Dublin
especially would suffer from this arrangement, for the duty there
on coals imported was is. 8-4/5d. per ton, while that in the rest
of Ireland was only 9-1/2d. This was because a local duty of 1s.
per ton existed in Dublin for the internal improvement of the city;
this local duty was blended by the Union arrangements with the
general duty on the article, and its perpetual continuance was thus
enforced. All this shows how little Irish affairs were understood
in England."
But was it a failure of the English intellect or a lapse of the English
will? Except through the Platonic intuition which reduces all sin to
terms of ignorance I cannot accept the former explanation. What is
certain is that there was no lack of contemporary protest. There existed
in Dublin in 1828 a Society for the Improvement of Ireland, an active
body which included in its membership the Lord Mayor (a high Tory, of
course), Lord Cloncurry, and a long list of notable names such as
Latouche, Sinclair, Houghton, Leader, Grattan, Smith O'Brien, George
Moore, and Daniel O'Connell.
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