and the bigotry of the monarch against the ancient religion of Ireland, to the hostility of his country against her rights, her independence and character. It was reasonable that the Irish people should have flattered themselves with protection from that monarch who had so often made professions of his attachment to the head of their religion; but when he came to the throne, he had to consult the prejudices of the puritans of England—at this period the most powerful religious party in his dominions. James, therefore, issued his proclamations against the catholics; he commanded all Jesuits to leave the kingdom, unless they conformed to the established religion.

Such violent proceedings excited the apprehensions of all the old English catholic families of the pale, who immediately determined on presenting a remonstrance to the monarch. Their petition was answered by the arrest of Sir Patrick Barnwall, who was soon after sent a prisoner into England. The boldness with which the catholics demanded the toleration of their religion, encouraged the circulation of the rumour that a conspiracy was forming by the principal Irish chieftains, Tyrone and Tyrconnell, to seize upon the Irish government, and assassinate the deputy and his council. The interest of both Tyrone* and Tyrconnel were so opposed to any plan of this kind, their reconcile

• Tyrone was at this time so closely looked after, that he was heard to complain, "that he had so many eyes watching over him, as that he could not drink a full carouse of sack, but the state was advertised thereof in a few hours."-Sir John Davis' History.

ment with the English government so complete, and their restoration to their ancient honours and estates so well established, that the most impartial historians have concluded, that such a conspiracy only had existence in the minds of those who contemplated new confiscations of Irish property. The plan had the desired effect; both Tyrone and Tyrconnell felt that it would be an idle display of courage to confront their enemies, or to demand justice from that power which appeared to be the secret instrument of the confederacy against their lives and properties. They therefore fled to the continent, and abandoned their vast possessions to the disposal of the crown.* The greatest and most valuable parts of Ulster escheated to the crown; and James was then put in possession of a country into which he might introduce the principle and the practice of English laws. A petty insurrection of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty gave new pretexts to the enemies of the Irish, to extend their plans of confiscation; and six northern counties, Tyrconnell, now called Donegall, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh, amounting to about five hundred thousand acres, were now at the disposal of the English monarch. "James," says Mr Leland, "who affected to derive his glory from the arts of peace, resolved to dispose of those lands in such a

Tyrone fled privately into Normandy, in 1607, thence to Flanders, and thence to Rome, where he lived on the pope's allowance, became blind, and died in the year 1616; his son was some years after found strangled in his bed at Brussels, and so ended his race.-Borlase's Reduction of Ireland,

manner, as might introduce all the happy consequences of peace and cultivation; the experience of ages bears the most honourable testimony to the design; and Ireland must gratefully acknowledge, that here were the first foundations laid of its af fluence and security." Such are the observations of an Irishman, after relating the calamities endured by the devoted people of the north, who were banished from their properties, and sacrificed to the ambition or the avarice of English adventurers.* The lapse of two hundred years has given to the north of Ireland the advantage of encouraged industry; but it is impossible, even at this distant period, not to contemplate, with the most indignant feelings, the infamous means by which the native Irish were plundered of their property and their privileges. James brought together his most celebrated counsellors, to advise with him on the new distribution and division of the confiscated lands of Ireland.

Sir Arthur Chichester was the principal

It has been said by some historians of the pale, that many of the catholic natives were permitted to settle on these plantations, and even to purchase some part of them; but it appears from the testimony of Sir Thomas Philips (an unquestionable authority in the estimation of the Anti-Irish historians), that "the fundamental ground of this plantation was the avoiding of natives, and the planting only with British." The O'Farrels of the county of Longford, in their remonstrance, November 10, 1641, set forth, ́that "the restraint of purchase in the mere Irish, of lands in the escheated counties, and the taint and blemish of them and their posterity, did more discontent then, than that plantation rule; for that they were brought to that extreme of poverty in these late times, that they must be sellers and not buyers of land."— Borlase's Irish Rebellion.

anatomist on this occasion, and, aided by the illustrious Lord Bacon, we find him recommending the Scotch and the English to the special favour of his sovereign. The Irish were to be particularly excepted from the list of those who were to be the future proprietors in the north of Ireland. The scheme adopted in the distribution of the lands of Ulster was different from that which had been acted upon by Elizabeth in Munster; they were divided into different proportions, the greatest to consist of two thousand English acres, the least of one thousand, and the middle of fifteen hundred. The regulations by

which James distributed the lands of Ireland among his English and Scotch subjects, were such as were calculated to give security and encouragement to the possessor. They were bound to build and to plant, they were to let their lands at determined rents, and for no less term than twenty-one years, or three lives, the tenants' houses to be built after the English fashion; and, in all their customs and habits, they were obliged to assimilate as close as possible to those of the country from whence they came. The city of London took a leading part in the settlement of Ulster; they accepted large grants in the county of Derry, they stipulated to expend twenty thousand pounds on the plantations, to build the cities of Derry and Coleraine, on the condition of enjoying such privileges as would insure them comfort and respectability. Care was taken by James that the clergy should be provided for, the churches rebuilt, and funds established for their preservation. Such was the foundation on which

the north of Ireland has risen to its present flourishing condition; and, as in other great revolutions, we no longer reflect on the sufferings of the ancient inhabitants, when contemplating the wealth, and happiness of those who have succeeded them. The work of plantation was so prolific a source of aggrandizement to English adventurers, that the reader should not be surprised to see every expe dient, which the confusion of past times could offer to avarice and to ambition, adopted to multiply new confiscations and new revolutions of property. In the turbulence of rebellion, lands were industriously concealed and detained from the crown; old records were explored, and such concealments were detected. The old possessors were obliged to abandon their lands, or to compound for their retention. Such services towards the British monarch, and such practices towards Ireland, obtained for Sir Arthur Chichester the lordship of Innishowen, the extensive territory of O'Dogherty. The pains and penalties of recusancy were inflicted with rigour, and the taking of the oath of supremacy was the essential and necessary qualification of every Irishman, who wished to enjoy either an office of honour or emolument. Without the acknowledgment of the king's supremacy, the magistrate might be deprived of his commission, and the lawyer stripped of his robe. Mr Leland observes, "that the indolence and acquiescence to which the errors of popery reduce the mind, added to the shame of deserting their communion, seem to have kept back these men from any advances towards