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and inform against those of their own communion, who did not frequent the Protestant churches; by neglect of which, they were subjected to fine and imprisonment. Leland observes, that this measure instead of terrifying the delinquents enraged them. The magistrates and chief citizens of Dublin were first called upon to renounce their religion. "Eighteen of the "most eminent of the city were summoned to the court of Cas"tle Chamber, of whom nine of the chief were censured, and "six of the aldermen fined each 100%.; and the other three 50%. "apiece; they were all committed prisoners to the castle during "the pleasure of the court, and it was ordered, that none of the "citizens should bear office till they conformed. The week

following the rest were censured in the same manner, except "Alderman Archer, who conformed. Their fines were allotted "to the repairs of such churches as had been damaged by the "accidental blowing up of the magazine of gunpowder in 1596, "to the relieving poor scholars, and to other charitable uses." On this occasion all the old families of the pale took the alarm, and boldly remonstrated against the severity of these proceedings: they denied the legality of the sentence by which these severities were inflicted, and urged that even by the statute of Elizabeth the crime of recusancy had its punishment ascertained, and that any extension of the penalty beyond the letter of the statute, was illegal and unconstitutional. Their remonstrance was presented to the council by an unusual concourse of those who were interested in the event. The chief of the petitioners were instantly committed to gaol; and Sir Patrick Barnewall, their great agent, was, by the king's command, soon after sent over to England in custody, and there committed to the Tower of London.

These proceedings naturally produced general rancour and distrust but the views of those who had instituted them, would have been disappointed, unless some advantages could be reaped from them. In proportion to the probability of some of the nobility's resenting this harsh and unexpected treatment, were rumours of insurrections and conspiracies set afloat, eagerly taken "Whereas his Majesty was informed, that his subjects of Ireland had been "deceived by a false report, that his Majesty was disposed to allow them liberty of conscience and the free choice of a religion contrary to that which he had always professed himself; by which means it has happened, that many of his subjects of that kingdom had firmly resolved to remain constant"ly in that religion. Wherefore he declared to all his subjects of Ireland, "that he would not admit any such liberty of conscience as they were made "to expect by that report." He then proceeds to enjoin all and each of his subjects, for the time to come, to frequent their respective churches and chapels, and to comply minutely with all the requisitions of the Act of Uniformity, &c. &c.

66

Anal. Sacr. p. 25.

Harris's History of Dublin, p. 323.

up, and industriously magnified. When Chichester had, by his intemperate severity, mounted up one party to the highest pitch of provocation, and worked up the other to an excess of credu lity and alarm, an anonymous letter was dropped in the privy council chamber, intimating a traiterous scheme of rebellion, formed by the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and other lords and gentlemen of the North, for seizing the Castle of Dublin, murdering the deputy, and raising a general revolt, with the aid of Spain and all this in defence of the Catholic religion.* Certain it is, that Tyrone and Tyrconnel fled the country, and were, together with some other fugitives of inferior note, attainted of high treason. The consequence was, the forfeiture of all their vast estates to the crown. These estates, which besides some other that had been also forfeited to the crown by Sir Cahir O'Dogherty and several of his adherents, who afterwards actually were for about five months in rebellion, comprised almost the whole six northern counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, Armagh, Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel (now called Donegal.) From that period King James entered upon his favourite scheme of forming a plantation for the avowed purpose

* At this distant period of time, the contradictory accounts of this insurrection by cotemporary authors, together with a total failure of any proof of overt acts, leave little room to doubt about its actual existence. Jones, bishop of Meath, who had formerly been scout-master-general to Cromwell's army, has given this account of the anonymous letter, which Carleton, bishop of Chichester, wholly omits, and he says he had his account from a report of the bishop of Derry. The pretended letter is to be seen in the Appendix, No. XIII.

† Some historians attribute the flight of these noblemen to a consciousness of guilt, others to their persuasion that St. Lawrence would follow them up to conviction by the same treachery and perjury with which he had brought on their accusation. Dr. Anderson, in his Royal Genealogies, p. 786, dedicated to the Prince of Wales in 1736, says, "Artful Cecil employed one St. Law"rence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin, and "other Irish chiefs into a sham plot, which had no evidence but his. But those "chiefs being basely informed, that witnesses were to be hired against them, "foolishly fled from Dublin, and so taking guilt upon them, they were de"clared rebels, and six entire counties in Ulster were at once forfeited "to the crown, which was what their enemies wanted." That this St. Lawrence was a fit instrument for such a design is clear, from what Camden relates of him (Eliz. 741) viz. that he offered to murder Lord Grey de Wilton and Sir Thomas Gerald, to prevent their conveying reports of Essex to the queen; which bloody service Lord Essex rejected with indignation. No history, whatever, mentions any symptoms of rising in the North at this time. And the king immediately after published an overcautionary forced proclamation (quod vide in Appendix, No. XIV.) by which he pledged himself, thereafter to make it appear to the world as clear as the sun by evident proof, that the only ground of these earls departure was their own knowledge and terror of guilt. These proofs have never yet been produced. And the act of parliament (11, 12, and 13 Jac. c. iv.) by which the attainders were confirmed, makes no reference to them; but barely recites, that they with several others, were attainted, as by sundrie inquisitions remaining of record may appear. This affected brevity was little congenial with the spirit and style of the pedantic James; and widely dissimilar from Elizabeth's act of attainder of O'Nial.

of excluding the old inhabitants, and introducing the new religion.* The lands were accordingly parcelled out amongst the adventurers, who flocked thither from England and Scotland. The latter were the more numerous, and brought with them the principles and discipline of Presbyterianism. This new settlement or colony was put under particular regulations, all calculated to support and strengthen the Protestant religion. The most opulent adventurers in this speculation were the citizens of London:† they obtained a large tract of land on the lower part of the river Ban in the vicinity of Derry, which town they rebuilt and called Londonderry. Whatever advantages may have been reaped by the new settlers from this system of colonising an entire country, it is evident, that it must have produced the most desperate and mischievous effects upon the Irish. The forcible dispossession of a whole province could not fail to spread discontent, alarm and disaffection amongst those who were, or at least considered themselves liable to be treated in like manner. The fugitive earls were generally reputed to be

Although the rebellion of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty were confined to the district of Innishowen and its environs, yet did James ever affect to consider the whole Irish nation as rebels or rebelliously disposed, as appears by his reference, to the system of his northern plantation in a speech to the parliament, at Whitehall, in 1609: As for Ireland, ye all well know how uncertain my "charges are ever there, that people being so easily stirred, partly through "the barbarity and want of civilitie, and partly through their corruption in "religion, to break foorthe in rebellions. And I dare never suffer the same "(i. e. the army) to be diminished, till this plantation take effect, which (no "doubt) is the greatest moate that ever came in the rebels eyes: and it is to "be looked for, if ever they will bee able to make anie stirre, they will presse " at by all meanes for the preventing and discouraging this plantation."

† Upon a very loose survey, these forfeited lands were computed to comprise 511456 Irish acres, which were disposed of as follows:

To the Londoners and other Undertakers
The Bishops Mensall Lands

The Bishops Termon and Erenacks

Acres.

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For Free Schools

The College of Dublin

To Incumbents for Glebe

The old Glebes

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116330

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To Deans and Prebends

To Servitors and Natives

The old Patentees and Forts

To New Corporations

Restored to M'Guire

I have copied this account from Sir Richard Cox, to give some idea of the small share of the lands secured or regranted to the former possessors or even occupiers; and he particularly says, that in the book which was printed for the better direction of the settlers, it was specially mentioned, that they should not suffer any labourer, that would not take the oath of supremacy, to dwell upon their land.

the victims of a sham plot, against which there, was no security, and of which there had hitherto appeared no proof. The profuse grant of the whole territory of Innishowen, together with all the other lands of Sir Cahir Ó'Dogherty, to Sir Arthur Chichester the great adviser and promoter of this plantation; the facility with which foreign grantees and their sub-grantees acquired, and the imperious oppression with which they managed their new possessions, with reference to the former inheritors and their tenants and occupiers of the soil, must, in the necessary course of nature, have more than estranged the affections of the greater part of the Irish nation from the sovereign, who commanded his servants that advised, planned and executed, and the individuals that enjoyed this new plantation.

If ever the Union of Great Britain with Ireland can be fairly viewed, it is when set off in contrast against the conduct of the English government immediately after the uniting of the three crowns in one monarch. Instead of opening her arms to embrace and admit Ireland to an equal participation of all her own rights and privileges, she dispeoples one fourth of the kingdom, and doles out a large extent of the most ancient inheritances in Europe (or the universe), to strangers, adventurers, and oppressors. Sir John Davies, from the flattering spirit of the day, and the then supposed duties of his official situation, rather complimented his sovereign upon what he wished, than what had been accomplished; for referring to the conduct of James at this period of his reign, he says, "This bred such comfort "and security in the hearts of all men, as thereupon ensued the "calmest and most universal peace that ever was seen in Ire"land." Leland, however, upon the authority of Carte and Chichester's own letters, gives a widely different view of the internal state and spirit of the Irish at this period.

In the confusion of former times some lands possessed by traitors and state delinquents had been concealed and detained from the crown. Adventurers were encouraged by the numerous donations of estates, and the ease with which affluent fortunes were obtained in Ireland: they ransacked old records, they detected such concealments, and were countenanced by the state; they dispossessed the old inhabitants, or obliged them to compound for their intrusion; they were vested with

*There is no question but that Sir John Davis has written with more truth and impartiality than any of his cotemporary authors. Some degree of partiality must, however, be allowed on matters in which he was probably con sulted as must have been the case of this plantation. Sir Francis Bacon was also advised with; but his advice was not followed. It is observable, how artfully Sir John Davis, through his historical relations, avoids any mention of religion; well knowing how sore the Irish were upon the subject, and what violent effects it produced in the convulsed politics of that kingdom.

† 2 Lel. p. 439. Carte Orm. Chich. said letters, mst. Trin. Col. Dub.

portions of their lands, or otherwise rewarded. This was a source of many grievous abuses (as was afterwards experienced), but as yet the penal laws enacted against recusants was the principal subject of complaint. Whenever temporal and political consequence and advantage are annexed to the profession of any particular religious system, it is scarcely possible, that a difference in religion should not lead to personal diffidence, rancour, or envy. Much more so, when in a community the majority is on that account subjected to humiliation, penalties, and pains. The religious parties ran so high at this time in Ireland, that Leland truly said, "The reformed looked with "abhorrence on the partisans of idolatry, and the imps of Anti"christ; the Romanists with equal rancour inveighed against heresy and apostacy, the blind ministers of Satan and chil "dren of perdition."

To consider James, says Hume,† in a more advantageous light, we must take a view of him as the legislator of Ireland. He frequently boasts of the management of Ireland as his master-piece and it will appear, adds this author, upon enquiry, that his vanity in this particular was not altogether without foundation. The political situation of Ireland at this juncture has ever been represented by our historians in a light so different from what it has been generally viewed by the Irish, that it will be proper to submit to the reader the general leading facts, with as few observations upon them as are consistent with the task I have undertaken.

Twenty-seven years had elapsed since the last parliament, when James deemed it necessary to convene one. The grounds of this necessity, according to Leland, "were to support the arrangement (the plantation of Ulster) lately made, to remove "real grievances, to repress causeless discontents, and to secure "the administration against all attempts of turbulence and "disaffection." The progress of the reformation in Ireland under James, although much more considerable than under Elizabeth, did not yet answer the views or wishes of government. The Lord Deputy Chichester had succesfully convinced the king of the necessity of establishing a Protestant ascendency in parliament, and pledged himself that, with a plenitude

*2 Lel. p. 441.

f Historical reign of that Monarch.

Leland informs us (though without quoting any authority), that "the king "had denounced a curse on himself and his posterity, if ever he should grant "a toleration to the Romanists: and had, on particular occasions, instructed "the Irish administration to administer the oaths, and execute the penal "laws." 2 vol. p. 452. And we read (in Anal. Sacr.), that when Chichester had made a present of a fine horse to his royal master, the king asked if it were of Irish breed, and being answered in the affirmative, his majesty swore aloud, that then certainly it must be a Papist; for that he believed all things

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