, and 
 does several yards of this extraordinary work in almost as tittle 
 time as it takes to read this description. 
 
 The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his 
 wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly 
 laboured in his multifarious concerns, from five o’clock in the 
 morning till nine at night; and when considerably more than 
 fifty years of age,—feeling that the defects of his education placed 
 him under great difficulty and inconvenience in conducting his 
 correspondence, and in the general management of his business,— 
 he encroached upon his sleep, in order to gain an hour each day 
 to learn English grammar, and another hour to improve his 
 writing and orthography. He was impatient of whatever inter- 
 
102 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 fered with his favourite pursuits; and the fact is too strikingly 
 characteristic not to be mentioned, that he separated from his wife 
 not many years after their marriage, because she, convinced that 
 he would starve his family by scheming when he should have been 
 shaving, broke some of his experimental models of machinery. 
 
 Arkwright was a severe economist of time, and, that he might 
 not waste a moment, he generally traveled with four horses, and 
 at a very rapid speed. His concerns in Derbyshire, Lancashire, 
 and Scotland, were so extensive and numerous, as to show at once 
 his astonishing power of transacting business, and his all-grasping 
 spirit. In many of these he had partners, but he generally managed 
 in such a way, that, whoever lost, he himself was a gainer. So un- 
 bounded was his confidence in the success of his machinery, and in 
 the national wealth to be produced by it, that he would make light 
 of discussions on taxation, and say that he would pay the national 
 debt! His speculative schemes were vast and daring; he contem- 
 plated entering into the most extensive mercantile transactions, 
 and buying up all the cotton in the world, in order to make an 
 enormous profit by the monopoly ; and from the extravagance of 
 some of these designs, his judicious friends were of opinion, that 
 if he had lived to put them in practice, he might have overset the 
 whole fabric of his prosperity. } | 
 
 Moses Brown introduced Mr. Slater to Oziel Wilkinson of 
 Pawtucket, R. L, as a suitable place for him to board; as the 
 stranger came into the house, the two daughters, as is not uncom- 
 mon, ran out of sight; but Hannah lingered with curiosity, and 
 looked through an opening in the door: Samuel saw her eyes, and 
 was interested in her favour. He loved at first sight, but it was 
 sincere, it was permanent, nothing but death could have severed 
 the ties which endeared him to Hannah Wilkinson. He was 
 happy in fixing his affections so soon on one who loved him, and 
 on one so worthy ; that loadstone served to bind him to Pawtucket, 
 when every thing else appeared dreary and discouraging. The 
 parents of Hannah being Friends, they could not consistently 
 give consent to her marriage out of the society, and talked of 
 sending her away some distance to school; which occasioned Mr. 
 Slater to say,—“ You may send her where you please, but I will 
 follow her to the ends of the earth.” 
 
 Though absorbed in perplexing business, his hours of relaxa- 
 tion were cheering ; he spent them in telling Hannah and her 
 sister the story of his early life, the tales of his home, of his family 
 connections, and of his father-land. . 
 
 This introduction was one of the favourable circumstances that 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH ENGLAND. 103 
 
 finally secured his success. In Oziel Wilkinson’s family, he found 
 a father and mother, who were kind to him as their own son. 
 He was not distrustful of his ability to support a family—did not 
 wait to grow rich before marriage, but was willing to take his bride 
 for better and for worse, and she received the young Englishman 
 as the man of her choice, and the object of her first love. This 
 connection wlth Oziel Wilkinson was of great service to him, as 
 a stranger, inexperienced in the world beyond his peculiar sphere. 
 Besides, it is well known, that sixty years since, the contrast of 
 character of New England men and manners, in men of business, 
 and other peculiarities, were very great between the two countries. 
 He found consolation in that family, he found a home. Those 
 who have left their native country, know something of what 
 Slater felt when he was “home-sick.” On seeing the old and 
 worthless machinery,.as Moses Brown expressed it, “Samuel felt 
 down-hearted.” No one knows the heart of a stranger but he who 
 has been from home in a strange land, without an old acquaint- 
 ance, without a tried friend to whom he could unbosom his anxie- 
 ties—without confidence in those around him, and others without 
 confidence towards him. ‘These are sorrows only known to the 
 sufferer who knows the heart of a stranger, and no sympathies 
 can be expected but from those who have trodden in the same 
 path. Mr. Slater always treated the numerous strangers who 
 flocked to him for advice, assistance, or employment, with marked 
 attention, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 
 
 It is easy to conceive that his correspondence with his old 
 schoolmaster must have been highly gratifying to his feelings. 
 In that way he heard of what they were doing in Belper, and 
 proved the truth of the assertion, how valuable is good news from 
 a far country. 
 
 Bevrer, 11th Jan. 1792. 
 
 My dear friend,—Tam much obliged to you for the favour of your letter, 
 and with pleasure embrace this opportunity of answering it; though the 
 Atlantic rolls between us, I hope our friendship will remain undiminished. 
 I wish you every felicity which the honourable state you have entered into 
 can afford—may you enjoy a long life of domestic comfort and prosperous for- 
 tunes, is my sincere wish. I myself have ventured to put on the shackles of 
 matrimony, and find in it those charms which I in vain sought for in the 
 idle and dissipated pursuits of a single life—though Iam willing to hope I 
 never materially trespassed against the laws of decorum. 
 
 I have delayed writing, some weeks, in order to be able to answer some 
 of your enquiries more decidedly than I am at present able to do. This is 
 the most important era which the history of the world has ever furnished. 
 All is agitation and confusion; what the event will be, God only knows. 
 
104 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 You have no doubt heard of the fate of the combined armies against France, 
 and the success of the French commanders, Dumourier, Castine, &c., in 
 Brabant and Germany. They have carried all before them; but I fear the 
 French, elated with victory, are now aiming at too much. They seem, con- 
 trary to their former declarations, to be actuated by the desire of conquest. 
 They have added Savoy to the republic as an 84th department. I am a 
 warm admirer of the French revolution, as it is likely to establish the liberty 
 of twenty-six millions of my species; but I lament, grievously lament, the 
 many disorders with which it has been attended. The fate of the king I 
 cannot send you, though it will finally be decided in a few days; they are now 
 trying him, his defence has been heard by counsel ; Deseze, his first counsel, 
 dealt long and ably on the acts of the new constitution, which declares the 
 inviolability of the king’s person. I believe the business will be finally 
 decided by the people at large, in their primary assemblies ; and I believe 
 that perpetual banishment will be the sentence. At least I hope this, for if 
 they touch his life, there is not a state in Europe but what will join the 
 detestable crusade against them. Indeed, there is something in the fate of 
 monarchs which is interesting to the mind; I know it is a remain of the 
 doctrine of divine right, which was formerly so prevalent in all countries. 
 I own I shall feel hurt if they touch Louis’s life, though I think him guilty. 
 Much, very much, depends on the event, not only to France, but the world. 
 France, I believe, is pretty free from internal commotions at present; but 
 various preparations are making for the next campaign, in Germany, Prussia, 
 Russia, &c. Britain and Holland, too, are arming to fall upon her next 
 spring. They have given umbrage to their high mightinesses by attempting 
 to open the river Scheldt. We, you know, are in alliance with Holland and 
 Prussia; we, that is, our government, must assist them for that reason, but 
 perhaps more for others, which will readily occur to you. A republic like 
 France, cannot be a pleasant thing to a certain description of men, and I 
 believe all that can be done will be done to crush it. But an armament is 
 nothing with us; it is but an annual advertisement; we have had four in as 
 many years, yet no war. However, I believe we have now a pretext for a 
 war with France. Yesterday’s papers inform us that an English sloop of 
 war received a shot from the batteries at Brest,—quere, did not she go to 
 provoke them? I believe the people in general of this country do not wish 
 for war. Every thinking man knows we have a flourishing trade, which 
 War must very much injure; he knows, too, that we have a public debt of 
 upwards of two hundred and seventy millions, and a revenue to raise in 
 these times of peace of seventeen mllions annually, yet we are purse proud. 
 As to the stadtholder, I cannot suppose he has forgotten the disturbances of 
 his people four years since. Does he think they have forgotten it? If he 
 puts his finger in this fire, 1am much mistaken if he will not have to call 
 in Prussia and us to quell them again. Spain has declared her intention of 
 neutrality in case the king’s life is spared. I would here ask you what part 
 America will take in case Britain does declare war against France. I think 
 I can see it. I believe America will not overtly assist her by declaring 
 formal war ; but your ports will be open to France; you will fit out privateers 
 under French colours. I fear, my friend, this will be the case, and that 
 harmony which exists between this country and you will be suspended, 
 perhaps to the inconvenience of both. It is rumoured that Turkey is arming 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 105 
 
 against Russia, but of the truth of this I can say nothing. This country, 
 with respect to politics, never stood in so precarious a situation. Societies 
 have been formed in various places for the discussion of constitutional sub- 
 jects for the purpose of promoting a reform of parliament. Government has 
 taken the alarm, and loyal meetings are calling in every considerable town 
 in the kingdom to testify their adherence to the present government. Much 
 difference of opinion prevails in parliament, and the business is discussed in 
 a very intemperate manner, every night in every inn and alehouse in the 
 kingdom. I ama friend to reform, because our representation is unequal, 
 and dislike the conduct of both of the parties, because I think them both 
 wrong. [am well assured that our present government, a mild and good 
 constitution compared with others, is best for us; but many things call 
 loudly for amendment. A few persons have avowed republican principles, 
 and insisted too much for the introduction of French politics to this country. 
 For America, I am sensible a republican (that is, the representative) form 
 of government is best. But for Britain, a limited monarchy, certain. I 
 have no room to give you my reasons for this. —— made an able and 
 manly speech at the opening of parliament. It will find its way to America, 
 and is well worth perusal; it has been published some time. Burke rants 
 against reformers and the “ swinish multitude,” as usual. Thomas Paine 
 is one of the members of the French convention ; he has been tried for trea- 
 son. Rights of Man, parts 1 and 2, and Common Sense, condemned as a 
 libel on our constitution. Many other persons are in prison, and in the 
 courts of justice, for publishing what are termed seditious writings. French 
 refugees are so numerous, and government is so alarmed, that a bill is now 
 in the house of commons and will soon be passed, entitled the “ Alien Bill,” 
 which will empower officers to search all foreigners who may arrive in 
 Britain, and scrutinise them as to their means of living here, and their busi- 
 ness. How will your independent republican merchants like this? From 
 this you will see that this 1s not the happiest of countries. Happy America, 
 thou hast no such foes—thou art free; and thy sons and daughters are not 
 harassed by political arts. I have said nothing on local subjects, as I sup- 
 posed your other friends would supply that. John Spencer, senr. was lately 
 drowned. Sir R. Arkwright is dead. James Liggit is at Canterbury—I 
 believe doing well. Messrs. Strutts go on swimmingly—they are erecting a 
 very large mill at Belper; and Mr. George is beginning to build himself a 
 noble house on the bridge hill, just above the watering troughs. Present 
 my respects to Mrs. Slater, and believe me yours very sincerely, 
 jie p 
 
 To Samuel Slater, North Providence, North America. 
 
 This letter from Mr. Jackson, shows that he was an intelligent 
 man ; and he appears to have continued his correspondence with 
 his pupil. 
 
 Smith Wilkinson, Esq., the principal owner of that fine estate, 
 called the Pomfret factory, Connecticut, has favoured me with his 
 early recollections in relation to the commencement of the business 
 in Pawtucket, as the following extract will evince :— 
 
 14 
 
oe eat pr 
 
 ee ee Cae PEE o> ene 
 
 106 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “Mr. Slater boarded in my father’s family, at which time there 
 were only a few houses, while building his first machinery, and 
 in the course of the year was married to my sister Hannah, who 
 died in 1812, leaving six sons quite young, having buried four 
 children. When the manufacturing business first commenced in 
 Pawtucket, it may be very naturally supposed that it was fre- 
 quently a subject of conversation, especially in a family so im- 
 mediately connected with it. I recollect to have heard frequent 
 conversations on the subject, in which the state and progress of 
 the business was discussed. 
 
 “An attempt to manufacture cotton was made at Derby, in Con- 
 necticut, under the patronage of Colonel Humphreys, late minister 
 to Spain. One at or near Hurlgate, New York, under the patron- 
 age of Mr. Livingston, was commenced, but failed, and was 
 abandoned. I believe nearly all the cotton factories in this coun- 
 try, from 1791 to 1805, were built under the direction of men who 
 had learned the art or skill of building machinery, in Mr. Slater’s 
 employ. Mr. Slater used to spin both warp and filling on the 
 water-frame up to 1803. The operations of manufactories up to 
 1817, were confined to spinning yarn only, which was put out in 
 webs, and wove by hand-loom weavers. Mules for spinning fill- 
 ing had not then been introduced. The cotton used to be put out 
 to poor families in the country, and whipped on cords, stretched 
 on a small frame about three feet square, and the motes and specks 
 were picked out by hand, at four to six cents per pound, as it 
 might be, for cleanness.” | 
 
 From the above, it appears, that at the commencement of the 
 manufacturing business, Mr. Slater was under the necessity of 
 hirmg mechanics, or workmen, in iron and wood, of the then 
 common trades of the country, and teaching them the trade of 
 building machinery; in consequence of which, he made very 
 slow progress, in erecting his first and second establishments ; it 
 being the custom then, and for many years after, not only by him, 
 but of all who went into the business, to erect machine shops ; 
 generally in the basement or first story of the building, where all 
 the machinery was constructed. Tn 17 98, Mr. Slater entered into 
 company with Oziel Wilkinson, Timothy Green, and William 
 Wilkinson, the two latter, as well as himself, having married 
 daughters of Oziel Wilkinson. He built the second mill, on the 
 east side of Pawtucket river, the firm being Samuel Slater & Co., 
 himself holding one half of the stock. 
 
 A short time afterwards, his hands in this mill revolted ; five or 
 six of them went to Cumberland, and erected a small raill, owned 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 107 
 
 by Elisha Waters, and some others named Walcot. From these 
 men and their connections, several factories were commenced in 
 various parts of the country, and in fact most of the establishments 
 erected from 1790 to 1809, were built by men who had, either 
 
 directly or indirectly, drawn their knowledge of the business from 
 - Pawtucket, the cradle of the cotton business. Mr. Slater used to 
 work cotton from Cayenne, Surinam, and Hispaniola, and made 
 first quality of yarn. Some time after, when short cotton began 
 to be used, he mixed about one cera He called the yarn of such, 
 second aides, making fifteen cents per Ib. difference. Thus 
 while No. 12 was eighty-four cents of second quality, No. 12 of 
 first quality was ninety-nine cents per lb. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Slater, on the establishment of the old mill, in- 
 troduced among the labourers therein such regulations, as his pre- 
 vious observations of cotton mills in Derbyshire had shown to be 
 useful and applicable to the circumstances of an American popula- 
 tion. Amongst these, that which every philanthropist will deem 
 the most important, was the system of Sunday-school instruction*— 
 which had been for some time in full operation, at all the mills 
 of Messrs. Strutt and Arkwright, when Mr. Slater left England. 
 
 These schools, the first of the kind in America, are still con- 
 tinued at the present day. ‘They have been copied, and extended 
 with the extension of the cotton manufacture through this country; 
 and they have prompted the establishment of similar schools in 
 our seaport towns and in foreign countries. It was from Pawtucket 
 that they were introduced into Providence in 1815, by the young 
 men of the latter place, one of whom, William Jenkins, had been 
 a clerk with Mr. Slater. These institutions were at first considered 
 
 * Twelve hundred persons are employed in the cotton factories of Mr. 
 ‘Thomas Ashton, of Hide, England. This gentleman has erected commo- 
 dious dwellings for his work-people, with each of which he has connected 
 every convenience that can minister to comfort. He resides in the im- 
 mediate vicinity, and has frequent opportunities of maintaining a cordial | 
 association with his operatives. Their houses are well furnished, clean, — 
 cand their tenants exhibit every indication of health and happiness. Mr. 
 Ashton has aiso built a school, where 640 children, chiefly belonging to his 
 establishment, are instructed on Tuesdays, in ees writing, arithmetic, &c. 
 A library, esieaied with this school, is eagerly raasried to, aod the nAoale 
 frequently read after the hours of ae have expired. Atty infant school is, 
 during the week, attended by 280 children, and in the evenings others are 
 instructed by masters selected for the purpose. The factories themselves 
 are certainly excellent examples of the cleanliness and order which may 
 be attained, by a systematic and persevering attention to the habits of the 
 artisans. 
 
108 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 as charity shang only; ; and the teachers paid by the young men. 
 
 They were subsequently taken under the care and patronage of 
 the different religious societies, by whom they have been made to 
 serve the purpose of biblical instruction. In addition to these 
 schools for Sunday instruction, the establishment and support of 
 common day schools was promoted at all the manufactories in 
 which Mr. Slater was interested ; and in some cases, the teachers 
 were wholly paid by himself. Regular and stated public worship, 
 also, was liberally supported at those points where the people could 
 be most conveniently assembled. A strict, though mild and pater- 
 nal scrutiny of the conduct of the workpeople was maintained ; 
 and prudent and effectual regulations against disorderly and im- 
 moral behaviour secured the peace, harmony, and quiet, of the 
 mill companies. 'The introduction of manufacturing was thus, in 
 every place, a harbinger of moral and intellectual improvement, 
 to the inhabitants of the vicinage, and the numerous operatives * 
 from remote and secluded parts of the country, attracted to the 
 manufacturing villages by the employment, comforts, and con- 
 veniences which they afforded. Hundreds of families of the 
 latter description, originally from places where the general poverty 
 had precluded schools and public worship, brought up illiterate 
 and without religious instruction, and disorderly and vicious in 
 consequence of their lack of regular employment, have been trans- 
 planted to these new creations of skill and enterprise ; and by the 
 ameliorating effects of study, industry, and instruction, have been 
 reclaimed, civilised, Christianised. Not a few of them have accu- 
 mulated and saved, by close application and moderate economy, 
 very handsome estates. Indeed, such have been the blessed re- 
 sults of concentrating and giving employment to a population 
 formerly considered almost useless to the community, that there 
 is among our manufacturing population at this moment, a greater 
 number of males, of from twenty to thirty years old, who are 
 worth from $300 to $1000 each, and of marriageable females 
 worth from $100 to $800 each, than can be found in any popula- 
 tion, out of the manufacturing villages. 
 
 ‘The impulse given to industry and production by the cotton 
 manufacture has not been confined to one branch of business 
 alone ; but has been felt in every sort of employment, useful to the 
 community. We need not, in this place, enlarge upon the close 
 affinity and mutual denenuence of these various employments ; 
 they are obvious to every mind which has acquired the habit of 
 tracing results to their causes in the endless relations of society. 
 As a general fact, it is undoubtedly true, that the advance of our 
 
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 109 
 
 country, in the production and manufacture of wool and iron, has 
 been greatly accelerated by the cotton manufacture ; and that those 
 branches of industry have always been deeply affected by the 
 temporary reverses which this branch has experienced. Mr. Slater 
 was, for many years, and at the time of his death, concerned in 
 - woollen and iron, as well as cotton manufactories ; and his obser- 
 vation and sagacity never suffered him to question the identity of 
 their interests.* 
 
 There was another point on which his views and sentiments, 
 though decried by some, as too disinterested and liberal in any 
 matter of business, were truly wise and sagacious, and fully con- 
 curred in by his partners. He always maintained that legislative 
 protection would be beneficial to himself as well as others,—to 
 those already established in business and having an ample capital, 
 as to those who were just beginning, and with little or no capital. 
 This opinion, maugre all the huckstering calculations and short- 
 sighted views of would-be-monopolists, was certainly the best for 
 himself. Monopoly, in this country, and by any man or set of 
 men subject to our laws, is unattainable, either by legislation or 
 combination. It is, or ought to be, excluded from all the calcula- 
 tions of a sober and practical business mind. 'There was, there- 
 fore, nothing in their preoccupation of the cotton business that 
 gave them an advantage over other manufacturers, except their 
 skill and capital. Of these advantages, legislation could not or 
 would not deprive them; and with them on their side, they could 
 extend their investments as fast, certainly with as much profit, as 
 those who were without them, or with capital only. Events have 
 fully sustained these views. ‘The fostering protection of the 
 government, up to the election of the president who now is, brought 
 forward and established many adventurers who had begun with- 
 out money or skill, but have since acquired both; whilst those 
 
 *Their subsequent business, up to the year 1806, turned their thoughts 
 upon a more extended investment in spinning. John Slater, brother of 
 Samuel, had arrived from England, and had, most probably, brought with 
 him a knowledge of the recent improvements of the English spinners. The 
 now flourishing village of Slatersville, in Smithfield, was then projected ; 
 and John Slater embarked as a partner, and in June of the same year, re- 
 moved to Smithfield as superintendent of the concern. In the spring of 1807, 
 the works were sufficiently advanced for spinning; and they have been, up 
 to the present time, under the very prosperous management of that gentle- 
 man, in an uninterrupted state of improvement. This fine estate was first 
 owned, in equal quarters, by the four original partners, but now wholly 
 belongs to John Slater and the heirs of his late brother. 
 
110 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 who preceded them in the business are, generally, as far in advance 
 of them as they were before. In the measures adopted by the 
 manufacturing districts of our country to obtain this protection, 
 Mr. Slater was ever a prominent and efficient man; and his name 
 was affixed to the memorials from the people of this vicinity, from 
 time to time presented in the two houses of congress.* 
 
 The impression, that Mr. Slater was “an obscure, humble emi- 
 grant,” was a sentiment more general than correct, Few young 
 men were better situated for advancement in life in his own coun- 
 
 * A question has been made concerning the constitutional right of the 
 government of the United States to apply this species of encouragement ; 
 but there is certainly no good foundation for such a question. The national 
 legislature has express authority “ To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, 
 and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and gene- 
 ral welfare,” with no other qualifications than that “all duties, imposts, and 
 excises, shall be wniform throughout the United States: that no capitation 
 or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to numbers ascertained 
 by a census or enumeration taken on the principles prescribed in the consti- 
 tution ;” and that “no tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any 
 state.” These three qualifications excepted, the power to raise money is 
 plenary and indefinite; and the objects to which it may be appropriated are 
 no less comprehensive, than the payment of the public debts, and the pro- 
 viding for the common defence and general welfare. The terms “general 
 welfare” were, doubtless, intended to signify more than was expressed or 
 imported in those which preceded ; otherwise numerous exigencies, incident 
 to the affairs of a nation, would have been left without a provision. 
 
 The phrase is as comprehensive as any that could have been used ; because 
 it was not fit that the constitutional authority of the Union, to appropriate 
 its revenues, should have been restricted within narrower limits than the 
 “general welfare ;” and because this necessarily embraces a vast variety of 
 particulars, which are susceptible neither of specification nor of definition. 
 It is therefore of necessity left to the discretion of the national legislature, to 
 pronounce upon the objects, which concern the “ general welfare,” and for 
 which, under that description, an appropriation of money is requisite and 
 proper. And there seems to be no room fora doubt, that whatever concerns 
 the general interests of learning, of agriculture, of manufactures, and of 
 commerce, are within the sphere of the national councils, as far as regards 
 an application of money. The only qualification of the generality of the 
 phrase in question, which seems to be admissible, is this,—that the object, 
 to which an appropriation of money is to be made, be general and not local ; 
 its Operation extending, in fact, or by possibility, throughout the Union, and 
 not being confined to a particular spot. No objection ought to arise to this 
 construction, from a supposition that it should imply a power to do whatever 
 else should appear to congress conducive to the general welfare, A power 
 to. appropriate muney with this latitude, which is granted in express terms, 
 would not carry a power to do any other thing, not authorised in the consti- 
 tution, either expressly or by fair implication.—Hamilton’s Report. 
 
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 Terry, Pelton & Co.Se. 
 
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 PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. lil 
 
 try ; and few in this had more resources at his age than he. Moses 
 Brown’s plain manner of speaking of the partner of his son-in-law, 
 led, in some measure, to this mistake ; and Mr. Slater, if he knew 
 it, would never take the pains to explain his condition, or do any 
 thing to disabuse public opinion with regard to his personal 
 affairs; for he was never known to boast of any thing relating to 
 himself, whether of property or abilities, being ever acknowledged | 
 a modest, unassuming man. Capital alone is not worthy of credit, 
 unless associated with moral qualities in the tradesman ; for a 
 prudent man of great industry, integrity, and knowledge in his 
 business, is more worthy of credit without eapital, than a rich 
 man, ignorant of his business. Persons who begin with large 
 capitals do not succeed, generally speaking, so well as those who 
 begin with smal] ones cautiously administered. 
 
 It is proper, perhaps, to close this chapter with an extract from 
 a “Short Sketch of the Life of Slater,” in the Providence Journal: 
 
 “Such are the outlines of the business life of a man, whose skill 
 and knowledge of detail, in a business which, up to the time of 
 his appearance among us, was unknown to this community, were 
 unrivaled, whose commercial views were of the most liberal and 
 enlightened character,—whose energy, perseverance, and untiring 
 diligence, aided in his early efforts by the money and countenance 
 of those who justly appreciated his merits and confidently antici- 
 pated his eminence, have triumphed over obstacles which would 
 have discouraged others ; have given a new direction to the indus- 
 try of his adopted country, and opened a new and boundless field 
 to its enterprise. It has rarely fallen to the lot of any single indi- 
 vidual to be made an instrument, under Providence, of so much 
 and such widely diffused benefit to his fellow-men, as this man 
 has conferred upon them, without any pretension to high-wrought 
 philanthropy, in the ordinary, unostentatious pursuit of that pro- 
 fession to which he had been educated, as a means of honest and 
 creditable living. Yet, unpretending as he was, and noiseless in 
 that sublimated charity, which is now so fashionable and predomi- 
 nant, his sympathy for the distressed, and his kindness and good 
 will for all, were ever warm, active, practical, and efficient 
 Sentiments ; based upon steadfast principles, and aiming at the 
 greatest attainable measure of good. In the relief of immediate 
 and pressing want he was prompt and liberal. In the measures 
 which he adopted for its prevention in future, he evinced paternal 
 feeling and judicious forecast. Employment and liberal pay to 
 the able-bodied promoted regularity and cheerfulness in the house, 
 and drove the wolf from its door. ‘Direct charity,’ he has been 
 
| , a 
 112 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. Wy °. 
 
 heard to say, ‘places its recipient under a sense of obligation which 
 
 trenches upon that independent spirit that all should maintain. It _ 
 breaks his pride, and he soon learns to beg and eat the bread of — 
 
 idleness without a blush. But employ and pay him, and he re- 
 ceives and enjoys, with honest pride, that which he knows he has 
 earned, and could have received for the same amount of labour 
 from any other employer.’ It would be well for all communities 
 if such views, on the subject of pauperism, were generally adopted 
 and carried into practice. Itis hardly necessary to state, concern- 
 ing one who has done so much business, and with so great success, 
 that his business habits and morals were of the highest character. 
 The punctual performance of every engagement, in its true spirit 
 and meaning, was, with him, a point of honour, from which no 
 consideration of temporary or prospective advantage would induce 
 him to depart; from which no sacrifice of money or feeling were 
 sufficient to deter him. ‘There was a method and arrangement in 
 his transactions by which every thing was duly, and at the proper 
 time attended to. Nothing was hurried from its proper place, 
 nothing was postponed beyond its proper time. It was thus that 
 transactions the most varied, intricate, and extensive, deeply affect- 
 ing, and affected by, the general business of three adjoining states, 
 and extending their influence to thousands of individuals, pro- 
 ceeded from their first inception to their final consummation, with 
 an order, a regularity and certainty, truly admirable and instruc- 
 tive. The master’s mind was equally present and apparent in 
 
 every thing; from the imposing mass of the total to the most 
 
 minute particular of its component parts.” 
 
: i MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 113 
 
 CHAPTER IV. — » 
 MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 
 
 “ There is no artist, or man of industry, who mixeth judgment with his practice, but 
 findeth in the travail of his labour, better and nearer courses to make perfect the beauty 
 of his work, than were at first presented to the eye of his knowledge.” 
 
 We have already seen that manufacturing establishments exert 
 a powerful and permanent influence in their immediate neighbour- 
 hoods, and time, if not already, will teach the lesson, that they 
 will stamp indelible traits upon our moral and national character. 
 
 _ Evidences abound, wherever man exists, that his character is 
 
 modified by localities, by a diversity of pursuits, by a facility of 
 acquiring a living, by the quality and fashion of the living itself, 
 by a restrained or free exercise of his rational powers, and by 
 restraint on the enjoyment of liberty. Different climates and 
 different countries produce indelible peculiarities. In the same 
 climate and in the same country similar changes appear, from the 
 effects of immoral habits, and from what may be termed artificial 
 or mechanical causes. ‘The effects of immoral habits are well 
 known to all observers of human nature. 
 
 Those pursuing different occupations are aware that these exert 
 an influence upon character, producing moral, no less than phy- 
 sical, varieties. For example, butchers become hard-hearted and 
 _ eruel, and in England are excluded from the jury-box ; those who 
 are confined to a particular routine against their will, eaaisin and 
 discontented ; those who are always ordered or drindey and expect 
 to be so, exercise little control or discernment for titel ie 
 
 Manufacturing establishments become a blessing or a curse 
 - according to the facilities which they create for acquiring a living, 
 to the necessary articles which they provide, and the general 
 character which they produce. ‘To set up and encourage the 
 manufacturing of such articles, the use and demand of which 
 produces no immoral tendency, is one of the best and most moral 
 uses which can be made of capital. The moral manufacturer, 
 without the power or disposition to overreach, is in reality a bene- 
 factor. The acquisition of wealth in this way, is the most laudable. 
 In point of benevolence and real worth of character, it claims a 
 decided advantage over the cent per cent. process of accumulation. 
 
 15 
 
wee 
 
 me 
 
 114 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 Some have not the requisite ability to carry on manufacturing 
 establishments ; capital, then, with great propriety is loaned to 
 those who es The ard influence of a community is not 
 promoted by creating or submitting to a manufacturing, or any 
 other aristocracy, solely in the pursuit of interest, in which selfish- 
 ness is wont to eh 
 The manufacturing interest, in a flourishing state, naturally 
 
 creates power and ey ealth, The value of labetis and the value of 
 money are then at his disposal; but, in this free country, there is 
 a sufficient counteracting influence to keep up the price of labour 
 and to equalise the prices of their commodities with the value of 
 the products of the earth. Without such a resisting power, a few 
 would abound in wealth and influence, while the multitude would 
 be in poverty and reduced to servitude. But there always exists a 
 counteracting influence in the rival establishments, and the gene- 
 ral spirit of enterprise. On the supposition that the manufacturing 
 interest was strictly benevolent and moral, dispensing its favours 
 according to merit and precisely as they are needed, the commu- 
 nity might not be losers by such a state of things. ‘This must be 
 always the case where a people are left free to use and purchase 
 according to their free choice. With the common experience of 
 mankind, it could not be expected so. Only a few look beyond 
 their own interest ; when that is provided for, the employed who 
 have assisted in the provision, are left to shift for themselves. 
 Benevolence is not so general among mankind as to expect it 
 uniformly. But in the progress of manufactures among us, every 
 department becomes interested in its prosperity, the operatives 
 receive a greater emolument for their services than in any other 
 part of the world, whilst capital receives but a small interest, 
 compared with other branches of industry. With such a po 
 established merely by selfishness, morality is promoted so far and 
 no further, than interest; but the promotion of morals becomes 
 their interest. And if religion appears something in name or in 
 sectarianism, more than in reality, still its promotion is for the 
 interest of the whole community. It is said, on the presumption 
 that the capitalists are aiming at their personal wealth, the facility 
 for acquiring a fair compensation becomes less and less at every 
 pressure. A rise of wages is then adapted to convenience or 
 pleasure. But it must be remembered, that the pressure bears as 
 heavy on the employer as the employed, and renders him liable to 
 lose all the earnings of many years of labour, and the savings of 
 much self-denial, and render him poor and dependent. ‘There are 
 two sides to this question, and the operatives in good times ought 
 
a 
 
 7 MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 115 
 
 to lay up for time of need. Then they would not be obliged to 
 bring their labour into market the best way they can, to obtain 
 their daily bread. 'T'o take advantage of such a position, is one 
 of the greatest immoralities. ‘The liability of its consequences 
 are as bad in creating discord and producing civil commotions. 
 _ But the owners of factories are not known to stop their mills till 
 obliged by dire necessity : they generally run them till they become 
 bankrupt. 'The real power belongs to the labouring class; no one 
 ought to expect to employ this without paying for it, and no one 
 does expect it. It is power when rightly used, and most often 
 ceases to be so when abused. Those who are so thoughtless, 
 negligent, or squandering, as to trust wholly to the present occa- 
 sion for a bare subsistence, can hardly be thought powerful. com- 
 pared with what they would be did not necessity compel them to 
 take what they can get for the present occasion. It is a mistaken 
 notion to suppose the manufacturing interest promoted by creating 
 poverty, or, in the end, by heavy reduction of wages. ‘The articles 
 manufactured very soon sink in like proportion, and the profits are 
 swallowed up in the payment of the operative. Besides these con- 
 sequences, the ability to purchase does not exist, a consideration 
 which more or less affects the value of every article brought into 
 market. 
 
 Our day has witnessed the surprising effects of the ingenuity of 
 man, in calling into existence and putting in operation labour- 
 saving machinery. If it would be, in reality, promoting human 
 existence and human happiness in our present character and con- 
 dition, that our food should come to us ready made, our habita- 
 ‘tions ready built, our conveyances already in motion, and our 
 understandings already improved—the nearer we approach such 
 a state of things the better. 
 
 But if not—if the desires and pursuits of objects be no less bless- 
 ings than their possessions—if human nature be bettered, and the 
 grand object of existence benefited by employment—there must be 
 a point beyond which to obtain food and clothing and other things, 
 without application, would be objectionable. To be moral and 
 desirable, labour-saving machinery must bring along with it some 
 particular benefit to the community, as well as to individuals. 
 
 This may be such as more than compensates for the many 
 losses which are sustained in some countries, in consequence of 
 the improvement. When it was proposed to introduce printing 
 into the Prussian dominions, the king objected by saying, it would 
 throw forty thousand amanuenses out of employment. After 
 printing went into operation, to ameliorate the condition of those 
 
 f 
 
 ae 
 
116 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 who were thrown out of employment, the Prussian government 
 made a law that the initial letters should be omitted by the printers, 
 in order that they might be executed by the amanuensis at a high 
 compensation. That they performed these letters with great 
 ingenuity, and in a manner difficult to be imitated, may be seen 
 from a copy of a bible now in possession of the antiquarian society 
 at Worcester, Mass. It must have been a calamity for so many 
 to be thrown from their pursuits, and be deprived of the means of 
 getting a livelihood. 'The benefit resulting from the introduction 
 compensated for this loss, more than ten-fold. ‘This is one, among 
 many instances of human invention, which wonderfully adds to 
 the dignity and happiness of mankind. 
 
 The first introduction of Hargreaves’ and of ,Arkwright’s ma- 
 chinery into England, was not only met with objections, but with 
 popular vengeance. It threatened a speedy destruction to every 
 jenny and water-frame in England, and so in appearance carried 
 in its motions frightful evils. The anticipated evils actually hap- 
 pened; hand spinning met with a speedy overthrow, and those 
 who had earned a few pence per day in following it, were com- 
 pelled to resort to other employments, and perhaps to be employed. 
 in manufacturing on the new plan which they had laboured to 
 oppose. 
 
 Similar feelings and similar consequences have happened and 
 are still happening in America. Manufacturing, instead of going 
 on quietly and single-handed in private families, with immense 
 labour, grows into large establishments, which employ and bring 
 into association, masses of population. 
 
 This position is moral or immoral according as it furnishes 
 proper stimulants for industry and for exertion, and for improving 
 and directing the mental powers and principles. With little or no 
 inducements or expectation of emerging from a state of ignorance, 
 with no schools, no moral or religious instruction, the lability is 
 great for an introduction of all the evils which the opposers of 
 manufacturing establishments have often predicted. 
 
 It is well known that vice grows worse by contact with its kind. 
 If it can be proved that manufacturing establishments tend to ac- 
 cumulate, consolidate, and perpetuate, vicious propensities, and 
 their consequences, on the community, this will serve as no incon- 
 siderable drawback upon the apparent prosperity which is in- 
 dicated in their immediate vicinity. If found so, the condition 
 must be charged directly to the establishments or to their con- 
 sequences and abuses. It is evidently an abuse to collect a mass 
 of vicious population, and keep them in a state of ignorance and 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 11g 
 
 irreligion. When this is done, the whole community have a right 
 to complain. If it can be shown that such things are frequently 
 done—it is contended that they are not necessary consequences 
 of manufacturing establishments. The owners of such establish- 
 ments have it in their power to change the current of vice from 
 its filthy and offensive channel, and make peace, order, and com- 
 fort among those they employ. 
 
 The dependence between the employed and employers should 
 be mutual. But by employing vicious, improvident, and indigent 
 characters, the dependence falls mostly on one side—yet it is a 
 benefit to the community that such a class should find employ- 
 ment and support. 'Though in some countries, oppression ensues, 
 poverty and vice show their dismal and disorderly features, and 
 then the honest, upright, and intelligent, are driven from the 
 establishment, and perhaps from the employment ; better things 
 ean be spoken of this country, where the honest, upright, and in- 
 telligent, have always a preference. Such are leaving the old 
 world, they are disappearing, and many of them are in the west, 
 engaged in other employments. Pursuing such a policy, by and 
 by, only the dregs are left, and then without looking for the causes, 
 it appears that factories have been the immediate cause of all the 
 mischief. On a candid enquiry, it is seen to be the abuse, and 
 therefore not chargeable to a proper use. 
 
 Slater, the founder of the cotton manufacture in America, 
 abundantly demonstrated, that under right management, they had 
 no immoral tendency. On the contrary, he made it appear, that 
 they might be serviceable to the most moral purposes. Following 
 the plan instituted by Arkwright & Strutt in England, taking the 
 oversight of the instruction and morals of those he employed, and 
 instituting and keeping up sabbath schools, he successfully com- 
 bated the natural tendency of accumulating vice, ignorance and 
 poverty. Such remedies not only prevented their occurrence, but 
 had a tendency to remove them, when they actually existed. 
 
 Industry, directed by honest and intelligent views in moral 
 pursuits, and honourably rewarded, holds a very high rank among 
 moral causes. 'T'o maintain good order and sound government, 
 it is more efficient than the sword or bayonet. At the anniversary 
 dinner of the public schools in Boston, the following toast was 
 given by Edward Everett— Education—A better safeguard for 
 liberty, than a standing army. If we retrench the wages of the 
 schoolmaster, we must raise the wages of the recruiting sergeant.” 
 So far as manufacturing establishments have promoted industry, 
 and furnished means for an honest livelihood, thus far they have 
 
— ee ee eee 
 
 118 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 exerted a salutary influence on the character of those who have 
 been employed. Multitudes of women and children have been 
 kept out of vice, simply by being employed, and instead of being 
 destitute, provided with an abundance for a comfortable sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 Those who are furnished with an opportunity, and are trained 
 up to lay by in store—moderate and regular returning means, to 
 be used at some future day—are invariably superior in point of 
 character to those who have not. It is not so when means flow 
 excessive and irregular. Many a youth has been ruined by 
 beginning with large wages, and having in prospect plenty of 
 money. 
 
 It is believed that there may be found more young men and 
 women, who have laid-up a few hundred dollars, or even a few 
 thousands, by being employed in manufacturing establishments, 
 than among those who have followed other employments. 
 
 On the score of employment, manufacturing establishments have 
 done much to support the best interests of society. It appears 
 also, at the present time, that they have done so by their improve- 
 ments. On the supposition that one or a few individuals, by the 
 invention of labour-saving machinery, succeed, so as to furnish 
 any particular article much cheaper than it could be done in the 
 ordinary way, in this country where it deprives no one of a living, 
 and goes to forward and hasten the general improvement, it can- 
 not fail to be a benefit to the community. The diminution of 
 price in the articles has been such, that the people have been doubly 
 paid for all the protection granted; and commerce has been 
 benefited by the opening of a foreign market. 'The failures and 
 fluctuations in the manufacturing establishments have arisen 
 from their weak and incipient state, and the competition of Euro- 
 pean fabrics. ‘This cause appears greater than want of manage- 
 ment and calculation, for the same men have alternately succeeded 
 and failed on the same ground. 
 
 Fluctuations, whatever may be the cause, and whether they re- 
 late to business, morality, or religion, exert a wide influence on 
 individual and national character. Those to which we are here 
 attending, give currency to monstrous species of swindling, and 
 form a most suitable juncture for unprincipled and unfeeling 
 knavery to grasp with an unsparing hand, while industry and 
 honesty are thrown into the back ground, or kicked out of doors. 
 When such occurrences happen, and the intriguer goes off reward- 
 ed and applauded, while the honest man is stripped, despised and 
 neglected, they give a turn to the whole character of the commu- 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 119 
 
 nity. ‘The flooding our cities with foreign importations has had 
 this kind of tendency, and produced those evil effects. 
 
 Shrewdness and over-reaching are common events. Morality, 
 however much respected in principle, is extremely liable to be set 
 aside in practice. These are some of the bad tendencies of seek- 
 ing out many useless inventions, and too eager a grasp after traffic 
 and exchange of property, or what is technically called speculation. 
 The acquisition and possession of property, are made the main 
 objects of existence, whether it be needed or not. On the other 
 hand, it will be granted, that every objection vanishes, when 
 mechanical inventions acquire permanency, and can be subjected 
 to the regularity of calculations. It may dignify and exalt man 
 to triumph over the known laws of nature, and bring out the 
 hidden treasures of air, earth, and water, in tame submission to 
 his use. For aught we can discern, it would have no injurious 
 effect upon his character, could he extend his journeys and re- 
 searches further than this globe. One thing is certain, the more 
 he studies and understands the works of nature and Providence, 
 the greater will be his admiration of the display and application 
 of wisdom and goodness. If applied as intended, the more of the 
 resources which have been provided he brings into action, the 
 more he adds to his true dignity and happiness. 
 
 Contrivances to favour selfish views and selfish ends are com- 
 mon to the animal creation. 'The human family are distinguished 
 from the infinity of being, only by a greater possession and cul- 
 tivation of moral and intellectual faculties. Unlike the most of 
 the animal creation, man is left to provide for himself. Strength 
 and powers are given him, objects are placed before him, and the 
 strongest conceivable motives presented to use this world as not 
 abusing it. 
 
 There must be a limit, beyond which refinement will be ob- 
 jectionable. When excessive it is a precursor of a relapse in 
 civilisation. 
 
 When wealth and its appearance abound, children are most 
 often brought up in idleness, and indulged in extravagance. Sup- 
 posing labour a burden, and retrenchment the ruin of happiness, 
 they are made liable to be overtaken by poverty, and with their 
 last energies and ruined characters to be plunged in real misery. 
 Individual calamities of this description, as they accumulate, 
 become national calamities, and foment domestic dissentions. 
 Suffering pride is all the while meditating revenge. It has nothing 
 to lose and will endure any thing to regain what it has lost. Ap- 
 pearances and extravagances are prominent causes of dissention, 
 
120 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 when a part are rioting, anda part are suffering. Distinctions of 
 rank are introduced. Individuals and nations who have run into 
 excesses in making and maintaining such distinctions, sooner or 
 later, are wont to be caught in their own snares. Poverty feels 
 the burden of degradation when the power is lost to remove it. 
 
 In the present happy condition of the manufacturing districts, 
 there are no advantages enjoyed by the rich, that are not reciprocat- 
 ed with the poor. Labour was never better paid, and the labourer 
 more respected, at any period, or in any part of the world, than 
 itis at present among us. And that man is not a friend to the 
 poor who endeavours to make those dissatisfied with their present 
 condition, who cannot hope, by any possibility of circumstances, 
 to be bettered by a change. ‘This is emphatically the poor man’s 
 country.” | 
 
 MORAL EFFECTS OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 In all the efforts that have hitherto been made for the improve- 
 ment of the country, by means of rail roads and canals, reference 
 has been made to their physical advantage only. In executive 
 recommendations, and the application for chartered companies to 
 construct these works, the enhanced value of lands through which 
 they pass; the importance of establishing communications between 
 commercial cities ; the facilities they afford for conveyance of pro- 
 duce to market; the securing the trade of distant regions, to the 
 ports of our own states, are the principal reasons which are urged 
 
 * The philanthropist and the political philosopher will enquire, what is 
 the physical and moral condition of the vast population employed in manu- 
 factures ? The workmen who construct or attend upon all these machines 
 are not to be confounded with the machines themselves, or their wear and 
 tear regarded as a mere arithmetical question. They are men, reasonable, 
 accountable men; they are citizens; they constitute no mean part of the 
 support and strength of the state; on their intelligence and virtue, or their 
 vices and degradation, depend in a considerable measure not only the cha- 
 racter of the present age, but of posterity ; their interests are as valuable in 
 the eyes of the moralist as those of the classes who occupy higher stations, 
 yet the enquiry should be, not if the manufacturing population are subject 
 to the ills common to humanity, not if there is not much to be lamented, 
 but what is their condition compared with others. It is the destiny of man 
 to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; idleness, improvidence, and 
 dissoluteness, are found in our large cities, and are invariably the parents of 
 wretchedness ; every where, people of all ages and conditions are liable to 
 disease and death. The principal considerations are, the command which 
 the working classes have over the necessaries and comforts of life, their 
 health, their intelligence, and their morals. 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 121 
 
 upon us why they should be constructed. These indeed are suffi- 
 cient, if no other could be given, to justify all the expenditures 
 already made to establish such communications, and many more, 
 as soon as the country can bear it. But their moral effects on the 
 community must not be lost sight of by the philanthropist. The 
 effect of an extensive internal commerce, in as large a country as 
 this, on morals and the arts, science and literature, as subservient 
 to morals and religion, are too obvious and important long to 
 escape the notice of an attentive observer. All experience proves 
 that good morals never did, and never can exist, among an indo- 
 lent people, and people who are poor in consequence of their 
 indolence. “Idleness is the parent of many vices,” says an old 
 proverb, and none more true was ever spoken. But in districts far 
 from convenient markets, idleness is inevitable. Never will men 
 labour in any employment if they can avoid it, unless they can 
 foresee some pecuniary advantages sufficient to reward them for 
 their pains-taking. On the contrary, they are too apt, for want 
 of due encouragement to industrious habits, to throw away their 
 time in worse than useless idleness and dissipation. Whoever has 
 experienced the difficulties attendant on almost all efforts for the 
 moral advancement of a poor and scattered population, without 
 this encouragement, and compares them with the facilities afforded 
 by thriving towns and villages, inhabited and surrounded by an 
 industrious and happy people, will see at once that whatever tends 
 to improve the physical condition of man, must, as it renders him 
 more comfortable, conduce, in no small degree, to the improvement 
 of his morals ; and that (whatever some may have dreamed other- 
 wise), in real life, poverty, from want of encouragement to industry, 
 is a condition very unfavourable to the practice of virtue. If a 
 people, under these circumstances, are ever moral in their deport- 
 ment, no credit is due to their condition for it. Let our legislators 
 be assured, that while they are extending towards its completion 
 that system of improvement planned and hitherto carried forward 
 with so much wisdom, they are putting into operation a moral 
 machine which, in proportion as it facilitates a constant and rapid 
 communication between all parts of our land, tends most effec- 
 tually to perfect the civilisation, and elevate the moral character, 
 of the people. 
 
 The general amelioration in the moral condition of communi- 
 ties, by the healthful encouragement of internal industry, and by 
 affording proper aids to the development of national resources, is 
 well worthy of the serious attention of legislators. An idle popu- 
 lation is ever vicious and degraded; and perhaps the perpetuity 
 
 16 
 
122 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of free institutions and with them a sound state of public morals, 
 cannot exist among a people whose energies are not kept con- 
 stantly in play by the pursuit of some incessant productive employ- 
 ment. Let us look at the contrast given in the following sketch 
 by a North American resident in South America :— 
 
 “Tt is impossible to look at the present state of our neighbour- 
 
 ing republics without a mingled feeling of pity for the weakness, | 
 
 and. of contempt for the inefficiency, of their governments. ‘The 
 first out-breaking of the revolution there was hailed by the people 
 of this country with enthusiastic joy, as the grand step towards 
 the formation of other governments equally happy with our own ; 
 because based upon like principles, and aspiring to like ends. ‘The 
 success of their undertaking we confidently predicted, for, for them 
 it was not reserved to try the first grand experiment,—that trial 
 had been ours; and when the potentates of Europe, following our 
 example, had come forward and acknowledged the independence 
 of those republics, we felt that we, as a nation, were not alone,— 
 that another, as promising, had risen up to prove the practicability 
 of a new and a distrusted form of government ;—we felt that a new 
 light had dawned upon the hitherto benighted half of the great 
 western world, which was to guide them to freedom and happi- 
 ness, and we exulted in the prospect of the noble contrast about to 
 be presented to the tyranny and despotism of the Hast. But the 
 day-star of their liberty was the brightest at its dawn. Instead of 
 increasing in splendour as it rose, its rays beamed fainter and 
 fainter, till at length, it is now almost totally obscured in the mists 
 of error, discord, and confusion. 
 
 “ And we are naturally led to enquire, in view of these facts, 
 into the cause of this. Weare ata loss to account for this lament- 
 able failure of reaching that high stand which the world was led 
 
 to believe the new republics would take,—we compare their first. 
 
 efforts with ours, and we find them equal; indeed, more than 
 equal. While ours were furthered and sustained by petition and 
 remonstrance, and partook more of the character of mild persua- 
 sion than of determined opposition, their first efforts were accom- 
 panied with the heat and the fury of sanguinary conflict; and 
 their hopes of redress were founded solely on the extermination of 
 their oppressors. 
 
 ‘‘How sad is the prospect which, to-day, is presented to our 
 view, in sight of all the nobleness of enterprise and undertaking 
 which characterised the first efforts of our sister republics ! There 
 can be no hope of their stability, under their present forms of govern- 
 ment. 'The people have shown themselves unequal to the task of 
 
 ’ 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 123 
 
 supporting it; they do not understand, neither can they practise 
 upon, the principles of self-government. And the grand secret ot 
 all this inability lies in the universal propensity of the people to 
 indolence, in their want of enterprise, and in the listlessness which 
 must infallibly spring from such propensity. All the better feel- 
 ings of that people were called into action in the moment of rebel- 
 lion ; they were kept alive and nurtured by a constant series of 
 almost unhoped for successes in the grand struggle; and, at such 
 a time, the men who weighed the most in the scale of popularity, 
 and who were looked up to, by the lower orders, with reverence 
 and respect, were military men,—men who had risen by their 
 valour, or their patriotism, or their zeal in the common cause, to a 
 comparatively high and dignified station. While the stru sole lasted, 
 there was no want of energy, or stability, or perseverance among 
 them ; the confusion and turmoil of the revolutionary era seemed 
 admirably calculated to give to each and every man an opportu- 
 nity to display himself in the sphere peculiarly adapted to his 
 powers; and thus all were occupied and satisfied. 
 
 “But the contention at last ceased, and the time came when it 
 was found necessary to re-organise the government, and establish 
 it upon the principles for which they had fought.. With that 
 moment commenced the troubles and internal divisons which have 
 since brought the country to the verge of ruin. Intriguing and 
 ambitious men had grown up in the midst of them,—hundreds of 
 young officers, whose education had been purely military, and 
 whose views and ambitions were limited to one point, were stopped 
 short in their career, and left, without a single resource in them- 
 selves, to plot and plan the means of their own advancement in the 
 sphere of action to which they had so fondly looked forward, and 
 for which they believed themselves solely fitted. Among the more 
 advanced in age and acquirements,—those who had taken a more 
 immediate and active part in the strife just finished,—patriotism, 
 love of country, zeal in the advancement of the national interests, 
 all were buried and forgotten in the all-absorbing consideration of 
 how they might secure to themselves, against the pretensions of 
 the less experienced, those temporary advantages and emoluments 
 of station which were theirs at the close of the revolution. 
 
 “ Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and domestic industry, 
 although never much attended to, were now less thought of than 
 ever. ‘They depended entirely upon Europe and North America 
 for the ordinary supplies of the most essential necessaries of life. 
 With a soil the most fertile, and an extent of country sufficient to 
 furnish a supply to half the world, they are still dependent upon 
 
4 
 124 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 North America for the flour they consume. With their prairies 
 teeming with millions of cattle, they are still dependent, in a great 
 measure, upon foreign countries for their butter and cheese. The 
 mechanic and higher arts are attended to almost exclusively by 
 foreigners; indeed, wherever energy, or enterprise, or industry, 1s 
 requisite, the native plays but a poor part in competition with the 
 foreigner. This can be easily accounted for: in the first place 
 by their excessive indolence, and in the second by a sort of heredi- 
 tary pride and loftiness of feeling, which will not suffer them to 
 follow any acknowledged trade or occupation ; and which feeling, 
 so far from rendering them superior, either in attainments or 
 appearance, places them actually far below the ordinary standard 
 of mediocrity. Many or most of their young men are living, and 
 must continue to live, upon the scanty resources of their impover- 
 ished parents, some of whom, from a state of high affluence, have 
 been reduced to comparative poverty by the destructive internal 
 dissensions, which have laid waste and ravaged the country, and 
 shaken, to their basis, her institutions since the revolution. 
 
 “ How striking the contrast that our own land, or at least New 
 England, presents! Where, among us, is found the youth, affluent 
 or not, high-bred or low, who acknowledges neither occupation 
 or profession? It is, among us, as deep a stigma as exists, that 
 cast upon him who neglects to adopt some means of rendering his 
 natural faculties subservient to one grand end of our being—that 
 of usefulness and assistance to our fellow-men,—and who refuses 
 to occupy that station among them to which he seems called by 
 the particular circumstances and wants of the age, and for which 
 his Creator has fully endowed him, with peculiar faculties and- 
 advantages. 
 
 “What a striking difference do we perceive in the morals, the 
 feelings, and the habits, of the two people! While the billiard- 
 rooms and the gaming-houses of the one are overflowing with the 
 flower of her young men, and fitting them for any thing save for 
 the performance of their duty in the approaching struggle of life, 
 the workshops and colleges of the other are giving birth to men 
 who are to supply the places and walk in the paths their fathers 
 trod,—who are to further the interests and contribute to the re- 
 spectability and importance of the nation,—young men who are 
 eminently fitted to enlarge upon and improve the present system 
 of things,—to give force and influence to the virtues, and reform 
 the abuses of those who have gone before them. 
 
 “National grandeur and elevation of standing are founded, we 
 may say solely, on the industry and enterprise of the people. ‘The 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 125 
 
 wealth and power of a nation have their existence in them, and 
 the hopes of a nation’s prosperity, advancement, and continuance, 
 are, and can be, founded on nothing else. How all-important, 
 then, in view of this, is that great branch of national industry, its 
 manufactures! How evident is the fact that, without them, the 
 noble fabric of our national hopes, and happiness, and freedom, 
 would want, perhaps, the most efficient pillar of its support! The 
 contrast that exists between the moral condition of our own coun- 
 try and that of the South American republics, is too striking to 
 fail of attracting the attention of any one at all conversant with 
 the facts of the case; and we have dwelt thus far on the subject, 
 from the consideration, that thus might be afforded a fresh proof 
 of the superiority, in every point of view, of a nation whose prin- 
 cipal resources are in the industry, energy, and enterprise of its 
 people.” 
 
 DOCUMENTARY TESTIMONY ON THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF 
 MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 The following circular was addressed to several heads of manu- 
 facturing establishments :— 
 
 1. Are there any laws existing in the New England states by which the 
 manufacturers of cotton and wool are prevented from the too constant 
 employment of children? Or from the employment of those of too tender 
 age? Would not such laws prove very salutary ? 
 
 2. How old are the youngest children usually employed? Are children 
 under fifteen years of age often deprived of opportunities of schooling, by 
 unremitted employment in cotton or woollen factories ? 
 
 3. Are there not many cotton establishments in which no children under 
 fifteen years are employed? And is this the case with woollen establish- 
 ments ? 
 
 4. Are there not many establishments where the proprietors have adopted 
 a regulation, by which children are allowed to work only a portion of the 
 time, with a view that opportunity for schooling may be enjoyed by them ? 
 And to what age does this regulation apply ? 
 
 5. What is the probable proportion of children under fifteen years, to those 
 over fifteen, and adults, employed in cotton factories? What is the propor- 
 tion in woollen ? 
 
 6. Are there any factories in New England in which the proprietors em- 
 ploy one set of hands by day and another during the night ? 
 
 7. How many hours are the operatives employed? Please to specify 
 them. Is there an entire conformity in all the factories ? 
 
 8. Do the females employed generally live with their parents, or at 
 boarding-houses? And what are the disadvantages attending the system of 
 boarding houses? Are they well regulated, or too large to admit of careful 
 supervision ? 
 
 9. Are instances of immorality in consequence of the employment of both 
 sexes together, frequent, or otherwise ? 
 
126 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 10. Do the females employed in these factories generally lay up their 
 earnings, or spend the amount in dress? Are savings banks used by the 
 operatives for depositing their surplus gains ? 
 
 11. Are first-day or Sunday schools generally established in manufacturing 
 villages, and attended by the children ? 
 
 12. Are there auxiliary tract societies established generally in these 
 villages, for the purpose of disseminating, at a cheap rate, the excellent 
 moral and religious publications of the American Tract Society? Could 
 not individuals undertake so laudable a work singly ? 
 
 13. Is it supposed that those persons employed in cotton and woollen 
 manufactories are equally healthy with such as pursue agriculture? If so, 
 can you mention any facts in corroboration ? 
 
 14. What proportion of the operatives accumulate property? and what 
 classes are generally improvident? Do you not suppose that some of the 
 families who find employment in factories, would, if it were not for such 
 employment, be chargeable to town as paupers ? 
 
 15. Will you enumerate some of the most striking advantages which have 
 resulted to your town or neighbourhood, by the introduction of manufac- 
 tures ? And also name the prominent disadvantages, if any. 
 
 16. What remedies would you propose for those evils which do exist ? 
 
 17. Do you know of any cotton or woollen factories in which any improved 
 system, or any peculiarly beneficial management, prevails? And will you 
 specify the establishment and give a sketch of its regulations ? 
 
 18. Are there existing in some manufacturing villages, libraries of useful 
 books which circulate among the operatives ? 
 
 19. Do you consider the mass of the manufacturing population, equally 
 well educated and intelligent as the mass of agriculturists ? 
 
 20. Do you know of many instances where families who were in poverty 
 have by their successful industry in the manufactories, made themselves 
 independent? And have-you often witnessed the effect of such success in 
 improving their habits and general characters ? 
 
 21. Is it not the practice in many of the manufacturing villages, for the 
 head of such families as are employed in the mills, to cultivate a small lot 
 of ground, to raise corn, potatoes, and garden vegetables generally and 
 
 to keep a cow? And is not this productive of much comfort to such 
 families ? 
 
 From Smith Wilkinson, Esq.,.Pomfret, Conn. to the author. 
 
 ‘You ask my opinion as to the tendency of manufacturing establishments 
 on the morals of the people. I answer, that my settled opinion is that the 
 natural or consequent influence of all well conducted establishments, is 
 favourable to the promotion of good morals, for the following reasons :— 
 The helps are required to labour all the time, which people can sustain in 
 regular Service through the year, consistent vith what is necessary to attend 
 to their personal wants,—for meals, sleep and necessary relaxation, and a 
 proper observance of the sabbath. The usual working hours, being jadalzel 
 exclusive of meals, six days in the week,—the workmen and children being 
 thus employed, have no time to spend in idleness or vicious amusements. 
 In our village there is not a public house or grog-shop, nor is gaming allowed 
 in any private house, if known by the agent, and very few instances have 
 
MORAL INFUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 127 
 
 occurred in twenty-nine years, to my knowledge. In collecting our help, 
 we are obliged to employ poor families, and generally those having the 
 greatest number of children, those who have lived in retired situations on 
 small and poor farms, or in hired houses, where their only means of living 
 has been the labour of the father and the earnings of the mother, while the 
 children spent their time mostly at play. These families are often very 
 ignorant, and too often vicious; but being brought together into a compact 
 village, often into the families; and placed under the restraining influence of 
 example, must conform to the habits and customs of their neighbours, or be 
 despised and neglected by them. Thus it happens sometimes that when it 
 becomes generally known that a family are noted for any vice, they are 
 neglected by the rest, and no person, male or female, will visit or be seen 
 keeping company with them, who is at all concerned to sustain a good name. 
 Another reason is, by being in a way to earn the means, they almost inva- 
 riably clothe better; and it is a fact of common notoriety, that the females 
 employed in factories clothe better or more expensively than others in similar 
 circumstances as to property, or even than the daughters of our respectable 
 farmers. But this disposition to dress extravagantly soon abates, and the 
 helps contract habits of economy, and lay up their wages by loaning the 
 money at interest. 
 
 “| have known a great many, who have laid aside $200 to $300, in from 
 three to four years, and were enabled to fit themselves out decently, when 
 married, for housekeepers. Others, who remained single, laid by four, five, 
 and some seven and eight hundred dollars, and now have it out on interest. 
 As public opinion goes far in regulating the moral habits and behaviour of 
 cities and towns, so it does in manufacturing villages,—by this influence, it 
 is an established fact, that if a female is introduced into a factory of bad or 
 loose character, she must be discharged as soon as her character is fully . 
 known, or the rest of the female help will quit the mill. Perhaps I cannot 
 furnish better proof of the practical tendency and effect on female character, 
 than to state, that in twenty-nine years, during which term I have had the 
 sole agency of Pomfret cotton manufacturing establishment, I can assert that 
 but two cases of seduction and bastardy have occurred. One of these was 
 by means which have often proved fatal—where the object was placed in 
 the most disadvantageous circumstances to withstand them. 
 
 “The company of the Pomfret establishment, was formed, January Ist, 
 1806, consisting of,—James Rhodes, Esq., Christie Rhodes, Wm. Rhodes, 
 brothers, all of Pawtucket, R. I.; Oziel Wilkinson, and sons-in-law ; Timo- 
 thy Green, Wm. Wilkinson, of Providence; Abraham Wilkinson, Isaac 
 Wilkinson, David Wilkinson, Daniel Wilkinson, Smith Wilkinson, all of 
 Pawtucket or North Providence, five sons of Oziel Wilkinson. 
 
 “The capital stock invested from April 1st, 1806, to October 1808, was sixty 
 thousand dollars—of which, five twelfths was invested in real estate—it was 
 then known by the name of Conger’s mills, in Pomfret, Connecticut, on the 
 Quinebaug river, and includes about one thousand acres of land, lying partly 
 in three adjoining towns, namely, Pomfret, Thomson, and Killingly. There 
 was at this time on said lands, a grist mill, saw mill, and blacksmith’s shop; 
 two houses, an old gin distillery, then just abandoned; three houses, and 
 some other small buildings of little value. A leading object of this company 
 in buying so much land, was to prevent the introduction of taverns.and grog 
 
128 . MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 shops, with their usually corrupting, demoralising tendency. Another object 
 was, to be able to give the men employ on the lands, while the children 
 were employed in the factory. The company very early exerted their in- 
 fluence in establishing schools, and introducing public worship on the sab- 
 bath. In 1812, they erected a convenient brick building, to answer asa 
 school house, and a place for holding meetings ; which is now occupied for 
 those purposes, and has been ever since its first erection.” 
 
 M—— B—.,, Esq. | 
 Troy, Dec. 26, 1827. 
 
 Dear Sir—I fear I have neglected too Jong to answer your interesting en- 
 quiries on the subjects of manufacturing and manufactories; but will now 
 make the attempt, though on several points I have not been enabled to collect 
 the information required. Supposing that you have a copy of the several 
 questions, I will answer them in the order they are put, without repeating 
 them.—(See page 125.) i 
 
 1. I know of no such restrictive laws in the northern or eastern states, nor 
 can I see any occasion forthem. Public opinion, with the independent feel- 
 ings of the parents and guardians of children, would prevent such abuse 
 should it be attempted ; but I never heard of such a practice in our country 
 among manufacturers. Young children are unprofitable in almost every 
 branch of our labour, and so much so, that it is the practice to keep them out 
 of factories as long as the importunities of parents can be resisted. 
 
 2. Children under ten years are generally unprofitable at any price, and 
 it is very seldom they are employed, unless their parents work in the mill, 
 and they are brought in to do light chores, or some very light work, such as 
 setting spools in the frame, or piecing. rolls. As far as I am acquainted, 
 there is more attention paid to schooling children in manufacturing villages, 
 than in districts of other employments. 
 
 3. I do not know of any works where the age is positively limited, nor do 
 I think that it could well be done. There are many boys at fourteen years, 
 who are able, in most-employments, to do the work of men; they only want 
 the skill. The heavy work is mostly done by machinery; and there are 
 many girls at fourteen years who are as steady and discreet, as others at 
 sixteen or over. I have no doubt that it would be more profitable to employ 
 young women in our factories generally, except for overseers, if they could 
 be obtained. 
 
 4, I do not know of any thing exactly in that shape; it is not consistent 
 with the operations of a mill, that any part of the help should leave their 
 
 place to spend certain hours in school ;*but the child is refused employment 
 
 until it has had its necessary schooling. 
 
 5. I have never heard fifteen years referred to, as an age below which em- 
 ployment would be wrong or unprofitable. I should say the proportion might 
 be 10 percent. There is less young help employed in the woollen than in 
 the cotton manufactures, | 
 
 6. I never heard of such an instance in our country, though I believe there 
 are those who practise and pursue such asystem in England. I do not think 
 it would be tolerated here: public opinion would not suffer it, nor could 
 workmen be procured. 
 
 7. An average through the year of twelve hours, is every where under- 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. + a9 
 e¥ of 
 
 stood as factory hours ; this is by common consent, nor have I heard of any 
 attempt to increase the number, as a rule of employment. 
 
 8. It is customary, in commencing a manufacturing village, to build a 
 boarding-house to begin with: and this is necessary from the nature of the 
 case in most instances; but as soon as families are brought in, the help em- 
 ployed is generally distributed. The custom in most places is, to allow and 
 require every hand to provide for themselves. This is found more satisfactory 
 and best; in this way the price of board is regulated by competition, and 
 labourers choose their associates, and the females in this distribution in 
 families are better protected, and more pleasantly situated. 
 
 9. As far as I am acquainted, unfrequent beyond the expectations of any 
 one. 
 
 10. There is a disposition to dress among the unmarried females, though 
 many do lay up something, and many help their parents in supporting the 
 younger members of a family. Our factory villages have many widows, 
 who resort there to bring up their families, and are thus enabled to keep them 
 together, and provide for them very comfortably ; and here the young women 
 are the stay and support of their mothers, while they receive counsel and 
 protection. 
 
 11. Sabbath schools are common to a considerable extent, and are becom- 
 ing more so in manufacturing villages. 
 
 12. In many villages there are tract societies, where from funds of their 
 own, they purchase of the larger institutions, and in others there are auxiliary 
 societies. Something is done, and much more might be done. 
 
 13. I have no doubt of the healthiness of the employment. I have been 
 engaged in a cotton factory since 1813, and have employed from sixty to 
 one hundred hands, men, women and children, and do not believe there is a 
 more healthy village any where to be found ; and’ can speak confidently in 
 saying that the farmers in the immediate neighbourhood are not more hardy, 
 nor do I believe they can undergo the same fatigue, because not so accustom- 
 ed to such constant and regular labour. 
 
 14. I cannot say how far they accumulate property ; I know that many 
 do, and very many live comfortably and independently, who but for such 
 employment would be paupers. Many families begin in debt and embarrass- 
 ment, who soon pay their debts, and support their families, and gain property 
 afterwards. 
 
 15. This would be to write a volume. The property in the neighbourhood 
 is greatly advanced. It is quite a market for vegetables, fruits, meats, to the 
 farmers around. Industry, education, and morals, are greatly improved. 
 The farmers and mechanics look for the money paid out at the factory store 
 as an unfailing resource for their circulating medium; and depend on fur- 
 nishing their necessaries, as a sure means of getting money. I not know of, 
 nor can I conceive of, any disadvantages. Our manufactures have greatly 
 increased the commerce of our city, in bringing the raw material and dis- 
 tributing the articles manufactured, and furnish a large market for the pro- 
 duct of the farmer. I paid for the last four months $758.63 for the single 
 article of flour for our families. Pie eee 
 
 16. I know of no evils which exist in manufacturing villages as such, 
 which are not increased, and more or less aggravated in other villages, or 
 
 17 
 
130 MEMOIR OF -SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 which are not to be found in every society. I think any evil is easier re- 
 medied in such places than in different society. 
 
 17. I will give you our regulations at the close in general terms. 
 
 18. I am not acquainted with any where libraries are established, but have 
 no doubt it would be beneficial. 
 
 19. I consider them decidedly better educated, more intelligent, of better 
 cultivated manners, higher notions of character, more enterprise, and every 
 Way more improved citizens, than the mass of agriculturists. When the 
 latter change to the former there is generally a marked improvement, and 
 when the former to the latter, a deterioration and running down. 
 
 20. I do know of many instances where those quite poor have, by their in- 
 dustry and economy, become comparatively independent, and the character 
 of the whole family changed for the better. 
 
 21. There are many whose families work in the factories, when the man 
 takes a piece of land on shares, and raises corn and potatoes; but this is a 
 more common practice in the New England states, than with us. When the 
 man cannot be employed to advantage, this may do well, but the leisure hours 
 such an one would have, would be a bad example for the factory hands, and 
 I would prefer giving constant employment at some sacrifice, to having a man 
 of the village seen in the streets or shops on a rainy day at leisure. 
 
 M—— B—, Esq. 
 : Troy, Dec. 27, 1827. 
 
 Respected Friend—I said, in answering your 17th query, that I would give 
 you our general regulations in our manufacturing establishment. In 1812, 
 five individuals, one of whom was myself, built the establishment which I 
 think you visited with me when at Troy. We were all ignorant of our 
 undertaking, but had very great expectations from what we had been told. I 
 had the principal agency in erecting the buildings, and procuring machinery 
 &c.—but we had one partner who was superintendent, and who professed 
 much, but knew very little. We commenced work in the spring of 1813, 
 but every thing went bad, and we found our superintendent a man of loose, 
 bad notions, bad principles, and he had brought together a bad set of work- 
 men. We dismissed him, and after some time persuaded my brother to 
 come and take charge of it. He was a merchant, and knew nothing of the 
 manufacturing business. Things still went bad; the workmen were de- 
 ceivers, and my brother had a difficult place to fill; but we dragged along 
 until the peace, and found ourselves very much in debt, and embarrassed, 
 and stopped our works in the fall of 1816. Thus the works remained until 
 the spring of 1817. I then bought eight of the ten shares in which the fac- 
 tory was owned. We had kept a store of groceries, and sold ram to our 
 hands as freely as they required. I havenever brought any spirituous liquors 
 to our village since—the hands were all poor and most of them in debt. I 
 bought cotton in April, and started the mill—the hands that chose to stay, 
 and were willing to live without the use of ardent spirits, I kept, and divided 
 their debts into small sums, which they agreed to deduct from their wages 
 weekly—their rents were all payable weekly, that no debts might be suffered 
 to accumulate against the hands, and no one was to ask or expect credit, 
 unless at the beginning of a week, when they could anticipate half the 
 wages of the week if necessary. If they could not live under these regula- 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIKES. 131 
 
 tions, they were at liberty to go; but if they stayed, their old debts must be 
 paid, they must live without spirits, and they were not at liberty to get in 
 debt any where—no liquors could be brought into any workshop under any 
 pretence whatever. Thus I began, now nearly eleven years ago; many of 
 the families are now with me, or those that were young men and girls are 
 now married and have families; they were all poor without exception. I 
 will mention the condition of some of the hands—one young man, an ap- 
 prentice in the machine shop, is now out of my employ as a steady hand, but 
 does job work for me—he‘has a large family, but owns a good house, has 
 considerable money at interest, has two buildings for rent, is worth three 
 thousand dollars. Another has two thousand dollars at interest. Another 
 has bought him 100 acres of good land, owns a house in the village, and has 
 money at interest. Another has $1000 at interest—several others have three 
 or four hundred dollars beforehand. Families all above board, with one 
 or two exceptions; we keep a district school the year round, with a com- 
 petent man teacher—through the season of working in nights, a school goes 
 in at eight o’clock, and out at ten o’clock, which all the young men and 
 women calculate to attend—here are taught writing, arithmetic, and gram- 
 mar, geography, and history—this is very much encouraged and is a very 
 popular school; we havea very prosperous Sunday school; there is a small 
 house for worship in the village, and one a mile east, and many come into 
 Troy to meeting, it being only about twomiles. In order to keep out tippling 
 and grog shops, I have a clause inserted in all the leases given for building 
 lots, that any one selling ardent spirits on the same, forfeits the premises. 
 A large proportion of our families are hopefully pious, have family prayers 
 daily, and are members of churches in good standing, and a majority of our 
 young people belonging to the cotton factory are professors of religion. 
 Since 1815, there have been three revivals of religion. We have there a 
 bible society, tract society, and domestic missionary society. There are a 
 large number of newspapers taken, and some reviews and quarterlies : and 
 I think a state of society which would be gratifying to the patriot and phi- 
 lanthropist—and the Christian. We have all our hands by the year, which 
 commences on the first of May. We inventory every March, and then en- 
 gage our help for the year. We seldom have any hands leave us, that we 
 wish to retain. Our young people marry and settle in the same village in 
 many instances. Our contracts are to pay as fast as the individual or family 
 need to live upon, and the balance at the end of the year. To those who will 
 let their balances remain in book we pay interest, but will not give notes, 
 because the advisory influence is in some measure lost if you give notes 
 which can be negotiated ; but on our plan, our books become a savings’ bank 
 for the hands. If they want a note we pay the balance. We have over 
 five hundred inhabitants, and in 1812 the ground was cleared where our vil- 
 lage now stands. Our establishment is very small compared with many of 
 the eastern works, and our buildings and machinery are not after the modern 
 improvements, but we cannot afford to throw them by. We have built a 
 very firm excellent building for the woollen business, and have it well filled 
 with the best machinery that could be procured, and have commenced 
 operation, but it will take time to get such a set of hands as we have at the 
 cotton mill; yet I see no difficulty. The wool business requires more man 
 labour, and this we study to avoid. Women are much more ready to follow 
 
132 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 good regulations, and are not captious, and do not clan as the men do 
 against their overseers ; but I can afford to give a religious man or woman 
 higher wages, than I can one who has no fixed principles of action and 
 government for themselves. It should be the first object of our manufactur- 
 ing establishments, to have their superintendents, and overseers, and agents, 
 men of religious principles, and let it be felt by the owners that it is always 
 for their interest to support religion, schools, and all those institutions which 
 promote good morals, and diffuse information among the operatives and their 
 families. I feel confident that we have made a sufficient experiment, in the 
 manufacturing business, to see its effect upon those employed and the state 
 of society which it produces, and the influence it has upon a neighbourhood 
 of farmers, and others in the district round about, and have no hesitation in 
 saying, that in every particular it is favourable. It grows up a healthy 
 population, is favourable to early schooling and good education, and early 
 habits of industry; stimulants to enterprise, economy, and frugality in 
 living, and saving the products of their labour—and at the same time the 
 organisation of these establishments in villages, being necessary for their 
 success, they are placed in a more favourable situation for the cultivation of 
 moral and religious character, without which, civilised man is still a savage, 
 and a very limited degree of human happiness attained. 
 I am, respectfully, your friend and obedient servant, 
 JepepDIAH T Racy. 
 
 The following remarks are from a correspondent who has paid 
 attention to this subject, and who sincerely wishes well to every 
 branch of useful industry which shall benefit the country :— 
 
 “T noted that the legislature of Massachusetts instituted an 
 enquiry some nine or ten years ago, to ascertain the moral influ- 
 ence of manufacturing establishments, which resulted: in a favour- 
 able report—never published. 
 
 “Tn pursuing thy enquiries upon this deeply interesting subject, 
 I sincerely hope thou wilt state the whole case fairly, so that those 
 poimts where danger is to be apprehended may be seasonably 
 guarded by the conservators of public morals. The employment 
 of young children of too tender age, should be freely and warmly 
 discouraged; and if at the present moment there should appear to 
 be any increase of this evil, our legislatures should timely adopt 
 such wise and prudent measures as would cure the evil. No 
 patriot could advocate the extension of any branch of national 
 industry which would necessarily bring along with it an ignorant 
 and consequently vicious population. 
 
 “ We find many men of philanthropic minds who view with 
 alarm the rapid extension in our country of manufacturing indus- 
 try, under a conviction that it stands opposed to the progress of 
 religion and sound morals—in a word that it is essentially repug- 
 nant to the general well being of the community; nor is this 
 
MORAL INFUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 133 
 
 surprising, since those whose interests stand opposed to the 
 increase of manufactures on a large scale, have long and vehe- 
 mently insisted upon its demoralising tendency. A great deal 
 has been said about the sad change this mischievous system has 
 produced among our neighbours of the eastern states—it has 
 been described as a Pandora’s box that has filled the land with all 
 sorts of moral plagues. It must be obvious that the subject has 
 been presented to us through a medium somewhat distorted: by 
 wrong prejudices, and even the interesting columns of ‘The 
 Friend’ may have contributed to strengthen these prejudices by 
 the revival of the somewhat trite sentimentality of Goldsmith and 
 Southey—I allude to an article in the second number. I am, 
 however, as little disposed to call in question the motives of our 
 philanthropists in opposing the manufacturing system, as I am to 
 extenuate or defraud any abuses to which it is liable, "That abuses 
 do exist, even in this country, | am well aware, and I would be 
 the last person to discourage any well directed effort to remdy 
 them. 
 
 “Tt is certainly an interesting enquiry, whether, as manufac- 
 tures have advanced in our country, the general character of the 
 operative classes has deteriorated? Have these occupations had 
 an unfavourable influence upon the intelligence, the morals,* or the 
 health, of those engaged in them? 
 
 * With reference to this point, we have great satisfaction in adducing the 
 
 following conclusive testimony :— | 
 Warerrorp, R. I. May 23d, 1835. 
 
 Dear Sir,—In reply to yours of 7th inst. will observe, that many persons 
 can give you better views than I can, respecting the condition of the cotton 
 manufacture business in its various stages and fluctuations, since its esta- 
 blishment in this country, and the effect of the tariff laws upon it. Our busi- 
 ness has always been seven eighths woollen, and is now exclusively so. We 
 have a woollen mill, eighty feet by thirty-six, and one, three hundred and 
 fifty feet by fifty, both five stories high; for broadcloth principally. 
 
 As regards the effects of manufacturing villages on the morals of the peo- 
 ple, there can be but one opinion among those who know any thing about 
 the subject. They certainly tend very powerfully to the improvement of 
 morals. In our village, with a population of three hundred to four hundred, 
 not an intemperate person lives. Nearly one hundred females are in the 
 village, and since its establishment, a term of ten years, not a case of ille- 
 gitimacy has occurred, nor has a rumour of such a nature ever been in the 
 village. No person who has ever resided in the village, has ever become 
 chargeable to the town in any manner. - On the first of April last, the people 
 who work in our mills had $10,000 due to them in cash. We have an 
 excellent free school through the year, of about fifty scholars. Yours truly, 
 
 WeELcome Farnum. 
 
134 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “ Having had access to authentic information upon this subject, 
 I answer as follows :— 
 
 “The cotton manufacture may now be considered permanently 
 established ; it is prosperous and rapidly increasing in the New 
 England states, which must remain, as they are at this time, the 
 principal seat of it. For the present, my remarks will be confined 
 to this branch of manufactures. 
 
 “ A great change has taken place within the last few years, in 
 regard to the proportion of children employed in these factories ; 
 the proprietors having found that their interest is promoted by 
 dispensing almost entirely with the labour of children under 
 fifteen years. 
 
 “In the factories at Newmarket, N. H., which have been in 
 operation about four years, there are employed, 250 girls,- five 
 boys and twenty overseers and assistants—twelve of the overseers 
 have families. Nine only of the girls are under fifteen years of 
 age, six of whom are fourteen. Three of the boys are under 
 fifteen, two of whom are fourteen. In every instance the children 
 under fifteen reside with their parents or guardians in the village, 
 and are admitted into the factories on account of the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of the families; they are allowed to work only six 
 months in the year—during the other six months, they attend a 
 public school in the village. Besides the operatives mentioned, 
 there are thirty machinists, twenty of whom have families ; these, 
 however, are employed in a separate workshop. ‘The relative 
 number of children employed in this establishment, it is believed, 
 will correspond, without much variation, with the proportion to be 
 found in most of the factories east of Providence and its vicinity ; 
 in the latter district, the manufactories were established at an 
 earlier period, and still give employment to a larger proportion of 
 children. 
 
 “In cases of newly formed villages, it is found necessary to 
 erect at the commencement several boarding-houses, sufficiently 
 Spacious to accommodate a large number of the workpeople in 
 each ; to this arrangement there are powerful objections. At 
 
 ewmarket it has been entirely abandoned, and is superseded by 
 the increased number of private families, which have taken up 
 their residence in the village ; and not being inconveniently large, 
 are kept under good regulation. A part of the girls whose parents 
 do not live in the village, are distributed as boarders with those 
 families which are disposed to receive them. 
 
 “ Nearly all of the manufacturing villages are small, and there 
 is very generally attached to each dwelling a lot of ground, which 
 
 wen 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 135 
 
 is appropriated to the culture of garden vegetables, and food for a 
 cow and swine; these are considered very essential comforts, and 
 are rarely dispensed with by the industrious operatives. 
 
 “It should be borne in mind, that in this country water-power 
 is almost exclusively used in manufactures, and, on account of its 
 greater cheapness, the day must be far distant indeed, when steam 
 power will be extensively used ; the consequence is, that the manu- 
 facturing population must be scattered. We can have no Man- 
 chesters on this side the Atlantic, while our thousand rivers and 
 streams afford an inexhaustible supply of unimproved power.” 
 
 Dr. Ure says :—‘“ 'The present is distinguished from every pre- 
 ceding age by an universal ardour of enterprise in arts and manu- 
 factures. Nations, convinced at length, that war is always a 
 losing game, have converted their swords and muskets into factory 
 implements, and now contend with each other in the bloodless, 
 but still formidable, strife of trade. They no longer send troops 
 to fight on distant fields, but fabrics to drive before them those of 
 their old adversaries in arms, and to take possession of a foreign 
 mart. ‘I'o impair the resources of a rival at home, by underselling 
 his wares abroad, is the new belligerent system, in pursuance 
 of which every nerve and sinew of the people are put,upon the 
 strain.” Dr. Ure continues in another place :— 
 
 “Great Britain may certainly continue to uphold her envied supremacy, 
 sustained by her coal; iron, capital, and skill, if, acting on the Baconian 
 axiom, ‘knowledge is power,’ she shall dilligently promote moral and pro- 
 fessional culture among all ranks of her productive population. Were the 
 principles of the manufactures exactly analysed, and expounded in a simple 
 manner, they would diffuse a sieady light to conduct the masters, managers, 
 and operatives, in the straight paths of improvement, and prevent them from 
 pursuing such dangerous phantoms as flit along in the monthly patent-lists. 
 Kach department of our useful arts stands in need of a guide-book to facili- 
 tate its study, to indicate its imperfections, and to suggest the most probable 
 means of correcting them. It is known that the manufactures of France 
 have derived great advantage from the illustrated systems of instruction 
 published under the auspices of its government and patriotic societies. Manu- 
 facture is a word which, in the vicissitude of language, has come to signify 
 the reverse of its intrinsic meaning: for it now denotes every extensive 
 product of art, which is made by machinery, with little or no aid of the 
 human hand; so that the most perfect manufacture is that which dispenses 
 entirely with manual labour. The philosophy of manufactures is to modify 
 the texture, form, or composition of natural objects by mechanical or chemi- 
 eal forces, acting either separately, combined, or in succession. 
 
 “The blessings which physico-mechanical science has bestowed on 
 society, and the means it has still in store for ameliorating the lot of man- 
 kind, have been too little dwelt upon; while on the other hand, it has been 
 
136 di 
 
 a 
 
 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 accused of lending itself to rich capitalists, as an instrument for harassing 
 the poor, and of exacting from the operative an accelerated rate of work. It 
 has been said, for example, that the steam-engine now drives the power- 
 looms with such velocity as to urge on their attendant weavers at the same 
 rapid pace. But the truth is, that every member of the loom is so adjusted, 
 that the driving force leaves the attendant little ‘to do, certainly no muscular 
 fatigue to sustain, while it procures for him good, unfailing wages. 
 
 “The constant aim and effect of scientific improvement in manufactures 
 are philanthropic ; as they tend to relieve the workman, either from niceties 
 of adjustment, which exhaust his mind and fatigue his eyes, or from painful 
 repetition of effort, which distort or wear out his frame. At every step of 
 each manufacturing process, the humanity of science will be manifest. 
 
 “The title of factory, in its strictest sense, involves the idea of an opera- 
 tion composed of various mechanical and intellectual organs, acting in unin- 
 terrupted concert for the production of a common object,—all of them being 
 subordinated to a self-regulated moving force. 
 
 ‘In its precise acceptation, the factory system is of recent origin, and 
 may claim England for its birth-place. The mills for throwing silk, or 
 making organzine, which were mounted centuries ago, in several of the 
 Italian states, and transferred to England, by Sir Thomas Lombe, in 1718, 
 contained indeed some elements of a factory, and probably suggested some 
 hints of those grander and more complex combinations of self-acting 
 machines, which were first embodied, half a century later, in the cotton 
 manufacture, by Richard Arkwright, ernie: by gentlemen of Derby, well 
 acquainted with its celebrated silk esabisiment But the spinning of an 
 entangled flock of fibres into a smooth thread, which constitutes the main 
 operation with cotton, is, in silk, superfluous; being already performed by 
 the unerring instinct of a worm, which leaves to human art the simple task 
 of doubling and twisting its regular filaments. The apparatus requisite for 
 this purpose is more elementary, and calls for few of those gradations of 
 machinery which are needed in the carding, drawing, roving, and spinning 
 processes of a cotton mill. When the first water-frames, for spinning cot- 
 ton, were erected at Cromford, in the romantic valley of the Derwent, about 
 sixty years ago, mankind were little aware of the mighty revolution which 
 the new system of labour was destined by Providence to achieve, not only 
 in the structure of British society, but in the fortunes of the world at large. 
 Arkwright alone had the sagacity to discern, and the boldness to predict, in 
 glowing language, how vastly productive human industry would become, 
 when no longer picieeiiiiad in its results to muscular effort, which is by its 
 
 nature fitful and capricious, but when made to consist in the task of guiding - 
 
 the work of mechanical fingers and arms, regularly impelled, with great ve- 
 locity, by some indefatigable physical power. What his judgment so clearly 
 led him to perceive, his energy of will enabled him to realise with such 
 rapidity and success, as would have done honour to the most influential 
 individuals, but were truly wonderful in that obscure and indigent artisan. 
 The main difficulty did not, to my apprehension, lie so much in the inven- 
 tion of a proper self-acting mechanism, for drawing out and twisting cotton 
 into a continuous thread, as in the distribution of the different members of 
 the apparatus into one co-operative body, in impelling each organ with its 
 
 appropriate delicacy and speed, and above all, in training human beings to 
 
 i 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. USy 
 
 renounce their desultory habits of work, and to identify themselves with the 
 unvarying regularity of the complex automaton. ‘To devise and administer 
 a successful code of factory diligence, was the Herculean ,enterprise, the 
 noble achievement of Arkwright. Even at the present day, when the sys- 
 tem is perfectly organised, and its labour lightened to the utmost, it is found 
 nearly impossible to convert persons past the age of puberty, whether drawn 
 from rural or from handicraft occupations, into useful factory hands. After 
 struggling for a while to conquer their listless or restive habits, they either 
 renounce the employment spontaneously, or are dismissed on account of 
 inattention. Ifthe factory Briareus could have been created by mechanical 
 genius alone, it should have come into being thirty years sooner; for up- 
 wards of ninety years have now elapsed since John Wyatt, of Birmingham, 
 not only invented the series of fluted rollers, (the spinning fingers usually 
 ascribed to Arkwright,) but obtained a patent for the invention, and erected 
 ‘a spinning engine without hands,’ in his native town. 
 
 “The details of this remarkable circumstance, recently snatched from 
 oblivion, are given in Baines’s History of the Cotton Manufacture. Wyatt 
 Was a man of good education, in a respectable walk of life, much esteemed 
 by his superiors, and therefore favourably placed, in a mechanical point of 
 view, for maturing his admirable scheme. But he was of a gentle and 
 passive spirit; little qualified to cope with the hardships of a new manufac- 
 turing enterprise. It required, in fact, a man of a Napoleon nerve and ambi- 
 tion, to subdue the refractory tempers of workpeople, accustomed to irregular 
 paroxysms of diligence, and to urge on his multifarious and intricate con- 
 structions, in the face of prejudice, passion, and envy. Such was Arkwright, 
 who, suffering nothing to stay or turn‘aside his progress, arrived gloriously 
 at the goal; and has for ever affixed his name to a great era in the annals of 
 mankind: an era which has laid open unbounded prospects of wealth and 
 comfort to the industrious, however much they may have been, occasionally, 
 clouded by ignorance and folly. 
 
 “ Prior to this period, manufactures were every where feeble and fluctua- 
 ting in their development ; shooting forth luxuriantly for a season, and again 
 withering almost to the roots, like annual plants. Their perennial growth 
 now began in England, and attracted capital in copious streams to irrigate 
 the rich domains of industry. When this new career commenced, about the 
 year 1770, the annual consumption of cotton, in British manufactures, was 
 under four millions of pounds weight, and that of the whole of Christendom 
 was, probably, not more than ten millions. Last year, 1835, the consump- 
 tion in Great Britain and Ireland was about two hundred and seventy mil- 
 lions of pounds, and that of Europe and the United States, together, four 
 hundred and eighty millions. This prodigious increase is, without doubt, 
 almost entirely due to the factory system, founded and upreared by the 
 intrepid native of Preston. 
 
 “Tf then, this system be not merely an inevitable step in the social pro- 
 gression of the world, but the one which gives a commanding station and 
 influence to the people who most resolutely take it, it does not become any 
 man, far less a denizen of England, to vilify the author of a benefaction, 
 which, wisely administered, may become the best temporal gift of Provi- 
 dence to the poor,—a blessing destined to mitigate, and, in some measure, 
 
 to repeal, the primeval curse pronounced on the labour of man, ‘in the sweat 
 
 18 
 
138 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of thy face shalt thou eat bread.’ Arkwright well deserves to live in 
 honoured remembrance among those ancient master-spirits, who persuaded 
 their roaming companions to exchange the precarious toils of the chase for 
 the settled comforts of agriculture. 
 
 “ Under the auspices, and in obedience to Arkwright’s polity, magnificent 
 edifices, surpassing far in number, value, usefulness, and-ingenuity of con- 
 struction, the boasted monuments of Asiatic, Egyptian, and Roman despotism, 
 have, within the short period of fifty years, risen in England, to show to 
 what extent capital, industry and science, may augment the resources of a 
 state, while they meliorate the condition of its citizens. Such is the factory 
 system, replete with prodigies in mechanics and political economy, which 
 promises, in its future growth, to become the great minister of civilisation to 
 the terraqueous globe. As to exact mechanical science, no school can com- 
 pete with a modern cotton-mill. 
 
 “There are five distinct classes of factories; first, the cotton factories; 
 second, the woollen; third, the worsted; fourth, the flax, hempen, or linen ; 
 and fifth, the silk. These five factories have each peculiarities, of its raw 
 material and of its fabrics; but they all possess certain family features, for 
 they all employ torsion to convert the loose slender fibres of vegetable or ani- 
 mal origin, into firm, coherent threads, and, with the exception of silk, they 
 all employ extension, also, to attenuate and equalise these threads, techni- 
 cally styled yarn. Even one kind of silk which occurs in-entangled tufts, 
 called floss, is spun like cotton, by the simultaneous action of stretching 
 and twisting. The above named five orders of factories are set in motion by 
 steam.engines or water-wheels; they all give employment to multitudes of 
 children or adolescents. Mr. Anthony Strutt, who conducts the mechanical 
 department of the great cotton factories of Belper and Milford, has so 
 thoroughly departed from the old routine of the schools, that he will employ 
 no man who has learned his craft by regular apprenticeship ; but in contempt, 
 as it were, of the division of labour principle, he sets a plough-boy to turn a 
 shaft of perhaps several tons weight, and never has reason to repent his pre- 
 ference, because he infuses into the turning apparatus a precision of action, 
 equal, if not superior, to the skill of the most experienced journeyman. It 
 was indeed a subject of regret, to observe how frequently the workman’s 
 eminence, in any craft, had to be purchased by the sacrifice of his health 
 and comfort. To one unvaried operation, which required unremitting 
 dexterity and diligence, his hand and eye were constantly on the strain, or 
 if they were suffered to swerve from their task for a time, considerable loss 
 ensued, either to the employer or the operative, according as the work was 
 done by the day or by the piece. But on the equalisation plan of self-acting 
 machines, the operative needs to call his faculties only into agreeable exer- 
 cise; he is seldom harassed with anxiety or fatigue, and may find many 
 leisure moments for either amusement or meditation, without detriment to 
 his master’s interests or his own.* . A's his business consists in tending the 
 
 *“ Tt has been heretofore stated, that a portion of mankind laboured for others, as well 
 as for themselves. They are a respectable portion, and perform an essential part in 
 the business of life. We have seen that the two classes are useful to each other. 
 They are not the less so, because one is not as rich as the other, or labours-in a subor- 
 dinate station. ‘They are co-workers for their own and. the common good. He that 
 
‘ 
 
 MORAL INFUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 139 
 
 work of a well regulated mechanism, he can learn it in a short period; and 
 when he transfers his services from one machine to another, he varies his 
 task, and enlarges his views by thinking on those general combinations 
 which result from his and his companion’s labours. Thus, that cramping 
 
 would set one at variance with the others, is justly reprehensible, as a disorganiser, an 
 enemy to the public family, and its individual members. The man who would oppress 
 er depress either, deserves the indignation of the community, and until better disposed, 
 should be left to help himself. 
 
 “ But the evil most to be deprecated, is not that one man is poor and another rich, it 
 is not that the poor are oppressed by the rich—the evil has a foundation deeper and 
 broader than has yet been suggested. The condition of society would be much improved, 
 men would be made more equal and more respected, by a more general diffusion of 
 that information which is useful in all situations, by encouraging habits of industry 
 and temperance, by raising the moral character above the vices which disgrace and 
 degrade men. There is poverty, want and wretchedness everywhere; more or less 
 of these are in all families and in all places. And why is it so? The fault is our 
 own ; every man is chargeable with a portion of it. The remedy is as near home as 
 the disease. The evil is so common the cause is overlooked. 
 
 “It is ignorance. The want of that knowledge of men and things, necessary to a 
 due estimation of the rights and duties belonging to the various situations in life. 
 People will neither read, think, or reflect as they ought. They neglect the mind, which 
 distinguishes them from the beasts of burden; and they care as little for their children 
 as for themselves.—There jis no want of schools. The means of instruction are fur- 
 aished, and they are accessible to every child at the public expense. Add to this the 
 teachings which may and ought to be acquired at home, and at church, with a due 
 improvement of all, and the evils which originate in ignorance will cease; the poor boy 
 by habitual industry, will ‘ become a philosopher, a statesman, or a divine ;’ and shed 
 around him the benign influence of his great and good works, enjoy’'the honour and 
 confidence of the public, and the high satisfaction of having acted his part well, which 
 is the best of all rewards. But ‘poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth 
 instruction.’ 
 
 “dt is idleness. The parent of a thousand evils and as many vices. The legitimate 
 progenitor of poverty—many will not work. Some that are most busy do nothing— 
 what they acquire they waste, and with it waste themselves. The idler not only 
 injures himself, but others come within his baneful influence. It requires many hands 
 to do the idler’s work. ‘The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore 
 he shall beg in the harvest and have nothing.’ 
 
 “ It is extravagance. Mankind are deluded by fashion. Dress, show, and equipage, 
 hold too high a place among their household gods. They live beyona their income. 
 The luxuries of life are its bane,—the canker worms that eat up a man’s substance 
 and turn him out of his house, and send his children begging. 
 
 “It is intemperance—a near relation to the preceding. The morning, noon, and 
 evening dram, and the rum bottle at home, will finish the mischief and consume all that 
 is left of body and mind. Of the reward of these, others may speak; of their degrada- 
 tion none can doubt. Such evils are more or less prevalent among all classes and 
 ranks, sinking, destroying, and brutalising man. The remedy is for each one to reform 
 himself. It is the moral courage and determined energy of the philanthropist who 
 would make men happier, by making them better ; and not the doubtful dogmas of the 
 mere politician, or the cold philosophy and metaphysical reasonings of a cloistered 
 * book-worm.’ 
 
 “‘ Moral evils are the real and alarming cause of complaint. Remove them, and there 
 will be more equality, less poverty, less murmuring, and less discontent. The well 
 directed power of moral influence, will effect the surest cure; it will do for society, 
 what the lever of Archimedes would in mechanics, move the world and overturn the 
 reservoirs of vice. 
 
 “ New legislation cannot reach the source of the evil, or heal the disease which is 
 weakening and wasting the energies of our political and social relations.” 
 
 “ Operatives in England.—The idea most prominent in the minds of most people 
 in relation to the great manufacturing establishments of Great Britain is, that they are 
 sources of immense individual and national wealth ; and the next is, that they enclose 
 within their walls a demoralised and over-worked population. The Edinburgh Review, 
 
140 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of the faculties, that narrowing of the mind, that stunting of the frame, which 
 were ascribed, and not unjustly, by moral writers, to the division of labour, 
 cannot, in common circumstances, occur under the equable distribution of 
 industry. How superior in vigour and intelligence are the factory mechanics 
 in Lancashire, where the latter system of labour prevails, to the handicraft 
 artisans of London, who to a great extent continue slaves to the former. The 
 one set is familiar with almost every physico-mechanical combination, while 
 the other seldom knows any thing beyond the pin-head sphere of his daily 
 task.” 
 
 Copy of a letter from Benjamin Hawkins, accompanying the President's 
 communication to Congress, December 8, 1801. 
 
 “The present spring, the agent has delivered to Indian women, 100 pair of 
 cotton cards, and 80 spinning wheels; there are eight looms in the nation, 
 four of them wrought by Indian or half breed women, and the remainder 
 by white women. There isa woman employed as an assistant, to teach the 
 
 to which we recur for the purpose of saying a few words on this interesting point, 
 strongly contradicts the statements that have been circulated, chiefly, it says, by Mr. 
 Sadler’s famous factory report, in regard to the ruinous effects of factory labour. The 
 publication of Mr. Sadler’s report and the discussion consequent hereupon, led to the 
 appointment by the British government of a commission to enquire on the spot into the 
 actual condition of the labourers, which enquiry resulted in proving, says the Edin- 
 burgh Review, that the representations in regard to the pernicious influence of this kind 
 of labour have been grossly exaggerated. Instances of abuses are declared to be rare, 
 and it is asserted that, speaking generally, factory work people, including children, are | 
 as healthy and contented as any class of the community obliged to earn their bread by 
 the sweat of their brow. 
 
 “ Mr. Tufnel, one of the commissioners who went through Lancashire, makes state- 
 ments which appear conclusive as to the condition of labourers employed in factories. 
 Of all the common prejudices with regard to factory labour, none, says this gentleman, 
 is more unfounded than that which ascribes to it excessive tedium and irksomeness 
 above all other occupations, owing to its being carried on in conjunction with the 
 ‘unceasing motion of the steam engine.’ This erroneous opinion proceeds from the 
 belief that because the motion of the steam engine is incessant, the labour accompany- 
 ing it is incessant also. But the reverse of this is the fact. The way to prevent an 
 employment being incessant is to introduce a steam engine. Three fourths of the 
 children employed in cotton mills are not actively at work for more than four hours out 
 of the twelve. The English speak always of steam, because with them it has, for all 
 kinds of large factories, superseded almost entirely the use of water power. In this 
 country, water power continues’ to be used in nearly all our large manufacturing esta- 
 blisnments. The result, of course, is precisely the same as regards the human labour 
 required in conjunction. , 
 
 “ The stories as to the immorality of persons employed in factories, are declared to 
 be utterly false. The evidence of various clergymen of Manchester intimately 
 acquainted with the factory proprietors, goes to show that the morals of the persons 
 engaged in mills are quite as good as those of any other class of people. ‘This aecount 
 coincides with what is known to be the fact in this country as to this important part of 
 the factory system. From gentlemen connected with the large manufactories in the 
 neighbourhood of this city, we have heard an equally good report. ‘The manufacturing 
 population of Lowell, Massachusetts, five thousand of whom are females, is as moral as 
 any in the world. Nay, we doubt whether in any community in the United States, or 
 any where else, in town or country, comprising the same number of inhabitants, there 
 is so little vice as in Lowell, a town which has grown up to sudden prosperity solely 
 through manufacturing industry. 
 
 “In regard to the effects on health, enquiries resulted in the conclusion, that ‘ factory 
 labour is decidedly not injurious to health or longevity, compared with other employ- 
 ments.’ ” 
 
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 141 
 
 women how to spin and weave ; and the agent has appointed as a temporary 
 assistant, a young Englishman, from a manufactory in Stockport, England, 
 who can make looms and spinning wheels, and every thing appertaining to 
 them, and he understands weaving. He will in a few days have a ninth 
 loom set up at the residence of the agent.. The women have this spring 
 adopted this part of the plan with spirit, and have promised to follow the 
 directions of the agent with exactitude. These Indian women, of one 
 family, have been spinning for two years only, have clothed themselves well, 
 are proud.of the exertions they have made, and are, by their conduct, a 
 stimulus to their countrywomen. One of the looms and two of the spinning 
 wheels in use, were made by an Indian chief, for his own family. 
 
 “The chiefs, who were apprehensive at first, that if their women could 
 clothe and find themselves by their own exertions, they would become in- 
 dependent of the degraded connection between them, have had proofs that 
 the link is more firm, in proportion as. the women are more useful, and oc- 
 cupied in domestic concerns.” 
 
 “ Perhaps,” says Babbage, “ to the sober eye of inductive philo- 
 sophy, these anticipations of the future may appear too faintly 
 connected with the history of the past. When time shall have 
 revealed the future progress of our race, those laws which are now 
 obscurely indicated, will then become distinctly apparent ; and it 
 may possibly be found that the dominion of mind over the material 
 world advances with an ever accelerating force. 
 
 «« Even now, the imprisoned winds which the earliest poet made 
 the Grecian warrior bear for the protection of his fragile bark ; or 
 those which, in more modern times, the Lapland wizards sold to 
 the deluded sailors; these, the unreal creations of fancy or of 
 fraud, called, at the command of science, from their shadowy ex- 
 istence, obey a holier spell: and the unruly masters of the poet 
 and the seer become the obedient slaves of civilised man. 
 
 “Nor has the wild imagination of the satirist been quite un- 
 rivaled by the realities of after years: as if in mockery of the 
 college of Laputa, light almost solar has been extracted from the 
 refuse of fish; fire has been sifted by the lamp of Davy; and 
 machinery has been taught arithmetic instead of poetry. 
 
 “In whatever light we examine the triumphs and achievements 
 of our species over the creation submitted to its power, we explore 
 new sources of wonder. But if science hascalled into real exist- 
 ence the visions of the poet—if the accumulating knowledge of 
 ages has blunted the sharpest and distanced the loftiest of the 
 shafts of the satirist, the philosopher has conferred on the moralist 
 an obligation of surpassing weight. In unveiling to him the 
 living miracles which teem in rich exuberance around the minutest 
 atom, as well as throughout the largest masses of ever-active 
 
142 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 matter, he has placed before him resistless evidence of immeasur- 
 able design. Surrounded by every form of animate and inanimate 
 existence, the sun of science has yet penetrated but through the 
 outer fold of nature’s majestic robe; but if the philosopher were 
 required to separate, from among those countless evidences of 
 creative power, one being, the masterpiece of its skill; and from 
 that being to select one gift, the choicest of all the attributes of 
 life ;—turning within his own breast and conscious of those 
 powers which have subjugated to his race the external world, and 
 of those higher powers by which he has subjugated to himself 
 that creative faculty which aids his faltering conceptions of.a Deity, 
 —the humble worshipper at the altar of truth would pronounce 
 that being,—man ; that endowment,—human reason. 
 
 ‘“‘ But however large the interval that separates the lowest from 
 the highest of those sentient beings which inhabit our planet, all 
 the results of observation, enlightened by all the reasonings of the 
 philosopher, combine to render it probable that, in the vast extent 
 of creation, the proudest attribute of our race is but, perchance} 
 the lowest step in the gradation of intellectual existence. For, 
 since every portion of our own material globe, and every animated 
 being it supports, afford, on more scrutinising enquiry, more 
 perfect evidence of design, it would indeed be most unphilosophi- 
 cal to believe that those sister spheres, glowing with light and 
 heat radiant from the same central source—and that the members 
 of those kindred systems, almost lost in the remoteness of space, 
 and perceptible only from the countless multitude of their congre- 
 gated globes—should each be no more than a floating chaos of 
 tnlontied matter ; or, being all the work of the same Almighty 
 Architect, that no eRe eye should be gladdened by their forms of 
 beauty, that no intellectual being should expand its faculties in 
 deciphering their laws.” 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 143 
 
 CHAPTER YV. 
 
 THE VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 
 
 “The sense to value riches, with the art 
 To enjoy them, and the virtue to impart,— 
 To balance fortune by a just expense, 
 Join with economy, magnificence.” 
 
 “ Alas! for the sordid propensities of modern days, when every thing is coined into 
 gold, and this once holy-day planet of ours is turned into a ‘ mere working-day world. ” 
 | Irvine. 
 
 It cannot be concealed, that there have been apprehensions of 
 the evil effects of manufacturing establishments in this country, 
 but these forebodings have, been chiefly prospective. It-is not 
 pretended that they have yet been productive of evil; indeed, 
 the evidence is positive, that much good has been produced. 
 With regard to the state of Rhode Island, I had an opportunity of 
 knowing its moral condition previous to 1812; and I have since 
 traveled in nearly every part of the state, and the change for the 
 better, especially in the manufacturing districts, is incredible. No 
 one but an eye witness could believe that such a favourable change 
 of society could have taken place, in the short period of twenty- 
 five years. Itis true, that the abuse of these institutions may 
 produce bad results, but the abuse is no argument against the 
 thing itself. J am persuaded, that wherever a village is under 
 good regulations, that the tendency is altogether favourable to 
 morals and intelligence. 'There is, therefore, no more evil to be 
 dreaded, in prospective, from the system of manufacturing for our- 
 selves, than there is from the system of self-government; they 
 may be turned to an evil purpose; and what blessing of heaven 
 may not? But while a love of wirtue and liberty remains, these 
 institutions will be cherished with confidence and advantage to the 
 whole community. Sufficient testimony has been adduced to 
 prove that the present state of American manufactures is superior to 
 any in the world, as it respects the rate of wages, the means of intel- 
 lectual improvement, and their moral condition. If the introduc- 
 tion of labour-saving machinery, and of the whole manufacturing 
 system, with all its accompaniments, had proved detrimental to 
 the good order of society ; if it had endangered the liberties of the 
 
144 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 people, or infringed on any principle of our free institutions ; if it 
 had reared a degraded, impoverished, or debilitated race of beings ; 
 if, in fact, ignorance and vice had marked these districts, as the 
 victims of corruption and pollution, their destruction would have 
 been inevitable : no laws could have saved a single establishment. 
 All this and more was apprehended; and if these things had fol- 
 lowed in the train of manufactories, [ hope I should have been the 
 last to have recorded their progress with approbation. I have eight 
 powerful arguments to prevent such a course ; but on the contrary, 
 I trust I should have been the first to have stamped their features, 
 in all their hideous forms, that they might justly receive the repro- 
 bation of mankind. No increase of wealth, or of strength, would 
 have compensated for a destitution of virtue and intelligence. | It 
 was the circumstance, that I had witnessed the moral aspect of 
 New England, decidedly improved, that induced me to attempt a 
 survey of the subject. 
 
 I agree that, if the threatened deleterious effects had followed 
 the making of our own clothing, instead of importing it from 
 Kurope ; I would say, indeed, it would be better to drain the coun- 
 try of every dollar of specie than to have laid the foundation of | 
 impunity and slavery. With the loss of truth, virtue, and 
 liberty, wealth is inadequate to give happiness to man. 
 
 The value of property is manifest, because it is the reward of 
 the virtues of order, diligence, and temperance; and these are 
 essential to the acquisition of it: for the industrious nations are 
 elevated above all the people of the earth.* 
 
 * Mr. Burke, one of the greatest and best friends of our liberty, speaking, 
 in the house of commons, of the wealth which the people of New England 
 had drawn from their fisheries, pronounced that eulogium upon their genius 
 and enterprise, which should be indelibly engraven upon the memory of 
 every New England youth, in honour of his father-land. 
 
 In speaking of the manner in which the whale fishery had been carried on, 
 he says:—“ And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it ?—Pass by the 
 other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England 
 have, of late, carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them among 
 the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest 
 frozen recesses of Hudson’s Bay, and Davies’ Straits ; whilst we are looking 
 for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the op- 
 posite region of polar cold; that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under 
 the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seemed too remote 
 and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage, 
 and resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. Nor is the 
 equinoctial heat more discouraging to them, than the accumulated winter at 
 both the poles. We know that whilst some of them draw the line and strike 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 145 
 
 Mr. Webster’s eulogy of Hamilton accords with my own views, 
 and it will serve to introduce another extract from his report on 
 manufactures, which I consider the true American doctrine on 
 wealth. 
 
 “ Hamilton felt the full importance of the crisis ; and the reports 
 of his speeches are yet lasting monuments to his genius and 
 patriotism. He saw, at last, his hopes fulfilled; he saw the con- 
 stitution adopted, and the government under it, established and 
 organised. 'The discerning eye of Washington immediately called 
 him to that post, which was infinitely the most important in the 
 administration of the new system. He was made secretary of the 
 treasury, and how he fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such 
 a time, the whole country perceived with delight, and the whole 
 world saw with admiration. He smote the rock of the national 
 resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He 
 touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon 
 its feet. The fabled birth of Minerva, from the brain of Jove, was 
 hardly more sudden or more perfect, than the financial system of 
 the United States burst forth from the conceptions of Hamilton.” 
 
 The following extract exhibits some of those lucid principles of 
 national wealth :— hy ee 
 
 “That which seems to be the principal argument offered for the 
 superior productiveness of agricultural labour, turns upon the 
 allegation, that labour employed in manufactures yields nothing 
 equivalent to the rent of land; or to that net surplus as it is called, 
 which accrues to the proprietor of the soil. But this distinction, 
 important as it has been deemed, appears rather verbal than sub- 
 stantial. It is easily discernible, that what in the first instance 
 is divided into two parts, under the denominations of the ordinary 
 profit of the stock of the farmer, and rent to the landlord, is in the 
 second instance united under the general appellation of the ordi- 
 nary profit on the stock of the undertaker ; and that this formal 
 or verbal distribution constitutes the whole difference in the two 
 cases. It seems to have been overlooked, that the land itself is a 
 stock or capital, advanced or lent by its owner, to the occupier or 
 
 the harpoon, on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue the 
 gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their 
 fisheries,—no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither.the perse- 
 verance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm 
 sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy 
 industry, to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people, a 
 people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into 
 the bone of manhood.” 
 
 19 
 
146 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 tenant; and the rent he receives is only the ordinary profit of a 
 certain stock in land, not managed by the proprietor himself, but 
 by another to whom he lends or lets it, and who, on his part, ad- 
 vances a second capital to stock and improve the land, upon which 
 he also receives the usual profit. The rent of the landlord and 
 the profit of the farmer are therefore nothing more than the ordi- 
 nary profits of two capitals belonging to two different persons, and 
 united in the cultivation of a farm. As in the other case, the sur- 
 plus which arises upon any manufactory, after replacing the 
 expenses of carrying it on, answers to the ordinary profits of one 
 or more capitals engaged in the prosecution of such manufactory. 
 It is said one or more capitals; because, in fact, the same thing 
 which is contemplated in the case of the farm, sometimes happens 
 in that of a manufactory. There is one who furnishes a part of 
 the capital, or lends a part of the money, by which it is carried 
 on; and another, who carries it on, with the addition of his own 
 capital. Out of the surplus which remains, after defraying ex- — 
 penses, an interest is paid to the money lender for the portion of 
 the capital furnished by him, which exactly agrees with the rent 
 paid to the landlord; and the residue of that surplus constitutes 
 the profit of the undertaker, or manufacturer, and agrees with 
 what is denominated the ordinary profits of two capitals employed 
 in a manufactory ; as, in the other case, the rent of the landlord 
 and the revenue of the farmer compose the ordinary profits of two 
 capitals, employed in the cultivation of a farm. ‘The rent, there- 
 fore, accruing to the proprietor of the land, far from being a cri- 
 terion of exclusive productiveness, as has been argued, is no cri- 
 terion even of superior productiveness. 'The question must still 
 be, whether the surplus, after defraying expenses, of a given 
 capital, employed in the purchase and improvement of a piece of 
 land, is greater or less, than that of a like capital employed in the 
 prosecution of a manufactory; or whether the whole value pro- 
 duced from a given capital and a given quantity of labour, em- 
 ployed in the other way ; or, rather, perhaps, whether the business 
 of agriculture or that of manufactures will yield the greatest pro- 
 duct, according to a compound ratio of the quantity of the capital 
 and the quantity of labour, which are employed in the one or in 
 the other. The solution of either of these questions is not easy. 
 It involves numerous and complicated details depending on an ac- 
 curate knowledge of the objects to be compared. It is not known 
 that the comparison has ever yet been made upon sufficient data, 
 properly ascertained and analysed. 'To be able to make it on the 
 present occasion with satisfactory precision, would demand more 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 147 
 
 previous enquiry and investigation, than there has been hitherto 
 leisure or opportunity to accomplish. Some essays, however, have 
 been made towards acquiring the requisite information ; which 
 have rather served to throw doubt upon, than to confirm, the 
 hypothesis under examination. But it ought to be acknowledged, 
 that they have been too little diversified, and are too imperfect 
 to authorise a definitive conclusion either way; leading rather to 
 probable conjecture than to certain deduction. 'They render it 
 probable, that there are various branches of manufactures, in 
 which a given capital will yield a greater total product, and a 
 considerably greater net product, than an equal capital invested in 
 the purchase and improvements of lands; and that there are also 
 some branches, in which both the gross and the net produce will 
 exceed that of agricultural industry ; according to a compound 
 ratio of capital and labour. But it is on this last point that there 
 appears to be the greatest room for doubt. It is far less difficult to 
 infer generally, that the net produce of capital engaged in manu- 
 facturing enterprises is greater than that of capital engaged in 
 agriculture. In stating these results, the purchase and improve- 
 ment of lands, under previous cultivation, are alone contemplated. 
 The comparison is more in favour of agriculture, when it is made 
 with reference to the settlement of new and waste lands; but an 
 argument drawn from so temporary a circumstance could have 
 no weight in determining the general question concerning the per- 
 manent relative productiveness of the two species of industry. 
 How far it ought to influence the policy of the United States, on 
 the score of particular situation, will be adverted to in another 
 place. The foregoing suggestions are not designed to inculcate an 
 opinion that manufacturing industry is more productive than that 
 of agriculture. They are intended rather to show that the reverse 
 of this proposition is not ascertained ; that the general arguments 
 which are brought to establish it, are not satisfactory ; and con- 
 sequently that a supposition of the superior productiveness of 
 tillage ought to be no obstacle to listening to any substantial 
 inducements to the encouragement of manufactures, which may 
 be otherwise perceived to exist, through an apprehension, that they 
 may have a tendency to divert labour from a more to a less profit- 
 able employment. It is extremely probable, that on a full and 
 accurate development of the matter, on the ground of fact and 
 calculation, it would be discovered that there is no material differ- 
 ence between the aggregate productiveness of the one, and of the 
 other kind of industry; and that the propriety of the encourage- 
 ments, which may in any case be proposed to be given to either, 
 
148 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 ought to be determined upon considerations irrelative to any com- 
 parison of that nature. But without contending for the superior 
 productiveness of manufacturing industry, it may conduce toa 
 better judgment of the policy, which ought to be pursued respect- 
 ing its encouragement, to contemplate the subject under some 
 additional aspects, tending not only to confirm the idea, that this 
 kind of industry has been improperly represented as unproductive 
 in itself; but to evince in addition that the establishment and dif- 
 fusion of manufactures have the effect of rendering the total mass 
 of useful and productive labour, in a community, greater than it 
 would otherwise be. 
 
 “In prosecuting this discussion, it may be necessary briefly to 
 resume and review some of the topics which have been already 
 touched. ‘To affirm that the labour of the manufacturer is unpro- 
 ductive because he consumes as much of the produce of land as 
 he adds value to the raw materials which he manufactures, is not 
 better founded, than it would be to affirm, that the labour of the 
 farmer, which furnishes materials to the manufacturer, is unpro- 
 ductive, because he consumes an equal value of manufactured 
 articles. Each furnishes a certain portion of the produce of his 
 labour to the other. In the meantime the maintenance of two 
 citizens instead of one, is going on; the state has two members 
 instead of one; and they together consume twice the value of 
 what is produced from the land. If instead of a farmer and arti- 
 ficer, there were a farmer only, he would be under the necessity of 
 devoting a part of his labour to the fabrication of clothing and 
 other articles which he would procure of the artificer, in the case 
 of there being such a person; and of course he would be able to 
 devote less labour to the cultivation of his farm, and would draw 
 from it a proportionably less product. 'The whole quantity of pro- 
 duction, in this state of things, in provisions, raw materials, and 
 manufactures, would certainly not exceed in value the amount 
 of what would be produced in provisions and raw materials only, 
 if there were an artificer as well asa farmer. Again—-lIf there 
 were both an artificer and a farmer, the latter would be left at 
 liberty to pursue exclusively the cultivation of his farm. A creater 
 quantity of provisions and raw materials would of course be pro- 
 duced, equal, at least, as has been already observed, to the amount 
 of the provisions, raw materials, and manufactures, which would 
 exist on a contrary supposition. The artificer, at the same time, 
 would be going on in the production of manufactured commodities; 
 to an amount sufficient not only to repay the farmer, in those com- 
 modities, for the provisions and materials which were procured _ 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 149 
 
 from him, but to furnish the artificer himself with a supply of 
 similar commodities for his own use. 'Thus then, there would be 
 two quantities of values in existence instead of one; and the 
 revenue and consumption would be double in one case, what it 
 would be in the other. If, in place of both these suppositions, 
 there were supposed to be two farmers and no artificer, each of 
 whom applied a part of his labour to the culture of land, and 
 another part to the fabrication of manufactures ; in this case, the 
 portion of the labour of both bestowed upon land, would produce 
 the same quantity of provisions and raw materials only, as would 
 be produced by the entire sum of the labour of one applied in the 
 same manner, and the portion of the labour of both bestowed upon 
 manufactures, would produce the same quantities only, as would 
 be produced by the entire sum of the labour of one applied in the 
 same manner. Hence the produce of the labour of the two farmers 
 would not be greater than the produce of the labour of the farmer 
 and artificer; and hence it results that the labour of the artificer 
 is as positively productive as that of the farmer, and as positively 
 augments the revenue of the society. The labour of the artificer 
 replaces to the farmer that portion of his labour with which he 
 provides the materials of exchange with the artificer, and which 
 he would otherwise have been compelled to apply to manufactures; 
 and while the artificer-thus enables the farmer to enlarge his stock 
 of agricultural industry, a portion of which he purchases for his 
 own use, he also supplies himself with the manufactured articles 
 of which he stands in need. He does still more.—Besides this 
 equivalent which he gives for the portion of agricultural labour 
 consumed by him, and this supply of manufactured commodities 
 for his own consumption; he furnishes still a surplus, which 
 compensates for the use of the capital advanced either by himself 
 or some other person, for carrying on the business. This is the 
 ordinary profit of the stock employed in the manufactory, and is, 
 in every sense, as effective an addition to the income of the society 
 as the rent of land. The produce of the labour of the artificer, 
 consequently, may be regarded as composed of three parts ; one 
 by which the provisions for his subsistence and the materials for 
 his work are purchased of the farmer; one by which he supplies 
 himself with manufactured necessaries; and a third which con- 
 stitutes the profit on the stock employed. The two last portions 
 seem to have been overlooked in the system, which represents 
 manufacturing industry as barren and unproductive. In the course 
 of the preceding illustrations, the products of equal quantities of 
 the labour of the farmer and artificer, have been treated as if 
 
150 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 equal to each other. But this is not to be understood as intending 
 to assert any such precise equality. It is merely a manner of ex- 
 pression adopted for the sake of simplicity and perspicuity. 
 Whether the value of the produce of the labour of the farmer be 
 Somewhat more or less than that of the artificer, is not material to 
 the main scope of the argument, which hitherto has only aimed 
 at showing that the one, as well as the other, occasions a positive 
 augmentation of the total produce and revenue of the society. It 
 is now proper to proceed a step further, and to enumerate the 
 principal circumstances from which it may be inferred, that 
 manufacturing establishments not only occasion a positive aug- 
 mentation of the produce and revenue of the society, but that they 
 contribute essentially to rendering them greater than they could 
 possibly be without such establishments. 'These circumstances 
 are, 1. The division of labour. 2. The extension of the use of 
 machinery., 3. Additional employment to classes of the commu- 
 nity not ordinarily engaged in the business. 4. The promotion of 
 emigration from foreign countries. 5. The furnishing greater 
 scope for the diversity of talents and dispositions, which discrimi- 
 nate men from each other.” 
 
 “This report on manufactures is perhaps the most elaborate per: 
 formance he left on the files of his office. It is distinguished for 
 extensive research, judicious application of the knowledge attained, 
 and an accurate estimate of the policy of encouraging the manu- 
 facturing interest, as an essential feature in the independence of 
 the nation. This report adopts the principles of the mercantile 
 system, in opposition to Adam Smith and the French economists. 
 They attacked the combined manufacturing and mercantile inte- 
 rests of Great Britain, as founded upon oppressive monopoly ; and 
 contended 'for entire freedom of commerce and industry, undiverted 
 and unimpeded by government, as the best means of advancing 
 nations to prosperity and greatness. ‘The secretary combated 
 with the greatest ability some of the dogmas of these philosophers, 
 and maintained his favourite system as much by the power of his 
 logic, as by illustrative and pertinent reference to the experience of 
 those nations, at once successful in commerce and great in the 
 productions of art. It is now more than forty years since his 
 report on manufactures was made to congress. Now his opinions 
 on that great branch of natural economy are become popular in 
 the United States. For the last fifteen years societies have been 
 formed in every part of the country, composed of gentlemen in all 
 the various pursuits of life, expressly to procure and disseminate 
 information tending to encourage the manufacturing interests o: 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 151 
 
 the nation. Memorials of most interesting and impressive charac- 
 ter for eloquence, correct principles, and patriotic devotion, have 
 been published to the people ; and committees appointed to stimu- 
 late the federal government to a particular patronage of that 
 branch of industry and political strength. These memorials and 
 ~ committees espouse the sentiments which were assumed by Secre- 
 tary Hamilton: The Hon. John Holmes delivered, in the senate 
 of the United States, a synopsis of this report, as a speech on the 
 tariff, observing that nothing new could be added. In this parti- 
 cular, as on the subjects of the funded debt and national bank, 
 the experience of the Jast half century has clearly proved that he 
 was, in his time, more correctly impressed as to the true interests 
 and policy of the United States, and better understood their politi- 
 cal and domestic economy, than any other statesman who has 
 been at all prominent in their public affairs. All his official reports 
 are remarkable for wide research, profound thought, close logic, 
 and precision of expression. His labours in the treasury depart- 
 ment, united with the integrity with which he conducted jit, and 
 which the most penetrating inquisition into all the avenues of his 
 office could never bring into question, will form with posterity the 
 fairest monument of his fame. In organising the federal govern- 
 ment, in 1789, every man of either sense or candour will allow, the 
 difficulties seemed greater than the first rate abilities could sur. 
 mount. 'The event has shown that his abilities were greater than 
 those difficulties. He surmounted them, and Washington’s admi- 
 nistration was the most wise and beneficent, the most prosperous, 
 and ought to be the most popular, that ever was entrusted with 
 the affairs of a nation. Great as was Washington’s merit, much 
 of it in plan, much in execution, was due to the talents, and ought 
 to enhance the memory, of his minister. As a statesman, he was 
 not more distinguished by the great extent of his views, than by 
 the caution with which he provided against impediments, and the 
 watchfulness of his care over the rights and liberty of the subject. 
 In none of the many revenue bills which he framed, is there to 
 be found a single clause that savours of despotic power; not one 
 that the sagest champions of law and liberty would, on that 
 ground, hesitate to approve and adopt. It is rare that a man who 
 owes so much to nature descends to seek more from industry ; but 
 he seemed to depend on industry, as if nature had done nothing 
 for him. His habits of investigation were very remarkable, his 
 mind seemed to cling to his subject till he had exhausted it. 
 Hence the uncommon superiority of his reasoning powers, a supe- 
 riority that seemed to be augmented from every source, and to be 
 
152 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 fortified by every auxiliary—tlearning, taste, wit, imagination, and 
 eloquence. These were embellished and enforced by his temper , 
 and manners, by his fame and his virtues. It is difficult, in the 
 midst of such various excellence, to say in what particular the 
 effect of his greatness was most manifest. Noman more promptly 
 discerned truth. No man more clearly displayed it. It is not 
 merely made visible. It.seemed to come bright with illumination 
 from his lips. For the truth, which his researches so distinctly 
 presented to the understanding of others, was rendered almost 
 irresistibly commanding and impressive, by the love and reverence 
 which, it was ever apparent, he profoundly cherished for it in his 
 own. While patriotism glowed in his heart, wisdom blended in 
 his speech her authority with her charms. Such, also, is the 
 character of his writings. Judiciously collected, they will be a 
 public treasure. 
 
 “'The most substantial glory of a country is in its virtuous great 
 men. Its prosperity will depend on its docility to learn from their 
 example. ‘That nation is fated to ignominy and servitude, for 
 which such men lived in vain. Power may be seized by a nation 
 that is yet barbarous, and wealth may be enjoyed by one that it 
 finds or renders sordid. The one is a gift and the sport of acci- 
 dent, and the other is the sport of power. Both are mutable, and 
 have passed away, without leaving behind them any other memo- 
 ria], than ruins that offend taste, and traditions that baffle con- 
 jecture. | 
 
 “ But the glory of Greece is imperishable, or will last as long as 
 learning itself, which is its monument. It strikes an everlasting 
 root, and bears perennial blossoms on its grave. The name of 
 Hanulton would not have dishonoured Greece in’ the age of 
 Aristides,””* 
 
 * M. Carey, the author of the Olive Branch, in his disinterested exertions to 
 promote the American system, was the means of circulating the report of 
 Hamilton, more than any other individual ; and, indeed, Mr. Carey’s patriotic 
 exertions are deserving of high praise. 
 
 “ Believing that Alexander Hamilton was the real father of the American 
 systeni—that therefore the manufacturers were very deeply indebted to him 
 —that they ought to hold his memory sacred—and that they would of course 
 rejoice in an opportunity of showing their gratitude, I projected the striking 
 of a medal to his honour; and made a conditional arrangement with Mr. 
 Gobrecht, a celebrated die sinker, for the execution. The expense of the 
 die, and some small items, would have been two hundred and seventy 
 dollars. The subscription was to be five dollars each, for fifty-four persons, 
 to be divided equally between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, eighteen 
 to each place. But trifling as was the contribution, economy prevailed over 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 153 
 
 ‘That timidity which causes young men to remain in idleness, 
 and distrust the bounties of Providence, is a vice which ought to 
 be fought against on its first approaches. The earth bringeth 
 forth abundantly, the young ravens, the cattle upon a thousand 
 hills, are fed; and shall He not feed you, O ye of little faith! 
 Ambition to prosper in business, in the first place, fired Slater 
 to leave the home of his parents—to separate from his kindred—to 
 leave his country—to cross the Atlantic, then a more formidable 
 voyage than at present. This enabled him to come among 
 strangers, and suffer their suspicions and neglect, to endure every 
 hardship in his first attempts ; so it never left him—he gained his 
 purpose. <A fortune raised in that spirit ought to be cherished, 
 and managed in an honourable manner, out of respect to its 
 founder. Ambition operates in various ways; in Slater, I think, 
 it led to a desire to leave his children in a permanent and lucra- 
 tive business, as his old master, Strutt, left his sons, whose. pos- 
 terity are now enjoying their inheritance. Nor can I see any evil 
 in the exercise of such ambition, if it does not interfere with other 
 and more important duties. ‘There is no evil in the accumulation 
 of property, if it be done honestly and honourably, without infringe- 
 ing on the rights and privileges of others. ‘This being with Slater 
 a strong passion, he could not be easily diverted from it, but met 
 every obstacle with fortitude, before which mountains became 
 plains, and hills were removed. ‘This courage when properly 
 used, is virtuous and praiseworthy, and ought to be imitated. 
 
 “To do good, with the property which we have saved by our 
 
 gratitude. I sent the prospectus to twovery extensive and influential manu- 
 facturers in Boston and New York, neither of whom procured a subscriber. 
 I hired a person in Philadelphia at a dollar per day, to go among the manu- 
 facturers to procure signatures. In five days he procured eleven! I need 
 not add that the project was abandoned. 
 
 “ The subscribers, desirous of transmitting to posterity a lasting testimonial 
 of their high sense of the profound and wealth-producing system of political 
 economy displayed in the admirable report un manufactures, by Alexander 
 Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, under the administration of General 
 Washington—a report, which, considering the previous uncongenial habits 
 of the illustrious writer, may be placed among the proudest monuments 
 of the human intellect; and, considering his political and anti-manu- 
 facturing associations, as a decisive proof of the most sterling patriotism, 
 have agreed to subscribe each five dollars for the purpose of procuring a die 
 for striking medals to commemorate the memory of a statesman, who, by 
 the work in question, has had a beneficent influence in promoting the 
 national prosperity, which it would be scarcely possible to appreciate too 
 highly.” 
 
 20 
 
154 . MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 honesty, economy, temperance, and industry, is one great end of 
 our existence; it is the perfection of the Christian character, and 
 should be the first lesson in all education. 'The selfish and hard- 
 hearted, who strive, by monopoly and every unfair advantage, to 
 obtain unequal privileges, to get all they can, to accept all that is 
 given, and to give nothing, never dream of that, which is so true, 
 that the giver is the happiest man. But to enable us to give we 
 must have something, and this again shows us the value of pro- 
 perty. ‘Those who have nothing, may be kind-hearted, generous, 
 and naturally noble-minded ; they may for ever be thinking to do 
 good, and hoping that the time will come, when they shall be 
 able to bring something about; but very little, comparatively, is 
 ever in their power. 
 
 “ Property provides for the body, clothes and feeds us ; it builds 
 our houses, supplies them with furniture, provides all the tools for 
 our work on our farms, and every where else, and settles our wild 
 lands; for a poor man connot even move from the old to the new 
 states unless -he has made some provision for that purpose. It 
 builds the manufactories, supplies them with stock, and pays the 
 wages of the hands. If indigent people come to us from Europe, 
 there must be more property than just enough for us to live upon, 
 or we cannot set them to work, and they must starve. 
 
 “Tf the destitute English, Scots, and Irish, were to emigrate to 
 the poor countries of Europe, they would perish ; they therefore, 
 are as much interested in increasing the property of this country, 
 as the natives are. It is the increasing property of the United 
 States which is now employing these poor people in the building 
 of canals and railroads. Nothing but our superfluous wealth can 
 feed the hungry or clothe the naked. a. 3 
 
 All progress and improvements in the arts, in the engines, tools, 
 and labour-saving machines of the Peckupan farmer, and manu- 
 facturer, are to be attributed mainly to the increasing i hae of 
 the people.” —Sedgwick, 
 
 “When a poor man wants food or drink, and must have it, the 
 first thing he does is to work; this is the price he pays, and at 
 night he receives his recompense, in a bushel of wheat, or rye, or 
 money, or some other thing. ‘The reason why he must pay in 
 his own labour immediately, is, that he has no labour stored or 
 laid up: in other words, he has none of the products of labour, 
 such as money, or other property. But suppose a good farmer, 
 whose farm is not mortgaged, and whose cattle and goods are 
 neither pledged for debt, nor under a sheriff’s execution, desires 
 to buy; he also pays in labour; but it is not the labour of that 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. . — 155 
 
 day, but of some former period. He has been a man of prudence : 
 he has stored up labour, which now consists of wheat, corn, rye, 
 cattle, dc. ; these are the things that he worked for last year ; these 
 he exchanges for what he wants. A rich man, who never wrought 
 a day in his life, he may not have wheat, corn, or rye, with 
 which to pay, but he has money, which is as completely labour 
 laid up, as the farmer’s stores. It is not the result of his own 
 labour, but that of his father, grandfather, or some other indus- 
 trious man., Some one has given labour for it; for there is no 
 other way, as an almost universal rule, by which money can be 
 obtained, in the first instance, but by being worked for. It is ob- 
 tained from the mines by labour, as before stated ; and the labourer 
 who gets it, is paid for his work, as all other labourers are. The 
 merit of this rich. man, then, is that, he has saved, and not fool- 
 ishly thrown away, his hoarded labour,—that which he is sure 
 has cost the sweat and toil of industrious people.”—Jbid. 
 
 *¢ New England has not been a leader in this policy. On the con- 
 trary, she held back herself, and tried to hold others back from it, 
 from the adoption of the constitution of 1824. Up to this time, 
 she was accused of sinister and selfish designs, because she discoun- 
 tenanced the progress of this policy. It was laid to her charge, then, 
 that having established her manufactures herself, she wished that 
 others should not have the power of rivaling her ; and for that 
 reason, opposed all legislative encouragement. Under this angry 
 denunciation against her, the act of 1824 passed. Now, (1828) 
 the imputation is precisely of an opposite character. The present 
 measure is pronounced to be exclusively for the benefit of New 
 England; to be brought forward by her agency, and designed to 
 gratify the cupidity of her wealthy establishments. Both charges 
 are equally without the slightest foundation. The opinion. of 
 New England, up to 1824, was founded in the conviction that, on 
 the whole, it was wisest and best, both for herself and others, that 
 manufactures should make haste slowly. She felt a reluctance to 
 trust great interests on the foundation of government patronage ; 
 for who could tell how long such patronage would last, or with 
 what steadiness, skill, or perseverance, it would continue to be 
 granted? Fifteen years ago, I ventured to express a serious 
 doubt, whether this government was fitted, by its construction, to 
 administer aid and protection to particular pursuits; whether, 
 having called such pursuits into being, by indications of its favour, 
 it would not afterwards desert them, when troubles came upon 
 them, and leave them to their fate. Whether this prediction, the 
 result, certainly, of chance, and not of sagacity, will be fulfilled, 
 
156 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 remains to be seen. At the same time it is true, that from the 
 very first commencement of the government, those who have 
 administered its concerns have held a tone of encouragement and 
 invitation towards those who should embark in manufactures. 
 All the presidents, without exception, have concurred in this gene- 
 ral sentiment; and the very first act of congress, laying duties of 
 import, adopted the then unusual expedient of a preamble, appa- 
 rently for little other purpose than that of declaring, that the 
 duties which it imposed, were imposed for the encouragement and 
 protection of manufactures. When, at the commencement of the 
 late war, duties were doubled, we were told that we should find a 
 mitigation of the weight of taxation, in the new aid and succour 
 which would be thus afforded to our own manufacturing labour. 
 Like arguments were urged, and prevailed, but not by the aid of 
 New England votes, when the tariff was afterwards arranged, at 
 the close of the war, in 1816. The act of 1824 received the sanc- 
 tion of both houses of congress, and settled the policy of the 
 country. What then was New England todo? She was fitted for 
 manufacturing operations, by the amount and character of her 
 population, by her capital, by the vigour and energy of her free 
 labour, by the skill, economy, enterprise, and perseverance of her 
 people. Nothing was left to New England, after the act of 1824, 
 but to conform herself to the will of others. Nothing was left to 
 her, but to consider that the government had fixed and determined 
 its own policy; and that policy was protection. 
 
 “« New England, poor in some respects, in others is as wealthy as 
 her neighbours. Her soil would be held in low estimation by 
 those who are acquainted with the valley of the Mississippi, and 
 some of the meadows of the south. But in industry, in habits of 
 labour, skill, and in accumulated capital, the fruit of two centu- 
 ries of industry, she may be said to be rich. She had foreseen, 
 that if the system of protecting manufactures should be adopted, she 
 must go largely into them: a vast increase of investment in manu- 
 facturing establishments was the consequence. 'Those who made 
 such investments, probably entertained not the slightest doubt that 
 as much as was promised would be effectually granted ; and that 
 if, owing to any unforeseen occurrence, or untoward event, the 
 benefit designed by the law, to any branch of manufactures, should 
 not be realised, it would furnish a fair case for the consideration 
 of government. Certainly, they could not expect, after what had 
 passed, that interests of great magnitude would be left at the 
 mercy of the very first change of circumstances which might 
 
 occur.”—Webster on the Tariff. 
 < its 
 ‘= 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 157 
 
 A comparative view of the weekly and yearly expenditure of an 
 English and an American family, will show that the advantage, 
 with regard to the price of labour, is not so great as many have 
 represented. | 
 
 The English labourer must be supported in a country where 
 
 _ rent and provisions are much higher than in the United States. 
 It may be asked, how does the English labourer get the money to 
 purchase this expenditure? His expenditure has but one element, 
 it is work, his daily toil. He can neither beg nor steal. His 
 labour, or wages, must meet the whole expenditure. No matter 
 who pays it, in the first instance. He consumes so much value; 
 whether his employer or the public advance this amount, is imma- 
 terial. It costs as much to support the population of manufacturing 
 establishments in England, as it does in America. He who em- 
 ploys this labour, receives directly the product, and must ulti- 
 mately pay the cost of it. Pauperism is a part of the English 
 system, and it is known, that almost all labourers are, to some 
 amount, one quarter, one half, three quarters, or all, supported by 
 enormous poor rates. ‘I‘hese are paid by the employers of labour 
 and capital, and must, like wages paid directly to the labourer, be 
 charged on production, and paid by consumption. How different 
 the condition of American labourers! Each family may lay up 
 two thirds of their wages, and still be in comfort and accommoda- 
 tion. ‘They can do this, because the produce of land is so cheap. 
 Those who allege that we cannot manufacture so cheap as the 
 English, because we pay so much higher wages, should consider 
 that this is true in appearance only. If such apparent difference 
 resulted in that effect, how is it true that England can compete 
 with France? Labour is much higher, in its apparent price, in 
 England, than the same labour is in France. In America, machi- 
 nery is moved by water, the English by steam, and 150 in 151 
 manufacturing Jabourers are machines. Proximity to our market 
 is a great advantage: the cost to carry the raw material abroad, 
 and to return the finished fabrics, are items of some consequence. 
 British manufacturing labour affords-no surplus saving, over and 
 above consumption; and can add nothing to national capital. 
 American labour can save one third of its wages, whereby to aug- 
 ment national capital. 
 
 Any day of the year, since 1824, the true Leeds and Manchester 
 prices current, of cotton and woollen cloths, have quoted them at 
 an equal, or higher price, than goods of the same quality, on the 
 same days, were sold on the same terms, at Providence. We do 
 not yet export much amount of woollens, but in cottons we under- 
 
 se * 
 van 
 
158 MEMOIR OF ‘SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 sell the English, in South American markets. In 1827 we paid 
 a duty of 15 per cent. ad valorem, and then sold our cottons, in 
 the Canadas, cheaper than the English, paying no duty, sell their 
 fabrics of like quality. 
 
 The English have been at pains and cost, to obtain samples and 
 marks, of cloths made in Cumberland, Smithfield, N. Providence, 
 and Coventry, in Rhode Island; and imitating these cloths, and 
 forging their marks, they have anita their fabrics to South America; 
 The American domestics are still distinguishable ; and, because of 
 a firmer fabric, sell more readily, and at better prices, than these 
 fraudulent imitations. 
 
 When manufactures began in this country, they began with 
 little skill, less capital, and imperfect machinery. They took 
 shelter sindibcr impost for encouragement. Aided by that, they 
 came into the market, and selling their products at, or nearly at, 
 the price of the English fabrics, with added importation and im- 
 post, they were able to meet the augmented expenditures incident 
 to incipient establishments, want of capital, want of skill, and 
 want of perfected machinery. Mr. Burgess said, in 1828 :—‘'The 
 system is your great system of impost; the vital principle of your 
 government, together with its acknowledged and inseparable con- 
 comitants,—breathed into this legislative, judicial, and executive 
 body, by the spirit of wisdom itself; this body then, and thereafter, 
 became a living, active, and efficient bemg. You would have 
 revenue ‘to support this government, pay the national debt, pro- 
 vide for the common defence and secure the general welfare.’ The 
 constitution directed, and the laws have provided, that you should 
 raise it by impost. Unless you confine impost to such products 
 as your country does not, nor ever can produce, your impost will, 
 of necessity, by increasing the price of foreign, encourage the pro- 
 duction of domestic products of the same kind. As that impost, 
 by encouraging, increases the supply of domestic, the amount of 
 impost to sustain revenue must be increased. ‘This reciprocal 
 increase of impost and encouragement, will finally have called 
 labour, skill, machinery, and capital, in such abundance, to the 
 aid of domestic production, that your market must be supplied 
 with whatever class of domestic products may thus have fallen 
 within the influence of impost. So soon as your market is sup- 
 plied from domestic production, impost must cease to be productive 
 of revenue; because, when the market is supplied with the domes- 
 tic, there can be, for no fair purpose of purchase and sale, any 
 further importation of foreign products. Was it not, therefore, 
 just, when it was, of necessity, true, that the law of impost should 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 159 
 
 have announced that all impost for revenue, on all articles within 
 the productive capabilities of our country, was also impost for 
 encouragement? If it was just, and of necessity true, then, 
 to make that announcement to this nation, is it not just, and of 
 necessity true, now, when it has been re- endetedl and solemnly re- 
 _ peated, in the same manner, during a course of legislation, for the 
 term of almost forty years ?. If, stimulated by that impost, operat- 
 ing that encouragement, millions of men, with millions of property, 
 have been labouring after skill, veribatiniys machinery, and col- 
 lecting capital, will you now, éheny they can supply the nation at 
 a less expense, and with as good a fabric,—will you, I say, now 
 announce, that all you said then, of encouragement, was fabled 
 and false ; a stratagem to lure money into your coffers, and men 
 into ruin? You published a system of impost for revenue, en- 
 couragement and protection. You knew that, when you had 
 received the last cent of your revenue, you would have been 
 perfectly paid for protection. The people of this nation have paid 
 the full and stipulated consideration to their government for her 
 full protection, on every item of domestic production. They do 
 not claim protection on this ground ; but they respectfully petition 
 to be protected on those products only, which they can, and 
 demonstrate that they can, supply at a cost much less than foreign 
 labour and capital can ane: them.” 
 
 In reflecting on the value and uses of property, I am aware 
 there are many conflicting opinions on this subject ; a great variety 
 of theories are proposed, many of them founded on the idea, that 
 the same principles will operate in relation to capital now, as it 
 would in the origin of society. It must be remembered, that the 
 state of society is formed, fashions and customs are fixed, and 
 with the present situation, it becomes us to ask, what are the value 
 and uses of property? ‘To lay up in store in those years of plenty, 
 in order to provide for years of scarcity, was considered in Joseph 
 a maxim of profound wisdom, and practically was of immense 
 benefit to mankind. Where this power of accumulation exists 
 without infringing on the rights and necessities of others, it is 
 performing a work of public benefit ; filling store houses, as our 
 security against sudden emergencies and times of scarcity. ‘These 
 are the value and uses of property, and in the present situation of 
 the United States, the capitalists form an important part of the 
 community ; they do not receive exorbitant interest in the general 
 works of improvement, but on the contrary, suffer great risks and 
 losses. Why should prejudices exist against individuals who are 
 
160 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 willing to employ their money in works of public utility, which 
 afford means of wealth to others ? 
 
 On the subject of wages there is much'said that to me 1s not 
 easily to be understood, much intricacy and such theories as are 
 impracticable, and that will not bear on the present state of society. 
 My simple idea has always been, that wages must be regulated 
 according to the demand, and according to the state of business. 
 It is liable to depression, like the interest of money, or any other 
 article of commerce—it is far best to let it alone, it will regulate 
 itself; nothing like coercion can be allowed in a free country, 
 every individual must be left to act for himself; and this has 
 answered well, in its practical operation in every age of the world. 
 I read Mr. Carey with the hope of getting something definite on a 
 subject on which I do not profess to be a very proficient student. 
 I was, however, somewhat disappointed in my examination of the 
 Essay on Wages,* but will let the author speak for himself. 
 
 “ We may safely trust that population will limit itself, and that 
 the wisdom of the arrangements of the Deity in regard to man, 
 will be as evident as it is in every other part of the creation. 
 At the time Mr. Malthus formed his theory, he had but few facts 
 
 * This subject is attracting general notice, and it must necessarily become 
 more interesting, as the population and business transactions of the country 
 increase. As it is closely connected with the well being of the community, 
 the discussion ought to be conducted in a calm and dispassionate manner, 
 and every thing relating to it weighed with justice and judgment; without par- 
 tiality and without hypocrisy ; without respect either to the poor or to the rich. 
 
 Something can be learned from the past experience of mankind, for like 
 causes will produce like effects in every age and section of the world. Every 
 thing will find its level, and it is impossible to press it beyond its natural 
 course; you may impede its regular progress, by artificial contrivances, 
 but it will burst through every obstruction, and break down every barrier 
 in its way. The less we legislate on this subject the better; labour must 
 and will be paid according to the demand; and you cannot raise wages upon 
 the large scale, no more than you can raise the price of gold. However 
 precious and important it may be to the country’s prosperity, still there must 
 be a price, and that will be varied by circumstances, like the value of any 
 other article. Nothing can be ultimately gained by combinations and oppo- 
 sition of one class to the other, because such things are always met with 
 counteracting influences. 
 
 The state of business and of capital in the United States, prevents any 
 monopoly or advantage to the injury of the operatives, and nothing should 
 be done to discourage investments for the promotion of business and improve- 
 ment; for without such arrangement of property, a stagnation must ensue, 
 and in such a case the labourers are the first who feel the effects, especially 
 those of them who do not save from their earnings to help them in time of 
 need. 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 161 
 in regard to civilised man, upon which it could be based.“ ‘The 
 
 experience of this country had been too short to enable him to use 
 
 * Since making the above extract, I have examined Malthus’s “ Essay on the 
 Principle of Population ; or, a view of its past and present effects on Human 
 
 Happiness ; with an enquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal 
 
 or mitigation of the evils which it occasions,”—2 vols. 8vo, third edition,— 
 and I cannot agree with Mr. Carey, that the author had not the facts of the 
 case before him, for in this respect he is very full and overpowering in his 
 argument. 
 
 His proposed remedy is self-denial, founded on purity and chastity; he 
 recommends prudence, temperance, industry, and economy, and the exercise 
 of these is certainly aremedy against vice and misery. These virtues would 
 render it unnecessary to restrict population; they would richly provide for 
 such a population, however numerous. It is but justice to let Malthus define 
 what he terms a moral restraint on population; he says,—“ By moral 
 restraint, I would be understood to mean, a restraint from marriage from 
 prudential motives, with a conduct strictly moral during the period of this 
 restraint, and I have never intentionally deviated from this sense. When 
 I wished to consider the restraint from marriage unconnected with its conse- 
 quences, I have either called it prudential restraint, or a part of the preven- 
 tive check, of which it forms the principal branch. Tacitus describes the 
 inhabitants of ancient Germany, as not living in cities, or even admitting of 
 contiguous settlements. Every person surrounds his house with a vacant 
 space, a circumstance, which, besides its beneficial effect as a security from 
 fire, is strongly calculated to prevent the generation, and check the ravages, 
 of epidemics. They content themselves almost universally with one wife. 
 Their matrimonial bond is strict and severe, and their manners in this 
 respect deserving the highest praise. They live in a state of well-guarded 
 chastity, corrupted by no seducing spectacles, or convivial incitements. 
 Adultery is extremely rare, and no indulgence is shown to a prostitute. 
 Neither beauty, youth, nor riches, can procure hera husband; for none there 
 look on vice with a smile, or call mutual seduction the way of the world. 
 To limit the increase of children, or put to death any of the husband’s blood, 
 is accounted infamous, and virtuous manners have there more efficacy than 
 good laws elsewhere. Every mother suckles her own children, and does 
 not deliver them into the hands of servants and nurses. The youths partake 
 late of the sexual intercourse, and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted. 
 Nor are the virgins brought forward. The same maturity, the same full 
 growth is required; the sexes unite equally matched and robust, and the 
 children inherit the vigour of their parents. The more numerous are a 
 man’s kinsmen and relations, the more comfortable is his old age, nor is tt 
 any advantage to be childless. 
 
 “ With these manners, and a habit of enterprise and emigration, which 
 would naturally remove all fears about providing for a family, it is difficult 
 to conceive a society with a stronger principle of increase in it; and we see 
 at once that prolific source of successive armies and colonies against which 
 the force of the Roman empire so long struggled with difficulty, and under 
 which it ultimately sunk.” —Malthus. 
 
 21 
 
162 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 it with any advantage, and he was obliged to argue from the state 
 of man as he exists in the eastern hemisphere, ‘checked like a 
 “bondman,’ fettered by laws and regulations, and oppressed by 
 claims for the support of government and of individuals. To argue 
 from facts thus obtained, is like constructing a theory of the tides 
 from a collection of observations on mill-dams. Iam not aware 
 of a fact in his book in regard to man in a state of civilisation, that 
 goes to support his theory, or that is not much better evidence 
 that man has been misgoverned, and his increase repressed there- 
 by, than that it has been repressed by inability of the earth to 
 afford him support. . 
 
 “ High wages, or a large ‘ fund for the support of the labouring 
 class, in proportion to the extent of that class,’ are an infallible 
 evidence of prosperity. 
 
 “ National prosperity does not depend nearly so much on advan- 
 tageous situations, salubrity of climate, or fertility of soil, as in 
 the adopting of measures fitted to excite the inventive powers of 
 genius, and to give perseverance and activity to industry. 'The 
 establishment of a wise system of public economy can compensate 
 for every other deficiency. It can render regions naturally inhos- 
 pitable, barren and unproductive, the comfortable abodes of an 
 elegant and refined, or crowded and wealthy, population. But 
 where it is wanting, the best gifts of nature are of no value; and 
 countries possessed of the greatest capacities of improvement, and 
 abounding in all the materials necessary for the production of 
 wealth, with difficulty furnish a miserable subsistence to hordes dis- 
 tinguished only by their ignorance, barbarism, and wretchedness. 
 
 ‘“ As yet we know nothing of the productive powers of the earth. 
 In an article on America, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is stat- 
 ed, that notwithstanding the difference in size between the eastern 
 and western continent, the proportion of the former that is unfit 
 for cultivation, in consequence of sterility, or absence of water 
 communications, is so much greater that the latter is capable of 
 subsisting an éeittal population. 
 
 “The most fertile soils, miserably tilled, according to the pre- 
 scriptive rule of ‘follow my leader,’ are every where found conti- 
 guous to examples of skill and industry, which raise abundant 
 crops ; and the contented boor sits down to his starved returns, 
 quite satisfied with what rude implements, wasteful defects, and 
 ignorant blindness, have permitted him to gather like his prede- 
 Cessors. 
 
 “ How different would it be, were the opposite course se pursued! 
 were all the British empire, for instance, as ably and intelligently 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 163 
 
 cultivated as the Lothians and lowlands of Scotland. Were Mr. 
 Lowe’s practical lessons universally acted upon, we should then 
 hear no more of a surplus population beyond the supply of . 
 food ; of the necessity of exporting our hearty peasantry to Aus- 
 tralian or other colonies; of the dreadful sufferings of the labour- 
 ‘ing poor. The honest toils of the field would largely supersede 
 the depraving employment of the workhouse ; and the reward of 
 those toils would be plenty of wholesome food to sustain the hum- 
 blest classes of our fellow-creatures. Such is the fact in the 
 United States, pauperism and the workhouse in an evil sense 1s 
 unknown among us. 
 
 “Having done all in our power to make man poor and mise- 
 rable,—to prevent the growth of capital or any improvement in 
 his situation, and finding that there is a great deal of poverty in 
 the world, we enquire the cause, and find it arises out of a mistake 
 in the Deity, who fitted man to increase in a geometrical ratio, while 
 he permitted the fruits of the earth to increase in an arithmetical | 
 ratio only, thus making poverty and misery inseparable accom- 
 paniments of the human race. This result is highly satisfactory 
 to us, as it transfers to the Deity what should rest upon our own 
 shoulders, and we then invent the starvation check; discourage 
 matrimony that we may promote profligacy, and thus check popu- 
 lation; while the earth is as yet, in a great measure, untouched, 
 and is capable of supporting thousands of millions, in those parts 
 where cultivation is almost unknown. 
 
 “The people of the United States have corn, and provisions 
 generally, very cheap. ‘Tea and coffee are imported free of duty, 
 and are sold at a very small advance upon their cost at the places 
 of production. Sugar is at much smaller duty than in France 
 and England. Fuel is cheap. Most descriptions of manufactured 
 goods are higher than in England, particularly those of wool and. 
 iron; and, the rate of interest being higher, house rent is also 
 higher. Making allowances for these differences, it is probable 
 that the English labourer would be required to work sixteen days 
 to obtain the same amount of commodities that would be obtained 
 by the American labourer in eleven days. ' 
 
 “In the United States, the situation of the labouring classes is 
 confessedly better than in any other nation whatever. 
 
 “ Until within a very recent period, France has known little of 
 the benefit of security, either of person or of property. 
 
 “Fettered and oppressed in every way, as France was, under 
 her despotic kings, the spirit of invention and enterprise could 
 never rise to those high conceptions, which of late years have 
 
164 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL. SLATER. 
 
 brought England and America to the summit of prosperity. 
 Manufacturers, placed under the severe control of men who pur- 
 chased their offices from government, and who, therefore, exercised 
 them with rapacity, could not hazard any improvement, without 
 infringing the established regulations, and running the risk of 
 having their goods destroyed, burned, or confiscated. In every 
 trade, official regulations prescribed to workmen the methods of 
 working, and forbade deviation from them, under pain of the 
 most severe punishments. Ridiculous to say, the framer of these 
 statutes fancied he understood better how to sort and prepare wool, 
 silk, or cotton, to spin threads, to twist and throw them, than work- 
 men brought up to the trade, and whose livelihood depended on 
 their talent. Habits of industry constitute a very important item 
 in the consideration of the causes which tend to increase or 
 diminish the product of labour, and, of course, the fund out of 
 which it is to be paid. In the United States, every inducement is 
 held out to industry. 'The people have the confidence that they 
 will have the enjoyment of almost the whole product of their 
 labour undiminished by taxation, and that moderate exertion, with 
 economy, will lead to independence. As no people ever had 
 stronger inducements, so none ever pursued their avocations with 
 more earnestness. 
 
 “ Nothing so nurtures virtue as the spirit of independence. The 
 poor should be assisted in providing for themselves. 
 
 “In Holland, the truths of political economy were first acted 
 upon, and they brought with them a copious harvest of wealth. 
 Security and freedom and economy were looked to as the sources 
 of riches, as may be seen by the following passages from a de- 
 scription: of the policy of the republic, written nearly a century 
 since, in answer to inquiries respecting the state of trade, addressed 
 to the merchants of Holland by the stadtholder William IV. To 
 sum up all, amongst the moral and political causes of the same 
 flourishing state uf trade, may be likewise placed the wisdom and 
 prudence of the administration; the intrepid firmness of the 
 councils ; the faithfulness with which treaties and engagements 
 were wont to be fulfilled and ratified ; and particularly the care 
 and caution practised to preserve tranquillity and peace, and to 
 decline instead of entering on a scene of war, merely to gratify 
 the ambitious views of gaining fruitless or imaginary conquests. 
 By these moral and political maxims was the glory and the repu- 
 tation of the republic so far spread, and foreigners animated to 
 place so great a confidence in the steady determinations of a state 
 so wisely and prudently conducted, that a concourse of them: 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 165 
 
 stocked this country with an augmentation of inhabitants and use- 
 ful hands, whereby its trade and opulence were from time to time 
 increased. 
 
 “'The above observations are at present applicable to the United 
 States. It has been seen that the United States are comparatively 
 free from those disturbing causes which impede the growth of 
 capital. With a vast body of land; with mines of gold, lead, iron, 
 copper, and coal, abounding in every direction ; circulating capital 
 alone was wanting to bring them into activity, and the system has 
 tended to promote its rapid growth. Secure in person and property, 
 comparatively free from taxation, unrestrained in action, compara- 
 tively so in all matters of trade, and very industrious, the people 
 of this country, applying their labour in the way which they think 
 will produce the largest reward, find their capital rapidly augment- 
 ed; the consequence of which is, that mines are opened in all 
 directions, new lands are brought into cultivation, rail-roads and 
 canals are constructed, and machinery is applied in every way to 
 increase the produce of labour. Capital flows from all quarters to 
 this country, where it can be best paid for, and, increasing the de- 
 mand. for labour, finds employment, not only for the vast natural 
 increase of population, but for great numbers who are led to seek 
 here an improvement of their condition. The fund out of which 
 the labourer is paid, is larger, and his wages are consequently 
 greater, than in any other country. It is ina very high degree 
 satisfactory to see that this arises out of circumstances peculiar to 
 the United States, and that there is no reason to believe that any 
 increase which may take place in the extent of their population, 
 can make it otherwise, while adhering to the present system. 
 
 “By the following statements the reader will be enabled to com- 
 pare the rate of money wages of England and the United States. 
 
 “The number of persons employed in the cotton manufacture 
 of the United States, is thus stated in the memorial of the New 
 York convention, 1832:—males, 18,539 ; females, 38,927 ; child- 
 ren, 4,691 ; hand weavers, 4,760; in all, 66,917; total wages, 
 $10,294,944, equal to $3 or 12s. 6d. per week. In the History of 
 the Cotton Manufacture, by Mr. Baines, (p. 511,) the above amount 
 of wages is taken, but the children and hand weavers are omitted, 
 by which the number of operatives is reduced to 57,466, and the 
 wages are thereby made to appear to be 14s. 11d. per week. Mr. 
 Baines’s reasoning in relation to the comparative wages of the 
 United States and England, is thereby vitiated. 
 
 “Tt is to be regretted, that the gentleman by whom the report was 
 drawn up, did not give the average wages of men, women, and 
 
166 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 children. As they have not done so, we must endeavour to esti- 
 mate them. 
 
 | $. 
 18,539 men, at $5 per week, would be 92,695 
 38,927 women, at $2 per week, 77,854 
 4,691 children, at $1,75 per do. 8,211 
 4,760 hand weavers, at $4 per do. 19,040 
 $197,800 
 
 52 weeks, at $197,800 each, would be $10,285,600, being nearly 
 the amount given in the report. 
 
 “In the above it will be observed that only about seven per 
 cent. are termed children, and even those are much above the age 
 at which children are employed in England. At Lowell, the 
 number employed below sixteen is very small, and none below 
 twelve. In the Lawrence factory at that place, out of 1000 females, 
 only 129 are below seventeen, and of the males, there are twenty- 
 eight below that age, or who may properly be styled children, can- 
 not exceed eight per cent. of the whole number employed, which 
 is 1160. 
 
 “In a summary of the returns to the questions of the factory 
 
 commissioners, of 151 owners of cotton mills, in Lancashire, 
 Sheshire, and Derbyshire, for five weeks, ending May 1833, it is 
 stated, that out of 48,645 persons employed, 20,084 are under 
 eighteen years of age. ‘The average wages in these mills, are 
 10s. 5d. (Baines, p. 371.) 
 
 “In an estimate of the number of persons employed in the cot- 
 ton mills of England, the total number is given at 212,800, of 
 whom 43,703 are under fourteen years of age, and 39,554 between 
 fourteen and eighteen. One half of the latter being deducted, the 
 total number employed below sixteen years, would be 63,480, or 
 30 per cent. of the whole quantity. Notwithstanding the vastly 
 greater quantity of inferior labour thus used, wages are estimated 
 at 10s. 6d. per week, or within two shillings of what was paid in 
 the United States in 1832. 
 
 Dr. James Mitchell was employed under the Mere commis- 
 sioners to draw out tables, showing the wages, health, é&c., of the 
 factory operatives, and the results of some of the principal cotton 
 mills, embracing 7614 operatives, are as follow :—( Baines, p. 437). 
 1415 males below 16, 2355 males above 16, giving above 35 per 
 cent. below the age at which children are usually employed here. 
 As wages differ very much with age, and as it is to be supposed 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 167 
 
 that the efficiency of the labourer is in proportion to the wages re- 
 ceived, the only fair mode of comparing those of the United States 
 and England, is to strike of all whose ages are below that at which 
 they are here employed. The average wages of persons above 
 sixteen, in those factories, as given by Dr. Mitchell, are as follows: 
 
 2355 males, 16s. 3d. 
 2566 females, 8s. 
 
 4921—general average 12s. 
 
 or within 6d. as much as the average of the estimate furnished by 
 the New York convention. It may be said, that seven per cent. 
 of the labourers employed in the United States being below six- 
 teen, there should be some allowance made therefor, but they are 
 generally so little below that age, that any allowance would have 
 small effect upon the result. 
 
 “'The great disproportion that exists between the two countries, 
 in the employment of male and female labour, cannot fail to strike 
 the reader. In England, the females exceed the males by only about 
 9 per cent., while in the United States they exceeded them, agreeably 
 to the above statement, by above 110 per cent. Since that time, 
 great improvements have taken place in machinery, increasing the 
 proportion of females very greatly. At first sight, it might be 
 supposed that this, should cause wages to be lower here, the labour 
 of men being generally more productive than that of women, and 
 that this would be an offset to the number of children employed 
 in England. Such is not, however, the case, women being employ- 
 ed here, because every thing is done to render labour productive, 
 while there a large portion of the power of the male operatives is 
 wasted. By the above statement, it is shown that in the United 
 States, there were only 4760 hand weavers in the year 1832, and 
 the number can hardly be supposed to have increased. . From the 
 great influx of emigrants from Ireland, it is probable that there 
 will be, for a long time to come, an equal number ; but the modes 
 of employment are so numerous, that a large number must be an- 
 nually absorbed. On the Ist January, 1835, there were in the 
 town of Lowell 5051 power looms, or more, by nearly 300, than 
 the whole number of hand looms in this country. 
 
 “'The whole number of power looms in Great Britain is esti- 
 mated by Baines, p. 238, to be 100,000. 
 
 “think it must be evident to the reader, that any difference in 
 wages that may exist between England and the United States, 
 must arise out of its better application in the latter. The perfec- 
 tion to which machinery has been brought, enables the proprietor 
 
168 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 to avail himself much more extensively of female labour than is 
 the case in Europe. The labour of the females, as shown, is much 
 more productive, and they consequently receive higher wages. 
 The males, not being compelled to compete with machinery, are 
 enabled to apply their powers in other ways that are more produc- 
 tive, and as a consequence, when they marry, the necessity for the 
 employment of their wives and young children in factories is un- 
 known. A further consequence is, that all parents have it in their 
 power to obtain education for their children, and the children have 
 time to receive it. A still further consequence is, that the state of 
 morals at Lowell, Dover, Providence, and its vicinity, and other 
 places where extensive factories exist, is such, as is almost utterly 
 unknown in any other parts of the world, and constitutes a pheno- 
 menon in the moral, equal to that of Niagara in the natural 
 world. 
 
 “Of one thousand females in the Lawrence factory at Lowell, 
 there are but eleven who are married. There are nineteen widows. 
 The following passage from a statement furnished by a gentleman 
 who has charge of one of the principal establishments in Lowell, 
 shows a very gratifying state of things. ‘There have only oc- 
 curred three instances in which any apparently improper connec- 
 tion or intimacy had taken place, and in all those cases the parties 
 were married on the discovery, and several months prior to the 
 birth of their children ; so that in a legal point of view, no illegi- 
 timate birth has taken place among the females employed in the 
 mills under my direction. Nor have I known of but one case 
 among all the females employed in Lowell. I have said known— 
 I should say heard of one case. I am just informed that this was 
 a case where the female had been employed but a few days in any 
 mill, and was forthwith rejected from the corporation, and sent to 
 her friends. In point of female chastity, I believe that Lowell 
 is as free from reproach as any place of an equal population in the 
 United States or the world. At the great establishment at Dover, 
 New Hampshire, I have been assured there has never been a case 
 of bastardy. Let this be compared with the statements of the poor 
 law commissioners, and it will go far to show that the means which 
 tend to promote the increase of wealth, tend also to the promotion 
 of morality, and, as a necessary consequence, of happiness. There 
 can be no doubt, that with a different system, there would in time 
 arise, in the factories of England, a similar state of things. There 
 are, even now, some similar cases to be found in England, proving 
 how much good may be done, where the owners are disposed to do 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 169 
 
 what isin their power to promote the cause of morality; and that 
 can be done most effectually by being moral ourselves. 
 
 “ Amongst the great numbers of  fto i fia operatives employed 
 under William Grant, Esq., at Ramsbottom, England, only one case 
 of female iniscondutt has occurred in the space of twenty years, 
 and that was a farmer’s daughter. 
 
 “'The necessity for the passage of ‘Factory Bills,’ does not 
 exist in this country. In England, by interferences of all kinds, 
 the parents are oppressed and reduced to the necessity of sending 
 their children to work at the earliest possible age; and then it 
 becomes necessary to interfere anew, to prevent the children from 
 bearing too much of the burden. In the United States, on the 
 contrary, it is so desirable to have efficient hands, that the owners 
 are not disposed to employ children at too young an age, and thus, 
 while the excellent situation of the labourer renders it unnecessary, 
 the interest of the employer would tend to prevent it, should idle- 
 ness or dissipation lead the parent to desire it.”—Carey’s Essay on 
 Wages. 
 
 Those who desire a wise and fair distribution of property must 
 conspire to be economical; to save their wages; to produce the 
 most useful kinds of property ; to create something that will last, 
 and may be beneficially distributed ; instead of working for trash, 
 and where no work is wanted ; being servants where no servants 
 are required ; grinding where there is nothing to grind; drawing 
 for water where there is no water. They must cease to produce 
 or use that immense amount of trinkets, finery, fashionable trifles,* 
 dainties, and poisonous drinks, with which our persons are deco- 
 rated, our groceries, stores, cellars, kitchens, pantries, and houses, 
 are now too often crammed. ‘This is not the kind of property 
 that wise people wish to be distributed ; nor is it property at all in 
 their eyes; so far as this kind of property is imported from foreign 
 nations, and paid for by our products, it is certain that we may 
 substitute the more useful productions of those nations for this 
 trash. 
 
 Bat how can the farmers, mechanics, labourers in manufacto- 
 
 * During the war of the revolution, General Lafayette, being at Baltimore, 
 was invited to a ball; he went as requested, but instead of joining in the 
 amusements, as rains be expected of a young Frenchman, he addressed the 
 ladies,—‘‘ You are very handsome; you dance very sicieilyo your ball is 
 very toa: but my soldiers have no shirts.” The appeal was irresistible ; 
 the ball ceased, the ladies ran home and went to work, and in a few days, a 
 large number of shirts were prepared, by the fairest taker) in Baltimore, for 
 the gallant defenders of their country. 
 
 22 
 
170 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 ries, and other common labourers, help working to produce this 
 kind of property ?.. They say that they must have employment, 
 must earn wages ; and if the rich merchant, capitalist, and manu- 
 facturer, chooses to manufacture it, or import it from foreign coun- 
 tries, what means of prevention have they ? 
 
 The answer is plain. They can cease to use it, to buy it, to 
 pay their wages and earnings for it to the rich capitalist and manu - 
 facturer. As they are the consumers of nine tenths of it, they 
 would soon put an end to the production, if they ceased to be cus- 
 tomers fer it. It is by not combining and using their power in 
 this way, as they certainly can, that they defeat the just distribu- 
 tion of property, and keep themselves down. ‘Thus they make 
 the rich richer than they should be, and the poor poorer than they 
 need be; thus we see the poor playing into the hands of the rich, 
 and throwing their solitary hard-earned sixpences and. shillings 
 into others’ heaps, where there are. already thousands, ‘Thus we 
 see them running from tavern to tavern, from store to store, 
 emptying their pockets into those of men who are ten times richer 
 than themselves. All the legislatures in the world cannot prevent 
 this ; the people alone can do it. | 
 
 It is plain, that as'wealth is created by labour, it can only be 
 increased by saving and economy. By the same means that one 
 man becomes independent, a hundred and a thousand do, and the 
 same is true of a nation; that is, by keeping on hand for future 
 use, what has already been acquired, or some portion of it ; because 
 all cannot be preserved ; a part must be daily eaten, drank, worn 
 out, or consumed in some way or other. 
 
 It is in the nature of wealth to increase, and this is plainly 
 proved by showing what the uses of capital are. One animal 
 breeds many, one seed produces a hundred or a thousand. Our 
 own experience in this country, shows an increase of wealth 
 beyond what the world ever saw under the like circumstances, 
 and commands us to go forward. We see, every year, new 
 sources of wealth opened, labour-saving machines invented ; new 
 substances or combinations of them brought to light, and turned 
 to some useful account, never before thought of. Steam, gas-light, 
 granite, anthracite coal, India rubber, soap stone, railroads, canals, 
 &c. furnish new employments, and of course increased wealth, to 
 thousands who but a few years since did not dream of deriving 
 advantage from any of them, and perhaps did not know of their 
 existence. | | . 
 
 If these things are the means by which people are fed and 
 clothed, and get good farms, and houses and cattle, and after 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 171 
 
 obtaining a reasonable independence for themselves, are able, out 
 of their superfluous riches, to get leisure and money to enable 
 them to carry light, knowledge, and comfort, to their poor neigh- 
 bours, and to the miserable nations, how unwise and unthinking 
 to declaim against the increase of wealth! It would be as childish 
 to talk against too much good land, too many good houses, too 
 many fine cattle. It is the perversion of wealth from the uses 
 designed for it, that we have to deplore; it is the heaping up of 
 our meagre stores by monopoly and every kind of oppression, in 
 the laps of a few, thus causing poverty and universal nakedness 
 among the multitude, that the world ought to be ashamed of. It 
 is the vanity, pride, selfishness, gluttony, intemperance, of both 
 rich and poor, that we are to withstand. Wealth can never bean 
 evil but by being turned to unnatural purposes, and an ancient 
 philosopher says with truth, “that it is not the liquor but the 
 vessel which is corrupted.” 
 
 These subjects are no longer mysteries, when people give their 
 thoughts to them; people are more puzzled about words than 
 things; they are often acquainted with the things, but do not 
 understand the signs.—Sedgwick. 
 
 True religion lies at the foundation of all wholesome and per- 
 manent increase of wealth. Political economy professes to point 
 out all the principles by which wealth is gained, the surest of all 
 is the observance of moral precepts. The divine rule of doing to 
 others as we would be done by, forbids all oppression, all cruelty to 
 the poor, all unlawful taxes to support the pride, vanity, and luxury 
 of the rich. Nothing is more striking in the scriptures, than the 
 constant condemnation of all injustice to, and robbery of, the poor, 
 who are the labourers for small wages. The Christian religion 
 equally forbids, on the part of the poor, all hatred of the rich—all 
 wanton destruction of property. There always have been rich 
 and poor—there must be rich and poor. The people have been 
 most miserable in those countries where there are no rich. ‘The 
 first duty of the rich to the poor, then, is, not to give them bread 
 —for it is better that they should earn it—but the same legal 
 advantages of getting bread that they themselves have. ‘T’o attempt 
 to teach economy without reference to our religious duty, is like 
 taking the picture of a man froma corpse. Do the people of the 
 United States desire to bring forth the magnificent riches which 
 are to be found in the natural advantages of their country and 
 free government; to elevate themselves to an eminence which 
 nations have never yet thought of; do they long for the pleasures 
 and glories of science, the delights of charity to their own poor 
 
172 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and uninstructed, and to the wretched of other countries; a better 
 and more equal education for their children; to inerease their 
 hospitality and social pleasures; 10 save their paternal houses and 
 estates from a decay and ruin so common and so disgraceful in 
 the old states ; do those whose interest it is to emigrate to the new, 
 wish for the means of making such a change; do the men, women, 
 and children, desire more rest and time for a proper improvement 
 of their minds,—then both rich and poor must first unite, discard 
 their jealousies and feuds, get what good they can out of the old 
 world, turn their backs upon the stupid fashions and follies 
 imported by nearly every packet, and study the proper economy 
 of their own country—of the new world. ‘Those especially who 
 live upon wages, as journeymen mechanics, labourers in factories, 
 and day labourers of every description, must learn to save their 
 wages, and thus preserve property, which is the true and common 
 sense way of changing their condition for the better, and which 
 can never be done, as long as they are slaves of fashion. 
 
 “There is an abundant increase of intelligence and moral sen- 
 timent springing up among the factories in England: the fruits of 
 Sunday-schools and other philanthropic establishments,—planted 
 and upreared chiefly by the workpeople themselves, unaided by 
 opulence, and unpatronised by power. It is a sublime spectacle to 
 witness crowds of factory children arranged in a Sunday school. 
 { would exhort the friends of humanity, who may chance to pass 
 through Cheshire or Lancashire, not to miss a Sunday’s visit to 
 the busy town of Stockport, which joins these two counties. It 
 contains 67 factories, in which 21,489 operatives, of all ages, are 
 employed comfortably for their families. The Sunday-school of 
 this place was erected by the voluntary contributions, chiefly, of 
 mill owners, in the year 1805. Itisa large, plain, lofty building, 
 which cost 10,000/., having a magnificent hall for general exami- 
 nations and public worship on the uppermost story, capable of 
 accommodating nearly 3,000 persons, besides upwards of forty 
 comfortable apartments for the male and female schools, committee 
 and library rooms on the other floors. On the 16th of June in the 
 above year, the committee, teachers, and children, of the existing 
 Sunday schools, assembled on the elevated site of the new building 
 to celebrate, in a solemn manner, the commencement of this noble 
 enterprise ; the foundation stone having been laid the evening 
 before. Many thousand inhabitants of the town and neighbour- 
 hood having joined them, the whole multitude raised their voices 
 in a hymn of praise to the Father of light and life, in which they 
 were accompanied by a full band of music. The treasurer then 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 173 
 
 pronounced a solemn prayer, dedicating the intended edifice to 
 God, and imploring his blessing on its objects. Ina concluding 
 address he said :—‘ Our meeting together this day, on this spot, has 
 nothing in it of parade or show; nothing that can allure the eye 
 by its splendour, or beguile the imagination by its pomp. It is, 
 _ nevertheless, of the highest importance to the rising generation, to 
 the town of Stockport, and as far as its influence extends, to the 
 nation. We meet to erect a perpetual standard against ignorance 
 and vice, to confirm, and render permanent, an establishment 
 intended to train up the children of this town in knowledge and 
 virtue. We expect thousands of children will here be taught not 
 only the grounds of human science, but the first principles of the 
 Christian religion; that religion which is the true source of all 
 sound morality, of all public and private virtue. This building 
 is to be erected and maintained on the principle of pure and genu- 
 ine benevolence, and is intended to consecrate as much of the piety 
 and charity of this town as will supply a succession of gratuitous 
 teachers. I feel happy to declare, thus publicly, the sentiments of 
 the committee, that this building is not to be confined to any sect 
 or party ; nor to be under any exclusive direction or influence. 
 Learning is intended to be put in its proper place, as the hand- 
 maid of religion ; and whatever human science is taught, is to be 
 rendered subservient to this important purpose.’ 
 
 “Jn the annual report of this admirable institution for 1833, the 
 committee state, ‘that, since its commencement, the names of 
 40,850 scholars have been inscribed on our registers, a consider- 
 able part of whom have received a moral and religious education 
 within our walls. Part of the fruit of these pious labours is 
 already reaped in a temporal point of view, in the general decorum 
 that pervades this town and neighbourhood, and the regard for 
 the liberties, lives, and properties of others, evinced by the Stock- 
 port population, at a period of political excitement, in which they 
 were too much disregarded at other places. The well-judged 
 liberality of the public has now made Sunday schools so numerous 
 in our borders, that it is hardly possible to approach the town of 
 Stockport, in any direction, without encountering one or more of 
 these quiet fortresses, which a wise benevolence has erected 
 against the encroachments of vice and ignorance. 'The advocates 
 of general education hear no more of the danger of educating the 
 lowest classes ; on the contrary, the necessity of doing so is gene- 
 rally insisted upon. The people are extravagantly complimented 
 upon the proficiency they have already made, and appear to be in 
 as much danger of suffering from the effects of artful and injudicious 
 
174 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 flattery, as they have done, in times past, from the unnatural 
 neglect with which they have been treated.’ 
 
 “Tn 1835 there were from 4,000 to 5,000 young people profiting 
 by the instructions administered by 400 teachers, distributed into 
 proper classes, and arranged in upwards of forty school rooms, 
 besides the grand hall in the top of the building. It was pleasing 
 to see 1500 boys, and as many girls, regularly seated upon sepa- 
 rate benches: the one sit on the right side, and the other on the 
 left. 'They were becomingly attired, decorous in deportment, and 
 of healthy, even blooming, complexions. Their hymn-singing 
 thrilled through the heart like the festival chorus of Westminster. 
 The organ, which was excellent, was well played, by a young man 
 who had lately been a piecer, in the spinning factory of the gen- 
 tleman.”—Ure’s Philosophy of Manufactures. 
 
 A collection of facts, evincing the benefactions of the arts 
 and manufactures to agriculture, commerce, navigation and the 
 fisheries, and their subserviency to the public defence, with an 
 indication of certain existing modes of conducting them, peculiarly 
 important to the United States, may be found in a communication 
 to Mr. Gallatin, by Tench Coxe. 
 
 ‘The resolution of Congress, 19th March, 1812, is formed with 
 a view so comprehensive as to include all pertinent information 
 of an authentic character, while it allows the most convenient 
 latitude, as to the form and manner ; requiring only, that the state- 
 ment shall so exhibit the matter as to be most conducive to the 
 interests of the United States. It is considered as a very interest- 
 ing and fundamental truth, that manufactures facilitate the first 
 struggles of the American settlers, for decent comforts, thrifty 
 profits, and farming establishments. 
 
 “On examination into the state of manufactures, in four several 
 sparsely settled districts of our country, which, in 1810, had been 
 recently laid out, according to the nature of the places, for future 
 establishments as counties, the inconsiderable population within 
 these four intended counties exhibits the infantine condition of 
 their respective settlements in that year. In these new and widely 
 scattered settlements, where foreign consumers have no agents, the 
 presence of flax, and of sheep and cattle, supplying wool, hides, 
 skins, horns and tallow, with other materials for manufactures, 
 that is to say, the presence of the raw materials, occasions the cor- 
 responding manufactures. In such places, profit, comfort and 
 necessity appear to invite, or rather to compel, the farmers and 
 their families to that mode of industry. 
 
 “In these new and widely scattered setilements, it is observed, 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 175 
 
 that the surplus industry of these new settlements is applied to the 
 manufacture of cotton, from the Atlantic, Ohio, and Mississippi.” 
 
 “A material error seems to have prevailed, on the subject cf 
 manufactures, in southern scenes. It has been supposed, that 
 manufactures could not arise or exist in the southern states of 
 _ America, and this, it is believed, has produced some local preju- 
 dice. Catalonia, Biscay, Valencia, Segovia and Guadalaxara, in 
 Spain ; the district of Lyons, and Languedoc, in France; Genoa, 
 Venice, the principality of Tuscany, and Italy in general; the 
 peninsula of India in particular, and the southern moiety and 
 warm districts of China, were more early distinguished in manu- 
 factures than the districts in the latitude of the centre of Europe, 
 and north of that centre. It was an exemption from the rigours 
 and terrors of the inquisition and other ecclesiastical evils, in the 
 south of Kurope, which drew the objects of those fears and perse- 
 cutions into Silesia, Saxony, Prussia, Westphalia, the Hanse 
 towns, Holland and England. In Asia, where ecclesiastical ter- 
 rors and persecutions have not occasioned such a dispersion of 
 the manufacturers, they remain in and near the district which 
 produces the cotton and silk that employ them. The numerous 
 holidays of the church of Rome, which prevail in Italy, Spain, 
 Portugal, Austria and France, have been unfavourable to general 
 and manufacturing industry in the southern parts of Europe; where 
 the useful arts early appeared and flourished. Where industry is 
 free, it is believed that the manufacturers will gather at the sources 
 of raw materials, food, forage, fuel, and building materials. The 
 British interruption of our coasting trade is forcing these princi- 
 ples into operation, in a manner peculiarly injurious to the eastern © 
 and northern manufacturers of southern cotton, tobacco, iron, 
 wood, hemp and wool. Southern produce, capable of manufac- 
 ture, obstructed in its way to the European and northern United 
 States’ markets, will prove to be asouthern manufacturing capital ; 
 forcing itself into employment upon the estates, and in the vicini- 
 ties of the planters and farmers. ‘The columns of ‘looms—value 
 of all kinds of cloths and stuffs—stockings, bagging for cotton, 
 spinning wheels, hatteries, furnaces, forges, bloomeries, naileries, 
 blacksmitheries, tanneries, spirits, beer, cabinet wares, tobacco and 
 snuff, cables and cordage, gunpowder and salt,’ demand a careful 
 inspection and consideration, in order to ascertain the extent 
 and proportionate importance, in A. D. 1810, of manufactures, 
 in those states which are inhabited, in part by blacks, and which 
 lie on the south side of the common line of Pennsylvania on the 
 one part, and Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on the other.” 
 
a 
 
 176 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “Jt is a manifest truth, to which we ought most seriously to 
 advert, that besides the proper or corporal powers, industry and 
 skill of the people of the United States, we have attained, by water, 
 steam, cattle, labour-saving machinery, and power and skill, a 
 great variety and number of manufacturing operations. ‘These 
 wonderful machines, working as if they were animated beings, 
 endowed with all the talents of their inventors, labouring with — 
 organs that never tire, and subject to no expense of food, or bed, 
 or raiment, or dwelling, may be justly considered as equivalent to 
 an immense body of manufacturing recruits, suddenly enlisted in 
 the service of the country. 
 
 ‘Machinery and processes to effect manufactures, so as to leave 
 manual industry for other employments, are of a degree of import- 
 ance to the United States, proportioned to. the smallness of the 
 average population on a square mile. 'This is an interesting fact 
 to a nation enjoying an extensive territory. As we possess innu- 
 merable contrivances, put into operation by horse power, to turn 
 up and break the soil and cover the seed grain, under the names 
 of the plough, the harrow, and the roller, to our incalculable profit, 
 some have water-mills, wind-mills, and steam engines, in numer- 
 ous instances and of diversified forms, to manufacture boards, 
 bark, powder, flour, bar and sheet iron, nails, wire, carded wool 
 and cotton, yarn and thread, metal plates of every kind, hair pow- 
 der, snuff, gunpowder, paper, cannon, muskets, scythes, bolts, 
 stocking web, various cloths and printed and other goods. 'These 
 and many other machines have been obtained from abroad, or de- 
 rived from the actual and very considerable talents of our own citi- 
 zens. ‘The complicated silk mill, the earliest invention for making 
 yarn or thread, the fulling mill and various other mechanical con- 
 structions, were acquired by the British, the greatest manufacturing 
 nation at this time in Hurope, from their neighbours of Italy. The 
 wisdom of the world has been and is as fairly attainable by us, 
 as by other industrious and qualified nations, and the inventive 
 genius of the people of the United States has produced a great 
 number of curious and valuable instruments and machines.” 
 
 “'The fine arts, particularly painting and sculpture, have beau- 
 tified the manufactures of alabaster, marble, clay, plaster and 
 metals, and of wool, linen, cotton and leather. The fine porcelain 
 of France and Saxony, the statues and paintings of Greece and 
 Rome, the modern imitations of them in paintings, statues and 
 casts, the elegant miniatures of alabaster, its various flowers and 
 ornaments, the improvements in composition and in the pottery of 
 Wedgewood, the imitations of the antique vases and figures in 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 177 
 
 various gold and silver ornaments and utensils, and indeed of 
 brass, the tapestry of the Gobelins, embroidery, dyeing, engraving 
 and the printing of linen, cotton and silken cloths, are among the 
 numerous examples that crowd upon the mind. The fluctuations 
 and disorders of the old world have occasioned innumerable 
 transfers of the instruments, the libraries, the models, the works, 
 the welcome agents and the lovers of the fine arts from thence to 
 the United States, and the manufacturers of fine wool from their 
 proper original countries. The effect of such transfers, of much 
 that was foreign, and all that was necessary for the interesting 
 cultivation of the fine arts, either in their distinct and separate 
 character and form, or as sleaiae and beneficial auxiliaries to the 
 useful arts and manufactures, are manifest to the attentive ob- 
 server. T’he works of human genius and cultivation, which 
 belong to the elegant and magnificent class of the arts, have a 
 very considerable effect upon the convenience, utility, and profits 
 of those things, which are usually called manufactures. A know- 
 ledge of architecture is necessary even to the cheapness of con- 
 struction.”* 
 
 *This work was so far arranged and limited, before I came to Philadel- 
 phia, that I find it difficult to use much valuable matter that I have since 
 obtained ; which also includes notices of individuals whose praise ought to 
 be in history. The writings and indefatigable life of Tench Coxe, would 
 require and richly deserve a volume to do justice to his memory. The 
 notice that I have given, is far too scanty to afford even a slight view of his 
 important services, in the establishment of manufactories; and his exertions 
 to promote the growth of cotton, both of which objects he lived to see in a 
 flourishing degree of progress. In an enlarged edition, a more extended 
 view of the services of this eminent statesman shall be given; /and I 
 very much regret the obligations, which prevent my enriching the work, in 
 this impression, with a review of his publications, containing extracts from 
 his writings, which not only fulfilled valuable purposes at the time, receiving 
 the approbation of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Jay, Ames, and indeed 
 of the whole community ; but they contain principles, on national economy, 
 that will live for ever, and their author will be had in respectful remem- 
 brance. I find no author on American statistics, but what is deeply indebted 
 to Tench Coxe. I have no doubt but that the chartered company of Pater- 
 son, New Jersey, though the plan is generally attributed to Hamilton, origin- 
 ated with the assistant secretary of the treasury ; this is proved by the letter 
 of Fisher Ames. 
 
 For the following statement I am indebted to Dr. James Mease, of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 ‘In order to make an experiment in manufactures, and to ascertain whe- 
 ther this could be carried on to profit, a company was formed, with a 
 capital of $200,000, in the year 1791, under the name of “‘ The Society for 
 the Behishment i, Useful Menkhinhates ;? and received a charter bearing 
 
 23 
 
 @ 
 
178 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The following correspondence will show, what I have before 
 stated, that the administration of Washington was greatly in- 
 debted to the assistant secretary of the treasury, for important 
 and extensive views of commercial affairs, as well as for a correct 
 digest of all the great resources of the country ; also for statistics 
 of the operations of manufactures: in short, for all that kind of 
 information, which are the foundation principles of the wealth of 
 nations. 'The services of Tench Coxe were viewed in this light 
 by Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson, and they will be held in 
 high respect by posterity. 
 
 PuitapeLpuia, November 30, 1789. 
 
 Dear Sir,—It was my wish to have forwarded to you sooner, the enclosed 
 paper, No. 6, by way of answer to the queries I had the honour to receive 
 from you, the 26th of last month, but I could not revise the facts with suffi- 
 cient care, till this time. 
 
 You will observe, I have pursued a mode different from that which the 
 form of the queries pointed out, thinking that “a present state of the navi- 
 gation of Pennsylvania,” which should comprehend the information you 
 desired, would be more useful than short answers, going merely to the points 
 specified. I have, besides, this private reason, that I wish by these investi- 
 gations and statements, as they occur, to extend or digest my own knowledge, 
 and, as far as I am able, to place the several subjects in my own mind on 
 their true principles. 
 
 As the gentlemen in the senate, for Pennsylvania, and some of those in 
 the house of representatives, have been pleased to request my communications 
 
 date 22d November, of that year, from the state of New Jersey, from which 
 the company purchased the title to the falls of Passaic river, and were in- 
 vested with the sole power over, and possession of, the waters of that 
 stream, for mills or manufactures. The society soon after established the 
 first cotton factory and printing house, in that state; but ina short time 
 found that a loss attended their business, and it is more than probable that 
 from this cjrcumstance, a cessation would soon have taken place of their 
 operations, had they not been forced to give them up, from the following 
 cause. As there were no native workmen to be had, the company were 
 obliged to employ foreigners, who were either expressly sent for, or, more 
 probably, found in New York. Without any assignable cause, the foreman 
 expressed to the manager of the concern, his determination to leave the 
 establishment, when fully employed: and as no persuasion appeared to have 
 the least effect in altering his determination, he was desired to pack up the 
 machinery. This he did, but filled the vacant spaces with quick-lime, so 
 that when they were examined, the iron work, and particularly the eards, 
 were found entirely destroyed. 
 
 “This fact I had many years since, from the late Hon. Elias Boudinot, a 
 representative in congress, from New Jersey, who was a stockholder in the 
 company.” 
 
ey 
 
 VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 179 
 
 on the subjects that from time to time arise in the legislature, I have taken 
 the liberty to show this paper to one or two of them; and indeed it seems to 
 be a matter, both of propriety and prudence, as I am a citizen of Pennsy]- 
 vania, and they are the guardians of her interests. I anxiously desire the 
 detection of any errors in either the facts or reasonings, which I may bring 
 forward; and in order completely to guard against their ill effects, 1 wish 
 them unreservedly subjected, as well to the examination of these well 
 informed judges, as to gentlemen of similar character and stations from the 
 other states. As I may, in future, avail myself of the permission you have 
 given me, to communicate with you as I shall see occasion, I apply these 
 wishes to all such communications, leaving it in your discretion to determine 
 to whose eye observations on points that require secresy may be safely 
 confided. ) 
 
 I have the honour to be, with great respect, dear sir, your most obedient 
 servant, TrencH Coxe. 
 
 P.S. As it may throw some light upon the subject, I have enclosed a 
 paper of mine, (No. 1,) which you have seen before. To this copy, I have 
 added some manuscript notes; also a paper, (No. 2), to which I have like- 
 wise added some notes. The latter is not immediately interesting to your 
 present enquiry, but may be thrown among your documents belonging to the 
 subject. 
 
 To the Honourable Alexander Hamilton, Esq. New York. 
 
 PuitapeLpuia, December 16th, 1789. 
 Dear Sir,—A few days ago I forwarded to you, per post, a “state of our 
 navigation,” which I presume you have received. I have the honour to trans- 
 mit you in this inclosure some notes upon two subjects, one of them of great 
 
 - importance, that may be useful when arranging our affairs with France and 
 
 Spain. The rough draughts of these papers were made a few weeks before I 
 received your letter, and I then intended to have given them to Mr. Madison 
 in his way to New York, for the purpose of submitting them to Mr. Jefferson, 
 in whose department I thought they might be of use. The general request 
 at the conclusion of your letter justifies me, I hope, in troubling you with 
 them, and in requesting that you will dispose of them as you see fit. 
 
 On No. 7, I beg leave to suggest, it may be useful to converse with Col. 
 J. Wadsworth, whose opportunities in the branch it concerns are Sreater 
 than those of any other person among Us. 
 
 Of the subject of No. 8 it may be truly said, that it is one of the most 
 important objects of business in all our affairs. The calculations you will 
 find are all within the truth, and of course the result on paper might have 
 been rendered much greater. 
 
 I congratulate you most sincerely on the adoption of the constitution by 
 North Carolina, which almost completes this wonderful revolution. The 
 law of New Jersey abolishing the tender of their paper money, in cases 
 wherein gold and silver have been specified in the contract, occasions a 
 further subtraction from the objects, and of course a new inducement to the 
 acquiescence of the opposition. The federal cause has received a fresh 
 confirmation by our convention, for I think it may be justly said, that every 
 recognition of the principles of the general constitution, and every step 
 
 Ky 
 
180 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 towards an efficient and well balanced government by any member of the 
 Union, is a furtherance of the object. It has been determined,— 
 
 1. That the legislative power ought not to be in a single house. 
 
 2. That the judges, in addition to their former independence from fixed 
 salaries, should be appointed during good behaviour—with some provisions 
 for removal in case of a decay of talents, or of private virtue. This import- 
 ant and difficult clause is not yet digested. t, 
 
 3. That the executive power should be in a single person. : 
 
 4. That the chief executive officer should have a qualified negative upon 
 the proceedings of the legislature. 
 
 Messrs. Finlay, Smiley, and M‘Lene, who led the opposition to the federal 
 constitution, have been in the majority which passed these resolutions. It 
 is, therefore, almost certain that the constitution of Pennsylvania, which 
 was the great cause of our opposition to the proceedings of the general 
 convention, will be altered in these important particulars. How near to the 
 standard of propriety, which the gentlemen have formed for themselves, 
 they will be able to arrive, is uncertain, for so very democratic have been 
 our former ideas, and so much does a jealousy of the city prevail in the 
 counties, that it must be expected they will influence in some particulars. 
 
 I beg your pardon for this digression from the original design of my letter, 
 but the proceedings of each state even in its own arrangements are of somuch 
 importance to the order of the whole, that I thought the information I have 
 given would not appear impertinent to the business of your office. 
 
 I have the honour to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient humble 
 servant, Tencu Coxe. — 
 
 The Hon. A. Hamilton, Esq. 
 
 New York, December 24th, 1789. 
 
 Dear Sir,—Your obliging favours of the 30th of November, and 16th 
 instant, with the communications accompanying them, have been duly 
 received. 
 
 Accept my best acknowledgments for the attention you have paid to my 
 request ; and believe that I mean not a mere compliment, when I say that 
 your compliance with it has procured me much useful information, and 
 many valuable observations. 
 
 I have not leisure to add more, than that I am, with sincere esteem and 
 regard, dear sir, your obedient servant, A. HaMILTon. 
 
 Tench Coxe, Esq. 
 
 New York, May Ist, 1790. 
 
 Dear Sir,—I have just received your letter of the 27th of April. Yours 
 of the 6th of the same month also came to hand in due time; though pecu- 
 liar reasons prevented an earlier acknowledgment of it. 
 
 The appointment of his assistant is, by the act establishing the treasury 
 department, vested in the secretary himself. The conviction I have of your 
 usefulness in that station, and my personal regard for you, have determined 
 me to avail myself of the offer of service which the last mentioned letter 
 contains. 
 
 The state of the public business under my care, is such as to make me 
 
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 181 
 
 desire to see you as soon as may consist with the dispositions which your 
 change of situation will render necessary. 
 
 I am, with great regard and esteem, dear sir, your obedient servant, 
 A. Hamixton. 
 Tench Coxe, Esq. 
 Mr. Coxe, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. At the Treasury Office. 
 : December 14, 1791. 
 
 Dear Sir,—Not having distinguished between the furs, ginseng, coffee, 
 mahogany, wine, and sugars, carried to Great Britain and Ireland, and to 
 other countries, at the time we were extracting those articles from your large 
 tables, I find myself unable to proceed in making the deductions from our 
 whole exports to Great Britain, which should be made for that proportion of 
 those articles which go there. The extract I made, for instance, tells me 
 how much furs we send to all the world, but not how much of them go to 
 England and Ireland, but your tables would tell this. I must, therefore, 
 ask the favour of the loan of them to have this distinction made, unless it 
 would be more agreeable to you to let some one state the amount in value 
 of the furs which we send to Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 Ginseng do. coffee do. mahogany do. wine do. sugars do. Having this 
 amount, I can deduct it with precision from that of our whole exports to 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 I am, with great esteem, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant. 
 
 Tu. JEFFERSON. 
 
 From Thos. M‘Kean, Governor of Pennsylvania, to T'ench Coxe. 
 PuitapELpuiA, June 14th, 1801. 
 
 Sir,—As secretary of the land office, you may probably be acquainted 
 with Mr. John M‘Kissick, the principal clerk in the office of receiver general; 
 he has been well recommended to me by several respectable characters in 
 public as well as private stations, as a suitable person to succeed Mr. Muh- 
 lenberg as principal officer. There will certainly be a difference between 
 the speaker of the house of representatives of the United States, and of 
 this state, as to rank and services, and Mr. M‘Kissick, a writing clerk in the 
 office ; but I wish to promote modest merit, and from recommendations of 
 him by members of our public councils, I think favourably of his talents 
 and integrity for the ordinary duties of the office, but is he qualified to act 
 as a judge of the board of property? Please to give me your sentiments, for 
 I wish for something more than “a successor in form.” This leads me to 
 ask you also, whether you think the appointment of Mr. Andrew Ellicot as 
 your successor would meet with general approbation. I would wish your 
 answer as soon as is convenient, that I may be prepared to fill both 
 stations immediately on your coming to town; which I suppose will be the 
 latter end of this, or the beginning of next week, as the revenue offices, of 
 all others, must not be many days vacant. Though our official connection 
 may for some time be suspended, yet I shall always expect to see you as a 
 friend, and hope to see you in a day or two at farthest, after you shall have 
 - entered on the duties of your new appointments. The nature of this com- 
 ‘munication is such, as to render it unnecessary to request it may be confined 
 
 ‘to yourself. Iam, sir, with esteem, your friend and humble servant. 
 cS 
 
 2 
 - Z 4 
 
182 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 To Tench Coxe, greeting : 
 
 Reposing especial trust and confidence in your integrity, diligence, and 
 abilities, I, Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury of the United 
 States, in virtue of the power to me given, by the act entitled “ An act to 
 establish the treasury department,” do constitute and appoint you assistant 
 to the said secretary: To hold and exercise the said office during the plea- 
 sure of the secretary of the treasury of the United States for the time being. 
 
 In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of 
 the treasury, the tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 seven hundred and ninety. 
 
 ALEXANDER HamiLTon. 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 George Washington, President of the United States of America :—to ail 
 who shall see these presents, greeting : 
 
 Know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, dili- 
 gence, and ability of Tench Coxe of Pennsylvania, I have nominated, and 
 by and with the advice and consent of the senate, do appoint him commis- 
 sioner of the revenue, and do authorise and empower him to execute and 
 fulfil the duties of that office according to law; and to have and to hold the 
 said office with all the rights and emoluments thereunto legally appertaining 
 unto him, the said Tench Coxe, during the pleasure of the president of the 
 United States for the time being. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and 
 the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand, 
 at the city of Philadelphia, this ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and of the independence of the 
 United States of America the sixteenth. 
 
 G. WasHINGTON. 
 By the president, Th: Jefferson. 
 
I). Mamberly 8s. 
 
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EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 183 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 
 
 “ The echoing hills repeat 
 The stroke of axe and hammer; scaffolds rise, 
 And growing edifices; heaps of stone 
 Beneath the chisel beauteous shapes assume 
 Of frieze and column ; some with even line, 
 New streets are marking in the neighbouring fields, 
 And sacred domes of worship.” 
 
 Dyerr’s FLEECE. 
 
 « All men naturally think themselves equally wise ; and, there- 
 fore, as any ship that sails faster than another is said in sea phrase 
 to wrong it, so men are apt to think themselves wronged by those 
 who, with better talents than they, or greater skill in their use, 
 get beyond them.” 
 
 The workmen employed by Mr. Slater, in Pawtucket, took 
 advantage of their opportunity to steal patterns and models of 
 his machines; and in this way, attempts were made to extend the 
 business, in a short time after its commencement at Pawtucket by 
 the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater. ‘Those attempts were generally 
 so weak and ineffective, that they proved ruinous to the adven- 
 
 turers. 
 
 ¢ 
 
 Wn. Pollard, Philadelphia, obtained a patent for cotton spinning 
 Dec. 30, 1791, which was the first water-frame put in motion ; 
 whether he obtained his patterns direct from England, or by the 
 way of Pawtucket, is not certain ; but it is indubitable that he 
 could have no claim as the original inventor, nor as the first in- 
 troducer of the machinery; because it has been shown in the 
 previous chapter that the whole of the machinery was in full 
 operation in Rhode Island, a year previous to the date of his 
 patent. 
 
 Mr. Pollard’s mill was a very early attempt at water-spinning, 
 and I am sorry to have to record, that his business failed in his 
 hands; which retarded the progress of cotton spinning in Phila- 
 delphia. Respect and pity are due to the character of a projector 
 —respect, because society owes to it many obligations, and much 
 of the progress of the useful arts must be ascribed to its existence ; 
 
184 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and pity, because it is unfriendly to the interests of the individual, 
 and generally plunge him from affluence into ruin.* 
 
 An outline of a plan to encourage industry, is a part of the re- 
 port of the secretary of the treasury in 1791. 
 
 “Let a certain annual sum be set apart, and placed under the 
 management of commissioners, not less than three ; let these com- 
 missioners be empowered to apply the fund confided to them, to 
 defray the expenses of the emigration of artists and manufacturers 
 in particular branches of extraordinary importance—to induce 
 the prosecution and introduction of useful discoveries, inventions, 
 and improvements, by proportionate rewards, judiciously held out 
 and applied—to encourage by premiums, both honourable and — 
 lucrative, the exertions of individuals, and of classes, in relation — 
 to the several objects they are charged with promoting—and to ‘ 
 afford such other aids to those objects, as may be generally — 
 designated by law. he commissioners to render to the legislature 
 an annual account of the transactions and disbursements; and 
 all such sums as have not been applied to the purposes of their 
 trust at the end of every three years, to revert to the treasury. It 
 may also be enjoined upon them, not to draw out the money, but 
 for the purpose of some specific disbursement. It may, however 
 be of use, to authorise them to receive voluntary contributions ; 
 making it their duty to apply them to the particular objects for 
 which they may have been made, if any shall have been designated 
 by the donors. ‘Phere is reason to believe, that the progress of 
 particular manufactures has been much retarded by the want of 
 skilful workmen. And it often happens, that the capitals employed 
 are not equal to the purposes of bringing from abroad workmen of 
 a superior kind. Here, in cases worthy of it, the auxiliary agency 
 of government would, in all probability, be useful. There are 
 also valuable workmen, in every branch, who are prevented from 
 
 * The project for a manufacturing company with joint stock, incorporated 
 and privileged by the state of Maryland, was very much opposed ; ‘and the 
 doctrine that it was better to buy of Europe and India, was widely spread. 
 And itis said, that the Paterson company suffered from treachery and bribery ; 
 it however failed of accomplishing the fond hopes of the projecturs—of in- 
 troducing the best machinery and the best workmen from England, which 
 if accomplished, and such companies had been protected, we should ere now 
 have been entirely independent of foreign fabrics. 
 
 At this time, a joint stock company might introduce fine goods, in cotton, 
 linen, or woollen—or in cutlery. It is not too late to adopt the plan which 
 Hamilton proposed. It only requires a patriotic spirit to arise among the 
 people, and a preference for our own goods, and any thing can be done. 
 
, si ke 
 
 ~ 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 185 
 
 emigrating solely by want of the means. Occasional aids to such 
 persons, properly administered, might be a source of valuable ac- 
 quisitions to the country. ‘The propriety of stimulating by re- 
 wards, the invention and introduction of useful improvements, is 
 admitted without difficulty. But the success of attempts in this 
 ‘way must evidently depend much on the manner of conducting 
 them. It is probable that the placing of the dispensation of those 
 rewards under some proper discretionary direction, where they 
 may be accompanied by collateral expedients, will serve to give 
 them the surest efficacy. . 
 
 “Tt seems impracticable to apportion, by general rules, specific 
 compensations for discoveries unknown and of disproportionate 
 utility. The great use which may be made of a fund of this 
 nature, to procure and import foreign improvements, is particu- 
 
 Jarly obvious. Among these, the article of machines would form 
 
 a most important item. The operation and utility of premiums 
 have been adverted to, together with the advantages which have 
 resulted from their dispensation, under the direction of certain 
 public and private societies. Of this, some experience has been 
 had in the instance of the Pennsylvania Society for the promotion 
 of manufactures and the useful arts; but the funds of that asso- 
 ciation have been too contracted to produce more than a very 
 
 small portion of the good to which the principles of it would have 
 
 led.* It may confidently be. affirmed, that there is scarcely any 
 thing which has been devised better calculated to excite a general 
 spirit of improvement, than the institutions of this nature. ‘They 
 are truly invaluable. In countries where there is great private 
 wealth, much may be effected by the voluntary contributions of 
 patriotic individuals ; but in a community situated like that of the 
 United States, in 1790, the public purse must supply the deficiency 
 
 * Amount of Domestic Goods sold in Philadelphia, the produce of New 
 England ; 1804 to 1806 inclusive. 
 
 In 1804, cotton yarn, $2388 
 “wove goods, $1526 
 ——3914 
 1805, cotton yarn, $3805 
 “¢ wove goods, $1581 
 . 5386 
 1806, cotton yarn, $6185 
 “wove goods, $2185 
 : 8370 
 
 Total for three years, $17670 
 
186 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of private resources. In what can it be so useful, as in prompting 
 and improving the efforts of industry 2?” 
 
 The last war with Great Britain taught the Americans one 
 most excellent lesson, viz. to rely upon their own resources for 
 support, and the results of this one lesson have been far more 
 useful to us than would have been ten thousand of the most 
 brilliant victories over the mother country.* It has resulted in 
 the erection of manufacturing establishments in almost every nook 
 and corner of the middle and northern states—affording sure 
 markets for the produce of the flocks and fields of the northern 
 farmer, and increasing the demand for the staple of the southern 
 planter. The mechanical genius, the industry, and the resources 
 of the country, have been drawn out and put in successful compe- 
 tition with those of the old world—and now, at a period of about 
 twenty years since setting up for ourselves and manufacturing 
 our own articles, we find ourselves amply able to supply our own 
 demand for the most important fabrics necessary for our comfort, 
 and even carry the war of commerce and manufactures into the 
 country of the enemy. In cottons and broadeloths we have suc- 
 ceeded admirably ; what genius and perseverance have done for 
 
 * The power of cultivation has been variously exerted by individuals, as 
 well as by nations; and the earth has been, and nowis, clothed with appear- 
 ances exceedingly various, under those several operations. It is not’the — 
 husbandman possessing the richest lands, who always shows the best condi- 
 tioned fields. If his acres might yield sixty measures each, he will, at times, 
 take his ease; nor labour throughout the whole of any day, or fill up the 
 round year with none but days of toil. His fields may be found without the 
 refreshment of artificial fertility, and are seldom relieved by skilful rotations. 
 Lands, on the contrary, yielding but thirty measures, are cultivated by their 
 owner with untiring and ceaseless diligence and skill. Instead of exhaust- 
 ing, he enriches, his fields; and what may be wanting in fertility, is more 
 than supplied by increased labour and judicious management. As the 
 traveller goes by them, over whose cornfields, pastures, meadows, and 
 orchards, does his eye wander with most delight, or linger and gaze longest ? 
 In different quarters of the globe, labour and cultivation have produced 
 effects more obviously different. Asia was originally equal to Kurope, both 
 in soil and climate ; but what is Asia now compared to Kurope? The plain 
 of Shinar, once the richest, and most productive region of the Kast, what ~ 
 can be found upon it to equal much, very much, of Great Britain? When 
 Cesar invaded that island, as he tells us, “ most of the people in the interior 
 sow no corn, but feed on milk and flesh ; and clothe themselves in the skins 
 of beasts.” What has wrought this mighty change? What has removed 
 and transplanted the oriental paradise from the banks of the Kuphrates to 
 those of the Thames? Labour and cultivation, the incessant toil of almost 
 two thousand years.—Burgess. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 187 
 
 us in these departments of manufactures, they will do for us in 
 other departments. Why not try silk, then? Have we forgotten 
 the great lesson which the last war taught us? Must we wait for 
 a rupture with France, and a consequent failure in the supply of 
 silks, to teach us the lesson again? Silk has become a common, 
 ‘if not a necessary, article of consumption. 'The wealthy and the 
 poor use it more or less ; in robes, veils, handkerchiefs, and ribbons, 
 and thread, it is used, perhaps, by every man, woman, and child, 
 in the country ; not a button-hole can be made well without it. We 
 are paying France more than six millions of money a year, for this 
 very article ; and yet it can be as well cultivated and manufactured 
 in the United States asin France. 'The valleys, and the hills even, 
 of the Green Mountain state can be made to produce silk—and 
 they should be made to do it. Some enterprising citizens of Ver- 
 mont have commenced cultivating the mulberry, upon the leaves 
 of which the silk-worms are fed, and we doubt not, with a little 
 care and labour, they will soon find this a source of pleasure and 
 of profit. Let those individuals persevere, let them impart to their 
 neighbours and to their brother farmers, the result of their experi- 
 ments. By so doing we doubt not they will satisfy the most 
 incredulous of the practicability of raising silk in New England, 
 and thus introduce the cultivation of it as a regular and profitable 
 branch of agriculture. 
 
 The following statistical accounts, show the progress* of manu- 
 factures at the beginning of the last war :— 
 
 * Small factories spread in Rhode Island about the year 1807, and im- 
 provements began to be introduced; Hines, Dexter & Co., tried a picker to 
 pick cotton by water; this was superseded by a picker made by a Scotsman, 
 which answered a good purpose at that time, but there have been greater 
 improvements made in pickers. As early as 1808, $80,000 was invested in 
 the Globe factory, Philadelphia, in which Dr. Redman Coxe was concerned. 
 The Arkwright machinery was introduced very early at Copp’s creek Dela- 
 ware, by Goodfellow. Also at Kirkmill, Delaware, near Wilmington. Those 
 early attempts in Pennsylvania, were not continued with much success. The 
 mill in Warwick, which Mr. Potter left, was owned by Brown & Almy. 
 - Cumberland and Blackstone were early seats of the cotton manufacture ; 
 also Smithfield. David Wilkinson established a machine shop in Pawtucket. 
 Jeremiah Wilkinson commenced cutting nails, in which Mr. Slater was 
 
 concerned. } 
 
 Record of Plainfield Union Manufacturing Co. Jan, 7, 1809. At the 
 house of John Dunlap; 70 feet by 33—3 stories, 
 
 The following persons composed this company :—Anthony Bradford, 
 James Gorden, Jr., Christopher Dean, Walter Palmer, Lemuel Dorrance, 
 Jer. Kinsman, Vine Robinson, John Lester. 
 
188 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Cotton mills within thirty miles of Providence in 1812. 
 
 Spindles in No. of spindles 
 Towns. Factories. operation. which might run in 
 the buildings. 
 Providence, R. I. 1 540 1250 
 North Providence, 5 3592 6700 
 Johnson, 2 1382 2700 
 Cranston, 4 1100 2988 
 Cumberland, 2 A412 412 
 Smithfield, 3 4188 5800 
 Scituate, | 3 2688 A000 
 Gloucester, 2 72 432 
 Warwick, i) 10757 17856 
 Coventry, 5 5124 12800 
 Exeter, 1 A400 800 
 South Kingston, i A408 408 _ 
 ——33 30663 56246 
 Massachusetts, within thirty miles of Providence. 
 Rehoboth, 8 5250 9438 
 Attleborough, A 1200 4469 
 ‘Taunton, 1 800 1000 
 Dighton, 4 2775 7000 
 Wrentham, 1 260 260 © 
 Merton, 2 A80 2400 
 Mansfield, 2 360 1600 
 Medway, 2 1000 ~ 1500 
 Franklin, 1 200 400 
 Mendon 1 3092 11000 
 Dedham, 1 654 1200 
 Walpole, aI —— . 800 
 Canton, 2 1000 2400 
 20 —— 17371 45438 
 
 Fach spindle would then produce yarn enough weekly, to make 
 two and a half yards of cloth, of the value of 30 cents per yard. 
 ‘The number of spindles then in operation produced, therefore, sufli- 
 cient yarn when wove, to make in each week 128635 yards of 
 cloth, worth $96,476. What an immense importance does this 
 attach to the introduction of this manufacture previous to the war! 
 
 As the following letter of Wm. Almy to Samuel Slater is 
 probably the only one I shall be able to obtain from his first partner, 
 I will insert it. It will be read as a curiosity. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 189 | 
 
 Samuel Slater, Pawtucket. 
 Provivence, 18th 9th month, 1795. 
 
 Inclosed is ten dollars—We have made enquiry about corn, have not 
 found any ; shall continue to look out, and as soon as we can find any, will 
 purchase it and send it up. We are to have a load of meal, which we ex- 
 pect to-day or to-morrow ; if we don’t light of any corn, will send part of it 
 ‘to Pawtucket. I have desired my brother to get the bristles &c. this morning 
 and send them. 
 
 Having been a housekeeper myself, these two days, with a specimen of 
 the dysentery, which is pretty prevalent. I showed the candle-wick to Thos. 
 Hazard Jr. who liked it much, supposed it nearly the size they use; they use 
 about four or five hundred poundsa year. He took the skein with him to com- 
 pare with theirs, which as far as I could find, at present cost them about 4s. 
 —he says they are obliged to have it wound in balls. Quere, what would 
 be the additional expense of winding it into balls off the spools, five threads 
 together? He says if they take it in skeins, they will have to get it wound, 
 as the method we talked of reeling it, and lee winding it with the number 
 of threads suitable for a wick, he thought would not answer so well. I think 
 the price thou puts upon Sampson’s wick is as high most probably as he will 
 give, and perhaps is about right. Should be glad of thy opinion respecting 
 the bag of cotton last sent, it cost 1s. 8d., we have another between three 
 and four hundred weight of the same quality. Georgia cotton seems grow- 
 ing rather more plenty. We have received several invitations from New- 
 port to purchase a quantity that is there, which they say is good, and they 
 will sell very cheap. Will endeavour to send thee a little more cash, begin- 
 ning of the week, if possible. Wm. Amy. 
 
 The increase of business was probably the reason of Mr. Slater’s 
 sending for his brother. His wife’s brothers were employed by 
 him; Smith Wilkinson spun for him, David wrought on ma- 
 chinery, and the whole family were engaged in some way con- 
 nected with the business. He built, in company with his father- 
 in-law, Oziel Wilkinson, the New Mill, on the Massachusetts side, 
 and which was the first cotton-mill in that state on the Arkwright 
 improvement. Samuel Slater superintended both the old and the 
 new mills, for which he was allowed one dollar and fifty cents a 
 day for each mill; which gave him three dollars a day for his 
 personal services. He was very laborious, and incessant in his 
 attention to business. So that Samuel Slater did not get his pro- 
 perty without hard work, anxiety, and severe application: few 
 persons ever laboured more for his age. He went forward unas- 
 sured that even common prosperity would attend his enterprise, 
 but he faced the difficulties and encountered them. An event of 
 real magnitude in human history, is never seen in all its grandeur 
 and importance, till some time after its occurrence has elapsed. 
 In proportion as the memory of small men and small things is lost, 
 that of the truly great becomes more bright. ‘The cotemporary 
 
190 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 aspect of things is often confused and indistinct. The eye which 
 is placed too near the canvass, beholds too distinctly the separate 
 touches of the pencil, and is perplexed with a cloud of seemingly 
 discordant tints. It is only at a distance, that they melt into a 
 harmonious living picture. The inhabitants of Pawtucket, who 
 saw Slater labouring day and night, and sometimes beheld him 
 loaded with a bale of cotton on his back, little supposed what 
 abilities he possessed, or the importance of his enterprise. 
 
 ‘The war of 1812 decided the success of Mr. Slater's business, 
 by that time* he had got so far under way, and all the operations 
 and preparations he had previously made, now gave him a great 
 advantage. Cotton cloth sold at forty cents per yard, and the 
 demand was unlimited. While his business was thus increasing 
 and he was making money rapidly, he suffered a severe domestic 
 affliction, in the loss of his beloved wife, in the thirty-seventh year 
 of her age, soon after the birth of her last child. 
 
 Thus he was left with a helpless family, when his’ business 
 demanded every moment of his attention. Of course the care of 
 his family was left to persons hired for the purpose, and they 
 sometimes suffered for the common and necessary attentions, suit- 
 able to their age and infirmities. At that time it was extremely 
 
 * Writers on the progress of the mechanic arts, during the last century, 
 refer almost exclusively to Europe’; the nineteenth century will claim a 
 notice of American improvements. Less than seventy years ago, the only 
 machine much used for reducing cotton into yarn, was the one-thread-wheel. 
 Other methods had been thought of, and proposed, for making a more easy 
 and expeditious process; but without any extensive or permanent success. 
 About the year 1767, James Hargreave, an English weaver, constructed a 
 machine, by means of which any number of threads, from twenty to eighty, 
 might be spun at once, and for which he obtained a patent ; and soon after a 
 new method of carding cotton, more easy and expeditious than the old way 
 of carding by the hand, which was now found inadequate to the rapid pro- 
 gress and large demands of the improved mode of spinning. The first calicoes 
 were made in Lancashire, about 1772; muslins, 1781; previously, chiefly con- 
 fined to India. In 1789,a machine was invented in Massachusetts, by either 
 Foster, or M‘Clinch, for cutting and bending wire in a state completely 
 prepared for sticking cards; before this they were imported. In 1797, Amos 
 Whittemore, of Cambridge, Mass. invented a machine which by a simple 
 operation, bends, cuts, and sticks card teeth ; 1799, Wm. Whittemore & Co. 
 commenced the manufacture of cards with this machine, in Cambridge, and 
 were able very soon to furnish two hundred dozen pairs of cards on an 
 average every week. Steam-engines were scarcely at all known, prior to 
 the eighteenth century. To the honour of inventing and perfecting this 
 kind of machinery, the artists of Great Britain are entitled. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 194 
 
 difficult to obtain suitable persons to help in families—no money 
 could secure them. Under no circumstances can you fill the place 
 of a mother. I visited my friend while he was a widower, and 
 could not help observing how great a chasm was made in his 
 family, by the loss of his beloved Hannah ; her loss was felt by all 
 her friends, and the poor lamented her whose charities and kind- 
 ness they had experienced. 
 
 The company formed in Smithfield, were Almy, Brown & 
 Slaters; a large establishment was erected under the superintend- 
 ence of John Slater, Esq., who understood the business, and 
 managed the concern to great advantage. Notwithstanding some 
 favourable circumstances, such as the non-importation, non-inter- 
 course, and finally the war, helped to raise the prices of home 
 manufactures, a great deal depended on economy. Mr. Slater’s 
 personal expenses were comparatively small; he paid nothing for 
 show, or parade, or ostentation; or as they say in England, which 
 proverb he was apt to repeat, “he did not keep more cats than 
 caught mice.” He probably learned the art of saving, from Mr. 
 Strutt, who gave him lessons to save the waste cotton, and this 
 led much to his careful habits and self-denial. 
 
 Another anecdote was in circulation, respecting the first inter- 
 view which Mr. Slater had with his brother John, after his arrival 
 in this country. It was stated that Samuel Slater saw his brother 
 John in the streets of Providence, as he was riding through, and 
 that he instantly jumped out of the chaise, and left the horse to 
 take his own course, while he embraced his brother. ‘This story 
 was incorrect ; Wm. Wilkinson, of Providence, saw John Slater on 
 his landing on the wharf, and took him to the house, and told 
 him he was acquainted with his brother, and that he would 
 take him out to Pawtucket. When Mr. Wilkinson arrived at 
 Mr. Slater’s house, he found him within, and said to him,—“I 
 have brought one of your countrymen to see you, and can you 
 find any thing for him to do?” He desired them to be seated and 
 he would be with them in a few minutes. He soon came up to 
 his countryman, and asked what part of England he came from? 
 From Derbyshire.—What part of Desbyshire ?—Belper.—Ah, the 
 town of Belper, I am acquainted with that place ; what may I call 
 your naine ?—John Slater—When Samuel left, John was a boy, 
 and he had changed so much that he did not recognise him. My 
 readers need not be told that the interview was a joyful one to 
 the two brothers.—Is my mother yet alive ?, How are all my 
 brothers and sisters? How is my old master, Strutt? How is 
 my old schoolmaster, Jackson? How is the old “ Holly-House” 
 
192 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 farm getting along?—With innumerable other questions, were 
 rapidly put and answered between the brothers ; and Mr. Wilkin- 
 son told me he enjoyed the scene of their meeting and greetings ; 
 it was like Joseph’s seeing his brother Benjamin after so long an 
 absence. 
 
 John came to America in consequence of his brother’s invitation 
 and persuasion, and they always maintained an affectionate inter- 
 course, and werea long time connected. in business with each 
 other. 
 
 “ June 14, 1817. 'The American society for the encouragement 
 of American manufactures, met last evening, in the assembly room 
 at city hotel.—Daniel D. Tomkins, president of the. society, took 
 the chair, supported by the vice-presidents, Col. Few, and John 
 Ferguson, Esq. The society being organised, James Monroe, pre- 
 sident of the United States, was proposed as a member, whereon, 
 the presiding officer suggested that the usual form of ballot be 
 dispensed with, and that James Monroe be received as a member ; 
 a motion to this effect was then made, and carried unanimously. 
 Messrs. Morris, Colden, and Pierson, were appointed a committee 
 to wait on the president of the United States, to inform him of his 
 being elected, and to solicit the honour of his attendance at the 
 meeting ; to which he politely assented, and being inducted by the 
 committee, took his seat on the right of the presiding officer, who 
 immediately rose, and in an extempore and eloquent address, assured. 
 his excellency of the high sense entertained by the society of the 
 honour he conferred, by assenting to become one of its members, 
 which created a confidence that he would do all, which he con- 
 sistently could, to promote the views with which the society was 
 instituted.. Tio which his excellency replied, with much eloquence 
 and force, that he duly appreciated the objects of the institution, 
 which were particularly dear to him, from their being intimately 
 connected with the real independence of our country, and closed. 
 with an assurance that he would use his efforts as far as the gene- 
 ral interests of the country would permit, to promote the patriotic 
 and laudable objects of the society. James Madison, 'Thomas 
 Jefferson, * and John Adams, were then separately proposed as 
 
 * The American society for the encouragement of domestic manufactures, 
 in New York, on the 13th of June 1817, unanimously elected John Adams, 
 Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, members thereof, and directed their 
 secretary to apprise them of the circumstance by letter. The following isa 
 copy of the secretary’s letter, and the answers thereto. 
 
 New York, 14th June, 1817. 
 
 Sir—The American society for the encouragement of domestic manufac- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 193 
 
 members, and admitted unanimously; the usual form of ballot 
 being, on motion, dispensed with. 
 
 tures, instituted in this city, sensible of the zeal you have uniformly dis- 
 played, in the promotion of every object connected with the welfare and 
 - independence of our country, had the honour to elect you amember at their 
 last meeting, convened on the 12th inst., for the purpose of initiating into 
 the society, James Monroe, president of the United States. It would afford 
 me the highest gratification to announce to the society your assent to become 
 one of its members. 
 
 I have the honour to be, sir, with respect and consideration, your obedient 
 servant, D. Lyncn, Jr. 
 
 Quincy, June 23, 1817. 
 
 Sir,—I have received the letter you did me the honour of writing to me, 
 on the 14th of this month, announcing to me my election by the American 
 Society for the encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, instituted in New 
 York, as a member, an honour made more illustrious by the presence of the 
 president of the United States. Be pleased, sir, to present my respects to 
 the society, and my thanks for the honour they have done me, and to assure 
 them, if the best wishes of a man at eighty-one years of age can promote the 
 wise purposes of their institution, I shall be a useful member. For, according 
 to my superficial view of political economy in civilised society, next to agricul- 
 ture, which is the first and most splendid, manufactures are the second, and 
 navigation the third. With agriculture, manufactures, and navigation, all 
 the commerce which can be necessary or useful to the happiness of a nation 
 will be secured. Accept my thanks for the civility with which you have 
 communicated the vote of the society to their and your friend, 
 
 Joun ADAMs. 
 D. Lynch, Jr., Secretary of the American Society for the 
 encouragement of Domestic Manufactures. 
 MonticE.Lo, June 26, 1817. 
 
 Sir,—I am thankful for the honour done me, by an association with 
 the American Society for the encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, in- 
 stituted in New York. The history of the last twenty years has beena 
 sufficient lesson for us all to depend for necessaries on ourselves alone: and I 
 hope that twenty years more will place the American hemisphere under a 
 system of its own essentially peaceable and industrious, and not needing to ex- 
 tract its comforts out of the eternal fires raging in the old world. The efforts of 
 the members of your institution being necessarily engaged in their respective 
 vicinages, I consider myself, by their choice, as but a link of union between 
 the promoters there and here of the same patriotic objects. Praying you to 
 present to the society my just acknowledgments for this mark of attention, 
 I tender to yourself aie assurance of my great respect and consideration. 
 ‘Tae Tu: JErFERSON. 
 Mr. Lynch. Bese 
 
 Mon'rrevier, June 27, 1817. 
 
 Sir,—I have received your letter of the 18th inst, informing me that the 
 
 American Society for the encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, had 
 
 20 
 
eed eee eae 0 ea ae 
 
 ae er ee ae 
 
 194 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 \ 
 
 “ The corresponding committee offered the following report, with 
 an address from the pen of C. D. Colden Esq., which were seve- 
 rally read—After which, the president of the United States with- 
 drew, and the society adjourned. 
 
 Report of the corresponding committee of the Society for the en- 
 couragement of Domestic Manufactures. 
 
 “The corresponding committee, elected in pursuance of the 
 third article of the constitution, for the current year, respectfully 
 report— 
 
 “That immediately after the meeting of the society, held on the 
 31st of December 1816, they took the speediest measures for carry- 
 ing into effect the resolutions, respecting the printing and publishing 
 the address then reported and adopted. 'They accordingly caused 
 to be printed 5000 copies; one of which was presented to the 
 president of the United States, and one to each of the members of 
 congress and heads of departments of the general government, 
 and to the governors and members of the legislatures of the states 
 
 been pleased to elect me one of its members. Although I approve the policy 
 
 -of leaving to the sagacity of individuals, and to the impulse of private in- 
 
 terest, the application of industry and capital, I am equally persuaded that 
 in this as in other cases, there are exceptions to the general rule, which do 
 not impair the principle of it. Among these exceptions, is the policy of en- 
 couraging domestic manufactures, within certain limits, and in reference 
 to certain articles. Without entering into a detailed view of the subject, it 
 may be remarked, that every prudent nation will wish to be independent of 
 other nations, for the necessary articles of food, of raiment, and of defence 
 —and particular considerations applicable to the United States, seem to 
 strengthen the motives to this independence. Besides the articles falling 
 under this description, there may be others, for manufacturing which, natural 
 advantages exist, which require temporary interpositions of bringing them 
 into regular and successful activity. Where the fund of industry is acquired 
 from abroad, and not withdrawn nor withheld from other domestic employ- 
 ments, the case speaks for itself. I will only add, that among the articles of 
 consumption and use, the preference, in many cases, is decided merely by 
 fashion or habit. As far as equality, and still more, where a real superiority 
 is found in the articles manufactured at home, all must be sensible, that it is 
 
 politic and patriotic to encourage a preference of them as affording a more 
 
 certain source of supply for every class, and. a more certain market for the 
 surplus products of the agricultural class. With these sentiments, I beg you 
 to make my acknowledgments for the mark of distinction conferred on me ; 
 and which I accept from respect for the society, and for its objects, rather 
 than from any hope of being useful asamember. To yourself, I tender my 
 friendly respects. James Mapison. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 195 
 
 respectively, as far as the same was practicable. Your committee, 
 in further pursuance of the duties delegated to them, caused a 
 memorial to be drawn up on behalf of the society, addressed to 
 the congress of the United States, praying for the permanency of 
 the duties imposed by the tariff; the prohibition of cotton goods, 
 
 - manufactured beyond the Cape of Good Hope; such revision and 
 
 modification of the revenue laws, as might prevent smuggling, 
 false invoices, and other frauds; for a duty of ten per cent. on 
 auction sales, with the exceptions therein stated; for a recom- 
 mendation to the officers of the army and navy, and to all civil 
 officers, to be clothed in American fabrics ; that all public supplies 
 for the army and navy might be of American manufacture ; and 
 for such other protection as might place our mercantile and manu- 
 facturing interests beyond the reach of foreign influence. It is 
 with pleasure and gratitude your committee have learned, that 
 the war department has given an entire preference to domestic 
 manufacture, and as much is confidently hoped from the depart- 
 ment of the navy. Your committee elected a delegate to proceed 
 with the same to the seat of government. Memorials of similar 
 import, were drawn up by the merchants of this city, and by the 
 citizens at large, respectively : and another member of your com- 
 mittee was deputed by the merchants, who also appointed a citizen 
 of New York, then in the city of Washington, to co-operate with 
 the delegates of this society, and cause the above named memo- 
 rials to be laid before congress, with instruction to solicit and pro- 
 mote the objects of them by their best endeavours. The delegates, 
 on their way to the seat of government, took occasion to explain to 
 certain respectable and influential citizens of Philadelphia and 
 Baltimore, the objects, views, and motives of this society and the 
 nature of their mission; and had the satisfaction, during the 
 short period of one day in each of these cities, to witness the for- 
 mation of kindred associations, whose proceedings have been long 
 since made public, and which by their intelligence, patriotism, 
 capital, and character, have proved an inappreciable acquisition to 
 the cause of domestic industry. During their residence in the 
 city of Washington, the said delegates, with the aid and co-opera- 
 tion of their colleagues, made a similar and no less successful 
 appeal tothe citizens of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria; 
 who at a meeting convened by public notice, instituted and organ- 
 ised an association, entitled the Metropolitan Society—the pro- 
 ceedings of which association have also been made public, and their 
 zeal, influence, and respectability, have done much in rousing the 
 spirit of enquiry and promoting the true interests of their country. 
 
US se ee eh tee Me eee 
 
 196 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The delegates were heard with much attention by the committee 
 of comimerce and manufactures of the house of representatives, to 
 whom the above memorials were referred, and that committee re- 
 ported, in part, by a bill for a continuance of the existing duties 
 upon importation as prayed: and referred the other matters more 
 immediately connected with the revenue to the secretary of the 
 treasury ; whose opinions, we think ourselves authorised to state, 
 were in unison with the prayer of the memorialists. And although 
 the lateness of the session, and the mass of unfinished business, 
 prevented the immediate attainment of the objects desired, yet the 
 wisest and most experienced in and out of congress, (the enlight- 
 ened members of the committee of the house included,) were of 
 opinion that nothing would be lost by the delay, as every day 
 would offer new manifestations of the public sentiment, and the 
 circumstances of the times be more fully developed, and operate 
 as a law of necessity. It may be important also to state the friendly 
 intimation of the committee itself, that nothing would more con- 
 duce to future success, than an authentic collection of facts, tend- 
 ing to show the value of the property embarked in domestic 
 manufactures, the great portion of which was jeopardised by the 
 causes set forth, and the loss and irreparable injury the commu- 
 nity must suffer from neglect and indifference to so essential an 
 interest. As that information could be best collected and embodied 
 by the active industry of this and other societies, we mention it as 
 an additional stimulus to exertion, and efforts well combined; and 
 we trust that all citizens, who prize the lasting independence of 
 their country, who rejoice in its general and individual prospects, 
 will take pride and pleasure in sharing so generous a task. ‘The 
 two delegates who proceeded together from this city, were gratified 
 in returning through the town of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, to 
 witness the formation of an association of citizens, possessed of 
 every qualification to be useful; talent, influence, and capital. 
 ‘They were there, as on a former occasion, invited to explain the 
 views and tendency of their mission, and had the pleasure to find 
 the principles of this institution approved, adopted, and promptly 
 acted upon, by their respective fellow-citizens. 
 
 ‘“ Numerous societies have cotemporaneously, and in rapid suc- 
 cession, arisen throughout the Union; many have announced 
 themselves by publications full of energy, and marked with intelli- 
 gence. Regular communications have been transmitted to us from 
 the society of Wilmington, in the state of Delaware; Middletown, 
 Hartford and Hatfield, in Connecticut ; Rome and other places, in 
 the state of New York; and we have full authority to say that 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 197 
 
 Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, Virginia and Mississippi, will soon 
 add their strength and weight to the common stock. ‘The most 
 eminent journalists, without regard to political or party relations, 
 have lent their unbought talents; and essays have appeared in 
 their columns, which would do honour to any country or to any 
 ~ cause. ‘he periodical publications, of most acknowledged merit 
 and extensive circulation, have likewise appropriated their labours 
 to the service of their country, and as far as their sphere extended, 
 have put prejudice to flight and ignorance to shame. A pamphlet 
 has been compiled by a judicious and masterly hand in the city 
 of Philadelphia, from the report of the celebrated Alexander 
 ' Hamilton, made by that statesman in the year 1790, when secre- 
 tary of the treasury, by order of the house of representatives: this 
 paper has been eminently serviceable, inasmuch as.it brings back 
 the judgment of the reader to the natural order of things, before 
 the distorted and disjointed relations of the civilised world had 
 habituated mankind to disturbed and crooked views, and fallacious 
 reliances upon ephemeral hopes and transient speculations. It 
 establishes principles pure and unerring, and has the merit, not 
 only of sage predictions, but of prophecies fulfilled. It is impossi- 
 ble to notice all the valuable tracts that patriotic excitement has 
 given birth to, within the short period since our institution led the 
 way,—the address of the society of Middletown, in Connecticut, 
 and the report of the committee of Pittsburgh, are documents de- 
 serving much attention ; and it is to be wished, that a collection 
 of the most of these valuable tracts should be embodied and pre- 
 served,—they are so many pledges to the public, of the faith and 
 loyalty of the citizen. The address of the society has been re- 
 printed and circulated in abundance, in so many different forms, 
 and noticed with so much favour, that it is impossible to retire 
 from the front of the battle, where we first appeared, without some 
 loss of character. It is our turn now, to take the next step in the 
 field of generous emulation, and we should meet more than half 
 way, every overture to correspondence and co-operation. We 
 should acknowledge our obligations for the ‘confidence reposed in 
 us, and for the light of instruction reflected on us. So far your 
 committee have traced their progress in the execution of their 
 trust; so far our bark has adventured with a favouring gale ; for 
 although we lament that some of our fabrics must suffer, within 
 this year, irreparable loss, yet we trust that the certainty with 
 which they may count upon the fostering care of the government, 
 will, in general, restore courage, confidence, and credit ; and enable 
 the greater part to ride out the storm. ‘The immense losses, at 
 
198 MEMOIR OF SAMURL SLATER. 
 
 which our markets are glutted, cannot endure for many years; 
 and little can he see, who does not read the rising prosperity of 
 our manufactures, at no distant day, and with it, the power, happi- 
 ness, and security of this highly favoured land. Your committee, 
 considering the interests of commerce and manufactures as insepa- 
 rable and identical, cannot close this report without noticing an 
 evil which has grown to an enormous and alarming extent. The 
 present system of auction sales of recent date, in this country, and 
 an anomaly in the history of commerce, has nearly exploded all 
 regular business ; and the auctioneer, whose office was formerly 
 subordinate to that of the merchant, is now nearly the only seller ; 
 and if subordinate to any, merely to a foreign principal. If any 
 sales are now made by the regular trader, they are occasional and 
 supplementary. Commercial education, orderly habits and sober 
 pursuits, honour and good faith, too fatally yield to gambling 
 speculations and fraudulent contrivances. 'The benefits, if any, 
 that result from this extraordinary monopoly, are daily paid for by 
 the ruin of a class, whose industry was the life of the community, 
 and through them, in a greater or less degree, of the various and 
 numerous descriptions of persons, who without being commercial, 
 depend upon commerce for their support. And if once the mer- 
 chant disappears from the scene; if the source is once destroyed, 
 the thousand channels which it occupies become dry and fruitless ; 
 the proprietor, the mechanic, the artist, the labourer, follow in the 
 train, and must seek elsewhere for subsistence. Already has the 
 public feeling remonstrated against this abuse, but the practice has 
 still prevailed. The established merchant, it has been shown, 
 must ever be unable to compete with the stranger who is charged 
 with no contribution to the public service, subjected to no rent or 
 household expenditure, none of the costs and charges of a com- 
 mercial establishment, nor taxes, nor impositions, for the support 
 of government. Your committee therefore, refer this subject to 
 the most serious attention of the society, that the most suitable 
 means of investigation may be adopted to substantiate its truth 
 and secure its relief.” | 
 The following is an abstract of the address delivered at this 
 meeting :—All who believe that the happiness and independence 
 of our country are connected with the prosperity of our manufac- 
 tures, must rejoice to see the chief magistrate of the nation honour- 
 ing with his presence, a society instituted for their protection and 
 encouragement. Knowing that the manufactures of the United 
 States cannot, in their infant state, resist the rivalship of foreign 
 nations without the patronage of the government, it is consoling to 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 199 
 
 find, that he, to whom the unanimous voice of a free people has 
 committed the highest office, has not only consented to become a 
 member of our institution, but that he avails himself of the first 
 opportunity of giving it the countenance and support of his attend- 
 ance. An incident like this may form a new era in the history 
 of society. In other countries, the infiuence of the magistrate is 
 felt only from the operation of his laws, or through the instrument- 
 ality of his subordinate agents: while on the other hand, he derives 
 his information through intermediate channels; but our happy 
 constitution places the people and their officers in such relations to 
 each other that they may have a mutual and direct intercourse ; 
 and we now behold the first magistrate of a great nation seeking, 
 at its source, the information which will enable him to know the 
 wants and wishes of the country. A life devoted to the good of his 
 country, gives us assurance, that it is only necessary to make him 
 acquainted with what will promote its happiness, to insure ad/ the 
 support which may be derived from his high station. It is now 
 too Jate to question the advantages of manufactures); all history 
 shows us how much they have contributed to the prosperity of 
 every state where they have been encouraged. Indeed, we find 
 that, in some instances, they have been the source of all the 
 wealth and power of a people. As they have prospered or declined, 
 nations have risen or sunk. Fiven wealth, without manufactures 
 and commerce, has only served to degrade a great community, by 
 the introduction of that luxury which was purchased with the 
 produce of inexhaustible mines of gold. 
 
 But it is not as they are sources of wealth, that an American 
 must feel the deepest interest in the fate of our manufactures; they 
 more nearly concern us, as they are connected with our inde- 
 pendence. For how shall we avoid the influence of foreign 
 nations, while we suffer ourselves to be dependent on them, not 
 only for the luxuries but the necessaries of life? Can that nation 
 feel independent, which has no reliance, but upon foreign lands, 
 for the fabrics which are to clothe her citizens? For manufactured 
 materials which are necessary for the construction of their dwell- 
 ings, and for the tools with which they are to cultivate their soil ? 
 But such has been our situation, (unknown almost to ourselves,) 
 until a jealousy of our prosperity provoked a war, which barred 
 us from the workshops of England; and then we found we were 
 in some measure obliged to rely on a treasonable trade to clothe 
 the armies which met her in the field of battle. ‘The very 
 powder which generated the thunder of our cannon was some- 
 times British manufacture, and the “ striped bunting” may often 
 
200 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 have been from the same loom with the “cross of St. George,” 
 over which it so frequently waved with triumph. Such a state 
 of things could not but awaken the spirit and enterprise of Ame- 
 ricans. Amidst the agitation of war, while one part of the popu- 
 lation was ranging itself under the military banners of our country, 
 another devoted itself to her interest in another form. Manufac- 
 tures arose as if by enchantment—on every stream she formed for 
 herself spacious dwellings, and collected in them many thousands 
 who in no other way could contribute to the general weal. Those 
 too young or too old to bear arms, who had no strength for agri- 
 cultural labours—the female, whose domestic services could be 
 dispensed with in her family, found here a means of individual 
 gain, and of adding to the public prosperity. In a short three 
 years, the produce of our looms rivaled foreign productions, and 
 the nation with which we were contending felt more alarm from 
 the progress of our manufactures, than she did from the success 
 of our arms. But peace came,—while we were at war, the ware- 
 houses of England were filled with the produce of the labour, 
 which a loss of market had enabled her to purchase at a depre- 
 ciated price. ‘The moment intercourse between the two countries 
 was opened, her hoarded stores were thrown upon us, and we 
 were deluged with the manufactures which had been waiting the 
 event. ‘They could be sold without profit, because the foreign 
 manufacturer thought himself fortunate if he could realise the capi- 
 tal which he had been obliged to expend, to support his establish- 
 ment while there was no sale for his wares. But he was content 
 to bear a loss, because, in the words of an English statesman, “ It 
 was well worth while to incur a loss upon the first exportation, in 
 order, by the glut to stifle in the cradle those rising manufactures 
 in the United States, which the war had forced into existence.” 
 It would have been stirprising indeed, if our infant manufactures, 
 the establishment of which had generally exhausted the capitals 
 of those who embarked in them, could have sustained themselves 
 under such circumstances, without any aid or support from the 
 government, without any means of countervailing the effects of 
 the sacrifices which foreigners were willing to make for their 
 destruction. How were they to maintain themselves? It was 
 impossible,—many of them sunk—but, we hope, to rise again. 
 The attention of the government was too ardently directed, dur- 
 ing the war, to other objects, to perceive the policy or necessity of 
 that protection which the manufacturing interest did not then 
 appear to want. But now, that peace will leave our legislators 
 free to consider and provide for the real independence, and perma- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 201 
 
 nent prosperity of our country ; now, when we have at the head 
 of our administration, a citizen, whose presence here this evening 
 assures us of the interest he takes in the objects of our institution, 
 we may hope, that American manufactures will receive all the 
 countenance and support that can be derived from the power of 
 ‘the government. Let that power be exerted only so far as to 
 counteract the policy of foreign nations, and every American may 
 be gratified in the pride of wearing the produce of the American 
 soil, manufactured by American hands. Again shall the surplus 
 population of our great cities, and the feeble powers of women and 
 children, find that means of useful and profitable employment 
 which manufactures alone can afford them. Again shall the 
 patriotic and enterprising capitalist find advantage in devoting his 
 means and mind to objects so calculated to promote the prosperity 
 and happiness of his country. And again shall foreign nations 
 dread to see us rising to that real independence, which we never 
 can in truth enjoy, while we depend upon any but ourselves for 
 the first necessaries of life. 'The society beg leave to testify to the 
 chief magistrate of the nation, the high sense they entertain of the 
 honour he has conferred upon them by his presence at this time, 
 and sincerely participate in the feelings, which have been so uni- 
 versally manifested on his visit to our city, and most cordially 
 tender him their best wishes for his health and happiness.” 
 
 A very favourable impression, in favour of domestic manufac- 
 tures, was every where manifested at the conclusion of the war of 
 1812. Mr. Jefferson had changed his views on the subject, and 
 expressed himself as follows :—“ To be independent for the com- 
 forts of life, we must fabricate them ourselves. We must now 
 place the manufacturer by the side of the agriculturist. Expe- 
 rience has taught me that manufactures are as necessary to our 
 independence as to our comfort.” And Mr. Monroe’s message of 
 December 30th, 1821, was much to the point :—“ It cannot be 
 doubted, that the more complete our internal resources, and the 
 less dependent we are on foreign powers, for every national as 
 well as domestic purpose, the greater and more stable will be the 
 public felicity. By the increase of domestic manufactures will 
 the demand for the rude materials at home be increased ; and thus 
 will the dependence of the several parts of the Union, and the 
 strength of the Union itself, be proportionably augmented.” It is 
 said that Mr. Monroe’s tour to New England made a very favour- 
 able impression on his own mind, with regard to the resources of 
 the country, for manufacturing operations ; ‘the population of the 
 
 26 
 
202 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 eastern section of the Union struck him as altogether adapted to 
 the object. 
 
 When the President of the United States arrived at Providence,* 
 a committee of arrangements was chosen at Pawtucket, who met 
 Mr. Monroe and his suite, and escorted him to the “ Old Mill,” 
 where Mr. Slater received him, and exhibited to him his first 
 frames, by which he had spun his first cotton ; explaining to him 
 the present progress of the business, with which the president was 
 highly delighted, and it was considered a proud day for Pawtucket, 
 and more particularly to the individual who had been the means 
 of raising that obscure hamlet to such a flourishing town. The 
 change was remarkable, and it took place during a severe con- 
 test with Great Britain. Providence and Rhode Island, in general, 
 received an impetus which has continued to raise that compara- 
 tively small state to wealth and importance.t | 
 
 * Mr. Monroe’s answer to the Providence Address, previous to his visit to 
 Pautucket. | 
 
 TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Gentlemen,—I received, with great satisfaction, the address which the 
 citizens of Providence, through their committee, have been pleased to com- 
 municate to me. The pleasure of my journey has been greatly enhanced 
 by the uniform kindness and promptitude with which the objects of my visit 
 have been seconded by my fellow citizens. Every where in our country 
 the reflecting mind cannot fail to observe the blessings of a free government, 
 Living under a constitution which secures equal, civil, religious, and politi- 
 eal rights to all, it is a great consolation in administering it, that the people 
 have formed so just an estimate of its value; and from rational conviction, 
 and not from blind prejudices, are sincerely devoted to its preservation. I 
 hope that this just confidence in the stability of our government may con- 
 tinue to increase; and if it does, it cannot fail to produce the happiest effects, 
 by encouraging a love of our country, and an honest zeal to promote its best 
 and permanent interests. Happy shall I be, if my exertions in the public 
 service shall be so far successful, that they may assist the industry and 
 enterprise of my fellow citizens, in increasing the general prosperity. 
 
 JAmes Monroe. 
 
 The next morning he received all that wished to be presented to him, and 
 then proceeded to view the town, and visit the neighbouring cotton mills, 
 &c. At Pawtucket, he was shown the first frame upon the Arkwright plan, 
 put into operation in this country; it has been running 27 years, and was 
 erected by Mr. Slater, the present owner of the establishment. After which 
 he took a polite leave of his Rhode Island friends, and passed into Massa- 
 chusetts.— Niles’s Register.’ 
 
 t While Rhode Island was a colony of Great Britain, Newport was, by 
 far, the place of the greatest importance in the state. Delightfully situated 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 203 
 
 The North American Review, July 1823, attempts to account 
 for the failures previous to that time, on other grounds than want 
 of protection from government :—“ All manufactures, to be prose- 
 cuted to great extent and with great profit, require a very compli- 
 eated and perfect machinery, not to be had without a great dis- 
 - bursement, nor easily for that. Accordingly, the factories which 
 were so imprudently set up. at every waterfall in our country, ill 
 provided with machinery, possessed of none of its most costly 
 improvements, and furnished with nothing but of the cheapest and 
 most ordinary construction, though they might be able, during 
 the total exclusion of foreign trade in time of war, or under a 
 system of prohibitory duties, to continue in operation, must 
 necessarily stop under any competition. Many accordingly did 
 stop ; and who that sees them, and knows how they were furnished, 
 and how managed, but rather wonders how they goton? Another 
 cause of the failure of our manufactures was the want of experi- 
 ence. A vast accumulation of individual and traditional observa- 
 vation, of dexterity acquired in practice, and often a secret skill, is 
 necessary to the successful conduct of a factory. More or less of 
 it is necessary in every pursuit. A capitalist who knows nothing 
 of trade, would commit a great error in buying cargoes, chartering 
 ships, and making voyages. We much fear, that, without any de- 
 pression of manufactures, he would soon becomea bankrupt. But 
 yet it is much easier to conduct a voyage than a factory. Good 
 ships can be bought to your hands, cargoes judiciously laid in by 
 the brokers, and experienced captains sent to sea. But to com- 
 mand all the skill, ingenuity, and experience, requisite to erect 
 and conduct a factory, is a far different affair. Hundreds were 
 
 for commerce, it received its share of comniercial trade, and the Island was 
 cultivated as a garden, compared with other parts of New England. The 
 Naragansett country and the greater part of the state was then a mere wil- 
 derness. It possessed, however, natural advantages in water falls, not 
 surpassed by any other portion of America, of the same extent of territory. 
 These attracted the capital of manufactures, and a dense population, in 
 beautiful villages and hamlets, now spreads over the greatest part of the 
 country; the whole scene is changed: schools are introduced, places of 
 worship erected, and the state of improvement is quite equal, if not superior, 
 to any other state or section of the country. 
 
 Rhode Island is no longer despised, by her sister states, as ignorant and 
 irreligious, but they are as zealous and devoted to science and literature, 
 and especially the mechanic arts, as either Connecticut or Massachusetts, 
 _ or any other state in the Union. 
 
204. MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 erected without a particle of either, and stand the mournful monu- 
 ments of the improvidence of their undertakers.*” 
 
 * The following remarks are in substance the words of Mr. T. Burgess, 
 in his address before the Rhode Island Agricultural Society :— Forty years 
 ago there was not a spindle wrought by water on this side the Atlantic. 
 Since then, how immense the capital by which spinning and Weaving 
 machinery are moved! How many, how great, how various, the improve- 
 ments! The farmers of Flanders erected a statue in honour of him who 
 introduced into their country the culture of the potatoe. What shall the 
 people of New England do for him who first brought us the knowledge of 
 manufacturing cloth, by machinery moved by water? In England, he 
 would in life, be ornamented with a peerage, in death, lamented by a monu- 
 ment in Westminster Abbey. The name of Slater will be remembered as 
 one of our greatest public benefactors. Let not the rich, in his adopted 
 country, envy the products of his labour—his extensive opulence—his fair 
 and elevated character. Let the poor rise up and call him blessed; for he 
 has introduced a species of industry into our country, which furnishes them 
 with labour, food, clothing, and habitation; and that, too, when the Jong and 
 hungry winters of our climate lock up all other employment from them. It 
 may be said, I think, without any fair imputation of national vanity, that the 
 United States have, during the last forty years, made a more respectable 
 progress in manufactures than any other nation or people. 
 
 “Tt is within the personal knowledge of every merchant conversant with 
 the importation of foreign goods, that there was scarcely such a thing heard 
 of as British cotton sheeting before the manufacture of them was attempted 
 in this country. In the year 1787, the cotton used in England was for the 
 following purposes :—Candlewicks, hosiery, silk and linen mixtures, fustians, 
 calicoes, and muslins. Neither sheetings nor shirtings are mentioned in 
 this enumeration. 
 
 ‘The progress of the United States in this manufacture stands unrivaled. 
 It may be attributed to the enterprising spirit, to the industry and ingenuity 
 of our countrymen, aided by the immense advantage of producing the staple 
 at home. This advantage has enabled us to apply the finer kinds of cotton 
 to heavier fabrics than had before been attempted. 
 
 ‘* ‘The committee of 1832 have turned their attention with great interest to 
 the influence of the cotton manufacture upon the moral habits and character 
 of the operatives. No class of the working population in this country is 
 more respectable and intelligent or better educated. In the United States, 
 manufactures are dispersed through the country. The operatives are, to a 
 considerable extent, females, who come ‘into the factories, after having 
 acquired their education, who stay there but a few years, and whose liberal 
 wages enable them during those few years to lay up considerable sums of 
 money. In many factories, the proprietors have instiguted savings banks, to 
 encourage the economy of the operatives, by enabling them to deposit such 
 portions, however small, of their earnings as they could spare, the proprie- 
 tors allowing a moderate rate of interest, and being responsible for the safety 
 of the capital. One factory has made,a return on this subject to the com- 
 mittee, where the wages amount to about sixty thousand dollars per annum ; 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 205 
 
 In order to appreciate the value and importance of the extension 
 of the cotton business, it will be necessary to take a retrospective 
 view of the condition the country was found in, at the commence- 
 ment of the last war with Great Britain. The abstract which 
 follows was selected from memorials which had _ reference to this 
 ' state of things, and to the distresses which followed the peace, in 
 consequence of the influx of foreign goods. ‘This refers to a most 
 serious state of affairs, connected with manufacturing establish- 
 ments ; and before we proceed to their progress, it will be proper 
 to revert to that disastrous period of. bankruptcy and ruin. It 
 cannot be better expressed than in the language used by persons 
 who deeply felt the pressure of the calamity. 
 
 It is said that hundreds of our ill-fated soldiers perished for 
 want of comfortable clothing in the early part of the war of 1812, 
 when exposed to the inhospitable climate of Canada. 'The war 
 found us destitute of the means of supplying ourselves, not merely 
 with blankets for our soldiers, but a vast variety of other articles 
 necessary for our ease and comfort. Our citizens entered on the 
 business of manufactures with great energy and enterprise ; in- 
 vested in them many millions of capital—and having, during the 
 thirty months while the war continued, the domestic market 
 secured to them, they succeeded wonderfully. Never was there a 
 prouder display of the power of industry, than was afforded on 
 this occasion. Unaided by the expenditure of a single dollar by 
 our government, they attained, in two or three years, a degree of 
 maturity in manufactures, which required centuries in England, 
 France, Prussia, &c.—and cost their governments enormous sums, 
 in the shape of bounties, premiums, drawbacks, with the fostering 
 aid of privileges and immunities bestowed on the undertakers. 
 The supply became commensurate with the demand ; and full 
 confidence was entertained that the government and nation, to 
 whose aid they came forward in time of need, would not abandon 
 
 the fund thus laid by has accumulated, in four years, to the sum of twenty 
 six thousand and four hundred dollars, or about eleven per cent. on the 
 whole amount of wages paid. 
 
 “Tt will be observed, that no less than thirty-nine thousand females find 
 employment in the cotton factories of the United States, whose aggregate 
 wages amount to upwards of four millions of dollars anuually. This 
 immense sum, paid for the wages of females, may be considered as so much 
 clear gain to the country. Daughters are emphatically a blessing to the 
 farmer. Many instances have occurred within the personal knowledge of 
 this committee, in which the earnings of daughters have been scrupulously 
 hoarded, to enable them to pay off mortgages on the paternal farm.” 
 
206 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 them to destruction. Previous to the revolution, they had no com- 
 petitors in the markets of their country but their fellow-subjects of 
 Great Britain. Now they have competitors from almost every 
 part of Europe, and from the East Indies. The case of the paper- 
 makers in 1818, affords proof of this disadvantage. One half of 
 them in the middle states were ruined—not by the importation of 
 British paper, of which little came to this market, but by I*rench 
 and Italian, with which our markets were deluged for two or three 
 years after the last war. By an investigation ordered in 1819, by 
 the citizens of Philadelphia, it appears so great was the decay of 
 manufacturing industry that, in only thirty out of fifty-six branches 
 of business, there were actually 7728 persons less employed in 1819 
 than in 1816. | 
 
 It was reported, “That embarrassment is universal ; that the 
 sordid and avaricious are acquiring the sacrificed property of the 
 liberal and industrious; that so much property is exposed to sale 
 under execution, that buyers cannot be had to pay more for it than 
 the fees of office.” 
 
 All nations and communities have fallen to decay, in proportion 
 as they abandoned, and have prospered in proportion as they pro- 
 tected, the industry of their people. There are great advantages 
 to agriculture from the vicinity of manufacturing establishments. 
 The settlement at Harmony, in the state of Pennsylvania, was 
 begun in 1804, and is probably the only settlement ever made in 
 America in which, from the outset, agriculture and manufactures 
 proceeded hand in hand together. The progress to wealth and 
 prosperity, therefore, has been far beyond any previous example in 
 this country. In 1809, they built a fulling mill, which does a 
 great deal of business for the country, a hemp mill, an oil mill, a 
 grist mill, a brick warehouse, 46 by 36 feet, having a wine cellar 
 completely arched over ; and another brick building of the same 
 dimensions. A considerable quantity of land was cleared. The 
 produce of this year was 6000 bushels of Indian corn ; 4500 
 bushels of wheat; and they distilled 1600 bushels of rye. In 1810, 
 a wool-carding machine and two spinning jennies were erected, 
 for the fabrication of broad cloth from the wool of merino sheep. 
 A frame barn was built, 100 feet long, and a brick house built, to 
 accommodate 20 weavers’ looms. In the wool loft, eight or ten 
 women were employed in teazing and sorting the wool for the 
 carding machine, which is at a distance on the creek. From thence 
 the roves are brought to the spinning house in the town, where we 
 found two roving billies and six spinning jennies at work. They 
 were principally wrought by young girls, and they appeared per- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 207 
 
 fectly happy, singing church music most melodiously. In the 
 weaving house, sixteen looms were at work, besides several warp- 
 ers and winders. We there saw the soap and candle works; the 
 dye works ; shearing and dressing works ; the turners, carpenters, 
 and machine makers ; and we were conducted through the ware- 
 houses, which we found plentifully stored with commodities ;— 
 among others 450 pieces of broad and narrow cloth, part of it 
 merino wool, and of as good a fabric as any that ever was made 
 in England. -In 1813 they could sell the best broad cloth, as fast 
 as made, at ten dollars per yard. The society in 1811 consisted 
 of about 800 persons, and the operative members as follows :— 
 one hundred farmers, three shepherds, ten masons, three stone- 
 cutters, three brick-makers, ten carpenters, two sawyers, ten 
 smiths, two wagon makers, three turners, two nailers, seven 
 coopers, three rope makers, ten shoemakers, two saddlers, three 
 tanners, seven tailors, one soap boiler, one brewer, four distillers, 
 one gardener, two grist millers, two oil millers, one butcher, six 
 joiners, six dyers, dressers, shearers, &c., one fuller, two hatters, 
 two potters, two warpers, seventeen weavers, two carders, eight 
 spinners, one rover, one minister of religion, one schoolmaster, 
 one doctor, one storekeeper with two assistants, and one tavern 
 keeper with one assistant. The original stock in 1804, was 
 $20,000, which was expended in the purchase of land, and in 
 supporting themselves till they commenced their operations. And 
 in 1811, their property amounted to the sum of $220,000. 'T'o 
 this delightful picture of the effects of a judicious distribution of 
 industry, the statesman ought to direct his eyes steadily. It holds 
 out a most instructive lesson on the true policy to promote human 
 happiness, and to advance the wealth, power, and resources of 
 nations. Hundreds of places might be mentioned, where the’ 
 establishment of manufactories, by affording an extensive and ad- 
 vantageous market to the farmer, doubled and trebled the price of 
 the lands in their neighbourhood—and increased in an equal de- 
 gree the comforts and prosperity of the farmers. 
 
 A nation peopled only by farmers, must be a region of indolence 
 and misery. If the soil is naturally fertile, little labour will pro- 
 duce abundance ; but for want of exercise even that little labour 
 will be burdensome and often neglected. Want will be felt in the 
 midst of abundance; and the human mind be abased nearly to 
 the same degree with the beasts that graze inthe field. If the re- 
 gion is more barren, the inhabitants will be obliged to become 
 somewhat more industrious, and therefore more happy.. Those 
 therefore who wish to make agriculture flourish in any country, 
 : * 
 
 t 
 
208 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. ‘ 
 
 can have no hope of succeeding in the attempt but by bringing — 
 commerce and manufactures to her aid; which by taking from — 
 the farmer his superfluous produce, gives spirit to his operations, — 
 and life and activity to his mind. Without this stimulus to ac- 
 tivity, in vain do we use arguments to rouse the sluggish inhabit. 
 ants. In vain do we discover that the earth is capable of pro- 
 ducing the most luxuriant harvests with little labour. Our own 
 abundant crops are produced as undeniable proofs of this in vain. 
 But place a manufacturer in the neighbourhood, who will buy 
 every little article that the farmer can bring to market, and he will 
 soon become industrious—the most barren fields will become 
 covered with some useful produce. Instead of listless vagabonds, 
 unfit for any service, the country will abound with a hardy and 
 robust race of men. When one nation receives only luxuries 
 from another, and pays for them in the necessaries of life, or 
 specie, or in raw materials which would find employment for its 
 own people, commerce is pernicious ; but when conducted on fair 
 and reciprocal terms, it tends to civilise, and increase the comforts 
 of the great family of mankind. Suppose that England were to 
 furnish France with her raw wool, lead, tin, iron, flax and hemp, 
 and to receive in return merino shawls, silks, satins, pearl neck- 
 laces, diamond watches, &c.—the most devoted advocate for com- 
 merce would allow this species of it to be extremely pernicious. 
 And it is as absurd as impolitic, and as cruel to our citizens, who 
 can manufacture cotton goods for us, to export raw cotton and 
 receive cambrics and muslins in return, as it would be for England 
 to export her wool, and import her woollen manufactures. 
 
 The war of 1812 was closed under the most favourable auspices. 
 The country was every where prosperous. Inestimable manufac- 
 turing establishments, in which probably 60,000,000 of dollars 
 were invested, were spread over the face of the land, and diffusing 
 happiness among thousands of industrious people. No man, 
 woman, or child, able and willing to work, was unemployed. 
 With almost every possible variety of soil and climate—and like- 
 wise with the three greatest staples in the world—cotton, wool, 
 and iron ; the first, to an extent commensurate with our utmost 
 wants, and a capacity to produce the other two—a sound policy 
 would have rendered us more independent, probably, of foreign 
 supplies, for all the comforts of life, than any other nation what- 
 ever. | 
 
 Peace, nevertheless, was fraught with destruction to the hopes 
 and happiness of a considerable portion of the manufacturers. 
 The double duties had been imposed with a limitation to one year 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 209 
 
 after the close of the war. And a tariff as a substitute was pre- 
 pared by the secretary of the treasury, with duties fixed at the 
 minimum rates which he thought calculated to afford them protec- 
 tion. On. many of them, these rates were insufficient. Yet had 
 his tariff been adopted, it would probably have saved the country 
 - forty or fifty millions of dollars, and prevented a large portion of 
 the deep distress that pervaded the land, and which drove 
 legislative bodies to the desperate measure of suspending the 
 course of justice. But a deep-rooted jealousy of manufacturers 
 was entertained by many members of congress, on the ground 
 of imputed extortion during the war; and the old hacknied 
 themes of “taxing the many for the benefit of the few,”—the 
 country not being ripe for manufactures—wages being too 
 high—the immensity of our back lands, &c. were still regarded 
 as unanswerable arguments. In consequence of the combined 
 operation of these causes, the rates were reduced on most of the 
 leading articles, ten, fifteen, and in some cases, thirty per cent. 
 Every per cent. reduced was regarded, by many of the members 
 of congress, as so much clear gain to the country. Some of them 
 appeared to consider manufactures as a sort of common enemy, 
 with whom no terms ought to be observed. Some of, them held 
 the broad doctrine, that every dollar paid as duty or bounty to 
 encourage manufactures, is a dollar robbed out of the pockets of 
 the farmers and planters. ) 
 
 From year to year since that time, ruin spread among the 
 manufacturers. A large portion of them have been reduced to 
 bankruptcy, from ease and affluence. Most of them had entered 
 into the business during the war, under an impression, as I have 
 already stated, that there was a sort of implied engagement on the 
 part of the government that, having been found so useful in time 
 of need, they would not be allowed to be crushed afterwards. 'T'o 
 what extent there was any foundation for this idea, Iam unable 
 to decide. Suffice it to say, that all the calculations predicted on 
 it were wholly and lamentably disappointed. ‘The strong arm of 
 government, which alone could save them from the overwhelming 
 influx of foreign manufactures, by which they were destroyed, was 
 not interposed in their behalf. Noble establishments, the pride 
 and ornament of the country, which might have been rendered 
 sources of incalculable public and private wealth, and which 
 Edward III., Henry IV., Frederic the Great, and Catherine II. 
 would have saved at the expense of millions, if necessary, were 
 mouldering to ruins. And to crown the whole, millions of capital 
 which had every claim to the protection of government, had 
 
 27 
 
210 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. aia 
 
 become a dead and heavy loss to the proprietors. At every stage 
 of this awful progress, the devoted sufferers not only appealed to 
 the justice, but threw themselves on the mercy, of their represen- 
 tatives. ‘The utmost powers of eloquence were exhausted in those 
 appeals, some of which may be ranked among the proudest monu- 
 ments of human talents. In the second session of the fourteenth 
 congress, 1816-17, there were above forty memorials presented to 
 the house of representatives from manufacturers in different parts 
 of the United States, and some of them, particularly that from 
 Pittsburg, fraught with tales of ruin and destruction, that would 
 have softened the heart of a Herod. Not one of them was ever read 
 in the house! 'The following are a few short specimens of the 
 facts and reasonings they placed before the eyes of congress :-— 
 ‘The Philadelphia memorial holds this language :—“ We regard 
 with the most serious concern the critical and dangerous situa- 
 
 tion in which our manufactures are placed by the recent extrava- 
 
 gant importations of rival articles, which, owing to the great 
 surplus of them, and to the pressure of money, are in many cases 
 sold at such reduced prices, as to render it impossible for our 
 manufactures to compete with them. We believe that with the 
 interests of the manufacturers are connected the best interests of 
 the nation——and that if the manufactures of the country are 
 deprived of that support from the legislature of the United States, 
 to which we think they are fairly entitled, the evil will be felt not 
 by us merely, but by the whole nation; as it will produce the 
 inevitable consequence of an unfavourable balance of trade, 
 whereby our country will be impoverished, and rendered tributary 
 to foreign powers, whose interest are in direct hostility with ours.” 
 
 The Pittsburg memorial says :—“'The committee have found 
 that the manufacture of cottons, woollens, flint, glass, and the finer 
 articles of iron, has lately suffered the most alarming depression. 
 Some branches which have been several years in operation, have 
 been destroyed or partially suspended; and others, of a more 
 recent growth, annihilated before they were completely in opera- 
 tion, ‘The tide of importation has inundated our country with 
 foreign goods. Some of the most valuable and enterprising 
 citizens have been subjected to enormous losses, and others over- 
 whelmed with bankruptcy and ruin. The pressure of war 
 was less fatal to the hopes of enterprise and industry, than a 
 general peace with the calamities arising from the present state of 
 our foreign trade. It was confidently believed, that the destinies 
 of the United States would no longer depend on the jealousy and 
 caprice of foreign governments, and that our national freedom 
 
x 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 211 
 
 and welfare were fixed on the solid basis of our intrinsic means 
 and energies. But these were ‘airy dreams ;? a peace was con- 
 cluded with England, and in a few months we were prostrate at 
 her feet. ‘The manufacturers appealed to the general government 
 for the adoption of measures that might enable them to resist the 
 torrent that was sweeping away the fruits of their capital and 
 industry. Their complaints were heard with a concern which 
 seemed a pledge for the return of better days. The tariff of duties, 
 established at the last session of congress, and the history of the 
 present year, will demonstrate the falsity of their expectations. 
 England never suffered a foreign government, or a combination 
 of foreign capitalists, by glutting her own market, to crush in the 
 cradle any branch of her domestic industry. She never regarded 
 with a cold indifference the ruin of thousands of her industrious 
 people, by the competition of foreigners. 'The bare avowal of 
 such an attempt would have incurred the indignant resistance of 
 the whole body of the nation, and met the frowns} if not the 
 instant vengeance of the government. ‘The consequences of this 
 policy in England are well known; her manufactures have 
 become a source of wealth incalculable; the treasures of Spanish 
 America are poured into her lap; her commerce is spread over 
 every ocean, and, with a population comparatively small, she is 
 the terror and the spoiler of Europe. Take from England her 
 manufactures, and the fountains of her wealth would be broken 
 up; her pre-eminence among nations would be lost for ever. I*or 
 a speedy redress of such pressing evils, we look to the government 
 of the Union. Will.they uphold the sinking manufactures of the 
 country, or will they nof? Are their late assurances of aid and 
 protection forgotten with the crisis that gave them birth? Let 
 them realise the hopes of the country, and act with decision 
 before it be too late. In the United States we have the know- 
 ledge of the labour-saving machinery, the raw material, and pro- 
 visions cheaper than in Britain ; but the overgrown capital of the 
 British manufacturer, and the dexterity acquired by long experi- 
 ence, make a considerable time and heavy duties necessary for 
 our protection. We have beaten England out of our markets in 
 hats, boots, and all manufactures of leather ; we are very much 
 her superior in ship-building ; these are all the work of the hands, » 
 where labour-saving machinery gives no aid; so that her supe- 
 
 _ riority over us, in manwfactures: consists tha in the excellence 
 
 and nicety of the labour-saving machinery, than in the wages of 
 of labour. With all their jealousy and restrictions upon the 
 emigration of workmen, the distresses and misfortunes of Eng- 
 
212 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 land will, by due encouragement, send much of her skill and 
 knowledge to our shores; let us be ready to take full benefit of 
 such events, as England herself did when despotic laws in Ger- 
 many, and other parts of Europe, drove their manufacturers into 
 Britain, which laid the foundation of her present eminence. 'That 
 the cotton trade and manufacture is a concern of vast importance, 
 and even of leading interest to the country is a truth, your memo- 
 rialists conceive, too palpable to be denied or doubted. Were not 
 our own constant observation and daily experience sufficient to 
 establish it, the prodigious exertions of our ever-vigilant and inde- 
 fatigable rival, directed against this particular interest, would 
 place the matter beyond a question. For where a judicious and 
 enterprising opponent (as England undoubtedly is in this respect) 
 directs her strongest engines of hostility, we have reason to con-— 
 clude there lies our vital and most important concerns. 
 
 "This consideration is coming home to us with more and more 
 force; and the cotton planter, as well as the manufacturer, must 
 have before this time discovered the alarming fact, that our great 
 rival has become possessed of both our plants and seeds of cotton, 
 which she is employing all her vast means to propagate in the 
 Fast Indies and other British possessions, with an energy and 
 success which threaten the most alarming consequences. When 
 your memorialists consider that the article thus jeoparded is the 
 great staple of the country, they cannot but hope the people and 
 their representatives will be generally convinced that it is not the 
 interest of individuals alone that is at stake, but that of the whole 
 community. An appeal is made to the equity, to the patriotism 
 of the southern statesman ; his aid and co-operation is invoked for 
 the relief of the suffering manufactures of the northern and middle 
 states. In the interior of the United States, few articles can be 
 raised which will bear a distant transportation; products much 
 more valuable, when the grower and consumer are near each 
 other, are therefore excluded from cultivation. A dependence*on 
 foreign markets, in the most prosperous times, necessarily restricts 
 the labours of agriculture to a very few objects; a careless, de- 
 erepit, and unprofitable cultivation is the known result. The 
 propriety of these observatione may, in some degree, be illustrated 
 by the difference in value between the land in the vicinity of a 
 large town, and at a greater distance from it. The labour which 
 produces the greatest quantity of subsistence is bestowed in the 
 culture of articles too cumbrous for transportation ; and in general, 
 a farm which will subsist fifty persons in its vicinity, would not 
 subsist the fifth of that number three hundred miles off. If the 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 213 
 
 value of land be so much enhanced by the proximity of a market, 
 and so rapidly diminished by the distance of transportation, the 
 introduction of manufactories, and the creation of an interior 
 market, ought to be regarded as peculiarly auspicious to the in- 
 terests of agriculturists. Confining our views to the western 
 country, we might emphatically ask, with what exportable com- 
 modities shall we restore the balance of trade, now fast accumu- 
 lating against us?. How arrest the incessant drain of capital? 
 Our manufactures are perishing around us, and already millions 
 have escaped never to return.” | 
 
 The Oneida Memorial says :—‘ That the above county con- 
 tains a greater number of manufacturing establishments, of cotton 
 and woollen, than any other county in the state, there being 
 invested in said establishments at least $600,000. ‘That although 
 the utmost efforts have been made by the proprietors to sustain 
 those establishments, their efforts have proved fruitless, and more 
 than three fourths of the factories remain, necessarily, closed ; 
 some of the proprietors being wholly ruined, and others struggling 
 under the greatest embarrassment. In this alarming situation, 
 we beg leave to make a last appeal to the congress of the United 
 States. While we make this appeal, our present and extensive 
 embarrassments in most of the great departments of industry, as 
 well as the peculiar difficulty in affording immediate relief to 
 manufacturers, are fully seen and appreciated ; yet your petitioners 
 cannot believe that the legislature of the Union will remain an 
 indifferent spectator of the wide-spread ruin of their fellow citizens, 
 and look on and see a great branch of industry, of the utmost 
 importance in every community, prostrated under circumstances 
 fatal to all future attempts at revival, without a further effort for 
 relief. We would not magnify the subject which we now present 
 to congress, beyond its just merits, when we state it to be one of 
 the utmost importance to the future interests and welfare of the 
 United States. It is objected that the entire industry of the coun- 
 try may be most profitably exerted in clearing and cultivating our 
 extended vacant lands. But what does it avail the farmer, when 
 neither in the nation from. which he purchases his goods, or else- 
 where, can he find a market for his abundant crops! Besides, the 
 diversion of labour from agriculture to manufactures, is scarcely 
 perceptible. Five or six adults, with the aid of children, will 
 manage a cotton manufactory of two thousand spindles.” 
 
 I have found but few letters of Mr. Slater’s, and these are chiefly 
 to his agents on business; extracts from some of them will serve 
 to show his views of punctuality and correctness in all his con- 
 
214. MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 cerns ; some of them evince also a shrewdness of observation, and 
 a dry humour, which were characteristic of the man, and of his 
 communications. It was a peculiar trait in him to dislike change, 
 either in his agents or any persons in his employment. He knew 
 when he was well served, and, when persons did his business well, 
 no flattering inducement would cause him to employ new persons. 
 Some of his agents in Salem, Boston, New York, Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore, became the first houses in those cities. And some, 
 who had been clerks in his employment, became first rate men of 
 business. Whether as president of the bank in Pawtucket, or in 
 the payment of a labourer, there was the same exactness and in- 
 tegrity. Few men ever conducted so much business, with so 
 mich ease, and with so much good-will from those connected with 
 him, as Mr. Slater. He had no tricks, no double dealing, all was 
 open, fair and honourable.* 
 
 Mr. Elijah Waring. 
 ee N. Provence, February 23d, 1814. 
 
 Dear Sir,—Y our esteemed favour, under date of December 29th last, and 
 the contents of which, were duly received. I have delayed answering it 
 some time in order to more fully make up my mind relative to some parts 
 of the subject under consideration. Your observations respecting a perma- 
 nent agent fully coincides with my ideas and wishes in that part, although 
 not suggested to you in mine of the 25th. Placing full reliance on your 
 extensive experience and knowledge in that point, I did not then, or now, 
 conceive it necessary to enter into a specification of the permanency of an 
 agent, &c. &c. In regard to the amount I shal] have for the Philadelphia 
 market, from the Oxford factory, I presume, during one year from this time, 
 I shall have about one hundred thousand dollars for sale, more than half of 
 which I should wish to send to Philadelphia. At times, Almy and Brown, 
 and myself, have conversation on the subject of my vending one third part 
 
 De a a ee ee: ee 
 
 *His connection with Almy and Brown, who were of the Society of 
 Friends, fastened him in the principles of economy and utility. _ Few men, 
 except those who have been personally engaged in business, know the trials 
 and perplexities which men of business endure; and there is not always suf- 
 ficient allowance made for their irritable feelings, and for the difficulties in 
 which they are involved. Mr. Slater, in early life, was sometimes severe 
 in‘his expressions. He was always silent with regard to his business, and | 
 disliked that his men should speak of where he was going, or of what he 
 was about ; he also disliked any one who was inquisitive or prying about his 
 affairs, and he never interfered with other people’s matters. Some of his 
 men had mentioned in the village, that Mr. Slater was going to Boston next 
 morning ; he found that they had spoken of it: he went to the mill, in some 
 anger, and asked them if they could not keep their insides from dropping 
 out; alluding to the old woman, who parted with a secret entrusted to her, 
 for fear of losing more important parts of her existence. 
 
 ) 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 215 
 
 of the yarn and goods made here, and my quarter part of the yarn and goods 
 at Smithfield factories. In that case an agent may reasonably calculate on 
 being supplied with more than a hundred thousand dollars annually, besides 
 an additional amount arising from an increase of machinery. But in case 
 of an alteration in sales of goods made here, and at Smithfield factories, I 
 conceive you would claim a right of selling what were sent to the Philadel- 
 phia market, and I should not feel justified in curtailing your present sup- 
 plies, &c. Samuel Haydock is now selling goods for four or five companies. 
 Do Almy & Brown fully supply you with goods to meet all the calls for 
 them? From your last orders to them, I fear they will not be competent to 
 meet the whole of them this year. 
 
 Provided you cannot, without taking too much trouble, meet with an 
 agent that will undertake the agency for me, who is likely to continue in 
 the business for me, during storms and calms, I shall be induced to consign 
 the goods to Messrs. Gilman & Annison, who have strongly solicited an 
 agency of my business. They are doubtless good men, but I fear they will 
 desert from selling American goods, (should commerce revive) to selling 
 English, which desertion would not be a pleasant thing to me. On the 
 receipt of this, I will thank you to give me your candid opinion on the fore- 
 going points; and any new idea “that may occur to you, you will have 
 the goodness to communicate it, which will be gratefully received by 
 yours, &c. Samuen Siarer. 
 
 To Jeremiah Brown, Philadelphia. 
 
 The cotton business now appears very gloomy and I fear will continue. 
 Many establishments are stopped. And many have already done it of their 
 own accord, and many are daily stopping from mere necessity, they being 
 indebted to a much larger amount, than every thing they possessed would 
 bring under the hammer... I hope you will do the best you can for the Oxford 
 companies, in obtaining fair prices for them, as to keep them from being 
 daily harassed with sheriffs, who have stHhbad many of every thing they 
 were possessed of.* 
 
 * The annexed schedule of Mr. Slater’s estate in 1817, will serve to show 
 the progress of his business. ‘ 
 
 “JT own the house, &c., inwhich I live in Pawtucket, one other house, and 
 six house lots, one house ghd land in Seekonk, and third part of the ola fac- 
 tory, so called, counting fifteen hundred aniudipa: water privilege, stores, and 
 five dwelling houses ; and one third part of three farms in Attleborough and 
 Saybrook. One house and lots near Hartford, also one quarter part of seve- 
 ral buildings and lots in Providence. One quarter of a brick house in Boston, 
 one quarter of the estate in Smithfield, containing two cotton factories, with 
 between five and six thousand spindles, together with three water privileges, 
 about thirty-five good houses and twelve hundred acres of land. My estate 
 in Oxford, Mass., consisting of one cotton factory of two thousand spindles, 
 one woollen establishment, grist and saw mill, sixteeen dwelling houses 
 and seven hundred acres of land. Alsoone handsome farm in Pelham, and 
 aright in six mortgaged estates, to the amount of ten thousand dollars, 
 which I shall have to hold.” 
 
 4 ait 
 
216 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Almost every manufacturer is now shivering in the wind, and when and 
 where the present distress among them all will stop, time alone will unfold. 
 
 Flour will pay the exchange. ) | 
 
 A great many of the establishments for spinning cotton in this section 
 of the country are stopping, either all or a part. I hope goods will command 
 a higher price next month than they now do. 
 
 New Provipence, August 14th, 1816. 
 J. §& M. Brown. | 
 
 Gentlemen,—Y our favour under date of the 8th inst. was duly received, 
 covering a bill of $2100 in specie, per the sloop Dove, which arrived to day 
 about noon. 
 
 The Lively has not yet made her appearance here. I wish she had the 
 wings of the Dove. I told the owners yesterday, that if she was my vessel 
 I would change her name. Several persons to-day, on seeing the Dove 
 arrive, and learning that she had not seen or heard any thing from the 
 Lively, were induced to insure. However, I hope she will still arrive safe 
 and sound. : 
 
 N. B. Please give me, in your next, a price current of specie and cotton 
 goods.* ‘ 
 
 June 11th, 1816.—The box of specie has arrived, and on counting it there 
 was twenty- ee cents over. 
 
 In consequence of almost all the cotton factories being stopped in this 
 country, the general idea is, that cotton goods, and yarn, too, will soon 
 advance; under these considerations, will it be advisable to force sales 2 
 
 Will thank you to make an arrangement with some of your merchant 
 tailors, to supply the Oxford mills with a few thousand yards good listing, 
 and less than one inch wide; the general price when money was plenty, and 
 also when the rope-makers wanted many of them, was about a cent per yard, 
 hope they are no higher now. As many of the tailors have them wound 
 into large balls (the inside of which are very poor, ) I fear it will not answer 
 to take them in that state without examining them, unless your tailors are 
 much honester than ours here. 
 
 December 3d, 1817.—I left New York on Friday morning last, and arrived 
 here in about thirty-five hours with my family all in good daealthe Request 
 Daniel Large to send me five tons of his best pig iron, on trial, that is suit- 
 able to rittce soft iron in an air furnace. 
 
 £ eb. 7th, 1816.—As soon as you can procure some specie or good drafts, 
 e 
 
 * Extract of a letter from Moses Brown at Providence, to Jeremiah 
 Brown of Philadelphia. 
 
 Dear Brother,—I have already seen several of our friends, and last even- 
 ing had the pleasure of introducing to friend Samuel Slater, his brother, 
 whom he had not seen for thirty years. He arrived four days ago at New 
 York, from Liverpool, and accidentally we both met in the packet: Samuel 
 did not recognise his brother, as I introduced him as a person recently 
 arrived from Derbyshire, Bacto and who knew his friends there. He 
 does not resemble Samuel, but Bas a very striking resemblance to John. 
 [This meeting was like the one formerly noticed. ] 
 
 = 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 217 
 
 at a fair discount, you will forward either, so as to enable us to keep our 
 chins above water. 
 
 Nov. 5th, 1817.—My brother and I have agreed to weigh our sheet anchor 
 to-morrow for Philadelphia and Baltimore. Accommodate Mr. Dean with 
 $300. 
 
 June 6th, 1816. The box of specie has not arrived. The copperas has 
 arrived, and on examining it, find a part of it real good English copperas, 
 and a part of it very poor American. One of the casks was entirely new, 
 which I condemned before it was opened, and it turned out to be poor. 
 Business is very poor here ; how is it in Philadelphia? 
 
 March 30th, 1818.—I am extremely sorry that the mother bank is under 
 the necessity of suspending giving drafts on the branches, especially to those 
 who make their deposits with her. The alteration will seriously affect many 
 of the manufacturers in New England. In short, 1 do not see how I shall 
 get along, unless you obtain the specie for me, as post notes will be shortly 
 one or two per cent. below par, at least, if I am under the necessity of going 
 to a broker to get them transmuted into our money. ' 
 
 May 8th, 1818.—Mr. Tyson wrote you a few days past of my serious 
 disaster ; my many pains and bruises round my head and body are rather 
 subsiding; so that I think I can truly say that my shattered leg is the most 
 painful. By S. Slater, Jun. 
 
 April 21st, 1818.—The Providence iron foundry is greatly in want of pig 
 iron. Hope the first lot is under way. If you can obtain them for some- 
 thing less than forty-five dollars, you will add ten tons more. 
 
 March 19th, 1816.—As respects goods, I sincerely hope that a very con- 
 siderable quantity will be sent you from Oxford this season, notwithstanding 
 a part of the spindles are motionless, as is the case almost every where. 
 Goods cannot be made now from the high priced cotton, without a loss to 
 the manufacturers, therefore it behoves every consignee to sell the goods for 
 as much as they will possibly command. I wrote to S. & T. about 10 days 
 past, to forward you every piece of coloured goods they had on hand. If — 
 you can purchase one or two tons of good English copperas at $2,75 or 
 nearly that, you will forward it. 
 
 April 27, 1818.—A Providence friend of mine showed me a letter to 
 day which he had recently received from his correspondent in Philadel phia, 
 stating that you, he, and others, could not obtain more than about thirty 
 cents for good ginghams, on a credit of from four to six months. If the 
 advice is correct, I fear we shall all be bankrupted ina heap. Do advise 
 me in your next whether or not your market is so squally. 
 
 Sept. 17, 1816.—With respect to crediting western merchants, in lieu 
 of an acceptance in the city of Philadelphia—If some of them should ap- 
 ‘pear to buy goods on credit, on note or book account, and you are fully 
 satisfied from personal knowledge of them, or, ‘from good references, that 
 they are actually trustworthy, then I conceive it would be advisable to credit 
 some of them, but, still, don’t lose sight of obtaining acceptances in your 
 city when practicable. As almost every one here is of opinion that Phila- 
 delphia money will still improve, therefore, you will purchase only about 
 1500 dollars specie until further advised, which you will forward by first 
 packet. As respects the Lively being a dull sailer, I have been of the 
 opinion, that the old captain of her was a duller sailor than she. Now there 
 
 28 
 
uy 
 
 218 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 _ being a new captain, probably she will get along somewhat faster. In re- 
 _ gard tosending you some coarse twist from here, (Pawtucket,) it is not prac- 
 
 ticable, having scarcely a pound on hand. I hope you will receive some of 
 it from Oxford before long. Can you obtain a good, neat thermometer for 
 me in Philadelphia, for about four dollars ? if you can, please forward one. 
 
 Dec. 23, 1817.—F our cases of goods from Oxford arrived in Providence, 
 the middle of last week, and my young man wrote he should send down 
 two more cases ina day or two—all of which I have engaged to go by way 
 of New York, so that they may be in Philadelphia seasonably for the spring 
 sales. The household goods arrived in Providence per the Dove, on Friday 
 last, in excellent order, which I attribute to your particular care in having 
 them well packed, for which, and many other like favours, I consider myself 
 greatly indebted to you, which I hope a long life will enable me to discharge, 
 and in the interim, remain with every respect your assured friend. 
 
 May 19, 1818.—In consequence of Sea Island cotton being seventy-five 
 cents per pound, Almy & Brown and myself have concluded that threads, 
 and all first quality yarns, must command higher prices, or it will not be 
 wisdom in us tomake them. Iam sorry that your J. B. is going into the 
 western states this summer, because, I fear, it will deprive me of seeing 
 either of you in New England this season. With respect to my own bodily 
 infirmities, I ought to rejoice and be thankful, that I am getting along, be- 
 yond all human calculations. You will please to remit as usual, money 
 still being a cash article and in demand. 
 
 May 14, 1818.—I received yours of the 8th inst. this day, it took a trip 
 by the way of Taunton. 
 
 I remain still flat on my back, day and night, attended with considerable 
 pain, but am thankful I am still favoured to remain in the land of the living. 
 I have been blessed with good medical aid, and also with a kind and very 
 attentive nurse, (Mrs. Slater,) which tends very much to mitigate pain. 
 
 I hope a few more solitary weeks will favour me with a peep at the sun 
 at least. It isa sad misfortune to me, as it would be to any other person. 
 However, I hope I bear it with all the resignation and fortitude a rational 
 man ought to do. Hoping I may contine to be favoured, gaining slowly, 
 until IT am once more restored, &e. By Samuel Slater, Jr. 
 
 Taking a retrospective view of the state of society, previous to 
 the American revolution, with regard to English manufactures, 
 will enable us to form a better estimate of the progress which we 
 have made here. Sixty years since, the cotton establishments in 
 England were but in embryo. Their commencement was small 
 and imperfect, and the use of linen was so prevalent, and so es- 
 teemed, that it retarded the consumption of the cotton article, 
 especially at home ; where habits and fashion are not very easily 
 withstood or overcome. Arkwright did for Old England, in a 
 certain degree, what Slater has done for America, in a much more 
 extensive, and vastly more important situation.” 
 
 * As soon as the business increased, new difficulties arose; the operatives 
 began by demanding exorbitant wages, which Mr. Slater resisted, against 
 
 a 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 219 
 
 A memoir of Slater must necessarily include a history of the. 
 rise and progress of our manufacturing establishments: for it is 
 with them that his whole life has been connected. He embarked 
 himself, body, soul, and spirit, in this enterprise; and he was so 
 absorbed in his object that every other consideration was compa- 
 ratively neglected. 'The extent of Mr. Slater’s business, and the 
 fact that he attended to so much of it himself, rendered it impossi- 
 ble to divide his time for other considerations. 
 
 This devotion to business prevented much attention being paid 
 to literature or politics. The Romans held trade in a very low 
 estimation ; they prohibited men of birth and rank from engaging 
 in commerce, of which the code speaks contemptuously ; and 
 Cicero says, it was not fitting that the same people should be both 
 the porters and the masters of the world. This kind of contempt 
 was common in this country previous to 1812. We had better 
 have our “workshops” in Europe, was the language of some of our 
 wiseacres : forgetting that wealth consists of the savings of indus- 
 try, after supplying immediate demands. An instinct, prompting 
 the human being, after his appetites of hunger and thirst are 
 appeased, and his person protected against the elements.of heaven, 
 to labour from the mere delight of accumulating ; and to the 
 ceaseless industry which this instinct produces, is to be ascribed 
 the wealth with which civilised man is every where surrounded. 
 It prompts the husbandman, the artisan, the manufacturer, the 
 merchant, to activity in their several vocations; it is one of the 
 sources, when properly directed, of the comforts and elegances of 
 life. Fhe prodigal spends his last shilling and leaves no trace 
 behind him. The laborious artisan, who consumes only half the 
 produce of his labour, leaves the other half as a contribution to 
 the stock of national capital, to maintain and set in motion the 
 industry of generations yet unborn. ‘These, if animated by the 
 same spirit, will leave it with new accessions, and so keep increas- 
 ing.* 
 
 He spent nothing for show and appearance in his buildings ; 
 
 the advice of others; and in this he was right, for by submitting to unrea- 
 sonable demands, he would only have given them occasion to call for sull 
 ereater. He therefore took his stand, and risked the consequences. They 
 stole his patterns and models, and set up for themselves, but generally failed. 
 
 In the management of help, and establishing order and discipline, Mr. 
 Slater showed great abilities, and he could arrange his affairs easier than 
 any other person. 
 
 * You have heard of the hills of Berkshire, (Mass.); you have heard of 
 the beautiful and classic stream of the Housatonic; of the Hoosac, studded 
 
220 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 utility and durability he considered all-important. The enlarge- 
 ment of his business called forth all his business talents. His 
 commanding and penetrating eye was formed, by nature, for the 
 best of government; and it is astonishing what effect even his look 
 had, on those who waited his orders and direction. It was not 
 the look of pride, contempt, or disdain: he never appeared to feel 
 above the poorest of his help. It was the indication of a superior 
 judgment and experience, in whatever business he undertook : 
 this caused every one to be obedient to his directions. No one 
 could be conceited enough to suppose that they knew better than 
 he did; for every one had been taught by him: this was what 
 commanded respect, and enabled him to carry on his affairs 
 without difficulties and tumults. His dislike of all ostentation 
 and extravagance was excessive; and he was always severe and 
 Sarcastic upon the young men in his employment who spent all 
 their earnings in dress and follies. | 
 
 Those who were beginning in business, he cautioned against 
 building before they had counted the cost; and the idea of failure 
 impressed him with horror. He therefore disapproved of a loose 
 way of doing business ; and foretold the consequences which, un- 
 happily, proved not to be mere groundless forebodings, for nearly 
 all failed round him. Young Lord Bolingbroke and Mr. Sheldon, 
 two English, gentlemen, who were in Providence about this time, 
 visited Mr. Slater, and recognised in him the son of one of 
 the respectable yeomanry of Derbyshire. These young men 
 brought with them a purse of gold, of ten thousand guineas each, 
 and spent the whole in a few years; while Slater, by his perse- 
 vering industry, realised a fortune. / 
 
 It is of all things, that which most effectually conduces toa 
 flourishing state of agriculture. The uniform appearance of an 
 abundance of specie, as the concomitant of a flourishing state of 
 manufactures, and of the reverse, where they do not prevail, 
 afford a strong presumption of their favourable operation upon the 
 wealth of a country. Not only the wealth, but the independence 
 and security of a country, appear to be materially connected with 
 
 with thriving manufacturing villages. There was a time, not long since, 
 when the temptations of more fertile regions appeared so great, that it 
 seemed that those hills must be deserted; that those streams must be left to 
 flow on in solitude; but then came the beneficial influence of the policy of 
 protection to American industry, and then was developed, along our beautiful 
 streams, and among our wild waterfalls, a power which, by the application 
 of native industry, has clothed our hills with plenty, and placed our young 
 men beyond the reach of the temptations of the fertile west.”—Rockwell. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 221 
 
 the prosperity of manufactures. Every nation, with a view to 
 these great objects, ought to endeavour to possess within itself all 
 the essentials of national supply. These comprise the means of 
 subsistence, habitation, clothing and defence. Considering a 
 monopoly of the domestic market to its own manufactures as the 
 reigning policy of manufacturing nations, a similar policy on the 
 part of the United States, in every proper instance, is dictated, it 
 might almost be said by the principles of distributive justice— 
 certainly by the duty of securing to their own citizens a recipro- 
 city of advantages. Whatever this country has suffered or may 
 suffer, by a contrary policy, is justly attributable to a disregard of 
 these maxims, which comprise the fundamental principles of poli- 
 tical economy. “If Europe will not take from us the products of 
 our soil, on terms consistent with our interest, the natural remedy 
 is, to contract as fast as possible our wants of her.”* 
 
 In order to estimate correctly the progress of American manu- 
 factures, we must keep in mind the state of the English, only sixty 
 years since. ‘Their progress was slow for many centuries, and it 
 is only within the last fifty years, that they have arisen to such 
 perfection. A reference to their history will not be aku but 
 will be read with much interest. 
 
 The following is from Baines’s History of the Cotton Manufac- 
 ture :— 
 
 “The cotton manufacture arose in this country at a critical 
 period of our history. England had just lost her American colo- 
 nies, but that loss was more than compensated by this new source 
 of prosperity springing up at home. ‘The genius of our mecha- 
 nics repaired the errors of our statesmen. In the long and fearful 
 struggle which followed the French revolution, this country was 
 mainly supported by its commerce ; and the largest, though the 
 newest branch of that commerce, was furnished by the. cotton 
 manufacture. To Arkwright and Watt England is far more 
 indebted for her triumphs, than to Nelson and Wellington. With- 
 out the means supplied by her flourishing manufactures and trade, 
 
 * Paterson, in New Jersey, at the close of the war, exhibited an appear- 
 ance of prosperity and happiness scarcely exceeded in the world. But in 
 1822, it was said, there was not a single cotton establishment in the place, 
 then in the possession of the original proprietors, as they had been almost 
 universally ruined! This is a fact, the force of which fifty columns of news- 
 paper essays and paragraphs, and fifty speeches of ten hours each, could not 
 obviate. One manufactory in that town, which cost $100,000, has been sold 
 
 for $19,000. What masses of misery, thereruve, followed the want of sufficient 
 protection ! 
 
222 = | MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 ey * 
 
 RA 
 
 the country could not have borne up under a conflict so prolong- 
 ed and exhausting. In the article of cottons alone, the exports 
 amounted, between 1793 and 1815, to £250,000,000. From 1816 
 to 1833 inclusive, the declared value of the cotton exports was 
 £306,167,518. Within the last half century, cottons to the enormous 
 value of £570,000,000 have been sent from this country to foreign 
 markets. It is obvious that a trade of this magnitude must have 
 contributed largely to sustain the revenue, to prevent the national 
 resources from being intolerably oppressed by taxation. The 
 question has been much canvassed, whether England is likely to 
 maintain the superiority she has gained among the nations of the 
 world, in regard to the cotton manufacture. There are those who 
 prognosticate that she has already reached the highest point, and 
 is destined rapidly to decline from it. These individuals appre- 
 hend a competition too formidable to be withstood, on the part of 
 several foreign nations :—from the United States of America, 
 where the spinning machinery is equal to that of England, where 
 there are thousands of English workmen, where ingenuity and 
 enterprise eminently mark the national character, and where the 
 finest cotton is grown within the States themselves; from Belgium, 
 Switzerland, and other countries of Europe, where the manufac- 
 ture exists, and is rapidly extending, and where labour is lower 
 priced than in England; and from the East Indies, where one or 
 two spinning mills have been established, and where in weaving, 
 if not in spinning, the natives are supposed to have a great advan- 
 tage, from their having so long been habituated to the employment, 
 and from the excessively low rate of wages they require. 
 
 “It is true, that each of these countries has, in some respects, an 
 advantage over England. It is true that the cotton manufacture 
 has acquired a great extent in the United States, and is advancing 
 rapidly in Germany and Switzerland. It would be infatuation to 
 trifle with the safety of a manufacture which affords subsistence 
 to a million and a half of our population. Yet we see no ground 
 for apprehending that England will lose her present manufactur- 
 ing pre-eminence. All the natural and political causes which 
 originally made this a great manufacturing and commercial na- 
 tion remain unimpaired. 'There are advantages derived from the 
 established ascendency of our manufacturers, the importance of 
 which it would be difficult to over-estimate. Our master manu- 
 facturers, engineers, and artisans, are more intelligent, skilful and 
 enterprising than those of any other country ; and the extraordi- 
 nary inventions they have already made, and their familiarity with 
 all the principles and details of the business, will not only enable 
 
. , ty ‘ih, 47 . er 
 ~ AY 
 , i Nae m1 
 
 a 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. = ——-.223 
 
 ey «st 
 ? 
 
 them to perfect the processes already in use, but can hardly fail to 
 lead to the discovery of others. Our establishments for spinning, 
 weaving, printing, bleaching, &c., are infinitely more complete 
 and perfect than any that exist elsewhere ; the division of labour 
 in them is carried to an incomparably greater extent; the work- 
 
 men are trained from infancy to industrious habits, and have 
 attained that peculiar dexterity and sleight of hand in the perform- 
 ance of their separate tasks, that can only be acquired by long and 
 unremitting application to the same employment. Another ad- 
 vantage consists in the almost unlimited amount of capital at the 
 disposal of the English manufacturer and merchant. 'The course 
 of mechanical and chemical improvement is not stopped. In each 
 of the countries mentioned as likely to compete successfully with 
 England, there are circumstances unfavourable to such competi- 
 tion. 
 
 ‘One of the original emporiums of the cotton manufacture is the 
 establishment of the Messrs. Strutt situated in the fine valley of 
 the Derwent, a few miles below Cromford, the primitive seat of 
 the water-spinning-frames. 'The cotton factories of this eminent 
 family have for half a century furnished steady employment and 
 comfortable subsistence to a population of many thousand indivi- 
 duals. During this long period, the skill, prudence, and capital 
 of the proprietors have maintained their business in a state of pro- 
 gressive improvement, and nearly exempt from those fluctuations 
 which have so often, in that interval, spread seasons of distress 
 among agricultural labourers. So high is the character of their 
 stocking-yarns and threads for uniform excellence, that the stamp 
 of their firm on the great bale isa passport to their ready sale 
 without examination in every market of the world. Under their 
 auspices the handsome town of Belper has uprisen, built of hewn 
 stone, with streets flagged with the same, in regular houses on the 
 most commodious plans, where the: operatives with their families 
 pass the tranquil tenor of their lives. The mills there, plainly _ 
 elegant, built also of stone, as well as their other mills at Millford, 
 three miles lower down the river, are driven altogether by eighteen 
 magnificent water-wheels possessing the power of 600 horses. A 
 self-acting governor attached to each wheel adjusts its velocity to 
 the purposes of the factory, and is never in a state of repose, but 
 is seen incessantly tightening or slackening the reins of the mill- 
 geering, so to speak, according to the number of machines moving 
 within, and the force of the stream acting without. As no steam- 
 engines are employed, this manufacturing village has quite the 
 picturesque air of an Italian scene, with its river, overhanging 
 
224 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 woods, and distant range of hills. A neat refectory is fitted up 
 within the works, where any of the work-people, who choose, may 
 have a comfortable pint of hot tea or coffee, including sugar and 
 milk, for one halfpenny. The persons who regularly join in this 
 refreshment, become entitled to medical attendance gratis.’ 
 
 A dancing-room for the recreation of the young is also provided. 
 
 Dr. Ure says, “ What I have myself witnessed at several times, 
 both on Sundays and working days, has convinced me that the 
 population of Belper is, in reference to health, domestic comfort, 
 and religious culture, in a truly enviable state, compared with the 
 average of our agricultural villages. The factory rooms are well 
 aired, and as clean as any gentleman’s parlour. 'The children are 
 well complexioned, and work with cheerful dexterity at their re- 
 spective occupations. Not one of Messrs. Strutt’s work-people at 
 Belper was attacked with cholera, while the neighbouring handi- 
 craft people and farmers were falling victims to the pestilence.” 
 
 Mr. Kempton, a respectable manufacturer in New England, 
 assured our central board, that factory labour for twelve or fourteen 
 hours is not found to be injurious to the health or growth of the 
 children of ten years of age and upwards in the States, because 
 they are well fed, their board being paid out of their wages by the 
 proprietors—an excellent practice, which would not, however, be 
 permitted by the pauper parents in England, who live too much 
 upon their children’s earnings. In their manufacturing districts, « 
 principally in New England, upwards of 4000 children are em- 
 ployed under twelve years of age. 
 
 The evidence collected in England proves, that under such a 
 diet as the wages could afford, the young inmates of our factories 
 would thrive equally well with the American. And asto the charge 
 which has been made of the injury done to their constitutions by 
 entering a factory in early life, the following refutation of it is 
 most decisive. There is one thing I feel convinced of from obser- 
 vation—that young persons, especially females, who have begun 
 mill-work at from ten to twelve, independently of their becoming 
 much more expert artists, preserve their health better, and possess 
 sounder feet and legs at twenty-five, than those who have com- 
 menced from thirteen to sixteen and upwards. 
 
 Ihave drawn freely upon Dr. Ure, as a fund of genuine in- 
 formation. 
 
 It appears that the artisans of the United States are treated on 
 this principle; and they are accordingly declared to be more 
 moral than the agricultural population. “ At our establishment,” 
 Says our authority, Mr. Kempton, “ the proprietors, deeply sensible 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 225 
 
 of the value of religious nurture, paid the greater part of the 
 minister’s salary after building a meeting-house ; and they fre- 
 quently officiated themselves at the evening meetings, which were 
 well attended. We would not keep any workers that would 
 drink spirits, nor did they at other establishments. Almost all of 
 them belong to the temperance societies. In the New England - 
 states, no man will get employment who is known to drink to ex: 
 cess. In America, the employer is viewed rather as a tradesman 
 to whom the workpeople dispose of their labour, than as a person 
 having a hostile interest. The manufacturers are always anxious 
 that the children should be well educated, as they find them so 
 much the more useful and trustworthy. “TI hope the mother 
 country,” says Dr. Ure, “ will not disdain to take a word of advice 
 from her meritorious daughter, and that the mill owners of Old 
 England will study to discourage, by the effectual means above 
 mentioned, the sin of drunkenness, the peculiar opprobrium of our 
 people both at home and abroad. There are no jealousies between 
 the American workmen and their employers, of the nature of those 
 which appear to prevail between the English workman and his 
 master.” 
 
 BELPER. 
 
 The rapid improvements, made in almost every branch of the 
 manufactures of England, during the last sixty years, are not more 
 conspicuous in the increased wealth of the nation at large, than in 
 the rising eminence of those places which before were hardly 
 known. 'The most populous of the present manufacturing towns 
 in Great Britain, were, at the beginning of the last century, either 
 of little importance or not known at all. Such was Belper, which 
 now holds a high rank in point of population among the towns in 
 Derbyshire: it was, prior to 1776, as low in population as it was 
 backward in civility ; and considered as the insignificant residence 
 of a few uncivilised nailers. In the year 1801, the population of 
 Belper amounted to 4,500, and in 1809, to 5,635. 'This increase 
 
 1s owing to the extensive cotton mills oud there, belonging to 
 
 the Messrs. Strutt; where in 1811, 1,300 persons fated employ- 
 ment. ‘These sila are four in fantidn the first of which was 
 erected in 1776 by Jedediah Strutt, and rebuilt in 1810. With 
 its increase in extent and population, Belper has increased in 
 civilisation and respectability. Immorality and ighorance, which 
 were once thought the characteristics of the place, have, ina great 
 measure, disappeared ; and improyed morals and more enlarged 
 views, supply their places. About the centre of the town, is the 
 29 
 
226 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 mansion of Jedediah Strutt, and a little above the bridge, pleasantly 
 situated, is Bridge-Hill, the seat of G. B. Strutt. The wear above 
 the bridge is well worth attention ; and the fine expanse of water 
 extending for a considerable way off the river, interspersed with 
 islands covered with young trees, has a pleasing effect. A little 
 to the north of the mills, is a handsome stone bridge of three 
 arches, erected over the Bier went at the expense of the county. 
 In 1811, four hundred children were taught at the Sunday-school, 
 supported by Mr. Strutt; who, at that time, adopted several of the 
 plans of education recommended by Lancaster.* 
 
 The principal mill, as seen in the print, is 200 feet long, 30 feet 
 wide, and six stories high; and its floors being constructed of 
 brick arches, and paved with brick, it is considered absolutely in- 
 destructible by fire, and therefore probf against the havoc of that 
 dreadful element. This mill has three water-wheels attached to 
 it; the largest one, which is used in floods only, is remarkable, as 
 well for its magnitude, as for its singular construction. It is up- 
 wards of 40 feet long, and 18 feet in diameter. It being impossi- 
 ble to procure timber sufficiently large to form the axle, or shaft, 
 of this wheel in the usual mode of structure, it is made circular 
 and hollow, of a great number of pieces, hooped together like a 
 cask; the shaft is between five and six feet in diameter. 'The 
 other two, which are used when the water is at a common height, 
 are composed principally of iron, and are remarkable for their 
 simplicity, strength, and lightness of appearance. Their diame- 
 ters are 21 feet 6 ae irl and length 15 feet. Each shaft is of cast 
 iron, and the arms which connect them with the sole, or that part 
 of the wheel to which the buckles or ladles are attached, are 
 simply round rods of wrought iron, an inch and a half in diame- 
 ter. Hach wheel has eight of these arms, and they are supported, 
 in the direction of the shaft or axis, by eight diagonal rods of the 
 above dimensions. 
 
 *“ At the period of the discovery of America, 1492, the great mass of the 
 
 common people of Europe were little better than slaves; of that which we ° 
 
 call liberty, they scarcely knew the name. They had no absolute property 
 in the land, and they were so wretchedly indigent, as to have little property 
 of any bd. Their political privileges corresponded with this state of their 
 property ; they had no elections; officers from the highest to the lowest 
 were placed over them. Those who then cultivated the earth, were: First 
 slaves, these slaves were generally some portion of a conquered nation, 
 white like ourselves. Second, villeins, who were said to be fixed to the soil, 
 and were transferred with the land. Third, there were a small number of 
 freemen who held property absolutely as their own. But such was the 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 227 
 
 There do not exist in America, in the same degree, those cir- 
 cumstances of a dense and degraded population which occasion, 
 in the old nations of Europe, such an infinite difference of know- 
 ledge and ignorance, of wealth the most exuberant and indigence 
 the most horrible.* No man in America need be poor if he has 
 an axe and arms to use it. ‘The wilderness is to him the same 
 retreat which the world afforded to our first parents. His family, 
 if he has one, is wealth; if he is unencumbered with wife or 
 children, he is the more easily provided for. An immense propor- 
 tion of the population of the United States consists of agriculturists, 
 who live upon their own property, which is generally of moderate 
 extent, and cultivate it by their own labour. Such a situation is 
 peculiarly favourable to republican habits. The man who feels 
 himself really independent,—and so must every American who 
 can use a hoe or an axe,—will please himself with the mere 
 exertion of his free will, and form a strong contrast to the halloo- 
 ing, bawling, blustering rabble of a city, where a dram of liquor, 
 or the money to buy a meal, is sure to purchase the acclamation 
 
 wretched condition of the times, and such the violence and outrage to which 
 men were exposed in those barbarous ages, that this latter class made a for- 
 mal surrender of this independent property, and became slaves, that they 
 might enjoy the protection of the lords. The first dawn of liberty arose 
 from the fact that many of the slave peasants were enabled, by their economy 
 and wise savings, to purchase their liberty. As their property procured them 
 liberty, liberty made them profitable labourers to their former masters, whose 
 revenues were thereby so much augmented, and the value of their lands so 
 much increased, and so many saw the advantages accruing to themselves 
 from the liberty of their slaves, that innumerable serfs were every where 
 enfranchised. It is related by Robertson, that in the progress of time and 
 of public improvement, charters of manumission were granted, These con- 
 cessions were—first, that the right of sale of the person should be relinquish- 
 ed; second, power was given to convey property by will or deed; third, the 
 taxes and services, which before were at the will of the lord, were now 
 rendered certain and fixed; fourth, marriage was allowed without the lord’s 
 permission. Little do we think of the condition of our English ancestors, 
 when we look back to the period long after the discovery of this continent, 
 and find Queen Elizabeth, in 1574, granting manumissions to certain slaves of 
 her own. The labouring people were governed and legislated for more like 
 animals than human beings ; what they should eat, what they should wear, 
 and what they should earn, being prescribed by law. Even the dress of 
 merchants and artificers, who were inferior to the lords and landholders, was 
 provided for by law.”—Sedgwick. 
 
 * As you walk along our streams you may hear the merry notes of the 
 bell mingling with the sounds of our water-falls, calling not the lazy, loung- 
 ing monastic, to yawn over his matins; but the vigorous and active mechanic 
 to the conduct of the spindle and loom. 
 
228 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of thousands, whose situation in the scale of society is too low to 
 permit their thinking of their political right as a thing more valu- 
 able than to be bartered against the degree of advantage they may 
 procure, or of license which they may exercise, by placing it at 
 the disposal of one candidate or another.* 
 
 * Extracts from the Prospectus of the Emporium, a periodical work 
 edited by Judge Cooper, of Pennsylvania, now President of Columbia 
 College, in South Carolina. | 
 “Our agriculturists want a home market. Manufactures would supply 
 
 it. Agriculture, at a great distance from seaports, languishes for want of 
 this. Great Britain exhibits an instance of unexampled power and wealth 
 by means of an agriculture greatly dependent on a system of manufactures— 
 and her agriculture, thus situated, is the best in the world, though still 
 capable of great improvement. 
 
 “We are too much dependent upon Great Britain for articles that habit 
 has converted into necessaries. A state of war demands privations that a 
 large portion of our citizens reluctantly submit to. Home manufactures 
 would greatly lessen the evil. | 
 
 “By means of debts incurred for foreign manufactures, we are almost 
 again become colonists—we are too much under the influence, indirectly, of 
 British merchants and British agents. We are not an independent. people. 
 Manufactures among us would tend to correct this, and give a stronger tone 
 of nationality at home. I greatly value the intercourse with that country of 
 pre-eminent knowledge and energy ; but our dependence upon it is often so 
 great, as to be oppressive to ourselves. 
 
 “The state of agriculture would improve with the improvement of manu- 
 factures, by means of the general spirit of energy and exertion, which no 
 where exists in so high a degree as in a manufacturing country ; and by the 
 general improvement of machinery, and the demand for raw materials. 
 
 “ The home trade, consisting in the exchange of agricultural surpluses for 
 articles of manufacture, produced in our own country, will, for a long time 
 to come, furnish the safest and the least dangerous, the least expensive and 
 the least immoral—the most productive and the most patriotic employment 
 of surplus capital, however raised and accumulated. The safest, because it 
 requires no navies exclusively for its protection;. the least dangerous, 
 because it furnishes no excitement for the prevailing madness of commercial 
 wars; the least expensive, for the same reason that it is the safest and the 
 least dangerous; the least immoral, because it furnishes no temptation to 
 the breach or evasion of the laws; to the multiplication of oaths and per- 
 juries; and to the consequent prostration of all religious feeling, and all 
 social duty; the most productive, because the capital admits of quicker 
 return ; because the whole of the capital is permanently invested and 
 employed at home; because it contributes, directly, immediately, and 
 wholly, to the internal wealth and resources of the nation; because the 
 credits given are more easily watched and more effectually protected by 
 our own laws, well known, easily resorted to, and speedily executed, than 
 if exposed in distant and in foreign countries, controlled by foreign laws, 
 and foreign customs, and at the mercy of foreign agents; the most patriotic, 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 229 
 
 The most noticeable peculiarity in Rhode Island scenery, is the 
 great numberof cotton and woollen factories which are seen 
 peeping from every valley where water power can be employed. 
 Villages have grown up in this way in regions the most sterile 
 and uninviting, and a large population are there fed, where with- 
 out wealth, which they may almost be said to create, fewer families 
 could subsist than the number of thriving and flourishing villages 
 which now meet the eye on every side. “ What the moral influ- 
 ence upon society will be, to have such masses of population 
 collected together, without schools and without churches to 
 counteract the. tendency to corruption which all promiscuous 
 assemblages of population have, it cannot be difficult to anticipate.” 
 Such were the reflections of the “National Avgis,” in 1825. But 
 we are happy to say that, in 1835, the grounds of those fears and 
 apprehensions are removed; schools and churches have been 
 introduced, and are producing the most happy effects. For, to 
 promote the best good of our fellow-men, we must aim, not only 
 to make them industrious and wise in their occupations, but 
 upright in their conduct and virtuous in their lives. Let the arts 
 of life be carried to the greatest possible perfection ; multiply the 
 means of wealth ever so much—still, unless men are moral, vir- 
 tuous and good, these improvements are lost, and worse than lost 
 upon them. You may make every farm in our country a garden, 
 
 because it binds the persons employed in it, by all the ties of habit and 
 of interest, to their own country ; while foreign trade tends to demoralise 
 the affections of those whose property is dispersed in foreign countries, 
 whose interests are connected with foreign interests, whose capital is but 
 partially invested at the place of their domicile, and who can remove with 
 comparative facility from one country to another. The wise man observed 
 of old, that, ‘where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.’ And time 
 has not detracted from the truth of the remark. 
 
 “We have a decided superiority in the raw materials of cotton, hemp, and 
 flax ; in our alkalies for glass-works ; in the hides and the tanning materials 
 of the leather manufactory ; and we can easily procure that advantage, so 
 far at least, as our own consumption requires it, in the woollen manufactory. 
 Other branches might be enumerated wherein our advantages of internal 
 resource are undeniable; but I cannot see why we should neglect or despise 
 these. Nothing but a stimulus is wanted to induce and enable us to make 
 a proper use of our domestic riches. But men of skill and men of capital 
 fear to begin; lest on the return of peace they should be exposed, in the 
 weakness and infancy of their undertaking, to contend with the overwhelm- 
 ing capital and skill of the European powers, particularly of Great Britain. 
 
 “'T’Homas Cooper. 
 * Carlisle, Feb. 1813.” 
 
230 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and the country around a paradise; yet if good institutions are 
 trampled in the dust; if vice and moral corruption pollute and 
 curse the soil; it is not a paradise; it'is not an Eden ; it is a 
 hell.* | 
 
 The advancement of this country, in manufacturing industry, 
 is perhaps unexampled in history. In the year 1805, the total 
 consumption of cotton, by the manufactories of the United States, 
 was a little more than 1000 bales. Now, Rhode Island uses 
 30,000. In 1805, our woollen factories could not furnish the 
 army with 6000 blankets. During the last war, capital was taken 
 from commerce and invested in manufactures. This was the first 
 impulse. In 1816, a report made to Congress showed that forty 
 millions of dollars capital were invested in ‘cotton manufactures, 
 and twelve millions in woollen. In that year we manufactured 
 90,000 bales of cotton. In 1816, it was estimated that the whole 
 amount of goods manufactured in the United States, was equal to 
 fifty or sixty millions of dollars. It is now believed that we manu- 
 facture, of all kinds, to the amount of two hundred and fifty 
 millions ina year, about twenty-five millions of which are ex- 
 ported, and the rest consumed in the country. ‘Ihe internal or 
 domestic trade of every country is, perhaps, more permanent and 
 useful than the foreign. It is not subject to the fluctuations of the 
 commercial world, which frequently break out and spread desola- 
 tion around. 
 
 The Missouri Advocate states, that copper is found from 
 
 * There are two sorts of labour, working for profit and working for nothing. 
 Persons who have nothing to do, generally have hard work to live. A late 
 distinguished senator said in the parliament of England, “man is born to 
 labour, as the sparks fly upwards.” This observation is founded on a 
 thorough knowledge of the destiny from which none can escape. The idle 
 are always unhappy, nor can mental vigour be preserved without bodily 
 exercise. Neither he who has attained to inordinate wealth, nor he who 
 has reached the greatest heights of human intellect, is exempt from the 
 decree, that every man must “ work for his living.” If the “ gentleman” does 
 not work to maintain his family, he must to maintain his life; hence, he 
 walks, rides, hunts, shoots, and travels, and occupies his limbs as well as 
 his mind; hence noblemen amuse themselves at the turning-lathe, and the 
 workman’s bench, or become their own coachmen. Hence kings some- 
 times play at being workmen, or, what is Worse, at the game of war. 
 Without exercise, the body becomes enfeebled, and the mind loses its ten- 
 sion. Corporeal inactivity cannot be persisted in, even with the aid of 
 medicine, without symptoms of an asthenic state. From this deliquium 
 the patient must be relieved in spite of his perverseness, or he becomes a 
 maniac or acorpse. Partial remedies render him “a nervous man ;” his 
 only effectual relief is bodily exercise. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 231 
 
 ‘ 
 
 Ouisconsin and the falls of St. Anthony, to the shores of Lake 
 Superior, in such abundance and purity, that the Indians make 
 hatchets and ornaments of it; and that it is easily worked, into 
 any form, without any other instrument than the hammer. ‘The 
 whole region of the upper Mississippi is mineral, abounding in 
 lead and copper. The lead mines are in the hands of the United 
 States, but the copper, in 1826, was retained by the Indians. 
 
 Mr. Shirreff, an English farmer, who visited this country with a 
 view to decide upon allowing a younger brother to emigrate hither, 
 thus speaks of Lowell :— 
 
 “The females engaged in manufacturing, amount to nearly 
 5000 ; and as we arrived at Lowell on the afternoon of Saturday, 
 we had an opportunity of seeing those connected with some of the 
 largest cotton factories, retiring from labour. . All were clean, neat, 
 and fashionably attired, with reticules hanging on their arms, and 
 ealashes on their heads. They commonly walked arm in arm, 
 without levity. Their general appearance and deportment was 
 such, that few British gentlemen, in the middle ranks of life, need 
 have been ashamed of leading any of them to a tea party. Next 
 day, being Sunday, we saw the young females belonging to the 
 factories going to church, in their best attire, when the favourable 
 impressions of the preceding evening were not effaced. ‘They 
 lodge, generally, in boarding houses, and earn 8s. 6d. sterling, per 
 week, independent of board; sewing girls earn about 4s, 6d. ‘The 
 recent introduction of large manufacturing establishments, this 
 population, and ample reward of labour, account for the apparent 
 comfort and propriety of the Lowell young women. 'T’he situa- 
 tion of the manufacturing class in Britain is very different ; nur- 
 tured amidst poverty and vice, they toil in crowded and unwhole-_ 
 some factories from infancy, often disregarded by parents and 
 employers, and attaining maturity ruined in constitution, and 
 with few of the sympathies of humanity. 
 
 “'This village may be taken as an instance of the great strides 
 by which the United States are advancing to greatness, and the 
 immeasurable water power nature has lavished upon them. ‘The 
 canal supplies more water than the present machinery requires ; 
 and after inspecting the surplus in the canal and rivers, | am of 
 opinion there is water enough to propel nearly one hundred times 
 the machinery at present employed, and which might employ a 
 population of above one hundred thousand more. Britain is said 
 to owe much of her greatness to the supply of coal, with which 
 she has been blessed ; but however extensive and available it may 
 be, the water power of the United States will excel it in cheapness 
 
232 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and magnitude. The price of labour is, and will likely continue, 
 much cheaper in Britain than in the United States, which seems 
 the only circumstance that can ultimately give a superiority to 
 the former.* 
 
 Depression of Manufactures in 1815.—Antecedent to the period 
 of the restrictive system, the great mass of manufactures consumed 
 in the United States, was derived from great Britain. During 
 that period, and the consequent war, foreign goods were attainable 
 only in insufficient quantities, and at high prices. The? incon- 
 venience of depending on a foreign supply, being severely felt, led 
 to the investment of much unemployed capital in manufacturing 
 establishments. The facility with which water power, sufficient 
 for these purposes, was attainable in various sections of the coun- 
 try, strongly invited to this object. During the war this capital 
 was very productive; but at its close, the British manufacturers, 
 having large quantities of goods on hand, adapted and originally 
 destined for the American market, poured them into this country, 
 to an amount far beyond the wants of the people, or their ability 
 to pay, with a double view of vending their goods, and ruining 
 the rival establishments of the United States. ‘Many of these 
 goods, after being warehoused a considerable time, were sold at 
 auction at less than first cost, and often at little more than to pay 
 the freight and duties. Improvident people, allured by the appa- 
 rent cheapness of goods, were induced to make unnecessary 
 purchases. The goods destined to the American auctions were 
 
 * The attempt to introduce females into other employments, and especially 
 into the printing office, is very properly reprobated ; and the following note 
 from the manuscript of an operative, is very expressive of a just indignation 
 against it :— pb } so 
 
 ‘To woman belongs the service of the domestic temple; there she is 
 nature’s priestess,—to minister in peace, far from the turmoil and pollution 
 of busy life,—offering up the incense of pure affection, on the altar of inno- 
 cence. Wo unto him, or to them, who would degrade the shrine, or stain 
 its hallowed censer with ‘strange fire.’ Much of her bland power to bind 
 up the wounded spirit, proceeds from her happy ignorance of the vicissitudes 
 of public life, to which the tougher sex is doomed, and, while shielded from 
 the bitter truth, shé hopes the best, and her sanguine faith is often conta- 
 gious. It is certainly a most curious trait of civilisation that drives woman 
 from the ease and independence which the most enlightened policy of all 
 former ages awarded her. Those who are really anxious for the welfare of 
 females, let their exertions be directed towards procuring for their natural 
 providers and protectors a sufficiently just amount of wages as shall serve 
 to retain, in comfort, the sister, and wife, and daughter of the workingman, 
 in her proper sphere.”—Remarks on an attempt to introduce females into 
 printing offices. 
 
t# 
 
 * ; P 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 233 
 
 handsomely finished, but of the cheapest materials and texture. 
 ‘The operation had, in a great degree, its designed effect ; most of 
 the considerable manufacturing establishments were obliged to 
 stop, and many of the proprietors failed. This state of things 
 commenced in 1815; its effects were more severely felt in the two 
 succeeding years, and continued until congress, by a judicious 
 arrangement of the tariff, in some measure relieved the manufac- 
 turing interest; and the people, learning wisdom by experience, 
 relieved their circumstances, by substituting a prudent use of 
 domestic articles, for an extravagant consumption of foreign.— 
 Perkins’s Historical Sketches. 
 
 The history of Fall River, a place which is becoming of so much 
 importance in the manufacturing world, cannot but be acceptable. 
 Situated on a rather abrupt elevation of land rising from the north- 
 east side of Mount Hope bay, distant about eighteen miles from 
 Newport, and nine from Bristol, R. I., stands the beautiful and 
 flourishing village of Fall River, so called from the river, which, 
 taking its rise about four miles east, runs through the place, 
 and after many a fantastic turn, is hurried to the bay over beds 
 of rocks, where, before the scene.was changed by the hand of 
 cultivation and improvement, it formed several beautiful caseades, 
 and had a fine and imposing effect. 'The village is now only 
 picturesque from the variety of delightful landseape by which it 
 is surrounded ; the back ground presenting a variety in rural 
 scenery—where neat farms and fertile fields show themselves 
 here and there between hill and dale, and rock and wood. 'The 
 soil, though for the most part fertile, is in some places exceedingly 
 rocky, and often in the midst of such places some little verdant 
 spot shows itself to much advantage. 
 
 But Fall River is chiefly inviting as a place of residence, from 
 the salubrity of the air, and the vicinity of Mount Hope bay, 
 which spreads before it like a mirror, and extends easterly until 
 it meets the waters of 'l'aunton river, forming on each side nume- 
 rous little creeks and coves, which add to the charms of the land- 
 scape materially ; while on the southwest it takes a bold sweep, 
 and passing round through Howland’s ferry, where it is com- 
 pressed through the narrow channel of a drawbridge, having the 
 island of Rhode Island on one hand and the town of Tiverton on 
 the other, again expands and flows on to meet the ocean. How- 
 land’s ferry is not visible from the village of Fall River, though it 
 is from the bay, when at the distance of three or four miles. 
 Vessels do sometimes pass and repass through the drawbridge at 
 Howland’s ferry to and from Fall River and Taunton; but the 
 
 30 
 
oe 4 
 cnet 
 
 234 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 most usual way of access to the former is through Bristol ferry, 
 two miles south of Bristol port. It requires no great effort of 
 imagination to go back a few years, and imagine the Indian with 
 his light canoe sailing about in these waters, or dodging about 
 among the rocks and trees. 
 
 The neighbourhood of F'all River has been the scene of frequent 
 skirmishes among the Picknets, the tribe of King Philip, and the 
 Pequods and Narhigansetts: Uncas, too, with the last of the 
 Mohicans, and the best, has set his princely foot upon its strand. 
 Fall River, which in 1812 contained less than one hundred inha- 
 bitants, owes its growth and importance principally, indeed almost 
 wholly, to its manufacturing establishments; which, though not 
 splendid in appearance, are very riomarous, and ona stoy several 
 thousand persons, collected from different parts of the country, as 
 well as many foreigners; the immense fall of water here being 
 now nearly covered by establishments of various kinds. 'There 
 are more than forty thousand spindles in operation, and it is only 
 twenty-one years since the erection of the first cotton manufactory. 
 Previous to this the land in this vicinity belonged principally to 
 the families of Borden, Bowen, and Durfee; three families from 
 whom the principal part of the stationary inhabitants sprung. 
 The land now divided among the different manufacturing esta- 
 blishments, is principally héld i in shares, that is, in the heiehbous- 
 hood of the establishments. So. flourishing fas business been 
 there, that there is scarce a mechanic, trader, or even labourer, 
 who has been there for any length of time, who has not acquired 
 an estate of hisown. In 1812, the first cotton manufactory was 
 erected by a company incorporated by the name of the Fall 
 River Company. In the same year, another company was incor- 
 porated called the Troy Manufacturing Company, and another 
 factory built. ‘There were, in 1833, thirteen manufactories, 
 viz. two cotton manufactories of the Troy Company; Pocasset, 
 one woollen, do.; New Pocasset, Massasoit, Olney’s mill, Gatien, 
 Works, Fall Rivet Company’s mills, three in number ; Annawan 
 iron ole and nail manufactory. The calico works abe which — 
 cover a large area of ground, employ nearly three hundred hands ; 
 its state of improvement is not exceeded by any establishment of 
 the kind in the country. There are besides a number of machine 
 shops, &c., which, stuck about on the jutting rocks, many of them 
 in the very bed of the stream, have a most singular appearance. 
 The fall originally was through a deep black gulf, with high 
 rocky sides. Across this gulf most of the manufactories are built. 
 There is an appearance of active industry anda spirit of enter- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 235 
 
 prise, as well as of cheerfulness and contentment, that at once 
 strikes a stranger. It is evident, too, from the number of houses 
 of worship, schools, &c., that the moral and religious education of 
 the rising generation is not neglected. 'There are eight houses of 
 worship, and a number of free-schools here, towards which the 
 inhabitants themselves voluntarily contribute twenty-five hundred 
 dollars per annum. ‘The number of inhabitants in 1833, exceeded 
 five thousand. Itis to be supposed, that among the heterogeneous 
 materials which form the community in this place, there is a great 
 variety of character, as well as of creeds; occasionally some dif- 
 ferences of opinion as well as clashing of interests; yet for the 
 most part crime has been unknown there. It has often been the 
 boast among the inhabitants that, living as they do, on the borders 
 of two states, (part, and by far the greater part, is in 'T'roy, Mass., 
 the other in Tiverton, R. I.) the laws of either were seldom called 
 to punish any thing except venial transgressions. . 
 
 Fall River, too, can boast of its prowess in battle, of its revolu- 
 tionary characters, in “the times that tried men’s souls.” For 
 although their humble attempts to resist invasion have not yet 
 found a place on the pages of history, yet certain it is, the tide 
 of war has once rolled its threatening waves as far up as to reach 
 the shores of Mount Hope bay. ‘The character for bravery, gene- 
 rosity, and independence of mind, manifested at that period, seems 
 to have become a part of their inheritance. Among all the changes 
 which the increase of population causes, the primitive virtues of 
 simplicity and hospitality are still eminently conspicuous. Who- 
 ever goes to reside there seems to adopt readily the manners of 
 the inhabitants. Even the labouring part of the community in 
 the manufactories, at well as in other departments, are positively 
 distinguished by a degree of refinement and courtesy of manners, 
 which serve to leave the most favourable impressions in relation 
 to manufacturing villages. I shall always recollect with pleasure 
 
 _ one little incident in one of the weaving rooms of the manufactory, 
 _ where the noise was very distracting, arising from a vast number 
 of looms going at once. The machinery suddenly stopped, and a 
 
 strain of music arose simultaneously from every part of the room, 
 in such perfect concord that I at first thought it a chime of bells. 
 My conductor smiled when I asked him if it was not, and pointed 
 to the girls, who each kept their station until they had sung the 
 tune through: 
 
 _ At the time Newport was in possession of the British, there was 
 an attempt made to destroy their mills at this place, consisting of 
 
236 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. . 
 
 saw mills, grist mills, and a fulling mill: which the bravery of 
 the few inhabitants, men, women, and boys, prevented. 
 
 The growth of Fall River, from the period of the revolution to 
 the year 1812, must have been very slow; and ever since that 
 time, until 1822: when there was but four stores in the place, of 
 any description, and not exceeding four hundred inhabitants. The 
 third manufactory was erected in 1821, and two-more the ensuing 
 year. In 1833, a lage and elegant, one was built. There is now 
 one hundred shops and stores of various descriptions; but, except- 
 ing two or three on the Tiverton side of the village, scarcely any 
 where spirituous liquors are retailed, and not a single distillery in 
 the place. The roads north and south of the village lead through 
 a delightful country. The view of the island of Rhode Island on 
 the south one is beautiful,—while that leading to Taunton is 
 scarcely less picturesque. On this road lies the little village of 
 Assonet, where there is considerable commerce carried on. It is 
 a singular sight to see vessels coming up to the very doors of the 
 cottages, sheltered and shut in by the little woody point that en- 
 closes the tiny harbour,—and music to hear the voices and loud 
 laughter of numerous little urchins, who are frequently seen play- 
 ing on the hull of some old vessel on the grassy strand. 'These 
 fairy landscapes on the one hand, are strangely contrasted by the 
 wildness and sterility of that on the east, which resembles a newly 
 settled country. The land lying between Fall River and New 
 Bedford, a distance of sixteen miles, is a perfect desert ; being only 
 diversified by bogs, rocky pastures, and forests of scrub oak and 
 wild poplar.—History of Full River. 
 
 The annexed report to the “ Society for Establishing Useful 
 Manufactures in New Jersey,” shows the progress and extension 
 of the cotton business in Paterson, from 1791 to 1827 :— 
 
 ‘Your records show, that soon after the American revolution, 
 when the United States had just established that form of national 
 government which provides for commerce and its protection ; 
 when agriculture, the primary interest and pursuit, began to 
 extend and flourish, and it was foreseen would become redund- 
 ant and out of proportion to all other branches’ of industry, a 
 number of men whose patriotism had been long conspicuous in 
 public affairs, conceived that the prosperity and happiness of their 
 country would be essentially promoted by the introduction of those 
 manufactures known to be sources of benefit in Europe. It 
 seemed to them then, as the later history of our country has 
 proved, that it would be more for the common good, that the useful 
 arts should share in the growing physical and financial ability of 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 237 
 
 the people, and the expense to convert the raw materials, abund- 
 antly produced among us, might as well be saved to the industry 
 of our country. It appears, in the preamble of the charter they 
 were presented with by the legislature of New Jersey, that a con- 
 tribution of capital was made for this object, to the amount of 
 more than two hundred thousand dollars. 'The great falls of the 
 Passaic were ascertained to have an elevation, above tide, of 104 
 feet, and were calculated to be capable, by their elevation and the 
 volume of water, of driving two hundred and forty-seven under- 
 shot water wheels ; and at Little Falls, four miles higher up, thirty- 
 six feet fall was deemed capable of driving seventy-eight water 
 wheels ; that this river was navigable for thirty miles above the 
 falls, with boats drawing five feet, to Chatham, and beyond, with 
 a few locks, fifty miles. Becoming, from various sources of intel- 
 ligence, thus satisfied of the superiority of this situation, the asso- 
 ciated contributors of capital bought the right of the falls, the title 
 to which was originally derived from the state itself, and were 
 granted their charter, under the name and style of ‘'The Society 
 for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures,’ 22d November, 
 1791, vesting them with power over, and possession of, the waters 
 of the Passaic. 
 
 “In consequence of the general war in Europe, the neutral 
 commerce of the United States was soon found to be exceedingly 
 advantageous; and it is well known that, for ten or twelve years 
 succeeding the year 1791, it attracted most of the active capital 
 of our country into its operations, and had so much effect upon 
 our agriculture as to raise the price of provisions. 
 
 “ By this accidental state of things, the society was retarded, but 
 its purpose was not defeated, nor scarcely suspended. It was well 
 known that the time could not be remote when evéry interest 
 would seek its proper level,—a reflux of capital be expected to 
 our shores, and the original occasion for such an example as the 
 society proposed to itself to be, would recur with tenfold reason— 
 the accumulated wealth of our country act and display itself, not 
 only in great establishments of manufactories, but in opening the 
 mines and the avenues of internal commerce and profit. The 
 society, soon after the purchase of the Passaic, and the grant of 
 its charter, proceeded to establish the first cotton factory and print- 
 ing house: this was attended with loss. ‘The society invited and 
 encouraged skill, by leasing privileges, and aiding manufacturers 
 with capital. This system was well calculated to draw numbers 
 to share in the use of this great water power. Experienced mill 
 owners have been induced hither, bringing wealth even from 
 
Stag . 
 lee 
 
 238 | MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 England. M umerous artisans have sought and found employment 
 coming from abroad, and from the adjoining states. The wages 
 of the supernumerary hands of the surrounding counties, together 
 with the sale of their surplus provisions, have enriched Bergen, 
 Essex, and Morris. 
 
 “In July 1827, there were in Paterson, New Jersey, 6,236 
 inhabitants, 1,046 heads of families, 7 houses of ‘public worship, 
 17 schools, a philosophical society,—( it is evident that these esta- 
 blishments do collect around them, in due proportion, every art 
 and profession) ;—15 cotton factories, in which 24,000 spindles 
 operate ; 2 factories of canvass, 1,644 spindles, employing 1,453 
 persons, whose wages are $224,123 a year; extensive machine 
 shops, and iron works, flax, 620,000 Ibs. annually, 6000 bales of 
 cotton, 1,630,000 lbs. cotton yarn spun annually, 430,000 lbs. of 
 linen yarn, cotton and linen duck made, annually, 630,000 yards, 
 cotton cloth, 3,354,500 yards, yarn exported, 796,000 yards, ‘and 
 new filatonies then building. 
 
 “This is but the beginning of what Patorsdla must be, if not 
 disturbed in its well planned career of usefulness. 
 
 “« Perhaps the time has nearly arrived, contemplated by the legis- 
 lature, when it may be expedient and necessary to organise the 
 corporate government as provided for by the act. For in every 
 populous place, where a great amount of property is concentrated 
 in business, a preventive police, a united local magistracy, a prompt 
 administration of justice, the preservation of health, by the clean- 
 liness of markets and streets, and the establishment of a hospital, 
 where the accidentally injured may have the best medical aid 
 and care, and the sick be better taken) care of than in the midst 
 of a busy multitude,—the preservation of morals, too, by affording 
 an opportunity to every one to save, and not anni their earnings, 
 beyond the sum necessary to svi bats abate laying up the surplus 
 in a savings bank, at interest, open to receive and secure any sum, 
 however shall elite to thd owner’s credit, as often as it should 
 be brought ; men accumulating a sum competent to an establish- 
 ment in business, or in a home, and thus avoiding temptations to 
 dissipation and extravagance, were among the objects of the legis- 
 
 lature. 
 "The advantages of doing business in a well sighs town, 
 
 are considerations which interest all, and promote harmony, order, 
 union, and good will ; and all Lsiiote that, thus, accessions of num- 
 bers will lead to the inanhaged value of property. Foreigners are 
 enabled to hold real estate in Paterson.” 
 
 The improvement of roads and canals leading towards Massa- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 239 
 
 chusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, from the surrounding 
 districts of greater extent and production, are manifestly of the 
 utmost importance, as they facilitate and cheapen the introduc- 
 tion of raw materials, grain, and other productions of the soil of 
 less populous or more fertile districts. 'This was a subject of great 
 interest with Mr. Slater, who was a principal agent in promoting 
 the famous road from Pawtucket to Providence, also what is called 
 the Gore turnpike, to Webster, and the Worcester and Norwich 
 turnpike. He was always in favour of the project of the Worces- 
 ter and Norwich railroad, now so happily commenced, which 
 will pass through Webster. 
 
 Indeed Mr. Slater is said to have owned forty thousand dollars, 
 in turnpike road stock, little of which was available ; but he con- 
 sidered the importance of good roads as a necessary appendage to 
 the manufacturing interest. When he commenced business, 
 Rhode Island and Massachusetts were very defective in roads and 
 canals.* | 
 
 * The momentous fact is satisfactorily established, that the American 
 manufacturers’ demand has greatly surpassed, in 1812, all the abilities of the 
 planters, farmers, land-holders, and miners, to supply those five descriptions 
 of raw materials. It is certain, that neither in commerce, nor in navigation, 
 nor in the fisheries, nor even in agriculture itself, do we find a truth so vast 
 and stupendous, as that which is exhibited to our eyes in the case of labour- 
 saving machinery. Taking the advantage, in favour of the cotton carding and 
 spinning, at the ascertained rate of two hundred to one above manual labour, 
 we are astonished to find that the industry of four millions of persons, 
 operating with water and steam machinery, would be able to execute as 
 much work as eight hundred millions of persons could perform in the old 
 mode of manual industry. We do not expect to accomplish miracles, nor 
 to engross manufactures. But the United States of America, sincerely 
 regarding and thoroughly respecting the rights and interests of the rest of 
 mankind, are able and authorised to participate with all the sister nations of 
 the world, in this wonderful object of human industry, to which they have 
 actually contributed so many valuable inventions. 
 
 Of all the discoveries and inventions yet accomplished, the machinery 
 which saves labour, incidental to manufactures in the greatest degree, is 
 that of Whitney, for ginning cotton wool. 
 
 The richest object of commercial enterprise, (continues Tench Coxe) for 
 the merchants of the United States is the trade of those countries which do 
 not manufacture. Of this, the trade of our American brethren, from Texas 
 and Mexico'to the Straits of Magellan, is a very interesting instance. We 
 ean import their raw materials and export our manufactures to an im- 
 mense amount, with substantial benefit. Their rich products will not often 
 be received in the ports of Europe in our vessels foreign to them. Their 
 copper, crude sugar, peculiar cotton and woods, their various dyeing mate- 
 rials, drugs and medicines, their wool, hides, and tallow, and their gold and 
 
240 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The following is a specimen of Mr. Slater’s business letters, 
 they are full of information and close calculations; in short, his 
 opinion did much to regulate rules of interest, commissions, &c., 
 with the agents of manufactured articles. 
 
 Messrs. ——, ——, § Co. 
 
 Gentlemen,—Y our letter under date of 7th ult. by way of Oxford, is at 
 hand, covering your last quarter’s sales, discounts, commissions, and a check 
 on New York for $1500, which is at your credit. I was much mortified to see 
 your account come on in the old style, notwithstanding so much has been said 
 at times on the subject. You have charged bad debts back, but no deductions 
 for commissions and interest thereon. As respects these bad debts, and 
 others previous, the law is considered very plain on that point, unless proper 
 diligence is exercised when the debt is due, the commission merchant has 
 no right to charge the debt back. However, this is a subject which the 
 manufacturers are taking into serious consideration. You have also charged 
 four per cent. on case and bale goods ; amount of which, in your last quarter’s 
 sales, $5,268 75 difference between that and what others generally charge, 
 and what I can have a single barrel of flour or a quintal of salt fish sold for, 
 amounts to $79 04. Then comes a more serious item, which is, no interest 
 account. How shall we get along with for time past. Two individual 
 houses, the year past, have credited me nearly $1000 interest, whose 
 balances at the end of the last year was only about fifty per cent. more than 
 the balance from you. My sons, and I too, think it necessary to go fully 
 into an interest account. Many of my good friends, who dispose of my 
 goods, keep no interest account; but when they send in their quarterly 
 account of sales, they stipulate, when due, by average, which I consider is 
 the best mode. I have to request of you to give me your mind on the fore- 
 going subjects, as well as on what terms you will agree to receive and dispose 
 of my goods in future. The cotton business in now in such a deplorable 
 state, that no manufacturer can live, if he gives about seven per cent. in 
 commission and interest. Respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 SAMUEL S.aTeER. 
 
 Mr. Slater’s second marriage,* was with the widow of Robert 
 Parkinson, who had entrusted his affairs with Mr. S. and who had 
 
 silver, will be exchanged for cabinet wares, plate and jewelry, pottery, iron 
 manufactures, mill-work, cooper’s utensils, machinery, types, gunpowder, 
 arms, ships, and other vessels, boats, &c. As our manufactures progress, 
 the trade with that new und interesting country, and with St. Domingo, 
 and all the countries similarly cireumstanced, cannot fail to increase. 
 
 * This is to certify whom it may concern, that on Friday, the 2ist day of 
 November, Anno Domini 1817, Samuel Slater and Esther Parkinson were 
 lawfully joined in holy matrimony, and pronounced man and wife together, 
 according to the rites of the protestant episcopal church, as witness my 
 hand, JosepH PiumMorg, 
 
 Rector of St. Paul's Church in Philadelphia. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 241 
 
 been an acquaintance many years in the Slater family. In this 
 way Mrs. Parkinson had known the former wife of Mr. Slater, 
 and had very much esteemed her as a friend. Mr. Slater’s letter 
 on that occasion, a copy of which was found among his papers, 
 is written with so much propriety, that there can be no objection 
 to its publication. 
 
 Mrs. Robert Parkinson, widow, Philadelphia. 
 
 Nortu Provivence, R. I. Sep. 23d, 1817. 
 
 Dear madam,—As the wise disposer of all events has seen fit in his wis- 
 dom to place you and me in a single state—notwithstanding, I presume 
 none of his decrees have gone forth which compels either of us to remain in 
 a state of widowhood. Therefore, under these and other circumstances, I 
 now take the liberty to address you on a momentous subject. I have been 
 inclined for,some time past to change my situation in life, and have at 
 times named you to my brother and sister for a partner, who have invariably 
 recommended you as suitable, and have fully acquiesced with my ideas on 
 the subject. Now if you are under no obligation to any one, and on weigh- 
 ing the subject fully, you should think that you can spend the remainder of 
 your days with me, I hope you will not feel reluctant, in writing me soon to 
 that effect. You need not be abashed, in any degree, to express your mind 
 on this business, for I trust years have taught me to receive your reply 
 favourably, if my understanding has not. I have six sons to comfort you with 
 the oldest is about fifteen years, he has been at Oxford about a year, (not 
 Oxford in Great Britain), the youngest is in his sixth year, I believe they are 
 all compos mentis, and they are as active as any six boys, although they are 
 mine. Cousin Mary is now down from Ludlow on a visit; she has a noble 
 corpulent son about six months old. I should have divulged my intentions to 
 you months past had not my brother given me to understand that he expected 
 you daily on this way ona visit. Probably you may consider me rather 
 blunt in this business, hope you will attribute that to the country that gave 
 me birth. I consider myself a plain candid Englishman, and hope and 
 trust, you will be candid enough to write me a short answer, at least, whe- 
 ther it be in the affirmative or negative; and should it be in the negative, I 
 stand ready and willing to render you all the advice and assistance in my 
 power relative to settling your worldly matters. 
 
 With due respect, as a friend and countryman, I am, dear madam, your 
 well wisher, SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 N.B.—Hope you are a freemason as respects keeping secrets. 
 
 The death of Mr. Slater’s eldest son,* at a time when he 
 became useful in his business and a pleasing companion to his 
 
 * The following register from the town clerk, will show the number and 
 ages of Mr. Slater’s children :— 
 Samuel Slater and Hannah Wilkinson, married Oct. 2d, A. D. 1791. 
 William Slater, son of Samuel Slater and Hannah his wife, born August 
 31st, A. D. 1796. 
 ol 
 
242 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 father, was a severe trial; I find the following letter written to 
 him atu’ his sickness :— 
 
 Samuel Slater, Jr. 
 Nortu Provivence, Noy, 18th, 1820. 
 
 Meds Son,—Herewith you will receive, per John Sims, your sic stock- 
 ings, &c., which I thought you would be in want of, before I should probably 
 again be te Oxford, Reretore I send the bearer up on purpose with them, 
 and in order to ascertain the state of your health; which you will get Mr. 
 Tyson to inform me of. Probably it will be some weeks before we again 
 have sleighing, therefore, if you should wish to return home before we have 
 sleighing again, I will have the carriage sent up any hour you may see fit 
 to say. Now, as your life and health depend entirely on your strict atten- 
 tion to every thing appertaining thereto, do let me entreat you to be very 
 particular in all your food, &c., and see that you keep yourself free from the 
 inclemency of the weather, and above all things, keep your feet warm and 
 dry. I had a letter from John this week; he says if that vessel which was 
 coming to Providence after nails, &c., does not come, he will send your 
 trunk by mail. He sent your grammar by Captain Cooke, whom A. and B. , 
 and I sent to Cheshire to look at Mr. Granger’s farm. I saw Mr. Johnson of 
 Providence respecting soldering those dye tubs ; who says, the upright parts 
 cannot be soldered without being turned partly down, observing that there 
 was no way to keep the solder in its place, after melting it with the solder- 
 ing iron, until it became cold. Shall write Mr. Tyson on the subject. I have 
 been in Providence this afternoon to attend the funeral of Mr. Wheelock’s 
 little daughter, Eliza Slater Wheelock ; from all accounts she was almost a 
 perfect being ; the heavy loss is almost insurmountable to her parents. My 
 dear son, do let me entreat you to be very careful of your health, and spare 
 
 Elizabeth Slater, daughter of Samuel Slater and Hannah, born November 
 15th, A. D. 1798. 
 
 Mary Slater, daughter of Samuel and Hannah, born Sept. 28th, A. D. 1801. 
 
 Samuel Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born Sept. 28th, A. D. 1802. 
 
 George Basset Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born February 12th, 
 A. D. 1804. 
 
 John Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born May 23d, A. D. 1805. 
 
 Horatio Nao Slater, son of ee tee and Hannah, in nate 5th, 
 A. D. 1808. 
 
 William Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born October the 15th, 
 A. D. 1809. 
 
 A true extract, as appears of record, &c. 
 Witness, H. Aneewi, T. Clerk. 
 
 November 5th, A. D. 1814. 
 
 Thomas Graham Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah Slater, was born 
 Sept. 19th, 1812. 
 
 Mrs. Slater died a short time after her last child, and left her husband, 
 overwhelmed in business which was daily increasing, with a family of 
 small children. Perhaps a mother’s loss was never more severely felt. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 243 
 
 no pains to get restored to your former health, and believe me your affec- 
 tionate father, SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 N.B. I forgot the title of the book which you requested me to get when 
 last at Oxford. Do send me word per J. Sims what it is, and I will get it 
 without delay and forward it. ‘ 
 
 George Benson Strutt, Esq. 
 Norrs Provivence, June 4th, 1821. 
 
 Dear Sir,—At the special request of G. Sullivan Esq. counsellor, and 
 many of my friends in this section of the country, I now take the liberty to 
 address you principally in their behalf. The object is merely this: A certain 
 cotton manufacturing company in this country, who have been in the cotton 
 business a few years only, still, they have pretended to be the inventors of 
 almost every thing, and have taken out patents accordingly ; but as it is so 
 well known, that, before they commenced business, one of their brightest 
 partners was in England, for some time, (cloaked as a merchant,) obtain- 
 ing information and workmen, which induces the public here to believe, 
 that they claim that which belongs tothe public, &c. The greatest question 
 is concerning the double speeder, now much used in this country, which is 
 said to be on a much improved plan to any thing in Great Britain. Mr. 
 Sullivan will forward this letter to one of his friends in England, who will 
 wait on you in order to ask you some questions, but not with a view of ob- 
 taining any information, as respects any new improvements with you. If 
 the questions asked appear pertinent you will have the goodness to answer 
 them accordingly. We havea very recent new plan of machinery, just set 
 in operation, only yet nicknamed the treble speeder, for roving and winding, 
 which, from all appearance, far exceeds the double speeder ; as it will not 
 cost more than one third per spindle, will be abundantly more durable, and 
 perform double the work. The front roller must make at least 400 revolu- 
 tions per minute, or the machine will not perform the work to best advan- 
 tage. I contemplate having some of the kind in operation shortly, and 
 should the plan far exceed the double speeder, on a full experiment, I will 
 send you a draught of it with pleasure. Iam told the inventor, a country 
 boy about twenty years of age, is now spinning on the same principle, as 
 fine as one hundred skeins to the pound, and running the front roller about 
 as fast as for roving. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant, 
 SaMuEL SLATER. 
 
 WessTer, Jan. 31, 1835. 
 
 Most honoured friend, Moses Brown—Your esteemed favour under date 
 of the 26th ult., was duly received, which I should have answered without 
 delay, had not I been deprived of holding my pen, owing toa lame hand 
 and wrist. However, I immediately sent word to my son John, instructing 
 him to see you on the subject of your letter, and to render every assistance 
 in my behalf. It is very unpleasant to me that the lodge and chapter should 
 attempt to violate their sacred contract, made with the owners of Union 
 Block. I was not over friendly to putting on the additional story, but my 
 
244 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 . 
 two partners (who were both masons) stated the masons would take a lease 
 of it for forty or fifty years, and pledge thirty shares which they owned in 
 . the Manufacturer’s bank as security for payment of the rent, but some years 
 after, I learned the shares had not been pledged, for some reason or other. 
 Some of the candid masons have frequently observed to me, that it was 
 the intent and meaning to pledge that stock, and although it had not been 
 done, still it ought to be.. I have no surplus cash to spend in the law, but 
 still I, for one, consider a part of my duty to my fellow beings to aid and 
 assist in trying to make people to be honest and upright in all their contracts. 
 Hoping the many years which have passed over your honourable head, still 
 permit you to enjoy your usual state of health and activity, I remain with 
 every respect, your obedient servant, | 
 SaMuEL SLATER. 
 
 Mr. Slater’s business, up to the year 1829, had progressed, and 
 was established on a permanent basis. And such was the snug 
 and punctual manner in which he managed his coneerns, that he 
 did not owe, in all his purchases and debts, one thousand dollars ; 
 while he had fifty thousand dollars in mortgages on real estate. 
 No one could justly accuse him of want of prudence and foresight 
 in his loans or responsibilities. It, however, appeared, when the 
 village of Pawtucket was shaken to its foundation, that Mr. Slater’s 
 endorsements were very heavy and extensive; and during the panie 
 which followed, he was unable to take up all his endorsed paper, 
 without great sacrifice, yet he knew that, with some accommoda- 
 tion, and with perfect safety, he could meet all demands and save 
 much property from destruction. It was with these views that he 
 applied to William Almy, one of his first partners in his business, , 
 ind who was then a partner in Pawtucket and in Smithfield, but 
 his application did not receive that prompt and cheerful attention 
 which Mr. Slater had reason to expect ; but was considered as a 
 refusal. 
 
 This circumstance increased the alarm and shook credit, in 
 Rhode Island, to its centre. All confidence was lost, when Mr. 
 Slater said that, without some accommodation, to gain time, to 
 meet his endorsed paper, he should stop his mills, till he could 
 turn himself round. There was something strange, passing 
 strange, that William Almy should not haye fully entered into Mr. 
 Slater’s views ; having known his circumstances, and being con- 
 vinced, as he must have been, of his immense property. A meet- 
 ing of wealthy men was held in Providence, at which meeting Mr. 
 Slater gave a schedule of his property, when Cyrus Butler, Brown 
 & Ives, Moses Brown, and others, expressed a wish for an arrange- 
 ment, that Mr. Slater should go on with his business. He finally 
 sold out his third in the “ Old Mill’ in Pawtucket, and his fourth 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 245 
 
 2" 
 of the Smithfield property ; and Wm. Almy became the purchaser 
 of those places. ate ” i 
 
 Mr. Slater was concerned in the new steam mill, in Providence, | 
 and it was found necessary to take the whole of that into his 
 hands; so that he weathered the storm and settled his affairs in a 
 much shorter time than was expected. Not without a consider- 
 able loss of property, and what was of more consequence, a loss of 
 confidence in men of business in general. It was very evident 
 that his mind and feelings were very essentially affected, and, with 
 his poor state of health, he never fully recovered his tone of 
 assurance, 
 
 Some of his letters, about this time, discover a sensibility that 
 was never observable before; for he was remarkably free of all 
 remarks on those with whom he was connected in business. ‘This 
 was, however, a rebuff that he little expected, and a kind of trial 
 that he was unaccustomed to; he never before knew what it was 
 to be unable to meet every demand, and could generally anticipate 
 such calls. Hesaid tome: “I felt the more, because I had never 
 been used to it.” He felt his dignity, as a business man, hurt, 
 when his proposition did not meet with prompt and cheerful atten- 
 tion and acquiescence. ; 
 
 About this time I find, on some of his papers, the following 
 passages copied. “ As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatches 
 them not, so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave 
 them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”— 
 Jer. xvir. 11. 
 
 “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth 
 shall be filled with gravel.” | 
 
 ¥( 
 
 Messrs. ———— 
 Nortu Provence, Feb. 3, 1829. 
 
 Gentlemen,—S. Slater & Sons have come to a determination to place that 
 ignoble establishment in Dudley, called Slater & Howard’s woollen factory, 
 in a state of respectability. Whether or not it was got up in iniquity I cannot 
 say ; but I fear some things, during the life of it, are mysterious. It is the 
 united wish of S. Slater & Sons to sink into oblivion the past inroads that 
 . have been made, one way or another, on that establishment. They are very 
 anxious to place the business, in future, on a fair mutual ground, so as to 
 pay about six thousand dollars a year for extra stock, raising the wind, bad 
 debts, and too liberal commissions. Perhaps you may think that I am rather 
 severe in my remarks; but I think I can say, as the Earl of Essex said, 
 when Queen Elizabeth boxed his ears. A noble lord told him to submit. 
 His reply was: You are only a looker on, but I feel it. However, waiving 
 the allegory, I would just observe to you that, in the course of this month, I 
 contemplate remitting to you from twelve to sixteen thousand dollars, in 
 
246 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 bills on the south, and bank bills on Slater & Sons? account, providing the 
 negotiations can be made on’as favourable terms in your city (where neither 
 Jew nor Quaker has an abiding place,) as can be done elsewhere. I should 
 like your reply on the subject, both as it respects bills of exchange, and 
 Providence and current bank bills. Yours, &e. 
 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Messrs. 
 
 N. Provinencg, Jan. 7th, 1829. 
 
 Gentlemen,—In my last, under date of the 31st ult., I wrote you that I 
 had drawn on you, for ten thousand dollars, on four months, in favour of the 
 Steam Cotton Manufacturing Company, in order to meet a demand nearly 
 due in Philadelphia, since which, have altered a five thousand draft into three, 
 two of $1500 each, and one of $2000, all payable at the same time. 
 
 It is rather a pinching time here for money ; though many of the money 
 borrowers say times are becoming more easy. Since the failure of Mr. 
 Hurd, money-jobbers and anti-tariff folks have propounded almost every 
 one, who has seen, or at, least touched of late a cotton or woollen factory, 
 that he must go down stream, and amongst them, some whose chins are 
 barely above water, are (friendly) afraid that I have a very heavy load on 
 my back, &c. It is true, 1am on two neighbours’ paper, but am partially 
 secure, and hope in a day or two, to be fully secured against an eventual 
 loss, providing Mount Etna should not extend its lava much beyond the 
 usual limits. Last week, my sons George, John, and Nelson, bought out 
 my old friend Edward Howard, in the woollen business, which relieves my 
 mind considerably. The business in future will be transacted by myself 
 and sons; and asit respects the Amoskeage and Steam Cotton Manufactur- 
 ing Company, including the woollen factory and all my private concerns, 
 (which I consider very trivial,) I thinkI can boldly say, after the whole com- 
 pany debts are paid, (all of which I have to meet,) there will be left 
 from 800,000 to 1,000,000 of dollars to all concerned. I barely mention 
 these circumstances to in some measure rebut any flying reports that may 
 reach your city, and of course will not retard your acceptance of my paper 
 so long as you have my funds in your hands to make you perfectly secure : 
 I shall probably spend (at least) several weeks here, therefore, if you have 
 not already forwarded your last quarter’s sale and account current to Oxford, 
 you will send it to Pawtucket. In great haste, your obedient servant, 
 
 SaMvuEL SLaTeRr. 
 
 N.B. It is a general time of health in my family. Hope you and all 
 
 connections are well. §S.S. 
 
 To the same. 
 Nortu Provinence, June 15th, 1829. 
 
 Gentlemen,—Since I wrote you under date of the 12th inst., there has 
 been a dreadful storm in and about Pawtucket. I believe on Friday last, 
 Samuel B. Harris made an assignment of his property without even consult- 
 ing his endorsers, A.I.& W. On Saturday A. &I. W. made an assignment 
 of their property, and as a great amount of paper was lying over, both of 
 their own, and that which they had endorsed for W. Harris & 8. B. Harris, 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 247 
 
 as -soon as the alarm was given in Providence, the Providence people, with 
 their lawyers and sheriffs, were busy enough here until midnight on Saturday 
 night, but the conjecture is, they were too late. It will not be necessary for 
 you to make known the name of your informant of the above. Yours, &c- 
 S. SLATER. 
 
 To the same. 
 July 29th, 1829. 
 
 Gentlemen,—On the 22d inst., I drew on you in favour of B. & C. Dyer 
 & Co. at four months, for $1000 to take up my son Nelson’s draft on A. & I. 
 Wilkinson, which was by them dishonoured. Nelson received the draft in 
 part payment of his legacy. Since I wrote you last, D. W. has gone down 
 the falls. His failure is a serious one, and it affects my mind and body 
 seriously, and purse too for the present, but hope eventually to meet with 
 but little loss.* 
 
 Nelson started the Kennedy factory on my account last Monday, I hope: 
 shortly to have some goods for you. To-day Jonathan Congdon & Sons, 
 Charles Hadwin, and others, made assignments ; so we slide along. I should 
 write you oftener would my health and spirits permit. Yours, &e. 
 
 ) SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 N.B. Kennedy’s debts amount to $115,000, which greatly surprised me 
 and every other person it is about double what I expected. 
 
 I exposed myself very much and got cold in my left arm, so that, now, | 
 may almost say, that Iam armless. As soon as the humble-bee makes his 
 appearance, I hope my infirmities will leave me. , 
 
 I hope the great scarcity of money at this time, 1828, will have some effect 
 on those dealers in negroes, who are so opposed to the woollen and other 
 bills before congress. 
 
 As the great-gun of the brokers has made an assignment, and fail- 
 ed, it creates a fear in me that they are not so safe to place funds with 
 as many of the state banks. Notwithstanding I own forty shares in 
 the United States Bank, Slater, Wardwell & Co, who have made use of my 
 name as a stockholder, have in no one solitary instance been able to get one 
 cent of the best paper discounted at that bank. I wish the mother bank 
 would take a peep into the business. 
 
 1829.—Y ou may rely on one thing, that, if you do, or are obliged to sell cot- 
 ton goods much lower, you will bankrupt a number of poor cotton spinners. I 
 am not very partial to this mode of drawing, but money is extremely scarce 
 in Providence and its vicinity, that if people do not resort to some stratagem 
 or other, (who can,) nothing but a general bankruptcy would ensue. I have 
 the unpleasant news to give you, that J. Green & Son and John Gardner 
 made an assignment last night, (June 18th 1829,) and their mills are motion- 
 less to-day. ? | 
 
 * This was the most trying time in Mr. Slater’s life, he was unable to 
 sustain those who relied on him for assistance any longer; he found himself 
 responsible for $300,000, when the pressure of money was so great as lo 
 shake the confidence of the capitalists of New England, and the community 
 in general, ° 
 
248 . MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 June 11th, 1829.—My health has been at a very low ebb, I have suffered 
 almost every thing from a violent distress at my stomach, which produced in- 
 digestion, and nearly a total loss of appetite; and in addition to other afflic- 
 tions, about three weeks past, I was violently attacked in my old emaciated 
 knee, with the rheumatism, to that degree, which deprived me of motion. I 
 am now rather creeping up hill, and make out with the assistance of my 
 crutches to hobble about my room two or three times a day. 
 
 Connoisseurs say, that the steam factory is now making the best goods 
 in the country. 
 
 To the same. 
 N. Provivence, August 3, 1829. 
 
 Gentlemen,— Your two letters under dates of the 27th and 28th ult. are 
 at hand. In regard to my endorsements for D. Wilkinson, they are heavy 
 without doubt, but I am secured for the whole eventually. The steam mill 
 is in debt to a large amount, but as $70,000 have been paid in, and as the 
 whole establishment is holden for her debts, I conceive, taking all things 
 into view, that the depreciation will not exceed the amount paidin. As I 
 have to look up entire new friends to aid me in my unexpected liabilities, 
 makes my task more arduous. 
 
 There is coming due at different periods, at the Merchants bank, Provi- 
 dence, on"D. W. and J. K.’s account, about $62,000, which some of the direc- 
 tors say I can haye my own time to pay. Brown & Ives and C. Butler sent 
 me out word, that they wished to have an interview with me; they say I 
 must be carried through, and I doubt not they will do it, 
 
 My brother is down here, and he and Mr. Sayles made out a sketch of 
 my real and personal property, valued in their judgment, at what they con- 
 sider it worth now, at $690,000, leaving out the Dudley woollen establish- 
 ment. As respects your observations relative to your fears not being 
 unreasonable, I make every allowance, after taking into view your informant, 
 whom I for years have thought was a near-ox, but now I have reason to 
 believe the off-side is more congenial to his feelings. It is contemplated to 
 make some arrangements to-morrow, so as to put my affairs in a proper train. 
 When I see any of you face to face, I will give you a history of human or 
 inhuman generosity. Two of my consignees have already offered to loan 
 me $10,000 each, over and above the amount of invoices, whom J have not 
 been acquainted with forty years. The failures round here are pretty frequent, 
 the names, no doubt, you have already heard. I shall endeavour to advise 
 you frequently of what is going on here. Respectfully your obedient. servant, 
 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 > ats 
 Samuel Slater, Esq. Oxford, Massachusetts. 
 
 New York, 10th mo. 21, 1821. 
 We take the liberty of writing to thee ona subject which has been dis- 
 cussed by our mutual friend John B. Toulmin and ourselves. In the course 
 of every year we receive a great many letters of recommendation with 
 emigrants from Europe, who come out here to seek employment, as labourers, 
 manufacturers, servants, &c. and we are frequently at a loss to procure 
 situations for them. ‘his city is such a general resort for emigrants, there 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 249 
 
 are always more applicants than places to fill, and consequently much misery 
 is endured by those who are without employment, many of whom return to 
 their native country in despair. J. B. Toulmin has told us of thy kindness 
 in assisting poor people to find employment, and he recommended us to 
 address thee on the subject. We shall feel much obliged to thee if thou 
 wilt permit us occasionally to recommend poor emigrants to thy notice, and 
 also if thou wilt let us know whenever thou or any of thy friends are in 
 want of men, women or children, who have testimonials with them. In 
 this way we may both be the means of serving our country people who cross 
 the Atlantic to obtain a livelihood. 
 
 We remain respectfully thy assured friends, A. Bett & Co. 
 Samuel Slater, Esq. 
 
 New York, 21st Oct. 1831. 
 
 Dear sir,—I was at Providence a few weeks ago, and much regretted to 
 hear of the sickness of your son, H. Nelson, and of your own indisposition. 
 I had not time to visit you at Oxford, but it will afford me much satisfaction 
 to attend to your orders at Mobile, to which place I return on the 1st 
 November, per ship “Splendid.” The crop of cotton, state of Alabama, is 
 represented to be much better this year than last, and prices will probably 
 open at six to eightand a half cents. Such cottons as will spin No. 16 and 
 18, I think will be bought at seven and a half to eight cents, perhaps lower. 
 Freights are also likely to be lower this year than last. I now beg to 
 eall your particular attention to the annexed letter from my most respectable 
 friends, A. Bell & Co. I think aid may be rendered to respectable emigrants, 
 that may be useful to manufacturers in want of hands, as well as to them. 
 I am fully aware of your disposition to be useful, and feel assured you will 
 excuse the liberty now taken. 
 
 I am, sir, very truly, your obedient servant, J. B. Toutmin. 
 
 The above letters afford me an opportunity of introducing the 
 usefulness and benevolence of Mr. Slater, in a point of view in 
 which his character has not been duly appreciated. 
 
 From the first establishment of the old mill in Pawtucket, it was 
 the resort of every English mechanic who reached our shores; 
 whether by the way of Nova Scotia or New York, you would 
 meet them steering for Rhode Island, with enquiries for Slater’s 
 Mills. It is easy to conceive that this continual drain on his 
 attention not only taxed his purse but his patience. But in Samuel 
 Slater they always found a friend who would find them immediate 
 employment if possible, or direction to the most probable places, 
 where they would fulfil their wishes. He knew well how to 
 advise, they looked up to him as a father, and had undoubted con- 
 fidence in his directions. Many thousands applied to him in this 
 way; he sent none empty away, and it is not easy to conceive of 
 the amount of money which he presented, as well as the amount 
 
 of joy afforded, to strangers. This was his fort of charity, it was 
 32 
 
250 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 thrown in his way, and he exercised his benevolence for upwards 
 of forty years in a retired unostentatious manner. He treated 
 none with contempt or reproach, but assured them all that with 
 sobriety and industry they would be able to live in plenty and 
 peace. He warned the idle and intemperate of their danger, 
 reminding such that no country could sustain vice from misery. 
 This was the sphere of Mr. Slater’s charities, in which situation 
 few were ever situated to do so much good, and few would have 
 availed themselves of the opportunity to the extent that he did. 
 
 Messrs. George B. § John Slater. 
 Nortu Provivence, Feb. 8th, 1832. 
 Dear sons,—I wrote John on the 28th ult. that I thought it would be 
 advisable for one of you to come down and see your sick brother, hoping it 
 might in some degree revive his drooping spirits, since which time have 
 not decidedly heard from either of you, only circuitously, that you were in 
 Boston.. I hope your brother Nelson is rather more comfortable. He is 
 placed in a disagreeable situation, his nurse is sick, and his uncle has a 
 large family, which must very much interfere with their comfort, &c. He 
 has pretty much made up his mind to move out here in the course of a few 
 days, providing it can be done without endangering his existence. Probably 
 the presence of one of you might make his journey out here rather more 
 agreeable. As the Rev. J. Fletcher once wrote to his friend who had 
 omittted writing for some time, he asks, ‘Are you alive, paralytic, gouty, 
 slothful, or too busy to write a line to your friend ?” Vou afiectionate 
 father, SAMUEL SLATER. 
 Mrs. Esther Slater, Pawtucket, R. I. 
 WILKINSONVILLE, April 9th, 1832. 
 Dear wife,—I arrived at Webster the day I left Pawtucket, at about five 
 o’clock, pretty comfortable, though somewhat fatigued. I found all my sons 
 and grandsons in good health. Yesterday, son John, wife and son, and I, 
 too, left Webster for this place, where part of us tended church fore and after 
 noon, although very cold. They have not completed repairing the breach 
 in the flume but expect to go to work in two or three days. When I arrived 
 at Webster, daughter Sarah having no help but Harriet, she sent for Fanny, 
 who came over that night. I had a little conversation with her onthe subject 
 of going to Pawtucket. She said she would not live with Miss R.; other- 
 wise should be glad to live with us at Pawtucket. Do write me how Nelson 
 gets along, as well as the other invalids. I do not expect to return any 
 earlier, at least, than the last of this week. In haste, yours, &c. - 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 N.B.—Send me all the news you can. 
 
 Mrs. Samuel Slater, Pawtucket, R. I. 
 Wesster, February 25th, 1833. 
 Dear wife,—I left Wilkinsonville the same day which you left there sick. 
 Son Nelson informed me that your health was measureably restored. In- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 251 
 
 deed I was, in some degree, satisfied that the salubrious air of Pawtucket 
 would soon reanimate you. I have been tolerably well since I arrived here, 
 until a few days past. On Thursday last I traveled round on foot to view 
 some house lots, in the snow broth, and got my feet at least a little damp, if 
 not perfectly wet. The night following was very cold and froze very hard. 
 The next morning after breakfast, not in the afternoon, I recommenced my 
 pursuits, and as I was so much older and more clumsy than | thought I 
 really was, that while I was going up a steep frozen hill, and being not sure- 
 footed, I happened, accidentally, to fall prostrate on the ice, to the annoy- 
 ance of my hip and shoulder. I am now some better, but am severely 
 afflicted with a cold, probably partly from sleeping alone. Last Wednesday 
 morning, about 5 o’clock, a little grand-daughter came to town: she and her 
 mother (as the old woman’s sayings are,) are as well as can be expected. 
 Son John arrived here last Saturday night, and, no doubt, before this time, 
 has kissed the baby, &c. &c. 
 
 I shall endeavour to leave here as soon as the sleighing will permit, so as 
 to get clear of the old maids (both white and black, ) who are daily soliciting 
 me for a chance to go to Pawtucket; also a black, or coloured, man wants to 
 live with us. This looks a little like what I have often told you, that there 
 are people to be got for money. 
 
 A certain hook which has been baited with shiners, for some time past, 
 will not induce a certain mackerel to bite, or at least swallow the bait. 
 Further particulars when I see you. Respectfully yours, &c. 
 
 SaMUEL SLATER. 
 
 N. B. How does your old maid do? If Wm. Bliss should want a few 
 dollars, towards cutting woud, you will let him have some. 
 
 Mrs. Esther Slater, Pawtucket, R. I. Favoured by Miss M. Turner. 
 Wesster, September 28th, 1833. 
 
 Dear wife,—The bearer, Miss Mary Turner, would have gone down to 
 Pawtucket, some days past, had I not deferred it on account of seeing my 
 son Thomas, who promised, on Tuesday last, since which time I have not 
 seen and scarcely heard from him, excepting by way of a teamster or tin 
 pedlar, verbally. Mrs. Turner expects to recruit you up in the course of a 
 week or ten days, and then bring you up into the county of Worcester, 
 where you can see, among other curiosities, a noble stone dam, built after 
 the architectural skill of Sir C. Wren. It is a very heavy job, and you may 
 rely on it, I pay good attention to it. Igenerally eat my breakfast in season, 
 so that I get over there by sunrise, and remain, either sitting or standing 
 on rocks or stones, until sunset ; and then during the night I sleep from two 
 to six hours. I enjoy tolerable good health, and my limbs are daily gaining 
 their wonted activity, &c. You will endeavous to find some employment 
 for my new driver, Silvester Davy, during his stay at Pawtucket. If you 
 should come up shortly, I wish you to send up a little good West India, 
 which I want for a medicine. 1 should like to hear how you and all your 
 invalids get along. I would say many things, but having about forty eye 
 servants under pay, on out door jobs, all whom I find it necessary to watch 
 as close as a cat does a mouse, therefore I must close. 
 
 With due respect, yours, &c. &c. Samuet SLATER. 
 N. B. It is a general time of health here. 
 
252 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 To the Assessors of the Town of Sutton, Mass. 
 WeersTeR, August 23d, 1834. 
 Gentlemen,—Ever since I have owned the estate at Wilkinsonville I have 
 felt injured at the high tax that has been assessed on that property. I have 
 understood that after scaling down the real value, from one quarter to one 
 third, you have then estimated the property at fifty-six thousand dollars, 
 until last year, when you reduced the tax some. Now, in order to give you 
 some light respecting the actual value of it, I will take forty-seven thousand 
 dollars for all the real estate and machinery I own in the town of Sutton ; 
 and if you require it, I stand ready to make oath of it. - If any one of you 
 will find a purchaser at the above price, I will cheerfully make hima present 
 of fifty dollars. Yours, &c. . 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Mathew Carey, Esq., of Philadelphia, in 1827 visited the village 
 of Lowell, and desirous of laying before the public a correct 
 statement of its progress and present condition, proposed a num- 
 ber of queries to Mr. Boott, from whom he received the follow- 
 ing answer, and communicated it to the public through the 
 medium of the United States Gazette. 
 
 ‘ 
 
 Lowe, October 25, 1827. 
 
 Dear sir,—I believe the following brief statement embraces all the objects 
 specified in your letter of the 22d. If, however, I have, in my haste, omitted 
 any thing, I will cheerfully supply it. With regard to Mr. Hurd’s works, I 
 am very imperfectly informed, and should prefer you to draw your informa- 
 tion from some other source. : 
 
 There are now in full operation, at Lowell,* six cotton mills, four stories 
 ae EE a eee 
 
 *“ About fifteen years ago the now territory of Lowell, being about four 
 square miles, and bearing upon it fifteen thousand inhabitants, was owned 
 by a few honest farmers, who obtained subsistence for themselves and fami- 
 lies by the cultivation of this comparatively barren spot, and the fish they 
 caught in the Merrimac and Concord rivers. It comprised the northeasterly 
 part of Chelmsford, and bounded easterly by the Concord river, which sepa- 
 rated it from Tewksbury, and northerly by the Merrimac that divided it 
 from Dracut; and from the fact of its situation at the confluence of these 
 rivers, was called Chelmsford Neck, and originally by the Indians, Wa- 
 maset. 
 
 “Thus for centuries it lay with the vast resources, which we now see 
 developed, slumbering in its bosom, unsuspected and unknown. But the 
 spirit of enterprise and improvement came, and its touch, like that of the 
 magic wand, has turned this seeming wilderness, not simply into a fruitful 
 field, but into a busy, enterprising, and prosperous city. 
 
 “In 1819, Kirk Boott, Esq. a wealthy merchant of Boston, in the habit of 
 a hunter, explored this place. He discovered its resources, and immediately, 
 in company with several other rich merchants of that city, purchased the 
 land and water privileges. They were incorporated by the name of the 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 253 
 
 high, 155 feet by 44, containing 25,000 spindles, and about 150 looms; in 
 which were made, the last year, 5,042,408 yards of cloth, weighing 1,045,286 
 pounds, from 1,176,082 pounds of raw cotton. The numbers of yarn, 22, 26, 
 30, and 40. Two mills for twilled and four for plain goods. Three other 
 mills are covered in; the first will be started in January, and the other two 
 in July and January following. There are now employed 1200 persons in 
 
 a  aUUUUtI EEUU InISnIDIISISIEIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEtt 
 
 ‘Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimac river,’ and commenced 
 
 operations by digging a canal from the Pawtucket Falls, easterly, one mile — 
 
 and a half, where it emptied into the Concord river. This canal is sixty 
 feet wide, and carries in depth eight feet of water. This is their grand 
 canal; lateral branches are cut, which carry the water to the several manu- 
 facturing mills, and then discharge into the Merrimac or Concord rivers. 
 They then erected a large brick machine shop, and commenced building 
 machinery. This company sell out the privileges to manufacturing compa- 
 nies, dig the canal, erect the mills and build the machinery, and put the 
 whole into operation ;—they do it cheaper than any body else would do it ; 
 and these are the only terms on which they will sell the privileges. The 
 company has a capital of $600,000, and employs, constantly, about 200 
 workmen in their machine shop. A part of their lands they have sold out 
 to individuals at an enormous advance on the original price. Land for which 
 they paid $20 or $30 per acre, they have sold for one dollar per square foot. 
 They have still a considerable portion of it on hand and unsold. Kirk Boott, 
 Esq. is their agent. 
 
 “ Lowell contains, as we have before remarked, about 15, 000 inhabitants, 
 and was incorporated in 1824 into a town distinct from Cheliistord! and re- 
 ceived its name from Francis C. Lowell, Esq. who early idtrodueed manu- 
 factures into this country. There are now about twenty-five factories in 
 operation, and there yet remain unoccupied privileges for nearly as many 
 more. When these shall be taken up, as they, in all probability, will, they 
 will probably afford’ means of subsistence to another 15,000 inhabitants, 
 making in the whole 30,000. 
 
 “ A new canal is now being dug, which will furnish sites for about a 
 dozen mills, of the size already built. A company has recently been incor- 
 porated by the name of ‘ Boott Cotton Mills,’ which have purchased four of 
 these sites, and upon them are immediately to erect four large brick mills. 
 The railroad from this place to Boston is now complete. It will be, we ap- 
 prehend, of mutual advantage to both places, and especially to Lowell. It 
 is said to be more permanently built than any other in the country. There 
 are to be two tracks. It will greatly facilitate the immense transportation 
 between these places. A steamboat, owned by Messrs. Bradley & Simpson, 
 has commenced running, between Lowell and Nashua, a distance of fourteen 
 miles. It is to co-operate with the railroad. A spacious market house, 166 
 feet long, is to be built this season,—$ 40,000 have been appropriated for the 
 purpose. Our town is deficient in paBlic! buildings. A town house, school 
 houses, and poor house, are all, we believe. Our streets are not paved: but 
 will Be ere long. And on the iwilole, notwithstanding its present imperfec- 
 tions and deficiencies, which time, we trust, will remedy, it yet presents, as 
 we believe, much to interest the euridus traveller Mea iowell Journal. 
 
254. MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the mills; nine tenths of whom are females, 20 of whom are from 12 to 14 
 years of age. Adjoining the mills of the Merrimack Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, are their bleach and print shops, covering more ground, but equal in 
 capacity to two mills; something over a hundred are here employed, about 
 one fifth females, and one fifth boys. None are taken under 12. Appren- 
 tices are taken at 14 to 16, until 21; receiving for the first year, including 
 board, $125, and $25 in addition, each succeeding year. Except in the 
 print works, there are no foreigners, and there exceed not one quarter part. 
 Daily wages would perhaps average 50 cents, the minimum being 373, and 
 the maximum $2 00. At present about 2,500,000 yards are printed, the 
 residue are sold bleached. The average value of the prints is about 18 
 cents, of the bleached goods 12 to 13 cents. The foundation of the first 
 mill was laid in 1822, and the first return of cloth, November 1823. Be- 
 longing to the mills and print works, and in their immediate vicinity, are 
 130 tenements, about 24 by 36 feet, which rent from $60 to $100 per annum. 
 
 The machine shop is of the same dimensions as the mills, and gives 
 employment to about 1,800 machinists; average wages about ninety cents: 
 but as a large portion of the work is by contract, and done by the apprentices, 
 many of them earn from four to six dollars per day. There are 20 tenements 
 attached to the shops; the rent of each of which is about $90 per annum. 
 The cast ironis furnished from Gen. Heach’s furnace, about four miles 
 above: consumption averages a ton daily. 
 
 The company to whom the machine shop belongs, have a large tract of 
 land and an immense water power, and are prepared to furnish machinery 
 of all descriptions at short notice, and erect the necessary buildings. ‘They 
 have lately contracted to erect, two mills, 155 by 44, near the same, and 
 furnish the machinery capable of. making 3,000,000 of yards of cloth, yard 
 wide, of No. 14 yarn, per dnnum,—to build thirty three-story brick tene- 
 ments, agent’s house, and out buildings,—to furnish eight acres of land, and 
 ample water power, and to put the same in operation for about $300,000. 
 
 Besides those steadily employed in the mills, about 150 mechanics, such 
 as masons, carpenters, &c., find constant work. The amount of capital 
 actually invested is $2,400,000, viz: 
 
 Merrimack Manufacturing Company, - - - $ 1,200,000 
 Proprietors of Land and Canals, - - - - - 600,000 
 Hamilton Manufacturing Company, - - - - 600,000 
 
 With respect to the appropriation of land, I will mention a fact. I pur- 
 chased, in 1822, nine tenths, undivided, of a farm of 110 acres, for $1,800. 
 The owner of the other one tenth had agreed to convey it for $200, but 
 dying, suddenly, insolvent, it was sold by order of the court, and I gave, for 
 seven and a half tenths of his one tenth, upwards of $3,000. All his debts 
 being satisfied the remainder was sold, a year afterwards, for the benefit of 
 minor children, for nearly $5,000. 
 
 Land favourably situated is worth fifteen cents a foot, and there are a few 
 spots that would command fifty. In 1822, the whole population of that part 
 of Chelmsford which now constitutes Lowell, did not, exclusive of Mr. 
 Hurd’s mill, exceed 100; it is now probably 5,000. 
 
 The solitary storekeeper of 1822, is now surrounded by numerous rivals ; 
 and there are few luxuries, and no necessaries, that sharp competition among 
 
Pe 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE COT'TON BUSINESS. 255 
 the dealers does not enable the consumer to purchase as cheap in Lowell 
 -as in Boston. 
 
 Lowell is situated 25 miles northwest of Boston, on the Merrimack river, 
 and is divided from Tewksbury by the Concord, which here falls into the 
 Merrimack. Middlesex canal empties into the Merrimack, a mile above 
 Lowell, and furnishes a cheap conveyance for heavy articles. At present 
 ~ no manufactured goods are conveyed by this channel to Boston, there being 
 no suitable boats. And indeed, if there were, unless the tolls were consi- 
 derably lower, there would be little saving. ‘Teaming is done low, and the 
 goods carried to any point. The canal terminating in Charles’s River, 
 trucking would be necessary, and the expense would thus very nearly equal 
 teaming. ; 
 
 The consumption of foreign articles, in Lowell, such as madder, sumac, 
 indigo, &c., gives employment to far more tons of shipping than would be 
 required to bring the manufactured goods from abroad; and at the same time 
 furnishes to our own coasters an immense increase of freight, by its steady 
 demand for the products of the other states of the Union, such as quercitron 
 bark, flour, starch, copperas, lime, &c. Were this subject actually examined 
 it would be found to exceed the belief of even those most favourable to the 
 American system. 
 
 There is a branch of manufactures rapidly increasing, (and in which 
 there is still great room for improvement,) that owes much of its progress to 
 the establishment of print works. I allude to chemical works ; many articles 
 are imported from abroad that can be made full as well at home, and which 
 I have no doubt soon will be. Trusting that the present duties will not be 
 abated for some years, we shall go on building two mills a year; and while 
 we hope to reap a reasonable return, | am sure we are benefiting our coun- 
 
 try, in at least an equal degree. Yours, truly, © 
 Kirk Boorvr. 
 
 Extract of a letter, dated Lowell, April 20, 1835. 
 
 Gentlemen:—As you have considered the brief sketch which I gave of the 
 business of Fall River, worthy of a place in your columns, the annexed 
 account of Lowell, Mass., which has been obtained at some pains and ex- 
 pense, I think cannot be-less so. 
 
 The total amount of capital employed in the incorporated companies 
 of this place is $6,650,000. They are at present nine in number. The first 
 is the 
 
 Locks and Canals Co.—Capital $600,000, for supplying water power to 
 the various manufacuuring establishments. The company have an extensive 
 machine shop, for the manufacture of cotton and woollen machinery, rail- 
 road cars, engines, &c. They employ 200 men, at good wages. 
 
 The Merrimack Co.—Capital $1,500,000,—have an extensive print works, 
 and five cotton mills. They run 34,432 spindles, 1,253 looms, give employ- 
 ment to 1321 females, and 437 males, and make 172,000 yards per week. 
 
 The Hamilton Co.—Capital $900,000, have a large printing establishment 
 and three cotton mills. They run about 19,000 spindles, 600 looms—employ 
 about 800 females and 200 males; and make 78,000 yards of prints and 
 drillings per week. 
 
256 | MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. we 
 
 The Appleton Co.—Capital $500,000, run two mills, between 10 and 
 11,000 spindles, 350'looms—employ 475 females, 70 males, and make 80,000 
 yards of No. 14 sheetings and shirtings per week. 
 
 The Lowell Co.—Capital $500,000, manufacture cotton, carpets, rugs, 
 negro cloths, &c., of a very superior quality. They run 4,500 or 5,000 spin- 
 dles in their cotton mills—140 cotton and 68 carpet looms—employ 330 
 females, 150 males, and manufaciure in the aggregate about 43,000 yards 
 per week. 
 
 The Suffolk Co.—Capital $450,000—run two mills in the manufacture of 
 No. 14 drillings, with 10,240 spindles, 350 looms, give employment to 460 
 females, 70 males, and makes 90,000 yards per week. 
 
 The Tremont Co.—Capital $500,000,—run two mills, 11,000 spindles, 
 400 looms, employs 450 females and 80 males, and makes 120,000 yards of 
 No. 14 sheetings and shirtings per week. 
 
 The Lawrence Co.—Capital $1,200,000, went into operation since either 
 of the above. They run at present four cotton mills, for the manufacture of 
 sheetings and shirtings, No. 14 to 30, 37 to 41 inch wide; another large mill 
 and a bleaching establishment is soon to be in operation. 
 
 The Middlesex Co.—Capital $500,000, is a very fine establishment; the 
 
 superior character of their goods is too well established 10 require notice » 
 
 here. They manufacture broadcloths and cassimeres, in which they con- 
 sume 470,000 lbs. of wool and 1,500,000 teasels annually. They run two 
 mills, 3120 spindles, 98 looms—give employment to 240 females, and 145 
 males—making about 6000 yards of cloth per week. Ina few weeks this 
 company will manufacture 500 yards of satinet per day, in addition to their 
 present business.—They will then work up 2000 lbs. of wool per day ! 
 
 The above establishments consume yearly 11,239 tons anthracite coal; 
 4750 cords of wood, and 50,549 gallons of oil. The total amount of cloth 
 made is 39,170,000 yards per annum, which requires in the manufacture about 
 12,256,400 pounds of cotton. In the bleacheries &c. they use 310,000 lbs. of 
 starch, 380 barrels of flour, and 500,000 bushels of coal per annum. 
 
 The average sum of money paid to the persons in these establishments, 
 is $89,000 per month. 
 
 Besides the above, there are in this place, a flannel factory ; the extensive 
 powder mills belonging to O. M. Whipple, card and whip factory, glass 
 works, furnace, &c. employing from 300 to 400 hands. 
 
 I believe it is decided on to commence shortly the erection of four new 
 mills (not thirteen, as has been published) on a canal now cutting for the 
 purpose. ‘T’here will still be room and water in the place for five more, but 
 I have not learned that it will be likely to be occupied soon. Belvidere is 
 now a part of Lowell, by anact of the legislature: taken together, they pre- 
 sent the most thriving and business-like appearance ; and will rank in popu- 
 lation with Newark, in New Jersey, or indeed, with any inland town in the 
 United States. 
 
 North Providence was incorporated 1767. It is now dis- 
 tinguished for its manufactures, particularly those of cotton, 
 which form an important interest. There are ten cotton mills, 
 one of which is the first that was built in America, and in Paw- 
 
 4 
 
ue * 
 
 . oe ce 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS, 257 
 ae? , tae» 
 
 tucket, S. Slater erected the first water-frame spinning machinery. 
 The extent of this business having concentrated a large capital, 
 and an immense aggregate of industry, has, within the last thirty 
 years, given rise to a large and flourishing village. ‘The village 
 of Pawtucket is situated in the north-east section of the town, four 
 miles north-east of Providence, on the border of the Seekonk 
 river ; its site being principally the declivity of a hill, and it is 
 highly romantic and picturesque. The river here affords numerous 
 natural sites for manufacturing establishments, mills and hydraulic 
 works of almost every deseription ; which are occupied toa great 
 extent. The rapid march of manufacturing and mechanical in- 
 dustry, which the short annals of this place disclose, has few 
 examples in our country, and has produced one of the most con- 
 siderable and flourishing manufacturing places in the United 
 States, and the village is built upon both sides of it, being partly 
 in Rhode Island and partly in Massachusetts. That part of the 
 village which is in Rhode Island, is principally built on four streets ; 
 and comprises eighty-three dwelling-houses, and twelve mercantile 
 stores. There are six shops engaged in the manufacturing of 
 -machinery, having the advantage of water-power; and various 
 other mechanical establishments, affording extensive employment 
 and supporting a dense population. Upon the Massachusetts side 
 of the river, there isa village of nearly equal size and con- 
 sequence, for its manufacturing and other interests. Besides the 
 cotton business, there are in the town two furnaces for casting, one 
 slitting mill, two anchor shops, two screw manufactories, three 
 grain mills, one clothier’s works, &c. fourteen stores, three places 
 of worship, two academies, and eight schools. 
 
 Here the first Sunday-school was taught in New England. 
 
 Pawtucket had advanced with uninterrupted prosperity; in con- 
 sequence of the superior road to Providence, it was viewed asa 
 suburb of the city, and the intercourse was a continual stream of 
 carriages, and conveyances of cotton, returning with cloth and 
 other manufactured goods. 
 
 Iron works, machinery, nail manufactory, flour mills, as well as 
 the cotton manufacture, were carried on in the first style ; till such 
 a demand for houses, tenements, &c. obliged the inhabitants to 
 build in a rapid manner, so that its appearance as a place of busi- 
 ness surpassed any other of its size and dimensions ; all its water 
 was fully occupied. This was the cradle of the cotton business, 
 and the consequence of Slater’s spinning frame. 
 
 Previous to 1829, Pawtucket presented a village of steady and 
 increasing prosperity ; every man, woman, and child, found full 
 
 33 
 
258 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 employment, at the highest rate of wages. 'Those who knew the 
 place in 1790,* were astonished at the rapidity with which build- 
 ings of every description arose. And though in the vicinity of 
 Providence, every article of commerce was kept for sale in elegant 
 shops and stores. The cotton mills never ceased to operate their 
 thousands of spindles which had been erected, and produced a 
 quantity of cloth almost incredible to those unacquainted with the 
 power and speed of the water frame and power loom, of the latest 
 improvement. Here, machinery was manufactured for other parts 
 
 *In Benedict’s history, 1813, is the following notice :—“ The manufactur- 
 ing of cottun on Arkwright’s plan was begun in Pawtucket, in 1790, by 
 Samuel Slater, Esq. from England. There are now in this village, and 
 near, almost 7000 spindles in operation, and within a mile and a quarter of 
 it, including both sides of the river, are buildings erected, capable of contain- 
 ing about 12,000 more. In 1810, according to an account taken by John K. 
 Pitman of Providence, in the state of Rhode Island, only, were thirty-nine 
 factories, in which over 30,000 spindles were running, and the same factories 
 were capable of containing about as many more. The number of spindles 
 in this state only is, in 1813, probably not far from 50,000. In 1810, the 
 gentleman above mentioned ascertained, that within thirty miles of Provi-, 
 dence, which includes a considerable territory in Massachusetts, and a small 
 portion of Connecticut, there were seventy-six factories, capable of contain- 
 ing 111,000 spindles. The number of spindles now in actual operation 
 within this circumference are said to be 120,000. The amount of yarn spun 
 each week is not far from 110,000 pounds, or 5,500,000 a year. This side 
 of the river Delaware, the number of cotton factories of different dimensions, 
 built and building, are estimated at five hundred. We may add to the 
 account of places of worship in Rhode Island, that there are many new 
 commodious school houses, in the neighbourhood of the factories, built by 
 their owners on purpose for public worship, as well as schools. 
 
 “In 1809, seventeen cotton mills were in operation within the town of 
 Providence and its vicinity, working 14,296 spindles, and using 640,000 
 pounds of cotton, which yielded 510,000 pounds of yarn. About 1000 
 looms were employed in Weaving. - At that time seven additional mills were 
 erecting in the vicinity of the town. One was in operation in Hast Green- 
 wich with five hundred spindles. The cloths manufactured were bed-tick- 
 ing, stripes and checks, ginghams, shirting, and counterpanes. They are 
 superior to imported goods of the same kind. ‘There was then a woollen 
 manufactory in Warwick and another at Portsmouth. About 50,000 hats 
 were then made annually, worth $5 each, exclusive of felt hats. A number 
 of paper mills are established. Linen and tow cloth are made extensively, 
 as well as rum, cards, chocolate, and the coarser manufactures of iron. At 
 North Providence, in 1795, there were erected on the Pawtucket, three 
 anchor forges, one slitting mill, two machines for cutting nails, one tanning 
 mill, one oil mill, three snuff mills, one grist mill, one cotton manufactory, 
 one clothier’s works, and three fulling mills; they all go by water. Their 
 number in 1812 was much increased.” 
 
a4 
 
 f 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE COTTON iSUSINESS. 259 
 
 of the country, and the very best mechanics from Europe found 
 ready employment. ‘There was a time when wheat was brought 
 from the west to the flour mills. These, together with nail facto- 
 ries and other iron works, caused Pawtucket to be a place of busi- 
 ness. The road from Pawtucket to Providence was equal to any 
 — in the world, and was the admiration of travellers ; it connected 
 North Providence with the city, and the intercourse was incessant. 
 Churches and schools were created in sufficient numbers to edu- 
 cate the youth, and accommodate the whole of the inhabitants in 
 their different modes of worship. 
 
 The cotton manufactories of Smithfield, R. I. (1819) are import- 
 ant and extensive. ‘There are nine factories, all of which contain 
 more than 11,000 spindles. About one half of these belong to one 
 establishment, owned by Almy, Brown and Slaters. This mill is 
 situated upon the aforesaid branch of the Pawtucket river, about 
 one mile and a half from its junction, being an excellent site for 
 hydraulic works. At this place, there is a large and flourishing 
 village called Slatersville, comprising from six to eight hundred 
 inhabitants. This village is of recent date, having grown up with 
 the manufacturing business, which may be considered as the 
 parent of it. It is impossible to contemplate such a village as this, 
 without the most pleasing sensations and reflections. ‘What a seat 
 of wealth, a focus of activity, and a nursery of industry! What a 
 display of mechanical ingenuity, and what a developement of the 
 importance and influence of the useful arts! What-a combination 
 and variety of operations, what diversity of employment, and what 
 a number of distinct and curious processes are comprised in the 
 manufacture of those fabrics requisite to supply the wants which 
 the refinements of society occasion! Who can look upon such 
 manufacturing villages as this, without regarding them as the 
 germs of the future Manchesters of America? In addition to the 
 cotton factories which have been noticed, there 1s another esta- 
 blishment, containing 8000 spindles, which is supposed to be 
 within the bounds of this town, owned by Butler, Wheaton, & Co. 
 of Providence. | 
 
 Smithfield is well supplied with schools, there being twenty 
 regular ones, which are provided with suitable houses, and are 
 maintained through the year, and several private schools; three 
 incorporated academies ; four social libraries; and four places of 
 worship. There is a remarkable fall of water upon the Pawtucket 
 river, called Woonsocket Falls, which is a curiosity. The fall is 
 about twenty feet ; it is not perpendicular, but over a precipice of 
 rocks for some distance. The fall of the water upon these rocks, 
 
260 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 through a succession of ages, has occasioned numerous excava- 
 tions, all of which are smooth and circular, and some of them 
 very large, being sufficient to contain several hogsheads. 
 
 Cuepacuet, (Gloucester, R. I.) Noy. 1831. 
 
 Dear sir,—This village is sixteen miles north west of Providence, and 
 contains about six hundred inhabitants, a church, a school house, and a fire 
 engine ; it is on a branch of the Blackstone. Here are three cotton factories, 
 two of them belong to H. B. Lymon & Co., who run 1452 spindles, 41 
 looms, employ 60 hands, consume 125 bales of New Orleans cotton of 400 
 pounds each, or 50,000 Ibs. a year, and make 270,000 yards of No. 30 printing 
 goods ; the other one belongs to Arnold & Wood, who run 1000 spindles, 23 
 looms, employ about 20 hands, and work up 800lbs. a week, or 40,000lbs. a 
 year—they make 3000 yards a week, or 150,000 yards a year, of shirting. 
 
 About eight miles from this settlement, I struck upon a small stream, 
 called the Woonsocket. There is no stream that I have yet seen, for 
 its size, that sustains so many manufacturing establishments as this little 
 river does, There are on its banks twenty-five mills of various kinds, 
 giving support and employment to about thirteen hundred persons. On this 
 stream the first power looms in Rhode Island were put into operation. It is 
 indeed a little river, but it is more valuable to the country from the efficient 
 industry that it sustains, than if its waters flowed over a bed of auriferous 
 lands. 
 
 On this stream there are, also, two reservoirs, belonging to the several 
 mill proprietors, who are united into a company for the purpose, under an 
 act of incorporation—the first ever constructed under the authority of this 
 state for use of mills. The reservoirs contain 200 acres, with an average 
 depth of eight feet, and to be drawn off in seasons of drought. My leisure 
 did not admit of my visiting the mills on this stream: I therefore commenced 
 at the Georgia Manufacturing Mills. Their main building is of stone, four 
 stories high, and 180 feet long; they run 3700 spindles, 104 looms, employ 
 150 hands, and work up 3000lbs. of cotton a week, or 156,000lbs. a year. 
 They manufacture printing goods, and turn out 13,500 yards a week, or 
 675,000 in a year. Samuel Nightingale, Esq., is the agent at Providence, 
 and Israel Saunders at the factories. | 
 
 Half a mile below, is another large establishment, belonging to Philip 
 Allen, Esq. There is a stone building 125 feet long, with several ramifica- 
 tions of brick and wood, all painted white, which gives it an aspect of neat- 
 ness and beauty : 4300 spindles and 100 looms are run, giving employment 
 to 130 operatives. Here are made only fine goods, from No. 45 to 50. 
 H. Holden, agent. 
 
 Another half a mile below this, Richard Anthony & Son have a cotton 
 mill of 768 spindles, 22 looms, giving employment to 30 hands; they work 
 up 80 bales of cotton, and make 2200 yards of sheetings a week, or 111,000 
 inayear. Ashort distance from here, the Centre Manufacturing Company 
 have a stone mill of 2475 spindles, 60 looms, and employ 75 hands. They 
 make sheetings. They use 2500lbs. of cotton a week, or 125,000Ibs. in a 
 year, and turn out 7500 yards a week, or 375,000 a year. James Anthony 
 is the agent of both these establishments. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 261 
 
 Something short of a mile from the last mill, you come to Zachariah 
 Allen, Esq.’s woollen manufactory. It is of stone, 60 feet by 40, four stories 
 high, with out, buildings for dyeing, &c. There are 600 spindles, 21 broad- 
 cloth looms, which give employment to 60 hands. He works up 50,000lbs. 
 of wool, and makes 65 yards a day, or 22,500 yards a year, of broadcloth, 
 valued at from three to four dollars a yard. John Wait, agent. 
 
 Mr. Allen’s mill is about four miles from Providence. As you proceed 
 down the stream you come to the Lyman Manufacturing Company’s esta- 
 blishment. They have two mills, and run 2200 spindles, 60 looms, and 
 employ 75 hands. They make 11,000 yards a week, or 550,000 yards a year 
 of printing goods. Three quarters of a mile below, Manton & Kelley run 
 800 spindles, 26 looms—employ about 30 hands, and make 5,500 yards a 
 week of printing goods, equal. to 275,000 yards in a year. The Marino mills 
 are three miles from Providence, and belong to Franklin & Waterman. 
 They run 1656 spindles, 78 looms, and employ 80 hands: they make 7000 
 yards a week, or 350,000 a year. Two miles from Providence, in the village 
 of Johnston, Ephraim Talbot and others, have 1500 spindles, 40 looms, and 
 employ 65 hands. They make 5,500 yards a week of seven-eighth sheetings, 
 which is equal to 275,000 yards ina year. Half a mile below, R. Water- 
 man has two mills—one for the making of oil, the other for brown paper. 
 The last establishment on the Woonsocket, and to me the most inte- 
 resting, is Salmon Townsend & Co.’s manufactory of hat bodies. Mr. 
 Joseph Grant is the company and the inventor of machinery. He is a 
 native of Rhode Island, and has been possessed of his patent for ten years. 
 They work up 200lbs. of wool a day, and make in the same time 1000 hat 
 bodies, or 300,000 in a year. I should like to give you a description of the 
 machinery, but it requires more technicalites than I am possessed of to do it 
 justice—beside, although simple in itself, it should be seen in operation to 
 form a just estimate of the genius that invented it, and of the great value it 
 is to the country. 
 
 WOONSOCKET FALLS. 
 
 The following article is from the pen of a correspondent of the 
 New York Transcript, under date, ‘“ Smithfield, R. I., April 12.” 
 The writer ought to have said Woonsocket Falls may be denomi- 
 nated the “capital of Smithfield and Cumberland.” 'The Black- 
 stone river is the dividing line between the towns, at this place, 
 and the principal part of the village lies in Cumberland. 'The 
 writer says— 
 
 This is a delightful town. It is the “bordershire” of the state, and joins 
 the county of Worcester, one of the richest, most healthful, and enterprising 
 sections of country to be found on the face of the globe——The town of 
 Smithfield, for many years had devoted itself exclusively to agricultural 
 pursuits, but of late has become the very focus of “ American industry.” 
 The Blackstone river and canal runs through it, and the almost endless 
 variety of scenery with which it abounds, gives it many advantages over the 
 ordinary inland towns of New England. It largely participates in the in- 
 
262 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 dustry of the day, and probably operates a greater number of spindles than 
 any town or village this side of the Potomac. ) 
 
 The village of Woonsocket, which may be denominated the “capital of 
 Smithfield,” is at the fall of the Blackstone river, and drives a very heavy 
 as well as a profitable business. I am informed that upwards of fifty thou- 
 sand spindles are operated at this place, to say nothing of an immense 
 quantity of other machinery. The village partakes of all the variety of 
 pastoral beauty, and its cliffs and waterfalls, and bubbling rivulets, are pre- 
 eminently calculated to give inspiration to the poet. 
 
 The mill sites at Woonsocket are very valuable; it is said they could 
 not be purchased for half a million of dollars, and yet the whole village was 
 sold twenty years ago for twenty thousand dollars. The price given for it 
 at that time was considered exorbitant; and its former proprietor, James 
 Arnold, Esq., has, I believe, made some legal attempts to get the estates 
 back again. In all this he has been unsuccessful ; and the consequence has 
 been, tedious and vexatious litigation, without the attainment of a single 
 object. 
 
 The village and most of its “ dependencies” belong to capitalists of Pro- 
 vidence, and in their operations they give employment to some hundreds if 
 not thousands. Although I am not an advocate of the “ factory system,” 
 and know that it is full of abuses, I must confess that the appearance of the 
 operatives of Woonsocket goes in no small degree to repel and repudiate the 
 objections that have been so often and forcibly urged against manufacturing 
 establishments. The whole body of spinners have the appearance of com- 
 fort and domestic happiness, and if they do not enjoy these rich and desira- 
 ble blessings, I am deceived in my calculations. 
 
 a 
 
 Souru Oxrorp, Slaterville, Nov. 1831. 
 
 Dear sir,—The town of Douglas is about an equal distance from Uxbridge 
 and this place, being about six miles fromeach. The source of the Mumford 
 river, which I have heretofore named to you, is within four miles of Douglas, 
 and is from Manchoug, Wallace, and Badluck Ponds. On this stream and 
 in the east part of the town, the Douglas Manufacturing Company have 
 two mills—one of stone, and both five stories high. They have 4,000 
 spindles, 119 looms, and employ 200 hands. They work up 275,000lbs. of 
 cotton into 1,000,000 of yards of printing goods. They have, also, a small 
 woollen concern for making bockings ; but it is to be relinquished, as it does 
 not answer their expectations—Samuel Lovett, agent. Douglas contains 
 2,000 inhabitants, and three places of public worship. 
 
 Slaterville embraces a part of Dudley, as well as of this town, and an 
 effort is to be made, I understand, to have it set off as a separate and inde- 
 pendent town. Here resides Samuel Slater, Esq. the patriarch of manufac- 
 tures in this country. It is only known to a few that the world is indebted 
 to this gentleman for the discovery of cotton thread. In 1794, while spin- 
 ning a quantity of Sea Island cotton, the evenness and beauty of the yarn 
 attracted the attention of Mrs. Slater. The question arose, if this is doubled 
 and twisted, why will it not make good sewing thread? The experiment 
 was made, and in order to be fully satisfied of the result, a sheet was made 
 with one half of linen thread and the other half with the cotton. It was 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 263 
 
 immediately put into use, and the first thread that gave way was the linen ! 
 From this period, he commenced the manufacture of thread, and it soon 
 spread into England, France, and other European countries, where it is 
 generally supposed to be of English origin. 
 
 Mr. Slater is also the author of Sunday schools in this country, the good 
 effects of which will be more durable than monuments of marble. He is 
 now in his 64th year. His benevolence and philanthropy have been co-ex- 
 tensive with his means; and few have done more to bring young and enter- 
 prising men into business than Samuel Slater. He has, probably, now a 
 larger amount employed in manufactures than any single individual in the 
 United States. The firm here is Samuel Slater & Sons. 
 
 They have seven mills—two of stone, three of brick, and two of wood. 
 Five of these derive their power from French river; the other two are in the 
 centre of the village, and obtain their power from Slater’s lake; the Indian 
 of which is Chorgoggaggoggmanchogga. ,It is a large pond more than 
 four miles long, and is a never failing source of supply. They use 6,000 
 spindles, and 90 looms, employ 180 hands, and work up 1,000 bales of cotton, 
 which produces 15,000 yards a week, beside large quantities of satinet 
 warps, and sewing thread. They manufacture, also, broad cloths, cassi- 
 meres, and satinets. In this branch of their business, they use 600lbs. of 
 wool a day, or 180,000|bs. a year. 
 
 GENERAL JACKSON’S VISIT TO PAWTUCKET. 
 
 The present chief magistrate of the Union, in company with the 
 vice president, waited on Mr. Slater, at his house, to thank him, 
 and congratulate him, as the representative of this great republic, 
 as a friend and benefactor of the country, by introducing among 
 them valuable machinery, before unknown, which has changed 
 the whole policy of the nation. In particular, it has promoted the 
 growth of cotton at the south, and changed the whole face of New 
 England, and thereby made the solitary places literally glad. It 
 has raised amidst rocks and barren land the most beautiful villages, 
 teaming with joy and gladness. Forming a numerous population, 
 not ignorant and vicious, not ragged and oppressed, but paid, fed, 
 and dressed, with the best the country affords; not sunken in 
 profligacy and dissipation, but raised in intelligence, and morals, 
 as well as religious feeling, beyond the other parts of the States. 
 When the president witnessed these scenes of honest industry, of 
 happiness and plenty, of order and decorum, examples of sobriety 
 and morals—he expressed the highest satisfaction. When he was 
 told, that the man who introduced the foundation of this prosperity 
 resided in the village, but was confined to his house by a rheumatic 
 disorder, the consequence of his early exposure in operating his 
 first machinery, President Jackson, with his suite, repaired to the 
 house to pay his respects to the man who had thus benefited our 
 
264 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 common country. With the affability and complaisance so peculiar 
 to General Jackson, he addressed Mr. Slater as the father of the 
 American manufactures, as the man who had erected the first 
 valuable machinery, and who had spun yarn to make the first 
 cotton-cloth in America; and who had, by his superintendence 
 and direction, as well as by intense personal labour, erected the 
 first colton-mill in Rhode Island; which was first in the land of 
 the pilgrims. General Jackson, who had been informed of these 
 particulars, entered into familiar conversation on the subject. “I 
 understand,” said the president, “ you taught us how to spin, so as 
 to rival Great Britain in her manufactures ; you set all these thou- 
 sands of spindles at work, which I have been delighted in viewing, 
 and which have made so many happy, by a lucrative employment.” 
 ““Yes, sir,” said Slater, “I suppose that I gave out the psalm, and 
 they have been singing to the tune ever since.” “ We are glad to 
 hear also, that you have realised something for yourself and 
 family,” said the vice president. “‘ Yes, sir, | have obtained a com- 
 petency.” “We are all glad to hear that.” “So am I glad to 
 know it,” said Slater ; “ for I should not like to be a pauper, in this 
 country, where they are put up at auction to the lowest bidder.” 
 
 After this social talk with the president and his suite, General 
 Jackson observed in parting—‘“ It must give you great pleasure to 
 see health and prosperity spread all around you, and to see the 
 progress which has been made, since you first came amongst us ; 
 the change is very great, I am told that cotton cloth is lower than 
 was ever known before. I trust you will persevere and go on to 
 perfection.” “Cotton cloth is rather too low for profit, but I 
 suppose it is as good as raising corn for fifty cents per bushel, so 
 that we must not complain.” 
 
 I visited the present Mrs. Slater, at her house in Pawtucket, 
 hi. I. for the purpose of conversing with her on the last sickness 
 of her deceased. husband ; and nothing could exceed the reverence 
 and affection with which she spoke of him; his firmness and for- 
 
 . bearance in conducting his business ; his abilities to regulate his 
 _ numerous concerns; how he always relied on his own resources ; 
 ‘his deep sense of gratitude for the care and goodness of a benignant 
 Providence over him, from his youth up; when, left in early life 
 without a father’s watchful eye to guide him, he bound himself to 
 Mr. Strutt; when he left his native land, and visited a land of 
 strangers, without introduction ora single acquaintance, in rais- 
 ing him up friends, especially a father in Oziel Wilkinson, and 
 beloved companion ; and in affording him opportunities to prose- 
 cute his enterprise ; for these mercies, and others innumerable, 1 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 265 
 
 have great canse for gratitude. He bore his various pains and 
 sicknesses with great patience, though he disliked that any one 
 should have the particular care of him but Mrs. Slater, who was 
 constantly at his call, and watching over his wishes, to alleviate 
 his complaints, and afford him all that a tender and affectionate 
 female can afford her best friend in distress. 'These consolations 
 he had to the last ; she watched over his dying moments, and his 
 dying breathings, and heard the last word he uttered, “ Farewedl.”* 
 That final word closed all his communications with man on earth ; 
 whereby he bade adieu to his wife and children and to all his con- 
 cerns. Mrs. Slater has endeared herself to his children, for her 
 constant and unwearied care to them when young, and to those 
 of them who died after her marriage to Mr. Slater. 
 
 The writer of this memoir can give testimony with what fidelity 
 and judgment she took the charge of Mr. Slater’s domestic con- 
 cerns—the whole care of his family ; which she conducted in a 
 style becoming their situation; and though the last seventeen 
 years were in a great measure years of sorrow and afiliction, yet 
 his situation was greatly alleviated by a faithful friend and a 
 partner of his griefs. Our deceased friend was sensible of her 
 value to him; he arranged her property, and adjusted his will in 
 all respects satisfactorily and agreeable to the wishes of his widow, 
 according to their mutual agreements. Mrs. Slater knew him 
 and lived with him when his mental powers were fully developed ; 
 he had improved himself by much reading of the best authors in 
 the English language. His perceptions were quick and his obser- 
 vations of mankind very extensive and penetrating. He knew 
 the depth of every person he conversed with ; his particular dis- 
 like was to falsehood, deception, and dishonesty; other faults he 
 appeared readily to forgive, these he never passed over without 
 severe censure. It was no wonder that so indefatigable a man as 
 he was himself, should dislike listlessness and idleness; he used 
 to say, “I will help those who will try to help themselves; but 
 
 * Found in Mr. Slater’s bible, written on a small piece of paper, a short — 
 time before his death; his mind had been depressed by some afflictive cir- 
 cumstances which weighed on him. Also the passage in Judges, chap. X. 
 15th verse, was marked by a leaf being turned down. i ee g 
 
 Psalms, chap. XLII. 11th verse,—“ Why art thou cast down, O my soul, ~ 
 and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet 
 praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. 3 
 
 Prov. chap. XVII. 28th verse,—‘ Even a fool when he holdeth his peace 
 is counted eb ane he that shutteth his lips is esteemed.” 
 
266 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 those who will not, I do not see it my duty; such ought to suffer 
 the consequences of their indolence ;” this was a fixed principle 
 with him. His tenderness to animals, and every thing under his 
 care, whether cat or dog, horse or cow, sheep or oxen, showed 
 that he was of a merciful disposition. He was not cruel and 
 morose, though he was frequently silent and reserved, especially 
 to persons with whom he was not intimate. It took some time for 
 him to unbend and become easy and talkative; but when he did, 
 his conversation was worth hearing; and his sons hung on his 
 lips, and all his people treasured up his sayings and observations 
 as So many oracles of wisdom. 
 
 With Obadiah Brown (his partner, mentioned in the note below) * 
 he formed a close and sincere friendship, and always spoke of his 
 Joss with sincere regret. In the year 1829, he observed to me, “I 
 should not have been so tried, if Obadiah Brown had been living.” 
 This affection was reciprocal; for there was no one in whom the 
 son of Moses Brown -placed more confidence, than in Samuel 
 Slater, whom he named as his executor in his will; and showed, 
 to his last moments, how highly he esteemed his valuable partner 
 at the “ Old Mill.” 
 
 * Whereas there are acts unsettled between William Almy and Obadiah 
 Brown, under the firm of Almy & Brown, and Samuel Slater, commencing 
 from the year one thousand eight hundred and three, and continuing to the 
 present time, and whereas they being desirous to bring them to a close, 
 have in order thereto mutually and hereby fully agree that the following 
 terms shall be the final close thereof up to the first day in the present year, 
 viz. that Alrny & Brown pay to Samuel Slater the sum of five thousand 
 dollars, and that the stock in the mill, and in the hands of Almy & Brown, 
 and Samuel Slater, or in the hands of their agents, as well as all debts due 
 to them as owners of the cotton mill at Pawtucket, shall continue and belong 
 to them in the several proportions which they hold in the said mill, say one 
 third to each person; and that all their acts with each other of every name 
 be considered as settled up to the said first day of the present year ; and that 
 the said acts, whether in the mill books, or in the books of either Almy & 
 Brown, or Samuel Slater, be entered balanced up to the first day of the said 
 present year, excepting so far as relates to the balances of stock and out- 
 standing debts, which at that time was in the hands of the said Almy & 
 Brown, and the said Samuel Slater or their agents, which stock and debts 
 belonged to them as owners of the said cotton mill at Pawtucket, shall, as 
 beforesaid, continue to belong to them as heretofore. It is also understood 
 that all the notes and mortgages which they hold together as owners of the 
 cotton mill aforesaid, shall be considered as belonging to them the same as 
 the balances of stock and outstanding debts of any other description. It is 
 also agreed that all notes which they have of each other, that is to say 
 against each other, shall be given up as included in this settlement; and 
 that this agreement and conclusion shall be binding upon them, the said 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 267 
 
 CABOTSVILLE. 
 
 This pleasant village is growing up with astonishing rapidity, 
 and bids fair to become, at no very distant day, a second Lowell. 
 A few weeks produce changes here that almost destroy the identity 
 
 of the place, and give to the visiter new objects of admiration on 
 
 every repetition of his visit. Streets are cut in every direction, 
 and dwellings and shops going up as if by some magic influence ; 
 yet, notwithstanding the changes that are wrought from week to 
 week by the spirited enterprise of its citizens, the influx of popu- 
 lation and the increase of business ; its growth seems to be that of 
 health, and warranted by its extremely favourable location and 
 business facilities. "The water power at this place is immense ; 
 and as yet, scarcely begun to be occupied. ‘There is a neatness, 
 too, and good taste in the location of the streets and the arrange- 
 ment of buildings, which is not common in manufacturing villages, 
 and which reflects great credit upon those who have superintended 
 the arrangement. The cotton factories are extensive, and in 
 appearance resembling those at Lowell. We were politely con- 
 ducted through the different establishments at this place’ a few 
 days since, by a friend connected with one of them, .and were 
 highly pleased with the perfect good order which prevailed in 
 every department—every one apparently understanding and dis- 
 charging his duties with a promptness and ease which showed 
 familiarity with the occupation. From the cotton factories and 
 machine shops we proceeded to the sword establishment of N. P. 
 Ames. ‘This is well worth a visit from every one who has a taste 
 for finished cutlery. Mr. Ames is a contractor under government 
 for the manufacturing of swords for the officers of the army and 
 navy of the United States. 
 
 The flourishing village of Willimantic is situated in Windham 
 county, Connecticut, on the Willimantic river, near its confluence 
 with another small river called the Natchaug. It extends about a 
 mile along the former stream. ‘'T'welve years ago, there were less 
 than a dozen houses, and those very indifferent ones, on the site 
 
 Almy & Brown, and the said Samuel Slater, their heirs, executors, and 
 
 administrators. Agreed to and signed, this nineteenth day of second month, 
 
 called February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 nineteen. Aimy & Brown. 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Witnesses, Samuel Slater, Jun., John Slater. 
 
 Obadiah Brown, named in this agreement, took the place of Smith Brown, 
 
 and continued in the business till his death. 
 
268 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of the present village.* Now there are four manufacturing esta- 
 blishments here, (running twelve thousand eight hundred spindles, 
 and making annually two millions nine hundred and fifteen thou- 
 sand yards of cotton cloth,) besides a very superior paper mill 
 lately erected, where printing paper of the best quality is made in 
 great quantities, and there is also a small sattinet manufactory. 
 There are three houses for public worship in the village,—two 
 free and three private schools, a public library, six stores where 
 goods are retailed, and one hundred dwelling houses, containing, 
 many of them, from two to four families each. I have resided 
 three years in Willimantic, and have no hesitation in asserting, 
 from personal experience and observation, that the schools are as 
 well attended here, the scholars, generally, as forward in their 
 education, and the inhabitants as moral in their conversation and 
 conduct, as the people of the neighbouring towns where the manu- 
 facturing system has not yet been introduced. 
 
 A great proportion of the inhabitants of this place, before they 
 came here, were possessed of little or no property. Many of them 
 were in a state of abject poverty. Not owning land for cultivation, 
 and having been educated to no trade, they had no regular employ- 
 ment for themselves or for their families, nor means of supporting 
 them. To them the manufacturing system has indeed proved a 
 blessing. It has furnished them and their children with steady 
 employment, enabled them to clothe their families and obtain for 
 them a regular and comfortable subsistence, and to give their 
 children a decent education. 
 
 ‘The system, therefore, as it respects the classes above mentioned, 
 (and they constitute three fourths of the population ofall the 
 manufacturing villages,) works well; and no objections can be 
 offered against it which cannot, in my opinion, be readily and 
 satisfactorily answered. | 
 
 oy 
 
 GREENEVILLE. 
 
 This beautiful village, situated on the west bank of Shetucket 
 river, a little below its junction with the Quinebaug, and five 
 
 * No chapter in the history of national manners would illustrate so well 
 the progress of social life, as that dedicated to domestic architecture. The 
 fashions of dress and of amusement are generally capricious and irreducible 
 to rule, but every change in the dwellings of mankind, from the log house to 
 the stately mansion, has been dictated by some principle of convenience, 
 neatness, comfort or magnificence. . 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 269 
 
 hundred rods above steam and packet navigation, has had almost 
 as rapid a growth as the villages of the west. In the year 1828, 
 the general assembly of Connecticut granted a charter to a com- 
 pany of individuals under the name of the “ Norwich Water 
 Power Company,” the object of which was the construction of 
 works to bring into use the immense water power then wholly 
 unoccupied at this place. The capital of the company was 
 $40,000; and having purchased a large tract of land lying on 
 both sides of the river, they proceeded to erect adam and dig a 
 canal, through which the water of the river, necessary for manu- 
 facturing purposes, might flow. 
 
 These works required much skill and labour. The river at 
 this place is much larger than any other in this section of the 
 country across which a dam had ever been erected for manufac- 
 turing purposes, and there are perhaps few if any larger in the 
 United States. It was doubted by many whether a dam could be 
 made to stand permanently against so powerful a stream, and one 
 subject also to great annual freshets. It was built of stone, in 
 length 280 feet, and of a character so solid and substantial, as 
 when finished there seemed little reason to apprehend that it 
 would be carried away. Experience thus far has strengthened 
 this opinion. The abutments of this dam are certainly very 
 handsome and durable specimens of stone masonry. 'The canal 
 is about one mile (4620 feet) in length, 46 in width at the surface, 
 and 10 feet deep. These works were completed in 1830. 
 
 It will be recollected that the manufacturing business was in a 
 state of great depression about this period of time ; so great indeed 
 that many persons entertained the belief that it would never 
 revive again in New England. The prospect was gloomy indeed, 
 but the work had been commenced and was vigorously prose- 
 cuted. The growth of the village, as has been ‘remarked, has 
 been most rapid. It already contains about sixty dwelling houses, 
 one church, two stores,.one tavern, three firms of carpenters 
 engaged in building, one firm of masons, one shoemaker’s esta- 
 blishment, one tailor’s, two milliner’s, and one blacksmith’s, (be- 
 sides a blacksmithery establishment connected with each manu- 
 factory). Population about 850. 
 
 Of the manufacturing establishments, it may be proper to speak 
 more in detail. 
 
 The largest is that of the Thames Company, for the manufac- 
 ture of cotton cloth. It is one of the finest edifices of the kind in 
 New England, being built of brick, five stories high, 138 in length 
 by 44 in width. There are employed in it about 180 persons of 
 
d 
 
 270 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 different ages and sexes; about 42,000 Ibs. of cotton are worked 
 up in it per month, and about 132,000 yards of cloth manufac- 
 tured in the same space of time. 
 
 The mill of Messrs. Kennedy & ‘Tillinghast, the Shetucket 
 Tick Factory, for the manufacture of bed ticking, contains 1650 
 spindles, and employs about 70 persons. About 14,000lbs. of 
 cotton are worked, and 28,000 yards of cloth manufactured each 
 month. : Mee 
 
 The Greeneville Manufacturing Co. employs about 50 persons, 
 and turns out about 12,000 yards of flannel per month, using for 
 that purpose about 4800lbs. of wool. 
 
 The Chelsea Manufacturing Company employs about 20 per- 
 sons in the manufacture of paper. About 2800lbs. of rags are 
 worked up each day. Some idea of the amount of business done 
 by this company may be inferred from the fact, that the paper 
 sold to a single newspaper establishment in the city of New York, 
 amounts to about $20,000 per annum. 
 
 In addition to these establishments there are two manufactories 
 of carpets, one of which is just getting into operation, and which 
 together employ about 30 persons; a machine shop which employs 
 about 20 men ; a manufactory of wood-screws which employs a 
 similar number ; a window sash and blind manufactory which em- 
 ploys about a dozen; and a manufactory of mould buttons which 
 employs about 20 persons. ‘The place is still increasing, nume- 
 rous dwelling houses and stores now being in progress. A num- 
 ber of very eligible sites for manufacturing establishments of any 
 description are yet unoccupied, and there is a large amount of 
 water power unemployed. No ardent spirits are sold at any place 
 within the limits originally purchased by the Water Power Com- 
 pany, and in all deeds or grants of land made by them, is a clause 
 requiring the observance of that regulation, the penalty for the 
 violation of which, if persisted in, after thirty days’ notice in 
 writing given to discontinue the same, is a forfeiture of the build- 
 ing where the offence shall have been committed, with the land | 
 annexed to the same, to the granters, their successors and 
 assigns. 
 
 The village is situated in a delightful tract of country, and is 
 very neat and attractive in its appearance. 'The dwellings, though 
 not large, contain generally from two to four families, most of 
 which take boarders. Being all painted white, they have a uni- 
 form and handsome appearance, and seem to be the abode of 
 industry and contentment. The place derives its name from 
 William P. Greene, Esq. formerly of Boston, now of this city, to 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS.’ 271 
 
 whose capital and publfe spirit, not merely this village, but this 
 town and vicinity are very largely indebted for their prosperity. 
 
 The theme we have selected would seem to afford little room 
 for the exercise of the fancy or the imagination. Still, the scene 
 where our article is laid, is by no means barren of poetical asso- 
 ciations. ‘The brave and warlike Miantonimo, the sachem of the 
 Narragansets, lies buried on the estate of the Water Power Com- 
 pany, all unconscious of the buzzing wheels and whirring spindles 
 which are revolving so rapidly around his last resting place. 
 We may as well add that the grave of Uncas, the sachem 
 of the Mohicans, is also in the vicinity, near the residence of the 
 Hon. Calvin Goddard. Miantonimo, it will be remembered, was 
 defeated and taken prisoner by Uncas, and subsequently put to 
 death. Life’s fitful fever being over, the victorious and the van- 
 quished, the captive and the conqueror, sleep quietly and peace- 
 fully together. 
 
 There are a number of cotton and woollen factories established 
 in the towns along the Ohio. Cincinnati is a rival of Pittsburg, 
 in manufactures of iron, &c. There are a number of furnaces 
 for smelting iron ore, in the counties along the Ohio, particularly 
 in the region of Hocking River. Glass is manufactured in seve- 
 ral towns in the same part of the state. Iron is also made in some 
 of the counties bordering on Lake Erie. On the Muskingum, 
 below Zanesville, salt is manufactured at various places, for about 
 thirty miles,—260,000 bushels are made annually. Considerable 
 quantities are also made on Yellow Creek, about fourteen.or fifteen 
 miles above Steubenville. In 1830, there were, in this state, 
 $334,672 invested in the manufacture of salt, and 446,350 bushels 
 were made. In every town and village in the state, all the ordi- 
 nary manufactures, such as hats, cabinet ware, &c., are made to 
 an extent proportioned to the demand. And almost every farmer 
 is the manufacturer of a large part of the articles of wearing 
 apparel, &c. which his family need. It is impossible to make any 
 estimate of these things ; if it could be done, it would exhibit a very 
 great amount of manufactures of this sort, and of immense value. 
 
 Cincinnati is the great commercial emporium of Ohio,—and, 
 next to New Orleans, the largest city in the valley of the Misaia: 
 sippi. It was founded in 1789. There have been built, at this 
 city, no less than one hundred and fifty steamboats! 'The value of 
 the manufactures of this city is very great; exceeding $2,500,000 
 annually! Vast quantities of cabinet ihe hats, &c., are here 
 made for exportation. 
 
 1. There are ten foundries, including a brass and bell foundry, 
 
Qh MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and one for casting type. 2. There are three or four cotton facto- 
 ries, and fifteen rolling mills, and steam engine factories and shops. 
 3. There are five breweries. 4. There is a button factory, and a 
 steam coopering establishment, where several thousand barrels 
 are made, annually, by machinery, propelled by steam. 5. Two 
 steam flour mills, and five or six steam saw mills. 6. There is 
 one chemical laboratory. There are not less than forty different 
 manufacturing establishments driven by steam power. 
 
 “We had the pleasure,” says a traveller, “a few days since, of 
 visiting the works of this company, situated on the north bank of 
 the Appomattox, about four miles from Petersburgh, and were no 
 less gratified by the beauty and substantial appearance of the 
 buildings than surprised at the expedition with which they have 
 been erected. 'They consist of two cotton mills, three stories high, 
 a machine shop and sizing house, built of granite of a superior 
 quality, obtained from a quarry on the company’s land. 'The 
 principal mill is 118 feet long by 44 feet wide ; the other 90 feet 
 long by 40 feet wide. They will contain about 4,000 spindles 
 and 170 looms; a large portion of which have been set up and 
 ready for use. In addition to these buildings, the company have 
 erected a granite house for a store, and fifteen or twenty frame 
 tenements, as residences for the workmen, each to contain two 
 families ; and preparations have been made to erect as many more 
 as the establishment may require. When the whole shall be com- 
 pleted, and the mills in full operation, it is estimated that Matoaca 
 will contain between four and five hundred inhabitants. It had 
 already assumed the appearance of a village, and will, in a short 
 time, vie with any manufacturing establishment in the country, 
 for beauty of situation, the substantial construction of its buildings, 
 and the care and attention bestowed on the comfortable accommo- 
 dation of the workmen. 
 
 “Tt 1s expected to put the works in operation early in the next 
 month, and we understand that it is the intention of the company 
 to manufacture all the cotton spun in their mills, into cloth. 
 Matoaca furnishes another gratifying evidence of the enterprise 
 of our fellow citizens, and of the increasing prosperity of Peters- 
 burgh. We have now, in addition to the several well known flour 
 mills, five cotton, and two cotton seed oil mills ; and there remains 
 a large unemployed water power on the Appomattox.” 
 
 “It gives me great pleasure,” says Webster, “on occasion of so 
 large an assembly of the city of Buffalo, to express my thanks for 
 the kindness and hospitality with which I have been received in this 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 20d 
 
 youn but growing and interesting town. The launching of 
 another vessel on these inland seas, is but a fresh occasion of 
 Po ea on the rapid growth, the great active prosperity, and 
 the exciting future prospects of this town. Hight years ago, fellow 
 citizens, I enjoyed the pleasure of a short visit to this place: there 
 was then but one steamboat on Lake Erie: ; It made its passage 
 once in ten or fifteen days only ; and I remember that persons in 
 my own vicinity, intending to travel to the far west, by that con- 
 veyance, wrote to friends to learn the day of the commencement 
 of the contemplated voyage. I understand that there are now 
 eighteen steamboats plying on the lake, all finding full employ- 
 ment; and that a boat leaves Buffalo, thrice every day, for Detroit 
 and the ports in Ohio. 'The population of Buffalo, now four times 
 as large as it was then, has kept pace with the augmentation of 
 its commercial business. 'This rapid progress is a sample, but cer- 
 tainly is not to be regarded as the measure, of the future advance- 
 ment of the city. It will probably not be long before the products 
 of the fisheries of the east, the importations of the Atlantic frontier, 
 the productions, mineral and vegetable, of all the northwestern 
 states, and the sugars of Louisiana, will find their way hither by 
 inland water communication. Much of this, indeed, has already 
 taken place, and is of daily occurrence. Many who remember 
 the competition between Buffalo and Black Rock, for the site of 
 the city, will doubtless live to see the city spread over both. 
 “Desiring always to avoid extremes, and to observe a prudent 
 moderation in regard to the protective system, I yet hold steadiness 
 and perseverance, in maintaining what has been established, to be 
 essential to the public prosperity. Nothing can be worse than that 
 that which concerns the daily labour and the daily bread of whole 
 classes of people should be subject to frequent and violent changes. 
 It were far better not to move at all, than to move forward and 
 then fall back again. A just and leading object in the whole tariff 
 system, is the encouragement and protection of American manual 
 Jabour. I confess, that every day’s experience convinces me more 
 and more of the high propriety of regarding this object. Our 
 government is made for all, not for a few. Its object is to promote 
 the greatest good of the whole; and this ought to be kept con- 
 stantly in view in its administration. The far greater number of 
 those who maintain the government belong to what may be called 
 the-industrious or productive classes of the community. With us 
 labour is not depressed, ignorant and unintelligent. On the con- 
 trary, it is active, spirited, enterprising ; seeking its own rewards, 
 35 
 
274 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and laying up for its own competence and its own support. 'The 
 motive to labour is the great stimulus to our whole society; and 
 no system is wise or just which does not afford this stimulus, as 
 far as it may. The protection of American labour, against the 
 injurious competition of foreign labour, so far, at least, as respects 
 general handicraft productions, is known, historically, to have 
 been one end designed to be obtained by establishing the constitu- 
 tion; and this object, and the constitutional power to accomplish 
 it, ought never to be surrendered or compromised in any degree. 
 The interest of labour has an importance in our system, beyond 
 » what belongs to it as a mere question of political economy. It is 
 connected with our forms of government, and our whole social 
 system. ‘The activity and prosperity which at present prevail 
 among US, as every one must notice, are produced by the excite- 
 ment of compensating prices of labour; and it is fervently to be 
 hoped that no unpropitious circumstances. and no unwise policy, 
 may counteract this efficient cause of general competency and 
 public happiness.” Again, when at | a 
 Pitsburg, July 5th, 1833. “ The chief magistrate of Pittsburg 
 has been kind enough to express sentiments favourable to myself, 
 as a friend to domestic industry. Domestic industry ! How much 
 of national power and opulence, how much of individual comfort 
 and respectability, that phrase implies! And with what force 
 does it strike us, as we are here, at the confluence of the two 
 rivers whose united currents constitute the Ohio, and in the midst 
 of one of the most flourishing and distinguished manufacturing 
 cities in the Union! Many thousand miles of inland navigation, 
 running through a new and rapidly improving country, stretch 
 away below. Internal communications, completed or in progress, 
 connect the city with the Atlantic and the lakes. A hundred 
 steam-engines are in daily operation, and nature has supplied the 
 fuel which feeds their incessant flames, on the spot itself, in ex- 
 haustless abundance. Standing here, in the midst of such a 
 population, and with such a scene around us, how great is the 
 import of these words, ‘domestic industry ? Next to the pre- 
 servation of the government itself, there can hardly be a more 
 vital question, to such a community as this, than that which re- 
 gards their own employments, and the preservation of that policy 
 which the government has adopted and cherished, for the en- 
 couragement and protection of those employments. This is not, 
 in a society like this, a matter which affects the interest of a par- 
 ticular class, but one whicl: affects the interest of all classes. It 
 runs through the whole chain of human occupation and employ- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 275 
 
 ment, and touches the means of living and the comfort of all. 
 New England has conformed herself to the settled policy of the 
 country, and has given to her capital and her labour a correspond- 
 ing direction. She has now -becoine vitally interested in the pre- 
 servation of the system. Her prosperity is identified, not perhaps 
 with any particular degree of protection, but with the preserva- 
 tion of the principle ; and she is not likely to consent to yield the 
 principle, under any circumstance whatever. And who would 
 dare to yield it? Who, standing here, and looking round on this 
 community and its interests, would be bold enough to touch the 
 spring, which moves so much industry, and produces so much 
 happiness? Who would shut up the mouths of these vast coal 
 pits? Who stay the cargoes of manufactured goods, now floating _ 
 down ariver, one of the noblest in the world, and stretching 
 through territories almost boundless in extent, and unequalled in 
 fertility 2 Who would quench the fires of so many steam engines, 
 or stay the operations of so much well employed labour ? I cannot 
 conceive how any subversion of that policy, which has hitherto 
 been pursued, can take place, without great public embarrassment, 
 and great private distress. I have said, that I am in favour of 
 protecting American manual labour ; and, after the best reflection 
 I can give the subject, and from the lights which I can derive from 
 the experience of ourselves and others, I have come to the con- 
 clusion that such protection is just and proper ; and that to leave 
 American labour to sustain a competition with that of the over- 
 peopled countries of Europe, would lead to a state of things to 
 which the people could never submit. 'This is the great reason 
 why I am for maintaining what has been established. I see at 
 home, I see here, I see wherever I go, that the stimulus, which has 
 excited the existing activity, and is producing the existing pro- 
 sperity of the country, is nothing else than the stimulus held out 
 to labour by compensating prices. I think this eflect is visible 
 every where, from Penobscot to New Orleans, and manifest in the 
 condition and circumstances of the great body of the people: for 
 nine tenths of the whole people belong to the laborious, industrious, 
 and productive classes ; and on these classes the stimulus acts. 
 We perceive that the price of labour is high, and we know that 
 the means of living are low ; and these two truths speak volumes 
 in favour of the general prosperity of the country. Is it not true, 
 that sobriety, and industry, and good character, can do more for a 
 man here than in any other part of the world? And is not this 
 truth, which is so obvious that none can deny it, founded in this 
 plain reason, that labour, in this country, earns a better reward 
 
276 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 than any where else, and so gives more comfort, more individual 
 independence, and more elevation of character.” 
 
 MassiLton, Ohio, 1835. 
 
 “Neither the limits of my time or paper would allow me, in my last, to 
 say one word in relation to the beautiful and hospitable village in which it 
 is my happiness at present to sojourn. Six years ago the place where it 
 stands contained only such houses as were occupied by the tillers of the 
 soil. Within that time a place of extensive business has grown up, as by 
 the stroke of a magician’s wand. I do not mean, however, to be understood 
 that Massillon has yet attained the dimensions of a very considerable town. 
 It is, on the contrary, not more than one quarter as large as most towns in 
 the country which have not a greater amount of trade. But so far as it has 
 been built, the buildings give the strongest evidence of its prosperity, and 
 foretell the rapid growth which it will experience for many years. Its stores, 
 warehouses, and dwellings, are large and neatly built, and almost uniformly 
 of brick. There is not a single ordinary building in the place, except two 
 or three that stood here before the village was laid out. The streets are 
 arranged in the most convenient order, and the grounds laid out with an 
 uncommon degree of taste——Nature seems to have indulged her fancy in 
 preparing for the approach of art, and art has by no means rendered to nature 
 an ungrateful return. All things considered, I think it is one of the most 
 pleasant villages I have ever seen, and, located as it is, in the midst of 
 numerous water-mill sites, beds of coal, limestone, and iron ore, all on the 
 very banks of the Ohio and Erie canal, and all, too, near at hand and in 
 possession of its enterprising citizens; situated in the centre of one of the 
 largest and most fertile districts of Ohio, a district inhabited by a very 
 numerous and industrious population, it cannot fail of becoming, in a few 
 years, one of the most important places of the great west. In addition to 
 its communication by water with New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, 
 a rail road, of which Massillon will constitute the western terminus, will 
 doubtless be constructed in the course of two or three years, to connect with 
 the Pennsylvania rail road, which is to be extended to Pittsburg. The 
 necessary charter has already been obtained from the legislature of this state, 
 and persons ready to build the road are only waiting for a similar act from 
 the next session of the legislature of Pennsylvania. 
 
 “‘ Before the construction of the Ohio and Erie canal the vast resources of 
 this country were comparatively little known, and were of little value. By 
 means of that great work the value of wheat, the staple commodity of the 
 country, has appreciated from twelve and a half to eighty seven and a half 
 cents per bushel, and the cost of supplies from the cities has been diminish- 
 ed in an equal ratio. Of course the inducements for the farmer to grow 
 crops to any greater extent than was necessary for his own consumption 
 was very slight. Some idea of the change which has supervened since the 
 completion of the canal may be gathered from the fact, that this day, while 
 the harvest is yet unfinished, there have been purchased, at the warehouses 
 in this village, upwards of fifteen hundred bushels of wheat. And lam 
 assured by one of the most respectable dealers here, that, during the business 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 277 
 
 season, from three to four hundred bushels in a day is not an unusual 
 quantity to be received at the warehouses and mills. 
 
 “With this trade, then, very rapidly increasing, you will not doubt that, 
 when all other resources are brought into action, Massillon will become an 
 important town. 
 
 “The crops of all descriptions, throughout this whole country, are this 
 year unusually abundant, but as they flow into granaries entirely empty, 
 present prices are likely to be maintained. The farmers upon this exube- 
 rant soil are all growing rich, and the industry of every man reaps a liberal 
 reward.” 
 
 “ T wonder not,” says an English writer, “that the first settlers in 
 Virginia, with the bold Captain Smith of chivalrous memory at 
 their head, should have fought so stoutly to dispossess the valiant 
 father of Pocahontas of his fair domain, for I certainly never saw 
 a more tempting territory. Stonington is about two miles from 
 the most romantic point of the Potomac river, and Virginia spreads 
 her wild, but beautiful and most fertile paradise on the opposite 
 shore. The Maryland side partakes of the same character, and 
 perfectly astonished us by the profusion of her wild fruits and 
 flowers. We had not been long within reach of the great falls of 
 the Potomac; before a party was made for us to visit them; the 
 walk from Stonington to these falls, is through scenery that can 
 hardly be called forest, park or garden ; but which partakes of all 
 three. A little English girl accompanied us, who had but lately 
 left her home, ‘Oh how many English ladies would glory in such 
 a garden as this!’ and in truth they might; cedars, tulip-trees, 
 sumacs, junipers, and oaks of various kinds, most of them new to 
 us, shaded our path. Wild vines with their rich expansive leaves, 
 and their sweet blossom, rivaling the mignionette in fragrance, 
 clustered round their branches, strawberries in full bloom, violets, 
 anemones, heart’s-ease, and wild pinks, with many other and still 
 lovelier flowers, literally covered the ground. 'The arbor judee, 
 the dog-wood, in its fullest glory of star-like flowers, azalias, and 
 wild roses, dazzled our eyes whichever way we turned them. It 
 was the most flowery two miles I ever walked. The sound of the 
 falls is heard at Stonington, and the gradual increase of this sound 
 is one of the agreeable features of this delicious walk ; I know not 
 why the rush of water is so delightful to the ear ; all other mono- 
 tonous sounds are wearying, and harass the spirits, but I never 
 met any one who did not love to listen to a waterfall.” 
 
 “The manufactures of Virginia, like her coal mines, are but just begin- 
 
 ning to rise into importance. But recently the attention of her citizens has 
 been directed to the subject, and few out of the state are aware how far she 
 
278 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 has already advanced, and how rapidly she continnes to advance in this 
 branch of industry. I-make no reference to the manufacture of tobacco, for 
 in this she has long been engaged, with celebrity and success. I would 
 observe, however, while mentioning it, that this branch has increased im- 
 mensely within a few years, and now gives employment, in Richmond and 
 Petersburg alone, to not less than 1,500 persons. This business is also 
 extensively carried on in Lynchburg. But the manufactories to which I 
 particularly allude, are such as are carried on elsewhere, in manufacturing 
 the raw materials common to the United States, and in which the question 
 of competition may be considered as involved. 
 
 “In Richmond, and Manchester, on the south bank of the river, during the 
 last year, a large cotton manufactory, a large paper mill, and an extensive 
 iron foundry, all went into operation. They are all owned by chartered 
 companies, have adequate capitals, and the buildings are of the most sub- 
 stantial kind, and in the finest order. There are now in full operation here, 
 two cotton manufactories, three iron foundries, to one of which a steam 
 engine manufactory is attached, one cotton seed oil mill, one paper mill, one 
 screw manufactory, two cut nail works, and an extensive puddling furnace 
 and iron making and manufacturing establishment is nearly completed. A 
 number of other companies have been chartered by the legislature, for the 
 purpose of carrying on various other branches of manufacturing, all of which 
 will, no doubt, soon be in operation. Besides the manufactories above men- 
 tioned in the vicinity of Richmond, few places can boast of so large or 
 superior flour mills. The Galego mill, which is perhaps the largest in the 
 world, alone runs 22 pair of stones, and makes five hundred barrels of flour 
 daily. Haxal’s mill is but little inferior to this, and Rutherford’s and Clark’s, 
 though less than the others, are considerable mills. The Richmond city 
 mills’ flour is the finest bread flour in the United States, and commands in 
 the foreign markets the highest prices. There are also-in this vicinity at 
 least six corn mills. 
 
 “The water power at and near Richmond is immense, and easily avail- 
 able ; it is the entire James River, which is nearly half a mile wide, and falls 
 more than a hundred feet in a few miles. The advantages of its position 
 for manufacturing purposes, are many and great. Situated at the head of 
 good. navigation,—open nearly all the year,—adjacent to a rich coal field,— 
 connected with the interior, as it soon will be, by a canal leading through a 
 fine iron district,—with a healthy and pleasant climate, surrounded by a 
 good soil, nothing can prevent its becoming one of the greatest manufacturing 
 cities in the Union. 
 
 “ Next to Richmond in importance, and in some respects in advance of it, 
 is Petersburg, at the head of the tide water of the Appomattox. Here cotton 
 manufactories grow up and flourish, as if by magic. They have five or six 
 here now, all of them extensive establishments, and some of them with 
 numerous out buildings. One of them, a short distance from Petersburg, 
 called by an Indian name that I have forgotten, is an establishment inferior 
 to few, if any, in the northern states, and with its houses built for the work- 
 men, forms quite a village. All these manufactories employ white labourers. 
 The experiment, however, of negro or slave labour, has been made in one 
 of the manufactories at Richmond, and has proved fully successful. Other 
 manufactories are about to be erected near Petersburg, in some of which it 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 279 
 
 is expected that negro labour will be introduced generally, if not exclusively. 
 Indeed, there is every reason to believe that it is better adapted to the manu- 
 factory than to the field, and that the negro character is susceptible of a high 
 degree of manufacturing cultivation. Should this kind of labour be found 
 to succeed, of which I think, from some years’ acquaintance with it, there 
 ean be no doubt,—it will give a decided advantage to the southern over the 
 northern or European manufacturer. This kind of labour will be much 
 cheaper, and far more certain and controllable. He will have nothing to do 
 with ‘strikes’ or other interruptions, that frequently produce serious delay 
 and loss to the employer. Before the present year the average expense for 
 a good negro man per year, might be estimated at one hundred dollars, for 
 field labour. Some superior hands, well acquainted with tobacco manufac- 
 turing, or good mechanics, would perhaps go to one hundred and fifty dollars. 
 These prices include hire, food, clothing, &c. This year, in consequence of 
 the great demand for labourers on the railroads, they are at least twenty 
 dollars higher. ) 
 
 “The water power of Petersburg, though inferior in magnitude to that 
 of Richmond, is yet very considerable. It is also without the advantages 
 of an immediate connexion with the coal and iron regions; nor has it so 
 good a navigation as the latter, as vessels only of six feet draught of water 
 can come to it, while those drawing eleven may go to Richmond; yet is 
 Petersburg as well, if not better, situated for the cotton manufacturing than 
 Richmond. A railroad of sixty milesin length connects it with the Roanoke, 
 and brings to it daily large quantities of cotton, from which it can have the 
 first and best selection. This, together with the cheapness of water power, 
 building materials, and all the articles that enter into the consumption of 
 those who labour, give to it great advantages. Besides its cotton manufac- 
 tories, it has a cotton seed oil mill, and several flour mills. 
 
 “Besides these two prominent places, many others may be found in East- 
 ern Virginia, but little less favourably situated for manufactories. At 
 Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, is a considerable water power, and 
 on nearly all the rivers that empty into the Chesapeake, there are more or 
 less sites. On the James River, between Richmond and the mountains, 
 they are almost innumerable, and when the state improvements will have 
 been completed, they will all be in good location. Manufacturing is carried 
 on at Wheeling, on the Ohio, but Western Virginia is identified with the 
 great valley of the Mississippi, the future greatness or prosperity of which 
 no imagination can reach,—it is a world in itself, and the world beyond it 
 cannot change its destinies. 
 
 Heretofore the cheapness and superior productiveness of land in the new 
 states, has operated to retard the prosperity of Eastern Virginia; and those 
 causes, to which has recently been added the high price of cotton, are now 
 seriously checking her advancement, by withdrawing much of her money 
 capital, and many of her citizens and labourers to those states, attracted by 
 the prospects there offered, in the cultivation of the soil, a pursuit more con- 
 genial to the habits and feclities of Virginians than accra or manu- 
 facturing enterprises. If Virginians had remained on her own soil, and 
 retained, for her own use, the labourers she has grown, and the eapital they 
 have awed: instead of building up other states, she would be a giant in 
 these days. It may be better, however, for her sons, herself, and the Union, 
 
280 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 that she has peopled Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, than 
 that she should be the first state of the Union, or that the banks of her rivers 
 should be covered with towns and manufactories. . 
 
 ‘A new day is dawning in this part of the Old Dominion. She has found 
 that boasting of her past greatness and glory will add nothing to her present 
 prosperity. The active and regenerating spirit of the west has infused new 
 life into her veins, and that same spirit makes her less metaphysical and 
 more rational. The spirit of improvement is abroad, and within a year or 
 two has worked wonders. Every where, railroads, canals, mines, and manu- 
 factories, are the subjects of discussion and action. Enterprising citizens 
 of other states and countries are directing their attention to the many in- 
 ducements she offers for the profitable employment of their skill, their labour, 
 or their capital. Her own enterprising citizens have asked for and will 
 doubtless obtain additional capital by the establishment of new banks. Old 
 habits and feelings may, for a while, check her onward progress, by denying 
 to her the facilities necessary to the full development of her vast resources ; 
 yet must the genius of the age triumph ; and when the old lion fairly shakes 
 the dew from his mane, and the cobwebs are cleared from her halls of legis- 
 lation, the manufacturers of the northern states and of the old world will 
 have to look well to their spinning jennies.”— Pennsylvanian. 
 
 “ Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally 
 among the body of the people, being necessary for the preserva- 
 tion of their rights and liberties ; and as these depend on spreading 
 the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of 
 the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be 
 the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this 
 commonwealth (Massachusetts), to cherish the interest of literature 
 and the sciences, and all seminaries of them ; public schools, and 
 grammar schools in the towns ; to encourage private societies, and 
 public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of 
 agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a 
 natural history of the country, to countenance and inculcate the 
 principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and pri- 
 vate charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in 
 their dealings ; sincerity, good humour, and all social affections, 
 and generous sentiments among the people.” It is not saying too 
 much, when we assert that Slater’s opinions and conduct coincided 
 with the above sentiments : and that we have reason to be thankful 
 that his footsteps were directed to America ; that it was put into 
 his heart to visit these shores, for the purpose of introducing the 
 cotton spinning into the United States ; without which we never 
 could have maintained our independence, but should have relied 
 on foreign supplies. Its establishment is therefore one of the 
 greatest events that has yet taken place in the whole world, and 
 
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 281 
 
 will in the end be the means of revolutionising the whole inhahit- 
 able globe. 
 
 Though I was the personal friend of Mr. Slater, and had a 
 better opportunity, than any other individual, of knowing his 
 opinions and views on all subjects connected with business, poli- 
 
 tics, and religion; yet it is not my intention to press any of his 
 peculiarities, nor did I design to become his eulogist. It was my 
 duty to record the fair fame that had gathered round his successful 
 life. In consequence of his being the introducer of the carding, 
 drawing, roving, and spinning by water, in the improved state 
 as used by Mr. Strutt at Belper, both for stocking yarn and twist ; 
 it was not thought improper to connect his memoir with an Heady 
 on Manufactures ; so that this circumstance may be noted by 
 future historians af the cotton business in the United States. In 
 this account it was important that a correct statement should be 
 preserved, which would have been difficult to obtain, if the pre- 
 sent opportunity had been lost. Iam only anxious for the authen- 
 ticity of my statements, for which I feel myself responsible, and 
 liable to correction. My own views of the character of Samuel 
 Slater are expressed in two words—the Arkwright of America. 
 
 Mr. Slater no sooner found that his business collected children 
 and young people, who were destitute of the means of instruction, 
 and knowing the plan of his old master, Strutt, at Belper, in esta- 
 blishing aSundayschool,than he followed his example, and opened 
 a school in his own house, sometimes teaching the scholars himself, 
 but generally hired a person to perform that duty. One young 
 man from Providence college was deterred by his father, who 
 was a minister of the standing order in Connecticut, who consider- 
 ed it a profanation of the Sabbath. But Mr. Slater persevered, 
 and he was assisted by his father-in-law Oziel Wilkinson, and 
 Obadiah Brown—and I am acquainted with persons who are in- 
 debted to that institution for all the early instruction they ever re- 
 ceived. There are several living who attended this school at 
 Pawtucket. Mr. Slater told me, that he claimed to have com- 
 menced the first Sunday school.in New England, and I promised 
 him that it should not be forgotten. 
 
 These schools have followed almost every manufacturing esta- 
 blishment that I am acquainted with; and there are no places 
 where they are of so much importance. I observe in the History 
 of Derbyshire, England, that the school, which Mr. Strutt establish- 
 ed in 1782 is still in existence at Belper, and endowed so that four 
 hundred children are taught, in the common rudiments of English 
 instruction. 'This gave rise to Sunday schools in Britain, and the 
 
 36 
 
282 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 same cause led to their establishment in New England. There 
 
 may be different opinions respecting what kind of education shall 
 
 be afforded at Sunday schools, but there can be but one opinion - 
 upon their general utility, more especially in manufacturing towns 
 
 and villages. ‘They have had a very happy effect in the state of 
 
 Rhode Island, and they have led to the formation of other schools 
 
 in different parts where instruction had been much neglected. 
 
 I conversed with the Rev. Wm. Collier, now engaged in the 
 City Mission in Boston. He stated to me at his house, corner of 
 Chambers and Green street, that he remembers perfectly well in 
 the spring of 1796 that, while at Providence college, President 
 Maxcy informed -him that he had received an application from 
 Mr. Slater of Pawtucket, to send him one of the students to in- 
 struct a Sunday school, and that he would compensate them for 
 their services. The reason of the president’s giving Mr. Collier 
 the first offer was, that he was not able to pay his college expenses. 
 Mr. Collier said, that the compensation would have been a great 
 benefit to him, but he doubted the propriety of teaching a school 
 on Sunday, as he was religiously disposed, and was associated 
 with those who had received their early impressions from the 
 preaching and writings of Mr. Whitfield, and the idea struck him 
 as a profanation of the Sabbath. The president reasoned with him 
 on the opportunity he would have to do good in Pawtucket ; 
 stating that there had never been a school of any description there, 
 and no place of worship, and probably no religious or moral in- 
 struction, certainly not of a public nature. There was no restric- 
 tion as to the course of instruction, and he could conduct it, so as 
 to be most useful to the children. ‘These considerations caused 
 him to accept the offer, and he began his labours in the Sunday 
 school on the following Sabbath. He does not recollect that there 
 was any particular form of religious instruction introduced by him, 
 but has no doubt that he did so in a conversational manner with 
 the young people, as he was at that time very religious and dis- 
 posed to converse with people on the subject. / 
 
 Mr. Allen succeeded him in teaching the school. 
 
 At a fine water privilege in Athens, Georgia, there was established a 
 cotton mill with machinery from England, by Dearing & Co.; it is still in 
 operation, and one also in Columbus. Mills are erecting in Tennessee on a 
 small scale; and in Kentucky they are anxious to obtain persons who un- 
 derstand the business. The time is approaching when there will be facto- 
 ries at the south and far-west: New England must send out her sons to 
 superintend their operations. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 283 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 
 
 “ Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 
 Till we can clear these ambiguities 
 And know their spring, their head, their true descent.” 
 
 This chapter is designed to preserve important information 
 which came too late to be arranged in the first part of the work, to 
 which it more properly belongs. ‘The pieces by 'Tench Coxe are 
 those referred to by Fisher Ames, and which were published 
 under his patronage. 'They are characteristic of the writer, who 
 was constantly adapting the energies of the people to the natural 
 resources of their country, congenial with their habits, their soil, 
 and their climate. 
 
 “A Plan for encouraging Agriculture, and increasing the value of 
 Farms in the Midland and more Western counties of Pennsylvania, 
 by means of Manufactures applicable to several other parts of that 
 State, and to many parts of the United States.” 
 
 “Tn a country, the people, the soil and the climate of which are 
 well suited to agriculture, and which has immense natural trea- 
 sures in the bowels and on the surface of the earth, the creation of 
 a ready, near, and stable market for its spontaneous and agricultural 
 productions, by the introduction and increase of internal trade and 
 manufactures, is the most effectual method to promote husbandry, and 
 to advance the interests of the proprietors and cultivators of the earth. 
 This position has been assumed by one and maintained and relied 
 upon afterwards by others of the most informed and sound minds 
 in Great Britain, in relation to the internal trade, manufactures, 
 and landed interests of that kingdom, although it is an island, pos- 
 sessing uncommon advantages in its artificial roads, canals, rivers, 
 and bays, which, altogether, afford the inhabitants a peculiar 
 facility in transporting their surplus produce, with very little 
 expense, to foreign markets. 
 
 “To a nation inhabiting a great continent, not yet traversed by 
 artificial roads and canals, the rivers of which, above their natural 
 navigation, have been hitherto very little improved, many of 
 
 * See Fisher Ames’s Letters, pp. 51, 52. 
 
284 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 whose people are at this moment closely settled upon lands which 
 actually sink from one fifth to one half the value of their crops, 
 in the mere charges of transporting them to the Seaport towns, 
 and others of whose inhabitants cannot at present send their pro- 
 duce to a seaport for its whole value, a thorough sense of the truth 
 of the position is a matter of unequaled magnitude and import- 
 ance. | us 
 
 “The state of things in most of the counties of Pennsylvania 
 which are contiguous to.or in the vicinity of the river Susquehan- 
 nah, and its extensive branches, is considered to be really and 
 precisely that which has been described; and the object of this 
 paper is, to suggest hints for a plan of relief from the great expense 
 and inconvenience they at present sustain, by creating a market 
 town for their produce, on the main body of that river, at some 
 proper place between the confluence of its eastern and western 
 branches, and the lower end of its present navigation. 
 
 “It is proposed that the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, 
 to be applied as hereinafter mentioned, be raised in either of the 
 three following methods—that is to say, either by five thousand 
 subscriptions of one hundred dollars each, to the capital stock of a 
 company, to be temporarily associated for that purpose, without 
 any exclusive privileges. .Or, by the sale of one hundred thou- 
 sand lottery tickets at five dollars each, or fifty thousand tickets 
 at ten dollars each; the whole enhanced amount of which is to be 
 redrawn in prizes, agreeably to a scheme which will be herein- 
 after exhibited. Or, by the application of five hundred thousand 
 dollars of the moneys in the treasury (or otherwise in the command) 
 of the state of Pennsylvania. The inducements to the operation, 
 either to the states, to the adventurers in the lottery, or to the sub- 
 scribers of the stock of the associated company, will appear in the 
 sequel to be an augmentation of about one hundred per cent. in 
 the value of the property to be embraced ; that is, in a profit of 
 about one hundred per cent. on the moneys to be raised or advanced 
 for the purchase of the lands, and the erection of the buildings. 
 
 “The application of the above sum of five hundred thousand 
 dollars, might be as follows :— 
 
 “Ist. In the purchase of land on the western bank of Susque- 
 hannah, as a town seat, to be regularly laid off in a town or city 
 for inland trade and manufactures, with streets sixty feet wide, in 
 oblongs of five hundred feet, fronting the southwestern or preva- 
 lent summer winds, by two hundred and twenty feet ; each oblong 
 to be intersected by a twenty foot alley, running lengthwise, or 
 from the northwest to southeast, so as to give all the lots south- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 285 
 west’ front exposures, or southwest exposures and outlets in the 
 rear.” 
 
 Here follows a detail of particulars which are too local and 
 unimportant to be followed minutely. The above sum is therein 
 appropriated to the purchases of land, the erection of houses, 
 mills, rope-walks, tan-yards, bake-houses, steel-furnaces, soap- 
 boilers, tallow-chandlers, blacksmiths, coopers, wheelwrights, cop- 
 persmiths, brass-founders, turners, skin-dressers, gunsmiths, and 
 plumbers’ shops; malt houses, breweries, distilleries, printing office, 
 bleach-yards, fulling-mills, potteries, water forges, tobacco and 
 snuff manufactories, lumber yards, boat-builders’ yards, school 
 houses, churches, taverns, sail-cloth manufactory, brick-kilns, 
 twine ed cord factories, starch works, and dwelling houses, 
 public library, parchment and glue races tas pump maker’s 
 shed and yard, &c. 
 
 “'The buildings above mentioned will form a town of one thou- 
 sand houses, useful work shops and factories by water, fire, or 
 hand, all of stone or brick, which 1s larger by near one half than 
 the borough of Lancaster. Being on the river Susquehannah, a 
 very great and extensive natural canal, which, with ‘its branches, 
 flows through a country of fifteen millions of acres, and will be 
 connected with the lakes, the position for a town must be consi- 
 _dered as warranting a presumption that the lots would be more 
 valuable. In order to extend this advantage, the buildings should 
 be erected on every second or perhaps every third lot, whereby a 
 number of interval lots would be left, which would be nearly of 
 the same value. A further advantage would result from such a 
 disposition of the houses, as the vacant lots could be usefully 
 applied to garden purposes until they should be built upon. As 
 the proposed houses and workshops would be of stone and brick, 
 the possibility of the progress of fire would be less, if the owners 
 of the interval lots should build wooden houses hereafter, than if 
 they were to erect such houses in a compact separate quarter. 
 
 “The lots, without the scene which should be first built on, 
 would cost, after throwing out the streets and alleys, about five 
 dollars, and might be moderately estimated; were.such a town 
 erected, at the medium value of ten dollars. | 
 
 “This town being contemplated as such an auxiliary to Phila- 
 delphia, as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Sheffield, &c. 
 are to the seaports of Great Britain, it would be:necessary to con- 
 nect it with the city immediately and effectually by opening a good 
 road to the Lancaster turnpike, by whatever might be necessary 
 to give it the benefit of the communication with Philadelphia 
 
 , 
 
286 MEMOIR OF SAMURL SLATER. 
 
 through the Swatara and 'Tulpohocken canal, through the Bran- 
 dywine canal, and through the Newport and Wilmington roads, 
 and by all other means which can be devised. It would also be 
 proper to connect it with the borough of Reading, Lancaster, 
 York, Carlisle, &c., and with the western and north-western, 
 northern, and other great roads. Thus circumstanced, with the 
 supplies of wood fuel, coal, bark, iron, grain, cotton, hemp, flax, 
 wool, timber, stone, lime, forage, &c., which those roads and the 
 Susquehannah and its branches, would certainly and permanently 
 afford, this plan could not fail to become of very great profit to the 
 subscribers or prize-holders, or the state, and to the landed inte- 
 rest, both tenants and owners. ‘he expense of transportation 
 from the nearest navigable part of the Susquehannah by way of 
 Newport, is nine dollars per ton; from Middletown it is twelve 
 dollars per ton to sixteen dollars per ton ; and as four-fifths of the 
 state are on or westward of that river, the immense saving that 
 would be made by a great and stable market like that contem- 
 plated, is equally manifest and desirable. It may be asked, whe- 
 ther the owners of the houses, shops, and works, would receive 
 application from tenants? 'The answer is, that they would them- 
 selves be induced to occupy some of them, that the boroughs in 
 the vicinity have been greatly extended by the settlement of trades- 
 men, manufacturers and others, who depend upon them and upon 
 the farmer; and that unless their inhabitants open canals to the 
 Susquehannah, or discover coal in their vicinity, those boroughs 
 which are not on that river cannot grow much larger, though the 
 demand for manufactures is steadily increasing with our popula- 
 tion. It is regretted that the latter increase of Lancaster has been 
 inconsiderable. But the water works, and the works by fire, 
 which are proposed to be erected, will attract and support trades- 
 men and the workmen requisite to proceed with the goods they 
 have now begun; as is constantly the case in Europe. 
 
 “It may be safely affirmed, that no part of the United States at 
 present half as fully populated as the five counties on the Susque- 
 hannah, offers so encouraging or so certain a prospect for an in- 
 land town. It is as it were the bottom of a great bag or sack, 
 into the upper parts of which natural and agricultural produce 
 are poured from the northeast, from the north, and from the west. 
 
 “It will be observed, that many water works, and objects requir- 
 ing the moving power of water, are particularised in the plan. 
 For which reason, and in order to procure all the public and pri- 
 vate advantages which are attainable, it is proposed to take some 
 position where the river can be so drawn out of its natural bed, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 287 
 
 as to create those mills seats and falls. It is confidently affirmed, 
 and is not at all doubted, that there are not wanting places of that 
 great and valuable natural capacity. 
 
 ‘“ Doubts may arise about the expediency of erecting some of the 
 works. It is therefore observed, that those which are mentioned 
 are merely offered for consideration. None of them are intended 
 to be urged: but it is believed that most of them would prove, on 
 examination, eligible. 
 
 “The greater part of the private emolument would be realised, it 
 is supposed, by the erection of nine hundred dwelling houses of 
 various sizes (in any of which various kinds of manufactories 
 could be pursued,) and one hundred shops for such branches as, 
 by reason of their producing loud noises, or unpleasant smells, or 
 of their requiring greater room, could not be carried on among 
 women and children, infirm, aged, or sick persons, or within the 
 compass of an apartment in a common dwelling-house. Jn that 
 case, however, it would be manifestly prudent to bring the unim- 
 proved mill seats into view, that they might be in the way of early 
 use and improvement. 
 
 “The reasons of extending a view to the immediate erection 
 of those water mills and other works, is, that by their very great 
 consumption of the raw materials and produce which may be 
 drawn by purchase from the farmers, they will as early and ma- 
 terially increase the benefits of the proposed town to the land- 
 holder and cultivator, without taking any hands from agriculture, 
 or preventing any from going to It. 
 
 “It will be proper to ascertain, with precision and certainty, 
 what would be a reasonable value of two thousand acres of land, 
 thus purchased, and thus built upon, that the inducements to the 
 operation may be duly exhibited. 
 
 “The borough of Lancaster will appear to afford a means of 
 comparison not too favourable, when it is remembered, that a posi- 
 tion on the west side of the Susquehannah would give the pro- 
 posed town a most extensive and fertile back country for its 
 supplies by land, free from the expense and risk of any ferry ; 
 and that it would acquire building materials, provisions, raw 
 materials, and the infinitely important article, pit coal, the very 
 important articles timber and bark, in the greatest abundance, and 
 on the cheapest terms, by means of the navigable waters of the 
 Susquehannah ; and that its traders and artisans could transport 
 produce and manufactures to and receive supplies from Phila- 
 delphia, through the canal of Swatara, without any the least 
 expense of carting. 
 
288 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “ An estimate of a town, consisting of the lands and number of 
 buildings particularised above, may be reasonably made as follows : 
 
 ‘The actual first cost of all the various buildings above men- 
 
 tioned, is stated to be $500,000 
 ‘From these deduct the value of the four schools and the church, 
 
 seven thousand two hundred dollars, which would be public, and 
 
 would be of no value to the owners of the town, as such, but as they 
 
 might reflect value upon the houses, manufactories, and lots. Also 
 
 deduct the sum of five thousand dollars, allowed for the charges of 
 
 superintendence. . . 12,200 
 ‘Remains as the actual cost and real value of all the private build- 
 ings. os 487,800 
 
 ‘The value of one’hundred lots to be given for twenty churches, 
 and thirty-two for the market, court house, and jail; nothing, but as 
 they reflect value on the other property in the town. 000,000 
 ‘Phe value of one thousand and ninety nine lots, of the size of 
 twenty by one hundred feet, on which the above private buildings 
 and works are to be erected when they shall be completed, at one 
 hundred dollars each on a medium. 109,9000 
 “The value of two thousand one hundred and ninety eight inter- 
 val lots, (lying between and among the private and public buildings, 
 and exclusively of those without that part of the town plot proposed 
 to be built upon, with the fund of five hundred thousand dollars,) at | 
 eighty dollars each on an average. 175,480 
 “ The value of one hundred and twenty feet lots, making twenty 
 large lots equal to one hundred feet square, suitable for erecting 
 twenty other mills, with the requisite share of water right, at five 
 hundred dollars for each mill seat. 10,000 
 “'N.B. These will make with the improved mill seats about forty, 
 and will not require the height of water, or command of a fall to be 
 kept for more than a quarter of a mile. 
 “It is believed much more might be placed against this item: 
 “The value of the exclusive privilege of keeping ferties, arising 
 out of the ownership of the grounds, to constitute prizes. 5,000 
 ‘The value of twenty two thousand lots, accommodated with 
 streets and alleys, not within the part built upon as above, with the 
 wood on them, and on the streets and alleys, for fuel and timber, the 
 stone, lime, clay, &c. for building, at ten dollars per lot, to constitute 
 prizes. a | 220,000 
 
 —_———. 
 
 $1,008,540 
 
 “The several objects in the foregoing estimate of one million 
 eight thousand five hundred and forty dollars, to constitute prizes 
 to be drawn by the purchasers of five hundred thousand dollars 
 worth of tickets: a scheme of a lottery more profitable than 
 most which have been exhibited, and which will moreover yield 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 289 
 
 great advantages to every proprietor and tenant of lands within 
 the sphere of trade belonging to the town. 
 
 “ Although such calculations and estimates as these ought 
 always to be received with the utmost caution, and to be examined 
 with strictness, yet there are circumstances, which, it is conceived, 
 insure success to a well devised and well exacted ee in the scene 
 already mentioned.. 
 
 “ A very great and increasing supply of all those things which 
 can create, maintain, and extend a town; which can attract, 
 cheaply support, and certainly and thoroughly employ, an indus- 
 trious community, forced by the nature of the river and country 
 into this singular scene—justify an affirmation that no such spot 
 for a town of inland trade and manufactures of native productions 
 exists in the populated parts of the United States. 'To estimate 
 the value of the river, and the water works, and their permanent 
 influence upon the prosperity and growth of sucha town, let us 
 for 2 moment suppose, that twenty similar mills, twenty unim- 
 proved mill seats, and a copious canal leading to the Susquehan- 
 na, were Ba pceatided to the present advantages of the borough of 
 Lancaster. 
 
 “ Tt cannot but be perceived, that most of the American inland 
 towns have been commenced without due attention to the powers 
 of water, the advantages of interior navigation, and a copious and 
 certain supply of other fuel, when wood shall become scarce and 
 dear. ‘The whole number of the houses in the towns of some of 
 the states is very inconsiderable, which is principally owing to 
 their produce having passed on, without any natural stoppage or 
 heavy expense of transportation, from their farms to their export 
 market ; or to a scarcity of fuel, which has been created, and will 
 be mented by their growth. : 
 
 “"There will be a peculiar certainty and eit in the value 
 of property, in such a place as that contemplated, because its trade 
 and manufactures, depending on our own laws, and upon our 
 productions, will not be subjected to the injuries and vicissitudes 
 which often arise from foreign restrictions and prohibitions, and. 
 from the defalcations of the imports of foreign, precarious and 
 tropical productions. On the other hand, every new discovery of 
 a mineral or fossil, every addition to the articles of cultivation in 
 the great landed scene, on which it will depend, whether for food 
 or manufactures, will yield fresh nourishment and employment to 
 its inhabitants. | 
 
 “In addition to the reasons already suggested for placing the 
 town upon the western side of the Susquehanna, it ought to be 
 
 37 
 
al 
 290 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. aS” Pia 
 
 added, with a view to the present and all other plans of establish- 
 ing towns, in this climate, that the eastern and northern sides of 
 all waters in the United States (the elevation, dryness of the soil, 
 
 and other things being equal) are less healthy than the southern 
 and western sides. As it further regards that great concern, the 
 health and comfort of the citizens, it also merits repetition, that by 
 the plan proposed, no inadvertent or uninformed man will be able 
 to build his house or place of business in such a manner as to 
 deprive himself of the blessing of the:summer winds. 
 
 “Although great stress has been laid upon a particular scene in 
 the course of this paper, from a thorough conviction of its fitness 
 and value, it is manifest, that many of the ideas will apply to such 
 of the existing towns in the state of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, 
 as have a capacity to command, by due exertion, and at a mode- 
 Tate expense, water falls, coal or inland navigation. A diligent 
 examination of their respective capacities, in ‘those particulars, 
 ought, upon the general principles suggested, to be made.* It is 
 also clear, that a very large part of those advantages may be gained 
 at Harrisburg, Middletown, the falls of the Delaware, at the lower 
 end of the Schuylkill canal, and most of the other canals in the 
 United States, by such a power of water as has been mentioned 
 above. In the states of Vermont and Kentucky, in the western 
 parts of Pennsylvania and New York, in the northwestern and 
 southern governments, and in general, at those places on the east- 
 ernmost, or nearest parts of all the western waters, and the south- 
 ern, or nearest parts of all the northern waters, where the internal 
 navigation terminates, the whole of the above plan, in a maturer 
 state of their population, will apply, with the most solid and 
 extensive benefits, to the cultivators and proprietors of the soil.”t 
 
 OW koe mney ay 
 * T. Coxe, Esq... ; 
 SATURDAY. 
 
 Dear sir,—I mentioned one or two things yesterday, which were urgent. 
 One was the papers for the enquiry. You will see by the enclosed, that 
 they are to go to the house of representatives. Will you be so good as to 
 have a letter prepared this morning. I stay at home to-day, to look over 
 petitions. Let the warrants, &c., be sent me. Yours, affectionately. 
 
 A. Hamicton. < 
 
 | The grounds around the lower falls of many of the rivers emptying into 
 
 the Atlantic Ocean, are also very suitable for such a plan, because provi- 
 
 sions, wood, coal, and raw materials may be transported to them coastwise 
 and from foreign countries. MP ple Lie “Roye 
 
=i a = 
 “ul as hi in 
 
 ODNINNIS MIAN 
 
 Me Cc 
 i TN 
 
 (els 
 
Pe ee 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 291 
 
 Reflections on the affairs of the United States, occasioned by the pre- 
 sent war in Europe. (Recommended to the particular attention of 
 
 the Owners of Coal and Water falls in the Western country.)* 
 
 “Jt is highly prudent in every nation, seriously to consider the 
 effects which great events in other countries may have produced 
 on their affairs, and to anticipate, in time, the consequences in 
 regard to their interests, to which such events may possibly give 
 
 * Tench Core, Esq. 
 New York, January 7, 1792. 
 
 Dear sir,—I lately received, and read with pleasure and profit, the enlarged 
 copy of the examination of Lord Sheffield’s publications: and yesterday | 
 was favoured with your letter, enclosing Secretary Hamilton’s interesting 
 and able report on the subject of manufactures, for both of which accept my 
 thanks. - 
 
 No better way can, in my opinion, be devised, for negotiating treaties of 
 commerce, than that of augmenting the national respectability, and exhibit- 
 ing successive and unequivocal proofs of the resources and union of the 
 states, and of the stability and wisdom and energy of the national govern- 
 ment. 
 
 With sentiments of esteem and regard, I have the honour to be, dear sir, 
 your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Joun Jay. 
 Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia. 
 Lonpon, December 18, 1794. 
 
 Dear sir,—Accept my thanks for your obliging letter of the 8th of last 
 month, and for the book which accompanied it. As yet, I have not had 
 time and leisure to give it that regular and attentive perusal which it appears 
 to merit. It certainly contains much useful information; and from your 
 accuracy, I presume that the facts and statements in it are correct. It will 
 naturally lead both our own people and foreigners to form a favourable and 
 just estimate of the United States, and show, in a strong light, the policy of 
 maintaining that respect for our government and laws, without which, our 
 local and other advantages can neither be enjoyed nor improved. 
 
 The manner in which the insurrection has been dissipated, gives me 
 pleasure ; and there is reason to hope, that the arts and counsels which pro- 
 duced it, will not be able to operate such another. Our affairs, relative to 
 this country, have a promising aspect: the best disposition towards us pre- 
 vails here, and indications and proofs of it daily increase. I do really 
 believe that this government mean to give conciliatory measures with the 
 United States a full and fair trial. It never can be wise to cast ourselves 
 into the arms and influence of any nation; but certainly it is wise and proper 
 to cherish the good will of those who wish to be on terms of friendship and 
 cordiality with us. It may seem strange, and yet I am convinced that, next 
 to the king, our president is more popular, in this country, than any man 
 in it. 
 
 With the best wishes, and with sentiments of esteem and regard, I am 
 dear sir, your most obedient servant, Joun Jay. 
 
292 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 rise. ‘The enhancement of the cost of our manufactured supplies, 
 by the demand for the immense armaments, by land and sea, now 
 making in Europe, and the impediments to the cheap transporta- 
 tion of our produce by the recent deduction of a large proportion 
 of the vessels which lately carried them at peace freights, with the 
 impossibility of building, 1 in time, a sufficient number of ships to 
 perform the service, and to supply the purchases, by foreign 
 nations, render it a matter of most comfortable reflection that we 
 have made such frequent and full examinations of our capacities 
 in the business of manufactures, and that we have made so great 
 progress in the establishment of many of the most useful and 
 necessary branches. ‘There seems nothing to warrant’a belief, 
 that we shall cease to pursue our course in peace. But it is mani- 
 fest that, even in that desirable. situation, the inducements to 
 pursue manufactures are not a little increased by the advanced 
 cost of our supplies, and the diminution of our carriers at peace 
 freights, already mentioned. It will be wise, then, to devise more 
 methods of increasing our manufactures, in order to cheapen and 
 multiply supplies, and to extend the home market for our agricul- 
 tural productions. It is, moreover, well worthy of remark, that 
 in consequence of the war in Europe, many articles of great im- 
 portance, in the building of houses, improving new plantations, 
 and supplying the settled country, and the industrious poor, are 
 said to be prohibited to be exported from Great Britain, because 
 they can be applied to military purposes, or may be wanted for 
 themselves. However reasonable or customary, in similar circum- 
 stances, this may be, our citizens must actually be subjected thereby 
 to great additional expense, and the charges of improving and cul- 
 tivating real estates of every description, must be considerably 
 increased. Manufacturers of these prohibited kinds of gouds, are 
 therefore rendered indispensable, by the situation of that country 
 which is the principal foreign source of our supplies. 
 
 “However improbable or impossible war may appear, in the 
 judgment of many, or most of us, it can do no injury to remark, 
 that the cost of our supplies woul be so excessively increased, oA 
 that worst of all possible events, and the vessels to carry our pro- 
 duce at peace freights, would be so extremely diminished, if our 
 own should be involved, that nothing but such great and vigorous 
 efforts as that suggested for consideration, could save our cultiva- 
 tors from a very inconvenient expense, in procuring supplies, and 
 the most distressing. reduction of the market prices of many articles 
 of their produce. 
 
 “Tt will be perceived that the plan is laid upon a scale which 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 293 
 
 is not likely, at this time, to be carried into execution in any one 
 place. It is necessary, therefore, to remark, that it is not intended 
 in any view, but to exemplify what might be done with a given 
 capital. ‘The owners, however, of certain great water situations 
 might, safely and advantageously, lay out their circumjacent 
 grounds in a town plot, with such views, and they might sell or 
 let, on ground rents, such ordinary building lots, or such situations 
 for water works, as purchasers or tenants might apply for, leaving 
 the plan to mature by time and the natural attractions and advan- 
 tages of the several scenes ; or Improvements might be commenced 
 upon a scale of 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 dollars, as capital 
 might be obtainable, and prudence might appear to justify. In all 
 events, it is conceived, that a profitable attention to our situation 
 may be promoted, and possibly some reflections, favourable to the 
 United States, and to the proprietors of particular estates, and 
 many vicinities,. may be suggested, by the publication of the plan 
 at the present very interesting crisis.”*—Federal Gazette. 
 
 * Tench Coxe, Esq., Lancaster. os 
 Wasuineron, February 11, 1801. 
 
 Dear sir,—Your favour, of January 25th, came to hand some days ago, 
 and yesterday a gentleman put into my hand, at the door of the senate cham- 
 ber, the volume of the American Museum for 1798. As no letter accompa- 
 nied it, I took it for granted it was to bring under my eye some of its contents. 
 
 I have gone over it with satisfaction. This is the morning of the election 
 by the house of representatives. For-some time past;'a single individual 
 had declared he would, by his vote, make up the ninth state. On Saturday 
 last he changed, and it stands at present, eight one way, six the other, and 
 two divided. Which of the two will be elected, and whether either, I pers 
 perfectly problematical: and my mind has ae been. equally thade up for 
 either of the three events. If I can find out the person who brought me the 
 volume from you, I shall return it by him, because I presume it makes one 
 of aset. If not by him, I will find some other person who may carry it to 
 Philadelphia if not to Laneastes Very possibly it may go by a different 
 conveyance from this letter. Very probably you will learn, before the 
 receipt of either, the result, or the progress at least, of the election. We 
 see already, at the threshold, that if it falls on me, I shall be embarrassed, 
 by finding the offices vacant, which cannot be even temporarily filled, but 
 with the advice of the senate; and that body is called on the 4th of March, 
 when it is impossible for the new members of Kentucky, Georgia, and South 
 Carolina, to receive notice in time to be here. 
 
 The summons for Kentucky, dated, as all were, January 31st, could not 
 go hence till the 5th, and that for Retin did not go till the 6th. If the 
 difficulties of the etation are got over, there are more and more behind. 
 Until new elections shall have regenerated the constituted authorities, the 
 defects of our constitution, under circumstances like the present, appear 
 very great. Accept assurances of the esteem and respect, dear sir, of your 
 most obedient servant, Tu: JEFFERSON. 
 
294 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 CommonweaLtH oF Massacuusetts.—In the House of Representatives. 
 Oct. 25, 1736. 
 Ordered, that Mr. Clarke and Mr. Bowdoin with such as the honourable 
 senate may join, be a committee to view any new invented machines that 
 are making within this commonwealth for the purpose of manufacturing 
 sheep’s and cotton wool, and report what measures are proper for the legisla- 
 ture to take to encourage the same. 
 Sent up for concurrence, 
 ArtTemas Warp, Speaker. 
 
 In Senate, Oct. 25, 1786.—Read and concurred, and Richard Cranch, Esq. 
 is joined. 
 Samve. Puiuuies, Jun. President. 
 
 CoMMONWEALTH OF MassacuuserTts, Nov. 1786. 
 
 The committee of both houses appointed to view any new invented ma- 
 chines that are making within this commonwealth for the purpose of manu- 
 facturing cotton and sheep’s wool, have attended that service, and examined 
 three very curious and useful machines, made by Robert and Alexander 
 Barr, for the purpose of carding and spinning of cotton, and ask leave to 
 report the following resolve, which is submitted. 
 
 Ricuarp Crancu, per order. 
 
 Resolved, that there be granted and paid out of the public treasury of this 
 commonwealth, to the said Robert and Alexander Barr, the sum of two 
 hundred pounds, to enable them to complete the said three machines and 
 also a roping machine, and to construct such other machines (connected 
 with those already exhibited) as are necessary for the purpose of carding, 
 roping, and spinning of sheep’s wool, as well as of cotton wool ; they to be 
 accountable for the expenditure of the same, and to lay their accounts of the 
 whole expense of those several machines before the general court for allow- 
 ance. And it is also 
 
 Resolved, that all those machines before-mentioned, when finished, shall 
 be delivered by the said Robert and Alexander Barr to a committee of the 
 general court to be hereafter appointed ; to be disposed of as the legislature | 
 shall think meet, for the purpose of promoting, extending, and encouraging 
 the manufacture of woollens and cottons within this commonwealth. And 
 it is further | 
 
 Resolved, that a gratuity, such as the general court may hereafter 
 agree upon (when a full trial shall have been made of the utility and public 
 advantage of those machines) shall be given to the said Robert and Alex- 
 ander Barr, as a reward of their ingenuity, and as an inducement to other 
 ingenious artists and manufacturers to bring their arts also into this com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 In Senate, Nov. 16, 1786.—Read and accepted. Sent down for concur- 
 rence. SAMUEL Puaiuuipes, Jun. President. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, Nov. 16. 1787—Read and concurred. 
 Artemas Warp, Speaker. 
 
 Approved—James Bowporn. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 295 
 
 The committee of both houses appointed to examine the machines for 
 carding, roping, and spinning cotton and sheep’s wool, lately made at 
 Bridgewater, under the patronage of the general court, by Robert and Alex- 
 ander Barr, have attended that service, and on the most critical examination 
 of those machines, your committee find them to be constructed on such true 
 mechanical principles, and executed with such accuracy, as reflects honour 
 on the genius and ability of those young artists; and that in the opinion of 
 your committee they are well adapted to promote several very valuable 
 branches of manufacture within this commonwealth, and therefore ask leave 
 to report the following resolves, which are submitted. 
 
 Ricnarp Crancu, per order. 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF MasSacHUSETTS. 
 
 Whereas by a resolve of the general court passed the 16th of November, 
 1786, the sum of two hundred pounds was directed to be paid out of the 
 public treasury of this commonwealth to Robert and Alexander Barr, to 
 enable them to complete certain machines for carding, roping, and spinning 
 cotton and sheep’s wool. 
 
 _ And whereas the said Robert and Alexander Barr have exhibited to this 
 court an account of the expenditure of one hundred and eighty-nine pounds 
 and twelve shillings of the sum aforesaid, which account appears to be just 
 and reasonable. And whereas by the resolve of the general court passed 
 the 16th of November aforesaid, it is further resolved, “That a gratuity, 
 such as the general court may hereafter agree upon, (when a full trial shall 
 have been made of the utility and public advantage of these machines) shall 
 be given to the said Robert and Alexander Barr as a reward of their inge- 
 nuity, and as an inducement to other ingenious artists and manufacturers to 
 bring their arts also into this commonwealth,” therefore resolved that the 
 said Robert and Alexander Barr be and they hereby are discharged from 
 the whole of the said sum of two hundred pounds granted as aforesaid, and 
 also that six tickets in the land lottery established by an act passed the 
 14th of November, A. D. 1786, be given by this commonwealth to the said 
 Robert and Alexander Barr, “asa reward for their ingenuity in forming those 
 machines, and for their public spirit in making them known to this common- 
 wealth.” And the managers of the said lottery are hereby directed to deliver 
 to the said Robert and Alexander Barr six lottery tickets accordingly, taking 
 duplicate receipts for the same, one of which to be lodged in the secretary’s 
 office. And it is further resolved, that the said machines be left under the 
 care of the Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. until the further order of the general court, 
 and that public notice be given for three weeks successively in Adams and 
 Nourse’s newspaper, that the said machines may be seen and examined at 
 the house of the Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. in Bridgewater, and that the manner 
 of working them will be there explained to those who may wish to be more 
 particularly informed of their great use and advantage in carrying on the 
 woollen and cotton manufactures. And the said Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. is 
 hereby requested to explain to such citizens as may apply for the same, the 
 principles on which the said machines are constructed, and the advantages 
 arising from their use, both by verbal explanations, and by letting them see 
 the machines at work. And it is further resolved, that the said Hon. Hugh 
 Orr, Esq. be, and he hereby is, permitted and allowed to make use of the 
 
296 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 said machines during the whole time of his having the care of them, as 
 aforesaid, as some recompense for his own time and trouble in showing 
 them and explaining their use to the citizens of the commonwealth at 
 
 large. 
 In Senate, May 2d, 1787.—Read and accepted. Sent down for concur- 
 rence. SamuEv Puruups, Jun. President. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, May 2d, 1787.—Read and concurred. 
 Artemas Warp, Speaker. 
 Approved—James Bowporn. 
 
 ComMMoNWEALTH OF Massacuusetts.—ln Senate, March 8, 1787. 
 
 Resolved that Richard Cranch, Esq., with such as the honourable house 
 shall join, bea committee to examine the machines now making at Bridge- 
 water by Robert and Alexander Barr, under the patronage of the general 
 court, for the purpose of carding and spinning cotton and sheep’s wool, which 
 machines are now nearly completed. And the said committee are hereby 
 empowered and directed, as soon as may be, to examine the accounts of the 
 said Robert and Alec andet Barr, respecting the expense they have been at 
 in making those machines, and to allow the same, or so much thereof as to 
 them shall appear tdasodahlel ; and also to report to the next general court 
 what gratuity, in their opinion, the said Robert and Alexander justly 
 deserve, as a reward for their ingenuity in forming those machines, and as 
 an encouragement for their public spirit in making them known to this com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 And the said committee are further directed to report their opinion, in 
 what manner those machines may be disposed of, so as to make them most 
 universally known, and generally useful to this commonwealth. 
 
 Sent down for concurrence, 
 SAMUEL PHILLIPS, JR. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, March 8, 1787.—Read and concurred, 
 
 and Mr. Clarke and Mr. Howard are joined. 
 
 Artemas Warp, Speaker. 
 Approved—James Bownoin. 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Robert and Alexander Barr, Dr. 
 
 To sundry materials, &c. for making and completing the several machines 
 for the purnsee of carding, roping, and spinning cotton and sheep’s wool, 
 
 VIZ :— : £5 ee 
 To leather, dibpies web k- pis ies ie? Ga tty Lc 2 00 
 To card teeth: cual 3. 19 
 
 To cash paid zelda) Read for sieving hig ‘adele a 
 pricking the leaves, 0 setting the card teeth, . 9 
 To 36lb. of brass at 10d. perdbai sires sad ot 1 10 
 
 To card tacks,4m. . . soul to Si 5 
 To cash paid i files, crate! eo as ie anne 4 
 To 8 months labour of two men, each at £6 10 eh mo. 104 
 To 8 months board of do. at 9s. per week, . . . . 28 16 
 Howvreod forfuel, - +m bwandy np aeeaewe tele tae 14 
 
 Carried forward, L545» (54 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 297 
 
 Live: 
 Brought forward, £154 4 
 To 261 different pieces of ironwork . . . . . . . 36 12 
 
 To coals for melting brass, and timber for the machines, 1 
 To expenses in transporting the machines to and from 
 
 BrCeenL, AO TOPEIS - UOT SS ele St yal wecerinilaind 
 £187 
 To cash paid for passages and expenses on the road to 
 Bridgewater, omitted in the above account. . . 2 12 
 £189 12 
 
 Rosert Barr. 
 ALEXANDER Barr. 
 
 To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives of the common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts, in general court assembled.. The petition of 
 Thomas Somers humbly showeth, 
 
 That in the fall of the year 1785, the tradesmen and manufacturers of 
 Baltimore in Maryland, having formed themselves into an association, in 
 order to apply to the legislature in behalf of American manufactures, heing 
 stimulated thereto by a circular letter received from a committee of the 
 tradesmen and manufacturers of the town of Boston. Your’petitioner then, 
 residing in Baltimore, (having been formerly brought up to the cotton manu- 
 factory, and willing to contribute what lay in his power to introduce said 
 manufacture in America,) did, at his own risk and expense, go to England, 
 in order to prepare the machines for carding and spinning cotton. That 
 after much difficulty, your petitioner found that he could only take descrip- 
 tions and models of said engines; with which he returned to Baltimore last 
 summer. Soon after his arrival he found that they were very dilatory about 
 encouraging the matter, and with the advice of some friends he resolved to 
 try what might be done in Boston. That on his way to Boston, the sloop 
 was driven ashore by the late storms, on Cape Cod, by which misfortune 
 your petitioner lost almost one half of the small property he had to subsist 
 on until he could get into business. Your petitioner therefore humbly prays 
 for such assistance to begin the manufactory as shall seem most agreeable 
 to your honours, and as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c. 
 
 Tuomas Somers. 
 
 N.B. Your petitioner is perfect master of the weaving in the speediest 
 manner, and of adapting to advantage the different kinds of yarn for mar- 
 seilles quilting, dimity, muslins plain, striped or checked, calico, cotton and 
 linen jeans, jeannettes, handkerchiefs, checks, drabs, and many other kinds 
 in that line, and understands the management of cotton, and how the 
 spinning should be performed. DUS: 
 ComMMoNnWEALTH or Massacuuserts.—In the House of Representatives, 
 
 March 2, 1787. 
 
 On the petition of Thomas Somers, setting forth his being possessed of 
 certain descriptions and models of machines, for the facilitating labour in 
 the carding, roping, and spinning of cotton wool; and also, his knowledge 
 of adapting the thread for, and of weaving dimities, plain, striped and 
 
 38 
 
298 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 checked muslins, calicoes, jeans, jeannettes, and other cotton manufactures ; 
 and praying that he may receive some encouragement for the establishing 
 the cotton manufacture within this commonwealth : 
 
 With a view to encourage the aforesaid manufacture, and to give the said 
 Somers an opportunity to give specimens of his abilities to perfect the 
 manufactures set forth in his said petition, Resolved, That there be paid 
 out of the public treasury, by warrant from the governor and council, twenty 
 pounds lawful money to be applied to the purposes aforesaid, dehish sum 
 shall be deposited in the hands of Hugh Orr, Esq. of BRagewatee who shall 
 be a committee to'superintend the applicnHbe of the same. 
 
 Sent up for concurrence, 
 ArtTemMas Warp, Speaker. 
 
 In Senate, March 8, 1787.—Read and concurred, 
 
 SAMUEL Pain Jr. President. 
 
 Approved—James Bowpoin. 
 
 It has been observed that Mr. Slater introduced stocking yarn 
 and sewing thread. It is not easy to estimate the value of these 
 articles to this country in 1790; the following remarks will show 
 that these yarns required superior skill and experiment. 
 
 Stockings are made of only one thread, entwined so as to forma 
 species of tissue, extremely elastic, and readily adapting itself to 
 the part it is employed to cover. The tissue cannot be called 
 cloth, for it has neither warp nor woof, but approaches it closely, 
 and for the purposes to which it is applied, is much superior. It 
 is well known that the ancient Romans had no particular cover- 
 - ing for the legs; but during the middle ages, hose or leggings 
 made of cloth came into use; and at a later period, the art of 
 knitting stockings was invented. Very different accounts are 
 given of the time and country of this important invention, some 
 attributing it to the Scots, and others deriving it from Spain. 
 Woven stockings are manufactured by the machine called stock- 
 ing-frame, which is exceedingly ingenious, but too complex to be 
 described without plates. It was invented by William Lee, of 
 Nottinghamshire, England, in 1589. He met with little encou- 
 ragement in his attempts to set up an establishment in England, 
 but was invited into France by Henry IV. and received with great 
 favour. Henry’s assassination, soon after, interrupted his pros- 
 pects, and he died in Paris in great poverty. A knowledge of his 
 machine was carried back to England by some of his workmen, 
 who established themselves in Nottinghamshire, which has since 
 continued to be the principal seat of the manufacture. For near 
 two hundred years, few improvements were made on Lee’s inven- 
 tion, and two men were usually employed on one frame; but it 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 299 
 
 has been much improved, and adapted also to the manufacture of 
 ribbed stockings. 
 
 The yarn for the stocking-frame is required to be particularly 
 smooth and equal, and it is therefore spun in a manner different 
 from other yarn, two roves being united to form the thread; on 
 this account it is called double-spun twist. - 
 
 The making of sewing-thread, by firmly twisting together two 
 three, or more threads of cotton yarn by machinery, is a consider- 
 able branch of business, carried on both at Manchester and in 
 Scotland, and in which Mr. David Holt, of the former place, has 
 made great improvements. The beauty of this article, and its 
 remarkable utility and cheapness, are universally known, as it is 
 used in every house, and in the making of almost every kind of 
 clothing. Several shops in the principal streets of London sell 
 this article only. It is also extensively exported ; the quantity 
 sent abroad in 1833, was 1,187,601Ibs. Cotton hosiery is chiefly 
 made throughout the counties of Nottingham and Derby, at 
 Hinckley, and at Tewkesbury. 'The number of persons employed 
 in the cotton branch of the hosiery trade, will probably amount to 
 nearly 40,000, in Great Britain. 
 
 The following notices of Brindley and Crompton are too inte- 
 resting to be omitted in this work. 
 
 James Brindley, a native of 'Tunsted, near Wormhill, Derby- 
 _ shire, an eminent engineer and mechanic, was born in 1716.: The 
 poverty of his family prevented his receiving more than the rudi- 
 - ments of education, and at seventeen he became apprentice to a 
 millwright. On the expiration of his indenture he commenced 
 business as an engineer, and, in 1752, displayed great talent in 
 contriving a water engine for draining acoal mine. A mill, which 
 he constructed on a new plan, and other works of the same 
 description, introduced him to the patronage of the Duke of 
 Bridgewater, then occupied in planning a communication between 
 his estate at Worsley and the towns of Manchester and Liverpool, 
 by water. This immense work, the idea of which was ridiculed 
 by most of the scientific men of the period as impracticable, 
 Brindley undertook, and by means of an aqueduct over valleys, 
 rivers, &c. completed so as to forma junction with the Mersey. 
 This success caused him to be employed in 1766, to unite the 
 Trent and Mersey, upon which he commenced the “grand trunk 
 navigation canal,” but dying before its completion, the work was 
 finished i in 1777 bi his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshaw. From this 
 main branch Brindley also cut another canal near Haywood in 
 Staffordshire, uniting it with the Severn in the vicinity of Bewdley, 
 
300 : MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and finished it in 1772. From this period scarcely any work 
 of the kind in the kingdom was entered upon without his superin- 
 tendence or advice. Among other designs, he prepared one for 
 draining the fens in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, and another 
 for clearing the Liverpool docks of mud, which was especially 
 successful. ‘The variety of his inventions, and the fertility of his 
 resources, were only equaled by the simplicity of the means with 
 which he carried his expedients into effect. He seldom used 
 any model or drawing, but when any material difficulty inter- 
 vened, generally retired to bed, and there meditated on the best 
 mode of overcoming it. On such occasions, he has been known 
 to seclude himself for days; and so partial was he to inland navi- 
 gation, that he is said, to a question humorously put to him on ~ 
 his examination before the house of commons, “For what purpose 
 did he consider rivers to have been created,” at once to have 
 replied, “ Undoubtedly to feed navigable canals.” The intensity 
 of his application to business brought on a hectic fever of which 
 he died in 1772. 
 
 Crompton.—The “ short and simple annals” of the life of this 
 worthy man,—so much resembling the history of many other sons 
 of genius,—are thus recorded by Mr. Kennedy, in his “brief 
 memoir” :— 
 
 “ About the year 1802, Mr. G. A. Lee and myself set on foot a 
 subscription for Mr. Crompton, which amounted to about £500 ; 
 and with this he was enabled to increase his little manufacturing 
 establishment, in Bolton, namely, of spinning and weaving. He 
 was prevailed upon also, to sit to a London artist, for his portrait, 
 which is now in my possession. He was left a widower when 
 his children were very young, and his only daughter kept his 
 little cottage, in King street, Bolton, where he died, and where she 
 lived in 1829. Being a weaver, he erected several looms for the 
 fancy work of that town, in which he displayed great ingenuity. 
 Though his means were but small, his economy in living made 
 him always in easy circumstances. In 1812, he made a survey 
 of all the cotton districts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and 
 obtained an estimate of the number of spindles then at work upon 
 his principle, which amounted to between four and five millions ; 
 in 1829 about seven millions. On his return, he laid the result of 
 his enquiries before Mr. Lee and myself, with a suggestion, that 
 parliament might grant him something. With these data before 
 him, Mr. Lee, who was a warm friend to genius of every kind, 
 with his usual energy entered fully into his merits, and made an 
 appointment with the late George Duckworth, Esq. of Manchester, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 301 
 
 who also took a lively interest in the scheme, and gratuitously 
 offered to draw up a memorial to parliament in behalf of Mr. 
 Crompton. ‘This was signed by most of the principal manufac- 
 turers in the kingdom who were acquainted with his merits. He 
 went to London himself with the memorial, and obtained an 
 interview with one of the members for the county of Lancaster. 
 He remained there during the session, and was in the house on the 
 evening that Mr. Perceval was shot, and witnessed the catastrophe. 
 A short time before this disastrous occurrence, Mr. Perceval had 
 given him a promise to interest himself in his behalf; and, in 
 accordance. with this assurance, had brought in a bill, which was 
 passed, for a grant of £5000, in full, without fees or charges. 
 Mr. Crompton was now anxious to place his sons in some busi- 
 ness, and fixed upon that of bleaching: but the unfavourable state 
 of the times, the inexperience and mismanagement of his sons, a 
 bad situation, and a misunderstanding with his landlord, which 
 occasioned a tedious law-suit, conspired in a very short time to 
 put an end to this establishment. His sons then dispersed, and he 
 and his daughter were reduced to poverty. Messrs. Hicks and 
 Rothwell, of Bolton, myself and some others, in that neighbour- 
 hood and in Manchester, had, in 1824, recourse to a second sub- 
 scription, to purchase a life annuity for him, which produced £63 
 per annum. ‘The amount raised for this purpose was collected 
 in small sums, from one to ten pounds ; some of which were con- 
 tributed by the Swiss and French spinners, who acknowledged 
 his merits, and pitied his misfortunes. At the same time his por- 
 trait was engraved for his benefit, and a few impressions were 
 disposed of: he enjoyed this small annuity only two years. He 
 died January 26th, 1827, leaving his daughter, his affectionate 
 housekeeper, in poverty.” 
 
 Mill Ponds and Reservoirs.—A large mill pond is very advan- 
 tageous on small rivers, the natural currents of which are not 
 sufficiently abundant at all seasons to furnish the requisite supply 
 of water. It serves as a reservoir, to collect and retain the water 
 which flows into it during the night, for use the subsequent day ; 
 in effect, as before observed, doubling the power of the stream. 
 Each acre of a mill pond, one foot in depth, contains 43,560 cubic 
 feet of water, weighing 62% lbs. to the foot = 2,722,500 lbs. of 
 water ; which, with a fall of ten feet, give available force equal to 
 567 horse power. Ifthe water were all applied in the course of one 
 minute to the water wheels, or 567 + 720, the number of minutes 
 in a day of 12 hours, gives .787 or very nearly three fourths of a 
 horse power for each acre of water one foot deep, used with a fall 
 
302 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of ten feet, for one day. With this fall, a mill pond containing 
 20 acres, and susceptible of retaining a quantity of water of the 
 same extent, and one foot in depth, will give to the proprietor of 
 the mill a command of a 15 horse power, for one day, independent 
 of the ordinary supply of the stream. The depth of pond will 
 not compensate for a deficiency in extent of surface; because, in 
 proportion as the’surface of the water subsides, or is drawn down, 
 the height of the fall, and consequently the power, is diminished 
 in an equal ratio. On this account reservoirs, constructed en- 
 tirely above the level of the mill pond, are peculiarly serviceable ; 
 a small extent of ground, covered to a considerable depth with 
 water, being thus rendered equal to a great extent of ground 
 covered with a shallow sheet of water. Where large natural 
 ponds or swamps can be converted into reservoirs, for retaining 
 the flood waters of winter, for use during the droughts of summer, 
 the water power of small streams may be surprisingly augmented. 
 During nine or ten months of the year, inconsiderable brooks 
 yield sufficient water for important hydraulic operations. If, then, 
 by means of artificial reservoirs, the deficiency in the supply of 
 water, during the two or three months of summer, can be obviated, 
 and the winter torrents be made to swell the current of the sum- 
 mer brook, the stream at once becomes as important and effective 
 as one much larger without these artificial resources. ‘The ex- 
 pense of constructing a reservoir may be rendered comparatively 
 light should all:the proprietors of the mill seats benefited by it 
 unite to defray them. Even the amount of the very costs of Liti- 
 gation in some cases, relating to water privileges, would be sufli- 
 cient, if judiciously expended in this way, to place at the control 
 of both parties a greater additional water power than that for 
 which they may be contending. 
 
 In the town of Providence, which has been termed the Man- 
 chester of America, from having been the centre of the most 
 extensive manufacturing operations, there was, in 1826, only one 
 cotton mill of less than a thousand spindles, whilst several hundred 
 thousand were in operation on the mill streams in the country 
 adjacent. A cotton mill, intended for operating seven or eight 
 thousand. mule. spindles, with the preparation and looms, was 
 erected in 1827, as an experiment of the practicability of employ- 
 ing steam power. Anthracite coal, from the Schuylkill, is success- 
 fully used in the furnace of the steam engine of this cotton mill. 
 Mr. Slater was concerned in the above experiment, and has owned 
 the whole of it since 1829. At present, it produces yarn No. 80, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 303 
 
 and the cloth is said to be the finest and best in the country. It 
 has more than answered the expectations of the proprietor. 
 
 Zec. Allen says :—“ By an experiment made with a large high 
 pressure steam engine, in Rhode Island, it appeared that when the 
 
 throttle valve was thrown open, and the machinery of the mill 
 _ disconnected with the engine, it required 25 Ibs. to the inch on the 
 safety valve, to cause the steam engine to make its regular number 
 of working strokes, and to maintain its proper speed. Without 
 having its friction at all increased by being loaded, it thus required 
 about 17 horse power, equal to one third of the whole estimated 
 power of this engine, to move the beam, piston and fly wheel.” 
 
 Calculating Machine.—Of all the machines which have been 
 constructed in modern times, the calculating machine is doubtless 
 the most extraordinary. Pieces of mechanism, for performing par- 
 ticular arithmetical operations, have been long ago constructed ; 
 but these bear no comparison, either in ingenuity or in magnitude, 
 to the grand design conceived and executed by Mr. Babbage, for 
 the British government. 
 
 Great as the power of mechanism is known to be, yet few will 
 scarcely admit it to be possible, that astronomical and navigation ta- 
 bles can be accurately computed by machinery ; that the machine 
 can itself correct the errors which it may commit; and that the re- 
 sults of its calculations, when absolutely free from error, can be 
 printed off without the aid of human hands, or the operation of 
 human intelligence. All this, however, Mr. Babbage’s machine can 
 do. The calculating machine, constructed under the superintend- 
 ence of the inventor, has been executed at the expense of the British 
 government, and is, of course, their property. It consists, essentially, 
 of two parts,—a calculating part and a printing'part ; both of which 
 are necessary to the fulfilment of Mr. Babbage’s views: for the 
 whole advantage would be lost if the computations made by the 
 machine were copied by human hands, and transferred to types 
 by the common process. The calculating machinery exhibits 
 workmanship of such extraordinary skill and beauty, that nothing 
 approaching to it has been witnessed. In order to execute it, 
 particularly those parts of the apparatus which are dissimilar to 
 any used in ordinary ‘mechanical constructions, tools and machi- 
 nery of great expense and complexity have been invented and 
 constructed; and, in many instances, contrivances of singular 
 ingenuity have been resorted to, which cannot fail to prove exten- 
 sively useful in various branches of the mechanical arts. ‘The 
 drawings of this machinery, which form a large part of the work, 
 and on which all the contrivance has been bestowed, and all the 
 
% 
 304 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 alterations made, cover upwards of 400 square feet of surface, and 
 are executed with extraordinary care and precision. In so com- 
 plex a piece of mechanism, in which interrupted motions are 
 propagated, simultaneously, along a great variety of trains of 
 mechanism, it might have been supposed that obstructions would 
 arise, or even incompatibilities occur, from the impracticability of 
 foreseeing all the possible combinations of the parts ; but this doubt 
 has been entirely removed by the constant employment of a sys- 
 tem of mechanical notation, invented by Mr. Babbage, which places 
 distinctly in view, at every instant, the progress of motion through 
 all the parts of this or any other machine ; and, by writing down 
 in tables the times required for all the movements, this method 
 renders it easy to avoid all risk of two opposite actions arriving at 
 the same instant, at any part of the engine. In the printing part 
 of the machine, less progress has been made in the actual execu- 
 tion, than in the calculating part. The cause of this is the greater 
 difficulty of its contrivance, not for transferring the computations 
 from the calculating part to the copper or other plate, destined to 
 receive it, but for giving to the plate itself that number and variey 
 of movements which the forms adopted in printed tables may call 
 for in practice. 
 
 The practical object of the calculating engine is to compute and 
 print a great variety and extent of astronomical and navigation 
 tables, which could not be done without enormous intellectual-and 
 manual labour ; and which, even if executed by such labour, 
 could not be calculated with the requisite accuracy. Mathemati- 
 clans, astronomers, and navigators, do not require to be informed 
 of the real value of such tables ; but it may be proper to ‘state, for 
 the information of others, that seventeen large folio volumes of 
 logarithmic tables alone were calculated, at an enormous expense, 
 by the French government, and that the British government re- 
 garded these tables to be of such national value, that they proposed 
 to the French board of longitude to print an abridgment of them, 
 at the joint expense of the two nations, and offered to advance 
 £5000 for that purpose. Besides logarithmic tables, Mr. Babbage’s 
 machine will calculate tables of the powers and products of num- 
 bers, and all astronomical tables for determining the positions of 
 the sun, moon, and planets; and the same mechanical principles 
 have enabled him to integrate innumerable equations of finite 
 differences ; that is, when the equation of differences is given, he 
 can, by setting an engine, produce, at the end of a given time, any 
 distant term which may be required. : 
 
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  sprNniNe AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 305 
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 4 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE SPINNING MASTER’S ASSISTANT. 
 
 _ “To complete the wonder, this manufacture is the creation of the genius of a few 
 humble mechanics ; it has sprung up from insignificance to its present magnitude 
 within little more than half a century ; and it is still advancing with a rapidity of 
 increase that defies all calculation of what it shall be in future ages.”— Baines. 
 
 Previous to the above work, published in Glasgow, 1832, 
 nothing ever appeared in Europe on the art of cotton spinning, 
 fitted to assist the master, manager, or artisan, in acquiring a cor- 
 rect and. systematic knowledge of the real principles of the busi- . 
 ness. So that the manager of a cotton spinning factory could only 
 acquire a proper knowledge of his business by long experience 
 and application in the practical department of the manufacture, 
 and it depended upon the situation in which he was placed, and 
 the advantages he enjoyed, if he ever obtained that correct know- 
 ledge of all its details which is essentially necessary to render him 
 fully qualified for managing a large establishment with satisfac- 
 tion or profit to the proprietors. 
 
 It is only when theory and practice are combined, that efficiency 
 can be attained in effecting improvements. 
 
 ~ In all factories where there is a variety of machinery employed 
 in the manufacturing of any particular kind of goods, it has 
 always been found that the manner in which the machinery is 
 placed, together with the arrangement of the different departments 
 has a very prominent influence in either retarding or accelerating 
 the progress of the work. But-in no place 1 is this influence more 
 sensibly observed than in a cotton spinning factory. It is obvious, 
 however, that the manner in which the machinery is placed, and 
 the arrangement of all its different departments, will entirely 
 depend upon the plan of the house, or the form in which it is 
 built ; hence the propriety and advantage of having a mill built on 
 such a plan, or form, as to admit of having all the machinery 
 placed, and the various departments arranged, in the manner best 
 adapted for facilitating the progress of the work as a whole. 
 
 ‘The situation of the ground, or space upon which the mill is 
 
 to be erected, must always be taken into consideration in laying 
 39 
 
306 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 down the plan or fixing upon the particular form in which the 
 house is to be built; and in some cases this plan must just be 
 made to suit the situation or place in which it must stand. But 
 when the situation and extent of the premises are such as to afford 
 ample scope for the proprietors to build their mill on any plan or 
 form which they may think proper ; in these circumstances, the 
 house may be built ina form that will admit of having the enacting y 
 and the various departments and offices of fie! establishment, 
 arranged in ‘such a manner as to afford the greatest facility for 
 accelerating the progress of the work in all the different stages or 
 departments. 'They ought to be so situated as to prevent all unne- 
 cessary going to and from any of the different departments of the 
 work, by the workers employed about the establishment. All the 
 different offices, such as ware-room, picking-room, mechanic's 
 shop, &c. ought. to be contained within the walls of the mill, if 
 possible, because there is always a continued communication swith 
 these different offices. 
 
 A good ground plan of a cotton-mill, is 145 feet ida} and 37 
 feet wide within the walls; with a wing attached to one end, 64 
 feet by twenty. A house of these dimensions would cover a space 
 of about 7461 square feet, besides the stair-case and water-closets. 
 A house 37 feet wide affords ample space for machines of 300 
 spindles each. A wing attaches to the body of the building, the 
 various departments of which should be occupied for all the differ- 
 ent offices, or separate apartments necessarily required about a 
 cotton spinning factory. ‘The body of the mill is supposed to be 
 145 feet long and 37 feet wide within the walls ; and supposing it 
 to be six stories high, a house of these divtenstune would be capa- 
 ble of containing 23,000 spindles, with all the necessary prepara- 
 tion for average numbers, If steam was needed it would require 
 an engine of between 40 and 50 horses’ power to drive a mill of 
 this extent. Every spinning factory ought to have a little more 
 power than is merely necessary to drive it, because the weight of 
 the machinery will often vary with the weather, the quality of 
 the oil used, &c.; consequently, when there is barely a sufficiency 
 of power, the engine will frequently be so overburthened, as to 
 render it incapable of driving the machinery at.a regular speed, 
 thus requiring more trouble and expense for fuel, &c. This is 
 worthy of attention where steam is used. 
 
 The breadth of the mill being 37 feet, affords ample room for 
 arranging all the different machines in the carding department in 
 the best order, both for promoting the progress of the work, and 
 allowing the different workers that are employed in this depart- 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 307 
 
 ment to attend to their employments, without being in the least 
 incommoded for want of sufficient room. 
 The length of the mill being 145 feet, would afford sufficient 
 space for the spinning machines. 'T'wo upright shafts would be 
 quite sufficient for driving all the machinery contained in a mill 
 of this length. The cotton and waste cellars should be a detached 
 building to lessen the risk. As the raw material is prepared in 
 the carding room for all the spinning departments, the cards ought 
 to be placed as near the centre of the mill as possible. A fubtokey 
 of the dimensions recommended above, six stories, would require 
 two preparation rooms; these might be placed on the same floor 
 with the picking-rooms. As there is always a constant communi- 
 cation between these two departments, if they are placed at a 
 distance from each other, a great deal of. time must unavoidably 
 be lost in passing to and from the one to the other; but by this 
 arrangement very little time will be lost; for the laps can be 
 carried direct from the spreading machines to the back of the 
 breaker cards, and the tops, strips, or other waste returned in the 
 same way. An easy method for conveying the rove from the 
 carding to the spinning room, should be adopted to save time and 
 labour. ‘The staircase ought always to be placed on the outside 
 of the mill, and the outer door always kept shut during working 
 hours. As it is obvious that the particular arrangement of the 
 different departments, and the order in which the machinery is 
 placed will always have a prominent influence upon the productive 
 capabilities of large establishments, the advantage of having them 
 arranged in the best manner which practical wisdom and expe- 
 rience can suggest, is so apparent as to require no force of lan- 
 guage to prove it. And if such arrangements depend upon the 
 particular form or plan upon which the factory is built, then the 
 importance of having the different departments arranged in the 
 most approved manner, is so obvious as to need no further com- 
 ment. 
 
 The Method of calculating the Speed of the different Shafts and 
 Machines. 
 
 In calculating the speed of the various shafts, the first thing to 
 be done is to find the revolutions per minute of the first or main 
 shaft ; and when this is known, the principle upon which to pro- 
 ceed in tracing out the speed per minute of all the other shafts 
 throughout the whole establishment, is both simple and easy to be 
 understood. | 
 
 Suppose the first moving power to be a water wheel; find how 
 
308 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 many revolutions it makes per minute, then, how many teeth are 
 in the spur or bevel wheel. Multiply this number by the revolu- 
 tions of the wheel per minute, and divide the last product by the 
 number of teeth in the pinion acting in the same, and the result 
 will be the revolutions of the first shaft per minute. 
 
 But if the first moving power should be an engine, the first 
 thing to be done is to find the number of strokes the engine males 
 per minute ; and if the engine crank be attached to the wheel, 
 then every double stroke of the engine will make one revolution 
 of this wheel, and it will be the first driving wheel. Multiply the 
 number of teeth which it contains by its revolutions per minute, 
 and divide the product by the number of teeth in the pinion which 
 is fixed on the end of the first shaft, and the result thus obtained 
 will be the revolutions per minute of the shaft. And when the 
 speed of the first shaft is thus found, the process of tracing out 
 the speed of all the others, will be comparatively easy. Suppose 
 an engine of 50 horses’ power, and making 40 single strokes per 
 minute, equal to 20 revolutions of the first shaft; therefore this 
 shaft revolves 20 times per minute. Upon the end of the first 
 shaft there is a large driving wheel, containing 96 teeth, driving 
 the second shafts. Upon one end of the second shafts are two 
 pinions containing 48 teeth each, driven by the large wheel. 
 Upon the other end are two wheels, containing 56 teeth each, 
 driving the upright shafts, upon the foot.of which are the pinions, 
 containing 32 teeth ; upon the top of the upright shafts are the 
 wheels, containing 54 teeth each; these wheels drive the cross 
 shafts. ‘The pinions upon the ends of the cross shafts (which 
 receive the motion from the upright shafts) contain 42 teeth each. 
 Required the revolutions per minute of each shaft. 
 
 Ruie.—Multiply the speed per minute of the first shaft, by the 
 number of teeth in the first driving wheel, and divide the product 
 by the number of teeth in the pinion, which is fixed upon one end © 
 of the second shaft, and the result will be the speed per minute of 
 the second shaft. In like manner, the speed of ‘the upright shaft 
 may be obtained by multiplying the speed per minute of the second 
 shaft, by the teeth in the driving wheel, which is fixed upon the 
 other end of the second shaft, and dividing the product by the 
 number of teeth in the pinion which is on the foot of the upright 
 shaft. And to find the speed of the cross shafts, multiply the speed 
 per minute of the upright shaft by the teeth in the wheel on the 
 top of the upright shaft, and divide the product by the teeth in the 
 pinion on the cross shaft ; and so by the same process, the speed 
 of any shaft may be traced out, however remote, or at whatever 
 distance it may be situated from the first moving power. 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 309 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 Speed per minute of the first shaft, 20 revolutions. 
 Number of teeth on the first driving wheel, 96. 
 
 Number of teeth in the pinion 48)1920(40 speed per minute of 
 192 second shaft. 
 
 Speed of second shaft per minute, 40 revolutions. 
 Number of teeth in the wheel, 56 
 
 —— 
 
 Number of teeth on the pinion 32)2240(70 speed of upright shaft. 
 
 Speed of upright shafts per minute, 70 
 ‘Teeth in the wheel on the top of upright shaft, 54 
 
 | 42)3780(90 speed of cross 
 —~ shaft. 
 To find the speed per minute of any given shaft. 
 
 Rute.—Begin at the first moving power, and trace out all the 
 driving and all the driven wheels separately. Multiply all the 
 driving wheels together, and their product by the speed per minute 
 of the first shaft; then multiply all the driven wheels together, 
 including the first driven wheel on the given shaft, (the speed of 
 which we wish to ascertain ;) divide the product of the drivers by 
 the produce of the driven, and the result thus obtained will be the 
 
 speed of the given shaft. Required the speed of cross shafts. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Driving wheels. Driven wheels or pinions. 
 First wheel, 96 | Second pinion, A8 
 Third wheel, 56 | Fourth pinion, 32 
 Fifth wheel, 54 | Sixth pinion, A2 
 
 96 
 56 
 576 
 A80 
 5376 
 54 
 21504 
 26880 
 290304 
 Speed of shaft 20 
 
 64512)5806080(90 speed of the cross shafts. 
 580608 
 
3LO MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The preceding examples sufficiently illustrate the process of 
 tracing out the speed of all the different shafts ;,for by the same 
 process we can trace the speed of any number of shafts throughout 
 all their windings, even to the remotest department of any factory. 
 The speed per minute of the cross shafts, which give motion to 
 all the machinery in both the carding and spinning rooms, should 
 always range from 88 to 90 revolutions. By the preceding exam- 
 ples the speed of the cross shafts will be found to be 90 revolu- 
 tions per minute. When the speed of the cross shafts is known, 
 the speed of all the different machines in either the carding or 
 spinning departments, may be easily ascertamed. Commence 
 with the spinning department. | 
 
 To find the speed per minute of the fly on the jenny. 
 
 Rute.—Begin first at the cross shaft, and trace out all the 
 driving and driven pulleys and drums separately, from the large 
 driving pulleys, on the cross shaft, to the fast and loose belt pulleys 
 on the axle of the fly on the jenny. Multiply the diameters of all 
 the driving pulleys and drums together, and their product by the 
 speed of the cross shaft.” Then uals the diameters of all 
 driven pulleys and drums together, and with their product divide 
 the product of the drivers as found above ; the result wilh be the 
 revolutions of the fly per minute. 
 
 Say the large driving pulleys, upon the cross shaft, are 20 inches 
 in diameter; likewise suppose that all the belt drums, and belt 
 pulleys, are all the same diameter, viz. 18 inches. Required the 
 revolutions of the fly or rim per minute. 
 
 EXAMPLE. so 
 Driving drums and pulleys. Driven drums and pulleys. 
 Pulleys on cross shaft, 20 inches. | Top speed pulleys, 18 inches. 
 Belt drums, 18 do. Belt pulleys," (ber do: 
 Speed of cross shaft per minute, 90 abel 
 Diameter of pulleys, 20 
 
 —_———___ 
 
 Diameter of top speed pulley 18)1800(100 revolutions per minute 
 18 of the belt. 
 
 Say the wheel, on the same shaft with the pulleys, contains 74 
 
 *Ty all calculations of this kind where the drivers and driven are sepa- 
 rated and multiplied together with a view to ascertain their relative speed, 
 should wheels, containing the same number of teeth or drums, or pulleys of 
 the same abiinetay: occur on both sides, these may be omitted in the opera- 
 tion. In these beanies such are therefore omitted in the operation. 
 
ATT TEST METTTTAT 
 
 > = 
 
 ewe je 
 
 is 
 
 eid 
 
 AAV ATA 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 31f 
 
 teeth, and working into the wheel, of 84 teeth, on the axle of 
 the fly. 
 
 Speed per minute of belt pulleys, 100 
 
 Teeth in the wheel, 74 
 
 84)7400(88.09 revolutions of the fly 
 per minute on the first speed. 
 
 Say the wheel, on the same shaft with the pulleys, contains 84 
 teeth, and Serials into the wheel, of v4 teeth, on the axle of 
 the fly. 
 
 Speed per minute of belt pulleys, 100 
 Teeth in the wheel, 84 
 
 Teeth in the wheel, 74)8400(113.5 revolutions of the fly 
 per minute on the second speed. 
 
 The revolutions of the fly being known—to find the revolutions 
 of the front roller of the jenny per minute. 
 
 Ruite.—Begin at the bevel wheel, on the axle of the fly, and 
 trace out the driving and driven wheels from it to the wheel on 
 the front roller. Multiply the number of teeth in the drivers toge- 
 ther, and their product by the revolutions of the fly, and ealitply 
 the number of teeth in the driven together. Divide the product 
 of the former by the product of the latter, and the result will be 
 the revolutions of the front roller per minute. 
 
 ; EXAMPLE. 
 Drivers. Driven. 
 Wheel on axle of fly, 50 | Wheel on top of bevel shaft, 50 
 Wheel on under end of bevel Wheel on front roller, 50 
 shaft, o4 
 
 Revolutions of the fly per minute, 88.09 or first speed. 
 Teeth in the wheel on under end 
 of bevel shaft, D4 
 35236 
 26427 
 
 Wheel on top of bevel shaft, Seer 06(59.90 revolutions of the 
 | front roller per minute. 
 
 To find ae revolutions of the spindle for one of the fly, and of the 
 spindle per minute. 
 
 Ruie.— When the wharves are one inch diameter, multiply the 
 diameter of the fly by the diameter of the drum-band groove in 
 the twist pulley, and divide by the diameter of the fly-band 
 groove. 
 
312 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Suppose the diameter of the fly to be 40 inches, fly-band groove 
 in twist pulley 143, and drum-band groove 16 inches. Required 
 the revolutions of the spindle for one of the fly. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Diameter of fly, AO inches. 
 Do. of drum-band groove, 16 
 
 Do. of fly-band groove, 14.5)640.0(44 revolutions of the spin- 
 580 dle, for one of the fly. 
 
 600 
 580 
 
 —— 
 
 20 
 
 The revolutions of the spindle for one of the fly being 44, this 
 multiplied by the revolutions of the fly per minute, ines the re- 
 volutions of the spindle per minute. 
 
 Revolutions of fly on the first speed, 88.09 x Ad = 3875. 96: re- 
 volutions of spindle per minute on first speed. 
 
 Revolutions of fly on the second speed, 113.5x44=— A994. re: 
 volutions of spindle per minute on second speed. mee 
 
 Note.—It is difficult to find any general rule by which the revolutions of 
 the spindle for one of the fly or rim can be exactly ascertained by calcula- 
 tion, because these are often found to vary according to the thickness of the 
 drum and fly-bands, the diameter of the wharves, &c. The older these 
 bands are, they become smaller and sink deeper into the grooves ; hence the 
 variations of the spindle in proportion to the fly. The above rule, will be 
 found to come as near the truth as any which has hitherto been suggested.. 
 
 Say the cross shafts which give motion to the various machines 
 in the carding and picking rooms, revolve 90 times per minute. 
 Required the speed of the aticrent machines in these depart- 
 ments. 
 
 To find the speed of the cards per minute. 
 
 Ru.e.—Begin at the cross shaft, and multiply its revolutions 
 per minute, by the number of teeth in the wheel, and divide the 
 product ae the teeth in the pinion on the card- acne shaft; this 
 will give the revolutions of the shaft per minute. Multiply this 
 by the diameter of the card drums, and divide the product by the 
 diameter of the belt pulleys, on the axle of the card cylinder; the 
 
- 
 
 SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 313 
 
 result thus obtained, will be the revolutions of the card cylinder 
 
 per minute. 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Teeth in the wheel, AO | Teeth in the pinion, 36 
 
 Diameter of card drums in. 18 | Diameter of belt pulleys, 16 
 
 Speed of cross shaft, 90 
 
 Teeth in driving wheel on do. 40 | 
 
 Teeth in driven pinion, 36)3600(100*revolutions per minute of 
 36 the card drum shaft. 
 
 Revolutions of shaft per minute, 100 
 
 Diameter of card drums, 18 inches 
 Diameter of belt pulleys on axle -—-— 
 of card, 16)1800(112.5+ revolutions of card 
 
 cylinder per minute. 
 
 To ie the revolutions per minute of the delivering shaft in the 
 card. 
 
 Ru.Le.—Begin at the pinion on the main axle of the card cy- 
 linder, and trace out the driving and driven wheels, or pinions 
 separately, from it to the pinion on the end of the Secure shaft.* 
 
 Multiply all the drivers together, and their product by the revo- 
 lutions of the cylinder per minute ; then multiply all the driven 
 zether, and peepee product steals the product of the former. 
 
 Vee ‘ “at he 
 
 " Te: Bs - EXAMPLE. 
 
 ied ned Bo Drivers. Driven. 
 
 Teeth 1 in pinion. on main axle, 20 | Teeth in wheel, 144 
 
 Teeth in } inion, 48 | 'Teeth in pinion, 22 
 
 Revolutions of cylinder per minute, 112.5 | Teeth in wheel, 144 
 
 Teeth in pinion on main axle, 20 | Teeth in pinion, 22 
 
 | mite 
 
 2250.0 | 288 
 
 Teeth in pinion, A8 | 288 
 180000 3168 
 
 90000 
 
 3168)108000.0(34.99+4 revolutions 
 of delivering shaft per minute. 
 
 * The revolutions of the feeding roller is found by the same method as 
 the delivering shaft.t| Intermediate wheels or drums are never taken into 
 the operation of calculating the speed or draught of any kind of machinery. 
 
 + The shafts in carding and picking rooms, revolving at the rate of 1U0 times per 
 minute, the speed of all the different machines in these departments may be calculated 
 from this. 
 
 AO 
 
314 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The revolutions of the delivering shaft per minute being 34.09, 
 multiplying it by the circumference of the delivering ball, gives 
 the length produced per minute. 
 
 To find the speed of the cylinder shaft in the drawing-frame. 
 
 Rvuie.—Multiply the diameters of the drums together, and their 
 product by the speed per minute of the shaft, and multiply the 
 diameters of the driven pulleys together. Divide the product of 
 the former by the product of the latter; the result is the speed 
 per minute of the cylinder shaft. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Driving drums. Driven pulleys. 
 Speed of shaft, 100 | Diameter of pulley, 16.75 
 Diameter of drum, 18 | Diameter of pulley, 16 
 14400 10050 
 1800 1675 
 
 268.00)32400.00(120.89+ revolutions. 268.00 
 of cylinder shaft per minute. 
 
 To find the speed of the fly or tube frames per minute. 
 
 Rute.—Multiply the diameters of the driving drums together, 
 and their product by the speed of the shaft; and multiply the 
 diameters of the speed pulley, and the belt pulley, on the end of the 
 frame shaft, together. Divide the product of the former by the 
 product of the latter, and the result is the speed per minute of the 
 frame shaft. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 Speed per minute of shaft 100 | Diameter of speed pulley, 132 
 
 Diameter of drum, inches, 18 | Diameter of belt-pulley, 113 
 Diameter of drum, do. 18 
 
 Speed of shaft, 100 ' Diameter of pulley, 13.75 
 Diameter of drum, 18 Diameter of pulley, 11.5 
 1800 6875 
 Diameter of drum, 18 1375 
 — 1375 
 14400 ——— 
 1800 158.125 
 
 158.125)32400.000(204.90 speed of fly or tube frame 
 shaft per minute. 
 
 To find the speed per minute of the scutching machine. 
 Rute.——Multiply the speed per minute of the shaft in the pick- 
 ing room, by the diameter of the main drum, and the product by 
 
 ¥ 
 
a 
 10! he 
 
 cS ee 
 aie ey 
 7 © aie Ge 
 rg an 7 
 ky 
 ie cmeaaatl 
 ‘i ; ’ 
 
 BR! 
 
“* 
 Si 
 —" 
 
 bade 
 
 SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 315 
 
 the diameter of the drum ; then multiply the diameter of the drum 
 
 by the diameter of the belt pulleys, on the shaft, on the machine. 
 Divide the product of the former by the product of the latter ; the 
 result will be the speed per minute of the shaft. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 Speed of shaft per minute, 100 | Diameter of drum, 18 
 Diameter of drum, 24 | Diameter of belt pulleys, 102 
 Diameter of drum, 22 
 180 
 Speed of shaft, 100 9 
 Diameter of drum = 24 torr 
 nem 189 
 2400 
 Diameter of drum 22 
 4800 
 A800 
 
 189)52800(279.36+4 revolutions per minute of 
 shaft in scutching machine. 
 
 The preceding calculations are merely intended to exemplify the 
 method of tracing out the motions of the various shafts and ma- 
 chines, from the power which gives the first motion, to the remotest 
 movement.in the whole establishment. 
 
 The plan of the shafts and other gearing, in some of the old 
 establishments, will be found much more complicated; yet still 
 
 the principles upon which their various speeds are calculated are ~ 
 
 always the same ; and if once these are properly understood, the 
 method of tracing out the speed of every shaft throughout the 
 ramifications of even the most complicated establishments, will 
 then be comparatively easy. 
 
 If there are different kinds of cotton used, it 1s important that 
 they should be properly and regularly mixed saehisiinsc ; and unless 
 this be particularly attended to, a regular and uniform quality of 
 yarn cannot be produced. 
 
 The cotton is weighed previous to being put into the spreading 
 machine, and when spread into a given length and thickness, is 
 called a feed; a number of these follow each other ; so that a con- 
 tinuous web of cotton passes through the machine, and is rolled 
 on a wooden roller, until it be of sufficient size, when it is carried 
 
 ~ to the cards, in which state it is called a breaker lap. 
 
 ff any machine, in the whole process of cotton spinning, be of 
 re use and importance than another, it is the carding engine ; 
 
 “ 
 
316 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 nor can it be dispensed with, the process of cotton spinning, 
 (properly speaking,) begins only at the carding ; for all the pre- 
 
 vious departments of the process are merely preparatory to this, — 
 
 and consist chiefly in mixing, cleaning, and opening the cotton, 
 so as that the cards may take the best effect upon it. 
 
 That much depends upon a proper system of doubling and 
 drawing for making a superior quality of yarn, is generally ad- 
 “mitted. And as I believe that it is owing to the particular manage- 
 ment of this essential part of the process that enables one spinner 
 to excel another in the quality of the yarns they produce, too 
 much importance, therefore, cannot be attached to this subject. 
 For whatever be the quality of the cotton that is used, or the yarn 
 required, the whole doubling and drawing must be regulated ac- 
 cordingly. And unless the one be adjusted to suit the other, it is 
 vain to expect a superior quality of yarn. 
 
 To find the twists per inch on the yarn, suppose No. 36. 
 Ru.e.—Multiply the revolutions of the front roller by its cir- 
 cumference, and divide the revolutions of the spindle per minute 
 by the product. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 Revolutions per minute of the front roller, 58.72 
 Circumference of do. 31 inches. 
 17616 
 734 
 
 — 
 
 183.50)4000.00(21.70+ twists 
 per inch in the yarn. 
 
 Spinning masters who have occasion to be frequently changing 
 the sizes of yarn, may sometimes be at a loss to know the precise 
 quantity of twist that particular numbers will require, unless they 
 have some rule to direct them how to find what twist will suit any 
 given numbers of either weft or warps. 
 
 The following rules for finding this are considered to be the 
 most correct. Ruiter 1. If for warp yarn, allow 25 twists to the 
 inch, or 25 revolutions of the spindle for the inch of yarn of No. 
 50, and the same for No. 60 wefts. ‘Taking the above for the 
 data upon which to proceed. ‘To find the twists per inch that 
 any given size of yarn will require. Rute 2. If. for warp 
 
 yarn, as No. 50 is to the square of 25 so is the given size, to the 
 
 square of the twists per inch which the given size requires. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 : 
 t 
 
 ‘| 
 
 ps 
 
 ~ 
 
& 
 
 SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 317 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 How many twists per inch will No. 64 warp yarn require ? 
 As No. 50 : 25x25=625 : : 64 
 
 64 
 2500 
 3750 
 
 50)40000 
 
 800(281 twist required for No. 64 warps. 
 
 Ruxe 3.—If for weft yarn, as No. 60 is to the square of 25 
 so is the given size to the twists per inch, which the given size 
 of yarn requires. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 How many twists per inch will No. 80 wefts require ? 
 As No. 60 : 25x25=625 : : 80 
 80 
 
 60)50000 
 
 Find the square root of 823.33(28.69 twists per inch re- 
 4 quired for No. 80 wefts. 
 48)423 
 8 384 
 
 566)3933 
 6 3396 
 
 5729)53700 
 51561 
 
 —_———- 
 
 2139 
 
 There is another short and simple rule, approved of by some 
 managers, for finding the twists per inch, which any given size 
 may require, which may be shortly stated without exemplifying it. 
 
 Rute.—Multiply the square root of the given size by 3% if for 
 
ah 
 
 “+ O28 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 warp yarn, and by 33 if for wefts; the result of either will be the 
 twists per inch which the given size of yarn requires. 
 
 Managers of spinning factories do not seem yet to be agreed 
 upon what is the most proper dimensions of a mule jenny. Some 
 contend, that mules containing from 264 to 280 spindles, are the 
 most profitable, because they generally turn off a much greater 
 quantity of yarn in proportion to their spindles, than those of a 
 larger size ; and, besides, they are easier to work or manage, and 
 not so destructive to the drum and fly bands, having less weight 
 to drive. Others, again, suppose, that as all mules, of whatever 
 size, require the same gearing, as well as drums and belts, to move 
 them, the larger the better: as a factory filled with mules of a 
 large size will require less power to drive it, having less gearing, 
 it will require fewer belts, dc. &c. 
 
 Young carding and spinning masters, who have newly entered 
 into a charge in any of the departments, or for operatives and me- 
 chanics, who may be looking forward to such a situation, it is of 
 the utmost importance that they exercise themselves in performing 
 all kinds of calculations connected with the business, and thereby 
 acquire expertness in performing them, when necessary, as it will 
 be the means of saving much trouble and uncertainty afterwards. 
 
 Velocity of Wheels——Wheels are for conveying motion to the 
 different parts of a machine, at the same, or at greater or less velo- 
 city, as may be required. When two wheels are in motion their 
 teeth act on one another alternately ; and, consequently, if one of 
 these wheels has 40 teeth, and the other 20 teeth, the one with 20 
 will turn twice upon its axis for one revolution of the wheel with 
 40 teeth. From this the rule is taken, which is:—As the velocity 
 required is to the number of teeth in the driver, so is the velocity 
 of the driver to the number of teeth in the driven. 
 
 Note. 'To find the proportion that the velocities of the wheels, 
 in a train, should bear to one another, subtract the less velocity 
 from the greater, and divide the remainder by the number of one 
 less than the wheels in the train ; the quotient will be the number 
 rising in arithmetical progression, from the least to the greatest 
 velocity of the train of wheels. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 What is the number of teeth in each of three wheels, to produce 
 17 revolutions per minute ; the driver having 107 teeth, and 
 making 3 revolutions per minute ? 
 1 bee et =/, therefore 3, 10, 17, are the velocities of the 
 o—il= a * 
 three wheels. 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINES. 319 — 
 By the rule, 
 107 x3 
 103107: : 34 32 = =32 teeth. 
 10 
 34x 10 
 
 Lie Oe 3* LOS Po 
 
 —=19 teeth. 
 
 THE COMMUNICATION OF POWER. 
 
 There are no prime movers of machinery from which power 
 is taken in a greater variety of forms than the water-wheel, and 
 among such a number there cannot fail to be many bad applica- 
 tions. Suffice it here to mention one of the worst, and most 
 generally adopted. For driving a cotton mill, there is a water- 
 wheel about twelve feet broad, and twenty feet diameter ; there is 
 a division in the middle of the buckets upon which the segments 
 are bolted round the wheel, and the power is taken from the ver- 
 tex: from this erroneous application, a great part of the power is 
 lost ; for the weight of water upon the wheel presses against the 
 axle in proportion to the resistance it has to overcome, and if the 
 axle was not a large mass of wood, with very strong iron journals, 
 it could not stand the great strain which is upon it. 
 
 The most advantageous part of the wheel, from which the 
 power can be taken, is that point in the circle of gyration hori- 
 zontal to the centre of the axle; because, taking the power from 
 this part, the whole weight of water in the buckets acts upon the 
 teeth of the wheels; and the axle of the water wheel suffers no 
 strain. ‘I'he proper connection of machinery to water wheels is 
 of the first importance, and mismanagement in this particular 
 point is often the cause of the journals and axles giving way, 
 besides a considerable loss of power. 'To find the radius of the 
 circle of gyration in a water wheel is therefore of advantage to 
 the saving of power, and the following example will show the 
 rule by which it is found. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Required the radius of the circle of gyration in a water-wheel, 
 30 feet diameter ; the weight of the arms being 12 tons, shrouding 
 20 tons, and water 15 tons. 
 
 30 feet diameter, radius=15 feet. 
 
 S. 20x15°=4500x2= 9000? The opposite side of the water- 
 A. 12X15?= 900x2= 1800 | wheel must be taken. 
 
 W. 15x15?=3375 = 3375 
 x20 6 1es64 4 
 W.5 14175 
 
 wee 
 
seek 
 . 
 
 320 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 W.15 14175 
 
 —=179 the square root of which is 
 
 79 79 13,4, feet, the radius of the 
 circle of gyration. 
 
 The preceding examples sufficiently illustrate the process of 
 tracing out the speed of all the different shafts: for by the same 
 process we can trace the speed of any number of shafts through- 
 out all their windings, even to the remotest department of any 
 
 factory. 'The speed per minute of the cross shafts, which give — 
 -motion to all the machinery in both the carding and spinning- 
 rooms, should always range from 88 to 70 revolutions. By the 
 
 preceding examples the speed of the cross shafts will be found to 
 be 90 revolutions per minute. When the speed of the cross shafts 
 is known, the speed of all the different machines in either the 
 carding or spinning departments, may be easily ascertained. 
 
 On the opposite page will be found a table condensed from New- 
 ton’s machinist’s table, showing the proportional radii of wheels to 
 their pitch. 
 
 Extract from Baines’s History of the Cotton Manufacture in England. 
 
 Actual prices 
 soldin U.S. 
 
 $100 to 250 
 
 Prices of machinery in England, | Prices of machinery in the 
 1834. | United States, 1834 
 
 Card’g engines, |£30 to 40/$144 to 192)£40 to 50|/$192.00 to 240 
 Throstles, 
 
 per spindle, | 83. to 9s./2.91 to 102) to 1.6/$ 5.76 to 6.22/$4.25 to 6 
 Mules perdo.  /|4s.6 to 5s./1.08 to 1.20}13sto 14s|$ 3.12 to 3.361$2.12 to 2.25 
 
 Dressing Ma- | 
 chines, £30 to 35/$144 to 168/£80 to 90/$ 384 to 4321$400 
 Power Looms, |£74 to 84/36 to 40.80 
 
 £12 to 16] 57.60 to 76.80)$ 50 to 75 
 
 Mr. White. 
 
 I have obtained the actual sale prices of the above named machinery from 
 one of the principal machine makers in this city, Mr. Stanford Newell, which 
 I believe to be correct, Yours, very respectfully, oo Gy ARLEN: 
 
 The fact respecting the higher prices of American machinery, arises from 
 their ornamental work, which the English think unnecessary ; as they re- 
 
 gard only the utility and durability of the machine. This circumstance 
 may be worthy the attention of our machinists ; whether it is best to expend 
 _ so much for polishing the appearance of the works. 
 
Table of the Proportional Radi of Wheels, from 4 to 3 Inches Pitch, 
 
 No. of 1 
 Teeth. 4 
 
 10} 0.405 
 11} 0.444 
 12) 0.483 
 13} 0.522 
 14] 0.562 
 
 Ruamiolth tae de hhh, 12 
 0.809} 1.214) 1.618} 2.023) 2.427] 2.832 
 0.887} 1.331| 1.775) 2.218) 2.662] 3.106 
 0.966] 1.449) 1.932] 2.415] 2.898] 3.381 
 1.045] 1.567) 2.089} 2.612} 3.134) 3.656 
 1.123} 1.685) 2.247] 2.809) 3.370] 3.932 
 1.202) 1.804) 2.405} 3.006) 3.607} 4.209 
 1.281) 1.922) 2.563] 3.204] 3.844) 4.485 
 1.361} 2.041} 2.721} 3.401] 4.082] 4.762 
 1.440} 2.160) 2.879] 3.599] 4.319] 5.039 
 1.519} 2.278] 3.038] 3.797) 4.557] 5.316 
 
 3.641} 4.045 
 3.993] 4.437] 5,324 
 4.347) 4.830 
 4,701) 5.223 
 5.056] 5.617 
 5.411] 6.012) 7.215 
 5.767] 6.407] 7.689 
 6.122] 6,803 
 6.479] 7.198 
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322 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Motion, Resistance, and Effect of Machines. 
 
 Various as the modifications of machines are, and innumerable 
 their different applications; still there are only three distinct 
 objects to which their utility tends. The first is, in furnishing 
 the means of giving to the moving force the most commodious 
 direction ; and, when it can be done, of causing its action to be 
 applied immediately to the body to be moved. 'These can rarely 
 be united, but the former can be accomplished in most cases. The 
 second, in accommodating the velocity of the work to be performed, 
 to the velocity with which alone a natural power can act. The 
 third and most essential advantage of machines, is in augmenting, 
 or rather in modifying, the energy of the moving power in such a 
 manner, that it may produce effects of which it would have been 
 otherwise incapable. For’ instance, a man might with exertion 
 lift 400lbs.; but let him apply a lever, and he will lift many times 
 that weight. 'The motions produced by machines are of three 
 kinds, viz. accelerated, uniform, and alternate, 2. e. accelerated and 
 retarded. 'The first of these always takes place when the moving 
 power is immediately applied; the second, after the machine has 
 been in motion for a short time ; the third, in intermitting machines, 
 such as pendulum clocks, &c.; but though a seconds’ pendulum is 
 accelerated the first half second and retarded the next, still it pro- 
 duces a constant number of vibrations in a given time, and there- 
 fore may be considered as a machine of uniform motion. The 
 grand object, in all practical cases, is to procure a uniform motion, 
 because it produces the greatest. All irregularities of motion indi- 
 cate that there is some point resisting the motion, and to overcome 
 which a part of the propelling power is wasted, and the greatest 
 varying velocity is only equal to that velocity by which the ma- 
 chine would move when its motion is uniform. If the machine 
 moves with an accelerating velocity, it is certain that the power is 
 greater than what balances the opposing resistance, and therefore 
 cannot produce the greatest effect; because the whole resistance 
 is not applied. In both these cases the machine has neither the 
 power nor the effect which it would have if moving uniformly. 
 When irregularity of motion takes place, particularly in a large 
 heavy machine, it stiffers a continual straining and jolting which 
 must very soon destroy it. It is therefore of the greatest conse- 
 quence, that, from all machines, every cause tending to produce 
 irregularity of motion should be taken away.* 
 
 * Hydrodynamics, which signifies water and power or force, is that branch 
 of natural philosophy which embraces the phenomena exhibited by water 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 323 
 
 Management and government of Spinning Factories, Sc. 
 
 Cotton spinning factories, like all other establishments where a 
 large capital is invested for the purpose of manufacturing any par- 
 
 and other fluids, whether they are at rest or in motion. It treats of the pres- 
 sure, the equilibrium, the cohesion, the motion, and the resistance of fluids ; 
 -and of the construction of the machines by which water is raised, and in 
 which it is the first mover or the primary agent. This science is generally 
 divided into hydrostatics and hydraulics, the former of which considers the 
 pressure, equilibrium, and cohesion of fluids; and the latter, their motion, 
 the resistance which they oppose to moving bodies, and the various machines 
 in which they are the principal agent. Although hydrodynamics is but a 
 modern science, and was studied by the ancients only in its most general 
 principles, yet many of the leading doctrines and phenomena upon which it 
 is founded are familiar to the rudest nations, and must have been well 
 known in the very earliest ages of society. Even at the remote period 
 when man first trusted himself to the waves, the pressure of fluids, and the 
 phenomena of floating bodies, were undoubtedly known to him; and in the 
 more advanced state of navigation, when the Phenicians were able to colo- 
 nise the most distant regions of the globe, the directing power of the helm, 
 the force and management of the oars, the action of the wind upon the sail, 
 and the resistance opposed to the motion of the vessel, were well known 
 facts which implied practical acquaintance with some of the most important 
 doctrines of hydrodynamics. Notwithstanding, the doctrine of fluids may 
 still be considered as deriving its origin from the discoveries of Archimedes. 
 The history of these discoveries has been rendered ridiculous by vulgar 
 fables which have long been discredited ; but it appears unquestionable, that 
 they originated in the detection of a fraud committed by the jeweller of 
 Hiero, King of Syracuse. Archimedes was applied to by the king to ascer- 
 tain, without injuring the workmanship, whether or not a new crown, which 
 had been made for him, consisted of pure gold. The method of solving the 
 problem is said to have occurred to him when in the bath, and he applied it 
 successfully in detecting the fraud. The hydrostatical doctrines to which 
 Archimedes was thus conducted, were illustrated by him in two books. He 
 maintained that every particle of a fluid mass in equilibrio is pressed equally 
 in every direction. He examined the conditions in consequence of which 
 a floating body assumes and preserves its position of equilibrium, and he 
 applied to bodies that have a triangular, a conical, and a parabolic form. 
 He showed that every body plunged in a fluid, loses as much of its own 
 weight as the weight of the quantity of water which it displaces; and upon 
 this beautiful principle is founded the process which he employed for ascer- 
 taining the impurity of Hiero’s crown. No one could deny the result of this 
 experiment. The screw of Archimedes, which is still used in modern times 
 for raisitig water, is said to have been invented by him when in Egypt, for 
 the purpose of enabling the inhabitants to free themselves of the stagnant 
 water which was left in the low grounds after the inundations of the Nile ; 
 and Atheneus informs us, that navigators held the memory of Archimedes 
 in the highest honour, for having furnished them with means of carrying off 
 the water in the holds of their vessels. 
 
324 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 ticular kind of goods upon an extensive scale, require to be very 
 skilfully managed in order to make them profitable, either for pro- 
 ducing a superior quality of yarn, or turning off a large quantity in 
 proportion to the extent of the machinery. All the different depart- 
 ments may be arranged in the most judicious manner, and every 
 machine made and adjusted on the most approved principles, and 
 yet the establishment and the mode of government which gene- 
 rally prevails, may be greatly deficient in respect both to the 
 quantity and quality of its produce. 
 
 Considering the amount of capital invested in these establish- 
 ments, it might be expected that proprietors would be much more 
 scrupulous, with respect to ability and merit, in the choice of those 
 to whom they confide the charge of the different departments, 
 than they frequently are; hence the reason why certain proprie- 
 tors realise a high profit from their establishments, whilst others 
 can scarcely secure the interest of the capital. 
 
 It is an erroneous opinion to suppose that any person, who may 
 not have been early and long practised in the business, can, not- 
 withstanding, acquire as much knowledge by their own experience 
 in the course of a few months, as will qualify them for taking a 
 full charge of a factory. It will be admitted, that those who have 
 been brought up to the business, where they had many opportu- 
 nities of seeing the methods of adapting the different machines to 
 suit the various qualities of cotton, and sizes of yarn, and who 
 know how tv adjust machinery in the event of any little accidents 
 or errors that frequently occur in practice, must possess a decided 
 advantage over those who have not enjoyed so favourable oppor- 
 tunities. It would be advantageous for the agent or overseer of a 
 cotton mill to have a thorough knowledge of the business in all 
 its details, as without this he must sometimes leave much of the 
 management of certain departments to others, and they, occupying 
 only a subordinate station, are likely to feel a subordinate respon- 
 sibility: hence may arise much mismanagement, attended with 
 loss to the proprietors. ‘The manager who knows his business, 
 can both give directions to those that are under him, as well as 
 discern whether they are qualified for the situations they occupy, 
 and when they fail in their duty. 
 
 It is a most essential qualification on the part of the manager, 
 that he be expert in performing all kinds of calculations connected 
 with the business; in regulating the speed of the different 
 machines ; in adjusting the draughts of the various machines ; 
 and in making changes in the qualities of the cotton and sizes of 
 the yarn. In regulating the speed of the various machines, parti- 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 325 
 
 cularly in the preparation department, it is important to have them, 
 so that the one shall not be over driven, nor the other working at 
 an under: speed. 
 
 Let the carding engines be adjusted to such a speed as will suit 
 the nature of the cotton and the quality of the yarn for which 
 they are preparing it; the speed of the drawing frame should also 
 be regulated to take up exactly what the cards bring forward, 
 without any unnecessary loss of time on the’ part of either, and all 
 the other machines should be regulated in the same manner. But 
 it might be desirable to ascertain the most advantageous speed, at 
 which the different machines should be driven for the various 
 qualities of yarn. The number of carding engines that should be 
 allowed to the drawing-frame is important; from No. 80, down- 
 wards, the carding engines may range from eight to ten. 
 
 The proper adjustment of the draughts on the different machines 
 is also of equal importance to a proper arrangement of the speed. 
 Excess of draught on any one machine, while there is less than 
 necessary on another, should be uniformly avoided. 
 
 In working an inferior quality of cotton, there is always a less 
 quantity of yarn produced in a given time, but a much greater 
 quantity of waste; besides, the yarn being of an inferior quality, 
 is likely to hurt the credit of the manufacturer; whereas a supe- 
 rior quality will always support his credit, command a fair price, 
 and secure a sale, so that he will often have his money when 
 others have their stock. 
 
 Another primary object in the management of a factory, that 
 ought to be studied, is the avoiding all unnecessary expenses by 
 alterations on the plan of the gearing, or arrangement of the 
 machinery, especially such as might only be adapted to please the 
 eye rather than improve the productive capabilities of the esta- 
 blishment. To have the large gearing all fitted up_on the most 
 approved plan, and the machinery arranged in the manner best 
 calculated to facilitate the progress of the work, are doubtless 
 objects of the greatest importance, but when once the establish- 
 ment has been filled with machinery, and all its arrangements 
 completed, it is better to let it remain as it is, than try to improve 
 it; and indeed, to begin then to make alterations, would be highly 
 objectionable, because the money expended on these alterations 
 might far exceed all the advantages arising from the supposed 
 improvements. 'T’o keep all the machinery in good repair, and in 
 the best working order, cannot be too highly recommended ; as 
 without doing so, it is impossible to produce a regular and uniform 
 good quality of yarn; and to keep machinery in good order, by 
 
326 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 tegular care and attention, is much easier than to repair it after 
 it has been allowed to go out of repair from negligence and want 
 of care. 
 
 MR. ORRELL’S MILL, NEAR STOCKPORT, ENGLAND. 
 
 1. Its two-fold heart, or twin steam engines, one of which makes 
 its maximum effort, while the other makes its minimum, to secure 
 perfect equability of impulsion through all the ramifications of its 
 shafts, and to prevent arterial throbbing or tremor, formerly so 
 common, and so injurious to the work of delicate machines. 
 
 2. The great bevel wheel gearing, which transmits the power 
 of the engine in rectangular directions, either transversely or ver- 
 tically, and with any modification of speed. 
 
 3. The horizontal and upright shafts, with their several pulleys. — 
 
 A. The distribution of the straps, or belts, that convey the 
 power from these revolving shafts and pulleys. 
 
 5. The respective positions of the various productive organs in 
 their respective floors: such as the preparation machines, throstles, 
 mules, power-looms, dressing machines, warping mills, &c. Dr. 
 Ure has promised the whole anatomy of the mill in the above 
 order. | 
 
 The recent innovations in proportioning the sizes, regulating the 
 connections, and adjusting the movements of the system of shaft 
 gearing, form a fine feature in the philosophy of manufactures. 
 Thus, not only an improvement has been made in the regularity of 
 impulsion, but a considerable increase of power from the same 
 
 ‘prime mover has been obtained; amounting, in some cases of old 
 mills remounted by Messrs. Fairbairn and Lillie, to fully 20 per 
 cent. he durability of shafts so exquisitely turned and polished, 
 is another great advantage. The spinning factory of Messrs. 
 Ashworth, at Egerton, which has been at work for several years, 
 exhibits an elegant pattern of the engineering just described : for 
 it has some subordinate shafts, hardly thicker than the human 
 wrist, which convey the power of ten horses, and revolve with 
 great speed, without the slightest noise or vibration. 'The prime 
 mover of the whole is a gigantic water wheel, of sixty feet diameter, 
 and one hundred horse power. I have frequently been at a loss, 
 in walking through several of the millwright factories, to know 
 whether the polished shafts that drive the automatic lathes and 
 planing machines, were at rest or in motion, so truly and silently 
 did they revolve. 
 
 The method of increased velocities in the driving arms or shafts 
 
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. Sen 
 
 of factories is, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable improve- 
 ments in practical dynamics. It diminishes greatly the inertia of 
 the mass to be moved, by giving to much lighter shafts and wheels 
 the same momentum; and it permits the pulleys or drums, which 
 immediately impel the machines by straps, to be reduced to a size 
 much nearer to that of the steam pulleys, fixed on the main axis 
 of these machines. About thirty years ago the velocities of the 
 main shafts, proceeding from the moving power, whether of steam 
 or water, amounted to no more than from thirty to forty revolu- 
 tions per minute, and of the smaller and remoter shafts, to only 
 forty or fifty. At the same period the drums were heavy tubs, and 
 from thirty to upwards of sixty inches in diameter. 'This im- 
 proved system is under deep obligations for its actual state of 
 perfection to the above named engineers; though it had com- 
 menced, as we have stated, before their time. | 
 
 In the mills mounted by these gentlemen, it is interesting to see 
 slender shafts, like small sinewy arms, rapidly transmitting vast 
 power through all the ramifications of a great factory. 
 
 A mill, propelled by a steam engine of fifty horse power, was 
 formerly geared with shafts, having an average transverse section 
 of thirty-six square inches, or varying in size from four to eight 
 inches square. An engine of like power at the present day, will, 
 in consequence of the increased velocities above described, work 
 with cylindrical shafts not exceeding five and a half, and often 
 only three inches in diameter ; possessing, therefore, an average 
 
 area of only fifteen square inches, instead of thirty-six. ‘The 
 horizontal shafts that run under the ceilings of the different work- — 
 ing rooms are two inches, and seldom exceed two and a quarter | 
 
 in diameter. Hence, the mass of gearing has been reduced fully 
 one half. But the shafts now make from one hundred and twenty 
 to one hundred and fifty revolutions in a minute; and, occasion- 
 ally, as where throstles are turned, so many as two hundred in 
 the same time. 'Thus we see the requisite momentum is gained, 
 with a light shaft, while the friction is proportionally diminished, 
 and the driving drum revolves with a velocity in accordance with. 
 the accelerated pace of the modern machines. 
 
 The philosophy of manufactures investigates the most economi- 
 cal and energetic modes of applying the motive force to the 
 various working organs ; the carding engings, the drawing heads, 
 the roving frames, the throstles, the mules, the power looms, the 
 dressing machines, &c. 
 
 The dressing machine does, at present, two hundred pieces of 
 thirty yards each, in a week, equaling six thousand yards; and 
 
 — sasce ee rs 
 
328 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 costs in wages, to the dresser, fifty shillings. This branch of the 
 trade having, in consequence of the high wages, been, like the 
 mule spinning, continually disturbed by unions and strikes, has 
 led to the invention of a self-acting machine, which will dress at 
 least six thousand yards of warp in two days, under the superin- 
 ~tendence of a labourer, at three shillings a day; that is at a cost, 
 
 in wages, of six shillings. This mechanism is, at the same time, 
 
 greatly simpler and cheaper than the former, and will soon come 
 - into general use for coarse calicoes. 
 
 Prodigious sums are wastefully expended every year, which would 
 be saved by a more thorough acquaintance with true principles 
 of science and art. Several individuals who have embarked vast 
 fortunes in factories, are, to a very great extent, the victims at 
 least, if not the dupes, of scheming managers, who are ever ready 
 to display their perverse ingenuity, by the substitution of some 
 intricate trap, for a simpler but less showy mechanism. ‘There 
 have been many cases where a complete system of good machines, 
 capable of doing excellent work, has been capriciously turned out 
 of a cotton factory, and replaced by another of greater expense, 
 but of less productive powers, and less suited to the style of work 
 than the old one, if skilfully managed. 'These substitutions are 
 continual in many establishments. They interfere most essen- 
 tially, and often unnecessarily, with the going of the mill, and are 
 referable almost always to injudicious choice at first, and capri- 
 cious alterations afterwards; circumstances over which the pro- 
 prietor, from ignorance of the structure of a good machine, cannot 
 always venture to exercise the proper control. ‘There are, no 
 doubt, many mill managers perfectly fitted, by judgment, know- 
 ledge, and integrity, to second the sound commercial views of the 
 mill owner, and to advance the business with a profitable career. 
 These practical men form the soul of the factory system. But 
 with a wrong-headed, plausible manager, the proprietor is sure to 
 be led such a mechanical dance as will bewilder him completely, 
 unless he has acquired a clear insight into the arcana of the 
 business, by deliberate study of the composition and performance 
 of each machine in his factory. It may be supposed that this 
 species of education can be most easily acquired in the midst of 
 the machinery itself; but this is a mistake, which experience 
 speedily proves. 
 
 The object of manufactures is to modify the productions of 
 nature into articles of necessity, convenience, or luxury, by the 
 most economical and unerring means. They have all three 
 
; 
 SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINES. 329 
 
 principles of action, or three organic systems : the mechanical, the 
 moral, and the commercial; which may not unaptly be compared 
 to the muscular, the nervous, and the sanguiferous systems of an 
 animal. ‘They have also three interests to subserve,—that of the 
 operative, the master, and the state ; and must seek their perfection 
 in the due development and administration of each. The mechani- 
 cal being should always be subordinate to the moral constitution, 
 and both should co-operate to the commercial efficiency. Three. 
 distinct powers concur to their vitality,—labour, science, capital ; 
 the first destined to move, the second to direct, and the third to 
 sustain. When the whole are in harmony, they form a body 
 qualified to discharge its manifold functions by an intrinsic, self- 
 governing agency, like those of organic life. 
 
 The drawing-frame is a most essential constituent of the spin- 
 ning system, executing a task much too delicate and irksome for 
 handicraft labour, and therefore does the highest honour to its 
 inventor, Sir Richard Arkwright. It equalises the riband delivered 
 from the finishing card, and reduces it to one of smaller dimen- 
 sions, called.a sliver, which it effects by uniting many ribands 
 into one, at the same time that it lays the fibres in parallel lines, 
 and attenuates the whole by a regular process of extension. ‘The 
 twin-roller mechanism, which was perfected at least, if not invent- 
 ed, by Arkwright, derives its best illustration from the drawing 
 frame. ‘This talented individual saw so clearly the great part 
 which this machine played, in cotton spinning, that when bad 
 yarn made its appearance, in any one of his mills, he swore a loud 
 oath, according to the vile fashion of the time, and ordered his 
 people to look to their drawings, convinced that if they were right, 
 every thing else would go well. It is only those who have deli- 
 berately studied the intricate train of operations in a spinning 
 factory, who are qualified to appreciate the merit of so admirable 
 a systematist as Arkwright; and they know the value of his 
 drawing-frame far better than his invidious detractors. 
 
 The drawing of the sliver into parallel lines of filaments is 
 effected by the joint action of upper and under rollers ; the former 
 being smooth and covered with leather, the latter being fluted 
 lengthwise. Of such twin-rollers, there are usually three in the 
 same horizontal plane, of which the three under rollers are driven 
 by wheel work, with either two or three successive velocities, and 
 carry round their incumbent weighted rollers by the effect of fric- 
 tion. 
 
 In silk establishments the machinery can be, and is often, em- 
 ployed from three to six hours after the hands have left work, to 
 
 AZ 
 
330 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the advantage of the masters, (the number of hours depending on 
 the quality and cost of the silk) ; therefore the imposing of a restric- 
 tion on the moving power, in silk establishments, would have the 
 effect of increasing the cost on the quantity of silk turned off. 
 When water power is used, the portion of the silk machinery 
 which contains the swifts, generally works all night without being 
 tended. 
 
 It is in spinning the lower numbers, as forties, and in weaving, 
 that the English manufacturers, some time ago, were most fearful 
 of being hard pressed by foreign competition.* Switzerland has, 
 
 * The Danforth (or cap) Spinner was invented in 1828, by Charles Dan- 
 forth, a native of Massachusetts, who had been employed for a number of 
 years as an operator of cotton machinery. He, at the time, resided in 
 Rockland county, New York. Having had experience on the common 
 throstle as well as the Waltham dead spindle, he was aware that the two 
 greatest difficulties in these modes of spinning were the flyer being out of 
 balance, and the dragg of the bobbin by the strength of the thread. He 
 thought if any plan could be contrived to wind the yarn on the bobbin with- 
 out the use of the flyer, it would enable him to run the bobbin very fast. 
 After some reflection, it occurred to him, that a bobbin revolving on a fixed 
 spindle, and circumscribed by a smooth, stationary, polished ring, suspended 
 from, or fixed to, the top of the spindle, would produce the desired result. He 
 accordingly proceeded to make the experiment. He, first, permanently se- 
 cured a throstle ‘spindle in the frame to prevent its turning; he then, after 
 cutting the curls from the ends of the flyer, riveted to them a smooth ring, 
 which passed round the bobbin; he then turned a groove, in the lower head 
 of the bobbin, for the driving band to run in, and having put all together, he 
 pieced up his thread and filled the bobbin without any difficulty. It was 
 perceived, in this first attempt, that the tension on the yarn, while spinning, 
 was very light, and consequently the yarn wound quite soft on the bobbin. 
 It was, therefore, very naturally, thought the principle would be good for 
 spinning weft. He, therefore, constructed his first model for weft; and, after 
 making various experiments, fixed on the present mode of making and sup- 
 porting the stationary ring, which is a cap with a polished steel ring on the 
 bottom, having a conical socket in the top, made to fit a small cone on the 
 top of the spindle. It was also found, that the wooden bobbin, running at the 
 rate of 7000 turns per minute, on a fixed spindle, was apt to get dry, makea 
 loud noise, and wear the bobbins. To obviate this difficulty, a waive was 
 made, having a tube on the top of sufficient length to pass through the bob- 
 bin, on which the bobbin is placed, and revolves with it. This waive takes 
 the friction all off the bobbin, and as it is made of metal, is durable, and runs 
 without noise. Mr. Danforth has patented his invention in this country, 
 and caused patents to be taken in England and different European states. 
 This mode of spinning has now been thoroughly tested, and is found to be 
 capable of producing full 40 per cent. more yarn, on counts from No. 14 to 50, 
 than any other plan heretofore known. It is generally approved of by the 
 spinners who have tried it, and has gone into use, both in this country and 
 
yey * “ ) 
 ” Sal a 3 rt 4 
 Pee 5 3 ay Pew 
 : a 
 
 Pig hiv a A 
 
 oh 
 PE ara 
 
 Pet 
 oe ied A ie 
 
 Pi ve ; 
 AT eae 
 ee 
 
—— 
 
 SPINDLE §. 
 New Throstle Fig 4 & 5. 
 Old Throstle Fig.2. 
 Danforth do. fg. 3. 
 
WAGES. | *' Sst 
 
 for the last seven years, not only supplied herself, but her neigh- 
 bours, to a considerable extent, with that mean quality which 
 may be reckoned the staple of cotton yarns. It appears that the 
 time of working cotton mills in Manchester is less, by about one 
 hour daily, than that in any other part of the Seal, where the 
 cotton manufacture is carried on to any extent. | 
 
 ‘Tt is my firm belief, that there is not a better or more certain 
 mode of benefiting a country village than by establishing a cotton 
 factory init. The pure, unmixed effect of factory labour will be 
 best and most easily found in the country,—where it affords regu- 
 lar employment, during a series of years, to the same firiilien: 
 The attendance at the Sunday schools, of such as are employed 
 in factories, shows that that class of the operatives furnishes its 
 full proportion of scholars. 
 
 Beset, as it now is, in the departments of cotton, wool, silk, linen, 
 iron, and steel, by the industry of rival nations, it can maintain its 
 place in the van of improvement only by the hearty co-operation 
 among us, of heart and hand, of employer and employed. Once 
 thrown out of the market, it would, ere long, be distanced in the 
 race, by the more frugal and docile labour of the continent and 
 United States.—Ure. 
 
 WAGES. 
 
 It was at my urgent request, that the writer of the following 
 remarks on Wages, supplied me with his views upon the subject. 
 His situation has enabled him to take a practical survey, and 
 though I am surprised to find his ideas accord so materially with 
 my own conceptions, yet his essay ought to have, and doubtless 
 will have, more weight in the community than any thing that I 
 could have produced, more from observation and reflection, than 
 from the best opportunity of knowing the practical operations be- 
 tween the employer and the employed. I was very desirous of 
 obtaining these observations for the chapter on the value and uses 
 
 Europe, more rapidly than any other improvement in spinning has. before 
 been known to do. The principle is such, that instead of making the thread 
 drag the bobbin, the bobbin is made to desis the thread; and the resistance 
 of the = and the slight friction of the thread, on the lower edge of 
 the ring, produces that retardation necessary for vi the yarn on the 
 bobbin. In consequence of which, the tension on all the threads, are per- 
 fectly uniform, and at the same time delicate, giving a great uniformity and 
 elasticity to the yarn. The machine also takes much less power than the 
 common throstle. They are made and sold by Messrs. Godwin, Clarke & 
 Co., at their shop, in Paterson, New Jersey, who are the Rrnerielors of the 
 patent, and manufacturers of all kinds of cotton and woollen machinery. 
 
332 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 of property, where they seem properly to belong; but the mere 
 circumstance of the place they occupy, will not prevent a due 
 consideration of the arguments. 'To the writer, I feel deeply in- 
 debted, for the pains he has taken to fulfil my request, as well as 
 for other assistance I have received in the progress of my work. 
 It has been my desire to derive from the best sources, such 
 valuable information, as shall be useful to-the operatives of this 
 country, on whose welfare and respectability so much depends ; 
 whether America will be able to maintain the high ground of 
 liberty and self-government which she has assumed, and on’ which 
 position the civilised world is looking with fear and reverence. 
 
 “ Man is born to [labour, says a certain author, ] as the sparks fly upward.” 
 We dispute not the authenticity of this text, no more than of the original. 
 But why is he born to labour? The simple reason is, that in the most 
 spontaneous and fertile regions, the fruits of the earth drop not into his 
 mouth. Were this the case, few would be found willing to give any extra- 
 ordinary exertion to procure them in any other way: the necessity of exer- 
 tion to procure, infers the right of possession and enjoyment when attained, 
 and hence arises a notion of property, or right of using what has been ob- 
 tained by the outlay of labour, and farther, what has luckily adverted to its 
 possessor by discovery or chance. But in order to fully secure the posses- 
 sion of such acquirements, it is more than necessary that the use should be 
 yielded to the reward of the exertion of achieyement, it is requisite that full 
 right should accrue to the individual to retain or dispose of such fruits of 
 toil in any manner or direction that he may think proper, barring the direct 
 injury or annoyance of his neighbour. 
 
 Hence the admitted right of bartering or devising it, either in his life time 
 or at death, is essential to a perfect possession; and we have no instances 
 of a state of society in which one or both these rights were not believed in- 
 herent in. individuals composing the community. Indeed the necessity of 
 law or custom affording this guarantee, seems implied in the very nature of 
 human association. Take away from man this motive to exertion, and you 
 restrict his operations to the mere immediate exercise of those functions 
 requisite to furnish the instant means of appeasing the stern demands of 
 hunger and thirst. These satisfied for the moment, the uncertainty attend- 
 ing future possession would effectually preclude any desire to exercise the 
 faculties that prompt to the accumulation of resources for consumption 
 beyond the pressing necessities of the hour. It is the notion of a perfect 
 property in whatever has accrued to him from the labour of his hands, that 
 is the first inducement of man to any continued effort or exertion. For this 
 he pursues the game on the hills, or casts his rude net into the waters; he 
 spreads his snares in patience for the fowls of the air, or toils in anxious ex- 
 pectation for the roots that nature has hidden in the earth; or going one step 
 further in the progress of civilisation and human improvement, he tames the 
 more docile animals to domesticity, or returns to the earth a portion of the 
 fruits wrested from its bosom, and awaits in full confidence the period of 
 
WAGES. 333 
 
 fruition, when he shall reap the reward of his toil and providence. It is 
 plain that without this guarantee of possession of the proceeds of his in- 
 dustry and care, the first step in the amelioration of his condition could never 
 be accomplished by man. 
 
 We are told of a race of men who were found, by strangers visiting their 
 wretched island, grubbing with their fingers in the earth for roots, and strip- 
 ping the bark from rotten logs in search of the insects and reptiles that har- 
 boured within its recesses, wherewith to satisfy the cravings of unappeased 
 hunger. In sucha herd, (for it would be preposterous to term this a com- 
 munity,) the notions of property and separate possession must have been 
 very limited indeed, extending at most to a claim for the exclusive posses- 
 sion of a decayed bough, and probably not farther than to the loathsome 
 grub just seized and about to be devoured. Tacitus describes the Fenni as 
 “a savage race living in squalid poverty and misery ; with neither arms, nor 
 horses, nor homes ;” and indeed whenever we hear of a nation deeply im- 
 mersed in barbarism, we usually find as a concomitant, an utter disregard of 
 the rights of property; almost all the savage nations of the South seas are 
 reported by the first explorers to have been given to pilfering; not so much 
 from any vicious or injurious feeling towards those they robbed, as from an 
 imperfect notion of the right given the proprietor by previous possession. 
 
 These people are constantly represented by voyagers as idle and thriftless 
 in no ordinary degree: living on the spontaneous fruits of the earth, and 
 taking little or no care to hoard or increase the stock for subsistence spread 
 out by the hand of nature before them. They were likewise found extremely 
 unsusceptible of improvement or amelioration, and most probably would 
 never have attained any portion of either, had not some notions of property 
 and separate possession been infused into them by accidental intercourse 
 with strangers. 
 
 The idea of property, then, is the earliest germ of civilisation—the first 
 step in the improvement of the physical, intellectual, and moral condition of 
 mankind; and law and custom have found it necessary to recognise this 
 idea, in every really social condition. In order that these ideas may be of 
 any avail to the community, it is absolutely necessary that the guarantee 
 should be of the most perfect and inviolable character. A restricted right 
 or possession would be entirely nugatory. Being valueless to the individual, 
 it could not result in any general benefit to the community, as all must hold 
 under the same insecure tenure. The best laws have therefore secured pos- 
 sessions in the most limitless and unrestricted manner, only restraining the 
 proprietor from such flagrant uses of them as would result in immediate 
 injury to his fellows. Subject to this wholesome restraint, he is at liberty 
 to use the fruits of his labour according to his own view of happiness to 
 himself. He may barter one species of fruit for another, he may cast his 
 surplus to the waves, or he may hoard it in granaries to meet his own future 
 oceasions, or to relieve the necessities of his brethren: but the same laws 
 which accord these privileges to him fortrifling emergencies afford the basis 
 of more extended operations upon similar principles. . If, having a tree, he 
 may barter its fruits for the products of another’s labour, there is no seeming 
 reason why he may not reserve the fruits until he can purchase double the 
 amount with the same quantity: if his own economy and foresight have 
 secured him from the effects of a failure in the earth’s product, is it con- 
 
334 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 sistent with the rights of property, as necessarily laid down, that he should 
 part with his hard-earned store without an equivalent; and he, having ac- 
 knowledged right over his own property, has also the right of dictating the 
 terms on which he will part with it: and here sprouts out the germ of evil 
 in that which is productive of so much good. 
 
 If the provident man has secured by his own unassisted endeavours sufii- 
 cient for the sustenance of two for any specified time, it becomes as easy, 
 he may make it more so, for another to procure subsistence by giving him 
 his exertions for any specific objects as to seek it from other sources. 
 It is easy to perceive that the efforts of two, directed by the sagacity of one, 
 will speedily enable the chief to add another labourer on the same ternis as 
 the first, from whom a further profit will be derived; and the number of 
 those employed at length swells to an extent that precludes any other 
 employment for the director, than that of planning and apportioning the 
 tasks of others. Herein arises the evil from a very necessary admission. 
 Preponderance is given to one, and comparative subjection imposed on others, 
 by the steady operation of that law, without which civil society could not 
 hold together for an hour. Overgrown capitals, vested in the hands of par- 
 ticular individuals or families, control in some measure the destinies of large 
 portions of their fellows, and particular cases of oppression consequent upon 
 their predominance, grow into such common practice as to call down just 
 obloquy upon the whole mass of those on whom it has devolved to furnish 
 employment to fellows of their race. 
 
 It is probable that, in a primitive condition, a man, compelled to seek in 
 the forest or the flood for the means of relieving his physical wants, would 
 not stop short on the possession of what was enough for one meal or two, or 
 for the supply of a single day. He would prefer an extra hour of labour, at 
 successful seasons, in order to indulge his love of ease for a longer term 
 after his present exertion should have ceased: he would therefore return 
 from his toil with a surplus that might be hoarded for the wants of the 
 morrow, or be bartered to advantage with his neighbour for products of 
 another sort. If he has stripped a tree of its chestnuts, he may dispose of 
 all or a part for the returns of the labour of him who has gathered shell-fish 
 from the waters. The rate at which this exchange is made will depend on 
 several contingencies, but chiefly on the facility or difficulty of procuring 
 the different commodities. If, for example, the labour requisite for the 
 gathering 100 chestnuts be about the same as that of securing a dozen mus- 
 sels, the likelihood is that one will be reckoned a fair equivalent for the 
 other. But on the other hand, should one or the other article be difficult of 
 attainment, the rates would speedily change, and the one would rise and the 
 other fall proportionably to the operation of the above causes. If in con- 
 sequence of the higher value of either commodity any one should devote 
 himself, and others his hired labourers, to the task of securing large portions 
 with a view to reaping the benefits of the labours of those engaged in ob- 
 taining the other commodity, he would be speedily met by two other elements 
 that enter into the relative value of productions—the present demand exist- 
 ing for them, and the perishable or enduring nature of the article. In the 
 first case, if he discovers that his exertions are bringing more to the mart 
 than there are mouths to consume or other articles to pay for, he may slacken 
 his exertions by parting with a portion of his labourers, or he may turn their 
 
 — * 7 
 pi ‘ 
 
WAGES. 335 
 
 industry into a different channel. Should the nature of his products admit 
 of their being preserved uninjured or with slight deterioration in value for 
 some time, it may become a consideration with him whether to continue the 
 production and hold back in the hope of a more advantageous disposal. If 
 however, he decide on withdrawing some part of his labourers from the 
 employment and dismiss them altogether, they, having probably consumed 
 all their share of the gains from day to day, are compelled to resort to some 
 other mode of industry or continue at their present toil on their own account. 
 This they will be likely to do at a decrease of remuneration to themselves, 
 and to the manifest disadvantage of all engaged in their particular occupa- 
 tion. 5c, 
 
 In proportion as the produce of their toil is perishable in its nature, will 
 these, their difficulties, increase, and their wages fall; or, in other words, 
 the amount of general commodities they can obtain for that produced by 
 their particular occupation will decrease, until they will, by sheer necessity, 
 be compelled to carry their toil into some other channel, or fail entirely in 
 procuring subsistence. 
 
 Perhaps there is no other element, in the fixing of a standard of value, so 
 prompt in its operation as the above, viz: the perishability of the article. 
 The difference between the products of the mine and the garden are obvious 
 at a glance. While all the metals, whether precious or base, maintain a 
 steady determinate value, from year to year, and almost extending through 
 centuries, the fruits of the surface of the earth, frequently many of those 
 most necessary to man, vary in price from day to day, and even fluctuate in 
 value in the same market-place within the hour. However inordinate and 
 keen may be the demand, it cannot preserve the equality in the price of the 
 most delicate and quickly injured fruits, or esculents, for a few hours to- 
 gether. The rapidity with which they waste enjoins a necessity for their 
 speedy disposal; and in exact proportion to this, is their price fickle and 
 transitory. As the prices of labour, or wages, must of necessity depend on 
 the avails of that labour, at all events in the last resort, it is not at all to be 
 wondered at,—indeed it would be marvellous were it otherwise,—that it 
 should feel the influence of the same laws. Hence, as a general rule, there 
 is no branch of human industry so poorly remunerated, or in which profits 
 can be so little relied on, as agriculture ; the very branch that devotes itself 
 to the most urgent necessities of the race. Asif those who produce the 
 ‘fund, out of which the labourer is supported,”* should draw less of it to 
 their own behoof than any of the rest of their fellows. 
 
 That labour, the producing cause of all commodities, should follow the 
 rule of the commodities themselves, is in strict accordance with general 
 laws. That its price or wages should be regulated both by the demand and 
 by the plentifulness of the commodity or fund wherewith it is to be paid, 
 may be conceded to a limited extent. But there are some exceptions to the 
 latter, which it may be necessary for the advocates of these (as exclusive) 
 causes, to explain or account for. The miners in South America are the 
 
 *See “An Essay on wages,” by H.C. Carey. Mr. C. has better conceived than 
 explained his ideas. It were easy to show, were his book under review, that many or 
 most of his views are fallacious _But we may safely trust him to the Reviewers. It 
 seems, however, this notion belongs to Mr. Senior. 
 
336 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 worst paid labourers in the universe, yet the fund from which they are sus- 
 tained is in the utmost profusion around them. The labourers, in the new 
 settlements of our own country, are better paid than any other at agricultural 
 employments, and this in spite of an utter scarcity of the means of pay- 
 ment, and when the means of subsistence have to be brought, at great labour 
 and expense, from a distance. In the first case, labour is carried to a very 
 bad, and in the latter, toa very good market. Whatever may be the gross 
 amount, even to profusion, of the fund from which labour is to be paid, the 
 proportional quantity accorded to the labourer must ever be controlled by 
 those who have the present possession or property of the means of payment: 
 and to say that there is ample, nay, exuberant means of repaying the labour 
 of the whole race, throughout the globe, and yet that there are numbers who 
 cannot achieve a bare subsistence, by the utmost exertion, is but to describe 
 the present, and almost every past, condition of humanity. © 
 
 It would appear that those who have turned their attention to this some- 
 what obscure subject, have paid little attention to that depression in the 
 price of wages which results from the ill choice or acceptance of the market, 
 at the same time that they have overlooked, entirely, the material element 
 that, more than all others, affects the produce of labour, in common with all 
 other commodities, viz :—its extreme perishability.. | 
 
 When we consider that this.quality or defect enters more largely into 
 human labour than into any of its products,—that it is as evanescent as time 
 itself,—and even perishes in the very operation of seeking a mart, we may 
 cease to wonder at its being so severely subjected to the overbearing exac- 
 tions of its employers. Capital may lie idle for a time,—the most that it can 
 lose is the profit that might accrue from its active employment; or, should it 
 be in the shape of articles liable to decay, from the necessary deterioration 
 in quality that will result from their peculiar susceptibilities. But the time 
 lost to the labourer is without compensation; ‘the commodity is not lessen- 
 ing in value only, it is departing, departed, entirely from his grasp: and 
 being that, on which alone he depends for existence, unless he is willing to 
 perish himself, he must take the offers of the best bidder in the market. If, 
 therefore, he shall have confined his acquirements, or capacity for employ- 
 ment, to any specific branch of industry, although by thus doing he may 
 have increased the avails of his labour while his employment is marketable, 
 he has yet thereby rendered himself more liable to a chance of failure at 
 different seasons: yet it must be confessed, that the general rate of the 
 highly skilled in one branch exceeds largely that of those who have no 
 other capacities than those with which strong hands and willing hearts have 
 invested them. The meanest handicraftsman, almost constantly, reaps 
 more for his exertions than the strongest and most active day labourer.* 
 
 On the other hand, the more general employment afforded to the great 
 mass more perfectly secures them from total inaction. The union of the 
 two requisites of skill in peculiar and adaptation to general operations seems 
 to furnish the conditions that would entirely place the disposal of his labour 
 
 * It must be confessed that, the terms we are compelled to use, very much tend to 
 confuse our notions on subjects of this sort. The handicraft operative is equally a day 
 labourer with him who understands no more than the wielding of a spade ot a mattock : 
 and as yet we have no terms whereby to distinguish, accurately, the two. 
 
WAGES. Soe 
 
 perfectly at the command of the labourer. If we add to this a proper re- 
 straint on the quantity brought into the market, and a careful economy in 
 its expenditure, as well as in the use of its proceeds, we shall go far towards 
 placing the amount of remuneration to the labourer within his own control. 
 
 But these objects are not to be effected by combinations to make specific 
 rules for individuals or trades. All general unions of men to carry partial 
 measures, must rebound with accumulated force against their operators. 
 By the time that the Trades Union system shall have gone the round of the 
 circle of the mechanic arts, its supporters will not be a little mortified to 
 discover that they are precisely in the position whence they set out—viz: 
 that the proceeds of their toil will not enable them to purchase one ounce 
 more of meat, or one jot of additional gratification, beyond the prices already 
 afforded them—while they will, in the mean time, have caused a great deal 
 of individual misery and annoyance. The error lies in supposing that they 
 may effect in mass what as individuals they are incompetent to perform. 
 But the-true statement would seem to be, that every community is strong in 
 proportion to the strength of the individuals composing it. If their efforts 
 were bent to the objects of making the individual labourer experter, wiser, 
 more intelligent and economical] than at present—could he depend more for 
 his gratifications on sources within himself, and less on the trappings of the 
 external world, if a proper self-denial could be imposed, and juster views 
 cherished of the relations under which his Maker has permitted him to exist, 
 the labouring man might speedily be placed in a condition to secure all the 
 compensation that mere human toil is fairly entitled to. ; 
 
 These efforts must begin with the imposition of restraints on those appe- 
 tites which exhaust his physical powers and drain his purse ; which impose 
 on him the maintenance of a family before he has secured even the certainty 
 of constant provision for himself alone ; and which, at the same time, tend 
 directly to increase that stock of labour in the market which it is his manifest 
 interest should be limited in supply. They must go farther than this: by 
 making his source of enjoyment more intellectual, they must give the death 
 blow to that infatuated affectation or vanity that impels the man of an in- 
 come of one dollar to compete in external appearance with him of one 
 hundred per day. A miserable vain glory, the offspring, but an illegitimate 
 one, of our republican institutions ; but fruit utterly unworthy the sons of 
 those mothers who substituted the hedge-thorn for pins in the dark days of 
 our struggle for freedom. 
 
 The first question for the day labourer to solve is :—On how much less 
 than my earnings can I satisfy my natural and wholesome wants—preserve 
 or renew my powers for future operations, and defend myself against the in- 
 clemency of the weather. When this is satisfactorily ascertained, he may 
 enquire: Is it prudent, is it honourable, is it just, that with the means within 
 my power, I should invite another to share the proceeds of my labour, with 
 the probability, almost certainty, of introducing other helpless beings into 
 the world to draw upon the scanty and hard-pressed pittance. Should he 
 not pause upon this consideration, and weigh well the different position in 
 which the lapse of a single year may place him? In one case hampered 
 
 * T use the word in its vulgar acceptation. There are none:in this country who do 
 not labour. 
 
 43 
 
338 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 with cares for which he is unable to provide, and which subject him to 
 labour as a stern necessity ; in the other with surplus enough to enable him 
 to oppose arrogant demands, and with a mind trained to examine and decide 
 upon his best interests. We are aware that argument of this sort is met by 
 the common cant, that the rich are not willing to permit the poor to indulge 
 in the enjoyments so eagerly sought by themselves; and that the desire of 
 employers is to restrict the happiness of the employed; but we are not to be 
 deterred from the truth by such fallacies or false testimony. Were the ac- 
 cumulation of wealth the sole object of the already wealthy, their most direct 
 means would be the encouragement of improvidence among the labourers: 
 inasmuch as it would place these more directly and inevitably in their power. 
 On the other hand, habits of providence and economy would put within the 
 labourer’s power the means of living in real independence of the capitalist’s 
 employment; or, in the event of a dispute, to engage in business on his own 
 account. He would thus be really strong ; and being in a position to with- 
 hold his labour for a time from the market he must of necessity be enabled 
 to dispose of it to greater advantage to himself, without at all interfering 
 with the rights or good order of the community. 
 
 But the agrarian spirit, unhappily too rife in this country, if it were per- 
 mitted its sway, must speedily root up the foundations not alone of our pros- 
 perity, but of our whole system of liberty and laws; and to none could it 
 prove more injurious than to those who imagine their great advantage lies 
 to themselves in the change. That portion of freedom and property which is 
 yielded in exchange for the protection of law and the preservation of order, 
 redounds most forcibly to the advantage of those who apparently have the 
 least at stake. The wealthy, and otherwise powerful, have or may create 
 means of resistance to popular or individual rapacity; they may gather 
 friends or hire mercenaries ; but these means of protection are not within 
 the compass of the small possessor. And in all turbulent or violent changes, 
 the greatest miseries have been undergone by the poor and weak: while, on 
 the other hand, under the steady operation of orderly systems, they have 
 been gradually advancing in comfort and consideration. 
 
 That there are objections the other way, and in this country, it would be 
 utterly vain to deny. That the improvidence and recklessness of labour 
 have placed an inordinate amount of power in the hands of capitalists, ever 
 too ready to accumulate in heavy masses ; and that capital has made haste to 
 swell its coffers, reckless of every other consideration, there is too much 
 cause to fear; yet this furnishes no sufficient ground for any attempt to dis- 
 turb the orderly operation of the system. The best counterpoise is in the 
 hands of those who have most to dread; and if they would but use judi- 
 ciously the means within their reach, they might essentially retard that too 
 rapid march to excess and corruption so much opposed to “ the greatest good 
 of the greatest number.” 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that there is small hope to cheer the true 
 philanthropist, so long as the present defective and injurious education pre- 
 vails; and especially while we continue the importation of foreign ignorance 
 and agitation principles. Better views must be imparted to the labourer than 
 he can obtain from Trades Union lectures, or the orations thundered forth 
 at “strike” meetings. In place of considering the man who has husbanded 
 the proceeds of his labour for himself or his children as a common robber 
 
 ae 
 
WAGES. 339 
 
 of the human family, such must be considered as the true benefactors of the 
 race; in as much as in no case could mankind have been in the enjoyment 
 of the comforts by which they are now surrounded, were it not for the 
 savings thus accumulated. 
 
 Upon the relative advantages possessed by England, France, and the 
 United States of America, as manufacturing nations. By Z. Allen. 
 
 “The following table will give a comparative view of some of the most 
 important advantages possessed by three of the principal manufacturing 
 nations of the earth to manufacture at the cheapest rates. The price of 
 labour forms the most important particular; but the superior skill of the 
 labourers, and the improved machinery employed by them, must be taken 
 into consideration, as well as the facilities of obtaining water or steam 
 power. In respect to water power, the United States possess eminent 
 advantages over most other countries. France abounds in fine mill streams ; 
 but in some of the principal manufacturing districts of that country, steam 
 engines are from necessity frequently employed for operating machinery. 
 In England the water power, although of inconsiderable amount compared 
 to the steam power in use there, is highly improved wherever available in 
 the manufacturing districts. It is probably attributable to the abundance 
 and cheapness of water power, that the manufacturers of the United States 
 are enabled to compete successfully with England and France in the pro- 
 duction of such fabrics as require the application of a considerable moving 
 force, notwithstanding the lower rates of labour in these two countries. 
 With the several relative advantages possessed by England and by the 
 United States, the rivalship between the two countries in manufactures is 
 probably destined to continue long, and to be intensely interesting to the 
 destinies of thousands of industrious artisans, when the manufacturers of 
 the United States shall more generally extend their competition to supply- 
 ing the markets of various foreign countries with some of the products of 
 industry now furnished from England. Already has the competition been 
 commenced and successfully maintained by the Americans, in supplying 
 the markets of South America with coarse cottons, and with many other 
 manufactured articles. Even the Hindoo labouring at his loom for a few 
 cents per day, and subsisting upon a handful of rice for his daily fare, has 
 been compelled to yield to the superior skill and machinery of the American 
 manufacturers, whose fabrics have already been transported for sale to the 
 distant markets of Calcutta and Canton. 
 
 “This table will also give an idea of the relative comforts which the 
 labourers in these several countries can enjoy as the fruits of their toil. In 
 France much less, and in the United States comparatively little, is exacted 
 from the labourer by taxes upon the necessaries of life. For this reason a 
 labourer in the United States, although he should receive only the same 
 nominal amount of wages, possesses an advantage of more than twenty-five 
 per cent. over a fellow labourer in England, from the circumstance of the 
 comparative cheapness of almost every article which he requires for his own 
 use or for that of his family. 
 
a>: 4) 
 
 SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 340 
 
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WAGES. » 341 
 
 “From a view of the preceding table it appears that the average wages of 
 persons engaged in manufacturing operations are nearly twenty per cent. 
 cheaper in France than in England, and about eighteen or twenty per cent. 
 cheaper in England than in the United States. Notwithstanding the differ- 
 ence in the prices paid for the same descriptions of labour in France and in 
 England, judging from the observations which I have had opportunities of 
 making, it would appear that the superior skill of the English operatives, 
 and the improved machinery generally empioyed by them, yield so much 
 greater products as nearly to equalise the difference in the cost of labour; 
 and the two countries may be therefore considered as possessing nearly 
 equal facilities for manufacturing cheaply, so far as labour is concerned. 
 For instance, one man with the aid of two girls and a boy I have seen ope- 
 rating with the greatest apparent ease about seven hundred mule spindles in 
 England; whilst in the same month I have seen in Lille, in France, two 
 Frenchmen exerting their utmost force to turn by their manual labour the 
 crank of a single mule of only two hundred spindles, with a boy to assist in 
 piecing the threads. Very many of the French mills are operated by horses, 
 which may be frequently observed traversing in their monotonous circle 
 beneath the vaulted arches of old gothic cathedrals and monasteries, which 
 have been converted into manufactories. The clustered pillars and sculp- 
 tured stone work of these venerable structures form a strange contrast with 
 the bright colours of the painted machinery, the perpetual din of which 
 - scarcely allows the spectator to muse upon the change that has taken place 
 since the period when the silence that reigned within these walls was only 
 broken by the chant of the matin and vesper anthem. Although the 
 - machinery of the French mills is generally put in motion by water or steam 
 power, and the most improved English machines are introduced into them, 
 yet there is a most apparent difference in the manufacturing enterprise of 
 the inhabitants of the two countries. In the best cotton mills near Rouen 
 and Paris, intelligent English mechanics are generally to be found aiding or 
 directing the operations. In those branches of business in which the taste 
 of the artist contributes to the value as much as his skill, the French appear 
 to excel their English neighbours. This is particularly observable in the 
 articles of jewelry exhibited at the glittering shop windows of the Palais 
 Royal, and also in various branches of the silk manufacture. 
 
 “In respect to general information the French and Flemish mechanics 
 appear to be deficient, their enterprise and industry having been for many 
 years paralysed and interrupted by the continental wars of Europe. Since 
 the arts of peace have gained the attention of the governments of Europe, 
 and been sustained by them with fostering care, the mechanical arts have 
 made more rapid advances. There still exists a languid indifference and 
 want of information in relation to the progress of improvements made in 
 other countries.* 
 
 * On my way from Brussels to Haerlem to view the national exhibition of the manu- 
 factures of Belgium, holden under the auspices of the king and honoured by his pre- 
 siding at the distribution of the prizes, having accidentally fallen into company in a 
 diligence with a Flemish artist on his way to the same place with some of his new 
 machines, our conversation turned upon the subject of steam navigation, then lately 
 introduced into that country. He enquired if there were any steamboats in America, 
 and was surprised on being informed that they had been in successful operation there 
 
342 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 “ To the effects of a republican form of government existing in the United 
 States it may be attributed (if the writer be not blinded by a partiality for 
 the free institutions of his country) that a spirit of commercial enterprise 
 and of manufacturing interest prevails, unequaled in any other country. 
 There is in the United States no ennobled order of men, and lofty pride of 
 ancestry, to render the manufacturer or merchant half ashamed of his pro- 
 fession; and no burthensome system of taxation to depress the mechanic, 
 and to circumscribe his scanty means to gaining a mere subsistence. From 
 the habits of early life and the diffusion of knowledge by means of free 
 schools, there exists generally among the mechanics of New England a 
 vivacity in enquiring into the first principles of the science to which they 
 are practically devoted. They thus frequently acquire a theoretical know- 
 ledge of the processes of the useful arts, which the English labourers may 
 commonly be found to possess after a long apprenticeship and life of patient 
 toil. For this reason the American mechanic appears generally more prone 
 to invent new plans and machines than to operate upon old ones in the most 
 perfect manner. The English mechanic, on the contrary, confining his 
 attention simply to the immediate performance of the process of art to which 
 he is habituated from early youth, acquires wonderful dexterity and skill. 
 One of these labourers was pointed out to me by the proprietor of an English 
 manufactory as having occupied for nearly thirty years the same spot by the 
 side of his machine, or rather machines—the materials of brass and steel of 
 a succession of them having failed and worn out under hisinspection. The 
 constant tread of his feet duriug this long period had channelled furrows in 
 the very floors, and every motion of his body appeared almost as mechanical 
 as if he had become a machine himself. Without information on any other 
 branch of business, such a man, when thrown out of his accustomed employ- 
 ment by the vicissitudes which must at times attend the affairs of a manu- 
 facturing as well as of a commercial people, is usually left helpless and 
 
 nearly twenty years. I took occasion to describe to him several American inventions, 
 among others the machine for cutting and heading nails, which were completely 
 finished and fall off from the engine as fast as one can count them. ‘The machine for 
 making weavers’ reeds or slaies seemed to strike attention as a wonderful invention, 
 whereby the mechanism is made to draw in the flattened wire from a reel, to insert it 
 between the side pieces, to cut it off at the proper length, and finally to bind each dent 
 firmly in its place with tarred twine, accomplishing the whole operation without the 
 assistance of the attendant, in a more perfect manner than can be performed by the 
 most skilful hand. Although he possessed a good share of intelligence, the complicated 
 operations of these machines, performing processes which he supposed could only be 
 brought about by manual dexterity, appeared to him incomprehensible. But when I 
 proceeded to describe Blanchard’s lathe in which gun stocks and shoe lasts are turned 
 exactly to a pattern, his belief seemed somewhat wavering, and on continuing to give 
 him a description of Whitmore’s celebrated card machine, which draws off the card 
 wire from the reel, cuts it off at a proper length for the teeth, bends it into the form of 
 a staple, punctures the holes in the leather, and inserts the staples of wire into the 
 punctures, and finally crooks the teeth to the desired form—performing all these opera- - 
 tions with regularity without the assistance of the human hand to guide or direct it, 
 the credulity of my traveling companion in the diligence would extend no farther, and 
 he evidently began to doubt all the statements I had been making to him, manifesting 
 at the same time some little feeling of irritation at what he appeared to consider an 
 attempt to impose upon him such marvellous accounts. Uttering an emphatic humph ! 
 he threw himself back into the corner of the diligence, and declined further conversa- 
 tion during the remainder of our ride upon the subject of mechanics and of the improve- 
 ments made in Flemish manufactures. 
 
WAGES. 343 
 
 destitute, unable to turn his hand to other avocations. Ifa New England 
 man does not succeed in one branch of business he may commonly be found 
 readily essaying some other; even sometimes officiating in the profession of 
 the law or of medicine, after commencing his career with the labours of the 
 plane or anvil. It is undoubtedly true that in very many instances this 
 versatility is attended with a profitless result, as in the present state of the 
 arts and sciences a long period of assiduous labour is required to attain skill 
 and experience in any branch of business. Although many valuable and 
 ingenious inventions in the useful arts have originated in the United States, 
 from which the old* as well as the new world have derived vast benefits, 
 yet it cannot be denied that an incalculable loss of labour and expense in 
 useless experiments has been the result to most of those who have been 
 allured by the delusive search for new inventions and patent rights to 
 deviate from the beaten path. These gropings in the dark for mechanical 
 improvements can in no way be so successfully prevented as by opening 
 the eyes of the mechanic, and causing him to view and examine his schemes 
 more perfectly by the light of science. Some of the extensive manufac- 
 turers of Leeds, with a most commendable liberality, have formed small 
 circulating libraries for the use of the persons engaged in their establish- 
 ments, thus furnishing them with the means of becoming both more intelli- 
 gent and more virtuous. For this purpose numerous mechanics’ libraries 
 have also been instituted throughout England, and the scholars and states- 
 men of that great and powerful country, with a philanthropy for which 
 “ages yet unborn shall call them blessed,” have lent the sanction of their 
 names and the vigorous support of their talents for the general diffusion of 
 useful knowledge. This has been effected, too, on terms so completely 
 within the means of almost every labourer, that it can scarcely be said of 
 the mechanics of the present day, in the words of Gray, 
 
 “ That knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 
 Rich with the spoils of time, did ne’er unroll.’’ 
 
 “ England possesses a decided superiority over France and most of the 
 United States in the abundance of coal, and in the consequent advantages 
 afforded by steam power. Notwithstanding, however, the abundance of coal 
 found in England, and the very general use of the steam engine, water 
 power is highly valued in all the manufacturing districts, and mills are 
 erected on streams, which in many instances are sufficient to turn the water 
 wheels, and operate the machinery attached to them, during only a part of 
 the year. Among the mountains of Scotland, however, I noticed numerous 
 fine mill streams which remained unimproved. In Manchester, where coals 
 are as cheap as in most of the manufacturing districts of England, the total 
 cost of steam power, including all charges, amounts to about 20/. per year 
 for each horse power, or at the current value of the Spanish dollar, to very 
 near one hundred dollars per annum, as Mr. J. Dyer of Manchester stated 
 tome. The opportunities of obtaining information on this subject possessed 
 
 * Of late years England has received more benefits from adopting improvements in 
 the useful arts from the United States, than she has imparted ; and the respectful atten- 
 tion of the inhabitants of that country, “ illustrious in arts and arms,” is now bestowed 
 on the inventive genius of Americans. 
 
344 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. : 
 by this enterprising American, from a long residence in Manchester, and 
 from being engaged in an extensive branch of manufactures there, has pro- 
 bably enabled him to ascertain this fact with accuracy. The fuel forming 
 the principal part of the expense of operating steam engines, by calculating 
 _ the cost of coals in England and the United States, a comparative estimate 
 may be formed of the expenses attending the operation of a steam engine in 
 each of the two countries with a tolerable degree of correctness. In the 
 manufacturing districts of France near Rouen, where the most extensive 
 cotton and woollen mills are located, the coals need are brought principally 
 from the mines at Charleroi, and are nearly as dear as in the United States. 
 The coals exported from Baelainl to the United States are of a superior 
 quality to those ordinarily consumed for manufacturing purposes, and sell 
 at an advanced price in Liverpool of nearly four shillings per ton, or from 
 fourteen to fifteen shillings sterling per ton. Virginia coal is About equal 
 in quality to the common English coal for the purpose of operating steam 
 engines, and costs on the seaboard of the northern and éastern states three 
 times as much as the coals used in Manchester for steam engines. The 
 daily wages of a fireman and good engineer is nearly as high in England 
 as in the United States. The actual expense necessary fol operating a 
 steam engine in England, all other things being equal, may therefore be 
 estimated at rather more han two fifths of what it is on the sea board of 
 the middle and eastern states, when coals are used for fuel ; while: at Pitts- 
 burgh, on the contrary, from the wonderful abundance of uel, steam power 
 is actually available at about three-fourths of the expense required in 
 England. Pine wood seems to be preferred in the United States as fuel for 
 steamboats, from producing a ready and intense heat without being attended 
 with Risugteeable sulphureous vapours during combustion. 
 
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GROWTH OF COTTON. 345 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GROWTH OF COTTON. 
 
 Cotton, as represented by Baines. 
 
 = =e 
 
 Sea Island cotton. 
 
 A statement of the Arts and Manufactures of the United States of 
 
 America, for the year 1810, Digested and prepared by Tench 
 Coxe, Esquire, of Philadelphia, 1817. 
 
 The capacity of the United States, in the country south of 
 Annapolis, in Maryland, to produce cotton wool, in copious and 
 extensive planters’ crops, did not appear, in the year 1786, to have 
 impressed the minds of the people of our own country, even from 
 the thirty-first to the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude. Cir- 
 cumstances, in the family horticulture of the writer, arising among 
 relations resident in Talbot county, had possessed him of the in- 
 formation, that cotton wool was constantly and familiarly raised 
 there, in the little gardening of the children and domestics. It is 
 distinctly remembered, that these impressions of early youth had 
 matured, in the year 1785, into pleasing convictions, that the 
 United States, in its extensive regions south of Anne Arundel and 
 Talbot, would certainly become a great cotton producing country. 
 This expectation was rendered the more deeply interesting, be- 
 cause European inventions of labour-saving machinery, for the 
 carding and spinning of this raw material, were known to the 
 writer to have occurred, though they were, at that time, very 
 imperfectly understood, and not possessed in the United States. 
 
 An opportunity was taken, after the convention at Annapolis, 
 in 1786, to examine into the opinions of persons of the highest 
 qualifications, and the best opportunities to judge of the grounds 
 of the suggested capacity for the cotton cultivation, and the con- 
 nected prospects of those, who might become extensive planters. 
 
 Mr. Madison was a member of the convention, and on an exami- 
 AA. ; 
 
346 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 nation of the suggestion of our capacity, was immediately and 
 decidedly of opinion, that our success would be certain and great. 
 
 The opinions of the best judges, and of those of the most fre- 
 quent opportunities of observation, were decidedly favourable to 
 the future success of the United States as a cotton producing 
 country. In and before the year 1787, the United 'States had 
 never exported one bale of domestic cotton to any country: no 
 planter had adopted its cultivation as a crop: nor had we any of 
 those numerous and invaluable: labour-saving machines, which 
 have been imported and adopted, to card, rove, spin, twist, colour, 
 and print. Such was the real inadvertence, on the part of the 
 intelligent cultivators of the south, to the natural advantages of 
 our soil and climate: such the unacquaintance of the ingenious 
 and energetic mechanicians of the whole Union with the form 
 and value of labour-saving machinery.* 
 
 *Cotton has been known to the world, as an useful commmodity, ever 
 since the days of Herodotus ; who, upwards of two thousand years ago, 
 wrote that “ Glossypium grew in India, which, instead of seed, produced 
 wool.” Cotton clothes more of mankind than either wool, flax, hemp, or 
 silk. It has grown for many centuries in the East Indies. It had been de- 
 clared by Dr. Hewat, in his account of South Carolina, printed in 1719, “ that 
 the climate and soil of the province were favourable to the culture of 
 cotton.” The first provincial congress in South Carolina, held in January, 
 1775, recommended to the inhabitants “to raise cotton,” yet very little prac- 
 tical attention was paid to their recommendation. A small quantity only 
 was raised for domestic manufactures. The labour-saving machines pro- 
 moted, greatly promoted, the manufacture of cotton. In this culture the 
 Georgians took the lead. They began to raise it, as an article of export, 
 soon after the peace of 1783. Their success recommended it to their neigh- 
 bours. The whole quantity exported from Carolina, in any one year, prior 
 to 1795, was inconsiderable, but in that year it amounted to £1,109,653. 
 The cultivation of it has been, ever since, increasing ; and in the first year 
 of the present century, eight millions of pounds were exported from South 
 Carolina. So much cotton is now (1809) made, in Carolina and Georgia, 
 that if the whole was manufactured in the United States, it would go far in 
 clothing a great proportion of the inhabitants of the Union; for one labourer 
 can raise as much of this commodity in one season as will afford the raw 
 material for 1,500 yards of common cloth, or a sufficiency for covering 150 
 persons. It has trebled the price of land suitable to its growth; and when 
 the crop succeeds and the market is favourable, the annual income of those 
 who plant it is double to what it was before the introduction of cotton. 
 Nankeen cotton is cultivated, in the upper country, for domestic use. Mr. 
 Whitney’s saw-gin, for the separation of the wool from the seed, has facili- 
 tated that operation in the highest degree. 
 
 The presence of the raw material will provoke to, excite and produce the 
 manufacture. American cotton will produce a home manufacture. The 
 American will not be uncomfortable in his own cotton velvets, velverets, 
 corduroys, swanskins, and cotton blankets. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 347 
 
 Calicoes, or cotton cloths, (unmixed with linen) were first exe- 
 cuted in England in 1772. British muslins were first made there 
 in 1781. 
 
 Our vast and multiplied water power (1817) unfolds itself daily. 
 A short canal of two miles, in the small county of Philadelphia, by 
 taking the water out of the river Schuylkill, has given us new sites 
 for 140 mills, equal to the turning of 280 mill-stones, to which 
 sites there is good water carriage from the ocean! A packing 
 machine, invented or introduced by Mr. Perkins, formerly of 
 Massachusetts, is said, by the agency of a single person, to effect a 
 pressure which requires the power of fifteen hundred men, and 
 that it can be very much increased. ‘The whole system and 
 power of labour-saving machinery, used in cleaning and manu- 
 facturing to the extent of weaving and printing, may be considered 
 as forming, by steam, by water, and by wooden and metallic ma- 
 chinery, a vast body of gigantic automatons, in aid of the labour of 
 our people, and the draughts of our cattle. Of this Herculean 
 corps of automatons, one of which may work 100,000 spindles, 
 some of our women, our children, with a few men, and our ac- 
 quired artists are required, as the Uilile fingers. We can raise 
 enough exportable surplus cotton for the world upon the fraction 
 of five millions of acres of our sugar, rice, indigo, and cotton 
 country. These strong assertions are no fictions. They are 
 familiar and irrefragable truths. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE SEA ISLAND COTTON. 
 
 Mr. Smith. 
 PiitapeLpuia, December 3, 1830. 
 
 Sir,—The original of the annexed letter has been many years in my pos- 
 session, and was given to me by the gentleman to whom it was addressed. 
 It settles the question as to the source of the Sea Island seed. For want of 
 knowing the native country of the Sea Island cotton, the late Cesar A. 
 Rodney, upon his return from the mission to South America, by Mr. 
 Monroe actually sent out one or two barrels of the seed to a friend there to 
 
 improve the staple of the article. I am, respectfully, 
 James MEase. 
 
 — 
 
 John Cowper, Esq., St. Simon’s, Georgia. 
 Havanna, February 2, 1805. 
 
 My dear sir,—Being informed by my friend, James Hamilton, of London, 
 that you are the same John Cowper with whom I had the pleasure of being 
 acquainted, many years ago, in St. Augustine, and for whom I have an inte- 
 rest which the lapse of time has not done away, I beg leave, now that I 
 have drawn a little nearer to you, to revive our former friendship. It is 
 pleasing to view the rising prosperity of the land you live in, and particularly 
 
348 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 so too when I reflect, that one of the present sources of her riches was, in a 
 very great measure, derived from myself. In the year 1785, disgusted with 
 the Bahama Islands, I settled in Kingston, Jamaica; where, finding my 
 friend, Frank Levett, with his family and all his negroes, in a distressed 
 situation, he applied to me for advice as to what steps he should take, having 
 no employment for his slaves. I advised him to go to Georgia, and settle 
 in some of the out islands and plant provisions, until something better turned 
 up. Being well acquainted with Sapelo, I recommended that island. He 
 could not, he said, bear to live in that country, but as many of his friends 
 were settled in the Bahamas, he would attempt the planting of cotton among 
 them. Being just from thence, 1 warned him against the attempt, but still 
 he went, and planted cotton. At length, in a doleful letter, he acknowledged 
 himself a convert to my opinion, having found things exactly as I had stated 
 them, and resolved to go to the place I recommended, and there maintain 
 his negroes, until he could look about him. 
 
 Early in the year 1786, I sent him a large quantity of various seeds of 
 Jamaica, and as Mr. Moss and Col. Brown requested me to get some of the 
 Pernambuco cotton seed, I also sent to Mr. Levett three large sacks, of 
 which he made no use but by accident.* 
 
 In a letter to me in the year 1789, he said, “being in want of the sacks, 
 for gathering in my provisions, I shook their contents on the dung-hill, and 
 it happening to be a very wet season, in the spring a multitude of plants 
 covered the place. These I drew out, and transplanted them into two acres 
 of ground, and was highly gratified to find an abundant crop.” This en- 
 couraged me to plant more. I used all my strength in cleaning and plant- 
 ing, and have succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations. This year 
 T have every prospect of gathering twenty tons of clean cotton. Iam, &e. 
 
 Patrick WALSH. 
 
 Extract.— Savannah, Dec. 11, 1788. I have been this year an 
 adventurer, and the first that has attempted it on a large scale in 
 the article of cotton. Several here as well as in Carolina have 
 followed me, and tried the experiment: and it is likely to answer 
 our most sanguine expectations, samples of which I beg leave now 
 to send you, and request you to lay them before the Philadelphia 
 society for encouraging manufactures, that the quality may be 
 inspected into. I shall raise about 5000 pounds in the seed, from 
 about eight acres of land, and next year I intend to plant from 
 fifty to one hundred acres, if suitable encouragement is given ; the 
 principal difficulty that arises to us is clearing it from the seed, 
 which I am told they do with great dexterity and ease in Phila- 
 delphia with gins and machines made for that purpose. I shall | 
 now esteem it a singular favour your procuring me one of those 
 gins, and I will thankfully pay whatever the cost of it may be. I 
 
 * Plaster of Paris was introduced near Philadelphia, and its effects disco- 
 vered by accident. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 349 
 
 am told they make them, that will clean from thirty to forty 
 pounds clear cotton in a day, and upon a very simple construc- 
 tion. It would be the interest of the planter to sell it in the seed 
 for the following reasons: in the winter we can employ our ser- 
 
 _ vants in cutting lumber, ditching and clearing land. Secondly, 
 
 they are as handy and dexterous at any kind of machinery in 
 cleaning it as white people. With you, labour is cheap, people 
 are humerous, and ginning of cotton can be done within doors in 
 winter when no other work can be done. I am directed by 
 Captain Kerby to apply to Mr. Wetherill or General Mifflin of 
 Philadelphia, who are members of the society for encouraging 
 manufactures. But as I am unacquainted with those gentlemen, 
 I beg leave to do it through you and request you to lay the samples 
 of the cotton I send you before them. I shall be glad to know 
 what quantity would sell and what price it will fetch in the seed, 
 and what price clean. If suitable encouragement is given, I have 
 not the smallest doubt but that this state will be able to furnish all 
 that will be necessary for the manufactures of the northern states. 
 The lands in the southern parts of this state are admirably adapted 
 to the raising of this commodity. The climate is so mild so far 
 to the south, scarce any winter to be felt, and another grand 
 advantage, whites can be employed. The labour is not severe 
 attending it, not more than raising Indian corn, it is planted on 
 high land, and thrives the best near the salt water. I shall be 
 glad to receive any information or instructions from time to time, 
 and will cheerfully communicate any further discoveries or experi- 
 ments I make in the planting or raising a raw material of so much 
 magnitude to the manufacturing interests of America.” [From 
 Richard Teake, Savannah, to [Thomas Proctor, Philadelphia. ] 
 
 WHITNEY’S COTTON GIN.—(See cut in next page.) 
 
 Exit Wurrney was born at Westborough, Worcester county, Mass. Dec. 
 
 8th, 1763. The paternal ancestors of Mr. Whitney emigrated from England 
 among the early settlers of Massachusetts. 
 _ Indications of Whitney’s mechanical genius were developed at a very 
 early age. Of his passion for such employments, his sister gives the follow- 
 ing account. Our father had a workshop and sometimes made wheels of 
 different kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools and a lathe for turn- 
 ing posts. This gave my brother an opportunity for learning the use of 
 tools when very young. He lost no time, but as he could handle tools he 
 was always making something in the shop, and seemed not to like working 
 on the farm. 
 
 His father once enquired what Eli had been doing, he being about twelve 
 years of age; the answer was, “ He has been making a fiddle.” “1 fear,” 
 said his father, ‘‘ he will have to take his portion in fiddles.” 
 
 R 
 aN 
 = 
 
350 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 S SS 
 
 After this he was employed to repair violins, which he always did to the 
 satisfaction of his employers. He took occasion once to take his father’s 
 watch to pieces, and put it together without being detected. He made 
 knives or any thing he attempted; also nails. He manifested a fondness 
 for figures and an uncommon aptitude for arithmetical calculations. By his 
 own personal exertion he prepared himself for the freshman class in Yale 
 college, which he entered in May, 1789. He finished his education with 
 little expense tu his father. The propensity of Mr. Whitney to mechanical 
 inventions and occupations was frequently apparent during his’ residence at 
 college. Ona particular occasion, one of the tutors happening to mention 
 some interesting philosophical experiment, regretted he could not exhibit it 3 ? 
 to his pupils, because the apparatus was out of order and must be sent abroad ay A 
 to be repaired. Mr. Whitney proposed to undertake the task, eg gt ah 4 
 it greatly to the satisfaction of the faculty of the college. _ ve 
 
 Soon after Mr. Whitney took his degree, in the autumn ott “179, he 
 entered into an engagement with a Mr. B. of Georgia, to reside in his family — 1,9 
 as a private teacher. On his way hither he was so fortunate as to have the — 
 company of Mrs. Green, the widow of General Green, who with her r family § 
 was returning to Savannah; after spending the summer at the north. | Mr. 
 Whitney had scarcely set nis foot in Georgia before he was met by a disap-- “" 
 pointment, which was an earnest of that long series of events which, with 
 scarcely an exception, attended all his future negociations in the same state. 
 On his arrival he was informed that Mr. B. had “employed another teacher, 
 leaving Whitney entirely without resources or friends, except those he had 
 
‘. 
 
 GROWTH OF COTTON. 351 
 
 made in the family of General Green. In these benevolent people, however, 
 his case excited much interest, and Mrs. Green kindly said to him, “ My 
 young friend, make my house your home and pursue what studies you 
 please.” He accordingly commenced the study of the law under that hos- 
 pitable roof. 
 
 Mr. Whitney made Mrs. Green a tambour frame; not long after this inci- 
 dent, a party of gentlemen came from Augusta and the upper country to 
 visit the family of General Green, principally officers who had served under 
 the general in the revolutionary war. 
 
 Among the number were Major Beman, Major Forsyth, and Major 
 Pendleton. They conversed on the state of agriculture among them and 
 expressed great regret that there was no means of cleaning the green seed 
 cotton, or separating it from its seed, since all the lands which were 
 unsuitable for cultivation of rice, would yield large crops of cotton. But 
 until ingenuity could devise a machine which would greatly facilitate the 
 process of cleaning, it was in vain to think of raising cotton for market. 
 Separating one pound of the clean staple from the seed was a day’s work 
 for a woman. 
 
 While the company were engaged in this conversation, ‘ Gentlemen,” 
 said Mrs. Green, “apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney, he can make any 
 thing.” Upon which she conducted them into another room and showed 
 them her tambour frame, anda number of toys which Mr. Whitney had made 
 or repaired for the children, She then introduced them to Mr. Whitney 
 himself, extolling his genius, and commended him to their notice and friend- 
 ship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius, and 
 that he had never seen either cotton or cotton seed in his life. A new turn 
 was now given to Whitney’s views. It being out of season for cotton in the 
 seed, he went to Savannah, and searched among the warehouses and boats 
 until he found a small parcel of it. This he carried home and communi- 
 cated his intentions to Mr. Miller, who warmly encouraged him, and assigned 
 him a room in the basement of the house, where he set himself to work, 
 with such rude materials and instruments as a Georgia plantation at that 
 time afforded. With these resources he made tools better suited to his pur- 
 pose, and drew his own wire, (of which the teeth of the early gins were 
 made) an article which was not then to be found in the market of Savannah. 
 Mrs. Green and Mr. Miller were the only persons who knew in what way 
 
 he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his mysterious 
 
 | pursuits afforded matter of great curiosity and often raillery, to the younger 
 
 oe 
 
 members of the family. 
 
 ; wie N ear the close of the winter, the machine was so nearly complete as to 
 "leave no doubt of its success. Mrs. Green was eager to communicate to 
 
 ~ her numerous friends the knowledge of this important invention, peculiarly 
 - important, because then the market was glutted with all those articles 
 
 ry which were suited to the climate uf Georgia, and nothing could be found to 
 
 oA 
 
 4 + gull » > 4 . . . Py 
 give occupation to the negroes, and support of the white inhabitants. This 
 
 Ne af suddenly to the planters boundless resources of wealth, and rendered 
 
 e occupations of the slaves less unhealthy and less laborious than they 
 
 were before. 
 Mrs. Green invited to her house gentlemen from different parts of the 
 state, and on the next day after they had assembled, she conducted them to 
 
352 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 a temporary building, which had been erected for the machine, and they 
 saw with astonishment and delight, that more cotton could be separated 
 from the seed in one day by the labour of a single hand, than could be done 
 in the former manner in the space of many months. 
 
 Mr. Whitney might now have indulged in bright reveries of fortune and 
 fame, but his inventive genius was tempered with an unusual share of the 
 calm considerate qualities of the financier. He felt reluctant even to apply 
 for a patent, foreseeing many difficulties and expenses that mustarise. Nor 
 did he like to relinquish the profession of the law. 
 
 The individual who contributed much to incite him to persevere in the 
 undertaking was Phineas Miller, Esq. Mr. Miller was a native of Con- 
 necticut and a graduate of Yale college. He married the widow of General 
 Green. He had considerable funds at command, and proposed to Mr. 
 Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and to be at the whole expense of 
 maturing the machine until it should be patented. 
 
 If the machine should succeed in its operation, the parties agreed, under 
 legal formalities, that the profits and advantages arising, as well as all pri- 
 vileges and emoluments to be derived from patenting, making, vending, 
 and working the same, should be mutually and equally shared between them. 
 This instrument bears date May 27, 1793, and immediately afterwards they 
 commenced business under the firm of Miller & Whitney. An invention so 
 important to the agricultural interests, (as it has proved to every department 
 of human industry) could not long remain a secret. The knowledge of it 
 soon spread through the state, and so great was the excitement on the sub- 
 ject that multitudes of persons came from all quarters of the state to see the 
 machine; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their curiosity until the 
 patent right had been obtained. 
 
 But so determined were some of the people to obtain this treasure that 
 neither law nor justice could restrain them, they broke open the building by 
 night and carried away the machine. In this way the public became pos- 
 sessed of the invention; and before Mr. Whitney could complete his model 
 and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful operation, 
 constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the hope of 
 evading the penalty for violating the patent right. Mr. Whitney repaired 
 to Connecticut, where as far as possible he was to perfect the machine, 
 obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia such a number of 
 machines as would supply the demand. 
 
 On the 20th of June, 1793, Mr. Whitney presented his petition for a patent 
 to Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state; but the prevalence of the yellow 
 fever in Philadelphias which was then the seat of government, prevented 
 his conducting the business relative to the patent until several months 
 afterwards. Mr. Whitney made oath to the invention, before the notary 
 public of the city of New Haven, on the 20th of October, 1793. The impor- 
 tunity of Mr. Miller’s letters urging Mr. Whitney to repair to Georgia, 
 evinces how eager the Georgia planters were to enter the new field of enter- 
 prise which the genius of Whitney had laid open to them. In 1794, they 
 borrowed money at 5 per cent. premium, besides the lawful interest ; but as 
 they wanted more funds they could not obtain them short of 20 per cent. 
 premium. Sickness and other casualties prevented the business from being 
 profitable, besides the perplexities and anxieties which the inventor incurred. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 353 
 
 In March, 1795, in the midst of perplexities and discouragements, with 
 the fever and ague, Mr. Whitney went to New York on business, and was 
 detained there three weeks by his sickness. As soon as he was able to leave 
 the house, he embarked on board a packet for New Haven. On his arrival 
 at this place, he was suffering under one of those chills which precede the 
 fever. As was usual on the arrival of the packet, people came on board to 
 welcome their friends and to exchange salutations, when Mr. Whitney was 
 informed that on the preceding day his shop with all his machines and 
 papers had been consumed by fire! Thus suddenly was he reduced to 
 absolute bankruptcy, having debts to the amount of four thousand dollars 
 without any means of making payment. Mr. Whitney, however, had not a 
 spirit to despond under difficulties and disappointments, but was by them 
 excited to still more vigorous efforts; Mr. Miller, also, on hearing of this 
 catastrophe, manifested a kindred spirit. While struggling with these mul- 
 tiplied misfortunes, intelligence was received from England, which threat- 
 ened to give a final blow to all their hopes. It was, that the English 
 manufacturers condemned the cotton cleaned by their machines, on the 
 ground that the staple was greatly injured. On the receipt of this intelli- 
 gence, Mr. Miller writes as follows:—“ This stroke of misfortune is much 
 heavier than that of the fire, unless the impression is immediately removed. 
 For, with that which now governs the public mind on this subject,| our 
 patent would be worth little or nothing. Every one is afraid of the cotton. 
 Not a purchaser in Savannah will pay full price for it. Even the merchants 
 with whom I have made a contract for purchasing, begin to part with their 
 money reluctantly. The trespassers on our right begin to laugh at our 
 suits, and several of the most active men are now putting up the roller gin, 
 and what is to the Jast degree vexing, many prefer their cotton to ours.” 
 
 In 1796, Miller and Whitney had thirty gins at eight different places 
 in the state of Georgia, some of which were carried on by horses or oxen, 
 and some by water. A number of these were standing still for the want of 
 means of supplying them. The company had also invested about ten thou- 
 sand dollars in real estate, which was suited only to the purposes of ginning 
 cotton. All things now conspired to threaten them with deep insolvency. 
 Mr. Miller writes: ‘A few moments are only allowed me to tell you that 
 the industry of our opponents is daily increasing, and that prejudices appear 
 to be rapidly extending themselves in London against cur cotton. Hasten 
 to London, if you return immediately; our fortune, our all, depends upon it. 
 —The process of patent ginning is now quite at a stand. I hear nothing of 
 ' it except the condolence of a few real friends, who express their regrets that 
 so promising an invention should have entirely failed.” Mr. Whitney was 
 on the eve of departing for England, whither he was going with the view of 
 learning the certainty of the prejudices which were so currently reported to 
 be entertained in England against the cotton cleaned by the patent gin, and 
 the rumour of which was so industriously circulated throughout the southern 
 papers, and should he find those prejudices to exist, firmly believing, as the 
 event has shown, that they were utterly unfounded, he hoped to be able to 
 remove them, by challenging the most rigorous trials. 
 
 He had several times fixed on the day of his departure, and on one occa- 
 sion had actually engaged his passage and taken leave of some of his friends. 
 
 A5 | 
 
354 ’ MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 “ie at. 
 
 But he was in each case thwarted by an unexpected disappointment in BCRe 
 gard to the funds necessary to defray the expenses of the voyage. Sith 
 
 However brighter prospects seemed now to be opening upon them, fon 
 the more favourable reports that were made respecting the quality of their 
 cotton. Respectable manufacturers both at home and abroad gave favourable 
 certificates, and retailing merchants sought for the cotton cleaned by Whit- 
 ney’s gin, because it was greatly preferred by their customers, to any other 
 in the market. This favourable turn in public opinion would have restored 
 prosperity to the company had not the encroachments on their patent right 
 become so extensive as almost to annihilate its value. 
 
 Mr. Miller writes May 11, 1797. “The event of our first patent suit after 
 all our exertions made in such a variety of ways has gone against us. The 
 preposterous custom of trying civil causes of this intricacy and magnitude 
 by acommon jury, together with the imperfection of the patent law, frus- 
 trated all our views, and disappointed expectations which had become very 
 sanguine. Thus after four years of assiduous labour, fatigue, and difficulty, 
 we are again set afloat by a new and unexpected obstacle.” 
 
 Great efforts were made to obtain trial in a second suit in May 1798, when 
 a great number of witnesses were called, from various parts of the country, 
 one hundred miles from Savannah, at the regular session, but no judge, ap- 
 peared. In consequence of the failure of the first suit, and such a procrasti- 
 nation of the second, the encroachments on the patent right had been 
 prodigiously multiplied, so as almost entirely to destroy the business of the 
 patentees. 
 
 In April 1799, Mr. Miller writes. ‘“ The prospect of making any thing 
 by the gin in this state, is at an end. Surreptitious gins are erected in every 
 part of the country, and the jurymen at Augusta have come to an under- 
 standing among themselves, that they will never give a cause in our favour 
 let the merits of the case be as they may.” | 
 
 Russel Goodrich, Esq. traveled through Georgia, for the purpose of collect- 
 ing what was due Miller and Whitney for patent rights, but in consequence 
 of evasions under different dishonourable pretences, he was unable to obtain 
 money enough from all these claims to pay his travelling expenses. 
 
 The legislature of South Carolina, offered Messrs. Miller and Whitney 
 fifty thousand dollars, which was accepted. 
 
 In Dee. 1802, Mr. Whitney negotiated a sale of his patent right with the 
 state of North Carolina. The legislature laid a tax to be continued five 
 years, to be collected by the sheriffs in the same manner as the public taxes, 
 and after deducting the expenses, the avails were faithfully paid over to the 
 patentees. A ates negotiation was made with the state of Tennessee. 
 
 The importance of the machine began to be universally acknowledged in 
 that state, and various public meetings of the citizens were held, in which 
 were adopted resolutions strongly in favour of a public contract with 
 Miller & Whitney. Of one of those meetings General Jackson was chair- 
 man. South Carolina annulled their contract under various pretences. 
 
 In consequence of extraordinary proceedings of the legislature of Georgia, 
 Tennessee suspended the payment of their tax. 
 
 That Mr. Whitney felt very keenly in regard to the severities practised 
 
 towards him, is evident from the remonstrance which he presented to the 
 legislature. 
 
 -~ 
 
3 
 GROWTH OF ‘corron. 355 
 
 ~The subscriber says “he respectfully batted permission to represent to the 
 legislature of South Carolina, that he conceives himself to have been treated 
 with unreasonable severity, in the measures recently taken against him, by 
 and under their immediate direction. He holds that to be seized and Binguva 
 to prison without being allowed to be heard in answer to the charge against, 
 and indeed without the exhibition of any specific charge, is a direct viola- 
 tion of the common right of every citizen of a free government ; that the 
 power in this case is all on one side, that whatever may be the issue of the 
 process now instituted against him, he must in any case be subjected to great 
 expense and extreme hardships, and that he considers the tribunal before 
 which he is holden to appear to be wholly incompetent to decide, definitely, 
 existing disputes between the state and Miller & Whitney. The subscriber 
 avers that he has manifested no other than a disposition to fulfil all the sti- 
 pulations entered into with the state of South Carolina with punctuality and 
 good faith. And he begs leave to observe further, that to have industriously, 
 laboriously, and exclusively, devoted many years of the prime of his life to 
 the improvement of a machine, from which the citizens of South Carolina 
 have already realised immense profits, which is worth to them millions, and 
 from which their posterity to the latest generation must continue to derive 
 the most important benefits ; and in return, to be treated asa felon, a swind- 
 ler, anda villain, has stung him to the very soul. And when he considers 
 that this cruel persecution is inflicted by the very persons who are enjoying 
 these great benefits, and expressly for the purpose of preventing his ever 
 deriving the least advantage from his own labour, the acuteness of his 
 feelings is altogether inexpressible. This machine enables one man to 
 perform the work of a thousand.” 
 
 Mr. Whitney’s application to congress to prolong the time of his patent 
 was rejected. 
 
 In a correspondence with Robert Fulton, Mr. Whitney observes: ‘ The 
 difficulties with which I have to contend, have originated principally in the 
 want of a disposition in mankind to do justice. It was not interference with 
 any thing before known, and it can seldom happen that an invention or im- 
 provement is so strongly marked and can be so clearly and specifically 
 identified, and I have always believed that I should have no difficulty in 
 causing my right to be respected if it had been less valuable and been used 
 only by a small portion of the community. But the use of this machine 
 being immensely profitable to almost every planter in the cotton districts, 
 all were interested in trespassing on the patent right, and each kept the other 
 in countenance. Demagogues made themselves popular by misrepresenta- 
 tion and unfounded clamour both against the right and against the law made 
 for its protection. Hence there arose associations and combinations to op- 
 pose both. At one time but few men in Georgia dared to come into court 
 and testify to the most simple facts within their knowledge relative to the 
 use of the new machine. In one instance, I had great difficulty in proving 
 that the machine had been used in Georgia, although at the same moment, 
 there were three separate sets of this machinery in motion within fifty yards 
 of the building in which the court sat, and so near that the rattling of the 
 wheel was distinctly heard on the steps of the court house.” 
 
 The most remarkable trait in the character of Mr. Whitney, aside from 
 his inventive powers, was his perseverance; and this is the more remarkable, 
 
“i 
 
 356 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 because it is so common to find men of great powers of much actual in- 
 vention deficient in this quality. One who knew him from early life says, 
 ‘“T have reflected often and much upon Mr. Whitney’s character, and it has 
 been a delightful study to me. I wish T had time to bring fully to view that 
 particular excellence of mind, perseverance—in which he excelled all men 
 that I have ever heard of.” 
 
 The growing of cotton in the southern states was an original 
 idea in the mind of Tench Coxe, who always said that the manu- 
 facture of a redundant staple must be the foundation of commerce 
 and manufactures. Thus, laying agriculture in its proper place, 
 as the basis for manufactures and commerce to build on; and not 
 allowing it to be dependent on contingencies. 
 
 Mr. Coxe was an harbinger of light on this subject: he urged 
 the subject with a force and energy peculiar to himself; always 
 stating, most explicitly, that America was destitute of a redundant 
 staple. England had long nursed their growth of wool; and it 
 was their staple, the importance of which their Chancellor was 
 ever to remember by his seat on the woolsack. America has now 
 produced an article which has superseded the wool staple of 
 England. Great Britain buys our cotton, manufactures it, and 
 spreads her fabrics to all parts of the world. America, herself, 
 needs no importation of cotton : she manufactures her own re- 
 dundant staple, which no contingencies can deprive her of. Before 
 a field of cotton was planted, and while we had nothing to manu- 
 facture, but were obliged to import even the raw material for 
 their incipient. measures in experiments of manufacture, Tench 
 Coxe, with the eye of a political economist, who understood the 
 true means of the wealth of nations, knew that the growth of cot- 
 ton would enrich the south; that it would give vigour and energy 
 to the north; and that both east and west would be mutually 
 interested in the unity of agriculture, commerce, and manufac- 
 tures. These unite all the vast resources which are combined in 
 the vast capabilities of various climes, and of the immense variety 
 of the industry, skill, and enterprise of mankind. ‘These so 
 operate as to work into each other’s hands, so that no department 
 of labour shall be lost, and that all the skill and mechanism, 
 all the improvement in machinery and science shall be brought 
 into full operation. 
 
 The writings now extant of Tench Coxe, prove, emphatically, 
 that these were his great and enlightened views as a statesman, 
 who was advocating principles that were to be the foundation of 
 new empires; and of ameliorating the condition of mankind. It 
 is not saying too much when we claim for him the appellation of 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 357 
 
 the Father of the growth of cotton in America. It was his constant 
 theme ; there was an enthusiasm on this subject, that those inferior 
 beings who were unacquainted with his sources of vision, were 
 astonished at. His views reached into future prospects ; he saw, 
 
 _in vision, from his enlarged principles and his correct calculations, 
 
 what we now see in reality :—America increasing the number of 
 her states; the federal government, loaded with surplus funds in 
 the treasury ; immense cities rising in every direction ; peace and 
 abundance enjoyed in the wide extended empire, and each depart- 
 meut of enterprise, manifesting that each is beneficial to the other, 
 and that the prosperity of agriculture adds to the increase of both 
 manufactures and commerce. Legitirnate objects of commerce are 
 to transport the surplus produce of agriculture, and manufactured 
 productions, to such parts of the world as present a market, and 
 to bring back such articles as cannot be produced at home. 
 “Until the revolution in the cultivation of cotton, by which it 
 was converted, through the strenuous excitements of the friend of 
 manufactures, from a petty object in little fields and gardens, into 
 an extensive cultivation among the planters and farmers, there 
 was no redundant raw material for the manufacture of cloths and 
 stuffs, for apparel and furniture, in the United States. There is 
 at this time no other redundant raw material. The green seed 
 cotton was the best adapted to the general quality and situation, 
 and to the climate of the southern states. But its cultivation, 
 though perfectly pleasant and easy, was very much restrained by 
 the extraordinary difficulty of separating it from the seeds. ‘This 
 operation required so much manual industry as greatly to impede 
 the manufacture ; and, of course, for the time, to prevent an exten- 
 sive cultivation. In the year 1793 the invaluable saw gin was 
 invented by a citizen of the United States, Mr. Whitney, and was 
 so improved and perfected as to render it easy to separate the seed 
 from one hundred millions of pounds weight of cotton wool, by 
 the employment of three or four hundred persons ; although it is 
 alleged that it would require three hundred thousand persons to 
 effect the same by hand. Mr. Whitney states the difference be- 
 tween its operation in common hands, and the ordinary manual 
 operation, at one thousand to one. By the employment of this 
 machinery, every vicinity can easily and expeditiously prepare its 
 cotton for the manufacturing cards, and that in the aggregate, to 
 any extent that the world could require, were it to clothe itself 
 entirely in cotton manufactures. ‘Thus has there been added, by 
 our own invention, to the machinery; to facilitate the manufacture 
 of a staple production of our soil, a single improvement, moveable 
 
 + 
 
ewe) Me 
 358 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. ; at oe 
 
 by water, steam, cattle, or hand; which has let loose those immense 
 powers of agriculture to produce cotton wool, that were’ before 
 declined.” The above remarks of Tench Coxe are only specimens ~ 
 of those enlightened and enlarged ideas which were original with 
 him; and as he knew them to be based upon unchangeable 
 maxims, he indulged the discussion of them with an ardour and 
 impetuosity of feeling, chastened with profound reasoning, that 
 silenced those whose severity of feeling prevented their sound 
 conviction. He never rested till the work was completed, and he 
 lived to see the American staple preferred in the cotton markets, 
 before the growth of any other country in the world. It has been 
 proved, indubitably, that the adaptation of climate and soil was as 
 decided as he declared it to be, before a bale of cotton had been 
 shipped from Charleston.* 
 
 Tench Coxe appears to have inherited the talents and enter- 
 prise and even the peculiar turn of mind of his paternal grand- 
 father, the first proprietor of Carolina, who in 1698, wrote of the 
 natural capabilities of the south :t—“ Cochineal is a commodity of 
 
 * The increase of the new staple is insured by the triumph of science and 
 truth ; while the decay of the old is manifest, by the perversity of error and 
 despotism. The former will be extended in its influence, while the latter 
 will be confined within its contracted sphere. 
 
 If the “ wool-sack” was a significant seat for the Chancellor of the British 
 Peers, to remind him of what was the great staple of the empire, the “cotton 
 bag,” the staple of the new world, may well be held in equal remembrance 
 by the legislators of the Union, Every member ought to wear it, as the 
 girdle of his loins, emblematical of the bulwark of the agricultural, manufac- 
 turing, and commercial interests of the United Republics: every officer of 
 ‘the government should be clad in the productions of this superabundant 
 article, from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet: and every 
 citizen should be enrobed with it in life, and shrouded in it in death. It 
 was protected, in its infancy, by the administration of Washington, and it 
 has proved, in its youth, the defence of the “beauty and booty” of every 
 
 section of the country. 
 
 T The American branch of the family of Coxe.—The first ancestor of the 
 Coxe family connected with America was Dr. Daniel Coxe, who was phy- 
 sician to the queen of Charles II., King of England, and also to Queen 
 Anne. He was the principal proprietor of the soil of West Jersey, and sole 
 proprietor of the government, he having held the office of governor, to him 
 and his for ever. At the request of Queen Anne he surrendered the govern: 
 ment to the crown retaining the other proprietory rights.t A member of the 
 Coxe family was always appointed by the crown, while there was a resident 
 member in the province, a member of the royal council of New Jersey until 
 
 + This document is extant in an old folio edition of Laws of New Jersey, which I 
 saw some years since. 
 
i cba GROWTH OF COTTON. 359 
 
 - great value, very necessary as the world goes, and costs England 
 great sums of money, which may all be saved, there being in the 
 province sufficieut to furnish both us and our neighbours. | 
 
 » “Silk is a commodity of great use in England for many manu- 
 factures, it being imported from France, Italy, Sicily, Turkey and 
 the East Indies; and there is no foreign commodity which ex- 
 hausts more of our treasure. This province abounds with forests 
 of mulberry trees, both white and red ; a considerable quantity of 
 silk may be here produced. It hath been tried in South Carolina, 
 by Sir Nathaniel Johnson and others, and might be turned to great 
 account. I would advise an imitation of the Chinese, who sow 
 the mulberry seeds as we do pot-herbs, and to mow those of one 
 year’s growth for the young silk worms, the leaves being short and 
 tender, fit food for them when first hatched; and the second for 
 them when in their infancy; when grown strong they may be 
 supplied with leaves from the trees, which method secures them 
 from disease, which they are liable to when fed, from the begin- 
 ning, with great rank leaves. 
 
 “ Hemp and flax are very common in this country ; sufficient to 
 supply the British market. Besides we have a silk grass, which 
 makes very pretty stuffs, such as comes from the East Indies, 
 
 the revolution. (See Smith’s History of New Jersey for an account of this 
 gentleman, called the great proprietor, &c, : also of his son Colonel Daniel 
 Coxe, the first ancestor who resided in America.) 
 
 Dr. Coxe was also sole proprietor of the extensive province of Carolana,* 
 an account of which is extant, in an octavo volume, written by his son, 
 Colonel Daniel Coxe, called the “ History of Carolana;” a copy of which 
 will be found in the library of congress, the Philadelphia library, and the 
 
 Atheneum of Philadelphia. ie eae 
 Colonel Coxe intermarried with Sarah, the only child of John Eckley,a - 
 
 Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and left issue : among others, 
 William Coxe, who married Mary, the daughter of Tench Francis, Attorney 
 General of the province of Pennsylvania. Tench Coxe was the son of this 
 William and Mary Coxe, and was born in Philadelphia, 22d May, 1755, 
 and died 17th July, 1824. 
 The charter was, in the extent of territory and powers, the most exten- 
 sive ever granted by the crown toa subject, &c.: the family was, therefore, 
 obliged to release it to the crown in consideration of a mandamus of the 
 king conferring 100,000 acres of land in New York. Dr. Coxe was also a 
 large proprietor in Pennsylvania, and nearly all the American provinces. 
 To his eldest son, Colonel Daniel Coxe, he gave all his American posses- 
 sions, and this gentleman was the first of the family who resided in 
 America. He arrived in America in 1709. (See Smith’s History of New 
 
 Jersey. 
 
 ) 
 * Carolana.—This was the original name, and ought to have been so spelled in the 
 
 previous mention of the province. 
 
 at 
 
- 
 
 ae : 
 
 360 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 which they call herba stuffs, whereof a garment was made for 
 Queen Elizabeth, whose ingredient came from Sir Walter Raleigh’s 
 colony, by him called Virginia, now North Carolina, a part of this 
 province, which, to encourage colonies and plantations, she was 
 pleased to wear for divers weeks. Excellent timber, turpentine, 
 and every thing suitable for building ships. Iron, potash, materials 
 for dyeing, such as logwood, campeachy wood, and many others, 
 fusticks, &c. A valuable shrub called quassia, drank as a tea. 
 Saltpetre, copper in abundance, lead in great quantities, with 
 various metals and minerals, including both gold and silver.”* 
 
 DIFFERENT GROWTHS OF COTTON.—FROM BAINES. 
 
 Cotton is now so extensively manufactured into a great variety 
 of different qualities of cloth, that a short account of the various 
 descriptions imported into the British market, with a few remarks 
 
 *“ The plant of which indico is made, is very frequent in most of the 
 southern parts of this country, and may possibly produce better than that 
 made in our islands of Jamaica, &c. This province being in the same lati- 
 tude with Agra and Byana, territories in the great mogul’s country, whose 
 indico is accounted the best of its kind in the world, and is double the price 
 of ours. It is easily made, and the Indians may be assisting to us herein, if 
 we think fit to undertake it. Besides, if we believe that judicious natural 
 historian Hernando, there is in Mexico, and consequently here (being much 
 the same climate) a plant or little shel, which produces an indico abun- 
 dantly more noble, and the colour more ively. than that which is the com- 
 mon indico. This the Spaniards call Azul, as being like Ultramarine. 
 
 “ Ambergris or grey amber, is often,found upon this coast from the cape of 
 Florida to Mexico, which is of great value. The best, (forthere are divers 
 sorts,) is of equal worth to its velahen in gold. This is agreed upon by the 
 learned, to be a bitumen or naptha, which comes from certain springs or 
 fountains, that empty themselves into the sea, and is coagulated by the salt 
 water, as succinum commonly called amber, from another sort of bitumen 
 or naptha, and in storms cast upon the coast. The same ambergris is also 
 found upon the east side of the cape or peninsula of Florida, the Bahama 
 islands, m the Hast Indies, and Brazil, and sometimes great lumps, even 
 upon the coast of Cornwall and Ireland. And among others, I have read of 
 a piece weighing eighty pounds, cast upon ihe coast of Cornwall, in the 
 reign of King Gharlas I., which was bigger, till diminished by the ecuneny 
 man who anna it, by eta his cart peels and boots, but discovered 
 accidentally by an intelligent gentleman, who, riding by one of his carts, 
 and perceiving a very grateful smell, anderen of the man whence it pro- 
 ceeded; he told him he had found a nasty grease upon the shore, which he 
 hoped would have saved him the expense of kitchen stuff and tar for carts, 
 harness, and boots, but it was of so poisonous a smell, that they were not 
 able to endure it. The gentleman desiring to see the remainder, found it 
 what he expected, purchased it at a very easy rate, presented it unto the 
 queen, and was requited in places or employments far beyond the value of 
 it— Coxe’s Carolana.”’ 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. . 36f 
 
 upon their qualities,—the estimation in which they are generally 
 held by manufacturers,—the countries where they are cultivated, 
 &c., may, perhaps, not be uninteresting to managers, carding and. 
 spinning masters, and to those interested in its manufacture.” 
 Cotton is generaily distinguished by its colour, and the length, 
 strength, and fineness of its fibres. 'There are many varieties of 
 
 * Mr. Woodbury’s letter on the culture and manufacture of cotton, is a 
 bright exposition of the present state of the business; it transcends all 
 possible conceptions of those who first conceived the project of raising cot- 
 ton in the United States. Tench Coxe was ardent and sanguinary in his 
 hopes and prospects on this subject, but he lived to see his expectations more 
 than realised; we have lived to see what appeared incredible twenty years 
 ago. America, who imported all her cotton for manufacture in 1791, at 
 the present time raises and exports more than all the world besides ; and the 
 manufacturing nations of Europe are absolutely dependent on America for 
 this staple. Not only is the business capable of an Immense increase, but 
 of important improvements ; a finer article can be produced, such as will 
 demand in Great Britain one dollar per pound. 
 
 The nankeen cotton can be raised of a finer fibre than in China; anda 
 fabric of the nankeen yarn, mixed with silk, can be manufactured superior 
 to any thing of the kind that has ever yet appeared either in Asia or Europe. 
 This new article is worthy of the nicest attention, and I must’ press the 
 subject, both on the growers of cotton, and the manufacturer, to cherish its 
 cultivation and its use; anarticle which will be purely American, and which 
 cannot be superseded in Europe for want of the raw material ; nor in China, 
 because they are destitute of maehinery. 
 
 The immense amount of capital invested in the growth and manufacture 
 of cotton, and the number of people employed in the business, renders it a 
 subject of great importance: It must proceed and it must increase, and 
 measures must be adopted to regulate the system, consistent with freedom 
 and good morals. We cannot neglect this with impunity ; and the whole 
 community are interested in the course to be adopted and pursued, in relation 
 to this business. Industry and talent must be called into exercise to promote 
 the best possible order in the establishments and plantations, such as shall 
 be satisfactory to the parties concerned ; for there must be no variance, no 
 discord, in an operation in which all are interested, and in which the pros- 
 perity of the whole of America is deeply involved. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury’s letter has made a great impression; sixteen thousand 
 copies have been published by congress ; and I presume few persons were 
 aware of the rapid and unparalleled increase of the exportation of cotton in 
 the short space of twenty years. The number of persons employed, both 
 in the culture and manufacture of cotton, calls for the consideration of the 
 wise and good, of the various communities concerned; and instead of re- 
 criminating each other, let both exert themselves to remove whatever posi- 
 tive evils exist. 
 
 The labour necessary for the culture of cotton, is attended with less 
 danger of affecting the health of the labourers, than iher the culture of rice 
 or tobacco; the cotton plantations therefore produce an amelioration of the 
 condition of those employed; it is better than sugar, or any other article 
 raised in southern climates; and hopes may be raised, on those con- 
 
362 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. is he 
 
 cotton, their names being principally derived dom the countries 
 ‘dihere: they are cultivated. Also, under each general name, there 
 are various denominations, distinguished by the particular pro- 
 vince or district of the country where they are grown. In the 
 following short account of the different descriptions, each kind is 
 
 _ classed under the name of the country in which it is cultivated. 
 
 Smyrna Wool. The cotton wool known by the above name, 
 was formerly imported from the Levant, in quantities proportioned 
 to the then trifling demand. At one time, it was the only cotton 
 
 wool to be met pith excepting a few bags occasionally imported — 
 
 from the West Indies, Although it has a soft silky appearance, 
 yet it is neither well fitted to endure the necessary operations in 
 being manufactured into yarn, nor does it, when finished, make 
 an article either of strength, beauty or durability. Only a small 
 quantity is now imported, and is used chiefly for making candle- 
 wick, being inflammable in a higher degree than any other kind 
 of cotton. 
 
 East India Cotton includes Surat, Bengal, Madras, Buffon, a 
 &c. The latter takes its name from the Isle of area in the 
 Indian ocean, where it is cultivated. It 1s generally a very supe- 
 
 rior cotton, both for strength and fineness, although short in the 
 staple. For a number of years it was the only cotton used for 
 spinning yarns of the finest quality, until superseded by Sea 
 Island cotton, which is now found even superior to it, “a he 
 other kinds of East India cotton are of very low quality. ‘They 
 have a fine glossy and silky appearance, yet are extremely short 
 in the stapie, and used only for spinning the lowest numbers of 
 yarn. The imports have been on the increase for a number of 
 years back, but especially since the partial opening of the trade to 
 India; and it is supposed that the quantity cultivated might be 
 greatly increased, and the quality improved, were it not for those 
 impolitic regulations established under the Kast India monopoly 
 
 siderations, that an increase of happiness will be the consequence of the 
 introduction of the cotton seed. 
 
 It is vain to expect to eradicate all evils from human society; cireum- 
 stances must be adapted, so to contend with the evil, that good may have 
 the pre-eminence; and where truth, justice, benevolence, and mercy, are 
 predominant, ignorance, wretchedness, and vice, will be treated in a manner 
 the most conducive to the peace and support of society. ‘There must be an 
 agreement of feeling on these subjects, as there is necessarily an accord- 
 ance of interest. 
 
 This sensitiveness of feeling between the south and the north is very 
 
 much to be regretted, and ought, seriously, to be avoided; and we trust 
 every thing will be done to allay all excitement of this Knee which, with- 
 out precaution, is liable to produce the most dangerous consequences to this 
 confederacy. 
 
 ee ee oe 
 
a 
 
 —, 
 
 <n. 4 
 fp 
 
 for securing the revenue, &c. Hitherto Hast India cottons have 
 generally been bought at the lowest prices in the British market, 
 a proof of the low estimation in which they are held by manufac- 
 turers. But a new kind of cotton has lately been imported from 
 Madras, said to have been raised from the same seed as the Sea 
 
 “GROWTH OF COTTON. 363 
 
 Island. It is a fine white soft wool, having a silky or glossy 
 “appearance, very clean, and equal, if not superior in quality, to- 
 the Pernambuco, but rather short in the staple. It is much infe- _ 
 
 rior to the Sea Island, but brings a much poten "oe than me 
 common Madras cotton. 
 
 West India Cotton takes its name from those numerous isltied® , 
 
 where it is still cultivated to a considerable extent, although the 
 quantity imported into Great Britain is not now one fourth of what 
 it was about fifteen or twenty years ago. In 1813 and 1814 the 
 imports amounted to 73,219, and 74,800 packages ; but since that 
 
 period they have been gradually decreasing. In 1830 and 183], 
 
 the imports amounted only to 11,721 and 11,304; yet nt ti 
 standing the great falling off in the quantity imported, in price, it 
 ranks with Upland and the common and middling qualities of New 
 Orleans. This wool is various in its qualities, but in general, it 
 is a strong coarse article, irregular in the staple, and well adapted 
 for the manufacture of the stouter fabrics of cloth to which it is 
 mostly applied, but it is totally unfit for finer goods. It is said 
 that the finest quality of cotton ever brought to the English market, 
 or probably ever grown, was raised in one of the West India 
 Islands, viz. Tobago, upon the estate of Mr. Bobley, between the 
 years 1789 and 1792. ‘That gentleman carried the cultivation of 
 this article to some extent; but the price of cotton falling very 
 low, and the growing of sugar becoming more profitable, in con- 
 sequence of the destruction of the sugar plantations in the French 
 islands, he was induced to convert his cotton plantation into a 
 sugar one; and the production of cotton of this description was 
 never attempted by any other person, though it is believed that 
 the price it would command would amply repay the expense of 
 growing it. The growth of cotton deserves attention so as to 
 raise it in its arene pomerent for lace and cambrics of the finest 
 texture. 
 
 South American Cotton includes that imported from Brazils and 
 Guiana. Brazil cottons are distinguished by the names of Per- 
 nambuco, Maranhain, Bahia, Para, &c., according to the districts 
 where they are grown. That which is known by the name of 
 Pernambuco, is of a fine rich cream colour, and of superior 
 quality. It long had the reputation of being superior to any 
 
364 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 imported, the Bourbon and Sea Island excepted. In quality, 
 Pernambuco ranks with Egyptian; the latter is finer, but very 
 irregular. Maranham, Bahia, and Para wools partake much of — 
 the same general description, but are inferior both in strength and 
 cleanness to the Pernambuco. The imports of cotton wool from 
 the Brazils have been remarkably steady for along period. They 
 seem, indeed, to have undergone little or no variation these twenty 
 years past. In 1830 and 1831, the imports amounted to 191,468 
 and 168,288 packages, or 33,889,836 and 29,786,976lbs. The 
 cotton imported from the coast of Guiana is distinguished by the 
 the name of Demerara cotton, is a strong glossy wool, pretty long, 
 though unequal in the fibre, and generally well cleaned and picked 
 before it is packed. It makes a clean stout thread, and is frequently 
 used for fine wefts, or warps of a moderate fineness; it is rather 
 coarse, however, for the finest qualities of either. It is usually 
 classed with the Berbice, but the latter is considered rather inferior. 
 In price and quality they rank with Egyptian and Pernambuco 
 wools. EHssequibo is something similar to those mentioned, but 
 inferior. Cayenne cotton is not much imported; it is like the 
 Demerara, a clean wool, but very hard in the staple, which makes 
 it difficult to card and spin. 
 
 Surinam resembles the Demerara and Berbice in appearance, 
 but is inferior, both in strength and fineness, and similar to the 
 Essequibo ; both of them are considered to be pretty much on a 
 level in quality with the West India wools. The imports, con- 
 sumption, &c. of Demerara and Berbice, Surinam, and other 
 cottons from Guiana, have been on the decrease for some years 
 back. The imports in 1830 and 1831 amounted to 1263 and 
 811 packages or 395,319 and 253,843lbs. 
 
 The first cotton imported into the English market from Egypt 
 was in the year 1823. Since that period it has been annually 
 imported in considerable quantities, amounting, on an average, to 
 about 6,593,073lbs. It is a very superior wool, of a yellowish 
 colour, not so fine and silky as the Sea Island, but ranks next to 
 it in price and quality. It is irregular in staple, and slovenly got 
 up; but no description of cotton loses less after passing through 
 the operation of carding, and it incorporates freely with cotton of 
 a shorter staple, such as New Orleans, Maranham. Bahia, &c. 
 The best qualities of this wool are generally used by manufac- 
 turers for yarn of superior quality. 
 
 Cotton from the United States. Previous to the year 1790, North 
 America did not supply England with a single pound weight of 
 cotton ; it was only after the termination of the American war 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON, 365 
 
 that cotton began to be cultivated in Carolina and Georgia, and 
 it has succeeded so well, that it now forms one of the staple pro- 
 
 _ ductions of the United States. But that which was first imported 
 
 into the English market was very imperfectly cleaned, and, in 
 
 ' Consequence, was for some time used only for spinning low num- 
 
 bers. It was soon perceived, however, that the cotton grown 
 upon the coast, termed Sea Island cotton, had a finer and longer 
 staple than that which was produced farther up the country, and . 
 known by the name of Upland cotton. But some years elapsed 
 before it was ascertained to be of a quality in every respect supe- 
 rior to that which was brought from the Isle of Bourbon, the only 
 cotton then used for the finest qualities of yarn, but which now is 
 entirely superseded by the former. 
 
 American cotton is generally distinguished by the names of 
 Sea Island, Upland, New Orleans, Alabama, ‘Tennessee, dc. 
 Sea Island cotton is the finest that is imported into this country, 
 or, indeed, that is known, and takes its name from being grown 
 upon small sandy islands contiguous to the shores of Georgia and 
 Carolina, and on the low grounds bordering on the sea. The 
 principal of these islands are situated between Charleston and 
 Savannah. It is a fine silky cotton, having a yellowish tinge, 
 both long and strong in the staple, and used only for spinning the 
 finest qualities of yarn, or for a superior quality of power loom 
 warps. But its qualities differ so much, that the finest specimens 
 are often more than double the price of the inferior sorts. Its 
 close vicinity to the sea exposes it to the inclemencies of the 
 weather, by which it is often injured, consequently that which is 
 thus damaged sells at a much lower price than the better kinds of 
 it. Upland cotton is a different species from Sea Island, and is 
 grown in Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia; and 
 for a considerable time the cultivation was confined to these states. 
 As the planting extended to the south, the quality varied in some 
 respects, and the cotton received the name of its place of growth; 
 hence, New Orleans cotton, Alabama, &c. &c. 
 
 That which is known in the market by the name of New 
 Orleans is a very superior cotton, clean, soft, and of a glossy and 
 silky appearance, rather short in the staple, and incorporates 
 freely with other cottons of a longer staple. It is grown upon the 
 banks of the Mississippi, and imported in great quantities into 
 the English market, where it ranks in price and quality about 
 equal to the commun qualities of Brazil cottons. Alabama, 
 Upland, &c. rank next to New Orleans, and are soft, short, and 
 weak in staple. The cultivation of cotton wool is carried to a 
 
366 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 very great extent in the United States at present. ‘The quantities 
 imported into England is estimated at upwards of 230,000, OOOTbS. 
 yearly, and Appareils still inereasing. 
 
 Various methods of cleaning cotton have been adopted at differ- 
 ent periods. In the West Indies, and on the continent of America, 
 what is called the roller-gin has been long used. It consists of a 
 pair of fluted rollers, about five eighths of an inch in diameter, 
 and nine or ten inches long; these are fitted up in a frame, and 
 motion being communicated to them, the cotton is passed through 
 between them, by which means it is separated from the seed, the 
 diameter of the rollers being so small, that the gins, when whole, 
 cannot be drawn in between them. This is but a slow method, 
 and therefore expensive, consequently used only for the best qua- 
 lities of cotton. Switching the cotton was tried, but disapproved 
 of by manufacturers, as tending greatly to injure it. 
 
 The cotton, called Bowed Georgia, takes its name from a mode 
 of cleaning cotton, long in use. This was performed by means 
 of the bow-string, which, being raised by the hand and suddenly 
 let go, struck upon the cotton with great force, and thereby served 
 both to separate the gins and open the cotton, so as to render it 
 more fit for the processes that follow. But this mode, whatever 
 advantages it might possess in point of quality, has been abandoned 
 for others better adapted for quantity ; and what is called Bowed 
 Georgia has, for a long time, in reality, been cleaned by a ma- 
 chine denominated a saw-gin. This machine consists of a cylin- 
 der about the size of a weaver’s beam, and teeth cut out like a 
 saw, at equal distances from each other, from which it derives its 
 name. Instead of these saws, the machine originally had wires 
 like card teeth, but these having been found to make what is called 
 white naps upon the cotton, the former was substituted in their 
 place. The saws pull the cotton through a grating which has its 
 openings so narrow that the seeds cannot get through. 'The gra- 
 ting being a little inclined to the horizon, cotton is thrown upon it 
 by the negro attending the machine, when the teeth of the saws 
 take hold of it and pull it through the openings, whilst the gins, 
 being pressed out, roll down the surface of the grating, and 
 escape by an opening in the side of the machine. By the centri- 
 fugal force of the cylinder, the roller is thrown backwards, aided 
 by another cylinder covered with brushes, for cleaning the teeth. 
 
 This machine, though not very injurious to the cotton of a short 
 staple, yet is seldom used for the finest Sea Island, or any other 
 that is very long in the fibres. It is worthy of remark, that when 
 the Upland Georgia cotton was first brought to the English market, 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 367 
 
 it yielded a higher price by about two pence per pound when it 
 was cleaned by the roller-gin ; but contrary to all expectation, the 
 saw-gin is found much better adapted for cleaning this species of 
 cotton than the other, and what is done by it is preferred by those 
 who understand spinning. The saws separate the gins more 
 effectually than the rollers, and at the same time give it a kind of 
 teaseling, which is found highly beneficial to it. 
 
 The cultivation of cotton is by no means a difficult operation.* 
 It is planted very much as corn is planted, in March, and the early 
 part of April, (depending of course upon the relative northern or 
 southern situation of the land) and kept free from weeds through 
 the summer, by constant ploughing and hoeing. In its early 
 Stage it resembles, when seen at a little distance, what are called 
 bunch beans, growing in hills or rows. In the fall it is picked out 
 of the opening pods by slaves, who go along with a basket and 
 gather all that they can pick out. 'This is a tedious mode of get- 
 ting the cotton from the husk or pod that contains it. When it is 
 gathered into the cotton house, then comes the work of cleaning it 
 of the seeds, by means of the gin. ‘This is a simple operation. 
 The cotton passes between a revolving cylinder (with teeth in 
 
 * Extract from Moses Brown’s letter to J. S. Dexter. 
 ProvipEncE, Nov. 15, 1791. 
 
 “When it is considered that cotton, the raw material, may be raised in 
 the United States, it shows that legislative attention should be paid to this 
 subject. The cotton raised at present, in the southern states, is as imperfect 
 as our manufactured goods. This, I presume, is owing to the promiscuous 
 gathering, and saving of the article, from the pods in which it grows, some 
 of which, like fruit on a tree, are fair and full grown, while others are not. 
 In the picking of these, and in taking the cotton out of the pods, care should 
 be taken that it be kept separate, and the thin membrane, which lines the 
 pod, and sometimes comes off with the cotton, should be separated, and the 
 clean, full grown, preserved to work on the machines ; the other will answer 
 to work by hand. But as the cotton must be clean before it works well on 
 the card, the present production, in the mixed manner in which it is brought 
 to market, does not answer a good purpose. The unripe, short, and dirty 
 part, being enveloped with that which would be good, if separated properly 
 at first, so spoils the whole as to discourage the use of it in the machines, 
 and obliges the manufacturer to have his supply from the West Indies, 
 under the charge of the impost, rather than work our own production. A 
 circumstance truly mortifying to those, who from motives of promoting the 
 produce and manufactures of our own country, as well as from interest, 
 have been at much expense and trouble to promote so desirable an object. 
 I, therefore, beg leave to suggest the idea of some encouragement to the 
 raising and saving of cotton, clean and fit for the manufacturers.” 
 
 Moses Brown told me that, for the above reasons, Mr. Slater could not be 
 induced to use the American cotton. 
 
368 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 circular rims of iron,) and a grate; by which the seeds are sepa- 
 rated from the fine fibres of the cotton. It is next pressed into 
 bales by a machine somewhat like a cider-press, and is then ready 
 for market. A few good hands will cultivate several acres. From 
 one to two bales, sometimes three, is the preduce of an acre of 
 good land in this state. ‘The price of cotton lands is various,— 
 from $10 or $20 to $40 per acre; according to quality, situation, 
 buildings, and machinery on the premises. 'The above prices 
 refer to the state of Mississippi. 
 
 To Whitemarsh B. Seabrook, Esq., Corresponding secretary of the 
 Agricultural Society of St. John’s, Colleton. 
 SULLLIVAN’s IsLanp, Sept. Ist, 1826. 
 
 Dear Sir,—Your useful circular has been received. I answer with plea- 
 sure your queries. Permit me to assure you, if I had the good fortune to 
 possess any information, not generally known, upon the culture of the cotton 
 plant or its preparation for market, nothing could afford me more satisfaction 
 than to disclose it for the benefit of others. A planter who would, from 
 interested motives, conceal any discoveries which might improve the culture 
 or the preparation for sale of any of our staple products, must certainly be 
 deficient in that patriotism and liberal feeling which, at least, are supposed 
 lo govern every gentleman in this community. 
 
 Question 1. Is all your cotton equally fine? If not, what description of 
 your soil yields the most silky ? 
 
 Ans. I consider that the most sandy parts of my soil produce the finest 
 cotton and the most silky. 
 
 Q. 2. What manure do you esteem the best to improve the fineness of 
 the staple ? 
 
 Ans. Ihave never used any but the soft salt mud; it is taken out of the 
 creek during winter and spread in the old alleys with the back of the hoe, 
 about two inches thick in the lowest spots; and in the most sandy not more 
 than a quarter of an inch. The land is then listed over the mud before it 
 becomes hard. I have never manured more than eighty-five acres in one 
 winter. 
 
 Q. 3. Is your cotton which is so distinguished for one quality, remarkable 
 also for the length and strength of its staple, or both ? 
 
 Ans. As machinery is the only test for fine cottons, allow me to give 
 you an extract of a letter, addressed to me from one of the most respectable 
 spinners in Manchester. ‘ Although your cotton is second to no brand in 
 health and fineness, still it does not possess sufficiently the latter requisite 
 to spin our finest numbers.” 
 
 Q. 4. What has been your average crop for the last five years, and what 
 quantity do you plant to the hand ? ‘ 
 
 Ans. I have never made more than 150lbs. to the acre, and plant very 
 short to the hand, in consequence of not having a sufficient quantity of land. 
 
 Q. 5. Are you very particular in the selection of your seed, and which 
 kind do you prefer, the small or the large, the perfectly clean, or that which 
 is a little woolly. 
 
GROWTH OF GOTTON. 369 
 
 Ans. I select that which has a little wool at the end, but am not satisfied 
 as to the advantage of it. 
 
 Q. 6. Have you ever tested the experiment on the difference of the pro- 
 duct and quality of cotton, from seed taken from the bottom, middle or top of 
 the stalk ? 
 
 Ans. Never. 
 
 Q. 7. How do you preserve your seed? Is it ina confined situation, or 
 in a well ventilated room 2 
 
 Ans. It is kept in a loft over my-gin house, without any aperture to admit 
 air. 
 
 Q. 8. In gathering your crop, do you ever pick the wool from those pods 
 that from their immaturity are but imperfectly open ? 
 
 Ans. Never. 
 
 Q. 9. Do you dry your cotton in the sun or in the shade? If in the sun, 
 how long ? 
 
 Ans. J always dry in the sun, and suffered it, until the last year, to remain 
 on the cotton scaffold the greater part of the day. 
 
 Q. 10. What is your mode of preparation, and what quantity do you clean 
 to the hand per day ? 
 
 Ans. I require the cotton to be picked carefully from the pods, without 
 leaves or dirt of any kind, and am very particular in the assorting before it 
 goes to the gins. I give 28lbs. as a task in moting. 
 
 Q. 11. Are you in the habit of using the whipper before or after the cotton 
 is ginned, or in both instances ? 
 
 Ans. Tuse the whipper only for the cotton which is picked after frost, 
 and for the stained ; the operation is performed before it goes to the gins. 
 
 Q. 12. What is the character of your soil? Is your land high or low, 
 indented with creeks, and how far from the ocean 2 
 
 Ans. I have both high and low land in the same fields; white sand in the 
 highest, and grey soil in the lowest. There are no creeks running into the 
 fields; the distance from the ocean varies from a quarter to a half mile. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 EK. Vanperuorst. 
 
 St. Herpna, December 26, 1826. 
 
 Sir,—It would afford me much satisfaction could my limited experience 
 enable me to throw a ray of light on the subject embraced in your queries. 
 The replies to them you will accept more as matters of opinion than con- 
 clusions founded on definite practice. 
 
 Q. 1. Is all your cotton equally fine, &c. 
 
 Ans. I think not, but I have never heard purchasers remark any difference 
 when I have separated the high from the low land. I prefer the cotton on 
 the most sandy high hills, it being more productive and silky. 
 
 Q. 2. What manure do you esteem the best 2 
 
 Ans. I have generally used the marsh mud taken from the creeks ; some- 
 times green marsh. 
 
 Q. 3. Is your cotton so distinguished for one quality, remarkable for 
 others, &c. 
 
 Ans. My cotton derives its character from its silkiness, strength, and 
 evenness of fibre. 
 
 AT 
 
370 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Q. 4. What has been your average crop for the last five years? and what 
 quantity do you plant to the hand? | 
 
 Ans. Caterpillars and storms have destroyed some of my most promising 
 crops; but I think about 450lbs. per hand are about the average. I generally 
 plant three and a half acres to the hand. 
 
 Q. 5. What kind of seed do you prefer ? 
 
 Ans. I have generally preserved the seed from my earliest picking ; some- 
 times I have planted seed exchanged with my friends both north and south. 
 I think the cotton produced from the seed with a green tuft, the finest and 
 most silky, though not the most productive. The finest I have seen, was 
 from seed covered entirely with a green woolly coat. 
 
 Q. 6. Have you ever tested the experiment on the difference of the pro- 
 duct and quality from seed taken from the bottom, middle, or top of the 
 stalk ? 
 
 Ans. I have not. 
 
 Q. 7. How do you preserve your seed ? 
 
 Ans. 1 am not particular, so that it is kept dry. 
 
 Q. 8. Do you in gathering your crop pick those pods which, from their 
 immaturity, are perfectly open ? 
 
 Ans. My orders are to pass over defective pods, to save the trouble of 
 selecting them when assorting ; but, from the difficulty of seeing these exe- 
 cuted, I presume they are much neglected, especially after a frost. We 
 generally dry our cotton on a scaffold, unless it has been wet. I handle it 
 as little as possible after it comes from the gin. We use the whipper, before 
 the cotton goes to the gin, but not after. 
 
 Q.9. What is your soil and situation ? 
 
 Ans. High and low, mostly high; a yellow mixed sand on the hills, and 
 black or grey in the narrow valleys, which run N.E. and 8.W. through the 
 extent of the island. I am ona neck of land, two sides of which are hounded 
 by creeks, and one side by the ocean. I have once used a machine-gin from 
 St. Simon’s Island, to the rollers of which, made of hickory, I gave as many 
 as six hundred revolutions in a minute. .I ginned about twenty bales of 
 cotton with this gin, and heard no complaint about the staple being injured ; 
 but my negroes continually putting it out of order, and my impelling power 
 proving defective, I laid it aside. I introduce this remark, hoping that the 
 want of a gin, as well adapted to the Sea Island cotton, as Whitney’s saw 
 gin is to the upland, may stimulate some of our planters in their exertions 
 to procure one. Tuomas Aston CoFrrFiNn. 
 
 Joun’s Istanp, St. John’s, Colleton, Oct. 4th, 1826. 
 
 If any thing I may communicate will add but one idea to the general 
 stock of useful knowledge already possessed by the agricultural community, 
 I shall be gratified in being instrumental in promoting that object. 
 
 Ist. The cotton raised by me is all fine, but not equally so. I apprehend 
 some shade of difference in the cotton of every field will be a certain result 
 where there is any diversity of soil; or, while any inequality of strength in 
 the land exists. I have hitherto believed that high, light, rich soils produce 
 the finest cotton; but I have not yet tested this opinion by repeated or satis- 
 factory experiments to decide whether | am correct or not. 
 
 2d. In different parts of my fields, as most convenient, I have used fresh 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 371 
 
 mud, salt mud, salt marsh, rushes, leaves, and rotten wood, and composts of 
 the four latter with cow dung; applied in proportion to the natural strength 
 of the land, and to the fertilising qualities of the manure ; from twenty-one 
 to eighty-four single horse cart loads per acre, so as to give health and 
 vigour to the plants, and equalise their growth as nearly as possible. I am 
 best pleased with the salt mud, salt marsh, and the compost of salt marsh 
 and rushes, combined with animal manure. They improve the length, 
 strength, and silky appearance of the staple in a great degree, but Iam not 
 certain that they increase the fineness of the fibre. I have noticed that cotton 
 which has not arrived at full maturity from being injured by rust or frost, 
 will be finer but of more tender fibre than cotton produced in the same field, 
 fully matured, particularly on strong land. 
 
 3d. The length and strength of the staple depend chiefly on the natural 
 strength of the soil; and on the application of fertilising manures, were 
 necessary, in order to equalise the strength of the land as much as possible ; 
 when this is accomplished, the cotton produced will be nearly all alike. 
 
 4th. My average crops for the last five years, have been 98 pounds per 
 acre; and two and a half to three acres are usually planted to the hand. 
 
 5th. I have generally been particular in selecting from the earliest ripe 
 cotton, produced on the best land, the seed which has a small tuft at the 
 point, and that which is clean and black; but neither of these will always 
 produce the same kinds of seed only ; they must be annually cleared of their 
 degenerated woolly associates, which sometimes produce fine long cotton ; 
 but generally, the staple is short or of an uneven length. I have found it a 
 good rule in saving all kinds of seed, to select that portion which is most 
 perfect and comes to maturity first. The size of cotton seed varies like all 
 other seeds, according to the strength or poverty of the soil in which it is 
 produced. Its colour is also changed from black to brown, by exposure to 
 the sun or frost. Seed may be kept close in a room, unless it be damp. 
 
 8th. My instructions to the gatherers are, to gather from the field, at every 
 picking, all the cotton, good or bad, which is blown open sufficiently to 
 enable them to extract the wool with ease. The reasons for being so parti- 
 cular are these: if the bad cotton be left to be gathered at a future period, 
 before the gatherers return through the field it will have become so much 
 bleached by the weather, that it cannot then be readily distinguished from 
 the good, either by them or by the hands who afterwards sort it for the gins ; 
 and, if ginned with the good, the extreme weakness of its fibre will depre- 
 ciate the value of the general crop in proportion to the quantity of it which 
 may be mixed with the good. 
 
 9th. My directions given, are, to dry the cotton in the sun, only so much 
 as will be necessary to prevent the seed being crushed by the rollers. This 
 must be varied according to the state of the weather, and the condition in 
 which the cotton is gathered from the field. When the weather is dry, if 
 the gatherers go out after the dew has evaporated, the cotton is exposed to 
 the sun on the sheets as fast as gathered, then spread in the house until the 
 next day ; then on the scaffold for five or six hours; and again spread in the 
 house a few hours, to let the heat fly off, before it is packed away; I have 
 found it sufficiently dry for the gins. If packed away damp, it will gene- 
 rate heat in a short time, ruin the fibre, and unfit the seed for planting. I 
 prefer drying in the shade altogether, when practicable. One thing we are 
 
372 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 sure of, the less cotton is exposed to the air, and the closer it is packed, the 
 better it is. We think that exposure to the air is prejudicial, by drying the 
 natural moisture of the fibre. Cotton dried before the fire becomes brittle 
 and tender, and we doubt whether if damped again, it ever regains its natural 
 strength. 
 
 10th. The gatherers commence their labour after the exsiccation of the 
 dew; at every emptying of their picking bags, the stained and rotten cotton 
 is taken out, with any leaves that may have fallen in. If the cotton has 
 been gathered with care from the field, one hundred weight to each labourer 
 may be separated with ease for the gins. The cotton is then passed through 
 a double drum whipper, and goes to the gins. Five to seven weight to 
 each gin is ginned in the evenings, or twenty-five weight of clean cotton for 
 a day’s work. The ginners are directed not to screw more pressure on the 
 rollers than is necessary, to prevent the seed being crushed, and the cotton 
 should be as evenly spread to the rollers as possible, to prevent injury to the 
 _ staple. The moters prepare twenty-five to thirty weight each, for the bag. 
 
 One person searches for a bag of three hundred weight, if the cotton has 
 been cleanly moted. The sorting of the seed cotton, moting of the ginned 
 cotton, and searching for the packer, are all done on frames of wood, or on 
 coarse wire sieves reversed. The sieves I have found very convenient. 
 
 11th. I have generally used the whipper for the seed cotton only; but 
 latterly have used it for the ginned cotton also, I think with great advantage, 
 before moting, and it does no injury to the fibre, if passed through but once. 
 The less fatigue the fibres are exposed to, the better ; switching, if done in 
 moderation, and so as not to string the cotton, (which is to be apprehended 
 in long fine staple) is a very harmless, and we think, effective operation. 
 Ginning by means of rollers, if much pressure is applied, or if the cotton is 
 not evenly spread, so as to distribute the pressure equally, is dangerous ; 
 since pressure completely destroys the fibre. A distinguished spinner says: 
 “I send you a sample of cotton, which has undergone pressure between a 
 pair of smooth iron rollers; the staple is perfectly destroyed.” Iron rollers 
 are now generally out of use in this part of the country ; but too much pres- 
 sure upon hard wood rollers will also do much injury. 
 
 12th. My soil is partly of a low heavy loam and sand, and partly high 
 brown mould and sand, and clay indented with creeks, and situate on a 
 large salt river, about six miles from the ocean. 
 
 Kinsry Burpen. 
 
 In my experiments on the culture of this valuable staple, I have not been 
 as particular as other gentlemen ; relying too much on my soil and situation, 
 and the advantage of manure. The cotton produced at my John’s Island 
 plantation is preferred to that of Edisto ; and the cotton of the latter to that 
 of Slarm’s Island. My soil at John’s Island is generally grey or dark; at 
 Edisto, yellow: and at Slarm’s Island, a tenacious loam. Iam decidedly of 
 opinion, that gray lands produce as fine cotton as any other soil: however, I 
 believe it is the contiguity to the ocean that renders my cotton s0 fine at 
 John’s Island. Salt mud has the preference to all other manures. 
 
 My cotton at Edisto is longer and stronger than that raised on John’s 
 Island. At Edisto, I have averaged about 160lbs. per acre, and at John’s 
 island, about 120lbs. . Three and a half acres to the hand. Change seed 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 373 
 
 every second year. The seed kept in a loft or room, in which there is a free 
 circulation of air. I do not pick the wool from those pods, that were but 
 imperfectly open. I dry cotton in the sun one day, or until the seed can 
 be cracked. When my cotton is well gathered from the field, each labourer 
 assorts from 150 to 200lbs. in the seed. After the cotton has passed through 
 the whipper, I never use it afterwards. The quantity of ginned cotton daily 
 moted to the hand is 40lbs. In ginning, from 25 to 30Ibs. is the task. My 
 land, at John’s Island, lies immediately on the ocean, with a bold creek run- 
 ning in the rear. At Edisto, it is much indented with creeks. 
 Wm. Szaerook, sen. 
 
 Previously to breaking the land, with plough or hoe, about 120 cart loads 
 of salt mud, to the acre, are placed in convenient heaps at equal distances; 
 a labourer then chops and scatters it, at the rate of about 50 cart loads per 
 acre. ‘The ground is then listed with a plough, drawn by a yoke of oxen, 
 which partially turns in the mud under the list and covers the cow-pen | 
 manure; it is then bedded, either with the plough or hoe, in the usual man- 
 ner. If the plough is used both for listing and bedding, a portion of the mud 
 will be placed under the list, and another portion above it; which is the best 
 mode of disposing of the manure, to give support to a needy soil. I com- 
 mence planting about the 25th of March. The seed, without selection or 
 preparation, is planted in hills, about twelve inches apart, or in the drill, as 
 inclination suggests. The foregoing remarks apply to a tract of poor, high, 
 light land, in which I reside, on Edisto Island. Four acres to the hand. I 
 consider salt mud, as manure, highly valuable; it has a powerful tendency 
 to increase the production of the cotton plant,—to hasten its maturity, and 
 to make the fibre stronger and finer; it also gives consistency and strength 
 to light, weak soils. On my plantations, we cautiously prevent the exposure 
 of the seed to moisture. Best dried in the sun, before it is stowed in the 
 cotton house. I finish thinning by the 15th of June, if possible, and hoeing 
 about the 15th of July ; between these dates, one hauling, or two at farthest, 
 are fully sufficient. Cotton plants are much injured by too much nursing 
 with the hoe. To keep down the grass, and thin early, are of primary im- 
 portance. The bed should be kept very firm, to prevent, as much as possible, 
 heavy rains from penetrating it, and to assist it in retaining moisture during 
 a drought. Hauling gives the plant fresh growth, as often as repeated ; and 
 therefore, when resorted to late in the season, proper for hoeing, it has a 
 tendency to cause disease in the fruit, or to make drop at each repetition. 
 The bed should be hoed by drawing the hoe, obliquely, from the alley to the 
 top, and the grass carefully shook off by hand. My cotton is not all equally 
 fine, neither can any cottons, correctly, be deemed so. It is now ascertained 
 that the finer qualities of this valuable article are fast disappearing from us. 
 A spinner, in Manchester, says:—‘ Some years ago we readily found, in the 
 cottons of different planters, a sufficient number of bags to spin all the fine 
 yarns that were required: at the present period, when the consumption of 
 fine yarns is doubled, we do not find, among all the cottons we examine, 
 one bag per annum.” This deterioration of our cottons appears natural, 
 when we reflect, that the same effect is produced in our gardens and 
 orchards. 
 
 Some of the finest cotton grew in Persia; its seed bears a strong resem- 
 
374 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 blance to the green seed which produces our upland cotton, it being covered 
 with a green wool, similar to that. Some foreign, coarse woolly seed, have, 
 after 3 or 4 years’ cultivation in this country, become clean black seed, and 
 “produced cotton of fine fibre, partially retaining its original nankeen colour. 
 A superior cotton to any produced on our shores, is much wanted by English 
 fine spinners: in 1826, a broker, in Liverpool, says :—“ We have never re- 
 gretted the purchase of really fine cotton ; and although competition renders 
 it necessary for us to purchase our cotton as cheaply as possible, yet we 
 shall always feel a pleasure in adequately remunerating the growers of a 
 really superior article.” 
 
 All dirt and extraneous matter should be separated from the cotton by 
 fanning, both before and after ginning. My lands are surrounded by rivers 
 and creeks, and are contiguous to the ocean. Of the soil planted in cotton, 
 one portion is alluvial, and the other is light, high, and sandy. 1 use the 
 
 Virginia Cotton Planter. 
 Joun R. MaTuHeweEs. 
 
 Answer to Question 1st.—There is a slight difference in its texture, the 
 most fertile, sandy soil, producing the finest staple. 
 
 A. to Q. 2d.—The use of manures in Alabama, of any kind, are but seldom 
 tried on lands cultivated in cotton. But I think half rotted cotton seed gives 
 greater activity to the growth of vegetation, (for one or two years, ) than any 
 other manure that can generally be obtained ; and, consequently, produces 
 an article of some superiority in texture. The third question I do not con- 
 sider as applicable to any other than Sea Island. 
 
 A. to Q. 4th.—The average crop, through the state, might be set down at 
 about 800 lbs. of seed cotton per acre; but many make from 1500 to 1800 
 pounds. It is customary to plant from seven to twelve acres, in cotton, to 
 the hand. 
 
 A. to Q. 5th.-We make no selection of the seed we grow, but are par- 
 ticular to change them from one section of country to another, every three 
 or four years. The principal object of an Alabama planter, is to plant of 
 that kind of seed of which he can gather the most in a day. 
 
 A. to Q. 6th.—I have not. 
 
 A. to Q. 7th.—The usual method of preserving seed is to have them thrown 
 from before the gin into an adjacent room; secure from moisture, though 
 regardless of a confined, or free circulating air. 
 
 A. to Q. 8th.—Never. 
 
 A. to Q. 9th.—The cotton gathered in the first half of the day, is usually 
 dried, from that time till night, on a scaffold, in the sun; that in the latter 
 seldom requires drying. 
 
 A. to Q. 10th.—We seldom or ever pick our cotton, but put it in the gin 
 as it is taken from the field. Hands gather from one to three hundred 
 pounds per day. 
 
 A. to Q. 11th.—In neither. 
 
 A. to Q. 12th.—The character of the soil in middle Alabama is various. 
 There is the sandy soil, with oak and hickory growth; and the sandy soil, 
 with nothing but pine. The prairies have a mixture of lime with their soil ; 
 some exceedingly stiff, and others more loose and sandy. Their growth is 
 oak, hickory, ash, elm, blackjack, poplar, &c. &c. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 375 
 
 What is known with us as the little green seed, furnishes the finest staple 
 and is the most productive, but being more difficult to gather, was exchanged 
 for the Mexican, it being found that the seed degenerates that is grown on 
 the same land for a succession of four or five years, and that it becomes sub- 
 ject to the disease known as the rot in cotton; which often destroys from 
 an eighth to a fourth of the crop. We now purchase our seed, every fourth 
 year, from a section of country on the Red River, known as the Petit Gulf. 
 
 Z. WATKINS. 
 
 The following tables are prepared from a document of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, furnished by order of Congress : 
 
 Millions of Pounds of Cotton grown in various Parts. 
 
 Mexico 
 YEaRs. The | United | Brazil.| West | Egypt. | Rest of} India. | Rest of} and 8. | Other 
 World. | States. Indies. Africa. Asia. |Americ.] places. 
 
 1791 
 1801 
 1811 
 1821 
 1831 
 1834 
 
 THE FOLLOWING WERE THE RELATIVE PORTIONS GROWN IN OUR DIFFERENT STATES. 
 
 Years. | Virg. | N.Car.| 8. Car. |Georgia|Florida.} Alab. | Tenn. } Missis. | Louisi. | Arkans. 
 
 Statement of the number of pounds of Cotton exported from the U. States 
 to other places than Great Britain and France, in the year ending Sep- 
 tember 30, 1821, to 1835, inclusive. 
 
 Holland i 
 Years. |To Russia. =, and Spain. See Trieste. F ea) Laine i, 
 elgium. 
 1821 304,680 | 4,186,096} 284,832] 772,296 34,976} 748,110] 897,804 | 2,506,777 
 1822 713,789 | 1,970,258 - 445,964 | 210,138] 2,955,581 | 1,956,253 | 450,762 
 1823 309,678 | 4,650,548 - - 177,789 | 2,356,594 | 217,663} 833,332 
 1824 501,645} 432,976 - 3,853 : 292,852 - 227,529 
 1825 133,934 | 1,420,225 - : - 577,109 980} 509,031 
 1826 15,262 | 4,592,439 - - 33,311 | 2,012,679 . 1,820,116 
 1827 147,101 | 5,861,400 7,999 : 183,204 | 3,389,514 } 148,170 | 1,440,547 
 1828 649,791 | 3,780,988 - - 980,354 | 3,386,108 | 407,068 | 1,072,448 
 1829 227,883 | 9,595,337 : - 4,071,247 | 6,857,796 | 1,056,387 | 1,261,925 
 1830 111,376 | 8,561,193 32,210 - 2,814,477 | 4,123,047 | 235,565 | 638,877 
 1831 761,735 | 972,659 | 555,098 - 2,778,258 | 2,416,765 | 305,695 | 2,243,741 
 1832 838,951 | 3,920,016 | 2,283,875 . 1,654,775 | 4,075,122 | 580,974 | 2,250,190 
 1833 1,447,405 | 2,673,253 | 758,216 - 1,107,600 | 1,870,620 - 1,759,615 
 1834 1,260,494 | 6,096,462 892,967 - 3,805,312 | 6,612,895 190,842 } 1,153,382 
 
 1835 974/801 | 5,694,358 | 878,219 : 4,943,061 | 2,788,147 12/952 | 1,493,760 
 Ds a a lint iD esrtk cls MT aa let, OTE eat lich Je nk Sti xl RY Sete tee AES 
 
376 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Amount of Cotton Manufactures, at different Periods. 
 
 $ (1815) $ (1828) $ (1832) $ (1835) 
 
 Yearly Value in England, . . 95,000,000 171,000,000 144,000,000 160,500,000 
 France, .. . . . . 40,000,000 54,000,000 62,000,000 
 United States, 24,000,000 . . . . 30,000,000 47,500,000 
 Capital employed in manufactur- | 
 
 ing by machinery in England, . . . . 309,000,000 160,000,000 185,000,000 
 Ditto; dittosnn Krance pour al ulek ind «dis mea ee 15 O06 OI a sain, 
 Ditto, ditto, in the United States, 40,000,000 . . . . 45,000,000 80,000,000 
 
 — 
 
 Caritat. The capital employed in growing cotton, with the income it 
 
 yields, is a question of much interest and importance. But very little can be 
 found concerning it in books, and the information obtained on it from differ- 
 ent correspondents in the United States is defective, and is founded on 
 quite different data in different states and by different persons. 
 - The elements of any computation must be, the average cost per acre of 
 cotton lands, wild or cleared, and if the former, the expense of clearing 
 them; the amount of labour necessary per acre to produce a given quantity 
 of raw cotton; the cost of Jabour, whether in the form of wages or other- 
 wise; the expense of tools, horses, &c., with salaries of overseers, taxes 
 paid, &c. &c. 
 
 One mode of making the computation is as follows :—The average cost 
 of cotton lands, when wild, in the old states, did not probably exceed often 
 half a dollar per acre, including fees for patents, &c. In the new states it 
 has generally ranged from $1 25 to $2 per acre, depending on its quality, lo- 
 cation, and the price of cotton. The actual settlers, in purchasing of capital- 
 ists, have generally been compelled to give an advance from 50 to 100 per 
 cent.: sometimes much more. , 
 
 The expense of clearing wild land averages from ten to fifteen dollars per 
 acre. Land in a condition to be cultivated, will, on an average, in the 
 United States, yield from 250lbs. to 300lbs. of clean cotton. In the old states, 
 125lbs. clean, or 5001bs. in the seed, is an ordinary crop. (Cooper’s Polit. 
 Kcon., p. 96.) Coxe, in 1810, estimated it at 138lbs. and others at 120lbs. 
 (Rees’s Cyclop. art. ‘“ United States.’’) 
 
 It is believed, that one field hand or labourer, with the aid hereafter 
 named, can cultivate, on an average, eight acres. Some say five to seven, 
 - and others ten. He will at the same time assist in raising five to eight acres 
 of corn. 
 
 It is usual to employ, in this business, slave labour, and the next element 
 in the calculation must be the capital invested in slaves for this purpose, and 
 the annual cost of their maintenance. 
 
 The price of field hands has nearly or quite doubled in ten years ; and they 
 now often cost eight hundred or one thousand dollars, when formerly four 
 and five hundred dollars were the usual rate each. 
 
 The maintenance of them is another item very differently computed.— 
 Sometimes it is done by the purchase of more land and cultivating it, putting 
 stock on it, of cows, sheep, &c.; so as, with the aid of other slaves, kept 
 partly for that purpose and partly for the culture of cotton, to raise corn, 
 pork, &c., to feed, and other materials to clothe, the whole. In such case, 
 the additional land put in cultivation, the additional slaves bought, and the 
 stock on the plantation, &c., must be considered as so much more capital. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. STP 
 
 The additional slaves, in such case, being more youthful, or more aged 
 ones, or infirm females, may be fairly computed at an equal number with 
 the field hands, but costing only about one half the price. The additional 
 land should be for cultivation, about twenty acres for each field hand. The 
 capital, in oxen, horses, sheep, tools for husbandry, &c., about $30 to each 
 slave on the plantation. 
 
 To these must be added the capital which may be deemed temporary, and 
 not as a permanent investment, and hence is to be all yearly returned, such 
 as expense for extra clothing not made on the plantation, for medicine, over- 
 seers, tools for labour, taxes, freight, &c., which may be forty-five dollars to 
 each slave. 
 
 Differing from these last data, in some respects, in substance, and wholly 
 unlike in form, is another mode of computing all the capital invested except 
 that in the mere cotton lands. Instead of estimating the price of slaves, &e. | 
 it may be considered that slave labour could be hired, with food, clothing, 
 medicine, &c., at a cost for cach field hand from 100 to $120 per veut: 
 That from $30 to $40 each would defray the annual expense of overseers, 
 tools, horses for each, and that the additional and equal number of slaves, 
 not prime field hands, could be hired and supported for less than. one half of 
 annual cost of the eating 
 
 On these data the cotton crop, as estimated for 1835, at four hundred and 
 eighty millions of pounds, would grow on 1,600,000 acres at 300 lbs. per 
 acre, or 1,920,000 at 250lbs. each. Considering that some lands wear out 
 quick and are changed, probably the whole quantity cultivated for cotton in 
 the United States, at this time, should be estimated at two millions or more 
 of acres. 
 
 From the above elements the whole capital invested in growing the cotton 
 crop in the United States can be readily computed. On one hypothesis, 
 converting the whole capital into that which is permanent, and partly in- 
 vested in lands, slaves, and tools, as fixed capital, and partly invested in 
 bank or other stocks, or in loans so as to yield an income, and not a capital 
 sufficient to defray those kind of expenses which are usually deemed tempo- 
 rary, and are yearly remunerated, or require what is called a circulating or 
 floating capital, and the whole will amount to more than $900,000,000. On 
 another hypothesis, considering the capital, as it generally is, divided into™ 
 fixed and circulating ; the capital as fixed, which is invested in lands, slaves, © 
 stocks of horses, acale! &c., and only abelit $30,000,000 for other expenses, 
 as circulating or natapovary, and to be itself, and not its income or interest, 
 used and repaid yearly, and the whole capital of both kinds will not quite 
 equal $800,000,000. 
 
 This last amount accords nearly with a still different mode of testing the 
 quantity of capital, by supposing that the whole crop of 480,000,000 Ibs., at 
 ten cents per pound, being $48,000,000, would yield six per cent. on all the 
 money invested in any way in raising the crop. If the capital used was all 
 permanently invested, it would, on this hypothesis, amount to near eight 
 hundred millions of dollars; but as from twenty-five to thirty millions of 
 dollars is temporarily invested, and must itself be repaid yearly, the whole 
 may, in the usual mode of treating of capital employed in such business, be 
 considered rather under than over $800,000,000. 
 
 That amount, however, has been assumed as about correct, in the table, 
 
 A8 
 
378 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and is near enough for the estimate and comparisons at different periods in 
 this country, and at the same period between this and other countries. In 
 others, as in India, Brazil, and Egypt, the cost of labour is less, and perhaps 
 the amount of: labour performed by each hand is believed to be less, inde- 
 pendent of the failure there to use much the improved cotton gin. 
 
 Here, at 250 lbs. per acre as an average crop, and eight acres an average 
 cultivation by one hand, the product would be 2,000 lbs. per hand, or at ten 
 cents per pound, would be the average of $200 per field hand. All the 
 planter obtains over ten.cents per pound would yield hima large rate of 
 interest above six per. cent. to pay for the greater risk and uncertainty of 
 capital invested in this species of property. The whole crop of 1834 was 
 probably worth $75,000,000 at the actual market prices, though at ten cents 
 per pound only $48,000,000. 
 
 It is difficult to institute any just comparison between the profits of capital 
 invested here in the growing of cotton, and in the manufacture of it; as in 
 the latter so much more in proportion is invested in temporary or circulating 
 capital to pay for wages and stock, and the whole of which is to be annually 
 repaid. Neither have I leisure for the details. 
 
 Indeed it might have comported better with the technical language of po- 
 litical economy to have divided the whole expenditures in raising cotton 
 into three heads, viz: labour, capital, and land; to yield in return, wages for 
 the labour, profit or interest on the capital, and rent for the land. (See 
 Senior’s Outline of Political Economy, page 165, from the Encyclopedia 
 Metropolitana.) It will be easy, for those who prefer it, to throw the calcu- 
 lation into that form ; but the results then, would not be such as accord best 
 with the views proposed in this part of the table; which are, to present 
 to the community here, in plain terms, and in a form as intelligible as pos- 
 sible to people at large, the amount of capital actually employed at different 
 periods in growing the cotton crop in the United States; whether invested 
 in the original purchase of lands, the clearing, or the culture of them;.in 
 the purchase of slaves, or in procuring an income for the payment, or in 
 the actual payment of wages of free labour to raise the crop; for buying 
 seed, tools, food, raiment, horses, &c., and for payment of taxes, overseers, 
 or any other expense, incidental or direct, connected with the production of 
 the crop. 
 
 Two brief statements of a very general character are subjoined, in illus- 
 tration of some of the above remarks. 
 1st. The capital invested in cotton lands under cultivation, at two million 
 
 acres, and worth, cleared, on an average, $20 per acre, is - _ $40,000,000 
 The capital in field hands, and in other lands, stock, labour, 
 
 &c., to feed and clothe them, at $100 per year, on 340,000 
 
 in number, would require the interest or income of a capi- 
 
 tal, at six per cent. of - - - - - 554,000,000 
 The maintenance of 340,000 more assistants, &c., at $30 
 
 each per year, would require the income of a capital at six 
 per cent. of . - - - 
 
 j - 167,000,000 
 The capital to supply enough interest or income to pay for. ti, 
 tools, horses for ploughing, taxes, medicines, overseers, © 
 &c., at $30, for the first 340,000, would be - 
 
 Making in all a permanent capital, if so used, equal to 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 379 
 2d. The capital in cotton lands, as stated above - $40,000,000 
 Capital in the purchase of 340, 000 field hands, at $800 ein 
 
 on an average, - - - - - - 272,000,000 
 Capital in the other 340,000 to aid, and to raise food , clothing, 
 &c., at half price,  - : - - - - 136,000,000 
 
 Capital i in horses, cattle, sheep, utensils, &c., for plantation, 
 about $30 to each person, to aid in making food and 
 clothing, &c. - - - - - - 20,400,000 
 Capital in other lands to support stock, raise corn, &c., at 20 
 acres to each of the 680,000, worth $20 per acre, éldeecal 272,000,000 
 Capital, temporary or floating, to buy clothing not made on 
 plantation, pay taxes, overseers, freight, tools for cotton, 
 &c., $45 to each - - - ~ - - 30,600,000 
 
 $77 1,000,000 
 
 eee 
 
 The increase of American cotton is such, as to create the utmost astonish- 
 ment that our vast capacity to produce it had so long rested without notice. 
 The export, by the last return, was about 24 millions. The late General 
 Washington was a lover of agriculture, understood it well, and was not in- 
 attentive to fair profit in his patriotic pursuits and private em yet he 
 does not appear ever to have noticed our country’s capacity to produce cot- 
 ton. This is the more remarkable, because nearly all his landed property 
 was in the cotton district of the United States. No circumstance can more 
 strongly prove the universal inadvertency of America to FAG capacity to 
 produce cotton. 
 
 One of the beneficial effects of our present active cultivation of cotton is, 
 that, while it yields the greatest agricultural profit in proportion to the capi- 
 tal in land and stock, it has a sure tendency to diminish the quantities of 
 rice, tobacco, indigo, grain, and cattle raised in the cotton district of 
 America, and keeps up the price of those articles in a manner highly favour- 
 able to those who raise them. The moderate quantity of rice produced in 
 1801 and 1802 is a positive evidence of this profitable truth. The North 
 American rice is of the best class. The body of our rice planters raise but 
 three quarter crops or half crops, from their attention to cotton. Having 
 so much less to sell, the market is not glutted. The price is consequently 
 not low. It is favourable. The raisers of Indian corn in the southern 
 states have also turned to cotton. Hence Indian corn and pork are every 
 where better supported in price, to the general benefit of our farmers. Much 
 corn will go from counties out of the cotton district to counties in the cotton 
 district for sale and consumption. So of fish, and all eatables and drink- 
 ables. 
 
 From these circumstances it will appear, that we have an universal and 
 deep interest to keep up the price of cotton. Home demand ought not to be 
 neglected or overlooked. The cotton manufacture merits the earliest and 
 best attention of the Union and of the states. Scotland cannot pursue that 
 ‘manufacture to as much advantage as the middle, northern and eastern 
 states of America. The British duty of one penny sterling is nearly two 
 
 cents gs ‘pound. The freight, insurance, storage, commissions, duty and 
 
 nd th ke , 
 
380 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 other charges might be wholly or partly saved. We might use our own 
 indigo, woad, madder, barks, and other dye stuffs, or those which we import 
 and re-ship to Scotland, and other parts of Europe. The Scotish manufac- 
 turers are fed with our flour and that which they import, all the charges on 
 which are saved so far as our own manufacturers consume our provisions. 
 It appears to be expedient to give this great case of the cotton manufacture 
 a complete examination and to make a luminous exhibition of it before our 
 country. For which purpose it is respectfully suggested to the legislature 
 of the United States, and those of the several states, to give the subject in 
 charge (by an early reference) to the proper department of their respective 
 executive governments, with instructions to enquire into, examine, consider 
 and make report concerning the rise, progress, and present state of the cul- 
 tivation of cotton, the course of the importation and exportation thereof 
 since the 3d of March 1789, the course of the trade in cotton goods, since 
 that day, the present state of the household and regular manufactory of cot- 
 ton goods in the United States, and the measures which have been adopted 
 by the Union and by the states to encourage the same, to the end of con- 
 sidering what further encouragement can and ought to be given by the 
 governments to the cultivation, export, trade, and manufacture of cotton 
 within the United States. —T. Coxe. 
 
 Circumstances connected with the cotton trade, chronologically arranged. 
 
 B.C. The cotton manufactures of India were taken notice of by the 
 Greeks when Alexander overran Greece. 
 
 A.D. 1101. The measure of the ell fixed by Henry I. 
 
 1280. The manufacture of cotton introduced into China from India, 
 
 1500. The first attempt made to introduce cotton goods into England. 
 
 1560. Giuceardini records the Low Countries to be the depot of India 
 goods and of cotton from the Levant. 
 
 1565. The first act of parliament relating to cotton goods. 
 
 1600. The first charter granted to the English East India company. 
 
 1631. Printed calicoes imported into England. 
 
 1640. Fustians made at Bolton. 
 
 1670. The Dutch loom first used in England. 
 
 1673. Blore in his History of Liverpool, speaks of great cotton manufac- 
 tories in the adjacent parts. 
 
 1676. Calico printing first introduced into London. 
 
 1700. The manufacturing of muslins first attempted in Paisley. 
 
 1721. The weaving of India calicoes prohibited. 
 
 1725. Linens, eee and cambrics, first manufactured at Glasgow. Mr. 
 James Monteith was the first manufacturer who warped a muslin web in 
 Scotland. 
 
 1730. Cotton spinning attempted unsuccessfully by Mr. Wyat at Litch- 
 , field, who spun the first thread of cotton yarn ever produced without the 
 intervention of the fingers. 
 
 1735. The cotton plant first cultivated in Surinam. 
 
 1738. Mr. Lewis Paul took outa patent for an improved mode of carding. 
 
 The fly-shuttle invented by Mr. John Kay of Bury. 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 381 
 
 1742. The first mill for spinning cotton erected at Birmingham. It was 
 moved by asses; but the machinery was sold in 1743. 
 
 1750. The fly-shuttle in general use. 
 
 1756. Cotton velvets and quiltings first made. 
 
 1760. Mr. James Hargreaves applies the stock card to the carding of cot- 
 ton with some improvements. 
 
 1762. Cylinder cards invented. First used by the father of the late Sir 
 Robert Peel. 
 
 1763. Rouen was the principal market for the sale of cotton wool. 
 
 1767. The spinning jenny invented by Mr. James Hargreaves. 
 
 1769. Mr. Arkwright, afterwards Sir Richard Arkwright, obtained his 
 first patent for spinning with rollers, and built his first mill at Nottingham, 
 
 1770. 5521 bags of cotton imported into Liverpool from the West Indies, 
 3 from New York, 4 from Virginia and Maryland, and 3 barrels from North 
 Carolina. 
 
 1774. Power Looms invented by the Rev. Dr. Cartwright. 
 
 1779. Cayenne, Surinam, Essequibo, Demerara, and St. Domingo cotton 
 most in esteem. 
 
 Mule jenny invented by Samuel Crompton. 
 
 1781. Brazil cotton first imported from Maranham, but very dirty. 
 
 1782. James Watt obtains his patent for the steam engine. 
 
 1783. Surat, and also Bourbon cotton, first imported or known about this 
 time. 
 
 1784. Arkwright’s first patent expired. 
 Cotton manufactured in Great Britain this year was 11,280,238lbs., 
 and valued at £3,950,000. 
 Cotton i periads in small quantities from the United States. 
 
 1785. Mr. M‘Intosh and Mr. Dale commenced dyeing turkey red in Glas- 
 gow. 
 
 1786. Bourbon cotton sold from 7s. 6d. to 10s. per Ib. | 
 
 1793. Cotton, the growth of the United States, first imported in large 
 quantities, by way of the West Indies. 
 
 1797. Scutching machine, said to be invented by Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. 
 Cooper, first used at Johnstone. 
 
 About this time the saw-gin was invented. 
 
 1798. The Fame arrived with the first cargo of cotton from the East 
 Indies. 
 
 1800 or 1801. The entire stock of American cotton in Liverpool one bag. 
 
 1803. Radcliff’s dressing and warping machine invented. 
 
 1812. Trade to British India thrown open under certain restrictions. 
 
 1818. 105 millions of yards of cotton cloth manufacted in Glasgow, value _ 
 £5,000,000. . 
 
 1823. Cotton first imported from Egypt direct to Liverpool. : 
 
 1825. Steam engines estimated at 893 horses’ power, spinning cotton in 
 and around Glasgow, in a space not more than two miles from the cross. © 
 
 1830. The Rantoul throstle frame introduced into England. 
 
 1832. Robert Montgomery of Johnstone (Scotland) obtained a patent for 
 the three kingdoms for an improvement of the throstle frame, which it is 
 considered will supersede all the machines hitherto used for spinning low 
 numbers, also formaking copes. The first entire machine was accidentally 
 
382 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 destroyed. The second is now in full operation in the mill of John Miller, 
 Ksq. and giving entire satisfaction. | 
 
 The value of cotton goods manufactured in 1832 in Great Britain estimated 
 at £40,000,000 yearly, £20,000,000 of which are exported. 
 
 1834. Nankeen cotton raised in Georgia, manufactured at Lonsdale R. I. 
 
 The nankeen cotton of China has attained considerable celebrity, and it 
 has been much disputed whether the nankeens are made from a cotton of 
 their peculiar colour, or are dyed to that colour. There is now no doubt 
 that the cotton is naturally of the same yellow tinge which it preserves 
 when spun and woven into cloth; and it is of very fine quality. The nan- 
 keen cloth requires no dye; that raised by Mr. Forsyth in Georgia, is of a 
 beautiful texture, and the cloth made from it surpasses any imported. It 
 seems to be a mistake, that the colour of the cotton depends on some pecu- 
 liarity in the soil. This new article of American produce promises to add 
 much to the value of the staple, and to the increase of the manufacture. 
 
 \ Pawtucket, R. I. Sept. 1835. 
 Mrs. Williams, now living in this place, wove the first piece of cotton 
 stripes, from yarn spun by 8. Slater. 
 
 PRICE OF COTTON TWIST YARN.—BY S. SLATER. 
 1794—No., 12, 88 cts.; 16, 104 cts.; 20, 121 cts. 
 1795,6,7,8,9—Prices the same as above. 
 1800—No. 12, 103 cts.; 16, 119 cts.; 20, 136 cts. 
 1801,2—Prices the same as 1800. 
 1803—No. 12, 94 cts.; 16, 110 cts.; 50, 126 ets. 
 1804—T he same as 1803. 
 1805—No. 12, 99 cts.; 16, 115 cts. ; 20, 131 cts. 
 
 Copy of an original invoice of cotton yarn, in the year 1784, and published 
 by permission, to show the price of yarn at that period. 
 
 ‘* MancuesTer, January 22, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Peter Heatley, | 
 
 Bought of Richard Arkwright. 
 
 40 pounds of twist, No. 30, at 6s. 5d. ; £12 16 9 
 20 - 55 » 931, at 6s. 8d. ; : ; ides i a 
 £19 10 0 
 
 Forwarded this day per Grundy.” — 
 
 N.B.—In the year 1784, the quantity of cotton imported into Great Britain, 
 was 11,281,138lbs., consisting of West India, Surinam, and Berbice, no 
 other sort being then imported: and the price of cotton during that year, 
 fluctuated from one shilling to two shillings and one penny per lb. 
 
 Paterson, New Jersey, is one of the creations of the genius of Alexander: 
 Hamilton, the true father of the system of domestic industry, now cherished 
 as the American system. In the early part of the year 1791, on the recom- 
 mendation, and by the active and influential exertions of this distinguished 
 and patriotic statesman, a number of public spirited individuals of New 
 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, associated themselves for establishing 
 
GROWTH OF COTTON. 383 
 
 useful manufactures, by the subscription of $200,000. The number of shares 
 originally subscribed was 5000, at $100 the share; but 2267 shares only 
 were fully paid up. A great emporium of manufactures was the general 
 object of the company; their immediate object was the manufacture of 
 cotton cloths ; and the attempt is highly characteristic of the enterprising 
 spirit of our countrymen. At this period, the improvements of Arkwright 
 in cotton machinery, though perfected, were not much used, even in Eng- 
 land, and were absolutely unknown in all other countries. In America no 
 cotton had been spun by machinery, except in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. 
 The act of incorporation is said to have been drawn or revised by Hamilton. 
 The society was organised at New Brunswick; on the last Monday of 
 November 1791, by the choice of the first board of directors, composed of 
 Messrs. Duer, Dewhurst, Walker, Low, Flint, Boudinot, Bayard, Neilson, 
 Mercer, Lowring, Lewis, Furman, and M‘Comb. William Duer was chosen 
 ‘the first governor of the company. These names are illustrious by the pre- 
 sent flourishing condition of the society, the result of their labours. Mr. 
 Hamilton, who was not a stock-holder of the company, and whose disin- 
 terested exertions in its behalf were prompted by higher motives than pecu- 
 niary gratification, had, previously to the act of incorporation, at the request 
 of the company, engaged English and Scotish artisans, and manufacturers 
 of cotton machinery and cotton goods, to establish their business here. In 
 May 1792, the society selected, with admirable judgment, the Passaic, as 
 the principal site of their proposed operations; giving to their town the 
 name of Paterson, after the governor who had signed their charter. At this 
 period there were not more than ten houses here. Ata meeting of the di- 
 rectors, at the Godwin hotel, on the 4th July 1792, appropriations were made 
 for building factories, machine shops, and shops for calico printing and 
 weaving ; and a race-way was directed to be made, for bringing the water 
 from above the falls to the proposed mills. Unfortunately, the direction 
 was given to Major |’Enfant, a French engineer, whose projects commonly 
 perished in the waste of means provided for their attainment: He com- 
 menced the race-way and canal, designing to unite the Upper Passaic with 
 the lower, at the head of tide, near the present village of Acquackanonck, 
 by a plan better adapted to the resources of a great empire, than to those of 
 a private company. In January 1793, Peter Colt of Hartford, then comp- 
 troller of the state of Connecticut, was appointed general superintendent of 
 the affairs of the company, with full powers to manage the concerns of the 
 society, as if they were his own individual property. Mr. Colt completed 
 the race-way, conducting the water to the first factory erected by the society. 
 The canal to tide water had been abandoned, before the departure of the 
 engineer. The factory, 90 feet long by 40 wide, and 4 stories high, was 
 finished in 1794, when cotton yarn was spun in the mill ; but yarn had been 
 spun in the preceding year, by machinery moved by oxen. In 1794, calico 
 shawls and other cotton goods were printed; the bleached and unbleached 
 muslins being purchased in New York. In the same year the society gave 
 their attention to the culture of the silk worm, and directed the superintend- 
 ant to plant the mulberry tree for this purpose. In April of this year, the 
 society employed a teacher to instruct, gratuitously, on the sabbath, the 
 children employed in the factory. This was probably the first Sunday 
 school established in New Jersey. Notwithstanding their untoward com- 
 
384 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 mencement, and the many discouragements attending their progress, the 
 directors persevered in their enterprise, and during the years 1795 and 1796, 
 much yarn of various sizes was spun, and several species of cotton fabrics 
 were made. But, at length satisfied that it was hopeless to contend, suc- 
 cessfully, longer with an adverse current, they resolved, July 1796, to aban- 
 don the manufacture, and discharged their workmen. This result was 
 produced by a combination of causes. Nearly $50,000 had been lost, by the . 
 failure of the parties to certain bills of exchange purchased by the company, ~ 
 to buy in England plain cloths for printing: large sums had been wasted by 
 the engineer; and the machinists and manufacturers imported, were pre- 
 sumptuous, and ignorant of many branches of the business they engaged to 
 conduct ; and more than all, a want of experience relative to the subject of 
 the enterprise, and the country unprepared for manufactures. The cotton 
 mill of the company was subsequently leased to individuals, who continued 
 to spin candle-wick and coarse yarn until 1807, when it was accidentally 
 burnt, and was never rebuilt. The admirable water-power of the company 
 was not, however, wholly unemployed. In 1801, a mill seat was leased to 
 Mr. Kinsey & Co.; in 1807 a second, and 1811, a third to other persons; 
 and between 1812 and 1814, several others were sold or leased. In 1814, 
 Mr. Colt purchased, at a depreciated price, a large proportion of the shares, 
 and reanimated the association. From this date, the growth of Paterson 
 has been steady, except during the three or four years that followed the peace 
 of 1815. The advantages derivable from the great fall in the river, have 
 been improved with much judgment. A dam of four and a half feet high, 
 strongly framed and bolted to the rock in the bed of the river above the falls, 
 turns the stream through a canal excavated in the trap rock of the bank, 
 into a basin, whence, through strong guard-gates, it supplies in succession 
 ‘three canals on separate planes, each below the other; giving to the mills on 
 each, a head and fall of about 22 feet. By means of the guard-gate, the 
 volume of water is regulated at pleasure, and a uniform height preserved, 
 avoiding the inconvenience of back-water; $40,000 have been expended to 
 perfect this privilege. 
 
 The advantages to be derived from opening a navigable communication 
 between the Delaware and the Chesapeake, early attracted the attention of 
 enlightened men in the colony of Pennsylvania. The American Philosophi- 
 cal Society, in 1769 and 1774, appointed committees to explore and survey 
 the country between the Delaware and the Chesapeake ; and the legislature 
 ordered similar explorations, some time later, of the country between the 
 Delaware and the Susquehanna, with a view to opening an artificial com- 
 munication between them. But the formidable nature of those objects, their 
 novelty in this country, and, still more, the intervention of the revolutionary 
 war, prevented the adoption, at that time, of any effectual measures for the 
 attainment of those inestimable improvements. At length, in the year 1794, 
 a number of public spirited citizens, and whom Robert Morris, the financier 
 of the United States, to whom the nation was so largely indebted for pro- 
 curing the ways and means, in “those times that tried men’s souls,” David 
 Rittenhouse, Samuel Meredith, Walter Stewart, Benjamin R. Morgan, 
 William Bingham, Rev. Dr. Smith, John Nicholson, Robert Hare, Levi 
 Hollingsworth, Jonathan Bayard Smith, and James C. Fisher, entered with 
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 ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 385 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 
 
 * Art thrives most, 
 
 Where commerce has enriched the busy coast; 
 
 He catches all improvements in his flight, 
 
 Spreads foreign wonders in his country’s sight, 
 Imports what others have invented well, 
 
 And stirs his own to match them, or excel.” Cowper. 
 
 ca ee 
 
 POWER LOOM AND DRESSER. 
 
 In 1785 the Rev. Dr. Cartwright* of Hollander house, (brother 
 of Major Cartwright, the well-known advocate of radical reform,) 
 invented a power-loom, which may be regarded as the parent of 
 that now in use. Dr. Cartwright was led by his invention to 
 
 * Edmund Cartwright was born in 1743, in Nottinghamshire, at Marnham, 
 an estate which had long been in possession of his family. He was the 
 youngest of three brothers, all of whom were remarkable men. His second 
 brother, Captain William Cartwright, a man of great enterprise and energy 
 of character, after a residence of sixteen years on the coast of Labrador, 
 returned to England in 1792, and published his journal, which gave the first 
 authentic account of the Esquimaux nations. His elder brother, Major 
 John Cartwright, was forty years distinguished as an enthusiastic and per- 
 severing advocate for what is called parliamentary reform; and notwith- 
 standing the many turbulent scenes in which he appeared in public, in 
 domestic life he was exemplary as an amiable, affectionate and benevolent 
 man; as a political leader he was truly consistent, and even his enemies have 
 borne testimony to his being perfectly disinterested. Edmund, the younger 
 brother, being destined for the church, was placed under Mr. Clarke of 
 Wakefield, and the celebrated Dr. Langhorne. He afterwards studied at 
 Oxford, where he was early distinguished for his literary attainments, and 
 was elected fellow of Magdalen College. On entering the church, he 
 retired to a small living in the gift of his family, where he discovered the 
 application of yeast as a remedy in putrid fevers, and became known as a 
 poet. His legendary tale of “ Armine and Elvira,” was greatly admired for 
 its pathos and elegant simplicity. His “ Prince of Peace,” in a loftier style 
 of composition, also excited much attention at its appearance. He married 
 in 1772, and afterwards went to reside at Doncaster, but still assiduously 
 continued his literary labours. Between 1774 and 1784, he was one of the 
 principal contributors to the Monthly Review. 
 
 The origin of his invention of weaving by machinery instead of manual 
 
 AQ 
 
386 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 undertake manufacturing with power-looms at Doncaster ; but the 
 concern was unsuccessful, and he at length abandoned it. 
 Though he had a handsome paternal fortune, his affairs became 
 
 labour has been minutely detailed by himself, in a letter written to Mr. 
 Dugald Bannatyne, of Glasgow. 
 
 ‘‘ Happening to be at Matlock in the summer of 1784, I fell in company 
 with some gentlemen of Manchester, when the conversation turned on 
 Arkwright’s spinning machinery. One of the company observed, that as 
 soon as Arkwright’s patent expired, so many mills would be erected, and 
 so much cotton spun, that hands never could be found to weaveit. To this 
 observation I replied, that Arkwright must then set his wits to work to 
 invent a weaving machine. This brought on a conversation on the subject, 
 in which the Manchester gentlemen unanimously agreed, that the thing 
 was impracticable ; and in defence of their opinion they adduced arguments 
 which I certainly was incompetent to answer, or even to comprehend, 
 being totally ignorant of the subject, having never, at that time, seen a per- 
 son weave. I controverted, however, the impracticability of the thing by 
 remarking, that there had lately been exhibited in London an automaton 
 figure which played at chess ; ‘now you will not assert, gentlemen,’ said I, 
 ‘that it is more difficult to construct a machine that shall weave, than one 
 which shall make all the variety of moves which are required in that com- 
 plicated game?’ Some little time afterwards a particular circumstance 
 recalling this conversation to my mind, it struck me that, as in plain weav- 
 ing, according to the conception I then had of the business, there could be 
 only three movements, which were to follow each other in succession, there 
 would be little difficulty in producing and repeating them. Full of these 
 ideas, I immediately employed a carpenter and smith to carry them into 
 effect. As soon as the machine was finished I got a weaver to put in the 
 warp, which was of such materials as sail cloth is usually made of. To my 
 great delight, a piece of cloth, such as it was, was the produce. As I had 
 never before turned my thoughts to any thing mechanical, either in theory 
 or practice, nor had ever seen a loom at work or knew any thing of its con- 
 struction, it will readily be supposed that my first loom must have been a 
 most rude piece of machinery. The warp was placed perpendicularly, the 
 reed fell with a force of at least half a hundred weight, and the springs 
 which threw the shuttle were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve 
 rocket; in short it required the power of two strong men to work the machine 
 at a slow rate only for a short time. Conceiving, in my great simplicity, 
 that I had accomplished all that was required, I then secured what I thought 
 a most valuable property, by a patent, in April 1785. This being done, I 
 then condescended to see how other people wove, and you will guess my 
 astonishment when I compared their easy modes of operation with mine. 
 Availing myself, however, of what I then saw, I made a loom, in its gene- 
 ral principles, nearly as they are now made, but it was not until the year 
 1787 that I completed my invention, when I took out my last weaving 
 patent in August in that year.”—This also included the art of weaving 
 checks, which the most skilful mechanics, even after they had seen his first 
 machines in operation, deemed to be impossible by any except manual 
 
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 387 
 
 inextricably embarrassed ; but he was more fortunate than most 
 inventors, in obtaining — parliament, in 1809, a grant of 
 £10,000, as a reward for his ingenuity. 
 
 The great obstacle to the success of the power-loom, was, that 
 it was necessary to stop the machine frequently, in order to dress 
 the warp as it unrolled from the beam, which operation required 
 aman to be employed for each loom, so that there was no saving 
 of expense. This difficulty was Harpetly removed, by the inven- 
 tion of an extremely ingenious and effectual mode of dressing the 
 warp before it was placed in the loom. 
 
 The dressing- machine was produced by Messrs. Radcliffe & 
 Ross, cotton manufacturers, of Stockport ; but they took out the 
 patent in the name of ATWO ttn Johnson, of Bredbury, a weaver in 
 their employment, to whose inventive talent the machine was 
 chiefly owing. 
 
 Wm. Radcliffe justly thought, that the most effectual way of 
 securing for the country the manufacturing of the yarn, was to 
 enable the English to excel as much in weaving as they did in 
 spinning. He saw the obstacles to the accomplishment of this 
 object, but being a man of determined purpose, he shut himself up 
 in his mill, on the 2d of January, 1802, with a number of 
 weavers, joiners, turners, and other workmen, and resolved to 
 produce some great improvement. ‘I'wo years were spent in 
 experiments. He had for his assistant, Thomas Johnson, an 
 ingenious but dissipated young man, to whom he explained what 
 he wanted, and whose fertile invention suggested a great variety 
 of expedients, so that he obtained the name of the “conjuror” 
 among his fellow-workmen. Johnson's genius, and Radcliffe’s 
 judgement and perseverance, at Jength produced the dressing 
 machine; an admirable invention, without which the power- 
 loom could scarcely have been rendered efficient. 
 
 The process is thus briefly described:—“ The yarn is first 
 wound from the top upon bobbins, by a winding machine, in 
 which operation it is passed through water, to increase its tenacity. 
 
 means. The weaving factory which was erected at Doncaster by some of 
 Cartwright’s friends, with his license, was unsuccessful; and another esta- 
 blishment containing five hundred Icoms, built at Manchester, was destroyed 
 by an exasperated mob, in 1790. The invention, however, has surmounted 
 all opposition, and at the time of the doctor’s death it was stated that steam 
 looms had increased so rapidly, that they were then performing the labour 
 of two hundred thousand men! Cartwright’s next invention was a method 
 to comb wool with machinery, which excited, if possible, a still greater 
 ferment among the working classes than even the power loom. { 
 
388 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 The bobbins are then put upon the warping-mill, and the web 
 warped from them upon a beam belonging to the dressing-frame. 
 From this beam, placed now in the dressing-frame, the warp is 
 wound upon the weaving-beam, but in its progress to it passes 
 through a hot dressing of starch. It is then compressed between 
 two rollers, to free it from the moisture it had imbibed with the 
 dressing, and drawn over a succession of tin cylinders heated by 
 steam, to dry it; during the whole of this last part of its progress 
 being lightly brushed as it moves along, and fanned by rapidly 
 revolving fanners. The dressing here spoken of is merely a size 
 or paste made of flour and water, now generally used cold; and 
 the use of it is to make the minute fibres, which, as it were, fea- 
 ther the yarn, adhere closely to it, so that the warp may be smooth 
 like catgut. The brushes essentially aid in smoothing the yarn, 
 and distributing the size equally over it; and by means of the fan 
 and the heated cylinders the warp is so soon dried, that it is 
 wound upon the beam for the loom within a very short space 
 after passing through the trough of paste. ‘This machine, from 
 the regularity and neatness of its motions, and its perfect efficacy, 
 is equally beautiful and valuable.” 
 
 Radcliffe and his partner took out four patents in the years 1803 
 and 1804; two of them for a useful improvement in the loom, 
 the taking up of the cloth by the motion of the lathe; and the 
 other two for the new mode of warping and dressing. Johnson, 
 in whose name they were taken out, received by deed the sum of 
 £50 in consideration of his services, and continued in their 
 employment. Radcliffe’s unremitting devotion to the perfecting 
 of this apparatus, and other unfortunate circumstances, caused the 
 affairs of his concern to fall into derangement, and he failed. He 
 wrote a book entitled, ‘‘ Origin of the New System of Manufacture, 
 commonly called Power-Loom Weaving,” showing the purposes for 
 which this system was invented. 
 
 Baines says, “ 'The dressing machine itself has now in some 
 establishments been superseded, and the warp is dressed in a 
 shorter and simpler way by an improved sizing apparatus. By 
 the aid of Johnson and. Radcliffe’s invention, the power-loom 
 became available. A patent for another power-looom was taken 
 out in 1803, by Mr. H. Horrocks, cotton manufacturer, of Stock- 
 port, which he further improved, and took out subsequent patents 
 in 1805 and 1813. Horrocks’ loom is the one which has now 
 come into general use; it is constructed entirely of iron, and 
 is a neat, compact, and simple machine, moving with great 
 rapidity, and occupying so little space that several hundreds may 
 
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 389 
 
 be worked in a single room of a large factory. Horrocks, sharing 
 the common destiny of inventors, failed and sunk into poverty. 
 This retarded the adoption of the machine ; but independently of 
 this, the power-loom and dressing machine came very slowly into 
 favour. In 1813, there were not more than one hundred of the 
 latter machines in England and Scotland, and 2400 of the former 
 in use. , 
 
 The introduction of the power loom and dresser formed a new 
 era in the cotton business in America. 
 
 Previous to 1815, the whole of the weaving was done by hand 
 looms ; in many of these looms great improvements had been made 
 and a great quantity of cloth produced for home consumption. 
 About the year 1814, Mr. Gilmore landed in Boston from England 
 with patterns of the power loom and dresser; and John Slater, 
 Esq. invited him to Smithfield, Rhode Island, and made known 
 his wishes to construct these important inventions ; but Mr. Slater 
 could not prevail on the whole of his partners to engage him in 
 the trial. He remained at Smithfield some time, employed as a 
 machinist by that establishment. He introduced the hydrostatic 
 press, and it proved of great advantage in pressing cloth, &c. 
 
 Judge Lyman of Providence had been endeavouring to obstruct 
 the power-loom, but failed in the attempt; and on hearing of Mr. 
 Gilmore, he with some other gentlemen entered into a contract 
 with him to build the power-loom and dresser, from the patterns 
 which he brought with him from England. He accomplished all 
 that he promised, and received a compensation of $1500, to the 
 great satisfaction of his patrons. ‘hey were soon introduced 
 into Pawtucket, and David Wilkinson made them as an article of 
 sale. Mr. Gilmore, however, neglected to turn his talents and 
 opportunities to the advantage of his family, and died leaving them 
 poor in this country. 
 
 S. Green informed me, that Gilmore was a man of great mecha- 
 nical genius; he brought the first engineer’s rule into Rhode 
 Island, and Mr. Green obtained one from him, with a great deal of 
 valuable information. / 
 
 The hand-looms were immediately superseded, and now no one 
 in the manufacturing districts thinks of using them any more than 
 they do the one-thread wheel. Their introduction has enabled 
 America to compete even with Great Britain in cotton cloths in 
 South America and other foreign markets. 
 
 This is the crowning sequel in improvements in the cotton 
 machinery, the addition of which has made a complete series, 
 perhaps the most perfect which the world ever saw, whether with 
 
390 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 regard to the mechanical excellence of its operations or its results. 
 I have said that the power-loom formed a new era, and it is not 
 easy to conceive how this series can be much improved, as it 
 now exists in England and America. 
 
 BLEACHING AND CALENDERING.* 
 
 After the manufacture of the cloth is complete, there is the im- 
 portant process of bleaching to be undergone by all cotton goods ; 
 this is a very extensive branch of the business; it is necessary to 
 remove the dirt and grease contracted in the manufacture, and the 
 dressing applied to the warp, and also to destroy all the colour 
 belonging to the raw material, so as to make the cloth perfectly 
 white. 'The bleaching process, as performed in the middle of the 
 last century, occupied from six to eight months. “It consisted in 
 steeping the cloth in alkaline leys for several days, washing it 
 clean, and spreading it on the grass for some weeks. 'The steep- 
 ing in alkaline leys, called bucking, and the bleaching on the 
 grass, called crofting, were repeated alternately for five or six 
 times. ‘The cloth was then steeped for some days in sour milk, 
 washed clean, and crofted. 'These processes were repeated, dimi- 
 nishing every time the strength of the alkaline ley, till the linen had 
 acquired the requisite whiteness.” The art of bleaching was at that 
 time so little understood in Great Britain, that nearly all the linens 
 manufactured in Scotland were sent to Holland to bleach, and 
 were kept there more than half a year, undergoing, in the bleach- 
 fields around Haarlem, the tedious processes just described. 
 
 The grand improvement in bleaching was, in the application of 
 chlorine to the art. his acid was discovered in 1774, by Scheele, 
 the Swedish philosopher, who observed its property of destroying 
 vegetable colours, from its having bleached the cork of his phial. 
 This observation having been recorded, suggested to the active 
 mind of the French chemist, Berthollet, the thought of applying 
 the acid to the bleaching of cloths made of vegetable fibres; and, 
 in 1785, having found by experiment that it answered the purpose, 
 he made known this great discovery, which brings down the time 
 
 * Bleaching, calendering, &c. were introduced at a great expense, in Pro- 
 vidence, by Dr. Bowen, where the water is well adapted, and there is now a 
 bleaching and beetling establishment, called by his name. The bleaching 
 business is now very extensive in the United States, and they are becoming 
 more perfect in the process, as more attention is paid to every department in 
 preparation for the calico printing. 
 
 Rhode Island appears to be in advance in the bleaching business, both for 
 the quality and quantity of its work. 
 
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 391 
 
 required for bleaching from months to days, or even to hours. 
 James Watt learnt this at Paris, and introduced it into England 
 in 1786. 
 
 Mr. Henry was one of the first persons to suggest the addition 
 of lime, which takes away the noxious smell of the oxymuriatic 
 acid without injuring its bleaching properties, 
 
 So great was the facility thus given to the process of bleaching, 
 that it is recorded that a bleacher, in Lancashire, received fourteen 
 hundred pieces of grey muslin on a nduedag: which, on the 
 Thursday immediately following, were returned, bleached, to the 
 manufacturers, at the distance of sixteen miles; and they were 
 packed up and sent off, that very day, to a foreign market. This 
 is considered as not an extraordinary performance. ‘Without this 
 wonderful saving of time and capital, the quantity of cotton goods 
 now manufactured could scarcely have been bleached. 
 
 Mr. ‘Tennant, “after a great deal of most laborious and acute 
 investigation,” hit upon the method of making a saturated liquid 
 of chloride of lime, which was found to answer perfectly all the 
 purposes of the bleacher. 
 
 Mr. ‘Tennant uses five and a half parts of black oxide of man- 
 ganese, seven and a half parts of common salt, and twelve and a 
 quarter parts of sulphuric acid, of the specific gravity of 1.843, 
 diluted with an equal quantity of water to make the chlorine gas, 
 with which he impregnates a layer of slacked lime, some inches 
 thick, in a stone chamber. By recent improvements in the manu- 
 facture, he has doubled the value of the bleaching powder, whilst 
 its price is reduced to one half; the present price is 3d. sterling 
 per pound. By many bleachers this powder is used, mixed with 
 a proper quantity of water; but the great bleachers use liquid 
 chloride of lime, which they make in leaden stills ; steam being 
 used to expel the gas from the materials,—and the gas being re- 
 ceived into a cream of lime, which becomes saturated with it. 
 
 The processes through which cottons pass in the hands of the 
 bleacher, are as follows :—The cloth is first singed, by being drawn 
 rapidly over a copper or iron cylinder heated to a red heat, which 
 burns off the down and loose fibres on the surface, without injuring 
 the fabric. It is next thrown, in loose folds, into a cistern of cold 
 water, where it remains some time; and it is afterwards more 
 effectually washed by being put into a large hollow wheel, called 
 the dash-wheel, usually divided into four compartments ; this is 
 supplied with a jet of clear spring water, thrown in through a 
 circular slit in the side, which revolves opposite the end of a flat- 
 -tened pipe, by which means the cloth is well washed, as it is 
 
392 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 thrown backwards and forwards in the rapidly-revolving wheel. 
 By this means a considerable portion of the weaver’s dressing 
 is removed. Next, the cloth is boiled with lime: the pieces of 
 calico are placed in a kier, or boiler having a false bottom, perfo- 
 rated with holes, and with layers of cream of lime between the 
 pieces ; one pound of lime being used for every thirty-five pounds 
 of the cloth. It is so contrived, that the boiling water is spouted 
 on the goods, filters through them and the lime into that part of 
 the boiler below the false bottom; is again forced up a pipe in the 
 middle of the boiler, and falls again upon the goods : and this pro- 
 cess is repeated for about eight hours. By this lime boiling the 
 dressing, dirt, and grease, are removed from the cloth; and the 
 lime itself is removed by a careful washing in the dash-wheel. 
 
 The cloth is now subjected to the action of the bleaching liquid ; 
 that is, chloride of lime dissolved in water. 
 
 A solution of one pound of bleaching powder with one gallon 
 of water, has a specific gravity of 1.05; but water is added till the 
 solution is reduced to the specific gravity of 1.02. The quantity 
 of this liquor used for 700lbs. of cloth is 971 gallons ; and 388lbs. 
 of the solid bleaching powder is required for 7O00lbs. of cloth. The 
 goods are left in the cold bleaching liquid about six hours, and 
 when taken out they are considerably whitened. Having been 
 washed, the cloth is next put into a very weak solution of sulphuric 
 acid, containing eight gallons of the acid in 200 gallons of water. 
 This is called the souring process, which lasts about four hours. 
 By this the oxide of iron, which, in the course of the operations, 
 has been deposited on the cloth, giving it a yellowish hue, and 
 the lime which it had imbibed, are removed, and the cloth becomes 
 much whiter. It is again washed in cold water, and then boiled 
 for eight hours more in an alkaline ley. Sixty-four pounds of 
 carbonate of soda are used to 2,100lbs. of unbleached cloth. After 
 this the cloth is steeped a second time in the bleaching liquid, 
 which is only two-thirds of the strength of the first, where it re- 
 mains 5 or 6 hours; and a second time in the mixture of sulphuric 
 acid and water, where it remains 4 hours. 'The last souring process 
 completes the bleaching of the cloth, which comes out of the acid so- 
 lution perfectly white. The cloth is then very carefully washed, 
 to remove all trace of the sulphuric acid and water : it is freed from 
 the greater part of the water by being squeezed between two rollers, 
 andi is then straightened and mangled in the damp state. ‘T'o 
 improve the appearance of the cloth, it is usually passed through 
 starch made of wheaten flour, often riod with porcelain clay and 
 calcined sulphurate of lime; by which the cloth is made stiffer, 
 
CALENDERING. 393 
 
 and appears to have great substance. (It would be creditable to 
 the trade to lay this aside, as having the appearance of fraud.) 
 The cloth is dried by being passed through a drying machine, 
 consisting of several copper cylinders heated by steam: it is then 
 - again damped, in order to fit it to receive the gloss which is im- 
 parted in the process of calendering.* 
 
 The calender consists of several wooden and iron rollers, placed 
 above each other in a frame, and held together by levers and 
 pulleys; the cloth, passing between these rollers, is strongly pressed ; 
 the surface becomes glossy, and sometimes it is made to assume a 
 wiry appearance by two pieces being put through the calender 
 together, in which case the threads of each are impressed on the 
 face of the other. The goods are then folded up in pieces, stamped 
 with marks varying according to the foreign or domestic markets 
 for which they are intended, and pressed in a Bramah’s press; 
 after which they are packed up and sent to the merchant. 
 
 * On Mangling Cloths.—The business of smoothing cloths, as usually 
 practised in the United States, is a very serious one in a warm day, and 
 many females have laid the foundation for an attack of acute disease, and 
 protracted ill-health, by fatigue and imprudent exposure to a current of air 
 after being much heated by a hard day’s duty. To remedy these evils, 
 mangles have been invented. There are but few families in Europe with- 
 -out one of these useful machines, by which the numerous articles having 
 plain, smooth surfaces, are smoothed with expedition, and acquire a gloss 
 which cannot be given by flat irons. The following is the best. 
 
 Two horizontal cylindrical rollers form a bed for the roller on which the 
 linen to be mangled is rolled. The axes of those rollers bear on brass, let 
 into the wood frame, and have a wheel fixed to each, which works in a 
 pinion on the axis of the fly-wheel: a moveable roller on which the linen to 
 be mangled is rolled: a roller, the axis of which works in pieces of brass, 
 which slide between iron, let into the inner side of the wood frame, to the 
 bottom of which long pieces of iron are fixed, with hooks at their lower ex- 
 tremities, to which are attached the chains that support the scale or platform, 
 where iron weights, or any other substance, are placed; to the top of the 
 brass in which the roller works, the engine chains are fastened, which pass 
 through apertures at each end of the top of the wood frame, and are there 
 again fastened on the pulleys of the shaft with a screw: there is a lever fixed 
 to the end of the shaft. To use the machine, press the lever, and fasten it 
 with the hook, which raises the roller with the platform and weights at- 
 tached to it: then take out the roller, and roll the linen and mangling cloth 
 round it, and replace it on the two bottom rollers, unhook the lever, and the 
 weights on the platform will press the roller on the other; give motion to 
 the fly-wheel and also to all the rollers by turning the handle, which, in a 
 short time, will make the linen beautifully smooth; press down the lever, 
 fasten it with the hook, and take the roller out: a spare roller is supplied, so 
 that if two people are employed, one may be filling it with linen, while the 
 other is mangling. 
 
394 MEMOIR. OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Such are the processes by which the rough, gray and dirty 
 ' fabric brought in by the weaver, is converted into the smooth and 
 snowy cloth ready for the hands of the seamstress. The pro- 
 cesses vary a little in duration and frequency, according to the 
 quality of the cloth to be bleached. Every thing is done by ma- 
 chinery or by chemical agents, and the large bleach-works require 
 steam engines of considerable power. Human hands only convey 
 the cloth from process to process. ‘There is much beauty in many 
 of the operations; and great skill is needed in the mere disposi- 
 tion of the several cisterns and machines, so that the goods may 
 pass through the processes with the smallest expenditure of time. 
 Large capital has been expended on many of the bleach-works ; 
 an extraordinary perfection has been attained in the machinery, 
 and in all the details of the arrangements strict method and order 
 prevail ; the managers are men of science, who are eager to adopt 
 every chemical and mechanical improvement that may occur to 
 themselves or others. ‘I'he processes above described can be per- 
 formed in two or three days, at the cost of a half-penny per yard, 
 on cloth bleached and finished. 
 
 A perfect understanding of the bleaching business is essential 
 to success ; great quantities of cloth were destroyed in the process, 
 by those who first made the experiment in this country ; and even 
 now great care is necessary to prevent the fabrics being injured ; 
 but this, like every other branch of manufacture, is becoming more 
 perfect, and is carried on with greater economy and. order, and all 
 which is essential to success. My limits forbid’enlargement, which, 
 for the importance of the subject, deserves a volume of itself, to 
 explain all its branches and modifications. 
 
es sasalatatiate scihamebntinititamatnrcirenir distin wmahseceoetle ed 
 
 te te * ee ee eee on. 
 
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 “ee eee Pre “oh i Wha aS ar a ee i ve 
 
“ONIGALHa OCOIIVO 
 
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 SS Sa 
 
CALICO PRINTING. 395 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 CALICO PRINTING. 
 
 “ Truth is not loca]; God alike pervades 
 And fills the world of traffic and the shades, 
 And may be feared amidst the busiest scenes 
 
 Or scorn’d where business never intervenes.” 
 CowPeEr. 
 
 We come now to treat of the important art of calico printing, 
 which constitutes a very large branch of the cotton manufacture, 
 and by means of which the value of calicoes, muslins, and other 
 cotton fabrics, are greatly enhanced. Cotton cloth, when used for 
 the outer garments of the female sex, the drapery of beds and 
 windows, the coverings of furniture, and similar purposes, is 
 ornamented with colours and patterns. Unlike silk and woollen 
 fabrics, cottons are very rarely dyed of a uniform colour through- 
 out; a variety of colours is fixed upon a single piece, and they 
 are printed on the white cotton or muslin in an endless variety of 
 patterns, thus giving a light and elegant effect to the print. . The 
 art of the calico printer, therefore, not only comprehends that of 
 the dyer, which requires all the aid of chemical science, but also 
 that of the artist, for the designing of tasteful and elegant patterns; 
 that of the engraver, for transferring those patterns to the metal 
 used to impress them on the cloth; and that of the mechanician, 
 for the various mechanical processes of engraving and printing. 
 Taste, chemistry, and mechanics, have been called the three legs 
 of calico printing. 
 
 Calico printing is believed not to have been practised in Europe 
 till the seventeenth century. In what country the art was first in- 
 troduced is doubtful. 
 
 Calico printing has been the subject of modern improvements, 
 which may be compared in importance with those in cotton spin- 
 ning and bleaching. First was the block printing. But the grand 
 improvement in the art was the invention of cylinder printing, 
 which bears nearly the same relation in point of despatch to block 
 printing by hand, as throstle or mule spinning bears to spinning 
 by the one thread wheel. 
 
 This great invention is said to have been made by a Scotsman 
 of the name of Bell, and it was first successfully applied in Lan- 
 
396 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 cashire, about the year 1785, at Morney, near Preston, by the house 
 of Livesey, Hargreaves, Hull, & Co.; celebrated for the extent of 
 their concerns, and the magnitude of their failure in 1788, which 
 gave a severe shock to the industry of that part of the country. 
 This new mode of printing may be thus described :—A polished 
 copper cylinder, several feet in length, (according to the width of 
 the piece to be printed,) and three or four inches in diameter, is 
 engraved with a pattern round its whole circumference, and from 
 end to end. It is then placed horizontally in a press, and, as it 
 revolves, the lower part of the circumference passes through the 
 colouring matter, which is again removed from the whole surface 
 of the cylinder, except the engraved pattern, by an elastic steel 
 blade, placed in contact with the cylinder, and reduced to so fine 
 and straight an edge as to take off the colour without scratching 
 the copper. This blade has received the name of the doctor, 
 which may be a workman’s abbreviation of the word abductor, 
 applied to it from the purpose which it answers; or may have 
 been given from a vulgar use of the word to doctor, meaning to 
 set to rights. The colour being thus left only in the engraved 
 pattern, the piece of calico or muslin is drawn lightly over the 
 cylinder, which revolves in the same direction, and prints the cloth. 
 After the piece is printed, it passes over several metallic boxes, six 
 feet long, ten inches broad, and six inches deep, heated by steam, 
 which dry it. A piece of cloth may be thus printed and dried in 
 one or two minutes, which by the old method would require the 
 application of the block 448 times. Nor is this all: two, three and 
 even five cylinders may be used at the same time in one press ; 
 each cylinder having engraved upon it a different portion of the 
 pattern, and being supplied with a different colour. The piece 
 passes over them successively, and receives the entire pattern 
 almost at the same moment. 'T’o produce the same effect by hand 
 block printing would have required 896, 1344, 1792, or 2240 ap- 
 plications of the blocks, according as two, three, four or five cylin- 
 ders may have been employed. ‘The saving of labour, therefore, 
 is immense: oneof the cylinder printing machines, attended by a 
 man and a boy, is actually capable of producing as much work 
 as one hundred block printers and as many tear boys. But the 
 course of improvement did not stop here. Another admirable inven- 
 tion, analogous to that just described, multiplied the advantage 
 of cylinder printing. 
 
 The process of engraving itself, instead of being executed by the 
 graver on the whole surface of the copper cylinder, is now performed 
 by mechanical pressure, which transfers the pattern from a very 
 small steel cylinder, only about three inches in length and one in 
 
CALICO PRINTING. 397 
 
 diameter, to the copper cylinder three or four feet in length. The 
 principle of this invention is the same which Mr. Jacob Perkins 
 applied to the multiplication of plates for the printing of bank- 
 notes, and Mr. Perkins has the reputation of being its inventor. 
 Mr. Joseph Lockett, engraver for calico-printers in Manchester, 
 introduced this system about the year 1808: he may be consider- 
 ed as at least one of the inventors, and he certainly did more than 
 any other person to perfect it. The method of transferring is as 
 follows :—The pattern intended to be engraved is so arranged in 
 the first place by a drawing made to agree with the circumference 
 of the copper cylinder, as that it will join and appear continuous 
 when repeated. This is then carefully followed by the engraver, 
 and cut or sunk on a small steel cylinder, about three inches long 
 and one thick, so softened or decarbonised as to admit of being 
 easily cut. The steel is then tempered or hardened, and by means 
 of pressure against another cylinder of softened steel, a fac-simile 
 is made in relief, that is, raised upon the surface. ‘The second 
 cylinder is then hardened in the same way, and it becomes hard 
 enough to impress the whole engraving, even to the most delicate 
 lines on the copper cylinder, when pressed against it in a machine. 
 The small cylinder originally engraved is called the die; the 
 second cylinder, which is in relief, is called the mill. 'The latter 
 is successively applied to the whole circumference of the copper 
 cylinder, which is thus entirely covered with the pattern, as finely 
 wrought as if it had been directly produced by the tool of the 
 engraver. The surface of the die originally engraved is not more 
 than about one-fiftieth part of the surface of the copper cylinder, 
 and the engraving itself is therefore multiplied fifty-fold. By this 
 means the most delicate designs, which would occupy an engraver 
 as many months to effect by hand, can be completed in a few days ; 
 of course the cylinders are produced at a much less price, and they 
 may be executed in a very superior manner. Should the copper 
 cylinder be so far worn as to require the pattern to be re-engraved, 
 it can be done by the same process with amazing rapidity, and at 
 a very trifling cost, as the mill is already prepared. 
 
 Other modes of transferring are practised. In some cases the 
 die is cut on a flat surface, and the pattern transferred in relief to 
 a cylinder, which again transfers it to the copper cylinder at 
 proper distances on the surface. In other cases the die is cylin- 
 drical, and the mill flat. When the design is very small, and 
 requires to be repeated a great number of times on the copper 
 cylinder, the pattern is engraved round the whole of the steel 
 cylinder, so as to join or meet in the circumference, and at such 
 
398 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 equal distances that every repetition, or part forming the pattern, 
 will fall into its fac-simile, like the teeth in a wheel. The mill is 
 then placed in contact with and compressed into the copper 
 cylinder, by means of machinery which is made to traverse by a 
 spiral movement, until the whole of the copper cylinder is covered. 
 By this means the most minute patterns are produced, such as 
 human ingenuity could not accomplish by any other method. 
 Sometimes the copper cylinders are etched, instead of being en- 
 graved,—a plan invented by Mr. John Bradbury of Manchester, 
 extensively practised by Messrs. Joseph Lockett, jr. & Co.; and 
 which is likely to prove of very great benefit to the printing 
 business. 'The polished cylinder, having been heated, is covered 
 with a thin coat of varnish, such as is used by historical engravers. 
 
 The pattern is then traced on the cylinder with a diamond pointed 
 tracer, by means of a most complicated and ingenious system of 
 ninahingby the invention of Mr. Lockett, sen.; and the varnish 
 having been thus removed from the figure, the cylinder is im- 
 mersed in aquafortis, and the parts exposed become corroded or 
 engraved. The value of this process depends entirely onthe beauty 
 and novelty of the pattern. ‘The tracing machinery is capable, 
 
 like the kaleidoscope, of producing an endless variety of patterns, 
 
 yet without being, like that instrument, dependent on mere acci- 
 dent for its changes. It has been so far perfected, that it will 
 follow to a considerable extent designs made by persons perfectly 
 unacquainted with its construction ; and patterns may be produced 
 by it which cannot be copied, or in many instances even imitated, 
 by other means. 
 
 So great is the reputation acquired by the engravers of Man- 
 chester, from their skill and the perfection of their machinery, 
 that orders are sent there for engraved cylinders from all parts of 
 Europe and America where cylinder printing is practised; even 
 though the cost and risk of getting them to their destination should 
 treble or quadruple their original price. 
 
 The beautiful and admirable inventions we have described, do 
 not complete even the mechanical improvements in calico printing. 
 It is still found necessary to execute parts of the patterns in fine 
 goods with blocks, after the ground-work has been laid on by the 
 cylinders; because different parts of the pattern, executed with 
 different colours, cannot be made so exactly to fall into and fit with 
 the other parts, by the cylinder as by the block. About the year 
 1802, an important improvement was made in the construction of 
 blocks, for which the art is indebted to the workmen of London. 
 Formerly all the blocks were cut in wood, like ordinary wood-cuts 
 
CALICO PRINTING. 399 
 
 used in the prints of books, but the work was necessarily coarser, 
 to endure the wear and tear of so many impressions; each piece 
 of cloth, as has been stated, requires the application of the block 
 448 times, and, of course, 100 pieces would require its application 
 44,800 times. If the design, therefore, was fine and elaborate, 
 the bleck would soon wear away. The improvement effected re- 
 moves this objection. ‘The pattern, instead of being cut in relief 
 on the wood, is (in many cases), raised on the surface of a plain 
 block, by pieces uf flat copper, or brass wire, of various thicknesses 
 and forms, produced by drawing the wire through dies of various 
 shapes. ‘These pieces of wire are set into the wood, and all stand 
 exactly the same height, namely, about the eighth of an inch. 
 The thicker parts of the pattern have merely the outline formed 
 of copper, and they are filled up with felt. Blocks on this im- 
 proved construction are ten-fold more durable than the old wooden 
 blocks, and when the metal is worn down nearly to the surface of 
 the wood, the last impression is as good as the first. The success- 
 ful application of engraved copper cylinders to printing, was fol- 
 lowed by that of cylindrical blocks, or engraved wooden rollers. 
 This mode of printing, which is practised extensively in some 
 establishments, is called surface-printing. The union of the two 
 systems in the same machine, that is, of a wooden cylinder in 
 relief with an engraved copper cylinder, forms what has been 
 denominated the union or mule machine, and was the invention of 
 Mr. James Burton, about the year 1805, whilst he was engineer in 
 the establishment of Messrs. Peel & Co., of Church. 
 
 Many minor improvements have been made in the mechanical 
 department of calico printing, but those which have been described 
 are by far the greatest, and for ingenuity and beauty, as well as 
 for productive power, they well deserve to rank with the more 
 celebrated inventions in cotton spinning. 'The chemical depart- 
 ment of printing has been not less rich in discoveries than the 
 mechanical. 
 
 The proper use of mordants lies at the foundation of the dyer’s 
 art. 'The nature of mordants is thus explained by Dr. Thomson: 
 “ The term mordant is applied by dyers to certain substances with 
 which the cloth to be dyed must be impregnated, otherwise the 
 colouring matters would not adhere to the cloth, but would be 
 removed by washing. Thus the red colour given to cotton by 
 madder would not be fixed, unless the cloth were previously steep- 
 ed inasolution of a salt of alumina. It has been ascertained that 
 the cloth has the property of decomposing the salt of alumina. 
 The red colouring principle of the madder has an affinity for this 
 
 he 
 
A00 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 alumina, and combines with it. The consequence is that the 
 alumina being firmly retained by the cloth, and the colouring 
 matter by the alumina, the dye becomes fast, or cannot be removed. 
 by washing the cloth with water, even by the assistance of soap, 
 though simple water is sufficient to remove the red colouring 
 matter from the cloth, unless the alum mordant has been pre- 
 viously applied.” 
 
 Mordant is also applied to certain substances, which have the 
 property of altering the shade of colour, or of brightening the 
 colour as it is called. The most valuable of all mordants is the 
 acetated aluminous mordant, first employed by the calico-printers 
 of England. By degrees they found out that sugar of lead and. 
 alum were the most important, and they discarded first one and 
 then another of the ingredients they had been accustomed to mix 
 with them, though without the aid of any chemical reasoning. 
 The process of cylinder printing is very commonly employed to 
 fix the mordant on the cloth, which is afterwards put into the dye- 
 vat, when those parts only receive the colour which had previous- 
 ly been printed with the mordant, the other parts remaining white. 
 
 This was soon followed by the discovery of the process for pro- 
 ducing what has been named resist-work, or neutral work. It 
 consists in printing various mordants on those parts of the cloth 
 intended to be coloured, and a paste or resist on such as are in- 
 tended to remain white. It is the invention of a person named 
 Grouse. It required the experience of a year or two to perfect 
 this system, and make it practically useful. ‘The house of Sir 
 Robert Peel, of Bury, was the first to print by this plan so as to 
 attract notice, 1802: it is now one of the most beautiful and per- 
 fect of the operations of modern calico printing. The discovery 
 of new facts, as well as the ingenious application of known ones, 
 has enabled Mr. Mercer of Oakenshaw to make the bronze style 
 his own, and literally to transmute the ores of manganese into 
 ores of gold. This ingenious individual possesses a store of 
 knowledge and facts unknown to scientific chemists, and sought 
 for in vain in their latest works. It is to be hoped he will have 
 both leisure and inclination at some time to present a portion of 
 his labours to the world. 
 
 The large print-vorks of Lancashire are among the most in- 
 teresting manufactories that can be visited. Several of the pro- 
 prietors or managers are scientific men ; and being also persons 
 of large capital, they have the most perfect machinery and the best 
 furnished laboratories. All the processes through which the cloth 
 has to pass, from the state in which it is left by the weaver, till it 
 
 — 
 
CALICO PRINTING. AOL 
 
 is made up a finished print ready for the foreign or home market, 
 are performed in these extensive establishments. .The bleaching, 
 the block-printing, the cylinder-printing, the dyeing, the engraving, 
 both of blocks and cylinders, the designing of patterns, and the 
 preparation of colours, all go on within the same enclosure. Some 
 of the print works employ as many as a thousand workpeople. 
 The order and cleanliness of the works, and the remarkable 
 beauty of most of the operations, impress the visitor with admira- 
 tion and surprise. <A printing establishment, like a cotton mill, is 
 a wonderful triumph of modern science ; and when the mechani- 
 cal and chemical improvements of both are viewed together, they 
 form a splendid and matchless exhibition of science applied to the 
 arts, and easily account for a rapidity of growth and a vastness of 
 extension in the manufacture, which has no parallel in the records 
 of industry. 
 
 Calico printing from cylinders.—Many of the patterns on printed 
 calicoes are copies by printing from copper cylinders about four 
 or five inches in diameter, on which the desired pattern has been 
 previously engraved. One portion of the cylinders is exposed to 
 the ink, whilst an elastic scraper of stuffed leather, by being 
 pressed forcibly against another part, removes all superfluous ink 
 from the surface previously to its reaching the cloth. A piece of 
 calico twenty-eight yards in length rolls through this press, and 
 is printed in four or five minutes. ) 
 
 Calico printing from blocks.—'This is a mode of copying by sur- 
 face-printing, from the ends of small pieces of copper wire, of 
 various forms, fixed in a block of wood. ‘They are all of one 
 uniform height, about the eighth part of an inch above the suriace 
 of the wood, and are arranged by the maker into any required 
 pattern. If the block be placed upon a piece of fine woollen 
 cloth, on which ink of any colour has been uniformly spread, the 
 projecting copper wires receive a portion which they give up when 
 applied to the calico to be printed. By the former method of 
 printing on calico, only one colour could be used ; but by this 
 plan, after the flower of a rose, for example, has been printed with 
 one set of blocks, the leaves may be printed of another colour by 
 a different set. 
 
 The following account was sent me from Messrs. Marshall’s 
 establishment :— 
 
 Stockport, January 20th, 1836. 
 
 The Hudson print works (Stockport) were first established in 1826 on a 
 very small scale; with one printing machine, small dye-house, and other 
 
 51 
 
402 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 necessary operations, such as bleaching, &c.; sufficient for printing about 
 3000 yards per day. In the course of the year 1828 there were three print- 
 ing machines imported from England, with all their necessary apparatus for 
 dyeing the cloth by steam, and in the course of that and the two following 
 years, the company were able to print 10,000 yards per day. About this time 
 a new bleaching house was requisite, as the first one was on too small a scale. 
 And a new dye-house and other offices were needful to keep pace with the 
 three printing machines. In the year 1830 we had a severe fire, which burnt 
 down the above bleaching house, and destroyed about 30,000 pieces of 30 
 yards each; say 900,000 yards. 
 
 At this time we erected other bleach works, competent to bleaching from 
 four to five thousand pieces per week, and out of the ruins of the old bleach- 
 ing house, which was a four story building, made a second dye-house. This 
 being accomplished we were able to finish regularly 2,000 pieces per week, 
 of permanent madder colours, besides our navy blues, &c. making in all 2500 
 pieces, or 75,000 yards per week. Our works now run much ahead of this. 
 In our block shop we employ 42 block printers for printing by hand. We 
 have now increased our establishment to five printing machines, two of 
 which print four colours at once and three of three colours each, of the very 
 best models in England and lately imported. With our present works, we 
 can print an average of 120 pieces on each of these machines per day, 
 making 600 pieces of 30 yards each, or 18,000 yards. Or in one year of fifty 
 weeks, 5,400,000 yards, worth on an average 18 cents per yard, equal to 
 $972,000 per year in sales. We employ about 250 hands, most of them men. 
 We have every thing within ourselves for finishing the above in the first 
 rate style of prints, either calicoes or furnitures. From the above you will 
 find that we have increased since 1826 to this time from 300 to 1800 yards 
 per day, and those of as good and fast colours as can be made in either 
 England, France, &c. 
 
 Hudson Calico Print Works, of Marshall, Carville, §& Taylor. 
 
 The upper part of the calico works form a square; from the counting- 
 house, which is at the entrance, we have a dry shed for drying the pieces, 
 200 feet long, running in a southerly direction ; thence 200"feet east of the 
 river, which supplies our water power. From the office in a northerly 
 direction is a space of 200 feet, in the middle of which runs one string of 
 buildings, occupied as follows, measuring in all 500 feet in height :— 
 
 1. Blue dye-house, 90 feet long 4 stories. 
 2. Machine, &c. and making-up rooms, 100_— do. 4 do. 
 3. Steaming and boiler rooms, 60 do. 4 do. 
 4. Drying and colour rooms, 80 do. 3 do. 
 5. Boiling and evaporating room, 70 = do. 1 do. 
 6. Block cutting, engraving, and drawing rooms, 100 do. 2 do. 
 
 In a northerly direction there are 200 feet, which is taken up by a two story 
 piazza of 130 feet, as a conveyance from the above string of buildings to the 
 madder dye-house, runs in an easterly direction, making the square above 
 mentioned. In this square we have four other buildings: packing-room, 
 where all our goods are packed for the market, our store-house for drugs, 
 &e., one cloth room where all our printing cloths are stored secure from fire. 
 The fourth is our block shop. 
 
CALICO PRINTING. 403 
 
 Besides the above buildings, we have our machine-shop, carpenter’s shop, 
 mills for grinding dye-woods, calenders for glazing, a dye-house, machine 
 room, with three printing machine rooms, &c. for airing the goods after 
 printing, with water power not half employed. 
 
 The madder dye house mentioned above, 286 feet long by 50 wide, I 
 
 believe to be the largest ever built for that purpose; the main shaft frame 
 
 water wheel being more than 300 feet long. Hoping this will give you 
 some insight how far we have proceeded in calico printing, I remain 
 your obedient servant, J. Tayor. 
 
 P.S. on the manufacturing of shirtings and fine printing cloths:—The 
 two brothers, Joseph and Benjamin Marshall, having dissolved partnership, 
 Benjamin Marshall at Troy has now all the factories ; he makes the finest 
 shirtings in the country, called the New York mills shirtings, besides the 
 finest printing cloths. 
 
 Before the commencement of the printing bnsiness, the cotton 
 manufacture was considered in a precarious condition ; so that no 
 one ventured on the finer fabrics, but since calico printing has 
 been established, the cotton manufactures in the United States 
 may safely be considered as built on a permanent basis. 
 
 The home consumption of cotton prints is immense ; already the 
 English and French articles have left our stores; and shortly 
 printed goods will be sent to South America and other markets. 
 Calico printing must therefore be considered of immense import- 
 ance, both to the culture and manufacture of cotton. It is but 
 yet in its infancy, and is capable of vast extension and improve- 
 ment. 
 
 After the manufacture of the cloth is complete, there is the im- 
 portant process of bleaching to be undergone by all cotton goods, 
 by which the rough, gray, and dirty fabric brought in by the wea- 
 ver, is converted into the smooth and snowy cloth ready for the. 
 hands of the sempstress. The processes vary a little in duration 
 and frequency, according to the quality of the cloth to be bleached. 
 Every thing is done by machinery or by chemical agents, and the 
 large bleach works require steam engines of considerable power. 
 Human hands only convey the cloth from process to process. 
 There is much beauty in many of the operations ; and great skill 
 is needed in the mere disposition of the several cisterns and 
 machines, so that the goods may pass through the processes with 
 the smallest expenditure of time. Large capital has been expended 
 in many of the bleach works in England; and extraordinary per 
 fection has been attained in the machinery and in all the details 
 of the arrangements; strict method and order prevail; the 
 managers are men of science, who are eager to adopt every che- 
 
AOA MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 mical and mechanical improvement that may occur to themselves 
 or to others. So greatly has bleaching been cheapened and 
 quickened by the discoveries of modern science, that it costs only 
 one cent a yard on the cloth bleached and finished. 
 
 Mr. Baines states that “the Americans print few of their cloths ;” 
 this must have referred to past information. From the calculations 
 Ihave been able to make, one hundred and twenty millions of 
 yards have been printed in the United States the last year, ending 
 the Ist of April, 1836. And the prospect of an advance in quan- 
 tity and quality is very great, as the demand justifies every exer- 
 tion and improvement. In Rhode Island and Massachusetts the 
 printing establishments are very considerable :—P. Allen, Provi- 
 dence ; Sprague, Cranston; Crawford Allen, Pawtucket; one at 
 Lowell, one at Taunton, and one at Fall River ; one at Dover, New 
 Hampshire ; two at East Madden, Cheshire, two or three in New 
 Jersey, and ten or twelve in Pennsylvania. The bleaching busi- 
 ness is generally connected with the calico printing, as is the case 
 of the Marshall’s at Hudson.* 
 
 * The repeal of the print duty in England has proved highly beneficial, 
 having given a stimulus both to production and to improvement. To the 
 consumer it is a great relief, especially to the poor, as a woman can now 
 buy a useful and respectable printed dress for half-a-crown, which before 
 the repeal of the duty was a third more. A printed dress of good materials 
 and a neat pattern, with fast colours, may now be bought for two shillings, 
 or forty-seven cents. The large print works of Lancashire are among the 
 most interesting manufactories that can be visited. Several of the proprie- 
 tors or managers are scientific men ; and being also persons of large capital, 
 they have the most perfect machinery and the best furnished laboratories. 
 
 All the proceeses through ywiiich the cloth has to pass, from the state in — 
 
 which it is left by the weaver, till it is made up a finished print ready for — 
 the foreign or home market, are performed in these extensive establishments. ~~ 
 The bleaching, the block printing, the cylinder printing, the dyeing, the ae 
 engraving both of blocks and cylinders, the designing of patterns, and the © 
 preparation of colours, all go on within the same enclosure. Some of the 
 print-works employ as many as a thousand work-people. The order and 
 cleanness of the works, and the remarkable beauty of most of the operations, 
 impress the visiter with admiration and surprise. 
 
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SILK MACHINERY. wt A0D5 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SILK MACHINERY. 
 
 Bobbin Mechanism. 
 
 The plate annexed represents the series of changes from 
 the formation of the egg to the death of the silk moth. We 
 shall explain it with reference to the figures that are marked 
 upon it. ay 7 
 . The egg, or the development and birth of the silk-caterpillar, 
 . The silk-worms, during the first age, till their first moulting. 
 . Rearing of the worms in the second age. 
 
 . The worms in their third age. 
 
 . Rearing.of the silk-worm in the fourth age. 
 
 . The rearing of the silk-worms during the fifth age, until the 
 completion of the cocoon. : 
 
 7. A species of silk-worm of a dark gray colour, with singular 
 marks, 
 
 8. The cocoons. 
 
 9. 'I'wo open cocoons, or cocoons with their grubs. 'The upper 
 one contains only the shell of a developed chrysalis, but in the 
 lower is seen the immature chrysalis, with the skin of the late 
 moth. | 
 
 10. A cocoon, from which the butterfly is near emerging. 
 11. A cocoon from which the butterfly has already escaped. 
 
 12. 'T'wo butterflies in the act of coupling. 
 
 13. The female moth laying eggs. 
 
 14. Raw silk, of a yellow or white colour. 
 
 15. Here is represented the excremental substance of the silk- 
 worm, in its first and last age. 
 
 The silk-worm is a robust little animal, and its organisation is 
 
 Ook HWE 
 
406 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 simple ; but the rearing of it is often so defective, that, notwith- 
 standing its sound constitution, it frequently perishes from the ill 
 management it experiences in its rearing. 
 
 It must not be concealed, that some antagonists of this industry 
 have maintained that it is injurious to the human constitution. 
 But this is a mere prejudice, or a vain pretence. No human being 
 has yet suffered, bodily, from this cause. 
 
 Silk Engine or Swift 
 
 - hin [in 
 
 The machinery of the silk filature, from Dr. Ure-—'These filatures 
 are very simple ; but the throwing-mills, for doubling and twist- 
 ing silk, are most elaborate constructions. Ever since they were 
 remodeled by Fairbairn, and upon the cotton-throstle plan, they 
 are incomparably superior in convenience, precision and speed of 
 performance, to what they formerly were in England, and still are 
 in other parts of Europe. When these mechanicians took the 
 silk-mill in hand, the spindles moved at the rate of only 1,200 
 revolutions per minute: they forthwith raised it to 3,000,—a velo- 
 city since increased. to 4,500 by Ritson, a cotton mill mechanic, 
 in whose favour they resigned this branch of engineering. ‘The 
 representations inserted are parts of a complete series of drawings 
 made, under my inspection, from the latest and most improved 
 silk-throwing machinery erected by him. ‘The first operation 
 
SILK MACHINERY. | 407 
 
 which raw silk undergoes in the factory, is its transfer, from skeins 
 upon bobbins, in diagonal lines; so that the ends of the threads 
 may be readily found, in case of breakage. The bobbins are 
 wooden cylinders of such thickness as not to injure the filaments 
 _ by sudden flexure, which smaller cylinders would do, and to be 
 able to receive a considerable length of thread without materially 
 increasing their diameters; and, of course, their surface velocity 
 in revolving. 
 
 The winding machine, called the engine, consists of a long 
 wooden table, for laying out the skeins upon. These are called 
 swifts, because, though they turn slowly round with the revolving 
 bobbins, yet they do their work quickly, compared with hand- 
 winding machines. 
 
 Doubling Engine.—In the doubling of silk, where two or three 
 threads are wound, parallel together, upon one bobbin, an inge- 
 nious contrivance is employed to stop the winding whenever one 
 of the threads happens to break. 
 
 Mechanism of Doubling Mill. 
 
 The machine for twisting the single threads of silk, either be- 
 fore the doubling or after the doubling, is called the spinning-mill, 
 sometimes also the throwing-mill; though the latter term often 
 
A08 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 End view of Fairbairn’s and Lillie’s improved Silk Spinning Mill. 
 
 includes all the departments of a silk-mill. The section above, of 
 this apparatus, shows four equal working lines, namely, two on 
 each side of the frame, one tier being over the other. In some 
 spinning mills there are three tiers, but the uppermost is a little 
 troublesome to manage, as it requires the attendant to mount a 
 stool or steps. 
 
 Silk undergoes certain preparations. The hanks of the raw 
 silk are soaked in tepid soap-water in a tub; but the bobbins of the 
 spun silk are steamed by inclosing a basket full of them within a 
 wooden steam case, for about ten minutes. ‘The bobbins are then 
 removed into a cistern of warm water, from which they are taken 
 to the doubling frame. It is probable that the power-loom will be 
 applied to the weaving of fancy, as well as plain goods; which 
 will give a great impulsion to the silk trade of England. Sharp 
 é& Roberts will readily furnish the requisite machinery for pro- 
 ducing any wished-for design, however complicated. What is to 
 prevent its introduction into America? In silk establishments, the 
 
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SILK MACHINERY. 409 
 
 machinery can be, and often is, employed from three to six hours 
 after the hands have left work. When water- -power is used, the 
 
 | portion of the silk-machinery which contains the swifts, peaalle 
 works ny night without being tended. 
 
 NATURE AND OPERATIONS OF A SILK FACTORY. 
 
 The silk worm was first rendered serviceable to man in China, 
 about 2700 years before the Christian era. From that country 
 the art of rearing it passed into India and Persia. It was only at 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century that two monks brought 
 some eggs of the silk worm to Constantinople, and promulgated 
 some information on the growth of the caterpillars. This know- 
 ledge became, under the emperor Justinian, productive of a new 
 source of wealth to the European nations. In 1564, Traucat, a 
 common gardener of Nismes, laid the first foundation of a nursery 
 of white mulberry trees, with such success as to enable them to be 
 propagated within a few years over all the southern provinces of 
 France. 
 
 This insect is first an egg, which the warmth of spring brings 
 forth : and this, as it enlarges, progressively casts its skin three or 
 four times, according to the variety of the insect. This caterpillar 
 at the end of twenty-five or thirty days having attained maturity 
 of size, ceases to eat for the remainder of its life, merely discharges 
 its excrementitious matter by spinning a cocoon, within which it 
 is changed into a chrysalis. In fifteen or twenty days they come 
 out, a couple of butterflies, male and female. 
 
 The eggs of the silk worm are covered with a liquid, which 
 glues them to the piece of paper on which the female lays them ; 
 and they may be freed from it by dipping them in cold water, iti 
 afterwards drying them. They should be preserved at the tem- 
 perature of from 54° to 59° Farenheit. When the heats of April 
 begin to be felt, they must not be suffered to act on the eggs, be- 
 cause they would bring on incubation before the first shoots of 
 the mulberry have come forth to supply food to the young worms. 
 This period should be kept back also, becanse it is proper to hatch 
 almost all the eggs together, or at least in successive broods cor- 
 responding to the extent of the breeding establishment. The eggs 
 may be laid in a stove room, and exposed to a warmth gradually 
 increasing, till it reaches the temperature of 86° Fahrenheit, at 
 which it must be kept stationary. Nature finishes the work of in- 
 cubation in eight or ten days. ‘The teeming seed is now covered 
 with a sheet of paper pierced with holes, about one twelfth of an 
 
 52 
 
A10 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 inch in diameter, through which the young worms creep upwards 
 instinctively to get at the mulberry leaves previously placed above. 
 Whenever the leaves become loaded with worms, they are trans- 
 ferred to plates of wicker work covered with grey paper. This 
 transfer is repeated twice every day. 
 
 In the course of from forty-eight to seventy-two hours the whole 
 of the eggs should be hatched. The nursery for breeding the 
 worms ought to be a well aired apartment, free from damp, cold, 
 and excess of heat, from rats and other destructive vermin. For 
 breeding twenty-one ounces avoirdupois of seed, the chamber 
 should be thirty-three feet wide by eighty feet long, and be provided 
 with fire-places for heating and ventilating it; the window case- 
 ments should be glazed. The temperature must not be allowed to 
 fall under 66° Fahrenheit ; it may be raised to 92° Fahrenheit, or 
 even higher; but from 68° to 86° Fahrenheit, is the ordinary 
 range. A current of air should be admitted to purify the atmo- 
 sphere from the fetid emanations of the caterpillars, their excre- 
 ments, and the decayed leaves. Light is nowise unfavourable ; 
 but may be regarded as in some respects advantageous. A spare 
 room should be set apart for the diseased worms. 
 
 A few osier mats may suffice while the worms are young, but 
 more are required in proportion as they grow larger, to prevent 
 their getting piled on each other. The supply of leaves must be 
 proportional to the age of the brood, and ought to be increased 
 when nothing but their ribs are left. ‘The very young should be 
 fed with leaves minced small, and should not be troubled with the 
 removal of the litter, which is trifling. At a future stage it must 
 be removed with delicacy, to give the worms more air, on the new 
 wicker frames, without parting them too far. 
 
 Before each moulting, the worm has a keen appetite, but during 
 that process it loses it entirely, and falls into a languid state, from 
 which it immediately revives on casting its skin. The pieces of 
 paper are withdrawn from the bottom of the wicker-frames to per- 
 mit a free transmission of air between their interstices, whenever 
 the worms have become large enough not to fall through them. 
 After the second moulting, they are half an inch long, and may 
 then be transported from the smaller apartment, in which they are 
 hatched, into the larger one, where they are to be reared to maturity. 
 They must be well cleaned from the litter on this occasion, laid 
 upon fresh leaves, and supplied with a succession of them, cut in 
 pieces, every six hours. After the third moult, the worms may be 
 fed with entire leaves ; for they are then extremely voracious, and 
 must not be stinted in their diet. ‘The same remark is still more 
 
: SILK MACHINERY. All 
 
 applicable to the period after the fourth moult. ‘The heat should 
 now be limited to 68° or 70° Fahrenheit. In every period of their 
 existence, the silk worms are liable to a variety of diseases, under 
 which they derive benefit from the exposure of portions of chlo- 
 ride of lime in their nurseries. When they have reached the fifth 
 stage, they cease to eat ; they void their excrements, diminish in 
 bulk, become somewhat semi-transparent, abandon the leaves, try 
 to crawl on the upright posts, and to conceal themselves in corners. 
 These symptoms indicate the development of the spinning instinct. 
 Green oak twigs are to be laid in parallel rows on the wicker 
 tablets in the form of little alleys, eighteen inches wide, with their 
 little ramifications interwoven above. ‘The worms of two tablets 
 are to be collected on one, and freed from all their litter. Little 
 coils of paper and of wood shavings are placed alongside of the 
 diligent worms first, and, after a while, of the lazier ones. 'The 
 creature sets itself to construct its cocoon, throwing about its 
 thread in different directions, forming the floss, filoselle, or outer 
 open net work. But it soon begins its regular operation of wind- 
 ing round about, in nearly parallel lines, a fine thread into an egg- 
 shaped form, in the centre of which the caterpillar sits at work. 
 The matter of the silk is liquid in the body of the worm, but it 
 hardens in the air. The twin filaments, which the animal always 
 spins through its double tubular mouth, are agglutinated by that 
 liquid cement. The same matter may be extracted in a lump 
 from the body of the worm, and drawn out artificially into a thin 
 transparent web, or into threads of variable diameters. ‘The 
 cocoons are completed in the course of three or four days, after 
 which they must be removed from the branches and sorted, the 
 finest being reserved for seed worms. The cocoons which are to 
 be unwound must not be allowed to remain with the worms ten 
 or twelve days alive within them ; for if the chrysalis has time to 
 come out, the cocoon would be cut through, and be useless. "The 
 animal must be killed by suffocation, which is effected either by 
 exposing the cocoons for five days to the sunshine, by placing them 
 in a hot oven, or in the steam of boiling water. 
 
 The erection of the first mill in England for the manufacture of 
 silk was at Derby. The original mill, called the Silk Mill to de- 
 note its pre-eminence, being the first and largest of its kind ever 
 erected in England, stands upon an island in the river Derwent. 
 Its history remarkably denotes the power of genius, and the vast 
 influence which even the enterprises of an individual has on the 
 commerce of a country. The Italians were long in the exclusive 
 possession of the art of silk throwing, and the merchants of other 
 
A412 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 nations were consequently dependent on that people for their par- 
 ticipation in a very lucrative article of trade, and were frequently 
 deprived of their fair profits by exorbitant prices charged for the 
 original material. This state of things continued till the com- 
 mencement of the last century, when a person named Crotchet 
 erected a small mill near the present works, with an intention of 
 introducing the silk manufacture into England ; but his machinery 
 being inadequate to the purpose, he quickly became insolvent, and 
 the design was for some time abandoned. In the year 1715, a 
 similar idea began to expand in the mind of an excellent mechanic 
 and draughtsman, John Lombe, who though young, resolved on 
 the perilous task of traveling into Italy, to procure drawings or 
 models of the machines necessary for the undertaking. In Italy 
 he remained some time, but as admission to the silk-works was 
 prohibited, he could only obtain access by corrupting two of the 
 workmen, through whose assistance he inspected the machinery in 
 private ; and whatever parts he obtained a knowledge of during 
 these visits, he recorded on paper before he slept. By perseverance 
 in this mode of conduct, he made himself acquainted with the 
 whole; and had just completed his plan, when his intention was 
 discovered, and his life being in extreme hazard, he flew with pre- 
 cipitation, and took refuge on ship-board. The two Italians who 
 had favoured his scheme, and whose lives wee in equal danger 
 with his own, accompanied him, and they all soon landed in safety 
 in England: this happened in 1717. Fixing on Derby as a pro- 
 per place for his purpose, he agreed with the corporation for an 
 island, or swamp, in the river, 500 feet long, and 52 wide, ata 
 rent somewhat below £8 yearly. Here he established his silk-mill ; 
 but during the time employed in its construction, he erected tem- 
 porary machines in the town-hall, and various other places; by 
 which means he not only reduced the prices of silk far below the 
 Italians, but was likewise enabled to proceed with his great under- 
 taking, though the charges amounted to nearly £30,000. In the 
 year 1718 he procured a patent to enable him to secure the profits 
 thus arising from his address and ingenuity, for the term of four- 
 teen years; but his days verged to a close, and before half this 
 period had elapsed, treachery and poison had brought him to the 
 grave. ‘The Italians, whose trade rapidly decreased from the 
 success of the new establishment, were exasperated to vengeance, 
 and vowed the destruction of the man whose ingenuity had thus 
 turned the current of their business into another channel. 
 
 It is in the production of the patterns of silk goods, that the 
 French have a decided advantage over the British; they probably 
 
SILK MACHINERY. A413 
 
 have little or none after the design is put into the loom. The 
 modes in which taste is cultivated at Lyons deserve particular 
 study and imitation in this country. Among the weavers of the 
 place, the children and every body connected with devising 
 _ patterns, much attention is devoted to every thing any way con- 
 nected with the beautiful either in figure or colour. Weavers 
 may be seen in their holiday leisure gathering flowers, and group- 
 ing them in the most engaging combinations. They are continu- 
 ally suggesting new designs to their employers, and are thus the 
 fruitful source of elegant patterns. There is hardly any consider- 
 able house in Lyons, in which there is not a partner who owes 
 his place in it to his success as an artist. The town of Lyons is 
 so conscious of the value of such studies, that it contributes 20,000 
 francs per annum to the government establishment of the school 
 of arts, which takes charge of every youth who shows an aptitude 
 for drawing, or imitative design of any kind, applicable to manu- 
 factures. Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, even botanists 
 and florists of Lyons, become eventually associated with the staple 
 trade, and devote to it their happiest conceptions. The French 
 manufacturer justly considers that his pattern is the principal 
 element of his success in trade ; for the mere handiwork of weav- 
 ing is a simple affair, with the improved Jacquard loom. He 
 therefore visits the school, and picks out the boy who promises, 
 by taste and invention, to suit his purpose the best. ‘I'he French 
 weaver prides himself upon his knowledge of design ; he will turn 
 over several hundred patterns in his possession, and descant on 
 their relative merits, seldom erring far in predicting the success 
 of any new style. By this disposition the minds of the silk- 
 weavers in France become elevated and refined. In flower 
 patterns, their designs are remarkably free from incongruities, 
 being copied from nature with scientific precision. They supply 
 taste to the whole world in proportion to the extent of their expor- 
 tations. There are also weaving schools; in these, a pattern 
 being exhibited, they are required to exercise their invention as to 
 the best means of producing the design on a piece of silk goods. 
 Their superiority in art is turned to good account in many other 
 manufactures. | 
 
 England beheld, with no small degree of jealousy, the prodigious 
 plantations of mulberry trees in France, the increasing production 
 of silk, and the consequent multiplication of silk manufactures. 
 James I. accordingly endeavoured to introduce this industry into 
 his own kingdom; and, in 1608, a most earnest appeal was made 
 to the British public, in regard to the advantages that might be 
 
Al4 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 derived from the plantation of mulberry trees; but nothing was 
 done: and only as late as 1820, was this subject seriously taken 
 up ; some inconsiderable experiments having sufficiently establish- 
 ed the fact, that these trees, and the precious insects which feed 
 upon them, thrive as well in England as in France. But long 
 before that epoch, silk manufactures had flourished, to a consider- 
 able extent, in England; the raw silk being imported from Italy. 
 There existed already, in 1629, so many of these establishments 
 in London, that the weavers of the city and of the environs were 
 divided into corporations; and, in 1661, the individuals which 
 composed them were more than 40,000 in number. 
 
 The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed 
 greatly to the future progress of this industry; the most skilful 
 French weavers having taken refuge in England. Next to this 
 cause of the rapid progress of this manufacture, must be mentioned 
 the silk machine erected at Derby, in 1719. The reputation of 
 the English fabrics increased at length to such a degree, that even 
 in Italy English silk commanded a higher price than the Italian. 
 
 Silk has long been a profitable production of Georgia, and other 
 parts of the United States ;* and may be increased, it is presumed, 
 as fast as the demand will rise. This is the strongest of all raw — 
 materials, and the great empire of China, though abounding with — 
 cottton, finds it the cheapest clothing for her people. 
 
 Tench Coxe says, (1789) :—“ We have a large nursery of the 
 white Italian mulberry established here this summer. Within our- 
 selves, little can be expected ; but the idea of the nursery has been 
 encouraged upon this principle, that it prepares things for an emi- 
 gration from a silk country. ‘This, perhaps, is refining, but the 
 expense is small; the trees are wanted to replace those destroyed 
 by the British army; and the measure falls in with our plan, to 
 foster and encourage, but not to force, manufactures.” 
 
 * Extract from a description of Carolina, 1727. By Daniel Coxe, Esq. 
 __«“ The father of Daniel Coxe was the first proprietor of the English pro- 
 vince of Carolina. The vast trouble and expense of Governor Coxe, will 
 scarcely be credited; for he not only, at his sole charge, for several years, 
 established and kept up a correspondence with the governors, and chief 
 Indian traders in all the English colonies, on the continent of America, 
 employed many people on discoveries, by land, to the west, north and south 
 of this vast extent of ground, but likewise, in the year 1698, he equipped and 
 fitted out two ships, provided with above thirty great guns, sixteen patereroes, 
 abundance of small arms, amunition, stores and provisions of all sorts, not 
 only for the use of those on board, and for discovery by sea, but also for 
 building a fortification, and settling a colony by land; there being, in both 
 vessels, besides sailors and common men, above thirty English and French 
 
DYEING. AI5 
 
 HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE ART OF DYEING. 
 
 The desire of attracting public admiration may be observed 
 even in the least civilised state of society. Among the means of 
 distinction which are eagerly laid hold of, the glare of colours is 
 one of the most obvious. ‘The art of dyeing, therefore, has un- 
 questionably a very ancient origin; for when nature afforded 
 colouring substances of easy application, there might arise, among 
 people but slightly civilised, methods of dyeing which have been 
 sought after by polished nations. 'Thus the Gauls prepared some 
 dyes which were not disdained by the Romans. But for its 
 enlargement and perfection, the art required to follow the progress 
 of manufactures and luxury. The Egyptians had discovered a 
 mode of dyeing analogous to that of our printed calicoes. Cloths, 
 impregnated probably with different mordants, were plunged in a 
 bath in which they assumed different colours. 
 
 It is to Greece that our attention turns when we wish to ascer- 
 tain the progress which the human mind has made in antiquity. 
 
 volunteers, some noblemen, and all gentlemen. One of these vessels dis- 
 
 covered the mouth of the great and famous river, Mississippi, entered and 
 _ascended it above one hundred miles, and would have had perfected a settle- 
 - ment therein, if the captain of the other ship had done his duty and not 
 ' deserted them. They however took possession of this country in the king’s 
 name, and left, in several places, the arms of Great Britain affixed on boards 
 and trees for a memorial thereof. This was the first ship that ever entered 
 that river from the sea, or that perfectly discovered or described its several 
 mouths, in opposition to the boasts and falsities of the French, who assume 
 to themselves the honour of both; Providence seeming to reserve the glory, 
 of succeeding in so noble an enterprise, to the zeal and industry of a private 
 subject of England, which was twice, in vain, attempted by Louis XIV. of 
 France, the most ambitious and powerful monarch of Europe. King 
 William promised Governor Coxe to assist him in settling the province, but 
 died before the accomplishment of his design. 
 
 “To the king’s most excellent majesty,—‘In obedience to your majesty’s 
 commands, signified to us by the right honourable Secretary Vernon, upon 
 the petition of Dr. Coxe, in relation to the province of Carolina: We have 
 considered his petition, and humbly crave leave to represent unto your Ma- 
 Jesty, that your Majesty’s Attorney General, upon the perusal of letters 
 patent, and conveyances produced to him by Dr. Coxe, has reported to us 
 
 his opinion, that Dr. Coxe has a good title, in law, to the said province of 
 Carolina, extending from 31 to 36 degrees of north latitude, inclusive, on 
 the continent of America, and to several adjacent islands.’ 
 
 “Signed, Sramrorp, Lexiwweron, P. Meavows, Wm. Buarnwair, Joun 
 PotiextTren, Apranam Hitt, Georce STEpNey. 
 
 “ Whitehall, December 21, 1699.” 
 
 The petition was signed, D. Coxe. 
 
A16 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 Ever since philosophy has taken observation for a guide, and, 
 abandoning the illusions of systems, has adhered to the study of 
 the phenomena of nature, and of the real properties to which they 
 owe their origin, it has followed the chain of the numerous won- 
 
 ders which it has analysed, in subserviency to the welfare of — 
 
 society. It has recognised in manufacturing industry, as well as 
 in commerce, the source of the prosperity of the nation, the germ 
 of a great population, the principal support of agriculture. 
 National industry is augmented and enlightened by a free commu- 
 nication of the processes it employs. India is the nursery of that 
 
 knowledge and those arts which were subsequently S aaithet and | 
 
 improved among other nations.* 
 
 ON DYEING COTTON AND SILK. 
 
 To dye skein cotton yellow.—The same operations as at ee first z 
 common red dye are to be used here; to one pound of cotton four ounces pf . 
 
 roche alum, and from one to four pauitids of weld. 
 When dyed the cotton is to be worked in hot, but not boiling, Tes de con- 
 
 sisting of four ounces of sulphate of copper to every pound of cotton; it is © 
 
 then to be boiled for three hours in a solution containing four ounces of soap 
 to every pound of cotton. 
 
 When a dark or jonquil colour is wanted, no alum is used ; of weld take two 
 pounds and a half, very little verdegris, or a little alum in its stead, but 
 nothing else. For brightening, however, boiling in a solution of soap is in 
 all cases necessary. 
 
 On dyeing and re-dyeing cotton furniture yellow.—lIf the furniture, such 
 as rough or finished cotton or cambric, intended for yellow linings for bed 
 or window curtains, be in a perfect bleached state, which is now generally 
 the case, according to the number of the pieces so must the size of the cop- 
 per be to boil the weld in for the yellow dye. A small copper holding four 
 or five pails would do for three pieces of twenty-eight yards each. The 
 weld may be purchased by the half bundle, the bundle, or the load. Halfa 
 bundle would be enough for the above quantity of cotton, if a moderate 
 yellow is wanted. The weld must be increased or decreased according as 
 the pattern approaches a straw, a canary, a lemon, or towards a gold colour 
 or orange. 
 
 The weld must be boiled about twenty minutes, the liquor then strained off 
 
 *Mr. John Wilson, of Ainsworth, near Manchester, an extremely inge-— 
 
 nious dyer and manufacturer, who more than sixty years since gained both 
 celebrity and wealth by the great improvements he introduced into the art 
 of dyeing, had obtained from the Greeks of Smyrna the secret of dyeing 
 Turkey red, which he described in two essays ; but it is stated that he found 
 this too tedious and expensive a process, less suited to manufactured goods 
 than to cotton in the skein, nor even suited to that spun upon the single 
 spindles then in use, though it might be applicable to that spun on machines. 
 
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DYEING COTTON AND SILK. + AlZe 
 
 into a proper tub, and the weld boiled again. While the boilings are going 
 on, three tubs, being wine pipes cut in two, must be got ready, and made 
 particularly clean, being also previously seasoned for the work. One is to 
 receive the boiled weld with some cold water to regulate it to the heat 
 which the hand will bear; the other is for water, and as much alum liquor 
 ~ as will colour it and make it taste strong; and me third is to contain clear 
 water to wash the furniture off. » ; 
 
 Whatever yellow is in fashion é indeed any Aiidianable colour, ) has com- 
 monly a fashionable name. But if the dyer can, by his experience, propor- 
 tion his drugs to the weakest, and from that to the strongest shade, let the 
 name be what it may, after he has a set of patterns of his own ieeing) he 
 will see, upon the first sight of any colour, how to set about it. 
 
 In the present instance let the pattern be a moderately pale colour of yel- 
 low ; then put all the first boiling of the weld in the first tub, and cool down 
 as above directed. ‘Two or three persons should then work the pieces quick 
 from end to end by the selvages; that they may be even, two may do this ; 
 one of whom must be an expeditious hand to work them and keep them 
 even. When they have been edged over six or seven times, they are to be 
 folded upon a board laid over the tub, and wrung as dry as possible by two 
 persons. When they are all out, they are passed in the same manner 
 through the tub of alum, and, after six or seven turns, they are to be taken 
 out of the alum liquor, wrung as before, and then ere, off. 
 
 By this time the second weld liquor will be boiled ; some of the first must 
 be thrown away, and the second weld liquor added in its place. The goods 
 are then passed through as before, and wrung out; the alum liquor being 
 strengthened, they are passed through it, wrung out as before, and then 
 washed off: the water in the wash tub having been changed. 
 
 In some instances verdegris is used instead of alum ; and in other cases it 
 is used in addition to the alum. For some shades old fustic is used instead 
 of weld, and sulphate of copper instead of verdegris. 
 
 The alum solution, and the sulphate of copper, and the verdegris, or 
 acetate of copper, should be always ready. It is necessary to have a tub for 
 each, in size proportioned to the work to be done; but larger for the alum 
 than ‘iis the other two. . | 
 
 Sulphate of iron is also used in some teaiarl grays, browns, slates, and in 
 all blacks ; this will require a tub as large or larger than that for alum. 
 
 When the yellows are dyed and wrung as dry as possible, they should be 
 taken into a close room or stove to dry, particularly j in London, because of 
 the smoke, especially i in winter. A German, or other stove, Shula be placed 
 in the room, the size of which, as well as the number of the stoves, must be 
 
 regulated by the quantity of fe he When the goods are dry they must be 
 
 sent to the calenderers, if directed to be calendered; but the general and — 
 
 better way is to stiffen them with starch after they are dyed, and before they 
 are dry ; and when dry they should be sent to the glaziers, instead of the 
 calenderers, except when both branches are carried on by. the same person. 
 
 When furniture, originally yellow, has become faded, it may be re-dyed 
 
 thus: in this case it should be dyed rather of a taies shade than the. 
 
 original. A large flat tub, such as described above, is to be filled three parts 
 full of water, to which baficient sulphuric acid must be added to make it 
 taste strongly sour. After being well stirred, the pieces are to be put in, 
 
 53 F 
 
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 wt; 
 
A418 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 and worked in this sour liquor; and the yellow dye in consequence is stripped 
 off. If the acid liquor be not strong enough, more acid must be added, with 
 the precaution of well mixing it with the water, and the goods must be 
 passed through the liquor again: by these means the yellow is discharged. 
 They are then to be taken out on a board upon the tub and wrung by two 
 persons; then to be washed off and wrung, washed and wrung again, when 
 they are fit to be dyed. | 
 
 It is still to be remembered that any faded or worn out colour, or that 
 goods more or less decayed, seldom become so bright as the colour which 
 a new piece of goods receives from the same dye. 
 
 Some cloths for re-dyeing require the application of oxymuriate or chlo- 
 ride of lime to discharge their colours, particularly when madder, galls, &e. 
 form the constituent parts of the dye. In this case if a bleacher be near it 
 might be best to let him perform the process with the oxymuriate of lime; 
 not only from the pernicious nature, but also from the expense of it, which, 
 unless the business be upon a large scale, will not pay the dyer for his 
 trouble. 
 
 However, if the dyer thinks proper to perform this operation, then the 
 oxymuriate of lime or bleacher’s ashes, &c. may be obtained at the dry- 
 salters and dissolved in a cask, and the clear liquor used in proportion to 
 the quantity of goods, the colour of which is intended to be discharged, 
 which, when done, should be washed off in two waters at least before they 
 are dyed. 
 
 To dye cotton skein a duck’s wing green and olive.—This is performed 
 by a blue ground, next galling, dipping in the black vat, then in the weld 
 dye, then in verdegris, remembering to wash off previously to performing 
 each process. 
 
 Olive is to be performed with weld or old fustic, verdegris, and Brazil 
 wood. 
 
 Of browns, marcons, coffee colours, §c.—It would answer little purpose 
 to enlarge this treatise with a detail of all the possible methods of producing 
 the various shades of these several colours, the whole consisting in the use 
 of galls, verdegris, sulphate of copper, weld, and madder. 
 
 By welding a stuff previously maddered for red you may produce a gold 
 colour; and by dipping the same red in a blue vat you obtain a plum colour. 
 
 Observations on silk.—Silk as it is obtained from the cocoons of the worm, 
 is generally of an orange or yellow colour, more or less dark; in the south 
 of France it is generally very dark: its natural shade is unfavourable to 
 all other colours. It is also imbued with a kind of varnish or gum, which 
 makes it stiff and hard; this stiffness is improper in the fabrication of most 
 silk stuff, it is therefore ungummed, as it is called, by the following pro- 
 cesses :— 
 
 On ungumming and boiling silk.—Observe, that throughout the follow- 
 ing processes for silk white soap is directed to be used; and, generally 
 speaking, we believe it will be found the best, more especially for the more 
 delicate operations. Yet Mr. M‘Kernaa, in his process for ungumming silk, 
 directs yellow soap and soft soap in equal parts, and of the same weight as 
 the silk to be used: he adds, however, that different sorts of silk require 
 more or less soap; the best rule he finds, nevertheless, is the same weight 
 
 -, 
 
DYEING COTTON AND SILK. 419 
 
 ef soap as of silk; and he says also, that yellow soap and soft soap of the 
 best quality he finds the best for this purpose. 
 
 The silk is divided into hanks, each nank is tied with a string, several of 
 these are tied together (a handful of them) by putting a piece of string 
 through each separate skein, and tying the piece of string in a long tie, to 
 slip easily when they are wanted to be untied. 
 
 A liquor is prepared of thirty pounds of white soap to a hundred pounds 
 of silk ; the soap is cut into small pieces and boiled in water, when it is dis- 
 solved the fire is damped. 
 
 While the liquor is preparing, the skeins of silk are put on rods; as soon 
 as the soap liquor becomes a little below boiling heat (for it should not boil, 
 as boiling would tangle the silk) the silk is to be put into it in an oblong 
 copper, being nearly full; it is to remain in the liquor till its gummy matter 
 has left it, which will be seen by its whiteness and flexibility. It is then 
 turned end for end on the rods, that the part above the liquor may undergo 
 the same operation. As soon as this is accomplished the silk is taken out 
 of the copper, the hanks which were first turned being soonest done. 
 
 The hanks are now to be taken from the rods to the peg, disentangled, 
 and nine or ten of them'put on one cord, this cord passing through the 
 string that tied each hank. When the whole is corded it is put into pockets 
 of coarse strong white linen, fifteen inches wide and five feet long, closed at 
 each end and on one side; when the silk is put in, the pocket is sewed all 
 along the other side with packthread, and fastened with a knot; four pockets 
 will hold the whole hundred pounds. 
 
 The pockets being thus ready another liquor is prepared like the first. 
 When ready, and the boiling checked with cold water, the pockets are put 
 in and boiled well for a quarter of an hour, checking with cold water in 
 order to prevent its boiling over; it is necessary also to turn the bags about 
 often with a pole, or rather let two persons have a pole each for this purpose. 
 This operation is called boiling. 
 
 In addition to the processes of boiling with soap, as above directed, Mr. 
 M‘Kernan recommends that the silk should be winched through a copper of 
 water at the heat of 160°, having two pounds of soda (barilla) dissolved in 
 it, then winch or wash in water, and wring and dry. 
 
 In the boiling of silks for common colours twenty pounds of soap will do 
 for a hundred weight of silk; but, as in this case, the silk is not ungummed, 
 it should boil for three hours and a half, adding water to supply the evapo- 
 ration. ? 
 
 The silks intended for the greatest degree of white, either to remain white, 
 or for the fabrication of white stuff, are boiled twice in soap and water; 
 those that are to be dyed of different colours are boiled but once, and with 
 a smaller quantity of soap, because the little remaining redness is by no 
 means prejudicial to many colours. Different quantities of soap are, how- 
 ever, necessary for different colours. 
 
 Silk designed for blue, iron gray, brimstone, or any other colour requiring 
 a very white ground, should be done according to the preceding process, 
 and have thirty pounds of soap. 
 
 When the silk is boiled it is taken out of the copper by two men with 
 poles, and placed in a clean barrow; they are then taken to a long shallow 
 trough, from which the water may run away, the pockets are opened, and 
 
420 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 
 
 the silks examined; such as have yellow or lemon colour spots remaining 
 are boiled again for some time, till the spots are removed. After unpocket- 
 ing, the whole is dressed on the pegs. 
 
 Silk loses from twenty-five to twenty-eight per cent. of its weight in 
 ungumming and whitening. The bags of silk should never be suffered to 
 lie long together before they are emptied after being boiled, as their doing 
 so would make the silk hard. 
 
 White silk, as before observed, is distinguished into five principal shades, 
 namely, China white, India white, thread or milk white, silver white, and 
 azure white. 
 
 The three first are prepared and boiled as has already been shown. Silver 
 and azure white in the preparation or ungumming, thus: take fine powdered 
 indigo, put it into water boiling hot, when settled the liquor is called 
 azure. | 
 
 To azure the silk itis taken from the ungumming copper after it is dressed 
 and put intoa trough of water; after it is worked, drained, and again dressed, 
 it is ready for the whitening. 
 
 Whitening.—Put into a copper with thirty pails of water half a pound of 
 soap; when it boils, and the soap dissolved, add for China white a little 
 prepared annatto. The silk, being on rods, is now to be put into the cop- 
 per, and kept turning end for end without intermission till the shade is 
 uniform. For India white a little azure is added, to give the blue shade: 
 for thread white and others a little azure is also to be added. 
 
 Observe, the liquor should be very hot, but not boiling; the turnings five _ 
 
 times repeated, by which the shade is made even. When finished, it is 
 
 taken out, wrung, spread on poles to dry, and that part of it required for 
 
 sulphuring must be put upon rods or slight poles. 
 
 Sulphuring. —The hanks, being upon poles seven or eight feet from the 
 ground, in an appropriate room, one pound and a half or two pounds of roll 
 brimstone will sulphur a hundred weight of silk. 
 
 Put the brimstone, coarsely powdered, into an earthen pipkin with a little 
 
 charcoal or small coal at bottom. Light one of the bits baie a candle, 
 which will kindle all the rest. 
 
 The room should be close, the chimney, if any, being closed up; the sul- 
 phur should burn under the silk all night. The next morning the windows 
 should be opened to let out the smoke and admit the air, which, in summer, 
 will be sufficient to dry the silk; but in winter, as soon as the sulphurous 
 fumes are dissipated, the windows must be shut and a fire kindled in the 
 stove or stoves to dry the silk. 
 
 Observe, if the room for sulphuring does not admit of openings sufficient 
 for the dissipation of the sulphuric fumes, the work-people will be in danger 
 of suffocation. 
 
 When the sulphur is consumed it leaves a black erikesrbien will light the 
 future sulphur like spirit of wine. 
 
 If, in dressing, the silk sticks together, it is not sufficiently dry. 
 
 ro 
 
The First Manufacturer of Fustians and Jeans 
 in America, 
 
preptient 
 15 * ‘ : 
 
 ky a hiner i 
 RY OF hp yeas 
 
 epi strlen 4 
 ek he + te Aamelbiuincl 
 
 P 4 ‘ : 
 vin sig shih aH 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I visited the building where S. Wetherill carried on his manufactory of 
 velverets, fustians, &c.; and by conversation with his descendants, I found 
 that he was most enthusiastically engaged in producing goods, so as to render 
 the colony independent of England. He was one of those worthy men, 
 who entered, with all their souls, into the cause of liberty, and in con- 
 sequence of the peculiar views of the Friends on the subject of war, he was 
 disowned ; as he maintained, in that particular exigence, the lawfulness of 
 defensive operations. Nothing moved from his general religious principles, 
 and being a decided advocate of civil and religious liberty, he commenced 
 a society, still in existence in Philadelphia, called the Free Quakers. 
 
 From a perusal of his publications, I find him a faithful enquirer after 
 truth and righteousness; swayed by no consideration, but a conviction of 
 his own mind and the good influence of principles. He lived in a time 
 which tried men’s souls, and he bore the trial with firmness and patience; 
 and manifested to the last an unwavering patriotic spirit, religiously main- 
 tained while his valuable life was spared. He lived to see the fruits of in- 
 dependence, in the extension of national prosperity ; and in the progress of 
 freedom, science, and truth. I was pleased to obtain the following original 
 letter, which is characteristic of his kind feelings and liberal sentiments; 
 and I regret that my limits will not allow me to give a fuller account of 
 this pioneer in American industry.* 
 
 Ba.tston, July 26, 1809. 
 My dear Rebecca, 
 
 I wrote to thee from New York the next day after our arrival there, the 
 second day of the week’following we set off for Albany in the steam boat: 
 the scenery all the way up the river is the most curious, grand, and beautiful 
 I ever beheld; the shore being high mountains of rocks, little villages, and 
 towns, and the remains of divers fortifications made in the late revolution, in- 
 cluding the celebrated Stony Point, which General Arnold intended to be- 
 tray into the hands of General Howe, and a great number of beautiful coun- 
 try seats and plantations. We left Albany the next day after our arrival, 
 and came to Ballston the same day; we have had a great deal of company 
 and a variety of amusements for such as have a relish for them. The even- 
 ing before last there was a ball given in compliment to the governor of Mas- 
 
 * Mr. Wetherill also carried on the business of dyeing and fulling in South Alley ; 
 also chemical works. His ancestor, came to New Jersey before Wm. Penn’s arrival in 
 Pennsylvania, and before the war of the revolution he moved to Philadelphia, where 
 he followed his trade as a carpenter, and was so decided a Friend to the cause of inde- 
 pendence, that being disowned by the society of friends for asserting the lawfulness of 
 defensive war, which he defended with his pen, he with others formed a new society; 
 and being presented by the legislature with a lot at the corner of Mulberry and Fifth 
 street, they erected a brick house of worship, which still remains. 
 
422 APPENDIX. 
 
 sachusetts, who was here on a visit. The company are genteel people who 
 have come far and near; from New York, Boston, Carolina, Georgia and 
 Philadelphia. Great numbers are benefited by the waters together with the 
 amusements combined. I suspect that the journey and amusements are 
 a principal article in ‘restoring health, the ball especially ; but I have re- 
 ceived no benefit from any or all of fase means—simply trusting to the 
 waters, which do not appear to have done me any good, my weakness still 
 continuing much the same. 
 
 Farewell, my dear child, from thy grandfather; I have a most miserable 
 pen, which, together with my weakness, makes it impossible to write intelli- 
 gibly. Thy grandmother sends her love to you all. 
 
 (Signed) SamuEL WETHERILL. 
 
 From a review of “Colden’s Life of Fulton,” published in the New Y ork 
 Monthly Magazine, the following interesting extracts are made :—RoBerT 
 F'uLton was born, of Irish parents, in Little Britain, in the county of Lan- 
 caster, Pennsylvania, in 1765. His family is said to have been respectable 
 but not-rich. Mr. Colden says, that his peculiar genius manifested itself at 
 an early age, and that his leisure hours in childhood were spent in mecha- 
 nics’ shops, or devoted to the pencil. The latter employment seems at that 
 time to have possessed the greatest attractions, for, from the age of seven- 
 teen to twenty-one, he painted portraits and landscapes, at Philadelphia, for 
 profit. He then purchased, with his little earnings, a little farm in Penn- 
 sylvania, upon which he established his mother. We rejoice to record this 
 circumstance, as we can scarcely conceive one more honourable to the 
 character of a young man. It proves early industry, frugality, and great 
 strength of filial affection. In the same year he went to England to 
 improve himself in his profession, as a painter, under the patronage of Mr. 
 West. He was for some years an inmate in the family of that gentleman. 
 After leaving it, he removed to Devonshire, and remained in that place, and 
 in other parts of England for some years longer—it does not clearly appear 
 how many—and then went to France. During the latter part of his stay in 
 England, he seemed to have relinquished his profession, and to have busied 
 himself about several projects relating chiefly to canal navigation. In 
 1793, he addressed (we presume from France) some general speculations 
 on French politics, to Lord Stanhope, who appears to have been his friend, 
 but though designed for the public, they attracted little of the public atten- 
 tion, as his biographer does not even know whether they were ever in fact 
 
 * The following letter has induced me to select the above notice. 
 
 AsuuanD, 4th July, 1835. 
 
 Sir :—I received your letter transmitting a copy of your prospectus, for the publica- 
 tion of a memoir of the late Mr. Samuel Slater. I have been highly interested by 
 what I have heard from time to time, of his early and successful exertions to introduce 
 the cotton manufacture in the United States; and I have now in my possession some 
 cotton yarn spun by the first spindles which he put up, which I was informed were the 
 first used in the United States. Without being able to contribute to the accomplish- 
 ment of your undertaking, I shall be glad to hear of its successful execution. The 
 names of Fulton, Evans, Whitney and Slater, should ever live in the grateful eet, 
 tion of the people of the United States. With great respect, 
 
 I am, your ob’t servant, 
 Mr. George S. White, Canterbury, Connecticut. Henry Cuay, 
 
LIFE OF FULTON. 423 
 
 published or not. In 1797, he took lodging at an hotel in Paris, with Mr. 
 Joel Barlow, with whom he formed so strong a friendship, that when Mr. B. 
 scon after removed to his own hotel, he invited Mr. F. to reside with him. 
 For some years Fulton was a member of the family of Mr. Barlow. He 
 projected a panorama, which proved successful and beneficial, and made 
 some experiments upon the explosion of gunpowder under water. The 
 French directory gave him hopes of patronising these attempts, but at length 
 withdrew their support. He offered the project to the Dutch government, 
 but it was declined. It was then offered to Bonaparte, who had become 
 first consul, and he appointed a commissioner with funds and power to give 
 the required assistance. 
 
 While in France, and probably about this period, he formed an intimate 
 acquaintance with Chancellor Livingston, and at that period those gentle- 
 men laboured conjointly in their attempts to introduce steam navigation, 
 which was afterwards attended with such brilliant success. In 1801, he 
 made several experiments with a plunging boat, designed for sub-marine 
 warfare, with a degree of success which seems to have been satisfactory to 
 himself. 
 
 The following very flattering account was given by St. Austin, a member 
 of the tribunal :—The diving boat, in the construction of which he is now 
 employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men, and provision 
 for twenty days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him 
 to plunge one hundred feet under water if necessary. He has contrived a 
 reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight 
 hours. When the boat is above water it has two sails, and looks just like a 
 common boat; when she is to dive, the mast and sails are struck. In 
 making his experiments, Fulton not only remained a whole hour under 
 water with three of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the horizon 
 at any given distance. He proves that the compass points as correctly under 
 the water as on the surface, and that, while under water, the boat made way 
 at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived for that purpose. 
 If we may judge of the future from the past, it would seem necessary for 
 the success of these projects, to obtain the consent of those who are to be 
 ‘“‘decomposed,” which has not yet been done. Fulton was, therefore, never 
 able to demolish an English ship, although he watched long and anxiously 
 such as approached the French coast, for that purpose. The rulers of 
 France being at length discouraged, and Fulton thinking that the all-impor- 
 tant object was to blow up ships, and so that was effected, it was no great 
 matter to what power they might happen to belong, turned his eyes for 
 patronage to the English government—or they turned their eyes to him. 
 Mr. Colden seems very properly aware that this conduct of his friend might 
 make an unpleasant impression on the minds of those who were not, like 
 his biographer, acquainted with the elevation and philanthropy of his views, 
 and seeks to justify him by the following defence. It must be recollected, 
 that Fulton’s enthusiastic notions of the advantages of a universal free 
 trade and liberty of the seas, had led to the inventions which he was then 
 endeavouring to employ, and which as he supposed, would annihilate naval 
 armaments, the great support in his estimation of what he calls the war 
 system of Europe. He was persuaded, that if this system could be broken 
 up, all nations would direct their energies to education, the sciences, and a free 
 
424 APPENDIX. 
 
 exchange of their natural advantages. He was convinced that if, on the 
 contrary, the Europeans contihued to cherish this war system, and to support 
 and augment their great naval armaments, his own country would be driven 
 to the necessity of protecting herself by similar establishments, which, as he 
 thought, would be inimical to her republican institutions, and destruc- 
 tive of her happiness. Without reference, therefore, to the merits of the 
 then existing contest, the grounds of which were constantly changing, with- 
 out feeling a partiality or enmity to either of the belligerents, he was desirous 
 of engaging one of the nations at war to give him an opportunity of trying 
 the efficacy of his inventions. If they were proved to answer his expecta- 
 tions, he was indifferent as to the temporary advantages it might give either 
 over the other. He believed that the result would be the permanent happi- 
 ness of all, and that in the general good his own country would largely 
 participate. He considered himself as introducing a new military science, 
 which he wished to prove, and which he had a desire to perfeet himself, for 
 the benefit of his country and of mankind. His sentiments on this subject 
 were not novel, nor without the sanction of the nations which they most 
 immediately concerned. Neither France nor England has hesitated to 
 encourage their citizens, with a view to their improvement in military 
 science, to serve in the armies and navies of foreign states at war, where they 
 have been neutral. ‘“‘ Whatever,” says Mr. C. “ may be the just force of this 
 reasoning, it swayed the mind of Mr. Fulton to honest conviction.” - It is 
 doubtful whether it will produce a similar effect on any other mind. From the 
 following passage we infer that the negotiations between Fulton and the 
 English ministry were clandestine, and were carried on at a time when he 
 resided in France, and was ostensibly attached to her interests :—“‘ It has been 
 mentioned, that the Earl of Stanhope had taken great pains to inform him- 
 self as to Fulton’s proceedings in France. This nobleman’s mathematical 
 and mechanical mind perceived what consequences might result from the 
 application of Fulton’s inventions. The information he obtained was com- 
 municated by the British cabinet and excited attention. It was determined 
 by the British ministry, if possible, to withdraw Fulton from France. Lord 
 Sidmouth, who was then one of the ministers, contrived to have a communi- 
 cation with Fulton, while he was in Paris, and obtained his consent to meet 
 an agent of the British government in Holland. In October, 1803, Fulton 
 went from Paris to Amsterdam for this purpose, but the agent with whom 
 he was to confer did not arrive; and after being in Amsterdam three months 
 he returned to Paris. We cannot resist the impression that some light is 
 thrown upon Fulton’s conduct by the evidence adduced for another purpose 
 by Mr. Colden from Lord Stanhope, his early friend and correspondent. In 
 a speech on American affairs, made by Lord Stanhope in the house of lords, 
 soon after these experiments were made, he is reported in an English news- 
 paper to have said, ‘it was not perhaps sufficiently known, that at that very 
 moment exertions were making in America to carry into effect a plan for 
 the disclosure of which an individual had, a few years before, demanded of 
 the British government fifteen thousand dollars, but had been refused. He 
 alluded to a plan, he said, for the invisible destruction of shipping, and 
 particularly men-of-war. That the inventor of this scheme was then in 
 America, and it was ascertained that it would not, on an average, cost 
 twenty pounds to destroy any ship whatever.’ While he was labouring for 
 
LIFE OF FULTON. | © 425 
 
 his new employers, some of the torpedoes were thrown. from British boats 
 upon French vessels, but they exploded without effect—a circumstance 
 which Fulton attributed to a slight, and easil: ectified mistake. To evince 
 the correctness of his opinion, in October, 1805, he did blow up with com- 
 plete success a brig provided for the purpose. Still, however, the British 
 ministry were incredulous, and Fulton, wearied with incessant applications, 
 disappointments and neglect, at length embarked for this country.” Mr. 
 Colden here fairly states—it would be doing injustice to the memory of 
 Falton, as well as that of another ingenious native American, not to 
 notice, before we leave this subject, that Fulton did not pretend to have been 
 the first who discovered that gunpowder might be exploded with effect under 
 water, nor did he pretend to have been the first who attempted to apply itas 
 the means of hostility. He knew well what had been done by Bushnel in 
 our revolutionary war. He frequently spoke of the genius of this American 
 with great respect, and expressed a conviction that his attempts against the 
 enemy would have been more successful, if he had had the advantages 
 which he himself derived from the improvements of nearly forty years in 
 mechanics and mechanical physiology. We cannot but think, that it is a 
 very exaggerated estimate of the efficiency of Fulton’s contrivances, which 
 induces Mr. Colden to suppose, that the “British ministry never truly 
 intended to give Fulton a fair opportunity of trying the effects of his 
 engines.” The object may have been to prevent their being placed in the 
 hands of an enemy; and if that was accomplished, it was the interest of 
 England, as long as she was ambitious of maintaining the proud title of 
 mistress of the seas, to make the world believe that Fulton’s projects were 
 chimerical. Nothing could be more likely to produce this effect, than 
 abortive attempts to apply them. This would prevent other nations from 
 making similar experiments and discourage the inventor. In June, the 
 British ministry appointed a commission to examine Fulton’s projects. 
 The commissioners were Sir Jos. Banks, Mr. Cavendish, Sir Home Pop- 
 ham, Major Congreve and Mr. John Rennie. Many weeks passed before 
 Fulton could prevail on them to do any thing, and finally, when they met, 
 they reported against the sub-marine boat as being impracticable. In a 
 letter to the ministry, Fulton complains that this report was made without 
 his having been called for any explanations, and although the gentlemen 
 who made it had before them no account of what had been done. Indeed, 
 in the first interview which Fulton had with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melvile, the 
 latter condemned the Nautilus without a moment’s consideration. If these 
 engines were, in truth, terrible as the biographer imagines, it would not be 
 strange that the British ministry should choose to preserve the navy by 
 
 almost any means from entire demolition; and they might oppose the intro- 
 duction of a mode of warfare which though, in the first instance, it was 
 exerted against their enemies, would infallibly re-act against themselves 
 with greater effect in proportion to the superiority of their naval force. But 
 no such motives can be ascribed to the French republican government, and 
 they rejected it—no such suspicion can be against Bonaparte, and after a 
 full trial he relinquished it; or against the Dutch government, and they 
 declined it; no such policy is to be attributed to our administration, and still 
 we are told by Mr. Colden, “ Mr. Fulton’s plan for sub-marine warfare met 
 
 54 
 
426 APPENDIX. 
 
 with no countenance from the government. He had not been able to inspire 
 the executive officers with any confidence in them.” 
 
 We presume also, that Commodore Rodgers is not to be accused of con- 
 nivance in a similar design. Besides, Mr. Colden should have weighed the 
 matter well before he made a charge which necessarily implies that all the 
 experiments made by such men as Mr. Cavendish, Sir Home Popham, 
 Major Congreve and Mr. Rennie, (the commissioners appointed by the 
 British ministry) were intended to be deceptive, and that their report was 
 meanly fraudulent and false. Mr. Colden has so far suffered his imagi- 
 nation to predominate over his better judgment upon this subject, that he 
 seems really to have supposed, that during the late war it was the main 
 object with the British navy to ascertain the part of the coast where Fulton 
 might reside, and to avoid it as the particularly fulminating point of this 
 terrific submerged thunder. Fulton arrived in New York, in December, 
 1806, and immediately renewed the pursuit of the objects upon which he 
 had recently been engaged in Europe, that is, sub-marine war and steam 
 navigation. 
 
 He was encouraged by the American government, and in the summer of 
 1807, made several experiments, and one of them upon a large bulk brig, 
 (an unresisting subject,) was completely successful. The narrowness of 
 our limits—the necessary length of this article—and the notoriety of these 
 attempts, which were made in the vicinity of New York, render it unneces- 
 sary for us to detail them with minuteness. In March, 1810, congress 
 passed an act making an appropriation for trying the use of torpedoes and 
 submarine explosions. Commissioners were appointed to observe the 
 success of the experiments, of which the sloop of war Argus, commanded 
 by Captain Lawrence, was tobe the subject. These commissioners differed 
 considerably in their reports of the results io the government—Chancellor 
 Livingston, with whom, as we before mentioned, Fulton had formed a very 
 intimate acquaintance and connection in France, which subsisted during 
 their joint lives, was rather favourably impressed. General Lewis (“ whose 
 long military services, and experience,” Mr. Coldea thinks, “renders his 
 judgment on this subject deserving of the highest consideration”) was very 
 sanguine of their ultimate success; and such, also, was the opinion of the 
 biographer, then one of the commissioners. Commodore Rodgers also 
 made a report, which contained a journal of the daily proceedings of Fulton 
 and the committee, and very minute descriptions of the machines and 
 experiments. His opinion was entirely against Fulton’s system, and he 
 concludes that every part of it would be found totally impracticable. A 
 great portion of the work is occupied by a statementof Fulton’s merits and 
 those of his chief friend and associate Chancellor Livingston, in relation to 
 steam navigation. The information prevalent on the subject—the legal 
 discussions which have already been had, and which may hereafter arise in 
 relation to it—and, to speak honestly, a little distrust of our own judgment, 
 induce us to refrain from a minute examination of the claims which are 
 advanced in favour of those gentlemen. It is but fair, however, to remark, 
 that even if it be admitted that Fulton has done no more than reduce to 
 successful practice previously existing theories upon a subject of such para- 
 mount importance, he is entitled to praise enough to fully satisfy the ambi- 
 tion and affection of .his friends. The increased facility of intercourse in 
 
LIFE OF FULTON. 427 
 
 many parts of the world, and especially on this continent, is such that 
 twenty years ago it would have required a bold imagination to conceive. 
 Can any man doubt that Fulton has been mainly instrumental in accelerat- 
 ing, if he did not exclusively produce, this state of things? The whole 
 progress of the arts show that the first discovery of a principle is usually 
 very remote from the perfection of the practice. This is strongly exemplified 
 by some facts stated by Fultonhimself. In 1320, gunpowder was discovered: 
 one hundred and fifty years after that period, iron bullets were first used; 
 muskets were unknown until two hundred years from the same time; and 
 in these, the cumbrous match-lock did not give place to the fire-locks till 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century, that is two hundred and eighty 
 years after the first knowledge of gunpowder. In the year sixteen hundred 
 aad sixty-three, the Marquis of Worcester discovered the expansive power 
 of steam. Thirty-three years afterwards, Savory took out a patent for a steam 
 engine to pump the mines of Cornwall. In seventeen hundred and five, 
 Mr. Newcomen thought of a piston to the cylinder; but he worked at it 
 nine years before it was sufficiently improved to give it a fair prospect of 
 utility. Fifty-two years after Newcomen’s discovery, Mr. Watt thought of 
 another improvement, which was the separate condenser. Thus it was an 
 hundred years from the time of the Marquis of Worcester, till Mr. Watt’s 
 discovery gave the steam engine, in any degree, its present perfection; and 
 rendered it so simple, familiar, and useful, as to be adapted to the many 
 important purposes to which it is now applied. Another striking illustra- 
 tion to the same effect, and which may serve to exemplify the nature, as 
 well as to manifest the degree of Fulton’s benefactions to the public, is to 
 be found in the gradual improvements effected in his steam boats since their 
 establishment. We believe the average passage of the first boat between 
 Albany and this city, fell little short of thirty-six hours, and in some of the 
 present boats, it does not exceed twelve hours. Fulton’s attention was 
 strongly attracted, during several parts of his life, to the subject of improving 
 internal navigation by means of canals; and in particular he entered, with 
 his characteristic enthusiasm, into the magnificent project which our legisla- 
 ture is now attempting to realise. In 1811, he was appointed one of the 
 commissioners upon the subject, but he did not sanction the report which in 
 the subsequent year was returned to the legislature. It is not claimed by 
 the biographer, that either this scheme in particular or generally this branch 
 of improvement, has received any eminent benefit from the genius or 
 industry of Fulton. In February, 1814, he addressed a letter to Governeur 
 Morris, president of the board of commissioners, in which he shows what 
 would be the advantages of the proposed canal, and exhibits very interesting 
 and curious calculations of the comparative expense of transportation upon 
 land, upon rivers, and upon canals. The same year, Fulton, with the 
 other commissioners, made another report to the legislature ; this is the last 
 service he rendered this magnificent project. We presume that our readers 
 will readily excuse our omission of any account of Fulton’s well known 
 and very extensive experiments in relation to the various modes which he 
 devised for submarine attack, and for transferring a large portion of naval 
 warfare beneath the surface of the ocean. We are told by Mr. Colden that 
 the steam frigate, that imposing if not effective engine of war, owes its 
 origin to these experiments, although it is not apparently connected with 
 
A28 APPENDIX. 
 
 them. The untimely death of Fulton; the cessation of the war; and the 
 imperfections inseparable from the infancy of all improvements, may have 
 prevented the full development of the powers which, perhaps, this invention 
 is hereafter destined to display. The occasion and manner of Fulton’s death 
 is thus related. In January, 1815; Mr. John Livingston, who owned the 
 steamboat which plied between New York and New Jersey, but which was 
 stupped by the operation of the New Jersey laws, petitioned the legislature 
 of that state for their repeal. After hearing witnesses and counsel for 
 several days, the laws were rescinded. It was upon this occasion Fulton 
 was examined as a witness, as we have before stated. The weather, while 
 he was at Trenton, where he was much exposed, in attending the hall of 
 the legislature, was uncommonly cold. When he was crossing the Hudson 
 to return to his house and family the river was very full of ice, which occa- 
 sioned his being several hours on the water on a very severe day. Fulton 
 had not a constitution to encounter such exposure, and upon his return found 
 himself much indisposed from the effects of it. 
 
 He had at that time great anxiety about the steam frigate ; and after con- 
 fining himself for a few days, when he was convalescent he went to give 
 his superintendence to the artificers employed about her: he forgot his 
 debilitated state of health in the interest he took in what was doing on the 
 frigate, and was a long time, on a bad day, exposed to the weather on her 
 decks. He soon found the effects of this imprudence. His indisposition 
 returned upon him with such violence as to confine him to his bed; his 
 disorder increased, and on the 24th of February, 1815, terminated his valu- 
 able life. As soon as the legislature, which was then in session at Albany, 
 heard of the death of Mr. Fulton, they expressed their participation in the 
 general sentiment, by resolving that the members of both houses should 
 wear mourning for some weeks. It will appear from the above slightsketch 
 of the life of this valuable citizen, that the three great subjects of his atten- 
 tion and efforts were, the improvement in the art of making canals, sub- 
 marine warfare and steam navigation. In relation to the first, we are not 
 aware that he has effected much; in the second, he has displayed great 
 talent and wonderful industry, the effects and utility of which time is here- 
 after to develope; and in the third he has done what should make his coun- 
 try proud, and the world grateful. 
 
 On the Origin of Steam Boats and Steam Wagons, by Oliver Evans. 
 
 About the year 1772, being then an apprentice toa wheel- wright, or wagon 
 maker, I laboured to discover some means of propelling land carriages with- 
 out animal power. All the modes that have since been tried (so far as I 
 have heard of them), such as wind, treadles with ratchet wheels, crank 
 tooth, &c., to be wrought by men, presented themselves to my mind, but 
 were considered as too futile to deserve an experiment; and I concluded 
 that such motion was impossible for want of a suitable original power. But 
 one of my brothers, on a Christmas evening, informed me that he had that 
 day been in company with a neighbouring blacksmith’s boys, who, for 
 amusement, had stopped up the touch hole of a gun barrel, then put in about 
 a gill of water, and rammed down a tight wad; after which they put the 
 breech in the smith’s fire, when it discharged itself with as loud a crack as 
 if it had been loaded with powder. It immediately occurred to me, that 
 
ORIGIN OF STEAM BOATS AND CARRIAGES. 429 
 
 here was the power to propel any wagon, if I could only apply it, and I set 
 myself to work to find out the means. I laboured for some time without 
 success. At length a book fell intomy hands describing the old atmospheric 
 steam engine. I was astonished to observe that they had so far erred as to 
 use the steam only to form a vacuum to apply the mere pressure of the 
 atmosphere, instead of applying the elastic power of the steam for original 
 motion ; the power of which I supposed irresistible. I renewed my studies 
 with increased ardour, and soon declared that I could make steam wagons, 
 and endeavoured to communicate my ideas toothers ; but however practicable 
 the thing appeared to me, my object only excited the ridicule of those to 
 whom it was made known. But I persevered in my belief and confirmed it 
 by experiments that satisfied me of its reality. In the year 1786 I petitioned 
 the legislature of Pennsylvania for the exclusive right to use my improve- 
 ments in flour mills, as also steam wagons in that state. The committee to 
 whom the petition was referred heard me very patiently, while I described 
 the mill improvements, but my representations concerning steam wagons 
 made them think me insane. They however, reported favourably respecting 
 my improvements in the manufacture of flour, and passed an act granting 
 me the exclusive use of them, as prayed for. This act is dated March 1787. 
 But no notice is taken of the steam wagons. A similar petition was also 
 presented to the legislature of Maryland. Mr. Jesse Hollingsworth, from 
 Baltimore, was one of the committee appointed to hear me and report on the 
 case. I candidly informed this committee of the fate of my application to 
 the legislature of Pennsylvania respecting the steam wagons; declaring, at 
 the same time, without the encouragement prayed for, I would never attempt 
 to make them; but that, if they would secure to me the right as requested, 
 I would, as soon as I could, apply the principle to practice ; and I explained 
 to them the great elastic power of steam, as well as my mode of applying 
 it to propel wagons. Mr. Hollingsworth very prudently observed, that the 
 grant could injure no one, for he did not think that any man in the world 
 had thought of such a thing before; he therefore wished the encouragement 
 might be afforded, as there was a prospect that it would produce something 
 useful. This kind of argument had the desired effect, and a favourable 
 report was made May 21, 1787, granting to me, my heirs and assigns, for 
 fourteen years, the exclusive right to make and use my improvements in 
 flour mills and the steam wagons in that state. From that period I have 
 felt myself bound in honour to the state of Maryland tu produce a steam 
 wagon as soon as I could conveniently do it. In the year 1789, I paid a 
 visit to Benjamin Charles and sons, clock makers; men celebrated for their 
 ingenuity, with a view to induce them to join me in the expense and profits 
 of the project. I showed to them my drafts, with the plan of the engine, 
 and explained the expansive power of steam; all which they appeared to 
 understand, but fearful of the expense and difficulties attending it, declined 
 the concern. However, they certified that I had shown to them the drawings 
 and explained the powers, &c. In the same year,I went to Ellicott’s mills 
 on the Patapsco, near Baltimore, for the purpose of persuading Messrs, 
 Jonathan Ellicott and brothers, and connections, (who were equally famous 
 for their ingenuity), to join me in the expense and profits of making and 
 using steam wagons. I also showed to them my drawings, and minutely 
 explained to them the powers of steam. They appeared fully to compre- 
 
A430 APPENDIX. 
 
 hend all I said, and in return informed me of some experiments they them- 
 selves had made, one of which they showed me. They placed a gun-bar- 
 rel having a hollow arm, with a small hole on one side at the end of the 
 arm, similar to Barker’s rotary tube mill, as described in the books; a gill 
 -of water put into this barrel, with fire applied to the breech, caused the steam 
 to issue from the end of the arm with such force, as by reaction, to cause the 
 machine to revolve, as I judged, about one thousand times in a minute, for 
 the space of about five minutes; and with considerable force for so small a 
 machine. JI tarried here two days, (May 10 and 11, 1789), using my best 
 efforts to convince them of the possibility and practicability of propelling 
 wagons on good turnpike roads, by the great elastic power of steam. But they 
 also feared the expense and difficulty of the execution, and declined the 
 proposition ; yet they heartily esteemed my improvements in the manufac- 
 ture of flour, and adopted them in their mills, as well as recommended them 
 to others. 
 
 In the same year I communicated my project, and explained my princi- 
 ples, to Levi Hollingsworth, Esq., now a merchant in Baltimore. [I certify 
 that Oliver Evans did about the year 1789, communicate a project to me, of 
 propelling land carriages by power of steam, and did solicit me to join him 
 in the costs and profits of the same. Levi Hollingsworth, Baltimore, Nov. 
 16th, 1812. I do certify, that some time about the year 1781, 31 years ago, 
 Oliver Evans, in conversation with me, declared, that by the power of steam 
 he could drive any thing; wagons, mills, or vessels, forward, by the same 
 power, &c. Enoch Anderson, Nov. 15th, 1812.] He appeared to understand 
 them ; but also declined a partnership in the scheme for the same reasons 
 as the former. From the time of my discovering the principles and the 
 means of applying them, I often endeavoured to communicate them to those 
 I believed might be interested in their application to wagons or boats. But 
 very few could understand my explanations, and I could find no one willing 
 to risk the expense of the experiment. In the year 1785 or 86, before I had 
 petitioned the legislatures, I fell in company with Samuel Jackson, of Red- 
 stone ; and learning of him that he resided on the western waters, I endea- 
 voured to impress upon his mind the great utility and high importance of 
 steam boats, to be propelled on them; telling him that I had discovered a 
 steam engine so powerful according to its weight, that it would, by means 
 of paddle wheels (which I described to him) readily drive a vessel against 
 the current of those waters with so great speed as to be highly beneficial. 
 Mr. Jackson proves that he understood me well, for he has lately written 
 letters declaring that about twenty-six years before their date, I did describe 
 to him the principles of the steam engine that I have since put into operation 
 to drive mills, which he has seen—and that I also explained to him my plan 
 for propelling boats by my steam engine with paddle wheels ; describing the 
 very kind of wheels now used for this purpose; and that I then declared to 
 him my intention to apply my engine to this particular object as soon as my 
 pecuniary circumstances would permit. In the year 1800, or 1801, never 
 having found a man willing to contribute to the expense, or even to en- 
 courage me to risk it myself, it occurred to me that though I was then in 
 full health, I might be suddenly carried off by the yellow fever, that had so 
 often visited Philadelphia; or by some other disease or casualty to which 
 all are liable, and that I had not yet discharged my debt of honour to the 
 
ORIGIN OF STEAM BOATS AND CARRIAGES. A31 
 
 state of Maryland by producing the steam wagon. I determined therefore 
 to set to work the next day and construct one. I first waited upon Robert 
 Patterson, Esq., professor of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania, 
 
 and explained to him my principles—as I also did to Charles Taylor, steam 
 engineer from England. They both declared these principles to be new to 
 them, and highly worthy of a fair experiment, advising me without delay to 
 prove them; in hopes I might produce a more simple, cheap, and powerful 
 steam engine, than any in use. These gentleman were the only persons 
 who had such confidence, or afforded me such advice. I also communicated 
 my plans to B. F. Latrobe, Esq., at the same time; who publicly pronounced 
 them chimerical, and attempted to demonstrate the absurdity of my princi- 
 ples, in his report to the Philosophical Society of Pennsylvania, on steam 
 engines; in which same report, he also attempts to show the impossibility 
 of making steam boats useful, on account of the weight of the engine; and 
 I was one of the persons alluded to, as being seized with the steam mania, 
 conceiving that wagons and boats could be propelled by steam engines. The 
 liberality of the members of the society caused them to reject that part of 
 the report which he designed as demonstrative of the absurdity of my 
 principles; saying they had no right to set up their opinions as a stumbling- 
 block in the road of any exertions to make a discovery. They said I might 
 produce something useful, and ordered it to be stricken out. What a pity 
 they did not also reject his demonstrations respecting steam boats! for not- 
 withstanding them, they have run, are now running, and will run: so has 
 my engine, and all its principles, completely succeeded: and so will land 
 carriages, as soon as these principles are applied to them, as explained to the 
 legislature of Maryland in 1787, and to others long before. In consequence 
 of the determination above allnded to, I hired hands, and went to work to 
 make a steam wagon, and had made considerable progress in the undertaking, 
 when the thought struck me, that as my steam engine was entirely different 
 in form as well as in its principles from all others in use, that I could get a 
 patent for it, and apply it to mills more profitably than to wagons; for until 
 now I apprehended, that as steam mills had been used in England, I could 
 only obtain a patent for wagons and boats. I stopped the work immediately, 
 and discharged my hands, until I could arrange my engine for mills, laying 
 aside the steam wagon for a time of more leisure. Two weeks afterwards, 
 I commenced the construction of a small engine for a mill to grind plaster 
 of Paris; the cylinder six inches in diameter, and stroke of the piston 
 eighteen inches; believing that with $1000 I could fully try the experiment. 
 But before I was done with experiments, I found that I had expended $3,700 
 —all that I could command. I had now to begin the world anew at the age 
 of forty-eight, with a large family to support. I had calculated that if I 
 failed in my experiment, the credit I had would be entirely lost ; and without 
 money or credit, at my advanced age, with many heavy encumbrances, my 
 way through life appeared dark and gloomy indeed. But I succeeded per- 
 fectly with my little engine, and preserved my credit; I could break and 
 grind 300 bushels of plaster of Paris, or 12 tons, in twenty-four hours ; and 
 to show its operations more fully to the public, I applied it to saw stone on 
 the side of Market street, where the driving of twelve saws, in heavy frames, 
 sawing at the rate of 100 feet of marble stone in twelve hours, made a great 
 show, and excited much attention. I thought this was sufficient to convince 
 
A32 APPENDIX. en 
 
 the thousands of spectators of the utility of my discovery : but I frequently 
 heard them enquire if the power could be applied to saw timber as well as 
 stone, to grind grain, propel boats, &c.; and though I answered in the 
 affirmative, I found they still doubted. I therefore determined to apply my 
 engines to all new uses, to introduce it and them to the public. This ex- 
 periment completely tested the correctness of my principles, according to 
 my most sanguine hopes. The power of my engine rises in a geometrical 
 proportion, while the consumption of fuel has only an arithmetical ratio; in 
 such proportion that every time I added one fourth more to the consumption 
 of fuel, the powers of the engine were doubled ; and that twice the quantity 
 of fuel required to drive one saw would drive sixteen saws at least; for 
 when I drove two saws the consumption was eight bushels of coals in twelve 
 hours, but when twelve saws were driven, the consumption was not more 
 than ten bushels; so that the more we resist the steam the greater is the 
 effect of the engine. On these principles, very light, but powerful engines, 
 can be made, suitable for propelling boats and land-carriages, without the 
 great incumbrance of their own weight, as mentioned in Latrobe’s demon- 
 strations. 
 
 In the year 1804, I constructed at my works, situate a mile and a half 
 from the water, by order of the board of health of the city of Philadelphia, 
 a machine for cleansing docks. It consisted of a large flat or scow, with a 
 steam engine of the power of five horses on board, to work machinery to 
 raise the mud into flats. This was a fine opportunity to show the public 
 that my engine could propel both land and water carriages, and I resolved 
 to do it. When the work was finished, I put wheels under it, and though it 
 was equal in weight to two hundred barrels of flour, and the wheels fixed 
 with wooden axle-trees, for this temporary purpose in a very rough manner, 
 and with great friction of course, yet with this small engine I transported 
 my great burthen to the Schuylkill with ease ; and when it was launched 
 in the water, I fixed a paddle wheel at the stern, and drove it down the 
 Schuylkill to the Delaware, and up the Delaware to the city, leaving all the 
 vessels going up, behind me, at least half way, the wind being ahead. Some 
 wise men undertook to ridicule my experiment of propelling this great weight 
 on land, because the motion was too slow to be useful. I silenced them by 
 answering, that I would make a carriage, to be propelled by steam, for a bet 
 of $3000, to run upon a level road against the swiftest horse they would pro- 
 duce. Iwas then as confident as I am now, that such velocity could be 
 given to carriages. Having no doubt of the great utility of steam carriages 
 on good turnpike roads, with proper arrangements for supplying them with 
 water and fuel, and believing that all turnpike companies were deeply inte- 
 rested in putting them into operation, because they would smooth and mend 
 the roads, instead of injuring them as the narrow wheels do. On the 25th 
 September, 1804, I submitted to the consideration of the Lancaster turnpike 
 company, a statement of the costs and profits of a steam carriage to carry 
 one hundred barrels of flour, fifty miles in twenty-four hours—tending to 
 show that one such steam carriage would make more net profits than ten 
 wagons drawn by five horses each, on a good turnpike road, and offering to 
 build such a carriage at a very low price. My address closed as follows :— 
 “It is too much for an individual to put in operation every improvement 
 which he may invent. I have no doubt but that my engines will propel 
 
s OLIVER EVANS. 433 
 
 boats against the current of the Mississippi, and wagons on turnpike roads, 
 with great profit. I now call upon those whose interest it is to carry this 
 invention into effect. All which is respectfully submitted for your consi- 
 deration.” i 
 
 In the year 1805, I published a book describing the principles of my steam 
 - engine, with directions for working it, when applied to propel boats against 
 the current of the Mississippi, and carriages on turnpike roads. And I am 
 still willing to make a steam carriage that will run fifteen miles an hour, on 
 level railways, on condition that I have double price if it shall run with that 
 velocity ; and nothing for it if it shall not come up to that velocity. What 
 can an inventor do more than to insure the performance of his inventions ? 
 Or, I will make the engine and apparatus at a fair price, and warrant its 
 utility for the purpose of conveying heavy burthens on good turnpike roads. 
 I feel it just to declare that, with Mr. Latrobe, I myself did believe that the 
 ponderous and feeble steam engine, now used in boats, could never be 
 made useful in competition with sail boats, or to ascend the Mississippi, 
 esteeming the current more powerful than it is. But I rejoice that, with 
 him, I have been mistaken; for I have lived to see boats succeed well with 
 those engines, so as to induce the proprietors to exchange the old for the new, 
 more cheap and more powerful, principles. I have been highly delighted in 
 reading a correspondence between John Stephens, Esq. and the commis- 
 sioners appointed by the legislature of New York, for fixing on the scite of 
 the great canal proposed to be cut in that state. Mr. Stephens has taken a 
 most comprehensive and very ingenious view of this important subject, and 
 his plan of railways for the carriages to run upon removes all the difficulties 
 that remained. I have had the pleasure, also, of hearing gentlemen of the 
 keenest penetration, and of great mechanical and philosophical talents, freely 
 give in to the belief that steam carriages will become very useful. John 
 Ellicott proposed to make roads of substances such as the best turnpikes are 
 made with, with a path for each wheel to run on, having a railway on posts 
 in the middle, to guide the tongue of the wagon, and to prevent any other 
 carriage from traveling on it. Then, if the wheels were made broad and 
 the paths smooth, there would be very little wear. Such roads might be 
 cheaply made; they would last a long time and require very little repair. 
 Such roads, I am inclined to believe, ought tu be preferred, in the first 
 instance, to those proposed by Mr. Stephens, as two ways could be made in 
 some parts of the country for the same expense as one would be with wood ; 
 but either of the modes would answer the purpose, and the carriages might 
 travel by night as well as in the day. When we reflect upon the obstinate 
 opposition that has been made by a great majority to every step towards 
 improvement: from bad roads to turnpikes, from turnpikes to canals, from 
 canals to railways for horse carriages, it is too much to expect the monstrous 
 leap from bad roads to railways for steam carriages. But why may not the 
 present generation, who have already good turnpikes, make the experiment 
 of using steam carriages upon them? They will assuredly effect the move- 
 ment of heavy burthens, with a slow motion of two and a half miles an hour, 
 and as their progress need not be interrupted, they may travel fifty or sixty 
 miles in the twenty-four hours. This is all that I BR to see in my time, 
 and though I never expect to be concerned in any business requiring the 
 regular transportation of heavy burthens on land, because if lam connected 
 
 55 
 
bs 
 
 A434 | APPENDIX. 
 
 in the affairs of a mill it shall be driven by steam and placed on some navi- 
 gable water, to save land carriage, yet I certainly intend, as soon as I can 
 make it convenient, to build a steam carriage that will run on good turnpike 
 roads, on my own account, if no other person will engage in it; and I do 
 verily believe that the time will come when carriages propelled by steam 
 will be in general use, as well for the transportation of passengers as goods, 
 traveling at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, or three hundred miles per day. 
 It appears necessary to give the reader some idea of the principles of the 
 steam engine, which is to produce such novel and strange effects ; and this 
 I will endeavour to do in as few words as I can, by showing the extent to 
 which the principles are applied already. To make steam as irresistible or 
 powerful as gunpowder, we have only to confine and increase the heat by 
 fuel to the boiler. A steam engine with a working cylinder only nine inches 
 in diameter, and a stroke of the piston three feet, will exert a power suffi- 
 cient to lift from 3,000 to 10,000 pounds perpendicularly, two and a half 
 miles perhour. This power applied to propel a carriage on level roads or rail- 
 ways would drivea very great weight with much velocity, before the friction 
 of the axle-tree or resistance of the atmosphere would balance it. This is 
 not speculative theory, the principles are now in practice; driving a saw- 
 mill at Manchacks on the Mississippi, two at Natchez, one of which is 
 capable of sawing 5000 feet of boards in 12 hours; a mill at Pittsburgh able 
 to grind twenty bushels of grain per hour; one at Marietta of equal powers ; 
 one at Lexington of the same powers ; one, a paper mill, of the same; one 
 of one-fourth the power at Pittsburgh; one at the same place of three and a 
 half times the power for the forge, and for rolling and splitting sheet iron ; 
 one of the power of twenty-four horses, at Middletown, Conn. driving the 
 machinery of a cloth manufactory : two at Philadelphia of the power of five 
 or six horses, and many making for different purposes; the principles apply- 
 ing to all purposes where power is wanted. 
 
 OLiveR Evans. 
 Ellicoti’s Mills on the Patapsco, Nov. 12, 1812. 
 
 To the Honourable the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the 
 
 Attorney General ; the petition of John Fitch, of the city of Philadclokin, 
 humbly showeth : 
 
 That your petitioner, in the spring of the year 1785, conceived the idea of 
 applying steam to the purpose of propelling vessels through the water: that, 
 fully satisfied, in his own mind, of the practicability of such a scheme, of its 
 great immediate utility, and the important advantages which would in future 
 result therefrom, not only to America, but the world at large, if the scheme 
 should be carried into effectual operation, he divested himself of every other 
 occupation, and undertook the arduous task, not doubting, that when perfected 
 he should be amply rewarded. In his first attempts to procure assistance 
 from congress, and the legislatures of many of the states, from the peculiar 
 situation of her finances, and the seeming impossibility of the success of his 
 scheme, he met with no relief. Not entirely discouraged by these disappoint- 
 ments, he continued his application to his project, and prayed several of the 
 states for an exclusive ‘right to the use of fire and steam to navigation’: that 
 New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia granted him 
 
JOHN FITCH. 435 
 
 an exclusive right, agreeably to the prayer of his petition, for fourteen years. 
 — That the impracticability of procuring experienced workmen in America, 
 your petitioner’s total ignorance of the construction of a steam engine, to- 
 gether with the necessary deviations from the form described in books, in 
 order to accommodate its weight and bulk to the narrow limits of a vessel, 
 have caused him not only to expend about eight thousand dollars in succes- 
 sive experiments, but nearly four years of some of his grants have expired, 
 before he has been able to bring his engine to such a degree of perfection as 
 to be carried into use. 
 
 That having, at length, fully succeeded in his scheme, proofs of which he 
 is prepared to offer, he trusts he now comes forward, not as an imaginary 
 projector, but as a man who, contrary to the popular expectation, has really 
 accomplished a design which, on examination, will clearly evince the many 
 and important advantages which must result therefrom to the United States, 
 some of which your petitioner begs leave to enumerate. 
 
 The western waters of the United States, which have hitherto been navi- 
 gated with difficulty and expense, may now be ascended with safety, con- 
 veniency and great velocity; consequently, by these means, an immediate 
 increased value will be given to the western territory : all the internal waters 
 of the: United States will be rendered much more convenient and safe, and 
 the carriage on them much more expeditious; that from these advantages 
 will result a great saving in the labour of men and horses, as well as ex- 
 pense to the traveller. 
 
 Your petitioner also conceives, that the introduction of a complete steam 
 engine, formed upon the newest and best principles, into such a country as 
 America, where labour is high, would entitle him to a public countenance 
 and encouragement, independent of its use in navigation; he begs leave to 
 say that the great length of time, and vast sums of money, expended in 
 bringing the scheme to perfection have been wholly occasioned by his total 
 ignorance of the improved state of steam engines, a perfect knowledge of 
 which has not been acquired, without an infinite number of fruitless experi- 
 ments; for not a person could be found who was acquainted with the minutia 
 of Bolton and Watt’s new engine; and whether your petitioner’s engine is 
 similar or not to those in England, he is to this moment totally ignorant ; but 
 is happy to say, that he is now able to make a complete steam engine, which 
 in its effects, he believes, is equal to the best in Europe; the construction of 
 which he has never kept a secret. 
 
 That on his first undertaking the scheme, he knew there were a great 
 number of ways of applying the power of steam to the propelling of vessels 
 through the water, perhaps all equally effective; but this formed no part of 
 his consideration, knowing, that if he could bring his steam engine to work 
 in a boat, he would be under no difficulty in applying its force; therefore he 
 trusts no interference with him in propelling boats by steam, under any pre- 
 tence of a different mode of application, will be permitted; for should that 
 be the case, the employment of his time, and the amazing expense attending 
 the perfecting his scheme, would, whilst they gave the world a valuable dis- 
 covery, and to America peculiar and important advantages, eventuate in the 
 total ruin of your petitioner ; for a thousand different modes may be applied by 
 subsequent navigators, all of them benefiting by the expense and persevering 
 labour of your petitioner, and thus sharing with him those profits, which they 
 
436 APPENDIX. 
 
 never earned; such a consequence he is confident will not be permitted by 
 your honourable body. 
 
 Your petitioner therefore prays that your honours will take the subject of 
 his petition into consideration, and by granting him an exclusive right to the 
 use of steam navigation, for a limited time, do him that justice which he 
 conceives he merits, and which he trusts will redound to the honour and 
 add to the true interest of America: and your petitioner, as in duty bound, 
 shall ever pray. Joun Fircn. 
 
 New York, 22d June, 1790. 
 
 CERTIFICATE. 
 
 District of Columbia, Washington county, 
 
 At the request of Dr. William Thornton, of this county, personally ap- 
 peared before me, the subscriber, one of the justices of the peace for the said 
 county, Oliver Evans of Philadelphia, who solemnly affirmed, that when 
 John Fitch and his company were engaged in constructing their steamboat 
 in Philadelphia, he, the said Oliver, suggested to the said John Fitch the 
 plan of driving and propelling the said boat by paddle or flutter wheels at 
 the sides of the boat; when the said Fitch or some other person, but he 
 thinks it was Fitch, informed him that one of the company had already pro- 
 posed and urged the use of wheels at the sides, but that he had objected to 
 them. The said Oliver also states that he afterwards mentioned the same 
 to Henry Voight, one of the members of that company, who said that Dr. 
 William Thornton, also a member of the same, was the person who had 
 proposed the said paddle or flutter wheels at the sides of the boat, but that 
 both himself and John Fitch had objected to them. 
 
 The said Oliver further saith, that Robert Fulton, the patentee of steam 
 boats:in the state of New York, had observed to him, that he deemed it im- 
 possible to drive a boat or vessel, by steam, at a greater speed than five 
 miles per hour: but the said Oliver says, he had understood Fitch’s boat had 
 far exceeded that speed, and that Fitch’s experiment had completely suc- 
 ceeded to show that boats could be driven by steam to advantage; and also 
 that when the said John Fitch was afterwards setting out for the western 
 country, he called on the said Oliver at his house, and declared his intention 
 to be to form a company, to establish steamboats on the western waters; of 
 the advantages of which he appeared to have formed vast conceptions and 
 great expectations. The said Oliver also saith, that some time about the 
 years 1786, 1787, or 1788, the said Fitch informed him that he contemplated 
 employing his steamboat on the lakes, and meant to construct them with 
 two keels, to answer as runners, and when the lakes should freeze over he 
 would raise his boat on the ice, and by a wheel on each side, with spikes in 
 the rims, to take hold of the ice, he calculated it would be possible to run 
 thirty miles an hour. And also that he meant to tow boats and other floats 
 by steamboats. | 
 
 (Signed) O.iver Evans. 
 
 Affirmed to before the subscriber, one of the justices of the peace for 
 Washington county, Columbia, this 16th day of December, 1814. 
 
 JosePH Forrest. 
 
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 437 
 
 On the Origin of the Woollen Trade in England, é&c. 
 
 Wool has been considered at all times as a valuable commodity ; we find 
 the use of wool in the earliest periods, and flocks of sheep are mentioned in 
 the first ages of mankind; kings have not been ashamed to employ them- 
 selves in the care of them. The patriarch Abraham had flocks, and the 
 Israelites of that early time employed themselves in the care of them; their 
 neighbours, the Midianites, had such numbers, that the Israelites took 
 among the spoil more than six hundred thousand; and two hundred and 
 fifty thousand were taken from the Hagarites by the sons of Reuben. The 
 Ethiopians had sheep; for when Asa conquered a part of their country, he 
 carried them away in abundance. The Arabians at the same period had 
 also sheep, for they brought more than seven thousand rams at one time to 
 Jehoshaphat; and the Moabites must have bred them in great quantity, for 
 Mesha, king of that country, rendered to the king of Israel a hundred thou- 
 sand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams. These are passages of history 
 delivered in the Old Testament ; and by these we find that at this remote time 
 the Israelites had sheep in great abundance, and that the Midianites and 
 Hagarites, the Ethopians and the Arabians, and the Moabites, fed them also 
 in vast numbers. There is an account of sheep bred, in a manner, all over 
 the eastern quarter of the world; and we have occasional mention of the 
 same creature making a chief object of the care, and a principal article in 
 the rites, of the Amalekites, the Philistines, and the people of Damascus. 
 We see a great part of the quarter of the world then most inhabited, devoted 
 to the care of this useful animal. This creature was not bred only for its 
 flesh ; the mention of wool is made in some of these passages, and in others 
 there are allusions to the implements of weaving, and of the method of pre- 
 paring wool for the loom. That the Israelites fed sheep for the wool, may 
 be seen by the tithe exacted on it. The first of the fleece is declared the 
 due of the priest: and that other countries knew its value in the same man- 
 ner is plain, from an instance in the present of the Moabitish king, before 
 named, which is, that the rams were given with their wool. The staff of 
 Goliah’s spear is said to equal a weaver’s beam. The fuller’s field is men- 
 tioned in Isaiah, and by the prophet Malachi; and Ezekiel calls the people 
 of Damascus, “merchants in white wool.” These passages are the sum- 
 mary of what is said concerning flocks of sheep, their wool and its manufac- 
 ture, in the scriptures; and they show that the shearing of sheep, the use of 
 wool, the manufacturing into cloth, and the preparing that cloth by fulling, 
 were articles known in the earliest time. It establishes the care of this 
 animal, and the use of its fleece, upon a very great authority of ancient 
 history ; it produces examples that may animate all persons to interest them- 
 sclves in the care and management of its fleece, and legislative powers to 
 establish and encourage the manufacture of it. This attention of individuals. 
 and of public authority, is greatly wanting at present in America, for the 
 advancement of our woollen manufactures; let those who sit in high places 
 remember the “wool-sack.” All old historians mention the care of flocks, 
 and value of their wool: the Greeks used it for the purposes of clothing, 
 and they refer to times much earlier than their own, as familiar in the same 
 
 ‘use; the Tyrian purple was employed in dyeing woollen cloth, and the early 
 
 expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis for what was called the golden 
 fleece, was no more than a voyage in search of this commodity. Naturalists 
 
A438 APPENDIX. 
 
 may suppose their voyage was in search of gold, and the adepts pretend the 
 secret of the philosopher’s stone was couched under this mystery ; but plain 
 reason and the most authentic accounts of this transaction say nothing more 
 than this: that the people of Colchis understood the management of sheep, 
 and the manufacturing of their wool, better than any other nation of that 
 time, and that Jason and his partners in that expedition, after encountering 
 many dangers at sea, brought back a quantity of the wool, and a number of 
 the natives to manage the same article in their country. The city of 
 Corinth became afterwards a general mart for wool; and after Pompey had: 
 dispersed the pirates, the same article was a very considerable branch of 
 the commerce carried along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Spain is men- 
 tioned with great commendation for the wool it produced in those times, 
 and the manufactures made from it; some attribute the invention of weaving 
 woollen cloth to the people of that nation. Wool was received in early 
 times from many parts of the Euxine; and. the trade of the Baltic was, ina 
 great measure, supported by it. The Armenians obtained wool and woollen 
 cloths of the Turks, in exchange for horses; and Rome, in somewhat later 
 
 oe 
 
 times, received woollen manufactures from Alexandria. This all standsesta- 
 
 blished on the best authorities, and is related by all the authors who have 
 had occasion to mention the commerce of those ages. In the East they less . 
 
 regard the produce of wool now, because their neingioal manufactures are’ _ 
 
 in silk and cottons, but there is a great deal of very fine wool in Asia, Syria, 
 and Persia. They have a particular breed of sheep, whose wool is long 
 and grayish, and they make certain peculiar manufactures of it, and those 
 
 : : 
 
 much esteemed. In China and the East Indies the produce of wool isso 
 
 great, that they shear their sheep three times a year. One of the earliest 
 notices we have of sheep in Britain, with respect to their value, is found in 
 Stillingfleet, who tell us, that between 712 and 727, were made certain laws 
 of King Ina, and in those a price was set upon sheep. The price of an ewe 
 and her lamb together, till a fortnight after Easter, is set down at one shil- 
 ling. The value of money was then very different from what it is now, but 
 this, with all the allowance that can be made on that head, is but a very 
 poor price. Alfred, famous for the care of arts and commerce, took no small 
 pains to improve this manufacture, but it did not much succeed. In the 
 year 835, he set about this great work, but wolves were too numerous in the 
 island to let sheep be kept in safety. The consequence of the encourage- 
 ment Alfred gave to the raising of sheep was seen in the succeeding years; 
 for in 918, Edward, who had married the daughter of a country gentleman, 
 distinguished by the regard he had shown to this great concern, and thence 
 called by those who little understood what they read in earlier writers, a 
 shepherd, had his own daughters instructed in the art of carding, spinning, 
 and manufacturing wool. This double patronage bestowed by Edward, the 
 countenance he gave to one who employed himself in breeding sheep, and 
 to the example he set in making his daughters work the wool, was of so 
 much assistance to the manufacture, that the pasturage of the southern coun- 
 tries became soon occupied in feeding sheep, and every one fond of recom- 
 mending himself to the royal favour became a shepherd, or at least employed 
 his attention greatly on that article. The value of the sheep rose in propor- 
 lion to the number, for with the increase in quantity of wool the numbers 
 of manufacturers increased, and the demand for it enlarged. Richard I. in 
 
> 
 
 . 
 
 _ kingdom, for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures. They had, 
 
 WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 439 
 
 the year 1173, returning from the holy war, was taken prisoner by the Duke 
 of Austria. A vast ransom was required, and toward raising it one year’s 
 wool was demanded from two abbeys. This is a passage recorded by 
 Rapin, and is supported on the best authorities >and this shows, though we 
 have not had any regular account, that all the time the price of sheep was 
 increasing, the value of wool was also rising, and that this was the princi- 
 pal cause of their increase of value. When quantities of wool began to be 
 exported, the manufacturing of it at home increased ; about thirty years after 
 England found the way of serving her neighbours with wool, they improved 
 in the art of dyeing. At first, wool was only wrought up in a coarse plain 
 way, for the clothing of the farmer and his family ; by degrees those who 
 best understood the working it up, brought what they had to spare to market. 
 But all this time the wool was only wrought up as it was furnished by the 
 sheep, and all cloth was of the same colour; when the legislature encouraged 
 its manufacture it continued to prosper. 
 
 We find by.those accounts how little historians and others have considered 
 
 __ this important work. Those who speak of the manufacture of broad cloths 
 
 ~ in England, follow one another in placing the time of their being first made 
 at the year 1331. But we find they were made in 1220, 
 
 In 1284, foreign merchants were permitted to establish themselves in the 
 
 till that time, only been allowed to board, and could not trade otherwise 
 
 f ‘than by making their landlords their brokers; but now they were per- 
 
 mitted to traffic in their own names; and the privilege granted to them was 
 
 Fay 
 
 _ of the utmost benefit to the trade. So vastly did the trade increase and the 
 
 “manufacture flourish, that a few years after we find the traffic very flourish- 
 ing in London, and several of the sea-port towns. From this period the 
 woollen trade became an object, more than ever, of the public concern. 
 
 Persons of all nations who could improve the manufacture of broad cloth, 
 
 were encouraged to come over: and among numbers, brought under great 
 encouragements from Flanders, Brabant, and Zealand, there were some so 
 worthy of the advantages they received, that they soon set the trade upon a 
 most respectable footing abroad, and upon the most profitable foundation at 
 home. In consequence of the greater traffic in this article, the price rose; 
 and more assistances were drawn from it for the state: in the reign of 
 Edward III. we read of subsidy after subsidy, on wool: and in the reign of 
 Richard II. more subsidies were demanded ; the trades complained, and the 
 matter being candidly examined, it appeared that though they were not 
 without reason of complaint, the trade could bear more loads, and still make 
 fortunes. In the reign of Richard III., though the traffic was encumbered 
 with large subsidies, it increased continually. In the reign of Henry VII. 
 the greatest regard was shown to trade in every article, and in none more 
 than this: the exportation of wool was limited, and the manufacture of 
 cloths increased accordingly. In the reign of Henry VIII. the produce of 
 wool was greater than at any time before; and its price increased with the 
 quantity; farmers were laid under limitations, as to the number of sheep 
 they were to keep; but these were very extensive, and we may see by the 
 account preserved of this transaction, and of the price of things at that time, 
 to what an advance the care of that animal, and the price of its flesh and 
 wool, had arisen. 
 
ac oe 
 
 AAO -** appENDIX. 
 
 Husbandry had been, in early times, little understood in England ; but the 
 regard to wool, the demand for which was so considerable, and the price so 
 large, gave a spirit'to the people, which has continued to the present time. 
 The care of the pasturage grew with the number of enclosures, and the 
 thriving of sheep and the price of wool rose with it. It sold, in this reign, 
 dearer than in any of the preceding. Statutes were made, from time to 
 time, to encourage the manufacture of cloths, and marts were established in 
 different places. In the reign of Philip and Mary, the subsidies granted to 
 Edward VI. were continued: many good statutes were enacted in favour of 
 the woollen manufacture, in this reign; and it throve greatly under the 
 prudent regulations which were established, and extended itself to many 
 parts of the kingdom. In Queen Elizabeth’s time a subsidy was granted for 
 life, included in tonnage and poundage: many good statutes were made, and 
 numbers of the French and Flemish, leaving their native country because 
 of persecution, brought over their secrets, and increased our credit. In this 
 reign, wool rose from its former price. We may establish the period from 
 the end of the reign of Edward VI. to the end of Queen Elizabeth’s, as the 
 most flourishing of all times for the wool trade of England up to the last 
 century. 
 
 ot 
 
 The Worsted or Long Wool Manufacture.* 
 
 The reason why a long stapled, strong, and firm, though somewhat coarse 
 wool, is best adapted for worsted stuffs, is because they require a fine smooth 
 yarn, which shall have little or no tendency to shrink, curl, and felt, when 
 made into cloth. Hence the fibres must not be entangled and crossed by 
 carding, but on the contrary, be disposed as nearly as possible in parallel 
 lines, by a peculiar combing operation. The yarn thereby producible will 
 be comparatively level, slender, and hard, fit for warping and wefting into 
 finer and more compact goods. The first process to which the long wool is 
 subjected, in a worsted factory, is washing, which is performed exclusively 
 by men, with soap and water. They are paid by quantity, each man being 
 attended by a boy, who receives the wool as it issues from between the 
 two rollers in front of the washer, which squeeze out the greatest part of the 
 moisture. The wool is then carried by the boy, in large baskets, to the dry- 
 ing room, where it is spread upon the floor. The drying-room is generally 
 placed over the boilers of the steam engine, and is thus kept at a high tem- 
 perature. After drying, the wool is removed to a machine called the plucker, 
 which is always attended by a boy. His business is to lay the tufts of wool 
 even, in an endless web, on an apron, which, as it travels forward, delivers 
 the wool to a pair of spiked rollers, by which it is carried to the interior ap- 
 paratus, which is somewhat similar to the willow employed in the cotton 
 factories, and thence it is blown out at the opposite side. The use of this 
 mechanism is to clean and straighten the fibres of the wool, and to prepare 
 it for the next machine, the comb-card. In the old routine of the trade, and 
 
 * Worsted is a thread spun of wool that has been combed, and which, in the spinning, 
 is twisted harder than ordinarily. It was chiefly used formerly, either to be woven into 
 stockings, caps, gloves, &c. Worsted has obtained its name from Worstead, a market 
 town in the county of Norfolk, England; where the manufacture of the article we 
 
 first introduced. 
 ¥ 
 
 - 
 * 
 
WORSTED MACHINERY. 441 
 
 still for the finest description of work, the wool is not carded in the factory, 
 but is given out to the wool combers, who comb it by hand. 
 
 Three implements are in common use for combing long wool :—1, a pair of 
 combs for each workman: 2, a post to which either of the combs can be 
 fixed: and 3. a comb-pot or small stove, for heating the teeth of the combs. 
 Each comb is composed of two rows of tapering pointed steel teeth, dis- 
 posed in two parallel planes; of which one row is longer than the other. 
 They are fixed into a wooden stock or head which is covered with horn, and 
 has a handle fixed into it, perpendicular to the planes of the teeth-range. 
 The space between these planes is only one-third of an inch at the bottom 
 of the teeth. The combs used for the last combing have three rows of teeth, 
 In the work shop a post is fixed, in order to support the combs occasionally 
 during the process. An iron stem is fixed into it, which has‘an upturned point, 
 for passing through a hole of the handle of the comb, while it has a staple 
 pin at its inner end, for entering into the hollow extremity of the handle, 
 and by the two fixtures holding it fast to the post. The stove consists of a 
 flat iron plate, heated by a fire, or by steam, and surmounted by another plate 
 for confining the heat. Into a small space left between the two plates, the 
 teeth of the combs are introduced. 
 
 In combing the wool, ‘the workman separates it into handfuls of about 
 four ounces each, sprinkles it with oil, and rolls up in his hands, to smear it 
 uniformly. The proportion of oil varies from a fortieth to a sixteenth of the 
 weight in wool. Having fastened a heated comb to the post with its teeth 
 upwards, the workman takes one half of that quantity of wool in his hand, 
 and, throwing it over the points of the comb, draws it through them, and so 
 repeatedly, a portion of wool remaining each time in the comb. When all 
 the wool is gathered on the teeth, the comb is placed with its points in the 
 stove, and the wool hanging on the outside receives a portion of the heat. 
 The other comb, now hot, is fixed to the post, and filled in its turn, with 
 the other half of the four ounces of wool, and is then removed to the stove, 
 like the first. When both combs are properly warmed, the comber holds one 
 of them, with his left hand over his knee, as he is seated on a low stool, 
 and with the other comb, held in his right hand, he combs the wool upon 
 the first, by introducing the points of the teeth of one comb into the wool 
 contained in the other, and drawing them through it. This is repeated till 
 the fibres are laid parallel. He always begins by introducing the points of 
 the teeth of one comb first into the extremity of the fleece contained in the 
 teeth of the other comb, and he then advances deeper at each succeeding 
 stroke, till, eventually, he works the combs as closely together as possible 
 without bringing their teeth into collision; otherwise, he could not draw 
 the comb through the wool without breaking its fibres, or tearing the wool 
 out of the teeth of the comb. The short wool which remains on the teeth 
 of the comb at last, because it does not reach the place where the comber 
 grasps it, is called noyl, and is unfit for worsted spinning; it amounts to 
 about an eighth of the new wool by weight. 
 
 The wool which is drawn off from the comb forms a continuous sliver or 
 band, with straight parallel fibres, but is still not ready for the spinning 
 
 “machine, till combed again at a somewhat lower temperature. When the 
 SFroeess is complete, the wool is formed into parcels containing ten or eleven 
 
 slivers each. 
 
 56 
 
442 APPENDIX. 
 
 A great many self-acting machines have been contrived for performing 
 the wool-combing operations. One was made the subject of a patent by 
 John Platt, of Salford, 1827, being an invention communicated to him by a 
 foreigner. This machine is intended to comb wool by means of two revolv- 
 ing combs or heckles. It consists of a square frame of iron mounted upon 
 legs, and two axles, upon each of which one of the circular combs is mounted. 
 These axles are not placed in horizontal positions, but are inclined at acute 
 angles to the horizon, and in directions crossing each other. These combs 
 are made in the form of ordinary wheels, with arms, of which the nave is 
 attached to the axle by screws. The points or teeth are set in the edge of 
 the rim, at right angles to the axis of the wheel, and are made to revolve in 
 opposite directions by means of a crossed or twisted strap, running over a 
 pulley on each axle; these being driven by a band and rigger, or power 
 pulley, on the end of the axle. As the comb wheels go round they are made 
 to approach each other slowly. This approach is caused by mounting the 
 bearings of the axle in slots, which allow of their sliding, and enable that 
 axle and its circular comb to be brought towards the circular comb on the 
 axle. This traverse movement is effected by an endless screw and toothed 
 wheel, or snail work, connected to the under part of the frame. This 
 mechanism gradually moves the axle in a lateral direction, while the twisted 
 strap which connects the two axles, and drives, by rotation, is kept at its 
 proper tension, as the circular combs approach each other by means of a 
 heavy roller, which hangs on a jointed lever. In putting this comb in opera- 
 tion, the proper quantity of wool, in its entangled state, is to be stuck 
 between the teeth, and when the wheels are set in rapid rotary. motion, the 
 loose ends of the fleece will, by the centrifugal force, be thrown out in the 
 direction of radii, and will catch against the points of the teeth of the other 
 revolving comb, whereby the fibres will be drawn out and straightened. The 
 operation is to commence when the comb-wheels are at their greatest dis- 
 tance apart. As they slowly approach each other, the ends or fibres of the 
 wool will be laid hold of by the teeth-points, at progressively increasing 
 depths, until the wheels come near together; by which time the whole ~ 
 length of the staple will have been combed out smooth, and will be then 
 drawn from the comb, by throwing the driving-belt, as usual, on a loose” £ a 
 pulley. The noyls, or pe refuse wool, which remains enjupaied among — ae 
 the teeth being removed, the machine is charged for another operation. © qe 
 
 In one of these large machines, the comb-wheels are ten feet in diameter, ? * 
 and are furnished with hollow iron spokes filled with steam, which keep the 
 whole apparatus at a proper combing heat. These wheels are made to 
 revolve slowly, while a boy, seated on the ground, dresses one of them with 
 wool; they are then made to revolve with great rapidity, by shifting the 
 driving-belt on the proper pulley, during which revolution they gradually 
 approach each other. Such machines will supersede the hand comb. 
 
 The breaking frame is the next machine in the worsted manufacture, and 
 is, in fact, a continuous form of comb or card, called by the French the dé- 
 feutreur, from its opening out any. felted fibres. It represents a vertical 
 section of a breaking comb, for the purpose of explaining the principles of its 
 action. A frame for carrying the machines, of which there are usually four 
 alongside of one another, each from four to six inches broad. The front or — 
 feeding pair of rollers, three inches in diameter, the upper one bearing by a 
 
WORSTED MACHINERY.  _ 443 
 
 weight suspended to its axis on the under; the continuous lower comb, and 
 the upper comb going with the same velocity as the lower. (See Dr. Ure 
 on Worsted.) The rows of teeth slope gently forwards, and alternate with 
 the teeth of the other comb ; thus the row of the one corresponds to the middle 
 of the two other rows. Fluted cylinders, which cause the rotation of the end- 
 less chain of combs. Counter cylinders, fluted in like manner. The forked 
 bearings in which these turn are so mounted as to permit the comb-chain to 
 be stretched. Small tension-cylinders, for giving a proper direction to each 
 comb. The second pair of rollers, which takes the wool from the combs. 
 These rollers are like the first, made of wood, and of the same diameter. 
 The under one of this pair is kept clean by a brush. On its axis the fast 
 and loose power pulleys are fixed, which give motion to the whole machine. 
 The upper. roller is furnished with wiper-wings; that is, its surface is co- 
 vered with a series of small leaves of parchment, held by one of their edges 
 with little clamps, or keys, in grooves cut lengthwise on their surface. The 
 same cylinder is firmly pressed down on the lower one by a loaded steelyard. 
 
 The speed of the first pair of rollers is to that of the second as one to four, 
 and the velocity of the comb-train is the geometrical] mean between them, 
 or two. Too great a velocity in these parts would be apt to knot and felt 
 the wool; and it must not therefore exceed above five or six inches in a 
 second. <A copper funnel, or trumpet mouth, for conducting the sliver deli- 
 vered by the second rollers. The third pair of rollers turning with a little 
 more velocity than the second pair, only in consequence of having a diameter 
 a little greater. 
 
 The comb of this continuous machine is formed of a series of small rect- 
 angular pieces of tin-plate, hinged) together, the half of one overlapping that 
 of the other, like slates on a roof. These pieces are struck out by a punch, 
 which leaves at their four corners little dises which are afterwards bent back 
 to a right angle by a pair of plyers, and which serve to make the hinge 
 joints. (Philosophy of Manufactures.) While the chain is advancing in a 
 straight line, the teeth soldered to the lower tin-plate present the whole of 
 
 their projection, minus the thickness of the upper plate, which is here cleft; 
 buat in proportion as these plates come upon the fluted cylinders which drive 
 them, the plates cease to lie flat on each other, and become inclined by the 
 __ eurvature of the cylinders. The part cut through for the passage of the teeth 
 os recedes, or turns out of the way, and thereby passes by the extremities of 
 the teeth ; thus getting disengaged from the fibres of the wool, and allowing 
 them to be immediately seized by the second pair of rollers. In this way 
 each piece of tin plate acts both as a tooth and a disengaging bar. It is ob- 
 vious that the upper and the lower combs, during their parallel progress, by 
 means of their alternate rows of teeth passing between each other, like the 
 fingers of our two hands, perform a double combing at a single stroke upon 
 
 the cardings introduced in pairs at the feeding rollers. 
 
 The sliver delivered by the roller, proceeds next to a large bobbin or cy- 
 linder, round which it is lapped, till the whole combing is entirely wound 
 up. It is again passed through another chain-comb like the preceding, 
 furnished with finer and closer-set teeth; and in this process the sliver, is 
 doubled, to give greater uniformity to the fleece. The person who attends 
 this machine, (invariably a young boy or girl,) is called the feeder. His 
 business is to weigh the wool, and spread it in definite quantities on a travel- 
 
A44 APPENDIX. 
 
 ing apron, which feeds the first pair of rollers. The attention of the feeder 
 is necessarily invariable while the engine is at work, as the uniformity of 
 the thread finally produced depends, in no small degree, on his accuracy. 
 The film of wool at open drawing, on its delivery from its first pair of rollers 
 is collected through a funnel mouth, and either lapped on a cylinder or re- 
 ceived in a tin can, and broken off when the can is full. An empty can is 
 then set in the place of the full one. 
 
 The machines for reducing, and at the same time equalising, by doubling 
 the open drawings of long wool, are constructed on the same principle as 
 the drawing frame of a cotton-mill, only the distance between the first and 
 last pair of rollers is much greater, on account of the greater length of the 
 wool-staple. The drawing operation is performed by the first pair of rollers 
 moving more slowly than the last pair, whereby the soft woolly riband is 
 extended in length proportionally to that difference of velocity. 
 
 Hitherto, no degree of torsion has been given to the slender fillet; but a 
 little twist must now be introduced to preserve its cohesion, in its progression 
 towards the state of a fine thread. 
 
 The following description of a roving apparatus for long wool will com- 
 municate a tolerably distinct idea of the process. 
 
 The sections of two pair of rollers, the lower ones being made of iron, and 
 fluted ; the upper being of wood, covered with leather. Pressure is exercised 
 by the upper on the under ones by means of weights suspended by curved 
 rods from the ends of the axes of the upper rollers. The first roller moves 
 faster than the second, in the proportion of two and a half or three to one, 
 according to the nature of the wool. The second roller rests on a moveable 
 bearer, which permits it to be placed nearer to, or farther from, the first 
 roller. A cylinder mounted with pins, which revolves very slowly on its 
 axis, and delivers to the second roller, moving with a treble velocity, the 
 open drawings of wool supplied by the feeding roller. A spindle, having 
 one leg of its forked flyer tubular, through which the roving passes in its way 
 to the bobbin. The spindle turns very slowly, so as to give no more twist 
 to the filaments than may be necessary to secure the formation of an uniform 
 soft cord during their extension. The up and down motion of the bobbin is 
 given by an eccentric acting on the copping-rail. 
 
 The general manner of spinning long wool into a finer thread :—Here are 
 three pairs of drawing rollers ; the first two of which are supported on move- 
 able bearings, or brass brushes, which allow of their being separated, more 
 or less, from one another, and also from the other roller, to suit the staple of “4M 
 the wool. The ratio of the speed of the first and last pair of rollers is as «te 
 one to four. The roller serves merely to bear up the fine roving ; its velo- ‘2 
 city is therefore a mean between that of the other two. The bobbins filled © te _ 
 with rovings made on the previously described machine, are arranged, be- oe 
 hind the back drawing roller, in a creel-frame, so that three rovings together 3 ay 
 may pass through the funnel or eyelet, placed opposite the middle of this nt: 
 roller. The roving is never reduced to its ultimate fineness by passing — ‘e ot 
 through two or three such machines, but it passes successively through five _ 
 or six of them, receiving not only extension, but an equalising combination 
 every time. At last, the fine yarn is formed ie a spinning frame, or throstle, 
 which may Deantto'n two hundred and fifty-four spindles on each side, fur- 
 nished with a four-fold set of drawing rollers. The back and the front . 
 
bs ] 
 
 4 
 
 ‘ e 
 
 WORSTED MACHINERY. 445 
 
 pairs of rollers alone are loaded by a suspended weighted lever. The upper 
 rollers of the two middle pairs are of lead, and press merely by their weight. 
 The ratio of the velocities of the extreme pairs of rollers is here as one is to 
 six, eight or ten, according to the fineness of the roving, and the number of 
 yarn wanted. In this final spinning there is no doubling operation; but 
 single bobbins are set on skewers in the reel in correspondence with the 
 single spindles on the copping rail. The number of doublings in this pro- 
 cess of drawing and roving long wool, may amount in certain cases to 
 several thousand. 
 
 The spindles should revolve very quickly in the spinning frame, in order 
 to give the requisite degree of twist to the worsted. The hardest twisted 
 worsted is called tammy warp; and when its fineness is such as to contain 
 twenty-four hanks to the pound weight, the twist is about ten or twelve 
 turns in every inch length. The least twist is given to the hosiery worsted 
 yarn, which runs from eighteen to twenty-four hanks to the pound weight. 
 The twist is only from five to six turns per inch. The degree of twist is 
 regulated by the size of the wharves or whorls upon the spindles, and the 
 speed of the front rollers, in the spinning of which, on the fine mule, extra- 
 ordinary nicety of adjustment is required. 
 
 A hank of worsted yarn contains five hundred and sixty yards; and it is 
 divided into seven lays, of eighty yards each. Some count hanks of eight 
 hundred and forty yards, like those of cotton yarn. 
 
 The roving frames have much fewer spindles than the fine spinning 
 frame ; some of them are two spindle, some of them four spindle, others six 
 spindle-frames, &c., which all repeat, however, the similar process of dou- 
 bling threads and passing under drawing rollers, so as to give successive 
 draughts to the spongy cords, and to maintain their perfect equality of tex- 
 ture. Girls from sixteen to twenty and upwards, are generally employed at 
 drawing, roving and spinning frames. At the former two they earn from 
 6s. to 7s. each, weekly ; at the last, from 9s. to 10s. 
 
 — 
 
 Dates of Circumstances and Occurrences connected with Manufactures. 
 1756. Cotton velvets and quiltings first made in England. 
 1768. The stocking frame applied to make lace by Hammond. 
 
 1774. A bill passed to prevent the export of machinery used in cotton 
 factories. : 
 
 1779. Mule spinning, by Crompton. 
 
 1794. Sewing cotton made by S. Slater. 
 
 1803. First cotton factory in New Hampshire. 
 
 i ~ 1810. Digest of cotton manufactures in the United States by Mr. Gallatin, 
 
 and another by Tench Coxe, Esq; and public attention drawn to their grow- 
 
 fhe 
 - 
 
 importance. 
 oes, The power loom introduced into the United States, by Gilmore, 
 . (R. L) afterwards more perfectly at Waltham, Massachusetts, where the 
 latest improvements in machinery were obtained. 
 
 1822. First cotton factory erected at Lowell. 
 _ 1825. Self-acting mule spinner patented in England, by Roberts. Same 
 year the tube frame introduced there from America. 
 
 1826. First exports of American cotton manufactured to any considerable 
 value. 
 
4AG - APPENDIX. P 
 
 "1830. Mr. Dyer introduces a machine from the United States. ohn Eng: 
 land, to make cards. . 
 
 1831. Calico Printing much improved in the United States. ‘ 
 
 1834. A patent for an improved spindle, by Charles Jackson, Esq. Provi- 
 dence R. I. 
 1835. April 20. “ Died at Webster, Massachusetts, aged 67, Samuel See 
 
 ter, long known as an enterprising and respected citizen of Rhode Island, 
 . Bnd the “father of the cotton manufacturing business in this country, in wie 
 he acquired a great estate. The first cotton manufactory in the United 
 States, was built by Mr. Slater, at Pawtucket R. I., which was standing and 
 in operation at the time of his delth: at sa lh ea Almanac. 
 
 1836. One hundred and twenty millions of yards of calico printed in the 
 United States, during the year ending April 1, 1836. Om 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 Their arts and manufactures were confined to the construction of wig- 
 wams, bows and arrows, wampum, ornaments, stone hatchets, mortars for 
 pounding corn, to the dressing of skins, weaving of coarse mats from the bark 
 of trees, or a coarse sort of hemp, &c. In summer, they wore little besides 
 a covering about the waist; but in winter, they clothed themselves in the 
 skins of wild beasts. For habitations, the Indians had wigwams. These 
 consisted of a strong pole erected in the centre, around which, at the dis- 
 tance of ten or twelve feet, other poles were driven obliquely into the ground, 
 and fastened to the centre pole at the top. Their coverings were of mats or 
 bark of trees, so well adjusted as to render them dry and comfortable. Their 
 domestic utensils extended not beyond a hatchet of stone, a few shells, and 
 sharp stones which they used for knives, stone mortars fot pounding corn, 
 and some mats and skins upon which they slept. They sat, and ate, and 
 lodged, on the ground. 4 
 
 1678. The mplonigts during this period, being chiefly occupied i in gaining 
 a subsistence, and in protecting themselves against their enemies, had occa- 
 sion for few articles beyond the necessaries and comforts of life. Arts and 
 manufactures could, therefore, receive but little encouragement, beyond the 
 construction of such articles, and even those were principally imported. 
 
 In 1620, one hundred and fifty persons came out to Virginia to carry on 
 the manufacture of silks, iron, potash, tar, pitch, glass, salt, &c. but they did 
 not succeed. In 1673, Chalmer says of New England, “ There be five iron 
 works which cast no guns, no house in New England has above twenty rooms 
 —not twenty in Boston have ten rooms each. All cordage, saileloth, and 
 mats, come from England—no cloth made there of any value—no alum, no 
 copperas, no salt made by theirsun. The first buildings of the settlers were 
 made of logs and thatched, or were built of stone. Brick and framed houses 
 were soon built in the larger towns; the frames and brick were, however, in 
 some instances imported. The first mill in New England was a windmill, 
 near Watertown, but it was taken down in 1632 and placed in the vicinity 
 of Boston. Water mills began to be erected the next year. The first thing 
 
 printed was the freeman’s oath, the second an almanack, and the third an 
 
 edition of the psalms. The bible was printed at Cambridge in 1664, trans- 
 Jated into the Indian language. Notwithstanding the obstacles interposed 
 
 £ 
 
 a 
 
* 
 INDIAN MANUFACTURES. AAT 
 by Great Britain to the progress of arts and manufactures, the coarser kinds 
 of cutlery, some coarse cloths, both linen and woollen, hats, paper, shoes, 
 household furniture, farming utensils, &c. were matured on a small 
 scale, but not sufficient to supply the inhabitants ; cloths were made in some 
 families for their own consumption. In 1700, which was the time of the 
 commencement of the first newspaper, there was but a moderate advance 
 for some years. The trade with England during the revolutionary war 
 _ being interrupted, the people were compelled to manufacture for themselves. 
 Encouragement was given to all necessary manufactures, and the zeal, 
 ingenuity, and industry of the people, furnished the country with articles of 
 _ prime necessity, and in a measure, supplied the place of a foreign market. 
 Such was the progress in arts and manufactures, that after the return of 
 peace, when an uninterrupted intercourse with England was again opened, 
 some articles, which before were imported altogether, were found so well 
 and so abundantly manufactured at home, that their importation was stopped, 
 and arts and manufactures attracted the attention of government. A. 
 Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, made a report to congress on the sub- 
 ject, in which he set forth their importance to the country, and urged the 
 policy of aiding them. Since that time the revenue laws have been framed 
 with a view to the encouragement of manufactures, and their promotion has 
 been considered as a part of the settled policy of the United States. Although 
 the flourishing state of commerce attracted the attention, and absorbed the 
 capital of the country in some degree to the exclusion of other subjects, still 
 manufactures began to progress. 
 
 From Hallam’s History of the Middle Ages. 
 
 ‘The condition of internal trade was hardly preferable to that of agricul- 
 ture, which was wretched. There is not a vestige perhaps to be discovered 
 for several centuries of any considerable manufacture; I mean, of working 
 up articles of common utility, to an extent beyond vila the necessities of 
 an adjacent neighbourhood required. Rich men kept domestic artisans 
 among their servants; even kings, in the ninth century, had their clothes 
 made by women upon their farms. The only mention of a manufacture, as 
 early as the ninth or tenth centuries, is what Schmidt says, that cloths were 
 theu exported from Friseland to England and other parts. Venice took the 
 lead in trading with Greece and more eastern countries. Amalfi had the 
 second place in the commerce of those dark ages; the fine cloths of Constanti- 
 nople were imported. It is an humiliating proof of the degradation of 
 Christendom, that the Venetians were reduced to purchase the luxuries of 
 Asia, by supplying the slave-market of the Saracens. 
 
 Netherlands, coasts of France, Germany, Scandinavia, and the maritime 
 districts of England, were first animated by the woollen manufacture of 
 Flanders. It is not easy either to discover the early beginnings of this or to 
 account for its rapid advancement. Several testimonies to the flourishing 
 condition of Flemish manufactures occur in the twelfth century, and even 
 earlier. A writer of the thirteenth century asserts, that all the world was 
 clothed from English wool wrought in Flanders; they were probably sold 
 wherever navigation permitted them to be carried. Flanders was a market 
 for the traders of all the world. England soon began to share in the trade. 
 
 és 
 
| & 
 
 “% : 
 tt 
 448 APPENDIX. 
 
 The History of Norfolk speaks of a colony of Flemings settling as early as 
 the reign of Henry IJ. at Worsted, and immortalised its name by their manu- 
 factures. There were several guilds of weavers during the reign of Henry II. 
 Edward III. may almost be called the father of English commerce, a title 
 more glorious than hero of Cressy. In 1331 he invited the manufacturers of 
 Flanders into his dominions. They brought the finer manufacture of woollen 
 cloths which had been unknown in England. Commerce became a leading 
 object with parliament. There were inducements held out tothe Flemings: 
 “Here they should feed on fat beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulness 
 should stint their stomachs ; their bed should be good, and their bed-fellows 
 better, seeing the richest yeomen in England would not disdain to marry 
 their daughters unto them, and such the English beauties, that the most 
 envious foreigners could not but commend them.” — 
 
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