Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/33

34 The odium attached to Petty's Irish career still pursued him, for we find him now appealing to the public for the first time in a defence, contained in a broadside of four pages, entitled a "Brief of Proceedings between Sir H. Sankey and Dr. Petty."

This pamphlet contains a review of the charges brought already to the notice of Parliament with Petty's replies. Then comes a list of the charges which had been brought before the Irish Commissioners. Petty points out with great satisfaction the discrepancies in the two lists. Many of the earlier charges of fraud and bribery had been dropped, and in their place less serious accusations substituted. In the following year he published a more complete vindication under the title "Reflections upon some persons and things in Ireland." An interesting feature of this work is a prefatory letter signed J. H. I have not been able from these initials to identify the writer. He was an old friend of Petty. Their acquaintance had begun during Petty's stay in Paris. Like other friends of his youth he had seen, he tells us, with surprise and regret, the course of Petty's career in Ireland. Those who had formerly looked upon him as an ardent devotee of science had lamented his defection from their ranks, and begged for an explanation. Petty in his reply refutes the charge of neglecting his earlier and more honorable pursuits, by the rather ingenuous assertion that he had undertaken the "Survey" in order to demonstrate to the public the utility of a scientific training. The most interesting part of the work is the conclusion, which throws much light on the whole transaction.