so. But the once United States, until bayonets and ramrods monopolised their attention, were actively employed in this species of labour; and as the advance they have made since its commencement among them has been in every way remarkable—from 1810 to 1830 the direct increase in production being more than 500 per cent.—we have long been accustomed to look across the Atlantic for future competition in what is at present almost exclusively our own peculiar branch of industry.
So extensive an organisation of labour as is presented in England by the manufacture under consideration, may well have excited the interference of express legislation. In June, 1825, an Act was passed to regulate the industrial economy of the factory, and it may be regarded as the basis and frame-work of all subsequent enactments which have from time to time been called for as experience ripened and new circumstances arose. Children form so large a portion of the population of a cotton-mill that it was right the law should enforce regulations in regard to labour, which would protect them alike from the hurtful exertions of tyrannous masters and the cupidity of indigent and unnatural parents. The age of the child, the duration and disposition of its hours of labour, and the providing for it ample opportunities for taking meals were, therefore, together with certain other provisions connected with moral and sanitary considerations, the main objects of legislation.
Children below thirteen years are contemplated by the law with more tender mercy than are young persons, or those between this age and eighteen, just as men and women, or those who have passed this latter period of life, are still less the objects of its clemency and protection. In the employment of children a certificate of strength from a surgeon is requisite, and if they have not attained their eighth year their services are not legal. Those below eleven are not to be worked for more than nine hours per day, and none to commence earlier than five in the morning or continue at their occupation later than nine in the evening; and one hour and a-half is the minimum allowance of time for meals. Then the whole of Christmas Day and Good Friday, besides eight half-days, are to be granted every year to children and young persons for holidays and half-holidays, and a variety of other stipulations into which it is needless to enter, manifest the same consideration for the health, enjoyment, and comfort of the little slaves, and reflect great credit upon the legislature for the wisdom and benevolence by which they have been dictated.
The foregoing statements will prepare us to hear—and it is a fact which has been confirmed by the progress of only the last hundred years, before which not a yard was exported—that our exportation of cotton goods nearly equals that of all our other manufactures put together. By way of illustrating this preponderance let us look for a moment into the tables representing the monthly exports of our home manufactures and their declared value. I have taken the month of March, 1860, for no special reason but that of convenience. Here we perceive the smallest figure is that representing the value of telegraphic wire and apparatus, namely, 4745l. Plated jewelry, which short of our textiles constitutes the largest item, is put down at 46,167l. But as we get into the textile class of exports these values considerably augment. Thus, linens are represented by a sum of 326,018l., and linen yarns, 173,725l., in all, 499,743l.; and then woollens give a sum of 987,982l., and woollen yarns of 281,387l., in all, 1,269,369l.; which swells into a very serious amount. But what is it, nevertheless, in comparison with cotton and its magical significance? Here we have cottons of various descriptions, valued at 2,941,759l., not very far from twice as much as linens and woollens put together; and then add to this the yarn estimated at 807,848l., as we have done in the former cases, and we arrive at the prodigious total of 3,749,607l., which, remember, represents (what may be deemed) the monthly value of our cotton exports only; whilst to obtain a complete view of the entire subject, we should add another sum, closely approaching upon 5,750,000l., for the average home consumption of the same recurring period. And now, satisfied that the reader is sufficiently impressed with the magnitude of our stake in cotton husbandry, to feel a more than common interest in its welfare and extension, I shall conclude with a few words—into a very few I cannot compress them—upon the resources we may possess other than those which are now so fatally endangered by the perpetration of political discord and civil warfare.
The interior of Africa produces the cotton plant in rich abundance, and the inhabitants, aware that its linen is much less conductive of heat than that composed of either wool or flax, spin the fibre it affords, and weave the yarn thus obtained into shirts, turbans, and sundry sorts of cloth adapted for other articles of raiment. But more accessible parts of this mysterious quarter of the world might easily be made available for the cultivation of the product in question. In Natal cotton is found equal in quality to the American, and its culture is beginning to attract practical attention. Several other spots of the coast of Africa are well suited for the purpose, and might doubtless, with due energy and knowledge of the subject, be soon converted into little mines of moderate wealth. Before we quit our notice of this region of the earth, I would make one more observation. Suggestions have lately been offered for substituting for cotton other fibres of analogous character. South Africa affords one of the best of these in plenteous profusion. It is an indigenous plant, belonging to the family of Amaryllideæ, and yields a fibrous wool so strongly resembling that of the Gossypium in texture and consistence, that from all accounts it might be readily adapted to precisely the same uses. So long ago as 1847 a patent was granted for the application of this new substance to textile purposes. The late Mr. Crompton, the celebrated paper-maker, turned his thoughts to the discovery, as one which might furnish to his branch of trade an advantageous material. But Mr. Crompton died, and the matter dropped.
Some of our finest cotton comes from Brazil, and is of the same long-stapled class to which
