CONTENTS xiii 
236. The Problems of Poverty. The pressure of pauperism called forth 
from time to time discussions which throw light on contemporary social 
conditions during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The decline 
in the power of the Council, after the Civil War, gave scope for the 
consideration of local, to the neglect of national interests. Labourers had 
& double source of income, and their position was so secure, that they could 
afford to be idle; additional opportunities of employment did not absorb 
the vagrant population, who were permitted in the seventeenth century 
to squat on the common wastes instead of working, till they were checked 
by the Act of 1662, which imposed serious restrictions on the labouring 
classes, Fluctuations of trade increased the numbers of unemployed ; and 
schemes for relieving the rates and employing the poor were tried in many 
towns. The establishment of workhouses, and the system of farming the 
poor, checked the increase of rates, as did the war on cottages, but at the 
cost of much suffering. Since some persons fell into poverty through no 
fault of their own, because of fluctuations in trade, there was a reaction 
against stringent administration in 1783, and against the settlement re. 
strictions in 1795, so as to render the granting of lavish relief more 
common, . . » . . . 562 
237. The Incidental effects of English Rural Development on Ireland. 
The encouragement of the English landed ‘interest reacted unfavourably on 
Irish land management ; few of the landlords devoted capital fo improving 
tillage, while their pasture farming was discouraged, and their timber 
exhausted. - - 580 
XVII. TBE BEGINNING OF THE Exp. 
238. The Revolt of the Colonies. The severance of the American 
colonies broke up the British commercial system, and discredited its 
principles. Economic grievances gave an occasion for the breach, but they 
only pressed seriously because of the colonial lack of interest in Hanoverian 
politics, and owing to the fact that the colonists felt strong enough to work 
out their own political destiny without British protection. The principles of 
the British system had been applied in America, so as to affect consumers 
of manufactured goods and to repress colonial industries; but American 
cconomic grievances did not determine the line of cleavage on which 
the severance occurred. . 2 . . . , . . . 583 
239. The Union with Ireland. British statesmen were led by the 
American revolt to treat Ireland more favourably, The Irish in 1783 
imitated parliamentary Colbertism, with regard to tillage and internal 
sommunication, and in promoting fisheries and manufactures. The English 
Bouse of Commons was determined to control economic life throughout 
the British Isles, and a legislative union was the only course available, 
so that recourse was had to the plan already adopted in regard to 
Scotland. . » " . : . . 588 
240. Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith supplied 
a justification for a change of economic policy, by treating National Wealth 
without direct reference to Power; he created Economic Science, He held 
shat if each individual were free $o seek his own wealth the national wealth