2 ORIGIN OF THE INDUSTRIAL, REVOLUTION’ Tr problem ofthe origin ofthe Industrial Revolution i nt a cay one butt is made even more difcaltif we lt cary it So is aswel wo begin with lite carieaon, Fis, the Industral Revolution isnt merely an acceleration ‘ofeconamie growth, but an accerion of gromth beens of, Sand through, economic and sacl raraformation. The eatiy ‘bserver, whe concetrated thei anton on the qualitatively ‘new way of producing dhe machines, the factory system and {he est™~had the right instinct, though they sometimes lloned ‘ttoouneiealy. It was not Birmingham, x city which produced 1 great deal more in 18go han #750 but ently in he ‘ol! way, which made contemporarks speak of an industrial revolution, but Manchester, a cy which produced more in ‘more obviously revolutionary manne. In the late eighteenth ‘Century this ecanomic and socal transformation took place in nd through acapitalis economy. As we now fom the twentieth ‘entry, hiss noth only form nda revolution can tke, ‘thoughitwasthe carts and probably inthe ightecath century, the only pracable one. Capitals idusrazaon requites 8 Some waysaather diferent anys fom non-capitali because ‘wemust explain why the pursitof private prof led to techn logial ansformation, and tis by no means obvious that it sutomascaly does sof other ways doublese, capitan Uialation can be treated as 2 specal eae of a more general phenomenon, bu iis not clear wit extent this ef to {he historian ofthe Brith Industral Revolution, ‘Second, the Brish revolution ma the fis in history. This es not sean that it stared fom 2eo, oF that carer pases of ‘pid industri and technological development cannot be fund Neverthe, none ofthe initiated the characteristic modern phase of history, selfsustaned econumic growth by means of Origin ofthe Industrial Revolution sl technological revolution and soci rnsormain. Being the sty thtfre also in crcl epetsonie al tivejent indo revolution. I cannot be explained irimariyo to any extent, aterm tse fictrs ach a Ferinstnce ihe iain of more advanced techniques, the inpon of pit the impact of sre ndusrianed word ‘Conon, Subsequent revelone cold us the itis expe ‘ey came snd renurces. Brain cold ote thse of her ‘untsis only fo very limit and minor extent At she same lime ss ne hve se, the Be elton was preceded bya Ice two hundred years of fry continuous eeoomie develop- tment, wbich Id ts foundations. Unley intent 0 trent cetiry Rusa, Benin eee indsrazaon pre edad not aly unprepared ‘Ffoneve, the nda Revoation cannot be expe’ in porey Bh terms, for his county formed part of wider ‘onamy, which we may ell the ‘rope ceomomy"or the ‘orld ccnomy othe Earoesn marine wate ar aro {Mgernewort of conomic etieripe, wach included sever ‘tdranced? ae se of which were ao ret of potenti or {Spuingndsnrlio, and ara of dependent ono sel nth arp of frig conor bo et subeantally Ibvolved wih Barge. These dependent economies costed ‘purl offal colonies (sin the Americ) or pants of ae {nd domination (sin the Ones), pany of regions which mee to some extent economia specalzed in response to the ‘hands ofthe ‘adv tet some parts a eer Europ) The ‘advanced weld was ned to the dependent ‘orld by crea dion of eamonie activi: 4 sev ‘fen oo ae id aes oy ‘Sporting spice products or rw tantra othe omer ‘Thee eats maybe deerbed syste of ena Bows = of wade of imerational payments, of epi anaes, of ‘nipaen and so on. The European exon” ad wn {Iie tp oepunsion and dye escort ave entries, though had als exereesd mor economic St ‘seks of, nobly meh foarte leet ad seen teenth coma. cyIndustry and Empire "Neverthe it important observe tht ta tended o te vded, at east om the see cntry nto independent tnd compecing paises economic unite (rial aes) ke Bris and France, ech with ie ow economic and oc stacy and contining within ii avancel and bacivard dependent sectors and repons.By the sveethconry it ‘rasfariy vious that, indaral revolution ceurredanyere inthe worl st would be somewhere within the European. ray Whs this wa canoe be cand he fr he quston belongs tan carer ers history than the on with nich is took is concemed. However, was not cles whch of the mpeg units woud tr ott be the eto indole “The problem ofthe origin ofthe Indust! Rvolaton sich cones us here, cena why was rin whch nae theft "wrkshop ote word A second and connected ques toni why this reakthrough acuted towards the end the ‘ishceth century and ot ele ae Before eting aout the anewer which remains a mater of debate and uncertain) may be seat imines munber of explains or poco explanations wich have en ben Earrent and res sometimes maintsined, Most the sre ‘more unexplained thin hy cate. “Ths i tre oftheir which tempt account fo the Industrial Revolution in tems of cima geoph, blo change in the popaaion or oter exogenous cars I (has ten held) the smelt forthe evoloon came frm he us long pero of god harvests inthe carr eghnth etary, then we hve to explain why sm prtads befor this ae (and they have occurred tom time te une root history ad tsar eonsequences: If Bris ample ees af zal exlin her pir, then we may well wonder why et Comparatively seancratura supplies of most oer insta ra Iter for expen oe) dns hamper her jst arc, ‘aerate why the great Sian ealel di ot prods ncaualy earl industria start Ifthemotclimateof anche itetphin th enema thot dy heen ‘re ought 0 ack why the many eer equal damp ropes of thelitish es didmotla tractor hold And soon, Climate 4 Origin ofthe Industrial Revolution acon, geography the distribution of narra resources operate tot on their own, bu only within gen economic, social and {Esttional framework Thi ttre even ofthe strongest of ch factors, eae of acess othe sea oto good iver, that {oe cheapest and most practicable udeed fr bul gods the nly econo frm of tranepor in th pre-industrial age. Tt ‘most inconceivable that total landlocked region should have ‘plonered the moder Industrial Revaluion; thoughsuch repens [frarer than onethinke Nevertheless, even ere non-geographic factors snust not be nglcted: the Hebrides ave mote aces (0 the sea than most of Yorkshire “The problem of population is somewhat diferent, for its rmovemants may be explained by exogenous factors, by the ‘anges in human society or by acombenauon ofboth. We shall, ‘onset further below At present we ned note merely that purely exogenous explanations are not t present widely held by Foran, and are not accepted in his book. Explanations of the Industrial Revelation by ‘historic acci- ent ought also to be rejected. The mere fict of overseas mach more immune to foreign competiton ‘han fxs. Tei indus therefore tends to pat = "rather more impertant pat in underdeveloped than in advanced ‘ountres. Sil, four-miling and beer-brewing were important lonces of technslogial revolution even in Britain, though they ‘tract ess attention than ete, because they donot so much ‘ransom the suroundng esnomy a appe,ike gant mor ‘ments of modersity, within it asthe Guinness brewery din ‘Dablinand thecelbrted Albion seam mile whichsoimpresed ‘the port Will: Blk) in London. ‘Te larger the city (and "London was by fr the genes in Western Esrope), and the ‘mare rapid the crbunization, the greater the scope for such ‘evelopment: Was ot the inventon of the ber-andle, known, fo every drinker ia Briain, one of the fist aumphs of Heery ‘Maudsly, one of the great pioners of engineering? "The hore maiet ao provided a major oul for what ler ‘became capital gods. Coa gre almostemiely with he number 4 Origin ofthe Industrial Revolution ‘of urban ~ and especially metropolitan ~ fireplaces ion — toa uch smaller extent ~ reflected the demand fr dames pots, pam stonesand helt, Since the quantities coal burned {ins homes were very much greater than thei seeds of ron (hanks in parcto the unusual ineficency of the Bish replace Simpared to ths continental stove), the pre-industibae of the (Gal nasty was much sounder than that of theta industry ‘Even before the Industrial Revolution ts orp could sea Be ‘eared in lions of os, the fst comsmodiy te which such {sttonomic eri were appiabe. And steam-engines were the of hemies n1769ahundred'amasphencengines had {rey been erected round Newease-o-Tyne, an fifty-seven vere actualy a work (However, the more moder cgines af James Wats ope, which were realy the foundation industal technology, made thei way nly showy in the mines) “On the athe: hand the total Bish coneumptin of iron in 170 was less than 5,000 tans, and even in 178, afer the Industral Revlon was well underway ic cannot have been rmoch more than 100,00 tos. The demand for sce was negig- ibleat the thn price ofthe metal. The grates hllan market for iron was fcbably still agricultural ~ ploughs and other implements, horseshoes, wheelzims, and so cn ~ which imsewed eubeuntly, but was hardly iarge enough yet start. an industrial vansformation. Infact as we shal 1, the real Industrial Revation in ron and coal ha to wait nil the era ‘of the valway provided a mass market not only for consumer “gps bt fr capital goods, The pre-industrial domestic market, {End even the fst phe of indutialzaio, did at yet do 80 ‘oma slicent ae The mtn average ofthe prendre ket wat sterfore its gratin and steadinens, Ieay nt have promoted ‘much in the may of industrial revolution, but it endoubeedly ‘promoted economic growth, and what i more, it was always {valbe to cushion the more dynamic expr industries against ‘the sudden focuations and eallpses which were tte pice they ‘aid for their saperio dynamism. I came to thei escue nthe "os, when wat andthe American Revolution disrpted them, and probably again ae the Napoleonic Wars. Bu ore than 8Industry and Empire this, provided the broad foundations for agenralied nde conan. If England thought tomorrow’ what Manchester ‘houghtoday twas becase thereof the country wae prepared eommunist Chins, of Ahmedabad in colonial Ind 4d noc remain a moder enclave inthe general backwardness, tut became the mode fr the rest of the country. The domestic sarket may not have provided the spark, but I provided ful and suficiene draught to kep it burning. Expat industries worked in very diferent, and potentially smuch mre revolutionary condos. They factuated wildly ~ up to fy per cent na single years thatthe manufacturer ‘who could leap in fst enough to catch the expansions could take ling. tn the long run they ao expanded much more, ‘and mow rapidly, than home mare's. Between 1700 and 1750 Thome iniuties increased their output by even pe cent, export induc by seventy se pr cent, between r750and 170 (hich we may regard asthe runway for the industrial “ale-of") by “Tother seven percent and eighty pe cent respectively. Home ‘demand increased ~ but foreign demand multiplied. Ia spark was nceled, this where i ame fom. Cocton manufacture, the fst to be industrialized, was essentially ded to overeat trade. Every ounce of is ram mater ad tobe imported fom the sub- opis or wopics, ands we hall se, ts products were tobe overwhelmingly soldarond, From theendof the eighteenth ‘century twas already am industry which exported the greater ‘pat of is ttal output ~ perhaps two thirds by 185, "The reason for this extraordinary pote of expansion was that export industries did aot depend on the modest “atu” sate of prowth of any country’s sternal demand. They could ‘rete Ueilusion of apd growth two major means capturing ‘seri of other countries export markets, and destroying dom ‘Sic competion within parscula counties, chat Is by the political o somi-poieal means of war and colonization. The ‘ountry which sdceede in taking over other people's export ‘arkets oF even i monopoisng the export markets of erge [part ofthe world ina sficiently brie period of time, could ‘pad is export industries a 2 rate which made industria 6 Origin ofthe Industral Revolution revaltion nt only practiable forts entrepreneurs bat some {nes virtually compulkoy. And ths s wha Briain seceded in daing in the eighteenth century-* Yer conquering martts by war snd colonization roqured not merely an eomomy capable of expliing those markets, bt sls Tpovemment wing to wage war and colonize for the bene {fBrich manufacturers This rings ut to the thi factor in the genesis ofthe Industrial Revolution, geveramet Here the ‘vantage of Brisin over her potential competitors i quite ‘rident Unik some of them ach a France) she war prepared ‘subordinate afore pole to economic ends. Het wat aims ‘ner commercial and (what amounted to mich theme thing) suv The great Chatham gave five reasons in his enoranum Mvocting the conquest of Canad the firs four were prey conan: Unite others (such asthe Dutch), he ecomai aim ‘rere not completely dominated by commercial and financial interes, bot shaped als, nd ineressngy, by the pressure froup of manafacturerorgiall the scl important woollen fdusuy, later the rest. The sl beween industry and com tere (represented most dramatically by the East adi Com pny) was decided inthe home market by 1700, when British Produces won protection aginst Indian exe npr it was ot won inthe foreign markt uns r13, when the as India CCoospany was deprived of ts monopoly in tnd, and chat sub- tontinent opened to dsindustiizaton an the mastive import of Lancashire cations. Las, unlit al its other evs, Beth puiy inthe cightentn century wasone of systematic aggressive es most obviously agsins the chit ital, Franc. Of the five {ei was of the period, Britain was leary on the ddenive a ‘nly one | The ret of his century ointment malar wat *“klloesthacfon on dd hi es wou be viel ode sh bane for nda erin Inher oy de se ‘Sdn he aarp am rely te poe ne doe Sis ocd hl ust esa ‘Seine “tr only ne "woop of ie wr "he Sani Scene Asan Sees (139 ‘Bh ibe Seve Yar Wa (796-2) War of Aner i ‘ippe“iV and he Reveanmry aa Naat Was 9-110) ”Indusiry and Empire the greatest triumph ever achieved by any sate up to chit ‘ie! the virtual monopoly among Buropean powers of overseas tolonies, and the viral monopoly of world-wide naval power. “Moreover, wa isfy erppling Brian's major competitors in Burope ~ tendel to boost exports; peace, if anything, tended 1 alow them up. Furthermore, var — and especially that very commerily- minded and middle-class organization, the Brash Navy ~con- tebuted even mure dived) to technological innovation and indutiiation. lis demands were aot negligible the tonnage af the Navy mliplied fom about 100,00 in 1685 t0 about Sesiooo in 1760, and ts demand fr guns grew evbetanialy, ihough in les dramatic manner, War was prety ceraily the seats consumerof ron, and fms ike Wilkinson, the Walkers, ‘End the Carron Werks owed the sizeof their underkings arly to government caitacts Tor cannon, while the South Wales iron industry depended on bate. More generaly, government contracts of tote of vast quas-government bodies ike the East Tdi Compan, came in large Boks an had to beled on ine. [emis worth businsoman's while to iteduce revolutionary methods o supply them. Tie and agin we ind someinvemat ‘or entrepreneur simulated by 20 lucrative a prospect. Heary ‘Cort, who revolutonized iron manufacture, began sn the 1708 casa Novy ager, seuss to improve the quit ofthe Brisk product in conneaion with the supply of iron to the navy? “Henry Maudaly, he pioner of machine tos, begun his career {ihe Woolwich Arenal and his fortunes like those ofthe pest ‘engineer Mare Isznbard Brunel formerly ofthe French Navy) ‘remained closely tound up with naal contacts * If we ae to sam up the role of the three main sectors of demand inthe genesis of industrials, we can therefore do 0 ‘follows Expr backed bythe sjtematicand agressive help ‘f government, povided the spar, and ~ with cotton textiles the “ending seaor’ of industry. They also provided major “improvements in se transport. The home marke provided the ‘aon Burge Rem yy tp sens ee 8 Origin ofthe Industral Revolution roe bie fors generale indi ecnomyand (through the proves of rant) he ince for major amproerets in [nnd ranapre, «power base forthe cal indsty ad foe ceruin import technologie innovations. Goveraent ‘ystematcsopprt fr merchant and manufacturer, sme by no means neigh incetves fer ech ano {ato and the developmen of apt gros insti. Ite aly return to our original quests — why Bein sod ot atater country? why atthe endo” the eghceth entry andnorbelore rae “the answer caot so single By 1759 ind ther wa not mich doubt hi any ate toointheracetobe the frindurtrial power sould be Bean ‘The Datchbad rere otha cmforable lel eased buses the explo of ther vast commen ad nna appr, ad thir coloieThe Frenchy hugh expanding rs fat athe Bech (when the British dd nt prevent them by war, cou ot rein the eound they bad ot the {rat ee ofecnomi depresion, the seventh cetry. In Bosse gute they might okt the Industral Revlon tke + power of equivalent sz, but fr cpt ther trade and smautactres were even then fr bhi the ih “Oa the other hand this does nx expan why the indi twatvouph ume when taal din he ot thd or Garter ofthe eighteenth century. The prec snow to this hestion i sil uncertain, bur clea that we can find ionly By taming back othe gene Earopesno wel economy of hich Brean was spars that othe anced” ae of {tainy) Wescn Europe and thir elton rth he colonial tnd semi-colon dependent ecomomy the Paria trading [ures and the eps not set substantial need i he Esropean sytem of economic ows “The tonal pattern af Esropen expansion Meite- “don aon merchants andthe ancy Spach and Portuguese congueom, or Bl, and based ot German city sates had perished tn the gest economic Ti wid dod enn it epi cine ste cu fs weil wde ew bu tha al pate he med ee ted in hr eee »Indusry and Empire Aepresionof the sevententh century. Thenew centres of expan ‘on were the maritime states bardring the North Sea and North [Alinte. The shift was nt merely geographical, but structural ‘The new kindof relationship between the advanced” areas and the retofthe wold unite old tended constant riers ‘nd widen the flows of commerce. The powerful, proving and fodlerting cutent of overseas ade which swept the infant Industries of Europe with which in fit, sometimes actually ‘rested them ~ was hardly conceivable without this change. It ested on thee thing in Europe thers of amatket for overseas product for everyday use, whose market ould be expanded a {hy became avaible in ager quantities and more cheaply, and ‘vera the creation of economic systems or producing soch onde (ch 5, for nstance,lave-operaed plantations) and the ‘Sonus of colonies designed to serve the economic afantage oftheir European owners ‘Toilhsrate the frst ic around 1650 one third of the valve of East India goods sold ip Amsterdam consisted of pepper the typical commodity in which profits ae made by ‘comeing! 1 small supply and seling tat monopoly prices — by 1780 this ‘proportion had fallen eleven per cet. Conversely 1780 6 per cet of such sles consisted of textes, tea and cofe, ‘wherein 1690 they had only amounted to 17.5 per cent. Sug, tex cafe, tobacco and similar products rather than gold and spies were now the characterise imports from the opie, a thet nen, ron, hemp and Umber were those fom the east of rope, and not fre The second fas can be ustrated bythe ‘expansion of thit most inhuman taf, the slave wade In the ‘Sxteenth century fener than has malion Negroes were tans fered from Ac othe American the seventeenth perhaps 15 milons ~ mainly in the second halo i exer, 1 the Brain plantations whichantipated the ater colonial pater; in the eghtenth century perhaps seven milions.* The third fact hardy requires iluration. In 1630 nether Briain nor France had moch in the way’ of empires and much ofthe ol Spanish and Porriguese empires layin ruins, or consisted of ‘the ents ry, bt at the oder of magia » Origin of the Industrial Revolution mere outings ona world map, The eighteenth entry saw not (merely revival ofthe older empires (or exemple in Brasil and ‘Mies, but the expansion and exploitation of new ones = frist, French, aot o mention now forgotten esays by Danes, Swedes and others. Whats ore, the sher sizeof these empires fs eoonomies incresed vay. In 1701 the frure USA had fever than 300,000 inhabitants, in 1790 almost four millions, fn even Cana grew from 14,0 in 1695 t0 almost hall lio in 820. “And as he network of international ade grew tighter, so did the le of such overseas trade in the commeroe of Europe, In 16 the East India trade amounted to perhap eight pe cent of the total foreign commerce ofthe Dutch, but nthe second half ofthe eighteenth century to something like one quar, and the olution of French trade was similar. The British eid on Calon rae cri. Around 1700itamounted already often percent of our commerce ~ but by 1775 to as mucha third. ‘The genera expansion of trang i the eghtenth century was impresive enough, in almost all countries, but the expansion of trade conneced with the colonial sstem was stupendous. To fake single cumple: after the War ofthe Spanish Succession terween evo and thre thousand tons of British ships cleared Ffom Fngand every year fr Altice, manly assert he Seven Years War betwen fifeen and nineteen thousands afte the Atserican War af Independence 17) wenty-tw howsand "This vast and growing circulation of gos didnot mee} ‘ying to Europe new needs and the simulus to manvfacire foreign imports a home. “if Saxony and other counties of Europe take up fine China, wrote the Abbe Rayna in 17764 “i Vasencin manufactures Pens superior to those of Ching ‘Spizerand imitates the musing and worked alone of Benga ‘England and Franc print linens with qret elegance if 50 ‘many stu, formerly unkown in ou imats, now employ or tistarss ae wenotindebted to Indiaforallthere advantages ‘More than ths, provided s imiess horizn of sales and profit Wit on yes be oul nt be fled to mention te mot ssc iar fhe Inn, Manche 3Industry and Empire for machant and manufacturer. And it was the Britsh who — ‘By ther policy and force as muchas by their enterprise and vente sill aptred these makes ‘chad our Indartril Revolton theres ths concentration ‘on the clonal and "underdeveloped markets overex, the su ‘culate to deny them tosnyone else. We defeated ther in ‘he Ear: in 766 e already outsold even the Dutch nthe China ‘rade, We dfeted them inthe Westby the ely 1780s more ‘han ofl saes exported for Africa (and alot twice a ‘many ss those cared by the French) made profits for Brith ‘Shivers And we di ofr the Denti of Brits gods. For same ‘hice decades after the War ofthe Spanish Succession British ‘hips tound for Arcs sil cared mainly foreign inching Inia) goods from shorty aftr the War ofthe Ausrian Suc- ‘essonthey cared overwhelmingly Bish ones, Ourindustial ‘scan grew out four commerce and especially ourcommerce ‘ith the underdeveloped world. And troughout the nineteenth Sentra to resin thi pecli itr pattern-commece find shipping maintained our balance of payments and the ‘¢kchange of overseas primary products fr British manufactures twas to 2 the foundation of ou international econo. ‘Whilethestream of nternaionalerchangessweled sometime inthe cond third of heighten century a general quickening tf the fomestc economics became naicenbe. This was not 3 ‘cially British phenomenon, but one which ocerred very fencaly, and i eistered in the movernents of pies (which {gan along period of slow inflaton ater cenary of fuctunting and inlterminate movement), what litle we know about opulron, production and mater ways. The Industial Revel {ion war generated in these decades ~ aftr the 1705, when {hismasivebutslow growth inthe domestic economiestombined wit the rapid ~ after 1950 extremely rapid ~ expansion of the Interainal economy; and i occured in de couery which ‘ined intemtional opportunites corner amar share of. the overseas marke Origin ofthe industrial Revolution Notes Bt tn eee sei eo etc Ruane rhc ese Pare eer acamchieaeas pene emai Lee or mance ee eee aera eee ee aero Eeemaaeenaeene ns Miomagesccms eagerly to, 1283-1914 98) sod F Count, Bria Aceon Compare Ea oil ea Sos pean oer os Sion he ern ee Eater i i i ; i 1 : } 5 Sant Se, uri Big. 4 4 AE Raya i Ppt nd Plt Hay of he Sten sada eg he a Wt A,3 ‘THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1780-1840" ‘Wot en sas Industrial Revolution sayscaten When we think fit we eek the contemporary foreign vistors England, the ne and revoltonary ity of Mancheser, which muliplied {enfeld in sce between 1760 and 1830 (Fom 7.0000 186000 Inhabitants) where we ower hundreds of ve andsix stored {actrieseach witha wmering chimney by is le, which exales ‘lack col vapor’ which proverbilly thought today what Eng- lund would think tomorrow, and gave its nam to the schol of Tera economis tha dominated the word And thee cn Be no doubt that this pecepetve i ight The Bish Industrial Revolution was by no means only cotton, or Lancashire or even textes, and aton lot its primacy within iar coupe of tencratons, Yet cotton was the pacemaker of dus change, fd the bse ofthe st reins which could not have existed tut for indusaleation, and which expres new form of city, ndstrial captain, based on new for of production, the "factory Other towns were stoky and fled with team= engines in tBg0, though nt to anything ike the same extent a the coton towne ~ in 1838 Manchester and Salford posesed most hrc times as much steampower as Bingham ~ but they mere not towns dominated by factors until the second Ilo the century, fdhen- Other industrial repons possessed large-scale enterprises operated by proletarian masses and su founded by impresive machine, ike cot mines and ion ‘works, but ther oflen isolated r rural loeatin, the waitonal bhckground oftheir abour force and its diferent social environ ‘ment made them somehow les typical ofthe new er, except in their capacity to transform buildings and lmscopes into an “he repens pops of he tw ran azein et mee sou sound theta u The Industrial Revolution 178-1840 red scene of fire, sg and iron structures. The miners tree and have largey remained ~ villagers and their ways of Ifeandstrugle were strange othe non-miners with whom they ad ile contact The iom-masere mig, ie the Crawahays tf Gyartha, demand ~and often reccve~policalloyly fom ‘thei? men which recalls the relation erween squire and the farming population rather than between industal employers nd the operatives. The new word of industrials in ts ost ‘vious form was not to be seen there, bur in and around Manchester. The eaten manufacrure was a typical by-product of that aceclesatingcoren of merational and especially colonial con mere thou which, We ave seen, the Indust Revolution ‘nna be expluned: ks x materia fst used in Europe mixed tithe to produce a cheaper version ofthat texte (asta), tra almost entirely clonal. The only pure cotton industry Known to Europe in the ea cightenth century was that of India, whose products (calicoes) the Easter trading companies tok! abroad and at home, where they were biel opposed by the domestic manufarures of woo, linen nd sik. The English toolen industry succeeded in 1700 in banning thelr iopor ‘Mopeber, ths acientaly succeeding in giving the domessic foxton manficrares ofthe frre something ite» fee ran of the home market. They were a yet too Backward to supply i ‘hough the fist form of the modern eoton indus, calico” Printing, esublithed self a 3 partial import substation fn ‘cer European countries. Modest oeal manufacturers stab Ted themacles in the hinterland of the great clonal and save tading ports, Besta and even more Glasgow and Liver pu though the new indutry was finaly localized near the lst ffthese For the hare market t produced a sbsitate fr nen ‘oe woa and silk hairy forthe foreign market, mfr ait, 2 subsiue forthe superar Indian goods, parieaaly when ‘vaso other rises temporarily draped the Indian supply to apo marke Unt 730 over ninety percent of Brith cotton exports went to colonial markets in thi way, mainly to Afric. ‘The vas expansion of exports ater 1750 pave the industry He 8Industry and Empire Impetus between then and 1770 cotton exports multiplied tn thus acquire its characteristic Hink withthe under deycoped world, which ie retained and strengthened through fl te various flictatons of forte. The save plantations of ‘he Wes Indies provided ts raw material unin the 17908 ‘ aouired sew and virually unlimited source in the slave ‘plantons of the southern USA, which therefore became in ‘hernin dependent economy of Lancashire. The most moder ‘ent of production thus preserved and extended he most ‘Prive frmofexplaton From ime to te theindustey had {ofall back on the Beth domestic marke, where itinereasingly ‘Sebuttted for linen, bu from the 17908 on always exported ‘the eater prt ofits ouput towards the end ofthe nineteenth ‘entry something like ninety per ent of it. Cotton was and femaned een an export industry. From tne tome i broke into the rewarding markets of Europe andthe USA but tras and the rise of mative competition, pot a brake on Such “Cepasion andthe industry returned, ie and spain, some ‘ld ar new reson ofthe undeveloped world. After the mide tthe mieten centary i found its staple olen nda and the Far Eas. The Brith cotton industry was crtaily is timethe best in the world, but itendedasithad begun by relying ‘not on ity competitive soprirty but on a monopoly of the Calor and underdeveloed markets which the Banh Empize, the Unies Navy and Beth commercial supremacy gave 1 ‘dye were numbered afer the Fst World Wa, when the Indians, (Chins and Japanese manuictred or even exported ther ov ‘cotn goods and could no longer be prevented from doing 50 by Bish poieal interference [Av every sshookhld knows, the technical problem which en So persistently, profoundly, and often ‘desperately dissatisfied. Ato other period since the seventeenth ceary can We speak of large masses of them 2 revolutionary, for dncern a leas ne moment of pial ess (oxween 1830 nd the Reform Actef 1832} when somethinglikea evolutionary stration might actully have developed. Some historas have {redo explain this dscoatent ay, by arguing thatthe workers Condition fife excep fora depested minors) were merely improving les fast than the golden prospects which industrials fd led them to antspate. But the revoition of rising expec tans i more friar in books than in reality. We have yet to se many examples of peoples ready to movie the Barcades ‘ees they have ot yet been able to advance from owning ‘cyl to automobiles (houghtheyaremoreliely tobe militant ‘jonce used to bieyces, they became too impoverished to aford hem). Oters have irgued, more convincingly, that discontent rose simply out of he dificult of adapting to a new typeof ‘sce Buteven the a the records of migration othe USA Should make clea ~ require an unusual amount of economic Ihardship to make men fe that they ae paning nothing io ‘xchange foe what try ve up. Such dsontent st was endemic fn Brin in these ccades cannot exit without hopelessness fd hunger. There was enough of both, “The poverty af the Bish nas in elf 2n important fctor in ‘he economi diftulies of eaptais, fo it placed narrow lis ‘upon the size and expansion of the home market for Bitsh roduc. Ths obrous when we contrast the sharply rising ”Industry and Empire ‘per capita consumption of some goods of general use afer the jor (Guring the “golden year of the Victorians) with the ‘tugnaton ntheirconsumpiion eer. Ths he average Bion tetwoan rs andy consumed les than 20 Tb of supa pet year in the ios and earl ores nearer 16-17 Tb; Buin he en yar ater his eonsumption ae to 3410.3 Jenin he {hit yatsfter 1844405310, and bythe 1Bgoshe used betwee 4o and qo Ib. However, nether the economic theory nor the economic practice ofthe carly Industral Revolution relied 08 (he purchering power ofthe lbouring popalstion, how wer, itiwas generally asumed, would not be far moved fom he fulstence level When by any chance some section of them ‘ined enough to spend their money onthe ame sorts of goats ‘their beter’ asbuppened from ume time daring economic toons), middle-clae opinion deplored or ridiculed such pe sumpeuous lack of thnfe ‘The economic edvanages of gh ‘wags, whecerasinentvestohigherproductiityorsadditions Purchasng-power, mere not discovered unt after the middle the century, and then ony by a minrity of advanced ad lightened ezployer ike the ralmay contractor Thomas Brae fey. twas ot unt 1869 that Jon Stuart Mil the gunrdian 9 ‘conomicorthodony, abandoned the theory ofthe Wages Fun’, that of what amounted toa subsistence theory of wages ‘Convers, both ecnomic theory and economic practice stresed the eral importance of eaptal accumulation by the ‘pitas thats ofthe maximum rate ofprofcand the maximum, “iverson of income from the (no accumulating) workers oe ‘employers Profs werewhstmadethe economy workandexpand by reinvent They must therefore be expandel a al cos. ‘This view rested on two asumpions: that industrial progres required heyy investment and that isufcene savings wee tvalable for it without holding down the incomes of the nor ‘apitalist master ‘The fit of thew as truer inthe lag eu than in the shor The ely phases ofthe Industrial Revolution (cay 1y8o-r) were, at we have seen, limited and reaivey some economists, hone, shoved sigs of isso wit is tery bem ie he = The Industrial Revolution 1780-1840 cheap, Gros capital formation may have amounted t0 no more {hinteven pe eet the tonal income by the early nineteenth ‘Shtury, whichis below the rate of ten percent which some ‘Gonomists ave tiken as essential for industiaization toda, Sind far below the rates of upto thirty per cent which have incr encountered in rapid industializatons of emerpng, or the ‘oderizstin of advanced, countries. Notun the 18} and 1S di gros capital formation in Britain pas the ten pr cent thresbold, and by then the ae of (heap industralzation based ‘such things a textes was giving way tothe age of ray, Sh iron and sel The second aseumption tha wages must be Ieptlow was altogether wrong, bathad some plausibly inal, ‘zac the weitist ces and greatest potential investors in {hisperiod~thegreatlandlords, mereantlesnd nancial interests. ANd ot invest to any substantial extent nthe new industries, ‘Grton masters and other budding induct were therefore fet sorape together lle nial capital and expand by ‘ploughing back their profs, not Because there mas an absolute ‘ail shortage, bu simply Because they ad lle acest the ‘igroney, By the 1830s, once agin, there wasno capital shortage snyahere* Two things therefore word the ealy-ninetenth-century tbuinenmen and economists the rate of thir prot and the ‘ate of expension of her markets, Both gave cause for eoncern, {hough we are toda inclined to pay more attention tothe second than the Birt With ndusrileation, production mulled and the pies of the Gnished goods fell dramatically. (Given the ‘cute competition between small nd medium-sized produces, they could rary be kept up arial by cartel or simi ‘srangemens t0 ft pices or restit output) The costs of ‘rodcton didnot and mostly could ot, be reduced at the ime tte, When the ener] economic climate changed fom Peni ny en ih apnea ‘url scene to brpesoe podatve eveemen her 8 ‘Sty can ao the ures al ping and et app 8Indusry and Empire ‘one of ang-trm ination of prices o ome of deflation after the ‘end ofthe wars, the pressure on proSmargins created, for Under inflaton pois enjoy an extra Boost” and under delon light lag Coton was acutely aware ofthis compression ots profiat ‘Margi fr her Year Raw mates Sling eat “estan profir 18a van tard ie ib ‘med ™ tia ni, eo Or course 3 hundred times 4. amounted vo more money than 4 single nin shilings, bot what the rat of pro ell 0 270, ‘ha bringing the vencleof economic expansion toa top through fare ofits engine and creating that stationary state’ which {he economists dreaded? ‘Given a rapid expansion of mares, the prospect strikes us 2 wea, a indeed it incessingy (perhaps rom the 1830s) id the economist But markets werent expanding fast enough absorb production a the rate of growth to which the economy Id gor sed. At ome, as we can see, they were agg and probably became even more sags in the hungzy thirties and ‘rly fortes. Abroad the developing countries were unwiling ‘port British textiles and British proteonsm made them renless willing), and the undeveloped ones,on which the cotton “industry relied, were simply not big enouzh, or didnot expand fas enough a markets to abeorb Brith ouput. kn the post [Napoleonic decades the figures ofthe balance of payments how usthe extraordinary spectacle ofthe ony industrial ennomy i the world andthe ony serious exporter of manufactured goods ‘unable to maintain an export surplus ints commodity tae (sce (Chapter). Alter 1836 indeed the country ad deficit ot oly ince wags nd te ein res, an in any ate he ree en ods te ld ede 0 ehh hn ha ben ale, Sey ner reduce * The Industrial Revolution 178-1840 otra butaleoonitsser vices shipping nsurance commision, on foreign ade and banking, and soon)" No period of Brits history hasbeen as tense, as polly nd silly dntwbed, 28 the 18305 and erly 184os, whe Both the working ess and the middle cls, separately orf Conjunction, deminded what they regarded a5 fundamen ‘Shangcs rom 829101832 ther discontensfusedin the demand or Pariamentary Reform, bdhind which the mases threw ther ‘ntsand demonstrations, the businessmen the power of ennai oven, After 182, when several of the demands of the middle lusradils ner it the workers movement fought and led Sle From the cris 1857 on, midle-cas aptation revived finder the tanner ofthe Ant-Corn-Law League, that ofthe [bbouring masecs rosdened out imo che giant movement forthe Peopl's Charter, though th wo now ran independently of nd fn opposition to ech oer. Yerba in thei val ways were repre for extremes especial during the wort of nineteenth ‘entry depressor, 1841~2; Charts fora general tke, the (idle las extremists fora national lek-ot which would, by Foding the streets wih starving bourers, force the overanent fio action Mich of thi tension of the period fom 1829 © 1846 was doe to ths combination of working clases despairing etre they had not enough to catand manufeturersdespaiing ‘ecte they gency believed the prevaing politica and fscd aragements to besowlythroting the economy. And whey had ‘use for slam, In the iByoe even the crudst accountant ‘ier of economic proses, real income per head (which fst not be cond with the average standard of Kivi), ‘cull and forthe rst ime sine 1700 —aling I nothing ‘eas done, would wot the capitalist economy break down? And Aight not ax observers creasingly bean to fear around 1 allover Europe, te impoverabed,dirinherited maxes of the [Sbouring por teat? Ae Mars and Engels rightly pointed ou, in the t8gos the secre of communism haunted Europe. Ie {To be mie pri, thi lin mash epi in 8 te gts, tndnepe asin tal be qneeania om 836 Sie 8Industry and Empire was relatively less feared in Britain, the spectre of economic ‘reakdown was equally appaling tothe mie clas. 1 Sep Fortier Reinga Noe to Chap 59.33. P Matos, The kal oon he 0h Cary aS. Ac, The tndra Resa bt ry har Pore & Waitarhand ft Man The Con Tae nd dria anche (gsi tne bt ends in tia N Ste, Sol Cane se bail Rito (959 tay tet cto, eo ‘Semi On eneprse and eager he ors Sel ‘Stu Loft Bes, eral Bape onthe ay on, Mare’ Cpt rman nape A Redo ate Nason ‘aga foo Se (va aS. Polar The Cee of Men Meet Siero ae saat ve neo ey) Wl 2, ‘Bon, sy of the Br of Buy (4 1: F Hina, changer te 2 Hare He Canon und Siete der cree eC goed) Rea ‘Mere Ur, be Picsophy of Mantes (839), ipl sh oa en. 6 SG" Chin, The fof Indl Say Baad (8), fen Hn GM a Bt 1 TE he soe Tae of Get Bain (885). 64, * 4 THE HUMAN RESULTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1750-1850! Anrrigueric was th fundamental too ofthe Tndusial Revel. ftom ts makers saw i a serge of sums of adcion and ‘Rlvracton the diferencein cot bewecn buying inthe cheapest tuaket and selling in the ders, between cist of production Gnd le price, berween investment and return. For Jeremy Bentham sd his fallowers, the most consistent champions af this type of ronal, even morals and plies came under these simple calculations. Happines wat the objet of pai Every man's plese could be expe (tla in their) 38 | quantity and so could his pain. Deduct the pin from the plsroreand the net rel was hisheppines Add:hehsppinescs ‘ofall men and deduct the unhappiness, and that government ‘nhich secured the greatest happnes ofthe retest number was ‘he best. The seoamtaney of humanity would produits debit and credit alinees, ike that of busines.* “The discos ofthe human results ofthe Industral Revol ‘ton has not enelyemancpsed self fom this primitive ‘sppreach. We still tend to askoorsciver id mae pepe eter or worse of, and iso by how mock? To be more prec, sneak ourseives what quanti of parchasing power o onde, Services, and so on, that money can buy it ge 1 how many Indivdaals, assuming thatthe woman with a wasing machine willbe beter off tan the one without whichis reasoble) bt Aso () that pivte happiness consis in an accumulation of ‘ich things a consumer gods and (3) that public happiness “fie str pi mutha cg ay nsdn 9 tees pnt qe orev that fa fen pond ‘pi ete Bote bass aIndustry and Empire canis in the rent such aecurulation by the greatest number ot individuls (which i 0. Such questions ae important bet sso misleading’ Whether the Industrial Rercluton gave mo Britons absolutely or relatively more and etter food, cloths aa housing is nanrally of interest wo every histori Butte til nis nc oft pola i he fngets that wat not merely process of addon and subuatin, but a fndamenal scl hange It tanaorsed the lives of men beyond recogni, Ot tobe more exc, ais inital stages st destroyed the old waye oF ving ad let tem fe to discover or make for themselves few ones if they could and knew how. But i rarely cold them how to st about “There i inded relation between the Industral Revolution 24 3 provider of furs and 352 socal transformer. Those tlass whose lives were last transformed were abo, normaly, ‘hose which beneivd most obviously in materia ters (and ee ‘ers and thee failure o grasp what was oubling the resto to do anything effective about twas dae ot oa to materi ‘butalio to moral cntentment. Nobody is more complacent tha 1 welbofor uccenfl man who sso a eae in a word which ‘Sams to have ber constructed pecs with person ike him nin. “The Binh arsbcracy and gentry were thus ery lish acted bby industriliztion, excep forthe beter. Their rents swelled withthe demand fe frm produce, the expansion of eis (whos: Sil they owned) and of ine, forgs and alway (which were ‘Shuaed on thee eats) And even when times were Bad fo ‘agricultural as betneen 183s and the {83am they were unlike ‘tobe reduced to penny, Thee soil predorinance remained ‘untouched, ther goliteal power inthe countryside complete, ‘and even in the maon not seriously troubled, though from th 1830 they had to onder the socepbiiies OF powefl nd ‘btn provincial middle cas of businessmen. Ie may well be "hat afer 1839 loads began to appear on the pure sky of eh gentlemanly lif, tut even they looked larger and darker than ‘hey were only tease the fit Sy years of indusrairason had been s golden an ea for the landed and ted Briton. I shecightenth century was lotus age or arslocac, the ert 8 ‘The Human Recut: Industral Revolution 1750-1850 re 1 (regent sd kn) we padi. Th pst he meen fhuntg on al rea Snap) ips) cars es Tor pe Seely args nd epee whe had See cqsrtei 2 Cio parvo coed tee Fe clan nd coal coy hue mpd, Pe oy tne lets zy te Coan i tena, le her mol yer were aey Ses she budnes mene oi de Sc ge of Seer scomaing ome pond mpi Speen ans pos hy aed oe te of Sie epee, Gee tee ene om een th ecard canny wih in Tey ot Sep ee tv yal lng eed oe. A SS elt or rad ed Borne tends ntos pops tne ae See coc remade grt heme nel 3 tg tsi ping ae me Fag aoe onion Tac an res werk eof he momo pars ofan st ph and ov re Sod Picea wel eines tantly Bi pny dhe a enero he Imi keolwon tes nese p= set Ge aor peban ed of got a, Soe ety aol pti Wt ke to ee Sencha Coma enone ued eth Si heute of nae bes dpe sayy ser nica" Chace Eats nee ced 0, Stee! iy tc cons Se pies and hese oa Sree song prog ter corpaon tacked wt fs cnr hey aan pte Teas Fea posed ree ee armel nd wap I Onc sane pn: poy rhe spa nthe Seach Nelene Wons aerehchstew meres fiom nts fe ut ake ce coy {Sg rt sd ter From he goo hag Sn eh nceh omy nance or 2Industry and Empire savageand cortempruous, but not notably eecive, tacks upon them by outers, of which Charles Dickens mores are the ‘most fui ssarple) But the rexpecable Victri crgy of ‘rollop’s Barchster, though very far for the Hoarthian nein pasin/tmagitates ofthe Regency, were the prot ofa carefully moderate adjustment, no of disruption, Nobody vraastender the suscepubiies of wesversand far labourers {rf parons nd dons, when it eame to intreducng them ino ‘new word ‘One imporunt eet ofthis continuity ~ part rection of the esabsted power of the old upper clas pat deliberate ‘unilingnes to exacerbate political tensions among the men of ‘money or infuse —was atthe rising ne basins cae ound {frm patert of life waiting for them Soca brought m0 ‘certainty, Se lng ast was great enough to it x man into the ranks ofthe upper clas. He would become a gentleman ‘outs witha couizy hous, perhaps eventually knighthood ‘or peerage, a set in Palament for himself or his Oxbridge ‘educated son, and a lear and prescribed socal rob. His mie trould becomes ad instructed inher dates by « multe ‘ot handbooks of etiguete which sid of the press from the 1808 on. The alder brand of businesman had long bencted from this process of assimilation, above all the mart and financier ~ especially the merchant involved in overseas tid, who remained che most respected and most crcl form of ‘aueprencurlbagatter thems, tories and founds covered {he northem ies with smoke and fog, Probably ts type of business, concsntrated in London and dexrbed asthe iy oninucd to generate the greatest accumulations of enrepre neural wealth uni the end of the nineteenth centry. For the merchant the Industrial Revoltion Brough no make rnsfr~ mations, excert perhaps inthe commodities which be bought Ad sold, Indeed, as we have ssen it inserted ited into the Powerful, world-wide and prosper framework of trading ‘Which was the bass of Bish eghtenth-century power. Ean ‘icy and cially ther scivites and satis were fli, ‘Shatever the rung on the ladder of succes which dey had imted. By the Industrial Revolution the descendants of Ab fo The Human Reals: Industrial Revolution 1750-1850 Sith barker of Notingham, wee aeady established in ‘Sin st sting in Paramentandintermared with he ‘tay agh ote, ehr, withryay The Gos had ‘Frou moved up rom dy aking busine in Haton Garden ys siar ps, the Bars tad expanded frm the West ‘Coun ching nnutcrre sno hat was som 0 Become power in noun tae nd ance, snd ther socal Feirt tp tep mh cc cease Peep were arexdy ‘Siiced or und the comer. Nothing was more naar an ‘Sate "ype of businessmen ~ lke Rober Pel Sen the ‘Srton maser shuld lib thse slope of wealth and poli nour a the peak of which there beckoned goverment, tren (ofr Pets som andthe so of Gladstone Liverpool Sec) the post of rine Miniter Indeed the sald ‘Peale apn Punmentin these third of inctenth “ovary rejeented very much his group of basins fai ‘Smlsted ino landed oir, hough aod wih when ‘Seco inetd nd ech. ee apni sh roca lac i by df itn kate ely fr s nerty = th ate he ‘repoaly rc or one In Boies which had soquzed epestbliycrcogh aden Th ret mas a, ing {orm moder though racy rom realy poverty, bei tinge alc theeven rete mal thn pressing Tat them oot of th boring pre nn the ile cae Stren punro tobe seer and ine ety age oF ‘rer progres unconcerned aout abortion (osgh the ives Init ots fel les neutral in the ter). They recognized ‘enerestoceningy andar yo geeraly~ar aide ‘os nd ot rely 4 idle an’ in soci They cme igh nd power ax sch. Merconer ~ cpecaly when, a0 ‘ten, they came fom non-Anglan stick, and fom repos Ticking «oi wit wadtional structure ~ they di no ‘ost enna atacment tthe od regime, Such mee the Pils oft Anc-Cors Law ap rote nthe new bois MordefMincheer- Henry Ashworth, Joba Bright Roche he frit, rai ade a cera ind of inary ad nt a