has increased in its export to England, but not so much as was expected; before the treaty it was eight thousand tonneaux a year, and it has not risen to twelve thousand; however the course of exchange is against England th, and wine, owing to the present failure of the crop, has increased in price 50 per cent. Brandy has also increased. The English take only the two first qualities of wines, or, rather they are supposed to do so; for their merchants established here mix and work the wine sent in such a manner, that the real quality of it is unknown: this is the account given us. Those two first sorts are now at 201. to 221. a barique, which is two hundred and fifty French bot. tles, and two hundred and seventy English ones. The other qualities are sold from 151. to 181. port charges, cask and shipping included; freight to London is 50s. a ton, besides 15 per cent. primage, average, &c. The French duty is 28 livres the tonneau, which has been lowered to 5 livres 5s. from last October to the first of January next, a regulation which it is said will not take place longer. BEAUVAIS.... The opinion universal among the manufacturers here is, that the English fabrics are so superior in cheapness, from the wise policy of the encouragements given by government, that those of Beauvais, should they come in competition, must sink; so much of the fabrics here as are for the consumption of the lower people might perhaps stand by it, but not any others; and they think that the most mischievous war would not have been so injurious to France, as this most pernicious treaty. LILLE....I no where met with more violence of sentiment, relative to this treaty, than here; the manufacturers will not speak of it with any patience; they wish for nothing but a war; they may be said to pray for one, as the only means of escaping that ideal ruin, which they are all sure must flow from the influx of English fabrics to rival their own. This opinion struck me as a most extraordinary infatuation; for in the examination which took place at the bars of our Houses of Lords and Commons, this is precisely the town whose fabrics were represented as dangerously rivalling our own, particularly the camblets of Norwich; and here we find exactly the counter part of those apprehensions. Norwich considers Lille as the most dreadful rival, and Lille regards Norwich as so formidable to her industry, that war and bloodshed would be preferable to such a competition. Such facts ought to be useful to a politician; he will regard these jealousies, wherever found, either as impertinence or knavery, and pay no attention whatever to the hopes, fears, jealousies, or alarms, which the love of monopoly always inspires, which are usually false, and always mischievous to the national interests, equally of every country. NAOTES.... In conversation here on this treaty with some very respectable commercial gentlemen, they were loud against it; insisted that France sent no fabrics whatever to England in consequence of it, not to the amount of a single sol; some goes, and the same went before the treaty; and that England has not imported more wine or brandy than usual, or at least to a very small amount; we know at present that this was not correct. ROUEN.... The quantity of merchandise of all sorts that has been imported here from England since the treaty, is very considerable, especially Staffordshire hardware, and cotton fabrics, and several English houses have been established. They consider the treaty here as highly detrimental to all the manufactures of Normandie. I am better satisfied with the real fact than if it were, as the Chamber of Commerce of Normandie imagined, much more in favour of England; for as the benefit is more likely to last, so the treaty is more likely to be renewed; and consequently peace between the two kingdoms to be more durable. The balance of the manufacturing ac. count does not exceed 14 millions, which is very far short of the French ideas, and must, in the nature of things, lessen. The 18 millions of raw materials and coals, instead of being an import hurtful to the interests of French industry, is beneficial to it; and they themselves wisely consider it as such, and lamented the old duties on the import of English coal, asserting, that there ought to be none at all. Here are 10 millions of imports, and a balance of eight in direct objects of agriculture, as corn and meat. If a people will manage their agriculture in such a preposterous manner, as not to be able to feed themselves, they should esteem themselves highly obliged to any neighbour that will do it for them. Raw materials, including drugs, with cattle, corn, and horses, very nearly account for the whole balance, great as it is, that is paid on the total to England; and as such objects are as much for the advantage of France to import, as for the benefit of England to export, the whole trade must, both in extent and balance, be deemed equally reciprocal, and of course equally tending to advance the prosperity of each kingdom. There is, however, a circumstance in which matters are very far from being reciprocal, and that is, in payments. The French are paid for their goods, whatever these may be, according to agreement; but that is very far from being the case with the complaints against the mode of dealing in France, not only in respect of payment, but also of want of confidence, since their goods, fairly executed, according to patterns agreed on, are seldom received without dispute or deduction: and while they cheerfully do justice to the punctuality of the Americans, Germans, &c. they put very little value on the French trade, speaking in general. It is the same with Birmingham, whose merchants and manufacturers assert strenuously, that the commercial treaty has been of no service to their town; the French having taken as largely their goods by contraband, before the treaty, as at present, through a different channel; with this change, that the Dutch, Germans, and Flemmings, with whom they dealt before, paid better than the French. These circumstances are great deductions from the apparent merit of the treaty, which cannot be fairly estimated, unless we could know the amount of our exports sent out clandestinely before it was concluded. The manufacturers are certainly the best judges; and they unite, with one voice, throughout the kingdom, either to condemn it, or at least to assert its having been a mere transfer from one channel to another, and not an increase. The benefit of it, however, as a political measure, which tends to establish a friendship and connection between the two countries, cannot be called in question with any propriety; for the mere chance of its being productive of peace, is of more consequence than ten such balances, as appears on the foot of the above mentioned account, CHAP. XIX..... OF THE MANUFACTURES OF FRANCE. PICARDIE...Abbeville....The famous manufacture of Vanrobais has been described in all dictionaries of commerce and similar works; I shall therefore only observe, that the buildings are very large, and all the conveniences seem to be as complete as expence could make them: the fabric of broad cloths is here carried on upon the account of the master of the establishment, from the back of the sheep to the last hand that is given. They assert, that all the wool used is Spanish, but this must be received with some degree of qualification. They say that one thousand five hundred hands are employed, of which two hundred and fifty are weavers; but they have experienced a great declension since the establishment of the fabric at Louviers, in Normandie. They have several spinning jennies, by which one girl does the business of forty-six spinners. An establishment of this kind, with all the circumstances which every one knows attended it, is certainly a very noble monument of the true splendour of that celebrated 1 reign to which Mons. de Voltaire justly enough gave the title of Age; but I have great doubts whether it is possible to carry on a manufacture to the best advantage, by thus concentrating, in orn establishment, all the various branches that are essential to the completion of the fabric. The division of labour is thus in some measure lost, and entirely so in respect to the master of each branch. The man whose fortune depends entirely on the labour of the spinner, is more likely to understand spinning in perfection, than he who is equally concerned in spinning and weaving; and it is perhaps the same with respect to dressing, milling, dyeing, &c. when each is a separate business each must be cheaper and better done. The appointment of commis and overseers lessens, but by no means gets rid of the difficulty. In viewing a manufacture therefore I am not so much struck with that great scale which speaks a royal foundation, as with the more diffusive and by much the more useful signs of industry and employment, which spread into every quarter of a city, raise entire streets of little comfortable houses, convert poor villages into little towns, and dirty cottages into neat habitations. How far it may be necessary when manufactures are first introduced into a country to proceed on the plan followed by Louis XIV, I shall not inquire, but when they are as well established as they are at present, and have long been in France, the more rivals in smaller undertakings, which these great establishments have to contend with, the better it will generally be found for the kingdom, always avoiding the contrary extreme, which is yet worse, that of spreading into the country and turning what ought to be farmers into manufacturers. Besides fine cloths, they make at Abbeville carpets, tapestry, worsted stockings, barracans, a light stuff much worn by the clergy, minorques, and other similar goods. They have also a small fabric of cotton handkerchiefs. AMIENS....Abounds with fabrics as much as Abbeville; they make cottons, camblets, calimancoes, minorques, coarse cloths; there is scarcely any wool worked here but that of Picardy and a little of Holland, none of England, or next to none; they would get it they say if they could, but they cannot. I examined their cotton stockings carefully, and found that 4 or 5 livres was the price of such as were equal to those I had brought from England, and which cost at London 2s. 6d.; this difference is surprising, and proves, if any thing can, the vast superiority of our cotton fabrics. BRETEUIL.... They have a manufacture here on a small scale of scythes and wood hooks, the former at 45s. the latter at 30s. the iron comes from St. Diziers, and the coals from Valenciennes. Nails are also made here for horse-shoes at 8s. the lb. but not by nailors who do nothing else. ORLEANS.... The inanufactures are not inconsiderable, they make stockings of all kinds, and print linens ; a fabric of woollen caps has been established here since Louis XIV's time, in which two houses are employed; the chief we viewed. It employs at home about three hundred working hands, and twelve to fifteen hundred others. The caps are entirely made of Spanish wool, three ounces of yarn make a cap; they are all for exportation, from Marseilles to Turkey and the coast of Africa, being worn under turbans; in dressing they extract the grease with urine, full and finish in the manner of cloth. The sugar refinery is a considerable business, there are ten large and seventeen smaller houses engaged in it; the first employ each forty to forty-five workmen, the latter ten to twelve: one of the principal, which I viewed, makes 600,000lb. of sugar, and the rest in proportion. The best sugar is from Martinico, but they mix them together. Rum is never made from molasses, which is sold to the Dutch at 8s. the lb. the scum is squeezed, and the refuse is spread thick on meadows to kill moss, which it does very effectually. The price of raw sugar is 30 to 45 livres per 100lb. The coal they burn is from the vicinity of Moulins, in the Bourbonnois. Trade in general is now brisk here. ROMORENTIN.... A fabric of common cloths for liveries and soldiers, carried on by private weavers, who procure the wool and work it up; they are at least one hundred in number, and make on an average twenty pieces each in a year; it is sent to Paris. At Vatan there are about twenty of the same weavers and three hundred spinners. chis CHATEAUROUx.... A fabric of cloth, which two years ago, before the failure of the master, gave employment to five hundred hands, boys included, and to one thousand five hundred to one thousand eight hundred spinners in this and the neighbouring provinces; it is a Manufacture Royale, like that at Abbeville, of Vanrobais, by which is to be understood an exemption for all the workmen employed within the walls from certain taxes, I believe tailles. Some gentlemen of the town keep at present one hundred hands at work in the house, and the spinners depending on that number, in order that the fabric might not be lost, nor the poor left entirely without employment; there is true and useful patriotism in this. The cloths that were made here were 1 to 14 aulns broad, which sold at 8 livres to 23 livres the auln; they make also ratteens. In the town are about eighty private weavers, who make nearly the same cloths as at Romorentin, but better; sell from 8 livres to 18 livres the auln, 1 broad; these private fabrics, which do not depend on any great establishment, are vastly preferable to concentrating the branches in one great inclosure; the right method of remedying such a failure as has happened here, is to endeavour by every means to increase the number of private undertakers. The cloths are all made of the wool of the country now 20 to 37s. the lb. it has been dearer for two years, and ten years ago was to be had for 15 to 20s. from the 24th of June it is sold at every market, and in large quantities; manufacturers come from Normandy and Picardy for twelve days together to buy wool, wash, and send it off. At two leagues from Chateauroux are iron forges, which let at 140,000 livres a year (61251.) belonging to the count d'Artois. LIMOGES.... The most considerable fabric here is that of druggets, the warp of which is of hemp thread, and the woof of wool, one hundred looms are employed by them. Siamoise stuffs are made of hemp and cotton, sold at 30 to 48s. an auln; there are about one thousand or one thousand one hundred cotton spinners in the Limosin, also various mixed stuffs of silk and cotton, and silk and thread, under many denominations, for gowns, coats, waistcoats, breeches, &c. from 4 to 6 livres the auln. Some stuffs, which they call china, are rather dearer; a gown selling for four louis, but of silk gauze only 2 louis; this fabric employs about twenty looms, worked each by three or four people, boys included. I took many specimens of these fabrics, but in general there is a great mixture of shew and finery with coarseness of materials and cheapness of price, not at all suitable to an English taste. They have also a porcelain manufacture, purchased by the king two years ago, which works for Seve; it gives employment to about sixty hands; I bought a specimen, but nothing they make is cheap, and no wonder, if the king is the manufacturer. They have in the generality of Limoges, which includes the Angoumois, seventy paper mills that manufacture all kinds; they are supposed to make every day to the quantity of 19 cuves, the contents of which vary according to the sort of paper. A cuve of 130lb. will make 6 reams of large and fine paper, but double that quantity of other sorts; they calculate that a mill can work about two hundred days in a year, festivals and repairs excluded; this makes at a cuve a day 454,200lb. for a year's work of a mill, and 31,794,000lb. for the whole generality, and they value it at 20s. the lb. which makes as many livres, or 1,390,9871. They consider the manufacture as greatly overloaded with an excise, which amounts to about #th part of the value, but they have an allowance for all they prove to be designed for exportation, in the nature of our drawbacks; the manufacture has increased notwithstanding the duty. They reckon here, and in all the paper mills of France, the cylinder for grinding the rags, which they call Dutch (and which we have had so long in England) as a new and great improvement. Each mill employs from twelve to twenty hands, including carters; they reckon that half the paper is exported, much to the Baltic, and some they say to England. They have also in this generality forty iron forges, some of which employ one hundred people, one is a foundery for casting and boring cannon. BRIVE.....A silk fabric has been established here about five and twenty years, silk alone is wrought in it, and also mixed with cotton, and gauzes of all kinds are made; they say they have discovered a manner of dyeing raw silk, with which they make plain gauzes ths of an auln broad and 11 long; the price varies according as they are chinees (waved) or not; a piece white, striped or not, is 54 livres (21. 7s. 3d.) coloured ones 60 livres (21. 12s. 6d.) and the chinees 80 livres (31. 10s. Od.) they make also a thick shining stuff in imitation of Manchester, at 6 livres the auln, also silk and neck handkerchiefs of a German taste, sold chiefly in Germany and Auvergne. A merchant also at Baisle, in Switzerland, is so good a customer as to have taken one thousand dozen of them. They have sixty or eighty looms constantly at work in the town; the weaver having his loom in his house and supplied with the material from the manufactory, and paid by the piece; each loom employs five people, women and children included. They use only French silk, which though not so shining as the Italian, is they say, stronger, bears the preparation, and wears better. They have also here a cotton mill and fabric which is but in its infancy, has only one combing machine, and three double ones for spinning; they say that this machine, with the assistance of fifteen people, does the work of eighty; this undertaking has been established and is carried on by Messrs. Mills and Clarke, the former an Englishman from Canterbury, the latter from Ireland, both induced by encouragements to settle in France. SOUILLAC..... Payrac..... No manufactures whatever in the country. CAHORS..... Some small manufactories among them, one of woollen cloth; some years ago it had near one thousand workmen, but the company disagreeing, a law-suit ensued, so that it decreased to one hundred and fifty; the spinners are chiefly in the town; work up both French and Spanish wool, but the latter not of the first quality. They shewed us however some cloth, made as they say, entirely of Spanish wool, at 3 livres 10s. the lb. which is not so good as their ratteens made with wool of Navarre and Roussillon, and Spanish; they make some cloths for the home consumption of the province, entirely with the wool of Navarre, an auln broad, at 11 livres the auln; ratteens of an auln broad, at 22 livres the auln; a second sort of ratteens, made with French wool, an auln broad, 11 livres the auln. 2 3 CAUSSADE.....This country is full of peasant proprietors of land, who all abound very much with domestic manufactures; they work their wool into common cloths and camblets, and all the women and girls spin wool and hemp, of which they make linen; there are weavers that buy about two quintals of wool, pay for the spinning, weave it, and carry the cloth to market, and there are merchants that buy the superfluity for export. |