sent a more grateful spectacle to the eye; and new activity would be communicated to the woollen manufactories throughout the whole country. Workmen might easily be obtained, and skill can be acquired by practice; nothing, therefore, is wanted, but a little more enterprise, and the example of some liberal-minded person to excite a spirit of emulation. It is well known how much has been done in England by one intelligent individual, Mr. Ellman. Another Ellman is not every day to be expected; but one of inferior talents, if inspired with only a part of his ardour for improvement, would effect more in a short space of time, than can be accomplished in twenty years, by the occasional purchases of a few South Down sheep by gentlemen at Woburn. A small number of fine woolled sheep in the possession of one of these gentlemen, let him be ever so good a judge, will be attended with little advantage. The plan must be taken up and conducted on a more extensive scale. It is only by unremitting attention, and by having plenty of room for drafting ewes, adapted to the proper sires, that the breed can be finally established. The present attempts to introduce the Merino sheep, seem to be commencing at the wrong end. Man must creep before he can walk; and he who strives to run, unless he has been properly accustomed to the use of his limbs, will, undoubtedly, meet with disappointment. very It appears that the French government have been seized with this mania; but Talleyrand is no longer minister, and the childish ignorance it has betrayed in attempts to create the raw material, employed in various kinds of manufacture, exceeds all belief. I have now before me a report of M. Montalivet, the minister of the interior, on the subject of Spanish sheep; and a greater display of erroneous prin ciples could not, in my opinion, have been drawn up. It begins with recommending that all the Merino male lambs should be preserved as rams. I saw the same system pursued a few years ago in this country, with the flock belonging to His Majesty. Bu the absurdity is so apparent, on the slightest examination, that it is impossible to conceive how it could have met with the smallest countenance or support. We have in England two established breeds brought to perfection, and now widely distributed throughout the empire; and it will be found, on inquiring into the means by which this has been effected, that a system directly opposite to that recommended in the French report, has been pursued. No male lambs are saved from any ewes but those of the best kind; and of those that are saved, I think I may venture to assert, that not above one in eight is ever used for the purpose of breeding; and it is very probable that neither Mr. Ellman himself, nor the Leicester society, would use more than one in a hundred of those which they rear. Nicety of selection has brought these kinds of sheep to per fection in England, and, consequently, neglect of this principle, would render them a race of animals as disgraceful as they are now creditable to the country, and seven years of saving all male lambs for procreation would cause them to degenerate. TANNERIES. In countries where the breeding of cattle has been considered of importance, the preparing of leather, for the various purposes of human comfort, has generally been practised with comparative success. This is the case, in particular, in Russia, where cattle are numerous, and where other animals, such as the elk and the buffalo, furnish abundance of the raw material to this branch of industry. At what period the Russians became acquainted with the process of tanning is not certain; but they manufacture, besides that kind of leather so well known under the name of Russia, white and brown leather for gloves, yellow chamois leather, and all sorts fit for boots, shoes, &c. In Ireland, notwithstanding the number of cattle slaughtered every year, especially in the time of war, it does not appear that this occupation is carried on to such an extent as might be expected. The want of oak bark is a great impediment to tanning in Ireland. Birch and alder bark are very much used as a substitute, but the chief obstacle to the good preparation of leather in that country, is the levying of the duty on the pit, in place of on the skin, as in England; this makes it the interest of the tanner to run as many hides through the same liquor as possible, whereby the skins are imperfectly prepared, the process being but half performed. The importation of bark will be seen in the general table of imports. An Account of the Amount of Bounties paid on Bark, imported in each of the following Years, ending 5th January in each Year. £. 1801. 1802. 1803. 1804.1805. 1806. | 1807. 1808. | 1809. | 1810. 1811. 1812. 936 1,968 3,275 3,777 8,708 9,402 6,111 1,232 1,868 1,381 Of late years, a considerable improvement has been introduced into the tan-yards in England, being machinery employed for breaking the bark, and for separating the bad parts from the good. I saw none of this sort in Ireland. The astringent qualities of the bark are now chemically understood, and applied to tanning in a scientific manner, according to the latest improvements; but this business in Ireland is still in a state of infancy. Gloves are manufactured in Ireland, but not to a great extent. Those called Limerick gloves are made of the skins of calves taken from fat cows when they are slaughtered, and sold at from 2s. to 3s. per head. The stocking manufacture is carried on chiefly in Dublin, and is very much conVOL. I. 4 Z fined to the preparation of coarse woollen articles, though it is certain that this branch might be very much extended. Lord Sheffield says, that above £1,500. went out of the country for thread stockings; above £3,000. for cotton; and above £2,000. for worsted, in the year ending 25th of March, 1783.* Lace is not manufactured on a large scale in Ireland. I saw some poor children who were taught lace weaving by the daughters of a clergyman; and Mr. Tighe mentions a school in Kilkenny, where twelve girls were instructed in the same art. At Abbeyleix there is a lace manufactory, but the quantity made is not of much importance. Some silk manufacture was formerly carried on in Dublin; and at the time Lord Sheffield wrote his observations, the number of silk-weavers in that city was computed at 1,500, but I believe this branch is now very much on the decline. Mr. Wallace extols greatly the Irish silk handkerchiefs, as having "long enjoyed celebrity throughout Europe;"§ and Lord Sheffield, who thought the silk manufactures of Ireland not to be despised, says, "her white damasks and her lutestrings are very good; her silk pocket handkerchiefs are at least as good as any; her mixtures of silk are beautiful; her colours excel those of England, and her tabinets and poplins are well known and admired every where."|| Iron. The second manufacture in England is that of iron, which arises from the great use made of this metal in the arts, and the many purposes to which it is now applied, that were unknown to our ancestors. This branch of industry * Observations on the Manufactures, &c. of Ireland, p. 247. + Survey of Kilkenny, p. 554. "The art of manufacturing lace was introduced into the Duchy of Holstein in 1647, from Dortmund, by the celebrated Steinbeck. It gives employment there to upwards of 10,000 females, in the neighbourhood of Tondern, some of whom earn by it from 40 to 60 dollars a year. Some of the lace is sold for from five eight dollars per ell, (of two feet,) and is exported to Russia and other countries: the thread is brought from Brabant, Holland, and Westphalia, and the quantity annually used in the duchy costs about 70,000 dollars. In Tondern there are 13 manufactories, but in the adjacent district there are a great many, which give employment to a number of girls, and keep in their service men who go about with boxes under their arm, containing lace sometimes to the value of 1000 dollars, which they sell throughout the country." The author from whom this account is extracted, seems to doubt whether this branch of industry be beneficial to the state, because the women prefer lace working, by which they can gain considerable sums of money, to the more se vere labours of agriculture, which are less profitable. He remarks also, that in consequence of their sedentary life, they conceive an attachment to coffee and tobacco, become weak and sickly, and either remain unmarried, or, if they change their condition, experience, when mothers, the most serious effects from their former con fined mode of life. But, according to this way of reasoning, women should be interdicted from all occupations which confine them to sedentary occupations; for the same objections are applicable to spinning, as well as to needlework, and many other kinds of employment. See L. M. Medels Reise igiennem de betydligste og skioneste Egne af de Danske Provindser i aaren, 1779, 1800, 1801. Kiobenhavn, 1803, Andet helte, p. 6. An Essay on the Manufactures of Ireland, p. 203. Observations on the Manufactures, &c. of Ireland, p. 193. "In no is particularly favoured by the inexhaustible supply of coals obtained from our numerous mines, and the great perfection to which machinery of every kind has been brought during the last fifty years. It may appear astonishing, therefore, that it has made so little progress in the sister kingdom. country of Europe," says Mr. Wallace," is better iron to be met with than Ireland may produce for all the common purposes, to which this metal is applicable; but this, like many other advantages placed by nature within our reach, we have, till very lately, suffered to lie unimproved.”* All the Irish historians, and writers on the resources of the country, but partieularly Boate, speak of the manufacture of iron as having been in a most flourishing condition in Ireland, when its woods were in existence and afforded the necessary fuel. There can be no doubt that inexhaustible veins of iron ore are here to be found; but to convert it to any useful purpose, requires not only an abundant, but a cheap supply of fuel. By perusing the chapter on trees and planting, it will be seen, that when the forests of Ireland were destroyed, she lost the benefit of this manufacture, which is still carried on with great advantage in Sweden and Russia, where, in some parts, wood is considered an encumbrance. The bituminous coals of South Wales have established it in England; and the coals of Stirlingshire have afforded the means of carrying it on to a very great extent at Carron, a place which is now well known all over Europe. An attempt has been made at Arigna, in the county of Roscommon, to erect iron works on a considerable scale, and a report on the local advantages of the place, and the prospects it afforded, was drawn up by John Grieve, and has found its way into various publications in England: it is copied into "Frazer's Gleanings," published in 1802, and I should have allowed it a place here, had there been any probability of its proving useful; but the Messrs. Latouches, to whom this work belongs, have given it a fair and sufficient trial, under the direction of a gentleman experienced in the business, who informed me, in 1809, that there was little probability of its success; and I learned from Mr. Weaver, in 1811, that the further prosecution of the design had been abandoned. Taking a comprehensive view, I consider the iron manufacture as lost to Ireland, through the want of fuel; and this, were proof necessary, furnishes a very convincing one, of the dearness of turf in that country. To the same cause I ascribe the want of potteries for earthenware, similar to those which have succeeded in such an astonishing manner in Staffordshire, from their contiguity to the coal-pits of that county. Ireland possesses abundance of clay well adapted for the purpose, but till veins of bituminous coals are discovered in the country, such works cannot be contemplated with any hopes of success. Essay on the Manufactures of Ireland, p. 219. Ireland is not without various other metals, but their advantageous application is prevented by the same circumstance. All the copper which was raised at Killarney, and in the county of Wicklow, was sent to Swansea to be smelted, the company finding it much cheaper to export the ore as taken from the mine, than to import coals to manufacture it. A stranger, however, who visits Ireland, will be amused with accounts of a very different kind. The people are all impressed with an idea that there is coal in various parts of the country; and they look at England with a jealous eye, for being in possession of manufactures, which they consider as belonging exclusively to them. When entertained with tales of this kind, I always observed, "If nature has supplied you with this coal, why do you not dig for it?— you might certainly afford to sell it at as low a price as coals are sold for in Wales, or in Staffordshire." But instead of answering this question, which they would have found it difficult to do in a satisfactory manner, a new objection was invariably started—namely, the want of capital, with them another term for the want of industry. In regard to the Kilkenny coal, which is a stone coal, it is asserted, that it cannot be dug up at a less expense than would raise the price of it to three times the sum at which coals are sold at the pits at Swansea and Neath. But without enlarging on this subject, it may be admitted as certain, that Ireland, at present, ́is incapable of furnishing such a supply of fuel as is necessary for carrying on those manufactures for which large quantities are required. Under the head Fuel, I have particularly adverted to charred turf; but I am of opinion, that there are insur mountable objections to turf ever becoming a fuel to be placed in competition with bituminous coal; yet the best iron is made with charcoal, or rather charred wood. The difference of expense, however, between charred wood and charred turf, is a matter of some importance, and still remains to be determined. Park, the unfortunate African traveller, describes the ingenuity displayed by some nations in that unexplored continent, in the smelting of iron ;* and the process they employ, shews, in a striking manner, what singular resources the untutored savage finds when necessity stimulates his inventive powers. In a country where manufactures are so much in their infancy, as in Ireland, a similar plan might, perhaps, answer with charred turf: it could be pursued without sinking, in works and other buildings, in the first instance, an immense capital; and, as iron ore is every where found in abundance, if it succeeded, the manufacture might be established, at least on a small scale, in various places. Hardware articles are manufactured in Dublin; and some coarse implements, such as reaping-hooks, scythes, or sheers, are made in the town of Carlow. In other towns of Ireland nothing of the kind is attempted; and yet it ought to be re * Travels in Africa, p. 283. |