NOTE.
The following tract was taken by Sir Walter Scott “from a
little
miscellaneous 12mo volume of pamphlets, communicated by Mr.
Hartsonge, relating chiefly to Irish affairs, the property at
one
time of Thomas Kingsbury, Esq., son of Dr. Kingsbury, who
attended
Swift in his last illness.” The present editor came across a
similar volume while on a visit of research in Dublin, among
the
collection of books which belonged to the late Sir W. Gilbert,
and
which were being catalogued for auction by the bookseller, Mr.
O'Donoghue. The little 12mo contained this tract which had, as
Sir
W. Scott points out, a portrait of Swift at the end, on the
recto
of the last leaf.
According to Sir W. Scott, the friend in Dublin to whom the
letter
is supposed to be addressed, was Sir Robert Walpole. If Scott
be
correct, and there seems little reason to doubt his
conjecture, the
tract must have been written in the second half of the year
1726.
In the early part of that year Swift had an interview with
Walpole.
Our knowledge of what transpired at that interview is obtained
from
Swift's letter of April 28th, 1726, to Lord Peterborough; from
Swift's letter to Dr. Stopford of July 20th, 1726; from Pope's
letter to Swift of September 3rd, 1726; and from Swift's
letter to
Lady Betty Germaine of January 8th, 1732/3. From these letters
we
learn that Swift was really invited by Walpole to meet him.
Swift's
visit to England concerned itself mainly with the publication
of
“Gulliver's Travels,” but Sir Henry Craik thinks that Swift
had
other thoughts. “As regards politics,” says this biographer,
“he
was encouraged to hope that without loss either of honour or
consistency, it was open to him to make terms with the new
powers.
In the end, the result proved that he either over-estimated
his own
capacity of surrendering his independence, or under-estimated
the
terms that would be exacted.” This remark would leave it open
for a
reader to conclude that Swift would, at a certain price, have
been
ready to join Walpole and his party. But the letters referred
to do
not in the least warrant such a conclusion. Swift's thought
was for
Ireland, and had he been successful with Walpole in his
pleading
for Ireland's cause that minister might have found an ally in
Swift; but the price to be paid was not to the man. From
Swift's
letter to Peterborough we are at once introduced to Ireland's
case,
and his point of view on this was so opposed to Walpole's
preconceived notions of how best to govern Ireland, as well as
of
his settled plans, that Swift found, as he put it, that
Walpole
“had conceived opinions ... which I could not reconcile to the
notions I had of liberty.” Not at all of his own liberty, but
of
that of the liberty of a nation; for, as he says (giving now
the
quotation in full): “I had no other design in desiring to see
Sir
Robert Walpole, than to represent the affairs of Ireland to
him in
a true light, not only without any view to myself, but to any
party
whatsoever ... I failed very much in my design; for I saw that
he
had conceived opinions, from the example and practices of
the
present, and some former governors, which I could not
reconcile to
the notions I had of liberty.” The part given here in italics
is
omitted by Sir H. Craik in his quotation.
Swift saw Walpole twice—once at Walpole's invitation at a
dinner
at Chelsea, and a second time at his own wish, expressed
through
Lord Peterborough. At the first meeting nothing of politics
could
be broached, as the encounter was a public one. The second
meeting
was private and resulted in nothing. The letter to
Peterborough was
written by Swift the day after he had seen Walpole, and
Peterborough was requested to show it to that minister. The
letter
is so pertinent to the subject-matter of this volume that it
is
printed here:
“April 28th, 1726.
“SWIFT TO THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH.
“MY LORD,
“Your lordship having, at my request, obtained for me an hour
from
Sir Robert Walpole, I accordingly attended him yesterday at
eight
o'clock in the morning, and had somewhat more than an hour's
conversation with him. Your lordship was this day pleased to
inquire what passed between that great minister and me; to
which I
gave you some general answers, from whence you said you could
comprehend little or nothing.
“I had no other design in desiring to see Sir Robert Walpole,
than
to represent the affairs of Ireland to him in a true light,
not
only without any view to myself, but to any party whatsoever:
and,
because I understood the affairs of that kingdom tolerably
well,
and observed the representations he had received were such as
I
could not agree to; my principal design was to set him right,
not
only for the service of Ireland, but likewise of England, and
of
his own administration.
“I failed very much in my design; for I saw he had conceived
opinions, from the example and practices of the present, and
some
former governors, which I could not reconcile to the notions I
had
of liberty, a possession always understood by the British
nation to
be the inheritance of a human creature.
“Sir Robert Walpole was pleased to enlarge very much upon the
subject of Ireland, in a manner so alien from what I conceived
to
be the rights and privileges of a subject of England, that I
did
not think proper to debate the matter with him so much as I
otherwise might, because I found it would be in vain. I shall,
therefore, without entering into dispute, make bold to mention
to
your lordship some few grievances of that kingdom, as it
consists
of a people who, beside a natural right of enjoying the
privileges
of subjects, have also a claim of merit from their
extraordinary
loyalty to the present king and his family.
“First, That all persons born in Ireland are called and treated
as
Irishmen, although their fathers and grandfathers were born in
England; and their predecessors having been conquerors of
Ireland,
it is humbly considered they ought to be on as good a foot as
any
subjects of Britain, according to the practice of all other
nations, and particularly of the Greeks and Romans.
“Secondly, That they are denied the natural liberty of
exporting
their manufactures to any country which is not engaged in a
war
with England.
“Thirdly, That whereas there is a university in Ireland,
founded by
Queen Elizabeth, where youth are instructed with a much
stricter
discipline than either in Oxford or Cambridge, it lies under
the
greatest discouragements, by filling all the principal
employments,
civil and ecclesiastical, with persons from England, who have
neither interest, property, acquaintance, nor alliance, in
that
kingdom; contrary to the practice of all other states in
Europe
which are governed by viceroys, at least what hath never been
used
without the utmost discontents of the people.
“Fourthly, That several of the bishops sent over to Ireland,
having
been clergymen of obscure condition, and without other
distinction
than that of chaplains to the governors, do frequently invite
over
their old acquaintances or kindred, to whom they bestow the
best
preferment in their gift. The like may be said of the judges,
who
take with them one or two dependants, to whom they give their
countenance; and who, consequently, without other merit, grow
immediately into the chief business of their courts. The same
practice is followed by all others in civil employments, if
they
have a cousin, a valet, or footman in their family, born in
England.
“Fifthly, That all civil employments, granted in reversion, are
given to persons who reside in England.
“The people of Ireland, who are certainly the most loyal
subjects
in the world, cannot but conceive that most of these hardships
have
been the consequence of some unfortunate representations (at
least)
in former times; and the whole body of the gentry feel the
effects
in a very sensible part, being utterly destitute of all means
to
make provision for their younger sons, either in the Church,
the
law, the revenue, or (of late) in the army; and, in the
desperate
condition of trade, it is equally vain to think of making them
merchants. All they have left is, at the expiration of leases,
to
rack their tenants, which they have done to such a degree,
that
there is not one farmer in a hundred through the kingdom who
can
afford shoes or stockings to his children, or to eat flesh, or
drink anything better than sour milk or water, twice in a
year; so
that the whole country, except the Scottish plantation in the
north, is a scene of misery and desolation hardly to be
matched on
this side of Lapland.
“The rents of Ireland are computed to about a million and a
half,
whereof one half million at least is spent by lords and
gentlemen
residing in England, and by some other articles too long to
mention.
“About three hundred thousand pounds more are returned thither
on
other accounts; and, upon the whole, those who are the best
versed
in that kind of knowledge agree, that England gains annually
by
Ireland a million at least, which even I could make appear
beyond
all doubt.
“But, as this mighty profit would probably increase, with
tolerable
treatment, to half a million more, so it must of necessity
sink,
under the hardships that kingdom lies at present.
“And whereas Sir Robert Walpole was pleased to take notice, how
little the king gets by Ireland, it ought, perhaps to be
considered, that the revenues and taxes, I think, amount to
above
four hundred thousand pounds a-year; and, reckoning the riches
of
Ireland, compared with England, to be as one to twelve, the
king's
revenues there would be equal to more than five millions here;
which, considering the bad payment of rents, from such
miserable
creatures as most of the tenants in Ireland are, will be
allowed to
be as much as such a kingdom can bear.
“The current coin of Ireland is reckoned, at most, but at five
hundred thousand pounds; so that above four-fifths are paid
every
year into the exchequer.
“I think it manifest, that whatever circumstances could
possibly
contribute to make a country poor and despicable, are all
united
with respect to Ireland. The nation controlled by laws to
which
they do not consent, disowned by their brethren and
countrymen,
refused the liberty not only of trading with their own
manufactures, but even their native commodities, forced to
seek for
justice many hundred miles by sea and land, rendered in a
manner
incapable of serving their king and country in any employment
of
honour, trust, or profit; and all this without the least
demerit;
while the governors sent over thither can possibly have no
affection to the people, further than what is instilled into
them
by their own justice and love of mankind, which do not always
operate; and whatever they please to represent hither is never
called in question.
“Whether the representatives of such a people, thus distressed
and
laid in the dust, when they meet in a parliament, can do the
public
business with that cheerfulness which might be expected from
free-born subjects, would be a question in any other country
except
that unfortunate island; the English inhabitants whereof have
given
more and greater examples of their loyalty and dutifulness,
than
can be shown in any other part of the world.
“What part of these grievances may be thought proper to be
redressed by so wise and great a minister as Sir Robert
Walpole, he
perhaps will please to consider; especially because they have
been
all brought upon that kingdom since the Revolution; which,
however,
is a blessing annually celebrated there with the greatest zeal
and
sincerity.
“I most humbly entreat your lordship to give this paper to Sir
Robert Walpole, and desire him to read it, which he may do in
a few
minutes. I am, with the greatest respect, my lord,
“Your lordship's
“most obedient and humble servant,
“JON. SWIFT.”
Scott thinks that had Swift been anxious for personal favours
from
Walpole he could easily have obtained them; “but the minister
did
not choose to gain his adherence at the expense of sacrificing
the
system which had hitherto guided England in her conduct
towards the
sister kingdom, and the patriot of Ireland was not to be won
at a
cheaper rate than the emancipation of his country.”
The original pamphlet bears neither date nor printer's name.
[T. S.]
THE PRESENT MISERABLE STATE OF IRELAND.
SIR,
By the last packets I had the favour of yours, and am surprised that
you should apply to a person so ill qualified as I am, for a full and
impartial account of the state of our trade. I have always lived as
retired as possible; I have carefully avoided the perplexed honour of
city-offices; I have never minded anybody's business but my own; upon
all which accounts, and several others, you might easily have found
among my fellow-citizens, persons more capable to resolve the weighty
questions you put to me, than I can pretend to be.
But being entirely at leisure, even at this season of the year, when
I used to have scarce time sufficient to perform the necessary offices
of life, I will endeavour to comply with your requests, cautioning you
not implicitly to rely upon what I say, excepting what belongs to that
branch of trade in which I am more immediately concerned.
The Irish trade is, at present, in the most deplorable condition
that can be imagined; to remedy it, the causes of its languishment must
be inquired into: But as those causes (you may assure yourself) will
not be removed, you may look upon it as a thing past hopes of recovery.
The first and greatest shock our trade received, was from an act
passed in the reign of King William, in the Parliament of England,
prohibiting the exportation of wool manufactured in Ireland. An act (as
the event plainly shews) fuller of greediness than good policy; an act
as beneficial to France and Spain, as it has been destructive to
England and Ireland.[103] At the passing of this fatal act, the
condition of our trade was glorious and flourishing, though no way
interfering with the English; we made no broad-cloths above 6s.
per yard; coarse druggets, bays and shalloons, worsted damasks, strong
draught works, slight half-works, and gaudy stuffs, were the only
product of our looms: these were partly consumed by the meanest of our
people, and partly sent to the northern nations, from which we had in
exchange, timber, iron, hemp, flax, pitch, tar, and hard dollars. At
the time the current money of Ireland was foreign silver, a man could
hardly receive 100l., without finding the coin of all the
northern powers, and every prince of the empire among it. This money
was returned into England for fine cloths, silks, &c. for our own wear,
for rents, for coals, for hardware, and all other English manufactures,
and, in a great measure, supplied the London merchants with foreign
silver for exportation.
The repeated clamours of the English weavers produced this act, so
destructive to themselves and us. They looked with envious eyes upon
our prosperity, and complained of being undersold by us in those
commodities, which they themselves did not deal in. At their instances
the act was passed, and we lost our profitable northern trade. Have
they got it? No, surely, you have found they have ever since declined
in the trade they so happily possessed; you shall find (if I am rightly
informed) towns without one loom in them, which subsisted entirely upon
the woollen manufactory before the passing of this unhappy bill; and I
will try if I can give the true reasons for the decay of their trade,
and our calamities.
Three parts in four of the inhabitants of that district of the town
where I dwell were English manufacturers, whom either misfortunes in
trade, little petty debts, contracted through idleness, or the
pressures of a numerous family, had driven into our cheap country:
These were employed in working up our coarse wool, while the finest was
sent into England. Several of these had taken the children of the
native Irish apprentices to them, who being humbled by the forfeiture
of upward of three millions by the Revolution, were obliged to stoop to
a mechanic industry. Upon the passing of this bill, we were obliged to
dismiss thousands of these people from our service. Those who had
settled their affairs returned home, and overstocked England with
workmen; those whose debts were unsatisfied went to France, Spain, and
the Netherlands, where they met with good encouragement, whereby the
natives, having got a firm footing in the trade, being acute fellows,
soon became as good workmen as any we have, and supply the foreign
manufactories with a constant recruit of artisans; our island lying
much more under pasture than any in Europe. The foreigners
(notwithstanding all the restrictions the English Parliament has bound
us up with) are furnished with the greatest quantity of our choicest
wool. I need not tell you, sir, that a custom-house oath is held as
little sacred here as in England, or that it is common for masters of
vessels to swear themselves bound for one of the English wool ports,
and unload in France or Spain. By this means the trade in those parts
is, in a great measure, destroyed, and we were obliged to try our hands
at finer works, having only our home consumption to depend upon; and, I
can assure you, we have, in several kinds of narrow goods, even
exceeded the English, and I believe we shall, in a few years more, be
able to equal them in broad cloths; but this you may depend upon, that
scarce the tenth part of English goods are now imported, of what used
to be before the famous act.
The only manufactured wares we are allowed to export, are linen
cloth and linen yarn, which are marketable only in England; the rest of
our commodities are wool, restrained to England, and raw hides, skins,
tallow, beef, and butter. Now, these are things for which the northern
nations have no occasion; we are therefore obliged, instead of carrying
woollen goods to their markets, and bringing home money, to purchase
their commodities.
In France, Spain, and Portugal, our wares are more valuable, though
it must be owned, our fraudulent trade in wool is the best branch of
our commerce; from hence we get wines, brandy, and fruit, very cheap,
and in great perfection; so that though England has constrained us to
be poor, they have given us leave to be merry. From these countries we
bring home moydores, pistoles, and louisdores, without which we should
scarce have a penny to turn upon.
To England we are allowed to send nothing but linen cloth, yarn, raw
hides, skins, tallow, and wool. From thence we have coals, for which we
always pay ready money, India goods, English woollen and silks,
tobacco, hardware, earthenware, salt, and several other commodities.
Our exportations to England are very much overbalanced by our
importations; so that the course of exchange is generally too high, and
people choose rather to make their remittances to England in specie,
than by a bill, and our nation is perpetually drained of its little
running cash.
Another cause of the decay of trade, scarcity of money, and swelling
of exchange, is the unnatural affectation of our gentry to reside in
and about London.[104] Their rents are remitted to them, and spent
there. The countryman wants employment from them; the country
shopkeeper wants their custom. For this reason he can't pay his Dublin
correspondent readily, nor take off a great quantity of his wares.
Therefore, the Dublin merchant can't employ the artisan, nor keep up
his credit in foreign markets.
I have discoursed some of these gentlemen, persons esteemed for good
sense, and demanded a reason for this their so unaccountable
proceeding,—expensive to them for the present, ruinous to their
country, and destructive to the future value of their estates,—and
find all their answers summed up under three heads, curiosity,
pleasure, and loyalty to King George. The two first excuses deserve no
answer; let us try the validity of the third. Would not loyalty be much
better expressed by gentlemen staying in their respective countries,
influencing their dependents by their examples, saving their own
wealth, and letting their neighbours profit by their necessary
expenses, thereby keeping them from misery, and its unavoidable
consequence, discontent? Or is it better to flock to London, be lost in
a crowd, kiss the King's hand, and take a view of the royal family? The
seeing of the royal house may animate their zeal for it; but other
advantages I know not. What employment have any of our gentlemen got by
their attendance at Court, to make up to them their expenses? Why,
about forty of them have been created peers, and a little less than a
hundred of them baronets and knights. For these excellent advantages,
thousands of our gentry have squeezed their tenants, impoverished the
trader, and impaired their own fortunes!
Another great calamity, is the exorbitant raising of the rents of
lands. Upon the determination of all leases made before the year 1690,
a gentleman thinks he has but indifferently improved his estate if he
has only doubled his rent-roll. Farms are screwed up to a rack-rent,
leases granted but for a small term of years, tenants tied down to hard
conditions, and discouraged from cultivating the lands they occupy to
the best advantage, by the certainty they have of the rent being
raised, on the expiration of their lease, proportionably to the
improvements they shall make. Thus is honest industry restrained; the
farmer is a slave to his landlord; 'tis well if he can cover his family
with a coarse home-spun frieze. The artisan has little dealings with
him; yet he is obliged to take his provisions from him at an
extravagant price, otherwise the farmer cannot pay his rent.
The proprietors of lands keep great part of them in their own hands
for sheep-pasture; and there are thousands of poor wretches who think
themselves blessed, if they can obtain a hut worse than the squire's
dog-kennel, and an acre of ground for a potato-plantation, on condition
of being as very slaves as any in America. What can be more deplorable,
than to behold wretches starving in the midst of plenty!
We are apt to charge the Irish with laziness, because we seldom find
them employed; but then we don't consider they have nothing to do. Sir
William Temple, in his excellent remarks on the United Provinces,
inquires why Holland, which has the fewest and worst ports and
commodities of any nation in Europe, should abound in trade, and
Ireland, which has the most and best of both, should have none? This
great man attributes this surprising accident to the natural aversion
man has for labour; who will not be persuaded to toil and fatigue
himself for the superfluities of life throughout the week, when he may
provide himself with all necessary subsistence by the labour of a day
or two. But, with due submission to Sir William's profound judgment,
the want of trade with us is rather owing to the cruel restraints we
lie under, than to any disqualification whatsoever in our inhabitants.
I have not, sir, for these thirty years past, since I was concerned
in trade, (the greatest part of which time distresses have been flowing
in upon us,) ever observed them to swell so suddenly to such a height
as they have done within these few months. Our present calamities are
not to be represented; you can have no notion of them without beholding
them. Numbers of miserable objects crowd our doors, begging us to take
their wares at any price, to prevent their families from immediate
starving. We cannot part with our money to them, both because we know
not when we shall have vent for their goods; and, as there are no debts
paid, we are afraid of reducing ourselves to their lamentable
circumstances. The dismal time of trade we had during Marr's Troubles
in Scotland, are looked upon as happy days when compared with the
present.[105]
I need not tell you, sir, that this griping want, this dismal
poverty, this additional woe, must be put to the accursed stocks, which
have desolated our country more effectually than England. Stockjobbing
was a kind of traffic we were utterly unacquainted with. We went late
to the South Sea market, and bore a great share in the losses of it,
without having tasted any of its profits.
If many in England have been ruined by stocks, some have been
advanced. The English have a free and open trade to repair their
losses; but, above all, a wise, vigilant, and uncorrupted Parliament
and ministry, strenuously endeavouring to restore public trade to its
former happy state. Whilst we, having lost the greatest part of our
cash, without any probability of its returning, must despair of
retrieving our losses by trade, and have before our eyes the dismal
prospect of universal poverty and desolation.
I believe, sir, you are by this time heartily tired with this
indigested letter, and are firmly persuaded of the truth of what I said
in the beginning of it, that you had much better have imposed this task
on some of our citizens of greater abilities. But perhaps, sir, such a
letter as this may be, for the singularity of it, entertaining to you,
who correspond with the politest and most learned men in Europe. But I
am satisfied you will excuse its want of exactness and perspicuity,
when you consider my education, my being unaccustomed to writings of
this nature, and, above all, those calamitous objects which constantly
surround us, sufficient to disturb the cleanest imagination, and the
soundest judgment.
Whatever cause I have given you, by this letter, to think worse of
my sense and judgment, I fancy I have given you a manifest proof that I
am, sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
J. S.