- Experiment having been made by some of the principal woollen manufacturers of this city of cotton yarn spun here, it is very probable, if they proceed on that manufacture, that this city will be as famous for cotton as it is for worsted stuff's. Resolved, therefore, that a subscription be made for raising a sum of money to be given to such person as shall produce to the Committee of Trade, at the Guildhall in this City, on Midsummer Day next, the best piece of stuff, twenty yards long and one broad, weaved of cotton wool and linnen yarn, within this city; and to encourage workmen to excell in weaving cotton stuffs, resolved, that a guinea be given to the journeyman or person who shall weave the piece so judged the best, as aforesaid.
Norwich at that time was the third city of the empire, and a place of much wealth and distinction (the Martineau family settled here on being driven from France), but she was not destined to realize the patriotic wishes of her citizens in becoming the cottonopolis of the country. That honor passed to Manchester, a small town then with a population of less than twenty thousand.
As a pendant to this, reference may be made to a letter which we find in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1742 on the Scotch linen trade, where it is mentioned that the quantity of linen annually imported from Holland was about thirty-two millions of yards! In a previous letter there is an elaborate attempt to show the superiority of the Scotch linens to those of Holland, and the propriety of course of supporting the home manufacture. Four years after, in 1746, with the view of promoting this industry, the British Linen Company was established, now known, however, not as a manufacturing concern, but as one of the great joint-stock banks of Scotland. The extracts below are from the Scots Magazine of 1746: —
- George II. &c. Whereas James, Earl of Lauderdale, and several other Noblemen and Gentlemen, have, by humble petition, represented unto us, That the linen manufacture of G. Britain, through our encouragement, has within a little time made such progress as to equal in quality the foreign linen manufactures; that by the increase of this manufacture many thousand families, which otherwise would be a burden on the publick, are employed in it, without detriment to any other . . . And whereas the petitioners have likewise represented that, if we would incorporate them by a Royal Charter, divers persons would be disposed to subscribe considerable sums for promoting so beneficial a manufacture: Know ye, therefore, that we, for us, our heirs, and successors, do, by these presents, grant, constitute, declare, and appoint,
- That said James, Earl of Lauderdale, and William, Earl of Panmure, &c. &c.
One of the provisions in the charter is to the effect that no Papists, or persons not subjects of Great Britain, are eligible for any office in the company, and every officer in the company, from my Lord Duke of Argyll downwards, must take the oath of supremacy and allegiance.
Another clause shows from what small beginnings the present great establishment, with twelve hundred partners, seventy-two branch banks, and eight millions of deposits, has grown: —
- That Ebenezer Macculloh and William Tod, merchants in Edinburgh, be Managers for the Company, under the Court of Directors, quamdiu se bene gesserint; that in the warehouse at Edinburgh there be four officers, or servants, viz. a Book-keeper and Accomptant; two Staplers, to give out the yarn, receive the cloth, &c.; and a Porter; with salaries not exceeding 150l. in whole; and that none of the Company's officers or servants take any fee, reward, or present from those who deal with the Company, or keep a publick-house for retaling liquors, or be concerned in retaling merchandise, or in taking pledges for money lent.
The severity of the repressive measures for putting down disaffection in the north extended even to sumptuary matters, as will be seen from a clause in the act for disarming the Highlands immediately after the Rebellion of 1745: —
- And it is further enacted, That from and after the 1st of August 1747, no man or boy within Scotland, other than such as shall be employed as officers and soldiers in the King's forces, shall, on any pretence whatsoever, wear or put on the cloaths commonly called Highland cloaths that is to say, the plaid, plilebeg, or little kilt, trouse, shoulder-belts, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the Highland garb; and that no tartan, or party-coloured plaid or stuff shall be used for great coats, or for upper coats; and if any such person shall, after said 1st of August, wear or put on the aforesaid garments, or any part of them, every such person so offending, being convicted thereof by the oath of one or more witnesses before any court of justiciary, or any one or more justices of peace for the shire or stewartry, or judge ordinary of the place where such offence shall be committed, shall suffer imprisonment, without bail, during six months, and no longer; and being convicted of a second offence, before a court of justiciary, or at the circuits, shall be liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's plantations beyond the seas for seven years.
A "maiden assize," it will be observed, had a more limited meaning in 1732 than it has now: —
