The Case of Ireland

"In the closing decades of the eighteenth century, Ireland became the object of a vigorous debate concerning the promise and perils of commerce in an era of global war and revolution. This debate concerned not just the identity and future of the Irish polity itself, but of the British Empire of which it was a central part; and the relationship of that empire to its European allies and rivals. As such, it had many participants: not only Irish and British, but French, German, Swiss and Italian"--