e foundation of
England's industrial greatness. Then came the material agent, machinery
propelled by steam. The invention of the steam engine, following quickly
upon that of the carding machine, the spinning jenny, and other
ingenious machinery employed in textile manufactures, gave an
extraordinary impulse to their development, and, with them, that of
kindred branches of industry. At the basis of all of them was England's
wealth in coal. The vast development of industries in England during the
19th century may be further correlated with certain events in the
general history of the time. Insular England was not affected by the
disturbing influences of the Napoleonic period in any such degree as was
continental Europe. Such conditions carried on the work of British
inventors in helping to develop industries so strongly that
manufacturers were able to take full advantage of the opportunities
offered by the American Civil War (in spite of the temporary disability
it entailed upon the cotton industry) and by the Franco-German War.
These wars tended to paralyse industries in the countries affected,
which were thus forced to English markets to buy manufactured
commodities. That England, not possessing the raw material, became the
seat of the cotton manufacture, was owing to the ingenuity of her
inventors. It was not till the later part of the 18th century, when a
series of inventions, unparalleled in the annals of industry, followed
each other in quick succession, that the cotton manufacture took real
root in the country, gradually eclipsing that of other European nations,
although a linen manufacture in Lancashire had acquired some prominence
as early as the 16th century. But though the superior excellence of
their machinery enabled Englishmen to start in the race of competition,
it was the discovery of the new motive power, drawn from coal, which
made them win the race. In 1815 the total quantity of raw cotton
imported into the United Kingdom was not more than 99 millions of
pounds, which amount had increased to 152 millions of pounds in 1820,
and rose further to 229 millions in 1825, so that there was considerably
more than a doubling of the imports in ten years.

Textiles.

The geographical analysis of the cotton industry in England is simple.
It belongs almost entirely to south Lancashire--to Manchester and the
great industrial towns in its neighbourhood. The industry has extended
into the adjacent parts