self by
underselling us, which they were able to do.' With the exception,
however, of an abortive effort by this governor, the Irish wool
manufacture was in no degree impeded, and was indeed mentioned with
special favour in many Acts of Parliament; and it was in a great degree
on the faith of this long-continued legislative sanction that it was so
greatly expanded. The poverty of Ireland, the low state of civilization
of a large proportion of its inhabitants, the effects of the civil wars
which had so recently convulsed it, and the exclusion of its products
from the English Colonies, were doubtless great obstacles to
manufacturing enterprise; but, on the other hand, Irish wool was very
good, living was cheaper, taxes were lighter than in England, a spirit
of real industrial energy began to pervade the country, and a
considerable number of English manufacturers came over to colonize it.
There appeared for a time every probability that the Irish would become
an industrial nation, and, had manufactures arisen, their whole social,
political, and economical condition would have been changed. But English
jealousy again interposed. By an Act of crushing and unprecedented
severity, which was introduced in 1698 and carried in 1699, the export
of the Irish woollen manufactures, not only to England, but also to all
other countries, was absolutely forbidden.

"The effects of this measure were terrible almost beyond conception. The
main industry of the country was at a blow completely and irretrievably
annihilated. A vast population was thrown into a condition of utter
destitution. Several thousands of manufacturers left the country, and
carried their skill and enterprise to Germany, France, and Spain. The
western and southern districts of Ireland are said to have been nearly
depopulated. Emigration to America began on a large scale, and the blow
was so severe that long after, a kind of chronic famine prevailed."[33]

Mr. Lecky relates with pride how the penal code was relaxed, and the
commercial restrictions were removed, while the Irish Parliament,
essentially a Protestant and landlord body, still existed, and shows how
the cause of Catholic Emancipation was retarded by the Union.

"The Relief Bill of '93 naturally suggests a consideration of the
question so often agitated in Ireland, whether the Union was really a
benefit to the Roman Catholic cause. It has been argued that Catholic
Emancipation was an impossibility as long as