This was because a local duty of 1s.
per ton existed in Dublin for the internal improvement of the city; this local duty was blended by the Union arrangements with the general duty on the article, and its perpetual continuance was thus enforced.

All this shows how little Irish affairs were understood in England." But was it a failure of the English intellect or a lapse of the English will?
Except through the Platonic intuition which reduces all sin to terms of ignorance I cannot accept the former explanation.

What is certain is that there was no lack of contemporary protest.

There existed in Dublin in 1828 a Society for the Improvement of Ireland, an active body which included in its membership the Lord Mayor (a high Tory, of course), Lord Cloncurry, and a long list of notable names such as Latouche, Sinclair, Houghton, Leader, Grattan, Smith O'Brien, George Moore, and Daniel O'Connell.

In the year mentioned the Society appointed a number of committees to report on the state of Irish agriculture, commerce, and industry.