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diff --git a/old/14562.txt b/old/14562.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dc2bb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14562.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15088 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Land-War In Ireland (1870), by James Godkin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Land-War In Ireland (1870) + A History For The Times + +Author: James Godkin + +Release Date: January 2, 2005 [EBook #14562] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND-WAR IN IRELAND (1870) *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Alison Hadwin and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +THE LAND-WAR IN IRELAND + +A HISTORY FOR THE TIMES + + +BY JAMES GODKIN + + +AUTHOR OF 'IRELAND AND HER CHURCHES' +LATE IRISH CORRESPONDENT OF 'THE TIMES' + + +LONDON MACMILLAN AND CO. 1870 + + +LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND +PARLIAMENT STREET + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It would be difficult to name any subject so much discussed during the +last half century as 'the condition of Ireland.' There was an endless +diversity of opinion; but in one thing all writers and speakers +agreed: the condition was morbid. Ireland was always sick, always +under medical treatment, always subject to enquiries as to the nature +of her maladies, and the remedies likely to effect a cure. The royal +commissions and parliamentary committees that sat upon her case were +innumerable, and their reports would fill a library. Still the nature +of the disease, or the complication of diseases, was a mystery. Sundry +'boons' were prescribed, by way of experiment; but, though recommended +as perfect cures, they did the patient no good. She was either very +low and weak, or so dangerously strong and violent that she had to be +put under restraint. Whenever this crisis arrived, she arrested the +special attention of the state doctors. Consultations were held, and +it was solemnly determined that something should be done. Another +effort should be made to discover the _fons malorum_, and dry it up if +possible. + +A diseased nation, subject to paroxysms of insanity, and requiring +30,000 keepers, was a dangerous neighbour, as well as a serious +financial burden. Yet many contended that all such attempts were +useless. It was like trying different kinds of soap to whiten the skin +of a negro. The patient was incurable. Her ailment was nothing but +natural perversity, aggravated by religious delusions; and the root +of her disorder could never be known till she was subjected to a _post +mortem_ examination, for which it was hoped emigration, and the help +of improving landlords, would soon afford an opportunity. In the +meantime, the strait waistcoat must be put on, to keep the patient +from doing mischief. + +But at length a great physician arose, who declared that this state of +things should not continue; the honour, if not the safety, of +England demanded that the treatment should be reversed. Mr. Gladstone +understands the case of Ireland, and he has courage to apply the +proper remedies. Yet the British public do not understand it so well; +and he will need all the force of public opinion to sustain him and +his cabinet in the work of national regeneration which they have +undertaken. It is not enough for a good physician to examine the +symptoms of his patient. He must have a full and faithful history +of the case. He must know how the disease originated, and how it +was treated. If injuries were inflicted, he must know under what +circumstances, how they affected the nervous system, and whether there +may not be surrounding influences which prevent the restoration of +health, or some nuisance that poisons the atmosphere. + +Such a history of the case of Ireland the author has endeavoured +to give in the following pages. It it is no perfunctory service. He +resolved to do it years ago, when he finished his work on the Irish +Church Establishment, and it has been delayed only in consequence of +illness and other engagements. He does not boast of any extraordinary +qualifications for the work. But he claims the advantage of having +studied the subject long and earnestly, as one in which he has been +interested from his youth. He has written the history of the country +more or less fully three times. During his thirty years' connexion +with the press, it has been his duty to examine and discuss everything +that appeared before the public upon Irish questions, and it has +always been his habit to bring the light of history to bear upon the +topics of the day. Twenty years ago he was an active member of the +Irish Tenant League, which held great county meetings in most parts of +the island; and was enthusiastically supported by the tenant farmers, +adopting resolutions and petitions on the land question almost +identical with those passed by similar meetings at the present time. +Then Mr. Sharman Crawford was the only landlord who joined in the +movement; now many of the largest proprietors take their stand on the +tenant-right platform. And after a generation of sectarian division +and religious dissension in Ulster, stimulated by the landed gentry, +for political purposes, the Catholic priests and the Presbyterian +clergy have again united to advocate the demands of the people for the +legal protection of their industry and their property. + +There is scarcely a county in Ireland which the author of this +volume has not traversed more than once, having always an eye to the +condition of the population, their mode of living, and the +relations of the different classes. During the past year, as special +commissioner of the _Irish Times_, he went through the greater part of +Ulster, and portions of the south, in order to ascertain the feelings +of the farmers and the working classes, on the great question which is +about to engage the attention of Parliament. + +The result of his historical studies and personal enquiries is +this:--All the maladies of Ireland, which perplex statesmen and +economists, have arisen from injuries inflicted by England in the wars +which she waged to get possession of the Irish land. Ireland has been +irreconcilable, not because she was conquered by England, not +even because she was persecuted, but because she was robbed of her +inheritance. If England had done everything she has done against the +Irish nation, omitting the _confiscations_, the past would have been +forgotten and condoned long ago, and the two nations would have been +one people. Even the religious wars resolve themselves into efforts to +retain the land, or to recover the forfeited estates. And the banished +chiefs never could have rallied the nation to arms, as they so often +did against overwhelming odds, if the people had not been involved in +the ruin of their lords. All that is really important in the history +of the country for the last three centuries is, the fighting of the +two nations for the possession of the soil. The Reformation was +in reality nothing but a special form of the land war. The oath of +supremacy was simply a lever for evicting the owners of the land. The +process was simple. The king demanded spiritual allegiance; refusal +was high treason; the punishment of high treason was forfeiture of +estates, with death or banishment to the recusants. Any other law they +might have obeyed, and retained their inheritance. This law fixed +its iron grapples in the conscience, and made obedience impossible, +without a degree of baseness that rendered life intolerable. +Hence Protestantism was detested, not so much as a religion, as an +instrument of spoliation. + +The agrarian wars were kept up from generation to generation, Ireland +always making desperate efforts to get back her inheritance, but +always crushed to the earth, a victim of famine and the sword, by the +power of England. + +The history of these wars, then, is the history of the case of the +Irish patient. Its main facts are embodied in the general history of +the country. But they have recently been brought out more distinctly +by authors who have devoted years to the examination of the original +state papers, in which the actors themselves described their exploits +and recorded their motives and feelings with startling frankness. When +a task of this kind has been performed by a capable and conscientious +historian, it would be a work of supererogation for another enquirer +to undergo the wearisome toil, even if he could. I have, therefore, +for the purpose of my argument, freely availed myself of the materials +given to the public by Mr. Froude, the Rev. C.P. Meehan, and Mr. +Prendergast, not, however, without asking their permission, which was +in each case most readily and kindly granted. + +The ancient state of Ireland, and especially of Ulster, is so little +known in England, that I was glad to have the facts vouched for by +so high an authority as Mr. Froude, and a writer so full of the +instinctive pride of the dominant nation; the more so as I have often +been obliged to dissent from his views, and to appeal against his +judgments. Beguiled by the beauty of his descriptions, I am afraid I +have drawn too largely on his pages, in proving and illustrating +my case; but I feel confident that no one will read these extracts +without more eagerly desiring to possess the volumes of his great work +from which they are taken. + +I have similar acknowledgments to make to Father Meehan and Mr. +Prendergast, both of whom are preparing new editions of their most +valuable works. The royal charters, and other documents connected +with the Plantation of Ulster, are printed in the 'Concise View of the +Irish Society,' compiled from their records, and published by their +authority in 1832. Whenever I have been indebted to other writers, +I have acknowledged my obligation in the course of the work. In +preparing it, I have had but one object constantly in view: to present +to the public a careful collection and an impartial statement of facts +on the state of Ireland, for the right government of which the British +people are now more than ever responsible. I shall be thankful if my +labours should contribute in any measure, however humble, to the new +conquest of Ireland 'by justice' of which Mr. Bright has spoken. +His language is suggestive. It is late (happily not 'too late') to +commence the reign of justice. But the nation is not to be despised +which requires nothing more than _that_ to win its heart, while its +spirit could not be conquered by centuries of injustice. Nor should it +be forgotten by the people of England that some atonement is due for +past wrongs, not the least of which is the vilification and distrust +from which the Irish people have suffered so much. 'The spirit of a +man may sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?' +Some manifestation of Christian magnanimity just now would greatly +help the work of national reconciliation. The time is favourable. The +Government enjoys the prestige of an unparalleled success. The only +Prime Minister that ever dared to do full justice to Ireland, is the +most powerful that England has had for nearly a century. He has in +his Cabinet the only Chief Secretary of Ireland that ever thoroughly +sympathised with the nation, not excepting Lord Morpeth; the great +tribune of the English people, who has been one of the most eloquent +advocates of Ireland; an Ex-Viceroy who has pronounced it felony +for the Irish landlords to avail themselves of their legal rights, +although he put down a rebellion which that felony mainly provoked; +another Ex-Governor, who was one of the most earnest and conscientious +that ever filled the viceregal throne, and who returned to Parliament +to be one of the ablest champions of the country he had ruled so well; +not to mention other members of commanding ability, who are solemnly +pledged to the policy of justice. In these facts there is great +promise. He understands little of 'the signs of the times,' who does +not see the dangers that hang on the non-fulfilment of this promise. + +J.G. + +LONDON: _January 20_, 1870. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. INTRODUCTION + + II. THE RULE OF THE O'NEILLS + + III. SHANE O'NEILL, SOVEREIGN OF ULSTER + + IV. EXTERMINATING WARS + + V. AN IRISH CRUSADE + + VI. THE LAST OF THE IRISH PRINCES + + VII. GOVERNMENT APPEALS TO THE PEOPLE + + VIII. THE CASE OF THE FUGITIVE EARLS + + IX. THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER + + X. THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER + + XI. THE REBELLION OF 1641 + + XII. THE PURITAN PLANTATION + + XIII. THE PENAL CODE. A NEW SYSTEM OF LAND WAR + + XIV. ULSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY + + XV. POVERTY AND COERCION + + XVI. THE FAMINE + + XVII. TENANT-RIGHT IN ULSTER + + XVIII. TENANT-RIGHT IN DOWN + + XIX. TENANT-RIGHT IN ANTRIM + + XX. TENANT-RIGHT IN ARMAGH + + XXI. FAKNEY--MR. TRENCH'S 'REALITIES' + + XXII. BELFAST AND PERPETUITY + + XXIII. LEASE-BREAKING--GEASHILL + + XXIV. THE LAND SYSTEM AND THE WORKING CLASSES + + XXV. CONCLUSION--AN APPEAL TO ENGLISHMEN + + XVIII. TENANT-RIGHT IN DOWN 313 + + XIX. TENANT-RIGHT IN ANTRIM 328 + + XX. TENANT-RIGHT IN ARMAGH 346 + + XXI. FAKNEY--MR. TRENCH'S 'REALITIES' 356 + + XXII. BELFAST AND PERPETUITY 381 + + XXIII. LEASE-BREAKING--GEASHILL 387 + + XXIV. THE LAND SYSTEM AND THE WORKING CLASSES 401 + + XXV. CONCLUSION--AN APPEAL TO ENGLISHMEN 424 + + + + +THE LAND-WAR IN IRELAND. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +As the hour approaches when the legislature must deal with the Irish +Land question, and settle it, like the Irish Church question, once +for all, attempts are redoubled to frighten the public with +the difficulties of the task. The alarmists conjure up gigantic +apparitions more formidable than those which encountered Bunyan's +Pilgrim. Monstrous figures frown along the gloomy avenue that, leads +up to the Egyptian temple in which the divinity, PROPERTY, dwells in +mysterious darkness. To enter the sanctuary, we are solemnly +assured, requires all the cardinal virtues in their highest state of +development--the firmest faith, the most vivid hope, and the charity +that never faileth. But this is not the only country that has had a +land question to settle. Almost every nation in Europe has done for +itself what England is now palled upon to do for Ireland. In fact, +it is a necessary process in the transition from feudalism to +constitutional self-government. Feudalism gave the land to a few whom +it made princes and lords, having forcibly taken it from the many, +whom it made subjects and serfs. The land is the natural basis of +society. The Normans made it the artificial basis of a class. Society +in nearly every other country has reverted back to its original +foundations, and so remains firm and strong without dangerous rents or +fissures. No doubt, the operation is difficult and critical. But what +has been done once may be done again; and as it was England that kept +Irish society so long rocking on its smaller end, it is her duty +now to lend all her strength to help to seat it on its own broad +foundations. Giving up the Viceroy's dreams that the glorious mission +of Ireland was to be a kitchen garden, a dairy, a larder for England, +we must come frankly to the conclusion that the national life of the +Irish people, without distinction of creed or party, increases +in vigour with their intelligence, and is now invincible. Let the +imperial legislature put an end for ever to such an unnatural state of +things--thus only can they secure the harmonious working and cordial +Union of the two nations united together in one State--thus only can +they insure for the landlords themselves all the power and all +the influence that can be retained by them in consistency with the +industrial rights and political freedom of the cultivators of the +soil. These now complain of their abject dependence, and hopeless +bondage, under grinding injustice. They are alleged to be full of +discontent, which must grow with the intelligence and manhood of the +people who writhe under the system. Their advocates affirm that their +discontent must increase in volume and angry force every year, and +that, owing to the connection of Ireland with the United States, +it may at any time be suddenly swollen with the fury of a mountain +torrent, deeply discoloured by a Republican element. + +It must be granted, I fear, that the Celts of Ireland feel pretty much +as the Britons felt under the ascendency of the Saxons, and as the +Saxons in their turn felt under the ascendency of the Normans. In +the estimation of the Christian Britons, their Saxon conquerors, +even after the conversion of the latter, were 'an accursed race, the +children of robbers and murderers, possessing the fruits of their +fathers' crimes.' 'With them,' says Dr. Lingard, 'the Saxon was no +better than a pagan bearing the name of a Christian. They refused to +return his salutation, to join in prayer with him in the church, to +sit with him at the same table, to abide with him under the same roof. +The remnant of his meals and the food over which he had made the sign +of the cross they threw to their dogs or swine; the cup out of +which he had drunk they scoured with sand, as if it had contracted +defilement from his lips.' + +It is not the Celtic memory only that is tenacious of national wrong. +The Saxon was doomed to drink to the dregs the same bitter cup which +he administered so unmercifully to the Briton. His Teutonic blood +saved him from no humiliation or insult. The Normans seized all the +lands, all the castles, all the pleasant mansions, all the churches +and monasteries. Even the Saxon saints were flung down out of their +shrines and trampled in the dust under the iron heel of the Christian +conqueror. Everything Saxon was vile, and the word 'Englishry' implied +as much contempt and scorn as the word 'Irishry' in a later age. In +fact, the subjugated Saxons gradually became infected with all the +vices and addicted to all the social disorders that prevailed among +the Irish in the same age; only in Ireland the anarchy endured much +longer from the incompleteness of the conquest and the absence of the +seat of supreme government, which kept the races longer separate and +antagonistic. Perhaps the most humiliating notice of the degrading +effects of conquest on the noble Saxon race to be found in history, +is the language in which Giraldus Cambrensis, the reviler of the Irish +Celt, contrasts them with his countrymen, the Welsh. 'Who dare,' +he says, 'compare the English, the most degraded of all races under +heaven, with the Welsh? In their own country they are the serfs, +the veriest slaves of the Normans. In ours whom else have we for our +herdsmen, shepherds, cobblers, skinners, cleaners of our dog kennels, +ay, even of our privies, but Englishmen? Not to mention their original +treachery to the Britons, that hired by them to defend them they +turned upon them in spite of their oaths and engagements, they are +to this day given to treachery and murder.' The lying Saxon was, +according to this authority, a proverbial expression. + +The Saxon writers lamented their miserable subjection in a monotonous +wail for many generations. So late as the seventeenth century an +English author speaks in terms of compassion of the disinherited +and despoiled families who had sunk into the condition of artisans, +peasants, and paupers. 'This,' says M. Thierry, 'is the last sorrowful +glance cast back through the mist of ages on that great event which +established in England a race of kings, nobles, and warriors of +foreign extraction. The reader must figure to himself, not a mere +change of political rule, not the triumph of one of two competitors, +but the intrusion of a nation into the bosom of another people which +it came to destroy, and the scattered fragments of which it retained +as an integral portion of the new system of society, in the _status_ +merely of personal property, or, to use the stronger language of +records and deeds, _a clothing of the soil_. He must not picture to +himself on the one hand the king and despot; on the other simply his +subjects, high and low, rich and poor, all inhabiting England, and +consequently all English. He must bear in mind that there were two +distinct nations--the old Anglo-Saxon race and the Norman invaders, +dwelling intermingled on the same soil; or, rather, he might +contemplate two countries--the one possessed by the Normans, wealthy +and exonerated from public burdens, the other enslaved and oppressed +with a land tax--the former full of spacious mansions, of walled +towns, and moated castles--the latter occupied with thatched cabins, +and ancient walls in a state of dilapidation. This peopled with +the happy and the idle, with soldiers, courtiers, knights, and +nobles--that with miserable men condemned to labour as peasants and +artisans. On the one side he beholds luxury and insolence, on the +other poverty and envy--not the envy of the poor at the sight of +opulence and men born to opulence, but that malignant envy, although +justice be on its side, which the despoiled cannot but entertain on +looking upon the spoilers. Lastly, to complete the picture, these two +countries are in some sort interwoven with each other--they meet +at every point, and yet they are more distinct, more completely +separated, than if the ocean rolled between them.' + +Does not this picture look very like Ireland? To make it more like, +let us imagine that the Norman king had lived in Paris, and kept a +viceroy in London--that the English parliament were subordinate to the +French parliament, composed exclusively of Normans, and governed by +Norman undertakers for the benefit of the dominant State--that the +whole of the English land was held by ten thousand Norman proprietors, +many of them absentees--that all the offices of the government, in +every department, were in the hands of Normans--that, differing in +religion with the English nation, the French, being only a tenth of +the population, had got possession of all the national churches and +church property, while the poor natives supported a numerous hierarchy +by voluntary contributions--that the Anglo-Norman parliament was +bribed and coerced to abolish itself, forming a union of England with +France, in which the English members were as one to six. Imagine that +in consequence of rebellions the land of England had been confiscated +three or four times, after desolating wars and famines, so that all +the native proprietors were expelled, and the land was parcelled +out to French soldiers and adventurers on condition that the foreign +'planters' should assist in keeping down 'the mere English' by force +of arms. Imagine that the English, being crushed by a cruel penal +code for a century, were allowed to reoccupy the soil as mere +tenants-at-will, under the absolute power of their French landlords. +If all this be imagined by English legislators and English writers, +they will be better able to understand the Irish land question, and to +comprehend the nature of 'Irish difficulties,' as well as the justice +of feeble, insincere, and baffled statesmen in casting the blame +of Irish misery and disorder on the unruly and barbarous nature of +Irishmen. They will recollect that the aristocracy of Ireland are the +high-spirited descendants of conquerors, with the instinct of conquest +still in their blood. The parliament which enacted the Irish land laws +was a parliament composed almost exclusively of men of this dominant +race. They made all political power dependent on the ownership of +land, thus creating for themselves a monopoly which it is not in human +nature to surrender without a struggle. + +The possession of this monopoly, however, fully accounts for two +things--the difficulty which the landlords feel in admitting the +justice of the tenant's claims for the legal recognition of the value +which his labour has added to the soil, and the extreme repugnance +with which they regard any legislation on the subject. Besides, +the want of sympathy with the people, of earnestness and courage in +meeting the realities of the case, is conspicuous in all attempts +of the kind during the last half-century. Those attempts have been +evasive, feeble, abortive--concessions to the demand that _something_ +must be done, but so managed that nothing should be done to weaken the +power of the eight thousand proprietors over the mass of the nation +dependent on the land for their existence. Hence has arisen a great +amount of jealousy, distrust, and irritability in the landlord class +towards the tenantry and their advocates. + +The Irish race, to adopt Thierry's language, are full of 'malignant +envy' towards the lords of the soil; not because they are rich, but +because they have the people so completely in their power, so entirely +at their mercy for all that man holds most dear. The tenants feel +bitterly when they think that they have no legal right to live on +their native land. They have read the history of our dreadful civil +wars, famines, and confiscations. They know that by the old law of +Ireland, and by custom from times far beyond the reach of authentic +history, the clans and tribes of the Celtic people occupied certain +districts with which their names are still associated, and that the +land was inalienably theirs. Rent or tribute they paid, indeed, to +their princes, and if they failed the chiefs came with armed followers +and helped themselves, driving away cows, sheep, and horses sufficient +to meet their demand, or more if they were unscrupulous, which was +'distress' with a vengeance. But the eviction of the people even for +non-payment of rent, and putting other people in their place, were +things never heard of among the Irish under their own rulers. The +chief had his own mensal lands, as well as his tribute, and these he +might forfeit. But as the clansmen could not control his acts, they +could never see the justice of being punished for his misdeeds by +the confiscation of their lands, and driven from the homes of their +ancestors often made doubly sacred by religious associations. + +History, moreover, teaches them that, as a matter of fact, the +government in the reign of James I.--and James himself in repeated +proclamations--assured the people who occupied the lands of O'Neill +and O'Donnell at the time of their flight that they would be protected +in all their rights if they remained quiet and loyal, which they +did. Yet they were nearly all removed to make way for the English and +Scotch settlers. + +Thus, historical investigators have been digging around the +foundations of Irish landlordism. They declare that those foundations +were cemented with blood, and they point to the many wounds still open +from which that blood issued so profusely. The facts of the conquest +and confiscation were hinted at by the Devon Commissioners as +accounting for the peculiar difficulties of the Irish land question, +and writers on it timidly allude to 'the historic past' as originating +influences still powerful in alienating landlords and tenants, and +fostering mutual distrust between them. But the time for evasion and +timidity has passed. We must now honestly and courageously face +the stern realities of this case. Among these realities is a firm +conviction in the minds of many landlords that they are in no sense +trustees for the community, but that they have an absolute power over +their estates--that they can, if they like, strip the land clean of +its human clothing, and clothe it with sheep or cattle instead, or lay +it bare and desolate, let it lapse into a wilderness, or sow it with +salt. That is in reality the terrific power secured to them by the +present land code, to be executed through the Queen's writ and by the +Queen's troops--a power which could not stand a day if England did not +sustain it by overwhelming military force. + +Another of the realities of the question is the no less inveterate +conviction in the tenants' mind that the absolute power of the +landlord was originally a usurpation effected by the sword. Right or +wrong, they believe that the confiscations were the palpable violation +of the natural rights of the people whom Providence placed in this +country. With bitter emphasis they assert that no set of men has any +divine right to root a nation out of its own land. Painful as this +state of feeling is, there is no use in denying that it exists. Here, +then, is the deep radical difference that is to be removed. Here are +the two conflicting forces which are to be reconciled. This is the +real Irish land question. All other points are minor and of easy +adjustment. The people say, and, I believe, sincerely, that they are +willing to pay a fair rent, according to a public valuation--not a +rent imposed arbitrarily by one of the interested parties, which +might be raised so as to ruin the occupier. The feelings of these two +parties often clash so violently, there is such instinctive distrust +between them, the peace and prosperity of the country depend so much +on their coming to terms and putting an end to their long-standing +feud, that it is still more imperatively necessary than in the +Church question, that a third party, independent, impartial, and +authoritative, should intervene and heal the breach. + +There was one phrase constantly ringing in the ears of the Devon +Commissioners, and now, after nearly a generation has passed away, it +is ringing in the ears of the nation louder than ever--'_the want +of tenure_.' All the evidence went to show that the want of security +paralysed industry and impeded social progress. It seems strange that +any evidence should be thought necesary to prove that a man will not +sow if he does not hope to reap, and that he will not build houses for +strangers to enjoy. This would be taken as an axiom anywhere out of +Ireland. Of all the people in Europe, the Irish have suffered most +from the oppression of those who, from age to age, had power in the +country. Whoever fought or conquered, they were always the victims; +and it is a singular fact that their sufferings are scarcely ever +noticed by the contemporary annalists, even when those annalists +were ecclesiastics. The extent to which they were slaughtered in the +perpetual wars between the native chiefs, and in the wars between +those chiefs and the English, is something awful to contemplate, not +to speak of the wholesale destruction of life by the famines which +those wars entailed. On several occasions the Celtic race seemed very +nearly extinct. The penal code, with all its malign influence, had one +good effect. It subdued to a great extent the fighting propensities +of the people, and fused the clans into one nation, purified by +suffering. Since that time, in spite of occasional visitations of +calamity, they have been steadily rising in the social scale, and they +are now better off than ever they were in their whole history. When +we review the stages by which they have risen, we cannot but feel at +times grieved and indignant at the opportunities for tranquillising +and enriching the country which were lost through the ignorance, +apathy, bigotry, and selfishness of the legislature. There was no end +of commissions and select committees to inquire into the condition +of the agricultural population, whenever Parliament was roused by the +prevalence of agrarian outrages. They reported, and there the matter +ended. There were always insuperable difficulties when the natives +were to be put in a better position. Between 1810 and 1814, for +example, a commission reported four times on the condition of +the Irish bogs. They expressed their entire conviction of the +practicability of cultivating with profit an immense extent of land +lying waste. In 1819, in 1823, in 1826, and in 1830, select committees +inquired into and reported on drainage, reclamation of bogs and +marshes, on roads, fisheries, emigration, and other schemes for giving +employment to the redundant population that had been encouraged to +increase and multiply in the most reckless manner, while 'war +prices' were obtained for agricultural produce, and the votes of the +forty-shilling freeholders were wanted by the landlords. When, by the +Emancipation Act in 1829, the forty-shilling franchise was abolished, +the peasant lost his political value. After the war, when the price of +corn fell very low, and, consequently, tillage gave place to grazing, +labourers became to the middleman an encumbrance and a nuisance that +must be cleared off the land, just as weeds are plucked up and flung +out to wither on the highway. Then came Lord Devon's Land Commission, +which inquired on the eve of the potato failure and the great famine. +The Irish population was now at its highest figure--between eight and +nine millions. Yet, though there had been three bad seasons, it was +clearly proved at that time that by measures which a wise and willing +legislature would have promptly passed, the whole surplus population +could have been profitably employed. + +In this great land controversy, on which side lies the truth? Is it +the fault of the people, or the fault of the law, that the country is +but half cultivated, while the best of the peasantry are emigrating +with hostile feelings and purposes of vengeance towards England? As +to the landlords, as a class, they use their powers with as much +moderation and mercy as any other class of men in any country ever +used power so vast and so little restrained. The best and most +indulgent landlords, the most genial and generous, are unquestionably +the old nobility, the descendants of the Normans and Saxons, those +very conquerors of whom we have heard so much. The worst, the most +harsh and exacting, are those who have purchased under the Landed +Estates Court--strangers to the people, who think only of the +percentage on their capital. We had heard much of the necessity of +capital to develope the resources of the land. The capital came, +but the development consists in turning tillage lands into pasture, +clearing out the labouring population and sending them to the +poorhouse, or shipping them off at a few pounds per head to keep down +the rates. And yet is it not possible to set all our peasantry to work +at the profitable cultivation of their native land? Is it not possible +to establish by law what many landlords act upon as the rule of their +estates--namely, the principle that no man is to be evicted so long as +he pays a fair rent, and the other principle, that whenever he fails, +he is entitled to the market value by public sale of all the property +in his holding beyond that fair rent? The hereditary principle, +rightly cherished among the landlords, so conservative in its +influence, ought to be equally encouraged among the tenants. The man +of industry, as well as the man of rank, should be able to feel that +he is providing for his children, that his farm is at once a bank and +an insurance office, in which all his minute daily deposits of toil +and care and skill will be safe and productive. This is the way to +enrich and strengthen the State, and to multiply guarantees against +revolution--not by consolidation of farms and the abandonment of +tillage, not by degrading small holders into day labourers, levelling +the cottages and filling the workhouses. + +If the legislature were guided by the spirit that animates Lord Erne +in his dealings with his tenantry, the land question would soon +be settled to the satisfaction of all parties. 'I think,' said his +lordship, 'as far as possible, every tenant on my estate may call his +farm his castle, as long as he conducts himself honestly, quietly, and +industriously; and, should he wish to leave in order to find a better +landlord, I allow him to sell his farm, provided he pleases me in a +tenant. Therefore, if a man lays out money on his farm judiciously, he +is certain to receive back the money, should he wish to go elsewhere.' +He mentioned three cases of sale which occurred last year. One tenant +sold a farm of seventy acres in bad order for 570 l., another thirty +acres for 300 l., and a third the same number of acres in worse +condition for 200 l. The landlord lost nothing by these changes. His +rent was paid up, and in each case he got a good tenant for a bad one. +Lord Erne is a just man, and puts on no more than a fair rent. But +all landlords are not just, as all tenants are not honest. Even where +tenant-right is admitted in name, it is obvious that the rent may be +raised so high as to make the farm worth nothing in the market. To +give to the tenant throughout the country generally the pleasant +feeling that his farm is his castle, which he can make worth more +money every day he rises, there must be a public letting valuation, +and this the State could easily provide. And then there should be the +right of sale to the highest solvent bidder. + +This might be one way of securing permanent tenure, or stimulating the +industry and sustaining the thrift of the farmer. But the nature +of the different tenures, and the effect of each in bracing up or +relaxing the nerves of industry, will be the object of deliberation +with the Government and the legislature. It is said that, in the hands +of small farmers, proprietorship leads to endless subdivision; that +long leases generally cause bad husbandry; that tenants-at-will often +feel themselves more secure and safe than a contract could make them; +that families have lived on the same farm for generations without a +scrape of a pen except the receipt for rent. On the other hand, there +is the general cry of 'want of tenure;' there is the custom of serving +notices to quit, sometimes for other reasons than non-payment of rent; +there are occasional barbarities in the levelling of villages, and +dragging the aged and the sick from the old roof-tree, the parting +from which rends their heart-strings; and, above all, there is the +feeling among the peasantry which makes them look without horror on +the murder of a landlord or an agent who was a kind and benevolent +neighbour; and, lastly, the paramount consideration for the +legislature, that a large portion of the people are disaffected to +the State, and ready to join its enemies, and this almost solely on +account of the state of the law relating to land. Hence the necessity +of settling the question as speedily as possible, and the duty of all +who have the means to contribute something towards that most desirable +consummation, which seems to be all that is wanted to make Irishmen of +every class work together earnestly for the welfare of their country. +It is admitted that no class of men in the world has improved more +than the Irish landlords during the last twenty years. Let the +legislature restore confidence between them and the people by taking +away all ground for the suspicion that they wish to extirpate the +Celtic race. + +Nor was this suspicion without cause, as the following history will +too clearly prove. A very able English writer has said: 'The policy +of all the successive swarms of settlers was to extirpate the native +Celtic race, but every effort made to break up the old framework +of society failed, for the new-comers soon became blended with and +undistinguishable from the mass of the people--being obliged to ally +themselves with the native chieftains, rather than live hemmed in by a +fiery ring of angry septs and exposed to perpetual war with everything +around them. Merged in the great Celtic mass, they adopted Irish +manners and names, yet proscribed and insulted the native inhabitants +as an inferior race. Everything liberal towards them is intercepted in +its progress. + +'The past history of Ulster is but a portion of Scottish history +inserted into that of Ireland--a stone in the Irish mosaic of an +entirely different quality and colour from the pieces that surround +it. + +'Thus it came to pass that, through the confiscation of their lands +and the proscription of their religion, popery was worked by a most +vehement process into the blood and brain of the Irish nation.' + +It has been often said that the Irish must be an inferior race, since +they allowed themselves to be subjugated by some thousands of English +invaders. But it should be recollected, first, that the conquest, +commenced by Henry II. in the twelfth century, was not completed till +the seventeenth century, when the King's writ ran for the first time +through the province of Ulster, the ancient kingdom of the O'Neills; +in the second place, the weakness of the Celtic communities was not so +much the fault of the men as of their institutions, brought with them +from the East and clung to with wonderful tenacity. So long as they +had boundless territory for their flocks and herds, and could always +move on 'to pastures new,' they increased and multiplied, and allowed +the sword and the battle-axe to rest, unless when a newly elected +chief found it necessary to give his followers 'a hosting'--which +means an expedition for plunder. Down to the seventeenth century, +after five hundred years' contact with the Teutonic race, they were +essentially the same people as they were when the ancient Greeks +and Romans knew them. They are thus described by Dr. Mommsen in his +'History of Rome:'--'Such qualities--those of good soldiers and of bad +citizens--explain the historical fact that the Celts have shaken all +States and have _founded none_. Everywhere we find them ready to rove, +or, in other words, to march, preferring movable property to landed +estate, and gold to everything else; following the profession of arms +as a system of organised pillage, or even as a trade for hire, and +with such success that even the Roman historian, Sallust, acknowledges +that the Celts bore off the prize from the Romans in feats of arms. +They were the true 'soldiers of fortune' of antiquity, as pictures and +descriptions represent them, with big but sinewy bodies, with shaggy +hair and long moustaches--quite a contrast to the Greeks and Romans, +who shaved the upper lip--in the variegated embroidered dresses which +in combat were not unfrequently thrown off, with a broad gold ring +round their neck, wearing no helmets and without missile weapons +of any sort, but furnished instead with an immense shield, a long +ill-tempered sword, a dagger and a lance, all ornamented with gold, +for they were not unskilful in working in metals. Everything was made +subservient to ostentation--even wounds, which were often enlarged for +the purpose of boasting a broader scar. Usually they fought on foot, +but certain tribes on horseback, in which case every free man was +followed by two attendants, likewise mounted. War-chariots were early +in use, as they were among the Libyans and Hellenes in the earliest +times. Many a trait reminds us of the chivalry of the middle ages, +particularly the custom of single combat, which was foreign to the +Greeks and Romans. Not only were they accustomed in war to challenge +a single enemy to fight, after having previously insulted him by words +and gestures; in peace also they fought with each other in splendid +equipments, as for life or death. After such feats carousals followed +in due course. In this way they led, whether under their own or +a foreign banner, a restless soldier life, constantly occupied in +fighting and in their so-called feats of heroism. They were dispersed +from _Ireland_ and Spain to Asia Minor, but all their enterprises +melted away like snow in spring, and they nowhere created a great +state or developed a distinctive culture of their own.' Such were +the people who once almost terminated the existence of Rome, and were +afterwards with difficulty repulsed from Greece, who became masters of +the most fertile part of Italy and of a fair province in the heart +of Asia Minor, who, after their Italian province had been subdued, +inflicted disastrous blows on successive Roman generals, and were only +at last subjugated by Caesar himself in nine critical and sometimes +most dangerous campaigns, B.C. 51. + +Niebuhr observes that at that time the form of government was +everywhere an hereditary monarchy, which, when Caesar went into Gaul, +had been swallowed up, as had the authority of the Senate, in the +anarchy of the nobles. Their freedom was lawlessness; an inherent +incapacity of living under the dominion of laws distinguishes them as +barbarians from the Greeks and Italians. As individuals had to procure +the protection of some magnate in order to live in safety, so the +weaker tribes took shelter under the patronage of a more powerful one. +For they were a disjointed multitude; and when any people had in +this manner acquired an extensive sovereignty, they exercised it +arbitrarily until its abuses became intolerable, or their subjects +were urged by blind hatred of their power to fall off from them, and +gather round some new centre. The sole bond of union was the Druidical +hierarchy which, at least in Caesar's time, was common to both nations. +Both of them paid obedience to its tribunal, which administered +justice once a year--an institution which probably was not introduced +till long after the age of migrations, when the expulsion of the +vanquished had ceased to be regarded as the end of war, and which must +have been fostered by the constant growth of lawlessness in particular +states--being upheld by the _ban_, which excluded the contumacious +from all intercourse in divine worship and in daily life with the +faithful. The huge bodies, wild features, and long shaggy hair of the +men, gave a ghastliness to their aspect. This, along with their fierce +courage, their countless numbers, and the noise made by an enormous +multitude of horns and trumpets, struck the armies arrayed against +them with fear and amazement. If these, however, did not allow +their terror to overpower them, the want of order, discipline, and +perseverance would often enable an inferior number to vanquish a vast +host of the barbarians. Besides, they were but ill equipped. Few of +them wore any armour; their narrow shields, which were of the same +height with their bodies, were weak and clumsy; they rushed upon their +enemies with broad thin battle-swords of bad steel, which the first +blow upon iron often notched and rendered useless. Like true savages, +they destroyed the inhabitants, the towns, and the agriculture of the +countries they conquered. They cut off the heads of the slain, +and tied them by the hair to the manes of their horses. If a skull +belonged to a person of rank, they nailed it up in their houses and +preserved it as an heirloom for their posterity, as the nobles in rude +ages do stag-horns. Towns were rare amongst them; the houses and +the villages, which were very numerous, were mean, the furniture +wretched--a heap of straw covered with skins served both for a bed +and a seat. They did not cultivate corn save for a very limited +consumption, for the main part of their food was the milk and the +flesh of their cattle. These formed their wealth. Gold, too, they +had in abundance, derived partly from the sandy beds of their rivers, +partly from some mines which these had led them to discover. It was +worn in ornaments by every Gaul of rank. In battle he bore gold chains +on his arms and heavy gold collars round his neck, even when the upper +part of his body was in other respects quite naked. For they often +threw off their parti-coloured chequered cloaks, which shone with +all the hues of the rainbow, like the picturesque dress of their +kinspeople the Highlanders, who have laid aside the trousers of the +ancient Gauls. Their duels and gross revels are an image of the rudest +part of the middle ages. Their debauches were mostly committed with +beer and mead; for vines and all the plants of southern regions were +as yet total strangers to the north of the Alps, where the climate in +those ages was extremely severe; so that wine was rare, though of all +the commodities imported it was the most greedily bought up. + +Ulster was known in ancient times as one of the five Irish 'kingdoms,' +and remained unconquered by the English till the reign of James I., +when the last prince of the great house of O'Neill, then Earl of +Tyrone, fled to the Continent in company with O'Donel, Earl of +Tyrconnel, head of another very ancient sept. Up to that period the +men of Ulster proudly regarded themselves as 'Irish of the Irish and +Catholic of the Catholics.' The inhabitants were of mixed blood, but, +as in the other provinces of the island, the great mass of the people, +as well as the ruling classes, were of Celtic origin. Those whom +ethnologists still recognise as aborigines, in parts of Connaught +and in some mountainous regions, an inferior race, are said to be +the descendants of the Firbolgs, or Belgae, who formed the third +immigration. They were followed and subdued by the Tuatha de +Danans--men famed for their gigantic power and supernatural skill--a +race of demigods, who still live in the national superstitions. The +last of the ancient invasions was by the Gael or Celt, known as the +Milesians and Scoti. The institutions and customs of this people were +established over the whole island, and were so deeply rooted in the +soil that their remnants to this day present the greatest obstacles +to the settlement of the land question according to the English model, +and on the principles of political economy, which run directly counter +to Irish instincts. It is truly wonderful how distinctly the present +descendants of this race preserve the leading features of their +primitive character. In France and England the Celtic character was +moulded by the power and discipline of the Roman Empire. To Ireland +this modifying influence never extended; and we find the Ulster chiefs +who fought for their territories with English viceroys 280 years ago +very little different from the men who followed Brennus to the sack +of Home, and encountered the legions of Julius Caesar on the plains of +Gaul. + +Mr. Prendergast observes, in the introduction to his 'Cromwellian +Settlement' that when the companions of Strongbow landed in the reign +of Henry II. they found a country such as Caesar had found in Gaul +1200 years before. A thousand years had passed over the island without +producing the slightest social progress--'the inhabitants divided +into tribes on the system of the clansmen and chiefs, without a common +Government, suddenly confederating, suddenly dissolving, with Brehons, +Shaunahs, minstrels, bards, and harpers, in all unchanged, except that +for their ancient Druids they had got Christian priests. Had the +Irish remained honest pagans, Ireland perhaps had remained unconquered +still. Round the coast strangers had built seaport towns, either +traders from the Carthaginian settlements in Spain, or outcasts from +their own country, like the Greeks that built Marseilles. At the time +of the arrival of the French and Flemish adventurers from Wales, they +were occupied by a mixed Danish and French population, who supplied +the Irish with groceries, including the wines of Poitou, the latter in +such abundance that they had no need of vineyards.' + +If vineyards had been needed, we may be sure they would not have been +planted, for the Irish Celts planted nothing. Neither did they build, +except in the simplest and rudest way, improving their architecture +from age to age no more than the beaver or the bee. Mr. Prendergast +is an able, honest, and frank writer; yet there is something amusingly +Celtic in the flourish with which he excuses the style of palaces in +which the Irish princes delighted to dwell. 'Unlike England,' he says, +'then covered with castles on the heights, where the French gentlemen +secured themselves and their families against the hatred of the churls +and villains, as the English peasantry were called, the dwellings +of the Irish chiefs were of wattles or clay. It is for robbers and +foreigners to take to rocks and precipices for security; for native +rulers, there is no such fortress _as justice and humanity_.' This +is very fine, but surely Mr. Prendergast cannot mean that the Irish +chiefs were distinguished by their justice and humanity. The following +touch is still grander:--'The Irish, like the wealthiest and highest +of the present day, loved detached houses surrounded by fields and +woods. Towns and their walls they looked upon as tombs or sepulchres, +&c.' As to fields, there were none, because the Irish never made +fences, their patches of cultivated land being divided by narrow +strips of green sod. Besides, they lived in villages, which were +certainly surrounded by woods, because the woods were everywhere, +and they furnished the inhabitants with fuel and shelter, as well as +materials for building their huts. + +But further on this able author expresses himself much more in +accordance with the truth of history, when he states that the 'Irish +enemy' was no _nation_ in the modern sense of the word, but a race +divided into many nations or tribes, _separately_ defending their +lands from the English barons in the immediate neighbourhood. +There had been no ancient national government displaced, no dynasty +overthrown; the Irish had _no national flag_, nor any capital city as +the metropolis of their common country, nor any common administration +of law.' He might have added that they had no _mint_. There never was +an Irish king who had his face stamped on a coin of his realm. Some +stray pieces of money found their way into the country from abroad, +but up to the close of the sixteenth century the rudest form of barter +prevailed in Ulster, and accounts were paid not in coins but in cows. +Even the mechanical arts which had flourished in the country before +the arrival of the Celts had gradually perished, and had disappeared +at the time of the English invasion. Any handy men could build a house +of mud and wattles. Masons, carpenters, smiths, painters, glaziers, +&c., were not wanted by a people who despised stone buildings as +prisons, and abhorred walled towns as sepulchres. Spinning and weaving +were arts cultivated by the women, each household providing materials +for clothing, which was little used in warm weather, and thrown off +when fighting or any other serious work was to be done. + +I should be sorry to disparage the Celtic race, or any other race, by +exaggerating their bad qualities or suppressing any reliable testimony +to their merits. But with me the truth of history is sacred. Both +sides of every case should be fairly stated. Nothing can be gained by +striving to hide facts which may be known to every person who takes +the trouble to study the subject. I write in the interest of the +people--of the toiling masses; and I find that they were oppressed and +degraded by the ruling classes long before the Norman invader took +the place of the Celtic chief. And it is a curious fact that when the +Cromwellians turned the Catholic population out of their homes and +drove them into Connaught, they were but following the example set +them by the Milesian lords of the soil centuries before. + +The late Mr. Darcy Magee, a real lover of his country, in his Irish +history points out this fact. The Normans found the population divided +into two great classes--the free tribes, chiefly if not exclusively +Celtic, and the unfree tribes, consisting of the descendants of the +subjugated races, or of clans once free, reduced to servitude by the +sword, and the offspring of foreign mercenary soldiers. 'The unfree +tribes,' says Mr. Darcy Magee, 'have left no history. Under the +despotism of the Milesian kings, it was high treason to record the +actions of the conquered race, so that the Irish Belgae fared as badly +in this respect at the hands of the Milesian historians as the latter +fared in after times from the chroniclers of the Normans. We only know +that such tribes were, and that their numbers and physical force more +than once excited the apprehension of the children of the conquerors. +One thing is certain--the jealous policy of the superior race never +permitted them to reascend the plane of equality from which they had +been hurled at the very commencement of the Milesian ascendency.' + +Mr. Haverty, another Catholic historian, learned, accurate, and +candid, laments the oppression of the people by their native rulers. +'Those who boasted descent from the Scytho-Spanish hero would have +considered themselves degraded were they to devote themselves to +any less honourable profession than those of soldiers, _ollavs_, or +physicians; and hence the cultivation of the soil and the exercise of +the mechanic arts were left almost exclusively to the _Firbolgs_ and +the _Tuatha-de-Danans_--the former people, in particular, being still +very numerous, and forming the great mass of the population in +the west. These were ground down by high rents and the exorbitant +exactions of the dominant race, _in order to support their unbounded +hospitality_ and defray the expenses of costly assemblies; but this +oppression must have caused perpetual discontent, and the hard-working +plebeians, as they were called, easily perceived that their masters +were running headlong to destruction, and that it only required a bold +effort to shake off their yoke.' Then follows an account of a civil +war, one of the leaders of the revolution being elected king at its +termination. Carbry reigned five years, during which time there was no +rule or order, and the country was a prey to every misfortune. 'Evil +was the state of Ireland during his reign; fruitless her corn, for +there used to be but one grain on the stalk; and fruitless her rivers; +her cattle without milk; her fruit without plenty, for there used to +be but one acorn on the oak.' + +Dr. Lynch, author of _Cambrensis Eversus_, expresses his astonishment +at the great number of ancient Irish kings, most of whom were cut off +by a violent death, each hewing his way to the throne over the body +of his predecessor. But upon applying his mind to the more profound +consideration of the matter, he found nothing more wonderful in +the phenomenon 'than that the human family should proceed from one +man--the overflowing harvest from a few grains of seed, &c.' His +learned translator, the Rev. Matthew Kelly, of Maynooth, sees proof +of amendment in the fact that between 722 and 1022 twelve Irish kings +died a natural death. This candid and judicious writer observes in +a note--'It appears from the Irish and English annals that there +was perpetual war in Ireland during more than 400 years after the +invasion. It could not be called a war of races, except perhaps during +the first century, for English and Irish are constantly found fighting +under the same banner, according to the varying interests of the rival +lords and princes of both nations. This was the case even from the +commencement.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Vol. i. p.216.] + +Many persons have wondered at the success of small bands of English +invaders. Why did not the Irish nation rise _en masse_, and drive them +into the sea? The answer is easy. There was no Irish nation. About +half a million of people were scattered over the island in villages, +divided into tribes generally at war with one another, each chief +ready to accept foreign aid against his adversary--some, perhaps, +hoping thereby to attain supremacy in their clans, and others, who +were pretenders, burning to be avenged of those who had supplanted +them. It was religion that first gave the Irish race a common cause. +In the very year of the English invasion (1171) there were no fewer +than twenty predatory excursions or battles among the Irish chiefs +themselves, exclusive of contests with the invaders. Hence the Pope +said--'_Gens se interimit mutua caede_.' The Pope was right. + +The clergy exerted themselves to the utmost in trying to exorcise the +demon of destruction and to arrest the work of extermination. Not only +the _Bashall Isa_, or 'the staff of Jesus,' but many other relics were +used with the most solemn rites, to impress the people with a sense +of the wickedness of their clan-fights, and to induce them to keep the +peace, but in vain. The King of Connaught once broke a truce entered +into under every possible sanction of this kind, trampling upon all, +that he might get the King of Meath into his clutches. Hence the Rev. +Mr. Kelly is constrained to say--'It is now generally admitted by +Catholic writers that however great the efforts of the Irish clergy to +reform their distracted country in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, +the picture of anarchy drawn by Pope Adrian is hardly overcharged.' +Indeed, some Catholic writers have confessed that the anarchy would +never have been terminated except by foreign conquest establishing a +strong central government. This, however, was not accomplished +till after a struggle of centuries, during which, except in brief +intervals, when a strong prince was able to protect his people, the +national demoralisation grew worse and worse. An Oxford priest, +who kept a school at Limerick, writing so late as 1566 of the Irish +nobles, says--'Of late they spare neither churches nor hallowed +places, but thence also they fill their hands with spoil--yea, and +sometimes they set them on fire and kill the men that there lie +hidden.' + +Mr. Froude, following the Irish MSS. in the Rolls House, has presented +graphic pictures of the disorders of the Irishry in the reign of Queen +Mary. 'The English garrison,' he says, 'harassed and pillaged the +farmers of Meath and Dublin; the chiefs made forays upon each other, +killing, robbing, and burning. When the war broke out between England +and France, there were the usual conspiracies and uprisings of +nationality; the young Earl of Kildare, in reward to the Queen who +had restored him to his rank, appearing as the natural leader of +the patriots. Ireland was thus happy in the gratification of all its +natural tendencies. The Brehon law readvanced upon the narrow limits +to which, by the exertions of Henry VIII., the circuits of the +judges had been extended. And with the Brehon law came anarchy as its +inseparable attendant.' + +The correctness of this view is too well attested by the records +which the learned historian brings to light, adopting the quaint +and expressive phraseology of the old writers whom he quotes. For +example:-- + +'The lords and gentiles of the Irish Pale that were not governed under +the Queen's laws were compelled to keep and maintain a great number +of idle men of war to rule their people at home, and exact from their +neighbours abroad--working everyone his own wilful will for a law--to +the spoil of his country, and decay and waste of the common weal of +the same. The idle men of war ate up altogether; the lord and his men +took what they pleased, destroying their tenants, and themselves never +the better. The common people, having nothing left to lose, became as +idle and careless in their behaviour as the rest, stealing by day and +robbing by night. Yet it was a state of things which they seemed all +equally to enjoy, and high and low alike were always ready to bury +their own quarrels, to join against the Queen and the English.' + +At the time when the crown passed to Elizabeth the qualities of the +people were thus described by a correspondent of the council, who +presents the English view of the Irishry at that time:-- + +'The appearance and outward behaviour of the Irish showeth them to be +fruits of no good tree, for they exercise no virtue and refrain and +forbear from no vice, but think it lawful to do every man what him +listeth. They neither love nor dread God, nor yet hate the devil. They +are worshippers of images and open idolaters. Their common oath they +swear is by books, bells, and other ornaments which they do use as +holy religion. Their chief and solemnest oath is by their lord or +master's hand, which whoso forsweareth is sure to pay a fine or +sustain a worse turn. The Sabbath-day they rest from all honest +exercises, and the week days they are not idle, but worse occupied. +They do not honour their father and mother as much as they do +reverence strangers. For every murder that they commit they do not so +soon repent, for whose blood they once shed, they lightly never cease +killing all that name. They do not so commonly commit adultery; not +for that they profess or keep chastity, but for that they seldom or +never marry, and therefore few of them are lawful heirs, by the law of +the realm, to the lands they possess. They steal but from the strong, +and take by violence from the poor and weak. They know not so well who +is their neighbour as who they favour; with him they will witness in +right and wrong. They covet not their neighbours' good, but command +all that is their neighbours' as their own. Thus they live and die, +and there is none to teach them better. There are no ministers. +Ministers will not take pains where there is no living to be had, +neither church nor parish, but all decayed. People will not come to +inhabit where there is no defence of law.' + +After six years of _discipline and improvement_ Sir Henry Sidney, in +1566, described the state of the four shires, the Irish inhabitants, +and the English garrison, in the following terms:--'The _English Pale_ +is overwhelmed with vagabonds--stealth and spoil daily carried out of +it--the people miserable--not two gentlemen in the whole of it able +to lend 20 l. They have neither horse nor armour, nor apparel, nor +victual. The soldiers be so beggerlike as it would abhor a general to +look on them; yet so insolent as to be intolerable to the people, so +rooted in idleness as there is no hope by correction to amend them, +yet so allied with the Irish, I dare not trust them in a forte, or in +any dangerous service.' + +A sort of 'special correspondent' or 'commissioner,' as we should call +him now, furnished to Cecil a detailed account of the social condition +of the people, which of course he viewed with English eyes. He found +existing among them a general organisation wherever the Irish language +was spoken--the remnants of a civilisation very ancient, but now fast +tending to ruin. Next to the chiefs were the priesthood, and after +them came a kind of intellectual hierarchy, consisting of four classes +of spiritual leaders and teachers, which were thus described. The +first was called the Brehon, or the judge. These judges took +'pawns' of both the parties, and then judged according to their own +discretion. Their property was neutral, and the Irishmen would not +prey upon them. They had great plenty of cattle, and they harboured +many vagabonds and idle persons. They were the chief maintainers of +rebels, but when the English army came to their neighbourhood they +fled to the mountains and woods 'because they would not succour +them with victuals and other necessaries.' The next sort was called +_Shankee_, who had also great plenty of cattle wherewith they +succoured the rebels. They made the ignorant men of the country +believe that they were descended from Alexander the Great, or Darius, +or Caesar, 'or some other notable prince, which made the ignorant +people run mad, and care not what they did.' This, the correspondent +remarked, 'was very hurtful to the realm.' Not less hurtful were the +third sort called _Denisdan_, who not only maintained the rebels, +but caused those that would be true to become rebellious--'thieves, +extortioners, murderers, raveners, yea, and worse if it was possible.' +These seem to have been the historians or chroniclers of the tribe. +If they saw a young man, the descendant of an O' or a Mac, with half a +dozen followers, they forthwith made a rhyme about his father and his +ancestors, numbering how many heads they had cut off, how many towns +they had burned, how many virgins they had deflowered, how many +notable murders they had done, comparing them to Hannibal, or Scipio, +or Hercules, or some other famous person--'wherewithal the poor fool +runs mad, and thinks indeed it is so.' Then he will gather a lot of +rascals about him, and get a fortune-teller to prophesy how he is to +speed. After these preliminaries he betakes himself with his followers +at night to the side of a wood, where they lurk till morning. And when +it is daylight, then will they go to the poor villages, not sparing to +destroy young infants and aged people; and if a woman be ever so +great with child, her will they kill, burning the houses and corn, and +ransacking the poor cots; then will they drive away all the kine +and plough-horses, with all the other cattle. Then must they have a +bagpipe blowing before them, and if any of the cattle fortune to wax +weary or faint they will kill them rather than it should do the owner +good; and if they go by any house of friars, or religious house, they +will give them two or three beeves, and they will take them and pray +for them, yea, and praise their doings, and say, 'His father was +accustomed so to do, wherein he will rejoice.' The fourth class +consisted of 'poets.' These men had great store of cattle, and 'used +all the trade of the others with an addition of prophecies. They were +maintainers of witches and other vile matters, to the blasphemy of +God, and to the impoverishing of the commonwealth.' + +These four septs were divided in all places of the four quarters of +Ireland, and some of the islands beyond Ireland, as Aran, the land of +the Saints, Innisbuffen, Innisturk, Innismain, and Innisclare. These +islands, he added, were under the rule of O'Neill, and they were +'very pleasant and fertile, plenty of wood, water, and arable ground, +pastures, and fish, and a very temperate air.' On this description +Mr. Froude remarks in a note--'At present they are barren heaps of +treeless moors and mountains. They yield nothing but scanty oat crops +and potatoes, and though the seas are full of fish as ever, there +are no hands to catch them. _The change is a singular commentary upon +modern improvements_.' There were many branches belonging to the four +septs, continues the credulous reporter, who was evidently imposed +upon, like many of his countrymen in modern times with better means +of information. For example, 'there was the branch of Gogath, the +glutton, of which one man would eat half a sheep at a sitting. There +was another called the Carrow, a gambler, who generally went about +naked, carrying dice and cards, and he would play the hair off his +head. Then there was a set of women called Goyng women, blasphemers +of God, who ran from country to country, sowing sedition among the +people.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude's History, of England, vol. viii. chap. vii.] + +Mr. Froude says that this 'picture of Ireland' was given by some +half Anglicised, half Protestantised Celt, who wrote what he had seen +around him, careless of political philosophy, or of fine phrases with +which to embellish his diction. But if he was a Celt, I think his +description clearly proves that he must have been a Celt of some +other country than the one upon whose state he reports. Judging from +internal evidence, I should say that he could not be a native; for an +Irishman, even though a convert to Anglicanism, and anxious to please +his new masters, could scarcely betray so much ignorance of the +history of his country, so much bigotry, such a want of candour and +discrimination. If Mr. Froude's great work has any fault, it is his +unconscious prejudice against Ireland. He knows as well as anyone the +working of the feudal system and the clan system in Scotland in +the same age. He knows with what treachery and cruelty murders +were perpetrated by chiefs and lairds, pretenders and usurpers--how +anarchy, violence, and barbarism reigned in that land; yet, when he is +dealing with a similar state of things in Ireland, he uniformly takes +it as proof of an incurable national idiosyncrasy, and too often +generalises from a few cases. For example, in speaking of Shane +O'Neill, who killed his half-brother, Matthew Kelly, Baron of +Dungannon, in order to secure the succession for himself, he +says--'_They manage things strangely in Ireland._ The old O'Neill, +instead of being irritated, saw in this exploit a proof of commendable +energy. He at once took Shane into favour, and, had he been able, +would have given him his dead brother's rights.' + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RULE OF THE O'NEILLS. + + +Shane O'Neill was a man of extraordinary ability and tremendous +energy, as the English found to their cost. He was guilty of atrocious +deeds; but he had too many examples in those lawless times encouraging +him to sacrifice the most sacred ties to his ambition. He resolved to +seize the chieftainship by deposing his father and banishing him to +the Pale, where, after passing some years in captivity, he died. He +was, no doubt, urged to do this, lest by some chance the son of the +baron of Dungannon should be adopted by England as the rightful heir, +and made Earl of Tyrone. This title he spurned, and proclaimed himself +the O'Neill, the true representative of the ancient kings of Ulster, +to which office he was elected by his people, taking the usual oath +with his foot upon the sacred stone. This was an open defiance of +English power, and he prepared to abide the consequences. He thought +the opportunity a favourable one to recover the supremacy of his +ancestors over the O'Donels. He accordingly mustered a numerous army, +and marched into Tyrconnel, where he was joined by Hugh O'Donel, +brother of Calvagh, the chief, with other disaffected persons of the +same clan. O'Donel had recourse to stratagem. Having caused his cattle +to be driven out of harm's way, he sent a spy into the enemy's camp, +who mixed with the soldiers, and returning undiscovered, he undertook +to guide O'Donel's army to O'Neill's tent, which was distinguished by +a great watch-fire, and guarded by six galloglasses on one side and as +many Scots on the other. The camp, however, was taken by surprise +in the dead of night, and O'Neill's forces, careless or asleep, were +slaughtered and routed without resistance. Shane himself fled for his +life, and, swimming across three rivers, succeeded in reaching his own +territory. This occurred the year before he cast off his allegiance +to England. He was required to appear before Elizabeth in person to +explain the grounds on which he had claimed the chieftainship. He +consented, on condition that he got a safe-conduct and money for the +expenses of his journey. At the same time he sent a long letter to the +Queen, complaining of the treatment he had received, and defending his +pretensions. The letter is characteristic of the man and of the times. +He said: 'The deputy has much ill-used me, your Majesty; and now that +I am going over to see you, I hope you will consider that I am but +rude and uncivil, and do not know my duty to your Highness, nor yet +your Majesty's laws, but am one brought up in wildness, far from all +civility. Yet have I a good will to the commonwealth of my country; +and please your Majesty to send over two commissioners that you can +trust, that will take no bribes, nor otherwise be imposed on, to +observe what I have done to improve the country, and hear what my +accusers have to say; and then let them go into the Pale, and hear +what the people say of your soldiers, with their horses, and their +dogs, and their concubines. Within this year and a half, three hundred +farmers are come from the English Pale to live in my country, where +they can be safe. + +'Please your Majesty, your Majesty's money here is not so good as your +money in England, and will not pass current there. Please your Majesty +to send me three thousand pounds in English money to pay my expenses +in going over to you, and when I come back I will pay your deputy +three thousand pounds Irish, such as you are pleased to have current +here. Also I will ask your Majesty to marry me to some gentlewoman of +noble blood meet for my vocation. I will make Ireland all that your +Majesty wishes for you. I am very sorry your Majesty is put to such +expense. If you will trust it to me, I will undertake that in three +years you will have a revenue, where now you have continual loss.' + +Shane suspected evil designs on the part of the English, and not +without reason. The object of the summons to England was to detain him +there with 'gentle talk' till Sussex could return to his command with +an English army powerful enough to subjugate Ulster. For this purpose +such preparations were made by the English Government in men and +money, 'that rebellion should have no chance; and,' says Mr. Froude, +'so careful was the secresy which was observed, to prevent Shane from +taking alarm, that a detachment of troops sent from Portsmouth sailed +with sealed orders, and neither men nor officers knew that Ireland was +their destination till they had rounded the Land's End.' The English +plans were well laid. Kildare, whom Elizabeth most feared, had +accepted her invitation to go to London, and thus prevented any +movement in the south, while O'Donel was prepared to join the English +army on its advance into Ulster; and the Scots, notwithstanding their +predilection for Mary Stuart, were expected to act as Argyle and his +sister should direct. But Shane had a genius for intrigue as well +as Elizabeth, and he was far more rapid than her generals in the +execution of his plans. By a master-stroke of policy he disconcerted +their arrangements. He had previously asked the Earl of Argyle to give +him his daughter in marriage, in order that he might strengthen his +alliance with the Ulster Scots. It is true that she had been already +married to his rival, O'Donel; but that was a small difficulty in his +way. The knot was tied, but he had no hesitation in cutting it with +his sword. 'The countess' was well educated for her time. She was also +a Protestant, and the government had hopes that her influence would be +favourable to 'civility and the Reformation' among the barbarians of +the north. But whatever advantages the presence of the fair Scottish +missionary might bring, Shane O'Neill did not see why they should +not be all his own, especially as he had managed somehow to produce +a favourable impression on her heart. Accordingly he made a dash +into Tyrconnel, and carried off both the lady and her husband to his +stronghold, Shane's Castle, on the banks of Lough Neagh. Her Scotch +guard, though fifteen hundred strong, had offered no resistance. +O'Donel was shut up in a prison, and his wife became the willing +paramour of the captor. 'The affront to McConnell was forgiven or +atoned for by private arrangement, and the sister of the Earl of +Argyle--an educated woman for her time, not unlearned in Latin, +speaking French and Italian, counted sober, wise, and no less +subtle--had betrayed herself and her husband. The O'Neills, by this +last manoeuvre, became supreme in Ulster. Deprived of their head, the +O'Donels sank into helplessness. The whole force of the province, such +as it was, with the more serious addition of several thousand Scotch +marauders, was at Shane's disposal, and thus provided, he thought +himself safe in defying England to do its worst.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, Ibid.] + +Meantime, Sussex had arrived in Dublin preceded by his English forces. +He made a rapid preliminary movement to the north, and seized the +Cathedral of Armagh, in order to make it a fortified depot for his +stores. He then fell back into Meath, where he was joined by Ormond +with flying companies of galloglasses. Soon after a singular attack +was made on the English garrison at Armagh. Seeing a number of kernes +scattered about the town, the officer in command sallied out upon +them, when O'Neill suddenly appeared, accompanied by the Catholic +Archbishop, on a hill outside the walls. 'The English had but time to +recover their defences when the whole Irish army, led by a procession +of monks, and every man carrying a fagot, came on to burn the +cathedral over their heads. The monks sang a mass; the primate walked +three times up and down the lines, willing the rebels to go forward, +for God was on their side. Shane swore a great oath not to turn his +back while an Englishman was alive; and with scream and yell his men +came on. _Fortunately there were no Scots among them._ The English, +though out-numbered ten to one, stood steady in the churchyard, and, +after a sharp hand-to-hand fight, drove back the howling crowd. The +Irish retired into the friars' houses outside the cathedral close, set +them on fire, and ran for their lives.' + +'So far,' adds Mr. Froude, 'all was well. After this there was no more +talk of treating, and by the 18th, Sussex and Ormond were themselves +at Armagh with a force--had there been skill to direct it--sufficient +to have swept Tyrone from border to border.' + +The English historian exults in the valour of the small garrison of +his countrymen, well-disciplined and sheltered behind a strong wall, +in resisting the assault of a howling multitude of mere Irish, and he +observes significantly, that 'fortunately there were no _Scots_ among +them.' But he is obliged immediately after to record an Irish victory +so signal that, according to the lord deputy himself, 'the fame of the +English army so hardly gotten, was now vanished.' Yet Mr. Froude does +not, in this, lay the blame of defeat upon the _nationality_ of the +vanquished. It is only the Irish nation that is made the scape-goat in +such cases. + +It was July, but the weather was wet, the rivers were high, Ormond was +ill, Sussex would not leave his friend, and so the English army stayed +in town doing nothing till the end of the month, when their failing +provisions admonished them that an Irish hosting would be desirable. +O'Neill, who seems to have been aware of the state of things, +presented the appropriate temptation. Spies brought the lord deputy +word that in the direction of Cavan there were herds of cows, which +an active party might easily capture. These spies, with ardent +professions of loyalty, offered to guide the English troops to the +place where the booty would be found, their object being to draw them +among bogs and rivers where they might be destroyed. The lord deputy +did not think it necessary to accompany this host, which consisted of +200 horse, 500 men-at-arms, and some hundreds of the loyal Irish of +the Pale. Shane intended to attack them the first night while resting +on their march. But they escaped by an alteration of the route. Next +morning they were marching on the open plain, miles from any shelter +of hill or wood, when the Irish chief, with less than half their +number, pursued them, and fell upon the cavalry in the rear, with +the cry, '_Laundarg Aboo_--the Bloody Hand--Strike for O'Neill!' The +English cavalry commanded by Wingfield, seized with terror, galloped +into the ranks of their own men-at-arms, rode them down, and +extricated themselves only to fly panic-stricken from the field to the +crest of an adjoining hill. Meantime, Shane's troopers rode through +the broken ranks, cutting down the footmen on all sides. The yells and +cries were heard far off through the misty morning air. Fitzwilliam, +who had the chief command, was about a mile in advance at the head +of another body of cavalry, when a horseman was observed by him, +galloping wildly in the distance and waving his handkerchief as a +signal. He returned instantly, followed by his men, and flung himself +into the _melee_. Shane receiving such a charge of those few men, and +seeing more coming after, ran no farther risk, blew a recall note, +and withdrew unpursued. Fitzwilliam's courage alone prevented the army +from being annihilated. Out of 500 English 50 lay dead, and 50 more +were badly wounded. The survivors fell back to Armagh 'so _dismayed_ +as to be unfit for farther service.' Pitiable were the lamentations +of the lord deputy to Cecil on this catastrophe. It was, said he, 'by +cowardice the dreadfullest beginning that ever was seen in Ireland. +Ah! Mr. Secretary, what unfortunate star hung over me that day to draw +me, that never could be persuaded to be absent from the army at any +time--to be then absent for a little disease of another man? _The +rearward was the best and picked soldiers in all this land._ If I +or any stout man had been that day with them, we had made an end of +Shane--which is now farther off than ever it was. Never before durst +Scot or Irishman look on Englishmen in plain or wood since I was here; +and now Shane, in a plain three miles away from any wood, and where I +would have asked of God to have had him, hath, with 120 horse, and a +few Scots and galloglasse, _scarce half in numbers_, charged our whole +army, and by the cowardice of one wretch whom I hold dear to me as +my own brother, was like in one hour to have left not one man of that +army alive, and after to have taken me and the rest at Armagh. The +fame of the English army, so hardly gotten, is now vanished, and I, +wretched and dishonoured, by the vileness of other men's deeds.' + +This is real history that Mr. Froude has given us. It places the +actors before us, enables us to discern their characters, tells us +who they are and what they have done. It shows also the value and +the necessity of documentary evidence for establishing the truth +of history. How different from the vague, uncertain, shadowy +representations derived from oral tradition, or mere reports, +though contemporary, circulated from mouth to mouth, and exaggerated +according to the interests of one party or the other. Let us for +illustration compare Mr. Froude's vivid picture of this battle, so +disastrous to the English, with the account given of the same event by +the Annalists called the Four Masters. These writers had taken great +pains to collect the most authentic records of the various Irish +tribes from the invasion by Henry II. to the period of which we +are writing. They were intensely Irish, and of course glad of any +opportunity of recording events creditable to the valour of their +countrymen. They lived in Donegal, under the protection of O'Donel, +but they showed themselves quite willing to do full justice to his +great rival O'Neill. The presence of the lord deputy, the Earl of +Ormond, and other great men at Armagh, with a select English army, +would naturally have roused their attention, and when that army was +encountered and vanquished in the open field by the Irish general, we +should have expected that the details of such a glorious event would +have been collected with the greatest care from the accounts of +eye-witnesses. The bards and historiographers should have been on the +alert to do justice to their country on so great an occasion. They +were on the spot, they were beside the victors, and they had no excuse +whatever for ignorance. Yet here is the miserably cold, _jejune_, +feeble, and imperfect record which we find in the Annals of the Four +Masters:--'The Lord Justice of Ireland, namely Thomas Fitzwalter +(Sussex), marched into Tyrone to take revenge for the capture of +Caloach O'Donel, and also for his own quarrels with the country. +He encamped with a great army at Armagh, and constructed deep +entrenchments and impregnable ramparts about the great church of +Armagh, which he intended to keep constantly guarded. O'Neill, i.e. +John, having received intelligence of this, sent a party of his +faithful men and friends with Caloach O'Donel to guard and keep +him from the Lord Justice, and they conveyed him from one island to +another, in the recesses and sequestered places of Tyrone. After some +time the Lord Justice sent out from the camp at Armagh, a number of +his captains with 1000 men to take some prey and plunder in Oriel. +O'Neill, having received private information and intelligence of those +great troops marching into Oriel, proceeded privately and silently to +where they were, and came up to them after they had collected their +prey; a battle ensued in which many were slain on both sides; and +finally the preys were abandoned, and fell into the hands of their +original possessors on that occasion.' + +That is the whole account of the most signal victory over the English +that had crowned the arms of Ulster during those wars! Not a word of +the disparity of the forces, or the flight of the English cavalry, +or the slaughter of the Englishmen-at-arms, or the humiliation and +disabled condition of the garrison at Armagh. Equally unsatisfactory +is the record of the subsequent march through Tyrone by Sussex, in the +course of which his army slaughtered 4000 head of cattle, which they +could not drive away. Of this tremendous destruction of property the +Four Masters do not say a word. Such omissions often occur in their +annals, even when dealing with contemporary events. Uncritical as they +were and extremely credulous, how can we trust the records which they +give of remote ages? + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +O'NEILL, SOVEREIGN OF ULSTER. + + +The moral atmosphere of Elizabeth's court was not favourable to public +virtue. Strange to say at this time Lord Pembroke seemed to be the +only nobleman connected with it whose patriotism could be depended on; +and, according to Cecil, there was not another person, 'no not one' +who did not either wish well to Shane O'Neill, or so ill to the Earl +of Sussex as 'rather to welcome the news than regret the English +loss!' It would be difficult to find 'intriguing factiousness' baser +than this even in barbarous Ireland. The success of O'Neill, however, +had raised him high in the opinion of the Queen, who proposed, +through the Earl of Kildare, to leave him in possession of all his +territories, and let him govern the Irish 'according to Irish ideas' +if he would only become her vassal. Sussex had returned to Dublin with +the remnant of his army, while Fitzwilliam was dispatched to London +to explain the disaster, bearing with him a petition from the Irish +Council, that the troops who had been living in free quarters on the +tenants of the Pale should be recalled or disbanded. 'Useless in the +field and tyrannical to the farmer, they were a burden on the English +exchequer, and answered no purpose but to make the English name +detested.' + +To O'Neill the Queen sent a pardon, with a safe conduct to England, if +he could be prevailed on to go. In the meantime Shane sent a message +to the lord deputy, demanding the removal of the garrison from Armagh. +One of his messengers, Neill Grey communicated secretly with Lord +Sussex, affecting to dislike rebellion, and intimating that he might +help the English to get rid of his master. The lord deputy, without +the least scruple or apparent consciousness of the criminality or +disgrace of the proceeding, actually proposed to this man that he +should murder O'Neill. This villanous purpose he avows in his letter +to the Queen. 'In fine,' said he, 'I breake with him to kill Shane; +and bound myself by my oath to see him have a hundred marcs of land by +the year to him, and to his heirs, for his reward. He seemed desirous +to serve your Highness, and to have the land; but fearful to do it, +doubting his own escape after with safety, which he confessed and +promised to do by any means he might, escaping with his life. What he +will do I know not, but I assure your Highness he may do it without +danger if he will. And if he will not do that he may in your service, +there will be done _to him_ what others may. God send your Highness a +good end.' + +This English nobleman was, it seems, pious as well as honourable, +and could mingle prayers with his plots for assassination. Mr. Froude +suggests extenuating circumstances: 'Lord Sussex, it appears, regarded +Shane as a kind of wolf, whom having failed to capture in fair chase +he might destroy by the first expedient that came to his hand.' And +'English honour, like English coin, lost something of its purity in +the sister island.' Of course; it was the Irish atmosphere that did it +all. But Sussex was not singular in this mode of illustrating English +honour. A greater than he, the chivalrous Sir Walter Raleigh, wrote to +a friend in Munster, recommending the treacherous assassination of the +Earl of Desmond, as perfectly justifiable. And this crime, for which +an ignorant Irishman would be hanged, was deliberately suggested by +the illustrious knight whilst sitting quietly in his English study.[1] +But what perplexes the historian most of all is that the Queen of +England showed no resentment at the infamous proposal of Sussex. 'It +is most sadly certain, however, that Sussex was continued in office, +and inasmuch as it will be seen that he repeated the experiment a few +months later, his letter could not have been received with any marked +condemnation.' Yet Elizabeth was never in Ireland. + +[Footnote 1: See Life of Sir Walter Raleigh.] + +Fitzwilliam, however, returned with reinforcements of troops from +Berwick, with which the deputy resolved to repair the credit of the +English arms, and to set the Irish an example of civilised warfare. +How did he do this? Dispatching provisions by sea to Lough Foyle, he +succeeded this time in marching through Tyrone, 'and in destroying on +his way 4,000 cattle, which he was unable to carry away. He had left +Shane's cows to rot where he had killed them; and thus being without +food, and sententiously and characteristically concluding that man by +his policy might propose, but God at His will did dispose; Lord Sussex +fell back by the upper waters of Lough Erne, sweeping the country +before him.' When the Irish peasantry saw the carcasses of their +cattle rotting along the roads, while their children were famished for +want of milk, they must have been most favourably impressed with the +blessings of British rule! Shane, instead of encountering the deputy +on his own territory, amused himself burning villages in Meath. +Neither of those rulers--those chief protectors of the people--seems +to have been conscious that he was doing anything wrong in destroying +the homes and the food of the wretched inhabitants, whom they +alternately scourged. On the contrary, the extent of devastation which +they were able to effect was supposed to put them in a better +position for meeting together, and treating as honourable and gallant +representatives of their respective nations. + +In accordance with the desire of the Queen, Shane, fresh from the work +of destruction in the Pale, was invited to a conference with Kildare. +They met at Dundalk, and the Irish chief consented to wait upon +Elizabeth in London, being allowed to name his own conditions. In +doing so he implied 'that he was rather conferring a favour than +receiving one, and that he was going to England as a victorious enemy +permitting himself to be conciliated.' He demanded a safe-conduct so +clearly worded that, whatever was the result of his visit, he should +be free to return; he required 'a complete amnesty for his past +misdeeds, and he stipulated that Elizabeth should pay all expenses +for himself and his retinue; the Earls of Ormond, Desmond, and Kildare +must receive him in state at Dundalk, and escort him to Dublin; +Kildare must accompany him to England; and, most important of all, +Armagh Cathedral must be evacuated. He did not anticipate treachery; +and either he would persuade Elizabeth to recognise him, and thus +prove to the Irish that rebellion was the surest road to prosperity +and power, or, at worst, by venturing into England, and returning +unscathed, he would show them that the Government might be defied with +more than impunity.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude.] + +These terms, so humiliating to English pride, were advocated in the +Council 'for certain secret respects;' and even Sir William Cecil +was not ashamed to say, 'that, in Shane's absence from Ireland,' +_something might be cavilled against him or his_, for non-observing +the covenants on his side; and so the pact being infringed, the +matter might be used as should be thought fit. With this understanding +Elizabeth wrote, making all the ignominious concessions demanded, save +one, the evacuation of the cathedral. Shane replied in lofty terms +that, although for the Earl of Sussex he would not mollify one iota +of his agreement, yet he would consent at the request of her Majesty. +'Thus,' says Mr. Froude, 'with the Earl of Kildare in attendance, a +train of galloglasse, 1,000 l. in hand, and a second 1,000 l. awaiting +for him in London, the champion of Irish freedom sailed from Dublin, +and appeared on the second of January at the English court.' + +It is stated that Cecil, Pembroke, and Bacon, received him privately +on his arrival, instructed him how to behave in the royal presence, +gave him the promised money, and endeavoured to impress upon him the +enormity of his offences. But, to every appeal made to his conscience, +Shane answered by a counter appeal about money; 2,000 l. was a poor +present from so great a Queen; he was sure their honours would +give him a few more hundreds. He agreed, however, to make a general +confession of his sins in Irish and English; and, thus tutored, +Elizabeth received him in state on January 6, 1562, attended by +the Council, the peers, the foreign ambassadors, bishops, aldermen, +dignitaries of all kinds, who gazed 'as if at the exhibition of some +wild animal of the desert.' The scene is very graphically described by +Mr. Froude: 'O'Neill stalked in, his saffron mantle sweeping round and +round him, his hair curling on his back, and clipped short below +the eyes, which gleamed from under it with a grey lustre, frowning, +fierce, and cruel. Behind him followed his galloglasse, bare-headed +and fair-haired, with shirts of mail which reached their knees, a +wolf-skin flung across their shoulders, and short broad battle-axes in +their hands. At the foot of the throne the chief paused, bent forward, +threw himself on his face upon the ground, and then, rising upon his +knees, spoke aloud in Irish!' Camden says he 'confessed his crime and +rebellion with howling,' and Mr. Froude adds that, to his hearers, the +sound of the words 'was as the howling of a dog.' He said:-- + +'Oh! my most dread sovereign lady and queen, like as I Shane O'Neill, +your Majesty's subject of your realm of Ireland, have of long time +desired to come into the presence of your Majesty to acknowledge my +humble and bounden subjection, so am I now here upon my knees by your +gracious permission, and do most humbly acknowledge your Majesty to be +my sovereign lady and Queen of England, France, and Ireland; and I +do confess that, for lack of civil education, I have offended your +Majesty and your laws, for the which I have required and obtained your +Majesty's pardon. And for that I most humbly, from the bottom of my +heart, thank your Majesty, and still do with all humbleness require +the continuance of the same; and I faithfully promise here before +Almighty God and your Majesty, and in presence of all these your +nobles, that I intend, by God's grace, to live hereafter in the +obedience of your Majesty as a subject of your land of Ireland. + +'And because this my speech, being Irish, is not well understanded, I +have caused this my submission to be written in English and Irish, and +thereto have set my hand and seal; and to these gentlemen, my kinsmen +and friends, I most humbly beseech your Majesty to be merciful and +gracious.' + +Camden remarks that the bare-headed galloglasse, with long dishevelled +hair, crocus-dyed shirts, wide sleeves, short jackets, shaggy cloaks, +&c., were objects of great wonder to the Londoners; while the hauteur +of the Irish prince excited the merriment of the courtiers, who styled +him 'O'Neill the Great, cousin to St. Patrick, friend to the Queen +of England, enemy to all the world besides.' Notwithstanding Shane's +precautions with respect to the safe-conduct, English artifice outdid +Irish cunning. With all their horror of the Jesuits, Elizabeth's +ministers in this case practised mental reservation. True, the +Government had promised to permit him to return to Ireland, but then +the time of his stay had not been specified. Various pretexts were +invented to detain him. He must be recognised as his father's heir; +the cause must be pleaded before the English judges; the young Baron +of Dungannon must come over and be heard on the other side. O'Neill +was told that he had been sent for, while Cecil wrote privately to +Fitzwilliam to keep him safe in Ireland. While the prince was thus +humoured with vain excuses, he was occupied in pleading his own cause +by flattering communications to the Queen, 'whose fame was spoken +of throughout the world.' He wished to study the wisdom of her +government, that he might know better how to order himself in civil +polity. He was most urgent that her Majesty would give him 'some noble +English lady for a wife, with augmentation of living suitable.' If she +would give him his father's earldom, he would make her the undisputed +sovereign of willing subjects in Ulster; he would drive away all her +enemies, save her from all further expense, and secure for her a +great increase of revenue. He begged in the meantime, that he might be +allowed to attend her favourite, Lord Robert Cecil, in order to learn +'to ride after the English fashion, to run at the tilt, to hawk, to +shoot, and use such other good exercises as the said good lord was +most apt unto.' Thus month after month passed away, and Shane was +still virtually a prisoner. 'At length,' says Mr. Froude, 'the false +dealing produced its cruel fruit, the murder of the boy who was used +as the pretext for the delay. Sent for to England, yet prevented from +obeying the command, the young Baron of Dungannon was waylaid at the +beginning of April in a wood near Carlingford by Turlogh O'Neill. He +fled for his life, with the murderers behind him, till he reached +the bank of a deep river, which he could not swim, and there he was +killed.' + +This event brought matters to a crisis, and Shane's cause was +triumphant. By articles entered into between him and the Queen it was +agreed that he was to be constituted captain or governor of Tyrone 'in +the same manner as other captains of the said nation called O'Nele's +had rightfully executed that office in the time of King Henry VIII. +And, moreover, he was to enjoy and have the name and title of O'Nele, +with the like authority as any other of his ancestors, with the +service and homage of all the lords and captains called _urraughts_, +and other nobles of the said nation of O'Nele.' All this was upon the +condition 'that he and his said nobles should truly and faithfully, +from time to time, serve her Majesty, and, where necessary, wage war +against all her enemies in such manner as the Lord Lieutenant for the +time being should direct.' The title of O'Neill, however, was to be +contingent on the decision of Parliament as to the validity of the +letters-patent of Henry VIII. Should that decision be unfavourable, he +was to enjoy his powers and prerogatives under the style and title +of the Earl of Tyrone, with feudal jurisdiction over the northern +counties. The Pale was to be no shelter to any person whom he might +demand as a malefactor. If any Irish lord or chief did him wrong, and +the deputy failed within twenty-one days to exact reparation, Shane +might raise an army and levy war on his private account. An exception +was made on behalf of the loyal O'Donel, whose cause was to be +submitted to the arbitration of the Irish earls. The 'indenture' +between the Queen and O'Neill was signed by the high contracting +parties, and bears date April 30, 1562. The English historian +indignantly remarks: 'A rebel subject treating as an equal with his +sovereign for the terms on which he would remain in his allegiance was +an inglorious spectacle; and the admission of Shane's pretensions to +sovereignty was one more evidence to the small Ulster chiefs that no +service was worse requited in Ireland than fidelity to the English +crown. The Maguires, the O'Reillys, the O'Donels--all the clans who +had stood by Sussex in the preceding summer--were given over to their +enemy bound hand and foot. But Elizabeth was weary of the expense, +and sick of efforts which were profitless as the cultivation of a +quicksand. True it was that she was placing half Ireland in the hands +of an adulterous, murdering scoundrel, but the Irish liked to have it +so, and she forced herself to hope that he would restrain himself for +the future within the bounds of decency.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude.] + +In that hope she was soon disappointed. Shane with his galloglasse +returned in glory, his purse lined with money and honour wreathed +about his brows. He told the northern chiefs that he had gone to +England not to lose but to win, and that they must henceforth submit +to his authority, or feel his power. The O'Donels, relying on English +promises, dared to refuse allegiance to the O'Neill, whereupon, +without consulting the lord deputy, 'he called his men to arms and +marched into Tyrconnel, killing, robbing, and burning in the old style +through farm and castle.' The Irish historians, however, make excuses +for O'Neill, affirming that he was released from his obligations +by the bad faith of the lord deputy. He it was who gave him a safe +conduct to Dublin, that he might take the oath of allegiance according +to promise; but the document was so ingeniously worded that its +meaning might be twisted so as to make him a prisoner. He was informed +of this treachery, and, as Mr. Froude remarks, 'Shane was too cunning +a fish, and had been too lately in the meshes, to be caught again in +so poor a snare.' A most attractive bait was provided by Sussex in +the person of his sister, who had been brought over to Dublin, and who +might be won by the great northern chief if he would only come up to +the viceregal court to woo her. 'Shane glanced at the tempting morsel +with wistful eyes. Had he trusted himself in the hands of Sussex he +would have had a short shrift for a blessing and a rough nuptial knot +about his neck. At the last moment a little bird carried the tale +to his ear. He had been advertized out of the Pale that the lady +was brought over only to entrap him, and if he came to the deputy he +should never return.' He therefore excused himself by alleging that +his duty to the Queen forbade him to leave the province while it was +in such a disturbed condition, the disturbance being caused chiefly by +his own predatory excursions into the territories of the O'Donels and +Maguires. + +Shane took charge of the affairs of the Church as well as of the +State. The Catholic primate refusing to acknowledge Elizabeth as the +head of the Church, the see was declared vacant, and a _conge d'elire_ +was sent down for the appointment of 'Mr. Adam Loftus,' an Englishman, +who came over as the lord deputy's chaplain. The answer returned and +reported by Sussex to the Queen was 'that the chapter there, whereof +the greater part were Shane O'Neill's horsemen, were so sparkled +and out of order that they could by no means be assembled for the +election. In the meantime the lord deputy began to apprehend that +O'Neill aspired, not without some hope of success, to the sovereignty +of the whole island. It was found that he was in correspondence with +the Pope, and the Queen of Scots, and the King of Spain. No greater +danger, wrote Sussex, had ever been in Ireland. He implored the Queen +not to trifle with it, declaring that he wished some abler general to +take the command, not from any want of will, 'for he would spend his +last penny and his last drop of blood for her Majesty.' Right and left +Shane was crushing the petty chiefs, who implored the protection +of the Government. Maguire requested the deputy to write to him in +English, not in Latin, because the latter language was well known, +and but few of the Irish had any knowledge of the former, in which +therefore the secrets of their correspondence would be more safe. Here +is a specimen of his English: 'I know well that within these four days +the sayed Shan will come to dystroy me contrey except your Lordshypp +will sette some remedy in the matter.' He did indeed go down into +Fermanagh with 'a great hoste.' As Maguire refused to submit, Shane +'bygan to wax mad, and to cawsse his men to bran all his corn and +howsses.' He spared neither church nor sanctuary; three hundred women +and children were piteously murdered, and Maguire himself, clean +banished, as he described it, took refuge with the remnant of his +people in the islands on the lake, whither Shane was making boats to +pursue him. 'Help me, your lordship,' the hunted wretch cried, in his +despair, to Sussex. 'Ye are lyke to make hym the strongest man of all +Erlond, for every man wyll take an exampull by the gratte lostys; take +hyd to yourself by thymes, for he is lyke to have all the power from +this place thill he come to the wallys of Gallway to rysse against +you.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Wright's Elizabeth, vol. i. p.73.] + +It is the boast of the Irish that when Shane had subdued all his +opponents, he ruled Tyrone for some time with such order, 'that if +a robbery was committed within his territory, he either caused the +property to be restored, or reimbursed the loser out of his own +treasury.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Haverty's History of Ireland, p.300.] + +The perplexity of the Government in this critical emergency is vividly +described by Mr. Froude: 'Elizabeth knew not which way to turn. Force, +treachery, conciliation had been tried successively, and the Irish +problem was more hopeless than ever. In the dense darkness of the +prospects of Ulster there was a solitary gleam of light. Grown +insolent with prosperity, Shane had been dealing too peremptorily with +the Scots; his countess, though compelled to live with him, and to be +the mother of his children, had felt his brutality and repented of her +folly, and perhaps attempted to escape. In the daytime, when he +was abroad marauding, she was coupled like a hound to a page or a +horse-boy, and only released at night when he returned to his evening +orgies. The fierce Campbells were not men to bear tamely these +outrages from a drunken savage on the sister of their chief, and +Sussex conceived that if the Scots, by any contrivance, were separated +from Shane, they might be used as a whip to scourge him.' + +At length Sussex, determined to crush the arch-rebel, marched +northward in April, 1563, with a mixed force of English and Irish, +ill-armed, ill-supplied, dispirited and almost disloyal. The diary of +the commander-in-chief is, perhaps, the funniest on record: 'April 6: +The army arrived at Armagh. April 8: The army marches back to Newry +to bring up stores and ammunition left behind. April 11: The army +advances again to Armagh, where it waits for galloglasse and kerne +from the Pale. April 14: The commander-in-chief answers a letter from +James M'Connell. April 15: The army goes upon Shane's cattle, of which +it takes enough to serve it, but would have taken more if it had had +galloglasse.' Next day it returns to Armagh. There it waits three days +for the galloglasse, and then sends back for them to Dublin. On April +20, again writes M'Connell, because he did not come according to +promise. April 21: The army surveys the Trough mountains. April 22: +The pious commander winds up the glorious record in these words: 'To +Armagh with the spoil taken which would have been much more if we had +had galloglasse, and because St. George even forced me, her Majesty's +lieutenant, to return to divine service that night. April 23: Divine +service.' Subsequently his lordship's extreme piety caused him the +loss of 300 horses, which he naively confesses thus: 'Being Easter +time, and he having travelled the week before, and Easter day till +night, thought fit to give Easter Monday to prayer, and in this time +certain churls stole off with the horses.' To this Mr. Froude adds the +pertinent remark: 'The piety which could neglect practical duty for +the outward service of devotion, yet at the same time could make +overtures to Neil Greg to assassinate his master, requires no very +lenient consideration.' + +In connexion with the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill Lord Elcho +proposed Solomon's plan of settling the dispute of the two mother +Churches about Ireland. He would cut the country in two, establishing +Protestantism in the north and Catholicism in the south. When an +experienced member of the House of Commons makes such a proposition +in this age, we should not be surprised that Sir Thomas Cusack in the +year 1563 proposed to Queen Elizabeth that Ireland should be divided +into four provinces, each with a separate president, either elected by +the people or chosen in compliance with their wishes. O'Neill was to +have the north, the Clanrickards the west, the O'Briens or Desmonds +the south, and thus the English might be allowed the undisturbed +enjoyment of the Pale. This notable scheme for settling the Irish +question was actually adopted by the Queen, and she wrote to Sussex, +stating that, as his expedition to the north had resulted only in +giving fresh strength to the enemy, she 'had decided to come to an end +of the war of Ulster by agreement rather than by force.' To Shane she +was all compliance. He had but to prove himself a good subject, and +he might have any pre-eminence which her Majesty could grant without +doing any other person wrong. 'If he desired to have a council +established at Armagh, he should himself be the president of that +council; if he wished to drive the Scots out of Antrim, her own troops +would assist in the expulsion; if he was offended with the garrison in +the cathedral, she would gladly see peace maintained in a manner less +expensive to herself. To the primacy he might name the person most +agreeable to himself, and with the primacy, as a matter of course, +even the form of maintaining the Protestant Church would be abandoned +also. In return for these concessions the Queen demanded only that +Shane, to save her honour, should sue for them as a favour instead +of demanding them as a right. The rebel chief consented without +difficulty to conditions which cost him nothing, and after an +interview with Cusack, O'Neill wrote a formal apology to Elizabeth, +and promised for the future to be her Majesty's true and faithful +subject. Indentures were drawn up on December 17, in which the Ulster +sovereignty was transferred to him in everything but the name, and the +treaty required only Elizabeth's signature, when a second dark effort +was made to cut the knot of the Irish difficulty.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, vol. viii. p.48.] + +This second 'dark effort' was nothing less than an attempt to murder +O'Neill by means of poison. He could not be conquered; he could not be +out-manoeuvred; he could not be assassinated in the ordinary way. But +the resources of Dublin Castle, and of English ingenuity, were +not exhausted. The lord deputy was of course delighted with the +reconciliation which had been effected with the Ulster prince. What +could be more natural than to send him a present of the choicest +wine from the viceregal cellars? certainly few presents could be more +agreeable. Shane and his household quaffed the delicious beverage +freely enough we may be sure, without the slightest suspicion that +there was death in the cup. But the wine was mingled with poison. +Those who drank it were quickly at the point of death. O'Neill might +thank his good constitution for his recovery from an illness almost +mortal. The crime was traced to an Englishman named Smith, who, if +employed by Lord Sussex, did not betray the guilty secret. Mr. Froude +admits that the suspicion cannot but cling to him that this second +attempt at murder was not made without his connivance; 'nor,' he adds, +'can Elizabeth herself be wholly acquitted of responsibility. She +professed the loudest indignation, but she ventured no allusion to +his previous communication with her, and no hint transpires of +any previous displeasure when the proposal had been made openly to +herself. The treachery of an English nobleman, the conduct of +the inquiry, and the anomalous termination of it, would have been +incredible even in Ireland, were not the original correspondence +extant, in which the facts are not denied.' + +O'Neill of course complained loudly to the Queen, whereupon she +directed that a strict investigation should take place, in order +that the guilty parties should be found out and punished, 'of what +condition soever the same should be.' In writing to the lord deputy +she assumed that Smith had been committed to prison and would be +brought to condign punishment. That person, after many denials, at +length confessed his guilt, and said that his object was to rid his +country of a dangerous enemy. This motive was so good in the eye +of the Government that it saved the life of the culprit. Sir Thomas +Cusack, writing to Cecil, March 22, 1564, says, 'I persuaded O'Neill +to forget the matter, whereby no more talk should grow of it; seeing +there is no law to punish the offender other than by discretion and +imprisonment, which O'Neill would little regard except the party might +be executed by death, and that the law doth not suffer. So as the +matter be wisely pacified, it were well done to leave it.' Shane was +probably aware that Smith was but an instrument, who would be readily +sacrificed as a peace-offering. + +The sketch which Mr. Froude gives of Ulster and its wild sovereign at +this time is admirably picturesque. 'Here then, for the present, +the story will leave Shane safely planted on the first step of his +ambition, in all but the title, sole monarch of the North. He +built himself a fort on an island in Lough Neagh, which he called +_Foogh-ni-gall_, or, Hate of Englishmen, and grew rich on the spoils +of his enemies, the only strong man in Ireland. He administered +justice after a paternal fashion, permitting no robbers but himself; +when wrong was done he compelled restitution, or at his own cost +redeemed the harm "to the loser's contentation." Two hundred pipes of +wine were stored in his cellars; 600 men-at-arms fed at his table, as +it were his janissaries; and daily he feasted the beggars at his gate, +saying, it was meet to serve Christ first. Half wolf, half fox, he lay +couched in his Castle of Malepartuis, with his emissaries at Rome, at +Paris, and at Edinburgh. In the morning he was the subtle pretender to +the Irish throne; in the afternoon, when the wine was in him, he was +a dissolute savage, revelling in sensuality with his unhappy countess, +uncoupled from her horseboy to wait upon his pleasure. He broke loose +from time to time to keep his hand in practice. At Carlingford, +for example, he swept off one day 200 sheep and oxen, while his +men violated sixty women in the town; but Elizabeth looked away and +endeavoured not to see. The English Government had resolved to stir no +sleeping dogs in Ireland till a staff was provided to chastise them if +they would bite. Terence Daniel, the dean of those rough-riding canons +of Armagh, was installed as primate; the Earl of Sussex was recalled +to England; and the new archbishop, unable to contain his exultation +at the blessed day which had dawned upon his country, wrote to Cecil +to say how the millennium had come at last, glory be to God!' + +As a picture of Irish savage life this is very good. But the historian +has presented a companion picture of English civilised life, which +is not at all inferior. Sir Thomas Wroth and Sir Nicholas Arnold were +sent over to reform the Pale. They were stern Englishmen, impatient +of abuses among their own countrymen, and having no more sympathy for +Irishmen than for wolves. In the Pale they found that peculation had +grown into a custom; the most barefaced frauds had been converted by +habit into rights: and a captain's commission was thought ill-handled +if it did not yield, beyond the pay, 500 l. a year. They received pay +for each hundred men, when only sixty were on the roll. The soldiers, +following the example of their leaders, robbed and ground the +peasantry. In fact, the Pale was 'a weltering sea of corruption--the +captains out of credit, the soldiers mutinous, the English Government +hated; every man seeking his own, and none that which was Christ's.' +The purification of the Pale was left to Arnold, 'a hard, iron, +pitiless man, careful of things and careless of phrases, untroubled +with delicacy, and impervious to Irish enchantments. The account books +were dragged to light, where iniquity in high places was registered in +inexorable figures. The hands of Sir Henry Ratcliffe, the brother of +Sussex, were not found clean. Arnold sent him to the Castle with +the rest of the offenders. Deep, leading drains were cut through the +corrupting mass. The shaking ground grew firm, and honest healthy +human life was again made possible. With the provinces beyond the +Pale, Arnold meddled little, save where, taking a rough view of the +necessities of the case, he could help the Irish chiefs to destroy +each other.' + +To Cecil, Arnold wrote thus: 'I am with all the wild Irish at the same +point I am at with bears and ban-dogs; when I see them fight, so they +fight earnestly indeed, and tug each other well, I care not who has +the worst.' 'Why not, indeed?' asks Mr. Froude; 'better so than hire +assassins! Cecil, with the modesty of genius, confessed his ignorance +of the country, and his inability to judge; yet, in every opinion +which he allowed himself to give, there was always a certain nobility +of tone and sentiment.' Nobility was scarcely necessary to induce +a statesman to revolt against the policy of Arnold. A little +Christianity, nay a slight touch of humanity, would have sufficed for +that purpose. Sussex was a nobleman, and considered himself, no +doubt, a very godly man, but everyone must admit that, in all heroic +qualities, he was incomparably beneath the uncultured Shane O'Neill, +while in baseness and wickedness he was not far behind his northern +foe, 'half wolf, half fox.' Cecil, however, was a man of a very +different stamp from Sussex. Evidently shocked at the prevailing +English notions about the value of Irish life, he wrote to Arnold: +'You be of that opinion which many wise men are of, from which I do +not dissent, being an Englishman; but being, as I am, a Christian man, +I am not without some perplexity, to enjoy of such cruelties.' + +The work of reform, however, did not prove so easy a task. Arnold's +vigour was limited by his powers. The paymasters continued to cheat +the Government by false returns. The Government allowed the pay to +run in arrear, the soldiers revenged themselves by oppressing and +plundering the people; and 'so came to pass this wonderful phenomenon, +that _in O'Neill's country_ alone in Ireland--defended as it was from +attacks from without, and enriched with the plunder of the Pale--_were +the peasantry prosperous, or life or property secure_.' This fact +might suggest to the English historian that the evils of Ireland do +not all proceed from blood or race; and that the Saxon may be placed +in circumstances which make him as false, as dishonest, as lazy, as +disordered, as worthless as the Celt, and that even men of 'gentle +blood' may become as base as their most plebeian servants. Nor did +zeal for religious reformation redeem the defects of the Anglo-Irish +rulers. The Protestant bishops were chiefly agitated by the vestment +controversy. 'Adam Loftus, the titular primate, to whom,' says +Mr. Froude, 'sacked villages, ravished women, and famine-stricken +skeletons crawling about the fields, were matters of everyday +indifference, shook with terror at the mention of a surplice.' Robert +Daly wrote in anguish to Cecil, in dismay at the countenance to +'Papistry,' and at his own inability to prolong a persecution which he +had happily commenced. An abortive 'devise for the better government +of Ireland' gives us some insight into the condition of the people. +'No poor persons should be _compelled_ any more to work or labour +by the day, or otherwise, without meat, drink, wages, or some other +allowance during the time of their labour; no earth tillers, nor any +others inhabiting a dwelling, under any lord, should be distrained or +punished, in body or goods, for the faults of their landlord; nor +any honest man lose life or lands without fair trial by parliamentary +attainder, according to the ancient laws of England and Ireland.' +Surely it was no proof of incurable perversity of nature, that the +Irish peasantry were discontented and disaffected, under the horrid +system of oppression and slavery here laid before the English +Government. + +As remedial measures, it was proposed that a true servant of God +should be placed in every parish, from Cape Clear to the Giant's +Causeway; that the children should be taught the New Testament and the +Psalms in Latin, 'that they, being infants, might savour of the same +in age as an old cask doth;' that there should be a university for the +education of the clergy, 'and such godly discipline among them that +there should be no more pluralities, no more abuse of patronage, no +more neglect, or idleness, or profligacy.' Mr. Froude's reflection +upon this projected policy is highly characteristic:-- + +'Here was an ideal Ireland painted on the retina of some worthy +English minister; but the real Ireland was still the old place. As it +was in the days of Brian Boroihme and the Danes, so it was in the days +of Shane O'Neill and Sir Nicholas Arnold; and the Queen, who was +to found all these fine institutions, cared chiefly to burden her +exchequer no further in the vain effort _to drain the black Irish +morass_, fed as it was from the perennial fountains of Irish +NATURE.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Vol. viii. p.377.] + +The Queen, however, thought it more prudent to let Shane have his way +in Ulster. To oblige him, she would remove the Protestant primate, +Loftus, to Dublin, and appoint his own nominee and friend, Terence +Daniel. The Pope had sent a third archbishop for the same see, +named Creagh; but, when passing through London, he was arrested, and +incarcerated in the Tower, 'where he lay in great misery, cold, and +hunger, without a penny, without the means of getting his single +shirt washed, and without gown or hose.' At last he made his escape +by gliding over the walls into the Thames. The events of 1565 made the +English Government more than ever anxious to come to terms with the +chieftain 'whom they were powerless to crush.' Since the defeat of the +Earl of Sussex, continues Mr. Froude, 'Shane's influence and strength +had been steadily growing. His return unscathed from London, and the +fierce attitude which he assumed on the instant of his reappearance +in Ulster, convinced the petty leaders that to resist him longer would +only ensure their ruin. O'Donel was an exile in England, and there +remained unsubdued in the North only the Scottish colonies of Antrim, +which were soon to follow with the rest. O'Neill lay quiet through the +winter. With the spring and the fine weather, when the rivers fell +and the ground dried, he roused himself out of his lair, and with +his galloglasse and kerne, and a few hundred harquebussmen, he dashed +suddenly down upon the Red-shanks, and broke them utterly to pieces. +Six or seven hundred were killed in the field, James M'Connell and +his brother, Sorleyboy, were taken prisoners, and, for the moment, the +whole colony was swept away. James M'Connell, himself badly wounded +in the action, died a few months later, and Shane was left undisputed +sovereign of Ulster.' + +Primate Daniel announced to the Queen this 'glorious victory over a +malicious and dangerous people' who were gradually fastening on the +country; and Sir Thomas Cusack urged that now was the time to make +O'Neill a friend for ever, an advice which was backed up by the stern +Arnold. 'For what else could be done? The Pale,' he pleaded, 'is poor +and unable to defend itself. If he do fall out before the beginning of +next summer, there is neither outlaw, rebel, murderer, thief, nor any +lewd nor evil-disposed person--of whom God knoweth there is plenty +swarming in every quarter among the wild Irish, yea and in our own +border too--which would not join to do what mischief they might.' + +But Shane did not wait for further royal overtures. He saw that with +the English Government might was right, and that the justice of his +cause shone out more brightly in proportion to the increase of his +power. Thus encouraged in his course of aggression and conquest, he +seized the Queen's Castles of Newry and Dundrum. He then marched into +Connaught, demanding the tribute due of old time 'to them that were +kings in that realm.' He exacted pledges of obedience from the western +chiefs, and spoiled O'Rourke's country, and returned to Tyrone driving +before him 4,000 head of cattle. While proceeding at this rate he +wrote soothing and flattering words to the Queen. It was for her +majesty he was fighting; he was chastising her enemies and breaking +stiff-necked chiefs into her yoke; and he begged that she would not +credit any stories which his ill-willers might spread abroad against +him. On the contrary he hoped she would determine his title and rule +without delay, and grant him, in consideration of his good services, +some augmentation of living in the Pale. Elizabeth, however, excused +his conduct, saying 'we must allow something for his wild bringing-up, +and not expect from him what we should expect from a perfect subject. +If he mean well he shall have all his reasonable requests granted.' + +But there was among Elizabeth's advisers a statesman who felt that +this sort of policy would never do. Sir Henry Sidney, on being +requested to take charge of the Government of Ireland, urged the +absolute necessity of a radical change. The power of O'Neill, and such +rulers as he, must be utterly broken, and that by force, at whatever +cost. And this, he argued, would not only be sound policy but true +economy. The condition of Ireland was unexampled; free from foreign +invasion, the sovereignty of the Queen not denied, yet the revenue so +mean and scanty that 'great yearly treasures were carried out of the +realm of England to satisfy the stipends of the officers and soldiers +required for the governance of the same.' He must have 10,000 l. +or 12,000 l. to pay out-standing debts and put the army in proper +condition. As for his own remuneration, the new viceroy, as he could +expect nothing from the Queen, would be content with permission to +export six thousand kerseys and clothes, free of duty. + +Sir Henry Sidney struck out the only line of policy by which the +English government of Ireland could be made successful or even +possible. He said: 'To go to work by force will be chargeable, it is +true; but if you will give the people justice and minister law among +them, and exercise the sword of the sovereign, and put away the sword +of the subject, _omnia haec adjicientur vobis_--you shall drive the now +man of war to be an husbandman, and he that now liveth like a lord +to live like a servant, and the money now spent in buying armour, and +horses, and waging of war, shall be bestowed in building of towns and +houses. By ending these incessant wars ere they be aware, you shall +bereave them both of force and beggary, and make them weak and +wealthy. Then you can convert the military service due from the lords +into money; then you can take up the fisheries now left to the French +and the Spaniards; then you can open and work your mines, and the +people will be able to grant you subsidies.'[1] When the lord deputy +arrived in Ireland he found a state of things in the Pale far worse +than he could have imagined. It was 'as it were overwhelmed with +vagabonds; plunder and spoils daily carried out of it; the people +miserable; not two gentlemen in the whole of it able to lend 20 l.; +without horse, armour, apparel, or victual. The soldiers were worse +than the people: so beggarlike as it would abhor a general to look on +them; never a married wife among them, and therefore so allied with +Irishwomen that they betrayed secrets, and could not be trusted on +dangerous service; so insolent as to be intolerable; so rooted in +idleness as there was no hope by correction to amend them.' In Munster +a man might ride twenty or thirty miles and find no houses standing +in a country which he had known as well inhabited as many counties in +England. 'In Ulster,' Sidney wrote, 'there tyrannizeth the prince of +pride; Lucifer was never more puffed up with pride and ambition than +that O'Neill is; he is at present the only strong and rich man in +Ireland, and he is the dangerest man and most like to bring the whole +estate of this land to subversion and subjugation either to him or +to some foreign prince, that ever was in Ireland.' He invited this +Lucifer to come into the Pale to see him, and Shane at first agreed to +meet him at Dundalk, but on second thoughts he politely declined, on +the ground that the Earl of Sussex had twice attempted to assassinate +him, and but for the Earl of Kildare would have put a lock upon +his hands when he was passing through Dublin to England. Hence his +'timorous and mistrustful people' would not trust him any more in +English hands. In fact O'Neill despised any honours the Queen could +confer upon him. 'When the wine was in him he boasted that he was in +blood and power better than the best of their earls, and he would give +place to none but his cousin of Kildare, because he was of his own +house. They had made a wise earl of M'Carthymore, but Shane kept as +good a man as he. Whom was he to trust? Sussex gave him a safe-conduct +and then offered him the courtesy of a handlock. The Queen had told +him herself that, though he had got a safe-conduct to come and go, the +document did not say when he was to go; and, in order to get away +from London, he was obliged to agree to things against his honour +and profit, and he would never perform them while he lived.' That +treachery drove him into war. 'My ancestors,' he said, 'were kings +of Ulster; and Ulster is mine, and shall be mine. O'Donel shall +never come into his country, nor Bagenal into Newry, nor Kildare into +Dundrum, or Lecale. They are now mine. With this sword I won them, +with this sword I will keep them.' Sidney, indignant at these +pretensions, wrote thus to Leicester: 'No Atila nor Yotila, no Vandal +nor Goth that ever was, was more to be dreaded for over-running any +part of Christendom, than this man is for over-running and spoiling of +Ireland. If it be an angel of heaven that will say that ever O'Neill +will be a good subject till he be thoroughly chastised, believe him +not, but think him a spirit of error. Surely if the queen do not +chastise him in Ulster, he will chase all hers out of Ireland. Her +majesty must make up her mind to the expense, and chastise this +cannibal.' He therefore demanded money that he might pay the garrison +and get rid of the idle, treacherous, incorrigible soldiers which +were worse than none. Ireland, he said, would be no small loss to the +English crown. It was never so likely to be lost as then, and he would +rather die than that it should be lost during his government. The +queen, however, sent money with the greatest possible reluctance, and +was strangely dissatisfied with this able and faithful servant, even +when his measures were attended with signal success. + +[Footnote 1: Opinions of Sir H. Sidney, Irish MSS., Rolls House; +Froude, p.385.] + +In the meantime O'Neill zealously espoused the cause of Mary Queen of +Scots. His friendship with Argyle grew closer, and he proposed that it +should be cemented by a marriage. 'The countess' was to be sent away, +and Shane was to be united to the widow of James M'Connell, whom he +had killed--who was another half-sister of Argyle, and whose daughter +he had married already and divorced. Sidney wrote, that was said to be +the earl's practice; and Mr. Froude, who has celebrated the virtues +of Henry VIII., takes occasion from this facility of divorce to have +another fling at 'Irish nature.' He says:--'The Irish chiefs, it +seemed, three thousand years behind the world, retained the habits +and the moralities of the Greek princes in the tale of Troy, when +the bride of the slaughtered husband was the willing prize of the +conqueror; and when only a rare Andromache was found to envy the fate +of a sister + + Who had escaped the bed of some victorious lord.' + +After a brief and brilliant campaign, in which Shane 'swept round by +Lough Erne, swooped on the remaining cattle of Maguire, and struck +terror and admiration into the Irishry,' he wrote a letter to Charles +IX. of France, inviting his co-operation in expelling the heretics, +and bringing back the country to the holy Roman see. The heretic +Saxons, he said, were the enemies of Almighty God, the enemies of the +holy Church of Rome, the King's enemies, and his. 'The time is come +when we all are confederates in a common bond to drive the invader +from our shores, and we now beseech your Majesty to send us 6,000 +well-armed men. If you will grant our request there will soon be no +Englishmen left alive among us, and we will be your Majesty's subjects +ever more.' This letter was intercepted, and is now preserved among +the Irish MSS. + +Sidney resolved to adopt a new plan of warfare. His campaigns would +not be mere summer forays, mere inroads of devastation during the few +dry weeks of August and September. He would wait till the harvest +was gathered in, place troops in fortresses, and continue hostilities +through the winter. He adopted this course because 'in the cold Irish +springs, the fields were bare, the cattle were lean, and the weather +was so uncertain that neither man nor horse could bear it, whereas +in August _food everywhere was abundant_, and the soldiers would have +time to become hardened to their work.' They could winter somewhere on +the Bann; harry Tyrone night and day without remission, and so break +Shane to the ground and ruin him. There was no time to be lost. +Maguire had come into Dublin, reporting that his last cottage was in +ashes, and his last cow driven over the hill into Shane's country; +while Argyle, with the whole disposable force of the western isles, +was expected to join him in summer. O'Neill himself, after an abortive +attempt to entrap Sidney at Dundalk, made a sudden attack on that town +in July; but his men were beaten back, 'and eighteen heads were left +behind to grin hideously over the gates.' He then returned to Armagh +and burned the cathedral to the ground, to prevent its being again +occupied by an English garrison. He next sent a swift messenger to +Desmond, calling for a rising in Munster. 'Now was the time or never' +to set upon the enemies of Ireland. If Desmond failed, or turned +against his country, God would avenge it on him. But Desmond's reply +was an offer to the deputy 'to go against the rebel with all his +power. The Scots also held back.' Shane offered them all Antrim to +join him, all the cattle in the country, and the release of Sorleyboy +from captivity; but Antrim and its cattle they believed that they +could recover for themselves, and James M'Connell had left a brother +Allaster, who was watching with eager eyes for an opportunity to +revenge the death of his kinsman, and the dishonour with which Shane +had stained his race. + +In the meantime troops and money came over from England, and on +September 17, Colonel Randolph was at the head of an army in Lough +Foyle; and the lord deputy took the field accompanied by Kildare, the +old O'Donel, Shane Maguire, and O'Dogherty. So that this war against +O'Neill was waged for the dispossessed Irish chiefs as well as for +England. Armagh city they found a mere heap of blackened stones. +Marching without obstruction to Ben brook, one of O'Neill's best and +largest houses, which they found 'utterly burned and razed to the +ground,' thence they went on towards Clogher, 'through pleasant +fields, and villages so well inhabited as no Irish county in the realm +was like it.' The Bishop of Clogher was out with Shane in the field. +'His well-fattened flock were devoured by Sidney's men as by a flight +of Egyptian locusts.' 'There we stayed,' said Sidney, 'to destroy the +corn; we burned the country for 124 miles compass, and we found by +experience that now was the time of the year to do the rebel most +harm.' But he says not a word of the harm he was doing to the poor +innocent peasantry, whose industry had produced the crops, to the +terrified women and children whom he was thus consigning to a horrible +lingering death by famine. This was a strange commencement of his own +programme to treat the people with justice. + +The lord deputy expected to meet Randolph at Lifford; but struck with +the singular advantages presented by Derry, then an island, for a +military position, he pitched his tents there, and set the troops to +work in erecting fortifications. Nothing then stood on the site of +the present city, save a decrepid and deserted monastery of Augustine +monks, which was said to have been built in the time of St. Columba. + +Sidney stayed a few days at Derry, and then, leaving Randolph with +650 men, 350 pioneers, and provisions for two months, he marched on +to Donegal. This was once a thriving town, inhabited by English +colonists. At the time of Sidney's arrival it was a pile of ruins, +'in the midst of which, like a wild beast's den, strewed round with +mangled bones, rose the largest and strongest castle which he had seen +in Ireland. It was held by one of O'Donel's kinsmen, to whom Shane, +to attach him to his cause, had given his sister to wife. At the +appearance of the old chief with the English army, it was immediately +surrendered. O'Donel was at last rewarded for his fidelity and +sufferings; and the whole tribe, with eager protestations of +allegiance, gave sureties for their future loyalty.' Sidney next +directed his march to Ballyshannon, and on by the coast of Sligo. +Passing over the bogs and mountains of Mayo, they came into Roscommon, +and then, 'leaving behind them as fruitful a country as was in +England or Ireland all utterly waste,' the army crossed the Shannon at +Athlone, swimming 'for lack of a bridge.' The results of this progress +are thus summed up by Mr. Froude. 'Twenty castles had been taken as +they went along and left in hands that could be trusted. In all that +long and painful journey Sidney was able to say that there had not +died of sickness but three persons; men and horses were brought +back in full health and strength, while her majesty's honour +was re-established among the Irishry, and grown to no small +veneration--"an expedition comparable only to Alexander's journey into +Bactria," wrote an admirer of Sidney to Cecil--revealing what to Irish +eyes appeared the magnitude of the difficulty, and forming a measure +of the effect which it produced. The English deputy had bearded Shane +in his stronghold, burned his houses, pillaged his people, and had +fastened a body of police in the midst of them, to keep them waking +in the winter nights. He had penetrated the hitherto impregnable +fortresses of mountain and morass; the Irish who had been faithful to +England were again in safe possession of their lands and homes. The +weakest, maddest, and wildest Celts were made aware that, when the +English were once roused to effort, they could crush them as the lion +crushes the jackal.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Vol. viii. p.407.] + +O'Neill had followed the lord deputy to Lifford, and then marched on +to the Pale, expecting to retaliate upon the invaders with impunity. +But he was encountered by Warren St. Leger, lost 200 men, and was at +first hunted back over the border. He again returned, however, with +'a main army,' burned several villages, and in a second fight with St. +Leger, compelled the English to retire, 'for lack of more aid;' but +they held together in good order, and Shane, with the Derry garrison +in his rear, durst not follow far from home in pursuit. 'Before he +could revenge himself on Sidney, before he could stir against the +Scots, before he could strike a blow at O'Donel, he must pluck out the +barbed dart which was fastened in his unguarded side.' + +In order to accomplish this object, he hovered cautiously about +the Foyle, watching for an opportunity to attack the garrison. But +Randolph fell upon him by surprise, and after a short sharp action, +the O'Neills gave way. O'Dogherty with his Irish horse chased the +flying crowd of his countrymen, killing every person he caught; and +Shane lost 400 men, the bravest of his warriors. The English success +was dearly bought, for Randolph leading the pursuit, was struck by a +random shot, and fell dead from his horse. + +Before the Irish chief could recover from this great disaster, Sidney +'struck in again beyond Dundalk, burning his farms and capturing his +castles. The Scots came in over the Bann, wasting the country all +along the river side. Allaster M'Connell, like some chief of Sioux +Indians, sent to the captain of Knockfergus an account of the cattle +that he had driven, and _the wives and bairns_ that he had slain. Like +swarms of angry hornets, these avenging savages drove their stings in +the now maddened and desperate Shane on every point where they could +fasten; while in December the old O'Donel came out over the mountains +from Donegal, and paid back O'Neill with interest for his stolen wife, +his pillaged country, and his own long imprisonment and exile. The +tide of fortune had turned too late for his own revenge: worn out +with his long sufferings, he fell from his horse, at the head of his +people, with the stroke of death upon him; but before he died, he +called his kinsmen about him, and prayed them to be true to England +and their queen, and Hugh O'Donel, who succeeded to his father's +command, went straight to Derry, and swore allegiance to the English +crown. + +'Tyrone was now smitten in all its borders. Magennis was the last +powerful chief who still adhered to Shane's fortunes; the last week in +the year Sidney carried fire and sword through his country, and left +him not a hoof remaining. It was to no purpose that Shane, bewildered +by the rapidity with which disasters were piling themselves upon him, +cried out now for pardon and peace; the deputy would not answer his +letter, and nothing was talked of but his extirpation by war only.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, p.413.] + +The war, however, was interrupted by a singular calamity that befel +the Derry garrison. By the death of their commander left 'a headless +people,' they suffered from want of food and clothing. They also +became the prey of a mysterious disease, against which no precautions +could guard, which no medicine could cure, and by which strong men +were suddenly struck dead. By the middle of November 'the flux was +reigning among them wonderfully;' many of the best men went away +because there was none to stay them. The secret of the dreadful +malady--something like the cholera--was discovered in the fact that +the soldiers had built their sleeping quarters over the burial-ground +of the abbey, 'and the clammy vapour had stolen into their lungs and +poisoned them.' The officer who succeeded to the command applied the +most effectual remedy. He led the men at once into the pure air of the +enemies' country, and they returned after a few days driving before +them 700 horses and 1,000 cattle. He assured Sidney, that with 300 +additional men, he could so hunt the rebel, that ere May was passed, +he should not show his face in Ulster. But the 'Black Death' returned +after a brief respite; and, says Mr. Froude, in the reeking vapour of +the charnel-house, it was indifferent whether its victims returned in +triumph from a stricken field, or were cooped within their walls by +hordes of savage enemies. By the middle of March there were left out +of 1,100 but 300 available to fight. Reinforcements had been raised at +Liverpool, but they were countermanded when on the point of sailing. +The English council was discussing the propriety of removing the +colony to the Bann, when accident finished the work which the plague +had begun, and spared them the trouble of deliberation. The huts +and sheds round the monastery had been huddled together for the +convenience of fortification. At the end of April, probably after +a drying east wind, a fire broke out in a blacksmith's forge, which +spread irresistibly through the entire range of buildings. The flames +at last reached the powder magazine: thirty men were blown to pieces +by the explosion, and the rest, paralysed by this last addition +to their misfortunes, made no more effort to extinguish the +conflagration. St. Loo, with all that remained of that ill-fated +party, watched from their provision boats in the river the utter +destruction of the settlement which had begun so happily, and then +sailed drearily away to find a refuge in Knockfergus. Such was the +fate of the first efforts for the building of Londonderry; and below +its later glories, as so often happens in this world, lay the bones +of many a hundred gallant men who lost their lives in laying its +foundations. Elizabeth, who in the immediate pressure of calamity +resumed at once her noble nature, 'perceiving the misfortune not +to come of treason, but of God's ordinance,' bore it well; she was +willing to do that should be wanting to repair the loss; and Cecil was +able to write cheerfully to Sidney, telling him to make the best of +the accident and let it stimulate him to fresh exertions.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Page 410.] + +In the meantime Shane O'Neill, hard pressed on every side, earnestly +implored the cardinals of Lorraine and Guise, in the name of their +great brother the duke, to bring the _Fleur-de-lys_ to the rescue of +Ireland from the grasp of the ungodly English. 'Help us,' he cried, +blending _Irish-like_ flattery with entreaty: 'when I was in England, +I saw your noble brother, the Marquis d'Elboeuf, transfix two stags +with a single arrow. If the most Christian king will not help us, +move the pope to help us. I alone in this land sustain his cause.' To +propitiate his holiness, Primate Daniel was dismissed to the ranks +of the army, and Creagh received his crosier, and was taken into +O'Neill's household. + +'All was done,' says the English historian, 'to deserve favour +in earth and heaven, but all was useless. The Pope sat silent or +muttering his anathemas with bated breath. The Guises had work enough +on hand at home to heed the _Irish wolf_, whom the English, having in +vain attempted to trap or poison, were driving to bay with more lawful +weapons.' His own people, divided and dispirited, began now to desert +the failing cause. In May, by a concerted movement, the deputy with +the light horse of the Pale overran Tyrone, and robbed the farmers +of 3,000 cattle, while the O'Donels mustered their forces for a great +contest with Shane, now struggling, almost hopelessly, to maintain +his supremacy. The O'Neills and O'Donels met on the banks of the Foyle +near Lifford. The former were superior in number, being about 3,000 +men. After a brief fight 'the O'Neills broke and fled; the enemy was +behind them, the river was in front; and when the Irish battle cries +had died away over moor and mountain, but 200 survived of those fierce +troopers, who were to have cleared Ireland for ever from the presence +of the Saxons. For the rest, the wolves were snarling over their +bodies, and the seagulls whirling over them with scream and cry, as +they floated down to their last resting-place beneath the quiet waters +of Lough Foyle. Shane's foster-brethren, faithful to the last, were +all killed; he himself with half-a-dozen comrades rode for his life, +pursued by the avenging furies. His first desperate intention was to +throw himself at Sidney's feet, _with a slave's collar upon his neck_; +but his secretary, Neil M'Kevin, persuaded him that his cause was not +yet absolutely without hope. Sorleyboy was still a prisoner in the +castle at Lough Neagh, the Countess of Argyle had remained with her +ravisher through his shifting fortunes, had continued to bear him +children, and notwithstanding his many infidelities, was still +attached to him. M'Kevin told him that for their sakes, or at their +intercession, he might find shelter and perhaps help among the kindred +of the M'Connells.' + +Acting on this advice, O'Neill took his prisoner, 'the countess, his +secretary, and fifty men to the camp of Allaster M'Connell, in the +far extremity of Antrim. He was received with dissembled gratulatory +words.' For two days all went on well, and an alliance was talked of. +But the vengeance of his hosts was with difficulty suppressed. The +great chief who was now in their power, had slain their leaders in the +field, had divorced James M'Connell's daughter, had kept a high-born +Scottish lady as his mistress, and had asked Argyle to give him for a +wife M'Connell's widow, who, to escape the dishonour, had remained in +concealment at Edinburgh. On the third evening, Monday June 2, when +the wine and the whiskey had gone freely round, and the blood in +Shane's veins had warmed, Gilespie M'Connell, who had watched him from +the first with an ill-boding eye, turned round upon M'Kevin, and asked +scornfully, 'whether it was he who had bruited abroad that the lady +his aunt did offer to come from Scotland to Ireland to marry with his +master?' + +M'Kevin meeting scorn with scorn said, that if his aunt was Queen of +Scotland she might be proud to match with the O'Neill. 'It is false,' +the fierce Scot shouted; 'my aunt is too honest a woman to match with +her husband's murderer.' + +'Shane, who was perhaps drunk, heard the words, and forgetting where +he was, flung back the lie in Gilespie's throat. Gilespie sprung to +his feet, ran out of the tent, and raised the slogan of the Isles. A +hundred dirks flashed into the moonlight, and the Irish, wherever they +could be found, were struck down and stabbed. Some two or three +found their horses and escaped, all the rest were murdered; and Shane +himself, gashed with fifty wounds, was wrapped in a kern's old shirt, +and flung into a pit, dug hastily among the ruined arches of Glenarm. +Even there, what was left of him was not allowed to rest. Four days +later, Piers, the captain of Knockfergus, hacked the head from the +body, and carried it on a spear's point through Drogheda to Dublin, +where, staked upon a pike, it bleached on the battlements of the +castle, a symbol to the Irish world of the fate of Celtic heroes.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, p.418, &c.] + +Mr. Froude might have added: Celtic heroes struck down by Celtic +hands. No lord deputy could boast of a victory over Shane O'Neill +in the field. Irish traitors in English pay, Irish clans moved by +vengeance, did the work of England in the destruction of the great +principality of the O'Neills, and it was by _their_ swords, not +by English valour, that Sidney 'recovered Ireland for the crown of +Elizabeth.' Whatever may have been the faults of Shane O'Neill, and no +doubt they were very great, though not to be judged of by the morality +of the nineteenth century, his talents, his force of character, his +courage and capacity as a general, deserved more favourable notice +from Mr. Froude, who, in almost every sentence of his graphic and +splendid descriptions, betrays an animosity to the Celtic race, +very strange in an author so enlightened, and evincing, with this +exception, such generous sympathies. After so often reviling the +great Irish champion by comparing him to all sorts of wild beasts, the +historian thus concludes:-- + +'So died Shane O'Neill, one of those champions of Irish nationality, +who under varying features have repeated themselves in the history of +that country with periodic regularity. At once a _drunken ruffian_, +and a keen and fiery patriot, the representative in his birth of the +line of the ancient kings, the ideal in his character of all which +Irishmen most admired, regardless in his actions of the laws of God +and man, yet the devoted subject in his creed of the holy Catholic +Church; with an eye which could see far beyond the limits of his own +island, and a tongue which could touch the most passionate chords +of the Irish heart; the like of him has been seen many times in that +island, and the like of him may be seen many times again till the +Ethiopian has changed his skin, and the leopard his spots. Numbers of +his letters remain, to the Queen, to Sussex, to Sidney, to Cecil, +and to foreign princes; far-reaching, full of pleasant flattery and +promises which cost him nothing, but showing true ability and insight. +Sinner though he was, he too in his turn was sinned against; in the +stained page of Irish misrule there is no second instance in which +an English ruler stooped to treachery, or to the infamy of attempted +assassination; and it is not to be forgotten that Lord Sussex, who has +left under his own hand the evidence of his own baseness, continued a +trusted and favoured councillor of Elizabeth, while Sidney, who fought +Shane and conquered him in the open field, found only suspicion and +hard words.' + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EXTERMINATING WARS. + + +Mr. Froude's magnificent chapter on Ireland, in the eleventh volume +of his history, just published, ought to be studied by every member of +the legislature before parliament meets. If a nation has a conscience, +England must feel remorse for the deeds done in her name in Ireland; +and ought to make amends for them, if possible. The historian has well +described the policy of Queen Elizabeth. She was at times disposed to +forbearance, but 'she made impossible the obedience she enjoined. Her +deputies and her presidents, too short-sighted to rule with justice, +were driven to cruelty in spite of themselves. It was easier to kill +than to restrain. Death was the only gaoler which their finances could +support, while the Irish in turn lay in wait to retaliate upon their +oppressors, and atrocity begat atrocity in hopeless continuity.' + +Whenever there was a failing in any enterprise, the queen conceived 'a +great misliking of the whole matter;' but success covered a multitude +of sins. When the Irish were powerful, and the colony was in danger, +she thought it 'a hard matter to subvert the customs of the people +which they had enjoyed, to be ruled by the captains of their own +nation. Let the chiefs sue for pardon, and submit to her authority, +and she would let them have their seignories, their captaincies, their +body-guards, and all the rest of their dignities, with power of life +and death over their people. But,' says Mr. Froude, 'it was the curse +of the English rule that it never could adhere consistently to any +definite principle. It threatened, and failed to execute its threats. +It fell back on conciliation, and yet immediately, by some injustice +or cruelty, made reliance on its good faith impossible.' + +Essex seemed to understand well the nature and motive of the queen's +professions, and he resolved to make some bold attempts to win back +her favour. He had made a sudden attack on Sir Brian O'Neill of +Clandeboye, with troops trained in the wars of the Low Countries, and +in a week he brought him to abject submission, which he expressed by +saying that 'he had gone wickedly astray, wandering in the wilderness +like a blind beast.' But it was the misfortune of Sir Brian, or +M'Phelim, that he still held his own territory, which had been +granted by the queen to Essex. 'The attempt to deprive him had been +relinquished. He had surrendered his lands, and the queen, at Essex's +own intercession, had reinstated him as tenant under the crown. It +seems, however, as if Essex had his eye still upon the property.' +Under such circumstances, it was easy to assume that O'Neill was still +playing false. So he resolved that he should not be able to do so any +longer. 'He determined to make sure work with so fickle a people.' He +returned to Clandeboye, as if on a friendly visit. Sir Brian and Lady +O'Neill received him with all hospitality. The Irish Annalists say +that they gave him a banquet. They not only let him off safe, but they +accompanied him to his castle at Belfast. There he was very gracious. +A high feast was held in the hall; and it was late in the night when +the noble guest and his wife retired to their lodging outside the +walls. When they were supposed to be asleep, a company of soldiers +surrounded the house and prepared to break the door. 'The O'Neills +flew to arms. The cry rang through the village, and the people swarmed +out to defend their chief; but surprised, half-armed, and outnumbered, +they were overpowered and cut to pieces. Two hundred men were killed. +The Four Masters add that the women were slain. The chieftain's wife +had female attendants with her, and no one was knowingly spared. The +tide being out, a squadron of horse was sent at daybreak over the +water into the "Ardes," from which, in a few hours, they returned with +3,000 of Sir Brian's cattle, and with a drove of stud mares, of which +the choicest were sent to Fitzwilliam. Sir Brian himself, his brother, +and Lady O'Neill, were carried as prisoners to Dublin, where they were +soon after executed.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, vol. xi. p.179.] + +Essex did not miscalculate the probable effect of this exploit. It +raised him high in the estimation of the Anglo-Irish of the Pale. 'The +taint of the country was upon him; he had made himself no better than +themselves, and was the hero of the hour.' The effect of such conduct +and such a spirit in the rulers, may be imagined. A few weeks later, +Sir Edward Fitton wrote: 'I may say of Ireland, that it is quiet; +but if universal oppression of the mean sort by the great; if murder, +robberies, burnings make an ill commonwealth, then I cannot say we are +in a good case ... Public sentiment in Dublin, however, was unanimous +in its approbation. Essex was the man who would cauterize the +long-standing sores. There was a soldier in Ireland at last who +understood the work that was to be done, and the way to set about it. +Beloved by the soldiers, admirable alike for religion, nobility, and +courtesy, altogether the queen's, and not bewitched by the factions +of the realm, the governor of Ulster had but to be armed with supreme +power, and the long-wished-for conquest of Ireland would be easily and +instantly achieved.' + +These feelings were not unnatural to the party in Dublin, now +represented by the men who recently declared that they rejoiced in +the election of a Fenian convict in Tipperary, and declared that they +would vote for such a candidate in preference to a loyal man. But how +did Queen Elizabeth receive the news of the treacherous and atrocious +massacre at Belfast? She was not displeased. 'Her occasional +disapprobation of severities of this kind,' says Mr. Froude, 'was +confined to cases to which the attention of Europe happened to be +especially directed. She told Essex that he was a great ornament of +her nobility, she wished she had many as ready as he to spend their +lives for the benefit of their country.' + +Thus encouraged by his sovereign, and smarting under the reproach of +cowardice cast on him by Leicester, Essex determined to render his +name illustrious by a still more signal deed of heroism. After an +unprovoked raid on the territories of O'Neill in Tyrone, carrying +off cattle and slaughtering great numbers of innocent people whom +his soldiers hunted down, he perpetrated another massacre, which is +certainly one of the most infamous recorded in history. A great +number of women and children, aged and sick persons, had fled from the +horrors that reigned on the mainland, and taken refuge in the island +of Rathlin. The story of their tragic fate is admirably told by Mr. +Froude:--'The situation and the difficulty of access had thus long +marked Rathlin as a place of refuge for Scotch or Irish fugitives, +and, besides its natural strength, it was respected as a sanctuary, +having been the abode at one time of St. Columba. A mass of broken +masonry, on a cliff overhanging the sea, is a remnant of the castle in +which Robert Bruce watched the leap of the legendary spider. To this +island, when Essex entered Antrim, M'Connell and other Scots had sent +their wives and children, their aged and their sick, for safety. On +his way through Carrickfergus, when returning to Dublin, the earl +ascertained that they had not yet been brought back to their homes. +The officer in command of the English garrison (it is painful to +mention the name either of him, or of any man concerned in what +ensued) was John Norris, Lord Norris's second son, so famous +afterwards in the Low Countries, grandson of Sir Henry Norris, +executed for adultery with Anne Boleyn. Three small frigates were in +the harbour. The summer had been hot and windless; the sea was smooth, +there was a light and favourable air from the east; and Essex directed +Norris to take a company of soldiers with him, cross over, and--' + +What? Bring those women and children, those sick and aged folk, back +to their homes? Essex had made peace by treaty with the O'Neill. He +had killed or chased away every man that could disturb the peace; +and an act of humanity like this would have had a most conciliatory +effect, and ought to recommend the hero to the queen, who should be +supposed to have the heart as well as the form of a woman. + +No; the order was, to go over '_and kill whatever he could find!_' Mr. +Froude resumes: 'The run of the Antrim coast was rapidly and quietly +accomplished. Before an alarm could be given, the English had landed, +close to the ruins of the church which bears St. Columba's name. +Bruce's castle was then standing, and was occupied by a score or two +of Scots, who were in charge of the women. But Norris had brought +cannon with him. The weak defences were speedily destroyed, and after +a severe assault, in which several of the garrison were killed, the +chief who was in command offered to surrender, if he and his people +were allowed to return to Scotland. The conditions were rejected. The +Scots yielded at discretion, and every living creature in the place, +except the chief and his family (who were probably reserved for +ransom), was immediately put to the sword. Two hundred were killed in +the castle. It was then discovered that several hundred more, chiefly +mothers and their little ones, were hidden in the caves about +the shore. There was no remorse, nor even the faintest shadow of +perception that the occasion called for it. They were hunted out as if +they had been seals or otters, and all destroyed. Sorleyboy and other +chiefs, Essex coolly wrote, had sent their wives and children into the +island, "which be all taken and executed to the number of six hundred. +Sorleyboy himself," he continued, "stood upon the mainland of the +Glynnes and saw the taking of the island, and was likely to have run +mad for sorrow, tearing and tormenting himself, and saying that he +there lost all that he ever had!" The impression left upon the mind by +this horrible story, is increased by the composure with which even the +news of it was received. "Yellow-haired Charley," wrote Essex to +the queen, "might tear himself for his pretty little ones and +their _dam_," but in Ireland itself the massacre was not specially +distinguished in the general system of atrocity. Essex described it +himself as one of the exploits with which he was most satisfied; and +Elizabeth, in answer to his letters, bade him tell John Norris, "the +executioner of his well-designed enterprise, that she would not be +unmindful of his services."' + +I have transcribed this narrative partly for the sake of the +reflection with which Mr. Froude concludes. He says: 'But though +passed over and unheeded at the time, and lying buried for three +hundred years, the bloody stain comes back to the light again, not in +myth or legend, but in the original account of the nobleman by whose +command the deed was done; and when the history of England's dealings +with Ireland settles at last into its final shape, that hunt among the +caves at Rathlin will not be forgotten.'[1] It was for services like +these that Essex got the barony of Farney, in the county Monaghan. He +had mortgaged his English estates to the queen for 10,000 l.,and after +his plundering expeditions in Ireland he went home to pay his debts. + +[Footnote 1: History of England, vol. xi. p.184.] + +Further on Mr. Froude has another reflection connected with the death +of Essex, supposed to have been poisoned, as his widow immediately +after married Leicester. He says: 'Notwithstanding Rathlin, Essex was +one of the noblest of living Englishmen, and that such a man could +have ordered such a deed, being totally unconscious of the horror of +it, is not the least instructive feature in the dreadful story.' It +is certainly a strange fact that nearly all the official murderers who +ruled in Ireland in those times were intensely religious, setting +to their own class a most edifying example of piety. Thus, from the +first, Protestantism was presented to the Irish in close connexion +with brutal inhumanity and remorseless cruelty. Essex, when dying, was +described by the bystanders as acting 'more like a divine preacher or +heavenly prophet than a man.' His opinion of the religious character +of his countrymen was most unfavourable. 'The Gospel had been preached +to them,' he said, 'but they were neither Papists nor Protestants--of +no religion, but full of pride and iniquity. There was nothing but +infidelity, infidelity, infidelity!--atheism, atheism!--no religion, +no religion!' What such tiger-like slaughterers of women and children, +such ruthless destroyers, could have meant by religion is a puzzle for +philosophers. + +Sidney reluctantly resumed the office of viceroy in 1575. Tirlogh +O'Neill congratulated the Government on his appointment, 'wretched +Ireland needing not the sword, but sober, temperate, and humane +administration.' Though it was winter, the new deputy immediately +commenced a progress through the provinces. Going first to Ulster, he +saw Sorleyboy, and gave him back Rathlin. He paid a friendly visit +to the O'Neill, who gave him an assurance of his loyalty. Leinster he +found for the most part 'waste, burnt up and destroyed.' He proceeded +by Waterford to Cork. He was received everywhere with acclamation. +'The wretched people,' says Mr. Froude, how truly!--'sanguine then, as +ever, in the midst of sorrow, looked on his coming as the inauguration +of a new and happier era.' So, in later times, they looked on the +coming of Chesterfield, and Fitzwilliam, and Anglesey. But the good +angel was quickly chased away by the evil demon--invoked under the +name of the 'Protestant Interest.' The Munster and the Connaught +chiefs all thronged to Sidney's levees, weary of disaffection, and +willing to be loyal, if their religion were not interfered with, +'detesting their barbarous lives,'--promising rent and service for +their lands. 'The past was wiped out. Confiscation on the one hand, +and rebellion on the other, were to be heard of no more. A clean page +was turned.' Even the Catholic bishops were tractable, and the viceroy +got 'good and honest juries in Cork, and with their help twenty-four +malefactors were honourably condemned and hanged.' Enjoying an ovation +as he passed on to Limerick and Galway, he found many grievances to be +redressed--'plenty of burnings, rapes, murders, besides such spoil +in goods and cattle as in number might be counted infinite, and in +quantity innumerable.' + +Sir William Drury was appointed president of Munster; and he was +determined that in his case the magistrate should not bear the sword +in vain. Going round the counties as an itinerant judge, he gleaned +the malefactors Sidney had left, and hanged forty-three of them +in Cork. One he pressed to death for declining to plead to his +indictment. Two M'Sweenys, from Kerry, were drawn and quartered. At +Limerick he hanged forty-two, and at Kilkenny thirty-six, among which +he said were 'some good ones,' as a sportsman might say, bagging his +game. He had a difficulty with 'a blackamoor and two witches,' against +whom he found no statute of the realm, so he dispatched them 'by +natural law.' Although Jeffreys, at the Bloody Assizes, did not come +near Drury, the latter found it necessary to apologise to the English +Government for the paucity of his victims, saying, 'I have chosen +rather with the snail tenderly to creep, than with the hare swiftly to +run.' With the Government in Ireland, as Mr. Froude has well remarked, +'the gallows is the only preacher of righteousness.' + +But the gallows was far too slow, as an instrument of reform and +civilisation, for Malby, president of Connaught; and as modern +evictors in that province and elsewhere have chosen Christmas as the +most appropriate season for pulling down dwellings, extinguishing +domestic fires, and unhousing women and children, so Malby chose the +same blessed season for his 'improvements' in 1576. It is such a model +for dealing with the Fenians and tenants on the Tory plan, that I +transcribe his own report, which Mr. Froude has found among the Irish +MSS. 'At Christmas,' he wrote, 'I marched into their territory, and +finding courteous dealing with them had like to have cut my throat, +I thought good to take another course; and so with determination _to +consume them with fire and sword, sparing neither old nor young_, +I entered their mountains. I burnt all their corn and houses, and +committed to the sword all that could be found, where were slain +at that time above sixty of their best men, and among them the best +leaders they had. This was Shan Burke's country. Then I burnt Ulick +Burke's country. In like manner I assaulted a castle where the +garrison surrendered. I put them to the misericordia of my soldiers. +They were all slain. Thence I went on, sparing none which came in my +way, which cruelty did so amaze their followers, that they could not +tell where to bestow themselves. Shan Burke made means to me to pardon +him and forbear killing of his people. I would not hearken, but went +on my way. The gentlemen of Clanrickard came to me. I found it was but +dallying to win time, so I left Ulick as little corn and as few houses +standing as I left his brother; and what people was found had as +little favour as the other had. _It was all done in rain and frost +and storm_, journeys in such weather bringing them the sooner to +submission. They are humble enough now, and will yield to any terms we +like to offer them.' + +And so Malby and his soldiers enjoyed a merry Christmas; and when +Walsingham read his letters, giving an account of his civilising +progress, to the Queen, she, too, must have enjoyed a fresh sensation, +a new pleasure amidst the festivities and gallantries of her brilliant +court. Mr. Froude has rendered a timely service in this Christmas +time to the Coercionists, the Martial Law men, and the Habeas Corpus +Suspension men of our own day. He has shown them their principles at +work and carried out with a vengeance, and with what results! He has +admirably sketched the progress of English rule in Ireland up to +that time--a rule unchanged in principle to the present hour, though +restrained in its operation by the spirit of the age. Mr. Froude says: +'When the people were quiet, there was the rope for the malefactors, +and death by the natural law for those whom the law written could not +touch. When they broke out, there was the blazing homestead, and death +by the sword for all, not for the armed kerne only, but for the aged +and infirm, the nursing mother and the baby at her breast. These, with +ruined churches, and Irish rogues for ministers,--these, and so far +_only_ these were the symbols of the advance of English rule; yet even +Sidney could not order more and more severity, and the president of +Munster was lost in wonder at the detestation with which the English +name was everywhere regarded. Clanrickard was sent to Dublin, and the +deputy wished to hang him, but he dared not execute an earl without +consulting his mistress, and Elizabeth's leniency in Ireland, as well +as England, was alive and active towards the great, although it was +dead towards the poor. She could hear without emotion of the massacres +at Rathlin or Slievh Broughty; but the blood of the nobles, who had +betrayed their wretched followers into the rebellion for which they +suffered, was for ever precious in her sight. She forbade Sidney to +touch him.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Vol. xi, p.197.] + +Next came the great Desmond Rebellion, by which Munster was desolated. +The Pope had encouraged an expedition against the heretics in Ireland, +and some Spanish forces joined in the enterprise. It was organised by +an English ecclesiastic, named Sanders, and an exiled Geraldine, +named Fitzmaurice of Kerry, both able and energetic men. The Spaniards +landed at Dingle in 1579. In a few days all Kerry and Limerick were +up, and the woods between Mallow and the Shannon 'were swarming +with howling kerne.' 'The rebellion,' wrote Waterhouse, 'is the most +perilous that ever began in Ireland. Nothing is to be looked for but a +general revolt.' Malby took the command against them, joined by one of +the Burkes, Theobald, who when he saw Fitzmaurice struck by a ball +and staggering in his saddle, rode at him and cut him down. The Papal +standard was unfolded in this battle. Malby then burnt the Desmonds' +country, killing all the human beings he met, up to the walls of +Askeaton. When opportunity offered, Desmond retaliated by sacking and +burning Youghal. For two days the Geraldines revelled in plunder; they +violated the women and murdered all who could not escape. At length +Elizabeth was roused to the greatness of the danger, her parsimony +was overcome. A larger force was drawn into Ireland than had ever +been assembled there for a century. Ormond, the hereditary enemy of +Desmond, was appointed commander-in-chief; and Burghley, writing to +him in the name of the queen, concluded thus: 'So now I will merely +say, Butler aboo, against all that cry in the new language--Papa aboo, +and God send your hearts' desire to banish and vanquish those cankered +Desmonds!' The war now raged, and, as usual, the innocent people, the +cultivators of the soil, were the first victims. 'We passed through +the rebel countries,' wrote Pelham, 'in two companies, burning with +fire _all habitations, and executing the people_ wherever we found +them.' Mr. Froude says: '_Alone_ of all the English commanders he +expressed remorse at the work.' Well, if the creatures they destroyed +were horses, dogs, or cats, we should expect a man of ordinary human +feelings to be shocked at the wholesale butchery. But the beings +slaughtered were men and women and children--Christians found unarmed +and defenceless in their dwellings. Let the English imagine such a +war carried on in Kent or Yorkshire, by Irish invaders, killing in +the name of the Pope. The Irish Annalists say that Pelham and Ormond +killed the blind and the aged, women and children, sick and idiots, +sparing none. + +The English, as usual, had help from an Irish chief in the work of +destruction. Ormond had in his train M'Carthymore, 'who, believing +Desmond's day to be done, hoped, by making himself useful, to secure +a share of the plunder.' Dividing their forces, Pelham marched on to +Dingle, 'destroying as he went, with Ormond parallel to him on the +opposite side of the bay, the two parties watching each other's course +at night across the water by the flames of the burning cottages!' + +The fleet was waiting at Dingle. There was a merry meeting of the +officers. 'Here,' says Sir Nicholas White, 'my lord justice and I +gathered cockles for our supper.'[1] The several hunting parties +compared notes in the evening. Sometimes the sport was bad. On one +occasion Pelham reported that his party had hanged a priest in the +Spanish dress. 'Otherwise,' he says, 'we took small prey, and +killed less people, though we reached many places in our travel!' At +Killarney they found the lakes full of salmon. In one of the islands +there was an abbey, in another a parish church, in another a castle, +'out of which there came to them a fair lady, the rejected wife of +Lord Fitzmaurice.' Even the soldiers were struck with the singular +loveliness of the scene. 'A fairer land,' one of them said, 'the +sun did never shine upon--pity to see it lying waste in the hands of +traitors.' Mr. Froude, who deals more justly by the Irish in his last +volumes, replies: 'Yet it was by those traitors that the woods whose +beauty they so admired had been planted and fostered. Irish hands, +unaided by English art or English wealth, had built Muckross and +Innisfallen and Aghadoe, and had raised the castles on whose walls the +modern poet watched the splendour of the sunset.' + +[Footnote 1: Carew Papers; Froude, vol. xi. p.225.] + +Ormond was the arch-destroyer of his countrymen. In a report of his +services he stated that in this one year 1580, he had put to the +sword 'forty-six captains and leaders, with 800 notorious traitors +and malefactors, _and above_ 4,000 other people.'[1] In that year +the great Desmond wrote to Philip of Spain that he was a homeless +wanderer. 'Every town, castle, village, farm-house belonging to him or +his people had been destroyed. There was no longer a roof standing in +Munster to shelter him.' Hunted like a wolf through the mountains, +he was at last found sleeping in a hut and killed. In vain his wife +pleaded with Ormond, and threw herself on his protection. Even she was +not spared. Mr. Froude gives an interesting account of Desmond's last +hours. He was hunted down into the mountains between Tralee and the +Atlantic. M'Sweeny had sheltered him and fed him through the summer, +though a large price was set on his head; and when M'Sweeny was gone, +killed by an Irish dagger, the earl's turn could not be distant. +Donell M'Donell Moriarty had been received to grace by Ormond, and +had promised to deserve his pardon. This man came to the captain +of Castlemayne, gave information of the hiding-place, a band was +sent--half-a-dozen English soldiers and a few Irish kerne, who stole +in the darkness along the path which followed the stream--the door was +dashed in, and the last Earl of Desmond was killed in his bed. + +[Footnote 1: Carew Papers; Froude, vol. xi. p.225.] + +Ormond had recourse to a horrible device to extinguish the embers of +the rebellion. It was carrying out to a diabolical extent the policy +of setting one Irishman against another. If the terror-stricken +wretches hoped for pardon, they must deserve it, by murdering their +relations. Accordingly sacks full of the heads of reputed rebels were +brought in daily. Yet concerning him Mr. Froude makes this singular +remark: 'To Ormond the Irish were human beings with human rights. To +the English they were _vermin, to be cleared from off the earth_ by +any means that offered.' + +Consequently, when it was proposed to make Ormond viceroy, the Pale +was in a ferment. How could any man be fit to represent English power +in Dublin Castle, who regarded the Irish as human beings! Not less +curious is the testimony which the historian bears to the character of +the English exterminators. He says, 'They were honourable, high-minded +men, full of natural tenderness and gentleness, to every one with whom +they were placed in _human relations_. The Irish, unfortunately, they +looked upon as savages who had refused peace and protection when it +was offered to them, and were now therefore to be _rooted out and +destroyed_.' A reformer in 1583, however, suggested a milder policy. +He recommended that 'all Brehons, carraghs, bards, rhymers, friars, +monks, jesuits, pardoners, nuns, and such-like should be executed by +martial law, and that with this clean sweep the work of death might +end, and a new era be ushered in with universities and schools, a +fixed police, and agriculture, and good government.' + +When the English had destroyed all the houses and churches, burnt all +the corn, and driven away all the cattle, they were disgusted at the +savage state in which the remnant of the peasantry lived. A gentleman +named Andrew Trollope gave expression to this feeling thus: 'The +common people ate flesh if they could steal it, if not they lived on +shamrock and carrion. They never served God or went to church; they +had no religion and no manners, but were in all things more barbarous +and beast-like than any other people. No governor shall do good here,' +he said, 'except he show himself a Tamerlane. If hell were open and +all the evil spirits abroad, they could never be worse than these +Irish rogues--rather dogs, and worse than dogs, for dogs do but after +their kind, and they degenerate from all humanity.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, vol. xi. p.246.] + +The population of Ireland was then by slaughter and famine reduced to +about 600,000, one-eighth of the population of England; but far too +many, in the estimation of their English rulers. Brabason succeeded +Malby in Connaught, and surpassed him in cruelty. The Four Masters +say: 'Neither the sanctuary of the saint, neither the wood nor the +forest valley, the town nor the lawn, was a shelter from this captain +and his people, till the whole territory was destroyed by him.' In the +spring of 1582 St. Leger wrote from Cork: 'This country is so ruined +as it is well near unpeopled by the murders and spoils done by the +traitors on the one side, and by the killing and spoil done by the +soldiers on the other side, together with the great mortality in town +and country, which is such as the like hath never been seen. There has +died by famine only not so few as 30,000 in this province in less than +half a year, besides others that are hanged and killed.' + +At length the world began to cry shame on England; and Lord Burghley +was obliged to admit that the English in Ireland had outdone the +Spaniards in ferocious and blood-thirsty persecution. Remonstrating +with Sir H. Wallop, ancestor of Lord Portsmouth, he said that the +'Flemings had not such cause to rebel against the oppression of +the Spaniards, as the Irish against the tyranny of England.' Wallop +defended the Government; the causes of the rebellion were not to +be laid at the door of England at all. They were these, 'the great +affection they generally bear to the Popish religion, which agreeth +with their humour, that having committed murder, incest, thefts, with +all other execrable offences, by hearing a mass, confessing themselves +to a priest, or obtaining the Pope's pardon, they persuade themselves +that they are forgiven, and, hearing mass on Sunday or holyday, they +think all the week after they may do what heinous offence soever and +it is dispensed withal.' Trollope said they had no religion. Wallop +said they had too much religion. But their nationality was worse than +their creed. Wallop adds, 'They also much hate our nation, partly +through the general mislike or disdain one nation hath to be governed +by another; partly that we are contrary to them in religion; and +lastly, they seek to have the government among themselves.' + +The last was the worst of all. Elizabeth wished to heal the wounds of +the Irish nation by appointing Ormond lord deputy. He was a nobleman +of Norman descent. His family had been true to England for centuries. +He had commanded her armies during this exterminating war, and, being +a native of the country, he would be best fitted to carry on the work +of conciliation after so much slaughter. But, says Mr. Froude, 'from +every English officer serving in the country, every English settler, +every bishop of the Anglo-Irish Church, there rose one chorus of +remonstrance and indignation; to them it appeared as a proposal now +would appear in Calcutta to make the Nizam Viceroy of India.'[1] +Wallop wrote that if he were appointed, there would be 'no dwelling in +the country for any Englishman.' + +[Footnote 1: Ibid. p.202.] + +The fear that a merciful policy might be adopted towards Ireland +sorely troubled Wallop and Archbishop Loftus; but they were comforted +by a great prize--an archbishop fell into their hands. Dr. Hurley +refused to give information against others. Walsingham suggested that +he should be put to the torture. To him Archbishop Loftus wrote with +unction. 'Not finding that easy method of examination do any good, we +made command to Mr. Waterhouse and Mr. Secretary Fenton to put him to +the torture, such as your honour advised us, which was to _toast his +feet_ against the fire with hot boots.' He confessed something. They +asked permission to execute him by martial law. The queen took a month +to consider. She recommended an ordinary trial for high treason, and +if the jury did not do its duty, they might take the shorter way. +She wished for no more torture, but 'for what was past her majesty +accepted in good part their careful travail, and greatly commended +their doings.' The Irish judges had repeatedly decided that there was +no case against Archbishop Hurley; but on June 19, 1584, Loftus and +Wallop wrote to Walsingham, 'We gave warrant to the knight-marshal to +do execution upon him, which accordingly was performed, and thereby +the realm rid of a most pestilent member.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Froude, vol. xi. p.264.] + +This was the last act of these two lords justices. Sir John Perrot, +the new viceroy, made a speech which sent a ray of hope athwart the +national gloom. It was simply that the people might thenceforth +expect a little justice and protection. He told the natives that 'as +natural-born subjects of her majesty she loved them as her own people. +He wished to be suppressed and universally abolished throughout the +realm the name of a churle and the crushing of a churle; affirming +that, however the former barbarous times had desired it and nourished +it, yet he held it tyrannous both in name and manner, and therefore +would extirpate it, and use in place of it the titles used in England, +namely, husbandmen, franklins or yeomen.' 'This was so plausible,' +wrote Sir G. Fenton, 'that it was carried throughout the whole realm, +in less time than might be thought credible, if expressed.' + +The extirpation of the Munster Geraldines, in the right line, +according to the theory of the 'Undertakers' and the law of England in +general, vested in the queen the 570,000 acres belonging to the late +earl. Proclamation was accordingly made throughout England, inviting +'younger brothers of good families' to undertake the plantation of +Desmond--each planter to obtain a certain scope of land, on condition +of settling thereupon so many families--'none of the native Irish to +be admitted' Under these conditions, Sir Christopher Hatton took up +10,000 acres in Waterford; Sir Walter Raleigh 12,000 acres, partly in +Waterford and partly in Cork; Sir William Harbart, or Herbert, 13,000 +acres in Kerry; Sir Edward Denny 6,000 in the same county; Sir Warren +St. Leger, and Sir Thomas Norris, 6,000 acres each in Cork; Sir +William Courtney 10,000 acres in Limerick; Sir Edward Fitton 11,500 +acres in Tipperary and Waterford, and Edmund Spenser 3,000 acres in +Cork, on the beautiful Blackwater. The other notable Undertakers +were the Hides, Butchers, Wirths, Berkleys, Trenchards, Thorntons, +Bourchers, Billingsleys, &c. Some of these grants, especially +Raleigh's, fell in the next reign to Richard Boyle, the so-called +'_great_ Earl of Cork '--probably the most pious hypocrite to be found +in the long roll of the 'Munster Undertakers.' + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN IRISH CRUSADE. + + +In 1602, the Lord Deputy Mountjoy, in obedience to instructions from +the Government in London, marched to the borders of Ulster with +a considerable force, to effect, if he could, the arrest of Hugh +O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, or to bring him to terms. Since the defeat +of the Irish and Spanish confederacy at Kinsale, O'Neill comforted +himself with the assurance that Philip III. would send another +expedition to Ireland to retrieve the honour of his flag, and avenge +the humiliation it had sustained, owing to the incompetency or +treachery of Don Juan d'Aquila. That the king was inclined to aid the +Irish there can be no question; 'for Clement VIII., then reigning in +the Vatican, pressed it upon him as a sacred duty, which he owed to +his co-religionists in Ireland, whose efforts to free themselves from +Elizabeth's tyranny, the pontiff pronounced to be a _crusade_ against +the most implacable heretic of the day.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell. +By the Rev. P.C. Meehan, M.R.I.A.] + +If Mr. Meehan's authorities may be relied upon, Queen Elizabeth was, +in intention at least, a murderer as well as a heretic. He states +that while she was gasping on her cushions at Richmond, gazing on the +haggard features of death, and vainly striving to penetrate the opaque +veil of the future, she commanded Secretary Cecil to charge Mountjoy +to entrap Tyrone into a submission, on diminished rank as Baron of +Dungannon, and with lessened territory; or if possible, to have his +head, before engaging the royal word. It was to accomplish either of +these objects, that Mountjoy marched to the frontier of the north. +'Among those employed to murder O'Neill in cold blood, were Sir +Geoffry Fenton, Lord Dunsany, and _Henry Oge O'Neill._ Mountjoy bribed +one Walker, an Englishman, and a ruffian calling himself Richard +Combus, to make the attempt, but they all failed.'[1] Finding it +impossible to procure the assassination of 'the sacred person of +O'Neill, who had so many eyes of jealousy about him,' he wrote to +Cecil from Drogheda, that nothing prevented Tyrone from making his +submission but mistrust of his personal safety and guarantee +for maintenance commensurate to his princely rank. The lords of +Elizabeth's privy council empowered Mountjoy to treat with O'Neill on +these terms, and to give him the required securities. Sir Garret Moore +and Sir William Godolphin were entrusted with a commission to effect +this object. But while the lord deputy, with a brilliant retinue, +was feasting at Mellifont, a monastery bestowed by Henry VIII. on an +ancestor of Sir Garret Moore, by whom it was transformed into a 'fair +mansion,' half palace, half fortress, a courier arrived from England, +announcing the death of the queen. Nevertheless the negotiations +were pressed on in her name, the fact of her decease being carefully +concealed from the Irish. Tyrone had already sent his secretary, Henry +O'Hagan, to announce to the lord deputy that he was about to come to +his presence. Accordingly on March 29, he surrendered himself to the +two commissioners at Tougher, within five miles of Dungannon. On the +following evening he reached Mellifont, when, being admitted to the +lord deputy's presence, 'he knelt, as was usual on such occasions;' +and made penitent submission to her majesty. Then, being invited to +come nearer to the deputy, he repeated the ceremony, if we may credit +Fynes Moryson, in the same humiliating attitude, thus:-- + +'I, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, do absolutely submit myself to the +queen's mercy, imploring her gracious commiseration, imploring her +majesty to mitigate her just indignation against me. I do avow that +the first motives of my rebellion were neither malice nor ambition; +but that I was induced by fear of my life, to stand upon my guard. I +do therefore most humbly sue her majesty, that she will vouchsafe +to restore to me my former dignity and living. In which state of +a subject, I vow to continue for ever hereafter loyal, in all true +obedience to her royal person, crown, and prerogatives, and to be +in all things as dutifully conformable thereunto as I or any other +nobleman of this realm is bound by the duty of a subject to his +sovereign, utterly renouncing the name and title of O'Neill, or any +other claim which hath not been granted to me by her majesty. I abjure +all foreign power, and all dependency upon any other potentate but her +majesty. I renounce all manner of dependency upon the King of Spain, +or treaty with him or any of his confederates, and shall be ready to +serve her majesty against him or any of his forces or confederates. +I do renounce all challenge or intermeddling with the Uriaghts, or +fostering with them or other neighbour lords or gentlemen outside my +country, or exacting black-rents of any Uriaghts or bordering lords. +I resign all claim and title to any lands but such as shall now be +granted to me by her majesty's letters patent. Lastly, I will be +content to be advised by her majesty's magistrates here, and will +assist them in anything that may tend to the advancement of her +service, and the peaceable government of this kingdom, the abolishing +of barbarous customs, the clearing of difficult passes, wherein I will +employ the labours of the people of my country in such places as I +shall be directed by her majesty, or the lord deputy in her name; and +I will endeavour for myself and the people of my country, to erect +civil habitations such as shall be of greater effect to preserve us +against thieves, and any force but the power of the state.' + +[Footnote 1: See Life and Letters of Florence M'Carthy. By D. +M'Carthy, Esq.] + +To this act of submission Tyrone affixed his sign manual, and handed +it to the deputy, who told him he must write to Philip III. of Spain, +to send home his son Henry, who had gone with Father M'Cawell to +complete his studies in Salamanca. The deputy also insisted that he +should reveal all his negotiations with the Spanish court, or any +other foreign sovereign with whom he maintained correspondence; and +when the earl assured him that all these requirements should be duly +discharged, the lord deputy in the queen's name promised him her +majesty's pardon to himself and followers, to himself the restoration +of his earldom and blood with new letters patent of all his lands, +excepting the country possessed by Henry Oge O'Neill, and the Fews +belonging to Tirlough Mac Henry O'Neill, both of whom had recently +taken grants of their lands, to be holden immediately from the queen. +It was further covenanted that Tyrone should give 300 acres of his +land to the fort of Charlmont, and 300 more to that of Mountjoy, as +long as it pleased her majesty to garrison said forts. Tyrone assented +to all these conditions, and then received the accolade from the lord +deputy, who, a few months before, had written to Queen Elizabeth, that +he hoped to be able to send her that ghastliest of all trophies--her +great rebel's head! + +On April 4, the lord deputy returned to Dublin accompanied by the +great vassal whom he fancied he had bound in inviolable loyalty to the +English throne. To make assurance doubly sure, the day after James was +proclaimed, Tyrone repeated the absolute submission made at Mellifont, +the name of the sovereign only being changed. He also despatched a +letter to the King of Spain stating that he had held out as long as +he could, in the vain hope of being succoured by him, and finally when +deserted by his nearest kinsmen and followers, he was enforced as in +duty bound to declare his allegiance to James I., in whose service and +obedience he meant to live and die. + +The importance of this act of submission will appear from a manifesto +issued by O'Neill three years before, dated Dungannon, November 16, +1599, and subscribed 'O'Neill.' This remarkable document has been +published for the first time by Father Meehan. + +'_To the Catholics of the towns in Ireland._ + +'Using hitherto more than ordinary favour towards all my countrymen, +who generally by profession are Catholics, and that naturally I +am inclined to affect [esteem] you, I have for these and other +considerations abstained my forces from tempting to do you hindrance, +and because I did expect that you would enter into consideration of +the lamentable state of our poor country, most tyrannically oppressed, +and of your own gentle consciences, in maintaining, relieving and +helping the enemies of God and our country in wars infallibly tending +to the promotion of heresy: But now seeing you are so obstinate in +that which hereunto you continued of necessity, I must use severity +against you (whom otherwise I most entirely love) in reclaiming you +by compulsion. My tolerance and happy victories by God's particular +favour doubtless obtained could work no alteration in your +consciences, notwithstanding the great calamity and misery, whereunto +you are most likely to fall by persevering in that damnable state in +which hereunto you have lived. Having commiseration on you I thought +it good to forewarn you, requesting every of you to come and join with +me against the enemies of God and our poor country. If the same you do +not, I will use means to spoil you of all your goods, but according to +the utmost of my power shall work what I may to dispossess you of +all your lands, because you are the means whereby wars are maintained +against the exaltation of the Catholic faith. Contrariwise, whosoever +it shall be that shall join with me, upon my conscience, and as to the +contrary I shall answer before God, I will employ myself to the utmost +of my power in their defence and for the extirpation of heresy, the +planting of the Catholic religion, the delivery of our country of +infinite murders, wicked and detestable policies by which this +kingdom was hitherto governed, nourished in obscurity and ignorance, +maintained in barbarity and incivility, and consequently of infinite +evils which were too lamentable to be rehearsed. And seeing these are +motives most laudable before any men of consideration, and before the +Almighty most meritorious, which is chiefly to be expected, I thought +myself in conscience bound, seeing God hath given me some power to use +all means for the reduction of this our poor afflicted country into +the Catholic faith, which can never be brought to any good pass +without either your destruction or helping hand; hereby protesting +that I neither seek your lands or goods, neither do I purpose to plant +any in your places, if you will adjoin with me; but will extend what +liberties and privileges that heretofore you have had if it shall +stand in my power, giving you to understand upon my salvation that +chiefly and principally I fight for the Catholic faith to be planted +throughout all our poor country, as well in cities as elsewhere, +as manifestly might appear by that I rejected all other conditions +proffered to me this not being granted. I have already by word of +mouth protested, and do now hereby protest, that if I had to be +King of Ireland without having the Catholic religion which before I +mentioned, I would not the same accept. Take your example by that most +Catholic country, France, whose subjects for defect of Catholic faith +did go against their most natural king, and maintained wars till he +was constrained to profess the Catholic religion, duly submitting +himself to the Apostolic See of Rome, to the which doubtless we may +bring our country, you putting your helping hand with me to the same. +As for myself I protest before God and upon my salvation I have been +proffered oftentimes such conditions as no man seeking his own private +commodity could refuse; but I seeking the public utility of my native +country will prosecute these wars until that generally religion be +planted throughout all Ireland. So I rest, praying the Almighty to +move your flinty hearts to prefer the commodity and profit of our +country, before your own private ends.' + +As a crusader, the O'Neill was a worthy disciple of the King of Spain. +The Catholics of the south had no wish to engage in a religious +war, but the northern chief aspiring to the sovereignty of the whole +island, resolved to reclaim them by compulsion, seeing that +his tolerance and happy victories had worked no change in their +consciences, and they still persevered in that 'damnable state' +in which they had lived. From his entire love and commiseration he +forewarned them that if they did not come and join him against the +enemies of God and 'our poor country,' he would not only despoil +them of all their goods, but dispossess them of all their lands. +The extirpation of heresy, the planting of the Catholic religion, he +declared could never be brought to any good pass without either the +destruction or the help of the Catholics in the towns of the south and +west. He did not want their lands or goods, nor did he intend to plant +others in their places _if they would adjoin with him_. Pointing to +the example of France, he vowed that he would prosecute those wars +until the Catholic religion should be planted throughout all Ireland, +praying that God would move their flinty hearts to join him in this +pious and humane enterprise. In those times when religious wars +had been raging on the continent, when the whole power of Spain was +persistently employed to exterminate Protestants with fire and sword +and every species of cruelty, it is not at all surprising that a +chief like O'Neill, leading such a wild warlike life in Ulster, should +persuade himself that he would be glorifying God and serving his +country by destroying the Catholic inhabitants of the towns, that is +all the most civilised portion of the community, because they would +not join him in robbing and killing the Protestants. But it is not a +little surprising that an enlightened, learned, and liberal Catholic +priest, writing in Dublin in the year 1868, should give his deliberate +sanction to this unchristian and barbarous policy. Yet Father Meehan +writes: 'But no; not even the dint of that manifesto, _with the ring +of true steel in its every line_, could strike a spark out of their +hearts, for they were chalky.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Page 34.] + +It was very natural that the English Government should act upon the +same principle of intolerance, especially when they had the plea +of state necessity. They did not yet go the length of exterminating +Catholicity by the means with which the O'Neill threatened his +peaceable and industrious co-religionists in the towns. + +All they required was that the Catholics should cease to harbour +their priests, and that they should attend the Protestant churches. +Remarking upon the proclamation of Chichester to this effect Mr. +Meehan says:--'Apart from the folly of the king, who had taken into +his head that an entire nation should, at his bidding, apostatise from +the creed of their forefathers, the publishing such a manifesto +in Dungannon, in Donegal, and elsewhere was a bitter insult to +the northern chieftains, whose wars were _crusades_,--the natural +consequence of faith,--stimulated by the Roman Pontiffs, assisted +by Spain, then the most Catholic kingdom in the world.' Does not Mr. +Meehan see that crusading is a game at which two can play? And if +wars which were crusades were the natural consequence of the Catholic +faith, were stimulated by the Roman Pontiffs, and assisted by Spain, +for the purpose of destroying the power of England, everywhere as well +as in Ireland, and abolishing the Reformation,--does it not follow +as a necessary consequence that the English Government must in sheer +self-defence have waged a war of extermination against the Catholic +religion, and have regarded its priests as mortal enemies? No better +plea for the English policy in Ireland was ever offered by any +Protestant writer than this language, intended as a condemnation, by +a very able priest in our own day. It was no doubt extreme folly for +King James I. to expect that a nation, or a single individual, should +apostatise at his bidding; but it was equal folly in the King of Spain +to expect Protestants to apostatise at his bidding; and if possible +still greater folly for O'Neill to expect the Catholic citizens of +Munster to join him in the bloody work of persecution. It was, then, +the Spanish policy stimulated by the Sovereign Pontiff that was the +standing excuse of the cruel intolerance and rancorous religious +animosity which have continued to distract Irish society down to +our own time. Persecution is alien to the Irish race. The malignant +_virus_ imported from Spain poisoned the national blood, maddened the +national brain, and provoked the terrible system of retaliation that +was embodied in the Penal Code, and which, surviving to our own time, +still defends itself by the old plea--the intrusion of a foreign power +attempting to overrule the government of the country. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LAST OF THE IRISH PRINCES. + + +The accession of James I. produced a delirium of joy in the Catholics +of the south. Their bards had sung that the blood of the old Celtic +monarchs circulated in his veins, their clergy told them that as +James VI. of Scotland he had received supplies of money from the +Roman court, and above all Clement VIII. then reigning, had sent to +congratulate him on his accession, having been solicited by him to +favour his title to the crown of England, which the Pope guaranteed +to do on condition that James promised not to persecute the Catholics. +The consequence was that the inhabitants of the southern towns rose +_en masse_ without waiting for authority, forced open the gates of the +ancient churches, re-erected the altars and used them for the public +celebration of worship. The lord deputy was startled by intelligence +to this effect from Waterford, Limerick, Cork, Lismore, Kilkenny, +Clonmel, Wexford, &c. The cathedrals, churches, and oratories were +seized by the people and clergy, Father White, Vicar-Apostolic of +Waterford, being the leader in this movement, going about from city +to city for the purpose of 'hallowing and purifying' the temples which +Protestantism had desecrated. + +The mayors of the cities were rebuked by Mountjoy as seditious and +mutinous in setting up 'the public exercise of the Popish religion,' +and he threatened to encamp speedily before Waterford, 'to suppress +insolences and see peace and obedience maintained.' The deputy kept +his word, and on May 4, 1603, he appeared before Waterford at the +head of 5,000 men, officered by Sir R. Wingfield, and others who had +distinguished themselves during Tyrone's war. 'There is among the +family pictures at Powerscourt,' says Mr. Meehan, 'a portrait of this +distinguished old warrior, whose lineal descendant, the present noble +lord, has always proved most generous to his Catholic tenantry.' The +reverend gentleman gives an amusing sketch of a theological encounter +between the old warrior and Father White and a Dominican friar, +who came forth to the camp under a safe-conduct, both wearing their +clerical habits and preceded by a cross-bearer. The soldiers jeered +at the sacred symbol, and called it an idol. Father White indignantly +resented the outrage, when Sir Richard Wingfield threatened to put +an end to the controversy by running his sword through the +Vicar-Apostolic. 'The deputy however was a bookish man, at one period +of his life inclined to Catholicity, and he listened patiently to +Father White on the right of resisting or disobeying the natural +prince; but when the latter quoted some passage thereanent in the +works of St. Augustine, Mountjoy caused to be brought to him out of +his tent the identical volume, and showed to the amazement of the +bystanders, that the context explained away all the priest had +asserted.' The noble theologian told Father White that he was a +traitor, worthy of condign punishment for bringing an idol into a +Christian camp and for opening the churches by the Pope's authority. +Father White appeared in the camp a second time that day, making +a most reasonable request. He fell on his knees before the deputy, +begging liberty of conscience, free and open exercise of religion, +protesting that the people would be ready to resist all foreign +invasion were that granted; and finally beseeching that some of the +ruined churches might be given to the Catholics, who were ready +to rebuild them, and pay for them a yearly rent into his majesty's +exchequer. But the deputy was inexorable, and all he would grant was +leave to wear clerical clothes, and celebrate mass in private houses. +Mountjoy entered Waterford, received from the citizens the oath of +allegiance, and made over the city churches to the small section +of Protestants. At the same time he sent despatches to other towns +ordering the authorities to evict the Roman Catholics from the places +of worship. And then proceeding to Cork, and thence through Cashel +to Dublin, he undid all that the clergy had done with respect to the +churches, 'leaving perhaps to future statesmen,' writes Father +Meehan, 'living above the atmosphere of effete prejudices, the duty of +restoring to the Catholics of Ireland those grand old temples, which +were never meant to accommodate a fragment of its people.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Page 30.] + +When Mountjoy returned to Dublin he found that he had been created +Lord Lieutenant of Ireland with two-thirds of the deputy's allowance, +Sir George Carew, appointed deputy during his absence in +England, receiving the other third together with his own pay as +treasurer-at-war. Mountjoy was also informed that the royal pardon had +been granted to Tyrone under the great seal, and that all other grants +made to him by the lord deputy had been confirmed. The king concluded +by requesting that he would induce Tyrone to go with him to London, +adding, 'as we think it very convenient for our service, and require +you so to do; and if not that at least you bring his son.' Along with +these instructions came a protection for O'Neill and his retinue. It +was supposed that James felt grateful to the Ulster chieftain for the +services he had rendered him during the late queen's reign; and it is +stated by Craik that after the victory of the Blackwater, he sent his +secretary O'Hagan to Holyrood, to signify to his majesty that if he +supplied him with money and munitions he would instantly march on +Dublin, proclaim him King of Ireland, and set the crown upon his head. + +In compliance with the sovereign's request, Mountjoy, with a brilliant +suite, accompanied by Tyrone and Rory O'Donel, embarked in May 1603, +and sailed for Holyhead. But when they had sighted the coast of Wales, +the pinnace was driven back by adverse winds, and nearly wrecked in a +fog at the Skerries. They landed safe, however, at Beaumaris, whence +they rode rapidly to Chester, where they stopped for the night, and +were entertained by the mayor. The king's protection for the O'Neill +was not uncalled for. Whenever he was recognised in city or hamlet, +the populace, notwithstanding their respect for Mountjoy, the hero of +the hour, pursued the earl with bitter insults, and stoned him as he +passed along. Throughout the whole journey to London, the Welsh and +English women assailed him with their invectives. Not unnaturally, for +'there was not one among them but could name some friend or kinsman +whose bones lay buried far away in some wild pass or glen of Ulster, +where the object of their maledictions was more often victor than +vanquished.'[1] The king, however, gave the Irish chiefs a gracious +reception, having issued a proclamation that he had restored them to +his favour, and that they should be 'of all men honourably received.' +This excited intense disgust amongst English officers who had been +engaged in the Irish wars. Thus Sir John Harrington, writing to +a bishop, said: 'I have lived to see that damnable rebel, Tyrone, +brought to England, honoured and well liked. Oh, what is there that +does not prove the inconstancy of worldly matters! How I did labour +after that knave's destruction! I adventured perils by sea and land, +was near starving, eat horseflesh in Munster, and all to quell that +man, who now smileth in peace at those who did hazard their lives +to destroy him; and now doeth Tyrone dare us old commanders with his +presence and protection.' + +[Footnote 1: Father Meehan.] + +In fact the favour of the king went to an excess fatal to its object, +by conceding powers incompatible with his own sovereignty, leading +to disorders and violence, and exciting jealousy and mortal enmity in +those who were charged with the government in Ireland. The lords of +the Privy Council, with the king's consent, gave O'Neill authority for +martial law, 'to be executed upon any offenders that shall live under +him, the better to keep them in obedience.' It was ordered that the +king's garrisons should not meddle with him or his people. The king +also invested O'Donel with all the lands and rights of ancient time +belonging to his house, excepting abbeys and other spiritual livings, +the castle and town of Ballyshannon, and 1,000 acres adjoining +the fishing there. He also received the style and title of Earl +of Tyrconnel, with remainder to his brother Caffar, the heirs male +apparent being created Barons of Donegal. He was formally installed +in Christ Church Cathedral on the 29th of September following, in +presence of Archbishop Loftus and a number of high officials. Tyrone, +however, was dogged by spies while he was in London, and one +Atkinson swore informations to the effect that he was in the habit +of entertaining a Jesuit named Archer, who was intriguing with the +foreign enemies of England, and who was held by Irish royalists for +'the most bloody and treacherous traitor, who could divert Tyrone +and all the rest from the king, and thrust them again into actual +rebellion.' + +In the meantime, Sir George Carew was pursuing a policy in Ireland +which must of necessity involve the north in fresh troubles. In his +letters to England, he complained that the country 'so swarmed with +priests, Jesuits, seminarists, friars, and Romish bishops, that if +speedy means were not used to free the kingdom of this wicked rabble, +which laboured to draw the subjects' hearts from their due obedience +to their prince, much mischief would burst forth in very short time. +For,' he said, 'there are here so many of this wicked crew, that are +able to disquiet four of the greatest kingdoms in Christendom. It is +high time they were banished from hence, and none to receive, or +aid, or relieve them. Let the judges and officers be sworn to the +supremacy; let the lawyers go to the church and show conformity, +or not plead at the bar; and then the rest by degrees will shortly +follow.' + +Carew was succeeded as deputy by Sir Arthur Chichester, descended +from a family of great antiquity in Devon. He had served in Ireland +as governor of Carrickfergus, admiral of Lough Neagh, and commander +of the Fort of Mountjoy. Father Meehan describes him as malignant and +cruel, with a physiognomy repulsive and petrifying; a Puritan of the +most rigid character, utterly devoid of sympathy, solely bent on his +own aggrandisement, and seeking it through the plunder and persecution +of the Irish chieftains. That is the Irish view of his character. How +far he deserved it the reader will be able to judge by his acts. +He was evidently a man of strong will, an able administrator +and organiser; and he set himself at once, and earnestly, to the +establishment of law and order in the conquered territories of the +Irish princes. He sent justices of assize throughout Munster and +Connaught, reducing the 'countries or regions' into shire-ground, +abolishing cuttings, cosheries, spendings, and other customary +exactions of the chiefs, by which a complete revolution was effected. +He issued a proclamation, by the king's order, commanding all the +Catholics, under penalties, to assist at the Church of England +service; proscribing priests, and other ecclesiastical persons +ordained by authority from the see of Home; forbidding parents to send +their children to seminaries beyond the seas, or to keep as private +tutors other than those licensed by the Protestant archbishop or +bishop. If any priest dared to celebrate mass, he was liable to a fine +of 200 marks, and a year's imprisonment; while to join the _Romish_ +Church was to become a traitor, and to be subject to a like penalty. +Churchwardens were to make a monthly report of persons absent from +church, and to whet the zeal of wardens and constables, for each +conviction of offending parties, they were to have a reward of forty +shillings, to be levied out of the recusant's estate and goods. +Catholics might escape these penalties by quitting the country, and +taking the oath of abjuration, by which they bound themselves to +abjure the land and realm of James, King of England, Scotland, France, +and Ireland, to hasten towards a certain port by the most direct +highway, to diligently seek a passage, and tarry there but one +flood and ebb. According to one form, quoted by Mr. Meehan, the oath +concluded thus: 'And, unless I can have it (a passage) in such a +place, I will go every day into the sea up to my knees, essaying to +pass over, so God me help and His holy judgment.' + +The deputy found some difficulty in bending the consciences of the +Dublin people to the will of the sovereign in matters of faith; but +the said will was to be enforced _circa sacra_ at all hazards; so he +summoned sixteen of the chief citizens and aldermen before the Privy +Council, and censured them for their recusancy, imprisoned them in the +castle during pleasure, inflicting upon six a fine of 100 l. each, and +upon three 50 l. each. The king was delighted with this evangelical +method of extending reformed religion in Ireland. Congratulating his +deputy, he expressed a hope that many, by such means, would be brought +to conformity in religion, who would hereafter 'give thanks to God for +being drawn by so gentle a constraint to their own good.' The 'gentle +constraint' was imposed in all directions. The Privy Council decreed +that none but a member of the Church of England could hold any +office under the Crown. The old Catholic families of the Pale humbly +remonstrated, and their chief men were flung into prison. Sir Patrick +Barnwell, their agent, was sent to London by order of the king, and +was forthwith committed to the Tower for contempt. Henry Usher, then +Archbishop of Armagh, carried out the system of exclusion in his own +diocese, which included the territories of Tyrone. All 'Papists' were +forbidden to assist at mass, on pain of forfeiture of their goods and +imprisonment. In a like manner, the Catholic worship was prohibited +even in the residence of the Earl of Tyrconnel. He and Tyrone strongly +remonstrated against this violation of the royal word, that they and +their people might have liberty for their worship in private houses. +The answer was decided. His majesty had made up his mind to disallow +liberty of worship, and his people, whether they liked it or not, +should repair to their parish churches. + +In addition to this religious grievance, which excited the bitterest +feelings of discontent, the two earls were subjected to the most +irritating annoyances. They complained that their people were +plundered by sheriffs, under-sheriffs, officers, and soldiers; and +that even their domestic privacy was hourly violated, that their +remonstrances were unheeded, and their attempts to obtain legal +remedies were frustrated. At the same time their vassals were +encouraged to repudiate their demands for tribute and rent. Bishop +Montgomery of Derry was a dangerous neighbour to O'Neill. Meeting him +one day at Dungannon, the earl said: 'My lord, you have two or three +bishopricks, and yet you are not content with them, but seek the lands +of my earldom.' + +'My lord,' replied the bishop, 'your earldom is swollen so big with +the lands of the Church, that it will burst if it be not vented.' If +he had confined his venting operations to the chiefs, and abstained +from bleeding the poor people, it would have been better for +Protestantism. For we read that he sent bailiffs through the diocese +of Raphoe, to levy contributions for the Church. 'For every cow and +plough-horse, 4 d.; as much out of every colt and calf, to be +paid twice a year; and half-a-crown a quarter of every shoemaker, +carpenter, smith, and weaver in the whole country; and 8 d. a year for +every married couple.' + +This bishop seems to have been greatly impressed with the +'commodities' of O'Cahan's country, which he describes with much +unction in a letter to the Earl of Salisbury. He said that the country +was 'large, pleasant, and fruitful; twenty-four miles in length +between Lough Foyle and the Bann; and in breadth, from the sea-coast +towards the lower parts of Tyrone, 14 miles.' He states that O'Cahan +was able to assist the Earl of Tyrone, during his war, with 1,200 +foot and 300 horse, the ablest men that Ulster yielded; and, by the +confession of gentlemen of the first plantation, had oftener put them +to their defence than any enemy they had to do with, not suffering +them to cut a bough or build a cabin without blows. When Tyrone was +driven to his fastness, Glenconkeine, O'Cahan sent him 100 horse and +300 foot, and yet made good his own country against the army lying +round about him, adding, that his defection 'did undo the earl, who, +as he had his country sure behind him, cared little for anything the +army could do to him.' The bishop was, therefore, very anxious that +Tyrone should not have any estate in O'Cahan's country, 'since he was +of great power to offend or benefit the poor infant city of Derry, its +new bishop and people, cast out far from the heart and head into the +remotest part of Ireland, where life would be unsafe until the whole +region was well settled with civil subjects. If this be not brought to +pass, we may say: "_fuimus Troes,--fuit Ilium_."'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Meehan, p.79.] + +The defection of O'Cahan was, no doubt, a very serious matter to +O'Neill. Their case was referred for adjudication to the lord deputy, +Chichester, before whom they personally pleaded. Their contradictory +statements, and the eagerness of each for the support of a ruler whom +they regarded as a common enemy, accounts for the facility with which +their power was ultimately destroyed. They at the same time throw much +light on the condition of Ulster before the confiscation of James I., +proving that it was by no means so poor and wild and barren a region +as it is generally represented by modern writers. The two chiefs had a +personal altercation at the council table, and O'Neill so far lost his +temper as to snatch a paper out of the hand of O'Cahan. Whereupon Sir +John Davis remarked: 'I rest assured, in my own conceit, that I shall +live to see Ulster the best reformed province in this kingdom; and +as for yourself, my lord, I hope to live to see you the best reformed +subject in Ireland.' To this the haughty chief replied with warmth, +that he hoped 'the attorney-general would never see the day when +injustice should be done him by transferring his lands to the Crown, +and thence to the bishop, who was intent on converting the whole +territory into his own pocket.' + +Acting under the advice of the bishop, O'Cahan employed a skilful +hand to draw up a statement of his case, which was presented on May 2, +1607, in the form of 'the humble petition of Donald Ballagh O'Cahan, +chief of his name,' addressed to the lord deputy and council. He +declared that for 3,000 years and upwards, he and his ancestors had +been possessed of a country called 'O'Cahan's country,' lying between +the river Bann and Lough Foyle, without paying any rent, or other +acknowledgment thereof to O'Neill, saving that his ancestors were wont +to aid O'Neill twice a year if he had need, with risings of 100 horse +and 300 foot, for which O'Cahan had in return O'Neill's whole suit of +apparel, the horse that he rode upon, and 100 cows in winter. He also +paid 21 cows every year in the name of _Cios'righ_, the king's rent, +or the king's rent-cess. He alleged that Queen Elizabeth had granted +him his country to be held immediately from her majesty at the +accustomed rent, by virtue of which he enjoyed it for one whole year +without paying, or being craved payment, of any rent or duty, until +the Earl of Tyrone, on his return from England, alleged that he had +got O'Cahan's country by patent, from the king, who had made him +vassal to Tyrone and his heirs for ever, imposing the annual payment +of 100 cows, with the yearly rent of 200 l. He had also claimed the +fishing of the Bann; he preyed yearly upon other parts of his country, +and drew from him his best tenants. He therefore prayed for the +protection of the lord deputy against these unjust demands and +usurpations. + +On the 23rd of the same month, O'Neill made a counter statement to the +following effect: O'Cahan had no estate in the territory that was by +a corruption of speech called O'Cahan's country; nor did he or any of +his ancestors ever hold the said lands but as tenants at sufferance, +servants and followers to the defendant and his ancestors. His +grandfather Con O'Neill was seised in fee of those lands before he +surrendered to Henry VIII., 'and received yearly, and had thereout, +as much rents, cutting, spending and all other duties as of any other +lands which he had in demesne,' within the province of Ulster and +territory of Tyrone, and that after Con's surrender the territories +were all re-granted with the rents, customs, duties, &c. as before. +He was ready to prove that the ancestors of O'Cahan never enjoyed the +premises at any time, but at the will and sufferance of O'Neill and +his ancestors. A few days after, he despatched a memorial to the king +setting forth his grievances, in which he stated that there were so +many that sought to deprive him of the greatest part of the residue +of his territory that without his majesty's special consideration he +should in the end have nothing to support his 'estate' or rank. For +the Lord Bishop of Derry, not content with the great living the king +had bestowed upon him, sought to have the greater part of the earl's +lands, to which none of his predecessors had ever laid claim. And +he also set on others to question his titles which had never before +before doubted. He therefore humbly besought the king to direct that +new letters patent should be made out re-conveying to him and his +heirs the lands in dispute, being, he said, 'such a favour as is +appointed by your majesty to be extended to such of your subjects of +this kingdom as should be suitors for the same, amongst whom I will +during my life endeavour to deserve to be in the number of the most +faithful, whereunto not only duty, but also your majesty's great +bounty, hath ever obliged me.' + +This was dated at Mellifont on May 26, 1607. It does not appear that +any answer was received to his appeals to the king, nor is it likely +that it served his cause, for it is seldom safe to appeal from an +agent or deputy to the supreme authority. The Privy Council in Dublin, +however, made a report confirming to some extent the claims put forth +by Tyrone. A jury had been appointed to inquire into the boundaries +and limits of the lands granted by Queen Elizabeth, and they found +that they extended from the river Fuin to Lough Foyle, and from Lough +Foyle by the sea-shore to the Bann, and thence to the east of Lough +Neagh. Within these limits they found that there existed the territory +called O'Cahan's, Glenconkeine and Killetragh, which were not the +lands of the O'Neills, '_but held by tenants having estates in them +equivalent to estates of freehold_.' The jury could not determine what +rents the tenants of said lands were accustomed to pay, but they found +generally that all lands within the limits of Tyrone, except the lands +of the church, rendered to O'Neill bonnaght or free quarters for armed +retainers, 'rising out, cutting and spending.' The parties, however, +did not abide by the decision of the privy council, but kept up their +contention in the courts of law. It was quite clear that matters could +not remain long in that unsettled state, with so many adventurers +thirsting for the possession of land, which was lying comparatively +idle. It was thought desirable to appoint a president of Ulster, as +there had been a president of Munster. The Earl of Tyrone applied to +the king for the office, evidently fearing that if Chichester were +appointed, he must share the fate of the Earl of Desmond. On the other +hand, it was felt that with his hereditary pretensions, impracticable +temper, and vast influence with the people, it would be impossible to +establish the English power on a permanent basis until he was got out +of the way. This was not difficult, with unprincipled adventurers +who were watching for opportunities to make their fortunes in those +revolutionary times. Among these was a person named St. Lawrence, +Baron of Howth. This man worked cunningly on the mind of the lord +deputy, insinuating that O'Neill was plotting treason and preparing +for a Spanish invasion. He even went so far as to write an anonymous +letter, revealing an alleged plot of O'Neill's to assassinate the lord +deputy. It was addressed to Sir William Usher, clerk of the council, +and the writer began by saying that it would show him, though far +severed from him in religion, how near he came home to him in honesty. +He was a Catholic, and professed to reveal what he had heard among +Catholic gentlemen, 'after the strictest conditions of secresy.' The +conspirators were, in the first place, to murder or poison the lord +deputy when he came to Drogheda, 'a place thought apt and secure to +act the same.' They thought it well to begin with him, because his +authority, wisdom, and valour stood only in the way of their first +attempts. Next after him they were to cut off Sir Oliver Lambert, +whom for his own judgment in the wars, his sudden resolution, and +undertaking spirit, they would not suffer to live. These two lights +thus put out, they would neither fear nor value any opposite in the +kingdom. The small dispersed garrisons must either through hunger +submit themselves to their mercy, or be penned up as sheep to the +shambles. They held the castle of Dublin for their own, neither manned +nor victualled, and readily surprised. The towns were for them, the +country with them, the great ones abroad prepared to answer the first +alarm. The Jesuits warranted from the Pope and the Catholic king would +do their parts effectually, and Spanish succours would not be wanting. +These secrets greatly troubled the sensitive conscience of Lord Howth. +From the time he was entrusted with them, he said, 'till I resolved to +give you this caveat, my eyelids never closed, my heart was a fire, +my soul suffered a thousand thousand torments; yet I could not, nor +cannot persuade my conscience, in honesty, to betray my friends, +or spill their bloods, when this timely warning may prevent the +mischief.' In conclusion, he said, 'though I reverence the mass and +the Catholic religion equal with the devoutest of them, I will make +the leaders of this dance know that I prefer my country's good before +their busy and ambitious humours.' It is related of this twenty-second +baron of Howth, known as Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, that having +served in Ulster under Essex, and accompanied him in his flight to +England, he proposed to murder Lord Grey de Wilton, lest he should +prejudice the queen's mind against her former favourite, if he got +access to her presence before him; that he had commanded a regiment of +infantry under Mountjoy, and that when that regiment was disbanded, he +became discontented, not having got either pension or employment; +that having gone as a free lance to the Low Countries, and failed to +advance himself there as he expected, through the interest of +Irish ecclesiastics, he returned to England, and skulked about the +ante-chambers of Lord Salisbury, waiting upon Providence, when he hit +upon the happy idea of the revelations which he conveyed under the +signature of' A.B.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Meehan, p.103.] + +After some time he acknowledged the authorship of the letter +privately, but refused to come forth publicly as an informer, nor +was he able to produce any corroboration of the improbable story. +Ultimately, however, when pressed by Chichester, he induced his friend +Baron Devlin to swear an information to the same effect, revealing +certain alleged conversations of O'Neill. In the meantime St. Lawrence +cunningly worked upon the fears of the earl, giving him to understand +that his ruin was determined on, and that he had better consult +his safety, by leaving the country. It appears that he received +intimations to the same effect from his correspondents in Spain and +in London. At all events, he lost heart, became silent, moody, and +low-spirited, suspecting foul play on the part of the king, who was +very urgent that he should be brought over to London, in which case +Tyrone was led to believe that he would certainly be sent to the +Tower, and probably lose his head. With such apprehensions, he came +to the conclusion that it was idle to struggle any longer against the +stream. + +He had for some weeks been engaged quietly making preparations for his +flight. He had given directions to his steward to collect in advance +one half of his Michaelmas rents, leading the lord deputy to think +that he did so either to provide funds for his journey to London, +or to defray the expenses of his son's projected marriage with the +daughter of Lord Argyle. Meanwhile a vessel had been purchased by +Cu-Connaught Maguire, and Bath, the captain of this vessel, assured +the Earl of Tyrconnel, whom he met at Ballyshannon, that he also +would lose his life or liberty if he did not abandon the country with +O'Neill. On September 8, Tyrone took leave of the lord deputy, and +then spent a day and night at Mellifont with his friend Sir Garret +Moore, who was specially dear to him as the fosterer of his son John. +The earl took his leave with unusual emotion, and after giving +his blessing according to the Irish fashion to every member of his +friend's household, he and his suite took horse and rode rapidly by +Dundalk, over the Fews to Armagh, where he rested a few hours, and +then proceeded to Creeve, one of his crannoges or island habitations, +where he was joined by his wife and other members of his family. Sir +Oliver Lambert in a communication to the Irish Government, relating to +the affairs of Ulster, made some interesting allusions to O'Neill. He +states that he had apologised for having appealed to the king in the +case between him and O'Cahan, and said that he felt much grieved in +being called upon so suddenly to go to England, when on account of his +poverty he was not able to furnish himself as became him for such a +journey and for such a presence. In all things else, said Sir Oliver, +'he seemed very moderate and reasonable, albeit he never gave over to +be a general solicitor in all causes concerning his country and people +however criminal.' He thought the earl had been much abused by persons +who had cunningly terrified, and diverted him from going to the king; +'or else he had within him a thousand witnesses testifying that he was +as deeply engaged in these secret treasons as any of the rest, whom +they knew or suspected.' At all events he had received information +on the previous day from his own brother Sir Cormac O'Neill, from the +primate, from Sir Toby Caulfield and others, that the earl had taken +shipping with his lady, the Baron of Dungannon, his eldest son, and +two others of his children, John and Brien, both under seven years +old, the Earl of Tyrconnel, and his son and heir, an infant, not yet a +year old, his brother Caffar O'Donel, and his son an infant two years +old, 'with divers others of their nearest and trusted followers and +servants, as well men as women, to the number of between thirty and +forty persons.' + +The Rev. Mr. Meehan gives graphic details of the flight of his two +heroes. Arrived at Rathmullen they found Maguire and Captain Bath +laying stores of provisions on board the ship that had come into Lough +Swilly under French colours. Here they were joined by Rory, Earl of +Tyrconnel. At noon on Friday they all went on board and lifted anchor, +but kept close to the shore waiting for the boats' crews, who were +procuring water and fuel; but they had to wait till long after sunset, +when the boats came with only a small quantity of wood and water. +According to a fatality which makes one Irishman's extremity another +Irishman's opportunity, the foraging party was set upon by M'Sweeny +of Fanad, who churlishly prevented them getting a sufficient supply +of these necessaries. This barbarous conduct is accounted for by Mr. +Meehan, from the fact, that this M'Sweeny had recently taken a grant +of his lands from the crown. At midnight, September 14, 1607, they +spread all sail and made for the open sea, intending, however, to +land on the Island of Arran, off the coast of Donegal, to provide +themselves with more water and fuel. The entire number of souls +on board this small vessel, says O'Keenan in his narrative, was +ninety-nine, having little sea store, and being otherwise miserably +accommodated. Unable to make the island of Arran, owing to a gale +then blowing off the land, and fearing to be crossed by the king's +cruisers, they steered for the harbour of Corunna in Spain. But for +thirteen days, continues O'Keenan, 'the sea was angry, and the tempest +left us no rest; and the only brief interval of calm we enjoyed, was +when O'Neill took from his neck a golden crucifix containing a relic +of the true cross, and trailed it in the wake of the ship. At that +moment, two poor merlins with wearied pinions sought refuge in the +rigging of our vessel, and were captured for the noble ladies, who +nursed them with tenderest affection.' After being tempest-tossed +for three weeks, they dropped anchor in the harbour of Quilleboeuf +in France, having narrowly escaped shipwreck, their only remaining +provisions being one gallon of beer and a cask of water. They +proceeded to Brussels and thence to Louvain, where splendid +accommodation was provided for them. In several of the cities through +which they passed they received ovations, their countrymen clerical +and military having prepared for their reception with the greatest +zeal and devotion. The King of Spain was of course friendly, but to +avoid giving offence to King James he discouraged the stay of the +exiles in his dominions, and they found their final resting-place +at Rome, where the two earls were placed upon the Pope's civil list, +which, however, they did not long continue to burden. Tyrconnel fell a +victim to the malaria, and died on July 28, 1608. 'Sorrowful it was,' +say the Four Masters, 'to contemplate his early eclipse, for he was a +generous and hospitable lord, to whom the patrimony of his ancestors +seemed nothing for his feastings and spending.' His widow received +a pension of 300 l. a year out of his forfeited estates. O'Neill +survived his brother earl eight years, having made various attempts to +induce the King of Spain to aid him in the recovery of his patrimony. +He died in 1616, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Sir Francis +Cottington, announcing the event from Madrid, said, 'The Earl of +Tyrone is dead at Rome; by whose death this king saves 500 ducats +every month, for so much pension he had from here, well paid him. +Upon the news of his death, I observed that all the principal Irish +entertained in several parts of this kingdom are repaired unto this +court.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +GOVERNMENT APPEALS TO THE PEOPLE. + + +The flight of the earls caused great consternation to the Irish +Government. Letters were immediately despatched to the local +authorities at every port to have a sharp look out for the fugitives, +and to send out vessels to intercept them, should they be driven back +by bad weather to any part of the coast. At the same time the lord +deputy sent a despatch to the Government in London, deprecating +censure for an occurrence so unexpected, and so much to be regretted, +because of the possibility of its leading to an invasion by the +Spaniards. In other respects it was regarded by the principal members +of the Irish Government, and especially by the officials in Ulster, as +a most fortunate occurrence. For example, Sir Oliver Lambert, in his +report to the lords of the council, already referred to, said:--'But +now these things are fallen out thus, contrary to all expectation +or likelihood, by the providence of God I hope, over this miserable +people, for whose sake it may be he hath sent his majesty this rare +and unlocked for occasion: whereby he may now at length, with good +apprehension and prudent handling, repair an error which was committed +in making these men proprietary lords of so large a territory, without +regard of the poor freeholders' rights, or of his majesty's service, +and the commonwealth's, that are so much interested in the honest +liberty of that sort of men, which now, in time, I commend unto your +lordships' grave consideration and wisdom, and will come to that which +nearest concerns ourselves and the whole.' + +According to Sir John Davis, in his letter to the first minister, Lord +Salisbury, Tyrone could not be reconciled in his heart to the English +Government, because 'he ever lived like a free prince, or, rather, +like an absolute tyrant, there. The law of England, and the ministers +thereof, were shackles and handlocks unto him.' He states that _after +the Irish manner_, he made all the tenants of his land _villeins_. +'Therefore to evict any part of that land from him was as grievous +unto him as to pinch away the quick flesh from his body ... Besides,' +the attorney-general added, 'as for us that are here, we are glad to +see the day wherein the countenance and majesty of the law, as civil +government, hath banished Tyrone out of Ireland, which the best army +in Europe, and the expense of two millions of sterling pounds did not +bring to pass. And we hope his majesty's happy government will work +a greater miracle in this kingdom, than ever St. Patrick did; for St. +Patrick did only banish the poisonous worms, but suffered the men full +of poison to inhabit the land still; but his majesty's blessed genius +will banish all that generation of vipers out of it, and make it, ere +it be long, a right fortunate island.' + +Again, Sir Geoffry Fenton, writing to Salisbury on the same subject, +says, 'And now I am to put your lordship in mind what a door is open +to the king, if the opportunity be taken, and well converted, not only +to pull down for ever these two proud houses of O'Neill and O'Donel, +but also to bring in colonies to plant both countries, to a great +increasing of his majesty's revenues, and to establish and settle the +countries perpetually in the crown; besides that many well-deserving +servitors may be recompensed in the distribution; a matter to be taken +to heart, for that it reaches somewhat to his majesty's conscience and +honour to see these poor servitors relieved, whom time and the wars +have spent, even unto their later years, and now, by this commodity, +may be stayed and comforted without charges to his majesty.' This +advice was quite in accordance with the views of the prime minister, +who in a letter to Chichester said, 'I do think it of great necessity +that those countries be made the king's by this accident; that there +be a mixture in the plantation, the _natives_ made his majesty's +tenants of part, but the rest to be divided among those that will +_inhabit_; and in no case any man is suffered to embrace more than +is visible he can and will _manure_. That was an oversight in the +plantation of Munster, where 12,000 acres were commonly allotted to +bankrupts and country gentlemen, that never knew the disposition of +the Irish; so as God forbid that those who have spent their blood in +the service should not of all others be preferred.' It was because +this idea of manuring, i.e. residence and cultivation, was carried +out in Ulster, that the plantation has proved so successful. But Davis +would allow but small space comparatively to the natives, whom he +compared to weeds which, if too numerous, would choke the wheat. With +him the old inhabitants were simply a nuisance from the highest to +the lowest; and if there were no other way of getting rid of them, he +would no doubt have adopted the plan recommended by Lord Bacon, +who said, 'Some of the chiefest of the Irish families should +be transported to England, and have recompense there for their +possessions in Ireland, till they were cleansed from their blood, +incontinency, and theft, which were not the lapses of particular +persons, but the very laws of the nation.' The Lord Deputy Chichester, +however, agreed thoroughly with his attorney-general, for he certainly +made no more account of rooting out the 'mere Irish' from their homes +than if they were the most noxious kinds of weeds or vermin. 'If,' +said he, writing to Lord Salisbury, 'I have observed anything during +my stay in this kingdom, I may say it is not _lenity_ and good works +that will reclaim the Irish, but _an iron rod_, and severity of +justice, for the restraint and punishment of those firebrands of +sedition, _the priests_; nor can we think of any other remedy but to +proclaim _them, and their relievers and harbourers, traitors_.' + +Considering that those Englishmen were professedly Christian rulers, +engaged in establishing the reformed religion, the accounts which they +give with perfect coolness of their operations in this line, are among +the most appalling passages to be met with in the world's history. For +instance, the lord deputy writes: 'I have often said and written, it +is _famine that must consume the Irish_, as our _swords_ and other +endeavours worked not that, speedy effect which is expected; _hunger_ +would be a better, because a speedier, weapon to employ against them +than the sword.' He spared no means of destruction, but combined all +the most fearful scourges for the purpose of putting out of existence +the race of people whom God in his anger subjected to his power. +Surely the spirit of cruelty, the genius of destruction, must have +been incarnate in the man who wrote thus: 'I burned all along the +Lough (Neagh) within four miles of Dungannon, and killed 100 people, +sparing none, of what quality, age, or sex soever, besides _many +burned to death_. We killed man, _woman and child_, horse, beast, and +whatsoever we could find.' + +At the time of the flight of the earls, however, he was very anxious +about the safety of the kingdom. He was aware that the people were +universally discontented, he had but few troops in the country, +and little or no money in the treasury, so that in case of a sudden +invasion, it was quite possible that the maddened population would +rise and act in their own way upon his own merciless policy of +extermination. He therefore hastened to issue a proclamation for the +purpose of reassuring the inhabitants of Ulster, and persuading +them that they would not suffer in any way by the desertion of +their chiefs. In this proclamation, headed by 'The _Lord Deputy +and Counsell_,' it was stated that Tyrone and Tyrconnel and their +companions had lately embarked themselves at Lough Swilly and had +secretly and suddenly departed out of this realm without license or +notice. The Government was as yet uncertain about their purpose +or destination. But inasmuch as the manner of their departure, +considering the quality of their persons, might raise many doubts +in the minds of his majesty's loving subjects in those parts, and +especially the common sort of people inhabiting the counties of +Tyrone and Tyrconnel, who might suppose they were in danger to suffer +prejudice in their _lands_ and goods for the contempt or offence of +the earls,--they were solemnly assured that they had nothing whatever +to fear. The words of the proclamation on this point are: 'We do +therefore in his majesty's name declare, proclaim, and publish that +all and every his majesty's good and loyal subjects inhabiting those +countries of Tyrone and Tyrconnel shall and may quietly and securely +possess and enjoy all and singular _their lands and goods_ without the +trouble or molestation of any of his majesty's officers or ministers +or any other person or persons whatsoever as long as they disturb not +his majesty's peace, but live as dutiful and obedient subjects. And +forasmuch as the said earls to whom his majesty, reposing special +trust in their loyalty, had committed the government of the said +several countries are now undutifully departed, therefore his Majesty +doth graciously receive all and every of his said loyal subjects into +his own immediate safeguard and protection, giving them full assurance +to defend them and every of them by his kingly power from all violence +or wrong, which any loose persons among themselves or any foreign +force shall attempt against them. And to that end, we the lord deputy +and council have made choice of certain commissioners as well Irish as +English, residing in the said several countries, not only to preserve +the public peace there, but also to administer speedy and indifferent +justice to all his majesty's loving subjects in those parts, which +shall have any cause of complaint before them.' All governors, mayors, +sheriffs, justices of peace, provost-marshals, bailiffs, constables, +and all other his majesty's ministers whatsoever were strictly charged +to use their utmost endeavours faithfully and diligently to keep the +people in their duty and obedience to his majesty and the laws of the +realm. + +The assurance thus given that the subjects and tenants of the +absconding princes should securely possess and enjoy their lands and +be protected from all oppression under the sceptre of King James would +have been very satisfactory had the royal promise been realised, +but conciliation was then absolutely necessary, for the lord deputy +himself stated that 'the kingdom had not been in the like danger these +hundred years, as we have but few friends and no means of getting +more.' The foregoing proclamation was issued from Rathfarnham on +September 10. On November 9 following, another proclamation of a +general nature was published and widely circulated in order to justify +the course the Government adopted. According to this document it was +known to all the world 'how infinitely' the fugitive earls had been +obliged to the king for his singular grace and mercy in giving them +free pardon for many heinous and execrable treasons, above all hope +that they could in reason conceive, and also in restoring the one to +his lands and honours justly forfeited, and in raising the other 'from +a very mean estate to the degree and title of an earl, giving him +withal large possessions for the support of that honour, before either +of them had given any proof of loyalty, or merited the least favour.' +Even in the point of religion, which served as a cloak for all their +treasons, they got no provocation or cause of grievance. For these and +other causes it was announced that his majesty would seize and take +into his hands all the lands and goods of the said fugitives. But +he would, notwithstanding, extend such grace and favour to the +loyal inhabitants of their territories that none of them should be +'impeached, troubled, or molested in _their own lands_, goods, or +bodies, they continuing in their loyalty, _and yielding unto his +majesty such rents and duties as shall be agreeable to justice and +equity_.' This assurance was repeated again emphatically in these +words: 'His most excellent majesty doth take all the good and loyal +inhabitants of the said countries, together with their wives and +children, land and goods, into his own immediate protection, to defend +them in general against all rebellions and invasions, and to right +them in all their wrongs and oppressions, offered or to be offered +unto them by any person whatsoever, etc.' + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CASE OF THE FUGITIVE EARLS. + + +Before proceeding to notice the manner in which these promises of +justice, equity, and protection to the occupiers of the land were +fulfilled, it is well to record here the efforts made by King James +and his ambassador to discredit the fugitive earls on the Continent, +and the case which they made out for themselves in the statement of +wrongs and grievances which they addressed to the king soon after. +There was great alarm in England when news arrived of the friendly +reception accorded to the Irish chiefs by the continental sovereigns +through whose dominions they passed, and especially by the King of +Spain, who was suspected of intending another invasion of Ireland. +Consequently the most active preparations were made to meet the +danger. In every street of the metropolis drums were beating for +recruits, and large detachments were sent in all possible haste to +reinforce the Irish garrisons. Sir Charles Cornwallis was then English +ambassador at Madrid; and lest his diplomatic skill should not be up +to the mark, James himself sent him special and minute instructions as +to the manner in which he should handle the delicate subjects he had +to bring before the Spanish sovereign. There has been seldom a better +illustration of the saying, that the use of speech is to conceal +thought, than in the representations which the ambassador was +instructed to make about Irish affairs. Indeed Cornwallis had already +shown that he scarcely needed to be tutored by his sovereign. In a +preliminary despatch he had sent an account of his conversation with +Philip III.'s secretary of state about the fugitive earls. He told him +that though they had been guilty of rebellions and treasons they had +not only been pardoned, but loaded with dignities such as few or none +of the king's ancestors had ever bestowed on any of the Irish nation. +He had conferred upon them an absolute and, 'in a manner, unlimited +government in their own countries, nothing wanting to their ambitions +but the name of kings, and neither crossed in anything concerning +their civil government, nor so much as in act or imagination molested, +or in any sort questioned with, for their consciences and religion.' +He thought therefore that they would never have fled in such a way, +unless they had been drawn to Spain by large promises in the hope of +serving some future turns. + +The secretary listened to this insinuation with much impatience, and +declared solemnly, laying his hand on his breast with an oath, that of +the departure and intention of the earls there was no more knowledge +given to the king or any of his state than to the ambassador himself. +He added that there had been much consumption of Spanish treasure by +supporting strangers who had come from all parts. In particular they +had a bitter taste of those who had come from James's dominions; and +they would have suffered much more, 'if they had not made a resolute +and determined stop to the running of that fountain and refused to +give ear to many overtures.' The ambassador expressed his satisfaction +at this assurance, and then endeavoured to show how unworthy those +Irish princes were of the least encouragement. Their flight was the +result of madness, they departed without any occasion of 'earthly +distaste' or offence given them by their sovereign, whose position +towards the Irish was very different from that of the late queen. +Elizabeth had employed against their revolts and rebellions only her +own subjects of England, who were not accustomed either to the diet +of that savage country, or to the bogs, and other retreats which that +wild people used. But now, the king his master, being possessed of +Scotland, had in that country, 'near adjoining to the north part of +Ireland, a people of their own fashion, diet, and disposition, that +could walk their bogs as well as themselves, live with their food, +and were so well practised and accustomed in their own country to +the like, that they were as apt to pull them out of their dens and +withdrawing places, as ferrets to draw rabbits out of their burrows.' +Moreover all other parts of Ireland were now reduced to such +obedience, and so civil a course, and so well planted with a mixture +of English, that there was not a man that showed a forehead likely to +give a frown against his majesty, or his government. Cornwallis went +on to plead the incomparable virtues of the king his master, among +which liberality and magnificence were not the least. But if he had +given largely, it was upon a good exchange, for he had sowed money, +which of itself can do nothing, and had reaped hearts that can do +all. As for the alleged number of 'groaning Catholics,' he assured +the secretary that there were hardly as many hundreds as the fugitives +reckoned thousands. + +According to his report the minister heard him with great attention, +and at the conclusion protested, that he joined with him in opinion +that those fugitives were dangerous people and that the Jesuits were +turbulent and busy men. He assured him on the word of a caballero, +that his majesty and council had fully determined never to receive or +treat any more of those 'straying people;' as they had been put to +great inconvenience and cost, how to deliver themselves from those +Irish vagabonds, and continual begging pretenders. + +This despatch, dated October 28, 1607, was crossed on the way by one +from the English minister Salisbury, dated the 27th, giving the +king's instructions 'concerning those men that are fled into Spain.' +Cornwallis was directed not to make matters worse than they really +were, because the end must be good, 'what insolencies soever the +Jesuits and pack of fugitives there might put on. King James knew that +this remnant of the northern Irish traitors had been as full of malice +as flesh and blood could be, no way reformed by the grace received, +but rather sucking poison out of the honey thereof.' He knew also that +they had absolutely given commission to their priests and others to +abandon their sovereign if Spain would entertain their cause. But this +he could not demonstrably prove _in foro judicii_, though clear _in +foro conscientiae_, and therefore punishment would savour of rigour. +So long as things were in that state his majesty was obliged to suffer +adders in his bosom, and give them means to gather strength to his +own prejudice, whereas now the whole country which they had possessed +would be made of great use both for strength and profit to the king. +What follows should be given in his majesty's own words:-- + +'Those poor creatures who knew no kings but those petty lords, under +the burden of whose tyranny they have ever groaned, do now with great +applause desire to be protected by the immediate power, and to receive +correction only from himself, so as if the council of Spain shall +conceive that they have now some great advantage over this state, +where it shall appear what a party their king may have if he shall +like to support it, there may be this answer: that those Irish without +the King of Spain are poor worms upon earth; and that when the King of +Spain shall think it time to begin with Ireland, the king my master is +more like than Queen Elizabeth was, to find a wholesomer place of the +King of Spain's, where he would be loath to hear of the English, and +to show the Spaniards who shall be sent into Ireland as fair a way as +they were taught before. In which time the more you speak of the base, +insulting, discoursing fugitives, the more proper it will be for you. +In the meantime upon their departure, not a man hath moved, neither +was there these thirty years more universal obedience than there is +now. Amongst the rest of their barbarous lies I doubt not but they +will pretend protection for religion, and breach of promise with them; +wherein you may safely protest this, that for any, of all those that +are gone, there never was so much as an offer made to search their +consciences.' + +Not content with the labours of his ambassadors at the various +continental courts, to damage the cause of the Irish earls, the king +issued a proclamation, which was widely dispersed abroad. His majesty +said he thought it better to clear men's judgments concerning the +fugitives, 'not in respect of any worth or value in these men's +persons, being base and rude in their original,' but to prevent any +breach of friendship with other princes. For this purpose he declared +that Tyrone and Tyrconnel had not their creation or possessions in +regard of any lineal or lawful descent from ancestors of blood or +virtue, but were only conferred by the late queen and himself for some +reasons of state. Therefore, he judged it needless to seek for +many arguments 'to confirm whatsoever should be said of these men's +corruption and falsehood, whose heinous offences remained so fresh in +memory since they declared themselves so very monsters in nature, as +they did not only withdraw themselves from their personal obedience to +their sovereign, but were content to sell over their native country, +to those who stood at that time in the highest terms of hostility with +the crowns of England and Ireland.' 'Yet,' adds the king, 'to make the +absurdity and ingratitude of the allegation above mentioned so much +the more clear to all men of equal judgment, we do hereby profess +in word of a king that there was never so much as any shadow of +molestation, nor purpose of proceeding in any degree against them +for matter concerning religion:--such being their condition and +profession, to think murder no fault, marriage of no use, nor any +man worthy to be esteemed valiant that did not glory in rapine and +oppression, as we should have thought it an unreasonable thing to +trouble them for any different point in religion, before any man could +perceive by their conversation that they made truly conscience of any +religion. The king thought these declarations sufficient to disperse +and to discredit all such untruths as these contemptible creatures, so +full of infidelity and ingratitude, should discharge against him and +his just and moderate proceedings, and which should procure unto them +no better usage than they would wish should be afforded to any such +pack of rebels born their subjects and bound unto them in so many and +so great obligations.' + +Such was the case of the English Government presented to the world +by the king and his ministers. Let us now hear what the personages +so heartily reviled by them had to say for themselves. The Rev. C.P. +Meehan has brought to light the categorical narratives, which the +earls dictated, and which had lain unpublished among the 'old historic +rolls,' in the Public Record Office, London. These documents are of +great historic interest, as are many other state-papers now first +published in his valuable work.[1] O'Neill's defence is headed, +'Articles Exhibited by the Earl of Tyrone to the King's Most Excellent +Majesty, declaring certain Causes of Discontent offered Him, by which +he took occasion to Depart His Country.' The statement is divided +into twenty items, of which the following is the substance: It was +proclaimed by public authority in his manor of Dungannon, that none +should hear mass upon pain of losing his goods and imprisonment, and +that no ecclesiastical person should enjoy any cure or dignity without +swearing the oath of supremacy and embracing the contrary religion, +and those who refused so to do were actually deprived of their +benefices and dignities, in proof of which the earl referred to the +lord deputy's answer to his own petition, and to the Lord Primate of +Ireland, who put the persecuting decree into execution. The Earl +of Devon, then lord-lieutenant, had taken from him the lands of his +ancestors called the Fews, in Armagh, and given them to other persons. +He was deprived of the annual tribute of sixty cows from Sir Cahir +O'Dogherty's country called Inishowen, which tribute had never been +brought into question till James's reign. The same lord-lieutenant had +taken from him the fishings of the Bann, which always belonged to his +ancestors, and which he was forced to purchase again. Portions of his +territory had been taken 'under colour of church-lands, a thing never +in any man's memory heard of before.' One Robert Leicester an attorney +had got some more of the earl's land, which he transferred to Captain +Leigh. 'So as any captain or clerk had wanted means, and had no other +means or device to live, might bring the earl in trouble for some part +or parcel of his living, falsely inventing the same, to be concealed +or church-land.' The Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop of Derry +and Clogher claimed the best part of the earl's whole estate, as +appertaining to their bishoprics, 'which was never moved by any other +predecessors before, other than that they had some _chiefry_ due to +them, in most part of all his living, and would now have the whole +land to themselves as their domain lands, not content with the benefit +of their ancient registers, which the earl always offered, and +was willing to give without further question. O'Cahan, 'one of the +chiefest and principalest of the earl's tenants, was set upon by +certain of his majesty's privy council, as also by his highness's +counsel-at-law, to withdraw himself and the lands called +_Iraght-I-Cahan_ from the earl, being a great substance of his +living;' and this although O'Cahan had no right to the property except +as his _tenant at will_, yielding and paying all such rents, dues, +and reservations as the other tenants did. He complained that at +the council table in Dublin it was determined to take two-thirds of +O'Cahan's country from him; and he perceived by what Sir John Davis +said, that they had determined to take the other third also. They +further made claim in his majesty's behalf to four other parcels of +the earl's land, which he named, being the substance of all that was +left, and began their suit for the same in the court of exchequer. +In fine he felt that he could not assure himself of anything by the +letters patent he had from the king. Whenever he had recourse to law +his proceedings were frustrated by the government; so that he could +not get the benefit of his majesty's laws, or the possession of his +lands; 'and yet any man, of what degree soever, obtained the extremity +of the law with favour against him, in any suit.' Although the king +had allowed him to be lieutenant of his country, yet he had no more +command there than his boy; the worst man that belonged to the sheriff +could command more than he, and that even in the earl's own house. If +they wanted to arrest any one in the house they would not wait till +he came out, but burst open the doors, and 'never do the earl so much +honour in any respect as once to acquaint him therewith, or to send to +himself for the party, though he had been within the house when they +would attempt these things; and if any of the earl's officers would +by his direction order or execute any matter betwixt his own tenants, +with their own mutual consent, they would be driven not only to +restore the same again, but also be first amerced by the sheriff, and +after indicated as felons, and so brought to trial for their lives +for the same; so as the earl in the end could scarce get any of his +servants that would undertake to levy his rents.' According to law the +sheriff should be a resident in the county, have property there, and +be elected by the nobility and chief gentlemen belonging to it; but +the law was set aside by the lord deputy, who appointed as sheriffs +for the counties Tyrone and Armagh Captain Edmund Leigh and one +Marmaduke Whitechurch, dwelling in the county of Louth, both being +retainers, and very dear friends to the Knight-marshal Bagenal, who +was the only man that urged the earl to his last troubles. Of all +these things 'the earl did eftsoons complain to the lord deputy, +and could get no redress, but did rather fare the worse for his +complaints, in respect they were so little regarded.' + +[Footnote 1: Page 192.] + +The earl understanding that earnest suit had been made to his majesty +for the presidentship of Ulster, made bold to write to the king, +humbly beseeching him not to grant any such office to any person over +himself, 'suspecting it would be his overthrow, as by plain experience +he knew the like office to be the utter overthrow of others of his +rank in other provinces within the realm of Ireland.' He also wrote +to the Earl of Salisbury, who replied that the earl was not to tie his +majesty to place or displace officers at his (the earl's) pleasure in +any of his majesty's kingdoms. This was not the earl's meaning, but it +indicated to him pretty plainly that he had no favour to expect from +that quarter. The office was intended for Sir Arthur Chichester, and +he much feared that it would be used for his destruction without +his majesty's privity. Therefore, seeing himself envied by those who +should be his protectors, considering the misery sustained by +others through the oppression of the like government, he resolved to +sacrifice all rather than live under that yoke. + +The next item is very characteristic. The earl's nephew Brian M'Art +happened to be in the house of Turlough M'Henry, having two men in his +company. Being in a merry humour, some dispute arose between him and +a kinsman of his own, who 'gave the earl's nephew a blow of a club +on the head, and tumbled him to the ground; whereupon, one of his men +standing by and seeing his master down, did step up with the fellow +and gave him some three or four stabs of a knife, having no other +weapon, and the master himself, as it was said, gave him another, +through which means the man came to his death. Thereupon, the earl's +nephew and his two men were taken and kept in prison till the next +sessions holden in the county Armagh, where his men were tried by a +jury of four innocent and mere ignorant people, having little or no +substance, most of them being bare soldiers and not fit, as well by +the institution of law in matters of that kind as also through their +own insufficiency, to be permitted or elected to the like charge; +and the rest foster-brethren, followers, and very dear friends to the +party slain, that would not spare to spend their lives and goods to +revenge his death. Yet all that notwithstanding were they allowed, +and the trial of these two gentlemen committed to them, through which +means, and the vigorous threatening and earnest enticements of the +judges, they most shamefully condemned to die, and the jury in a +manner forced to find the matter murder in each of them, and that, +not so much for their own offences, as thinking to make it an evidence +against the master, who was in prison in the Castle of Dublin, +attending to be tried the last Michaelmas term, whose death, were it +right or wrong, was much desired by the lord deputy. + +Again, the earl had given his daughter in marriage to O'Cahan with +a portion of goods. After they had lived together for eight years, +O'Cahan was induced to withdraw himself from the earl, and at the same +time, by the procurement of his setters on, he turned off the earl's +daughter, kept her fortune to himself, and married another. The +father appealed to the lord deputy for justice in vain. He then took +proceedings against O'Cahan, at the assizes in Dungannon. But the +defendant produced a warrant from the lord deputy, forbidding the +judges to entertain the question, as it was one for the Lord Bishop of +Derry. The Bishop of Derry, however, was the chief instigator of the +divorce, and therefore no indifferent judge in the case. Thus the +earl's cause was frustrated, and he could get no manner of justice +therein, no more than he obtained in many other weighty matters that +concerned him. The next complaint is about outrages committed by +one Henry Oge O'Neill, one Henry M'Felemey and others, who at the +instigation of the lord deputy, 'farther to trouble the earl,' went +out as a wood-kerne to rob and spoil the earl and his nephew, and +their tenants. They committed many murders, burnings, and other +mischievous acts, and were always maintained and manifestly relieved +amongst the deputy's tenants and their friends in Clandeboye, to whom +they openly sold the spoils. They went on so for the space of two +years, and the earl could get no justice, till at length they murdered +one of the deputy's own tenants. Then he saw them prosecuted, and the +result was, that the earl cut them all off within a quarter of a year +after. But the lord deputy was not at all pleased with this. Therefore +he picked up 'a poor rascally knave' and brought him to Dublin, where +he persuaded him to accuse above threescore of the earl's tenants of +relieving rebels with meat, although it was taken from them by force. +For the rebels killed their cattle in the fields, and left them dead +there, not being able to carry them away; burnt their houses, +took what they could of their household stuff, killed and mangled +themselves. 'Yet were they, upon report of that poor knave, who was +himself foremost in doing these mischiefs, all taken and brought +to their trial by law, where they were, through their innocency, +acquitted, to their no small cost; so as betwixt the professed enemy, +and the private envy of our governors, seeking thereby to advance +themselves, there was no way left for the poor subject to live.' + +One Joice Geverard, a Dutchman, belonging to the deputy, was taken +prisoner on his way from Carrickfergus to Toome, and he was compelled +to pay to his captors a ransom of 30 l. For this the lord deputy +assessed 60 l. on the county, and appointed one-half of it to be taken +from O'Neil's tenants, being of another county, and at least twelve +miles distant from the scene of the outrage, perpetrated by a +wood-kerne, 'and themselves being daily killed and spoiled by the said +wood-kerne, and never no redress had to them.' Several outrages and +murders perpetrated by the soldiers are enumerated; but they were such +as might have been expected in a state bordering on civil war, which +was then the condition of the province. If, however, Tyrone is to be +believed, the rulers themselves set the example of disorder. Sir +Henry Folliott, governor of Ballyshannon, in the second year of his +majesty's reign, came with force of arms, and drove away 200 cows from +the earl's tenants, 'and killed a good gentleman, with many other poor +men, women, and children; and besides that, there died of them above +100 persons with very famine, for want of their goods; whereof the +earl never had redress, although the said Sir Henry could show no +reasonable cause for doing the same.' + +Finally the earl saw that the lord deputy was very earnest to +aggravate and search out matters against him, touching the staining +of his honour and dignity, scheming to come upon him with some forged +treason, and thereby to bereave him of both his life and living. The +better to compass this he placed his 'whispering companion,' Captain +Leigh, as sheriff in the county, 'so as to be lurking after the earl, +to spy if he might have any hole in his coat.' Seeing then that the +lord deputy, who should be indifferent, not only to him but to +the whole realm, having the rod in his own power, did seek his +destruction, he esteemed it a strife against the stream for him to +seek to live secure in that kingdom, and therefore of both evils +he did choose the least, and thought it better rather to forego +his country and lands, till he had further known his majesty's +pleasure--to make an honourable escape with his life and liberty only, +than by staying with dishonour and indignation to lose both life, +liberty, and country, which much in very deed he feared. Indeed the +many abuses 'offered' him by Sir John Davis, 'a man more fit to be a +stage player than a counsel,' and other inferior officers, might be +sufficient causes to provoke any human creature, not only to forego +a country, were it ever so dear to him, but also the whole world, to +eschew the like government. And thus he concludes his appeal to +his 'most dread sovereign:' 'And so referring himself, and the due +consideration of these, and all other his causes, to your majesty's +most royal and princely censure, as his only protector and defender, +against all his adversaries, he most humbly taketh his leave, and will +always, as in bounden duty, pray.' + +The Earl of Tyrconnel's statement contains no less than forty-four +items under the following heading: 'A note, or brief collection of +the several exactions, wrongs, and grievances, as well spiritual +as temporal, wherewith the Earl of Tyrconnel particularly doth find +himself grieved and abused by the king's law ministers in Ireland, +from the first year of his majesty's reign until this present year of +1607: to be presented to the king's most excellent majesty.' + +_Imprimis_, all the priests and religious persons dwelling within +the said earl's territories were daily pursued and persecuted by his +majesty's officers. Sir Arthur Chichester told him, in the presence of +divers noblemen and gentlemen, that he must resolve to go to church, +or he would be forced to go. This was contrary to the toleration which +had been till then enjoyed, and he resolved rather to abandon lands +and living, yea, all the kingdoms of the earth, with the loss of his +life, than to be forced utterly against his conscience to any such +practice. + +When Sir George Carew was lord deputy, Captain Nicholas Pynnar +and Captain Basil Brook, officers of the king's forces at Lifford, +plundered the earl's tenants there, taking from them 150 cows, besides +as many sheep and swine as they pleased. Not satisfied with this +spoil, they most tyrannically stripped 100 persons of all their +apparel. These outrages the earl complained of 'in humble wise' to the +lord deputy, and could find no remedy; for the same year the garrisons +of Lough Foyle, and Ballyshannon took from the earl's tenants 400 cows +for the victualling of the soldiers; and although the English council +wrote to the lord deputy, requiring him to pay for the cattle in +English money, the payment was never made. When, in pursuance of a +promise made to him by the lord deputy, he appeared before the king, +to get new letters patent of his territories, &c., his property, in +Sligo, Tyrawly, Moylurg, Dartry, Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's country, +and all Sir Nial O'Donel's lands, were excepted and kept from him, +together with the castle of Ballyshannon and 1,000 acres of land, and +the whole salmon-fishing of the river Erne, worth 800 l. a year, 'the +same castle being one of the earl's chieftest mansion houses.' They +also took from him 1,000 acres of his best land, and joined it to +the garrison of Lifford for the king's use, without any compensation. +There were seven sheriffs sent into Tyrconnel, by each of which there +was taken out of every cow and plough-horse 4 d., and as much out of +every colt and calf twice a year, and half-a-crown a quarter of every +shoemaker, carpenter, smith, and weaver in the whole country, and +eight pence a year for every married couple.' + +Sir Nial O'Donel was committed to prison by Tyrconnel, for usurping +the title of O'Donel and taking his herds and tenants. 'He broke loose +from prison and killed some of his Majesty's subjects. For this the +earl prosecuted him under a special warrant from the lord deputy; +but notwithstanding all this, Carew gave warrants to Captains Pynnar, +Brook, and Bingley, to make reprisals upon the earl's tenants for the +pretender's use. Accordingly three English companies joining with nine +score of Sir Nial's men, seized and carried away 500 cows, 60 mares, +30 plough-horses, 13 horses, besides food and drink to support the +assailants for six weeks. They were guilty of many other extortions, +the country being extremely poor after the wars, and 17 of the earl's +tenants were hindered from ploughing that season. A certain horse-boy, +who was sentenced to be hanged for killing one Cusack, was promised +his life by Sir George Carew, if he accused Tyrconnel as having +employed him to commit the murder. The boy did make the accusation, +which served no purpose 'but to accelerate his hanging.' Thus +betrayed, he declared at the gallows, and in the presence of 400 +persons, the sheriff of the county, and the portreve of Trim, he +retracted the false confession. A similar attempt was made with an +Englishman, who was kept a close prisoner without food, drink, or +light, in order to get him to accuse the earl of Cusack's murder. +All such, with many other of the said Carew's cruel and tyrannical +proceedings, the earl showed to the council in England, which promised +to give satisfaction by punishing the said Carew, who at his arrival +in England did rather obtain greater favours than any reprehension or +check of his doings, so as the earl was constrained to take _patience_ +for a full satisfaction of his wrongs. + +Sir Henry Docwra, governor of Derry, levied 100 l. off Tyrconnel's +tenants for the building of a church in that city, but the money was +applied by Sir Henry to his own use. Carew ordered the troops under +Sir H. Docwra, Sir H. Folliott, Sir Ralph Constable, Sir Thomas +Roper, and Captain Doddington, to be quartered for three months upon +Tyrconnel's people, 'where they committed many rapes, and used many +extortions, which the earl showed, and could neither get payment +for their victuals nor obtain that they should be punished for their +sundry rapes and extortions.' Indeed there was never a garrison in +Tyrconnel that did not send at their pleasure private soldiers into +the country to fetch, now three beeves, now four, as often as they +liked, until they had taken all; and when the earl complained, +Carew seemed rather to flout him than any way to right him. Sir H. +Folliott's company on one occasion took from his tenants thirty-eight +plough-horses, which were never restored or paid for; at another +time they took twenty-one, and again fourteen. This being done in the +spring of the year the tenants were hindered from ploughing as before. +During a whole year Folliott took for the use of his own house, +regularly every month, six beeves and six muttons, without any manner +of payment. Captain Doddington and Captain Cole made free with the +people's property in the same manner. + +'All these injuries he laid in a very humble manner before the lord +deputy, but instead of obtaining redress he was dismissed by him in a +scoffing manner, and even a lawyer whom he employed was threatened by +Carew in the following terms:--that he and his posterity should smart +for his doings until the seventh generation; so that all the earl's +business was ever since left at random, and no lawyer dared plead in +his cause.' + +Tyrconnel killed some rebels, and captured their chief, whom his men +carried to Sir H. Folliott to be executed. Sir Henry offered to spare +his life if he could accuse the earl of any crime that might work +his overthrow. He could not, and he was hanged. In order to settle +a dispute between the earl and Sir Nial, the English _protege_ and +pretender to the chieftainship, twelve tenants of each were summoned +to be examined by the king's officers in the neighbourhood. 'The +earl's men were not examined, but locked up in a room; and the +vice-governor, upon the false deposition of Sir Nial's men, directed +warrants, and sent soldiers to the number of 300, to bring all the +earl's tenants unto Sir Nial, to the number of 340 persons, who paid +half-a-crown a piece, and 12 d. for every cow and garron, as a fee +unto the captains, whereby they lost their ploughing for the space of +twenty-eight days, the soldiers being in the country all the while. +One Captain Henry Vaughan, being sheriff in the year 1605, got a +warrant to levy 150 l. to build a sessions house. He built the house +of timber and wattles. It was not worth 10_l_, and it fell in three +months. Nevertheless he levied every penny of the money, and the +people had to meet a similar demand the next year, to build another +house. It was a rule with the governors of the local garrisons to +offer his life to every convict about to be executed, and also a large +reward, if he could accuse the earl of some detestable crime. No less +than twenty-seven persons hanged in Connaught and Tyrone were offered +pardon on this condition. He was at the same sessions called to the +bar for hanging some wood-kerne, although he had authority from the +king to execute martial law. Shortly after, by the lord deputy's +orders, the horse and foot soldiers under Docwra and Folliott were +cessed upon the country, where they for four months remained, and paid +nothing for their charges of horse-meat or man's meat.' In the year +1606 the lord deputy came to Ballyshannon, where, being at supper, he +demanded of the earl what right he had to the several territories he +claimed. He replied that his ancestors had possessed them for 1,300 +years, and that the duties, rents, and homages were duly paid during +that time. Whereupon the lord deputy said, 'the earl was unworthy to +have them, he should never enjoy them, the State was sorry to have +left so much in his possession, and he should take heed to himself +or else the deputy would make his pate ache.' The matters in dispute +between him and Sir Nial being referred on that occasion to the lord +deputy, both parties having submitted their papers for examination, +every case was decided against Tyrconnel, all his challenges +frustrated, 300 l. damages imposed, and his papers burned; while Sir +Nial's papers were privately given back to him. The result was that +at the next sessions Sir Nial had the benefit of all his papers, +his opponent having nothing to show to the contrary. The fishery +of Killybegs, worth 500 l. a season, had belonged to Tyrconnel's +ancestors for 1,300 years. But it was taken from him without +compensation, by Sir Henry Folliott and the Bishop of Derry, with +the ultimate sanction of the lord deputy, who confirmed the bishop in +possession 'both for that season and for all times ensuing.' Sir H. +Folliott on one occasion took away for his carriage the horses +that served the earl's house with fuel and wood for fire, 'and the +soldiers, scorning to feed the horses themselves, went into the earl's +house, and forcibly took out one of his boys to lead them, and ran +another in the thigh with a pike for refusing to go with him.' He +had a number of tenants, who held their lands 'by lease of years for +certain rents.' Yet the lord deputy sent warrants to them, directing +them to pay no rents, and requiring the Governor of Derry 'to raise +the country from time to time, and resist and hinder the earl from +taking up his rents.' + +To crown all, when Tyrconnel made a journey into the Pale to know the +reason why he was debarred from his rents, he lodged on his way in the +Abbey of Boyle. He had scarcely arrived there when the constable of +the town, accompanied by twenty soldiers, and all the churls of the +place, surrounded and set fire to the house where he lay, he having no +company within but his page and two other serving men. 'But it befell, +through the singular providence of Almighty God, whose fatherly care +he hath ever found vigilant over him, that he defended himself and his +house against them all the whole night long, they using on the other +side all their industry and might to fire it, and throwing in of +stones and staves in the earl's face, and running their pikes at him +and swords until they had wounded him, besides his other bruisings, +with stones and staves in six places; they menacing to kill him, +affirming that he was a traitor to the king, and that it was the best +service that could be rendered to his majesty to kill him. And that +all this is true, Sir Donough O'Conor, who was taken prisoner by the +same men, because he would not assist them in their _facinorous_ and +wicked design of killing the earl, will justify; but in the morning +the earl was rescued by the country folk, which conveyed him safely +out of the town. And when the earl complained, and showed his wounds +unto the lord deputy, he promised to hang the constable and ensign, +but afterwards did not once deign so much as to examine the matter +or call the delinquents to account, by reason whereof the earl doth +verily persuade himself--which his surmise was afterwards confirmed +in time, by the credible report of many--that some of the State +were sorry for his escape, but specially Sir Oliver Lambert, who had +purposely drawn the plot of the earl's ruin.' + +[Transcriber's note: marker for following footnote is missing in the +original] + +[Footnote: Meehan's Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, pp. 192-224.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. + + +Sir Toby Caulfield, accompanied by the sheriffs of Tyrone and +Tyrconnel, followed quickly the proclamation of the lord deputy to +the people of Ulster, and took possession of the houses, goods, and +chattels of the fugitive earls. Sir Toby was further empowered to act +as receiver over the estates, taking up the rents according to the +Irish usage until other arrangements could be made. His inventory +of the effects of O'Neill in the castle of Dungannon is a curious +document, showing that according to the ideas of those times in the +matter of furniture 'man wants but little here below.' The following +is a copy of the document taken from the memorandum roll of the +exchequer by the late Mr. Ferguson. It is headed, '_The Earl of +Tyrone's goods, viz._' The spelling is, however, modernised, and +ordinary figures substituted for Roman numerals. + + +_The Earl of Tyrone's Goods, viz._ + + L. s. d. + +Small steers, 9 at 10 s. 4 10 0 + +60 hogs, at 2 s. 6 d. 7 10 0 + +2 long tables, 10 s. +2 long forms, 5 s.; an old bedstead, 5 s. +An old trunk, 3 s.; a long stool, 12 d. +3 hogsheads of salt, 28 s. 6 d.; all valued at 4 12 6 + +A silk jacket 0 13 4 + +8 vessels of butter, containing 4-1/2 barrels 5 17 6 + +2 iron spikes 0 2 0 + +A powdering tub 0 0 6 + +2 old chests 0 4 0 + +A frying-pan and a dripping-pan 0 3 0 + +5 pewter dishes 0 5 0 + +A casket, 2 d.; a comb and comb case, 18 d. 0 1 8 + +2 dozen of trenchers and a basket 0 0 10 + +2 eighteen-bar ferris 0 6 0 + +A box and 2 drinking glasses 0 1 3 + +A trunk 1; a pair of red taffeta curtains 1; +other pair of green satin curtains 4 5 0 + +A brass kettle 0 8 6 + +'A payer of covyrons' 0 5 0 + +2 baskets with certain broken earthen dishes and +some waste spices 0 2 0 + +Half a pound of white and blue starch 0 0 4 + +A vessel with 11 gallons of vinegar 0 3 0 + +17 pewter dishes 0 15 0 + +3 glass bottles 0 1 6 + +2 stone jugs, whereof 1 broken 0 0 6 + +A little iron pot 0 1 6 + +A great spit 0 1 6 + +6 garrons at 80 s. apiece 9 0 0 + +19 stud mares, whereof [some] were claimed by +Nicholas Weston, which were restored to him by +warrant, 30 l. 9 s. being proved to be his own, +and so remaineth 17 0 0 + +With respect to rents, Sir Toby Caulfield left a memorandum, stating +that there was no certain portion of Tyrone's land let to any of his +tenants that paid him rent, and that such rents as he received were +paid to him partly in money and partly in victuals, as oats, oatmeal, +butter, hogs, and sheep. The money-rents were chargeable on all the +cows, milch or in calf, which grazed on his lands, at the rate of +a shilling a quarter each. The cows were to be numbered in May and +November by the earl's officers, and 'so the rents were taken up at +said rate for all the cows that were so numbered, except only the +heads and principal men of the _creaghts_, as they enabled them to +live better than the common multitude under them, whom they caused to +pay the said rents, which amounted to about twelve hundred sterling +Irish a year. + +'The butter and other provisions were usually paid by those styled +horsemen--O'Hagans, O'Quins, the O'Donnillys, O'Devolins, and others.' +These were a sort of middle men, and to some of them an allowance was +made by the Government. 'Thus for example, Loughlin O'Hagan, formerly +constable of the castle of Dungannon, received in lieu thereof a +portion of his brother Henry's goods, and Henry O'Hagan's wife and her +children had all her husband's goods, at the suit of her father Sir +G. O'Ghy O'Hanlon, who had made a surrender of all his lands to the +crown.' + +The cattle were to be all numbered over the whole territory in one +day, a duty which must have required a great number of men, and sharp +men too; for, if the owners were dishonestly inclined, and were +as active in that kind of work as the peasantry were during the +anti-tithe war in our own time, the cattle could be driven off into +the woods or on to the lands of a neighbouring lord. However, during +the three years that Caulfield was receiver, the rental amounted +to 12,000 l. a year, a remarkable fact considering the enormous +destruction of property that had taken place during the late wars, and +the value of money at that time. + +A similar process was adopted with regard to the property of O'Donel, +and guards were placed in all the castles of the two chiefs. In order +that their territories might pass into the king's possession by due +form of law, the attorney-general, Sir John Davis, was instructed to +draw up a bill of indictment for treason against the fugitive +earls and their adherents. With this bill he proceeded to Lifford, +accompanied by a number of commissioners, clerks, sheriffs, and a +strong detachment of horse and foot. At Lifford, the county town of +Donegal, a jury was empanelled for the trial of O'Donel, consisting +of twenty-three Irishmen and ten Englishmen. Of this jury Sir Cahir +O'Dogherty was foreman. He was the lord of Inishowen, having the +largest territories in the county next to the Earl of Tyrconnel. The +bill being read in English and Irish, evidence was given, wrote the +attorney-general, 'that their guilty consciences, and fear of losing +their heads, was the cause of their flight.' The jury, however, had +exactly the same sort of difficulty that troubled the juries in our +late Fenian trials about finding the accused guilty of compassing the +death of the sovereign. But Sir John laboured to remove their scruples +by explaining the legal technicality, and arguing that, 'whoso would +take the king's crown from his head would likewise, if he could, take +his head from his shoulders; and whoever would not suffer the king to +reign, if it lay in his power, would not suffer the king to live.' The +argument was successful with the jury. In all the conflicts between +the two races, whether on the field of battle or in the courts of law, +the work of England was zealously done by Celtic agents, who became +the eager accusers, the perfidious betrayers, and sometimes the +voluntary assassins of men of their own name, kindred, and tribe. + +The commissioners next sat at Strabane, a town within two or three +miles of Lifford, where a similar jury was empanelled for the county +Tyrone, to try O'Neill. One of the counts against him was that he had +treasonably taken upon him the name of O'Neill. In proof of this a +document was produced: 'O'Neill bids M'Tuin to pay 60 l.' It was also +alleged that he had committed a number of murders; but his victims, +it was alleged, were criminals ordered for execution in virtue of the +power of life and death with which he had been invested by the queen. +He was found guilty, however; and Henry Oge O'Neill, his kinsman, +who was foreman of the jury, was complimented for his civility and +loyalty, although he belonged to that class concerning which Sir John +afterwards wrote, 'It is as natural for an Irish lord to be a thief +as it is for the devil to be a liar, of whom it was written, he was a +liar and a murderer from the beginning.' + +True bills having been found by the grand juries, proceedings were +taken in the Court of King's Bench to have the fugitive earls and +their followers attainted of high treason. The names were:--'Hugh +earl of Tyrone, Rory earl of Tyrconnel, Caffar O'Donel, Cu Connaught +Maguire, Donel Oge O'Donel, Art Oge, Cormack O'Neill, Henry +O'Neill, Henry Hovenden, Henry O'Hagan, Moriarty O'Quinn, John Bath, +Christopher Plunket, John O'Punty O'Hagan, Hugh O'Galagher, Carragh +O'Galagher, John and Edmund M'Davitt, Maurie O'Multully, Donogh +O'Brien, M'Mahon, George Cashel, Teigue O'Keenen, and many other false +traitors, who, by the instigation of the devil, did conspire and plot +the destruction and death of the king, Sir Arthur Chichester, &c.; and +did also conspire to seize by force of arms the castles of Athlone, +Ballyshannon, Duncannon, co. Wexford, Lifford, co. Donegal, and with +that intent did sail away in a ship, to bring in an army composed of +foreigners to invade the kingdom of Ireland, to put the king to death, +and to dispose him from the style, title, power, and government of the +Imperial crown.' + +The lord deputy and his officers, able, energetic, farseeing men, +working together persistently for the accomplishment of a well-defined +purpose, were drawing the great net of English law closer and closer +around the heads of the Irish clans, who struggled gallantly and +wildly in its fatal meshes. The episode of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty is +a romance. On the death of Sir John O'Dogherty, the O'Donel, in +accordance with Irish custom, caused his brother Phelim Oge to be +inaugurated Prince of Inishowen, because Cahir, his son, was then +only thirteen years of age, too young to command the sept. But this +arrangement did not please his foster brothers, the M'Davitts, who +proposed to Sir Henry Docwra, governor of Derry, that their youthful +chief should be adopted as the queen's O'Dogherty; and on this +condition they promised that he and they would devote themselves to +her majesty's service. The terms were gladly accepted. Sir Cahir was +trained by Docwra in martial exercises, in the arts of civility, and +in English literature. He was an apt pupil. He grew up strong and +comely; and he so distinguished himself before he was sixteen years +of age in skirmishes with his father's allies, that Sir Henry wrote +of him in the following terms: 'The country was overgrown with ancient +oak and coppice. O'Dogherty was with me, alighted when I did, kept me +company in the greatest heat of the fight, behaved himself bravely, +and with a great deal of love and affection; so much so, that I +recommended him at my next meeting with the Lord Deputy Mountjoy, for +the honour of knighthood, which was accordingly conferred upon him.' +The young knight went to London, was well received at court, and +obtained a new grant of a large portion of the O'Dogherty's country. +He married a daughter of Lord Gormanstown, a catholic peer of the +Pale, distinguished for loyalty to the English throne, resided with +his bride at his Castle of Elagh, or at Burt, or Buncranna, keeping +princely state, not in the old Irish fashion, but in the manner of an +English nobleman of the period; hunting the red deer in his forest, +hawking, or fishing in the teeming waters of Lough Foyle, Lough +Swilly, and the Atlantic, which poured their treasures around the +promontory of which he was the lord. His intimate associates were +officers and favourites of the king. + +Docwra had given up the government of Derry and retired to England. He +was succeeded by Sir George Paulet, a man of violent temper. Sir Cahir +had sold 3,000 acres of land, which was to be planted with English; +and, in order to perfect the deed of sale, it was necessary to have +the document signed before the governor of Derry. It had been reported +to the lord deputy that Sir Cahir, not content with his position, +intended to leave the country, probably with the design of joining the +fugitive earls in an attempt to destroy the English power in +Ireland. He was therefore summoned before the lord deputy; and Lord +Gormanstown, Thomas Fitzwilliam of Merrion, and himself, were obliged +to give security that he should not quit Ireland without due notice +and express permission. This restraint had probably irritated his +hot impetuous spirit, and made it difficult for him to exercise due +self-control when he came in contact with the English governor of +Derry, with whom his relations were not improved by the suspicions now +attaching to his loyalty. Accordingly, while the legal forms of +the transfer were being gone through, the young chief made a remark +extremely offensive to Paulet, which was resented by a blow in the +face with his clenched fist. Instead of returning the blow, young +O'Dogherty hurried away to consult the M'Davitts, whose advice was +that the insult he received must be avenged by blood. The affair +having been immediately reported to the lord deputy, who apprehended +that mischief would come of it, he sent a peremptory summons to Sir +Cahir, requiring him to appear in Dublin, 'to free himself of certain +rumours and reports touching disloyal courses into which he had +entered, contrary to his allegiance to the king, and threatening the +overthrow of many of his majesty's subjects.' His two sureties were +also written to, and required to 'bring in his body.' But O'Dogherty +utterly disregarded the lord deputy's order. Taking counsel with Nial +Garve O'Donel, he resolved to seize Culmore Fort, Castle Doe, and +other strong places; and then march on Derry, and massacre the English +settlers in the market square. + +Towards the close of April, Sir Cahir invited Captain Harte, governor +of Culmore Castle, on the banks of the Foyle, about four miles from +Derry, with his wife and infant child, of which he was the godfather, +to dine with him at his Castle of Elagh. + +The entertainment was sumptuous, and the pleasures of the table +protracted to a late hour. After dinner the host took his guest into +a private apartment, and told him that the blow he had received from +Paulet demanded a bloody revenge. Harte remonstrated; O'Dogherty's +retainers rushed in, and, drawing their swords and skeines, declared +that they would kill his wife and child in his presence, unless he +delivered up the castle of Culmore. The governor was terrified, but +he refused to betray his trust. Sir Cahir, commanding the armed men to +retire, locked the chamber door, and kept his guest imprisoned +there for two hours, hoping that he would yield when he had time for +reflection. But finding him still inflexible, O'Dogherty grew furious, +and vented his rage in loud and angry words. Mrs. Harte, hearing the +altercation, and suspecting foul play, rushed into the room, and +found Sir Cahir enforcing his appeal with a naked sword pointed at her +husband's throat. She fell on the floor in a swoon. Lady O'Dogherty +ran to her assistance, raised her up, and assured her that she knew +nothing of her husband's rash design. The latter then thrust the whole +party down-stairs, giving orders to his men to seize Captain Harte. +Meantime, Lady Harte fell on her knees, imploring mercy, but the only +response was an oath that she and her husband and child should be +instantly butchered if Culmore were not surrendered. What followed +shall be related in the words of Father Meehan: 'Horrified by this +menace, she consented to accompany him and his men to the fort, where +they arrived about midnight. On giving the pass word the gate was +thrown open by the warder, whose suspicions were lulled when Lady +Harte told him that her husband had broken his arm and was then lying +in Sir Cahir's house. The parley was short, and the followers of +Sir Cahir, rushing in to the tower, fell on the sleeping garrison, +slaughtered them in their beds, and then made their way to an upper +apartment where Lady Harte's brother, recently come from England, +was fast asleep. Fearing that he might get a bloody blanket for his +shroud, Lady Harte followed them into the room, and implored the +young man to offer no resistance to the Irish, who broke open trunks, +presses and other furniture, and seized whatever valuables they could +clutch. Her thoughtfulness saved the lives of her children and +her brother; for as soon as Sir Cahir had armed his followers with +matchlocks and powder out of the magazine, he left a small detachment +to garrison Culmore, and then marched rapidly on Derry, where he +arrived about two o'clock in the morning. Totally unprepared for +such an irruption, the townsfolk were roused from their sleep by the +bagpipes and war-shout of the Clan O'Dogherty, who rushed into the +streets, and made their way to Paulet's house, where Sir Cahir, still +smarting under the indignity of the angry blow, satisfied his vow of +vengeance by causing that unhappy gentleman to be hacked to death with +the pikes and skeines of Owen O'Dogherty and others of his kindred. +After plundering the houses of the more opulent inhabitants, seizing +such arms as they could find, and reducing the young town to a heap +of ashes, Sir Cahir led his followers to the palace of Montgomery the +bishop, who fortunately for himself was then absent in Dublin. Not +finding him, they captured his wife, and sent her, under escort, to +Burt Castle, whither Lady O'Dogherty, her sister-in-law and infant +daughter, had gone without warders for their protection. It was on +this occasion that Phelim M'Davitt got into Montgomery's library and +set fire to it, thus destroying hundreds of valuable volumes, printed +and manuscript, a feat for which he is not censured--we are sorry to +have to acknowledge it--by Philip O'Sullivan in his account of +the fact. Elated by this successful raid, Sir Cahir called off his +followers and proceeded to beleaguer Lifford, where there was a small +garrison of English who could not be induced to surrender, although +suffering severely from want of provisions. Finding all his attempts +to reduce the place ineffectual, he sent for the small force he had +left in Culmore to join the main body of his partisans, and then +marched into M'Swyne Doe's country.' + +Meantime news of these atrocities reached Dublin, and the lord deputy +immediately sent a force of 3,000 men, commanded by Sir Richard +Wingfield, Sir Thomas Roper, and Sir Toby Caulfield, with instructions +to pursue the revolted Irish into their fastnesses and deal with them +summarily. He himself set out to act with the troops, and on reaching +Dundalk published a proclamation, in which he offered pardon to +all who laid down their arms, or would use them in killing their +associates. He took care, however, to except Phelim M'Davitt from all +hope of mercy, consigning him to be dealt with by a military tribunal. +The English force in the interval had made their way into O'Dogherty's +country, and coming before Culmore, found it abandoned by the Irish, +who, unable to carry off the heavy guns, took the precaution of +burying them in the sea. Burt Castle surrendered without a blow. +Wingfield immediately liberated the inmates, and sent Bishop +Montgomery's wife to her husband, and Lady O'Dogherty, her infant +daughter and sister-in-law, to Dublin Castle. As for Sir Cahir, +instead of going to Castle Doe, he resolved to cross the path of the +English on their march to that place, and coming up with them in the +vicinity of Kilmacrenan, he was shot dead by a soldier. The death of +the young chieftain spread panic among his followers, most of +whom flung away their arms, betook themselves to flight, and were +unmercifully cut down. Sir Cahir's head was immediately struck off and +sent to Dublin, where it was struck upon a pole at the east gate of +the city. + +O'Dogherty's country was now confiscated, and the lord deputy, +Chichester, was rewarded with the greatest portion of his lands. But +what was to be done with the people? In the first instance they were +driven from the rich lowlands along the borders of Lough Foyle and +Lough Swilly, and compelled to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses +which stretched to a vast extent from Moville westward along the +Atlantic coast. But could those 'idle kerne and swordsmen,' thus +punished with loss of lands and home for the crimes of their chief, +be safely trusted to remain anywhere in the neighbourhood of the new +English settlers? Sir John Davis and Sir Toby Caulfield thought of +a plan by which they could get rid of the danger. The illustrious +Gustavus Adolphus was then fighting the battles of Protestantism +against the house of Austria. In his gallant efforts to sustain the +cause of the Reformation every true Irish Protestant sympathised, and +none more than the members of the Irish Government. To what better +use, then, could the 'loose Irish kerne and swordsmen' of Donegal be +turned than to send them to fight in the army of the King of Sweden? +Accordingly 6,000 of the able-bodied peasantry of Inishown were +shipped off for this service. Sir Toby Caulfield, founder of the +house of Charlemont, was commissioned to muster the men and have them +transported to their destination, being paid for their keep in the +meantime. A portion of his account ran thus: 'For the dyett of 80 of +said soldiers for 16 daies, during which tyme they were kept in prison +in Dungannon till they were sent away, at iiiid le peece per diem; +allso for dyett of 72 of said men kept in prison at Armagh till they +were sent away to Swethen, at iiiid le peece per diem,' &c., &c. +Caulfield was well rewarded for these services; and Captain Sandford, +married to the niece of the first Earl of Charlemont, obtained a +large grant of land on the same score. This system of clearing out the +righting men among the Irish was continued till 1629, when the lord +deputy, Falkland, wrote that Sir George Hamilton, a papist, then +impressing soldiers in Tyrone and Antrim, was opposed by one +O'Cullinan, a priest, who was rash enough to advise the people to stay +at home and have nothing to do with the Danish wars. For this he was +arrested, committed to Dublin Castle, tortured and then hanged. + +With regard to the immediate followers of O'Dogherty in his insane +course, many of the most prominent leaders were tried by court-martial +and executed. Others were found guilty by ordinary course of law. +Among these was O'Hanlon, Sir Cahir's brother-in-law. Pie was hanged +at Armagh; and his youthful wife was found by a soldier, 'stripped of +her apparel, in a wood, where she perished of cold and hunger, being +lately before delivered of a child.' M'Davitt, the firebrand of the +rebellion, was convicted and executed at Derry. At Dungannon Shane, +Carragh O'Cahan was found guilty by 'a jury of his _kinsmen_' and +executed in the camp, his head being stuck upon the castle of that +place--the castle from which his brother was mainly instrumental in +driving its once potent lord into exile. At the same place a monk, who +was a chief adviser of the arch-rebel, saved his life and liberty by +tearing off his religious habit, and renouncing his allegiance to +the Pope. Father Meehan states that many of the clergy, secular and +regular, of Inishown might have saved their lives by taking the oath +of supremacy. It was a terrible time in Donegal. No day passed without +the killing and taking of some of the dispersed rebels, one betraying +another to get his own pardon, and the goods of the party betrayed, +according to a proviso in the deputy's proclamation. Among the +informers was a noble lady, the mother of Hugh Roe O'Donel and Rory +Earl of Tyronnel, who accused Nial Garve, her own son-in-law, of +complicity in O'Dogherty's revolt, for which she got a grant of some +hundreds of acres in the neighbourhood of Kilmacrenan. + +The insurgent leaders and the dangerous kerne having been effectually +cleared off in various ways, the whole territory of Inishown was +overrun by the king's troops. The lord deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, +with a numerous retinue, including the attorney-general, sheriffs, +lawyers, provosts-martial, engineers, and 'geographers,' made a grand +'progress,' and penetrated for the first time the region which was to +become the property of his family. It was a strange sight to the poor +Irish that were suffered to remain. 'As we passed through the glens +and forests,' wrote Sir John Davis, 'the wild inhabitants did as much +wonder to see the king's deputy as the ghosts in Virgil did to see +AEneas alive in hell.' In this exploring tour a thorough knowledge of +the country was for the first time obtained, and the attorney-general +could report that 'before Michaelmas he would be ready to present to +his majesty a perfect survey of six whole counties which he now hath +in actual possession in the province of Ulster, of greater extent of +land than any prince in Europe hath in his own hands to dispose of.' A +vast field for plantation! But Sir John Davis cautioned the Government +against the mistakes that caused the failure of former settlements, +saying, that if the number of the Scotch and English who were to come +to Ireland did not much exceed that of the natives, the latter would +quickly 'overgrow them, as weeds overgrow corn.' + +O'Cahan, who was charged with complicity in O'Dogherty's outbreak, or +with being at least a sympathiser, had been arrested, and was kept, +with Nial Garve, a close prisoner in Dublin Castle. An anonymous +pamphleteer celebrated the victories that had been achieved by the +lord deputy, giving to his work the title, 'The Overthrow of an Irish +Rebel,' having for its frontispiece a tower with portcullis, and the +O'Dogherty's head impaled in the central embrazure. The spirit of the +narrative may be inferred from the following passage: 'As for Tyrone +and Co., or Tyrconnel, they are already fled from their coverts, and I +hope they will never return; and for other false hearts, the chief of +note is O'Cahan, Sir Nial Garve, and his two brothers, with others of +their condition. They have holes provided for them in the castle of +Dublin, where I hope they are safe enough from breeding any cubs to +disquiet and prey upon the flock of honest subjects.' + +O'Cahan and his companion, however, tried to get out of the hole, +although the lord deputy kept twenty men every night to guard the +castle, in addition to the ordinary ward, and two or three of the +guards lay in the same rooms with the prisoners. Their horses had +arrived in town, and all things were in readiness. But their escape +was hindered by the fact that Shane O'Carolan, who had been acquitted +of three indictments, cast himself out of a window at the top of the +castle by the help of his mantle, which broke before he was half way +down; and though he was presently discovered, yet he escaped about +supper time. 'Surely,' exclaimed the lord deputy, 'these men do go +beyond all nations in the world for desperate escapes!' The prisoners +were subsequently conveyed to the Tower, where they remained many +years closely confined, and where they ended their days. Sir Allen +Apsley, in 1623, made a report of the prisoners then in his custody, +in which he said, 'There is here Sir Nial Garve O'Donel, a man that +was a good subject during the late queen's time, and did as great +service to the state as any man of his nation. He has been a prisoner +here about thirteen years. His offence is known specially to the Lord +Chichester. Naghtan, his son, was taken from Oxford and committed with +his father. I never heard any offence he did.' + +While O'Cahan was in prison, commissioners sat in his mansion at +Limavaddy, including the Primate Usher, Bishop Montgomery of Derry, +and Sir John Davis. They decided that by the statute of 11 Elizabeth, +which it was supposed had been cancelled by the king's pardon, all his +territory had been granted to the Earl of Tyrone, and forfeited by +his flight. It was, therefore, confiscated. Although sundry royal and +viceregal proclamations had assured the tenants that they would not +be disturbed in their possessions, on account of the offences of their +chiefs, it was now declared that all O'Cahan's country belonged to +the crown, and that neither he nor those who lived under him had any +estate whatever in the lands. Certain portions of the territory were +set apart for the Church, and handed over to Bishop Montgomery. 'Of +all the fair territory which once was his, Donald Balagh had not now +as much as would afford him a last resting-place near the sculptured +tomb of Cooey-na-gall. O'Cahan got no sympathy, and he deserved +none; for he might have foreseen that the Government to which he sold +himself would cast him off as an outworn tool, when he could no +longer subserve their wicked purposes.'[1] 'Thus were the O'Cahans +dispossessed by the colonists of Derry, to whom their broad lands and +teeming rivers were passed, _mayhap_ for ever. Towards the close of +the Cromwellian war in Ireland, the Duchess of Buckingham, passing +through Limavaddy, visited its ancient castle, then sadly dilapidated, +and, entering one of the apartments, saw an aged woman wrapped in a +blanket, and crouching over a peat fire, which filled the room with +reeking smoke. After gazing at this pitiful spectacle, the duchess +asked the miserable individual her name; when the latter, rising and +drawing herself up to her full height, replied, "I am the wife of +the O'Cahan."'[Father Meehan dedicates his valuable work to the lord +chancellor of Ireland, the Right Hon. Thomas O'Hagan,--the first +Catholic chancellor since the Revolution. Descended from the O'Hagans, +who were hereditary justiciaries and secretaries to the O'Neill, he +is, by universal consent, one of the ablest and most accomplished +judges that ever adorned the Irish Bench. His ancestors were involved +in the fortunes of Tyrone. How strange that the representative of the +judicial and literary clan of ancient Ulster should now be the head of +the Irish magistracy!] + +[Footnote 1: Meehan, p.317.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER. + + +In the account which the lord deputy gave of the flight of Tyrone +and Tyrconnel, he referred to the mistake that had been committed in +making these men proprietary lords of so large a territory, '_without +regard to the poor freeholders' rights, or of his majesty's service, +or the commonwealths, that are so much interested in the honest +liberty of that sort of men_.' And he considered it a providential +circumstance that the king had now an opportunity of repairing that +error, and of relieving the natives from the exactions and tyranny of +their former barbarous lords. How far this change was a benefit to +the honest freeholders and the labouring classes may be seen from the +reports of Sir Toby Caulfield to the lord deputy, as to his dealings +with those people. He complains of his ill success in the prosecution +of the wood-kerne. He had done his best, and all had turned to +nothing. When the news of the plantation came, he had no hope at all, +for the people then said it would be many of their cases to become +wood-kerne themselves out of necessity, 'no other means being left for +them to keep being in this world than to live as long as they could +by scrambling.' They hoped, however, that so much of the summer being +spent before the commissioners came down, 'so great cruelty would not +be showed as to remove them upon the edge of winter from their +houses, and in the very season when they were employed in making their +harvest. They held discourse among themselves, that if this course had +been taken with them in war time, it had had some colour of justice; +but being pardoned, and their land given them, and they having lived +under law ever since, and being ready to submit themselves to the +mercy of the law, for any offence they can be charged withal, since +their pardoning, they conclude it to be the greatest cruelty that was +ever inflicted upon any people.' + +It is no wonder that Sir Toby was obliged to add to his report this +assurance: 'There is not a more discontented people in Christendom.' +It is difficult to conceive how any people in Christendom could be +contented, treated as they were, according to this account, which the +officer of the Government did not deny; for surely no people, in any +Christian country, were ever the victims of such flagrant injustice, +inflicted by a Government which promised to relieve them from the +cruel exactions of their barbarous chiefs--a Government, too, solemnly +pledged to protect them in the unmolested enjoyment of their houses +and lands. How little this policy tended to strengthen the Government +appears from a confession made about the same time by the lord deputy +himself. He wrote: 'The hearts of the Irish are against us: we have +only a handful of men in entertainment so ill paid, that everyone is +out of heart, and our resources so discredited, by borrowing and +not repaying, that we cannot take up 1,000 l. in twenty days, if the +safety of the kingdom depended upon it. The Irish are hopeful of the +return of the fugitives, or invasion from foreign parts.' + +But the safety of England, do what she might in the way of oppression, +lay then, as it lay often since, and ever will lie, in the tendency +to division, and the instability of the Celtic character. The Rev. Mr. +Meehan, with all his zeal for Irish nationality, admits this failing +of the people with his usual candour. He says: 'These traits, so +peculiar to the Celtic character, have been justly stigmatised by a +friendly and observant Italian (the Nuncio Rinuccini) who, some thirty +years after the period of which we are writing, tells us that the +native Irish were behind the rest of Europe in the knowledge of +those things that tended to their material improvement--indifferent +agriculturists, living from hand to mouth--caring more for the sword +than the plough--good Catholics, though by nature barbarous--and +placing their hopes of deliverance from English rule on foreign +intervention. For this they were constantly straining their eyes +towards France or Spain, and, no matter whence the ally came, were +ever ready to rise in revolt. One virtue, however--intensest love of +country--more or less redeemed these vices, for so they deserve to be +called; but to establish anything like strict military discipline +or organisation among themselves, it must be avowed they had no +aptitude.' This, says Mr. Meehan, 'to some extent, will account for +the apathy of the Northern Catholics, while the undertakers were +carrying on the gigantic eviction known as the plantation of Ulster; +for, since Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's rebellion till 1615, there was only +one attempt to resist the intruders, an abortive raid on the city of +Derry, for which the meagre annals of that year tell us, six of the +Earl of Tyrone's nearest kinsmen were put to death. Withal the people +of Ulster were full of hope that O'Neill would return with forces to +evict the evicters, but the farther they advanced into this agreeable +perspective, the more rapidly did its charms disappear. + +The proclamations against wood-kerne present a curious picture of +these 'plantation' times. The lord deputy, in council, understood +that 'many idle kerne, loose and masterless men, and other disordered +persons, did range up and down in sundry parts of this kingdom, being +armed with swords, targets, pikes, shot, head-pieces, horsemen's +staves, and other warlike weapons, to the great terror of his +majesty's well-disposed subjects, upon whom they had committed many +extortions, murders, robberies, and other outrages. Hence divers +proclamations had been published in his majesty's name, commanding +that no person of what condition soever, travelling on horseback, +should presume to carry more arms than one sword or rapier and dagger; +and that no person travelling on foot should carry any weapons at all. +Twenty days were allowed for giving the arms to the proper officers. +If the proclamation was not obeyed within that time, the arms were +to be seized for the king's use, and the bearers of them committed to +prison. + +On July 21, 1609, a commission was issued by the crown to make +inquisition concerning the forfeited lands in Ulster after the flight +of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. The commissioners included the +Lord-Deputy Chichester, the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, Sir John +Davis, attorney-general; Sir William Parsons, surveyor-general, and +several other public functionaries. This work done, King James, acting +on the advice of his prime minister, the Earl of Salisbury, took +measures for the plantation of Ulster, a project earnestly recommended +by statesmen connected with Ireland, and for which the flight of +O'Neill and O'Donel furnished the desired opportunity. The city of +London was thought to be the best quarter to look to for funds to +carry on the plantation. Accordingly, Lord Salisbury had a conference +with the lord mayor, Humphry Weld, Sir John Jolles, and Sir W. +Cockaine, who were well acquainted with Irish affairs. The result was +the publication of 'Motives and Reasons to induce the City of London +to undertake the Plantation in the North of Ireland.' + +The inducements were of the most tempting character. It is customary +to speak of Ulster, before the plantation, as something like a desert, +out of which the planters created an Eden. But the picture presented +to the Londoners was more like the land which the Israelitish spies +found beyond Jordan--a land flowing with milk and honey. Among +'the land commodities which the North of Ireland produceth' were +these:--the country was well watered generally by abundance of +springs, brooks, and rivers. There was plenty of fuel--either wood, +or 'good and wholesome turf.' The land yielded 'store of all necessary +for man's sustenance, in such a measure as may not only maintain +itself, but also furnish the city of London yearly with manifold +provision, especially for their fleets--namely, with beef, pork, fish, +rye, bere, peas, and beans.' It was not only fit for all sorts of +husbandry, but it excelled for the breeding of mares and the increase +of cattle; whence the Londoners might expect 'plenty of butter, +cheese, hides, and tallow,' while English sheep would breed abundantly +there. It was also held to be good in many places for madder, hops, +and woad. It afforded 'fells of all sorts in great quantity, red deer, +foxes, sheep, lambs, rabbits, martins and squirrels,' &c. Hemp and +flax grew more naturally there than elsewhere, which, being well +regarded, would give provision for canvas, cables, cording, besides +thread, linen cloth, and all stuffs made of linen yarn, 'which are +more fine and plentiful there than in all the rest of the kingdom.' +Then there were the best materials of all sorts for building, with +'the goodliest and largest timber, that might compare with any in his +majesty's dominions;' and, moreover, the country was 'very plentiful +in honey and wax.' + +The sea and the rivers vied with the land in the richness of their +produce. 'The sea fishing of that coast was very plentiful of all +manner of usual sea fish--there being yearly, after Michaelmas, for +taking of herrings, above seven or eight score sail of his majesty's +subjects and strangers for lading, besides an infinite number of boats +for fishing and killing.' + +The corporation were willing to undertake the work of plantation if +the account given of its advantages should prove to be correct. +With the caution of men of business, they wished to put the glowing +representations of the Government to the test of an investigation by +agents of their own. So they sent over 'four wise, grave, and discreet +citizens, to view the situation proposed for the new colony.' The men +selected were John Broad, goldsmith; Robert Treswell, painter-stainer; +John Rowley, draper; and John Munns, mercer. On their return from +their Irish mission they presented a report to the Court of Common +Council, which was openly read. The report was favourable. A company +was to be formed in London for conducting the plantation. Corporations +were to be founded in Derry and Coleraine, everything concerning +the colony to be managed and performed in Ireland by the advice and +direction of the company in London. It was agreed between the Privy +Council and the City that the sum of 20,000 l. should be levied, +15,000 l. for the intended plantation, and 5,000 l. 'for the clearing +of private men's interest in the things demanded.' That 200 houses +should be built in Derry, and room left for 300 more. 'That 4,000 +acres lying on the Derry side, next adjacent to the wherry, should be +laid thereunto--bog and barren mountain to be no part thereof, but +to go as waste for the city; the same to be done by indifferent +commissioners.' + +The royal charters and letters clearly set forth the objects of the +plantation. James I., in the preamble of the charter to the town of +Coleraine, thus described his intentions in disposing of the forfeited +lands to English undertakers: 'Whereas there can be nothing more +worthy of a king to perform than to establish the true religion of +Christ among men hitherto depraved and almost lost in superstition; +to improve and cultivate by art and industry countries and lands +uncultivated and almost desert, and not only to stock them with +honest citizens and inhabitants, but also to strengthen them with +good institutions and ordinances, whereby they might be more safely +defended not only from the corruption of their morals but from their +intestine and domestic plots and conspiracies, and also from foreign +violence: And whereas the province of Ulster in our realm of Ireland, +for many years past, hath grossly erred from the true religion of +Christ and divine grace, and hath abounded with superstition, insomuch +that for a long time it hath not only been harassed, torn, and wasted +by private and domestic broils but also by foreign arms: We therefore, +deeply and heartily commiserating the wretched state of the said +province, have esteemed it to be a work worthy of a Christian prince, +and of our royal office, to stir up and recal the same province from +superstition, rebellion, calamity, and poverty, which heretofore +have horribly raged therein, to religion, obedience, strength, and +prosperity. And whereas our beloved and faithful subjects the mayor +and commonalty and citizens of our city of London, burning with a +flagrant zeal to promote such our pious intention in this behalf, have +undertaken a considerable part of the said plantation in Ulster, and +are making progress therein'. + +King James, having heard very unsatisfactory reports of the progress +of the plantation, wrote a letter to the lord deputy in 1612, +strongly complaining of the neglect of the 'Londoners' to fulfil the +obligations they had voluntarily undertaken. He had made 'liberal +donations of great proportions of those lands to divers British +undertakers and servitors, with favourable tenures and reservations +for their better encouragement; but hitherto neither the safety of +that country, nor the planting of religion and civility among those +rude and barbarous people, which were the principal motives of that +project, and which he expected as the only fruits and returns of +his bounty, had been as yet any whit materially effected. He was not +ignorant how much the real accomplishment of the plantation concerned +the future peace and safety of that kingdom; but if there was no +reason of state to press it forward, he would yet pursue and effect +that object with the same earnestness, 'merely for the goodness and +morality of it; esteeming the settling of religion, the introducing +of civility, order, and government among a barbarous and unsubjected +people, to be acts of piety and glory, and worthy also a Christian +prince to endeavour.' + +The king therefore ordered that there should be a strict inquiry into +the work done, because 'the Londoners pretended the expense of great +sums of money in that service, and yet the outward appearance of it +was very small.' The lord deputy was solemnly charged to give him +a faithful account without care or fear to displease any of his +subjects, English or Scottish, of what quality soever.' + +Sir Josias Bodley was the commissioner appointed for this purpose. He +reported very unfavourably, in consequence of which his majesty +called upon the Irish society and the several companies to give him an +account of their stewardship. He also wrote again to the lord deputy +in 1615. The language the king uses is remarkable, as proving the +_trusteeship_ of the companies. Referring to Bodley's report he +said:-- + +'We have examined, viewed, and reviewed, with our own eye, every part +thereof, and find greatly to our discontentment the slow progression +of that plantation; some few only of our British undertakers, +servitors, and natives having as yet proceeded effectually by the +accomplishment of such things in all points as are required of them +by the articles of the plantation; the rest, and by much the greatest +part, having either done nothing at all, or so little, or, by reason +of the slightness thereof, to so little purpose, that the work seems +rather to us to be forgotten by them, and to perish under their hand, +than any whit to be advanced by them; some having begun to build and +not planted, others begun to plant and not built, and all of them, in +general, retaining the Irish still upon their lands, the avoiding of +which was the fundamental reason of that plantation. We have made +a collection of their names, as we found their endeavours and +negligences noted in the service, which we will retain as a memorial +with us, and they shall be sure to feel the effects of our favour and +disfavour, as there shall be occasion. It is well known to you that +if we had intended only (as it seems most of them over-greedily +have done) our present profit, we might have converted those large +territories to our escheated lands, to the great improvement of the +revenue of our crown there; but we chose rather, for the safety of +that country and the civilizing of that people, to part with the +inheritance of them at extreme undervalues, and to make a plantation +of them; and since we were merely induced thereunto out of reason of +state, we think we may without any breach of justice make bold with +their rights who have neglected their duties in a service of so much +importance unto us, and by the same law and reason of state resume +into our hands their lands who have failed to perform, according to +our original intention, the articles of plantation, and bestow them +upon some other men more active and worthy of them than themselves: +and the time is long since expired within which they were bound to +have finished to all purposes their plantation, so that we want not +just provocation to proceed presently with all rigour against them.' + +He gave them a year to pull up their arrears of work, and in +conclusion said to Chichester: 'My lord, in this service I expect that +zeal and uprightness from you, that you will spare no flesh, English +or Scottish; for no private man's worth is able to counterbalance +the particular safety of a kingdom, which this plantation, well +accomplished, will procure.' + +Two or three years later, Captain Pynnar was sent to survey the lands +that had been granted to the undertakers, and to report upon the +improvements they had effected. A few notices from his report will +give an idea of the state of Ulster at the commencement of this great +social revolution:-- + +Armagh was one of the six counties confiscated by James I. The +territory had belonged to the O'Neills, the O'Hanlons, the O'Carrols, +and M'Kanes, whose people were all involved more or less in the +fortunes of the Earl of Tyrone, who wielded sovereign power over this +portion of Ulster. The plantation scheme was said to be the work of +the Privy Council of Ireland, and submitted by them for the adoption +of the English Government. It was part of the plan that all the lands +escheated in each county should be divided into four parts, whereof +two should be subdivided into proportions consisting of about 1,000 +acres a piece; a third part into proportions of 1,500 acres; and the +fourth in proportions of 2,000 acres. Every proportion was to be made +into a parish, a church was to be erected on it, and the minister +endowed with glebe land. If an incumbent of a parish of 1,000 acres he +was to have sixty; if of 1,500 acres, ninety; and if 2,000 acres, he +was to have 120 acres; and the whole tithes and duties of every +parish should be allotted to the incumbent as well as the glebe. The +undertakers were to be of several sorts. 1st, English and Scotch, who +were to plant their proportions with English and Scotch tenants; 2nd, +servitors in Ireland, who might take English or Scotch tenants at +their choice; 3rd, natives of the county, who were to be freeholders. + +With respect to the disposal of the natives, it was arranged that the +same course should be adopted as in the county of Tyrone, which was +this: some were to be planted upon two of the small proportions, and +upon the glebes; others upon the land of Sir Art O'Neill's sons and +Sir Henry Oge O'Neill's sons, 'and of such other Irish as shall be +thought fit to have any _freeholds_; some others upon the portions of +such servitors as are not able to inhabit these lands with English or +Scotch tenants, especially of _such as best know how to rule and +order the Irish_. But the swordsmen (that is, the armed retainers or +soldiers of the chiefs) are to be transplanted into such other parts +of the kingdom as, by reason of the wastes therein, are fittest to +receive them, namely, into Connaught and some parts of Munster, where +they are to be dispersed, and not planted together in one place; and +such swordsmen, who have not followers or cattle of their own, to be +disposed of in his majesty's service.' This provision about planting +the swordsmen, however, was not carried out. The whole county of +Armagh was found to contain 77,300 acres of arable and pasture land, +which would make 60 proportions. That county, as well as other parts +of ancient Ireland, was divided into ballyboes, or townlands, tracts +of tillage land surrounding the native villages unenclosed, and held +in _rundale_, having ranges of pasture for their cattle, which were +herded in common, each owner being entitled to a certain number of +'collops' in proportion to his arable land. As these ballyboes were +not of equal extent, the English made the division of land by acres, +and erected boundary fences. + +The primate's share in this county was 2,400 acres. The glebes +comprised 4,650 acres; the College of Dublin got 1,200, and the Free +School at Armagh 720; Sir Turlough M'Henry possessed 9,900 acres, +and 4,900 had been granted to Sir Henry Oge O'Neill. After these +deductions, there were for the undertakers 55,620 acres, making in all +forty-two proportions. + +Number one in the survey is the estate of William Brownlow, Esq., +which contained two proportions, making together 2,500 acres. Pynar +reported as follows: 'Upon the proportion of Ballenemony there is a +strong stone house within a good island; and at Dowcoran there is a +very fair house of stone and brick, with good lyme, and hath a strong +bawne of timber and earth with a pallizado about it. There is now laid +in readiness both lyme and stone, to make a bawne thereof, the which +is promised to be done this summer. He hath made a very fair town, +consisting of forty-two houses, all which are inhabited with +English families, and the streets all paved clean through; also two +water-mills and a wind-mill, all for corn, and he hath store of arms +in his house.' + +Pynar found 'planted and estated' on this territory 57 families +altogether, who were able to furnish 100 men with arms, there not +being one Irish family upon all the land. There was, however, a number +of sub-tenants, which accounts for the fact that there was 'good store +of tillage.' Five of the English settlers were freeholders, having 120 +acres each; and there were 52 leaseholders, whose farms varied in size +from 420 acres to 5; six of them holding 100 acres and upwards. This +was the foundation of the flourishing town of Lurgan. + +Mr. Obens had 2,000 acres obtained from William Powell, the first +patentee. He had built a bawne of sods with a pallizado of boards +ditched about. Within this there was a 'good fair house of brick and +lyme,' and near it he had built four houses, inhabited by English +families. There were twenty settlers, who with their under-tenants +were able to furnish forty-six armed men. This was the beginning of +Portadown. + +The fourth lot was obtained from the first patentee by Mr. Cope, who +had 3,000 acres. 'He built a bawne of lyme and stone 180 feet square, +14 feet high, with four flankers; and in three of them he had built +very good lodgings, which were three stories high.' He erected +two water-mills and one wind-mill, and near the bawne he had built +fourteen houses of timber, which were inhabited by English families. +This is now the rich district of Lough Gall. + +It should be observed here that, in all these crown grants, the +patentees were charged crown rents only for the _arable_ lands +conveyed by their title-deeds, bogs, wastes, mountain, and unreclaimed +lands of every description being thrown in gratuitously; amounting +probably to ten or fifteen times the quantity of demised ground set +down in acres. Lord Lurgan's agent, Mr. Hancock, at the commencement +of his evidence before the Devon Commission, stated that 'Lord Lurgan +is owner of about 24,600 acres, with a population of 23,800, under the +census of 1841'--that is, by means of original reclamation, drainage, +and other works of agricultural improvement, Mr. Brownlow's 2,500 +acres of the year 1619, had silently grown up to 24,600 acres, and +his hundred swordsmen, or pikemen, the representatives of 57 families, +with a few subordinates, had multiplied to 23,800 souls. Now Mr. +Hancock founds the tenant-right custom upon the fact that few, if any, +of the 'patentees were wealthy;' we may therefore fairly presume that +the _settlers built their own houses, and made their own improvements +at their own expense_, contrary to the English practice.' As the +population increased, and 'arable' land became valuable, bogs, wastes, +and barren land were gradually reclaimed and cultivated, through +the hard labour and at the cost of the occupying tenantry, until the +possessions of his descendants have spread over ten times the area +nominally demised by the crown to their progenitor. This process went +on all over the province. + +Sixteen years passed away, and in the opinion of the Government the +London companies and the Irish Society, instead of reforming as Irish +planters, went on from bad to worse. Accordingly, in 1631, Charles I. +found it necessary to bring them into the Star Chamber. In a letter to +the lords justices he said:-- + +'Our father, of blessed memory, in his wisdom and singular care, +both to fortify and preserve that country of Ireland from foreign and +inward forces, and also for the better establishment of true religion, +justice, civility, and commerce, found it most necessary to erect +British plantations there; and, to that end, ordained and published +many politic and good orders, and for the encouragement of planters +gave them large proportions and privileges. Above the rest, his grace +and favour was most enlarged to the Londoners, who undertook the +plantation of a considerable part of Ulster, and were specially +chosen for their ability and professed zeal to public works; and yet +advertisements have been given from time to time, not only by private +men, but by all succeeding deputies, and by commissioners sent from +hence and chosen there, and being many of them of our council, that +the _Londoners for private lucre_ have broken and neglected both their +general printed ordinances and other particular directions given by us +and our council here, so as if they hall escape unpunished all others +will be heartened to do the like, and in the end expose that our +kingdom to former confusions and dangers; for prevention whereof we +have, upon mature advice of our councillors for those causes, caused +them to be questioned in our high court of Star-chamber here, whence +commission is now sent to examine witnesses, upon interrogatories, for +discovery of the truth; and because we understand that the Londoners +heretofore prevailed with some, from whom we expected better service, +that in the return of the last commission many things agreed under the +hands of most commissioners were not accordingly certified: Now that +our service may not surfer by like partiality, we will and require +you to have an especial eye to this business; and take care that this +commission be faithfully executed, and that no practice or indirect +means be used, either to delay the return or to frustrate the ends of +truth in every interrogatory.' + +This proceeding on the part of the crown was ascribed to the influence +of Bishop Bramhall, who had come over with Lord Strafford as his +chaplain. The result was, that in 1632 the whole county of Londonderry +was sequestrated, and the rents levied for the king's use, the Bishop +of Derry being appointed receiver and authorised to make leases. The +lord chancellor, with the concurrence of the other judges, decreed +that the letters patent should be surrendered and cancelled. This +decree was duly executed. + +Cromwell reinstated the companies in their possessions, and Charles +II., instead of reversing the forfeiture, granted a new charter. This +charter founded a system of protection and corporate exclusiveness, +the most perfect perhaps that ever existed in the three kingdoms. +He began by constituting Londonderry a county, and Derry city a +corporation--to be called Londonderry. He named the aldermen and +burgesses, who were to hold their offices during their natural lives. +He placed both the county and city under the control of 'the Irish +Society,' which was then definitely formed. He appointed Sir Thomas +Adams first governor, and John Saunders, deputy governor. He also +appointed the twenty-four assistants, all citizens of London. He +invested the society with full power 'to send orders and directions +from, this kingdom of England into the said realm of Ireland, by +letters or otherwise, for the ordering, directing, and disposing of +all and all manner of matters and things whatsoever of and concerning +the same plantation, or the disposition or government thereof. The +grant of property was most comprehensive:-- + +'We also will, and, by these presents for us, our heirs and +successors, do give, grant, and confirm to the said society of the +governor and assistants [London] of the new plantation in Ulster +within the realm of Ireland, and their successors: 'All that the city, +fort, and town of Derry, and all edifices and structures thereof, with +the appurtenances, in the county of the city of Derry aforesaid, in +the province of Ulster, in our realm of Ireland; and also the whole +island of Derry, with the appurtenances, and all lands and the whole +ground within the island of Derry aforesaid, in the said county of the +city of Derry, otherwise Londonderry, within the province of Ulster, +in our aforesaid realm of Ireland. And also all those lands next +adjacent to the said city or town of Derry, lying and being on or +towards the west part of the river of Loughfoyle, containing by +estimation four thousand acres, besides bog and barren mountains, +which said bog and barren mountains may be had and used as waste to +the same city belonging. And also all that portion and proportion +of land by the general survey of all the lands in the aforesaid late +county of Coleraine, now Londonderry, heretofore taken, called the +great proportion of Boughtbegg, lying and being in the barony or +precinct of Coleraine, now Londonderry, within the province of Ulster +aforesaid, in our said realm of Ireland; that is to say, all lands, +tenements, and other hereditaments, called and known by the names, and +situate, lying, and being in or within the several towns, villages, +hamlets, places, balliboes, or parcels of land following, that is to +say: Hacketbegg, being two balliboes of land; Aglakightagh, being two +balliboes of land; Altybryan, being one balliboe of land; Bratbooly, +being one balliboe of land; Hackmoore, being one balliboe of land; +Tirecurrin, being one balliboe of land; Edermale, being one balliboe +of land; Lennagorran, being one balliboe of land; Knockmult, being one +balliboe of land; Boughtmore, being one balliboe of land; Boughtbegg, +being one balliboe of land, &c. + +'We will also, and by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, +do grant and confirm to the said society of the governor and +assistants [London] of the new plantation in Ulster, and their +successors, that they and their successors, and also all their +assigns, deputies, ministers, and servants shall and may have full +liberty of fishing, hawking, and fowling in all the places, tenements, +shores, and coasts aforesaid, at their will and pleasure. + +'And that it shall and may be lawful to and for them and every of them +to draw and dry their nets, and pack the fishes there taken upon any +part of the shores and coasts aforesaid where they shall fish; and +the salmons and other fishes there taken to take thence and carry away +without any impediment, contradiction, or molestation of us or others +whomsoever, wheresoever it shall happen to be done. + +'And that in like manner they may have the several fishings and +fowlings within the city of Londonderry aforesaid, and in all lands +and tenements before mentioned to be granted and confirmed to the said +society of the governor and assistants [London] of the new plantation +in Ulster and their successors, and in the river and water of +Loughfoile, to the ebb of the sea, and in the river or water of Bann +to Loughneagh.' + +The grants were made without any reservation in favour of the tenants +or the old inhabitants, saving some portions of land given by letters +patent by his grandfather to 'certain _Irish gentlemen_ in the said +county of Londonderry, heretofore inhabiting and residing, and who +were heretofore made freeholders, and their successors, under a small +yearly rent,' which was to be paid to the Irish Society. Even the +Irish gentlemen were not allowed to hold their ancient inheritance +directly under the crown. I am informed that there is but one Roman +Catholic landed gentleman now remaining in the whole province of +Ulster. + +The Londoners had extraordinary privileges as traders. They had free +quarters in every port throughout the kingdom, while they treated all +but the members of their own body as 'foreigners.' They knew nothing +of reciprocity:--'And further we will, and, by these presents for us, +our heirs and successors, do grant and confirm to the said mayor and +commonalty and citizens of our city of Londonderry aforesaid, that all +citizens of the said city of Londonderry and liberty of the same (as +much as in us is) be for ever quit and free, and all their things +throughout all Ireland, of all tolls, wharfage, murage, anchorage, +beaconage, pavage, pontage, piccage, stallage, passage, and lestage, +and of all other tolls and duties.' + +The 'foreigners,' including all his majesty's subjects but the +favoured few within the walls of Derry, were forbidden to buy or sell, +or practise any trade in this sanctuary of freedom and head-centre +of 'civility.' 'And that merchants and others which are not of the +freedom of the city of Londonderry aforesaid shall not sell by +retail any wines or other wares whatsoever within the same city of +Londonderry, the suburbs, liberties, or franchises of the same, upon +pain of forfeiture for the things so bought, or the value thereof, +to the use of the mayor and commonalty and citizens of the city of +Londonderry aforesaid. And also that no person being a foreigner from +the freedom of the city aforesaid shall use or exercise within the +same city, liberties or suburbs of the same, any art, mystery, or +manual occupation whatsoever, to make his gain and profit thereof, +upon pain of forfeiture of forty shillings for every time wherein +such person shall use or exercise within the said city of Londonderry, +liberties, and suburbs of the same, any art, mystery, or manual +occupation as aforesaid.' + +Foreigners were not allowed to buy from or sell to foreigners, and +there was to be no market for the accommodation of the unprivileged +inhabitants within seven miles of the city. + +Similar exclusive privileges were conferred upon the corporation of +Coleraine. Such was the system established by the City of London in +its model communities in Ireland--normal schools of freedom, fountains +of civilising and Christianising influences which were to reclaim and +convert the barbarous and superstitious natives into loyal subjects +and enlightened Protestants! What the natives beheld in Londonderry +was, in fact, a royal organisation of selfishness, bigotry, and +monopoly, of the most intensely exclusive and repulsive character. In +one sense the Londoners in Derry showed that they peculiarly prized +the blessings of civilisation, for they kept them all to themselves. +The fountain was flowing in the most tempting manner before the +thirsty Irish, but let them dare to drink of it at their peril! A fine +which no Irishman was then able to pay must be the penalty for every +attempt at civilisation! + +The representatives of Derry and Coleraine were not only elected +without cost, but paid for their attendance in Parliament. + +From the very beginning, the greatest possible care was taken to +keep out the Irish. The society, in 1615, sent precepts to all the +companies requiring each of them to send one or two artisans, with +their families, into Ulster, to settle there; and directions were also +given, in order that Derry might not in future be peopled with Irish, +that twelve Christ's Hospital and other poor children should be sent +there as apprentices and servants, and the inhabitants were to be +prohibited from taking Irish apprentices. Directions were also given +to the companies, to repair the churches on their several proportions, +and furnish the ministers with a bible, common-prayer book, and a +communion cup. The trades which the society recommended as proper to +introduce into Ulster were, weavers of common cloth, fustians, and +new stuffs, felt-makers and trimmers of hats, and hat-band makers, +locksmiths and farriers, tanners and fellmongers, iron makers, +glass-makers, pewterers, coast fishermen, turners, basket-makers, +tallow-chandlers, dyers, and curriers. + +The Christ's Hospital children arrived safe, and became the precious +seed of the 'prentice boys. + +In 1629 the following return was made of the total disbursements by +the Londoners in Derry from January 2, 1609, to this year:-- + + L +For 77-1/2 houses at 140 l. a house 10,850 +For 33 houses at 80 l. a house 2,680 +For the Lord Bishop's house 500 +For the walls and fortifications 8,357 +For digging the ditch and filling earth for the rampire 1,500 +For levelling earth to lay the rampire 500 +For building a faggot quay at the water-gate 100 +For two quays at the lime kilns 10 +For the building of the town house 500 +For the quays at the ferry 60 +For carriage and mounting the ordnance 40 +For arms 558 +For a guardhouse 50 +For the platforms for bulwarks 300 +For some work done at the old church 40 +For some work done at the town pike 6 +For sinking 22 cellars, and sundry of the houses not +done at first, at 20 s. cellar, one with another 440 +For the building of lime kilns 120 + ______ + 26,611 + ______ +Sum total, as given in the Commissioners' account 27,197 + +The exclusive and protective system utterly failed to accomplish its +purpose in keeping out the Irish. + +Sir Thomas Phillips made a muster-roll in 1622, in which he gives +110 as the number of settlers in the city of Derry capable of bearing +arms. There are but two Irish names in the list--Ermine M'Swine, and +James Doherty. The first, from his Christian name, seemed to have +been of mixed blood, the son of a judge, which would account for +his orthodoxy. But his presence might have reminded the citizens +unpleasantly of the Irish battle-axes. Never were greater pains taken +to keep a community pure than within the sacred precincts of the +Derry walls; and never was Protestantism more tenderly fostered by +the state--so far as secular advantages could do it. The natives +were treated as 'foreigners.' No trade was permitted except by the +chartered British. They were free of tolls all over the land, and for +their sake restrictions were placed on everybody that could in any way +interfere with their worldly interests. So complete was the system +of exclusion kept up by the English Government and the London +corporation, in this grand experiment for planting religion and +civility among a barbarous people, that, so late as the year 1708, +the Derry corporation considered itself nothing more or less than _a +branch of the City of London_! In that year they sent an address to +the Irish Society, to be presented through them to the queen. 'In this +address they stated themselves to be a branch of the City of London. +The secretary was ordered to wait upon the lord lieutenant of Ireland +with the address and entreat the favour of his lordship's advice +concerning the presenting of the same to her majesty.' A few days +after it was announced that the address had been graciously received, +and published in the _Gazette_. + +The Irish were kept out of the enclosed part of the city till a late +period. In the memory of the present generation there was no Catholic +house within the walls, and I believe it is not much longer since +the Catholic servants within the sacred enclosure were obliged to go +outside at night to sleep among their kinsfolk. The English garrison +did not multiply very fast. In 1626 there were only 109 families +in the city, of which five were families of soldiers liable to +be removed. Archbishop King stated that in 1690 the whole of the +population of the parish, including the Donegal part, was about 700. + +But the irrepressible Irish increased and multiplied around the walls +with alarming rapidity. The tide of native population rose steadily +against the ramparts of exclusion, and could no more be kept back than +the tide in the Foyle. In the general census of 1800 there were no +returns from Derry. But in 1814 it was stated in a report by the +deputation from the Irish Society, that the population amounted at +that time to 14,087 persons. This must have included the suburbs. In +the census of 1821 the city was found to have 9,313 inhabitants. The +city and suburbs together contained 16,971. + +The report of the commissioners of public instruction in 1831 made a +startling disclosure as to the effect of the system of exclusion in +this 'branch of the City of London.' In the parish of Templemore (part +of) there were-- + +Members of the Established Church 3,166 +Presbyterians 5,811 +Roman Catholics 9,838 + +The report of 1834 gave the Roman Catholics, 10,299; the +Presbyterians, 6,083; and the Church only 3,314. + +The figures now are--Catholics 12,036 +Protestants of all denominations 8,839 +Majority of Irish and Catholics in this +'branch of the City of London' 3,197 + +This majority is about equal to the whole number which the exclusive +system, with all its 'protection' and 'bounties,' could produce for +the Established Church in the course of two centuries! If the Irish +had been admitted to the Pale of English civilisation, and instructed +in the industrial arts by the settlers, the results with respect to +religion might have been very different. In the long run the Church +of Rome has been the greatest gainer by coercion. Derry has been a +miniature representation of the Establishment. The 'prentice boys, +like their betters, must yield to the spirit of the age, and submit +with the best grace they can to the rule of religious equality. + +The plantation was, however, wonderfully successful on the whole. In +thirty years, towns, fortresses, factories, arose, pastures, ploughed +up, were converted into broad corn-fields, orchards, gardens, hedges, +&c. were planted. How did this happen? 'The answer is that it sprang +from the security of tenure which the plantation settlement supplied. +The landlords were in every case bound to make fixed estates to their +tenants at the risk of sequestration and forfeiture. Hence their +power of selling their plantation rights and improvements. This is the +origin of Ulster tenant-right.' + +Yet the work went on slowly enough in some districts. The viceroy, +Chichester, was not neglected in the distribution of the spoils. He +not only got the O'Dogherty's country, Innishown, but a large tract in +Antrim, including the towns of Carrickfergus and Belfast. An English +tourist travelling that way in 1635 gives a quaint description of the +country in that transition period:-- + +On July 5 he landed at Carrickfergus, where he found that Lord +Chichester had a stately house, 'or rather like a prince's palace.' +In Belfast, he said, my Lord Chichester had another _daintie_, stately +palace, which, indeed, was the glory and beauty of the town. And there +were also _daintie_ orchards, gardens, and walks planted. The Bishop +of Dromore, to whom the town of Dromore entirely belonged, lived +there in a 'little timber house.' He was not given to hospitality, for +though his chaplain was a Manchester man, named Leigh, he allowed +his English visitor to stop at an inn over the way. 'This,' wrote the +tourist, 'is a very dear house, 8 d. ordinary for ourselves, 6 d. for +our servants, and we were overcharged in _beere_.' The way thence +to Newry was most difficult for a stranger to find out. 'Therein he +wandered, and, being lost, fell among the Irish _touns_.' The Irish +houses were the poorest cabins he had seen, erected in the middle of +fields and grounds which they farmed and rented. 'This,' he added, +'is a wild country, not inhabited, planted, nor enclosed.' He gave an +Irishman 'a groat' to bring him into the way, yet he led him, like a +villein, directly out of the way, and so left him in the lurch. + +Leaving Belfast, this Englishman said: 'Near hereunto, Mr. Arthur +Hill, son and heir of Sir Moyses Hill, hath a brave plantation, +which he holds by lease, and which has still forty years to come. +The plantation, it is said, doth yield him 1,000 l. per annum. +Many Lancashire and Cheshire men are here planted. They sit upon a +rack-rent, and pay 5 s. or 6 s. for good ploughing land, which now is +clothed with excellent good _corne_.' + +According to the Down survey, made twenty-two years later, Dromore had +not improved: 'There are no buildings in this parish; only Dromore, it +being a market town, hath some old thatched houses and a ruined church +standing in it. What other buildings are in the parish are nothing but +removeable _creaghts_.' + +To the economist and the legislator, the most interesting portions +of the state papers of the 16th and 17th centuries are, undoubtedly, +those which tell us how the people lived, how they were employed, +housed, and fed, what measure of happiness fell to their lot, and what +were the causes that affected their welfare, that made them contented +and loyal, or miserable and disaffected. Contemporary authors, who +deal with social phenomena, are also read with special interest for +the same reason. They present pictures of society in their own time, +and enable us to conceive the sort of life our forefathers led, and to +estimate, at least in a rough way, what they did for posterity. + +Harris was moved to write his 'History of Down' by indignation at +the misrepresentations of the English press of his day. They had the +audacity to say that 'the Irish people were uncivilised, rude, and +barbarous; that they delighted in butter _tempered_ with oatmeal, +and sometimes flesh without bread, which they ate raw, having +first pressed the blood out of it; and drank down large draughts of +usquebaugh for digestion, reserving their little corn for the horses; +that their dress and habits were no less barbarous; that cattle +was their chief wealth; that they counted it no infamy to commit +robberies, and that in their view violence and murder were in no way +displeasing to God; that the country was overgrown with woods, which +abounded in wolves and other voracious animals,' &c. It was, no doubt, +very provoking that such stories should be repeated 130 years +after the plantation of Ulster, and Harris undertook, with laudable +patriotism, to show 'how far this description of Ireland was removed +from the truth, from the present state of only one county in the +kingdom.' The information which the well-informed writer gives is most +valuable, and very much to the purpose of our present inquiry. + +More than half the arable ground was then (in 1745) under tillage, +affording great quantities of oats, some rye and wheat, and 'plenty +of barley,' commonly called English or spring barley, making excellent +malt liquor, which of late, by means of drying the grain with Kilkenny +coals, was exceedingly improved. The ale made in the county was +distinguished for its fine colour and flavour. The people found the +benefit of '_a sufficient tillage_, being not obliged to take up +with the poor unwholesome diet which the commonalty of Munster and +Connaught had been forced to in the late years of scarcity; and +sickness and mortality were not near so great as in other provinces of +the kingdom.' + +Yet the county Down seemed very unfavourable for tillage. The +economists of our time, perhaps our viceroys too, would say it was +only fit for bullocks and sheep. It was 'naturally coarse, and full of +hills; the air was sharp and cold in winter, with earlier frosts than +in the south, the soil inclined to _wood_, unless constantly ploughed +and kept open, and the low grounds degenerated into morass or bog +where the drains were neglected. Yet, by the constant labour and +industry of the inhabitants, the morass grounds had of late, by +burning and proper management, produced surprisingly large crops +of rye and oats. Coarse lands, manured with lime, had answered the +farmers' views in wheat, and yielded a great produce, and wherever +marl was found there was great store of barley. The staple commodity +of the county was linen, due care of which manufacture brought great +wealth among the people. Consequently the county was observed to be +'populous and flourishing, though it did not become amenable to the +laws till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, nor fully till the reign of +James I.' The English habit, language, and manners almost universally +prevailed. 'Irish,' says Harris, 'can be heard only among the inferior +rank of _Irish Papists_, and even that little diminishes every day, by +the great desire the poor natives have that their children should +be taught to read and write in the English tongue in the Charter, or +other English Protestant schools, to which they willingly send them.' +The author exults in the progress of Protestantism. There were but two +Catholic gentlemen in the county who had estates, and their income was +very moderate. When the priests were registered in 1704 there were but +thirty in the county. In 1733 the books of the hearth-money collectors +showed-- + +Protestant families in the county Down 14,000 +Catholic families 5,210 +Total Protestants, reckoning five a family 70,300 +Total Catholics 26,050 + ______ +Protestant majority 44,250 + +Our author, who was an excellent Protestant of the 18th century type, +with boundless faith in the moral influence of the Charter schools, +would be greatly distressed if he could have lived in these degenerate +days, and seen the last religious census, which gives the following +figures for the county of Down:-- + +Protestants of all denominations 202,026 +Catholics 97,240 + _______ +Total population 299,266 + +The total number of souls in the county in the year 1733 was 96,350. +These figures show that the population was more than trebled in 130 +years, and that the Catholics have increased nearly fourfold. + +The history of the Hertfort estate illustrates every phase of the +tenant-right question. It contains 66,000 acres, and comprises the +barony of Upper Massereene, part of the barony of Upper Belfast, in +the county of Antrim, and part of the baronies of Castlereagh and +Lower Iveagh, in the county of Down; consisting altogether of no +less than 140 townlands. It extends from Dunmurry to Lough Neagh, a +distance of about fourteen miles as the crow flies. When the Devon +commission made its inquiry, the population upon this estate amounted +to about 50,000. It contains mountain land, and the mountains are +particularly wet, because, unlike the mountains in other parts of the +country, the substratum is a stiff retentive clay. At that time there +was not a spot of mountain or bog upon Lord Hertfort's estate that +was not let by the acre. About one-third of the land is of first-rate +quality; there are 15,000 or 16,000 acres of mountain, and about the +same quantity of land of medium quality. + +In the early part of Elizabeth's reign this property formed a section +of the immense territory ruled over by the O'Neills. One of these +princes was called the Captain of _Kill-Ultagh_. In those times, when +might was right, this redoubtable chief levied heavy contributions +on the settlers, partly in retaliation for aggressions and outrages +perpetrated by the English upon his own people. The queen, with the +view of effecting a reconciliation, requested the lord deputy, Sir H. +Sidney, to pay the Irish chief a visit. He did so, but his welcome +was by no means gratifying. In fact, O'Neill would not condescend to +receive him at all. His reason for exhibiting a want of hospitality +so un-Irish was this:--He said his 'home had been pillaged, his lands +swept of their cattle, and his vassals shot like wild animals.' The +lord deputy, in his notes of the northern tour, written in October, +1585, says:--'I came to Kill-Ultagh, which I found rich and plentiful, +after the manner of these countries. But the captain was proud and +insolent; he would not come to me, nor have I apt reason to visit +him as I would. But he shall be paid for this before long; I will not +remain in his debt.' The 'apt reason' for carrying out this threat +soon occurred. Tyrone had once more taken the field against the queen; +the captain joined his relative; all his property was consequently +forfeited, and handed over to Sir Fulke Conway, a Welsh soldier of +some celebrity. Sir Fulke died in 1626, and his brother, who was a +favourite of Charles I., succeeded to the estate, to which his royal +patron added the lands of Derryvolgie, thus making him lord of nearly +70,000 statute acres of the broad lands of Down and Antrim. The +Conways brought over a number of English and Welsh families, who +settled on the estate, and intermarrying with the natives, a race of +sturdy yeomen soon sprang up. The Conways were good landlords, and +greatly beloved by the people. With the addition made to the property +the king conferred upon the fortunate recipient of his bounty the +title of Baron. At the close of 1627, Lord Conway began the erection +of a castle (finished in 1630) on a picturesque mount overlooking +the Lagan, and commanding a view of the hills of Down. During the +struggles of 1641 the castle was burned down, together with +the greater part of the town, which up to this time was called +Lisnagarvah, but thenceforth it received the name of Lisburn. Very +little, however, had been done by the settlers when the outbreak +occurred, for an English traveller in 1635 remarked that 'neither the +town nor the country thereabouts was _planted_, being almost all woods +and moorish.' About a month after the breaking out of the rebellion +the king's forces, under Sir George Rawdon, obtained a signal victory +over the Irish commanded by Sir Phelim O'Neill, Sir Con M'Guinness, +and General Plunket. In 1662 the town obtained a charter of +incorporation from Charles II., and sent two members to the Irish +parliament, the church being at the same time made the cathedral for +Down and Connor. The Conway estates passed to the Seymours in this +way. Popham Seymour, Esq., was the son of Sir Edward Seymour, fourth +baronet, described by Bishop Burnet as 'the ablest man of his party, +the first speaker of the House of Commons that was not bred to the +law; a graceful man, bold and quick, and of high birth, being the +elder branch of the Seymour family.' Popham Seymour inherited the +estates of the Earl of Conway, who was his cousin, under a will dated +August 19, 1683, and assumed in consequence the surname of Conway. +This gentleman died unmarried, and was succeeded by his brother +Francis, who was raised to the peerage in 1703 by the title of Baron +Conway, of Kill-Ultagh, county Antrim. His eldest son, the second +baron, was created Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hertfort in 1750. In +1765 he was Viceroy of Ireland, and in 1793 he was created Marquis +of Hertfort. The present peer, born in the year 1800, is the fourth +marquis, having succeeded his father in 1842. + +Lisburn is classic ground. It represents all sorts of historic +interest. On this hill, now called the Castle Gardens, the Captain +of Kill-Ultagh mustered his galloglasse. Here, amid the flames of the +burning town, was fought a decisive battle between the English and the +Irish, one of the Irish chiefs in that encounter being the ancestor of +the restorer of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The battle lasted till near +midnight, when the Irish were put to flight, leaving behind them dead +and wounded thrice the number of the entire garrison. Here, on this +mount, stood William III. in June, 1690. I saw in the church the +monument of Jeremy Taylor, and the pulpit from which the most eloquent +of bishops delivered his immortal sermons. I saw the tablet erected +by his mother to the memory of Nicholson, the young hero of Delhi, +and those of several other natives of Lisburn who have contributed, +by their genius and courage, to promote the fame and power of England. +Among the rest Lieutenant Dobbs, who was killed in an encounter with +Paul Jones, the American pirate, in Carrickfergus Bay. + +I received a hospitable welcome from a loyal gentleman in the house +which was the residence of General Munroe, the hero of '98, and saw +the spot in the square where he was hanged in view of his own windows. +But I confess that none of the monuments of the past excited so much +interest in my mind as the house of Louis Crommelin, the Huguenot +refugee, who founded the linen manufacture at Lisburn. That house is +now occupied by Mr. Hugh M'Call, author of 'Our Staple Manufactures,' +who worthily represents the intelligence, the public spirit, and +patriotism of the English and French settlers, with a dash of the +Irish ardour, a combination of elements which perhaps produces the +best 'staple' of character. I stood upon the identical oak floor upon +which old Crommelin planned and worked, and in the grave-yard +Mr. M'Call deciphered for me the almost obliterated inscriptions, +recording the deaths of various members of the Crommelin family. Their +leader, Louis himself, died in July, 1727, aged 75 years. + +The revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove three quarters of a +million of Protestants out of France. A great number settled +in London, where they established the arts of silk-weaving in +Spitalfields and of fancy jewellery in St. Giles's. About 6,000 fled +to Ireland, of whom many settled in Dublin, where they commenced the +silk manufacture, and where one of them, La Touche, opened the first +banking establishment. Wherever they settled they were missionaries of +industry, and examples of perseverance and success in skilled labour, +as well as integrity in commerce. Many of those exiles settled in +Lisburn, and the colony was subsequently joined by Louis Crommelin, +a native of Armandcourt near St. Quentin, where for several centuries +his forefathers had carried on the flaxen manufacture on their own +extensive possessions in the province of Picardy. Foreseeing the +storm of persecution, the family had removed to Holland, and, at the +personal request of the Prince of Orange, Louis came over to take +charge of the colonies of his countrymen, which had been established +in different parts of Ireland. The linen trade had flourished in this +country from the earliest times. Linen formed, down to the reign of +Elizabeth, almost the only dress of the population, from the +king down--saffron-coloured, and worn in immense flowing robes, +occasionally wrapped in various forms round the body. Lord Stafford +had exerted himself strenuously to improve the fabric by the forcible +introduction of better looms; but little had been done in this +direction till the Huguenots came and brought their own looms, suited +for the manufacture of fine fabrics. Mark Dupre, Nicholas de la +Cherois, Obre, Rochet, Bouchoir, St. Clair, and others, whose ashes +lie beside the Lisburn Cathedral and in the neighbouring churchyards, +and many of whose descendants still survive among the gentry and +manufacturers of Down and Antrim, were, with Crommelin, the chief +promoters of the linen trade which has wrought such wonders in the +province of Ulster. Lord Conway granted the Lisburn colonists a site +for a place of worship, which was known as the French Church, and +stood on the ground now occupied by the Court-house in Castle Street. +The Government paid 60 l. a year to their first minister, Charles de +la Valade, who was succeeded by his relative, the Rev. Saumarez du +Bourdieu, distinguished as a divine and a historian. His father was +chaplain to the famous Schomberg, and when he fell from his horse +mortally wounded the reverend gentleman carried him in his arms to +the spot on which he died a short time after. Talent was hereditary in +this family, the Rev. John du Bourdieu, rector of Annahilt, was author +of the Statistical Surveys of Down and Antrim, published by the Royal +Dublin Society. Referring to his ancestors he says that his father +had been fifty-six years minister of the French Church in Lisburn. Mr. +M'Call states that, for some time before his death in 1812, he held +the living of Lambeg, the members of the French Church having by that +time merged into union with the congregation of the Lisburn Cathedral. +A similar process took place in Dublin, Portarlington, and elsewhere, +the descendants of the Huguenots becoming zealous members of the +Established Church. + +Du Bourdieu informs us that Louis Crommelin obtained a patent for +carrying on and improving the linen manufacture, with a grant of 800 +l. per annum, as interest of 10,000 l., to be advanced by him as a +capital for carrying on the same; 200 l. per annum for his trouble; +120 l. per annum for three assistants; and 160 l. for the support of +the chaplain. Mr. M'Call, in his book, copies the following note of +payments made by the Government from 1704 to 1708:-- + + L s. d. + +Louis Crommelin, as overseer of linen manufacture 470 19 0 + +W. Crommelin, salary and rent of Kilkenny factory 451 6 7 + +Louis Crommelin, to repay him for sums advanced to +flax dressers and reed makers, and for services of +French ministers 2,225 0 0 + +Louis Crommelin, for individual expenses and for +sums paid Thomas Turner, of Lurgan, for buying +flax-seed and printing reports 993 4 0 + +Louis Crommelin, three years' pension 600 0 0 + +French minister's two years' pension 120 0 0 + _______________ +Total L4,860 9 7 + +It should be mentioned, that when the owner of Lisburn, then Earl of +Hertfort, held the office of lord lieutenant in 1765, with his son, +Viscount Beauchamp, as chief secretary, he rendered very valuable +services to the linen trade, and was a liberal patron of the damask +manufacture, which arrived at a degree of perfection hitherto +unequalled, in the hands of Mr. William Coulson, founder of the great +establishment of that name which still flourishes in Lisburn, and +from whom not only the court of St. James's but foreign courts also +received their table linen. Du Bourdieu mentions that Lisburn and +Lurgan were the great markets for cambrics--the name given to cloth +of this description, which was then above five shillings a yard; under +that price it was called lawn. In that neighbourhood cambric had been +made which sold for 1 l. 2 s. 9 d. a yard unbleached. The principal +manufacturing establishments in addition to Messrs. Coulsons' are +those of the Messrs. Richardson and Co. and the Messrs. Barbour. + +Lord Dufferin has written the ablest defence of the Irish landlords +that has ever appeared. In that masterly work he says: 'But though +a dealer in land and a payer of wages, I am above all things an +Irishman, and as an Irishman I rejoice in any circumstance which tends +to strengthen the independence of the tenant farmer, or to add to +the comfort of the labourer's existence.' If titles and possessions +implied the inheritance of religion and blood, Lord Dufferin ought +indeed to be 'Irish of the Irish' as the men of Ulster in the olden +times proudly called themselves. On the railroad from Belfast to +Bangor there is a station constructed with singular beauty, like +the castellated entrance to a baronial hall, and on the elaborately +chiselled stone we read 'Clandeboye.' Under the railway from Graypoint +on Belfast Lough runs a carriage-drive two miles long, to the famous +seat of the O'Neills, where his lordship's mansion is situated, +enclosed among aged trees, remembrancers of the past. Perhaps, there +is no combination of names in the kingdom more suggestive of the +barbaric power of the middle ages and the most refined culture of +modern civilisation. The avenue, kept like a garden walk, with a +flourishing plantation on each side, was cut through some of the +best farms on the estate, and must have been a work of great expense. +Taking this in connection with other costly improvements, among which +are several picturesque buildings for the residence of workmen--model +lodging-houses resembling fancy villas at the seaside--we can +understand how his lordship, within the last fifteen years, has paid +away in wages of labour the immense sum of 60,000 l., at the rate of +4,000 l. a year. + +The Abbot of Bangor never gave employment like that. William O'Donnon, +the last of the line, was found in the thirty-second year of Henry +VIII. to be possessed of thirty-one townlands in Ards and Upper +Clandeboye, the grange of Earbeg in the county Antrim, the two +Copeland Islands, the tithes of the island of Raghery, three rectories +in Antrim, three in Down, and a townland in the Isle of Man. The +abbey, some of the walls of which still remain, adjoining the parish +church, was built early in the twelfth century. We are informed by +Archdall, that it had so gone to ruin in 1469 through the neglect +of the abbot, that he was evicted by order of Pope Paul II., who +commanded that the friars of the third order of St. Francis should +immediately take possession of it, which was accordingly done, +says Wadding, by Father Nicholas of that order. The whole of the +possessions were granted by James I. to James Viscount Clandeboye. + +Bangor was one of the most celebrated schools in Ireland when this +island was said to have been 'the _quiet_ abode of learning and +sanctity.' As to the quiet, I could never make out at what period it +existed, nor how the 'thousands' of students at Bangor could have been +supported. The Danes came occasionally up the lough and murdered the +monks _en masse_, plundering the shrines. But the greatest scourges of +the monasteries in Down and elsewhere were, not the foreign pagans and +pirates, but the professedly Christian chiefs of their own country. It +appears, therefore, that neither the Irish clergy nor the people have +much reason to regret the flight of the Celtic princes and nobles, who +were utterly unable to fulfil the duties of a government; and who did +little or nothing but consume what the industry of the peasants, under +unparalleled difficulties, produced. The people of Clandeboye and +Dufferin might have been proud that their chief received 40 l. a year +as a tribute or blackmail from Lecale, that he might abstain from +visiting the settlers there with his galloglasse; but Lord Dufferin, +the successor of the O'Neill of Clandeboye, spends among the peasantry +of the present day 4,000 l. a year in wages. And how different is the +lot of the people! Not dwelling in wattled huts under the oaks of the +primeval forest, but in neat slated houses, with whitewashed walls, +looking so bright and pretty in the sunshine, like snowdrops in the +distant landscape. On the hill between Bangor and Newtownards, Lord +Dufferin has erected a beautiful tower, from which, reclining on his +couch, he can see the country to an immense extent, from the mountains +of Antrim to the mountains of Mourne, Strangford Lough, Belfast Lough, +the Antrim coast, and Portpatrick at the other side of the Channel, +all spread out before him like a coloured map. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE REBELLION OF 1641. + + +The Rebellion of 1641--generally called a 'massacre'--was undoubtedly +a struggle on the part of the exiled nobles and clergy and the evicted +peasants to get possession of their estates and farms, which had been +occupied by the British settlers for nearly a generation. They +might probably have continued to occupy them in peace, but for the +fanaticism of the lords justices, Sir John Parsons and Sir John +Borlace. It was reported and believed that, at a public entertainment +in Dublin, Parsons declared that in twelve months no more Catholics +should be seen in that country. The English Puritans and Scottish +Covenanters were determined never to lay down their arms till they had +made an end of Popery. Pym, the celebrated Puritan leader, avowed that +the policy of his party was not to leave a priest alive in the land. +Meantime, the Irish chiefs were busy intriguing at Rome, Madrid, +Paris, and other continental capitals, clamouring for an invasion of +Ireland, to restore monarchy and Catholicity--to expel the English +planters from the forfeited lands. Philip III. of Spain encouraged +these aspirations. He had an Irish legion under the command of Henry +O'Neill, son of the fugitive Earl of Tyrone. It was reported that, +in 1630 there were in the service of the Archduchess, in the Spanish +Netherlands alone, 100 Irish officers able to command companies, and +20 fit to be colonels. There were many others at Lisbon, Florence, +Milan, and Naples. They had in readiness 5,000 or 6,000 stand of arms +laid up at Antwerp, bought out of the deduction of their monthly pay. +The banished ecclesiastics formed at every court a most efficient +diplomatic corps, the chief of these intriguers being the celebrated +Luke Wadding. Religious wars were popular in those times, and the +invasion of Ireland would be like a crusade against heresy. But with +the Irish chiefs the ruling passion was to get possession of their +homes and their lands. The most active spirit among these was Roger, +or Rory O'Moore, a man of high character, great ability, handsome +person, and fascinating manners. With him were associated Conor +Maguire, Costelloe M'Mahon, and Thorlough O'Neill, Sir Phelim O'Neill, +Sir Con Magennis, Colonel Hugh M'Mahon, and the Rev. Dr. Heber +M'Mahon. O'Moore visited the country, went through the several +provinces, and, by communicating with the chiefs personally, organised +the conspiracy to expel the British and recover the kingdom for +Charles II. and the Pope. + +The plan agreed upon by the confederates was this:--A rising when +the harvest was gathered in; a simultaneous attack on all the English +fortresses; the surprise of Dublin Castle, said to contain arms for +12,000 men; and to obtain for these objects all possible aid, in +officers, men, and arms, from the Continent. The rising took place +on the night of October 22, 1641. It might have been completely +successful if the Castle of Dublin had been seized. It seemed an +easy prey, for it was guarded only by a few pensioners and forty +halberdiers, who would be quickly overpowered. But the plot was +made known to the lords justices by an informer when on the eve of +execution. + +Sir Phelim O'Neill was one of those 'Irish gentlemen' who, by royal +favour, were permitted to retain some portions of their ancient +patrimonies. At this time he was in possession of thirty-eight +townlands in the barony of Dungannon, county Tyrone, containing 23,000 +acres, then estimated to be worth 1,600 l. a-year, equal to some +10,000 l. of our money. Charles Boulton held by lease from the +same chief 600 acres, at a yearly rent of 29 l. for sixty years, in +consideration of a fine of 1,000 l. In 1641 this property yielded a +profit rent of 150 l. a year. Three townlands in the same barony were +claimed by George Rawden of Lisnagarvagh, as leased to him by Sir +Phelim under the rent of 100 l., estimated to be worth 50 l. per +annum. + +Sir Phelim might, therefore, have been content, so far as property was +concerned. But, setting aside patriotism, religion, and ambition, it +is likely enough that he distrusted the Government, and feared the +doom pronounced in Dublin Castle against all the gentlemen of his +creed and race. At all events he put himself at the head of the +insurrection in Ulster. He and the officers under his command, on the +night of the 22nd, surprised and captured the forts of Charlemont and +Mountjoy. The towns of Dungannon, Newry, Carrickmacross, Castleblaney, +Tandragee fell into the hands of the insurgents, while the O'Reillys +and Maguires overran Cavan and Fermanagh. Sir Conor Magennis wrote +from Newry to the Government officers in Down: 'We are for our lives +and liberties. We desire no blood to be shed; but, if you mean to shed +our blood, be sure we shall be as ready as you for that purpose.' And +Sir Phelim O'Neill issued the following proclamation:-- + +'These are to intimate and make known unto all persons whatsoever, in +and through the whole country, the true intent and meaning of us whose +names are hereunto subscribed: 1. That the first assembling of us is +nowise intended against our sovereign lord the king, nor hurt of any +of his subjects, either English or Scotch; but only for the defence +and libertie of ourselves and the Irish natives of this kingdom. And +we further declare that whatsoever hurt hitherto hath been done to +any person shall be presently repaired; and we will that every person +forthwith, after proclamation hereof, make their speedy repaire unto +their own houses, under paine of death, that no further hurt be done +unto any one under the like paine, and that this be proclaimed in all +places. + + 'PHELIM O'NEILL. + + 'At Dungannon, the 23rd October, 1641.' + +It is easy for an insurgent chief to give such orders to a tumultuous +mass of excited, vindictive, and drunken men, but not so easy to +enforce them. The common notion among Protestants, however, that a +midnight massacre of all the Protestant settlers was intended, or +attempted, is certainly unfounded. Though horrible outrages were +committed on both sides, the number of them has been greatly +exaggerated. Mr. Prendergast quotes some contemporary authorities, +which seem to be decisive on this point. In the same year was +published by 'G.S., minister of God's word in Ireland,' 'A Brief +Declaration of the Barbarous and Inhuman Dealings of the Northern +Irish Rebels ...; written to excite the English Nation to relieve +our poor Wives and Children that have escaped the Rebels' savage +Cruelties.' + +This author says, it was the intention of the Irish to massacre all +the English. On Saturday they were to disarm them; on Sunday to seize +all their cattle and goods; on Monday, at the watchword 'Skeane,' they +were to cut all the English throats. The former they executed; the +third only (that is the massacre) they failed in. + +That the massacre rested hitherto in intention only is further evident +from the proclamation of the lords justices of February 8, 1642; +for, while offering large sums for the heads of the chief northern +gentlemen in arms (Sir Phelim O'Neill's name heading the list with +a thousand pounds), the lords justices state that the massacre had +failed. Many thousands had been robbed and spoiled, dispossessed of +house and lands, many murdered on the spot; but the chief part of +their plots (so the proclamation states), and amongst them a universal +massacre, had been disappointed. + +But, says Mr. Prendergast, after Lord Ormond and Sir Simon Harcourt, +with the English forces, in the month of April, 1642, had burned the +houses of the gentry in the Pale, and committed slaughters of unarmed +men, and the Scotch forces, in the same month, after beating off +Sir Phelim O'Neill's army at Newry, drowned and shot men, women, and +priests, in that town, who had surrendered on condition of mercy, then +it was that some of Sir Phelim O'Neill's wild followers in revenge, +and in fear of the advancing army, massacred their prisoners in some +of the towns in Tyrone. The subsequent cruelties were not on one side +only, and were magnified to render the Irish detestable, so as to make +it impossible for the king to seek their aid without ruining his cause +utterly in England. The story of the massacre, invented to serve +the politics of the hour, has been since kept up for the purposes +of interest. No inventions could be too monstrous that served to +strengthen the possession of Irish confiscated lands. + +'A True Relation of the Proceedings of the Scots and English Forces in +the North of Ireland,' published in 1642, states that on Monday, May +5, the common soldiers, without direction from the general-major, took +some eighteen of the Irish women of the town [Newry], stripped them +naked, threw them into the river, and drowned them, shooting some in +the water. More had suffered so, but that some of the common soldiers +were made examples of. + +'A Levite's Lamentation,' published at the same time, thus refers +to those atrocities: 'Mr. Griffin, Mr. Bartly, Mr. Starkey, all of +Ardmagh, and murdered by these bloudsuckers on the sixth of May. For, +about the fourth of May, as I take it, we put neare fourty of them +to death upon the bridge of the Newry, amongst which were two of +the Pope's pedlers, two seminary priests, in return of which they +slaughtered many prisoners in their custody.' + +A curious illustration of the spirit of that age is given in the fact +that an English officer threw up his commission in disgust, because +the Bishop of Meath, in a sermon delivered in Christ Church, Dublin, +in 1642, pleaded for mercy to Irish women and children. + +The unfortunate settlers fled panic-stricken from their homes, leaving +behind their goods, and, in many cases, their clothes; delicate women +with little children, weary and footsore, hurried on to some place +of refuge. In Cavan they crowded the house of the illustrious +Bishop Bedell, at Kilmore. Enniskillen, Derry, Lisburn, Belfast, +Carrickfergus, with some isolated castles, were still held by the +English garrisons, and in these the Protestant fugitives found succour +and protection. Before their flight they were in such terror that, +according to the Rev. Dr. Maxwell, rector of Tynan, for three nights +no cock was heard to crow, no dog to bark. The city of London sent +four ships to Londonderry with all kinds of provisions, clothing, +and accoutrements for several companies of foot, and abundance +of ammunition. The twelve chief companies sent each two pieces of +ordnance. No doubt these liberal and seasonable supplies contributed +materially to keep the city from yielding to the insurgent forces by +which it was besieged. + +Meantime the Government in Dublin lost not a moment in taking the +most effectual measures for crushing the rebellion. Lord Ormond, as +lieutenant-general, had soon at his disposal 12,000 men, with a fine +train of field artillery, provided by Strafford for his campaign in +the north of England. The king, who was in Scotland, procured the +dispatch of 1,500 men to Ulster; and authorised Lords Chichester and +Clandeboye to raise regiments among their tenants. Thus the 'Scottish +army' was increased to about 5,000 foot, with cavalry in proportion. +The Irish, on the other hand, were ill-provided with arms and +ammunition. They were not even provided with pikes, for they had not +time to make them. The military officers counted upon did not appear, +though they had promised to be on the field at fourteen days' notice. +Rory O'Moore, like 'Meagher of the sword' in 1848, had never seen +service; and Sir Phelim O'Neill, like Smith O'Brien, was only a +civilian when he assumed the high-sounding title of 'Lord General of +the Catholic army in Ulster.' He also took the title of 'the O'Neill.' +The massacre of a large number of Catholics by the Carrickfergus +garrison, driving them over the cliffs into the sea at the point of +the bayonet, madly excited the Irish thirst for blood. Mr. Darcy +Magee admits that, from this date forward till the arrival of Owen Roe +O'Neill, the war assumed a ferocity of character foreign to the nature +of O'Moore, O'Reilly, and Magennis. 'That Sir Phelim permitted, if +he did not in his gusts of stormy passion instigate, those acts of +cruelty which have stained his otherwise honourable conduct, is too +true; but he stood alone among his confederates in that crime, and +that crime stands alone in his character. Brave to rashness and +disinterested to excess, few rebel chiefs ever made a more heroic end +out of a more deplorable beginning.' The same eulogy would equally +apply to many of the English generals. Cruelty was their only crime. +The Irish rulers of those times, if not taken by surprise, felt at the +outbreak of open rebellion much as the army feels at the breaking +out of a war, in some country where plenty of prize money can be won, +where the looting will be rich and the promotion rapid. Relying with +confidence on the power of England and the force of discipline, they +knew that the active defenders of the Government would be victorious +in the end, and that their rewards would be estates. The more +rebellions, the more forfeited territory, the more opportunities to +implicate, ruin, and despoil the principal men of the hated race. The +most sober writer, dealing with such facts, cannot help stirring men's +blood while recording the deeds of the heroes who founded the English +system of government in Ireland, and secured to themselves immense +tracts of its most fertile soil. What then must be the effect of the +eloquent and impassioned denunciations of such writers as Mr. +Butt, Mr. A.M. Sullivan, and Mr. John Mitchell, not to speak of the +'national press'? Yet the most fiery patriot utters nothing stronger +on the English rule in Ireland than what the Irish may read in the +works of the greatest statesmen and most profound thinkers in England. +The evil is in the facts, and the facts cannot be suppressed because +they are the roots of our present difficulties. Mr. Darcy Magee, one +of the most moderate of Irish historians, writing far away from his +native land, not long before he fell by the bullet of the assassin--a +martyr to his loyalty--sketches the preliminaries of confiscation at +the commencement of this civil war. + +In Munster, their chief instruments were the aged Earl of Cork, still +insatiable as ever for other men's possessions, and the president, +St. Leger: in Leinster, Sir Charles Coote. Lord Cork prepared 1,100 +indictments against men of property in his province, which he sent to +the speaker of the Long Parliament, with an urgent request that +they might be returned to him, with authority to proceed against the +parties named as outlaws. In Leinster, 4,000 similar indictments +were found in the course of two days by the free use of the rack with +witnesses. Sir John Read, an officer of the king's bedchamber, and +Mr. Barnwall of Kilbrue, a gentleman of threescore and six, were among +those who underwent the torture. When these were the proceedings of +the tribunals in peaceable cities, we may imagine what must have been +the excesses of the soldiery in the open country. In the south, +Sir William St. Leger directed a series of murderous raids upon the +peasantry of Cork, which at length produced their natural effect. Lord +Muskerry and other leading recusants, who had offered their services +to maintain the peace of the province, were driven by an insulting +refusal to combine for their own protection. The 1,100 indictments +of Lord Cork soon swelled their ranks, and the capture of the ancient +city of Cashel, by Philip O'Dwyer, announced the insurrection of the +south. Waterford soon after opened its gates to Colonel Edmund Butler; +Wexford declared for the Catholic cause, and Kilkenny surrendered to +Lord Mountgarret. In Wicklow, Coote's troopers committed murders such +as had not been equalled since the days of the pagan Northmen. Little +children were carried aloft writhing on the pikes of these barbarians, +whose worthy commander confessed that 'he liked such frolics.' Neither +age nor sex was spared, and an ecclesiastic was especially certain +of instant death. Fathers Higgins and White of Naas, in Kildare, were +given up by Coote to these 'lambs,' though, each had been granted a +safe-conduct by his superior officer, Lord Ormond. And these murders +were taking place at the very time when the Franciscans and Jesuits of +Cashel were protecting Dr. Pullen, the Protestant chancellor of that +cathedral and other Protestant prisoners; while also the castle of +Cloughouter, in Cavan, the residence of Bishop Bedell, was crowded +with Protestant fugitives, all of whom were carefully guarded by the +chivalrous Philip O'Reilly. + +In Ulster, by the end of April, there were 19,000 troops, regulars and +volunteers, in the garrison or in the field. Newry was taken by Monroe +and Chichester. Magennis was obliged to abandon Down, and McMahon +Monaghan; Sir Phelim was driven to burn Armagh and Dungannon and to +take his last stand at Charlemont. In a severe action with Sir Robert +and Sir William Stewart, he had displayed his usual courage with +better than his usual fortune, which, perhaps, we may attribute to the +presence with him of Sir Alexander McDonnell, brother to Lord Antrim, +the famous _Colkitto_ of the Irish and Scottish wars. But the severest +defeat which the confederates had was in the heart of Leinster, at the +hamlet of Kilrush, within four miles of Athy. Lord Ormond, returning +from a second reinforcement of Naas and other Kildare forts, at +the head, by English account, of 4,000 men, found on April 13 the +Catholics of the midland counties, under Lords Mountgarrett, Ikerrin, +and Dunboyne, Sir Morgan Cavenagh, Rory O'Moore, and Hugh O'Byrne, +drawn up, by his report 8,000 strong, to dispute his passage. With +Ormond were the Lord Dillon, Lord Brabazon, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir +Charles Coote, and Sir T. Lucas. The combat was short but murderous. +The confederates left 700 men, including Sir Morgan Cavenagh and +some other officers, dead on the field; the remainder retreated in +disorder, and Ormond, with an inconsiderable diminution of numbers, +returned in triumph to Dublin. For this victory the Long Parliament, +in a moment of enthusiasm, voted the lieutenant-general a jewel worth +500 l. If any satisfaction could be derived from such an incident, the +violent death of their most ruthless enemy, Sir Charles Coote, might +have afforded the Catholics some consolation. That merciless soldier, +after the combat at Kilrush, had been employed in reinforcing Birr and +relieving the castle of Geashill, which the Lady Letitia of Offally +held against the neighbouring tribe of O'Dempsey. On his return from +this service he made a foray against a Catholic force, which had +mustered in the neighbourhood of Trim; here, on the night of the 7th +of May, heading a sally of his troop, he fell by a musket shot--not +without suspicion of being fired from his own ranks. His son and +namesake, who imitated him in all things, was ennobled at the +Restoration by the title of the Earl of Mountrath. + +The Long Parliament would not trust the king with an army in Ireland. +They consequently took the work of subjugation into their own hands. +Having confiscated 2,500,000 acres of Irish land, they offered it as +security to 'adventurers' who would advance money to meet the cost of +the war. In February, 1642, the House of Commons received a petition +'of divers well affected' to it, offering to raise and maintain forces +at their own charge 'against the rebels of Ireland, and afterwards to +receive their recompense out of the rebels' estates.' Under the act +'for the speedy reducing of the rebels' the adventurers were to carry +over a brigade of 5,000 foot and 500 horse, and to have the right of +appointing their own officers. And they were to have estates given to +them at the following rates: 1,000 acres for 200 l. in Ulster, for 300 +l. in Connaught, for 450 l. in Munster, and 600 l. in Leinster. The +rates per acre were 4 s., 6s., 8s., and 12 s. in those provinces +respectively. + +The nature of the war, and the spirit in which it was conducted, may +be inferred from the sort of weapons issued from the military +stores. These included scythes with handles and rings, reaping-hooks, +whetstones, and rubstones. They were intended for cutting down the +growing corn, that the people might be starved into submission, or +forced to quit the country. The commissary of stores was ordered to +issue Bibles to the troops, one Bible for every file, that they might +learn from the Old Testament the sin and danger of sparing idolaters. + +The rebellion in Ulster had almost collapsed before the end of the +year. The tens of thousands who had rushed to the standard of Sir +P. O'Neill were now reduced to a number of weak and disorganised +collections of armed men taking shelter in the woods. The English +garrisons scoured the neighbouring counties with little opposition, +and where they met any they gave no quarter. Sir William Cole, +ancestor of the Earl of Enniskillen, proudly boasted of his +achievement in having 7,000 of the rebels famished to death within +a circuit of a few miles of his garrison. Lord Enniskillen is an +excellent landlord, but the descendants of the remnant of the natives +on his estate do not forget how the family obtained its wealth and +honours. The Government, however, seemed to have good reason to +congratulate itself that the war was over with the Irish. To these Sir +Phelim O'Neill had shown that there is something in a name: but if +the name does not represent real worth and fitness for the work +undertaken, it is but a shadow. It was so in Sir Phelim's O'Neill's +case. Though he had courage, he was a poor general. But another hero +of the same name soon appeared to redeem the honour of his race, and +to show what the right man can do. At a moment when the national +cause seemed to be lost, when the Celtic population in Ulster were +meditating a wholesale emigration to the Scottish Highlands--'a word +of magic effect was whispered from the sea-coast to the interior.' +Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill had arrived off Donegal with a single ship, +a single company of veterans, 100 officers, and a quantity of +ammunition. He landed at Doe Castle, proceeded to the fort of +Charlemont, met the heads of the clans at Clones in Monaghan, was +elected general-in-chief of the Catholic forces, and at once set about +organising an army. The Catholics of the whole kingdom had joined a +confederation, which held its meetings at Kilkenny. A general assembly +was convened for October 23, 1642. The peerage was represented by +fourteen lords and eleven bishops. Generals were appointed for each +of the other provinces, Preston for Leinster, Barry for Munster, and +Burke for Connaught. With the Anglo-Irish portion of the confederacy +the war was Catholic, and the object religious liberty. With them +there was no antipathy or animosity to the English. There was the +Pope's Nuncio and his party, thinking most of papal interests, and +there was the national party, who had been, or were likely to be, +made landless. The king, then at Oxford, was importuned by the +confederation on the one side and the Puritans on the other; one +petitioning for freedom of worship, the other for the suppression of +popery. Pending these appeals there was a long cessation between the +Irish belligerents. + +Ormond had amused the confederates with negotiations for a permanent +peace and settlement, from spring till midsummer, when Charles, +dissatisfied with these endless delays, dispatched to Ireland a more +hopeful ambassador. This was Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, one of the +few Catholics remaining among the English nobility, son and heir to +the Marquis of Worcester, and son-in-law to Henry O'Brien, Earl of +Thomond. Of a family devoutly attached to the royal cause, to which +it is said they had contributed not less than 200,000 l., Glamorgan's +religion, his rank, his Irish connections, the intimate confidence of +the king which he was known to possess, all marked out his embassy as +one of the utmost importance. + +The earl arrived in Dublin about August 1, and, after an interview +with Ormond, proceeded to Kilkenny. On the 28th of that month, +preliminary articles were agreed to and signed by the earl on behalf +of the king, and by Lords Montgarrett and Muskerry on behalf of the +confederates. It was necessary, it seems, to get the concurrence of +the Viceroy to these terms, and accordingly the negotiators on both +sides repaired to Dublin. Here Ormond contrived to detain them ten +long weeks in discussions on the articles relating to religion; it +was the 12th of November when they returned to Kilkenny, with a much +modified treaty. On the next day, the 13th, the new Papal Nuncio, +a prelate who, by his rank, his eloquence, and his imprudence, was +destined to exercise a powerful influence on the Catholic councils, +made his public entry into that city. + +This personage was John Baptist Rinuccini, Archbishop of Fermo in +the marches of Ancona, which see he had preferred to the more exalted +dignity of Florence. + +From Limerick, borne along on his litter, such was the feebleness +of his health, he advanced by slow stages to Kilkenny, escorted by a +guard of honour, despatched on that duty by the supreme council. + +The pomp and splendour of his public entry into the Catholic capital +was a striking spectacle. The previous night he slept at a village +three miles from the city, for which he set out early on the morning +of November 13, escorted by his guard and a vast multitude of the +people. Five delegates from the supreme council accompanied him. A +band of fifty students, mounted on horseback, met him on the way, and +their leader, crowned with laurel, recited some congratulatory Latin +verses. At the city gate he left the litter and mounted a horse richly +housed; here the procession of the clergy and the city guilds awaited +him: at the market cross, a Latin oration was delivered in his honour, +to which he graciously replied in the same language. From the cross he +was escorted to the cathedral, at the door of which he was received by +the aged bishop, Dr. David Rothe. At the high altar he intonated the +_Te Deum_, and gave the multitude the apostolic benediction. Then he +was conducted to his lodgings, where he was soon waited upon by Lord +Muskerry and General Preston, who brought him to Kilkenny Castle, +where, in the great gallery, which elicited even a Florentine's +admiration, he was received in stately formality by the president of +the council--Lord Mountgarrett. Another Latin oration on the nature of +his embassy was delivered by the Nuncio, responded to by Heber, Bishop +of Clogher, and so the ceremony of reception ended.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Darcy Magee, vol. ii. p.128.] + +After a long time spent in negotiations, the celebrated Glamorgan +treaty was signed by Ormond for the king, and Lord Muskerry and the +other commissioners for the confederates. It conceded, in fact, all +the most essential claims of the Irish--equal rights as to property, +in the army, in the universities, and at the bar; gave them seats in +both houses and on the bench; authorised a special commission of oyer +and terminer, composed wholly of confederates; and declared that 'the +independency of the parliament of Ireland on that of England' should +be decided by declaration of both houses 'agreeably to the laws of the +kingdom of Ireland.' In short, this final form of Glamorgan's treaty +gave the Irish Catholics, in 1646, all that was subsequently obtained, +either for the church or the country, in 1782, 1793, or 1829. 'Though +some conditions were omitted, to which Rinuccini and a majority of the +prelates attached importance, Glamorgan's treaty was, upon the whole, +a charter upon which a free church and a free people might well have +stood, as the fundamental law of their religious and civil liberties.' + +General O'Neill was greatly annoyed at these delays. Political +events in England swayed the destiny of Ireland then as now. The poor +vacillating, double-dealing king was delivered to the Puritans, tried, +and executed. But before Cromwell came to smash the confederation and +everything papal in Ireland, the Irish chief gladdened the hearts of +his countrymen by the glorious victory of Benburb, one of the most +memorable in Irish history. + +In a naturally strong position, the Irish, for four hours, received +and repulsed the various charges of the Puritan horse. Then as the +sun began to descend, pouring its rays upon the enemy, O'Neill led +his whole force--five thousand men against eight--to the attack. +One terrible onset swept away every trace of resistance. There were +counted on the field 3,243 of the Covenanters, and of the Catholics +but 70 killed and 100 wounded. Lord Ardes, and 21 Scottish officers, +32 standards, 1,500 draught horses, and all the guns and tents, were +captured. Monroe fled to Lisburn and thence to Carrickfergus, where he +shut himself up till he could obtain reinforcements. O'Neill forwarded +the captured colours to the Nuncio at Limerick, by whom they were +solemnly placed in the choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, and afterwards, +at the request of Pope Innocent, sent to Rome. The _Te Deum_ was +chanted in the confederate capital; penitential psalms were sung +in the northern fortresses. 'The Lord of Hosts,' wrote Monroe, +'has rubbed shame on our faces till once we are humbled.' O'Neill +emblazoned the cross and keys on his banner with the Red Hand +of Ulster, and openly resumed the title originally chosen by his +adherents at Clones, 'the Catholic Army.' + +The stage of Irish politics now presented the most extraordinary +complications political and military. The confederation was occupied +with endless debates and dissensions. Commanders changed positions so +rapidly, the several causes for which men had been fighting became so +confused in the unaccountable scene-shifting, giving glimpses now of +the king, now of the commonwealth, and now of the pope, that no one +knew what to do, or what was to be the end. The nuncio went home in +disgust that his blessings and his curses, which he dispensed with +equal liberality, had so little effect. + +At length appeared an actor who gave a terrible unity to the drama of +Irish politics. Cromwell left London in July 1649, 'in a coach drawn +by six gallant Flanders mares,' and made a grand progress to Bristol. +He landed at Ring's End, near Dublin, on August 14. He entered the +city in procession and addressed the people from 'a convenient place,' +accompanied by his son Henry, Blake, Jones, Ireton, Ludlow, Hardress, +Waller, and others. The history of Cromwell's military exploits in +Ireland is well known. I pass on, therefore, to notice the effects of +the war on the condition of the people. + +As usual, in such cases, the destruction of the crops and other +provisions by the soldiers, brought evil to the conquerors as well as +to their victims. There had been a fifteen years' war in Ulster, +when James I. ascended the throne, and it left the country waste +and desolate. Sir John Davis, his attorney-general, asserted the +unquestionable fact that perpetual war had been continued between the +two nations for 'four hundred and odd years,' and had always for its +object to 'root out the Irish.' James was to put an end to this war, +and, as we have seen, the lord deputy promised the people 'estates' in +their holdings. The effect of this promise, as recorded by Davis, +is remarkable. 'He thus made it a year of jubilee to the poor +inhabitants, because every man was to return to his own house, and +be restored to his ancient possessions, and they all went home +rejoicing.' + +Poor people! they soon saw the folly of putting their trust in +princes. Now, after a seven years' war, the nation was again +visited with famine, and the country converted into a wilderness. +Three-fourths of the cattle had been destroyed; and the commissioners +for Ireland reported to the council in England in 1651, that four +parts in five of the best and most fertile land in Ireland lay waste +and uninhabited, stating that they had encouraged the Irish to till +the land, promising them the enjoyment of the crops. They had also +given orders 'for enforcing those that were removed to the mountains +to return.' The soldiers were employed to till the lands round their +posts. Corn had to be imported to Dublin from Wales. So scarce +was meat that a widow was obliged to petition the authorities for +permission to kill a lamb; and she was 'permitted and lycensed to kill +and dresse so much lambe as shall be necessary for her own eating, +not exceeding three lambes for this whole year, notwithstanding +any declaration of the said Commissioners of Parliament to the +contrary.'[A] This privilege was granted to Mrs. Buckley in +consideration of 'her old age and weakness of body.' In 1654 the Irish +revenue from all sources was only 198,000 l., while the cost of the +army was 500,000 l. A sort of conditional amnesty was granted from +necessity, pending the decision of Parliament, and on May 12, +1652, the Leinster army of the Irish surrendered on terms signed +at Kilkenny, which were adopted successively by the other principal +armies between that time and the September following, when the Ulster +forces surrendered. By these Kilkenny articles, all except those who +were guilty of the first blood were received into protection on +laying down their arms; those who should not be satisfied with the +conclusions the Parliament might come to concerning the Irish nation, +and should desire to transport themselves with their men to serve any +foreign state in amity with the Parliament, should have liberty +to treat with their agents for that purpose. But the Commissioners +undertook faithfully to mediate with the Parliament that they +might enjoy such a remnant of their lands as might make their lives +comfortable at home, or be enabled to emigrate. + +[Footnote 1: Prendergast, the Cromwellian Settlement, p.16.] + +The Cromwellian administration in Ireland effected a revolution +unparalleled in history. Its proceedings have been well summarised by +Mr. Darcy Magee:-- + +The Long Parliament, still dragging out its days under the shadow of +Cromwell's great name, declared in its session of 1652 the rebellion +in Ireland 'subdued and ended,' and proceeded to legislate for that +kingdom as a conquered country. On August 12 they passed their Act of +Settlement, the authorship of which was attributed to Lord Orrery, in +this respect the worthy son of the first Earl of Cork. Under this act +there were four chief descriptions of persons whose status was thus +settled: 1. All ecclesiastics and royalist proprietors were exempted +from pardon of life or estate. 2. All royalist commissioned officers +were condemned to banishment, and the forfeit of two-thirds of their +property, one-third being retained for the support of their wives and +children. 3. Those who had not been in arms, but could be shown, by +a parliamentary commission, to have manifested 'a constant, good +affection' to the war, were to forfeit one-third of their estates, +and receive 'an equivalent' for the remaining two-thirds west of +the Shannon. 4. All husbandmen and others of the inferior sort, 'not +possessed of lands or goods exceeding the value of 10 l.,' were to +have a free pardon, on condition also of transporting themselves +across the Shannon. + +This last condition of the Cromwellian settlement distinguished it, +in our annals, from every other proscription of the native population +formerly attempted. The great river of Ireland, rising in the +mountains of Leitrim, nearly severs the five western counties from the +rest of the kingdom. The province thus set apart, though one of the +largest in superficial extent, had also the largest proportion of +waste and water, mountain and moorland. The new inhabitants were there +to congregate from all the other provinces before the first day of +May, 1654, under penalty of outlawry and all its consequences; and +when there, they were not to appear within two miles of the Shannon, +or four miles of the sea. A rigorous passport system, to evade which +was death without form of trial, completed this settlement, the design +of which was to shut up the remaining Catholic inhabitants from all +intercourse with mankind, and all communion with the other inhabitants +of their own country. + +A new survey of the whole kingdom was also ordered, under the +direction of Dr. William Petty, the fortunate economist who founded +the house of Lansdowne. By him the surface of the kingdom was +estimated at 10,500,000 plantation acres, three of which were deducted +for waste and water. Of the remainder, above 5,000,000 were in +Catholic hands, in 1641; 300,000 were church and college lands; and +2,000,000 were in possession of the Protestant settlers of the reigns +of James and Elizabeth. Under the Protectorate, 5,000,000 acres were +confiscated; this enormous spoil, two-thirds of the whole island, went +to the soldiers and adventurers who had served against the Irish, +or had contributed to the military chest, since 1641--except 700,000 +acres given in 'exchange' to the banished in Clare and Connaught; +and 1,200,000 confirmed to 'innocent Papists.' Such was the complete +uprooting of the ancient tenantry or clansmen from their original +holdings, that, during the survey, orders of parliament were issued to +bring back individuals from Connaught to point out the boundaries of +parishes in Munster. It cannot be imputed among the sins so freely +laid to the historical account of the native legislature, that +an Irish parliament had any share in sanctioning this universal +spoliation. Cromwell anticipated the union of the kingdoms by 150 +years, when he summoned, in 1653, that assembly over which 'Praise-God +Barebones' presided; members for Ireland and Scotland sat on the same +benches with the commons of England. Oliver's first deputy in the +government of Ireland was his son-in-law Fleetwood, who had married +the widow of Ireton; but his real representative was his fourth son +Henry Cromwell, commander-in-chief of the army. In 1657, the title of +lord deputy was transferred from Fleetwood to Henry, who united the +supreme civil and military authority in his own person until the eve +of the restoration, of which he became an active partisan. We may thus +properly embrace the five years of the Protectorate as a period of +Henry Cromwell's administration. + +In the absence of a parliament, the government of Ireland was vested +in the deputy, the commander-in-chief, and four commissioners, Ludlow, +Corbett, Jones, and Weaver. There was, moreover, a high court of +justice, which perambulated the kingdom, and exercised an absolute +authority over life and property greater than even Strafford's Court +of Star Chamber had pretended to. Over this court presided Lord +Lowther, assisted by Mr. Justice Donnellan, by Cooke, solicitor to the +parliament on the trial of King Charles, and the regicide Reynolds. +By this court, Sir Phelim O'Neill, Viscount Mayo, and Colonels O'Toole +and Bagnall were condemned and executed; children of both sexes were +captured by thousands, and sold as slaves to the tobacco-planters of +Virginia and the West Indies. Sir William Petty states that 6,000 boys +and girls were sent to those islands. The number, of all ages, thus +transported, was estimated at 100,000 souls. As to the 'swordsmen' +who had been trained to fighting, Petty, in his _Political Anatomy_, +records that 'the chiefest and most eminentest of the nobility and +many of the gentry had taken conditions from the King of Spain, +and had transported 40,000 of the most active, spirited men, most +acquainted with the dangers and discipline of war.' The chief +commissioners in Dublin had despatched assistant commissioners to the +provinces. The distribution which they made of the soil was nearly +as complete as that of Canaan among the Israelites; and this was +the model which the Puritans had always before their minds. Where a +miserable residue of the population was required to till the land +for its new owners, they were tolerated as the Gibeonites had been by +Joshua. Irish gentlemen who had obtained pardons were obliged to +wear a distinctive mark on their dress on pain of death. Persons of +inferior rank were distinguished by a black spot on the right cheek. +Wanting this, their punishment was the branding-iron or the gallows. + +No vestige of the Catholic religion was allowed to exist. Catholic +lawyers and schoolmasters were silenced. All ecclesiastics were slain +like the priests of Baal. Three bishops and 300 of the inferior clergy +thus perished. The bedridden Bishop of Kilmore was the only native +clergyman permitted to survive. If, in mountain recesses or caves, a +few peasants were detected at mass, they were smoked out and shot. + +Thus England got rid of a race concerning which Mr. Prendergast found +this contemporary testimony in a MS. in Trinity College library, +Dublin, dated 1615:-- + +'There lives not a people more hardy, active, and painful ... neither +is there any will endure the miseries of warre, as famine, watching, +heat, cold, wet, travel, and the like, so naturally and with such +facility and courage that they do. The Prince of Orange's excellency +uses often publiquely to deliver that the Irish are souldiers the +first day of their birth. The famous Henry IV., late king of France, +said there would prove no nation so resolute martial men as they, +would they be ruly and not too headstrong. And Sir John Norris was +wont to ascribe this particular to that nation above others, that he +never beheld so few of any country as of Irish that were idiots and +cowards, which is very notable.' + +At the end of 1653, the parliament made a division of the spoil among +the conquerors and the adventurers; and, on September 26, an act was +passed for the new planting of Ireland by English. The Government +reserved for itself the towns, the church lands, and the tithes, the +established church, hierarchy and all, having been utterly abolished. +The four counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork were also +reserved. The amount due to the adventurers was 360,000 l. This they +divided into three lots, of which 110,000 l. was to be satisfied in +Munster, 205,000 l. in Leinster, and 45,000 l. in Ulster, and the +moiety of ten counties was charged with their payment--Waterford, +Limerick, and Tipperary, in Munster; Meath, Westmeath, King's and +Queen's Counties, in Leinster; and Antrim, Down, and Armagh, in +Ulster. But, as all was required by the Adventurers Act to be done by +lot, a lottery was appointed to be held in Grocers' Hall, London, for +July 20, 1653, to begin at 8 o'clock in the morning, when lots should +be first drawn in which province each adventurer was to be satisfied, +not exceeding the specified amounts in any province; lots were to +be drawn, secondly, to ascertain in which of the ten counties +each adventurer was to receive his land--the lots not to exceed in +Westmeath 70,000 l., in Tipperary 60,000 l., in Meath 55,000 l., in +King's and Queen's Counties 40,000 l. each, in Limerick 30,000 l., in +Waterford 20,000 l., in Antrim, Down, and Armagh 15,000 l. each. And, +as it was thought it would be a great encouragement to the adventurers +(who were for the most part merchants and tradesmen), about to plant +in so wild and dangerous a country, not yet subdued, to have soldier +planters near them, these ten counties, when surveyed (which was +directed to be done immediately, and returned to the committee for +the lottery at Grocers' Hall), were to be divided, each county by +baronies, into two moieties, as equally as might be, without dividing +any barony. A lot was then to be drawn by the adventurers, and by +some officer appointed by the Lord General Cromwell on behalf of the +soldiery, to ascertain which baronies in the ten counties should be +for the adventurers, and which for the soldiers. + +The rest of Ireland, except Connaught, was to be set out amongst the +officers and soldiers for their arrears, amounting to 1,550,000 l., +and to satisfy debts of money or provisions due for supplies advanced +to the army of the commonwealth amounting to 1,750,000 l. Connaught +being by the parliament reserved and appointed for the habitation of +the Irish nation, all English and Protestants having lands there, who +should desire to remove out of Connaught into the provinces inhabited +by the English, were to receive estates in the English parts, of equal +value, in exchange. + +The next thing was to clear out the remnant of the inhabitants, +and the overture to this performance was the following merciful +proclamation:-- + +'The Parliament of the Commonwealth of England having by one act +lately passed (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland) declared +that _it is not their intention to extirpate this whole nation_, +but that mercy and pardon for life and estate be extended to all +husbandmen, plowmen, labourers, artificers, and others of the inferior +sort, in such manner as in and by the said Act is set forth: for the +better execution of the said Act, and that timely notice may be given +to all persons therein concerned, it is ordered that the Governor and +Commissioners of Revenue, or any two or more of them, within every +precinct in this nation, do cause the said Act of Parliament with this +present declaration to be published and proclaimed in their respective +precincts _by beat of drumme and sound of trumpett_, on some markett +day, within tenn days after the same shall come unto them within their +respective precincts. + +'Dated at the Castle of Kilkenny, this 11th October, 1652. + + 'EDMUND LUDLOW, MILES CORBET, + 'JOHN JONES, R. WEAVER.' + +A letter from Dublin, dated December 21, 1654, four days before +Christmas, says the 'transplantation is now far advanced, the men +being gone to prepare their new habitations in Connaught. Their wives +and children and dependants have been, and are, packing away after +them apace, and all are to be gone by the 1st of March next.' In +another letter the writer _naively_ remarks, 'It is the nature of this +people to be rebellious, and they have been so much the more disposed +to it, having been highly exasperated to it by the transplanting +work.' The temper of the settlers towards the natives may be inferred +from a petition to the lord deputy and council of Ireland, praying for +the enforcement of the original order requiring the removal of all +the Irish nation into Connaught, except boys of fourteen and girls +of twelve. 'For we humbly conceive,' say the petitioners, 'that the +proclamation for transplanting only the proprietors, and such as have +been in arms, will neither answer the end of safety nor what else is +aimed at thereby. For the first purpose of the transplantation is +to prevent those of natural principles' (i.e. of natural affections) +'becoming one with these Irish, as well in affinity as idolatry, as +many thousands did who came over in Elizabeth's time, many of which +have had a deep hand in all the late murders and massacres. And shall +we join in affinity,' they ask, 'with a people of these abominations? +Would not the Lord be angry with us till He consumes us, having +said--"the land which ye go to possess is an unclean land, because +of the filthiness of the people who dwell therein. Ye shall not, +therefore, give your sons to their daughters, nor take their daughters +to your sons," as it is in Ezra ix. 11, 12, 14. "Nay, ye shall surely +root them out, lest they cause you to forsake the Lord your God." +Deut. c. vii. &c.' + +In this way they hoped that 'honest men' would be encouraged to come +and live amongst them, because the other three provinces (that is, all +the island but Connaught) would be free of 'tories,' when there was +none left to harbour or relieve them. They would have made a clean +sweep of Munster, Leinster, and Ulster, so that 'the saints' might +inherit the land without molestation. If any Protestant friends of the +Irish objected to this thorough mode of effecting the work of Irish +regeneration, Colonel Lawrence 'doubted not but God would enable that +authority yet in being to let out that dram of rebellious bloud, and +cure that fit of sullenness their advocate speaks of.' + +The commissioners appointed to effect the transplantation were +painfully conscious of their unworthiness to perform so holy a work, +and Were overwhelmed with a sense of their weakness in the midst of +such tremendous difficulties, so that they were constrained to say: +'The child is now come to the birth, and much is desired and expected, +but there is no strength to bring forth.' They therefore fasted and +humbled themselves before the Lord, inviting the officers of the army +to join them in lifting up prayers, 'with strong crying and tears, +to Him to whom nothing is too strong, that His servants, whom He had +called forth in this day to act in these great transactions, might be +made faithful, and carried on by His own outstretched arm, against all +opposition and difficulty, to do what was pleasing in His sight.' + +It is true they had this consolation, 'that the chiefest and +eminentest of the nobility and many of the gentry had taken conditions +from the king of Spain, and had transported 40,000 of the most active, +spirited men, most acquainted with the dangers and discipline of war.' +The priests were all banished. The remaining part of the whole nation +was scarce one-sixth of what they were at the beginning of the war, so +great a devastation had God and man brought upon that land; and that +handful of natives left were poor labourers, simple creatures, whose +sole design was to live and maintain their families.' + +Of course there were many exceptions to this rule. There were some of +the upper classes remaining, described in the certificates which all +the emigrants were obliged to procure, like Sir Nicholas Comyn, of +Limerick, 'who was numb at one side of his body of a dead palsy, +accompanied only by his lady, Catherine Comyn, aged thirty-five years, +flaxen-haired, middle stature; and one maid servant, Honor M'Namara, +aged twenty years, brown hair, middle stature, having no substance,' +&c. From Tipperary went forth James, Lord Dunboyne, with 21 followers, +and having 4 cows, 10 garrons, and 2 swine. Dame Catherine Morris, 35 +followers, 10 cows, 16 garrons, 19 goats, 2 swine. Lady Mary Hamilton, +of Roscrea, with 45 persons, 40 cows, 30 garrons, 46 sheep, 2 goats. +Pierce, Lord Viscount Ikerrin, with 17 persons, having 16 acres of +winter corn, 4 cows, 5 garrons, 14 sheep, 2 swine, &c. There were +other noblemen, lords of the Pale, descended from illustrious English +ancestors, the Fitzgeralds, the Butlers, the Plunkets, the Barnwells, +the Dillons, the Cheevers, the Cusacks, &c., who petitioned, praying +that their flight might not be in the winter, or alleging that their +wives and children were sick, that their cattle were unfit to drive, +or that they had crops to get in. To them dispensations were granted, +provided the husbands and parents were in Connaught building huts, +&c., and that not more than one or two servants remained behind to +look after the respective herds and flocks, and to attend to the +gathering in and threshing of the corn. And some few, such as John +Talbot de Malahide, got a pass for safe travelling from Connaught +to come back, in order to dispose of their corn and goods, giving +security to return within the time limited. If they did not return +they got this warning in the month of March--that the officers had +resolved to fill the jails with them, 'by which this bloody people +will know that they (the officers) are not degenerated from English +principles. Though I presume we should be very tender of hanging any +except leading men, yet we shall make no scruple of sending them +to the West Indies,' &c. Accordingly when the time came, all the +remaining crops were seized and sold; there was a general arrest of +all 'transplantable persons. All over the three provinces, men and +women were hauled out of their beds in the dead hour of night to +prison, till the jails were choked.' In order to further expedite +the removal of the nobility and gentry, a court-martial sat in St. +Patrick's Cathedral, and ordered the lingering delinquents, who shrunk +from going to Connaught, to be hanged, with a placard on the breast +and back of each victim--'_For not transplanting.'_ + +Scully's conduct at Ballycohy, was universally execrated. But what did +he attempt to do? Just what the Cromwellian officers did at the end +of a horrid civil war 200 years ago, with this difference in favour of +Cromwell, that Scully did not purpose to 'transplant,' He would simply +uproot, leaving the uprooted to perish on the highway. His conduct was +as barbarous as that of the Cromwellian officers. But what of Scully? +He is nothing. The all-important fact is, that, in playing a part +worse than Cromwellian, he, _acting according to English law, was +supported by all the power of the state_; and if the men who defended +their homes against his attack had been arrested and convicted, Irish +judges would have consigned them to the gallows; and they might, as +in the Cromwellian case, have ordered a placard to be put on their +persons:-- + + 'FOR NOT TRANSPLANTING!' + +In fact the Cromwellian commissioners did nothing more than carry out +fully the _principles_ of our present land code. Nine-tenths of the +soil of Ireland are held by tenants at will. It is constantly argued +in the leading organs of English opinion, that the power of the +landlords to resume possession of their estates, and turn them into +pastures, evicting all the tenants, is _essential_ to the rights of +property. This has been said in connection with the great absentee +proprietors. According to this theory of proprietorship, the only one +recognised by law, Lord Lansdowne may legally spread desolation over a +large part of Kerry; Lord Fitzwilliam may send the ploughshare of ruin +through the hearths of half the county Wicklow; Lord Digby, in the +King's County, may restore to the bog of Allen vast tracts reclaimed +during many generations by the labour of his tenants; and Lord +Hertfort may convert into a wilderness the district which the +descendants of the English settlers have converted into the garden +of Ulster. If any or all of those noblemen took a fancy, like Colonel +Bernard of Kinnitty or Mr. Allen Pollok, to become graziers and +cattle-jobbers on a gigantic scale, the Government would be compelled +to place the military power of the state at their disposal, to evict +the whole population in the queen's name, to drive all the families +away from their homes, to demolish their dwellings, and turn them +adrift on the highway, without one shilling compensation. Villages, +schools, churches would all disappear from the landscape; and, when +the grouse season arrived, the noble owner might bring over a party of +English friends to see his '_improvements!_' The right of conquest +so cruelly exercised by the Cromwellians is in this year of grace _a +legal right_; and its exercise is a mere question of expediency and +discretion. There is not a landlord in Ireland who may not be a Scully +if he wishes. It is not law or justice, it is not British power, that +prevents the enactment of Cromwellian scenes of desolation in +every county of that unfortunate country. It is self-interest, with +humanity, in the hearts of good men, and the dread of assassination +in the hearts of bad men, that prevent at the present moment the +immolation of the Irish people to the Moloch of territorial despotism. +It is the effort to render impossible those human sacrifices, those +holocausts of Christian households, that the priests of +feudal landlordism denounce so frantically with loud cries of +'_confiscation_.' + +The 'graces' promised by Charles I. in 1628 demonstrate the real +wretchedness of the country to which they were deceitfully offered, +and from which they were treacherously withdrawn. From them we learn +that the Government soldiers were a terror to more than the king's +enemies, that the king's rents were collected at the sword's point, +and that numerous monopolies and oppressive taxes impoverished the +country. There was little security for estates in any part of Ireland, +and none at all for estates in Connaught. No man could sue out livery +for his lands without first taking the oath of the royal supremacy. +The soldiers enjoyed an immunity in the perpetration of even capital +crimes, for the civil power could not touch them. Those who were +married, or had their children baptized, by Roman Catholic priests, +were liable to fine and censure. The Protestant bishops and clergy +were in great favour and had enormous privileges. The patentees of +dissolved religious houses claimed exemption from various assessments. +The ministers of the Established Church were entitled to the aid of +the Government in exacting reparation for clandestine exercises of +spiritual jurisdiction by Roman Catholic priests, and actually appear +to have kept private prisons of their own. They exacted tithes from +Roman Catholics of everything titheable. The eels of the rivers and +lakes, the fishes of the sea paid them toll. The dead furnished the +mortuary fees to the 'alien church' in the shape of the best clothes +which the wardrobe of the defunct afforded. The government of +Wentworth, better known as the Earl of Strafford, is highly praised by +high churchmen and admirers of Laud, but was execrated by the Irish, +who failed to appreciate the mercies of his star-chamber court, or to +recognise the justice of his fining juries who returned disagreeable +verdicts. The list of grievances, transmitted by the Irish House +of Peers in 1641 to the English Government, cannot be regarded as +altogether visionary, for it was vouched by the names of lords, +spiritual and temporal, whose attachment to the English interest was +undoubted. The lord chancellor (Loftus), the archbishop of Dublin +(Bulkeley), the bishops of Meath, Clogher, and Killala were no rebels, +and yet they protested against the grievances inflicted on Ireland by +the tyranny of Strafford. According to these contemporary witnesses, +the Irish nobles had been taxed beyond all proportion to the English +nobles; Irish peers had been sent to prison although not impeached +of treason or any capital offence; the deputy had managed to keep all +proxies of peers in the hands of his creatures, and thus to sway the +Upper House to his will; the trade of the kingdom had been destroyed; +and the 'graces' of 1628 had been denied to the nation, or clogged by +provisoes which rendered them a mockery. And yet, in the face of +such evidence of misery and misgovernment, the Archbishop of Dublin +asserted in a charge to his clergy, that 'all contemporary writers +agree in describing the flourishing condition of the island, and its +rapid advance in civilisation and wealth, when all its improvement +was brought to an end by the catastrophe of the Irish rebellion of +1641'--the very year in which the Irish Houses of Lords and Commons +agreed in depicting the condition of Ireland as utterly miserable! + +But Archbishop Trench not only contradicts the authentic contemporary +records, in picturing as halcyon days one of the most wretched periods +of Irish history, but also wrongfully represents one of the saddest +episodes of that history. He reminded his clergy 'that the number +of Protestants who were massacred by the Roman Catholics during the +rebellion was, by the most moderate estimate, set down as 40,000.' His +grace seems to have been unacquainted with the contemporary evidence +collected by the Protestant historian Warner, who examined the +depositions of 1641, on which the story of the massacre was based, and +found the estimate of those who perished in the so-called massacre to +have been enormously exaggerated. He calculated the number of those +killed, 'upon evidence collected within two years after the rebellion +broke out,' at 4,028, besides 8,000 said to have perished through bad +usage. The parliament commissioners in Dublin, writing in 1652 to the +commissioners in England, say that, 'besides 848 families, there +were killed, hanged, burned, and drowned 6,062. Thus there were two +estimates--one of 12,000, the other of 10,000--each of which was far +lower than the estimate of 40,000, which his grace calls 'the +most moderate.' It turns out, moreover, that the argument based by +Archbishop Trench on the false estimate of those said to have been +massacred, is wholly worthless for the purpose intended by his grace. +The disproportion of Protestants to Roman Catholics, which appears +by the census of 1861, cannot be accounted for by the statistics +of 1641--be those statistics true or false. For the proportion of +Protestants to Roman Catholics was higher in 1672--thirty years after +the alleged massacre--than in 1861. The Protestants in 1672, according +to Sir W. Petty, numbered 300,000, and the Roman Catholics 800,000; +while in 1861 there were found in Ireland only 1,293,702 Protestants +of all denominations to 4,505,265 Roman Catholics. It follows from +these figures, as has been already remarked by Dr. Maziere Brady, that +there has been a relative decrease of Protestants, as compared with +Roman Catholics, of 395,772 persons. And this relative decrease was in +no way affected--inasmuch as it took place since the year 1672--by the +alleged massacre of 1641. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE PURITAN PLANTATION. + + +It is a fearful thing to undertake the destruction of a nation +by slaughter, starvation, and banishment. When we read of such +enormities, perpetrated by some 'scourge of God,' in heathen lands and +distant ages, we are horrified, and we thank Providence that it is our +lot to be born in a Christian country. But what must the world think +of our Christianity when they read of the things that, in a most +Bible-reading age, Englishmen did in Ireland? + +The work of transplanting was slow, difficult, and intensely painful +to the Irish, for Connaught was bleak, sterile, and desolate, and the +weather was inclement. The natural protectors of many families had +been killed or banished, and the women and children clung with frantic +fondness to their old homes. But for the feelings of such afflicted +ones the conquerors had no sympathy. On the contrary, they believed +that God, angry at their lingering, sent his judgments as a +punishment. Mr. Prendergast has published a number of letters, written +at the time by the English authorities and others, from which some +interesting matters may be gleaned. The town of Cashel had got a +dispensation to remain. 'But,' says the writer, 'the Lord, who is a +jealous God, and more knowing of, as well as jealous against their +iniquity than we, by a fire on the 23rd inst. hath burned down the +whole town in little less than a quarter of an hour, except a few +houses that a few English lived in,' &c. In consequence of the delay, +the Irish began to break into 'torying' (plundering). 'The tories fly +out and increase. What strange people, not to starve in peace.' To +be inclined to plunder under such circumstances, with so gracious a +Government, must be held to be a proof of great natural depravity, as +well as of a peculiar incapacity to respect, or even to understand, +the rights of property. + +At length, however, the land was ready for the enjoyment of the +officers and soldiers. On August 20, 1655, the lord deputy, Fleetwood, +thus addressed one of the officers:-- + +'Sir,--In pursuance of his highness's command, the council here +with myself and chief officers of the army having concluded about +disbanding part of the army, in order to lessening the present charge, +it is fit that your troope be one. And, accordingly, I desire you +would march such as are willing to plant of them into the barony of +Shelmaliere, in the county of Wexford, at or before the first day of +September, where you shall be put into possession of your lands, for +your arrears, according to the rates agreed on by the committee and +agents. As also you shall have, upon the place wherein you are, so +much money as shall answer the present three months' arrear due to you +and your men, but to continue no longer the pay of the army than upon +the muster of this August. The sooner you march your men the better; +thereby you will be enabled to make provision for the winter.' After +some sweetening hints that they will be perhaps paid hereafter as a +militia he concludes:-- + +'And great is your mercy, that after all your hardships and +difficulties you may sit down, and, if the Lord give His blessing, may +reape some fruits of your past services. Do not think it a blemish +or underrating of your past services, that you are now disbanded; but +look upon it as of the Lord's appointing, and with cheerfulness submit +thereunto; and the blessing of the Lord be upon you all, and keep you +in His fear, and give you hearts to observe your past experience of +signal appearances. And that this fear may be seen in your hearts, and +that you may be kept from the sins and pollutions which God hath so +eminently witnessed against in those whose possessions you are to take +up, is the desire of him who is + + 'Your very affectionate friend, to love and serve you, + + 'CHARLES FLEETWOOD.' + +He congratulated them that, 'having by the blessing of God obtained +their peace, they might sit down in the enjoyment of the enemies' +fields and houses, which they planted not nor built not. They had no +reason to repent their services, considering how great an issue God +had given.' Yet many refused to settle, and sold their debentures to +their officers. What could they do with the farms? They had no horses +or ploughs, no cattle to stock the land, no labourers to till it. +Above all, they had no women. Flogging was the punishment for amours +with Irish girls, and marriage with the idolatrous race was forbidden +under heavy penalties. Hence the soldiers pretended that their wives +were converted to Protestantism. But this was to be tested by a strict +examination of each as to the state of her soul, and the means by +which she had been enlightened. If she did not stand the test, her +husband was degraded in rank, and, if disbanded, he was liable to +be sent to Connaught with the fair seducer. The charms of the Irish +women, however, proved irresistible, and the hearts of the pious +rulers were sorely troubled by this danger. + +'In 1652, amongst the first plans for paying the army their arrears +in land, it was suggested there should be a law that any officers or +soldiers marrying Irishwomen should lose their commands, forfeit their +arrears, and be made incapable of inheriting lands in Ireland. No such +provision, however, was introduced into the act, because it provided +against this danger more effectually by ordering the women to +transplant, together with the whole nation, to Connaught. Those in +authority, however, ought never to have let the English officers and +soldiers come in contact with the Irishwomen, or should have ordered +another army of young Englishwomen over, if they did not intend this +provision to be nugatory. Planted in a wasted country, amongst the +former owners and their families, with little to do but to make love, +and no lips to make love to but Irish, love or marriage must follow +between them as necessarily as a geometrical conclusion follows +from the premises. For there were but few who (in the language of a +Cromwellian patriot), + + ----'rather than turne + From English principles, would sooner burne; + And rather than marrie an Irish wife, + Would batchellers remain for tearme of life.' + +About forty years after the Cromwellian Settlement, and just seven +years after the Battle of the Boyne, the following was written: 'We +cannot so much wonder at this [the quick "degenerating" of the English +of Ireland], when we consider how many there are of the children of +Oliver's soldiers in Ireland who cannot speak one word of English. +And (which is strange) the same may be said of some of the children +of King William's soldiers who came but t'other day into the country. +This misfortune is owing to the marrying Irishwomen for want of +English, who come not over in so great numbers as are requisite. 'Tis +sure that no Englishman in Ireland knows what his children may be as +things are now; they cannot well live in the country without growing +Irish; for none take such care as Sir Jerome Alexander [second justice +of the Common Pleas in Ireland from 1661 to his death in 1670], who +left his estate to his daughter, but made the gift void if she married +any Irishman;' Sir Jerome including in this term 'any lord of Ireland, +any archbishop, bishop, prelate, any baronet, knight, esquire, or +gentleman of Irish extraction or descent, born and bred in Ireland, or +having his relations and means of subsistence there,' and expressly, +of course, any 'Papist.'--'True Way to render Ireland happy and +secure; or, a Discourse, wherein 'tis shown that 'tis the interest +both of England and Ireland to encourage foreign Protestants to plant +in Ireland; in a letter to the Hon. Robert Molesworth.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Cromwellian Settlement, p.130.] + +The impossibility of getting a sufficient number of settlers from +England to cultivate the land, produce food, and render the estates +worth holding, led to some fraudulent transactions for the benefit +of the natives who were 'loath to leave.' The officers in various +counties got general orders giving dispensations from the necessity +of planting with English tenants, and liberty to take Irish, provided +they were not proprietors or swordsmen. But the proprietors who had +established friendships with their conquerors secretly became tenants +under them to parts of their former estates, ensuring thereby the +connivance of their new landlords against their transplantation. On +June 1, 1655, the commissioners for the affairs of Ireland (Fleetwood, +lord deputy, one of them), being then at Limerick, discovered this +fraud, and issued a peremptory order revoking all former dispensations +for English proprietors to plant with Irish tenants; and they enjoined +upon the governor of Limerick and all other officers the removing of +the proprietors thus sheltered and their families into Connaught, on +or before that day three weeks. But, happily, says Mr. Prendergast, +all penal laws against a nation are difficult of execution. The +officers still connived with many of the poor Irish gentry and +sheltered them, which caused Fleetwood, then commander of the +parliament forces in Ireland, upon his return to Dublin, and within a +fortnight after the prescribed limit for their removal was expired, +to thunder forth from Dublin Castle a severe reprimand to all +officers thus offending. Their neglect to search for and apprehend +the transplantable proprietors was denounced as a great dishonour and +breach of discipline of the army; and their entertaining any of them +as tenants was declared a hindrance to the planting of Ireland with +English Protestants. 'I do therefore,' the order continued, 'hereby +order and declare, that if any officer or soldier under my command +shall offend by neglect of his duty in searching for and apprehending +all such persons as by the declaration of November 30, 1654, are +to transplant themselves into Connaught; or by entertaining them as +tenants on his lands, or as servants under him, he shall be punished +by the articles of war as negligent of his duty, according to the +demerit of such his neglect.' + +The English parliament resolved to clear out the population of all +the principal cities and seaport towns, though nearly all founded and +inhabited by Danes or English, and men of English descent. In order to +raise funds for the war, the following towns were offered to English +merchants for sale at the prices annexed:--Limerick, with 12,000 acres +contiguous, for 30,000 l., and a rent of 625 l. payable to the state; +Waterford, with 1,500 acres contiguous, at the same rate; Galway, with +10,000 acres, for 7,500 l., and a rent of 520 l.; Wexford, with 6,000 +acres, for 5,000 l., and a rent of 156 l. 4 s. + +There were no bidders; but still the Government adhered to its +determination to clear out the Irish, and supply their place with a +new English population. Artisans were excepted, but strictly limited +in number, each case being particularly described and registered, +while dispensations were granted to certain useful persons, on the +petition of the settlers who needed their services. + +On July 8 in the same year, the governor of Clonmel was authorised to +grant dispensations to forty-three persons in a list annexed, or as +many of them as he should think fit, being artificers and workmen, to +stay for such time as he might judge convenient, the whole time not +to exceed March 25, 1655. On June 5, 1654, the governor of Dublin was +authorised to grant licences to such inhabitants to continue in the +city (notwithstanding the declaration for all Irish to quit) as he +should judge convenient, the licences to contain the name, age, +colour of hair, countenance, and stature of every such person; and the +licence not to exceed twenty days, and the cause of their stay to +be inserted in each licence. Petitions went up from the old native +inhabitants of Limerick; from the fishermen of Limerick; from the +mayor and inhabitants of Cashel, who were all ordered to transplant; +but, notwithstanding these orders, many of them still clung about +the towns, sheltered by the English, who found the benefit of their +services. + +The deserted cities of course fell speedily into ruins. Lord +Inchiquin, president of Munster, put many artisans, menial servants, +grooms, &c. in the houses, to take care of them in Cork; still about +3,000 good houses in that city, and as many in Youghal, out of which +the owners had been driven, were destroyed by the soldiers, who used +the timber for fuel. The council addressed the following letter to +Secretary Thurloe:-- + + 'Dublin Castle, March 4, 1656. + +'Right Honourable,--The council, having lately taken into their +most serious consideration what may be most for the security of this +country, and the encouragement of the English to come over and plant +here, did think fitt that all Popish recusants, as wel proprietors +as others, whose habitations are in any port-towns, walled-towns, or +garrisons, and who did not before the 15th of September 1643 (being +the time mentioned in the act of 1653 for the encouragement of +adventurers and soldiers), and ever since profess the Protestant +religion, should remove themselves and their families out of all such +places, and two miles at the least distant therefrom, before the +20th of May next; and being desirous that the English people may take +notice, that by this means there will be both security and conveniency +of habitation for such as shall be willing to come over as planters, +they have commanded me to send you the enclosed declaration, and to +desire you that you will take some course, whereby it may be made +known unto the people for their encouragement to come over and plant +in this country. + + 'Your humble servant, + + 'THOMAS HERBERT, Clerk of the Council.' + +On July 23, 1655, the inhabitants of Galway were commanded to quit the +town for ever by the 1st of November following, the owners of houses +getting compensation at eight years' purchase. + +'On October 30, this order was executed. All the inhabitants, except +the sick and bedrid, were at once banished, to provide accommodation +for English Protestants, whose integrity to the state should entitle +them to be trusted in a place of such importance; and Sir Charles +Coote, on November 7, received the thanks of the Government for +clearing the town, with a request that he would remove the sick and +bedrid as soon as the season might permit, and take care that the +houses while empty were not spoiled by the soldiery. The town was thus +made ready for the English. There was a large debt of 10,000 l., due +to Liverpool for their loss and suffering for the good cause. The +eminent deservings and losses of the city of Gloucester also had +induced the parliament to order them 10,000 l., to be satisfied in +forfeited lands in Ireland. The commissioners of Ireland now offered +forfeited houses in Galway, rated at ten years' purchase, to the +inhabitants of Liverpool and Gloucester, to satisfy their respective +debts, and they were both to arrange about the planting of it with +English Protestants. To induce them to accept the proposal, the +commissioners enlarged upon the advantages of Galway. It lay open for +trade with Spain, the Straits, the West Indies, and other places; +no town or port in the three nations, London excepted, was more +considerable. It had many noble uniform buildings of marble, though +many of the houses had become ruinous by reason of the war, and the +waste done by the impoverished English dwelling there. No Irish were +permitted to live in the city, nor within three miles of it. If it +were only properly inhabited by English, it might have a more hopeful +gain by trade than when it was in the hands of the Irish that +lived there. There never was a better opportunity of undertaking a +plantation and settling manufacturers there than the present, and they +suggested that it might become another Derry.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: The Cromwellian Settlement.] + +Some writers, sickened with the state of things in Ireland, and +impatient of the inaction of our rulers, and of the tedious forms of +constitutional government, have exclaimed: 'Oh for one day of Oliver +Cromwell!' Well, Ireland had him and his worthy officers for many +years. They had opportunities, which never can be hoped for again, of +rooting out the Irish and their religion. '_Thorough_' was their word. +They dared everything, and shrunk from no consequences. They found +Dublin full of Catholics; and on June 19, 1651, Mr. John Hewson had +the felicity of making the following report on the state of religion +in the Irish metropolis:-- + +'Mr. Winter, a godly man, came with the commissioners, and they flock +to hear him with great desire; besides, there is in Dublin, since +January last, about 750 Papists forsaken their priests and the masse, +and attends the public ordinances, I having appointed Mr. Chambers, +a minister, to instruct them at his own house once a week. They all +repaire to him with much affection, and desireth satisfaction. And +though Dublin hath formerly swarmed with Papists, I know none (now) +there but one, who is a chirurgeon, and a peaceable man. It is much +hoped the glad tidings of salvation will be acceptable in Ireland, and +that this savage people may see the salvation of God.' + +Political economists tell us that when population is greatly thinned +by war, or pestilence, or famine, Nature hastens to fill up the void +by the extraordinary fecundity of those who remain. The Irish must +have multiplied very fast in Connaught during the Commonwealth; and +the mixture of Saxon and Celtic blood resulting from the union of the +Cromwellian soldiers with the daughters of the land must have produced +a numerous as well as a very vigorous breed in Wexford, Kilkenny, +Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, East and West Meath, King's and Queen's +Counties, and Tyrone. But these were not 'wholly a right seed.' This +was to be found only in the union of English with English, newly +arrived from the land of the free. The more precious this seed was, +the more care there should be in bringing it into the field. This +matter constituted one of the great difficulties of the plantation. +There were plenty of Irish midwives: they might have been affectionate +and careful, possibly skilful; but if they had any good quality, the +council could not see it. On the contrary, it gave them credit +for many bad qualities, the worst of all being their idolatry and +disloyalty. It was really dreadful to think of English mothers and +their infants being at the mercy of Irish nurses. Consequently, after +much deliberation, and 'laying the matter before the Lord' in prayer, +it was resolved to bring over a state nurse from England, and to her +special care were to be entrusted all the _accouchements_ in the city +of Dublin. Endowed with such a monopoly, it was natural enough that +she should be an object of envy and dislike to those midwives whom she +had supplanted. She was therefore annoyed and insulted while passing +through the streets. To put a stop to these outrages, a proclamation +was issued from Dublin Castle for her special protection, which began +thus:-- + +_By the Commissioners of Parliament for the Affairs of Ireland_. + +'Whereas we are informed by divers persons of repute and godliness, +that Mrs. Jane Preswick hath, through the blessing of God, been very +successful within Dublin and parts about, through the carefull and +skillfull discharge of her midwife's duty, and instrumental to helpe +sundry poore women who needed her helpe, which bathe abounded to the +comfourte and preservation of many English women, who (being come +into a strange country) had otherwise been destitute of due helpe, +and necessitated to expose their lives to the mercy of Irish midwives, +ignorant in the profession, and bearing little good will to any of +the English nation, which being duly considered, we thought fitt to +evidence this our acceptance thereof, and willingness that a person +so eminently qualified for publique good and so well reported of +for piety and knowledge in her art should receive encouragement and +protection,' &c. + +Cromwell and his ministers did not hesitate about applying heroic +remedies for what they conceived to be grievances. The Irish +parliament was abolished, like the Irish churches, the Irish cities, +and everything else that could be called Irish, except the thing for +which they fought--_the land_, which was to be Irish no more. The new +England which the Protector established in the Island of Saints +was represented, like Scotland, in the united parliament at +Westminster--which first assembled in 1657. In that parliament, Major +Morgan represented the county of Wicklow. In speaking against some +proposed taxation for Ireland, he said, among other things, the +country was under very heavy charges for rewards paid for the +destruction of three beasts--the wolf, the priest, and the tory. 'We +have three beasts to destroy,' he said, 'that lay burdens upon us. The +first is a wolf, on whom we lay 5 l. a head if a dog, and 10 l. if a +bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay 10 l.; if he +be eminent, more. The third beast is a tory, on whose head, if he be +a public tory, we lay 20 l.; and 40 s. on a private tory. Your army +cannot catch them: the Irish bring them in; brothers and cousins cut +one another's throats.' + +In May, 1653, the council issued the following printed declaration. +'Upon serious consideration had of the great multitudes of poore +swarming in all parts of this nacion, occasioned by the devastation +of the country, and by the habits of licentiousness and idleness +which the generality of the people have acquired in the time of this +rebellion; insomuch that frequently some are found feeding on carrion +and weeds,--some starved in the highways, and many times poor children +who have lost their parents, or have been deserted by them, are found +exposed to and some of them fed upon _by ravening wolves and other +beasts and birds of prey._' + +No wonder the wolves multiplied and became very bold, when they fed +upon such dainty fare as Irish children! By what infatuation, by what +diabolical fanaticism were those rulers persuaded that they were +doing God a service, or discharging the functions of a Government, +in carrying out such a policy, and consigning human beings to such a +fate! + +By a printed declaration of June 29, 1653, published July 1, 1656,[1] +the commanders of the various districts were to appoint days and times +for hunting the wolf; and persons destroying wolves and bringing their +heads to the commissioners of the revenue of the precinct were to +receive for the head of a bitch wolf, 6 _l_; of a dog wolf, 5 _l_; for +the head of every cub that preyed by himself, 40 s.; and for the head +of every sucking cub, 10 _s_: The assessments on several counties +to reimburse the treasury for these advances became, as appears from +Major Morgan's speech, a serious charge. In corroboration it appears +that in March, 1655, there was due from the precinct of Galway 243 +l. 5 s. 4 d. for rewards paid on this account. But the most curious +evidence of their numbers is that lands lying only nine miles north of +Dublin were leased by the state in the year 1653, under conditions of +keeping a hunting establishment with a pack of wolf hounds for killing +the wolves, part of the rent to be discounted in wolves' heads, at +the rate in the declaration of June 29, 1653. Under this lease Captain +Edward Piers was to have all the state lands in the barony of Dunboyne +in the county of Meath, valued at 543 l. 8 s. 8 d., at a rent greater +by 100 l. a year than they then yielded in rent and contribution, for +five years from May 1 following, on the terms of maintaining at Dublin +and Dunboyne three wolf-dogs, two English mastiffs, a pack of hounds +of sixteen couple (three whereof to hunt the wolf only), a knowing +huntsman, and two men and one boy. Captain Piers was to bring to the +commissioners of revenue at Dublin a stipulated number of wolf-heads +in the first year and a diminishing number every year; but for every +wolf-head whereby he fell short of the stipulated number, 5 l. was to +be defalked from his salary.[2] + +[Footnote 1: A/84, p.255. Republished 7th July, 1656.--'Book of +Printed Declarations of the Commissioners for the Affairs of Ireland.' +British Museum.] + +[Footnote 2: Cromwellian Settlement, p.154.] + +Twenty pounds was paid for the discovery of a priest, the second +'burdensome beast,' and to harbour him was death. Again I avail myself +of the researches of Mr. Prendergast, to give a few orders on this +subject. + +'_August_ 4, 1654.--Ordered, on the petition of Roger Begs, priest, +now prisoner in Dublin, setting forth his miserable condition by being +nine months in prison, and desiring liberty to go among his friends +into the country for some relief; that he be released upon giving +sufficient security that within four months he do transport himself to +foreign parts, beyond the seas, never to return, and that during that +time he do not exercise any part of his priestly functions, nor move +from where he shall choose to reside my above five miles, without +permission. Ordered, same date, on the petition of William Shiel, +priest, that the said William Shiel being old, lame, and weak, and +not able to travel without crutches, he be permitted to reside in +Connaught where the Governor of Athlone shall see fitting, provided, +however, he do not remove one mile beyond the appointed place without +licence, nor use his priestly function.' + +At first the place of transportation was Spain. Thus:--'_February_ +1, 1653. Ordered that the Governor of Dublin take effectual course +whereby the priests now in the several prisons of Dublin be forthwith +shipped with the party going for Spain; and that they be delivered +to the officers on shipboard for that purpose: care to be taken that, +under the colour of exportation, they be not permitted to go into the +country.' + +'_May_ 29, 1654.--Upon reading the petition of the Popish priests +now in the jails of Dublin; ordered, that the Governor of Dublin take +security of such persons as shall undertake the transportation of +them, that they shall with the first opportunity be shipped for some +parts in amity with the Commonwealth, provided the five pounds for +each of the said priests due to the persons that took them, pursuant +to the tenor of a declaration dated January 6, 1653, be first paid or +secured.' + +The commissioners give reasons for this policy, which are identical +with what we hear constantly repeated at the present day in Ireland +and England and in most of the newspapers conducted by Protestants. +For two centuries the burden of all comments on Irish affairs is 'the +country would be happy but for priests and agitators.' 'Hang or banish +the priests!' cry some very amiable and respectable persons, 'and then +we shall have peace.' 'We can make nothing of those priests,' says the +improving landlord, or agent, 'they will not look us straight in the +face.' + +On December 8, 1655, in a letter from the commissioners to the +Governor of Barbadoes, advising him of the approach of a ship with a +cargo of proprietors deprived of their lands, and then seized for not +transplanting, or banished for having no visible means of support, +they add that amongst them were three priests; and the commissioners +particularly desire they may be so employed as they may not return +again where that sort of people are able to do much mischief, having +so great an influence over the Popish Irish, and alienating their +affections from the present Government. 'Yet these penalties did not +daunt them, or prevent their recourse to Ireland. In consequence of +the great increase of priests towards the close of the year 1655, a +general arrest by the justices of the peace was ordered, under which, +in April, 1656, the prisons in every part of Ireland seem to have +been filled to overflowing. On May 3, the governors of the respective +precincts were ordered to send them with sufficient guards from +garrison to garrison to Carrickfergus, to be there put on board such +ship as should sail with the first opportunity for the Barbadoes. One +may imagine the pains of this toilsome journey by the petition of one +of them. Paul Cashin, an aged priest, apprehended at Maryborough, +and sent to Philipstown on the way to Carrickfergus, there fell +desperately sick, and, being also extremely aged, was in danger of +perishing in restraint for want of friends and means of relief. On +August 27, 1656, the commissioners, having ascertained the truth of +his petition, ordered him sixpence a day during his sickness; and +(in answer probably to this poor prisoner's prayer to be spared from +transportation) their order directed that it should be continued to +him in his travel thence (after his recovery) to Carrickfergus, in +order to his transportation to the Barbadoes.' + +At Carrickfergus the horrors of approaching exile seem to have shaken +the firmness of some of them; for on September 23, 1656, Colonel +Cooper, who had the charge of the prison, reporting that several would +under their hands renounce the Pope's supremacy, and frequent the +Protestant meetings and no other, he was directed to dispense with the +transportation, if they could give good Protestant security for the +sincerity of their professions. + +As for the third beast--the tory, the following extract gives an idea +of the class to which he belonged, or, rather, from which he sprang. + +'And whereas the children, grandchildren, brothers, nephews, uncles, +and next pretended heirs of the persons attainted, do remain in +the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Munster, having little or no +visible estates or subsistence, but living only and coshering upon +the common sort of people who were tenants to or followers of the +respective ancestors of such persons, waiting an opportunity, as +may justly be supposed, to massacre and destroy the English who, as +adventurers or souldiers, or their tenants, are set down to plant upon +the several lands and estates of the persons so attainted,' they +are to transplant or be transported to the English plantations in +America.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Act for Attainder of the Rebels in Ireland, passed 1656. +Scobell's 'Acts and Ordinances.'] + +No wonder that Mr. Prendergast exclaims:-- + +'But how must the feelings of national hatred have been heightened, +by seeing every where crowds of such unfortunates, their brothers, +cousins, kinsmen, and by beholding the whole country given up a prey +to hungry insolent soldiers and adventurers from England, mocking +their wrongs, and triumphing in their own irresistible power!' + +Every possible mode of repression that has been devised at the +present time as a remedy for Ribbonism was then tried with unflinching +determination. John Symonds, an English settler, was murdered near +the garrison town of Timolin, in the county Kildare. All the Irish +inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood were immediately transported +to Connaught as a punishment for the crime. A few months after two +more settlers were murdered at Lackagh. + +'All the Irish in the townland of Lackagh were seized; four of them +by sentence of court-martial were hanged for the murder, or for not +preventing it; and all the rest, thirty-seven in number, including two +priests, were on November 27 delivered to the captain of the "Wexford" +frigate, to take to Waterford, there to be handed over to Mr. Norton, +a Bristol merchant, to be sold as bond slaves to the sugar-planters in +the Barbadoes. Among these were Mrs. Margery Fitzgerald, of the age +of fourscore years, and her husband, Mr. Henry Fitzgerald of Lackagh; +although (as it afterwards appeared) the tories had by their frequent +robberies much infested that gentleman and his tenants--discovery that +seems to have been made only after the king's restoration.' + +The penalties against the tories themselves were to allow them no +quarter when caught, and to set a price upon their heads. The ordinary +price for the head of a tory was 40 s.; for leaders of tories, or +distinguished men, it varied from 5 l. to 30 l. + +'But,' continues Mr. Prendergast, 'a more effective way of suppressing +tories seems to have been to induce them, as already mentioned, +to betray or murder one another--a measure continued after the +Restoration, during the absence of parliaments, by acts and orders +of state, and re-enacted by the first parliament summoned after +the Revolution, when in that and the following reigns almost every +provision of the rule of the parliament of England in Ireland was +re-enacted by the parliaments of Ireland, composed of the soldiers and +adventurers of Cromwell's day, or new English and Scotch capitalists. +In 1695 any tory killing two other tories proclaimed and on their +keeping was entitled to pardon--a measure which put such distrust and +alarm among their bands on finding one of their number so killed, +that it became difficult to kill a second. Therefore, in 1718, it was +declared sufficient qualification for pardon for a tory to kill one +of his fellow-tories. This law was continued in 1755 for twenty-one +years, and only expired in 1776. Tory-hunting and tory-murdering thus +became common pursuits. No wonder, therefore, after so lengthened an +existence, to find traces of the tories in our household words. Few, +however, are now aware that the well-known Irish nursery rhymes have +so truly historical a foundation:-- + + 'Ho! brother Teig, what is your story?' + 'I went to the wood and shot a tory:' + 'I went to the wood, and shot another;' + 'Was it the same, or was it his brother?' + + 'I hunted him in, and I hunted him out, + Three times through the bog, and about and about; + Till out of a bush I spied his head, + So I levelled my gun and shot him dead.' + +After the war of 1688, the tories received fresh accessions, and, a +great part of the kingdom being left waste and desolate, they betook +themselves to these wilds, and greatly discouraged the replanting of +the kingdom by their frequent murders of the new Scotch and English +planters; the Irish 'choosing rather' (so runs the language of +the act) 'to suffer strangers to be robbed and despoiled, than to +apprehend or convict the offenders.' In order, therefore, for the +better encouragement of strangers to plant and inhabit the kingdom, +any persons presented as tories, by the gentlemen of a county, and +proclaimed as such by the lord lieutenant, might be shot as outlaws +and traitors; and any persons harbouring them were to be guilty of +high treason.[1] Rewards were offered for the taking or killing of +them; and the inhabitants of the barony, of the ancient native race, +were to make satisfaction for all robberies and spoils. If persons +were maimed or dismembered by tories, they were to be compensated by +10 l.; and the families of persons murdered were to receive 30 l.' + +[Footnote 1: The Cromwellian Settlement, p.163, &c.] + +The Restoration at length brought relief and enlargement to the +imprisoned Irish nation. They rushed across the Shannon to see their +old homes; they returned to the desolated cities, full of hope +that the king for whom they had suffered so much would reward +their loyalty, by giving them back their inheritances--the 'just +satisfaction' promised at Breda to those who had been unfairly +deprived of their estates. The Ulster Presbyterians also counted on +his gratitude for their devotion to his cause, notwithstanding the +wrongs inflicted on them by Strafford and the bishops in the name of +his father. But they were equally doomed to disappointment. Coote +and Broghill reigned in Dublin Castle as lords justices. The first +parliament assembled in Dublin for twenty years, contained an +overwhelming majority of undertakers, adventurers, and Puritan +representatives of boroughs, from which all the Catholic electors +had been excluded. 'The Protestant interest,' a phrase of tremendous +potency in the subsequent history of Ireland, counted 198 members +against 64 Catholics in the Commons, and in the Lords 72 against 21 +peers. A court was established under an act of parliament in Dublin, +to try the claims of 'nocent' and 'innocent' proprietors. The judges, +who were Englishmen, declared in their first session that 168 were +innocent to 19 nocent. The Protestant interest was alarmed; and, +through the influence of Ormond, then lord lieutenant, the duration of +the court was limited, and when it was compelled to close its labours, +only 800 out of 3,000 cases had been decided. If the proportions +of nocent and innocent were the same, an immense number of innocent +persons were deprived of their property. In 1675, fifteen years after +the Restoration, the English settlers were in possession of 4,500,000 +acres, while the old owners retained 2,250,000 acres. By an act passed +in 1665, it was declared that no Papist, who had not already been +adjudged innocent, should ever be entitled to claim any lands or +settlements.' + +Any movement on the part of the Roman Catholics during this reign, +and indeed, ever since, always raised an alarm of the 'Protestant +interest' in danger. While the panic lasted the Catholics were +subjected to cruel restrictions and privations. Thus Ormond, by +proclamation, prohibited Catholics from entering the castle of Dublin, +or any other fortress; from holding fairs or markets within the walls +of fortified towns, and from carrying arms to such places. By another +proclamation, he ordered all the _relatives_ of known 'tories' to be +arrested and banished the kingdom, within fourteen days, unless such +tories were killed or surrendered within that time. There was one tory +for whose arrest all ordinary means failed. This was the celebrated +Redmond O'Hanlon, still one of the most popular heroes with the Irish +peasantry. He was known on the continent as Count O'Hanlon, and was +the brother of the owner of Tandragee, now the pretty Irish seat of +the Duke of Manchester. As no one would betray this outlaw, who levied +heavy contributions from the settlers in Ulster, it was alleged +and believed that the viceroy hired a relative to shoot him. 'Count +O'Hanlon,' says Mr. D. Magee, 'a gentleman of ancient lineage, as +accomplished as Orrery, or Ossory, was indeed an outlaw to the code +then in force; but the stain of his cowardly assassination must for +ever blot the princely escutcheon of James, Duke of Ormond.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: See 'The Tory War of Ulster,' by John P. Prendergast, +author of 'The Cromwellian Settlement.' This pamphlet abounds in the +most curious information, collected from judicial records, descriptive +of Ireland from the Restoration to the Revolution--A.D. 1660-1690.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PENAL CODE, A NEW SYSTEM OF LAND-WAR. + + +The accession of James II. was well calculated to have an intoxicating +effect on the Irish race. He was a Catholic, he undertook to effect +a counter-reformation. He would restore the national hierarchy to the +position from which it had been dragged down and trampled under the +feet of the Cromwellians. He would give back to the Irish gentry and +nobility their estates; and to effect this glorious revolution, he +relied upon the faith and valour of the Irish. The Protestant militia +were disarmed, a Catholic army was formed; the corporations were +thrown open to Catholics. Dublin and other corporations, which refused +to surrender their exclusive charters, were summarily deprived of +their privileges; Catholic mayors and sheriffs, escorted by troops, +went in state to their places of worship. The Protestant chancellor +was dismissed to make way for a Catholic, Baron Rice. The plate +of Trinity College was seized as public property. The Protestants, +thoroughly alarmed by these arbitrary proceedings, fled to England in +thousands. Many went to Holland and joined the army of the Prince of +Orange. Dreadful stories were circulated of an intended invasion of +England by wild Irish regiments under Tyrconnel. There was a rumour of +another massacre of the English, and of the proposed repeal of the +act of settlement. Protestants who could not cross the channel fled to +Enniskillen and to Derry, which closed its gates and prepared for its +memorable siege. James, who had fled to France, plucked up courage +to go to Ireland, and make a stand there in defence of his crown. +His progress from Kinsale to Dublin was an ovation. Fifteen royal +chaplains scattered blessings around him; Gaelic songs and dances +amused him; he was flattered in Latin orations, and conducted to his +capital under triumphal arches. In Dublin the trades turned out with +new banners; two harpers played at the gate by which he entered; the +clergy in their robes chanted as they went: and forty young girls, +dressed in white, danced the ancient _rinka_, scattering flowers on +the newly sanded streets. Tyrconnell, now a duke, the judges, the +mayor and the corporation, completed the procession, which moved +beneath arches of evergreens, and windows hung with 'tapestry and +cloth of arras.' The recorder delivered to his majesty the keys of the +city, and the Catholic primate, Dominick Maguire, waited in his robes +to conduct him to the royal chapel, where the _Te Deum_ was sung. On +that day the green flag floated from the main tower of the castle, +bearing the motto, 'Now or never--now and for ever.' + +The followers of James, according to Grattan, 'though papists, were +not slaves. They wrung a constitution from King James before they +accompanied him to the field.' A constitution wrung from such a man +was not worth much. His parliament passed an act for establishing +liberty of conscience, and ordering every man to pay tithes to his own +clergy only, with some other measures of relief. But he began to +play the despot very soon. The Commons voted him the large subsidy of +20,000 l. He doubled the amount by his own mere motion. He established +a bank, and by his own authority decreed a bank monopoly. He debased +the coinage, and fixed the prices of merchandise by his own will. +He appointed a provost and librarian in Trinity College without the +consent of the senate, and attempted to force fellows and scholars on +the university contrary to the statutes. The events which followed +are well known to all readers of English history. Our concern is with +their effects on the land question. + +One of the measures passed by this parliament was an act repealing the +act of settlement. But, soon after the Revolution, measures were taken +to render that settlement firmer than ever. A commission was appointed +to enquire into the forfeited estates; and the consequence was that +1,060,792 acres were declared escheated to the crown. In 1695 King +William, in his speech, read to the Irish parliament, assured +them that he was intent upon the firm settlement of Ireland upon a +Protestant basis. He kept his word, for when he died there did not +remain in the hands of Catholics one-sixth of the land which their +grandfathers held, even after the passing of the act of settlement. +The acts passed for securing the Protestant interest formed the series +known as the penal code, which was in force for the whole of the +eighteenth century. It answered its purpose effectually; it reduced +the nation to a state of poverty, degradation, and slavishness of +spirit unparalleled in the history of Christendom, while it made the +small dominant class a prodigy of political and religious tyranny. +Never was an aristocracy, as a body, more hardened in selfishness, +more insolent in spirit; never was a church more negligent of duty, +more intensely and ostentatiously secular. Both church and state +reeked with corruption. + +The plan adopted for degrading the Catholics, and reducing all to one +plebeian level, was most ingenious. The ingenuity indeed may be said +to be Satanic, for it debased its victims morally as well as socially +and physically. It worked by means of treachery, covetousness, +perfidy, and the perversion of all natural affections. The trail of +the serpent was over the whole system. For example, when the last Duke +of Ormond arrived as lord lieutenant in 1703, the Commons waited on +him with a bill 'for discouraging the further growth of Popery,' which +became law, having met his decided approval. This act provided that +if the son of a Catholic became a Protestant, the father should be +incapable of selling or mortgaging his estate, or disposing of any +portion of it by will. If a child ever so young professed to be a +Protestant, it was to be taken from its parents, and placed under the +guardianship of the nearest Protestant relation. + +The sixth clause renders Papists incapable of purchasing any manors, +tenements, hereditaments, or any rents or profits arising out of the +same, or of holding any lease of lives, or other lease whatever, for +any term exceeding thirty-one years. And with respect even to such +limited leases, it further enacts, that if a Papist should hold a farm +producing a profit greater than _one-third of the amount of the rent_, +his right to such should immediately cease, and pass over entirely +to the first Protestant who should discover the rate of profit. The +seventh clause prohibits Papists from succeeding to the properties or +estates of their Protestant relations. By the tenth clause, the estate +of a Papist, not having a Protestant heir, is ordered to be gavelled, +or divided in equal shares between _all_ his children. The sixteenth +and twenty-fourth clauses impose the oath of abjuration, and the +sacramental test, as a qualification for office, and for voting at +elections. The twenty-third clause deprives the Catholics of Limerick +and Galway of the protection secured to them by the articles of the +treaty of Limerick. The twenty-fifth clause vests in the crown all +advowsons possessed by Papists. + +A further act was passed, in 1709, imposing additional penalties. The +first clause declares that no Papist shall be capable of holding an +annuity for life. The third provides, that the child of a Papist, on +conforming, shall at once receive an annuity from his father; and that +the chancellor shall compel the father to discover, upon oath, the +full value of his estate, real and personal, and thereupon make an +order for the support of such conforming child or children, and for +securing such a share of the property, after the father's death, as +the court shall think fit. The fourteenth and fifteenth clauses secure +jointures to Popish wives who shall conform. The sixteenth prohibits +a Papist from teaching, even as assistant to a Protestant master. The +eighteenth gives a salary of 30 l. per annum to Popish priests who +shall conform. The twentieth provides rewards for the discovery of +Popish prelates, priests, and teachers, according to the +following whimsical scale:--For discovering an archbishop, bishop, +vicar-general, or other person, exercising any foreign ecclesiastical +jurisdiction, 50 l.; for discovering each regular clergyman, and each +secular clergyman, not registered, 20 l.; and for discovering each +Popish schoolmaster or usher, 10 l. + +In judging the Irish peasantry, we should try to estimate the effects +of such a system on any people for more than a century. It will +account for the farmer's habit of concealing his prosperity, and +keeping up the appearance of poverty, even if he had not reason for it +in the felonious spirit of appropriation still subsisting under legal +sanction. We are too apt to place to the account of race or religion +the results of malignant or blundering legislation. We are not without +examples of such results in England itself. + +In the winter of 1831-2, a very startling state of things was +presented. In a period of great general prosperity, that portion of +England in which the poor laws had their most extensive operation, and +in which by much the largest expenditure of poor-rates had been made, +was the scene of daily riot and nightly incendiarism. There were +ninety-three parishes in four counties, of which the population was +113,147, and the poor-law expenditure 81,978 l., or 14 s. 5 d. per +head; and there were eighty parishes in three other counties, the +population of which was 105,728, and the poor-law expenditure 30,820 +l., or 5 s. 9 d. a head. In the counties in which the poor-law +expenditure was large, the industry and skill of the labourers were +passing away, the connection between the master and servant had become +precarious, the unmarried were defrauded of their fair earnings, +and riots and incendiarism prevailed. In the counties where the +expenditure was comparatively small, there was scarcely any instance +of disorder; mutual attachment existed between the workman and his +employer; the intelligence, skill, and good conduct of the labourers +were unimpaired, or increased. This striking social contrast was only +a specimen of what prevailed throughout large districts, and generally +throughout the south and north of England, and it proved that, either +through the inherent vice of the system, or gross mal-administration +in the southern counties, the poor-law had the most demoralising +effect upon the working classes, while it was rapidly eating up the +capital upon which the employment of labour depended. This fact was +placed beyond question by a commission of enquiry, which was composed +of individuals distinguished by their interest in the subject, and +their intimate knowledge of its principles and details. Its labours +were continued incessantly for two years. Witnesses most competent to +give information were summoned from different parts of the country. +The commissioners had before them documentary evidence of every kind +calculated to throw light on the subject. They personally visited +localities, and examined the actual operation of the system on the +spot; and when they could not go themselves, they called to their aid +assistant commissioners, some of whom extended their enquiries into +Scotland, Guernsey, France, and Flanders; while they also collected a +vast mass of interesting evidence from our ambassadors and diplomatic +agents in different countries of Europe and America. It was upon the +report of this commission of enquiry that the act was founded for the +amendment and better administration of the laws relating to the poor +in England and Wales (4 and 5 William IV., cap. 76). A more solid +foundation for a legislative enactment could scarcely be found. The +importance of the subject fully warranted all the expense and labour +by which it was obtained. + +One of the most astounding facts established by the enquiry was the +wide-spread demoralisation which had developed itself in certain +districts. Home had lost its sanctity. The ties that bind parents and +children were loosened, and natural affection gave place to intense +selfishness, which often manifested itself in the most brutal manner. +Workmen grew lazy and dishonest. Young women lost the virtue which is +not only the point of honour with their sex, but the chief support of +all other virtues. Not only women of the working classes, but in some +cases even substantial farmers' daughters, and sometimes those who +were themselves the actual owners of property, had their illegitimate +children as charges on the parish, regularly deducting the cost +of their maintenance from their poor-rate, neither they nor their +relatives feeling that to do so was any disgrace. The system must +have been fearfully vicious that produced such depravation of moral +feeling, and such a shocking want of self-respect. + +Dr. Burn has given a graphic sketch of the duties of an overseer +under the old poor-law system in England. 'His office is to keep an +extraordinary watch to prevent people from coming to inhabit without +certificates; to fly to the justices to remove them. Not to let anyone +have a farm of 10 l. a year. To warn the parishioners, if they would +have servants, to hire them by the month, the week, or the day, rather +than by any way that can give them a settlement; or if they do hire +them for a year, then to endeavour to pick a quarrel with them before +the year's end, and so to get rid of them. To maintain their poor as +cheaply as they possibly can, and not to lay out twopence in prospect +of any future good, but only to serve the present necessity. To +bargain with some sturdy person to take them by the lump, who yet is +not intended to take them, but to hang over them _in terrorem_, if +they shall complain to the justices for want of maintenance. To +send them out into the country a begging. To bind out poor children +apprentices, no matter to whom, or to what trade; but to take special +care that the master live in another parish. To move heaven and earth +if any dispute happen about a settlement; and, in that particular, +to invert the general rule, and stick at no expense. To pull down +cottages: _to drive out as many inhabitants, and admit as few, as they +possibly can; that is, to depopulate the parish, in order to lessen +the poor's-rate_. To be generous, indeed, sometimes, in giving a +portion with the mother of a bastard child to the reputed father, +on condition that he will marry her, or with a poor widow, _always +provided that the husband_ be settled elsewhere; or if a poor man with +a large family happen to be industrious, they will charitably assist +him in taking a farm in some neighbouring parish, and give him 10 l. +to pay his first year's rent with, that they may thus for ever get rid +of him and his progeny.' + +The effect of this system was actually to depopulate many parishes. +The author of a pamphlet on the subject, Mr. Alcock, stated that the +gentlemen were led by this system to adopt all sorts of expedients +to hinder the poor from marrying, to discharge servants in their +last quarter, to evict small tenants, and pull down cottages; so +that several parishes were in a manner depopulated, while England +complained of a want of useful hands for agriculture, manufactories, +for the land and sea service. 'When the minister marries a couple,' he +said, 'he rightly prays that they may be fruitful in the procreation +of children; but most of the parishioners pray for the very contrary, +and perhaps complain of him for marrying persons, that, should they +have a family of children, might likewise become chargeable.' Arthur +Young also described the operation of the law in his time, in +clearing off the people, and causing universally 'an open war against +cottages.' Gentlemen bought them up whenever they had an opportunity, +and immediately levelled them with the ground, lest they should become +'nests of beggars' brats.' The removal of a cottage often drove the +industrious labourer from a parish where he could earn 15 s. a week, +to one where he could earn but 10 s. As many as thirty or forty +families were sent off by removals in one day. Thus, as among the +Scotch labourers of the present day, marriage was discouraged; the +peasantry were cleared off the land, and increasing immorality was the +necessary consequence. + +There was another change in the old system, by which the interests of +the influential classes were made to run in favour of the 'beggars' +nests,' which were soon at a premium. The labourer was to be paid, +not for the value of his labour, but according to the number of his +family; the prices of provisions being fixed by authority, and the +guardians making up the difference between what the wages would buy +and what the family required. + +The allowance scales issued from time to time were framed on the +principle that every labourer should have a gallon loaf of standard +wheaten bread weekly for every member of his family, and one over. The +effect of this was, that a man with six children, who got 9 s. a week +wages, required nine gallon loaves, or 13 s. 6 d. a week, so that he +had a pension of 4 s. 6 d. over his wages. Another man, with a wife +and five children, so idle and disorderly that no one would employ +him, was entitled to eight gallon loaves for their maintenance, so +that he had 12 s. a week to support him. The increase of allowance +according to the number of children acted as a direct bounty upon +marriage. The report of the Committee of the House of Commons on +labourers' wages, printed in 1824, describes the effect of this +allowance system in paralysing the industry of the poor. 'It is +obvious,' remarked the committee, 'that a disinclination to work must +be the consequence of so vicious a system. He whose subsistence +is secure without work, and who cannot obtain more than a mere +sufficiency by the hardest work, will naturally be an idle and +careless labourer. Frequently the work done by four or five such +labourers does not amount to what might easily be performed by a +single labourer at task work. A surplus population is encouraged: men +who receive but a small pittance know that they have only to marry and +that pittance will be increased proportionally to the number of their +children. When complaining of their allowance, they frequently say, +"We will marry, and then you must maintain us." This system secures +subsistence to all; to the idle as well as the industrious; to the +profligate as well as the sober; and, as far as human interests are +concerned, all inducements to obtain a good character are taken away. +The effects have corresponded with the cause: able-bodied men +are found slovenly at their work, and dissolute in their hours of +relaxation; a father is negligent of his children, the children do not +think it necessary to contribute to the support of their parents; +the employer and employed are engaged in personal quarrels; and the +pauper, always relieved, is always discontented. Crime advances with +increasing boldness; and the parts of the country where this system +prevails are, in spite of our gaols and our laws, filled with poachers +and thieves.' Mr. Hodges, chairman of the West Kent quarter sessions, +in his evidence before the emigration committee, said, 'Formerly, +working people usually stayed in service till they were twenty-five, +thirty, and thirty-five years of age, before they married; whereas +they now married frequently under age. Formerly, these persons +had saved 40 l. and 50 l. before they married, and they were never +burdensome to the parish; now, they have not saved a shilling before +their marriage, and become immediately burdensome.' + +The farmers were not so discontented with this allowance system as +might be supposed, because a great part of the burden was cast upon +other shoulders. The tax was laid indiscrimately upon all fixed +property; so that the occupiers of villas, shopkeepers, merchants, and +others who did not employ labourers, had to pay a portion of the wages +for those that did. The farmers were in this way led to encourage a +system which fraudently imposed a heavy burden upon others, and which, +by degrading the labourers, and multiplying their numbers beyond the +real demand for them, must, if allowed to run its full course, have +ultimately overspread the whole country with the most abject poverty +and wretchedness. + +There was another interest created which tended to increase the evil. +In the counties of Suffolk, Sussex, Kent, and generally through +all the south of England, relief was given in the shape of house +accommodation, or free dwellings for the poor. The parish officers +were in the habit of paying the rent of the cottages; the rent was +therefore high and sure, and consequently persons who had small pieces +of ground were induced to cover them with those buildings. On this +subject Mr. Hodges, the gentleman already referred to, remarks: 'I +cannot forbear urging again that any measure having for its object the +relief of the parishes from their over population, must of necessity +become perfectly useless, unless the act of parliament contains some +regulations with respect to the erecting and maintaining of cottages. +I am quite satisfied that the erecting of cottages has been a most +serious evil throughout the country. The getting of the cottage tempts +young people of seventeen and eighteen years of age, and even younger, +to marry. It is notorious that almost numberless cottages have been +built by persons speculating on the parish rates for their rents.' + +The evils of this system had reached their height in the years 1831-2. +That was a time when the public mind was bent upon reforms of all +sorts, without waiting for the admission from the Tories that the +grievances of which the nation complained were 'proved abuses.' The +reformers were determined no longer to tolerate the state of things, +in which the discontent of the labouring classes was proportioned to +the money disbursed in poor-rates, or in voluntary charities; in +which the young were trained in idleness, ignorance, and vice--the +able-bodied maintained in sluggish and sensual indolence--the aged +and more respectable exposed to all the misery incident to dwelling +in such society as that of a large workhouse without discipline or +classification--the whole body of inmates subsisting on food far +exceeding both in kind and amount, not merely the diet of the +independent labourer, but that of the majority of the persons who +contributed to their support. The farmer paid 10 s. in the pound in +poor-rates, and was in addition compelled to employ supernumerary +labourers not required on his farm, at a cost of from 100 l. to 250 l. +a year; the labourer had no need to hasten himself to seek work, or to +please his master, or to put a restraint upon his temper, having all +the slave's security for support, without the slave's liability to +punishment. The parish paid parents for nursing their little children, +and children for supporting their aged parents, thereby destroying +in both parties all feelings of natural affection and all sense of +Christian duty. + +I hope I shall be excused in giving, from a former work of my own, +these home illustrations to prove that bad laws can degrade and +demoralize a people in a comparatively short time, in spite of race +and creed and public opinion; and that, where class interests are +involved, the most sacred rights of humanity are trampled in the mire +of corruption. Even now the pauperism resulting of necessity from the +large-farm system is degrading the English people, and threatening to +rot away the foundations of society. On this subject I am glad to find +a complete corroboration of my own conclusions in a work by one of the +ablest and most enlightened Christian ministers in England, the Rev. +Dr. Rigg. He says:-- + +'Notwithstanding a basis of manly, honest, and often generous +qualities, the common character of all the uneducated and unelevated +classes of the English labouring population includes, as marked +and obvious features, improvidence, distrust of their superiors, +discontent at their social position, and a predominant passion for +gross animal gratification. Of this general character we regard the +rude, heavy, unhopeful English peasant, who knows no indulgence +or relaxation but that of the ale-house, and lives equally without +content and without ambition, as affording the fundamental +type, which, like all other things English, possesses a marked +individuality. It differs decidedly from the Irish type of peasant +degradation. Something of this may be due to the effect of race. The +Kelt and the Saxon may be expected to differ. Yet we think but little +stress is to be laid upon this. There is, probably, much more Keltic +blood in the southern and western counties of England, and, also, more +Saxon blood in some of the southern and even western parts of +Ireland, than has been generally supposed. We apprehend that a Saxon +population, under the same conditions as the southern and western +Irish peasantry, would have grown up into very much the same sort of +people as the Irish have been; while a Keltic population, exposed to +the same influences, through successive generations, as the midland +and southern peasantry of England, would not have been essentially +different at the present day from the actual cultivators of the soil. + +'The Irish peasant is poorer and yet more reckless than the +Englishman; but he is not so sullen or so spiritless. His body is not +so muscular or so strongly-set as that of the Anglo-Saxon husbandman, +on whose frame the hard and unintermitted toil of thirty generations +has stamped its unmistakable impress, and, correspondently, he is a +less persevering and less vigorous labourer; but, as a general rule, +his stature is taller and his step far more free and elastic than that +of the sturdy but slow and stunted labourer of our southern counties. +There are wild mountainous districts of the west, indeed, in which +the lowest type of the Irish peasantry is found, that must be taken +as exceptions to our general statement; and as many from those regions +cross the Channel to tramp through England in the complex character +of mendicant labourers, no doubt some have received from them an +impression as to the Irish peasantry very different from what our +observations are intended to convey. But no one can have travelled +through the south of Ireland without having noticed what we state. The +Tipperary and Kilkenny peasantry are proverbially tall; Connemara has +been famed for its "giants," and many of both sexes throughout the +south, are, spite of their rags, fine figures, and graceful in their +movements. While looking at them, we have ceased to wonder at what has +been regarded as no better than the arch-agitator's blarney, when he +spoke of the Irish as the "finest pisantry in the world;" and we have +even felt saddened as we mentally contrasted with what we saw before +us the bearing and appearance of our own southern labourers. For +the tattered Irish peasant, living in a mud hovel, is, after all, a +gentleman in his bearing; whereas there is generally either a cringing +servility or a sullen doggedness in the demeanour of the south +Saxon labourer. The Irishman is, besides, far more intelligent and +ready-witted than the Saxon husbandman. The fact is that the Irishman, +if underfed, has not been overworked. His life has not been one of +unceasing and oppressive labour. Nor has his condition been one +of perpetual servitude. With all his poverty, he has been, to a +considerable extent, his own master. Half-starved, or satisfying his +appetite on light and innutritious fare,--far worse housed and +clad than the poorest English labourer, often, indeed, almost +half-naked,--oppressed by middle-men, exactors of rack-rent; with +all this the Irish cottier has been, from father to son, and +from generation to generation, _a tenant, and not merely a day +labourer_.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: 'Essays for the Times, on Ecclesiastical and Social +Subjects,' by James H. Rigg, D.D. London, 1866.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ULSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. + + +Let us, then, endeavour to get rid of the pernicious delusions about +race and religion in dealing with this Irish land question. Identity +of race and substantial agreement in religion did not prevent the +Ulster landlords from uprooting their tenants when they fancied it was +their interest to banish them--to substitute grazing for tillage, and +cattle for a most industrious and orderly peasantry. + +The letters of Primate Boulter contain much valuable information on +the state of Ulster in the last century, and furnish apt illustrations +of the land question, which, I fancy, will be new and startling to +many readers. Boulter was lord primate of Ireland from 1724 to 1738. +He was thirteen times one of the lords justices. As an Englishman and +a good churchman, he took care of the English interests and of the +establishment. The letters were written in confidence to Sir Robert +Walpole and other ministers of state, and were evidently not intended +for publication. An address 'to the reader' from some friend, states +truly that they give among other things an impartial account of 'the +distressed state of the kingdom for want of _tillage_, the vast sums +of money sent out of the nation for corn, flour, &c., the dismal +calamities thereon, the want of trade and the regulation of the +English and other coins, to the very great distress of all the +manufacturers,' &c. They show that he was a man of sound judgment, +public-spirited, and very moderate and impartial for the times in +which he lived. His evidence with regard to the relations of landlord +and tenant in Ulster is exceedingly valuable at the present moment. +Lord Dufferin could not have read the letters when he wrote his book; +otherwise I should think his apology for the landlords of the last +century would have been considerably modified. + +Primate Boulter repeatedly complained to Walpole, the Duke of +Newcastle, and other ministers, that the Ulster farmers were deserting +the country in large numbers, emigrating to the United States, then +British colonies, to the West Indies, or to any country where they +hoped to get the means of living, in many cases binding themselves +to work for a number of years _as slaves_ in payment of their passage +out. The desire to quit the country of their birth is described by the +primate as a mania. Writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1728 he +says:--'We are under great trouble here about a frenzy that has taken +hold of very great numbers to leave this country for the West Indies, +and we are endeavouring to learn what may be the reasons of it, and +the proper remedies.' Two or three weeks later he reported to the Duke +of Newcastle that for several years past some agents from the colonies +in America, and several masters of ships, had gone about the country +'and deluded the people with stories of great plenty and estates to +be had for going for in those parts of the world.' During the previous +summer more than 3,000 men, women, and children had been shipped +for the West Indies. Of these, not more than one in ten were men of +substance. The rest hired themselves for their passage, or contracted +with masters of ships for four years' servitude, 'selling themselves +as servants for their subsistence.' The whole north was in a ferment, +people every day engaging one another to go next year to the West +Indies. 'The humour,' says the primate, 'has spread like a contagious +distemper, and the people will hardly hear anybody that tries to +cure them of their madness. The worst is that it affects only +_Protestants_, and reigns chiefly in the North, which is the seat of +our linen manufacture.' + +As the Protestant people, the descendants of the English and Scotch +who had settled in the country in the full assurance that they were +building homes for their posterity, were thus deserting those homes in +such multitudes, their pastors sent a memorial to the lord lieutenant, +setting forth the grievances which they believed to be the cause of +the desertion. On this memorial the primate wrote comments to the +English Government, and, in doing so, he stated some astounding +facts as to the treatment of the people by their landlords. He was a +cautious man, thoroughly acquainted with the facts, and writing under +a sense of great responsibility. In order to understand some of those +facts, we should bear in mind that the landlords had laid down large +portions of their estates in pasture, to avoid the payment of tithes, +and that this burden was thrown entirely upon the tenants who tilled +the land. Now, let my readers mark what the primate states as to their +condition. He says:--'If a landlord takes too great a portion of the +profits of a farm for his share by way of rent (as the tithe will +light on the tenant's share), the tenant will be impoverished; but +then it is not the tithe, but the increased rent that undoes the +farmer. And, indeed, in this country, where I fear the tenant hardly +ever has more than one-third of the profits he makes of his farm for +his share, and too often but a _fourth_, or, perhaps, a _fifth part_, +as the tenant's share is charged with the tithe, his case is, no +doubt, hard, but it is plain from what side the hardship arises.' What +the gentlemen wanted to be at, according to the primate, was, that +they might go on raising their rents, and that the clergy should +receive their old payments. He admits, however, that the tenants were +sometimes cited to the ecclesiastical courts, and if they failed to +appear there, they stood excommunicated; and he adds, 'possibly when a +writ _de excommunicato capiendo_ is taken out, and they find they have +7 l. or 8 l. to pay, _they run away_, for the greatest part of the +occupiers of the land here are so poor, that an extraordinary stroke +of 8 l. or 10 l. falling on them is certain ruin to them.' He further +states that, to his own knowledge, many of the clergy had chosen +rather to lose their 'small dues' than to be at a certain great +expense in getting them, 'and at an uncertainty whether the farmer +would not at last _run away without paying anything_.' + +Such was the condition of the Protestants of Ulster during the era of +the penal code; and it is a curious fact that it was the Presbyterians +and not the Catholics that were forced by the exactions of the +Protestant landlords and the clergy to run away from the country which +their forefathers had been brought over to civilize. But there was +another fact connected with the condition of Ulster which I dare say +will be almost incredible to many readers. The tenantry, so cruelly +rack-rented and impoverished, were reduced by two or three bad seasons +to a state bordering upon famine. There was little or no corn in the +province. The primate set on foot a subscription in Dublin, to which +he himself contributed very liberally. The object was to buy food to +supply the necessities of the north, and to put a stop to 'the great +desertion' they had been threatened with. He hoped that the landlords +would 'do _their_ part by remitting some arrears, or making some +abatement of their rents.' As many of the tenants had eaten the oats +they should have sowed their lands with, he expected the landlords +would have the good sense to furnish them with seed; if not, a great +deal of land would lie waste that year. And where were the provisions +got? Partly in Munster, where corn was very cheap and abundant. But +the people of Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Clonmel objected to have +their provisions sent away, although they were in some places 'as +cheap again as in the north; but where dearest, at least one-third +part cheaper.' Riotous mobs broke open the store-houses and cellars, +setting what price they pleased upon the provisions. And, what between +those riots and the prevalence of easterly winds, three weeks elapsed +before the 3,000 l. worth of oats, oatmeal, and potatoes could be got +down to relieve the famishing people of the north, which then seemed +black enough, even to its own inhabitants. Hence the humane primate +was obliged to write: 'The humour of going to America still continues, +and the scarcity of provisions certainly makes many quit us. There +are now seven ships at Belfast that are carrying off 1,000 passengers +thither, and if we knew how to stop them, as most of them can neither +get victuals nor work at home, it would be cruel to do it.' + +The Presbyterian clergy suffered greatly from the impoverishment of +their people. Several of them who had been receiving a stipend of +50 l. a year, had their incomes reduced to less than 15 l. In their +distress they appealed to the primate, and, staunch churchman as he +was, they found in him a kind and earnest advocate. Writing to Sir +Robert Walpole, on March 31, 1729, he pleaded for the restoration of +400 l. a year, which had been given to the non-conforming clergy +of Ireland from the privy purse, in addition to the 1,200 l. royal +bounty, which, it appears, had been suspended for two years, owing +to the death of the late king. 'They are sensible,' said his grace, +'there is nothing due to them, nor do they make any such claim; but as +the calamities of this kingdom are at present very great, and by the +desertion of many of their people to America, and the poverty of the +greatest part of the rest, their contributions, particularly in the +north, are very much fallen off, it would be a great instance of his +majesty's goodness if he would consider their present distress.' In +our own days a Presbyterian minister would be considered to deserve +well of his country if he emigrated to America, and took with him as +many of the people as he could induce to forsake their native land. +But what was the great plea which Primate Boulter urged on the English +Minister on behalf of the Presbyterian clergy of his day? It was, that +they had exerted their influence to prevent emigration. 'It is,' +he said, 'but doing them justice to affirm that they are very +well affected to his majesty and his royal family, and by the best +enquiries I could make, do their best endeavours to keep their +congregations from deserting the country, not more than one or two +of the younger ministers having anyways encouraged the humour now +prevailing here. And his majesty's goodness in giving them some +extraordinary relief on this occasion of their present great distress +would undoubtedly make them _more active to retain their people here_. +I cannot help mentioning on this occasion that, what with scarceness +of corn in the north, _and the loss of all credit there_, and by +the numbers that go, or talk of going, to America, and with the +disturbances in the south, this kingdom is at present in a deplorable +condition.' + +In a statement previously made to the Bishop of London, the Irish +primate earnestly solicited his correspondent to use his influence +to prevent the Irish landlords from passing a law to strip the +established clergy of their rights with respect to the tithe of +agistment. They had entered into a general combination, and formed a +stock purse to resist the payment of tithe, except by the poor +tenants who tilled the soil, a remarkable contrast to the zeal of +the landlords of our own time in defending church property against +'spoliation' by the imperial legislature, and to the liberality with +which many of them are now contributing to the Sustentation Fund. +How shall we account for the change? Is it that the landlords of the +present day are more righteous than their grandfathers? Or is it that +the same principle of self-interest which led the proprietors of past +times to grind the tenantry and rob the Church, now operates in forms +more consistent with piety and humanity, and by its subtle influence +illustrates the maxim of the poet-- + + Self-love and social is the same. + +However that may be, the primate contented himself in this letter +with a defence of the Church, in which he admitted matters of real +grievance, merely alluding to other grievances, 'such as raising +the rents unreasonably, the oppression by justices of the peace, +seneschals, and other officers in the country.' + +From the pictures of the times he presents we should not be surprised +at his statement to the Duke of Newcastle, that the people who went +to America made great complaints of the oppressions they suffered, and +said that those oppressions were one reason of their going. When he +went on his visitation, in 1726, he 'met all the roads full of whole +families that had left their homes to beg abroad,' having consumed +their stock of potatoes two months before the usual time. During the +previous year many hundreds had perished of famine. What was the cause +of this misery, this desolating process going on over the plains of +Ulster? The archbishop accounts for it by stating that many persons +had let large tracts of land, from 3,000 to 4,000 acres, which were +stocked with cattle, and had no other inhabitants on their land than +so many cottiers as were necessary to look after their sheep and black +cattle, '_so that, in some of the finest counties, in many places +there is neither house nor cornfield to be seen in ten or fifteen +miles' travelling_, and daily in some counties many gentlemen, as +their leases fall into their hands, tie up their tenants from tillage; +and this is one of the main causes why so many venture to go into +foreign service at the hazard of their lives if taken, because they +cannot get land to till at home.' + +My readers should remember that the industrious, law-abiding, +bible-loving, God-fearing people, who were thus driven by oppression +from the fair fields of Ulster, which they had cultivated, and +the dwellings which they had erected, to make way for sheep and +cattle--because it was supposed by the landlords that sheep and cattle +paid better--were the descendants of British settlers who came to the +country under a royal guarantee _of freeholds and permanent tenures_. +Let them picture to their minds this fine race of honest, godly +people, rack-rented, crushed, evicted, heart-broken--men, women, and +children--Protestants, Saxons, cast out to perish as the refuse of the +earth, by a set of landed proprietors of their own race and creed; and +learn from this most instructive fact that, if any body of men has +the power of making laws to promote its own interest, no instincts of +humanity, no dictates of religion, no restraints of conscience can +be relied upon to keep them from acting with ruthless barbarity, +and doing more to ruin their country than a foreign invader could +accomplish by letting loose upon it his brutal soldiers. How much +more earnestly would Boulter have pleaded with the prime minister of +England on behalf of the wretched people of Ulster if he could have +foreseen that ere long those Presbyterian emigrants, with the sense +of injustice and cruel wrong burning in their hearts, would be found +fighting under the banner of American independence--the bravest and +fiercest soldiers of freedom which the British troops encountered in +the American war. History is continually repeating itself, yet how +vainly are its lessons taught! The same legal power of extermination +is still possessed by the Irish landlords after sixty-nine years of +imperial legislation. Our hardy, industrious people, naturally as well +disposed to royalty as any people in the world, are still crowding +emigrant ships in all our ports, deserting their country with the same +bitter feelings that animated the Ulster men a century ago, hating our +Government with a mortal hatred, and ready to fight against it under +a foreign flag! We have no Primate Boulter now in the Protestant +hierarchy to plead the cause of an unprotected tenantry; but we have +the press, which can concentrate upon the subject the irresistible +force of public opinion. + +As a churchman, Primate Boulter naturally regarded the land question +in its bearings on the interests of the Establishment. Writing to Sir +Robert Walpole in 1737 he said that he had in vain represented to the +landlords that, by destroying the tithe of agistment, they naturally +discouraged tillage, lessened the number of people, and raised the +price of provisions. By running into cattle they caused the young men +to enlist in foreign service for bread, there being no employment for +them at home, 'where two or three hands can look after some hundreds +of acres stocked with cattle.' And by this means, said the primate, 'a +great part of our churches are neglected; in many places five, six, or +seven parishes bestowed on one incumbent, who, perhaps, with all +his tithes, scarce gets 100 l. a year.' But there was at that time a +member of the Irish House of Commons who was capable of taking a more +enlarged view of the Irish question. This was Mr. Arthur Dobbs, who +belonged to an old and honourable Ulster family--the author of a book +on the 'North-west Passage to India,' and of a very valuable work on +the 'Trade of Great Britain and Ireland.' He was intimately acquainted +with the working of the Irish land system, for he had been many years +agent of the Hertfort estate, one of the largest in Ireland. There +is among Boulter's letters an introduction of Mr. Dobbs to Sir Robert +Walpole, recommending him as a person of good sense, who had applied +himself to the improvement of trade, and to the making of our colonies +in America of more advantage than they had hitherto been. He was +afterwards made Governor of North Carolina. I have mentioned these +facts in the hope of securing the attention of landlords and statesmen +to the following passage from his book accounting for the deplorable +condition of the province of Ulster at that time, and the emigration +of its industrious and wealth-producing inhabitants. In my humble +opinion it furnishes irresistible arguments in favour of a measure +which should settle the Irish land question in such a manner that it +would speak to the people of Ireland in the words of holy writ: +'And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant +vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another +inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat.' Mr. Dobbs says:-- + +'How can a tenant improve his land when he is convinced that, after +all his care and toil, his improvements will be overrated, and he +will be obliged to shift for himself? Let us place ourselves in his +situation and see if we should think it reasonable to improve for +another, if those improvements would be the very cause of our being +removed from the enjoyment of them. I believe we should not. Industry +and improvements go very heavily on when we think we are not to have +the property in either. What can be expected, then, from covenants to +improve and plant, when the person to do it knows he is to have _no +property in them_? There will be no concern or care taken to preserve +them, and they will run to ruin as fast as made or planted. What was +it induced so many of the commonalty lately to go to America but high +rents, bad seasons, and want of good tenures, or a permanent property +in their land? This kept them poor and low, and they scarce had +sufficient credit to procure necessaries to subsist or till their +ground. They never had anything to store, all was from hand to mouth; +so one or two bad crops broke them. Others found their stock dwindling +and decaying visibly, and so removed before all was gone, while they +had as much left as would pay their passage, and had little more than +what would carry them to the American shore. + +'This, it may be allowed, was the occasion of the poor farmers going +who had their rents lately raised. But it may be objected that was not +the reason why rich farmers went, and those who had several years in +beneficial leases still unexpired, who sold their bargains and removed +with their effects. But it is plain they all went for the same reason; +for these last, from _daily examples before them_, saw the present +occupiers dispossessed of their lands at the expiration of their +leases, and no preference given to them; so they expected it would +soon be their own case, to avoid which, and make the most of the years +still unexpired, they sold, and carried their assets with them to +procure a settlement in a country where they had reason to expect a +permanent property.' + +It is a curious fact that sentiments very similar were published by +one of Cromwell's officers about a century before. The plea which +he put forth for the Irish tenant in the dedication of his work on +Ireland to the Protector, has been repeated ever since by the tenants, +but repeated in vain: Captain Bligh, the officer alluded to, said: +'The first prejudice is, that if a tenant be at ever so great pains or +cost for the improvement of his land, he doth thereby but occasion a +greater rack-rent upon himself, or else invests his landlord with his +cost and labour _gratis_, or at least lies at his landlord's mercy for +requital; which occasions a neglect of all good husbandry, to his own, +the land, the landlord, and the commonwealth's suffering.' Now, this, +I humbly conceive, might be removed, if there were a law enacted, by +which every landlord should be obliged either to give him reasonable +allowance for his clear improvement, or else suffer him _or his_ +to enjoy it so much longer or till he hath had a proportionable +requital.' + +But although Primate Boulter protested against the conduct of the +landlords--all Episcopalians--who were ruining the church as well as +the country, the established clergy, as a body, were always on the +side of the oppressors. + +The Test Act placed the Presbyterians, like the Papists, in the +position of an inferior race. 'In the city of Londonderry alone, which +Presbyterian valour had defended, ten out of twelve aldermen, +and twenty out of twenty-four burgesses, were thrust out of the +corporation by that act, which placed an odious mark of infamy upon +at least one-half the inhabitants of the kingdom.' Presbyterians could +not legally keep a common school. The _Edinburgh Review_ says: 'All +the settlements, from first to last, had the effect of making the +cause of the church and the cause of the landlords really one. During +the worst days of landlord oppression it never identified itself with +the interests of the people, but uniformly sustained the power and +privileges of the landlords.' + +It was vain to expect justice from the Irish parliament. The people +of Ireland never were governed exclusively, or at all, by her own +Sovereign, her own Lords, and her own Commons. Ireland was 'in the +custody of England,' just as much before the Union as during the last +sixty-seven years. Even during the few brief years of her spasmodic +'independence,' the mass of the nation formed no part of the 'Commons +of Ireland.' It was still, as it always had been, a sham parliament--a +body representing the colonial aristocracy--acting as undertakers for +the Government of England, for whose interest exclusively this island +was to be ruled. Provided this result was secured, it did not matter +much, at the other side of the Channel, how the Irish people were +treated. Indeed, they were not recognised as the people of Ireland, +or any part thereof. Even philosophic liberals, like Lord Charlemont, +were shocked at the idea of a Papist getting into the Irish House +of Commons; and the volunteer system was shattered by this insane +animosity of the ruling race against the subject nation. The antipathy +was as strong as the antipathy between the whites and the negroes in +the West Indies and the United States. Hence the remorseless spirit in +which atrocities were perpetrated in 1798. Mr. Daunt has shown that a +large proportion of the Irish House of Lords consisted of men who were +English to all intents and purposes--many of them by birth, and many +by residence, and, no doubt, they always came over with reluctance to +what Lord Chancellor Clare called 'our damnable country.' It may be +that in some years after the abolition of the Establishment--after +some experience of the _regime_ of religious equality--the two races +in this island will learn to act together so harmoniously as to give a +fair promise that they could be safely trusted with self-legislation. +But the '_self_' must be one body animated by one spirit; not +two bodies, chained together, irritated by the contact, fiercely +struggling against one another, eternally reproaching one another +about the mutual wrongs of the past, and not unfrequently coming +to blows, like implacable duellists shut up in a small room, each +determined to kill or be killed. If England were to let go her hold +even now, something like this would be the Irish 'situation.' The +abiding force of this antipathy, in the full light of Christianity, is +awful. + +In his 'Life, Letters, and Speeches of Lord Plunket,' the Hon. +David Plunket states that, when his grandfather entered the Irish +parliament, 'the English Government had nearly abandoned the _sham_ +of treating the Irish parliament as an independent legislature; the +treasury benches were filled with placemen and pensioners. All efforts +tending to reform of parliament or concession to the Catholics had +been given up as useless. Grattan and some of his immediate followers +had seceded from an assembly too degraded to appreciate their motives, +or to be influenced by their example; and whatever remained of +independence in the House of Commons ministers still laboured to bring +under their control. Scarcely thirty votes appeared in opposition +on the most important divisions, while Government could at any time +readily whip a majority of 100.' + +According to a Government return made in 1784, by Pitt's direction, +116 nomination seats were divided between some 25 proprietors. Lord +Shannon returned no less than 16 members, and the great family of +Ponsonby returned 14; Lord Hillsborough, 9, the Duke of Leinster, +7, and the Castle itself 12. Eighty-six seats were _let out_ by the +owners, in consideration of titles, offices, and pensions. No less +than 44 seats were occupied by placemen, 32 by gentlemen who had +promises of pensions, 12 by gentlemen who stood out for higher prices +from Government. The regular opposition appears to have been limited +to 82 votes, of which 30 belonged to Whig nominees, and the rest to +the popular party. + +It is, then, easy to account for the state of public feeling which Mr. +Plunket, with these facts and figures before him, so well describes. +He says truly that if it were possible to appeal to the country under +these circumstances, the people would not have responded. 'Gloomy +and desperate, they had lost all confidence in their parliament, +and looked to other quarters for deliverance from the _intolerable +tyranny_ under which they suffered. There can be no doubt that +this anarchy and disgrace were in a great degree the result of a +misgovernment, ancient and recent, _which seems to have been always +adopted with a view to bring out strongly the worst elements of the +Irish character_; but it was at that time said, and no doubt believed +by the Opposition, that the ministry of the day had deliberately +planned and accomplished the disorganisation of the Irish people and +their parliament, in order to enable them to carry out their favourite +project of the Union.' + +Mr. Plunket, after describing the classes of 'representatives' that +his grandfather had to deal with in the Irish House of Commons, +further says: 'It is true that this corrupt assembly cannot fairly be +looked upon as the mirror of national character and national honour. +The members of the majority who voted for the Union _were not_ +the representatives of the people, _but the hired servants of the +Minister, for the Parliament had been packed for the purpose_.' + +Towards the close of the century, however, the French Revolution, +the American war, and the volunteer movement, had begun to cause +some faint stirring of national life in the inert mass of the Roman +Catholic population, which the penal code had '_dis-boned_.' Up +to this time they were not even thought of in the calculations of +politicians. According to Dean Swift, Papists counted no more in +politics than the women and children. Macaulay uses a still more +contemptuous comparison to express the estimate in which they were +held in those times, saying, that their lords and masters would as +soon have consulted their poultry and swine on any political question. +Nevertheless, during the excitement of the volunteer movement, some +of the poor Celts began to raise their heads, and presumed to put the +question to the most liberal portion of the ruling race--'Are we not +men? Have not we also some rights?' The appeal was responded to in the +Irish parliament, and in 1793 the elective franchise was conceded to +Roman Catholics. It was the first concession, and the least that could +be granted. But the bare proposal excited the utmost indignation in +the Tory party, and especially in the Dublin corporation, where +the Orange spirit was rampant. That body adopted an address to the +Protestants of Ireland, which bears a remarkable resemblance in its +spirit and style to addresses lately issued by Protestant Defence +Associations. Both speak in the kindest terms of their Roman Catholic +fellow-subjects, disclaim all intention of depriving them of any +advantages they enjoy under our glorious constitution, declaring that +their objects are purely _defensive_, and that they want merely to +guard that constitution against the aggressions of the Papacy quite as +much for the sake of Roman Catholics as for the sake of Protestants. +'Countrymen and friends,' said the Dublin Tories, seventy-five years +ago, 'the firm and manly support which we received from you when we +stood forward in defence of the Protestant Ascendancy, deserves our +warmest thanks. We hoped that the sense of the Protestants of Ireland, +declared upon that occasion, would have convinced our Roman Catholic +fellow-subjects that the pursuit of political power was for them a +vain pursuit; for, though the liberal and enlightened mind of the +Protestant receives pleasure at seeing the Catholic exercise his +religion with freedom, enjoy his property in security, and possess +the highest degree of personal liberty, yet, experience has taught us +that, without the ruin of the Protestant establishment, the Catholic +cannot be allowed the smallest influence in the state.' + +Those men were as thoroughly convinced as their descendants, +who protest against concession to-day, that all our Protestant +institutions would go to perdition, if Papists, although then mere +serfs, were allowed to vote for members of parliament. They were +equally puzzled to know why Roman Catholics were discontented, or what +more their masters could reasonably do for them to add to the enviable +happiness of their lot. 'We entreat you,' the Dublin corporation said +to their Protestant brethren throughout the country--'we entreat you +to join with us in using every honest means of persuading the Roman +Catholics to rest content with the most perfect toleration of their +religion, the fullest security of their property, and the most +complete personal liberty; but, by no means, now or hereafter, to +attempt any interference in the government of the kingdom, as such +interference would be incompatible with the Protestant Ascendancy, +which we have resolved with our lives and fortunes to maintain.' +Lest any doubt should exist as to what they meant by 'Protestant +Ascendancy,' they expressly defined it. They resolved that it +consisted in a Protestant King of Ireland; a Protestant Parliament, +Protestant electors and Government; Protestant benches of justice; +a Protestant hierarchy; the army and the revenue, through all their +branches and details, Protestant; and this system supported by a +connection with the Protestant realm of Britain. + +The power of the political franchise to elevate a degraded people, to +convert slaves into men, is exhibited before the eyes of the present +generation in the Southern States of America; even where differences +of race and colour are most marked, and where the strongest natural +antipathies are to be overcome. We may judge from this what must +have been the effect of this concession on the Irish Celts. The +forty-shilling freeholders very soon became objects of consideration +with their landlords, who were anxious to extend their political +influence in their respective counties, for the representation of +which the great proprietors had many a fierce contest. The abolition +of this franchise by the Emancipation Act made that measure a +grievance instead of a relief to the peasantry, for the landlords were +now as anxious to get rid of the small holders as they had been to +increase them so long as they served their political purpose. It was +one of the great drawbacks which deprived emancipation of the healing +effect it would otherwise have produced. If--as Pitt intended--that +measure had formed part of the Union arrangements; if the +forty-shilling freeholders had been spared, and the priesthood had +been endowed, we should never have had an agitation for repeal or even +for the separation of the church from the state. Pitt's plan of the +Union included the abolition of Protestant Ascendancy. + +Edmund Burke, in one of his letters on Ireland, said: 'A word has +been lately struck in the mint of the castle of Dublin. Thence it was +conveyed to the Tholsel, or city hall, where having passed the touch +of the corporation, so respectably stamped and vouched, it soon became +current in parliament, and was carried back by the speaker of the +House of Commons, in great pomp, as an offering of homage from whence +it came. That word is Ascendancy. The word is not absolutely new.' He +then gives its various meanings, and first shows what it does _not_ +signify in the new sense. Not influence obtained by love or reverence, +or by superior management and dexterity; not an authority derived from +wisdom or virtue, promoting the happiness and freedom of the Roman +Catholic people; not by flattering them, or by a skilful adaptation to +their humours and passions. It means nothing of all these. Burke then +shows what it does mean. 'New ascendancy is old mastership. It is +neither more nor less than the resolution of one sect of people in +Ireland to consider themselves the sole citizens in the commonwealth, +and to keep a dominion over the rest, by reducing them to absolute +slavery under a military power; and thus fortified in their power, to +divide the public estate, which is the result of general contribution, +as a military booty, solely among themselves. This ascendancy, +by being a _Protestant_ ascendancy, does not better it, from a +combination of a note or two more in this anti-harmonic scale. By +the use that is frequently made of the term, and the policy that is +grafted on it, the name Protestant becomes nothing more or better than +the name of a persecuting faction, with a relation of some sort of +theological hostility to others, but without any sort of ascertained +tenets of its own, upon the ground of which it persecutes other men; +for the patrons of this Protestant ascendancy neither do nor can, +by anything positive, define or describe what they mean by the word +Protestant.... The whole is nothing but pure and perfect malice. It +is indeed a perfection in that kind, belonging to beings of a higher +order than man, and to them we ought to leave it.... Let three +millions of people but abandon all that they and their ancestors have +been taught to believe sacred, and to forswear it publicly in terms +the most degrading, and nothing more is required of them.... The word +_Protestant_ is the charm that locks up in a dungeon of servitude +three millions of people. + +Every thoughtful reader of the debates in parliament on the state of +Ireland, must have been struck with the difference of opinion between +the Liberals and the Conservatives, as to the facts of the case. A +still more violent difference was presented in the British parliament, +in the year 1797, when there were great debates in both houses on the +subject, and when the facts were still more glaring, one of them being +that the reign of terror established by the Irish Government prevented +the press from reporting the maddening atrocities which the ruling +faction was daily perpetrating against the mass of the king's +subjects. The debate arose in the Lords, on a motion by Lord Moira +for an address to the king on the state of Ireland. He described the +horrors of which he had been recently a witness, but softened the +recital, lest he should shock his hearers too much. Orange loyalty +was then licensed and let loose upon the defenceless Roman Catholic +population in Ulster. Lord Gosford's description of the scenes of +desolation in his own county, Armagh, is well known. He did what +he could to prevent the burning of Roman Catholic houses, and the +personal injuries inflicted upon the unfortunate inhabitants, while +their Orange neighbours chased them out of the country, giving them +Cromwell's alternative. But his mercy injured his reputation, and he +felt obliged to protest solemnly that he was a loyal man, and that he +wished to uphold Protestant ascendancy in Ireland as much as any of +his accusers. He only asked that the poor Catholic should be allowed +to live in peace. In the debate referred to, Lord Moira declared that +ninety-one householders had been banished from one of his own estates; +and many of them wounded in their persons. The discontent, he said, +was not confined to one sect. He ascribed the state of things to the +recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, which crushed the hopes of the Catholics, +and gave unbounded licence to the yeomanry, who were empowered to act +with a vigour beyond the law; to turn out, banish, or kill the king's +subjects, on mere suspicion, often prompted by private malice, and +having no better warrant than anonymous information. But for all this +the Irish parliament and the new reactionary viceroy freely granted +acts of indemnity. According to Earl Fitzwilliam 'whole parishes, +baronies, and even counties, were declared to be out of the king's +peace.' + +Mr. Fox brought forward a similar motion in the House of Commons, +pleading the cause of justice and humanity in a noble speech, and +boldly affirming principles of government for Ireland, which +Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, and Mr. Bright are now +endeavouring to have carried out by the imperial parliament after +seventy years of concession, extorted by three rebellions. Mr. Fox +expressed his abhorrence of 'the truly diabolical maxim' of '_Divide +el impera_,' by which the government of Ireland was conducted. He +hoped that the discontent which threatened the separation of Ireland +would be dissipated without the necessity of war. 'But now,' he said, +'the extremity of rigour has been tried--the severity of despotism has +been let loose--and the Government is driven to that state when the +laws are not to be put into execution, but to be superseded.' The +motion was seconded by Sir Francis Burdett, who said: 'Whoever has +seen Ireland, has seen a country where the fields are desolated, and +the prisons overflowing with the victims of oppression--has seen the +shocking contrast between a profligate, extravagant Government, and +an enslaved and impoverished people.' The motion was rejected by +a majority of 136. Lord Moira made a last and an almost despairing +appeal on November 22, in the same year. In his speech he said: +'I have seen in that country a marked distinction made between the +English and the Irish. I have seen troops that have been sent full of +this prejudice, that every inhabitant of that kingdom is a rebel to +the British Government. I have seen the most wanton insults practised +upon men of all ranks and conditions. I have seen the most grievous +oppression exercised, in consequence of a presumption that the person +who was the unfortunate object of such oppression was in hostility to +the Government; and yet that has been done in a part of the country +as quiet and as free from disturbance as the city of London. He who +states these things should be prepared with proofs. I am prepared with +them.' He then went into a number of horrifying details, and concluded +as follows: 'You say that the Irish are insensible to the benefits +of the British constitution, and you withhold all these benefits from +them. You goad them with harsh and cruel punishments, and a general +infliction of insult is thrown upon the kingdom. I have seen, my +lords, a conquered country held by military force; _but never did I +see in any conquered country such a tone of insult as has been adopted +by Great Britain towards Ireland_. I have made a last effort. I acquit +my conscience; I have done my duty.' + +In subsequent debates, the following sentiments were uttered by the +leading Whig statesmen of the day: 'The treatment of Ireland,' said +Mr. Fox, 'was such as to harrow up the soul. It was shocking to think +that a nation of brothers was thus to be trampled on like the most +remote colony of conquered strangers.... The Irish people have been +scourged by the iron hand of oppression, and subjected to the horrors +of military execution, and are now in a situation too dreadful for the +mind to contemplate without dismay. After the inhuman dragooning +and horrible executions, the recital of which makes the blood run +cold--after so much military cruelty, not in one, but in almost every +part of the country--is it possible for this administration to procure +unanimity in Ireland?' On March 22, 1798, the Duke of Bedford moved an +address to the king, asking him to change his ministers, and alluding +to the state of Ireland, as it was before the breaking out of the +Rebellion. He said: 'Were I to enter into a detail of the atrocities +which have been committed in Ireland, the picture would appal the +stoutest heart. It could be proved that the most shocking cruelties +have been perpetrated; but what could be expected if men kept in +strict discipline were all at once allowed to give loose to their fury +and their passions?' + +Lord Holland was persuaded that his majesty's ministers could not +tranquillise Ireland even by conciliation. 'How could they conciliate +whose concessions are always known to be the concessions of weakness +and of fear, and who never granted to the Irish--the most generous +people upon earth,--anything without a struggle or resistance?' Lord +William Russell, in June following, said: 'A man's loyalty was to +be estimated by the desire he testified to imbrue his hands in his +brother's blood.' Sheridan asked: 'After being betrayed, duped, +insulted--disappointed in their dearest hopes, and again thrown into +the hands of the rulers they detested and despised, was it impossible +they should feel emotions of indignation? The struggle is not one of +partial disaffection, but it is a contest between the people and the +Government.' Mr. Tierney said: 'It was certain the people were in arms +against the Government, nor was it easy to conceive how--having been +scourged, burnt, and massacred--they could have any other feeling than +aversion to that Government.' + +Every motion on the subject in both houses was rejected by +overwhelming majorities. So little impression did the reports of the +appalling facts which were of daily occurrence in Ireland make upon +that Tory Government, that the speeches of ministers read exactly like +the speeches of Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Hardy, Lord Mayo, and Mr. Warren, +in the past session. Lord Grenville, the home secretary, professed the +most profound respect for the independence of the Irish parliament, +and he could not think of interfering in the least with its +privileges, however the empire might suffer from its excesses. +'The motion of Lord Moira was not only unnecessary, it was highly +mischievous.' He dwelt on the improved state of Ireland, and the +tranquillity of the people. If there were partial excesses on the part +of the military, they were unavoidable, and could only be deplored. +'He was unable to discern what should alienate the affections of +Ireland. For the whole space of thirty years his majesty's Government +had been distinguished by the same uniform tenderness of regard, +by the same undeviating adherence to the mild principles of a +conciliatory system.... If any cruelties had been practised, they must +have been resisted by a high-spirited people. Were there no courts of +justice? The conduct of the lord lieutenant was highly commendable. +The system recommended by Lord Moira would only tend to villify the +Irish Government.' Then came the fatal announcement which sounded +the death-knell of thousands of the Irish people, and caused the +destruction of millions' worth of property. The home secretary said: +'The contrary system must, therefore, be persevered in; and to +the spirited exertions of the British military should we owe the +preservation of Irish laws, of Irish property, and of Irish lives!' + +To this the Marquis of Downshire added 'that he was not afraid of the +effects of coercion. Every concession had been made that could be made +towards Ireland. Every Catholic was as free as the safety of the +state would admit. Were the Catholics to have an equal share in the +government with the Protestants, the Government and the country would +be lost.' + +I will conclude by quoting the remarks of Mr. Fox, referred to above: +'If you do not allay their discontent, there is no way but force to +keep them in obedience. Can you convince them by the musket that their +principles are false? Can you prove to them by the bayonet that their +pretensions are unjust? Can you demonstrate to them by martial law +that they enjoy the blessings of a free constitution? No, it is said, +but they may be deterred from the prosecution of the objects which you +have determined to refuse. But on what is this founded? On the history +of Ireland itself? No; for the history of Ireland proves that, though +repeatedly subdued, it could not be kept in awe by force; and the +late examples will prove the effect which severity may be expected +to produce.... I would therefore concede; and if I found I had not +conceded enough, I would concede more. I know of no way of governing +mankind, but by conciliating them.... My wish is that the whole people +of Ireland should have the same principles, the same system, the same +operation of government. ... I would have the whole Irish government +regulated by Irish notions and Irish prejudices; and I firmly +believe, according to an Irish expression, the more she is under Irish +government, the more she will be bound to English interests. ... I +say, therefore, try conciliation, but do not have recourse to arms.' +He warned and implored in vain. The Union had been determined on; and +it was thought that it could be effected only after the prostration of +civil war, into which, therefore, the unfortunate people were goaded. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +POVERTY AND COERCION. + + +We are now in the nineteenth century, without any relief for the Irish +peasantry. The rebellion of '98, so cruelly crushed, left an abiding +sense of terror in the hearts of the Roman Catholic population. +Their condition was one of almost hopeless prostration. The Union was +effected without the promised relief from their religious disabilities +which was to be one of its essential conditions. The established +church was secured, the rights of property were secured, but there was +no security for the mass of the people. Domestic politics were almost +forgotten in the gigantic struggle with Napoleon, which exhausted +the energies of the empire. Any signs of political life that showed +themselves in Ireland were connected with Catholic emancipation, and +the visit of George IV., in 1820, held forth promises of relief which +excited unbounded joy. The king loved his Irish subjects, and would +never miss an opportunity of realising the good wishes for their +happiness which he had so often and so fervently expressed to his Whig +friends, when he was Prince Regent. O'Connell's agitation commenced +soon after, and in nine years after the royal visit emancipation was +extorted by the dread of civil war, frankly avowed by the Duke of +Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. But this boon left the masses nearly +where they had been, only more conscious of their power, and more +determined to use it, in the removal of their grievances. + +Lord Redesdale, writing to Lord Eldon in 1821, said:--'In England +the machine goes on almost of itself, and therefore a bad driver +may manage it tolerably well. It is not so in Ireland. The country +requires great exertion to bring it into a state of order and +submission to law. The whole population--high and low, rich and poor, +Catholic and Protestant--must all be brought to obedience to law; all +must be taught to look up to the law for protection. The gentry are +ready enough to attend grand juries, to obtain presentments for their +own benefit, but they desert the quarter-sessions of the peace. The +first act of a constable in arresting must not be to knock down the +prisoner; and many, many reforms must be made, which only can be +effected by a judicious and able Government _on the spot_. Ireland, in +its present state, cannot be governed in England. If insubordination +compels you to give, how are you to retain by law what you propose to +maintain while insubordination remains? It can only be by establishing +completely the empire of the law.' + +Sir Archibald Alison ascribed the unhappy relations of classes in +Ireland to what he calls 'the atrocious system of confiscation, which, +in conformity with feudal usages, the victors introduced on every +occasion of rebellion against their authority.' Sir George Nicholls +has shown, in his valuable history of the Irish poor law, that as +early as 1310 the parliament assembled at Kilkenny resolved that none +should keep Irish, or kern, in time of peace to live upon the poor of +the country; 'but those which will have them shall keep them at their +own charges, so that the free tenants and farmers be not charged with +them.' And 130 years afterwards, the parliament assembled in Dublin +declared that divers of the English were in the habit of maintaining +sundry thieves, robbers, and rebels, and that they were to be adjudged +traitors for so doing, and suffer accordingly. In 1450, this class +of depredators had increased very much, and by their 'thefts and +manslaughters caused the land to fall into decay, poverty wasting it +every day more and more; whereupon it was ordained that it should +be lawful for every liege man to kill or take notorious thieves, and +thieves found robbing, spoiling, or breaking houses; and that every +man that kills or takes any such thieves shall have one penny of every +plough, and one farthing of every cottage within the barony where the +manslaughter is done, for every thief.' These extracts show a very +barbarous state of society, but Sir George Nicholls remarks that +at the same period the condition of England and Scotland was very +similar, save only that that of Ireland was aggravated by the civil +conflicts between the colonists and the natives. There were some +efforts made in Ireland, by various enactments, to put down this evil, +and to provide employment for the large numbers that were disposed to +prey upon the industry of their neighbours, by robbery, beggary, and +destruction of property. But while there was a legal provision made +for the poor in England, there was none in Ireland, where the people +were, _en masse_, deprived of the means of self-support by the action +of the Government. Hence, so late as the year 1836, the poor-law +commissioners reported to the following effect:-- + +It appeared that in Great Britain the agricultural families +constituted little more than a fourth, whilst in Ireland they +constituted about two-thirds, of the whole population; that there +were in Great Britain, in 1831, 1,055,982 agricultural labourers; +in Ireland, 1,131,715, although the cultivated land of Great Britain +amounted to about 34,250,000 acres and that of Ireland only to about +14,600,000. So that there were in Ireland about five agricultural +labourers for every two that there were for the same quantity of land +in Great Britain. It further appeared that the agricultural progress +of Great Britain was more than four times that of Ireland; in which +agricultural wages varied from sixpence to one shilling a day; the +average of the country being about eightpence-halfpenny; and that the +earnings of the labourers came, on an average of the whole class, to +from two shillings to two and sixpence a week or thereabouts for the +year round. Thus circumstanced, the commissioners observed, 'It is +impossible for the able-bodied in general to provide against sickness +or the temporary absence of employment, or against old age, or the +destitution of their widows and children in the contingent event of +their own premature decease. A great portion of them are, it is said, +insufficiently provided with the commonest necessaries of life. Their +habitations are wretched hovels, several of a family sleep together +on straw, or upon the bare ground, sometimes with a blanket, sometimes +even without so much to cover them; their food commonly consists of +dry potatoes, and with these they are at times so scantily supplied as +to be obliged to stint themselves to one spare meal in the day. +There are even instances of persons being driven by hunger to seek +sustenance in wild herbs. They sometimes get a herring or a little +milk, but they never get meat except at Christmas, Easter, and +Shrovetide. Some go in search of employment to Great Britain, during +the harvest; others wander through Ireland with the same view. The +wives and children of many are occasionally obliged to beg; but they +do so reluctantly and with shame, and in general go to a distance from +home, that they may not be known. Mendicity, too, is the sole resource +of the aged and impotent of the poorer classes in general, when +children or relatives are unable to support them. To it, therefore, +crowds are driven for the means of existence, and the knowledge that +such is the fact leads to an indiscriminate giving of alms, which +encourages idleness, imposture, and general crime.' Such was the +wretched condition of the great body of the labouring classes in +Ireland; 'and with these facts before us,' the commissioners say, 'we +cannot hesitate to state that we consider remedial measures requisite +to ameliorate the condition of the Irish poor. What those measures +should be is a question complicated, and involving considerations +of the deepest importance to the whole body of the people, both in +Ireland and Great Britain.' + +Sir George Nicholls, who had been an English poor-law commissioner, +was sent over to Ireland to make preliminary enquiries. He found +that the Irish peasantry had generally an appearance of apathy and +depression, seen in their mode of living, their habitations, their +dress and conduct; they seemed to have no pride, no emulation, to +be heedless of the present and careless of the future. They did not +strive to improve their appearance or add to their comforts: their +cabins were slovenly, smoky, dirty, almost without furniture, or any +article of convenience or common decency. The woman and her children +were seen seated on the floor, surrounded by pigs and poultry: the man +lounging at the door, which could be approached only through mud and +filth: the former too slatternly to sweep the dirt and offal from the +door, the latter too lazy to make a dry footway, though the materials +were close at hand. If the mother were asked why she did not keep +herself and her children clean with a stream of water running near the +cabin, her answer invariably was--Sure, how can we help it? We are so +poor.' The husband made the same reply, while smoking his pipe at the +fire or basking in the sunshine. Sir George Nicholls rightly concluded +that poverty was not the sole cause of this state of things. He found +them also remarkable for their desultory and reckless habits. Though +their crops were rotting in the fields from excessive wet, and every +moment of sunshine should be taken advantage of, yet if there was a +market, a fair, or a funeral, a horse-race, a fight, or a wedding, +forgetting everything else, they would hurry off to the scene of +excitement. Working for wages was rare and uncertain, and hence arose +a disregard of the value of time, a desultory, sauntering habit, +without industry or steadiness of application. 'Such,' he proceeds, +'is too generally the character and such the habits of the Irish +peasantry; and it may not be uninstructive to mark the resemblance +which these bear to the character and habits of the English peasantry +in the pauperised districts, under the abuses of the old poor law. +Mendicancy and indiscriminate almsgiving have produced in Ireland +results similar to what indiscriminate relief produced in England--the +like reckless disregard of the future, the like idle and disorderly +conduct, and the same proneness to outrage having then characterised +the English pauper labourer which are now too generally the +characteristics of the Irish peasant. An abuse of a good law caused +the evil in the one case, and a removal of that abuse is now rapidly +effecting a remedy. In the other case the evil appears to have arisen +rather from the want than the abuse of a law; but the corrective for +both will, I believe, be found to be essentially the same.' + +The expectation that such a neglected people, made wretched by bad +land laws, should be loyal, was surely unreasonable. For them, +it might be said, there was no Government, no protection, no +encouragement. There could not be more tempting materials for +agitators to work upon. Lord Cloncurry vividly sketches the state +of things resulting from the want of principle and earnestness among +politicians in dealing with Irish questions at that time. + +'From the Union up to the year 1829, the type of British colonial +government was the order of the day. The Protestants were upheld as +a superior caste, and paid in power and official emoluments for their +services in the army of occupation. During the second viceroyalty of +Lord Anglesea, an effort was made by him to evoke the energies of the +whole nation for its own regeneration. That effort was defeated by +the conjoint influence of the cowardice of the English cabinet, +the petulance of Mr. Stanley, and the unseasonable violence and +selfishness of the lately emancipated popular leaders. Upon Lord +Anglesea's recall the modern Whig model of statemanship was set up and +followed: popular grievances were allowed to remain unredressed; the +discontent and violence engendered by those grievances were used from +time to time for party purposes; the people were hung and bayoneted +when their roused passions exceeded the due measure of factious +requirement; and the state patronage was employed to stimulate and +to reward a staff of demagogues, by whom the masses were alternately +excited to madness, and betrayed, according to the necessities of the +English factions. When Russells and Greys were out or in danger, there +were free promises of equal laws and privileges and franchises for +oppressed Ireland; the minister expectant or trembling for his place, +spoke loudly of justice and compensation, of fraternity and freedom. +To these key-notes the place-hunting demagogue pitched his brawling. +His talk was of pike-making, and sword-fleshing, and monster marching. +The simple people were goaded into a madness, the end whereof was for +them suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the hulks, and the gallows; +for their stimulators, silk gowns and commissionerships and seats on +the bench. Under this treatment the public mind became debauched; the +lower classes, forced to bear the charges of agitation, as well as to +suffer its penalties, lost all faith in their social future; they saw +not and looked not beyond the momentary excitement of a procession or +a monster meeting.' + +Sir Robert Peel, when introducing the Emancipation Bill, had to +confess the utter failure of the coercive policy which had been so +persistently pursued. He showed that Ireland had been governed, since +the Union, almost invariably by coercive acts. There was always some +political organisation antagonistic to the British Government. The +Catholic Association had just been suppressed; but another would soon +spring out of its ashes, if the Catholic question were not settled. +Mr. O'Connell had boasted that he could drive a coach-and-six through +the former act for its suppression; and Lord Eldon had engaged to +drive 'the meanest conveyance, even a donkey cart, through the act of +1829.' The new member for Oxford (Sir Robert Inglis) also stated that +twenty-three counties in Ireland were prepared to follow the example +of Clare. 'What will you do,' asked Sir Robert Peel, 'with that power, +that tremendous power, which the elective franchise, exercised +under the control of religion, at this moment confers upon the Roman +Catholics? What will you do with the thirty or forty seats that will +be claimed in Ireland by the persevering efforts of the agitators, +directed by the Catholic Association, and carried out by the agency +of every priest and bishop in Ireland?' If Parliament began to recede +there could be no limit to the retrogression. Such a course would +produce a reaction, violent in proportion to the hopes that had been +excited. Fresh rigours would become necessary; the re-enactment of the +penal code would not be sufficient. They must abolish trial by jury, +or, at least, incapacitate Catholics from sitting on juries. 2,000,000 +of Protestants must have a complete monopoly of power and privilege in +a country which contained 5,000,000 of Catholics, who were in most +of the country four to one--in some districts twenty to one--of the +Protestants. True, there were difficulties in the way of a settlement. +'But,' asked Sir Robert Peel, 'what great measure, which has stamped +its name upon the era, has ever been carried without difficulty? + +At the present moment there is a loud cry in the English press for the +suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and for the old remedy, coercion. +Those who raise the cry would do well to read Mr. Shiel's speech at +the Clare election in 1828. He said:-- + +'We have put a great engine into action, and applied the entire force +of that powerful machinery which the law has placed under our control. +We are masters of the passions of the people, and we have employed +our dominion with a terrible effect. But, sir, do you, or does any man +here, imagine that we could have acquired this formidable ability to +sunder the strongest ties by which the different classes of society +are fastened, unless we found the materials of excitement in the state +of society itself? Do you think that Daniel O'Connell has himself, +and by the single powers of his own mind, unaided by any external +co-operation, brought the country to this great crisis of agitation? +Mr. O'Connell, with all his talent for excitation, would have been +utterly powerless and incapable, unless he had been allied with a +great conspirator against the public peace; and I will tell you who +that confederate is--it is the law of the land itself that has been +Mr. O'Connell's main associate, and that ought to be denounced as the +mighty agitator of Ireland. The rod of oppression is the wand of this +enchanter, and the book of his spells is the penal code? Break the +wand of this political Prospero, and take from him the volume of his +magic, and he will evoke the spirits which are now under his control +no longer. But why should I have recourse to illustration, which may +be accounted fantastical, in order to elucidate what is in itself +so plain and obvious? Protestant gentlemen, who do me the honour to +listen to me, look, I pray you, a little dispassionately at the real +causes of the events which have taken place amongst you.... In no +other country, except in this, would such a revolution have been +effected. Wherefore? Because in no other country are the people +divided by the law from their superiors, and cast into the hands of a +set of men who are supplied with the means of national excitement +by the system of government under which we live. Surely, no man can +believe that such an anomalous body as the Catholic Association could +exist excepting in a community that has been alienated from the state +by the state itself. The discontent and the resentment of 7,000,000 +of the population have generated that domestic government which sways +public opinion, and uses the national passions as the instruments +of its will. It would be utterly impossible, if there were no +exasperating distinctions amongst us, to create any artificial causes +of discontent. Let men declaim for a century, and if they have no real +grievance their harangues will be empty sound and idle air. But +when what they tell the people is true--when they are sustained by +substantial facts, effects are produced of which what has taken place +at this election is only an example. The whole body of the people +having been previously excited, the moment any incident such as this +election occurs, all the popular passions start simultaneously up, and +bear down every obstacle before them. Do not, therefore, be surprised +that the peasantry should throw off their allegiance when they are +under the operation of emotions which it would be wonderful if they +could resist. The feeling by which they are actuated would make them +not only vote against their landlord, but would make them scale the +batteries of a fortress, and mount the breach; and, gentlemen, give +me leave to ask you whether, after due reflection upon the motives by +which your vassals (for so they are accounted) are governed, you will +be disposed to exercise any measure of severity in their regard?' + +The greatest warrior of the age rebuked the men who cried in that day +that the sword should be the arbiter of the Irish question; and Sir +Robert Peel, in his own vindication of the Emancipation Act, said:-- + +'I well know that there are those upon whom such considerations as +these to which I have been adverting will make but a faint impression. +Their answer to all such appeals is the short, in their opinion the +conclusive, declaration--" The Protestant constitution in church +and state must be maintained at all hazards, and by any means; the +maintenance of it is a question of principle, and every concession +or compromise is the sacrifice of principle to a low and vulgar +expediency." This is easily said; but how was Ireland to be governed? +How was the Protestant constitution in church and state to be +maintained in that part of the empire? Again I can anticipate the +reply--"By the overwhelming sense of the people of Great Britain; by +the application, if necessary, of physical force for the maintenance +of authority; by the employment of the organised strength of +government, the police and the military, to enforce obedience to the +law." I deliberately affirm that a minister of the crown, responsible +at the time of which I am speaking for the public peace and the public +welfare, would have grossly and scandalously neglected his duty if he +had failed to consider whether it might not be possible that the fever +of political and religious excitement which was quickening the pulse +and fluttering the bosom of the whole Catholic population--which had +inspired the serf of Clare with the resolution and energy of a free +man--which had, in the twinkling of an eye, made all considerations of +personal gratitude, ancient family connection, local preferences, the +fear of worldly injury, the hope of worldly advantage, subordinate +to the all-absorbing sense of religious obligation and public +duty--whether, I say, it might not be possible that the contagion of +that feverish excitement might spread beyond the barriers which, +under ordinary circumstances, the habits of military obedience and +the strictness of military discipline opposed to all such external +influences.' + +The officer who commanded the military force in Clare during the +election, testified, as the result of his observation there, that, +even in the constabulary and the army, the sympathies of a common +cause, political and religious, could not be altogether repressed, +and that implicit reliance could not long be placed on the effect of +discipline and the duty of obedience. On July 20, Lord Anglesea wrote +as follows:-- + +'We hear occasionally of the Catholic soldiers being ill-disposed, and +entirely under the influence of the priests. One regiment of infantry +is said to be divided into Orange and Catholic factions. It is certain +that, on July 12, the guard at the castle had Orange lilies about +them.' On July 26, the viceroy wrote another letter, from which the +following is an extract:--'The priests are using very inflammatory +language, and are certainly working upon the Catholics of the army. +I think it important that the depots of Irish recruits should be +gradually removed, under the appearance of being required to join +their regiments, and that whatever regiments are sent here should be +those of Scotland, or, at all events, of men not recruited from the +south of Ireland. I desired Sir John Byng to convey this opinion to +Lord Hill.' + +Emancipation was carried, and the people were disaffected still. +And why should they not be disaffected still? Emancipation had +done nothing for them. The farmers were still at the mercy of the +landlords, whose pride they humbled at the hustings of Clare and +Waterford. They were still tormented by the tithe-proctor seizing the +tenth of all that their labour produced on the land. The labourers +were still wretched, deprived of the forty-shilling freehold, which +protected them from the horrors of eviction and of transportation in +a floating hell across the Atlantic. I well remember the celebrated +anti-tithe war in 1831, as well as the system by which it was +provoked, and I can bear witness to the accuracy of the following +description of the tithe-proctor by Henry Grattan. He said:-- + +'The use of the tithe-farmer is to get from the parishioners what the +parson would be ashamed to demand, and so enable the parson to absent +himself from his duty. The powers of the tithe-farmer are summary laws +and ecclesiastical courts; his livelihood is extortion; his rank in +society is generally the lowest; and his occupation is to pounce on +the poor in the name of the Lord! He is a species of wolf left by +the shepherd to take care of the flock in his absence.' A single +tithe-proctor had on one occasion processed 1,100 persons for tithes, +nearly all of the lower order of farmers or peasants, the expense of +each process being about 8 s. They had heard of opinions delivered +in parliament, on the platform, and from the press by Protestant +statesmen of the highest consideration, that it was a cruel oppression +to extort in that manner from the majority of the tillers of the soil +the tenth of its produce, in order to support the clergy of another +church, who, in many cases, had no flocks, or only a few followers, +who were well able to pay for their own religious instruction. The +system would be intolerable even were the state clergy the pastors of +the majority; but as the proportion between the Protestants and the +Roman Catholics was in many parts as one to ten, and in some as one to +twenty, the injustice necessarily involved in the mode of levying the +impost was aggravated a hundredfold. It would be scarcely possible +to devise any mode of levying an impost more exasperating, which +came home to the bosoms of men with more irritating, humiliating, +and maddening power, and which violated more recklessly men's natural +sense of justice. If a plan were devised for the purpose of driving +men into insurrection, nothing could be more effectual than +the tithe-proctor system. Besides, it tended directly to the +impoverishment of the country, retarding agricultural improvement and +limiting production. If a man kept all his land in pasture, he escaped +the impost; but the moment he tilled it, he was subjected to a tax of +ten per cent. on the gross produce. The valuation being made by the +tithe-proctor--a man whose interest it was to defraud both the tenant +and the parson--the consequence was, that the gentry and the large +farmers, to a great extent, evaded the tax, and left the small +occupiers to bear nearly the whole burden; they even avoided mowing +the meadows in some cases, because then they should pay tithe for the +hay. + +There was besides a tax called church cess, levied by Protestants in +vestry meetings upon Roman Catholics for cleaning the church, ringing +the bell, washing the minister's surplice, purchasing bread and wine +for the communion, and paying the salary of the parish clerk. This +tax was felt to be a direct and flagrant violation of the rights of +conscience, and of the principles of the British constitution; and +against it there was a determined opposition, which manifested itself +in tumultuous and violent assemblages at the parish churches all +over the country on Easter Monday, when the rector or his curate, as +chairman of the meeting, came into angry collision with flocks who +disowned him, and denounced him as a tyrant, a persecutor, and a +robber. + +But the tithe impost was the one most grievously felt, and at last the +peasantry resolved to resist it by force. + +Nothing could be more violent than the contrasts presented at this +time in the social life of Ireland. On the one side there was a rapid +succession of atrocities and tragedies fearful to contemplate: the +bailiffs, constabulary, and military driving away cattle, sheep, pigs, +and geese to be sold by public auction, to pay the minister who had no +congregation to whom he could preach the gospel; the cattle-prisons +or 'pounds' surrounded by high walls, but uncovered, wet and dirty, +crowded with all sorts of animals, cold and starved, and uttering +doleful sounds; the driving away of the animals in the night from one +farm to another to avoid seizures; the auctions without bidders, +in the midst of groaning and jeering multitudes; the slaughter +of policemen, and in some instances of clergymen, with fiendish +expressions of hatred and yells of triumph; the mingling of fierce +passions with the strongest natural affections; the exultation in +murder as if it were a glorious deed of war; the Roman Catholic press +and platform almost justifying those deeds of outrage and blood; the +mass of the Roman Catholic population sustaining this insurrection +against the law with their support and sympathy and prayers, as if it +were a holy war, in which the victims were martyrs. On the other side +were presented pictures which excited the deepest interest of the +Protestant community throughout the United Kingdom. We behold the +clergyman and his family in the glebe-house, lately the abode of +plenty, comfort, and elegance, a model of domestic happiness and +gentlemanly life; but the income of the rector fell off, till he was +bereft of nearly all his means. In order to procure the necessaries +of life for his family, he was obliged to part with the cows that gave +milk for his household, the horse and car, which were necessary in the +remote place where his glebe-house was situated, and everything that +could be spared, till at length he was obliged to make his greatest +sacrifice, and to send his books--the dear and valued companions of +his life--to Dublin, to be sold by auction. His boys could no longer +be respectably clad, his wife and daughters were obliged to part with +their jewellery and all their superfluities. There was no longer wine +or medicine, that the mother was accustomed to dispense kindly and +liberally to the poor around her, in their sickness and sorrow, +without distinction of creed. + +The glebe, which once presented an aspect of so much comfort and ease +and affluence, now looked bare and desolate and void of life. But for +the contributions of Christian friends at a distance, many of +those once happy little centres of Christian civilisation--those +well-springs of consolation to the afflicted--must have been abandoned +to the overwhelming sand of desolation swept upon them by the +hurricane of the anti-tithe agitation. + +During this desperate struggle, force was employed on several +occasions with fatal effect. At Newtownbarry, in the county of +Wexford, some cattle were impounded by a tithe-proctor. The peasantry +assembled in large numbers to rescue them, when they came into +collision with the yeomanry, who fired, killing twelve persons. It was +a market day, and a placard was posted on the walls: 'There will be an +end of church plunder; your pot, blanket, and pig will not hereafter +be sold by auction to support in luxury, idleness, and ease persons +who endeavour to make it appear that it is essential to the peace and +prosperity of the country and your eternal salvation, while the most +of you are starving. Attend to an auction of your neighbours' cattle.' +At Carrickshock there was a fearful tragedy. A number of writs against +defaulters were issued by the court of exchequer, and entrusted to +the care of process-servers, who, guarded by a strong body of police, +proceeded on their mission with secrecy and dispatch. Bonfires along +the surrounding hills, however, and shrill whistles soon convinced +them that the people were not unprepared for their visitors. But +the yeomanry pushed boldly on. Suddenly an immense assemblage of +peasantry, armed with scythes and pitchforks, poured down upon them. +A terrible hand-to-hand struggle ensued, and in the course of a few +moments eighteen of the police, including the commanding officer, +were slaughtered. The remainder consulted safety and fled, marking the +course of their retreat by the blood that trickled from their wounds. +A coroner's jury pronounced this deed of death as 'wilful murder' +against some persons unknown. A large government reward was offered, +but it failed to produce a single conviction. At Castlepollard, in +Westmeath, on the occasion of an attempted rescue, the chief constable +was knocked down. The police fired, and nine or ten persons were +killed. One of the most lamentable of these conflicts occurred at +Gurtroe, near Rathcormac, in the county of Cork. Archdeacon Ryder +brought a number of the military to recover the tithes of a farm +belonging to a widow named Ryan. The assembled people resisted, the +military were ordered to fire, eight persons were killed and thirteen +wounded; and among the killed was the widow's son. + +These disorders appealed with irresistible force to the Government and +the legislature, to put an end to a system fraught with so much evil, +and threatening the utter disruption of society in Ireland. In the +first place, something must be done to meet the wants of the destitute +clergy and their families. Accordingly, Lord Stanley brought in a +bill, in May 1832, authorising the lord lieutenant of Ireland to +advance 60,000 l. as a fund for the payment of the clergy, who were +unable to collect their tithes for the year 1831. This measure was +designed to meet the present necessity, and was only a preliminary to +the promised settlement of the tithe question. It was therefore passed +quickly through both Houses, and became law on June 1. But the money +thus advanced was not placed on the consolidated fund. + +The Government took upon itself the collection of the arrears of +tithes for that one year. It was a maxim with Lord Stanley that the +people should be made to respect the law; that they should not +be allowed to trample upon it with impunity. The odious task thus +assumed, produced a state of unparalleled excitement. The people were +driven to frenzy, instead of being frightened by the chief secretary +becoming tithe-collector-general, and the army being employed in +its collection. They knew that the king's speech had recommended the +settlement of the tithe question. They had heard of the evidence of +Bishop Doyle and other champions, exposing what they believed to be +the iniquity of the tithe system. They had seen the condemnation of it +in the testimony of the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, who declared +his conviction that it could not be collected except at the point of +the bayonet, and by keeping up a chronic war between the Government +and the Roman Catholic people. They had been told that parliamentary +committees had recommended the complete extinction of tithes, and +their commutation into a rent-charge. Their own leaders had everywhere +resolved:-- + +'That it was a glaring wrong to compel an impoverished Catholic people +to support in pampered luxury the richest clergy in the world--a +clergy from whom, the Catholics do not experience even the return of +common gratitude--a clergy who, in times past, opposed to the last +the political freedom of the Irish people, and at the present day +are opposed to reform and a liberal scheme of education for their +countrymen. The ministers of the God of charity should not, by +misapplication of all the tithes to their own private uses, thus +deprive the poor of their patrimony; nor should ministers of +peace adhere with such desperate tenacity to a system fraught with +dissension, hatred, and ill-will.' The first proceeding of the +Government to recover the tithes, under the act of June 1, was +therefore the signal for general war. Bonfires blazed upon the hills, +the rallying sounds of horns were heard along the valleys, and the +mustering tread of thousands upon the roads, hurrying to the scene +of a seizure or an auction. It was a bloody campaign; there was +considerable loss of life, and the Church and the Government thus +became more obnoxious to the people than ever. Lord Stanley being the +commander-in-chief on one side, and Mr. O'Connell on the other, the +contest was embittered by their personal antipathies. It was found +that the amount of the arrears for the year 1831 was 104,285 l., and +that the whole amount which the Government was able to levy, after +putting forth its strength in every possible way, was 12,000 l., the +cost of collection being 15,000 l., so the Government was not able to +raise as much money as would pay the expenses of the campaign. This +was how Lord Stanley illustrated his favourite sentiment that the +people should be made to respect the law. But the Liberal party among +the Protestants fully sympathised with the anti-tithe recusants. + +Of course the Government did not persevere in prosecutions from which +no parties but the lawyers reaped any advantage; consequently, all +processes under the existing law were abandoned. It was found that, +after paying to the clergy the arrears of 1831 and 1832, and what +would be due in 1833, about a million sterling would be required, +and this sum was provided by an issue of exchequer bills. The +reimbursement of the advance was to be effected by a land tax. +Together with these temporary arrangements to meet the exigency of the +case, for the payment of the clergy and the pacification of Ireland, +an act was passed to render tithe composition in Ireland compulsory +and permanent. But Ireland was not yet pacified.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The foregoing sketch of the tithe war was written by the +author seven years ago for Cassell's _History of England_, from which +it is now extracted.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE FAMINE. + + +It had often been predicted by writers on the state of Ireland, that, +owing to the rottenness at the foundation of the social fabric, it +would come down with a crash some day. The facts reported by the +census commissioners of 1841 showed that this consummation could not +be far off. Out of a population of 8,000,000, there were 3,700,000 +above the age of five years who could neither read nor write; while +nearly three millions and a half lived in mud cabins, badly thatched +with straw, having each but one room, and often without either a +window or a chimney. These figures indicate a mass of ignorance +and poverty, which could not be contemplated without alarm, and the +subject was, therefore, constantly pressed upon the attention of +parliament. As usual in cases of difficulty, the Government, feeling +that something should be done, and not knowing what to do, appointed +in 1845 a commission to enquire into the relations between landlords +and tenants, and the condition of the working classes. At the head of +this commission was the Earl of Devon, a benevolent nobleman, whose +sympathies were on the side of the people. Captain Kennedy, the +secretary to the commissioners, published a digest of the report of +the evidence, which presented the facts in a readable form, and was +the means of diffusing a large amount of authentic information on the +state of Ireland. The commissioners travelled through the country, +held courts of enquiry, and examined witnesses of all classes. As the +result of their extensive intercourse with the farming classes, and +their own observations, they were enabled to state that in almost +every part of Ireland unequivocal symptoms of improvement, in spite +of many embarrassing and counteracting circumstances, continually +presented themselves to the view, and that there existed a very +general and increasing spirit and desire for the promotion of such +improvement, from which the most beneficial results might fairly be +expected. + +Indeed, speaking of the country generally, they add: 'With some +exceptions, which are unfortunately too notorious, we believe that at +no former period did so active a spirit of improvement prevail; nor +could well directed measures for the attainment of that object have +been proposed with a better prospect of success than at the present +moment.' + +But this improvement produced no sensible effect upon the condition +of the labouring people. However brightly the sun of prosperity might +gild the eminences of society, the darkness of misery and despair +settled upon the masses below. The commissioners proceed: 'A +reference to the evidence of most of the witnesses will show that +the agricultural labourer of Ireland continues to suffer the greatest +privations and hardships; that he continues to depend upon casual and +precarious employment for subsistence; that he is still badly housed, +badly fed, badly clothed, and badly paid for his labour. Our personal +experience and observation during our enquiry have afforded us a +melancholy confirmation of these statements; and we cannot forbear +expressing our strong sense of the patient endurance which the +labouring classes have generally exhibited under sufferings greater, +we believe, than the people of any other country in Europe have to +sustain.' It was deeply felt that the well-being of the whole United +Kingdom depended upon the removal of the causes of this misery and +degradation; for if the Irish people were not elevated, the English +working classes must be brought down to their level. The facility of +travelling afforded by railways and steam-boats caused such constant +intercourse between England and Ireland, that Irish ignorance, +beggary, and disease, with all their contagion, physical and moral, +would be found intermingling with the British population. It would be +impossible to prevent the half-starved Irish peasantry from crossing +the Channel, and seeking employment, even at low wages, and forming a +pestiferous Irish quarter in every town and city. The question, then, +was felt to be one whose settlement would brook no further delay. + +It was found that the potato was almost the only food of the Irish +millions, and that it formed their chief means of obtaining the other +necessaries of life. A large portion of this crop was grown under the +system, to which the poorest of the peasantry were obliged to have +recourse, notwithstanding the minute subdivision of land. There were +in 1841, 691,000 farms in Ireland exceeding one acre in extent. +Nearly one half of these were under five acres each. The number +of proprietors in fee was estimated at 8,000--a smaller number, in +proportion to the extent of territory, than in any other country of +Western Europe except Spain. In Connaught, several proprietors had +100,000 acres each, the proportion of small farms being greater there +than in the rest of Ireland. The total number of farms in the province +was 155,842, and of these 100,254 consisted of from one to five acres. +If all the proprietors were resident among their tenantry, and were +in a position to encourage their industry and care for their welfare, +matters would not have been so bad; but most of the large landowners +were absentees. It frequently happened that the large estates +were held in strict limitation, and they were nearly all heavily +encumbered. The owners preferred living in England or on the +Continent, having let their lands on long leases, or in perpetuity +to 'middlemen,' who sublet them for as high rents as they could get. +Their tenants again sublet, so that it frequently happened that two, +three, or four landlords intervened between the proprietor and the +occupying tenant, each deriving an interest from the land. The head +landlord, therefore, though ever so well disposed, had no power +whatever to help the occupying tenants generally, and of those who +had the power very few felt disposed. There were extensive districts +without a single resident proprietor. + +For a few weeks after the blight of the potato crop in 1846 the +cottiers and small farmers managed to eke out a subsistence by the +sale of their pigs and any little effects they had. But pigs, fowl, +furniture, and clothing soon went, one after another, to satisfy the +cravings of hunger. The better class of farmers lived upon their corn +and cattle; but they were obliged to dismiss their servants, and this +numerous class became the first victims of starvation; for when they +were turned off, they were refused admission by their relations, who +had not the means of feeding them. Tailors, shoemakers, and other +artisans who worked for the lower orders, lost their employment, and +became destitute also. While the means of support failed upon every +side, and food rose to such enormous prices that everything that +could possibly be eaten was economised, so that the starving dogs were +drowned from compassion, the famine steadily advanced from the west +and south to the east and north, till it involved the whole population +in its crushing grasp. It was painfully interesting to mark the +progress of the visitation, even in those parts of the country where +its ravages were least felt. The small farmer had only his corn, +designed for rent and seed: he was obliged to take it to the mill +to ward off starvation. The children of the poor, placed on short +allowance, were suffering fearfully from hunger. Mothers, heart-broken +and worn down to skeletons, were seen on certain days proceeding +in groups to some distant depot, where Indian meal was to be had at +reduced prices, but still double that of the ordinary market. As they +returned to their children, with their little bags on their heads, a +faint joy lit up their famine-stricken features. + +When the visitors entered a village their first question was: 'How +many deaths?' '_The hunger is upon us_,' was everywhere the cry; and +involuntarily they found themselves regarding this hunger as they +would an epidemic, looking upon starvation as a disease. In fact, as +they passed along, their wonder was, not that the people died, but +that they lived; and Mr. W.G. Forster, in his report, said: 'I have +no doubt whatever, that in any other country the mortality would have +been far greater; and that many lives have been prolonged, perhaps +saved, by the long apprenticeship to want in which the Irish peasant +has been trained, and by that lovely, touching charity which prompts +him to share his scanty meal with his starving neighbour. But the +springs of this charity must be rapidly dried up. Like a scourge of +locusts, _the hunger_ daily sweeps over fresh districts, eating up all +before it. One class after another is falling into the same abyss of +ruin.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Transactions during the Famine in Ireland, Appendix III.] + +The same benevolent gentleman describes the domestic scenes he saw in +Connaught, where the poor Celts were carried off in thousands:-- + +'We entered a cabin. Stretched in one dark corner, scarcely visible +from the smoke and rags that covered them, were three children huddled +together, lying there because they were too weak to rise, pale and +ghastly; their little limbs, on removing a portion of the covering, +perfectly emaciated; eyes sunk, voice gone, and evidently in the last +stage of actual starvation. Crouched over the turf embers was another +form, wild and all but naked, scarcely human in appearance. It stirred +not nor noticed us. On some straw, soddened upon the ground, moaning +piteously, was a shrivelled old woman, imploring us to give her +something, baring her limbs partly to show how the skin hung loose +from her bones, as soon as she attracted our attention. Above her, +on something like a ledge, was a young woman with sunken cheeks, a +mother, I have no doubt, who scarcely raised her eyes in answer to +our enquiries; but pressed her hand upon her forehead, with a look +of unutterable anguish and despair. Many cases were widows, whose +husbands had been recently taken off by the fever, and thus their only +pittance obtained from the public works was entirely cut off. In many +the husbands or sons were prostrate under that horrid disease--the +result of long-continued famine and low living--in which first the +limbs and then the body swell most frightfully, and finally burst. We +entered upwards of fifty of these tenements. The scene was invariably +the same, differing in little but the manner of the sufferers, or of +the groups occupying the several corners within. The whole number was +often not to be distinguished, until the eye having adapted itself +to the darkness, they were pointed out, or were heard, or some filthy +bundle of rags and straw was seen to move. Perhaps the poor children +presented the most piteous and heart-rending spectacle. Many were +too weak to stand, their little limbs attenuated, except where the +frightful swellings had taken the place of previous emaciation. Every +infantile expression had entirely departed; and, in some reason and +intelligence had evidently flown. Many were remnants of families, +crowded together in one cabin; orphaned little relatives taken in by +the equally destitute, and even strangers--for these poor people are +kind to each other, even to the end. In one cabin was a sister, just +dying, lying beside her little brother, just dead. I have worse than +this to relate; but it is useless to multiply details, and they are, +in fact, unfit.' + +In December, 1846, Father Mathew wrote to Mr. Trevelyan, then +secretary of the treasury, that men, women, and children +were gradually wasting away. They filled their stomachs with +cabbage-leaves, turnip-tops, &c., to appease the cravings of hunger. +There were then more than 5,000 half-starved wretches from the country +begging in the streets of Cork. When utterly exhausted, they crawled +to the workhouse to die. The average of deaths in that union was then +over a hundred a week. + +From December 27, in 1846, to the middle of April, in 1847, the number +of human beings that died in the Cork workhouse was 2,130! And in the +third week of the following month the free interments in the Mathew +cemetery had risen to 277--as many as sixty-seven having been buried +in one day. The destruction of human life in other workhouses of +Ireland kept pace with the appalling mortality in the Cork workhouse. +According to official returns, it had reached in April the weekly +average of twenty-five per 1,000 inmates; the actual number of deaths +being 2,706 for the week ending April 3, and 2,613 in the following +week. Yet the number of inmates in the Irish workhouses was but +104,455 on April 10. + +The size of the unions was a great impediment to the working of +the poor law. They were three times the extent of the corresponding +divisions in England. In Munster and Connaught, where there was the +greatest amount of destitution, and the least amount of local agency +available for its relief, the unions were much larger than in the +more favoured provinces of Ulster and Leinster. The union of Ballina +comprised a region of upwards of half a million acres, and within +its desert tracts the famine assumed its most appalling form, the +workhouse being more than forty miles distant from some of the +sufferers. As a measure of precaution, the Government had secretly +imported and stored a large quantity of Indian corn, as a cheap +substitute for the potato, which would have served the purpose much +better had the people been instructed in the best modes of cooking it. +It was placed in commissariat, along depots the western coast of the +island, where the people were not likely to be supplied on reasonable +terms through the ordinary channels of trade. The public works +consisted principally of roads, on which, the men were employed as +a sort of supplement to the poor law. Half the cost was a free grant +from the treasury, and the other half was charged upon the barony +in which the works were undertaken. The expense incurred under the +'Labour Rate Act, 9 and 10 Viet. c. 107,' amounted to 4,766,789 l. It +was almost universally admitted, when the pressure was over, that +the system of public works adopted was a great mistake; and it seems +wonderful that such grievous blunders could have been made with so +many able statesmen and political economists at the head of affairs +and in the service of the Government. The public works undertaken +consisted in the breaking up of good roads to level hills and fill +hollows, and the opening of new roads in places where they were not +required--works which the people felt to be useless, and at which they +laboured only under strong compulsion, being obliged to walk to them +in all weathers for miles, in order to earn the price of a breakfast +of Indian meal. Had the labour thus comparatively wasted been devoted +to the draining, sub-soiling, and fencing of the farms, connected +with a comprehensive system of arterial drainage, immense and lasting +benefit to the country would have been the result, especially as +works so well calculated to ameliorate the soil, and guard against the +moisture of the climate, might have been connected with a system of +instruction in agricultural matters of which the peasantry stood so +much in need, and to the removal of the gross ignorance which had so +largely contributed to bring about the famine. As it was, enormous +sums were wasted. Much needless hardship was inflicted on the starving +people in compelling them to work in frost and rain when they were +scarcely able to walk, and, after all the vast outlay, very few traces +of it remained in permanent improvements on the face of the country. +The system of government relief works failed chiefly through the +same difficulty which impeded every mode of relief, whether public or +private--namely, the want of machinery to work it. It was impossible +suddenly to procure an efficient staff of officers for an undertaking +of such enormous magnitude--the employment of a whole people. The +overseers were necessarily selected in haste; many of them were +corrupt, and encouraged the misconduct of the labourers. In many cases +the relief committees, unable to prevent maladministration, yielded +to the torrent of corruption, and individual members only sought to +benefit their own dependants. The people everywhere flocked to the +public works; labourers, cottiers, artisans, fishermen, farmers, men, +women, and children--all, whether destitute or not, sought for a share +of the public money. In such a crowd, it was almost impossible to +discriminate properly. They congregated in masses on the roads, +idling under the name of work, the really destitute often unheeded +and unrelieved because they had no friend to recommend them. All +the ordinary employments were neglected; there was no fishing, no +gathering of sea-weed, no collecting of manure. The men who had +employment feared to lose it by absenting themselves for any other +object; those unemployed spent their time in seeking to obtain it. The +whole industry of the country seemed to be engaged in road-making. It +became absolutely necessary to put an end to it, or the cultivation +of the land would be neglected. Works undertaken on the spur of +the moment, not because they were needful, but merely to employ the +people, were in many cases ill chosen, and the execution equally +defective. The labourers, desirous to protract their employment, were +only anxious to give as little labour as possible, in which their +overlookers or gangers in many cases heartily agreed. The favouritism, +the intimidation, the wholesale jobbing practised in many cases were +shockingly demoralising. + +In order to induce the people to attend to their ordinary spring work, +and put in the crops, it was found necessary to adopt the plan of +distributing free rations. On March 20, therefore, a reduction of +twenty per cent. of the numbers employed on the works took place, and +the process of reduction went on until the new system of gratuitous +relief was brought into full operation. The authority under which this +was administered was called the 'Temporary Relief Act,' which came +into full operation in the month of July, when the destitution was at +its height, and three millions of people received their daily rations. +Sir John Burgoyne truly describes this as 'the grandest attempt +ever made to grapple with famine over a whole country.' Never in the +history of the world were so many persons fed in such a manner by the +public bounty. It was a most anxious time--a time of tremendous +labour and responsibility to those who had the direction of this vast +machinery. A member of the Board of Works thus describes the feeling +which no doubt pervaded most of those that were officially connected +with the administration of relief: 'I hope never to see such a winter +and spring again. I can truly say, in looking back upon it even now, +that it appears to me not a succession of weeks and days, but one long +continuous day, with occasional intervals of night-mare sleep. Rest +one could never have, when one felt that in every minute lost a score +of men might die.' Mr. Trevelyan was then secretary of the treasury, +and it was well that a man so enlightened, energetic, and benevolent +occupied the post at such a time. He was indefatigable in his efforts +to mitigate the calamity, and he wrote an interesting account of 'The +Irish Crisis' in the _Edinburgh Review_. Having presented the dark +side of the picture in faithfully recording the abuses that had +prevailed, it is right to give Mr. Trevelyan's testimony as to the +conduct of the relief committees during this supreme hour of the +nation's agony. 'It is a fact very honourable to Ireland that among +upwards of 2,000 local bodies to whom advances were made under this +act, there is not one to which, so far as the Government is informed, +any suspicion of embezzlement attaches.' + +The following statement of the numbers receiving rations, and the +total expenditure under the act in each of the four provinces, +compared with the amount of population, and the annual value assessed +for poor-rate, may serve to illustrate the comparative means and +destitution of each province:-- + +-------------------------------------------------------------------- +| | Population | Valuation | Greatest | Total | +| | | | Number of |Expenditure | +| | | | Rations given | | +| | | | out | | +|---------|-------------|------------|----------------|------------| +| | | L | | L | +|Ulster | 2,386,373 | 3,320,133 | 346,517 | 170,508 | +|Leinster | 1,973,731 | 4,624,542 | 450,606 | 308,068 | +|Munster | 2,396,161 | 1,465,643 | 1,013,826 | 671,554 | +|Counaught| 1,418,859 | 1,465,643 | 745,652 | 526,048 | +| |-------------|------------|----------------|------------| +| | 8,175,124 | 13,187,421 | 2,556,601 | 1,676,268 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Private benevolence did wonders in this crisis. The British +Association raised and distributed 269,302 l. The queen's letter, +ordering collections in the English churches, produced 200,738 l. But +the bounty of the United States of America transcended everything. The +supplies sent across the Atlantic were on a scale unparalleled in the +history of the world. + +Meetings were held in Philadelphia, Washington, New York, and other +cities, in quick succession, presided over by the first men in the +country. All through the States the citizens evinced an intense +interest, and a noble generosity worthy of the great Republic. +The railway companies carried free of charge all packages marked +'Ireland.' Public carriers undertook the gratuitous delivery of +packages intended for the relief of Irish distress. Storage to any +extent was offered on the same terms. Ships of war, without their +guns, came to the Irish shores on a mission of peace and mercy, +freighted with food for British subjects. Cargo after cargo followed +in rapid succession, until nearly 100 separate shipments had arrived, +our Government having consented to pay the freight of all donations of +food forwarded from America, which amounted in the whole to 33,000 l. +The quantity of American food consigned to the care of the Society of +Friends was nearly 10,000 tons, the value of which was about 100,000 +l. In addition to all this, the Americans remitted to the Friends' +Committee 16,000 l. in money. They also sent 642 packages of clothing, +the precise value of which could not be ascertained. There was a very +large amount of remittances sent to Ireland, during the famine, by +the Irish in the United States. Unfortunately, there are no records of +those remittances prior to 1848; but since that time we are enabled +to ascertain a large portion of them, though not the whole, and their +amount is something astonishing. The following statement of sums +remitted by emigrants in America to their families in Ireland, was +printed by order of Parliament:--During the years 1848, 460,180 l.; +1849, 540,619 l.; 1850, 957,087 l. 1851, 990,811 l. + +The arrival of the American ships naturally excited great interest at +the various ports. 'On Monday, April 13,' writes Mr. Maguire, 'a noble +sight might be witnessed in Cork harbour--the sun shining its welcome +on the entrance of the unarmed war-ship Jamieson, sailing in under a +cloud of snowy canvas, her great hold laden with bread-stuffs for the +starving people of Ireland. It was a sight that brought tears to many +an eye, and prayers of gratitude to many a heart. It was one of those +things which one nation remembers of another long after the day of +sorrow has passed. Upon the warm and generous people to whom America +literally broke bread and sent life, this act of fraternal charity, so +gracefully and impressively offered, naturally produced a profound and +lasting impression, the influence of which is felt at this moment.' + +The clergy, Protestant and Roman Catholic, almost the only resident +gentry in several of the destitute districts, worked together on the +committees with commendable zeal, diligence, and unanimity. Among the +Roman Catholic clergy, Father Mathew was at that time by far the most +influential and popular. The masses of the peasantry regarded him +as almost an inspired apostle. During the famine months, he +exerted himself with wonderful energy and prudence, first, in his +correspondence with different members of the Government, earnestly +recommending and urging the speedy adoption of measures of relief; +and next, in commending those measures to the people, dissuading the +hungry from acts of violence, and preaching submission and resignation +under that heavy dispensation of Providence. Of this there are ample +proofs in the letters published by Mr. Maguire, M.P. 'It is not to +harrow your feelings, dear Mr. Trevelyan,' he wrote, 'I tell this tale +of woe. No; but to excite your sympathy in behalf of our miserable +peasantry. It is rumoured that the capitalists in the corn and flour +trade are endeavouring to induce the Government not to protect the +people from famine, but to leave them at their mercy. I consider +this a cruel and unjustifiable interference. I am so unhappy at the +prospect before us, and so horror-struck by the apprehension of our +destitute people falling into the ruthless hands of the corn and flour +traders, that I risk becoming troublesome, rather than not lay my +humble opinions before you.' Again: 'I hail with delight the humane, +the admirable measures for relief announced by my Lord John Russell; +they have given universal satisfaction. But of what avail will all +this be, unless the wise precautions of Government will enable the +toiling workman, after exhausting his vigour during a long day to earn +a shilling, to purchase with that shilling a sufficiency of daily food +for his generally large and helpless family?' Father Mathew earnestly +pleaded for out-door relief, in preference to the workhouse, +foreseeing the danger of sundering the domestic bonds, which operate +so powerfully as moral restraints in Ireland. The beautiful picture +which he drew of the Irish peasant's home in his native land was +not too highly coloured, as applied to the great majority of the +people:--'The bonds of blood and affinity, dissoluble by death alone, +associate in the cabins of the Irish peasantry, not only the husband, +wife, and children, but the aged parents and the married couple and +their destitute relatives, even to the third and fourth degree of +kindred. God forbid that political economists should dissolve these +ties! should violate these beautiful charities of nature and the +gospel! I have often found my heart throb with delight when I beheld +three or four generations seated around the humble board and blazing +hearth; and I offered a silent prayer to the great Father of all that +the gloomy gates of the workhouse should never separate those whom +such tender social chains so fondly link together.' + +The following is a tabular view of the whole amount of voluntary +contributions during the Irish famine, which deserves a permanent +record for the credit of our common humanity:-- + + L s. d. L s. d. +Local contributions officially reported + in 1846 104,689 18 1 +Local contributions officially reported + in 1847 199,569 4 1 +British Relief Association, total + received 470,041 1 2 + say five-sixths for Ireland 391,700 17 8 +General Central Relief Committee, + College Green 83,934 17 11 + Less received from British Relief + Association 20,190 0 0 + _____________ 63,744 17 11 +Irish Relief Association, Sackville + Street 42,446 5 0 +Relief Committee of the Society of + Friends, London 42,905 12 0 +Central Relief Committee of the + Society of Friends, Dublin 198,313 15 3 + Less received from Committee of the + Society of Friends in London, + and interest 39,249 19 11 + _____________ 159,063 15 4 +Indian Relief Fund 13,919 15 2 +National Club, London 19,928 12 2 +Wesleyan Methodist Relief Fund, + London 20,056 14 4 +Irish Evangelical Society, London 9,264 9 9 +Baptists' Relief Fund, London 6,141 11 2 +Ladies' Irish Clothing Society, London 9,533 4 0 + Less received from British Association, + &c. 5,324 12 11 + _____________ 4,208 11 1 +Ladies' Relief Association for Ireland 19,584 0 9 + Less received from Irish Relief + Association and for sales of + manufactures 7,659 6 7 + _____________ 11,924 14 2 +Ladies' Industrial Society for + encouragement of labour among the + peasantry 1,968 12 8 + Less received from Irish Relief + Association 1,500 0 0 + _____________ 468 12 8 +Belfast Ladies' Association for the + relief of Irish Distress 2,617 1 6 +Belfast Ladies' Industrial Association + for Connaught 4,615 16 1 +There were also two collections in + Belfast for general purposes, the + amount of which exceeded 10,000 0 0 + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +TENANT-RIGHT IN ULSTER. + + +The Earl of Granard has taken a leading part in the movement for the +settling of the land question, having presided at two great meetings +in the counties in which he has large estates, Wexford and Longford, +supported on each occasion by influential landlords. He was the first +of his class to propose that the question should be settled on the +basis of tenant-right, by legalising and extending the Ulster custom. +A reference to this custom has been frequently made recently, in +discussions on the platform and in the press. I have studied the +history of that province with care; and I have during the year 1869 +gone through several of its counties with the special object of +inquiring how the tenant-right operates, and whether, and to what +extent, it affords the requisite security to the cultivators of the +soil; and it may be of some service that I should give here the result +of my enquiries. + +Of the six counties confiscated and planted in Ulster, Londonderry, +as I have already remarked, was allotted to the London companies. The +aspect of their estates, is on the whole, very pleasing. In the midst +of each there is a small town, built in the form of a square, with a +market-house and a town-hall in the centre, and streets running off at +each side. There are almost invariably three substantial and handsome +places of worship--the parish church, always best and most prominent, +the presbyterian meeting-house, and the catholic chapel, with nice +manses for the ministers, all built wholly or in part by grants from +the companies. + +Complaints were constantly made against the Irish Society for its +neglect of its trust, for refusing to give proper building leases, and +for wasting the funds placed at its disposal for public purposes. The +details are curious and interesting, throwing much light on the +social history of the times. The whole subject of its duties and +responsibilities, and of its anomalous powers, was fully discussed +at a meeting of the principal citizens, most of them strongly +Conservative, on the 28th of May, 1866. There had been a discussion +on the subject in the House of Commons, in which Lord Claud Hamilton, +then member for the borough, distinguished himself. Mr. Maguire +brought the Society before Parliament in an able speech. The +legislature, as well as the public, were then preoccupied with the +Church question. But, doubtless, the maiden city will make her voice +heard next session, and insist on being released from a guardian who +always acted the part of a stepmother. + +The Irish Society has been before three parliamentary tribunals, the +Commissioners of Municipal Corporations for England and Wales, the +Royal Commission of Enquiry into the state of the Corporation +of London, and the Irish Municipal Commissioners. The English +Commissioners say:--'We do not know of any pretext or argument for +continuing this municipal supremacy of the Irish Society. A control +of this kind maintained at the present day by the municipality of +one town in England over another town in Ireland, appears to us +so indefensible in principle, that our opinion would not have been +changed, even if it were found that hitherto it has been conducted +with discretion and forbearance.' + +The Irish commissioners affirmed 'that the Irish Society in their +original institution were created for the purpose of forwarding the +interests and objects of the Plantation, and not for mere private +gain; and that of the large income which they receive from their +possessions in Londonderry, a very inadequate and disproportionate +share is applied for the public purposes, or other objects connected +with the local interests of the districts from which the revenues of +the society are drawn.' + +The corporation of Derry cannot put a bye-law in force till it +receives the approval of the Irish Society. And what is this tribunal +whose fiat must stamp the decision of the Derry corporation before it +can operate in the smallest matter within the municipal boundary? +The members are London traders, totally ignorant of Ireland. They +are elected for two years, so that they must go out by the time they +acquire any information about their trust, to make way for another +batch equally ignorant. Having everything to learn during their term +of office, if they have time or capacity to learn anything about +the matter, they must submit to the guidance of the governor, who is +elected virtually, though not formally, for life; and the members of +the Derry corporation believe him to be the autocrat of the society. +Mr. James P. Hamilton, now the assistant-barrister for Sligo, at the +great meeting of the citizens of Derry already mentioned, pronounced +the governors to be 'the most ignorant, the most incompetent, and the +most careless governors that ever were inflicted on a people.' Mr. +Hamilton quoted from the answer of the corporation of London in 1624 +to the Privy Council, which required them to convey 4,000 acres to +the citizens of Derry. The corporation replied that they had allotted +1,500 acres for the use of the mayor and other civil officers. That +was either true or false. If true, by what right did they recall the +grant, and re-possess themselves of those lands? By the articles they +were bound to make quays, which were not made. They were bound to +give bog and mountain for the city common, which they never gave. The +corporation had a tract called the sheriffs mountain, but the city was +robbed of it by her cruel stepmother, the Irish Society. The society +was bound to give 200 acres for a free school, and if this had been +done Derry might have had a rich foundation, rivalling Westminster +or the Charter School. Mr. Hamilton, conservative as he is, with the +heart of a true Irishman, indignantly asks, 'Why is this national +grievance and insult continued for the profit of no one? Their very +name is an insult and a mockery--_The Governor and Assistants, London, +of the New Plantation in Ulster_! What do they govern? They don't +govern us in any sense of the word. They merely hold our property in +a dead grip, without any profit to themselves, and to our great +disadvantage.' + +The city is overwhelmed with debt--debt for the new quays, debt for +the new bridge, debt for the public works of the corporation, which +has struggled to improve the city under the incubus of this alien +power, contending with debt, want of tenure, and other difficulties, +which would all have been avoided if the city had the lands which +these Londoners hold in their possession and use as their own pleasure +dictates, half the revenues being spent in the management. + +Mr. William Hazlett, a magistrate of Derry, one of its ablest and +most respected citizens, stated that from 1818 to 1847 the expenses +of management were 60 per cent. The royal commissioners set it down +thus--Total expenditure, 219,898 l.; management, 133,912 l. The +law expenses were, during the same period, 40,000 l. 'This item +of itself,' says Mr. Hazlett, 'must be considered an intolerable +grievance, for it was laid out for the oppression of the people who +should have benefited by the funds so squandered in opposing the +very parties who supplied the money, with which they were themselves +harassed. If a tenant applies for a lease, and the society consents +to grant one, it is so hampered with obstructive clauses that his +solicitor objects to his signing it, and says that from its nature it +could not be made a negotiable instrument on which to raise money. The +tenant remonstrates, but the reply of the city is--"That is our form +of lease; you must comply with it or want!" If you go to law with +them, they may take you into Chancery, and fight you with your own +money.' + +Mr. Hazlett gave a remarkable illustration of this, which shows +the spirit in which this body thinks proper to fulfil its duties as +steward of this property. The Devon Land Commission recommended that +leases of lives renewable for ever should be converted into fee-farm +grants, which would be a valuable boon to the tenant without any loss +to the owner. A bill founded on the recommendation was introduced to +parliament. Did the enlightened and liberal Irish Society hail +with satisfaction this wise measure of reform? On the contrary, the +governor went out of his way to oppose it. Having striven in vain, +with all the vast influence of the corporation, to have the bill +thrown out, he endeavoured to get the society exempted from its +operation. When, in spite of his efforts, the bill became law, the +governor utterly refused to act on it, and brought the matter before +the Master of the Rolls and the House of Lords. From these renewable +leases the society had an income of about 2,500 l. yearly. And what +amount did they demand--these moderate and discreet gentleman, 'The +Governor and Assistants, London, of the new Plantation of Ulster'--for +their interest in the renewable leases? Not less than 100,000 l., or +about 40 years' purchase. In the year 1765, when the city of Derry was +fast hastening to decay under this London government, the society was +induced by an increase of 37 per cent. on the rent, to grant those +renewable leases. 'And but for the granting of those leases,' said Mr. +Hazlett, 'we should have no standing-ground in this city, nor should +we even have the right to meet in this hall as we do to-day.' + +Other striking facts illustrating the paternal nature of this foreign +government of the 'New Plantation' were produced by Mr. Thomas +Chambers, a solicitor who had defended the Rev. J.M. Staples in a suit +brought by the society, and which cost them 40,000 l. of the public +money to win, after dragging the reverend gentleman from one court to +another, regardless of expense. Originally, as we have seen, the city +got a grant of 4,000 acres for the support of the corporation; but +actually received only 1,500, valued then at 60 l., a year. This land +was forfeited and transferred to the bishop in the reign of Charles I. +Ultimately the bishop gave up the land and the fishery, for which the +see received, and still receives, 250 l. a year. The society got, hold +of the 1,500 acres, and refused to give them back to the city, which, +with the alienation of the sheriff's mountain, and the raising of the +city rents (in 1820) from 40 l. to 600 l. a year, left it 1,000 l. a +year worse than it had been previously. The result of this policy of +a body which was established for promoting 'civility' in Ireland, was, +that the credit of the corporation went down rapidly. Executions were +lodged against them, and all their property in quays, markets, &c. +was swept away, the bridge being saved only by the intervention of a +special act of parliament. In 1831, however, the society granted the +corporation an allowance of 700 l. When the reformed corporation came +in, and found that they were so far emancipated from the thraldom of +the London governor that they could go before parliament themselves, +the society was constrained to increase its dole to 1,200 l. a year. + +Mr. Isaac Colhoun, at the meeting referred to, produced from the +accounts of the society for the previous year, published in the local +papers, the following items:-- + + L s. d. +Amount of the present increased income 11,091 17 5 + ________________ +Incidental expenses as per general agents' account + for 1865 114 3 0-1/2 +Law expenses 492 7 11 +Salaries to general agent, deputy, vice-admiral, + surveyor, and others 926 16 6 +Pension to general agent 250 0 0 +Visitation expenses, 1865 539 19 6 +Surveying expenses 50 0 0 +Salary of clerk and porter's wages 197 10 0 +Coal, gas, printing, stationery, advertisements 449 11 5 +Salary to secretary and assistant governor, and + 'assistants' for attendance at 51 meetings 549 1 6 + ________________ + 4,094 1 6 + +Here, then, is a trust fund amounting to about 12,000 l. a year, and +the trustees actually spend one-third in its management! And what +is its management? What do they do with the money? Mr. Pitt Skipton, +D.L., a landed proprietor, who has nothing to gain or lose by the +Irish Society, asks, 'Where is our money laid out now? Not on the +estate of the Irish Society, but on the estates of the church and +private individuals--on those of owners like myself who give their +tenants perpetuity, because it is their interest to do so. We should +wish to see the funds of the society so expended that we could see +some memorial of them. But where is there in Derry any monument wholly +erected by the society which they were not specially forced to put up +by charter, with the exception of a paltry piece of freestone within +one of the bastions bearing their own arms.' + +Let us only imagine what the corporation of Derry could do in local +improvements with this 12,000 l. a year, which is really their own +property, or even with the 4,000 l. a-year squandered upon themselves +by the trustees! Some of these worthy London merchants, it seems, play +the _role_ of Irish landlords when travelling on the Continent, on +the strength of this Derry estate, or their _assistantship_ in its +management. 'I object,' says Mr. J.P. Hamilton, 'if I take a +little run in the summer vacation to Paris or Brussels, to meet a +greasy-looking gentleman from Whitechapel or the Minories, turned out +sleek and shining from Moses', and to be told by him that he has a +large property in _Hireland_, in a place called Derry, and that his +tenantry are an industrious, thriving set of fellows, quite remarkable +for their intelligence, but that it is all owing to his excellent +management of his property and his liberality.' + +Mr. Hazlett presented a still funnier picture of the Irish +'visitations' of the members of the society, with their wives and +daughters every summer. Gentlemen in London regard it as a fine lark +to get elected to serve in the Irish Society, as that includes +a summer trip to Ireland free of expense, with the jolliest +entertainment. One gentleman, being asked by another whether he was +ever in Ireland, answered--'No, but I intend to get on the Irish +Society next year and then I'll have a trip. What kind of people are +they over there? Do they all speak Irish?' + +'Oh, no; they are a very decent, civilised people.' + +'Oh, I'm glad they don't speak Irish; for none of us do, of course; +but my daughter can speak French.' + +'They had a great siege one time over there?' + +'Oh, yes; the Derry people are proud of the siege.' + +'Ah, yes, I see; happened in the reign of King John, I believe.' + +But the heaviest charge laid at the door of the Irish Society is its +persistent refusal to grant proper tenures for building. By this, even +more than their reckless squandering of the revenues of a fine estate, +which is not their own, they have obstructed the improvement of the +city. They might possibly be compelled to refund the wasted property +of their ward, but they could never compensate for stunting and +crippling her as they have done. Fortunately, there is a standard by +which we are able to measure this iniquity with tolerable accuracy. +Dr. William Brown, of Derry, testified that it was the universal +conviction of the people of Derry, of all classes and denominations, +that, by the mismanagement of their trust, the Irish Society had +converted the crown grant from the blessing it was intended to be, and +which it would have been under a just administration, into something +more akin to a curse. For anything that saps the self-reliant and +independent spirit of a community must always be a curse. Within the +last hundred years Belfast was not in advance of Derry in population, +in trade, in capital, or in any other element constituting or +conducing to prosperity. Its river was not so navigable, and by no +means so well adapted to foreign, especially transatlantic trade. The +country surrounding it was not superior in soil, nor the inhabitants +in intelligence and enterprise. It had no estate, as Derry had, +granted by the crown to assist in the development of civilisation, +education, and commerce. Its prospects, then, were inferior to those +of Derry. But Belfast had the one thing, most needful of all, that +Derry had not. It had equitable building tenures. And of this one +advantage, look at the result! 'Belfast is now seven times the size of +Derry; and is in possession of a trade and a trade capital which Derry +can never hope to emulate, while smothered by the stick-in-the-mud +policy of that miserable anachronism the Irish Society.' + +The London companies which have estates in the county Derry claimed +to be entitled to all the surplus revenue after the cost of management +was deducted. This was the question raised by the celebrated +'Skinners' case,' ultimately decided by the House of Lords. The effect +of the decision was, that the society was a trustee, not for the +companies but for the public objects defined in the charter and the +'articles of agreement.' Lord Langdale's language on the subject is +perfectly clear and explicit. He declared that the Irish Society have +not, 'collectively or individually,' any beneficial interest in the +estates. In a sense they are trustees. They have important duties +to perform; but their powers and duties have all reference to the +_Plantation_, whose object was purely public and political. + +Adverting to this judgment, it is not Derry alone that is interested +in the abolition of the Irish Society. Its objects 'affected the +general welfare of Ireland and the whole realm.' The city of London, +in its corporate capacity, had no beneficial interest in the estates. +'The money which it had advanced was early repaid, and the power which +remained, or which was considered to remain, was, like that of the +society, an entrusted power for the benefit of the plantation and +those interested in it. The Irish Society seems to have been little, +if anything, more than the representative or instrument of the city +for the purposes of the Plantation.' + +I subjoin the text of the concluding part of the judgment in the +_Skinners' Case_, the report of which fills a very bulky volume:-- + +Lord Langdale said: 'The mistaken views which the society may have +subsequently taken of its own situation and duties (and I think that +such mistaken views have several times been taken) do not vary the +conclusion to be deduced from the charter and the circumstances +contemporary with the grant of the first charter. I am of opinion that +the powers granted to the society and the trusts reposed in them were +in part of a general and public nature, independent of the private +benefit of the companies of London, and were intended by the crown +to benefit Ireland and the city of London, by connecting the city +of Londonderry and the town of Coleraine and a considerable Irish +district with the city of London, and to promote the general purposes +of the Plantation, not only by securing the performance of the +conditions imposed on ordinary undertakers, but also by the exercise +of powers and the performance of trusts not within the scope of those +conditions. The charter of Charles II. expressly recites that the +property not actually divided was retained for the general operation +of the Plantation.' + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +TENANT-RIGHT IN DOWN. + + +If there are sermons in stones I ought to have learned something from +the ruins of the castle built by Sir Arthur Hill, the founder of the +house of Downshire, in which they show the chamber occupied by William +III. while his army was encamped at Blaris Moor. This was once a royal +fort, and among the most interesting memorials of the past are the +primitive gates, long laid aside from duty, the timber gradually +mouldering away from the huge nails, which once added to their massive +strength. Hillsborough was incorporated by Charles II., and sent two +members to parliament. The Hills rose rapidly in rank and influence. +In 1717, Trevor Hill, Esq., was created Viscount of Hillsborough and +Baron Hill. In 1756, Wills, the second viscount, was made Earl of +Hillsborough, and in 1789 he became Marquis of Downshire. + +Hillsborough is the most perfect picture of a feudal establishment +that I know. On one side of the little, quiet, tradeless town are the +ruins of the old castle, with its park and its fine ancestral trees, +through the thick foliage of which pierces the spire of the church, +lofty and beautiful. On the other side, and quite close to the town, +is 'the new castle'--an immense building of cut stone, in the Greek +style, two storeys high, shut in by high walls from the view of the +townsfolk. Then there is the small market-square, with the court-house +in the centre, the hotel at the top, and other buildings of a better +class on the opposite side. From the hill, which is crowned by these +buildings, descend small streets, in which dwell the inhabitants, all +more or less dependent on the lord of the manor, all cared for by him, +and many of them pensioned when disabled by age or infirmity. + +There is a monument erected to the memory of the late marquis's +father on a hill to the south of the town. The view from this point is +glorious. Belfast lies a little beyond, enveloped in the smoke emitted +from its numerous tall chimneys. To the left is the range of the +Antrim highlands, continued along the coast of the Lough towards +Carrickfergus, and from which the Cave Hill stands out in bold relief, +looking down on the numerous pretty villas with which the taste +of wealthy manufacturers and merchants has adorned those pleasant +suburbs. Westward towards Lough Neagh, swelling gradually--southward +towards Armagh, and round to Newry, the whole surface of the country +gently undulating, presents a vast picture of quiet beauty, fertility, +and plenty that can be rivalled only in England. The tall crowded +stocks along the ridges of the corn-fields attested the abundance of +the crops--the rich greenness and warmth of the landscape showing how +well the ground has been drained, manured, and cultivated. The neat, +white-walled houses gleaming amidst the verdure of sheltering trees +and trimmed hedges tell the thoughtful observer that the people who +dwell in this land belong to it, are rooted in it, and ply their +industry under the happy feeling that, so far as their old landlords +are concerned, their lot is one of 'quietness and assurance for ever.' +Nowhere--even on the high ranges about Newry, where the population is +far too dense, where the patchwork cultivation creeps up the mountain +side, and the hand of industry snatches a precarious return from a +poor, cold, ungrateful soil, amidst desolating tempests and blighting +fogs--not even there did I notice the least trace of evictions or +clearances. No black remnant of a wall tells that where sheep now +browze and lambs frisk there was once a fireside, where the family +affections were cherished, and a home where happy children played in +the sunshine. This is the field of capital and enterprise; here +we have an aristocracy of wealth, chiefs of industry, each of whom +maintains an army of 'hands' more numerous than the swordsmen of Shane +O'Neill when he reigned in his castle yonder on the banks of Lough +Neagh. But here also is the aristocracy of rank--lords of ancient +lineage, descended from heroes--men who have left magnificent +monuments of their creative genius. They have not only founded great +houses, but they have laid deep and broad the foundations of a +social system to whose strength and beauty every age has been adding +something, and which now wants only one topmost stone to make it +perfect. + +I read on the monument to Lord Downshire the expressive motto of the +Downshire family--_Per Deum et ferrum obtinui._ No family ever made +better use of the power thus obtained. The inscription states that the +third marquis was 'alike distinguished for patriotism, rectitude of +principle, and honesty of purpose. Upholding his station with becoming +dignity, he was also mindful of the wants of others, and practised his +duties with benevolence and humility, which won the regard of every +virtuous mind, adding lustre to his exalted rank.' Although these +words were engraved upon a monument by the friends and admirers of +their object, they are perfectly true, and they would be equally true +of the late marquis. + +Lord Downshire is esteemed as the best of landlords. He charges 33 per +cent. less for his land than it is worth--than the tenants would +be able to pay. Tenant-right on his property sells for an enormous +amount. He never evicts a tenant, nor even threatens to evict those +who vote against him. What he has done for the contentment and +prosperity of his tenants, with so much honour and happiness to +himself, other landlords may do with like results. The late lord, his +father, and his grandfather pursued the same course. They let their +lands at a low valuation. They encouraged improvements--they allowed +the free enjoyment of tenant-right; but they refused to allow +sub-letting or subdivision of the land. They consolidated farms only +when tenants, unable to retain small, worn-out holdings, wished to +sell their tenant-right and depart. The consequence is that there is +great competition for land on the Downshire estates. The tenant-right +sells easily for 30 l. to 40 l. an Irish acre, the rent being on an +average about 28 s. If a tenant is not able to pay his way, he is let +run on in arrears perhaps for two or three years. Then he feels the +necessity of selling; but the arrears are deducted, and also debts +that he may owe to his neighbours, before he departs with the proceeds +in his pocket. + +The late marquis seems to have been almost idolised by the tenants. On +or off the estate, in town or country, I have heard nothing of him +but praise of the warmest and most unqualified kind; and, what is more +remarkable, his late agent, Mr. Filgate, was universally respected for +his fairness in the discharge of his duties. The way in which I heard +this spoken of by the people convinces me that there is nothing that +wins their confidence so much as strict impartiality, and justice, +calmly, kindly, but firmly administered. The people to whom I spoke +laid stress on the fact that Mr. Filgate listened quietly to the +statements of both sides, carefully enquired into the merits of each, +and decided accordingly. There was no favouritism, they said, no +partiality; no hasty decision in a fit of anger, or passion, or +impatience; no refusal to listen to reason. + +I observed to one of the tenants, 'You admit that the rents are much +lower than on other estates, much lower than the value of the lands, +and that during the last twenty years the tenant-right has increased +in value. Suppose, then, that the marquis should raise the rents, say +twenty-five per cent., what would be the consequence? Would they pay +the increase willingly?' 'Willingly!' he exclaimed, 'no, there would +be rebellion! The late lord could do anything with the people; he +could raise the country. But you see when they bought the tenant-right +they believed they could never be robbed of the value for which they +paid by raising the rent.' + +What can be better than the social picture which Harris presents of +the state of society here 130 years ago? 'The inhabitants are warm +and well clad at church, fairs, and markets. Tillage and the linen +manufacture keep them in constant employment; a busy and laborious +life prevents excess and breaches of the laws, which in no part of +the kingdom are more reverenced. The people are regular in their +attendance on public worship. Few breaches of the peace, felonies, +burglaries, or murders come before the judges at the assizes; +convictions for capital offences seldom happen. Men travel securely +by day, and are afraid of little disturbance at night to keep them +on their guard. Every man sits down securely under his vine and his +figtree, and enjoys with comfort the fruit of his honest labours.' He +ascribes in the main this prosperity to what he calls '_the spirit of +tillage_.' Until that spirit arose in Ulster, the Irish had to send to +America for their daily bread, 'which,' he says, 'to the astonishment +of all Europe, has been often our weakness.' Viewing the whole social +condition of the county, he exclaims, 'Such are the happy effects of +a well-peopled country, _extensive tillage, the linen manufacture, and +the Protestant religion_.' + +In the first year of the present century, the Dublin Society (not yet +'Royal') employed 'land commissioners' to enquire into the condition +of agriculture in the several counties of Ireland. The Rev. John +Dubourdieu, rector of Annahilt, in this county, was their commissioner +for Down and Antrim. He states that the rent was then on an average +20 s. the _Irish_ acre (three equal to five English), allowing for the +mountains and bogs, which he computed at 44,658 acres. The rental of +the county he sets down at 300,000 l. The net annual value of property +assessed under the Tenement Valuation Act is now 743,869 l. This is +considerably under the letting value, it is supposed, 25 per cent. If +this be so, the county yields to the proprietors a revenue of about +1,000,000 l. a year. If we add the value of the tenant-right, and of +the fixtures of all sorts--houses, mills, roads, bridges--as well as +the movable property and stock, we may get some idea of the enormous +aggregate of wealth which the labour of man has created on this strip +of wild wooded hills, swampy plains, and bogs. + +Now, what has effected this marvellous change? The tenants, with one +voice, exclaim, 'our labour, our capital, our skill, our care, and +self-denial. It was we that cleared away the woods which it was +so difficult to eradicate. It was we who drained away the bogs and +morasses, and by the help of lime and marl converted them into rich +land. It was we that built the dwelling-houses and offices. It was we +that made the fences, and planted the hedge-rows and orchards. It was +we that paid for the making of the roads and bridges. The landlords +gave us the wild country to work upon; we have done the rest. Our +industry enabled them to build their stately mansions, and we have +continued to pay to them their princely revenues. Our forefathers +came with them as settlers, that they might "plant" the country with +a loyal and industrious race of people, and they came on the assurance +that they and their children's children were to remain for ever rooted +where they were planted. They did their duty faithfully and well by +the land, by the landlords, and by the Government. Where the children +that inherited their rights failed, their interest in their farms has +been purchased dearly by others of the same race who have taken their +places. By what right, then, can they be turned out?' + +It is not possible, if it were desirable, to introduce the 'high +farming system' in this county. But if possible, would it be +desirable? In the eye of a scientific agriculturist it might be better +that all those comfortable farm-houses, with the innumerable fences +crossing the landscape in every possible form, making all sorts +of mathematical figures, presenting the appearance of an immense +variegated patchwork--were levelled and removed so that the plough and +all the modern machinery might range unobstructed over hill and vale. +But assuredly it would not seem better to the philanthropist, the +Christian, or the statesman. To the chancellor of the exchequer it +would make the most serious difference; for a few herds and ploughmen +would consume but a very small portion indeed of the excisable +articles now used by the tenant farmers of this county. I have taken +some notes on the diet of this people which may be instructive. + +At the beginning of the present century the small farmers were +generally weavers. There was an obvious incompatibility in the two +occupations, and the farms were neglected. Gradually this evil has +been corrected, especially since the famine. The weavers have +become cottiers, and the farmers have devoted themselves to their +agricultural operations exclusively with the more energy since +railroads have so facilitated the quick sale of produce, particularly +that sort of produce which enables the occupiers to supply the markets +with the smaller necessaries of life, and with which large farmers +would not trouble themselves. Daily labourers working from 6 A.M., to +6 P.M. in large fields with machinery cannot do the hundreds of little +matters which the family of the small holder attends to every hour of +the day, often in the night--and which give work to women and children +as well as the men--work of the most healthful character and most free +from demoralizing influences. + +On a farm of fifteen to thirty acres there is constant employment of +a profitable kind for the members of a household, including women and +children. The effect of good drainage is that farming operations can +be carried on through winter, in preparing the ground and putting in +wheat and other crops early to supply the markets, when prices are +high. Oats, barley, potatoes, flax, turnips claim attention in +turn, and then come the weeding and thinning, the turf-making, the +hay-making, and all the harvest operations. It is by the ceaseless +activity of small farmers in watching over their pigs, poultry, lambs, +&c., that the markets are kept so regularly supplied, and that towns +grow up and prosper. If Down and Antrim had been divided into farms +of thousands of acres each, like Lincolnshire, what would Belfast +have become? Little more than a port for the shipping of live stock +to Liverpool and Glasgow. Before the famine, the food of the small +farmers was generally potatoes and milk three times a day, with a bit +of meat occasionally. But salt herrings were the main reliance for +giving a flavour to the potato, often 'wet' and bad. After the failure +of the potatoes, their place was supplied by oatmeal in the form +of 'stirabout.' Indian meal was subsequently found cheaper and more +wholesome. But of late years the diet of the farmers in these parts +has undergone a complete revolution. There is such brisk demand for +butter, eggs, potatoes, and other things that used to be consumed +by the family, that they have got into the habit of taking tea, with +cakes and other home-made bread twice, or even three times, a day. +The demand for tea is, therefore, enormous. There is one grocer's +establishment in Belfast which has been able to produce a mixture that +suits the taste of the people, and the quantity of tea sold by it is +a ton a day. This is the business of but one out of many houses in +Belfast. Then there is the brisk trade in such towns as Newtownards, +Lisburn, Ballymena, &c. In pastoral districts the towns languish, the +people pine in poverty, and the workhouses are in request. + +In a financial point of view, therefore, it is manifestly the interest +of the state to encourage 'the spirit of tillage.' It is thus that +most will be got out of the ground, that most revenue will be raised, +and that the other elements of national power will be most fully +developed. How can this encouragement be most effectually given? +Security for the farmer is essential--of what nature should the +security be? The phrase 'unexhausted improvements' is often used. +But should the legislature contemplate, or make provision for the +exhaustion of improvements? Is the improving tenant to be told that +his remedy is to retrograde--to undo what he has done--to take out +of the land all the good he has put in it, and reduce it to the +comparative sterility in which he, or those whom he represents, first +received it? Should not the policy of the legislature rather be to +keep up improvements of the soil, and its productive power at the +highest possible point, and make it the interest of the occupier +never to relax in his exertions? The rower will not put forth all his +strength unless he believes he will win. In other races, though +many start, only one or two can receive the prize. In this race of +agricultural improvement all competitors might win ample rewards. But +will they put forth all their energies--is it in human nature that +they should--was it ever done by any people, if the prizes are to be +seized, enjoyed, and flaunted before their eyes by others, who may +be strangers, and who never helped them by their sympathy in their +toilsome course of training and self-denial? It is because the +landlords of the county Down have been so often in the same boat with +their tenants, and with so much good faith, generous feeling, and +cordial sympathy encouraged their exertions, and secured to them their +just rewards, that this great county presents to the world such a +splendid example of what industry, skill, and capital can accomplish. +Is it not possible to extend the same advantages through the whole +island without wronging the landlord or degrading the tenant? + +The stranger is at first surprised to see so large a town as +Newtownards, with its handsome square, its town-hall, its wide, +regular streets, its numerous places of worship, and a population of +9,500, in a place without visible factories, and without communication +with the sea, within eight miles of Belfast, and three miles of +Bangor, which, though a seaport, is but one-fourth of the size. But +although there are no great mills sending forth volumes of smoke, +Newtownards is really a manufacturing town. Those clean, regular +streets, with their two-storey houses, uniform as a district in the +east of London, are inhabited by weavers. In each house there is one +loom at least, in most two or three, and in some as many as six. The +manufacture of woollen and cotton goods of finer qualities than can +be produced by the power-loom is carried on extensively. I saw one man +working at a piece of plaid of six colours, a colour on every shuttle, +With the help of his wife, who assisted in winding, he was able to +earn only 8 s. a week by very diligent work from early morning till +night. There is a general complaint of the depression of trade at +present. Agents, chiefly from Glasgow houses, living in the town, +supply the yarn and pay the wages. I was struck with the number of +public-houses in all the leading streets. How far they are supported +by the weavers I cannot say, but whether or not they can dispense +with the glass, they must have their tobacco, and when this luxury +is deducted, and a shilling a week for the rent of the cottage, it is +hard to understand how a family of six or eight can be supported on +the weekly wages. The trade of muslin embroidery once flourished here, +and in the pretty little neighbouring town of Comber; but it has so +fallen off that now the best hands, plying the needle unceasingly +during the long, long day, can earn only three or four shillings +a week. Before the invention of machinery for flax-spinning, the +manufacture of fine thread by hand-labour was a most profitable +employment. Wonders were wrought in this way by female fingers. The +author of 'Our Staple Manufactures' states that in 1799, out of a +pound and a half of flax, costing 10 s., a woman produced yarn of the +value of 5 l. 2 s. 6 d. Miss M'Quillan, of Comber, spun 94 hanks out +of one pound of flax, splitting the fibre with her needles to give +this degree of fineness. + + But alas! what a change to the cottage hearth! + The song of the wheel's no more-- + The song that gladdened with guileless mirth + The hearths and homes of the poor! + +But here, and in all the small towns about, they have still the +weaving, and it is carried on to a considerable extent by persons who +hold a few acres of land, throwing aside the shuttle while putting in +the crops and doing the harvest work. Thus combining the two pursuits, +these poor people are able, by extraordinary industry, to earn their +daily bread; but they can do little more. The weavers, as a class, +appear to be feeble and faded specimens of humanity, remarkably quiet, +intelligent, and well-disposed--a law-abiding people, who shrink from +violence and outrage, no matter what may be their grievances. It is +cruel to load them too heavily with the burdens of life, and yet I am +afraid it is sometimes done, even in this county, unnecessarily and +wantonly. What I have said of the Downshire and Londonderry estates, +holds good with respect to the estates of the other large proprietors, +such as Lord Roden, the kindest of landlords, almost idolised, even by +his Catholic tenants; Lord Annesley; the trustees of Lord Kilmurray; +Sir Thomas Bateson, and others. But I am sorry to learn that even +the great county Down has a share of the two classes which supply the +worst species of Irish landlords--absentees who live extravagantly in +England, and merchants who have purchased estates to make as large a +percentage as possible out of the investment. It is chiefly, but not +wholly, on the estates of these proprietors that cases of injustice +and oppression are found. In the first class it is the agent that the +tenants have to deal with; and whether he be humane or not matters +little to them, for, whatever may be his feelings, the utmost penny +must be exacted to keep up the expensive establishments of the +landlord in England, to meet the cost of a new building, or the debt +incurred by gambling on the turf and elsewhere. Every transaction of +the kind brings a fresh demand on the agent, and even if he be not +unscrupulous or cruel, he must put on the screw, and get the money +at all hazards. I have been assured that it is quite usual, on such +estates, to find the tenantry paying the highest rent compatible with +the maintenance of bare life. There is in the county of Down a great +number of small holders thus struggling for existence. As a specimen +let us take the following case:--A man holds a dozen acres of land, +for which he pays 2 l. 10 s. per acre. He labours as no slave could be +made to work, in the summer time from five o'clock in the morning till +six in the evening. He can hardly scrape together a pound beyond the +rent and taxes. If a bad season comes, he is at starvation point: he +falls into arrears with the landlord, and he is forced by the bailiff +to sell off his small stock to pay the rent. + +Without the excuse of pecuniary difficulties, the merchant landlord is +not a whit less exacting, or more merciful. He looks upon the tenants +as he would on so many head of cattle, and his sole consideration +is what is the highest penny he can make out of them. Not far from +Belfast lived a farmer who cultivated a few acres. Sickness and the +support of a widowed sister's family forced him into arrears of rent. +Ejectment proceedings were taken, and one day when he returned to his +house, he found his furniture thrown out on the road, the sister and +family evicted, and the door locked. He was offered as much money as +would take him to America, but he would not be allowed to sell the +tenant-right. Here is another case illustrative of the manner in which +that right is sometimes dealt with:--A respectable man purchased a +farm at 10 l. an acre. It was very poor land, much of it unfit for +cultivation. Immediately on getting possession a surveyor came and +added two acres to the former measurement. The incoming tenant was +at the same time informed that the rent was raised to an extent that +caused the possession to be a dead loss. On threatening to throw up +the concern, some reduction was made, which brought the rent as close +as possible to the full letting value. + +I have been told by a well-informed gentleman, whose veracity I cannot +doubt, that it is quite common in the county of Down (and indeed +I have been told the same thing in other counties) to find an +_improving_ tenant paying 2 l. to 3 l. an acre for land, which he has +at his own expense brought up to a good state of cultivation, +while the adjoining land of his lazy neighbour--originally of equal +value--yields only 20 s. to 35 s. an acre. The obvious tendency of +this unjust and impolitic course on the part of landlords and agents, +is to discourage improvements, to dishearten the industrious, and to +fill the country with thriftless, desponding, and miserable occupiers, +living from hand to mouth. There are circumstances under which even +selfish men will toil hard, though others should share with them the +benefit of their labours; but if they feel that this partnership in +the profits of their industry is the result of a system of legalised +injustice, which enables unscrupulous men to appropriate at will the +whole of the profits, their moral sense so revolts against that system +that they resolve to do as little as they possibly can. + +The consequence of these painful relations of landlord and tenant, +even in this comparatively happy county, is a perceptible degeneracy +in the manhood of the people. Talk to an old inhabitant, who has been +an attentive observer of his times, and he will tell you that +the vigorous and energetic, the intelligent and enterprising, are +departing to more favoured lands, and that this process has produced +a marked deterioration in the population within his memory. He can +distinctly recollect when there were more than double the present +number of strong farmers in the country about Belfast. He declares +that, with many exceptions of course, the land is getting into the +hands of a second or third class of farmers, who are little more than +servants to the small landlords. Even where there are leases, such +intelligent observers affirm that they are so over-ridden with +conditions that the farmer has no liberty or security to make any +great improvements. Were it otherwise he would not think a thirty-one +years' lease sufficient for the building of a stone house, that would +be as good at the end of a hundred years as at the end of thirty. All +the information that I can gather from thoughtful men, who are really +anxious for a change that would benefit the landlords as well as +themselves, points to the remedy which Lord Granard has suggested, +as the most simple, feasible, and satisfactory--the legalisation and +extension of the tenant-right custom. They rejoice that such landlords +now proclaim the injustice which the tenant class have so long +bitterly felt--namely, the presumption of law that all the +improvements and buildings on the farm belong to the lord of the +soil, although the notorious fact is that they are all the work of the +tenant. + +And here I will take the opportunity of remarking that the legislature +were guilty of strange oversight, or deliberate injustice, in +the passing of the Incumbered Estates Act. Taking advantage of an +overwhelming national calamity, they forced numbers of gentlemen into +a ruinous sale of their patrimonial estates, in order that men of +capital might get possession of them. But they made no provision +whatever for the protection of the tenants, or of the property which +those tenants had created on these estates. Many of those were tenants +at will, who built and planted in perfect and well-grounded reliance +on the honour and integrity of their old landlords. But in the +advertisements for the sale of property under the Landed Estates +Court, it was regularly mentioned as an inducement to purchasers of +the Scully type that the tenants had no leases. The result of this +combination of circumstances bearing against the cultivators of the +soil--the chief producers of national wealth--is a deep, resentful +sense of injustice pervading this class, and having for its immediate +objects the landlords and their agents. The tenants don't speak out +their feelings, because they dare not. They fear that to offend the +_office_ in word or deed is to expose themselves and their children +to the infliction of a fine in the shape of increased rent, perhaps at +the rate of five or ten shillings an acre in perpetuity. + +One unfortunate effect of the distrust thus generated, is that when +enlightened landlords, full of the spirit of improvement, like Lord +Dufferin and Lord Lurgan, endeavour, from the most unselfish and +patriotic motives, to make changes in the tenures and customs on their +estates, they have to encounter an adverse current of popular opinion +and feeling, which is really too strong to be effectually resisted. +For example: In order to correct the evils resulting from the undue +competition for land among the tenants, they limit the amount per acre +which the outgoing tenant is permitted to receive; but the limitation +is futile, because the tenants understand one another, and do what +they believe to be right behind the landlord's back. The market price +is, say, 20 l. an acre. The landlord allows 10 l.; the balance finds +its way secretly into the pocket of the outgoing tenant before he +gives up possession. As a gentleman expressed it to me emphatically, +'The outgoing tenant _must_ be satisfied, and he _is_ satisfied.' +Public opinion in his own class demands it; and on no other terms +would it be considered lucky to take possession of the vacant farm. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +TENANT-RIGHT IN ANTRIM. + + +I find from the Antrim Survey, published in 1812, that at that time +leases were general on the Hertfort estate. There were then about +3,600 farmers who held by that tenure, each holding, on an average, +twenty English acres, but many farms contained 100 acres or more. Mr. +Hugh M'Call, of Lisburn, the able author of 'Our Staple Manufactures,' +gives the following estimates of the rental. In 1726, it was 3,500 +l.; in 1768, it was 12,000 l.; and for 1869, his estimate is 63,000 l. +Taking the estimate given by Dean Stannus, as 10 l. or 12 l. an acre, +the tenant-right of the estate is worth 500,000 l. at the very least, +probably 600,000 l. is the more correct figure. This vast amount of +property created by the industry and capital of the tenants, is held +at the will of an absentee landlord, who has on several occasions +betrayed an utter want of sympathy with the people who lie thus at his +mercy. There are tenant farmers on the estate who hold as much as +100 to 200 acres, with handsome houses built by themselves, whose +interest, under the custom, should amount to 1,500 l. and 2,500 l. +respectively, which might be legally swept away by a six months' +notice to quit. The owners of this property might be regarded as very +independent, but in reality, unless the spirit of martyrdom has raised +them above the ordinary feelings of human nature, they will take care +to be very humble and submissive towards Lord Hertfort's agents. If +words were the same as deeds, if professions were always consistent +with practice, the tenants would certainly have nothing to fear; for +great pains have been taken from time to time, both by the landlord +and agent, to inspire them with unbounded confidence. + +In the year 1845, the tenants presented an address to Lord Hertfort, +in which they said:--'It is a proud fact, worthy to be recorded, that +the tenant-right of the honest and industrious man on your lordship's +estate is a certain and valuable tenure to him, so long as he +continues to pay his rent.' To this his lordship replied in the +following terms:--'I am happy to find that the encouragement I +have given to the improvement of the land generally has been found +effectual, and I trust that the advantage to the tenant of the +improved system of agriculture will be found to increase; and I beg +to assure you that with me the right of the improving tenant shall +continue to be as scrupulously respected as it has been hitherto by +my ancestors. Your kindness alone, independent of the natural +interest which I must ever feel as to everything connected with this +neighbourhood, affords a powerful inducement to my coming among you, +and I hope to have the pleasure of often repeating my visit.' + +Twenty-four years have since elapsed, and during all that time the +marquis has never indulged himself in a repetition of the exquisite +pleasure he then enjoyed. At a banquet given in his honour on that +occasion, he used the following language, which was, no doubt, +published in the _Times_, and read with great interest in London and +Paris:--'This is one of the most delightful days I ever spent. Trust +me, I have your happiness and welfare at heart, and it shall ever +be my endeavour to promote the one and contribute to the other.' The +parting scene on this occasion must have been very touching; for, +in tearing himself away, his lordship said: 'I have now come to the +concluding toast. It is, "Merry have we met, and merry may we _soon_ +meet again!"' + +The tenants could scarcely doubt the genuineness of their landlord's +feelings, for on the same occasion Dean Stannus said: 'I feel myself +perfectly justified in using the term "a good landlord;" because his +lordship's express wish to me often was, "I hope you will always +keep me in such a position that I may be considered the friend of +my tenants."' But as he did not return to them, a most respectable +deputation waited upon him in London in the year 1850, to present +a memorial praying for a reduction of rent on account of the potato +blight and other local calamities which had befallen the tenantry. The +memorialists respectfully showed 'that under the encouraging auspices +of the Hertfort family, and on the faith of that just and equitable +understanding which has always existed on this estate--that _no +advantage would be taken of the tenant's improvements in adjusting +the letting value of land_, they had invested large sums of money in +buildings and other improvements on their farms, and that this, under +the name of tenant-right, was a species of sunk capital that was +formerly considered a safe repository for accumulated savings, which +could be turned to account at any time of difficulty by its sale, or +as a security for temporary advances.' In his reply, Lord Hertfort +said, 'I seek not to disturb any interest, much less do I wish to +interfere by any plan or arrangement of mine with the tenant-right +which my tenants have hitherto enjoyed, and which it is my anxious +wish to preserve to them.' + +The faith and hope inspired by these assurances of the landlord were +repeatedly encouraged and strengthened by the public declarations of +his very reverend agent, Dean Stannus. At a meeting of the Killultagh +and Derryvolgie Farming Society, in 1849, he stated that he had great +pleasure in subscribing to almost everything said by Mr. M'Call. +He had taken great pains to convince the late Lord Hertfort that +tenant-right was one of the greatest possible boons, _as well to the +landlords themselves_ as to the tenants. So advantageous did he regard +it to the interest of Lord Hertfort and the tenants, that if it were +not preserved he would not continue agent to the estate. Tenant-right +was his security for the Marquis of Hertfort's rent, and he would not +ask a tenant to relinquish a single rood of land without paying him at +the rate of 10 l. to 12 l. an acre for it. + +Firmly believing in the statements thus emphatically and solemnly made +to them from time to time, that on this estate tenant-right was as +good as a lease, the tenants went on building houses, and making +permanent improvements in Lisburn and elsewhere, depending on this +security. And, indeed, the value of such security could scarcely be +presented under more favourable circumstances. The absentee landlord +receiving such a princely revenue, and absorbed in his Parisian +pursuits, seemed to leave everything to his agent. The agent was +rector of the parish of Lisburn, a dignitary of the Church, a +gentleman of the highest social position, with many excellent points +in his character, and pledged before the world, again and again, +to respect rigidly and scrupulously the enormous property which +a confiding tenantry had invested in this estate. If, under these +circumstances, the security of tenant-right fails, where else can it +be trusted? If it be proved, by open and public proceedings, that on +the Hertfort estate, the distinctly recognised property of the tenant +is liable to be seized and wrested from him by the agent, it is clear +to demonstration that such property absolutely requires the protection +of law. This proof, I am sorry to say, is forthcoming. Let my readers +reflect for a moment on what might have been done for Lisburn and the +surrounding country if the Marquis of Hertfort had rebuilt his castle +and resided among his people. What an impulse to improvement of every +kind, what employment for tradesmen of every class, what business for +shops might have resulted from the local expenditure of 50,000 l. or +60,000 l. a year! What public buildings would have been erected--how +local institutions would have flourished! The proverb that 'absence +makes the heart grow fonder' does not apply to the relations of +landlord and tenant. But there is another proverb that applies +well--'Out of sight, out of mind.' Of this I shall now give two or +three illustrations. Some years ago, it was discovered that no +lease of the Catholic chapel at Lisburn could be found, and in the +recollection of the oldest member of the congregation no rent had been +paid. Kent, however, was now demanded, and the parish priest agreed +to pay a nominal amount, which places the congregation at the mercy +of the office. Ground was asked some time ago to build a Presbyterian +Church, but it was absolutely refused. A sum of money was subscribed +to build a literary institute, but, though a sort of promise was given +for ground to build it on, it was never granted, and the project fell +through. Lord Hertfort spends no portion of his vast income where it +is earned. His estate is like a farm to which the produce is never +returned in the shape of manure, but is all carted off and applied to +the enrichment of a farm elsewhere. One might suppose that where such +an exhausting process has been going on for so long a time an effort +would be made at some sort of compensation, especially at periods of +calamity. Yet, when the weavers on his estate were starving, owing to +the cotton famine during the American war, his lordship never replied +to the repeated applications made to him for help to save alive those +honest producers of his wealth. The noble example of Lord Derby and +other proprietors in Lancashire failed to kindle in his heart a spark +of humanity, not to speak of generous emulation. The sum of 3,000 l. +was raised in Lisburn, and by friends in Great Britain and America, +which was expended in saving the people from going _en masse_ to +the workhouse. Behold a contrast! While the great peer, whose family +inherited a vast estate for which they never paid a shilling, was deaf +to the cries of famishing Christians, whom he was bound by every tie +to commiserate and relieve, an American citizen, who owed nothing +to Ireland but his birth--Mr. A.T. Stewart, of New York--sent a ship +loaded with provisions, which cost him 5,000 l. of his own money, to +be distributed amongst Lord Hertfort's starving tenants, and on +the return of the ship he took out as many emigrants as he could +accommodate, free of charge. The tourist in Ireland is charmed with +the appearance of Lisburn--the rich and nicely cultivated town parks, +the fields white as snow with linen of the finest quality, the busy +mills, the old trees, the clean streets, the look of comfort in the +population, the pretty villas in the country about. Mrs. S.C. Hall +says that there is, probably, no town in Ireland where the happy +effects of English taste and industry are more conspicuous than at +Lisburn. 'From Drumbridge and the banks of the Lagan on one side, +to the shores of Lough Neagh on the other, the people are almost +exclusively the descendants of English settlers. Those in the +immediate neighbourhood of the town were mostly Welsh, but great +numbers arrived from the northern English shires, and from the +neighbourhood of the Bristol Channel. The English language is perhaps +spoken more purely by the populace of this district than by the same +class in any other part of Ireland. The neatness of the cottages, and +the good taste displayed in many of the farms, are little, if at all, +inferior to aught that we find in England, and the tourist who visits +Lough Neagh, passing through Ballinderry, will consider it to have +been justly designated _the garden of the north._ The multitude of +pretty little villages, scattered over the landscape, each announcing +itself by the tapering tower of a church, would almost beguile the +traveller into believing that he was passing through a rural district +in one of the midland counties of England.' + +We have seen that after General Conway got this land, it was described +by an English traveller as still uninhabited--'all woods and moor.' +Who made it the garden of the north? The British settlers and their +descendants. And why did they transform this wilderness into fruitful +fields? Because they had permanent tenures and fair rents. The rental +150 years ago was 3,500 l. per annum. Allow that money was three times +as valuable then as it is now, and the rental would have been about +10,500 l. It is now nearly six times that amount. By what means was +the revenue of the landlord increased? Was it by any expenditure of +his own? Did any portion of the capital annually abstracted from +the estate return to it, to fructify and increase its value? Did the +landlord drain the swamps, reclaim the moors, build the dwellings and +farmhouses, make the fences, and plant the orchards? He did nothing +of the kind. Nor was it agricultural industry alone that increased his +revenue. He owes much of the beauty, fertility, and richness of his +estate to the linen manufacture, to those weavers to the cries of +distress from whose famishing children a few years ago the most noble +marquis resolutely turned a deaf ear. + +But, passing from historical matters to the immediate purpose of our +enquiry, let it suffice to remark that from Lisburn as a centre the +linen trade in all its branches--flax growing, scutching, spinning, +weaving and bleaching--spread over the whole of the Hertfort estate, +giving profitable employment to the tenants, circulating money, +enabling them to build and improve and work the estate into the +rich and beautiful garden described by Mrs. Hall;--all this work +of improvement has been carried on, all or nearly all the costly +investments on the land have been made, without leases and in +dependence on tenant-right. We have seen what efforts were made by +landlord and agent to strengthen the faith of the tenants in this +security. We have seen also from the historical facts I have adduced +the sort of people that constitute the population of the borough of +Lisburn. If ever there was a population that could be safely entrusted +with the free exercise of the franchise it is the population of +this town--so enlightened, so loyal, so independent in means, such +admirable producers of national wealth, so naturally attached to +British connection. Yet for generations Lisburn has been a pocket +borough, and the nominee of the landlord, often a total stranger, was +returned as a matter of course. The marquis sent to his agent a _conge +d'elire_, and that was as imperative as a similar order to a dean +and chapter to elect a bishop. In 1852 the gentleman whom the Lisburn +electors were ordered to return was Mr. Inglis, the lord advocate of +Scotland. They, however, felt that the time was come when the borough +should be opened, and they should be at liberty to exercise their +constitutional rights. A meeting of the inhabitants was therefore +held, at which Mr. R. Smith was nominated as the popular candidate. +The contest was not political; it was simply the independence of the +borough against the _office_. Dean Stannus, as agent to an absentee +landlord, was the most powerful personage in the place, virtually +the lord of the manor. Before the election that gentleman published a +letter in a Belfast paper contradicting a statement that had +appeared to the effect that Lord Hertfort took little interest in the +approaching contest, in which letter he said: 'I have the best reason +for knowing that his lordship views with intense interest what is +passing here, and that he is most anxious for the return of Mr. +Inglis, feeling that the election of such a representative (which I am +now enabled to say is _certain_) will do much credit to the borough of +Lisburn, and that this _unmeaning_ contest will, at all events, among +its other effects, prove to his lordship whom he may regard as his +_true_ friends in his future relations with this town.' + +Notwithstanding this warning, so significantly emphasized, the +candidate whom the voters selected as their real representative was +returned. Now no one can blame the marquis or his agent for wishing +that the choice had fallen upon Mr. Inglis. So far as politics were +concerned, the contest _was_ unmeaning; but so far as the rights of +the people and the loyal working of the British constitution were +concerned, the contest was full of meaning, and if the landlord and +his agent respected the constitution more than their own personal +power they would have frankly acquiesced in the result, feeling that +this Protestant and Conservative constituency had conscientiously +done its duty to the state. But who could have imagined, after all +the solemnly recorded pledges I have quoted, that they would have +instantly resolved to punish the independent exercise of the franchise +by inflicting an enormous and crushing fine amounting to nothing less +than the whole tenant-right property of every adverse voter who had +not a lease! Immediately after the election 'notices to quit' were +served upon every one of them. In consequence of this outrageous +proceeding a public meeting was held, at which a letter from John +Millar, Esq., a most respectable and wealthy man (who was unable to +attend) was read by the secretary. He said: 'I have at various times +purchased places held from year to year, relying on the custom of the +country, and on the declared determination of the landlord and his +agent to respect such customary rights of property, for the continued +possession of it. I have besides taken under the same landlord several +fields as town parks, which were in very bad order. These fields I +have drained and very much improved. I have always punctually paid the +rent charged for the several holdings, and, I think I may venture to +say, performed all the duties of a good tenant. At the last election, +however, I exercised my right as a citizen of a free country, +by giving my votes at Hillsborough and Lisburn in favour of the +tenant-right candidates, without reference to the desires or orders of +those who have no legal or constitutional right to control the use of +my franchise. I have since received from the office a notice to quit, +desiring me to give up possession of all my holdings, as tenant +from year to year, in the counties of Down and Antrim, without any +intimation that I shall receive compensation, and without being able +to obtain any explanation of this conduct towards me except by popular +rumour.' At the same meeting Mr. Hugh M'Call said that he had looked +over some documents and found that the individuals in Lisburn who +had received notices to quit held property to the value of 3,000 l., +property raised by themselves, or purchased by them with the sanction +of the landlord. In one case the agent himself went into the premises +where buildings were being erected, and suggested some changes. In +fact the improvements were carried out under his inspection as an +architect. Yet he served upon that gentleman a notice to quit. Some +of the tenants paid the penalty for their votes by surrendering their +holdings; others contested the right of eviction on technical points, +and succeeded at the quarter sessions. One of the points was, as +already mentioned, that a dean and rector could not be legally a land +agent at the same time. It was, indeed, a very ugly fact that the +rector of the parish should be thus officially engaged, not only in +nullifying the political rights of his own Protestant parishioners, +but in destroying their tenant-right, evicting them from their +holdings, which _they_ believed to be legal robbery and oppression, +accompanied by such flagrant breach of faith as tended to destroy all +confidence between man and man, and thus to dissolve the strongest +bonds of society. Sad work for a dignitary of the church to be engaged +in! + +In April, 1856, there was another contested election. On that +occasion the marquis wrote to a gentleman in Lisburn that he would not +interfere 'directly or indirectly to influence anybody.' Nevertheless, +notices to quit, signed by Mr. Walter L. Stannus, assistant and +successor to his father, were extensively served upon tenants-at-will, +though it was afterwards alleged that they were only served as matters +of form. But what, then, did they mean? They meant that those who +had voted against the office had, _ipso facto, forfeited their +tenant-right property._ Many other incidents in the management of the +estate have been constantly occurring more recently, tending to show +that the most valuable properties created by the tenants-at-will are +at the mercy of the landlord, and that tenant-right, so called, is +not regarded by him as a matter of _right_ at all, but merely as a +_favour_, to be granted to those who are dutiful and submissive to the +office in all matters, political and social. For instance, one farmer +was refused permission to sell his tenant-right till he consented to +sink 100 l. or 200 l. in the shares of the Lisburn and Antrim railway, +so that, as he believed, he was obliged to throw away his money in +order to get his right. + +The enormous power of an office which can deal with property amounting +to more than half a million sterling, in such an arbitrary manner, +necessarily generates a spirit of wanton and capricious despotism, +except where the mind is very well regulated and the heart severely +disciplined by Christian duty. Of this I feel bound to give the +following illustration, which I would not do if the fact had not been +made public, and if I had not the best evidence that it is undeniable. +George Beattie, jun., a grocer's assistant in Lisburn, possessed a +beautiful greyhound which he left in charge of George Beattie, sen., +his uncle, on departing for America. This uncle possessed a farm on +the Hertfort estate, the tenant-right of which he wanted to sell. +Having applied to Mr. Stannus for permission, the answer he received +was that he would not be allowed to sell until the head of the +greyhound was brought to the office. The tenant remonstrated and +offered to send the dog away off the estate to relatives, but to no +effect. He was obliged to kill the greyhound, and to send its head in +a bag to Lord Hertfort's office. It was a great triumph for the agent. +What a pretty sensational story he had to tell the young ladies in the +refined circles in which he moves. How edifying the recital must have +been to the peasantry around him! How it must have exalted their ideas +of the civilising influence of land agency. 'It is quite a common +thing,' says a gentleman well acquainted with the estate, 'when a +tenant becomes insolvent, that his tenant-right is sold and employed +to pay those of his creditors who may be in favour. I know a lady who +made application to have a claim against a small farmer registered in +the office, which was done, and she now possesses the security of the +man's tenant-right for her money.' + +The case of the late Captain Bolton is the last illustration I +shall give in connection with this estate. Captain Bolton resided in +Lisburn, and he was one of the most respected of its inhabitants. +He was the owner of four houses in that town, a property which he +acquired in this way:--The site of two of them was obtained by the +late James Hogg, in lieu of freehold property surrendered. On this +ground, his son, Captain Bolton's uncle, built the two houses entirely +at his own expense. Two other houses, immediately adjoining, came into +the market, and he purchased the out-going tenant's 'good-will' for +a sum of about 40 l. These houses were thatched, and in very bad +condition. He repaired them and slated them, and thus formed a nice +uniform block of four workers' houses. Captain Bolton inherited these +from his uncle and retained uninterrupted possession till 1852, when +he voted for Johnston Smyth at the election of that date. Immediately +afterwards he received a notice to quit, an ejectment was brought in +due time, the case was dismissed at the quarter sessions, an appeal +was lodged, but it was again dismissed at the assizes. Undaunted by +these two defeats, the persistent agent served another notice to quit. +The captain was a man of peace, whose nerves could not stand such +perpetual worrying by litigation, and he was so disgusted with +the whole affair that he tied up the keys, and sent them to Lord +Hertfort's office. In his ledger that day he made the following +entry:--'Plundered, this 20th December 1854, by our worthy agent to +the marquis, because I voted for Smyth and the independence of the +borough.--J.B.' + +The houses remained in the hands of the agent till the next election, +when Captain Bolton voted for Mr. Hogg, the office candidate. +The conscientious old gentleman--as good a conservative as Dean +Stannus--voted from principle in both cases and not to please the +agent or anyone else. The agent, however, thought proper to regard +it as a penitent act, and as the tenant had ceased to be naughty, +and had, it was assumed, shown proper deference to his political +superiors, he received his houses back again, retaining the possession +of them till his death. The profit rent of the houses is 20 l. a year. +Either this rent belonged to Captain Bolton or to Lord Hertfort. If +to Captain Bolton, by what right did Dean Stannus take it from him and +give it to the landlord? If to the landlord, by what right did Dean +Stannus take it from Lord Hertfort and give it to Captain Bolton? + +However, the latter gentleman having no doubt whatever, first or last, +that the property was his own, bequeathed the houses to trustees +for the support of a school which he had established in Lisburn. The +school, it appears, had been placed in connection with the Church +Education Society, and as it did not go on to his satisfaction, he +placed it in connection with the National Board of Education, having +appointed as his trustees John Campbell, Esq., M.D., William Coulson, +Esq., and the Rev. W.J. Clarke, Presbyterian minister, all of Lisburn. +Dr. Campbell died soon after, and Mr. Coulson refused to act, so that +the burden of the trust fell upon Mr. Clarke, who felt it to be +his duty to carry it out to the best of his ability. Dean Stannus, +however, was greatly dissatisfied with the last will and testament of +Captain Bolton. Yet the dying man had no reason to anticipate that +his affectionate pastor would labour with all his might to abolish +the trust. Dean Stannus paid the captain a visit on his deathbed, and +while administering the consolations of religion he seemed moved +even to tears. To a friend who subsequently expressed doubt, the +simple-minded old Christian said: 'I will trust the dean that he will +do nothing in opposition to my will. He was here a few days ago and +wept over me. He loves me, and will carry out my wishes.' The captain +died in April, 1867. He was scarcely cold in his grave when the agent +of Lord Hertfort took proceedings to eject his trustees, and deprive +the schools of the property bequeathed for their support. Not content +with this, he took proceedings to get possession of the schoolhouse +also, deeming it a sufficient reason for this appropriation of another +man's property, this setting aside of a will, this abolition of +a trust, that, in his opinion, the schools ought to be under the +patronage of the rector, and in connection with the Church Education +Society. He had a perfect right to think and say this, and it might +be his conscientious conviction that the property would be thus better +employed; but he ought to know that the end does not sanctify the +means; that he had no right to substitute his own will for that of +Captain Bolton, and that he had no right to take advantage of the +absence of an act of parliament to possess himself of the rightful +property of other people. Unfortunately, too, he was a judge in his +own case, and he did not find it easy to separate the rector of the +parish from the agent of the estate. It is a significant fact that +when his son, Mr. Stannus, handed his power of attorney to Mr. Otway, +the assistant-barrister, that gentleman refused to look at it, saying, +'I have seen it one hundred times;' and the Rev. Mr. Clarke, while +waiting in the court for the case to come on, observed that all the +ejectment processes were at the suit of the Marquis of Hertfort. The +school-house was built by Mr. Bolton, at his own expense twenty-eight +years ago, and he maintained it till his death. The Rev. W.J. Clarke, +the acting trustee, bravely defended his trust and fought the battle +of tenant-right in the courts till driven out by the sheriff. He +was then called on to perform the same duty with regard to the +school-house. He has done it faithfully and well, and deserves the +sympathy of all the friends of freedom, justice, and fair dealing. +'I shall never accept a trust,' he says, in a letter to the _Northern +Whig_--'I shall never accept a trust, and permit any man, whether +nobleman, agent, or bailiff, to alienate that trust, without appealing +to the laws of my country; and if the one-sidedness of such laws shall +enable Dean and Mr. Stannus to confiscate this property, and turn +it from the purpose to which benevolence designed it, then, having +defended it to the last, I shall retire from the field satisfied that +I have done my duty to the memory of the dead and the educational +interests of the living.' Nor can we be surprised at the strong +language that he uses when he says: 'The history of the case rivals, +for blackness of persecution, anything that has happened in the north +of Ireland for many years. But such a course of conduct only recoils +on the heads of those who are guilty of it, and it shall be so in this +case. The Marquis of Hertfort will not live always, and the power of +public opinion may be able to reach his successor, and be felt even in +Lisburn.' + +Dean Stannus, in his evidence before the Devon commission, stated that +only a small portion of the estate was held by lease. The leases were +obtained in a curious way. In 1823 a system of fining commenced. If a +tenant wanted a lease he was required to pay in cash a fine of 10 l. +an acre, which was equal to an addition of ten shillings an acre to +the rent for twenty years, not counting the interest on the money thus +sunk in the land. Yet, such was the desire of the tenants to have a +better security than the tenant-right custom, always acknowledged on +the estate, that 'every man who had money took advantage of it.' Mr. +Gregg, the seneschal of the manor, gave an illustration of the working +of this fining system. A tenant sold his farm of fourteen acres for +205 l., eight of the fourteen acres being held at will. The person who +bought the farm was obliged to take a lease of the eight acres, and +to pay a proportional fine in addition to the sum paid for the +tenant-right. Dean Stannus said 'he would wish to see the tenant-right +upheld upon the estate of Lord Hertfort, as it always had been. It is +that,' he said, 'which has kept up the properties in the north over +the properties in other parts of Ireland. It is a security for the +rent in the first instance, and reconciles the tenants to much of what +are called grievances. If you go into a minute calculation of +what they have expended, they are not more than paid for their +expenditure.' It transpired in the course of the examination that a +man who had purchased tenant-right, and paid a fine of 10 l. an acre +on getting a lease, would have to pay a similar fine over again when +getting the lease renewed. The result of these heavy advances was that +the middle-class farmers lived in constant pecuniary difficulties. +They were obliged to borrow money at six per cent. to pay the rent, +but they borrowed it under circumstances which made it nearly 40 per +cent., for it was lent by dealers in oatmeal and other things, from +whom they were obliged to purchase large quantities of goods at such a +high rate that they sold them again at a sacrifice of 33 per cent. + +Mr. Joshua Lamb, another witness, stated that the effect of the fining +system had been to draw away a great deal of the accumulated capital +out of the hands of the tenantry, as well as their anticipated savings +for years to come, by which the carrying out of improved methods of +agriculture was prevented. Still, the existence of a lease for 31 +years doubled the value of the tenant-right. This witness made a +remarkable statement. With respect to this custom he said: The 'effect +of this arrangement, when duly observed, is to prevent all disputes, +quarrels, burnings, and destruction of property, so common in those +parts of Ireland where this practice does not prevail. Indeed, so +fully are farmers aware of this, that very few, except the most +reckless, would venture on taking a farm without obtaining the +outgoing tenant's "good-will." Such a proceeding as taking land +"over a man's head," as it is termed, is regarded here as not merely +dishonourable, but as little better than robbery, and as such held +in the greatest detestation.' He added that the justice of this +arrangement was obvious--'because all the buildings, planting, and +other improvements, being entirely at the tenant's expense, he has a +certain amount of capital sunk in the property, for which, if he +parts with the place, he expects to be repaid by the sale of the +tenant-right. He knew no case in the county in which the tenant, or +those from whom he purchased, had made no improvements.' + +The first marquis occasionally visited the estate, and was proud of +the troops of yeomanry and cavalry which had been raised from his +tenantry. The second marquis, who died in 1822, was only once in +that part of Ireland. The third marquis--he of Prince Regent +notoriety--never set foot on the property; and the present, who has +been reigning over 140 townlands for nearly thirty years, has never +been among his subjects except during a solitary visit of three weeks +in October, 1845, when, it is said, he came to qualify for his ribbon +(K.G.) that he might be able to say to the prime minister that he +was a resident landlord. He has resided almost entirely in Paris, +cultivating the friendship of Napoleon instead of the welfare of the +people who pay him a revenue of 60,000 l. a year. Bagatelle, his +Paris residence, has, it is said, absorbed Irish rents in its +'improvements', till it has been made worth three quarters of a +million sterling. If the residence cost so much, fancy may try to +conceive the amount of hard-earned money squandered on the luxuries +and pleasures of which it is the temple--the most Elysian spot in the +Elysian fields. + +The following curious narrative appeared in a Belfast newspaper, and +was founded on a speech made by Dean Stannus at a public meeting. + +The venerable Dean of Ross and his son, Mr. W.T. Stannus, had been +deputed to go to Paris to wait on Lord Hertfort, and urge him to +assist in the expense of finishing the Antrim Junction Railway. The +dean is in his eighty-first year; fifty-one years of his life have +been spent in the management of the Hertfort estate, and whatever +difference of opinion may exist as to his arrangements with the +tenantry, every one who knows anything of the affair must admit that +there never existed a more faithful representative of a landowner. On +arriving in Paris he found the marquis ill, so much so that neither +the dean nor his son could get an interview. For three days the +venerable gentleman danced attendance on his chief, and on Monday the +fourth attempt was made, the dean sent up his name, and had a reply +that 'the marquis was too ill to see anyone.' Next day, however, the +marquis condescended to receive his agent, and the subject of the +railway was introduced. The dean told him that Lord Erne had given +200,000 l. towards the railway projects on his property--that Lords +Lucan, Annesley, and Lifford had contributed largely, and that Lord +Downshire had been exceedingly liberal in promoting lines on his +estate. But all was vain. The noble absentee, who drains about 60,000 +l. a year from his Irish property, and who often pays 5,000 l. for +a picture, refused to lend 15,000 l. to aid in finishing a railway, +which runs for three-fourths of the mileage through his own estate. +During the interview Mr. W.T. Stannus urged on the marquis that the +investment would be the best that could be made, as preference shares +paying five per cent. would be allocated to him as security for the +amount. All arguments and entreaties, however, were lost on the noble +invalid. Even the appeal of the old gentleman who, for more than half +a century, had managed the estate so advantageously for the successive +owners of that splendid property, was made in vain. 'You never refused +me anything before,' urged the dean, 'and I go away in very bad +spirits.' What a wonderful history lies in this episode of Irish +landlordism. Here is an unmarried nobleman whose income from +investments in British and French securities is said to exceed 30,000 +l. a year, besides the immense revenue of his English and Irish +estates, and yet he refuses to part with 15,000 l. towards aiding in +the construction of a railway on his own property. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +TENANT-RIGHT IN ARMAGH. + + +Among the undertakers in the county of Armagh were the two Achesons, +Henry and Archibald, ancestors of Lord Gosford, who founded Market +Hill, Richard Houlston, John Heron, William Stanbowe, Francis +Sacheverell, John Dillon, John Hamilton, Sir John Davis, Lord Moore, +Henry Boucher, Anthony Smith, Lieutenant Poyntz, and Henry M'Shane +O'Neill. + +In connection with each of these settlements Pynar uses the phrase, +'I find planted and estated.' What he means is more fully explained +in his reference to the precinct of Fews, allotted to Scottish +undertakers, where Henry Acheson had obtained 1,000 acres. The +surveyor says: 'I find a great number of tenants on this land: but not +any that have any estates but by promise, and yet they have been many +years upon the land. There are nominated to me two freeholders and +seventeen leaseholders, all which were with me, and took the oath of +supremacy, and petitioned unto me that they might have their leases, +the which Mr. Acheson seemed to be willing to perform it unto them +presently. These are able to make thirty men with arms. Here is great +store of tillage.' The whole of the reports indicate that the Crown +required of the undertakers two things. First, that they should +themselves reside on the land, that they should build strong houses, +fortified with bawns, and keep a certain number of armed men for +the defence of the settlement. Secondly, that the English and Scotch +settlers who were expected to reclaim the land and build houses, were +to have 'estates' in their farms, either as freeholders or lessees. +The grants were made to the undertakers on these conditions--they +should be resident, and they should have around them a number of +independent yeomanry to defend the king when called upon to do so. +Everything connected with the plantation gives the idea of permanent +tenures for the settlers. A curious fact is mentioned about Sir John +Davis, who had been so active in bringing about the plantation. He +obtained a grant for 500 acres. 'Upon this,' says Pynar, 'there is +nothing at all built, nor so much as an English tenant on the land.' +It seems his tenants were all of the class for whose extirpation +he pleaded, as weeds that would choke the Saxon crop. Henry M'Shane +O'Neill got 1,000 acres at Camlagh, 'but he being lately dead, it was +in the hands of Sir Toby Caulfield, who intended to do something upon +it, for as yet there was nothing built.' Sir Toby was the ancestor of +the Earl of Charlemont, always one of the best landlords in Ulster. + +It is gratifying to find that both the undertakers and the original +tenants are still fairly represented--a considerable number of the +former having founded noble houses, and the latter having multiplied +and enriched the land to such an extent that, though the population +is dense and the farms are generally very small, they are the most +prosperous and contented population in the kingdom. Leases were common +in this county at the close of the last century, but the terms were +short--twenty-one years and one life. Some had leases for thirty-one +years or three lives, and there were some perpetuities. Land was +then so valuable that when a small estate came into the market--large +estates hardly ever did--they brought from twenty-five to thirty +years' purchase. The large tracts of church land, which are now among +the richest and most desirable in the country, presented at the +close of the last century, a melancholy contrast to the farms that +surrounded them. The reason is given by Sir Charles Coote. It is most +instructive and suggestive at the present time. He says, 'It is very +discouraging for a wealthy farmer to have anything to do with church +lands, as his improvements cannot even be secured to him during his +own life, or the life of his landlord, but he may at any time be +deprived of the fruits of his industry, by the incumbent changing his +living, as his interest then terminates.' This evil was remedied first +by making the leases renewable, on the payment of fines, and, in our +own time, an act was passed enabling the tenants to convert their +leaseholds into perpetuities. The consequence is, that the church +lands now present some of the finest features in the social landscape, +occupied by a class of resident gentry, an essential link, in any +well-organised society, between the people and the great proprietors. +The Board of Trinity College felt so strongly the necessity of giving +fixed tenures, if permanent improvements were to be effected on their +estates, that, without waiting for a general measure of land reform, +they obtained, in 1861, a private act of parliament giving them power +to grant leases for ninety-nine years. 'The legislature,' says Dr. +Hancock, 'thus gave partial effect in the case of one institution to +the recommendation which the Land Occupation Commissioners intended to +apply to all estates in the hands of public boards in Ireland.' + +Armagh was always free from middlemen. The landlord got what Sir +Charles Coote calls a rack rent from the occupying tenant, and it +was his interest to divide rather than consolidate farms, because the +linen trade enabled the small holder to give a high rent, while +the custom of tenant-right furnished an unfailing security for its +payment. + +The country, when seen from an elevation, is one continuous patchwork +of corn, potatoes, clover, and other artificial grasses. Wonders +are wrought in the way of productiveness by rotation of crops and +house-feeding. Cattle are not only fattened much more rapidly than on +the richest grazing land, but large quantities of the best manure are +produced by the practice of house-feeding. The more northern portions +of the county, bordering on Down and Lough Neagh, and along the banks +of the rivers Bann and Blackwater, are naturally rich, and have been +improved to the highest degree by ages of skilful cultivation. But +other parts, particularly the barony of Fews, embracing the high +lands stretching to the Newry mountains, and bordering on the County +Monaghan, were, about the close of the last century, nearly all +covered with heather, and absolutely waste. Sir Charles Coote +remarked, in 1804, that it had been then undergoing reclamation. +Within the last fifteen years the land had doubled in value, and was +set at the average rate of 16 s. an acre. Mr. Tickell, referring to +this county, remarked that the Scotch and English settlers chiefly +occupied the lowland districts, and that the natives retired to this +poor region, retaining their old language and habits; and he was +occasionally obliged to swear interpreters where witnesses or parties +came from the Fews, which were 'very wild, and very unlike other parts +of the county of Armagh.' + +Now let us see what the industry of the people has done in that wild +district. The farms are very small, say from three to ten English +acres. They have been so well drained, cleared, sub-soiled, and +manured, that the occupier is able to support on one acre as many +cattle as on three acres when grazed; while affording profitable +employment to the women and children. Great labour has been bestowed +in taking down crooked and broad fences. Every foot of ground is +cultivated with the greatest care, and in the mountain districts, +patches of land among rocks, inaccessible to horses, are tilled by the +hand. In many cases in the less exposed districts, two crops in the +year are obtained from the same ground, viz., winter tares followed by +turnips or cabbages, and rape followed by tares, potatoes, turnips, +or cabbages. These crops are succeeded by grain or flax the next year, +with which clover is sown for mowing and stall-feeding, yielding two +or three cuttings. The green crops are so timed as to give a full +supply for house-feeding throughout the year. Nothing is neglected by +those skilful and thrifty farmers; the county is famous for orchards, +and when I was in the city of Armagh, last autumn, I saw in the market +square almost as many loads of apples as of potatoes. + +The connection of large grazing farms with pauperism, as cause and +effect, has not received sufficient attention from the friends +of social progress. I resolved last year to test this matter by a +comparison. We have at present no check upon the legally enforced +depopulation of this country except the _interest_ of the landlords, +or what they imagine to be their interest. It is well that the +question should be determined whether it is really for the benefit +of the owners of the land that they should clear it of Christians and +occupy it with cattle--in other words, whether Christians or cattle +will pay more rent and taxes. I omit all higher considerations, +because some of the most philanthropic and enlightened defenders of +the present land system have defended it on this low ground. In order +to make the test complete and unexceptionable, I have selected a +comparatively poor district for tillage, and one of the richest I +could find for grazing, giving all possible natural advantages to +Scullyism. But the test would not be fair unless the occupiers of the +poorer land had a tolerably secure tenure so long as they paid the +highest rent that a reasonable agent could impose. I thought also that +possible objections would be obviated if the tenantry were destitute +of 'the fostering care of a resident landlord.' Therefore, instead +of selecting the tenants of Lord Downshire, or Lord Roden, or Lord +Dufferin, I have fixed upon the tenants of Lord Kilmorey, because he +and the producers of the rents which he enjoys have never seen +one another in the flesh, and they have never received one word of +encouragement or instruction from him in the whole course of their +lives. Accordingly, with the Union of Kilkeel, which comprises the +Mourne district, I have compared the Union of Trim, which comprises +some of the richest grazing land in Ireland. Travellers have noted +that population always grows thick on rich lands, while it is sparse +on poor lands. No one requires to be told the reason of this. + +The Unions of Kilkeel and Trim have populations very nearly +equal--viz., Kilkeel, 22,614; Trim, 22,918. The total arable land in +Kilkeel is 50,000 statute acres, giving 2 1/3 acres on an average +for each person, and 14 acres for each holding. Trim contains 119,519 +statute acres, giving 5 acres to each person, and 42 to each holding. + +In Mourne the area of land under crops is 20,904 acres (nearly half), +giving one acre of tillage to each inhabitant, and 6 acres to each +holding of 14 acres. In Trim the area under crops is 38,868 acres, +giving 2 acres for each inhabitant, and 14 for each holding of 42 +acres. + +The significance of these figures is shown by the Government valuation +in 1867. The valuation of Mourne Union is 40,668 l., the average for +each person being 2 l. and for each holding 11 l. The valuation of +Trim is 109,068 l., allowing 5 l. for each person and 38 l. for each +holding. In other words, the capability of the land of Trim to support +population is as five to two when compared with Mourne; but whereas +in Mourne 2 1/3 acres support one person, in Trim it takes 5 acres +to support one person--about double the quantity. As the value of the +land in Meath is more than double what it is in Mourne, each acre in +Meath ought to maintain its man. That is, if Meath were cultivated +like Down, its population ought to be _five times as large as it is_! + +But this is not the whole case. The Mourne population may be too +large. With so many families crowded on such a small tract of poor +land, the Union must be overwhelmed with pauperism. If so, the case +for tenant-right and tillage would fall to the ground, and Scullyism +would be triumphant. Let us see, then, how stands this essential fact. +The number of paupers in the workhouse and receiving outdoor relief in +the Union of Trim, in 1866, was 2,474. This large amount of pauperism +is not peculiar to Trim. It belongs to other Unions of this rich +grazing district, which so fully realises the late Lord Carlisle's +ideal of Irish prosperity. Navan Union has 3,820 paupers, and Kells +has 1,306. Now, the population of Trim and Mourne being nearly the +same, and Trim being twice as rich as Mourne, and not half as thickly +peopled, it follows that Mourne ought to have at least four times as +many paupers as Trim--that is, it ought to have 9,896. But it actually +has only 521 persons receiving relief in and out of the workhouse! + +Consequently, Scullyism and grazing produce nearly twenty times the +amount of poverty and misery produced by tenant-right and tillage. + +I have not overlooked the difference of race and religion. On the +contrary, they were uppermost in my mind when rambling among the +nice, clean, comfortable, orderly homesteads of Mourne, reminding me +strongly of Forth and Bargy in the county Wexford. I said to the owner +and driver of my car, who is a Roman Catholic, 'Do the Roman +Catholics here keep their houses and farms in as nice order as the +Presbyterians?' He answered, 'Why should they not? Are they not the +same flesh and blood?' + +According to the census of 1861, the Roman Catholics greatly outnumber +the Protestants in this Union. The exact figures are:-- + +Total population of Mourne Union 22,614 +Protestants of all denominations 8,080 +Roman Catholics 14,534 + +The result of this comparison may perhaps make a better impression +on the reader's mind if cast in the form of tables, as given on +succeeding page. + +Table Headings: + +Col A. Population in 1861 +Col B. No. of Holdings in 1864 +Col C. Total Area (in Stat. Acres) +Col D. Area under Crops, 1864 (in Stat. Acres) +Col E. Valuation in 1807 (in L) +Col F. No. in Workhouse and receiving Out-door Relief +Col G. Protestants of all denominations +Col H. Roman Catholics + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + TENANT-RIGHT AND TILLAGE. +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Names of Unions | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Kilkeel |22,614| 3,540| 50,000|20,904| 40,668| 521 |8,080|14,534 + Average for each| | | | | | | | + person | | | 2-1/2 | 1 | 2 | | | + Average for each| | | | | | | | + holding | | | 14 | 6 | 11 | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + LARGE FARMS AND GRAZING. +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Trim |22,918| 2,816|119,519|38,867|109,068|2,474|1,700|21,218 + Average for each| | | | | | | | + person | | | 5 | 2 | 5 | | | + Average for each| | | | | | | | + person | | | 42 | 14 | 38 | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +In Kilkeel Union there were 4,012 acres of flax in 1864, which at 20 +l. an acre would produce 80,000 l., considerably more than the rental +of the entire district. Trim, in that year, produced only 78 acres of +flax. + +What everyone wants to know now is this--whether any measure can be +devised that will satisfy the cultivators of the soil without wronging +the landlords, or militating against the interests of the state. A +measure that will not satisfy the tenants and put an end to their +discontent, would be manifestly useless. It would be but adding to the +numerous legislative abortions that have gone before it. A man engaged +in such enquiries as this, is to ascertain what will satisfy the +people. It is for the legislature to determine whether it can be +rightly or safely granted. I have, therefore, directed my attention to +this point in particular, and I have ascertained beyond question, from +the best possible sources of information, that nothing will satisfy +the people of this country but what they do not hesitate to name with +the most determined emphasis--'Fixity of Tenure.' Whether they are +Protestants or Catholics, Orangemen or Liberals, Presbyterians or +Churchmen, this is their unanimous demand, the cry in which they all +join to a man. Every case in which tenant-right is disregarded, or in +which, while admitted nominally, an attempt is made to evade it, or +to fritter it away, excites the bitterest feeling, in which the whole +community sympathises. + +They deny, however, that the existing tenant-right is a sufficient +security:-- + +Because it depends on the option of the landlord, and cannot be +enforced by law. + +Because even the best disposed landlord may be influenced to alter his +policy by the advice of an agent, by the influence of his family, or +by the state of his finances. + +Because a good landlord, who knows the tenants and cares for them, may +be succeeded by a son who is a 'fast young man,' addicted to the +turf and overwhelmed in debt, while the estate gets into the hands of +usurers. + +Because in such a case the law affords no protection to the property +of the tenant, which his family may have been accumulating on the +land since the first of them came over from England or Scotland, +and settled around their commander, after helping by their swords to +conquer the country, and preserve it to the crown of England. + +Because it is not in human nature to avoid encroaching on the rights +and property of others, if it can be done at will--done legally, and +done under the pretext that it is necessary for 'improvement,' and +will be a benefit even to those who are despoiled. + +Because the custom is no protection to a man's political rights as +a British subject. No tenant farmer can vote against his landlord in +obedience to his conscience without the risk of ruining his family. +The greater his interest in the land, the larger his investments, +the heavier his stake; the greater his accumulations in his bank--the +farm--the greater will be his dependence, the more complete +his political bondage. He has the more to lose. Therefore, if a +Conservative, he must vote for a Radical or a Catholic, who would pull +down the Church Establishment; or if a Catholic, he must vote for a +'No-popery' candidate, who ignores tenant-right, and against a +Liberal statesman, whose life has been devoted to the interests of the +country. + +It appears to me that the difficulty of settling this question is +much aggravated by the importation of opinions from the United States +hostile to the aristocracy; and as this source of discontent and +distrust is likely to increase every year, the sooner the settlement +is effected the better. What is the use of scolding and reviling the +tenant's advocates? Will that weaken one iota the tremendous force of +social discontent--the bitter sense of legal injustice, with which +the legislature must deal? And will the legislature deal with it more +effectually by shutting its eyes to facts? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +FARNEY--MR. TRENCH'S 'REALITIES.' + + +When the six Ulster counties were confiscated, and the natives were +all deprived of their rights in the soil, the people of the county +Cavan resolved to appeal for justice to the English courts in Dublin. +The Crown was defended by Sir John Davis. He argued that the Irish +could have no legal rights, no property in the land, because they did +not enclose it with fences, or plant orchards. True, they had boundary +marks for their tillage ground; but they followed the Eastern custom +in not building ditches or walls around their farms. They did not +plant orchards, because they had too many trees already that grew +without planting. The woods were common property, and the apples, +if they had any, would be common property too, like the nuts and the +acorns. + +The Irish were obliged to submit to the terms imposed by the +conquerors, glad in their destitution to be permitted to occupy their +own lands as tenants at will. The English undertakers, as we have +seen, were bound to deal differently with the English settlers; but +their obligations resolved themselves into promises of freeholds and +leases which were seldom granted, so that many persons threw up their +farms in despair, and returned to their own country. + +In the border county of Monaghan, we have a good illustration of the +manner in which the natives struggled to live under their new masters. +The successors of some of those masters have in modern times taken a +strange fancy to the study of Irish antiquities. Among these is Evelyn +P. Shirley, Esq., who has published 'Some Account of the Territory +or Dominion of Farney.' The account is interesting, and, taken in +connection with the sequel given to the public by his agent, Mr. W. +Steuart Trench, it furnishes an instructive chapter in the history +of the land war. The whole barony of Farney was granted by Queen +Elizabeth to Walter Earl of Essex in the year 1576, in reward for the +massacres already recorded. It was then an almost unenclosed plain, +consisting chiefly of coarse pasturage, interspersed with low +alder-scrub. When the primitive woods were cut down for fuel, +charcoal, or other purposes, the stumps remained in the ground, and +from these fresh shoots sprang up thickly. The clearing out of these +stumps was difficult and laborious; but it had to be done before +anything, but food for goats, could be got out of the land. This was +'the M'Mahons' country,' and the tribe was not wholly subdued till +1606, when the power of the Ulster chiefs was finally broken. The +lord deputy, the chancellor, and the lord chief justice passed through +Farney on their way to hold assizes for the first time in Derry and +Donegal. They were protected by a guard of 'seven score foot, and +fifty or three score horse, which,' wrote Sir John Davis, 'is an +argument of a good time and a confident deputy; for in former times +(when the state enjoyed the best peace and security) no lord deputy +did ever venture himself into those parts, without an army of 800 or +1000 men.' At this time Lord Essex had leased the barony of Farney +to Evor M'Mahon for a yearly rent of 250 l. payable in Dublin. After +fourteen years the same territory was let to Brian M'Mahon for 1,500 +l. In the year 1636, the property yielded a yearly rent of 2022 l. +18 s. 4 d. paid by thirty-eight tenants. A map then taken gives the +several townlands and denominations nearly as they are at present. +Robert Earl of Essex, dying in 1646, his estates devolved on his +sisters, Lady Frances and Lady Dorothy Devereux, the former of whom +married Sir W. Seymour, afterwards Marquis of Hertfort, and the latter +Sir Henry Shirley, Bart., ancestor of the present proprietor of half +the barony. Ultimately the other half became the property of the +Marquis of Bath. At the division in 1690, each moiety was valued at +1313 l. 14 s. 4-1/2 d. Gradually as the lands were reclaimed by the +tenants, the rental rose. In 1769 the Bath estate produced 3,000 l., +and the Shirley estate 5,000 l. The total of 8,000 l. per annum, from +this once wild and barren tract, was paid by middlemen. The natives +had not been rooted out, and during the eighteenth century these +sub-tenants multiplied rapidly. According to the census in 1841 the +population of the barony exceeded 44,000 souls, and they contributed +by their industry, to the two absentee proprietors, the enormous +annual revenue of 40,000 l., towards the production of which it does +not appear that either of them, or any person for them, ever invested +a shilling. + +Mr. S. Trench was amazed to find 'more than one human being for every +Irish acre of land in the barony, and nearly one human being for every +1 l. valuation per annum of the land.' The two estates join in the +town of Carrickmacross. When Mr. Trench arrived there, March 30, 1843, +to commence his duties as Mr. Shirley's agent, he learned that the +sudden death of the late agent in the court-house of Monaghan had been +celebrated that night by fires on almost every hill on the estate, +'and over a district of upwards of 20,000 acres there was scarcely +a mile without a bonfire blazing in manifestation of joy at his +decease.' Mr. Trench says, the tenants considered themselves +ground down to the last point by the late agent. As he relates the +circumstances, the people would seem to be a very savage race; and +he gives other more startling illustrations to the same effect as he +proceeds. But here, as elsewhere, he does not state all the facts, +while those he does state are most artistically dressed up for +sensational effect, Mr. Trench himself being always the hero, always +acting magnificently, appearing at the right place and at the right +moment to prevent some tremendous calamity, otherwise inevitable, and +by some mysterious personal influence subduing lawless masses, so +that by a sudden impulse, their murderous rage is converted into +admiration, if not adoration. Like the hearers of Herod or of St. +Paul, when he flung the viper off his hand, they are ready to cry out, +'He is a god, and not a man.' Of course he, as a Christian gentleman, +was always 'greatly shocked,' when these poor wretches offered him +petitions on their knees. Still he relates every case of the kind with +extraordinary unction, and with a picturesqueness of situation and +detail so stagey that it should make Mr. Boucicault's mouth water, and +excite the envy of Miss Braddon. Not even she can exceed the author of +'Realities of Irish Life,' in prolonging painful suspense, in piling +up the agony, in accumulating horrors, in throwing strong lights on +one side of the picture and casting deep shade on the other. + +It is with the greatest reluctance that I thus allude to the work of +Mr. Trench. I do so from a sense of duty, because I believe it is one +of the most misleading books on Ireland published for many years. It +has made false impressions on the public mind in England, which will +seriously interfere with a proper settlement of the land question. +The mischief would not be so great if the author did not take so +much pains to represent his stories as realities 'essentially +characteristic of the country.' It is very difficult to account for +the exaggeration and embellishment in which he has permitted himself +to indulge, with so many professions of conscientious regard for +truth. They must have arisen from the habit of reciting the adventures +to his friends during a quarter of a century, naturally laying stress +on the most sensational passages, while the facts less in keeping with +startling effects dropped out of his memory. Very few of the actors in +the scenes he describes now survive. Those who do, and who might +have a more accurate memory, are either so lauded that it would +be ungrateful of them to contradict--or so artfully discredited as +'virulent' and base that people would not be likely to believe them if +their recollections were different. There is one peculiarity about Mr. +Trench's dialogues. There were never any witnesses present. He always +took the wild Irishman, on whom he operated so magically, into his +private office; or into a private room in the house of the 'subject;' +or into a cell alone, if secrets were to be extracted from a Ribbonman +in gaol. Even conversations with the gentler sex, who knelt before +him as if he were a bishop, were not permitted to reach the ear of his +chief clerk. On some matters, however, others have spoken since his +book appeared. He is very precise about the trial for an agrarian +murder in Monaghan, giving details from his own actual observation. +Mr. Butt, Q.C., who was engaged in the case, has published a letter, +stating that Mr. Trench was quite mistaken in his account. It seems +strange that he did not refresh his memory by looking at a report of +the trial in some newspaper file. + +Mr. Trench 'adds his testimony to the fact that Ireland is not +altogether unmanageable,' that 'justice fully and firmly administered +is always appreciated in the end.' And at the conclusion of his volume +he says:-- + +'We can scarcely shut our eyes to the fact that the circumstances and +feelings which have led to the terrible crime of murder in Ireland, +are usually very different from those which have led to murder +elsewhere. The reader of the English newspaper is shocked at the list +of children murdered by professional assassins, of wives murdered +by their husbands, of men murdered for their gold. In Ireland that +dreadful crime may almost invariably be traced to a wild feeling of +revenge for the national wrongs, to which so many of her sons believe +that she has been subjected for centuries.' + +There is a mistake here. No murders are committed in Ireland for +'national wrongs.' The author has gathered together, as in a chamber +of horrors, all the cases of assassination that occurred during +the years of distress, provoked by the extensive _evictions_ which +succeeded the _famine_, and by the infliction of great hardships on +tenants who, in consequence of that dreadful calamity, had fallen +into arrears. People who had been industrious, peaceable, and +well-conducted were thus driven to desperation; and hence the young +men formed lawless combinations and committed atrocious murders. +But every one of these murders was agrarian, not national. They were +committed in the prosecution of _a war_, not against the Government, +but against the landlords and their agents and instruments. It was a +war _pro aris et focis_, waged against local tyrants, and waged in the +only way possible to the belligerents who fought for home and +family. Mr. Trench always paints the people who sympathise with their +champions as naturally wild, lawless, and savage. If he happens to +be in good humour with them, he makes them ridiculous. His son, Mr. +Townsend Trench, who did the illustrations for the work, pictures the +peasantry as gorillas, always flourishing shillelaghs, and grinning +horribly. With rare exceptions, they appear as an inferior race, while +the ruling class, and the Trenches in particular, appear throughout +the book as demigods, 'lords of the creation,' formed by nature to be +the masters and guides and managers of such a silly, helpless people. +Nowhere is any censure pronounced upon a landlord, or an agent, with +one exception, and this was the immediate predecessor of Mr. Trench +at Kenmare. To his gross neglect in allowing God to send so many human +beings into the world, he ascribes the chaos of misery and pauperism, +which he--a heaven-born agent--had to reduce to order and beauty. +But there were other causes of the 'poetic turbulence' which he +so gloriously quelled, that he might have brought to light, had he +thought proper, for the information of English readers. He might have +shown--for the evidence was before him in the report of the Devon +Commission--with what hard toil and constant self-denial, amidst what +domestic privations and difficulties, Mr. Shirley's tenants struggled +to scrape up for him his 20,000 l. a year, and how bitterly they must +have felt when the landlord sent an order to add one-third to their +rack-rent. I will supply Mr. Trench's lack of service, and quote the +evidence of one of those honest and worthy men, given before the Devon +Commissioners. + +Peter Mohun, farmer, a tenant on the Shirley estate, gave the +following evidence:-- + +'What family have you?--I am married, and have two daughters, and my +wife, and a servant boy. + +'What rent do you pay?--Sometime ago I paid 3 l. 19 s. 11d. I was +doing well at that time; and then my rent was raised to 5 l. 19 s. 9 +d., and sometimes 6 l., and one year 5 l. 19 s. 6 d. + +'How do you account for the difference?--I do not know; perhaps by the +bog rent. We had the bog free before, and we were doing well; and then +we were cut down from the bog, and we were raised from 3 l. 19 s. 11 +d. to 6 l. We are beaten down now quite. + +'What does the county-cess come to?--Sometimes we pay 1 s. 6-1/2 d. an +acre, and oftener 1 s. 7-1/2 d., the half-year. + +'Have you paid your rent pretty punctually?--Yes, I have done my best +so far to pay the rent. + +'How much do you owe now?--I believe I shall pay the rent directly +after May; I am clear till May. I cannot pay it till harvest comes +round. + +'How do you get the money to pay the rent?--When I had my land cheap, +and myself a youth, I was a good workman, and did work by the loom, +and I would be mowing in the summer season, and earn a good deal, and +make a little store for me, which has stood by me. I buy some oats and +make meal of it, and I make money in that way. It was not by my land I +was paying my rent, but from other sources. + +'How much wheat have you now?--Half an acre, rather above. + +'How much oats have you?--Half a rood. + +'How much potato land shall you have?--Three and a half roods besides +the garden. + +'Have you any clover?--Very near a rood of clover. + +'What is the smallest quantity of land that you think a man who has +no other means of support can subsist and pay rent upon?--I was paying +rent well myself when I had three acres, when I was paying 3 l. 19 s. +11 d. + +'You weave a little?--Yes, but very little; but there was a good price +for the barrel of wheat, and for pigs, and so I made a little store. +But as for any man to support himself out of a small farm, at the +high price of land, and the price of labour that is going, it is +impossible. + +'What is the smallest farm upon which a man can support himself at the +present rate of rent, taking a man with five or six children?--That is +a hard question. + +'Supposing a man to pay 35 s. an acre, and to have two acres, and to +be obliged to live out of the farm, do you think he could do it and +pay rent?--He could not; his land must be very good. Unless he lived +near a town, and had cheap land, it would be impossible. But a man +with five acres, at a moderate rent, he could support his family upon +it. + +'What should you earn at weaving?--I only weave for my own family. I +weave my own shirt. + +'Do your family ever spin any wool and weave it?--Yes. + +'Do you live upon the Shirley estate?--Yes. + +'How much bog do you require to keep your house in fuel?--Half a rood, +if it was good; but it is bad bog ground, red mossy turf, white and +light; it requires more than the black turf. + +'What do you pay for half a rood of turf?--It is 13 s. 4 d. for a +rood--that is, 6 s. 8 d. for half a rood. There is 4 s. 6 d. paid for +bad bog. + +'Do you pay anything for the ticket of leave to cut?--Yes, I do; I +have not a ticket unless I pay 6 d. for it. + +'That is over and above the 4 s. 6 d.?--Yes. + +'Did you ever pay more than 6 s. 8 d. for the bog in the late agent's +time?--He took the good bog off us; we were paying 6 s. 8 d. for it. +They left us to the bad bog, and we do not pay so high for that. + +'Was the good bog dearer or cheaper than the bad bog at 4 s. 6 +d.?--Half a rood of the good bog was worth half an acre or an acre of +the other. The bad bog smokes so we have often to leave the house: we +cannot stay in it unless there is a good draught in the chimney.' + +The Rev. Thomas Smollan, P.P., has published a letter to the Earl of +Dunraven, a Catholic Peer, to whom Mr. Trench has dedicated his book. +In this letter the parish priest of Farney says:-- + +'In pages 63 and 64 Mr. Trench tells his readers that on the very +night the news of the late agent's sudden death, in the county +courthouse of Monaghan, reached Carrickmacross, "fires blazed on +almost every hill on the Shirley estate, and over a district of more +than 20,000 acres there was scarcely a mile without a bonfire blazing +in manifestation of joy at his decease." This paragraph, my lord, +taken by itself and unexplained in any way, would at once imply that +the people were inhuman, almost savages, whom Mr. Trench was sent to +tame--that they were insensible to the agent's sudden death, a death +so sudden that it would make an enemy almost relent. Mr. Trench +assigns no cause for this strange proceeding except what we read in +page 64, and what he learned from the chief clerk, viz., "that the +people were much excited, that they were ground down to the last point +by the late agent, and they were threatening to rise in rebellion +against him," &c. One would think that Mr. Trench having learned so +much on such authority, would have set to work to try and find out +the cause of the discontent and apply a remedy. He does not say in his +book that he did so, but seems still unable to understand this to him +incomprehensible proceeding. However, I am of opinion that Mr. Trench +knew the whole of it, if not then at all events before "The Realities" +saw the light, for in a speech of his, when Lord Bath visited Farney +(page 383), he said, "A dog could not bark on the estate without +it coming to his knowledge." And therefore I say that a man so +inquisitive as to find out the barking of a dog on the Bath estate, +who had so many sources of information close at hand, could not have +been long without knowing the causes of the "excitement, threatened +rebellion, bonfires, &c., on the Shirley estate," if he had only +wished for the information. Either he knew the cause of all this when +he wrote his book, or he did not. If he did, I say he was bound +in fair play to tell it to the public; if he did not know it his +self-laudation in his speech goes for nought. But, my lord, with your +permission, I will inform your lordship, Mr. Trench, and the public, +as to some of the causes of so remarkable an occurrence, which could +not pass unobserved by Mr. Trench. At the memorable election of 1826, +Evelyn John Shirley, Esq., and Colonel Leslie, father of the present +M.P., contested the county of Monaghan, and the former brought all +his influence to bear on his tenants to vote for himself (Shirley) +and Leslie, who coalesced against the late Lord Rossmore. The electors +said "they would give one vote for their landlord, and the other they +would give for their religion and their country;" the consequence was, +Shirley and Westenra were returned, and Leslie was beaten. Up to this +time Mr. Shirley was a good landlord, and admitted tenant-right to +the fullest extent on the property, but after that election he never +showed the same friendly feelings towards the people. Soon after the +election Mr. Humphrey Evatt, the agent, died, and was succeeded in the +agency by Mr. Sandy Mitchell, who very soon set about surveying and +revaluing the estate, of course at the instance of his master, Evelyn +John Shirley, Esq. He performed the work of revaluation, &c., and +the result was that the rents were increased by one-third and in +some cases more. The bog, too, which up to this time was free to the +tenants, was taken from them and doled out to them in small patches of +from twenty-five to forty perches each, at from 4 l. to 8 l. per +acre. At the instance of the then parish priest, President Reilly, Mr. +Shirley gave 5 l. per year to a few schools on his property, without +interfering in any way with the religious principles of the Catholics +attending these schools; but the then agent insisted on having the +authorised version of the Bible, without note or comment, read in +those schools by the Catholic children. The bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. +Kernan, could not tolerate such a barefaced attempt at proselytism, +and insisted on the children being withdrawn from the schools. For +obeying their bishop in this, the Catholic parents were treated most +unsparingly. I have before me just now a most remarkable instance +of the length to which this gentleman carried his proselytising +propensities, which I will mention. In the vestry, or sacristy, +attached to Corduff Chapel, was a school taught by a man named Rush, +altogether independent of the schools aided by Mr. Shirley, and by +largely subsidising the teacher, the then agent actually introduced +his proselytism into that school too. The priests and people tried +legal means to get rid of the teacher, but without success, and in the +end the people came by night and knocked down the sacristy, so that in +the morning when the teacher came he had no house to shelter him. +The Catholics were then without a school, and in order to provide the +means of education for them the Rev. F. Keone, administrator, under +the Most Rev. Dr. Kernan, applied for aid to the Commissioners of +National Education, and obtained it; but where was he to procure +building materials? The then agent, in his zeal for "converting" +Catholics, having issued an order forbidding the supplying of them +from any part of the Shirley estate, which extends over an area of +fifteen miles by ten, Father Keone went on the next Sunday to the +neighbouring chapels outside the Shirley estate, told his grievances, +and on the next day the people came with their horses and carts and +left sand, lime, and stones in sufficient quantities to build the +house inside the chapel-yard. The priest and people thought it +necessary to "thatch" their old chapel, and, though strange it may +seem, the agent actually served an ejectment process on the father +of the two boys who assisted the priest to make the collection at the +chapel door for so absolutely necessary a work. I may add, this man +owed no rent. Lastly, the then agent was in the habit of arranging +matrimonial alliances, pointing out this girl as a suitable match for +that boy, and the boy must marry the girl or give up his farm. These +facts being true, my lord, and more which I might state, but that I +have trespassed too much already on your lordship's time, I ask you, +my Lord Dunraven--I ask any impartial man, Irishman or Englishman--for +whom Mr. Trench wrote his "book," is it strange or wonderful that the +Catholic people, so treated, would rejoice--would have bonfires on +the hill tops at their deliverance from such conduct? I flatter myself +that you, my lord--that the learned reading public--that the English +people would sympathise with any people so treated for conscience' +sake; and having pronounced the sentence of condemnation against Mr. +Trench for not having noticed these facts, that you will direct your +name to be erased from the "book." I have the honour to remain, +my lord, with the most profound respect, your lordship's faithful +servant.' + + 'THOMAS SMOLLAN, P.P. + + 'Clones, Feb. 15, 1869.' + +The electors of Monaghan, in their simplicity, thought they were +fairly exercising the rights conferred by the constitution when they +gave one vote for the landlord, and one for their religion and their +country, thus securing the return of one Liberal. But Mr. Shirley soon +taught them that the blessings of our glorious constitution belong not +to the tenant, but to the landlord; and so he punished their mistake +by adding one-third to their rent, and depriving them of proper fuel. +Not content with this, he carried the war into their chapels and +schools, and punished them for their religion. These facts may help to +explain the scenes which Mr. Trench describes so poetically. + +The persecuting agent died suddenly in the court-house. The landlord +and a new agent, Mr. Trench, arrived at Carrickmacross; and the +tenants presented a petition, imploring him to remove the new and +intolerable burden that had been put on their shoulders. They were +told to come back for an answer on the following Monday:-- + +'"Monday! Monday!" was shouted on all sides. The most frenzied +excitement ensued. Hats were thrown in the air, sticks were flourished +on all sides, and the men actually danced with wild delight. After a +little time, however, the crowd cleared away, and the news flew like +wildfire over the town and country, that the whole tenantry were told +to come in on Monday next, that they might know the amount of the +reduction to be granted, and have all their grievances removed!' + +Mr. Shirley quickly repented having given the invitation, and sent out +a circular countermanding it, and requesting the tenants to stay at +home. On Monday, however, a vast excited mass assembled to hear his +_ultimatum_, which was announced by the new agent. 'He would not +reduce their rents. They might give up their lands if they pleased; +but they had little or no cause of complaint.' They insisted on his +mounting a chair and making a speech. He softened the message as well +as he could. When he had done there was a dead silence. In describing +what follows Mr. Trench surpasses the wildest romancers in piling +up the agony. I copy the description that the reader may see the +difference between romance and history. + +'There was a dead silence when I stopped speaking. It was broken by a +stentorian voice. + +'"Then you won't reduce our rents?" + +'"I have already given you Mr. Shirley's answer upon that point," said +I. "Stranger as I am, it is impossible for me to form any opinion as +to whether they are too high or not." + +'"_Down on your knees, boys!_" shouted the same voice; "we will ask +him once more upon our knees!" and to my horror and amazement the vast +crowd, almost all at least who were in my immediate vicinity, dropped +suddenly on their knees, and another dead silence ensued. + +'It was a dreadful spectacle. Their hats were on their heads, and +their sticks in their hands, some leaning upon them as they knelt, +others balancing and grasping them. It was fearful to see the attitude +of supplication, due only to a higher power, thus mingled with a wild +defiance. + +'"_We ask you upon our knees, for God's sake, to get us a reduction of +our rents!_" again the same voice cried aloud. + +'I was greatly shocked. I instantly got down off the chair. I +entreated them to rise. I told them that I was distressed beyond +measure, but that I had given them the only message I was authorised +to give; and quite overcome by such a scene, I endeavoured to move +again across the crowded space from the office, in order to enter the +house, and report proceedings to Mr. Shirley, intending to request +that he would himself appear and address his excited tenantry. + +'The moment I moved towards the door, the vast crowd leaped again to +their feet; I was instantly surrounded, hustled, and prevented from +getting near it. I bore this good-humouredly, and the door being +quite close to me, I had no doubt they would ultimately let me in. But +whilst this scene was going on, a shout was raised by those who were +at a distance up the road leading to the town, and who had not heard +what had been said. "Bring him up--bring him up, and let us see him!" +In a moment I was seized, and though I resisted to my utmost, I was +dragged up the narrow road which led from Shirley House to the town. I +was kicked and beaten, and pushed and bruised, my hat knocked off, and +my clothes torn; and in this state I was dragged into the main street +of Carrickmacross. + +'Here a scene of the wildest excitement took place, some cried one +thing--some another. I was beaten again, my clothes torn off my back, +and sticks whirled over my head. Four or five policemen met me as I +was being dragged along, but they might as well have attempted to +stop the rushing of an Atlantic wave, as to stern the crowd that had +assembled around me; _and they only looked on and let me pass_.' + +If the sub-inspector, who was present, and his men acted in this +manner, I venture to say it is the only instance in the whole history +of the force in which the Royal Irish constabulary were guilty of such +a cowardly neglect of duty. However, not only the police, but the best +part of the crowd deserted this strange gentleman, and he was 'left +in the hands of the vilest and most furious of the mob.' Where was Mr. +Shirley? Where were the clergy and the respectable inhabitants of the +town? The mob dragged him along towards Loughfea Castle--a mile and a +half--whither they heard Mr. Shirley had fled, still beating, kicking, +and strangling their victim, without any object; for how could they +serve their cause by killing an agent who had never injured them? And +how easy it was to kill him if they wished! But here comes the climax; +he asked the murderous multitude to let him stop a few moments to +breathe--he then proceeds: 'I shall never forget that moment. I was +then about a mile from the town on the broad and open road leading to +Loughfea Castle. I turned and looked around me, thinking my last +hour was come, and anxious to see if there was one kind face, one +countenance, I had ever seen before, who could at least tell my +friends how I had died. But I looked in vain. The hills were crowded +with people. The long line of road was one mass of human beings, +whilst those immediately around me, mad with excitement, seemed only +to thirst for my blood. + +'Having got a few moments' breathing-time, and seeing all appeal to +be vain, I turned again on my way, determined, however, to hold out +to the last, as I felt that to fall or to faint must be certain death. +Just then I became conscious of an able hand and a stout heart beside +me, and I heard a whisper in my ear: "They are determined to have your +blood, but hold up, they shall have mine first." The speaker grasped +my arm firmly under his own, and walked on steadily by my side. + +'By this time I was _completely naked with the exception of my +trousers_. My coat, even my shirt, had been torn off, and I walked on, +still beaten and ill-treated, like a man to execution; my head bare, +and _without any clothes from my waist upwards_. To increase the +misery of my situation, I found that my friend had been beaten and +dragged away in spite of himself, and again I was left alone in the +hands of those merciless men. I felt also I could now go no further, +and that a last effort must be made before my senses left me from +exhaustion. Stopping therefore once more, I asked to be led towards a +high bank at the roadside, and leaning against this I turned and faced +those whom I now believed would soon become my murderers. + +'"I can go no further," said I; "what have you brought me here for? +What do you want me to do?" Again the same voice which I had first +heard at the office, though I could not identify the speaker from the +shouting and confusion around me, cried aloud, "We want a reduction of +our rents, will you promise to get us that?" + +'There are times of instant danger, when it is said that the whole of +a man's past life rushes before him in the spaces of a single moment. +If ever there be such a time, this was such to me. I stood there, +exhausted, without one friendly face on which to rest, and surrounded +by _the worst of ten thousand men who seemed determined to have a +victim_. I knew and felt all this. So I said very quietly, as a last +effort to save my life, and hoping they would name something I could +promise to ask, + +'"And what reduction will you be content with?" + +'Again the same voice replied, + +'"We will never pay more than one-half our present rents." + +'"Then," said I, "there ends the matter, _I never will promise that_." + +'There was a pause, and a dead silence. I stood _naked and bareheaded +before them_. They stood opposite to me, with their sticks clenched in +their hands, ready to strike. I looked at them, and they at me. They +hesitated; _no one would strike me first_. I saw that they wavered, +and instinctively, in a moment I _felt_ that I had won. This sudden +revulsion of feeling--though I was still externally motionless--sent +the blood throbbing to my temples with a rush that became almost +oppressive. But the strange pause continued--when at length a shout +was raised from the old stentorian voice again, "Stand off, boys--for +your lives! no one shall harm him--he is a good man after all!" and in +a moment I was surrounded by a new set of faces, who dashed furiously +towards me. They raised me on their shoulders, swept my old enemies +away from me, procured me some water to drink, and carried me, now +completely overcome, exhausted, and almost fainting, into the demesne +of Loughfea. + +'Here again these suddenly converted friends desired me to get up on +a chair, and speak to the crowd now assembled before the castle. I did +so. A reaction for the moment had taken place within me, and I felt +some return of strength. + +'I told the people I had never injured them. That it was a shame, and +a disgrace of which I had not believed any Irishman to be capable, to +treat a stranger as they had dealt with me that day. That in my own +country I could have as many to fight for me as were now against me, +and in short I abused them right heartily and soundly. They bore it +without a murmur. My new friends cheered me vociferously, and I was +carried, now quite unable to walk, into the Castle of Loughfea. Mr. +Shirley's architect here appeared upon the scene, and perceiving that +the people were much exasperated at not finding Mr. Shirley at the +castle, and that some of the most violent were disposed in consequence +to make a fresh attack upon me as I was being carried exhausted inside +the gates, he promised to speak to Mr. Shirley in their favour, and +in some degree calmed their feelings. The excitement was past. Mr. +Shirley had not been there, and the people at last quietly dispersed. + +'In the evening I was conveyed in a covered carriage to +Carrickmacross, blackened with bruises, stiff and sore, and scarcely +able to stand--musing over the strange transactions which had happened +that day--and wrapped in a countryman's frieze coat which had been +borrowed to cover _my nakedness_.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: Realities of Irish Life, chap. v.] + +When the reader recovers his breath after this. I will ask him to turn +to the history of this transaction--bad enough in itself--and see +what fancy and art can do in dressing up a skeleton so that it becomes +'beautiful for ever.' Mr. Trench himself shall be the historian, +writing to the authorities when the occurrences were all fresh in his +mind. The narrative was handed in to the Devon commissioners as his +_sworn evidence_: + +'_William Steuart Trench, esq., agent._ + +'Have there been any agrarian outrages, and in what have they +originated?--There have been none, except _during a late short period +of peculiar local excitement_. + +'Will you state the particulars of that excitement, and what then +occurred?--I think my best mode of doing so will be by handing in +the copy of a letter which I addressed to a local magistrate for +the information of government.--[_The witness read the following +letter_:--] + +'Dear Sir--In reply to your communication, enclosing a letter from Mr. +Lucas, requesting that I should give a statement of the particulars +which occurred to me in Carrickmacross, on Monday last, I beg leave to +lay before you the facts, as follows:-- + +'Mr. Shirley has recently appointed me to the agency over his Monaghan +estate. We both arrived here on Thursday, the 30th of March, and on +the following morning we went together into the office; and having +remained there about an hour, we were much surprised, on our return, +to find an immense mass of people outside the door, who immediately +presented a petition to Mr. Shirley, requesting a reduction of rent. + +'Mr. Shirley declined giving an immediate answer to such an unexpected +request; but having read the petition, he told them he would give an +answer to it on the Monday following. By Saturday, however, he had +arrived at a full conclusion upon the point, and, anxious to avoid any +unpleasant altercation with his tenants, he thought it advisable to +let his determination be known as soon as possible; and accordingly, +on Saturday, he issued and circulated a printed notice, stating the +determination at which he had arrived, and declining any further +communications upon the subject. I enclose a copy of the notice. + +'Notwithstanding this notice, the people came in on Monday in immense +numbers; and at about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, the upper part of +the street opposite to Shirley House, where we were residing, was +filled with dense masses of men. I then thought it my duty to go out, +and repeat to them in my capacity as agent, the determination at which +their landlord had arrived. I did so in the mildest terms. I told them +I had been able to go over only a part of the estate; but that from +what I had seen, I was of opinion that a better system of farming +and of general management of their land, was in my judgment much more +required than a reduction of the rent. That I knew Mr. Shirley had the +kindest feeling towards them, and that I was myself quite prepared and +willing to render them any assistance--to go to every man's farm, if +possible, and to assist them by my counsel and advice. But that as Mr. +Shirley had come to a determination to make no present reduction in +his rental, I did expect that all who were able to pay their rents +would come in and do so; that the utmost leniency would be extended +towards those who could not pay; but that my duty was plain, and if +those who really were able to pay, refused to come forward and do +so, that I had no alternative left but to take advantage of the power +which the law afforded for the recovery of the rent--and this I was +fully prepared and determined to do, if driven to that unpleasant +necessity. I also made some further observations, of less importance; +but my manner towards them was quiet and calm, and I expressed myself +most anxious to do everything in my power to promote their welfare and +comfort. + +'_I then attempted to return to the house, across the street; but +the mob closed in upon me, and prevented my doing so_, _and with much +violence dragged me up into the town, where I was repeatedly struck +and kicked, and nearly strangled, and my coat torn to pieces._ + +'_The mob continued thus to ill-treat me for about a mile along the +road to Lough Fea, Mr. Shirley's residence, repeatedly kicking me, +especially when I showed symptoms of exhaustion, and pressing their +hands violently upon my throat, till I was almost overcome by fatigue, +heat and pain._ + +'_All this appeared to be done for the purpose of forcing me to +promise to induce Mr. Shirley to lower the rents to 10 s. per acre +(upwards of fifty per cent.). This I refused to do. They then brought +me on to Lough Fea, where they thought Mr. Shirley was; and upon not +finding him, they appeared much exasperated. Mr. Shirley's architect +then appeared, and by promising to speak to Mr. Shirley in their +favour, and by requesting them to send a deputation, instead of coming +in a manner like the present, he induced them to desist from further +injury to me._ + + + 'Believe me, dear Sir, very truly yours, + '(Signed) 'WILLIAM STEUART TRENCH. + + 'Carrickmacross, April 8, 1844. + +'What has been the general demeanour of the people towards you since +that time?--Though they resisted my measures for the recovery of the +rent, _to myself they have been perfectly civil; nor have I received +any personal insult or unpleasantness, arising from the above cause +since that period._ + +'How long did this kind of combination exist?--For about six months.' + +Setting aside the embellishments, let us note one or two differences +as to facts. In the book the suddenly converted friends placed him on +a chair and asked him to make a speech before the castle door. He did +so, and there is a grand statuesque picture of the hero, naked to the +waist, and standing on the chair as lofty pedestal. In the torn coat +the artist could never have made him look like Apollo. Even the shirt +would have been too commonplace; so off went the shirt. Three or four +times attention is directed to the fact of the nakedness by the hero +himself, while the pencil of the filial illustrator has rendered him +immortal in this primitive costume. In his speech he 'abused them +heartily and soundly.' Yet they cheered him vociferously, and then +carried him into the castle, where he could get nothing to cover his +nakedness but a countryman's frieze coat. It was when he had been +cheered vociferously, and kindly carried in, that Mr. Shirley's +architect appeared on the scene. Mr. Trench has not been just to that +gentleman, for he really came to his rescue, and perhaps saved his +life, by giving the people the only sensible advice they got that day. +In his sworn statement, made twenty-five years ago, Mr. Trench said: +'Mr. Shirley's architect then appeared, and by promising to speak +to Mr. Shirley in their favour, and by requesting them to send a +deputation, instead of coming in a manner like the present, _he +induced them to desist from further injury to me._' + +If we had contemporary accounts of all the other romantic scenes which +have fascinated so many readers, the 'Realities' would lose much +of their gilding. Indeed, in most cases the internal evidence is +sufficient to convince us that the sensationalist has been laying on +his colours pretty heavily. In the sketch of the Farney rent campaign, +however, I am willing to accept Mr. Trench as a faithful historian. It +is a most suggestive narrative, because it shows what mischief could +be done by driving the agricultural population to desperation. A +general strike against the payment of rent would convulse society. +If the war which raged in Farney had spread all over the island, the +landlords would be in serious difficulty. The British army might then +have become rent collectors, as they had been tithe collectors in +1831.' + +Mr. Shirley resolved, after much deliberation, to enforce his legal +rights to the utmost. The bailiff was sent to warn the backward +tenants to come in with the rent, and he everywhere received the same +answer--'We will pay no rent till our grievances are redressed.' Now +all the missiles of the law were showered on the recusants--notices +to quit, _latitats_, processes for arrears, &c. Grippers, +process-servers, keepers, drivers, were in full requisition. The +grippers were to arrest all tenants against whom decrees had been +obtained at the quarter-sessions; the keepers were employed to watch +the crops that had been seized; and the drivers were to bring the +cattle, sheep, horses, or pigs to pound. These constituted the +landlord's army, having the police as a reserve, and the military if +necessary. + +On the other hand, the tenants organised a body called the 'Molly +Maguires'--stout young men dressed up in women's clothes, their +faces disguised and besmeared in the most fantastic manner. These men +waylaid and maltreated the officers of the law so severely, that in a +short time no money could induce a gripper, process-server, driver or +bailiff to show his nose on the estate. In this dilemma, Mr. Shirley, +as commander-in-chief, ordered his lieutenant and his subordinates +to go forth, with a body of police, and drive in all the cattle they +could seize on the lands of the defaulting tenants. The expedition +started one fine morning, led on by the mounted bailiff, a fat man, +trembling like a hare at the thought of encountering the 'Molly +Maguires.' + +Mr. Trench's description of this foray is very graphic:--'No sooner +had this formidable party appeared upon the roads in the open country, +than the people rushed to the tops of the numerous hills with which +the district abounds; and as we moved forward, they ran from one hill +to another shouting and cheering with wild defiant cries, and keeping +a line parallel to that in which our party was travelling. + +'The object of our expedition was clearly understood by the people; +and the exact position of our company was indicated to those in +the lowlands by the movements of the parties on the hills; and +accordingly, as we advanced, every beast belonging to every tenant who +owed rent was housed or locked up, or driven somewhere away. Thus, as +we had no legal right to break open any door, or take any cattle out +of any house, but only to seize those we might find in the open fields +and upon the lands of the defaulting tenants, we soon perceived (as +we might have known before we started) that we were likely to return +without success. The bailiff declared with a sigh, "that not a hoof +nor a horn was left in the whole country-side." + +'At length when about to return home, without having secured any +booty whatever, we came unexpectedly upon a poor little heifer calf, +browsing quietly on the long grass beside a hedge. The bailiff having +ascertained that she was grazing on the land of a tenant who was +a defaulter, we seized upon the unhappy little beast, and drove it +ingloriously home to the pound at Carrickmacross, a distance of about +two miles, amidst the jeers and laughter of the populace, at the +result of our formidable day's driving.' + +Thus baffled, Mr. Shirley resolved to try another move. + +He applied to the authorities in Dublin for an order for 'substitution +of service.' That is, instead of delivering the legal notices at the +houses of the parties, which was impracticable, they were to be posted +up on the chapel-door. To effect this object, a large police force +was necessary, and it was accompanied by a stipendiary magistrate. 'As +soon as the party came near the chapel grounds a shout of defiance was +raised by the peasantry, who began to crowd into the chapel yard, and +with uplifted sticks and threatening gestures swore that they would +never allow the walls of the chapel to be desecrated by such a notice. +The bailiff, a most respectable and temperate man, did his utmost to +pacify the excited mob. He reasoned with them as best he could; +and assured them that no desecration was intended--that he was only +carrying out the law, which required that the notice should be posted +on the chapel walls. But his voice had no more power than if he +had spoken to a storm of wind; they leaped and danced madly about, +whirling their sticks over their heads, and shouting that they would +never allow him to touch the sacred edifice. + +'The stipendiary magistrate now ordered him to do his duty, and that +he would be protected in doing it by the police, and he, trembling +with fear, as well he might, at length approached with the notice in +his hand to post it in due form. No sooner had he approached towards +the chapel than a volley of stones sent him staggering back, though +none actually struck him. The police were now ordered to advance. They +did so amidst another shower of stones. The storm of missiles still +continuing and several of the police having been struck and injured, +they were at length ordered to fire. They aimed low, and directing +their fire straight into the crowd of stone-throwers, they soon +checked the vigour of the assault--six or seven men fell under the +volley and rolled upon the ground. There was a short pause, a dead +silence ensued--but it was only for a moment, and before the police +could recover themselves and load again, a furious rush was made upon +them by the enraged populace. Stones were seen flying as thick +as hail; and finally the police, apprehending that they must be +annihilated if they remained, ran to their cars, which were waiting at +a little distance, and drove into Carrickmacross as fast as the horses +could gallop, accompanied by the stipendiary magistrate! + +'The field thus quickly won, remained in the possession of the +insurgents. One of the rioters was killed upon the spot--shot through +the body. The others who fell were only slightly injured; one had his +ear taken off, another was wounded in the finger, another shot in the +arm.' + +This was 'the battle of Magheracloon.' Mr. Trench wisely recommended +a cessation of hostilities till the harvest was gathered in, promising +the landlord that he would then by quiet means, acting on the tenants +individually and privately, induce them to pay their rents. He +succeeded, but as Mr. Shirley declined to adopt his plans for the +better management of the estate, he resigned. + +He came back, however, after some years, as agent to the Marquess of +Bath--a post which he occupies still, being manager-in-chief at the +same time of the large estates of the Marquess of Lansdowne, in Kerry, +and Lord Digby, in the King's County. In all these undertakings, +ably assisted by his sons and his nephew, he has been pre-eminently +successful. If the Farney men had been driven off in 1843, or swept +away by the famine, it would have been said that their fate was +inevitable, nothing could be made of them. They were by nature prone +to disorder and rebellion. Well, Lord Bath visited his estate in 1865. +On that occasion a banquet was given to the tenants, at which Mr. +Trench made an eloquent speech. Referring to the outbreak in 1848, he +said: 'And yet never, my Lord, never even in the worst of times, did I +bate one jot of heart or hope in the noble people of Farney, never for +one moment did I doubt their loyalty to their Queen, their loyalty to +their country, their respect for their landlord, and above all, that +they would be true and loyal to themselves.' So much for the incurable +perversity of the Celtic race, for the 'black morass of Irish nature' +that can never be drained! + +The people of Farney got justice, and they were contented and orderly. +They got security, and they were industrious and thriving. They +got protection under the constitution, and they were loyal. Densely +peopled as the estate is, the agent could not coax one of them to +emigrate; and after his former experience at Farney, he did not +venture on eviction, though, no doubt, he would gladly repeat the +Kenmare experiment in thinning the masses with which he has had to +deal. Mr. Horsman, a prophet of the same school of economists, says +that Providence sent the famine to relieve the landlords, by carrying +away a third of the population, and he seems to think it desirable +that another third should be got rid of somehow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +BELFAST AND PERPETUITY. + + +Belfast, not being blessed with a cathedral like Armagh and Derry, +is not called a 'city.' It is only a 'town;' but it is the capital of +Ulster, and surpasses all other places in Ireland in the rapidity of +its progress and in its prosperity. It can boast but little of its +antiquity. There is probably not a house in the borough more than 150 +years old. The place is first noticed by history in 1178, merely as +the site of a fort of the O'Neills, which was destroyed by John De +Courcy. It was only a poor village at the time of Bruce's invasion, in +1315, though Spencer erroneously calls it 'a very good town.' It was +so insignificant in 1586 that Holinshed does not mention it among the +towns and havens of Down and Antrim. Whatever town existed there had +been destroyed by the Earl of Kildare when lord-deputy. In 1552 it was +repaired and garrisoned, and shortly after it was granted by the +crown to Hugh O'Neill of Clandeboye. In 1571 the castle, with a large +portion of territory adjoining it, was bestowed upon Sir Thomas Smith +and his son. The latter was assassinated by the 'wicked, barbarous, +and uncivil people;' and the former, not being able to fulfil the +conditions of his tenure, the district reverted with the whole earldom +of Ulster to the crown in the reign of James I. Belfast was then +surrounded by extensive forests, abounding in fine timber for +building. The best specimen--perhaps the only one in the kingdom--of +a forest like what covered the country at that time, still exists at +Shane's Castle, the magnificent demesne of Lord O'Neill, where may be +seen enormous oaks decaying with age, under whose shade probably the +famous Shane marshalled his galloglasse. + +In 1613 the castle and manor of Belfast were granted to Sir Arthur +Chichester, lord-deputy, ancestor of the Marquis of Donegal, who did +so much to effect the final conquest of Ulster. He may be said to +be the founder of the town. From the estates of his family, in +Devonshire, and from Scotland, many families came over and made a +strong settlement here. Ultimately it became a corporation sending two +members to the Irish Parliament. The chief magistrate was called 'the +sovereign;' and the first who held the office was Thomas Pottinger, +ancestor of the celebrated Sir Henry Pottinger. In 1758 the population +was 8,549; in 1821, it was 37,000; in 1831, it was 53,000; in 1841, it +had increased to 75,000; in 1851, it amounted to 103,000; and the last +census shows it to be 121,602. About 1,500 houses are built annually +in the borough, and the present population is estimated at 150,000. +The rateable property is more than 394,000 l. The sum of 560,000 l. +has been spent on the harbour improvements, to which is to be added +250,000 l. for building new docks. I remember the quays when they were +small, irregular, inconvenient, dirty, and when the channel worked its +doubtful course through shifting masses of liquid mud, at low water. +Now there are quays which extend in a line about a mile, covered +with spacious sheds for the protection of the goods being shipped +and unshipped. There are docks of all sorts, and great shipbuilding +establishments standing on ground created out of the floating chaos +of mud. 'Year by year,' as one of its poets has said, 'Belfast is +changing its aspect and overstepping its former boundaries, climbing +the hill-side, skirting the river margin, and even invading the sea's +ancient domain. + + 'Ambition's mistress of the fertile land, + Shuts out the ocean and usurps the strand.' + +Among the 'usurpations' is Queen's Island, a beautiful people's +park, standing in the midst of the Lough. The people of Belfast have +effected all these vast improvements from their own resources, +without a shilling from the lord of the soil, without any help from +Government, except a loan of 100,000 l. from the Board of Works. +Belfast is the 'linen capital' of the empire, as Manchester is the +'cotton capital.' The linen trade was fostered in its infancy there +by Strafford, and encouraged by William III., as a set-off against the +abolition of the woollen trade. The first spinning of flax by steam +power was commenced in 1830, by the Messrs. Mulholland, who employ +2,000 hands, principally females. Mills have sprung up in every +direction, and it is estimated that they give employment to 15,000 +persons. To supply the consumption of flax, in addition to the home +produce, about 50,000 tons are imported every year. Linen is the +staple manufacture; but industrial arts of every kind flourish, with +all the usual manifestations of wealth. + +We have seen in a former chapter that the people of Londonderry, vexed +that the maiden city has been left so far behind her younger sister, +ascribe the difference to the fact that the Belfast manufacturers were +favoured with long building tenures. We hear it said often that the +Marquis of Donegal gave his tenants perpetuity leases, implying that +he acted very liberally in doing so. If, however, you speak to persons +acquainted with the local history, they will ascribe this advantage +to 'Lord Donegal's necessities.' If you ask an explanation of this +phrase, you will be told that towards the end of last century, and +later, Lord Donegal was obliged to adopt extraordinary methods +for raising money, and that the perpetuity leases in question were +purchased, and at a very high rate too. You will further learn that +the tenants were compelled to take the leases, and pay heavy fines for +them in lump sums, and that if unable to produce the money they were +evicted, and their farms were given to others who were able to pay. It +is alleged that his agent got leases in blank, ready to be filled up +when the cash was forthcoming, and that all the cash did not reach the +landlord's hands. At any rate, attempts have been made to break some +of the leases. There has been long pending litigation on the subject. +Whatever may be the defects of title on the part of the landlord, +the tenant must suffer. Dr. Hancock alludes to this fact in his +first report. Referring to Sir John Romilly's Leasing Powers Bill, he +says:-- + +'The details of these Bills it is not necessary now to refer to; but +there was one principle provided for in them which has been neglected +in subsequent measures. In the ordinary course of business a tenant +does not investigate his landlord's title; the cost of doing so would +be nearly always too great; besides, the landlord would not think of +consenting to the investigation on every occasion of granting a lease. +It follows from this that it is a great hardship, if a flaw should +be discovered in a landlord's title, that leases granted before the +tenants had any notice of the litigation should be bad. Take the +case of the estate which the late Duke of Wellington and Mr. +Leslie recovered from Lord Dungannon after he had been for years in +possession; or the case which is now pending for so many years between +the Marquis of Donegal and Viscount Templemore. Is it not a great +hardship that leases which tenants took, trusting in the title of +Lord Dungannon or Viscount Templemore, who were then visible owners +of great estates, should afterwards turn out to be worthless on some +point of law in title-deeds which they never had the opportunity of +seeing; and which may be so subtle as to take Courts of Law years to +decide?' + +Dr. Hancock says the principle that in such cases the tenant should +be protected, was neglected in subsequent measures. Now, what must the +tenants think of legislation that subjects them to be robbed of their +dearly-bought leases because of flaws, frauds or blunders with which +they could have nothing to do? The leases granted to the tenants of +Lord Donegal, however, in Belfast and the neighbourhood were generally +valid, and to these perpetuities we must undoubtedly ascribe the +existence of a middle class of remarkable independence of character, +and the accumulation of capital for manufactures and commerce. Had +Lord Donegal been able to hold the town in a state of tutelage and +dependence--had he been an 'improving landlord' of the modern type, +with an agent like Mr. Trench, so vigilant and curious that a dog +could not bark on the estate without his knowledge and consent, +Belfast might have been far behind Derry to-day--as stationary as +Bangor, Hillsborough, Antrim, or Randalstown. Under such paternal care +as Mr. Trench bestows upon tenants, with his omnipresent surveillance, +there could be no manly self-reliance, no freedom of speech or action, +no enterprise. The agent would take care that no interests should grow +up on the estate, which his chief could not control or knock down. It +is not likely that Lord Donegal would have suffered the landscape to +be spoiled, the atmosphere of the deer park and gardens to be darkened +and tainted by the smoke of factory chimneys, which could add nothing +to his rental, while crowding around him the race which his great +progenitor did so much to extirpate. So Belfast may well be thankful +that the Marquis of Donegal, for some generations, could not afford to +be 'an improving landlord,' fond of paternal intermeddling with other +people's affairs, playing the part of Providence to an inferior race. + +But there is one memorable fact connected with those perpetuity leases +which applies more immediately to our purpose. The tenants who were +evicted to make way for the men who had money to advance to the lord +of the soil, feeling themselves seriously aggrieved, formed the first +of the more modern agrarian combinations under the title of 'the +Hearts of Oak;' which continued for a long time to disturb the peace +in Antrim and Down. The farms being extensively turned into pasture +by the landlords and large graziers, there was no employment for the +houseless wanderers, no provision of any kind for their support. +They consequently had no respect for the rights of property, in +the vindication of which their homes had been demolished and their +families sacrificed, because they were not able to purchase fixity of +tenure. + +It was, however, very fortunate for Belfast that the landlord was +obliged to sell it; that the head of the great house founded by the +conqueror of Ulster, enriched with territory so vast, should have been +under the necessity of giving a perpetual property in the soil to +some of the sons of industry. By that simple concession he did more to +advance the prosperity of the town, than could have been accomplished +by centuries of fostering care, under the shadow of feudalism. Belfast +shows, on a grand scale, what might be done on many an estate in +Ireland, in many a town and village where the people are pining away +in hopeless misery, if the iron bonds of primogeniture and entail +which now cramp landed property were struck off. The Greek philosopher +declared that if he had a standing-place he could move the earth. Give +to capital the ground of perpetuity of tenure, whereon to plant +its machinery, and it will soon lift this island from the slough of +despond. Then may it be said more truly than Grattan said it in 1782, +that Ireland had got nearer to the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +LEASE-BREAKING--GEASHILL. + + +The history of the Manor of Geashill in the King's County furnishes +another instructive illustration of the land question and of the +effect upon the people of the system of management, under the new +school of agents, of which Mr. Steuart Trench may be regarded as the +brightest ornament, if not the apostle. The epoch was favourable for +his mission, and he was the man for the epoch; he had been quietly +training himself for the restoration of disordered estates, and the +critical emergencies of the times thrust him into the front rank of +social reformers. When he describes the wonderful revolutions wrought +by his instrumentality, the whirlwinds on which he rode, the storms +which he directed and quelled, the chaos out of which he evoked order, +he assumes that the hurricane and the chaos were the normal state of +things. A mysterious pestilence had blighted the principal food of +the people for two or three years, and brought on a desolating famine. +Millions perished by that visitation chiefly because the legislature +had persistently refused up to that period to make any provision for +the Irish poor such as it had made centuries before for the English +poor, and because no care had been taken to distribute the population +over the waste lands which their labour would have reclaimed and +fertilized; or to improve their position, so that they might not be +wholly dependent on one sort of food, and that the most precarious and +perishable. Mr. Sadler, in his work on Population, had proved that, +even in the case of Ireland before the famine, there was really no +'surplus population;' that if the resources of the country had been +developed by a wise Government, sympathising with the people, the text +which he adopted would have been applicable there: 'Dwell in the land, +and verily ye shall be fed.' There was hasty legislation to meet the +emergency, but in all the haste, the heartless economists found time +to devise clauses and provisions, by means of which, when the small +farmers had consumed all their stock to keep their families alive, +they were compelled to relinquish their holdings in order to get food +for their famishing children. They must submit to the workhouse test, +they must not hold more than a quarter of an acre of land, if they +would get relief. Under the dire instigation of hunger, in the +stupor and recklessness of their misery, they accepted any terms the +landlords chose to impose, and so whole villages disappeared from the +landscape, swept off with the besom of destruction. + +The political economists (all the new school of land-agents are rigid +political economists), taught by their prophet Malthus, ascribed the +famine and every other social evil to surplus population, and to the +incurably lazy and thriftless habits of the Celtic race. According to +them the potato blight had only hastened an inevitable catastrophe. +Therefore they set to work with all their agencies and all their +might to get rid of the too prolific race, and to supplant the native +cultivators by British settlers and wealthy graziers. + +This has been done ever since by a quiet and gradual process, +steadily, systematically, inexorably, propelled by many powerful +tendencies of the age, and checked only by assassination. What are the +agrarian outrages which have become so terribly rife of late, but the +desperate struggles of a doomed race to break the instruments which +pluck them out of their native soil? A generation of instruction in +the national schools and a generation of intercourse with the +free citizens of the United States, who call no man 'master' under +heaven--have taught them that it is an enormous iniquity to sacrifice +humanity to property, to make the happiness, the freedom, the very +existence of human beings, secondary to the arbitrary power and +self-interest of a small class called landlords. They regard the +'improving landlord' system as nothing but a legal and civilised +continuation of the barbarous policy of extermination by fire and +sword which we have seen pursued so ruthlessly in the seventeenth +century. It is still the land-war, conducted according to modern +tactics, aiming with deadly effect at the same object, the slow but +sure destruction of a nuisance called the 'Celtic race.' This may be +a delusion on their part; but it is the deep-rooted conviction of +priests and people, and hence the utter inadequacy of any enactment +which will not render such a policy impossible, by making the tenure +of the occupiers independent of the will of the landlords. Until such +time the peasantry will continue to offer a bloody resistance to the +legal attempts to crush them out of the country. + +In this self-defensive war, they cannot cope with the armed power +of England in the open field; and they are driven upon the criminal +resource of the oppressed in all ages and all lands--secret +combination and assassination. For this crime they feel no remorse; +first, because it is _war_--just as the soldier feels no remorse +for killing the enemy in a battle; and, secondly, because their +conquerors, and the successors of those conquerors, have taught them +too well by repeated examples the terrible lesson of making light of +human life. Poor ignorant creatures, they cannot see that, while +the most illustrious noblemen in England won applause and honours +by shooting down Irish women and children like seals or otters, +the survivors of the murdered people should be execrated as cruel, +barbarous, and infamous for shooting the men that pull down the +rooftrees over the heads of their helpless families and trample upon +their household gods. These convictions of theirs are very revolting +to our feelings, but they are facts; and as facts the legislature must +deal with them. If there be a people, otherwise singularly free from +crime, who regard the assassination of the members of a certain +class with indifference, or approbation, the phenomenon is one which +political philosophy ought to be able to explain, and one which cannot +be got rid of by suspending the constitution and bringing railing +accusations against the nation. + +Mr. Trench speaks with something like contempt or pity of 'good +landlords,' a class which he contradistinguishes from 'improving +landlords.' But it should be remembered that by this last phrase he +always means agents of the Trench stamp. For he observes that the +landlord himself cannot possibly do much more than authorize his agent +to do what he thinks best; and it is rather an advantage that the +proprietor should be an absentee, otherwise his good nature might +prompt him to interrupt the work of improvement. Now there is this to +be said of the good landlords, who may be counted by hundreds, and who +are found in all the counties of Ireland. Their estates are free from +the 'poetic turbulence' in which Mr. Trench is the 'stormy petrel.' +They preserved their tenants through the years of famine, and have +them still on their estates. Nor should the fact be omitted that among +those good landlords, who abhor the idea of evicting their tenants, +are to be found the lineal descendants of some of the most cruel +exterminators of the seventeenth century. Their goodness has +completely obliterated, among their people, the bitter memories of the +past. The present race of Celts would die for the men whose ancestors +shot down their forefathers as vermin. But the improving landlords run +their ploughshares through the ashes of old animosities, turning up +embers which the winds of agitation blow into flames. We seldom hear +of Ribbonism till the improving agent comes upon the scene, warring +against natural rights, warring against the natural affections, +warring against humanity, warring against the soul. + +These remarks bring us to the case of the barony of Geashill, the +estate of Lord Digby, to which Mr. Trench became agent in 1857. Lord +Digby desired to obtain his services, but he did not communicate his +desire to Mr. Trench himself, though nothing would seem easier. It was +first conveyed by Lieut.-General Porter, the confidential friend of +Lord Digby, and next by Mr. Brewster, afterwards Lord Chancellor of +Ireland. When the police received a notice that the new landlord of +Geashill would certainly meet with a 'bloody death' if he persisted in +his threatened dealings with the tenants, there was no more time +for diplomatic delicacy in approaching Mr. Trench. The landlord's +extremity is Mr. Trench's opportunity. When leases are to be broken, +when independent rights are to be extinguished, or 'contracted away,' +when an overcrowded estate is to be thinned at the least possible +cost to the owner, when a rebellious tenantry are to be subdued, and +Ribbonmen are to be banished or hanged, Mr. Trench is the man to do +the work of improvement. He admits that he never had before him an +uglier job than this at Geashill, and he had the worst apprehensions +as to the danger of the enterprise. + +It was nothing less than to break 120 leases, which had been granted +from time to time by the late Lord Digby during the sixty years that +he had enjoyed the property. The value of these leases was 30,600 l., +for the terms unexpired after his death. Among those 120 leaseholders +were the descendants of English settlers, gentlemen farmers, one of +them a magistrate, and a number of substantial yeomen, the sort of men +the country so much wanted to form an independent middle class. But to +an 'improving landlord,' the existence of such a class on his estate +is intolerable. At all hazards they must be made tenants-at-will, and +brought completely under his control. + +They had built houses and planted trees; they had reclaimed the deep +bog and converted it into good arable land. They had employed the +peasantry, and given them plots of ground, and, more than all, they +had allowed a number of families to squat on bits of bog by the +roadside, where they lived as well as they could; working when +there was a demand for labour, cutting turf and selling it in the +neighbouring town of Tullamore, and perhaps carrying on some little +dealings. At all events they had survived the famine; and there they +were in 1857 with their huts standing on their 'estates,' for they had +paid no rent for twenty years, and they had as good a title in law +as Lord Digby himself. Mr. Trench seems to have been horrified at +not finding the names of these householders in the rent-books of the +estate! The idea!--that there should be within the four corners of the +King's County, even on the bog of Allen, a number of natives holding +land, without a landlord! It was monstrous. But as they could not be +evicted for non-title, they were all severally tempted by the offer +of money, in sums varying from 5 l. to 20 l. each, to sell their +freeholds to the landlord. Pity they were not preserved as a remnant +of the antediluvian period, ere the ancient tenures were merged in +floods of blood. Like a bit of primitive forest, they would be more +interesting to some minds than the finest modern plantation. + +It was not so easy to deal with the 120 leaseholders. To what extent +they had improved their farms before they got the leases, Mr. Trench +does not say. But as the absentee landlord had done nothing, and spent +nothing, whatever increase to the value had been made was undoubtedly +the work of the tenants; and after the leases were obtained, they +would naturally feel more confidence in the investment of their +savings in the land. However that may be, a professional man, employed +by Lord Digby, estimated the value over and above the reserved rent +at 30,600 l., which sum the new landlord proposed to put into his own +pocket, by increasing the rent one-third. The plea for this sweeping +confiscation was, that the late Lord Digby, cousin to the present, had +only a life interest in the Irish estate, and therefore, the leases +were all illegal and worthless. Accordingly the new lord commenced +proceedings to evict the whole of the tenantry for non-title. They +were astounded. They held meetings; they deliberated; they appealed to +the landlord; they appealed to the executors of the late peer, who +had large estates in England, and died worth a million sterling in +the funds, all of which he willed away from the heir of his title and +Irish estates. Says Mr. Trench:-- + +'It may readily be supposed that circumstances so peculiar as these +created considerable anxiety in the district. The tenantry, _many_ of +them large and respectable land-holders, now learned, for the first +time, that their leases were good for nothing in law. They had been +duly 'signed, sealed, and delivered' to them under a full belief on +their part that the contract was not only just and honourable, but +also perfectly legal; and their feelings may be imagined when they +found that they were suddenly threatened with a total loss of the +property which they had always looked upon as secure.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: 'Realities of Irish Life,' p.314.] + +Pending the ejectment proceedings, they were knocked about from post +to pillar, without getting any satisfaction. The landlord referred +them to the executors, although he knew well they had no legal claim +on them whatever, and that to legal claims only could they pay any +attention. The executors again referred them to their landlord, who +was determined to break the leases, come what would. Now, if the Irish +law regulating the relations of landlord and tenant were based upon +justice and equity, the wrong done by the late earl, if any, was a +wrong for which the tenants should in no way be held responsible. The +wrong was done to the heir-at-law. To him, and not to the tenants, +compensation should have been made by the executors. And after all, it +was really to him that the money was advanced to buy up the leases, +in order to save him from assassination, for the tenants had no legal +claim upon them. + +The natural, proper, and honest course, then, for the landlord, was to +have kept the 30,600 l. as compensation to himself for the mistake +of his predecessor, and to let the leases stand. If he considered +the peace of the country, if he wished to inspire in the minds of +the people respect for the rights of property, or confidence in the +Government, he would not have adopted the desperate course of breaking +120 contracts, kindling the flames of agitation, and planting Ribbon +lodges all over a district hitherto peaceful and tranquil. But he was +bent on crushing the independent yeomanry into the abject condition +of tenants-at-will. To carry out this purpose, Mr. Trench was +indispensable. He knew how to tame the wild Irish. And Mr. Trench was +equal to the occasion. He went to reside a few weeks at Tullamore, to +reconnoitre the enemy's position. He writes as if this was the first +time he made acquaintance with the estate. But his own residence +was in the Queen's County, not far off; and there is good reason to +believe that he knew all about Geashill long before; and all about +every estate belonging to an English absentee in the four provinces; +for he had, growing up around him, a young generation of land-agents, +trained in all the arts of modern management, and one of the ablest +of these, his son, Mr. T.W. Trench, became his partner in this agency. +Mr. Trench's tactics are not new, though he excels all men in their +skilful application. His plan, adopted on all occasions, is to divide +and conquer. Violent measures being dangerous and contrary to his +own feelings, he trusts to diplomacy, dealing with individuals, +taken separately into a private room, where his irresistible personal +fascination invariably brings matters to a satisfactory issue. + +In this case, he went over to the English executors, and persuaded +them to advance the 30,600 l. to be distributed among the tenants, +under the guarantee of Lord Digby that this sum would cover all +possible claims. Thus provided with funds, he summoned the tenants, +not all, but ten of the most influential, to meet him at Geashill. He +left this meeting, purposely, to the last day and the last hour, as a +piece of generalship. He says:-- + +'They appeared puzzled and anxious, and very uncertain what to do. At +length one of them proposed that they should do nothing until they had +had an opportunity of consulting the remainder of the leaseholders, of +whom there were upwards of 120 upon the estate. + +'"No," replied I, "you must come to a decision now; there is a +messenger at the door on horseback, to ride to the telegraph station +at Portarlington to stop the English witnesses coming over. This must +be done within an hour, or they will start for Ireland, and _then_ it +will be out of my power to stop the lawsuit. You must determine _now_, +each man for himself, or the lawsuit must go on." + +'"Will you state the amount of money you will give to each of us?" +asked one of the party. + +'"Certainly," replied I, "if you will _each come separately with me +into another room_." + +'They did so. I named to each an amount something less than the sum +set down by the notary, partly as a reserve, lest any tenants holding +under these leaseholders should afterwards require to be paid, and +partly lest it might be supposed we were yielding to a legal claim +already granted. After a little consideration, they all severally +signed the consent for judgment.' + +The other leaseholders followed. The leases were all surrendered, and +the holders became tenants-at-will. I had the pleasure of meeting one +of the most influential of them a short time ago at Geashill--a fine +tall, patriarchal-looking gentleman, the representative of one of the +English settlers. He was waiting about humbly and patiently for an +opportunity of speaking to the young agent, who is as courteous and +kind as he is efficient. But I could not help reflecting how different +would be the bearing of the tenant if he had been still in possession +of his lease! His dwelling-house was not as grand as the stylish villa +which the landlord has erected beside it. But every stick and stone +about the place were his own property. So also were the old timber +trees, which his ancestors planted. But now every stick and stone +and tree belong to Lord Digby, and as such the agent exhibits them to +visitors--the buildings, the gardens, the trees, the hedges, the rich +pasture fields, all having such a look of comfort and independence. I +asked, 'Did you ever know a place like this old home of yours to have +been made by a tenant-at-will?' He answered in the negative. + +The tenant on an 'improved estate' must be very careful about his +speech. An agent has a hundred eyes and a hundred ears. People who +seek 'favours' at the office, find it useful to be spies upon their +neighbours, to detect violations of the 'rules of the estate.' It is +mainly through the spy-system that Mr. Steuart Trench, according to +his own avowal, won most of his victories over refractory tenants. For +example, on this estate he had a woman acting as a spy at the meetings +of the Ribbonmen; and he boasted that a dog could not bark at Farney +without his knowledge. I refer to this matter here again for the +purpose of saying that I cannot regard as an improvement of the +country a system which establishes a despot on every estate, which +degrades the tenant into a day-labourer, which--land being limited and +scarce--substitutes the old, barbarous, pastoral system for tillage, +which banishes the poor and enslaves the rich. Lord Digby levelled +cottages, gardens, farms, manured the land, got an enormous crop, +which in one year paid all the expenses; and then laid out the land in +vast tracts of pasture, for which he gets from 30 s. to 40 s. an acre. +That is improvement for _him_, but not for the people, not for the +country, not for the state, not for the Queen. It may crush Ribbonism. +But for every Ribbonman crushed, a hundred Fenians spring up; and +disaffection becomes not a mere local plague, but an endemic. Mr. +Trench gives a significant hint to other landlords to follow the +example of Lord Digby, assuring them that it will '_pay_.' + +A still more flagrant case of lease-breaking occurred some years ago +in the county of Galway. Dr. Hancock has put the facts of this case +before the Government in his recent report:-- + +'The plaintiff was the Rev. Dr. O'Fay, parish priest of Craughwell, in +the county of Galway, and the defendant the landlord on whose estate +the priest resided. About ten years ago the priest was induced to +take a farm that had been held by a former parish priest; the previous +proprietor, the father of the defendant, promising a lease for three +lives, or thirty-one years. After the priest entered into possession +the landlord ascertained that he could not fulfil his promise. + +'As he did not possess such a power under the terms of the estate +settlement, he offered, instead, a lease for the priest's own +life, and 20 l. to aid in building a house. The priest continued +in possession of the farm, and paid the rent agreed on, thus, as he +alleged, accepting the arrangement proposed. He was on excellent terms +with the landlord, and expended 70 l. in permanent improvements, and +did not ask for the 20 l. which the landlord had promised. In 1854 the +landlord died, and his son, the defendant, succeeded to the property. +He gave notice to all his yearly tenants of an intention to raise +their rents. The priest claimed to have a promise of a lease, and the +agent of the property, during the landlord's absence abroad, admitted +this claim, and did not raise the rent. The landlord said he had no +notice of his father's promise; he, however, allowed the priest to +remain in possession, and the priest expended 400 l. in buildings, on +the faith that he would not be disturbed. A dispute subsequently arose +about trespass, and the fences on the boundary between the priest's +farm and some land in the possession of the landlord. The landlord +served notice to quit, and brought an ejectment. After some delay +judgment was given in his favour, subject to an application to the +Court of Chancery to compel him to fulfil his father's promise of a +lease.' + +The Master of the Rolls thus characterised the law which justifies the +robbery of the tenants by unscrupulous and vindictive landlords:-- + +'Even if the Rev. Dr. O'Fay had no claim except as tenant from year to +year, I have no hesitation in stating that, although in point of law +on the authorities I have referred to, and particularly the case of +Felling _v._ Armitage, the petitioner's suit could not be sustained, +_yet noticing can be more repugnant to the principles of natural +justice than that a landlord should look on at a great expenditure +carried on by a tenant from year to year, without warning the tenant +of his intention to turn him out of possession_. The defendant's offer +to allow Dr. O'Fay to remove the buildings was a mockery. _I have no +jurisdiction to administer equity in the natural sense of that term, +or I should have no difficulty whatever in making a decree against the +defendant._ I am bound to administer an artificial system, established +by the decisions of eminent judges, such as Lord Eldon and Sir William +Grant, and _being so bound, I regret much that I must administer +injustice in this case, and dismiss the petition_, but I shall dismiss +it without costs. _I should be very glad for the sake of justice that +my decision should be reversed by the Court of Appeal._' + +Lest it might be supposed that this was the opinion of a single judge, +we find in the Court of Appeal equally strong views stated:--It +was thrown out that it was a case for amicable settlement, but the +respondent's counsel assured the Court that his client 'had resolved +to spend his fortune, if necessary, in resisting the claim of the +Rev. Dr. O'Fay.' Lord Justice Blackburne pronounced this to be a very +irrational determination, although he had to decide that the claim +could not be sustained in law or equity. + +Lord Chancellor Napier, in concluding his judgment, said:-- + +'I think I am not overstepping my duty in suggesting to the +respondent, that, under all the circumstances of this case, he will +best maintain the character and honour of a British officer, satisfy +the exigencies of justice, and uphold the rights of property, by +making _such an arrangement_ with Dr. O'Fay, as to the possession of +this farm, _as may leave him the full benefit of an expenditure made +in good faith, and with the reasonable expectation of having the full +benefit of it sufficiently secured by an undisturbed possession_.' + +It is a favourite theory with the new school of agents and improving +landlords, that long leases cause bad cultivation; in other words, +that industry prospers best where there is no security that you can +reap what you have sown, except the honour of a man whose interest it +is to appropriate the fruits of your labours, which he can _legally_ +do. Now, in every class and profession, there are failures,--persons +that are good for nothing, indolent, improvident, and thriftless. If +such a man has a long lease at a low rent, he may be overwhelmed in +debt, and leave his land in very bad condition. Others may imitate +their aristocratic superiors in their contempt for labour and their +habits of expenditure, and so get into a state of hopeless poverty on +a good estate. If there are cases where industrious sober men are the +worse for having an old lease, it should be remembered that the most +insecure of all tenures is a lease dependent on a single bad life, +which may drop at any hour. But there are other causes of the facts +urged against long tenures, for which the legislature is responsible, +not the unimproving tenant. Dr. Hancock explains this point very +satisfactorily:-- + +'Instances of bad cultivation and neglect of improvements, where long +leases exist, are sometimes brought forward to show the inutility of +tenure as a security for capital, and the strange economic theory +is propounded that a precarious interest is more favourable to the +investment of capital than a secure one. As well might the state of +landed property in Ireland before the Incumbered Estates Court was +established be adduced as an argument against property in land. The +remedy, however, which the legislature applied to incumbered estates +of large proprietors was not to destroy property in land, but simply +to secure its prompt, cheap, and effectual transfer to solvent hands. + +'For tenants' interests under leases where the value is small, and +where the interests have become complicated, the Landed Estates +Court is too expensive, and so these interests remain often for years +untransferred, in the hands of some one who has a very limited and +often uncertain interest in them. Such a leaseholder is deterred from +making improvements by the state of the law which deprives him of the +entire value of his improvements if anyone should disturb him under +a prior charge or claim, however obscure or unknown, affecting his +interest. The remedy is to be found in an extension of the principle +of the Record of Title Act to the local registry of small leasehold +interests, and in the providing for the local sale of such interests +in a cheap manner, with an absolute title.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE LAND SYSTEM AND THE WORKING CLASSES. + + +We have been told over and over again that the business of Ireland, +and all its improvements, requiring education and integrity, are +carried on 'by the Protestants, by whose intelligence, and labour, +mental and bodily, its prosperity, such as it is, has been produced.' +This assertion has been made with great confidence, by many writers +and speakers. It is a gross exaggeration, and absurd as it is gross. I +say nothing of the unseemly egotism of a dominant caste, thus parading +its own merits, flaunting its plumes, strutting and crowing over the +common folk--of this pharisaic spirit of the ascendant Protestant, +standing close to the altar, reciting to God and the world the number +of his resplendent virtues, and scornfully contrasting his excellent +moral condition with the degraded Catholic--the vile publican and +sinner, overwhelmed with enormous guilt. These monopolising Pharisees, +who laboured at such a rate to assert their natural superiority, as +the favourites of Heaven, and members of the Sovereign's church, over +a race which England enabled them to subjugate and impoverish, have +found no trumpeter so loud as Master Fitzgibbon, a chancery judge. In +the same spirit the last census has been analysed by one of the ablest +defenders of the Irish establishment, the Rev. Dr. Hume, of Liverpool, +in order to prove that everything good in Ireland has been done by +the Protestants, and everything bad by the Catholics. But he does not +state fairly the conditions of the race. He does not state that one of +the competitors had been master for centuries, well-fed, well-trained, +possessed of all advantages which give strength, skill, courage, and +confidence, while the other was ill-fed, untrained, enfeebled, and +_over-weighted_, having to work out of himself the slavish spirit +which oppression had produced, and to gain, by extra efforts, the +skill which the law had forbidden him to acquire. Nevertheless the +Catholics have acquired skill, and the extent to which the empire is +dependent on their knowledge of the industrial arts is much greater +than many people suppose. Of the farming class in Ireland, 76 per +cent. are Roman Catholics. But we are indebted to the obnoxious race +in other respects than as producers of food. + +From the classification of occupations and professions, we learn that +the Roman Catholics bear the following proportions to the Protestants +of all denominations. + +Persons employed in the manufacture of: Roman Catholics. + +Skin clothing .77 per cent. +Woollen do. .88 " +Flax do. .43 " +Cotton do. .53 " +Straw do. .66 " +Silk do. .66 " +Miscellaneous do. .67 " +In producing furniture .84 " +In unclassed industrial employments .84 " +In amusements .80 " +In architecture .78 " +In making machinery .76 " +In conveyance and travelling .73 " +In literature and education .56 " +In charity and benevolence .52 " +In health .50 " +In science and art .47 " +In justice and government .46 " +In banking and agency .40 " + +There are other suggestive figures in the census, bearing on +this question. While three-fourths of the farmers are Catholics, +three-fourths of the land-agents are Protestants, who, as a rule, +have an unconquerable antipathy to the Catholic clergy, as the only +obstacle to their absolute power over the tenants, with whom they find +it hard to sympathise. Of farm labourers and domestic servants, nine +out of ten belong to the race supposed by some to be incapable of +virtue and loyalty. Again, of the whole British army of all ranks, 37 +per cent. are Irishmen, and of these Irish soldiers, 67 per cent. are +Catholics. More than three-fourths of the magistrates are Protestants; +and they bear about the same proportion on the grand juries. According +to the theory and practice of the constitution, all power, legislative +and administrative, must be based on the ownership of land. The +rate-payers have a voice indeed, but it is generally nothing but +an echo of the landlord's voice; what else can it be when they are +tenants-at-will, depending on the mercy of the proprietor for the +means of existence? In county offices, the Protestants have an +overwhelming majority. It is the same in all the offices filled by +government patronage, except the judges of the superior courts. There +Catholics are in the majority, because they had obtained seats in the +House of Commons. + +On the boards of guardians the mass of the poor might expect that +a majority of guardians would be prompted by national and religious +feeling to sympathise with them, so that they would find in the master +and matron, the doctor and the relieving officer, something like the +natural tenderness which a common kindred and creed inspire. But half +the guardians are _ex-officio_ members, as magistrates; nearly all +landlords and Protestants. They have in addition 'property votes,' and +'residence votes;' so that, with their influence over the elections, +they are generally able to pack the board; and in that case the +officials are almost invariably Protestants and conservatives. I know +a union in which three-fourths of the rate-payers are Roman Catholics; +and yet, with the utmost efforts of the priests, they were not able to +elect a single Catholic guardian. To meet the landlord pressure, +some of the rate-payers were required to sign their voting papers in +presence of their pastors, yet so terrible was that pressure that they +afterwards took them to the agent's office, and, to make assurance +doubly sure, tore them up before his face. I have been told by a +priest, that such is the mortal dread of eviction, or of a permanent +fine in the form of increased rent, that he had known tenants who, +when produced in the witness-box, denied on oath acts of oppression of +which they had been bitterly complaining to himself, and which he well +knew to be facts. + +Thus the land-war rages at every board of guardians, in every +dispensary, in every grand jury room, at every petty sessions, +in every county court, in every public institution throughout the +kingdom. The land-agent is the commanding officer, his office is a +garrison, dominating the surrounding district. He is able, in most +cases, to defy the confessional and the altar; because he wields +an engine of terror generally more powerful over the mind of the +peasantry than the terrors of the world to come. Armed with the 'rules +of the estate' and with a notice to quit, the agent may have almost +anything he demands, short of possession of the farm and the home of +the tenant. The notice to quit is like a death warrant to the family. +It makes every member of it tremble and agonise, from the grey-headed +grandfather and grandmother, to the bright little children, who read +the advent of some impending calamity in the gloomy countenances and +bitter words of their parents. The passion for the possession of land +is the chord on which the agent plays, and at his touch it vibrates +with 'the deepest notes of woe.' By the agent of an improving landlord +it is generally touched so cunningly, that its most exquisite torture +cannot easily be proved to be a grievance. He presents an alternative +to the tenant; he does less than the law allows. He could strike a +mortal blow, but he lends a helping hand. Resistance entails ruin; +compliance secures friendship. Give up the old _status_, and accept +a new one: cease to stand upon _right_, consent to hang upon _mercy_, +and all may be well. + +Passing a cottage by the road-side, one of the kindest and best of +those agents said to me, 'See with what infatuation these people cling +to their old places! There is a man in that dilapidated cabin, with +only one acre of ground. It is an eyesore. I have offered him a nice +new slated cottage with ten acres, within a short distance, and he +obstinately refuses to quit.' + +Why did he refuse? I suppose, because the place was _his own_. The +house was probably built by his father; it is the house in which he +was born, endeared to him, no doubt, by many powerful associations, +little appreciated by those who never condescend to read the 'simple +annals of the poor.' He felt, that if, like his neighbours, he moved +into a house built by the landlord, he would cease to be a free man, +and would pass under the yoke of a _master._ I was with some visitors +in one of the new cottages. The wife of the cottier with smiles +assented to all that was said as to the neatness and comfort of the +place. I thought the smiles were forced. I was last in going out, and +I heard her heave a heavy sigh. Perhaps she longed for the old home +and its freedom, envying the lot of the sturdy peasant to whom I have +alluded. Poor fellow! he must give way at last. But his proud manhood +is the stuff of which Hampdens are made. + +I have devoted much time and attention to personal enquiries from town +to town, from village to village, and from house to house, seeking +corroborative evidence from men of all ranks and professions, on the +effect of the _Improved Land System_ on the working classes, and I +will here faithfully record as briefly as possible the result of my +enquiries. I must premise a few words as to the principles of the +system which is called 'English.' + +1. There is the principle of _contract_, by which alone any tenant +is to be permitted to occupy land. There is to be no foothold in the +island, from the centre all round to the sea, from the top of the +highest mountain to the shore at low-water-mark, for any Irishman in +his native land, unless he obtains it by contract from a landlord and +pays for it. + +2. There is the principle of _compensation_ for unexhausted +improvements at the rate of five or six per cent. on the outlay, +provided the improvements have been made with the knowledge and +consent of the landlord. A certain number of years is held to be +sufficient to recoup the tenant for his outlay. If he is removed +before that time he is entitled to the balance of his invested +capital; just as if the relation were strictly commercial, and as if +he had no further claim than his percentage. If the landlord makes the +improvement--which he prefers doing, on the new system--he requires +the tenant to pay at the rate of four to six per cent. in the form of +rent--a clear gain to the landlord, who can borrow money on much lower +terms, and can hardly invest his capital so profitably or so safely +elsewhere. + +3. _Absenteeism_ is no disadvantage or loss to the country. This +principle is in great favour with the agents. There is no theme on +which they are so eloquent or so argumentative. In the absence of the +landlord the agent is all-powerful. What the Irish lord deputy was to +the Tudors and Stuarts, the Irish agent now is to the great absentee +proprietor residing in London or Paris. He will undertake to +demonstrate that the West-end of London would be just as prosperous if +the Queen and her court resided constantly at Balmoral or Killarney; +if the parliament met alternately in Edinburgh and Dublin, and if +the government offices were all at Liverpool. With the blessing of +absenteeism, houses in London would be built as fast, and would bring +as high rents; trade would be as brisk, artizans of all sorts as well +paid, life as happy, and the Londoners as well content. The Irish, +however, have, in their ignorance of political economy, conceived the +idea, that if the millions sterling sent annually out of the country +to London were spent among those by whose labour the money is made, +there would be more employment for all sorts of tradesmen, more +business for the shopkeepers, more opportunities of advancement for +the farmers' sons, more houses built, more trees planted, more land +reclaimed, more factories established, more money stirring, more +wealth, more life, more enjoyment, an immense increase of national +prosperity. The agents say that this is all a delusion. + +4. The next principle of the new agents is this--and to carry it out +is the aim of all their improvements--that their mission is to produce +the greatest amount of rent from the smallest number of tenants. + +5. To reduce the population by _emigration_ or other means until there +is barely a sufficient number of labourers to attend the agricultural +machines, and herd the cattle. + +6. To discourage _marriage_ in every possible way, and to diminish +pauperism till there shall be no further use of the workhouses but to +serve as lying-in hospitals for the thrifty spinsters, as they do +in Cumberland and Westmoreland--where the arrangement seems the +most natural thing in the world. It is certainly not an unnatural +consequence of the practice of men and women sleeping in the same +apartment. + +Now let us see the working of this new system in Ireland; for it is at +work more or less extensively in all the four provinces. The rules +of the estate, when rigidly enforced, as they generally are by the +improving agents, tend steadily, powerfully, to break down the small +farmers. They are disappearing by thousands every year. Some take +their chance across the Atlantic. Others fall into the condition of +labourers, and may earn 2 s. a day on the estate. This will last for +awhile until the land is drained, manured, and turned into permanent +pasture. Then their occupation is gone. There is nothing more for them +to do. There is no place for them, no room, no support in their native +land. The grass will grow without their labour, and the bullocks will +fatten without their care. + +We are constantly hearing of the immense rise in wages since the +famine. Well, they are nominally higher, but in the old times the +labourer could get more for 8 d. or 10 d. than he can now get for 1 +s. 6 d. or 2 s. Fuel is now three times as dear as it was, because the +'rules of the estate' will not allow the tenants to sell turf even +on the verge of extensive bogs. Milk, which was formerly abundant and +very cheap, is scarcely to be had at all now in the country towns +and villages, because the land is devoted to feeding sheep and 'dry +cattle.' Under the old system, the cottiers in the small towns and +villages, as well as on the roads in the country, were enabled to keep +pigs. The pig paid the rent, and made manure which was put out on the +ground of some neighbouring farmer, hired as 'conacre.' The crop of +potatoes thus obtained was a great help in the winter months, when +employment was rarely to be had. This practice still prevails in +Ulster. The farmer puts in the crop for the manure, the cottier paying +the farmer's rent--5 s. to 10 s. a rood, or whatever it may be. With +this help the family get over the winter, and feed the pig, without +which help, they say, it would be impossible to exist, even with +constant employment at a shilling a day. But on the estates of +improving landlords in the other provinces, the rules forbid the +tenant to give the use of any ground for conacre. He must not, on pain +of eviction, take manure for such a purpose, though it would help to +enrich his land for the ensuing year. The evicted cottiers and small +farmers are forced to go to towns and villages, shut up in unwholesome +rooms. When they have been thus so far got rid of, the most ingenious +devices are resorted to in order to render it impossible for them to +live. By the 'rules of the estate,' the supply of necessaries is +cut off on every side. Without fuel, without milk, without potatoes, +unless bought at a high rate for ready money, how are they to live? +The strong members of the poor man's family emigrate or go to +service; the weak ones and the young children pine away in a state +of semi-starvation, preferring that to the best fare in the hated +workhouse. + +The people are fully sensible of the causes of these privations. They +know that they have been forced into this condition by the landlords +and their improving agents, induced in some cases by the temptation of +a few pounds to surrender their little holdings. The lord lieutenant +of the King's County has thus cleared an immense district, and has +himself become a grazier and a cattle-dealer on a monster scale, +attending the markets in person, and driving hard bargains with the +farmers and jobbers. By such means the population of that county has +been reduced one-third in the last twenty years. The moral aspect of +this new system is worthy of consideration. It is thus presented by +Archdeacon Redmond of Arklow, one of the most moderate and respected +parish-priests in Ireland. When lately presenting an address to Lord +Granard from his Wexford tenantry, he said:-- + +'I have always heard the house of Forbes eulogised for its advocacy of +civil and religious liberty, and the name of Grogan Morgan has become +a household word through this county as one of the best landlords in +Ireland. He never broke down a rooftree during or since the terrible +famine. Under his fostering care they have all tided over the +calamitous time, and are happy and prosperous in their homes. He did +not think his estate overcrowded, nor did he avail himself of the +mysterious destruction of the fruits of the earth, to clear off +beings made in God's image, and to drive them to the poorhouse, the +fever-shed, or the emigrant ship, to whiten the bottom of the sea +with their bones, or to face the moral and physical perils of +the transatlantic cities. He did not read his bible, like Satan, +backwards, nor did he turn out the Son of God in the person of His +poor. Hence his name is in benediction, and his estates are more +prosperous than the estates of those who forget God in their worldly +wisdom, and would seem to have no belief in a judgment to come. What +a happiness it is, my Lord and Lady Granard, for you to have such a +heritage, and to know that you live in the hearts of your tenantry, +who would spill the last drop of their blood to shield you and your +dear children from hurt and harm!' + +Let it not be supposed that such sentiments are peculiar to the +Catholic clergy, or that their causes exist only in the south and +west. The Rev. Dr. Drew, a rector in the county Down, an Orange +chaplain, a veteran champion of Protestantism and Toryism, but an +honourable and humane man, wrote the following letter last autumn:-- + +If the magnificent lecture of Mr. Butt had done nothing more than +elicit this letter from Dr. Drew, it would have been much. But will +not the thoughts of many hearts be revealed in the same manner? What +a number of plain-speaking Drews we shall have denouncing tyranny when +their consciences are relieved from the incubus of the Establishment! + + _To Isaac Butt, Esq., LL.D._ + +'My dear Butt--If every other man in the world entertained doubts of +my sincerity, you, at least, would give me credit for honesty and +just intentions. I write to you accordingly, because my mind has been +stirred to its inmost depths by the perusal of your address in my +native city of Limerick. I do not regard the subject of your address +as a political one. It ought to be regarded solely as a question of +humanity, justice, common sense, and common honesty. I wish my lot had +never been cast in rural places. As a clergyman I hear what neither +landlords nor agents ever hear. I see the depression of the people; +their sighs and groans are before me. They are brought so low as +often to praise and glorify those who, in their secret hearts, are the +objects of abhorrence. All this came out gradually before me. Nor did +I feel as I ought to feel in their behalf until, in my own person and +purse, I became the victim of a system of tyranny which cries from +earth to heaven for relief. Were I to narrate my own story it +would startle many of the Protestants of Ireland. There are good +landlords--never a better than the late Lord Downshire, or the living +and beloved Lord Roden. But there are too many of another state of +feeling and action. There are estates in the north where the screw is +never withdrawn from its circuitous and oppressive work. Tenant-right +is an unfortunate and delusive affair, simply because it is almost +invariably used to the landlord's advantage. Here we have an election +in prospect, and in many counties no farmer will be permitted to think +or act for himself. What right any one man has to demand the surrender +of another's vote, I never could see. It is an act of sheer felony--a +perfect "stand-and-deliver" affair. To hear a man slavishly and +timorously say, "I must give my votes as the landlord wishes," is an +admission that the legislature, which bestowed the right of voting on +the tenant, should not see him robbed of his right, or subsequently +scourged or banished from house and land, because he disregarded a +landlord's nod, or the menace of a land agent. At no little hazard of +losing the friendship of some who are high and good and kind, I write +as I now do.--Yours, my dear Butt, very sincerely, + + 'THOMAS DREW. + + 'Dundrum, Clough, County Down, + September 7, 1868.' + +Some resident landlords employ a considerable number of labourers, to +each of whom they give an excellent cottage, an acre of land, and +the grass of a cow, with work all the year round at seven shillings +a week. The tenants are most comfortable and most grateful, while the +praise of those landlords is in the mouths of the peasantry all round +the country. But these considerate landlords are in a minority. As a +rule, on the estates where the improvement system is going on, where +farms are being consolidated, and grazing supersedes tillage, an iron +pressure weighs upon the labouring classes, crushing them out of +the country. It is a cold, hard, calculating, far-reaching system of +inhumanity, which makes the peasant afraid to harbour his own flesh +and blood. It compels the grandmother to shut the door in the face of +the poor homeless orphan, lest the improving agent should hear of the +act of sheltering him from the pitiless storm, not more pitiless than +the agent himself. The system of terrorism established by the threats +of eviction de-humanizes a people remarkable for their hospitality to +the poor. Mr. Thomas Crosbie, of Cork, a gentleman whom I believe to +be as truthful and honourable as any agent in Ireland, gives appalling +illustrations of this in his account of 'The Lansdowne Estates,' +published in 1858. Mr. Trench has given the English public several +pretty little romances about these estates; but he omitted some +realities that ought to have impressed themselves upon his memory as +deeply as any of his adventures. Mr. Crosbie found that the 'rules +of the estate,' which were rigidly enforced, forbid tenants to build +houses for their labourers, 'the consequence of which was that men and +women servants, no matter how great the number, must live under one +roof.' The rules forbid marriage without the agent's permission. A +young couple got married, and were chased away to America; and 'the +two fathers-in-law were not merely warned; they were punished for +harbouring their son and daughter, by a fine of a gale of rent.' It +was a rule 'that no stranger be lodged or harboured in any house +upon the estate, lest he should become sick or idle, or in some way +chargeable upon the poor-rates.' 'Several were warned and punished for +giving lodging to a brother-in-law, a daughter,' &c. 'A poor widow got +her daughter married without the necessary permission; she was served +with a notice to quit, which was withdrawn on the payment of three +gales of rent.' Mr. Crosbie gives a number of cases of the kind. The +following are the most remarkable. A tenant, Timothy Sullivan, of +Derrynabrack, occasionally gave lodging to his sister-in-law, whilst +her husband was seeking for work. He was afraid to lodge both or +either; 'but the poor woman was in low fever, and approaching her +confinement. Even under such circumstances his terror was so great +that he removed her to a temporary shed on Jeremiah Sullivan's land, +where she gave birth to a child. She remained there for some time. +When "the office" heard of it, Jeremiah Sullivan was sent for and +compelled to pay a gale of rent (as fine), and to throw down the shed. +Thus driven out, and with every tenant on the estate afraid to +afford her a refuge, the miserable woman went about two miles up the +mountain, and, sick as she was, and so situated, took shelter in a dry +_cavern_, in which she lived for several days. But her presence even +there was a crime, and a mulct of another gale of rent was levied off +Jeremiah Sullivan. Thus, within three weeks he was compelled to +pay two gales of 3 l. 2 s. 6 d. each. It was declared also that +the mountain being the joint property of Jeremiah Sullivan, Timothy +Sullivan, and Thady Sullivan, Timothy Sullivan was a participator in +the crime, and should be fined a gale of rent. The third, it appears, +escaped.' 'S.G.O.' narrated another horrifying case in the _Times_, +at the period of its occurrence, in 1851. Abridged, it runs thus:--'An +order had gone forth on the estate (a common order in Ireland) that +no tenant was to admit any lodger into his house. This was a general +order. It appears, however, that sometimes special orders were given; +and one was promulgated that Denis Shea should not be harboured. This +boy had no father living. He had lived with a grandmother, who had +been turned out of her holding for harbouring him. He had stolen +a shilling, a hen--done such things as a neglected twelve-year-old +famishing child will do. One night he came to his aunt Donoghue, who +lodged with Casey. The latter told the aunt and uncle not to allow him +into the house, as the agent's drivers had given orders about him. +The aunt beat him away with a pitchfork, the uncle tied his hands +with cord behind his back. The poor child crawls to the door of a +neighbour, and tries to get in. The uncle is called to take him away, +and he does so. He yet returns with hands still tied behind, having +been severely beaten. The child seeks refuge in other cabins; but all +were forbidden to shelter him. He is brought back by some neighbours +in the night, who try to force the sinking child in upon his relation. +There is a struggle at the door. The child was heard asking some one +to put him upright. In the morning there is blood upon the threshold. +The child is stiff dead--a corpse, with its arms tied; around it every +mark of a last fearful struggle for shelter--food--the common rights +of humanity.' Chief Baron Pigot tried the case, and gave a statement +of the facts in his charge which Mr. Trench ought to have quoted, as a +faithful recorder of 'realities.' + +'On the western estate, that of Cahirciveen, there was some difference +in the rules. If a son or daughter married, the father was obliged +to retire with an allowance of 'a cow's grass' or grazing for his +support. 'Only the newly married person will be left on the land, or +any portion of it, even though the farm should contain 100 acres, +or even though there should be two farms. This arbitrary regulation +operates injuriously in point of morality, and keeps the land +uncultivated. The people have to go to Nedeen, a distance of forty or +fifty miles, to get leave to marry.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: See the 'North British Review,' No. CI. p.193.] + +The Kenmare tenantry have recovered from the fearful shock of the +famine, after thousands of deaths from hunger, and thousands shipped +off to America at 4 l. 10 s. a head. Mr. Trench's son, Mr. Townshend +Trench, the pictorial illustrator of his father's book, is the acting +agent, and an eloquent propagandist of his father's principles. The +young marquis paid a visit to his tenantry in 1868, and he was almost +worshipped. It is gratifying to know that in a speech on that occasion +he promised to see and judge for himself. + +'I feel,' he said, 'that my visit to Kenmare has taught me a valuable +lesson. As you all know, I was called to my present position at a very +young age, and I felt when I came in for my property that I had +much to learn; and that is the reason why I was so anxious to travel +through the country, and study the desires and comfort of the people. +That will afford me occupation for many a year to come, and it will +afford me an occupation not only interesting but pleasing. +Nothing will do me a more hearty pleasure than to see the marks of +civilisation and progress in Kenmare--and not alone in Kenmare, but in +the whole country; and I shall hail every manifestation of improvement +with delight.' + +Lord Lansdowne's system is beautiful, but it is unfinished. Let him +'crown the edifice with _liberty_.' He possesses a giant's power, and +he uses it like an angel. When he comes to trouble the waters, the +multitude gathers around the fountain to be healed. But his visits +are, like angels' visits, few and far between. Many of the sick and +impotent folk, after long waiting, are not able to get near till the +miracle-worker has departed. An absentee landlord, be he ever so good, +must delegate his power to an agent. Agents have good memories, +and their servants, the bailiffs, are good lookers-on. There is +a hierarchy in the heaven of landlordism--the under-bailiff, the +head-bailiff, the chief-clerk in the office, the sub-agent, the +head-agent. All these must be submissively approached and anxiously +propitiated before the petitioner's prayers can reach the ears of Jove +himself, seated aloft on his remote Olympian throne. He may be, +and for the most part really is--if he belongs to the old stock of +aristocratic divinities--generous and gracious, incapable of meanness, +baseness, or cruelty. But the tenant has to do, not with the absentee +divinity, but with his priest--not with the good spirit, but his +medium; and this go-between is not always noble, or disinterested, +or unexacting. To him power may be new--a small portion of it may +intoxicate him, like alcohol on an empty stomach. He was not born to +an inheritance of sycophancy; it comes like an _afflatus_ upon him, +and it turns his head. It creates an appetite, like strong drink, +which grows into a disease. This appetite is as capricious as it is +insatiable. Hence, the chief characteristic of landlord power, as +felt by the tenant, is _arbitrariness_. The agent may make any rule +he pleases, and as many exceptions to every rule as he pleases. He +may allow rents to run in arrear; he may suddenly come down upon the +defaulter with 'a fell swoop;' he may require the rents to be paid +up to the day; he may, without reason assigned, call in 'the hanging +gale;' he may abate or increase the rents at will; he may inflict +fines for delay or give notices to quit for the sole purpose of +bringing in fees to his friend or relative, the solicitor. But +whatever he may choose to do, the tenant has nothing for it but to +submit; and he must submit with a good grace. Woe to him if the agony +of his spirit is revealed in the working of his features, or in an +audible groan! Most of the poor fellows do submit, till their hearts +are broken--till the hot iron has entered their souls and seared their +consciences. When the _slave_ is thus finished, the agent and his +journeymen are satisfied with their handiwork; their 'honours' can +then count on any sort of services they may choose to exact--may bid +defiance to the priest and the agitator, and boast of an orderly and +deserving tenantry devoted to the best of landlords, who is their +natural protector. It would be wicked to interfere with these amicable +persons. Why talk about leases? The tenants will not have them; they +don't want security or independence by contract. So most of the agents +report--but not all. There are noble exceptions which relieve the +gloomy picture. + +There is certainly one disadvantage connected with a settlement of the +land question which would abolish the arbitrary power of proprietors +and their agents--it would put an end to the romance of Irish +landlordism. The Edgeworths, the Morgans, the Banims, the Carletons, +and the Levers would then be deprived of the best materials for their +fictions. The fine old family, over-reached and ruined by a dishonest +agent; the cruelly evicted farmer, with his wife and children +fever-stricken, and his bedridden mother cast out on the roadside on +Christmas Eve, exposed to the pelting of the hailstorm, while their +home was unroofed and its walls levelled by the crowbar brigade; the +once comfortable but now homeless father making his way to London, and +trying day after day to present a petition in person to his landlord, +repulsed from the gate of the great house, and laughed at for his +frieze and brogue by pampered flunkeys. Then he travels on foot to his +lordship's country-seat, scores or hundreds of miles--is taken up, and +brought before the magistrates as 'an Irish rogue and vagabond.' At +length he meets his lordship accidentally, and reveals to him the +system of iniquity that prevails on his Irish estate at Castle +Squander: Next we have the sudden and unexpected appearance of the god +of the soil at his agent's office, sternly demanding an account of his +stewardship. He gives ready audience to his tenants, and fires with +indignation at bitter complaints from the parents of ruined daughters. +Investigation is followed by the ignominious eviction of the +tyrannical and roguish agent and his accomplices, a disgorging of +their ill-gotten wealth, compensation to plundered and outraged +tenants, the liberal distribution of poetical justice right and left. + +Many other agents have followed Mr. Trench's example in forbidding +to marry, and commanding to abstain from hospitality and charity. An +ejectment was lately obtained at the quarter sessions in a southern +county against a widow who had married without leave, or married a +different person from the one the agent selected. But it is supposed +that the threat of assassination prevented a recourse to extremities +in this and other cases. For the people seem with one consent to have +made a desperate stand against this cruel tyranny. A landlord said +to me, 'No one in this part of the country would _presume_ to evict +a tenant now from fear of assassination. _That_ is the tenant's +security.' + +The wretched outcasts, whom 'improvement' has swept off the estates, +are crowded into cities and towns, without employment, without food. +Feeling bitterly their degradation and misery, and taught to blame the +Government, they become demoralized and desperately disaffected. From +these fermenting masses issues the avenging scourge of Fenianism--'the +pestilence that walketh in darkness, and slayeth at noonday.' + +For my part, I cannot understand the meaning of improving a country by +disinheriting and banishing its inhabitants. I do not understand men +who say the population is too dense, and yet give to one family a +tract of land large enough to support ten families, turning out the +nine to make room for the one. A great deal has been said about the +evils of small farms. But the most disturbed and impoverished parts of +Ireland are those in which the farms are largest; while the two most +prosperous and best ordered counties--Armagh and Wexford--are the +counties in which small farms most abound. I call a reluctant witness, +Master Fitzgibbon, to testify that when the Irish tenant, be his +holding ever so small, gets common justice and is not subjected to +caprice, he gives no trouble. That gentleman informs us that there are +650 estates of all magnitudes, from 100 l. to 20,000 l. a-year, under +the control and management of the court of chancery; the total rents +of these amount to 494,056 l. a-year payable by 28,581 tenants. These +estates are in all parts of Ireland, not only in all the provinces, +but in all the counties, without exception; and, according to Master +Fitzgibbon, they fairly represent the tenantry of the whole country. +He has 452 of the estates under his own jurisdiction, and the rents +of these amount to 330,809 l., paid by 18,287 tenants. He has now +been ten years in the office, during which 'the rents have been paid +without murmuring or complaints worth noticing.' 'The pressure of +legal remedies for these rents has been very little used; the +number of evictions absolutely trifling; and of between 400 and 500 +receivers, who collect these rents, _not one has ever been assailed_, +or interfered with, or threatened in the discharge of his duty, as +far as I have been able to discover; and I am the person to whom the +receiver should apply for redress if anything of the kind occurred. +It is very well known that my ears are open to any just complaint +from any tenant, and yet I am very seldom appealed to, considering the +great number of tenants; and whenever a complaint is well-founded, +it is promptly and effectually redressed, at scarcely any expense of +costs. I believe the other three Masters would make substantially +a similar report to this in respect of the estates under their +jurisdiction.' + +Master Fitzgibbon proceeds to state that 'on one estate there are +2,500 tenants, paying 13,000 l.,--being an average of 6 l. a-year. +This estate has been sold, and three of the lots fetched over 30 +years' purchase of the yearly profit rents. The fourth lot is held by +small cottiers, at rents which average only 2 l., and this lot fetched +23 years' purchase. This estate has been under a receiver for three +years, and there has never been one complaint from a tenant. What is +stated of this estate may be said of every one of them in all the four +provinces.' He adds: 'Clamour, agitation, or violence of any kind I +have never had to deal with amongst the tenantry of any one of these +estates since I came into office.' + +Another witness of larger views, and free from unhappy prejudices +against the majority of his countrymen--Mr. Marcus Keane, agent to the +Marquis of Conyngham--in a letter to Colonel Vandeleur, M.P., lately +gave the result of his experience for thirty years as agent of several +large estates, and as a landlord, on the Irish land question. I +submit his suggestions to my readers, as eminently worthy of the +consideration of statesmen at the present time:-- + +'The outline of measures submitted for your consideration combines +the very unusual recommendation of meeting, on the one hand, with +the approbation of some good landlords of the higher class (who, like +yourself, have long been practically acknowledging the just claims of +tenants), and, at the same time, of satisfying the claims of many of +the warmest advocates of the tenant class. It is calculated to protect +the farmers from selfish landlords, whose conduct has tended much to +produce the serious disaffection that now prevails. + +'I need not burthen you with a lengthened recital of the facts which +render such legislation absolutely necessary to the tranquillity of +society. In outline, however, they may be briefly stated-- + +'_First_--The great mass of Irish tenantry have no better title to +their holdings than the will of their landlords. + +'_Second_--Education is daily rendering the tenant class more +impatient of the condition of dependence which their want of title +necessitates. + +'_Third_--Every good tenant must improve his land more or less, in +order to live in comparative comfort. + +'_Fourth_--The rentals of Ireland are steadily following the +improvements of the tenants. Some landlords suffer a considerable +margin to exist between the actual value and the rent paid; while +others lose no opportunity of forcing the rents to the highest amount +that circumstances permit. + +'_Fifth_--Although good tenants must improve in order to live +comfortably, their improvements are not one-fourth of what the +condition of the country invites, and are far below what they would be +if the occupiers were afforded equitable security. + +'_Sixth_--Trade, manufactures, and industrial occupations require +local accumulations of surplus capital in order to their prosperity; +and such accumulations are hindered by the general want of security +of tenure. Society at large is therefore deeply interested in the +protection of the tenant class. + +'_Seventh_--The increased expense of the governmental establishments, +civil and military, which Irish disaffection entails, renders it a +matter of imperial importance that the Irish land question should be +satisfactorily settled. + +'Irish rentals have, in some counties, increased more than tenfold +since the beginning of the eighteenth century.' + +The next witness shall be a landlord, one of the best and noblest of +his class. At a tenant-right meeting of the county Longford, the Earl +of Granard said:--'The proposition commences by asserting that which +has been acknowledged by successive administrations--that the present +state of the land laws of Ireland is highly unsatisfactory. The +necessity for their reform has been urged upon parliament since the +days of O'Connell up to the present time. The want of reform upon the +most vital question which affects the prosperity of Ireland has +been the fruitful source of agrarian disturbance, of poverty and +of misfortune in every county in Ireland. To take an example near +home,--what rendered Ballinamuck a by-word for deeds of violence? Why, +that system which permitted a landlord to treat the people of that +district with high-handed injustice. And why is that district +now amongst the most peaceable in the county? Because it is now +administered by its proprietor in a spirit of justice and fair play, +and because that proprietor recognises the fact that property has its +duties as well as its rights. I believe that similar results are to +be obtained everywhere that the warm-hearted and kindly people of this +country are treated with justice. In his evidence before Mr. Maguire's +committee, Mr. Curling, the excellent agent of an equally excellent +landlord--Lord Devon--speaking of his property in Limerick, said that +the most warm-hearted and grateful people he had ever met with were +the Irish. He was asked, "Grateful for what?" and he replied, "Even +for fair play." That is to say, they were grateful for that which in +every country save this would have been theirs by law. And it is to +a people thus described by, mind you, not an Irishman, but an English +gentleman--to a people, I believe, the most religious and affectionate +in Europe, that the simple act of justice, of repealing unjust +statutes, has been refused. I say it advisedly, that to the system +of land laws, which we hope to alter--which at least we are here to +protest against--are to be attributed those fearful agrarian outrages +which disgrace the fair fame of our country. A celebrated minister of +police in France, whenever he heard of a conspiracy, used to ask who +was the woman, believing that there was always one mixed up with such +organisations, and in a similar spirit, whenever I hear of an outrage +in Ireland, I am always inclined to enquire, "Who is the landlord?" +For I do not hear of such things occurring on estates where justice +and fair play are the rule and not the exception. But brighter days +are now in store for us. We have at the head of affairs the most +earnest, the most conscientious minister that has ever sat on the +treasury bench. He has promised to redress your grievances, and having +as his able lieutenants Mr. Bright, who has ever a kindly word for +Ireland, and Lord Kimberley, whose first act after giving up the +lord-lieutenancy was to say to the House of Lords that until the +church and land questions were settled there would be neither peace +nor contentment in the land--he must be successful. As to what we +want there can be no doubt. The five points of the Irish charter +are--fixity of tenure at reasonable rents; recognition of right of +occupancy as distinct from right of ownership; standard valuation +for letting purposes; retrospective compensation for 20 years; and +arbitration courts in cases of dispute between owner and occupier.' + +I cannot better express the conclusion of the whole matter than in +the words of a writer in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, who thoroughly +understands the question. Nothing can be more truthful and accurate +than the way in which he puts the tenants' case:-- + +'"Morally," they say, "we are part-owners. We have a moral right to +live here. If a great landlord considered that he could make more +of his estate by clearing it of its inhabitants, and accordingly +proceeded to do so, he would do a cruel act. What we wish is to see +our moral rights converted into legal rights. If you ask us precisely +what it is that we wish, we reply that we wish to be able to live in +moderate comfort in our native land, and to be able to make our plans +upon the assumption that we shall not be interfered with. It is +not for us ignorant peasants to draw an Act of Parliament upon this +subject, or to say how our views are to be reconciled with your +English law, which, on other accounts, we by no means love. You, the +English Government, must find out for yourselves how to do that. What +we want is to be secure and live in reasonable comfort, and we shall +never be at rest, and we will never leave you at peace, till this is +arranged in some way or other." We do not say whether this feeling is +right or wrong, we do not say how it is to be dealt with, but we do +say that it is as intelligible, not to say as natural, a feeling as +ever entered into human hearts, and we say, moreover, that it would +be very difficult to exaggerate either its generality, its force, its +extent, or the degree to which it has been excited by recent events. +We are deeply convinced that to persist in regarding the relation +between landlord and tenant as one of contract merely, to repeat again +and again in every possible form that all that the Irish peasants +have a right to say is that they have made a hard bargain with their +landlords which they wish the legislature to modify, is to shut +our eyes to the feelings of the people, feelings which it will be +difficult and also dangerous to disregard. The very gist and point +of the whole claim of the tenants is that their moral right (as they +regard it) is as sacred, and ought to be as much protected by law, as +the landlords' legal right, and that it is a distinct grievance to a +man to be prevented from living in Ireland on that particular piece +of land on which he was born and bred, and which was occupied by his +ancestors before him.' + +The whole drift of this history bears on this point. The policy of the +past must be reversed. The tenants must be rooted in the soil instead +of being rooted out. 'Improvement' must include the people as well +as the land, and agents must no longer be permitted to arrogate to +themselves the functions of Divine Providence. + + '_Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret._' + +One of the best pamphlets on the Irish Land Question is by Mr. William +M'Combie, of Aberdeen. A practical farmer himself, his sagacity +has penetrated the vitals of the subject. His observations, while +travelling through the country last year, afford a remarkable +corroboration of the conclusions at which I have arrived. Of the new +method of 'regenerating Ireland,' he says:-- + +'In it the resources of the soil--to get the most possible out of it +by the most summary process--is the great object; the people are of +little or no account, save as they can be made use of to accomplish +this object. But, indeed, it is not alone by the promoters of the +grand culture that the people have been disregarded, but by Irish +landlords, generally, of both classes. By the improving landlords--who +are generally recent purchasers--they are regarded merely as +labourers; by the leave-alone landlords as rent-producers. The one +class have ejected the occupiers, the other have applied, harder and +harder, the screw, until the "good landlord"--the landlord almost +worshipped in Ireland at this hour--is the landlord who neither evicts +his tenants nor raises their rents. The consequences are inevitable, +and, over a large portion of the island, they are patent to every +eye--they obtrude themselves everywhere. The people are poor; they are +despondent, broken-spirited. In the south of Ireland decay is written +on every town. In the poorer parts you may see every fifth or sixth +house tenantless, roofless, allowed from year to year to moulder +and moulder away, unremoved, unrepaired.... To make room for these +large-scale operations, evictions must go on, and as the process +proceeds the numbers must be augmented of those who are unfit to +work for hire and unable to leave the country. The poor must be +made poorer; many now self-supporting made dependent. Pauperism must +spread, and the burden of poor rates be vastly increased. If the +greatest good of the greatest number be the fundamental principle of +good government, this is not the direction in which the state should +seek to accomplish the regeneration of Ireland. The development of the +resources of the land ought to be made compatible with the improvement +of the condition of the people.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +CONCLUSION--AN APPEAL TO ENGLISHMEN. + + +The difficulty of understanding the case of Ireland is proverbial. +Its most enlightened friends in England and Scotland are often charged +with 'gross ignorance of the country.' They might excuse themselves by +answering, that when they seek instruction from Irishmen, one native +instructor is sure to contradict the other. Yet there must be some +point of view from which all sides of the Irish question can be seen, +some light in which the colours are not confused, the picture is not +exaggerated, the features are not distorted. Every nation has its +idiosyncrasy, proceeding from race, religion, laws, institutions, +climate, and other circumstances; and this idiosyncrasy may be the +key of its history. In Ireland three or four nationalities are bound +together in one body politic; and it is the conflict of their several +idiosyncrasies which perplexes statesmen, and constitutes the main +difficulty of the Irish problem. The blood of different races is +mingled, and no doubt greatly modified by ages of intercourse. +But _religion_ is an abiding force. The establishment of religious +equality in Ireland is a glorious achievement, enough in itself to +immortalise any statesman. It is a far greater revolution than was +effected by the Emancipation Act, and more to the credit of the chief +actor; because, while Mr. Gladstone did spontaneously what he +firmly believed to be right in principle. Sir Robert Peel did, from +necessity, what he as firmly believed was wrong in principle. But no +reasonable man expected that the disestablishment of the Church would +settle all Irish questions; in fact, it but clears the way for the +settlement of some of the most important and urgent. It makes it +possible for Irishmen of every creed to speak in one voice to +the Government. Their respective clergy, hitherto so intent on +ecclesiastical claims and pretensions, will no longer pass by on the +other side, but turn Samaritans to their bleeding country, fallen +among the thieves of Bigotry and Faction. There are many high +Protestants--indeed, I may say all, except the aristocracy--who, while +firmly believing in the vital importance of the union of the three +kingdoms, earnestly wishing that union to be real and perpetual, +cannot help expressing their conviction that Ireland has been greatly +wronged by England--wronged by the legislature, by the Government, +and most of all by the crown. In no country in the world has loyalty +existed under greater difficulties, in none has it been so ill +requited, in none has so much been done as if of set purpose to +starve it to death. In the reign of Elizabeth the capricious will of +a despotic sovereign was exerted to crush the national religion, while +the greatest military exploits of her ablest viceroys consisted of +predatory excursions, in which they slaughtered or carried away the +horses and cattle, burned the crops and houses, and laid the country +waste and desolate, in order to create famines for the wholesale +destruction of the population, thus spoiled and killed as a punishment +for the treason of their chiefs, over whom they had no control. + +In the reigns of James I. and Charles I. there was a disposition among +the remnant of the people-- + + To fly from petty tyrants to the throne. + +But the Stuarts appealed to Irish loyalty merely for the support of +their dynasty, and William III. laid the laurels won on the banks of +the Boyne upon the altar of English monopoly. In the reigns of Anne +and the three Georges, law was made to do the work of the sword, and +the Catholics of Ireland, constituting the mass of the nation, +knew their sovereign only as the head of an alien power, cruel and +unrelenting in its oppression. They were required to love a German +prince whom they had never seen. He called himself the father of +his subjects; and he had millions of subjects on the other side of a +narrow channel, whom he never knew, and never cared to know. When at +length the dominant nation relented, and wished to strike the penal +chains from the hands of her sister, the king forbade the act of +mercy, pleading his conscience and his oath as a bar to justice and to +freedom, but yielding at last to English state necessity, and robbing +concession of its grace, of all its power to conciliate. From the +battle of the Boyne to Catholic emancipation, the king of Ireland had +never set foot on Irish soil, except in the case of George IV., whose +visit was little better than a melodramatic exhibition, repaid by +copious libations of flattery, which however failed to melt his +bigotry, or to persuade him to redeem his solemn promises and pledges, +until, nine years later, he was compelled to yield by the fear of +impending civil war. + +Ireland may get from her sister, England, everything but that for +which the heart yearns--affection--that which alone 'can minister to +a mind diseased, can pluck from the memory its rooted sorrow, and rase +out the written troubles from the brain.' That is just what Ireland +needs above all things. She wants to be kept from brooding morbidly +over the dismal past, and to be induced to apply herself in a cheerful +spirit to the business of life. The prescriptions of state physicians +cannot fully reach the root of the disease. Say that it is a +sentimental malady--a delusion. What is gained by saying _that_, +if the sentiment or the delusion makes life wretched, unfits for +business, produces suicidal propensities, and renders _keepers_ +necessary? + +In theory, Ireland is one with England; in practice, she is hourly +made to feel the reverse. _The Times_, and all the journals which +express the instincts of the dominant nation, constantly speak of the +Irish people as '_the subjects of England_, whom Englishmen have +a right to control. They are the subjects of the Queen only in a +secondary sense--_as_ the Queen of England, and reigning over them +through England. Every sovereign, from Queen Elizabeth to Queen +Victoria, was sovereign of Ireland merely in this subordinate sense, +even when there was an Irish parliament. The King of _Ireland_ could +speak to his Irish parliament only as he was advised by his English +ministers; and their advice was invariably prompted by English +interests. Her king was not _hers_ in the true sense. His _heart_ and +his company were wholly given to another, to whose pride, power, +and splendour she was made to minister. That state of things +still continues in effect, and while it lasts Ireland can never be +contented. Her heart will always be disquieted within her. Something +bitter will ever be bubbling up from the bottom of that troubled +fountain. + +Nor let it be supposed that this is due to a peculiar idiosyncrasy +in Ireland--to some unhappy congenital malformation, or some original +taint in the blood. It has been often asked whether England would have +submitted to similar treatment from Ireland if their relations were +reversed. Englishmen have not answered that question because they +cannot understand it. They find it difficult to apply the Divine +maxim, 'Do as you would be done by.' in their dealings with other +nations. But they can scarcely conceive its application to their +dealings with Ireland, any more than the American planter could have +conceived the duty of fraternizing with his negroes. If we draw from +this fact the logical inference, we shall be at a loss to discern +whether the Celt or the Saxon suffers more from the moral perversity +of his nature. The truth is, both are perverted by their unnatural +relations, which are a standing outrage on the spirit of Christianity. + +The Emperor of Austria long laboured to govern one nation through +another and for another, in right of conquest, and we know the result +in Italy and Hungary. Lombardy, though well cultivated and materially +prosperous, could never be reconciled to Austrian rule. Even the +nobility could not be tempted to appear at court. Venetia was more +passionately and desperately hostile, and was consequently crushed by +military repression, till the country was turned into a wilderness, +and the capital once so famous for its commerce and splendour, became +one of the most melancholy scenes of ruin and desolation to be found +in the world. The Austrians, and those who sympathised with Austria +as the great conservative power of the Continent, ascribed all this +to the perversity of the Italian nature, and to the influence of +agitators and conspirators. Austria was bountiful to her Italian +subjects, and would be more lenient if she could, but their vices of +character and innate propensity to rebellion, rendered necessary +a system of coercion. Hence the prisons were full of political +offenders; the soldier and the executioner were constantly employed in +maintaining law and order. All the Emperor wanted was that his Italian +provinces should be so thoroughly amalgamated with Austria, as to form +one firmly united empire, and that the inhabitants should be content +with their position as _Austrian_ subjects, ruled by Austrian +officials. But this was precisely what they could not or would not +be. 'They smiled at the drawn dagger and defied its point.' They would +sacrifice their lives, but they would not sacrifice their nationality +at the bidding of an alien power. + +This illustrates the force of the national sentiment, and the +tremendous magnitude of the calamities to which its persistent +violation leads. But the case of Hungary is still more apposite as an +illustration of the English policy in Ireland. The Hungarians had +an ancient constitution and parliament of their own. The Emperor of +Austria was their legitimate king, wearing the crown of Hungary. In +this capacity the Hungarians were willing to yield to him the most +devoted loyalty. But he wanted to weld his empire into a compact +unity, and to centralise all political power at Vienna, so that +Austria should be the head and heart of the system, and the other +provinces her hands and her feet. Hungary resisted, and revolted. The +result was a desolating civil war, in which she was triumphant, till +the Czar came to the rescue of his brother despot, and poured his +legions in overwhelming numbers into the devoted country. Hungary was +now at the feet of her sovereign, and Austria, the dominant state, +tried to be conciliatory, in order to bring about the desired +amalgamation and consolidation of the empire. She did so, with +every apparent prospect of success, and it was generally considered +throughout Europe that there was an end of the Hungarian kingdom. +But Hungarian nationality survived, and still resisted Austrian +centralisation. The Hungarians struggled for its recognition +constitutionally, manfully, with admirable self-control, moderation, +and wisdom, until at length they achieved a peaceful victory. Their +sovereign reigns over them as King of Hungary; he and the empress +dwell among them, without Austrian guards. Their children are born +among them, and they are proud to call them natives of Hungary. The +Hungarians, as subjects of _Austria_, were discontented, miserable, +incurably disaffected. As subjects of their own king (though he is +also Emperor of Austria) they are intensely loyal. They are prosperous +and happy, because they are free. And though they have their +distinctions of race and religion, they are united. The Magyars of +Hungary correspond very nearly to the Protestants of Ireland. Though +a minority, their energy, their education, their natural talent +for organisation and government, their love of freedom, their frank +recognition of the rights of conscience, enable them to lead without +inspiring jealousy, just as the Protestants of Ireland were enabled to +lead in 1782, notwithstanding the existence of Protestant Ascendancy. +Religious equality is not a cause of tranquillity in itself. It +tranquillises simply because it implies the absence of irritation. +It takes a festering thorn out of the side of the unestablished +community--a thorn which inflames the blood of every one of its +members. Let worldly interest, political power, and social precedence +cease to be connected with the profession of religion, and religious +differences would cease to produce animosity and intolerance. If the +Magyars had been the Hungarian party of Protestant ascendancy, and if +the Protestant interest had also been the Austrian interest; if the +mission of the Magyars had been to act as a garrison, to keep down the +Roman Catholic majority, their cause could never have triumphed till +Protestant ascendancy should be abolished. But Hungarian Protestantism +did not need such support, although the Pope has as much authority in +Hungary as in Ireland. Of course the cases of Hungary and Ireland +are in many respects dissimilar. But they are alike in this: their +respective histories establish the great fact that the most benevolent +of sovereigns, and the wisest of legislatures, can never produce +contentment or loyalty in a kingdom which is ruled _through_ and _for_ +another kingdom. + +We can easily understand that when the light of royalty shines upon a +country _through a conquering nation still dominant_, the medium is of +necessity dense, cold, refracting, and discolouring. Of this the +best illustration is derived from the relations between Austria and +Hungary, now so happily adjusted to the unspeakable advantage of +both nations. Austrian rule was unsympathetic, harsh, insolent, +domineering, based upon the arrogant assumption that the Hungarians +were incapable of managing their own affairs without the guidance +of Austrian wisdom and the support of Austrian steadiness. But the +Hungarians, united among themselves, putting their trust, not in +boastful, vapouring, and self-seeking agitators, but in honest, +truthful, high-minded, and capable statesmen, persevered in a course +of firm, but temperate and constitutional, national self-assertion, +until the Austrians were compelled to put away from them their +supercilious airs of natural superiority, and to concede the principle +of international equality and the right of self-government. + +What sickens the reader of Irish history most of all is the anarchy +of the old clan system, the everlasting alternation of outrages +and avenging reprisals. One faction, when it felt strong and had a +favourable opportunity, made a sudden raid upon another faction, taken +at a disadvantage, plundering and killing with reckless fury. The +outraged party treasured up its anger till it had power to retaliate, +and then glutted its vengeance without mercy in the same way. When +this fatal propensity to mutual destruction was restrained by law, it +broke out from time to time in other ways. What was wanted to cure it +effectually was a strong, steady, central government, such as England +enjoys herself. But the very system which is most calculated to foster +factiousness is the one which has reigned for centuries in Dublin +Castle. The British sovereign knows no party, and, whatever other +sovereigns have done, Queen Victoria has never forgotten this +constitutional principle. But the Irish lord-lieutenant is always a +party-man, and is always surrounded by party-men. They were Whigs or +Tories, Liberals or Conservatives, often extreme in their views and +violent in their temper. The vice of the old clan system was its +tendency to unsettle, to undo, to upset, to smash and destroy. Instead +of counteracting that vice (which still lingers in the national +blood), by a fixed, unchanging system of administration, based on +principles of unswerving rectitude, which knows no distinction +of party, no favouritism, England ruled by the alternate sway of +factions. + +_The Times_, referring to the debate on the Irish Church, remarked +that the viceroyalty was more and more 'a mere ornament.' It is +really nothing more. The viceroy has no actual power, and if he has +statesmanship, it is felt to be out of place. He can scarcely give +public expression to his sentiments on any political questions without +offending one party or the other, whereas the estate of the realm +which he represents is neutral and ought to keep strictly to neutral +ground. As to the effect of the office in degrading the national +spirit among the nobility and gentry, we could not have a better +illustration than the fact that the amiable Lord Carlisle was +accustomed, at the meeting of the Royal Dublin Society, to tell its +members that the true aim, interest, glory, and destiny of Ireland was +to be a pasture and a dairy for England,--a compliment which seemed to +have been gratefully accepted, or was at all events allowed to pass. + +But even as an 'ornament' the viceregal system is a failure. The +Viceroy with his family ought to be the head of society in Ireland, +just as the Queen is in England. The royal family are the same to all +parties and classes, showing no partiality on the ground of politics, +but smiling with equal favour and recognition upon all. In Ireland, +however, a liberal lord lieutenant is generally shunned by the +Conservative portion of the aristocracy, which forms the great +majority of the class. On the other hand the Conservatives flock in +large numbers to the court of a Tory Viceroy, while Liberals stand +aloof. Instead therefore of being a centre of union to all sections +of the best society, and bringing them together, so that they may know +one another, and enjoy the advantages due to their rank, the viceregal +court operates as a source of jealousy and division. So that, looking +at the institution as a mere ornament of society, as a centre of +fashionable life and refining influences, facilitating intercourse +between ranks and classes, bringing the owners of land and the men +of commerce more in harmony, it is not worth preserving. On the other +hand it produces some of the worst features of conventionalism. It +cultivates flunkeyism and servility, while operating as a restraint +upon the manly expression of opinion. It fosters a spirit of spurious +aristocracy, which shows itself in contempt for men who prefer honest +industry to place-hunting and insolvent gentility. + +But while I thus speak of the viceregal court as at present +constituted, I still maintain that, like Hungary, this country is +so peculiarly situated, and is animated by so strong a spirit of +nationality, that it ought to have a court of its own, and a sovereign +of its own. The case of Hungary shows how easily this great boon might +be granted, and how gratifying the results would be to all the parties +concerned. The Queen ought to reside in Ireland for some portion of +the year. A suitable palace should be provided for the royal family. +The Prince of Wales, during her majesty's reign, ought to be the +permanent Viceroy, with the necessary addition to his income. The +office would afford an excellent training for his duties as king. The +attraction of the Princess of Wales would make the Irish court very +brilliant. It would afford the opportunity of contact with real +royalty, not the shadowy sort of thing we have had--reflected through +Viceroys very few of whom were ever _en rapport_ with the Irish +nation. Not one of them could so speak to the people as to elicit a +spark of enthusiasm. Of course they could not have the true ring of +royalty, for royalty was not in them. But they could not play the part +well. One simple sentence from the Queen or the Prince of Wales, or +even from Prince Arthur, would be worth all the theatrical pomp +they could display in a generation. Those noblemen had no natural +connection with the kingdom, fitting them to take the first place +in it. They were not hereditary chiefs. They were not elected by the +people. They were mere 'casual' chief-governors; and they formed +no ties with the nation that could not be broken as easily as the +spider's thread. The _hereditary principle_ has immense force in +Ireland. The landlords are now seeking to weaken it; or rather they +are ignoring it altogether, and substituting the commercial principle +in dealing with their tenants, preferring not the most devoted +adherents of the family, but the man with most money. But I warn them +that they are doing so at the peril of their order. A prince who was +_heir presumptive to the throne as Viceroy_, and who, when he ascended +the throne, should be crowned King of _Ireland_, as well as King of +Great Britain, crowned in his own Irish palace, and on the _Lia Fail_ +or stone of destiny, preserved at Westminster, would save many a +million to the British exchequer, for it would be no longer necessary +to support a large army of occupation to keep the country. If the +throne of Queen Victoria stood in Dublin, there is not a Fenian in +Ireland who would not die in its defence. Standing in Westminster it +is doubtful whether its attraction is sufficient to retain the +hearts even of Orangemen. There, it is the _English_ throne. So the +_Englishman_ regards it with instinctive jealousy. He feels it is his +own; but, say what we may, the Irish loyalist, when he approaches it, +is made to feel, by a thousand signs, that he is a stranger and an +intruder. He returns to his own bereaved country with a sad heart, +and a bitter spirit. Can he be _Anglicised_? Put this question to +an English philosopher, and he will answer with Mr. Froude--'Can the +Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' We can bridge +the channel with fast steamers; but who will bridge the gulf, hitherto +impassable, which separates the English Dives from the Irish Lazarus? + +'We have,' said Canning, 'for many years been erecting a mound--not to +assist or improve, but to thwart nature; we have raised it high above +the waters, and it has stood there, frowning hostility and effecting +separation. In the course of time, however, the necessities of man, +and the silent workings of nature, have conspired to break down this +mighty structure, till there remains of it only a narrow isthmus, +standing + + Between two kindred seas, + Which, mounting, viewed each other from afar, + And longed to meet. + +What then, shall be our conduct? Shall we attempt to repair +the breaches, and fortify the ruins? A hopeless and ungracious +undertaking! Or shall we leave them to moulder away by time and +accident--a sure but distant and thankless consummation; or, shall +we not rather cut away at once the isthmus that remains, allow free +course to the current which has been artificially impeded, and float +upon the mingling waves the ark of our glorious constitution?' + +Much has been done since Canning's time to remove the narrow isthmus. +Emancipation cut deep into it. The disestablishment of the Irish +Church submerged an immense portion of it. If Mr. Gladstone's land +bill be equally effective, a breach will be made through which the +two kindred seas will meet, and, in their commingling flux and reflux, +will quickly sweep away all minor obstacles to their perfect union. A +just settlement of the land question will reconcile the two races, and +close the war of seven centuries. That is the rock against which the +two nationalities have rushed in foaming breakers, lashed into fury +by the storms of faction and bigotry. Remove the obstruction, and the +world would hear no more the roaring of the waters. Then would +float peacefully upon the commingling waves the ark of our common +constitution, in which there would be neither Saxon nor Celt, neither +English nor Irish, neither Protestant nor Catholic, but one united, +free, and mighty people. Then might the Emperor of the French mark the +epoch with the announcement--'England has done justice to Ireland!' + + + + +LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND +PARLIAMENT STREET + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Land-War In Ireland (1870), by James Godkin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND-WAR IN IRELAND (1870) *** + +***** This file should be named 14562.txt or 14562.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/6/14562/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Alison Hadwin and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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