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The object of these various enactments, it will be observed, was to keep down the power of the barons of the Pale, and at the same time to extend the authority of the English crown in Ireland. The effect of them was to extend the domination of England, together with the influence of the Irish parliament; whatever territory became subject to its influence, at the same time became a province under the English government. Thus, though at first, the influence of Poyning's Act extended no further than the Pale, as the authority of the crown increased, it at length came to be in force over the entire kingdom.

Besides this famous act of Poyning's, there is no other Irish event during this reign worthy of particular commemoration. There was the usual number of rebellions, assassinations, and slaughters. Among others, there were the rebellions, at different times, of the Earl of Desmond, and Macwilliam, Lord of Clanricarde, against the lord-lieutenant, then the Earl of Kildare; both of which issued in the rout of the "rebels," attended with great slaughter of their Irish allies. But these were events of usual occurrence in every reign. The reader may just imagine the wretched state of the people of a country, when such things were looked upon as mere matters of course, of almost constant occurrence-civil war, and native and baronial feuds, being the rule-peace and tranquillity the very rare exception!

CHAPTER X.

Distracted state of the country after the death of Henry VII.-Commission of inquiry into the state of Ireland-Their reports-Accession of Henry VIII.-The "Reformation" Henry's six wives-His murders of several of them--Means by which Henry accomplished the "Reformation"-His persecutions-His blasphemous assumptions-The "Reformation" extended to Ireland-Introduced by the Archbishop of Dublin-Protestantism rejected by the Irish-The Catholic priesthood-Sketch of the church in Ireland-Early separation between the English and Irish clergy-Henry calls a Parliament-Its slavish subserviencyHenry recognised king of Ireland-Henry dies, and is succeeded by Edward VI. ---Persecutions of Somerset the Protector-Sacrilege and spoliation of the churches-Re-establishment of Catholicism by Mary-Forbearance of the Catholics-Acts of Mary's reign-A massacre commemorated.

THE laws passed by Poyning's parliament remained a long time in abeyance, in consequence of the distracted state of Ireland after the death of Henry VII. The destructive feuds between the Butlers and the Geraldines,-the wars of incursion waged by the lord lieutenant, the Earl of Kildare, against the O'Neils of Ulster, and other powerful chiefs,-the insurrections and inroads of the native chiefs, now become more frequent, in consequence of the weakened executive power of the government,-prevented every thing like a regular system of legislation from being carried into

effect. There was such a constant succession of lords-deputies also, that it was impossible for any system, even had it been desired, to be persevered in so steadily, and for such a time, as to insure its success. The sole power relied on by each successive governor, for maintaining the English dominion, was force and terror. The sword was their only instrument of policy, and conquest their leading object. The system pursued at this time, by the representatives of the government in Ireland, may be gathered from a letter of the Earl of Surrey (then lord-deputy) to Cardinal Wolsey, the prime minister of Henry VIII. "This land," says he, "will never be brought to due obedience, but only with compulsion and conquest"; and he adds, "most humbly I beseech your grace that, if the king's pleasure be not to go thorough with the conquest of this land, which would be a marvellous charge, no longer to suffer me to waste his grace's treasure here." In a subsequent communication, he states the means by which the land is to be reduced to general obedience; and these seem to amount to neither more nor less than the entire extirpation of the natives, and supplying their places with a new race of inhabitants,and this, even though, as is stated in another letter, there were then "but few English inhabitants in the four shires of the Pale." An illustration of the spirit of the times is furnished in an anecdote related by Leland,-that, immediately after a sanguinary fight, in which the English lord-deputy had been victorious against the rebel Clanricarde of Connaught, chiefly by the aid of his Irish allies, a brother baron turned round to him and said, "We have now slaughtered our enemies, but, to complete the good deed, we must proceed yet farther, and cut the throats of those Irish of our own party"!

We shall not enter into a detail of the petty wars of this period, which present a dreary and revolting record, unredeemed by a single trait of heroism or patriotism; nor of the struggles of the rival barons for power, in which much blood was shed, and wanton mischief committed. One of the most stirring events of the period was the revolt of Lord Thomas, son of the Earl of Kildare, against the authority of England. In the course of the civil war which ensued, a great part of Ireland was ravaged; and the counties of the Pale were laid waste up to the gates of Dublin. The royal authority was, however, maintained, after a protracted struggle; the young lord was taken captive, with many of his relatives, and sent to England, where he was executed; and thus the house of the Geraldines, which for more than two centuries had kept Ireland in a state of constant broils and contentions, was prostrated for a long time to come.

The attention of the English government being painfully directed to the distressed state of Ireland at this period, some inquiry was made into its causes; and John Alen, the master of the Irish rolls, was sent over to England by the council, to inform the king of the

state of his Irish dominions. The report which he made was lately published under the authority of a commission from the crown, and gives considerable insight into the condition of the country in the reign of Henry VIII. From this curious document it appears that as yet the "English order, tongue, and habit," were used, and the English laws obeyed, within a district of not more than "twenty miles in compass"! Sixty "regions" or districts of Ireland were stated to be under the dominion and authority of Irish chieftains; and no less than thirty similar "regions" were under the authority of chiefs of Anglo-Norman descent, but who did not acknowledge the English laws and government. There were only five counties in which the English authority was recognized; and even in these only partially so. The council also declared it to be their opinion, that unless measures were adopted to execute the laws, even this "little piece," namely, the Pale, would soon be reduced to the same condition as the rest of the kingdom.

From another report of the same period, it appears that the Anglo-Irish lords had now become so powerful and so independent within their several territories, that the king's writ had ceased to have any authority on them! In those shires over which the Earls of Desmond, Kildare, and Ossory, held almost the entire power, no legal measures of any kind could be taken, even in behalf of the king's subjects, without the leave first asked and obtained of the lord to whom the seignory belonged. No revenue was obtained from these extensive domains; their respective chiefs ruling over them with an absolutely despotic power. They quartered their men and horses upon the poor inhabitants, compelling them to support them in idle profligacy. The conclusion come to in this report was, that though the "wild Irish lords and captains" were blamed for "the destruction of the land of Ireland, it is not they only, but the treason, rebellion, extortion, and wilful war of the aforesaid earls and other English lords," who were in reality answerable for the ruin. The report says, in one place, with great truth, "As to the surmise of the great bruteness of the people and the incivilitie of them; no doubt, if there were justice used among them, they would be found as civil, wise, politic, and active, as any other nation."

"It has often been asked," observes Mr. O'Connell," why the Irish, who deprived the English government of so much of the island, and reduced them within such narrow limits, did not totally expel that government, and establish one of their own? This document at once clearly shows the causes that prevented such a desirable result. It shows that the Irish had no point of union, or centralization; that they were totally divided among themselvesthe enemies of one another. The same cause that, in a more mitigated form, now prevents Ireland from being a nation, did at that

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time preclude, in a more rude and savage manner, the establishment of nationality. The Irish chieftains had the power, and seldom wanted either the inclination or the incitement to make war upon each other. Mutual injuries, reciprocal devastations, created and continued strife and hatred amongst them. The worst elements of continued dissension subsisted. When upon particular occasions some universal or general oppression made them combine, their confederacy was but of short duration. When the English party was strong, it endeavoured by force to put down such confederacy. But the forcible attempts were in general successfully resisted by the Irish; who gained the futile glory of many a victory over some of the most accomplished commanders of the English forces. But these defeats taught the English officers that cunning which is called political wisdom. They assailed the avarice, or fomented the resentments of particular chieftains, and succeeded in detaching them from the general cause. These chieftains betrayed their companions in arms; joined their forces with those of the English; and participated in the councils, and united with the force, which by degrees broke down the power of the chieftains. But the traitors obtained no permanent profit; and no length of fidelity to the English commanders secured them the confidence or the kindness of their unprincipled seducers."

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The chief public event in connection with the reign of Henry VIII. was what has been called "the Reformation from Popery in England, and its attempted extension to Ireland at a subsequent period. Henry, the instrument by which this great work was appointed to be accomplished, was one of the greatest monsters that ever filled a throne. Religion, in his hands, became the mere instrument of satisfying his lusts and justifying his crimes. At the outset of life he was a furious enemy of the Reformed tenets, which were then making rapid progress throughout Germany, and even wrote a book against Luther, entitled "a Treatise in Defence of the Seven Sacraments," for which the Pope conferred on him the title of "Defender of the Faith." But Henry soon threw the religion which he had thus publicly defended, overboard, when he found it to interfere with the gratification of his unhallowed desires. Having just married his sister-in-law, Catherine of Arragon, and become satiated with her, he was next seized with a violent passion for Anna Boleyn, one of her maids of honour. He applied to the Pope for a divorce, which was refused. He then resolved to establish a church of his own, and set the Pope at defiance. He assumed the title of "Supreme Head of the Church in England;" and the parliament and clergy immediately acknowledged him as such. Wolsey having been trodden down, and Cranmer raised to the archiepiscopal see, a sentence of divorce was pronounced by him against Catherine, and Henry at once married Anna Boleyn, the virtual mother of the Reformation ! * In two years Anna Boleyn

"'Twas love that taught this monarch to be wise,
And Gospel light first beam'd from Boleyn's eyes."

GRAY.

had grown a stale pleasure with the "Supreme head of the Church,” and he had her beheaded on a charge of adultery. The day after her execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, one of the murdered queen's maids of honour; all of which deeds parliament confirmed by their acts, making it treason not to say that Henry had done well. But we have not yet done with Henry's wives. Jane Seymour dying in the year following Henry's marriage to her, he afterwards became united with Anne, daughter of the Duke of Cleves. But, not satisfying the "Defender of the Faith," he was shortly afterwards divorced from her, and married Lady Catherine Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk. After living with her for eighteen months, he had her beheaded on a charge of incontinence both before and after marriage. His sixth and last wife, was Catherine Parr, widow of the Lord Latimer. These, be it observed, are merely Henry's legalized lusts: over the others, decency requires that a dense veil should be drawn.

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We cannot here enumerate the crimes and blasphemies perpetrated by Henry in completing the establishment of the Anglican Church, and separating the English clergy and people from the church of Rome. Acting as if he were the absolute master of the bodies and minds of his subjects, he made creeds and burned those who would not publicly conform to them. It was treason to deny their truth, no matter though of the most contradictory and absurd character. The adherents of the Pope and of Luther were alike hateful to Henry. To doubt Henry's orthodoxy, was to be beheaded or burnt without mercy. Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More were executed for refusing to take the oath of supremacy to him as Supreme Head of the Church," and for not swearing that his daughter Mary, by his first wife, was a bastard! At the same time, he burned Protestants at the stake for speaking against the sacraments of the Romish church. Shortly after he had burnt Lambert for disputing the Real Presence, he made a general attack on the monasteries, confiscating the property belonging to them to the use of the crown. He then concocted and promulgated a national faith, which he ordered to be adopted throughout his dominions, under pain of death. The rack, the gibbet, and the stake, were his principal "reforming" instruments: and the jailer, the torturer, and the executioner, were his gospel missionaries. Catholics and Protestants who presumed to judge for themselves, in opposition to him, were mercilessly destroyed. On one occasion, the same cart conveyed to execution at the same time, three protestants and three catholics: the former were burned, the latter hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The parliament became a mere tool for the perpetration of Henry's brutal tyranny. It voted all his intolerance legal, by the famous bill of the Six Articles, called the Bloody Statute. By this law, the real presence and communion were asserted, the marriage of priests was forbidden, the utility of private masses and the necessity of auricular confession were declared, together

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