H C 
 
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 COMMEKCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND.
 
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 ^^^^*\ ^t^^^x 
 
 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. 
 
 JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON, 
 
 ^kOvost 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, Blackbxtrne. 
 
 With a Sketch of the Author's Life, Introduction, 
 Notes, and Index, 
 
 W. G. CAEEOLL, 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 " Com- 
 mercial 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 obli- 
 gation to Sir Samuel Ferguson for the courteous favour of 
 the fac-simile of Provost Hutchinson's autograph which 
 underlines the frontispiece.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Life ........ ix 
 
 Notes : 
 
 (A) The Hutchinson Family ..... Ixxix 
 
 (B) Dr. Leland ....... Ixxxv 
 
 (C) Dr. Duigenan ...... Ixxxvii 
 
 (D) Grattan and Fitzgibbon's College Course . . . Ixxxix 
 
 (E) Lists of the Secretaries of State, Chancellors of the Exche- 
 
 quer, Speakers of the Irish House of Commons, and Chief 
 
 Secretaries ....... xciv 
 
 Introduction ....... xcix 
 
 Commercial Restraints ...... I 
 
 Appendix . ..... 165 
 
 Index . 169
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. 
 
 The Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson, author of the 
 " Commercial Eestraints," 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,* 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 Et. 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 
 
 *His Matriculation is— " 1740, April 29th. Johannes Hely, Filius 
 Francisci Gen. Annum agens 17. Natus Corcagii. Educatus sub 
 Dr. Baly. (Tutor) Mr. Lawson." 
 
 a
 
 X LIFE OF 
 
 of Cork, and Secretary of State. Died Provost, Sep. 4, 
 1794, at Buxton."^ 
 
 This is all the mention which the published records of 
 the College make of, perhaps, its most celebrated Pro- 
 vost. 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, un- 
 favourable and favourable. He was called to the Bar in 
 1748; King's Counsel, 1758; Member for Lanesborough 
 as John Hely Hutchinson of Knocklofty, 1759 ; f in 1760 
 he received, in a silver case, the freedom of Dublin for 
 his patriotic services in parliament. + He was Member 
 for Cork City as John Hely Hutchinson of Palmerston, 
 and afterwards as Eight Hon., 1761 ; Prime Serjeant, 
 sometimes going Judge of Assize, and Privy Councillor, 
 1761 ; Alnager,§ 1763 ; Major in a Cavalry Eegiment, 
 
 • See Note A. 
 
 t Hutchinson had thus achieved very considerable success and dis- 
 tinction when he was thirty-seven years of age — " the fatal year" in the 
 development of genius, according to Lord Beaconsfield. Grattan accom- 
 plished 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 waa 
 Attorney-General, goveraing 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 .5.3. 
 
 [+ Pue's Occur.] 
 
 ^ Alnager, or Aulnager, from the Latin Ulna, an ell, was an officer for 
 
 measuring and stam)>ing cloth in the wool trade. I'nmccriana Poetica 
 
 lias the line : — 
 
 " Send Prancer back to stamping friozcs."
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XI 
 
 which, when threatened with a court-martial for non- 
 attendance to duty, he sold forthwith for £3,000 ; 
 Provost and Searcher of Strangford,*1774 ; Principal Secre- 
 tary of State, 1777 ;t 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 Com- 
 missioners for inquiring into Education Eudowments, 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 for- 
 feited 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 atfront 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 £5,000 a 
 
 * See his will. t See Xute £.
 
 Xll LIFE OF 
 
 year ; and in fact he never ceased to angle for the Master- 
 ship of the Rolls. In the next place, he g-ot 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, accord- 
 ing to Duigenan and others, into some of his most repre- 
 hensible 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 news- 
 papers and pamphlets, in the " Lachrymse Academicae," 
 " Baratariana," and " Pranceriana ;" and these two last 
 2)asquiiiades are unique in English literature. Their satire 
 is as broad and as wounding as that of Junias, 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.^ 
 
 * Lord Lieiitenant Townshencl's organ was ' ' The Batchelor; or, Specu- 
 lations of Jeoffrcy Wagstaffe,Esq.," published at the Mercury in Parlia- 
 ment-street, by one Hoey, a popish printer. To be "mimicked by 
 Jephson and libelled by Ilocy," were amongst tlie social terrors of the 
 period. — [Baratariana. }
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XIU 
 
 "Baratariana," so called from Saucho Panza's island- 
 kingdom, was written in verse and in prose, and it ap- 
 peared originally as letters in the Freenian''s Journal, 
 which at that time, previous to its removal to " Ma- 
 csenas' Head" in Bride-street, was published over 
 St. Audeon's Arch."^ The principal writers of these 
 letters were Sir Hercules Langrishe,-]- Flood, Grattan, 
 Yelverton, Grervase Bushe, and Philip Tisdall. The 
 volume is '* a collection of pieces published during 
 the administration of Lord Towushend," 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, 
 Terras Filius, Monopolist, Single Session, and Serjeant 
 Eufinus." 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 Eobertson'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 Eufin immediately kidnaps him into a guardianship, 
 and like another Trinculo erects himself into a viceroy 
 over him. His whole elocution is alike futile and super- 
 ficial. It has verdure without soil, like the fields imagined 
 
 * Prancerianaha.^ the line, "To stonn her fane in Owen's Arch." 
 t It was Sir Hercules Langrishe who accounted to Lord Lieutenant 
 Towushend for the marshy and iindrained condition of Phcenix Park, 
 by observing that the English Government " had been too much engaged 
 in draining the rest of the kingdom."
 
 XIV LIFE OF 
 
 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.* His first stride in 
 apostasy was supporting tlie Privy Council Money Bill 
 in 1767 [for opposing which Anthony Malonef had 
 previously lost the Prime Serjeancy in 1754, and the 
 Chancellorship of the Exchequer^ in 1761 ;] his next was in 
 defending the motion for the additional regiments, whereby 
 we were treated like a ravaged country, where contri- 
 butions are levied to maintain the very force that oppresses 
 it." For these ministerial services Hutchinson got the 
 Prime Serjeancy, with an extra salary of £500 a year. In 
 the next session he was useful to the Crown in regard of 
 the Pensions Enquiry Bill and the Embargo Corn Bill, 
 
 *In 1779 the arms which had been intended for the Militia were given 
 by Government to the Yokinteers, the Militia Enrolment Act of the 
 previouF 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'e Bill obtained from parliament 
 £20,000 for clothing them. Subsequently the Commissioners of Array 
 were appointed. 
 
 t Anthony Malone, along with so many other gi'andees of the period, 
 lived in Chancery-lane. It requires an effoi't 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. 
 
 I See note E.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XV 
 
 and was rewarded with the sinecure Alnager's place, worth 
 £1,000 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."* The " List of the Pack," 
 one of the rhymes in the volume, has : 
 
 " Yet Tisdal unfeeling and void of i-emorse, 
 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 Grovernment, and my cor- 
 respondence with lligby, which nettles him to the 
 heart. He is too finical for Lord Townshend, who makes 
 
 *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 sur- 
 vivor of them of some office of at least £500 a year. If no vacancy oc- 
 curred, 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.
 
 XVI LIFE OF 
 
 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* at a distant day. The Prime Serjeant invites 
 all the officers of State ; Mrs. Hutchinson is in a flarry ; 
 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."t 
 
 Another note in "Baratariana" records that Tisdall, 
 whose Government salaries exceeded £5,000 a year, had 
 also a reversion of the Alnager's place, with its £1,000 
 a year, on the death of Hutchinson ; and this mutuality of 
 
 * Palmerston, the Provost's private country residence, was a noble and 
 beautifully situated mansion on the banks of the Liffcy, between Cha- 
 pelizod and Lucan. It is now occupied by Stewart's Idiot Asylum. 
 
 t Tisdall did not outlive him, and Hutchinson got the Principal 
 Secretaryship.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XVll 
 
 Reversions, no doubt, accounts for the warm affection 
 that subsisted between Hutchinson and Tisdall. Blac- 
 quieregot the Alnagership as the price of the Provostship, 
 as before mentioned. Besides the Alnagership Hut- 
 chinson was obliged also to resign the Prime Ser- 
 jeancy, which was given to Dennis ; but even in re- 
 gard of emolument the Provostship was well worth these 
 two sacrifices, the united income of which was only £1,300. 
 He retained his sinecure of £1,800 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 £1,000 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 £6,000 a year, together with the Provost's House, 
 while his eldest son was Commissioner of Accounts, with 
 £500 a year, and with the reversion of the Second 
 Remembrancership of the Exchequer, worth £800 a year, 
 and his second son had a troop of dragoons.* 
 
 " 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," 
 
 * 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 Speaker- 
 ship 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 Hut- 
 chinson, Tisdall, Flood, &c.
 
 XYlll LIFE OF 
 
 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 Hiber- 
 nian Journal and Freeman's Journal,* and the two 
 volumes, which appeared in 1776, were announced as 
 "A collection of fugitive pieces published since the appoint- 
 ment of the present Provost." The collection was dedi- 
 cated to " J-n H-y H-n, Doctor of Laws, P.T.O., 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 Remem- 
 brancer of the Exchequer, Secretary of State, one of His 
 Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and Searcher, 
 Packer, and Ganger of the Port of Strangford."t 
 
 * 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 " Prauceriana." — [Freeman's Journal, June 9th, 
 1777.] 
 
 t The Pranceriana Poetica, or Prancer's Garland, published in 1779, 
 
 opens, 
 
 A harlequin pi"ovost, coguomine 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, com2)trollcr and ganger ; 
 
 A speedier, a critic, prescriber of rules ; 
 
 A founder of fencing and 'questrian schools.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XIX 
 
 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, 
 Ombfe, 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 
 
 If various employments can gire 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 CoUtction) 
 
 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 BailiflF 
 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. CD., afterwards Bishop of 
 Killala, says that the engra\angs were made by his brother, Mr. Frede- 
 rick Stock, who kept a woollen dx'aper'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 j 
 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. — Mode- 
 rator, Prancer, and Hipparchus = the Provost ; Dr. Pomposo and Men- 
 dex = 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.
 
 XX LIFE OF 
 
 from the Erasmus Smith board, of which he was treasurer, 
 Ithe £200 a year for the oratory and composition premiums,* 
 as well as the £^^,500 for building the theatre, which 
 Duigenan declares the College did not want. He estab- 
 lished also the Modern Languages Professorships, the 
 latter-day English Parliament treatment of which is such a 
 curious passage in the history of the University. " Pran- 
 ceriana" admits, too, that by the Provost the park was 
 walled in, t 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."J 
 
 * " Pranceriana Pcotica" says that the Provost multipHed the compo- 
 sition premiums as means of bribery. It gives one of the Provost's ad- 
 vertisements (1777) : " Any student may be a candidate for all, or for 
 a7iy more of the said premiums !" 
 
 t In Sir Bernard de Gomme's map of the city and harbour of Dublin, 
 in 167.3, given in Mr. Prendergast's edition of " Tlie Scandinavian King- 
 dom of Dul)lin," p. 229, the college park is marked as set out in paddocks. 
 Dr. Stubbs says that the park was thrown into its present chamjjaign 
 form, laid out, and planted in the year 1722, as appears from " Win- 
 stanley's Poems," vol. i., p. 269. Dublin : 1742. 
 
 X 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
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXI 
 
 The "" Lachrymte," 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 enve- 
 nomed 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, de- 
 fames 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 
 
 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 endea- 
 voured 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 extraordi- 
 nary magnificence of living.(l) His table was furnished with everything 
 that splendour could suggest, or luxury could conceive, and his posi- 
 tion and policj'' 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 iv fidelity.'" Tisdall was depicted in " Baratariana" also. In 
 
 (1) In the pre-Union times, when a home parliament secured the residence of our 
 aristocracy and gentry, Dublin Tvas famous for its fashion and hospitalities. Primate 
 St one 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 magjiijtque. 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 
 V iceroyalty at Delville, fed their own deer, and went about in a coach-and-six. Luke 
 Gardiner's {Lord Mountjoy) house in the Phanix 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 Eevels, and Surveyor-General of Customs.
 
 XXll LIFE OF 
 
 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 " Lachrymse" records all this in piquant and en- 
 tertaining 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 adminis- 
 
 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 denj\" 
 
 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, boj's ; 
 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 Capcl-street, and 
 thence entered Trinity College as a fellow-commoner in 1718. His Ma- 
 triculation is:— "1718, Nov. 11th. Philip Tisdel. Soc. Com. Edu- 
 catus 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 cxem])lilied in the case of Grattan and 
 Fitzgiljbon [see note D], Ix'ing a fellow-commoner's privilege. In 1739, 
 Tisdall was elected simultaneously M.l'. for Armagli and for the Uni- 
 versity. He chose the latter, and succeeded in a parliamentary petition 
 against Alexander Macaulay. lie afterwards contested the scat sue-
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. xxiii 
 
 tration, economies, and discipline of the College a 
 hundred years ago. It begins with reciting the naked 
 and unprincipled manceuvre with Sir John Blacquiere, 
 the Chief Secretary* 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 
 
 cessfully 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 coimtry 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 177*2, which is in the Public Record OfBce, 
 he leaves a remembi'ance 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 
 Ardagli, and of the Chapel Royal, Dublin, and afterwards of London- 
 derry. — [Burke's Landed Gentry, Art., "Tighe of Mitchelstown ;" Life 
 of Charlemont. Life of Shelbourne, Record Office, and S. Bride's Register.] 
 • See note E.
 
 XXIV LIFE OF 
 
 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 £1,200 per annum. 
 
 Duigenan says that whilst the bargain was in agi- 
 tation 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 Pro- 
 vostship, and was put off with a vice-treasurership, 
 and a salary of £3,500 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.* 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 
 
 * Flood, who did not get the provostship, bequeathed, by his will, in 
 1701, to the college, his estate inKilkenny, worth £5,000 a year, to found 
 and endow a professorship of the Erse or Irish language, and to estab- 
 lish a library of manuscrijjts and books in tliat language, and in the 
 modern polished languages. Provost Hutchinson did not leave a shilling 
 to the college. Flood's bequest fell througli owing to his illegitimacy. 
 He entered Trinity College as a fellow commoner, completed his junior 
 sophister terms, and then migrated arf eM7icie«w to Oxford. — [Flood's "Life 
 of Flood," and Webb's " Com. Biog."]
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXV 
 
 declares that he would have preferred the appointment of 
 an Oxford or Cambridge clergyman. 
 
 In the Gazette announcement of Hutchinson's appoint- 
 ment 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* — and that, as the climax of 
 the prostitution, he himself, Duigenan, in his capacity of 
 Eegins Professor of Civil Law, had officially presented 
 Blacquiere for the honour !t 
 
 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,:}: almost absolutely, the manage- 
 ment 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 
 
 • He was a Commissioner of Barracks ; as was also Sir Here. Lan- 
 grishe. Langrishe was, besides, Commissioner of Revenue and Commis- 
 sioner of Excise. 
 
 t 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 cpmmuuity, dishonouring 
 ^fSsentations to honorary degrees. ^ |V\ ^(feWlH/W!^ 
 
 X See page liii. » » 'i ▼! ' fl 

 
 XXVI LIFE OF 
 
 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* 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 £40 a year, but the seniors at that 
 
 * In 1726, Primate Boulter wrote that unless a new Englishman was 
 appointed to a then vacant bishopric there would be thirteenlrish bishops 
 to nine English, to the Primate's greatdismay. 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 fel- 
 lows of the University, viz., Drs. Howard, Synge, Clayton, Whitcombe 
 (Archbishop of Cash el), 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-in- 
 formed 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 gi'cat 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. — llJaUiday 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]
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXVll 
 
 time handed over to thetn the pupils to help their scanty 
 maintenances.* 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 claim- 
 ing 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, Pro- 
 vost Hely Hutchinson did not traffic — and Duigenan's 
 statements are borne out by the evidence before the parlia- 
 mentary committee.! 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 £300, while Leland and others owed more. 
 
 * 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, 
 t See page xlv, &c.
 
 XXVlll LIFE OF 
 
 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 £3,000 
 actual, and £6,000 on the calculation of contingencies. 
 The Provostship was worth£2.100 a year, besides a splendid 
 residence. A Senior-Fellowship, we are told, was worth 
 £700 a year; a Junior-Fellowship, including pupils, £200; 
 Scholars had free commons, and there were thirty Native 
 Places, with £20 a year each additional ; the Beadle of the 
 University had £20 a year ; the Porters £5 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 Dui- 
 genan 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.* He declares that from the rent-raising there re- 
 
 • 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 Armagli, Kerry, and Donegal. The follow- 
 ing statement gives in round numbers the acreage and rental : —
 
 PROVOST HELT HUTCHINSON. XXIX 
 
 suited 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."* 
 
 The "Lachrym^" 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 tlie college of £400. f 
 
 Rent 
 Acres. Rent. per acre. 
 
 Armagh, ... ... ... 23,000 £9,600 8s. 4d. 
 
 Kerry, ... ... ... 60,000 11,500 3s. lOd. 
 
 Donegal, ... ... ... 62,700 9,000 2s. lOd. 
 
 Total, ... ... 145,700 .£30,100 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, 1S82, and also " Statement to the Chief Secretary."— i^reema?t, 
 March, 15, 1882.] 
 
 * The renewal fines in 1850 averaged £6,700 a year. The arbitration at 
 that time between the College and the tenants cost tiie College £3,000. — 
 [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.] 
 
 t This charge, as it stands, rests on a slender foundation, and is very 
 misleading. The catalogue of tlie College plate, which, to guard against 
 such imputations in future, Mr. Kingston, the Chief Stewai'd, 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. Kingston'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.
 
 XXX LIFE OF 
 
 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 Pro- 
 vost's power by being married, and Duigenan says that he 
 used the power tyrannically.* A Fellow going out on a 
 living was allowed only five months' benefit of salary.t 
 
 Duigenan seems to hold the Provost responsible for the 
 '* mean and decayed" condition of the chapel, and he more 
 than once rails athim for being of mean parentage. J He finds 
 
 The collection of plate is abundant, and the stoi'e 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 gi-a- 
 duation. 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 assort- 
 ment 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 pro- 
 duce was invested in the purchase of land. In 1689, when James II. 
 seized on the College, the Vice-Provost and Fellows sold £30 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 Cus- 
 tom House by Col. Luttrel, King James's Governor of the city, but it was 
 preserved and afterwards restored to the College. — [See Mr. Ilingston's 
 Catalogue and Coll. Cal. List of Fellows, 1689.] 
 
 * In 1775, seven marriage dispensations by King's Letters were ob- 
 tained. — [Lib. Mun.] 
 
 t In 1796, the term of grace was extended to a twelvemonth by a 
 King's Letter. — [Lib. Mun. ] 
 
 J 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 
 a.s 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 I'elationship, thanked the author,
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXXI 
 
 that since the time of Charles I. no Provost, except Hut- 
 chinson and his predecessor, had ever sat in the House of 
 Commons. He is obliged to admit that Dr. Andrews' con- 
 duct 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 retire- 
 ment 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 profes- 
 sorship of horsemanship after the example of Oxford, and 
 he had desecrated the Convocation or Senate Hall by 
 
 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 unquestion- 
 able. 
 
 " '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 Mui'phy's daughter 
 
 A washing pratips forenint the door, 
 
 With Roger Cleary, and Father Healy, 
 
 All blood relations to my Lord Dououghmore. 
 
 Oh, UUagoane." 
 
 Lord Hutchinson always heartily enjoyed this verse, which has be- 
 come completely identified with Milliken's song. — (See Crofton Croker'a 
 "Popular Songs of Ireland." pp. 144-8.) 
 
 Father Prout has not translated this verse. Why does not Professor 
 Tyrrell render it, Gronce et Latine ?
 
 XXXU LIFE OF 
 
 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.* 
 
 We are told further by Duigenan that the number of 
 students then on the college books was 598, of whom 228 
 were intern. t We see by the Liber Munerum Hibernice 
 that by 1792 the number of students had so much in- 
 creased, 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 " P. 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 
 
 • 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. 
 
 t The number now is 1 , 3.38, of whom 789 are" Residents" — i.e., living 
 within reach of College opportunities. [See Dr. Ilaughton's return ana- 
 lysis, quoted in the Freemaiis 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.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXXlll 
 
 candidates for Fellowship a copy of the questions which he 
 was to give in Moral Science for the ensuing examinations ;* 
 and Duigenan openly says that the Provost was deter- 
 mined 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. Hutchi- 
 son." Duigenan gives a long list of the Provost's in- 
 solences 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 Shewb ridge 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 torch- 
 light 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 
 
 * See page xlv.
 
 XXXIV LIFE OF 
 
 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 con- 
 sent 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.* 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 Duige- 
 nan 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 
 
 • On this Visitation " Pranc. Poet." has — 
 
 " Disgrac'd by libels, woiTied by his foes 
 Poor Prancer labours under endless woes ; 
 He therefoi'e only supplicates your (J race 
 That right or wrong you'll keep him in his place." 
 The Visitation lasted five days, and was held before Primate Robin- 
 son 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.
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXXV 
 
 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 
 £460 a year.* 
 
 The "LachrymaB Academicas" shows how Duigenan 
 spent the leisure hours of his enforced retirement. 
 
 It was dedicated to King George HI. 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 paste- 
 board Goliath. As this remedy might fail, from the un- 
 certainty 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 Lachrymoe 
 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 : — 
 
 * A King's Letter was obtained for raising the salary for this special 
 occasion. — Lib. Man.
 
 XXXVl LIFE OF 
 
 " Whereas, a pamphlet hath lately been published in the 
 city of Dublin, with the title of" Lachrymge Academicse," 
 to which the name of Patrick Duigenan, LL.D., is pre- 
 fixed as author, traducing the character of the Eight 
 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 prose- 
 cuted in the course of law, and that orders to that pur- 
 pose 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 Jour- 
 nal, 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, ' Lachrymee Academicse ; or, the present de- 
 plorable 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 ]\Ir. Berwick), against the 
 opinions of Mr. Clement, the Vice-Provost, of Dr. Murray, 
 and Dr. Kearney. It is also necessary to observe that
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXXVll 
 
 three of these gentlemen who voted for the above resolu- 
 tion are persons whom I have declared my intention, in 
 my book, of accusing, before the Visitors, of having com- 
 mitted unstatutable crimes ; which intention I shall most 
 certainly execute.* 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 Eegistrar 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 Michael- 
 mas 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 
 *' Lachrymse," and the application was granted. The 
 same time Barry Yelverton, on the part of Dr. Arthur 
 Browne, Fellow, and Member for the University, moved 
 
 * 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."
 
 XXXVlll LIFE OF 
 
 for an information against the Hibernian Journal, and Fitz- 
 gibbon 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 " Lachrymce," when Judge 
 Eobinson 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."* 
 
 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 tlie 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 attend- 
 ance on the six different suits promoted against him on 
 very unaccountable motives. 
 
 • Walker's Hiber. Mag. 177-8.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. XXXIX 
 
 The Court of King's Bench made the rule against him 
 absolute, but the proceedings coUapsed in consequence of 
 Tisdall's death.* 
 
 Duigenan says that Hutchinson was once publicly chas- 
 tised 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 im- 
 postor, 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 " Bound 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 Grovernment impossible" if the Viceroy, Lord 
 Buckingham, were to venture to punish any of them. 
 Fitzgibbon, then Attorney-Greneral, mercilessly crushed 
 and humbled the " Parliamentary Whiteboys ;" he made 
 the synagogue of Satan come and worship before his feet,"^ 
 and the most abject of the recreants was the Provost. f 
 
 To secure the control of the parliamentary representa- 
 
 * Grattan's Life, and Hlh. Mag. 
 
 The Round Robiners probably bethought of the case of 1 753 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 17S9 
 had to deal with John Fitzgibbon. — [See "Plowden," p. 311, &c.] 
 
 t Froude, vol. ii ., p. 509.
 
 Xl LIFE OF 
 
 tion of the University was, as has been said, one of Hut- 
 chinson's dearest plans. The pursuit of it led him, 
 according to all accounts, into some of his most dis- 
 honourable 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 emis- 
 saries everywhere ; and through them as well as by his own 
 direct efforts he instituted an all-pervading system of cor- 
 ruption. He knew how to make subtle but palpable ad- 
 vances 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 discip- 
 lines were enforced against those who were disposed to assert 
 their independence in exercising the franchise. By an unscru- 
 pulous use of both his patronage, and his powers as Peturn- 
 ing 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 
 Pichard against Tisdall, the Attorney-General. Tisdall 
 lodged a petition in June, which the House ordered to be con- 
 sidered in July, but before that day the Parliament was pro- 
 rogued, 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
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. xli 
 
 conducted the'petition, and thereby established his position 
 as a lawyer. He was elected for the University in 
 Hutchinson's room, and the foundation ot his coming great- 
 ness was laid.* 
 
 EichardHutchinson.it maybe obseryed.fell back onSlio-o. 
 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 con- 
 stituency. 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 Eev. Edward Berwick, 
 whose case is related in the " Lachrymge," took an action 
 against the Keturning 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, with- 
 out costs. t 
 
 * 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. [Free7naii's Journal, Jan. 
 4, 1780.] 
 
 t Walker's Hibernian Magazine, Freeman's Journal, and Exshaw's 
 Magazine.
 
 xlii LIFE OF 
 
 After the disastrous parliamentary petition of 1778, the 
 Provost took no family part in the College elections until 
 the year 1 790, 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.^ 
 
 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), Eight 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 
 ofBcer was his father the Provost. There was a powerful 
 bar. Beresford Burston, Michael Smith (afterwards 
 Master of the Rolls), PeterBarrowes, and William Conyng- 
 ham Plunket, were for the petitioners ; Tankerville Cham- 
 berlain (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 Greorge, Recorder of Dublin (and afterwards Baron 
 of the Exchequer), were for the Provost. The total consti- 
 tuency was 92, and out of these *' 84 and no more" ten- 
 dered their votes. Arthur Browne was returned at the head 
 of the poll by 62 votes. Parsons had 4.'), 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 
 
 • "The case of the Borough of Trinity College, near Dublin, as heard 
 before a fcjclect Committee of the House of Commons, a.d. 1791."
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. xHii 
 
 son by a majority of two over Parsons. Against this re- 
 turn 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 elec-ors ; 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 un- 
 due influence. He gave numerous instances of the Pro- 
 vost'sabuse of his powers inthe matters of "non-coing" and 
 leaves of absence. He complained of his rejecting votes on 
 the gi'ound of minority on the evidence chiefly of the Matri- 
 culation-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 
 man}'^ curious and interesting facts relative to college men 
 and college administration a hundred years ago. For in- 
 stance, Mr. Fox, in arguing against the right of Scholars, 
 being minors, to vote, referred to the election of 1739,
 
 xliv LIFE OF 
 
 when Alexander MacAulay, Dean Swift's nominee,* was 
 elected against Philip Tisdall ; and when the election 
 was set aside by the House of Commons on account of 
 the vote of Mr. Sullivant (afterwards Professor of Laws), 
 who, being elected a Fellow at nineteen years of age in 1738, 
 w^as 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- Greneral, 
 Tisdall, on account of the latter's hesitancy about the 
 Octennial Bill. It was argued further that the Matricu- 
 lation-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 mem- 
 bers to represent the University. 
 
 Mr. MillerJ deposed that he was applied to by the Pro- 
 vost for his vote, and that he was offered a copy of the 
 
 * Swift niade an eager canvass for Mac Anlay, 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 Univer- 
 sity. The piince complied with the request, and Tisdall's supporters 
 sent over a remonstrance. — [" Swift's Letters."] 
 
 t This Francis Stougliton Sullivan got Scholarship, in 1744, at fifteen, 
 and was probably one of tlie youngest Scholars and the youngest Fellow 
 in the college records. 
 
 ; 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.")
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. xIy 
 
 Provost's fellowship examination questions in Morality,* 
 *'an advantage," said Burro wes, "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 
 
 * "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 examina- 
 tion. 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 i-ecourse to the unprincijjled 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 autliorities 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 con- 
 troversy days with Mr. Ward, the author of the "Ideal;" and, mean- 
 while, Mr. Aldred is now about to bring his case before the public, with 
 the protest that he has been condemned unheard, after challenging in- 
 vestigation, and that he is able and willing to meet every charge brought 
 against him." — IFreeman's Journal, Jan. 13th, 1882.]
 
 xlvi LIFE OF 
 
 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."* James Helj, 
 a Scholar, was a Catholic in Limerick, and had conformed 
 in St. Werburgh's Church, in Dublin, to the Eev. Mr. 
 L'Estrange, curate. The petitioners strove to disqualify 
 Hely " for Popery," but his conformity was admitted by 
 the committee. 
 
 Mr. Grraves, 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 
 tlie majority of the Board. Dr. Hales' pupils were worth 
 £500 or £600 a year to him ;t and on his resignation the 
 
 * 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, detri- 
 mental 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 exist- 
 ence 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 1702. 
 
 t 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. — [ Wo7-ks, vol. xiii.,'p. 82.] 
 
 Duigenan, in 1777, reckoned Pr. Leland's Senior Fellowship at " .£800, 
 one year with another." — [Lachri/ma;.] 
 
 In 1777, it was considered surprising that Dr. Leland refused the 
 living of Bcnburb, worth £1,000 a year, wliile his college income fell 
 sliort of £700 a year. — ^Exshau^s Maijazine, 1777.]
 
 PROVOST HELT HUTCHINSON. xlvii 
 
 Provost claimed the power of distributing his pupils 
 amongst the other Fellows. Hales had sixty or seventy 
 pupils. Fellow-commoners paid £12, pensioners £6, 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 £16 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 sys- 
 tem of '* non-coing." A Scholar's non-co was worth £16 
 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£2l
 
 xlviii LIFE OF 
 
 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.* 
 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 Pro- 
 vost'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 arithme- 
 tical evidence of Miller and Magee, and was followed by 
 Mr. Chamberlaine for the sitting Member. Mr. Burrowes 
 
 * In 1713, Swift wrote to Stella : — "I have been employed in endeavour- 
 ing 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 Euniskillen School, 11 U."— [Journal, 
 Letter Ixii., March 29th.]
 
 PROVOST HELT HUTCHINSON. xlix 
 
 closed the argument in a very eloquent speech, which was 
 as severe on the Provost as the "Lachrymge" or " Pran- 
 ceriana" 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 investi- 
 gation 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 de- 
 populated, and its only remaining trace would be the 
 octennial convention of an unresisted Provost, and un- 
 resisting 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,* 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 
 
 * He got Scholarship along with his brother Robert, in 1775. The 
 brothers Roberts, the present Senior Fellows, did the same in 1S36.
 
 1 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 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* who appeared before this Committee have 
 been Scholars of the University. "f 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 Scho- 
 lars. 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 ; 
 tliat he was duly elected a burgess to represent the Univer- 
 sity in the present Parliament ; and that the Provost, as 
 Returning Officer of the University, acted legally and 
 impartially at and before the election," 
 
 * Denis George's name does not appear in the list of scholars. He 
 took his B.A. in 1773. Neither does Tanker ville Chamberlain's. He 
 graduated in 1774, 
 
 t From the ranks of the Scholars have proceeded 13 Provosts, 199 
 Fellows ; 1 Archbishop ; IG Bishops, of whom two held English sees ; 
 4 Lord Chancellors ; 2 Lords Justices; 29 Judges ; 27 M.P.'s ; 4 Vice- 
 Chanccllors; 18 Deans; 14 Governors, &c., of Britisli 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.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. 11 
 
 Perhaps the most significant fact evolved by the in- 
 vestigation was that some of the Scholars were Catholics, 
 the Statutes and the Anglican Sacrament notwith- 
 standing. There was no reserve in the statement, and no 
 remark on it was made by any member of Committee.* 
 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,t and this coincides entirely with the 
 famous declaration of Fitzgibbon. In 1782, speaking on 
 Grardiner's Bill, in the Irish House of Commons, as 
 Member for the University, he asserted that " the Univer- 
 sity of Dublin was already open, by connivance, and that 
 no religious conformity was required." It is not easy to re- 
 concile 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 contrai-y, 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. J 
 
 That debate, it may be noticed, is memorable for the cor- 
 
 * It is even more remarkable that this matter was not mentioned 
 by Duigenan. 
 
 t 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. 
 
 It: 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
 
 lii LIFE OF 
 
 dial 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 Col- 
 lege 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 Grraduates could be supplied for as many curacies 
 as had the legal allowance of £50 a year.^ 
 
 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 exclusive- 
 ness 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 ;t 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 
 
 was administered (see " History of University," Coll. Gal., 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 liledges of Conformity. 
 
 * Parliamentary Debates. 
 
 t William Conyngham, Lord, and Lord Chancellor Plunket was the 
 Bon of the Rev. Thomas Plunket, minister of the Strand-street Uni- 
 tarian Congregation, who died on the 18tli Sept., 1776. There is a very 
 eulogistic notice of him iu the Freeman's Journal of the date.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Hii 
 
 College, Dublin, is invested with a negative on the pro- 
 ceedings of the Senior Fellows by the Charter and 
 Statutes of the College." 
 
 The pamphlet is traditionally ascribed to the Rev. Gr. 
 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 committe, and which are more fully stated 
 in the " Lachrymse " 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 main- 
 tains 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 Corpo- 
 ration, e argues very closely and clearly to this pur- 
 pose in regard of elections especially, from the grammatical 
 meaning of " una, cum" and ^'cwn;" 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 con- 
 vincing in his solution of the last clause of the statute be- 
 ginning " Quod si prhno!'* 
 
 * 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 quern, vel quos 
 major pars Sociorum Seniorum und cum FrceposUo, vel eo ahsente, Vice 
 Frceposito consensisse deprehendetur, is, vel illi pro electo vel electis habean- 
 tur, et mox pronunciahuntur a Prceposito. Quod si primo, vel Secundo Scru- 
 tinio electorum major pars, cnm Praposito, vel eo ahsente, Vice Frceposito 
 non consenserint, eo casu in lertio Scrutinio, is, vel illi pro electo, vel electis sun- 
 to, quem, vel quos, Prcepositus, vel eo ahsente Vice Prapositus, nominabit." 
 [Caput XXV. De Elect, form, et temp.]
 
 liv LIFE OF 
 
 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 Kil warden, 
 Lord Chief Justice), and others. 
 
 The three questions were : (1) Had the Provost an abso- 
 lute negative on Board Proceedings ? (2) Was he con- 
 cluded by the concurring votes of five Senior Fellows? 
 (3) Could he nominate Fellows and Scholars to the exclu- 
 sion of a candidate by a majority of the electors ? 
 
 The first and tliird were answered in the negative ; and 
 the second in the affirmative by all tlie lawyers.'^ 
 
 While all these people were amusing themselves anato- 
 mising 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, v/hich 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. 
 
 * See also "An Enquiry how far the Provost of Trinity College is in- 
 vested with a negative on the Proceedings of the Senior Fellows" (17*J0), 
 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.]
 
 PHOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Iv 
 
 James Mills, ducked under the College pump. This smash- 
 ing article is No. 27 in the " Pranceriana Collection," and 
 it certainly is a notable piece of criticism. It was attri- 
 buted 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 tliat 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, more- 
 over, in a signal degree, the undaunted personal courage
 
 Ivi LIFE OP 
 
 which, as mentioned further on,^ was inherited by hig 
 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.f He knew how to 
 make himself both dreaded and desired by the Govern- 
 ment, 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 con- 
 temporary works, and these descriptions, while they make 
 no secret of his rapacity, present a strong reverse side to 
 the " Pranceriana" picture. | 
 
 Thus Hardy§ says: "John Hely Hutchinson, father to 
 the Earl of Donoughmore and Lord Hutchinson, intro- 
 
 * Note A. 
 
 t 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 in- 
 terpretation 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 figlit with 
 his second, because he " had too great a regard for him to kill him." 
 
 X In George Faulkner's " Ei)istle to Howard" (1771), contained in the 
 Halliday Collection in the Boyal 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 i)i'oiniscuous i^age alone 
 By letters J. H. H. art known." 
 § [ " Life of Lord Charlemont."]
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ivii 
 
 duced a classical idiom into the House of Commons. No 
 member was ever more extolled than he was ou his first 
 appearance there. He opposed Grovernment on almost 
 every question, but his opposition was of no long con- 
 tinuance. 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 mem- 
 bers 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 parlia- 
 mentary 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 suc- 
 cessful 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 sup- 
 port of Government Hutchinson had always something to 
 
 d
 
 Iviii LIFE OF 
 
 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 Secre- 
 tary 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 son s (Francis [?], afterwards Lord Donough- 
 more, and the one afterwards Lord Hutchinson) voted in 
 tlie minority with the patriots." 
 
 Tlie 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
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Hx 
 
 time it calls him a rank courtier, and recites most of the 
 "Pranceriana" and "Lachrymae" tattle against him. 
 
 Grattan and G rattan's son held a very hig-h 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 Dingenan, as a truculent and coarse vulgarian. It 
 is in Grattan's "Life" that we are told about Duigenau'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.* 
 
 Grattan says that Hutchinson supported every honest 
 measure — all the main and essential ones, such as the 
 Claim of Eight, Free Trade, the Catholic Bills, Eeform, 
 and the Pension Bill, "^e was the servant of many 
 governments, hut 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. 
 Gratta;n considered that his chief fault was want of open- 
 ness 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 na- 
 tional presentation in 1782. 
 
 Taylorf 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 
 
 » See Note C. 
 
 t "History of the University of Dublin," p. 253, &c.
 
 Ix LIFE OF 
 
 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,""^ 
 
 Dr. Willst gives Provost Hely Hutchinson a very high 
 place amongst the eminent men of the country, and men- 
 tions his eloquence and college reforms as well as his greed. 
 
 Even Mr. Froude,J 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,§ who, as he got Scholar- 
 ship in 1744, was a college class-fellow of Hutchin- 
 son, 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 constitu- 
 tional grounds, and by the Attorney General (Tisdall) on 
 
 ' "Froude," vol. ii. p. 104. 
 t "Distinguished Irishmen,"' vol. v. p. 233, &c. 
 I " English in Ireland," passim. 
 
 § Barre was over here at tliat time as Vice-Treasurer, 4c. He received 
 the Freedom of Dublin iu 1776.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixi 
 
 grounds that left him free to support the Bill afterwards 
 if it were his interest to do so.* 
 
 * 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 thi'ough the Irish Parliament. Lord 
 Shelbourne, the English Home Secretary, wrote to Lord Lieutenant 
 Townshend (March 1768) (a) that hewouldnot hearof Malone's andHutch- 
 inson'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 re- 
 jected 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 
 
 (a) " Life of Shelbourne," vol. ii., p. 12.
 
 Ixii LIFE OF 
 
 " The Prime Serjeant (Hutchinson) " says Barre " was 
 not so prudent* (as Tisdall), and opposed it in a long, lan- 
 guid speech, full of false calculations; among the rest this 
 curious one, that adding £40,000 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 £1,800,000 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.f He talks now of being 
 dismissed. His profit by his employment is trifling, not 
 above three or four hundred a year.| 
 
 " 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 
 
 ■was twice publicly thanked by the people of Dublin. — {Plowden and 
 Mitchell.'] 
 
 Ill 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. 
 
 * In the debate (1772) on the Altered Money Bill, Hutchinson seems 
 to have recovered his prudence. 
 
 t Another page shows how he was compensated for this ' ' trifling profit" 
 ©f the Prime Serjeancy. 
 j 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 whetiier 'twas naugiit, 
 Or whether he'd vote for it, or whether he'd not 
 
 He'd neither assert nor deny."
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixili 
 
 be 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.* 
 
 " 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," con- 
 tinues 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 Manu- 
 scripts 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! of the Plouse : — "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.' " 
 
 * One of the rewards that Hutchinson demanded from the Government 
 as the price of his sujiport was, tliat 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.] 
 
 t See note E.
 
 Ixiv LIFE OF 
 
 Two years later, Hamilton wrote to Pery about the col- 
 lapse 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 Chancellor- 
 ship 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."^ 
 
 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 liberal spirit, and generously granted to 
 the lad not only a remission of fees, but free rooms and 
 free commons as well.f 
 
 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), tliat it was tlie most import- 
 ant 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 
 
 * Froude, vol. ii., p. 50. 
 
 t [PlovKlen.^ In 1736 the Board granted an allowance of £100 a year 
 to Mr. Dunkin (who was Hall's predecessor in the Great Ship-street 
 School), ou Swift's appeal. — [Sec HwifCs LcUers.\
 
 PEOVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. IxV 
 
 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 sen- 
 tences are often slovenly and sometimes ungrammatical, 
 he could write forcibly and clearly, as well as speak per- 
 suasively 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, an- 
 other 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 Eane- 
 lagh. 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
 
 Ixvi LIFE OF 
 
 and gentry. The elegance of the entertainment cannot be 
 described, and is imagined to stand the College in no less 
 than £700.* 
 
 In 1791 a Visitation by Lord Chancellor Lord Clare as 
 Vice-Chaucellor, and Dr. Fowler, Archbishop of Lublin, 
 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 17iJ0. The Visitors 
 ruled that the question was not open to discussion, in con- 
 sequence 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 Prcejjoaito 
 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 nega- 
 tive 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 tlie majority of tlie Board. The Lord 
 Chancellor Ijewailed the internal dissensions, alluded to 
 his " own education in the College, and declared tliat there 
 was not another University in Europe better calculated 
 
 * Walk. Hib. Mail. 1777.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixvil 
 
 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, acknow- 
 ledged the compliment with becoming pride and dignity. 
 The Provost's last reported appearance in parliament was 
 on the Cth of July, 1703, 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 
 Grrattan, 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 £1,300 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 prevail- 
 ing against him. 
 
 * Walk. Hih. Mag. 1791.
 
 Ixviii LIFE OF 
 
 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 Greorge 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 Seijeancy and later from the Exchequer Chan- 
 cellorship 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,* and making it, what Sir Arthur Wellesleyt forty 
 years after found it, an English state department. J 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. § Down to Hutch- 
 inson's time the Lord Lieutenants were absentees, and the 
 
 * In 1771, John Ponsonby resigned the Speakership ratlier than pre- 
 sent to Lord Townshend the adulatory Address of tiie House of Com- 
 mons, and Pery was, by Government influence, elected in his room. 
 
 t See Wellington's Correspondence. 
 
 X Grattan said Townsend was a corrupter, and Buckingham a jobber 
 in a mask. 
 
 § On this prorogation, "Baratariana" has — 
 
 "Our worthy Lieutenant comes down totlie House, 
 Protests their proceedings are not worth a louse,
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixix 
 
 Lords Justices were the centre of the Junto of " Under- 
 takers" who undertook to the English Grovernment 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 ;* place holders in parliament were multiplied, and 
 the pension and salary lists increased in proportion.! To 
 
 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." 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t Out of 300 members 101 held places, and 120 wei'e 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. — [■Per;/.'] In 1789, Lord Jocelyn presented to the House, by 
 order, the list of pensions. The civil pensions amounted to .£97,850, and 
 the military pensions to £5,827. 
 
 In Grattan's Life, vol. iv., p. 14, the placemen in parliament are enu- 
 merated, 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 establish-
 
 IXX LIFE OF 
 
 lessen the balance available for this bribery, the surplus 
 revenue was expended in local and private jobs.* 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, com- 
 plaints of grievances were met by commendations of the 
 
 ment of Ireland — amongst them are : Keeper of the Signet, Under Sec- 
 retary of State for the Civil Department, do. for Military Do., Pursui- 
 vant, Master of the Grame, Interpreter of Irish tongne. Star Chamber, 
 with Commissioners, Marshals, clerks, &c., Courts of Wards and Liveries 
 with Masters ; fcedaries, &c. , the Court of Palatines, the Lord Almoner, 
 the Vice-Treasurer, Transcriptor and Foreign Apposer, Summonister 
 and Clerk of Esti-eats, the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture, Commis- 
 sioners of Wide Streets, Commissioners of Array, Constables of Castles, 
 Muster Master General, Commissioners for Victualling, Provincial Pro- 
 vost Martials, Alnager, Clerk of the Pells, Vice-treasurer, Clei'k of the 
 Lords, Clerk of the Commons, six Clerks of Chancery, Principal Secre- 
 taries 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 Privj' 
 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 tiie Revels, 
 Clerk of the Nickells, Exigenter, Clerk of the Outlawries, Clerk of the 
 Essions, Chirographers, Sirogi-aphers, &c., &c. 
 
 * The first real and important debate in the Irish Parliament was in 
 1753, on the Money Bill, on the Connnons' power to dispose of surplus 
 revenue. 
 
 Tlie beginning of useful practical legislation for the country was made 
 in 1757 by lidmund Scxtcn Pery's Land Carriage Act, giving bounties 
 on the land carriage of com to Dublin. In the same year he carried 
 another Act giving bounties on ship carriage of coal to Dublin.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixxi 
 
 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 Grardiner 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.* 
 
 To this change Hutchinson directly, and still more in- 
 
 * 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 qnam diu. 
 
 A great Catholic Relief Act, including education, was carried. 
 
 Parliamentary independence was achieved. 
 Qrattan's parliament did not keep up to this high level of public spirit. 
 It sank and perished by its own unreformed corruption.
 
 Ixxii LIFE OF 
 
 directly, contributed. He quickened tbe parliamentary 
 tone, and lifted its level. He was the father of the 
 cultivated style of oratory -which henceforward charac- 
 terised 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 effi- 
 ciently. 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 trafiicked, without satiety, in patents and 
 sinecures for himself and his sons, but he insisted on Free 
 Trade for Ireland.* 
 
 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 re- 
 markable age, and he sprung out of the conditions of a 
 period which he very much helped to mould. He was 
 
 *" 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 tlie 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 Serjcancy for say- 
 int^, " The English have sowed their laws like serpents' teeth and they 
 have sprung up in armed men."
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON". Ixxiii 
 
 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 mortifi- 
 cations. 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, afi'ection- 
 ate, gifted, and successful family, and he founded a peer- 
 age.^ 
 
 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 Grrattan, and, on essential matters touching the interests 
 and dignity of the counti'y, he gave Grattan a cordial and 
 effective support. The proudest passage in his life was 
 
 * One other provost, Archbishop Loftus ; one chancellor, Lord C'airns ; 
 two vice-chancellors, Bishop Jones and John Fitzgibbon ; one fellow, 
 Bishop Howard ; and three scholars, Yelverton, Wolfe, and Phuiket, 
 also founded noble houses.
 
 Ixxiv LirE OF 
 
 the day (16tli April, 1782) when, as Principal Secretary 
 of State, he read out to the Irish Parliament the king's 
 message, practically conceding independence.* 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. f 
 
 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 Bight Wor- 
 shipful 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 £5,000 to each 
 of his two eldest daughters, with 5 per cent, interest, and 
 £4,000 to each of the two younger. He left £5,000 to 
 Jiis son Francis, as engaged at the time of his marriage, 
 and to his sons John, Abraliain, Christopher, and Lorenzo 
 JJijUUO each ; £500 to Jane, eldest daughter of his worthy 
 
 • See the summary of his speech in riowden. 
 t See Note D.
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. IxXV 
 
 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 £5,000 on the whole. All his real and personal 
 estate,* 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 £5,000, 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 Grovernment ;t and he included it in the 
 bequest to Lord Donoughmore for the lives in being. lu 
 a codicil (1789) he bequeathed £200 each to John, and to 
 Abraham and Christopher while they sliall 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. lu a codicil of 1794, he left to 
 Abraham " whose health is delicate," £100 a year till he 
 shall obtain a net income of £200 yearly by some ecclesi- 
 astical preferment, this being in addition to the former 
 
 * It is not said what either the real or the personal estate amounted to. 
 In De Burgh's "Landowners of Ireland," the Donou^dunore property is 
 set down at 11,950 acres, with the Government valuation of l'10,4(iG. 
 The Tipperary portion is 4,711 acres, and £4,764. The other portions are 
 situate in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Louth, Mouahan, Waterford, 
 and Wexford. 
 
 t 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 Blai|uiere.
 
 Ixxvi LIFE OF 
 
 legacy.* To his butler he left £20 a year, and to another 
 servant £20, He desired his manuscript essay towards a 
 histor}'- of the Collegef to be published, being first perused 
 by his son. Lord Donoughmore.J 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 Hichard Hutchinson 
 of Knocklofty, in the county of Tipperary, Esq. Whereas 
 I liave this day executed a deed, whereby it appears that 
 there are several sums now affecting mj estate, and 
 amounting in the whole to the sum of ten thousand nine 
 liundred and fifty-two pounds four shillings and a farthing; 
 and whereas Ann Mauzy, widow, and Lewis Mauzy, her 
 son, liave 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 sliall 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 
 
 * nonlitlesR this is the " A. Hcly Ilutchiiison" whose autograph appears 
 in the Preaclier's Book of S. Bride's, Dublin, in the year 17D6. Under 
 the autograph there is written, in a different hand and in different ink, 
 " Now an officer in H. M.'s Service." 
 
 t Tiiis is the only mention of the College in tiie Will. The Provost 
 left it no becjuest, and did not even designate himself as Provost. 
 
 X This direction has never been carried out. Tlie IMS. is known to be in 
 existence ; and woidd it not be seemly and desirable to have it deposited 
 in tlie College Manuscript lloom ?
 
 PROVOST HELY HUTCHINSON. Ixxvii 
 
 proper to pay the said Ann Maiizy, 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. 
 
 "EICHARD HUTCHINSON."
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note A. Page x. 
 THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY. 
 
 The Provost left six sons and four daughters. Five of the sons 
 took degrees iu 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 ;andLorenzo Hely— B.A. 1 790. 
 
 RiCHAKD Hely, the eldest son, and the first Lord Donough- 
 more, was a Commissoner 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,hewas 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. Iu the following year took place the celebrated petition against
 
 IxXX NOTES. 
 
 his return, which is related in page xlii, Sec. lu 1790, 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'a Bill 
 for giving, or giving back, the franchise, &c., to the Catholics, 
 Mr. Froude says that : "Francis Hutchinson, the Provost's second 
 sou, soared into nationalist rhetoric. ' AVhen 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." — \_Unr//ish in Ireland, vol. iii., p. 63.] 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington, in his " Personal Sketches," tells of the duel 
 which Francis had at Donnybrook with Lord IMountmorris in 1798, in 
 which his lordsliip was wounded. 
 
 Christopheu Hely was called to the Bar, but never much relished 
 the profession, being altogether of a military turn. In 1705 he was 
 elected member for Taghmon, county Wexford, in the Irish parlia- 
 ment 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 Fitz- 
 william ; he mistrusted Lord Lieutenant Camden and Pitt, and he 
 opposed the Union scheme. lie is, however, far more celebrated as 
 a soldier than as a lawyer or politician, and in 1700 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 dis- 
 tinction. He joined him in Ireland as a voluntfH'r on the breaking 
 out of the disturbances in 1708 ; but both of tlie brothers speedily got 
 disgusted with the odious work, as did CornwalUa, and Moore, and 
 Abercrombie, and Lake, and every other high-minded soldier, includ- 
 ing Colin Campbell, afterwards in the tithe war. John soon got
 
 NOTES. Ixxxi 
 
 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 Hamp- 
 
 sted in 182o [Suppl. Biog. Unicer,'] 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 Hutchin- 
 sons and the English troops were defeated disgracefully. The Biog. 
 Uniier., however, luider " Christophe EUe JIafchinson Cinquieine fils 
 de Jean Elie JIutchinson, Prevot de I' TJniversite de Dublin," says : "// 
 eut part a V affaire de Castlebar et fit jirisonniers les deux Generaux 
 Franeais Lafontaine et Sorrazin an moment ou environne par leur corps 
 il se croj/nit et devoit se crolre perdu, et s'acquit ainsi Vestime de General 
 en Chef Lord Cormvallis." The writer confounds Castlebar with Bal- 
 linamuck. 
 
 Abraham Hely was Commissioner of Customs, and Port duties, 
 according to the Lib. Mun. and Sir Bernard liurke; 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 Wex- 
 ford, 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.]
 
 Ixxxii NOTES. 
 
 Mr. Froude cannot have read this speech. It is a fervid denunciation 
 of the penal laws, and of their cruelties and mischief ; atid it does not 
 " talk either Liberal cant or Papal syllabus." Colonel Hutchinson's 
 two speeclies on the Petition and on Langrishe's Bill, even as sum- 
 marised 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 I^afayette, and of his 
 ardent principles of popular liberty. Wlien in Paris he attached him- 
 self 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 par- 
 liament in 1800, and voted for the Union ! — [ Webb, and Barringtons 
 " 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 ener- 
 vated themselves by their licentious brutalities on a defencelet^s popu- 
 lation, 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 Eallinamuck, county Longford, where the French, including Gene- 
 rals Humbert, Sorrazin, and La Fontaine, laid down their arms. — 
 \_Coi-r)wa/lis\<i Correspondence, vol. ii., p. S9G; KniyJit's History of 
 England, vol. vii., p. 367 ; llavertt/s History of Ireland, ^^ 760; and 
 Bishop Stock's Narrative of Kiliala.'] 
 
 Hutchinson left the sickening Irish scenes, along with Abercrombie, 
 for Flanders, in the Duke of York's expedition. After that he accom- 
 panied 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 Knocklof ty ; and, notwithstanding these
 
 NOTES. Ixxxiii 
 
 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 tliat selected 
 the Chathams and Burrards. Lord Hutchinson was afterwards em- 
 ployed 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 Cap- 
 tain 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 E.. Wilson, effected Lav alette's escape from France, 
 after his deliverance from the Oonciergerie 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 Eng- 
 lish, 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 tliree 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 car- 
 riage with Wilson. He was willing to give a distinct answer to any 
 fair question about himself, but he peremptorily refused to say anything 
 thatwould 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 Ac-
 
 Ixxxiv NOTES. 
 
 cvsation, ExaminafAon, and Trial of Wilson, Hutchinson, and 
 Bruce.'] 
 
 Captain Hutchinson succeeded to tbe title in 1832. He lived and 
 died at Palmerston, and in Chapelizod cburcli a memorial tablet is 
 erected to him, with the followinjr inscription: — "Sacred to the 
 memory of John Hely Hutchinson, third Earl of Donoughniore, 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 L-ish 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 tlielrish Land Act. llislordship'sfather, 
 in 1854, moved the second reading of Lord Dufferin's Liberal " Leasing 
 Powers, and Landlord and TenantBills;" 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 Duffcrins Speeches and Addresses.'}
 
 NOTES. IXXXV 
 
 Note B. Pajre xxi. 
 DR. LELAND. 
 
 Duigenan's disparaging mention of Dr. Leland is one of the most 
 spiteful and uniiist of liis utterances. There does not seem to be any 
 proof that Leland was guilty of any Academic disloyalty in beino- 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, con- 
 stantly advocating the charities of the city, and although he did not 
 contribute to either Barafnricma or Prunceriana he was the most 
 learned Irish author of the period. Dr. Thomas Leland was born ia 
 Dublin in 1722, and was educated in Sheridan's famous school in 
 Capel-street. He entered College in 1737, got Scholarsliip in 1741, 
 and Fellowship in 174G. In 1706 he was appointed Southwell lecturer 
 in St. Werburgh's Church. He was Erasmus Smith Professor of Ora- 
 tory 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 iu the spirit 
 of Primate Boulter ; and like Delany, he may have hunted for a 
 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 rapacityof our Irish Ref ormationists, the frauds of Strafford, and the 
 barbarities of Cromwell. His book was furthermore quite a novelty in 
 regard of fresh material, ■end would be almost worth re-editing. After 
 Leland's death three volumes of his sermons were published, by sub- 
 scription, by M'Kenzie of Dame-street, and the list of subscribers con- 
 tains the names of Provost Hutchinson, the Vice-Provost, many of the
 
 IxXXYl NOTES. 
 
 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 (1767j 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 MS3., 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 
 Ur. 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 1705. 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 in- 
 dignant 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." — 
 \^liosv:ell.'\ 
 
 In the Anthologia Hihernicn for March, 1793, vol. i., p. 165, there 
 is a notice of Leland which sharply disparages his " History of Ireland.''
 
 NOTES. Ixxxvii 
 
 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.. 
 
 DE. 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 after- 
 wards 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, after- 
 wards an uslier in Buck's School in North King-street, and subsequently 
 Lord Chief Baron and Lord Avonmore.* In IZ.jG, Duigenan obtained 
 Scholarship ; in 1761, Fellowship ; and in 1776, he retired on the Pro- 
 fessorship of Laws, having been, in fact, turned out by Provost Hutch- 
 inson. He wasM.P. for Armagh, King's Advocate-General, Privy 
 
 ' Duigenan's matriculation is — 
 
 1753— June. Patricius Duigenan, Siz., Filius Annum agenslG. Educatussub 
 
 ferula Mr. Sheill. Natus in Comtu Dcrri. 
 
 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. 
 Ml. Egan. Natus in Comtu Cork. 
 
 Mr. Radci.ipfi:." 
 
 These two poor Sizar boys, one from the North and the other from the South — meeting 
 pi'obably 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.
 
 IxXXviii NOTES. 
 
 Councillor, Vicar-General, and Judge of the Prerotrative 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 Currau" that Duigenan once avowed in the 
 House of Commons that he was the sou of a parish clerk, and if so 
 the father must have held that office in Derry before he came to 
 Dublin. Dr. Madden's 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 tradi- 
 tion that the father was originally a Catholic and conformed. Grattan 
 savs 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 xvas like the unroUhuf of a mummy, vot/nny but old 
 bones and rotten rays," and that he had a vicious way of " gnawing 
 the names of papists." lie 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.* Fie 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 179U he 
 supported Toler's (Lord Norbury) Indemnity Bill, freeing all who in 
 17i)8 had committed illegal acts against the people. It must have 
 cost him some trouble of mind when, as Vicar-General in 1783, he had 
 
 * " Wellington Correspondence.''
 
 NOTES. Ixxxix 
 
 to license Dr. Betagh's Catholic School in Fishamble-street, as well as 
 eome 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." Duigeuan died at Sandymount in 1816, and 
 bequeathed his fortune to his first wife's nephew, Baron Smith. It 
 was a brave thing of Duigeuan 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 Ixxiv. 
 
 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 corres- 
 ponding 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 Gth (next 
 class). Educated by Mr. Ball. Tutor— Mr. 
 Law. Class begins July 8th, 1763. 
 
 "Brought over to this class, with five othtr>, 
 John Fitzgibbon, F.C. 
 
 « 1763. 
 "Henry Grattan, E.G., Nov. 1st, 6 a.m. Edu- 
 cated by Dr. Campbell. Tutor— Mr. Law." 
 These entries show that Fitzgibbon and Grattan en- 
 
 /
 
 XC NOTES. 
 
 tered 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, 
 Fitzgihbon, 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 : — 
 
 EXTEACTS FEOM THE EXAMINATION 
 BOOK, T.C.D. 
 
 "1764. 
 " Hilary Term — Junior Freshmen. 
 " 1st Division — Mr. Stock, Examiner. 
 "Mr. Fitzgibhon, 3 Y.B. 1 B. (i.e., ValdeBene 
 and Bene). 
 
 " Mr. Grattan, Y.B. in omnibus. Prsemium. 
 
 " 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 tor) the Examination. 
 "Mr. Fitzgibbon. 
 
 " Trinity Term. 
 
 "1st Division— Mr. Connor, Examiner. 
 
 " Mr. Fitzgibbon, 3 V.B., 1 B. Proemium. 
 
 "Mr. Grattan, V.B. in omnibus. Certificate. 
 
 " Kemarkably diligent at Greek Lecture — 
 
 " Mr. Grattan. 
 
 ' Michaelmas Examinations, October 19tli, 1764. 
 " 1st Division — Mr. Connor, Examiner. 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omnibus. Certificate. 
 "Mr. Grattan, 3 Y.B., 1 B.
 
 NOTES. XCl 
 
 " 1765. 
 
 " Hilary Term Examinations — Senior Freshmen. 
 
 " 1st Division — Mr. Smyth, Examiner. 
 
 " Mr. Fitzgibbon, V.B. in omn. Prsemium. 
 
 "Mr. Grattan, 3 V.B., IB. 
 
 ." Hilary Term — Senior Freshmen. 
 " Mr. Fitzgibbon, Th. for Gr.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. Prsemium. 
 
 "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, "Eem. 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, Eem. Th. for G.L. 
 "1766. 
 "Christmas Examinations (generally called
 
 XCll NOTES. 
 
 'Hilary'), January 20th, 1766. 
 " Junior Sopbisters — Mr. Law, Examiner. 
 "Log. Math. Astr. Phys. Etb. Gr. Lat. Th. 
 "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 5 Y.B., optime in Ethics. 
 Prsemium. 
 
 "Mr. Grattan, senior, V B in omnibus. 
 
 "Easter Examinations, April 18th, 1766. 
 " Mr. Forsaveth, Examiner. 
 "Mr. Fitzgibbon, 5 V.B., 2 B. 
 'Mr. Grattan, senior, 2 Y.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, Y.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 BA. degree on a shortened Academic course. 
 Grattan entered in November, 176-'3, he answered for his 
 degree in October, 1766, i.e., at tlie close of his Junior 
 Sophister year — and he took his B.A. iu Spring, 1767. 
 
 The Matriculation Book shows that Fitzgibbon was 
 educated at Ball's famous school, under the old Kound 
 Tower, in Great Ship-street.* Grattan was educated 
 in the same echool along with Fitzgibbon, and was re- 
 moved from it shortly before entrance, as his " Life " 
 
 ' For a full .ipcount of this school see " The Old Latin Schools of Dub- 
 lin," by the Editor.
 
 NOTES. XClll 
 
 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 liis senior. Fitzgibbon was 
 reared in his father's house,* 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 author? 
 of Junius' Letters (son of Alexander ]\Iacaulay, 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 per- 
 formances. 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. 
 
 • Fitzgibbon's father had been a Catholic, and was intended for the 
 priesthnod. He and his wife Eleanor are buried in St. iJride's church- 
 yard, without any sort of monument or tombstone.
 
 XCIV NOTES. 
 
 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. South- 
 well ; 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, 
 Plon. 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 Yovke— 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, Will am Fitzgerald; 1817, Nicholas Vansittart. 
 
 SPEAKERS OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS SINCE 
 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 1601, Sir Audley Mervin ; 1602, 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 
 Bexten Pery (Lord Pery) ; 1785, Rt. Hon. John Foster.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 xcv 
 
 CHIEF SECRETARIES TO LORD LIEUTENANTS. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Cli ief Secretary, 
 
 Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 1703. 
 
 Sir E. Southwell (also Prin- 
 cipal Secretary of State). 
 
 Duke of Ormonde. 
 
 1707. 
 
 Joshua Dawson. 
 
 Lord Pembroke. 
 
 . 1709. 
 
 George Bubb Doddiup^ton 
 (also Clerk of the Pells). 
 
 Lord Wharton. 
 
 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 
 Nicholas Bonfoy. (This 
 was the Mr. Walpole 
 who had the escapade with 
 the notorious Letitia Pilk- 
 ington). 
 
 Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 1740. 
 
 Henry Legg, and Nicholas 
 
 Boufoy. 
 Lord Duncannon and Nicholas 
 
 Do. Do. 
 
 1742. 
 
 Do. Do. 
 
 
 Bonfoy, Esq. 
 
 
 1745. 
 
 B. Liddell (a Cornish M.P.), 
 and William Bristow. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield. 
 
 1747. 
 
 Wayte. 
 
 Lord Harrington. 
 
 1761. 
 
 Lord G. Sackville (also Clerk 
 of the Council, and Keeper 
 of Phoenix Park). 
 
 Duke of Dorset again. 
 
 1755. 
 
 Robert Maxwell. 
 
 Marquis of Hartington. 
 
 1757. 
 
 Richard Rigby (also Master 
 of the Rolls). 
 
 Duke of Bedford. 
 
 1761. 
 
 •' Single Speech " Hamilton 
 (also Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer). 
 
 Hamilton again, and Lord 
 
 Lord Halifax. 
 
 1763. 
 
 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).
 
 XCVl 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Year. 
 
 1767. 
 
 1772. 
 1777. 
 
 1780. 
 1782. 
 
 178.3. 
 1784. 
 1787. 
 1 7!)0. 
 1795. 
 
 1798. 
 1801. 
 
 Chief Secretary. 
 
 Sir G., afterwards Lord Mc 
 Cartney (Governor of Ma- 
 dras), and Lord Fk 
 Campbell. 
 
 Sir John Blacquiere (also Al 
 nagfer, and afterwards Lord 
 Blacquiere). 
 
 Sir Rd. Heron (bis Excel- 
 lency's land agent ; also 
 Searcher, Packer, and Gau 
 ger of the Port of Cork). 
 
 W. Eden (afterwards Lord 
 Auckland). 
 
 Colonel Fitzpatrick. 
 
 Lord Grenville (also Chief Re 
 membraucer, with £4,000 
 a year). 
 
 Thomas Pelham and William 
 Wyndham. 
 
 Thomas Orde (afterwards 
 Lord Rolton). 
 
 Alleyne Fitzherbert (after 
 wards Lord St. Helens). 
 
 Major Ilobart (afterwards 
 Lord Buckinghamshire). 
 
 Syl. Douglas (Lord Glen 
 bervie). 
 
 G. Damer (afterwards Lord 
 Milton). T. Pelham (after- 
 wards Lord Chichester). 
 
 Lord Castlerpagh. 
 
 Charles Abbott (afterwards -^ 
 Speaker of l<]ng]ish House I 
 of Commons, and Lord | 
 Colchester) ; W. Wick- 
 ham ; Sir ]<]van Napean I 
 (Treasurer of Irish Ex- j- 
 chequer) ; Nicholas Van- I 
 sittart (afterwards Lord I 
 ]i('xlf>y) ; Charles Long j 
 (afterwards Lord Farn- | 
 borough). j 
 
 Lord Lieutenant, 
 
 Marquis Townshend. 
 
 Lord Hartcourt. 
 Lord Buckinghamshire. 
 
 Lord Carlisle. 
 
 Duke of Portland. 
 
 Lord Temple, Buckingham. 
 
 Lord Northington. 
 
 Duke of Rutland. 
 
 Marquis of Buckingham again. 
 
 Lord Westmoreland. 
 
 Lord Fitzwilliam. 
 
 Lord Camden. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis. 
 
 Lord Hardwick.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 XCVll 
 
 Year. 
 
 1801. 
 1807. 
 
 1812. 
 1818. 
 
 1821. 
 1827. 
 1828. 
 
 1830. 
 
 1833. 
 
 1834. 
 
 >j 
 
 1841. 
 
 1845. 
 1846. 
 
 1847. 
 1853. 
 1854. 
 1856. 
 
 1858. 
 1860. 
 1862. 
 1865. 
 1866. 
 
 1867. 
 
 Ch ief Secretary. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 W. Elliott. 
 
 Sir A. Wellesley, Roberta 
 Dundas (afterwards Lord 
 Melville), Wellesley Pole 
 (also Chancellor of the \ 
 Irish Exchequer, and / 
 afterwards Lord Marj- 
 boroup:h). / 
 
 Sir R. Feel. 
 
 Charles Grant (Lord Glen- 
 leg). 
 
 Henry Goulburn. 
 
 \V. Lamb (Lord Melbourne). 
 
 Lord F. Leveuson Gower 
 (Lord Ellesmere). 
 
 Sir H. Ilardinge (afterwards 
 Lord Hardin ge). 
 
 Edward Stanley (Lord 
 Derby). 
 
 Cam Hobhouse, E. J. Little- 
 ton (Lord Hatherton.) 
 
 Sir H. Hardiuge again. 
 
 G. F. W. Howard (Lord 
 Carlisle). 
 
 Lord Elliott (Earl St. Ger- 
 mains). 
 
 Sir Thos. Freemantle. 
 
 Lord Lincoln. 
 
 Henry Labouchere. 
 
 Sir William Somerville. 
 
 Lord Naas. 
 
 Sir John Young. 
 
 Edward Horsman, and Hon. 
 H. Herbert. 
 
 Lord Naas. 
 
 Edward Cardwell. 
 
 Sir R. Peel. 
 Do. Do. 
 
 Chichester Fortescue (after- 
 wards Lord Carliugford). 
 
 Lord Naas (afterwards Lord 
 Mayo). 
 
 Duke of Bedford. 
 
 Duke of Richmond. 
 
 Lord Whitworth. 
 Lord Talbot. 
 
 Marquis Wellesley. 
 
 Do. Do. 
 
 Marquis of Anglesey and Duke 
 
 of Northumberland. 
 Marquis of Anglesey again. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Marquis of Wellesley again. 
 
 Lord Haddington, and Lord 
 Mulgrave, and Lord For- 
 tescue- 
 
 Lord De Grey. 
 
 Lord Heytesbury. 
 Lord Bessborough. 
 Do. Do. 
 Lord Clarendon. 
 Lord Eglinton. 
 Lord St. Germains. 
 Lord Carlisle. 
 
 Lord Eglinton again. 
 Lord Carlisle again. 
 Lord Carlisle. 
 Lord Kimberley. 
 Do. Do. 
 
 Duke of Abercorn.
 
 XCVIU 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Chief Secretary. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 1868. 
 1871. 
 1873. 
 1879. 
 1880. 
 
 Chichester Fortescue again. 
 Marquis of Hartington. 
 Sir M. H. Beach. 
 James Lowther. 
 W, E. Forster, 
 
 Lord Spencer. 
 Do. Do. 
 Duke of Abercorn again. 
 Uuke of Marlborough. 
 Lord Cowper. 
 
 N.B. — It is instructive to note how very few of tlie 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 know- 
 ledge of its condition and requirements. If the other 
 kingdoms of the earth were administered on this principle, 
 the " quam parvd sapientid" would excite no astonishment.
 
 INTRODIICTION. 
 
 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 
 difierent 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* — and at the same time it "earned Mr. Hely 
 Hutchinson's pardon from Irish patriotism for his subser- 
 viency to the Court and Lord Townshend.^f 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 contri- 
 buted 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, 
 
 *Mr. Blackbume'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 indul- 
 gence of the Provost and Board, the present re-issue is taken. 
 
 t Froude— " English iu Ireland," vol. ii., p. 228.
 
 C INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and as by a friend to both countries, the grievous oppres- 
 sions 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 Grrattan. 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 
 thecountry itself abounded in the conditions of national pros- 
 perity. Of productiveness there was no lack; but land pro- 
 duce 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 disem- 
 ployed, beggared, and supported by alms. All this was 
 after a period of fourscore years of profound internal peace 
 — and the question was, what was tlie cause of it ? 
 
 This is what the author sets himself to investigate in the 
 Letters, and in regard of sweep of survey, historic retro- 
 Bpect, 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
 
 INTRODUCTION. ci 
 
 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 thiugs 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 mis- 
 rule 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,* none of whom ever 
 fail to find "the strings of the Irish harp all in tune." 
 
 * See the State Papers of Hemy VIII., and the official certifi- 
 cates almost ever since. See also Lord O'Hagan's Address to 
 the Social Science Congress in Dublin, 1881. If any of these pro- 
 nouncements were right, it would be difficult to discover any room for 
 future improvement. All of these glowing congratulations were, how- 
 ever, 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 discourage-
 
 CU INTEODUCTION. 
 
 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 
 
 merit, 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 improve- 
 ments and increased provisions for the national health and conafort." 
 " 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 2Sth 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 Qtiarterhj Fevieto, after picturing 
 the maddened and disturbed state of the country, adds : — 
 
 "And all this with between four and five hundred suspects in gaola 
 with an army of fiO.OOO men in the coimtry, 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, wliat Mr. Justice O'JJagan said in his judgment on the Stac- 
 poole 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 tlian 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— baa kept Ire- 
 laud in a deplorable condition.
 
 INTRODUCTION. ClU 
 
 wretchedness remained fast fixed. England has been a con- 
 stant 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 Mount joys, after the Desmond and 
 Ulster confiscations and evictions, and after the Crom- 
 weliian 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
 
 CIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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 1 6G3, the English Act " for encouragement of Trade " ! 
 contained an insidious clause, imposing a penalty of £2 on 
 each head of Irish cattle, and 10s. on each sheep imported 
 into England between July and December. In J 666, 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.''"^ This Act was made perpetual by the "Act 
 
 * Concerning this debate " Pepys' Diary," vol. iv., p. 109, records — 
 1666 — October Sth : — " 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 busi- 
 ness; he [Lord Belassis] tells me how the two Houses begun to be trouble- 
 some, 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 Oasory (my Lord Duke of Ormonde's son), and
 
 INTRODUCTION. CV 
 
 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* 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.f 
 
 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. 
 
 * "Life of Ormond," vol. iv., p. 234, &c. 
 
 t Ten years later Dublin sent out a cargo of provisions valued at 
 £937 136'. to New England, and the benevolence was gi-atefuUy and grace- 
 fully 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 £1,000 to the Waldenses, when suffering from the perse- 
 cution of the Duke of Savoy. The last-named collection was made by a 
 
 9
 
 CVl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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, 
 sajs 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, break- 
 ing tlie 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 restric- 
 tion 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 
 
 Cromwellian Fellow of Trinity College, the Rev. Samuel Mather, an ex- 
 cellent 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 l^rother. the Rev. Nathaniel 
 Mather, Minister of the New-row Meeting-house. The collection for 
 London was made by the Duke of Ormond.
 
 INTRODUCTION. CVII 
 
 effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of 
 Ireland, that the growth and increase of the woollen manu- 
 facture 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 r " I ghall do all 
 that in me lies to discourage the woollen trade in Ireland, 
 and to encourage the linen manufacture there ;* 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, f 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 
 
 • This encouragement of the linen trade here proved a IiyjDocrisy and 
 imposture. The linen trade was never an equivalent for the wool trade, 
 t Excepting, perhaps, Poyning's Act, and the Act of Union, this was 
 the most disgraceful Act ever passed by an Irish Parliament.
 
 CVlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ireland of all goods made of or mixed with wool, except 
 to England and "Wales, and with the licence of the Eevenue 
 Commissioners. Previous English Acts had made the 
 duties on the importation into England practically prohi- 
 bitive, 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 under- 
 selling 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 Irisli 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. 
 Tlie wool running prevailed to an immense extent, and by 
 means of it France, Germany, and Spain were able to under- 
 sell England in the foreign markets, and England lost 
 millions of pounds by virtue of the Irish contraband sup- 
 plies. 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 restric- 
 tions, and as her own House of Commons Journal acknow- 
 ledges, this relaxation was made for the benefit of the 
 English woollen manufactures. For the twenty-three
 
 INTRODUCTION. ClX 
 
 years tbat 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 
 ail 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 pro- 
 hibited 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 employ- 
 ment 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 scar- 
 city 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 with- 
 out 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
 
 ex INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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.* To 
 get rid of the redundancy and to leave the less for English 
 pensions and Government salaries, works of local improve- 
 ment 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 ob- 
 tained 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 £20,000 was 
 voted for the relief of the poor. 
 
 In 1757t 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.ij: On the 
 
 *See page Ixx, note, and 35. 
 t See page Ixx, note, and 43. 
 
 X It M'as on the Army Augmentation Bill that Hutchinson made one 
 of his early "strides in apostasy." It was on this occasion al«o that
 
 INTRODUCTION. CXI 
 
 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 largel}'- 
 increased, while income had diminished, and in a couple of 
 years more the linen trade was rapidly declining, while pen- 
 sions and charges on the establishment were greatly 
 increased. 
 
 The Provost dwells on the illustrative fact, that, whether 
 the Debt was incrcFiSed 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 
 ■|)overty 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 in- 
 effectual endeavours by the representatives of those poor 
 people to give them employment and food, had not left 
 sufficient memorials of their wretchedness ; if their habi- 
 tations, apparel, and food, were not sufficient proofs, I 
 
 Ireland was for the first time called upon to contribute to England's war 
 expenses. She passed a vote of credit for £200,000. See pages 44, 46.
 
 CXU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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 com- 
 petition, 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 laud. 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 ""^ — 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 capi- 
 talists and by English shipping, just as in ancient Egypt, 
 China, and Hindostan, the export trade used to be con- 
 ducted by foreigners ; and just as in tlie victualling trade 
 of Ireland, the natives were but factors to the English. 
 
 * The condition of the people would thus seem to have declined from 
 what it was a century before. In 107^, 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 witii muscles, cockles, and oysters, on 
 the sea-shore parts.
 
 INTRODUCTION. CXlll 
 
 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 en- 
 couraged, 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 com- 
 merce 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.* The 
 
 * There are also several inaccuracies in the printed edition, which are
 
 CXIV INTRODrCTION. 
 
 repetitions, moreover, are not altogether artistic blemishes, 
 for they are made to intensify, and, as it were, to multiply, 
 the identical facts by presenting theni 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 evo- 
 lution 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, wliich asserted that the trade " was set up here 
 since the reduction of Ireland" by Cromwell. The trade 
 
 reproduced as they stand. E.g., in page 81 "between £12,000 and 
 i.'13,000 " is set down as an increase on £1,100,000 ; and Petty's " Sur- 
 vey " 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 liexameter 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 ])y Longinus, though apparently it was 
 not perceived by the Provost. 
 The pas.sage occurs in the 17th book of the Odyssey, V.V. 323-3 : — 
 " ^YljXKTv yap t 'aptrfJQ cnroah'VTai tvpvona Zevq 
 
 'Avt^poQ, tvrav fiiv Kara covXtov I'map iXjjfftv." 
 Rendered by Pope, 
 
 "Jove fix'd it certain, that M'hatever day 
 
 Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away."
 
 INTRODUCTION. CXV 
 
 had been a flourishing one in this country from tlie time 
 of PMward 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 thiscoimtry, 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 Eng- 
 land 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
 
 CXVl INTRODUCTIO^r. 
 
 diflficult to find a similar instance in the history of man- 
 kind." Again and again the Provost comes back to point 
 out the open tyranny and the underhand im fairness 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 in- 
 dustry 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, Eng- 
 land departed towards tlie close of the seventeenth century, 
 and manifold were the wrongs which the departure in- 
 flicted on this country. The Provost details these wrongs
 
 INTRODUCTION. CXVU 
 
 with the indignation of a patriot ; he rails at the oppres- 
 sion which, by depriving the people of liberty, robbed them 
 of half their vigour ; but still as a courtier and as a Govern- 
 ment man, he was able to " revere that conquest which has 
 given to Ireland the Comynon Law and the Magna Chart a of Eng- 
 landy 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 dis- 
 trust 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 con- 
 ditions of the fight for what is required now are far more
 
 CXVlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 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 Yolunteers that England feared, 
 and there are no Irish Volunteers now ; their place, how- 
 ever, 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 re- 
 creation of their home industries and manufactures. The 
 land, after all, is not everything — all the people cannot 
 Jive by it and out of it — and, as Hutchinson observes, no 
 one industry is sufficient to maintain a numerous popula- 
 tion in prosperity and comfort. 
 
 In past times, as a couple of months ago the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant at Belfast, and Mr. Fawcett at Shoreditch, were 
 saying,* all these industries in tlie 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 witli tlie conditions and materials 
 of prosperit}'. Bishop Berkeley wrote, when the prohi- 
 biting 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 
 
 • See Freeman s Journal , Nov. 3 and Nov. 24, 1881.
 
 INTRODUCTION. CXIX 
 
 exhortation to them was to compensate themselves for tlie 
 loss of the foreign trade by developing home industries 
 and manufactures ; and he asked* whether the natives 
 might not be able to effect their own prosperity and ele- 
 vation, 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 testi- 
 mony. 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 some- 
 what to the all-important and patriotic impulse that 
 " The Commercial Restraints of Ireland " is now reproduced 
 by the publishers. 
 
 * Querist, 134.
 
 THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 CONSIDERED. 
 
 glXBt WttUx. 
 
 Dublin, 20t/i Aug., 1779. 
 Mt Loed, 
 
 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 j)romoting 
 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. 
 
 2
 
 2 THE COiTMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 The occasion calls for the assistance of eyeiy 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 ordinaiy caution to wiite with 
 such moderation as not to offend the prejudices of 
 one coimtiy 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. Wliatever 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 com- 
 modities 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
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. O 
 
 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 assist- 
 ance 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 £7^ per 
 cent, in annuities, which, in 1773 and 1775, were 
 earnestly sought after at £6, 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 ac- 
 count of loans in each period, in a sum of <£334,900 
 18.5. 9^d. There was due on the 25th of March last, 
 on the establishments, and for extraordinary expenses, 
 an arrear amounting to £373,706 13.^. Q^d. ; a sum of 
 £600,000 will probably be now wanting to supply 
 the deficiencies on the establishments and extra- 
 ordinary charges of government, and an annual sum of 
 between £50,000 and £60,000 yearly to pay interest 
 and annuities. In the last session £466,000 was bor- 
 rowed. If the sum wanting could now be raised, the
 
 4 THE COMMERCIAL EESTEAINTS 
 
 debt "vroiild be increased in a sum of above £1,000, 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 £300,000. 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,* 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 armyf 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 sup- 
 
 * On at'count of tlie inability of Ireland, Great Britain, 
 since Christmas, 1778, relieved lier from the burden of paying- 
 forces abroad. 
 
 f A sum of £50,000 has been lately sent from England for 
 that purpose.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 6 
 
 plied by borrowing. The American rebellion, which 
 considerably diminished the demand for our linens ; 
 an embargo on provisions continued for three years,* 
 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 de- 
 cline 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 con- 
 stitution 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 dis- 
 tress; if at the times of her greatest supposed 
 affluence and prosperity the slightest causes have been 
 sufficient to obstruct her progress, to anniiiilate her 
 
 * 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 pro- 
 visions 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.
 
 6 THE COMMERCIAL EESTEAINTS 
 
 credit, and to spread dejection and dismay among all 
 ranks of her people ; and if snch 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 in- 
 telligent, some permanent cause of such disastrous 
 effects must be sought for. 
 
 If your vessel is frequently in danger of founder- 
 ing 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 jDilot 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 atten- 
 tion 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 honoui- to be, my Lord, &c.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 
 
 Strnntr fetter. 
 
 Dublin^ 2^rd 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.* 
 In the Act recognising the title of King James, the 
 
 *■ 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 indiffe- 
 rent justice better than the Irish (Davis, pp. 184-196).
 
 8 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 Lords and Commons acknowledge, "that many 
 blessings and benefits had, witliin these few years 
 past, been poured upon this realm ;"* and at the 
 end of the Parliament, in 1615, the Commons re- 
 tui'n 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." f In his 
 reign the little that could be given by the people 
 was given with general consent, :|: 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, § and to assure them that he holds his sub j ects 
 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 j)rosperous 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 encou- 
 ragement given to the maritime towns and cities, as 
 
 * 13 Jac, ch. 1. t Vol. i. Com. Journ., p. 92. 
 
 :|: Vol. i. Com. Journ., p. 61. § lb., p. 88.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 9 
 
 well to increase the trade of merchandize as to 
 cherish mechanical arts ;" and mentions the conse- 
 quence, " that the strings of this Irish harp were all 
 in tune."* 
 
 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 <£250,000,'|* and 
 the free gifts previously given to King Charles the 
 First at different times amounted to £310,0004 In 
 the session of 1G39 they gave four entire subsidies, 
 and the clergy eight ; the customs, which had been 
 farmed at £500 yearly in the beginning of this 
 reign, were in the progress of it set for £54, 000. § 
 
 The commodities exported were twice as much in 
 value as the foreign merchandize imported, and 
 shipping is said to have increased an hundred-fold. || 
 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 
 
 * 1 Davis, pp. 1, 193, 194. 
 f Cox's Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 91. 
 X lb. Some of these subsidies, from the subsequent times 
 of confusion, were not raised. 
 § Cox, vol. ii., p. 33. 
 II Leland's Hist, of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 31.
 
 10 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 his subjects of Ireland that they were equally of as 
 much respect and dearness to him as any others.* 
 
 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 enu- 
 merating the national blessings, mentions as one 
 "that our in-gates and out-gates do stand open for 
 trade and traffic ;""j* and as the Lord Chancellor de- 
 clared his Excellency's " high liking of this oration," 
 it may be considered as a fair account of the condi- 
 tion 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.":}: 
 
 After the Eestoration, fi-om 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. § Lands were everywhere im- 
 
 * Lord Strafford's Letters, vol. ii., p. 297. 
 t Ir. Com. Jouni., vol. i., jip. 228-229. 
 I Lord Clarendon, Cox, ib., Ir. Com. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 280, 
 311. 
 
 § ArcLLisLop King in Lis State of the Protestants of Ire-
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDEEED. 11 
 
 proved; 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 proportion- 
 ably to the advance of the kingdom, which was 
 every day growing, and was well established in plenty 
 and tvealth ;* 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 Euroj)e. I repeat the words of persons 
 of high rank, great character, and superior know- 
 ledge, 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 
 
 land, pp. 52, 53,445,446; Lord Chief Justice Keating-'s Address 
 to James the Second, and his Letters to Sir John Temple. lb. 
 
 The prohibition of the exportation of our cattle to Eng- 
 land, though a great, was but a temporary distress; and in its 
 consequences greatly promoted the general weKare of this 
 country. 
 
 * 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.
 
 12 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 dispositions unfavourable to the prosperity of this 
 kingdom ; and in the interval between those two 
 periods it had been laid waste, and almost depopu- 
 lated 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 sove- 
 reigns, who were most justly the objects of our affec- 
 tion 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* 
 dated the 23rd of March, 16G7, by which he directed 
 that all restraints upon the exportation of commodi- 
 ties 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 
 
 * Carte, vol. ii., pp. 342, 344.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 13 
 
 to his subjects of this kingdom, which was accord- 
 ingly done by a proclamation from the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant and Council; and at the same time, by his 
 Majesty's permission, they prohibited the importation 
 from Scotland of linen, woollen, and other manufac- 
 tures 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* the linen manu- 
 factures, 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 Eevolution had greatly increased 
 the wealth and promoted the improvement of Ireland. 
 The tyranny and persecuting policy of James the 
 Second, t 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.:}: But the 
 
 * Lord Strafford laid the foundation of the linen manufac- 
 ture in Ireland, but the troubles which soon after broke out 
 had entirely stopped the progress of it. 
 
 t Harris's Life of K. W., 116. 
 
 \ The words of Lord Sydney, in his speech from the throne 
 in 1692. Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 576,
 
 14 THE COMMERCIAL EESTRAINTS 
 
 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,* not only 
 without murmur, but with the utmost cheerfulness, 
 and without any complaint of the inability, or repre- 
 sentation of the distressed state of the country. 
 
 The money brought in for the army at the reA'"0- 
 lution gave life to all business, and much sooner 
 than could have been expected retrieved the affairs 
 of Ireland. This money furnished capitals for carry- 
 ing on the manufactures of the kingdom. Our 
 exports increased in '96, '97, and '98, and our im- 
 ports did not rise in proportion, which occasioned a 
 gi'cat balance in our favour j 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 
 <£419,442.t 
 
 * Ir. Com. Journ,, vol. iii.,pp. 45 aud 05, that great supplies 
 were given during this period, 
 t Dobbs, pp. 5, 6, 7, 19.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 15 
 
 But in the latter end of this reign the political 
 horizon was overcast, the national growth was 
 checked, and the national vigour and industry im- 
 paired 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 con- 
 sequences of this prohibition appear in the session of 
 1703.* The Commonsf lay before Queen Anne a 
 most a:ffecting 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 ex- 
 hausted of coin, that they are hindered from earning 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 45. 
 
 f Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 65, 66.
 
 16 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 planta- 
 tion trade to the people of England. 
 
 In a further address to the Queen,* 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 pre- 
 serve the country from utter ruin, apply for liberty to 
 export their linen manufactures to the plantations. 
 
 In a subsequent part of this sessionf the Com- 
 mons resolve that, by reason of the great decay of 
 trade and discouragement of the manufactures of this 
 kingdom, many poor tradesmen were reduced to ex- 
 treme want and beggary. This resolution was nem. 
 con.., and the Speaker, Mr. Eroderick, then his 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 149. f lb. p. 195.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 17 
 
 Majesty's Solicitor-General, and afterwards Lord 
 Chancellor, in his speech at the end of the session* 
 informs the Lord Lieutenant, that the representa- 
 tion 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: '^Itis 
 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. "j* 
 
 The supply given for two years, commencing 
 at Michaelmas, 1703,:{: was a sum not exceeding 
 £150,000, which, considering that no Parliament 
 was held in Ireland since the year 1098, is at the 
 
 * Ir, Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 207, 208. 
 
 t Com. Journ., \ol. iii., p. 210. + lb., pp. 79, 94. 
 
 3
 
 18 THE COMMEECIAX EESTEAINTS 
 
 rate of £30,000 yearly, commencmg 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 bo doubted. 
 
 Let it now be considered, whether the same cause 
 has operated since the year 1703. In the year 
 1704* it appears, that the Commons were not able, 
 from the circumstances of the nation at that time, to 
 make provision for repairing the necessary fortifi- 
 cations ; 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 Commonsf 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, :J: and the address of thanks 
 for it. 
 
 In the year 1707, § 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 cii'cumstances 
 of the nation will allow." 
 
 In 1709, it appears, 1 1 by the unanimous address of 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 298. f lb., pp. 225, 266. 
 
 X lb., pp. 253, 258. § lb., pp. 3G4, 368, 369. 
 
 II lb., p. 573.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 19 
 
 the Commons to the Lord Lieutenant, that the king- 
 dom was in an impoverished and exhausted state : 
 in 1711,* they express their approbation of the fru- 
 gality of the Queen's administration, by which their 
 expenses were lessened, and by that means the king- 
 dom 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 : f and yet those supplies 
 amounted, for two years, to a sum not exceeding 
 £167,023 Ss. 6d. ;X 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 cir- 
 cumstances of national distress and despondency. 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iii., p. 827. fib., p. 929. 
 
 I lb., p. 876.
 
 20 THE COilMEECIAL EESTRAINTS 
 
 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 17fch and 18th of Charles II., ch. 15 ;* 
 from the resolutions of the Commons, in 1695,*}" for 
 regulating those manufactui'es, the resolutions of 
 the Committee of Supply in that session ;:|: 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 
 
 ''•' In the same session an act was made for the advancement 
 of the linen manufacture, which shows that hoth kingdoms 
 then thought (for these laws came to us through England) 
 that each, of these manufactures was to be encouraged in 
 Ireland. 
 
 t Ir. Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 725. J lb., p. 733
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 21 
 
 journals of the Commons in Queen Anne's reign 
 have informed us. Compare this period with the 
 three former, and you \yill prove this melancholy 
 truth : that a country will sooner recover from the 
 miseries and devastation occasioned by war, inva- 
 sion, rebellion, massacre, than from laws restraining 
 the commerce, discouraging the manufactures, fet- 
 tering the industry, and abo^e 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* on the exportation 
 of it ; and under her protection, and b}^ the perse- 
 vering industry of our people, this manufacture has 
 attained to a great degree of perfection and j^ros- 
 perity, 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 
 
 * 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 £10,000 yearly. — Ir. Com. 
 Journ., vol. xvi., p. 374, the account returned from the lu- 
 spector-General's Office in Great Britain.
 
 22 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 ojDen 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 fre- 
 quently 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 ques- 
 tions, 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.
 
 OP IRELAND CONSIDERED. 
 
 mmh %dkx. 
 
 Dublin, 25th August, 1779. 
 My Lord, 
 
 To an inquirer after truth, history, since 
 the year 1G99 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 acciu'acy of the 
 accomptant, than as an article to be read and exa- 
 mined ; pamphlets are often written to serve occa- 
 sional purposes, and with an intention to misrepre- 
 sent ; 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 addi'css of the House
 
 24 THE COMMERCIAL EESTRAINTS 
 
 of Commons to George the First.* This address was 
 to congratulate his Majesty on his success in extin- 
 guishing 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 £16,106 lis. 0^^.,"j" due at Michael- 
 mas, 1715, was, by their exertions to strengthen 
 the hands of Government in that year, increased 
 at midsummer, 1717, to a sum of £91,537 17^. lic/.,:{: 
 which Avas 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 apprehen- 
 sions were well founded, will appear from the 
 repeated distresses of Ireland, from time to time, for 
 many years afterwards. In 1721, the speech from 
 
 * C om. Jou.n., vol. iv., p. 219. f lb., p. 290. 
 
 I lb., p. 335.
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 25 
 
 the throne,* 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 cala- 
 mities and misfortunes which affected the neigh- 
 bouring 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 liieutenant 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iv., pp. 694, 700, 701.
 
 26 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 which prohibited trade and discouraged manufac- 
 tures, and that any application for that purpose 
 would at that time have onl}^ 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* 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 bui'st, it is more surprising 
 that it should have been at first applauded, f than 
 that it was, in the same session, disliked, censured, 
 and abandoned.:}: The total inefficacy of the remedy 
 I)roved 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. § 
 
 In the following session of 1723, it appears that 
 the condition of our manufacturers, and of the lowest 
 classes of oui* people, must have been distressed, as 
 
 * Ir. Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 694. f lb., p. 720. 
 
 X lb., p. 832. 
 
 § It is not here intended to enter into the question, 
 wliether in difForont circumstunces a national bank might not 
 be useful to Ireland.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 27 
 
 the Duke of Grafton, in his speech, from the throne, 
 particularly recommends to their consideration the 
 finding out of some method for the better employ- 
 ing of the poor ;* and though the debt of the 
 nation was no more than £GG, 318 85. 3^t/.,t and 
 was less than in the last session,:}: 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 in- 
 crease of the debt of the nation. This address 
 was presented§ by the House, with its Speaker, 
 and passed nem. con., and was occasioned by the 
 distressed state of the country, and by their appre- 
 hensions 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. || 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. v., p. 12. f lb., p. 102. 
 X It was then £77,261 6s. Id. Vol. iv., p. 778. 
 § Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 108. |1 lb., p. 16.
 
 28 THE COMMEECIAL EESTEAIXTS 
 
 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.* 
 
 But this address had no effect ; the debt of the 
 nation in the ensuing session of 1725, was nearly 
 doubled.t 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 con- 
 siderable arrear was due to the establishment. 
 
 But notwithstanding the success of the linen 
 manufacture,^ Ireland was in a most miserable con- 
 dition. 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 ut- 
 most 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 £274, OOt), an amazing sum 
 compared with the circumstances of the kingdom at 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 136. 
 
 f At midsummer, 1725, it amounted to £119,215 5*. 3frf. 
 Vol. v., Com. Journ., pp. 282, 295, 434, 435, 642. 
 I Com, Journ., vol. v., pp. 732, 755.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 29 
 
 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 suffi- 
 cient 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 employ- 
 ment 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* there was a great deficiency in 
 the public revenue, and the national debt had con- 
 siderably increased. The exhausted kingdom lay 
 under great difficulties by the decay of trade, the 
 
 * Duke of Dorset's speech from the throne. Com. Journ., 
 vol. vi., p. 12.
 
 30 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 scarcity of money, and the universal poverty of the 
 country, which the Speaker represents* 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 /ree 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 manu- 
 factui'es." 
 
 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 manufacturesf *which are iiroperly their 
 otvn., 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 whole- 
 some provisions great numbers of our people perished 
 miserably, and the speech from the throne recom- 
 mends it to both Ilouses to consider of proper 
 measures to prevent the like calamity for the future. 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 143. | lb., vol. vi., p. 189,
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 31 
 
 The employment of the poor and the encourage- 
 ment of tillage are the remedies proposed* 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 abso- 
 lute 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 re- 
 strictive 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 restric- 
 tive lawsf Ireland was always poor and often in great 
 want, distress, and misery,^ though the linen manu- 
 facture had made great progress during that time. 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. v., pp. 214, 220, 222, 
 
 f 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. 
 
 \ Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 694 ; ib., vol. vii., p. 742.
 
 d-J THE COMMERCIAL EESTEAINTS 
 
 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 augmen- 
 tation 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 fui'ther 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.* This debt was occasioned princi- 
 pally by the expenses incurred by the rebellion in 
 Great Britain in the year 1715 ; an unlimited vote 
 of credit was then given. f From the lowness of the 
 revenue, and the want of resources, not from any fur- 
 ther exertions on the part of the kingdom in point of 
 
 * The sum remaining due on the loans at Lady-day, 1753, 
 was £85,585 Os. dXd. The -whole credit of the nation to that 
 day was £332,747 19s. l^d., and deducting the sums due on 
 the loans amounted to £247,162 18s. S^d. Com. Jouru., vol. ix. 
 pp. 3, 349, 352. 
 
 t Com. Journ., vol. iv., p. 195.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 33 
 
 expense, the debt of £16,106 lis. O^d., due in 1715, 
 was increased at Lady-day,* 1733, to £371,312 
 12^, 2^d. That Government and the House of Com- 
 mons should for such a length of time have consi- 
 dered 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 atten- 
 tion and strictest economy of both could have accom- 
 plished 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 Eritain. 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 
 £471,404 55. Qsd.,'\' and the money remaining in the 
 Treasury of the ordinary unappropriated revenue on 
 the29thdayof September,1755,+£457,959 12^. 7|^. 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. vi., p. 289. f lb., vol. ix., p. 352, 
 I lb., p. 332. 
 
 4
 
 34 THE COMMEECIAL RESTEAESTTS 
 
 But this great increase of revenue arose from an in- 
 crease of imports, particularly in the year 1754, by 
 which the kingdom was greatly over-stocked, and 
 which raised the revenue in that year <£208,309 195. 
 2^d. higher than it was in the year 1748, when the 
 revenue first began to rise considerably ;* 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 inquiiy 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, t but that 
 just proportion which the quantity of paper ought to 
 bear to the national specie. ;{: 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 em- 
 ployed in preparing a law to restore it. In '54 and 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 751. f lb., vol. ix., p. 818. 
 
 X lb., i)p. 819, 829, 846, 865.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 35 
 
 '55 three principal banks* failed, and the legislature 
 took up much time in inquiring into their affairs, 
 and in framing laws for the relief of their creditors. ■(• 
 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 dis- 
 pute 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 in- 
 stances, 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 
 
 * March 6, 1754, Thomas Dillon and Eichard Ferral, failed. 
 3rd March, 1755, William Lennox and George French. Same 
 day, John Wilcocks and John Dawson. 
 
 f There was then no bankruptcy law in Ireland.
 
 36 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 companies, nor profits to be had by the undertakings 
 sufiicient to reimburse the money necessary to be ex- 
 pended. 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 undertaking's, nor 
 trade enough in the kingdom to make adequate re- 
 tiu-ns to the adventurers. 
 
 Having gone through more than haK 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 om* 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.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 37 
 
 loiirtb fetter. 
 
 Duhlm, 21 th August, 1779. 
 My Lord, 
 
 The revenue, for the reasons already given, 
 decreased in 1755,* 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 ;t the money 
 arising from the extravagance of the rich was freely 
 applied to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.;]: One 
 of the first steps of the late Duke of Bedford's ad- 
 ministration — and which reflects honour on his 
 memory — was obtaining a king's letter, dated 31st 
 March, 1757, for £20,000, 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 751. 
 
 f lb., p. 16, speech from the throne, and ib., p. 25, address 
 from the House of Commons to the king. 
 
 X lb., p. 25. Address from the House of Commons to 
 the king.
 
 38 THE COMMEECIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 fre- 
 quently and were too sensibly and fatally expe- 
 rienced in the course of the last year, thank his Grace 
 for his early and charitable attention to the necessi- 
 ties of the poor of this country in their late distresses, 
 and make use of those remarkable expressions, 
 — " that they will most cheerfully embrace* every 
 'practicable method to promote tillage. t They knew 
 that the encoui-agement 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 £38,003 155., amounted at 
 Lady-Day, '57, to £49,293 15§.J 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 25. 
 
 f 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." 
 
 \ Com. Journ., vol. x., p. 28.'i.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 39 
 
 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.* Our brethren in Great Britain, had, how- 
 ever, 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 manu- 
 factui'es and commerce, "f His Grace had done 
 much to bring it to that state, by obtaining for us 
 some of the best laws^ 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 
 
 * Com. Journ. vol. xi., p. 472. Speaker's speech, fib., p. 16. 
 J The Acts passed in '58, giving bounties on the land car- 
 riage of corn, and on coals brought to Dublin,
 
 40 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 £55,497 55. ;* there was, at the 
 same time a great augmentation of military expense. t 
 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, J a specific vote 
 of credit for £150, 000, § which was afterwards pro- 
 vided for in the Loan Bill|| of that session, a second 
 vote of credit in the same session for £300,000,^ 
 the raising the rate of interest paid by Government, 
 one per cent., and the payment out of the Treasury** 
 in Kttle more than one year of £703,957 35. lj^.,tt 
 were the consequences of those increased expenses. 
 The eft'ects 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,:}:^ among them stopped payment ; the three 
 remaining banks in Dublin discounted no paper, 
 and, in fact, did no business. Public and private 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xi., p. 212. f lb., from 826 to 837. 
 X lb., vol. xi., p. 141. § lb., p. 408. || lb., p. 473. 
 ^i lb., p. 862. ^^- lb. 
 
 tt lb., p. 982, from 2,5th March, '59, to 21st of April, '60, 
 exclusive. 
 
 \\ Clement's, Dawson's, and Mitchell's.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 41 
 
 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* to the House of Com- 
 mons, represent "the low state to which public and 
 private credit had been of late reduced in this king- 
 dom, 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 re- 
 venue, 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 calami- 
 ties with which this kingdom is at present threatened." 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xi., p. 966, April 15, 1760.
 
 42 THE COMMERCIAL RESTEAINTS 
 
 The committee, to whom it was referred, resolve* 
 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 
 £50,000 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 sub- 
 scribers 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 establish- 
 ing 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. •)" 
 
 Those facts arc not stated as any imputation on 
 the then cliief governor : the vigour of his mind 
 incited him to make the Crown as useful as possible 
 
 * Com, Journ., vol. xi., pp. 993, 994. f lb., p. 1049.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 43 
 
 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,* has saved this 
 country from utter destruction; this law, which 
 reflects the highest honour on the author and pro- 
 moter, 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 £61,789 18,§. 
 6^., to the public ; a large but a most useful and 
 necessary expenditure. f 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 
 
 * Brought in by Mr. Pery the present Speaker. 
 
 f In the year ending Lady-Day, 1778, it amounted to 
 £71,533 Is., and in that ending Lady-Day, 1779, to £67,864 
 8s. lOd.
 
 44 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 of military expense. The ever loyal Commons 
 return an address of thanks to the message mention- 
 ing the addition of five new battalions* and unani- 
 mously promise to provide for them ; and with the 
 same unanimity pass a vote of creditfor <£200,000.'|* 
 The amount of pensions on the civil establishment, 
 exclusive of French, had for one year ending the 
 25th of March, 17G1, amounted to £64,127 5s.,X 
 and our manufacturers were then distressed by the 
 expense and havoc of a bui'densome war.§ 
 
 In the year 1762 a national evil made its appear- 
 ance, 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 
 manufactiu'es are not established, and are a proof of 
 the poverty and want of employment of the lower 
 classes of our people. Lord Northumberland men- 
 tions, in his speech from the throne || 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xii, p. 700. | lb. p. 728. 
 
 ,} lb., p. 443. 
 
 § lb. p. 929. Speech of Lord Hallifax from the throne, 
 30th April, 17G2. 
 
 II Ir. Com, Journ., vol. xiii., p. 21.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 45 
 
 Commons promise their attention to the Protestant 
 charter schools and linen manufacture.* 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 samef 
 by the peace the military expenses were considerably 
 reduced ; of the military establishment to be pro- 
 vided for in the session 1763, compared with the 
 military establishment as it stood on the 31st of 
 March, 1763, the net decrease was £119,037 0^. 10^. 
 per annum; but as a peace establishment it was 
 high, and compared with that of the 31st of March, 
 1756:|: being the year preceding the last war, the 
 annual increase was £110,422 95. 5^d The debt 
 of the nation at Lady Day, 1763, and which was 
 entirely incurred in the last war, was £521,161 16^. 
 6|c?.,§ and would have been much greater if the 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. siii., p. 23. 
 
 t For a year ending 25tli March, 1763, they were £66,477 
 5* ; they afterwards rose to £89,095 ITs. 6d. in September, 
 1777, at the highest ; and in this year, ending the 25th March 
 last, amounted to £85,971 2s. Gd. 
 
 X Com. Journ. vol. xiii., p. 576. § lb. pp. 574, 621.
 
 46 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 several Lord Lieutenants had not used with great 
 economy the power of borrowing, which the House 
 of Commons had fi-om 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 £54,118 
 12s. Qd. yearly, for the first year ; but this charge 
 was afterwards considerably increased, and amounted, 
 from the year 1 769 to Christmas, 1778, when it was 
 discontinued, to the sum of £620,824 Os. d^d.y and 
 this increased expense was more felt, because it Avas 
 for the purpose of paying forces out of this kingdom. 
 
 As our exj)cnses increased our income diminished ; 
 the revenue for the two years, ending the 25th of 
 March, 1771,* was far short of former years, and 
 not nearly sufficient to pay the charges of Govern- 
 
 * Com. Journ., voL xiv., p. 715.
 
 OF lEELAND CONSIDERED. 47 
 
 ment, and the sums payable for bounties and public 
 works.* The debt of the nation at Lady -Day, 1771, 
 was increased to £782,320 Os. O^t/.f The want of 
 income was endeavoui'ed to be supplied by a loan. 
 In the money bill of the October Session, 1771, there 
 was a clause empowering Government to borrow 
 .£200,000. Immediately after the linen trade de- 
 clined rapidly; in 1772, 1773, and 1774, the decay 
 in that trade was general in every part of the king- 
 dom where it was established ; the quantity manu- 
 factured was not above two -thirds of what used 
 formerly to be made, and that quantity did not seU 
 for above three-fourths of its former price. The 
 linen and linen yarn exported for one year, ending 
 the 25th of March, 1773,:{: fell short of the exports 
 of one year, ending the 25th of March, 1771, to the 
 amount in value of £788,821 Is M. At Lady-day, 
 1773,§ the debt increased to £994,890 10s lO-Jd 
 The attempt in the Session of 177 3, || 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xv., p. 710. f lb., p. 153. 
 
 I lb., vol.xvi., p. 372, § lb., pp. 190,191, 193. 
 
 II lb., p. 256.
 
 48 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 debt now bearing interest amounts to the sum of 
 £1,017,600, besides a sum of £740,000 raised on 
 annuities, which amount to £48,900 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 in- 
 creased 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 pui'poses, some of which 
 made returns to the public and to the Treasury ex- 
 ceeding the amount of those grants. 
 
 When those facts arc considered, no doubt can be 
 entertained but that the supposed wealth of Ireland 
 has led to real poverty ; and when it is known, that
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 49 
 
 from the year 1751 to Christmas, 1778, the sums 
 remitted by Ireland to pay troops serving abroad, 
 amounted to the sum of £1,401,925 195. 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,* 
 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 metro- 
 polis, they found a very great decay of several 
 branches of trade and manufacturesf of this city, 
 particularly in the silken and woollen. 
 
 In 1765 there was a scarcity caused by the failure 
 of potatoes in general tliroughout 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^ to in- 
 quire what may be the best method to reduce it; and 
 to prevent a great dearth, two acts were passed early 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xii., p. 928. f lb., vol. xiii., p. 987. 
 I lb., vol. xiv., pp. 69, 114, 151. 
 
 5
 
 50 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 Trea- 
 suiy 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 
 fi-om the throne* as an object of the first import- 
 ance, 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 diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 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 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xiv., p. 6C5. 
 
 1
 
 OF lEELAND CONSIDERED. 51 
 
 in far the greatest part of the kingdom it has not 
 yet been established, and many attempts to intro- 
 duce it have, after long perseverance and great 
 expense, proved fruitless. 
 
 Though that manufacture made great advances 
 from 1727 to 1758,* 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 re- 
 corded 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 en- 
 deavours 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 hope- 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. xiv., p. 467, report from committee, 
 and ib., p. 601, agreed to by the House, nem. con.
 
 52 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 less despondency that hangs on the brow of unem- 
 ployed 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 fi*om 
 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 Aimc, as they were during her reign ; that 
 the cause remains the same, namely, that oiu' manu- 
 facturers have not sufficient employment, and cannot 
 affoivl 1(» 1)11 v from the farmer, and that therefore
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 53 
 
 manufactures and agriculture must both be preju- 
 diced. 
 
 After revolving those repeated instances, and 
 almost continued chain of distress, for such a series 
 of years, among the inhabitants of a temperate cli- 
 mate, 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.
 
 54 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 Jfift^ Wttttx. 
 
 Buhlin, SOth Aug.^ 1779. 
 My Lord, 
 
 Every man of discernment, who attends to 
 tlie 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* was the 
 principal trade of Ireland. This was thought, most 
 erroneously, t as has since been acknowledged,:}: to 
 lower the rents of lands in England. From this, and 
 
 * Carte, vol. ii., pp. 318, 319. 
 
 t Sir W. Petty's " Political Survey," pp. 69, 70. Sir W. 
 Temple, vol. iii., pp. 22, 23. 
 
 X By several British acts (32 G. 2, ck 11 ; 5 G. 3, cli. 10 ; 
 12 G. 3, ch. 56), allowing from time to time the free impor- 
 tation of all sorts of cattle from Ireland.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 55 
 
 perhaps from some less worthy motive* a law- 
 passed in England, t 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. :{: 
 After this prohibition they increased their number 
 of sheep, and at the Eevolution 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, § the relinquish- 
 ment of that scheme by never afterwards reviving 
 it, the encouragement given to their woollen manu- 
 factures by many English Acts of Parliament from 
 the reign of Edward III.|| to the 12th of Charles II., 
 and several of them for the express purpose of ex- 
 portation; 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 
 
 * Personal prejudice against the Duke of Ormond (Carte, 
 vol. ii., pp. 332, 337.) 
 
 t 15 Cii. 2, ch. 7. 18 Ch. 2, ch. 2. J Carte, vol. ii., p. 332; 
 
 § Com. Journ., vol. i., p. 208, by a clause to be inserted in 
 an Irish act. 
 
 11 See post, those acts stated.
 
 56 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRArNTS 
 
 the exportation of tlieir mannfactures to foreign 
 countries ; by the Irish statutes of the 13th Henry 
 Till. ch. 2 ; 28th Henry YIII. ch. 17 ; of the 11th 
 Elizabeth, ch. 10, and 17th and 18th Charles II., 
 ch. 15 (all of which, the Act of 28th Henry YIII. 
 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 Eevolution, but they were re- 
 placed, at great expense, and became more numerous 
 and flourishing than before. The woollen manu- 
 facture was cultivated in Ireland for ages before, 
 and for several years after the Eevolution, without 
 any appearance of jealousy from England, the 
 attempt by Lord Strafford excepted. No discou- 
 ragement is intimated in any speech from the throne 
 until the year 1G98; Lord Sydney's, in 1G92, im- 
 parts the contrary. " Tlieir Majesties," says he,* 
 " 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 tlrc help of some good 
 laws to make it as rich and flourishing as most of its 
 * Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 576.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 57 
 
 neighbours ; I am ordered to assure 5^011 that notliing 
 shall be wanting on their parts that may contribute 
 to your perfect and lasting happiness." 
 
 Several laws had been made* in England to pre- 
 vent the 'exjDortation 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| 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, ^ passed in 1G96, 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 Eng- 
 land, 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, 
 
 * English acts, 12 Ch. 2, ch. 32, 13 and 14. Ch. 2, ch. 18. 
 t 1 W., and M. ch. 32. J 7 and 8 W., ch. 28.
 
 58 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 and the encouragement to export it from Ireland to 
 England, mentioned in the title of the last-men- 
 tioned 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 piu'pose was brought 
 into the English House of Commons,* and passed 
 that house ; but after great consideration was not 
 passed by the Lords in that parliament, f There 
 does not aj)pear 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 lOOo, as follows : 
 
 Years. 
 
 ^ew draperies. 
 Pieces. 
 
 Old draperies. 
 Pieces. 
 
 Frieze. 
 Yards. 
 
 1665 
 
 224 
 
 32 
 
 444,381 
 
 1687 
 
 11,360 
 
 103 
 
 1,129,716 
 
 1696 
 
 4,413 
 
 34! 
 
 ■i 
 
 104,167 
 
 * 14th Jan., 1G97. 
 
 t 7tli July, 1G98 
 
 , dissolved,
 
 OF lEELAND CONSIDERED. 59 
 
 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 exporta- 
 tion of woollen manufactures for the year 1697,* 
 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| 2811- 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 
 
 * 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 manu- 
 factures exj)orted in 1697, was £23,614 9s. 6^?., namely, in friezes 
 and stockings, £14,625 12s.; in old and new draperies, 
 £8,988 1 7s. 6^;. ; 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 
 £70,521 14s.; of which the friezes were £56,485 16s.; stock- 
 ings, £2,520 18s. ; and old and new drapery (which it is there 
 said could alone interfere with the English trade), £11,514 10s.
 
 60 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 of the trade and woollen manufactures of Eng- 
 land."* 
 
 The apprehensions of England seem rather to 
 have arisen from the fears of future, than from the ex- 
 perience of any past rival ship in this trade. I have 
 more than once heard Lord Bowes, the late chan- 
 cellor of this kingdom, mention a conversation that 
 he had with. Sir Eobert 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 con- 
 sidering 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 groioing manufacture of cloth 
 in Irelandl both by the cheapness of all sorts of 
 
 * Preaniblo of English act of 1G99. 
 
 f 9th June, 1698, vol. of Lords' Journals, p. 314.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 61 
 
 necessaries for life, and goodness of materials for 
 making all manner ofcloth^ 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 appre- 
 hensive that the further growth of it mag 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 ma- 
 jesty ''in the most public and effectual way, that 
 may be, to declare to all your subjects of Ireland, 
 that the groivth and increase of the woollen manu- 
 facture hath long, and will ever be looked upon with 
 jealousy by all your subjects of this kingdom ; and 
 if not timelg 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 thai 
 kingdom can he ca fable of^'' 
 
 King William in his answer says, " His Majesty
 
 62 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 will take care to do what their lordships have de- 
 sired ;" and the lords direct that the Lord Chancellor 
 should order that the address and answer be forthwith 
 printed and published.* 
 
 In the address of the Commons'f' they say, that 
 " being sensible that the wealth and peace of this 
 kingdom do, in a great measure, depend on preserv- 
 ing the woollen manufacture, as much as possible, 
 entif^e to this realm, they think it becomes them, like 
 their ancestors, to be jealous oii\iQ estahllshment 2ciidi 
 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 manu- 
 facture, 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 
 
 * Lords' Journ., p. 315. f 30th June, 1698.
 
 OF lEELAND CONSIDERED. 63 
 
 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 tvool 
 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 ahvays 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* 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,! and 
 
 * 16tli July, 1698. f Eapin's Hist., vol. xvii., p. 417.
 
 64 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 that you make effectual laws for the linen manu- 
 facture, and discourage as far as possible the woollen." 
 It would be unjust to infer fi*om any of those pro- 
 ceedings 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 com- 
 pliance with the desii-e 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* 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 manu- 
 facture 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 consist- 
 ent with the trade of England, but will render the 
 * 27th September, 1698, vol. ii., p. 994.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 65 
 
 trade of this kingdom both useful and necessary to 
 England." 
 
 The Commons in their address* 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, f that shall be ex- 
 ported, friezes excepted ; to which the House agreed.:}: 
 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. § 
 
 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 de- 
 pends so much on the good success of this session, 
 that since we know his Majesty's affairs cannot per- 
 
 * Cora. Journ., vol. ii., p. 997. f lb , vol. ii., p. 1022. 
 X October 24, 1698. § Com. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 1007, 1035. 
 
 6
 
 66 THE OOMMEECIAL EESTKAIXTS 
 
 mit 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 ma- 
 jesty's affection to you hath put into your hands be 
 lost, it seems hardly to be recovered.* 
 
 On the 2nd of January, 1698, 0. S. the House re- 
 solved 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 re- 
 ceived his majesty's commands! to send unto you a 
 bill, entitled an act for laying an additional duty 
 upon woollen manufactures exported out of this king- 
 dom ; the passing of which in this session his majesty 
 recommended to you, as what may be of great advan- 
 tage for the preservation of the trade of this king- 
 dom." 
 
 The bill which accompanied this message was pre- 
 sented, and a question for receiving it was carried 
 in the affirmative, by 74 against 34. This bill must 
 
 * Com. Journ., p. 1032. f lb., vol. ii.,p. 1082.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 67 
 
 have been transmitted from the Council of Ireland. 
 Whilst the Commons were proceeding with the ut- 
 most temper and moderation, were exerting great 
 firmness in restraining all attempts to inflame the 
 minds of the people,* 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, f 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^. in value of broadcloth exported out 
 of Ireland, and 2^. on every 20^. in value of new 
 drapery, friezes only excepted, from the 25th of 
 March, 1699, to the 25th of March, 1702 ;+ 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. § This law has every appearance of 
 having been framed on the partof the Administration. j| 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. ii., p. 1007. 
 
 t lb., 1104, by 105 against 41. 
 
 + 10 W. 3, ch. 5. § And. on Com. Journ.,, vol. i., 204. 
 
 II The Commissioners of Trade in England, by their repre- 
 sentation of the 11th October, 1698, say (Eng. Com. Journ., vol. 
 xii., p. 437), " they conceive it not necessary to make any altera- 
 tion^whatsoever in this Act," but take notice that the duties on 
 broadcloth, of which very little is made in Ireland, is 20 per
 
 68 THE COilMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 But it did not satisfy the English parliament, 
 where a perpetual law was made, prohibiting, from 
 the 20th of June, 1699,* the exportation fromlreland 
 of all goods made or mixed with wool, except to 
 England and Wales, and with the licence of the Com- 
 missioners of the Eevenue ; dutiesf had been before 
 aid on the importation into England equal" to a pro- 
 .hibition, therefore this Act has operated as a total 
 prohibition of the exportation. 
 
 Before these laws the Irish were under great dis- 
 advantages in the woollen trade, by not .being al- 
 lowed to export their woollen manufactures to the 
 English colonies,:}: or to import dye stuifs directly 
 from thence ; and the English in this respect, and 
 m having those exclusive markets, possessed con- 
 siderable 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 en- 
 cent. ; but the duty on new drapery, of which much is made, 
 is but 10 per cent. 
 
 * Eug. Stat., 10 and 11 William III., ch. 10, passed in 
 1699. 
 
 t 12 Ch. II. ch. 4, Eng., and afterwards continued by 11 
 Geo. I., ch. 7, ]}rit. 
 
 I By an Eng. Act, made in 1663, the same which laid the 
 first restraint on the exportation of cattle.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. G9 
 
 couraged 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 pro- 
 mote the carrying trade and ship-building. If these 
 are the most obvious means by which a nation may 
 advance in strength and riches, institutions counter- 
 acting those means must necessarily tend to reduce 
 it to weakness and poverty ; and, therefore, the ad- 
 vocates 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 ma- 
 terials, and the success of the manufacture in the 
 excluded country,* may appear to an unprejudiced 
 man to be rather reasons for the encouragement than 
 for the prohibition. But the preamble of the Eng- 
 lish 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 fi'om 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 
 
 * See the Address of the English House of Lords,
 
 70 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 which, the happiness of a great and ancient kingdom, 
 and of millions of people depends, onglit 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 manufac- 
 tures 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 men- 
 tioned as likely to arise to Englaud from the sup- 
 posed increase of those manufactures in Ireland, had 
 no other foundation but the apprehensions of rival- 
 ship among trading ^loople, who, in excluding their 
 fellow-citizens, have opened the gates for the admis- 
 sion 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 
 
 I
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 71 
 
 is cheaper, and taxes lower, in Ireland than in Eng- 
 land, and that the former would be able to undersell 
 the latter in all foreign markets. 
 
 Spinning is now certainly cheaper in Ireland, be- 
 cause the persons employed in it live on food* 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, notwith- 
 standing the supposed advantages of the Irish in 
 this trade, undersell them at their own markets in 
 every branch of the woollen manufacture. A de- 
 cisive 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. f That 
 price would be soon higher in Ireland than in Eng- 
 land. It is not in the richest countries, but in those 
 that are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of 
 labour are highest, :|: though the price of provisions 
 is much lower in the latter ; this, before the present 
 
 * Potatoes and milk, or more frequently water. 
 t Dr. Smith's " Wealth of Nations,'' vol. i., p. 94. 
 I lb., pp. 85, 86.
 
 72 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 mauufac- 
 tui-e was allowed. The English have also great advan- 
 tages 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,* 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.f 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. :{: The greater part 
 of the exportation and coasting trade of British 
 
 *Dr. Smith's " Wealtli of Nations," vol. i., p. 445; Dr. 
 Campbell's " Polit. Survey of Gi'eat Britain," vol. ii., p. 159 ; 
 Anderson on "Industry." 
 
 t Smith, ib. 
 
 ; Sir. W. Petty's " Political Survey of Ireland," p. 90,
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 73 
 
 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 re- 
 tailed in some of their principal provinces, particu- 
 larly in Virginia and Maryland, belonged to mer- 
 chants who resided in Great Britain, and the retail 
 trade was carried on by those who were not resident 
 in the country.* It is said that in ancient Egypt, 
 China, and Indostan, the greater part of their ex- 
 portation trade was carried on by foreigners. f The 
 same thing happened formerly in Ireland, where the 
 whole commerce of the country was carried on by 
 the Dutch ;:{: 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 in- 
 habitants of which have not capitals sufficient to 
 transport the produce of their own industry to those 
 distant markets where there is demand and consump- 
 tion for it, and their merchants are properly only the 
 agents of wealthier merchants, who reside in some 
 of the great commercial cities. § The Irish are de- 
 ficient in all kinds of stock, they have not sufficient 
 for the cultivation of their lands, and are deficient 
 
 * Smith's " Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 446. f lb. 
 
 I Lord Strafford's Letters, vol. i., p. 33. 
 
 § Smith's " Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 445.
 
 74 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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.* 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. ]^ot only a considerable part of it would 
 flow to the seat of government, and of final judica- 
 ture, and to the centre of commerce ; but when Ire- 
 land 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 
 
 * Sir M. Decker's " Decline of Foreign Trade," p. 155, and 
 Anderson on " Commerce," vol. iL, p. 149.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 75 
 
 empire. If Ireland cheerfully and spontaneously, 
 but when she was ill able, contributed, particularly 
 in the years 1759, 17G1, 17G9, 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 
 £59,000 yearly, the sums raised by Grand Juries 
 are said to exceed the annual sum of £140,000, and 
 the duties on beef, butter, pork, and tallow exported,
 
 76 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 at a medium from 1772 to 1778, amount to 
 £26,577 11 5. 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 inhabi- 
 tants can earn or expend, with the rental of the 
 lands, the amount of the circulating specie, of per- 
 sonal property, or of the trade of Ireland, it is ap- 
 prehended would appear not to be inferior in 
 proportion to the taxes of England compared with 
 any of those objects in that country.* The sums 
 remitted to absenteest are worse than so much paid 
 in taxes, because a large proportion of these is usually 
 expended in the country. If this reasoning is ad- 
 mitted, 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 
 
 * 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. 
 
 t See post 81.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 77 
 
 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 monoply 
 and not an equal market was plainly the object in 
 1698 ; it was not to prevent the Irish from under- 
 selling at foreign markets, but to prevent their 
 selling there at all. The consequences to the ex- 
 cluded country have been mentioned. England has 
 also been a great sufferer by this mistaken policy. 
 
 Mr. Dobbs, who wrote in 1729,* 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 
 
 * Essay on the " Trade of Ireland," pp. 6, 7.
 
 78 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 manu- 
 factured. This is mentioned by Sir Matthew Decker* 
 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 oiir wool than before, f 
 In 1698, the export of our wool to England amounted 
 to 377,520| stone; at a medium of eight years, to 
 Lady-day, 1728, it Avas only 227,049 st(me, which is 
 148,000 stone less than in 1G98, 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 ycarsj it 
 
 *DoclinG of Foreign Trades," pp. 55, 5G, 155. 
 t Dobb's, p. 7G. + lu 1774.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 79 
 
 amounted only to 1007 st. 111b., and in the last 
 year did not exceed 1665 st. 12 ib.* The price of 
 wool under an absolute prohibition, is £50 or .£60 
 per cent, under the market price of Europe, which 
 will always defeat the prohibition. f 
 
 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 effec- 
 tually 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 manu- 
 facture 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 
 
 * Nor was tliis 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. 
 
 f 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.
 
 80 THE COililERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 was made in Great Britain* in 1739 to take off the 
 duties fi'om woollen or bay yam exported from Ire- 
 land, 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 re- 
 straining. The world is become a great commercial 
 society ; exclude trade from one channel, and it sel- 
 dom 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 com- 
 pared 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 mer- 
 chants wish to acquire credit by giving themselves 
 the appearance of being great traders. 
 
 This balance in favour of Ireland on her general 
 
 * This was done for the benefit of the woollen manufacture 
 in England. Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xxii., p. 442.
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 81 
 
 trade, appears by those returns to have been, in 
 1776, £606,190 Us. Oid. ; in 1777, £24,203 S^-. 
 lO^d. ; in 1778, £386,384 3^. 7d. ; and, taken at a 
 medium of eleven years, from 1768 to 1778, both 
 inclusive, it amounts to the sum of £605,083 7^. 5c/. 
 The sums remitted from Ireland to Great Britain 
 for rents, interest of money, pensions, salaries, and 
 profits of offices, amounted, at the lowest computa- 
 tion, from 1768 to 1773, to £1,100,000 yearly ;* 
 and from 1773, when the tontines were introduced, 
 from which period large sums were borrowed from 
 England, those remittances were considerably in- 
 creased, and are now not less than between 12 
 and £13,000 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 in- 
 stance 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 en- 
 
 * 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 £1,208,982 1 Is. 6cl. 
 
 7 •
 
 82 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 abled her to bear this prodigious di-ain 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 inpractieable system of commercial policy, re- 
 pugnant to the natural course and order of things, 
 to suifer 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 oppo- 
 site to that of the public. To narrow the competi- 
 tion is advantageous to the dealers,* 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, f for which pur- 
 pose the Commons offered him the fiftieth part of 
 their movables.:}: 
 
 * Smith's " Wealth of Nations," vol. i., p. 316. 
 t Anderson on Com., vol. i., p. 131. 
 
 I The wish of traders for a monopoly is not confined to 
 England; in tho same kingdom some parts are restrained in
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 83 
 
 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* 
 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 
 endeavour's were used to set up those manufactures 
 there, f 
 
 Would any man suppose that this could relate to 
 a manufacture in which this kingdom excelled be- 
 fore 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 
 
 favour of others, as in Sweden to this hour (Abbe llesnal, 
 vol. ii., p. 28. 
 
 * Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., pp. 61, 68. f lb., p. 64. 
 
 X lb., p. 7.
 
 84 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 decayed and discouraged:]: in those parts, and dimi- 
 nished in England. But a petition from Leeds re- 
 presents this manufacture as having very much in- 
 creased* 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. f The Com- 
 missioners of Trade differ in opinion from them and 
 by their report it appears that the woollen manufac- 
 tm*e was then very much increased and improved. J 
 The traders have sometimes mistaken their own in- 
 terests on those subjects. In 1698 a petition for 
 prohibiting the importation from Ireland of all 
 worsted and woollen 3'arn, represents that the poor 
 of England are ready to perish by this importation ;§ 
 and in 1739 several petitions were preferred against 
 faking off the duties || from worsted and bay yarn 
 exported fi-om 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 privi- 
 leges. Of this there are two extraordinary instances : 
 in the year 1698 two petitions were preferred from 
 Folkstone and Aldborough, stating a singular griev- 
 
 * Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xii., p. 527. f lb., p. 530. 
 
 + lb., p. 431. § lb., p. 387. II lb., vol. xxii.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 85 
 
 ance that they suffered from Ireland, " by the Irish 
 catching herrings at Water ford and Wexford* and 
 sending them to the Streights, and thereby fore- 
 Hailing 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 in- 
 consistent accounts and opinions that will probably 
 be given, experience only can decide ; and experi- 
 ence will demonstrate that the removal of those re- 
 straints will promote the prosperity of both king- 
 doms. 
 
 I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c. 
 
 * Eng. Com. Journ., vol. xxii., p. 178.
 
 86 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 ii^llj ITrflcr, 
 
 Dublin, 1st September, 1779. 
 My Lord, 
 
 By the proceedings in the English Parlia- 
 ment, 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 equi- 
 valent 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 sys- 
 tem, reserving the exportation of frieze, then much 
 the most valuable part to Ireland.* The English 
 
 * The Lords Commissioners of Trade in England, by their 
 report of tlie 31st August, 1697 (Eng. Com. Journ., vol., xii., 
 p. 428), relating to tlie trade between England and Ireland, 
 though they recommend tlie restraining of the exportation of 
 all sorts of woollen manufactures out of Ireland, make the fol- 
 lowing exception, " except only tliat of their frieze, as is wont, 
 to England."
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDEEED. 87 
 
 intended the linen manufacture as a compensation, 
 and declared that they thought it would be much 
 more advantageous to Ireland* than the woollen 
 trade. 
 
 This idea of an equivalent has led several persons, 
 and, among the rest, two very able writers^ 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 them- 
 selves 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, J and 
 the other making it felony to ship them without 
 paying such duty.§ In the reign of Charles I. great 
 pains were taken by Lord Strafford to encourage 
 this manufacture, and in the succeeding reign|| 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 favour- 
 
 * See before speech of Lords Justices, 
 f Mr. Dobbs, and after him Dr. Smith. 
 :}: 11 Elizabeth, session 3, eh. 10. 
 § 13 Elizabeth, session 5, eh. 4. 
 
 II 17 and 18, ch. 2 ; oh. 9 for the advancement of the linen 
 manufacture. Carte.
 
 88 THE COMMERCIAL EESTEAINTS 
 
 able, 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,"* 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 ex- 
 ported 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, f hemp and flax, 
 and all the productions thereof. In the same ses- 
 sion:}: a law passed in England for the more effectu- 
 ally preventing the exportation of wool, and for en- 
 couraging the importation thereof from Ireland. 
 Both those manufactures Avere under the considera- 
 tion of Parliament this session, and it was thought, 
 from enlarged views of the welfare of both king- 
 
 * See before. 
 
 t 7 and 8 W. 3, ch. 39, from tLo 1st of August, 1696. 
 
 J 7 and 8 W., cli. 28.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 89 
 
 doms, 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.* In 1696 there ivas 
 no equivalent ivhatever 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 immedi- 
 ately carried into execution, an equivalent to Ire- 
 land for what she had lost? Let it first be con- 
 sidered 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 Par- 
 liament before mentioned, and from the attempt 
 made in 1695 by the Irish House of Commons to 
 lay a duty on all old and new di-apery imported. 
 The amount of the export provesf 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 
 
 * Not till the year 1705. 
 
 t Com, Journ., voL ii., p. 725, 733 ; vol. xvi., p. 360.
 
 90 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 this manufacture was "growing" amongst us, and 
 the goodness of our own materials " for making 
 all manner of cloth."* 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 de- 
 populated that they have not yet recovered a reason- 
 able number of inhabitants ; and the whole kingdom 
 was reduced to the greatest poverty and distress. t 
 The linen trade of Ireland w^as then of little consi- 
 deration, compared with the woollen. :j: The whole 
 exportation of linens, in 1700, § amounted only in 
 value to .£14,112. It was an experiment substi- 
 tuted 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 opencdj| 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 
 
 * See before. f Dobbs, 6, 7. 
 
 \ Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 362. § lb., p. 363. 
 
 II By 3r(l and 4th Anne, ch. 9.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 91 
 
 her interest to send, for the most part, her linens to 
 England. The linen could not have been a compen- 
 sation 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 manu- 
 facturers.* Of this manufacture there are not many 
 countries which have the primum in equal perfec- 
 tion with England and Ireland ; and no countries, 
 taking in the various kinds of those extensive ma- 
 nufactures, 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 equiva- 
 lent 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. Ire- 
 land 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 Ire- 
 land, and that England should be supplied with 
 linen from thence ;'|' but foreigners now draw great 
 
 * And. on Comm., vol. ii., p. 225. 
 
 f This appears by the preamble to the English Act of the 
 7th and 8th W. 3, ch. 39.
 
 92 THE COilMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 sums from England in this trade, and rival the Irish 
 in the English markets. The Eussians are becom- 
 ing 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 for- 
 merty cultivated this manufactui'e without success, 
 and had taken linens* from France to the amount of 
 £700,000 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-t That this is not too strong an expression will 
 appear by considering two British statutes, one of 
 which:}: 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 § Ireland, 
 
 * Anderson on Commerce, vol. ii., p. 177. 
 
 f Com. Joiirn., vol. xvi., p. 3G5. j In 1750. 
 
 § Py the law of 1750, and the bounties given on the expor- 
 tation 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 quan- 
 tities of sail-cloth imported there, in 1774, exceeding, ac- 
 cording 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).
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 93 
 
 which obliged us to discontinue them ; and the 
 other* 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 gene- 
 rously given to ours as well as to her OAvn, •\ operate 
 much more strongly in favour of the latter ; % 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 £12 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 
 
 * 10 G. 3, eh. — continued by act of last session to tlie year 
 1786. 
 f In the year 1743. j Com Journ., vol. xvi., 369, pp. 389.
 
 94 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 to tlie 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 ; * 
 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^ to 
 Irish linens was thought to have been one of the 
 principal encouragements to that trade, is now be- 
 come 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, J 
 
 * To please the English Scotland has for half a century past 
 exerted herself as much as possible to improve the linen 
 manufacture. — Anderson on ludustiy, vol. ii., p. 233. 
 
 f Cora. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 370. 
 
 I The province of Ulster, in two years, is said to have lost 
 30,000 of its inhabitants. Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 381.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 95 
 
 proves incontrovertibly that tliey can carry on their 
 trade with more success in America than in Ireland. 
 But let us examine the facts to determine whether 
 the proposed encoui-agements have taken place. 
 The declaration of the Lords of England for the en- 
 couragement 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 assist- 
 ance." The speech of the Lords Justices shows the 
 extent of this engagement, and promises the en- 
 couragement of England "to the linen and hempen 
 manufactures of Ireland." 
 
 In the year 1705* 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 retiu^n any goods 
 from thence to Ireland, which will appear from the 
 account in the Appendix to have made this law of in- 
 considerable 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, 
 
 * Prom 24th June, 1705, 3 and 4 Anne, cli. 8, for 11 years, 
 but afterwards continued.
 
 96 THE COMITERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 striped, printed, painted, stained, or dyed linens 
 were not until lately admitted into the plantations 
 from Ireland ; and the statutes of Queen Anne,* 
 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 t for those goods, and, until the year 17 77,:}: 
 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 eifect in favoui* of this 
 country, fi-om 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 Britian 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 liemp.§ 
 
 I hope to be excused for weighing scrupulously a 
 
 * Brit. Acts, 10 Anno, ch. 19 ; 11 and 12 Anne, cli. 9; 
 6 G. 1, ch. 4. 
 
 t Brit. Act. 18 G. 3, ch. 53. 
 
 X ir. Com. Journ., vol xvi., pp. 303, 364. 
 
 § lb., p. 365.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 97 
 
 proposed equivalent, for whicli tlie 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 equiva- 
 lent 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 manu- 
 facture only be encouraged ? The linen and the 
 woollen trades of Ireland were formerly both en- 
 couraged by the legislatures of both kingdoms ; they 
 are now both equally encouraged in England. 
 
 If this single trade was found sufficient employ- 
 ment 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 inter- 
 position 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. 
 Keason and experience demonstrate that, to make 
 
 8
 
 98 THE COMMERCIAL RESTEAINTS 
 
 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 dis- 
 couraged, 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 peojDle who enjoy that liberty will under- 
 sell them in their own markets ; the restrained ma- 
 nufacturers will be reduced to poverty, and will hang 
 like paralytic limbs on the rest of the body. 
 
 If England's commercial system w^ould have been 
 incomplete, had she failed to cultivate any one prin- 
 cipal 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 con- 
 fined 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 coun- 
 tries which produced the materials manufactured
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 99 
 
 tliem, when the Italian manufactures declined, and 
 dwindled into little consideration in comparison of 
 their former splendour. The Flemings, from their vi- 
 cinity 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 manu- 
 facture* 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 im- 
 poverishing 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 legisla- 
 ture 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 
 ^£9,000 yearly in premiums on the importation of 
 flax-seed, which is now almost imported, and costs us 
 between £70,000 and £80,000 yearly. Flax farm- 
 ing, in any large quantity, is fcecome a precarious 
 and losing trade, "f" and those who have been induced 
 
 * Anderson on Industry, vol. i.. pp. 34 to 40. 
 f Com. Journ., vol. xvi., p. 370.
 
 100 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 dan- 
 gerous 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,* and the success 
 <>xceeds our most sanguine expectations. But look into 
 the state of this country ; you will find property cir-. 
 culating slowly and languidly, and in the most nu- 
 
 * See Com. Journ., vol. xvii., pp. 2G3 to 287, for the sums 
 paid from 1700 to 1775. They amount to £803,486 Os. 2}d.
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 101 
 
 merous classes of your people no circulation or pro- 
 perty 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 dis- 
 tress and beggary. All other manufacturers will 
 continue spiritless, poor, and distressed, and derive 
 from uncertain employment a precarious and miser- 
 able 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 discon- 
 tented ; 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 cli- 
 mates ; 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."* 
 
 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 
 
 * This malady of emigration among our linen manufacturers 
 has appeared at many different periods during this century.
 
 102 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 be- 
 tween the philosopher and the sun. Had he been 
 a man of the world he might have expressed the 
 same idea with more addi'css, though with less force 
 and significance ; he might have said, " I am sen- 
 sible of your greatness and of your power ; I have 
 no doubts of your liberality; but l^ature has abun- 
 dantly given me all that I w^isli ; 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 honoui* to be, my Lord, &c.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 103 
 
 kkuti; ydto. 
 
 Dublin^ 3rJ Septe7nher^ 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 coloni- 
 sation. 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 reason- 
 able to extend this principle to Ireland? The 
 climate, growth, and productions of the colonies 
 were diiferent 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
 
 104 THE COM^kTERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 bene- 
 fits arising from those colonies equally with England, 
 until the fifteenth year of the reign of King 
 Charles II.* 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 them- 
 selves. "f 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. 
 
 * 12 Ch. II., cli. 7. 
 
 f 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.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 105 
 
 The English were desirous to establish it among 
 themselves, and by an Act of Parliamentj* 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.,t 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 inte- 
 rested to encourage the linen manufactui'e 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 manu- 
 facture. But in 1698 a different principle prevailed, 
 in effect the same, so far as relates to the woollen 
 manufactui-e, with that which had prevailed as to 
 the commerce of the colonies. This is evident from 
 the preamble of the English law,:{: 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 profit- 
 able 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 manu- 
 
 * 15 Oh. II., ch. 15. t Ch. 39. 
 
 t lOtli and 11th Wm. III., ch. 10.
 
 106 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS. 
 
 factures have of late been made and are daily in- 
 creasing 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 manu- 
 factures 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* 
 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 1C99, and yet are now allowed to be ground- 
 less apprehensions occasioned by short and mistaken 
 views of the real interests of England. Sir "W. 
 Petty t demonstrates that the opinion entertained in 
 
 * 15 Ch. II., ch. 7. 18 Ch. II., ch. 2. 20 Ch. II., ch. 7. 
 22nd & 23r(l Ch. II., ch. 2. 
 
 f Potty's "Political Survey of Ireland," p. 70, and ih, 
 "lleport fi'om the Council of Trade," pages 117, 118.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 10 T 
 
 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 
 exjDorts as not having a much better foundation. 
 
 Connecting this preamble of the Act of 1G99, 
 with the speech made from the throne to the parlia- 
 ment 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 king- 
 dom, the object of this new commercial regulation 
 is obvious. It was to discourage the woollen manu- 
 facture in Ireland and in effect to prohibit the 
 exj^ortation from thence because it was the principal 
 branch of manufacture and trade in England ; to in- 
 duce us to send to them our materials for that 
 manufacture, and that we should be suftplied 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 
 
 Sir W. Temple, vol. iii., pp. 22, 23, that England was evi- 
 dently 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 pro- 
 ceeding.
 
 108 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 represen- 
 tation of the ruinous state of the country, liberty 
 was given by an English Act of Parliament* 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 IL, 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 
 
 * 3 and 4 Anne, ch. 8.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDEEED. 109 
 
 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 effec- 
 tual 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 attain- 
 ing the same great purposes. 
 
 In my opinion it would be improper, in the pre- 
 sent 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 Ire- 
 land was in possession of the English Common 
 law* and of Magna Charta. The former secures 
 
 * 4 Inst., 349. Mattli. Paris, anno. 1172, pp. 121, 220. Vit. 
 H. 2. Pryn, against the 4 Inst., c. 76, pp. 250, 252. Sir
 
 110 THE COMMERCIAL RESTEAINTS 
 
 the subject in the enjoyment of property of every 
 kind; and by the latter the liberties of all the ports of 
 the kingdom are estahlished. 
 
 The Statutes made in England for the common 
 and public weal are,* by an Irish Act of the 10th 
 of Henry YII., 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. 
 
 John Davis's Hist., p. 71. Lord Lyttleton's Hist, of, H. 2. 
 vol. iii., PI). 89, 90. 7 Co., 22, 2:5. 4th Bh'ulr, 429. 
 * Cooke's 4th lust., ;351.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. Ill 
 
 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* 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, f 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.:|: 
 
 * Anderson on Commerce, vol. i., p. 174. 
 
 t 3rd Edward IV.. ch. 4. 
 
 ]: The part of this law which mentions that it shall be
 
 112 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 In the next year anotlier Act* passed in that 
 kingdom, that all woollen cloth brought into Eng- 
 land, and set to sale, should be forfeited, except 
 cloths made in Wales or Ireland. 
 
 In those reigns England was as careful of the com- 
 merce and manufactui'es of her ancient sister king- 
 dom, 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, f 
 
 And in a treaty between Heniy YII. and the 
 Netherlands, Ireland is included, both as to exports 
 and imports.:]: 
 
 The commercial Acts of Parliament in which Ire- 
 land 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 pro- 
 
 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. 
 
 * 4th Edward IV., ch. 1. 
 
 f Anderson on Commerce, vol. i., p. 285. I lb., p. 319.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDEEED. 113 
 
 tection 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 Cliarta, 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 enlarge- 
 ment 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.,* 
 and in 1627, King Charles I. made a strong decla- 
 ration in favour of the trade, and manufactures of this 
 country. By several English statutes in the reign 
 of King Charles XL, an equal attention was shown 
 to the woollen manufactures in both kingdoms ; in 
 the 12th year of his reignf the exportation of wool, 
 wool-felts, fuller's earth, or any kind of scowering 
 
 * 3rd James, ch. 6. t 12tli Ch. II., ch. 
 
 9
 
 114 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 earth, was prohibited from both. But let the rea- 
 sons 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 king- 
 doms 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, re- 
 dound, and be unto the subjects and inhabitants of 
 the same." 
 
 This w^as 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 OAvn 
 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 commo- 
 dities* of the growth, production or manufacture of 
 
 * 12tliCh. II., cli. 18.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 115 
 
 Asia, Africa, or America, shall be imported into 
 England, Ireland, or Wales, but in shij)s which be- 
 long to the people of England or Ireland, the domi- 
 nion of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or 
 which are of the built of the said lands, and of which 
 the master and thi'ee-fourths of the mariners are 
 English ; and a subsequent statute* makes the en- 
 couragement 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 lawf 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 XL, 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 Mngdoms. 
 
 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 
 
 * ISth and Hth Ch. II., cli. 11. fib., ch. 18.
 
 116 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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."* 
 
 This policy was liberal, just, and equal; it oj)ened 
 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 YIII. 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, "f and " tends to the 
 desolation and ruin of this poor land." The second 
 of those laws enforces the prohibition^ 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 redi-ess whereof, and m 
 consideration that conveying of the wool of the 
 growth of this land out of the same is one of the 
 
 * 12th Ch. II., ch. 27. f Ir. Act, 13th H. VIII, ch. 2. 
 + 28th n. VIII., ch. 17.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 117 
 
 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* 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 trans- 
 ported than presently they are, which shall set many 
 now living idle on work, to the great relief and 
 commodity of this realm, t 
 
 By the preamble of one of those Acts,:]: made in 
 the reign of Charles II., it appears that the sale of 
 Irish woollen goods in foreign markets was encou- 
 raged by England, " whereas there is a general 
 complaint in England, France, and other parts be- 
 yond 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 
 
 * Ch. 10. 
 
 f 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. 
 
 X Ir. Act of 17 and 18 Ch. II., ch. 15.
 
 118 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 and makers thereof do not observe any certain assize 
 for length, breadth, and weight for making their 
 clothes and other commodities aforesaid in this king- 
 dom, as they do in the realm of England, and as 
 they ought also to do here, by which means the 
 merchants, buj^ers, 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 un- 
 dervalued, 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,* in pursuance of a 
 letter from Charles II., by the advice of his council in 
 England, notifying to all his subjects of this king- 
 dom 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 
 
 * Carte, vol. ii., p. 344.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 119 
 
 of England and Ireland,* and the restraints on that 
 of the latter commenced. By an English Act passed 
 in that year, entitled an Act "for the encourage- 
 ment 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 con- 
 sisted of our people, our provisions, and a material 
 for manufacture which we might have used more 
 profitably on our own coasts. 
 
 In 1670, another Actf passed in England to pro- 
 hibit from the 24th of March, 1671, the exportation 
 from the English plantations to Ireland of several 
 materials for manufactures:!: 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, 
 
 *• 15th Ch. II., eh. 1. f 22ud and 23rd Cli. TL, ch. 26. 
 
 X Sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, steel or Jamaica 
 wood, fustick or other dying wood, the growth of the said 
 plantations.
 
 120 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 though the importation of those commodities into 
 Ireland //'o?;z 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* it is made law- 
 ful to import from his Majesty's plantations all goods 
 of their growth or manufactures, the articles enume- 
 rated in those several Acts excepted.! 
 
 By a late British Act J there is a considerable 
 extension of the exports from Ireland to the British 
 
 * 4th Geo. II., ch. 15; 6th Geo. XL, ch. 15 ; 4th Geo. II., 
 ch. 15. 
 
 t The articles in the last note, and also rice, molasses, 
 beaver stins, and other furs, copper ore, pitch, tar, turpen- 
 tine, masts, yards, and bowsprits, pimento, cocoa-nuts, whale 
 fins, raw silk, hides and skins, pot and pearl ashes, iron and 
 lumber. 
 
 X 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
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 121 
 
 plantations. But it is apprehended that this law will 
 not answer the kind intentions of the British legis- 
 lature. Denying the import from those countries to 
 Ireland is, in effect, preventing the export from Ire- 
 land 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 
 
 growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Britain which may 
 be legally imported from thence into Ireland (woollen manu- 
 facture 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.
 
 122 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 brown linen from Ireland into the English planta- 
 tions, the quantities sent there directly from Ireland 
 were at all times very inconsiderable notwithstand- 
 ing this liberty ; they were sent for the most part 
 from Ireland to England before any bounty was 
 given on the exportation fi'om thence, which did not 
 take place until the year 1743 ; and from England 
 the English plantations were supplied. There can- 
 not be a more decisive proof that the liberty of ex- 
 porting 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 
 intercoiu'se 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 empii-e. 
 
 Those laws laid Ireland under restraints highly 
 prejudicial to her commerce and navigation. From 
 those countries the materials for ship-building* and 
 some of those used in perfecting theii- staple manu- 
 factures were had ; Ireland was, by those laws, 
 
 *Tliis appears by tbo EngUsh Acts (3 and 4 Anne, cli. 10, 
 8 Anne, ch. 1. 2 Geo. 11., cL. 35), giving bounties on tbe 
 importation of those articles into Great Britain.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 123 
 
 excluded from almost all the trade of three quarters 
 of the globe, and from all direct beneficial inter- 
 course 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-sub- 
 jects in Asia, Africa, or America.* By the law of 
 1699 she was, as to her staple manufacture, de- 
 prived 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, f 
 
 She could send her principal materials for manu- 
 
 *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 Eng- 
 land gained more than it lost by a free commerce (with Ire- 
 land), as exporting hither three times as much as it received 
 from hence," and mentions his surprise at their being de- 
 barred from bringing commodities from America directly 
 home, and being obliged to bring them round from England, 
 with extreme hazard and loss. — "Political Survey of Ire- 
 land," p. 123. 
 
 t 22nd and 23rd Ch. II., ch. 26, sec. 11.
 
 124 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 facture 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 YIL, became a part of our 
 commercial constitution, breathe a spirit totally re- 
 pugnant to the principle of that law; and it is, there- 
 fore, 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
 
 or IRELAND CONSIDERED. 125 
 
 during this period our loyalty had been exemplary, 
 and our sufferings on that account great. In 1G41, 
 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 king- 
 dom, and to that religion and constitution which 
 they happily enjoyed under it. At the Efivolution 
 they were constant in the same principles, and suc- 
 cessfully 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 (obliga- 
 tions 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 in- 
 tended to touch upon the power of making or alter-
 
 126 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 ing 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 reasonahle^ useful, and 
 just, principles equally apjDlicable to an independent 
 or a subordinate, to a rich or a j)oor country : Quod 
 deque pauperibus prodest, locupletlbus ceque. 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 obso- 
 lete despotism. I revere that conquest which has 
 given to Ireland the common law and the Magna 
 Charta of England. 
 
 When we consider what is 7'casonahle, useftd, and 
 Just, and addi-ess our sentiments to a nation re- 
 nowned for wisdom and justice, should pride per- 
 vert 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 Silfredi — 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
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 127 
 
 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 un- 
 nerve 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 constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Great eulogiums on the virtues of our people have 
 been pronounced by some of the most respected 
 English authors.* 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.f 
 
 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. 
 
 * Sir John Davis and Sir Edward Cooke. 
 
 t ' Huiav '^{up T (iixtTj"! (nroali'VTUi oovXtov rjfinp. 
 
 Homer, as quoted by Longinus.
 
 128 THE COMMERCIAL EESTEAINTS 
 
 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 fiu'ther 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 pro- 
 perty, so as not to injure that of our neighbour,* 
 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 sys- 
 tem of commerce and of policy totally different from 
 those which the circumstances of these countries, in 
 
 * Sic utere tuo, alienum nou laedas.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 129 
 
 the years 1663, 1670, and 1698, might have sug- 
 gested. 
 
 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. 
 
 10
 
 130 THE COMMEECIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 ^ig^t]^ "^ttkx. 
 
 Dublin, Qth 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.* If it had not 
 been for the numbers of British which those wars 
 had brought over,"]* and such who, either as adven- 
 turers 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 king- 
 dom was in a state of the utmost anarchy and con- 
 fusion. To satisfy the clashing interests of the 
 numerous claimants, and to determine the various 
 and intricate disputes that arose relative to titles, 
 
 * Sir William Petty's " Political Survey of Ireland," p. 19 
 t Sir William Tom])lo, vol. iii., p. 7.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 131 
 
 required a considerable length of time. Peace and 
 settlement, or, to use the words of one of the Acts 
 of Parliament* of that time, the repairing the ruins 
 and desolation of the kingdom were the great objects 
 of this period. 
 
 The English lawf of 1663, restraining the ex- 
 portation from Ireland to America, was at that time, 
 and for some years after, scarcely felt in this king- 
 dom, 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 sta- 
 tute for the settlement of this kingdom, was not 
 enacted until two years after. The country con- 
 tinued 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.:{: In 1672, when the 
 country had greatly improved, the manufacture be- 
 stowed upon a year's exportation from Ireland did 
 not exceed eight thousand pounds, § and the cloth- 
 ing trade had not then arrived to what it had been 
 before the last rebellion. But still the kingdom had 
 
 * The Act of Explanation. f 15 Ch. IT. 
 
 J Sir W. Petty, p. 9. § lb. pp. 9 and 110.
 
 132 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 much increased in wealtli, tliougli not in manufac- 
 tured exports. The customs which set in 1656 for 
 £12,000 yearly were, in 1672, worth £80,000* 
 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, t hut of the prohibition of exporting our 
 cattle to England, and of our being obliged to unlade 
 in that kingdom^ the ships bound from America to 
 Ireland, the latter regulation he considers as highly 
 prejudicial to this country. :|: 
 
 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 exporta- 
 tions. When we advanced in the export of our 
 woollen goods the law of 1663,§ 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 imj^oscd by the law of 
 
 * Sir W. Petty, p. 89. f lb., pp. 9 and 10. 
 
 X lb., pp. 34, 71, 125. § 15 Cli. II., ch. 7.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 133 
 
 1670 upon our importations from tlience 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 reason- 
 able to extend, to a very considerable degree, our 
 exportation to their colonies, and has, doubtless, 
 intended that this favour should be useful to Ire- 
 land, it is hoped that those restraints on the impor- 
 tation 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
 
 134 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 Eestoration the inhabitants of Ireland con- 
 sisted of three different nations — English, Scotch, 
 and Irish — divided by political and religious prin- 
 ciples, 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 per- 
 haps 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 1G87, that in the latter year the exports of the 
 woollen manufacture alone amounted in value to 
 £70,521 Us. Od. 
 
 But the religious and civil animosities continued. 
 The papists objected to the settlement of property 
 made after the Kestoration,* wished to reverse the 
 outlawTies, and to rescind the laws on which that set- 
 tlement was founded, hoped to establish their own as 
 
 * Carte, vol. ii., pp. 425 to 428, 465.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 135 
 
 the national religion, to get the power of the king- 
 dom into their own hands, and to effect all those pur- 
 poses by a king of their own religion. They endea- 
 voured to attain all those objects by laws* 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,t 
 showed dispositions unfavourable to the subordina- 
 tion 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 disappoint- 
 ment at that era, were thought to entertain expecta- 
 tions of the restoration of their Popish king, and 
 designs unfavourable to the established constituton 
 in Church and State. It is not to the present pur- 
 
 • Archb. Bishop King's State, 209. James II., in his 
 speech from the throne in Ireland, recommended the repeal of 
 the Act of Settlement. 
 
 f Their demands in 1642 -were the restitution of all the 
 plantation lands to the old inhabitants, repeal of Poyning's 
 Act, &c. — Macaulay'sHist.,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.
 
 136 THE COMMEECIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 pose 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 addi- 
 tional 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 dis- 
 banding 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 1063,* ^'■yet, forasmuch as the 
 Protestant interest of Irelend ought to be supported, 
 by giving the utmost encouragement to the linen 
 manufactures of that kingdom, in tender regard to 
 * 3r(l and 4th Anne, ch. 8.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 137 
 
 her Majesty's good Protestant subjects of .her said 
 kingdom, be it enacted," &c. 
 
 The papists, then disabled from acquiring per- 
 manent property in lands, had not the same interest 
 with Protestants in the defence of their country and 
 in the prosperity of the British Empire. Put 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 be- 
 nign influence of our Sovereign, and of the protec- 
 tion 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 sub- 
 jects, and at this most dangerous crisis have con- 
 tributed 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 legislatui'e which 
 led the way to their relief, and they are peculiarly
 
 138 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 num- 
 bers 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 sub- 
 jects 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 reconsi- 
 dered 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 m the government of two 
 millions and a-lialf of men now united among them- 
 selves, and all interested in the support of the Crown, 
 the laws, and the constitution. 
 
 What might have been sufficient employment, and
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 139 
 
 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,* 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 £200,000 
 yearly toEnglandf 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 re- 
 specting America were to confine the Planta- 
 tion 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 her- 
 self 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 fore- 
 
 * Sir W. Petty's "Survey." f lb., p. 117.
 
 140 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 seen 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. N'or could it have been 
 foreseen that Ireland, excluded from almost all direct 
 intercourse with them, should have been nearly un- 
 done 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 Eng- 
 land 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 manufactiu'c in Ireland. 
 In the representation from the Commissioners of 
 Trade, laid before both houses,* they think it a 
 
 * Order 14tli March, IG98, Lords' Jouni., vol. xvi. Eng. 
 Com. Journs., ISth Jan., 1698, vol. xii., p. 440.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 141 
 
 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 J per cent, may be laid on broadcloth ex- 
 ported 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 repre- 
 sentation 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 under- 
 selling the English, they undersell us in our own 
 markets. 
 
 Besides our exclusion from foreign markets, Eng- 
 land 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
 
 142 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 manufactures.* It lias 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 im- 
 ported from England, in the years 1777 and 1778, 
 woollen goods to the enormous amount of £715,740 
 135. Od., as valued at our Custom House, and of the 
 manufactures of linen, cotton, and silk mixed, to the 
 amount of £98,086 Is. lid., making in the whole 
 in those two years of distress, £813,820 14^. lld.'f 
 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 
 
 * 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 im- 
 portation of oil, upon toasles, 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. 
 
 f See in the Appendix an account of those articles imported 
 from England into Ireland for ten years, commencing in 1769, 
 and ending in 1778.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 143 
 
 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 fi-equently 
 resorted to in times of distress. In the sessions of 
 1703, 1705, and 1707,* 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 ;t and Sir William Temple, a 
 zealous friend to the trade and manufactures of 
 England, recommends to Lord Essex, then Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, "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 manu- 
 factures.":}: 
 
 * Com. Journ., vol. iii., pp. 348, 548. 
 
 t Sir W. Petty's "Political Survey," p. 123. 
 
 X Sir W. Temple, vol. iii., p. 11.
 
 144 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 The people of England cannot reasonably object 
 to a conduct of which they have given a memorable 
 example.* In 1697 the English House of Lords 
 presented an addi'ess to King William to discourage 
 the use and wearing of all sorts of furnitui'e 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, f and would endeavour 
 to make it effectually followed. The reason assigned 
 by the I^ords for this addi'ess was that the trade of 
 the nation had suffered by the late long and expen- 
 sive war. But it does not appear that there was 
 any pressing necessity at the time, or that their 
 manufacturers were starving for want of employ- 
 ment. 
 
 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 
 
 * Lord's Joiirn., 16th Feb., 1697. 
 t Lord's Journ., 19tli Feb., 1697.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 145 
 
 resource. If this is thought, by men of great know- 
 ledge, to be the most valuable of all trades,* because 
 it makes the speediest and the surest returns, and be- 
 cause 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.f 
 
 Two other reasons were assigned for this prohi- 
 bition : that the Irish had shown themselves un- 
 willing to promote the linen manufacture, J 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 em- 
 ployed 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 ; exten- 
 sive tracts of lands, formerly sheep-pasture, are now 
 
 * See Dr. Smith's " Wealtii of Nations." 
 
 f 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. 
 
 X Address of Eng. Commons, a7ite. 
 
 11
 
 146 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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,* it 
 has been for several years lessening, and is not likely 
 to be increased. In those two important circum- 
 stances the grounds of the apprehensions of England 
 have ceased, and the state of Ireland has been ma- 
 terially 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 manufac- 
 ture to herself. The people of Leeds, Halifax, and 
 Newberry, "I" 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 ex- 
 pectations; several other countries cultivate this 
 
 * King's Stat, pp. ICO, IGl. 
 
 \ l^iig. Com. Journ., vol. xii,, pp. 514, 523, 528.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 147 
 
 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 connec- 
 tion 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
 
 148 THE COMilERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 to sustain her, should exert every possible e:ffort to 
 strengthen herself at home. The number of people 
 in Ireland have more than doubled in fom'score 
 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,* 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 men- 
 tioned. 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 com- 
 modities, improved by multitudes of people and in- 
 dustry, with the advantage of so many excellent 
 
 * Vol. iii., p. 8.
 
 OF lEELAND CONSIDERED. 149 
 
 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."* 
 
 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 ex- 
 pense and a burden to England ; when she had ac- 
 quired 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, t were less 
 than the medium value of the four preceding years 
 in a sum of £634,444 Ss. Od; 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 
 
 * See Sir John Davis's "Discourses," pp. 5, 6, 194. 
 f Summary of Imports and Exports to and from Ireland, 
 laid before the British House of Commons in 1779.
 
 150 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 not to that country throngh 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 Empii-e, 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 commu- 
 nity. The present inability of Ireland arises princi- 
 pally 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.* The increase of people there under its 
 
 * 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.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 151 
 
 present restraints makes but a small addition to the 
 resources of the State in respect of taxes.* In 
 1685, the amount of the inland excise in Ireland was 
 £75,169. In 1762, it increased only to £92,842. 
 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,f which appears from this circumstance, 
 that in 1685 hearth-money amounted to £32,659, 
 and in 1762 to £56,611. 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, 
 
 * A very judicious friend of mine has, with great pains and 
 attention, made a calculation of the numbers of people in Ire- 
 land 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. 
 
 f 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.
 
 152 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS " "^ 
 
 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 no^ 
 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 suffi- 
 cient to increase the numbers of people : these are the 
 true wealth of every state that has wisdom to en- 
 courage the industry of its inhabitants, and a country 
 which supplies in abundance the materials for that 
 industry. If the state or the family should dis- 
 courage 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
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 153 
 
 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.
 
 154 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 l^intlj Wttkx. 
 
 Dublin, 10th Sept., 1779. 
 Mt Lord, 
 
 Besides those already mentioned, various 
 other commercial restraints and prohibitions give 
 the British trader and manufactm-er many great 
 and important advantages over the Irish. Whilst 
 oui' markets are at all times open to all their pro- 
 ductions and manufactures, with inconsiderable 
 duties on the import, their markets are open or shut 
 against us as suits their convenieney. 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* which amount to a prohibition, f Theirs 
 
 * 12 Ch. II., ch. 4. Eng. 
 
 f Yet, in favour of Great Ih-itain, old and new drapery im- 
 ported into Ireland from other countries are subject to duties 
 equal to a prohibition. Ir. Act 14th and 15th, Ch. II., ch. 8.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 155 
 
 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* 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 dutyj* equal to a prohibition is imposed on 
 the importation into Great Britain ; but theirs, 
 imported to us, are subject:}: 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 
 
 * On every piece of old drapery exported, containing thirty- 
 six yards, and so for a greater or lesser quantity, 3s. 4d., and 
 of new drapery 9d., 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 aU other duties from their manufac- 
 tures made or mixed with wool. Eng. Act 11 and 12 W. 
 III., eh. 20. 
 
 t 30 per cent, by the British acts of 9 and 10 Anne, ch. 39., 
 and 12 Anne, ch. 9. 
 
 J This tax is ad valorem, and the linen not valued.
 
 156 THE COMJIERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 manu- 
 factures they retain solely to themselves, which we 
 are prohibited fi'om exporting, and cannot import 
 from any country but Great Britain, as glass of all 
 kinds. Hops they do not allow us to import fi'om 
 any other place, and in a facetious style of interdic- 
 tion, pronounce such importation to be a common 
 nuisance.* 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 
 
 * Brit. Act, 9 Anne, ch. 12.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 167 
 
 he appears as buyer* or seller, fixes his own price, 
 and becomes the arbiter of the profit and loss of 
 every customer. 
 
 The various manufactures"!* 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 J 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 Ameri- 
 can. 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. § 
 
 * 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." 
 
 t 12 Ch. II., ch. 5. 3 and 4 Anne, ch. 4. 4 and 5 W. and 
 M., ch. 5. 
 
 + 7 G. I., ch. 7. 
 
 § 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.
 
 158 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 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 re- 
 viewed 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 inten- 
 tions, not to excite jealousies, but to remove preju- 
 dices, 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 in- 
 flame ; 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
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 159 
 
 own case ; not in the strains of passion or resent- 
 ment, nor in the tone of remonstrance, but with a 
 modest enumeration of unexaggerated facts in 
 pathetic simplicity. She will tell her, with a coun- 
 tenance full of aifection and tenderness, " I have 
 received from you invaluable gifts — the law of* 
 common right, your great charter, and the funda- 
 mentals of your constitution. The temple of liberty 
 in your country has been fi-equently fortified, im- 
 proved, and embellished; mine, erected many cen- 
 turies 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. "j* 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 
 
 * The common law of England. 
 
 f 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 Com- 
 mons, but were not returned.
 
 160 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS 
 
 employment of shepherds and of herdsmen. But 
 you rejected my produce,* and reprobated this in- 
 tercourse in terms the most opprobrious. I sub- 
 mitted ; the temporary loss was mine, but the perpe- 
 tual 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 
 
 * The Eng-. Act of Ch. II., ch. — , calls the importation of 
 cattle from Ireland a common nuisance.
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 161 
 
 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 in- 
 adequate 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.* 
 Conquest attended our arms. You gained a great 
 increase of empire and of commerce, and my peo]3le a 
 further extension of restraints and prohibitions, f 
 In those efiorts I have exhausted my strength, mort- 
 gaged my territories, and am now sinking under 
 
 * This number of Irishmen was computed to have served 
 in the fleets and armies of Great Britain during the last war. 
 
 f 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 prohi- 
 bited to receive but through another channel. Her poverty 
 scarcely gathered a crumb from the sumptuous table of her 
 sister. 
 
 12
 
 162 THE COMMERCIAL RESTRAINTS ^ 
 
 the pressure of enormous debts, contracted from my 
 zealous attachment to your interests, to the exten- 
 sion 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 
 {md 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 libe- 
 rality has oj)ened 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 bene- 
 ficent to us both. We both possess in great abund- 
 ance the means of industry and happiness. My 
 fields are not less fertile nor my harbours less 
 numerous than yours. My sons are not less re- 
 nowned than your own for valour, justice, and gene- 
 rof-ity. Many of them are your descendants, and 
 have some of j'our b(\st blood in their veins. But 
 the narrow policy of man has counteracted the 
 irstincts and the bounties of nature. In the midst 
 of Hose fertile fields some of my children perish
 
 OF IRELAND CONSIDERED. 163 
 
 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 circum- 
 stances 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 exer- 
 tions 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 
 form Ireland to Great Britain in the following years : — 
 
 
 
 WOOL. 
 
 YARN. 
 
 
 Woollen. 
 
 Worsted. 
 
 
 
 stones, lbs. 
 
 stones, lbs. 
 
 stones, lbs. 
 
 
 f 1764 
 
 10,128 6 
 
 9,991 14 
 
 139,412 12 
 
 
 1795 
 
 17,316 
 
 13,450 12 
 
 149.915 9 
 
 
 1766 
 
 21,722 13 
 
 7,980 
 
 152,122 
 
 
 1767 
 
 48,733 8 
 
 7,553 
 
 151,940 9 
 
 rG 
 2 
 
 1768 
 
 28,521 11 
 
 11,387 6 
 
 157,721 3 
 
 
 1769 
 
 3,840 16 
 
 5,012 
 
 131,365 2 
 
 *4H 
 
 o 
 
 1770 
 
 2,578 
 
 3,833 
 
 117,735 9 
 
 
 1771 
 
 2,118 5 
 
 4,868 2 
 
 139,378 14 
 
 -2 
 
 
 
 
 
 be 
 
 
 
 1772 
 
 2,045 6 
 
 5,947 
 
 115,904 4 
 
 <X) 
 
 1773 
 
 1,839 2 
 
 — 
 
 94,098 10 
 
 c3 
 
 1774 
 
 1,007 11 
 
 — 
 
 63,920 10 
 
 >i 
 
 1775 
 
 2,007 13 
 
 
 78,896 14 
 
 
 1776 
 
 1,059 15 
 
 — 
 
 86,527 
 
 
 1777 
 
 1,734 7 
 
 — 
 
 114,703 2 
 
 
 ^1778 
 
 1,665 12 
 
 — 
 
 122,755 15
 
 o 
 
 XI 
 
 Ph 
 Pm 
 
 
 
 
 rnlC) ^|01rt|(MM|T*r-l|ejr-|« 
 
 o 
 
 •■g ^ 
 
 
 -^i>(MOCcococooioC'r^r-t 
 
 I— 1 
 
 
 ^-g 
 
 c3 
 
 .O00)O>OI>-O^OCCi— I 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 '5 <^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 =^ 1— 1 r— 1 p— 1 ,— I ,—1 ,_| 
 
 
 <4H 
 
 '3 
 
 cmi><:mi— i<Mi— i-^.-!,— lo 
 
 12; 
 
 ^1 
 
 > 
 
 .^ooocoor^i— iCtt^-— (1>- 
 
 P3 
 
 <-f? T? ci^ ca_ o_ ^^ o oj ot --^ CO 
 
 
 m S 
 
 
 CO o cT -*" O 1— j" -^^ O lO" G^ 
 
 ►3 
 
 
 1— lOlCMi—tcacMCvlCC'^O 
 
 
 
 ai 
 Is 
 
 -^OCOOOOOOOOO 
 
 
 
 .X'^o^ccoocooooo 
 
 
 
 1> 
 
 '^ 1— li— 1 1— li— Ir— li— 1 1— 1 
 
 CMOCOOiOi— liOOi— ICO 
 
 CO O !>• Oi -^ Ol O iC CC O 
 
 Ci_ i> i-H ^_^ O^ CO Oi^ ,-H c; o 
 
 '^ -^'"'^of I>^J>^J>^CO CO CO -^ 
 
 
 "^ 
 
 
 -*X>OO^CiCiOCOCO 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 I— IrHrHi— Ir— li— l!— lO^OaCQ 
 
 
 
 
 l>.COiOCOiOt^OiiOOI>- 
 
 
 
 '■+3 
 pi 
 
 r— lOCiCOCOi— II>-r-IC01>- 
 
 
 
 I— 1 CO CO lO 0_ CO CO^ CM CO o 
 
 
 
 ce 
 
 !>•" C5~l> CO O" oi --H O t-H 00 
 
 
 
 p! 
 
 o^rHOOcooociOor^ 
 
 [a 
 
 
 O' 
 
 OaCJCai— ICMCMCNOCICOCO 
 
 
 
 ^\'!i 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 -^OiooaicocO'=j<coo>co 
 c;coi>oooi>r^ai(MOOco 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 I— 1 i-H r— 1 I— 1 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 CiC<]C<Jl>-<MiO.— IOl>00 
 
 
 
 "d 
 
 I— It— lcocOCiC^OCOI>t>. 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 qi^COOOOlCOCOCOCMiO-^CO 
 
 
 
 cT !> lo" cT oc t^" ocT ^^ I-H cf 
 
 
 t^ 
 
 '^O^CO^iOiOOOCiOS 
 
 
 
 
 -u 
 
 cociococot^i— iiocico 
 
 
 
 '+3 
 
 iC CiCi O^Ot-h00i-i(M 
 
 
 
 fl 
 
 io_ ^ o^ r-^^ r-<^ ^^ co_ ^_^ 00 '^^ 
 
 
 
 1=1 
 
 "<^ o^r oT -^ i>- r-H~ ic CO I— r 1— ^ 
 
 
 
 Oi CO CO r— 1 00 CO CO !>• ^O -* 
 
 
 
 O" 
 
 CO-^COCOCO-^'^COt^t^ 
 
 
 OiO"— IC<lC0-i^'OCOl>00 
 
 
 CO t^ I^ t^ t^ t^ t^ t^ t^ I>. 
 
 
 i> t^ i^ 1^ i^ i^ r^ L^ t^ r* 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 ■V 
 
 
 •Tp.IT?I\[ p 
 
 
 H^^S oi{^ Suipua sjt'8j[^
 
 APPENDIX.— Ko. III. 
 
 An account of the Quantity of Linen Cloth exported out of Ireland to 
 Great Britain and Plantations, prior to the year 1743. 
 
 
 Luieu (Jioth 
 
 exported to 
 
 f-lVOS 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 PlantHtions. 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Yards. 
 
 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 
 
 
 171.3 
 
 1,721,003 
 
 86,357 
 
 
 1714 
 
 2,071,814 
 
 91,916 
 
 
 1715 
 
 2,000,581 
 
 133,752 
 
 
 1716 
 
 1,968,568 
 
 195,825 
 
 rd 
 
 1717 
 
 2,260,243 
 
 151,240 
 
 c3 
 
 1718 
 
 2,120,075 
 
 113,790 
 
 ^ 
 
 1719 
 
 2,235,357 
 
 117,288 
 
 44H 
 
 1720 
 
 2,560,113 
 
 69,579 
 
 o 
 
 1721 
 
 2,398,103 
 
 95,488 
 
 
 1722 
 
 3,036,431 
 
 127,934 
 
 
 1723 
 
 4,060,402 
 
 112,952 
 
 1724 
 
 .3,767,063 
 
 94,816 
 
 bo 
 
 1725 
 
 3,755,4.30 
 
 70,052 
 
 r-H 
 
 1726 
 
 4,231,676 
 
 117,213 
 
 •n 
 
 1727 
 
 4,596,089 
 
 151,977 
 
 
 1728 
 
 4,617,152 
 
 140,049 
 
 
 1729 
 
 3,701,485 
 
 183,363 
 
 o 
 
 h 
 
 1730 
 
 3,821,188 
 
 218,220 
 
 
 1731 
 
 3,612,408 
 
 85,697 
 
 
 1732 
 
 3,591,316 
 
 137,039 
 
 
 1733 
 
 4,621,127 
 
 129,244 
 
 
 17.34 
 
 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 
 
 
 17.39 
 
 5,737,834 
 
 197,671 
 
 
 1740 
 
 6,403,569 
 
 183,471 
 
 
 1741 
 
 6,760,025 
 
 394,374 
 
 L 1742 
 
 6,793,009 
 
 244, .546
 
 POSTSCEIPT. 
 
 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. 
 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Abercrombie, Lord, in Ireland and in Egypt 
 
 Ixxx-lxxxii 
 
 Abraham Hutchinson . , • . 
 
 . IXXXT 
 
 Absentees, remittances to, . 
 
 76 
 
 Acts of Parliament quoted : 
 
 
 
 Edward III., 17th, 34th, and 50th of, 
 
 . 110 
 
 
 Edward IV., 3rd of, 4th of. 
 
 . Ill 
 
 
 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 .... 
 
 67 
 
 
 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 
 
 j> 
 
 (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 . . . Ixx, and 39 
 
 3rd and 4th of Anno . . . .108
 
 170 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Acts, of Parliament quoted, 10th, 11th, and 22nd of 
 
 „ 1st of George II. 
 
 „ 4th and 6 th of 
 
 „ (English), 32nd of George II. 
 
 „ (1750), taxing Irish Exports 
 
 „ George III., 10th of, . 
 
 „ 18th of, . 
 
 „ Imposing Duty on Woollen Goods 
 
 „ Loan, 1759 
 Address of English Parliament to William III. 
 Admiral Hawke 
 
 Aldborough, Petition of, . . , 
 
 Aldred Mr., of Oxford 
 Advance, in Linen Trade 
 Alexander the Great 
 'Alexandria, Lord Hutchinson of, 
 Alnager, Oflice and Fees of, 
 America, Robertson's History of, 
 
 „ Wool and Linen Trades transferred to 
 Emigrants 
 Anderson, Dr., quoted 
 Andrews, Provost, 
 Anthologia Ilibernica 
 Archbishop Craddock 
 Archbishop Fowler 
 Archbishop King quoted 
 Archbisiiop Laud quoted 
 Arms of Militia given to Volunteers 
 Army Augmentation 
 Asia, Africa, and America, closed against Ireland 
 
 Anne 
 
 PAGE 
 
 96 
 
 122 
 
 120 
 
 54, note 
 
 92 
 
 93-96 
 
 96 
 
 67 
 
 40 
 
 62-66 
 
 XV 
 
 85 
 xlv 
 51 
 xxxiv 
 Ixxxvi 
 x and 155, note 
 xiii 
 by Irish 
 
 147 
 
 72 note 
 
 xxxi 
 
 Ixxxvi 
 
 xxxiv, note 
 
 Ixvi 
 
 10 
 
 XXV 
 
 xiv, note 
 
 40, 44, 48 
 
 90 
 
 B. 
 
 Baird, Sir David, his Expedition from India to Egypt . Ixxxii 
 
 Ballinamuck, Battle of, French defeated at . . Ixxxi 
 
 Banks in Dublin failed .... 35-40 
 
 Bankruptcy Law not known here in 1755 . 35, note
 
 INDEX. 
 
 171 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Barlow, Mr., T.C.D., Exercising the Veto . xxv, uote 
 
 Barre, Colonel Isaac, his description of Hutchinson . Ix, &c.,aud note. 
 
 Batch elor, the, . . . . . xii 
 
 Buratariana, 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) '61 
 
 Beer, Exports and Imports of , .... 1.06 
 
 Berkeley, Bishop, his Opinion on State of Irish People . cxviiix 
 
 Berwick, Rev. Edward, deprived of Scholarship by Provost 
 
 Hutchinson, and re-instated by Visitors . . xxxiv 
 
 Bessborough Commission . . , xxix, note 
 
 Biographie "Generale," " Universale," and " des coutemporanes," 
 
 quoted ..... Ixxxi 
 
 Bishops, Irish, ordaining on Scotch degrees . . liii 
 
 Black-Dog prison .... cvi, note 
 
 Blackburne, Mr., quoted .... xcix 
 
 Blacquiere, Sir John, . . . xxiii, Ixxvii 
 
 Board and Provost of Trinity College, the. Publisher's thanks to v 
 Bolton, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant (Speech from the Throne) . 24 
 Boulter, Primate, bis desire to have Englishmen appointed to 
 
 Irish Bishoprics . . xxvi, note; xlvi, note 
 
 Bounty on Land Carriage, and on Coals, to Dublin . Ixx, ex, 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. Milh . xix, note 
 
 Bruce, Lieutenant, aided in effecting Lavalette's escape Ixxxiii 
 
 Buckinghamshire, Lord Lieutenant. The Letters addressed to, xcix 
 „ „ „ Entertained by Trinity College Ixvi 
 
 „ „ „ A jobber in a mask Ixviii, note 
 
 Burke, Sir Bernard, quoted . . . xxiii, Ixxxi
 
 172 INDEX. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 Burgh, Hussey, his Speech for opening the College to Catholics ; 
 do. on the Irish bishops ; do. ou a Money Bill, and Dis- 
 missal from Office . . . liii, Ixxii, note 
 Burrowes, Peter, his speech .... xlix 
 ,, Robert, ..... do. 
 Buyers, none at fairs . . . .2 
 Byron, Lord, . . . . x, note 
 
 C. 
 Campbell, Dr., his " Political Survey " . . .72 
 
 Carson, Eev. 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 Encyclopsedists .... Ixxxvi 
 Castlebar, atrocities of English army in retreat from, . Ixxxvi 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, Chief Secretary . . . xcvi 
 
 Catalogue of College Plate, by Mr. Kingston . xxix, note 
 
 Cattle, Exportation Prohibition Act . . cv aud 55 
 
 Catholic Scholars, T. CD. . . . 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, 1 1 
 
 Cattle, Present of, sent to London after the great fire, and 
 
 ungraciously received . . . . cv 
 
 48 
 
 . Ill 
 
 xciv 
 
 xiv-xxiii 
 
 Earl of 
 
 . Ixxxiv 
 
 XX 
 
 9 
 12 
 
 Causes of Ireland's debt 
 
 Chaffers, In Act of Edward IV. 
 
 Chancellors of the Exchequer, Irish, 
 
 Chancery-lane 
 
 Chapelizod Church, Inscriptions in, to the third 
 
 Donoughmore 
 "Chapels" in T.G.D. 
 Charles I., Subsidies to, 
 Charles II., Letter from, 
 Charles II. See Acts.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 173 
 
 PAtJB 
 
 Charlemont, Lord, Life of, quoted , . . Ivi 
 
 Charter Schools ..... cxi, 46 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord Lieutenant, . . .32 
 
 China, Trade of, . . . . 73, cxii 
 
 Cista Communis ..... xxix 
 
 Civil Establisment pensions . . . Ixix, 45, 4 
 
 Clarendon, Lord, his " History " . . .10 
 
 Cloumel, Factory at, .... cv, L3 
 
 College Plate in South Kensington Exhibition . xxix, note 
 
 College rack-reuting, as alleged by Mr. Duigeuan — 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 . . Ixxi, 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 . Ixiv 
 
 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, hia " Decline of Foreign Trade" . . . 74-78
 
 174 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Debt, National, smallness of. in Ireland in 1715 . . 24 
 
 ,, the alarm caused by the slisrht increase of, a 
 
 proof of the destitution of the country 24 
 „ how increased 
 
 Delany, Dr., F.T.C.D., his pupils and income 
 Devonshire, Duke of. Lord Lieutenant 
 Donoughmore estate, The, 
 Donoughmore, Lord, '"blood relations of," 
 Distress in Irelaud 
 Dobbs, Mr., on the trade of Irelaud 
 Dorset, Duke of, . 
 
 „ Distress in, 1759 
 „ Sir Bernard de Gomnie's Map of, 
 ,, Scandinavian Kingdom of 
 Dublin, Collection in, for the Waldenses — for New England — 
 ,, its freedom given to Hutchinson 
 „ „ „ to Captain Porter 
 
 aid for the Londoners 
 Duigenan, Dr. Patrick, F.T.C.D,, &c., his 
 
 Academicse," .... 
 
 „ „ Sketch of his Life • 
 
 ,, „ educated in St. Bride's Parish School, lived 
 
 in Chancery-lane . Ixxxvii 
 
 „ „ his sham duel . . Ivi, note 
 
 „ „ his oratory . . . lix 
 
 „ ,, a fanatical anti -Catholic and and anti- 
 
 Nationalist . . Ixx.wiii 
 
 „ ,, did not bring the Provost before the 
 
 Visitors . . xxxvii, note 
 
 Dunkin, Rev. Mr., Master of Great Ship-street School, had au 
 
 annuity from the College .... Ixiv 
 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 
 
 46 
 
 xlvi, note 
 
 32 
 
 Ixxv, note 
 
 xxxi, note 
 
 . 23-2S) 
 
 14,. 77, note 
 
 . 29,78 
 
 40 
 
 XX, note 
 
 XX, note 
 
 X 
 
 cv, note 
 cv, note 
 ' Lachrymse 
 
 xxi 
 . 1, note
 
 INDEX. 175 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Embargo on Irisli 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 
 
 England, 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'a Magazine . . . xli, xlvi, note 
 
 F. 
 
 Failures of Dublin Bankers, Ferral and French . . 35 
 
 Farmers of Customs . • . .67 
 
 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 . . . Ivi, note 
 
 Fa wcett, Postmaster-General, his Speech at Shoreditch . cxviii 
 
 Fellows of Trinity College, Bishrvps, &c. . xxvi, note 
 
 Fellows of Trinitj 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 1 
 
 „ „ served in Irish force in America . Ixi 
 
 Fitzgibbon, John, Karl of Clare, educated in St. Michael le 
 
 Pole's School ; his college contests with Grattanj xcii
 
 176 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 F) zgibbon, John (continued), his early and rapid successes x, note 
 unseats the Provost's son for the Unversity, and re- 
 places him . . . . xli 
 At first a parliamentary supporter and great ad- 
 mirer of Grattan ; his final quarrel with Grattan Ixxxix 
 crushed the Round Robin and humbled the Trovost xxxix 
 as Vice-Chancellor holds a College Visitation Ixvi 
 had an Honorary L.L.D. from the University Ixxxiz 
 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 . . xxi|^ 
 
 „ His Will .... do., note 
 
 ,, Life of, quoted . • • do., ndte 
 
 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, edu- 
 cated 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, . . . Ixxii, note 
 
 Freemmi's Journal published on St. Audoen's Arch, and in 
 
 Maccena's Head, Bride-street (1776) . xiii 
 
 yf „ printer of, prosecuted • . xviii 
 
 „ „ quoted, xiii, xviii note, xix note, xxvi, xli note 
 
 twice, xlv note, liii note, cxvii. 
 
 French Fensionera . . . . .^H 
 
 Friezes exempted from tax . . . . Gh 
 
 Froude, Mr., quoted, xii, xviii, note, xxix, note twice, xxxvi, xxxvii, 
 
 xli, note twice, xlv note, lii, note, cxviii.
 
 INDEX. 177 
 
 G. 
 
 PACK 
 
 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 .... Ixvii 
 
 Gentleman^ s Magazine, quoted ... xi, Ivlii 
 
 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 . Ixxx x 
 
 „ 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 ..... 1.59 
 „ carried in '82 . . . Ixxxi, note 
 
 Haliday Collection, R. T. A cademy . xxix, note ; liv, note 
 
 Halifax, Lord Lieutenant, his speech from the throne, 1762 44 
 
 Hardy, his Life of Lord Cbarlemont . . . Ivi 
 
 Harris, his Life of William III. quoted . . ,13 
 
 Haughton, Dr., Seuior Lecturer, quoted . . xxxii, note 
 
 Hearth Money . . . . . 75-161 
 
 Herrings from Waterford and Wexford prohibited by England 85 
 Hertford, Lord Lieutenant, his speech from the throne . 50 
 
 Hessians, The, refused by Irish Parliament . Ixi, note 
 
 Hibernian Journal .... xviii 
 
 Hindostan, Trade of, by foreigners . . . cxii 
 
 Historical Manuscripts Commission Report . xvii, note 
 
 13
 
 178 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hingston.Mr., his catalogue of the College Plate ; in charge of 
 
 the plate at South Kensiuglon 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 . . . xll 
 
 Husbandry, Grants for, prove the poverty of the country . 35 
 Hutchinson, Rt. Hon. John Hely, Provost, &c. . . ixi 
 
 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 -xiy 
 
 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 beforea Pailiamentary Committee, and 
 
 acquitted . . . .1 
 
 evidence brought forward there concerning him . Ixv 
 Miller's Pamphlet on, and Young's . . liv 
 
 Lord North's saying about him . . Ix 
 
 Hardy's, Grattan's, Taylor's, Will's, Barre's, Pery's, 
 and Single Speech Hamilton's favourable 
 opinions of him, &c. . . . Ivi 
 
 published the " Commercial Restraints " . Ixiv 
 
 entertained the Lord Lieutenant in the College . Ixv 
 his liberal and national politics . . Ixvii 
 
 the constitutional changes which he witnessed 
 
 and iielped to produce . . . Ixviii 
 
 read the King's message to the Irish Parliament 
 
 in 1782 . . . .Ixxxiv 
 
 his dealli and will . . . Ixxxiv 
 
 his family .... Ixxvi
 
 INDEX. 179 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hutchinson, Rt. Hon. John Ilely, Provost, &c. {conthmed), 
 
 a good husband and father . . . xxxi 
 
 his love for liis children . . Ixxxviii 
 
 his likeness by Sir Joshua Reynolds . Frontispiece 
 
 „ Richard Hely, Lord Donoughmore, his appoint- 
 
 ments .... Ixxix 
 
 elected for the University and unseated by John 
 
 Fitzgibbon, — member for Sligo . . Ixxix 
 
 „ Francis Hely, member for the University . Ixxviii 
 
 „ petitioned against and sustained 
 
 „ his duel . . . Ixxviii 
 
 ,, ,, Member for Naas . . Ixxx 
 
 „ Abraham Hely, his volunteer military career in 
 
 „ Ireland, Egypt, and Russia . Ixxviii 
 
 „ „ member for Taghmou . . Ixxix 
 
 „ Commissioner and Clergyman . Ixxxi 
 
 „ John Hely (2ud), his services in the army in Ire- 
 
 land, 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 Ixxx 
 „ John Hely (3rd), "Lavalette," delivered Lava- 
 
 lette, became Earl of Donoughmore, died at 
 Chapelizod, tablet in Chapelizod Church . Ixxxiii 
 „ the fourth peer, served as an officer in India . Ixxxiv 
 
 and in tbe House of Lords advocated the case of 
 the East India Companys' officers, and sup- 
 ports Lord Dufferiu's Land Leasing Bill do. 
 „ The present peer, the 5th Earl, vras one of the Euro- 
 pean 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 . . Ixxxiv
 
 180 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Independence, Parliamentary, of Ireland, College identified with, Ixxiv 
 Ireland deprived of tlie Cattle Trade . . . cix 
 
 ,, of the Wool Trade, Colonial Trade, and trade with all the 
 
 „ world .... 
 
 „ sold in the linen trade 
 
 „ constant wretchedness of, caused by England 
 
 „ possesses ahundaut means of prosperity 
 
 „ oppressed by the Navigation Law 
 
 ,, loyal to English Crown 
 
 ,, a great commercial gain to England 
 
 , a mine of wealth to England 
 
 ,, Bishop Berkeley's opinion on, 
 
 ., ought to depend on her own resources 
 
 „ its people fond of equal justice : their food 
 
 ,, good wool-spinners .... 
 
 „ had no professed historian since 1699 
 
 overtaxed in consequence of paying its share of the 
 National Debt .... 
 
 „ supposed wealth caused real poverty . 
 
 ,, her debt for tlie war of 1701 was accountable, but its in- 
 crease during 16 years of peace unaccountable 
 Ireland, distress of, arose, not from natural causes but from 
 bad laws ..... 
 
 Irish, the indolence of, from loss of liberty 
 Irish shipping useful to E Iward I. in his French wars 
 Irish, population of, more tliau doubled in 80 years 
 
 „ population of, in 1779 .... 
 
 „ able to pay taxes .... 
 
 „ residing in houses of one hearth 
 
 „ Non-distribution of property caused by bad English laws 150 
 
 ,, hometrade most important for, . . . 145 
 
 ,, trade of, various restrictions on, . . 154,157 
 
 „ troops, ]00,0()0, served in English army and navy in 
 
 French and Spanish war . . .161 
 
 . cxvii 
 
 47 
 
 44 
 
 . cxix, 2 
 
 . 122 
 
 . 125 
 
 . 149 
 
 cxvii, 149 
 
 . cxix 
 
 . cxvii 
 
 145, and note 
 
 71 
 
 23 
 
 33 
 
 48 
 
 46 
 
 53 
 . 127 
 . Ill 
 . 148 
 . 148 
 . 151 
 151, note
 
 INDEX. 181 
 
 J. 
 
 PAGR 
 
 James II. ruined the trade and revenue of Ireland . . 13 
 
 Jocelyn, Lord, his return of Pension List . Ixix, note 
 
 Johnston, Dr., his Hon. degree from T.C.D., and letter to 
 
 Leland ..... Ixxxvi 
 
 „ his opinion of Leland's " History " . • do. 
 
 „ his opinion of England's treatment of Ireland . do. 
 
 Judges appointed for life in Ireland in 1782 . . Ixxi 
 
 Junto, The .... xxiii, Ixviii 
 
 Keating, Lord Chief Justice . . . 11, note 
 
 King, Archbishop, his '' Slate of the Protestants in Ireland . 135 
 
 Kjiocklofty, Mr. Richard Hutchinson of, . . x-Lxxv 
 
 „ Lord Hutchinson of, . . . Ixxx 
 
 L. 
 
 " Lacrymse AcademiciB," 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 Bm-atariana . . xiii 
 „ obtained a grant for clothing for the Volun- 
 teers . . . xiii, note 
 „ one of his bo7i mots . . . do. 
 Land Carriage Act, 1757 . . . .43 
 ,, improved the agriculture of Ireland . . 145 
 Land Bill, 1759 . . • . .40 
 Latin Schools of Dublin . . . xeii, note 
 Laud, Archbishop, his statutes for the University . . xxv
 
 182 INDEX. 
 
 PAGR 
 
 " Lavalette " Hutclnnson . . I, . Ixxxiii 
 
 Lavalette, his escape from France . . .Ixxxiii 
 
 Leaves of absence allowed to Fellows and to Scholars , xlviii 
 
 Leland, Dr. S.F.,T.C.D, quoted . . .9 
 
 „ Duigei:;an's attacks on . . . . xxi 
 
 „ Dr. Johnston's letter to ... Ixxxvi 
 
 „ mentioned in the Historical Manuscripts . . do. 
 
 „ Commission Keport .... do. 
 ,, Estimate of his history .... Ixxxv 
 Leeds, Petition from, . . • .84 
 
 " Liber munerum," quoted . . xxxii, xxxv, note ; Ixx 
 
 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 . .61 
 
 ,, 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. Ixiv 
 Lyttleton, Lord George, his history of Henry IL, helped by 
 
 Leland .... .Ixxxvi 
 
 „ 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 Claro . . . xcii 
 
 Magill, John, got an Honorary LL.D., was a carpenter and a 
 
 Commissioner of Barracks . • xxv, note
 
 INDEX. 
 
 183 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Malone, Anthony, dismissed from Prime Serjeancy, and from 
 
 the Irish Exchequer .... Ixviii 
 
 „ lived in Chancery-lane . . xiv, note 
 
 Malady, The, of Emigration . . . .147 
 
 Mathers, Eev. 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 
 
 £20,000 for clothing . . .do. 
 
 enrolled in 1785 .... do. 
 Miller, Eev. G.,F.T.C.D., &c. . . . Ixiv and note 
 
 „ his evidence. Case, and works . . . xliv 
 
 „ his Pamphlet and case for legal opinion . . liv 
 
 Mills, iMichael, the printer, under the College pump xix, note 
 
 Moira, Lord, .... Ixi, note 
 
 Mutiny Act, perpetual and repealed . . Ixx and Ixxi 
 
 N. 
 
 Natives, Places in Trinity College . . . xxvii 
 Navigation Act, 7th and 8th, William TIL, 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 . . Ix
 
 184 iOT)Ex. 
 
 o 
 
 PAGE 
 
 O'Connor, Charles, of Ball enagare . . .Ixxxvi 
 
 „ his opinion of Lelaud. and of the T.C.D. MSS. . do. 
 
 Offices formerly on the Irish Establishment, List of, . Ixx 
 
 O'Hagan, Lord, his Address to the Social Science Congress, 
 
 Introd. ..... note 
 
 O'Hagan, IVIr. 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 . Iv, 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 L . . . .11 
 
 suspended over for 26 years after the Restoration 11 
 Composition of, . . . . Ixix 
 
 Independence of, 1782 . . . Ixxiv 
 
 Acts of, in 1782 .... Ixxi 
 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 brouglit forward, 
 
 Committee decided in favour of Hutchinson 
 
 by double vote of Chairman . . I 
 
 „ Catholic Scholars, Toomey and Casey . xlv, li 
 
 „ Burrowes' Speech . . . xlix
 
 INDEX. 185 
 
 PAGB 
 
 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 Sdxten, Speaker . • .43 
 
 „ „ Notice of, . • xvii, note 
 
 „ „ the fountain of all the good that befel 
 
 Ireland . . . Ixxi 
 
 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, . . . . Ixx, note 
 
 Placemen in Parliament, List of, . . Ixix, 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 ; Ixii, note 
 
 Plunket, (Lord Chancellor) , his speech before the Parliamentary 
 
 Committee ..... xlviii 
 „ son of a Unitarian minister . . . lii 
 
 Poll-tax paid by 860,000 people in 1G61 . . .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
 
 186 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " 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 £11,000 . . . 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 OiHce, 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 Ixx, note 
 
 Regulators' places ..... xlv 
 Relief not attempted by Irish of Commons, and why . 31 
 
 Remedy proposed by Government, to circulate p.aper without 
 
 money . . . . .26 
 
 Renewal Fines, Dr. Duigeuan and Mr. Stack, S.F.T.C.D., 
 
 on, . . . . . xxix, and note 
 
 Resnal, Abbo, quoted . . , 83, note 
 
 I
 
 INDEX. 
 
 187 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Josluia, his likeness of Provost Hutchinson Frontispiece 
 Robinson, Primate, held visitation in College in 177G, 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 . . . .1, 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 . Ixi, note 
 
 Shelburne, Lord, Life of, . . Ix, Ixi, Ixiii, note 
 
 Shewbridge, Mr., F.T. CD., 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. CD., letter in Bessborough Commission 
 
 Report ..... xxix 
 
 StrafiEord, Lord, his destruction of the wool trade and substi- 
 tution of the linen trade, his oppression of the country 10, l.S, 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
 
 188 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGR 
 
 Swift, Dean, exerted himself for Grattan the Fellow . xlviii 
 
 „ wrote for Alexander Macaulay . xliv, note 
 
 „ applied to the Board of College for Duukin . Ixiv 
 
 ,, his estimate of Dr. Delanj''s income . . xlvi 
 
 Sydney, Lord Justice, his " Quickenirjfr Speech " to the Irish 
 
 Parliament to suppress the trade of the country . 11, 13 
 
 T. 
 
 "Tardiea" .... 
 
 Taxes comparatively heavier in Ireland than in Engls 
 
 Taylor, his estimate of Pruvost Hutchinson 
 
 Temple, Sir William, 
 
 Tisdall, Philip, his description of Hutchinson 
 
 „ description of himself 
 
 ,, verses on, 
 
 ,, sketch of, 
 
 ,, lived in Chancery-lane 
 
 Tontines introduced, 1773 
 Townshend, Lord Lieutenant, briber 
 Traynor, Mr., of Essex-quay 
 Trinity College, the one home of friendless merit 
 
 „ its plate 
 
 „ estates 
 
 „ Park 
 
 „ Calendar, Registry, Judgment, and Matricula- 
 
 „ tion Books quoted . . 1, xxii, xxvi, xc 
 
 
 . 
 
 XX 
 
 and 
 
 
 cxiii 
 lix 
 
 11, 
 
 107, 130 
 
 ,148 
 
 XV 
 
 
 xxi, 
 
 note 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 note 
 81 
 
 
 Ixviii, 
 
 note 
 
 
 xix, 
 
 note 
 xxvi 
 
 
 xxix, 
 
 note 
 
 
 xxix 
 
 note 
 
 XX 
 
 u. 
 
 Ulster lost 30,000 people by emigration in two years (1770) . 94 
 * Una Cum," Clause of, in letters patent of Charles I., quoted, 
 
 discussed by Mr. Miller . . . liii 
 
 ,, not decided by Lord Clare . . . Ixvi 
 
 „ expunged in alterations made by queen's Letter 
 
 in 1857 . . . liii, and note
 
 INDEX. 
 
 189 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Visitations in Trinity College in Hutchinson's time, in 1776 
 
 and 1791 .... xxxiv, and Ixvi 
 
 W. 
 
 xxxviii, xli, Ixvi, Ixvii 
 60 
 
 Walker's Hibernian Magazine, quoted 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, .... 
 
 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.O., his " Faust," quoted . x, note 
 
 " Wellington Correspondence " ... Ixvii 
 
 Wellesley, Sir Arthur, . . Ixviii, and Ixxxviii 
 
 Werburgh's, St., Church, Conformity in, . . . xlvi 
 
 Wesley, Hon. Arthur (Duke of Wellington), on College 
 
 Parliamentary Committee, voted against Hutchinson xliii-1 
 
 „ Chief Secretary for Ireland . . Ixxxviii 
 
 White Boys, 1762, caused by want of means of industry . 44 
 
 „ produced by the English laws . . do. 
 
 Will of Provost Hutchinson .... Ixxiv 
 
 „ of Mr. Ricliard H lUhinson . . . Ixxvi 
 
 „ of Philip Tisdall .... xxiii 
 
 ,, of Dr.Duigenau .... Ixxxix 
 
 Wills, Dr., his skeicli of Provost Hutchinson . . Ix 
 
 „ ,, of Dr. Duigenau . . Ixxxviii 
 
 William III., his Acts .... cvii 
 
 ,, his pledge to ruin the Irish wool trade . cvii 
 
 ,, willing to act fairly by Ireland . . civ 
 
 Wilson, Sir Robert, .... Ixxxiii
 
 190 ■ INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " 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, 69 
 
 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 Ixxxvii, 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. . . liy 
 
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