was well protected with the wet blanket of duties on foreign competition until 1861, when these were removed, and the ribbon makers of Coventry were brought face to face and foot to foot, on the same level, with French and other continental rivals, whose genius and ability for cheap and artistic production had been developed to superior capacity by the very pressure of necessity put upon them by the protective policy of other countries. When plants grown under glass are deprived of their artificial air and roofage and turned "out in the cold," they get at first a chill, and, for awhile, are unable to compete with plants of the same genus that have been acclimated to the open sky, dew and rain of nature. It was natural and inevitable that the ribbon trade of Coventry, when thus unroofed and turned out of the conservatory of protection, should experience a chill and check in its growth for awhile, though in the end it may become more hardy and prosperous than ever from this very exposure to the out-door climate of the world's competition and commerce. Some one has said that commerce has no conscience; and that fashion has no patriotism is a truth still more evident and universal. No trade could be subjected to more sudden and sweeping vicissitudes of taste than that of ribbons. A new pattern or style worn by one of the ton, or some new whim of fancy, might throw out of
