The Case of Ireland
Commerce, Empire and the European Order, 1750–1848

Explores Ireland's central role in European debates about empire and commerce in the global age of revolutions.

James Stafford (Author)

9781316516126, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 February 2022

340 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm, 0.594 kg

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have long been seen as a foundational period for modern Irish political traditions such as nationalism, republicanism and unionism. The Case of Ireland offers a fresh account of Ireland's neglected role in European debates about commerce and empire in what was a global era of war and revolution. Drawing on a broad range of writings from merchants, agrarian improvers, philosophers, politicians and revolutionaries across Europe, this book shows how Ireland became a field of conflict and projection between rival visions of politics in commercial society, associated with the warring empires of Britain and France. It offers a new perspective on the crisis and transformation of the British Empire at the end of the eighteenth century, and restores Ireland to its rightful place at the centre of European intellectual history.

Introduction
1. The enlightenment critique of empire in Ireland, c. 1750–1776
2. Commerce without empire? 'Free trade' and 'legislative independence', 1776–1787
3. Property, revolution and peace, 1789–1803
4. Enlightenment against revolution: commerce, aristocracy and the case for union, 1798–1801
5. The granary of Great Britain: war, population and agriculture 1798–1815
6. Democracy, nationality and the social question, 1815–1848
Conclusion: Ireland between empires.

Subject Areas: Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]