The manufacture of brass was introduced into Birmingham by the family of
Turner about 1740. They erected those works at the south end of
Coleshill-street; then near two hundred yards beyond the buildings, but
now the buildings extend half a mile beyond them.
Under the black clouds which arose from this corpulent tunnel, some of
the trades collected their daily supply of brass, but the major part was
drawn from the Macclesfield, Cheadle, and Bristol companies.
“Causes are known by their effects;” the fine feelings of the heart are
easily read in the features of the face; the still operations of the
mind are discovered by the rougher operations of the hand. Every
creature is fond of power, from that noble head of the creation man, who
devours man, down to that insignificant mite who devours his cheese:
every man strives to be free himself, and to shackle another. Where
there is power of any kind, whether in the hands of a prince, a people,
a body of men, or a private person, there is a propensity to abuse it:
abuse of power will everlastingly seek itself a remedy, and frequently
find it; nay, even this remedy may in time degenerate into abuse, and
call loudly for another.
Brass is an object of some magnitude in the trades of Birmingham, the
consumption is said to be a thousand tons per annum. The manufacture of
this useful article had long been in the hands of few and opulent men,
who, instead of making the humble bow for favours received, acted with
despotic sovereignty, established their own laws, chose their customers,
directed the price, and governed the market. In 1780 the article rose,
either through caprice or necessity, perhaps the former, from
seventy-two pounds a ton to eighty-four pounds. The result was, an
advance upon the goods manufactured, followed by a number of
counter-orders, and a stagnation of business.
In 1781, a person, from affection to the user or resentment to the
maker, perhaps the latter, harangued the public in the weekly papers,
censured the arbitrary measures of the brazen sovereigns, showed their
dangerous influence over the trades of the town, and the easy manner in
which works of our own might be constructed. Good often arises out of
evil; this fiery match quickly kindled another furnace in Birmingham.
Public meetings were advertised, a committee appointed, and
subscriptions opened to fill two hundred shares, of one hundred pounds
each, which was deemed a sufficient capital; each proprietor of a share
to purchase one ton of brass annually. Works were immediately erected
upon the banks of the canal, for the advantage of water carriage, and
the whole was conducted with the true spirit of Birmingham freedom.
The old companies, which we may justly consider the directors of a South
Sea bubble in miniature, sunk the price from eighty-four pounds to
fifty-six pounds. Two inferences arise from this measure; that their
profits were once very high, or were now very low; and, that like some
former monarchs in the abuse of power, they repented one day too late.