artificial commodities which they wanted, if tradesmen paid dearer for their natural ones, since in such case they must sell dearer within doors, in proportion to the sale of cattle without; and landlords would get little by increasing their rents, if their expenses increased at the same time, especially if their tenants suffered by the decay of trade; for rent was only the remains of the produce of the land, and of the industry of the farmer's family in spinning, carding, and other works, which depended on trade. He was fully satisfied, that however Ireland might be distressed at present, England would at last be the sufferer, and he did not see why the fish-trade should be encouraged for a nursery of seamen, though it was an hinderance to grazing, and yet the same reason should not prevail for the allowance of Irish cattle, upon which such a number of shipping and seamen were employed. Ireland lost on the balance of its trade with England, and carried no money from thence, but only commodities; the Irish had hitherto paid that balance in money, but now would have none left to purchase those commodities. Those which they brought from England were artificial ones, whereas those they carried thither were natural, and the English had all the gains of ripening and manufacturing them. The Irish could not take the English manufactures unless the English took their cattle, and by the prohibition the people employed in the manufactures vented only in Ireland must be ruined; for to want a vent was the same thing as to want work, and must consequently lessen the useful part of the people. In fine, he thought that the prohibition of their cattle (without the sale of which the tenant could not pay his rent, nor the landlord live) would force the Irish to trade with foreign nations for such commodities as they used to have from England in exchange for their own; and if they once should find a way to grow rich without England; if they by law, example, or necessity

203

should either forbid or forbear consuming the English manufactures, or set up others of their own, England might then perhaps have as much reason to complain as the people of Ireland had at present; and how far this might in the end lessen the dependence of Ireland upon England (that dependence being chiefly preserved by the trade between the two nations) was well worthy of his majesty's consideration.

The king was entirely convinced by these reasons, that the restraint upon Irish cattle was not only very prejudicial and grievous to Ireland in its present situation, but would in the end prove of fatal consequence to the trade and interest of England. But as the commons were violently set upon it, he durst not attempt to give Ireland any relief in the case by dispensing with that restraint, as he did with other clauses, in the same act for the encouragement of trade, and in another passed a little before concerning trade, shipping, and navigation, relating to the regulation of ships trading to Norway and the Baltic, and the not employing of foreign ships or seamen in our plantation trade, though they unladed only in the ports of England; which clauses had by experience been found inconvenient, and were therefore by an order of council on March 6 suspended. The king wanted a supply of one million two hundred thousand pounds from the parliament, and durst not venture to disoblige them. The penalties of importation were 40s. an head for large 322 cattle, and 10s. for sheep; and being the full value of those commodities respectively were therefore to be deemed an effectual prohibition of their importation; yet the commons did not think them heavy enough, but resolved not only to restrain fat cattle, but to prohibit all, fat and lean, dead and alive, and brought in a bill, when they met at Oxford in Oct. 1665, to put a total stop to the importation, not only of great cattle, sheep, or swine, but of beef, pork, and bacon from Ireland, or any part

204

beyond the seas. Sir R. Temple on Oct. 19 brought in the bill, which was strongly opposed by sir Heneage Finch the solicitor general, with arguments drawn from natural justice and equity; the rights of Englishmen, to which the colony settled in Ireland were entitled; the misery to which Ireland (having no commerce with any country but with England, and disabled through the war to seek it elsewhere) would be reduced, and the mischiefs which their necessitated trade to other parts might in time occasion. The solicitor was never known to exert himself on any occasion so much as this; he debated the point till he was ready to faint away; but had an angel from heaven spoke, it would have signified nothing. The house was thin by reason of the dread which members had of the plague; and the question was carried by one hundred and three to fifty-two for the second reading of the bill.

When the house resolved itself into a committee upon that occasion, the debates were renewed, and strong opposition was made by sir J. Talbot, sir W. Churchill, sir A. Broderick, and other particular persons, to the bill, so that the questions put were carried with great difficulty. In the first, the votes were even, and sir Thomas Littleton being chairman gave it against the Irish; the second was lost by three, and the third by five voices; several who were against the bill having left the house, wearied out with the length of a dispute wherein noise only prevailed. In the vote which passed for committing the bill, leave was given for such persons of Ireland as would appear, to attend and allege what they had to offer against its passing. Hereupon Dr. W. Fuller, bishop of Limerick, (afterwards of Lincoln,) the honourable Mr. Robert Boyle, sir W. Petty, and sir Robert Southwell, attended the committee, at which above an hundred of the house were present. They desired a copy of the bill, to know how far the restraint extended, that they might speak only to

205

the points which were necessary. Being ordered to withdraw, the committee for four hours together disputed, first whether they should have a copy, and when that was denied, whether they should have heads or notes of the bill, which was likewise rejected. All that was allowed them was, a bare reading of it over, and speaking to it immediately; which those gentlemen waved, as being a matter of great importance, in regard whereof they desired liberty to acquaint the lord lieutenant and council therewith, by whose answer they doubted not but the house would receive satisfaction. This was absolutely refused; and the bill being reported, passed by a majority of thirteen voices, and was sent up to the lords on the 24th, having passed in five days through the house of commons; so much hurry was used in a matter of such importance.

The lords were not in the same haste to pass it; the duke of York and the lord chancellor spoke against it, and the king wished it might be thrown out, and declared publicly more than once, that he could not give the royal assent with a safe conscience. The penalties in the act were raised to five pounds an head on every beast, and two shillings a stone for powdered beef and pork imported from Ireland, and the like enhancing of forfeitures ran throughout the bill. The law in all cases giving forfeitures to the crown, the parliaments of England have generally observed the same method with regard to the penalties incurred by the breach of any act; though sometimes a part thereof is assigned to the prosecutor or 323 informer for their encouragement. But in this case the commons thought fit to take no notice of that branch of the royal prerogative; and fearing that his majesty might abate his part of the forfeiture, and indulge a reasonable liberty to his own subjects in that part of his dominions, they divided the penalties, assigning one half to the informer and the other to the parish where the goods were

206

taken. Upon the second reading of the bill in the house of lords, the earl of Castlehaven exerted himself vigorously against it, representing to them the state of Ireland, and what great things the duke of Ormond had been doing there (more than ever the earl of Strafford had done before) to make that kingdom considerable by the improvement of its commerce, and the ill consequences which the act would have, if passed; at least in the present situation of that country. His speech, which was delivered with great vehemence, converted many, but the chief strength of the opposition lay in the king, who did not care the act should pass in that session, though he was convinced that his necessities would force him to comply with the desire of the commons, when he came to them in the next for a further supply of money, being well assured they would not otherwise grant it; this affair of the prohibition of Irish cattle being carried on with as much popular heat as was seen when the bishops were in 1641 pulled out of the house of lords. Thus that house having on the 27th appointed a committee to consider of the act, with a power to hear persons and send for books and papers about it, sir W. Petty was heard twice or thrice on the subject, and the report delayed till the parliament was prorogued.

Ireland was not hereby saved, though its ruin was prorogued by the act's being put off till the next sessions. In the mean time, that country was in a miserable condition; being deprived of their usual trade with England, and disabled from carrying on any abroad, not only for want of shipping, but by reason of the war with France and Holland. The kingdom was in a very dangerous situation, exposed to the attempts as well of secret as of open enemies; the uneasy circumstances of people in general emboldening the disaffected to form designs of an insurrection, and encouraging those hostile powers to favour their measures and support them with succours.