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Political agitation, too, had a very prejudicial effect. The 
country had no doubt been sadly misgoverned, and the people had 
much to complain of. But the means they took to redress their 
grievances brought great misery upon themselves, and was ruinous 
to the trade of the country. When the Irish volunteers marched 
to their famous meeting at the Rotunda, it is stated that 
becoming somewhat profane, they decorated the muzzles of the 
guns accompanying the procession with the motto, ‘‘O Lord, open 
thou our lips, and our mouths shall show forth thy praise.” This 
agitation culminated in the battle of Ballynahinch, where the poor 
Irish were scattered like sheep before the regular troops sent to 
oppose them. Monroe, the commanding officer of the rebels, was 
betrayed in his hiding place, and shortly after tried, condemned, 
and hung. This was followed by the rising of 1798. After this 
was suppressed, the country became more peaceful. Needful 
reforms were introduced, and trade revived. 
With the introduction of machinery in the first quarter of this 
century, Ireland has progressed with rapid strides, and she now 
stands at the head of the linen trade of the world. The Messrs. 
Mulholland, of Belfast, commenced mill spinning in 1830. Their 
large mill contained 20,000 spindles. Since then some of the 
factories contain as many as 60,000 spindles, capable of turning 
off upwards of twenty-five million yards of yarn per day. Wages 
in the meantime have gone up from one hundred to two hundred 
per cent., and the population of Belfast has increased from 50,000 
to 175,000 in 1871. 
A very few words only must be added on the linen trade of 
Scotland. The Messrs. Baxter, of Dundee, have done for that 
town and district, what the Mulhollands did for Belfast, and the 
Marshalls for Leeds, in making those towns the great linen 
producing districts of the world. The consumption of flax and 
hemp in Dundee at the present time is about 70,000 tons per 
annum, and the value about two and a half millians sterling. The 
value of the yarn spun amounts to about three and three-quarter 
millions. And the total value of linen and hemp fabrics produced 
in Dundee is about five millions sterling. The population exceeds 
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