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The Irish and the American Revolution
Restrictions on trade in Ireland were causing distress in the economy and among the people. The English merchants were repressive. In 1780 two bills went through Westminster which allowed the export of woollens and glass and an expansion of trade with America, the West Indies and Africa. The new legislation was welcomed in Ireland until they found that they could not afford to expand trade.
In Scotland there was a strong export trade especially in sturdy clothing and iron tools and the increasing demand for glass meant high investment in Scotland, bigger potential export markets and expanding fleet. Even Scotland though felt the effects of the war.
William Pitt the Younger |
WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER (1759-1806)- Tory MP
- Prime Minister (1783-1801 and 1804-1806)
- Younger son of Pitt the Elder
- Educated at Cambridge
- Called to the Bar
- Elected MP for Appleby 1781
- Chancellor of the Exchequer under Shelburne
- Twenty four years old when he formed his minority Government in 1783
- Won the 1784 election
- Introduced new taxes to pay debts which lost him support
- Also unpopular because of his handling of the French revolution
- Pushed through the India Act to take control of the East India Company - the origins of the Raj
- Resigned in 1801 when the King refused to support his Catholic Emancipation Bill
- Returned to office in 1804
- His formation of a quadruple alliance against the French with Austria, Russia and Sweden together with Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, had Pitt dubbed saviour of Europe
- Died in January 1806, with few close friends and virtually penniless
The Bank of Ireland was founded in 1783.
REPORT OF THE SPEAKER OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS - EDMOND SEXTON PERY 1779
That Ireland must continue in a state of poverty, frequently of misery, appears evident not only from reason but experience; it seems to be equally obvious that it is not the interest of Great Britain to keep her in that state, in the view of commerce only. Great Britain must be a loser by it. Little is to be got by trading with a poor country. The benefit of one nation constitutes that of the other. But several bodies of manufacturing people, more attentive to their own private interest than to that of the public, look upon the progress of improvement in the latter with a jealous eye. The woollen manufacturer requires some particular notice. It is asserted by the drapiers and clothiers in Ireland, that all the wool produced in Ireland is not sufficient to clothe it inhabitants; the price of wool in Ireland being so much higher than in England seems to countenance the assertion, unless it is to be raised by a great Demand for it in France, and the consequent temptation to Smugglers to transport it into that Kingdom. At present the people of Ireland are taught by partial laws to consider themselves as separated from the inhabitants of Great Britain. Were that fatal obstacle removed, they would be united as much in affection, as they certainly are in interest, and it would not then be in the power of malice to disturb their harmony. But the seeds of discord are sown, and if suffered to take root, it is to be feared will soon overspread the land.
 
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| 1765 | Rockingham becomes Prime Minister
Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny
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| 1766 | Grafton becomes nominal Prime Minister
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| 1768 | Royal Academy of Arts founded
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| 1769 | Captain Cook lands at Tahiti
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| 1770 | Lord North becomes Prime Minister
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| 1773 | Boston Tea Party
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| 1775 | American Revolution begins
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| 1776 | American Declaration of Independence
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| 1778 | Death of Pitt the Elder
France joins America against Britain
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| 1782 | North resigns
Rockingham becomes Prime Minister
Rockingham dies
Shelburne becomes Prime Minister
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| 1783 | Shelburne resigns
William Pitt the Younger becomes Prime Minister
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| 1788 | George III becomes insane
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| 1789 | French Revolution begins
George Washington becomes 1st President of the USA
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