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LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY
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Judge of the Irish Admiralty Court—He spends three years continuously in Ireland—Vicissitudes of Sir William's struggle with the farmers of the revenue—Remonstrances of Sir Robert Southwell—Sir William Petty goes to England—He is assaulted by Colonel Vernon 153
POLITICAL ARITHMETIC.
Account of Sir William Petty by John Aubrey—His inventive head and practical parts—Special devotion to economic studies—'Observations on the Bills of Mortality of the City of London'—Relations of Petty and Graunt—'Observations on the Dublin Bills of Mortality'—Birth of statistical science—Condition of political economy in the seventeenth century—Relations of political philosophy with economics—The science or art of political arithmetic—Sir William Davenant on the works of Petty—Petty 's methods of inquiry and calculation—His principal works—Influence of Hobbes—Petty's desire to strengthen and organise the powers of the State—His hostility to privilege and separate jurisdictions—The finances of the Restoration—The Act of Navigation—The examples of France and Holland—Colbert—The 'Treatise on Taxes'—Petty's account of the natural charges of a State—His views on taxation—His attitude towards the prohibitory and the mercantile systems—His opinion that labour is the true origin of wealth— His theory of trade—His 'measures of customs'—Concessions to adversaries—Explanation of these concessions—Comparison of Petty with Quesnay—Opinions of Sir William Davenant—Petty's silence on the General Navigation Act—Considers an excise the best tax—An excise on beer—His views as to 'a par of value,' currency, laws against usury, State lotteries, rent and population—The 'multiplication of mankind'—Southwell and Petty on the Deluge—The growth westwards of London—High wages and low living—The division of labour—Supply and demand—Economic effects of penalties—Results of religious toleration—Example of Holland—Multiplicity of parishes and of sermons—The 'Political Arithmetick'—Summary of the views of the author—A protest against political pessimism—Petty's confidence in the greatness and future of England 179
1678-1685.
The 'Popish Plot'—Conversion of Captain Graunt—He is accused of helping to cause the Great Fire—Discussion of the Popish Plot—Sir William Petty and the Church of Rome—Outburst of popular fury against Roman Catholicism—It extends to Ireland—Condition of that country—The secret and clandestine Government—Sir William Petty declines to join in the outcry—Effects of the struggle on the powers of the House, the Privy Council, and the Cabinet—Plans of Sir William Temple—Sir William Petty and the Privy Council—He is again offered
