EFFECTS ON IRELAND 845
tount on an adequate return, in rent, for money sunk in an A.D. 1776
astate. The stimulus to enterprise in the management of 1850.
land, which was afforded by the prospect of gain, has been
withdrawn, with the result that the gentry are more apt to
devote themselves to remunerative forms of sport, and less
inclined, than was once the case, to be pioneers in the work
of agricultural improvement.
279. The changes, which tended to depress the landed Zhe deinterests
 in England, must necessarily have told with even ry
greater effect upon the fortunes of such a purely agricultural pi “
country as Ireland. There were, moreover, special circum- Hatioaiile
stances which aggravated the evils in the sister island, while
there was no compensating advantage. Ireland had suffered
from English jealousy, and her lot remained pitiable when
she entered on an ill-assorted partnership. Her economic
development had been subordinated for generations to that
of England, and she had no great increase of prosperity
when the two countries were united in 1800. It is very in Ire ond
difficult to estimate the precise economic effects of that Act, Union,
though the rapid increase of population renders it probable
that the wealth was larger than before. In some respects
there was improvement; the special legislation, which had
been designed to promote English interests, had been abandoned
 ; but, on the other hand, Irish manufacturers did not
enjoy the extravagant encouragements which they had reseived
 in 1784. Her lot was cast in with that of England,
and the stream of her economic history has been mingled
with that of the larger country, but the results worked out
in different ways. Just because the industrial resources of for she
Ireland were so little developed, she was able to obtain only 1k
a comparatively small share in any of the prosperity which Lage of he
English merchants and manufacturers enjoyed; on the other ey
hand, she suffered with the agricultural interests in England,
but much more severely.
The chief gain which accrued to England, during the
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, was the monopoly which
she practically secured of the shipping of the warld. The
United States was a real competitor ; but England obtained a

1 The subject is discussed in detail by Miss Murray, History of Commercial
and Financial Relations between England and Ireland, 842.