The History of Landholding in Ireland

Tipperary into Connaught took place. The new settlers were not secure as to their title, and many of them obtained forced conveyances and re-leases from the former proprietors. Clarendon, in his life, says,

"What should they do? They could not be permitted to go out of this precinct to shift for themselves elsewhere; and without their assignment in Connaught they must starve there as many did die every day of the famine. In this deplorable condition and under this consternation they found themselves obliged to accept or submit to the hardest conditions, and so signed such conveyances and re-leases as were prepared for them.”

The war of extermination was carried to such a fearful extent that it was made lawful for any of the English settlers to kill any Irish person, man, woman, or child, that was found east of the Shannon, and the common expression of these murderers towards their victims was, "To hell or Connaught with you!" Humanity recoils and shudders at the fearful atrocities which were committed, and history has no blacker page than that which records the sufferings inflicted upon the Irish during the Protectorate.

Under these circumstances the population of Ireland very seriously diminished. Sir William Petty estimated the loss of population between 1641 and 1682 at 504,000, and Clarendon tells us,

"That there was a large tract of land even to the half of the province of Connaught that was separated from the rest of Ireland by a long and large moor, and which by plague and many massacres remained almost desolate; into this space and circuit of land they required the Irish to retire by such a day, under the penalty of death, and all who should after that time be found in any part of the kingdom, man, woman, or child, should be killed by anybody who saw or met them."

Sir William Petty, in 1672, estimated the population of Ireland at about a million one hundred thousand persons. Colonel Lawrence, an eye-witness, writes :

"About the year 1652-1653, the plague and famine had so

swept away whole countries that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles without seeing a living creature, either man, beast, or bird, they being all dead or having quitted the desolate places. Our soldiers would tell stories of where they saw a smoke by day or fire or candle by night, and when we did meet with two or three poor cabins, none but very aged men, women, and children (and those with the prophet might have complained, 'We are become as a bottle in the smoke, our skin is black as an oven' because of the terrible famine) were found in them."

The restoration of Charles II. was seized upon by his supporters as the signal for resuming their estates; those who had been deprived of their lands returned and repossessed themselves of their patrimonies by force even before the king was proclaimed. This rashness was represented as a new rebellion, and the Cromwellian settlers, alarmed for their possessions, procured an Act of indemnity before the king landed, which excluded all those who thus tried to regain their lands. It was so worded as to amount to the exclusion of the whole of the Roman Catholic party. On the king's arrival in London he issued a proclamation commanding the continuance of undisturbed possession to adventurers and soldiers of all manors, houses, and lands as they then held until legally invested, or his Majesty, with the advice of Parliament, should take further measures in these affairs. At length, after much delay, on a calculation formed by the Earl of Orrery, Sir John Clotworthy, and Sir Arthur Mervyn, it was found that, besides the land possessed by the soldiers, enough remained to compensate all the innocent or meritorious Irish, and Charles published his famous declaration for the settlement of the kingdom.

By this declaration the adventurers were to be confirmed in the lands possessed by them on the 7th May, 1659, according to the Acts made in the previous reign, which they were to hold in fee and common socage, and all deficiencies were to be satisfied before May, 1660. With the exception of ecclesiastical lands and some other provisoes, the soldiers were confirmed in the lands allotted for their pay, which they were

to hold by knights' service in capite; officers who had served before June, 1649, were to receive 12s. 6d. in the pound by estates and other securities. Protestants, unless they had been in rebellion or had taken decrees for land in Connaught or Clare, were to be restored to their lands. Innocent Catholics were restored to their estates, and Catholics who submitted and adhered to the peace of 1648 were to be restored to their ancient properties upon the reprisal of those who held them. This declaration of settlement gave little satisfaction to any party. The Royalist officers received but little more than half their pay, and the ancient landholders, who had suffered for the royal cause and were in a state of poverty, were excluded from their estates until they could repay those who had been quartered upon them by Cromwell. The commissioners appointed to carry the declaration of settlement into effect were partial to the soldiers and adventurers, and threw much difficulty in the way of the Catholic proprietors, who tried to establish their innocence. The Parliament which was convened in 1661 to confirm the Act of Settlement was mainly elected by those in illegal possession of the estates. It tried by statute to exclude the Catholics, many of whom claimed their property from Parliament. An inquiry was instituted by the House of Lords, which revealed many malpractices by the commissioners. Widows were deprived of their jointures, orders of the king for the restitution of particular persons were eluded; the Lords resolved to address the king to revoke the illegal grants made by the commissioners, and a deputation waited on Charles in London claiming redress.

The Irish Cromwellians accepted the restoration without much difficulty, but they kept a firm grasp on their lands. After a long struggle of controversy, bribery, and intrigue on the part of the claimants, and wavering and irresolution on the part of the Government, the Puritans carried the day and kept their lands. The Acts of Settlement and explanation which closed the question of proprietorship, have been called the great charter of this party, they decided the title to the lands; yet, for many years after this time, a great part

Rivers, loughs, &c.

of the land of Ireland continued to be held by forcible and

disputed possession.

Petty's Political Anatomy of Ireland contains the following information relating to this period :—

Area of Ireland

Unprofitable land