Soth. 9-11-36 32701 HOSTILITY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, CLERGY AND CHAPTER V. CONSPIRACIES DURING THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES CHAPTER VI. THE IRISH PARLIAMENTS IN THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND 31 49 66 . 81 104 CHAPTER VIII. THE ACTS OF SETTLEMENT. FIRST PERIOD OF THE REIGN OF JAMES II. PAGE 131 CONDITION OF IRELAND FOR MANY YEARS AFTER THE WAR CHAPTER XII. THE FIRST TWO PARLIAMENTS AFTER THE REVOLUTION. THE CHAPTER XIII. THE APPELLATE JURISDICTION CLAIMED BY THE IRISH LORDS. CHAPTER XIV. FROM 1753 TO 1773-THE INTENTIONAL WASTE BY THE IRISH CHAPTER XV. FROM 1773 TO THE SETTLEMENT OF 1782. CHAPTER XVI. THE SETTLEMENT OF 1782-SIMPLE REPEAL-REVOLT OF THE 181 221 243 262 279 304 329 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE sensitiveness of the English conscience is wonderful, even pathetic. It is for ever seeking reasons for selfdepreciation and self-condemnation. An Englishman is no longer right in his own eyes, and self-confidence has deserted his breast. Doubtful of his own uprightness and bewailing his shortcomings, he calls in question the conduct and policy of his forefathers. When accusations of cruelty, religious persecution and perfidy are brought against the men who made England, and laid the foundations of a world-wide empire, he is afraid to vindicate. their memory, and assents in silence to charges which have no foundation. Overborne by the clamour of partial writers, who had not a particle of the historic spirit, and who wrote for the purpose of depreciating his country and his government, he surrenders his loyalty to his ancestors, who have been the great promoters of freedom. of thought, of justice and of civilisation throughout the world. In his humility and self-denunciation he is willing to forget that he is come of a people who have ever been distinguished by their piety, integrity, humanity, and what is perhaps the greatest civic virtue-a love of compromise. Yet there are circumstances in his own history which might have led him to doubt the truth of these accusations. It is unquestionable that the growth of England has been accompanied with infinitely less bloodshed and rancour than that of the neighbouring nations, France, Spain and Germany. No general massacres stain his annals for a period of 800 years. The number of those who died for their religion is small indeed. His civil contests have been conducted with wonderfully little direct injury to the country at large. During the Wars of the Roses the mischief of the struggle was limited to the feudal lords and their dependants. No public buildings were demolished and no towns were sacked. Commerce went on unchecked, and even increased. The course of justice was undisturbed, and the judges went their circuits. In the great civil wars, 1642-1651, nothing was more remarkable than the reluctance of both parties to take up arms, and their constant eagerness for an accommodation. Negotiations took up nearly as much time as military operations. The Royalists and their opponents were agreed that the laws regarding private transactions and interests should be rigidly maintained. As in the Wars of the Roses, the judges went their circuits and held their courts in the provincial towns. In the midst of revolutionary confusion England was singularly exempt from crimes of violence. No bands of marauders, taking advantage of the commotions of the country, spoiled the peaceful inhabitants or pillaged their possessions. The revolution of 1688 was bloodless. If we compare our internal contests with even the modern Continental revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we cannot but be struck by the essential difference between them. The English were limited and regulated movements in one direction-the latter were all destructive explosions. Nevertheless, in spite of reflection and the lessons of the past, the Englishman is uneasy. If the Treaty of Limerick or the Penal Laws are mentioned in his presence |