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[CHAPTER I.] 2: Of the Lands of Ireland. - Sir William Petty, The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 1 [1662]Edition used:The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, together with The Observations upon Bills of Mortality, more probably by Captain John Graunt, ed. Charles Henry Hull (Cambridge University Press, 1899), 2 vols.
Part of: The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, 2 vols.
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[CHAPTER I.]2Of the Lands of Ireland.
Of the 5,200 belonging to Papists and Sequestred Protestants Anno 1641. 
Mem. That by the Successes of the Army, who serv'd since 1649. and who have 854008 l. per An. for their labour, His Majesty hath received the several Advantages following, viz. 
Mem. That whereas until Annoother3England always sent Money and other Supplies into Ireland, now the Revenue is 200,000l. and the charge Civil and Military but 170,000l. which is the gain or ease of England. 
The ⅛ whereof is 900,000l. The one half whereof being for Foot, was, 450,000l. per Ann. which, at 15l. each, maintains 30,000 Foot, and the rest 15000 Horse, General Officers, and Train of Artillery included; so as there was a British Army, for eight Years, of at least 45000 Men4 The Army who reduced the Rebellion, did Anno 1652, consist of near 35000 Men, as per Debentures. ‖ The Irish transported into Foreign parts, between 1651 and 1654 were 34,000 Men. The Irish Army could not but be more than double to the English. The Claymants of Land, or the number of Proprietors before the War was. Of all that claimed innocency 7 in 8. obtained it. The restored Persons by innocence and proviso have more than what was their own, Anno 1641. by at least ⅕. They have gotten by forg'd Feofments of what was more than their own, at least ⅓. Of those adjudged Innocents, not 1 The King's Revenue in Ireland Anno 1641. The yearly charge of the Army for 20 years last past. [2]It was, apparently, Petty's intention to divide his book into chapters. Cf. p. 201. Accordingly the Chapter division made by the editor of the second edition is here adopted for convenience of reference. [3.]In 1719 is a note, ‘A Perch or Pole, Irish measure, is 21 Foot; the Acres are measured by that Perch, as the Acres in England are measured by a Perch of 16 Foot and half.’ Cf. p. 172. [1]A ‘list of lands granted to the Duke of Ormond by the Act of Settlement and Court of Claims’ is given by Carte, Ormond, Appendix, pp. 132–133. [2]By the Act of Settlement the lands lately held by the Regicides were given to the Duke of York. [3]1719, ‘1,410,000.’ [4]Upon this entry Sir Richard Cox comments in his letter to Southwell, ‘The redemption of Mortgages being given to y° 49 how comes 100000[Editor: illegible text] to be restored to Prot Mgees.’ [5]The true total is 5,230,000. The source of the error is not made obvious by the following margiual calculation in S, [1]S, ‘now.’ [2]In the margin of S, opposite this footing, occur the following three notes, to which I have made certain additions in brackets:
or in all 5,230,000 acres. [1]1719, ‘80,000.’ [2]The 5,140,000 acres are found by adding to the 2,300,000 acres held by the Church and the transplanted protestants in 1641 (see p. 136), the 2,400,000 acres of the “Protestants and Churches additions,” the 60,000 acres purchased by protestants in Connaught and the 380,000 acres “Of a more indifferent Nature” remaining after the deduction of the 80,000 acres in the common stock from the total of 460,000 acres. [3]The 2,280,000 acres are found by subtracting the transplantees’ sales of 60,000 acres from the 2,340,000 acres which the Papists recovered. [4]In S the total ‘7500’ is written beneath the ‘80,’ as it obviously should be. [5]Cox, ‘What or where are y° 80000° left in y° Common Stock and how comes it they are undisposed, many adventurers being deficient & many designd to be restord are still excluded for want of Previous reprizal.’ [1]Cox, ‘y6 computacon of 9000000a to be worth yearly 9000001 p ann which is but 2[Editor: illegible] a plantacon acre is to low by ⅓.’ [2]Cox, ‘ye quitrent &c he makes to be 900001 p ann but tis not near soe much.’ [2]Cox, ‘That ye Tithe should be a fifth, seems a great paradox.’ [4]Cox, ‘& so tis ye leases and improvemt5 should be deducted out of ye Small value of 2[Editor: illegible] p acre.’ [5]Cox, ‘And therefore notwithstanding his calculacon yt ye 2520000a gaind by ye rebell is worth but 144000 p ann he should have said yt the [the words in Italics ar cancelled, and Cox proceeds] they are at 2[Editor: illegible] p acre worth p ann 2520001 & really worth more.’ [6]In the margin of S, ‘Memd that ye charge of the army from 1653 to 1673 communibus Annis far exceeds ye charge of ye Goverment 1641, and ye rent of the forfeited lands.’ [7]Beneath ‘144000’ in S, ‘wch is less than ye present charge of ye Army.’ [8]Apparently a mistake for ‘86400,’ so corrected in the margin of S, but not in the text. [1]Cox, ‘he might add yt ye K gaind 12 Subsidyes, A great established revenew by hearthmoney excise and customs, from a flourishing Kingdome made soe by the Act of Setlemt, which else would not grant, and could not pay, those vast sumes.’ [2]Apparently should be ‘864000.’ [3]A blank in S. [4]Cox, ‘I doubt the 49 army was not 30000 foot and 15000 horse nor above half yt number at any one time, Neither was any footsouldier allowed 151 p ann.’ [1]1719 omits the last two paragraphs of the chapter. |
The editor of the 1719 ed. corrects Perry's blunder by the simple method of subtracting 30,000 acres from the largest single item. See note 3, P. 136.
These marginal calculations give Ormond 30,000 acres more than the text allows him, and introduce an item of 180,000 acres which cannot be identified with anything preceding. On the other hand they do not include 1,200,000 acres to the Innocents nor 40,000 to Lord Inchiquin, Lord Roscommon, and others. A grouping in accordance with Petty's probable meaning would be: