Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/167

 England have lost the getting of nine shillings and six pence for freight and primage, and the people of England have lost four shillings and sixpence per head more for driving and grazing. The King hath lost three shillings and sixpence per head for customs on both sides: besides officers' fees. And the traders in hides and tallow have lost what they might have gained out of fifteen shillings per head. And the merchants and artizans of England have lost yearly what they might have gained by one hundred and forty thousand pounds worth of English manufactures.'

He went over to England as the head of a deputation to oppose the Bill before both Houses of Parliament. But so violent were the passions of the English landed interest, that even the intercession of Sir Heneage Finch on behalf of the Crown could not prevail on the House of Commons—then sitting at Oxford, owing to the plague in London—to stop their headlong course, or to give a copy of the Bill to the petitioners. They were told that it might be read to them once, and then they must immediately say what they had to offer in objection. Sir William next appeared with Mr. Boyle and others before the Committee of the Lords, but there also his efforts were useless, and the Bill passed into law.

In 1664, which Sir William considered the year of Ireland's greatest commercial prosperity, three-fourths of her foreign trade was with England, but afterwards it was only one-fourth. To alleviate the injury done to Ireland, a project was started to set up an export trade to Holland, and Sir William wrote a paper in support of it; but it does not appear that the plan was ever carried into effect. He also did all in his power to second the efforts of the Duke of Ormonde to encourage the linen trade as some compensation to Ireland, and to establish a bank to supply a circulating medium of exchange for the country on a firm basis. 'We do the trade between England