.JotntNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY materials .for the home marke·t. The half.,..hearted petitions of thei.,AngloIrish Parliament were of no avail. Later, howev'er, when England s.aw that she had got the upper hand, and need have no fear of further competition from Ireland, she alfowed the erection of s·tapiles at Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Limerick, Carric.kfergus, ·and Derry. The object of this was to prev:ent Irish wool 'being sent to bier rivals _JFrance and S.pain. 7 REBELLION OF 1641 The !Rebellion of rn41, followed as it was lby twenty years ofl war, famine and plague, destroyed not only our struggling wooHen industry :but "the whole economic. f a·bric of the country was 1i:>'ractical1y annihilated. "7 THE RF;STO!RATION The reign of Charles II was no improvement on that of the previous Stuarts. As before, Irish trade was fostered with a vierw ..to increasing the royal revenue. Heavy Customs duties were imposed on Irish woollens. This had the desired effect of keep;ing them cut of the English market until the Irish were no longer, a:ble· to compete with any hope ·of success. 'i NAVIGATION ACT, 1660 What was still left of our ~port of woollens was further h1nd·ered by the Navigation Acts which provided that the ·colonial carrying trade should lbe confined to English ships, that the master and threefou:rths of the ·Crew ·should ·be E,pgUsh; and that their return cargoes should be unladen in lmngland. In 1673 "Sir 1William Temple in a true English sense oi humour advised the Irish to .give· up. the manufacture of wool altogether, even for their own needs, because 'it tends to interfere prejudicially with the English woollen trade.'"* .5 REVOLUTION OF 1689 The woollen industry was so firmly rooted in the soil of Ir:eland that it was almost impossible to eradicate it. Riestrictions, no matter how seYere, only curtailed it for a time, but it sprang into vigorous growth with every little breathing space. rt was again :progressing steadily after the war of the 'forties when it was once more disrupted by the Revolution of l689~the War of !King iWilllam and King James. This campaign was not so disastrous in itself as that of 1641, and the country might soon have recovered were it not for the "war after war" which followed.7 For over three·-quarters of a century Ireland groaned under · the weight of laws :as severe "a.s ever ;proceeded from the ;perverted ingenuity of men." The king was no longer ian absolute ruler. His power had been definitely limited, and iParUament was now the determining voice, and Parliament did not forget the part :played by Ireland on lbehalfi of King James. Consequently this country felt the full force of its hostility. Irish exports continued to raise the ire of English woollen manufa:eturers who were !firm believers in the theory that Ireland's wealth meant ,England's poverty.7 A campaign for the de&truction of the Irish woollen trade was set on foot. Various petitions towards this end were presented .to .th·e Lords and Commons who were only too ready to subscribe to the j ealous:es and ilUberal vieiws of t~e petitioners. In response to this campaign the ;Lords sent the following petition to the kin~', .which, even if he so desired, he could not a.fford to reject. 8 LORDS' PNJ,'ITION TO THE: KING "We, the Lords, spiritual and temporal, in Parliament assembled, Do represent unto your Majesty, that the growing manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the cheapness of all sorts of necessaries of Life, and goodness of materlals for making all manner of cloth, doth invite your subjects of' England, with their families apd servants, to leave their habitations to settle . there to the increase of the woollen mani{facture in Ireland, which makes your loyal subjects in this kiri.gdom very apprehensive that the further growth iof it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; by which the trade of this nation and the value· of lands will very much decrease, and the numbers of your people lbe much lessened here; M7herefore we do most humbly 1beseach your most sa.cred 171
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