1846. 1847. 1848. Silk or satin broad stuffs, 115,292 lbs. 147,656 lbs. 269,637 lbs. Silk ribbons, 180,375 " 182,978 " 217,243 " Gauze or crape broad stuffs, 6,536 " 5,588 " 8,243 " Gauze ribbons, 31,307 " 41,825 " 49,460 " Gauze mixed, 18 " 8 " 39 " Mixed ribbons, 1,842 " 3,094 " 2,466 " Velvet broad stuffs, 26,798 " 27,494 " 29,669 " Velvet embossed ribbons, 13,550 " 14,192 " 41,461 " ------------ ------------ ------------ 375,718 lbs. 422,835 lbs. 618,218 lbs. Is there any commentary required on these figures? We should hope that no one can be dull enough to misapprehend their import. In one year our exportation of silk goods has fallen to little more than a half: in two years our importations from the Continent have nearly doubled. Where ninety British labourers worked for the exporting trade, only fifty are now employed; and if we suppose that the consumpt of silk manufactures in this country is the same in 1848 as in 1846, the further amount of labour which has been sacrificed, by the increased importations, must be something positively enormous. It is in this way that free trade beggars the people and fills the workhouses; whilst, at the same time, it brings down the national revenue to such an ebb, that it is utterly insufficient to balance the necessary expenditure. It would be well if politicians would constantly keep in view this one great truth--That of all the burdens which can be laid upon a people, the heaviest is the want of employment. No general cheapness, no class accumulations of wealth, can make up for this terrible want; and the statesman who deliberately refuses to recognise this principle, and who, from any motive, deprives the working man of his privilege, is an enemy to the interests of his country.