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The handbook of silk, cotton, and woollen manufactures
The handbook of silk cotton and woollen manufactures Author:William Cooke Taylor Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. BABLY HISTORY OF THE TEXTILE ARTS IN BRITAIN. The history of British manufacturing industry is a record of the most preposterous legislative ef... more »forts to annul the laws of nature, such as were probably never equalled, and certainly could not be exceeded, in any other country in the world. Laws for the winds, and statutes for the whirlwinds, would be the perfection of wisdom compared with the enactments in our ancient commercial codes, and it is doubtful whether direct hostility could have effected more injury to the labouring classes than the bear-hug of mistaken protection. One great source of this perverse legislation was, that the Norman barons amongst whom William the Conqueror had parcelled the lands of England on the tenure of military service—that is, providing for the defence ofthe country—not only pursued a course of fiscal policy by which the public revenues were raised out of taxation on industry instead of being defrayed out of rental, but also employed sometimes violence and sometimes fraud to secure to themselves a share in the profits of trade and commerce, though feudal pride prevented them from participating in the labours of either pursuit. Nothing could have enabled the British nation to bear up under the barbarous and short-sighted policy of the Norman aristocracy, but the sturdy industrial spirit derived from the Saxon race. Industry, so far from being regarded as undignified by the Anglo-Saxons, was an honourable boast, and was worthily associated with their religion. In their belief, the physical portion of the curse pronounced after the Fall, extended only to the earth, and was compensated by the promise to Adam, " In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread." In their Scripture illustrations the Angel of Mercy is introduced, consoling ...« less