they could be produced in this country, and the tax would tend still more rapidly to drive us from the foreign market. There were considerable quantities of iron used in canals, bridges, ship-building, and agriculture, on all which the tax would severely operate. If the requisite sum could be raised in another way, why impose it on a manufacture of universal application? It was said to be an argument in favour of the bill, that it would operate generally; it would certainly operate as a general burden, but it would not be generally productive.

The supporters of the bill, on the other hand, argued that it was a principle of taxation to lay the tax on articles that were most diffusive, and, consequently, would be most productive. It was thought that necessaries ought not to be taxed, and that every thing should fall on luxuries. All the papers before the House showed that the opposition to the bill came from the manufacturers, not the consumers. foreign consumption, the tax could have but little effect; it was not the quantity, but the quality, of our manufactures, which was looked to. If we talked of exempting necessaries from taxation, we must give up every resource, and tax nothing.

As to

The use of iron for the purpose of agriculture had been mentioned as an objection to the tax, but the consumption of that article, in this respect, was trifling when compared with its consumption in our West India plantations, where it was used, instead of copper, for boilers and other culinary purposes. The present tax could not affect our articles of hardware in the foreign market, as the demand for those articles did not depend on their price, but arose from their superior quality. In this respect no foreign manufacture was likely soon to rival us.

It had been stated that the iron trade was not yet ripe enough to produce a revenue. If the iron trade had doubled, as it was admitted had been the case within the last ten years, it was impossible to deny that it was a fit object for taxation, considering the state of the country, and the necessity there was for making every article contribute to the present exi

gencies, considering the high duty on malt and even on salt; and considering the great and extraordinary length to which the income tax had been carried this year, it was rather matter of surprise that the present tax had not sooner been thought of. If it could be made out that, by proper drawbacks being allowed, no loss would arise to our foreign market, and at the same time that a great increase would thereby arise to the revenue, of probably 300,000l. or 400,000l., it would require some reasoning stronger than had been yet heard, to prove the tax ought not to be adopted. The objections to the Excise would have been perfectly applicable to the first introduction of the Excise laws into this country. The gentlemen now sought to be put under the regulations of Excise would not have the same necessity for frequent visits from the officers as others had.

To show that the excellence of the manufacture was that which recommended it to foreign markets, the great fluctuation which had taken place in the prices, being to the extent of upwards of 20 per cent., was instanced, which, nevertheless, had no effect on the amount of the exports; and, by taking a comparative view of the drawbacks acknowledged by the dealers themselves to be sufficient, and those proposed to be granted by the present bill, showed that the drawbacks which it was in the contemplation of the framers of the bill to allow, were fully sufficient.

It had been stated that the House had always abstained from imposing taxes on the raw material, and particularly iron. It was but lately that iron came to be manufactured to any great extent in this country, but the taxes on foreign iron were multiplied session after session; and, in fact, there were many other taxes which acted as a direct tax on iron, and which never were opposed-namely, the taxes on wood and coal. This tax would not destroy the great iron works, the roads and bridges. The same argument would apply to that which applied to the foreign trade-namely, that the fluctuation in the price never put a stop to these great works, though it differed so much as to be, in the year 1799, 167. a ton; in 1803, 197.; and immediately after that to fall to 147.; and

yet the fluctuation had no effect on the trade. The statements that had been referred to were much exaggerated, and the drawbacks in the bill were sufficient to cover the trade from the effect of the tax. In some instances the drawback proposed to be allowed exceeded that demanded by the manufacturers in others they were less, but every liberality would be extended, and the drawbacks might be modified or extended, so as to be satisfactory to those concerned.

As to the Excise, no harsh provisions on that head existed in the bill-indeed, such provisions were unnecessary, because a bar of pig-iron could not easily be smuggled.

The tax would bear so small a proportion to the immense capital employed in such concerns, that they could not be materially affected thereby. There was nothing in the state of the countries on the Continent to give rise to the apprehensions entertained with respect to the foreign trade. As to America, it was a country in the infancy of its population, and no wise government would encourage in such a country the employment of its subjects in manufactures to any extent that would enable them to rival this country. The population of that country would be wisely directed to the more productive employment of cultivating their country.

In reply to these arguments, the opposers of the bill stated that the fluctuation in the price of iron, although it was great, could not have had any effect on the foreign markets, as, when iron was dear, we exported very little, on account of our hostility with the northern powers. At that time the demand was so great at home, that, to use a tradesman's expression, the pigs were not allowed to be cold before they were taken away. This demand, of course, raised the price of the commodity, but, some time after, it was lowered considerably, on the suggestion of the manufacturers, who declared that they would be unable to proceed with their business unless they had the raw material considerably cheaper. Much of the flourishing state in which that trade now was, should be attributed to the ingenuity of the persons concerned in it, and nothing could so effectually put a stop to the exertion of this ingenuity as putting the manufacture under the Excise.

Formerly, and till within the last few years, wood or charcoal was the only material by which it was supposed that iron could be made, but the ingenuity of the manufacturers led them to find a substitute in coke. Under the gloomy influence of the Excise, there was every reason to believe that this useful discovery would never have been made. The moment the legislature put on the Excise, they imposed a specific mode of working, from which no appeal could be made, and which must at once put a stop to ingenuity. Insuperable difficulties presented themselves to the execution of the plan laid down. The manufacturers were called on to give notice to the Excise officer of the time at which they were to proceed to work. This was impossible: with all their practice and skill in their business, they could not judge within four hours of the time it might be in their power to open the furnace and proceed to cast, and the Excise officer must be always on the spot, or the manufacturer must be under innumerable penalties. The door must always be open to great frauds. Nothing could be so unjust as to confer on the fraudulent manufacturer the means of evading the duty, and of underselling the fair dealer.

Notwithstanding this powerful opposition, the ministers persisted in carrying the bill into a committee, and the House divided upon the question. Upon the division there appeared 119 in favour of the bill, and 109 against it; leaving to ministers a majority of only ten members; but in a few days after the House had resolved itself into a committee, the ministers were induced to abandon the measure altogether.

CHAP. VI.

GREAT BRITAIN.

IN the years 1783 and 1784, Mr. Cort, of Gosport, obtained two patents, one for the puddling, and the other for the rolling of iron- discoveries and improvements of so much importance in the manufacture, that it must be considered the era from which we may date the present extensive and flourishing state of the iron trade of this country; but, preparatory to noticing his inventions, it will be necessary to give an account of the processes hitherto in use for the conversion of iron into malleable or bar-iron.

The ancient and modern methods of extracting iron from its ores differing very materially from each other, it will be necessary to treat of them separately.

Iron*, as it exists in the ore, whether in a state of greater or less oxidation, is capable of being brought to the metallic state, when heated in contact with charcoal, by a much lower temperature than is required for its actual fusion; and the iron being brought to this state, the earthy matter with which it is mixed may be vitrified by the adoption of a proper flux, so as to allow the particles of metallic iron to subside, in consequence of their specific gravity, to the bottom of the mass, although they are only in that soft pasty state which common bar-iron exhibits when it is at a white heat. Now, the blowing machines of the ancient metallurgists being greatly inferior to those which are employed at present, they were obliged to make use only of the richest and most easily reducible ores; and even these they were never able, properly

Aikin's "Chemical Dictionary."