COMPACT WITH ENGLAND. 149 



up her woollen manufacture, that of linen fhould be left t. 

 her under every encouragement. I have however myfel* 

 heard it in the Britifli parliament denied to have been any 

 compact; but fimply a promife of encouragement, not pre- 

 cluding a like or greater encouragement to the Britifh linens. 

 This is certainly an error, for ib underflood, what is the 

 meaning of the ample encouragements prqmifed by the Britifh 

 parliament ? They could not mean internal encouragement 

 or regulation, for they had nothing to do with either : it 

 could limply mean, as the purport of the words evidently 

 fhe\v, that they would enter into no meafures which fhould 

 iet up a linen manufacture to rival the Irifh. That woollens 

 fhould be confidered and encouraged as the ftaple of England, 

 and linens as that of Ireland : it muft mean this or it meant 

 nothing. That the Irifh underflood it fo cannot be doubted 

 fora moment; for what did they in confequcuce? They 

 were in pofTeflion of a flourifhjng woollen manufacture, which 

 they aclually put down and crippled by prohibiting exporta* 

 tion. Let me afk thofe who a{fert there was no compact, 

 why they did this ? it Avas their own at. Did they cut their 

 own throats without either reward or promife of reward ? 

 common fenfe tells us they did this under a perfect convic- 

 tion, that they fhould receive ample encouragement from. 

 England in their linen trade: but what moonfhine would 

 fuch encouragement prove if England, departing from the 

 letter and fpirit of that compact, had encouraged her own 

 linen manufacture to rival the Iriih, after the Irifh had dc- 

 ftroyed their woollen fabrics to encourage thofe of England ? 

 Yet we did this in direct breach of the whole tranfadtion, for 

 the 23d of George II. laid a tax on fail cloth made of Irifh 

 hemp. Bounties alfo have been given in England without 

 extending fully to Irifh linens. Checked, ftriped, printed, 

 painted, flamed, or dyed linens pf Irifh manufacture are not 

 allowed to be imported into Britain. In which, and in other 

 articles, we have done every thing pofllble fo extend and in- 

 creafe our own linen manufacture, to rival that of Ireland. 



I admit readily, that the apprehenfions of the Irifh at the 

 progrefs of Britilh linens are in the fpirit of commercial jea- 

 loufy, as well as our violence in relation to their woollens. 

 But with this great difference ; we forced them to put down 

 a manufacture they were actually in polfefiion of ; and we 

 being the controuling power, do not leave them that freedom, 

 of market which we porTefs ourfelves, points which neccfTarily 

 place the two nations in this rcfpecT: upon very different foot- 

 ings. Give them as they ought to have, a free woollen trade, 

 and they will then have no objection to any meafures for the 

 encouragement of our linens which do not abfolutcly exclude 

 theirs. 



The following table will fhew the progrefs of their linen 

 manufacture through the prefent century. 



An 



