of the largest of the European islands, is situated to the west of Great Britain, from which it is separated by a narrow channel called the Irish Sea and St George's Channel on the east, and is bounded on its other sides by the Atlantic Ocean, through which it can maintain a direct communication with the continents of Europe, Africa, and America. The advantageous position, the fertility of the soil, and the salubrity of the climate, have conferred upon Ireland commercial facilities, which are capable of being greatly increased. How far these natural advantages have been made available towards the internal improvement of the island itself, and the general benefit of the empire of which it forms an important part, may be best ascertained from the following details of its history and statistics.

HISTORY.

The Irish nation is undoubtedly of Celtic origin. This truth is stamped in indelible characters in the names of the rivers, towns, mountains, and other objects of historical notoriety throughout the island; it is proclaimed by marks equally indelible in the relics of antiquity, the tumuli, the cairns, the cromleachs, and the druidical circles, the remains of which, after having triumphed over the ravages of time and repeated revolutions, are now perpetuated in the pages of the antiquary's researches. The name of the island itself confirms the assertion. Eri or Erin, its most ancient appellation, and that to which the natives still cling with the attachment of veneration, is derived from the Celtic Iar or Eir, which signifies western. Most of its more modern names may be easily traced to this source. By the Grecians, to whom, though unacquainted with its localities, its general geographical position and bearings were not unknown, it was called Ierna, being honoured by them with the rank of the third of the islands of the ocean, and yielding precedence in this respect only to Taprobane and Britain. Ptolemy names it Ionerna; Juvenal and Mela, Inverna. Diodorus Siculus, approaching more nearly to the aboriginal word, calls it Iris. Marcianus Herculeota and Eustathius adopt the term used by Ptolemy, but corrupted by the latter into Bernia. By the Britons it was called Iverdon; and the Saxons, attaching to the native name an epithet from their own language, called it Ireland or Irland. Its later name, Hibernia, may be traced somewhat more circuitously to the same source, although much etymological and antiquarian ingenuity has been employed to deduce it from other circumstances. Some choose to derive it from its climate, calling it Hibernus, on account of its wintry temperature, as unjustly in fact as erroneously in etymology; others from Iberus, a Spaniard, or a river of Spain. One writer ventures still further. Postellus, in his strictures on Mela, deduces it from the Hebrew, "Irin quasi Iurin," the land of the Hebrews, "who, knowing that the empire of the world would be established in a very strong corner to the north-west, made themselves masters as soon as possible of those parts, and of Ireland." Bochart traces it to the Phoenician; Hibernia, according to him, or Ierne, being nothing more than Ibernia, or the furthest habitation, because, beyond Ireland westward, all was ocean, according to the ancients. This derivation may be easily made to harmonize with that deduced from the Celtic, serving also to corroborate the opinion now very generally entertained, that the Celtic Irish and the Phoenician were kindred branches from the same eastern stem. Another name from another source has been fixed upon Ireland, one of different derivation, and of later acceptation, as not being known until the fourth century after Christ, when the country was generally designated throughout the learned world of that day by the name of Scotia. Some writers take the word to be a corruption of Scythia, from which region they suppose the nation to have emigrated; others, amongst whom are Whitaker and Chalmers, assert that the people acquired this name from their habits of roving and spirit of enterprise; the term "scotie," according to them, signifying dispersed or scattered. The name of Ogygia has also been applied to it, and adopted by O'Flaherty in his Chronological Annals. Certainly, if the Ogygia, which Plutarch places west of Britain, be any thing more than an imaginary formation, it must signify Ireland. Yet if so, it should more properly be considered as an epithet given to it on account of its antiquity than as a proper name; the Greeks applying that word exclusively to what was of an origin beyond existing records.

A recurrence to the Greek and Roman writers will show that the country thus designated was not considered by them as the habitation of a single nation. On the contrary, its coasts are described by Ptolemy as being possessed by a number of tribes of various names; whilst with the interior he seems to have had no acquaintance. His nomenclature has been followed by succeeding geographers, with little variation. According to these authorities, the northern regions were possessed by the Venicini and the Robegedi; the eastern by the Darnii or Darini, the Volutti, the Blani or Ebblani, the Cauci, the Menapii, and the Corionidi; the southern shores were possessed by the Brigantes, the Vodii, the Uterni or Iverni, and the Velleburi; the western coast was the residence of the Gangani or Caneani, the Auteri, the Nagnatae, and the Herdini or Herpediani. Whitaker supposes the interior, comprehending all the inland counties, to have been peopled by a tribe which he calls the Scoti.

The native annalists present a very different picture of the ancient state of the country, which, although much disfigured by the fables of romance with which the bards, the only historians of the time, chose, for very obvious reasons, to embellish their narratives, must be supposed to rest upon a groundwork of reality. Rejecting, therefore, from their accounts what is evidently fabulous, and suspending the judgment as to circumstances of doubtful or obscure character, the temperate investigator of truth will be able to trace a series of historical connections, to which assent may be conceded, at least to the same extent as to those parts of the recognised histories of other countries, in which it is acknowledged that truth verges upon fiction. With this clue to the investigation of a train of occurrences which affect to penetrate further into the darkness of antiquity than those of any other nation, except the Jewish, the investigation of the history of Ireland may be ventured on from the earliest period at which the most enthusiastic advocate of its primeval origin thinks himself justified in fixing his first footstep, until we arrive, through the periods of doubt, at those of undisputed historical certainty in our own times.

According to the native historians, Partholan, the sixth in descent from Magog, Noah's second son, settled in Ireland at the head of a thousand men, and took possession of a country in which no one appeared to dispute his right of occupancy. But he did not long enjoy his possession of it in tranquillity; for at the same time, or shortly afterwards, there arrived a band of lawless adventurers, of the stock of Nimrod, the descendant of Ham, who were distinguished by the name of Fomorians or Fawmorries, a name still applied to strangers by the native Irish. With these took place a series of deadly hostilities, which terminated in a battle so bloody and so decisive, that not a single stranger was left alive; and the ground was so infected with the putrefying corpses, which the residue of the followers of Partholan were now too few and weak to inter, that a plague broke out, which destroyed all the survivors, and left the country totally uninhabited for thirty years.

At the termination of this period, Nemedius, another descendant of Japhet, made a settlement on the island with a thousand men, from the borders of the Euxine. The tranquillity of his settlement was also disturbed by the incursions of tribes of Fomorians, here said to be African pirates, with whom his followers carried on an incessant warfare, but with different ultimate success; for the strangers, being reinforced with fresh supplies from their own countrymen, at length defeated the Nemedians with such slaughter, as to force the scanty remains of this second colony to return to the country whence they had originally emigrated. They took their departure in three companies. The first, under Breac, proceeded to Thrace, where they took the name of Belgae; the second, under Jobath, proceeded no farther than Boeotia; and the third, under Bridtan, repaired to the neighbouring island of Britain, where they formed the tribe of the Brigantes. From this Bridtan, the Psalter of Cashel, a record of great authority in the first and second ages of the Irish, traces the origin of the Welsh.

The Fomorians, when sole masters of the country, went to war amongst themselves, and carried their dissensions to such a height of animosity, that the island was a second time utterly depopulated, and continued so until some of the descendants of the Thracian Nemedians, to the number of about five thousand men, returned thither, under the command of the five sons of Dela. The Irish annalists distinguish this colony by the name of Fir-bolg; a name said to be applied to tribes living in caves, whither the natives used to have recourse for shelter in cases of extremity. To this colony is attributed the division of the country into five principalities, which continued, though not without interruption, till the English invasion. The names of the states of the pentarchy were, Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht, and Meath. The principal chieftain of each division was honoured with the title of king, a name applied very liberally at all times to the petty dynasts who arrogated supreme authority over their own territories, however limited; but the ruler over Leinster was recognised as sovereign, to whom submission was tendered, and from whom protection was claimed, by the other members of the pentarchy in cases of danger. This system of government continued undisturbed for eighty years, through a succession of nine sovereign rulers, when it was broken in upon by the intrusion of another colony of the same stock, called by the Irish writers Tuatha-na-Danans; a name said by some to have been given them as being the descendants of the three sons of Danan, a profound adept in the art of magic, and by others, as being divided into the three tribes of Tuatha or commanders, Deic, druids or priests, and Danan or birds. The chronicles of the time state, that having been driven out of Boeotia by their inveterate enemies the Fomorians, after wandering through various countries, they settled in Norway, where they were hospitably received; whence they removed to Scotland, and, after a residence there of seven years, proceeded to Ireland, carrying with them several necromantic curiosities, the most remarkable of which was the fatal stone, or stone of destiny, to which tradition attached the belief that the sovereignty would remain with that nation whose king was crowned upon it. The tale would be unworthy of historical notice, were not an observance of the present day connected with the superstitious credence to which it owes its birth. The stone, after having been preserved for many generations in the line of the Irish Milesian monarchs, was taken to Scotland by a king of that family, by whom it was fraudulently detained, and used as the inauguration stone of the Scottish kings until the time of Edward I. of England, who, on his conquest of the country, transferred it, together with all the other appendages of royalty, to London, where it is still kept, under the name of Jacob's stone, and is used in the ceremonial of the coronation of the kings of Great Britain. The Belgae defended themselves for some time with great spirit, but they were at length totally defeated. Numbers of them withdrew to the neighbouring islands and coasts of Scotland; and those who remained were reduced to a state of abject slavery, under which they remained during the whole time their enemies held the dominion, which the latter were enabled to do, without molestation from a foreign enemy, for a hundred and ninety-seven years, under a succession of nine sovereigns.

The dynasty of the Tuatha-na-Danans was terminated by an event similar to those which had extinguished the two previous colonies. An expedition from Spain, under the eight sons of Milesius, landed in the south-west of Ireland, and after encountering many perils, partly by the violence of a storm, by which five of the leaders were lost, partly by the resistance of the old settlers, they obtained possession of the entire country, which was divided between Heremon and Heber, two of the surviving sons of Milesius: Amargin, the third, having no share in the government, but acting rather as a councillor to both, a function which his literary acquirements entitled him to assume. The southern part fell to Heber; Leinster and Connaught to Heremon, who fixed his residence at Teamor, now called Tarah, in Meath. A war soon broke out between the brothers, which was terminated by the total defeat of Heber, the aggressor, who was killed in a battle fought at Geissol, or Geashil, in the King's County. But his death did not put an end to the domestic dissensions of the family. A few years after, Heremon put his remaining brother to death, and thus obtained the sole dominion, which he held for thirteen years, till his death. His time was chiefly employed in repelling invasions of the Britons and of the Picts. The government then continued through a race of twenty kings of the same family, of whom nothing worthy of mention is recorded; the annals of the period containing merely the intestine dissensions of the chiefs of the several branches, and their wars with the Britons and Picts, until the crown descended to Ollav Fola, of the family of Ir, one of the sons of Milesius who had perished on the first landing in Ireland. During his reign, which commenced about 900 years before Christ, the Fez, or triennial meeting of the subordinate chieftains, priests, historiographers, and bards, was instituted at Teamor, or Tarah, in which, besides the regulation of all matters affecting the government and the enacting of laws, a minute investigation was entered into of the national monuments and records. Whatever was then deemed genuine and authentic, was inserted in a volume called the Psalter of Tarah. This legislator closed a reign of forty years, spent with benefit to his subjects and honour to himself, by a natural death, a circumstance very unusual in the annals of those times, and left the undisputed succession to his son, who enjoyed it for seventeen years, and also had the unusual good fortune to die in the same manner. The annals of the succeeding monarchs, for the space of 200 years, present nothing but a reiterated war and mutual destruction, to such an extent, that out of thirty-one kings, who held the reins of government during that period, all but three are recorded to have fallen in battle, or by a violent death. The only occurrences worthy of notice that can be gleaned from the his- History of this harren period, are, the erection of a mint, the formation of a standing army by the allowance of a fixed pay to the soldiery, and the invention of the small boats, formed of wicker-work and covered with hides, now called corraghs.

Kimball, who ascended the throne 460 years before Christ, has obtained an honourable celebrity by his efforts to revive and improve the institutions of Olav Fola. He formed a national police, and regulated the artificers and tradesmen, whom he placed under the jurisdiction of a council of sixty of the nobles and learned men, without whose license no person was permitted to practise any mechanic art. The foundation of the royal palace of Eamania, near Armagh, is attributed by some writers to him; whilst others give the credit of it to his widow, who succeeded him, and reigned seven years, when she was cut off by her successor, who in his turn fell by the hand of Hugony the Great, in revenge for the death of his foster mother. This last-named monarch, with whom the line of Heremon would have terminated had he died without issue, was married to the daughter of a king of France, and kept possession of the crown during a vigorous and active reign of thirty years. He obliged the Picts to pay tribute, and extended his dominion over the Western Isles. He also abolished the pentarchical form of government, dividing the country into twenty-five provinces, over each of which he placed one of his twenty-five sons, and causing the public revenues to be collected according to this arrangement. But neither his virtues nor his abilities were sufficient to save him from the usual fate of Irish monarchs, nor to prevent the recurrence of acts of slaughter amongst his posterity. He was slain, after a reign of thirty years, by his own brother, who fell by the hand of one of Hugony's sons, who in his turn perished by the treachery of his only brother. Amongst the successors of Hugony, Eochy, surnamed Feileagh, or the Melancholy, has made his reign memorable by founding the royal seat of Croghan, in Connaught. It is also celebrated as being the era of the red-branch knights of Ulster, who were said to have had a residence at the palace of Eamania. His successor Eochy introduced the custom of burying in graves instead of burning. Conary More, who reigned for thirty years according to some writers, and sixty according to others, is famous for having enjoyed the longest, happiest, and most tranquil reign in Irish history. Such periods are not those which furnish most materials for the annalist. Of the particulars of his life, though so highly celebrated, little is recorded. He was killed in battle by the king of Wales, though other accounts state that he was treacherously burned in his own palace of Teamor, which also became a prey to the flames. In the reign of Crimthan, one of his successors, who had married the daughter of a Pictish chieftain, the Irish were the auxiliaries of the Picts against the Romans. The information of the leader of a rival faction to this prince is said to have induced Agricola to entertain the idea of conquering the island with a single legion and some auxiliaries. Whatever might have been the result of such an invasion under a general of acknowledged military talents, it is certain that the Roman power in Britain declined so rapidly from this time, that the Irish made frequent irruptions into the Roman province, and returned to their own country loaded with spoil. Feredach, one of the successors of Crimthan, owes his title of the Just to his chief councillor Moran, whose rigid impartiality in the dispensation of justice is recorded, in the figurative language of the bards, under the allegory of a collar, invented and handed down by him to his successors in office, which had the supernatural effect of pressing upon the neck of the wearer in case his decision deviated from the strict rule of equity, so as to strangle him if he persevered in his ini-

quity. Feredach was killed after an unsettled reign of seven years, by an insurrection of the peasantry, to whom the name of Attacots was given; a name which afterwards was carried into North Britain, where, though at first applied to disturbers of the public peace, it ultimately became the distinguishing title of a tribe inhabiting the country adjoining the Roman walls. After a period of civil commotion, Tuathal, upon attaining the sovereign power, exerted himself to restore the ancient constitution of Olav Fola, and the pentarchical division of the country. To him is attributed the appropriation of the central province of Meath, as a demesne or mensal land for the supreme monarch. Here he restored the royal residence, and founded an edifice for the sacred fire, to which the Druids and priests were to have recourse on the last day of October, to perform a solemn sacrifice, and to supply fire to all the people, who were bound to extinguish their usual fires at that time, and to relight them from this hallowed source. He built similar palaces and temples at Uisneacht in Connaught, at Fiadha in Munster, and at Tailtean in Ulster, where there was a fair, to which parents brought their grown-up children and contracted them in marriage. He also was the originator of the fine afterwards known by the name of the Boromé, or Leinster tribute, imposed upon the king of that province for having caused the death of two daughters of Tuathal, whom he inveigled away under a treacherous promise of marriage. This monarch died in battle. The reign of Conn Keadeaugh, or Conn of the Hundred Battles, is best known by the division of Ireland which he was compelled to make with Mogha Nuod, king of Munster. The line of demarcation was fixed by a rampart and fosse, extending across Ireland from Dublin to Galway, the country to the south of which was called Leagh Mogha, or Mogha's share, that to the north Leagh Cuin, or Conn's share; names still familiar amongst the Irish. Cormac, the grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles, signalized himself by his efforts to restore the ancient regulations of the monarchy; but having lost an eye in suppressing a rebellion excited by one of his own family, and being thus excluded from the throne through the prevalence of a prejudice which forbade a mutilated person to continue monarch, he closed his life in retirement, during which he drew up a treatise, yet extant, called the Book of Advice to Kings; a work extolled by the native writers as worthy to be written in letters of gold, a perfect standard of policy to all ages. In his reign flourished the celebrated Irish militia, known by the name of Finn Erion, and commanded by Fein Mc'Cool, commonly called Fingal. It was a military association, into which admission was attainable only by convincing testimonies of great strength, activity, and intelligence; besides which, an engagement was required on the part of the newly-admitted member to choose a wife solely for her merits, never to ill-treat a woman, and not to turn his back upon an enemy, even though nine times as numerous as the body to which he belonged. The regular number of this force was said to be nine thousand men, divided into three battalions. After a variety of exploits, which have furnished materials to much of the legendary romance of the time, the body was annihilated during the succeeding reign, at the battle of Gabra or Gawra, in Meath, where Oscar, the son of Ossian the poet, fell. Passing over a series of several kings known only by name, Nial of the Nine Hostages signalized himself by his military expeditions in Scotland, England, and France. His career of conquest was cut short in the last-named country, where he died of the wound of an arrow treacherously discharged against him on the banks of the Loire. His immediate successor, Dahy, met with an untimely fate in the same country by lightning. He was the last pagan king of Ireland. In the third year of Logary, or Ireland.

History. Lae-ra, who succeeded Daby, Palladius arrived in Ireland, being sent on a mission thither by Pope Celestine for the conversion of the natives. He was not, however, the first who had been thus employed. The names of St Albe, Declan, Iber, and Kieran, are quoted as his predecessors in the pious work. But their labours were confined to particular districts, nor does it appear that they acted under the authority of the see of Rome. Either through ignorance of the language, or want of spirit to withstand the ferocious opposition of his pagan adversaries, Palladius was compelled, after having founded three churches, to relinquish the design, and to quit the country, in order to save his own life and those of his followers; but he was prevented by death from returning to Rome to give an account of his mission. The completion of the work so auspiciously commenced was reserved for St Patrick, whose success has acquired him the title of the apostle of Ireland. He was a native of North Britain. When sixteen years old he was brought prisoner to Ireland by Nial of the Nine Hostages, during one of his foreign expeditions, and spent seven years in slavery in the country, where his employment was the herding of swine. The law of bondage at that time extended no longer than the seventh year, at the expiration of which time he returned to his native country; and, after having studied under his uncle, the Bishop of Tours, he found his way to Rome, where he was selected by the pope to renew the attempt which had already failed; an undertaking for which his knowledge of the language, acquired during his captivity, peculiarly qualified him. To Ireland, therefore, he proceeded with twenty disciples or assistants, which number was increased to thirty-four in England, where he touched during his voyage. His first reception on his landing at Wicklow was very discouraging. The report of his arrival had already reached the Pagan prince who had expelled his predecessor. The same spirit of hostility was directed against the new comer, and Patrick and his company were assailed and forced to take refuge on board their ships. But, though discouraged, he was not disheartened. Instead of relinquishing his purpose, he proceeded to the island afterwards named Holm-patrick, where, having refreshed himself by a short leisure, he proceeded to Ulster, and preached before the chieftain of the district so forcibly as to convert him and his family, and to obtain license to found a church there. In the second year of his mission he presented himself before the Fez, or council at Tarah, where he proved equally successful; Logary the king declaring himself a convert, and many of his subjects following his example. Nor does it appear that the subsequent progress of the apostle was checked by any untoward circumstance. The remainder of his life, which was protracted to an unusual length, was spent in traversing the country, spreading around a knowledge of the Christian doctrine, gaining over converts, and founding churches and monasteries. The chief of his religious foundations was at Armagh, which soon became a school of theology, so famous that students flocked to it from all quarters in such numbers, that at one time it was said to have communicated instruction to seven thousand students. The exertions of Patrick were not wholly confined to the preaching of the gospel. He gave his advice and assistance in the reformation of the government. At his suggestion, Logary summoned an assembly of the princes, historians, and antiquaries, to revise the records and chronicles of the country; and their amendments were deposited in the public archives, under the name of "The Great Antiquity." Fragments of copies taken from this work were to be met with for many centuries afterwards, under the names of the Book of Armagh, the Psalter of Cashel, the Book of Glandaloch, the Leabhar Gabals, and others, from which subsequent writers have derived much of their information respecting the ancient history of the country. Patrick did not retain the government of the bishopric erected by himself in Armagh; but having appointed Binen or Benignus his successor in the see, and having made a visit to Rome, he spent the remainder of his life chiefly at Saul, near Downpatrick, where he had founded a monastery, in which he closed a career of active and successful labours, in the hundred and twentieth year of his age, and was buried in the neighbouring abbey of Downpatrick.

Although the exertions of St Patrick produced an effect so great upon the public mind, that, for many years after, the founding of religious institutions, and the lives and deaths of the ecclesiastics engaged in maintaining and extending the new faith, formed the chief subjects of history, it does not appear that the change of religion produced the beneficial alterations that might have been hoped for from it on the political aspect of affairs. The brief notices of the civil occurrences continue to exhibit little more than a reiteration of the turbulence, crime, and desolation, that had marked the era of paganism. The only event of importance that diversifies the tissue of domestic and foreign warfare which forms the subject of the annals of those days, occurred during the reign of Hugh, the son of Ainmereagh, in which an assemblage was convened at Drumkeith, in Derry, for the express purpose of curbing the license of the bards, now become intolerable. The privileges annexed of old to this order, whose properties as well as persons were inviolable in all civil commotions, whose lands were freed from tribute, and whose houses were respected as sanctuaries, had rendered the numbers of the profession so great, and entailed such a burden on the state for their support, that they were several times before about to be banished from the country. At the assembly now held, they found a zealous and useful friend in the celebrated Columbkill, who left his monastery of Iona to be present here, and prevailed so far as to procure a mitigation of their treatment, by changing the decree for their banishment into one for the diminution of their numbers. It was therefore resolved, that in future the king of Ireland, each provincial sovereign, and the lord of every subordinate territory, was to maintain a bard to preserve the genealogies and record the acts of the respective families; and that a suitable salary was to be allowed him, in return for which he was also to instruct the youth in history, poetry, and antiquities. The whole body was placed under the control of an arch-poet, in whom was vested the power of admitting qualified persons. Thus restrained as to numbers and means of acquiring wealth, their properties were as hitherto exempted from taxation, and their persons privileged. Yet, during this gloomy period, in which the internal state of the country exhibits so little to cheer the inquirer, it became celebrated throughout Christendom, on account of the piety and learning of the inmates of its religious establishments. In the fifth century Sedulius made himself known as a poet, an orator, and a divine, and spread a knowledge of his acquirements, and the fame of the country in which he had imbibed them, through France, Italy, and the western regions of Asia. Columbkill, already transiently noticed as the founder of the monastery of Iona or Hy, the burial-place of the Scottish kings, adorned the sixth century. So also did Congall, the founder of the monastery of Bangor, famed for the multitude of religious men whom its learning and the strictness of its rules led to it. In the seventh century flourished Columba, the founder of several monastic institutions in France and Italy; Aidan, to whom the conversion of the Northumbrians is attributed; Finan, who followed him in the same field of missionary labour; Argobust, who preached in Alsace, and was thence raised to the see of Strasburg; Adamnanus, who visited the court of Alfred, king of Northumberland; and Cuthbert, the son of one of the petty kings of Ireland, who, after having been prevailed on with much difficulty to take charge of the bishopric of Holy Island, in the same part of England, resigned it for a life of studious retirement in the Isle of Farn, where he closed his life. In the eighth century lived Sedulius the younger, who assisted at a council held at Rome by Gregory II., and was afterwards a bishop in Spain; also Vergilius, a philosopher as well as a divine, as appears by a treatise of his on the Antipodes, written against the then received opinion of the shape of the earth, which he proved to be a globe, and not a plain surrounded by the heavens at its verge. He spent some time in France at the court of King Pepin, by whom he was highly esteemed.

The state of Ireland was now destined to suffer from another element of convulsion. About the commencement of the ninth century, the Danes began to extend to it their predatory ravages. Their first attacks were trifling and occasional, more of the nature of piratical incursions than preconcerted invasion. But in proportion as the success of their first assaults rendered them more daring, and their more extended knowledge of the country made them better acquainted with its fertility, their bands became more numerous, and better prepared for continued hostilities; whilst at the same time the unsettled state of the country, caused by the intestine wars of the native princes, carried on either for the purpose of attaining the supremacy, or for exacting tribute from their inferiors, prevented that combination of defence which alone could ensure success against the foreign enemy. In the middle of the same century, Turgesius, king of Norway, had virtually rendered himself monarch over the greater part of the island. He maintained himself in it with all the cruelty and arrogance of an usurper. Danes were placed in all the subordinate kingdoms. Every district had a Danish officer placed over it, and even every house was required to maintain a Danish soldier. The use of arms was prohibited to the Irish. A tribute of an ounce of gold was exacted from every householder, the non-payment of which was punished by the mutilation of the nose, whence the tribute was known by the name of the nose-tax; and, to complete the climax of degrading submission, the bridal favours of new-married virgins were exacted by the Danish chief of the territory, and were sometimes commuted, at his caprice, for a sum of money. The country had groaned for thirteen years under this complication of insult and injury, until it was at length roused to shake off the degrading yoke. Turgesius had erected a rath for his residence in the neighbourhood of Tarah, where lived Malachy, who still retained the title of king among the Irish. Turgesius claimed his daughter. Malachy, conscious of his inability to resist the demand openly, yet unwilling to sacrifice his only child without an effort, sent along with her a number of young men disguised as her female attendants, who fell upon the Danes in the rath, slaughtered them, seized Turgesius, and handed him over bound to Malachy, who had advanced with a band of armed men to their aid. The captivity of the tyrant was the signal for a general insurrection of the Irish, by which the Danes were forced either to fly aboard their shipping, or to take refuge in the maritime towns that acknowledged their authority. Turgesius, after being kept some time in prison, was drowned in Lough Innel. On the expulsion of the Danes, the country reverted to its former state of internal dissension. Cormac M'Cullenan, king of Munster and bishop of Cashel, an union of civil and spiritual jurisdiction then not uncommon, claimed a tribute from the king of Leinster, which, on refusal of payment, he proceeded to enforce by the power of his arms. But on entering his adversary's territory, he found him strengthened by the support of the king of Ireland. The unexpected intelligence threw such a damp upon the spirits of his troops, that many deserted him before the battle; those who stood firm were soon routed, and Cormac himself was killed by a fall from his horse, whilst endeavouring to escape amongst the fugitives. This king is best known in history as the compiler of a book of annals, called the Psalter of Cashel, from which succeeding writers derived much information. It has been many years lost.

The internal dissensions of the country encouraged the Danes to make another effort for subjugating the island. A large force landed in Leinster, under the command of Sebrick, said by some writers to have been a son of Turgesius, by whom Dublin was taken, and the possession of it secured by a signal victory obtained over the combined forces of the Irish, in which Nial, king of Ireland, and many of his generals, fell. The distractions of the country, thus augmented by the presence of a foreign enemy, obtained a temporary intermission by the accession of Brian Boroe to the sovereignty. This prince, the great hero of the Irish, was brother to the king of Munster, on whose death he succeeded to the throne of that province, from which he not only expelled the Danes, who had made a settlement in Limerick, but extended his dominion over the whole southern division of Ireland. The brilliancy of his achievements against the common enemy induced the rest of the subordinate chieftains to unite in a confederacy for deposing Malachy, the reigning monarch, and raising Brian into his place. The object was effected with little difficulty, and, what was more unusual in the revolutions of the country, with no bloodshed. Malachy was of a mild and undecided character. After a feeble effort to revive the spirit of loyalty among the subordinate princes of the northern division, to the chief of whom, O'Neill, he offered a large portion of his dominions, he resigned the crown without a struggle. The new monarch was publicly proclaimed and inaugurated at Tarah. After receiving the submissions of the kings of Ulster and Connaught, and reducing some refractory chieftains who disputed his authority, he directed the combined energies of all the states against the Danes, whom he expelled from the island, with the exception of such as consented to embrace Christianity. These he located in the great seaports of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. Having thus removed the obstacles arising from a foreign enemy, he directed his attention to the general civilization of the kingdom, by founding or restoring the places of worship and seminaries of education, building bridges, opening passes, erecting fortresses, and fitting out a fleet to oppose the Danes on their own element, before they could effect a landing. In the accomplishing of these objects, he spent the latter part of a long and glorious reign. But its termination was marked by a circumstance that undid all his labours. The subordinate king of Leinster, irritated at an insult offered to him in the court of Brian, made overtures to the king of Denmark for a union to expel him from the throne. These were gladly accepted. A large fleet was sent from Denmark, which landed a body of troops near Dublin, where they were joined by those of the king of Leinster. Brian was not negligent in discovering, or tardy in adopting measures to resist, this new combination. At the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, collected from all the other provinces, he marched to meet the enemy. The battle was fought on the plains of Clontarf. It was bloody and desperate, but decisive; the Danes were utterly defeated, and forced to fly to their ships. The Leinster men, abandoned by their foreign friends, were cut to pieces without mercy. The exultation of triumph would have been as unmixed as the victory was glorious, had it not been clouded by the death of the monarch, who, though too far advanced in years to take part in the engagement, led the army to the field, and was killed in his tent, whither he had remained during the conflict, by a party of straggling Danes, as they were flying. His eldest son Mortogh fell in the battle. Malachy, the deposed monarch, seized the opportunity of reviving his claim to the vacant throne. His conduct during the late crisis had been more than dubious. He had made a show of assisting the Irish with the forces of Meath, which province he had been allowed to retain, but, on the commencement of the battle, withdrew his men to a neighbouring eminence, where he continued an inactive spectator of the struggle. His claim was acquiesced in. But his resumption of the reins of authority proved only the signal for the renewal of those scenes of turbulence and anarchy which the commanding talents of his predecessor had kept under control. The apprehensions of subjugation to a foreign power were indeed removed. The victory of Clontarf discouraged any further effort of the Danes, whom alone the native rulers dreaded. These were left to carry on undisturbed their schemes of self-aggrandizement and mutual contention. The only event to diversify the gloomy monotony of incessant civil discord, was a synod of the clergy at Kells, held in 1152, under Cardinal Papiron, the pope's legate. Heretofore the connection of the Irish church with the see of Rome had been very slight, and altogether voluntary. It was governed by the two Archbishops of Armagh and Cashel, and a number of bishops, whose system of control was regulated by domestic synods. At the assemblage now spoken of, the supremacy of the see of Rome was acknowledged, and four pallia were given to the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, Dublin, and Tuam.

Things continued in this state till the time of Roderic Connor, whose reign forms the commencement of a new era, which overthrew all the ancient forms and constitutions of government, and gave to the tide of political events a new turn, by which they have been influenced to the present time. Notwithstanding the proximity of England to Ireland, there had hitherto been but little intercourse between the two countries. Wales, then an independent state, interposed between them. The Saxons were not a people of commercial or adventuring enterprise; and, even after the final consolidation of England into an established monarchy under the Normans, the views of the monarchs of this line, whether for extension of territory or for commerce, were directed towards the states of the Continent, whence they had derived their parentage. We read indeed of an invasion, and even a subjugation of part of Ireland, by Edgar, king of the Northumbrians. If such occurred, it has left behind it few or no historical traces. The episcopal see of Dublin acknowledged the supremacy of that of Canterbury, from which it received its canons and rights of ordination. The Danish character of the city, which, until after the English invasion, was always considered as a subordinate seaport, accounts sufficiently for this peculiarity; and that the connection between the two kingdoms had nothing in it savouring of subjection on the part of Ireland at the time now about to be entered upon, appears from the fact, that at the synod of Armagh, assembled in 1170, to inquire into the cause of the arrival of strangers from England for the purpose of conquest, the impending calamity was imputed to the sins of the people, and more especially to the practice of buying English children, and making them slaves. Giraldus Cambrensis, in stating the fact, adds, "that the English, by a common vice of their country, had a custom to sell their children and kinsfolk into Ireland, although not driven to it by extreme poverty."

Dermot McMurrough, king of Leinster, had incurred the hatred of his own subjects, and of the other princes, by his tyranny. His breach of the laws of hospitality in carrying off the wife of O'Ruark, king of Breffney, gave particular offence to Roderic, by whom he was consequently driven from his dominions. In his distress he had recourse to Henry II. of England, under whom he offered to hold his crown as a tributary, if restored by that monarch's exertions. The offer was very grateful to Henry. He had long before turned his thoughts to the acquisition of Ireland. As early as the year 1154, he had procured a bull from Adrian, who owed his elevation to the papacy to Henry's influence, conferring on him the sovereignty of the island, in order to its civilization, upon payment of the tribute of Peter's pence to the court of Rome. But his domestic difficulties and continental engagements had hitherto obliged him to postpone any active measures to accomplish his object. He was now in Guenice, embarrassed by rebellions amongst his French subjects, and by his disputes with the papal see, and therefore was forced to confine himself to general expressions of assent, confirmed by a permission to all his English subjects to assist in the restoration of his new ally. Supported by this authority, Dermot turned homewards, and, after vainly attempting to engage adventurers in Bristol, he at last formed a treaty with Richard Clare, earl of Pembroke, better known by the name of Strongbow, a Welsh baron, who, having impaired his patrimony, was easily engaged to take part in a desperate enterprise, on the uncertain expectation of inheriting the kingdom of Leinster after Dermot's death, by a marriage with his only daughter, which was to be the reward of his exertions if successful. Through Strongbow's influence, he also engaged the assistance of Robert Fitzstephens, constable of Abertivi, and of Maurice Fitzgerald, a Welsh chieftain. Having secured these auxiliaries, Dermot returned to Ireland, where he lived concealed in the monastery of Ferns, the confidence of whose inmates he had gained by liberal donations to their house, until the arrival of his new friends warranted him in asserting his former station.

Fitzstephens was the first to fulfil his engagement. He landed at the headland of Bag-and-Bon, in the estuary of the Bannow, with a following of but thirty knights, fifty gentlemen, and three hundred archers. Small as the number was, their discipline and superiority in military equipment justified Dermot in throwing off the veil on their appearance. The first movement of the combined force was upon the town of Wexford, a Danish dependency of the crown of Leinster, which surrendered on the first appearance of the enemy, and was, with the two adjoining cantrids of Forth and Bargie, given to Fitzstephens by Dermot, as a foretaste of what was to be hoped for in his service. The next movement was against the king of Ossory, in the Queen's County, who, after a gallant struggle, was also forced to acknowledge the superiority of the Norman mode of warfare. After a hard-fought contest of three days, the passes of his borders were forced, and himself compelled to fly. The news of these successes soon compelled Roderic to take the most decisive measures. At the head of an army collected from all the subordinate provinces, he advanced to drive the rebel king and his foreign auxiliaries into the sea; but the interference of the clergy prevented the appeal to arms. A treaty was concluded, by which Dermot was restored to his former rank, on condition of dismissing his foreign forces, and paying a fine for his outrage against O'Ruark. His son was delivered to Roderic as a hostage, along with others, for the fulfilment of the terms.

The arrival of Maurice Fitzgerald, who landed at Wexford with ten knights, thirty gentlemen, and a hundred archers, gave a new turn to affairs. Fitzstephens, who was then engaged in erecting a fortified post at Carrig, which commanded a pass on the Slaney, near Wexford, resolved to maintain his position. Little influence was necessary to induce Dermot to aid an effort as profitable in expectation as perfidious in act. Encouraged by the hope that this new supply would be the prelude to the influx of fresh bands of well-trained warriors, he indulged in the prospect of gratifying his revenge on the causes of his degradation, and even of seating himself on the throne of supreme sovereignty, through the powerful aid of his English allies. For this purpose, after having reduced the city of Dublin to submission by the devastation of the neighbouring district of Fingal, thus establishing his rule over the whole of his former dominions, he sent to urge Strongbow to hasten his arrival.

This nobleman, not satisfied with the general permission already given by Henry, went to that prince, then in Normandy, and having obtained a vague and equivocal assent, prepared for the vigorous prosecution of his enterprise. He first sent over Raymond le Gros, with a detachment of ten knights and seventy archers; who, landing near Waterford, defeated a body of three thousand Irish, collected from the neighbouring country on the spur of the moment, and maintained his position in an intrenched camp until supported by Strongbow himself, who brought to his relief a body of two hundred horse and upwards of a thousand archers. He then, aided by the junction with Dermot, who had hastened to the place, made himself master of Waterford, and thence proceeded to Dublin, which was taken by assault. Roderic, alarmed at the successes of the English, after having called in vain on Dermot to abide by the late treaty, and having, according to some accounts, beheaded that king's son, in consequence of his father's refusal to fulfil the terms of it, collected another army to oppose the invaders. Dermot's death at this juncture gave a new character to the contest. Strongbow, by his marriage with that prince's only daughter, had succeeded to his royal rights; but being unsupported by any of the Irish chieftains, who viewed with apprehension and envy this intrusion of a stranger, he found himself cooped up in the city of Dublin, with his small band of Englishmen, to stand the brunt of the entire Irish army, with which Roderic had invested the city. But he was delivered from this critical situation by one of those exertions by which a vigorous mind surmounts difficulties. He had been reduced to the necessity of proposing a capitulation. The only terms offered him were the immediate evacuation of the country. Such a surrender of all their brilliant prospects was to these daring adventurers a prospect worse than death. Mito de Cogan, by whose valour in leading the assault the city had been taken, now proposed a sally. His advice was followed. Strongbow, at the head of a select body of ninety knights, attacked the Irish camp. The assault was so sudden and unexpected, that Roderic had scarcely time to escape from the bath, where he was then refreshing himself. The panic spread through all parts; and this great army was dissipated almost without a blow. The English followed up their good fortune by marching to Wexford to relieve Fitzstephens, who was blockaded up by the Irish in his castle of Carrig. In the passage thither, the army had to force its way through the passes of Idrone, where O'Ryan, the dynast of the territory, disputed the ground with it successfully, until his death turned the fate of the day. It is said that the English were so severely pressed in the engagement, that Strongbow's son, a lad rising into manhood, fled from the fight, for which he was hewn in two by his indignant father. A mutilated figure on a small monument placed by the side of Strongbow's tomb in Christ Church, Dublin, is still adduced as evidence of the truth of this extraordinary event.

The successes of Strongbow excited the jealousy of Henry, who began to apprehend in them, not the enriching of a subject, whence the monarch might derive honour, but the aggrandizement of a rival in power. He forbade any of his subjects going to the assistance of the English in Ireland, and commanded the immediate return of all those already there. He was, however, appeased by the appearance of Strongbow himself, who surrendered all his possessions in Ireland to the king, to be helden at his good pleasure. He was restored to favour, and appointed seneschal of this new lordship, with the exception of Dublin and the other fortified cities, which the king retained in his own hands. Henry soon afterwards went over to Ireland with a train of 500 knights, and a large body of soldiers. Landing at Waterford, he proceeded without molestation to Dublin, where he received the homage of a numerous assemblage of the native chieftains, whom he entertained in a pavilion hastily constructed of wicker-work without the walls, as the city then contained no building suitable for their accommodation. He also held a great council or parliament at Lismore, in which the English laws were received and sworn to. At the same time a synod of the clergy at Cashel adopted the rules of doctrine and discipline of the English church for their future regulation. After spending the Christmas in Dublin, and dividing the districts that acknowledged his authority among the chief leaders of the adventurers by whose valour they had been acquired, he returned to England early in spring, to allay the commotions which threatened to break out there.

His absence gave rise to dissensions amongst the English leaders, which led to revolt amongst the natives, who had so lately submitted. To aid the efforts of the Irish, Roderic made another attempt to regain his lost dominions, and to expel the strangers. He invaded Meath, which had been given by Henry to an English baron by the name of De Lacy, with such fury, that Raymond le Gros, the favourite general of the English, who was then celebrating his marriage with the sister of Strongbow, was forced to quit Wexford the morning after his nuptials, in order to make head against the Irish. But they, content with the devastation committed in Meath, had already retired across the Shannon, and Raymond turned his arms against Limerick, which city he took by storm with little difficulty. Roderic, convinced of his inability to cope with success against the superior power of England, sent deputies to the king, proposing to do homage, and pay a stipulated tribute, in return for which he was to hold the kingdom of Connaught, and all his other lands and sovereignties, as fully, in other respects, as before the arrival of the English.

On the death of Strongbow, who died and was buried in Dublin, leaving behind him an only daughter, the heiress of his princely domains, the government of Ireland was committed to William Fitz-Andelm, a nobleman allied to Henry by blood; but the complaints arising from his indolent and corrupt administration became at length too loud to remain unnoticed. He was therefore removed, and John, the king's favourite son, was appointed lord of Ireland, at the early age of twelve years. On his arrival at Waterford, at the head of a train of young and arrogant noblemen, the native chieftains hastened to pay their respects and do him homage; but when they approached to testify their allegiance according to the custom of the country, by saluting him with the lip, the prince's English attendants repelled them with insolence, plucked them by their beards, and treated them with every mark of studied indignity. The high-minded natives quitted the court, and their cause was espoused by all who heard their tale. The alarm of war was spread throughout every part of the country. The castles already built by the English on their newly-acquired territories in Meath were stormed and razed, some of their owners killed, and others driven from their settlements. John was recalled, and the government intrusted to De Lacy, who was soon afterwards assassinated by one of the natives whilst superintending the erection of a fortress which he was building, sacrilegiously, according to the opinion of the times, on the ruins of an abbey dedicated to Columbkil at Durrow. He was succeeded in the government by De Courcy, a nobleman celebrated for his gigantic size and prowess. He had been given such parts of Ulster as he could conquer; and having established his head-quarters at Down, he maintained himself there for some time in a kind of subordinate sovereignty, against all the efforts of the neighbouring princes, and even made an attempt to extend his conquests into Connaught, in doing which, though he failed in the main object of his ambition, he established his power in the neighbourhood of Armagh.

The death of Henry II. made no change in the government of Ireland. Richard, intent on his schemes of foreign conquest, permitted John to retain the title and authority conferred on him by his father. The only event which varied the scene of intestine commotion in Ireland during this reign, was the death of Roderic, the last sovereign of all Ireland. The latter years of his life were embittered, in addition to the loss of his independence, by the rebellious conduct of his own sons, which at last compelled him to seek, in the retirement of monastic seclusion, the tranquillity he had vainly sought for on a throne. He died in the monastery of Cong, in 1198, in extreme old age.

John, in the early part of his reign, paid little attention to the affairs of Ireland, which was now much distracted by the feuds carried on between De Lacy, son of him who had been killed at Durrow, and De Courcy. In this struggle the artful management of the former gained him the advantage over De Courcy's blunt and boisterous ferocity. He accused him of having imputed to John the murder of his nephew Arthur, in consequence of which, De Courcy was summoned to the court in London; and when he treated the mandate with contempt, he was treacherously seized by his enemy De Lacy, while performing a religious penance unarmed in the church of Down, and sent prisoner to England, where he was long kept in confinement. A proceeding as unworthy as this which exposed De Courcy to the royal indignation, brought John a second time to Ireland. The lady of William de Braosaa, who had received a large grant of land in Thomond, or North Munster, on being required to send her children to the English court as hostages for her husband's allegiance, refused to obey; alleging as a reason, that she would not intrust her children to the care of the murderer of his own nephew. The insult was unpardonable, and John went over in person to avenge it. Upon his arrival in Dublin, upwards of twenty chieftains attended to do homage; but he performed no military act worthy of notice. The unfortunate De Braosaa was forced to fly to France, leaving his wife and family behind, who were seized by the tyrant and sent to England, where they died of the severity of their treatment in prison. During his short stay, John paid much attention to the internal management of the country. He ordained that the laws of England should be introduced, with all their judicial forms, a copy of them being left under his great seal, in the exchequer of Dublin. He also divided the districts which acknowledged his authority, and which were afterwards distinguished by the name of the Pale, into the twelve counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, and Limerick. In the remainder, which comprehended two thirds of the island, the king's supremacy was merely nominal. Connaught, which Roderic in his treaty with Henry had specially reserved to himself, after suffering dreadfully by the contentions of that monarch's sons, and by the irruptions of the English leaders, who endeavoured, by their interference in these family quarrels, to obtain some footing in it for themselves, fell ultimately into the hands of Cathal, surnamed Croove-derg, or the Bloody-handed. But the influence of the De Burghos, a branch of the family of Fitz-Andelos, proved too powerful for him. After many a desperate struggle with the intruders, in which his undisciplined valour enabled him to cope at times successfully with the well-marchalled followers of the English chieftain, he was compelled to surrender two parts of the country to the king of England, in order to secure to himself the peaceable possession of the remainder; at the same time acknowledging himself a vassal, and binding himself to a yearly tribute of an hundred merks. On the departure of John, who continued but a short time in the country, the government was intrusted to John de Grey, bishop of Norwich, who conducted it with prudence and vigour; and afterwards by Henry de Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, the most remarkable act of whose administration was the erection of a castle in Dublin, now the acknowledged capital of the English territory.

Immediately after the accession of Henry III. the Irish transmitted to England a list of the encroachments made on their rights in the preceding reign, with a petition to be taken under the royal protection. Henry sent them in answer a copy of the Magna Charta, whereby they were to be placed on the same footing as English subjects. This charter was confirmed by others of a similar tendency, transmitted by the same monarch. He also gave O'Brien, king of Thomond, a grant of that territory, to be held by English law, in lieu of the Irish tenure by which he had hitherto possessed it. The change was considered of such value as to be worth the payment of a thousand merks, and an annual sum of an hundred and thirty. But the king's promise of impartial protection to the Irish was grossly violated in the instance of Cathal Croove-derg, who was now deprived of the third part of his kingdom that had been allowed to remain with him by John, this portion being granted, together with all the rest of Connaught, to Richard de Burgho. Cathal died soon after this unjust deprivation of his property. His subjects, assisted by O'Neil, prince of Tyrowen, placed his brother Tirloch on the throne; but he was removed by the lord-deputy, and Aedh, a son of Cathal, substituted in his place. Aedh being shortly afterwards killed in a skirmish, the lord-deputy again removed Tirloch, whom the people of Connaught had reinstated, and placed Feidlim, another son of Cathal, upon the throne. But a title held under a tenure so precarious and degrading could not be satisfactory. Feidlim, therefore, crossed over to England, and threw himself on the protection of the king, by whom he received a special assurance of security in the possession of his territories, which enabled him to retain them unmolested till his death.

Towards the conclusion of his reign Henry made a grant of Ireland to his eldest son Edward; with a proviso, however, that it was to be always connected with and dependent upon the crown of England. The country derived no benefit from the arrangement. Edward was drawn away to pursue schemes of more brilliant promise in the Holy Land, and Ireland was suffered to continue under the management of subordinate officers. Its state was at this time truly miserable. In addition to the struggles of the Irish chieftains to regain their patrimonial rights of property and independence, the districts which acknowledged the English rule were torn to pieces by the hostilities of rival barons. To such a pitch did this state of anarchy increase, that in a contest between the De Burghos and the Fitzgeralds, the latter faction seized upon Richard de Rupella, the lord-justice of Ireland, and threw him, with several of his adherents, into prison, from which it required the authority of a parliament to liberate him.

The neglected state of the country during the reign of Edward I., whose attention was absorbed by the nearer and more pressing affairs of Scotland and Wales, increas- ed the turbulence and audacity of the English barons. A dispute between Sir William de Vesce, the lord-justice, who had married an heiress of the Pembroke family, and John Fitzthomas, one of the heads of the Fitzgeralds, was carried to such a pitch, that each accused the other of high treason; and the affair was brought before the king in person, to be decided by the law of duel. On the day appointed for the combat, Vesce was not forthcoming. He had fled to France. The king transferred his lands in Ireland to his accuser, which contributed considerably to the future aggrandizement of the Fitzgerald family. So grievously was the great body of the Irish pressed down by the arrogant tyranny of these feudal lords, that they offered the king six thousand marks for a charter from him to be governed by the laws of England. This reasonable request, which implied nothing more than the enforcing of the previous charters of John and Henry to the same effect, was neutralized by the opposition of the barons, whose oppressions it was meant to curb. A second application of a similar nature during this reign met with a similar fate. The conduct of Edward to one of the lord-justices, De Ufford, whom he called over to explain why such quarrels were permitted during his administration, proves that the king was not over anxious to probe this malady to the bottom. De Ufford's defence of himself was, that "he deemed it expedient to suffer one knave to destroy another, to save expense to the king." Edward was satisfied with this evasive answer, and sent him back to his government. The wars of the barons were still tolerated; and the Irish, who wished for the protection of English law against their tyranny, were still forced to purchase it by special charters of denization, by the fees of which the officers of the court were enriched. These charters were mostly the consequence of intermarriages with some of the great English families.

The accession of Edward II. afforded a prospect of the restoration of the royal authority, and the suppression of the exorbitant power of the English barons. The king, compelled to part with his favourite Gaveston, sent him into Ireland as lord-lieutenant, as into a kind of honourable exile. On his arrival, Gaveston obtained some advantages over the Irish septs in the neighbourhood of Dublin; but, however flattering the appearances arising from this change of administration, they proved delusive. Edward, unable to endure longer his favourite's absence, recalled him, and the country fell back into the anarchical sway of the barons. The royal mandates were set at nought, and private wars carried on without restraint or control. Frightful as were the state and prospects of the country, a fresh ingredient of misery was now thrown in. Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, elated with the victory of Bannockburn, resolved on a measure which, if successful, would have added considerably to the security of his own kingdom, and to the weakening of his most formidable enemy. He proposed to detach Ireland from England, and to connect it with Scotland, either as an ally or a dependency. With this view, and also to give employment abroad to an ambitious and ardent relative, he proposed to his brother Edward the conquest of the country. The offer was accepted. The first attempt on the northern province failed, because the means were insufficient for the magnitude of the object. But Bruce was not to be discouraged by a single check. The attempt was soon afterwards renewed with enlarged resources. In the summer of 1315, Edward Bruce landed in the north of Ireland, at the head of six thousand men, where he was joined by numbers of the discontented Irish. De Burgho, earl of Ulster, aroused by the danger which threatened his possessions, aided by Feidlim, king of Connaught, marched to oppose the invader. Their combined force was defeated at Coleraine, and Bruce, following up his victory, reduced Carrickfergus; penetrated into Meath, where he defeated, at Kenlis or History, Kells, a second army sent to oppose him; advanced still further to Skerries, where he encountered and routed Sir Edmund Butler, the lord-justice; and returning to Dundalk, through want of provisions, was there crowned king of Ireland. His affairs were now singularly prosperous. His brother came to his assistance from Scotland, but was forced, through the scarcity of provisions, to return, leaving with him a part of his troops. Feidlim joined his party, and was followed by O'Brien of Thomond, and several lesser chieftains. The English barons now began to be sensible that the tenure of their possessions was at stake. They collected a numerous body of troops, which were sent, in the first instance, into Connaught, to put down Feidlim. A sanguinary battle ensued at Athenree, in which the Irish prince was slain, and with him terminated the last hope of the restoration of the monarchy of Ireland. Bruce, after refreshing his troops, marched to Dublin. To guard against his assaults, the citizens set fire to their suburbs, with such precipitation, that one of the churches was involved in the conflagration; and intrenching themselves within their walls, they presented such a face as deterred the besiegers from continuing the siege. Bruce therefore proceeded to Kildare, which he ravaged, and thence penetrated through the passes of Ossory into Munster, spreading havoc and desolation on all sides. Want of provisions, and the intelligence, on one hand, of another army having been collected against him, under the command of Roger Mortimer, sent from England as lord-justice, and on the other, of new supplies from home, led by his brother in person, induced him to retrace his steps towards Ulster. By forced marches he retreated unmolested into Meath. He was followed by the English, now under the command of Sir John Bermingham. Both armies met at Faugher, near Dundalk. The Scotch army was the more numerous, but it was much exhausted by fatigue and famine; the English were well equipped and armed, and in a high state of organization. It is said that Edward Bruce, on hearing that his brother was advancing, pressed on the engagement, in the hope of securing to himself the undivided honour of victory. The result was deserving of the arrogance which led to an act so ill advised and precipitate. After a sanguinary struggle, the Scottish army was totally defeated. The body of Bruce was found, after the engagement, in the midst of heaps of slain, lying under that of an English knight of the name of Maupas, who had pressed forward to the honour of being captor of the Scottish general. Robert Bruce, on hearing of the result, immediately returned home, and made no further attempt upon the country.

The expulsion of the Scotch gave little relief to the people, who still continued to groan under the feudal oppressions and interminable quarrels of their rulers. On the accession of Edward III., they addressed themselves again to the throne, in order to procure a general charter of admission to the rights of British subjects. The petition was favourably received; but being referred, like former applications of the same kind, to the Irish parliament, through the lord-justice, it was, like these, rejected. The Irish, disappointed in their hopes of good government, broke out into acts of insurrection. The king, unable to restore tranquillity by energetic measures, had recourse to others, the evil effects of which were long felt. The greater part of Leinster had been parcelled out into five palatinates, in favour of the five grand-daughters of Strongbow, on whom this princely inheritance had devolved in failure of male issue. Meath and Ulster had also been granted in like manner. The number of these exempt jurisdictions, in which the superior lord exercised most of the prerogatives of royalty, was now increased, History, by erecting the county of Desmond, or South Munster, into a palatinate in favour of Maurice Fitzthomas, a branch of the Fitzgerald family; and another was shortly after erected in Tipperary, for James Butler, created Earl of Ormond. In consequence of the great privileges bestowed on these noblemen, the king's authority was proportionally contracted, and a few powerful chieftains were enabled, under colour of asserting their rights, to overawe or control, by their combination, the wholesome exercise of the powers of the constitution, or to convulse the country to its centre, by their mutual contests for superiority. This ruinous system was carried still further. The chief governor, unable to collect men in numbers sufficient to cope with the insurgent Irish, applied for military aid to the Earl of Desmond. The request was readily acceded to, and ten thousand men were sent him; but as the deputy was deficient in the means of paying or feeding such a body, the troops were allowed to live on the country at free quarters, or, as it was then called, on coygne and livery, which consisted in the taking of man's meat, horse's meat, and money, of all the inhabitants, at the will and pleasure of the soldiers, who had no other means of subsistence. This extortion was originally Irish, for they used to lay Bonaught, as they called it, upon the people, and never gave their soldiers any other pay. But under the English it was still more intolerable, as with them the oppression was not temporary or limited either in time or place, but, because there was everywhere a continual war, either offensive or defensive, and every lord of a country, and every marcher, made war and peace at his good pleasure, it became universal and perpetual, and was, indeed, the heaviest oppression that ever was inflicted on any kingdom, Christian or heathen.

The effects of this feeble policy proved the reverse of what its devisers may be supposed to have expected. Internal turbulence and discord increased. To heighten the confusion, William de Burgho, who united in his own person the government of the two palatinates of Meath and Ulster, and had also the greater part of Connaught, was assassinated at Carrickfergus by his own domestics. His only daughter was carried to England for protection. O'Neill of Tyrowen, to whose family the northern palatinate of De Burgho had formerly belonged, seized on the opportunity to recover by force a considerable portion of the inheritance of his forefathers. The estate in Connaught was also seized on by two of the younger branches of the De Burgho family, who, conscious of the illegality of their claims according to the rules of English law, renounced their allegiance, assumed the Irish name of M'William, distinguishing themselves from each other by the surnames of Eighter and Oughtor, or the Hither and Further M'William; the former holding the lands in Galway, the latter those in Mayo, and both, conforming to the laws and tenures of the Irish, set the authority of the king's justice at defiance. But the act which tended most to destroy the English power, by unhinging the connection between the parent country and the colony that had sprung from it, was an order that all public officers whose property existed wholly in Ireland should be displaced, and their places supplied by persons born in England, and having lands in that country. This act gave rise to the distinction between the English by blood and the English by birth, causing those of the former class, through irritation at the insulting degradation by which they were deprived of their fair share of the honours and emoluments earned by the blood of their ancestors, not only to attach themselves to the native Irish by the ties of marriage and community of interests, but to exceed them in the intensity of hatred to the new intruders; and hence they were said to be more Irish than the Irish themselves. The effects of this unjust and impolitic ordinance were not long in showing themselves. A common interest united the descendants of the old settlers into a general combination. Alarmed at the spirit which they indicated, the lord-justice, Sir John Morris, deemed it expedient to assemble a parliament at Dublin, whereby a less dangerous vent might be afforded to the expression of the grievances of the discontented. But the injured party adopted another and a more spirited course. Not content with absenting themselves from parliament, they held another assembly, totally independent of it, at Kilkenny, under the auspices of the Earl of Desmond, in which they drew up a remonstrance, to be presented to the king, which exhibited a striking view of the aggressions of the government, and the grievances which had excited general discontent. The king's answer was gracious and descending. Assurance was given them of immediate relief from the more gross grievances, and of inquiry into all. His anxiety to procure aid for his continental expeditions appears to have been one cause of the readiness with which these concessions were granted; for we are informed that the Earls of Desmond and Kildare attended him with numerous followers into France, and the latter distinguished himself greatly at the siege of Calais. But the spirit of self-interested monopoly which gave birth to this distinction, though repressed, was not extinguished; and fresh occasion was soon given it to blaze forth from a quarter whence it might least have been apprehended. Lionel, afterwards Duke of Clarence, Edward's second son, had married the heiress of the late Earl of Ulster, and thus became entitled to the lordships of Ulster and Connaught. To add weight to the enforcement of his claim, which he was about to assert in person, the king invested him with the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland. But, born and educated in England, he carried over with him all his English prejudices and prepossessions. Surrounded by men of English birth, and taught by them to look on the ancient settlers, not only as unworthy of his confidence, but as disaffected to his government, he forbade, by proclamation, any of the old English, or of the king's subjects of Irish birth, to approach his camp. This imprudent measure deprived him of the only aid which could render his operations against the common enemy of the English government effectual. Lest, amongst strangers to the country, to traverse unknown districts, and to contend against an enemy of whose movements and mode of action he was wholly ignorant, he found himself enclosed in a position in which advance was impossible and retreat perilous, and from which he was extricated solely by an appeal to those whose services he had at his first landing so haughtily and unwisely rejected. After a short stay he was recalled, but returned in a few years, improved in the knowledge of the science of governing a country of habits dissimilar to those of his own. On his second visit he directed his attention to the general reformation of the parts of the island that yielded a willing obedience to the royal authority. A parliament was summoned at Kilkenny, the result of whose deliberations was an ordinance, since known by the name of the Statute of Kilkenny, which forms one of the great political epochs in the history of the country.

By this statute it was enacted, that marriage, fostering, or gossiping with the Irish, should be deemed treasonable; and conformity to the rules of Irish law was subjected to a similar penalty. The use of Irish names, language, or apparel, by any person of English birth or descent, was punishable by forfeiture of lands or imprisonment. Penalties were also imposed on those who permitted their Irish neighbours to graze on their lands, who presented them to ecclesiastical benefices, who admitted them into religious houses as members, or who gave encouragement to the Irish bards, musicians, or story-tellers. The execution of this statute was enforced by the anathemas of the church against its violators. Whatever might have been the effects of an enactment so rigorous towards uniting the English settlers more closely among themselves, it is evident that it severed completely any links of the bond of mutual charity and community of interest that existed between them and the Irish. The presence of an English nobleman of royal birth, connected by marriage with the descendant and representative of a family now nearly Irish through length of residence, might have led to the introduction of a system of generous equity towards the natives of the country, the former rightful possessors of the soil. But the wording of this statute pronounced the Irish to be irreclaimable. The opportunity for the amalgamation of conflicting interests was lost; and ages passed over without another such presenting itself for a renewal of the experiment. The Duke of Clarence was again recalled, and the administration of the government left, as before, to deputies. The low condition to which the country was now reduced may be inferred from the fact related as to Sir Richard Pembridge, warden of the Cinque Ports, who, on being appointed to the lieutenantcy, refused to undertake the office, in consequence of the distracted state of the country; and it was adjudged that his refusal was strictly legal, inasmuch as residence in Ireland, even in the elevated station assigned to him, was looked upon as but an honourable exile, to which no freeman was to be subjected, except in case of abjuration for felony, or by act of parliament. So far was the English power reduced towards the close of this reign, that, as the authority of the English law had extended during the time of John over the twelve counties already named, and over the greater part of Connaught, it was confined, in the thirtieth year of the present reign, to the four counties of Meath, Louth, Dublin, and Carlow; and of these the greater part was border-land, governed by march law, which was little more than another word for the arbitrary will of the lord of the marches. The last effort made by Edward to restore the English government, was a mandate directing a stated number of bishops, knights, and burgesses to attend the king in his parliament in England, to assist in enacting laws for Ireland. The proceedings of this parliament are lost, but the existence of writs to the several counties, cities, and boroughs, directing them to defray the expenses of the persons sent over, proves that it had assembled. About the same time the trade with Portugal was thrown open to the Irish, but the disorders of the country were too deeply rooted to admit of the people availing themselves of the privilege.

In the beginning of the reign of Richard II., Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland by the joint consent of the king and the English nobility; the latter party wishing thus to break the connection of favouritism that bound him to the former. But after an equipment, fitted out on a princely scale, the project failed. He had proceeded as far as Wales, when Richard, who accompanied him to the water's edge, found his attachment too violent to bear the separation, and brought him back to London. Commissioners were afterwards deputed to inquire into the state of the country, but with no beneficial result. At length Richard resolved to visit this part of his dominions in person. He landed at Waterford with an army of four thousand men-at-arms and thirty thousand archers; but after nine months spent in an empty display of regal pageantry, during which he received the submission of seventy-five native Irish or degenerate English chieftains, and granted pardons to others, whom an apprehension of ill treatment kept at a distance, he returned to England. The only stipulation for restoring tranquillity made during his visit was, that the province of Leinster should be evacuated by the Irish; but when the condition was to be enforced, after the removal of the terrors of a royal army, the requisitions of the government were followed only by excuses and delays, and ultimately by insurrection, in the course of which Roger Mortimer, earl of Marche, whom Richard had left behind him as his lieutenant, was killed at Kenlis, in a skirmish against the O'Byrnes, whom he had driven from their mountain fastnesses in Wicklow.

Mortified and irritated by a result so contrary to the anticipations entertained from his expensive armament and pompous reception in Ireland, Richard undertook a second military expedition thither. He landed again in Waterford, and after spending some time there and at Kilkenny, in an idle display of royalty, he proceeded to Dublin, in the full confidence that now, as previously, his journey thither would be but a progress of pacific parade. In this expectation he was buoyed up by the appearance of several of the Irish lords, who, presenting themselves with halters round their necks, fell at his feet and implored forgiveness with the most abject humility. But on entering into the woods and defiles of the marches of Leinster, his reception was very different. M'Murchad, the principal chieftain of the province, who, notwithstanding the pensions he had received, and the submissions he had entered into, was still the inveterate enemy of the English, rushed out unexpectedly from the cover of his woods, at the head of three thousand chosen men, so well appointed, and with such a display of valour, as to stop the advance of the royal army for some time; and though it ultimately forced its way to the capital, such were the losses sustained by famine, hardship, and battle, that Richard had to wait for a reinforcement from England before he could resume hostilities. In the mean time the news of the successes of the Duke of Lancaster compelled him to hasten his departure, in order to oppose this new enemy. The unfortunate and disgraceful termination of his reign belongs to English history.

The intestine commotions in Ireland were aggravated in the reign of Henry IV. by invasions of the Scotch, who assisted the Irish of Ulster in driving the English from this province, and acquired some settlements there, whence they were never afterwards wholly removed. Henry's second son, Thomas, duke of Lancaster, was sent over as lord-lieutenant. His government was vigorous, and in some degree effective. The native Irish of Wicklow were checked; the degenerate English in Meath and Uriel were compelled to submit; and M'Murchad, who still maintained himself in the western parts of Leinster, in defiance of the government, was defeated in a severe and well-contested battle. The citizens of Dublin fitted out several naval expeditions against the Scotch and Welsh; and though, in their first engagement with the former enemy, they suffered a total defeat on the coast of Ulster, they afterwards revenged the insult by carrying the war into the islands and coasts of Scotland, and by their depredations in Wales, whence they brought back in triumph a shrine of St. Cuthbert, and lodged it with much ceremony in Christ Church, as a proud monument of their victory. But this favourable change was merely temporary. The lord-lieutenant was wounded, and his forces beaten back, under the very walls of Dublin; and he soon afterwards quitted the country altogether. The residents in the border counties were now reduced to the degrading necessity of purchasing peace and protection from the neighbouring Irish chieftains, by the payment of a stipulated tribute called black rent.

The arrival of Sir John Talbot, Lord Furnival, in the succeeding reign, a man distinguished for his military talents, gave hope of a change for the better. By his activity and valour he compelled several of the neighbouring Irish chieftains, not only to desist from their incursions, but also to do homage and give hostages. Yet though bound to keep the peace, they still retained their independence, and the English pale was not enlarged. The lord-lieutenant, likewise, having brought with him no supplies either of men or money, had no means of maintaining his position, except the oppressive and ruinous system of cygnye and livery. The English settlers were thus reduced to a state of extreme degradation and distress. Looked upon by the Irish as aliens and intruders, they were treated by the new comers from England as slaves, and considered by the English in general as in nowise better than the natives. In the beginning of this reign, the parliament at London, in consequence of the swarms of needy adventurers from Ireland, whom the devastations of their own country had driven to seek an asylum abroad, passed an act to oblige all Irish to quit the kingdom. Even the students who resorted to London for education, though expressly excepted from the severe provisions of the statute, were contemptuously excluded from the Inns of Court, from a prejudice as impolitic as it was unjust, since it not only precluded them from an intercourse tending to conciliate their affections to England, but debarred them from the means of acquiring a knowledge of the laws, which were the only effective means of preserving the connection between the countries. Indeed the continuance of such connection was preserved at the present period, more by the ignorant prejudices of the native princes themselves, than by the exertions of the government. Contented to rule over their petty septs, their aversion to the English was scarcely more violent than that entertained by them against the neighbouring tribes of their own race. They united in the most cordial attachment with the old English in their revolts; and their insurrections, far from being excited by a general desire of exterminating the whole body of their invaders, were usually occasioned by some local dispute or act of private oppression.

In the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. the two Anglo-Irish families of Desmond and Butler began to assume the high political position which they retained long after. James, the first Earl of Desmond, obtained the leadership of the family and the title, to the prejudice of his nephew, who had degraded himself in the eyes of his followers by marrying a peasant's daughter. The uncle was secured in the estate by authority of parliament, and also constituted governor of the counties of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Kerry, over which he exercised an almost royal jurisdiction. The Earl of Ormond, the head of the Butler family, after having been removed from the chief government of Ireland by the machinations of his enemies, was protected against their further efforts by the personal kindness of Henry VI., which laid the foundation of a lasting attachment to this monarch on the part of the earl and his descendants. A change now took place in the government, more important in its effects than any hitherto recorded. Richard duke of York, descended from an elder brother of the prince through whom the reigning family derived its claim to the throne, was universally beloved. The contrast between him and his inglorious sovereign was too glaring to remain unnoticed. It was therefore resolved to remove him out of England; and he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with extraordinary powers. His administration presents one of the few bright gleams of Irish history. It was long quoted as the time when peace and prosperity flourished, when faction was repressed by even-handed justice, and when the natives, the English by blood, and the English by birth, coalesced in an honest exertion to improve the country. Aware, on his arrival, of the bitter jealousy which existed between the rival families of the Butlers and Geraldines, and although he knew that the former was attached by gratitude to his rival, he scorned to be swayed by any suspicions on that account; but, on the birth of his son, afterwards the unfortunate Duke of Clarence, by engaging the heads of both families to be sponsors at the infant's baptism, he bound each to himself and to the other by the tie of gosspired, a relationship respected to a degree of veneration amongst the Irish. Being called away to England to clear himself from some imputations on his loyalty, he intrusted the administration to the Earl of Ormond, who was succeeded by Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace, a knight of great military fame, by whom the O'Connors of Offaly were defeated, and the sept of the O'Neills, who had presumed to insult the city of Dublin by plundering some of the ships in the bay, and carrying off the archbishop, were so roughly treated at Ardglass, as to check for a long period any efforts of the northern toparch against the pale. In the mean time the Duke of York, though successful in his first effort to seize the English crown, was totally defeated at Bloreheth, and forced to fly into Ireland, where he was received more like a sovereign prince than a discomfited traitor. The parliament passed an act for his protection, and decreed that whosoever should attempt to disturb him, under pretence of writs from England, should be deemed guilty of high treason. An agent of Ormond, who ventured to violate the law, was executed. On the duke's subsequent change of fortune, numbers of his Irish adherents followed him to England. The palatinate of Meath, in particular, was almost deserted by the English settlers, who hastened to enrol themselves under the banner of the white rose. He appeared in London with this gallant train; but the war being unexpectedly renewed, he was encountered at Wakefield by an army four times more numerous than his own, which consisted but of five thousand men, mostly Irish, and fell in the unequal contest, together with the greater part of his devoted followers. The exhaustion thus produced was nearly fatal to the English interests in Ireland. Towards the close of Henry's reign, the Irish or rebellious English had conquered or subjected to tribute the greater part of the counties of Limerick and Tipperary, together with those of Kilkenny and Wexford, and almost the whole of Carlow, Kildare, Meath, and Uriel, so that little was left, of which the English could claim the undisputed possession, excepting the county of Dublin. The only method to secure peace was by the purchase of the protection of the heads of the Irish septs, who, gratified with such acknowledgment of their superiority, looked with contumacious disregard on the movements of the Saxons, as the English were called by them.

The attachment of the Geraldines to the house of York was rewarded by Edward IV. on his attainment of the royal dignity, by appointing the Earl of Kildare to the lord-lieutenancy. He was shortly afterwards superseded by the Duke of Clarence, the king's brother, who appointed the Earl of Desmond his deputy, in return for having crushed an effort made by the Butlers in favour of the house of Lancaster. But his continuance in power was short-lived. On the king's marriage with Elizabeth Grey, he had inadvertently thrown out some reflections upon the meanness of her birth. Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, was soon afterwards sent over as lord-deputy, and, in a parliament summoned at Drogheda, he caused an act to be passed against the Earls of Kildare and Desmond, for allying themselves by marriage, and fostering with the Irish enemy. Kildare, though arrested, was fortunate enough to effect his escape. Desmond, relying either on his innocence or his influence, came forward to justify his conduct, and was immediately seized and executed without even the formality of a trial. This monstrous outrage did not long go unpunished. Kildare justified himself so effectually before the king, that he was not only restored to his titles and estate, but appointed chief governor; and Tiptoft, being recalled into England, suffered, in a new revolution, the same fate which he had inflicted upon Desmond. The defence of the confined limits of the pale was now intrusted to a military order established by authority of parliament, under the name of the Fraternity of St George. It consisted of thirteen leaders of the first consequence in the four counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Uriel, who had under them forty knights, as many squires, and an hundred and twenty mounted archers. The appointment of a force so inadequate to preserve the peace even of the contracted limits it was intended to protect, evinces in the strongest manner the reduced state of the English power after the termination of the desolating conflict between the rival races.

The short and distracted reign of Richard III. allowed no time to attend to the state of Ireland. His successor, for what reason it is not known, suffered the government to continue in the hands of the Fitzgeralds, the avowed friends of the house of York. The evil consequences of this policy, or negligence, were not long in showing themselves. Lambert Simnel, who had been set up by the king's enemies on the Continent to personate the Earl of Warwick, son of the late Duke of Clarence, was sent by them to Ireland, as the place most favourable for the design. He was received by the Earl of Kildare, then lord-lieutenant, as the lawful sovereign; proclaimed king; publicly crowned in Christ Church, with a crown taken for the purpose from a statue of the Virgin Mary; and borne thence to Dublin Castle on the shoulders of Darcy of Platten, according to a form used in the inauguration of the native Irish kings. A parliament convened by his writ, under the title of Edward VI, granted subsidies, and enacted severe laws against those who refused to recognize his right, amongst whom the chief were the families of Butler and Bermingham, and the citizens of Waterford. Fortunately for the peace of the country, the arrival of a body of German auxiliaries from Flanders, under the command of Martin Swart, inspired the partisans of Simnel with such an overweening confidence in their own strength, that they determined to transfer the seat of war to England. Thither Simnel went, attended by the flower of the Irish nobility, and a numerous following of the natives. He was met at Stoke, in Nottingham, and defeated by Henry with immense loss, as the Irish, whose light arms could make no impression on the compact and iron-bound ranks of their adversaries, refused quarter, defending themselves singly, even when routed, until they fell overwhelmed by numbers. Simnel, when taken prisoner, was punished, not by severity, but degradation. He ended his life as a scullion in the royal household. The actors in this hasty and ill-digested movement were not treated harshly. Even the city of Dublin was pardoned, on its humble submission. But, in the hope of securing the future allegiance of the great residents, Sir Richard Edgecombe was sent over as a special commissioner, with a train of five hundred men, to receive their submission, and administer the oath of allegiance. On his arrival at Kinsale, his apprehensions at first prevented him from landing; and he received the homage and oaths of Lord Thomas Barry, a principal nobleman of the district, on board his ship; but afterwards landed, and was received in Cork, Waterford, and Dublin, in a manner befitting his mission. The Earl of Kildare hesitated for a time, but at length joined with the others in tendering this proof of submission to the ruling power.

Another claimant of the throne now appeared in the person of Perkin Warbeck, who was, or pretended to be, the Duke of York, second son of Edward IV. He landed at Cork, where his identity was acknowledged. On his arrival there he wrote to the Earls of Desmond and Kildare. The former recognised him at once; but before the latter could decide on the part he ought to take, the adventurer had removed to the French court, whither he had been invited for the purpose of more effectually annoying History, the English king. Henry now sent over into Ireland Sir Edward Poynings, a knight of distinguished ability, accompanied by several English lawyers to fill the offices of judges; those then on the bench, who owed their elevation to party influence, being notorious for their incapacity.

The administration of this governor forms a new era in the history of the country. A parliament assembled by him enacted several useful laws, two of which were peculiarly influential in breaking down the exorbitant power of the nobility. By one of these, all the statutes hitherto passed in England were made law in Ireland; by the other, it was enacted that no parliament should be held until the reasons for holding it, and the statutes to be proposed in it, should be approved by the privy council of England. Warbeck made a second attempt upon Ireland, in which he was openly assisted by the Earl of Desmond; but after an unsuccessful attempt on Waterford, he was forced to quit the country, and take refuge with the king of Scotland. The enemies of Kildare were not remiss in seizing this opportunity to crush him; and the Butlers importuned the lord-deputy to imitate the example of Tintoft, and consign him at once to the executioner. But Poynings rejected the cruel and impolitic suggestion, contenting himself with sending the earl to England to answer in person the allegations brought against him. This proceeding, as just as it was merciful, led to a conclusion wholly opposite to the anticipations of his enemies. When warned by the king to choose able counsellors to defend himself against the heavy charges advanced against him: "Yes," said Kildare, "I choose the ablest in the realm; I take your highness as my counsel against these false knaves." Charge after charge was alleged against him, and answered; amongst others, that of having burned the church of Cashel. On hearing this brought forward, Kildare interrupted the speaker: "Spare your evidence," said he; "I did burn the church, but I thought the bishop had been in it." This extraordinary plea raised a laugh amongst all present. His accusers in a rage exclaimed, "All Ireland cannot rule this earl." "Is it so?" replied Henry; "then this earl shall rule all Ireland," and he sent him back as lord-deputy. The event justified Henry's sagacity. Kildare repaid his sovereign's confidence by a government of unremitting zeal, energy, and fidelity. The boundaries of the pale were gradually extended; several septs, to whom tribute had hitherto been paid, were forced to submit. He marched a gallant army into Connaught, against Ulick de Burgho, the head of the degenerate English in that province; more, it must be acknowledged, to gratify private resentment than to promote the interests of his royal master. The armies met at Knocktown, near Galway. The victory of the deputy was sullied by the ferocity of his troops, who refused to give quarter, and continued the massacre until night forced them to desist. This victory reduced the whole of Connaught to obedience. The O'Neills and the O'Briens were the only septs of any consequence who still refused to tender their allegiance.

The Earl of Kildare was continued in the government by Henry VIII., who testified his approbation of his services by appointing his son Gerald his successor. The young earl, with the characteristic valour of the family, inherited a more than ordinary share of their pride and imprudence. Too haughty to court the favour of Wolsey, then in the zenith of his greatness, by meanness and subserviency, he incurred that proud prelate's hatred, which was heightened by the artful suggestions of his rival the Earl of Ormond. Through the machinations of this nobleman he was removed, and summoned to England to account for his conduct. Here, strengthened by a marriage with the daughter of the Marquis of Dorset, he was enabled to baffie the efforts of the cabal formed against him. He attended Henry at his celebrated interview with Francis I., and, by the splendour of his suite, and the brilliancy of his equipage, contributed largely to the splendour of "the Field of the Cloth of Gold." On his return home, the struggle between the rival families attained to such a height, that commissioners were sent from England to investigate the case. Their report, when laid before Henry, induced him to remove from the head of affairs Pierce earl of Ormond, better known in the chronicles of the times by the name of Red Peter, the deputy to the Earl of Surrey, then lord-lieutenant, and to substitute his rival in his place. The decision proved eventually fatal to this nobleman. Infatuated with an opinion of his own greatness, he acted so as to excite a suspicion of aiming at the assumption of independent power in Ireland. His enemies pressed the charge against him, and a peremptory order was issued for his immediate attendance at court. Unwilling to quit the seat of power, conscious most probably that his conduct would not bear a strict investigation, he endeavoured, through his wife's relations, to evade obedience; but finding all his efforts ineffectual, he ultimately repaired to London, after having supplied all his castles with arms and ammunition from the royal stores, a measure tending most powerfully to confirm the prejudice raised against him. On his arrival there he was forthwith thrown into the Tower.

That the royal anger against the earl had not been very violent, is evident, notwithstanding the harsh treatment thus inflicted on him, from the fact that he was permitted to commit the government during his absence to some person for whose conduct he should be responsible. By a step still more unaccountable than any of those that had involved him in suspicion, he intrusted the administration to his eldest son Thomas, a stripling scarcely twenty-two years of age, who, to the rashness of youth, and a natural violence of temper, added an insolent contempt of his rivals, and a boyish confidence in the irresistible power of the Geraldines. The news of his father's imprisonment could not fail soon to arrive in Ireland. Common fame, aided by the artifices of the enemies of the family, swelled it into an assertion of his execution. The young lord lent a credulous ear to these falsehoods, and, as impetuous as he was credulous, instantly had recourse to means of vengeance as desperate as they were chivalrous. Attended by a retinue of an hundred and forty followers equipped in a style of gaudy display, which, even in those times of courtly splendour, earned for him the title of "the Silken Knight," he proceeded to St Mary's Abbey, on the northern bank of the Liffey, where the privy council were assembled; and there, throwing down the sword of state, he solemnly renounced his allegiance, and declared himself the mortal enemy of the English government. All the other members of the council gazed on him in silent astonishment. Archbishop Cromer, then primate and chancellor, alone interfered, and remonstrated with the fiery young man on the madness of the act he was committing. The appeal to his better judgment was interrupted by the family bard, who, unconscious, through his ignorance of the language, of what was going forward, commenced a rhapsody on the glories of the Geraldines, the treatment of their chief, and the vengeance which it claimed. Passion prevailed over prudence. The voice of age and wisdom was drowned in the clamours of his attendants, and the young lord tore himself from the chancellor, rushed out of the council board, and, without premeditation or preparation, plunged into a war against the whole power of England.

Baffled in an attempt to surprise the castle of Dublin, Lord Thomas ravaged all the district of Fingal, in its northern neighbourhood, during which Allen, archbishop of Dublin, one of the determined enemies of his family, was taken prisoner. When brought before him, his hasty expression, "Away with the English churl," was translated by his rude Irish followers into a mandate for execution, and the wretched man was immediately butchered. He then renewed his attempt to seize the castle, but was prevented, and eventually driven from the city by the citizens, who even burned part of the suburbs, to prevent them from affording shelter to his troops. From being the aggressor, he was now forced to act on the defensive. Maynooth Castle, his strongest fortress, was invested, and, after a resistance of fourteen days, was captured by the treachery of a foster brother of Lord Thomas, who, after having been paid the pecuniary remuneration of his treason, received a more adequate recompense by being hanged by the orders of the English deputy. The irregular army of the insurgents began to dissolve on the intelligence of this disaster, and their leader was driven to a desultory warfare in the fens and mountains, from which he was inveigled by a solemn assurance of pardon given by the English general Lord Grey, and confirmed by the communion of the holy sacrament. Grey was rewarded for his services by the office of lord-justice. His first act of government was one of atrocious perfidy. In spite of his previous solemn promise, he sent his prisoner to London, where the first news the wretched youth received was, that his father had died, not by legal execution, but through grief at his insane rebellion. This act of Grey was followed by a similar one, if possible of deeper guilt. Henry breathed the most furious revenge against the whole family of Kildare, and sent orders to have the five uncles of the young lord seized. To effect this, the lord-deputy invited them to a banquet, where, in the midst of the pretended hospitality, they were arrested, forced on board ship, hurried to England, and executed along with the real instigator of the rebellion. A brother of Lord Thomas, a boy about twelve years of age, who was also included in this decree of blood, after having been sheltered for some time, at no small risk, by his aunt, the widow of McArthy, a Munster chieftain, was conveyed to France, and, when Henry had the meanness to claim him as a subject, he escaped to Flanders. Thence, when pursued by the same spirit of despicable malignity, he fled to Germany, and finally found shelter in Rome, under the protection of Cardinal Pole, who, in defiance of Henry's protestations, received and educated him as his kinsman, and, by his favour and support, enabled him to recover his birthright, and restore the otherwise extinct honours of the house of Kildare.

A period now arrived in which religion, hitherto little noticed in the political events of the country, was forced to assume a character as dissonant to its real nature as prejudicial to its true interests. Henry determined to extend to Ireland the reformation he had with so little opposition established in England. Commissioners were sent over to procure an acknowledgment of the king's supremacy, who, though opposed by Cromer, the archbishop of Armagh, a strenuous champion for the religion at that time established by law, succeeded in obtaining it. A parliament, assembled at the special suggestion of Browne, the first Protestant archbishop of Dublin, exhibited a subserviency to the royal wishes as great as even the despotic character of Henry could require. It pronounced the king's marriage with Catherine of Aragon null; declared the inheritance of the crown to be in the king's heirs by Anne Boleyn; and as the passing of this declaration was followed by an account of that unhappy lady's condemnation and death, and the king's subsequent marriage with Anne Seymour, it altered the succession anew to correspond with the new change in the king's disposition. It also acknowledged the king's supremacy in the fullest manner, forbade appeals to Rome, renounced the authority of the Romish see, and decreed the suppression of most of the monastic institutions. An act, more creditable to the body whence it emanated, was also passed, by which schools were to be founded in every parish for instructing the natives in the English language, and in the rudiments of useful knowledge.

But words and writings were not of themselves sufficient to accomplish the mighty undertaking which Henry's impetuous zeal had commenced. The Irish clergy in general were averse to a change. Many of them relinquished valuable preferments rather than submit to it. The Irish chieftains found in it a new motive to animate themselves and to influence their followers against the Saxons. The feeling was fomented by a communication from Rome, exciting the northern chieftains, and more particularly O'Neill, to rally round the sacred standard of their forefathers. O'Neill joyfully accepted the post thus assigned him. He proclaimed himself head of the northern Irish, assembled a numerous force, advanced to Tarab, and there had himself proclaimed on the ancient hill of royalty of the native monarchs of Ireland; but, content with this idle display of pomp, he prepared, after ravaging the country, to return into his own demesnes. The deputy had expected this storm, and was prepared against it. With the forces raised in Dublin and Drogheda he pursued the retiring Irish, and overtook them at Bellahoe, on the borders of Meath, where, after a partial engagement, in which the van of the latter army only was concerned, the Irish fell back on their main body, which, struck with an unaccountable panic, immediately gave way and fled. The administration of Lord Grey ended with this victory. He was recalled, and thrown into the Tower, on charges equally futile and malicious. Apprehensive of the irritable temper of his brutal master, he waived all defence, pleaded guilty, and perished by the same fate into which he had so treacherously drawn Lord Thomas Fitzgerald and the rest of the ill-fated Geraldines.

The next step taken by Henry to complete the tranquillization of Ireland, was the assumption of the royal title. Hitherto, though exercising all the essentials of sovereignty, the kings of England had contented themselves with the title of lords of Ireland. This term was now changed by act of parliament into that of king. The alteration was commemorated by conferring peerages on several of the heads of the great families. O'Neill was made Earl of Tyrone, with the singular privilege of transmitting the title and estate to an illegitimate son, to the prejudice of his lawful issue. Ulick de Burgho was created Earl of Clanricarde, and O'Brien Earl of Thomond. Several of inferior note were created barons. Besides the act declaring the king's regal title, others, to the following purport, give striking indications of the manners of the times: Laymen and boys were excluded from ecclesiastical benefices; homicide and robbery were punished by fine, wilful murder and rape by death; coynage and livery were prohibited, unless by command of the lord-deputy; idle men and retainers were forbidden; noblemen were allowed no more than twenty cubits or bundles of linen in their shirts, which were not to be dyed with saffron; and the people of a country into which a theft was traced, were to trace it thence, or make restitution. A glaring omission in these statutes rendered them almost nugatory. Whilst the great lords were rendered more dependent on the crown by the abolition of their ancient tenures, no provision was made in favour of the subordinate chieftains, or the great mass of the population, over whom their ancient masters were still permitted to exert their former arbitrary dominion. Neither was this omission caused by inadvertence. The petitions of the natives to be governed by English law were disregarded or denied. O'Byrne, the head of a sept which had long kept the capital in a state of alarm, vainly petitioned that his territory should be converted into an English county by the name of Wicklow. A similar proposal for the Annaly, from its proprietors the O'Ferrals, was treated in like manner, although the king, when applied to, had acquiesced in the arrangement. The only territorial change ventured upon by the lord-deputy was the division of the territory of Meath into the counties of East and West Meath. Still, however, the civil reformation of the country was in progress. A state of general tranquillity was perceptible. Such, indeed, was the spirit of allegiance at this period, that Francis I., then at war with England, found it impossible to move the Irish to insurrection. On the contrary, Henry was attended to Calais on his French expedition by a considerable body of Irish troops, who distinguished themselves equally by their agility during the march, and their ferocity in the combat.

But the happy prospect which now began to dawn over the country was marred by the mismanagement of the English government. O'More and O'Connor of Offaly had renewed their incursions into Leinster. They were soon driven back into their fastnesses, whence they were lured, by a delusive expectation of pardon and favour, on condition of presenting themselves to the king. Scarcely, however, had they arrived at court when they were seized and thrown into prison, where the former soon sunk under the severity of his treatment. The disgust excited by this act of treachery was heightened by the manner in which the reformation was pressed upon the people. When Dowdal, the primate, who had succeeded Cromer, refused to countenance the new doctrines, an old controversy relative to the superiority of the sees of Armagh and Dublin was revived, and, by a royal patent, the title of primacy was transferred from the former to the latter see. Dowdal, unable to brook the indignity, peevishly as well as injudiciously deserted his see, and retired to the Continent. The opposite party, taking advantage of this false step, immediately placed Goodacre, a Protestant bishop, in the see he had abdicated. Throughout the country parts also, the removal of the clergy of the ancient faith, and the introduction of those of the new doctrines, were carried on in a spirit of violence and acrimony unbecoming the cause and irritating to the people. The garrison of Athlone attacked the ancient and venerated recess of Clonmacnoise, plundered its furniture, defaced its ornaments, and defiled its altars. Similar excesses took place in other parts. Thus the impression made by those champions of reform was, that the new system sanctioned sacrilege and robbery. In the north, the general peace was disturbed by the family dissensions of the O'Neills. Shane or John O'Neill, the legitimate son of the first Earl of Tyrone, laboured sedulously to induce his father to alter the arrangement which gave the inheritance to his natural son Matthew. The latter threw himself for protection on the lord-deputy, who could devise no better means for closing the family schism, than by seizing on the persons of the earl and his countess, whom he kept in close confinement. The consequence of this arbitrary act was the throwing the whole of that country into the hands of Shane, who claimed it by the principles of the English law, and who, assisted by a body of Scots, committed terrible depredations on the property of those who disputed his right or set his power at defiance.

A new revolution, occasioned by the death of Edward VI., added to this state of confusion. The religion was again changed. Dowdal was recalled to the primacy; the most violent of his opponents fled the country, and the great body of the clergy returned to their former faith. This restoration was attended with no acts of violence; the Protestants were not persecuted. On the contrary, several of the English, who had fled from the severity of the law in their own country, were received and sheltered by the Catholics in Ireland. Not so with the Irish. The septs of Leix and Offaly resisted the forfeiture of their lands. They insisted that the offences of their leaders History ought not to involve in their confiscation the inferior heads. They took up arms in defence of their rights; but they were soon taught the futility of their opposition. An armed force was sent into the country, which proceeded in the work of extermination with such ruthless ferocity, that scarcely a remnant of the ancient residents could be found to avail themselves of the tardy pardons procured for them by the generous interference of the Earls of Kildare and Ossory. The territory was reduced into shire-ground, under the names of the King's and Queen's Counties, in honour of Philip and Mary, whose names were given to the respective assize towns of each.

Elizabeth, on her accession, found the whole island involved in a state of petty warfare. The Earl of Thomond contended with another branch of the O'Briens for the rulership of North Munster. The Desmonds and Butlers renewed their contentions in the south. McWilliam Oughter rose in arms against the De Burghos of Clanricarde. The dispossessed inhabitants of Leix and Offaly revenged themselves by the pillage of the neighbouring districts of Leinster, and Shane O'Neill was making rapid strides towards the sovereignty of the whole of Ulster. The last named of these parties was the first pacified. Sir Henry Sidney, the new lord-deputy, instead of turning the military force of the queen against him in the first instance, had recourse to gentler measures. Accepting an invitation to settle the matters in controversy at O'Neill's own residence, he was received with such splendid hospitality, and heard such a statement of facts, as induced him not only to relinquish all ideas of severity, but to engage to be his mediator with the queen. O'Neill even attended the lord-deputy to Dublin; but when there, being made more fully aware of the deadly machinations of his secret enemies, who thirsted to make his princely property an object of confiscation, he adopted the daring resolution of proceeding to London, and laying his case before the queen in person. Attended by a chosen band of followers equipped in the most appropriate costume of the country, he entered that city, to the astonishment and delight of the population, then as well as now fascinated by show and singularity. A native Irish chieftain, followed by a band of men armed in a strange fashion, with heads bare, their hair flowing in clustering curls on their shoulders, clad in saffron linen vests of exuberant folds, surcharged with light and polished cuirasses, and bearing broad double-edged battle-axes over the shoulders, caught the fancy and dazzled the imagination, not only of the populace, but of the queen herself. She received the singular visitant with marked favour, and sent him back to Ireland secured in the possession of the title and property which he claimed as his right upon his father's death. But this unexpected tide of royal favour only whetted the ingenuity of his enemies at home. Complaint after complaint, either of actual offence or of imputed ill intention, was sent over to Elizabeth, whose answer, "that if he revolted it would be better for her servants, as there would be more forfeitures to divide amongst them," excited their hopes, as the prospect of the prey had roused their cupidity. Sir Henry Sidney had placed a garrison in the town of Derry. This step O'Neill considered as an infringement of his rights, and an intrusion on his sovereignty. A body of forces led by him against it defeated and slew the governor. Shortly afterwards, the church, which had been used as a powder magazine, was blown up by accident, and the garrison forced to evacuate the place. This event was construed by the people into a judgment from heaven for the profanation. O'Neill then proceeded to Armagh, which he took by storm, and burned the cathedral; but was baffled in a subsequent attempt upon Dundalk. The tide of fortune now set strongly against him. Several of the native chieftains in the north, and Desmond in the south, took part with the government. His forces were unequal to contend against such a combination. Finding resistance hopeless, his first emotion was to throw himself on the mercy of the lord-deputy; but the treatment of O'More under similar circumstances deterred him. He therefore determined to seek the protection of a body of Scotchmen, who were encamped in that part of Antrim then known by the name of Clanboy. His proposal of joining this party, which was readily accepted by them, became known to the English governor, who sent an officer of the name of Piers to the Scotch commander, to persuade him to assassinate his unsuspecting guest. The plot succeeded. O'Neill, on his arrival, was assailed by a party of his host's followers, upon the futile pretence of a sudden quarrel during the entertainment to which he was invited. His head was sent to Dublin, and Piers received a thousand pounds for his share in the transaction. The deputy named a feeble old man, named Tirlogh Leynagh, as head of the sept, to prevent this office being filled by a more youthful and daring individual.

The ruin of O'Neill in the north was followed by that of Desmond in the south. A small body of Spaniards was brought into that part of Ireland by a banished branch of the Fitzgerald family. Though the Earl of Desmond steadily persevered in avoiding to connect himself with their proceedings, the conduct of some of his relations involved him in suspicions, which were then nearly tantamount to guilt. His brothers Sir John and Sir James having joined the invading party, the former disgraced himself, and injured his cause, by the unprovoked murder of an English gentleman of the name of Davels, who had been sent by the deputy to persuade them to continue in their allegiance. The whole force of the government was directed against the family. The army of the insurgents was utterly routed at Kilmallock. The earl himself, though as yet guilty of no overt act, received a peremptory order to surrender within twenty days; and upon his declining to appear, he was declared a traitor. The war was carried on against him with unexampled cruelty. Slaughter, fire, and famine, desolated the finest parts of the rich province of Munster. Desmond, driven to desperation, made a vigorous stand. At one time he possessed himself of the town of Youghal, but was soon afterwards defeated by his old and bitter enemy the Earl of Ormond. At this time a new lord-deputy was sent over in the person of Lord Grey. His first effort was an attack upon the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, who were charged with having banded themselves in alliance with Desmond. He determined to attack them in their stronghold of Glenalogh, in the very centre of the mountains; but, when entangled in the inextricable labyrinths of these mountain fastnesses, he was assaulted with such well-judged fury, that his army was cut off almost to a man, he himself scarcely escaping to Dublin, overwhelmed with shame and confusion. Hence he was soon afterwards called away to Munster. A body of Spaniards seven hundred strong had arrived in Kerry to the aid of Desmond; but the number was too small to be effective. On their landing they secured themselves in an intrenchment, which they named Fort d'Ore. Here they were blocked up by the lord-deputy, so as to render escape impossible. They surrendered, whether on terms or at discretion is uncertain. But the subsequent atrocity is as certain as it is detestable. Lord Grey ordered the whole of the garrison to be butchered. His instructions were executed to the letter. Sir Walter Raleigh, and Spencer the poet, were involved in the infamy of this abominable act, the one as the officer presiding at the massacre, the other as assisting in the councils where it was devised. The war was now at an end, but the chief victim still found means to avoid the indefatigable pursuit of his enemies. Hunted from fair to fair, he suffered all the extremity of famine. A few of his daring adherents had seized a prey of cattle for his sustenance. They were traced into a wooded valley, where, attracted by a light, his pursuers were led to a hovel, in which they found only a feeble old man. On being assaulted and wounded, he called out for mercy, and told them he was the Earl of Desmond. This was the signal for his death. The soldier repeated his blow, and slew him. His head was forwarded to the queen, who ordered it to be fixed upon London Bridge.

The government of Sir John Perrott, who succeeded Lord Grey, presents one of the bright spots in the history of the country. His first act was to publish an amnesty, and to denounce the military slaughters and spoliations which were encouraged by too many of the commanders. He took care to secure all parties in their persons and properties, to administer justice to all alike, and to reform the gross abuses in the public departments. Nor were his endeavours unsuccessful. The natives vied with each other in tendering proofs of loyalty. The old lords of the pale suspended their feuds, and came up to attend his court in Dublin. A parliament was assembled, which, though with some reluctance, passed an act for the attainder of the deceased Lord Desmond, together with an hundred and forty of his followers, and confiscated his immense estate to the crown. Having thus reduced the south to order, he turned his attention to Ulster. Hugh, the eldest son of Matthew, Lord Dungannon, was entitled to the honours and estates belonging to the earldom of Tyrone. He had been educated in England, and had served with honour in the queen's army. He now applied for his seat in the House of Lords, and for the restoration of his property. Perrott granted him the first of these requests, and referred him to the queen as to the second. He therefore presented himself at court, not, like his predecessor, in the wild attire and equipage of an Irish dynast, but as a British courtier. He was received with marked partiality, and soon restored to his possessions. The close of Perrott's government was stained by an act unworthy of him. O'Donnell, the chieftain of Tyrconnel, was suspected of meditating a revolt. Perrott undertook to stifle the attempt without difficulty or expense. To effect this, he caused O'Donnell's eldest son to be inveigled on board a ship sent into Lough Swilly, on pretence of trafficking in wine, and had the young man brought up to Dublin, where he was kept for some time in close confinement. But such had been this governor's general conduct, that even an act so unjustifiable did not deprive him of general confidence. On his recall, being aware of an impending Spanish invasion, he assembled such of the lords and chieftains as were most likely to be swayed from their allegiance by the appearance of a foreign force, pointed out to them the consequences which must result from the apprehended invasion, and persuaded them to give hostages in proof of their determination to adhere to their sovereign. He then quitted the country, followed by the blessings and prayers of thousands. The conduct of his successor, Sir William Fitzwilliam, whose sole object appeared to be the accumulation of wealth, enhanced the feelings of regret for his departure. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, several of the ships belonging to it were lost on the northern coast of Ireland. Reports were rife as to the quantities of money acquired from the wrecks by the chieftains residing in the neighbourhood. Fitzwilliam seized upon some of them, on the mere suspicion of their being in possession of these treasures, and kept them for years in close confinement. He afterwards imprisoned McMahon, the head of the sept that held Monaghan county, on a charge of treason, for having employed a military force to collect his revenues, an usual custom in the Irish districts, and brought him to trial before a jury of soldiers, by whom he was at once condemned and consigned to immediate execution. These and similar severities excited the spirit which they professed to repress. Young O'Donnell, who had been treacherously entrapped by Perrott, found means to escape from Dublin Castle, and took refuge in the mountains of Wicklow, whence, after a year's residence, he made his way, through extraordinary difficulties, to his own country, where he was most active in fomenting the spirit of discontent amongst his neighbours.

About this time the university of Dublin was founded, on the site of a suppressed monastery. The project was first conceived by Sir John Perrott, but it was not acted upon until the time of his successor. It was the only successful effort since the arrival of the English at imparting to the country a knowledge of the higher branches of learning.

O'Neill, ever since his restoration to his estate, had been preparing means for the part he afterwards acted. Amongst the stipulations in his favour on his restoration, was the privilege of being attended with a certain number of armed men. These he frequently changed, so as to have in a short time a large number of his followers trained to the use of arms. When he conceived himself sufficiently prepared to set the English power at defiance, he threw off the mask, and openly laid siege to the fort of Blackwater, built some time before for the avowed purpose of keeping him in check. Sir Nicholas Bagnal was sent to relieve it. The opposing armies met near Armagh. The numbers on each side were nearly equal, but fortune turned the scale of victory. In the heat of the engagement, the explosion of a magazine threw the queen's forces into confusion. The death of Bagnal, who, whilst raising his visor, was shot through the brain, rendered the confusion irremediable. The victory of the Irish was decisive, and fifteen hundred of the enemy fell in the field. The fort of Blackwater immediately surrendered, and Armagh was evacuated by the queen's troops.

Elizabeth at length determined to make one irresistible effort to crush an adversary now become truly formidable. She sent the Earl of Essex into Ireland as lord-lieutenant, at the head of twenty thousand men; a number deemed more than sufficient to accomplish her object in a single campaign. Essex had orders to proceed directly against Tyrone; but he took a course diametrically opposite. He directed his march southwards through Munster, where he found an impoverished and depopulated country, and an enemy that eluded every effort to bring them into decisive collision. In passing through Leix, his cavalry suffered heavily from the repeated desultory attacks of O'More, who cherished all his ancestor's hereditary hatred of the English; whilst another division of his army was defeated by the O'Byrnes of the mountains. In another quarter Sir Conyers Clifford, who was sent into Connaught to create a diversion in favour of the main body, was routed and killed in the Curlew Mountains, by O'Ruark, prince of Breffney, as the county of Leitrim was then called. These repeated losses so diminished the numbers and broke the spirit of the English, that when Essex moved northwards to effect his main object, he found his means inadequate to the attempt. An interview was proposed and accepted, which was followed by a truce for six weeks, in consequence of which the English army returned to its quarters in Leinster.

The anger of Elizabeth at this termination of her expensive expedition was extreme. Essex, to ward off its effect, took the desperate expedient of returning unbidden to court, to justify himself in person. The act was as unfortunate as incensurate. He was arrested, imprisoned, and, on a still more frantic effort to excite the citizens of London against the queen, was tried and beheaded.

Sir Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, was sent to Ireland in the place of Essex. His love of literature had excited History, an opinion of his effeminacy. O'Neill excelled openly at the appointment of a man "who would lose the season of action whilst his breakfast was making ready." He was soon to learn that the graces of polite literature are by no means incompatible with the qualifications of a warrior. At the commencement of Lord Mountjoy's proceedings, an occurrence took place which excited in his mind strong doubts of the honesty of the Earl of Ormond, who had still the chief command of the army. This nobleman having allowed himself to be trepanned into a conference with O'More, the chieftain of Leix, on pretence of treating as to terms of submission, was seized and long detained prisoner, as Mountjoy was not over hasty in paying a large ransom for a man who, he shrewdly suspected, had been the secret cause of his own calamity. The proceedings against O'Neill were conducted with much policy. The inferior chiefs were bribed to join in the confederacy against him. Rival claimants were set up against his friends. The lands of those who adhered to him were mercilessly devastated. Pardon was granted to the insurgents only on the condition of betraying or murdering a relative or friend. A strict adherence to these practices soon wasted O'Neill's strength. He persevered in his resistance, however, in the hope of succours from Spain. These at length arrived, but fell far short of what his expectations had anticipated, or the greatness of the emergency called for. Two thousand men, under the command of Don Juan d'Aquila, were all that Philip of Spain would or could spare towards this effort to crush his rival, or at least to dismember her empire. To complete the series of ill-combined arrangements, the invading force landed at Kinsale, in the south of Ireland, whilst the ally whose interests it was sent to maintain was shut up in the northern extremity of the island. The Spaniards, as soon as they landed, were blocked up in Kinsale by the combined forces of the lord-deputy, and Sir George Carew, president of Munster. Don Juan wrote in the most urgent terms to O'Neill and O'Donnell to come to his relief. They advanced at the extraordinary speed of forty miles a day, through a country already desolated by the protracted continuance of a war of extermination. At the same time that they arrived near the scene of action, the landing of a second Spanish armament at Castlehaven, joined to the intelligence that this was to be followed by still further succours, induced several of the southern chieftains to declare themselves openly in favour of the Spaniards; and Mountjoy now found himself blocked up in turn, between the garrison of Kinsale on the one side and the Irish army on the other. Under such circumstances, delay would have been ruin. Famine and disease, already active in his camp, must soon have accomplished the annihilation of his army. The impatience of the Spanish general, and the want of concert among the Irish, saved him. O'Neill was prevailed upon to hazard an attack upon the English lines. In this he was anticipated. Mountjoy, aware of his intention, marched to meet him with part of his forces, leaving the remainder to keep the besieged in check. The enemy were taken by surprise, and, after a short resistance, the main body of the Irish was broken and scattered. O'Donnell, who commanded the rear, fled without striking a blow. O'Neill, after some ineffectual attempts to rally his men, still much superior in numbers, gave up the attempt in despair, and hurried back to the north. The Spanish general, finding himself deserted, and, as he thought, betrayed, by his new auxiliaries, surrendered upon terms. The war of desolation was now carried into the northern province. The forts of Charlemont and Mountjoy were erected to curb the Irish in that quarter. The open country was desolated. Large tracts were converted into deserts, where the miserable remnant of the population endeavoured to support nature by feeding on grass, or the filthiest garbage. O'Neill's friends and adherents gradually fell off. He at length applied to be received into mercy. Mountjoy, at this time aware of the precarious state of Elizabeth's existence, was equally anxious to terminate the struggle. After receiving from O'Neill an abject submission on his knees at Mellifont, he admitted him to pardon, and encouraged him with the hope of restoration to his title and estate. Scarcely had the ceremony been concluded when the news of Elizabeth's death arrived. O'Neill, on hearing of it, burst into a flood of tears, occasioned, as he said, by his regret for a princess whose kindness he had so ungratefully repaid, but, with more probability, by the reflection that an earlier intimation of the event might have enabled him to take advantage of it for procuring terms less degrading. The war could not have been much longer continued. It had worn itself out; the resources of the country were completely exhausted; the population was reduced to the number of from six to eight hundred thousand; the finances were in the most ruinous state; and the debasement of the coin, an expedient adopted by Elizabeth to carry off the ruin, ultimately served only to aggravate the distress.

With the exception of an effort made in the cities of Waterford and Cork to restore the old forms of worship, which was speedily put down with the effusion of but little blood, the submission of Tyrone restored the general tranquillity to such a degree, that Mountjoy felt justified in proceeding to England to present himself before his new sovereign, leaving Sir George Carew in his place as lord-deputy. He was accompanied by O'Neill and O'Donnell, the former of whom was confirmed in his title of Tyrone, and the latter created Earl of Tyrconnel. Before his departure he published a general amnesty, and received into the protection of the English law the whole of the Irish people hitherto exposed to the ill-defined rule of their respective chieftains. But the dawn of tranquillity was darkened by the apprehension of fresh convulsions. An anonymous letter was found in the council-chamber of the castle, hinting at the existence of a conspiracy carried on by some of the great Irish lords against the state. On the alarm being given, the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, actuated either by a consciousness of guilt, or by an apprehension that they were specially marked out as the objects of persecution, left the country, and took refuge in Spain. Their flight was considered as sufficient proof of their guilt. They were attainted, and their immense possessions forfeited to the crown. In one district of the north the flame of insurrection broke out openly. Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, proprietor of Innishowen, who had hitherto espoused the cause of the English, disclaimed his allegiance, seized by treachery the fort of Culmore, and thence proceeded to attack the town and fort of Derry, which he took by storm, putting the whole garrison, with the commandant, to the sword; but after continuing his ravages for five months, his followers were routed, and himself slain, in an engagement, by Sir Arthur Chichester, the lord-deputy, who found his presence necessary for the complete suppression of the insurrection.

The death of this chieftain and the flight of the two earls having placed nearly the whole of Ulster in the king's hands, he resolved to remodel the province, by removing the ancient possessors, and introducing a colony of English and Scotch settlers in their stead. The tract on which the experiment was to be made comprehended the counties of Tyrconnel, since called Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Armagh, and Cavan, spreading over upwards of half a million of acres. The lands were to be portioned out into estates varying from one to two thousand acres, the proprietors of which were bound to build substantial residences in them after the English fashion, and to people them with English and Scotch tenantry. The city of London was peculiarly active in promoting this plan. A company of merchants and undertakers there, under the name of the Irish Society, contracted for large tracts of land, which they still hold under this tenure. The remainder was portioned out amongst private individuals, either English or Scotch, who thus became the founders of most of the principal families now residing in these counties. The order of baronets was instituted in order to promote the execution of this favourite project of James. The number of its members was limited to two hundred, each of whom purchased his rank by the payment of a sum adequate to support thirty men on the new plantation for three years. About the same time, the county of Wicklow, heretofore the property of the septs of the O'Byrnes, and O'Tooles or O'Tothils, was made shire-ground, after the natives had been dispossessed by a summary process, somewhat similar to that employed in the settlement of the northern counties.

In order to secure the permanence of these changes by positive law, a parliament was convoked, after a lapse of twenty-seven years. It was the first to which members from all the counties of Ireland were sent. To secure a preponderance in favour of the crown, a number of new boroughs was created, in the charters of which the right of election was placed in hands which secured subserviency to the ruling power of the day. Notwithstanding this precaution, the political aspect which this assemblage presented was by no means promising. In the upper house, which consisted of but four earls, five viscounts, sixteen barons, and twenty-five bishops, the numbers of the latter order gave the crown an irresistible preponderance. But in the House of Commons the parties were more equally balanced. The election of a speaker served as a trial of strength. The court party proposed Sir John Davis, the attorney-general, an Englishman, and author of the celebrated tract on the Causes why Ireland had never been completely subdued. The country party set up Sir John Everard, an Irish lawyer of respectable family. The election went in favour of the former, by a majority of a hundred and twenty-seven votes to ninety-seven. The defeated party, not content with protesting against the unfair construction of the house, took advantage of the absence of the majority, who had left the apartment for the purpose of being counted on the division, put their own speaker in the chair, and were proceeding to pass resolutions, when the excluded members returned, and, failing in an attempt to eject Everard from the chair, placed their own nominee in his lap. The scene of disgraceful tumult which followed was at length terminated by the secession of the minority, after they had protested against all the acts that should be passed, as informal and unconstitutional.

A commission, issued for the discovery of defective titles, at the head of which was placed Sir William Parsons, a name of no small notoriety in the series of subsequent events, began now to excite alarm. During the long continuance of civil war, the loss of family documents, the neglect of the performance of feudal services, the ignorance of the great proprietors, and the uncertainty of the law fluctuating between English and Irish tenure, brought most persons of property within its fangs, and excited the alarm of all. By means of it the king established a claim of right to upwards of an additional half million of acres. The chief profit of these confiscations accrued to the members and dependents of the government, who employed agents, technically called discoverers, to scrutinize titles and discover flaws, receiving as their reward a portion of the lands charged with being concealed or illegally withheld from the crown. Their success in other parts led them to project the confiscation of the whole of Connaught. The king's claim rested on a case of the most flagrant iniquity. The lands of this province had been surrendered by their proprietors to Sir John Perrott, and restored to them by grants from the queen, to be held under the provisions of English law. Having neglected to enrol their patents in that reign of turbulence and internal commotion, they surrendered them anew to James, and took out new patents, for the enrolment of which a sum of three thousand pounds was paid. The officers of chancery, either through negligence, or from a worse motive, omitted to execute the process of enrolment, and the king, towards the close of his reign, was preparing to take advantage of the loches of his own servants, and to seize on Connaught, in order to have it parcelled out anew, as he had done with Ulster. The injured party, aware of their adversaries' power, prepared to avert the ruin which impended over them, by the proffer of ten thousand pounds. Whether the necessities of this extravagant monarch would have led him to the acceptance of that sum for the fulfilment of his part of an equitable contract, cannot now be decided. His death left the question at issue to be handed down to his successor, as one of the ingredients of discontent in the cup of bitterness that he was condemned to drain to the very dregs.

Charles I. began his reign by sending a large force to Ireland, both to provide against the danger of foreign invasion, and to curb internal disaffection; but, through a deficiency of pecuniary means to support the troops, he had recourse to the exertion of his prerogative, and quartered them on the counties and principal towns, obliging the inhabitants to supply them, not only with lodging, but with money and provisions. The murmurs against this oppressive imposts were loud and frequent. A meeting of the principal Catholic recusants and great landed proprietors having assembled in Dublin, proposed to Lord Falkland, the lord-lieutenant, to grant the king a voluntary assessment of an hundred and twenty thousand pounds, on a guarantee of security in their rights and properties. The proposal was accepted by the king, who sent over the document containing the required concessions, ratified by his signature, in order to their being confirmed by the ensuing parliament. The principal articles in this covenant, which was known by the name of The Graces, were—that the king's claim to lands should be limited to sixty years; that the Connaught proprietors should receive new patents; that the exactions of the soldiery should be restrained, the fees of the king's officers and the powers of his courts defined, the powers of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction limited, and a general pardon granted for all past offences. When the parliament which was to give the sanction of law to these favours had met, an informality in the writs for assembling was alleged as a reason for not having then confirmed them; and as no new writs were issued, nor any steps taken to convocate another parliament, the people, who had advanced their money on the security of this promise, entertained strong doubts of the king's sincerity. The recall of Lord Falkland served to confirm these suspicions. The lords-justices who were appointed on his departure executed the laws against recusant Catholics with great severity. They caused the celebrated place of penance in Loughderg, called St Patrick's Purgatory, to be dug up and desecrated; and on being resisted by a tumultuous mob in an endeavour to prevent the Carmelite friars of Dublin from publicly performing their religious rites, they seized upon fifteen religious houses, and dispossessed the Catholics of their college in Backlane, giving it to the Dublin university, which kept it open for some time as a Protestant seminary. These measures only augmented the spirit of discontent, to repress which Charles sent over Lord Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford. This nobleman, from being one of the most active leaders of the popular party in the English parliament, became at once the most violent assertor of the king's arbitrary measures. Equally proud and daring, he took no pains to conceal or palliate his desertion. "You see, gentlemen," said he to some of his former political friends, "I have quitted you." "We see you have," replied one of these sturdy republicans; but, with God's blessing, we will never quit you while you have a head on your shoulders." His policy on his arrival was to treat Ireland as a conquered country, and to beat down opposition, from whatever quarter it might arise, by the stern arm of power. His arbitrary conduct made no distinction of persons. The Earl of Kildare having left the country without his permission, for the purpose of laying a complaint against his overbearing conduct before the king, was forced to make an abject submission to the person against whom he complained. Lord Mountnorris, for having used an unguarded expression, which could be distorted into a threat against the lord-lieutenant, was seized, tried by a court-martial, and sentenced to death, and escaped punishment only by the universal outcry raised against such a stretch of power. One Irish nobleman had courage sufficient to oppose this conduct. Strafford, on the meeting of parliament, had issued orders that the members should lay aside their swords when they took their seats. The Earl of Ormond, who had just come of age, on being stopped at the entrance of the House of Lords, and required by the usher of the black rod to give up his sword, answered, that if that officer must have his sword, it should be through his body, and passed on to his seat. On being summoned before the council to answer for this daring insult on the viceregal authority, he defended himself by saying that he had received the investiture to his earldom per cinetum gladii, and was ordered by the writ of summons to attend parliament gladio cinetus. The answer, as spirited as it was unexpected, staggered Strafford. He felt that such a spirit in so young a man must either be crushed at once, or otherwise directed. He had the prudence to adopt the latter course; and Ormond, at the age of twenty-four, was admitted into the Irish privy council. The imperious and harsh measures of the lord-lieutenant had, however, the effect of putting down all opposition in parliament. Six subsidies, amounting to three hundred thousand pounds, were granted, and no steps taken to secure to the people, by the sanction of parliament, those graces which the king had pledged himself to grant, and for which they had paid so highly. In some respects Strafford's government was laudable. He reformed the army, so as to render it efficient without being burdensome to the people; he encouraged the linen manufacture, using at the same time every means to depress that of wool; he promoted a spirit of commerce, and guarded the coasts with great vigilance against the annoyance of pirates. Amongst the worst acts of his government, was his project to subvert all titles to estates in Connaught, in order to plant a new Protestant colony in that province. Taking with him a large body of soldiers to overawe the juries, he held courts of inquest to investigate titles. His measures were effectual in four counties. In Galway, the jurors having presumed to give a verdict against the crown, were summoned before the court of the council chamber in Dublin, and the sheriff fined a thousand pounds for returning an improper jury. The exigencies of Charles's affairs induced him to call over Strafford to England, where, after some time, he was impeached by the House of Commons. The principal charges against him rested upon his conduct whilst in Ireland. Several articles were certainly groundless, others exaggerated, but more than sufficient remained to justify the sentence which brought his head to the block, and fulfilled the ominous prediction of the party he had deserted when in the zenith of his prosperity.

Whilst general discontent in Ireland was fermenting through the duplicity of the king, the arbitrary conduct of his officers, the suggestions of his enemies in England, and their bloody triumph over his great agent, a secret conspiracy was forming to rescue the country by force of arms from its present oppressed state, and to restore the property of it to those whom the late changes had ejected. The deviser and main-spring of the plot was Roger Moore, a descendant of the O'Mores of Leix, who had been dispossessed in the reign of Mary. In conjunction with a son of the Earl of Tyrone, who, on escaping to Spain, had obtained the command of a regiment in the Spanish service, he set about procuring the means to accomplish this daring measure. Returning to Ireland, he gained over several of the heads of the old Irish families. The death of Tyrone checked, but did not prevent, his proceedings. Application was made to another branch of the family, Owen Roe O'Neill, then in the service of the king of France, from whom the conspirators received assurances of military aid when matters should be ripe. The seizure of the castle of Dublin was to be the first overt act, and the 5th of October was fixed on for the attempt. The timidity of some of the parties caused its postponement. Roger Moore, after having visited his friends in Ulster, on whose exertions, owing to the severity with which they had been dispossessed in the late settlement of that province, he placed most dependence, came up to Dublin to superintend the attack, which was now fixed for the 23d of the same month. The lords-justices, Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase, were till this moment unaware of the conspiracy, and unprepared for resistance. On the evening of the 22d, information of its existence was given, through Owen Conolly, a Protestant, who had been invited to join in it. Parsons paid little attention to his statement, but Borlase took the alarm, placed guards on the castle and principal avenues, and seized McMahon and Lord M'Guire. Moore had sufficient notice of the discovery to make his escape. Dublin was thus saved; but the insurrection broke out with irresistible fury in the north, where Sir Phelim O'Neill, one of the Tyrone family, a man of mean capacity but violent passions, took the lead, by surprising the castles of Charlemont, Dungannon, and Mountjoy. Tandergarce, and the border town of Newry, soon afterwards fell into the hands of the insurgents. Fermanagh was seized upon by a brother of Lord M'Guire, and Monaghan by the McMahons. So well organized was the conspiracy, that within eight days' time the Irish found themselves masters of the counties of Tyrone, Monaghan, Longford, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal, and Derry, together with some parts of Armagh and Down.

In the mean time the lords-justices were engaged in taking measures for their own security in Dublin. All strangers were ordered to quit the city. Parliament was prorogued. The sheriffs of the counties of the pale received orders to provide for the security of their respective districts. The Catholic lords of the pale attended the counsel, declaring their readiness to assist in the defense of the country. The lords-justices, suspicious of their motives, yet unwilling to irritate them by an expression of doubt, furnished a small supply of arms to those most exposed to danger. After the first burst of an explosion so general and so unexpected, the progress of the insurgents failed to keep pace with their primary exertions. The Protestants in Down took refuge in Carrickfergus. In Fermanagh, Enniskillen set the attempts of the insurgents at defiance, and Lord M'Guire's castle was taken by storm. Sir Phelim O'Neill was driven with disgrace and loss from Castlederg, was defeated in Donegal, forced to retire from before Newry, and again routed on Lisburn, then called Lisnegarvey, with such slaughter that the number of the slain is said to have trebled that of the garrison. These reverses were attended with consequences truly dreadful. The Irish, exasperated by defeat, carried on their hostilities without mercy. The inhabitants of Lurgan, who had surrendered on terms, were seized, and the town plundered. Lord Caulfield, who had been taken in Charlemont, was murdered, with fifty others. Prisoners, whilst removing from one place of confinement to another, were attacked on the road and massacred, or driven into the nearest river. These excesses were not confined to the one side only. The garrison of Carrickfergus fell upon the Catholic inhabitants of the neighbouring peninsula of Island Magee, and forced a number of them over the rocks into the sea. Sir Charles Coote, who was sent out from Dublin to oppose the insurgents, carried on a war of extermination against all suspected of favouring them.

That these atrocities did not stain the rebellion at its commencement, but grew out of its progress, is evident from the fact, that no mention of a massacre is made in any of the proclamations issued by the lords-justices, even so late as the 23rd of December, three months after its commencement; the protestation of the Irish parliament, which met on the 17th of November, is also silent on the point; nor does any state paper emanating from the Irish government afford grounds for the charge. The parliament, on assembling, sat but for two days. Its only acts were a protestation against those who had taken arms, and the appointment of a committee to confer with their leaders. Alarmed at this act of concession, it was prorogued by the lords-justices; and the conference was broken off in the most indignant manner by O'Moore, when he found himself and his friends stigmatized in it by the name of rebels. The lords-justices now proceeded to deprive these noblemen and gentlemen of the pale of the arms furnished to them in the first paroxysm of terror. Exposed thus undefended to the attacks of the insurgents on the one hand, and to the suspicions of the government on the other, they held meetings with the leaders of the insurrection, first at the hill of Crofty, and afterwards at that of Tarrah, in consequence of which they determined to embody themselves as a force distinct from the Ulster Irish, under the command of Lord Gormanstown and the Earl of Fingal, with the professed purpose of confining their operations to self-defence. The lords-justices were alarmed. They now sent to invite the discontented lords and gentry to Dublin, to confer with them on the state of the country. These excused themselves, on the plea that they would not venture within a city under the control of Sir Charles Coote, whose sanguinary speeches at the council board, and massacres throughout the country, had already rendered him peculiarly obnoxious. They also drew up an address to the king, complaining of the injurious conduct of the lords-justices, by which they had been driven to the necessity of arming themselves in their own defence; and they published a manifesto to the same purport, for general circulation. The latter document produced a decisive effect. The insurrection, hitherto confined to Ulster and a small portion of Leinster and Connaught, at once became general. At the commencement of the year the authority of the lords-justices was confined to Dublin and Drogheda, the latter of which was in a state of siege. In Connaught, the town of Galway was retained in its allegiance through the influence of the Marquis of Clanricarde, the king's steady friend. In Munster, the cruelties of Sir Warham St Leger, president of the province, which equalled those of Sir Charles Coote in Leinster, drove even those hitherto well disposed into insurrection.

The arrival of supplies of men from England produced a change, and encouraged the lords-justices to exert themselves to crush their enemies. The means adopted by them were those of extreme severity. The prisoners of the lower orders brought into Dublin were summarily executed by martial law; those possessed of lands were tried by the regular course of law, in order to secure the confiscation of their property. Bills of indictment for high treason were found against all the Catholic nobility and gentry in Meath, Wicklow, and Dublin, and against many in Kildare. Several persons of imputed guilt were put to the torture to extort confessions. The Earl of Ormond, who had the command of the army, received instructions not only to kill all rebels and their adherents, but to burn all the places where they had been harboured, and to destroy all the male inhabitants capable of bearing arms. Nor were these merely denunciations, circulated for the purpose of producing obedience through terror. Sir William Cole's regiment alone boasted, that, besides killing two thousand five hundred men in battle, they had starved and famished, of the vulgar sort, whose goods they seized on, seven thousand. The Earl of Ormond was despatched into the county of Kildare to relieve and secure the castles which still held out for the government. After executing his commission, he defeated at Kilrush a large body of the Irish under Lord Mountgarret; but being unable, through want of supplies, to follow up his advantage, he was forced to content himself by thus securing a safe retreat to Dublin.

On the other side, the arrival of Owen Roe O'Neill gave fresh vigour to the cause of the Irish in Ulster. A Scotch force, which had been sent thither under the command of Lord Leven, remained inactive. Lord Leven, after an empty display, quitted the country, leaving the command to General Munroe, who, following the example of his predecessor, remained quiet in his quarters, whilst the forces of O'Neill were daily augmenting, by the accession of numbers of the natives, and by supplies of officers, military stores, and money, from the Continent.

The insurgents now began to find themselves sufficiently powerful to give form and regularity to their proceedings. A general assembly of delegates from all the provinces was convened at Kilkenny. Their first act was a declaration, in which, after professing their determination to adhere to their allegiance to the king, they disclaimed the authority of the Irish government in Dublin, administered as it was by a malignant party in conjunction with the king's enemies in England. They appointed for the execution of their edicts subordinate councils in the provinces, from which there was to be an appeal to the supreme council of the Catholics of Ireland, a permanent body, consisting of twenty-four members, chosen by the general assembly. Having thus organized their civil constitution, they provided for their military operations by giving Owen Roe O'Neill the command of their forces in Ulster; General Preston, who had lately brought a supply of arms and ammunition from France, in Leinster; Garret Barry in Munster; and Colonel Burke in Connaught. Lord Castlehaven, who, on the first breaking out of the war, had made a tender of his services to the government, but had been refused, having afterwards appeared in Dublin to justify himself from a charge of treason, was thrown into prison, whence he contrived to escape after a confinement of twenty weeks, and was appointed to the command of the Leinster cavalry.

The good effects of system soon showed themselves. Munroe was defeated in Ulster, and the united forces of Lords Muskerry and Castlehaven were successful in Munster. Connaught was wholly in obedience to the confederates; and though Preston had allowed himself to be defeated near New Ross, Lord Ormond found himself too weak to reap any decisive advantage from his victory. Yet, notwithstanding these favourable appearances, the leaders of the confederates, aware of the great superiority of their opponents, and not firmly united amongst themselves, were anxious to put an end to hostilities. But the English parliament obstinately refused to negotiate with those whom they styled rebels and murderers. The Earl of Ormond at the same time undertook to continue the war on the part of the crown, provided the lords-justices furnished him with a supply of ten thousand pounds. After much delay, a cessation of arms was acquiesced in by both the belligerent parties, for which the confederates agreed to advance to the amount of thirty thousand pounds for the king's service, one half in money, and the remainder in cattle.

The great object of the cessation of hostilities was to procure from the king a permanent settlement of the country. Both parties sent in their proposals. In these the Catholics asked for freedom of religion, seminaries for the education of their children, a free parliament, from which all who had not property in Ireland should be excluded, and an amnesty for the past. The Protestants, on the contrary, called for the strict execution of the penal laws, the total disarming of the Catholics, the vesting of all estates hitherto forfeited in the crown, and the distribution of them when so vested amongst English settlers exclusively. Charles gave no decisive answer to any of these proposals. He pleaded the difficulties of his situation, and referred them to Ormond, whom he had appointed chief governor instead of Parsons and Borlase, and had raised to the dignity of a marquis. Ormond procrastinated. The mean motives of avarice and personal aggrandizement are charged against him for his indecision in such an emergency. But be the cause what it might, the opportunity for a pacific settlement was let slip, and lost for ever.

The first eventful change was the desertion of the confederate party by Lord Inchiquin, who, on being refused the office of president of Munster by the king, declared for the parliament, and became the bitter enemy of his former associates. Still, however, the confederates had the advantage in several minor encounters, for military operations were not wholly stopped by the armistice. At this period, whilst they refused to furnish the king with supplies either of men or money until their interests were more fully secured than by the temporary stipulations of a truce, and whilst Ormond, on the king's part, resisted every attempt at a permanent peace, the pope's legate, Rinuncini, archbishop of Fermo, arrived, and in his master's name protested against any pacification which did not secure the public establishment of his religion. Charles, pressed by the exigencies of his situation, and unable to overcome Ormond's reluctance, employed another agent. He sent over the son of the Marquis of Worcester, Edward Lord Herbert, better known by the title of Earl of Glamorgan, to which he was soon afterwards promoted, who, through his influence with the confederates, succeeded in persuading them to make a double treaty, the one public, the other private; which latter contained articles insisted on by the Catholics, but deemed to be such as, if generally known, would increase the prejudice against the royal cause in the minds of the English. The secret clauses were, a provision that the members of each religious persuasion should pay their tithes to their own clergy, and that the churches should remain in the hands of their present possessors.

Rinuncini, who, while on his way to Ireland, had obtained from the queen an assurance of terms even more favourable than those of the private treaty, objected to both of them; he also insisted on the publication of the former. His wish was accomplished by an accident. Sir Charles Coote, the second of the name, for the former had been killed in a skirmish soon after the breaking out of the war, having defeated, near Sligo, a body of men commanded by the Archbishop of Tuam, found amongst the baggage of this prelate a copy of the secret articles. The document was immediately transmitted to the English parliament, which lost no time in publishing it throughout all parts of the country. Charles at once denied its authenticity. He declared that Glamorgan had exceeded his powers, and caused him to be arrested on a charge of treason, and examined before the Irish privy council. His duplicity gained him but little credit even at the time, and documents preserved in the public libraries of England have since furnished incontestible proofs of his insincerity. Glamorgan was soon liberated upon bail. The transaction destroyed all remaining confidence between the confederates and the king. Ormond refused to ratify the secret articles. Rinuncini, also, who had private information of the progress of a treaty at Paris between Charles and the pope, insisted on delay. In the mean time, the king's affairs became desperate; and Ormond, when it was now too late, consented to relinquish his objections to the repeal of the penal laws, and concluded a treaty with the confederates. But the want of confidence excited by the king's conduct caused delays in carrying the terms of the treaty into effect, which ended in the utter ruin of the royal cause. Rinuncini, still averse to a compromise which withheld from the Catholic church the enjoyment of any of its former privileges, made party with Owen Roe O'Neill, who, through the aid of the nuncio's money, was enabled to undertake offensive operations, and defeated Munroe at Benburb, a village on the Blackwater. Rinuncini, elated with his success, entered Kilkenny, appointed a new confederate council, and imprisoned the members of the old one. Ormond, in despair, resigned the sword of state, and retired to the Continent; and though he returned again armed with full powers as lord-lieutenant, and though a new general assembly of the confederates, convoked at Kilkenny, had declared themselves favourable to terms in which both parties might be led to acquiesce, and were violent in their protestations against the stubborn resistance of the nuncio, the adoption of any decisive measure was postponed, until all were aroused from their lethargy by the appalling news of the demand made by the parliamentary army in England to bring the king to trial. Then, indeed, the confederates agreed to the terms proposed by Ormond. The leading points were, the free exercise of religion, and the retaining of the churches then in possession of the Catholics until the king's pleasure should be known. Twelve individuals appointed by the general assembly, under the name of the commissioners of trust, were made guardians of the treaty, and vested with powers to levy soldiers, raise money, and perform all acts of supreme authority. The treaty was signed on the 17th of January 1648. But it was then too late. Before the news of its ratification could arrive in London, Charles had forfeited his life upon the scaffold.

Previously to the death of the king, no less than five armies were maintained in Ireland, each acting for a different object. The Marquis of Ormond commanded that of the king, for the purpose of restoring him to his government. The parliamentary forces, under Colonel Jones, had possession of Dublin; and in the south he was supported for some time by a force under the Earl of Inchiquin. General Preston commanded the troops of the confederate Catholics in Leinster. Owen Roe O'Neill, who had attached himself to the nuncio, and therefore was equally opposed to the king, the parliament, and the confederates, had the command of all Ulster, except a small portion of its eastern extremity, where Munroe was at the head of an army which favoured the Scotch. All these elements of intestine commotion were again thrown into action by the king's death. Rinuncini, indeed, finding that this event, which he was charged with having hastened by his obstinacy and violence, had alienated the whole of the Catholic population, quitted the country privately. Ormond then endeavoured to gain over O'Neill, but failed; he afterwards made overtures to Colonel Jones, with whom he was equally unsuccessful, his proposals being met with the retort that his suspicious conduct had been the cause of exciting the apprehensions of the king's insincerity, which prevented any of the parties in Ireland from coalescing with him sincerely, and thus led to his destruction. Having at length, from his own resources, collected an army sufficient to take the field, he invested Dublin, with the intention of reducing it by famine. But an advanced post at Baggottshard having been successfully assaulted by a sortie from the garrison, which followed up its success by an attack on the marquis's head-quarters at Rathmines, the whole besieging army was seized with such an unaccountable panic that it dispersed in all directions, leaving the general so utterly deserted, that when he wrote to Jones respecting the prisoners who had fallen into his hands, this officer's taunting reply was, that he did not know where to find his lordship in order to wait upon him on the business.

Before the marquis could recover from the effect of this defeat, news was brought him of the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in Dublin, with a select and well-appointed army of ten thousand men. After a short delay in that city to refresh his troops and to regulate the civil affairs of the country, Cromwell proceeded to besiege Drogheda, which Ormond, suspecting his intention, had provided with a good garrison, and abundance of military stores. After having made a practicable breach, the assault was given, but the besiegers were twice repulsed. On the third attack, led on by Cromwell in person, his troops forced their way into the town, and the garrison were overpowered. In the heat of action Cromwell put the whole garrison to the sword; and in this terrible severity he took the surest method to hasten the termination of what threatened to be a long and bloody conflict. The merciless but well-timed stroke broke the power of his adversaries, and by their intimidation saved the country from the bloodshed of a protracted struggle. From Drogheda Cromwell proceeded southwards to Wexford, which being well garrisoned and provided, was expected to make a long resistance, so as to give time to Ormond to collect his forces from other quarters. But it was betrayed by the treachery of the officer placed in command of the castle, and, when taken, treated with the same stern cruelty as that which had before marked Cromwell's triumph at Drogheda.

The effect of these terrible examples of severity in paralyzing opposition, was increased by the orders given by Cromwell to his troops to abstain from any wanton injuries on the peaceable peasantry, and to pay them in full for all their supplies; a system directly contrary to all former practice, according to which, the soldier, whether friend or foe, was ever the peasant's terror.

The only hope for the royalist party now rested in the cordial union of Ormond and O'Neill. Both were sensible that a junction of their forces was absolutely requisite to counteract the movements of Cromwell. To effect this object, O'Neill moved southwards with his army, but was seized on his march with a defluxion of the knees; a complaint attributed at the time to a pair of poisoned boots prepared for him by an agent of the confederates. Unwilling to retard the movements of the armies, he had himself conveyed in a litter, but sunk under the accumulated pressure of disease and fatigue, and died at Cloughouter Castle.

The commissioners of trust were so much alarmed at the treatment of Drogheda and Wexford, that they were with difficulty prevented, by the remonstrances of Ormond, from abandoning Kilkenny. The want of confidence which he experienced, both from the leaders of the confederates, and the inhabitants of several of the large towns in the south, tended much to embarrass him. The city of Waterford absolutely refused admission to his troops, even at a time when a passage through it was required to make a successful assault on the retiring army of Cromwell. This general commenced the campaign in 1650 by a movement on Kilkenny, which was to have been betrayed into his hands. But the plot being discovered, and the traitor executed, he was forced to lay regular siege to the place. It made a very gallant defence. After a breach had been effected, the besiegers were repulsed in two attempts, and Cromwell was preparing to retire, when he received secret information that the town magistrates were anxious to surrender. A third assault was then made, with as little success as the former; but Ireton having come up with a fresh supply of men, and the garrison having been informed that no assistance could be afforded them from without, the town surrendered on terms highly honourable to its defenders, who, on marching out, were complimented by Cromwell for their gallantry, and told, that had it not been for the treachery of the town's people, he must have raised the siege.

Clonmel still held out against the parliamentary army. The garrison was commanded by Hugh O'Neill, another branch of the family which had signalized itself in the wars of Ireland. The first assault was repelled with such slaughter that the infantry refused to advance a second time, and Cromwell was compelled to bring forward his own favourite regiment of cavalry. These succeeded in entering the breach, but met with an opposition so fierce and so unexpected, at a retrenchment thrown up within, that the greater part of the storming party lay dead or wounded on the spot, and the remainder evacuated the place. In the two assaults Cromwell lost two thousand of his best soldiers. Not daring to venture on a third, he changed the siege into a blockade. The Marquis of Ormond, aware of the importance of the place, made every exertion for its relief. Assisted by the Catholic bishop of Ross, he collected a numerous but tumultuary body of men in the western part of Cork. These were attacked and routed, and the bishop taken. His life was promised to him, provided he would prevail on the garrison of a neighbouring fort, which greatly annoyed the besiegers, to surrender. On going thither, he exhorted the garrison to persevere in their defence, and, on his return to the camp of Cromwell, was executed. O'Neill having defended the town as long as his ammunition lasted, withdrew his troops by night unobserved; and Cromwell, unaware of the movement, gave the people very favourable conditions, to which he was the more inclined, as the intelligence of Charles II. having taken refuge in Scotland, and the hostile indications from that quarter, rendered his presence in England necessary to his party. Immediately after the surrender of Clonmel, he proceeded to Youghal and embarked for England, leaving the army in charge of his son-in-law, Ireton.

All rational hope of successful resistance to the parliament was now at an end. Ormond prepared to quit the kingdom. The commissioners of trust for some time opposed his intention, conscious of the confusion which must arise from such a public avowal of his despondency. But with the Catholic clergy it was otherwise. They suspected that he was secretly negotiating with Cromwell. His former conduct afforded plausible grounds for such a suspicion; and during the siege of Clonmel he had procured passes from that general for himself and Lord Inchiquin to go to England. A synod of the bishops, held at Jamestown, resolved upon sending a deputation to him, calling upon him to quit the country, and transfer his powers to some trustworthy person, who enjoyed the confidence of the nation. A second resolution denounced excommunication against all who should hereafter adhere to him. Whilst the relics of those who professed attachment to the royal cause were wasting their strength and ruining their prospects by these proceedings, Ireton was engaged in extending his authority by the reduction of History. one place of strength after another. Ormond, as a last resource, convened a general assembly at Loughrea; but the party of the clergy was too powerful. Finding all means ineffectual to induce them to recall their hostile declaration, he embarked in a frigate provided for him by the Duke of York, transferring his powers as lord-lieutenant to the Marquis of Clanricarde. An extraordinary negotiation was now commenced with the Duke of Lorraine, by which it was proposed, that on the advance of a large sum of money, and a proportionate supply of military stores, he should be declared protector of the royal cause, and receive some towns as cautionary securities. But the rapid progress of Ireton baffled all these projects. Limerick was reduced, partly by the effects of a pestilential disease, partly by treachery. Amongst the victims of the plague was Ireton himself. After his death, Galway surrendered to Ludlow, his successor. A last desperate attempt at resistance was made in Connaught by Clanricarde, aided by Sir Phelim O'Neil, who now again began to make himself conspicuous. It was defeated, and Clanricarde fled to one of the islands on the coast. Sir Phelim was taken prisoner, and ultimately executed as a traitor. The nuncio's party sent ambassadors to offer the crown of Ireland to the pope, the kings of France and Spain, and the Duke of Lorraine; but none of them would accept the worthless bauble. Clanricarde still endeavoured to maintain a mountain war amidst the glens and wastes of western Connaught. It was but the expiring effort of unbending loyalty. At length a letter from Charles, recommending him to provide for his own safety, released him from the shackles of the self-imposed bonds of loyalty. He applied to Fleetwood, Cromwell's deputy, for a pass to retire to England. It was granted, and he submitted to the parliament on an assurance of not being called upon to perform any act inconsistent with his duty to his sovereign. Shortly afterwards, a proclamation from the English parliament announced the termination of what was called the rebellion in Ireland.

The victors had now only to share the spoil. The greater part of the nobility and gentry of Ireland, and of the army, had expatriated themselves; the estates of the confederates were deserted. It remained to apportion them amongst the friends and followers of the parliament, in such a manner as would best secure a zealous attachment to the new order of things. The ordinance of the English parliament to this effect decreed, that all who had been concerned in the rebellion previously to the 10th of November 1641, all Jesuits and priests, all who, not being themselves in arms, had slain English soldiers, and all who, being now in arms, did not lay them down within twenty-eight days, should be excepted from pardon. The Marquis of Ormond, the Earls of Inchiquin and Roscommon, and Bramhall, Protestant bishop of Derry, were also specially excepted. All persons who had borne a command against the parliament were to be banished during pleasure, to forfeit two thirds of their estates, and to be assigned lands to the value of the remaining third wherever the parliament should appoint. All Catholics who had resided in Ireland at any time during the war, and had not manifested their constant good will to the commonwealth of England, were to forfeit one third of their estates. All others residing in Ireland, as before, who had not been in arms for the parliament, or manifested their good will towards it when an opportunity offered, were to forfeit one fifth.

A high court of justice, somewhat of the nature of a court-martial, being composed of parliamentary officers, who acted in the double capacity of judges and jurors, and whose decisions were not regulated by any settled rules of evidence, sat on the cases of delinquency. Yet, after the severest scrutiny, the number of those subjected to the penalties of the first clause of the instructions was very small. Lord Mayo in Connaught, and Colonel Bagnal in Munster, were condemned, as it was thought, unjustly. Lord Muskerry was saved by the evidence of the numerous English settlers, who pressed forward to vouch for the protection and security they enjoyed under his control. In Ulster, Sir Phelim O'Neil was the only victim. Although offered not only pardon, but restoration of property, if he could produce substantial proof that he had had a commission from Charles to commence the insurrection, he disclaimed the fact, and died maintaining the contrary. Of others, not quite two hundred could be found who came within the strictness of the clause, so much had the accounts of the atrocities committed at the breaking out of the insurrection been magnified, or so completely had the actors in it been swept off by the desolation of the hostilities that succeeded.

The disposal of the forfeited lands was regulated according to the principles of an act of the English parliament, by which those who at the commencement of the war had subscribed £200 towards the reduction of Ireland were to have 1000 acres in Ulster; those who had subscribed £300, the same number in Connaught; and those who had subscribed £450 and £600, a like quantity of land in Munster and Leinster. The holder of the lands thus granted was bound to pay a yearly quit-rent to the crown, of one penny an acre in Ulster, three halpence in Connaught, two pence in Munster, and three pence in Leinster. The soldiers who had served in Ireland since the landing of Cromwell there in 1649, were entitled to a share of the lands in lieu of their arrears, on the same terms as those who had advanced money, and who were distinguished by the name of adventurers. Those who had served previously to that date were to look for payment to the residue of lands which might be over and above after the former division had been made; a kind of security which was found to be very deficient. In order the more effectually to secure the new possessors in their properties, the Catholics who should be found entitled to retain any part of their estates under the provisions of the act above specified, were to surrender such part if in any of the other provinces, and to receive an equivalent, or, as it was called, "to be reprized," by waste lands in Connaught, which new allotments were assigned in the parts of the province situated at least a mile from the coast. No Catholic was, under any condition, to be suffered to remain in a town, or within a certain space around it. By the latter part of this provision, it was intended to cut off the Irish from any communication with foreigners, as by the former the broad boundary of the Shannon separated them from any contact with the residents in other parts of the kingdom. Commissioners of delinquency sat at Athlone, to decide upon the qualifications of the Roman Catholics; others, appointed to arrange the details of settlement of those transplanted to Connaught, held their court at Loughrea. A third body of commissioners met in Dublin, to receive and hear claims. Under their direction a survey was made by the celebrated Sir William Petty, of all the forfeited lands, which, notwithstanding the lapse of time, and the state of the country when executed, is found to be singularly correct in its details. The confiscation comprehended by much the greater part of the surface of Ireland, and threw the property, and consequently the influence, of the country into the hands of a new class of men. Private soldiers, or desperate adventurers, now became the lords of extensive tracts, once enjoyed by the native families of ancient descent, or by the Anglo-Irish nobility. It also produced another change, of less striking character at first, but of overpowering influence on the future destinies of the country. The land was likely to be useless for want of cultivators. The continuance of a warfare, in which mercy was deemed a symptom of timidity or History of treachery, had swept away the peasantry in multitudes. Numbers had been transported as slaves to the plantations; many had emigrated as soldiers or colonists. The plan of peopling the wilds of Connaught by transplanted Catholics was almost totally relinquished. Hands were wanting on the new estates: the tenants were therefore retained, but they were treated with all the jealous severity arising from a consciousness of weakness, and an apprehension that advantage would be taken of it. They experienced the harshness of slavery, without the enjoyment of that protection which the selfishness of ownership in some degree spreads over it.

The government of Ireland was intrusted by Cromwell to his son Henry, who proved himself worthy of the choice. He visited most parts of the island, so as to make himself personally acquainted with its resources and capabilities. He checked the frauds attempted to be committed by the commissioners in the disposal of the forfeited lands, repressed the violence of the soldiery, and afforded the protection of the law to the ill-used peasantry. He had even devised plans on an extended scale for the improvement of the country, which the short duration of his power prevented him from executing. Impressed with the necessity of diffusing knowledge as the surest foundation for the solid advancement of the people, he purchased the library of Archbishop Usher, in order to bestow it on a second college which it was intended to found in Dublin. Amongst other plans for the consolidation of the interests of the two countries, it was intended that Ireland, instead of being governed by a domestic parliament, should send representatives to that of England. The number fixed upon was thirty. But the death of Cromwell, and the resignation of his son Richard, put an end to all these well-intended projects. On the announcement of this latter event, the English parliament, aware of Henry Cromwell's abilities and popularity, and apprehensive of an attempt on his part to maintain himself in the government, sent over Sir Hardress Waller to seize upon the castle of Dublin; but the precaution was unnecessary. Cromwell retired without opposition, remaining in privacy in his house in the Phoenix Park until he had provided himself with the means of removing to England, having administered the government with so much disinterestedness during a period in which he had the means of amassing unlimited wealth, that he could not at once defray the expenses of his passage over.

The thoughts of the new settlers, who were now transformed from needy adventurers and soldiers into landed proprietors, began to turn upon the means of securing the properties so unexpectedly acquired. The agitation consequent on the death of Cromwell, whose overruling master-mind had hitherto kept all parties subservient to his views, began to take a turn decidedly favourable to the restoration of royalty. The great leaders of the parliamentary party perceived this, and prepared to shape their course accordingly. Lord Broghill, who had already changed from a royalist to a republican, was the first to retrace his steps. He was followed by Sir Charles Coote, the most sanguinary of the parliamentary leaders. The towns of Youghal, Bandon, and Kinsale, which had been amongst the first to revolt to Cromwell, were now led by Lord Broghill to declare for the king. Coote secured Galway and Athlone. The same party, after a short struggle, seized upon Dublin Castle. Sir Hardress Waller, who had taken possession of it for the parliament, was sent a prisoner to London; and Ludlow, who, upon the alarm of the change of sentiment in the parliamentary party in Ireland, had been sent over to take the chief command, on arriving in Dublin Bay, was prevented from landing, and forced to return to England. A convention was assembled in Dublin. The council of state in England ordered its dissolution. The order was set at defiance. The king's declaration at Breda being presented to the convention, was accepted by acclamation, and Charles was proclaimed with every demonstration of joy in all the great towns. Thus, the restoration of the son in Ireland was effected by the same persons who had been mainly instrumental in bringing his father to the block.

The sudden change of public opinion gave Charles irresistible influence in Ireland. All parties looked to him. Above all, the Catholics, whose attachment to his father had been the great cause of their sufferings, and of the ruin of their property, anticipated an immediate restoration of their estates. So sanguine were they, that many proceeded to take forcible possession of them, and to eject the new proprietors. The Protestants raised the cry of a new rebellion, employed agents in London to resist their claims, and had influence sufficient to obtain clauses in the act of indemnity, excluding from it all who had at any time aided the Irish, and prohibiting the restoration, upon any terms, of lands already disposed of by the parliament or convention. Nor was it without the greatest difficulty that an exception could be carried in favour of the Marquis of Ormond and other Protestants. Every severe ordinance against the Catholics was strictly enforced. The commoner sort were prohibited from quitting their place of residence without permission. Assemblies of the Catholic gentry were forbidden. A proclamation was issued for apprehending Irish rebels, and for assuring all adventurers and soldiers in the quiet possession of their grants.

At length the king's declaration, which was to form the basis of the new settlement of the landed property of the country, was published. This document, after vesting all the confiscated property in the king, confirmed the adventurers and soldiers in the lands already granted to them. The officers in the king's service before 1649, distinguished by the name of "Forty-nine Men," were to receive their arrears in lands at the rate of twelve and sixpence in the pound, and an equal dividend of whatever should remain of their security. Protestants whose estates had been given to adventurers were to be restored, and the present holders "reprised," that is, given other lands of equal value. Innocent Papists were also to be restored, and the holders reprised; those restored to property within corporate towns were to be reprised in the neighbourhood, as no resident Catholics were to be permitted in those places. Such Catholics as had accepted lands in Connaught were to continue bound by that act. Those who had joined the king in his exile, and served under his banners, were to be restored when the present holders were reprised; such persons were called "Ensign-men." Additional grants were made to Ormond and Inchiquin, who had been restored by the English parliament. Monk, now Duke of Albemarle, and some others, received grants. The king's brother, James, duke of York, had several of very great extent. Thirty-six of the Irish nobility and gentry, to be specially named by the king, were also to be restored under the title of "Nominees." Those who had any share in the trial and execution of the late king were specially excluded from the benefit of this arrangement. Lands belonging to corporations were to be restored, and the possessors reprised. The qualifications which entitled a Roman Catholic to claim the benefit of the clause respecting "innocent Papists," were so worded as to render the chances of an acquittal almost impossible. None were to be restored as such, who, at the time of the cessation in 1643, had been of the royal party, or had lived within the quarters of the confederates, except the inhabitants of Cork and Youghal, who had been forcibly expelled from those towns, and driven by the fanatics into the enemy's lines; who had acted with the confederates before the peace of 1648, or had adhered to the nuncio or the papal power against the royal authority, or, when excommunicated for such adherence, had submitted and obtained absolution. Whoever derived his title from persons guilty of those crimes; whoever claimed his estate on the articles of peace, thus acknowledging his concurrence in the rebellion; whoever had held correspondence with the confederates, sat in their councils, or acted under their commission; whoever had employed agents to treat with any foreign power to bring forces into Ireland, or had been a tory, the name given to the marauding parties which harassed the country; were also excepted. Few Roman Catholics could hope to escape being included in some one or other of those sweeping clauses.

The principal subjects which engaged the attention of the Irish parliament that met after the Restoration, were the established church, and the settlement of property. Ormond, to whom the management of Irish affairs was principally intrusted, contrived, by postponing the consideration of the question of the lands, to secure the adoption of the former. Although the House of Commons was most exclusively composed of those who had a few years before been most zealous in pulling down the church and abolishing the liturgy, it now not only readily assented to the revival of both, but concurred in censuring the solemn league and covenant, and in condemning their former oaths of association. They also procured an order from the lords-justices to adjourn the law term, and close the courts of justice, in order to prevent the reversal of outlawries, or the ejectment of adventurers and soldiers before their titles could be secured by statute.

The act of settlement, the next object of parliamentary attention, was framed according to the spirit, and nearly according to the letter, of the declaration published by the king. The principal alterations were respecting reprisals, and what was called the doubling ordinance. The commissioners of the court of claims had been guilty of gross partiality respecting these. They rejected the claims of the nominees, and the ensign-men, on the plea that there were not lands sufficient to reprise the present possessors, a defalcation caused by the clandestine disposal by themselves of these lands to their own friends. Through the exertions of the House of Lords, a clause was inserted for the revocation of these fraudulent grants. The doubling ordinance was still more pregnant with injustice. The English parliament having found that the sums subscribed by the original adventurers had fallen short of the amount required to finish the war, and being in want of further supplies, passed a law, that whosoever advanced one fourth more than his original share, should be entitled to as much land as if he had actually doubled his subscription; and that if any adventurer refused to make such advance on his original share, any other person, on paying it, should reap the benefit of the doubling clause, provided he repaid to the adventurer the sum at first subscribed. With great exertions, and by the determined interference of the Earl of Kildare, it was at length determined that the adventurers should receive lands for the money actually advanced by them, and no more. The Irish parliament, however, could only frame heads of a bill to this effect, which was liable to be modified by the king and privy council in England. Thither, therefore, all parties interested sent agents to defend their respective claims. London became the scene of controversy, intrigue, cabal, and even violence. The Irish called for the fulfilment of the articles of the peace of 1648. Ormond, who hated the Catholics even more than he did the regicides, persuaded the king that such fulfilment would be detrimental to his favourite scheme of maintaining an English interest in Ireland. Richard Talbot, afterwards Lord Tyrconnel, the advocate of the Irish, finding reason and justice ineffectual, challenged Ormond. The latter made his complaint to the council; Talbot was committed to the Tower, and detained there till he made an humble submission. The bill, with all its clauses, received the royal assent, and was sent back to Ireland, where it was adopted by both houses of parliament.

But the passing of the act was not sufficient to render it operative. Every one was dissatisfied with it. Even the adventurers, whose interests were best guarded by it, exclaimed against it most loudly. They considered the rejection of the doubling ordinance as the deprivation of so much of their justly purchased property. The land granted to the nominees, the number of whom had been increased by the king, was looked upon as so much cut off from the common fund whence they were to be repaid. The restoration of church property was peculiarly galling to their religious prejudices. The Protestant officers felt that their security was greatly diminished by large grants lavishly made to some of the king's special favourites. The Catholics complained that, so far from having justice done to their services, their agents were not even admitted to plead their cause before the council.

Ormond, now elevated to the rank of a duke, was sent over as lord-lieutenant to calm these effusions of anger, and to settle in the most amicable manner the conflicting interests of the parties. The first proceedings were those of the commissioners of innocence, who soon found that the number of those who could clearly establish their innocence, even before a court cautiously and carefully composed of Englishmen and Protestants, was inconveniently great, and excited the most serious alarm amongst the other party, who felt that every acquittal abstracted so much from the fund to which they themselves had to look for a settlement. Out of a hundred and eighty-seven cases adjudicated in the first three months, a hundred and sixty-eight were pronounced innocent, and but nineteen condemned. The House of Commons called upon the lord-lieutenant to make the qualifications more rigorous. The more violent of the old parliamentary soldiers laid a plan for a general insurrection. Ormond was steady. He put down the conspiracy, and executed a few of the ring-leaders. He refused to make any change as to the qualifications. But he contrived to effect, by an evasion, what a regard for consistency of character had made him reject in public. Upwards of four thousand cases had been entered, and, from the number already decided, and the character of the decisions, it was felt that by much the greater proportion of the Catholic proprietors would be restored to their estates. To prevent such an occurrence, the time of the sitting of the court was limited to a fixed number of days, during which not more than one fourth of the claims could by any possibility be heard. It then closed, and thus upwards of three thousand ancient and respectable Irish families were stripped of their fortunes, without even the form of a trial before a court specially constituted to do them justice. The injured parties applied to the king; but he refused to listen to them, and they were irreparably ruined. Though their claim was rejected, however, its justice was recognised by a concession, and the lord-lieutenant was permitted to select twenty out of the three thousand, to be restored to their estates as objects of special favour.

To remedy, in some degree, the defects of the act of settlement, a bill was brought into parliament, chiefly by the instrumentality of the Duke of Ormond, which made a few alterations in some of its most obnoxious provisions. This is known by the name of the act of explanation. The two together form the tenure under which by much the greater part of the landed property of Ireland is held; they have therefore been quaintly, and with more regard to their binding force than their justice, styled the Mag-

History. na Charta of the Protestants of Ireland. To account for the Duke of Ormond's conduct towards his former friends, to whom during the war he owed so much, and his master every thing, and his sacrifice of their interests to the bitter enemies both of himself and the king, it may be sufficient to mention, that his estates, which, before the breaking out of the civil war, had yielded but about £7000 per annum, now brought him in a yearly income of upwards of £80,000, in addition to the pecuniary grants made him for losses during the disturbances. The acts which ruined so many of the adherents to the royal cause secured him in the undisturbed enjoyment of this princely income.

Notwithstanding the apprehensions arising from the still uncertain state of title, the condition of the country began to improve with a rapidity alarming to the English, who were now suffering through a decline of their domestic trade, which prejudiced persons imputed in a great degree to the excessive importation of Irish cattle. To prevent the supposed ill effects of this, acts were passed prohibiting the Irish from sending cattle or provisions into England after the first of July, which exclusion was afterwards extended to all periods of the year. So strong was the prejudice, so powerful the alarm, that when the Irish parliament, through a wish to alleviate the sufferings of the people of London after the great fire in that city in 1666, sent them a free gift of thirty thousand oxen, the only wealth of the country at the time, the well-intended donation was rejected, as an attempt to evade the prohibition under the mask of benevolence. The king endeavoured to alleviate, though he was too weak and too timid to prevent, this impolitic act of injustice. He issued an act of state, permitting the Irish to export to foreign countries all commodities of their own growth and manufacture; and the Duke of Ormond, on his part, encouraged the woollen manufacture, for which the country was peculiarly fitted, from its capability of rearing sheep, and its water-power for machinery. He brought in foreigners acquainted with the processes of the manufacture, established a board of trade in Dublin, and encouraged factories on the Suir. His attention was also directed to the improvement of the linen manufacture. But his laudable efforts were thwarted by his enemies at court, who persuaded Charles to recall him. Lord Roberts, who was appointed in his place, rendered himself so offensive to all parties, that he was soon removed, and his place supplied by Lord Berkeley, who was also as speedily withdrawn, in consequence of his being active in procuring a commission of inquiry as to frauds practised on the Catholics in the adjudication under the act of settlement. The government of Lord Essex, his successor, was equally short-lived; and it was found necessary to restore Ormond, as the only person sufficiently acquainted with the state of parties in Ireland, to manage the country without danger of a sudden explosion.

Shortly after his return to office, the Popish plot occurred. The devisers of this execrable contrivance endeavoured to involve the Irish in a share of the guilt. Charges were made against Talbot the Catholic archbishop of Dublin, Lord Mountgarret, and Colonel Peppard, as being principals in it. On investigation, the first of these imputed conspirators was found to be labouring under a complication of disorders, beneath which he soon afterwards sunk; the second was bedridden through age; and the third was entirely unknown. The Duke of Ormond, more probably through a conviction of the necessity of yielding something to popular clamour, issued two violent proclamations. The one required the relations of tories to be answerable for them, and also that the priests of parishes in which a robbery or murder had been committed should be transported, unless the offender were delivered up to justice within a fortnight; the other prohibited Catholics from entering Dublin Castle, or any fortified place, and caused all fairs to be held without the walls of cities and corporate towns. But restraints, however rigorous, were not sufficient. The bigotry of the time called for a victim. Plunket, the Catholic archbishop of Armagh, was accused of being the instigator of a plot to raise seventy thousand men to overturn the government. He was sent to London, tried there for a crime committed in Ireland, denied either time or means to bring over witnesses, condemned as a traitor, and executed at Tyburn, professing his innocence to the last. The only subsequent act of Charles's reign, of consequence enough to merit notice, was a second attempt to deprive Ormond of his power. And it proved successful. Partly from a plea of his advanced age and increasing infirmities, partly from a necessity avowed by the king of removing from office several of his friends, the sword was taken from him and assigned to his relative Lord Rochester.

All the political arrangements consequent on the accession of James II. indicated a settled and systematic determination to disturb, if not wholly to nullify, the provisions of the act of settlement. Talbot, afterwards Earl of Tyrconnel, was placed over the army, which he immediately began to new-model, by cashiering and disbanding most of the Protestants, and bringing Catholics into their places; and by disarming the militia, which consisted chiefly of Protestants, under the plea that they were suspected to have been connected with Monmouth's rebellion. These apprehensions were still further increased by the promotion of Tyrconnel to the chief government. The first overt act was made against Dublin College, by nominating a Catholic to the professorship of the Irish language, which was defeated on the ground that no such professorship existed. An attempt made to appoint a Roman Catholic to a fellowship was frustrated by the gross incapacity of the person recommended.

The king's attempts against the Irish corporations were more successful. In order to carry into effect all his changes, the sanction of an Irish parliament was necessary; and to effect this, it was equally necessary to secure a majority in the boroughs, in which the Protestant interest had hitherto been almost exclusively predominant. Tyrconnel caused all the charters of these bodies to be seized into the king's hands, on the plea of violation or non-performance of conditions, and granted new charters, so arranged as to throw the whole of the borough influence into the hands of the Catholics. A few of the corporate bodies still hold under these charters; but the great majority of them having been passed after the abdication, are considered as of no authority in the courts of law.

On the landing of the Prince of Orange in Torbay, Tyrconnel received orders to send over four thousand men to England. So little prepared was he at the time to meet the exigency, that he found it necessary to withdraw the garrison from Londonderry in order to make up the number. But he soon became sensible of his error. The Protestants in the northern counties had already been roused to a movement of self-defence, in consequence of an anonymous letter sent to Lord Mount-Alexander, warning him of the intention of an immediate insurrection to extirpate them. Just at the time, a Roman Catholic regiment, lately raised by the Marquis of Antrim, had been ordered to Derry in room of the troops sent to England. The appearance of the men, now approaching the town, noway tended to diminish the feelings of alarm already excited by the previous warning. The first division of the newly-arrived regiment was within a few hundred paces of the town, when several young men, said to be apprentice boys, hurried armed to the gate, shut out the soldiers, hastened to the walls, pointed the guns, and This decided act of the people of Derry was followed up by all the northern Protestants. The town of Enniskillen was secured in a similar manner, and armed associations were formed throughout every part of the province, to maintain the Protestant religion, and secure the dependency of Ireland. The first act of these bodies, after providing themselves with the means of resistance, was to apply to William. But he had already opened a treaty with Tyrconnel, to whom he sent General Hamilton, then prisoner with him, under a promise, that if he failed in gaining over Tyrconnel, he himself should return. Hamilton's conduct on the occasion was inexcusable. Instead of using arguments to persuade Tyrconnel to submit, he encouraged him to persevere in the cause of James, and remained with him instead of redeeming his parole, and proved his zeal in the cause he had thus faithlessly adopted, by heading a body of troops in Ulster, by which the whole province, with the exception of Derry and Enniskillen, was brought again under its allegiance to its former king.

James soon afterwards landed at Kinsale with a small body of French forces, having declined the aid of a more powerful armament, from a wish to be indebted for his restoration to the unassisted loyalty of his own subjects. On arriving at Dublin, he was welcomed with loyal addresses from all ranks and classes, amongst which the Protestant clergy were not less forward than others in their professions of zealous attachment. Finding himself at the head of what he considered an unanimous people and a large army, his first movement was the reduction of the city of Derry, which, instead of listening to terms offered by Tyrconnel, resolved upon an obstinate resistance; expelled the governor set over the city by the king, upon a well-founded suspicion of intended treachery on his part; marshalled themselves in regiments; chose for leaders in this desperate attempt, George Walker, a clergyman of the established church, who had already signalized himself by raising a regiment of a thousand Protestants, and Major Baker; and, turning their guns against James, who, from a mistaken reliance on his personal influence, had approached the walls, compelled him to retire. The sword was now drawn between king and subject. The men of Derry had not only renounced their allegiance to their sovereign, but defied his power and insulted his person. James, convinced of the irresistible force of the numbers brought against the place, and of the futility of their means of resistance, their numbers not being more than seven thousand men, and these undisciplined and badly armed, the place unprovided with military stores, or even sufficient quantity of provisions, and the defences by no means adequate to resist the advances of a well-organized besieging force, returned to Dublin, leaving the conduct of the siege to Marshal Rosen, who had been a German officer in the French service. After some feeble attempts at gaining the town by storm, Rosen adopted the surer though more tedious method of blockade. The inhabitants were soon reduced to extreme privations, yet still they adhered to their determination of holding out. After upwards of two months suffering, they were cheered by the appearance of a fleet sent by William to their relief; but, after an empty display of assistance, Kirke, who commanded it, sailed away to Lough Swilly, where he employed his time in sending supplies to Enniskillen, which stood less in need of them. Still the garrison persevered in its defence. Rosen, enraged at their obstinacy, ordered all the Protestants in the neighbouring districts to be driven under the walls, in order to expedite the extremity of famine. The townsmen, in retaliation, prepared to hang up all the prisoners on the town walls.

An express order from James forced the besieging general to relinquish this inhuman device for augmenting the horrors of war. The wretched sufferers were allowed to return home, and the town's people adroitly seized this opportunity of recruiting their strength, by taking in some of the younger and more vigorous, and sending away in their stead those exhausted by the hardships of the siege. After the garrison had been reduced to the necessity of subsisting on food loathsome to humanity, Kirke made a second attempt for its relief. A frigate and two provision ships sailed up the river, broke the boom thrown across it to obstruct their passage, and entered the town uninjured. The Irish army, whose hopes of success had rested wholly on the effects of famine, raised the siege in despair. The town's people, though reduced to half their original number by the casualties of war and sickness, had the hardihood to issue out in pursuit of the retiring army; but their temerity was punished by a severe check. About the same time the Enniskilleners gained a signal victory at Newtown-Butler, over a body of the enemy three times their number.

The military career of James in Ireland was neither creditable nor fortunate; his political efforts during the short period of his Irish government remain to be canvassed. A parliament was assembled in Dublin, in which the Protestant party, as might have been expected, was considerably outnumbered by the Catholics. One of its first acts was the attainder of about two thousand Protestant noblemen and gentlemen, adherents of William, whose estates were to be forfeited, unless they surrendered before a certain day, and who, if found guilty, were to be excluded from the benefit of a royal pardon; an act almost equalling in the extent of its powers, and the severity of its inflictions, the rigours of the act of settlement. The other measures of this parliament were of a different character; one was an act for establishing liberty of conscience, and repealing all such as were contrary thereto; another, connected with religious observances, directed that all should pay their tithes to the pastor of their own persuasion. A bill was also brought in to repeal the act of settlement, which was carried after much opposition from the Protestant bishops, and some of the lords. Another to prevent appeals to England was also carried, though with much difficulty. Two more, the one to repeal Poyning's law, the other to establish inns of court in Dublin, were opposed by James himself, who, still fondly clinging to the hope of a restoration to his seat of dominion in England, was averse to whatever had a tendency to diminish the dependency of Ireland. His conduct with respect to the circulating medium is the most unjust, as well as the most impolitic, of his measures. Parliament had voted him a subsidy of twenty thousand pounds a month. He doubled this sum by a royal ordinance. The money, notwithstanding votes of parliament and kingly proclamations, came in slowly. James erected a mint in Dublin, where he had large quantities of base metal coined into pieces of large nominal value. The plan, as a financial project, proved a complete failure, bringing discredit on the deviser, and inflicting injury on the friends of his cause, who were the ultimate sufferers by the depreciation.

Whilst James was neglecting his military operations in the north of Ireland, and injuring his credit and resources by his financial mismanagement in Dublin, his antagonist William, now freed by the death of Dundee from the apprehension of a Scotch invasion, was making extensive preparations for carrying on the war in Ireland. In the summer of 1689, his favourite general Schomberg landed near Carrickfergus, with a well-appointed army of ten thousand veterans. After taking that town, which surrendered on honourable terms, he moved southwards to Dundalk, where the scarcity of provisions, and the ap- preach of the Irish army under James, obliged him to halt and encamp. His position was low and unhealthy, his camp ill supplied with provisions. His men sunk rapidly, through sickness and inaction. James, though much urged to it by his officers, could not be prevailed upon to hazard an assault. After remaining some time opposed to each other in a state of inaction, Schomberg took advantage of the arrival of some fresh troops to change his position, and retrace his steps towards Carrickfergus, where he was more secure against the necessity of combating to disadvantage with a superior force.

Next year William resolved to take the field in person. He landed early in June at Carrickfergus, and being joined by Schomberg with the remains of his shattered forces, advanced southwards in the same direction that had formed the line of march in the last campaign. His forces now amounted to six and thirty thousand men, the greater part veterans, who had proved themselves on the Continent. James's army had been in the mean time furnished with a supply of five thousand Frenchmen; but these were raw and undisciplined, and procured by an exchange of an equal number of Irish, the flower of his army. After retreating before his rival from Dundalk to Drogheda, he at length took up a position on the south side of the Boyne, where, contrary to the advice of all his officers, he determined to make a stand, and to set his chance of dominion on the hazard of a battle. William, whose disposition and circumstances equally urged him to bring the contest to an immediate decision without hesitation, prepared to force the passage of the river. Whilst engaged in reconnoitring the enemy's arrangements, he received a wound on the shoulder from a piece of artillery levelled at him from the opposite bank, but not sufficient to prevent him from appearing at the head of his troops in the ensuing day's engagement. The next morning his army, headed by himself, moved to the attack in three divisions. Crossing the river where the water in some places came up to their breasts, his troops gained the opposite bank, notwithstanding a galling fire from the infantry, by which they were lined, and repeated charges of the Irish cavalry led on by General Hamilton. Schomberg was killed, as is supposed by a chance shot from his own soldiers, in the confusion of one of these desperate assaults. Callimote, the leader of the French Protestants in William's army, also fell during the passage. Walker, likewise, the clerical defender of Derry, fell here. When his death was reported to William, the only remark made by the cold Dutchman was, "The fool; what business had he there?" The Irish, after some vain efforts to drive back the enemy into the river, in one of which Hamilton was taken prisoner, finally broke and quitted the field, thinking only of making good their retreat.

Whilst William was thus actively engaged in asserting his title to his newly-acquired throne, James was standing aloof on the hill of Donore, an idle spectator of a struggle which involved the fortunes of himself and all his adherents. On seeing the discomfiture of his army, he immediately fled to Dublin, and thence to Waterford, leaving directions to have the bridges broken down after him, to check his pursuers. William, adopting the same system towards him as when he had driven him from England, allowed him to continue his flight unmolested. Proceeding to Drogheda, he forced it to surrender on a threat of military execution in case of resistance, and thence continued his march without interruption to Dublin, holding out offers of protection to the peasantry, who accepted his protection, but declaring that he would leave the leaders, of what he chose to call a rebellion, to the chances of war. The main body of the Irish army retreated to Limerick and Athlone, placing the strong line of the Shannon between themselves and their victorious enemy. An attempt made upon Athlone by General Douglas was unsuccessful. History.

After being baffled in an attempt to force a passage there, and in another at Lanesborough, lower down the river, he was forced to desist and retire to Dublin. A similar attempt made by William upon Limerick met with the same termination. Relying on success on the dissensions that existed between the French and Irish officers in James's army, he advanced to that town, carrying with him only a field train of artillery. On being apprized of his error by the formidable aspect of defence presented by the garrison, he sent for his battering train from Dublin, which, when within seven miles of his camp, was attacked and totally destroyed by a sortie of General Sarsfield. William, however, was not of a temper to be easily discouraged. With two pieces which had escaped the fate of the others he effected a breach, and proceeded to attempt an entrance by storm; but the breach was defended so gallantly that he was forced to retreat and raise the siege; after having suffered a loss of two thousand of his best men. The urgency of his affairs in England obliged him to go thither, leaving the command of the army to his generals, Solmes and Ginckel. The war was carried on during the winter, chiefly from a suggestion of the Earl, afterwards the celebrated Duke, of Marlborough, who proposed the taking of Cork and Kinsale, so as to secure the command of the southern coast. The suggestion was adopted, and its execution intrusted to the proposer of it. The fortifications of Cork were in a state of great dilapidation; the place was in a hollow, commanded by the surrounding mountains. After a short resistance, the only remarkable feature of which was the death of the Duke of Grafton, one of the natural sons of Charles II., the town surrendered on condition of protection to persons and property. But it was with much difficulty that the commanding officers enforced the observance of these terms. As soon as the troops had entered, a tumult was excited, the governor was wounded, the Earls of Tyrone and Clancaarty narrowly escaped, and the houses of many Catholics were plundered. Kinsale, which was afterwards invested, presented more difficulty. The garrison abandoned the town, and confined their defences to two castles. One of these, the old castle, was soon stormed; but the other held out until its garrison procured permission to march out with their arms and join the main body of the Irish. Ginckel, after the capture of these places, attempted to carry the war into the west of Cork and Kerry; but his troops were foiled in the mountain passes, and forced to return with loss. Whilst the military operations were proceeding thus languidly, the civil officers of King William were more active and successful in securing their own interests, by the confiscation of the property of the adherents of King James. The forfeitures made by them comprehended a million of acres, the property of three thousand nine hundred and twenty-one sufferers, and were valued at three millions three hundred and twenty thousand pounds. The injustice of inflicting such a penalty on adherence to the cause of a rightful sovereign can only be surpassed by the means of its enforcement. The Irish gentry who possessed estates were indicted for high treason in their respective counties, and the causes then removed by certiorari into the King's Bench in Dublin. Thus, in most cases, the accused persons were deprived of the means of making their defence. In many, they were ignorant even of their accusation, until they found themselves stripped of their patrimony by the sentence of the court. At the same time rumours of plots and conspiracies were set afloat, and proclamations issued in consequence, assessing the Catholic inhabitants of peaceable counties for injuries to Protestant property in others, excluding from protection those who had sons in the enemy's quarters, prohibiting assemblages of more than ten Catholics, and subjecting to transportation the parish priest of places where such assemblages were held. These proceedings drove the great body of the Catholics to desperation. They saw no hope but in the subversion of a government whose establishment was to be secured only by their utter ruin.

Military operations recommenced vigorously at the beginning of summer. St Ruth, who had been sent from France to take the chief command, determined to make a stand at Athlone, which he strengthened with some works. Ginckel directed his main force against it. His first assault failed. After a delay of nine days spent in preparations, a second attempt was made with still less effect. Not only were his troops repulsed, but his works were burned. St Ruth, intoxicated with his success, withdrew the greater part of his men from the defences, in spite of the warnings of his Irish officers. Ginckel, aware of the inconsiderate movement, took advantage of it, and forced the passage of the Shannon by surprise, whilst St Ruth was celebrating his victory by balls and entertainments in his camp at some distance. The Irish general then retired to Aghrim, on the borders of Galway, there determined to make a final stand, on a position chosen by himself. He was soon followed thither by the English, who attacked the position with undaunted intrepidity. For some time the contest was doubtful; but the death of St Ruth, who fell by a cannon-ball in the heat of the action, decided its fate. Whether from jealousy or contempt, this foreigner had avoided communicating his plans to the Irish generals who were to execute them. His sudden death, therefore, left the army without a head. All was confusion; and Ginckel, taking advantage of this state of things, pressed on and obtained an easy, but not a cheap victory. In the preceding struggle, upwards of two thousand of his men had fallen. The loss of the Irish, which occurred mostly in the rout, exceeded seven thousand.

The remains of the Irish army fell back upon Limerick. This city was now the only place of any importance that held out. Galway had surrendered upon favourable conditions. The garrison of Banagher, on declaring their determination to return home after surrendering, were supplied by their conqueror with the means of proceeding thither. Ginckel, who had remained some time inactive in Galway, hoping that terms of accommodation would be offered, as Tyrconnell was now dead of an illness said to be caused by disappointment, and the lords-justices who succeeded him were inclined to make terms provided the interests of the general body of the Catholics were secured by them, at length opened the trenches before Limerick. At first the operations of the besiegers proceeded but slowly. Having, however, made themselves masters of a pass across the Shannon, through the treachery of Colonel Clifford, the officer who commanded there, they were enabled to invest the town on all sides. This advantage was followed by an assault on one of the gates, which was urged with so much ardour, that the officer there thought it necessary to raise the drawbridge with so much precipitation that upwards of a thousand of the garrison were left on the outside, exposed to the besiegers' fire. The greater part of these unfortunate victims were killed either by the enemy or in attempting to swim the river; a few were captured. The act itself was condemned as over hasty. The officer who gave the order for it was a Frenchman, and his conduct was imputed to bad motives. The bad feeling that had long subsisted between the strangers and the native troops was thus greatly exasperated. The latter, conceiving that their countrymen had been wantonly sacrificed, determined to seek for peace. Their resolution was encouraged by Ginckel, and a cessation of arms for the purpose of adjusting the terms of a treaty was the consequence. The news was immediately forwarded to the lords-justices in Dublin, just in time to prevent the publication of a proclamation, offering to the Irish in arms terms as liberal as they could have hoped for after a victory; granting, in fact, to the Catholics all the privileges they had heretofore enjoyed, and all they have since obtained. The lords-justices hastened to the camp, and in two days after their arrival the articles of Limerick received the signatures of both the contracting parties.

By this treaty it was stipulated that the Roman Catholics should enjoy the exercise of their religion, as during the reign of Charles II.; to which was added a promise that the king would endeavour to procure further security for them on this point, as soon as parliament should be assembled. It was further agreed, that all the inhabitants of Limerick, and those in arms for King James in the counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, should enjoy their estates, and be suffered to pursue their respective avocations unmolested; that the Catholic gentry should be allowed the use of arms, and should not be called upon to take any oath but that of allegiance; and, finally, that all the soldiers who were unwilling to submit to these conditions should be conveyed to the Continent at the expense of the English government. Two days after the signing of this treaty, a French fleet arrived on the coast with a large supply of reinforcements and military stores. But it was then too late. Nothing now remained in order to terminate the war, but the execution of that part of the treaty which permitted the Irish soldiery to choose between residence at home and service under a foreign but friendly power on the Continent. The Irish guards set the example; they all volunteered for the service of the king of France, seven individuals only excepted. Two regiments of Ulster Irish returned home in a body. Of the remainder of the Irish army, but one thousand horse and fifteen hundred foot remained. The generous self-devotion of those who sacrificed their country for their principles was but ill rewarded. On the arrival of the troops in France no quarters were assigned to them. The regiments were broken up, the officers reduced to lower grades, and the generals excluded from court. After some time, however, the value of their services was acknowledged, and the Irish brigade, during the succeeding continental wars, long maintained the highest character for fidelity to the cause it had embraced, and for the intrepidity it manifested under every circumstance of difficulty and danger.

A parliament was convened shortly after the ratification of the treaty. It was the first that had assembled after a lapse of twenty-six years of intestine commotion. Composed as it was of a great majority of Protestants, it testified little inclination to co-operate with the king's wishes, in adhering to the strict fulfilment of the articles of Limerick. The king evidently wished them to be maintained in the spirit as well as in the letter. The feelings of the leading party in parliament were sufficiently indicated in a sermon preached by the Bishop of Meath before the lords-justices, which inculcated the detestable doctrine that Protestants were not bound to keep peace with Papists. The first open breach that occurred between the government and the House of Commons was caused by the introduction of two money bills. According to the system of Ireland under Poyning's law, no bill could be brought into parliament until it had received the approbation of the king through the privy council. According to the principles of the British constitution, all money bills should originate with the House of Commons. The party opposed to the king took their stand upon the latter ground. One of the two bills was rejected altogether, and the other suffered to pass solely in consideration of the present exigency of affairs, and the pressing necessity of raising a supply for the king's service. Lord Sidney, in retaliation, suddenly prorogued the parliament, after reprehending the House of Commons sharply for what he styled an undutiful and ungrateful in- vasion of the royal prerogative. This act increased the general discontent, as several measures of importance then in progress were left unfinished.

A new parliament, assembled in 1695 by the Lord-deputy Capel, opened with an assurance from the throne, that the king was intent upon the firm settlement of Ireland upon a Protestant interest. Such a declaration was hailed with joy by the prevailing party. In order to support the king in this measure, a committee was appointed to consider what penal laws were in force. The following were found to be the principal: 1. An act subjecting all who maintained the supremacy of the church of Rome to the penalties of a praemunire, and requiring the oath of supremacy as a qualification for every office. 2. An act imposing fines on absence from the parish churches on Sunday. 3. An act authorizing the chancellor to appoint a guardian to the child of a Catholic. 4. An act to prevent Catholics from being private tutors, without license from the bishop. Having ascertained the actual state of restrictions on the Catholics, as they had existed previously to the treaty of Limerick, the parliament proceeded, not to secure them in the privileges guaranteed to them by that instrument, but to increase the number of penalties and restrictions, contrary to its spirit and tenor. The following statutes, passed by this parliament, formed the commencement of the system of restrictive legislation now known by the name of the penal code, which, when wound up to its acmé of intolerant severity, by the successive enactment of laws, each surpassing its predecessor in severity, was described by Burke as the acmé of refinement in political persecution. These acts were, 1. to deprive Catholics of the means of educating their children, either at home or abroad, except under Protestant teachers, and to prevent them from being guardians even to their own children; 2. to disarm the Catholics; 3. to banish Catholic priests and prelates. Having passed these acts in direct violation of the treaty, they proceeded to confirm those articles, or so much of them as might consist with the safety and welfare of the king's subjects in these kingdoms. The bill took care that the precautionary proviso should not be a dead letter. It abrogated the articles which provided for the security of the Catholics from disturbance on account of their religion, which confirmed them in the possession of their estates and the exercise of their profession, which allowed them the use of arms, and which required the oath of allegiance only as a test of their loyalty. The bill passed the House of Commons with little difficulty. But in the House of Lords, where several of the Catholic peers still had seats, it was strenuously resisted; and when carried, a protest against it was entered on the journals by thirteen peers, six of whom were bishops. This mutilated ratification of the treaty was followed up by three other penal laws: 1. To prevent the intermarriages of Protestants and Catholics; 2. to prevent Papists from being solicitors; and, 3. to prevent them from being gamekeepers.

The spirit of religious intolerance that gave birth to these acts was not the only evil that checked the prosperity of the country. The commercial spirit of monopoly of the English manufacturers, who had long viewed with a jealous eye the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, to which the cheapness of living and the excellency of the pasturages afforded peculiar advantages, prevailed on the king to make a solemn assurance that he would do all that in him lay to discourage that manufacture, adding as a mitigation of a declaration so iniquitous, that every encouragement should be afforded to the linen manufacture. The former part of the promise was rigidly adhered to, the latter was disregarded. Every attempt to establish the linen manufacture in the south of Ireland failed, chiefly from the opposition given by the clergy to the introduction of an equitable modus for the tithe of History.

Whilst parliament was thus employed during the reign of William, in undoing the bonds of the treaty of Limerick, the court of claims appointed to investigate and dispose of the lands forfeited by the adherents of James was equally active in its invasion of their property. Amongst the chief sufferers by the decisions of this court was the Earl of Clanmarty. It appeared doubtful whether his noble estate should be included amongst the forfeitures. The point was decided by a declaration of the grand jury of the county of Cork, which resolved that its restoration would be prejudicial to the Protestant interest. It was therefore sold, under a decree of the court. A subsequent attempt made in his favour in the reign of George II. was not only equally unsuccessful, but all attempts at a repetition of it were crushed by a vote of the House of Commons, that any lawyer who pleaded in his behalf should be deemed an enemy to his country.

The annals of Ireland during the reign of Queen Anne are merely a record of the exertions of the Irish parliament to rivet and extend the penal laws. By an act passed in 1703, the father of a Papist who conformed to the established religion was incapacitated from disposing of his property by sale, mortgage, or bequest; and a Papist was prohibited from being guardian to his own child, who, on conforming, was to be taken from his parent, and given in charge to a Protestant. Papists were rendered incapable of holding lands for more than thirty-one years; and if the profit rent of such land was found to exceed one third of the actual rent, the benefit of the lease was to be transferred to the Protestant who made the discovery. They were also prevented from inheriting the lands of their Protestant relatives, and their own lands were to be gavelled after death amongst their children. The most extraordinary provision of this monstrous act, was the requiring the oath of abjuration, and the sacramental test, to be taken as a qualification for office and for voting at elections. The cause of its insertion is singular. The English government was at this time negotiating with the emperor of Germany for the toleration of Protestantism throughout his dominions. To press the enactment of severe laws against the Catholics at home at such a period, exhibited an inconsistency as absurd as it was iniquitous. An effort was therefore made to dissuade the Irish parliament from proceeding with the bill, but to no purpose. Knowing, therefore, that the majority of the lower house consisted of Protestant dissenters, the clause requiring the taking of the sacramental test was inserted by the English council, in the hope that the rigid puritans would reject the whole bill rather than saddle themselves with the disqualification. But they were mistaken. Bigotry prevailed over self-interest; and the Puritans of the day acquiesced in the passing of a law, which deprived the conscientious members of their own persuasion of the right of exercising the most valuable privileges of freemen, rather than suffer their Catholic countrymen to participate in them.

This act was followed up by resolutions calling upon all the civil officers of the government to enforce its provisions, and declaring that the prosecuting and informing against Papists was an honourable service to the government. But this law, and these resolutions, were not deemed sufficient. In 1709 another act was passed, imposing additional restrictions upon the Catholics, by which they were prohibited from holding annuities for life; requiring the father of a conforming child to give in to the chancellor a strict account of the value of his property, in order to apportion a due share thereof to his support. Jointures were secured to conforming wives. Papists were forbidden to be assistants in schools. Popish priests History, who conformed were allowed a stipend of L30 a year, that of a Protestant curate being L50; and rewards were offered for the discovery of popish prelates, priests, and teachers, at the rate of L50 each for the first of these classes, L20 for the second, and L10 for the third. A subsequent statute excluded Catholics from acting as sheriffs, and from sitting on grand juries, and even proceeded as far as to enact, that in trials arising out of statutes for strengthening the Protestant interest, the plaintiff might set aside a juror on the ground of his being a Papist. The example of the parliament was followed by the corporations. Bye-laws were enacted, excluding Catholics from every profitable branch of trade. The result was, that all the Catholic gentry possessed of the means of emigration quitted the country, as did all the merchants of respectability, carrying with them, to fructify in other and in hostile countries, the property which might have enriched that of their persecutors.

The system was now nearly complete. The Catholics were excluded from every opening to political power. They were not exterminated, because the land would have been valueless to the new proprietors, without the assistance of labourers sufficient to extract its produce. The effects of the system soon began to appear. The son of James II. made an attempt to recover his father's dominions in the beginning of the reign of George I. The new proprietary took the alarm. On the first rumour of his intended project against Scotland, a number of Irish Catholic gentlemen were thrown into close confinement. The government, however, ashamed of this unnecessary ebullition of terror, soon afterwards caused them to be liberated, even without payment of the customary fees. The alarm was futile. The Irish had not the means, nor even the inclination, to renew the contest. Their spirit was broken by the grinding degradation of the restrictions thrown around them. Yet, to make assurance still surer, these restrictions were increased by the addition of new clauses to the penal code, mostly of minor importance, by one of which Papists were excluded from voting in vestries for the assessment of money for repairing or rebuilding parish churches.

The Irish Protestants were equally active in asserting their own liberties, as in extinguishing those of the Catholics. An attempt made by the English House of Lords to exercise the right of ultimate jurisdiction in cases of disputed property, to the prejudice of the peers of Ireland, was stubbornly resisted; and though the dispute was cut short for the time by an English act, declaring that the British parliament had full power and authority to make laws to bind the people of Ireland, the acquiescence of the latter proceeded, as future events fully proved it, from a consciousness, not of the defect of right, but of power to assert it. In its resistance to another act of British interference the country was more successful. The coinage, particularly of copper, was deplorably defective both in quantity and in value. An application for a domestic mint, a right often before allowed and exercised, was rejected, and in lieu of it a patent was granted to an English brassfounder of the name of Wood to coin copper to a large amount. The pride of the Irish took fire, and the circumstances of the case elevated the feeling into patriotism. Amongst the opponents of Wood's patent, Jonathan Swift, the celebrated dean of St Patrick's, was most eminent. In a series of letters, published under the name of the "Drapier," he denounced the scheme as illegal and ruinous. One of the letters was deemed libellous, and a large reward was offered for the discovery of the author. But the fidelity of the dean's partisans bore him harmless; the storm passed over without injury to him. The infamous patent was recalled; and his grateful country has embalmed his memory in the immortality of patriotism.

The state of the Catholics was now brought down nearly to the lowest point of depression. An address of congratulation to George II. on his accession, presented to the lord-lieutenant by Lord Delvin, on their part, was suffered to remain unnoticed, except so far as to render so faint an effort an apology for still further restraints. A bill was brought in for excluding Papists from voting at elections. By another, lawyers and attorneys married to Papists were prevented from practising. Even converts could not hold the office of justice of the peace if their wives and children continued to be recusant; and persons plundered by privateers in the service of a popish nation were to be reimbursed by a levy on the goods of Roman Catholics only. A vote of the Commons, declaring any person who took legal steps for the recovery of his tithes of dry cattle, commonly called the tithe of agistment, to be an enemy to the country, threw the greater part of the burden of maintaining the Protestant clergy from the rich proprietor, whose land was wholly under pasturage, upon the Roman Catholic cotter, who was obliged to raise some grain on his little patch of ground for the subsistence of his family.

Whilst the Irish parliament were thus vigilant in cutting off from the Catholics all means of regaining political power, they were no less so in preventing any encroachment of the English government upon the rights they themselves possessed. The relations of these two latter parties towards each other after the Revolution were peculiar. The members of the House of Commons held their seats, not, as in Great Britain, by septennial election, but during the pleasure of the crown. Their tenure was therefore generally regarded as tantamount to a life estate, subject only to a dissolution on the demise of the crown. Hence they were virtually unrestrained by popular control. On the other hand, as the lord-lieutenant came over to Ireland but once in two years, to hold a parliament for granting the supplies, the management of the country rested with the lords-justices nominated to hold the reins of government in his absence, who were selected from among the most powerful of the great Protestant families. Their influence, in questions between the two countries, was therefore often directed to thwart the measures of the English cabinet, particularly when these seemed to interfere with their own aggrandizement. The operation of the penal laws, whilst it enslaved the Catholics, pauperized the country. The great mass of the population was deprived by them of the main stimulus to industry, the hope of improving their condition by their own exertions. The great proprietors found their land becoming of less value, from the neglect of agricultural improvement. The supplies for the service of government were therefore granted with a niggardly and reluctant spirit. The English cabinet hoped to cut the knot that thus linked them to the Irish parliament. An attempt was made to obtain a vote for the supplies for twenty-one years. The Irish aristocracy immediately took the alarm. However acquiescent in the general tenor of their votes, they now rallied, and the insidious attempt was rendered abortive by a majority of one.

The depression of the country, arising from the treatment of the Catholic part of the population, was endeavoured to be remedied by the extension of education, the formation of patriotic societies, and the execution of public works. To educate the Catholics, it was necessary they should first be converted, because by the penal code domestic education according to the principles of their own faith was prohibited. Schools were therefore opened, in which the pupils were taught the elements of literature and the useful arts, and were also clothed and fed at the public expense. Being established by letters patent from the crown, these obtained the name of charter schools. Their professed object was the diffusion of useful knowledge; but as their primary process was based upon Protestant instruction, and as this, to be effective, required a total severance of the parental tie which linked the Catholic peasant to his family, the effort failed. The second element of national regeneration was attempted by the formation of a society, in imitation of the Royal Society of London, under the name of the Physico-Historical Society, for the improvement of agriculture, husbandry, and the useful arts, which afterwards merged into the Royal Dublin Society. The last-named element of improvement, the execution of public works, gave rise to the measure of inland navigation. But none of these were effective to the extent proposed by those who set them on foot. The great object was not merely to give Protestantism the ascendency, but to eradicate Catholicism; to realize, in fact, what was imagined by a fiction of law, when, in a case where a Catholic came into a court of justice, he was gravely told that the law did not recognize the existence of a Papist. Education, whether of the primary rudiments or of the higher departments of science, gave knowledge, and knowledge revealed the extent and gloom of degradation. Useful works required workmen, and thus circulated capital amongst the Catholic population, to which the undertakers were compelled to have recourse for the mechanical parts of such undertakings. A state of society so anomalous, in which universal liberty was the avowed principle, yet slavery, unmitigated by the protection which sordid interest extends to the preservation of individual property, was the practice, could not but be most precarious. The ruling party, aware of the danger of explosion, at length found itself compelled to give vent to the under-workings of the re-action against oppression, by a partial change of system. That of ever-increasing compression, painful and hazardous at all times, was found, in periods of general agitation or impending warfare, impracticable. The threatened invasion of England by the young Pretender was the crisis which led to a change of domestic policy towards the Catholics. Ireland, as the weakest point of the empire, was looked upon as the most exposed. The Irish population was numerous and discontented. Their deficiency in the means and the organization of war could be instantaneously supplied by the wealth of France, and by the long-proved skill and valour of their countrymen, the Irish brigades in the French service. To ward off the apprehended danger, Lord Chesterfield was sent over in the spirit of conciliation. To the Catholics, worn down by the action of half a century of increasing oppression, the slightest relaxation of the highly strained engine of oppression became comparatively a blessing. An accidental circumstance afforded the new governor an opportunity to evince the sincerity of his professions. Hitherto the Catholics had held their assemblages for religious worship in the most secluded and secret places. The rewards offered by the laws for the detection of their priests, or of those who attended their ceremonies, compelled them to the strictest secrecy. The floor of a building in one of the confined streets of Dublin, where mass was celebrated, gave way, and caused the death or mutilation of a number of the wretched beings, congregated to worship their God at all hazards, in the way in which they had been trained. Lord Chesterfield, with the tact which has immortalized him as a first-rate character in the annals of fashionable life, seized the opportunity of declaring openly that he would not be a party to a system of religious prevention, liable to the hazard of such results; and the meetings of Catholics for the purpose of religious worship were consequently winked at. Still, however, the spirit of the penal code remained unrestricted; and operative laws were passed during the government of this, the first of the tolerating lord-lieutenants, not only annulling all marriages between Protestants and Catholics, if celebrated by a Catholic priest, but also rendering the clergyman who performed the ceremony liable to capital punishment. The threatened storm from abroad blew over. The invasion of the young Pretender forms no part of Irish history. The Irish Catholic remained unmoved in his habits of passive obedience. The Irish Protestant returned to his parliamentary controversies with the ruling powers in England. Where there existed such a consciousness of overwhelming superiority on the one side, acting upon a spirit of domineering independence, checked by an internal conviction of weakness, the weakness of division, on the other, collisions between the English cabinet and the Irish ascendancy party could not fail to be frequent and acrimonious; much less could such collisions fail to throw to the surface some of those restless spirits which political convulsions have shaken from their orbits of ordinary movement. A contest between the Irish privy council, which then exercised the most important parts of the legislative functions of government, and the corporation, stimulated Charles Lucas, a Dublin apothecary, to assert the rights of the latter. Though unsuccessful, he was not unrewarded. The death of the two representatives for Dublin gave rise to a contested election, an event of rare occurrence under the then existing constitution of the Irish parliament. Lucas was elected, under the pledge of vindicating, in the House of Commons, the perfect independence of the Irish legislature. This doctrine, first broached by Molyneaux shortly after the Revolution, in a treatise called the "Case of Ireland," was viewed with alarm by the English party in the House, and with jealousy by that of the Irish aristocracy. By the one it was viewed as a severance of the connection of sovereignty and dependence between the two countries, by the other it was felt to sap the foundations of their own domestic omnipotence. Passages of libellous tendency were extracted from Lucas's publications. The House of Commons declared him an enemy to the country, and passed a vote for his prosecution. He evaded the coming storm only by retiring to the Continent. On a subsequent vacancy, however, he was re-elected, and took his seat as one of the representatives of the people, which he retained till his death. The Irish parliament, arrogant where it felt secure in its own power, was tamely submissive under circumstances wherein an assertion of its just rights would have been truly creditable. A surplus revenue remained in the Irish exchequer. The English council insisted on the king's right to dispose of it at pleasure. The Irish Commons equally insisted on their absolute control over the public purse, without any interference from other quarters. The bill acknowledging the necessity of the royal consent to the appropriation of the surplus income was rejected by the Commons. The English council cut the matter short. The money in dispute was drawn out of the treasury by a king's letter, and the Commons passively acquiesced in the spoliation and insult.

In this state of torpid tranquillity, ruffled only by apprehensions of internal commotion, or by the agitation of partisan quarrels between the rival factions of court and country which divided the dominant party, Ireland continued to advance for nearly seventy years after the Revolution, until at length the elements of activity were roused by the reality of an actual invasion. In the year 1759, a fleet was fitted out in the French ports, for the avowed purpose of landing a large armament in Ireland. A small squadron under M. Thurot, supposed to be an advanced section of the main fleet, and intended to cause a diversion of the defending forces, landed in the north of Ireland, and took possession of the town and castle of Carrickfergus, with little opposition. After holding it a few days, the French commander, checked by the appearance of the general and History determined resistance which was gathering around him through all the northern counties, deemed it expedient, instead of proceeding to the assault of the wealthy and undefended town of Belfast, which lay at but a few miles' distance, to re-embark. Any further repetition of his predatory incursions was prevented by the destruction of his little armament in the channel, in an engagement, in which Thurot himself lost his life.

The alarm excited by the threatened invasion afforded an opportunity to the Catholics to call the attention of the government to their sufferings. An address, framed by a committee of their body, was presented to the lord-lieutenant, making a tender of their allegiance at this critical period. Its favourable reception brought forward others of the same kind from every part of the country, and thus was the first impulse given to the movement for the repeal of the penal code. Another opportunity of echoing the sentiments contained in these addresses presented itself on the accession of the new king, George III. It was eagerly seized on, and the address was received with equal favour as the former. The state of the country required some vital change in its internal administration. The revenue was declining, and the peasantry were every year becoming more destitute and discontented. The wretched sufferers, attributing their misery to the exaction of tithes and the enclosure of lands hitherto left open in commonage, banded themselves together in large bodies at night, and destroyed the new enclosures; whence they at first received the name of Levellers, but were afterwards better known by that of Whiteboys, from their wearing white shirts over their clothes, to be known to one another in their nocturnal expeditions. From the invasion of property they proceeded to the attack of persons obnoxious to them, particularly tithe proctors, treating with wanton and barbarous cruelty those who fell into their hands. The government, instead of probing the evil to the bottom in order to effect a cure by the removal of the cause of irritation, retaliated by a series of severe and arbitrary laws, known by the name of the Whiteboy Acts, many of which are still in force. Attempts were made to connect those insurrections of desperate misery with the political movements of France. Rumours were circulated that the Whiteboys were encouraged by money from that court, and that their combination was the explosion of a plan for restoring the Pretender. A parish priest of the name of Sheehy, who had made himself obnoxious to the gentry in his neighbourhood by his exertions to shield the peasantry from their oppressions, was arrested on a charge of treason; and, though acquitted of that crime after a patient and long investigation by a jury in Dublin, he was, on his return home, again arraigned on a charge of murder, universally known to be false, and executed. The situation of the British government in Ireland at this time was extremely irksome and invidious. In order to carry on the public business smoothly, it became necessary to conciliate the great landed proprietors, who, through their borough influence, had the control of the House of Commons. They were to be gained over partly by allowing them a large share in the disposal of all places of trust and profit, and partly by indulging their enmity to the Catholics, who were still suspected of being cemented in a secret union for the recovery of their forfeited estates. The party which thus virtually ruled the country by playing the British government and the Irish people against one another, was known by the name of the Undertakers. They had a double object; the one to make the crown, as far as Ireland was concerned, dependent on themselves; and the other to check the spirit of liberty in the people, and at the same time to throw on the government the odium of the measures of which they themselves were the instigators. To break down this petty aristocracy, which had intruded itself between the prerogative of the crown and the rights of the people, the British cabinet resolved, in the early part of George III.'s reign, that the lord-lieutenant, who had hitherto visited the country only once in two years for the purpose of holding a parliament and passing the supplies, leaving the management of the country during the intervening period to two or three lords-justices chosen from among the leaders of the Undertakers, should reside permanently in Dublin, so as thus to be the immediate and ostensible organs of government patronage and influence. At the same time, to put a stop to the outcry against the mismanagement of the public income, which was attributed to the people's want of a sufficient check over their representatives, the duration of parliaments, which hitherto had terminated only on the demise of the crown, was limited to eight years, so that, as the parliaments then sat only ever second year, there should be four sessions between each dissolution. Lord Townshend, a nobleman of moderate political, but of great convivial endowments, was selected as the most fitting person to effect the change. He succeeded with much difficulty, some loss of character, and great expenditure of the public money. But the people felt no benefit from the change. The places and pensions, hitherto bestowed on the dependents of the Undertakers, were now lavished with augmented profusion on the creatures of the lord-lieutenant. The disappointed borough holders of the old parliaments felt their power in the House of Commons increased by the curtailing of the period of legislation. They threw themselves into the ranks of opposition, to thwart the measures of the government which they could no longer direct. The parliament was the arena for the struggle between the two parties, and the real interests of the country were disregarded. The severity of the Whiteboy Acts caused a temporary cessation of insubordination in one part of the country, only to give vent to it in another. The disturbances in the south had been imputed to Catholic conspiracy, aided by foreign influence. A similar systematized spirit of outrage now displayed itself in Ulster, which was chiefly inhabited by a Protestant population, that had already testified its loyalty during Thurot's invasion. The real cause of disaffection was the same in both parts of the country. High rents, and the rapacity of the agents of absentees, drove the people into insurrection. The assembled multitudes here took the name of Hearts of Steel. For their suppression, the legislature passed an act that offenders should be tried in counties different from that in which the crime was committed. The extreme severity and injustice of the law counteracted its operation. Dublin juries, disgusted at a measure so arbitrary and unconstitutional, acquitted the prisoners, and the law was soon repealed. Emigration to the American colonies was the consequence of the depressed state of the peasantry, and of the severity with which they were treated. The war with those colonies, by closing this vent for the discharge of the popular discontent, caused them to accumulate at home. It also increased their amount by the addition of other grievances arising out of the change from peace to war. America had been the great mart for Irish linens, now the only thriving branch of the national manufactures; it was also the great market for Irish provisions. The war closed the trade, and an embargo laid on provisions in favour of some great English contractors put a stop to their export. The country was also deprived of its portion of the regular troops, which the increasing emergency of the struggle with the revolted provinces called away. The sufferings of the people were intense; and the alarm of danger was shortly afterwards increased by the well-founded apprehension of an invasion from France, now the avowed ally of the Americans. To allay the spirit of discontent which was rapidly pervading all ranks, two measures were proposed, the one in England, the removal of the restric- tions imposed there, as unwisely as selfishly, on Irish commerce; the other the relaxation of the penal code in Ireland. The commercial jealousy of the mercantile interest in England prevented the former; the latter succeeded so far as to allow Catholics to hold lands by lease for a long term of years. This boon, though it might excite the hope of more extended liberality, could avail little toward relieving the pressure of immediate distress. Want at home, and danger from abroad, stared the country every year more fully in the face. The landed and commercial interests called on the government for protection. The Earl of Buckinghamshire, then lord-lieutenant, a man of moderate abilities, returned for answer that the government had none to give. The people, urged on by the exigency of the crisis, resolved to arm themselves. Volunteer associations were not hitherto wholly unknown in the country. The military spirit of the nation had shown itself on many preceding occasions, in the readiness with which numerous bodies of men, assuming a self-formed and self-taught military organization, united together on occasions of local or temporary danger. The invasion of Thurot gave rise to some in the north, the outrages of the Whiteboys led to others in the southern counties. But such instances were temporary and local. The impulse now given to the public spirit, by the desponding reply of the government to the appeal for protection, was universal and permanent. The organization commenced in Belfast, to which the lord-lieutenant's answer had been more specially directed. The constituted authorities had told them they were not to look to them for protection, but to themselves. They took the hint, and formed several companies of self-armed, self-disciplined, and self-officered soldiers. The surrounding towns followed the example; and the government, acting in the spirit of its own suggestion, supplied these new-raised levies with arms. The flame of military ardour spread with unexpected rapidity through all parts, and the number of well-disciplined corps soon became so great and so formidable as to dispel all thought of invasion on the one side, and all apprehension of it on the other. The same spirit caused a re-action against the monopolizing restrictions of the British legislature. The people of Ireland entered into a very general combination to confine themselves to the use of their own manufactures. The sudden check to industry thus produced in England caused the supporters of the measure to reflect on its inexpediency; and the military display could not fail to attract their respect.

The people of Ireland now began to expect from their volunteer associations what, according to the principles of the constitution, should only be looked for from the legislature. These bodies were not backward in meeting such expectations. Assemblages of volunteer corps in Dublin and elsewhere passed resolutions that the king, lords, and commons of Ireland alone were competent to make laws to bind the people of Ireland. The political feeling thus excited increased the number of military associations; and, whilst in the parliament the old system of corrupt influence carried all before it by numerical majorities, the volunteers of Ulster, in the consciousness of their strength, held a meeting at Dungannon, declarative of the necessity of a thorough reform of the state of the representation, and of a combined exertion of the whole volunteer force of Ireland to procure it. The effervescence of patriotism was increased by the unsettled state of the administration in England; Lord North had resigned, and the death of Lord Rockingham put a premature end to his short-lived administration. The result as to Ireland was the dissolution of the parliament, against which the feelings of the nation were so highly excited. A new parliament was about to meet; and at the same time a meeting of delegates from all the volunteer corps in Ireland was to assemble in Dublin, to urge on the favourite measure of parliamentary reform.

At this time several individuals had raised themselves to the highest pinnacle in the scale of patriotism. The most remarkable was the Earl of Charlemont, who, after spending his youth amidst the elegancies of Italian refinement, devoted his maturer years to the service of his country at home. Next to him were Grattan and Flood, both members of parliament, both eager to establish the independence of their common country on sure grounds, yet fatally adverse to each other as to the foundation on which it was to be laid; the former considering a simple repeal of all English laws interfering with Irish rights as a sufficient disavowal of the assertion of supremacy, the latter requiring an open and explicit disclaiming on the point. Grattan was successful; and the country voted L50,000. The breach between the rival patriots was irremediable. Grattan remained at home to continue the struggle for securing the newly-gained rights of his country. Flood soon afterwards retired to England, where a seat in the British legislature flattered him with a more enlarged sphere for the display of his powers. But he failed, and was no longer named as a patriot or statesman.

The meeting of the new parliament and of the volunteer convention took place simultaneously. The first and only act of any consequence adopted by the latter, was a resolution as to the necessity of a reform in parliament; which having been immediately afterwards introduced by Mr Flood into the House of Commons, was there rejected by a large majority; and the convention, partly through an apprehension among many of its members, of dangers from a collision between two representative bodies, both emanating from the same source, and both claiming to be the constitutional organ of their constituents, and partly through a manoeuvre of some of its leaders, quietly adjourned, and never afterwards assembled.

Assemblages of large bodies of armed men, unconnected with and beyond the control of the government, could not fail to alarm the ruling powers. The union of these bodies into a deliberative meeting, for the avowed purpose of influencing the legislature, was still more alarming. The first effort of the volunteers to attain this position had been baffled. The meeting of delegates was dissolved; but it might, and there was every reason to suppose that it would, be re-assembled. To prevent such a recurrence by violent means was dangerous. The volunteer body was numerous. It counted upwards of 100,000 men, embracing the greater part of the wealth and respectability of the country, in its ranks; its numbers and discipline were yearly increasing. The consequences of a hostile collision with such a body, particularly at the close of an unsuccessful war, commenced with the avowed determination of crushing the spirit of independence in the American colonies, were fraught with great hazard. An attempt was therefore made to break up the strength of this body by internal divisions. The Catholic question effected this. The volunteers were almost exclusively Protestants. The extension of rights to a portion of the population, so long held in a state of passive degradation, was viewed by many of them with a jealous eye. They looked upon every new concession to the Catholics as so much abstracted from themselves. Still, however, the Catholic cause was gaining ground.

The extension of a free trade to Ireland had afforded the means of accumulating property. It was eagerly seized on by the Catholic merchants and traders. The lately conceded permission to hold land on long leases gave the holder of such property a fixed position and weight in the country. New laws, framed in the spirit of the increasing liberality of the age, extended their rights. They were permitted to purchase, hold, and dispose of land, by will History, or otherwise, as freely as Protestants. The penal acts prohibiting the celebrating or hearing of mass, keeping horses above the value of five pounds each, instructing their own children, or acting as teachers, were repealed; as were those taxing them for the losses sustained from privateers, obliging them to pay Protestant watchmen, excluding them from residence in particular towns, and some other petty and irritating restrictions. Still they were far from being on a political equality with their Protestant countrymen; and at the very time that the severity of the code was thus relaxed as to property, new laws were passed still further contracting their political rights. By one of these they were debarred from admission into the Inns of Court; by another the English act of William III., excluding them from sitting in parliament, was formally enacted in Ireland. The passing of it attracted but little notice, as the act of William had been hitherto passively acquiesced in by the Catholic body.

Whilst the government was successfully busied in sowing the seeds of disunion amongst the volunteers, it paid little attention to conciliate the people by economy or good management. The reckless system of lavish and profligate expenditure introduced by Lord Townshend, to break down the monopoly of the Undertakers, was persevered in to secure majorities in the House of Commons. A feeble effort made by the Duke of Buckingham to retrench and restore order into the finances only led to his recall. Yet it was soon found that a government resting on majorities thus purchased depended on a very frail security. The mental derangement of the king in 1789 showed the futility of such reliance. The English cabinet wished to restrict the Prince of Wales in the discharge of the regal powers intrusted to him as regent. The Irish privy council was prepared to follow the example. But the opposition in parliament, anxious to extend their own influence by gaining over the heir-apparent, who had till then always made professions of great liberality of political opinion, resolved to grant him the regency of Ireland, with no restrictions beyond those imposed by the constitution on the sovereign himself. An address to this effect, voted by both houses of parliament, in opposition to the lord-lieutenant, was forwarded to London. The sudden and unexpected recovery of the king prevented its effect. But the British minister, having now so fully before him a warning of the consequences that might result from similar collisions of the two legislatures upon future questions, seemed fully determined to seize on every opportunity of preventing it, by taking measures for effecting a union of the parliaments of both countries, similar to that which took place in Scotland at the commencement of the century. The prevalence of opposition to the wishes of the English cabinet was as transient as it had been sudden. The members who voted against the ministry on the regency question were again found in their places on all ministerial questions, with the exception of those whose rebellion had been too gross and daring to admit of pardon; and the parliamentary management of the country began to subside again into its former state of torpidity.

But the calm was not to be of long duration. A new element of convulsion was at work. The French revolution broke out in the same year in which the king's insanity had caused such excitement. For some time it produced but little effect on the popular movements in Ireland. The Protestants, indeed, began to call more loudly for reform, and the Catholics to press more openly for admittance into the pale of the constitution. Both were disregarded. The government felt itself strong in its majorities, and in the plenitude of its means for securing them. The question of reform was disregarded; that of Catholic relief was not only scouted with marked contumely, but, during the ensuing recess in 1792, every exertion was made on the part of government to draw forth from the grand juries of the several counties the strongest resolutions against any further concessions. Yet the very next year a bill was introduced into parliament by the government, for extending the elective franchise to the Catholics, which was passed by a majority nearly equal to that which had refused to take their claims into consideration in the last session. Bills for amending the representation, and for disqualifying placemen from sitting in the House of Commons, were also introduced. The promises of reform thus held out induced the minority to acquiesce in several coercive measures, particularly one against the holding of conventions by delegation. Enactments of the latter character having been secured, that of reform was allowed to languish, and, next year, was rejected by an overwhelming ministerial majority. The French war in which England was now involved had been the cause of this sudden burst of concession; but when the means of carrying it on, and of checking by severity any efforts to excite discontent at home, had been assured, the mask was thrown off, and the management of affairs carried on with increased profligacy of expenditure, and disregard of public opinion. The advocates of reform, despairing of any change of measures from parliament, endeavoured to carry the question of reform by a pressure from without, through the agency of voluntary associations. They formed a Whig Club, which afterwards was superseded by that of the United Irishmen. One of the leading features of both societies, especially of the latter, was the advocacy of the Catholic question, as it now appeared evident that the question of reform was hopeless, without the previous admission of the Catholic body to their rights of freemen. The government, after some further perseverance in measures of harshness and restraint, heightened by the increased violence of the leaders of the people, the principal of whom, Wolf Tone, Hamilton Rowan, and James Napper Tandy, were forced to expatriate themselves, changed at once to a system of conciliation. In assurance of the sincerity of the change of sentiment, Earl Fitzwilliam, a nobleman possessed of large estates in Ireland, and a steady advocate of liberal measures, was sent over as lord-lieutenant. He commenced his government by arrangements for bringing in a bill for the total repeal of the penal statutes, and by the removal from office of the inferior agents of government, who, by their long continuance in place, and the manner in which their mutual interests were connected, virtually possessed the supreme power. The latter of these efforts caused the lord-lieutenant's removal. The family of the Beresfords, which had for many years possessed the chief places of profit and influence, demonstrated effectively against their own dismission and the breaking up of the old system, and Earl Fitzwilliam was suddenly recalled. Earl Camden, who succeeded him as lord-lieutenant, recurred to the former system of patronage and coercion. The United Irishmen now looked not to a reform, but to a separation from Great Britain, and the establishment of an independent republic in alliance with that of France, as the only means of securing the independence of their country. A well-arranged system of secret confederacy was spread over the greater part of the kingdom, headed by an executive in the capital, the members of which, though wholly unknown, except to the few individuals in immediate communication with themselves, issued orders for enlisting, combining, and arming their adherents, which were zealously and implicitly obeyed. The northern and midland counties had for some time been disturbed by the fierce and deadly contentions of the peasantry of the two opposite religious creeds; the Catholics took the name of Defenders, the Protestants that of Orangemen. As the struggle grew more despe- rate, the attraction of party extended to the higher classes, and the former of these predial disturbers merged into the great mass of United-Irishmen, whilst the latter, consolidated by the infusion of a superior spirit of wealth and intelligence, formed a compact, well-organized, and resolute body, under the original name of Orangemen, determined to maintain to the utmost their own monopoly of power, and the entire exclusion of the Roman Catholics, who formed the great mass of the population, from any participation of it. The increasing hostility of both parties showed itself by acts of augmented atrocity on both sides. The Defenders' means of aggression were nocturnal plunder, house-burnings, and murders. The other party, backed by the sanction of the government, had recourse to the force of statutes of increased rigour, and, where these failed, to the agency of military violence beyond the law.

In the year 1796 the organization of the united system on the one side, and on the other the increased severities of the Orangemen, supported by the government, and directed exclusively against the Catholic peasantry, compelled the leaders of the people to press upon the French government the necessity of an immediate invasion. In consequence of their repeated and urgent applications, aided by the exertions of Wolf Tone, who, since his departure from Ireland, had devoted himself to this object, a large armament was equipped in the western ports of France, for the avowed purpose of invading Ireland. The command of it was intrusted to Hoche, then considered as the first officer of the time. Taking advantage of a storm which drove the blockading squadron of England off the coast, a large fleet sailed from Brest under his command in the middle of December; but the same violence of weather which afforded it the opportunity of eluding the vigilance of the British navy dispersed it when at sea, insomuch that but a part of the armament arrived on the coast of Ireland. Having lain for some time in Bantry Bay undiscovered by the enemy, waiting the arrival of the general, who had embarked in a frigate, and finding the further continuance on the station every day more precarious, it departed, contrary to the pressing remonstrances of Wolf Tone, and returned to Brest, whither the remainder of the fleet soon afterwards arrived, with the loss of a few ships. A second expedition from the Dutch coast was equally unsuccessful. The possibility of an invasion being thus demonstrated, and the probability of its ultimate success, if effected on a great scale, being apprehended in the present excited state of the public mind, the government had recourse to still stronger measures to put down the spirit of insurrection. The habeas corpus act was suspended, domiciliary visits throughout the country parts were frequent, meetings of the people were dispersed by violence, torture was inflicted to force confession from suspected persons, and bodies of soldiery were allowed to live at free quarters in suspected districts. The relaxation of discipline and consequent outrages arising from these practices caused General Abercromby, who came over to take the command of the army at this juncture, to declare, in general orders to the troops, that "the army was in a state of licentiousness which rendered it formidable to every one but the enemy." The announcement was as unpalatable as it was harsh. The general was recalled. General Lake was sent in his place. By his commands the soldiery exercised an almost uncontrolled authority, in which they were sanctioned by instructions from the government empowering the army to use force at the discretion of the officers against the people. At the same time the strength of the United Irish Association was considerably impaired by the arrest or flight of the executive, caused by the treachery of some of their own body. This circumstance, however, produced no despondency. On the contrary, it led to increased exertion. A new executive was formed, and a resolution adopted to press forward the insurrection without waiting for French assistance. A second act of treachery baffled this effort. Twelve History of the leading members of the United Irishmen were seized, with their papers, whilst in committee. A third act of treachery led to the disclosure of the details of the plans. Captain Armstrong, of the king's county militia, entered the association for the purpose of betraying its leaders. By his information two barristers of the name of Sheares, brothers, were arrested; and shortly afterwards, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a brother of the Duke of Leinster, to whom the chief command of the insurrection had been intrusted, was seized in his place of concealment in Dublin, and carried to prison, where he soon after died either of his wounds or from his treatment whilst there. Notwithstanding these checks, the insurrection exploded at the time arranged by its leaders. On the evening of the 23rd of May, the United Irishmen assembled in large bodies in the neighbourhood of Dublin and the adjoining counties. The warnings previously given to government were sufficient to provide against the intended attack upon the capital. The parties collected in its neighbourhood were easily dispersed, with the loss only of a few lives. Unfortunately the same vigilance did not extend to the more distant parts. The signal for commencing operations on the side of the insurgents was to be the non-arrival of the mail coaches at their respective places of destination. The northern and western mail coaches were stopped. The town of Naas was attacked, but, owing to an anonymous warning, the garrison was prepared, and the assault was repelled. Unsuccessful attacks were also made on Carlow, Hacketstown, and Monasterevan. A large body which had assembled on the hill of Tarah was routed with much slaughter. The operations of the army were seconded by the most violent acts on the part of the government. Several of the leaders who had been previously seized were tried and executed. Numbers arrested on suspicion were brought to places prepared for the purpose, and there tied up and flogged, to extort confession. The principal places in Dublin for these inquisitorial executions were the Royal Exchange, the Old Custom-House, the Prevot Barrack, and a riding house belonging to a cavalry corps commanded by one of the Beresford family. The atrocities practised in the capital under the sanction of the government were improved upon in the country parts, where the military, to whom full license was permitted, by putting the country under martial law, not only adopted the same method of extorting confession, but used others of more refined agony to elicit discoveries or to gratify revenge. In some cases they hanged up their victim, and let him down again just before life was extinct; thus repeating at pleasure the sufferings of strangulation. On the heads of others they applied caps lined with heated pitch, which, when fastened on, and allowed to cool, were suddenly torn off, carrying with them the hair and skin. In the spirit of fiendish mockery, they cut ridges in the hair of others, in the form of a cross, and filling up the furrow with gunpowder, set fire to it. On the first breaking out of the rebellion, a number of suspected persons, some of them respectable farmers, who had been confined in a racket-court at Hacketstown, were deliberately shot, without even the form of trial, on the removal of the troops from that place, lest they should join the rebel camps. A similar massacre was perpetrated at Dunlavin. The insurgents of Kildare, finding themselves defeated in almost every assault upon the king's troops, came forward to surrender on promise of pardon. Many laid down their arms, and were permitted to disperse in safety. But a large body of them, assembled for the same purpose, was unexpectedly attacked by a detachment of the military, who had not been made acquainted with the arrangement, and cut to pieces.

The system of torture was carried by the soldiery into the county of Wexford, which had hitherto remained quiet. Here the insurgents were more successful. After cutting to pieces a detachment of cavalry from Dublin, and another of infantry and artillery from Duncannon Fort, and taking Enniscorthy by storm, they seized on the town of Wexford, which had been evacuated on the first alarm by the military. Having established themselves here, and at Vinegar Hill, an eminence near Enniscorthy, they remained comparatively quiet, being chiefly occupied in putting to death prisoners charged with having been active in the cruelties practised upon the insurgents. Their first serious defeat was at New Ross, from which they were repulsed after a sanguinary contest of ten hours. In revenge for this defeat, a party of the fugitives set fire to a barn at Scullabogue, in which upwards of an hundred of their prisoners were confined, all of whom were either burned, or piked in attempting to escape from the flames. The same impulse of sanguinary despair caused the insurgents in Wexford to put their prisoners to death, by piking them on the bridge, and flinging their bodies into the sea; a process of cruelty continued for several days, notwithstanding the active interference and remonstrances of several of their own clergy. At length, however, their main position at Vinegar Hill was invested by a large military force, and stormed after a short resistance. Wexford soon afterwards fell into the hands of the royal troops, having surrendered without resistance, on conditions which were immediately violated. The leaders of the insurrection who had not fallen in the field were executed by court-martial, and the insurrection in this and the neighbouring county of Wicklow totally suppressed.

The news of the first successes of the insurgents in Wexford caused a rising in the counties of Antrim and Down, which had remained passive on the first breaking out of the insurrection in Kildare. But it was speedily put down after a battle in the town of Antrim, and another at Ballynahinch, in both of which the insurgents, who displayed much courage, but no military skill, were totally defeated. The marauding parties, who still harassed the country after the dispersion of the main bodies, were ultimately broken up by the prudent and merciful conduct of Lord Cornwallis. This nobleman, who succeeded Earl Camden as lord-lieutenant, not only put an instant stop to the system of torture and extermination which had been adopted and perseveringly acted on by his predecessor, but issued an amnesty to all who submitted and returned to their dwellings. This merciful policy had its full effect; and the country, after being convulsed for two months by the deadly struggles of the contending parties, entertained the hope of being restored to tranquillity, when the prospect was suddenly overcast. Towards the close of summer, a small French squadron landed a force of about twelve hundred men at Killala, in the west of Ireland. Humbert, the general, being joined by a number of the inhabitants, pressed on to Castlebar, where a force of from five to six thousand men under General Lake was posted to oppose him. This force was taken by surprise, and routed almost without firing a shot. The French then proceeded to Coooney, where they received a temporary check from a party of the Irish militia, which made a gallant stand against superior numbers; and thence proceeded, followed by General Lake, into the county of Longford. Having arrived at the village of Ballynamuck, the French commander, finding himself surrounded by an overwhelming majority of force, collected from all parts by Lord Cornwallis, surrendered at discretion, leaving his Irish auxiliaries to the mercy of the enemy. No quarter was given to these. A second attempt at invasion, equally feeble and futile, was made the following month. A small squadron appeared off the northern coast, filled with troops intended for disembarkation; but it was routed by a superior English fleet, with the loss of one line-of-battle ship and six frigates, in which were some of the expatriated Irish who were embarked in this desperate expedition. Amongst these was Wolfe Tone, who, on being brought prisoner to Dublin, anticipated the sentence of a court-martial by an act of suicide.

The British government of that day have been accused of fomenting the rebellion of 1798 for the purpose of bringing about a legislative union between Ireland and Great Britain. There is no foundation for the charge, but doubtless the government took advantage of the explosion of the insurrection of 1798 to hasten on the progress of a necessary measure, the adoption of which was only a question of time. The union of both countries had been proposed and debated without result in 1782, the year of so-called constitutional independence and final adjustment; three years after which, Mr Foster, the chancellor of the Irish exchequer, said in the Irish parliament, "Things cannot remain as they are; commercial jealousy is roused, and it will increase with two independent legislatures. Without a united interest in commerce, in a commercial empire, political union will receive many shocks, and separation of interest must threaten separation of connection, which every honest Irishman must shudder to look on as a possible event." Mr Fox stated in the British House of Commons that from the period of 1782 there had been growing sources of dissatisfaction and discontent in Ireland, and that its condition in 1797 was one at which no man could look without the greatest alarm.

The rebellion of 1798 alarmed all reasonable persons, and the dispute which had occurred in 1789 between the two parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland respecting the powers to be granted to the Prince of Wales as regent, clearly demonstrated that there was no security in the existing arrangement. The project of 1782 was revived, and a legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland recommended in the lord-lieutenant's speech at the opening of the parliament in January 1799. After a discussion in the Lower House on the address, which occupied twenty-two hours, a resolution approving of the principle was carried by a majority of one. After a subsequent debate, the opinion of the House having been declared against it by a majority of five, the paragraph in favour of the Union was expunged from the address to the throne. For a time the question remained in an unsettled state. Mr Pitt, in his speech of the 31st January 1799, said, "I wish that the question of the Union should be stated distinctly, temperately, and fully; that it should be left to the unprejudiced, the dispassionate, the sober judgment of the Irish parliament. I wish that those whose interests are involved in the measure should have time for its consideration. I wish that time should be given to the landed, to the monied interest, that they should look at it in all its hearings—that they should coolly examine and sift the popular arguments by which it has been opposed; and that then they should give their final judgment." The great body of the people were induced to give the measure a tacit though reluctant assent, from a promise held out to them of Catholic emancipation, and other advantages which they had little hope of obtaining from the Irish parliament. The government being resolved on the measure, found it necessary to prevent or disperse various public meetings of its violent opponents, and to make use of all the influence at their command to overcome the reluctance of the majority of the Irish House of Commons. Confiding in the success of his arrangements, Lord Castlereagh, the Irish minister, revived the question early in 1800; and on the final division, which took place on the 6th February in that year, 158 members voted for the Union, and 115 against it. The principle being admitted, and the details having been settled by the British parliament during the past session, no further difficulty was experienced. At the close of the year the two separate par- Ireland.

Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland were dissolved, and a proclamation issued for the assembling of an imperial parliament in January 1801. The articles of the Act of Union, eight in number, are—1. The permanent union of the two kingdoms into one, under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2. The succession to the throne to continue as at present, limited. 3. The kingdom to be represented by one parliament, to be called the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 4. 28 peers temporal elected for life, and 4 spiritual peers succeeding each other by a rotation of sessions, were admitted into the House of Lords; 100 representatives, 2 for each county, 2 for Dublin city, 2 for Cork city, and 1 each for 31 towns and the university, were to be elected into the Lower House. 5. The churches of England and Ireland were to be united into one, to be called the United Church of England and Ireland, the doctrine, worship, and discipline of which was to be the same as that established for the Church of England. 6. The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland were to be placed on the same footing as to manufactures, trade, and commerce. 7. The contribution of each portion of the empire towards the general expenditure was to be in the proportion of 15 to 2 between Great Britain and Ireland for 20 years; after which, to be regulated at the discretion of parliament. 8. The existing laws and courts of justice in each island were to continue as heretofore, except that appeals from the Irish chancery were to be brought before the House of Lords in England. The style of the king was in consequence changed to that of King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the blazoning of the royal standard was altered accordingly.

In 1793, eight years previous to the Union, Mr Grattan stated that, of 300 members of the Irish House of Commons, 200 were the nominees of private individuals, from 40 to 50 were returned by constituencies of not more than ten persons each; several boroughs had not more than one resident elector, and that out of 300 members thus returned, 104 were placemen and pensioners. At the Union compensation was awarded to the proprietors of 83 boroughs, an act having been previously passed by which the Irish parliament voted £1,400,000 for the "losses sustained from the Union by the cities, towns, and boroughs, in Ireland, and to make compensation to persons for loss or reduction of emolument of office by the Union." Thus ended the Irish parliament, which, "the moment it arrogated to itself the powers of an independent legislature, imbibed the elements of dissolution, or separation from England; for there being no connecting link between the legislators of the two islands, but the precarious prerogative of the crown, there was unavoidably a constant endeavour of the executive to maintain an authority over the legislature, prevention in Ireland being of necessity more desirable than opposition by the veto. The government had long been dependent on an oligarchy, who maintained an ascendancy at their own price in Irish affairs. 'The Union,' as a national historian justly observes, 'broke the strength of the aristocracy; it effected that which it proposed, by untangling the hands of government; it loosened its dependence upon a party, and restored to the state the privilege of good government.' Ireland, in fact, for centuries possessed but two classes of society, the rich and the poor; there was no solid bond between the crown and the people, and the feudalism which the religion of Luther in England, and of Calvin in Scotland, had tended so much to annihilate, flourished in most parts of Erin (as it still does in some places) in all its desolating vigour."

The Act of Union did not at once produce the results promised by its advocates. It neither tranquillized the country, nor aided the consolidation of its resources. The Protestants, who constituted the aristocracy, found their influence diminished by it. The Catholics soon discovered the hopelessness of the expectation of being thereby admitted to the rights of freemen. When the question of their emancipation was about to be made an object of discussion, it was now for the first time publicly announced that the king had insuperable objections to the measure. The consequence was a change of ministry, which was followed up by legislative measures of great severity towards Ireland, founded on the suspected existence of a spirit of disaffection there. Martial law was re-enacted, and the acts for the suspension of the habeas corpus, and for preventing seditious meetings, were revived. These measures of prospective severity did not prevent the mischiefs apprehended. In 1803, less than three years after the passing of the Act of Union, an insurrection, devised by Robert Emmett, the younger brother of a barrister of the same name who had expatriated himself in consequence of the leading part he had taken in the proceedings of the united Irishmen, broke out in the city of Dublin. Its explosion was so sudden and unexpected, that no suspicions, at least none strong enough to lead to the adoption of measures of precaution, were entertained by the government. Soon after sunset on the 23rd of July, Emmett, who had returned to Ireland, in ignorance of the altered state of public feeling, issued, at the head of a number of his followers, armed chiefly with pikes, from a depot established by him in an obscure street in the west of Dublin, and after cutting down some of the military who were proceeding individually to their several quarters, moved towards the Castle, the main object of attack, when his followers were delayed by the approach of Lord Kilwarden's carriage. This excellent and popular nobleman, who had been chief-justice of the King's Bench during the late troublous times, was coming into Dublin as a place of security, in consequence of a rumour of a rising having reached him in his villa, a few miles from town. On being recognized, he was immediately assailed, and mortally wounded. The arrival of two small picquets immediately dispersed the collected multitude, with the loss of a few lives. Emmett, on finding the failure of his scheme, escaped to the neighbouring mountains, where he was soon afterwards taken, brought to trial, and executed. A similar attempt at insurrection was arranged in the north of Ireland by an associate of Emmett, named Russell, but discovered before the time fixed for its explosion. Measures of prevention were adopted, and its leader, being soon afterwards taken in his place of concealment in Dublin, was also executed. The only permanent consequence of these foolish plans of rebellion was the revival of statutes of extreme severity, which, by placing the people beyond the protection of the usual course of law, served to foster in the mind the seeds of discontent and disaffection, which it was the professed object of such legislation to extinguish.

The agitation of the feelings of mutual irritation between the two great parties in Ireland, arising from the late insurrection, had not sufficiently subsided to admit of the most distant hope that the Catholic claims would receive the slightest attention in parliament till 1805. Even then, so powerful was the party adverse to the entertainment of the question, that motions for a committee on the petitions of the Catholics presented in that year were rejected in both Houses by overwhelming majorities. Even a bill, which asked no more than to put Roman Catholic officers in the army on the same footing in the English as they were in the Irish service, brought in by the then ministry, led to a dissolution, both of the administration and of the parliament, in consequence of the king's aversion to it. For several years afterwards, the question was periodically mooted in

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3 Martin's Ireland and the Union. one or both houses of parliament, and uniformly rejected, though on each subsequent occasion by a diminished majority.

The Catholic committee, which had sat under various names and forms from time to time since its original institution in 1756, having, in 1811, proposed to assemble by delegation in Dublin, steps were taken by the government to put it down, as contrary to the provisions of the convention act, which prohibited such assemblages; but, in consequence of the acquittal of one of the members by a Dublin jury, no further proceedings were taken, and the increased activity of the association recalled the Orange lodges into existence, and led to frequent collisions among the people. In 1817 public opinion had advanced in favour of the Catholic claims so far as to admit of the question of securities being a topic of discussion. The chief point now was the exertion of a royal veto in the nomination of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, but the claim was fortunately afterwards abandoned.

In 1821 George IV visited Ireland during the vice-royalty of Earl Talbot. The king landed at Howth on the 12th of August, and after a stay of nearly three weeks, during which all was loyalty and gaiety, his majesty embarked at Dunleary, afterwards called Kingstown, on the 3rd of September, and Daniel O'Connell, at the head of a Catholic deputation, presented the king with a crown of laurel.

In 1823 the Catholic question began to assume a new and more imposing form. Its change of character was owing to Daniel O'Connell, then a promising barrister, who, after having signalized himself on his first entrance into political life by an eloquent protest against the extinction of the parliament of Ireland, had been subsequently an active and most influential actor in all the proceedings of the Catholic body. Deploring, along with his friend and coadjutor in political action, Mr Shiel, the state of torpid depression into which the question had declined, he suggested the revival of a central body to advocate and manage their cause, planned its details, and commenced its organization. The first meeting of this body, so soon, under the name of the Catholic Association, to be the acknowledged organ of the public sentiment of the greater part of the population of Ireland, commenced in a meeting of three individuals. Its distinguishing characteristics were the exclusion of anything savouring of delegation, a strict adherence to the letter of any law that had been or might be enacted in order to stifle the expression of the sentiments of the Catholics, and, above all, the admission of the great body of the people into it. This last element of its constitution was finally secured and firmly grated into it, after a continued and precarious struggle for existence, by a pecuniary contribution, which O'Connell denominated "the Catholic rent." Every Catholic was called upon to subscribe at least one penny per month to defray the expenses of the association, and thereby became a member of it. These expenses were far from inconsiderable. They were applied partly to protect poor Catholics from the petty persecutions of intolerant magistrates and landlords, partly to meet the general expenditure of the association, whose communications with all parts of the country could not otherwise be effectively carried on, and partly for the gratuitous circulation, throughout every part, of a newspaper, containing a detail of all the proceedings and debates of the association.

The dissolution of Mr Canning's ministry by the unexpected death of its leader, and the formation of the Wellington administration, gave a character of increased energy to the struggle for Catholic emancipation. The Duke was universally believed to be decidedly and irreclaimably adverse to concession on this subject; and one of the first measures taken by the Catholics on his accession to power, was the adoption of pledges, to be given by every candidate at an election, to oppose the new government. They were intended for the next general election, but Mr Vesey Fitzgerald having accepted a seat in the cabinet, a vacancy occurred in the representation of the county Clare, and O'Connell was elected, declaring that he would take his seat and vote. The agitation had now arrived at that point when it could no longer be resisted with safety, and the Catholic claims, which ought to have been admitted immediately after the Union, were granted in 1829.

The chief opponents of the Union were the Orange party in Ireland, who had been, and hoped to remain, in the ascendant; the Roman Catholics generally acquiesced in the arrangement, feeling that it would break up or at least diminish the power of the Protestant aristocracy. The first public attempt to put in question the repeal of the legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland was made by the High Tory corporation of Dublin in 1810; the subject was afterwards debated in the House of Commons in 1822; and two years later Lord Cloncurry recommended the Catholics to join the Protestants on the Repeal question. The great leader of the Roman Catholic or national party having been re-elected for the county of Clare after the passing of the Relief Act, took his seat in the House of Commons, and surprised his opponents, who had supposed him to possess only the talents of a vulgar demagogue, by exhibiting his capacity to cope with the best parliamentary orators. To keep alive the spirit and activity of his followers, and coerce the government into granting measures of amelioration, O'Connell proclaimed, in the first year of his admission to a seat in parliament, that a repeal of the legislative Union was the only means of obtaining justice for Ireland, and systematically maintained the position which from first to last he had no serious thought of realizing. The Repeal Association followed the Catholic Association, and, in conjunction with the anti-tithe agitation, this new element of discord raised a storm so potent that it was with difficulty O'Connell could keep it within bounds, and the government was compelled to obtain additional powers by means of the Coercion Bill which passed the House of Commons, and was enforced by the Marquis of Anglesey, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland.

With a population approaching 8,000,000 in number, of which little more than 10 per cent. were members of the Established Church, every parish in Ireland was provided with a clergyman of that persuasion, supported by tithes received from the farmers who were almost universally Roman Catholics, the amount payable being ascertained by tithe proctors, who walked over the fields and valued the crops for that purpose. In 1823 compositions for tithe were authorized by statutable enactment, but few had taken advantage of the provisions of the act, and during the Reform Bill agitation the Roman Catholics pressed forward the anti-tithe movement. In 1830, Earl Grey, who had succeeded the Duke of Wellington, having promised a bill in parliament for the settlement of the tithe question, the resistance to further payment of tithe became general until 1832, when Lord Stanley introduced the Tithe Composition Bill. The Church Temporalities Act, which originally contained the famous Appropriation Clause, reduced the number of bishoprics, and transferred the revenues of the suppressed sees to the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and in 1838 compositions for tithe were abolished, fixed payments, or rent charges (consisting of three-fourths of the amount of the former composition), to be paid by the landlords, being substituted.

When parliamentary reform took place in 1832, Ireland acquired the privilege of sending five additional members to the Imperial Parliament, the qualification for voters in the counties of cities and towns was raised, and the franchise in other respects assimilated to that of the counties in which the rights of the 40s freeholders had been taken away by the Catholic Emancipation Act. In the next year a commis- sion was appointed to inquire into the state of the municipal corporations of Ireland. The abolition of the penal laws, and the establishment of the right of Catholics to sit in Parliament had not procured their admission into offices under the municipal corporations, all of which were exclusively under the control of Protestants; but the many abuses and restrictions which were found to exist in those bodies were remedied, or removed, by the Municipal Reform Act of 1840.

In 1836 the police system, originated in 1814 by Sir Robert Peel, when chief secretary for Ireland, was perfected by the consolidation of the law and complete establishment of the efficient constabulary force, which, disseminated in small bodies throughout the country, is the theme of general admiration for its efficiency and intelligence.

Second in importance only to the establishment of police for the security of order and property, is the foundation of a system of national education which was laid in 1833, and supported by grants of public money, for the education of the poor without distinction of religious creed. The system has so grown in extent and utility, that it must greatly contribute during the next half century to the rapid spread of civilization throughout the country.

Notwithstanding the numerous institutions for the relief of the poor, and the extent of private benevolence, the amount of pauperism existing in Ireland had become such that it was necessary, for the sake of policy as well as of humanity, to provide, by legislative enactment, for the support of the aged, impotent, and infirm poor. A commission appointed in 1836 to inquire into their condition, recommended that relief should be given only to the impotent; and in 1838 an act was passed authorising relief under strict limitations, but was gradually extended in the course of time, until in 1847 the right of the destitute poor to relief was established in consequence of the famine which had resulted from the continued failure of the potato crop.

After the return of Lord Melbourne as premier in 1835, the Government maintained for some time a good understanding with O'Connell, who established the Precursor Society to obtain "equality with England under the Union;" but the continued opposition of the House of Lords to the Municipal Reform Bill for Ireland, and the recall of the Marquis of Normanby from the lord-lieutenancy in 1839, induced O'Connell to infuse new vigour into the Repeal movement, and establish the "Loyal National Repeal Association." The ministry of Sir Robert Peel succeeded that of Lord Melbourne in 1841, and the Repeal Association was reorganized. The year 1843, denominated the Repeal year, was remarkable for what were known as monster meetings, commencing at Trim in the month of March, and ending at Mullaghmast on the 1st of October. Another meeting was to have been held on Sunday, the 8th of October, at Clontarf, but the Government took measures by proclamation and otherwise to prevent the assemblage of the people. O'Connell, upon understanding the determination of the Government, successfully used his authority to keep his followers away, and no monster meetings were afterwards attempted.

In January 1844 the state prosecutions against the agitator and his colleagues commenced, and resulted in the condemnation of the accused, who were sentenced to a short term of imprisonment. They were confined in Richmond bridewell, but on appeal to the House of Lords, the judgment of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench was reversed and their prison doors opened.

The Repeal question was one in which O'Connell had little hope, and his followers had much faith. The events of the last few years, when O'Connell had been carried beyond his judgment, had rendered him somewhat timid and doubtful of the result. He never again prosecuted the cause with the same vigour as heretofore. The people became indifferent to him, his health failed, and famine desolated the land. Early in 1847 O'Connell left Ireland for the last time, and, after a gradual decay, died at Genoa of disease of the brain.

Previous to the decease of O'Connell the influence of the young Ireland party had increased among the masses of the people, and in 1846 they formed a separate body, under the title of the "Irish Confederation." On the breaking out of the French revolution, early in 1848, the confederation transgressed all the bounds of moderation, sent a deputation to the Provisional Government of France, requesting aid on behalf of the "oppressed nationality of Ireland," and organised plans of insurrection. The Government allowed the rebellion, if such it could be called, to attain its full proportions, when, after much excitement, it was terminated by the arrest of Mr Smith O'Brien, who had incautiously appeared at the head of a small body of insurgents at Ballingarry, in the county of Tipperary. Mr Smith O'Brien and others were tried for high treason, and found guilty, but the sentence of death was commuted to transportation for life. In 1856, such of the convicts as had not broken their parole received their freedom from the Government.

Notwithstanding the various important ameliorations which had taken place in legislation on Irish affairs, it may be doubted whether any efforts of the Government, or of the people themselves, would have been sufficient to produce that improvement in the condition of the country which is now in progress, unless accompanied by provision for the removal of the surplus population which undoubtedly existed.

The will of Providence solved the difficulty. In 1846 the food upon which alone the great body of the people had been reduced to depend for subsistence failed, not for the first time, but more extensively than on any former occasion. The struggle now was not for emancipation, the abolition of tithes, or the repeal of the Union, but for life; and the utmost efforts of the Government, represented by the Board of Works, the Poor Law-Commission, and the two Relief Commissions, were exerted. The result of this "the greatest attempt ever made to grapple with famine over a whole country," was the preservation of the great body of the labouring population. Many, however, perished from want, and more from its effects; while the emigration which had previously commenced more than doubled in extent, and has assisted continuously since that period to reduce the population of Ireland from 8,175,124, which it numbered in 1841, to its present population of not more than 6,000,000. This reduction of the numbers of the people to a proportion more in accordance with the means of subsistence, and the demand for labour, in addition to the removal of all just causes of discontent, and the assimilation of rights and privileges to those enjoyed by other portions of the empire, will go far to render the political history of Ireland for the future identical with that of the remainder of the United Kingdom. Ireland is an island, rhomboidal in shape, placed at the eastern extremity of the Atlantic Ocean, which washes its northern, western, and southern shores, while its eastern coast is separated from the adjacent island of Great Britain by the Northern Channel, which at one point is only 133 miles wide, the Irish Sea about 130 miles in width, and St George's Channel, which is 69 miles wide between Dublin and Holyhead, and somewhat less at its southern extremity. Its geographical position is between N. Lat. 51° 26' and 53° 21', and W. Long. 5° 20' and 10° 26', comprising therefore 55° of Lat., and 5° 6' of Long.—the degrees of latitude being the same as those under which are situated the dissimilar climates of Berlin, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Leipzig, Warsaw, part of Hudson's Bay, the Straits of Belleisle, and Petropavlovski, in Kamtschatka, which latter is nearly under the same parallel of latitude as Wicklow. The largest diagonal line that can be drawn within the island, viz., from Tor Head, in Antrim, to Mizen Head, in Cork, measures 302 miles; and the shortest, from Carnsore in Wexford, to Erris Head in Mayo, is 216 miles in length. The breadth of the country from Dundalk to Ballyshannon is 85 miles; from Dublin to the head of Galway Bay 110 miles; and the indentations of the coast by harbours, arms of the sea, and mouths of rivers are so numerous, that scarcely an acre of land in the country is more than 50 miles from the sea, or good navigation. The territorial divisions, and the acreable extent of Ireland, which, next to Great Britain, is the largest island in Europe, appear in the following table:

| Terrestrial Divisions | Acreable Extent | |-----------------------|-----------------| | | According to the Ordnance Survey and Census Report | | | Of Arable Land | Of Uncultivated Land | Of Plantations | Of Towns and Villages | Of Water | Total Area | | | | | | | | | | Province | Counties, Cities, and Towns | No. of Baronies | No. of Parishes | Of Arable Land | Of Uncultivated Land | Of Plantations | Of Towns and Villages | Of Water | Total Area | | Leinster | | | | | | | | 1. Carlow | 7 | 47 | 184,039 | 31,249 | 4,927 | 602 | 505 | 221,342 | 163,514 | | 2. Dublin | 10 | 99 | 196,063 | 19,312 | 5,519 | 5,519 | | 225,413 | 533,616 | | City | | | | | | | | | 594,886 | | 3. Kildare | 14 | 116 | 356,787 | 51,854 | 8,288 | 490 | 1,017 | 418,436 | 313,494 | | City | | | | | | | | | 19,631 | | 4. Kilkenny | 11 | 140 | 470,102 | 21,126 | 15,599 | 1,549 | 3,056 | 509,732 | 343,445 | | City | | | | | | | | | | | 5. King's | 12 | 51 | 337,236 | 145,836 | 8,258 | 902 | 1,733 | 493,985 | 233,741 | | 6. Longford | 6 | 26 | 191,823 | 58,937 | 4,610 | 364 | 13,675 | 269,409 | 150,785 | | Louth | 6 | 64 | 175,972 | 15,603 | 5,318 | 1,200 | 813 | 201,434 | 210,119 | | Drogheda Town | | | | | | | | | | | Meath | 18 | 146 | 547,391 | 16,033 | 12,767 | 464 | 3,244 | 579,899 | 540,998 | | Queen's Town | 11 | 53 | 342,422 | 69,289 | 11,630 | 1,117 | 396 | 424,854 | 244,517 | | Westmeath | 12 | 63 | 365,218 | 56,392 | 8,803 | 628 | 22,427 | 453,468 | 306,803 | | Wexford | 9 | 144 | 510,702 | 45,501 | 14,325 | 2,392 | 3,668 | 576,588 | 377,835 | | Wicklow | 8 | 59 | 250,393 | 200,754 | 17,600 | 341 | 1,090 | 500,178 | 251,791 | | Total | 124 | 1,008 | 3,961,188 | 731,886 | 115,944 | 15,569 | 51,624 | 4,876,211 | 4,305,413 | | Munster | | | | | | | | | | | 1. Clare | 11 | 80 | 455,009 | 296,033 | 8,304 | 728 | 67,820 | 827,994 | 313,801 | | Cork | 23 | 251 | 1,308,882 | 465,859 | 52,180 | 6,515 | 12,867 | 1,846,333 | 1,024,434 | | City | | | | | | | | | 124,834 | | Kerry | 8 | 87 | 414,614 | 726,775 | 11,169 | 807 | 32,761 | 1,186,126 | 275,971 | | Limerick | 13 | 131 | 556,876 | 121,101 | 11,573 | 2,759 | 18,531 | 680,842 | 455,396 | | Tipperary | 12 | 193 | 848,887 | 178,183 | 23,779 | 2,359 | 13,523 | 1,061,731 | 671,252 | | Waterford | 8 | 52 | 325,345 | 105,496 | 23,408 | 1,525 | 5,779 | 461,553 | 277,949 | | Total | 75 | 824 | 3,874,613 | 1,593,477 | 130,415 | 14,693 | 151,381 | 6,064,579 | 3,247,177 | | Ulster | | | | | | | | | | | 1. Antrim | 15 | 75 | 515,771 | 150,423 | 10,358 | 2,037 | 53,288 | 761,877 | 474,362 | | Car-Fergus Town | | | | | | | | | 13,321 | | Armagh | 8 | 28 | 265,243 | 35,117 | 8,996 | 778 | 17,042 | 328,676 | 241,908 | | Cavan | 8 | 36 | 375,473 | 71,918 | 7,325 | 502 | 22,142 | 477,260 | 250,726 | | Donegal | 6 | 51 | 393,191 | 769,587 | 7,079 | 479 | 20,407 | 1,193,443 | 225,049 | | Down | 10 | 70 | 514,180 | 78,317 | 14,355 | 2,211 | 3,433 | 612,495 | 453,697 | | Fermanagh | 8 | 23 | 289,228 | 114,847 | 6,155 | 210 | 46,753 | 457,185 | 179,668 | | Londonderry | 6 | 43 | 318,282 | 180,709 | 7,718 | 1,539 | 10,327 | 539,695 | 220,480 | | Monaghan | 5 | 23 | 225,885 | 21,585 | 5,816 | 304 | 6,167 | 319,757 | 203,348 | | Tyrone | 4 | 42 | 450,296 | 311,567 | 11,981 | 710 | 31,796 | 806,940 | 277,536 | | Total | 70 | 391 | 3,407,539 | 1,764,370 | 79,733 | 8,790 | 214,956 | 5,475,438 | 2,533,265 | | Connacht | | | | | | | | | | | 1. Galway | 18 | 120 | 742,805 | 708,000 | 23,718 | 1,801 | 90,630 | 1,566,354 | 426,626 | | Leitrim | 5 | 17 | 249,350 | 115,869 | 3,396 | | 23,748 | 392,363 | 26,658 | | Mayo | 9 | 73 | 497,587 | 800,111 | 8,350 | 848 | 56,976 | 1,363,882 | 299,852 | | Roscommon | 9 | 58 | 440,622 | 130,299 | 6,732 | 768 | 29,370 | 607,691 | 289,011 | | Sligo | 6 | 41 | 290,696 | 151,723 | 6,134 | 460 | 12,740 | 461,753 | 190,653 | | Total | 47 | 309 | 2,220,960 | 1,906,002 | 48,340 | 3,877 | 212,564 | 4,392,043 | 1,353,720 | | Total Ireland | 316 | 2,532 | 13,464,300 | 6,295,735 | 374,482 | 42,929 | 630,825 | 20,808,271 | 11,439,575 |

1 The area of cities and towns is included in that of the counties to which they belong. Sir Robert Kane estimates the average annual fall of rain at 36 inches; but in so variable a climate thorough accuracy can only be obtained by observations made in numerous localities, and extending over considerable periods of time. So much, however, is certain—that the climate of Ireland is variable in detail—very mild and equable in temperature—that prolonged frosts and violent thunderstorms are of rare occurrence—and that the prevailing winds are those from the Atlantic Ocean, the S.W., W., and N.W., with a predominance during the early part of the year of the S.E. winds. So far as the human constitution is concerned, the climate of Ireland must be accounted extremely wholesome. The greater prevalence of fevers and dysentery in Ireland, although partly attributable to the humidity of the atmosphere, in connection with marshy situations, is mainly owing to other causes; more especially to the poor and often unwholesome diet, to famines, to imperfect clothing, to sleeping on the earthy floors of the cabins, to neglect of personal and domestic cleanliness, and to various circumstances which associate themselves with the oppression, ignorance, and bigotry to which the lowest classes are subjected, and with the imperfect civilization to which they have as yet, in many places, attained. The very remarkable difference in moral constitutions, in temperament, and even in physical conformation, among the natives of the kingdoms, and especially between those of Ireland and Great Britain, cannot be explained by any appreciable differences of climate or soil; they must, therefore, be referred, and are clearly indeed attributable to other sources.

The general surface of the country is a plain, not altogether level, but interspersed with low hills, rising towards the sea-coast into mountain ranges, which present a difference of geological structure of the most decided character, consisting mainly of the older or primitive rocks, while the great central plain is formed of calcareous strata. Were this great limestone plain sunk a second time beneath the waters, it would form a vast lake interspersed with islands, surrounded by the maritime counties, and communicating with the sea in the counties of Dublin, Galway, and the north of Clare. Next to the carboniferous limestone, which prevails so extensively, the principal rocks are granite, mica-slate, clay-slate, old red sandstone, yellow sandstone, and quartz. Granite is found chiefly in Wicklow, Galway, Down, and Donegal, and occasionally, but only in small quantities, in some other counties; in the granite districts are found the chief mines of lead, and some other minerals. Mica-slate forms the chief portion of Derry and Tyrone; it also appears extensively in Donegal, Galway, and Mayo. Clay-slate composes the greater part of the counties of Wexford, Louth, Down, Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, and smaller sections of other counties; this formation contains an important portion of the mineral wealth of Ireland. A considerable portion of the county of Cork is constituted of the old red sandstone formation.

Several coal-fields exist in Ireland resting on a limestone basis. In Ulster, the district of Coal Island, in the county of Tyrone, produces coal of good quality, extensively used in the neighbourhood; the small coal-field at Ballycastle, in Antrim, is of no economical importance. The province of Connacht affords beds of coal in Leitrim, Roscommon, and Sligo, but rarely exceeding three or four inches in thickness. The Munster coal-fields are in the counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick. The chief coal district, however, is that of Leinster, in Carlow, Kilkenny, and the Queen’s County. This coal, as well as that of the Munster district, is anthracites; that of Connacht is bituminous. The native coal is only used in the districts where it is raised, and neither the quantity nor the quality has been found such as to interfere with the importation of coal from Great Britain, which probably exceeds one million of tons annually.

More notable in Ireland are the unstratified igneous rocks, of which many varieties are found. Trap-rocks exist in various parts of the country, but more especially in Antrim, where they are found in great variety. The basaltic columns of Fairhead and the Giant’s Causeway form one of the most interesting geological districts in the British Empire. The trap-rocks often repose on the indurated chalk of Antrim, especially in Rathlin Island and at Cushendun. At the latter place, beds of trap and the chalk alternate. Of quartz rock, the chief development in Ireland is in Mayo and Donegal; it appears also in the peninsulas of Howth and Dublin, the summits of the Sugar-Loaf Mountains, and Bray Head, in Wicklow, and in the district of Fethard, in Wexford. No tertiary formation has been discovered in Ireland, except the clays containing lignite or wood-coal on the southern shore of Lough Neagh.

The elevation of the surface of Ireland is stated in the following table from the Land Tenure Commissioners’ Map:

| Elevation | Square Miles | |-----------|-------------| | Between sea level and 250 feet in height | 13,242 | | 250 and 500 | 11,797 | | 500 and 1000 | 5,707 | | 1000 and 2000 | 1,838 | | Above 2000 feet in height | 821 |

The highest peaks in the chief mountain-groups are:

- Carnaull, McGillycuddy’s Reeks, Co. Kerry: 3,414 - Lugnaquilla, Wicklow: 3,039 - Slieve Donard, Mourne Mountains, Co. Down: 2,795 - Mulrea, Co. Mayo: 2,088 - Comeragh, Co. Waterford: 2,557 - Errigal, Co. Donegal: 2,462 - Trostan, Co. Antrim: 1,810

The principal mountains in the S. are the Galtees, Bocks, &c., which range from 1500 to 3000 feet in height; and in the If the possession of numerous fine bays and harbours made a country great as a commercial and maritime power, Ireland would be second to none in Europe. Pre-eminence even in Ireland is the magnificent harbour of Cork, securely landlocked, protected by strong batteries, and used as the only naval station on the Irish coast. Baltimore harbour, Skull, Cape Clear, Crookhaven, Dunmanus and Bantry Bay, are all of sufficient depth and capacity for large vessels. On the western coast are Berehaven, Kenmare River, Valentia, Ventry, Smerwick, Brandon Bay, the estuary of the Shannon, Galway Bay, Roundstone Harbour, Ardbear or Clifden, Ballynakill and Killary harbours, Clew, Blackrod, and Killala bays, with many others of less importance. On the northern coast are Milford harbour, and the fine gulfs of Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle.

The eastern coast has been less favoured by nature, and furnishes only one bay, with sufficient depth of water for the largest vessels, that of Strangford. The Bay of Dublin, which is much exposed, contains the fine artificial harbour of Kingstown. Belfast, Newry, Drogheda, Wicklow, Arklow, and Wexford, have all been converted into ports, but are naturally deficient in the requisites for good harbours. Between Wexford and Cork is the fine estuary of Waterford, formed by the confluence of the rivers Suir, Nore, and Barrow. Altogether, Ireland possesses 14 harbours for the largest ships, 17 for frigates, from 30 to 40 for merchant vessels, with many good summer roadsteads, and an infinity of small harbours for fishing boats.

The islands off the coasts of Ireland are numerous, but generally of small size; the largest are Rathlin and Tory in the N.; Achill, Clare, the South Aran Islands, and Valentia, in the W.; and Whiddy and Cape Clear in the S.

The lakes in Ireland are numerous. Lough Neagh, in Ulster, is the largest inland lake in the United Kingdom, and is only exceeded in Europe by Lake Ladoga in Russia, Lake Vener in Sweden, and the Lake of Geneva. According to the Ordnance Survey it covers 98,255 statute acres. The River Bann passing through it affords the means of lowering its surface, which is 48 feet above the sea at low water; but as its deepest part is beneath the level of low water, total drainage would be impracticable. Tradition states that it was once dry land, and that the tops of buildings may at times be seen in it—a legend which has been made use of by Moore in one of his melodies. Lough Neagh contains but one islet, Ram Island, remarkable only for a round tower, and as contributing to break the sameness of the surface of the lake, which, being surrounded by shores almost as level as itself, and generally bare of wood, has little or none of the picturesque beauty which renders Lough Erne and Killarney so delightful. Its vicinity to the five counties of Ulster, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, and Londonderry, each of which its waters touch, presents great advantages for internal trade by inland navigation; steam-vessels have been placed upon the lake, and, in conjunction with Coal Island, Newry, Ulster, and Lagans canals, Lough Neagh, with its 100 miles of coast, promises to increase in importance as a centre of internal traffic. Lough Erne, the next in size, lies wholly within the county of Fermanagh. Its total length is upwards of 40 miles, but its greatest breadth is not more than 8. Strictly speaking, it consists of two lakes, about 5 miles apart; the more inland measuring about 14 miles in length, and that nearer the sea 25. They are connected with each other by a fine river flowing from the upper or southern, into the lower or northern lake. On an island formed by the division of this river into two branches, the chief part of the town of Enniskillen is built. The upper lake covers 9278 statute acres, and contains above 90 islands; the lower and larger lake contains nearly 28,000 statute acres and numerous islets. Its coasts are studded with numerous seats and villages of much beauty. Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, in the west of Connaught, are separated from each other by an isthmus not more than 3 miles broad. The former of these lakes covers an area of 43,454 acres, and the latter 22,219. It discharges its waters into Galway Bay by a short but broad and rapid river, which skirts the town of Galway. Its level is but 14 feet above that of the sea, and works have long been in progress to connect the navigation of the bay with that of the two great lakes above it. Means of connecting them by water communication has not yet been effected. Farther north, and about 3

Ireland was once so thickly covered with timber as to receive Statistics, the name of the Island of Woods. During the early periods of its connection with England, its extensive and impenetrable forests formed a main obstacle to the progress of the English troops. Westminster Hall is said to be roofed with oak cut in the woods of Shillelagh. Numerous trunks of large trees are constantly found in the bogs. Even in mountain tracts, devoted for a long succession of years to the pasturage of sheep, timber trees shoot up spontaneously wherever the land is secured from the intrusions of cattle. Many places where the vestige of a plantation is not to be seen, retain names of which the word "wood" forms a component part; and in localities where the most attentive culture will not suffice to keep any tree or shrub alive on account of the western blasts, large trees are found imbedded in the boggy. The different kinds of timber found in the bogs of Ireland are confined to oak, fir, yew, holly, sallow, and birch. Two centuries ago, when Ireland was covered with forests, there were numerous small iron works, in which wood charcoal was employed, and vast quantities of wood used until the country was gradually stripped of its supply, and the working of iron was consequently abandoned. The extension of agricultural improvement, and more especially the timber act, which gives the tenant, at the expiration of his lease, a pecuniary interest in the trees he has planted, are greatly improving this defect, the consequence of ages of disturbance and desolation; but trees in large quantities are generally found in Ireland only in the vicinity of the residences of the gentry, except in some favoured spots, which are well wooded.

Ireland is reputed to contain much lead, copper, and iron, but notwithstanding many attempts to work the metallic mines discovered in the country, few have been found sufficiently productive to repay the necessary outlay of capital. Towards the close of the last century gold was discovered accidentally in the streams flowing from the mountain of Croghan Kinsela, on the confines of Wicklow and Wexford. The metal was found in lumps and small pieces down to the minutest grain. Many of the peasants having ruined themselves by leaving their proper occupations to join the search, Government, to put an end to the fruitless quest, took up the enterprise, and only relinquished it after satisfying the seekers of its worthlessness. "The gold is associated with magnetic ironstone, sometimes in masses of half a hundredweight; also iron pyrites, brown and red hematite, wolfram, manganese, and fragments of tinstone in crystals, together with quartz. From the nature of these attendant minerals, of which most are known to occur in the quartz veins of the adjacent mountain, it was hoped that by tracing up the rivulets to their sources, and laying bare in various directions the underlying rock, the metalliferous veins might be discovered, from the disintegration of which the sand and soil of the bed of the streams had been produced. All such trials proved useless, and the question as to the source from whence the gold in those streams in Wicklow has been derived, remains still unanswered."

Copper ores are distributed throughout the clay-slate districts in a great number of localities more or less abundantly. The principal mines are those of Ballymurtagh, Conoree, Crombane and Tigronney, and Ballygahan, in Wicklow county; the Knockmahon, Kilduane, Bonmahon, and Balnaisla, in the Waterford district; Allihies or Berehaven, Audley, and Coosheen and Skull, in the south-western district; and the mines of Hollyford and Lackamore, in the western district.

The total quantity and value of copper ore from Ireland, sold in Swansea, where it is smelted, were—

| Years | Tons. | Value | |-------|------|-------| | 1836 | 21,919 | L163,585 | | 1840 | 19,580 | 127,511 | | 1843 | 17,759 | 117,489 | | 1845 | 16,997 | 77,622 | | 1845 | 18,430 | 97,122 | | 1846 | 17,471 | 106,078 |

The produce and value of the copper mines in Ireland for 1833-4 is shown in the following table:

| Mines | Ore. | Copper. | Amount. | Produce. | |-------|------|---------|---------|----------| | | Tons. | Tons. cwt. qrs. lbs. | L. s. d. | Tons. | Tons. cwt. qrs. lbs. | L. s. d. | | Cork — | | | | | | | | Baltimore | 153 | 7 16 1 0 | 716 9 0 | 54 | 5,030 | 488 12 3 7 | 53,348 1 0 | | Berehaven | 5,888 | 582 7 1 19 | 58,528 7 0 | 94½ | 45 | 8 4 3 26 | 905 1 0 | | Crookhaven | | | | | 43 | 2 0 0 0 | 194 0 0 | | Glengore | | | | | 67 | 5 13 0 22 | 617 19 0 | | South Cork | | | | | 62 | 4 14 3 16 | 344 6 0 | | Galway — | | | | | | | | | Galway | 54 | 5 2 2 5 | 471 15 0 | 94 | | | | | Tipperary — | | | | | | | | | Holyford | 550 | 100 16 1 9 | 10,104 4 0 | 18½ | 555 | 97 17 0 23 | 10,979 4 6 | | Lackamore | | | | | 159 | 13 7 2 20 | 1,423 18 6 | | Waterford — | | | | | | | | | Knockmahon | 3,373 | 332 1 0 21 | 38,559 13 6 | 10½ | 4,421 | 434 18 0 22 | 53,022 13 0 | | Wicklow — | | | | | | | | | Ballygahan | | | | | 53 | 1 19 2 7 | 167 14 0 | | Ballymurtagh | 1,326 | 57 13 2 21 | 5,724 1 6 | 4½ | 1,237 | 55 12 3 6 | 5,763 9 0 | | Conoree | 40 | 11 0 0 4 | 1,088 2 0 | 2½ | | | | | Crombane | 121 | 11 18 2 12 | 1,186 11 0 | 9½ | 58 | 7 13 2 17 | 826 11 0 | | Tigronney | | | | | 9 | 3 18 3 20 | 460 2 6 | | Total | 11,485 | 1128 15 0 7 | 116,389 3 0 | | 11,739 | 1,124 13 3 18 | 128,053 9 6 |

Lead is more extensively diffused through Ireland than copper. The granitic district of Wicklow contains numerous veins; the principal are those of Glendalough, Glenmalur, Glendasmore or Loganure, and Ballycorus. The clay-slate districts also yield numerous indications of this metal, but few of the mines have proved profitable. Those still worked are at Clonlack, Newtownards, and Rathmullen, in Down county; Bond and Newry, in Armagh county; Castleblayney, in Monaghan county; Kenmare, in Kerry county; Kilbricklen and Ballyhickey, in Clare county; Shallee, in Limerick county; and Bantry, in Cork county. A vein at Clontarf, near Dublin, was worked until the mine was filled with water by the ingress of the sea. At Ballycorus, where the lead ores from the mines of the Mining Company of Ireland are smelted, the quantities of ore worked up in 1831 from Luganure mines was 674 tons, which produced 460 tons of lead, equal to nearly 69 per cent. The proportions of silver to a ton of lead are generally found to be,—from the mine of Luganure, 8 oz.; Calme, 12 oz.; Ballyhickey, 15 oz.; Shallee, 25 oz.; Kilbricklen, 120 oz.; Tollyratty, near Strangford, 10 oz. The average of silver extracted from the lead ore raised by the Mining Company of Ireland in 1831, was 7 oz. to the ton of lead; the total quantity 3890 oz., producing L.1,029, 6s. 8d. The working of the principal lead mines in Ireland for 1833-4 is shown in the following table:

| Years | Tons. | Value | |-------|------|-------| | 1836 | 21,919 | L163,585 | | 1840 | 19,580 | 127,511 | | 1843 | 17,759 | 117,489 | | 1845 | 16,997 | 77,622 | | 1845 | 18,430 | 97,122 | | 1846 | 17,471 | 106,078 |

1 Sir R. Kane's Industrial Resources of Ireland. ### Table of Mines in Ireland

| County | Miners | Ore (Tons) | Cwts. | Lead (Tons) | Cwts. | Silver (Ozs.) | Ore (Tons) | Cwts. | Lead (Tons) | Cwts. | Silver (Ozs.) | |--------|-----------------|------------|-------|-------------|-------|---------------|------------|-------|-------------|-------|---------------| | Clare | Annaglough | 100 | 0 | 77 | 10 | | 67 | 10 | 51 | 0 | | | | Kilbrickan | 31 | 10 | 22 | 10 | 2,416 | 98 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 6,650 | | | Milltown | 10 | 0 | 8 | | 296 | | | | | | | Down | Newtownards | 1,606 | 0 | 1,270 | 0 | | 1,379 | 0 | 1,084 | 0 | | | | Strangford | 40 | 0 | 31 | | | | | | | | | Louth | Dundalk | 26 | 0 | 16 | | | | | | | | | | Lambrymnair | | | | | | | | | | | | Limerick| Shalloe | 282 | 0 | 180 | 0 | 7,020 | 142 | 0 | 95 | 0 | 3,420 | | Tipperary| Gurnadyne | 220 | 0 | 154 | 0 | 3,280 | 213 | 10 | 145 | 0 | 2,900 | | Wicklow| Ballygoreen | 909 | 0 | 636 | 7 | 4,287 | 1,095 | 0 | 710 | 0 | 4,970 | | | Lugname | 83 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 365 | | | | | | | Total | | 3,309 | 10 | 2,452 | 7 | 17,664 | 3,069 | 15 | 2,210 | 15 | 18,066 |

Native silver was found in a bed of iron ochre in Crombane, but the deposit has been long since exhausted. Sulphuret of silver was found in the lead ore at Ballycorus some years since, and the Mining Company of Ireland have resumed operations to prove this valuable discovery. Tinstone has been found in the auriferous soil of Wicklow, but no veins or workable deposits have been discovered. Other minerals, useful in manufactures and the arts, and found in quantities in various parts of the country, are manganese, antimony, zinc, nickel, iron pyrites, alum, clays of various kinds, building stone, marble, flags, and roofing slates. Mineral springs, chiefly chalkybeate, are numerous in many parts of the country. Those of chief note for their medicinal qualities are at Mallow, in Cork; resembling the hot wells of Bristol; Ballynahinch, in Down; Swanlinbar, in Cavan; Castleconnell, near Limerick; and Lucan, near Dublin.

The bogs are chiefly found in the elevated central district. Two lines drawn across the island, the one from Howth to Sligo, the other from Wicklow to Galway, will comprehend by much the greater portion of bog throughout the island. This division is traversed by the Shannon, north to south and then divided into two parts, that to the westward of the river containing more than double the extent of the bogs which are to be found in the division to the eastward. Most of the bogs which lie to the eastward of the Shannon, and which occupy a considerable portion of the King's county and the county of Kildare, are generally known by the name of the Boy of Allen; it must not, however, be supposed that this name is applied to any one great morass; on the contrary, the bogs to which it is applied are perfectly distinct from each other, often separated by high ridges of dry country, and inclining towards different rivers as their natural directions for drainage, and so intersected by dry and cultivated land, that it may be affirmed generally there is no spot of these bogs to the eastward of the Shannon so much as two Irish miles distant from the upland and cultivated districts. The total quantity, independently of small mountainous and detached patches, has been thus estimated:

- Flat red bog, capable of being reclaimed: 1,576,000 acres. - Mountain bog, mostly convertible into pasture: 1,255,000 acres.

Total: 2,831,000 acres.

The bogs are distinguished, according to their substance, into red or fibrous, and black or compact. The former, which consists chiefly of the *Sphagnum palustre*, or bog-moss, is the most general. Its colour is of a reddish brown, approaching when dry to that of an olive. Its surface is generally covered with heath, which gives it a still darker hue. The black bog varies in colour from dark brown to perfect black; in which latter case it is extremely hard and close grained, separating, when broken, into angular fragments. On cutting downwards, the substance grows denser and darker, exhibiting a black mass very compact, strongly resembling pitch or coal, and when ignited emitting a smell so offensive as to prevent its general use as an article of fuel. The peat is found to rest on a blue clay, and ultimately on limestone gravel. The depth of the bogs in some places is nearly forty feet; twenty-five may be considered as a general average. In all cases they are found above the level of the sea. The greatest height of any is 488 feet, the least 25; and in all cases they might easily be connected with some river by which their superfluous waters can be carried off, where draining is requisite for reclaiming them.

Previously to the calculations made by Sir William Petty Population scarcely any data existed even for a probable or conjectural estimate of the number of the inhabitants of Ireland; ideas upon the subject were necessarily confused, and the statements found in books and writings differed greatly from each other. The marks of the plough observable on the tops of hills which have for many years been devoted to pasture only, have been adduced as a proof that the superabundant population of former ages compelled the farmers to have recourse to the poorer ground there to raise a sufficiency of grain; but the fact has been imputed, with equal show of probability, to the disturbed state of the country, when a ferocious enemy, having desolated and possessed the more fertile lands in the plains, compelled the natives to have recourse to the poorer soils on the hills. It has also been attributed by some to the superior mildness of the climate in ancient times. The opinion of Agricola, quoted by Tacitus, that a single legion would be sufficient to conquer the island, does not indicate a very numerous population at that period; and, subsequently, the smallness of the force with which Henry II. held possession of the country favours the same conclusion. After the close of the desolating wars of Elizabeth, in which the Irish in arms were generally exterminated as rebels, Fynen Morison, Lord Mountjoy's secretary, asserts that not more than five or six hundred thousand escaped the edge of the sword or the horrors of famine. Sir William Petty's first estimate, as stated in the ensuing table, rests upon conjecture; his second is founded on the number of "smokes" or hearths in the country. Those given by the tax-collectors are founded on data of the same description, corrected in the work of Mr. Butte by collateral calculations. The returns of the established clergy were made at a time in which much of the country was without a resident clergy, under this persuasion, and therefore must be of doubtful value. Dr. Bishop's estimate formed from information collected through the Catholic clergy, then in a state of the lowest political degradation, must be equally dubious. Newenham formed his from a great variety of ingenious calculations on the quantity of food, exports, and imports, &c. The first of the parliamentary inquiries was a total failure, several counties having declined to make any return, and those of several others being very inaccurate. The second, which ascertained not only the number of the people, but the names, age, occupation, and degree of mutual relationship, of every individual, may be considered as approximating very closely to accuracy. In the third, which might be presumed to be an improvement on the preceding, the returns of the enumerators employed were not subjected to any effectual check, and therefore little reliance can be placed on some of its statements. The return of 1834 rests on the same defective basis as that of 1831; but as it was afterwards checked and corrected by the commissioners of public instruction, through the medium of the resident clergy, its statements are entitled to more credit; but the returns of this census having been made according to the ecclesiastical arrangement of dioceses, does not admit of comparison with the other returns, which The following is the result of the different estimates and census enquiries into the number of the population of Ireland at various periods:

| Year | Population | |------------|------------| | 1652 Sir William Petty | 887,000 | | 1672 Ditto | 1,350,000 | | 1695 Captain Smith | 1,044,102 | | 1712 Thomas Dobbs | 2,009,094 | | 1713 Ditto | 2,169,048 | | 1723 Ditto | 2,317,374 | | 1729 Ditto | 2,500,100 | | 1731 Established Clergy | 2,572,634 | | 1734 Tax Collectors | 2,572,634 | | 1736 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1737 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1738 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1739 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1740 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1741 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1742 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1743 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1744 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1745 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1746 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1747 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1748 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1749 Ditto | 2,572,634 | | 1750 Ditto | 2,572,634 |

Few countries in the world have increased in population so rapidly as Ireland during the first forty years of the present, and the conclusion of the last century. Arthur Young, in his *Tour through Ireland*, in 1796, observed that it everywhere evinces the marks of a rapid increase of population. It is generally supposed that the number of the people increases in the ratio of food and comforts, and that an increase of population is a convincing proof of the advancing prosperity of a nation. The effect of the failure of the potato crop in depopulating the country would show that the population of Ireland had outstripped the progress of wealth, and the increase of industry, and had reduced their wants to the lowest point without procuring an addition to the comforts of life corresponding to the increase of the population.

The following table exhibits the population of each portion of the country, according to the censuses of 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851, together with the house accommodation at the latter period:

| Province, County, and Cities | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | Males | Females | Total | Families | Inhabited | Uninhabited | Built | Building | Total | |-----------------------------|------|------|------|-------|--------|-------|----------|-----------|-----------|-------|---------|-------| | Leinster | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Carlow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dublin | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dublin City | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kilkenny | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kilkenny City | | | | | | | | | | | | | | King's County | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Longford | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Louth | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Meath | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Queen's County | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Westmeath | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wicklow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Munster | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Clare | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cork | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cork City | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kerry | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Limerick | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Limerick City | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tipperary | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Waterford | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Waterford City | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ulster | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antrim | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Belfast Town | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Carrickfergus Dist. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Armagh | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cavan | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Donegal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Down | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fermanagh | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Londonderry | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Monaghan | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tyrone | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Connaught | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Galway | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Galway Town | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Leitrim | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mayo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Roscommon | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sligo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | | | | | | | | | | | | | | General Total | | | | | | | | | | | | |

General Total: 6,901,827

Year: Parliamentary return 1821: 5,937,256 Ditto 1821: 5,801,827 Ditto 1831: 7,767,491 Commissioners of Public Instruction 1834: 7,943,940 Parliamentary return 1841: 5,175,124 Ditto 1851: 5,542,886 The chief impediment to improvement in the condition of the people of Ireland during the present century has been the redundancy of the population. In a country almost wholly dependent on the cultivation of the soil, there were in 1841 as many as 325 persons to each square mile of arable land. Perhaps, with the exception of China there was no other country in the world so densely peopled, and certainly none where the population was so disproportioned to the means of employment.

This great density of population was necessarily accompanied by an extreme competition for land and employment, with the absence of all inducements to the acquirement of skill, and in consequence of the low rate of remuneration for labour and high rents, the impossibility of any accumulation of capital in the hands of the cultivators of the soil. The following table shows the density of the population in 1841, and its remarkable decrease in 1851:

| Counties | Rural Population | No. of Persons to the square mile | |----------|------------------|---------------------------------| | | | Of Arable Land | Of the entire Rural District | Of the entire Area (including the Town Population) | | | | | 1841 | 1851 | Decrease between 1841-51 | 1841 | 1851 | Decrease between 1841-51 | 1841 | 1851 | Decrease between 1841-51 | | Leinster | | | | | | | | | | | | | Carlow | 72,172 | 53,391 | 251 | 172 | 79 | 209 | 135 | 54 | 249 | 197 | 52 | | Dublin | 113,778 | 89,857 | 371 | 295 | 76 | 330 | 266 | 64 | 1,945 | 1,145 | ... | | Kildare | 104,090 | 87,319 | 187 | 155 | 32 | 129 | 134 | 25 | 175 | 146 | 29 | | Kilkenny | 173,157 | 134,044 | 236 | 185 | 51 | 218 | 169 | 49 | 254 | 199 | 55 | | King's | 130,239 | 99,334 | 247 | 188 | 59 | 169 | 129 | 40 | 199 | 145 | 45 | | Longford | 108,117 | 77,072 | 361 | 253 | 108 | 257 | 183 | 74 | 274 | 196 | 78 | | Louth | 96,479 | 78,067 | 345 | 295 | 50 | 308 | 249 | 59 | 394 | 328 | 66 | | Meath | 171,736 | 133,094 | 201 | 157 | 44 | 190 | 147 | 43 | 208 | 160 | 48 | | Queen's | 138,573 | 99,350 | 259 | 181 | 78 | 210 | 151 | 59 | 232 | 168 | 64 | | Westmeath| 131,316 | 106,613 | 230 | 177 | 53 | 185 | 142 | 43 | 199 | 157 | 42 | | Wexford | 173,267 | 148,587 | 217 | 181 | 36 | 193 | 166 | 27 | 224 | 200 | 24 | | Wicklow | 117,892 | 90,406 | 269 | 173 | 96 | 151 | 116 | 35 | 161 | 127 | 34 | | Total | 1,531,106 | 1,191,634 | 247 | 189 | 58 | 202 | 157 | 45 | 259 | 220 | 39 | | Munster | | | | | | | | | | | | | Clare | 267,907 | 195,620 | 377 | 229 | 148 | 207 | 151 | 56 | 221 | 164 | 57 | | Cork | 683,919 | 478,898 | 334 | 221 | 113 | 238 | 167 | 71 | 296 | 225 | 71 | | Kerry | 269,406 | 208,153 | 416 | 216 | 200 | 145 | 112 | 33 | 159 | 129 | 30 | | Limerick | 274,520 | 201,931 | 333 | 226 | 107 | 239 | 191 | 68 | 310 | 246 | 64 | | Tipperary| 364,261 | 261,741 | 276 | 191 | 82 | 220 | 158 | 62 | 263 | 200 | 63 | | Waterford| 149,207 | 119,756 | 203 | 134 | 59 | 207 | 167 | 40 | 272 | 227 | 45 | | Total | 2,009,220 | 1,466,099 | 332 | 218 | 114 | 212 | 155 | 57 | 233 | 196 | 37 | | Ulster | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antrim | 261,846 | 233,500 | 325 | 257 | 68 | 221 | 191 | 30 | 303 | 296 | 7 | | Armagh | 211,893 | 176,051 | 511 | 417 | 94 | 414 | 344 | 70 | 453 | 383 | 70 | | Cavan | 234,914 | 166,651 | 400 | 269 | 131 | 315 | 224 | 91 | 326 | 233 | 93 | | Donegal | 290,002 | 250,259 | 472 | 331 | 141 | 241 | 156 | 85 | 259 | 171 | 88 | | Down | 328,507 | 250,659 | 403 | 343 | 60 | 339 | 291 | 45 | 378 | 344 | 34 | | Fermanagh| 150,795 | 110,698 | 334 | 266 | 125 | 211 | 154 | 57 | 219 | 162 | 57 | | Londonderry| 197,622 | 162,368 | 397 | 293 | 104 | 245 | 201 | 44 | 274 | 237 | 37 | | Monaghan | 191,301 | 128,966 | 428 | 288 | 140 | 383 | 259 | 124 | 401 | 284 | 117 | | Tyrone | 298,498 | 241,105 | 424 | 287 | 137 | 237 | 191 | 46 | 248 | 203 | 45 | | Total | 2,160,698 | 1,749,707 | 406 | 280 | 126 | 233 | 205 | 48 | 279 | 235 | 44 | | Connacht | | | | | | | | | | | | | Galway | 403,746 | 277,094 | 348 | 204 | 144 | 165 | 113 | 52 | 180 | 131 | 49 | | Leitrim | 155,297 | 111,597 | 398 | 266 | 132 | 233 | 182 | 71 | 253 | 183 | 70 | | Mayo | 369,138 | 257,933 | 475 | 253 | 222 | 173 | 121 | 52 | 183 | 129 | 54 | | Roscommon| 243,539 | 162,460 | 354 | 277 | 77 | 257 | 171 | 86 | 267 | 183 | 84 | | Sligo | 166,915 | 116,885 | 367 | 251 | 116 | 231 | 162 | 69 | 251 | 178 | 73 | | Total | 1,338,635 | 926,269 | 356 | 241 | 145 | 195 | 135 | 60 | 207 | 147 | 60 | | General Total | 7,039,659 | 5,333,709 | 335 | 236 | 99 | 217 | 164 | 53 | 251 | 202 | 49 |

Number of Persons by Occupations in 1841 and 1851, classified according to Producers, Manufacturers, and Traders.

| Occupations | 1841 | 1851 | |-------------|------|------| | Ministering to food— | | | | Producers | 1,581,141 | 1,461,776 | | Manufacturers | 13,983 | 18,033 | | Traders | 35,935 | 52,163 | | Total | 1,904,071 | 1,531,914 |

Occupations.

| 1841 | 1851 | |------|------| | Ministering to clothing— | | | | Cloth manufacturers | 669,941 | 278,223 | | Leather-workers | 67,583 | 49,900 | | Cutlers-makers | 167,284 | 269,225 | | Traders | 6,269 | 11,164 | | Total | 901,224 | 606,532 | The absence of a general system of registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Ireland renders it impossible to obtain perfectly accurate information on those important subjects. To remedy the defect as far as possible, the Census Commissioners collected from the information of the people themselves a statement of the number of deaths which occurred in Ireland from the 6th June 1841 to 30th March 1851, by diseases, seasons, and localities; also the total number of deaths. The following table shows the proportions in the several provinces:

| Provinces | Diseases | Seasons | Localities | |-----------|----------|---------|------------| | | | Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | Civic Districts | Rural Districts | Public Institutions | Total Number of Deaths from 6th June 1841 to 30th March 1851 | | Leinster | | | | | | | | | 353,310 | | Munster | | | | | | | | | 470,842 | | Ulster | | | | | | | | | 310,640 | | Connacht | | | | | | | | | 224,259 |

The statement in the foregoing table being only the number of deaths recorded by persons living in Ireland at the time of the census of 1851, fall short of the actual number which must have occurred during the ten years. The Census Commissioners estimate that, had emigration and immigration been equal, and the average number of births and deaths in England taken as the basis of the calculation, the probable number of inhabitants which would have been in Ireland on the 31st of March 1851, was 9,018,798. From the effects of famine, emigration, &c., the actual number was reduced to 6,552,386 persons, and is still in course of reduction. Assuming the same rate of increase as in the above estimate, the commissioners give the following as the probable results:

Estimated Decrease, by Emigration, of the Irish Population from 30th March 1851 to 31st December 1855.

| Years | Estimated Number of Births | Estimated Number of Deaths | Increase of Population from Births over Deaths | Emigration from Irish Fords | Decrease of Population from the difference between the excess of Births over Emigration | |-------|-----------------------------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1851* | 6,552,386 | 158,525 | 63,966 | | 130,188 | | 1852 | 6,422,197 | 207,168 | 142,571 | 64,539 | 190,322 | | 1853 | 6,250,328 | 203,107 | 139,918 | 63,277 | 173,148 | | 1854 | 6,180,369 | 159,500 | 137,425 | 62,174 | 140,555 | | 1855 | 6,107,399 | 157,029 | 138,731 | 61,388 | 91,914 | | | | | | | 30,616 |

The number of natives of other parts of the United Kingdom and of foreigners resident in Ireland has increased. Of those born in England and Wales, there were resident in Ireland in 1841, 21,552 persons, whilst in 1851 the number was 34,454. Of natives of Scotland living in Ireland there were in 1841, 8585 persons, and 12,309 in 1851. The number of persons born in foreign countries resident in Ireland in 1841 was 4471; in 1851 it was 9583.

Together with the decrease of the poorer classes of the population a proportionate removal of their habitations has taken place. The classification of houses adopted by the Census Commissioners in 1841 and in 1851, was as follows:—In the lowest, or fourth class, were comprised all mud cabins having only one room; in the third, a better description of cottage, still built of mud, but varying from two to four rooms and windows; in the second, a good farm-house, or in towns, a house in a small street, having from five to nine rooms and windows; and in the first, all houses of a better description than the preceding classes.

The number of houses in 1841 and 1851, according to this classification, was as follows:

| Inhabited | Built | Uninhabited | |-----------|------|-------------| | 1st class | 40,069 | 50,164 | | 2nd class | 254,184 | 318,738 | | 3rd class | 533,297 | 541,712 | | 4th class | 491,278 | 135,589 | | Total inhabited | 1,226,829 | 1,045,223 | | Uninhabited | 5,214,008 | 65,263 | | Built | 3,313 | 1,688 | | General Total | 1,384,260 | 1,119,354 | | Net decr. | 271,006 |

It thus appears that between 1841 and 1851, 335,689 mud cabins have disappeared from Ireland, and that while there has been this decrease in the fourth class, there has been an increase in the number of the better classes of habitations—of 10,064 in the first class, 54,574 in the second class (comprising the country good farm-houses), and 8,415 in the third class (or houses containing from two to four rooms, but built of mud).

Amongst the population of Ireland there is greater physical variety and more distinctive peculiarities than are found in other portions of the United Kingdom. The Milesian race, with black hair, brilliant dark eye, oval face, and finely moulded sinewy form, predominate in the West and South. In the East and North the Saxon race prevails with lofty brow, broad ruddy face, blue eye, clear skin, red or flaxen hair, and powerful frame. Intermingled with these races are the several varieties of the Dane, the Norman, &c. The central and mountainous districts are chiefly occupied by people of Celtic or Gaelic race, with high cheek bones, round face, gray eye, rough brown hair, dingy complexion, and muscular body of short stature. The baronies of Forth and Bargie, in the county of Wexford, which were granted in 1169 by the Irish king Dermot Mac Morrough to the Constable Harvey de Montmorency, were by him and his followers cleared of the native population and colonized with settlers from Somersetshire and Pembrokeshire whose descendants still remain a peculiar race. Mason, in his Statistical Account, describes the people of these baronies as... Ireland is naturally, both from soil and climate, a pastoral country, and it was not until the commencement of the last century that efforts were made to introduce an attention to tillage on an extended scale. Primate Boulter, when one of the Lords Justices, pressed strongly on the British Government the necessity of enforcing a tillage system; and for this purpose proposed a law, in 1727, to compel landholders to till five acres out of every hundred in their possession, exclusive of meadows and bogs; and also to release tenants to the same extent from the penal covenants against tillage, inserted in their leases. Mr. McCalloch observes, in his Statistical Account of the British Empire, that the luxuriance of the pastures in Ireland and the heavy crops of oats raised, even with the most wretched cultivation, attest the extraordinary fertility of the soil. Strong retentive clay soils, sandy soils, chalky and gravelly soils, and several other descriptions of soil common in England, are seldom or never met with in Ireland, which affords no great diversity as compared with Great Britain. Mr. Wakefield describes the soils of Ireland as follows:—

"A great portion of the soil of Ireland throws out a luxuriant herbage, springing from a calcareous subsoil without any considerable depth. This is one species of the rich soil of Ireland, and is found throughout Roscommon, in some parts of Galway, Clare, and other districts. Some places exhibit the richest loam I ever saw turned up with a plough; this is the case throughout Meath in particular. Where such soil occurs, its fertility is so conspicuous, that it appears as if nature had determined to counteract the bad effects produced by the clumsy system of its cultivation. On the banks of the Fergus and Shannon, the land is of a different kind, but extremely productive, though the surface presents the appearance of marshes. These districts are called coaseeas: the substratum is a blue silt deposited by the sea, which seems to partake of the qualities of the upper stratum, for this land can be injured by no depth of ploughing."

"In the rich counties of Limerick and Tipperary there is another kind of rich land, consisting of a dark, friable, sandy loam, which, if preserved in a clean state, would throw out corn for several years in succession. It is equally well adapted for grazing and tillage, and I will venture to say, seldom experiences a season too wet, or a summer too dry. The richness of the land in some of the vales may be accounted for by the deposition of soil carried thither from the upper grounds by the rains. The subsoil is calcareous, so that the very richest manure is then spread over the land below, without subjecting the farmer to any labour.

"In the north the quantity of rich soil is not very considerable, yet valleys of extraordinary fertility are found in every county; and I was not a little astonished, amidst the rocky and dreary mountains of Donegal, where there was hardly a vestige of cultivation, to find myself drop all at once into a district where the soil was exceedingly fertile. Independent of the coaseeas, the richest soil in Ireland is to be found in the counties of Tipperary, Limerick, Longford, and Meath. Some parts of the county of Cork are uncommonly fertile, and upon the whole, Ireland may be considered as affording land of excellent quality." "You must examine into the soil," says Arthur Young, speaking of Limerick and Tipperary, "before you can believe that a country which has so beggarly an appearance can be so rich and fertile."

The prevalent soil is a fertile loam, resting on a rocky substratum, chiefly of limestone. The depth, though in general not great, is in some parts such as to admit of fresh vegetable mould being repeatedly thrown up by successive ploughings to a greater depth. This occurrence is most striking in Meath, and in the district of the counties of Tipperary and Limerick, long distinguished by the name of the Golden Vale, from its extraordinary fertility. In some parts, particularly in Galway, the rock shows itself above the surface in ridges like waves, the interstices being filled with rich mould, which produces a thick, close sward, extremely grateful to sheep. Large tracts of grazing land similar to the Downs in England are unusual; the only tract of any extent of such description is the Carragh or Kilbride, which has been used, time immemorial, for a sheep walk. The mountains are capable of tillage to a considerable height; and their summits, with the exception of a few of the very highest, are fit for pasturage in summer.

Wakefield, in his observations on the state of tillage, classed the country into nine agricultural districts, according to the peculiarities of soil and culture. The first comprehended the half parts of Antrim, the eastern side of Tyrone, and the counties of Down, Armagh, Monaghan, and Cavan. In these the farms were small, and spade cultivation common. Potatoes, oats, and flax were the principal crops. The second district comprised the counties of Londonderry and Donegal, the mountainous part of Antrim, and the north and west of Tyrone. Agriculture was in a much backward state here than in the preceding district. Wheat was little cultivated. In the third, which is confined to the northern parts of Fermanagh, the system of tillage was better, and the farms larger. Wheat was largely planted, but oats formed the great staple crop. The whole of the north-west of Ireland, comprehending Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, with Roscommon and Longford, forms the fourth district. Oats was the prevalent crop, but much barley was also raised in the districts near the sea. The plough... Statistics was often drawn by four horses abreast. Illicit distillation was carried on here upon an extensive scale, and much of the land leased to tenants in common, according to what is called the common system. In the fifth district, which comprehends Limerick, Kerry, the south-western and northern parts of Cork, and all Waterford, cultivation was not far advanced, the greater part being a grazing country. Where tillage prevailed the land was much subdivided, and the farms consequently very small. The sixth district included the southern part of Cork. Spade culture was here frequent, the farms small, and hogs constituted the main dependence of the poor. The best farming in Ireland was to be seen in the seventh district, which comprised Tipperary, the Queen's and King's counties. Tillage was carried on in a systematic manner, and wheat formed an important part of the crop. The character of the eighth district, which comprehends Kilkenny, Kildare, Carlow, Westmeath, Meath, and Louth, much resembled that of the preceding, except that the system of tillage was not managed with so much neatness and precision. The farms were large, and the English mode of treatment adopted; but the details executed in a more slovenly manner. Wexford, and the arable part of Wicklow, formed the ninth district.

The quantity of arable land in 1841, according to the return of the Census Commissioners, was 13,464,300 acres, and in 1851, 14,802,351 acres; and the proportion per cent. of cultivated and uncultivated surface, &c., at those two periods was as follows:

| Provinces | Total Area in Statute Acres | Arable Land | Uncultivated | Plantations | Towns | Water | |-----------|-----------------------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|-------|-------| | | | Proportion per cent. | Proportion per cent. | Proportion per cent. | Proportion per cent. | Proportion per cent. | | Leinster | 4,876,211 | 81-23 | 29-80 | 15-01 | 13-67 | 2-38 | 2-69 | 0-32 | 0-38 | 1-06 | 1-06 | | Munster | 6,064,579 | 65-89 | 71-08 | 31-22 | 24-48 | 2-15 | 1-71 | 0-24 | 0-23 | 2-50 | 2-50 | | Ulster | 5,475,438 | 62-23 | 72-95 | 32-22 | 21-89 | 1-46 | 1-07 | 0-16 | 0-16 | 3-93 | 3-93 | | Connaught | 4,392,043 | 50-57 | 56-01 | 43-39 | 38-12 | 1-10 | 0-93 | 0-09 | 0-09 | 4-85 | 4-85 | | General total | 20,808,271 | 64-71 | 71-14 | 30-25 | 24-14 | 1-80 | 1-47 | 0-21 | 0-22 | 3-03 | 3-03 |

When compared with its extent and the amount of its agricultural population the number of proprietors of land in Ireland is small, a circumstance which has to some extent led to the neglect both of the land and its tenantry. The confiscations and colonizations which took place in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, gave possession of large tracts of country to individuals whose more extensive properties in England made them careless of their estates in Ireland. The wars of Cromwell introduced into the country for the most part a small proprietary, who, being generally resident, produced more beneficial influence on the relations of society. Respecting the enactment of the penal laws which affected the position of the great body of the people—the Roman Catholics—as regarded landed property, the Land Occupation Commissioners observe that they "must have had a very general influence on society in such a country as Ireland."

"These laws, both in their enactment and in their subsequent relaxations, have affected materially the position of occupier and proprietor. They interfered with almost every mode of dealing with landed property by those who professed that religion, and by creating a feeling of insecurity, directly checked their inducements.

"The Protestant landlords also suffered indirectly from the operation of the same laws; for, in letting their estates, they were to a great degree, confined in the selection of their tenants, to those who alone could enjoy any permanent tenure under them, and were exclusively entitled to the elective franchise. Many landlords parted with the whole, or a great portion of their property, for long terms, and thus avoided all immediate contact with the inferior occupiers, so that all the duties of a landlord were left for performance to a middleman. The latter, on the other hand, in the favourable position in which the laws had indirectly placed him, as regarded the proprietor, dictated very frequently his own terms to the landlord; and restrictive covenants against subletting or subdividing were seldom inserted.

"About eighty years after their first introduction, a relaxation of these laws took place.

"Among many measures professedly for the improvement of Ireland, an act was passed in 1771 which allowed Roman Catholics to take a lease for sixty-one years of not less than ten acres, or more than fifty, of bog, with only half an acre of arable land for the site of a house, but not to be situated within a mile of a town; and if it was not reclaimed in twenty-one years, the lease to be void. In 1777 it was enacted that titles not hitherto litigated should not be disturbed, and Roman Catholics were allowed to take leases for any term under 1000 years. In 1782 they were allowed to acquire freehold property for lives or by inheritance; and in 1793 was passed a further enactment, which materially affected the position of landlord and tenant. The 40s. franchise was by that act extended to Roman Catholics; the landlords and the middlemen then found the importance of a following of tenantry; and subdivision and subletting, being by this law indirectly encouraged, greatly increased. The war with France raised considerably the profits of the occupier, who was thus enabled to pay a large rent to the mesne lessee. These causes produced throughout the country a class of intermediate proprietors, known by the name of middlemen, whose decline after the cessation of the war, and the fall of prices in 1815, brought with it much of the evils we have witnessed of late years. Many who, during the long war, had amassed much wealth, had become proprietors in fee; others, who had not been so successful, struggled in after years to maintain a position in society which their failing resources could not support. Their sub-tenants were unable to pay 'war-rents.' The middleman himself, who was liable for the rent during the same period, became equally unable to meet his engagements. All became impoverished: the middleman parted with his interest or under let the little land he had hitherto retained in his own hands; himself and his family were involved rapidly in ruin. The landlord, in many cases, was obliged to look to the occupiers for his rent, or, at the expiration of the lease, found the farms covered with a pauper, and, it may be, a superabundant population. Subsequently, the act of 1829 destroyed the political value of the 40s. freeholder, and to relieve his property from the burden which this chain of circumstances brought upon it, the landlord, in too many instances, adopted what has been called, the 'clearance system.'"

The conditions under which this system was put in practice will be clearly seen from the description given by the Irish Railway Commissioners in their report, dated July 1888:

"The misery and destitution which prevail so extensively, together with all the demoralization incident to the peculiar condition of the Irish peasantry, may be traced to this source (the Forty Shilling Freeholders Act). The country, particularly in the west and south-western counties, is overspread with small but exceedingly crowded communities, sometimes located in villages, but more frequently in isolated tenements, exclusively composed of the poorest class of labourers, who, removed from the presence and social or moral influence of a better and more enlightened class, are left, generally, to the coercive power of the law alone to hold them within the bounds of peace and order. No system of constant or remunerative Statistics, industry is established amongst them. The cultivation of their patches of land and the labour of providing fuel are their sole employment, which, occupying but a comparatively small portion of their time, leaves them exposed to all the temptations of an idle, reckless, and wretched existence.

"In such a community there is no demand for hired labourers. Every occupier, with such assistance as his own family can furnish, manages to raise the scanty supply of food which he may need for their support, and as for grain, or other produce, as may be required to pay his rent; but beyond this, there is no solicitude about cultivating the land, nor the least taste for improving or making it more valuable. At the periods of active labour, when additional hands are absolutely necessary, every expedient is resorted to in order to avoid the employment of a single paid labourer. Children of tender years are then forced to do the work of men in the fields, to a degree far beyond their strength; and all the females who are capable of rendering assistance are tasked in many ways utterly unsuited to their sex, and incompatible with the slightest attention to their proper cares and duties. At all times, indeed, of the year, whether the case be urgent or not, the share of labour out of doors imposed upon women and young girls, who might in every respect be so much better occupied, is as injurious to the moral condition, as it must be to the personal and domestic comfort of the peasantry.

"There is a class of landlords superior to these, holding from eight to twelve or fifteen acres, who are equally slovenly and careless in the management of their land; but necessarily obliged, on account of its greater extent, to procure assistance out of their own families. Sometimes, but rarely, these persons hire daily labourers among the neighbouring poor; and in such cases they are usually guided in their choice, not by the character or capability of the man they employ, but by the lowest rate of wages at which they can possibly obtain his service. More commonly, however, they engage, as farm-servants, young men between sixteen and twenty-five years of age, who reside in the family of their employer, and hire themselves out at remarkably low wages, seldom exceeding L1 per quarter, and, in numerous instances, scarcely more than half that sum.

"The litigation which occupies a great portion of the time of the several Courts of Petty Sessions, arises out of the disputes of this class of servants with their employers; the former being usually impatient to break off their engagements at the busy and more profitable season of the year, and the latter anxious, of course, to reap the full benefit of the contract. Another common subject of angry contention before the same tribunals—furnished by ill-defined boundaries, neglected fences, and consequent trespasses between the neighbouring tenants of the small divisions of land above described. More time and money are commonly wasted in such contests than would suffice to repair all the damage which forms the ground of quarrel; and animosities are engendered which often lead to feuds of a lasting duration, and the most deadly consequences."

Formerly the custom prevailed of granting leases either in perpetuity for 999 years, or for lives renewable for ever, with a covenant of perpetual renewal on payment of a fine, sometimes merely nominal, on the fall of each life. This tenure is supposed to have originated in the desire of the grantees of confiscated estates, who were generally absentees, to obtain a recognition of their title. Hence some of the owners of large estates receive a very small share of the actual profits. The leases commonly granted at present are for sixty-one, thirty-one, or twenty-one years, with very frequently a life or lives, but the larger portion of the land is held by tenants-at-will. Landlords neither erect nor repair the farmsteads, and seldom expend money on permanent improvements, the maintaining and improving of the farm being thrown wholly on the tenant. The system of middlemen, who rent land from the proprietor, and re-let it to under-tenants, formerly prevailed. It is now rare. In many instances there were several middlemen between the head landlord and the occupying tenant, which latter, according to the law of real property in Ireland, thus becomes answerable for the payment of his own rent to his immediate landlord, and for that of all the rents of every intermediate holder under the original proprietor. Grazing farms are large; the arable in general small, particularly in Ulster, in which province much of the land in several counties, particularly in those where the domestic manufacture of linen prevailed, is parcelled out into very minute subdivisions. The practice of taking into cultivation large tracts of mountain bog or other land hitherto unreclaimed, is now very prevalent. The cottier system, by which the occupying tenant receives a patch of land, in part or whole payable of wages, and that of runnals, in which a large tract is held by a number of individuals in common, are still kept up.

A striking peculiarity is the mode in which occupiers hold their land in some of the northern counties. The custom is called tenant-right, and is supposed to have originated in the circumstance of large tracts of land having become the property of public bodies or individuals who, being absentee, let their farms, reserving to themselves a rent, but making no expenditure, and exercising little interference with the land. The tenant, where this custom prevails, claims and generally exercises a right to dispose of his holding for a valuable consideration, although he may himself be a tenant-at-will, and may have expended nothing in permanent improvements.

In 1847 an inquiry was instituted by the Irish government as to the annual amount of the agricultural produce of Ireland, which has been since carried on from year to year, the information being collected by the constabulary in the first instance, according to townlands, afterwards consolidated into poor-law unions, and thus published in the returns presented annually to both Houses of Parliament. The returns are made into two divisions, crops and stock.

The size of farms, as well as their mode of culture, varies greatly in different parts. Generally speaking, in the manufacturing districts of the north, the small allotments of land, there dignified by the name of farms, are limited to a few acres, the cultivators of which no more deserve the name of farmers than would the occupiers of mere cabbage gardens. In the grazing counties the farms are of very great extent, often spreading over upwards of a thousand acres; whilst in the counties in which greater attention is paid to tillage, they are more moderate in dimensions. The mixture of grazing and tillage so frequent in England is much less usual here, except on the farms of gentlemen, where both the feeding of stock and the growth of grain are carried on, in numerous instances, to as high a state of excellence as in any part of Great Britain. Nor are there any large tracts of country exclusively devoted to the breeding of cattle, as in the Highlands of Scotland.

The following table shows the changes which have taken place in the several classes of holdings in 1841, and between 1849 and 1854:

| Years | Not exceeding 1 Acre | Above 1, and not exceeding 5 Acres | Above 5 Acres, and not exceeding 15 Acres | Above 15 Acres, and not exceeding 30 Acres | Above 30 Acres | Total Holdings | |-------|---------------------|----------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|---------------|---------------| | | Number | Rate per cent | Number | Rate per cent | Number | Rate per cent | | 1841 | | | | | | | | 1849 | 31,969 | 4·9 | 98,179 | 15·1 | 213,897 | 32·9 | | 1850 | 35,326 | 5·6 | 91,618 | 14·6 | 203,331 | 32·4 | | 1851 | 37,728 | 6·2 | 88,083 | 14·5 | 191,854 | 32·1 | | 1852 | 35,058 | 5·9 | 81,561 | 13·9 | 182,808 | 30·9 | | 1853 | 35,785 | 6·1 | 78,418 | 15·6 | 178,701 | 30·5 | | 1854 | 35,163 | 6·5 | 80,976 | 13·7 | 179,140 | 30·3 |

VOL. XII. The total number of holdings has continued to decrease since 1841. The number of holdings returned for 1854 is greater than in 1853, by 4738, as may be seen from the following Statistics:

| Classification of Holdings | Leinster | Munster | Ulster | Connaught | Total | |---------------------------|----------|---------|--------|-----------|-------| | | 1853 | 1854 | 1853 | 1854 | | | Not exceeding 1 Acre | 15,051 | 15,067 | 7,796 | 8,749 | 35,795| | Above 1 to 5 Acres | 23,397 | 23,832 | 12,754 | 12,737 | 59,630| | ... 5 to 15 | 30,565 | 30,836 | 22,051 | 22,034 | 84,686| | ... 15 to 30 | 24,748 | 24,645 | 26,716 | 26,238 | 72,377| | ... 30 to 50 | 15,812 | 15,930 | 21,628 | 21,753 | 74,023| | ... 50 to 100 | 13,299 | 13,431 | 20,844 | 20,942 | 68,516| | ... 100 to 200 | 6,331 | 6,401 | 8,499 | 8,507 | 31,737| | ... 200 to 500 | 2,533 | 2,531 | 2,540 | 2,904 | 10,508| | ... 500 Acres | 387 | 388 | 414 | 413 | 1,214| | Total | 132,143 | 132,611 | 123,572| 124,277 | 500,087|

It will be seen that the increase extended to every class—farms “above 15, and not exceeding 30 acres” alone excepted; the proportion which the numbers in each class bear to the total number has scarcely varied during the last three years. In 1854, of the entire number of farms, 65 per cent. did not exceed 1 acre in extent; 13.7 per cent. were above 1, and not exceeding 5 acres; 30.3 per cent. were above 5, and not exceeding 15 acres; 23.3 per cent. were above 15, and not exceeding 30 acres; and 26.2 per cent. were above 30 acres—thus, about half the farms in Ireland are above 15 acres in extent.

The average extent in each class of holdings remains nearly the same in 1854 as in 1853, with the exception of farms containing “500 acres and upwards,” which in 1853 comprised 2,176,824 acres, and in 1854, 2,122,967 acres, being a diminution in the latter year of 53,857 acres. This, together with an increase of 21 in their number, reduced their average size from 134½ acres in 1853 to 129½ acres in 1854. The average extent of land held by each class in 1854 is shown in the following table:

| Classification of Holdings | No. of Holdings in each class | Extent of Land held by each class of Landholders | Average Extent of the Holdings in each class | Division of Land | |---------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------| | | | | | Tillage | Grass | Fallow | Woods and Plantations | Bog and Waste | | Holdings not exceeding 1 acre | 38,165 | 24,667 | 0 2 23 | 21,451 | 1,670 | 139 | 215 | 1,202 | | Do, above 1 5 acres | 80,976 | 251,464 | 3 1 36 | 179,168 | 81,990 | 1,732 | 2,168 | 16,406 | | Do, above 5 15 | 179,140 | 1,836,486 | 10 1 0 | 877,468 | 812,622 | 6,716 | 9,029 | 150,651 | | Do, above 15 30 | 137,640 | 3,056,193 | 22 0 32 | 1,240,749 | 1,471,148 | 12,269 | 14,501 | 317,517 | | Do, above 30 50 | 70,821 | 2,864,703 | 40 1 32 | 1,007,377 | 1,433,758 | 14,718 | 20,246 | 388,604 | | Do, above 50 100 | 52,512 | 3,886,499 | 74 0 2 | 1,117,229 | 2,006,140 | 21,240 | 42,236 | 659,554 | | Do, above 100 200 | 21,026 | 3,217,590 | 153 0 5 | 681,620 | 1,693,060 | 16,604 | 65,674 | 761,232 | | Do, above 200 500 | 8,167 | 2,900,557 | 355 0 25 | 364,590 | 1,373,466 | 10,278 | 89,261 | 1,062,962 | | Do, above 500 acres | 1,640 | 2,122,967 | 1,294 1 39 | 81,558 | 626,795 | 1,738 | 65,093 | 1,347,753 | | Total | 590,087 | 20,191,136 | ... | 5,570,610 | 9,500,649 | 85,434 | 308,532 | 4,725,911 |

Table showing the Extent in Acres of each description of Crop grown upon each Class of Holdings exceeding one Acre in extent in 1854:

| Description of Crops | Above 1 to 5 Acres | Above 5 to 15 Acres | Above 15 to 30 Acres | Above 30 to 50 Acres | Above 50 to 100 Acres | Above 100 to 200 Acres | Above 200 to 500 Acres | Above 500 Acres | |----------------------|--------------------|--------------------|----------------------|----------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|----------------------|----------------| | Wheat | 10,039 | 44,095 | 76,033 | 80,631 | 106,855 | 63,079 | 25,794 | 4,160 | | Oats | 63,545 | 374,161 | 517,524 | 385,239 | 381,325 | 203,756 | 96,487 | 19,517 | | Barley, bere, and rye.| 10,509 | 35,448 | 53,516 | 51,412 | 60,782 | 34,429 | 14,806 | 2,643 | | Beans and peas | 707 | 2,827 | 4,814 | 4,634 | 5,276 | 2,554 | 1,389 | 286 | | Total cereal crops | 84,903 | 456,531 | 651,887 | 521,936 | 554,238 | 303,818 | 138,476 | 26,606 | | Potatoes | 61,557 | 224,349 | 256,264 | 172,162 | 158,119 | 72,325 | 27,479 | 4,602 | | Turnips | 6,229 | 36,197 | 63,242 | 60,172 | 73,755 | 50,615 | 30,894 | 7,568 | | Other green crops | 2,961 | 10,807 | 16,734 | 14,432 | 17,126 | 11,997 | 7,586 | 2,187 | | Total green crops | 70,807 | 271,333 | 336,240 | 246,766 | 249,090 | 134,937 | 65,899 | 14,357 | | Flax | 4,092 | 34,764 | 48,243 | 31,390 | 22,679 | 7,124 | 2,154 | 846 | | Rape | 66 | 666 | 1,518 | 1,496 | 2,437 | 2,655 | 3,243 | 976 | | Meadow and clover | 19,400 | 114,134 | 202,861 | 205,769 | 288,845 | 232,496 | 154,818 | 38,773 | | Total flax, rape, and meadow | 23,558 | 149,584 | 252,622 | 238,655 | 313,961 | 242,265 | 160,215 | 40,995 | | General total | 179,163 | 877,468 | 1,240,749 | 1,007,377 | 1,117,229 | 681,020 | 364,590 | 81,558 | Table showing the Extent of Land under Crops for each County and Province in Ireland, in 1854 and 1855, and the number of Acres under each species of Crop.

| Provinces and Counties | Wheat | Oats | Barley, Rye, Peas | Potatoes | Turnips | Other Green Crops | Flax | Meadow and Clover | Total Extent under Crops | |------------------------|-------|------|------------------|----------|---------|-------------------|-----|------------------|-------------------------| | **Leinster** | | | | | | | | | | | Carlow | 1854 | 8,745| 26,491 | 5,710 | 10,973 | 5,537 | 1,220| 32 | 23,562 | | | 1855 | 9,569| 25,724 | 5,060 | 11,061 | 5,956 | 1,261| 31 | 25,396 | | Dublin | 1854 | 11,889| 25,105 | 5,630 | 10,314 | 3,558 | 4,100| 5 | 45,406 | | | 1855 | 14,207| 24,301 | 4,830 | 11,959 | 3,488 | 4,057| 1 | 45,823 | | Kildare | 1854 | 18,381| 43,520 | 7,767 | 13,109 | 9,988 | 2,053| 6 | 45,123 | | | 1855 | 20,698| 43,953 | 6,251 | 14,110 | 10,990 | 1,907| 9 | 48,707 | | Kilkenny | 1854 | 34,968| 54,295 | 8,582 | 25,567 | 11,270 | 3,027| 54 | 44,241 | | | 1855 | 37,297| 53,102 | 8,659 | 22,812 | 12,689 | 3,196| 45 | 47,437 | | King's | 1854 | 17,767| 33,174 | 6,335 | 21,038 | 8,705 | 2,666| 214 | 38,857 | | | 1855 | 18,502| 32,489 | 5,636 | 21,725 | 9,343 | 2,583| 254 | 39,896 | | Longford | 1854 | 1,977 | 39,521 | 394 | 16,547 | 2,129 | 1,162| 592 | 19,124 | | | 1855 | 2,337 | 30,843 | 328 | 16,260 | 2,732 | 932 | 262 | 20,157 | | Louth | 1854 | 6,903 | 36,670 | 24,929 | 11,513 | 8,666 | 2,459| 694 | 17,071 | | | 1855 | 9,675 | 38,514 | 22,034 | 11,937 | 9,234 | 2,836| 190 | 17,276 | | Meath | 1854 | 15,762| 55,667 | 6,110 | 16,867 | 9,492 | 4,173| 451 | 61,935 | | | 1855 | 18,733| 56,625 | 5,014 | 19,200 | 9,934 | 4,018| 267 | 64,642 | | Queen's | 1854 | 20,936| 32,055 | 9,937 | 21,559 | 12,929 | 1,845| 11 | 48,900 | | | 1855 | 21,454| 32,606 | 9,683 | 20,885 | 14,226 | 1,962| 7 | 51,926 | | Westmeath | 1854 | 3,915 | 63,769 | 2,233 | 17,577 | 5,656 | 2,329| 260 | 38,465 | | | 1855 | 4,618 | 54,331 | 1,531 | 18,486 | 6,444 | 2,344| 200 | 40,545 | | Wexford | 1854 | 21,905| 86,633 | 44,797 | 27,980 | 14,542 | 4,969| 466 | 43,295 | | | 1855 | 23,921| 86,102 | 41,940 | 27,686 | 16,233 | 4,933| 825 | 45,711 | | Wicklow | 1854 | 6,177 | 36,746 | 4,918 | 11,176 | 4,273 | 1,339| 5 | 53,550 | | | 1855 | 6,667 | 36,297 | 4,599 | 11,854 | 4,501 | 1,084| 1 | 55,028 | | **Total of Leinster** | 1854 | 169,325| 553,556 | 127,341 | 204,820 | 96,745 | 31,363| 2,820 | 479,629 | | | 1855 | 187,698| 553,077 | 115,553 | 208,005 | 105,790 | 30,843| 2,142 | 502,544 | | Increase or Decrease in Leinster | inc. | 18,373 | 479 | 11,756 | 3,185 | 9,045 | 320 | 678 | 22,915 |

| **Munster** | | | | | | | | | | | Clare | 1854 | 8,549| 37,817 | 14,155 | 34,097 | 7,647 | 2,321| 909 | 49,156 | | | 1855 | 9,318| 39,298 | 13,394 | 35,507 | 8,453 | 2,386| 890 | 52,179 | | Cork | 1854 | 51,146| 159,596 | 40,000 | 84,153 | 47,502 | 10,603| 3,324 | 94,812 | | | 1855 | 49,927| 149,856 | 39,113 | 81,051 | 53,654 | 10,578| 2,393 | 104,545 | | Kerry | 1854 | 2,450 | 34,139 | 9,696 | 30,144 | 10,512 | 2,334| 673 | 54,101 | | | 1855 | 2,716 | 36,651 | 7,702 | 31,357 | 9,737 | 2,523| 621 | 56,362 | | Limerick | 1854 | 14,427| 45,009 | 15,343 | 33,929 | 11,612 | 2,749| 316 | 69,117 | | | 1855 | 17,155| 45,439 | 12,053 | 35,733 | 11,402 | 2,749| 244 | 71,187 | | Tipperary | 1854 | 50,735| 77,026 | 12,017 | 54,048 | 26,857 | 4,124| 199 | 76,740 | | | 1855 | 54,325| 78,150 | 11,635 | 52,148 | 29,738 | 4,220| 103 | 83,831 | | Waterford | 1854 | 24,272| 30,892 | 9,488 | 20,725 | 11,052 | 3,294| 31 | 16,112 | | | 1855 | 24,325| 30,831 | 9,460 | 18,818 | 11,964 | 3,139| 43 | 17,647 | | **Total of Munster** | 1854 | 151,570| 354,479 | 100,699 | 256,449 | 114,912 | 25,425| 5,452 | 360,038 | | | 1855 | 157,766| 380,246 | 93,357 | 254,944 | 124,948 | 25,595| 4,294 | 385,771 | | Increase or Decrease in Munster | inc. | 6,196 | 15,767 | 7,342 | 1,505 | 10,036 | 170 | 1,158 | 25,733 | Statistics. Table showing the Extent of Land under Crops for each County and Province in Ireland, in 1854 and 1855, and the number of Acres under each species of Crop.—Continued.

| Provinces and Counties | Wheat | Oats | Barley, Bere, Rye, Beans, and Peas | Potatoes | Turnips | Other Green Crops | Flax | Meadow and Clover | Total Extent under Crops | |------------------------|-------|------|----------------------------------|----------|---------|-------------------|-----|-----------------|------------------------| | Ulster— | | | | | | | | | | | Antrim | 9,200 | 94,294 | 4,123 | 47,356 | 9,317 | 2,330 | 8,924| 55,109 | 230,833 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 11,690| 88,729 | 4,572 | 46,957 | 12,375 | 2,598 | 6,719| 53,640 | 236,681 | | Armagh | 11,555| 70,963 | 1,945 | 34,426 | 6,082 | 3,052 | 16,295| 25,792 | 170,110 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 12,225| 78,717 | 2,447 | 31,690 | 8,046 | 3,179 | 9,294| 25,555 | 171,143 | | Cavan | 847 | 88,053 | 1,119 | 30,879 | 2,729 | 3,316 | 8,842| 33,045 | 168,860 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 865 | 91,371 | 800 | 31,256 | 3,167 | 2,995 | 6,029| 34,952 | 171,379 | | Donegal | 3,384 | 102,635 | 6,326 | 44,568 | 15,342 | 2,471 | 26,061| 31,566 | 232,535 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2,963 | 108,754 | 7,295 | 41,559 | 10,654 | 2,626 | 15,799| 33,000 | 228,683 | | Down | 27,960| 134,291 | 16,845 | 47,116 | 20,440 | 4,843 | 19,895| 37,208 | 308,598 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 30,359| 142,631 | 15,896 | 47,222 | 22,119 | 4,734 | 11,166| 36,357 | 310,424 | | Fermanagh | 1,297 | 40,316 | 1,661 | 19,734 | 3,454 | 1,930 | 3,480| 34,112 | 106,084 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1,413 | 40,770 | 1,111 | 18,212 | 4,232 | 1,680 | 2,006| 34,775 | 104,219 | | Londonderry | 3,532 | 55,395 | 2,131 | 33,283 | 9,515 | 1,655 | 17,239| 20,943 | 173,284 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 3,052 | 91,783 | 2,113 | 32,234 | 11,474 | 1,411 | 11,818| 20,443 | 174,328 | | Monaghan | 2,957 | 78,962 | 3,924 | 26,522 | 5,508 | 2,337 | 16,222| 15,053 | 150,755 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 3,466 | 83,569 | 3,712 | 25,394 | 7,953 | 2,128 | 11,859| 15,577 | 152,558 | | Tyrone | 4,760 | 147,133 | 1,729 | 47,012 | 12,947 | 3,237 | 22,453| 31,293 | 270,569 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4,694 | 153,817 | 1,536 | 43,643 | 15,281 | 2,979 | 13,224| 30,865 | 265,929 | | Total of Ulster | 65,592| 841,372 | 39,803 | 330,896 | 85,334 | 25,371 | 139,402| 253,726 | 1,811,496 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 70,127| 890,171 | 39,425 | 315,167 | 100,372 | 24,274 | 87,904| 234,964 | 1,815,404 | | Increase or Decrease in Ulster | inc. | inc. | dec. | dec. | inc. | dec. | inc. | tot. inc. | | | 4,535 | 48,799 | 378 | 12,729 | 15,033 | 1,097 | 51,498 | 1,238 | 3,908 |

| Connaught— | | | | | | | | | | | Galway | 16,602| 80,917 | 10,644 | 51,499 | 14,830 | 9,324 | 785 | 43,020 | 227,621 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 18,818| 81,347 | 10,397 | 52,594 | 15,607 | 8,903 | 544 | 45,886 | 233,696 | | Leitrim | 293 | 26,959 | 323 | 23,666 | 988 | 1,626 | 1,022| 27,748 | 82,625 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 270 | 28,829 | 555 | 23,330 | 1,078 | 1,191 | 718 | 28,472 | 84,643 | | Mayo | 3,753 | 80,706 | 5,959 | 58,585 | 8,865 | 2,489 | 999 | 17,920 | 179,079 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4,594 | 83,633 | 5,426 | 59,039 | 9,547 | 2,183 | 741 | 18,234 | 183,397 | | Roscommon | 2,795 | 55,585 | 404 | 35,830 | 3,613 | 1,683 | 430 | 28,930 | 129,225 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4,148 | 59,185 | 456 | 36,785 | 4,729 | 1,725 | 384 | 30,224 | 137,666 | | Sligo | 1,354 | 41,724 | 1,951 | 27,612 | 4,383 | 1,541 | 493 | 16,833 | 95,941 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2,088 | 41,467 | 2,334 | 28,165 | 4,426 | 1,060 | 379 | 15,642 | 95,381 | | Total of Connaught | 24,797| 255,891 | 19,311 | 197,495 | 32,179 | 16,618 | 3,729| 134,471 | 714,491 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 29,918| 294,461 | 19,198 | 200,413 | 35,387 | 14,382 | 2,766| 138,458 | 734,983 | | Increase or Decrease in Connaught | inc. | inc. | dec. | dec. | inc. | dec. | inc. | tot. inc. | | | 5,121 | 8,570 | 113 | 2,918 | 3,208 | 2,236 | 963 | 3,957 | 20,492 |

| Total of Ireland | 411,284| 2,645,298 | 287,154 | 989,660 | 329,170 | 98,777 | 151,403 | 1,257,564 | 5,570,610 | | 1854 | | | | | | | | | | | | 445,509| 2,117,955 | 267,565 | 981,529 | 366,497 | 95,094 | 97,106 | 1,311,737 | 5,682,992 | | Increase or Decrease in Ireland | inc. | inc. | dec. | dec. | inc. | dec. | inc. | tot. inc. | | | 34,225| 72,657 | 19,589 | 8,131 | 37,327 | 3,683 | 54,297 | 53,373 | 112,382 | ### Estimated Quantity of Cereal Produce in Quarters

| Provinces and Counties | Wheat | Oats | Barley | Bere | Rye | |-----------------------|-------|------|--------|------|-----| | | Quarters | Quarters | Quarters | Quarters | Quarters | | Leinster | | | | | | | Carlow | 31,185 | 122,885 | 20,633 | 1,911 | 223 | | Dublin | 57,975 | 143,580 | 23,307 | 688 | 102 | | Kildare | 72,636 | 221,550 | 24,890 | 6,009 | 1,445 | | Kilkenny | 109,545 | 242,042 | 34,488 | 3,659 | 135 | | King's | 61,890 | 157,465 | 21,875 | 5,097 | 2,263 | | Longford | 6,085 | 170,338 | 253 | 334 | 762 | | Louth | 41,389 | 212,167 | 101,986 | 758 | 1,983 | | Meath | 71,715 | 413,029 | 16,403 | 2,523 | 3,489 | | Queen's | 65,028 | 156,477 | 39,538 | 6,995 | 164 | | Westmeath | 15,513 | 279,041 | 1,588 | 3,855 | 2,429 | | Wexford | 78,840 | 408,587 | 178,542 | 1,125 | 828 | | Wicklow | 23,221 | 163,912 | 14,742 | 6,195 | 497 | | **Total of Leinster** | 634,923 | 2,691,153 | 477,550 | 39,160 | 13,753 |

| Munster | | | | | | | Clare | 36,305 | 200,008 | 63,894 | 382 | 3,861 | | Cork | 140,634 | 674,605 | 174,796 | 699 | 1,026 | | Kerry | 9,433 | 140,739 | 34,930 | 102 | 3,196 | | Limerick | 66,288 | 210,742 | 60,780 | 105 | 170 | | Tipperary | 182,743 | 412,162 | 53,426 | 3,033 | 843 | | Waterford | 70,384 | 123,492 | 37,957 | 291 | 1,675 | | **Total of Munster** | 505,788 | 1,791,748 | 425,783 | 4,632 | 10,771 |

| Ulster | | | | | | | Antrim | 38,691 | 517,374 | 6,954 | 190 | 459 | | Armagh | 38,467 | 351,633 | 7,523 | 993 | 517 | | Cavan | 3,084 | 379,437 | 449 | 671 | 2,473 | | Donegal | 13,958 | 549,901 | 27,064 | 377 | 3,201 | | Down | 134,462 | 740,056 | 64,965 | 1,312 | 2,303 | | Fermanagh | 5,485 | 202,996 | 729 | 1,197 | 2,651 | | Londonderry | 9,852 | 475,970 | 1,774 | 2,300 | 1,187 | | Monaghan | 13,284 | 391,836 | 16,112 | 4,132 | 1,418 | | Tyrone | 17,222 | 766,673 | 2,291 | 586 | 1,450 | | **Total of Ulster** | 274,505 | 4,375,686 | 121,931 | 11,658 | 15,659 |

| Connaught | | | | | | | Galway | 66,681 | 419,644 | 37,735 | 1,348 | 7,954 | | Leitrim | 1,102 | 142,713 | 140 | 218 | 2,331 | | Mayo | 20,604 | 352,214 | 19,502 | 154 | 5,782 | | Roscommon | 11,498 | 253,761 | 831 | 193 | 1,093 | | Sligo | 9,021 | 223,501 | 12,615 | 41 | 221 | | **Total of Connaught** | 168,906 | 1,401,833 | 70,823 | 1,954 | 17,361 |

| Total of Ireland | 1,524,182 | 10,260,420 | 1,096,187 | 57,404 | 57,554 |

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### Table of the Acreage under Crops, the Estimated Average Produce per Statute Acre, and the Total Produce of Ireland in 1847, and from 1849 to 1855, inclusive.

| Year | Wheat | Oats | Barley | Bere | Rye | Beans and Peas | |------|-------|------|--------|------|-----|---------------| | | Extent of Crop | Average Produce per Statute Acre | Estimated Produce | Extent of Crop | Average Produce per Statute Acre | Estimated Produce | Extent of Crop | Average Produce per Statute Acre | Estimated Produce | Extent of Crop | Average Produce per Statute Acre | Estimated Produce | Extent of Crop | Average Produce per Statute Acre | Estimated Produce | | 1847 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1848 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1849 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1850 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1851 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1852 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1853 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1854 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 | | 1855 | 743,371 | 6-6 | 2,206,733 | 2,206,733 | 84 | 11,521,056 | 263,587 | 97 | 1,374,029 | 49,908 | 96 | 271,656 | 12,413 | 82 | 63,094 | 238,794 | 294 | 284,456 |

*The returns for 1848 were incomplete, owing to the then disturbed state of some counties.*

*Beans only.* When Mr. Wakefield wrote, flax was cultivated in every county of Ireland, except Wexford and Wicklow, but in consequence of the withdrawal of the bounties, its cultivation declined, but of late years flax has been more extensively grown.

The following Table gives the breadth of Flax cultivated in each Province since 1849:

| Provinces | 1849 | 1850 | 1851 | 1852 | 1853 | 1854 | 1855 | |-----------|------|------|------|------|------|------|------| | Leinster | | | | | | | | | Munster | | | | | | | | | Ulster | | | | | | | | | Connaught | | | | | | | | | Total | 60,314 | 91,040 | 140,536 | 137,008 | 174,579 | 160,972 | 97,106 |

The Census Commissioners of 1841 ascertained the quantity of land in every farm in Ireland, and the number of horses and mules, asses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry, on each holding, in that year—the returns published in their report afford a valuable basis for comparison with the information annually published in the returns of agricultural produce. The commissioners assumed an average rate per head for each description, viz.—horses and mules were valued at L8 each; asses at L1; horned cattle at L6, 10s.; sheep at L1, 2s.; pigs at L1, 5s.; poultry at 6d. By this means they arrived at an approximation to the value of the live stock in Ireland in 1841. Horses and mules, cattle, sheep, and pigs, should now be estimated at higher prices, but for the sake of comparison with previous years, the prices of 1841 have been adopted. The following table affords a general view of the extent of the changes which have taken place since that year.

Number of Holdings exceeding 1 Acre, and Live Stock thereon, in 1841, and in 1849—1854.

| Year | No. of Holdings | Horses and Mules | Acres | Cattle | Sheep | Pigs | Goats | Poultry | Value of Stock | Increase of Value between each period | |------|----------------|------------------|-------|--------|-------|-----|------|--------|--------------|-------------------------------------| | 1841 | 691,114 | 576,115 | 92,365| 1,863,116| 2,106,189| 1,412,813| ... | 8,458,517| £19,389,843| ... | | 1849 | 619,027 | 548,288 | 117,939| 2,771,139| 1,777,111| 795,463| 182,688| 6,328,001| 25,692,616| £6,293,616 | | 1850 | 592,896 | 548,719 | 123,412| 2,917,949| 1,876,096| 927,502| 201,112| 6,945,145| 26,951,959| £1,296,843 | | 1851 | 670,338 | 543,133 | 136,881| 2,967,161| 2,122,128| 1,084,857| 235,313| 7,476,694| 27,737,393| £880,640 | | 1852 | 564,413 | 545,990 | 144,120| 3,095,667| 2,618,343| 1,072,558| 278,444| 8,752,544| 30,242,829| £1,416,336 | | 1853 | 549,554 | 561,160 | 148,720| 3,383,309| 3,142,656| 1,444,945| 296,182| 8,690,738| 31,458,785| £2,707,965 | | 1854 | 551,022 | 564,630 | 150,576| 3,497,901| 3,722,219| 1,342,549| 311,492| 8,630,483| 33,508,371| £1,679,994 |

The grazing of various kinds of stock is seldom combined. A usual mode with respect to black cattle, particularly in Connaught, is to collect yearling calves, which are fed till they are four years old, when they are sold at the great annual fair at Ballinasloe, to the graziers of Limerick, Tipperary, Roscommon, and Meath, by whom, when fattened for the butcher, they are either shipped alive for Liverpool, or sent to the markets of Dublin and the larger northern towns, or to Limerick and Cork, where they are cured for exportation.

The dairy farms form a conspicuous feature in the rural economy of the country, occupying a still larger portion of the soil than that used by the grazier. Butter, much celebrated for its excellence, is exported in large quantities. That of Carlow bears the highest character in the foreign market. It may appear strange that a country whose character stands so high in the production of butter, should be so unsuccessful in that of cheese. Yet such is the fact. With the exception of some made in the county of Antrim, particularly at Carrickfergus, Irish cheese is of very inferior quality. The failure of the many attempts to produce a good article may in some cases be attributable to the want of that care in the management of it during its fabrication, which is only to be acquired by long and persevering practice; but several attempts made by capitalists with the assistance of persons skilful in the manufacture, have failed.

1 The returns for 1848 were incomplete, owing to the then disturbed state of some counties. 2 No separate returns, this crop being included under the head of "other green crops." The following Table exhibits the Quantities of Grain and Malt exported from Ireland to Great Britain, from 1840 to 1854, inclusive.

| Years | Wheat and Barley, Oats and Pease, Beans and Malt, Total | |-------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 1840 | 174,439, 95,954, 2,037,835, 122, 1,403, 14,573, 3,456, 2,327,782 | | 1841 | 213,708, 75,568, 2,539,350, 172, 855, 15,967, 4,935, 2,855,525 | | 1842 | 201,995, 50,297, 2,261,435, 76, 1,551, 19,831, 3,046, 2,538,234 | | 1843 | 413,466, 110,449, 2,648,033, 372, 1,192, 24,329, 8,643, 3,206,484 | | 1844 | 440,152, 90,656, 2,242,310, 264, 1,691, 18,579, 8,153, 2,801,205 | | 1845 | 779,113, 93,095, 2,333,985, 165, 1,644, 12,745, 11,154, 3,251,901 | | 1846 | 393,462, 92,551, 1,311,592, ... 2,227, 14,668, 11,329, 1,826,132 | | 1847 | 184,022, 47,978, 703,463, 1,495, 4,659, 22,361, 5,956, 969,537 | | 1848 | 304,873, 80,977, 1,546,565, 15, 2,572, 12,314, 6,365, 1,952,784 | | 1849 | 234,680, 46,591, 1,123,469, 414, 3,369, 22,450, 5,181, 1,436,706 | | 1850 | 176,568, 40,946, 1,075,388, 360, 4,300, 21,551, 8,425, 1,328,399 | | 1851 | 95,116, 44,839, 1,141,976, ... 3,731, 25,062, 6,431, 1,324,688 | | 1852 | 56,068, 107,155, 1,650,313, ... 3,318, 27,664, 8,741, 1,833,237 | | 1853 | 74,197, 124,922, 1,542,579, 600, 2,089, 22,095, 11,998, 1,778,480 | | 1854 | 138,159, 81,239, 1,818,169, 360, 1,987, 23,157, 9,182, 2,072,233 |

The clumsy and defective construction of agricultural implements, formerly so conspicuous, becomes every year less observable. In most parts much attention is paid to their construction; and where they differ from those most in vogue in Great Britain, the cause can be traced to the peculiarities of the soil. The Irish spade is narrower in the blade than the English, and longer in the handle. In many parts its use is supplied by a narrow spade, with a projection for the foot only on one side; it is called a loy. In cutting turf, a kind of double loy, called a slane, is used. Oxen are little employed in tillage. When used in the plough they are yoked sometimes by the horns, sometimes by the breast. The Scotch cart or dray, with two large wheels and a single horse, is to be found in every part, its structure having been found best adapted to a hilly country such as Ireland generally is. It has in a great measure superseded the old Irish car. The fences vary according to the character of the soil. In the rocky districts in the north and west they are mostly dry-stone walls, sometimes of great thickness at bottom, being used as well for a means of disposing of the numerous loose stones on the surface, as for inclosing the land. A mound, planted at top with furze or gorse, is a common fence in those parts where fuel is scarce. In the more improved parts white thorn hedges are most used. Lime or limestone gravel is the most universal manure. It is often used mixed with turf mould. On the sea-coasts coralline sand and sea-weed are employed; the former is often conveyed to great distances into the interior.

Ballinasloe great cattle fair held in October is the chief mart for the sale of sheep and horned cattle, and the prices obtained there have considerable influence over the general markets throughout the kingdom. The following table affords a comparative view of the number of cattle exported from Ireland to Great Britain from 1847 to 1854:

| Year | Ovens, Bulls and Cows | Calves | Sheep and Lambs | Swine | |------|-----------------------|--------|-----------------|-------| | 1847 | 189,969 | 9,992 | 324,179 | 105,407 | | 1848 | 190,042 | 7,095 | 255,682 | 110,787 | | 1849 | 201,811 | 9,831 | 241,061 | 65,653 | | 1850 | 195,815 | 4,922 | 176,042 | 101,707 | | 1851 | 183,700 | 2,474 | 151,807 | 135,102 | | 1852 | 197,644 | 3,826 | 158,029 | 151,895 | | 1853 | 180,785 | 5,281 | 224,500 | 101,396 | | 1854 | 204,004 | 7,514 | 355,780 | 170,138 |

The rich pasturages, adapted both for black cattle and sheep, furnished in abundance the material for two branches of manufacture, the woollen trade, and the tanning of leather. The former was carried on to a considerable extent at a very remote period. Traces of an export of woollens to Italy as early as the reign of Edward III. have been discovered. The manufacture was an object of legislative interference as early as the third year of Edward IV. (1462); and an act of Henry VIII. in 1542 expressly notices the exportation of woollen yarn from Ireland. The former of these acts was the first attempt to restrict the importation of foreign goods into England. By it woollens, laces, and ribbons were prohibited; but a provision was inserted, "that all wares and chaffers made in the land of Ireland may be brought and sold in this land of England, as they were wont to do before the making of this statute." Although subsequent prohibitory acts of Elizabeth, James, and Charles I. make no mention of Ireland, there is little reason to suppose that any change was made as to the freedom of trade with this country, until the 12th of Charles II., when an act was passed in the English parliament, imposing such rates of duty as effectually prevented importation. By an act of the same year, the exportation of wool from England was prohibited generally, as was that from Ireland, to foreign countries. An act of the 9th and 10th of William III. prohibited the exportation of fullers' earth to Ireland. But the great blow to this branch of national industry was caused by an address from both Houses of the English parliament to William in 1698, praying him "with a view to secure the woollen manufacture as much as possible entire to England, that he would use his utmost diligence to hinder the exportation of wool from Ireland, except to be imported hither; and for discouraging the woollen and encouraging the linen manufactures of Ireland." The immediate consequence of these addresses was the passing of an act prohibiting the exportation of wool or woollens, except to England, from which country the manufactured articles was already excluded by the act of the 12th Charles II. still in force. Under this code England effectually restrained the Irish trade. The supply of the woollen material was narrowed by the impossibility of importing British wool, and the manufactured goods were confined to the domestic consumption of the island. The laws which prohibited the exportation of Irish woollens to foreign countries, and to the British colonies, were repealed in 1779. By the Act of Union, the duties on woollens imported into either island were confined to those called "old and new draperies," and the high duties of Charles II. were reduced to eightpence halfpenny per yard on the old, and twopence three farthings on the new draperies. By the same act, England relaxed her monopoly so far as to permit the export of wool and woollen yarn duty free to Ireland. Previous to the Union, when the import of English wool was prohibited, the manufacture of Ireland was confined to the coarsest description of goods, for which alone the Irish wool was suited. Previous to the introduction of carding machinery the manufacture of woollens was considerable, but immediately after the Union, machinery worked by water-power became general and the trade increased, but the combinations of workmen and protecting duties rendered the Irish manufacturers unable to compete with those of Great Britain, and the trade continued limited to the demand for home consumption. Flannel is made in Wicklow, and blankets in Kilkenny. Frieze of the coarsest kind is in some parts manufactured by the peasantry for domestic consumption, and the supply of the adjoining district.

The same legislative measure which was intended to disencourage the woollen manufacturer stated, that "if the Irish turned their industry and skill to the settling and improving of..." the linen manufacture, they should receive all the countenance, favour, and protection for its encouragement, and promotion to all the advantage and profit they might be capable of deriving from it." This declaration should not lead to the inference that the manufacture had been previously unknown or disregarded in Ireland. On the contrary, the use of linen was so prevalent amongst the higher orders, that sumptuary laws were enacted to check its excessive use. The unfortunate Earl of Strafford seems also to have anticipated the views of the British manufacturers on the subject. Instead of extinguishing the woollen trade by exclusive duties, he laboured to foster that of linen. He imported flax seed in large quantities from Holland, and held out premiums to induce Flemings and Dutchmen acquainted with the manufacture to settle in Ireland. On these landed objects he spent upwards of £30,000 of his private fortune; and his example was followed by the Duke of Ormond. Still, however, the woollen manufacture prevailed, particularly in the S. and W., where the climate and the extensive pasturage for sheep insured a copious and cheap supply of the raw material. In the same spirit, as not was passed by the English parliament in 1696, to encourage foreign linen manufacturers to settle in Ireland; and with that view all articles made of flax or hemp in this country were admitted into England duty free—a privilege which is estimated to have given that branch of trade an advantage of L25 per cent. over other nations in the English market. The Irish parliament, responding to the sentiments and wishes of that of England, promised that "it would heartily endeavour to establish the linen and hempen manufacture, so as to render it useful to both kingdoms;" adding, that "it hoped to find such a temperament in respect to the woollen trade here, that the same may not be injurious to England." The "temperament" here announced was evinced by effectually laying prohibitory duties on the export of its own woollens, thus accepting the compact on the part of Ireland, and giving the country an incontrovertible claim upon England for a perpetual encouragement of that branch which was to be nurtured in lieu of the natural staple of the country. In furtherance of the measures mutually agreed on between both kingdoms, a board of trustees for the encouragement of the linen manufacture was established in 1710, consisting of a number of individuals of influence in each province. Under its control a code of regulations was devised and maintained, which extended to the most minute particulars of the processes, and had the effect for many years of securing the fabric a decided preference both in the home and foreign market. A large sum was annually granted to this board, for premiums and the supply of wheels and other implements, which was continued till the year 1830, when the grants were discontinued, and the board ceased to act. The flax seed is chiefly imported. Little is grown in the country, as notwithstanding all the exertions made by the grower, the plant raised from it is considered of inferior quality.

The first flax-spinning machinery erected in Ireland was at Cork in 1805. About 1825, English and Scotch yarns were first imported into Ireland, and undersold the hand-spun article. The use of machinery gradually increased, and the linen manufacture soon became extinguished in the S. and W., and concentrated in the N. In 1821 the yarns were all made by hand. With one or two trifling exceptions, not a spinning factory was to be seen. In 1849 there were upwards of 70. In 1819, with the existence of bounties on the export of linens, and heavy duties on the admission of foreign flax and linen fabrics, only 40 millions of yarns were exported from Ireland. In 1849 these exports had increased to 75 millions.

In the Hand-Loom Commissioners' Report in 1840, Mr Cesar Otway, describing Banbridge, records the salvation of the linen trade by the introduction of machinery:—"The numerous falls, and the extensive water-power afforded by the river Ban and its tributaries, the undulatory formation of the surface of the country, so well adapted for bleach-greens, the central position of the district, as regarded the great linen-weaving counties, and its contiguity to Belfast, attracted, at an early period, attention as a favourable location for the investment of capital in the linen trade. Between Banbridge and Guildford some of the first manufacturers who invested large capital in the linen trade established themselves, and here the great experiment of placing the linen trade of Ireland on a new foundation was tried: the great subdivision of the capital invested in the linen trade, the want of a proper division of labour being applied to it, and a direct market for the disposal of the produce year after year, rendered it more apparent that it could not be longer continued on its former system. All the attempts on the part of the legislature to protect the trade, and of the Linen Board to encourage it, had only aggravated the evils they intended to remedy. On the repeal of the protective duties, and the introduction of mill-spun yarn into England and Scotland, it became evident to the capitalists of the north of Ireland, either that the linen trade should be placed on a new foundation, and conducted on the improved principles that were being applied to its manufactures in the other portions of the United Kingdom, or that Ireland should lose its linen trade altogether. The question became set as to whether the employment of linen-weavers by extensive manufacturers, and confining them to the mere process of weaving, was or was not more advantageous than the old system, where the producer of the raw material, the weaver of the cloth, and the merchant who disposed of it, were the same individual; but whether it would be more profitable to alter the system or lose the trade. The result was, the linen manufacture was placed on a new foundation, and men of extensive capital and skill became engaged in it. The linen trade was not only thus preserved, but extended, and all the individuals engaged in its operations here have been bettered by the change."

The following tables show the value of the brown or unbleached linen sold in the several linen markets in Ireland during a period of four years, as furnished by the returns of the seal-masters and inspectors of the Linen Board to parliament in 1825. The sums stated in the former of these tables are the first cost paid to the manufacturer by the country purchaser; the value of most of the linen sold is afterwards considerably increased by the process of bleaching and other treatment.

| Years | Leinster | Ulster | Munster | Connacht | Total | |-------|----------|--------|---------|----------|-------| | 1822 | 285,354 | 2,066,122 | 68,870 | 117,664 | 2,538,010 | | 1823 | 336,698 | 2,127,529 | 82,202 | 130,914 | 2,677,343 | | 1824 | 207,638 | 1,968,180 | 55,195 | 140,856 | 2,411,869 | | 1825 | 192,888 | 2,109,309 | 110,420 | 168,690 | 2,580,707 | | Total | 1,022,578 | 8,271,140 | 356,687 | 557,524 | 10,207,929 |

(Since 1825 no returns have been kept.)

The number of yards of linen exported from Ireland was—

| To Great Britain | To Foreign parts | Total | |-----------------|-----------------|-------| | 1800...........| No separate returns | 35,676,908 | | 1801...........| 34,622,898 | 37,911,602 | | 1802...........| 33,018,884 | 37,160,884 | | 1803...........| 35,018,884 | 39,261,731 | | 1804...........| 50,000 | 50,000 | | 1805...........| 45,210,509 | 49,111,630 | | 1806...........| 52,500,926 | 53,114,515 | | 1807...........| | 60,916,592 |

The apparent amount of exports of linen from Ireland is now small, arising from the fact, that nearly all is sent by cross-channel steamers to the English and Scotch ports, whence it is transhipped to foreign countries. The entire export from Ireland to Great Britain and all foreign countries reaches about 106,000,000 yards; value, L4,400,000. The following table shows a comparison of the production and value of the yarns made, and amount of wages paid, in an interval of ten years:—

| Bundles of Yarn produced | Value | Wages Paid | |--------------------------|-------|-----------| | 1840....................| 5,000,000 | L1,200,000 | L208,000 | | 1850....................| 7,000,000 | 1,342,600 | 317,000 |

The cotton manufacture was introduced in 1777, and became Cotton. An object of attention to the Irish parliament, which endeavoured to secure a monopoly of the home market by high import duties and bounties. The first cotton mills were erected at Prosperous, in the county of Kildare, and in Belfast, about the year 1724. From that period till the Union, it throve, in consequence of the measures adopted to prevent foreign competition. At the Union it was arranged that the then existing duties should continue for eight years, after which they were Manufactures.

to be gradually lowered, by eight annual reductions, in such manner that, after the year 1816, they should stand at 10 per cent. ad valorem. The progress of the manufacture has been very slow compared with that of Great Britain. The alterations of the scale of duties materially affected the home demand, and the immense capital and great superiority of the British artist have contributed much to secure to his manufacture a preference in the foreign market.

In 1822 the quantity of cotton wool imported was 3,755,024 lbs., and of cotton yarn, 1,197,294 lbs.; leaving a total quantity of 4,952,316 lbs. of cotton yarn consumed, after allowing 10 per cent. for waste, &c., on the cotton imported.

The silk manufacture was introduced into Ireland in 1693, by French emigrants after the revolution of the Edict of Nantes. Its seat was the city of Dublin, where it was maintained by the aid of protecting duties. Some feeble attempts to fix it in the country parts failed completely. The last of these was so lately as 1825, when a company was formed for the purpose of fixing the trade on a secure basis in the south of Ireland, by rearing the silk-worm there, and thus having the benefit of the raw material for the labour of producing it; but after considerable expense had been incurred for the purchase of ground and the planting of mulberry trees, the scheme was relinquished as hopeless. One branch of the manufacture, a fabric of mixed worsted and silk, known by the name of tabbinet or Irish poplin, is in considerable demand, both at home and elsewhere, for the richness and beauty of the texture. It is almost the only branch now flourishing. The general trade has been nearly annihilated by the removal of the protecting duties in 1821, after which, in consequence of the combination of the workmen to keep up the rate of wages, the Irish manufacturer became unable to compete successfully with the English trade.

The manufacture of lace is carried on to some extent in Limerick, and of late years a great source of employment for females has been introduced in the working of patterns on muslin with the needle.

Manufactures in metal exist only to a small extent; and the making of glass, which was once carried on largely, has declined.

Provisions.

The provision trade, together with the exportation of the agricultural produce of the country, has always been, and will probably long remain, the principal commercial business carried on in Ireland. This export trade is mainly with Great Britain to Liverpool, Bristol, and Glasgow, from Belfast, Dundalk, Drogheda, Newry, Waterford, Limerick, and more particularly from Cork and Dublin. In 1825, 181,276 barrels of beef and pork, 362,275 cwt. of bacon and hams, 474,161 cwt. of butter, and 35,279 cwt. of lard, were exported. Since that period the provision trade has vastly increased, but in consequence of the cessation of the duties on the cross-channel trade, there are no means of accurately ascertaining the present extent of the trade.

The art of distillation, and the use of spirituous liquors, was introduced into Ireland at an early period. Camden, who derived his knowledge of the country from preceding writers, states that "the excessive moisture of the air and soil occasions many to be troubled with fluxes and catarrhs, particularly strangers, to stop which they have excellent aquasbath, much less heating and more drying than ours." It was not, however, subjected to fiscal regulations until the reign of Charles II., when, in 1661, an excise duty of 4d. per gallon was charged, and continued at that rate till 1715, when an additional duty of 3d. was imposed; and two years after a further duty of 1d. This duty in 1719 produced a revenue of £1,5785. In 1735 the duty was fixed at 1s. 2d., and so continued for some years. Its produce at that rate in 1791 was £204,648. After a variety of changes, by which it was progressively raised, it stood in 1814 at 5s. 6d.; and shortly afterwards an attempt was made to maintain a duty of 6s., but the experiment was found to be unsuccessful, and it was lowered to the former rate after two years' trial. Severe restrictions were imposed, and a complicated and harassing system of checks established, upon every part of the process, to prevent the possibility of yielding to the temptations to defraud the revenue occasioned by the large rate of duty. The consequence was, that the whole spirit trade was thrown into the hands of a few capitalists, who, by their mutual understanding, were enabled to check and control the officers of the revenue in their attempts to stop the issue from the distilleries of spirits which had not paid duty; whilst in the country parts, and particularly in the mountainous districts in the north and west, illicit distillation was carried to an enormous extent. In 1811, when the duty was 2s. 6d. per gallon, 6,500,000 gallons were paid for; in 1822, when it was raised to 5s. 6d., only 2,950,000 gallons were brought to charge, whilst at this latter period the commissioners of excise estimated the total consumption at not less than 10,000,000 gallons, of which therefore upwards of 7,000,000 paid no duty. The profits on the manufacture were such as to induce the people engaged in illicit distillation to run all risks, and to set at defiance every effort of the constituted authorities to put down the practice, and consequently the duty was reduced in 1822 from 5s. 6d. to 2s. the wine gallon, or 2s. 4d. the imperial gallon. The results are best exhibited by the following table, showing the quantity of spirits that paid duty each year, the rate of duty, and the net amount of revenue collected:

| Years | Gallons Imperial Measure | Rate per Gallon | Net Amount of Revenue | |-------|--------------------------|-----------------|----------------------| | 1821 | 3,311,462 | 5s. 6d. per Irish gallon | L.912,288 | | 1822 | 2,910,483 | Ditto | 797,518 | | 1823 | 3,590,376 | Ditto | 634,460 | | 1824 | 2,826,744 | 2s. per English gallon | 771,690 | | 1825 | 6,834,865 | Ditto | 1,084,191 | | 1826 | 8,269,664 | 2s. 10d. per imperial gallon | 964,509 | | 1827 | 9,937,903 | Ditto | 1,122,096 | | 1828 | 9,212,223 | Ditto | 1,395,721 | | 1829 | 9,004,539 | 2s. 10d., 3s., and 2s. 4d. | 1,305,054 | | 1830 | 8,710,672 | per do. | 1,409,128 | | 1831 | 8,657,756 | 3s. 4d. | 1,451,580 | | 1832 | 8,168,596 | Ditto | 1,342,845 | | 1833 | 9,793,808 | Ditto | 1,390,769 | | 1834 | 9,793,808 | 3s. 4d. and 2s. 4d. | 1,404,581 |

The following table shows the number of gallons of Irish spirits brought to charge since 1840, and the amount of duty:

| Years | Gallons | Duty | |-------|---------|------| | 1840 | 10,815,709 | L.1,261,832 14 4 | | 1841 | 7,482,443 | 936,125 3 8 | | 1842 | 5,290,550 | 861,425 14 8 | | 1843 | 5,546,883 | 852,119 11 4 | | 1844 | 6,451,137 | 860,151 12 0 | | 1845 | 7,045,616 | 1,014,925 2 8 | | 1846 | 5,727,687 | 804,264 8 0 | | 1847 | 8,195,507 | 943,057 14 8 | | 1848 | 6,973,333 | 929,777 14 8 | | 1849 | 7,550,088 | 987,974 19 0 | | 1850 | 7,550,088 | 1,000,000 14 8 | | 1851 | 8,298,256 | 1,094,434 2 8 | | 1852 | 8,136,262 | 1,273,151 19 8 |

The principle of extracting the largest possible amount of revenue from the duty on spirits having been adopted, the rate was raised in 1835 to 6s. 2d. per gallon, when the number of gallons brought to charge declined to 6,228,856, and the maximum rate of duty productive to the revenue appears to have been attained, if not exceeded.

There are breweries in most of the large towns in Ireland, the produce of which has superseded the use of beer imported from Great Britain, and also furnishes quantity sufficient for a large export trade, which has of late years much increased.

The external trade of Ireland branches out into two great divisions, the cross-channel trade with Great Britain, and the sal trade commerce with foreign nations. The relative importance of each port, as respects its commercial character, will appear from the first and second tables following, which contain a specification of the number and tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared out coastways, from and to the British colonies and foreign countries in 1838, in each of the ports of Ireland; while the progress of domestic navigation will appear from the third and fourth tables, containing a summary, in triennial periods, of the tonnage of ships belonging to and registered at the different ports in Ireland, and of the number and tonnage of those employed in the cross-channel trade. ### Number and Tonnage of Sailing Vessels and Steam Vessels that Entered and Cleared Out Coastways at each of the Ports in Ireland in the Year 1853.

| Ports | Inwards | Outwards | Inwards | Outwards | |-------------|---------|----------|---------|----------| | | Vessels | Tonnage | Vessels | Tonnage | | Belfast | 5,163 | 470,065 | 1,150 | 198,561 | | Cork | 2,080 | 170,291 | 1,513 | 94,769 | | Drogheda | 359 | 42,462 | 265 | 19,757 | | Dublin | 5,110 | 396,392 | 2,510 | 129,757 | | Londonderry | 588 | 39,000 | 256 | 15,320 | | Newry | 697 | 42,937 | 198 | 11,791 | | Waterford | 905 | 72,391 | 736 | 50,955 | | Other Ports | 2,999 | 183,877 | 1,912 | 127,255 | | **Total** | **18,101** | **1,417,465** | **8,570** | **648,195** |

| | Vessels | Tonnage | Vessels | Tonnage | |-------------|---------|----------|---------|----------| | Belfast | 1,477 | 419,511 | 1,509 | 412,604 | | Cork | 208 | 80,240 | 256 | 94,142 | | Drogheda | 1,436 | 440,446 | 1,608 | 493,132 | | Dublin | 468 | 148,815 | 464 | 146,693 | | Londonderry | 145 | 40,686 | 135 | 38,266 | | Newry | 169 | 49,397 | 177 | 50,400 | | Waterford | 690 | 201,396 | 396 | 122,844 | | Other Ports | 4,860 | 1,484,827| 4,692 | 1,459,410|

### Number and Tonnage of Vessels that Entered and Cleared out from and to the Colonies and Foreign Ports at each of the Ports of Ireland (including their repeated voyages), distinguishing British and Irish from Foreign Vessels, in the year 1853.

| Ports | From and to British Colonies | From and to Foreign Places | |-------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------| | | Inwards | Outwards | Inwards | Outwards | | | British & Irish | Foreign | British & Irish | Foreign | | Belfast | 57 | 17,968 | 26 | 7,291 | 31 | 10,472 | 12 | 3,943 | | Cork | 52 | 14,952 | 5 | 1,342 | 54 | 15,601 | 16 | 3,356 | | Dublin | 61 | 20,545 | 22 | 7,244 | 25 | 9,184 | 13 | 3,905 | | Limerick | 39 | 11,206 | 9 | 3,888 | 38 | 11,206 | 9 | 3,888 | | Waterford | 22 | 6,029 | 9 | 2,857 | 43 | 13,923 | 11 | 2,615 | | Other ports | 78 | 70,700 | | | | | | | | **Total** | **309** | **90,336**| **60** | **19,344**| **220** | **69,933**| **69** | **17,477**|

### Account of the Tonnage belonging to, and Registered at the Irish Ports at different Triennial Periods, with the Increase between the first and last Periods.

| Name of Port | Year 1841-1844 | Year 1845-1848 | Year 1849-1852 | Year 1853-1856 | Increase between first period, 1841-1844, and last period, 1853-1856 | |--------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ballina | | | | | | | Belfast | 149,809 | 154,402 | 202,011 | 226,414 | 213,252 | | Coleraine | | | | | | | Cork | 101,949 | 115,658 | 145,127 | 149,465 | 136,041 | | Drogheda | 14,357 | 14,622 | 19,287 | 20,524 | 17,528 | | Dublin | 94,742 | 105,101 | 126,288 | 123,182 | 89,697 | | Dundalk | | | | | | | Galway | | | | | | | Limerick | 42,247 | 42,837 | 43,155 | 39,646 | 36,256 | | Londonderry | 26,155 | 23,507 | 27,844 | 23,383 | 20,627 | | Newry | 32,720 | 35,018 | 35,714 | 30,743 | 18,251 | | Ross | | | | | | | Skibbereen | | | | | | | Sligo | 13,030 | 9,353 | 14,296 | 13,112 | 12,765 | | Strangford | | | | | | | Tralee | | | | | | | Waterford | 60,346 | 66,547 | 81,926 | 69,297 | 60,308 | | Westport | | | | | | | Wexford | 26,698 | 24,583 | 25,318 | 27,059 | 20,205 | | Other ports | 8,291 | 40,283 | 11,230 | | | | **Total** | **559,294** | **631,981** | **781,943** | **791,525** | **627,571** |

These tables exhibit the great preponderance of the cross-channel trade, which has been greatly augmented since the introduction of steam navigation.

The earliest attempt at establishing a company for this purpose was made in Dublin about the year 1816. Two small vessels were fitted out; but the construction of their machinery was faulty, their dimensions were too small, and the effort proved abortive. The cross-channel trade, with the exception of that in coal, is almost wholly carried on by means of steam vessels, but since 1825, when the trade between Great Britain and Ireland was placed upon the footing of a coasting trade, no separate returns have been made out at the custom-house of the quantity or value of the exports and imports.

The coasts of Ireland abound with fish; and Sir William Faber's Temple observed, "that the fishery of Ireland, if improved, would prove a mine under water, as rich as any under ground." Arthur Young also remarks, "that there is scarcely a part of Ireland, but what is well situated for some fishery of consequence; and that her coasts of innumerable creeks and river mouths, are the resort of vast shoals of herrings, cod, ling, hake, and mackerel, &c., which might, with proper attention, Statistics, be converted into funds of wealth." Yet the Irish fisheries have never prospered.

Bounties to encourage the fisheries first granted in 1764, and continued for several years, failed to place them on a productive footing. The experiment was repeated in 1819, when commissioners were appointed for applying in Ireland the system previously adopted for the Scotch fisheries, with powers to grant bounties to persons building fishing-boats of a certain tonnage, and for the curing of herring and some other kinds of fish. An annual sum of £5,000 was placed at their disposal, the application of which was afterwards limited to the building of piers and the repairing of boats; a large portion of the grant was also employed as a loan fund, to enable the poorer fishermen to procure the necessary gear on advantageous terms. The Irish Fishery Board was abolished in 1830, and the unapplied residue of the grants vested, in the first instance, in the Board of Inland Navigation, and subsequently in that of Public Works, to whom sums of £4,500, £3,500, £2,500, £1,500, and £1,000, were granted during the five ensuing years, to be applied to the completion of piers erected before 1830, and for defraying the expenses incurred in the collection of the outstanding loans of the former commission. In 1842, the Board of Public Works were appointed commissioners for the improvement and regulation of the fisheries, and the coast has been portioned out into 28 fishery districts.

The following table shows the number of vessels and hands engaged in the sea fisheries under different circumstances, viz.,

1. Under the system of bounties and loans; 2. After the withdrawal of bounties; 3. When carried on without any assistance either of bounty or loan; 4. Before the years of famine; 5. After the famine; and in the years 1851 and 1852:

| Year | Vessels and Boats | Men and Boys | |------|------------------|-------------| | 1831 | 15,119 | 60,771 | | 1832 | 10,751 | 54,119 | | 1833 | 17,305 | 84,708 | | 1834 | 19,295 | 93,678 | | 1835 | 13,932 | 79,911 | | 1836 | 14,750 | 64,632 | | 1837 | 15,277 | 58,822 |

Later returns have been found to be somewhat inaccurate in detail, but it is certain that the progressive decline in the number of vessels and men employed still continues.

The most ancient annals of Ireland record a twofold division of the country by two of the descendants of Milesius, who made divisions, an imaginary line, drawn from Dublin to Galway, the boundary of their respective shares; of these the northern was called Leath Conn, the southern Leath Mogha. In the time of Ptolemy the island was partitioned out by a number of tribes, whose position has been determined by Whitaker as follows:

| Name according to Whitaker | Ptolemy | Modern County | Boundary | |---------------------------|---------|---------------|----------| | North | | | | | Robogdii | Ποσογδιον | Londonderry, Antrim | Hornhead | Fairhead | | East | | | | | Darini | Δαρινος | Antrim, Down | Fairhead | Ardglas | | Volantii | Οβαλτιον | Down, Armagh, Louth | Ardglas | Boyne River | | Eblani | Εβλανος | Meath, Dublin | Boyne River | Leinster River | | Caecii | Καικειον | Dublin, Wicklow | Liffey River | Oboe or Ovoca | | Manapili | Μαναπιλον | Wicklow, Wexford | Between the Boyne and Barrow Rivers, the Eblani, and the Brigantes | | Coriundi | Κοριουνδον | Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow | Carnsore | Blackwater River | | South | | | | | Brigantes | Βριγαντες | Wexford, Waterford | Carnsore | Blackwater River | | Vodii | Ωδιον | Cork | Blackwater | Bann River | | Uterni | Ουτερνοι | Cork, Kerry | Bann | Iberus or Dingle Bay | | West | | | | | Luceni | Λουκενοι | Kerry | Dingle Bay | Senus or Shannon River | | Velibori | Βελιβοριον | Kerry, Limerick | Galway Bay | Litimus River | | Gangani | Γαγγανοι | Clare | Litimus | Rhenus or Ballyshannon River | | Auteri | Αυτεριον | Galway | Ballyshannon | Hornhead | | Nagnati | Ναγγανοι | Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Fermanagh | Bounded by the Shannon, Loughs Allen and Erne, west; Barrow, Boyne, and Lough Neagh, east; Suir and Blackwater south; and a chain of mountains north. | | Herdini | Ηρδινοι | Donegal | |

A subsequent division was that into the five petty kingdoms of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Connaught, and Meath, which latter consisted of the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Longford, and parts of Armagh and Louth. This division continued until after the English invasion; but, in the reign of King John, the portions of Ireland subject to his sway were formed into the twelve counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Uriel (now Louth), Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary. No further change took place until the reign of Philip and Mary, when the King's and Queen's Counties were formed. Elizabeth divided Connaught into the seven counties of Galway, Clare, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, and Longford; and Ulster, into the nine counties of which it consists at present. Wicklow was separated from Dublin and made a distinct county by James I. The practical division of the country was, however, for centuries into the English and Irish portions of the island, or Ireland within, and Ireland beyond the Pale. No alterations have taken place since the reign of James I., excepting the division of Cork and Tipperary into ridings.

The 32 counties of which Ireland consists, are divided into 316 baronies, comprising 2,332 parishes, and these again into townlands; or, as they are sometimes called, ploughlands, which is the name of the smallest of the territorial subdivisions. The number of these townlands is about 60,760, averaging 300 acres each. There are also eight counties of cities and towns, viz., Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Galway, Drogheda, and Carrickfergus. Independently of the above-named divisions, the whole country is divided into 163 Poor-Law Unions, which are subdivided into about 3440 electoral divisions. The names of all the smaller divisions of land and of most villages, towns, lakes, rivers, &c., are of Celtic origin; and the following explanation, taken from Dr. Beamont's Memoir of a Map of Ireland, of those words which most frequently occur in composition, will render the names of places more intelligible.

Agh, a field. Anagh, or Asea, a river. Ard, a high place or rising ground. Ath, a ford. Avris, a river. Bailey, or Ballin, a town, or inclosed place of habitation. Bam, or Bane, white or fair. Beag, little. Ben, the summit of a mountain, generally an abrupt head. Bem, a bottom, a foundation or root. Carr, or Caher, a city. Carrick, Carrig, Carrow, a rock, or stony place. Cork, Coragh, a marsh or swampy ground. Clare, a plain. Croagh, Crochán, a sharp-pointed hill resembling a rick. Cloch, Clochá, a great stone. Corragh, a marsh or fenny plain. Clew, a glade or level pasture ground. Col, Col, a corner. Derry, a clear dry spot in the midst of a woody swamp. Don, a height or fastness, a fortress. Donegal, a church. Drone, a high, narrow ridge of hills. Inch, Inis, an island. Kinn, a house. Kiln, a church or cemetery. Knock, a single hill or a hillock. Lick, a flat stone. Loch, a lake or a pool. Moy, a plain. Maine, a collection of hillocks. More, large or great. Rath, a mound or entrenchment, a barrow. Ross, a point of land projecting into water. Slieve, old. Sliabh, a range of mountains, a hill covered with heath. Tuck, a house. Temple, a church. Tum, Tum, a bush. Tran, strand. Tubber, Tubber, a well or spring. Tullogh, a gentle hill, a common. Tualla, a place subject to floods.

Government

The executive government is vested in the lord-lieutenant, who must be a peer, assisted by a privy council, indefinite in number, appointed by the crown, and by a chief secretary, a member of the House of Commons. Since 1801 there have been 18 viceroys, and 27 chief secretaries of Ireland. In the absence of the lord-lieutenant, his place is supplied by lords-justices, who are usually the primate or the Archbishop of Dublin, the lord chancellor, and the commander of the forces. Each county is in charge of a lieutenant, generally a peer, an indefinite number of deputy lieutenants and magistrates, who act gratuitously, and one or more resident paid magistrates, all appointed by the crown, during pleasure. The counties of cities and towns, and the boroughs, are governed by their own magistrates. The judicial establishment consists of the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, four judges in each of the courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer; an assistant barrister for each county, a bankrupt court with two judges, a commissioner of the Insolvents' Court, the judges of the Prerogative Court and of the Admiralty. Two of the judges hold assizes for criminal and civil pleas, in each county, in spring and summer every year. The country is divided into six circuits: Home—Meath, Westmeath, King's, Queen's, Carlow, Kildare; North-East—Louth with Drogheda, Down, Antrim with Carrickfergus, Armagh, Monaghan; North-West—Longford, Cavan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Donegal, Londonderry county and city; Leinster—Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford county and city, Kilkenny county and city, Tipperary E. and W. Ridings; Munster—Clare, Limerick county and city, Kerry, Cork county and city; Connaught—Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Galway county and town. The details of the execution of the laws are committed to the constabulary in the counties, and the police in Dublin.

The country is now represented in the imperial parliament by 4 spiritual peers in rotation, 28 temporal peers elected for life, and 105 commoners; of which latter census 64 represent the 32 counties, 2 the university, 12 the cities and towns of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Galway, and 27 the boroughs. The number of electors under the Reform Act was, in 1832, 98,807; on 1st January, 1830, the constituency had diminished to 61,036—27,180 in the counties and 33,856 in the cities and boroughs. The Act 13th & 14th Vict., cap. 63, was passed in 1830 to amend the representation; and in addition to those persons previously qualified to register and vote in county elections, occupiers of any tenements rated in the last poor rate at a nett annual value of L.12 and upwards, are entitled to vote in elections for counties, subject to registration in accordance with the act and to certain limitations therein; also owners of certain estates of the rated nett annual value of L.100 in boroughs occupiers rated in the last poor-rate at L.5 and upwards are entitled to vote, subject to registration and certain limitations in the act. The number of electors registered on the 1st January 1831 was 163,546, being 135,245 in the counties, and 28,301 in the cities and boroughs. Of the 300 members who composed the Irish House of Commons in 1793 no less than 200 were stated by Mr Grattan to be the nominees of private individuals; and from 40 to 50 members were returned, it is said, by constituencies of not more than 10 electors. Eighty-three of these nomination boroughs were afterwards abolished, the proprietor of each receiving L.15,000 compensation, for which purpose the sum of L.1,240,000 was voted by the Irish parliament. The Act of Union reduced the number of representatives in the House of Commons to 100, and the Reform Act of 1832 added five to that number.

By the Municipal Reform Act, 3d & 4th Vict., cap. 118, 11 of the principal towns, each containing upwards of 12,000 inhabitants, are divided into wards, and are governed by a council consisting of a chief magistrate called mayor, sovereign, provost, or portreeve—that of Dublin styled lord mayor—and a certain number of aldermen and councillors for each ward; all of whom are elected by the inhabitants entitled to vote in right of their property. The total number of existing corporations is 95, possessing an income of about L.62,000 per annum. Independently of the towns with corporations, the Act of 9th Geo. IV., cap. 82, enabled every city and town to elect commissioners to superintend the lighting, paving, and cleansing of their respective districts, but the Towns Improvement Act of 1854 supersedes the Act of 9th Geo. IV. in each town after the election of commissioners under the new act.

The Irish Militia consists of 12 regiments of artillery, and 35 Militia regiments of infantry, numbering, when embodied, 31,349 men.

The first regular police force established throughout Ireland Police was originated by the Act 54th Geo. III., cap. 131, passed in 1814—"To provide for the better execution of the laws in Ireland by appointing superintending magistrates and additional constables in counties, in certain cases." Other acts followed, but all were consolidated or repealed by the 6th Will. IV., cap. 13, passed in 1836. Originally the expense was defrayed partly by grand jury presentations, and partly out of the Consolidated Fund; but the Act 9th & 10th Vict., cap. 97, passed in 1846, provides that the whole expense shall be borne by the Consolidated Fund, except a moiety of the cost of additional constabulary force applied for by the magistrates of any county or district, or of the reserve force when employed therein, or of an increased force stationed there by the lord-lieutenant. The Act 6th Will. IV., cap. 13, likewise authorized the lord-lieutenant to appoint resident stipendiary magistrates, to act in disturbed districts, or where for any other sufficient cause it should appear to be expedient. The constabulary force consists of an inspector-general, 2 deputy inspectors-general, 2 assistant inspectors-general, a receiver, surgeon, veterinary surgeon, 35 county inspectors, 248 sub-inspectors, 335 head-constables; 2049 constables, and 9491 sub-constables; total, 12,166, with 360 horses, whose maintenance in 1854 amounted to L.596,750, including the expense of 71 stipendiary magistrates. The proportion of the expense of the force charged on the Consolidated Fund in 1854 was L.572,511. The Revenue Police organized for the suppression of illicit distillation, consists of about 1200 officers and men, maintained at an expense in 1855 of L62,720.

Before the arrival of the English, the revenues of Ireland were paid in cattle; and even after that period the custom prevailed for several centuries in the parts less subject to foreign influence. Traces of it have been met with so late as the reign of Elizabeth. The new government, under the English, introduced the method of raising money by subsidies. John exacted a subsidy from the Irish clergy, and established the court of exchequer for the general management of the revenue. The same method was continued during the reigns of Henry III. and the first Edwards; but the income thus extracted from the people proved so inadequate to meet the expenditure that recourse was had to the legalized extortion of cygnye and livery, which was the levying of man's meat and horse's meat for the soldiery in time of service. The amount of the regular revenue, in the reign of Edward III., is stated by Walsingham and Holingshed to have been L30,000; but Sir John Davis, who collected his information from the pipe-rolls, and other authentic sources, reduces it to L10,000. The most remarkable financial measure of Richard II. was a tax upon absentees. In 1433, the eleventh of Henry VI., the revenue was reduced to L2339, 18s. 6d., whilst the expenses of the government were L2348, 16s. 6½d., thus exceeding the income by L18, 17s. 5½d. At the latter end of the same reign, the Duke of York, when sent over as lord-lieutenant with extraordinary powers, not only obtained the whole revenue, but stipulated for an additional supply from England of 4000 marks for the first year, and L2000 for every year thereafter. Edward IV. raised money by the imposition of duties on all merchandize in Ireland except hides. In the fifteenth year of Henry VII. a duty of one shilling in the pound was laid on all merchandize imported and exported, except wine and oil; and a tax, by way of subsidy, of 13s. 4d. on every hide of land. During this reign the revenue seldom exceeded L5000. Henry VIII. increased the revenue by the suppression of monasteries. The laws against absentees were also enforced. During the first fifteen years of Elizabeth, the revenue was L120,000, or L5000 per annum, whilst the expenses amounted to L490,778, 7s. 6½d. In 1599, at the close of Tyrone's rebellion, L600,000 were spent in six months; and Sir Robert Cecil affirmed that Ireland had cost the queen L3,400,000 in ten years' time. In the pacific reign of James the customs increased from L50 to L3000, and at the close of his reign to L9700. The wardships and other feudal rights produced about L10,000, notwithstanding which the income was inadequate to the expenditure. To defray the expense of the army, an order of baronets was established, by which L98,500 were raised, in addition to which L17,435 were remitted from England to clear off the debts incurred by Elizabeth. The Irish parliament granted the same king a subsidy of 2s. 8d. in the pound on every personal estate of three pounds annual value, and fourpence in the pound on every real estate of one pound value; an act of liberality with which James was so much pleased, that he declared "he would hereafter hold his Irish subjects in equal favour with those of his other kingdoms." In the succeeding reign Strafford raised the customs to four times their previous amount. In the same reign the first mention is made of an excise tax. Thurloe, however, in his state papers, mentions that the revenue for two years ending in 1657 amounted to L137,558, whilst the expenditure was L142,509. When the Irish parliament met after the Restoration, it granted, first, an hereditary revenue to the king, his heirs and successors; second, an excise for maintaining the army; third, the subsidy of tonnage and poundage for the navy; and, fourth, a tax of two shillings each on hearths, in lieu of the feudal burdens, which were then abolished. After the Revolution, the information respecting this important element of national statistics becomes more precise and satisfactory. The revenue, from the landing of Schomberg in 1659 till the end of the reign of William, was as follows, the total of the previous military expenditure of the war with James having amounted to L3,551,653:

| Year | Revenue | |------|---------| | 1689 | L8,834 | | 1690 | 93,910 | | 1691 | 274,949 | | 1692 | 393,926 | | 1693 | 444,183 | | 1694 | 430,534 | | 1695 | 438,394 |

| Year | Revenue | |------|---------| | 1696 | L519,534 | | 1697 | 545,967 | | 1698 | 601,846 | | 1699 | 701,932 | | 1700 | 756,620 | | 1701 | 697,955 | | 1702 | 581,286 | During the earlier part of Anne's reign the income exceeded half a million, but in her latter days it was less productive. In the reign of George I., the state of the revenue continued nearly as in the preceding reign. In that of George II., there was a surplus, which was applied, not always judiciously, to public works.

The national debt of Ireland, incurred by an excess of expenditure beyond the income of the country, increased with great rapidity towards the close of the last century and till the year 1817, when it ceased to form a separate item in the public accounts, in consequence of the consolidation of the British and Irish exchequers. Its progressive increase since the Revolution is exhibited in the following table:

### Gross Revenue levied in Ireland, in each year from 1840 to 1853.

| Years | Revenue | Charge | |-------|---------|--------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

An Account of the Nett Produce of the Revenue of Ireland, paid into the Exchequer there, in each year, from 1840 to 1854, distinguished under the different heads of Revenue.

| Years | Customs | Excise | Stamps | Property and Income Tax | Post Office | Miscellaneous | Imperial and other Moneys | Repayment of Advances for Public Works | Total | |-------|---------|--------|--------|------------------------|-------------|---------------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------|-------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

The circulating medium in Ireland was, until lately, subject to a great variety of alterations. Without entering into the disputed question of the existence of a mint in Ireland established by the Ostmen or Danes, the first certain account of a mint there is that established in 1210, by King John, who caused pennies, halfpennies, and farthings to be coined and made current by proclamation. Further coining were made by Henry III. and by Edward I., who added the title of Dominus Hibernie to that of Rex Anglie on his Irish coins. It consisted of groats, halfpence, and farthings. The first important alteration as to value was in the latter part of the reign of Edward III., who caused the ounce of silver to be cut into twenty-six deniers or pennies, instead of twenty-two as before, which caused the depreciation of eight and one-third per cent. in the Irish, as compared with the British currency, which existed until the final assimilation of the two currencies in 1825. Henry VI., or rather the Duke of York, his lieutenant in Ireland, had mints in Dublin and Trim, in which... Statistics. Both silver and copper money were coined. In the beginning of the subsequent reign of Edward IV., the value of silver coins was raised to double their previous amount. The consequence was an enormous increase in price of all the necessaries of life; to remedy which the Irish parliament enacted, that the master of the mint should strike, in the castles of Dublin and Trim, and in the town of Drogheda, five kinds of silver coins: the gross (or groat), the demi-gross, the denier (or penny), the demi-denier, and quadrant (or farthing); eleven pounds to weigh an ounce troy, and each, unclipped, to pass for fourpence. A few years afterwards, the price of silver was again raised so excessively, that the difference between the Irish and English groat was fifty per cent. in a pound of bullion. In the reign of Henry VII., the difference between the two coinages was one-third. Soon after the accession of Henry VIII., the coin in Ireland was so clipped, defaced, and scarce, that the Earl of Surrey, then lord-lieutenant, sued for his recall, in consequence of the want of money to carry on the war against the Irish. Elizabeth ordered the ounce of silver to be cut into sixty pennies, so that the coin of that name was reduced in weight from the twentieth to the sixtieth part of an ounce. The total value of the money coined in Ireland by that princess is said to have been L94,577,19s.6d. English, which, at the rate of sixteen-pence Irish for a shilling English, amounts to L118,222,9s.4½d. Irish. The Irish shilling, or harp as it was called, from the impression on its reverse, was worth ninepence English. By a proclamation issued in the fifth year of James I., the same proportion of values was continued. In 1613 English money was current in Ireland at an increased value; the English five-shilling crown-piece passing for six shillings and eightpence, and the other coins in proportion. The exchange between Dublin and London was twenty-one shillings Irish for fifteen English, with sixpence or eighteenpence per pound extra, payable in London. By a proclamation in 1637, the name of Irish money was ordered to be abolished, and all payments were reduced to English sterling money. About 1672, small change was so scarce in Ireland, that towns and private dealers were obliged to issue copper tokens. James II., on his arrival in Dublin in 1688, issued a proclamation, by which the English guinea was to pass current at L1.4s., the crown-piece at 5s. 5½d., and all lesser coins in the same proportion. In 1690, he depreciated still further the value of the coin, by the issue of pieces of base metal, which were to pass at a nominal value far above their intrinsic worth; so that the coins passed at the nominal value of L96,675 according to some, but according to others of L1,596,793, or really worth no more than L649,5 estimating the total at fourpence per pound. On the accession of William, this coinage was cried down. In 1725, the new gold coin of Portugal was made current in Ireland, the largest coin, or Portugal piece, being rated at L4. About the same time, in consequence of the scarcity of small change, Wood obtained his patent for the issue of a copper currency, which was prevented by the literary exertions of Dean Swift in his elaborated publications called the Dropper's Letters. In 1780, the acts of parliament prohibiting the carrying of gold or silver into Ireland were repealed. At that time the value of the precious metals in circulation as specie, or hoarded, was estimated at L3,000,000 Irish. No further legislative change took place until the assimilation of the Irish and English currency in 1826, previously to which, however, the want of a metallic circulation was so severely felt, particularly during some periods of the French war, that private bankers and traders issued notes or tickets for small sums, from five shillings down to twopenny-halfpenny; and also copper tokens. The evils of this combined pressure of the scarcity of legal and the abundance of counterfeit coin, was ultimately remedied by the issue of stamped dollars estimated at six shillings, and by silver tokens of twopence and fivepence by the Bank of Ireland, which circulated freely until they were replaced by the issue of a pure standard coinage of silver from the royal mint.

The entire banking business of Ireland, until 1783, was in the hands of private individuals, who often issued notes to an amount not only far beyond their respective capitals, but exceeding in a great degree, what the wants of the country required, or its credit could support. To remedy the evil effects of a system so perilous, a national bank was established in that year, with similar privileges to those of the Bank of England in respect to the restriction of more than six partners in a private bank. The injury that Ireland has sustained from the repeated failure of banks may be mainly attributed to this injudicious regulation. The loss that the country has suffered by the failure of banks may be described in a few words: In 1804, there were fifty registered banks. Since that year, many more were opened; but all have failed or wound up their accounts, with the exception of three in Dublin. In 1821, in consequence of the failure of eleven banks nearly at the same time in the south of Ireland, government made an arrangement with the Bank of Ireland, by which joint-stock companies were allowed to be established at the distance of 50 Irish miles from Dublin, in return for which concession that company, which was originally established with a capital of L6,000,000, and increased at various times, was permitted to increase its capital L500,000, making its entire capital amount to L3,000,000, of which L2,630,769 was lent to the government. In consequence of several restrictions remaining unrepealed, no joint-stock company was formed until 1825, when the Northern Banking Company of Belfast, formed on a private bank, began to act on the new system. In the same year the Provincial Bank of Ireland began business with a capital of L2,000,000; the Hibernian Bank with a capital of L1,000,000, and the Bank of Ireland established branch-banks in several of the larger towns. The Belfast Banking Company was formed in 1827, and the National Bank in 1833. In 1836 the Royal Bank of Ireland was formed, and in 1837 Ulster Banking Company commenced business. The last joint-stock banking company formed in Ireland was the unfortunate Tipperary Bank, which did not issue notes.

On the expiry of the Bank of Ireland's charter in 1838, it was continued by act of parliament from year to year until 1845, since which time it has been regulated by the new Banking Act, 5th & 6th Vict., c. 37, according to the following principles:—The bank to continue the banker of Government, which is to pay for the ten subsequent years 3½ per cent. on the debt it owes to the bank. The proceedings of the establishment to be under the same rule which has been applied by parliament to other banking institutions, and to make weekly returns, similar to those of the Bank of England under the new act, containing a full development of its affairs, the amount of its bullion, and the variations in the quantity. The joint-stock banks now doing business are as follow:

| Name | When Instituted | No. of Branches | Capital | Capital paid up | Paid up per share | Reserved Fund | Fixed Issue | |------|----------------|----------------|---------|----------------|------------------|---------------|-------------| | Bank of Ireland | 1783 | 23 | L3,000,000 | L3,000,000 | L100 | L1,144,000 | L3,738,428 | | Hibernian Joint-Stock Co., Dublin | 1824 | 2 | 1,000,000 | 250,000 | 25 | 65,000 | ... | | Provincial Bank of Ireland | 1825 | 38 | 2,000,000 | 540,000 | 25 | 162,216 | 927,667 | | Northern Banking Co., Belfast | 1825 | 11 | 500,000 | 150,000 | 30 | 55,778 | 243,440 | | Belfast Banking Company | 1827 | 22 | 500,000 | 125,000 | 25 | ... | 281,611 | | National Bank | 1835 | 45 | 1,000,000 | 450,000 | 22½ | 40,826 | 761,767 | | Ulster Banking Company, Belfast | 1836 | 18 | 1,000,000 | 187,000 | 2½ | ... | 311,079 | | Clonmel National Bank | 1836 | 2 | 80,000 | 16,235 | 2½ | ... | 66,428 | | Carrick-on-Suir National Bank | 1836 | ... | 40,000 | 4,962 | 2½ | ... | 24,084 | | Royal Bank, Dublin | 1835 | 1,044,250 | 209,175 | 10 | 60,000 | ... | ... | The Annual Average of the Returns of the several Banks of Issue in Ireland under the Provisions of the Act 8th and 9th Vict., cap. 37, for the years 1846 to 1854.

| Years | Certified issue of all the Banks | Notes of L5 and upwards | Notes under L5 | Total issue of all the Banks | Gold held | Silver held | Total specie held by all the Banks | |-------|---------------------------------|------------------------|---------------|-------------------------------|-----------|------------|----------------------------------| | 1846 | L6,354,494 | L3,121,259 | L4,144,461 | L7,265,721 | L2,106,004| L334,258 | 2,440,266 | | 1847 | 6,354,494 | 2,844,049 | 2,985,375 | 5,890,425 | 1,203,517 | 491,953 | 1,750,475 | | 1848 | 6,354,494 | 2,439,121 | 2,829,368 | 4,823,992 | 1,083,919 | 502,975 | 1,586,898 | | 1849 | 6,354,494 | 2,204,474 | 2,105,805 | 4,310,283 | 1,061,476 | 528,783 | 1,541,249 | | 1850 | 6,354,494 | 2,187,117 | 2,115,381 | 4,302,443 | 1,017,039 | 375,922 | 1,356,959 | | 1851 | 6,354,494 | 2,162,470 | 2,162,470 | 4,324,940 | 967,466 | 318,574 | 1,255,025 | | 1852 | 6,354,494 | 2,155,503 | 2,602,935 | 4,818,238 | 994,548 | 249,028 | 1,243,576 | | 1853 | 6,354,494 | 2,517,570 | 3,132,883 | 5,650,455 | 1,393,967 | 182,729 | 1,576,600 | | 1854 | 6,354,494 | 2,872,007 | 3,423,597 | 6,295,607 | 1,745,329 | 213,711 | 1,959,043 |

Savings-banks were introduced into Ireland in 1810. The greatest amount deposited was in 1845, previous to the years of distress consequent on the famine; and the fluctuations which have since taken place appear in the annexed table:

| Years | Depositors | Amount | Years | Depositors | Amount | |-------|-----------|--------|-------|-----------|--------| | 1845 | 96,422 | L9,291,581 | 1850 | 47,987 | L1,204,738 | | 1846 | 93,853 | 2,855,827 | 1851 | 49,554 | 1,367,617 | | 1847 | 89,331 | 2,410,720 | 1852 | 52,412 | 1,447,315 | | 1848 | 49,516 | 1,234,284 | 1853 | 55,630 | 1,580,010 | | 1849 | 45,948 | 1,200,273 | | | |

The amount of subscriptions raised in England for the relief of sufferers by the famine of 1822 having exceeded the expenditure, the surplus was intrusted to a committee in London, and was retained under the name of the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund, as a permanent fund for organizing loan societies, ultimately originated the present loan fund system, under which small sums are advanced to industrious individuals of the working classes, to be repaid by instalments, with interest, and which was placed under the control of a commission in 1836, by the Act 6th and 7th Will. IV., c. 55. The rate of discount on loans, made chargeable by it at 6d. in the pound, has been reduced to 4d. in the pound by the Act of 6th and 7th Vict., c. 91, which placed the general control over all charitable loan societies and charitable pawn or deposit offices under the superintendence of the "Loan Fund Board." The number of funds, with their capital and circulation since the commencement of the system, has been—

| Years | No. of Funds | Capital | Circulation | |-------|-------------|---------|-------------| | 1838 | 50 | L180,500| | | 1839 | 212 | 815,473 | | | 1840 | 215 | 1,164,640| | | 1841 | 288 | 1,370,597| | | 1842 | 300 | 1,621,929| | | 1843 | 298 | 403,343 | 1,650,983 | | 1844 | 309 | 410,474 | 1,660,457 | | 1845 | 255 | 444,427 | 1,857,457 | | 1846 | 250 | 408,842 | 1,770,267 | | 1847 | 228 | 270,013 | 863,647 | | 1848 | 177 | 217,119 | 717,505 | | 1849 | 160 | 189,357 | 669,934 | | 1850 | 132 | 132,501 | 629,734 | | 1851 | 123 | 186,240 | 712,073 | | 1852 | 113 | 186,271 | 739,056 | | 1853 | 112 | 212,338 | 842,503 | | 1854 | 115 | 214,735 | 870,024 |

Pawn offices, on the plan and under the name of the French Monte de Pité, were opened in several towns of Ireland in 1841, with the object of advancing money on pledges at rates more moderate than those of the licensed pawnbrokers; but all have since been discontinued.

By means of navigable rivers and canals, Ireland possesses extensive inland navigation. For the details of the various canals, see Navigation, Inland.

The railway from Dublin to Kingstown, which was opened at the latter end of 1834, was the first, and for several years the only railway in Ireland.

The progress and condition of the railway system may be seen in the following tables, compiled from the board of Trade Returns:

Traffic and Receipts of the Railways in Ireland from 1836 to 1854, inclusive.

| Years ending 30th June | Miles open on the last January in each year | No. of Passengers | From Passengers | From Goods | Total | |-----------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------|----------------|------------|-------| | 1836 (1st year) | 6 | 1,237,800 | | | | | 1837 | 6 | 1,184,428 | 31,901 | 44 | 31,945 | | 1838 | 6 | 1,243,972 | 33,318 | 270 | 33,588 | | 1839 | 6 | 1,341,208 | 34,409 | 307 | 34,716 | | 1840 | 131 | 1,338,761 | 36,176 | 414 | 36,590 | | 1841 | 131 | 1,629,024 | 41,062 | 466 | 41,468 | | 1842 | 131 | 2,074,444 | 50,548 | 2,024 | 50,772 | | 1843 | 311 | 2,688,696 | 62,608 | 8,886 | 71,494 | | 1844 | 65 | 3,481,707 | 104,702 | 14,636 | 119,338 | | 1845 | 65 | 3,610,506 | 105,409 | 18,274 | 123,743 | | 1846 | 120 | 3,866,294 | 149,581 | 33,000 | 184,581 | | 1847 | 201 | 4,374,749 | 211,693 | 60,215 | 271,908 | | 1848 | 428 | 6,059,947 | 290,604 | 127,462 | 418,066 | | 1849 | 515 | 5,495,793 | 339,076 | 174,359 | 514,035 | | 1850 | 580 | 5,633,603 | 365,603 | 195,459 | 564,062 | | 1851 | 656 | 6,166,127 | 435,910 | 243,609 | 679,519 | | 1852 | 771 | 7,074,475 | 357,379 | 294,310 | 851,689 | | 1853 | 855 | 6,911,170 | 521,671 | 352,806 | 874,477 |

The internal traffic of the country is carried on chiefly by wheel-carriage roads. Their condition, both as to lines of direction and mode of construction, is excellent. Materials for the construction and repairs of roads are very generally distributed throughout the whole island, either in quarries, ridges, and masses of gravel, or in the beds or channels of rivers and streams. The limestone, which is the general substratum of the greater part of the country, is the best material for their formation; and the system known under the name of macadamizing was long and successfully practised in many of the leading lines of road in Ireland before it was thought of in Great Britain. Young remarks upon this peculiarity as early as the year 1779. "For a country," says he, "so very far behind us as Ireland to have got so suddenly the start of us in the article of roads, is a spectacle that cannot fail to strike the English traveller exceedingly. I will go here; I will go there; I could trace a route upon paper as well as fancy could dictate, and everywhere I found beautiful roads, without break or hindrance, to enable me to realize my design. But from this commendation the turnpikes in general must be excluded; they are as bad as the cross roads are admirable." Statistics. The cause of this policy is to be traced to acts passed on the subject from the time of Charles I. to the beginning of the reign of George III. Before that time the roads were constructed and repaired, like those in England, by the rule of six days' labour, or statute-labour system. This was found inadequate to its purposes, and the roads were afterwards maintained and repaired by Grand Jury presentments, and the main roads by turnpikes. To present all the main lines of road are under the care of the Grand Juries of the respective counties.

The Grand Jury cess is a tax levied under votes of the Grand Juries, called presentments, made at the assizes. The purposes for which presentments are made are—1. Making new roads, bridges, quays, and gullies; 2. Repairing same; 3. Building and repairing courts of justice; 4. Building and repairing prisons; 5. Prison expenses; 6. Police expenses; 7. Salaries to county officers; 8. Public charities; 9. Repayment of government advances; 10. Miscellaneous. Some of these presentments are imposed and rated at the pleasure of the Grand Jury; the following are imperative by act of parliament:—County infirmaries and fever hospitals; district fever hospitals and infirmaries (partly); building and repairing dispensaries; expenses of inquests; constabulary force (partly); prosecution of offenders; maintaining deserted children; expenses of the general valuation; expenses of Commissioners of Public Works; compensation for malicious injuries; expenses under the Arms' Act; repayment of government advances; and some others of minor importance. Presentments for the general use of the county are levied on the county at large; those for particular districts on the baronies or parishes enjoying their benefit. The amount of Grand Jury cess from 1840 to 1854, was—

| Year | Amount | |------|--------| | 1840 | L1,269,880 | | 1841 | 1,240,602 | | 1842 | 1,191,684 | | 1843 | 1,151,110 | | 1844 | 1,129,432 | | 1845 | 1,149,923 | | 1846 | 1,180,287 | | 1847 | 1,175,474 |

and the purposes to which it was applied in 1853 and 1854, as follows—

| Roads, bridges, &c. | 49,520 | | Repairs of roads, &c. | 327,879 | | Erection and repairs of court or sessions' houses | 4,051 | | Execution and repairs of prisons | 6,183 | | Other prisons and bridewell expenses | 88,597 | | Police expenses | 38,785 | | Salaries of county officers | 52,731 | | Public charities | 100,850 | | Repayments to Government | 111,130 | | Miscellaneous | 110,825 |

Total | 879,328 |

The Infirmarys for counties and cities are supported by county assessments not exceeding L700 at each assizes, or L1,400 annually for each county, raised by Treasury grants of L100 Irish for the surgeon's salary, by subscriptions, donations, and bequests, and by petty sessions' fines. They are governed by corporations, consisting of the primate, lord-chancellor, bishop of the diocese, rector or vicar of the parish, life-governors who have paid L21, and annual subscribers of 3 guineas. The Poor-Law Commissioners may inspect these institutions, as well as other hospitals supported in part by Grand Jury cess or parliamentary grants, and give directions in concert with the local governors, as to their management. In 1849, the number of intern patients in the infirmaries was 11,114; extern, 45,930; total, 57,044. The expenditure amounted to L27,475, 18s. 5d., and the average cost per head for each patient was 16s. 4½d., exclusive of the expense of medicine and salaries. Subscriptions, L1,332, 11s. 10d.

Fever Hospitals are of three kinds,—1. County hospitals, maintained by presentments, not exceeding L250 at each assizes, or L500 annually; 2. District hospitals, for cities, towns, or other parts of a county, maintained by private subscriptions, and aided by presentments not exceeding double the amount of the voluntary fund; 3. Poor-law union fever hospitals, the expenses of which are charged upon the union rates.

The provisions of the Medical Charities Act, 14th & 15th Vict., cap. 68, passed in 1831, by which boards of guardians were empowered to form the poor-law unions into dispensary districts, and to place the management of the dispensaries under the control of the Poor-Law Commissioners, took effect in 1831. Each dispensary district is placed under a committee of management, consisting of the guardians in the district and of rate-payers elected by the board of guardians of the union,—the number of each committee being fixed by the commissioners. The board of guardians provide the requisite accommodation for the dispensaries in the several districts, medicines, and appliances, and pay the salaries of the medical officers; the expenses being charged upon the poor-rates. The 163 unions have been divided into 723 dispensary districts, giving an average of rather more than 4 divisions to each district, the average population of the districts being about 9,000. The Act put an end to all previous provisions for affording dispensary relief by means of presentment from county cess.

The Census Commissioners report the number of the sick in Ireland on the night of the 30th March 1851, to have been 104,485 persons, or 1-59 per cent. of the population. Of these, 5,150 were deaf and dumb, 7,587 blind, 5,046 lunatic, 4,904 idiotic, 4,975 lame and decrepit.

The "Act for the more effectual relief of the destitute poor in Ireland" was passed in 1838, and the system came into operation in 1839. Four workhouses were completed in 1840, and in 1846 there were 129 unions. In 1850 the number of unions was 163, comprising about 3,440 electoral divisions.

The following table affords a series of annual returns of the number of paupers relieved in the workhouses from the commencement of proceedings under the Irish Poor Relief Act until the year 1847:—

| Year | No. of Paupers Annual | |------|------------------------| | | No. of Unions | Relieved in workhouses | Expended | | 1840 | 4 | 10,910 | 37,657 | | 1841 | 37 | 31,168 | 110,278 | | 1842 | 22 | 87,604 | 221,233 | | 1843 | 106 | 87,898 | 244,374 | | 1844 | 113 | 105,358 | 271,334 | | 1845 | 123 | 114,205 | 316,025 | | 1846 | 129 | 243,933 | 453,001 | | 1847 | 136 | 417,139 | 803,686 |

In consequence of the great strain to which the system was subjected by the great and sudden increase of pauperism caused by the failure of the potato crop, the Out-door Relief Act of 10th Vict., c.31, was passed in 1847, and the numbers relieved since that period, together with the total expenditure, have been:—

| Year | Number of Unions | Number of Paupers received in workhouse | Total number relieved | Annual Expenditure | |------|------------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------|-------------------| | 1848 | 131 | 610,463 | 1,433,042 | 2,043,505 | L605,136 | L725,578 | L594,920 | L1,835,634 | | 1849 | 131 | 932,854 | 2,120,482 | 2,142,756 | 797,294 | 679,694 | 700,753 | 2,177,651 | | 1850 | 163 | 902,022 | 368,555 | 1,174,257 | 710,945 | 120,789 | 598,374 | 1,430,108 | | 1851 | 163 | 707,448 | 47,914 | 755,347 | 692,914 | 11,399 | 437,334 | 1,141,647 | | 1852 | 163 | 504,884 | 11,114 | 516,017 | 574,415 | 4,917 | 360,905 | 833,267 | | 1853 | 163 | 396,436 | 13,232 | 409,668 | 446,030 | 4,920 | 334,768 | 785,718 | | 1854 | 163 | 310,608 | 9,008 | 319,616 | 463,858 | 3,715 | 292,579 | 760,152 | | 1855 | 163 | 259,794 | 35,452 | 295,246 | 432,842 | 4,702 | 247,715 | 685,259 |

VOL. XII. The system of out-door relief, which was adopted as a matter of necessity, is now almost entirely discontinued, the house accommodation being amply sufficient for all applicants. The poor-law system in Ireland has been conducted with a view to the support of those who are not in a condition to maintain themselves by their own personal labour, but at the same time to discountenance in the young and healthy all reliance on eleemosynary relief. Since the disastrous period of the famine "the labours of the Poor-Law Commission have been incessant to improve and perfect the system of relief, tempering the sound economical principles on which it is founded with every humane modification of which they are susceptible. The result has been that they have at length established a system complete as any such progressive system can well be, and which is no less distinguished for its general philosophical principles than for its humane spirit. As thus established, it will not only render any future miseries like those of the famine years in Ireland impossible; but will, while ministering to the inevitable and habitual wants of the poor, open up a perennial source of productive amelioration for that class of the community, until the time arrives when all such extraneous aid can be dispensed with."

The poor-rate is levied under the assessment of poundage rate on the net annual value of the property rateable, which annual value is "the rent for which one year with another the property might be let from year to year, the probable annual average cost of repairs, insurance, and other necessary expenses for repairs, and all public charges, except tithes, being paid by the tenant." The property liable to poor-rates includes:—All land and buildings; mines seven years open; commons, and all profits out of land; navigations; rights of way, and other rights and easements upon land held. The following kinds of property are exempt:-Turk-hogs, for which rent is not paid; places of worship; buildings used exclusively for charitable purposes; buildings used for public purposes; burial grounds. The persons liable are—the occupier of the rateable property at the time the rate is made, except the occupier of premises under L.8 value in certain boroughs, and at and under L.4 value elsewhere, who is not liable, and in such cases the immediate lessor is to be rated instead. The owner of any rent (except owners of rent charges) is liable to allow the person paying him rent one-half the amount of the rate.

The annual amount levied as poor-rates, since passing of the act, has been returned to parliament as follows:—

| Year | Rateable Value | |------|---------------| | 1840 | L.21,985 | | 1841 | 73,962 | | 1842 | 208,557 | | 1843 | 271,776 | | 1844 | 278,474 | | 1845 | 295,781 | | 1846 | 376,507 | | 1847 | 645,657 |

During the pressure caused by the famine, the expenditure for the relief of the poor in some cases equalled or even exceeded the rent, but in 1855 it had been so much reduced as not to exceed an average of Ls. 2½d. in the pound on the total poor-law valuation, which, in that year, amounted to L.11,565,466.

The results of the parliamentary returns of the state of crime in Ireland during the ten years from 1845 to 1854 was:—

| Year | Summary Convictions before Magistrates | Number of cases tried at Assizes and Quarter Sessions | Proportion of Convictions to population | |------|---------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------| | | Petty offences | Drunkenness | Males. Females. Total. Convicted. Acquitted. | | | 1845 | 17,512 | 22,076 | 12,807 3,889 16,696 7,101 9,595 1 in 1,127 | | 1846 | 16,695 | 23,282 | 14,204 4,288 18,492 8,639 9,853 1 in 946 | | 1847 | 25,810 | 15,406 | 23,552 7,657 31,209 15,233 15,976 1 in 536 | | 1848 | 49,717 | 12,302 | 28,765 9,757 38,522 18,206 20,316 1 in 449 | | 1849 | 63,586 | 11,604 | 31,340 10,649 41,939 21,202 20,737 1 in 386 | | 1850 | 64,802 | 13,938 | 22,682 8,644 31,326 17,108 14,218 1 in 477 | | 1851 | 72,019 | 12,617 | 17,337 7,347 24,684 14,377 10,307 1 in 453 | | 1852 | 59,215 | 19,504 | 12,444 5,234 17,678 10,454 7,224 1 in 626 | | 1853 | 43,186 | 12,404 | 10,290 4,884 15,144 8,714 6,430 1 in 758 | | 1854 | 37,968 | 12,215 | 7,937 3,851 11,788 7,051 4,737 1 in 929 |

The ecclesiastical arrangement of the country was formerly framed on the same fourfold provincial division as the civil, but under different names and with different boundaries. There were four archbishoprics, one for each province, but named from the place in which the archiepiscopal see was fixed. The number of bishoprics subject to each of these varied at different periods, and two or more sees were frequently united to afford a revenue supposed to be necessary to maintain the dignity of the bishop. Formerly the dioceses were more numerous than at present, as may be seen from the following list, extracted from an old Roman provincial:—

Armagh, containing Meath or Elsamirand, Down or Dundalethglass, Clogher of Lugdunum, Connor, Ardagh (Ardagh), Rathbot (Raphoe), Rathline (now part of Derry), Daln-liquir (unknown, but by some supposed to have merged into Meath), Dearri (Derry); Dublin, containing Glendalough, Fern, Osori or De-Canic, Lechlin, Kildare or Dare; Cossel, containing Isle of Gatha (now Innis-Senttery, and united to Limerick), Limrie, Laon or De Kendalan (now Killaloe), Cellambrath (called also Feneboe, now Kilfenora), Melie or Emileth (Emly), Ross or Roscrea, Waterford or Balti-Sordian, Lismore, Clone or Clanman (Cloyne), Cork, Rosallther (now part of Cork), Ardfort; Tuam, containing Dune or Kilmadunach, Mage (or Mayo, now part of Tuam), Enuchduin (also part of Tuam), Cellair (unknown), Rosecommon (translated to Elphin), Clonfert, Achai (Achonry), Lade or Killaleth (Killala), Comani (Clonmacnois, now part of Meath), Kilmundunach (Kilmacduagh), Elphin.

By the Church Temporalities Act 3d and 4th Will. IV., c. 37, the archbishoprics of Cashel and Tuam were reduced to bishoprics, the whole of Ireland divided into two provinces, and the bishoprics, as vacancies occurred, reduced to ten.

The bishoprics and their incomes are thus classed according to the provisions of the Church Temporalities Act:—

NORTHERN PROVINCE.

Armagh with Clogher ........................................... L.12,657 Meath and Clonmacnois ........................................... 4,068 Derry and Raphoe .................................................. 8,000 Down, Connor, and Dromore ...................................... 4,304 Kilmore, Ardagh, and Elphin ..................................... 6,253 Tuam, Killala, and Achonry ....................................... 4,600

Total ................................................................. L.39,212

SOUTHERN PROVINCE.

Dublin, Glendalagh, and Kildare .................................. L.7,785 Osorry, Leighlin, and Ferns ....................................... 4,200 Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore ............................ 5,000 Cork, Cloyne, and Ross ........................................... 2,498 Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, and Kilmacduagh ................. 3,870 Limerick, Ardfort, and Aghadoe .................................. 4,973

Total ................................................................. L.28,327

1 Sir John Forbes's Memorandum made in Ireland. The following account of the gross and net revenues of the sees of the archbishops and bishops, with the charges and deductions to which such revenues are subject, is taken from a Statistics Return to the House of Lords (No. 13, 1854):

| Provinces and Sees | Gross Revenues | Charges and Deductions | Net Income | |--------------------|----------------|------------------------|------------| | **Northern Province** | | | | | Armagh, with Clogher | L.2,333 0 0 | L.675 8 4 | L.299 1 11 | | Meath and Clonmacnoise | L.2,644 7 6 | L.1,190 0 7 | L.438 1 2 | | Derry and Raphoe | L.982 5 7 | L.2,391 4 5 | L.563 17 2 | | Down, Connor, and Dromore | L.3017 5 9 | L.1,799 19 2 | L.170 19 1 | | Kilmore, Ardagh, and Elphin | L.3702 6 17 | L.2,174 1 4 | L.1078 4 6 | | Tuam, Killala, and Achonry | L.2742 17 8 | L.1,959 18 6 | L.377 19 1 | | **Southern Province** | | | | | Dublin, Glendalough, & Kildare | L.6,897 13 10 | L.1,273 7 6 | L.88 7 1 | | Ossory, Ferns, and Leighlin | L.2,647 3 2 | L.1,643 19 6 | L.314 17 5 | | Cashel, Emily, and Waterford | L.3,283 4 5 | L.1,925 17 7 | L.125 1 8 | | Cork, Clonfert, and Ross | L.1,794 0 0 | L.739 3 7 | L.155 10 0 | | Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, and Kilmodanagh | L.2,253 18 7 | L.1,248 1 4 | L.417 19 3 | | Limerick, Ardfert, & Aghadoe | L.3,209 18 11 | L.1,245 4 2 | L.80 0 0 | | **Total** | L.50,308 11 2 | L.24,348 6 1 | L.5155 3 0 | | | | | L.79,812 0 3 | | | | | L.13,374 18 9 |

The revenues of the suppressed sees were, in the years ending 1st August 1833 and 1854, as follows:

1833 | 1854 ---|--- Ardfert | L.3,558 16 6 Clogher | L.2,471 2 9 Clonfert and Kilmodanagh | L.9,003 14 2 Cork and Ross | L.3,017 11 3 Dromore | L.6,677 3 7 Elphin | L.8,092 2 10 Kildare & Deanery of Christ Ch. | L.5,756 17 0 Killala and Achonry | L.4,211 8 8 Ossory | L.2,874 11 3 Raphoe | L.4,448 6 9 Waterford and Lismore | L.3,376 18 7

Total | L.61,521 4 4 | L.54,097 9 104

These revenues of the suppressed bishoprics, together with those of suspended dignitaries and benefices, and disappropriated tithes, were vested by the Church Temporalities Act in the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to be applied by them to the erection and repair of churches, to the providing for the church expenses which had been defrayed by vestry rates, and to other ecclesiastical purposes.

The aggregate income of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and their annual expenditure, from their establishment in 1833 to 1854, was—

| Years | Receipts | Disbursements | |-------|----------|--------------| | 1834 | L.68,728 10 8 | L.51,042 17 9 | | 1835 | L.68,237 8 10 | L.120,252 17 6 | | 1836 | L.181,045 3 1 | L.168,292 9 5 | | 1837 | L.103,221 0 7 | L.163,839 12 5 | | 1838 | L.100,497 0 6 | L.114,255 17 9 | | 1839 | L.138,160 9 2 | L.119,827 6 1 | | 1840 | L.139,238 14 10 | L.146,426 19 4 | | 1841 | L.115,723 9 9 | L.108,334 19 8 | | 1842 | L.82,906 18 3 | L.96,260 6 6 | | 1843 | L.110,116 2 4 | L.90,680 11 1 | | 1844 | L.110,116 2 4 | L.112,116 12 2 | | 1845 | L.116,104 11 2 | L.125,248 3 10 | | 1846 | L.112,195 19 41 | L.111,894 0 14 | | 1847 | L.96,694 11 5 | L.97,658 7 10 | | 1848 | L.92,971 9 0 | L.88,069 1 11 | | 1849 | L.79,924 11 6 | L.84,361 9 5 | | 1850 | L.80,877 14 5 | L.74,438 4 5 | | 1851 | L.99,015 6 3 | L.100,719 8 11 | | 1852 | L.111,355 5 0 | L.110,257 6 2 | | 1853 | L.136,884 9 3 | L.144,497 3 10 | | 1854 | L.117,936 2 11 | L.112,064 9 11 |

Total | L.2,358,267 18 11 | L.2,348,233 6 12 |

The incomes of the parochial clergy arises from tithe rent-charge together with glebe lands and houses. The collection of tithes having been a perpetual source of vexation to the majority of the people, the Tithe Composition Bill of 1823 was passed by the Wellesley administration. By the act of 1st and 2d Vict., c. 109, compositions for tithe were abolished, and fixed payments or rent-charges substituted, consisting of three-fourths of their amount, and to be paid by the landlords or others having a perpetual interest in the land.

In cities and towns corporate, and in the suburbs and liberties adjoining, where there are small or no tithes, or other duties settled by law upon the incumbents of parishes having actual cure of souls, a power was vested in the lord-lieutenant to authorize valuations upon oath to be made from time to time of each house every house belonging to any or all of such parish or town, and upon the return of such valuation the lord-lieutenant and six of the privy council are empowered to allot and charge any sum or sums of money to be paid out of each house belonging to said parish under the several and respective incumbents, either by redeeming the same payment according to the yearly value of each house or otherwise. This tax is denominated ministers' money, and was originally levied under the statute of 17th and 18th Car. II., c. 7, upon certain cities and towns, for the maintenance of the incumbents there having actual charge of souls, at the rate of one shilling in the pound on the yearly value of each house—but so that houses valued at upwards of L.60 per annum are to be taxed at the rate of those of L.60 and no more. The tax is levied only in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Clonmel, and Kinsale; none of the cities or towns in Ulster being subject to it.

The act 17th and 18th Vict., c. 11, passed in 1854, repeals the 17th and 18th Car. II., c. 7, and enacts that the charge of ministers' money for the year ending 31st December 1853 be ascertained, and the sums certified shall, in future, be raised in each parish of the towns liable, by a rate on all houses now chargeable, except those rated at or under L.10. The rate may be redeemed by payment of 14 years purchase of amount assessed. The sums certified as chargeable in each town were—Clonmel, L.341; Cork, L.3334; Drogheda, L.288; Dublin, L.9868; Kilkenny, L.307; Kinsale, L.74; Limerick, L.310; Waterford, L.940; total, L.15,452.

The annual revenue of the Established Church in Ireland during three years ending 1851, was returned to parliament as—

Archbishops and Bishops | L.151,128 Deans and Chapters | L.1,043 Economy Estates of Cathedrals | L.11,055 Other subordinate corporations | L.10,528 Dignities and Prebends without cure of souls | L.34,482 Glebe lands | L.22,000 Tithes | L.555,600 Ministers' Money | L.10,300

Total | L.865,833

The revenues of the church have since undergone a considerable diminution, and, exclusive of the funds vested in the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners, now amount to about The Roman Catholic hierarchy consists of four archbishops, one to each province, whose sees are in Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, and 24 bishops. The bishops are nominated by the Pope, generally out of a list of names submitted to him by the bishops of the province and the clergy of the vacant diocese. In case of expected incapacity from age or infirmity, the bishop names a coadjutor, who is usually confirmed by the pope. Every diocese has a dean or a vicar-general, the former appointed by the cardinal-protector at Rome, the latter by the bishop; but these dignitaries are without jurisdiction or emolument. The whole of the clergy are supported solely by the voluntary contributions of their flocks. The episcopal emoluments arise from the parish in which the bishop officiates, from marriage licenses and other official acts, and from the cathedralricum, an annual subsidy varying from £2 to £10, paid by each incumbent in the diocese. The average amount of a bishop's income may be stated at about £300 per annum. The cathedral clergy are nominated exclusively by the bishop.

The number of priests in Ireland in 1854 was 2291, of whom 1222 were educated at Maynooth College. Their incomes, entirely derived from their parishes, arise from fees on marriages, baptisms, funerals, and prayers for the dead, on Easter and Christmas days, varying from one to ten shillings, and from incidental voluntary contributions, either in money or labour. The total sum raised and contributed in the parish is usually considered a common fund for the maintenance of the parish priest and his curates, either by a certain proportion or otherwise. All the places of public worship are built by subscriptions. There are numerous monasteries and convents; the latter are supported partly by sums, usually from £300 to £500, paid by those who take the vows in them, and partly by the fees for the education of the daughters of respectable Roman Catholics. The friars and nuns also devote themselves to the gratuitous education of the children of the poor. Candidates for clerical ordination, formerly under the necessity of obtaining their education in continental colleges, are now educated at home; the principal clerical colleges are those of St Patrick and Maynooth, supported by grants of public money and by pensions from the students, and those of Carlow and Tuam, by voluntary contributions.

The Presbyterians of Ireland, who are very numerous in most parts of Ulster, are formed into congregations, each of which is under the ecclesiastical government of a court called a session, consisting of the minister and elders of the congregation. An indefinite number of the ministers of these congregations, with a lay elder for each, constitutes a presbytery, which has the charge of the congregations represented in it. Delegates from each of these presbyteries, consisting of all the ministers, with a lay elder for each, constitute the general assembly, which is presided over by a moderator chosen annually, and regulates the ecclesiastical concerns of the body.

The first presbytery in Ireland was formed at Carrickfergus in 1642, and gave rise to the Synod of Ulster. The Presbyterian Synod of Munster was formed about 1660. The Presbytery of Antrim separated from the Synod of Ulster in 1727, and the Remonstrant Synod in 1829. A number of Seceders formed themselves into the Secession Synod of Ireland about 1750. In 1840 the General and Secession Synods having united, assumed the name of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, comprising in 1854, 488 congregations, arranged under 36 Presbyteries. The ministers are supported by voluntary contributions, the rents of seats or pews, and a portion of the parliamentary grant (Regium Donum), which in 1853 amounted to £33,661.

The Remonstrant Synod of Ulster was formed in 1830, in consequence of the separation of seventeen ministers, with their congregations, from the General Synod of Ulster, on the ground that, contrary to its usage and code of discipline, it required from its members, since 1827 and 1828, submission to certain doctrinal tests and overtures of human invention. There are 4 presbyteries and 27 congregations in this Synod, which in 1853 received £1,996 of the parliamentary grant.

United Presbytery or Synod of Munster.—This body was formed in 1809 by the junction of the Southern Presbytery of Dublin with the Presbytery of Munster, and is one of the three non-subscribing Presbyterian bodies of Ireland; the other two being the Presbytery of Antrim, and the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. A few years ago these three bodies united to form the "General Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Association of Ireland," for the promotion of their common principles, the right of private judgment, and non-subscription to creeds and confessions of faith. From the annual parliamentary grant in 1853 the Synod of Munster received £307, and the Presbytery of Antrim, £900.

The Reformed Presbyterian Synod of Ireland, consisting of 4 presbyteries and 25 congregations, is unconnected with the General Assembly, and does not participate in the parliamentary grant.

The Primitive Methodist Society there are 8248 members in Ireland. Baptist congregations were founded in Dublin and some other parts of the country about the year 1650-3; but as they gradually declined, a society was formed London in 1814, to "employ itinerants in Ireland, to establish schools, and to distribute Bibles and tracts, gratuitously, or at reduced prices."

The first attempt at founding a university in Ireland after the arrival of the English was made by John Leck, archbishop of Dublin, who obtained a papal bull for the purpose in 1311, which was carried into effect in 1320 by Alexander Bicknor his successor, but the establishment was soon extinguished. Another attempt was made at Drogheda; a university was founded by act of parliament in 1665, with the same privileges as that of Oxford, but soon shared the fate of its predecessor. The next attempt was more happy. In 1593 the university of Trinity College, Dublin, was opened in the buildings of the dissolved monastery of All-Hallows. The number of students on the books of the college in 1850 was 1503, and its present annual income amounts, on an average, to £64,000; of which sum about £30,000 arises from entrance and annual fees paid by students to the college and their tutors, the fees on degrees, and other incidental and contingent sources. In 1810 the inhabitants of Belfast opened a collegiate institution for scientific and literary instruction by private subscription. It was sanctioned by act of parliament, and receives a liberal grant of public money; but as it has not been privileged to grant degrees, it cannot be ranked as a university.

The Queen's colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway, were established under the 8th and 9th Vict., cap. 66, passed in 1845 and in 1850; the Queen by letters patent founded "The Queen's University in Ireland," with powers to grant degrees in the faculties of Arts, Medicine, and Law, as such are granted by other universities, to students who have completed their studies in any one of the Queen's colleges of Belfast, Cork, or Galway. The university consists of a chancellor and senate, nominated by the crown.

With respect to the second class of places of public education, an act of Elizabeth required that a grammar school should be maintained in every diocese, by the contributions of the bishop and beneficed clergy. James I vested tracts of forfeited lands for the maintenance of similar schools. His example was followed by Charles I. Erasmus Smith, also, one of the adventurers who obtained large grants of land during Statistics, the time of Cromwell, applied some of his property to this purpose. Classical schools were also endowed by other private individuals. The schools of royal foundation were those of Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Raphoe, Cavan, Banagher, and Caryfort. Those of Brasmus Smith's, and other private foundations were at Drogheda, Galway, Tipperary, Ennis, Nauvan, and Ballyman. The diocesan schools never exceeded 17 out of the 22 dioceses.

The College of Maynooth was founded in 1795, for the purpose of educating students designed for the Roman Catholic priesthood, by an act of the Irish parliament which was an exclusively Protestant assembly. The act passed both Houses without a dissentient vote. A sum of about £5,000 was annually voted for its maintenance by the Irish, and afterwards, without objection, by the Imperial Parliament from 1795 to 1807, when £5,000 additional were voted for the enlargement of the buildings, and the grant became the subject of dispute and opposition in the legislature. The annual vote from 1808 to 1813 was £8,283, and from 1813 to 1845 it was raised to £9,288. The total amount of donations and bequests to the college, including the sums funded for bourses, was £31,681 besides all the fee simple estates of the late Lord Dunboyne, in the county of Meath, which now return to the college £460 per annum. The number of students increased with the enlargement of the buildings from 50 until it amounted in 1839 to 478; between 1841 and 1845 it fell to an average of 430; of these 250 were charged on the parliamentary vote; the others paid an annual pension for their maintenance. By the act of 8th and 9th Vict., cap. 25, passed during the ministry of Sir Robert Peel, the college was placed on a new footing, and permanently endowed for the maintenance and education of 500 students, and of 20 senior scholars on the Dunboyne foundation, which has been uniformly since that time the total number of students. Besides providing by an annual charge on the consolidated fund of £30,000 for the annual cost of commons, &c., for these 520 students, of allowances to the 20 Dunboyne students, and to 250 students of the three senior classes, and of salaries to the president, superiors, and professors, the act moreover vested in the Commissioners of Public Works a sum of £30,000 for erecting the buildings necessary to accommodate the enlarged number of students. No applicant can be received as a student of Maynooth College unless he be designed for the priesthood in Ireland, be sixteen years of age, and be recommended by his bishop.

The Roman Catholic University was established at a synodal meeting, held on the 18th May 1854.

The primary schools owe their foundation to an act of Henry VIII., which bound every incumbent of a parish by oath to maintain a school therein to teach the English language. The bond was neglected by many, and observed with culpable laxity by most others. The statute having fixed upon 40s. as the minimum of the teacher's salary at the time of its enactment, the incumbent, regardless of the great subsequent depression of the value of money, deemed his duty to be fulfilled and his conscience cleared by paying that annual stipend to his parish-clerk, or some other person who professed to teach in the parish. Soon after the Revolution, a project was started and eagerly followed up by the Established clergy, of founding schools, in which the children of the poor should be instructed in the rudiments of literature, as well as in useful works, and also maintained at the public expense. To these landable objects was also added that of converting them to the Protestant doctrine. These schools being incorporated by act of parliament, received the name of charter-schools. They were long a favourite object of interest to the legislature, which annually voted large sums for their support, in addition to those procured by donation or bequest.

The Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, commonly called the Kildare Place Society, originated in a voluntary institution, formed in 1811, the principles of which were stated to be "the admission of pupils, uninfluenced by religious distinctions, and the reading of the Bible or Testament, without note or comment, by all the pupils who had attained a suitable proficiency; excluding catechisms and controversial treatises; the Bible or Testament not to be used as a class book from which children should be taught to read or spell." In consequence of a recommendation made in 1812, by commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the schools and charities of public foundation, that "no attempt should be made to influence or disturb the peculiar religious tenets of any sect or description of Christians," and of the pledge given to the same effect by the Kildare Place Society, a parliamentary grant of public money was given in 1819, which was continued and increased. But a stipulation introduced into its regulations sometime afterwards, requiring the Bible to be used as a school book, aroused the suspicions of the Roman Catholic clergy, who excited a distaste to it throughout the country, and the children of that persuasion were gradually withdrawn. Upon inquiry in 1824, it was ascertained that out of 400,348 children whose parents paid for their education, there were 81,060 Protestants, and 319,288 Roman Catholics; while out of 56,201 children educated in the Kildare Place schools, 26,237 were Protestants, and only 29,964 Roman Catholics. The commissioners consequently recommended that the grants of public money for the education of the poor should be vested in a board nominated by the government, under arrangements calculated to prevent any apprehension of interference with peculiar religious tenets. The recommendation was reported to the House of Commons by a committee in 1828, and on the subject being again referred to a committee in 1830, it was reported on favourably, but the annual grant to the Kildare Place Society was withdrawn, since which period the schools gradually declined; in 1834, the Dublin model schools of the society were put under the management of the Church Education Society.

In 1833, the grants of public money for the education of the poor were placed under the superintendence of "The Commissioners of National Education." The principles on which the commissioners act are,—that the schools shall be open alike to Christians of every denomination; that no pupil shall be required to attend at any religious exercise, or to receive any religious instruction which his parents or guardians do not approve; and that sufficient opportunity shall be afforded to the pupils of each religious persuasion to receive separately, at appointed times, such religious instruction as their parents or guardians think proper. This system of united education is one which does not exclude children of any denomination, while it admits to a participation of its benefits those of every religious creed who may wish for instruction without interfering with any conscientious scruples. The duty of the commissioners consists, therefore, in guarding against any infraction of these fundamental principles from any quarter, and in establishing regulations as to details, so as best to secure the general efficiency of the system.

In 1845 the commissioners were incorporated under the name of The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland.

The following return gives the number of schools and pupils under the superintendence of the commissioners since the commencement of the system, and the amount of parliamentary grants annually voted for its maintenance:

| Years | No. of Schools | No. of Pupils | Parliamentary Grants | |-------|---------------|--------------|---------------------| | 1833 | 789 | 107,042 | £25,000 | | 1834 | 1,105 | 145,521 | 35,000 | | 1835 | 1,121 | 153,707 | 35,000 | | 1836 | 1,000 | 160,630 | 35,000 | | 1837 | 1,384 | 169,548 | 50,000 | | 1838 | | | Included in the next.| | 1839 | 1,581 | 192,971 | 50,000 | | 1840 | 1,978 | 232,560 | 50,000 | | 1841 | 2,241 | 281,840 | 50,000 | | 1842 | 2,721 | 319,792 | 55,000 | | 1843 | 2,912 | 355,220 | 55,000 | | 1844 | 3,153 | 395,550 | 75,000 | | 1845 | 3,436 | 432,844 | 85,000 | | 1846 | 3,600 | 450,100 | 100,000 | | 1847 | 3,835 | 492,932 | 125,000 | | 1848 | 4,109 | 507,469 | 125,000 | | 1849 | 4,221 | 480,523 | 120,000 | | 1850 | 4,457 | 511,220 | 140,000 | | 1851 | 4,604 | 520,401 | 140,000 | | 1852 | 4,875 | 544,934 | 125,000 | | 1853 | 5,023 | 550,631 | 130,000 | | 1854 | 5,178 | 551,110 | 215,200 |

The Church Education Society, supported wholly by voluntary contributions, was instituted in 1839. The number of schools and pupils, with the amount of the annual receipts of the society, appears in the following summary: The following Abstract shows the Numbers and Denominations of Schools in the Rural and Civic Districts of Ireland in 1851.

| Schools | No. of Schools | No. of Pupils | No. of Schools | No. of Pupils | No. of Schools | No. of Pupils | |---------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------------|---------------|--------------| | University of Dublin | ... | ... | 1 | 650 | ... | 650 | | Maynooth College | 1 | 505 | ... | ... | ... | 505 | | Queen's College, Galway | 1 | 65 | ... | ... | ... | 65 | | National | 3232 | 93,433 | 77,972 | 171,405 | 269 | 19,877 | 24,692 | 44,569 | 3501 | 113,310 | 102,854 | 215,164 | | Church Education | 851 | 14,984 | 14,382 | 29,366 | 62 | 2,106 | 1,942 | 4,048 | 918 | 17,180 | 16,324 | 33,504 | | London Corporations | 24 | 645 | 621 | 1,266 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 24 | 645 | 621 | 1,266 | | Diocesan | 11 | 169 | 88 | 257 | 11 | 448 | 51 | 499 | 22 | 617 | 139 | 756 | | Endowed | 110 | 3,332 | 1,982 | 5,314 | 53 | 2,450 | 1,555 | 4,005 | 163 | 4,782 | 3,237 | 9,019 | | Schools of Design | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 305 | 184 | 489 | 3 | 305 | 184 | 489 | | Boarding | 55 | 1,200 | 682 | 1,882 | 167 | 3,272 | 2,559 | 5,831 | 223 | 4,472 | 3,241 | 7,713 | | Private | 1945 | 31,110 | 22,464 | 53,574 | 1128 | 20,309 | 12,877 | 33,186 | 3173 | 51,419 | 34,341 | 85,760 | | Parochial | 458 | 8,311 | 6,540 | 14,851 | 106 | 5,649 | 4,000 | 9,649 | 564 | 13,960 | 10,640 | 24,600 | | Free | 284 | 4,884 | 5,806 | 10,690 | 120 | 6,355 | 6,260 | 12,615 | 384 | 11,219 | 12,066 | 23,285 | | Industrial | 24 | 68 | 820 | 888 | 2 | 2 | 82 | 84 | 25 | 70 | 902 | 972 | | Mission | 209 | 3,671 | 4,319 | 7,990 | 34 | 1,962 | 788 | 2,748 | 243 | 5,533 | 5,105 | 10,638 | | Military | 9 | 512 | 160 | 672 | 23 | 1,494 | 407 | 1,901 | 34 | 2,005 | 567 | 2,573 | | Royal Hibernian | 1 | 318 | 20 | 338 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 318 | 20 | 338 | | Boarding, Charitable | 10 | 305 | 274 | 579 | 19 | 166 | 324 | 490 | 33 | 562 | 597 | 1,159 | | Dr. Agricultural | 3 | 110 | 93 | 203 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 110 | 93 | 203 | | Workhouse | 181 | 27,633 | 24,385 | 52,018 | 78 | 11,745 | 16,637 | 28,382 | 259 | 39,578 | 41,222 | 80,800 | | Gaol | 9 | 712 | 102 | 814 | 27 | 1,960 | 492 | 2,452 | 36 | 2,672 | 594 | 3,266 |

Total | 7403 | 191,958 | 160,839 | 352,797 | 2105 | 78,820 | 72,848 | 151,668 | 9508 | 270,778 | 233,687 | 504,465 |

The population from five to fifteen years of age, the number attending and not attending school, and the proportion per cent. of the latter, in 1851, was:

| Population | Males | Females | Total | |------------|-------|---------|-------| | 951,342 | 919,646 | 1,870,988 |

Numbers attending school | 246,991 | 213,604 | 460,595

Numbers not attending school | 704,351 | 706,042 | 1,410,393

Proportion per cent. at each age not attending school | 74 | 77 | 75 |

It appears that during the week to which the foregoing abstract refers there were 504,465 persons of all ages receiving instruction in schools in Ireland, of whom 270,778 were males, and 233,687 females; the number in attendance on schools during the week ended the 6th of June 1841, as returned by the Census Commissioners, was 502,950; there was, therefore, an increase in 1851 of 1513 persons in the total number attending school. Taking into account the greatly diminished population, these numbers represent a considerable increase in the proportion under education. Of the entire population in 1841, 61 in every 1000 were attending school, whilst in 1851 there were 76 in every 1000.