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Regarding Irish slavery, here is a section from my new book ms. Sex, Lies, and Economics. Earlier, Petty proposed to improve upon his dream by engineering a wholesale dislocation of the Irish people. This measure offered a potential means to wipe out backwardness while providing profit both for affluent people, such as himself, as well as those with whom he sought to ingratiate himself. One such program had already begun before Petty's arrival -- the enslavement of the Irish people sent to be employed in the Americas. This program peaked around 1652-3, just when Petty landed in Ireland (Jordan and Walsh 2008, p. 147). The scale of this program was substantial: ##It is impossible to say how many shiploads of unhappy Irish were dispatched to America by the sole negotiation of the commissioners of precincts. No mention of such shipments would be likely to appear in the State Papers, and no record of them is likely to be discovered elsewhere. They must have been very considerable in number. It is only in those cases of a merchant or captain who petitioned the government for special license to transport such vagrants that any information remains. [Smith 1927, p. 165] Also, on September 18, 1655, Henry Cromwell wrote to Secretary of State, John Thurloe, that 1,500 or 2,000 boys of twelve or fourteen years be sent to the West Indies plantations (Smith 1927, p. 169). The best estimate from the number of Irish transported to Europe and the West Indies runs about 50,000 (Gwynn 1931, p. 301). Charles Hull, Petty scholar and editor of his economic works, was appalled: "Again and again Petty advocates sweeping public measures which take no account whatever of the rights and sensibilities of the citizen. He is quite ready to suggest that the majority of the Irish and Scotch be transplanted to England whether they consent or not" (Hull 1899, p. lxii). No evidence survives indicating that Petty ever advocated transporting the Irish to the colonies. His silence in this regard is not evidence of some humanitarian instinct. Petty's interest was always personal enrichment and advancement rather than any animosity toward the Irish. Despite the fact that the purpose of his survey was to facilitate the relocation of Irish, clearing the land for English occupants conflicted with the English need Irish workers (Gwynn 1931, p. 301). Specifically, moving too many people from Ireland would deny Petty the cheap labor he needed to make the development of his Kerry lands profitable (Roncaglia 1977, p. 5). For the same reason, he opposed an earlier scheme to transport the Irish to the province of Connaught. Again Petty's objection was the damage such a plan would do to his projects. Even so, at one point, Petty went well beyond anything that the government envisioned, proposing a grandiose scheme for remaking an Ireland, almost devoid of the Irish people: "there shall be but 300 Thousand Souls in Ireland, and those all Herdsmen and Dairy-Women (whereas there are now 1300 Thousand of higher Quality)" (Petty 1687b, p. 559). In this way, the country would be reduced to "a Kind of Factory" (Petty 1687b, p. 560). -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
