Testimony of Sir John Davies.

63

make them feel that it costs somewhat more to oppress a brave and high-minded people than to conquer them by kindness., Sir John Davies, whọ was speaker of the Irish House of Commons in the reign of James I. and whose opinions upon any subject are entitled to much consideration, makes the following very just reflections upon the state of the Irish in his time: As long," says he, "as the Irish were out of the protection of the law, so as every Englishman might oppress, spoil, and kill them without controulment, how was it possible they should be other than outlaws and enemies to the crown of England? If the King would not admit them to the condition of subjects, how could they acknowledge and obey him as their -sovereign? and, in a word, if the English would neither in peace govern them by the law, nor in war root them out by the sword, must they not [needs be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides, till the world's end,?"

Such was the state of the Irish people in the seventeenth century, such has been nearly their <state ever since, and such was their state during the reign of Edward I. The infatuation of the English government at that period is wholly unaccountable. Without possessing any thing like the entire dominion of the country, they cantoned the whole of it out among ten English families, owho styled themselves owners and lords of Ireland. Nothing was consequently left, and nothing was intended to be enjoyed by the natives; and it is

64

Exactions of the English government.

asserted that, for 300 years and upwards after the invasion, not any grant of land was made to an Irish lord, except one from the crown to the King of Thomond, during the minority of Henry III. and the treaty with the King of Connaught. The English settlers, in fact, were a species of petty sovereigns, exercising their dominion with all the worst features of delegated authority; while the native Irish were reduced to a state of the mostopprobrious vassalage and servitude; I mean that part of them which inhabited the lands that were actually conquered by the English.

Notwithstanding, however, that the Irish were thus hostilely treated, Edward endeavoured to exact from them the same contributions as if they were enjoying all the privileges which such contributions ought to procure. In 1295, he sought to avail himself of the papal power, in order to obtain the grant of a tenth of all the ecclesiastical revenues of the Irish clergy. The pretence for this exaction was the ordinary one of that age, an expedition to the Holy-land; but the clergy of Ireland were less disposed than that of England to submit to any temporal interference on the part of the Pope, and as they were therefore neither disposed nor enabled to comply with this demand on the part of the English monarch, he was disappointed in his expectations. He succeeded better, however, with the laity of Ireland, who granted him, with some little reluctance, a fifteenth of their effects.

First Irish Parliament assembled.

65

Another important feature which marks the History of Ireland during the reign of Edward, was the assembling the first regular parliament which the country could be said to possess. This was in 1295, and although it was inconsiderable in point of number, yet many of the legislative provisions which it enacted were beneficial to the people.

"It was enacted," says Plowden, "that tenants of every degree should provide according to their rank towards a militia, and that absentees should contribute out of their Irish revenues to that establishment. It was also enacted, that in particular incursions of the Irish, the neighbouring settlers, who should not attempt to assist the government, or repel the invasion, should for their wilful neglect be liable to pay damages to their suffering neighbours. And in order to prevent the national evil of frequent military expeditions by the great lords, it was also ordained, that in future no lord should make war but by licence of the chief governor, or by special mandate of the King. Several other wholesome ordinances of like, though subordinate tendency, were passed by the express order of Edward, who, it appears, really wished to promote the welfare of Ireland, though in so doing he forgot not his own interest, however he were thwarted in it by the 'mal-administration of this distant government. In cases of any sudden, insurrection of the Irish, when the chief governor was at a distance, it was further enacted, that from the moment hostilities commenced, the

66

Some of its infamous enactments.

country attacked should instantly, and without further orders, rise in arms, and maintain the war at their own charges, without intermission or suspension, till the enemy should be reduced, or consent to cessation, or the chief governor should otherwise direct. And in order to deprive the enemy of their usual shelter, every lord was di rected to repair and clear the roads through his woods and forests, to make bridges, pathways, and other provisions for traversing the country with readiness and security, and pursuing the insurgents into their retreats. And for the purpose of preventing any mistake between Englishmen and Irishmen (for killing the latter there was no punishment), it was still further enacted, that all Englishmen should conform strictly to the garb and tonsure of their own countrymen, at least in the tonsure of their hair, on pain of seizure of their lands and chattels, and imprisonment of their persons. And lastly, two lords in every county and liberty in which Irishmen were resident, were, in the absence of the chief governor, vested with power to treat with the Irish in all matters in which the public tranquillity was concerned."

While the reader peruses these enactments, and acknowledges the propriety of many of them, surely he cannot but feel a sentiment of lively and indignant disgust at that barbarous policy which excluded an Irishman from the common rights of human nature, by rendering his life of no value in the estimation of crimes. It is hardly

Death of Edward I.

67

possible to conceive a proscription more detestable than that; and while it strongly marks the ferocious character of the English government towards Ireland, it more than extenuates, for it justifies every act of rebellion by which they endeavoured to retaliate upon their bloody and relentless persecutors a stigma so savage and so disgraceful. Where was the use of any legislative provisions tending to civilize or regulate the manners of the people, while there existed such a marked and hateful distinction between the settlers and the indigenous population; a distinction which degraded them beneath the beasts of the field, for at the very moment, when it was held no crime to kill an Irishman, there were many and severe laws against the destruction of animals of the chase, and a stag was actually of more value in the appreciation of the English government than a man, if that man happened to be a native. Can we wonder therefore looking at the record of such a practice as this, that insurrections, wars, and tumults marked every step of time in this period of Irish history; or that the English found it no very easy task to maintain themselves even in the province of Leinster? Such was the fact however; a spirit of insubordination was rapidly spreading throughout the land, and every thing threatend ́danger and confusion when the reign of Edward closed in the year 1907, after a dominion of 35 years over the