Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift (Irish Tracts, 1720 to 1734)

In Short

This volume brings together political tracts, public letters, sermons, and satires written in Dublin during a period of profound national distress. The pieces document a sustained battle against predatory English economic policies, particularly William Wood’s debased copper coinage, absentees draining local wealth, and the destruction of domestic manufacturing. Through persona, allegory, and harsh economic reality, the writing exposes structural oppression while attempting to rally an impoverished public. It endures as a masterclass in political rhetoric, demonstrating how an unyielding voice can unite an exploited population and check imperial overreach.

The Story

The volume opens in the early 1720s with Ireland trapped in severe economic ruin, depleted by decades of conflict, absentee landlords, and crippling trade restrictions imposed by England. The political narrative gains momentum through the crisis of Wood’s halfpence—a royal patent granting a private contractor the right to flood Ireland with lightweight copper coin. Writing under the pseudonym of a Dublin shopkeeper named M. B., Drapier, the author addresses the public, warning that receiving this base money will wipe out gold and silver reserves, force basic trade into barter, and reduce tenants and merchants to total destitution.

As the letters spread, opposition turns into a unified national movement. The author directly challenges the legal pretense that Ireland is a "depending kingdom," asserting that Irish citizens owe allegiance to the Crown under equal law, not to the English parliament or British ministers. When the government issues a proclamation against the publisher and offers a reward to unmask the writer, the author responds with defiance, confronting the Lord-Lieutenant directly and publishing open advice to grand juries urging them to protect the printer.

The focus then broadens past the coinage crisis to systemic national decay. Personal sketches of rural retreat reveal the physical disorder and neglect characteristic of the era. The argument shifts to the mechanics of economic drain: landlords export raw goods while residing in London, basic commodities are priced out of reach, and local trade is crushed by heavy import demands for foreign luxuries. Through bitter allegories, Ireland is depicted as an abandoned, betrayed partner, while Scotland secures preferential terms.

In response to well-meaning correspondents offering mild legislative schemes, the text dismisses piecemeal reform as useless under conditions of forced economic dependency. This frustration culminates in a monstrous, iconic proposal: if the nation cannot feed its impoverished children or employ its workforce, it should treat infants as a commercial food supply to yield immediate income and relieve starvation. The collection closes with dark poetic satires on parliamentary corruption and a sermon framing civic duty and economic self-defense as absolute moral imperatives.

How It Unfolds

The coinage crisis begins A Dublin draper warns his fellow tradesmen that accepting William Wood's adulterated copper halfpence will destroy the kingdom's remaining silver and gold currency. He urges merchants, butchers, and bakers to reject the brass money and rely on direct barter instead.

Challenging imperial authority The author refutes the idea that Ireland is a subordinate colony, asserting its status as an imperial crown bound only by its own laws and shared monarch. He warns that no royal proclamation can force citizens to accept money that brings their own ruin.

Defense of the press Following official court prosecutions against the printer of the pamphlets, the text provides arguments for grand juries to reject the indictments. The writer defends the printer's innocence and uses classic fables to warn the public against surrendering their defenders.

Exposing domestic ruin Essays and brief sketches describe the physical decay of country estates, the collapse of agricultural leases, and the rise of rack-renting landlords. Absenteeism drains hundreds of thousands of pounds annually to London, leaving local cottagers to starve.

An monstrous proposal Faced with total economic paralysis, widespread begging, and complete indifference from authorities, the author delivers a cold, mathematical proposal to harvest year-old infants of the poor for food, underscoring the horrific reality of current conditions through extreme satire.

Denouncing political corruption The final pieces turn toward local political figures and parliamentarians, portraying them in venomous verse as predatory beasts. A final sermon ties economic survival to Christian duty, calling for active resistance against systemic greed.

The People

• M. B., Drapier: A fictional Dublin shopkeeper whose plain, stubborn voice unifies the nation. He values practical survival, scorns ministerial threats, and uses basic arithmetic to expose government corruption.
• William Wood: An English hardware manufacturer who obtains a royal patent to coin copper halfpence for Ireland. He represents predatory commercial interests backed by royal favor at the expense of an impoverished nation.
• The Injured Lady: An allegorical figure representing Ireland. She is ruined, abandoned, and mistreated by her lover (England) in favor of a less scrupulous rival (Scotland), voicing the heartbreak and injustice of political betrayal.
• The Absentee Landlord: A collective figure who lives in London, spends Irish rents abroad, rejects local trade, and forces tenants into ruinous leases while abandoning all responsibility for the land.
• The Irish Tradesman and Weaver: Working-class figures trapped between British export bans and local demand for imported luxuries. They face immediate starvation despite living in a fertile, productive country.

In Its Own Voice

"I intended to truck with my neighbours, the butchers, and bakers, and brewers, and the rest, goods for goods; and the little gold and silver I have, I will keep by me, like my heart's blood, till better times..."

The Drapier outlines his immediate plan of economic resistance against Wood's base copper coins.

"What can be more deplorable than to behold wretches starving in the midst of plenty?"

An observation on the tragic paradox of Irish agriculture under colonial trade restrictions.

"...there is no other way to prevent this kingdom from sinking for ever, than by utterly renouncing all foreign dress and luxury."

A direct demand for economic self-reliance and the boycott of imported English goods.

What It's Really About

The collection addresses the ethics of colonial governance, economic exploitation, and civic resistance. At its core, the text asks whether a nation can be legitimately governed without its own consent or for the sole financial benefit of an external power. It dissects how absenteeism, forced trade monopolies, and currency manipulation destroy local economies, reducing working populations to artificial famine.

Beyond economic policy, the work examines the responsibility of the citizen. The author attacks both the arrogance of English ministers and the passive resignation of the Irish public. By exposing how domestic consumers fuel their own destruction through an appetite for foreign luxuries, the text argues that liberty and economic survival require relentless self-reliance, public courage, and an absolute refusal to comply with destructive laws.

Why Read It Today

This volume remains vital reading for anyone interested in the power of political prose, rhetoric, and satire. The writing contains no academic distance; it is immediate, aggressive, and fiercely practical. Readers who appreciate sharp political polemics, historical statecraft, and uncompromising satire will find the collection extraordinary.

The text requires some patience with 18th-century financial details—such as coin values, patent laws, and forgotten legislative debates—as well as the specific political figures of the Hanoverian court. The prose, however, is remarkably clean and direct, avoiding complex jargon in favor of bold imagery and plain language.

What lingers long after reading is the sheer force of the author's outrage. The book demonstrates how a single courageous voice, using logic, satire, and moral clarity, can rouse an entire country to block unjust policies. It stands as a timeless blueprint for intellectual resistance against systemic injustice.