I. Penal Laws
**An Act for Banishing all Papists, exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, and all Regulars of the Popish Clergy out of this Kingdom (Irish 1697).
        Whereas, it is Notoriously known, that the late Rebellions in this Kingdom have been Contrived, Promoted and Carried on by Popish Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Jesuits, and other Ecclesiastical Persons of the Romish Clergy.  And forasmuch as the Peace and Public Safety of this Kingdom is in Danger, by the great number of the said Arch-Bishops..., and to the great Impoverishing of many of His Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom, Who are forc'd to maintain and support them....
        And be it Enacted that all Popish Archbishops..., Friers, and all other Regular Popish Clergy, and all Papists exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, shall depart out of this Kingdom before the first day of May [1698].  And if any of the said Ecclesiastical Persons, shall be at any time after the said First day of May, within this Kingdom, they, and every of them shall suffer Imprisonment, and remain in Prison, without Bail or Mainprize, till he or they shall be Transported beyond seas.... And if any person so Transported shall return again into this kingdom, they, and every of them, shall be Guilty of High-Treason; and every person so Offending, shall for his Offence, be adjudged a Traitor, and shall suffer, lose and forfeit [i.e. death & forfeiture of property] as in Case of High-Treason....

An Act to Prevent Protestants Inter-Marrying with Papists (1697)
        Whereas many Protestant Maidens and Women, as well such as be heirs Apparent to their Ancestors, as others, having left unto them by their Father...for their Advancement in Marriage; or having had considerable Estates for Life..., by Flattery and other Crafty Insinuations of Popish Persons, have been Seduced and Prevailed upon, to Contract Matrimony with, and take to Husband, Papists or Popish Persons; which Marriages have not only Tended to the Ruine and Destruction of such Estates and Interests, and to the great Loss and Damage of many Protestant Persons..., that they forsake their Religion, and become Papists, to the great Dishonour of Almighty God, the great Prejudice of the Protestant Interest, and the heavy Sorrow and Displeasure of all their Protestant Friends....  [Hence that] from the time of such Marriage, such Protestant person so Marrying, and the person she shall so Marry, shall be for ever afterwards Disabled and Rendered Incapable of having, holding, or Enjoying, all, or any of the aforesaid Estates or Interests.... [In case of lawsuits the court would regard the matter] as if such Protestant person or persons so marrying...and all other Intervening Popish Heirs, Executors, or Administrators, were really Dead, and Intestate....

**Act to Prevent the Further Growth of Popery (1704)
         I.  Whereas divers emissaries of the church of Rome, popish priests, and other persons of that persuasion, taking advantage of the weakness and ignorance of some of her majesty's subjects, or of the extreme sickness and decay of their reason and senses, in the absence of friends and spiritual guides, do daily endeavour to persuade and pervert them from the protestant religion, to the great dishonour of Almighty God, the weakening of the true religion, by His blessing so happily established in this realm, to the disquieting the peace and settlement, and discomfort of many particular families thereof; and in further manifestation of their hatred and aversion to the said true religion, many of the said persons so professing the popish religion in this kingdom, have refused to make provision for their own children for no other reason but their being of the protestant religion; and also by cunning devices and contrivances found out ways to avoid and elude the intends of an act of parliament, made in the ninth year of the reign of the late King William the Third for preventing protestants intermarrying with papists, and of several other laws made for the security of the protestant religion; and whereas many persons so professing the popish religion have it in their power to raise division among protestants, by voting in elections for members of parliament, and also have it in their power to use other ways and means tending to the destruction of the protestant interest in this kingdom; for remedy of which great mischiefs, and to prevent the like evil practices for the future be it enacted...that if any person or persons from and after the twenty-fourth day of March...1703, shall seduce, persuade or pervert any person or persons professing, or that shall profess, the protestant religion, to renounce, forsake, or adjure the same, and to profess the popish religion, or reconcile him or them to the church of Rome, then, and in such case ever such person or persons so seducing, as also every such protestant or protestants who shall be so seduced, perverted and reconciled to popery, shall for the said offences, being thereof lawfully convicted, incur the anger and penalty of praemunire....
        III.  And to the end that no child or children of popish parent or parents who have professed or embraced the protestant religion...[or might do so, etc.] it shall and may be lawful for the said court to make such order for the maintenance of every such protestant child...; and in case the eldest son and heir of such popish parent shall be a protestant, that then from the time of enrollment in the high court of chancery of a certificate of the bishop of the diocese [testifying to facts of case] such popish parent shall become, and shall be, only tenant for life of all the real estate....
        VI.  Every papist, or persons professing the popish religion, shall...be disabled...to buy and purchase either in his or in their own name...any manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any rents or profits out of the same, or any leases or terms thereof, other than any term of years not exceeding thirty-one years....
        VII.  No papist or person professing the popish religion, who shall not within six months after he or she shall have become entitled to enter, or to take or have the profits by descent [or any other form of inheritance] of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, whereof any protestant now is, or hereafter shall be seized in fee-simple absolute, or fee-tail, or in such manner that after his death, or the death of him and his wife, the freehold is to come immediately to his son or sons, or issue in tail, if then of the age of eighteen years..., until which time from his being so entitled he shall be under the care of such protestant relation or person...as shall for that purpose be appointed by the high court of chancery, for his [the heir's] being educated in the protestant religion, become a protestant, and conform himself to the church now established in this kingdom, shall take any benefit by reason of such descent....
        XII.  Provided always, that if the eldest son or heir-at-law of such papist land shall be a protestant at the time of the decease of such papist...the lands whereof such papist shall be seized, shall descend to such eldest son or heir-at law according to the rules of the common law of this realm....
        XV.  Provided always, that no person shall take benefit by this act as a protestant...that shall not conform to the church of Ireland as by law established, and subscribe the declaration, and also take and subscribe the oath of abjuration following, viz. I A.B., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe, that in the sacrament of the Lord's-Supper, there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the adoration or invocation of the Virgin Mary, nor any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous....I A.B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify and declare in my conscience, before God and the world, that our sovereign lady Queen Anne is lawful and rightful queen of this realm.... And I do solemnly and sincerely declare, that...the person pretending to be Prince of Wales, during the life of the late King James, and since his decease pretending to be, and taking upon himself the style and title of King of England by the name of James III, hath not any right or title whatsoever to the crown of this realm.... And I do faithfully promise to the utmost of my power to support, maintain and defend the limitation and succession of the crown against him the said James [according to the terms of] An act declaring the rights and liberties of the subject, and settling the succession of the crown, to her present majesty, and the heirs of her body being protestants..., and for default of issue of her majesty, to the Princess Sophia, electress and duchess dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being protestants.  And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear.... So help me God.
        XVII.  ...Every such person and persons, that shall be admitted...into any office...civil or military [etc.], shall take the said oaths and repeat the said declaration...[and] shall also receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the usage of the Church of Ireland, within three months after his or their admittance....
        XVIII.  All and every the person or persons aforesaid, who do or shall refuse or neglect to take the said oath and sacrament, and to deliver such a certificate of his receiving the sacrament...or to subscribe the said declaration..., shall be ipso facto adjudged incapable and disabled in law to all intents and purposes whatsoever to have, occupy, or enjoy the said office or offices....
        XXIV.  And for the preventing papists having it in their power to breed dissention amongst protestants by voting at elections of members of parliament; be it further enacted...that from and after the twenty-fourth day of March 1703 no freeholder, burgess, freeman, or inhabitant of this kingdom, being a papist or professing the popish religion, shall at any time hereafter be capable of giving his or their vote for the electing of knights of any shires or counties within this kingdom..., without first repairing to the general sessions of the peace...and there voluntarily take the oath of allegiance....
        XXVI.  And whereas the superstitions of popery are greatly increased and upheld by the pretended sanctity of places, especially of a place called Saint Patrick's purgatory in the county of Donegal, and of wells, to which pilgrimages are made by vast numbers at certain seasons, by which not only the peace of the public is greatly disturbed, but the safety of the government also hazarded, by the riotous and unlawful assembling together of many thousands of papists to the said wells and other places, be it further enacted, that all such meetings and assemblies shall be deemed and adjudged riots and unlawful assemblies, and punishable as such....
 

II. Anglo-Irish nationalism

**William Molyneux, The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated (1698).  [Monyneux was a Protestant, an important natural scientist, and a founder of the Dublin Philosophical Society, and friend of John Locke.  The pamphlet was dedicated to William III.  It is one of the classic documents of Anglo-Irish "nationalism."]

Introduction:
      I have ever been so fully perswaded of the strict Justice of the Parliament of England, that I could never think that any of Their Proceedings, which might seem to have the least Tendency to Hardship on their Neighbours, could arise from any thing but want of Due Information, and a right State of the Business under their Consideration.  The want of which, in Matters wherein another People are chiefly Concern'd, is no Defect in the Parliament of England, but is highly Blameable in the Persons whose Affair is Transacting, and who permit that Illustrious Body of Senators to be Mis-inform'd, without giving them that Light that might Rectifie them.

      I could never Imagine that those Great Assertors of their Own Liberties and Rights, could ever think of making the least Breach in the Rights and Liberties of their Neighbours, unless they thought that they had Right to do so; and this they might well surmise, if their Neighbours quietly see their Inclosures Invaded, without Expostulating the Matter at least, and shewing Reasons, why they may think that Hardships are put upon them therein....

     The Subject therefore of our present Disquisition shall be, How far the Parliament of England may think it Reasonable to intermeddle with the Affairs of Ireland, and Bind us by Laws made in their House.  And seeing the Right which England may pretend to, for Binding us by their Acts of Parliament, can be founded only on the Imaginary Title of Conquest or Purchase, or on Precedents and Matters of Record; We shall Enquire into the following Particulars.

     (1) First, How Ireland became a Kingdom Annex'd to the Crown of England.  And here we shall at large give a faithful Narrative of the First Expedition of the Britains into this Country, and King Henry the Second's Arrival here, such as our best Historians give us.

     (2) Secondly, We shall Enquire, Whether this Expedition, and the English Settlement that afterwards follow'd thereon, can properly be call'd a Conquest?  Or whether any Victories obtain'd by the English, in any succeeding Ages in this Kingdom, upon any Rebellion, may be call'd a Conquest thereof?

     (3) Thirdly, Granting that it were a Conquest, we shall Enquire what Title a Conquest gives.

     (4) Fourthly, We shall Enquire what Concessions have been from time to time made to Ireland, to take off what even the most Rigorous Assertors of a Conqueror's Title do pretend to.  And herein we shall shew by what Degrees the English Form of Government, and the English Statute-Laws, came to be received among us:  And this shall appear, to be wholly by the Consent of the People and Parliament of Ireland.

     (5) Fifthly, We shall Enquire into the Precedents and Opinions of the Learned in the Laws, relating to this Matter, with Observations thereon.

     (6) Sixthly, We shall Consider the Reasons and Arguments that may be farther Offered on one side and t'other; and shall Draw some General Conclusions from the Whole....

Conclusion:
      To conclude all, I think it highly Inconvenient for England to Assume this Authority over Kingdom of Ireland:  I believe there will need no great Arguments to convince the Wise Assembly of English Senators, how inconvenient it may be to England, to do that which may make the Lords and People of Ireland think that they are not Well Used, and may drive them into Discontent.  The Laws and Liberties of England were granted above five hundred years ago to the People of Ireland, upon their Submissions to the Crown of England, with a Design to make them Easie to England, and to keep them in the Allegiance of the King of England.  How Consistent it may be with True Policy, to do that which the People of Ireland may think is an Invasion of their Rights and Liberties, I do most humbly submit to the Parliament of England to Consider.  They are Men of Great Wisdom, Honour and Justice:  and know how to prevent all future Inconveniences.  We have heard Great Out-cries, and deservedly, on Breaking the Edict of Nantes,[1] and other Stipulations; How far the Breaking our Constitution, which has been of Five Hundred years standing, exceeds that, I leave the World to judge.  It may perhaps be urg'd, That 'tis convenient for the State of England, that the Supream Council thereof should make their Jurisdiction as Large as they can.  But with Submission, I conceive that if this Assumed Power be not Just, it cannot be convenient for the State.  What Cicero says in his Offices, Nihil est Utile, nisi idem sit Honestum,[2] is most certainly true.  Nor do I think, that 'tis any wise necessary to the Good of England to Assert this High Jurisdiction over Ireland.  For since the Statutes of this Kingdom are made with such Caution, and in such Form, as is prescribed by Poyning's Act 10 H.7 [1495]...and whilst Ireland is in English hands, I do not see how 'tis possible for the Parliament of Ireland to do any thing that can be in the least prejudicial to England.  But on the other hand, If England assume a Jurisdiction over Ireland, whereby they think their Rights and Liberties are taken away, That their Parliaments are rendred meerly nugatory, and that their Lives and Fortunes Depend on the Will of a Legislature wherein they are not Parties; there may be ill Consequences of this.  Advancing the Power of the Parliament of England, by breaking the Rights of an other, may in time have ill Effects.

     The Rights of Parliament should be preserved Sacred and Inviolable, wherever they are found.  This kind of Government, once so Universal all over Europe, is now almost Vanished from amongst the Nations thereof.  Our Kings Dominions are the only Supporters of this noble Gothick Constitution, save only what little remains may be found thereof in Poland.  We should not therefore make so light of that sort of Legislature, and as it were Abolish it in One Kingdom of the Three, wherein it appears; but rather Cherish and Encourage it wherever we meet it.

Wool Act (English 1699)
Forasmuch as wool and the woollen manufactures of cloth...are the greatest and most profitable commodities of this kingdom, on which the value of lands and the trade of the nation do chiefly depend; and whereas great quantities of the like manufactures have of late been made and are daily increasing in the kingdom of Ireland and in the English plantations in America, and are exported from thence to foreign markets heretofore supplied from England, which will inevitably sink the value of lands and tend to the ruin of the trade and the woollen manufactures of this realm; for the prevention whereof, and for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures within this kingdom, be it enacted...that no person...shall directly or indirectly export...out of the said kingdom of Ireland into any foreign realm...other than the parts within the kingdom of England or the dominion of Wales, any the wool....  [Another clause extended the restriction to the American colonies.]

Declaratory Act, Br. Parliament (1719)
        Whereas the house of lords of Ireland have of late, against law, assumed to themselves a power and jurisdiction to examine, correct, and amend the judgments and decrees of the courts of justice in the kingdom of Ireland...be it declared...that the said kingdom of Ireland hath been, is and of right ought to be, subordinate unto and dependent upon the imperial crown of Great Britain, as being inseparably united and annexed thereunto, and that the king's majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of Great Britain in parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the kingdom and the people of Ireland....
 

Archbishop William King to Rev. Edward Nicholson, Dublin, 20 Dec 1712.  [King was a sponsor of Swift.]
Revd. Sir,

     Your son was with me today and gave me an account of your health, and that you are now a Grand-father by his having a son--on both which I congratulate you.  He likewise gave me your book concerning charity schools, of which I very much approve.[1]

     There's one thing I wish you had taken notice of, and it is that poverty of the people and neglect of education of children do not always proceed from the Laziness of the people or their unwillingness to give them learning, but much more from the cruelty of the Landlords who rack their Tenants so that they can neither render to God, to the publick or their children what is due to them.  And when I inquire of Beggars how they came to that condition, their answer is 'The Landlord came and took away all I had for his rent'; and on inquiry, I generally find it is so.  I am perswaded neither the Peasants in France nor the Common Turks live so miserably as the Tenants in Ireland.  Nor is it, as things stand now, to any purpose to set a good Lease:  for he that has it, sets it to another, and he to another, and the tenants often hold it from the fourth, who screws and racks them to death.  Here is the original of the Beggary of Ireland, and if we take the children of the poor people and ease them of their education, the effect is that the Landlord supposes they may pay more rent and screws them accordingly--so that the effect of all our charity go's finally to him.  I wish I cou'd perswade them out of this wicked practice.  But I do not remember that any has observ'd it.  I have taken some pains to make people sensible of it, but to very little purpose; they have no ears for anything that lessens their profit.

     There's another Source of the poverty of Ireland, and it is the great Stock Masters, who ingross[2] the land and, making more of it than Tenants can pay, will not allow them any place in the earth, but force them to Barren places and Mountains, where they are miserably starved or oblige them to pay greater rents for course Lands than it is possible for them to pay.

     A Gentleman gave me a visit 'tother Day and entertained me with discourse how he had improved his Estate.  He told me he had a farm on which there lived about an 100 familys that paid him rent very ill and he lost much every year:  that he turned them off and set it dearer to one man who stocked it, lived well upon it and paid his rent punctually.  I asked what came of the 100 familys he turned off it; he answered that he did not know.  My reply was that those 100 family had at least 500 souls belonging to them, and with what conscience cou'd he send them a begging.  He seemed surprized at this, but said that it was their own fault:  why did they not pay their rent?  I desired him to consider that those 500 souls had no other support than what the farms yielded them, and when their maintenance was deducted, it was impossible so much shou'd remain for the Landlords as when only perhaps 10 souls were to be maintained by the produce thereof, and I desired him to consider whether it cou'd be agreeable to equity or reason that 490 persons shou'd be turn'd out of their Livlihood without any manner of provision merely that the Landlord might get more rent:  that this was just as if an heir shou'd be allowed to murther all his Brothers and Sisters that his Estate might be greater and less incumbered:  that this seem'd to me to be the case, or very like the case, of those to whom the Prophet Isayah pronounces a wo. (Is.5.8)[3]  But the Gentleman still insisted that he might make the best of his own Estate.  I answered he might be all Lawful means, but oppressing the poor, ruining familys, and sending the familys of whole Baronys to begg were absolutely unlawfull, and so declared by God (Is. 3. 14 & 15)[4] and in many other places of Scripture; but I did not find this had any consequence.

     It is farther worth the observing that about one third of the Lands in Ireland are in the hands of Landlords that live in England, [and] that the higher our rents are raised, the more will live there.  For a man that has an Estate of £500 with a family, must live in Ireland; but if he make it a £1000, he is enabled to live in England, and generally do's so--of which there are innumerable instances.  The improvement of Ireland therefore only contributes to enrich those that live out of it, and encourages others to follow their example, & helps to oppress those that live in it, and encrease their Labour and poverty.  Those that live in England contribute not one shilling, either to support the poor they make or the Government by taxes; and to propose, as you do, to raise a penny or half penny an acre for the poor, were the encrease the Tenants' rent, that all are already unreasonably racked so much.  For assure yourself that the Landlords wou'd covenant with tenants to pay that tax as they do all others without abateing any thing of the price of the Lands, and this wou'd break more than it wou'd relieve.

     As for trading, 'tis another source of oppression; for most of all our trading is with commodities that are the necessarys of life--such are Beef, Butter, fish and Grain--by which persons are incouraged to keep great stocks and great quantities of Lands, the poor are debarred of the necessarys of Life and forced to feed on offals and the refuse of things--fit only for dogs--and kept from profitable and fruitfull farms; and none have the profit of our trade but the Landlords and a few Merchants, the rest being fed like Beasts, whilst these few ingross the fat of the Land.

     'Tis a very pardonable mistake in you to think great Citys are in a better condition as to this matter than the Countrey, for so it must appear to any one that do's not thorougly know both; but the case is truly much otherwise.  Both Vice and Beggary are more predominant in the City than in the Countrey.  A man that is rich employs perhaps 200 pair of hands:  he has the profit of their labour and they a bare subsistence.  One of these dys and leaves a family, or is sick and unable to labour, and then immediately his wife and children are on the parish.  This is the constant fate of all Journeymen [day laborers] that have familys, and hence it is observed in England that where the greatest Manufacturys are, beggars most abound.  A Million per annum do's not pay the poor taxes, and yet to see the multitude of miserable, vagrant beggars in London, and other places, you wou'd think no care were taken of the poor.

     These are the Floodgates that let in Beggary and the attendant vices upon us, and to go about to supply the poor made by them, whilst they are left open, is to begin at the wrong end--and like applying a Strengthening plaster to the Toe when a man is in a fit of appoplexy.

     Yet since this is all we can do, we must not neglect it, and God will reward us according to our good intentions not according to our success.  I will add no more but my hearty prayers for you, etc.

**Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from being a Burden to their Parents or Country; and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick (1729).  [Swift's most famous tract relating to Ireland was written after three years of famine.]
        It is a melancholly Object to those, who walk through this great Town [Dublin], or travel in the Country; when they see the Streets, the Roads, and Cabbin-doors crowded with Beggars of the Female Sex, followed by three, four, or six Children, all in Rags, and importuning every Passenger for an Alms.  These Mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest Livelyhood, are forced to employ all their Time in stroling to beg Sustenance for their helpless Infants; who, as they grow up, either turn Thieves for want of Work; or leave their dear Native Country, to fight for the Pretender  in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
        I think it is agreed by all Parties, that this prodigious Number of Children in the Arms, or on the Backs, or at the Heels of their Mothers, and frequently of their Fathers, is in the present deplorable State of the Kingdom, a very great additional Grievance; and therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method of making these Children sound and useful Members of the Commonwealth, would deserve so well of the Publick, as to have his Statue set up for a Preserver of the Nation.
        But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the Children of professed Beggars:  It is of a much greater Extent, and shall take in the whole Number of Infants at a certain Age, who are born of Parents, in effect as little able to support them, as those who demand our Charity in the Streets.
        As to my own Part, having turned my Thoughts for many years, upon this important Subject, and maturely weighed the several Schemes of other Projectors, I have always found them grosly mistaken in their Computation.  It is true a Child, just dropt from its Dam, may be supported by her Milk, for a Solar Year with little other Nourishment; at most not above the Value of two Shillings; which the Mother may certainly get, or the Value in Scraps, by her lawful Occupation of Begging:  And, it is exactly at one Year old, that I propose to provide for them in such a Manners, as, instead of being a Charge upon their Parents, or the Parish, or wanting Food and Raiment for the rest of their Lives; they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the Feeding, and partly to the Cloathing, of many Thousands.
        There is likewise another great Advantage in my Scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary Abortions, and that horrid Practice of Women murdering their Bastard Children; alas! too frequent among us; sacrificing the poor innocent Babes, I doubt, more to avoid the Expence than the Shame; which would move Tears and Pity in the most Savage and inhuman Breast.
        The Number of Souls in Ireland being usually reckoned one Million and a half; of these I calculate there may be about Two hundred Thousand Couple whose Wives are Breeders; from which Number I subtract thirty thousand Couples, who are able to maintain their own Children; although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present Distresses of the Kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an Hundred and Seventy Thousand Breeders.  I again subtract Fifty Thousand, for those Women who miscarry, or whose Children die by Accident, or Disease, within the Year.  There only remain an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Children of poor Parents, annually born:  The Question therefore is, How this Number shall be reared, and provided for?  Which, as I have already said, under the present Situation of Affairs, is utterly impossible, by all the Methods hitherto proposed:  For we can neither employ them in Handicraft or Agriculture; we neither build Houses, (I mean in the Country) nor cultivate Land:  They can very seldom pick up a Livelyhood by Stealing until they arrive at six Years old; except where they are of towardly Parts, although, I confess, they learn the Rudiments much earlier; during which Time, they can, however, be properly looked upon only as Probationers; as I have been informed by a principal Gentleman in the County of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew above one or two Instances under the Age of six, even in a Part of the Kingdom so renowned for the quickest Proficiency in that Art.
        I am assured by our Merchants, that a Boy or a Girl before twelve Years old, is no saleable Commodity; and even when they come to this Age, they will not yield above Three Pounds, or Three Pounds and half a Crown at most, on the Exchange; which cannot turn to Account either to the Parents of the Kingdom; the Charge of Nutriment and Rags, having been at least four Times that Value.
        I shall now therefore humbly propose my own Thoughts; which I hope will not be liable to the least Objection.
        I have been assured by a very knowing American of my Acquaintance in London; that a young healthy Child, well nursed, at a Year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome Food; whether Stewed, Roasted, Baked, or Boiled; and, I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or Ragoust.
        I do therefore humbly offer it to publick Consideration, that of the Hundred and Twenty Thousand Children, already computed, Twenty thousand may be reserved for Breed; whereof only one Fourth Part to be Males; which is more than we allow to Sheep, black Cattle, or Swine; and my Reason is, that these Children are seldom the Fruits of Marriage, a Circumstance not much regarded by our Savages; therefore, one Male will be sufficient to serve four Females.  That the remaining Hundred thousand, may, at a Year old, be offered in Sale to the Persons of Quality and Fortune, through the Kingdom; always advising the Mother to let them suck plentifully in the last Month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good Table.  A Child will make two Dishes at an Entertainment for Friends; and when the Family dines alone, the fore or hind Quarter will make a reasonable Dish; and seasoned with a little Pepper or Salt, will be very good Boiled on the fourth Day, especially in Winter.
        I have reckoned upon a Medium, that a Child just born will weigh Twelve Pounds; and in a solar Year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth to twenty eight Pounds.
        I grant this Food will be somewhat dear,  and therefore very proper for Landlords; who, as they have already devoured most of the Parents, seem to have the best Title to the Children.
        Infants Flesh will be in Season throughout the Year; but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after:  For we are told by a grave Author, an eminent French Physician, that Fish being a prolifick Dyet, there are more Children born in Roman Catholick Countries about Nine Months after Lent, than at any other Season:  Therefore reckoning a Year after Lent, the Markets will be more glutted than usual; because the Number of Popish Infants, is, at least, three to one in this Kingdom; and therefore it will have one other Collateral Advantage, by lessening the Number of Papists among us.
        I have already computed the Charge of nursing a Beggar's Child (in which List I reckon all Cottagers, labourers, and Four fifths of the Farmers) to be about two Shillings per Annum, Rags included; and I believe, no Gentleman would repine [complain] to give Ten Shillings, for the Carcase of a good fat Child; which, as I have said, will make four Dishes of excellent nutritive Meat, when he hath only some particular Friend, or his own Family, to dine with him.  Thus the Squire will learn to be a good Landlord, and grow popular among his Tenants; the Mother will have Eight Shillings net Profit, and be fit for Work until she produceth another Child.
        Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the Times require) may flay the Carcase; the Skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable Gloves for Ladies, and Summer Boots for Gentlemen.
        As to our City of Dublin; Shambles [slaughter-houses] may be appointed for this Purpose, in the most convenient Parts of it; and Butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the Children alive, and dressing them hot from the Knife, as we do roasting Pigs....
        I can think of no one Objection, that will possibly be raised against this Proposal; unless it should be urged, that the Number of People will be thereby much lessened in the Kingdom.  This I freely own; and it was indeed one principal Design in offering it to the World.  I desire the Reader will observe, that I calculate my Remedy for this one individual Kingdom of Ireland, and for no other that ever was, is, or I think ever can be on Earth.... As to my self; having been wearied out for many Years with offering vain, idle, visionary Thoughts; and at length utterly despairing of Success, I fortunately fell upon this Proposal; which, as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no Expence, and little Trouble, full in our own Power; and whereby we can incur no Danger in disobliging England:  For, this Kind of Commodity will not bear Exportation; the Flesh being of too tender a Consistence, to admit a long Continuance in Salt; although, perhaps, I could name a Country, which would be glad to eat up our whole Nation without it.
        After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own Opinion, as to reject any Offer proposed by wise Men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual.  But before something of that Kind shall be advanced, in Contradiction to my Scheme, and offering a better; I desire the Author, or Authors, will be pleased maturely to consider two Points.  First, As Things now stand, how they will be able to find Food and Raiment, for a Hundred Thousand useless Mouths and Backs?  And secondly, There being a round Million of Creatures in human Figure, throughout this Kingdom; whose whole Subsistence, put into a common Stock, would leave them in Debt two Millions of Pounds Sterling; adding those, who are Beggars by Profession, to the Bulk of Farmers, Cottagers, and Labourers, with their Wives and Children, who are Beggars in Effect; I desire these Politicians, who dislike my Overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an Answer, that they will first ask the Parents of these Mortals, Whether they would not, at this Day, think it a great Happiness to have been sold for Food at a Year old, in the Manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual Scene of Misfortunes, as they have since gone through; by the Oppression of Landlords; the Impossibility of paying Rent, without Money or Trade; the Want of common Subsistence, with neither House nor Cloaths, to cover them from the Inclemencies of Weather; and the most inevitable Prospect of intailing the like, or greater Misers upon their Breed for ever.
        I profess, in the Sincerity of my Heart, that I have not the least personal Interest, in endeavouring to promote this necessary Work; having no other Motive than the public Good of my Country, by advancing our Trade, providing for Infants, relieving the Poor, and giving some Pleasure to the Rich.  I have no Children, by which I can propose to get a single Penny; the youngest being nine Years old, and my Wife past Child-bearing.