Irish industry must be trampled upon, and the Irish arm must be chained. This would probably embarrass a rival, or distress the king, or create discontent, and thus lay new ground for future insurrections and future confiscations. To such a policy must we attribute the successful blow which the British parliament made at the existence of the poor people of Ireland. In their fury against this country, they displayed the grossest ignorance, as well as the most malignant feeling to injure Ireland. They were content to inconvenience themselves; but that which they inconsiderately supposed would contribute to impoverish, and ultimately render the Irish incapable of all future effort, may be consider-. ed as one of those providential instruments, by which the malevolence of nations to each other is often counteracted. When the celebrated cabal, composed of the most unprincipled and able men in England, such men as Shaftesbury, Buckingham and Lauderdale, declaimed against the importation of fat cattle from Ireland, they little contemplated that the necessities of England, induced by this absurd policy, would force her to throw open much more extensive sources of consumption, than even the market of England. Mr Leland thus observes on the folly of this malicious determination of England against Irish industry. "The English nation soon felt the inconveniencies of the act for the prohibition of fat cattle from Ireland. Discerning men saw, the happy consequences which it must in time produce to Ireland; for the present, however, the Irish subjects were cast into despair; all commerce

was interrupted; war made it necessary to guard against invasion; subsidies were due, but no money could be found. Ormond thought it both neces

sary and convenient to accept part of those subsidies in provisions, consulting at once the king's service, and the ease of his distressed subjects; nor was the king ill disposed to extenuate the present difficulties of Ireland. With the consent of his council, obtained not without some reluctance, he, by an act of state, allowed a free trade from Ireland to all foreign countries, either at war or in peace with his majesty. He permitted the Irish, at the same time, to retaliate on the Scots, who, copying from England, had prohibited their cattle, their corn, and their beef. The importation of linen and woolen manufactures, stockings and gloves, and other commodities from Scotland, was forbidden, as highly detrimental to the trade of Ireland." This inveterate policy of tying up the arm of Irish industry recoiled on those who adopted it. Provisions in England rose in price. This augmented the price of labour; manufactures followed; and thus the English loom fell a victim to foreign competition. All this was foretold by the opponents of so absurd a measure; but party spirit swept away the understanding of parliament, and a bill disgraceful to the moral, as well as intellectual character of England, was imposed on the reluctant 'councils of the monarch. The conduct of the leaders in parliament on this desperate effort of their party, fully verifies and illustrates the observations made by the Earl of Essex, when lord lieu

tenant of Ireland some years after. "Ireland,' said his lordship, "has been perpetually rent and torn since his majesty's restoration; I can compare it to nothing better than the flinging the reward, upon the death of a deer, among a pack of hounds, where every one pulls and tears what he can for himself; for indeed it has been no other than a perpetual scramble." This may be considered a true epitome of our history, not only since the restoration of Charles, but since the first invasion of the English under Henry. Ireland has been the theatre of every political gambler, from Strongbow down to the humblest follower of ascendancy, whom we still see enriching his family in proportion to the zeal he exhibits in withholding the rights, or resstraining the industry of Irishmen.

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It is pleasing, however, to observe some little interruption to that profligate system of government which was perpetually dividing and distracting the people;, which saw no security but in Irish misery, and no triumph but in Irish degradation. It is pleasant to observe the Duke of Ormond employ. ing his talents in the establishment of Irish manufactures, and in the encouragement of Irish industry, and even, for a time, hanging up the sword of intolerance and the book of controversy. We therefore copy with pleasure from Mr Leland, the recital of those efforts which were made by Ormond in 1667, to give some compensation to Ireland for the destructive effects of that commercial and manufacturing jealousy which England had lately manifested in so remarkable a manner. Men of abi

lities and knowledge in commerce (says Mr Leland) were encouraged by Ormond, to suggest their schemes for promoting industry and preventing the necessity of foreign importation. Sir Peter Pett presented a memorial to the Duke of Ormond, for erecting a manufacture of woolen cloth, which might at least furnish a sufficient quantity for home consumption. He chiefly recommended the makling fine worsted stockings and Norwich stuffs, which might not only keep money in the country, but be so improved as to bring considerable sums from abroad. He offered to procure workmen from Norwich. The council of trade, lately established in Ireland, approved of his proposal. The Duke of Ormond encouraged it, and erected the manufac-ture at Clonmel, the capital of his country palatine Sof Tipperary. To supply the scarcity of workmen, <Grant (a man well known by his observations on the bills of mortality) was employed to procure five hundred woolen protestant families from Canterbury to remove to Ireland. At the same time, -Colonel Richard Laurence, another ingenious projector, was encouraged to promote the business of combing wool and making friezes. A manufacture of this kind was established at Carrick. But of all such schemes of national improvement, that of a linen manufacture was most acceptable to Ormond, He possessed himself with the noble ambition of imitating the Earl of Strafford in the most honourcable part of his conduct, and opening a source of wealth and prosperity, which the troubles and disorders of Ireland had stopped. An act of Parlia

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ment was passed in Dublin, to encourage the growth of flax and manufacture of linen. Ormond was at the charge of sending skilful persons to the low countries, to make observations on the state of the trade, the manner of working, the way of whitening their thread, the regulations of their manufacture, and management of their grounds, and to contract with some of their artists. He engaged Sir William Temple to send to Ireland five hundred families from Brabant, skilled in manufacturing linen; others were procured from Rochelle and the isle of Rhe, from Jersey, and the neighbouring parts of France. Convenient tenements were prepared for the artificers at Chapelizod, near Dublin; where cordage, sail-cloth, linen, ticken and diaper, were brought to a considerable degree of perfection. "Such cares," Mr Leland truly observes, "reflect real honour on the governors who thus laboured to promote the happiness of a nation; and should be recorded with pleasure and gratitude, however we may be captivated by the more glaring objects of history." The historian of Ireland is seldom relieved in his office by the narration of such useful works as we have now described. The ingenuity to destroy rather than to build up, to disfigure rather than to adorn one of the finest countries in Europe, is almost, in every page, the subject of the writer. Whenever Irish industry is encouraged, the encouragement is found to flow from some struggle between parties, who, in the next page, are seen undoing the work they contributed with so much zeal to execute. There is no honest and