Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/165

 the late rules and practice in Ireland are to be called "old foundations," but do know them to be new, and already rotten. I wish that renouncing all my pretensions, an oblivion of all my wrongs could beget a true settlement upon principles of natural equity, and not the fictions and shifts of interest. I will pray for the peace of Jerusalem.'

But peace seemed further off than ever, owing to the policy of the English Government at this juncture.

There was, in the first place, a constant interference on the part of the Court in questions of Irish patronage; and the tendency had already begun to assert itself to pension off on Irish revenues every person to whom it was undesirable to attract too much attention in England. Public opinion indicated Sir William as the author of a set of propositions concerning the government of Ireland which the Duke of Ormonde submitted about this time to the Crown. The first of these insisted on the necessity of an absolute cessation of further grants by way of reward to the King's servants, till the ordinary revenue was able to sustain the necessary charge of Government, and all debts had been fully paid; and another sought to prevent applications being made in England in regard to Ireland over the head of the Lord-Lieutenant, and their decision without consultation with him.' The country, it was pointed out, was weighed down by the charge of worthless favourites. Nor was this the only cause of dispute. Although the Parliament at Westminster, in which Ireland was no longer represented, was ready enough to secure the legal hold of the English interest in Ireland on the land, it was equally determined that that interest should not be allowed to develop the resources of the country in any way which might establish industries, whether agricultural or commercial, likely to interfere with the interests of the landowners and manufacturers of England. A fall of one-fifth in the rent of land, which took place in 1661 in England, was attributed to the import of Irish cattle; and in 1663 an Act was passed at Westminster, practically prohibiting the importation of fat beasts from Ireland into England between the months of July