of the great inventions and the
application of the steam-motor, and how disastrously the duties upon
raw and thrown silks weighed upon this branch of manufacture.

AVERAGE IMPORTATION.[77]

lbs. lbs.
1765 } | 1823 2,468,121
1766 } 715,000 | 1824 4,011,048[78]
1767 } | 1825 3,604,058
1785 } | 1826 2,253,513
1786 } 881,000 | 1827 4,213,153
1787 } | 1828 4,547,812
1801 } | 1829 2,892,201
to } 1,110,000 | 1830 4,693,517
1812 } | 1831 4,312,330
1814 2,119,974 | 1832 4,373,247
1815 1,475,389 | 1833 4,761,543
1816 1,088,334 | 1834 4,522,451
1817 1,686,659 | 1835 5,788,458
1818 1,922,987 | 1836 6,058,423
1819 1,848,553 | 1837 4,598,859
1820 2,027,635 | 1838 4,790,256
1821 2,329,808 | 1839 4,665,944
1822 2,441,563 | 1840 4,819,262

In the linen industry the artificial encouragement given to the Irish
trade, which, bounty-fed and endowed with a monopoly of the British
markets, was naturally slow to adopt new methods of production, and
the uncertain condition of the English trade, owing to the strong
rivalry of cotton, prevented the early adoption of the new machine
methods. Although Adam Smith regarded linen as a promising industry,
it was still in a primitive condition. Not until the very end of the
eighteenth century were flax spinning mills established in England and
Scotland, and not until after 1830 was power-loom weaving introduced,
while the introduction of spinning machinery into Ireland upon a scale
adequate to supply the looms of that country took place a good deal
later.

We see that the early experimental period in the cotton industry
produced no very palpable effect upon the volume of the trade. Between
1700 and 1750 the manufacture was stagnant.[79] The woollen
manufacture, owing largely to the stimulus of the fly-shuttle, showed
considerable expansion. The great increase of cotton production in
1770-90 measures the force of the mechanical inventions without the
aid of the new motor. The full effects of the introduction of steam
power were retarded by the strain of the French war. Though 1