The Irish standard., 1900-11-17
The Illiberal Spirit Displayed
by Williamites.
DlscopD FoMEsTED By GOVERNMENT
The Extensive Shipyaz<is in the
Northern Town.

A couple Of days spent in Portadown
SO disgusted me that 1 was fully as
anxious to leave the place as I had
been to 60 there to study Orange tyr
amy and Orange rowdyism. left it
filled with contempt of the despicable
spirit which l saw displayed there
Orangemen attacking and ill-treating
their fellow Catholic citizens for no
other reason than that they were Cath
olfcs. They were most cowardly in
their attacks, never venturing to mo-
lest anyone unless they were two or
three to one, saye John Woods in the
Providence Visitor.
next directed my steps toward Bel
fast, the home, the capital city Of
Orangeism in Ireland. Belfast is a
busy manufacturing city. possessing
all the ear-marks of manufacturing
place. The class of people met on the
streets, their style of dress, the archi-
lecture, the number Of tall chimneys
which meet the eye on every side, all
this quickly convinces the visitor, if
he. did not know it beforehand, that
manufacturing is extensively carried
on in this city. There are couple Of
good hotels in Belfast, one or two good
wide streets-Royal avenue and Done
gal strcet-but no public buildings of
any account.
1t is the home of the linen industry
in Ireland-in fact, the largest linen
manufacturing place in the world.
The tall chimneys of the linen facto-
ries are to be seen OH every side as far
as the eye can reach, along miles and
miles of street. The linen industry was
always extensively carried on in Ire
land. AS far back as the 11th century
it was conspicuous source Of rev.
enue; but then, and until recent years,
it was produced by hand power These
were the ages of the spinning wheel
and the hand-loom weaving. The
spinning wheel and the hand-power
loom were to be found in almost every
home throughout the length and
breadth of the land. The poorer class
es earned livelihood by this means.
The woolen industry was also extern
sively cultivated in the same way and
by the same hand-power process. But
in 1903 both Houses of Parliament ad-
dressed His Majesty William Ill rep
resenting that the progress of the wool
en- manufacture in ireland was such
as to injure the home industry; and
that it would be for the public ad-
vantage to discourage the former and
encourage the latter in Ireland, His
Majesty replied: II shall do all that
in me lies to discourage the wooden
manufacture in Ireland, and encourage
the linen industry. and to promote the
trade Of England" But it was to the
French Huguenots, more than anything
else, who settled in the Lisburn in the
seventeenth century that the Irish ma
tion is most indebted for the great i'm
petus given to the linen business. AS
has just been said, all the linen yarn
was spun by hand up to the year 1905.
In this latter year an attempt was
made to introduce spinning by machin-
cry, but it was only partially success
ful. 1t is from the year 1928 when the
government trusteeship was dissolved,
and the industry was left to private
enterprises, that may be dated, the
great progress In the business. In 1880
the Mulholland Brothers successfully
introduced the use of machinery for
spinning, since that time the manufac-
ture Of linen has increased by leaps
and bounds in Belfast, and 1t has cor
respondingly decreased in the rest Of
Ireland, and hand power is no longer
heard Of.
The fax used in the manufacture Of
linen is largely grown in the lands Of
the northern provinces, but not nearly
in quantities sufficient to keep the Bel
fast mills supplied with raw material;
and so fax is imported from England
and Scotland, but chiefly from Bel
GUM, where the laborlous. painstaking
agriculturists Of that country grow it
in large quantities. 4
The spinning wheel formerly found
in every home in ireland. from the
Lords mansion to the cottier's cot.
tage, has almost entirely disappeared