Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/63

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1654
THE DOWN SURVEY
41

valuation list or register. There were no maps attached to it, and the scheme of a general map, though present to the minds of the authors of the 'Grosse Survey,' had hitherto never been effectually carried out, though commenced here and there. Dr. Petty now undertook both to survey, to admeasure, and to map; and from the wording of his report just quoted, the work carried out by him came to be known as the Down Survey, because it was to be surveyed down on a map, unlike the Civil Survey, which, as already stated, consisted of lists of lands only with their extent and value.

Worsley, however, was not yet beaten, and he claimed a detailed examination of the report by the full Council, which in consequence had again to go into the matter. Then arose obstruction upon obstruction. The former surveyors, it was said, had not been properly considered, and it was wrong to employ soldiers. Worsley also, cleverly using the weapon given him by his rival's opposition to the transplantation, intimated that Dr. Petty 'intended to employ Irish Papists,' to which Dr. Petty relates 'that it was answered (1) by denyall, (2) by acquainting the Council that there was noe more danger to have the measurer a Papist than the meresman, which for the most part must be such,'[1] because they were the only persons who knew the boundaries. Eventually these and other difficulties were got over; and on December 11, 1654, 'after a solemn seekinge of God performed by Col. Tomlinson, for a blessing on the conclusion of so great a business,' the preliminary articles of agreement, which had been signed on October 27, were finally adopted in a more detailed shape.[2] Dr. Petty thereupon completed his securities, obtaining valuable assistance from Sir Hardress Waller, one of the Cromwellian officers in high command in Ireland; and he then entered into a contract with the Surveyor-General to perform the work in the specified manner. Orders and warrants were issued by the Council for the necessary supply of meresmen, for the delivery by Worsley within thirty days of the lists of the forfeited lands, and for access to the records of the previous surveys; and a

  1. Down Survey, p. 20.
  2. Ibid. p. 22.