AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

After Arnold Toynbee popularized the term, the "Industrial Revolution," a tendency soon showed itself to use the words themselves as an all-sufficient explanation of the origin of whatever seemed distinctively characteristic of modern civilization. The economist tended to find, in the industrial changes and the accompanying acceptance of the principles of laissez-faire and free competition, the clue to modern economic prosperity. The social reformer sought in them the source of the social problems of the city. The socialist saw in the extension of the use of capital and the intensifying of the separation between capitalist and employee a long step toward the looked-for social revolution. In spite of the researches of several careful scholars who have devoted themselves to the period, the phrase has often degenerated into a catchword, used without adequate definiton and understanding or colored, consciously or unconsciously, by the user's social philosophy. As a natural reaction, some scholars have recently minimized the importance of the Industrial Revolution. Seeking, in the earlier centuries, precedents and parallels of what were its supposed characteristics, they have decried the applicability of the term and even the existence of the changes, whether of social life or economic organization, which it usually connotes. Even the inventions have been seen as a continuation of a process long apparent.

Yet study of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries indicates beyond doubt that in most phases of life there came about what is perhaps as fundamental a change as is possible to humankinda complete change of scale. Plot a curve of almost anything: population, production of goods, commerce, national debt. The result consistently is a startling rise. Everywhere there is a growth of size, and that itself, even without change of character, means the intensifying of old problems, the emergence of new.

Size alone does not comprehend all the changes of the period. Time, too, was altered in scale. Invention of machinery, use of water-power, steam, electricity, meant that the time used by man in making an article was vastly diminished. Hence arose un

dreamed of possibilities of increased production of wealth. Improved roads, canals, railroads, steam-vessels steadily cut down the time required for passing from place to place. The mile shrank in importance. The area of England seemed less extensive. The business man, especially, found it necessary to think in terms of larger distances. The great output of products under the new industrial regime intensified the need for markets throughout the world. Again with change of scale came new problems of re-adjustment of organization. The use of capital in large amounts, the joint-stock company, the commercial bank had been invented earlier but the demands of the age gave them far more vital and extensive part in the life of the nation.

A wanderer in a small English town outside the industrial centers today may receive the impression that the change due to the Industrial Revolution has been overemphasized. Outwardly the aspect may be much the same as perhaps two centuries ago. But the inhabitant is a different creature from his ancestor. He thinks in terms of submarines, airplanes, automobiles, telephones, wireless telegraphy and radio, of oil, steam and electricity. The ends of the earth are more familiar to him than was the next town to his predecessors of the early eighteenth century. Their products form an indispensible part of his every day life. Change has certainly come, whether by revolution, as in some instances, or by slow development.

The source of the change seems to lie in man's control over the forces of nature, as he gropes his way to triumphant achievement, with the assurance of even greater beyond. The machinist or engineer working with forces of a magnitude almost beyond belief, the scientist playing with forces almost too minute for conception, have revealed a universe vibrant with power and motion, waiting for man's mastery.

Interpret these newly revealed forces at man's command as you will. See them sordidly serving his material desires, multiplying the cheap and the ugly or designed with devilish cunning for purposes of destruction. Or see them consecrated with high purpose to searching the mysteries of the universe, to relieving want and suffering, to the creation of new forms of beauty. For good or for ill, as man wills, change has come as the western world has entered into the age of machines and precision tools. And naturally

and inevitably concepts have altered too, from a world static to a world dynamic, to a world of relativity.

In the realms of science man has found his path and can follow it step by step with sure progress and ever widening vision. When he faces the task of adjusting himself to the world of things and of other men, his way is less clear, his grasp is less sure, while steadily the earth grows more crowded and the problems become more pressing. It is here that history can render its most effective service, searching the experience of the past for signs that may point the way to success or failure in the future. For such purposes the history of England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is especially fruitful. The conduct of England as a pioneer was unmodified by the example of any other nation. Finding her way as best she could she passed from a country of agriculture and of almost primitive methods of industry to a great modern industrial nation. In the course of the transition she faced numerous problems, many of them vital today. The principles underlying the solutions attempted by her statesmen, worked at by her people or suggested by her theorists varied from the extreme individualism of laissez-faire of the business man, to the group action of the co-operator or trade-unionist, to state control, to communism. Attempts to put the theories into practice were attended by differing degrees of success or failure, but are all worthy of analysis by the modern student of social questions.

In addition to the Industrial Revolution, two other great aspects of the period demand attention if a warped interpretation is to be avoided. The expansion of England's possessions overseas, coincident, fortunately, with the great increase of production of goods and of population at home, led to many of the problems and policies of modern economic imperialism. The political effects and a few aspects of the social and economic effects upon life in England have been investigated to some extent, but the full meaning, either for England itself or for international relations at the time, has not been explored, in spite of its obvious importance.

The third great aspect of the period, at times almost ignored by the student enamoured of the Industrial Revolution, is the economic and social effects of the Napoleonic wars. The startling parallel between conditions after the World War and those after 1815 has attracted some attention to the subject, but the sympathetic under

standing of post-war problems and post-war psychology so slightly realized by historians before 1914, should lead to considerable reinterpretation of the conclusions of some of the earlier works, especially those dealing with nineteenth century social problems.

The century of English history including the Industrial Revolution, the years of continued colonial expansion and of developed relations with the earlier colonies, and England's mighty struggle for existence which brought world preeminence through war, is rich in significance. It is equally rich in historical material. Popular education and the cheapening of printed matter through improvements in the printing press resulted in an ever widening reading public. The interest in economic and social questions awakened in many of the upper and middle classes and the attempt of publishers to appeal to the interests of the newly educated lower classes meant that a large proportion of the enlarged output of books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, comes within the scope of this guide.

Bibliographies relating to limited phases of the history of the period have appeared, appended to historical works, but there is no comprehensive survey of the vast mass of sources for English economic and social history from 1750 to 1850. There is an obvious advantage to Americans of a study of the pioneer country of the industrial age and of its attempts to solve the problems involved many of which the United States still face. Equally obvious is the need of charting the field for the benefit of American students who have not the advantage of the accessibility of English libraries nor any ready means of knowing how far the books and pamphlets and other literature that have drifted across the Atlantic are really representative. For their benefit, in the Spring of 1914, Professor Shotwell suggested the preparation of this guide. The work has been carried on continuously since that date (although hindered by the war). Full time during two years, one in America, one in England, and all long and short vacations, holidays and such time on working days as could be spared from the busy life of a college teacher have been devoted to it.

The wealth of the material and the comprehensive nature of the subject offered great practical difficulties. Limitations, arbitrary though they might be, were imperative if any conclusion were to

be reached. An attempt has been made, however, to avoid slavish adherence to the chosen restrictions where in special cases the usefulness of the guide might be enhanced by slight deviations from them.

A century was as long a period as could be compassed. That from 1750 to 1850 seemed to offer many advantages, covering as it did the three great aspects described earlier and forming a link between the relatively local and small-scale life of earlier days and the more intricate economic and social life of modern times. While the guide formally restricts itself to these dates, many of the books to which it refers do not do so, especially the modern historical works and the bibliographies. It is hoped that students of both earlier and later times may find it of some value for occasional reference.

The close connection between the component parts of the British Isles made the question of geography one of some difficulty. In many ways the economic and social conditions and questions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were similar or even interrelated, but there were also matters of entirely local significance and the two could not always be separated for bibliographical purposes, however clear the distinction might be to the economist or historian. It was decided that England alone should be considered except where the other country was so directly involved that to disregard it would be misleading for English history itself. The inclusion of some Scottish works on the one-pound note when England was considering following the example of Scotland by introducing them as part of her currency is a case in point.

Still there was the temptation to the besetting sin of the bibliographer to wander into the alluring by-paths that constantly open. To avoid this danger and to achieve a body of material with unity and coherence yet representative of the period, it was decided to use two principal themes as the basis of selection and organization of sources. The first was economic theory, conditions and problems, and suggestions for improvements along these lines. This involved the study of population, prices, business cycles and crises, commerce, money and banking, public finance, transportation, industry and the technical developments affecting it. The other theme chosen involved the question of social relationships: the con