English Interference with Irish Industries

This is a fierce, meticulously documented indictment of English economic colonialism in Ireland. MacNeill, writing in 1886 during the height of Home Rule debates, marshals centuries of legislation, parliamentary speeches, and economic data to demonstrate a systematic program of industrial suppression. He shows how English Parliament passed law after law crushing Irish woollen, glass, cotton, and linen production, not because Ireland lacked talent or resources, but because a thriving Irish economy was seen as a commercial threat to British manufacturers. The book traces this economic warfare from the Cromwellian era through the Acts of Union, showing how promises made to Irish manufacturers were broken the moment they threatened British interests. MacNeill draws on speeches from Irish politicians like John Foster and Lord Corry who warned of the devastation that would follow the Union's commercial terms, and quotes British figures like Gladstone acknowledging the injustice. The argument remains urgent: prosperity was not withheld from Ireland by accident but by design.