Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/254

 shipping hath given them in effect all other trade, and foreign traffick must give them as much manufacture as they can manage themselves, and as for the overplus make the rest of the world but as workmen in their shops.' If the wealth of Holland sprang from a wise and enlightened policy, the principal impediments to England's greatness had their origin in defects of policy. The widely separated character of the territories belonging to the English Crown, with their different Governments and separate legislative powers, stands first; and he again advocates a union between England, Scotland, and Ireland, with a view to a uniformity of trade and customs. He dwells on the consequences which may arise from the development of the Government of New England upon lines so widely different from those of the mother country; and he points out how the whole burden of the defence of all her scattered colonies and territories falls with an unnecessary burden upon England alone. He advocates the formation of an Imperial Council of two Chambers, the first nominated by the Crown and the second by the people. He again attacks the absurdity and injustice of the commercial policy of England towards Ireland; and argues that, if the resources of England and Ireland at home were properly developed, there was room at home for the whole population which had fled to the Colonies. Finally, he mentions the evils which had arisen from farming out the revenue and relying too much on direct taxation; from the uncertainty of several material points in the theory of the Constitution and in the law, viz. the King's prerogative, the privileges of Parliament, and the obscure differences between law and equity, as also between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions; and from the doubts which existed whether the kingdom of England had power over the kingdom of Ireland; and lastly, returning to his favourite subject, from 'the wonderful paradox that English men lawfully sent to suppress rebellions in Ireland, should after having effected the same, be, as it were, disfranchised, and lose that interest in the legislative power which they had in England, and pay customs, as foreigners, for all they spend in Ireland, whither they