Decrease gallons 1,125,848 The tobacco entered for home consumption in Ireland was, in 1794 1795 Total lbs. 4,894,121 lbs. 17,300,620 Total lbs. 10,770,293 A decrease of seven million pounds! The number of barrels of malt consumed in Ireland at two periods of five years each was, from 1791 to 1795, 6,109,600; from 1796 to 1800, 5,619,782,-a decrease of half a million barrels in five years. The corn-spirit distilled in Ireland was, in 1798, 4,783,954 gallons; in 1799, 4,253,187 gallons; in 1800, 3,621,498. It would be tedious to proceed with statements so incontrovertible. A sufficient number have been adduced to refute the assertion that Ireland progressed in commerce and improvement towards the close of the last century. Notwithstanding the factitious aid of bounties was most lavishly supplied, and although a large number of English troops were sent to Ireland in 1798-99, and 1800, whose expenditure has always been considered advantageous to the trade of the country,-yet the commerce of Ireland declined from 1782 to 1800. The petitions to the Irish Parliament from 1781 to 1800 show that even under a resident legislature the domestic manufactures of Ireland languished. Thus : 1781, 30th October,-Manufacturers and Artificers petition from Cork, in the utmost distress, " for small sums and materials;" similar petition from Wexford, 6th December, 1781. 1783, 31st October. Dublin petitioned for duties on imported goods, "to re-establish the almost ruined manufactures;" petitions from Dublin, Cork, Queen's County, Carrick-on-Suir, Roscrea, and other places, represented that Ireland was "pregnant with the most alarming circumstances of distress." 1793. The Parishioners of St. Luke's, in the liberty of Dublin, petitioned that the produce of their labour as manufacturers "afforded them a very scanty subsistence;" and that, "within the preceding twenty years, the parish had declined considerably in value." 1794. The Corporation for the Relief of the Poor of Dublin petitioned for aid. 1797. Petitions from the Corporations of Carpenters and Bricklayers, and also from the Journeymen Carpenters, declared that “they were reduced to the utmost distress by want of employment." THE WOOLLEN TRADE.-1783. The Broadcloth Manufacturers of Dublin represent themselves in a state of "unparalleled distress." A similar petition from the working Worsted Weavers. 1787. The Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers of Dublin represent their great distress, and pray for aid to avert the necessity of turning their workmen adrift.-Ditto from Cork. 1788. The Woollen Manufacturers of Dublin and Cork again represent the decline of their trade. 1793. A petition was received from the Irish Woollen Manufacturers generally, stating inability to continue employing the working people, of whom there were "nearly fifteen thousand in wretchedness, who would perish unless relieved." 1793. Petition from the working Worsted Weavers, &c. of Dublin, representing that they were then reduced "to penury and famine." 1800. Report showing that the Woollen Trade had decayed throughout Ireland; that the manufacture of ratteens and coarse woollen goods had rapidly declined, and was nearly destroyed. THE SILK TRADE.-1788. A petition from the Manufacturers of Sattinets, &c. in Dublin, represented that they had laboured under insupportable distress during the preceding year, and that more than one-half of the working manufacturers were then, "by want of employment, reduced to a degree of wretchedness beyond description." 1793. A petition from the working Silk Manufacturers of Dublin, represented that silk weaving was "nearly annihilated;" that "in 1791, twelve hundred looms were engaged in silk fabrics in Dublin," and that nine-tenths of the persons then employed were subsequently reduced to penury, and were a burden on their fellow-citizens. COTTON AND HOSIERY TRADES.-1793. The Hosiers of Dublin represented their trade as rapidly declining. 1793. The Irish Cotton Manufacturers represented that they were no longer able to give employment 1788. The Mayor and Inhabitants of Belfast petitioned for the enactment of an additional tax on the exportation of cattle, stating that the curing trade was much diminished by such exportations. 1792, March 9th. Petition from the Shoemakers of Dublin, representing that the remuneration for their labour was insufficient, and their branch of trade going to decay. 1796, Feb. 5. Petition from Book Printers in Dublin, stating that the publishing trade had been nearly "extinguished" by the duties charged on paper. 1797, Feb. 21. Petition from the Tanners of Dublin, representing the great stagnation of their trade, and their inability to purchase, in 1795, within 10,000 of the number of hides bought in 1794. 1783, Nov. 18. The Hatters represent their distress. 1787, Feb. 15. The Merchants and Shopkeepers of Dublin represent the bad state of trade, and the ruin of Irish manufactures. 1787, March 2. Petition representing the frequent failure of Dublin Shopkeepers. 1797. The Builders of Dublin represented distress, and petitioned against a Building Act for the protection of houses from fire. Can stronger evidence be required to prove that the "extraordinary strides" made by Ireland in commerce and manufactures during the period of her so called "glorious independence," viz. from 1782 to 1800, were retrograde and not progressive; that this perversion of the truth can originate only in gross ignorance or wilful misrepresentation, and that consequently one of the main arguments in favour of repealing the Union is entirely without foundation? CHAPTER III. Commercial, Shipping, and Manufacturing Prosperity of Ireland since the Union demonstrated-Measures for the Improvement of the Poor suggested-Drainage of Waste Lands-Issue of Exchequer Bills, &c. THE Union has so loudly been termed the "desolating, withering Union," that the people of England may think, that where there is much noise there must necessarily be some truth. Never, however, was there a more untrue statement palmed on the public than that Ireland has been injured by her union with England. The buildings and public works undertaken since the Union, even in Dublin (as detailed in the preceding chapter), show that Government has not been neglectful of the Irish capital; but the principal points for consideration are, the quantity of imports and exports and their amount in value; the consumption of excisable articles by the people, and the indications of social progress. Previous to the Union, every effort was made by the Irish Parliament to aggrandise Dublin, at the expense of Belfast, Cork, Waterford, &c. This was so apparent, that the merchants at the outports were among the first to petition the Irish Parliament and the Sovereign for a legislative junction with Great Britain. Dublin had a monopoly of Ireland, as much as Paris had at one time of France, or London of England previous to the rise of Liverpool, &c. The Union altered this unnatural state of things, which might be aptly compared to an enlarged viscus, the liver for instance, while the whole frame was weak, and dependent for existence on the repeated administration of stimulants. I commence an examination of the two periods (prior and subsequent to the Union) with the amount of tonnage belonging to the several ports of Ireland, at the end of the last century and up to the latest period in the Parliamentary Returns. Let it be remembered, that by the invention and increase of steam navigation (the greater part of which is owned by English and |