Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/521

501 DUBLIN 501 to Smith O Brien, to Lord Eglinton, to William Dargan, to Nelson (already noticed), and to Thomas Moore. Commerce. Dublin has little of the bustle which should mark so large a city, and as a matter of fact Belfast is said to transact a greater general trade. There is, too, a spirit of foolish pride which seeks to disown trade; and the tendency to be poor and genteel m the civil service, at the bar, in the constabulary, in the army,_in professional life, rather than prosperous in business, is one ^ of the most unfortunate and strongly marked characteristics of Dublin society That this is attributable to the lingering yet potent influence of an unhappy past is held by some ; while others attribute the weakness to the viceregal office and the effects of a sham court. About the time of the Revolution, the woollen trade flourished in Dublin, and the produce attained a great celebrity. The cheapness of labour attracted capitalists, who started extensive factories in that quarter of the town known even now as the Liberties. This quarter was inhabited altogether by workers in wool, jand, as the city was small, the aristocracy lived close by in noble mansions which are now miserable memorials of past prosperity. About 1700 the English legislature prevailed on William III. to assent to laws which directly crushed the Irish trade. All exportation except to England was peremptorily forbidden, and the woollen manufacture soon decayed. But even 100 years ago there were 5000 persons at work in the looms of the Liberties, where now there are not a score. About 1715 Parliament favoured the manufacture of linen, and the Linen Hall, now an empty wreck, was built. The cotton trade was soon after introduced ; and silk manufacture was begun by the Huguenots, who had settled in Dublin in considerable numbers after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Acts favourable to these enterprises were passed, and they flourished apace. But the old jealousy arose in the reign of George I., and in the reign of George III. an Act was passed which tended directly to the ruin of the manufac ture. The linen trade shared the same fate. Commerce has increased during the past few generations; but Dublin produces nothing for exportation save whisky and porter. The whisky trade has been greatly extended. Of the 22 distillers and 43 rectifiers in Ireland, the prin cipal are in Dublin ; the three houses of Jameson and Roe and Power may be specially mentioned. In 1874, when the duty was at 10s. per gallon, 322,950 was received by the customs. The porter trade is also very large. The exports in 1875 were 361,465 hogsheads. The docks in the river have been improved consider ably within the last quarter of a century. The river has been deepened, wharves have been built, new docks have been constructed ; and a basin now almost com pleted, at a cost of 276,000, will add greatly to the accommodation. The two great lines of railway, the Midland and the Great Southern, have extended their ways to the river s edge, so that traffic is much easier and swifter between the provinces and the boats for England than in former times. In 1875, 544 British and foreign vessels entered, and 213 cleared the port of Dublin; while 6850 vessels engaged in the coasting trade entered. The customs dues received in the same year amounted to 1,030,000 : these have remained almost stationary for ten years. The total value of all exported articles from Dublin in 1875 was 44,157 ; while the exports from Belfast were valued at; 253,340. The exports of grain from the city need not be set down, inasmuch as they are intended for other parts of Ireland, and are sent by water. In the following returns for 1868 and 1875, a very remarkable decline in the exports of provisions will be observed, while the exportation of live stock has remained pretty stationary : 1SG8. 1375. Butter, firkins 2.i.&amp;gt;,419 25,481 Bacon, bales, and boxes 2,893 1,016 Hams, hogsheads, &c 976 175 Beef, do. 2,174 1,540 Pork, barrels 4,265 914 Lard, do 9,542 1,940 Cattle 191,981 192,055 Sheep 166,307 313,000 Calves 1,606 1,665 Pigs 210,263 138,046 The exports in wool and in horses have declined in recent years. History. The early history of Dublin u, like the early history of Ireland generally, made up chiefly of legends. It is recorded that the inhabitants of Leinster were defeated by the people of Dublin in the year 291 ; but what so bare a fact can signify is not easy to discover. Christianity was introduced by St Patrick, about 450. &quot;We may pass on to the 9th century, when we find the Danes attacking Dublin and taking it. When Tor-Magnus, the Danish king, was slain by Malachy the king of Ireland, the Danes were swept ut of Dublin by the Irish from Meath. Then the Danes regained their power, and the contests were incessant uu al, in 1014, Brian Boroihme, king of Munster, attacked the enemy and fought the battle of Clontarf, in which he and his son and 11,000 of his followers fell. The Irish, however, won the battle, but the Danes re-occupied the city and held footing in Ireland until 1170. Then came the Anglo-Normans. In 1172 Henry II. lauded at Waterford, and came to Dublin and held his court there in a pavilion of wicker-work made &quot;after the country manner,&quot; where the Irish chiefs were entertained with great pomp, and alliances entered into with them, &quot; the plenty of the English table and the goodly courtesy of the attendants &quot; having done much to reconcile them to their new allies. Previous to his departure for England, Henry bestowed the government on Hugh de Lacy, having granted by charter &quot; to his subjects of Bristol his city of Dublin to inhabit, and to hold of him and his heirs for ever, with all the liberties and free customs which his subjects of Bristol then enjoyed at Bristol and through all England.&quot; In 1177 Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, and the chief leader of the Anglo-Norman forces, died in Dublin of a mortification in one of his feet, and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, where his monument still remains well preserved. A fresh charter was granted in 1207 by King John to the inhabitants of Dublin, who had not yet made their peace with the neighbour hood, but, like the settlers in other towns, were at constant feud with the native Irish ; so that two years after the date of this charter, whilst the citizens of Dublin were celebrating Easter at Cullens- wood, they were s^t upon by the Irish of the neighbouring moun tains, and 500 of them killed. The scene of slaughter is still called the Bloody Fields, and Easter Monday denominated Black Monday. On each succeeding anniversary of that day, with the desire unfor tunately so prevalent of perpetuating a feud, the citizens marched out to Cullenswood with banners displayed &quot; a terror to the nativ3 Irish.&quot; In 1216 Magna Charta, a copy of which is to be found in the Eed Book of the Exchequer, was granted to the Irish by Henry III. In 1217 the fee farm of the city was granted to the citizens at a rent of 200 marks per annum ; and about this period many monastic buildings we;e founded. In 1227 the same monarch con firmed the charter of John fixing the city boundaries and the jurisdiction of its magistrates. During the invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce, who landed at Carrickfergus with 6000 men, in the commencement of the reign of Edward II., some of the suburbs were burnt to prevent them from falling into his hand. The inroad of Bruce had been coun tenanced by the native Irish ecclesiastics, whose sentiments were recorded in a statement addressed to Pope John XXII. Some notion of the defence made against Bruce s invasion may be gained from the fact that the churches were torn down to supply stones for the building of the city walls. Bruce had seized Greencastle on his march ; but the natives re-took the town, and brought to Dublin the governor who had yielded to Bruce. He was starved to death. Richard II. erected Dublin into a n.arquisate in favour of Robert de Vere, whom he also created duke of Ireland. The same monarch entered Dublin in 1394 with 30,000 bowmen and 4000 cavalry, bringing with him the crown jewels ; but after holding a parliament and making much courtly display before the native chieftains, on several of whom he conferred knighthood, he returned to England. Five years later, enriched with the spoils of his uncle, John of Gaunt, Richard returned to Ireland, landing at Waterford, whence he marched through the counties of Kilkenny and Wicklow, and subsequently arrived in Dublin, where ho remained a fortnight, sumptuously entertained by the provost, as the chief magistrate of the city was then called, till intelligence of the invasion of his kingdom by Bolingbroke recalle-l him to England.