Clonmel, who for the small sum of ten pounds secured 220 acres of the prime land of Glanquin and Tullacommon, in the barony of Inchiquin, and who probably was the father of the celebrated Dr. Lucas. The Westropp and Ivers families, who are still represented in the county, purchased largely; but it is fair to add that they did not deal harshly with those who had to accept tenancies under them. Similar purchases were made in every barony of the county. Not less than 72,426 acres of what was then regarded as profitable land, together with the far greater portion set down as unprofitable, but rendered profitable since in no small degree by the unaided industry of the tenants, passed over for insignificant sums to the predecessors of the present owners. Nearly all of the bestknown families of the old septs were swept out, or settled down in obscurity to till, under the new comers, the lands owned by their ancestors for over two thousand years.

1

The ownership of Clare lands became still further changed, by the sale in 1712 of great portion of the Thomond property. The earl, having no direct issue, and being probably in monetary difficulties, sold on fee-farm titles, under a Special Act of Parliament, considerable portions of O'Brien territory, of which English feudal laws made him sole owner, at the cost of the clan. Protestants only could purchase, and thus these lands also fell into the hands of the families already named, the Burtons, Gores, Westbys, MacDonnells, Westropps, Stackpooles, Henns, Scots, Gabbetts, etc. The titles acquired, as related above, are those under which, as their origin, most of the Clare properties are held at the present day.

1 Report of the Commissioners of Public Records.

CHAPTER XXIV.

FROM 1703 To 1770.

Working of the Penal Laws in Clare-Government Tools-Bishops in the Penal Times--Curious Elections-Cutting of Woods-Irish Brigade -Letter of Lord Clare-Thomond Marshal of France-Flag presented by Louis XVI.-Charles Lucas.

THIS chapter must cover a much longer period of time than any preceding one in the Christian period, for the reason that, for more than a century following, Clare can hardly be said to have a history. Its people, beaten to the ground, trampled on, and stripped of all proprietorial and civic rights, sought safety in obscurity. The policy of William, who died from a fall off his horse in 1702, or rather of the party who made William king for their own purposes, was continued during the whole reign of Queen Anne and her successors. It may be summed up in the short sentence-ferocious, savage religious and civil persecution of the defeated Irish Catholics. No other country claiming to be regarded as civilised-Russia alone hardly excepted--has such a black record on the face of its history as England has in the working of the Penal Laws of the eighteenth century. I can find no better way of describing the condition of Clare during all this time than by a recital of the conditions-they cannot be called lawsunder which the people were compelled to live. As already stated, the whole population of Clare at this period must, in all probability, have been under thirty thousand. Sir Richard Cox, the bigoted author of Hibernia Anglicana, writes exultingly in a letter,1 dated October 25th, 1705, that "the youth and gentry of the Irish were destroyed in the rebellion, or gone to France; those who are left, destitute of horses, 1 Southwell Papers.

arms, money, capacity, and courage. Five out of six of the Irish are poor, insignificant slaves, fit for nothing but to hew wood and draw water."

Before going into the particulars of the iniquitous code of laws which reduced the people of Clare and of all Ireland to the condition described above, it will interest the reader to have before his eyes the very words of the Treaty of Limerick, solemnly made with those same Irish" on the 3rd of October 1691, only fifteen years before, while they had still arms in their hands, and Patrick Sarsfield to lead them.

1st. "That the Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland; or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles the Second; and their Majesties [as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom] will endeavour to secure them such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion."

2nd. "All the inhabitants or residents of Lymerick, or any other garrison now in possession of the Irish, and all officers and soulders now in arms under any commission of K. James, or those authorised by him to grant the same, in the several counties of Lymerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, or any of them [and all such as are under their protection in the said counties 1]; and all the commissioned officers in their Majesties' quarters that belong to the Irish regiments now in being, that are treated with, and who are prisoners of war or have taken protection, who shall return and submit to their Majesties' obedience, they and every of their heirs shall hold, possess, and enjoy all and every their estates of freehold and inheritance, and all the right, title, and inheritance, privileges and immunities which they, and every or any of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully entitled to in the reign of King Charles the Second, or at any time since by the laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign of King

1 The words within brackets were omitted either by mistake or design from the first draft of the Treaty prepared for signature, but had to be added at the remonstrance of Sarsfield while the French fleet was believed to be sailing up the river.

...

Charles the Second. . . . And all and every the said persons, of what trade, profession, or calling soever they be, shall and may use, exercise, and practise their several and respective professions, trades, and callings as freely as they did use, exercise, and enjoy the same in the reign of K. James the Second, provided that no person whatsoever shall have or enjoy the benefit of this article, that shall neglect or refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance made by Act of Parliament in the first year of the reign of their present Majesties, when thereunto required." This Oath of Allegiance imposed no religious restriction whatsoever-simply allegiance to the sovereigns ruling in England.

There was, it must be admitted, a certain vagueness in the wording of the first of these articles; yet it bears on its face the promise of liberty of worship so long as the just laws of the kingdom were not violated. It cannot possibly be distorted into the meaning that Roman Catholics were to be freemen in Ireland only when they became Protestant. That this was the policy adopted towards them in the years following is so well known that it requires no proof. However, a few specimens of the Draconian code enacted against them, originating in the very next Parliaments after the Treaty, will find a fitting place here, if only to contrast them with the words of the Articles given above.

In 1693, Lord Capel came to Ireland, two years only after the Treaty, and, being made soon after Lord Deputy, began to curtail in every way the rights secured by it to the Catholics. To enable him the better to carry out the fell purpose for which he was appointed, he called a Parliament in Dublin in 1695. Among the Acts of this Parliament, passed unanimously, so well had he packed it with the most bitter enemies of the people, were one for "banishing all Papists exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and all regulars of the Popish clergy, out of the kingdom before the 1st of May 1698;" another "to prevent l'apists being solicitors;" another for "restraining foreign education;" another "to prevent Protestants intermarrying with Papists," etc. etc. The penalty upon clerics remaining in the kingdom was imprisonment until they could be transported beyond the seas; and execu

tion for high treason if they dared to return. If any person concealed or entertained a cleric after the 1st of May 1698, he was to be fined £20 for the first offence, £40 for the second, and for the third he should suffer the loss of all real and personal property, half of which, if it did not exceed £100, was to go to the informer, the rest to the king. penalty for sending children out of the kingdom for education, or for instructing children at home or abroad in the Romish religion, was "forfeiture of all legal rights, as well as of all real and personal property." Out of the lands thus seized, William made grants to his mistress, Elizabeth Villiers, worth in all about £25,000 per annum.

The members for Clare in this Parliament were--for the county, Sir Donogh O'Brien and Sir Henry Ingoldsby; for Ennis, Francis Gore and Francis Burton. With these were associated for the purpose of collecting the poll-tax struck in this Parliament, the Hon. John O'Brien, Simon Purdon, Augustine Fitzgerald, James MacDonnell, Edmund Perry, Henry Lee, Thomas Hickman; Neptune Blood, Dean of Kilfenora; John Hawkins, Clerk; James Hamilton, Walter Hickman, and William Smith, Provost of Ennis.

Again, in 1703,-the Duke of Ormonde being LordLieutenant, a Bill "for preventing the further growth of Popery" passed through the English and Irish Houses of Parliament. It would appear from this Bill, that, in spite of the exodus of the Irish army and the numerous recruits following it from the land, the Catholics were still increasing in number. It was not deemed sufficient to have pains and penalties of the worst possible kind imposed on those who practised Catholicity. The open acceptance of Protestantism was made obligatory by the famous "Sacramental Test" included in this nefarious Act of Parliament. This clause excluded from all civil rights-in fact, made outlaws in their country those who did not receive the Sacrament according to the rite of the Church of England, thus renewing the Act of Elizabeth. The Catholics claimed to be heard by counsel at the bar of the House. A Clareman, Sir Theobald Butler, together with Sir Stephen Rice and Counsellor Malone, were, as if in mockery, accorded this barren privilege. Their argu