LOOM FOR LINEN IN IRELAND. 377 



" 117, Great Dover Road, London, 



December 6th, 1864. 

 " To His Excellency Lord Wodehouse, 



" Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. 



" MY LORD, Permit me most respectfully to solicit your 



Excellency's attention to the fact that I find, on comparing 



your speech at the Lord Ma^or of Dublin's entertainment 



with my writings for the last twenty-six years on the subject 



of Ireland's wants, and the basis on which the extension of 



the linen-trade of Ulster to the other three provinces would 



permanently elevate the labouring population, I could not 



but feel disposed to believe, when your Excellency touched 



on the ' p ower-loom' as Ireland's hope for the further security 



and extension of her great staple, the linen-trade, but that 



you may have placed your hands on some of my writings on 



the subject, for, as like Watt and the steam-engine, I was the 



first man to introduce a power-loom into Belfast, and to bring 



into it, from Leeds, a perfect piece or web of linen, I never 



did despair of the day being not far distant when the novelty 



I introduced would become, as it has been in Manchester, the 



chief corner-stone of every factory I in the United Kingdom. 



I could not but feel proud to see that no sooner had your 



Excellency the opportunity of making a speech in Dublin, 



but you told them of the advantage of the power-loom. 



"I will not attempt to trespass on your excellency's atten- 

 tion, or dilate on the advantage or value of the power-loom 

 now, at the end of twenty-six years, since I brought the first 

 from Leeds, made by Mr. E. Busk, and improved under my 

 own superintendence until a perfect piece of cloth was made ; but 

 as I have written on the subject, and in a few days my Third 

 Edition will be before the public, and I must hope my prac- 

 tical instructions will stand criticism, so far as my remarks 

 will serve the cause I advocate, and I trust that the plain 

 statement set forth, which cannot be expected to have much, 



