French refers to the fact that, before the machine was made public, Crompton had shown it in confidence to Mr. John Pilkington, a merchant and manufacturer of Bolton, who gave evidence on his behalf before the Committee in 1812, and finds it difficult to explain why he did not advise Crompton to secure a patent and assist him in doing so.[366] As regards Mr. Pilkington, it is almost certain that his action is to be explained on the ground of the prevalent dislike to patents. Apparently, what he advised Crompton to do, was to make his machine public on the understanding that a subscription should be raised to reward him for its invention.[367] In giving this advice, he was acting quite in accordance with the method of reward which then generally commended itself, and, there is reason to think, commended itself to Mr. Pilkington. Reference has already been made to the Committee of Trade in Manchester, which came into existence in 1781,[368] on the dissolution of the committee which had existed since 1774. Whether Mr. Pilkington was a member of the Committee before 1781 it is impossible to say, but he was certainly a member of the Committee appointed in that year, and it was this Committee which was so prominent in opposition to Arkwright’s patent, and which, as we have seen, when it was most actively engaged in this direction, raised a subscription to reward an inventor.[369] [Footnote 366: French, _ibid._, p. 83.] [Footnote 367: Evidence of Mr. Pilkington in 1812, _infra_, pp. 186-187.] [Footnote 368: _Manchester Mercury_, 17th July 1781. Mr. Pilkington was a member of the cotton and linen section.] [Footnote 369: _Ante_, p. 103. The case of Highs in 1771 must be borne in mind and also another one later, referred to _infra_, p. 123.] As regards that part of the explanation connected with the character of the mule, it has to be borne in mind that its use involved the use of the rollers, for which Arkwright already held a patent. Only by some arrangement with him could the mule have been openly brought into use, and it is hard to believe that this fact was not recognised, and, seeing that such an arrangement would probably have been in Arkwright’s interest, that it did not influence Mr. Pilkington’s advice.