requires. It happens, however, that the
goodness of the fleece depends, in great
measure, upon the health, growth, and bulk
of the animal: the same attention which is
necessary for the improvement of the carcase
is, in some respect, sufficient for that of the
fleece. Notwithstanding the degradation of
price, English wool is said to have been improved
considerably during the course even
of the present century. The improvement,
might, perhaps, have been greater if the price
had been better; but the lowness of price,
though it may have obstructed, yet certainly
it has not altogether prevented that improvement.
The violence of these regulations, therefore,
seems to have affected neither the quantity
nor the quality of the annual produce of wool,
so much as it might have been expected to do
(though I think it probable that it may have
affected the latter a good deal more than the
former); and the interest of the growers of
wool, though it must have been hurt in some
degree, seems upon the whole, to have been
much less hurt than could well have been
imagined.
These considerations, however, will not
justify the absolute prohibition of the exportation
of wool; but they will fully justify the
imposition of a considerable tax upon that exportation.
To hurt, in any degree, the interest of any
one order of citizens, for no other purpose
but to promote that of some other, is evidently
contrary to that justice and equality of treatment
which the sovereign owes to all the different
orders of his subjects. But the prohibition
certainly hurts, in some degree, the
interest of the growers of wool, for no other
purpose but to promote that of the manufacturers.
Every different order of citizens is bound to
contribute to the support of the sovereign or
commonwealth. A tax of five, or even of ten
shillings, upon the exportation of every tod
of wool, would produce a very considerable
revenue to the sovereign. It would hurt the
interest of the growers somewhat less than
the prohibition, because it would not probably
lower the price of wool quite so much. It
would afford a sufficient advantage to the
manufacturer, because, though he might not
buy his wool altogether so cheap as under the
prohibition, he would still buy it at least five
or ten shillings cheaper than any foreign
manufacturer could buy it, besides saving the
freight and insurance which the other would
be obliged to pay. It is scarce possible to
devise a tax which could produce any considerable
revenue to the sovereign, and at the
same time occasion so little inconveniency to
any body.
The prohibition, notwithstanding all the
penalties which guard it, does not prevent the
exportation of wool. It is exported, it is well
known, in great quantities. The great difference
between the price in the home and
that in the foreign market, presents such a
temptation to smuggling, that all the rigour of
the law cannot prevent it. This illegal exportation
is advantageous to nobody but the
smuggler. A legal exportation, subject to a
tax, by affording a revenue to the sovereign,
and thereby saving the imposition of some
other, perhaps more burdensome and inconvenient
taxes, might prove advantageous to all
the different subjects of the state.
The exportation of fuller's earth, or fuller's
clay, supposed to be necessary for preparing
and cleansing the woollen manufactures, has
been subjected to nearly the same penalties as
the exportation of wool. Even tobacco-pipe
clay, though acknowledged to be different
from fuller's clay, yet, on account of their
resemblance, and because fuller's clay might
sometimes be exported as tobacco-pipe clay,
has been laid under the same prohibitions and
penalties.
By the 13th and 14th of Charles II. chap.
7, the exportation, not only of raw hides,
but of tanned leather, except in the shape of
boots, shoes, or slippers, was prohibited; and
the law gave a monopoly to our boot-makers
and shoe-makers, not only against our graziers,
but against our tanners. By subsequent
statutes, our tanners have got themselves
exempted from this monopoly, upon
paying a small tax of only one shilling on the
hundred weight of tanned leather, weighing
one hundred and twelve pounds. They have
obtained likewise the drawback of two-thirds
of the excise duties imposed upon their commodity,
even when exported without further
manufacture. All manufactures of leather
may be exported duty free; and the exporter
is besides entitled to the drawback of the
whole duties of excise. Our graziers still
continue subject to the old monopoly. Graziers,
separated from one another, and dispersed
through all the different corners of the
country, cannot, without great difficulty,
combine together for the purpose either of
imposing monopolies upon their fellow-citizens,
or of exempting themselves from such
as may have been imposed upon them by
other people. Manufacturers of all kinds,
collected together in numerous bodies in all
great cities, easily can. Even the horns of
cattle are prohibited to be exported; and the
two insignificant trades of the horner and
comb-maker enjoy, in this respect, a monopoly
against the graziers.
Restraints, either by prohibitions, or by
taxes, upon the exportation of goods which
are partially, but not completely manufactured,
are not peculiar to the manufacture of
leather. As long as any thing remains to be
done, in order to fit any commodity for immediate
use and consumption, our manufacturers
think that they themselves ought to