546 LAISSEZ FAIRE
AD.1776 manufacture goods of a class for which Englishmen believed
—1850. .
they had exceptional advantages.
which The agitation gives us an interesting light on many
oi i matters connected with this manufacture. A rise in the
ood price of wool would have affected all branches of the trade,
and the outery came from many parts of the country. The
sutburst was far less local than in 1697; at that time it had
been concentrated in the West of England, whence artisans
were migrating. A hundred and thirteen firms in London
petitioned against permitting export to Ireland, and they
were supported by petitions from! Cornwall, Exeter, Totnes,
Tiverton, Welshpool, Frome, Bury St Edmunds, Hudders-
field, Tavistock, Painswick, Rochdale, Huntingdon, Norwich,
Somersetshire, Sudbury, Halifax, Gloucester, Bury, Preston,
Market Harborough, Witney, Wiveliscombe, Southwark, Brad-
ford, Cirencester, Colne, Burnley, Banbury, Shrewsbury, Leeds.
Wakefield, Haworth, Kendal, Addingham, Kidderminster,
Keighley, Skipton, Salisbury. A glance at this list shows
how widely the trade was diffused; and it is also evident
that the manufactures in Yorkshire were coming into promi-
nence as compared with those of the Eastern Counties”. Very
severe pressure was brought to bear in favour of an amend-
ment moved by Mr Wilberforce “ to leave out of the resolution
what relates to suffering wool to be exported from this country,
out that the Irish should be allowed to work up the wool
which they themselves grow”; but Pitt was anxious to carry
the complete commercial union of the two countries and
argued at length against the amendment, which was lost.
Eventually, necessity proved the mother of invention, and
serious attempts were made, not only to improve the breed of
English sheep, by the introduction of merino-sheep from
Spain, but to find some new area, under English control, for
Anew pasture-farming. As a result, advantage was taken of the
i og facilities afforded by Australia. The development of this
feck source of supply was only accomplished gradually, as very
serious difficulties had to be overcome. Some sheep were
i Bischoff, 1. 321.
3 Norfolk was still “full of manufacturers” in 1779. Parl. Hist. XX. 644.
3 Bischoff, 1. 327.
