Considerations such as these presented themselves at once to the master-mind of Pitt.  He pointed out that as England had relinquished her right to limit Irish trade for the benefit of English, she was in fairness relieved from the corresponding duty of protecting Ireland against foreign foes; the two countries should therefore both contribute to their joint defence in proportion to their means.  He proposed that regular treaties should be drawn up between the two countries, by which Ireland should contribute a certain sum to the navy, free trade between Ireland and England should be established, and regulations made whereby the duties payable on foreign goods should be assimilated.  By such measures as these he hoped to make things run smoothly for a time at least; but when his projects were rejected by the Irish Parliament, he saw more clearly than ever that sooner or later the Gordian knot would have to be cut, and that the only way of cutting it would be the Union.

CHAPTER VII.

The independent parliament.  The Regency question.  The commencement of the rebellion.

That Ireland increased in prosperity rapidly towards the end of the eighteenth century, there is no doubt.  Politicians will say that this prosperity came from the increased powers gained by the Parliament in 1782; economists will reply that that had little if anything to say to it; far more important causes being the abolition of trade restrictions and the relaxation of the Penal Laws, which encouraged people to employ their money in remunerative works at home instead of having to send it abroad.  It may sound somewhat Hibernian to mention the rise in rents, as another cause of prosperity; yet anyone who knows Ireland will admit that it is not impossible; and it was certainly put forward gravely by writers of the period who were by no means biassed towards the landlord interest.  Thus McKenna, writing in 1793, says:—­

“In several parts of Ireland the rents have been tripled within 40 years.  This was not so much the effect as the cause of national prosperity; ... before the above-mentioned period, when rent was very low and other taxes little known, half the year was lavished in carousing.  But as soon as labour became compulsory, fortunes have been raised both by the tenantry and landlords, and civilization has advanced materially.”

There was also another cause of prosperity, which modern economists cannot look on with much favour.  It was the policy of the Irish Government to grant enormous bounties for the development of various industries, especially the growth of corn.  This no doubt gave much employment, promoted the breaking up of grass lands, the subdivision of farms and the erection of mills; and so long as the price of corn was maintained, brought much prosperity to the country, and thus was indirectly one cause of the enormous increase of population, which rose from about 2,370,000 in 1750, to about 4,500,000 in 1797.  But when, during the nineteenth century, prices fell, the whole structure, built on a fictitious foundation, came down with a crash.