For Friends' Review. FLAX IN AMERICA, With some observations on the history of its culture and manufacture in other countries, and their prospects in our own. (Continued from page 108.) |number of murders; twice as many males, and nearly three times as many females who know how to read; and that Munster has about 50 per cent. more, both males and females than Ulster, who can neither read nor write. Compared with Connaught, with an equal It has been seen that the province of Ulster number of inhabitants per 100 acres, the differhas always produced nine-tenths of all the flax ence in favor of Ulster is even greater, especially grown in Ireland. There is curious incidental in the ignorance of the population; and though evidence at hand, of the remarkable effects of the number of murders are much less than in this branch of industry upon the morals and Munster, they are still 75 per cent. greater in prosperity of the inhabitants of that province, proportion to the whole number of inhabitants as compared with the other portions of Ireland. than in Ulster. One of the most active members of the Irish Relief Committee, at the time of the famine in 1847, published the following year, the result of their investigations* into the condition of Ireland, and the evils which had for so long a time desolated that unhappy country. The disparity in some respects is less, on comparison with Leinster; though the number of persons per 100 acres, and the number of farms and families are all about 66 per cent. less than Ulster; and the murders nearly three times as great in proportion to the population. The object of the book was mainly to enlighten It is true, that the province of Ulster, which the public mind as to the ruinous tendencies of embraces nearly the entire manufacture, as well a non-resident ownership, and other abuses aris- as culture of flax. in Ireland, is almost wholly ing from the existing unjust distribution of land- Protestant; and that many Scotch families have ed property in Ireland; and it has had its effect, emigrated here from Glasgow, and its neighborin contributing to the passage of the celebrated hood; and it may be argued that these influences "Encumbered Estates Bill," which has greatly have contributed to the superiority of the popu tended to relieve many of the evils it mainly lation. But neither Protestanism, nor immigratreats of. But two pages of the whole three tion, would have thriven without the attraction hundred and fifty, contained in the work, are of industry: and it is enough for our argument devoted to the consideration of its important to prove, that they all co-exist, and combine to linen manufactures, the attention of the author promote the general prosperity of the province. not being turned into that channel. Before passing to another branch of the subYet there are in the appendix, a number of ject, let us glance for a moment at the progress accurate tables of the comparative condition of which has been made of latter years in systemathe different provinces and counties of Ireland, tizing and extending the growth of flax. The as respects social and agricultural progress. And old method which the Ulster farmer pursued, was it is remarkable that the province of Ulster, in a very simple one. When the seed was to be almost all the statistics which relate to the phy-sown, or the harvest gathered, both men and wosical, mental or moral condition of the inhabi- men were agriculturalists and out-door laborers. tants, is very much in advance of all the other At all other seasons of the year, the wives and provinces or counties of Ireland. The annexed daughters of the family were engaged in the Tablet has been carefully compiled from the whole process of retting and preparing the fax, and list, which embraces too great a variety of details in plying the distaff or spinning-wheel; while to be admissible here. father and sons were toiling at the looms. An By this abstract it appears, comparing Ulster able bodied man could weave a web or piece of and Munster for instance, that although Ulster linen, containing fifty-two yards, in about sevenhas 11 per cent. less arable land than Munster, teen days, or at the rate of three yards a day. and 21 per cent. less stock per 100 inhabitants; it has 20 per cent. greater population per 100 acres, 45 per cent. more farms, 18 per cent. greater number of families; only one-fourth the *Condition and Prospects of Ireland, by Jonathan Pim, Dublin, 1848. They looked to their potato crop, and their pig, for the family subsistence; and to the small returns of the spinning-wheel and loom, for the ready cash to pay their rent, and to purchase clothing, sugar, tea, fuel and other articles of luxury or necessity. Average Value of Stock for 100 Inhabitants 133,220 269,361 378£ 234,499 394,516 246£ 162,386 334,995 311£ 11.7 11.2 65.8 80.9 Notwithstanding, however, all the efforts of how agriculture and commerce, morality and the government and of individuals, the growth public enlightenment seem to have followed in of flax was decidedly on the decline in Ireland, its train, and flourished with its prosperity. It in 1828, when a circumstance occurred which has been seen that the last fifteen years have efhastened its resuscitation, by introducing the new fected more for its advancement, than the preelement of power spinning into the country. A vious one hundred and fifty years had been able large cotton factory, belonging to T. & A. Mul- to effect, with all the artificial aid of government holland, of Belfast, was consumed by fire in that patronage. year; and the owners concluded, in rebuilding the premises, to adapt them to the spinning of flax. They sent their agents at once into the country, and bought up throughout Ulster all the flax in the market towns, and from the farmers, that was suitable for their purpose. It was at once evident that the material so purchased was the cheapest flax in the world; and by manufacturing it into linens, this firm realized a fortune in two or three years. Their success attracted the attention of others, and several large establishments followed. The Mulhollands, however, were not behind their competitors, and increased their works, until they now stand among the largest flax spinners in the world. Finding the domestic material, thus purchased in small quantities, so much more profitable than the imported flax, they have labored much to introduce and extend its successful cultivation in all parts of Ireland, and they were the originators of the "Flax Improvement Society," before alluded to, as established in 1841. These extensive spinning mills* soon created a demand for a much larger supply of flax than Ireland could furnish, and in addition to their home purchases, they were obliged to import largely from Russia and Belgium. The firm of Mulhollands alone, for several years, imported £10,000 (nearly 200,000 dollars) per annum, of foreign flax, besides their purchases in Ireland. The regularity of the demand, however, and the exertions of the Flax Society, to turn attention to the subject, reacted largely on the supply; and one of this firm stated at a meeting of the Association, in 1845, that they had not imported, that year, any flax at all, having been able to procure their entire supply at home. From this brief outline of the progress of the flax culture and manufacture in Ireland, it will be observed how rapid has been the recent development of this branch of industry there; and A friend of the writer, Charles Hartshorne, who visited Europe on this subject in the early part of 1852, thus describes in a letter from Guilford, Ireland, one of those large establishments; owned by Dunbar, Dickson, McMasters & Co.-" They employ 2000 hands in their buildings, and 3000 in out-door or house work. They have a town of 5000 inhabitants, besides the weavers and others in their employ in the country around. They have schools for all ages, churches for all denominations; a hospital, and a large reading-room, in which almost all the magazines and a great number of newspapers were open to every one. The mills are driven by 4 steam engines and a very large water-wheel, to supply which, they erected at a distance of eight miles, an immense reservoir covering 160 acres, at a cost of £30,000 (about $150,000)." In England and Scotland, the advances have been even more marked and rapid: for without any previous organized protection, the trade has at once sprung up into an existence, which rivals in extent and vitality the long fostered industry of Ireland. The power loom is far more generally used in Leeds, Barnsley and Dundee for instance, than in the neighborhood of Belfast. The number of yards produced, also, is nearly double; though the quality of the linen is not nearly so fine as the Irish, and hence the value on the whole is probably not greater. Barnsley is famous for her sheetings, and Scotland for her towellings, huckaback, napkins, table-linen, and other coarse fabrics, extensively imported into this country. In reviewing the history of the linen manufacture in Great Britain, there is another powerful agency visible in its present prosperity, besides the introduction of machinery; the power of associated action. The complete division of labor, and yet unity of intelligence, and harmony of purpose, which constitute the theory of the modern Factory System, have worked wonders in the present day. It has multiplied many fold the power of man; and has changed the whole aspect of manufacturing art, from the making of a pin, to the building of a locomotive. It pervades also every department of the textile manufactures which have so largely contributed to the wealth of Great Britain the past fifty years. Cotton, woollen, linen, silk, worsted, are all spun and woven by square and rule. Is a fine thread ordered-the manager turns a screw and the spindle revolves sixty times a second instead of forty. Is a coarse fabric on the loom― he adjusts the slay and shuttle, and fifty or sixty yards a day are run off, instead of twenty or thirty. No external change is perceptible. Every man, boy and girl are at their post, supplying the demands, correcting the errors, or bearing away the proceeds of the dumb machinery's labor. Even while manufacturing was in its infancy, and still as its name imports, the labor of the hand, this advantage of associated action was known to the Continental nations; who were the first to adopt a system in which they are now so far behind their enlightened neighbors. Hear our old friend, Andrew Yarrington, Gent., on this subject; who is describing the superiority of the German customs of training their children to productive labor. "First there is a large room, and in the middle thereof a little box, like a pulpit. Secondly, there are benches built round about the room as there are in our play houses; upon the benches sit two hundred children spinning, and in the box in the middle of the room sits the grand mistress, with a long white wand in her hand. If she observes any of them idle, she reaches them a tap; but if that will not do, she rings a bell which by a little cord is fixed to the box, and out comes a woman; she then points to the offender, and she is taken away into another room and chastised. And all this is done without one word speaking. And I believe this way of ordering the young women in Germany, is one great cause that the German women have so little of the twit twat. And I am sure it would be well, were it so in England. And it is clear that the less there is of talking, the more there is of working. In a little room by the school, there is a woman that is preparing and putting flax on the distaffs; and upon the ringing of the bell, and pointing the rod at the maid that hath spun off her flax, she hath another distaff given her, and her spool of thread taken from her, and put into a box with others of the same size to make cloth. "And observe what advantages they make of suiting their threads to make cloth, all being of equal threads. First, they raise their children as they spin finer, to the higher benches. Secondly, they sort and size all the threads, so that they can apply them to make equal cloths. Whereas, here in England, one woman or good house-wife hath, it may be, six or eight spinners belonging to her; and at some odd times she spins and also her children and servants; and all this thread shall go together, some for woof, some for wary to make a piece of cloth. And as the linen is manufactured in England at this day, it cannot be otherwise." The sargossa, which grows on the rocks about Jamaica, is often carried by the currents toward the coast of Florida, and thence into the North American Ocean, where it lies thick on the surface of the sea. The fruit of the American cassia is thrown annually on the coast of Norway, and frequently in so recent a state, as to vegetate, Such are the when properly taken care of. double cocoas of the Molucca islands, which the sea carries annually to the distance of some hundred leagues, and lands on the coast of Malabar. Ripe and fresh seeds from the West Indies are sometimes thrown on the coast of Norway. Those of Spain and France are found on the shores of Britain and Africa, and Asiatic plants on those of Italy. Wherever a traveller is able to compare the In this remarkable passage, which is extracted original growth of trees and shrubs, with the from the pamphlet before quoted, we have the sites they occupy on the sea-coast, he uniformly whole secret of the present anomalous position for floating on the water; that while some few discovers that their seeds are admirably constructed of our own country, with reference to the Flax culture and manufacture. A hundred years ago, seeds are contained in capsules, resembling botAmerica was on a par with England in thistles, as those of the great gourd; others are inbranch of industry. Every farmer raised and crusted with a coat of wax, which enables them dressed his own flax, and his wife and daughters to float, as the berries of the flax-tree, or royal spun and wove it into linen fabrics, for domestic pimento of Louisiana; that whilst a few are use, or for sale.* This custom is even within coupled together as double cocoanuts, and perthe recollection of thousands now living, who reform their Voyages, like the canoes of the South member on their fathers' farms to have seen the Sea islanders, many are inclosed in a kind of bony crop, and in their mothers' or grandmothers' shoes, that are notched on the under-side, and chimney corner, the old fashioned spinning-covered over on the upper with a piece resembling wheel. a ship's hatch. These may almost literally be called shoes of speed and silence; for they pass over the surface of the billows, and journey on by day and night, amid the raging of the ocean, where no human foot would dare to follow them. subsists in nature. How all things act in concert; It is beautiful to observe the harmony that and each is subservient to the will of Him who In the mean time, a great domestic interest has sprung up in the growth and manufacture of cotton, which has absorbed all the attention and capital of our country. The cheapness of the fabric drove linen out of many domestic uses; and the farmer found he could make more money by growing corn or wheat, and his wife by making butter and cheese, for the market, and buy-made them! This is obvious in the natural world. ing calico or corduroy, for their clothing, than by growing flax and weaving it. And they were undoubtedly right in this conclusion, and were Happy would it be for us if it were equally so in There is no love and unity. Men tear and dethe moral! But in this, almost all is wrong. vour one another: the most sacred ties are often ruptured. Unhallowed tempers break up the fairest portions of the globe. Religion can alone peace of families, and ruthless war desolates the shed a blessed influence upon the scene, and this influence often appears embodied, amid the hideous chaos, as some beautiful flowers on a timedismantled ruin. But it will not be always so; and we look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, when nation shall no longer lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. One thousand millions of human beings are conjectured to exist upon this revolving planet. But who can number the quadrupeds and birds, the fishes that pass along the paths of the great waters, and the insect population that inhabit every leaf and open flower. Examine a map of the world. There are the Alps, and the Riphaan hills, and Caucasus, and the magnificent sweep of the Andes. There are the Cordilleras and the high hills of Tartary, and China. Yonder are the snow-clad mountains of the frozen region, and beneath them rolls the Arctic sea. Lower down is Iceland, the cultivated fields of Britain, civilized Europe, and burning Africa, the vast continent of America, stretching from north to south, the smiling plains of Mexico, Peru, and Chili; turbaned India, and all the glory and luxuriance of the East. Look again, but with the mental eye, for the visual organ can no longer follow it: dissimilar races of men are conspicuous in various portions of the globe. One part is crowded with fair men, in another are seen clear olive faces, in another black. Some are swarthy, others of pale complexions. Their languages are various, and their modes of thinking widely different. Each continent, and every large island, has also its own peculiar kinds of quadrupeds, and birds, and insects. The lordly lion, the boar, the antelope, the wild byson, the tusked elephant, the reindeer, the wolf, the bear, and arctic fox, have all their boundaries assigned them. The air is filled with a winged population. The lakes and ponds, every sea and river, is stocked with fish and animated beings, of strange forms and aspects. Myriads of insects, and creeping thing innumerable are seen walking in the green savannah, to them forests of interminable length, and among the branched moss that clothes the roots and branches of high trees. And more than even these, every leaf that quivers in the sunbeam, and every flower that drinks the dew of heaven, is in itself a world of animated life. Over the mighty whole, watches One who never slumbers, and whose ear is ever open to the prayers of his children. He is our Father, his eye is perpetually upon us, the darkness of the night cannot hide from him, he spieth out all our ways. He will not overlook us in the thronged city; nor need we fear to be forgotton in the most solitary place. THE BRIGHT SIDE. There is more sunshine than rain-more joy than pain-more love than hate-more smiles than tears in the world. Those who say to the contrary, we would not choose for our friends or companions. The good heart the tender feelings, and the pleasant disposition, make smiles, love, and sunshine everywhere. A word spoken pleasantly is a large spot of sunshine on the sad heart, and who has not seen its effects? A smile is like the bursting out of the sun behind the cloud, to him who thinks he has no friend in the wide world. The tear of affection, how brilliantly it shines along the path of life! A thousand gems make a milky way on earth more glorious than the glorious cluster over our heads. IDLENESS. Many of the miseries and vices of manhood proceed from idleness; with men of quick minds, to whom it is especially pernicious, this habit is commonly the fruit of many disappointments and schemes oft baffled; and men fail in their schemes not so much for the want of strength, as from the ill direction of it. The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something; the strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continued falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock-the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind.-Thomas Carlyle. The mind is never so sensibly disposed to pity the sufferings of others, as when it is itself subdued and softened by calamity.-Gleanings. For Friends' Review. "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not."-1st Samuel, xxviii. 6. Hark! a loud and fearful lesson! Tunes the heart-strings to the anthem, "Be not deceived, God ne'er is mocked, E. SUMMARY OF NEWS. AUSTRIA.-The Minister of War has announced, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE-By the arrival of the that a reduction of the army would immediately Steamship Niagara, at Boston, on the 28th and be made by means of an extensive system of furof the Arctic at New York, on the 30th ult., Liver-loughs. This is received as conclusive evidence, pool dates have been received respectively to the that Austria will remain neutral, if possible. 15th and 19th ult. ENGLAND.-The Queen and all the ministers had returned to London. Prolonged cabinet councils had been held, but the proceedings had not transpired. The Sheffield manufacturers have memorialized Government against war, and in aid of Turkey. A large meeting in favor of Turkey has been held in London. The cotton mills at Preston were to be temporarily closed by the owners in order to starve their operatives into submission. Great mortality from Cholera having taken place in a district of the town of Stockton, most of the inhabitants of the infected district had either fled or been removed. This and other measures adopted, appear to have had a decided effect in checking the progress of the epidemic. The Peace Conference at Edinburgh had adjourned. The Times says, that the Turkish manifesto is one of the strongest and most unanswerable State papers that has been issued during the present century. FRANCE. TWO hundred political arrests were made at Paris, on the night of the 16th ult. Among them was M. Goodchaux, the Minister of France under the Provisional Government. The Moniteur publishes an Imperial Decree, granting, until 7th month 31st, 1854, to foreign coasting vessels conveying corn, rice, potatoes and dried pulse from the Mediterranean, the same vilege in French ports as French vessels. RUSSIA AND TURKEY.-War between these Powers seem almost inevitable. The Turkish Government has officially published a declaration of war against Russia, and has given instructions to Omar Pasha, to demand of Prince Gortschakoff the evahostilities, if, after a delay of fifteen days from the cuation of the Principalities, and to commence arrival of his despatch at the Russian head-quarters, an answer in the negative should be returned. of Prince Gortschakoff be negative, the Russian It is distinctly understood that should the reply agents are to quit the Ottoman States, and that the commercial relations of the respective subjects of the two governments shall be broken off. At the same time, the Sublime Porte will not consider it just to lay an embargo upon Russian merchant vessels, as has been the practice. Consequently, they will be warned to resort either to the Black Sea or to the Mediterranean Sea, as they shall think fit, within a term that shall hereafter be fixed. Moreover, the Ottoman government being unwilling to place hindrances in the way of commercial intercourse between the subjects of friendly powers, will during the war leave the Straits open to their mercantile marine. The Porte has further addressed a manifesto to the four Powers, but it had not been published. It was also stated that the Turks intended comSea, and in Georgia. The Russians have about mencing hostilities in the direction of the Black 80,000 men in those parts. pri-tains with his forces, and broke into the Russian On the 27th ult., Schamyl issued from the moundistrict of Dscharo, Bielokansk, where he made an attack on the fortress of Vovysakatal. Gen. Orbelian marched to meet the mountaineers, and, after hard fighting, which lasted till nightfall, succeeded in driving them back. ITALY.-Manifestations of political agitation have taken place in various parts of Italy. Considerable agitation prevailed among the refugees in Piedmont, and the Government has felt it necessary to establish a supervision over them "for their own good." Austria was strengthening all her coasts in Italy, under apprehension of an insurrection. A letter from Turin says that the Piedmontese Government had been requested not to admit Mr. Foresti, a naturalized American, as Consul for the United States, alleging that he is a disciple of Mazzini. Corn may now be imported into the Papal States, duty free, until the 2d month next. The Papal Government has forbidden the export of grain. Naples is threatened with a scarcity of breadstuffs, and the government contemplates purchasing grain. BELGIUM. The intrigues and increasing influence, in high places, of the reactionary party are beginning to excite alarm throughout the entire kingdom, already alarmed by the prospect of an eventful war, by the dearness of provisions and by the discontent of the working classes. RUSSIA. The position which Prussia would take in the present crisis, has been looked to with much anxiety. It is now understood that she has decided, not for neutrality only, but to use all her efforts for the maintenance of peace. A telegraphic despatch from Vienna announces that advices had been received there, stating that Prince Gortschak off had sent a reply to the demand made by the Porte to evaeuate the Principalities within fifteen days. The answer was to the effect that he, the Russian Commander-inchief, was neither authorised to commence hostilities, to conclude peace, nor to avacuate the Principalities; consequently, he would do neither one nor the other. This reply is interpreted as meaning that the Prince will await orders from St. Petersburgh. Servia has offered to the Porte a force of 20,000 men, and the Scherif of Mecca has sent word that 30,000 Arab horsemen, perfectly armed, have solicited the favor of being allowed to march against Russia. Large numbers, also, of Hungarian and Polish refugees in the United States and different parts of Europe, have offered their services. DESERET.-News from Deseret to 8th mo. 25th, have been received. John M. Bernhisel has been elected Delegate to Congress. The Bishops of all the wards of the city of the Great Salt Lake have reported unanimously in favor of walling in the whole city-the wall to be built of mud, mixed with straw or hay and gravel. |