... Prime Minister. He imposed a "free trade policy", which destroyed Ireland's new industries, particularly linens, by eliminating independent Irish shipping. A condition of "Free trade" was that Ireland should not trade with any country where trading would clash with the interests of the East India Company; England's mightiest corporation, who were heavily involved particularly in the lucrative trade with India. This was typical of the British belief in protectionist economics. The role of parliament was to protect the interests of the powerful few who effectively pay rolled the government by their industry and profits against the plight of the many. British politicians were also careful not to affect private enterprise, and believed that it was counter-productive to interfere in economics. Advocates of Bentham had influenced the political attitudes of a generation. They had a natural distrust of the idea of state aid, which they believed would create what would later ...

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