with the principal doctrines of the Catholic church. The penalty for refusing to believe the first article, viz. Real Presence, was death; and for the others, confiscation of property and imprisonment during the king's pleasure. Not only did the parliament enact this monstrous law, but they even basely surrendered into the monarch's hands their own power, giving the Royal Proclamation the force of statute law. Such is a brief sketch of the "Reformation" enacted by Henry VIII., the first "Supreme head of the Church in England!"

Attempts were soon made to extend the new system to Ireland. According to Poyning's law, all the acts passed by the English legislature were equally operative in Ireland; hence, Irish as well as English consciences must now submit to swallow the creed concocted for them by Henry. As the most pliable of consciences are generally found in connection with a state church, so the first men who declared for the new faith in Ireland, as in England, were the highest dignitaries of that Church. George Browne, archbishop of Dublin, immediately declared for the new state creed; and to his hands was committed the task of introducing it to the people. But of all the nations of Europe, the Irish were the most tenacious of their ancient Catholic faith, and the archbishop soon found that the "Reformation" of Ireland would be a work of extreme difficulty. We have already alluded to the early independence of the Irish church, especially as manifested by the great body of the working priesthood-the men who mixed with the people, and immediately ministered to their spiritual wants. The same spirit still remained among them after the lapse of more than four hundred years, from the period of the first invasion of Ireland by the Normans. However much the priesthood of England, Catholic or Episcopalian, may have indulged in licentious practices, certainly the Irish priesthood have always been distinguished for the chastity of their lives, and the purity of their morals. Giraldus, the first English writer on Ireland, (A.D. 1198,) though he gives a dark and repulsive picture of the Irish people, speaks in a tone of unmixed eulogy of the character and conduct of their clergy, especially in regard to temperance, chastity, purity, and strict attention to religious duties. The only charge against the Irish prelates which Giraldus could make, was, that they could not boast of a single martyr! "It is true," replied Maurice, archbishop of Cashel, to whom this observation was made,-“it is true our nation may seem to be barbarous, uncultivated, and cruel ; yet have they always shewn reverence and honour to men of the church, nor ever would raise their hands in violence against the saints of God. But there is now come among us a people, who not only know how, but have been accustomed to make martyrs. From henceforth, therefore, Ireland will, like other nations, have martyrs." Unfortunately the subsequent history of Ireland fully testifies to the truth of this prediction.

From a very early period, the church in Ireland was attempted to be made the tool of the English government. We have seen that as early as the year 1180, in the reign of Henry II., one John Canning, an Englishman, was appointed archbishop of Dublin; and from this time forwards, were Englishmen on every occasion appointed to high offices in the church, when it was in the power of the invading party to accomplish their object. In fact, the admission of natives into any of the religious communities established within English bounds, was strictly forbidden, under heavy penalties. The presentation of a native clergyman to any ecclesiastical office or benefice was also forbidden (A.D. 1417) on pain of forfeiting all temporalities on the part of the presentee. Thus, even though the whole nation was Catholic, there was the church of the English and the church of the Irish almost from the commencement of the English ascendancy in Ireland. The former was an instrument wielded by the government to maintain its influence; its officiating clergy being generally the mere tools of despotic power. The latter was the church of the people, and its priests were their advisers, counsellors, and comforters, often in temporal as well as spiritual affairs. The former was the church of the invaders, a badge of conquest: the latter was the native institution, based on the affections of the people, and at all times found ranged on their side in opposition to despotic power and authority. From the first, then, these two churches, though both Catholic, were greatly at variance with each other; and were separated by differences in race, in language, in political feeling, and even in ecclesiastical discipline. All attempts to assimilate the Irish church to the English completely failed. Such was the state of church affairs in Ireland when the attempt was made to introduce the Reformation" by the English government. And from this time forward, the Roman Catholic church in Ireland, backed by the great body of the people, may be looked upon as the great engine of opposition to the royal power.

The first step adopted by Henry's agents in introducing the new creed was to call a Parliament, which, subservient as usual to the regal power, followed the example of the English legislature, declaring the King's supremacy in the Church, and his right to first fruits instead of the Pope,-granting him and his heirs for ever, the twentieth part of the annual profits of all ecclesiastical promotions,and also acknowledging the king's right to dispose of the kingdom of England and the lordship of Ireland, by letters patent or by will. All opposition to these measures was sternly borne down. The spiritual proctors, who resisted it successfully at first, were expelled from the Parliament in order to allow them to pass. Shortly afterwards an act was passed for the suppression of the religious houses, and the confiscation of their property to the crown, which was immediately carried quietly into effect. Lord Grey, the lord-licutenant, also collected a numerous army, and marching

through Leinster, obtained the submission of the most eminent of the native chiefs, who took the oath of supremacy, and acknowledged the king supreme head of the church. Several of the remoter chiefs attempted resistance, but without effect. O'Neil, of Ulster, assembled a numerous army, and marched to Tara, when he indulged in an ostentatious parade of his force, and then returned home, collecting booty as he went. But, before he could reach his own fortresses, he was attacked by the English at Bellahoe, and completely routed. The power of Henry was now generally acknowledged in Ireland. Parliament proceeded to grant him the title of King of Ireland, instead of Lord of Ireland, the title originally granted to Henry II. by the Pope. By this assumption of the monarchy, the authority of Rome to bestow the sovereignty of the kingdom was completely disclaimed. The passing of the bill conferring on Henry the title of King of Ireland was made the subject of general rejoicing by the government. A general pardon was proclaimed, bonfires were set a-blazing, and wine was placed in the streets for the public drinking. Many of the native chiefs were at the same time induced to lay aside their Milesian pre-eminence, and accepted of English peerages. O'Neil was created Earl of Tyrone; De Burgh, Earl of Clanricarde; and O'Brien, Earl of Thomond. These had formerly been the greatest disturbers of the peace of the government; and the policy of conciliating them was soon made apparent in the general tranquillity and peacefulness which prevailed throughout the land. This continued till the death of Henry; when the country was in such a state of repose as it had not been for centuries past, though no particularly active measures had been adopted as in England, (where the most dreadful persecutions now prevailed,) for enforcing the newly established creed upon the Irish people.

The repose which prevailed towards the end of Henry's reign was broken in upon during the reign of Edward VI., when the Protector, Somerset, attempted to introduce the reformed Liturgy into Ireland. Persecution then commenced its hideous course, and the Irish were victimized by thousands under the pretence of zeal for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus. Churches were robbed, and the spoils sold to the highest bidder. New and coercive Acts of Parliament were passed, and soldiers were sent among the people to enforce them. The reformed clergy left every thing to the state to do they made no exertion to "convert" the people, or shew forth in their own lives the beauty of the precepts which they were paid to teach their sole dependence was on the sword of the state. An Irish Lord Chancellor of the time states that the reformed clergy did not preach more than once a year: the ministrations of the king's soldiers were vastly more regular. To give an instance of the zeal of these missionaries, we quote the following passage from Leland, a celebrated Protestant writer:-" Under pretence," says he, "of obeying the orders of the state, they seized all the most valuable furniture of the churches, which they exposed to sale

without secrecy or reserve. The Irish annalists pathetically describe the garrison of Athlone issuing forth with a barbarous and heathen fury, and pillaging the famous church of Clonmacnoise, tearing away the most inoffensive ornaments, so as to leave the shrine of their favourite Saint Kieran a hideous monument of sacrilege." Taylor, another Protestant writer, says "The first impression produced by the advocates of the reformed religion was, that the new system sanctioned sacrilege and robbery."

On the death of Edward, the Catholic religion was again reestablished in England, the great body of the priesthood were again found as ready to declare for Catholicism as they had formerly been for Protestantism. All the furies of persecution were again let loose in England, and in the course of five years not fewer than 300 persons were burnt to death for their adherence to the reformed religion. But though Mary thus earned for herself in England the title of the Bloody," in Ireland the policy of the government and the temper of the people were of an entirely opposite description. The Catholic religion was again quietly established; not a life was taken; not the slightest persecution was attempted. Many Protestant families even fled from the fury of their own government and took refuge in Ireland, where they continued to worship freely after their own consciences. It is highly honourable to the Irish Catholics that they have never followed the example of their Protestant persecutors, when they had the power in their hands. They have, on the other hand, set a lesson of charity and forbearance such as Protestants at all times would have done well to imitate. How different was the conduct of the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland, in the reign of Mary's sister, Elizabeth, we shall see in our next chapter.

The civil events in the reign of Mary, are of comparatively little note. Petty civil wars occasionally broke out, and were put down by force of arms. The two septs of O'Connors and O'Moores, chiefly inhabiting the counties of Leix and Ofalley, were nearly extirpated, and their lands occupied by colonists from England. To commemorate the horrible massacre, the two counties were named King's and Queen's county, and their chief towns Philipstown and Maryborough, after the English queen and her husband, which names these places retain down to the present day. It is a refinement of cruelty, such as has been attempted in no other country, for the conquering party to take every possible method, even down to the naming of counties and of towns, to root into the memory of the native inhabitants, the destructive spoliation and massacres which have been inflicted on them. Other conquerors have adopted every means of effacing the memory of their subjection from the minds of the great body of the conquered, and thus endeavoured to blend the two races into one people. But in Ireland exactly the contrary practice has been pursued. The most hateful distinctions have been carefully preserved, as if with

the view of keeping green the memory of their oppressions in the minds of the plundered natives. And so successful has this practice of the English government in Ireland been, that, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the Lord Chancellor of England, in his official position in the House of Lords, amidst "hear, hears," and "great applause," feels himself justified in branding the entire Irish people as "aliens in blood, aliens in language, and aliens in religion"!

CHAPTER XI.

Elizabeth re-establishes the reformed religion-Instantaneous conversion of the state priesthood in England - Ireland remains Catholic-Civil wars raging throughout Ireland—The Acts of Supremacy and Conformity passed—The new state clergy and the old-Means by which the power of the English government was extended-Destruction of John O'Neill of Ulster, and confiscation of his estates-Rebellion of the Earl of Desmond-Horrible devastation of Munster by the royal army-Resistance of the Earl-Massacre of his Spanish auxiliaries -Spenser's short and easy method with the Irish-Destruction of DesmondHolinshed's account of the state of the country-"Hibernia pacata"-Confiscation and partition of the Desmond estates-Sir John Perrot-Rebellion stirred up in Ulster-The war against Hugh O'Neill-The English armies repeatedly defeated -Insurrection becomes general-the Earl of Essex made lord lieutenant-Is defeated by the policy of O'Neill-Essex is succeeded by Montjoy-Help arrivės from Spain-Siege of Kinsale-The Irish army is defeated-O'Sullivan of Dunborg-Devastation of Ulster-Horrible sufferings of the peasantry-O'Neill makes peace with Elizabeth-How the "reformed" religion was propagated-Persecutions of the Catholics-Character of the Protestant clergy-Summary of Elizabeth's reign-The "Reformation completed."

ELIZABETH ascended the throne of England, and re-established the reformed religion by act of parliament. She ordered all the established clergy to swear to the new order of things. What a wonderful power there is in an act of parliament! At once, and as if by miracle, the whole national priesthood changed their religion. Out of the immense host of clergy, spread over the ten thousand parishes of England, not more than two hundred refused to become Protestants at the order of her Majesty, the "good Queen Bess." The act of parliament passed, and the effect was almost instantaneous: the state priesthood were at once re-converted to Protestantism! Probably there is not such another instance of degrading mental slavery in the entire history, degrading though it be throughout, of established and state-paid churchism.

But it was otherwise in Ireland. Many of the English clergy of the Pale were, it is true, re-converted back to Protestantism;*

LELAND says, that "in the Parliament convened in Ireland, on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, most of the temporal lords were those whose descendants, even to our own days, continue firmly attached to the Romish communion; but far the greater part of the prelates were such as quietly enjoyed their sces, BY CONFORMING OCCASIONALLY TO DIFFERENT

MODES OF RELIGION."

F