There are many week-evening services in Bessbrook, including mothers’ meetings and such-like gatherings; Mr. Richardson, with his wife, as I have already intimated, frequently leaves his beautiful seat at Moyallen personally to inspect the state, not merely of the mill as a commercial undertaking, but as an assemblage of men and women, and young persons and children, who have bodies to be cared for, and immortal souls to be saved. To help the backslider, to preserve the unfallen; to reclaim those who have; to relieve the sick and destitute; to visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, is one part of a Christian man’s duty, faithfully remembered at Bessbrook. The aim and efforts of the principal are carried out by a devoted band of ladies and gentlemen connected with the place, and with the happiest results. I am told that in five years only three cases of misconduct have occurred. The discipline of the Roman Catholic Church of course prevents a great deal of mischief. If the priests do not marry themselves, they are great promoters of matrimony in other people. But, after all, they are not all Roman Catholics in Bessbrook—indeed, there, the followers of the old religion are rather in a minority.
Commercially, Bessbrook may be said to be of the first importance in the linen trade. The produce of its looms enjoys a world-wide reputation. Such confidence have buyers in them that, as a London gentleman remarked, “You may purchase them in the dark.” There is nothing inferior in the quality of the Bessbrook linen. It may be pronounced unsurpassed. What is manufactured there is sold to the trade, who put their own name to it, and export it to all parts of the world. The Spanish are customers, and so are the Americans. The warehouses of London and Belfast and Manchester are full of linen manufactured at Bessbrook. The public do not know the name, but the merchants and shippers do.
Bessbrook is placed in the centre of the flax-growing district of Ireland, and this is why the linen trade flourishes in that district. In 1829 the first flax mill was erected at Belfast, at an expense of nearly £30,000, which, however, in the course of a few years, was more than repaid. In 1855 it was calculated that no less than 500,000 spindles were at work, of which more than two-thirds belong to Belfast, affording occupation to no less than 250,000 hands in the province. In addition to the flax grown all round, and bought in the country markets, it is imported from Belgium, France, or the Baltic, as different qualities are required.