on the spur of the moment, and _ten_ of
them have become business partners or proprietors of mills.... Many
manufacturers," adds Mr. Ashworth, "are to be found who have done a
great deal to ameliorate the condition of those they have employed; and
no one will doubt that they have been prompted, not by hopes of gain,
but by emotions of goodwill."[1]

[Footnote 1: The greater part of the above information is contained in
the statement by Mr. Henry Ashworth, in the Reports on the Paris
Universal Exhibition, 1867, vol. vi., pp. 161-163.]

Manufacturers such as these do not, like Plugson of St. Dolly Undershot,
gather up their fortunes and run away, leaving a groat each to their
workpeople to drink their healths. They remain with them from generation
to generation. The best and the noblest amongst them--the Ashworths of
Turton, the Strutts of Derby, the Marshalls of Leeds, the Akroyds of
Halifax, the Brooks of Huddersfield, and many others,--have continued to
superintend their works for several generations. The Strutts were the
partners of Arkwright, who was almost the beginner of English
manufacture. In fact, it is only since Arkwright took out his patent for
the spinning machine, and Watt took out his patent for the steam engine,
that England has become a manufacturing country.

Where would England have been now, but for the energy, enterprise, and
public spirit of our manufacturers? Could agriculture have supported the
continuous increase of population? Is it not more probable that this
country would have become overrun by beggars,--or that property would
have been assailed and the constitution upset, as was the case in
France,--but for the extensive and remunerative employment afforded to
the labouring classes in the manufacturing districts? The steam engine
has indeed proved the safety-valve of England. It enabled the kingdom to
hold its ground firmly during the continental wars; and but for it, and
the industries which it has established, England would probably by this
time have sunk to the condition of a third or fourth-rate power.

It is true, the great manufacturers have become wealthy. But it would
certainly have been singular if, with their industry, energy, and powers
of organization, they had become poor! Men of the stamp of the Strutts,
Ashworths, Marshalls, and others, do not work for wealth merely, though
wealth comes to them. They have not become great because they were rich,
but they have become rich be