acquirements somewhat too highly;-that it produces a degree of self-confiding independence, quite at variance with that Divine and most apposite lesson, "As the clay is in the Potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O House of Israel!"* We conceive that, in the generality of these Schools, the very important doctrines of Christian humility, and natural fallibility, and a regard for the sacred obligations of the sabbath, are not enough insisted on: and we, therefore, with all freedom and faithfulness, submit our opinion to the consideration of those whose philanthropy is enlisted in the cause of national education.

Of morals, which are so materially influenced by education, we will add a few concluding words. The general conduct of the people appears in a favourable light, for the rarity of the more atrocious crimes by which society is sometimes outraged; but of the vices which a promiscuous employment of both sexes in the manufactories tends to encourage, we cannot speak in the same satisfactory terms. An orderly and peaceable demeanour, except in some instances of political excitement, (which we lament to be obliged to notice), has marked the character of the populace, even in periods of great privation, which the ebbing course of trade occasionally produces; but, when the tide of prosperity sets in, a recklessness of the future very generally manifests itself, and the large earnings of the artisan, and his family, are too often squandered in deleterious draughts at the liquor-shops, or those numerous and obscure houses, where the word, "Licensed," followed by the disgusting announcement-"to be drunk on the Premises"-is interpreted as a legislative invitation to the free indulgence, by the people, of their darling propensity. We call a case to mind, (and there are many parallel ones) of a workman, who lately died, at the age of fifty-three, whose earnings, when he

* Jer. xviii, v. 6.

chose to work, and the earnings of his family, had, for more than twenty years, averaged upwards of £3 per week; and who, if he had been a sober character, exercised common prudence, and been content with moderate fare, in meat and drink, might have accumulated at least £1,000; and, probably, lived out the common term of human life, instead of dying of diseased viscera, and premature old age, in the Parish Workhouse, where he closed his eyes!

We are not warranted, here, in recommending total abstinence doctrines, nor are we inclined to deny to any portion of mankind, the rational and temperate use of all the good gifts which it has pleased a beneficent Providence to spread abroad, for man's solace as well as sustenance, and "making glad his heart;" but we record with unfeigned regret our solemn conviction that the vice of Drunkenness, which the policy of our Legislature, for some years past, has tended to encourage, by multiplying Beer-shops to an unlimited extent, for the advantage of the agricultural interest, has had, and continues to have, the effect of demoralizing the labouring community to a most fearful extent-that it greatly enlarges our criminal calendars―estranges the poor man from his domestic comforts-counteracts the educational efforts of the philanthropist and by its brutalizing tendency renders the unhappy victim totally averse from, and unfit for, the sacred duties of the sabbath, which he is allowed to desecrate as he pleases, with the exception of a convenient interval, for sobering himself at home, during the hours of divine service!

RAPID ADVANCE OF MANUFACTURES.

41

CHAPTER III.

RAPID ADVANCE OF THE EARTHENWARE MANUFACTURE IN THE 18TH CENTURY.-TABLES OF POPULATION AT SUCCESSIVE PERIODS; ALSO OF RATED PROPERTY, DWELLING-HOUSES, AND ELECTIVE FRANCHISES. EARLIEST NOTICE OF BURSLEM POTTERIES.-THE BUTTER-POT. — ANCIENT POT-WORK. SALT-GLAZING. -ELERS'S SAMIAN WARE- - THEIR SECRETS SURREPTITIOUSLY OBTAINED.-INTRODUCTION OF FLINT AND WHITE CLAYS,-WHITE STONE-WARE;-PLASTER-MOULDS INTRoduced, MORE EMINENT POTTERS.-JOSIAH WEDGWOOD'S IMPROVEMENTS. — CHAMPION'S PATENT PORCELAIN. PULVERIZED FLINT, BRINDLEY'S MILLS, AND WEDGWOOD'S MACHINERY FOR PREPARING THE COMPOUND CLAY.-MODERN POTWORK.-FLUCTUATIONS OF TRADE.-WESLEY'S AND FRANKLIN'S REMARKS ON SPECULATIONS.-ASSOCIATION OF MASTERS FOR PURPOSES OF THE TRADE; BERLIN AND MILAN DECREES.-DISPUTE WITH AMERICA, 1814.-POLITICAL EXCITEMENTS.-VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATIONS IN 1798 AND 1803.-CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF TOWNSHIPS. POLICE ACTS FOR BURSLEM AND HANLEY.-PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.-NEW ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.-ELECTIONS.-POPULAR VIOLENCE. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, OR COMMITTEE OF TRADE.-COMBINATIONS OF WORKMEN.-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.-NEWSPAPER-PRESS.

THE rapid advance of the local Manufactures, and the consequent increase of the population, reckoning from about the middle of the 18th Century, have, perhaps, not been surpassed relatively, during the same period, in any of the great trading and manufacturing towns and districts of England. In the Memorial, or Petition, before referred to, which was presented to the House of Commons in 1762,* the population of the whole of the Potteries was computed at near seven thousand persons; which we have reason to think was below the real number, for Burslem parish alone contained near three thousand persons at that period, as may be collected from an examination of the Parish Registers; and if we suppose the population of the District generally to have merely doubled within the

preceding twenty-five years (which has been about the ratio of its ordinary increase of late) we may venture to set down the number at four thousand persons a century ago. The impulse given to the Trade, after the completion of the Grand Trunk Canal, in 1777, produced a rapid advance of population. Proceeding, therefore, to the year 1785, we find, that the late Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, (who was then examined before a Committee of the Privy Council, and at the Bar of both Houses of Parliament, upon a contemplated commercial arrangement with Ireland,) estimated the population employed in, or depending upon, this Manufacture, at from fifteen to twenty thousand persons. We will take the population within what is now the Borough of Stoke, at the lowest amount mentioned by Mr. Wedgwood at that period, and set it down at fifteen thousand persons. In the year 1801, when the first Parliamentary Census was taken, the population exhibited an increase more than three-fold within the preceding forty years; and a further period of less than forty years has produced almost an equal arithmetical progression; for, upon a careful examination of the parochial returns, and public documents, to which we have had free access, we can with great confidence set down the total population of the Borough, at the present time, at about sixty-three thousand persons. We subjoin two Tables,-one shewing the successive Population Returns from the year 1801 to 1831, of the Parishes and Townships included within the Borough, with columns of the previous population, given in round numbers, as far back as we have any data for reference, and the other Table exhibiting the superficial contents, and amount of rated property, of the several Townships, and the number of persons, who, by renting Tenements of Ten Pounds per Annum, or upwards, were first registered under the Reform Act, in 1832, as being entitled to the Elective Franchise; and of those who stand upon the Register for the present year, 1838.

TABLES OF POPULATION AND RATED PROPERTY. 43

TABLE I.

Shewing the Population of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, and its progressive increase during a period of 100 years:

Townships. 1738 1762 1785 1801 1811 1821 1831 1838 500 800 1,677 2,622 3,673 6,608 4,800 6,486 8,478 9,815 12,572 14,486

Tunstall
Burslem, Sneyd,)

200 300 1,800 2,800 2,000

and Rushton Grange Hanley & Shelton 1,000

Penkhull with

Boothen, comprising Stoke Fenton, Vivian, and Fenton Culvert Longton & Lane End

Population

4,600 7,940 9,568 12,956 16,408 18,249

300 700 1,400 2,680 3,851 4,915 5,997 6,780

200 400 700 1,800 2,506 3,000 3,710 4,890

500 1,300 3,000 4,000 4,930 7,100 9,608 11,987

4,000 7,500 15,000 23,626 31,010 40,408 51,968 63,000

TABLE II.

Shewing the Superficial Contents of the Borough, the annual rated Value of Property,-the number of Dwelling-houses in 1838,-and the number of Persons returned on the Registers, as entitled to the Elective Franchise in 1832 and 1838:

* All the Coal Mines and Canal Property in the Parish (Abbey Hulton included) are comprised in this amount.

+ This amount embraces all the Canal Property in Stoke Parish.

It is not our intention here to give a History of the POTTER'S ART in general, or of our local manufacture in