evil 
CONTENTS 
granted allowances from the rates, and this tided over the transition to 
spinning by jennies in factories, and subsequent spinning by power. 653 
254. Legal and Illegal Woollen Weavers. The flying shuttle brought 
large earnings to those woollen weavers who found employment, but the 
anemployed commenced an agitation for enforcing the old rules, The 
obligation of a seven years’ apprenticeship was get aside temporarily, and, 
jespite the evidence in favour of retaining if, the system was aban- 
doned. . “ . . . . . . . . . 657 
255. The Shearmen and the Framework Knitters. The use of gig- 
mills, though possibly illegal, was permitted, since they did the work well; 
the newly invented shearing frames deprived skilled workmen of employ- 
ment and roused them into violent opposition, in which they were associated 
with the Luddites. When the regulation of framework knitting by the 
Company ceased, complaints of hardship arose from the hands, who paid 
frame rents; and subsequently inferior goods were produced, which spoiled 
the market. The evils were aggravated by the practice of spreading work, 
and were not due to machinery, but to reckless competition. . 661 
III. AGGRAVATIONS OF THE Evirs oF TRANSITION. 
256. The War and Fluctuations in Maritime Intercourse. The in- 
svitable difficulties of transition were aggravated by the fluctuations of trade, 
which rendered manufacturing speculative and tended to lower the operatives’ 
standard of life. The breach with the American colonists was taken ad- 
vantage of by French and Dutch rivals; and Russia insisted on maintaining 
a new doctrine of neutral trading, to the disadvantage of the English, who 
sustained heavy losses, but no permanent damage to their maritime power. 
Though England relinquished many possessions in 1783, her maritime 
superiority was more striking than ever, and enabled her to monopolise the 
carrying trade and to ruin her rivals. During the Revolutionary War a 
stimulus was given to English tillage; and after the Peace of Amiens, to 
manufactures for American markets. English prosperity was securely 
founded, as industry and agriculture bad all been developed ; a large revenue 
was derived from customs ; England, despite the pressure of debt, could defy 
competition through her wealth in coal, and was bound to triumph in the 
end. The attempt of England to destroy the commerce of France embroiled 
ber with the United States, since they bad developed a carrying trade 
between France and her colonies to the disadvantage of British traders. 
The Orders in Council against neutral trading called forth the Berlin and 
Milan Decrees ; these pressed severely on the customers of England, but did 
pot break down her monopoly, as Napoleon failed to develop industries, and 
a large contraband trade sprung up. The rupture with the States affected 
ow supplies of material and food as well as our manufactures. With the 
sstablishment of peace a period of depression ensued. Though successfal 
speculators had gained, the community as a whole suffered from the fluctua- 
sions in trade. . : . . ¥ v . . 668 
057. Credit and Crises. During the war, industry suffered from want 
of materials and the interruption of the food supply, and all capitalists were 
affected by the variations in credit, and the consequent crises, There was