the currency of the country, fresh employment for
labour, and occasioning, in some degree, the augmentation of general
prosperity.

_Feb. 25, 1850._

* * * * *

_Causes of Manufacturing Distress, over which Parliament can have no
Control._

There can be no doubt that there has been, of late years, a great
increase of manufactures and manufactured produce in this country. It is
true, that this produce has given to the manufacturer but little
profit, and that the wages of the manufacturing labourer are low; but,
as I will show presently, the circumstance, equally with the cause of
the agricultural distress, is beyond legislative control.

My Lords, it is impossible to consider this branch of the subject
without adverting likewise to the state of the commerce of the country.
The produce of the manufactures of the country is greater than the
country can consume; and, consequently, the price and the reward of the
labourer must depend upon the foreign demand, as well as upon the demand
at home.

In respect to the distress felt by manufacturing labourers, there can be
no doubt that the wages of manual labour have been lowered by the
successful application of steam to the movement of machinery for the
purpose of manufacture. Here, my Lords, is a cause of distress over
which the Legislature has no practical control. As I go further in my
observations upon the speech of the Noble Earl (Stanhope) who made the
motion,[12] I will point out other causes of distress equally beyond the
control of the Legislature.

[Footnote 12: For an inquiry into the state of the nation.]

My Lords, let me beg to call to the recollection of the House the state
in which the world was at the end of the war in the years 1814 and 1815.
Europe was absolutely overrun with armies, and had been so for about
twenty years. There was absolutely nothing but armies in the world, and
nothing was thought of but the means of sustaining them. Except in
France and this country, there were but few manufacturers in Europe; but
when the peace took place, all the world became manufacturers. I have
already stated, that the country manufacturing more than it consumes, is
under the necessity of resorting to foreign countries, and foreign
markets with its produce, where this produce necessarily comes in
competition with the manufactured produce of foreign countries, brought
there by cheaper labour, and by machinery worked by steam. Th