The earliest notices of Irish trade, to which we have already adverted,
particularly mention linen and woollen cloth, as two of the most
considerable articles of export from that country. Hides, wool, fish of
different kinds, particularly salmon, and the skins of martins, otters,
rabbits, sheep, kids, &c. are also specified, as forming part of her early
export. From Antwerp in the middle of the sixteenth century she received
spices, sugar, silks, madder, camblets, &c. Pipe staves were a considerable
article of export in the beginning of the seventeenth century; they were
principally sent to the Mediterranean. In 1627 Charles issued a
proclamation respecting Ireland, from which we learn that the principal
foreign trade of Ireland was to Spain and Portugal, and consisted in fish,
butter, skins, wool, rugs, blankets, wax, cattle, and horses; pipe staves,
and corn; timber fit for ship-building, as well as pipe staves, seem at
this period to have formed most extensive and valuable articles of export
from Ireland. In the middle of this century, Irish linen yarn was used in
considerable quantities in the Manchester manufactures, as we have already
noticed. The importation into England of fat cattle from Ireland seems to
have been considerable, and to have been regarded as so prejudicial to the
pasture farmers of the former country, that in 1666 a law was passed laying
a heavy duty on their importation. This statute proving ineffectual,
another was passed in 1663, enacting the forfeiture of all great cattle,
sheep, swine, and also beef, pork, or bacon, imported from Ireland. Sir W.
Petty remarks, that before this law was passed, three-fourths of the trade
of Ireland was with England, but not one-fourth of it since that time. Sir
Jonah Child, in his Discourse on Trade, describes the state of Ireland as
having been much improved by the soldiers of the Commonwealth settling
there; through their own industry, and that which they infused into the
natives, he adds, that Ireland was able to supply foreign markets, as well
as our plantations in America, with beef, pork, hides, tallow, bread, beer,
wood, and corn, at a cheaper rate than England could afford to do. Though
this country, as we have seen, exported linen goods at a very early period,
yet this manufacture cannot be regarded as the staple one of Ireland, or as
having contributed very much to her foreign commerce, till it flourished
among the Scotch colonists in Ulster towards the middle of the seventeenth
century. As soon as they entered on it with spirit, linen yarn was no
longer exported to Manchester and other parts of England, but manufactured
into cloth in Ireland, and in that state it formed the chief article of its
commerce. The woollen manufactures of Ireland, which were always viewed
with jealousy by England, and were checked in every possible manner,
gradually gave way to the restraints laid on them, and to the rising and
unchecked linen manufacture, and of course ceased to enter into the
exports.
The commerce of Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was
kept low, by ignorance and want of industry, by the disturbed state of the
country, by disputes between the king and nobility, and, till the union of
the crowns, by wars with England. The commerce of Ireland had still greater
difficulties to struggle with; among which may be mentioned the ignorant
oppression of the English government in every thing that related to its
manufactures or trade.
The commerce of France, during the sixteenth century, presents few
particulars worthy of notice; that, which was carried on between it and
England, was principally confined to the exportation of wines, fruit, silk
and linen, from France; and woollen goods, and tin and lead, from England.
There seems to have been a great exchange between the woollens of England
and the linens of Bretagne. The French, however, like all the other nations
of Europe at this period, were ignorant of the principles, as well as
destitute of the enterprize and capital essential to steady and lucrative
commerce; and amply deserve the character given of them by Voltaire, that
in the reign of Francis I., though possessed of harbours both on the ocean
and Mediterranean, they were yet without a navy; and though immersed in
luxury, they had only a few coarse manufactures. The Jews, Genoese,
Venetians, Portuguese, Flemings, Dutch, and English, traded successively
for them. At the very close of this century we have a very summary account
of the commerce of France by Giovani Bolero. France, says he, possesses
four magnets, which attract the wealth of other countries; - corn, which is
exported to Spain and Portugal; - wine, which is sent to Flanders, England,
and the Baltic; - salt, made by the heat of the sun on the Mediterranean
coast, and also on that of the ocean, as far north as Saintoigne; and hemp
and cloth, of which and of cordage great quantities are exported to Lisbon
and Seville: - the exportation of the articles of this fourth class, he
adds, is incredibly great.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the finer manufactures of woollen
and silken goods having been carried to great perfection in France, her
exports in these articles were greatly increased. In the political
testament of Richelieu, we are informed that a considerable and lucrative
trade in these articles was carried on with Turkey, Spain, Italy, &c., and
that France had driven, in a great measure, out of those markets the serges
of Milan, the velvets of Genoa, and the cloth of gold of Italy.
Early in the reign of Louis XIV., Colbert directed his attention to the
improvement of manufactures and commerce; and though many of his plans were
frustrated from the operation of causes over which he had no control, and
principally because he went before the age in which he lived, yet there can
be no doubt that to him France was indebted for the consolidation,
extension, and firm footing of her commerce.
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