In the last number of the Revue Encyclopedique there is an account of a very extraordinary proposal, viz. to communicate verbal intelligence in a few moments to vast distances, and this not by symbols, as in the telegraph, but in distinct articulate sounds, uttered by the human voice. This plan originated with an Englishman, Mr. Dick, according to whose experiments the human voice may be made intelligible at the distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. Mr. Stuart Newton's scene from the Beggar's Opera has already been purchased by the Marquis of Lansdowne, and will appear at Somerset-house. It is by much the best work this rising Artist has as yet produced. Macheath is excellent. The very handsome rascal is dressed in the true taste of his time, a scarlet coat with wide sleeves, richly embroidered, a satin waist-coat flowered in silver, purple breeches with rolled stockings, and a pair of most formidable jack boots. He sits in a lolling attitude, his legs stretched before him in their irons, his hat cocked magnificently over his left eye, a glass of port in his left hand, and the right reposing amidst the rich lace that adorns his bosom. His eyes are half shut, and a half smile plays upon his lips. Lucy, a comely black-haired vixen, leans on his shoulder to the right, with one beautiful little hand extended, as if hesitating between expostulation and a slap; but Polly is the gem of the picture. She sits at the other end of the little green table on which the Captain's half-exhausted bottle of port, and a flask of brandy with the corkscrew just inserted, are displayed with her hands clasped before her, gazing on the Lothario with looks so gentle and imploring, that it seems rather unaccountable how the burden of his thoughts should be How happy could I be with either,' Polly is a charming blonde, and, though not quite a lady, seems well entitled to have such a personage as Miss Lucy as her maid. In an archway behind, Mr. Lockit is seen with the Captain's sword and pistols under his left arm,, repelling with the right the advance of three more young ladies, one of them as ladies wish to be, the second with a baby in her arms, and the third, and most remote, brandishing a maturer production over the heads of the others, that it at least may obtain a glimpse of its papa. There is no accounting for the rate at which some persons estimate ther own value. A correspondent who signs himself Y. O. D., and who expresses his anxiety to be allowed to devote his moments to that very pleasing production, the Literary Magnet,' at the very moderate premium of £156. per annum, sends us a song about London Lasses as a specimen of his talents, one verse of which (in allusion to Master Cupid) is as follows: Venus with a view to teaze him Sent him next to Mount Parnassus; This is, we assure our readers, about an average specimen of the talents of from a dozen to twenty literary aspirants who apply to us from month to month for employment and remuneration, on a scale of liberality, the exhorbitance of which, is în exact proportion to their relative ignorance and imbecility. It is invariably with communications to which no stretch of politeness on the part of the authors would induce us to give insertion, that we receive such modest proposals as the foregoing; 'three pounds a week for present means;' so that when the entire energies of this person's powerful mind are devoted to our pleasing production' we might expect to have to pay him twenty pounds a week. This is really somewhat beyond a joke. THE LITERARY MAGNET. JUNE, 1826. THE SILK TRADE. * To those who may wish to become acquainted with the history of the silk trade in this country, Mr. Moreau's work will be found highly useful. They cannot fail to admire the clear, succinct, and accurate manner in which he has compressed so many facts in so narrow a compass. We state this in the outset, in justice to the author, to whose minute and admirably arranged details, it is here impossible to do more than allude. We must be equally brief in our allusion to the history of the trade—the rigid prohibitions by which it was originally, and, till lately, fostered; the restrictions by which it was beset; and the numerous bounties and drawbacks by which it was protected and encouraged. The first gave it the monopoly of England, to the exclusion of the foreigner; the second gave it a local monopoly in favour of certain persons; and the third operated as a poll-tax upon the nation at large, to enable the manufacturers of silks to obtain a remunerating profit on such goods as they were pleased to export to our allies, the republicans of America. Such was the silk trade-it was created by prohibitive laws, and, like the exotic plants in our conservatories, kept alive by artificial means. Had the government of this country at any remote period-when, for instance, our supplies were limited by embargo or blockade-encouraged at home the cultivation of the grape, in order to produce a supply of wine of internal growth, equal to the quantity we had been accustomed to import and consume, it is not improbable that, by virtue of prohibitory laws, and an artificial atmosphere, we might have produced an article equalling, in our own estimation, the wines of Portugal and Spain. Had such an experiment been tried, and continued for any considerable length of time, there cannot be a doubt, that year after year, we would have improved our grape culture, * Rise and Progress of the Silk Trade in England, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. (Feb. 1826.) Founded on Official Documents. By Cesar Moreau. London. Treuttel and Co. 1826. 5s. Speech of the Right Hon. W. Huskisson in the House of Commons, Thursday the23d of February, 1826, on Mr. Ellice's Motion for a select committee, to inquire into and examine the Statements contained in the various Petitions from Persons engaged in the Silk Manufacture. 8vo. pp. 59. 1s. 6d. London. Hatchard and Son. 1826. our wine presses, our process of fermentation, and the quality of the beverage; as well as created an industrious population, which would progressively have increased in numbers, in wealth, and in influence. Had we ever hazarded such an experiment, there can be no question but that the condition of our wine farmers would have been similar, at the present juncture, to that of the silk manufacturers of Spitalfields. They would have had the same claims upon government for protection as the weavers of ribands and sarsenets; and petitions to parliament from the vine growers of Kent, Sussex, and Devonshire, against the new principles,' would have been as urgent, and as numerously signed, as are the present memorials of distress from Macclesfield and Coventry. In considering the present question, therefore, it ought always to be borne in mind, that the Silk Trade of England has been created by the ancient and exclusive policy of England. Whether this policy was sound or unsound, is not now a matter of inquiry. Such is the origin of the manufacture, and the point under consideration is nothing more than whether this trade, so artificially formed, is sufficiently valuable to entitle it to protection; and if so, whether it can be protected otherwise than by the former policy of strict prohibition? As to the extent of the trade, it will be sufficient to notice the evidence given before the select committee of the House of Lords. Mr. Hale, an intelligent manufacturer, states that in 1821 the Silk Trade was increasing,' was in a very flourishing condition,' and gave employment to 500,000 persons. Mr. Wilson, also an eminent manufacturer, says, that it 'gives employment to 40,000 hands in throwing it for the weaver,' whose wages he estimates at £350,000. He says that half a million of pounds of soap, and a large portion of the most costly dye-stuffs, are consumed at a further expense of £300,000, and £265,000 more paid to 16,500 winders to prepare it.' 'The number of looms,' he adds, may be taken at 40,000, and including weavers, warpers, harness-makers, enterers, twisters, canespreaders, quill-winders, and draw-boys at two hands to a loom, will employ 80,000 more persons, whose wages amount to £3,000,000.' 'If we include infants and dependents,' he further adds, 400,000 mouths will be fed by this manufacture, the amount of which I estimate at £10,000,000.' This evidence shews the extent of the trade, and demonstrates how exceedingly impolitic it would be to tamper with its prosperity, or expose it to the operation of any legislative experiment, which might eventually prove injurious to it. 6 As to the second point, whether this manufacture cannot as effectually be protected against foreign competition, by a rate of duty on the foreign commodity, as by this being prohibited: we think that it is satisfactorily. demonstrated that the former is not only the most efficient mode, but the one most likely to operate as an encouragement. There can exist no difference of opinion on this point amongst intelligent men, although considerable differences do prevail as to the amount of that duty. But before we discuss this part of the question, let us shortly advert to the state of the trade previous to the late change in the silk laws. The raw silk, of which our manufactures are formed, is received from Bengal, China, Italy, and Turkey. The average quantity imported from these places, for five years, viz. from 1819 to 1823, both inclusive, was about 2,064,234 lbs. annually. Of this quantity Bengal furnished 1,035,328 lbs.; China 260,588; and Italy and Turkey 768,318 lbs. All this, be it remembered, except a very trifling quantity, was actually used in our manufactures. The Bengal was subjected to a duty of 4s. 24d.; the China 6s. 3d.; and the Italian and Turkish 5s. 6d. per lb. But, in addition to these different kinds of raw silk, the average annual quantity of Italian organzine, or spun silk, imported within the same period, amounted to 561,541 lbs. This last kind of silk, which is considered superior to home-twisted silk, or English organzine, and is still indispensably required for warps, was subjected to a duty of 14s. 8d. per lb. In 1824 the whole of these duties were repealed. On the silk of Bengal, China, and Italy a duty of 3d. per lb. only was imposed; while on Italian organzine it was reduced from 14s. 8d. to 7s. 6d. It was enacted at the same time, that all foreign wrought silks should from and after the 5th July, 1826, be importable into Great Britain, on paying a duty of 30 per cent. ad valorem. So far as regards the reduction of the duty on the raw silk there can be no difference of opinion. Every man who understands the subject, must be satisfied of the expediency of the change. The difficulty which it is desirable to unravel is, whether this retention of 7s. 6d. per lb. on the Italian organzine was no more than an adequate protection to the manufacturer of English organzine; and, if so, whether the 30 per cent. on foreign silk goods was a sufficient protection to the English silk weaver? There can be no question that, as far as related to Italian organzine, it was extremely embarrassing to legislate. 'If you lower the duty below 7s. 6d.,' said the English throwster, you will ruin our establishments-our apprentices will starve our immense property, which we invested under arrangements which guaranteed us a protection of 7s. 6d. per lb., will not only be deteriorated, but irretrievably lost!' While Mr. Huskisson was assailed by these remonstrances on the one hand, he was attacked by another party of alarmists on the other. If you continue this enormous duty on Italian organzine,' said the manufacturers, we must discontinue our business, and our workmen must be reduced to pauperism; for it is impossible to contend with the French in manufacturing a commodity, the one half of the raw material of which, while it costs us 10s. 6d., costs them only 3s. 9d. per lb. That there was much truth in both of these representations is not denied. It is stated by Mr. Ellice, on behalf of his constituents of Coventry, that 5s. per lb. on Italian organzine was equal to 7 per cent. of the 30 to be imposed on foreign wrought silks; which, if true, and the whole 7s. 6d. per lb. had continued to be levied, would have reduced that protection from 30 to 20 per cent. The minister saw the dilemma into which he had precipitated himself, and that not a moment ought to be lost in making his selection between the contending interests. To have increased the 30 per cent. protection of the manufacturers, would have been to retrace his steps, and hold out an encouragement to smuggling. It would have been sacrificing his principles to necessity, and virtually admitting that he had been legislating in the dark, Without delaying, therefore, till parliament should meet, and thereby afford his antagonists an opportunity of reprehending the fluctuating policy by which their property had been hazarded, he, by an order of the treasury, reduced the duty on Italian organzine from 7s. 6d. to 5s. per lb. To what extent this reduction will prove injurious to the property of those who are engaged in the throwing of silk in this country, time will demonstrate; but there cannot be a doubt that, as far as regards the reduction in the price of the stock on hand, thrown between the period of the first alteration of the law in 1824, and the Treasury amendment in 1826, and which may be effected by the reduction of Italian organzine, government are extremely culpable, and are, in some degree, chargeable with having introduced changes, the consequences of which they did not anticipate. But let us proceed to inquire how far the 30 per cent. duty will protect the English manufacturer against foreign competition. It is well known that these alterations in the laws relating to the Silk Trade are founded upon a report presented to the House of Lords in June, 1821, by a select committee of their lordships. That committee, after examining a number of witnesses, among whom were many extensive silk manufacturers and mercers, resolved that 12 or 15 per cent. was a sufficient protecting duty to the British manufacturer, provided that the whole of the duties upon the raw material were repealed. The language employed in that report is so remarkable, that we cannot avoid repeating it here. 'A very small diminution of the duty upon the raw material,' say their lordships, might be expected to produce considerable effect in giving an increased steadiness to the manufacture; and, if the circumstances of the country allowed it gradually to be taken off, a small duty only being left upon the organzine, our manufacturers would have nothing to dread from the competition of French silks, even if permitted to be introduced upon a duty of from 12 to 15 per cent., and a considerable augmentation upon the export might, at the same time, be reasonably expected.' How the committee came to this resolution has surprised not a few sensible men; for most assuredly there is not a word of evidence in the minutes to warrant it. All the witnesses who are examined by their lordships singularly agree in representing the difference in price between two articles of the same quality, the one French and the other English, at from 25 to 30 per cent. This was distinctly the opinion of two individuals, natives of the United States of America, dealers in the commodities in question, and consequently conversant with their relative value. On this subject also, Mr. Wilson, whose evidence has been much relied on, upon being interrogated Have you made any calculations as to how far the duty on the raw material tends to raise the price of the manufactured article ?' answers, 'I reckon Italian organzine to be increased to the consumer 84 per cent., Italian raw 48 per cent., and Bengal raw 45 per cent., by the loss upon silks in their various processes, and by the interest of money, commissions, and profits. If, therefore, upon the Italian organzine, the duty be reduced two-thirds, that is to say, from 14s. 8d. to 5s., all this extra loss must still remain, minus only the reduction of duty, leaving in the article of organzine alone a bounty in favour of the French of full 20 per cent.' This is extrinsic of the advantages which the French derive from the low rates of wages, and the low prices of soap and dye-stuffs in France, as well as from raising within their own territory the one half of the raw silk they consume, and which pays no duty whatever. For these reasons it appears perfectly inexplicable how the committee came to recommend the admission of French silks into this country, on paying a duty of only 12 or 15 per cent. ! Desirous as Mr. Huskisson was to open the trade on the most liberal terms, he could not accede to this almost nominal rate of protecting duty. He was aware, that admitting the skill of the workmen, and the profits of the manufacturer, to be equal in Lyons and London; yet, if in the former |