become worth above 30l. per head more than at present, in all 30 Millions.
Memorandum, That this Proposal inferrs no Forcing any Irish[1] Proprietors to sell their Estate in Ireland, but encourages the King to buy of them, who are voluntarily pleased to sell at the present Market-Rate.
It is also to be noted, That as the Method here propounded shall make the Value of Ireland to rise from 2 to 3 above what the same was worth Anno 1684. So the late Changes, which we hope are repairable[2], have made the same fall from 3 to 2, and consequently the Difference between the present Proposal and the present Practice, will be as 9 to 4.
- The fourth Objection, that this Transplantation and Change of Trade amounts to an Abolishment of the Irish Nation: Which will be Odious to them, and not compensable by all the Benefits abovementioned.
Answer
1. That this Proposal was intended for an Union of the two Nations, which is a real Blessing to both, according to that of Faciam eos in Gentem Unam[3]: Whereas the Curse of a Civil Warr is, to divide one intire Nation into two Nations: As the Irish Commotions Anno 1641 actually did. Now if the two Nations be brought into one, the Name of the lesser Nation must needs be abolished, whilst the Thing and Substance is exalted. For
- 1. In this Case the Irish Names of Lands and Men are lay'd down, and English taken up in their Rooms.
- 2. The Cabineers of Ireland, which are Ten to One of all the others, will be removed out of their wretched Beastlike habitations; unfit for making Merchantable
- ↑ 'Irish' inserted by Petty.
- ↑ Clarendon had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in September, 1685. Tyrconnel became Commander-in-Chief and virtual viceroy in June 1686, and returned to the Island as Lord Deputy to succeed Clarendon in February 1687. His extreme catholic policy in both positions alarmed the Protestants in Ireland and large numbers of them returned to England with Clarendon. Clarendon, Correspondence, ii. 138, et passim, Fitzmaurice, 271–273.
- ↑ Ezekiel, xxxvii. 22.
