constant readiness to fight contrasts very well the behaviour of a good many of the Spanish Generals. No officer of Irish blood was ever found among the cowards."

It is related of Don Alexander O'Reilly that it was his delight to visit a certain Irish College in Spain and tell the boys there that the dream of his life was to head a Spanish invading force and land in his own country to set her free. How many of the "Wild Geese" cherished that dream? Alas! Alas! It was never realised. Only as disembodied spirits was it granted to them to revisit the land of their hearts' desire. Far, far away from Ireland their bodies have mingled with foreign earth "and the graves in which they are buried are unknown.” But a poet (Emily Lawless) had a vision of a company of them "Sailing home together from the last great fight! Home to Clare from Fontenoy in the morning light!"

And surely it was not from Fontenoy alone, but from the thousand European battlefields on which Irish valour asserted itself that such a "singing company" set forth, and reach the shores of Ireland at last:

O'Callaghan (John Cornelius): History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France.

O'Conor (Matthew): Military History of the Irish Nation.

O'Connell (Mrs. Morgan John): The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. D'Alton (John): Illustrations, historical and genealogical of King James's Irish Army List.

Mitchel: History of Ireland.

• It must not be forgotten that the Irish Brigade in the French service joyously sent its quota to meet the old enemy of the race on American battlefields. The regiments of Dillon and Walsh came with Lafayette to strike for American liberty. And it is recorded that they demanded the right to be the first of the French service to strike Britain on American soil.

CHAPTER LV

THE SUPPRESSION OF IRISH TRADE

THE systematic ruthlessness with which Ireland's trade and industries were wiped out by England, has, like the Irish Penal Laws, no parallel in the history of any other subject land. We shall briefly summarise the extraordinary story.

In the early centuries of the Christian Era the highly civilised Celt was slightly inclined to trade and commerce-probably stimulated thereto by the Phoenicians who carried on a large commercial intercourse with Ireland. The early Irish, the reader will recollect, were famous for their excellence in the arts and craftsparticularly for their wonderful work in metals, bronze, silver and gold. Ten hundred hills and bogs in Ireland constantly yield up testimony to this-even if we discarded the testimony of history, story and poem.

By the beginning of the 14th Century, the trade of Ireland with the Continent of Europe was important-and trading ships were constantly sailing between Ireland and the leading ports of the Continent. Irish merchants were known in the great Continental markets. And Irish money commanded credit.

This condition of things naturally did not suit commercial England. So at an early period she began to stifle Irish industry and trade.

In 1339 England appointed an admiral whose duty was to stop traffic between Ireland and the Continent (34 Edward III, c. 17). He must have been but indifferently successful; for a little more than a century later, Edward the Fourth deplores the prosperity of Ireland's trade, and he orders (in 1465) that since fishing vessels from the Continent helped out the traffic with Ireland, these vessels should not henceforth fish in Irish waters without an English permit (5 Edwd. IV).

And since even this failed to stop the stubborn Irish, in 1494 an English law was enacted prohibiting the Irish from exporting any industrial product, except with English permit, and through an English port, after paying English fees.

This handicap, too, failed. For, we find English merchants

in 1548, unofficially taking a hand at trying to end the traffic-by fitting out armed vessels to attack and plunder the trading ships between Ireland and the Continent-commercialised piracy.

But official piracy had to be fallen back upon. Twenty years after, Elizabeth ordered the seizure of the whole Continental commerce of Munster-much more than half of the trade of the Island and a fleet under Admiral Winter was despatched to do the good work. In 1571 she ordered that no cloth or stuff made in Ireland, should be exported even to England, except by English men in Ireland, or by merchants approved by the Government. (Nearly thirty years before, her much married father, Henry, had forbidden Irish cloths to be exported from Galway.)

And Irish trade was attacked from yet another angle. At the same time that the pirate admiral was appointed by Edward III, Irish coinage was forbidden to be received in England. However, Irish merchants and Irish money had such worthy repute that not only did they still succeed with it on the Continent, but, one hundred years later, Irish coinage had to be prohibited again in England. That was in 1447.

In 1477, after imprisoning some Irish merchants who traded with Irish money in Bristol, the English Government adopted a radical reform by introducing into Ireland an English coinage debased twenty-five per cent below the English standard, and compelled Ireland to accept it as her legal currency.

This accomplished two good objects. English merchants bought in Ireland by the cheap standard and sold these purchases abroad by the dear standard. Also England was enabled to pay her army in Ireland with cheap Irish coin. When Ireland's merchants refused to honour at its face value the debased coinage tendered by the soldiers, an Act was passed (in 1547) making such refusal treason.

By reason of their big Continental trade the shipping industry had in itself become an important one to Irishmen. Hence it was advisable to extinguish it. The Navigation Act of 1637 provided that all ships must clear from English ports for foreign trade. But as this did not sufficiently discourage Ireland, the Act was amended, in 1663 (15 Charles II, c. 7), to prohibit the use of all foreign-going ships, except such as were built in England, mastered and three-fourths manned by English, and cleared from English ports. Their return cargoes too, must be unladen in England.1

1 "The conveniency of ports and harbours with which nature had blessed Ireland was of no more use than a beautiful prospect to a man shut up in a dungeon.” -Swift.

Ireland's ship-building industry was thus destroyed, and her Continental trade was practically wiped out.

Yet, Ireland, ever persevering, began, even under such heavy restriction, to develop a lucrative trade with the Colonies. This was cured in 1670 by 22 Charles II, c. 26, which forbade Ireland to export to the Colonies anything except horses, servants, and victuals!

Then Ireland fell back upon the little profits to be derived from imports from the Colonies. And England, observing this, put a bush in the gap (7 & 8 Wm. II, c. 22) decreeing that no Colonial products should be landed in Ireland-till they had first been landed in England and paid all English rates and duties. "Thus," says Newenham, "was Ireland deprived of the direct lucrative trade of the whole western world."

But England must get credit for repentance. By 4 Geo. II, c. 15, Ireland was permitted to import directly from the Plantations all goods, etc., of the growth, production or manufacture of the said Plantations, except sugar, tobacco, indigo, cotton, wool, molasses, ginger, pitch, turpentine, tar, rice, and nine or ten other specified items-which, stripped of its facetious verbiage, just means that she was permitted to import West Indian rum-thus aiding the planters and rum makers of the West Indies, at the expense of Irish farmers, distillers, and constitutions.

The foregoing will seem to many readers a good English joke. But from constant reiteration through the centuries these English jokes proved rather wearing on Ireland's health.

The woollen joke was not the least trying.

At a very early period Ireland had been forbidden to export her cattle to England, and then, turning to sheep-raising, was, by 8 Eliz. c. 8, forbidden to export sheep. She next essayed woollen manufactures.

This quickly became a great Irish industry. In the Continental markets, and even in the British, Irish woollens were in brisk demand. Consequently this trade should be stopped. Though, as usual, it took a long time to convince the pig-headed people who inhabited Ireland that it was for their benefit to stop it. The good work was, for the good step-mother, a tedious and thankless task. But with praiseworthy perseverance, she persisted till her good end was accomplished.

The Irish woollen manufacturers began, at an early period, to rival England's. So, in 1571 Elizabeth imposed restriction upon the Irish woollen trade that crippled the large Irish trade with the Netherlands and other parts of the Continent. Yet half a

century later Lord Strafford, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, begs for a little more discouragement. In 1634, he writes to Charles the First, "That all wisdom advises to keep this (Irish) kingdom as much subordinate and dependent on England as possible; and, holding them from the manufacture of wool (which unless otherwise directed, I shall by all means discourage), and then enforcing them to fetch their cloth from England, how can they depart from us without nakedness and beggary?" (Strafford's Letters.)

But it was not until 1660 that was taken the radical step of forbidding by law the export of woollens from Ireland to England. When this blow fell the Irish resorted to exportation of their raw wool. This was stopped by 12 Charles II, c. 32, and 13 and 14 Charles II, c. 18-which Acts prohibited Ireland from exporting sheep-wool, wool-fells, mortlings, shortlings, yarn made of wool and wool-flocks. The Acts were thorough.

In 1673, Sir William Temple (by request of Viceroy Essex) advised that the Irish would act wisely in giving up altogether the manufacture of wool (even for home use), because "it tended to interfere prejudicially with the English woollen trade!"2

Now Ireland was almost completely cured of the bad habit of exporting both woollens and wool-almost. But a trace of the habit still lingered. While the British Colonies (possibly by oversight) had been left open to her, she continued exporting to them. This needed attention. So, in 1697 an act was introduced to prohibit Ireland from sending out any of her woollen manufactures to any place, whatsoever!3

But it was very soon found that even this Act was incomplete. It inadvertently left the Irish market open to the Irish wool manufacturers—which market must, of course, or ought to be the private property of the English manufacturers. The mistake must be remedied. So on June 9th, 1698, both English Houses of Parliament addressed King William beseeching him to chide his Irish subjects for that-in the language of the Lords "The growth of the woollen manufactures there hath long been, and ever will

2 This is the same English statesman who pithily put the maxim which England has always observed in protecting Ireland, and fostering Irish welfare "Regard must be had to those points wherein the trade of Ireland comes to interfere with that of England, in which case Irish trade ought to be declined so as to give way to the trade of England."

3 Swift said: "Ireland is the only kingdom I ever heard or read of either in ancient or modern story, which was denied the liberty of exporting its native manufactures and commodities wherever it pleased."