confine our business to exporting only those ar-
ticles which will afford the usual profits, after the
premium is paid."
Heins sighed deeply at the prospect of his
grand schemes remaining in abeyance at the
very time that he fancied he should be making
all Amsterdam stare at the magnificence of his
importations. The cool, sagacious Vanderput
rebuked the sigh.
" You must have known," he said, " that
things would take this turn. If it answered well
to us to import largely while bills were cheap,
it must have answered in the same wav to others ;
and the extent to which importation was conse-
quently carried, must turn the balance, rendering
it necessary for us to pay our excess of debt
either by sending metal money, or by bidding
against one another for bills. You must be
quite as certain that the balance will turn again
when these busy exporters have brought down
bills to a discount in our exchange market."
" Hear, all ye rulers who tremble on your
130 NEWS AT HOME.
thrones when the balance is not even!" cried
Visscher. " All ye rulers, from the Keiser of
the Russias to the worshipful burgomasters of
Amsterdam !"
" Neither the Keiser you speak of, nor our
burgomasters entertain the horror you suppose,"
observed Vanderput. "They leave it to the legis-
lators of Great Britain, France/ and Spain to
dread that either scale of a self-rectifying balance
can kick the beam. They leave it to the children
of their nation to be particularly happy when the
exports of their merchants exceed the imports ;
— happy because they suppose the money owing
to the country to be so much additional wealth ;
so much pure gain. The Russian Keiser knows
too well the toil and outlay by which his sub-
jects prepare their tallow and hides, to suppose
that the money they fetch from abroad is more
than an adequate exchange. He knows the
wants of his people too well not to think that
the commodities which are brought them from
other countries are not worth more to them than
any money that ever was coined. The reason
why he is anxious to improve the commerce of
his empire is, that its inhabitants may gather
more and more wealth from abroad ; and he
looks on exportation only as a means to import-
ation, as the desirable end."
Heins was somewhat surprised at the confi-
dence with which his partner spoke of the views
of the mighty Keiser of a distant empire. Before
he had time to ask whence he derived his in-
formation, Vanderput gravely turned to his me-
lancholy partner, and told him that he wished,
NEWS AT HOME. 131
from his heart, that nothing worse betided Heins's
fortunes than the temporary 'slackening of his
trade. It was a pity that he had so trifled with
his private funds as to indorse the bills drawn
by Slyk, Geysbuk, and Cats on each other. Slyk,
as he perceived, was gone ; Geysbuk had failed ;
and as for Cats, — he had been made a mere
tool. One or two careless indorsers, besides
Heins, had become liable for the amounts of
bills ; and the banks which had been taken into
the circle, had also suffered ; but the largest bills
had been indorsed first by Heins, who must now
suffer severely for his credulity and carelessness.
Vanderput was probably of opinion that evil
tidings are most easily borne when they come all
at once ; for he proceeded to say that as it was
impossible for him, one of the head merchants
of Amsterdam, to remain in connexion with a
man who would be presently known as having
been made the dupe of a swindler, through his
own spirit of speculation, the firm of Vanderput
and Snoek must be dissolved at the earliest prac-
ticable term. The want of confidence, he added,
of which Heins had been guilty in entering into
extensive schemes without the slightest hint to
the partner of his father, and the steady friend
of his family, would have constituted a sufficient
reason for dissolving partnership, if the specula-
tion had issued in complete success.
Heins began by making light of the matter,
and proving how rich he should remain, even if
all the claims of Slvk's creditors were established
against him ; but when it appeared that Vander-
132 NEWS AT HOME.
put was far from disputing Lis wealth, but only
thought that it did not affect the question, he
became desperate, and stormed more like an
Italian than a Dutchman, as the travelled bill-
broker declared. When Heins perceived, how-
ever, that his threats fell powerless on the imper-
turbable Vanderput, he assumed a more imposing
mood, and dropped grand hints, as he left the
apartment (which he threatened never tore-enter),
of the mighty things that he would do when re-
leased from the thraldom of a partnership which
had never accorded with his commercial prin-
ciples any more than with his tastes.
Chapter IX.
CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY.
Gertrude had long ago told Christian that he
must visit Saardam again, some day, and see
Master Peter. Christian was as little disposed
to forget Gertrude's promises as Gertrude herself ;
and lie repeatedly reminded her of this one. The
invitation to Saardam was renewed with all ear-
nestness, but Gertrude would now no longer an-
swer for Master Peter being visible there. She
would not say that he was gone ; but neither
would she engage that Christian should ever see
him again : and her reserve on the subject per-
plexed her little friend. He found he must wait
for light upon the matter till he reached Saardam ;
if that day should ever come.
CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY. 133
That day came ; and the drooping, worn-out
hoy found himself, after much toil and many
restings hy the way, once more placed within
view of his favourite prospect, with the beams of
the declining sun glistering on the heaving sur-
face of the sound, and the nearer dock-yards
chequered with long shadows from the timber-
stacks and half-built vessels. It did not diminish
the interest of the view that about a furl on s: of
the dyke came within its range, with its trains of
passengers hastening to and fro, and all the bustle
taking place upon it which Luc and Roselyn
thought much better worth attending to than
the regular labours of the dock-yard. Christian
cast an occasional glance that way while the
children were looking out, the afternoon after
the arrival of Gertrude and Christian from the
north. The rest of the party had been settled
some days ; but Christian and his nurse had
stopped to rest at the abode of the good dame
who had offered her hospitality, in case of the
invalid passing her way. This old woman had
infused a further spirit of thankfulness into the
suffering boy ; so that, though he felt himself
declining daily, he grew more patient as he
had more need of patience.
The pastor was now sitting by his side, speak-
ing little, and keeping his eye fixed on the
gleaming sea.
" O, look, look !" cried Christian, pointing in
the direction of the road. " One, two, four teams
of dogs ! and the carts piled as high as they can
bear. They must be going to the fair. — 0, how
N
134 CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY.
tired I am!" lie continued, languidly. u Here
I lie, while that stream of people passes on, on,
on, — all busy, all expecting something, and
thinking only of being as busy always."
" You are not the only one, Christian, that
feels this," said the pastor. " Some who are as
strong as the strongest of yon traffickers and
pleasure-seekers feel, like you, that the hand of
God is upon them, to fix them apart while the
world passes on. It is not you alone, my boy."
" I know whom you mean," said Christian, in
a low voice. " Christ stood on the mount and
on the shore, and saw all the people going up to
the feast."
" He did," replied the pastor, speaking in a
manner which convinced Christian that he had
not met his friend's thought.
" Would you have been busier in France than
you are here," he asked, " if the French king had
not sent you away V 1
" Perhaps I might ; but God appoints his ser-
vants their station ; and I am content. I am
content to be the minister of his grace, and
bless him for lightening the hearts of others. He
will strengthen me to bear the burden of my
own."
After a moment's thought on the peculiar sad
ness of the pastor's tone, Christian laid his arm
on his friend's shoulder, and whispered,
** I love Gertrude very much too ; and I always
thought 1 was so surprised when she told
me
M Say no more about it, my boy. Talk rather
CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY. 135
of my country, or of my kindred, or of anything
else that I have lost."
" I cannot talk at all," said the boy, whose
tears were fast flowing for the pastor, though it
was some time since he had shed any for himself.
He lay quietly listening to the pastor's consola-
tions, till his mother appeared to say that Master
Peter had come to see him. She was evidently
wishing to tell something more, if Master Peter
had not followed at her heels. The pastor has-
tened to disengage himself from Christian, that
he might rise and make a profound obeisance.
Christian, who had never seen his friend ofTer so
low a reverence, especially to a carpenter in his
workman's dress, laughed aloud. Mrs. Snoek,
much alarmed at this ill-timed mirth, uttered at
once what she had been wanting to say ; — that
Master Peter was a very different Peter from
what they had imagined, — no other than the
Reiser of all the Russias.
While Christian looked wistfully in Peter's
face to learn if this was true, the Emperor lifted
him gently from his couch, and held him in his
arms as he had done on the first dav of their
acquaintance, assuring him that, as he would not
allow his fellow-workmen to treat him differently
now that they knew who he was, he should be very
sorrv if Christian grew afraid of him. As he
spoke, he looked with a smile towards the oppo-
site side of the room, where Luc had backed into
a corner, and Roselyn was peeping from behind
her mother's ample skirt.
11 Luc looks afraid of you," said Christian ;
n2
13G CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY.
" and I might be afraid, if I were Luc. But,
sir, I am just going where a great Reiser is no
more than a pastor; and I dare say not so much.
If I see you there very soon, you will not be a
Reiser, and I shall be no more afraid of you
than when you were only Master Peter."
" Very soon, Christian? I hope we shall not
meet there very soon."
" O, yes : ask the pastor,'' said the boy,
eagerly. " He will tell you that I am going
very, very soon."
This the pastor unhesitatingly confirmed ; but
added that the Reiser had, he trusted, a long
work to achieve before lie was called into the
presence of the Ring of Rings.
" O, yes," said Christian, " how busy you are
all going to be ; and you, Master Peter, the bu-
siest of all. You are learning to build fleets
and cities ; — at least, I heard them say so about
the Reiser ; — and you are getting wise men to
teach you all that they know ; while I am going
to a place where there is no device nor know-
ledge."
The pastor suggested that tin's probably ap-
plied only to the place where his body would be
laid. This hint sufficed to excite the boy to pour
out upon the Emperor a torrent of perplexing
questions about what he thought would become
of the spirit. The readiest answer was, — (what
was true enough,) — that Christian was com-
pletely exhausted, and must not talk any more
at present. Peter would come in at the end of
his day's work, and tell him about the fleet he
CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY. 137
intended to build, to ride in the harbour of his
new city. Meanwhile, he desired Christian not
to think he was going to die so very soon. It
was not at all likely. He would send for his best
physician from Russia, and tell him to restore
Christian, so that the boy should visit him in his
new capital, some time or other, when the cough
should be gone, and the mysterious pain cured,
and life a very different thins to Christian from
what he had ever felt it yet.
The upright pastor could not silently let pass
any observations of this nature. lie reminded
the Keiser that, though placed by the baud of
God in a position of absolute dominion over mul-
titudes of men, — over their lives and worldly lot,
— he was no more the Lord of Life, in a higher
sense, than the meanest of his serfs. It was not
for him to say that the bowl should not be broken,
or the silver cord loosed, when neither was given
into his hand.
The mischief, — or what the pastor considered
mischief, — was however done. After Peter had
left the apartment, Christian employed himself
in speaking when he could, and musing when he
could not speak, on what he should see, and
hear, and learn, and do, if he recovered enough
to visit the new capital of all the Pussias. He
gave notice, from time to time, that he did not
at all expect that this would ever happen ; it
was unlikely that his pain should ever go away
ehtirely, and that Peter should remember him
when he should be the great Keiser again. Vet,
as his strength ebbed away, minute by minute,
138 CLOSE OF A BRIEF STORY.
his convictions that he was not going to die just
yet jrrew more vigorous. Observing him unable
to finish something he wished to say, his mother
feared that his pain was coming".
" No, I do not think it will come. No ! no
pain — " Yet his face expressed terror of an
approaching paroxysm.
11 I wish the Keiser had not come, or had not
spoken presumptuously, as the potentates of this
world do ever," said Gertrude, more moved to
displeasure than was common to her gentle
nature.
" The Keiser wishes it too," said Peter, who
had entered the room softly, and saw at a glance
that Christian's short day of life was likely to
close nearly as soon as his own day's work, at
the end of which he had promised to entertain the
boy with stories that could have no charm for a
dying ear. " My poor boy, I deceived you. I
have tainted your dying hours. Can von forgive
me ?"
Christian's now rigid countenance relaxed into
the radiant smile which betokened his highest
mood of faith. The movement, whether of body
or spirit, summoned his pain ; but its very first
touch released him. He left the greatest of this
world's potentates treasuring up the forgiveness
of a feeble child, and wondering, as at a new
thought, that one who had power over millions
of lives should have no more interest than others
with the supreme Lord of Life.
Summary of Principles illustrated in'Jhis
Volume.
Natioxs exchange commodities, as individuals do, for
mutual accommodation ; each imparting of its superfluity
to obtain that in which it is deficient.
The imparting is therefore only a means of obtaining.
Exportation is the means of obtaining importation, —
the end for which the traffic is instituted.
The importation of money into a country where
money is deficient is desirable on the same principle
which renders desirable the supply of any deficient com-
modity.
The importation of money into a country where money
is not deficient is no more desirable than it is to create
an excess of any other commodity.
That money is the commodity most generally bought
and sold is no reason for its being a more desirable
article of importation than commodities which are as
much wanted in the country which imperil it.
That money is the commodity most g e ner a lly bought
and sold is a reason for its being tbe commodity fixed
upon for measuring the relative amounts of other articles
of national interchange.
Money bearing different denominations in the different
trading countries, a computation of the relative values
of these denominations was made in the infancy of com-
merce, and the result expressed in terms which are
retained through all changes in the value of these deno-
minations.
The term by which in each country the original equal
proportion was expressed is adopted as the fixed point
oi' measurement called the par of exebauge; and any
variation in the relative amount of the total money
debts of trading nations is called a variation from par.
This variation is of two kinds, nominal and real.
140 SUMMARY.
The nominal variation from par is caused l>y an alter-
ation in the value of the currency of any country, which,
of course, destroys the relative proportion of its denomi-
nations to the denominations of the currency of other
countries. But it does not alfect the amount of commo-
dities exchanged.
The real variation from par takes place when any two
countries import respectively more money and less of
other commodities, or lessmonev and more of other com-
modities.
This kind of variation is sure to correct itself, since
the country which receives the larger proportion of
money will return it for other commodities when it
hecomes a superfluity; and the country which receives
the smaller proportion of money will gladly import more
as it hecomes deficient.
The real variation from par can never therefore exceed
a certain limit.
This limit is determined by the cost of suhstituting for
each other metal money and one of its representatives, —
viz., that species of paper currency which is called Bills
of Exchange.
-When this representative hecomes scarce in proportion
to commodities, and thereby mounts up to a higher
value than the represented metal money, with the cost
of transmission added ; metal money is transmitted as a
substitute for Bills of Exchange, and the course of Ex-
change is reversed and restored to par.
Even the range of variation above descrihed is much
contracted by the operations of dealers in hills of exchange,
who ecmalize their value by transmitting those of all
countries from places where they are abundant to places
where they are scarce.
A self-balancing power being thus inherent in the
entire system of commercial exchange, all apprehensions
about the results of its unimpeded operation are absurd.
ILLUSTRATIONS
OP
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
No. XVII.
THE
LOOM AND THE LUGGER.
PART I.
By HARRIET MARTINEAU.
LONDON :
CHARLES FOX, 67, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1833.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWESi
Stamford Street.
THE
LOOM AND THE LUGGER.
PART I.
a £aU.
BV
HARRIET MARTINEAU.
LONDON:
CHARLES FOX, 67, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1833.
CONTENTS.
Chapter Page
1. Taking an Order ........ 1
2. Giving an Order 16
3. Dumb Duty 26
4. An Afternoon Trip . 45
5. Morning Walks 63
6. A Night Watch m 92
7. Hear the News! 113
THE
LOOM AND THE LUGGER.
PART I.
Chapter I.
TAKING AN ORDER.
Mr. Culver, the silk-manufacturer, arrived at
home later than the usual dinner hour, one dark
winter day. He had been attending a meet-
ing at the Mansion-house, held on the behalf of
the Spitalfields weavers, whose deplorable distress
in the middle of the season caused fearful anti-
cipations of what their condition might be before
a warmer season and a brisker state of trade
should arrive. Mr. Culver's thoughts were oc-
cupied, during his slow and sad walk from the
Mansion-house to his abode in the neighbourhood
of Devonshire- square, by doubts whether a time
of activity would ever arrive ; or, if it did, how
long it would last. Year after year, since he
had entered business, had he been flattered with
hopes that permanent prosperity would come ;
that the ladies of England would continue to
prize silk fabrics as the most beautiful material for
dress ; and would arrow conscientious enough to
refuse smuggled goods, when every conceivable
17 b
TAKING AN ORDER.
variety could be had from the looms of their own
country. These had been Mr. Culver's hopes
till of late. Now he began almost to despair,
and to acknowledge himself tired out by the
alternate perverseness of customers and work-
men. As soon as a new fashion was fairly esta-
blished, and orders abounded, there was sure to
follow a strike among the men for wages ; they
invariably urging that a protected manufacture
must be able to yield good wages to the ope-
ratives employed in it. As soon as their de-
mands were yielded to, and the price of goods
therefore enhanced, the market was deluged with
smuggled silks ; and while traffic was busy in
the shops, the manufacturer was left to sigh over
his ruinous stock when the fashion of the season
had passed away. Being thus the sport, as he
said, of three parties, — the encroaching weavers,
the capricious public, and the smuggling shop-
keepers, — the manufacturer declared that he stood
no chance of prosperity, however ready the taxed
millions of his countrymen might be to tell him
that they were made to suffer that he might
flourish, and that he had no right to complain
while so many paid for the protection granted to
his manufacture. Mr. Culver found it difficult to
be grateful for the vaunted protection which did
him no good; and was strongly disposed to re-
sign the favour and his business together. He
wished he had done it ten years before, when he
might have withdrawn from the manufacture a
richer man than now. At present, all the manu-
factures of the kingdom were in so depressed a
TAKING AN ORDER. 3
state that there was little encouragement to invest
his remaining capital in any other concern ; and
it would, if unemployed, barely suffice for the
maintenance of his family — his motherless young
family — whose interests depended on himself
alone. His chief doubt about leaving off business
immediately arose from something that he had
heard at the Mansion-house this day, in confirm-
ation of rumours previously afloat, — that it was
the intention of government to introduce some
important changes into the silk-trade, — to autho-
rize a restricted importation of foreign silks. The
rumour had created a prodigious outcry at the
meeting, and caused such a contest between cer-
tain shopkeepers and manufacturers, such a split-
ting into two parties, as made it seem probable
that the interests of the starving weavers — the
objects of the meeting — would be forgotten be-
tween them. Mr. Culver was one who wished
for the removal of the existing prohibition, seeing
and feeling as he did that nothing could be worse
than the present state of the trade in England,
and believing that the rage for foreign fabrics
might subside when they could be easily had,
and that it must be a good thing to try a new
footing for a manufacture which was at pre-
sent carried on to the injury of all the parties
concerned. If lie continued to manufacture, it
would be with the hope of this change ; but he
ended with a doubt whether he ought to plav the
speculator much longer, and whether there was
not something in the nature of the business which
would for ever prevent its being in a permanently
flourishing state. b 2
4 TAKING AN ORDER.
When lie approached his own house, he saw
his girls looking over the blind, as if waiting for
him ; and, in the background, nurse's high cap,
always white, as if by miracle, considering the
locality.
" O, papa!" cried Charlotte, " we thought
you never would have come."
" I dare say dinner will be overdone, my dear ;
but never mind. If cook is not vexed, I shall not
care."
" But the Bremes' footboy has brought a
note for you ; and he has called twice since for
an answer ; and he was obliged to go home with-
out one, after all."
" Such an ugly footboy, papa !" observed Lucy.
" Nurse says that when they set up a footboy,
they might as well have got one that had not a
snub nose just like his master's."
" And such a ridiculous livery, papa ! It is so
odd to see such a little fellow with knee-breeches,
and with buttons on his big coat as large as my
doll's saucers ! Nurse says "
" Hold your tongue, my dear. I want to read
this note ; and when we go to dinner, I have
something to talk to you about that signifies
more than Mr. Breme's footboy's coat-buttons."
While the note was being read, nurse, who
was a privileged person, did not leave the room,
but muttered her wonder where the change came
from that made shopkeepers now so different
from what shopkeepers used to be. She remem-
bered the time when the Bremes would no more
have thought of having a footboy than of living
m the king's palace. And if shopkeepers' chil-
TAKING AN ORDER. 5
dren learned to dance in her young days, they
were satisfied with plain white frocks, instead of
flaunting in silks and gauze ribbons, like the
Miss Bremes. There lay the secret, however.
It was of the silks that all the rest came. Every
bodv knew that the Bremes lived bv breaking
the laws ; — that old Breme's shop in town, and
his son's at Brighton, were full of unlawful
goods.