David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Nations were born to assist nations; and the more exactly Great Britain and Ireland square their reciprocal commercial and political intercourse by this maxim, the more prosperous will be the common affairs of both. England is peculiarly adapted to the manufacture of fine woollen cloths, and might therefore leave to Ireland the advantages on coarse woollens. It begins now to be known that the spirit of monopoly is as injurious to trade, as that of conquest is to the happiness of society. ”

“ The import duty from Ireland into England is six shillings per yard, and from Great Britain here only three halfpence. Cotton goods are admitted here at a duty of 10 per cent. — in England the duty is 30 per cent. Printed linens, notwithstanding all that is said of the protection afforded by England to the linen manufacture of Ireland, are subject to an import duty there of 65 per cent., while here they are admitted at 10 per cent. Our manufacture has been considered sufficient for upwards of four million of people ”

“ When Ireland had not been more than thirty years in possession of the manufacture of printed linens, England laid on a heavier duty to enable her to rival us. After trying the experiment, she found she could not ”