As a consequence of French’s imperfect knowledge of the exact time of the subscription, the explanation which he offers of the comparatively small sum raised is clearly wide of the mark: “But this hopeful scheme, generous and noble in its intention, followed the usual course of Crompton’s evil fortune. Before it could be carried out the country was suffering from a failure in the crops and consequent high price of food, a lamentable war broke out, the horrors of the French Revolution approached their crisis, trade was all but extinguished--and the result was a sum quite inadequate to the proposed purpose or to his deserts.”[452] [Footnote 452: French, _ibid._, p. 124.] It is true that the year 1800 was a terrible year, with high food prices, as was the greater part of the next year, but before the end food prices had fallen considerably, and the cotton trade was entering upon somewhat of a boom, the spinning branch was increasing, and in the following summer a large number of new factories were erected in Manchester.[453] Thus the time could not have been more propitious for the promotion of the subscription, and it is more than probable that a far larger sum than the £300 to £400 which Crompton mentions would have been raised had not, as he says, the war broken out again. [Footnote 453: Transactions, _Manchester Statistical Society_, Feb., 1916.] Although French’s explanation of the comparative failure of the subscription is incorrect, his comment on the ill fortune which dogged Crompton’s footsteps may be agreed with. At the same time, it is exceedingly doubtful whether the amount of the subscription would have reached the £5000 which he obtained by Parliamentary grant in 1812. If anything like that amount had been raised, one fears that the application to Parliament nine years later might not have been so well supported, and a perusal of the letters may also suggest the fear that, even if such had been the case, it might have fallen upon deaf ears so far as Parliament was concerned.