Lord Lieutenant, that the kingdom was in an impoverished and exhausted
state: in 1711,[159] they express their approbation of the frugality of
the Queen's administration, by which their expenses were lessened, and by
that means the kingdom preserved from taxes, which might have proved too
weighty and burdensome. In their address to the Lord Lieutenant at, the
close of the session, they request that he should represent to her
Majesty, that they had given all the supplies which her Majesty desired,
and which they, in their present condition, were able to grant:[160] and
yet those supplies amounted, for two years, to a sum not exceeding
L167,023 8_s._ 5_d._;[161] though powder magazines, the council chamber,
the treasury office, and other offices were then to be built.
From the Short Parliament of 1713, nothing can be collected, but that the
House was inflamed and divided by party dissensions, and that the fear of
danger to the succession of the present illustrious family, excluded every
other consideration from the minds of the majority.
This last period, from the year 1699 to the death of Queen Anne, is marked
with the strongest circumstances of national distress and despondency.
The representatives of the people, who were the best judges, and several
of whom were members of the House of Commons before and after these
restraints, have assigned the reason. No other can be assigned.
That the woollen manufactures were the great source of industry in
Ireland, appears from the Irish statute of the 17th and 18th of Charles
II., ch. 15;[162] from the resolutions of the Commons, in 1695,[163] for
regulating those manufactures, the resolutions of the Committee of Supply
in that session;[164] and from the preamble to the English statute of the
10th and 11th of William III., ch. 10; in which it is recited, that great
quantities of those manufactures were made, and were daily increasing in
Ireland, and were exported from thence to foreign markets.
Of the exportation of all those manufactures the Irish were at once
totally deprived: the linen manufacture, proposed as a substitute, must
have required the attention of many years before it could be thoroughly
established. What must have been the consequences to Ireland in the
meantime the journals of the Commons in Queen Anne's reign have informed
us. Compare this period with the three former, and you will prove this
melancholy truth: that a country will sooner recover from the miseries and
devastation occasioned by war, invasion, rebellion, massacre, than from
laws restraining the commerce, discouraging the manufactures, fettering
the industry, and above all breaking the spirits of the people.
It would be injustice not to acknowledge that Great Britain has, for a
long series of years, made great exertions to repair the evils arising
from these restraints. She has opened her great markets to part of the
linen manufacture of Ireland; she has encouraged it by granting, for a
great length of time, large sums of her own money[165] on the exportation
of it; and under her protection, and by the persevering industry of our
people, this manufacture has attained to a great degree of perfection and
prosperity, in some parts of this country. If the kind and constant
attention of that great kingdom with which we are connected, to this
important object; or if the lenient course of time had at length healed
those wounds, which commercial jealousy had given to the trade and
industry of this country, it would not be a friendly hand to either
kingdom that would attempt to open them: but, if upon every accident they
bleed anew, they should be carefully examined, and searched to the bottom.
If the cause of the poverty and distress of Ireland in the reign of Queen
Anne has since continued to operate, though not always in so great a
degree, yet sufficient frequently to reduce to misery, and constantly to
check the growth and impair the strength of that kingdom, and to weaken
the force and to reduce the resources of Great Britain; that man ought to
be considered as a friend to the British Empire who endeavours to
establish this important truth, and to explain a subject so little
understood. If in this attempt there shall appear no intention to raise
jealousies, inflame discontents, or agitate constitutional questions, it
is hoped that those letters may be read without prejudice on one side of
the water, and without passion or resentment on the other.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c.
Third Letter.
_Dublin, 25th August, 1779._
MY LORD,
To an inquirer after truth, history, since the year 1699 furnishes very
imperfect and often partial views of the affairs of Great Britain and
Ireland. The latter has no professed historian of its own since that era,
and is so slightly mentioned in the histories of the former kingdom, that
it seems to be introduced rather to show the accuracy of the accomptant,
than as an article to be read and examined; pamphlets are often written to
serve occasional purposes, and with an intention to misrepresent; and
party writers are not worthy of any regard. We must then endeavour to find
some other guide, and look into the best materials for history, by
considering the facts as recorded in the journals of Parliament; these
have evinced the poverty of Ireland for the first fourteen years of this
century. That this poverty continued in the year 1716, appears by the
unanimous address of the House of Commons to George the First.[166] This
address was to congratulate his Majesty on his success in extinguishing
the rebellion, an occasion most joyful to them, and on which no
disagreeable circumstance would have been stated, had not truth and the
necessities of their country extorted it from them. A small debt of
L16,106 11_s._ 0-1/2_d._,[167] due at Michaelmas, 1715, was, by their
exertions to strengthen the hands of Government in that year, increased at
midsummer, 1717, to a sum of L91,537 17_s._ 1-5/8_d._,[168] which was
considered as such an augmentation of the national debt, that the Lord
Lieutenant, the Duke of Bolton, thought it necessary to take notice in his
speech from the throne, that the debt was considerably augmented, and to
declare at the same time that his Majesty had ordered reductions in the
military, and had thought proper to lessen the civil list.
There cannot be a stronger proof of the want of resources in any country,
than that a debt of so small an amount should alarm the persons entrusted
with the government of it. That those apprehensions were well founded,
will appear from the repeated distresses of Ireland, from time to time,
for many years afterwards. In 1721, the speech from the throne,[169] and
the addresses to the king and to the Lord Lieutenant, state, in the
strongest terms, the great decay of her trade, and the very low and
impoverished state to which she was reduced.
That this proceeded, in some measure, from calamities and misfortunes
which affected the neighbouring kingdoms, is true: but their effects on
Ireland, little interested in the South Sea project, could not be
considerable. The poverty under which she laboured arose principally from
her own situation. The Lord Lieutenant says there is ground to hope that
in this session such remedies may be applied as will restore the nation to
a flourishing condition; and the Commons return the king thanks for giving
them that opportunity to consider of the best methods for reviving their
decayed trade and making them a flourishing and happy people.
But it is a melancholy proof of the desponding state of this kingdom, that
no law whatever was then proposed for encouraging trade or manufactures,
or to follow the words of the address, for reviving trade, or making us a
flourishing people, unless that for amending the laws as to butter and
tallow casks deserves to be so called. And why? Because it was well
understood by both Houses of Parliament that they had no power to remove
those restraints which prohibited trade and discouraged manufactures, and
that any application for that purpose would at that time have only
offended the people on one side of the channel without bringing any relief
to those on the other. The remedy proposed by Government, and partly
executed, by directing a commission under the Great Seal for receiving
voluntary subscriptions[170] in order to establish a bank, was a scheme to
circulate paper without money; and considering that it came so soon after
the South Sea Bubble had burst, it is more surprising that it should have
been at first applauded,[171] than that it was, in the same session,
disliked, censured, and abandoned.[172] The total inefficacy of the remedy
proved however the inveteracy of the disease, and furnishes a farther
proof of the desperate situation of Ireland, when nothing could be thought
of for its relief, but that paper should circulate without money, trade,
or manufactures.[173]
In the following session of 1723, it appears that the condition of our
manufacturers, and of the lowest classes of our people, must have been
distressed, as the Duke of Grafton, in his speech from the throne,
particularly recommends to their consideration the finding out of some
method for the better employing of the poor;[174] and though the debt of
the nation was no more than L66,318 8_s._ 3-1/4_d._,[175] and was less
than in the _last_ session,[176] yet the Commons thought it necessary to
present an address to the king, to give such directions as he, in his
great goodness, should think proper, to prevent the increase of the debt
of the nation. This address was presented[177] by the House, with its
Speaker, and passed _nem. con._, and was occasioned by the distressed
state of the country, and by their apprehensions that it might be further
exhausted by the project of Wood's halfpence: it could not be meant as any
want of respect to their Lord Lieutenant, as they had not long since
returned him thanks for his wise conduct and frugality in not increasing
the debt of the nation.[178] This address of the Commons, and the Lord
Lieutenant's recommendation for the better employing the poor, seems to be
explained by a petition of the woollen drapers, weavers, and clothiers of
the city of Dublin (the principal seat of the woollen manufacture of
Ireland) in behalf of themselves and the other drapers, weavers, and
clothiers of this kingdom, praying relief in relation to the great decay
of trade in the woollen manufacture.[179]
But this address had no effect; the debt of the nation in the ensuing
session of 1725, was nearly doubled.[180] In the speeches from the throne,
in 1727, Lord Carteret takes notice of our success in the linen trade, and
yet observes, in 1729, that the revenue had fallen short, and that thereby
a considerable arrear was due to the establishment.
But notwithstanding the success of the linen manufacture,[181] Ireland was
in a most miserable condition. The great scarcity of corn had been so
universal in this kingdom in the years 1728 and 1729, as to expose
thousands of families to the utmost necessities, and even to the danger of
famine; many artificers and housekeepers having been obliged to beg for
bread in the streets of Dublin. It appeared before the House of Commons
that the import of corn for one year and six months, ending the 29th day
of September, 1729, amounted in value to the sum of L274,000, an amazing
sum compared with the circumstances of the kingdom at that time! and the
Commons resolved that public granaries would greatly contribute to the
increasing of tillage, and providing against such wants as have frequently
befallen the people of this kingdom, and hereafter may befall them, unless
proper precautions shall be taken against so great a calamity.
The great scarcity which happened in the years '28 and '29, and frequently
before and since, is a decisive proof that the distresses of this kingdom
have been occasioned by the discouragement of manufactures. If the
manufacturers have not sufficient employment, they cannot buy the
superfluous produce of the land; the farmers will be discouraged from
tilling, and general distress and poverty must ensue. The consequences of
the want of employment among manufacturers and labourers must be more
fatal in Ireland than in most other countries; of the numbers of her
people it has been computed that 1,887,220 live in houses with but one
hearth, and may therefore be reasonably presumed to belong for the most
part to those classes.
In the year 1731[182] there was a great deficiency in the public revenue,
and the national debt had considerably increased. The exhausted kingdom
lay under great difficulties by the decay of trade, the scarcity of
money, and the universal poverty of the country, which the Speaker
represents[183] in very affecting terms, in offering the money bills for
the royal assent, and adds, "that the Commons hope, from his Majesty's
goodness, and his Grace's _free_ and _impartial_ representation of the
state and condition of this kingdom, that _they_ may enjoy a _share_ of
the blessings of public tranquillity by the increase of their trade, and
the encouragement of their manufactures."
But in the next session, of 1733, they are told in the speech from the
throne, what this share was to be. The Lord Lieutenant informs them that
the peace cannot fail of contributing to their welfare, by enabling them
to improve those branches of trade and manufactures[184] which _are
properly their own_, meaning the trade and manufacture of linen. Whether
this idea of property has been preserved inviolate will hereafter appear.
The years '40 and '41 were seasons of great scarcity, and in consequence
of the want of wholesome provisions great numbers of our people perished
miserably, and the speech from the throne recommends it to both Houses to
consider of proper measures to prevent the like calamity for the future.
The employment of the poor and the encouragement of tillage are the
remedies proposed[185] by the Lord Lieutenant and approved of by the
Commons, but no laws for those purposes were introduced, and why they were
not affords matter for melancholy conjecture. They could not have been
insensible of the miseries of their fellow-creatures, many thousands of
whom were lost in those years, some from absolute want, and many from
disorders occasioned by bad provisions. Why was no attempt made for their
relief? Because the Commons knew that the evil was out of their reach,
that the poor were not employed because they were discouraged by
restrictive laws from working up the materials of their own country, and
that agriculture could not be encouraged where the lower classes of the
people were not enabled by their industry to purchase the produce of the
farmer's labour.
For above forty years after making those restrictive laws[186] Ireland was
always poor and often in great want, distress, and misery,[187] though the
linen manufacture had made great progress during that time. In the war
before the last, she was not able to give any assistance. The Duke of
Devonshire, in the year 1741, takes notice from the throne, that during a
war for the protection of the trade of all his Majesty's dominions there
had been no increase of the charge of the establishment; and in the year
1745, the country was so little able to bear expense, that lord
Chesterfield discouraged and prevented any augmentation of the army,
though much desired by many gentlemen of the House of Commons, from a
sense of the great danger that then impended. An influx of money after the
peace, and the further success of the linen trade, increased our wealth,
and enabled us to reduce by degrees, and afterwards to discharge the
national debt. This was not effected until the first of March, 1754.[188]
This debt was occasioned principally by the expenses incurred by the
rebellion in Great Britain in the year 1715; an unlimited vote of credit
was then given.[189] From the lowness of the revenue, and the want of
resources, not from any further exertions on the part of the kingdom in
point of expense, the debt of L16,106 11_s._ 0-1/2_d._, due in 1715, was
increased at Lady-day,[190] 1733, to L371,312 12_s._ 2-1/2_d._ That
Government and the House of Commons should for such a length of time have
considered the reduction and discharge of this debt as an object of so
great importance, and that nearly forty years should have passed before
the constant attention and strictest economy of both could have
accomplished that purpose, is a strong proof of the weakness and poverty
of this country, during that period.
After the payment of this debt, the wealth and ability of Ireland were
greatly overrated, both here and in Great Britain. The consequences of
this mistaken opinion were increased expenses on the part of government
and of the country, more than it was able to bear. The strict economy of
old times was no longer practised. The representatives of the people set
the example of profusion and the ministers of the Crown were not backward
in following it. A large redundancy of money in the Treasury, gave a
delusive appearance of national wealth. At Lady-day, 1755, the sum in
credit to the nation was L471,404 5_s._ 6-3/8_d._,[191] and the money
remaining in the Treasury of the ordinary unappropriated revenue on the
29th day of September, 1755,[192] L457,959 12_s._ 7-1/8_d._ But this
great increase of revenue arose from an increase of imports, particularly
in the year 1754, by which the kingdom was greatly over-stocked, and which
raised the revenue in that year L208,309 19_s._ 2-1/4_d._ higher than it
was in the year 1748, when the revenue first began to rise
considerably;[193] and though what a nation spends is one method of
estimating its wealth, yet a nation, like an individual, may live beyond
its means, and spend on credit which may far exceed its income. This was
the fact as to Ireland in the year 1754, for some years before and for
many years after; it appeared in an inquiry before the House of Commons in
the session of 1755, that many persons had circulated paper to a very
great amount, far exceeding not only their own capitals,[194] but that
just proportion which the quantity of paper ought to bear to the national
specie.[195] This gave credit to many individuals, who without property
became merchant importers, and at the same time increased the receipts of
the Treasury and lessened the wealth of the kingdom. At the very time that
so great a balance was in the Treasury, public credit was in a very low
way, and the House of Commons was employed in preparing a law to restore
it. In '54 and '55 three principal banks[196] failed, and the legislature
took up much time in inquiring into their affairs, and in framing laws for
the relief of their creditors.[197] Yet in this session, the liberality of
the House of Commons was excessive. The redundancy in the Treasury had, in
the session of 1753, occasioned a dispute between the Crown and the House
of Commons on the question whether the king's previous consent was
necessary for the application of it. They wished to avoid any future
contest of that kind, and were flattered to grant the public money from
enlarged views of national improvements. The making rivers navigable, the
making and improving harbours, and the improvement of husbandry and other
useful arts, were objects worthy of the representatives of the people; and
had the faithfulness of the execution answered the goodness of the
intention in many instances, the public in general might have had no great
reason to complain. Many of those grants prove the poverty of the country.
There were not private stocks to carry on the projects of individuals, nor
funds sufficient for incorporating and supporting companies, nor profits
to be had by the undertakings sufficient to reimburse the money necessary
to be expended. The Commons therefore advanced the money, for the benefit
of the public; and it can never be supposed that they would have continued
to do so for above twenty years, if they were not convinced that there
were not funds in the hands of individuals sufficient to carry on those
useful undertakings, nor trade enough in the kingdom to make adequate
returns to the adventurers.
Having gone through more than half the century, it is time to pause. In
this long gloomy period, the poverty of Ireland appears to have been
misery and desolation, and her wealth a symptom of decline and a prelude
to poverty; the low retiring ebb from the spring-tide of deceitful
prosperity, has left our shores bare, and has opened a waste and desolate
prospect of barren sand, and uncultivated country.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, &c.
Fourth Letter.
_Dublin, 27th August, 1779._
MY LORD,
The revenue, for the reasons already given, decreased in 1755,[198] fell
lower in 1756, and still lower in '57. In the last year the vaunted
prosperity of Ireland was changed into misery and distress; the lower
classes of our people wanted food;[199] the money arising from the
extravagance of the rich was freely applied to alleviate the sufferings of
the poor.[200] One of the first steps of the late Duke of Bedford's
administration--and which reflects honour on his memory--was obtaining a
king's letter, dated 31st March, 1757, for L20,000, to be laid out as his
Grace should think the most likely to afford the most speedy and effectual
relief to his Majesty's poor subjects of this kingdom. His Grace, in his
speech from the throne, humanely expresses his wish, that some method
might be found out to prevent the calamities that are the consequences of
a want of corn, which had been in part felt the last year, and to which
this country had been too often exposed; the Commons acknowledge that
those calamities had been frequently and were too sensibly and fatally
experienced in the course of the last year, thank his Grace for his early
and charitable attention to the necessities of the poor of this country in
their late distresses, and make use of those remarkable
expressions,--"that they will most cheerfully embrace[201] every
_practicable_ method to promote tillage."[202] They knew that the
encouragement of manufactures were the effectual means, and that these
means were not in their power.
The ability of the nation was estimated by the money in the Treasury, and
the pensions on the civil establishment, exclusive of French, which at
Lady-Day, 1755, were L38,003 15_s._, amounted at Lady-Day, '57, to L49,293
15_s._[203]