the operation of the then existing law, as generally understood, from taking his seat. He himself knew, at the time when he was returned, that such was the meaning given to the law then in operation; and there was, therefore, nothing unjust in telling him, that, as he was elected under the former law, by that law he must abide, and that he was by it excluded from sitting in this House. They would justly say to him, "We deprive you of nothing, we leave you in the state you were in before the passing of the late Relief bill. We have certainly for the future relieved you, in common with all Roman Catholics, from the necessity of making the Declaration against transubstantiation. That bill was undoubtedly intended to place all Roman Catholics in that respect upon an equal footing; but it was not a bill intended to apply to your personal case; it was not intended to relieve you from the necessity of taking the Oaths of Abjuration and Supremacy, prescribed by those former acts of Parliament, which were the law of the land at the time when you were elected. It is by the operation of the former law that you are now excluded; and as you were elected previous to the passing of the Relief bill, it is abundantly plain that there is no injustice in now excluding you, and no necessity has been shown to induce us to go out of our way to perform in your regard an uncalled-for act of grace and favour." The fact was, that Mr. O'Connell was elected at a time when the passing of that act was contemplated neither by him, nor by his constituents; and he had no right to have it applied retrospectively to his case, and for his peculiar benefit. The clauses which exclude Mr. O'Connell, said Mr.

Ferguson, would have been in the bill, though Mr. O'Connell, and his election, had never existed.

The question, however, was pressed to a division, when the Solicitor-general's resolution was carried, by a majority of 190 to 116.

Next day Mr. O'Connell appeared at the Bar. The Speaker communicated to him the resolution of the House, and asked him, whether he was ready to take the Oath of Supremacy. Mr. O'Connell requested permission to look at the oath; it was handed to him, and he answered, after a short pause, I see, in this oath, one assertion as to a matter of fact which I know is not true, and see in it another assertion, as to a matter of opinion, which I believe is not true. I therefore refuse to take this oath."

This was followed up by the Solicitor-general moving that the Speaker should issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Crown to issue a writ for a new election. Mr. Spring Rice, on the other hand, moved as an amendment that leave be given to bring in a bill to relieve Mr. O'Connell; whereupon general Gascoign gave notice that he would move for leave to bring in a bill, to alter and amend the Catholic Bill itself. The amendment was supported principally on the ground that it was imprudent to produce in Ireland, at this moment, the agitation of a new election, but it was ultimately withdrawn. The motion of general Gascoign was never made; and the motion for a new writ was agreed to without a division.

The last parliamentary result of the measures which had been thus carried through in regard to Ireland, was a motion for Parliamentary Reform. We have already noticed the agility with which the majori

THE

HE House and the country were so engrossed by the measures and discussions relative to Ireland, that scarcely any other proceedings worthy of being recorded took place during the session. In the mean time, however, the manufacturing part of the population were suffering great distress; and in some places they aggravated their sufferings by combining to remain idle; rather than work at the wages which were offered them; and both causes led to frequent riotous proceedings, and to the destruction of the property of their employers. The silk weavers in Spitalfields and Bethnal Green particularly distinguished themselves in this work of violence.

The

On the 14th of April, Mr. Fyler, one of the members for Coventry, brought the state of the silk-trade before Parliament, by moving for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into its condition, and the cause of its decline. motion was founded on the distress which was acknowledged on all hands to prevail, and on statements which were said to prove both that the decline of the trade was still progressive, and that its origin was to be sought in the recent changes in our commercial legislation. It was mentioned that, in Coventry, the number of silk weavers out of employment, had increased by five hundred since

the middle of March, and that the total number of unemployed persons connected with the trade, amounted to upwards of four thousand two hundred. There were, it appeared, twenty-six mills standing still in Congleton. In 1824, the average wages were 12s. 8d. per week; in 1828, 4s. 7d. In Paisley, there were two-thirds more mills at work in 1824 than in 1828. the average rate of wages was 15s. in 1824, and only 8s. 1d. in 1828. In Macclesfield there were fifty-two mills employed in 1824; in 1828 sixteen of them were standing still. At Taunton, in Somersetshire, of seventy mills that were employed in 1824, fifty were now standing still, and wages were reduced seventy per cent. In Spitalfields, in 1824-5, Gros-deNaples was paid for at the rate of 10d. a yard, it was now 6d.; lustring was 1s. a yard, it was now 8d.; other fabrics, which were then for at the rate of 1s. 2d. a yard, were now 9d. In 1824-5 there were seventeen thousand looms employed in Spitalfields, while at the present day there were only nine thousand. The rate of wages averaged at the former period 17s.; at present it amounted to only 9s. Figured and fancy goods, in 1824-5, produced an average of 22s. a week wages; that rate was now reduced to 14s. In 1824-5 one-third of the whole manufac

ture of Spitalfields consisted of fancy goods; but now of nine thousand looms employed, only two thousand were engaged in the manufacture of fancy articles. In Dublin, in 1824-5, there were one thousand two hundred broad silk looms employed, and there were now only two hundred. In 1824-5 there were nine hundred and sixtysix ribband-engines employed; that number was now reduced to one hundred and forty-four. In 1824-5 the total number of broad weavers in employ was two thousand one hundred and ninety-six; in 1828 the number employed was only four hundred and forty-four. In 1828 the wages were thirtyfive per cent less than in 1824. In 1824, there were ten mills in full work; at present there were only two, and those only partially employed. In 1824 the hands employed in throwing were two thousand two hundred; in 1828 there were only one hundred and thirty-eight. In 1824, the wages were 8s., in 1828 they were only 58. This was said to be the actual state and progress of the trade; and it could be imputed mainly, if not solely, to nothing but the enormous amount of foreign silk goods imported under the new system. For ten years previous to the introduction of that system, the quantity of the raw material imported had been regularly increasing. In the years 1815, 1816, and 1817, the aggregate amount of the import of raw and thrown silk was 4,007,000lb., being equal to an average in each year of 1,336,000lb. In the years 1818, 1819, 1820 the aggregate amount was 6,592,000lb., being equal to an average in each year of 2,194,000lb. In the years 1821, 1822, and 1823, the aggre

gate amount was 8,072,000lb., being equal to an average in each year of 2,691,000lb. The imports, therefore, of raw and thrown silk had been increasing every year from 1815 till 1824, and it must therefore be obvious, that the silk-trade could not be said to have flourished in consequence of the introduction of these new principles. On the contrary, in 1826 and 1827, there had been a decrease in the importation of the raw material, as compared with 1824 and 1825, of 1,149,153lb. In the mean time, under these new regulations, the imports of the manufactured article had been increasing. In 1828, they amounted to 676,973l. 19s. 6d., which was a most rapid increase; for in 1826, they had amounted only to 445,000l., and in 1827, to 555,0871. Taking one-third of the quantity as the amount brought into the country by smuggling, two-thirds remained for legal importation, which, at a fair calculation, would give 1,000,000l. of money, as the amount of labour displaced from the industry of this country: and, taking into account the difference between the price of labour in this country and in France, there was lost to the industry of this country, in depriving our labourers of the manufacture of the raw article into an article of use, no less a sum than 1,066,2331. Hence our silk mills and looms were standing still; the weavers were starving; and it was quite certain that many even of the masters were giving up the trade, and becoming mere importers.

The ministry opposed the appointment of a committee, on the ground that it confessedly "pointed at a return to the prohibitory system, which they were deter

mined not to restore, and because even such a return would only increase the evil. If the restrictions of monopoly were restored, and monopoly prices revived, all the probabilities were, that the consumption would decline, for it was cheapness that had produced it; and one consequence would be the ruin of establishments which had grown up since, and just because prohibition was at an end. One of the main causes of the present distress, which existed in France fully as much as here, was to be found in over-production-overtrading-in both countries. Many facts proved this: there was 1st, the immense increase of the quantity of raw silk imported; 2ndly, the high prices at which, owing to the competition of throwsters, the raw silks had nevertheless been purchased, even up to the sale at the East-India House at the end of January; 3rdly, the numerous new mills and works which had been established since 1823; and 4thly, the simultaneous distress in France. The facts, alone, of the great increase in the consumption of the raw material, as well as the increase in the number of persons, buildings, and works, employed in the manufacture, would sufficiently prove this over-trading. Dating the change of system at the beginning of the year 1824, five years of the new state of the silk-trade had now elapsed. In those five years, the importation of raw and thrown silk had been 18,584,213lb. In the five years preceding 1824, the importation was only 10,925,6461b., making a difference of 7,650,567lb. in favour of the later period. Long before 1824, a silk trade was rising up in our provincial towns, the effects of which were beginning to be

severely felt in Spitalfields; and were the consumption to be now contracted in the degree which would result from a renewal of the former system, the looms of the metropolis could not be kept at work, in opposition to the numerous fresh establishments at work in the country. Perhaps to change in fashion, more than to over-production, the former seasons of distress might be attributed; and to Spitalfields those seasons would become more and more disastrous, in proportion as competition with the operatives of the country was extended. In former times it was not possible to force a trade by low prices; cheapness was not a material object with the regular consumers, and the degree of cheapness, which could then be attained, was not sufficient suddenly to bring in a new class of customers. Most certainly, if the loss of profit to the English manufacturer arose from his being undersold by French imports, the situation of the latter ought to be very flourishing. But the reverse was the fact; the distress of the silk-trade in France was as great as here; and the French manufacturers, convinced by the fatal experience of their losses that they could not so easily undersell the British, had thrown many thousands of looms out of work. regard to the increase of manufacturing establishments, the president of the Board of Trade stated, that, taking a certain number of considerable towns, the number of spindles employed in them previous to 1824, were 780,000; that, in 1829, in the same places, the number was 1,180,000, making an increase of 400,000. Admitting that, previous to 1824, they were all, without exception, employed, the

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