(pour
revenir à la table du Traité clicquer sur chacune des objections.)
AN APPENDIX OF OBJECTIONS TO
THIS ESSAY,
WITH ANSWERS TO THE SAME.
First
that the Transplantation of a Million of People is Impracticable and Utopian.
Answer.
1st. It has been already said that the Charges thereof needs not to exceed
20 Shillings per head at a Medium between Poor and Rich, Great and Small
; and from the Middle of Ireland to the Middle of England supposed to
be 120 Miles of Land in Distance.
2. Forty small Vessels of about Sixty Tuns each (which are easily had)
will perform this whole Work in Five Year's Time.
3. The Freight per head need not exceed
Two Shillings, and the Travelling Charges by Land at one Penny per Mile
needs not be above Ten Shillings, Leaving Eight Shillings for Extraordinaries.
4. There will be found Undertakers enough, to regulate this Matter, and
bring the Charges thereof to a Certainty, which may amount to 200 Thousand
Pounds per Ann. to be advanced for Five Years out of the Public Revenue,
and reimbursed, as shall elsewhere be shewn.
The
second Objection, That the Cattle-Trade above-propounded is also impracticable.
Answer.
1. The Lands and Cattle are the same as now, wanting onely a new Application
to each other.
2. A Council of Fitting Persons must make this Application, by Pitching
the Number of each Species of Cattle, for every Sort of Land within the
whole Territory of Ireland.
3. The same may pitch the Number of Cow-Herds, Shepherds, Dairy-Women,
Slaughter Men and others, which are fit and sufficient to manage the Trade
of exported Cattle dead or alive, of Hydes, Tallow, Butter and Cheese,
Wool and Sea-Fish &c.
4. To appoint the Foreign Markets and Ports where each Commodity is to
be shipped and sold, to provide Shipping and to keep Account of the Exportation
abovementioned, and of the imported Salt, Tobacco, with a few other Necessarys.
5. When the whole Number, to be left in Ireland, is adjusted, then to
pitch how many of them shall be English, or such as can speak English,
and how many Irish, how many Catholiques and how many others, without
any other respect, than the Management of this Trade, for the common Good
of all the Owners of these Lands, and it's Stock indifferently.
6. Forasmuch as it is intended to allow each Servant to this Trade 20
Nobles per Ann. out of the Grand Commodities aforenamed,
It is also intended to allow them Land for Corn and Gardenage with River-Fishing,
Wild-Fowl and Hunting.
7. To keep up Part of the neglected Houses, till England be fully Peopled
with 12 Millions (vizt) at 3 Acres per head.
8. To appoint the Foot-Militia and Horse-Guards.
9. To carry away the Young Children and superannuated Persons.
The
3d Objection, That Men will not conform to this Change, tho' tending to
the General, and their own Particular, Good, out of a mere Caprice and
Perverseness.
Answer.
[1.] If the Owners of Ireland may hereby raise their Concernments from
2 to 3 in Value, If the Landlords of England may hereby increase the Worth
of their Lands from 3 to 4, And if the King may advance his Revenue from
4 to 5; and that the Church may receive a Supplyment out of Ireland of
100 Thousand Pounds per Ann. I suppose that particular Men will not long
persist in their Perverseness and Humor. Or (if they do) that a Parliament
of England, may cure this Evil, in both Kingdoms, as kind Parents may
correct the Children whom they Love.
2. And when such a Law is made, it is possible within Six Months to give
a List of all the Terr-Tenants in Ireland, who are to be removed, and
of the lands they hold ; with the Yearly Value thereof. And within Six
Months more, to make a Particular of the Lands in England, by the Names,
Quantity, Situations, and Values, correspondent to the said Tenures and
Occupancies in Ireland, if men shall humorously refuse to agree otherwise.
3. It hath been already said, that besides the Advantages abovementioned,
the Inhabitants of England shall receive one Million and a half per Ann.
out of Ireland, above what hitherto they have done: Which is more than
England gains by Foreign Trade from all the rest of the World.
4. I further add that the Million of Transplantees out of Ireland, will
after their having been Seven Years in England, become
worth above 30l. per head more than at present, in all 30 Millions.
Memorandum, That this Proposal inferrs no Forcing any Irish, Proprietors
to sell their Estate in Ireland, but encourages the King to buy of them,
who are voluntarily pleased to sell at the present Market-Rate.
It is also to be noted, That as the Method here propounded shall make
the Value of Ireland to rise from 2 to 3 above what the same was worth
Anno 1684. So the late Changes, which we hope are repairable, have made
the same fall from 3 to 2, and consequently the Difference between the
present Proposal and the present Practice, will be as 9 to 4.
The
fourth Objection, that this Transplantation and Change of Trade amounts
to an Abolishment of the Irish Nation: Which will be Odious to them, and
not compensable by all the Benefits abovementioned.
Answer
1. That this Proposal was intended for an Union of the two Nations, which
is a real Blessing to both, according to that of Faciam eos in Gentem
Unam : Whereas the Curse of a Civil Warr is, to divide one intire
Nation into two Nations: As the Irish Commotions Anno 1641 actually did.
Now if the two Nations be brought into one, the Name of the lesser Nation
must needs be abolished, whilst the Thing and Substance is exalted. For
1. In this Case the Irish Names of Lands and Men are lay'd
down, and English taken up in their Rooms.
2. The Cabineers of Ireland, which are Ten to One of all the others, will
be removed out of their wretched Beastlike habitations; unfit for making
Merchantable Butter and Cheese, and
the Manufacture of Wool and Linnen out of the best Materials.
3. They will be set upon more pleasant and profitable Imployments in England.
4. They will be entertained there with greater Variety of agreeable Objects
and Exercises.
5. They will be nearer the King, who hath a Kindness for them, with full
Liberty of Conscience.
6. They will be safe from any Re-Conquest, which may be fatal to them.
7. They will be ingrafted and incorporated into a Nation more Rich, Populous,
Splendid, and Renowned than themselves, for Letters, Arms, and other Atchievements.
8. This Transplantation will make the People of Ireland to be a real Addition
(whereas they had been hitherto a Diminution and Counterpoize) to the
Power of England, and for above 500 Years a vast Expence of it's Blood
and Treasure.
The
5th Objection, That Changing the present Proportions between Catholicks
and others in England (now 280 for one) to that of Nine for One, will
be very formidable to the Protestants of England, and apt to create dangerous
Fears and jealousies in them.
Answer
1. Altho' I never intended to complicate Religion with the Matters of
this Essay, yet I may intimate that, by the late Changes in Ireland,of
theGovernment, Army, judicatures, Sherriffs, jurys, and by bringing together
and concentrating all the Catholick Powers; and by Publishing a Design
of making the Catholicks there as considerable in their Wealths, as in
their Numbers; which has caused the Price of Lands and houses and Cattle
so to fall, and the English Artizans and Money so to diminish, As that
the whole of Ireland, in this Year
1687, is fallen from 3 to 2 of what the same was worth Anno 1683, and
will probably cause a Fall in his Majesty's Revenue from about 7 to 6.
I say, I might intimate from the Premisses that some Remedy is necessary.
2. Moreover the imagined Benefit of making Ireland an Asylum, by the present
Method, for all the King's Catholic Subjects, in case of an angry-Heterodox
Successor to the Crown, is not comparable to the Danger of Ireland's Revolt
and Reconquest.
Lastly, Whether the present united State of Catholicks in Ireland will
make more Catholicks in his Majesty's whole Dominions, than the Transplantation
here propounded, I know not, seeing no manifest cogent Reasons for either
Opinion. Onely it is certain it will make Six and Thirty Times more Catholicks
in England, than now there are, but not one more in the whole.
Wherefore if what concerns Religion be doubtful, let the same be left
to God, whose peculiar Work it is; and let what is Obvious and Certain
concerning the Wealth, Strength, Splendor, and Honor, of both Nations
be consider'd according to Sense and Reason, to which God has left these
Matters.
Memorandum, That what was said in the above-Essay concerning Transplantation
in Scotland, ought to have been thus (vizt.).
Suppose Scotland to contain as many Acres and People as Ireland ; we may
suppose that in the Northermost Third Part or Six Millions of Scotland
there dwells 400 Thousand of the whole 1300 Thousand People. Of which
400 Thousand we suppose 300 Thousand to be transplanted into the Low-Lands,
or rather into England; leaving 100 Thousand behind for the Cattle-Trade.
So as there will be 7 Thousand 100 Thousands, and a Thousand Thousand,
and 300 Thousand in England and Wales, and 900 Thousand in the Low-Lands
of Scotland; Making in all 9 Millions and 300 Thousand heads to Live upon
the whole 48 Millions of Acres, which may be called Great England; Leaving
100 Thousand, as aforesaid, upon the Northermost Third, which may be called
Little Scotland besides 300000 upon
the 18 Millions of Ireland, as aforesaid. The Consideration of all which
may be placed to the Accounts of Political Pastimes and Recreations, according
to the first Title of this Essay.
The
Sixth Objection. In the Title of this Essay, Mention was made of Settlement
in Ireland, I suppose that Settlement of Estates and Title of Land was
thereby intended, which (I am affraid) is not yet perfect. Forasmuch as
there is great Complaint made against the gross Partialities in the Act
of 17° Car. Imi. In the Acts of Settlement A° 1652.
In the Acts of Satisfaction made A° 1653. In two other Acts made A°
1656. In the Proceedings in the Court of Athlone and Loghreagh. In several
Courts for Protestant's Claims before the King's Restauration. In the
Acts of Settlement made since Anno 1662, and executed Anno 1663. In the
Courts of Innocence. In the Acts of Explanation made A° 1665, and
executed in the Years 1666, 1667, and 1668. In the Proceedings upon the
Commission for Moderating of QuitRents A° 1676. In Settling the Transplantees
of Connaught and Clare A° 1677. In the Court of Grace A° 1684.
And most of all, in the Proceedings of the judges, Sherifs and juries,
A° 1687. I say, no great Matter has been offered in this Essay for
remedy of the Evils contained in the Acts and Proceedings last mentioned.
Which Remedies, I suppose, were mean't by the Word Settlement.
Answer.
1. We have supposed, That when the Catholicks and Proprietors of Ireland,
as also the high-Landers of Scotland, are Transplanted into England, Wales,
and the Low-Lands of Scotland containing
48 Millions of Acres, and 9 Millions 300 Thousand People: Among which
are all the Catholicks of the Three Kingdoms.
2. We further Suppose, That whereas there are now about 12 Thousand Parishes
in the said 48 Millions of Acres, That by Dividing as many of the greater
Parishes as are necessary, there may be made just 15 Thousand Parishes
or Parochial Divisions ; and that the Males of 21 Year's old within every
such Division, do choose an Elector for the Great Councel hereafter mentioned.
And that the said 15 Thousand Electors, by 500 Assemblies of 30 Electors
in each, do choose 500 Members for the General and Ultimate judicature
concerning Estates in Ireland.
3. And Lastly We suppose, That out of the said 500 Members, juries may
be chosen by Lott for the Consummation of this Work by Lott; that is to
say, by God, it being hard to conceive any Authority more equal, impartial,
and indifferent, than the said juries, so chosen by God, by the King,
and the whole People of all the Three Nations.
There be several other Instruments and Expedients to correct
and perfect the present Settlement in Ireland; whereof I insert this one,
to be wholly administred by the Catholic Party. (vizt)
There may be a Court erected by Act of Parliament, consisting
of five of the most Ancient, Substantial, Upright and Experienc'd Catholic
Gentlemen of Ireland, for the Ends following. (vizt.).
1. To find out what Lands any Catholic Restoree holds as his own, and
rightfully derives from his Ancestors, as to their Propriety the 23d of
October 1641, which in Truth was not so ?
2. What Lands any of the Catholic Restorees have gotten by vicious and
forg'd Deeds, altho' the Lands were their own or their Ancestors, in the
Year 1641 ?
3. What Persons, adjudged Innocent by the Court of Claims A° 1663,
were more nocent, than those which the said Court did judge to be nocent
?
4. What Persons, adjudged nocent, were
more innocent, than those whom the said Court did judge to be innocent
?
5. What Persons restored by Proviso ex mero Motu, or as Nominees or Letterees,
did less deserve the same, than some of those who were never restored
at all?
6. What Persons never restored, do deserve to have some Parts of their
Estates, under two Thirds ; and what Parts ?
7. What meritorious Persons should be restored to their former Estates,
in specie, or to the Equivalent, out of the Stock according to the Proportions
that shall be respectively allow'd them?
8. That they consider what Catholicks have gotten Grants of other Catholic
Estates ?
9. That all Restorees, how innocent and worthy soever, may retrench Thirds
as the Adventurers did.
10. That out of the Premisses there may be made a Common Stock for Remedys
and Gratifications in the several Cases abovementioned, and for Reprizing
of such Protestant Patentees as have been, or shall be, ejected.
11. That an accurate Valuation be made of all Lands in order to this Work.
12. That no Lands be disposed of out of this Stock, till the Court abovementioned
have first stated what every Restoree or Removee is to have.
The
Seventh Objection. What needs the Monstrous Plantation, the Innovation
of Trade, and the General judicature abovementioned, since Things are
so well already in Ireland? And since almost all the Offices and Arms
are already (and the Legislature itself may shortly be) in those onely
who are of the King's Religion ?
Answer
We have set forth the Benefits, which may arise from the Transplantation,
Trade, and judicature abovementioned : We come next, to set forth the
Difference between Ireland, as it is
in this present Year 1687, from what the same was in the Year 1683. In
some of the principal Points undermentioned. (vizt)
1. The Rents of all the Lands in Ireland A° 1687 were worth 1200 Thousand
Pounds per Annum, and 12 Year's Purchase, at a Medium between Lands near
great Cities and Places of Trade, and the obscure thin-peopled Parts of
the Nation: So as the whole Land of Ireland was then worth about 14 Millions
400 Thousand Pounds. But it is Generally believed that the Lands, which
then might have been Lett for 3s. 6d. per Acre, and sold
for 14 Year's Purchase (vizt for 49s. the Acre) will scarce in
this Year 1687 yield 2s. 6d. per Acre, nor sell for above
10 Year's Purchase, vizt. 25s. the Acre or little above for half
49s. From whence we may think that the Lands, which A° 1683
were worth 14 Millions 400 Thousand Pounds, are now fallen 7 Millions
thereof
2. The Housing of Ireland having above one Chimney in each (for the rest
we reckon not) have been estimated at 2 Millions; and it is too manifest
that the Housing of Dublin are less worth now by one Tenth Part (some
will say a Fifth) than they were A° 1683. Wherefore we estimate the
whole Housing of Ireland to be fallen 200 Thousand Pounds.
3. All the Cattle of Ireland have been estimated at 5 Millions A°
1683, which in this Year 1687 will not yield above 3 Millions in the Market.
4. The Money, Plate, jewels, and Fine Furniture, which has been these
last Two Years conveyed out of Ireland, or otherwise withdrawn from currant
Uses, seems by a numerous Collection of Observations and Relations to
be about 1/3 Part of the Whole, or about 160 Thousand
Pounds.
5. The Value of Beer, Ale, Wine and other Drinks, which have been spent
in the Years 1684, 1685, and 1686, above the Level of other Years, seems
to be about 294 Thousand Pounds ; and it is likely that the superfluous
Expence in the same Year, of other Commodities may have been 100 Thousand
Pounds more. In all 400 Thousand Pounds, Seven Eighths whereof was over-spent
by the Irish.
6. The Value of the Goods and Merchandize
exported above the Value of the Goods imported in the same Time, appears
to be 167 Thousand Pounds. Now the last Two of the Six last-mentioned
Articles, may be deduced from the ensuing Table.
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