be all reacted in the same order, is, on a miniature scale, represented in the history of the English Government in Irelandrevolution of the same follies, the same every succeeding century being but a new crimes, and the same turbulence that disgraced the former. But 'Vive l'ennemi!' say I: whoever may suffer by such inea attempt to prohibit her from going to any shop, or praying at any church, her apprentice might select; and once or twice, if we remember rightly, Brownrigg appears to have felt some compassion. Not so Old England, who indulges rather in a steady baseness, uniform brutality, and unrelent-sures, Captain Rock, at least, will prosper. ing oppression. Let us select from this entertaining little book a short history of dear Ireland, such as even some profligate idle member of the House of Commons, voting as his master bids him, may perchance throw his eye upon, and reflect for a moment upon the iniquity to which he lends his support. For some centuries after the reign of Henry II. the Irish were killed like game, by persons qualified or unqualified. Whether dogs were used does not appear quite certain, though it is probable they were, spaniels as well as pointers; and that, after a regular point by Basto, well backed by Ponto and Cæsar, Mr. O'Donnel or Mr. O'Leary bolted from the thicket, and were bagged by the English sportsman. With Henry II. came in tithes, to which, in all probability, about one million of lives may have been sacrificed in Ireland. In the reign of Edward I. the Irish who were settled near the English requested that the benefit of the English laws might be extended to them; but the remonstrance of the barons with the hesitating king was in substance this:"You have made us a present of these wild gentlemen, and we particularly request that no measures may be adopted to check us in that full range of tyranny and oppression in which we consider the value of such gift to consist. You might as well give us sheep, and prevent us from shearing the wool, or roasting the meat." This reasoning prevailed, and the Irish were kept to their barbarism, and the barons preserved their live stock. "Read Orange faction' (says Captain Rock) here, and you have the wisdom of our rulers, at the end of near six centuries, in statu quo.-The grand periodic year of the stoics, at the close of which everything was to begin again, and the same events to "And such was the result at the period of which I am speaking. The rejection of a petition, so humble and so reasonable, was followed, as a matter of course, by one of revenge of an insulted people naturally those daring rebellions into which the breaks forth. The M'Cartys, the O'Briens, and all the other Macs and O's, who have been kept on the alert by similar causes ever since, flew to arms under the command of a chieftain of my family; and, as the proffered handle of the sword had been least feel its edge."—(pp. 23–25.) rejected, made their inexorable masters at Fifty years afterwards the same request was renewed and refused. Up again rose Mac and O,- -a just and necessary war ensued; and after the usual murders, the usual chains were replaced upon the Irishry. All Irishmen were excluded from every species of office. It was high treason to marry with the Irish blood, and highly penal to receive the Irish into religious houses. War was waged also against their Thomas Moores, Samuel Rogerses, and Walter Scotts, who went about the country harping and singing against English oppression. No such turbulent guests were to be received. The plan of making them poets-laureate, or converting them to loyalty by pensions of 100l. per annum, had not then been thought of. They debarred the Irish even from the pleasure of running away, and fixed them to the soil like negroes. "I have thus selected," says the historian of Rock, " cursorily and at random, a few features of the reigns preceding the Refor mation, in order to show what good use was made of those three or four hundred years in attaching the Irish people to their English governors; and by what a gentle course of alteratives they were prepared for the inoculation of a new religion, which was now about to be attempted upon them by the same skilful and friendly hands. Henry the Seventh appears to have been the first monarch to whom it occurred that matters were not managed exactly as they ought in this part of his dominions; and we find him-with a simplicity which is still fresh and youthful among our rulers -expressing his surprise that his subjects of this land should be so prone to faction and rebellion, and that so little advantage had been hitherto derived from the acquisitions of his predecessors, notwithstanding the fruitfulness and natural advantages of Ireland.'-Surprising, indeed, that a policy, such as we have been describing, should not have converted the whole country into a perfect Atlantis of happiness - should not have made it like the imaginary island of Sir Thomas More, where 'tota insula velut una familia est!'-most stubborn, truly, and ungrateful, must that people be, upon whom, up to the very hour in which I write, such a long and unvarying course of penal laws, confiscations, and Insurrection Acts has been tried, without making them in the least degree in love with their rulers. "Heloise tells her tutor Abelard, that the correction which he inflicted upon her only served to increase the ardour of her affection for him; but bayonets and hemp are no such amoris stimuli.'-One more characteristic anecdote of those times, and I have done. At the battle of Knocktow, in the reign of Henry VII., when that remarkable man, the Earl of Kildare, assisted by the great O'Neal and other Irish chiefs, gained a victory over Clauricard of Connaught, most important to the English Government, Lord Gormanstown, after the battle, in the first insolence of success, said, turning to the Earl of Kildare, We have now slaughtered our enemies, but, to complete the good deed, we must proceed yet further, and-cut the throats of those Irish of our own party!' Who can wonder that the Rock family were active in those times ?" -(pp. 33-35.) Henry VIII. persisted in all these outrages, and aggravated them by insulting the prejudices of the people. England is almost the only country in the world (even at present) where there is not some favourite religious spot, where absurd lies, little bits of cloth, feathers, rusty nails, splinters, and other invaluable relics, are treasured up, and in defence of which the whole population are willing to turn out and perish as one man. Such was the shrine of St. Kieran, the whole treasures of which the satellites of that Leland gives this anecdote on the authority of an Englishman. corpulent tyrant turned out into the street, pillaged the sacred church of Clonmacnoise, scattered the holy nonsense of the priests to the winds, and burnt the real and venerable crosier of St. Patrick, fresh from the silversmith's shop, and formed of the most costly materials. Modern princes change the uniform of regiments: Henry changed the religion of kingdoms, and was determined that the belief of the Irish should undergo a radical and Protestant conversion. With what success this attempt was made, the present state of Ireland is sufficient evidence. "Be not dismayed," said Elizabeth, on hearing that O'Neal meditated some designs against her government; “tell my friends, if he arise, it will turn to their advantage-there will be estates for those who want." Soon after this prophetic speech, Munster was destroyed by famine and the sword, and near 600,000 acres forfeited to the Crown, and distributed among Enlishmen. Sir Walter Raleigh (the virtuous and good) butchered the garrison of Limerick in cold blood, after Lord Deputy Gray had selected 700 to be hanged. There were, during the reign of Elizabeth, three invasions of Ireland by the Spaniards, produced principally by the absurd measures of this princess, for the reformation of its religion. The Catholic clergy, in consequence of these measures, abandoned their cures, the churches fell to ruin, and the people were left without any means of instruction. Add to these circumstances the murder of M'Mahon, the imprisonment of M'Toole* and O'Dogherty, and the kidnapping of O'Donnel-all truly Anglo-Hibernian proceedings. The execution of the laws was rendered detestable and intolerable by the queen's officers of jus There are not a few of the best and most humane Englishmen of the present day, who, when under the influence of fear or anger, would think it no great crime to put to death people whose names begin with O or Mac. The violent death of Smith, Green, or Thomson, would throw the neighbour hood into convulsions, and the regular forms would be adhered to- but little would be really thought of the death of anybody called O'Dogherty or O'Toole. tice. The spirit raised by these trans- Charles I. took a bribe of 120,000l. actions, besides innumerable smaller from his Irish subjects, to grant them insurrections, gave rise to the great what in those days were called Graces, wars of Desmond and Hugh O'Neal; but in these days would be denomiwhich, after they had worn out the nated the Elements of Justice. The ablest generals, discomfited the choicest money was paid, but the graces troops, exhausted the treasure, and em- were never granted. One of these barrassed the operations of Elizabeth, graces is curious enough: "That the were terminated by the destruction of clergy were not to be permitted to these two ancient families, and by the keep henceforward any private priconfiscation of more than half the ter- sons of their own, but delinquents ritorial surface of the island. The two were to be committed to the public last years of O'Neal's wars cost Eliza- jails." The idea of a rector, with his beth 140,000l. per annum, though the own private jail full of dissenters, is whole revenue of England at that pe the most ludicrous piece of tyranny riod fell considerably short of 500,000l. we ever heard of. The troops in the Essex, after the destruction of Norris, beginning of Charles's reign were supled into Ireland an army of above ported by the weekly fines levied upon 20,000 men, which was totally baffled the Catholics for non-attendance upon and destroyed by Tyrone within two established worship. The Archbishop years of their landing. Such was the of Dublin went himself, at the head of importance of Irish rebellions two cen- a file of musketeers, to disperse a turies before the time in which we Catholic congregation in Dublin live. Sir G. Carew attempted to assas- which object he effected, after a consinate the Lugan Earl- Mountjoy siderable skirmish with the priests. compelled the Irish rebels to massacre "The favourite object" (says Dr. each other. In the course of a few Leland, a Protestant clergyman, and months, 3000 men were starved to dignitary of the Irish church)" of the death in Tyrone. Sir Arthur Chiches- Irish Government and the English ter, Sir Richard Manson, and other Parliament, was the utter extermination commanders, saw three children feed- of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireing on the flesh of their dead mother. land." The great rebellion took place Such were the golden days of good in this reign, and Ireland was one Queen Bess! scene of blood and cruelty and confiscation. By the rebellions of Dogherty in the reign of James I. six northern coun- Cromwell began his career in Ireties were confiscated, amounting to land by massacring for five days the 500,000 acres. In the same manner, garrison of Drogheda, to whom quar64,000 acres were confiscated in Ath-ter had been promised. Two millions lone. The whole of his confiscations and a half of acres were confiscated. amount to nearly a million acres; and Whole towns were put up in lots, and if Leland means plantation acres, they sold. The Catholics were banished constitute a twelfth of the whole king-from three-fourths of the kingdom, dom according to Newenham, and a tenth according to Sir W. Petty. The most shocking and scandalous action in the reign of James, was his attack upon the whole property of the province of Connaught, which he would have effected, if he had not been bought off by a sum greater than he hoped to gain by his iniquity, besides the luxury of confiscation. The Irish, during the reign of James I., suffered under the double evils of a licentious soldiery, and a religious persecution. and confined to Connaught. After a certain day, every Catholic found out of Connaught was to be punished with death. Fleetwood complains peevishly "that the people do not transport readily," . but adds, "it is doubtless a work in which the Lord will appear." Ten thousand Irish were sent as recruits to the Spanish army. "Such was Cromwell's way of settling the affairs of Ireland--and if a nation is to be ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. It is, at least, more humane than the slow lingering process of exclusion, disap- above mentioned. We can well spare pointment, and degradation, by which their them; and who knows but that it may hearts are worn out under more specious be the means of making them Englishforms of tyranny; and that talent of desmen, I mean rather Christians? As patch which Molière attributes to one of for the girls, I suppose you will make provisions of clothes, and other accommodations for them." Upon this, Thurloe informs Henry Cromwell that the council have voted 4000 girls, and as many boys, to go to Jamaica. his physicians, is no ordinary merit in a practitioner like Cromwell:-'C'est un homme expéditif, qui aime à dépêcher ses malades; et quand on a à mourir, cela se fait avec lui le plus vite du monde.' A certain military Duke, who complains that Ireland is but half-conquered, would, no doubt, upon an emergency, try his hand in the same line of practice, and, like that 'stern hero,' Mirmillo, in the Dispensary, 'While others meanly take whole months to slay, land was hanged, and five pounds paid Every Catholic priest found in Ire to the informer. "About the years 1652 and 1653," says Colonel Lawrence, in his Interests had so swept away whole counties, of Ireland," the plague and famine that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see a living creature, either man or beast, or bird, they being all dead, or had quitted those desolate places. Our soldiers would tell stories of the places where they saw smoke—it was so rare to see either smoke by day, or fire or candle by night." In this manner did the Irish live and die under Cromwell, suf Despatch the grateful patient in a day!' "Among other amiable enactments against the Catholics at this period, the price of five pounds was set on the head of a Romish priest-being exactly the same sum offered by the same legislators for the head of a wolf. The Athenians, we are told, encou raged the destruction of wolves by a similar reward (five drachmas); but it does not appear that these heathens bought up the heads of priests at the same rate-such zeal in the cause of religion being reserved for times of Christianity and Protestantism."-fering by the sword, famine, pestilence, (pp. 97-99.) Nothing can show more strongly the light in which the Irish were held by Cromwell, than the correspondence with Henry Cromwell, respecting the peopling of Jamaica from Ireland. Secretary Thurloe sends to Henry, the Lord Deputy in Ireland, to inform him, that "a stock of Irish girls, and Irish young men, are wanting for the peopling of Jamaica." The answer of Henry Cromwell is as follows:-"Concerning the supply of young men, although we must use force in taking them up, yet it being so much for their own good, and likely to be of so great advantage to the public, it is not the least doubted but that you may have such a number of them as you may think fit to make use of on this ac count. "I shall not need repeat anything respecting the girls, not doubting to answer your expectations to the full in that; and I think it might be of like advantage to your affairs there, and ours here, if you should think fit to send 1500 or 2000 boys to the place and persecution, beholding the confiscation of a kingdom and the banishment of a race. "So that there perished" (says Sir W. Petty) "in the year 1641, 650,000 human beings whose blood somebody must atone for to God and the King!!" In the reign of Charles II., by the the Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant fresh acts of exclusion against the pro- | twice and even thrice confiscated. Well ductions of that country. "Among the many anomalous situations in which the Irish have been placed, by those marriage vows, false as dicers' oaths,' which bind their country to England, the dilemma in which they found themselves at the Revolution was not the least perplexing or cruel. If they were loyal to the King de jure, they were hanged by the King de facto; and if they escaped with life from the King de facto, it was but to be plundered and proscribed by the King de jure might Lord Clare say, 'that the situation of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands unparalleled in the history of the inhabited world.” ”— (pp. 111--113.) By the Articles of Limerick, the Irish were promised the free exercise of their religion; but from that period till the year 1788, every year produced some fresh penalty against that religion some liberty was abridged, some right impaired, or some suffering increased. By acts in King William's reign, they were prevented from being 'Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede solicitors. No Catholic was allowed to suorum.'-VIRGIL. afterwards. 'In a manner so summary, prompt, and high-mettled, marry a Protestant; and any Catholic who sent a son to Catholic countries for education was to forfeit all his Twixt father and son-in-law matters were lands. In the reign of Queen Anne, settled.' any son of a Catholic who chose to "In fact, most of the outlawries in Ire-turn Protestant got possession of the land were for treason committed the very father's estate. No Papist was allowed day on which the Prince and Princess of to purchase freehold property, or to Orange accepted the crown in the Banquet- take a lease for more than thirty years. ing-house; though the news of this event could not possibly have reached the other If a Protestant dies intestate, the estate side of the Channel on the same day, and is to go to the next Protestant heir, the Lord-Lieutenant of King James, with though all to the tenth generation an army to enforce obedience, was at that should be Catholic. In the same time in actual possession of the government, so little was common sense consulted, or the mere decency of forms observed, by that rapacious spirit, which island! manner, if a Catholic dies intestate, his estate is to go to the next Protestant. No Papist is to dwell in Limerick or Galway. No Papist to take nothing less than the confiscation of the whole island could satisfy; and which hav- an annuity for life. The widow of a ing, in the reign of James I. and at the Papist turning Protestant to have a Restoration, despoiled the natives of no less portion of the chattels of deceased, than ten million six hundred and thirty-six in spite of any will. Every Papist thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven teaching schools to be presented as a acres, now added to its plunder one million regular Popish convict. Prices of sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety-catching Catholic priests from 50s. to two acres more, being the amount, altoge-10l, according to rank. Papists are ther (according to Lord Clare's calculation), of the whole superficial contents of the to answer all questions respecting other Papists, or to be committed to jail for twelve months. No trust to be undertaken for Papists. No Papists to be on Grand Juries. Some notion may be formed of the spirit of those times, "Among the persons most puzzled and from an order of the House of Comperplexed by the two opposite Royal claims mons, "that the Sergeant-at-Arms on their allegiance, were the clergymen of the Established Church; who having first should take into custody all Papists that prayed for King James, as their lawful should presume to come into the galsovereign, as soon as William was pro-lery!" (Commons' Journal, vol. iii. fol. claimed took to praying for him; but again, on the success of the Jacobite forces in the 976.) During this reign, the English north, very prudently prayed for King Parliament legislated as absolutely for James once more, till the arrival of Schom- Ireland as they do now for Rutlandberg, when, as far as his quarters reached, shire an evil not to be complained they returned to praying for King William of, if they had done it as justly. Ia "Thus, not only had all Ireland suffered confiscation in the course of this century, but no inconsiderable portion of it had been again." |