BOOK II. 1700 to gold. They regarded Ireland as peopled with men of desperate fortunes, the scum of their nation that had come over with the armies, or with bankrupts and cheats, which had fled thither to defraud their creditors. 'The English colonists, on the other hand, conceived that the mother country had deserted them, left them to shift for themselves, and only intended to repress and keep them low. Having no representatives in the Parliament at Westminster, the wildest calumnies against them passed unanswered there. There was no one to explain the difference between the English and Irish inhabitants; and the one impression was, that they were a disloyal and turbulent people, who could only be rendered harmless so long as they were disabled by poverty.'1 Another Irish statesman, writing at the same time and with the same purpose, repeats the charge in almost identical terms, and foretels the same results.2 'England,' said Mr. Maxwell, 'had two ways of keeping Ireland; by an army in the hands of Englishmen, or by checking the growth of the kingdom in trade or wealth, that it might not be dangerous. To govern Ireland by an army was dangerous to English liberty. To keep the country poor was to alienate the inhabitants of all persuasions, and leave it open to occupation by foreign enemies. Thus treated, the Protestant colonists were disposed to close with the Irish and set up a separate interest. An Englishman settling among them quickly degenerated. There was scarcely a man who had been seven years in the 1 Considerations concerning Ireland, and particularly in respect of a Union. 2 Essay on a Union of Ireland with England, by Henry Maxwell. Dublin, 1704. This writer was probably the Right Hon. Henry Maxwell of Finni brogue. country, and meant to remain there, who did not become averse to England, and grow something of an Irishman. From the earliest times these influences had been at work, and Ireland had, in consequence, been a constant thorn in England's side. Three times in a hundred years she had required to be reconquered, and was always ready to take side with England's enemies. That the Celtic and the Saxon temperaments were not in themselves incompatible was proved by the example of Wales; and, if the methods which had proved successful in Wales were applied to Ireland, the same result would follow. An Englishman moving to Wales did not forfeit his birthright, or cease to be represented in the English Parliament, and no one grudged him whatever wealth he was able to acquire.1 When he settled in Ireland he fell under other laws and another legislature. He lost the benefit of trade, and, if less hardly taxed, he was regarded with jealous eyes as a rival and a possible enemy. So long as the separate government was continued there would be disagreement and estrangement, to be followed in the future by more serious catastrophes. The true and complete remedy would be a union. The colonists, when represented in the Imperial Parliament, would no longer СНАР. II. 1703 II. 1703 BOOK gravitate towards the Irish, but would rather draw the Irish with them into closer sympathy with England. The moment was favourable. The army and militia were wholly in English hands. Ninetenths of the land were now held by Protestants of English and Scotch extraction, and under a union would instantly be filled with British immigrants. The loyal population would increase, bringing with them English habits and English interests: while Ireland, admitted to be an integral part of the Empire, with a fair share of its trade, would cheerfully bear her part of the taxation. Her condition, having her own members to speak for her, would be understood. Her wealth, if she became rich, would be English wealth; her grievances would be English grievances; and the trade of dishonest schemers, who, in the severed condition of Ireland, found means of promoting their own ends, would be closed for ever.'1 If the present opportunity were allowed to escape, Maxwell foretold, with instinctive sagacity, one inevitable consequence. England' he said, 'imagined that she could best govern Ireland by keeping her poor and miserable, and had, therefore, disabled her woollen trade. The manufacture was destroyed. The wool, of which she had enormous quantities, she was compelled to sell only to England, and on England's own terms. England had the monopoly of the European cloth and 1 Essay on a Union, by Henry Maxwell. Similarly the author of Considerations concerning Ireland says, 'We all saw, for instance, by what steps this last war grew, but could not prevent it, because we were not allowed a Parliament; and the English Parliament could neither fully understand nor prevent it. Had there been members for Ireland there, and Ireland part of Parliament's province, remedies could have been found in time, blanket market, because English and Irish wool were the best in the then known world. The relative price of it in England and Ireland had been fixed as twenty-five to seventeen, and the difference between the English and Irish prices was made up by an export duty in the Irish harbours. Provided England could really secure the Irish fleeces to herself on these terms, she would draw a handsome profit. But the ingenious persons who had made this arrangement had forgotten that French and Spanish wool, if mixed with a portion of Irish, would then produce as good cloth as the best that came from the Lancashire looms. One sack of Irish wool would work up three French sacks; and thus there would be enormous premium upon smuggling. Dutch, French, and Irish contraband dealers would outbid the English merchants in the Irish market. The coast line was too long and too difficult to permit effectual watching. The coast guard officers would be bribed to look through their fingers. The legitimate commerce would be suspended. The wool would go to France after all. The French would compete with England for a trade of which Ireland would have been robbed in vain. The manufacturers, who were almost all Protestant, would leave a country where there was no longer employment for them. The Scotch, English, and Dutch artisans would return home, or would go to the American plantations. When a nation was oppressed, men of capital and skill were the first to take wing, as Philip the Second found when he ruined Flanders; and Protestant enterprise being thus driven from the field, Ireland must in a few years relapse to the old proprietors, whose natures were better suited to the lazy life of CHAP. II. 1703 II. BOOK grazing and sowing, who submitted unwillingly to the thraldom of England, and who would throw themselves away, as they had always done, upon any Popish Prince who would offer to protect them.'1 No prophet ever spoke more accurately, or spoke to deafer ears. Far-sighted political intelligence was set aside as usual by the so-called common sense of practical men. The proposal for a union was looked at askance as a sinister attempt on English pockets, and the fairest opportunity that had arisen since the conquest for bringing together countries which before and after have so sorely tried each other, was deliberately sacrificed to supercilious pride and purblind covetousness. 1 Essay on a Union of Ireland with England, by Henry Maxwell. Dublin, 1704. |