❝sioners appointed by the parliament of England in 1698, it "appears, that the Irish subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1688, amounted to three thousand nine hundred and seventy“ eight, and that their Irish possessions, as far as could be com"puted, were of the annual value of two hundred and eleven "thousand six hundred and twenty-three pounds; comprising one million sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety two acres. This fund was sold under the authority of an English "act of parliament, to defray the expences incurred by England "in reducing the rebels of 1688; and the sale introduced into "Ireland a new set of adventurers. 46 "It is a very curious and important speculation to look back to the forfeitures of Ireland incurred in the last century. The 66 superficial contents of the island are calculated at eleven mil"lion forty-two thousand six hundred and eighty-two acres..... "Let us now examine the state of forfeitures: "In the reign of James I. the whole of the pro- Total Acres. 2,836,837 7,800,000 1,060,792 11,697,629 "So that the whole of your island has been confiscated, with "the exception of the estates of five or six families of English "blood, some of whom had been attainted in the reign of Henry "the VIIIth, but recovered their possessions before Tyrone's "rebellion, and had the good fortune to escape the pillage of "the English republic inflicted by Cromwell; and no inconsi"derable portion of the island has been confiscated twice, or "perhaps thrice, in the course of a century. The situation "therefore of the Irish nation at the Revolution, stands unparal"leled in the history of the inhabited world. If the wars of "England carried on here, from the reign of Elizabeth, had "been waged against a foreign enemy, the inhabitants would "have retained their possessions under the established law of "civilized nations, and their country have been annexed as a "province to the British empire." PART III. OF THE STAte of the IRISH NATION, FROM THE REVOLUTION UNDER JAMES II. TO THE CLOSE OF THE UNION. CHAPTER I. THE REIGNS OF WILLIAM AND MARY, AND WILLIAM. THE Revolution of 1688 opens to our view a new scene of Irish politics. Whatever civil advantages were gained or established at that epoch in England, vainly do the Irish look up to it, as the æra of their commencement or improvement of constitutional liberty. Then more than ever was Ireland treated as a conquered people, its independence violated, its national consequence and dignity debased. It appears to have been the systematic policy of the British cabinet of that day, not only to trample on the rights of the individuals, through their immediate governors, but to extinguish the very idea of an independent legislature in Ireland.* Mr. Burke, viewing this situation of his country as a statesman and a philosopher, has left a masterly portrait of it. (Letter to Sir Her. Lang. p. 44.) "By the total reduction of the kingdom of Ireland in 1691, the ruin of the na“tive Irish, and in a great measure too of the first races of the English, was "completely accomplished. The new interest was settled with as solid a "stability as any thing in human affairs can look for. All the penal laws of "that unparalleled code of oppression, which were made after the last event, were manifestly the effects of national hatred and scorn towards a conquered "people, whom the victors delighted to trample upon, and were not at all "afraid to provoke. They were not the effects of their fears, but of their se"curity. They who carried on this system, looked to the irresistible force of "Great Britain for their support in their acts of power. They were quite "certain, that no complaints of the natives would be heard on this side of the "water, with any other sentiments than those of contempt and indignation. "Their cries served only to augment their torture. Machines which could 66 answer their purposes so well must be of an excellent contrivance. Indeed "at that time in England the double name of the complainants, Irish and Pa"pists, (it would be hard to say singly, which was the most odious) shut up "the hearts of every one against them. Whilst that temper prevailed in all When we throw back our attention to the circumstances of those days, it appears unaccountable, that the articles of Limerick, to which the great seal of England had been affixed, should have been so quickly and so barefacedly infringed in the face of the nation. Two months had not elapsed, when, according to the testimony of Harris, the avowed encomiast of William, the lords justices and General Ginkle endeavoured to render the first of those articles of as little force as possible. Nay, *" the "justices of the peace, sheriffs and other magistrates presuming "on their power in the country, did, in an illegal manner, dispossess several of their majesties subjects not only of their <6 goods and chattels, but of their lands and tenements, to the great disturbance of the peace of the kingdom, subversion of "the law, and reproach of their majesties government." So little delicate was the government, at this time, of the observance of them, that Harris scrupled not to confess, that "Capel, "lord justice in 1693, proceeded as far as it was in his power to "infringe the articles of Limerick." We shall be less surprised at this open violation and defiance of the articles of Limerick, when we consider that they were boasted of by the friends of James as the most advantageous capitulation recorded in the annals of war, and for that amongst other reasons they were condemned by the Irish Protestants, and some of the most violent Whigs in England, as dishonourable to the arms of William and unjust to his best friends in Ireland. The Irish Protestants more apprehensive of their own danger from the comparative paucity of their numbers, than their brethren in England, more severely censured the moderation of William in consenting to articles favourable to their opponents, and lamented their having perhaps lost for ever the advantage of crushing the Catholics, with some signal aggravation of rigour, that should take away the possibility of their raising their heads again. In no sense could the Revolution of 1688 be termed any thing else to the Irish than a mere conquest, and a conquest of the harshest "its force to a time within our memory, every measure was pleasing and po"pular, just in proportion as it tended to harass and ruin a set of people, who "were looked upon as enemies to God and man; and indeed as a race of bigot"ted savages, who were a disgrace to human nature itself." Harris's Life of King William, p. 357. + Ibid. p. 350. It appears also from a letter of the lords justices of the 19th of November, 1691, that their lordships "had received complaints from all parts of Ireland "of the ill treatment of the Irish who had submitted, had their majesties pro"tection, or were included in articles: and that they were so extremely terri. "fied with apprehensions of the continuance of that usage, that some thou"sands of them, who had quitted the Irish army, and went home with a reso"Jution not to go to France, were then come back again, and pressed earnestly "to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland, where contrary to the public faith "as well as law and justice, they were robbed of their substance and abused " in their persons." nature, inasmuch as it was not followed up by a participation of civil rights and liberties between the conquerors and conquered, but acted upon as a new ground for imposing additional severities upon the former grievances of the vanquished. "It was, "(as Mr. Burke observed, in defiance of the principles of our "Revolution) the establishment of the power of the smaller "number, at the expence of the civil liberties and properties of "the far greater, and at the expence of the civil liberties of the "whole." Under the imperious circumstances of a great nation's recovering from the agonies of a long and bloody contest, it might have been expected, that some things should have been necessarily done by the executive, until the legislative power could be conveniently called upon to ratify and confirm them. But although Ireland, as an independent kingdom, claimed, under William, the same rights which it had enjoyed under his predecessors; yet did the parliament of England usurp the right of legislating for Ireland, in as free and uncontrolled a manner, as if Ireland had no right to a parliament of its own. Thus in the year 1691, before William had convened an Irish parliament, the English parliament passed an act to alter the laws of Ireland, upon the most essential and fundamental rights of the subject, by excluding the Roman Catholics, who then composed the decided majority of the nation, from a seat in either House of Parliament. And when a pure Protestant parliament had been convened in the year 1692, so little satisfied with it was the parliament of England, that they continued their legislative encroachments upon Ireland, by enacting whatever laws they thought proper for regulating and settling the legal, civil, military, and ecclesiastical departments in Ireland, for checking their commerce and disposing of their property. The Roman Catholics being shut out of parliament, either withdrew or were driven out of the field of politics. Their submissive forbearance under a most severe extension of the penal code during the present and subsequent reign, is the single point relating to them which has arrested the notice of any historian of that day. This bulk of the nation had a physical, not a political existence; nor were they ever brought under the consideration of the government, but as objects of some new rigour or severity. In the higher orders, the progress of the Reformation had latterly been much more rapidly extended than formerly. And the English who were now domiciliated in Ireland, were, from plantations, forfeitures, and other causes, surprisingly multiplied. • Viz. 3 William and Mary, c. ii. An act for the Abrogating the Oath of Supremacy in Ireland, and appointing other Oaths. It must also be remarked, that the 11th section of this act contains an exception of persons comprised in the Articles of Limerick, which amounts to a legislative recognition of them. |