Nor is this to be ascribed to any want of ability in the Belgian mechanics; on the the contrary, they are qualified to undertake the most difficult work, but they can only employ themselves, of course, when such are in actual demand. They are, in consequence, limited to the production of the most low priced and ordinary articles; fast colours and cheap cloth are all they aspire to. High priced muslins they rarely attempt, and although they have ventured to print upon mousseline-de-laine, they have been forced almost altogether to abandon it. In fact, the double rivalry of France, on the one hand, and England on the other, keeps them in continual alarm, and renders them fearful of the slightest speculation or deviation from their ordinary line of production. France, on the contrary, enters their market relying upon the elegance and originality of her patterns; and England notwithstanding her heavy and unimaginative designs, conceived in inferior taste, still maintains her superiority by means of her masterly execution and the lowness of her price. Thus, whilst French muslins sell readily for from two to three francs an ell, England can offer hers for forty-five centimes, or even less, and those of Belgium vary from sixty centimes to a franc and a quarter per ell; not only so, but for that which she can now with difficulty dispose of for sixty centimes, she had, thirty-five years ago, an ample demand at two francs and a half. This destruction of her home trade by the competition of foreigners, she has sought in vain to retrieve by her shipments abroad; she has exported to Brazil and to the Levant, to the South Sea and Singapore, and finally, she has turned to Germany and the fairs of Francfort-on-the-Maine--in short, she has tried every opening, and found only loss in all. The only market in which she has contrived to hold a footing is that of Holland, and even this is every day slipping from her, although, before the revolution of 1830, it consumed one half of her entire production. Belgium has not, like England, manufacturers, who, devoting themselves to the supply of the foreign market alone, and bestowing upon it their undivided study and attention, attain a perfect knowledge and command of it in its every particular; but here, every printer looks to exportation only as an expedient to get rid of his surplus production, after satisfying the demand of his home consumption. Such a system is pregnant with evils, but it is in vain to attempt its alteration so long as we have England for our rival, with her great experience, her vast command of capital, and her firm possession of the trade.”[27]