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NOTE ON THE “TREATISE OF IRELAND. - Sir William Petty, The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 2 [1681]

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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NOTE ON THE “TREATISE OF IRELAND.

The Contents of the Treatise as given by the MS. are so confused that a hint as to its essential structure may be acceptable. It propounds “a perpetual peace and settlement of Ireland, with the natural union of both kingdoms and peoples.” The means for effecting this end are explained in nine chapters, together with an appendix containing eight objections, which the author answers seriatim. The first chapter puts forth six propositions, the execution of which would bring about the settlement of Ireland. The feasibility of these propositions Petty undertakes to demonstrate. The second chapter contains, in twenty postulates, the existing “state of the case reduced to terms of number, weight and measure.” In the six following chapters the six propositions of chapter one are taken up in turn, and each is established—to the satisfaction of the author at least—by reference to one or more of the twenty postulates of chapter two. The ninth chapter recapitulates the whole argument. In the MS. this chapter is followed by Another View of the same Matters by the Way of a Dialogue between A and B. In fact, however, the discussion in this Dialogue refers to other matters than those discussed in the Treatise, while the following Objections refer to the Treatise exclusively. The insertion of the Dialogue between the Treatise and the Objections thus breaks the formal continuity of Petty's argument. I have accordingly treated the Dialogue as a separate essay, printing it, as Petty's Contents directs, after the Objections instead of before them.