was mixed with other Services [which was also the case in 1609], namely, with Gaol Deliveries and other Execution of publick Justice, and with the Prosecution of such as were in open Action of Rebellion, know ye, that we, reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Wisdom, Diligence, and Sincerity, have by the Advice and Consent of you, our right trusty and well-beloved Councellor, Sir Arthur Chichester, Knight, our Deputy General of our said Realm of Ireland, made, constituted, ordained, and appointed you, or any five or more of you (whereof our said Deputy shall be always one), to be our Commissioners, and we do hereby give unto you, or any five or more of you, full Power and Authority to enquire as well by the oaths of good and lawful men, as by all such other good ways and Means, as to you shall seem fit and convenient, what Castles, Manors, Lordships, Lands, Tenements, Rents, Services, Customs, Duties, Fishings, Advowsons, or other Hereditaments, whatsoever, situate, lying, and being in the several Counties of Armagh, Colraine, Tyrone, Donegall, Fermanagh, and Cavan, or either of them, are escheated and come, or ought to come, or ought to be escheated and come to our Hands and Possession, or to the Hands and Possession of any of our Progenitors or Predecessors, Kings or Queens of England, by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament, by attainder of any Person or Persons, by Breach of any Condition or Conditions contained in any Letters Patent, by escheat, forfeiture, or any other Ways or Means whatsoever; and to make an exact Survey of the said Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and of every Part thereof, by the Numbers of Ballybetaghs, Ballyboes, Polls, Tathes, Acres, or other Measures and Quantities of Land used and known in the said several Counties; and after Inquisition and Survey thereof, as aforesaid, to plot and divide the said Lands into several Parishes, Precincts, and Proportions, and to distinguish the same by particular Names, Meares, and Bounds, according to the Tenor and Intent of the said Project (see chap. III.) and Articles of Instruction hereunto annexed; and further, to perform and execute all and every Act and Acts, thing and things, whatsoever, contained and prescribed in and by the said Project and Articles. And we do further, by and with the consent aforesaid, give unto you, or any five or more of you, aforesaid, full power and authority to hear and determine all Titles, Controversies, and Matters whatsoever, which shall arise, and be moved or pretended as well between us and our subjects, as between Party and Party, concerning the said Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, or any Part thereof (the Church Lands only excepted), which, nevertheless, you shall also have the Power to order and decree, as aforesaid, so as it be done with the Consent of our Deputy, and of you the archbishop of Dublin, our Chancellor, and of you Henry archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland, and of you, George bishop of Derry, Clogher, and Raphoe. And, lastly, we do hereby give you, or any five or more of you, full Power and Authority to do and execute all and every Act or Acts, thing or things, whatsoever, which you, or any five or more of you, shall, in your Discretion, think pertinent and convenient for and towards the Perpetration, Furtherance, or finishing of the said Plantation, willing and commanding you, and every of you, to give diligent Attendance, and to use your best endeavour in the execution of the Premisses, as tenants, they must soon be overrun again by the native Irish, to whom they originally belonged. Anxiety on the part of the planters to avert these contingent troubles so pressed upon the commissioners the necessity of urgency and haste, that the second survey turned out to be almost as defective as the first. becometh; and what you, or any five or more of you, shall do herein, the same to certify us in our High Court of Chancery in our said Realm of Ireland, before Hallowmas next ensuing the date hereof. 21 July, 1609. ARTICLES for Instruction to Commissioners for the Plantation of Ulster (2). 1. That a general care be taken that such Orders, Conditions, and Articles, as have been lately published in Print, or are to be printed or transmitted, touching the Plantation, be observed, and put in execution, as well by the Commissioners, as by the Undertakers. 2. That the said Commissioners be ready to begin their Journey into our Province of Ulster, for the execution of their commission before the end of July next, or sooner if it may be (3). 3. The Omissions and Defects of the former Survey of the escheated Lands in Ulster, either for us or the Church, are to be supplied and amended by new Inquisitions, and the ecclesiastical lands to be distinguished from the Lands belonging to the Crown (4). 4. The Countys being divided into several Proportions, every Proportion is to be divided out by the known Metts [mears] and Names, with the particular mention both of the Number and Name of every Ballyboe, Tath, Polle, Quarter, or the like Irish Precinct of Land, that is contained in every Portion, and to give each Portion a proper Name, to be known by, and in the Proportions lying near to the Highways, choice is to be made for the most fit seat for Undertakers to build (2). Of Ulster.-This set of instructions was prepared towards the end of June, but there had been an earlier set drawn up about the middle of the preceding March. The latter contained 22 articles and has been preserved in vol. 226 of the Irish State Papers. The set really sent with and appended to the above commission aims at being a simpler form of the Instructions,' containing three articles less than its precursor, and squaring itself to a somewhat later phase of the movement. (3). If it may be.-By the earlier set of Instructions, the commissioners were required to commence their journey to the North "ten days after Trinity Term." Trinity term ended about the 13th of June, so that the time required by this second set of Instructions was about a month later. This gave the commissioners a little longer for preparations, and brought round that particular period of the summer most favourable to commence a somewhat prolonged sojourn in the North. The weather was then expected to assume a settled aspect, and the roads to present fewer impediments to travel. As it happened, however, the commissioners were not favoured with much genial weather. They started from Dublin on the 21st, but halted at Dundalk until the necessary force could be assembled, and reviewed there in presence of the deputy. Indeed, the commissioners took credit for being prepared to start so promptly as they did, considering the delay that had arisen in receiving the necessary orders from London. Referring to this delay, Chichester, writing on the 18th, says :-"Some of his former letters had worse speed than other men's written about the same time; for intending that his should go by the post bark, they are returned, and before that he could again dispatch them, the King's letters and instructions, for a more exact survey of the escheated lands and other pre parations towards the intended plantation of Ulster have arrived; all which he received on the 16th inst. [July]. Had they stayed [been delayed] but one week longer, the judges would have been in circuit, and the Council dispersed, so that nothing could have been done therein this summer. But now he [Chichester] has so ordered and disposed the business, that God willing (if money fail not) they will be at Dundalk on the last of this instant, and the next day about Armagh, with which country they intend to begin, and so proceed as the time and season of the year will give leave." The deputy was not disappointed in this expectation. The whole party, after much preliminary arrangement, moved northward from Dundalk on the 31st of July. (4). The Crown.-The third article of the first set of Instructions makes no charge as above of 'omissions and defects' in the preceding survey, but simply requires the commissioners "to divide and sever the ecclesiastical lands from the temporal, and withal set and limit by metes and bounds so many proportions thereof in every county, of 1,000 acres, 1,500 acres, and 2,000 acres apiece, as are contained in the project of plantation." The instructions, however, of the third article in the second set are much more exacting and important, because requiring "new Inquisitions.' In their returns the commissioners' reply to this article of instruction is as follows:-"Inquisitions are taken whereby they [crown and church lands] are distinguished, and omissions of church lands supplied; the rest, except some few parcels, found to be crown lands in general terms, which, in the maps are set forth by particular names of balliboes, quarters, tathes, polles, &c., and are now drawn into a book of survey, wherein omissions of crown lands are supplied." upon, in such sort as may best serve for the safety and succour of Passengers (5); and also to allot and set out by bounds and meares unto every proportion so much Bog and Wood over and above his number of Acres, as the Place where the Proportion shall lie may conveniently afford, having respect to the adjacent Proportions (6). 5. Because the Article of casting Lotts discourageth many that are sufficient, and would be glad to dwell together, that therefore every County be divided into greater Precincts, every Precinct containing eight, ten, or twelve thousand Acres, according to the greatness of the County, and those Precincts to contain several Proportions lying together, to the end that so many Consorts [Companies] of Undertakers may here be appointed as there are several Precincts; which being done, then these Consorts may cast Lotts for the Precincts, and afterwards divide every Precinct amongst the particular Undertakers of that Consort, either by agreement or by Lott; and this form not to be concluded but upon Consideration taken thereof by the Commissioners there, who having reported back their opinions, some such course may be resolved, as to us shall be thought most convenient (7). (5) Passengers.-This arrangement of selecting sites was left entirely in the hands of the deputy, who occasionally, but not often, required to interfere. We give the following as an illustration of such interference, when the interests of the particular district were supposed to render it necessary :-"The Lord Deputy to Mr. John Taylor and his substitute in the county of Cavan-I require you to erect your principal habitation for the present, whether castle or stone house, as you are specially bound, on no other place but at Ballyhaies (parcel of the land assigned to you as an undertaker within the county of Cavan), which we understand to be a place of principal advantage for strength and defence of yourself and other undertakers upon all your proportion. For the more special site, we will you to be further advised by Captain Hugh Culme, constable of the King's castle of Cloughouter, and high sheriff of that county. 5th October, 1611. In the fourth article of the first set of Instructions, the commissioners were directed to "inquire how many English acres every balliboe, quarter, tath, poll, or the like Irish precinct doth contain, and thereupon you shall set forth the several proportions, by making an estimate of the number of acres ; yet in making the said proportions you shall have a care not to break the said Irish precincts of land, except in case of necessity, where the said precincts being laid together will not make up the proportions in any reasonable equality.' It is remarkable that in the second set of articles the commissioners were not bound to any such particularity, and make no reference to their having taken any trouble in the matter. From this source, no doubt, arose many inaccuracies of admeasurement. (6). Proportions. In their return, the commissioners answer this 4th article as follows:-"Proportions distinguished and bounded already in the maps, and now extracted and set down in the said book, with the names and boundaries. The bog and wood may be allotted by the view of special commissioners, when the undertakers Ishall sit down upon their proportions, if it shall be thought needful, because every townland hath sufficient bog for turbary.' The assignment of wood and bog in each case was a more difficult task than the commissioners would have us suppose, for in some districts there was but little bog, and in others no wood. Indeed this one task would have required more time than they could command, and they thus wisely left it for "special commissioners." (7). Most convenient.—See pp. 80, 92. The 'consorts' above referred to were simply companies coming to Ulster sometimes from the same districts in the mother countries; but, at all events, being made up, some consorts exclusively of English, and others exclusively of Scotch, the members were naturally anxious to be placed at least in the same baronies. The consorts came each under the guidance or superintendence of some influential person, and to meet their wishes the distribution by lot was only introduced in the very modified style above described. The consorts, in a word, cast lots for baronies; and the members of each consort might then, if it so pleased themselves, cast lots for the proportions contained in their own special baronies or precincts. Thus, in the county of Armagh, the barony of Oneilan fell by lot to the English, and that of the Fewes, (or so much of it as was available) to the Scotch; whilst Orior became the portion of servitors and natives. In the county of Tyrone, the two baronies of Omagh and Clogher fell to consorts of English; the two baronies of Mountjoy and Strabane to consorts of Scotch, whilst the barony of Dungannon fell to servitors and natives. In the county of Donegal, the barony or precinct of the Liffer or Lifford fell to the English, Portlough and Boylagh to the Scotch, and those of Doe and Fawnett to the servitors and natives. In the county of Fermanagh, the precincts or baronies of Clankally and Coolemackernan fell to the English; Knockninny and Magheraboy to the Scotch; and the whole barony of Clanawley, with the two half baronies of Coole and Tircannada to the servitors and natives. In the county of Cavan, the barony of Loughtee fell to the English, Clanchie and Tulloghconcho to the Scotch, and Castlerahin, Tulloghgarvie, Clanmahon, and Tullagha to servitors and natives. In their 6. To cause Plots to be made of every County, and in the said Plot [of each County] to prick out the several Precincts, and in the Precincts the several Proportions by their Names (8). 7. Such great Woods as the Commissioners shall make choice of to be preserved to our use, are to be excepted out of the Proportions, and to be reserved for the Undertakers' buildings, and for such other purposes as to us shall be thought fit (9). 8. That in the Surveys observation be made what Proportions by Name are fittest to be allotted to the Brittains, what to the Servitors, and what to the Natives; wherein this respect is to be had, that the Brittains be put in Places of best safety, the Natives to be dispersed, and the Servitors planted in those Places which are of the greatest importance to serve the rest (10). return, the commissioners make answer to this fifth article, as follows:-"It is thought fit that every barony in the several shires shall make a great precinct, except the baronies of Dounganon, and Loughty in Cavan, which may make two precincts apiece. These baronies are exactly described in several maps, the bounds and names whereof appear also in several records." Thus the barony of Dungannon formed the two precincts of Dungannon and Mountjoy; but Loughtee remained as one division of the county of Cavan. The precinct of Mountjoy was afterwards included, to form one of the three divisions of Dungannon. (8). By their Names.-Plots or maps were made accordingly; or as the commissioners afterwards stated-"this article is performed exactly." Only, however, the barony maps of the four counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Cavan have yet been found. The barony maps of the counties of Donegal and Coleraine, it is hoped, still exist in some collection not yet examined. (9). Thought fit.-At the commencement of the seventeenth century, almost every county in Ulster was adorned and enriched with magnificent woods. Chichester, referring to such as were most known throughout the escheated counties, when writing to Salisbury, in October, 1608, says "In the county of Donegal he is sure there are none [no woods] at all; neither is there any in the county of Colerayne; both which counties lie upon the sea. But there is good store in Glanconkeyne and Kylletra [then territories in Tyrone], and Braselowe [Clanbrasill, in Armagh], which counties lie upon the Lough Eaugh [Neagh], which is navigable from each side and end all over. Although, at the commencement of the letter from which the foregoing is an extract, Chichester had affirmed that he was "well acquainted with all parts of Ulster," he had evidently overlooked several woods in his sojournings throughout our northern province. With these, however, he must have made acquaintance in the autumn of 1609, as the commissioners, of whom he was chief, reported other woods in addition to those mentioned by him above. In their return, they state, in answer to this article of instruction, that "the greatest woods which they thought fittest to be reserved for the King's use, were the woods of Clanbrazil and Clancann in Ardmagh; the woods of Glanconkeyne, Killetragh and Brentery, in Tirone ; [the wood] of Cilmacrenan, in Donagall; the woods of Knockninny and Lurgh, in Fermanagh; and the woods of Tulloghonco and Tullagha, in Cavan. Nevertheless, for the increase of the King's rents, and the enlarging of the plantation, the lands whereon the said woods grow are cast into proportions according to the survey, and the places where timber groweth are marked and expressed in the maps; and reservation is to be made in the undertakers' grants, of the timber trees to be bestowed at the King's pleasure, and the common use of the plantation." The commissioners were thus of opinion that these several woods must soon disappear before the coming settlers; and they, therefore, regarded the lands, though then covered with trees, as so many proportions soon to be available for plantation. And such was indeed the fact, for all the woods of Ulster soon shared the fate of Glanconkeyne, the noblest and most extensive of all. In the earlier set of articles already described, the following was the 20th in order :-"You shall appoint some discreet and skilful persons to assign convenient Timber to every undertaker for his building, out of our great woods growing upon the lands escheated." This order was not reproduced in the second set of instructions, nor did the point therein specified receive any attention until too late to preserve a necessary amount of wood. The commissioners actually comforted certain servitors, who got no portions of land at the regular distribution, by the fact that they might soon have as much as they wanted because of the rapid clearing of the woods in Glenconkeyne. Not twelve months afterwards, an order came from the council in London for the prohibition of waste in felling the large timber, which was thenceforth to be applied only for building houses and ships. (10). To serve the rest.—It was not difficult to arrange this matter so far as British undertakers and servitors were concerned; but it required all the commissioners' ingenuity, even under the guidance of the astute deputy himself, to locate such natives as got small portions-not in the places most encouraging and advantageous, but where they would be least dangerous and most easily watched. There was naturally the overshadowing terror that, as the natives had been so plundered of their lands, they would be certain, unless scattered about, to make common cause, to form conspiracies, and even, if an opportunity offered, take a bloody vengeance. This 8th article of instruction had reference especially to such natives as were to receive little freeholds, and as the commissioners generally knew but little of the circumstances involved, they willingly gave over the management of details to Chichester. In their return, they answer this article in the following very general terms :-"The Lord 9. The Commissioners are to limit and bound out the Precincts of the several Parishes, according to their discretions, notwithstanding the Limitation of the Precinct; wherein they may observe the ancient limits of the old Parishes, so as the same breed not`a greater Inconvenience to the Plantation, and to assign to the Incumbent of each Parish a glebe after the rate of three score Acres for every thousand Acres within the Parishes, in the most convenient Places, or nearest to the Churches (11); and for the more certainty to give each Glebe a certain Name, Deputy hath in general advised what is fit to be done touching this article, which may be allowed or altered by their Lordships [the council in London], upon view of the maps. Indeed, it may be truly said, that all the arrangements specially affecting the natives in the plantation originated with Chichester, or, when not exactly so, these arrangements always took the shape recommended by him. The dispersion of the native freeholders was a sine qua non, but it was a difficult business, because they could not be dispersed among British settlers, nor over any lands likely to be coveted by the latter. They were, therefore, eventually located in small companies throughout certain baronies, and on lands where there was at least ample room for improvement. This policy was specially Chichester's. In a document forwarded by him to the council in London, and headed Certain Considerations Touching the Plantation of the Escheated Lands in Ulster, the deputy discourses as follows:-" Upon the plantation of Munster, it was thought good policy to scatter and divide the Irish among the English undertakers, hoping that by observation of civility and good husbandry among their neighbours, they would learn to fashion and conform themselves to the like qualities and conditions with them. But experience disproved that opinion, for they were no sooner set down amongst them than instead of imitating, they scorned their courses, envied their fortunes, and longed to be masters of what they [the English intruders] possessed; and as soon as memory of their former rebellion and miseries was a little forgotten, and their estates [means of living] amended, they grew to contriving forged titles to the lands whereon the English had built and enclosed [but which had previously belonged to these very Irish of Munster], making daily stealths of their goods and plots against their lives. Moreover, the daily conversation and dwelling of the Irish amongst the English, gave free recourse to all their base followers and rogues to make espial and free passage amongst them, out of which late example he is bold to say, that, as it is a matter of great consequence and necessity to make meet provision for the natives, so is it very difficult and dangerous to remove and transplant such a number of barbarous and warlike people into any parts of the kingdom; besides that the other provinces are too well acquainted with their lives and conditions, and will be as unapt to receive them. Therefore, the remedy he conceives will be to appoint them some one part of the plainest [literally, most exposed] land of their own country [Ulster]; or to intermix their townreeds with ours in plain countries [localities] where they may be environed with seas, strongholds, and powerful men to overstay them; and to proportion those lands indifferently unto them upon meet rents and conditions to keep them in subjection, and that with such equality in the partition, that the contentment of the greater number may overweigh the displeasure and dissatisfaction of the smaller number of better blood [or higher rank]". Such was the policy not only in reference to those Irish who got small freeholds, but also in reference, as we here see, to that overwhelmingly larger class who had no such provision, but were to be managed simply as serfs on their own soil. In the first set of instructions, the following is the 15th article :-"You shall make choice of the best and best-affected natives to be freeholders in every county, and shall allot unto them greater or lesser proportions [portions] according to their several qualities and deserts." (11). To the Churches.-In the earlier set of instructions, this article takes the following form :-" You shall consider whether one or more proportions be fit to make a parish, and according to your discretions, limit and bound out the several parishes, as far forth as it may stand with the plantation; which being done you shall assign unto every incumbent 60 acres of glebe for every 1,000 acres within his parish." To this 9th article the commissioners afterwards gave in their reply or answer, as follows:-"It was thought fitt not to allow the old parishes, the names and bounds whereof appear of record in the inquisitions taken last summer. For the glebes, there are so many acres added to every proportion, as the project prescribed, but because the termon lands lying nearest the churches were thought fittest to be assigned to glebes, which could not be done without the consent of the bishops, the glebes are not yet distinguished by names and bounds; but if the Bishops consent it may be done forthwith." The bishops-or, perhaps we should only say, the Bishop of Derry-had not consented to this arrangement of the commissioners, for in the county of Coleraine, which contained more termon lands than any of the others, the glebes were laid out' with little respect to the convenience of the incumbents. In Sampson's Memoir of the Chart of Londonderry, p. 250, the author refers to this matter as follows:-In some instances, the glebe assigned for a certain parish is laid of at the distance of many miles from any part of its precincts; and in other cases we find two or three glebes in a parish, not one of which belongs to itself. Yet the civil commissioners had the power and disposal over these assignments, and might, at that time [1609], easily have adjusted these properties so as to accord with their intended uses. But this power, it now appears, the commissioners had not; so that the chief blame must be laid on the shoulders of Bishop Montgomery. The parishes, however, remained pretty much as they had been as to bounds and limits, being to this day very much larger than the framers of these 'Instructions' at all contemplated, even making allowance for the most liberal admeasurements, or the addition to each proportion of |