ated a Knight of the Bath and received a pension
with remainder to his children.

[Sidenote: _RESTRAINTS ON IRISH TRADE._]

The war brought Ireland an opportunity for insisting on a redress of
grievances. By 1773 the prodigality of government raised the national
expenditure far above the revenue. Lord Harcourt, the viceroy,
recommended a tax of 10 per cent. on the rents of absentees. The
proposal was popular in Ireland, and North was willing to agree to it.
The great Irish landlords of the Rockingham party were strongly opposed
to the tax, and Burke argued that it would hinder Irishmen from taking
part in the political life of Great Britain and would imply that England
was a foreign land. A strong feeling against the tax was excited in
England. North gave way and, in obedience to instructions, Harcourt
procured the rejection of the bill. The grievances of the country
increased. The American war was unpopular with the presbyterians, the
peace and safety of the land were imperilled by the withdrawal of its
troops, its finances were burdened by pensions and by grants for the
war, and the public debt which in 1770 was L669,230, entailing a charge
of L26,631, stood in 1778 at L939,323, with a charge of L82,711. The
restrictions on Irish trade were rendered specially grievous by the war.
An embargo laid on the export of provisions from Ireland ruined her
trade in cattle. Debarred from the woollen manufacture in the interest
of English industry, she had been encouraged to manufacture linen, and
her trade in linen prospered. The war with America deprived her of her
principal market. The restraints placed upon her commerce with England
brought her into close commercial connexion with France, and that source
of profit was also cut off in 1778. Many of her people were driven
abroad by want; and the poor who remained were only kept alive by
charity.

In 1778 proposals were made in the English parliament to relax the
restrictions on Irish trade. North approved of the proposals, and they
were powerfully supported by Burke. Liverpool, Bristol, and other
English manufacturing towns protested loudly against admitting Ireland
to compete with them. North yielded to pressure, and the supporters of
the bills were forced to accept a measure which was wholly insufficient
to satisfy the needs of the Irish. The disappointment in Ireland was
bitter. Something, however, was gained; the system of restriction was no
longer intact. The same year