Now practically every part of Ireland had been, at some period of the war, so held, and the inhabitants had, of necessity, remained, because they had nowhere else to go, and submitted to the authority of the "rebels," because they had no force to oppose it, should they have desired to do so. Thus it happened that to prove " innocency" or "good affection to the Parliament" was, in the vast majority of cases, impossible.

In September, 1653, all Irish Catholics not adjudged "innocent," and whose property exceeded the annual value of £10, were ordered to remove across the Shannon into Connacht and Clare, and not, on their peril, to be found east of that river after the first day of May 1654. The poor who were suffered to remain must learn English and bring up their children as Protestants.

When this decree, terrible almost as a sentence of death, was made known, a wail of despair arose from the destined victims. Remonstrances and protests of innocence, prayers for at least delay, followed. Very seldom were these petitions listened to. Now and then there was a respite of perhaps a couple of months, for a man to gather in his crops or for an invalid to recover or to die, but, as a rule, the slightest grace was refused.

A Commission was appointed to inquire into the cases of those who had been deemed transplantable, to decide to what class they belonged, and consequently to what number of acres in Connacht they could lay claim. When they had crossed the Shannon another Commission was to assign them the land on which they should settle. Connacht was, owing to the poor quality of the land there, rather sparsely peopled, and, especially as it would be regarded as of small importance whether or not the portion assigned to a transplanted family was sufficiently large to afford subsistence, it was expected that there would be sufficient space to accommodate in some sort all the miserable exiles who, according to the often quoted phrase, were to choose between it and-Hell.

The same measure that was given to the rural population was meted out also to the townsfolk; to all, that is, who were Papists. They were to be cleared out, and English Protestants invited to take their places. In spite of the offer of very favourable terms, English buyers did not appear, or appeared in very small numbers, while the banishment of the Catholic traders was ruinous to the towns themselves; in so far, that is, as it was carried out; for neither these nor many other decrees were very extensively or very strictly obeyed.

As might have been expected, many of the Irish, especially of the younger men, rather than go to Connacht preferred to leave Ireland altogether. Great numbers joined the Spanish army. Others fled to the woods and became tories. Others again, feeble and despairing, wandered about the lands that had once been theirs. These, when

captured, were sent as slaves to the West Indies, or, in some instances, hanged.

The Planters are Settled on the Land.-As soon as the Irish Papist landowners had been, to some extent, got rid of, that is to say in the Summer of 1653, the great work of settling the adventurers and soldiers on the lands which had been cleared was begun.

Already, indeed sometimes many months before this, numbers of the soldiers had sold the shares assigned them, sometimes for a few pints of beer or a couple of shillings. The purchasers were often the officers of the regiments, who thus, by buying up many shares, accumulated for themselves great estates at a nominal cost.

When the companies were marched down to the districts assigned them, and the lands portioned out to the individual soldiers, these were often discontented, even at first, and more discontented afterwards when they had made trial of the conditions under which they were henceforth to live. There was no good beer, they said, nor good cheese to be had, and there was no one to marry. To marry the Irish Catholic girls they were forbidden, unless these would change their religion, which they rarely were willing to do. In the end a good many abandoned their lands and returned to their own country.

In the assignments there were frequent mistakes, and still more frequent frauds. Men contrived, by bribing officials, to have excellent lands scheduled as "barren," and added to their shares. Some adventurers managed to obtain lands yielding an annual income of several thousand pounds for an original subscription of as many hundreds. Under the Restoration, the Irish Attorney-General, Domville, gave it as his opinion that the soldiers and adventurers had got into their hands, one way or another, nearly a million and a quarter acres more than was justly due to them.

Sufferings of the Irish.-It will readily be understood that official carelessness and official blunders were not likely to be less flagrant when only the transplanted Irish were concerned. Many of the exiles died of want while waiting for the judgment of the Commissioner on their cases. Others discovered, when they desired to take possession of the Connacht lands assigned them, that these had already been granted to others. People of the highest rank were reduced to utter destitution. Viscount Ikerin wandered about "a miserable object of pity." "Viscount Roche's daughter died for want of requisite accommodation."

Extent of the Settlement.-To ascertain the amount of land actually confiscated under the Cromwellian Settlement Scheme and the number of persons actually transplanted, is rendered extremely difficult by the evasions, frauds and mistakes already alluded to, as well as by the fact that many decrees were made which were never carried out. The latest

authorities consider that some 11,000,000 acres-somewhat more than half the acreage of Ireland-was confiscated, including the Connacht lands "set out" to the transplanted. Of this, however, much was subsequently occupied by Irish tenants.

The transplanted are said to have numbered about 50,000 persons; whilst those banished, sent to the plantations, or who left the country of their own accord, were about 40,000. This then accounted for 90,000 out of a population of something over three quarters of a million. These figures can, however, be considered only as rough approximations.

It had been originally intended that, of the Catholics unable to fulfil the almost impossible conditions required for proving their "constant good affection" to the Parliament, only those whose valuation was under £10 yearly should escape transportation; while, in a large district on the east coast-that bounded by the Boyne, the Barrow and the sea-no Irish whatever should be allowed to remain, nor should any be suffered to reside in the towns. Subsequently it was found necessary to considerably relax these regulations. The planters in the reserved districts complained that they could get no labourers to till their lands. The town-dwellers implored that the Catholic traders might not be disturbed.

Results of the Cromwellian Settlement. The story of the Munster and of the Ulster Plantations was repeated. The English who remained, especially the soldiers, ignored the prohibition against intermarrying with the native Irish. They took to themselves Irish Catholic wives, and their children, following the mothers, became Irish in habit, tongue and creed. Some of the sons and daughters of Oliver's soldiers, we hear, could not speak a word of English. How great a failure the Settlement had been, as regards the anglicization of Ireland or the spreading within its shores of the Reformed Doctrines, is clearly shown by the results of the Census of Ireland taken by order of the Parliament in 1659. The figures for 27 of the 32 counties are extant, and show the following results: The relative proportions of Irish to English was in Leinster 13 to 2; in Ulster 5 to 2; in Munster 10 to 1; while, of 87,352 inhabitants of Connacht, only 7,672 were English. In this connection the term "English" may be taken as equivalent to "Protestants," and "Irish to Catholics." It is not, however, probable that this census was either very accurate or very complete.

In one respect, however, that of transferring the bulk of the landed property of Ireland from the native or Anglo-Irish proprietors to the Planters, the Cromwellian Settlement was, from the point of view of its originators, a decided success. Even after the Acts of Charles II had restored many of the former proprietors, the Irish held of the land of the country probably no more than, at most, one-eighth, while before the Civil War they had held about half. The Irish Papists remained indeed

almost as numerous as ever, but they had fallen from their high estate, and had become, if not actually the servants, the inferiors in social condition and in wealth of the strangers, who now held the fertile corn fields and pastures which had once been theirs.

Ireland under the Commonwealth.-During the six years of Commonwealth rule that followed the Cromwellian Settlement, Ireland had but little history. The religious rites of the Catholic Church were forbidden, and all priests were ordered to leave the country. Catholics were excluded from offices of trust, and could not administer justice,

keep school, or become barristers or solicitors. Still, while the sufferings of the clergy, forced to take refuge in woods and swamps, were often very severe, there was not much positive persecution of the laity.

The kidnapping of Catholic children for the Plantations in America and the West Indies still continued, and was only checked when some children of English Planters were seized, and their parents made strong representations to the authorities. There were constant complaints of the over-taxation of Ireland, and of the trade restrictions; constant petitions of individuals who regarded themselves as unjustly treated in the land settlement, and constant letters of officials on the unsatisfactory behaviour of the colonists, their non-observance of the prohibition to take Irish tenants, their absenteeism, their failure to pay their rents.

Still, on the whole, Ireland, during these years, recovered to a considerable extent from the terrible consequences of the Civil War. Population increased; cattle and farm produce began again to be exported and some attempts were made to revive industries.

In 1653, Cromwell selected six persons, all prominent members of his own party, to attend the Parliament at Westminster as representatives of Ireland. There was not even the pretence of an election. In 1654, the same process was practically repeated, though there seems to have been some sort of sham election, but the number of Irish members was now to be thirty. Two, three, or more of the old constituencies were, in most cases, amalgamated, and either one or two members assigned to them jointly. These men sat also in the Parliament of 1656, and, in addition, six others were summoned to Cromwell's "Second House," a sort of sham House of Lords. In 1659, they attended the last Parliament of the Commonwealth. Although, as far as Ireland was concerned at least, these were not true Parliaments in any sense, they may perhaps be regarded as the first attempts at a Legislative Union between Ireland and England.

The Restoration.-On September 3rd, 1658, Oliver Cromwell died, and in the following May the army forced Richard, his incapable son, to resign the Protectorship.

In

All over England there was a strong Royalist feeling, and it was evident that the exiled King, Charles II, would soon be restored. Ireland, Coote and Broghill had begun to communicate with Ormond and with Charles himself. Finally, they threw off the mask; seized Dublin Castle, and sent Sir Hardress Waller, the Parliamentary leader, a prisoner to England. Most of the garrison towns joined the Royalist Party, and a Convention Parliament was summoned, which met in Dublin in February, 1660. The restoration of the King was at once agreed on, and large sums of money voted to him and to his brothers. In May, Charles II was solemnly proclaimed in Dublin without any opposition.