Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/25

26 land sufficient to meet their demands. The army was induced to accept the same rates as had already been agreed upon by the subscribers, who are called for brevity the "Irish Adventurers." According to this agreement, the money value of a thousand acres of land varied from £200 to £600, according to quality and location. The original Irish landowners, and even the older English proprietors who had lived in the district of rebellion, were to be transported to Connaught. It was proposed to send the poorer native inhabitants to foreign countries, the men to Spain, the women and children to the West Indies.

The first step in carrying out this scheme was a survey of the land, which was to be set off for the various claimants. Worsely, the surveyor-general, had made a survey in 1653, which was notoriously erroneous. Petty immediately pointed out the defects and the way to remedy them, offered to undertake a new survey, to be concluded within thirteen months, and to prepare a general map of the whole country. The surveyor-general, anxious to retain this work in his own hands, subjected every part of Petty's offer to minute criticism. His objections were answered, and Petty, supported by influential friends, secured the contract, which was signed on December 24, 1654. The survey was performed with the promised rapidity, not by introducing new scientific methods, but by careful direction of the numerous subordinates among whom the labor was apportioned. The opposition which had met Petty at every step had a deeper ground than the personal enmity of Worsely. Cromwell was carrying out in Ireland the policy that he had already adopted in England, of trying to draw to the support of the government