By the ordinance of July 14, 1643, with a view to encourage merchants, Galway, with 10,000 acres of land round it, had been offered for a price of 7500_l._ and a rent of 520_l._, but the town did not come into the power of Parliament for many years, and nothing was done. Similar offers with the same result were made in the cases of Limerick, Waterford, and Wexford. As the towns were gradually won, frequent orders were given for the expulsion of the old inhabitants who adhered to Rome, and who came within the scope of the Act of Settlement. But here, as in the country, it was found impossible really to carry out the clearance effectually. Artificers and workmen could not be done without, since none came from England, and many of them remained, though no doubt the houses of a better class were left empty. When Inchiquin expelled the Roman Catholics from Cork in 1644, three thousand houses were without tenants, and as many in Youghal. The soldiers who were short of fuel warmed themselves with everything that would burn, and Ormonde about the same time had to forbid the practice in Dublin on pain of death. In March 1657 it is clear that the work of depopulation had not been done, for an order was then made 'that all Popish Recusants, as well proprietors as others, whose habitation is in any port-towns, walled towns, or garrisons,' who had not professed Protestantism before the cessation of 1643 and ever since, should remove with their families at least two miles from any such place. In 1650 some ministers and others in New England proposed to colonise, being tempted by the offer of houses and land at Wexford at one-tenth of their value before the war. Thousands were ready to come if encouraged, being 'exiles through the tyranny of episcopacy for no other offence but professing that truth, which (through mercy), is now acknowledged.' This apparently came to nothing. Those English who were attracted to Irish towns by the prospect of getting houses rent-free, were often without capital, and in no condition to establish a flourishing commerce. But all the Protestant settlers were not of this class, for Charles II.'s declaration in 1660 set forth that they had made improvements at their own charge, 'and brought trade and manufacture into that our kingdom, and by their settlement there do not a little contribute to the peace and settlement of that country.' In any case much of the work was probably done by the old inhabitants, for if they had not remained in considerable numbers, priests and friars would not daily have risked their lives in Irish towns.[277] [Sidenote: Proposed transplantation of Presbyterians.] [Sidenote: The scheme is not carried out.]