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diff --git a/38841.txt b/38841.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2111af --- /dev/null +++ b/38841.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9310 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Commercial Restraints of Ireland, by +John Hely Hutchinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Commercial Restraints of Ireland + +Author: John Hely Hutchinson + +Editor: W. G. Carroll + +Release Date: February 12, 2012 [EBook #38841] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS OF IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS OF IRELAND. + + + + +[Illustration: FROM A PAINTING BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.] + + + + + THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS OF IRELAND + + CONSIDERED IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A NOBLE LORD, CONTAINING + AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THAT KINGDOM. DUBLIN, 1779. + + + BY JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, + PROVOST OF TRINITY COLLEGE, ETC. + + + "----the best exposition which exists of the poisonous forces which had + so long been working in the country."--_Froude._ + + "This valuable and rare book is, perhaps, the best ever written on the + subject of Irish trade, and the restrictions put upon it by + England."--_Mr. Blackburne._ + + + Re-Edited, + WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE, INTRODUCTION, + NOTES, AND INDEX, + + BY W. G. CARROLL, M.A. + S.S. BRIDE'S AND MICHAEL LE POLE'S, DUBLIN. + + + DUBLIN + M. H. GILL & SON, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE STREET + LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., STATIONERS'-HALL COURT. + 1882 + + + + + "Good Heaven! for what peculiar crimes, + Beyond the guilt of former times, + Is Ireland ever doom'd by fate + To groan beneath Oppression's weight."--_Baratariana._ + +"If your vessel is frequently in danger of foundering in the midst of a +calm, if by the smallest addition of sail she is near oversetting, let the +gale be ever so steady, you would neither reproach the crew nor accuse the +pilot or the master; you would look to the construction of the vessel and +see how she had been originally framed and whether any new works had been +added to her that retard or endanger her course."--_Commercial +Restraints._ + + +PRINTED BY M. H. GILL AND SON, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-ST., DUBLIN. + + + + +The Publishers desire to express their best thanks to the Provost and +Senior Fellows of Trinity College for their kindness in lending the +Library copy of the "Commercial Restraints," and the portrait of Provost +Hely Hutchinson, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; also for the extracts from the +College Register, and for free access to the Matriculation and Judgment +Books. + +The Publishers have, likewise, to acknowledge their obligation to Sir +Samuel Ferguson for the courteous favour of the fac-simile of Provost +Hutchinson's autograph which underlines the frontispiece. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + Life ix + + Notes: + (A) The Hutchinson Family lxxix + (B) Dr. Leland lxxxv + (C) Dr. Duigenan lxxxvii + (D) Grattan and Fitzgibbon's College Course lxxxix + (E) Lists of the Secretaries of State, Chancellors + of the Exchequer, Speakers of the Irish House + of Commons, and Chief Secretaries xciv + + Introduction xcix + + Commercial Restraints 1 + + Appendix 165 + + Index 169 + + + + +LIFE OF PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. + + +THE RIGHT HON. JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, author of the "Commercial +Restraints," was certainly one of the most remarkable men that this +country ever produced; and he took, amidst an unequalled combination of +brilliant rivals, a very prominent part in the most interesting and +splendid period of Ireland's internal history. He was, according to Dr. +Duigenan, a man of humble parents. He entered Trinity College as a +Pensioner, in the year 1740, under the name John Hely,[1] and after his +marriage he adopted the name Hutchinson, on succeeding to the estate of +his wife's uncle. + +In 1744 he obtained his B.A., and Duigenan admits that in his +Undergraduate Course he won some premiums at the quarterly examinations. +In 1765 he was presented with the degree of LL.D. _Honoris Causa_. The +_College Calendar_, in the list of Provosts, has, "1774. The Rt. Hon. John +Hely Hutchinson, LL.D., educated in Trin. Coll., Dublin, but not a Fellow; +admitted Provost by Letters Patent of George III., July 15; Member of +Parliament for the City of Cork, and Secretary of State. Died Provost, +Sep. 4, 1794, at Buxton."[2] + +This is all the mention which the published records of the College make +of, perhaps, its most celebrated Provost. The Calendar is inaccurate as to +the year of his matriculation, and it does not even tell that he was the +author of the "Commercial Restraints"--its memorial notices being +extremely scanty and brief; but in other contemporary writings we find +several notices of him, unfavourable and favourable. He was called to the +Bar in 1748; King's Counsel, 1758; Member for Lanesborough as John Hely +Hutchinson of Knocklofty, 1759;[3] in 1760 he received, in a silver case, +the freedom of Dublin for his patriotic services in parliament.[4] He was +Member for Cork City as John Hely Hutchinson of Palmerston, and afterwards +as Right Hon., 1761; Prime Serjeant, sometimes going Judge of Assize, and +Privy Councillor, 1761; Alnager,[5] 1763; Major in a Cavalry Regiment, +which, when threatened with a court-martial for non-attendance to duty, he +sold forthwith for L3,000; Provost and Searcher of Strangford,[6] 1774; +Principal Secretary of State, 1777;[7] M.P. for Taghmon, 1790; died 1794 +(according to the _College Calendar_ at Buxton, and according to the +_Gentleman's Magazine_ in Dublin). He was also Treasurer of Erasmus +Smith's Board, and one of the Commissioners for inquiring into Education +Endowments, and he strove perseveringly but fruitlessly to obtain besides +the Chancellorship of the Exchequer. + +The most important and most historic of all these appointments was the +Provostship, and it is in connection with the Provostship that we know +most about him. He won the high office, for which, in regard of any sort +of learning, he was totally disqualified, by a dexterous intrigue with the +Chief Secretary of the day, Sir John Blacquiere; and those who cared most +for Hutchinson considered that the manoeuvre was an unwise one for him. +It forfeited his assured prospects at the Bar, and it fastened on him the +odious imputation of an insatiable avarice. The appointment, moreover, was +regarded as an affront and an injury by the body over which he was placed. +Fellows and Scholars in various ways resented the indignity, and +Hutchinson had to face a very surly temper inside the walls. He faced it +with a light heart, and triumphed over it; but it often turned on him, and +stung him. He considered that it was well worth the cost; for in the first +place it was an appointment for life; and then he had not to give up his +lucrative practice in the law courts, which Froude says was worth nearly +L5,000 a year; and in fact he never ceased to angle for the Mastership of +the Rolls. In the next place, he got in addition a splendid town +residence, on which eleven thousand pounds had just been expended; he got +an income of two thousand one hundred a year; he got a very wide +patronage, and he calculated on getting the control of the parliamentary +representation of the University, which at that time was in the hands of +the Fellows and Scholars. This last object would have been an immense +acquisition for him; but he failed to win the game, the playing of which +led him, according to Duigenan and others, into some of his most +reprehensible courses. + +As has been said above, in the rivalries of public life Hutchinson was +pitted against a phalanx of as able men as ever appeared together in any +country; and most of these men he supplanted and surpassed. They avenged +themselves by lampooning him, and they were masters in the art. The +Provost was assailed in prose and in verse, in couplet and in cartoon, in +newspapers and pamphlets, in the "Lachrymae Academicae," "Baratariana," and +"Pranceriana;" and these two last _pasquinades_ are unique in English +literature. Their satire is as broad and as wounding as that of Junius, +while it is often far more finished and playful; and there is no other +instance of so many men of the same ability and station being combined in +such a mosaic of detraction.[8] + +"BARATARIANA," so called from Sancho Panza's island-kingdom, was written +in verse and in prose, and it appeared originally as letters in the +_Freeman's Journal_, which at that time, previous to its removal to +"Macaenas' Head" in Bride-street, was published over St. Audeon's Arch.[9] +The principal writers of these letters were Sir Hercules Langrishe,[10] +Flood, Grattan, Yelverton, Gervase Bushe, and Philip Tisdall. The volume +is "a collection of pieces published during the administration of Lord +Townshend," and in it the Lord Lieutenant figures as "Sancho," Anthony +Malone as "Don Antonio," Provost Andrews as "Don Francesco Andrea del +Bumperoso," and Hely Hutchinson under the various titles of "Don John +Alnagero, Autochthon, Terrae Filius, Monopolist, Single Session, and +Serjeant Rufinus." It was in one of these papers that Grattan, with an +audacious drollery, drew his celebrated character of Lord Chatham, as a +privileged extract from a manuscript copy of Robertson's forthcoming +"History of America." The description given by Langrishe of Hutchinson, +who was not Provost at that time, is: "He talks plausibly and with full +confidence, and whatever Pro-consul is deputed here Rufin immediately +kidnaps him into a guardianship, and like another Trinculo erects himself +into a viceroy over him. His whole elocution is alike futile and +superficial. It has verdure without soil, like the fields imagined in a +Calenture. He has great fluency, but little or no argument. He has some +fancy, too, but it serves just to wrap him into the clouds and leave him +there, while he holds himself suspended, planing and warbling like a lark, +without one thought to interrupt the song. If he has any forte it is in +vituperation or abuse. In 1766 he defeated the first Militia Bill.[11] His +first stride in apostasy was supporting the Privy Council Money Bill in +1767 [for opposing which Anthony Malone[12] had previously lost the Prime +Serjeancy in 1754, and the Chancellorship of the Exchequer[13] in 1761;] +his next was in defending the motion for the additional regiments, whereby +we were treated like a ravaged country, where contributions are levied to +maintain the very force that oppresses it." For these ministerial services +Hutchinson got the Prime Serjeancy, with an extra salary of L500 a year. +In the next session he was useful to the Crown in regard of the Pensions +Enquiry Bill and the Embargo Corn Bill, and was rewarded with the +sinecure Alnager's place, worth L1,000 a year. He was made a Privy +Councillor, got the reversionary grant of the Principal Secretaryship of +State, and the commission of a half-pay majority, and was what Primate +Stone termed "a ready-money voter." "He got more," says Flood, "for +ruining one kingdom than Admiral Hawke got for saving three."[14] The +"List of the Pack," one of the rhymes in the volume, has: + + "Yet Tisdal unfeeling and void of remorse, + Is still not the worst--Hely Hutchinson's worse; + Who feels every crime, yet his feeling denies, + And each day stabs his country, with tears in his eyes." + +Philip Tisdall, in "Baratariana," gives the following humorous description +of Hutchinson: "He is jealous of me, and as peevish as an old maid. I love +to tease him. I endeavour to put him on as odious ground as I can in +parliament, and then I am the first to complain to him that Government +should expose their servants to so much obloquy without occasion. I +magnify to him the favours and confidence I receive from Government, and +my correspondence with Rigby, which nettles him to the heart. He is too +finical for Lord Townshend, who makes very good sport of him. One day he +dined at the Castle, and when the company broke up, Lord Townshend, who +pretended to be more in liquor than he was, threw his arms about his neck +and cried out, 'My dear Tisdall, my sheet anchor, my whole dependence! +don't let little Hutchinson come near me; keep him off, my dear friend; +keep him off--he's damned tiresome.' At other times His Excellency makes +formal appointments to dine at Palmerston[15] at a distant day. The Prime +Serjeant invites all the officers of State; Mrs. Hutchinson is in a +flurry; they send to me for my cook; and after a fortnight's bustle, when +dinner is half spoiled, His Excellency sends an excuse, and dines with any +common acquaintance that he happens to meet in strolling about the streets +that morning. This g'emman has a pretty method enough of expressing +himself, indeed, but in points of law there are better opinions. My +friend, the late Primate, who knew men, said, that the Prime Serjeant was +the only person he had ever met with who got ready money, in effect, for +every vote he gave in parliament. He has got among the rest the reversion +of my Secretary's office; but I think I shall outlive him."[16] + +Another note in "Baratariana" records that Tisdall, whose Government +salaries exceeded L5,000 a year, had also a reversion of the Alnager's +place, with its L1,000 a year, on the death of Hutchinson; and this +mutuality of Reversions, no doubt, accounts for the warm affection that +subsisted between Hutchinson and Tisdall. Blacquiere got the Alnagership +as the price of the Provostship, as before mentioned. Besides the +Alnagership Hutchinson was obliged also to resign the Prime Serjeancy, +which was given to Dennis; but even in regard of emolument the Provostship +was well worth these two sacrifices, the united income of which was only +L1,300. He retained his sinecure of L1,800 a year, and the State +Secretaryship, and he was further compensated by the sinecure office of +Searcher of the Port of Strangford, with a patented salary of L1,000 a +year for his own life and the lives of his two elder sons. He had thus +altogether, besides his lucrative practice at the Bar and his own estate, +about L6,000 a year, together with the Provost's House, while his eldest +son was Commissioner of Accounts, with L500 a year, and with the reversion +of the Second Remembrancership of the Exchequer, worth L800 a year, and +his second son had a troop of dragoons.[17] + +"PRANCERIANA" derives its title from "Prancer," or "Jack Prance," the +nickname which was given to the Provost, + + "Restorer of the art of dancing, + And mighty prototype of prancing," + +from his effort to establish in the College a riding and dancing-school, +in imitation of the Oxford schools. + + "Each college duty shall be done in dance, + And hopeful students shall not walk, but prance." + +The articles were originally published in the _Hibernian Journal_ and +_Freeman's Journal_,[18] and the two volumes, which appeared in 1776, were +announced as "A collection of fugitive pieces published since the +appointment of the present Provost." The collection was dedicated to "J-n +H-y H-n, Doctor of Laws, P.T.C., late Major in the Fourth Regiment of +Horse, Representative in the late and present Parliament of the city of +Cork, one of his Majesty's Counsel at Law, Reversionary Remembrancer of +the Exchequer, Secretary of State, one of His Majesty's Most Honourable +Privy Council, and Searcher, Packer, and Gauger of the Port of +Strangford."[19] + +It attacks the Provost all round with every asperity; it mocks his want of +learning by calling him "the Potosi of Erudition;" it makes fun of his +riding and dancing-schools; and it ridicules his boasted college reforms. + +Alluding to his efforts to banish card-playing there is the rhyme-- + + "You bag and baggage made them pack + Old Whist, and Slam that Saucy jack, + Ombre, Quadrille, Pope Joan, Piquet, + And Brag and Cribbage--cursed set." + +It is obliged to admit, however ungraciously, that the Provost effected +some improvements. He obtained from the Erasmus Smith board, of which he +was treasurer, the L200 a year for the oratory and composition +premiums,[20] as well as the L2,500 for building the theatre, which +Duigenan declares the College did not want. He established also the Modern +Languages Professorships, the latter-day English Parliament treatment of +which is such a curious passage in the history of the University. +"Pranceriana" admits, too, that by the Provost the park was walled in,[21] +and that common rooms inside the walls, supplied with coffee and papers, +were provided for the students; that "tardies" [i.e. returns of students +as passing into College between 9 and 12 P.M.] were lessened, that +"chapels" required to be attended by them were increased, and that the +calling of examination rolls was finished by eight o'clock in the morning, +the hours of the Quarterly Examination being at that time from 8 to 12, +A.M., and 2 to 4, P.M. Hutchinson was unquestionably very arbitrary and +offensive in some of his regulations, but whether he was right or wrong he +met the same cynical measure in "Pranceriana."[22] + +The "LACHRYMAE," published in 1777, was the work of Dr. Duigenan alone (see +note B), and in it he gives full fling to his hatred of the Provost. It is +an able and envenomed indictment, and the author hits his victim with the +utmost roughness. He accuses the Provost of violating every clause of the +Provost's oath, and of being guilty of every possible abuse of his high +office; he, moreover, defames Dr. Leland (see note C), and the other +Fellows who were or became civil and courteous to the Provost. Duigenan +acknowledges that he set himself to be insolent to the Provost; he tells +what brave plans of defiance and revenge he formed, and how, after all, +the Provost punished him and put him down. + +The "Lachrymae" records all this in piquant and entertaining fashion; and, +besides being damaging to the Provost's character, it is interesting still +as a sort of College Calendar of the period, giving antiquarian +information of much value concerning the administration, economies, and +discipline of the College a hundred years ago. It begins with reciting the +naked and unprincipled manoeuvre with Sir John Blacquiere, the Chief +Secretary[23] to Lord Lieutenant Harcourt, by which Hutchinson, a layman, +was appointed Provost, by virtue of the Crown's dispensing with the +Statute which required the office to be filled by a Doctor or Bachelor in +Divinity. Blacquiere's origin, Duigenan says, was like the source of the +Nile, only to be guessed at, and Blacquiere himself was insolent, +illiterate, and avaricious. On the death of Provost Andrews, in 1774, he +recommended as his successor John Hely Hutchinson, who resigned in his +patron's favour the office of Alnager, which Blacquiere ere long farmed +out at L1,200 per annum. + +Duigenan says that whilst the bargain was in agitation Blacquiere +represented the Provostship as much more valuable than it was. He adds +that Hutchinson "complained loudly that he had been bitten," and that to +make the best of a bad bargain he took in hands the College Estate. + +Henry Flood was an eager candidate for the Provostship, and was put off +with a vice-treasurership, and a salary of L3,500 a year. Blacquiere would +have given him the Provostship if he could have paid a higher price than +Hutchinson; and "he would have sold it to a chimney-sweeper if he had been +the highest bidder." Duigenan says that all he knew of Flood was that he +had been bought by Blacquiere, but he had no doubt that he would have made +a better Provost than Hutchinson.[24] His disgust against Hutchinson is so +intense that it overrides his sour nationality and his jealousy for the +rights of the body to which he belonged; and he declares that he would +have preferred the appointment of an Oxford or Cambridge clergyman. + +In the _Gazette_ announcement of Hutchinson's appointment his "LL.D." was +puffed, but Duigenan strips the degree of all merit by explaining that it +was only an "honorary" one--that it had no Academic significance--that +every member of the Irish Parliament had a customary right to it--that it +had just been conferred on an ignorant carpenter, one John Magill[25]--and +that, as the climax of the prostitution, he himself, Duigenan, in his +capacity of Regins Professor of Civil Law, had officially presented +Blacquiere for the honour![26] + +Non-fellow, unlearned, and layman as he was, Hutchinson got the +Provostship, and he was not long in finding out that the constitution of +the college afforded a sphere for energy which precisely suited him. By +the "New Statutes," i.e., the Charter and Statutes drawn up by Archbishop +Laud, the Provost possessed, or was supposed traditionally to possess,[27] +almost absolutely, the management of the college estates, the disposal of +its revenues, the nomination of fellows and scholars, and the power of +rewarding and punishing fellows and scholars. The choice of parliamentary +representatives for the University rested--not as since the Reform Act, +with the registered Masters of Arts and Ex Scholars at large--with the +corporate body of the fellows and scholars for the time being, all of whom +were in a great degree subject to the statutable powers and underhand +influence of the Provost. The body consisted of twenty-two fellows and +seventy scholars. The College was the only asylum in the kingdom for +friendless merit, and Duigenan knew five contemporary bishops who had been +fellows.[28] All its usefulness and all its glories were swept away by the +appointment of "Mr."--for he would not call him Dr.--Hutchinson. + +Duigenan explains that it took five years' hard study to get a fellowship; +that the juniors were subject to incessant toil and irksome bondage as +tutors, and that their single compensating prospect was co-option. The +income of the juniors was only L40 a year, but the seniors at that time +handed over to them the pupils to help their scanty maintenances.[29] The +"Natives' Places" were held by Scholars who were Irish born, and who +succeeded to the Places by seniority and diligent attendance on college +duties. + +Sizarships were given by nomination, the Provost claiming eight +nominations to one of each of the senior fellows, the previous system of +election by examination having been superseded by Hutchinson. There was +not one of these departments in which, according to Duigenan, Provost Hely +Hutchinson did not traffic--and Duigenan's statements are borne out by the +evidence before the parliamentary committee.[30] It was the same with +"non-coing," i.e., allowing money in lieu of commons in the hall; the same +in the matter of chambers, the same in regard of leaves of absence, the +same in regard of fines, and the same in everything. In all these matters +benefits were given to those who would vote for the Provost's sons, and +rights were refused to those who would not so vote. The Fellows in those +days used to have to purchase their rooms from the college--they could be +compelled by the Provost to attend the lectures of the professors, and +Duigenan says that the Provost once ordered him to leave the law courts to +attend one of these lectures. Fellows had the right of visiting the +students' rooms--they used to chum together--they used to be allowed to +borrow money from the College, and under this arrangement Duigenan owed +L300, while Leland and others owed more. + +From the time of the "Glorious Revolution" none but Fellows had ever been +made Provosts, although during that period five Provosts had been +appointed. Dr. Andrew's Fellowship was a sort of excuse for appointing +him, although he was a layman; and Duigenan, in calculating the pecuniary +losses which he sustained through Hutchinson, intimates that a similar +dispensation might have been exercised towards himself if in due course he +had succeeded to his Senior Fellowship. These losses he sets down at +L3,000 actual, and L6,000 on the calculation of contingencies. The +Provostship was worth L2,100 a year, besides a splendid residence. A +Senior-Fellowship, we are told, was worth L700 a year; a +Junior-Fellowship, including pupils, L200; Scholars had free commons, and +there were thirty Native Places, with L20 a year each additional; the +Beadle of the University had L20 a year; the Porters L5 a year, with +clothes and food in the hall. On an average two Fellowships became vacant +every three years. All these particulars Duigenan gives, and they all are +made to serve as counts in his indictment of the Provost. + +Hutchinson had the College estates surveyed, and Duigenan makes a grievous +complaint of this proceeding. He says the survey cost the College two +thousand pounds, and that it was an iniquitous device for raising the +College rents upon improvements that had been effected by the tenants.[31] +He declares that from the rent-raising there resulted beggary, +discontent, and emigration. The renewal fines were divided into nine +parts, of which two went to the Provost, and one to each of the seven +seniors. In the year 1850, the fines were transferred to the College +account, and the Senior Fellows were compensated out of the "Cista +communis."[32] + +The "LACHRYMAE" tells how the Provost got the large old college plate +melted down, and turned into a modern service, destroying the engraved +coats-of-arms and names of the donors, at an expense to the college of +L400.[33] He soon after had it moved out to Palmerston House, and +Duigenan does not seem to feel at all sure about its honest return. Most +of the Fellows were in the Provost's power by being married, and Duigenan +says that he used the power tyrannically.[34] A Fellow going out on a +living was allowed only five months' benefit of salary.[35] + +Duigenan seems to hold the Provost responsible for the "mean and decayed" +condition of the chapel, and he more than once rails at him for being of +mean parentage.[36] He finds that since the time of Charles I. no +Provost, except Hutchinson and his predecessor, had ever sat in the House +of Commons. He is obliged to admit that Dr. Andrews' conduct in private +life was somewhat too loose and unguarded for a Provost; but still he was +better than Hutchinson, though he was told that the latter was a good +husband and father. Mr. Hutchinson might be a good husband and father, +"but no one would think the better of a wolf because the beast was kind to +its mate and cubs." Hutchinson had destroyed the seclusion and retirement +of the college by infesting its walks and gardens with his wife, adult +daughters, infant children with nurses and go-carts, and military officers +on prancing horses. He had endeavoured to institute a riding-school and a +professorship of horsemanship after the example of Oxford, and he had +desecrated the Convocation or Senate Hall by making it a fencing-school. +Duelling had become the fashion among the students under the influence of +the Provost's evil example, and the college park was made the ground for +pistol practice.[37] + +We are told further by Duigenan that the number of students then on the +college books was 598, of whom 228 were intern.[38] We see by the _Liber +Munerum Hiberniae_ that by 1792 the number of students had so much +increased, consequently on the liberal education spirit of Grattan's +parliament, that a King's Letter was obtained raising the quarterly +examination days from two to four. In the following year was the King's +Letter directing the admission of Catholics to degrees on taking the oath +of Abjuration and Allegiance, in accordance with the Act of the Irish +Parliament, and in 1794 appears the first "R. C." entry (Thomas +Fitzgerald, of Limerick) on the College Matriculation Books. From that +date onward the religious denomination of pupils has always been recorded. + +"PRANCERIANA," i.e., probably Duigenan, asserts that the Provost, on the +eve of the second election in which his son was returned, offered to +supply to a voter amongst the candidates for Fellowship a copy of the +questions which he was to give in Moral Science for the ensuing +examinations;[39] and Duigenan openly says that the Provost was determined +that no one should be elected a Scholar who would not previously promise +to vote as he should direct him. + +He kept an electioneering agent inside the walls, a spy and a +corrupter,--"in short, the Blacquiere of Mr. Hutchison." Duigenan gives a +long list of the Provost's insolences to himself and to other members of +the body. He resisted marriage dispensations to the Fellows who were his +opponents, while he procured them for his creatures--Leland and Dabzac. + +On the death of Shewbridge the Fellow, which was attributed to Hutchison's +refusing him leave to go to the country for change of air, the students +defied the Provost's order for a private interment at 6 o'clock in the +morning. They had the bell rung, had a night burial and a torchlight +procession, attended the funeral in mourning, and afterwards broke into +the Provost's house. + +In the first year of his office the Provost dispersed a meeting of the +Scholars and some of the Fellows that was held by advertisement at Ryan's +in Fownes-street, "the principal tavern in the city," for the purpose of +nominating candidates for the representation of the University against the +Provost's nominees. + +Duigenan goes on to relate how Hutchinson discharged the various duties of +the high office which he had acquired by the traffic above stated. He made +an exhibition of his ignorance at a Fellowship Examination by suggesting +that Alexander the Great died in the time of the Peloponessian War; but +ridiculous a figure as he made in the Scholarship and Fellowship +Examinations, he would not withdraw from them, because unless he examined +he could not vote or nominate at the election of the Scholars and Fellows. +This nomination power was with him a darling object in the execution of +his electioneering projects of making the College a family borough, and he +abstained from no methods to effectuate his scheme. + +We are told at length how the Provost, with the consent of a majority of +the Board, deprived Berwick of his Scholarship for absence, because +Berwick would not vote for his son, and how the Visitors, on appeal, +restored him.[40] How he deprived Mr. Gamble of the buttery clerkship, and +replaced him, on the threat of an appeal, suggested and drawn up by +Duigenan. How the Provost refused Mr. FitzGerald, a Fellow, leave to +accompany his sick wife to the country, and tried to provoke FitzGerald's +hot temper. The Provost's cruelties and injuries to Duigenan himself knew +no limits. He says, that for the purpose of keeping him from being +co-opted, the Provost had the Board Registry falsified, that he set the +porters to watch him, that he persecuted him, and mulcted him in the +buttery books, for sleeping out of college without leave. He relates that +he was attacked by the Provost's gang, and was obliged in consequence to +wear arms; and that, finally, Hutchinson compelled him to go out on the +Laws' Professorship on a salary which was raised to L460 a year.[41] + +The "Lachrymae Academicae" shows how Duigenan spent the leisure hours of his +enforced retirement. + +It was dedicated to King George III. Duigenan had "dragged this Cacus (the +Provost) from his den," and he appealed to the Duke of Gloucester as +Chancellor, and to the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin as Visitors, to +rescue the college out of the hands of this worse than Vandalic destroyer, +this molten calf, and pasteboard Goliath. As this remedy might fail, from +the uncertainty of all events in this world, Duigenan pointed out two +other remedies, the application of which lay with the King. One was to +have the Provost's patent voided by a _scire facias_, and the other was to +deprive him of all power, authority, or revenue in the college, during his +life. His authority was to be transferred to the Board, and his revenue to +be appropriated to pay for the new building. These suggestions were not +adopted, but the _Lachrymae_ did not by any means fall still-born from the +press. It produced a powerful sensation within the walls and in outer +circles. + +On the 19th of July it was censured by the Board in the following +resolution:-- + +"Whereas, a pamphlet hath lately been published in the city of Dublin, +with the title of "Lachrymae Academicae," to which the name of Patrick +Duigenan, LL.D., is prefixed as author, traducing the character of the +Right Honourable the Provost and some respectable Fellows of this society, +and misrepresenting and vilifying the conduct of the said Provost and +Fellows, and the government of the said college, without regard to truth +or decency. + +"Resolved by the Provost and Senior Fellows that the author and publishers +of the said pamphlet shall be prosecuted in the course of law, and that +orders to that purpose be given to the law agent of the college. + +"Ordered that the said resolution be published in the English and Irish +newspapers."--[_Extract from College Register, July 19, 1777._] + +The censure was officially published in the _Dublin Journal_, and in +_Saunders' News Letter_; whereupon Duigenan inserted in the _Freeman_ the +following advertisement:-- + +"Whereas, a false and malicious advertisement has been inserted in the +_Dublin Journal_, and in _Saunders' News Letter_, containing a resolution +of the Board of Trinity College, Dublin, relative to a book written and +published by me, entitled, 'Lachrymae Academicae; or, the present deplorable +state of the College of the Holy and undivided Trinity, of Queen +Elizabeth, near Dublin.' It is necessary to inform the public that the +said resolution was carried at the Board by the votes of Drs. Leland, +Dabzac, Wilson, and Forsayeth (the very same persons who voted for the +unstatutable deprivation of Mr. Berwick), against the opinions of Mr. +Clement, the Vice-Provost, of Dr. Murray, and Dr. Kearney. It is also +necessary to observe that three of these gentlemen who voted for the +above resolution are persons whom I have declared my intention, in my +book, of accusing, before the Visitors, of having committed unstatutable +crimes; which intention I shall most certainly execute.[42] And I do +hereby pledge myself to the public that I will effectually prosecute at +law every one of the junto for the said scurrilous advertisement, and the +resolution therein contained. + + "PAT. DUIGENAN, + +"Chancery Lane, July 21st, 1777." + +"N.B.--Dr. Murray signed the said advertisement officially as Registrar of +the College, who is obliged to sign resolutions of the majority of the +Board. He strenuously opposed the resolution therein contained, and the +insertion of it in the Public Prints." + +Besides these Board proceedings, the "Lachrymae" led to a plentiful crop of +litigation in the Courts. In Michaelmas Term, 1777, in the King's Bench, +Serjeant Wood moved for an information against Duigenan at the suit of the +Provost on account of the defamation in the "Lachrymae," and the +application was granted. The same time Barry Yelverton, on the part of Dr. +Arthur Browne, Fellow, and Member for the University, moved for an +information against the _Hibernian Journal_, and Fitzgibbon moved for +informations against two persons for challenging Duigenan. Applications +granted. + +In 1778 Counsellors Smith, Burgh, &c., showed cause on behalf of Dr. +Duigenan against making absolute the Rule for information against the +"Lachrymae," when Judge Robinson dismissed the case, saying that it had +already taken up fifteen days of the public time, and that he "left the +School to its own correctors."[43] + +In 1776, Duigenan insulted the Provost in the Four Courts, and the +Provost, disdaining Duigenan, called upon Tisdall to make him responsible +for his follower's conduct. He told Tisdall to consider that he had +insulted him with a view to provoke a challenge. This was the occasion on +which Duigenan threatened to bulge the Provost's eye. Tisdall at once +applied for an information against him in the King's Bench. Seventeen +counsel were engaged in the cause. + +Hutchinson argued his own case before the Court with consummate ability. +He delivered a most masterly speech, and offered an apology for calling +Tisdall an old scoundrel and an old rascal. He did not recollect having +used these expressions, but if he did use them, it was out of Court. He +referred pathetically to all the annoyance and ridicule that he was +undergoing by pamphlets and in the public press; and he excused his +appearing in his own defence by the circumstance that his lawyers were +harassed in attendance on the six different suits promoted against him on +very unaccountable motives. + +The Court of King's Bench made the rule against him absolute, but the +proceedings collapsed in consequence of Tisdall's death.[44] + +Duigenan says that Hutchinson was once publicly chastised by a gentleman +whom he had affronted, but we have no other account of the circumstance. +Duigenan makes out that he was a coward as well as a tyrant and impostor, +and he compares him to "Cacofogo," the usurer in Beaumont and Fletcher's +play. + +In 1789, the Provost supported Grattan in the Regency Bill, and in the +motions connected with it. For this he was liable to be dismissed from the +lucrative offices which he held under the Crown, and to save himself from +this penalty he signed the "Round Robin" of the twenty peers and +thirty-seven commoners who were in a similar predicament. This famous +instrument which was drawn up in the Provost's house, pledged the +co-signers to stand or fall together, and bound them as a body "to make +Government impossible" if the Viceroy, Lord Buckingham, were to venture to +punish any of them. Fitzgibbon, then Attorney-General, mercilessly crushed +and humbled the "Parliamentary Whiteboys;" he made the synagogue of Satan +come and worship before his feet,[45] and the most abject of the recreants +was the Provost.[46] + +To secure the control of the parliamentary representation of the +University was, as has been said, one of Hutchinson's dearest plans. The +pursuit of it led him, according to all accounts, into some of his most +dishonourable and vindictive actions, and after all he won but temporary +and chequered success in the ambitious experiment. In the prosecution of +these election aims, the Provost stuck at nothing. He had agents and +emissaries everywhere; and through them as well as by his own direct +efforts he instituted an all-pervading system of corruption. He knew how +to make subtle but palpable advances to the voters that were under his +eye, and to tamper at the same time with their friends and parents at a +distance. He ransacked every department of Academic life so as to be +expert at turning the whole system of collegiate rewards and punishments +into an organised instrumentality for bribery. All the emoluments, +rewards, and conveniences of the college were reserved for those who +promised their vote to the Provost, and all the obsolete and vexatious +disciplines were enforced against those who were disposed to assert their +independence in exercising the franchise. By an unscrupulous use of both +his patronage, and his powers as Returning Officer, he was enabled to get +two of his sons returned for the University, but he saw powerful and +damaging petitions against both of them. In 1776, he returned his eldest +son Richard against Tisdall, the Attorney-General. Tisdall lodged a +petition in June, which the House ordered to be considered in July, but +before that day the Parliament was prorogued, and did not meet again till +October in the following year. Meanwhile, Tisdall died; the petition was +moved by Madden and King, and ultimately, in March, 1778, the Select +Committee unseated Hutchinson. John Fitzgibbon conducted the petition, +and thereby established his position as a lawyer. He was elected for the +University in Hutchinson's room, and the foundation of his coming +greatness was laid.[47] + +Richard Hutchinson, it maybe observed, fell back on Sligo, to which he had +been elected at the same time that he was elected for the University, and +where he seems to have escaped another petition by choosing the University +constituency. In the debate as to whether a new writ should be issued for +Sligo, in 1778, the Provost took a forward part, and bewailed that he "was +forced to go there out of his sick bed to defend his son." The Gravamina +of the College petition of 1778 were almost identical with those of the +petition of 1790, and while Parliament was unseating the Provost's son, +the Court of Common Pleas was dealing with the Provost himself. The Rev. +Edward Berwick, whose case is related in the "Lachrymae," took an action +against the Returning Officer for refusing his vote. The Court, overruling +the Provost's objection, made an order that the Plaintiff should have +liberty to inspect all the College books that could be of use to him in +his suit. The verdict was against the defendant, without costs.[48] + +After the disastrous parliamentary petition of 1778, the Provost took no +family part in the College elections until the year 1790, when his second +son Francis was returned. His return led to a parliamentary inquiry; and +the case, which is fully reported, is a very interesting passage in the +history of the College and of Hutchinson.[49] + +The committee, consisting of fourteen members, besides the chairman, W. +Burston, Esq., was chosen on the 14th day of Feb., 1791, and on it sat, +amongst the others, the Hon. Arthur Wesley (Duke of Wellington), Right +Hon. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and Right Hon. Denis Daly. + +There were two petitions, one by Laurence Parsons, Esq., the defeated +candidate, and the other by some scholars and other electors of the +borough. The sitting member was the Hon. Francis Hely Hutchinson, and the +returning officer was his father the Provost. There was a powerful bar. +Beresford Burston, Michael Smith (afterwards Master of the Rolls), Peter +Burrowes, and William Conyngham Plunket, were for the petitioners; +Tankerville Chamberlain (afterwards Judge of the Queen's Bench), and Luke +Fox (afterwards judge), were for the sitting member; and Robert Boyd +(afterwards Judge of King's Bench), and Denis George, Recorder of Dublin +(and afterwards Baron of the Exchequer), were for the Provost. The total +constituency was 92, and out of these "84 and no more" tendered their +votes. Arthur Browne was returned at the head of the poll by 62 votes, +Parsons had 43, and Hutchinson 39. The Provost, on the scrutiny, reduced +Browne's votes to 51, Parsons' to 34, and his son's to 36, thus returning +his son by a majority of two over Parsons. Against this return the +petitioners set forth that the Provost received for his son the votes of +several persons who had no right to vote; that he refused for Parsons the +votes of several who were legally entitled to vote; that on the scrutiny, +he received illegal evidence; that he acted as agent for his son, and by +undue means procured votes for him; that he exerted his prerogative +antecedently to the election for the purpose of illegally influencing the +electors; and that by illegal and partial scrutiny he reduced the number +of the votes for Parsons below the number of the votes for his son. +Burston stated the case, and referred to the election of 1776, when the +Provost's eldest son was unseated for undue influence. He gave numerous +instances of the Provost's abuse of his powers in the matters of +"non-coing" and leaves of absence. He complained of his rejecting votes on +the ground of minority on the evidence chiefly of the Matriculation-book. +Amongst the witnesses examined were the Very Rev. Wensley Bond, Sch., +1761, Dean of Ross; G. Miller, Fellow (and afterwards Master of Armagh +Royal School); William Magee, Fellow and Junior Dean (and afterwards +Archbishop of Dublin); Toomy, a scholar (and afterwards Professor of +Medicine); Dr. Marsh, Fellow, and Registrar of the college; Whitly Stokes, +Fellow (and afterwards Professor of Physic), &c. &c. + +The examination of the witnesses brought out a great many curious and +interesting facts relative to college men and college administration a +hundred years ago. For instance, Mr. Fox, in arguing against the right of +Scholars, being minors, to vote, referred to the election of 1739, when +Alexander MacAulay, Dean Swift's nominee,[50] was elected against Philip +Tisdall; and when the election was set aside by the House of Commons on +account of the vote of Mr. Sullivan[51] (afterwards Professor of Laws), +who, being elected a Fellow at nineteen years of age in 1738, was a minor +when he voted. + +Plunket and Smith argued on the other side that Scholars, being minors, +were entitled to their votes, and that these votes were allowed in the +contested election of 1761, when Lord Clonmel ran French against the +Attorney General, Tisdall, on account of the latter's hesitancy about the +Octennial Bill. It was argued further that the Matriculation-book was not +legal evidence as to age, inasmuch as "boys without any sanction gave in +their ages older than they really were, from a desire to be thought men." +Finally, the committee resolved unanimously that Fellows and Scholars, +though minors, have a right to vote for members to represent the +University. + +Mr. Miller[52] deposed that he was applied to by the Provost for his vote, +and that he was offered a copy of the Provost's fellowship examination +questions in Morality,[53] "an advantage," said Burrowes, "which would +have made a docile parrot appear superior to Sir Isaac Newton." Three of +the senior fellows voted for Hutchinson at the election. Toomey, a +Scholar, was a Catholic, and refused to vote because the Junior Fellows +could prove that he was a Catholic, and would take his pupils from him. He +would not conform, although the Provost's eldest son pressed him, and told +him that his own ancestors were Catholics and had conformed, and that he +himself would be a Catholic if he lived in a Catholic country. Toomey knew +that Casey, a Scholar, was a Catholic, and that he was chapel roll-keeper, +attended college chapel twenty times a week, and partook of the +Sacrament. Toomey "did not vote at the election because his vote would be +of no use as he was a Roman Catholic."[54] James Hely, a Scholar, was a +Catholic in Limerick, and had conformed in St. Werburgh's Church, in +Dublin, to the Rev. Mr. L'Estrange, curate. The petitioners strove to +disqualify Hely "for Popery," but his conformity was admitted by the +committee. + +Mr. Graves, Fellow (afterwards Professor of Divinity and Dean of Ardagh), +had voted for Hutchinson, and he believed that the Provost did declare to +the Senior Fellows that he would nominate him to the Fellowship even +against the majority of the Board. Dr. Hales' pupils were worth L500 or +L600 a year to him;[55] and on his resignation the Provost claimed the +power of distributing his pupils amongst the other Fellows. Hales had +sixty or seventy pupils. Fellow-commoners paid L12, pensioners L6, per +annum. It was deposed by another witness that the Provost nominated Mr. +Ussher to a Fellowship in 1790--and it is so stated in the +Calendar--although he had but two votes amongst the Senior Fellows, and +those two were Drs. Kearney and Barrett. + +Mr. Magee, Junior Dean, stated, that after his election to Fellowship he +was desirous to go to the bar, and that the dispensation was prevented by +the Provost. Shortly before the election, however, the Provost offered to +obtain the dispensation for him, with commons money and the usual +allowance, if he would either vote for Hutchinson or go out of the way. +Magee declined both proposals, and lost the dispensation; but probably he +got on as well in the Church as he would have succeeded at the Bar. In the +course of Mr. Magee's examination the following passage occurred: +"Counsel--Is not Dr. Fitzgerald a warm man? Magee--There are other warm +men in college besides Dr. Fitzgerald. Counsel--I perceive there are." Mr. +Toomy, a Scholar of the house, acknowledged that he was a Catholic. He +told about "Regulators' Places" for Sizars, worth about L16 a year, and +about "Natives' Places" for Scholars worth the same, and the +electioneering use which the Provost made of these appointments. Mr. +Stordy, the college clerk, told a great deal about the system of +"non-coing." A Scholar's non-co was worth L16 a year, and a Fellow's was +worth, for one half year, 7s. 7d. a week, and for the other half, 8s. 6d. +a week, or about L21 a year. Dr. Marsh, Senior Fellow, was twice refused +leave of absence by the Provost. The Provost gave the Vice-Chancellor's +rooms to his own supporters. A Scholar could have leave for thirty-two +days, and a fellow for sixty-three.[56] By Yelverton's Act, Trinity +College students could be called to the bar three years before +non-graduates. + +Mr. Whitley Stokes, Fellow, gave instances of the Provost's partiality at +the election. + +Mr. Fox opened the case for the sitting Member, and maintained that there +was no instance of undue influence, and he was followed by Mr. Boyd on the +part of the Provost. Then Mr. Plunkett spoke to evidence, against the +Provost and the sitting Member. The Recorder replied for the Provost in +very eulogistic terms, mentioning his seven Under-Graduate premiums, his +college reforms, improvements, &c. He disparaged the made-up arithmetical +evidence of Miller and Magee, and was followed by Mr. Chamberlaine for the +sitting Member. Mr. Burrowes closed the argument in a very eloquent +speech, which was as severe on the Provost as the "Lachrymae" or +"Pranceriana" was. It is noticeable, by the way, that Duigenan took no +part in the petitions, and that he was neither employed in the case nor +even named in the examination. Burrowes said that Miller's rejection of +the Provost's offer of his questions was "a moral miracle." It was +Miller's third attempt for fellowship. + +Burrowes "lamented the necessity of the odious investigation which exposed +to public view the disgraceful and disastrous state of the +University--condoning the undue influence would make the college as +corrupt as any pot-walloping borough--the University would be shortly +depopulated, and its only remaining trace would be the octennial +convention of an unresisted Provost, and unresisting electors, to return +suitable representatives to Parliament, and celebrate the festival of +banished literature and vanquished public spirit. The decay of the +University in such an event, would be desirable; its honours ought to be a +brand of disgrace in society, and the contaminated Scholar ought to become +a despised and abandoned citizen." Burrowes was full of pride and loyalty +for the old place. He was himself an Ex-Scholar,[57] as were also amongst +the lawyers in the case Beresford Burston, Plunket, Smith, Fox, and Boyd; +and he was jealous for the honour of the Academic prize. "Some of the most +important officers in the state," he exclaimed, "are filled by men who +were Scholars of the University; in the learned professions the most +eminent men have in their youth been Scholars. The most respectable +divines, the most eminent lawyers, a considerable number of the Judges of +the land, have been Scholars. Every individual of the eight lawyers[58] +who appeared before this Committee have been Scholars of the +University."[59] Burrowes closed his speech:--"I sit down assured you +cannot pronounce the Honourable Francis Hely Hutchison to have been duly +elected." Forty-one witnesses were produced by the petitioners, of whom +ten were Fellows and thirteen Scholars. The Hutchisons produced six +witnesses--no Fellow, one Scholar, and a lady. + +The Committee sat from the 14th February to the 24th March, when, by a +majority of one, including the double vote of the chairman, it resolved +(Wellington and Lord E. Fitzgerald voting in the minority) "That the Hon. +Francis Hely Hutchinson had made use of no undue influence; that he was +duly elected a burgess to represent the University in the present +Parliament; and that the Provost, as Returning Officer of the University, +acted legally and impartially at and before the election." + +Perhaps the most significant fact evolved by the investigation was that +some of the Scholars were Catholics, the Statutes and the Anglican +Sacrament notwithstanding. There was no reserve in the statement, and no +remark on it was made by any member of Committee.[60] The point was not +brought forward in the petition, nor pressed by any of the Council, except +in the case of one Scholar, whose conformity was accepted by the +Committee. In fact the "Popery" seems to have been taken quite as an +understood thing,[61] and this coincides entirely with the famous +declaration of Fitzgibbon. In 1782, speaking on Gardiner's Bill, in the +Irish House of Commons, as Member for the University, he asserted that +"the University of Dublin was already open, by connivance, and that no +religious conformity was required." It is not easy to reconcile this with +the then existing regulations for students as well as for Scholars, and in +that debate the Provost did not speak exactly in this strain. On the +contrary, he lamented that the religious disabilities did exist, and he +was urgent for a King's Letter to give the Catholics equality in the +University, under a Theological Professor of their own.[62] + +That debate, it may be noticed, is memorable for the cordial and +consenting speeches of the Provost and of the two Members for the +University, Hussey Burgh and Fitzgibbon. They all were in favour of +Catholic relief, especially in the matter of education, and they all would +have opened the College freely and liberally to Catholics. It was in this +debate that Hussey Burgh protested against the Irish Bishops' practice of +ordaining men on Scotch degrees. The Provost warmly thanked Burgh for +sustaining the right and the dignity of the University. He said that the +number of yearly degrees had risen from 95 to 109, and that Trinity +College Graduates could be supplied for as many curacies as had the legal +allowance of L50 a year.[63] + +Plunket was very indignant at the miserable bribery and corruption that +were administered by the Provost, but he had not a word to say against the +deeper and wider corruption that was ingrained in the sectarian +exclusiveness of the constitution of the place. How could he say anything, +being himself in the same condemnation? He was the son of a Unitarian +minister;[64] and is said to have lived and died an Unitarian, and still +he was a Scholar of the House. + +In 1790, a very able pamphlet, suggested by Provost Hutchison's despotic +_regime_, was published anonymously, entitled: "An Inquiry how far the +Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, is invested with a negative on the +proceedings of the Senior Fellows by the Charter and Statutes of the +College." + +The pamphlet is traditionally ascribed to the Rev. G. Miller, F.T.C.D., +who gave such important evidence before the parliamentary committee; and, +substantially, it is based upon the arbitrary acts of the Provost, which +were brought out before the committee, and which are more fully stated in +the "Lachrymae" and "Pranceriana." + +The "Enquiry" asserts that the Provost claimed and exerted a negative upon +all Board proceedings; and that in the election of Fellows and Scholars he +had not only a negative but a final affirmative. The writer maintains that +this, although the traditional, was not the true sense of the Statutes; +and that by the Statutes the Provost had no greater power than the head of +any other Corporation. He argues very closely and clearly to this purpose +in regard of elections especially, from the grammatical meaning of "_una +cum_" and "_cum_;" and he shows that what the Statute requires is merely +the _presence_ of the Provost, and that then, like the rest, he is bound +by a majority decision. The writer is more subtle and less convincing in +his solution of the last clause of the statute beginning "_Quod si +primo_."[65] + +Mr. Miller submitted a statement of the case for legal opinion, and +obtained opinions supporting his own view from Sir William Scott (Lord +Stowel), Sir Michael Smith, (Baron of the Exchequer and Master of the +Rolls), Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough), Arthur Wolfe (Lord Kilwarden, Lord +Chief Justice), and others. + +The three questions were: (1) Had the Provost an absolute negative on +Board Proceedings? (2) Was he concluded by the concurring votes of five +Senior Fellows? (3) Could he nominate Fellows and Scholars to the +exclusion of a candidate by a majority of the electors? + +The first and third were answered in the negative; and the second in the +affirmative by all the lawyers.[66] + +While all these people were amusing themselves anatomising the Provost, he +was not by any means silent on his own side. Besides his speeches in +Parliament and his utterances at the Privy Council and at the Board, he +had recourse to the public press. He sent a vindication of himself to the +_Hibernian Journal_, which Duigenan says was the beginning of all the +writing. The Provost also published by Leathley, Bookseller to the +University, a pamphlet entitled, "Regulations made in Trinity College +since the appointment of the Provost," and "Pranceriana" says that the +unlucky pamphlet was withdrawn promptly after the attack made upon it in +the _Hibernian_. It was for this attack that the Provost had the editor of +the journal, Mr. James Mills, ducked under the College pump. This +smashing article is No. 27 in the "Pranceriana Collection," and it +certainly is a notable piece of criticism. It was attributed to the pen of +Malone, the editor of "Shakespeare." It is, perhaps, worth mentioning +here, that as the College Library was without a copy of the Provost's book +until the year 1853, so it was without a copy of "Pranceriana" until the +year 1880. _Trinitas incuriosa suorum!_ The copy of the "Pranceriana" in +the Library is the Second Edition, 1784, with the Appendix of 1776. + +All the foregoing testimonies are damaging to the Provost's memory; but it +is only fair to remember that all of them are the utterances of men who +were his envious and unscrupulous personal enemies. In some respects John +Hely Hutchinson was bad enough, but the most abiding charge against him is +that of greediness and place-traffic; and in this transgression it is +probable that he only sinned more deeply than most of the public men +around him. He certainly was audacious in his demands, but he was a king +in jobbery. What Duigenan does not at all account for is, how Hutchinson +was able to drive all these flourishing bargains, and to hold such high +place under various administrations and in the teeth of combining +rivalries--and still this is a circumstance that ought, biographically, to +be accounted for. The etiology is supplied in other contemporary sources, +written in a more discerning spirit--and it is this, that the Provost was +a man of immense ability, and of rare personal ascendency. He possessed, +moreover, in a signal degree, the undaunted personal courage which, as +mentioned further on,[67] was inherited by his sons and grandson; although +Duigenan, who was himself very much of the Bob Acre type, refuses him even +this credit, and mocks his sham duels.[68] He knew how to make himself +both dreaded and desired by the Government, for he could be either its +greatest help or its most formidable opponent. He knew the men he had to +deal with, and he dealt with them according to the knowledge. + +We have descriptions of the Provost in many contemporary works, and these +descriptions, while they make no secret of his rapacity, present a strong +reverse side to the "Pranceriana" picture.[69] + +Thus Hardy[70] says: "John Hely Hutchinson, father to the Earl of +Donoughmore and Lord Hutchinson, introduced a classical idiom into the +House of Commons. No member was ever more extolled than he was on his +first appearance there. He opposed Government on almost every question, +but his opposition was of no long continuance. As an orator his expression +was fluent, easy, and lively; his wit fertile and abundant; his invective +admirable, not so much from any particular energy of temperament or +diction, as from being always unclogged with anything superfluous, or +which could at all diminish the justness and brilliancy of its colouring. +It ran along with the feelings of the House and never went beyond them.... +The consequence of this assumed calmness was that he never was stopped.... +The members for a long time remembered his satire, and the objects of it +seldom forgave it.... In his personal contests with Mr. Flood (and in the +more early part of their parliamentary careers they were engaged in many) +he is supposed to have had the advantage.... To Flood's anger, Hutchinson +opposed the powers of ridicule; to his strength he opposed refinement; to +the weight of his oratory an easy, flexible ingenuity, nice +discrimination, and graceful appeal to the passions. As the debate ran +high, Flood's eloquence alternately displayed austere reasoning and +tempestuous reproof; its colours were chaste but gloomy; Hutchinson's, on +the contrary, were of 'those which April wears,' bright, various, and +transitory; but it was a vernal evening after a storm, and he was esteemed +the most successful because he was the most pleasing.... Mr. Gerrard +Hamilton (than whom a better judge of public speaking has seldom been +seen) observed that in his support of Government Hutchinson had always +something to say which gratified the House. 'He can go out in all +weathers, and as a debater is therefore inestimable.' He had attended much +to the stage, and in his younger days he lived on great habits of intimacy +with Quin, who admired his talents and improved his elocution.... He never +recommended a bad measure, nor appeared a champion for British interest in +preference to that of his own country. He was not awed into silence; he +supported the Octennial Bill, the Free Trade Bill, and the Catholic +Bill.... His acceptance of the Provostship of Trinity College was an +unwise step.... After a long enjoyment of parliamentary fame it was then +said that he was no speaker, and after the most lucrative practice at the +Bar that he was no lawyer.... His country thought far otherwise, and his +reputation as a man of genius, and an active, well-informed statesman, +remained undiminished to the last. He left the opposition in 1760, and +took the Prime Serjeancy.... In private life he was amiable, and in the +several duties of father and husband most exemplary. In 1789, on the +debate about the Prince of Wales's regency, Grattan opposing the +administration was supported with great ability by Hutchinson, then +Secretary of State. In the Lords, Lord Donoughmore took the same side. In +1792, in the debate on Langrishe's Bill for the restoration of the +elective franchise to Irish Catholics, Hutchinson's two sons (Francis +[?], afterwards Lord Donoughmore, and the one afterwards Lord Hutchinson) +voted in the minority with the patriots." + +The _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1794) says that he was a wondrously gifted man +and one of the most remarkable persons that this country ever produced. At +the same time it calls him a rank courtier, and recites most of the +"Pranceriana" and "Lachrymae" tattle against him. + +Grattan and Grattan's son held a very high opinion both of his genius and +of his fidelity to the interests of Ireland. Both of the Grattans, on the +other hand, had a horror of Duigenan, as a truculent and coarse vulgarian. +It is in Grattan's "Life" that we are told about Duigenan's threatening in +the Law Courts to "bulge the Provost's eye," and it is there that Curran's +epigram on Duigenan's oratory is preserved.[71] + +Grattan says that Hutchinson supported every honest measure--all the main +and essential ones, such as the Claim of Right, Free Trade, the Catholic +Bills, Reform, and the Pension Bill. "_He was the servant of many +governments, but he was an Irishman notwithstanding._" He possessed +greater power of satire than any man of his day, and Grattan quotes Horace +Walpole's anecdote about his habit of annoying Rigby and the Government +when he wanted to make himself disagreeable to them. At other times he was +immensely useful to the Government. Grattan considered that his chief +fault was want of openness and directness of character, together with love +of self-advancement. He was an enthusiastic admirer of Grattan, and took a +prominent part in demanding for him the national presentation in 1782. + +Taylor[72] says that Hutchinson was a very effective Provost, that he +restored the discipline of the place, and that to him the University owes +the improvement of the modern languages professorships. Taylor adds that +he was a man of an enlightened mind and extended views, and that it is +now admitted his views were consonant with the best principles of +education. + +Lord North knew Hutchinson's peculiarity well, and he said that "if +England and Ireland were given to him he would want the Isle of Man for a +potato garden." The Duke of Rutland, Lord Lieutenant here in 1784, formed +a similar estimate, when he wrote that "the Provost had always some object +in view, and that his objects were not generally marked with the character +of moderation and humility."[73] + +Dr. Wills[74] gives Provost Hely Hutchinson a very high place amongst the +eminent men of the country, and mentions his eloquence and college reforms +as well as his greed. + +Even Mr. Froude,[75] who vastly dislikes himself and his sons, is +constrained to call him the "able and brilliant Hely Hutchinson," and to +tell of his "meridian splendour." He quotes Lord Lieutenant Townshend's +statement that he was "the most popular man in parliament to conduct a +debate." + +The famous Colonel Isaac Barre,[76] who, as he got Scholarship in 1744, +was a college class-fellow of Hutchinson, gives the following description +of him in 1768:--"When the Army Augmentation Bill was introduced by Tom +Connoly, it was opposed by Sexten Pery on constitutional grounds, and by +the Attorney General (Tisdall) on grounds that left him free to support +the Bill afterwards if it were his interest to do so.[77] + +"The Prime Serjeant (Hutchinson)" says Barre "was not so prudent[78] (as +Tisdall), and opposed it in a long, languid speech, full of false +calculations; among the rest this curious one, that adding L40,000 per +annum to the national expense was, in fact, adding a million to its debt, +and that the nation, in the next session, would be L1,800,000 in debt. If +all this is true, how will he have the impudence to support this measure +hereafter? But, indeed, he has contradicted himself three or four times in +the course of this session upon this subject.[79] He talks now of being +dismissed. His profit by his employment is trifling, not above three or +four hundred a year.[80] + +"He is personally disliked, a mean gambler--not one great point in +him--and exceedingly unpopular in this country. I must tell you a short +anecdote which put him very much out of temper. The day after the first +division he came to Council in a hackney chair, which happened, +unluckily, to be No. 108 (the number of the majority). A young officer at +the Castle wrote under the number of the chair, "COURT" in large +characters, and at the top a coronet was drawn.[81] + +"He denied positively in the beginning of his speech, any bargain or terms +proposed by him at the Castle, but was not believed.... As far as I am +able to judge," continues Barre, "this country is manageable easily +enough. The prevailing faction exists only by your want of system in +England. They have no abilities, and their present and only friend, +Hutchinson (for Tisdall is quite broken), cannot be depended on for a +moment." + +In the last volume (vol. viii.) of the "Historical Manuscripts Report" we +find some very interesting mentions of Hutchinson in the letters that +passed between "Single Speech" Hamilton and Edmund Sexten Pery. Both of +these eminent men entertained a high opinion of, and a sincere personal +regard for, the Provost. In 1771, Hamilton, who was Chancellor of the +Irish Exchequer, and had been Chief Secretary to two Lord Lieutenants +(Lords Halifax and Northumberland) wrote to Pery, the Speaker[82] of the +House:--"As long as you and Andrews and Hutchinson are in being and +business, Ireland will never want attractions sufficient to make me prefer +it to a situation of 'more splendour and greater influence.'" + +Two years later, Hamilton wrote to Pery about the collapse of the +negotiations for his resigning the Exchequer Chancellorship in +Hutchinson's favour, and begged that Hutchinson would not again require +him to sacrifice his own solid and substantial interests. Another letter, +dated 1779, says that Flood was eagerly canvassing for the post, and that +Hutchinson was discontented. The Chancellorship was not given to either of +the rivals--it was given to Foster, who was afterwards Speaker; and +Hutchinson accordingly failed to score a second triumph over "the +generous-minded, ornamental, sonorous-voiced Henry Flood, who was +eclipsing his meridian splendour."[83] + +In 1777 the Corporation of Dublin petitioned the Provost and Board for a +free education for the son of the deceased patriot, Dr. Lucas. The College +authorities responded in a literal spirit, and generously granted to the +lad not only a remission of fees, but free rooms and free commons as +well.[84] + +In 1779, were published the "Commercial Restraints," which in its original +shape was, a contribution to Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire as to the +best method of extricating the country from its discontent and troubles. +Froude says (vol. ii., p. 223), that it was the most important of all the +opinions gathered by the Viceroy, and that it earned Hutchinson's pardon +from Irish patriotism for his subserviency to the Court and Lord +Townshend. The work is an extremely able review of the whole history and +condition of our native Irish trade and industries, and it is as loyal in +its nationality as it is able. It is the only specimen we have to show us +the Provost as a writer and as an economist, and it certainly secures him +a high place in these two estimates. + +In this aspect the work possesses a great biographical value, inasmuch as +it serves to complete the likeness of the Provost, and the complement +which it supplies falls in line with the best features of the original. +Although his sentences are often slovenly and sometimes ungrammatical, he +could write forcibly and clearly, as well as speak persuasively and +rhetorically; he could make facts and figures deliver their lesson; he +could summon up the ghost of the past to illustrate and enforce the duties +of the present; he could enwrap a message of peace in a mantle of warning; +and when no selfish interest intervened he could fling his sword into the +scale that was freighted with his country's welfare. + +During Hutchinson's Provostship His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, Lord +Buckinghamshire, went in state to the University, and was received at the +entrance of the Old Hall by the Provost and Fellows. At his entrance, Dr. +Kearney made an eloquent oration; at the printing office, where H. E. was +entertained with a view of the artists, another oration was delivered by +Mr. Hutchinson, youngest (?) son of the Provost; at the Anatomy and +Philosophical Rooms addresses were delivered by the Hon. Dr. Decourcy, son +of Lord Kinsale, and the Hon. Mr. Jones, son of Lord Ranelagh. Thence he +went to the Library, where an excellent oration was made by Dr. Leland, +the Librarian, Orator, and Professor. H. E. afterwards dined in the New +Hall with the Provost and Fellows, and numbers of the nobility and +gentry. The elegance of the entertainment cannot be described, and is +imagined to stand the College in no less than L700.[85] + +In 1791 a Visitation by Lord Chancellor Lord Clare as Vice-Chancellor, and +Dr. Fowler, Archbishop of Dublin, was held in the New Theatre, at the +instance of the Provost, in reference to the complaint of Mr. Allen of +having been unjustly kept out of Fellowship in 1790. The Visitors ruled +that the question was not open to discussion, in consequence of the length +of time which had elapsed. The Provost then brought forward his claim to +the negative power over the proceedings of the Board, and was replied to +by Drs. Kearney and Brown. The Provost argued from the Statutes and +especially from the _Una cum Praeposito_ clauses, and spoke for three hours +and a half with great ability. Mr. Miller spoke on behalf of the Junior +Fellows, touching their right to retain the emoluments of their pupils +when they went out on livings. Miller was rebuked by the Chancellor for +accusing the Provost of wanting to turn the disposal of pupils into a +matter of patronage. The Rev. Mr. Burrowes and Mr. Magee spoke on the same +side. Magee was personal, and on the Provost's protest the Chancellor +stopped him. The Visitors declined to decide whether the Provost has an +arbitrary election negative at the election of Fellows and Scholars; they +ruled that the Provost has the power of disposing of pupils; and that he +is bound by the majority of the Board. The Lord Chancellor bewailed the +internal dissensions, alluded to his "own education in the College, and +declared that there was not another University in Europe better +calculated for the great purposes of promoting virtue and learning." The +Visitation lasted three days. + +In 1792, Hutchinson saw the Gardiner-Hobart Catholic Relief Bill carried, +and three days after, the 26th of February, he saw the House of Parliament +burned. On the 1st of March following Sir John Blacquiere repaid the +University for its honorary degree by moving the thanks of the house to +the College students for their spirited exertions in extinguishing the +fire; and by suggesting that in acknowledgment of the daring bravery of +the youths their old privilege of right of admission to the gallery should +be restored to them. Mr. Hutchinson, the Member for the University, +acknowledged the compliment with becoming pride and dignity. The Provost's +last reported appearance in parliament was on the 6th of July, 1793, when +he spoke in support of the Bill for the Charitable Musical Society. In the +previous month, on one of the Militia Bills, he defended his son Francis +from a rebuke of Mr. Secretary Hobart, though he voted against the son. + +In that his last session, he saw carried--and along with Grattan, Forbes, +Yelverton, Gardiner, and the other Liberals helped to carry--the Place, +Pensions, Barren Land, and India Trade Acts. He introduced the bills for +the Parliament grant of L1,300 to establish the College Botanical Gardens, +and he earnestly supported Knox's Bill for admitting Catholics to +Parliament. + +He presided at the Board of Trinity College for the last time on the 25th +of August this same year. His health was giving way, and his old enemy, +the gout, was prevailing against him. + +In the political side of his career Hutchinson saw a wondrous change in +the meaning and method of Irish parliamentary life. When he began (1759) +to take part in public affairs, the Irish parliament was at about its +lowest level of degradation. Having been abolished by Cromwell and +re-created by Charles II., it had become from the time of the Restoration +little else than an office for registering and levying the English orders +for pensions and salaries, and for passing the Money Bills. Poyning's Act +and the 6th of George I. were in such active operation that the Government +asserted the power of originating and altering the Money Bills, and that +Anthony Malone was dismissed first from the Prime Serjeancy and later from +the Exchequer Chancellorship for denying his right. A few years later, +Lord Lieutenant Townshend, came over here for the express purpose of +smashing the Irish Junto, and he smashed it by the simple process of +taking the bribery into his own hands,[87] and making it, what Sir Arthur +Wellesley[88] forty years after found it, an English state department.[89] +He was so indignant with the Commons for rejecting an altered Money Bill +that he entered a protest on the Lords' Journal and prorogued the +Parliament.[90] Down to Hutchinson's time the Lord Lieutenants were +absentees, and the Lords Justices were the centre of the Junto of +"Undertakers" who undertook to the English Government to manage business +here--i.e. "their own business"--on their own conditions. In the National +Senate there was no national or intellectual life, and scarcely a name has +survived in history. + +There are no Reports of debates until the year 1781; for over 50 years +scarcely a single important measure was passed;[91] place holders in +parliament were multiplied, and the pension and salary lists increased in +proportion.[92] To lessen the balance available for this bribery, the +surplus revenue was expended in local and private jobs.[93] The Mutiny Act +was perpetual; parliaments ran for the monarch's life, judges held at +pleasure, Catholics were debarred the franchise and education; Anglican +State Protestantism was built up by cruelty and crime, complaints of +grievances were met by commendations of the Charter Schools, and the +trade and industries of the country were suffered, without remonstrance, +to lie strangled under the jealous and grasping commercial restraints +imposed by the English Parliament. + +All these things Hely Hutchinson saw when he first looked out on the field +of Irish administration; and before he died he saw most of these +reproaches swept away by the operation of the courage, and intellect, and +vigour which, contemporaneously with himself, found their way into the +Commons House. Sexten Pery was a few years before him, and "Sexten Pery," +says Grattan, "was the original fountain of all the good that befell +Ireland." Flood entered parliament the same year as Hutchinson, Hussey +Burgh, and Gardiner a few years later, and then came Yelverton and +Grattan, and by the power of these resolute anti-Englishers the face of +the country was changed. They found Ireland a child, and they watched her +growth from infancy to arms, and from arms to liberty. They led the +Volunteers to victory, and wrung back a portion of the people's rights +from the frightened oppressor.[94] + +To this change Hutchinson directly, and still more indirectly, +contributed. He quickened the parliamentary tone, and lifted its level. He +was the father of the cultivated style of oratory which henceforward +characterised the debates; he was the best debater in the house, and, +after Grattan, the finest speaker. He could patriotise, and he could +philippise; and whether he patriotised or philippised, he did it +formidably and efficiently. He was venal, but he feared no man's face; he +was a ready-money voter, but he could go out in all weathers. He +trafficked, without satiety, in patents and sinecures for himself and his +sons, but he insisted on Free Trade for Ireland.[95] + +Take him for all in all, and the first John Hely Hutchinson certainly +presents a very rare combination of striking features. He was a +representative man of a remarkable age, and he sprung out of the +conditions of a period which he very much helped to mould. He was endowed +with leading abilities, and was disfigured by hideous blemishes. From an +humble start in life he made his way to the high places of the field, and, +without any surroundings, he raised himself to be a living power in the +State. He was mighty in speech, in courage, in council, and in +achievement; and he could be craven, vindictive, corrupting, and paltry. +In invective he was unequalled; and he was more sorely scorched by +ridicule and rebuke than any man of his day. He lived in perpetual +discords and in endless schemes, and the success which, in the main, +followed him was chequered by bitter defeats and mortifications. He +enjoyed a splendid fortune, maintained a lordly style, and wielded vast +influence, and not a single generous action is recorded of him. Negligent +of learning, he became the head of the University in one of its periods of +peculiar brilliancy, and, having for twenty years drawn its revenues and +exploited its resources, he is not named in its list of benefactors. He +reared a numerous, affectionate, gifted, and successful family, and he +founded a peerage.[96] + +However unprincipled Hutchinson was in his bargainings with the Castle, he +was often sound and straight on national and Catholic questions. He was an +enthusiastic admirer of Grattan, and, on essential matters touching the +interests and dignity of the country, he gave Grattan a cordial and +effective support. The proudest passage in his life was the day (16th +April, 1782) when, as Principal Secretary of State, he read out to the +Irish Parliament the king's message, practically conceding +independence.[97] There is not in Anglo-Irish history another event of +equal grandeur; and Hely Hutchinson's Provostship for ever and inseparably +connects the College with the climax of a triumph over English arrogance +and obstinacy which, in the main, was won by a phalanx of her own sons +when the prince of all the land led them on.[98] + + * * * * * + +The Will of "John Hely Hutchinson, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of +State," made in 1788--proved and probate granted in November, 1794, by the +Right Worshipful Patrick Duigenan, Doctor of Laws, Commissary, and so +forth, is in the Public Record Office. + +There are seven codicils of various dates, down to the year of the +Provost's death. He says that no man ever had better or more dutiful and +affectionate children--God bless them all--and amongst them he left L5,000 +to each of his two eldest daughters, with 5 per cent. interest, and L4,000 +to each of the two younger. He left L5,000 to his son Francis, as engaged +at the time of his marriage, and to his sons John, Abraham, Christopher, +and Lorenzo L4,000 each; L500 to Jane, eldest daughter of his worthy +friend, Dr. Wilson. If any children should die before 21, or marriage, +their share was to go amongst the younger children, but so as no younger +child was to have more than L5,000 on the whole. All his real and personal +estate,[99] subject to the foregoing legacies, he left to his +dearly-beloved son, Lord Donoughmore, his sole executor. He was to raise +the portions of the two younger daughters to L5,000, if the estate could +afford it. His office in the Port of Strangford he considered part of his +personal estate, having purchased it with the knowledge and at the desire +of the Irish Government;[100] and he included it in the bequest to Lord +Donoughmore for the lives in being. In a codicil (1789) he bequeathed L200 +each to John, and to Abraham and Christopher while they shall continue at +the Temple. Later codicils mention that some of these sums had been paid +in full, and the legacies were accordingly revoked. He left his books on +Morality, Divinity, and Poetry to Abraham, the law books to Francis, and +the rest of his books to John. In a codicil of 1794, he left to Abraham +"whose health is delicate," L100 a year till he shall obtain a net income +of L200 yearly by some ecclesiastical preferment, this being in addition +to the former legacy.[101] To his butler he left L20 a year, and to +another servant L20. He desired his manuscript essay towards a history of +the College[102] to be published, being first perused by his son, Lord +Donoughmore.[103] He directed his body to be opened, and to be laid by his +late dear wife. + + * * * * * + +The following Will which laid the foundation of the fortunes of the family +is also in the Public Record Office:-- + +"The last Will and Testament of Richard Hutchinson of Knocklofty, in the +county of Tipperary, Esq. Whereas I have this day executed a deed, whereby +it appears that there are several sums now affecting my estate, and +amounting in the whole to the sum of ten thousand nine hundred and +fifty-two pounds four shillings and a farthing; and whereas Ann Mauzy, +widow, and Lewis Mauzy, her son, have agreed to accept the sum of four +thousand pounds in lieu of all their claims and demands. Now it is my will +that such personal fortune as I now, or at the time of my death shall be +possessed of shall be applied, in the first place, towards paying and +discharging such sums of money as John Hely Hutchinson, Esq., shall think +proper to pay the said Ann Mauzy, provided the same does not exceed the +said sum of four thousand pounds; and the rest and residue of my personal +estate and fortune if anything shall remain, I bequeath to my beloved +niece, Christian Hely Hutchinson. + +"Witness my hand and seal, this fourth day of August, one thousand seven +hundred and fifty-seven. + +"RICHARD HUTCHINSON." + + + + +NOTES. + + +NOTE A. Page x. + +THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY. + +The Provost left six sons and four daughters. Five of the sons took +degrees in the University, viz.:-- + +Richard Hely--on an Oxford Ad Eundem--B.A. 1775, M.A. 1780, LL.B. and +LL.D. 1780. + +Francis Hely--B.A. 1779, M.A. 1783. + +Christopher Hely--B.A. 1788. + +Abraham Hely--B.A. 1788, M.A. 1791; and Lorenzo Hely--B.A. 1790. + +RICHARD HELY, the eldest son, and the first Lord Donoughmore, was a +Commissioner of Accounts, Second Remembrancer, Chief Commissioner of +Excise, Commissioner of Customs, Commissioner of Stamps, and +Postmaster-General. + +In 1776, he was elected simultaneously representative for Sligo and for +the University (against the Attorney-General, Philip Tisdall), and chose +the latter. He was unseated by parliamentary committee as not duly +elected; and, in 1777, he was re-elected for Sligo without a new writ. In +the University he was replaced by John Fitzgibbon (Earl of Clare). In 1783 +he was M.P. for Taghmon. In 1788, he succeeded to the title, on the death +of his mother, and served in the Upper House, while his father and his two +brothers were in the Commons. In 1794, according to the custom of the +times, he raised a regiment, and got the command of it for his celebrated +brother John. + +FRANCIS HELY was returned for the University in the election of 1790. In +the following year took place the celebrated petition against his return, +which is related in page xlii, &c. In 1799, he was member for Naas, and +was re-elected in 1800, on having been appointed to the office of +collector for the Port of Dublin. In 1792, on the debate on receiving the +Catholic petition in connection with Langrishe's Bill for giving, or +giving back, the franchise, &c., to the Catholics, Mr. Froude says that: +"Francis Hutchinson, the Provost's second son, soared into nationalist +rhetoric. 'When the pride of Britain was humbled in the dust,' he said, +'her enemies led captive the brightest jewel of the imperial crown torn +from her diadem, at the moment when the combined fleets of the two great +Catholic powers of Europe threatened a descent upon our coasts, from whom +did we derive our protection then?'... 'We found it in the support of +three millions of our fellow-citizens, in the spirit of our national +character--in the virtue of our Catholic brethren.' The motion for the +petition was lost by 208 votes to 23, and Langrishe's Bill was +carried."--[_English in Ireland_, vol. iii., p. 53.] + +Sir Jonah Barrington, in his "Personal Sketches." tells of the duel which +Francis had at Donnybrook with Lord Mountmorris in 1798, in which his +lordship was wounded. + +CHRISTOPHER HELY was called to the Bar, but never much relished the +profession, being altogether of a military turn. In 1795 he was elected +member for Taghmon, county Wexford, in the Irish parliament on his +father's death; and after the Union he represented Cork city in the +Imperial parliament. He was Escheator of the Province of Munster. He was +an earnest champion of the Catholic claims, as were also his father and +brothers; he was a thorough supporter of the liberal policy of Lord +Lieutenant Fitzwilliam; he mistrusted Lord Lieutenant Camden and Pitt, and +he opposed the Union scheme. He is, however, far more celebrated as a +soldier than as a lawyer or politician, and in 1796 he resigned his seat. +He adored his brother John, rivalled his brilliant courage, and served +under him and with him at home and abroad with great distinction. He +joined him in Ireland as a volunteer on the breaking out of the +disturbances in 1798; but both of the brothers speedily got disgusted with +the odious work, as did Cornwallis, and Moore, and Abercrombie, and Lake, +and every other high-minded soldier, including Colin Campbell, afterwards +in the tithe war. John soon got ordered off to Flanders, under +Abercrombie, to fight the French; and thither Christopher followed him, +and was wounded at the battle of Alkmar. Christopher followed John also to +Egypt, and afterwards on his mission to St. Petersburgh, and to Berlin. +Christopher, on his own account, fought in the Russian ranks against the +French, and was badly wounded by Benningsen's side at the battle of Eylau, +in 1807. He fought also at the battle of Friedland. He died at Hampsted in +1825--[_Suppl. Biog. Univer._] It is worth noticing that this invaluable +biographical dictionary makes a mistake in regard of the Castlebar battle +in 1798, and a mistake of a kind that is not usual in French historians in +affairs that concern the military glory of France. At Castlebar the French +were victorious, and the Hutchinsons and the English troops were defeated +disgracefully. The _Biog. Univer._, however, under "_Christophe Elie +Hutchinson Cinquieme fils de Jean Elie Hutchinson, Prevot de l'Universite +de Dublin_," says: "_Il eut part a l'affaire de Castlebar et fit +prisonniers les deux Generaux Francais Lafontaine et Sorrazin au moment ou +environne par leur corps il se croyait et devoit se croire perdu, et +s'acquit ainsi l'estime de General en Chef Lord Cornwallis_." The writer +confounds Castlebar with Ballinamuck. + +ABRAHAM HELY was Commissioner of Customs, and Port duties, according to +the Lib. Mun. and Sir Bernard Burke; and a clergyman, according to his +father's will. + +Lorenzo Hely took Holy Orders. + +Besides these five the Provost had a son--his second born-- + +JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, the most distinguished of all. He was born in 1757, +and entered the army in 1774, the year in which his father was made +Provost. In 1789 he became M.P. for Taghmon, county Wexford, on his +brother Richard's call to the upper house, and in 1790 he became member +for Cork city (the father going to Taghmon), and continued so until the +Union. In 1792, in the debate on receiving the Catholic Petition, +"Prominent amongst their (Catholic) champions was Colonel Hutchinson, the +Provost's son, who inherited his father's eloquence without his +shrewdness. He talked the Liberal cant of the day, which may be compared +instructively with the modern Papal syllabus."--[_Froude_, vol. iii., p. +53.] + +Mr. Froude cannot have read this speech. It is a fervid denunciation of +the penal laws, and of their cruelties and mischief; and it does not "talk +either Liberal cant or Papal syllabus." Colonel Hutchinson's two speeches +on the Petition and on Langrishe's Bill, even as summarised in the Irish +Parliamentary Report, are enlightened, able, and eloquent oratory. He was +for complete emancipation. His liberal address to the Cork constituency, +in 1796, is given by Plowden. + +Hutchinson was an enthusiastic admirer of Lafayette, and of his ardent +principles of popular liberty. When in Paris he attached himself closely +to the general, and served on his personal staff. + +During the troubles of 1798 he was employed here at the head of his +brother's regiment, under Abercrombie. He sat in the Irish parliament in +1800, and voted for the Union!--[_Webb, and Barrington's "Black List."_] + +He commanded against the French at Castlebar, and he shared in the +humiliating defeat which Humbert's handful of men, supported by a body of +Irish peasantry, inflicted on the royal army. Hutchinson was unable to +stay the panic. His troops, which had signalised and enervated themselves +by their licentious brutalities on a defenceless population, broke and +fled--as Abercrombie foretold they would do--before the enemy. Their rout +was as complete as it was disgraceful, and the barbarities which they +committed on their retreat were diabolical. Hutchinson afterwards had the +satisfaction of taking part in the affair at Ballinamuck, county Longford, +where the French, including Generals Humbert, Sorrazin, and La Fontaine, +laid down their arms.--[_Cornwallis's Correspondence_, vol. ii., p. 396; +_Knight's History of England_, vol. vii., p. 367; _Haverty's History of +Ireland_, p. 760; _and Bishop Stock's Narrative of Killala_.] + +Hutchinson left the sickening Irish scenes, along with Abercrombie, for +Flanders, in the Duke of York's expedition. After that he accompanied +Abercrombie to Egypt as second in command, and on his death at Aboukir he +succeeded as chief. He was reinforced from home, and by Sir David Baird's +expeditionary contingent from India, took Alexandria and Cairo, and drove +Menou and the French out of Egypt. For these distinguished achievements he +was created Lord Hutchinson of Alexandria and Knocklofty; and, +notwithstanding these achievements, he was never again employed in war +service by the English Government. He made no secret of his anti-Toryism, +and this was enough to ensure his rejection by a Government that selected +the Chathams and Burrards. Lord Hutchinson was afterwards employed on some +high diplomatic commissions at St. Petersburg and Berlin, and in these his +independence of judgment was not altogether palatable to the London +authorities. In 1825, on the death of his eldest brother, he succeeded to +the Donoughmore title and estates, which, on his death without issue, in +1832, passed to his nephew, the third peer, better known as "Lavalette +Hutchinson." + +This JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, the third of the name, was born in Wexford, in +1788. Having served through the Waterloo campaign, he was, on the allied +occupation of Paris, in 1815, quartered there as Captain of the First +Regiment of Grenadiers of the Guards. While there, in 1816, he, together +with Lieutenant Bruce of his own regiment, and the celebrated Sir R. +Wilson, effected Lavalette's escape from France, after his deliverance +from the Conciergerie by the romantic devotion and bravery of his wife. + +The three friends were prosecuted in Paris for this violation of the law. +They declined to insist on their right of having half the jury English, +and trusted themselves entirely to the honour of the Frenchmen. They +admitted what was charged against them, and were condemned in the mild +sentence of three months' imprisonment, and the costs of the prosecution. +Captain Hutchinson, on the trial, told how he had lodged Lavalette in his +own chambers for one night, supplied him with an English officer's costume +from a Paris tailor, procured passes, and on horseback escorted to the +frontier Lavalette, who was in a carriage with Wilson. He was willing to +give a distinct answer to any fair question about himself, but he +peremptorily refused to say anything that would compromise anyone else. He +declared that there was not a particle of political animus in the +adventure. The French historians tell how the chivalrous young Irishman's +exploit was applauded by the whole nation, and how, on the trial, his +manly and gracious bearing captured the court, which had to find him +guilty of the deed that he acknowledged and related. Sir R. Wilson had +been aide-de-camp to Hutchinson's uncle the general. [_Biog. des Contemp. +and The Accusation, Examination, and Trial of Wilson, Hutchinson, and +Bruce._] + +Captain Hutchinson succeeded to the title in 1832. He lived and died at +Palmerston, and in Chapelizod church a memorial tablet is erected to him, +with the following inscription:--"Sacred to the memory of John Hely +Hutchinson, third Earl of Donoughmore, Knight of St. Patrick, Lord +Lieutenant of the county of Tipperary, and a Privy Councillor, having +served his country in the Peninsular War and the Senate; and his country +in troublous times. He died on the 12th of September, 1851, in the 64th +year of his age, loved, respected, and regretted by all who knew him. This +tablet has been erected in the church where he usually worshipped to +record his many virtues by his widow." + +In Chapelizod churchyard there is a tombstone inscribed: "Beneath this +stone rest the earthly remains of Mrs. Hely Hutchinson; departed this life +1st June, 1830, aged 72 years. + +Between the Provost and his four sons they represented, for over 40 years, +11 constituencies, and besides this, one was in the Irish and English, and +another in the English House of Lords. + +The names of the Provost and of his son Richard are on the roll of the +Irish M.P.'s (1783-90) which Dr. Ingram has had framed and hung up in the +Fagel wing of the College Library. + +The present Lord Donoughmore, who is sixth in descent from the Provost, +was one of the European Commission for organising Eastern Roumelia under +the Berlin Treaty, and he is also the originator of the Lords' Committee +of inquiry on the Irish Land Act. His lordship's father, in 1854, moved +the second reading of Lord Dufferin's Liberal "Leasing Powers, and +Landlord and Tenant Bills;" and in 1865 he made an able speech in the +House of Lords on the grievances of the officers of the East India +Company's army. He had previously served as a soldier with distinction in +the East, and was always listened to with deserved attention by the +peers.--[_Lord Dufferin's Speeches and Addresses._] + + +NOTE B. Page xxi. + +DR. LELAND. + +DUIGENAN'S disparaging mention of Dr. Leland is one of the most spiteful +and unjust of his utterances. There does not seem to be any proof that +Leland was guilty of any Academic disloyalty in being or becoming friendly +to the Provost, and outside this indictment the celebrity of his varied +intellectual distinctions added greatly to the lustre and dignity of the +College. He was probably the best classical scholar of the country; he was +an eloquent and popular preacher, constantly advocating the charities of +the city, and although he did not contribute to either _Baratariana_ or +_Pranceriana_ he was the most learned Irish author of the period. Dr. +Thomas Leland was born in Dublin in 1722, and was educated in Sheridan's +famous school in Capel-street. He entered College in 1737, got Scholarship +in 1741, and Fellowship in 1746. In 1746 he was appointed Southwell +lecturer in St. Werburgh's Church. He was Erasmus Smith Professor of +Oratory and Modern History in the University, Librarian, Chaplain to Lord +Lieutenant Townshend, Prebendary of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Rector of +Rathmichael, which living he exchanged for St. Anne's, Dublin, with the +Vicar, Dr. Benjamin Domville Barrington. In 1781 he resigned his Senior +Fellowship and retired on Ardstraw, which he held by dispensation along +with St. Anne's until his death, in 1785. He was a vehement opposer of +pluralists until he became himself a pluralist. He published a +"Translation of Demosthenes," "The History of Philip of Macedon," and "The +History of Ireland" in three volumes, quarto. This last-named history is +really a work of very superior merit. Leland supported the English in the +spirit of Primate Boulter; and like Delany, he may have hunted for a +bishopric from the English Government; but as a historian, he gave an +honest and able record. No one need set out more fairly and forcibly the +rapacity of our Irish Reformationists, the frauds of Strafford, and the +barbarities of Cromwell. His book was furthermore quite a novelty in +regard of fresh material, and would be almost worth re-editing. After +Leland's death three volumes of his sermons were published, by +subscription, by M'Kenzie of Dame-street, and the list of subscribers +contains the names of Provost Hutchinson, the Vice-Provost, many of the +Fellows, the Library, bishops, judges, peers, members of parliament, and +most of the celebrities of the day, but it does not contain the name of +Patrick Duigenan. + +Concerning the "History of Ireland," Leland's greatest work, we see by the +recently-issued Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, that it was +Charles O'Connor of Belanagare, the then most capable recordist of +Ireland, who moved him (1767) to undertake it "because he has abilities +and philosophy equal to the task." O'Connor writes again, that "we +undoubtedly have [in Trinity College Library], by Dr. Leland's care, the +best collection of old annals now in these islands. That learned and +worthy gentleman has made me free of the College Library." In another +letter O'Connor says: "Dr. Leland is now librarian, and promises me a warm +room and all the liberty I can require relative to the College MSS., which +are now a noble collection, indeed." It was Charles O'Connor who made Lord +Lyttleton and Dr. Leland acquainted with each other, and we do not find it +recorded that the English peer was of any service to the Irish scholar, +although Dr. Leland generously supplied his lordship with valuable +historical information for his history of Henry II.; and that, when he +himself was engaged in describing the same events in his own work.--[See +_Life_ prefixed to Sermons, and vol. viii. of _Hist. Man. Com. Reports_, +1881, p. 486.] + +Dr. Johnston had a high regard for Dr. Leland, and he wrote to him a +letter of personal thanks for the Dublin University's honorary LL.D. in +1765. Johnston complained to O'Connor that Leland "begins his history too +late," and that he should have been more exact in regard of "the times, +for such there were, when Ireland was the school of the West, the quiet +habitation of sanctity and literature." It was the chance mention of +Leland's history that drew from Johnston the indignant exclamation "The +Irish are in a most unnatural state, for we see there the minority +prevailing over the majority. There is no instance, even in the ten +persecutions, of such severity as that which the Protestants of Ireland +have exercised against the Catholics."--[_Boswell._] + +In the _Anthologia Hibernica_ for March, 1793, vol. i., p. 165, there is a +notice of Leland which sharply disparages his "History of Ireland." The +notice is otherwise friendly and appreciative, and it quotes Dr. Parr's +eulogy on Dr. Leland. + +His "History of Ireland" closes with the surrender of Limerick in 1691, +and Hutchinson was correct in stating ("Letter 3," p. 23, _ante_) that +Ireland had no professed historian of its own since that era, and that +history furnished very imperfect and often partial views of her affairs. + + +NOTE C. Page xxi. + +DR. DUIGENAN. + +DR. PATRICK DUIGENAN, more familiarly termed "Paddy," was one of the most +remarkable men enumerated in the list of the Fellows of Trinity College. +He was the son of the Master of St. Bride's Parish School, and, doubtless, +he received his early education in the school which, in his father's days, +was kept first in Golden-lane and afterwards in Little Ship-street. In +allusion to this, Watty Coxe's Journal twits him with the diploma of "St. +Bride's College." From St. Bride's Parish School the lad Patrick was sent +to St. Patrick's Cathedral School, then presided over by Mr. Sheills (or +Shiel), and thence in the year 1753 he entered Trinity College, as a +Sizar. Whether he obtained the Sizarship by competition or by nomination +we do not find recorded; but _quocunque modo_ a sizar he entered, and next +to him on the form sat another sizar stripling, Barry Yelverton, +afterwards an usher in Buck's School in North King-street, and +subsequently Lord Chief Baron and Lord Avonmore.[104] In 1756, Duigenan +obtained Scholarship; in 1761, Fellowship; and in 1776, he retired on the +Professorship of Laws, having been, in fact, turned out by Provost +Hutchinson. He was M.P. for Armagh, King's Advocate-General, Privy +Councillor, Vicar-General, and Judge of the Prerogative Court. He was a +blustering and honest man; a fanatical anti-Catholic and a fierce +Unionist, and he is accordingly hero-worshipped by Mr. Froude. He was a +hanger-on, first of Philip Tisdall, and then of Lord Clare. + +Wills, in his "Distinguished Irishmen," says that Duigenan was the son of +the parish clerk of St. Werburgh's; and Dr. Madden, in his "United +Irishmen," gives a letter saying the same, and that the father died a +Catholic. There is no foundation for either of these assertions. Hugh +Duigenan, the father, died St. Bride's parish schoolmaster, and he, as +well as his wife Priscilla, was buried in St. Bride's churchyard. It is +said in the "Life of Curran" that Duigenan once avowed in the House of +Commons that he was the son of a parish clerk, and if so the father must +have held that office in Derry before he came to Dublin. Dr. Maddens +contributor says that Duigenan was appointed to St. Bride's School through +the influence of Fitzgibbon, the father of Lord Clare. This is quite +probable, as the Fitzgibbons lived in the parish--in Stephen-street, and +many of the family were baptised in the church and buried in the +graveyard. There may be truth in the tradition that the father was +originally a Catholic and conformed. Grattan says that Duigenan was +educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood; that he was a hanger-on of +Tisdall: that his manner of speaking resembled that of a mob-man in the +last stage of agony; and Curran said his "_oratory was like the unrolling +of a mummy, nothing but old bones and rotten rags_," and that he had a +vicious way of "gnawing the names of papists." He was employed by +Castlereagh to administer the Union bribe of a million and a half, and in +1807 he was employed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, then Chief Secretary, to +negotiate about the Charter Schools and the Irish Protestant bishops.[105] +He was also one of the Public Record Commissioners. + +His first wife was a Miss Cusack, a Catholic, and to her, in regard of +religious matters he was most indulgent. This was the only instance of +toleration that Duigenan was ever known to show. In 1799 he supported +Toler's (Lord Norbury) Indemnity Bill, freeing all who in 1798 had +committed illegal acts against the people. It must have cost him some +trouble of mind when, as Vicar-General in 1783, he had to license Dr. +Betagh's Catholic School in Fishamble-street, as well as some other +Catholic Schools, in obedience to Gardiner's Catholic Relief Act of the +previous year. His second wife was the widow of Hepenstal, the "Walking +Gallows." Duigenan died at Sandymount in 1816, and bequeathed his fortune +to his first wife's nephew, Baron Smith. It was a brave thing of Duigenan +when he had become a prominent man to go and reside in Chancery-lane +amongst the lawyers, within a stone's throw of the lane in which he was +reared as a poor boy; and it was not less brave of him to be a liberal +subscriber to St. Bride's parish school. He was not ashamed to look back +at the rock whence he was hewn. Very few parvenus have this sort of +nobility. + + +NOTE D. Page lxxiv. + +The life-long competition between Fitzgibbon and Grattan was so individual +and so keen, and commenced so early, that the following quotations from +the College books, now for the first time given, will probably be +interesting. Can any other University produce a corresponding record? + +The two splendid rivals, it will be remembered, carried far into public +life their early friendship. Fitzgibbon was as earnest as Grattan for +Irish parliamentary independence. He was one of Grattan's most fervid +eulogists, and it was Grattan that got him made Attorney-General in 1785. +Their first serious difference was on the Navigation Act in 1786; three +years later they fell out finally on the Regency Bill. + + EXTRACTS FROM THE MATRICULATION BOOK, T.C.D. + + "1763. + + "John Fitzgibbon, F.C., June 6th (next class). Educated by Mr. Ball. + Tutor--Mr. Law. Class begins July 8th, 1763. + + "Brought over to this class, with five others, John Fitzgibbon, F.C. + + "1763. + + "Henry Grattan, F.C., Nov. 1st, 6 a.m. Educated by Dr. Campbell. + Tutor--Mr. Law." + +These entries show that Fitzgibbon and Grattan entered college the same +year, under the same college tutor, and that they were in the same class. +They graduated in the same Commencements. They were, moreover, in the same +division, sitting within two of each other, Fitzgibbon, from his earlier +entrance, sitting above Grattan in the hall. This proximity gives even a +quicker interest to their neck and neck race, as detailed in the following +record of their examination judgments:-- + + EXTRACTS FROM THE EXAMINATION BOOK, T.C.D. + + "1764. + + "Hilary Term--Junior Freshmen. + + "1st Division--Mr. Stock, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 3 V.B. 1 B. (i.e., Valde Bene and Bene). + + "Mr. Grattan, V.B. in omnibus. Praemium. + + + "Easter Examinations, May, 1764. + + "8th Division--Mr. Smyth, Examiner. + + "Mr. Grattan, V.B. in omn. Certificate. + + "Names of scholars who missed (i.e., did not go in for) the + Examination. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon. + + + "Trinity Term. + + "1st Division--Mr. Connor, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 3 V.B., 1 B. Praemium. + + "Mr. Grattan, V.B. in omnibus. Certificate. + + "Remarkably diligent at Greek Lecture-- + + "Mr. Grattan. + + + "Michaelmas Examinations, October 19th, 1764. + + "1st Division--Mr. Connor, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omnibus. Certificate. + + "Mr. Grattan, 3 V.B., 1 B. + + + "1765. + + "Hilary Term Examinations--Senior Freshmen. + + "1st Division--Mr. Smyth, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omn. Praemium. + + "Mr. Grattan, 3 V.B., 1 B. + + + "Hilary Term--Senior Freshmen. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, Th. for G.L. + + "Mr. Grattan, Th. for G.L. + + + "Easter Term Examinations, April, 1765. + + "1st Division--Mr. Lucas, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omn. Certificate. + + "Mr. Grattan, V.B. in omn. Praemium. + + + "Trinity Term Examinations, June 21st, 1765. + + "1st Division--Mr. Stock, Examiner. + + "Mr. Grattan, senior, 5 V.B. Certificate. + + "Missed the Examination--Mr. Fitzgibbon. + + + "Easter and Trinity Terms--Senior Freshmen. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, Th. for G.L. + + "Mr. Grattan, senior, Th. for G.L. + + [N.B.--"Th." means _thanks_, "Rem. Th." _remarkable thanks_, and + "G.L." _Greek_ and _Latin_.] + + + "Michaelmas Examinations, October 21st, 1765. + + "Mr. Smyth, Examiner. + + "Log. Math. Gr. Lat. Th. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omnibus. Certificate. + + "Mr. Grattan, senior, 4 V.B., 1 B. (in Th.) + + + "Michaelmas Term--Junior Sophisters. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, Rem. Th. for G.L. + + + "1766. + + "Christmas Examinations (generally called 'Hilary'), January 20th, + 1766. + + "Junior Sophisters--Mr. Law, Examiner. + + "Log. Math. Astr. Phys. Eth. Gr. Lat. Th. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 5 V.B., optime in Ethics. Praemium. + + "Mr. Grattan, senior, V.B. in omnibus. + + + "Easter Examinations, April 18th, 1766. + + "Mr. Forsayeth, Examiner. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 5 V.B., 2 B. + + "Mr. Grattan, senior, 2 V.B., 3 B. (2 blanks). + + + "Michaelmas Term Examinations (Degree Examination), October 20th, + 1766. + + "Mr. Forsayeth, Examiner. + + "Candidates. + + "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 5 V.B., 1 S.B., 2 B. + + "Mr. Grattan, V.B. all through." + +This table of judgments bears out Archbishop Magee's statement in his +funeral sermon on Lord Clare, that Grattan was best in the first and +Fitzgibbon in the closing years of their college course; while Grattan +came to the front again at the Degree Examination. The table exhibits also +the old system of awarding examination premiums in T.C.D.; and it shows +the then curriculum in the Sophister year. It shows also that +Fellow-Commoners obtained their B.A. degree on a shortened Academic +course. Grattan entered in November, 1763, he answered for his degree in +October, 1766, i.e., at the close of his Junior Sophister year--and he +took his B.A. in Spring, 1767. + +The Matriculation Book shows that Fitzgibbon was educated at Ball's famous +school, under the old Round Tower, in Great Ship-street.[106] Grattan was +educated in the same school along with Fitzgibbon, and was removed from it +shortly before entrance, as his "Life" tells, and as the Matriculation +Book also shows. Fitzgibbon was born in 1749, and, therefore, was only +fourteen or fifteen years of age when he was collaring Grattan, who was +three years his senior. Fitzgibbon was reared in his father's house,[107] +in Stephen-street, and Grattan was reared within a few yards of him, in +his father's house in Chancery-lane. In the same school, at the same time, +were educated Macaulay Boyd, one of the reputed authors of Junius' Letters +(son of Alexander Macaulay, who lived in Great Ship-street); Sir Samuel +Bradstreet, the steady patriot, who procured "Habeas Corpus" for Ireland, +and who lived in the same street; and John Forbes, who lived in the same +street with the Fitzgibbons, was a thorough supporter of Grattan, a +forward champion of Catholic claims, and the resolute and successful +assailant of the Pension List. + +The University conferred its LL.D. _Honoris Causa_ on +Fitzgibbon--notwithstanding his anti-Hutchinson performances. It had no +honorary degree for Grattan, and the loss is to its own muster-roll of +fame. The name would have honoured and ennobled the Register. + + +NOTE E. + +PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE--CALLED ALSO PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF THE +COUNCIL, AND KEEPERS OF THE PRIVY SIGNET OR PRIVY SEAL--FROM THE +RESTORATION. + +1661, Sir Paul Davys; 1678, Sir John Davys; 1690, Sir R. Southwell; 1702, +Sir E. Southwell and his son, 1775, Thomas Carter (Master of the Rolls); +1760, Philip Tisdall (Attorney-General); 1777, John Hely Hutchinson +(Provost, &c.); 1795, Lord Glentworth; 1796, Hon. Thomas Pelham; 1797, +Robert Stewart (Castlereagh); 1801, Charles Abbott (afterwards Speaker of +English House of Commons, and Lord Colchester.) + + +IRISH CHANCELLORS OF THE EXCHEQUER. + +1761, William Yorke--_vice_ Anthony Malone; 1763, William Gerard Hamilton +("Single Speech"); 1784, John Foster (Speaker, &c.); 1785, Sir John +Parnell; 1799, Isaac Corry; 1804, John Foster; 1806, Sir John Newport; +1807, John Foster; 1811, Wellesley Pole; 1812, William Fitzgerald; 1817, +Nicholas Vansittart. + + +SPEAKERS OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS SINCE THE RESTORATION. + +1661, Sir Audley Mervin; 1692, Sir R. Levinge, H.M.'s Solicitor-General; +1695, Rt. Hon. Robert Rochfort, Attorney-General; 1703, Broderick Allen; +1710, Hon. John Forster; 1715, Rt. Hon. Wm. Connolly; 1729, Sir Ralph +Gore; 1733, Hon. Henry Boyle (Lord Shannon); 1756, Rt. Hon. John Ponsonby; +1771, Rt. Hon. Edmund Sexton Pery (Lord Pery); 1785, Rt. Hon. John +Foster. + + +CHIEF SECRETARIES TO LORD LIEUTENANTS. + + -------------------------------------------------------------------- + _Year._ | _Chief Secretary._ | _Lord Lieutenant._ + ---------|----------------------------|----------------------------- + 1703. | Sir E. Southwell (also | Duke of Ormonde. + | Principal Secretary of | + | State). | + | | + 1707. | Joshua Dawson. | Lord Pembroke. + | | + 1709. | George Bubb Doddington | Lord Wharton. + | (also Clerk of the Pells). | + | | + 1711. | ---- Southwell. | Duke of Ormonde again. + | | + 1713. | Sir John Stanley. | Duke of Shrewsbury. + | | + 1724. | Thomas Clutterbuck. | Lord Carteret. + | | + 1731. | Walter Carey. | Duke of Dorset. + | | + 1738. | Edward Walpole, and | Duke of Devonshire. + | Nicholas Bonfoy. (This | + | was the Mr. Walpole who | + | had the escapade with the | + | notorious Letitia | + | Pilkington). | + | | + 1740. | Henry Legg, and Nicholas | Do. Do. + | Bonfoy. | + | | + 1742. | Lord Duncannon and | Do. Do. + | Nicholas Bonfoy, Esq. | + | | + 1745. | B. Liddell (a Cornish | Lord Chesterfield. + | M.P.), and William Bristow.| + | | + 1747. | ---- Wayte. | Lord Harrington. + | | + 1751. | Lord G. Sackville (also | Duke of Dorset again. + | Clerk of the Council, and | + | Keeper of Phoenix Park). | + | | + 1755. | Robert Maxwell. | Marquis of Hartington. + | | + 1757. | Richard Rigby (also Master | Duke of Bedford. + | of the Rolls). | + | | + 1761. | "Single Speech" Hamilton | Lord Halifax. + | (also Chancellor of the | + | Exchequer). | + | | + 1763. | Hamilton again, and Lord | Lord Northumberland. + | Drogheda. | + | | + 1765. | Edward Thurlow. | Lord Weymouth, who did + | | not come. + | | + 1765. | Lord Beauchamp. | Lord Hertford. + | | + 1766. | Lord Aug. Hervey. | Lord Bristol (did not come). + | | + 1767. | Sir G., afterwards Lord | Marquis Townshend. + | McCartney (Governor of | + | Madras), and Lord Fk. | + | Campbell. | + | | + 1772. | Sir John Blacquiere (also | Lord Hartcourt. + | Alnager, and afterwards | + | Lord Blacquiere). | + | | + 1777. | Sir Rd. Heron (his | Lord Buckinghamshire. + | Excellency's land agent; | + | also Searcher, Packer, and | + | Gauger of the Port of | + | Cork). | + | | + 1780. | W. Eden (afterwards Lord | Lord Carlisle. + | Auckland). | + | | + 1782. | Colonel Fitzpatrick. | Duke of Portland. + | | + " | Lord Grenville (also Chief | Lord Temple, Buckingham. + | Remembrancer, with L4,000 | + | a year). | + | | + 1783. | Thomas Pelham and William | Lord Northington. + | Wyndham. | + | | + 1784. | Thomas Orde (afterwards | Duke of Rutland. + | Lord Bolton). | + | | + 1787. | Alleyne Fitzherbert | Marquis of Buckingham again. + | (afterwards Lord St. | + | Helens). | + | | + 1790. | Major Hobart (afterwards | Lord Westmoreland. + | Lord Buckinghamshire). | + | | + 1795. | Syl. Douglas (Lord | Lord Fitzwilliam. + | Glenbervie). | + " | G. Damer (afterwards Lord | Lord Camden. + | Milton). T. Pelham | + | (afterwards Lord | + | Chichester). | + | | + 1798. | Lord Castlereagh. | Lord Cornwallis. + | | + 1801. | Charles Abbott (afterwards}| + | Speaker of English House }| + | of Commons, and Lord }| + | Colchester); W. Wickham; }| + | Sir Evan Napean }| + | (Treasurer of Irish }| Lord Hardwick. + | Exchequer); Nicholas }| + | Vansittart (afterwards }| + | Lord Bexley); Charles Long}| + | (afterwards Lord }| + | Farnborough). }| + | | + 1801. | W. Elliott. | Duke of Bedford. + | | + 1807. | Sir A. Wellesley, Robert }| + | Dundas (afterwards Lord }| + | Melville), Wellesley Pole }| + | (also Chancellor of the }| Duke of Richmond. + | Irish Exchequer, and }| + | afterwards Lord }| + | Maryborough). }| + | | + 1812. | Sir R. Peel. | Lord Whitworth. + | | + 1818. | Charles Grant (Lord | Lord Talbot. + | Glenleg). | + | | + 1821. | Henry Goulburn. | Marquis Wellesley. + | | + 1827. | W. Lamb (Lord Melbourne). | Do. Do. + | | + 1828. | Lord F. Levenson Gower | Marquis of Anglesey and Duke + | (Lord Ellesmere). | of Northumberland. + | | + 1830. | Sir H. Hardinge (afterwards| Marquis of Anglesey again. + | Lord Hardinge). | + | | + " | Edward Stanley (Lord | Do. Do. + | Derby). | + | | + 1833. | Cam Hobhouse, E. J. | Marquis of Wellesley again. + | Littleton (Lord Hatherton.)| + | | + 1834. | Sir H. Hardinge again. | Lord Haddington, and Lord + | | Mulgrave, and Lord Fortescue. + | | + " | G. F. W. Howard (Lord | + | Carlisle). | + | | + 1841. | Lord Elliott (Earl St. | Lord De Grey. + | Germains). | + | | + 1845. | Sir Thos. Freemantle. | Lord Heytesbury. + | | + 1846. | Lord Lincoln. | Lord Bessborough. + | | + " | Henry Labouchere. | Do. Do. + | | + 1847. | Sir William Somerville. | Lord Clarendon. + | | + 1853. | Lord Naas. | Lord Eglinton. + | | + 1854. | Sir John Young. | Lord St. Germains. + | | + 1855. | Edward Horsman, and Hon. | Lord Carlisle. + | H. Herbert. | + | | + 1858. | Lord Naas. | Lord Eglinton again. + | | + 1860. | Edward Cardwell. | Lord Carlisle again. + | | + 1862. | Sir R. Peel. | Lord Carlisle. + | | + 1865. | Do. Do. | Lord Kimberley. + | | + 1866. | Chichester Fortescue | Do. Do. + | (afterwards Lord | + | Carlingford). | + | | + 1867. | Lord Naas (afterwards Lord | Duke of Abercorn. + | Mayo). | + | | + 1868. | Chichester Fortescue again.| Lord Spencer. + | | + 1871. | Marquis of Hartington. | Do. Do. + | | + 1873. | Sir M. H. Beach. | Duke of Abercorn again. + | | + 1879. | James Lowther. | Duke of Marlborough. + | | + 1880. | W. E. Forster. | Lord Cowper. + -------------------------------------------------------------------- + +N.B.--It is instructive to note how very few of the here-mentioned eighty +Chief Secretaries, the persons mainly entrusted with the government of the +country for 180 years, belonged to the country, or had any real knowledge +of its condition and requirements. If the other kingdoms of the earth were +administered on this principle, the "_quam parva sapientia_" would excite +no astonishment. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Although this work was published anonymously, there never was any question +as to who was its author. It was always known to be the production of +Provost Hely Hutchinson, and its first appearance was greeted with two +different sorts of reception. It was burned by the Common Hangman so +effectually, that Mr. Flood said he would give a thousand pounds for a +copy and that the libraries of all the three branches of the legislature +could not produce a copy[108]--and at the same time it "earned Mr. Hely +Hutchinson's pardon from Irish patriotism for his subserviency to the +Court and Lord Townshend."[109] The book was the outcome of the stubborn +inability of English rulers to interpret the face of this country; and the +first sketch of the publication was the papers which the author +contributed to Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire in 1779 as to the cause of +the existing ruin here and as to its cure. The purport of the Letters was +to exhibit, calmly and seriously, and as by a friend to both countries, +the grievous oppressions which the greedy spirit of English trade +inflicted on the commerce, industries, and manufactures of Ireland during +the century and a quarter that extended from the Restoration of Charles +II. to the rise of Grattan. The author draws all his statements from the +Statute Books and Commons Journals of both kingdoms, while he does not +fail to support his own conclusions and comments by State Papers and +Statistical Returns that possess an authority equal to that of the +Statutes. He lays the whole length and breadth of the position steadily +and searchingly before the Viceroy's eyes. He shows him that the then +state of Ireland teemed with every circumstance of national poverty, while +the country itself abounded in the conditions of national prosperity. Of +productiveness there was no lack; but land produce was greatly reduced in +value; wool had fallen one half, wheat one third, black cattle in the same +proportion, and hides in a much greater. There were no buyers, tenants +were not to be found, landlords lost one fourth of their rents, merchants +could do no business, and within two years over twenty thousand +manufacturers in this city were disemployed, beggared, and supported by +alms. All this was after a period of fourscore years of profound internal +peace--and the question was, what was the cause of it? + +This is what the author sets himself to investigate in the Letters, and in +regard of sweep of survey, historic retrospect, statistical quotation, and +close economic comment, the investigation leaves little to be desired. The +Provost is anxious, in the first place, to point out that it was not +absentee rents, salaries, profits of offices, and pensions that caused the +decline--and this forestalling admonition is no more than what might be +expected from a man who was such an insatiable trafficker in places, and +salaries, and profits, and pensions. He admits that these things made the +decline more rapid, but a "more radical" cause was to be assigned for a +malady that arose out of the constitution itself. He maintains that +Ireland was flourishing, prosperous, and wealthy under James and Charles +I., and that after the Restoration it was one of the most improved and +improving spots in Europe. This is a somewhat poetical view, especially +when we remember how Strafford ruined the landowners and destroyed the +wool trade; but wretched as was the condition of the people under the +Stuarts, it may have been less unendurable than the condition under "a +succession of five excellent sovereigns." In truth, talking about the +perpetually developed prosperity of the Irish people under the several +successions of English misrule is the very irony of pharisaism, although +the recital is a stereotyped phrase of English officials from the Tudor +_employes_ down to those of our own days,[110] none of whom ever fail to +find "the strings of the Irish harp all in tune." In some periods the +distress may have been more intense than in others, and in all periods +there were not wanting instances of individual aggrandisement--but the +general wretchedness remained fast fixed. England has been a constant +source of woe to Ireland, and suffering is the badge of all our tribe. In +any strict assize Hutchinson would be laughed out of Court for essaying to +plead the wealth and prosperity of Ireland directly after the devastations +of the Carews and Mountjoys, after the Desmond and Ulster confiscations +and evictions, and after the Cromwellian atrocities. Hutchinson knew quite +well what the condition of the people was all through; but it suited him, +rhetorically, to cut out a corner of the picture and to colour that corner +very highly. Graziers used to make a good thing of their cattle and of +their wool, and economic returns of their exports showed pleasant balance +sheets; but graziers were not the Irish people any more than Manchester is +England now. In fact, they were chiefly English landowners here, and the +extent of their exports is only the measure of the misery which they left +unpitied and unrelieved. This, however, was not the philosophy which +Hutchinson wanted to preach; and he was far too clear-headed a man to make +a mistake as to what he wanted to say. He accordingly lays hold on the +figures that set off his argument, and out of fancy premises he draws a +solid conclusion which in no sense needed such controvertible data. What +was certain was that Ireland possessed the conditions of prosperity, and +that it teemed with actual poverty. The question was, what caused this +contradiction? The answer was, England caused it; and this is the answer +which Hutchinson plainly and nakedly gives. In all the rest of his +book--i.e. from Letter III. to the close--he sustains this thesis with a +directness that cannot be gainsayed or resisted. Having related the +efforts of Strafford--one of the most malignant enemies that Ireland ever +encountered--to crush the wool trade here in the time of Charles I., +Hutchinson comes to the acts of the English under Charles II. and William +III. + +Charles, so far as he could have a liking for anything outside his +pleasures, had a liking for Ireland; and William feeling that he had +already done Ireland wrong enough, was disposed at last to be merciful and +liberal towards her; but both of the kings were overborne by their English +parliaments. + +In 1663, the English Act "for encouragement of Trade"! contained an +insidious clause, imposing a penalty of L2 on each head of Irish cattle, +and 10_s._ on each sheep imported into England between July and December. +In 1666, the "Act against importing cattle from Ireland and other places +beyond seas, and fish taken by foreigners" was passed, and to annoy the +king the importation was termed a "nuisance."[111] This Act was made +perpetual by the "Act of 1678, prohibiting the importation of cattle from +Ireland." This latter Act was not repealed until the 5th of George III., +when the permission was granted for seven years; the permission was made +perpetual by the 16th of the same reign. + +Carte[112] relates at length and with an honest sympathy with Ireland, the +whole incident of 1663-8. He tells how the Duke of Ormond, who was then +Lord Lieutenant here, together with his valiant son, Lord Ossory, strove +manfully for this country, and how he prevailed with the king to delay the +obnoxious measure. He mentions also Ormond's noble enterprise in +establishing at Clonmel the flourishing Walloon woollen manufactory. Carte +records likewise how, in 1666, the Dublin people, when scant of money by +virtue of English jealousy, sent over a contribution of 30,000 fat oxen to +feed the Londoners who had suffered by the great fire, and how +ungraciously the generous boon was received by the ill-mannered English +victuallers and by their bribed spokesmen in high places.[113] + +Notwithstanding this benevolence of the Irish people, the English +persisted in ruining their cattle trade, and before the end of William's +reign they passed a further law to ruin the Irish woollen trade. This was +in 1699, and the long depression and degradation which resulted from it +prove, says Hutchinson, "this melancholy truth, that a country will sooner +recover from the miseries and devastations occasioned by war, invasion, +rebellion, and massacre, than from laws restraining the commerce, +discouraging the manufactures, fettering the industry, and, above all, +breaking the spirit of the people." + +This melancholy truth the Provost goes on to illustrate and enforce, and +he does this by reciting the facts from the beginning, and from year to +year continually, as they are recorded in the journals of Parliament. The +restriction of the cattle trade in 1666, when the people, in reliance on +the continuance of the trade, had greatly increased their live-stocks, +compelled the Irish to develop their wool trade. They had been encouraged +by their English rulers to devote their energies to this industry, because +the "country was so fertile by nature, and so advantageously situated for +trade and navigation." Suddenly a Bill was introduced into the English +parliament in 1697 and passed in 1699, restraining the exportation of +woollen manufactures from Ireland, and beseeching His Majesty "in the most +public and effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of +Ireland, that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture hath +long, and will ever be, looked upon with jealousy by all his subjects of +this [England] kingdom," and further "to enjoin all those he employed in +Ireland to make it their care and use their utmost diligence, to hinder +the exportation of wool from Ireland except to be imported hither [to +England], and for the discouraging the woollen manufacture," &c. To this +address King William gave the ever memorable reply: "_I shall do all that +in me lies to discourage the woollen trade in Ireland, and to encourage +the linen manufacture there;[114] and to promote the trade of England_;" +and he wrote to the Lords Justices over here to have a measure to that +effect passed in the Irish parliament. The Lords Justices accordingly made +"a quickening speech" to both Houses; a Bill for their acceptance was +transmitted from the Castle, and the Irish parliament, in which the +Williamite influence was dominant, passed the measure that annihilated the +industry and prosperity of their country.[115] By this law an additional +duty of twenty per cent. was imposed on broadcloth, and of ten per cent. +on all new draperies except friezes; and the law which was enacted in +January, 1699, was to be in force for three years. This law, prohibitive +as it was, did not, however, satisfy England. In the June of the same year +the English parliament passed a perpetual law, not overtaxing but +expressly prohibiting the exportation from Ireland of all goods made of +or mixed with wool, except to England and Wales, and with the licence of +the Revenue Commissioners. Previous English Acts had made the duties on +the importation into England practically prohibitive, and therefore the +last Act operated as a suppression of exportation. The Irish were already +prevented from importing dye-stuffs from the colonies, and from exporting +their woollen manufactures thither. What England wanted was, not a fair +competition with Ireland, but a monopoly; she was resolved to prevent +Ireland not merely from underselling her in foreign markets, but from +selling there at all. + +The natural and actual result of this exorbitant greed was that the Irish +people were driven to have recourse to the method of "running the wool," +i.e. smuggling it away to foreign markets. The severest penalties were +enacted by the British legislature and by the Irish House of Commons +against this practice, but they were enacted in vain. It was impossible to +seal up a country of whose thirty-two counties nineteen are maritime and +the rest washed by fine rivers that empty themselves into the sea. The +wool running prevailed to an immense extent, and by means of it France, +Germany, and Spain were able to undersell England in the foreign markets, +and England lost millions of pounds by virtue of the Irish contraband +supplies. The market price of Europe mocked the English importation +duties, and more than defeated the prohibition. At last, in 1739, after +forty years of oppression here and loss to herself, England relaxed the +severity of the restrictions, and as her own House of Commons Journal +acknowledges, this relaxation was made for the benefit of the English +woollen manufactures. For the twenty-three years that succeeded King +William's pledge to ruin the best trade in this country, there is an +unvaried record of the depression and misery of the Irish people, and +during all this period and in the face of all this acknowledgment, there +was not even a proposal of any law, saving one about casks for butter and +tallow, to encourage our manufactures, or to tolerate our trade, or to let +the country revive. There was a native parliament here, and why did they +exhibit this wondrous apathy? "Because," says our author, "it was well +understood by both Houses of Parliament that they had no power to remove +those restraints which prohibited trade and discouraged manufactures, and +that any application for that purpose would at that time have only +offended the people on one side of the Channel without bringing any relief +to those on the other." + +In 1723, the petition of the woollen weavers and clothiers of Dublin +forced from the Lord Lieutenant in his speech from the throne a +recommendation to find out some employment for the poor, but neither +petition nor speech produced any effect. From 1723 to 1729 the distress +continued; in the latter year it was aggravated by a famine. The scarcity +was caused not by any blight of the land produce, but by the despair of +the farmers; for when exportation is prohibited, and the manufacturing +class at home is without employment and without money to buy, farmers will +abandon tillage and dearth must ensue. In a few years more there was +another scarcity of food, and then the Lord Lieutenant congratulated the +country on the success of the linen trade, and recommended the +encouragement of tillage. Nothing, however, was done to alter the +conditions on which the improvement of the tillage depended, "because the +Commons said that the evil was out of their reach and that the poor were +not employed because they were discouraged by restrictive laws from +working up the materials of the country." Thus matters went on from bad to +worse until after the peace of 1745, when there came an influx of money, +by which the debt that had been contracted for England's Jacobite war of +1715 was paid off in 1754, and the result of this discharge was increased +burdens on the country without any accompanying relief to commerce and +industries. The Treasury balance led, in 1753, to a dispute as to the +right of disposing of it between the King and the Commons; and this +dispute was the first beginning of parliamentary life in Ireland.[116] To +get rid of the redundancy and to leave the less for English pensions and +Government salaries, works of local improvement were undertaken, and these +undertakings, so far as they were carried out, helped to give employment +and to stimulate agriculture. + +This, however, was but a partial and insufficient remedy for the universal +distress, and small as it was, it was obtained against the will of the +English Government. No real relief was conferred on the country, and +within a couple of years more the revenue fell off, and L20,000 was voted +for the relief of the poor. + +In 1757[117] it was thought an amazing feat when Pery carried his Land +Carriage and Coal Acts; and then, in 1761, came the augmentation of the +army.[118] On the breaking out of the Spanish war, there was a fresh vote +of credit, and still no relief to manufacturers or to agriculturists. This +distress, caused by English-made laws, Hutchinson points out, produced the +White Boys, and for the cure of this distress an increased attention to +the Charter Schools was recommended. By 1771 the National Debt had largely +increased, while income had diminished, and in a couple of years more the +linen trade was rapidly declining, while pensions and charges on the +establishment were greatly increased. + +The Provost dwells on the illustrative fact, that, whether the Debt was +increased or diminished, and however much the pensions and salaries were +multiplied, the distress and wretchedness of the body of the people +continued the same. The linen manufacture for a while prospered, and +afforded a limited relief in a few places; but tillage was declining, and +destitution was all round. The distress was noticed in the House, but +nothing effectual was attempted, and Hutchinson cannot refrain from +exclaiming: "Can the history of any other fruitful country on the globe, +enjoying peace for fourscore years, and not visited by plague or +pestilence, produce so many recorded instances of the poverty and +wretchedness, and of the reiterated want and misery of the lower orders of +the people? There is no such example in ancient or modern story. If the +ineffectual endeavours by the representatives of those poor people to give +them employment and food, had not left sufficient memorials of their +wretchedness; if their habitations, apparel, and food, were not sufficient +proofs, I should appeal to the human countenance for my voucher, and rest +the evidence on that hopeless despondency that hangs on the brow of +unemployed industry." + +All these restrictions were enacted by England, not from any actual loss +that she had sustained by Irish competition, but from an apprehension of +loss. Hutchinson shows how groundless the apprehension was, and he +protests against the iniquity of sacrificing the happiness of a great and +ancient kingdom, and the welfare of millions of its people, to guard +against an imagined decrease in the value of English land. If +wool-spinning was cheaper in Ireland than in England, that was because the +Irish operatives had to live on food--"potatoes and milk, or more +frequently water"[119]--with which the English would not be content; but +wages and the cost of producing would increase with the opening of trade, +and with the increase of manufactures. England's greedy monopoly was +sinking the Irish people, while fair trade would really lessen the cheap +labour competition which the English masters professed to dread. An open +wool trade in Ireland would, moreover, be mainly carried on by English +capitalists and by English shipping, just as in ancient Egypt, China, and +Hindostan, the export trade used to be conducted by foreigners; and just +as in the victualling trade of Ireland, the natives were but factors to +the English. On every side, therefore, the English themselves suffered as +much by the restrictions as the Irish, and they would be, if they could +but see it, proportionate gainers by the removal of the restrictions. +Hutchinson goes on to show that England gets one-third of the wealth of +Ireland, and that she would get more than the half of the benefit of the +wool trade; but that even so the country would be the better for the small +share of the gains that would be allowed to remain with her. Agriculture +would be encouraged, and manufactures would be promoted; and there would +be a circulation of money amongst the people. Taxes were proportionately +heavier in Ireland than in England, when the annual earnings, expenditure, +rentals, circulating specie, and personal property of the two countries +were compared. The English were mistaken in some of the calculations on +which they grounded the commercial restrictions, and they would be +commercial gainers by the removal of the restrictions; but it was not for +the benefit of England, and it was for the benefit of Ireland, that the +Provost demanded free and open commerce for the produce and manufactures +of this country. This was what he claimed and argued for, and this was +what he very largely helped to obtain for Ireland; and this was the +service that won him back a great deal of the popularity which he had +forfeited by his hired subserviency to the English party. + +There is a good deal of repetition in the Provost's book as we have it, +but this is accounted for by the fact that the book was originally +published in the form of letters.[120] The repetitions, moreover, are not +altogether artistic blemishes, for they are made to intensify, and, as it +were, to multiply, the identical facts by presenting them in fresh +connections. This is notably the case in regard of the Provost's doublings +back on the wool trade, and on the linen trade, and on England's dealings +with Ireland in regard of both these trades. After the destruction of the +cattle trade these were the two sources of industry left to this country, +and therefore the record of the treatment and evolution of these trades is +in fact the history of the commercial relations between England and this +country. The Provost accordingly takes the wool and the linen trade as the +fixed pillars of his discourse, and he interpolates the spaces between +them with coincident statistics that illustrate his thesis. It is thus +that in page 83 he comes back to the wool trade to show the falsehood of +the English trade returns, which asserted that the trade "was set up here +since the reduction of Ireland" by Cromwell. The trade had been a +flourishing one in this country from the time of Edward III. Then in the +Sixth Letter the Provost takes up the linen trade again, for the purpose +of showing more emphatically, in the first place, that it was forced on +Ireland as an equivalent for the loss of the wool trade; in the second +place, that it was not at all an equivalent--and in the third place, that +England before long broke her stipulations with this country, and so +_discouraged_ the hemp and linen manufacture of Ireland, that the Irish +had to abandon the flax culture altogether. In 1705, leave was given to +Ireland to export some sorts of linen to the colonies, but leave was not +given to bring back dye stuffs or other colonial produce. In 1743, +bounties were offered on exports of Irish linen, provided they were +shipped from English ports; but there was already a duty of thirty per +cent. on _foreign_ linen imported into England; and thus Ireland was, of +course, deprived of the colonial and other markets. Not till 1777 were the +American markets opened to Ireland, and by that time the emigration of the +Ulster linen-workers had become so enormous, that America was, in fact, a +rival in the trade. What words can more offensively and more bitterly +express the oppression of the country than this leave to trade with other +countries? It took Grattan and Hussey Burgh "with their coats off," and it +took the Volunteers with their motto "Free Trade, or ----," to sweep away +this badge of slavery. All the time England was multiplying pensions and +salaries here; she was levying taxes and draining rents; and, as +Hutchinson clearly puts it, Ireland "was paying to Great Britain double +the sum that she collects from the whole world in all the trade which +Great Britain allows her. It would be difficult to find a similar +instance in the history of mankind." Again and again the Provost comes +back to point out the open tyranny and the underhand unfairness of +England's commercial legislation for this country, and in the Seventh +Letter he repeats that this legislation was a departure from the policy +which was guaranteed by Magna Charta, and which had prevailed from the +time of Edward III. When a supposed compensation was afterwards offered, +it was no more than what Ireland had had before, and the liberty granted +by Queen Anne was merely allowing us to do in regard of one manufacture +what had previously been a right in every instance. + +"At this earlier period, then," says Hutchinson, "the English commercial +system and the Irish, so far as it depended upon the English statute law, +was the same; and before this period, so far as it depended upon the +common law and Magna Charta, it was also the same." + +"This was the voice of nature," he adds, "and the dictate of sound and +generous policy; it proclaimed to the nations that they should not give to +strangers the bread of their own children; that the produce of the soil +should support the inhabitants of the country; that their industry should +be exercised on their own materials, and that the poor should be employed, +clothed, and fed. + +"This policy was liberal, just, and equal; it opened the resources and +cultivated the strength of every part of the empire." + +From this liberal and profitable policy, however, England departed towards +the close of the seventeenth century, and manifold were the wrongs which +the departure inflicted on this country. The Provost details these wrongs +with the indignation of a patriot; he rails at the oppression which, by +depriving the people of liberty, robbed them of half their vigour; but +still as a courtier and as a Government man, he was able to "_revere that +conquest which has given to Ireland the Common Law and the Magna Charta of +England_." Why he revered the Conquest, when the Common Law and Magna +Charta failed to protect the welfare of Ireland, the Provost does not +state. Two things stand out clearly throughout the treatise--one is that +Ireland, both as a producer and as a consumer, has been immensely +profitable to England; and the other is that England has been the source +of vast evil and suffering to Ireland. The purport of "The Commercial +Restraints" is to set forth these two great truths, and the record may be +read now without prejudice on one side of the Channel, and without panic +or passion on the other. The teaching of the book ought to be palpable +enough for the men of the present day. It ought to convince Englishmen +that it is time for them to distrust their "resources of civilisation," +and to let this country prosper; and it ought to remind Irishmen that they +are the best judges of what they want, and that their road to prosperity +is independence of English conceit, together with a sturdy development of +their own native resources. + +In and since Provost Hutchinson's time Ireland has won vast conquests from +her oppressor, and she has won them all by the same weapon--firm and +constitutional discontent. She has much to win still, and she will surely +win it by the same method, while outside that method she is powerless. +Free Trade and Parliamentary Independence were won without shedding a drop +of blood, and the conditions of the fight for what is required now are far +more propitious and hopeful than they were a century ago. Then, Ireland +had to contend with an obstinate king, a wrong-headed minister, and a +greedy nation; now, all these things are changed. The men of '82, no +doubt, had at their back the Irish Volunteers that England feared, and +there are no Irish Volunteers now; their place, however, is supplied by a +more coercive force, and that force is the spirit of justice which is +spreading through the Liberals of England, and is fed by the Liberals of +Ireland. But even supposing that all these demands touching land, +education, and autonomy, were granted, there still remains another object +for Irishmen to work out, namely, the recreation of their home industries +and manufactures. The land, after all, is not everything--all the people +cannot live by it and out of it--and, as Hutchinson observes, no one +industry is sufficient to maintain a numerous population in prosperity and +comfort. + +In past times, as a couple of months ago the Lord Lieutenant at Belfast, +and Mr. Fawcett at Shoreditch, were saying,[121] all these industries in +the country were prohibited by unjust and iniquitous legislation, and by a +mass of vexatious restrictions; but there are no prohibitions now, and the +country abounds with the conditions and materials of prosperity. Bishop +Berkeley wrote, when the prohibiting laws had been seventy years in +operation, and when the force that swept them away had not yet begun to +breathe in the country. He regarded the laws with despair, and piteously +bemoaned the destitution and degradation in which the people were fixed. +His earnest exhortation to them was to compensate themselves for the loss +of the foreign trade by developing home industries and manufactures; and +he asked[122] whether the natives might not be able to effect their own +prosperity and elevation, even though "there was a wall of brass a +thousand cubits high round this kingdom?" + +Lord Clare, in his Union speech, declared that Ireland made more progress +in her eighteen years of freedom than ever nation made in the same period; +and it will be now for the working-men of this generation to show that, in +enterprise and trades-craft they are not degenerate from their half-taught +forefathers who won Fitzgibbon's testimony. There is every ground for +confident anticipation, that this year's National Exhibition will +profoundly and widely strengthen the effort for the revival of our Native +Industries, and it is with the desire to contribute somewhat to the +all-important and patriotic impulse that "The Commercial Restraints of +Ireland" is now reproduced by the publishers. + + + + +THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. + + +First Letter. + +_Dublin, 20th Aug., 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +You desire my thoughts on the affairs of Ireland, a subject little +considered, and consequently not understood in England. The Lords and +Commons of Great Britain have addressed his Majesty to take the distressed +and impoverished state of this country into consideration; have called for +information and resolved to pursue effectual methods for promoting the +common strength, wealth, and commerce of both kingdoms, and his Majesty +has been pleased to express in his speech from the throne his entire +approbation of their attention to the present state of Ireland. + +The occasion calls for the assistance of every friend of the British +Empire, and those who can give material information are bound to +communicate it. The attempt, however, is full of difficulty; it will +require more than ordinary caution to write with such moderation as not to +offend the prejudices of one country and with such freedom as not to wound +the feelings of the other. + +The present state of Ireland teems with every circumstance of national +poverty. Whatever the land produces is greatly reduced in its value: wool +is fallen one-half in its usual price, wheat one-third, black cattle of +all kinds in the same proportion, and hides in a much greater. Buyers are +not had without difficulty at those low rates, and from the principal +fairs men commonly return with the commodities they brought there; rents +are everywhere reduced--in many places it is impossible to collect +them;--the farmers are all distressed, and many of them have failed; when +leases expire tenants are not easily found; the landlord is often obliged +to take his lands into his own hands for want of bidders at reasonable +rents, and finds his estate fallen one-fourth in its value. The merchant +justly complains that all business is at a stand, that he cannot discount +his bills, and that neither money nor paper circulates. In this and the +last year above twenty thousand manufacturers in this metropolis were +reduced to beggary for want of employment, they were for a considerable +length of time supported by alms, a part of the contribution came from +England and this assistance was much wanting from the general distress of +all ranks of people in this country. Public and private credit are +annihilated, Parliament, that always raises money in Ireland on easy +terms, when there is any to be borrowed in the country, in 1778, gave +L7-1/2 per cent. in annuities, which, in 1773 and 1775, were earnestly +sought after at L6, then thought to be a very high rate. The expenses of a +country nearly bankrupt must be inconsiderable; almost every branch of the +revenue has fallen, and the receipts in the Treasury for the two years +ending Lady-day, 1779, were less than those for the two years ending +Lady-day, 1777, deducting the sums received on account of loans in each +period, in a sum of L334,900 18_s._ 9-1/2_d._ There was due on the 25th of +March last, on the establishments, and for extraordinary expenses, an +arrear amounting to L373,706 13_s._ 6-1/2_d._; a sum of L600,000 will +probably be now wanting to supply the deficiencies on the establishments +and extraordinary charges of government, and an annual sum of between +L50,000 and L60,000 yearly to pay interest and annuities. In the last +session L466,000 was borrowed. If the sum wanting could now be raised, +the debt would be increased in a sum of above L1,000,000 in less than +three years; and if the expenses and the revenues should continue the same +as in the last two years, there is a probability of an annual deficiency +of L300,000. The nation in the last two years has not been able to pay for +its own defence: a militia law passed in the last session could not be +carried into execution for want of money. Instead of paying forces +abroad,[123] Ireland has not been able in this year to pay the forces kept +in the kingdom: it has again relapsed into its ancient state of +imbecility, and Great Britain has been lately obliged to send over money +to pay the army[124] which defends this impoverished country. + +Our distress and poverty are of the utmost notoriety; the proof does not +depend solely upon calculation or estimate, it is palpable in every public +and private transaction, and is deeply felt among all orders of our +people. + +This kingdom has been long declining. The annual deficiency of its +revenues for the payment of the public expenses has been for many years +supplied by borrowing. The American rebellion, which considerably +diminished the demand for our linens; an embargo on provisions continued +for three years,[125] and highly injurious to our victualling trade; the +increasing drain of remittances to England for rents, salaries, profits of +offices, pensions and interest, and for the payment of forces abroad, have +made the decline more rapid, but have not occasioned it. + +If we are determined to investigate the truth we must assign a more +radical cause; when the human or political body is unsound or infirm it is +in vain to inquire what accidental circumstances appear to have occasioned +those maladies which arise from the constitution itself. + +If in a period of fourscore years of profound internal peace any country +shall appear to have often experienced the extremes of poverty and +distress; if at the times of her greatest supposed affluence and +prosperity the slightest causes have been sufficient to obstruct her +progress, to annihilate her credit, and to spread dejection and dismay +among all ranks of her people; and if such a country is blessed with a +temperate climate and fruitful soil, abounds with excellent harbours and +great rivers, with the necessaries of life and materials of manufacture, +and is inhabited by a race of men, brave, active, and intelligent, some +permanent cause of such disastrous effects must be sought for. + +If your vessel is frequently in danger of foundering in the midst of a +calm, if by the smallest addition of sail she is near oversetting, let the +gale be ever so steady, you would neither reproach the crew nor accuse the +pilot or the master; you would look to the construction of the vessel and +see how she had been originally framed and whether any new works had been +added to her that retard or endanger her course. + +But for such an examination more time and attention are necessary than +have been usually bestowed upon this subject in Great Britain, and as I +have now the honour to address a person of rank and station in that +kingdom on the affairs of Ireland I should be brief in my first audience, +or I may happen never to obtain the favour of a second. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Second Letter. + +_Dublin, 23rd August, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +If there is any such permanent cause from which the frequent distresses of +so considerable a part of the British Empire have arisen, it is of the +utmost consequence that it should be fully explained and generally +understood. Let us endeavour to trace it by its effects; these will +manifestly appear by an attentive review of the state of Ireland at +different periods. + +From the time that King James the First had established a regular +administration of justice in every part of the kingdom, until the +rebellion of 1641, which takes in a period of between thirty and forty +years, the growth of Ireland was considerable.[126] In the Act recognising +the title of King James, the Lords and Commons acknowledge, "that many +blessings and benefits had, within these few years past, been poured upon +this realm;"[127] and at the end of the Parliament, in 1615, the Commons +return thanks for the extraordinary pains taken for the good of this +republic, whereby they say: "We all of us sit under our own vines, and the +whole realm reapeth the happy fruits of peace."[128] In his reign the +little that could be given by the people was given with general +consent,[129] and received with extraordinary marks of royal favour. He +desires the Lord Deputy to return them thanks for their subsidy, and for +their granting it with universal consent,[130] and to assure them that he +holds his subjects of that kingdom in equal favour with those of his other +kingdoms, and that he will be as careful to provide for their prosperous +and flourishing state as for his own person. + +Davis, who had served him in great stations in this kingdom, and had +visited every province of it, mentions the prosperous state of the +country, and that the revenue of the Crown, both certain and casual, had +been raised to a double proportion. He takes notice how this was effected +"by the encouragement given to the maritime towns and cities, as well to +increase the trade of merchandize as to cherish mechanical arts;" and +mentions the consequence, "that the strings of this Irish harp were all in +tune."[131] + +In the succeeding reign, Ireland, for fourteen or fifteen years, appears +to have greatly advanced in prosperity. The Commons granted in the session +of 1634 six entire subsidies, which they agreed should amount in the +collection to L250,000,[132] and the free gifts previously given to King +Charles the First at different times amounted to L310,000.[133] In the +session of 1639 they gave four entire subsidies, and the clergy eight; the +customs, which had been farmed at L500 yearly in the beginning of this +reign, were in the progress of it set for L54,000.[134] + +The commodities exported were twice as much in value as the foreign +merchandize imported, and shipping is said to have increased an +hundred-fold.[135] Their Parliament was encouraged to frame laws conducive +to the happiness of themselves and their posterities, for the enacting and +"consummating" whereof the king passes his royal word, and assures his +subjects of Ireland that they were equally of as much respect and dearness +to him as any others.[136] + +In the Speaker's speech in 1639, when he was offered for approbation to +the Lord Deputy, he mentions the free and happy condition of the people of +Ireland, sets forth the particulars, and in enumerating the national +blessings, mentions as one "that our in-gates and out-gates do stand open +for trade and traffic;"[137] and as the Lord Chancellor declared his +Excellency's "high liking of this oration," it may be considered as a fair +account of the condition of Ireland at that time. When the Commons had +afterwards caught the infection of the times, and were little disposed to +pay compliments, they acknowledge that this kingdom, when the Earl of +Strafford obtained the government, "was in a flourishing, wealthy, and +happy estate."[138] + +After the Restoration, from the time that the acts of settlement and +explanation had been fully carried into execution to the year 1688, +Ireland made great advances, and continued for several years in a most +prosperous condition.[139] Lands were everywhere improved; rents were +doubled; the kingdom abounded with money; trade flourished to the envy of +our neighbours; cities increased exceedingly; many places of the kingdom +equalled the improvements of England; the king's revenue increased +proportionably to the advance of the kingdom, which was every day growing, +and was _well established in plenty and wealth_;[140] manufactures were +set on foot in divers parts; the meanest inhabitants were at once enriched +and civilized; and this kingdom is then represented to be the most +improved and improving spot of ground in Europe. I repeat the words of +persons of high rank, great character, and superior knowledge, who could +not be deceived themselves, and were incapable of deceiving others. + +In the former of these periods Parliaments were seldom convened in +Ireland; in the latter, they were suspended for the space of twenty-six +years; during that time the English ministers frequently showed +dispositions unfavourable to the prosperity of this kingdom; and in the +interval between those two periods it had been laid waste, and almost +depopulated by civil rage and religious fury. And yet, after being blessed +with an internal peace of ninety years, and with a succession of five +excellent sovereigns, who were most justly the objects of our affection +and gratitude, and to whom the people of this country were deservedly +dear; after so long and happy an intercourse of protection, grace, and +favour from the Crown, and of duty and loyalty from the subjects, it would +be difficult to find any subsequent period where so flattering a view has +been given of the industry and prosperity of Ireland. + +The cause of this prosperity should be mentioned. James, the first Duke of +Ormond, whose memory should be ever revered by every friend of Ireland, to +heal the wound that this country had received by the prohibition of the +export of her cattle to England, obtained from Charles the Second a +letter[141] dated the 23rd of March, 1667, by which he directed that all +restraints upon the exportation of commodities of the growth or +manufacture of Ireland to foreign parts should be taken off, but not to +interfere with the plantation laws, or the charters to the trading +companies, and that this should be notified to his subjects of this +kingdom, which was accordingly done by a proclamation from the Lord +Lieutenant and Council; and at the same time, by his Majesty's permission, +they prohibited the importation from Scotland of linen, woollen, and other +manufactures and commodities, as drawing large sums of money out of +Ireland, and a great hindrance to its manufactures. His Grace successfully +executed his schemes of national improvement, having by his own constant +attention, the exertion of his extensive influence, and the most princely +munificence, greatly advanced the woollen and revived[142] the linen +manufactures, which England then encouraged in this kingdom as a +compensation for the loss of that trade of which she had deprived it, and +this encouragement from that time to the Revolution had greatly increased +the wealth and promoted the improvement of Ireland. + +The tyranny and persecuting policy of James the Second,[143] after his +arrival in Ireland, ruined its trade and revenue; the many great +oppressions which the people suffered during the revolution had occasioned +almost the _utter desolation_ of the country.[144] But the nation must +have been restored in the reign of William to a considerable degree of +strength and vigour; their exertions in raising supplies to a great +amount, from the year 1692 to the year 1698, are some proof of it. They +taxed their goods, their lands, their persons, in support of a prince whom +they justly called their deliverer and defender, and of a government on +which their own preservation depended. Those sums were granted,[145] not +only without murmur, but with the utmost cheerfulness, and without any +complaint of the inability, or representation of the distressed state of +the country. + +The money brought in for the army at the revolution gave life to all +business, and much sooner than could have been expected retrieved the +affairs of Ireland. This money furnished capitals for carrying on the +manufactures of the kingdom. Our exports increased in '96, '97, and '98, +and our imports did not rise in proportion, which occasioned a great +balance in our favour; and this increase was owing principally to the +woollen manufacture. In the last of those years the balance in favour of +Ireland in the account of exports and imports was L419,442.[146] + +But in the latter end of this reign the political horizon was overcast, +the national growth was checked, and the national vigour and industry +impaired by the law made in England restraining, in fact prohibiting, the +exportation of all woollen manufactures from Ireland. From the time of +this prohibition no parliament was held in Ireland until the year 1703. +Five years were suffered to pass before any opportunity was given to apply +a remedy to the many evils which such a prohibition must necessarily have +occasioned. The linen trade was then not thoroughly established in +Ireland; the woollen manufacture was the staple trade, and wool the +principal material of that kingdom. The consequences of this prohibition +appear in the session of 1703.[147] The Commons[148] lay before Queen Anne +a most affecting representation, containing, to use their own words, "a +true state of our deplorable condition," protesting that no groundless +discontent was the motive for that application, but a deep sense of the +evil state of their country, and of the farther mischiefs they have reason +to fear will fall upon it if not timely prevented. They set forth the vast +decay and loss of its trade, its being almost exhausted of coin, that they +are hindered from earning their livelihoods and from maintaining their +own manufactures, that their poor have thereby become very numerous; that +great numbers of Protestant families have been constrained to remove out +of the kingdom, as well into Scotland as into the dominions of foreign +princes and states, and that their foreign trade and its returns are under +such restrictions and discouragements as to be then become in a manner +impracticable, although that kingdom had by its blood and treasure +contributed to secure the plantation trade to the people of England. + +In a further address to the Queen,[149] laid before the Duke of Ormond, +then Lord Lieutenant, by the House, with its Speaker, they mention the +distressed condition of that kingdom, and more especially of the +industrious Protestants, by the almost total loss of trade and decay of +their manufactures, and, to preserve the country from utter ruin, apply +for liberty to export their linen manufactures to the plantations. + +In a subsequent part of this session[150] the Commons resolve that, by +reason of the great decay of trade and discouragement of the manufactures +of this kingdom, many poor tradesmen were reduced to extreme want and +beggary. This resolution was _nem. con._, and the Speaker, Mr. Broderick, +then his Majesty's Solicitor-General, and afterwards Lord Chancellor, in +his speech at the end of the session[151] informs the Lord Lieutenant, +that the representation of the Commons was, as to the matters contained in +it, the unanimous voice and consent of a very full house, and that the +soft and gentle terms used by the Commons in laying the distressed +condition of the kingdom before his Majesty, showed that their complaints +proceeded not from querulousness, but from a necessity of seeking redress, +He adds: "It is to be hoped they may be allowed such a proportion of trade +that they may recover from the great poverty they now lie under;" and in +presenting the bill of supply says, the Commons have granted it "in time +of extreme poverty." The impoverished state of Ireland, at that time, +appears in the speech from the throne at the conclusion of the session, in +which it is mentioned that the Commons could not then provide for what was +owing to the civil and military lists.[152] + +The supply given for two years, commencing at Michaelmas, 1703,[153] was a +sum not exceeding L150,000, which, considering that no Parliament was held +in Ireland since the year 1698, is at the rate of L30,000 yearly, +commencing in 1699, and ending in the year 1705. + +The great distress of Ireland, from the year 1699 to the year 1703, and +the cause of that distress, cannot be doubted. + +Let it now be considered, whether the same cause has operated since the +year 1703. In the year 1704[154] it appears, that the Commons were not +able, from the circumstances of the nation at that time, to make provision +for repairing the necessary fortifications; or for arms and ammunition for +the public safety: and the difficulties which the kingdom then laboured +under, and the decay of trade appear by the addresses of the Commons[155] +to the Queen, and to the Duke of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant, who was +well acquainted with the state of this country; by the Queen's +answer,[156] and the address of thanks for it. + +In the year 1707,[157] the revenue was deficient for payment of the army +and defraying the charges of government, and the Commons promise to supply +the deficiency "as far as the present circumstances of the nation will +allow." + +In 1709, it appears,[158] by the unanimous address of the Commons to the +Lord Lieutenant, that the kingdom was in an impoverished and exhausted +state: in 1711,[159] they express their approbation of the frugality of +the Queen's administration, by which their expenses were lessened, and by +that means the kingdom preserved from taxes, which might have proved too +weighty and burdensome. In their address to the Lord Lieutenant at, the +close of the session, they request that he should represent to her +Majesty, that they had given all the supplies which her Majesty desired, +and which they, in their present condition, were able to grant:[160] and +yet those supplies amounted, for two years, to a sum not exceeding +L167,023 8_s._ 5_d._;[161] though powder magazines, the council chamber, +the treasury office, and other offices were then to be built. + +From the Short Parliament of 1713, nothing can be collected, but that the +House was inflamed and divided by party dissensions, and that the fear of +danger to the succession of the present illustrious family, excluded every +other consideration from the minds of the majority. + +This last period, from the year 1699 to the death of Queen Anne, is marked +with the strongest circumstances of national distress and despondency. +The representatives of the people, who were the best judges, and several +of whom were members of the House of Commons before and after these +restraints, have assigned the reason. No other can be assigned. + +That the woollen manufactures were the great source of industry in +Ireland, appears from the Irish statute of the 17th and 18th of Charles +II., ch. 15;[162] from the resolutions of the Commons, in 1695,[163] for +regulating those manufactures, the resolutions of the Committee of Supply +in that session;[164] and from the preamble to the English statute of the +10th and 11th of William III., ch. 10; in which it is recited, that great +quantities of those manufactures were made, and were daily increasing in +Ireland, and were exported from thence to foreign markets. + +Of the exportation of all those manufactures the Irish were at once +totally deprived: the linen manufacture, proposed as a substitute, must +have required the attention of many years before it could be thoroughly +established. What must have been the consequences to Ireland in the +meantime the journals of the Commons in Queen Anne's reign have informed +us. Compare this period with the three former, and you will prove this +melancholy truth: that a country will sooner recover from the miseries and +devastation occasioned by war, invasion, rebellion, massacre, than from +laws restraining the commerce, discouraging the manufactures, fettering +the industry, and above all breaking the spirits of the people. + +It would be injustice not to acknowledge that Great Britain has, for a +long series of years, made great exertions to repair the evils arising +from these restraints. She has opened her great markets to part of the +linen manufacture of Ireland; she has encouraged it by granting, for a +great length of time, large sums of her own money[165] on the exportation +of it; and under her protection, and by the persevering industry of our +people, this manufacture has attained to a great degree of perfection and +prosperity, in some parts of this country. If the kind and constant +attention of that great kingdom with which we are connected, to this +important object; or if the lenient course of time had at length healed +those wounds, which commercial jealousy had given to the trade and +industry of this country, it would not be a friendly hand to either +kingdom that would attempt to open them: but, if upon every accident they +bleed anew, they should be carefully examined, and searched to the bottom. +If the cause of the poverty and distress of Ireland in the reign of Queen +Anne has since continued to operate, though not always in so great a +degree, yet sufficient frequently to reduce to misery, and constantly to +check the growth and impair the strength of that kingdom, and to weaken +the force and to reduce the resources of Great Britain; that man ought to +be considered as a friend to the British Empire who endeavours to +establish this important truth, and to explain a subject so little +understood. If in this attempt there shall appear no intention to raise +jealousies, inflame discontents, or agitate constitutional questions, it +is hoped that those letters may be read without prejudice on one side of +the water, and without passion or resentment on the other. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Third Letter. + +_Dublin, 25th August, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +To an inquirer after truth, history, since the year 1699 furnishes very +imperfect and often partial views of the affairs of Great Britain and +Ireland. The latter has no professed historian of its own since that era, +and is so slightly mentioned in the histories of the former kingdom, that +it seems to be introduced rather to show the accuracy of the accomptant, +than as an article to be read and examined; pamphlets are often written to +serve occasional purposes, and with an intention to misrepresent; and +party writers are not worthy of any regard. We must then endeavour to find +some other guide, and look into the best materials for history, by +considering the facts as recorded in the journals of Parliament; these +have evinced the poverty of Ireland for the first fourteen years of this +century. That this poverty continued in the year 1716, appears by the +unanimous address of the House of Commons to George the First.[166] This +address was to congratulate his Majesty on his success in extinguishing +the rebellion, an occasion most joyful to them, and on which no +disagreeable circumstance would have been stated, had not truth and the +necessities of their country extorted it from them. A small debt of +L16,106 11_s._ 0-1/2_d._,[167] due at Michaelmas, 1715, was, by their +exertions to strengthen the hands of Government in that year, increased at +midsummer, 1717, to a sum of L91,537 17_s._ 1-5/8_d._,[168] which was +considered as such an augmentation of the national debt, that the Lord +Lieutenant, the Duke of Bolton, thought it necessary to take notice in his +speech from the throne, that the debt was considerably augmented, and to +declare at the same time that his Majesty had ordered reductions in the +military, and had thought proper to lessen the civil list. + +There cannot be a stronger proof of the want of resources in any country, +than that a debt of so small an amount should alarm the persons entrusted +with the government of it. That those apprehensions were well founded, +will appear from the repeated distresses of Ireland, from time to time, +for many years afterwards. In 1721, the speech from the throne,[169] and +the addresses to the king and to the Lord Lieutenant, state, in the +strongest terms, the great decay of her trade, and the very low and +impoverished state to which she was reduced. + +That this proceeded, in some measure, from calamities and misfortunes +which affected the neighbouring kingdoms, is true: but their effects on +Ireland, little interested in the South Sea project, could not be +considerable. The poverty under which she laboured arose principally from +her own situation. The Lord Lieutenant says there is ground to hope that +in this session such remedies may be applied as will restore the nation to +a flourishing condition; and the Commons return the king thanks for giving +them that opportunity to consider of the best methods for reviving their +decayed trade and making them a flourishing and happy people. + +But it is a melancholy proof of the desponding state of this kingdom, that +no law whatever was then proposed for encouraging trade or manufactures, +or to follow the words of the address, for reviving trade, or making us a +flourishing people, unless that for amending the laws as to butter and +tallow casks deserves to be so called. And why? Because it was well +understood by both Houses of Parliament that they had no power to remove +those restraints which prohibited trade and discouraged manufactures, and +that any application for that purpose would at that time have only +offended the people on one side of the channel without bringing any relief +to those on the other. The remedy proposed by Government, and partly +executed, by directing a commission under the Great Seal for receiving +voluntary subscriptions[170] in order to establish a bank, was a scheme to +circulate paper without money; and considering that it came so soon after +the South Sea Bubble had burst, it is more surprising that it should have +been at first applauded,[171] than that it was, in the same session, +disliked, censured, and abandoned.[172] The total inefficacy of the remedy +proved however the inveteracy of the disease, and furnishes a farther +proof of the desperate situation of Ireland, when nothing could be thought +of for its relief, but that paper should circulate without money, trade, +or manufactures.[173] + +In the following session of 1723, it appears that the condition of our +manufacturers, and of the lowest classes of our people, must have been +distressed, as the Duke of Grafton, in his speech from the throne, +particularly recommends to their consideration the finding out of some +method for the better employing of the poor;[174] and though the debt of +the nation was no more than L66,318 8_s._ 3-1/4_d._,[175] and was less +than in the _last_ session,[176] yet the Commons thought it necessary to +present an address to the king, to give such directions as he, in his +great goodness, should think proper, to prevent the increase of the debt +of the nation. This address was presented[177] by the House, with its +Speaker, and passed _nem. con._, and was occasioned by the distressed +state of the country, and by their apprehensions that it might be further +exhausted by the project of Wood's halfpence: it could not be meant as any +want of respect to their Lord Lieutenant, as they had not long since +returned him thanks for his wise conduct and frugality in not increasing +the debt of the nation.[178] This address of the Commons, and the Lord +Lieutenant's recommendation for the better employing the poor, seems to be +explained by a petition of the woollen drapers, weavers, and clothiers of +the city of Dublin (the principal seat of the woollen manufacture of +Ireland) in behalf of themselves and the other drapers, weavers, and +clothiers of this kingdom, praying relief in relation to the great decay +of trade in the woollen manufacture.[179] + +But this address had no effect; the debt of the nation in the ensuing +session of 1725, was nearly doubled.[180] In the speeches from the throne, +in 1727, Lord Carteret takes notice of our success in the linen trade, and +yet observes, in 1729, that the revenue had fallen short, and that thereby +a considerable arrear was due to the establishment. + +But notwithstanding the success of the linen manufacture,[181] Ireland was +in a most miserable condition. The great scarcity of corn had been so +universal in this kingdom in the years 1728 and 1729, as to expose +thousands of families to the utmost necessities, and even to the danger of +famine; many artificers and housekeepers having been obliged to beg for +bread in the streets of Dublin. It appeared before the House of Commons +that the import of corn for one year and six months, ending the 29th day +of September, 1729, amounted in value to the sum of L274,000, an amazing +sum compared with the circumstances of the kingdom at that time! and the +Commons resolved that public granaries would greatly contribute to the +increasing of tillage, and providing against such wants as have frequently +befallen the people of this kingdom, and hereafter may befall them, unless +proper precautions shall be taken against so great a calamity. + +The great scarcity which happened in the years '28 and '29, and frequently +before and since, is a decisive proof that the distresses of this kingdom +have been occasioned by the discouragement of manufactures. If the +manufacturers have not sufficient employment, they cannot buy the +superfluous produce of the land; the farmers will be discouraged from +tilling, and general distress and poverty must ensue. The consequences of +the want of employment among manufacturers and labourers must be more +fatal in Ireland than in most other countries; of the numbers of her +people it has been computed that 1,887,220 live in houses with but one +hearth, and may therefore be reasonably presumed to belong for the most +part to those classes. + +In the year 1731[182] there was a great deficiency in the public revenue, +and the national debt had considerably increased. The exhausted kingdom +lay under great difficulties by the decay of trade, the scarcity of +money, and the universal poverty of the country, which the Speaker +represents[183] in very affecting terms, in offering the money bills for +the royal assent, and adds, "that the Commons hope, from his Majesty's +goodness, and his Grace's _free_ and _impartial_ representation of the +state and condition of this kingdom, that _they_ may enjoy a _share_ of +the blessings of public tranquillity by the increase of their trade, and +the encouragement of their manufactures." + +But in the next session, of 1733, they are told in the speech from the +throne, what this share was to be. The Lord Lieutenant informs them that +the peace cannot fail of contributing to their welfare, by enabling them +to improve those branches of trade and manufactures[184] which _are +properly their own_, meaning the trade and manufacture of linen. Whether +this idea of property has been preserved inviolate will hereafter appear. + +The years '40 and '41 were seasons of great scarcity, and in consequence +of the want of wholesome provisions great numbers of our people perished +miserably, and the speech from the throne recommends it to both Houses to +consider of proper measures to prevent the like calamity for the future. +The employment of the poor and the encouragement of tillage are the +remedies proposed[185] by the Lord Lieutenant and approved of by the +Commons, but no laws for those purposes were introduced, and why they were +not affords matter for melancholy conjecture. They could not have been +insensible of the miseries of their fellow-creatures, many thousands of +whom were lost in those years, some from absolute want, and many from +disorders occasioned by bad provisions. Why was no attempt made for their +relief? Because the Commons knew that the evil was out of their reach, +that the poor were not employed because they were discouraged by +restrictive laws from working up the materials of their own country, and +that agriculture could not be encouraged where the lower classes of the +people were not enabled by their industry to purchase the produce of the +farmer's labour. + +For above forty years after making those restrictive laws[186] Ireland was +always poor and often in great want, distress, and misery,[187] though the +linen manufacture had made great progress during that time. In the war +before the last, she was not able to give any assistance. The Duke of +Devonshire, in the year 1741, takes notice from the throne, that during a +war for the protection of the trade of all his Majesty's dominions there +had been no increase of the charge of the establishment; and in the year +1745, the country was so little able to bear expense, that lord +Chesterfield discouraged and prevented any augmentation of the army, +though much desired by many gentlemen of the House of Commons, from a +sense of the great danger that then impended. An influx of money after the +peace, and the further success of the linen trade, increased our wealth, +and enabled us to reduce by degrees, and afterwards to discharge the +national debt. This was not effected until the first of March, 1754.[188] +This debt was occasioned principally by the expenses incurred by the +rebellion in Great Britain in the year 1715; an unlimited vote of credit +was then given.[189] From the lowness of the revenue, and the want of +resources, not from any further exertions on the part of the kingdom in +point of expense, the debt of L16,106 11_s._ 0-1/2_d._, due in 1715, was +increased at Lady-day,[190] 1733, to L371,312 12_s._ 2-1/2_d._ That +Government and the House of Commons should for such a length of time have +considered the reduction and discharge of this debt as an object of so +great importance, and that nearly forty years should have passed before +the constant attention and strictest economy of both could have +accomplished that purpose, is a strong proof of the weakness and poverty +of this country, during that period. + +After the payment of this debt, the wealth and ability of Ireland were +greatly overrated, both here and in Great Britain. The consequences of +this mistaken opinion were increased expenses on the part of government +and of the country, more than it was able to bear. The strict economy of +old times was no longer practised. The representatives of the people set +the example of profusion and the ministers of the Crown were not backward +in following it. A large redundancy of money in the Treasury, gave a +delusive appearance of national wealth. At Lady-day, 1755, the sum in +credit to the nation was L471,404 5_s._ 6-3/8_d._,[191] and the money +remaining in the Treasury of the ordinary unappropriated revenue on the +29th day of September, 1755,[192] L457,959 12_s._ 7-1/8_d._ But this +great increase of revenue arose from an increase of imports, particularly +in the year 1754, by which the kingdom was greatly over-stocked, and which +raised the revenue in that year L208,309 19_s._ 2-1/4_d._ higher than it +was in the year 1748, when the revenue first began to rise +considerably;[193] and though what a nation spends is one method of +estimating its wealth, yet a nation, like an individual, may live beyond +its means, and spend on credit which may far exceed its income. This was +the fact as to Ireland in the year 1754, for some years before and for +many years after; it appeared in an inquiry before the House of Commons in +the session of 1755, that many persons had circulated paper to a very +great amount, far exceeding not only their own capitals,[194] but that +just proportion which the quantity of paper ought to bear to the national +specie.[195] This gave credit to many individuals, who without property +became merchant importers, and at the same time increased the receipts of +the Treasury and lessened the wealth of the kingdom. At the very time that +so great a balance was in the Treasury, public credit was in a very low +way, and the House of Commons was employed in preparing a law to restore +it. In '54 and '55 three principal banks[196] failed, and the legislature +took up much time in inquiring into their affairs, and in framing laws for +the relief of their creditors.[197] Yet in this session, the liberality of +the House of Commons was excessive. The redundancy in the Treasury had, in +the session of 1753, occasioned a dispute between the Crown and the House +of Commons on the question whether the king's previous consent was +necessary for the application of it. They wished to avoid any future +contest of that kind, and were flattered to grant the public money from +enlarged views of national improvements. The making rivers navigable, the +making and improving harbours, and the improvement of husbandry and other +useful arts, were objects worthy of the representatives of the people; and +had the faithfulness of the execution answered the goodness of the +intention in many instances, the public in general might have had no great +reason to complain. Many of those grants prove the poverty of the country. +There were not private stocks to carry on the projects of individuals, nor +funds sufficient for incorporating and supporting companies, nor profits +to be had by the undertakings sufficient to reimburse the money necessary +to be expended. The Commons therefore advanced the money, for the benefit +of the public; and it can never be supposed that they would have continued +to do so for above twenty years, if they were not convinced that there +were not funds in the hands of individuals sufficient to carry on those +useful undertakings, nor trade enough in the kingdom to make adequate +returns to the adventurers. + +Having gone through more than half the century, it is time to pause. In +this long gloomy period, the poverty of Ireland appears to have been +misery and desolation, and her wealth a symptom of decline and a prelude +to poverty; the low retiring ebb from the spring-tide of deceitful +prosperity, has left our shores bare, and has opened a waste and desolate +prospect of barren sand, and uncultivated country. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Fourth Letter. + +_Dublin, 27th August, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +The revenue, for the reasons already given, decreased in 1755,[198] fell +lower in 1756, and still lower in '57. In the last year the vaunted +prosperity of Ireland was changed into misery and distress; the lower +classes of our people wanted food;[199] the money arising from the +extravagance of the rich was freely applied to alleviate the sufferings of +the poor.[200] One of the first steps of the late Duke of Bedford's +administration--and which reflects honour on his memory--was obtaining a +king's letter, dated 31st March, 1757, for L20,000, to be laid out as his +Grace should think the most likely to afford the most speedy and effectual +relief to his Majesty's poor subjects of this kingdom. His Grace, in his +speech from the throne, humanely expresses his wish, that some method +might be found out to prevent the calamities that are the consequences of +a want of corn, which had been in part felt the last year, and to which +this country had been too often exposed; the Commons acknowledge that +those calamities had been frequently and were too sensibly and fatally +experienced in the course of the last year, thank his Grace for his early +and charitable attention to the necessities of the poor of this country in +their late distresses, and make use of those remarkable +expressions,--"that they will most cheerfully embrace[201] every +_practicable_ method to promote tillage."[202] They knew that the +encouragement of manufactures were the effectual means, and that these +means were not in their power. + +The ability of the nation was estimated by the money in the Treasury, and +the pensions on the civil establishment, exclusive of French, which at +Lady-Day, 1755, were L38,003 15_s._, amounted at Lady-Day, '57, to L49,293 +15_s._[203] + +The same ideas were entertained of the resources of this country in the +session of 1759. Great Britain had made extraordinary efforts, and engaged +in enormous expenses for the protection of the whole empire. This country +was in immediate danger of an invasion. Every Irishman was agreed that she +should assist Great Britain to the utmost of her ability, but this ability +was too highly estimated. The nation abounded rather in loyalty than in +wealth.[204] Our brethren in Great Britain, had, however, formed a +different opinion, and, surveying their own strength, were incomplete +judges of our weakness. A Lord Lieutenant of too much virtue and +magnanimity to speak what he did not think, takes notice from the throne, +"of the prosperous state of this country, improving daily in its +manufactures and commerce."[205] His Grace had done much to bring it to +that state, by obtaining for us some of the best laws[206] in our books of +statutes. But this part of the speech was not taken notice of, either in +the address to his Majesty or to his Grace, from a House of Commons well +disposed to give every mark of duty and respect, and to pay every +compliment consistent with truth. The event proved the wisdom of their +reserve. The public expenses were greatly increased, the pensions on the +civil establishment exclusive of French, at Lady-Day, 1759, amounted to +L55,497 5_s._;[207] there was, at the same time a great augmentation of +military expense.[208] Six new regiments and a troop were raised in a very +short space of time. An unanimous and unlimited address of confidence to +his Grace,[209] a specific vote of credit for L150,000,[210] which was +afterwards provided for in the Loan Bill[211] of that session, a second +vote of credit in the same session for L300,000,[212] the raising the rate +of interest paid by Government, one per cent., and the payment out of the +Treasury[213] in little more than one year of L703,957 3_s._ +1-1/2_d._,[214] were the consequences of those increased expenses. The +effects of these exertions were immediately and severely felt by the +kingdom. These loans could not be supplied by a poor country, without +draining the bankers of their cash; three of the principal houses,[215] +among them stopped payment; the three remaining banks in Dublin discounted +no paper, and, in fact, did no business. Public and private credit, that +had been drooping since the year 1754, had now fallen prostrate. At a +general meeting of the merchants of Dublin, in April, 1860, with several +members of the House of Commons, the inability of the former to carry on +business was universally acknowledged, not from the want of capital, but +from the stoppage of all paper circulation, and the refusal of the +remaining bankers to discount the bills even of the first houses. The +merchants and traders of Dublin, in their petition[216] to the House of +Commons, represent "the low state to which public and private credit had +been of late reduced in this kingdom, and particularly in this city, of +which the successive failures of so many banks, and of private traders in +different parts of this kingdom, in so short a time as since October last, +were incontestable proofs. The petitioners, sensible that the necessary +consequences of these misfortunes must be the loss of foreign trade, the +diminution of his Majesty's revenue, and what is still more fatal, the +decay of the manufactures of this kingdom, have in vain repeatedly +attempted to support the sinking credit of the nation by associations and +otherwise; and are satisfied that no resource is now left but what may be +expected from the wisdom of parliament, to avert the calamities with which +this kingdom is at present threatened." + +The committee, to whom it was referred, resolve[217] that they had proved +the several matters alleged in their petition; that the quantity of paper +circulating was not near sufficient for supporting the trade and +manufactures of this kingdom; and that the house should engage, to the +first of May, '62, for each of the then subsisting banks in Dublin, to the +amount of L50,000 for each bank; and that an address should be presented +to the Lord Lieutenant, to thank his Grace for having given directions +that bankers' notes should be received as cash from the several +subscribers to the loan, and that he would be pleased to give directions +that their notes should be taken as cash in all payments at the Treasury, +and by the several collectors for the city and county of Dublin. The house +agreed to those resolutions and to that for giving credit to the banks, +_nem. con._ + +The speech from the throne takes notice of the care the House of Commons +had taken for establishing public credit, which the Lord Lieutenant says +he flatters himself will answer the end proposed, and effect that +circulation so necessary for carrying on the commerce of the country.[218] + +Those facts are not stated as any imputation on the then chief governor: +the vigour of his mind incited him to make the Crown as useful as +possible to the subject, and the subject to the Crown. He succeeded in +both, but in the latter part of the experiment, the weakness of the +country was shown. The great law which we owe to his interposition, I +speak of that which gives a bounty on the land carriage of corn and flour +to Dublin,[219] has saved this country from utter destruction; this law, +which reflects the highest honour on the author and promoter, is still a +proof of the poverty of that country where such a law is necessary. Its +true principle is to bring the market of Dublin to the door of the farmer, +and that was done in the year ending the 25th of March, 1777, at the +expense of L61,789 18_s._ 6_d._, to the public; a large but a most useful +and necessary expenditure.[220] The adoption of this principle proves, +what we in this country know to be a certain truth, that there is no other +market in Ireland on which the farmer can rely for the certain sale of his +corn and flour; a decisive circumstance to show the wretched state of the +manufactures of this kingdom. + +In the beginning of the next parliament the rupture with Spain occasioned +a new augmentation of military expense. The ever loyal Commons return an +address of thanks to the message mentioning the addition of five new +battalions[221] and unanimously promise to provide for them; and with the +same unanimity pass a vote of credit for L200,000.[222] The amount of +pensions on the civil establishment, exclusive of French, had for one year +ending the 25th of March, 1761, amounted to L64,127 5_s._,[223] and our +manufacturers were then distressed by the expense and havoc of a +burdensome war.[224] + +In the year 1762 a national evil made its appearance, which all the +exertions of the Government and of the legislature have not since been +able to eradicate; I mean the risings of the White Boys. They appear in +those parts of the kingdom where manufactures are not established, and are +a proof of the poverty and want of employment of the lower classes of our +people. Lord Northumberland mentions, in his speech from the throne[225] +in 1763, that the means of industry would be the remedy; from whence it +seems to follow that the want of those means must be the cause. To attain +this great end the Commons promise their attention to the Protestant +charter schools and linen manufacture.[226] The wretched men who were +guilty of those violations of the law, were too mature for the first, and +totally ignorant of the second; but long established usage had given those +words a privilege in speeches and addresses to stand for everything that +related to the improvement of Ireland. + +The state of pensions remained nearly the same[227] by the peace the +military expenses were considerably reduced; of the military establishment +to be provided for in the session 1763, compared with the military +establishment as it stood on the 31st of March, 1763, the net decrease was +L119,037 0_s._ 10_d._ per annum; but as a peace establishment it was high, +and compared with that of the 31st of March, 1756[228] being the year +preceding the last war, the annual increase was L110,422 9_s._ 5-1/4_d._ +The debt of the nation at Lady Day, 1763, and which was entirely incurred +in the last war, was L521,161 16_s._ 6-7/8_d._,[229] and would have been +much greater if the several Lord Lieutenants had not used with great +economy the power of borrowing, which the House of Commons had from +session to session given them. + +That this debt should have been contracted in an expensive war, in which +Ireland was called upon for the first time to contribute, is not to be +wondered at, but the continual increase of this debt, in sixteen years of +peace, should be accounted for. + +The same mistaken estimate of the ability of Ireland that occasioned our +being called upon to bear part of the British burden during the war, +produced similar effects at the time of the peace, and after it. The heavy +peace establishment was increased by an augmentation of our army in 1769, +which induced an additional charge, taking in the expenses of exchange and +remittance of L54,118 12_s._ 6_d._ yearly, for the first year; but this +charge was afterwards considerably increased, and amounted, from the year +1769 to Christmas, 1778, when it was discontinued, to the sum of L620,824 +0_s._ 9-1/4_d._, and this increased expense was more felt, because it was +for the purpose of paying forces out of this kingdom. + +As our expenses increased our income diminished; the revenue for the two +years, ending the 25th of March, 1771,[230] was far short of former years, +and not nearly sufficient to pay the charges of Government, and the sums +payable for bounties and public works.[231] The debt of the nation at +Lady-Day, 1771, was increased to L782,320 0_s._ 0-1/4_d._[232] The want of +income was endeavoured to be supplied by a loan. In the money bill of the +October Session, 1771, there was a clause empowering Government to borrow +L200,000. Immediately after the linen trade declined rapidly; in 1772, +1773, and 1774, the decay in that trade was general in every part of the +kingdom where it was established; the quantity manufactured was not above +two-thirds of what used formerly to be made, and that quantity did not +sell for above three-fourths of its former price. The linen and linen yarn +exported for one year, ending the 25th of March, 1773,[233] fell short of +the exports of one year, ending the 25th of March, 1771, to the amount in +value of L788,821 1_s._ 3_d._ At Lady-day, 1773,[234] the debt increased +to L994,890 10_s._ 10-1/8_d._ The attempt in the Session of 1773,[235] to +equalise the annual income and expenses failed, and borrowing on tontine +in the Sessions of 1773, 1775, and 1777, added greatly to the annual +expense, and to the sums of money remitted out of the kingdom. The debt +now bearing interest amounts to the sum of L1,017,600, besides a sum of +L740,000 raised on annuities, which amount to L48,900 yearly, with some +incidental expenses. The great increase of those national burdens, likely +to take place in the approaching Session, has been already mentioned. + +The debt of Ireland has arisen from the following causes: the expenses of +the late war, the heavy peace establishment in the year 1763, the increase +of that establishment in the year 1769, the sums paid from 1759 to forces +out of the kingdom, the great increase of pensions and other additional +charges on the civil establishment, which, however considerable, bears but +a small proportion to the increased military expenses, the falling of the +revenue, and the sums paid for bounties and public works; these are +mentioned last, because it is apprehended that they have not operated to +increase this debt in so great a degree as some persons have imagined; +for, though the amount is large, yet no part of the money was sent out of +the kingdom, and several of the grants were for useful purposes, some of +which made returns to the public and to the Treasury exceeding the amount +of those grants. + +When those facts are considered, no doubt can be entertained but that the +supposed wealth of Ireland has led to real poverty; and when it is known, +that from the year 1751 to Christmas, 1778, the sums remitted by Ireland +to pay troops serving abroad, amounted to the sum of L1,401,925 19_s._ +4_d._, it will be equally clear from whence this poverty has principally +arisen. + +In those seasons of expense and borrowing the lower classes were equally +subject to poverty and distress, as in the period of national economy. In +1762, Lord Halifax, in his speech from the throne,[236] acknowledges that +our manufactures were distressed by the war. In 1763, the corporation of +weavers, by a petition to the House of Commons, complain that, +notwithstanding the great increase both in number and wealth of the +inhabitants of the metropolis, they found a very great decay of several +branches of trade and manufactures[237] of this city, particularly in the +silken and woollen. + +In 1765 there was a scarcity caused by the failure of potatoes in general +throughout the kingdom, which distressed the common people; the spring +corn had also failed, and grain was so high, that it was thought necessary +to appoint a committee[238] to inquire what may be the best method to +reduce it; and to prevent a great dearth, two acts were passed early in +that session, to stop the distillery, and to prevent the exportation of +corn, for a limited time. In Spring, 1766, those fears appear to have been +well-founded; several towns were in great distress for corn; and by the +humanity of the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Hertford, money was issued out of +the Treasury to buy corn for such places as applied to his lordship for +that relief. + +The years 1770 and 1771 were seasons of great distress in Ireland, and in +the month of February, in the latter year, the high price of corn is +mentioned from the throne[239] as an object of the first importance, which +demanded the utmost attention. + +In 1778 and 1779 there was great plenty of corn, but the manufacturers +were not able to buy, and many thousands of them were supported by +charity; the consequence was that corn fell to so low a price that the +farmers in many places were unable to pay their rents, and everywhere were +under great difficulties. + +That the linen manufacture has been of the utmost consequence to this +country, that it has greatly prospered, that it has been long encouraged +by the protection of Great Britain, that whatever wealth Ireland is +possessed of arises, for the most part, from that trade, is freely +acknowledged; but in far the greatest part of the kingdom it has not yet +been established, and many attempts to introduce it have, after long +perseverance and great expense, proved fruitless. + +Though that manufacture made great advances from 1727 to 1758,[240] yet +the tillage of this kingdom declined during the whole of that period, and +we have not since been free from scarcity. + +Notwithstanding the success of that manufacture, the bulk of our people +have always continued poor, and in a great many seasons have wanted food. +Can the history of any other fruitful country on the globe, enjoying peace +for fourscore years, and not visited by plague or pestilence, produce so +many recorded instances of the poverty and wretchedness, and of the +reiterated want and misery of the lower orders of the people? There is no +such example in ancient or modern story. If the ineffectual endeavours by +the representatives of those poor people to give them employment and food, +had not left sufficient memorials of their wretchedness; if their +habitations, apparel, and food, were not sufficient proofs, I should +appeal to the human countenance for my voucher, and rest the evidence on +that hopeless despondency that hangs on the brow of unemployed industry. + +That, since the success of the linen manufacture, the money and the rents +of Ireland have been greatly increased, is acknowledged; but it is +affirmed, and the fact is of notoriety, that the lower orders, not of that +trade, are not less wretched. Those employed in the favourite manufacture +generally buy from that country to which they principally sell; and the +rise in lands is a misfortune to the poor, where their wages do not rise +proportionably, which will not happen where manufactures and agriculture +are not sufficiently encouraged. Give premiums by land or by water, +arrange your exports and imports in what manner you will; if you +discourage the people from working up the principal materials of their +country, the bulk of that people must ever continue miserable, the growth +of the nation will be checked, and the sinews of the State enfeebled. + +I have stated a tedious detail of instances, to show that the sufferings +of the lower classes of our people have continued the same (with an +exception only of those employed in the linen trade) since the time of +Queen Anne, as they were during her reign; that the cause remains the +same, namely, that our manufacturers have not sufficient employment, and +cannot afford to buy from the farmer, and that therefore manufactures and +agriculture must both be prejudiced. + +After revolving those repeated instances, and almost continued chain of +distress, for such a series of years, among the inhabitants of a temperate +climate, surrounded by the bounties of Providence and the means of +abundance, and being unable to discover any accidental or natural causes +for those evils, we are led to inquire whether they have arisen from the +mistaken policy of man. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Fifth Letter. + +_Dublin, 30th Aug., 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +Every man of discernment, who attends to the facts which have been stated, +would conclude, that there must be some political institutions in this +country counteracting the natural course of things, and obstructing the +prosperity of the people. Those institutions should be considered, that as +from the effects the cause has been traced, this also should be examined, +to show that such consequences are necessarily deducible from it. For +several years the exportation of live cattle to England[241] was the +principal trade of Ireland. This was thought, most erroneously,[242] as +has since been acknowledged,[243] to lower the rents of lands in England. +From this, and perhaps from some less worthy motive[244] a law passed in +England,[245] to restrain and afterwards to prohibit the exportation of +cattle from Ireland. The Irish, deprived of their principal trade, and +reduced to the utmost distress by this prohibition, had no resource but to +work up their own commodities, to which they applied themselves with great +ardour.[246] After this prohibition they increased their number of sheep, +and at the Revolution were possessed of very numerous flocks. They had +good reasons to think that this object of industry was not only left open, +but recommended to them. The ineffectual attempt by Lord Strafford, in +1639, to prevent the making of broadcloths in Ireland,[247] the +relinquishment of that scheme by never afterwards reviving it, the +encouragement given to their woollen manufactures by many English Acts of +Parliament from the reign of Edward III.[248] to the 12th of Charles II., +and several of them for the express purpose of exportation; the letter of +Charles II., in 1667, with the advice of his Privy Council in England, and +the proclamation in pursuance of that letter, encouraging the exportation +of their manufactures to foreign countries; by the Irish statutes of the +13th Henry VIII. ch. 2; 28th Henry VIII. ch. 17; of the 11th Elizabeth, +ch. 10, and 17th and 18th Charles II., ch. 15 (all of which, the Act of +28th Henry VIII. excepted, received the approbation of the Privy Council +of England, having been returned under the Great Seal of that kingdom) +afforded as strong grounds of assurance as any country could possess for +the continuance of any trade or manufacture. + +Great numbers of their flocks had been destroyed at the time of the +Revolution, but they were replaced, at great expense, and became more +numerous and flourishing than before. The woollen manufacture was +cultivated in Ireland for ages before, and for several years after the +Revolution, without any appearance of jealousy from England, the attempt +by Lord Strafford excepted. No discouragement is intimated in any speech +from the throne until the year 1698; Lord Sydney's, in 1692, imparts the +contrary. "Their Majesties," says he,[249] "being in their own royal +judgments satisfied that a country so fertile by nature, and so +advantageously situated for _trade and navigation_, can want nothing but +the blessing of peace, and the help of some good laws to make it as rich +and flourishing _as most of its neighbours_; I am ordered to assure you +that nothing shall be wanting on their parts that may contribute to your +perfect and lasting happiness." + +Several laws had been made[250] in England to prevent the exportation of +wool, yarn made of wool, fuller's earth, or any kind of scouring earth or +fulling clay from England or Ireland, into any places out of the kingdoms +of England or Ireland. But those laws were equally restrictive on both +kingdoms. + +In the first year[251] of William and Mary certain ports were mentioned in +Ireland, from which only wool should be shipped from that kingdom, and +certain ports in England into which only it should be imported; and a +register was directed to be kept in the Custom House of London of all the +wool from time to time imported from Ireland. By a subsequent Act in this +reign,[252] passed in 1696, the Commissioners or Farmers of the Customs in +Ireland are directed, once in every six months, to transmit to the +Commissioners of Customs in England, an account of all wool exported from +Ireland to England, and this last Act, in its title, professes the +intention of encouraging the importation of wool from Ireland. The +prohibition of exporting the materials from either kingdom, except to the +other, and the encouragement to export it from Ireland to England, +mentioned in the title of the last-mentioned Act, but for which no +provision seems to be made, unless the designation of particular ports may +be so called, was the system that then seemed to be settled, for +preventing the wool of Ireland from being prejudicial to England; but the +prevention of the exportation of the manufacture was an idea that seemed +never to have been entertained until the year 1697, when a bill for that +purpose was brought into the English House of Commons,[253] and passed +that house; but after great consideration was not passed by the Lords in +that parliament.[254] There does not appear to have been any increase at +that time in the woollen manufacture of Ireland sufficient to have raised +any jealousy in England. + +By a report from the Commissioners of Trade in that kingdom, dated on the +23rd of December, 1697, and laid before the House of Commons, in 1698, +they find that the woollen manufacture in Ireland had increased since the +year 1665, as follows: + + Years. New draperies. Old draperies. Frieze. + Pieces. Pieces. Yards. + + 1665 224 32 444,381 + 1687 11,360 103 1,129,716 + 1696 4,413 34-3/4 104,167 + +The bill for restraining the exportation of woollen manufactures from +Ireland was brought into the English House of Commons on the 23rd of +February, 1697, but the law did not pass until the year 1699, in the first +session of the new parliament. I have not been able to obtain an account +of the exportation of woollen manufactures for the year 1697,[255] but +from the 25th of December, 1697, to the 25th of December, 1698, being the +first year in which the exports in books extant are registered in the +Custom House at Dublin, the amount appears to be of + + New drapery. Old drapery. Frieze. + Pieces. Pieces. Yards. + + 23,285-1/2 281-1/2 666,901 + +though this increase of export shows that the trade was advancing in +Ireland, yet the total amount or the comparative increase since 1687 could +scarcely "sink the value of lands and tend to the ruin of the trade and +woollen manufactures of England."[256] + +The apprehensions of England seem rather to have arisen from the fears of +future, than from the experience of any past rivalship in this trade. I +have more than once heard Lord Bowes, the late chancellor of this kingdom, +mention a conversation that he had with Sir Robert Walpole on this +subject, who assured him that the jealousies entertained in England of the +woollen trade in Ireland, and the restraints of that trade had at first +taken their rise from the boasts of some of our countrymen in London, of +the great success of that manufacture here. Whatever was the cause, both +houses of parliament in England addressed King William, in very strong +terms, on this subject; but on considering those addresses they seem to be +founded, not on the state at that time of that manufacture here, but the +probability of its further increase. As those proceedings are of great +importance to two of the principal manufactures of this country, it is +thought necessary to state them particularly. The lords represent, "that +the _growing_ manufacture of cloth in Ireland[257] both by the cheapness +of all sorts of necessaries for life, and _goodness of materials for +making all manner of cloth_, doth invite your subjects of England, with +their families and servants, to leave their habitations to settle there, +to the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, which makes your +loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive that _the further growth_ +of it _may_ greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; by which the +trade of the nation and the value of lands will very much decrease, and +the numbers of your people be much lessened here." They then beseech his +majesty "in the most public and effectual way, that may be, to declare to +all your subjects of Ireland, that the _growth_ and _increase_ of the +woollen manufacture hath long, and will ever be looked upon with jealousy +by all your subjects of this kingdom; _and if not timely remedied_, may +occasion very strict laws, totally to prohibit and suppress the same; and, +on the other hand, if they turn their industry and skill to the settling +and improving the linen manufacture, for which generally the lands of that +kingdom are very proper, they shall receive all countenance, favour, and +protection from your _royal influence_, for the encouragement and +promoting of the said linen manufacture, to _all the advantage and profit +that kingdom can be capable of_." + +King William in his answer says, "His Majesty will take care to do what +their lordships have desired;" and the lords direct that the Lord +Chancellor should order that the address and answer be forthwith printed +and published.[258] + +In the address of the Commons[259] they say, that "being sensible that the +wealth and peace of this kingdom do, in a great measure, depend on +preserving the woollen manufacture, as much as possible, _entire_ to this +realm, they think it becomes them, like their ancestors, to be jealous of +the _establishment_ and _increase_ thereof elsewhere; and to use their +utmost endeavours to prevent it, and therefore, they cannot without +trouble observe, that Ireland, dependent on, and protected by England in +the enjoyment of all they have, and which is so proper for the linen +manufacture, the establishment and growth of which there would be so +enriching to themselves, and so profitable to England, should _of late_ +apply itself to the woollen manufacture, to the great prejudice of the +trade of this kingdom, and so unwillingly promote the linen trade, which +would benefit both them and us. + +"The consequence whereof will necessitate your parliament of England to +interpose, to prevent the mischief that _threatens_ us, unless your +Majesty, by your authority and great wisdom, shall find means to secure +the trade of England by making your subjects of Ireland to pursue the +joint interest of both kingdoms. + +"And we do most humbly implore your Majesty's protection and favour in +this matter; and that you will make it your royal care, and enjoin all +those you employ in Ireland, to make it their care, and use their utmost +diligence, to hinder the _exportation of wool_ from Ireland, except to be +imported hither, and for the discouraging the woollen manufactures, and +encouraging the linen manufactures in Ireland, to which we shall be +_always_ ready to give our _utmost_ assistance." + +This address was presented to his Majesty by the house: The answer is +explicit: "I shall do all that in me lies to discourage the woollen trade +in Ireland, and encourage the linen manufacture there; and to promote the +trade of England." + +He soon after wrote a letter[260] to Lord Galway, then one of the lord's +justices of this kingdom, in which he tells him, "that it was never of +such importance to have at present a good session of parliament, not only +in regard to my affairs of that kingdom, but especially of this here. The +chief thing that must be tried to be prevented is, that the Irish +parliament takes no notice of what has passed in this here,[261] and that +you make effectual laws for the linen manufacture, and discourage _as far +as possible_ the woollen." It would be unjust to infer from any of those +proceedings that this great prince wanted affection for this country. They +were times of party. He was often under the necessity of complying against +his own opinion and wishes, and about this time was obliged to send away +his favourite guards, in compliance with the desire of the Commons. + +The houses of parliament in England originally intended, that the business +should be done in the parliament of Ireland by the exertion of that great +and just influence which King William had acquired in that kingdom. On the +first day of the following session[262] the lords justices, in their +speech, mention a bill transmitted for the encouragement of the linen and +hempen manufactures, which they recommend in the following words: "The +settlement of this manufacture will contribute much to people the country, +and will be found _much more advantageous to this kingdom_ than the +woollen manufacture, which being the settled staple trade of England, from +_whence all foreign markets_ are supplied, can never be encouraged _here_ +for that purpose; whereas the linen and hempen manufactures will not only +be encouraged as consistent with the trade of England, but will render +the trade of this kingdom both useful and necessary to England." + +The Commons in their address[263] promise their hearty endeavours to +establish a linen and hempen manufacture in Ireland, and say that they +hoped to find such a temperament in respect to the woollen trade here, +that the same may not be injurious to England. They referred the +consideration of that subject to the committee of supply, who resolved +that an additional duty be laid on old and new drapery of the manufacture +of this kingdom,[264] that shall be exported, friezes excepted; to which +the House agreed.[265] But there were petitions presented against this +duty, and relative to the quantity of it, and the committee appointed to +consider of this duty were not it seems so expeditious in their +proceedings as the impatience of the times required.[266] + +On the 2nd of October the lords justices made a quickening speech to both +houses, taking notice, that the progress which they expected was not made, +in the business of the session, and use those remarkable words: "The +matters we recommended to you are so necessary, and the prosperity of this +kingdom depends so much on the good success of this session, that since we +know his Majesty's affairs cannot permit your sitting very long, we +thought the greatest mark we could give of our kindness and concern for +you, was to come hither, and desire you to hasten the despatch of the +matters under your consideration; in which we are the more earnest, +because we must be sensible, that if the present opportunity his majesty's +affection to you hath put into your hands be lost, it seems hardly to be +recovered.[267] + +On the 2nd of January, 1698, O. S. the House resolved that the report from +the committee of the whole House, appointed to consider of a duty to be +laid on the woollen manufactures of this kingdom, should be made on the +next day, and nothing to intervene. But on that day a message was +delivered from the lords justices in the following words: "We have +received his majesty's commands[268] to send unto you a bill, entitled an +act for laying an additional duty upon woollen manufactures exported out +of this kingdom; the passing of which in this session his majesty +recommended to you, as what may be of great advantage for the preservation +of the trade of this kingdom." + +The bill which accompanied this message was presented, and a question for +receiving it was carried in the affirmative, by 74 against 34. This bill +must have been transmitted from the Council of Ireland. Whilst the +Commons were proceeding with the utmost temper and moderation, were +exerting great firmness in restraining all attempts to inflame the minds +of the people,[269] and were deliberating on the most important subject +that could arise, it was taken out of their hands; but the bill passed, +though not without opposition,[270] and received the royal assent on the +29th day of January, 1698. + +By this act an additional duty was imposed of 4_s._ for every 20_s._ in +value of broadcloth exported out of Ireland, and 2_s._ on every 20_s._ in +value of new drapery, friezes only excepted, from the 25th of March, 1699, +to the 25th of March, 1702;[271] the only woollen manufacture excepted was +one of which Ireland had been in possession before the reign of Edward +III., and in which she had been always distinguished.[272] This law has +every appearance of having been framed on the part of the +Administration.[273] + +But it did not satisfy the English parliament, where a perpetual law was +made, prohibiting, from the 20th of June, 1699,[274] the exportation from +Ireland of all goods made or mixed with wool, except to England and Wales, +and with the licence of the Commissioners of the Revenue; duties[275] had +been before aid on the importation into England equal to a prohibition, +therefore this Act has operated as a total prohibition of the exportation. + +Before these laws the Irish were under great disadvantages in the woollen +trade, by not being allowed to export their woollen manufactures to the +English colonies,[276] or to import dye stuffs directly from thence; and +the English in this respect, and in having those exclusive markets, +possessed considerable advantages. + +Let it now be considered what are the usual means taken to promote the +prosperity of any country in respect of trade and manufactures? She is +encouraged to work up her own materials, to export her manufactures to +other nations, to import from them the material for manufacture, and to +export none of her own that she is able to work up; not to buy what she is +capable of selling to others, and to promote the carrying trade and +ship-building. If these are the most obvious means by which a nation may +advance in strength and riches, institutions counteracting those means +must necessarily tend to reduce it to weakness and poverty; and, +therefore, the advocates for the continuance of those institutions will +find it difficult to satisfy the world that such a system of policy is +either reasonable or just. + +The cheapness of labour, the excellence of materials, and the success of +the manufacture in the excluded country,[277] may appear to an +unprejudiced man to be rather reasons for the encouragement than for the +prohibition. But the preamble of the English Act of the 10th and 11th of +William III. affirms, that the exportation from Ireland and the English +plantations in America to foreign markets, heretofore supplied from +England, would inevitably sink the value of lands, and tend to the ruin of +the trade and manufactures of that realm. I shall only consider this +assertion as relative to Ireland. A fact upon which the happiness of a +great and ancient kingdom, and of millions of people depends, ought to +have been supported by the most incontestable evidence, and should never +be suffered to rest in speculation, or to be taken from the mere +suggestion or distant apprehension of commercial jealousy. Those fears for +the future were not founded on any experience of the past. From what +market had the woollen manufactures of Ireland ever excluded England? What +part of her trade, and which of her manufactures had been ruined; and +where did any of her lands fall by the woollen exports of Ireland? Were +any of those facts attempted to be proved at the time of the prohibition? +The amount of the Irish export proves it to have been impossible that +those facts could have then existed. The consequences mentioned as likely +to arise to England from the supposed increase of those manufactures in +Ireland, had no other foundation but the apprehensions of rivalship among +trading people, who, in excluding their fellow-citizens, have opened the +gates for the admission of the enemy. + +Whether those apprehensions are now well-founded, should be carefully +considered. Justice, sound policy, and the general good of the British +Empire require it. The arguments in support of those restraints are +principally these:--That labour is cheaper, and taxes lower, in Ireland +than in England, and that the former would be able to undersell the latter +in all foreign markets. + +Spinning is now certainly cheaper in Ireland, because the persons employed +in it live on food[278] with which the English would not be content; but +the wages of spinners would soon rise if the trade was opened. At the +loom, I am informed, that the same quantity of work is done cheaper in +England than in Ireland; and we have the misfortune of daily experience to +convince us that the English, notwithstanding the supposed advantages of +the Irish in this trade, undersell them at their own markets in every +branch of the woollen manufacture. A decisive proof that they cannot +undersell the English in foreign markets. + +With the increase of manufactures, agriculture, and commerce in Ireland, +the demand for labour, and consequently its price, would increase.[279] +That price would be soon higher in Ireland than in England. It is not in +the richest countries, but in those that are growing rich the fastest, +that the wages of labour are highest,[280] though the price of provisions +is much lower in the latter; this, before the present rebellion, was in +both respects the case of England and North America. Any difference in the +price of labour is more than balanced by the difference in the price of +material, which has been for many years past higher in Ireland than in +England, and would become more valuable if the export of the manufacture +was allowed. The English have also great advantages in this trade from +their habits of diligence, superior skill, and large capital. From these +circumstances, though the Scotch have full liberty to export their woollen +manufactures, the English work up their wool,[281] and the Scotch make +only some kind of coarse cloths for the lower classes of their people; and +this is said to be for want of a capital to manufacture it at home.[282] +If the woollen trade was now open to Ireland, it would be for the most +part carried on by English capitals, and by merchants resident there. +Nearly one-half of the stock which carried on the foreign trade of Ireland +in 1672, inconsiderable as it then was, belonged to those who lived out of +Ireland.[283] The greater part of the exportation and coasting trade of +British America was carried on by the capitals of merchants who resided +in Great Britain; even many of the stores and warehouses from which goods +were retailed in some of their principal provinces, particularly in +Virginia and Maryland, belonged to merchants who resided in Great Britain, +and the retail trade was carried on by those who were not resident in the +country.[284] It is said that in ancient Egypt, China, and Indostan, the +greater part of their exportation trade was carried on by foreigners.[285] +The same thing happened formerly in Ireland, where the whole commerce of +the country was carried on by the Dutch;[286] and at present, in the +victualling trade of Ireland, the Irish are but factors to the English. +This is not without example in Great Britain, where there are many little +manufacturing towns, the inhabitants of which have not capitals sufficient +to transport the produce of their own industry to those distant markets +where there is demand and consumption for it, and their merchants are +properly only the agents of wealthier merchants, who reside in some of the +great commercial cities.[287] The Irish are deficient in all kinds of +stock, they have not sufficient for the cultivation of their lands, and +are deficient in the stocks of master manufacturers, wholesale merchants, +and even of retailers. + +Of what Ireland gains, it is computed that one-third centres in Great +Britain.[288] Of our woollen manufacture the greatest part of the profit +would go directly there. But the manufacturers of Ireland would be +employed, would be enabled to buy from the farmers the superfluous produce +of their labour, the people would become industrious, their numbers would +greatly increase, the British State would be strengthened, though +probably, this country would not for many years find any great influx of +wealth; it would be, however, more equally distributed, from which the +people and the Government would derive many important advantages. + +Whatever wealth might be gained by Ireland would be, in every respect, an +accession to Great Britain. Not only a considerable part of it would flow +to the seat of government, and of final judicature, and to the centre of +commerce; but when Ireland should be able she would be found willing, as +in justice she ought to be, to bear her part of those expenses which Great +Britain may hereafter incur, in her efforts for the protection of the +whole British empire. If Ireland cheerfully and spontaneously, but when +she was ill able, contributed, particularly in the years 1759, 1761, 1769, +and continued to do so in the midst of distress and poverty, without +murmur, to the end of the year 1778, when Great Britain thought proper to +relieve her from a burden which she was no longer able to bear, no doubt +can be entertained of her contributing, in a much greater proportion, when +the means of acquiring shall be open to her. + +I form this opinion, not only from the proofs which the experience of many +years, and in many signal instances has given, but the nature of the Irish +Constitution, which requires that the laws of Ireland should be certified +under the Great Seal of England, and the superintending protection of +Great Britain, necessary to the existence of Ireland, would make it her +interest to cultivate, at all times, a good understanding with her sister +kingdom. + +The lowness of taxes in Ireland seems to fall within the objection arising +from the cheapness of labour. But the disproportion between the taxes of +the two kingdoms is much overrated in Great Britain. Hearth-money in +Ireland amounts to about L59,000 yearly, the sums raised by Grand Juries +are said to exceed the annual sum of L140,000, and the duties on beef, +butter, pork, and tallow exported, at a medium from 1772 to 1778, amount +to L26,577 11_s._ yearly. These are payable out of lands, or their +immediate produce, and may well be considered as a land-tax. These, with +the many other taxes payable in Ireland, compared either with the annual +amount of the sums which the inhabitants can earn or expend, with the +rental of the lands, the amount of the circulating specie, of personal +property, or of the trade of Ireland, it is apprehended would appear not +to be inferior in proportion to the taxes of England compared with any of +those objects in that country.[289] The sums remitted to absentees[290] +are worse than so much paid in taxes, because a large proportion of these +is usually expended in the country. If this reasoning is admitted, it will +require no calculation to show that Ireland pays more taxes in proportion +to its small income than England does in proportion to its great one. + +Of excisable commodities, the consumption by each manufacturer is not so +considerable as to make the great difference commonly imagined in the +price of labour. It is an acknowledged fact that Ireland pays in excises +as much as she is able to bear, and that her inability to bear more arises +from those very restraints. But supposing the disproportion to be as great +as is erroneously imagined in Great Britain, it will not conclude in +favour of the prohibition. The land-tax is nearly four times as high in +some counties of England as in others, and provisions are much cheaper in +some parts of that kingdom than in others, and yet they have all +sufficient employment, and go to market upon equal terms. But a monopoly +and not an equal market was plainly the object in 1698; it was not to +prevent the Irish from underselling at foreign markets, but to prevent +their selling there at all. The consequences to the excluded country have +been mentioned. England has also been a great sufferer by this mistaken +policy. + +Mr. Dobbs, who wrote in 1729,[291] affirms that by this law of 1699, our +woollen manufacturers were forced away into France, Germany, and Spain; +that they had in many branches so much improved the woollen manufacture of +France, as not only to supply themselves, but to vie with the English in +foreign markets, and that by their correspondence, they had laid the +foundation for the running of wool thither both from England and Ireland. +He says that those nations were then so improved, as in a great measure to +supply themselves with many sorts they formerly had from England, and +since that time have deprived Britain of millions, instead of thousands +that Ireland might have made. + +It is now acknowledged that the French undersell the English; and as far +as they are supplied with Irish wool, the loss to the British empire is +double what it would be, if the Irish exported their goods manufactured. +This is mentioned by Sir Matthew Decker[292] as the cause of the decline +of the English, and the increase of the French woollen manufactures; and +he asserts that the Irish can recover that trade out of their hands. +England, since the passing of this law, has got much less of our wool than +before.[293] In 1698, the export of our wool to England amounted to +377,520-3/4 stone; at a medium of eight years, to Lady-day, 1728, it was +only 227,049 stone, which is 148,000 stone less than in 1698, and was a +loss of more than half a million yearly to England. In the last ten years +the quantity exported has been so greatly reduced, that in one of these +years[294] it amounted only to 1007 st. 11 lb., and in the last year did +not exceed 1665 st. 12 lb.[295] The price of wool under an absolute +prohibition, is L50 or L60 per cent. under the market price of Europe, +which will always defeat the prohibition.[296] + +The impracticability of preventing the pernicious practice of running wool +is now well understood. Of the thirty-two counties in Ireland nineteen are +maritime, and the rest are washed by a number of fine rivers that empty +themselves into the sea. Can such an extent of ocean, such a range of +coasts, such a multitude of harbours, bays, and creeks, be effectually +guarded? + +The prohibition of the export of live cattle forced the Irish into the +re-establishment of their woollen manufacture; and the restraint of the +woollen manufacture was a strong temptation to the running of wool. The +severest penalties were enacted, the British legislature, the Government, +and House of Commons in Ireland, exerted all possible efforts to remove +this growing evil, but in vain, until the law was made in Great +Britain[297] in 1739 to take off the duties from woollen or bay yarn +exported from Ireland, excepting worsted yarn of two or more threads, +which has certainly given a considerable check to the running of wool, and +has shown that the policy of opening is far more efficacious than that of +restraining. The world is become a great commercial society; exclude trade +from one channel, and it seldom fails to find another. + +To show the absolute necessity of Great Britain's opening to Ireland some +new means of acquiring, let the annual balance of exports and imports +returned from the entries in the different custom houses, in favour of +Ireland, on all her trade with the whole world, in every year from 1768 to +1778, be compared with the remittances made from Ireland to England in +each of those years, it will evidently appear that those remittances could +not be made out of that balance. The entries of exports made at custom +houses are well known to exceed the real amount of those exports in all +countries, and this excess is greater in times of diffidence, when +merchants wish to acquire credit by giving themselves the appearance of +being great traders. + +This balance in favour of Ireland on her general trade, appears by those +returns to have been, in 1776, L606,190 11_s._ 0-1/4_d._; in 1777, L24,203 +3_s._ 10-1/4_d._; in 1778, L386,384 3_s._ 7_d._; and, taken at a medium of +eleven years, from 1768 to 1778, both inclusive, it amounts to the sum of +L605,083 7_s._ 5_d._ The sums remitted from Ireland to Great Britain for +rents, interest of money, pensions, salaries, and profits of offices, +amounted, at the lowest computation, from 1768 to 1773, to L1,100,000 +yearly;[298] and from 1773, when the tontines were introduced, from which +period large sums were borrowed from England, those remittances were +considerably increased, and are now not less than between 12 and L13,000 +yearly. Ireland then pays to Great Britain double the sum that she +collects from the whole world in all the trade which Great Britain allows +her. It will be difficult to find a similar instance in the history of +mankind. + +Those great and constant issues of her wealth without any return, not felt +by any other country in such a degree, are reasons for granting advantages +to Ireland to supply this consuming waste, instead of depriving her of any +which Nature has bestowed. + +If any of the resources which have hitherto enabled her to hear this +prodigious drain are injurious to the manufactures both of England and +Ireland, and highly advantageous to the rivals and enemies of both, is it +wise in Great Britain by persevering in an inpracticable system of +commercial policy, repugnant to the natural course and order of things, to +suffer so very considerable a part of the empire to remain in such a +situation? + +The experiment of an equal and reasonable system of commerce is worth +making; that which has been found the best conductor in philosophy is the +surest guide in commerce. + +Would you consult persons employed in the trade? They have in one respect +an interest opposite to that of the public. To narrow the competition is +advantageous to the dealers,[299] but prejudicial to the public. If Edward +I. had not preferred the general welfare of his subjects to the interested +opinions and petitions of the traders, all merchant traders (who were then +mostly strangers) would have been sent away from London,[300] for which +purpose the Commons offered him the fiftieth part of their movables.[301] + +What was the information given by the trading towns in 1697 and 1698 on +the subject of the woollen manufacture of Ireland? Several of their[302] +petitions state that the woollen manufacture was _set-up_ in Ireland, as +if it had been lately introduced there; and one of them goes so far as to +represent the particular time and manner of introducing it. "Many of the +poor of that kingdom," says this extraordinary petition, "during the late +rebellion there, fled into the west of England, where they were put to +work in the woollen manufacture to learn that trade; and since the +reduction of Ireland _endeavours were used to set up_ those manufactures +there.[303] + +Would any man suppose that this could relate to a manufacture in which +this kingdom excelled before the time of Edward III., which had been the +subject of so many laws in both kingdoms, and which was always cultivated +here, and before this rebellion with more success than after it? The +trading towns gave accounts totally inconsistent of the state of this +manufacture at that time in England: from Exeter it is represented as +greatly decayed and discouraged[304] in those parts, and diminished in +England. But a petition from Leeds represents this manufacture as having +very much increased[305] since the revolution in all its several branches, +to the general interest of England; and yet, in two days after the +clothiers from three towns in Gloucestershire assert that the trade has +decayed, and that the poor are almost starved.[306] The Commissioners of +Trade differ in opinion from them and by their report it appears that the +woollen manufacture was then very much increased and improved.[307] The +traders have sometimes mistaken their own interests on those subjects. In +1698 a petition for prohibiting the importation from Ireland of all +worsted and woollen yarn, represents that the poor of England are ready to +perish by this importation;[308] and in 1739 several petitions were +preferred against taking off the duties[309] from worsted and bay yarn +exported from Ireland to England. But this has been done in the manner +before mentioned, and is now acknowledged to be highly useful to England. +Trading people have ever aimed at exclusive privileges. Of this there are +two extraordinary instances: in the year 1698 two petitions were preferred +from Folkstone and Aldborough, stating a singular grievance that they +suffered from Ireland, "by the Irish catching herrings _at Waterford and +Wexford_,[310] and sending them to the Streights, and thereby +_forestalling_ and ruining petitioners' markets;" but these petitioners +had the _hard lot_ of having motions in their favour rejected. + +I wish that the fullest information may be had in this important +investigation, but between the inconsistent accounts and opinions that +will probably be given, experience only can decide; and experience will +demonstrate that the removal of those restraints will promote the +prosperity of both kingdoms. + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Sixth Letter. + +_Dublin, 1st September, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +By the proceedings in the English Parliament, in the year 1698, and the +speech of the Lords Justices to the Irish Parliament in that year, it +appears that the linen was intended to be given to this country as an +equivalent for the woollen manufacture. The opinion that this supposed +equivalent was accepted as such by Ireland is mistaken. The temperament +which the Commons of Ireland in their address said they hoped to find was +no more than a partial and temporary duty on exportation, as an experiment +only, and not as an established system, reserving the exportation of +frieze, then much the most valuable part to Ireland.[311] The English +intended the linen manufacture as a compensation, and declared that they +thought it would be much more advantageous to Ireland[312] than the +woollen trade. + +This idea of an equivalent has led several persons, and, among the rest, +two very able writers[313] into mistakes from the want of information in +some facts which are necessary to be known, that this transaction may be +fully understood, and, therefore, ought to be particularly stated. + +The Irish had before this period applied themselves to the linen trade. +This appears by two of their statutes, in the reign of Elizabeth, one +laying a duty on the export of flax and linen yarn,[314] and the other +making it felony to ship them without paying such duty.[315] In the reign +of Charles I. great pains were taken by Lord Strafford to encourage this +manufacture, and in the succeeding reign[316] the great and munificent +efforts of the first duke of Ormond were crowned with merited success. The +blasts of civil dissensions nipped those opening buds of industry; and, +when the season was more favourable, it is probable that, like England, +they found the woollen manufacture a more useful object of national +pursuit, which may be collected from the address of the English House of +Commons, "that they so unwillingly promote the linen trade,"[317] and it +was natural for a poor and exhausted country to work up the materials of +which it was possessed. + +In 1696 the English had given encouragement to the manufactures of hemp +and flax in Ireland, but without stipulating any restraint of the export +of woollen goods. The English Act made in that year recites that great +sums of money were yearly exported out of England for the purchasing of +hemp, flax, and linen, and the productions thereof, which might be +prevented by being supplied from Ireland, and allows natives of England +and Ireland to import into England, free of all duties,[318] hemp and +flax, and all the productions thereof. In the same session[319] a law +passed in England for the more effectually preventing the exportation of +wool, and for encouraging the importation thereof from Ireland. Both those +manufactures were under the consideration of Parliament this session, and +it was thought, from enlarged views of the welfare of both kingdoms, that +England should encourage the linen without discouraging the woollen +manufacture of Ireland. There was no further encouragement given by +England to our linen manufacture for some years after the year 1696.[320] +_In 1696 there was no equivalent whatever given_ for the prohibition of +the export of our woollen manufactures. + +It is true the assurances given by both Houses of Parliament in England +for the encouragement of our linen trade were as strong as words could +express; but was this intended encouragement, if immediately carried into +execution, an equivalent to Ireland for what she had lost? Let it first be +considered whether it was an equivalent at the time of the prohibition. + +The woollen was then the principal manufacture and trade of Ireland. That +it was then considered as her staple, appears from the several Acts of +Parliament before mentioned, and from the attempt made in 1695 by the +Irish House of Commons to lay a duty on all old and new drapery imported. +The amount of the export proves[321] the value of the trade to so poor a +country as Ireland, and makes it probable that she then clothed her own +people. The address of the English House of Lords shows that this +manufacture was "growing" amongst us, and the goodness of our own +materials "for making _all manner_ of cloth."[322] And the English Act of +1698 is a voucher that this manufacture was then in so flourishing a state +as to give apprehensions, however ill founded, of its rivalling England in +foreign markets. The immediate consequences to Ireland showed the value of +what she lost; many thousands of manufacturers were obliged to leave this +kingdom for want of employment; many parts of the southern and western +counties were so far depopulated that they have not yet recovered a +reasonable number of inhabitants; and the whole kingdom was reduced to the +greatest poverty and distress.[323] The linen trade of Ireland was then of +little consideration, compared with the woollen.[324] The whole +exportation of linens, in 1700,[325] amounted only in value to L14,112. It +was an experiment substituted in the place of an established trade. + +The English ports in Asia, Africa, and America were then shut against our +linens; and, when they were opened[326] for our white and brown linens, +the restraints of imports from thence to Ireland made that concession of +less value, and she still found it her interest to send, for the most +part, her linens to England. The linen could not have been a compensation +for the woollen manufacture, which employs by far a greater number of +hands, and yields much greater profit to the public, as well as to the +manufacturers.[327] Of this manufacture there are not many countries which +have the primum in equal perfection with England and Ireland; and no +countries, taking in the various kinds of those extensive manufactures, so +fit for carrying them on. There cannot be many rivals in this trade: in +the linen they are most numerous. Other parts of the world are more fit +for it than Ireland, and many equally so. + +If this could be supposed to have been an equivalent at the time, or to +have become so by its success, it can no longer be considered in that +light. The commercial state of Europe is greatly altered. Ireland can no +longer enjoy the benefit intended for her. It was intended that the great +sums of money remitted out of England to foreign countries in this branch +of commerce should all centre in Ireland, and that England should be +supplied with linen from thence;[328] but foreigners now draw great sums +from England in this trade, and rival the Irish in the English markets. +The Russians are becoming powerful rivals to the Irish, and undersell them +in the coarse kinds of linen. This is now the staple manufacture of +Scotland. England, that had formerly cultivated this manufacture without +success, and had taken linens[329] from France to the amount of L700,000 +yearly, has now made great progress in it. The encouragement of this trade +in England and Scotland has been long a principal object to the British +Legislature; and the nation that encouraged us to the undertaking has now +become our rival in it.[330] That this is not too strong an expression +will appear by considering two British statutes, one of which[331] has +laid a duty on the importation of Irish sail-cloth into Great Britain, as +long as the bounties should be paid on the exportation from[332] Ireland, +which obliged us to discontinue them; and the other[333] has given a +bounty on the exportation of _British_ chequered and striped linens +exported out of _Great Britain_ to Africa, America, Spain, Portugal, +Gibraltar, the island of Minorca, or the East Indies. This is now become a +very valuable part of the manufacture, which Great Britain, by the +operation of this bounty, keeps to herself. The bounties on the +exportation of all other linen, which she has generously given to ours as +well as to her own,[334] operate much more strongly in favour of the +latter;[335] the expense of freight, insurance, commission, &c., in +sending the linens from Ireland to England has been computed at four per +cent.; and if this computation is right, when the British linens obtain +L12 per cent., the full amount of the premium, the Irish do not receive +above eight. Those bounties, though acknowledged to be a favour to +Ireland, give Great Britain a further and a very important advantage in +this trade, by inducing us to send all our linens to England, from whence +other countries are supplied. + +The great hinge upon which the stipulation on the part of England, in the +year 1698, turned was, that England should give every possible +encouragement to the linen and hempen manufactures in Ireland. +Encouraging those manufactures in another country was not compatible with +this intention. The course of events made it necessary to do this in +Scotland;[336] the course of trade made it necessary for England to do the +same. A commercial country must cultivate every considerable manufacture +of which she has or can get the primum. These circumstances have totally +changed the state of the question; and if it was reasonable and just that +Ireland, in 1698, should have accepted of the linen in the place of the +woollen manufactures, it deserves to be considered whether by the almost +total change of the circumstances it is not now unreasonable and unjust. + +America itself, the opening of whose markets[337] to Irish linens was +thought to have been one of the principal encouragements to that trade, is +now become a rival and an enemy; and when she puts off the latter +character, will appear in the former with new force and infinite +advantages. + +The emigration for many years of such great multitudes of our linen +manufacturers to America,[338] proves incontrovertibly that they can +carry on their trade with more success in America than in Ireland. But let +us examine the facts to determine whether the proposed encouragements have +taken place. The declaration of the Lords of England for the encouragement +of the linen manufacture of Ireland was "to all the advantage and profit +that kingdom can be capable of;" and of the Commons, "that they shall be +_always_ ready to give it their _utmost_ assistance." The speech of the +Lords Justices shows the extent of this engagement, and promises the +encouragement of England "to the linen and hempen manufactures of +Ireland." + +In the year 1705[339] liberty was given to the natives of England or +Ireland to export from Ireland to the English plantations white and brown +linens only, but no liberty given to bring in return any goods from thence +to Ireland, which will appear from the account in the Appendix to have +made this law of inconsiderable effect. In 1743 premiums were given on the +exportation of English and Irish linens from Great Britain; and the bounty +granted by Great Britain, in 1774, on flax seed imported into Ireland is a +further proof of the munificent attention of Great Britain to our linen +trade. But chequered, striped, printed, painted, stained, or dyed linens +were not until lately admitted into the plantations from Ireland; and the +statutes of Queen Anne,[340] laying duties at the rate of thirty per cent. +on such linens made in _foreign_ parts and imported into Great Britain, +have been, rather by a forced construction, extended to Ireland, which is +deprived of the British markets[341] for those goods, and, until the year +1777,[342] was excluded from the American markets also. But it is thought, +as to chequered and striped linens, which are a valuable branch of the +linen trade, that this Act will have little effect in favour of this +country, from the operation of the before-mentioned British Act of the +10th G. 3, which, by granting a bounty on the exportation of those goods +of the manufacture of Great Britain only gives a direct preference to the +British linen manufacture before the Irish. + +The hempen manufacture of Ireland has been, so far, _discouraged_ by Great +Britain, that the Irish have totally abandoned the culture of hemp.[343] + +I hope to be excused for weighing scrupulously a proposed equivalent, for +which the receiver was obliged to part with the advantages of which he was +possessed. The equivalent, given in 1667, for the almost entire exclusion +of Ireland from the ports of England and America, was the exportation of +our manufactures to foreign nations. The prohibition of 1699 was not +altogether consistent with the equivalent of 1667; and from the equivalent +of 1698 the superior encouragement since given to English and Scotch +linen, and the discouragement to the chequer and stamped linen and +sail-cloth of Ireland must make a large deduction. But why must one +manufacture only be encouraged? The linen and the woollen trades of +Ireland were formerly both encouraged by the legislatures of both +kingdoms; they are now both equally encouraged in England. + +If this single trade was found sufficient employment for 1,000,000 men who +remained in this country at the time of this restraint (the contrary of +which has been shown), it would require the interposition of more than +human wisdom to divide it among 2,500,000 men at this day, and to send the +multitude away satisfied. + +No populous commercial country can subsist on one manufacture; if the +world has ever produced such an instance I have not been able to find it. +Reason and experience demonstrate that, to make society happy, the +members of it must be able to supply the wants of each other, as far as +their country affords the means; and, where it does not, by exchanging the +produce of their industry for that of their neighbours. When the former is +discouraged, or the latter prevented, that community cannot be happy. If +they are not allowed to send to other countries the manufactured produce +of their own, the people who enjoy that liberty will undersell them in +their own markets; the restrained manufacturers will be reduced to +poverty, and will hang like paralytic limbs on the rest of the body. + +If England's commercial system would have been incomplete, had she failed +to cultivate any one principal manufacture of which she had or could +obtain the material, what shall we say to the commercial state of that +country, restrained in a manufacture of which she has the materials in +abundance, and in which she had made great progress, and almost confined +to one manufacture of which she has not the primum. + +Manufactures, though they may flourish for a time, generally fail in +countries that do not produce the principal materials of them. Of this +there are many instances. Venice and the other Italian states carried on +the woollen manufacture until the countries which produced the materials +manufactured them, when the Italian manufactures declined, and dwindled +into little consideration in comparison of their former splendour. The +Flemings, from their vicinity to those countries that produced the +materials, beat the Italians out of their markets. But when England +cultivated that manufacture, the Flemings lost it. That this, and not +oppression, was the cause, appears from the following state of the linen +manufacture[344] there, because it consumes flax, the native produce of +the soil; and it is much to be feared that those islands will be obliged +to yield the superiority in this trade to other nations that have great +extent of country, and sufficient land to spare for this impoverishing +production. + +That some parts of Ireland may produce good flax must be allowed, and also +that parts of Flanders would produce fine wool. But though the legislature +has for many years made it a capital object to encourage the growth of +flax and the raising of flax-seed in this kingdom, yet it is obliged to +pay above L9,000 yearly in premiums on the importation of flax-seed, which +is now almost imported, and costs us between L70,000 and L80,000 yearly. +Flax farming, in any large quantity, is become a precarious and losing +trade,[345] and those who have been induced to attempt it by premiums +from the Linen Board have, after receiving those premiums, generally found +themselves losers, and have declined that branch of tillage. + +When the imported flax-seed is unsound and fails, in particular districts, +which very frequently happens, the distress, confusion, and litigation +that arise among manufacturers, farmers, retailers, and merchants, affords +a melancholy proof of the dangerous consequences to a populous nation when +the industry of the people and the hope of the rising year rest on a +single manufacture, for the materials of which we must depend upon the +courtesy and good faith of other nations. + +Let me appeal to the experience of very near a century in the very +instance now before you. A single manufacture is highly encouraged; it +obtains large premiums, not only from the legislature of its own country, +but from that of a great neighbouring kingdom; it becomes not only the +first, but almost the sole national object; immense sums of money are +expended in the cultivation of it,[346] and the success exceeds our most +sanguine expectations. But look into the state of this country; you will +find property circulating slowly and languidly, and in the most numerous +classes of your people no circulation or property at all. You will +frequently find them in want of employment and of food, and reduced in a +vast number of instances from the slightest causes to distress and +beggary. All other manufacturers will continue spiritless, poor, and +distressed, and derive from uncertain employment a precarious and +miserable subsistence; they gain little by the success of the prosperous +trade, the dealers in which are tempted to buy from that country to which +they principally sell; the disease of those morbid parts must spread +through the whole body, and will at length reach the persons employed in +the favoured manufacture. These will become poor and wretched, and +discontented; they emigrate by thousands; in vain you represent the crime +of deserting their country, the folly of forsaking their friends, the +temerity of wandering to distant, and, perhaps, inhospitable climates; +their despondency is deaf to the suggestions of prudence, and will answer, +that they can no longer stay "where hope never comes," but will fly from +these "regions of sorrow."[347] + +Let me not be thought to undervalue the bounties and generosity of that +great nation which has taken our linen trade under its protection. There +is much ill-breeding, though, perhaps, some good sense, in the churlish +reply of the philosopher to the request of the prince who visited his +humble dwelling, and desired to know, and to gratify his wishes; that they +were no more than this, that the prince should not stand between the +philosopher and the sun. Had he been a man of the world he might have +expressed the same idea with more address, though with less force and +significance; he might have said, "I am sensible of your greatness and of +your power; I have no doubts of your liberality; but Nature has abundantly +given me all that I wish; intercept not one of her greatest gifts; allow +me to enjoy the bounties of her hand, and the contentment of my own mind +will furnish the rest." + + I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. + + +Seventh Letter. + +_Dublin, 3rd September, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +By comparing the restrictive law of 1699 with the statutes which had been +previously enacted in England from the fifteenth year of the reign of +Charles II., relative to the colonies, it appears that this restrictive +law originated in a system of colonisation. The principle of that system +was that the colonies should send their materials to England and take from +thence her manufactures, and that the making those manufactures in the +colonies should be prohibited or discouraged. But was it reasonable to +extend this principle to Ireland? The climate, growth, and productions of +the colonies were different from those of the parent country. England had +no sugar-canes, coffee, dying stuff, and little tobacco. She took all +those from her colonies only, and it was thought reasonable that they +should take from her only the manufactures which she made. But in Ireland +the climate, soil, growth, and productions are the same as in England, +who could give no such equivalent to Ireland as she gave to America, and +was so far from considering her when this system first prevailed, as a +proper subject for such regulations, that she was allowed the benefits +arising from those colonies equally with England, until the fifteenth year +of the reign of King Charles II.[348] By an Act passed in that year, +Ireland had no longer the privilege of sending any of her exports, except +servants, horses, victuals, and salt, to any of the colonies; the reasons +are assigned in the preamble "to make this kingdom a staple, not only of +the commodities of those plantations, but also of the commodities of other +countries and places for the supplying of them, and it being the usage of +other nations to keep their plantation trade to themselves."[349] At the +time of passing this law, though less liberal ideas in respect of Ireland +were then entertained, it went no further than not to extend to her the +benefits of those colony regulations; but it was not then thought that +this kingdom was a proper subject for any such regulations. The scheme of +substituting there, instead of the woollen, the linen trade, was not at +that time thought of. The English were desirous to establish it among +themselves, and by an Act of Parliament,[350] made in that year for +encouraging the manufacture of linen, granted to all foreigners who shall +set up in England the privileges of natural born subjects. + +But it appears by the English Statute of the 7th and 8th of William +III.,[351] which has been before stated, that this scheme had not +succeeded in England, and from this act it is manifest that England +considered itself as well as Ireland interested to encourage the linen +manufacture there; and it does not then appear to have been thought just +that Ireland should purchase this benefit for both, by giving up the +exportation of any other manufacture. But in 1698 a different principle +prevailed, in effect the same, so far as relates to the woollen +manufacture, with that which had prevailed as to the commerce of the +colonies. This is evident from the preamble of the English law,[352] made +in 1699, "for as much as wool and woollen manufactures of cloth, serge, +bays, kersies, and other stuffs, made or mixed with wool, are the greatest +and most profitable commodities of this kingdom, on which the value of +lands and the trade of the nation do chiefly depend, and whereas great +quantities of like manufactures have of late been made and are daily +increasing in the kingdom of Ireland, and _in the English plantations_ in +America, and are exported from thence to foreign markets heretofore +supplied from England, which will inevitably sink the value of lands, and +tend to the ruin of the trade and woollen manufactures of this realm; for +the prevention whereof and for the encouragement of the woollen +manufactures in this kingdom, &c. + +The ruinous consequences of the woollen manufactures of Ireland to the +value of lands, trade, and manufactures of England, stated in this Act, +are apprehensions that were entertained, and not events that had happened; +and before those facts are taken for granted, I request the mischief +recited in the Acts[353] made in England to prevent the importation of +cattle dead or alive from Ireland, may be considered. The mischiefs stated +in those several laws are supposed to be as ruinous to England as those +recited in the Act of 1699, and yet are now allowed to be groundless +apprehensions occasioned by short and mistaken views of the real interests +of England. Sir W. Petty[354] demonstrates that the opinion entertained +in England at the time of his prohibition of the import of cattle from +Ireland was ill-founded; he calls it a strange conceit. If he was now +living, he would probably consider the prohibition of our woollen exports +as not having a much better foundation. + +Connecting this preamble of the Act of 1699, with the speech made from the +throne to the parliament of Ireland in the year 1698, with the addresses +of both houses in England, and with the prohibition by this and by other +Acts, formerly made in England, of exporting wool from Ireland except to +that kingdom, the object of this new commercial regulation is obvious. It +was to discourage the woollen manufacture in Ireland and in effect to +prohibit the exportation from thence because it was the principal branch +of manufacture and trade in England; to induce us to send to them our +materials for that manufacture, and that we should be supplied with it by +them; and to encourage, as a compensation to Ireland, the linen +manufacture, which was not at that time a commercial object of any +importance to England. This I take to be a part of the system of colony +regulations. Whether it was reasonable or just to bring this kingdom into +that system, has been already submitted from arguments drawn from the +climates and productions of the different countries. The supposed +compensation was no more than what Ireland had before; no further +encouragement was given by England to our linen manufacture until six +years after this prohibition, when at the request of the Irish House of +Commons and after a representation of the ruinous state of the country, +liberty was given by an English Act of Parliament[355] to export our white +and brown linens into the colonies, which was allowing us to do as to one +manufacture what, before the fifteenth of King Charles II., was permitted +in every instance. + +It would be presumption in a private man to decide on the weight of those +arguments; but to select and arrange facts that lie dispersed in journals +and books of Statutes in both kingdoms, and to make observations on those +facts with caution and respect, can never give offence to those who +inquire for the purpose of relieving a distressed nation and of promoting +the general welfare. In that confidence I beg leave to place this subject +in a different view, and to request that it may be considered what the +commercial system of this kingdom was at the time of passing this law of +1699, and whether it was, in this respect, reasonable or just that such a +regulation should have been then made? The great object which the Lords +and Commons of Great Britain have determined to investigate led to such a +discussion; determined as they are to pursue effectual methods "for +promoting the common strength, wealth, and commerce of both kingdoms." +What better guides can they follow than the examples of their ancestors +and the means used by them for many centuries, and in the happiest times, +for attaining the same great purposes. + +In my opinion it would be improper, in the present state of the British +Empire, to agitate disputed questions that may inflame the passions of +men. May no such questions ever arise between two affectionate sister +kingdoms. It is my purpose only to state acknowledged facts, which never +have been contested, and from those facts to lay before you the commercial +system of Ireland before the year 1699. + +For several centuries before this period Ireland was in possession of the +English Common law[356] and of Magna Charta. The former secures the +subject in the enjoyment of property of every kind; and by the latter _the +liberties of all the ports of the kingdom are established_. + +The Statutes made in England for the common and public weal are,[357] by +an Irish Act of the 10th of Henry VII., made laws in Ireland; and the +English Commercial Statutes, in which Ireland is expressly mentioned, will +place the former state of commerce in this country in a light very +different from that in which it has been generally considered in Great +Britain. + +By the 17th of Edward III., ch. 1, all sorts of merchandises may be +exported from Ireland, except to the King's enemies. + +By the 27th of Edward III., ch. 18, merchants of Ireland and Wales may +bring their merchandise to the staple of England; and by the 34th of the +same king, ch. 17, all kinds of merchandises may be exported from and +imported into Ireland, as well by aliens as denizens. In the same year +there is another Statute, ch. 18, that all persons who have lands or +possessions in Ireland might freely import thither and export from that +kingdom _their own commodities_; and by the 50th of Edward III., ch. 8, +no alnage is to be paid, if frieze ware, which are made in Ireland. + +This freedom of commerce was beneficial to both countries. It enabled +Ireland to be very serviceable to Edward III., as it had been to his +father and grandfather, in supplying numbers of armed vessels for +transporting their great lords and their attendants and troops[358] to +Scotland and also to Portsmouth for his French wars. + +But the reign of Edward IV. furnishes still stronger instances of the +regard shown by England to the trade and manufactures of this country. + +In the third year of that monarch's reign the artificers of England +complained to parliament that they were greatly impoverished, and _could +not live_ by bringing in divers commodities and wares ready wrought.[359] +An Act passed reciting those complaints, and ordaining that no merchant +born a subject of the king, denisen or stranger, or other person, should +bring into England or Wales any woollen cloths, &c., and enumerates many +other manufactures on pain of forfeiture, provided that all wares and +"chaffers" made and wrought in Ireland or Wales may be brought in and sold +in the realm of England, as they were wont before the making of that +Act.[360] + +In the next year another Act[361] passed in that kingdom, that all woollen +cloth brought into England, and set to sale, should be forfeited, except +cloths made in Wales or Ireland. + +In those reigns England was as careful of the commerce and manufactures of +her ancient sister kingdom, particularly in her great staple trade, as she +was of her own. + +Of this attention there were further instances in the years 1468 and 1478. +In two treaties concluded in those years between England and the Duke of +Bretagne, the merchandise to be traded in between England, Ireland, and +Calais on the one part, and Bretagne on the other, is specified, and +woollen cloths are particularly mentioned.[362] + +And in a treaty between Henry VII. and the Netherlands, Ireland is +included, both as to exports and imports.[363] + +The commercial Acts of Parliament in which Ireland is mentioned have only +been stated, because they are not generally known. But the laws made in +England before the 10th Henry VII. for the protection of merchants and +the security of trade, being laws for the common and public weal, are also +made laws here by the Irish statute of that year, which was returned under +the great seal of England, and must have been previously considered in the +privy council of that kingdom. At this period, then, the English +commercial system and the Irish, so far as it depended upon the English +statute law, was the same; and before this period, so far as it depended +upon the common law and Magna Charta, was also the same. + +From that time until the 15th of King Charles II., which takes in a period +of 167 years, the commercial constitution of Ireland was as much favoured +and protected as that of England. "The free enlargement of common traffic +which his Majesty's subjects of Ireland enjoyed," is taken notice of +incidentally in an English statute, in the reign of King James I.,[364] +and in 1627, King Charles I. made a strong declaration in favour of the +trade and manufactures of this country. By several English statutes in the +reign of King Charles II., an equal attention was shown to the woollen +manufactures in both kingdoms; in the 12th year of his reign[365] the +exportation of wool, wool-felts, fuller's earth, or any kind of scowering +earth, was prohibited from both. But let the reasons mentioned in the +preamble for passing this law be adverted to: "For preventing +inconveniences and losses that happened, and that daily do and may happen, +to the kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, and kingdom of Ireland, +through the secret exportation of wool out of and from the said kingdoms +and dominions; and for the _better setting on work the poor people_ and +inhabitants of the kingdoms and dominions aforesaid, and to the intent +that the full use and benefit of _the principal native commodities_ of the +same kingdom and dominion may come, redound, and be unto the subjects and +inhabitants of the same." + +This was the voice of nature, and the dictate of sound and general policy; +it proclaimed to the nations that they should not give to strangers the +bread of their own children; that the produce of the soil should support +the inhabitants of the country; that their industry should be exercised on +their own materials, and that the poor should be employed, clothed, and +fed. + +The shipping and navigation of England and Ireland were at this time +equally favoured and protected. By another Act of the same year no goods +or commodities[366] of the growth, production or manufacture of Asia, +Africa, or America, shall be imported into England, _Ireland_, or Wales, +but in ships which belong to the people of England or _Ireland_, the +dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or which are of the +built of the said lands, and of which the master and three-fourths of the +mariners are English; and a subsequent statute[367] makes the +encouragement to navigation in both countries equal, by ordaining that the +subjects of Ireland and of the Plantations shall be accounted English +within the meaning of that clause. Another law[368] of the same reign +shows that the navigation, commerce, and woollen manufactures of both +kingdoms were equally protected by the English legislature. This Act lays +on the same restraint as the above-mentioned Act of the 12th of Charles +II., and makes the transgression still more penal. It recites that wool, +wool-felts, &c., are secretly exported from England and Ireland to foreign +parts to the great decay of the woollen manufactures, and the destruction +of the navigation and commerce of _these kingdoms_. + +From those laws it appears that the commerce, navigation, and manufactures +of this country were not only favoured and protected by the English +legislature, but that we had in those times the full benefit of their +Plantation trade; whilst the woollen manufactures were protected and +encouraged in England and Ireland, the planting of tobacco in both was +prohibited, because "it was one of the main products of several of the +Plantations, and upon which their welfare and subsistence do depend."[369] + +This policy was liberal, just, and equal; it opened the resources and +cultivated the strength of every part of the empire. + +This commercial system of Ireland was enforced by several Acts of her own +legislature; two statutes passed in the reign of Henry VIII. to prevent +the exportation of wool, because, says the first of those laws, "it hath +been the cause of dearth of cloth and idleness of many folks,"[370] and +"tends to the desolation and ruin of this poor land." The second of those +laws enforces the prohibition[371] by additional penalties; it recites +"that the said beneficial law had taken little effect, but that since the +making thereof great plenty of wool had been conveyed out of this land to +the great and inestimable hurt, decay, and impoverishment of the King's +poor subjects within the said land, for redress whereof, and in +consideration that conveying of the wool of the growth of this land out of +the same is one of the greatest occasions of the idleness of the people, +waste, ruin, and desolation of the King's cities and borough towns, and +other places of his dominion within this land." The 11th of Elizabeth[372] +lays duties on the exportation equal to a prohibition, and the reason +given in the preamble ought to be mentioned: "That the said commodities +may be more abundantly wrought in this realm ere they shall be so +transported than presently they are, which shall set many now living idle +on work, to the great relief and commodity of this realm.[373] + +By the preamble of one of those Acts,[374] made in the reign of Charles +II., it appears that the sale of Irish woollen goods in foreign markets +was encouraged by England, "whereas there is a general complaint in +_England_, France, and other parts beyond the seas (whither the woollen +cloths and other commodities made of wool in this, his Majesty's kingdom +of Ireland, are transported) of the false, deceitful, uneven, and +uncertain making thereof, which cometh to pass by reason that the +clothiers and makers thereof do not observe any certain assize for +length, breadth, and weight for making their clothes and other commodities +aforesaid in this kingdom, as they do in the realm of England, and as they +ought also to do here, by which means the merchants, buyers, and users of +the said cloth and other commodities are much abused and deceived, and the +credit, esteem, and sale of the said cloth and commodities is thereby much +impaired and undervalued, to the great and general hurt and hindrance of +the trade of clothing in this whole realm." + +After the ports of England were shut against our cattle, and our trade to +the English colonies was restrained, still this commercial system was +adhered to by encouraging the manufactures of this country, and the +exportation of them to foreign countries. In 1667, when the power of the +Crown was not so well understood as at present, the proclamation before +mentioned was published by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council of +Ireland,[375] in pursuance of a letter from Charles II., by the advice of +his council in England, notifying to all his subjects of this kingdom the +allowance of a free trade to all foreign countries, either at war or peace +with his Majesty. + +In the year 1663 the distinction between the trade of England and +Ireland,[376] and the restraints on that of the latter commenced. By an +English Act passed in that year, entitled an Act "for the encouragement of +trade," a title not very applicable to the parts of it that related to +Ireland; besides laying a prohibition on cattle imported into England from +that kingdom, the exportation of all commodities except victuals, +servants, horses, and salt for the fisheries of New England and +Newfoundland, from thence to the English plantations, was prohibited from +the 25th March, 1764. The exports allowed were useful to them, but +prejudicial to Ireland, as they consisted of our people, our provisions, +and a material for manufacture which we might have used more profitably on +our own coasts. + +In 1670, another Act[377] passed in England to prohibit from the 24th of +March, 1671, the exportation from the English plantations to Ireland of +several materials for manufactures[378] without first unloading in England +or Wales. We are informed by this Act that the restraint of the +exportation from the English plantations to Ireland was intended by the +Act of 1663; but the intention is not effectuated, though the importation +of those commodities into Ireland _from England_, without first unloading +there is, in effect, prohibited by that Act. + +The prohibition of importing into Ireland any plantation goods, unless the +same had been first landed in England, and had paid the duties, is made +general, without any exception, by the English Act of the 7th and 8th W. +III., ch. 22. + +But by subsequent British Acts[379] it is made lawful to import from his +Majesty's plantations all goods of their growth or manufactures, the +articles enumerated in those several Acts excepted.[380] + +By a late British Act[381] there is a considerable extension of the +exports from Ireland to the British plantations. But it is apprehended +that this law will not answer the kind intentions of the British +legislature. Denying the import from those countries to Ireland is, in +effect, preventing the export from Ireland to those countries. Money +cannot be expected for our goods there, we must take theirs in exchange; +and this can never answer on the terms of our being obliged, in our +return, to pass by Ireland, to land those goods in England, to ship them a +second time, and then to sail back again to Ireland. No trade will bear +such an unnecessary delay and expense. The quickness and the security of +the return are the great inducements to every trade. One is lost and the +other hazarded by such embarrassments; those who are not subject to them +carry on the trade with such advantages over those who are so entangled as +totally to exclude them from it. This is no longer the subject of +speculation, it has been proved by the experience of above seventy years. +Since the year 1705, when liberty was given to import white and brown +linen from Ireland into the English plantations, the quantities sent there +directly from Ireland were at all times very inconsiderable +notwithstanding this liberty; they were sent for the most part from +Ireland to England before any bounty was given on the exportation from +thence, which did not take place until the year 1743; and from England the +English plantations were supplied. There cannot be a more decisive proof +that the liberty of exporting without a direct import in return, will not +be beneficial to Ireland. + +This country is the part of the British empire most conveniently situated +for trade with the colonies. If not suffered to have any beneficial +intercourse with them, she will be deprived of one of the great advantages +of her situation; and such an obstruction to the prosperity of so +considerable a part must necessarily diminish the strength of the whole +British empire. + +Those laws laid Ireland under restraints highly prejudicial to her +commerce and navigation. From those countries the materials for +ship-building[382] and some of those used in perfecting their staple +manufactures were had; Ireland was, by those laws, excluded from almost +all the trade of three quarters of the globe, and from all direct +beneficial intercourse with her fellow-subjects in those countries, which +were partly stocked from her own loins. But still, though deprived at that +time of the benefit of those colonies, she was not then considered as a +colony herself, her manufacturers were not in any other manner +discouraged, her ports were left open, and she was at liberty to look for +a market among strangers, though not among her fellow-subjects in Asia, +Africa, or America.[383] By the law of 1699 she was, as to her staple +manufacture, deprived of those resources; she was brought within a system +of colonisation, but on worse terms than any of the plantations who were +allowed to trade with each other.[384] + +She could send her principal materials for manufacture to England only; +but those manufactures were encouraged in England and discouraged in +Ireland. The probable consequence of which was, and the event has answered +the expectation, that we should take those manufactures from that country; +and that, therefore, in those various trades which employ the greatest +numbers of men, the English should work for our people; the rich should +work for the poor. + +Let the histories of both kingdoms, and the statute books of both +parliaments be examined, and no precedent will be found for the Act of +1699, or for the system which it introduced. + +The whole tenor of the English statutes relative to the trade of this +country, and which, by our Act of the 10th of Henry VII., became a part of +our commercial constitution, breathe a spirit totally repugnant to the +principle of that law; and it is, therefore, with the utmost deference, +submitted to those who have the power to decide whether this law was +agreeable to the commercial constitution of Ireland, which, for 500 years, +has never produced a similar instance. + +It might be naturally supposed, by a person not versed in our story, that +in the seventeenth century there had been some offence given or some +demerit on our part. He would be surprised to hear that during this +period our loyalty had been exemplary, and our sufferings on that account +great. In 1641, great numbers of the Protestants of Ireland were +destroyed, and many of them were deprived of their property and driven out +of their country from their attachment to the English Government in this +kingdom, and to that religion and constitution which they happily enjoyed +under it. At the Revolution they were constant in the same principles, and +successfully staked their lives and properties against domestic and +foreign enemies in support of the rights of the English crown, and of the +religious and civil liberties of Britain and of Ireland. They bravely +shared with her in all her dangers, and liberally partook of all her +adversities. Whatever were their rights, they had forfeited none of them. +Whatever favours they enjoyed, they had new claims from their merit and +their sufferings to a continuance of them. They now wanted more than ever +the care of that fostering hand which, by rescuing them twice from +oppression (obligations never to be forgotton by the Protestants of +Ireland), established the liberties, confirmed the strength, and raised +the glory of the British empire. + +In speaking of a commercial system, it is not intended to touch upon the +power of making or altering laws; the present subject leads us only to +consider whether that power has been exercised in any instances contrary +to reason, justice, and public utility. + +When we consider, with the utmost deference to established authority, what +is _reasonable, useful, and just_, principles equally applicable to an +independent or a subordinate, to a rich or a poor country: _Quod aeque +pauperibus prodest, locupletibus aeque_. Should any man talk of a conquest +above 500 years since, between kingdoms long united like those, in blood, +interest, and constitution, he does not speak to the purpose; he may as +well talk of the conquest of the Norman, and use the antiquated language +of obsolete despotism. I revere that conquest which has given to Ireland +the common law and the Magna Charta of England. + +When we consider what is _reasonable, useful, and just_, and address our +sentiments to a nation renowned for wisdom and justice, should pride +pervert the question, talk of the power of Britain, and, in the character +of that great country, ask, like Tancred, who shall control me? I answer, +like the sober Siffredi--_thyself_. + +The power of regulating trade in a great empire is perverted, when +exercised for the destruction of trade in any part of it; but whatever or +wherever that power is, if it says to the subject on one side of a +channel, you may work and navigate, buy and sell; and to the subject on +the other side, you shall not work or navigate, buy or sell, but under +such restrictions as will extinguish the genius and unnerve the arm of +industry; I will only say that it uses a language repugnant to the free +spirit of commerce, and of the British and Irish constitution. + +Great eulogiums on the virtues of our people have been pronounced by some +of the most respected English authors.[385] Yet indolence is objected to +them by those who discourage their industry; but they do not reflect that +each of these proceeds from habit, and that the noble observation made on +virtue in general is equally applicable to industry; the day that it loses +its liberty half of its vigour is gone.[386] + +The great expenditure of money by England on account of this country is an +argument more fit for the limited views of a compting-house than for the +enlarged policy of statesmen deliberating on the general good of a great +empire. + +Very large sums, it is true, were advanced by England for the relief and +recovery of Ireland; but these have been reimbursed fifty-fold by the +profits and advantages which have since arisen to England from its trade +and intercourse with this kingdom. This argument may be further pursued, +but accounts of mutual benefits between intimate friends and near +relations should always be kept open, and every attempt to strike a +balance between them tends rather to raise jealousies than to promote good +will. + +It has been said that the interest of England required that those +restraints should be imposed. The contrary has been shown; one of the +maxims of her own law instructs us to enjoy our own property, so as not to +injure that of our neighbour,[387] and the true interest of a great +country lies in the population, wealth, and strength of the whole empire. + +If this restrictive system was founded in justice and sound policy towards +the middle and at the conclusion of the last century, the present state of +the British empire requires new counsels and a system of commerce and of +policy totally different from those which the circumstances of these +countries, in the years 1663, 1670, and 1698, might have suggested. + +But it is time to give your lordship a little relief before I enter into a +new part of my subject. + + I have the honour to be, + My lord, &c. + + +Eighth Letter. + +_Dublin, 6th September, 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +Between the 23rd of October, 1641, and the same day in the year 1652, five +hundred and four thousand of the inhabitants of Ireland are said to have +perished and been wasted by the sword, plague, famine, hardship, and +banishment.[388] If it had not been for the numbers of British which those +wars had brought over,[389] and such who, either as adventurers or +soldiers, seated themselves here on account of the satisfaction made to +them in lands, the country had been, by the rebellion of 1641 and the +plague that followed it, nearly desolate. At the restoration almost the +whole property of the kingdom was in a state of the utmost anarchy and +confusion. To satisfy the clashing interests of the numerous claimants, +and to determine the various and intricate disputes that arose relative to +titles, required a considerable length of time. Peace and settlement, or, +to use the words of one of the Acts of Parliament[390] of that time, the +repairing the ruins and desolation of the kingdom were the great objects +of this period. + +The English law[391] of 1663, restraining the exportation from Ireland to +America, was at that time, and for some years after, scarcely felt in this +kingdom, which had then little to export except live cattle, not proper +for so distant a market. + +The Act of Settlement, passed in Ireland the year before this restrictive +law, and the explanatory statute for the settlement of this kingdom, was +not enacted until two years after. The country continued for a +considerable time in a state of litigation, which is never favourable to +industry. In 1661, the people must have been poor; the number of them of +all degrees who paid poll money in that year was about 360,000.[392] In +1672, when the country had greatly improved, the manufacture bestowed upon +a year's exportation from Ireland did not exceed eight thousand +pounds,[393] and the clothing trade had not then arrived to what it had +been before the last rebellion. But still the kingdom had much increased +in wealth, though not in manufactured exports. The customs which set in +1656 for L12,000 yearly were, in 1672, worth L80,000[394] yearly, and the +improvement in domestic wealth, that is to say, in building, planting, +furniture, coaches, &c., is said to have advanced from 1652 to 1673 in a +proportion of from one to four. Sir William Petty, in the year 1672, +complains not of the restraints on the exportation from Ireland to +America,[395] but of the prohibition of exporting our cattle to England, +and of our being obliged to unlade in that kingdom[396] the ships bound +from America to Ireland, the latter regulation he considers as highly +prejudicial to this country.[396] + +The immediate object of Ireland at this time seems to have been to get +materials to employ her people at home, without thinking of foreign +exportations. When we advanced in the export of our woollen goods the law +of 1663,[397] which excluded them from the American markets, must have +been a great loss to this kingdom; and after we were allowed to export our +linens to the British colonies in America, the restraints imposed by the +law of 1670 upon our importations from thence became more prejudicial, +and will be much more so if ever the late extension of our exports to +America should under those restraints have any effect. For it is certainly +a great discouragement to the carrying on trade with any country where we +are allowed only to sell our manufactures and produce, but are not +permitted to carry from them directly to our own country their principal +manufactures or produce. The people to whom we are thus permitted to sell +want the principal inducement for dealing with us, and the great spring of +commerce, which is mutual exchange, is wanting between us. + +As the British legislature has thought it reasonable to extend, to a very +considerable degree, our exportation to their colonies, and has, +doubtless, intended that this favour should be useful to Ireland, it is +hoped that those restraints on the importation from thence, which must +render that favour of little effect, will be no longer continued. + +From those considerations it is evident that many strong reasons +respecting Ireland are now to be found against the continuance of those +restrictive laws of 1663 and 1670, that did not exist at the time of +making them. + +The prohibition of 1699 was immediately and universally felt in this +country; but in the course of human events various and powerful reasons +have arisen against the continuance of that statute, which did not exist, +and could not have been foreseen when it was enacted. + +At the Restoration the inhabitants of Ireland consisted of three different +nations--English, Scotch, and Irish--divided by political and religious +principles, exasperated against each other by former animosities, and by +present contests for property. When the settlement of the country was +completed, the people became industrious, manufactures greatly increased, +and the kingdom began to flourish. The prohibition of exporting cattle to +England, and perhaps that of importing directly from America the materials +of other manufactures, obliged the Irish to increase and to manufacture +their own material. They made so great a progress in both, from 1672 to +1687, that in the latter year the exports of the woollen manufacture alone +amounted in value to L70,521 14_s._ 0_d._ + +But the religious and civil animosities continued. The papists objected to +the settlement of property made after the Restoration,[398] wished to +reverse the outlawries, and to rescind the laws on which that settlement +was founded, hoped to establish their own as the national religion, to +get the power of the kingdom into their own hands, and to effect all those +purposes by a king of their own religion. They endeavoured to attain all +those objects by laws[399] passed at a meeting which they called a +parliament, held under this prince after his abdication; and by their +conduct at this period, as well as in the year 1642,[400] showed +dispositions unfavourable to the subordination of Ireland to the Crown of +England. They could not be supposed to be well affected to that great +prince who defeated all their purposes. + +At the time of the revolution the numbers of our people were again very +much reduced; but a great majority of the remaining inhabitants consisted +of papists. Those, notwithstanding their disappointment at that era, were +thought to entertain expectations of the restoration of their Popish king, +and designs unfavourable to the established constitution in Church and +State. It is not to the present purpose to inquire how long this +disposition prevailed. It cannot be doubted but that this was the opinion +conceived of their views and principles at the time of passing this law in +the year 1699. + +England could not then consider a country under such unfortunate +circumstances as any great additional strength to it. Foreign Protestants +were invited to settle in it, and the emigration of papists in great +numbers to other countries was allowed, if not encouraged. Though at this +period a regard to liberty as well as to economy, occasioned the +disbanding of all the army in England, except 7,000, it was thought +necessary for the security of Ireland that an army of 12,000 men should be +kept there; and for many years afterwards it was not allowed that this +army should be recruited in this kingdom. This distinction of parties in +Ireland was in those times the mainspring in every movement relative to +that kingdom, and affected not only political but commercial regulations. +The reason assigned by the English statute, allowing the exportation of +Irish linen cloth to the plantations, is, after reciting the restrictive +law of 1663,[401] "_yet_, forasmuch as the Protestant interest of Ireland +ought to be supported, by giving the utmost encouragement to the linen +manufactures of that kingdom, in tender regard to her Majesty's good +Protestant subjects of her said kingdom, be it enacted," &c. + +The papists, then disabled from acquiring permanent property in lands, had +not the same interest with Protestants in the defence of their country and +in the prosperity of the British Empire. But those seeds of disunion and +diffidence no longer remain. No man looks now for the return of the exiled +family any more than for that of Perken Warbec; and the repeal of Magna +Charta is as much expected as of the Act of Settlement. The papists, +indulged with the exercise of their religious worship, and now at liberty +to acquire permanent property in lands, are interested as well as +Protestants in the security and prosperity of this country; and sensible +of the benign influence of our Sovereign, and of the protection and +happiness which they enjoy under his reign, seem to be as well affected to +the King and to the constitution of the State as any other class of +subjects, and at this most dangerous crisis have contributed their money +to raise men for his Majesty's service, and declared their readiness, had +the laws permitted, to have taken arms for the defence of their country. +They owe much to the favour and protection of the Crown, and to the +liberal and benevolent spirit of the British legislature which led the way +to their relief, and they are peculiarly interested to cultivate the good +opinion of their Sovereign, and of their fellow-subjects in Great Britain. + +The numbers of our people, since the year 1698, are more than doubled; but +in point of real strength to the British Empire are increased in a +proportion of above eight to one. In the year 1698 the numbers of our +people did not much, if at all, exceed one million. Of these 300,000 are +thought to be a liberal allowance for Protestants of all denominations. It +is now supposed that there are not less in this kingdom than 2,500,000 +loyal and affectionate subjects to his Majesty, and well affected to the +constitution and happiness of their country. + +A political and commercial constitution, if it could have been considered +as wisely framed for the years 1663, 1670, and 1698, ought to be +reconsidered in the year 1779; what might have been good and necessary +policy in the government of one million of men disunited among themselves, +and a majority of them not to be relied upon in support of their king and +of the laws and constitution of their country, is bad policy in the +government of two millions and a-half of men now united among themselves, +and all interested in the support of the Crown, the laws, and the +constitution. + +What might have been sufficient employment, and the means of acquiring a +competent subsistence for one million of people, when a man, by working +two days in the week, might have earned a sufficient support for him and +his family, will never answer for two millions and a-half of people,[402] +when the hard labour of six days in the week can scarcely supply a scanty +subsistence. Nor can the resources which enabled us in the last century to +remit L200,000 yearly to England[403] support remittances to the amount of +more than six times that sum. + +Let the reasons for this restrictive system at the time of its formation +be examined, and let us judge impartially whether any one of the purposes +then intended has been answered. The reasons respecting America were to +confine the Plantation trade to England, and to make that country a +storehouse of all commodities for its colonies. But the commercial +jealousy that has prevailed among the different states of Europe has made +it difficult for any nation to keep great markets to herself in exclusion +of the rest of the world. It was not foreseen at those periods that the +colonies, whilst they all continued dependent, should have traded with +foreign nations, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Great Britain to +prevent it. It was not foreseen that those colonies would have refused to +have taken any commodities whatever from their parent country, that they +should afterwards have separated themselves from her empire, declared +themselves independent, resisted her fleets and armies, obtained the most +powerful alliances, and occasioned the most dangerous and destructive war +in which Great Britain was ever engaged. Nor could it have been foreseen +that Ireland, excluded from almost all direct intercourse with them, +should have been nearly undone by the contest. The reasons then respecting +America no longer exist, and whatever may be the event of the conflict, +will never exist to the extent expected when this system of restraints and +penalties was adopted. + +The reasons relating to Ireland have failed also. The circumstances of +this country relative to the woollen manufacture are totally changed since +the year 1699. The Lords and Commons of England appear to have founded the +law of that year on the proportion which they supposed that the charge of +the woollen manufacture in England then bore to the charge of that +manufacture in Ireland. In the representation from the Commissioners of +Trade, laid before both houses,[404] they think it a reasonable +conjecture to take the difference between both wool and labour in the two +countries to be one-third; and estimating on that supposition, they find +that 43-7/8 per cent. may be laid on broadcloth exported out of Ireland, +more than on the like cloth exported out of England, to bring them both to +an equality. This must have been an alarming representation to England. + +But if those calculations were just at the time, which is very doubtful, +the supposed facts on which they were founded do certainly no longer +exist. Wool is now generally at a higher price in Ireland than in England, +and the trifling difference in the price of labour is more than +overbalanced by this and the other circumstances in favour of England, +which have been before stated; and that those facts supposed in 1698, and +the inferences drawn from them, have no foundation in the present state of +this country is plain from the experience every day, which shows that +instead of our underselling the English, they undersell us in our own +markets. + +Besides our exclusion from foreign markets, England had two objects in the +discouragement of our woollen trade. + +It was intended that Ireland should send her wool to England, and take +from that country her woollen manufactures.[405] It has been already +shown that the first object has not been attained, the second has been +carried so far as, for the future, to defeat its own purpose. Whilst our +own manufacturers were starving for want of employment, and our wool sold +for less than one-half its usual price, we have imported from England, in +the years 1777 and 1778, woollen goods to the enormous amount of L715,740 +13_s._ 0_d._, as valued at our Custom House, and of the manufactures of +linen, cotton, and silk mixed, to the amount of L98,086 1_s._ 11_d._, +making in the whole in those two years of distress, L813,826 14_s._ +11_d._[406] Between 20 and 30,000 of our manufacturers in those branches +were in those two years supported by public charity. From this fact it is +hoped that every reasonable man will allow the necessity of our using our +own manufactures. Agreements among our people for this purpose are not, as +it has been supposed, a new idea in this country. It was never so +universal as at present, but has been frequently resorted to in times of +distress. In the sessions of 1703, 1705, and 1707,[407] the House of +Commons resolved unanimously, that it would greatly conduce to the relief +of the poor and the good of the kingdom, that the inhabitants thereof +should use none other but the manufactures of this kingdom in their +apparel and the furniture of their houses; and in the last of those +sessions the members engaged their honours to each other, that they would +conform to the said resolution. The not importing goods from England is +one of the remedies recommended by the council of trade in 1676, for +alleviating some distress that was felt at that time;[408] and Sir William +Temple, a zealous friend to the trade and manufactures of England, +recommends to Lord Essex, then Lord Lieutenant, "to introduce, as far as +can be, a vein of parsimony throughout the country in all things that are +not perfectly the native growths and manufactures."[409] + +The people of England cannot reasonably object to a conduct of which they +have given a memorable example.[410] In 1697 the English House of Lords +presented an address to King William to discourage the use and wearing of +all sorts of furniture and cloths, not of the growth or manufacture of +that kingdom; and beseech him by his royal example effectually to +encourage the use and wearing of all sorts of furniture and wearing cloths +that are the growth of that kingdom, or manufactured there; and King +William assures them that he would give the example to his subjects,[411] +and would endeavour to make it effectually followed. The reason assigned +by the Lords for this address was that the trade of the nation had +suffered by the late long and expensive war. But it does not appear that +there was any pressing necessity at the time, or that their manufacturers +were starving for want of employment. + +Common sense must discover to every man that, where foreign trade is +restrained, discouraged, or prevented in any country, and where that +country has the materials of manufactures, a fruitful soil, and numerous +inhabitants, the home-trade is its best resource. If this is thought, by +men of great knowledge, to be the most valuable of all trades,[412] +because it makes the speediest and the surest returns, and because it +increases at the same time two capitals in the same country, there is no +nation on the globe whose wealth, population, strength, and happiness +would be promoted by such a trade in a greater degree than ours.[413] + +Two other reasons were assigned for this prohibition: that the Irish had +shown themselves unwilling to promote the linen manufacture,[414] and that +there were great quantities of wool in Ireland. But they have since +cultivated the linen trade with great success, and great numbers of their +people are employed in it. Of late years by the operation of the +land-carriage bounty, agriculture has increased in a degree never before +known in this country; extensive tracts of lands, formerly sheep-pasture, +are now under tillage, and much greater rents are given for that purpose +than can be paid by stocking with sheep; the quantity of wool is greatly +diminished from what it was in the year 1699, supposing it to have been +then equal to the quantity in 1687,[415] it has been for several years +lessening, and is not likely to be increased. In those two important +circumstances the grounds of the apprehensions of England have ceased, and +the state of Ireland has been materially altered since the year 1699. + +Another reason respecting England and foreign States, particularly France, +has failed. England was, in 1698, in possession of the woollen trade in +most of the foreign markets, and expected still to continue to supply +them, as appears by the preamble of her Statute passed in that year. + +She at that time expected to keep this manufacture to herself. The people +of Leeds, Halifax, and Newberry,[416] petition the House of Commons "that +by some means the woollen manufacture may be prevented from being set up +in foreign countries;" and the Commons, in their address, mention the +keeping it as much as possible _entire_ to themselves. But experience has +proved the vanity of those expectations; several other countries cultivate +this trade with success. France now undersells her. England has lost some +of those markets, and it is thought probable that Ireland, if admitted to +them, might have preserved and may now recover the trade that England has +lost. + +A perseverance in this restrictive policy will be ruinous to the trade of +Great Britain. Whatever may be the state of America, great numbers of the +inhabitants of Ireland, if the circumstances of this country shall +continue to be the same as at present in respect of trade, will emigrate +there; this will give strength to that part of the empire on which Great +Britain can least, and take it from that part on which at present she may +most securely depend. But this is not all the mischief; those emigrants +will be mostly manufacturers, and will transfer to America the woollen and +linen manufactures, to the great prejudice of those trades in England, +Scotland, and Ireland; and then one of the means used to keep the colonies +dependent by introducing this country into a system of colonisation, will +be the occasion of lessening, if not dissolving, the connection between +them and their parent State. + +Great Britain, weakened in her extremities, should fortify the heart of +her empire; Great Britain, with powerful foreign enemies united in lasting +bonds against her, and with scarcely any foreign alliance to sustain her, +should exert every possible effort to strengthen herself at home. The +number of people in Ireland have more than doubled in fourscore years. How +much more rapid would be the increase if the growth of the human race was +cherished by finding sufficient employment and food for this prolific +nation! it would probably double again in half a century. What a vast +accession of strength such numbers of brave and active men, living almost +within the sound of a trumpet, must bring to Great Britain, now said to be +decreasing considerably in population!--a greater certainty than double +those numbers dispersed in distant parts of the globe, the expense of +defending and governing of which must at all times be great. Sir W. +Temple,[417] in 1673, takes notice of the circumstances prejudicial to the +trade and riches of Ireland, which had hitherto, he says, made it of more +loss than value to England. They have already been mentioned. The course +of time has removed some of them, and the wisdom and philanthropy of +Britain may remove the rest. "Without these circumstances (says that +honest and able statesman), the native fertility of the soils and seas, in +so many rich commodities, improved by multitudes of people and industry, +with the advantage of so many excellent havens, and a situation so +commodious for all sorts of foreign trade, must needs have rendered this +kingdom one of the richest in Europe, and made a mighty increase both of +strength and revenue to the crown of England."[418] + +During this century, Ireland has been, without exaggeration, a mine of +wealth to England, far beyond what any calculation has yet made it. When +poor and thinly inhabited she was an expense and a burden to England; when +she had acquired some proportion of riches and grew more numerous, she was +one of the principal sources of her wealth. When she becomes poor again, +those advantages are greatly diminished. The exports from Great Britain to +Ireland, in 1778,[419] were less than the medium value of the four +preceding years in a sum of L634,444 3_s._ 0_d_; and in the year 1779, +Great Britain is obliged, partly at her own expense, to defend this +country, and for that purpose has generously bestowed out of her own +exchequer a large sum of money. Those facts demonstrate that the poverty +of Ireland ever has been a drain, and her riches an influx of wealth to +England, to which the greater part of it will ever flow, and it imports +not to that country through what channel; but the source must be cleared +from obstructions, or the stream cannot continue to flow. + +Such a liberal system would increase the wealth of this kingdom by means +that would strengthen the hands of government, and promote the happiness +of the people. Ireland would be then able to contribute largely to the +support of the British Empire, not only from the increase of her wealth, +but from the more equal distribution of it into a greater number of hands +among the various orders of the community. The present inability of +Ireland arises principally from this circumstance, that her lower and +middle classes have little or no property, and are not able, to any +considerable amount, either to pay taxes or consume those commodities that +are the usual subjects of them; and this has been the consequence of the +laws which prevent trade and discourage manufactures. The same quantity of +property distributed through the different classes of the people would +supply resources much superior to those which can be found in the present +state of Ireland.[420] The increase of people there under its present +restraints makes but a small addition to the resources of the State in +respect of taxes.[421] In 1685, the amount of the inland excise in Ireland +was L75,169. In 1762, it increased only to L92,842. Those years are taken +as periods of a considerable degree of prosperity in Ireland. The people +had increased, from 1685 to 1762, in a proportion of nearly 7 to 4,[422] +which appears from this circumstance, that in 1685 hearth-money amounted +to L32,659, and in 1762 to L56,611. At the former period the law made to +restrain and discourage the principal trade and manufacture of Ireland had +not been made. There were then vast numbers of sheep in Ireland, and the +woollen manufacture was probably in a flourishing state. At the former of +those periods the lower classes of the people were able to consume +excisable commodities; in the latter they lived for the most part on the +immediate produce of the soil. The numbers of people in a state, like +those of a private family, if the individuals have the means of acquiring, +add to the wealth, and if they have not those means, to the poverty of the +community. Population is not always a proof of the prosperity of a nation; +the people may be very numerous and very poor and wretched. A temperate +climate, fruitful soil, bays and rivers well stocked with fish, the habits +of life among the lower classes, and a long peace, are sufficient to +increase the numbers of people: these are the true wealth of every state +that has wisdom to encourage the industry of its inhabitants, and a +country which supplies in abundance the materials for that industry. If +the state or the family should discourage industry, and not allow one of +the family to work, because another is of the same trade, the consequences +to the great or the little community must be equally fatal. + +Is there not business enough in this great world for the people of two +adjoining islands, without depressing the inhabitants of one of them? Let +the magnanimity and philanthropy of Great Britain address her poor sister +kingdom in the same language which the good-natured Uncle Toby uses to the +fly in setting it at liberty:--"Poor fly; there's room enough for thee and +me." + + I have the honour to be, + My Lord, &c. + + +Ninth Letter. + +_Dublin, 10th Sept., 1779._ + +MY LORD, + +Besides those already mentioned, various other commercial restraints and +prohibitions give the British trader and manufacturer many great and +important advantages over the Irish. Whilst our markets are at all times +open to all their productions and manufactures, with inconsiderable duties +on the import, their markets are open or shut against us as suits their +conveniency. On several articles of the first importance, and on almost +all our own manufactures imported into Great Britain, duties are imposed +equal to a prohibition. In the instance of woollen goods, theirs in our +ports pay but a small duty; ours in their ports are loaded with +duties[423] which amount to a prohibition.[424] Theirs on the exportation +are subject to no duty; ours, if permitted to be exported, would, as the +law now stands, be subject to a duty[425] over and above that payable for +alnage and for the alnager's fee. If the Act of 1699 was repealed, the +English would still have many great advantages over us in the woollen +trade. + +In our staple manufacture, the bounties given on the exportation of white +and brown Irish linen from Great Britain would still continue that trade +in the hands of the British merchant. On all coloured linens a duty[426] +equal to a prohibition is imposed on the importation into Great Britain; +but theirs, imported to us, are subject[427] to ten per cent., and under +that duty they have imported considerably. This inequality of duty, and +the bounty given by the British Act of the tenth of Geo. III., on the +exportation of their chequered and striped linens from Great Britain, +secures to them the continuance of the great superiority which they have +acquired over us in those very valuable branches of this trade. In many +other articles they have given themselves great advantages. Beer they +export to us in such quantities as almost to ruin our brewery; but they +prevent our exportation to them by duties, laid on the import there, equal +to a prohibition. Of malt they make large exports to us, to the prejudice +of our agriculture, but have absolutely prohibited our exportation of that +commodity to them. Some manufactures they retain solely to themselves, +which we are prohibited from exporting, and cannot import from any country +but Great Britain, as glass of all kinds. Hops they do not allow us to +import from any other place, and in a facetious style of interdiction, +pronounce such importation to be a common nuisance.[428] They go further, +and by laying a duty on the export, and denying the draw-back, oblige the +Irish consumer to pay a tax appropriated, it is said, to the payment of a +British debt. I shall make no political, but the subject requires a +commercial observation--it is this: the man who keeps a market solely to +himself, in exclusion of all others, whether he appears as buyer[429] or +seller, fixes his own price, and becomes the arbiter of the profit and +loss of every customer. + +The various manufactures[430] made or mixed with cotton are subject, by +several British Acts, to duties on the importation amounting to 25 per +cent. + +By another Act, penalties[431] are imposed on wearing any of those +manufactures in Great Britain, unless made in that country. Those laws +have effectually excluded the Irish manufactures, in all those branches, +from the British markets; and it has been already shown that they cannot +be sent to the American. From Great Britain into Ireland all those +articles are imported in immense quantities, being subject here to duties +amounting to 10 per cent. only. + +But it would be tedious to descend into a further detail, and disgusting +to write a book of rates instead of a letter.[432] + +Their superior capitals and expertness give them decisive advantages in +every species of trade and manufacture. By the extension of the commerce +of Ireland, Great Britain would acquire new and important advantages, not +only by the wealth it would bring to that country, and the increase of +strength to the empire, but by opening to the British merchant new sources +of trade from Ireland. + +It is time to draw to a conclusion. I have reviewed my letters to your +lordship, for the purpose of avoiding every possible occasion of offence. +I flatter myself every reader will discern that they have been written +with upright and friendly intentions, not to excite jealousies, but to +remove prejudices, to moderate, and conciliate; and that they are intended +as an appeal, not to the passions of the multitude, but to the wisdom, +justice, and generosity of Britain. Shakespeare could place a tongue in +every wound of Caesar; but Antony meant to inflame; and the only purpose of +those letters is to persuade. I have, therefore, not even removed the +mantle except where necessity required it. + +In extraordinary cases where the facts are stronger than the voice of the +pleader, it is not unusual to allow the client to speak for himself. Will +you, my lord, one of the leading advocates for Ireland, allow her to +address her elder sister, and to state her own case; not in the strains +of passion or resentment, nor in the tone of remonstrance, but with a +modest enumeration of unexaggerated facts in pathetic simplicity. She will +tell her, with a countenance full of affection and tenderness, "I have +received from you invaluable gifts--the law of[433] common right, your +great charter, and the fundamentals of your constitution. The temple of +liberty in your country has been frequently fortified, improved, and +embellished; mine, erected many centuries since the perfect model of your +own, you will not suffer me to strengthen, secure, or repair; firm and +well-cemented as it is, it must moulder under the hand of Time for want of +that attention which is due to the venerable fabric.[434] We are connected +by the strongest ties of natural affection, common security, and a long +interchange of the kindest offices on both sides. But for more than a +century you have, in some instances, mistaken our mutual interest. I sent +you my herds and my flocks, filled your people with abundance, and gave +them leisure to attend to more profitable pursuits than the humble +employment of shepherds and of herdsmen. But you rejected my produce,[435] +and reprobated this intercourse in terms the most opprobrious. I +submitted; the temporary loss was mine, but the perpetual prejudice your +own. I incited my children to industry, and gave them my principal +materials to manufacture. Their honest labours were attended with moderate +success, but sufficient to awaken the commercial jealousy of some of your +sons; indulging their groundless apprehensions, you desired my materials, +and discouraged the industry of my people. I complied with your wishes, +and gave to your children the bread of my own; but the enemies of our race +were the gainers. They applied themselves with tenfold increase to those +pursuits which were restrained in my people, who would have added to the +wealth and strength of your empire what, by this fatal error, you +transferred to foreign nations. You held out another object to me with +promises of the utmost encouragement. I wanted the means, but I obtained +them from other countries, and have long cultivated, at great expense, and +with the most unremitted efforts, that species of industry which you +recommended. You soon united with another great family, engaged in the +same pursuit, which you were also obliged to encourage among them, and +afterwards embarked in it yourself, and became my rival in that which you +had destined for my principal support. This support is now become +inadequate to the increased number of my offspring, many of whom want the +means of subsistence. My ports are ever hospitably open for your +reception, and shut, whenever your interest requires it, against all +others; but yours are, in many instances, barred against me. With your +dominions in Asia, Africa, and America my sons were long deprived of all +beneficial intercourse, and yet to those colonies I transported my +treasures for the payment of your armies, and in a war waged for their +defence one hundred thousand of my sons fought by your side.[436] Conquest +attended our arms. You gained a great increase of empire and of commerce, +and my people a further extension of restraints and prohibitions.[437] In +those efforts I have exhausted my strength, mortgaged my territories, and +am now sinking under the pressure of enormous debts, contracted from my +zealous attachment to your interests, to the extension of your empire, and +the increase of your glory. By the present unhappy war for the recovery of +those colonies, from which they were long excluded, my children are +reduced to the lowest ebb of poverty and distress. It is true you have +lately, with the kindest intentions, allowed me an extensive liberty of +selling to the inhabitants of those parts of your empire; but they have no +inducement to buy, because I cannot take their produce in return. Your +liberality has opened a new fountain, but your caution will not suffer me +to draw from it. The stream of commerce intended to refresh the exhausted +strength of my children flies untasted from their parched lips. + +"The common parent of all has been equally beneficent to us both. We both +possess in great abundance the means of industry and happiness. My fields +are not less fertile nor my harbours less numerous than yours. My sons are +not less renowned than your own for valour, justice, and generosity. Many +of them are your descendants, and have some of your best blood in their +veins. But the narrow policy of man has counteracted the instincts and the +bounties of nature. In the midst of those fertile fields some of my +children perish before my eyes for want of food, and others fly for +refuge to hostile nations. + +Suffer no longer, respected sister, the narrow jealousy of commerce to +mislead the wisdom and to impair the strength of your state. Increase my +resources, they shall be yours, my riches and strength, my poverty and +weakness will become your own. What a triumph to our enemies, and what an +affliction to me, in the present distracted circumstances of the empire, +to see my people reduced by the necessity of avoiding famine, to the +resolution of trafficing almost solely with themselves! Great and powerful +enemies are combined against you; many of your distant connections have +deserted you. Increase your strength at home, open and extend the numerous +resources of my country, of which you have not hitherto availed yourself, +or allowed me the benefit. Our increased force, and the full exertions of +our strength, will be the most effectual means of resisting the +combination formed against you by foreign enemies and distant subjects, +and of giving new lustre to our crowns, and happiness and contentment to +our people." + + + + +APPENDIX.--No. I. + + +Quantity of Wool, Woollen, and Worsted Yarn exported from Ireland to Great +Britain in the following years:-- + + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + | Years | WOOL. | YARN. | + | Ending |-------------|------------------------------| + | the 25th | | _Woollen._ | _Worsted._ | + | of March.| stones. lbs.| stones. lbs.| stones. lbs.| + |----------|-------------|---------------|--------------| + | 1764 | 10,128 6 | 9,991 14 | 139,412 12 | + | 1795 | 17,316 0 | 13,450 12 | 149,915 9 | + | 1766 | 21,722 13 | 7,980 0 | 152,122 0 | + | 1767 | 48,733 8 | 7,553 0 | 151,940 9 | + | 1768 | 28,521 11 | 11,387 6 | 157,721 3 | + | 1769 | 3,840 16 | 5,012 0 | 131,365 2 | + | 1770 | 2,578 0 | 3,833 0 | 117,735 9 | + | 1771 | 2,118 5 | 4,868 2 | 139,378 14 | + | 1772 | 2,045 6 | 5,947 0 | 115,904 4 | + | 1773 | 1,839 2 | -- | 94,098 10 | + | 1774 | 1,007 11 | -- | 63,920 10 | + | 1775 | 2,007 13 | -- | 78,896 14 | + | 1776 | 1,059 15 | -- | 86,527 0 | + | 1777 | 1,734 7 | -- | 114,703 2 | + | 1778 | 1,665 12 | -- | 122,755 15 | + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + + +APPENDIX.--No. II. + + +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Years| DRAPERY. | LINEN COTTON. | + |ending|----------------------------------------------|----------------| + | the | | | Silk, mixed | + | 25th | New. | Old. | manufacture. | + | of |------------------------|---------------------|----------------| + |March.|Quantity. Value. |Quantity. Value. | Value. | + |------|------------------------|---------------------|----------------| + | | | L s. d. | | L s. d.| L s. d. | + | 1769 |394,553|49,319 3 9 |207,117|144,982 8 6|13,402 10 7 | + | 1770 |462,499|57,812 7 6 |249,666|174,766 14 6|20,907 18 2-1/2| + | 1771 |362,096|45,262 0 0 |217,395|152,176 10 0|20,282 5 8 | + | 1772 |314,703|39,337 18 9 |153,566|107,496 4 0|14,081 15 6-1/2| + | 1773 |387,143|48,392 17 6 |200,065|147,045 13 6|20,472 7 3-1/2| + | 1774 |461,407|57,675 17 6 |282,317|197,621 18 0|21,611 10 3-1/4| + | 1775 |465,611|58,201 9 4-1/2|281,379|196,965 13 0|24,234 16 9-1/2| + | 1776 |676,485|84,560 12 6 |290,215|203,150 10 0|30,371 16 8-1/2| + | 1777 |731,819|91,477 8 9 |381,330|266,931 0 0|45,411 3 7 | + | 1778 |741,426|92,678 6 3 |378,077|264,653 18 0|52,675 1 11 | + +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +APPENDIX.--No. III. + +An account of the Quantity of Linen Cloth exported out of Ireland to Great +Britain and Plantations, prior to the year 1743. + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Years | Linen Cloth exported to | + | Ending | Great Britain. Plantations. | + |the 25th |-------------------------------------| + |of March.| Yards. | Yards. | + |---------|----------------|--------------------| + | 1705 | 739,278 | 19,742 | + | 1706 | 1,325,771 | 62,727 | + | 1707 | 1,847,564 | 81,037 | + | 1708 | 343,359 | 29,606 | + | 1709 | 1,539,250 | 113,939 | + | 1710 | 1,528,185 | 136,844 | + | 1711 | 1,131,629 | 89,262 | + | 1712 | 1,320,968 | 43,011 | + | 1713 | 1,721,003 | 86,357 | + | 1714 | 2,071,814 | 91,916 | + | 1715 | 2,000,581 | 133,752 | + | 1716 | 1,968,568 | 195,825 | + | 1717 | 2,260,243 | 151,240 | + | 1718 | 2,120,075 | 113,790 | + | 1719 | 2,235,357 | 117,288 | + | 1720 | 2,560,113 | 69,579 | + | 1721 | 2,398,103 | 95,488 | + | 1722 | 3,036,431 | 127,934 | + | 1723 | 4,060,402 | 112,952 | + | 1724 | 3,767,063 | 94,816 | + | 1725 | 3,755,430 | 70,052 | + | 1726 | 4,231,676 | 117,213 | + | 1727 | 4,596,089 | 151,977 | + | 1728 | 4,517,152 | 140,049 | + | 1729 | 3,701,485 | 183,363 | + | 1730 | 3,821,188 | 218,220 | + | 1731 | 3,591,316 | 137,039 | + | 1733 | 4,621,127 | 129,244 | + | 1734 | 5,194,241 | 213,250 | + | 1735 | 6,508,748 | 202,759 | + | 1736 | 6,168,333 | 262,242 | + | 1737 | 5,758,408 | 309,827 | + | 1738 | 4,897,169 | 232,947 | + | 1739 | 5,737,834 | 197,671 | + | 1740 | 6,403,569 | 183,471 | + | 1741 | 6,760,025 | 394,374 | + | 1742 | 6,793,009 | 244,546 | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + + +Since these papers were sent to the press, the Commons of Ireland have, in +their address to his Majesty, resolved, unanimously, "that it is not by +temporary expedients, but by a free trade alone that this nation is now to +be saved from impending ruin." And the Lords have in their address +unanimously entered into a resolution of the same import. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A. + + Abercrombie, Lord, in Ireland and in Egypt, lxxx-lxxxii + + Abraham Hutchinson, lxxxv + + Absentees, remittances to, 76 + + Acts of Parliament quoted: + " Edward III., 17th, 34th, and 50th of, 110 + " Edward IV., 3rd of, 4th of, 111 + " Henry VII., 10th of, 112 + " (English), Henry VIII., 13th and 28th of, &c., 116 + " Elizabeth, 87, 116 + " James I., 8 + " Charles II., 87 + " of Settlement and Explanation, 131 + " 12th, 57 + " 13th and 14th of, 115 + " 17th and 18th of, 20 + " 20th and 22nd of, 106 + " 22nd and 23rd of, 119 + " William and Mary, first of, 57 + " William III., 7th and 8th of, 57 + " (English) Acts of 1697, 59 + " (Irish) Acts of 1695, 10th and 11th of, 20, 88, 91, 105 + " for encouraging Tillage, 38 note + " for Bounties on Land, Carriage and Coal Supply to Dublin, lxx, 39 + " 3rd and 4th of Anne, 108 + " 10th, 11th, and 22nd of Anne, 96 + " 1st of George II, 122 + " 4th and 6th of, 120 + " (English), 32nd of George II, 54, note + " (1750), taxing Irish Exports, 92 + " George III., 10th of, 93-96 + " 18th of, 96 + " Imposing Duty on Woollen Goods, 67 + " Loan, 1759, 40 + + Address of English Parliament to William III., 62-65 + + Admiral Hawke, xv + + Aldborough, Petition of, 85 + + Aldred Mr., of Oxford, xlv + + Advance, in Linen Trade, 51 + + Alexander the Great, xxxiv + + Alexandria, Lord Hutchinson of, lxxxvi + + Alnager, Office and Fees of, x and 155, note + + America, Robertson's History of, xiii + + " Wool and Linen Trades transferred to, by Irish Emigrants, 147 + + Anderson, Dr., quoted, 72, note + + Andrews, Provost, xxxi + + Anthologia Hibernica, lxxxvi + + Archbishop Craddock, xxxiv, note + + Archbishop Fowler, lxvi + + Archbishop King quoted, 10 + + Archbishop Laud quoted, xxv + + Arms of Militia given to Volunteers, xiv, note + + Army Augmentation, 40, 44, 48 + + Asia, Africa, and America, closed against Ireland, 90 + + + B. + + Baird, Sir David, his Expedition from India to Egypt, lxxxii + + Ballinamuck, Battle of, French defeated at, lxxxi + + Banks in Dublin failed, 35-40 + + Bankruptcy Law not known here in 1755, 35, note + + Barlow, Mr., T.C.D., Exercising the Veto, xxv, note + + Barre, Colonel Isaac, his description of Hutchinson, lx, &c., and note + + Batchelor, the, xii + + _Baratariana_, meaning of name, xiii + + " Written by, xiii + + " Extracts from, xv, xvii, xxi, note + + " appeared originally in _Freeman's Journal_, xiii + + Beaconsfield, Lord, x, note + + Bedford, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant (Speech from the Throne), 37 + + Beer, Exports and Imports of, 156 + + Berkeley, Bishop, his Opinion on State of Irish People, cxviii + + Berwick, Rev. Edward, deprived of Scholarship by Provost Hutchinson, and + reinstated by Visitors, xxxiv + + Bessborough Commission, xxix, note + + Biographie "Generale," "Universale," and "des contemporanes," quoted, + lxxxi + + Bishops, Irish, ordaining on Scotch degrees, liii + + Black-Dog prison, cvi, note + + Blackburne, Mr., quoted, xcix + + Blacquiere, Sir John, xxiii, lxxvii + + Board and Provost of Trinity College, the, Publisher's thanks to, v + + Bolton, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant (Speech from the Throne), 24 + + Boulter, Primate, his desire to have Englishmen appointed to Irish + Bishoprics, xxvi, note; xlvi, note + + Bounty on Land Carriage, and on Coals, to Dublin, lxx, cx, 43 + + Bowes, Lord Chancellor, 60 + + Boyle, Lord Shannon, Speaker, xciv + + Bretagne, Duke of, Treaty with, 112 + + Broderick, Speaker, Solicitor-General, Lord Chancellor, 17 + + Brown, Prime-Sergeant, pumped on Mr. Mills, xix, note + + Bruce, Lieutenant, aided in effecting Lavalette's escape, lxxxiii + + Buckinghamshire, Lord Lieutenant. The Letters addressed to, xcix + + " " " Entertained by Trinity College, lxvi + + " " " A jobber in a mask, lxviii, note + + Burke, Sir Bernard, quoted, xxiii, lxxxi + + Burgh, Hussey, his Speech for opening the College to Catholics; + do. on the Irish bishops; + do. on a Money Bill, and Dismissal from Office, liii, lxxii, note + + Burrowes, Peter, his speech, xlix + + " Robert, xlix + + Buyers, none at fairs, 2 + + Byron, Lord, x, note + + + C. + + Campbell, Dr., his "Political Survey", 72 + + Carson, Rev. Dr., S.F.T.C.D., his extract from College Register, xxxvii, + note + + Carte, his life of Ormond quoted, cv, 12, 54 + + Carteret, Lord Lieutenant, 28 + + Castlebar, Battle of, English defeated at, strange mistake by French + Encyclopaedists, lxxxvi + + " atrocities of English army in retreat from, lxxxvi + + Castlereagh, Lord, Chief Secretary, xcvi + + Catalogue of College Plate, by Mr. Hingston, xxix, note + + Cattle, Exportation Prohibition Act, cv and 55 + + Catholic Scholars, T.C.D., xlv, li, and note + + Catholics, admitted to the College by connivance; + how debarred from Scholarship and from voting, xlvi, li, note + + Cattle Trade destroyed by England, loss of, drove the Irish into the + wool trade, cxi, 11 + + Cattle, Present of, sent to London after the great fire, and + ungraciously received, cv + + Causes of Ireland's debt, 48 + + Chaffers, In Act of Edward IV., 111 + + Chancellors of the Exchequer, Irish, xciv + + Chancery-lane, xiv-xxiii + + Chapelizod Church, Inscriptions in, to the third Earl of Donoughmore, + lxxxiv + + "Chapels" in T.C.D., xx + + Charles I., Subsidies to, 9 + + Charles II., Letter from, 12 + + Charles II. _See_ Acts. + + Charlemont, Lord, Life of, quoted, lvi + + Charter Schools, cxi, 45 + + Chesterfield, Lord Lieutenant, 32 + + China, Trade of, 73, cxii + + Cista Communis, xxix + + Civil Establishment pensions, lxix, 45, 4 + + Clarendon, Lord, his "History", 10 + + Clonmel, Factory at, cv, 13 + + College Plate in South Kensington Exhibition, xxix, note + + College rack-renting, as alleged by Mr. Duigenan--as explained by Mr. + Galbraith, xxix, note + + College Park, xx, note + + Commercial Restraints and Colonial Trade, 1 + + Commission of Trade, 67 + + Committees, Parliamentary, on the Hutchinsons, xl, xli + + Colonies, Ireland excluded from commerce with, 68 + + Commons, House of, could not cure the evil, 31 + + " pass the Act against Irish trade, cvii, and 66 + + " advanced money for local purposes, 36 + + " (Irish), Dispute with the Crown, 35 + + " What they effected in 1782, lxxi, note + + " English, Address to William III., 62 + + Commons, in Trinity College, xlviii + + Condition of Irish people, 26 + + Cooke's Institutes, 110 + + Constellation, The, Captain of, cv, note + + Corporation of Weavers, 49 + + Council of Ireland present a Bill to Parliament, 67 + + Corporation of Dublin petition the College for Lucas' son, lxiv + + Cowper, Lord Lieutenant, his speech at Belfast, cxviii + + Cox, his history of Ireland, 9 + + Croker, Crofton, Popular songs, quoted, xxxi, note + + Curates, Salary of, liii + + + D. + + Davis, Sir John, quoted, 7 and note, 9, 110, 127, 149 + + Decker, his "Decline of Foreign Trade", 74-78 + + Debt, National, smallness of in Ireland in 1715, 24 + + " the alarm caused by the slight increase of, a proof of + the destitution of the country, 24 + + " how increased, 46 + + Delany, Dr., F.T.C.D., his pupils and income, xlvi, note + + Devonshire, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, 32 + + Donoughmore estate, The, lxxv, note + + Donoughmore, Lord, "blood relations of," xxxi, note + + Distress in Ireland, 23-29 + + Dobbs, Mr., on the trade of Ireland, 14, 77, note + + Dorset, Duke of, 29, 78 + + " Distress in, 1759, 40 + + " Sir Bernard de Gomme's Map of, xx, note + + " Scandinavian Kingdom of, xx, note + + Dublin, Collection in, for the Waldenses--for New England-- + " its freedom given to Hutchinson, x + + " " " to Captain Porter, cv, note + + " aid for the Londoners, cv, note + + Duigenan, Dr. Patrick, F.T.C.D., &c., his "Lachrymae Academicae," xxi + + " " Sketch of his Life, 1, note + + " " educated in St. Bride's Parish School, lived in + Chancery-lane, lxxxvii + + " " his sham duel, lvi, note + + " " his oratory, lix + + " " a fanatical anti-Catholic and anti-Nationalist, lxxxviii + + " " did not bring the Provost before the Visitors, xxxvii, note + + Dunkin, Rev. Mr., Master of Great Ship-street School, had an annuity + from the College, lxiv + + Dutch carried on the Trade of Ireland, 73 + + Duty paid on Export of Linen, 21 + + + E. + + Edward III. and IV.'s Acts, 110 + + Egypt, trade at, cxi + + Embargo on Irish provisions, 1776, 5 + + Emigration of linen workers from Ulster, 101 + + Embargoes in Ireland, 24; + from 1740 to 1779, 157 + + England, prohibition of cattle exportation to, civ, note, 5 + + " remittances to, more than double the entire trade of Ireland, 81 + + " Great Seal of, to certify Irish Acts, 75 + + " and Ireland compared as to taxation, 76 + + " a sufferer by her restrictions on Ireland, 77 + + " in 1779, had to pay for Irish army, 4 + + " a gainer by Ireland, cxvii, 149 + + " the cause of Irish distress, cxvii + + " repaid fifty-fold for advances to Ireland, 128 + + English Parliament's Address to William III., to destroy Irish wool + trade, cvii, and 61 + + Equivalent of linen trade an imposture, 97 + + Essex, Lord, Lord Lieutenant, 143 + + Explanation, Act of, 131 + + Exshaw's Magazine, xli, xlvi, note + + + F. + + Failures of Dublin Bankers, Ferral and French, 35 + + Farmers of Customs, 57 + + Farming in Ireland depressed, and why, 2 + + Fashion, former, of Chancery-lane, Stephen-street, Ship-street, &c. &c., + xiv, note + + Faulkner's epistle to Howard, lvi, note + + Fawcett, Postmaster-General, his Speech at Shoreditch, cxviii + + Fellows of Trinity College, Bishops, &c., xxvi, note + + Fellows of Trinity College, their income, xxviii-xlvi + + Fellowship, worth of, xxxiii + + Ferguson, Sir Samuel, the Publisher's thanks to, viii + + Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, on College Parliamentary Committee, xliii + + " " voted against Hutchinson, l + + " " served in Irish force in America, lxi + + Fitzgibbon, John, Earl of Clare, educated in St. Michael le Pole's + School; + his college contests with Grattan, xcii + his early and rapid successes, x, note + unseats the Provost's son for the University, and replaces him, xli + At first a parliamentary supporter and great admirer of Grattan; his + final quarrel with Grattan, lxxxix + crushed the Round Robin and humbled the Provost, xxxix + as Vice-Chancellor holds a College Visitation, lxvi + had an Honorary L.L.D. from the University, lxxxix + his speech on the progress of Ireland, during the 18 years of freedom, + quoted, cxix + + Fitzgerald, Rev. Mr., Fellow, treated harshly by Provost Hutchinson, + xxxiv + + Flanders producing good wool, 99 + + Flax-seed imported into Ireland, bounty on, 1776, 95 + + Flax an uncertain crop, 99 + + Flemings; they beat the Italians out of the wool markets, and are beaten + by the English, 99 + + Flood, Henry, Candidate for the Provostship, xxiv + + " His Will, do., note + + " Life of, quoted, do., note + + Folkestone, Petition of, 84 + + Food of the Irish people in 1672, and in 1779, cxii, and note + + Forbes, John, supporter of Grattan, opposed pension list, educated in + St. Michael le Pole's School in Great Ship-street, lived in + Stephen-street, xciii + + Foreign Trade of Ireland annihilated, 74 + + France used to supply England with linen, 92 + + Free Trade, Meaning of, lxxii, note + + _Freeman's Journal_ published on St. Audoen's Arch, and in Macoena's + Head, Bride-street (1776), xiii + + " " printer of, prosecuted, xviii + + " " quoted, xiii, xviii note, xix note, xxvi, xli note + twice, xlv note, liii note, cxvii. + + French Pensioners, 38 + + Friezes exempted from tax, 65 + + Froude, Mr., quoted, xii, xviii, note, xxix, note twice, xxxvi, xxxvii, + xli, note twice, xlv note, lii, note, cxviii. + + + G. + + Galbraith, The Rev. J. A., S.F.T.C.D., Letter on College Rents, xxix, + note + + Galway, Lord, Lord Lieutenant, his speech from the throne, 63 + + Gardiner's Relief Bill, lxvii + + _Gentleman's Magazine_, quoted, xi, lviii + + George II., Acts of, 54-120 + + George III., Acts of, 121 + + Gladstone, Mr., his speech in 1880, quoted, xciv + + Gloucestershire, Petition from, 84 + + Grafton, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, 1723, his speech from the throne, 27 + + Grattan's Life of Grattan, lix + + Grattan, partly educated at St. Michael le Pole's, lxxxix + + " his College Course and early contests with Fitzgibbon, xc + + Graziers prosperous under cattle and wool trade, xcii + + Great Britain, Sums remitted to, from Ireland, in pensions and salary, + double the whole of Irish Trade, 81 + + "Groves of Blarney," Verse of, xxxi + + + H. + + Habeas Corpus for Ireland, Heads of Bills for, cushioned in England, 159 + + " carried in '82, lxxxi, note + + Haliday Collection, R. I. Academy, xxix, note, liv, note + + Halifax, Lord Lieutenant, his speech from the throne, 1762, 44 + + Hardy, his Life of Lord Charlemont, lvi + + Harris, his Life of William III. quoted, 13 + + Haughton, Dr., Senior Lecturer, quoted, xxxii, note + + Hearth Money, 75-151 + + Herrings from Waterford and Wexford prohibited by England, 85 + + Hertford, Lord Lieutenant, his speech from the throne, 50 + + Hessians, The, refused by Irish Parliament, lxi, note + + _Hibernian Journal_, xviii + + Hindostan, Trade of, by foreigners, cxii + + Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, xvii, note + + Hingston, Mr., his catalogue of the College Plate; in charge of the + plate at South Kensington Exhibition, xxix, note + + Historian, no professed, of Ireland, since 1669, 23 + + Homer, quoted, cxiv, 127 + + Hours of Examination in College formerly, xx + + House of Commons Journal, quoted, xli + + Husbandry, Grants for, prove the poverty of the country, 35 + + Hutchinson, Rt. Hon. John Hely, Provost, &c., ix + his Matriculation, x + mention of, in College Calendar; his career and numerous appointments, + xi + made Provost by Sir John Blacquiere, Chief Secretary, xxxii + and the price of the appointment, x-xiv + accused of a corrupt use of the office, xxi + trampled on Duigenan, xxi + challenged Dr. Doyle, Lucas, and Tisdall, xxxii + prosecuted in King's Bench and defended himself, xxxviii + a warm supporter of Grattan, lix + inculpated before a Parliamentary Committee, and acquitted, l + evidence brought forward there concerning him, lxv + Miller's Pamphlet on, and Young's, liv + Lord North's saying about him, lx + Hardy's, Grattan's, Taylor's, Will's, Barre's, Pery's, and Single + Speech Hamilton's favourable opinions of him, &c., lvi + published the "Commercial Restraints", lxiv + entertained the Lord Lieutenant in the College, lxv + his liberal and national politics, lxvii + the constitutional changes which he witnessed and helped to produce, + lxviii + read the King's message to the Irish Parliament in 1782, lxxxiv + his death and will, lxxxiv + his family, lxxvi + a good husband and father, xxxi + his love for his children, lxxxviii + his likeness by Sir Joshua Reynolds, _Frontispiece_ + + " Richard Hely, Lord Donoughmore, his appointments, lxxix + " " elected for the University and unseated by John + Fitzgibbon,--member for Sligo, lxxix + + " Francis Hely, member for the University, lxxviii + " " petitioned against and sustained + " " his duel, lxxviii + " " Member for Naas, lxxx + + " Abraham Hely, his volunteer military career in Ireland, Egypt, and + Russia, lxxviii + " " member for Taghmon, lxxix + " " Commissioner and Clergyman, lxxxi + + " John Hely (2nd), his services in the army in Ireland, Flanders, and + Egypt; his defeat at Castlebar, and his conquest of the French in + Egypt; voted for the Union, made Lord Hutchinson, and became Lord + Donoughmore, lxxx + + " John Hely (3rd), "Lavalette," delivered Lavalette, and became Earl + of Donoughmore, died at Chapelizod, tablet in Chapelizod Church, + lxxxiii + + " the fourth peer, served as an officer in India, lxxxiv + and in the House of Lords advocated the case of the East India + Company's officers, and supports Lord Dufferin's Land + Leasing Bill, do. + + " The present peer, the 5th Earl, was one of the European Commission + for organising Eastern Roumelia under the Berlin Treaty. He is + also the creator of the Lords' Committee of Inquiry on the Irish + Land Act, lxxxiv + + + I. + + Independence, Parliamentary, of Ireland, College identified with, lxxiv + + Ireland deprived of the Cattle Trade, cix + + " of the Wool Trade, Colonial Trade, and trade with all the world, + cxvii + + " sold in the linen trade, 47 + + " constant wretchedness of, caused by England, 44 + + " possesses abundant means of prosperity, cxix, 2 + + " oppressed by the Navigation Law, 122 + + " loyal to English Crown, 125 + + " a great commercial gain to England, 149 + + " a mine of wealth to England, cxvii, 149 + + " Bishop Berkeley's opinion on, cxix + + " ought to depend on her own resources, cxvii + + " its people fond of equal justice: their food, 145, and note + + " good wool-spinners, 71 + + " had no professed historian since 1699, 23 + + " overtaxed in consequence of paying its share of the National + Debt, 33 + + " supposed wealth caused real poverty, 48 + + " her debt for the war of 1761 was accountable, but its increase + during 16 years of peace unaccountable, 46 + + Ireland, distress of, arose, not from natural causes but from bad laws, + 53 + + Irish, the indolence of, from loss of liberty, 127 + + Irish shipping useful to Edward I. in his French wars, 111 + + Irish, population of, more than doubled in 80 years, 148 + + " population of, in 1779, 148 + + " able to pay taxes, 151 + + " residing in houses of one hearth, 151, note + + " Non-distribution of property caused by bad English laws, 150 + + " home trade most important for, 145 + + " trade of, various restrictions on, 154, 157 + + " troops, 100,000, served in English army and navy in French and + Spanish war, 161 + + + J. + + James II. ruined the trade and revenue of Ireland, 13 + + Jocelyn, Lord, his return of Pension List, lxix, note + + Johnston, Dr., his Hon. degree from T.C.D., and letter to Leland, lxxxvi + + " his opinion of Leland's "History", do. + + " his opinion of England's treatment of Ireland, do. + + Judges appointed for life in Ireland in 1782, lxxi + + Junto, The, xxiii, lxviii + + + K. + + Keating, Lord Chief Justice, 11, note + + King, Archbishop, his "State of the Protestants in Ireland", 135 + + Knocklofty, Mr. Richard Hutchinson of, x-lxxv + + " Lord Hutchinson of, lxxx + + + L. + + "Lacrymae Academicae," by Duigenan, xxi, &c. + + " its severe attack on the Provost, do. + + " its interesting record of College events and College + life, do. + + " censured by the Board, xxxiv + + " and the censure replied to by Duigenan in _Freeman's + Journal_, xxxvii + + " in King's Bench, do. + + Langrishe, Sir Hercules, wrote in _Baratariana_, xiii + + " obtained a grant for clothing for the Volunteers, + xiii, note + + " one of his bon mots, do. + + Land Carriage Act, 1757, 43 + + " improved the agriculture of Ireland, 145 + + Land Bill, 1759, 40 + + Latin Schools of Dublin, xcii, note + + Laud, Archbishop, his statutes for the University, xxv + + "Lavalette" Hutchinson, lxxxiii + + Lavalette, his escape from France, lxxxiii + + Leaves of absence allowed to Fellows and to Scholars, xlviii + + Leland, Dr. S.F., T.C.D, quoted, 9 + + " Duigenan's attacks on, xxi + + " Dr. Johnston's letter to, lxxxvi + + " mentioned in the Historical Manuscripts, do. + + " Commission Report, do. + + " Estimate of his history, lxxxv + + Leeds, Petition from, 84 + + "Liber munerum," quoted, xxxii, xxxv, note, lxx + + Linen trade no equivalent for suppressed wool trade, 20 + + " a hypocrisy and imposture, ciii, note + + " sums paid on exportation of, 21, note + + " caused the decay of agriculture, 51 + + " declined, 1771, 4 + + " Ireland not specially adapted for, 91 + + " world shut against, 91 + + London, The Dublin contribution to, cv + + Lord Lieutenants, List of, xcv + + Lucas, Dr., his son had free education from the Board of T.C.D., lxiv + + Lyttleton, Lord George, his history of Henry II., helped by Leland, + lxxxvi + + " applied to by Swift for Macaulay, xliv + + + M. + + Macaulay, Alexander, supported by Swift, xliv + + " returned for College and unseated, do. + + " lived in Great Ship-street, xciii + + Macaulay, Boyd, his son, educated in Great Ship-street School, do. + + Macaulay, Catherine, her history quoted, 135 + + Magee, Archbishop, his evidence, xlvii + + " he wanted to go to the Bar, do. + + " his sermon on Lord Clare, xcii + + Magill, John, got an Honorary LL.D., was a carpenter and a Commissioner + of Barracks, xxv, note + + Malone, Anthony, dismissed from Prime Serjeancy, and from the Irish\ + Exchequer, lxviii + + " lived in Chancery-lane, xiv, note + + Malady, The, of Emigration, 147 + + Mathers, Rev. Nathaniel, made collection in Dublin, cvi, note + + " Rev. Samuel, do. do. do. + + Matthew Paris, quoted, 16 + + Militia Bill defeated by Hutchinson, 1766, xiv, and note + + " dropped in 1778, 4 + + Militia, Arms for, given to the Volunteers in 1779, xiv, note + L20,000 for clothing, do. + enrolled in 1785, do. + + Miller, Rev. G., F.T.C.D., &c., lxiv and note + + " his evidence, Case, and works, xliv + + " his Pamphlet and case for legal opinion, liv + + Mills, Michael, the printer, under the College pump, xix, note + + Moira, Lord, lxi, note + + Mutiny Act, perpetual and repealed, lxx and lxxi + + + N. + + Natives, Places in Trinity College, xxvii + + Navigation Act, 7th and 8th, William III., compelled Irish ships coming + from America to pass by Ireland and unlade at England, and ship + again for Ireland, 120 + + Navigation Acts, Petty's opinion on, 123 + + Netherlands, Treaty with, by Henry VII., includes Ireland as to both + Exports and Imports, 112 + + New England, Dublin Subscription for, by Rev. Mr. Mather, cv + + Non-Coing, xxvii + + " value of, to Scholars, xlvii + + " " and to Fellows, do. + + North, Lord, his saying about Provost Hutchinson, lx + + + O. + + O'Connor, Charles, of Ballenagare, lxxxvi + + " his opinion of Leland, and of the T.C.D. MSS., do. + + Offices formerly on the Irish Establishment, List of, lxx + + O'Hagan, Lord, his Address to the Social Science Congress, Introd., ci, + note + + O'Hagan, Mr. Justice, his judgment on the Stackpoole Lease, Introd., ci, + note + + Ormonde, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, 12, 16, 18 + + " " his fidelity to Ireland, set up the wool trade at + Clonmel, opposed the Cattle Act, lv, 12 + + " " made collection here for Londoners after the great + fire, cv + + " " Personal prejudice against, 55 + + " " Carte's Life of, cv + + Ossory, Lord, challenged Duke of Buckingham, do. + + + P. + + Parliaments seldom convened in Ireland under James and Charles I., 11 + + " suspended over for 26 years after the Restoration, 11 + + " Composition of, lxix + + " Independence of, 1782, lxxiv + + " Acts of, in 1782, lxxi + + " Addresses of, to Lord Lieutenant, 15, 24, 25, 27, &c. + + Parliamentary Committee on Election of Francis Hutchinson for the + University, Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh on it, + xlii + + " Counsel employed, evidence brought forward, Committee + decided in favour of Hutchinson by double vote of + Chairman, l + + " Catholic Scholars, Toomey and Casey, xlv, li + + " Burrowes' Speech, xlix + + Park, The College, levelled and walled in, xx, and note + + " infested by the Hutchinsons, xxxi + + " formerly a place for pistol practice, xxxii + + Pensions, Amount of, 38, 40, 44 + + " French, Amount of, 38, 40 + + Pepys, his Diary, quoted, civ, note + + Peroration, Eloquent, of the "Restraints", 158 + + Pery, Edward Sexten, Speaker, 43 + + " " Notice of, xvii, note + + " " the fountain of all the good that befel Ireland, + lxxi + + Petty, Sir William, quoted, 54, 72, 106, 123, 130, 131, 132 + + " " his estimate of the Irish destroyed in the Civil War + of 1641, 130 + + " " his opinion of the prohibition of the cattle trade, + 55 + + " " on the navigation laws, 123 and 132 + + " " his description of the people's food, cxii, note + + Places, List of, lxx, note + + Placemen in Parliament, List of, lxix, note + + Plantation goods for Ireland, 120 + + " to be first unloaded in England, do. + + Plate, College, Some of, melted down by Hutchinson, xxix and note + + " note on, do. + + Plowden, quoted, xxxix, note, lxii, note + + Plunket, (Lord Chancellor), his speech before the Parliamentary + Committee, xlviii + + " son of a Unitarian minister, lii + + Poll-tax paid by 360,000 people in 1661, 131 + + Pope applied to by Swift, xliv + + " his translation of the passage from Homer, cxiv + + Potatoes, Failure of, 1765, 49 + + Potter, Captain of the Constellation brought over American supply in + last famine, cv, note + and receives the Freedom of Dublin, do. + + "Prancer," nickname of the Provost, xvii + + "Pranceriana, Pranceriana Poetica" extracts from, note on, xviii, note + + " " originally in _Freeman's Journal_, + xviii + + Private works here, carried on by public money, to lessen the balance in + the Treasury available for Pensions, &c., 35 + + " they prove the poverty of the country, 35 + + Proclamation of 1776, on all provision ships laden in Ireland, 5, note + + " " partly withdrawn, 1779, 5, note + + Provost Andrews, xiii + + " Hely Hutchinson, xxv + + " The present, the Publisher's thanks to, v + + Provost's house built at a cost of L11,000, xii + + Pryn, quoted, 109, note + + Pupils of Fellows, xlvi, and note + + + Q. + + Quickening Speech to Irish Parliament, cvii + + + R. + + Rack-renting, by Provost Hutchinson, xxviii, and note + + "Rapin's History" quoted, 63 + + Record Office, Public, xxi, note + + " Gatherings from, xxiii, note + + " fac-simile of Provost Hutchinson's autograph given by + Sir S. Ferguson, _Frontispiece_ + + Redundancy in the Treasury caused the dispute between the Crown and + the Commons in 1753, 35 and lxx, note + + Regulators' places, xlv + + Relief not attempted by Irish of Commons, and why, 31 + + Remedy proposed by Government, to circulate paper without money, 26 + + Renewal Fines, Dr. Duigenan and Mr. Stack, S.F.T.C.D., on, xxix, and note + + Resnal, Abbe, quoted, 83, note + + Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his likeness of Provost Hutchinson, _Frontispiece_ + + Robinson, Primate, held visitation in College in 1776, and ruled against + Provost Hutchinson, xxxiv + + Rolls in Examination Hall, xx + + Round Tower in Great Ship-street, xcii + + Russia, a powerful rival to Ireland in linen trade, 12 + + + S. + + Sancho Panza, xiii + + "Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin," quoted, xx, note + + Scholars of Trinity College, l, note + + Scholarship, worth of, xxviii + + Scotland, Protestant families had to remove into, 10, 92 + + Secretaries, Principal, of State, xciv + + " Chief, to Lords, List, Lieutenants, List of, xcv + + Shaw, Mr., M.P., his speech, 1880, quoted, lxi, note + + Shelburne, Lord, Life of, lx, lxi, lxiii, note + + Shewbridge, Mr., F.T.C.D., his death and funeral, 94 + + Smith's "Wealth of Nations", 72, 73, 145 + + Smith's "Memoirs of Wool", 59, 77, 107, 145 + + South Sea Bubble, 25-26 + + Speakers of Irish House of Commons from the Restoration, List of, xciv + + Speaker Perry, xviii, and note + + Stack, Rev. T., S.F.T.C.D., letter in Bessborough Commission Report, xxix + + Strafford, Lord, his destruction of the wool trade and substitution of + the linen trade, his oppression of the country, 10, 13, 56, 73, 87 + + Stubbs, Rev. Dr., F.T.C.D., quoted, xx, note + + St. Michael le Pole's School, in Great Ship-street, illustrious men + educated in, xciii + + Subsidies granted to Charles I. by Commons and by Clergy, 9 + + Swift, Dean, exerted himself for Grattan the Fellow, xlviii + + " wrote for Alexander Macaulay, xliv, note + + " applied to the Board of College for Dunkin, lxiv + + " his estimate of Dr. Delany's income, xlvi + + Sydney, Lord Justice, his "Quickening Speech" to the Irish Parliament to + suppress the trade of the country, 11, 13 + + + T. + + "Tardies", xx + + Taxes comparatively heavier in Ireland than in England, cxiii + + Taylor, his estimate of Provost Hutchinson, lix + + Temple, Sir William, 11, 107, 130, 148 + + Tisdall, Philip, his description of Hutchinson, xv + + " description of himself, xxi, note + + " verses on, do. + + " sketch of, do. + + " lived in Chancery-lane, xxiii, note + + Tontines introduced, 1773, 81 + + Townshend, Lord Lieutenant, briber, lxviii, note + + Traynor, Mr., of Essex-quay, xix, note + + Trinity College, the one home of friendless merit, xxvi + + " its plate, xxix, note + + " estates, xxix, note + + " Park, xx + + " Calendar, Registry, Judgment, and Matriculation Books + quoted, l, xxii, xxvi, xc + + + U. + + Ulster lost 30,000 people by emigration in two years (1779), 94 + + "Una Cum," Clause of, in letters patent of Charles I., quoted, discussed + by Mr. Miller, liii + + " not decided by Lord Clare, lxvi + + " expunged in alterations made by queen's Letter in 1857, liii, + and note + + + V. + + Visitations in Trinity College in Hutchinson's time, in 1776 and 1791, + xxxiv, and lxvi + + + W. + + Walker's Hibernian Magazine, quoted, xxxviii, xli, lxvi, lxvii + + Walpole, Sir Robert, 60 + + Walpole, Horace, lix + + Walpole, Sir Edward, xcv + + Warbeck, Perkin, 137 + + War with Spain, English, Ireland first time taxed for, 44 + + Weavers of Dublin, their distress and petition, 27 + + Webb, Alfred, his "Irish Biography," quoted, xxi + + Webb, Professor, Q.C., his "Faust," quoted, x, note + + "Wellington Correspondence", lxvii + + Wellesley, Sir Arthur, lxviii, and lxxxviii + + Werburgh's, St., Church, Conformity in, xlvi + + Wesley, Hon. Arthur (Duke of Wellington), on College Parliamentary + Committee, voted against Hutchinson, xliii-l + + " Chief Secretary for Ireland, lxxxviii + + White Boys, 1762, caused by want of means of industry, 44 + + " produced by the English laws, do. + + Will of Provost Hutchinson, lxxiv + + " of Mr. Richard Hutchinson, lxxvi + + " of Philip Tisdall, xxiii + + " of Dr. Duigenan, lxxxix + + Wills, Dr., his sketch of Provost Hutchinson, lx + + " " of Dr. Duigenan, lxxxviii + + William III., his Acts, cvii + + " his pledge to ruin the Irish wool trade, cvii + + " willing to act fairly by Ireland, civ + + Wilson, Sir Robert, lxxxiii + + "Winstanley's Poems," xx, note + + Wool trade, Ireland's great staple trade, and protected from the time of + Edward III., 55 + + " ruined by William III., cvii, 59 + + Wool-running detrimental to England, and beneficial to her Continental + rivals, 77 + + " could not be prevented in this country, 79 + + + Y. + + Yelverton, Barry, his matriculation, a sizar, an usher in Buck's school, + Lord Chief Baron, Lord Avonmore, lxxxvii, note + + " Attorney-General, Recorder of Carrickfergus, M.P., presents + the address to Hussey Burgh, his Act for T.C.D. Graduate + Law Students, xii + + Young, Dr., Bishop of Clonfert, Ex-F.T.C.D., liv + + +Printed by M. H. Gill & Son 50 Upper Sackville-street, Dublin. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] His Matriculation is--"1740, April 29th. Johannes Hely, Filius +Francisci Gen. Annum agens 17. Natus Corcagii. Educatus sub Dr. Baly. +(Tutor) Mr. Lawson." + +[2] See Note A. + +[3] Hutchinson had thus achieved very considerable success and distinction +when he was thirty-seven years of age--"the fatal year" in the development +of genius, according to Lord Beaconsfield. Grattan accomplished his great +work at the age of thirty-six, the age at which Lord Byron had finished +his poetry. Fitzgibbon, too, ran high in this respect. At twenty-nine he +was a leading lawyer, and M.P. for the University, having displaced and +replaced the Provost's son; at thirty-four he was Attorney-General, +governing the country. He was Lord Chancellor and a peer before he had +attained what Dr. Webb, in his "Faust," calls "the mature age of +forty-one." He died at 53. + +[4] [Pue's Occur.] + +[5] Alnager, or Aulnager, from the Latin _Ulna_, an ell, was an officer +for measuring and stamping cloth in the wool trade. _Pranceriana Poetica_ +has the line:-- + + "Send Prancer back to stamping friezes." + +[6] See his will. + +[7] See Note E. + +[8] Lord Lieutenant Townshend's organ was "The Batchelor; or, Speculations +of Jeoffrey Wagstaffe, Esq.," published at the _Mercury_ in +Parliament-street, by one Hoey, a popish printer. To be "mimicked by +Jephson and libelled by Hoey," were amongst the social terrors of the +period.--[_Baratariana._] + +[9] _Pranceriana_ has the line, "To storm her fane in Owen's Arch." + +[10] It was Sir Hercules Langrishe who accounted to Lord Lieutenant +Townshend for the marshy and undrained condition of Phoenix Park, by +observing that the English Government "had been too much engaged in +_draining_ the rest of the kingdom." + +[11] In 1779 the arms which had been intended for the Militia were given +by Government to the Volunteers, the Militia Enrolment Act of the previous +years not having been carried out, from want of money. + +In 1783 the Volunteers were--prematurely--disbanded, and in 1785 the +Militia were enrolled, and Langrishe's Bill obtained from parliament +L20,000 for clothing them. Subsequently the Commissioners of Array were +appointed. + +[12] Anthony Malone, along with so many other grandees of the period, +lived in Chancery-lane. It requires an effort of historic faith to realise +that the Chancery-lane of to-day was a couple of generations ago the abode +of such fashion and rank. The fact, however, is quite certain. St. Bride's +Vestry Book contains a copy of Anthony Malone's and Alexander MacAulay's +Opinions _in re_ Powell's Legacy to the Dublin parishes. + +[13] See note E. + +[14] Froude details the bargain. In 1771 it was important to secure for +the Army Augmentation Bill the support of Hutchinson, who had been +patriotising on the Surplus, Pension, and Septennial Bills. His terms to +Lord Lieutenant Townshend were, "a provision for the lives of his two +sons, one aged 11 and the other 10, by a grant to them or the survivor of +them of some office of at least L500 a year. If no vacancy occurred, then +either a pension, or a salary to that amount to be attached to some office +for them--and his wife to be created a Viscountess."--"English in +Ireland," vol. i., p. 632, and elsewhere. + +[15] Palmerston, the Provost's private country residence, was a noble and +beautifully situated mansion on the banks of the Liffey, between +Chapelizod and Lucan. It is now occupied by Stewart's Idiot Asylum. + +[16] Tisdall did not outlive him, and Hutchinson got the Principal +Secretaryship. + +[17] One of the severest letters in the collection is No. 22, on Edmund +Sexten Pery, who, for fourteen years, was Speaker of the House of Commons. +Patriotic and eminent as Pery was, and upright and loyal as he always was +in the Chair, it cannot be denied that he got the Speakership by an +unworthy manoeuvre. The passage is fully and bitterly rehearsed in the +last volume of the Historical Manuscript Reports. Pery was bought by the +corrupter Townshend at the same time with Hutchinson, Tisdall, Flood, &c. + +[18] The Court of King's Bench granted an information in the name of the +king, at the prosecution of the Right Hon. Hely Hutchinson, against Samuel +Leathley, the printer of the _Freeman's Journal_, for publishing in that +paper the article signed "Crito," in November, 1776. The article is not in +the "Pranceriana."--[_Freeman's Journal_, June 9th, 1777.] + +[19] The _Pranceriana Poetica_, or _Prancer's Garland_, published in 1779, +opens, + + "A harlequin provost, cognomine prancer; + A duellist, scribbler, a fop, and a dancer; + A lawyer, prime sergeant, and judge of assizes; + A parliament man, and a stamper of friezes; + A councillor privy; a cavalry major; + A searcher and packer, comptroller and gauger; + A speecher, a critic, prescriber of rules; + A founder of fencing and 'questrian schools. + If various employments can give a man knowledge, + Then who knows so much as the head of the College? + + * * * * * + + The Seniors and Juniors in this are agreed, + As a Consul of Rome was Caligula's steed; + They very much fear that if Prancer was dead + Sir John would appoint a Jackass in his stead." + (_Halliday Collection_) + +This book also is a collection of fugitive pieces, and it is dedicated to +"Sir John Blacquiere, Knight of the Bath, Alnager of all Ireland, and +Bailiff of the Phoenix Park." There is not a copy in the College +Library. The Royal Irish Academy copies have the excellent woodcuts. In an +autograph note to his own copy of the book, Dr. Stock, F.T.C.D., +afterwards Bishop of Killala, says that the engravings were made by his +brother, Mr. Frederick Stock, who kept a woollen draper's shop in +Dame-street. He states that the printer, Michael Mills, was forced from +his house by a party of college lads, who conveyed him to the College, and +there pumped on him; and that the late Prime Serjeant Browne, then a +student, had a share in the outrage. Dr. Stock gives the key to the +"Poetica," viz.--Moderator, Prancer, and Hipparchus = the Provost; Dr. +Pomposo and Mendex = Dr. Leland; Matthew Ben Sadi and Dr. Dilemma = Dr. +Forsayeth; Billy Bib = Dr. Hales; and Bezabel Black-letter = Michael +Mills. A copy of the extract is in the possession of Mr. Traynor, +Bookseller, Essex-quay. + +[20] "Pranceriana Poetica" says that the Provost multiplied the +composition premiums as means of bribery. It gives one of the Provost's +advertisements (1777): "Any student may be a candidate for all, or for +_any more_ of the said premiums!" + +[21] In Sir Bernard de Gomme's map of the city and harbour of Dublin, in +1673, given in Mr. Prendergast's edition of "The Scandinavian Kingdom of +Dublin," p. 229, the college park is marked as set out in paddocks. Dr. +Stubbs says that the park was thrown into its present champaign form, laid +out, and planted in the year 1722, as appears from "Winstanley's Poems," +vol. i., p. 269. Dublin: 1742. + +[22] Other persons also were satirised occasionally in "Pranceriana," as, +for instance, Philip Tisdall in the following description:--"He was a man +formed by nature, and fashioned by long practice, for all manner of court +intrigue. His stature was low, so as to excite neither envy nor +observation; his countenance dismal, his public manners grave, and his +address _humble_. But as in public he covered his prostitution by a +solemnity of carriage, so in private he endeavoured to captivate by +convivial humour, and to discountenance all public virtue by the exercise +of a perpetual, and sometimes not unsuccessful, irony. To these +qualifications he added an extraordinary magnificence of living.(1) His +table was furnished with everything that splendour could suggest, or +luxury could conceive, and his position and policy united to solicit a +multitude of guests. To his house, then, resorted all those who wished +through him to obtain, or learn from him to enjoy, without remorse, those +public endowments which are the purchase of _public infidelity_." Tisdall +was depicted in "Baratariana" also. In the pungent rhyme on "The rejection +of the Altered Money Bill," in 1772, we have-- + + "The next that stepped forward was innocent Phil, + Who said 'that in things of the kind he'd no skill, + But yet that he thought it a mighty good bill,' + Which nobody can deny." + +And again, in "A list of the Pack," we have-- + + "Lo, Tisdall, whose looks would make honest men start, + Who hangs out in his face the black sign of his heart; + If you thought him no devil his aim he would miss, + For he would, if he could, appear worse than he is. + Then kick out these rascally knaves, boys; + Freemen we will be to our graves, boys; + Better be dead than be slaves, boys; + A coffin or freedom for me." + +Philip Tisdall enjoyed a long tenure of very distinguished success. He was +educated at Sheridan's celebrated school in Capel-street, and thence +entered Trinity College as a fellow-commoner in 1718. His Matriculation +is:--"1718, Nov. 11th. Philip Tisdel. Soc. Com. Educatus Dub. Mag. +Sheridan. (Tutor) Mr. Delany." He took his B.A. in the spring +commencements of 1722, the shortened three-and-a-half years' academic +course, as exemplified in the case of Grattan and Fitzgibbon [see note D], +being a fellow-commoner's privilege. In 1739, Tisdall was elected +simultaneously M.P. for Armagh and for the University. He chose the +latter, and succeeded in a parliamentary petition against Alexander +Macaulay. He afterwards contested the seat successfully in 1761 against +Mr. French, Lord Clonmel's nominee; and in 1776 unsuccessfully against +Provost Hutchinson's second son. In 1741, Tisdall was promoted +Third-Serjeant, in 1751 he was Solicitor-General, and from 1761 till his +death he was Attorney-General. In 1761 he was presented by the City of +Cork with its freedom in a silver box. The Solicitor-General Gore was, in +consequence of some of Tisdall's trimming, appointed over his head Chief +Justice of the King's Bench, and soon after was created Lord Annaly. +Tisdall was a very eminent lawyer, and although not at all an orator, he +had great weight and influence in the House of Commons. He commenced +political life as a patriot, and became the organ of the Junto. He was +then, along with Pery and Hutchinson, bought by the corrupter, Lord +Lieutenant Townshend. Tisdall's house was in Chancery-lane, and his +country villa was in Stillorgan. He died in 1777. He was son of Richard +Tisdall, Registrar in Chancery, and succeeded his father in the office, +1744. Philip's wife, Mary, had a pension of one hundred a year, and his +brother Thomas was Registrar of the Court of Admiralty. In his will, made +1772, which is in the Public Record Office, he leaves a remembrance to his +daughter, Elizabeth Morgan, "heretofore amply provided for." The whole of +his real and personal estate he leaves to his wife Mary. His daughter +Elizabeth, by his wife Mary (Singleton), niece and co-heiress of Lord +Chief Justice Singleton, was baptised in St. Bride's Church. She was +married to Colonel Morgan, of Cork Abbey, county Wicklow, and was +grandmother to the late H. U. Tighe, Dean of Ardagh, and of the Chapel +Royal, Dublin, and afterwards of Londonderry.--[Burke's Landed Gentry, +Art., "Tighe of Mitchelstown;" Life of Charlemont. Life of Shelbourne, +Record Office, and S. Bride's Register.] + + (1) In the pre-Union times, when a home parliament secured the + residence of our aristocracy and gentry, Dublin was famous for its + fashion and hospitalities. Primate Stone maintained a lordly style at + Leixlip Castle; while, as we read in "Mrs. Delany's Letters," Bishop + Clayton at St. Woolstons, close by, and in St. Stephen's-green, kept + up an equal grandeur. His house in the Green had a front like + Devonshire House, and was _magnifique_. Mrs. Clayton's coach, with six + flouncing Flanders mares, was not "out-looked by any equipage except + the Duke of Dorset's, for she would not be outshone by her neighbours, + a thing not easily done here." The Delanys entertained Viceroyalty at + Delville, fed their own deer, and went about in a coach-and-six. Luke + Gardiner's (Lord Mountjoy) house in the Phoenix Park was the + head-quarters of fashionable life(_a_); and Hussey Burgh drove his + coach-and-six, with outriders. The wealthy wool, linen, silk, &c., + mercers, of Bride-street and Golden-lane, kept good style and + equipages also, as appears by their wills in the Public Record Office. + + (_a_) Gardiner was Master of the Revels, and Surveyor-General of + Customs. + +[23] See note E. + +[24] Flood, who did not get the provostship, bequeathed, by his will, in +1791, to the college, his estate in Kilkenny, worth L5,000 a year, to +found and endow a professorship of the Erse or Irish language, and to +establish a library of manuscripts and books in that language, and in the +modern polished languages. Provost Hutchinson did not leave a shilling to +the college. Flood's bequest fell through owing to his illegitimacy. He +entered Trinity College as a fellow-commoner, completed his junior +sophister terms, and then migrated _ad eundem_ to Oxford.--[Flood's "Life +of Flood," and Webb's "Com. Biog."] + +[25] He was a Commissioner of Barracks; as was also Sir Herc. Langrishe. +Langrishe was, besides, Commissioner of Revenue and Commissioner of +Excise. + +[26] There does not seem to have been any Mr. Barlow in these servile days +to exercise the ancient tribunitial power of the Senior Master Non +Regent--the power to veto, in the name of the community, dishonouring +presentations to honorary degrees. + +[27] See page liii. + +[28] In 1726, Primate Boulter wrote that unless a new Englishman was +appointed to a then vacant bishopric there would be thirteen Irish bishops +to nine English, to the Primate's great dismay. The Editor of "Boulter's +Letters," in 1770, adds, in a note, that there was at one time in the +Irish House of Lords a majority of native bishops, of whom five had been +fellows of the University, viz., Drs. Howard, Synge, Clayton, Whitcombe +(Archbishop of Cashel), and Berkeley. These are, probably, the five +alluded to by Duigenan. In a pamphlet entitled "Thoughts on the Present +State of the College of Dublin," published in 1782, the well-informed +author says that in King William's reign, at or nearly at the same time, +"the people saw ten prelates on the bench, who had been Fellows." The +writer says that there was a great increase in the number of +students--that the undergraduates were 565, the average of entrances 144 +yearly, and the average of B.A. degrees, 78.--[_Halliday Collection._] + +We can ourselves remember, dating from the year 1830, eight bishops and +one archbishop, all Ex-Fellows. Altogether "there have been seven +archbishops and forty-two bishops of the Irish Church chosen from amongst +the Fellows of Trinity College. Eight have become Members of Parliament, +and six have been raised to the Judicial Bench."--[_Coll. Cal._] + +[29] This seems not to have been the case in Dr. Delany's time. See +Primate Boulter's Letters, and Mrs. Delany's, and Swift's. + +[30] See page xlv, &c. + +[31] The rack-renting cannot have been very exorbitant, inasmuch as the +average rent per acre now paid to the College by its perpetuity tenants is +four shillings and twopence. The great bulk of the College property is +situated in the counties of Armagh, Kerry, and Donegal. The following +statement gives in round numbers the acreage and rental:-- + + Rent + Acres. Rent. per acre. + + Armagh, 23,000 L9,600 8s. 4d. + Kerry, 60,000 11,500 3s. 10d. + Donegal, 62,700 9,000 2s. 10d. + ------- ------- -------- + Total, 145,700 L30,100 4s. 2d. + +The number of perpetuity holdings let by the College are in all +fifty-four; four only are let to persons of the class of tenant-farmers; +of the remaining fifty, sixteen, containing over 60,000 acres, are enjoyed +by three lessees, who pay the College an average rent of 3s. 5d. per +acre.--[See Letter by Rev. J. A. Galbraith, S.F.T.C.D., Bursar, _Freeman's +Journal_, March 6, 1882, and also "Statement to the Chief +Secretary."--_Freeman_, March, 15, 1882.] + +[32] The renewal fines in 1850 averaged L6,700 a year. The arbitration at +that time between the College and the tenants cost the College +L3,000.--[See Letter by Rev. T. Stack, S.F.T.C.D., Registrar, printed in +the Report of the Bessborough Commission, and also "Statement" as above.] + +[33] This charge, as it stands, rests on a slender foundation, and is very +misleading. The catalogue of the College plate, which, to guard against +such imputations in future, Mr. Hingston, the Chief Steward, has drawn up +with so much care and skill, shows that the old inscribed plate is still +in use; and it enumerates pieces dated as early as 1632 and 1638. A +selection of the service was sent over, in Mr. Hingston's charge, to the +late South Kensington Exhibition, and was greatly admired by all who were +conversant with antique silver art--some of the choicest pieces being +facsimiled for the London Institution. The collection of plate is +abundant, and the store was accumulated in this way. It used to be the +custom that all students at entrance should deposit "caution money," which +was returned to them on graduation. The rich men and Fellow Commoners, +instead of taking back the money, used to present it to the College in the +form of inscribed goblets or tankards, and in the course of years there +was a large assortment of these offerings. Provost Hutchinson had a number +of these tankards melted down and refashioned into the present silver +plates, and this he did with the consent of the Board. Before Hutchinson's +time a large quantity of the plate was sold by the Board, and the produce +was invested in the purchase of land. In 1689, when James II. seized on +the College, the Vice-Provost and Fellows sold L30 worth of the plate for +subsistence of themselves and the Scholars. At the same time all the rest +of the plate was seized on and taken away to the Custom House by Col. +Luttrel, King James's Governor of the city, but it was preserved and +afterwards restored to the College.--[See Mr. Hingston's Catalogue and +_Coll. Cal._ List of Fellows, 1689.] + +[34] In 1775, seven marriage dispensations by King's Letters were +obtained.--[Lib. Mun.] + +[35] In 1796, the term of grace was extended to a twelvemonth by a King's +Letter.--[Lib. Mun.] + +[36] The following--the 5th verse in Milliken's ever popular song, "The +Groves of Blarney"--was an _impromptu_ addition at an electioneering +dinner in the south of Ireland in 1798. It is said to have been intended +as an insult to Lord Donoughmore, who was present, but his Lordship's +readiness completely turned the tables. He applauded the verse, and in a +humorous speech acknowledged the relationship, thanked the author, and +toasted the Murphy's, Clearys, Helys, and others who in the recent +political contest had ventured life and limb in support of the Hutchinson +cause, and had thus made their blood-relationship with him unquestionable. + + "'Tis there's the kitchen hangs many a flitch in, + With the maids a stitching upon the stair; + The bread and biske', the beer and whiskey, + Would make you frisky if you were there. + 'Tis there you'd see Peg Murphy's daughter + A washing _praties_ forenint the door, + With Roger Cleary, and Father Healy, + All blood relations to my Lord Donoughmore. + Oh, Ullagoane." + +Lord Hutchinson always heartily enjoyed this verse, which has become +completely identified with Milliken's song.--(See Crofton Croker's +"Popular Songs of Ireland," pp. 144-8.) + +Father Prout has not translated this verse. Why does not Professor Tyrrell +render it, _Graece et Latine_? + +[37] He challenged Mr. Doyle to single combat for daring to issue an +address to the University constituency against his (the Provost's) son's +candidature. Mr. Doyle was a helpless invalid at the time, and had to +stand on a spread-out coat, for fear of cold; the combatants met on +Summer-hill, "fired a pistol each, and made up the matter without blood." +Hutchinson had previously challenged Dr. Lucas, the patriot, who was +crippled with rheumatism. + +[38] The number now is 1,338, of whom 789 are "Residents"--_i.e._, living +within reach of College opportunities. [See Dr. Haughton's return +analysis, quoted in the _Freeman's Journal_ of January 7, 1882.] The +number of students on the books under the degree of M.A. is 1,253 [see +_College Calendar_ for 1882, page 434]. The number of interns now is 250. + +[39] See page xlv. + +[40] On this Visitation "Pranc. Poet." has-- + + "Disgrac'd by libels, worried by his foes + Poor Prancer labours under endless woes; + He therefore only supplicates your Grace + That right or wrong you'll keep him in his place." + +The Visitation lasted five days, and was held before Primate Robinson as +Vice-Chancellor for the Duke of Gloucester, and Archbishop Cradock of +Dublin. Hutchinson published a pamphlet reviling the Visitors, and +pronouncing their decision invalid. + +[41] A King's Letter was obtained for raising the salary for this special +occasion.--_Lib. Mun._ + +[42] Duigenan did not execute this intention, as appears by the following +record, kindly supplied by Dr. Carson, S.F.T.C.D.:--"I have to inform you +that I have gone carefully through the College Register for the years 1777 +and 1778, and I cannot find therein the least trace of any Visitation +having been held in either of these years. The censure on Dr. Duigenan is +duly recorded under its proper date, in the year 1777; but no further +Collegiate notice appears to have been taken of it." + +[43] Walker's Hiber. Mag. 177-8. + +[44] Grattan's Life, and _Hib. Mag._ + +[45] The Round Robiners probably bethought of the case of 1753 when the +patriots who resisted the Court in the matter of the disposal of surplus +revenue were dismissed from office by Primate Stone. They, no doubt, were +afterwards reinstated with honour, but the conspirators of 1789 had to +deal with John Fitzgibbon.--[See "Plowden," p. 311, &c.] + +[46] Froude, vol. ii., p. 509. + +[47] Barry Yelverton was an unsuccessful candidate in this College +Election of 1776. In the next year he was elected for Donegal, Belfast, +and Carrickfergus, and chose the last.--[_Ho. Co. Jour._] + +It was as Recorder of Carrickfergus that Barry Yelverton presented Hussey +Burgh with an address and the freedom of that Corporation in a gold box +for resisting the Government on the question of Supplies while Prime +Serjeant, and losing his place thereby. [_Freeman's Journal_, Jan. 4, +1780.] + +[48] _Walker's Hibernian Magazine_, _Freeman's Journal_, and _Exshaw's +Magazine_. + +[49] "The case of the Borough of Trinity College, near Dublin, as heard +before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, A.D. 1791." + +[50] Swift made an eager canvass for MacAulay, and wrote to Pope, asking +him to write to Lord George (then Mr.) Lyttleton, who was private +secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Chancellor of the University. +The prince complied with the request, and Tisdall's supporters sent over a +remonstrance.--["Swift's Letters."] + +[51] This Francis Stoughton Sullivan got Scholarship, in 1744, at fifteen, +and was probably one of the youngest Scholars and the youngest Fellow in +the college records. + +[52] He published, through the University Press, in 1797, a scholarly +Edition of "Longinus," and was the author of several other works. (See an +interesting sketch of his life prefixed to Bohn's edition of his +"Philosophy of History.") + +[53] "About a month ago considerable sensation was created in Oxford by +the rumour that one of the University examiners, who is also a "coach," +had prepared his private pupils in the precise questions set for +examination. This, we may observe, was one of the heavy charges brought +against Provost Hely Hutchinson, of Trinity College, about a century ago, +the Provost having had recourse to the unprincipled manoeuvre as an +electioneering dodge. The ever-memorable Counsellor Peter Burrowes, when +arraigning the Provost before a committee of the Irish House of Commons, +said that his trick "would have made a docile parrot appear superior to +Sir Isaac Newton;" but the committee condoned the Provost, against the +judgment and votes of Arthur Wesley (Duke of Wellington) and Lord Edward +Fitzgerald. The Oxford authorities seem not to be disposed to view so +leniently the action of Mr. Philip Aldred, D.C.L. When the matter was +reported to the Vice-Chancellor a substitute for the transgressing +examiner was at once appointed. We believe that a University committee has +been appointed to consider the expediency of taking away Mr. Aldred's +degrees--as was done in the Tractarian controversy days with Mr. Ward, the +author of the "Ideal;" and, meanwhile, Mr. Aldred is now about to bring +his case before the public, with the protest that he has been condemned +unheard, after challenging investigation, and that he is able and willing +to meet every charge brought against him."--[_Freeman's Journal_, Jan. +13th, 1882.] + +[54] He was prevented from voting, not by any University or College +statute, but by the Penal Law of 1727, which took away the franchise from +Catholics. All the long past exclusiveness of the college, detrimental as +it was to the college and to the country, was enjoined by the foreign +power which cared little for the advancement of either. Down to this +period the English legislature did not recognise at all the existence of +Catholics in the college, believing them to be effectually excluded by the +statute enforcing attendance at Anglican worship and Sacrament, and by the +Supremacy and anti-Transubstantiation Declarations for Degrees, which were +swept away by the Act of 1792. + +[55] In 1725, Primate Boulter estimated that Dr. Delany, a Senior Fellow, +and "the greatest pupil-monger," had from Fellowship and pupils six or +seven hundred pounds per annum.--[_Letters._] + +Swift, in 1730, computed that Delany, "by the benefit of the pupils, and +his Senior Fellowship, with all its perquisites, received every year +between nine hundred and a thousand pounds."--[_Works_, vol. xiii., p. +82.] + +Duigenan, in 1777, reckoned Dr. Leland's Senior Fellowship at "L800, one +year with another."--[_Lachrymae._] + +In 1777, it was considered surprising that Dr. Leland refused the living +of Benburb, worth L1,000 a year, while his college income fell short of +L700 a year.--[_Exshaw's Magazine_, 1777.] + +[56] In 1713, Swift wrote to Stella:--"I have been employed in +endeavouring to save one of your Junior Fellows (Mr. Charles Grattan) who +came over here for a dispensation from taking orders, and in soliciting it +has run out his time, and now his Fellowship is void if the College +pleases, unless the queen suspends the execution and gives him time to +take Orders. I spoke to all the ministers about it yesterday; but they +say, 'the queen is angry and thought it but a trick to deceive her;' and +she is positive, and so the man must be ruined, for I cannot help him. I +never saw him in my life, but the case was so hard, I could not forbear +interposing. Your Government recommended him to the Duke of Ormond, and he +thought they would grant it; and by the time it was refused, the +Fellowship by rigour is forfeited." The College Calendar has, "Charles +Grattan, Fellow, 1710--removed for not taking Holy Orders, May 25th, +1713--Master of Enniskillen School, 1714."--[_Journal_, Letter lxii., +March 29th.] + +[57] He got Scholarship along with his brother Robert, in 1775. The +brothers Roberts, the present Senior Fellows, did the same in 1836. + +[58] Denis George's name does not appear in the list of scholars. He took +his B.A. in 1773. Neither does Tankerville Chamberlain's. He graduated in +1774. + +[59] From the ranks of the Scholars have proceeded 13 Provosts, 199 +Fellows; 1 Archbishop; 16 Bishops, of whom two held English sees; 4 Lord +Chancellors; 2 Lords Justices; 29 Judges; 27 M.P.'s; 4 Vice-Chancellors; +18 Deans; 14 Governors, &c., of British dependencies; renowned Professors +in all the Faculties, and nearly all the distinguished schoolmasters of +the country; 1 Poet Laureate, and several celebrated authors and editors, +besides numerous eminent clergymen and lawyers. This is exclusive of the +enumeration [page xxvi] of the dignities obtained by Scholar-Fellows. + +[60] It is even more remarkable that this matter was not mentioned by +Duigenan. + +[61] In the petition of 1778 one of the points set forth was that Scholars +and Fellows should be legal Protestants to entitle them to vote, whereas +the Provost had received for his son and Yelverton the votes of some who +were not Protestants at the time of their election. + +[62] Catholics and Nonconformists were not excluded from Scholarship by +the statutes or by any oath. They were, however, designedly, and in the +main effectually, excluded by the statute that all scholars, students, and +sizars should attend chapel and partake of Holy Communion as often as it +was administered (see "History of University," _Coll. Cal._, 1876, vol. +ii. p. 9), and the "Heron Visitation" (Chartae and Statuta, vol. ii., p. 3, +1862). Attendance on the Anglican Chapel service and Communicating were of +course intended as tests and pledges of Conformity. + +[63] Parliamentary Debates. + +[64] William Conyngham, Lord, and Lord Chancellor Plunket was the son of +the Rev. Thomas Plunket, minister of the Strand-street Unitarian +Congregation, who died on the 18th Sept., 1776. There is a very eulogistic +notice of him in the _Freeman's Journal_ of the date. + +[65] Down to the alterations made in the Statutes by the Queen's Letter of +1855, the words of the Lit. Pat. of Charles I. were:--"_in quem vel quos +major pars Sociorum Seniorum una cum Praeposito, vel eo absente, Vice +Praeposito consensisse deprehendetur, is, vel illi pro electo vel electis +habeantur, et mox pronunciabuntur a Praeposito. Quod si primo, vel Secundo +Scrutinio electorum major pars, cum Praeposito, vel eo absente, Vice +Praeposito non consenserint, eo casu in tertio Scrutinio, is, vel illi pro +electo, vel electis sunto, quem, vel quos, Praepositus, vel eo absente Vice +Praepositus, nominabit_." [Caput xxv. De Elect. form. et temp.] + +[66] See also "An Enquiry how far the Provost of Trinity College is +invested with a negative on the Proceedings of the Senior Fellows" (1790), +by Dr. Young, Ex-Fellow and afterwards Bishop of Clonfert. It takes the +same view of the case as that put forward in Miller's +pamphlet.--[_Halliday Collection._] + +[67] Note A. + +[68] Hutchinson had to say to three of these affairs of honour, and +according to Duigenan he came badly out of all of them. Duigenan himself, +it should be observed, once had a sham duel, in which he did not figure at +all brilliantly, according to the orthodox interpretation of the code. He +had insulted Sir Richard Borough so grossly that a meeting could not be +evaded, and when the paces were measured Duigenan refused to take up the +pistols, which in due form were laid at his feet. He then shouted to the +"old rascal to fire away," and when Borough thereon left the field +Duigenan declined to fight with his second, because he "had too great a +regard for him to kill him." + +[69] In George Faulkner's "Epistle to Howard" (1771), contained in the +Halliday Collection in the Royal Irish Academy, we have-- + + "Thou Hutchinson whom every muse + With winning grace and art endues, + Whose power 'gainst prejudice contends + And proves that law and wit are friends-- + In that promiscuous page alone + By letters J. H. H. art known." + +[70] ["Life of Lord Charlemont."] + +[71] See Note C. + +[72] "History of the University of Dublin," p. 253, &c. + +[73] "Froude," vol. ii. p. 104. + +[74] "Distinguished Irishmen," vol. v. p. 233, &c. + +[75] "English in Ireland," _passim_. + +[76] Barre was over here at that time as Vice-Treasurer, &c. He received +the Freedom of Dublin in 1776. + +[77] The Bill was to raise the army in Ireland to 15,500 men. Pery and the +Nationalists saw that the object of the Crown was to have troops to send +to America to crush the Colonists, and this they would not have on any +terms. The Government, in reply, passed an Act through the English +Parliament, giving satisfactory security that the full force of 12,000 +should be kept in Ireland. Nationalists now have not to complain of any +want of troops in this country, and we do not hear of their demanding any +"satisfactory assurance" of the permanence of the forces. + +Nothing could exceed the eagerness of the English Ministry to have the +Army Augmentation Bill passed through the Irish Parliament. Lord +Shelbourne, the English Home Secretary, wrote to Lord Lieutenant Townshend +(March 1768) (_a_) that he would not hear of Malone's and Hutchinson's +suggestions of delay in bringing in the Bill. He further announced that +the English Parliament had passed an Act taking off the limitation of the +troops in Ireland, imposed by the 10th of William III., and pledging that +a full force of 12,000 men should be kept in Ireland. Sexten Pery led the +opposition, which defeated the Bill by a majority of four. The Irish +parliament was prorogued and dissolved, and did not meet for sixteen +months, when they again threw out the Army Bill. Eventually, in November, +1769, Townshend succeeded in having the clause carried in another Act, +whereby 3,235 men, in addition to the 12,000 to be kept here, were voted. + +In 1775, Lord Lieutenant Harcourt asked for 4,000 men for the king out of +the Irish establishment to be despatched to America, and he offered to +supply their place by German Protestant troops. Anthony Malone was +chairman of the Parliamentary Committee which, after a warm debate, +granted the contingent as "armed negotiators," but rejected the Hessians. +Grattan afterwards fiercely, and not unfairly, assailed Flood for carrying +this discreditable measure. The troops were in time for the surrenders at +Saratoga and Yorktown. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, one regrets to read, served +on this expedition as aide-de-camp to Lord Moira. Lord Effingham, on the +other hand, resigned his regiment rather than serve against those who were +struggling for freedom, and he was twice publicly thanked by the people of +Dublin.--[_Plowden_ and _Mitchell_.] + +In 1782, the king was allowed to draw 5,000 men out of the kingdom. In +1793, the Irish force was raised to 20,232. Most of these acts were for +one year. + + (_a_) "Life of Shelbourne," vol. ii., p. 12. + +[78] In the debate (1772) on the Altered Money Bill, Hutchinson seems to +have recovered his prudence. + +[79] Another page shows how he was compensated for this "trifling profit" +of the Prime Serjeancy. + +[80] _Baratariana_ says:-- + + "The Prime Serjeant, then, with a shuffling preamble + Like a nag that before he can canter must amble, + Betwixt right and wrong made a whimsical shamble, + Which nobody can deny. + + 'Twas important, he said, and availed not a groat; + But whether 'twas right or whether 'twas naught, + Or whether he'd vote for it, or whether he'd not + He'd neither assert nor deny." + +[81] One of the rewards that Hutchinson demanded from the Government as +the price of his support was, that his wife should be made a baroness. +[Lord Lieutenant Townshend's letter, quoted by Froude, vol. ii., p. 67, +and by Lord Fitzmaurice, vol. ii., p. 102.] + +[82] See note E. + +[83] _Froude_, vol. ii., p. 50. + +[84] [_Plowden._] In 1736 the Board granted an allowance of L100 a year to +Mr. Dunkin (who was Ball's predecessor in the Great Ship-street School), +on Swift's appeal.--[_See Swift's Letters._] + +[85] Walk. _Hib. Mag._ 1777. + +[86] Walk. _Hib. Mag._ 1791. + +[87] In 1771, John Ponsonby resigned the Speakership rather than present +to Lord Townshend the adulatory Address of the House of Commons, and Pery +was, by Government influence, elected in his room. + +[88] See Wellington's Correspondence. + +[89] Grattan said Townsend was a corrupter, and Buckingham a jobber in a +mask. + +[90] On this prorogation, "Baratariana" has-- + + "Our worthy Lieutenant comes down to the House, + Protests their proceedings are not worth a louse, + And leaving undone the affairs of the nation, + The session concludes with a d----d prorogation, + Derry down. + + "Here mark, my dear friends, that our ruin's completed + Since a parliament's useless which thus can be treated; + While they served his foul purpose he'll fawn and collogue them, + But if once they do right he'll that instant prorogue them. + Derry down." + +[91] In 1739 the English parliament passed an Act removing the duties on +some of the Irish Woollen Exports, and this was done for the benefit of +the English wool manufacturers. + +[92] Out of 300 members 104 held places, and 120 were nominated by patrons +under the influence of Government. The civil establishment, with its +contingent expenses, amounted to over half a million sterling a year, +while the entire revenue of the kingdom was under a million and a +quarter.--[_Pery._] In 1789, Lord Jocelyn presented to the House, by +order, the list of pensions. The civil pensions amounted to L97,850, and +the military pensions to L5,827. + +In Grattan's Life, vol. iv., p. 14, the placemen in parliament are +enumerated, and the list shows:-- + + In the military department 36 + In the law do 38 + In the revenue do 38 + In state and miscellaneous do 9 + Pensions 7 + ---- + Total 109 + +_Lib. Mun._ vol. i. part 1, enumerates 389 patent offices in the +establishment of Ireland--amongst them are: Keeper of the Signet, Under +Secretary of State for the Civil Department, do. for Military Do., +Pursuivant, Master of the Game, Interpreter of Irish tongue, Star Chamber, +with Commissioners, Marshals, clerks, &c., Courts of Wards and Liveries +with Masters; foedaries, &c., the Court of Palatines, the Lord Almoner, +the Vice-Treasurer, Transcriptor and Foreign Apposer, Summonister and +Clerk of Estreats, the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture, Commissioners of +Wide Streets, Commissioners of Array, Constables of Castles, Muster Master +General, Commissioners for Victualling, Provincial Provost Martials, +Alnager, Clerk of the Pells, Vice-treasurer, Clerk of the Lords, Clerk of +the Commons, six Clerks of Chancery, Principal Secretaries of State, Prime +Serjeant, Lord High Treasurer, Chancellor of the Exchequer, +Auditor-General, Commissioners of Treasury, Commissioners of Accounts, +First Clerk, Second and Third Clerk to do.; Commissioner of Appeals, +Commissioners of Stamps, Hearth Money Collectors, Poll Tax Collectors, +Cursitors in Chancery, Register of Appeals Spiritual, Clerk of the Pipe, +Prothonotary, Philizer, or Filacer Clerk of Privy Council, Wine-taster, +Escheator, Searcher, Packers, Craners, Seneschals, Presidents of the Four +Provinces, Governors of Forts, Clerks of the First Fruits, Deputy Master +of the Rolls, Examinators, Master of the Revels, Clerk of the Nickells, +Exigenter, Clerk of the Outlawries, Clerk of the Essions, Chirographers, +Sirographers, &c., &c. + +[93] The first real and important debate in the Irish Parliament was in +1753, on the Money Bill, on the Commons' power to dispose of surplus +revenue. + +The beginning of useful practical legislation for the country was made in +1757 by Edmund Sexten Pery's Land Carriage Act, giving bounties on the +land carriage of corn to Dublin. In the same year he carried another Act +giving bounties on ship carriage of coal to Dublin. + +[94] In the single year of 1782 (short parliaments and free trade having +been already secured)-- + + The Bank of Ireland was established. + Habeas Corpus was made law. + The Sacramental test for Protestant nonconformists was abolished. + Poyning's Act and 6th of George I. were repealed. + The perpetual Mutiny Act was repealed. + Judges appointed _quam diu_. + A great Catholic Relief Act, including education, was carried. + Parliamentary independence was achieved. + +Grattan's parliament did not keep up to this high level of public spirit. +It sank and perished by its own unreformed corruption. + +[95] "Free Trade for Ireland," in 1779, meant something quite distinct +from the political economy free trade of the present day. The latter means +an exemption from all duties to the State on exports and imports; whereas +the former meant a release from the restrictions on Irish trade imposed by +England for the benefit of England. The reform of 1779 continued the +duties, but enjoined that they should be imposed by the native parliament +for the benefit of the Irish kingdom. The Irish Free Trade Parliament was +Protectionist. In the November of 1779 Grattan's amendment on the Address, +supported by Hussey Burgh and the volunteers, demanding Free Trade, was +carried. In February 1780 the concession was made by England, and the +Provost's book had a large share in the triumph.--[See Mitchel.] + +It was on the debate on the Short Supply in connection with this measure +that Hussey Burgh said, and lost the Prime Serjeancy for saying, "The +English have sowed their laws like serpents' teeth and they have sprung up +in armed men." + +[96] One other provost, Archbishop Loftus; one chancellor, Lord Cairns; +two vice-chancellors, Bishop Jones and John Fitzgibbon; one fellow, Bishop +Howard; and three scholars, Yelverton, Wolfe, and Plunket, also founded +noble houses. + +[97] See the summary of his speech in Plowden. + +[98] See Note D. + +[99] It is not said what either the real or the personal estate amounted +to. In De Burgh's "Landowners of Ireland," the Donoughmore property is set +down at 11,950 acres, with the Government valuation of L10,466. The +Tipperary portion is 4,711 acres, and L4,764. The other portions are +situate in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Louth, Monahan, Waterford, and +Wexford. + +[100] He does not say what price he paid for it, or from whom he purchased +it. Probably it was part of his place-traffic with Blaquiere. + +[101] Doubtless this is the "A. Hely Hutchinson" whose autograph appears +in the Preacher's Book of S. Bride's, Dublin, in the year 1796. Under the +autograph there is written, in a different hand and in different ink, "Now +an officer in H.M.'s Service." + +[102] This is the only mention of the College; in the Will. The Provost +left it no bequest, and did not even designate himself as Provost. + +[103] This direction has never been carried out. The MS. is known to be in +existence; and would it not be seemly and desirable to have it deposited +in the College Manuscript Room? + +[104] Duigenan's matriculation is-- + +1753--June. Patricius Duigenan, Siz., Filius ______ Annum agens 16. +Educatus sub ferula Mr. Sheill. Natus in Comtu Derri. + + DR. LAWSON. + +It would be a pity not to give the matriculation above his-- + +"Barry Yelverton, Siz. Filius Franc. Gen. Annum agens 17. Educatus sub. +fer. Mr. Egan. Natus in Comtu Cork. + + MR. RADCLIFFE." + +These two poor Sizar boys, one from the North and the other from the +South--meeting probably for the first time in the College hall and sitting +side by side--what careers the College opened to them! Probably, there is +not in all the matriculation books a more interesting page than the page +which contains these two consecutive entries. + +[105] "Wellington Correspondence." + +[106] For a full account of this school see "The Old Latin Schools of +Dublin," by the Editor. + +[107] Fitzgibbon's father had been a Catholic, and was intended for the +priesthood. He and his wife Eleanor are buried in St. Bride's churchyard, +without any sort of monument or tombstone. + +[108] Mr. Blackburne's "Causes of the Decadence of the Industries of +Ireland," p. 19. + +There are two copies of the work in the College Library, both of which +have been recently obtained, and from one of them, by the obliging +indulgence of the Provost and Board, the present re-issue is taken. + +[109] Froude--"English in Ireland," vol. ii., p. 228. + +[110] See the State Papers of Henry VIII., and the official certificates +almost ever since. See also Lord O'Hagan's Address to the Social Science +Congress in Dublin, 1881. If any of these pronouncements were right, it +would be difficult to discover any room for future improvement. All of +these glowing congratulations were, however, invariably exposed and +exploded by sober contemporary historians and observers, and the O'Hagan +passage illustrates the process. His lordship said: "I have indicated to +you the results of honest effort by Irishmen of this generation in +obtaining for their country amended laws, cheap and facile +justice--education liberal, unconditioned, and available to all--... +increased provision for the national health and comfort--and security in +his possessions and encouragement to his industry for the tiller of the +soil. In the midst of many troubles and much discouragement, these have +been steps of real cheering progress--improvements, permanently conquered +from the past, and auspicious, as they will be fruitful, of a happier +future." Compare with this charming view the following versions. + +In his speech in the adjourned debate on the Address in the House of +Commons, January, 1881, Mr. Shaw, M.P. for Cork County, showed the value +of this "real cheering progress," and of the "permanent improvements and +increased provisions for the national health and comfort." "Within three +or four months," said Mr. Shaw, "I have gone through various parts of the +country, and I must say this--I did not think it possible for human beings +to exist as I found tenant-farmers existing in the West of Ireland.... It +is a disgrace to the landlords, it is a disgrace to the Government, it is +a disgrace to every institution in the country to think of it that now for +years, for generations, this cry year after year has been coming up from +the people." + +In the debate on the 28th of January MR. GLADSTONE said that "there are +still hundreds of thousands in Ireland who live more or less on the brink +of starvation, and that forty years ago that was the case not with +hundreds of thousands but with millions." + +A writer in the current number of the _Quarterly Review_, after picturing +the maddened and disturbed state of the country, adds:-- + +"And all this with between four and five hundred suspects in gaols with an +army of 50,000 men in the country, with Land Bills, Coercion Bills, +Proclamations, new magisterial boards, the island parcelled out into +military districts, spies, informers, and all the endless appliances of a +Liberal Government in full operation." + +See, too, what Mr. Justice O'Hagan said in his judgment on the Stacpoole +leases. It is not very easy to reconcile these four unassailable +statements of facts with the smooth optimism of the ex-Lord Chancellor, +although without question the "Conquests" enumerated by him have been, as +he says, won. The truth is that these specialist statistics are no more a +real index of the condition of the country than a brick is an index of the +quality of a house. There is no use in attempting to deny that +England--both when meaning well and meaning ill--has kept Ireland in a +deplorable condition. + +[111] Concerning this debate "Pepys' Diary," vol. iv., p. 109, +records--1666--October 8th:--"The House did this day order to be engrossed +the Bill against importing Irish Cattle--a thing, it seems, carried on by +the Western Parliament men wholly against the sense of most of the rest of +the House; who think if you do this you give the Irish again cause to +rebel. Thus plenty on both sides makes us mad." + +P. 135--1666. October 27th:--"Thence to talk about publique business; he +[Lord Belassis] tells me how the two Houses begun to lie troublesome, the +Lords to have quarrels one with another. My Lord Duke of Buckingham having +said to the Lord Chancellor (who is against the passing of the Bill for +prohibiting the bringing over of Irish cattle) that whoever was against +the Bill was there led to it by an Irish interest or an Irish +understanding, which is as much as to say he is a foole. This bred heat +from my Lord Chancellor, and something he [Buckingham] said did offend my +Lord of Ossory (my Lord Duke of Ormonde's son), and they two had hard +words, upon which the latter sends a challenge to the former; of which the +former complains to the House, and so the business is to be heard on +Monday." Clarendon and Carte attribute cowardice to Buckingham in the +matter. Both he and Ossory were sent to the Tower. The Bill, as noticed +above, was subsequently passed. + +[112] "Life of Ormond," vol. iv., p. 234, &c. + +[113] Ten years later Dublin sent out a cargo of provisions valued at L937 +13_s._ to New England, and the benevolence was gratefully and gracefully +commemorated in 1880 by Captain Potter, of the _Constellation_, when he +brought over America's consignment to our famishing agriculturists, and +received the honorary freedom of our city. It may be noted, too, that ten +years before the contribution to London, Dublin sent a relief amounting to +L1,000 to the Waldenses, when suffering from the persecution of the Duke +of Savoy. The last-named collection was made by a Cromwellian Fellow of +Trinity College, the Rev. Samuel Mather, an excellent man, who on the +Restoration was thrown into a Dublin prison, probably the "Black Dog," for +declining to sign the Act of Uniformity. The New England collection was +made by his brother, the Rev. Nathaniel Mather, Minister of the New-row +Meeting-house. The collection for London was made by the Duke of Ormond. + +[114] This encouragement of the linen trade here proved a hypocrisy and +imposture. The linen trade was never an equivalent for the wool trade. + +[115] Excepting, perhaps, Poyning's Act, and the Act of Union, this was +the most disgraceful Act ever passed by an Irish Parliament. + +[116] See page lxx, note, and 35. + +[117] See page lxx, note, and 43. + +[118] It was on the Army Augmentation Bill that Hutchinson made one of his +early "strides in apostasy." It was on this occasion also that Ireland was +for the first time called upon to contribute to England's war expenses. +She passed a vote of credit for L200,000. See pages 44, 46. + +[119] The condition of the people would thus seem to have declined from +what it was a century before. In 1672, Petty stated in his "Political +Anatomy," that the drink of the Irish people was milk, and in winter small +beer or water; and that their food was bread made into cakes, with eggs +and rancid butter, and with muscles, cockles, and oysters, on the +sea-shore parts. + +[120] There are also several inaccuracies in the printed edition, which +are reproduced as they stand. _E.g._, in page 81 "between L12,000 and +L13,000" is set down as an increase on L1,100,000; and Petty's "Survey" is +throughout put for his Political Anatomy. In the note to page 127 the +literal misprints in the Greek quotation are corrected. The line is given +"as Homer quoted by Longinus," and as if it were a Homeric line, but it is +not a hexameter at all. The quotation joins the beginning of one line to a +portion of another, and it is needless to say that the break was duly +notified by Longinus, though apparently it was not perceived by the +Provost. + +The passage occurs in the 17th book of the Odyssey, V.V. 323-3:-- + + [Greek: "Hemisu gar t aretes apoainutai euruopa Zeus + Aneros, eut an min kata doulion emar helesin."] + +Rendered by Pope, + + "Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day + Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away." + +[121] See _Freeman's Journal_, Nov. 3 and Nov. 24, 1881. + +[122] _Querist_, 134. + +[123] On account of the inability of Ireland, Great Britain, since +Christmas, 1778, relieved her from the burden of paying forces abroad. + +[124] A sum of L50,000 has been lately sent from England for that purpose. + +[125] By a Proclamation, dated the 3rd of February, 1776, on all ships and +vessels laden in any of the ports in this kingdom with provisions of any +kind, but not to extend to ships carrying salted beef, pork, butter and +bacon into Great Britain or provisions to any part of the British empire +except the Colonies mentioned in the said Proclamation. 4th of January, +1779, taken off as far as it relates to ships carrying provisions to any +of the ports of Europe. + +[126] Its tranquillity was so well established in 1611, that King James +reduced his army in Ireland to 176 horse and 1,450 foot; additional judges +were appointed, circuits established throughout the kingdom (2nd Cox, 17); +and Sir John Davis observes that no nation under the sun loves equal and +indifferent justice better than the Irish (Davis, pp. 184-196). + +[127] 13 Jac., ch. 1. + +[128] Vol. i. Com. Journ., p. 92. + +[129] Vol. i. Com. Journ., p. 61. + +[130] Ib., p. 88. + +[131] 1 Davis, pp. 1, 193, 194. + +[132] Cox's Hist. of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 91. + +[133] Ib. Some of these subsidies, from the subsequent times of confusion, +were not raised. + +[134] Cox, vol. ii., p. 33. + +[135] Leland's Hist. of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 31. + +[136] Lord Strafford's Letters, vol. ii., p. 297. + +[137] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. i., pp. 228-229. + +[138] Lord Clarendon, Cox, ib., Ir. Com. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 280, 311. + +[139] Archbishop King in his State of the Protestants of Ireland, pp. 52, +53, 445, 446; Lord Chief Justice Keating's Address to James the Second, +and his Letters to Sir John Temple. Ib. + +The prohibition of the exportation of our cattle to England, though a +great, was but a temporary distress; and in its consequences greatly +promoted the general welfare of this country. + +[140] Lord Sydney's words, in his speech from the throne in 1692, from his +own former knowledge of this country. Ir. Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 577. + +[141] Carte, vol. ii., pp. 342, 344. + +[142] Lord Strafford laid the foundation of the linen manufacture in +Ireland, but the troubles which soon after broke out had entirely stopped +the progress of it. + +[143] Harris's Life of K. W., 116. + +[144] The words of Lord Sydney, in his speech from the throne in 1692. +Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 576. + +[145] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 45 and 65, that great supplies were +given during this period. + +[146] Dobbs, pp. 5, 6, 7, 19. + +[147] Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 45. + +[148] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 65, 66. + +[149] Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 149. + +[150] Ib. p. 195. + +[151] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 207, 208. + +[152] Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 210. + +[153] Ib., pp. 79, 94. + +[154] Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 298. + +[155] Ib., pp. 225, 266. + +[156] Ib., pp. 253, 258. + +[157] Ib., pp. 364, 368, 369. + +[158] Ib., p. 573. + +[159] Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 827. + +[160] Ib., p. 929. + +[161] Ib., p. 876. + +[162] In the same session an act was made for the advancement of the linen +manufacture, which shows that both kingdoms then thought (for these laws +came to us through England) that each of these manufactures was to be +encouraged in Ireland. + +[163] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 725. + +[164] Ib., p. 733. + +[165] The sums paid on the exportation of Irish linens from Great Britain, +at a medium of twenty-nine years, from 1743 to 1773, amount to something +under L10,000 yearly.--Ir. Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 374, the account +returned from the Inspector-General's Office in Great Britain. + +[166] Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 249. + +[167] Ib., p. 296. + +[168] Ib., p. 335. + +[169] Com. Journ., vol. iv., pp. 694, 700, 701. + +[170] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 694. + +[171] Ib., p. 720. + +[172] Ib., p. 832. + +[173] It is not here intended to enter into the question, whether in +different circumstances a national bank might not be useful to Ireland. + +[174] Com. Journ., vol. v., p. 12. + +[175] Ib., p. 102. + +[176] It was then L77,261 6_s._ 7_d._ Vol. iv., p. 778. + +[177] Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 108. + +[178] Ib., p. 16. + +[179] Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 136. + +[180] At midsummer, 1725, it amounted to L119,215 5_s._ 3-5/8_d._ Vol. v., +Com. Journ., pp. 282, 295, 434, 435, 642. + +[181] Com. Journ., vol. v., pp. 732, 755. + +[182] Duke of Dorset's speech from the throne. Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. +12. + +[183] Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 143. + +[184] Ib., vol. vi., p. 189. + +[185] Com. Journ., vol. v., pp. 214, 220, 222. + +[186] The act entitled an act for better regulation of partnerships and to +encourage the trade and manufactures of this kingdom has not a word +relative to the latter part of the title. + +[187] Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 694; ib., vol. vii., p. 742. + +[188] The sum remaining due on the loans at Lady-day, 1753, was L85,585 +0_s._ 9-1/2_d._ The whole credit of the nation to that day was L332,747 +19_s._ 1-1/8_d._, and deducting the sums due on the loans amounted to +L247,162 18_s._ 3-1/8_d._ Com. Journ., vol. ix. pp. 3, 349, 352. + +[189] Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 195. + +[190] Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 289. + +[191] Ib., vol. ix., p. 352. + +[192] Ib., p. 332. + +[193] Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 751. + +[194] Ib., vol. ix., p. 818. + +[195] Ib., pp. 819, 829, 846, 865. + +[196] March 6, 1754, Thomas Dillon and Richard Ferral, failed. 3rd March, +1755, William Lennox and George French. Same day, John Wilcocks and John +Dawson. + +[197] There was then no bankruptcy law in Ireland. + +[198] Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 751. + +[199] Ib., p. 16, speech from the throne, and ib., p. 25, address from the +House of Commons to the king. + +[200] Ib., p. 25. Address from the House of Commons to the king. + +[201] Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 25. + +[202] They brought in a law for the encouragement of tillage, which was +ineffectual (see post 42); but the preamble of that Act is a legislative +proof of the unhappy condition of the poor of this country before that +time. The preamble recites, "the _extreme_ necessity to which the poor of +this kingdom had been too frequently reduced for want of provisions." + +[203] Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 285. + +[204] Com. Journ. vol. xi., p. 472. Speaker's speech. + +[205] Ib., p. 16. + +[206] The Acts passed in '58, giving bounties on the land carriage of +corn, and on coals brought to Dublin. + +[207] Com. Journ., vol. xi., p. 212. + +[208] Ib., from 826 to 837. + +[209] Ib., vol. xi., p. 141. + +[210] Ib., p. 408. + +[211] Ib., p. 473. + +[212] Ib., p. 862. + +[213] Ib. + +[214] Ib., p. 982, from 25th March, '59, to 21st of April, '60, exclusive. + +[215] Clement's, Dawson's, and Mitchell's. + +[216] Com. Journ., vol. xi., p. 966, April 15, 1760. + +[217] Com. Journ., vol. xi., pp. 993, 994. + +[218] Ib., p. 1049. + +[219] Brought in by Mr. Pery the present Speaker. + +[220] In the year ending Lady-Day, 1778, it amounted to L71,533 1_s._, and +in that ending Lady-Day, 1779, to L67,864 8_s._ 10_d._ + +[221] Com. Journ., vol. xii, p. 700. + +[222] Ib. p. 728. + +[223] Ib., p. 443. + +[224] Ib. p. 929. Speech of Lord Hallifax from the throne, 30th April, +1762. + +[225] Ir. Com. Journ., vol. xiii., p. 21. + +[226] Com. Journ., vol. xiii., p. 23. + +[227] For a year ending 25th March, 1763, they were L66,477 5_s._; they +afterwards rose to L89,095 17_s._ 6_d._ in September, 1777, at the +highest; and in this year, ending the 25th March last, amounted to L85,971 +2_s._ 6_d._ + +[228] Com. Journ. vol. xiii., p. 576. + +[229] Ib. pp. 574, 621. + +[230] Com. Journ., vol. xiv., p. 715. + +[231] Com. Journ., vol. xv., p. 710. + +[232] Ib., p. 153. + +[233] Ib., vol. xvi., p. 372. + +[234] Ib., pp. 190, 191, 193. + +[235] Ib., p. 256. + +[236] Com. Journ., vol. xii., p. 928. + +[237] Ib., vol. xiii., p. 987. + +[238] Ib., vol. xiv., pp. 69, 114, 151. + +[239] Com. Journ., vol. xiv., p. 665. + +[240] Com. Journ., vol. xiv., p. 467, report from committee, and ib., p. +501, agreed to by the House, _nem. con._ + +[241] Carte, vol. ii., pp. 318, 319. + +[242] Sir W. Petty's "Political Survey," pp. 69, 70. Sir W. Temple, vol. +iii., pp. 22, 23. + +[243] By several British acts (32 G. 2, ch. 11; 5 G. 3, ch. 10; 12 G. 3, +ch. 56), allowing from time to time the free importation of all sorts of +cattle from Ireland. + +[244] Personal prejudice against the Duke of Ormond (Carte, vol. ii., pp. +332, 337.) + +[245] 15 Ch. 2, ch. 7. 18 Ch. 2, ch. 2. + +[246] Carte, vol. ii., p. 332. + +[247] Com. Journ., vol. i., p. 208, by a clause to be inserted in an Irish +act. + +[248] See post, those acts stated. + +[249] Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 576. + +[250] English acts, 12 Ch. 2, ch. 32, 13 and 14. Ch. 2, ch. 18. + +[251] 1 W., and M. ch. 32. + +[252] 7 and 8 W., ch. 28. + +[253] 14th Jan., 1697. + +[254] 7th July, 1698, dissolved. + +[255] In a pamphlet cited by Dr. Smith (vol. ii., p. 244, in his memoirs +of wool) it is said that the total value of those manufactures exported in +1697, was L23,614 9_s._ 6_d._, namely, in friezes and stockings, L14,625 +12_s._; in old and new draperies, L8,988 17_s._ 6_d._; and that though the +Irish had been every year increasing, yet they had not recovered above +one-third of the woollen trade which they had before the war (ib. 243). +The value in 1687, according to the same authority, was L70,521 14_s._; of +which the friezes were L56,485 16_s._; stockings, L2,520 18_s._; and old +and new drapery (which it is there said could alone interfere with the +English trade), L11,514 10_s._ + +[256] Preamble of English act of 1699. + +[257] 9th June, 1698, vol. of Lords' Journals, p. 314. + +[258] Lords' Journ., p. 315. + +[259] 30th June, 1698. + +[260] 16th July, 1698. + +[261] Rapin's Hist., vol. xvii., p. 417. + +[262] 27th September, 1698, vol. ii., p. 994. + +[263] Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 997. + +[264] Ib., vol. ii., p. 1022. + +[265] October 24, 1698. + +[266] Com. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 1007, 1035. + +[267] Com. Journ., p. 1032. + +[268] Ib., vol. ii., p. 1082. + +[269] Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 1007. + +[270] Ib., 1104, by 105 against 41. + +[271] 10 W. 3, ch. 5. + +[272] And. on Com. Journ., vol. i., 204. + +[273] The Commissioners of Trade in England, by their representation of +the 11th October, 1698, say (Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., p. 437), "they +conceive it not necessary to make any alteration whatsoever in this Act," +but take notice that the duties on broadcloth, of which very little is +made in Ireland, is 20 per cent.; but the duty on new drapery, of which +much is made, is but 10 per cent. + +[274] Eng. Stat., 10 and 11 William III., ch. 10, passed in 1699. + +[275] 12 Ch. II. ch. 4, Eng., and afterwards continued by 11 Geo. I., ch. +7. Brit. + +[276] By an Eng. Act, made in 1663, the same which laid the first +restraint on the exportation of cattle. + +[277] See the Address of the English House of Lords. + +[278] Potatoes and milk, or more frequently water. + +[279] Dr. Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 94. + +[280] Ib., pp. 85, 86. + +[281] Dr. Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 445; Dr. Campbell's +"Polit. Survey of Great Britain," vol. ii., p. 159; Anderson on +"Industry." + +[282] Smith, ib. + +[283] Sir W. Petty's "Political Survey of Ireland," p. 90. + +[284] Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 446. + +[285] Ib. + +[286] Lord Strafford's Letters, vol. i., p. 33. + +[287] Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 445. + +[288] Sir M. Decker's "Decline of Foreign Trade," p. 155, and Anderson on +"Commerce," vol. ii., p. 149. + +[289] Compare the circumstances of the two countries in one of those +articles which affects all the rest. The sums raised in Great Britain in +time of peace are said to amount to ten millions, in Ireland to more than +one million yearly. The circulating cash of the former is estimated at +twenty-three millions, of the latter at two. + +[290] See post 81. + +[291] Essay on the "Trade of Ireland," pp. 6, 7. + +[292] "Decline of Foreign Trades," pp. 55, 56, 155. + +[293] Dobb's, p. 76. + +[294] In 1774. + +[295] Nor was this deficiency made up by the exportation of yarn. The +quantities of these several articles exported from 1764 to 1778 are +mentioned in the Appendix, number. + +[296] Smith's "Memoirs of Wool," vol. ii., p. 554. The only way to prevent +it, is to enable us to work it up at home. Ib., p. 293. + +[297] This was done for the benefit of the woollen manufacture in England. +Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xxii., p. 442. + +[298] This is stated considerably under the computation made in the list +of absentees published in Dublin in 1769, which makes the amount at that +time L1,208,982 14_s._ 6_d._ + +[299] Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 316. + +[300] Anderson on Com., vol. i., p. 131. + +[301] The wish of traders for a monopoly is not confined to England; in +the same kingdom some parts are restrained in favour of others, as in +Sweden to this hour. Abbe Resnal, vol. ii., p. 28. + +[302] Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., pp. 64, 68. + +[303] Ib., p. 64. + +[304] Ib., p. 7. + +[305] Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., p. 527. + +[306] Ib., p. 530. + +[307] Ib., p. 434. + +[308] Ib., p. 387. + +[309] Ib., vol. xxii. + +[310] Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xxii., p. 178. + +[311] The Lords Commissioners of Trade in England, by their report of the +31st August, 1697 (Eng. Com. Journ., vol., xii., p. 428), relating to the +trade between England and Ireland, though they recommend the restraining +of the exportation of all sorts of woollen manufactures out of Ireland, +make the following exception, "except only that of their frieze, as is +wont, to England." + +[312] See before speech of Lords Justices. + +[313] Mr. Dobbs, and after him Dr. Smith. + +[314] 11 Elizabeth, session 3, ch. 10. + +[315] 13 Elizabeth, session 5, ch. 4. + +[316] 17 and 18, ch. 2; ch. 9 for the advancement of the linen +manufacture. Carte. + +[317] See before. + +[318] 7 and 8 W. 3, ch. 39, from the 1st of August, 1696. + +[319] 7 and 8 W., ch. 28. + +[320] Not till the year 1705. + +[321] Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 725, 733; vol. xvi., p. 360. + +[322] See before. + +[323] Dobbs, 6, 7. + +[324] Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 362. + +[325] Ib., p. 363. + +[326] By 3rd and 4th Anne, ch. 9. + +[327] And. on Comm., vol. ii., p. 225. + +[328] This appears by the preamble to the English Act of the 7th and 8th +W. 3, ch. 39. + +[329] Anderson on Commerce, vol. ii., p. 177. + +[330] Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 365. + +[331] In 1750. + +[332] By the law of 1750, and the bounties given on the exportation of +sail-cloth from Great Britain to foreign countries, Ireland has almost +lost this trade; she cannot now supply herself. Great Britain has not been +the gainer; the quantities of sail-cloth imported there, in 1774, +exceeding, according to the return from the Custom House in London, the +quantities imported in the year 1750, when the restrictive law was made. +It has been taken from Ireland and given to the Russians, Germans, and +Dutch (Ir. Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 363). + +[333] 10 G. 3, ch.--continued by act of last session to the year 1786. + +[334] In the year 1743. + +[335] Com. Journ., vol. xvi., 369, pp. 389. + +[336] _To please the English_ Scotland has for half a century past exerted +herself as much as possible to improve the linen manufacture.--Anderson on +Industry, vol. ii., p. 233. + +[337] Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 370. + +[338] The province of Ulster, in two years, is said to have lost 30,000 of +its inhabitants. Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 381. + +[339] From 24th June, 1705, 3 and 4 Anne, ch. 8, for 11 years, but +afterwards continued. + +[340] Brit. Acts, 10 Anne, ch. 19; 11 and 12 Anne, ch. 9; 6 G. 1, ch. 4. + +[341] Brit. Act. 18 G. 3, ch. 53. + +[342] Ir. Com. Journ., vol xvi., pp. 363, 364. + +[343] Ib., p. 365 + +[344] Anderson on Industry, vol. i., pp. 34 to 40 + +[345] Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 370. + +[346] See Com. Journ., vol. xvii., pp. 263 to 287, for the sums paid from +1700 to 1775. They amount to L803,486 0_s._ 2-3/4_d._ + +[347] This malady of emigration among our linen manufacturers has appeared +at many different periods during this century. + +[348] 12 Ch. II., ch. 7. + +[349] As other nations did the same, Ireland was shut out from the New +World and a considerable part of the Old in Asia and Africa. + +[350] 15 Ch. II., ch. 15. + +[351] Ch. 39. + +[352] 10th and 11th Wm. III., ch. 10. + +[353] 15 Ch. II., ch. 7. 18 Ch. II., ch. 2. 20 Ch. II., ch. 7. 22nd & 23rd +Ch. II., ch. 2. + +[354] Petty's "Political Survey of Ireland," p. 70, and _ib._ "Report from +the Council of Trade," pages 117, 118. Sir W. Temple, vol. iii, pp. 22, +23, that England was evidently a loser by the prohibition of cattle. + +Dr. Smith's "Memoirs of Wool," vol. ii, p. 337, that the English have +since sufficiently felt the mischiefs of this proceeding. + +[355] 3 and 4 Anne, ch. 8. + +[356] 4 Inst., 349. Matth. Paris, anno. 1172, pp. 121, 220. Vit. H. 2. +Pryn, against the 4 Inst., c. 76, pp. 250, 252. Sir John Davis's Hist., p. +71. Lord Lyttleton's Hist. of, H. 2. vol. iii., pp. 89, 90. 7 Co., 22, 23. +4th Black, 429. + +[357] Cooke's 4th Inst., 351. + +[358] Anderson on Commerce, vol. i., p. 174. + +[359] 3rd Edward IV., ch. 4. + +[360] The part of this law which mentions that it shall be determinable, +at the King's pleasure, has the prohibition for its object, and does not +lessen the force of the argument in favour of Ireland. + +[361] 4th Edward IV., ch. 1. + +[362] Anderson on Commerce, vol. i., p. 285. + +[363] Ib., p. 319. + +[364] 3rd James, ch. 6. + +[365] 12th Ch. II., ch. + +[366] 12th Ch. II., ch. 18. + +[367] 13th and 14th Ch. II., ch. 11. + +[368] Ib., ch. 18. + +[369] 12th Ch. II., ch. 27. + +[370] Ir. Act, 13th H. VIII, ch. 2. + +[371] 28th H. VIII., ch. 17. + +[372] Ch. 10. + +[373] The necessity of encouraging the people of Ireland to manufacture +their own wool appears by divers statutes to have been the sense of the +legislature of both kingdoms for some centuries. + +[374] Ir. Act of 17 and 18 Ch. II., ch. 15. + +[375] Carte, vol. ii., p. 344. + +[376] 15th Ch. II., ch. 7. + +[377] 22nd and 23rd Ch. II., ch. 26. + +[378] Sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, steel or Jamaica wood, fustick +or other dying wood, the growth of the said plantations. + +[379] 4th Geo. II., ch. 15; 6th Geo. II., ch. 15; 4th Geo. II., ch. 15. + +[380] The articles in the last note, and also rice, molasses, beaver +skins, and other furs, copper ore, pitch, tar, turpentine, masts, yards, +and bowsprits, pimento, cocoa-nuts, whale fins, raw silk, hides and skins, +pot and pearl ashes, iron and lumber. + +[381] From the 24th of June, 1778, it shall be lawful to export from +Ireland directly into any of the British plantations in America or the +West Indies, or into any of the settlements belonging to Great Britain on +the coast of Africa, any goods being the produce or manufacture of Ireland +(wool and woollen manufactures in all its branches, mixed or unmixed, +cotton manufactures of all sorts, mixed or unmixed, hats, glass, hops; +gunpowder, and coals only excepted); and all goods, &c., of the growth, +produce, or manufacture of Great Britain which may be legally imported +from thence into Ireland (woollen manufacture in all its branches and +glass excepted), and all foreign certificate goods that may be legally +imported from Great Britain into Ireland. Two of the principal +manufactures are excepted, and one of them closely connected with, if not +a part of, the linen manufacture.--18th Geo. III., ch. 55. + +[382] This appears by the English Acts (3 and 4 Anne, ch. 10, 8 Anne, ch. +1, 2 Geo. II., ch. 35), giving bounties on the importation of those +articles into Great Britain. + +[383] Sir William Petty mentions that "the English who have lands in +Ireland were forced to trade only with strangers, and became unacquainted +with their own country, and that England gained more than it lost by a +free commerce (with Ireland), as exporting hither three times as much as +it received from hence," and mentions his surprise at their being debarred +from bringing commodities from America directly home, and being obliged to +bring them round from England, with extreme hazard and loss.--"Political +Survey of Ireland," p. 123. + +[384] 22nd and 23rd Ch. II., ch. 26, sec. 11. + +[385] Sir John Davis and Sir Edward Cooke. + +[386] [Greek: Hemisu gar t' aretes apoainytai doulion hemar] Homer, as +quoted by Longinus. + +[387] Sic utere tuo, alienum non laedas. + +[388] Sir William Petty's "Political Survey of Ireland," p. 19. + +[389] Sir William Temple, vol. iii., p. 7. + +[390] The Act of Explanation. + +[391] 15 Ch. II. + +[392] Sir W. Petty, p. 9. + +[393] Ib. pp. 9 and 110. + +[394] Sir W. Petty, p. 89. + +[395] Ib., pp. 9 and 10. + +[396] Ib, pp. 34, 71, 125. + +[397] 15 Ch. II., ch. 7. + +[398] Carte, vol. ii., pp. 425 to 428, 465. + +[399] Archb. Bishop King's State, 209. James II., in his speech from the +throne in Ireland, recommended the repeal of the Act of Settlement. + +[400] Their demands in 1642 were the restitution of all the plantation +lands to the old inhabitants, repeal of Poyning's Act, &c.--Macaulay's +Hist., vol. iii, p. 222. In the meeting called a parliament, held by James +in Ireland, they repealed the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, passed a +law that the Parliament of England cannot bind Ireland, and against writs +of error and appeal to England. + +[401] 3rd and 4th Anne, ch. 8. + +[402] Sir W. Petty's "Survey." + +[403] Ib., p. 117. + +[404] Order 14th March, 1698, Lords' Journ., vol. xvi. Eng. Com. Journs., +18th Jan., 1698, vol. xii., p. 440. + +[405] The Commissioners of Trade, in their representation dated 11th +November, 1697, relating to the trade between England and Ireland, advise +a duty to be laid upon the importation of oil, upon teasles, whether +imported or _growing_ there, and upon _all the utensils_ employed in the +making any woollen manufactures, on the utensils of worsted combers, and +particularly a duty by the yard upon all cloth and woollen stuffs, except +friezes, before they are taken off the loom. Eng. Com. Journ., vol. x., p. +428. + +[406] See in the Appendix an account of those articles imported from +England into Ireland for ten years, commencing in 1769, and ending in +1778. + +[407] Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 348, 548. + +[408] Sir W. Petty's "Political Survey," p. 123. + +[409] Sir W. Temple, vol. iii., p. 11. + +[410] Lord's Journ., 16th Feb., 1697. + +[411] Lord's Journ., 19th Feb., 1697. + +[412] See Dr. Smith's "Wealth of Nations." + +[413] The consumption of our own people is the best and greatest market +for the product and manufactures of our own country. Foreign trade is but +a part of the benefit arising from the woollen manufacture, and the least +part; it is a small article in respect to the benefit arising to the +community, and Dr. Smith affirms that all the foreign markets of England +cannot be equal to one-twentieth part of her own.--Dr. Smith's "Memoirs of +Wool," vol. ii., pp. 113, 529, 530, and 556, from the _British Merchant_ +and Dr. Davenant. + +[414] Address of Eng. Commons, _ante_. + +[415] King's Stat., pp. 160, 161. + +[416] Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., pp. 514, 523, 528. + +[417] Vol. iii., p. 8. + +[418] See Sir John Davis's "Discourses," pp. 5, 6, 194. + +[419] Summary of Imports and Exports to and from Ireland, laid before the +British House of Commons in 1779. + +[420] Those states are least able to pay great charges for public +disbursements whose wealth resteth chiefly in the hands of the nobility +and gentry.--Bac., vol. i., p. 10; Smith's "Wealth of Nations," vol. ii., +p. 22. + +[421] A very judicious friend of mine has, with great pains and attention, +made a calculation of the numbers of people in Ireland in the year 1774, +and he makes the numbers of people to amount to 2,325,041; but supposes +his calculation to be under the real number. I have, therefore, followed +the calculation commonly received, which makes their number amount to +2,500,000. He computes, as has been before mentioned, the persons who +reside in houses of one hearth, to be 1,877,220. Those find it very +difficult to pay hearth money, and are thought to be unable to pay any +other taxes. If this is so, according to this calculation, there are but +447,821 people in Ireland able to pay taxes. + +[422] Ireland was much more numerous in 1685 than at any time, after the +Revolution, during that century, there having been a great waste of people +in the rebellion at that era. + +[423] 12 Ch. II., ch. 4. Eng. + +[424] Yet, in favour of Great Britain, old and new drapery imported into +Ireland from other countries are subject to duties equal to a prohibition. +Ir. Act 14th and 15th, Ch. II., ch. 8. + +[425] On every piece of old drapery exported, containing thirty-six yards, +and so for a greater or lesser quantity, 3_s._ 4_d._, and of new drapery +9_d._, for the subsidy of alnage and alnager's fee. See 17th and 18th Ch. +II., ch. 15. Ir. But the English have taken off these and all other duties +from their manufactures made or mixed with wool. Eng. Act 11 and 12 W. +III., ch. 20. + +[426] 30 per cent. by the British acts of 9 and 10 Anne, ch. 39., and 12 +Anne, ch. 9. + +[427] This tax is _ad valorem_, and the linen not valued. + +[428] Brit. Act, 9 Anne, ch. 12. + +[429] Hence it is that the price of wool in England is said to be 50 per +cent. below the market price of Europe.--Smith's "Memoir's of Wool." + +[430] 12 Ch. II., ch. 5. 3 and 4 Anne, ch. 4. 4 and 5 W. and M., ch. 5. + +[431] 7 G. I., ch. 7. + +[432] When the commercial restraints of Ireland are the subject, a source +of occasional and ruinous restrictions ought not to be passed over. Since +the year 1740, there have been twenty-four embargoes in Ireland, one of +which lasted three years. + +[433] The common law of England. + +[434] Heads of bills for passing into a law the Habeas Corpus Act, and +that for making the tenure of judges during good behaviour, have +repeatedly passed the Irish House of Commons, but were not returned. + +[435] The Eng. Act of Ch. II, ch. --, calls the importation of cattle from +Ireland a common nuisance. + +[436] This number of Irishmen was computed to have served in the fleets +and armies of Great Britain during the last war. + +[437] The furs of Canada, the indigo of Florida, the sugars of Dominica, +St. Vincent, and the Grenadas, with every other valuable production of +those acquisitions Ireland was prohibited to receive but through another +channel. Her poverty scarcely gathered a crumb from the sumptuous table of +her sister. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these +letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +The original text includes an intentional blank space. Thie is represented +by ______ in this text version. + +Foonote 86 appears on page lxvii of the text, but there is no +corresponding marker on the page. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Commercial Restraints of Ireland, by +John Hely Hutchinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS OF IRELAND *** + +***** This file should be named 38841.txt or 38841.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/4/38841/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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