Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/155

 Commonwealth. But all were now equally prepared to declare, and if necessary upon oath, that they had been loyal subjects of his late Majesty throughout, and had suffered on his behalf in consequence; and all were eager to join in demanding that the lands in the hands of the 'usurpers' should be restored to the original and rightful owners. Such was the tangled skein of affairs; and under these circumstances, the difficulties of settling the tenure of the land of Ireland without exciting almost endless discontents were well-nigh insuperable.

In August 1661, Dr. Petty, who had been elected member of Parliament for Innistioge in Kilkenny, was appointed by the Irish Parliament, which had met early in the summer, a member of a special deputation sent over to England. A plan had already been laid before the King in November of the previous year by Lord Broghill, Sir A. Mervyn, and Sir J. Clotworthy, persons largely interested on behalf of the Commonwealth officers and the Adventurers. This plan professed to show that, after leaving the soldiers and Adventurers in possession of the lands they actually occupied, a sufficient acreage would be found in the 'dubious' and still unallotted lands, to enable the King to compensate or 'reprize' the innocent Catholics, and to indemnify his own supporters and friends. Charles, despairing of ever seeing any perfect settlement of so troublesome a matter, and anxious, above all things, both by disposition and interest, to get rid of the question somehow, caught at the solution thus offered, and on November 30, 1660, signed a 'Declaration,' which was the first step taken towards a settlement.

This Declaration, and the Act which in 1662 gave effect to it in detail, being framed upon the representations of persons mainly bound up with the Army and Adventurer interest, naturally provided in the first place for the security of the property they held, in return for an increase of the royal quit rents and a grant of one year's value. The grantees were accordingly confirmed in their possessions as existing on May 7, 1659, subject to certain conditions and exceptions. Loyal