ABSTRACT
If England seemed to Swift the home of civilization, she also seemed the enemy of his own people. The depth of the enmity is easy to document, for some of the worst sufferings of the Irish were due to the presence of the English. No class of British people except a few families with property in Ireland felt any concern over the misfortunes of their subject neighbours. The Irish represented most of all a threat, and less often a resource, but never a nation to be sympathized with. In times of war or unrest, invaders and trouble-makers might come from Ireland; so the country had to be kept under strict military surveillance. If Ireland grew prosperous, she might provide enough royal revenue for the King to make himself independent of Parliament; so she must be kept poor. If the Irish made a success of any industry that was already established in England, their lower wages and costs might give their products a competitive edge; so manufacturing had to be discouraged unless it was in some sense non-competitive.
