hands, against the obnoxious measure, and cleverly concluded it with the very words used by Charles himself, in the declaration for the settlement of Ireland at the Restoration, trusting that his Majesty “would not suffer his good subjects to weep in one kingdom when they rejoiced in another.”  Charles, however, wanted money; so Ireland had to wait for justice.  A vote, granting him L120,000, settled the matter; and though for a time cattle were smuggled into England, the Bill introduced after the great fire of London, which we have mentioned in the last chapter, settled the matter definitively.  The Irish question eventually merged into an unseemly squabble about prerogative, but Charles was determined “never to kiss the block on which his father lost his head."[525] He overlooked the affront, and accepted the Bill, “nuisance” and all.  One favour, however, was granted to the Irish; they were graciously permitted to send contributions of cattle to the distressed Londoners in the form of salted beef.  The importation of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, were forbidden by subsequent Acts, and salted beef, mutton, and pork were not allowed to be exported from Ireland to England until the general dearth of 1757.

The commercial status of the principal Irish towns at this period (A.D. 1669), is thus given by Mr. Bonnell, the head collector of Irish customs in Dublin:  “Comparing together the proceeds of the duties for the six years ending December, 1669, received from the several ports of Ireland, they may be thus ranked according to their worth respectively, expressed in whole numbers, without fractions, for more clearness of apprehension:——­

“Rate.  Ports.  Proportion Rate.  Ports Proportion
                      per cent. per cent.
  1 Dublin 40 { Drogheda 3
  2 Cork 10 5 { Londonderry 3
        { Waterford 7 { Carrickfergus 3
  3 { Galway 7 { Ross 1
        { Limerick 5 { Wexford 1
  4 { Kinsale 5 6 { Dundalk 1
        { Youghal 5 { Baltimore 1
                                            { Sligo 1”

“Killybeg, Dungarvan, Donaghadee, Strangford, Coleraine, and Dingle, are mentioned as “under rate.”

The linen trade had been encouraged, and, indeed, mainly established in Ireland, by the Duke of Ormonde.  An English writer[526] says that 200,000 pounds of yarn were sent annually to Manchester, a supply which seemed immense in that age; and yet, in the present day, would hardly keep the hands employed for forty-eight hours.  A political economist of the age gives the “unsettledness of the country” as the first of a series of reasons why trade did not flourish in Ireland, and, amongst other remedies, suggests