Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/267

 the latter whereof is very frequent among the poorest Irish and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from Dublin.' But the others all lived in what Sir William describes as 'wretched nasty cabbins, without chimney, window or door-shut; even worse than those of the savage Americans.' To try to implant in the minds of this population a wish for the needs of an improved civilisation; to improve education in all its branches; to diminish, if possible, the number of 'priests and lazing friars;' to cut down—which was certainly possible—the number of the sinecurist clergy of the Established Church; to remove the grievances of the Protestant Dissenters; to secure the title to land and to develop trade, were, in his opinion, the principal remedies. 'Ireland,' he observed, 'lieth commodiously for the trade of the new American world; which we see every day to grow and flourish. It lieth well for sending butter, cheese, beef and fish, to their proper markets, which are to the southward, and the plantations of America.'

But all such developments required time and the maintenance of the existing framework of government and society, and to the outward eye that framework might have seemed secure; but, notwithstanding the presence of the 'external and apparent government of Ireland,' there always was, Sir William pointed out, in existence by its side, and acting as a constant cause of disturbance and in defiance of all the laws and official ordinances to the contrary, another and 'internal and mystical Government,' consisting of about twenty gentlemen of good family of the Irish nation and of the Roman Catholic religion, who had a firm foothold at the English Court, and at the Court of the Lord-Lieutenant. These gentlemen were supported by regular contributions levied throughout Ireland by the priests of their religion, under the direction of twenty-four bishops, who, owing to their education abroad, had a powerful interest at all the foreign Courts, and an intimate knowledge of their business and policy. They notoriously exercised spiritual jurisdiction in Ireland, and an occult temporal power also, by influencing the justices of the peace of their own religion, so much so that in some parts of the country no Roman Catholic