William Petty

“ But withall, I say, that until this be done, Trade will be too conjectural a work for any man to employ his thoughts about; for it will be the same wisdom in order to win with fair Dice, to spend much time in considering how to hold them, how much to shake them, and how hard to throw them, and on what angles they should hit the side of the Tables, as to consider how to advance the Trade of this Nation; where at present particular men get from their neighbours (not from the earth and sea) rather by hit then wit, and by the false opinions of others, rather then their own judgements ”

“ If a man carry Money or other Effects out of England to purchase Lands in Ireland, why should not the Rents, Issues and Profits of the same Land return into England, with the same Reason that the Money of England was diminished to buy it? ”

“ Petty as possessing the faculty which would probably have commanded success in any undertaking or career to which he had devoted himself.
That he should have ventured upon one so remote from anything to which his attention had previously been directed, may be taken as great boldness on his part, but it enhances our surprise at the success of the work. It would be no easy task in our own day, to accomplish in thirteen months, even a traverse survey in outline, of 5,000,000 acres in small divisions, and it was immeasurably greater then. ”

“ What fraud could I use to force men to sell me their Debentures? For if they had the Market rate they had no wrong, nor could I force them to take less: For when men had once sold either for more or for less, I had no further power over them, nor had they any further hopes or fears of me: I could onely gratifie them who kept their Debentures: If the Market rate were not sufficient for Debentures, it was none of my fault, that the whole world of Traders in them conspired to deceive themselves: Again, Did I ever use frauds in taking or entering the sense of the Council, whilst I was their Clerk? ”

“ For every Seaman of industry and ingenuity, is not only a Navigator, but a Merchant, and also a Soldier; ”

“ But there is a note of sincerity very characteristic of the man in the confession of faith with which he closed his will: "As for religion, I dye in the profession of that faith, and in the practice of such worship, as I find established by the Law of my country, not being able to believe what I myself please, nor to worship God better than by doing as I would be done unto, and observing the Laws of my country, and expressing my love and honour to Almighty God by such signes and tokens as are understood to be such by the people with whom I live, God knowing my heart even without any at all." ”

“ Why should not insolvent Thieves be rather punished with slavery then death? so as being slaves they may be forced to as much labour, and as cheap fare, as nature will endure, and thereby become as two men added to the Commonwealth, and not as one taken away from it ”

“ Now the use of this Prohibition, supposing it practicable, is to serve as a sumptuary Law, and to binde the Nation in general not to spend more then they get; for if we could export no Commodity of our own growth or manufacture then by prohibiting the going out of Money, it is also ipso facto commanded that nothing forreign should be brought in. ”

“ Who hath fawned less upon the thriving party? Who has made fewer staggers in his profession for one or t'other Faction? Did I ever betray any secret? Have I sold one friend to buy another? Or done ugly things with one Man, to ingratiate my self with another, his enemy? ”

“ Wherefore when a man giveth out his money upon condition that he may not demand it back until a certain time to come, whatsoever his own necessities shall be in the mean time, he certainly may take a compensation for this inconvenience which he admits against himself: And this allowance is that we commonly call Usury. ”

“ Causes of Civil War are also, that the Wealth of the Nation is in too few mens hands, and that no certain means are provided to keep all men from a necessity either to beg, or steal, or be Souldiers. ”

“ Having found the Rent or value of the usus fructus per annum, the question is, how many years purchase (as we usually say) is the Fee simple naturally worth? If we say an infinite number, then an Acre of Land would be equal in value to a thousand Acres of the same Land; which is absurd, an infinity of unites being equal to an infinity of thousands. ”

“ Now in the way of Lottery men do also tax themselves in the general, though out of hopes of Advantage in particular: A Lottery therefore is properly a Tax upon unfortunate self-conceited fools; men that have good opinion of their own luckiness, or that have believed some Fortuneteller or Astrologer, who had promised them great success about the time and place of the Lottery, lying Southwest perhaps from the place where the destiny was read. ”

“ Now this lighting upon some poor, though stubborn, stiffnecked Refuser, charged with Wife and Children, gives the credulous great occasion to complain of Oppression, and breeds ill blood as to all other matters; feeding the ill humours already in being. ”

“ And those who cannot find Work (though able and willing to perform it) by reason of the unequal application of Hands to Lands, ought to be provided for by the Magistrate and Land-Lord till that can be done; for there needs be no Beggars in Countries, where there are many Acres of unimproved improvable Land to every Head, as there are in England, As for Thieves, they are for the most part begotten from the same Cause; For it is against Nature, that any Man should venture his Life, Limb, or Liberty, for a wretched Livelyhood, whereas moderate Labour will produce a better. ”

“ The Religion of these poorer Irish, is called Roman Catholick, whose Head is the Pope of Rome, from whence they are properly enough called Papists. This Religion is well known in the World, both by the Books of their Divines, and the Worship in their Churches: wherefore I confine my self to what I think peculiar to these Irish. And first, I observe, that the Priests among them are of small Learning; but are thought by their Flocks to have much, because they can speak Latin more or less; and can often out-talk in Latin those who Dispute with them. ”

“ But it having pleased God unexpectedly, to make me the Inventor of the Art of Double Writing, daily and hourly usefull to all sorts of Persons in all places of the world, and that to perpetuity, I conceived that if there were understanding enough in Men to be sensible of their own good, and Thankfulnesse or honesty enough to reward the Contrivers of it, such Meanes might be raised out of this Art as might at least set the aforementioned Designs on float, and make them ready to set saile toward the haven of perfection upon every opportunity of stronger gales. ”

“ And I further estimate, that the value of all Commodities yearly exchanged amongst them, doth not exceed the value of Forty Five Millions: Now the Wealth of every Nation, consisting chiefly, in the share which they have in the Foreign Trade with the whole Commercial World, rather than in the Domestick Trade, of ordinary Meat, Drink, and Cloaths, &c. which bringing in little Gold, Silver, Jewels, and other Universal Wealth; we are to consider, Whether the Subjects of the King of England, Head for Head, have not a greater share, than those of France. ”

“ There are in England above four Acres of Arrable, Meadow and Pasture-Land, for every Soul in it; and those so fertile, as that the labour of one man in tilling them, is sufficient to get a bare Livelihood for above 10: So as 'tis for want of Discipline that any Poverty appears in England, and that any are hanged or starved upon that account. ”

“ And finally, that the Customs had been an ensurance upon losses by enemies, as the ensurance now usual, is of the casualities of sea, winde, weather, and Vessel, or altogether; or like the ensurance in some Countreys of Houses from Fires for a certain small part of their yearly Rent. But be it what it will, it is anciently established by Law, and ought to be paid until it shall be abolished. Onely I take leave as an idle Philosopher to discourse upon the Nature and Measures of it. ”

“ The true appeal is to the quiet force of public opinion, as time moves on, and anger gradually subsides; and from that tribunal the award has long been favourable to the work of Dr. Petty. It stands to this day, with the accompanying books of distribution, the legal record of the title on which half the land of Ireland is held; and for the purpose to which it was and is applied, it remains sufficient. To the rapidity with which it was executed, the adventurers and soldiers are indebted for the Act of Satisfaction having been carried out. ”

“ If I am utterly undone by popular Rage, I am not the first, I have received good things, and must be content to take my share of the Evil also. If the Storm of injustice doth last to my utter consuming, I shall admire at the long suffering of God to them that occasion it, and shall say, How long, Lord, holy and true, wilt thou deferre avenging the oppressed? ”

“ The reason whereof is, because men are unwilling to build new houses at the charge of pulling down their old, where both the old house it self, and the ground it stands upon do make a much dearer ground-plot for a new house, and yet far less free and convenient; wherefore men build upon new free foundations, and cobble up old houses, until they become fundamentally irreparable, at which time they become either the dwelling of the Rascality, or in process of time return to waste and Gardens again, examples whereof are many even about London. ”

“ In order therefore that legal provision should be made, and that money should be forthcoming, for their ascertainment, it was first necessary that the value of possible statistical deductions from accurate data should be demonstrated by the intelligent use of those sparse materials which lay ready to the student's hand. It is in this sense that we must judge the essays of Graunt and Petty, which pioneered the way of modern statistics, and so judged they will be found worthy of high praise. ”

“ The effort to extend the maps to a real survey, by this collection and publication of memoirs in connexion with it, had also its analogy in the Ordnance Survey, in which also the effort failed. Governments, like men, are apt to measure the value of a thing by its cost, instead of its results, by what produces it, instead of by what it will produce,—"will bring" (less wise in that respect than Sir Hudibras!) ”

“ The Customs or Duties upon the few Commodities of the growth of England exchanged with Forreigners, make too small a part of the whole Expence of the people of this Kingdom, which (perhaps is not less then fifty millions of pounds per annum) out of which to bear the common Charges thereof, so as some other way of Leavy must be practised together with it; whereas by some one way, if the best, the whole work may be absolved: wherefore 'tis an inconvenience in the way of Customs, that it necessitates other wayes then it self. ”

“ They intrusted me to plead their right with the Adventurers at London. Many more favours have they shewn unto me, which I shall rather remember then repeat: For all which I declare my thanks; assuring them, as in the presence of God, that I never studied any thing more affectionately, then to serve them with uprightness; nor that I am to this day conscious of the least voluntary action to the contrary: the which if any man could in an amicable way make appear, I do again promise (as I have often already done) to make them a Zacheus-like restitution, to the utmost farthing of my Talent. ”

“ The death of the Lord Protector had reanimated the purely parliamentarian party of the army in England to an activity that boded no good to his sons. Petty was, throughout his life, a firm supporter of the family of Cromwell, and it was as Henry Cromwell's friend that he had been elected member for West Looe in Richard's parliament. It is not surprising, therefore, that the charges of bribery and breach of trust now preferred against him in the House of Commons by Sir Jerome Sanchey [23] should have appeared to the officers at Dublin as a blow struck at the Lord Deputy himself. ”

“ In truth it is difficult to imagine a work more full of perplexity and uncertainty than to locate 32,000 officers, soldiers, and followers, with adventurers, settlers, and creditors of every kind and class, having different and uncertain claims on lands of different and uncertain value, in detached parcels sprinkled over two-thirds of the surface of Ireland. ”

“ You see, Sir, what an Estate I might have gotten, without ever having medled with the Surveys, much lesse with the more fatal distribution of the Lands after they were surveyed, and without medling with the Clerkship of the Councel, or being Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. All which, if I had been so happy as to have declined, then had I preserved an universal favor and interest with all men, instead of the odium and persecution I now endure. ”