Note 20 — Chapter III

The Times concludes a recent article upon our exports with the following valuable words of advice and of admonition. “To maintain our trade we must zealously maintain our industry. We undertake, it may be almost said, to clothe the world; our exports represent, in the main, cotton, linen, woollen, and worsted manufactures; our imports are the raw materials required for this industry, and the food to sustain us in the work. What other countries grow we make up for use, taking at the same time the abundance of their harvests, to compensate the deficiency of our own. That, in a few words, is a summary of our national trade. We are keeping our position pretty well, but it should not be forgotten that our rivals are now more numerous, more energetic, and more confident than in former times, and that we must prepare ourselves for a competition far more severe than any we have hitherto experienced.”