religious persecutions of the Dissenters, was looked back upon in the next century as Ireland's golden age. The Catholics had not recovered from their punishment. They were indulged, and they appeared to be grateful. Trade was busy and growing; and the tenure of property was too insecure to permit absenteeism. The spent force of the impulse which had been imparted by the vigorous administration of Cromwell was not yet exhausted; and the tendency, though at a slackening rate, was still forward and upward. CHAP. III. 1663 BOOK I. 1666 SECTION IV. THE Church meanwhile was making no converts. The Catholics were recovering strength. Every parish had its priest again, and friaries and convents sprung up as if the laws against them had been blotted from the statute book. The elasticity of the permanent customs duties dispensed for the present with the necessity of another Parliament;' but the suspension of the constitution could not last for ever. At the next election the Catholics were prepared to resume their privilege of voting. A Catholic majority might easily be returned in the House of Commons, and a collision of the creeds would be inevitable. The Acts of Settlement had done too much or too little: too much, if Protestant ascendancy was to be maintained and Ireland was to be treated as a conquered country; too little, if the Catholic Irish were to be really conciliated. Both parties felt, that with the accession of a Catholic king the struggle must be revived. เ The Tories' continued to give trouble. The sons of the dispossessed owners levied war upon the intruders, supported by the sympathies of the people; and, with a halo of spurious patriotism about them, hung about the Protestant settlements, burnt the farmhouses, and shot and stabbed their inmates. The farmers armed in self-defence, and organized themselves into regiments of militia, that there might be no second surprise. 1 After the session of 1665-6, no Parliament met in Ireland for twenty-six years. Dangerous influences were at work, even in Charles's lifetime, at the English court. The secret advisers in Irish matters were the two Talbots,1 Peter, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, and Colonel Richard -lying Dick, as he was called in the London coffeehouses-known afterwards as the famous Duke of Tyrconnell. Archbishop Peter was treated at the Viceroy's court with distinguished consideration. He appeared in council in his episcopal robes. In 1670 he borrowed plate and hangings from the Castle for a splendid religious celebration; Lord Berkely, who was Lord-Lieutenant, sending them to him with a message that, in a few months, he hoped to see high mass at Christ Church." Colonel Talbot prevailed on Charles, in the following year, to reopen the Acts of Settlement, and order an inquiry into the working of them. The conspirators believed themselves even then in a full career towards success, when they were stopped by the English House of Commons, who insisted sternly that the acts should not be tampered with; that the Talbots should be sent about their business; and the law be observed which disqualified Catholics who declined the Supremacy Oath from being members of corporations and in the commission of the peace. The Papal party had shown their teeth too soon, and slunk back out of sight; but with James's accession the hour of triumph had come. 3 Let the enthusiasts who believe that Ireland can be governed upon 'Irish ideas,' and that Irish Catholics can be contented with concessions which leave them less than omnipotent, study the history 1 Sons of Sir William Talbot, of Cartown, Kildare, and related nearly to the Talbots of Malahide. 2 Harris, vol. i. P. 270. CHAP. III. 1670 BOOK I. 1686 of the last attempt to do them 'justice' on these principles. The first sign of what was coming was an order for the Protestants to be disarmed. Ormond, whom Charles left at his death as Viceroy, and from whom no help could be looked for in the measures which James contemplated, was allowed to resign. Lord Granard, and the Primate Michael Boyle, an old man almost in his dotage, were made Lords Justices. By them instructions were issued to take away the muskets of the militia, on pretence of preventing disturbances; 'muskets of the militia' were construed to cover the guns and pistols of the Protestant gentry; and Sir Thomas Newcomen, Granard's brother-in-law, when questions were asked in council said fiercely, 'that the English wanted no arms;' the work was not half done, and 'he hoped they would never have arms put into their hands again." The Tories took the hint, and went vigorously about their part of the business. The Government could not proclaim them for want of formal information, which the gentlemen were afraid to send in; and a zealous officer at Cork, Captain Aunger, who killed a notorious robber in attempting to take him, was threatened with indictment. Those who were not wilfully blind, saw plainly how events were tending. There were still persons, however, who could believe that if Protestant ascendancy were put down, and the two creeds be placed on an equality, the lion and the lamb would lie down in peace together; and, while plausibility and cant of toleration would pass current, they 1 The Earl of Clarendon to Rochester, January 19, 1686.' Clarendon State Letters, vol. i. 2 'Clarendon to Sunderland, Jan. 19, 1686. Ibid. The Sir formed a convenient shield to the real purpose. Primate Chancellor resigned the great seal. Charles Porter was sent from England to succeed him. The Earl of Clarendon was appointed Lord-Lieutenant; and James, when Clarendon waited on him and took leave, gave a distinct assurance that the Acts of Settlement should be maintained. The Catholics as Catholics were to have equality of privilege with the Protestants; but the Irish were still to understand that they were to suffer the consequences of having rebelled. The principle of the Government was to be religious toleration. Popery was to be no longer treated as a disqualification for office; and from this it seemed to follow, that the anti-popery laws had been unfair, the rebellions against them justified, and the consequent confiscation a crime. Principles, however, were not to be tested by the conclusions growing out of them, and Clarendon came over with an honest intention of carrying out his master's wishes, so far as he understood those wishes. He was an Englishman, convinced as his father had been, as every intelligent English statesman had been, that if Ireland was to be a wholesome member of the empire, the English interest must be maintained. If uncertain at his arrival, a brief experience sufficed to show him what the native race were, and what the country would become if handed back into their keeping." CHAP. III. 1686 |