George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition.

‘ [74] victuals,’¹ and at last linens;² nor receive sugar, or

chap. IV.} 1763.

coffee, or other colonial produce, but from England. Its great staple was wool; its most important natural manufacture was the woollen. ‘I shall do all that lies in my power to discourage the woollen manufactures of Ireland,’ said William of Orange.³ The exportation of Irish woollens to the colonies and to foreign countries was prohibited;⁴ and restrictive laws so interfered with the manufacture that it seemed probable, Irishmen would not be able to wear a coat of their own fabric.⁵

In the course of years the ‘English colonists’ themselves began to be domiciliated in Ireland;⁶ and with the feeling that the country in which they dwelt was their home, there grew up discontent that it continued to be treated as a conquered country. Proceeding by insensible degrees, they at length maintained openly the legislative equality of the two kingdoms. In 1692, the Irish House of Commons claimed ‘the sole and undoubted right to prepare and resolve the means of raising money.’⁷ In 1698,⁸ Molyneux, an Irish Protestant, and member for the University of Dublin, asserted, through the press,⁹ the perfect and reciprocal independence of the Irish and English parliaments; that Ireland was not bound by the acts of a legislative body in which it was not represented. Two replies were written to the tract, which was also formally condemned by the English House of