manufactured goods. The present yearly value
of the Cotton manufacture of this country is
estimated at forty-five millions sterling, of
which thirty millions are believed to be paid
away in wages; one-third being the original
cost of the raw material. In some inferior
descriptions of goods the value of the material
is far beyond that of the labour and skill
expended on them. In others, the labour
bestowed in their production is infinitely
more costly than the original value of the
material operated upon. Samples of cotton
yarn have been recently produced so
exquisitely fine in texture, that a single thread is
found to be invisible to the naked eye, unless
placed upon some dark substance. A hank
of cotton measures eight hundred and forty
yards; yet it would require more than
two thousand hanks of this gossamer to
weigh one pound. Twenty-five pounds weight
of such a fibre would encircle the globe at
the equator, whilst in value it would far
exceed it own weight in gold. In the
importation of the raw cotton into this country,
and in the exportation of the manufactured
goods, about eight hundred thousand tons of
shipping are yearly employed.

Perhaps a better idea of the magnitude of
this branch of our national industry can
scarcely be embodied than in these two facts:—
Firstly, a rise in the price of the raw material
of twopence the pound, costs the manufacturers
four millions sterling; Secondly, in the
simple process of starching the fibres whilst
being spun, two hundred and fifty thousand
barrels of flour are annually used, worth about
half a million sterling.

Such is the Cotton trade of England;
unequalled by any industry of any other country
in the world. It is not difficult, therefore, to
understand how important becomes any
question affecting the future supply of this great
staple commodity. We are at present
dependent upon another nation for the staff of
our national prosperity, and that nation
depends upon the labour of a race of slaves.
Let any great social or physical convulsion
visit that country, and England would feel
the shock from Land's End to John O'Groat's.
The lives of nearly two millions of our countrymen
are dependent upon the cotton crops of
America; their destiny may be said, without
any sort of hyperbole, to hang upon a thread.
Should any dire calamity befal the land of
cotton, a thousand of our merchant ships
would rot idly in dock; ten thousand mills
must stay their busy looms; two thousand
thousand mouths would starve for lack of
work to feed them.

It is not, however, sufficient that we glance
at the Cotton manufacture; we must say a
few passing words touching that of Linen,
before pointing out the operation of the
present " Flax Movement." For the supply of
flax, we are equally dependent upon foreign
countries; not more than one-fourth of the
flax required, that is, a hundred thousand tons,
being grown in Great Britain. We pay to
other countries for flax, for linseed, and for oil-
cake, not much under seven millions sterling
annually; whilst we ship linen goods to the
yearly value of three millions sterling. Flax
is employed in the manufacture of the most
delicate French and Irish cambrics, and of the
coarsest sail-cloth and tarpaulins; of the most
beautiful laces from Lisle and Valenciennes,
and of the heavier sacking and towelling. The
folds of snowy lawn that deck a bishop's arms,
and the stout storm-sail that rides out the
fiercest gale, are both the produce of the same
plant.

The propriety of rendering ourselves
independent of other nations for the supply of
cotton, is no new idea. It has been
entertained for many years past. The
manufacturers of Manchester have been urging the
cultivation of cotton in our Indian possessions,
where vast tracts of land are known to exist
well suited to the cultivation. Our own
chilly climate is utterly unfitted for the
growth of this plant; with flax, however, the
case is different, and, as already stated, about
one-fourth of our requirements of this article
is raised on British ground. There appears
to be no reason whatever, why the remaining
three-fourths should not also be grown upon
our own soil. Besides which, recent experiments
have demonstrated that flax may be
substituted for one half of the cotton at
present in use, which would give an additional
demand for the article of five hundred tons
daily, requiring for their growth twelve
thousand acres every week. The experiments
alluded to were made by the Chevalier
Clausson, who has thus originated what is
known as the " Flax Movement." By these
he discovered a simple and at the same time
beautiful and effective process, by which flax
may be " cottonised " or converted into what
is termed " British Cotton."

Some of the more important processes in
the manufacturing arts have been the
result of mere accident. It was even so with
Flax Cotton. The accidental discovery of
the new application of the flax-plant has
been thus described, in the last edition of the
Chevalier Clausson's little work on the
subject of the " Movement:"—

Wandering along the luxuriant banks of
one of the Brazilian rivers, his attention was
attracted to a white, down-like substance,
adhering to the branches of trees,
overhanging and touching the stream. On
obtaining a quantity of it, he was so pleased
with its character, that—thinking he had
discovered some vegetable product hitherto
unknown—he determined to trace it, if
possible, to its source, and to ascertain the
plant which produced it. Pursuing his task
with great ardour, he eventually found that
the substance had been washed from a bed of
flax-straw, the produce of some of his own
land; and which, long before, he had caused
to be thrown, as useless, near the banks of