MEMOIR. Sketch of Irish Affairs, preceding the Settlement of Protestant Colonies in Ulster. ALTHOUGH the military dominion of England had subsisted in Ireland more than four hundred years, before the time when the Protestant colonies were settled by King James the First, in the province of Ulster, yet all historians agree that, previous to this date the civil and political influence of this power was but nominally acknowledged, and of course was but occasionally obeyed. It was obeyed, indeed, by the Irish chieftains when their own feuds excited them to enmity with each other; it was set at nought as often as these partial rivalries gave way to a more general resentment against invading foreigners. In this precarious state of affairs, although the power of the English was, for the most part, equal to the repressing of any sudden insurrections, yet the effort, like the danger, being of a temporary nature, was seldom, if ever, sustained with that equability which is necessary to hold in subjection the unbroken spirit of a warlike people. Such are the considerations which may account for the hopes and the courage with which the Irish clans, under their native Princes, flew to arms on every favourable opportunity. Even when the influence of the conquerors might have begun to impress habits partaking of their own improvements, this progress was retarded in Ireland by many unhappy though, perhaps, unavoidable causes; and among others, it was obviously and essentially impeded through the defect of the military system. The English armies, B like most of that age, were often in need of equipment and provisions. That department, invaluable in our modern campaigns, under the title of Commissariat, was then unknown; it was therefore through a kind of necessity, that the soldiery were permitted to live at free quarters among the natives-a situation at all times galling and oppressive; how much more so, whensoever the peasants are beheld, as the Irish were then viewed by the English, in the character of irreconcileable barbarians. We have also to lament, that, in proportion as the English valued themselves on their superiority over the Irish, in the same proportion they disdained to admit them, as equals, to the protection of their laws or the diffusion of their improvements. Besides these disadvantages, we must call to mind that our monarchs looked for their glory and distinction, among the rival potentates of the continent, rather than among the petty warfares of this remote island. Thence it happened that to avoid both trouble and expense, they usually delegated to private adventurers the task of subduing the natives, and by conferring the lordships of the territories subdued, acquitted themselves of the debt for subjugation. Out of this system arose a class of English possessors who, affecting the condition of independant Princes, estranged themselves from the habits and intercourse, with that power which might admonish them of their duty and allegiance. To these causes, which of themselves might account for the unsettled condition of the Irish, we have yet to add another, derived from a source, which of all others, when mingling with human affairs, has been found to confer either the most exalted blessing, or the most degrading affliction; under this distinction I would be understood to contrast the spirit of theological fanaticism with that of pure and benignant Christianity. Happily for the liberty and the liberality of mankind, the controversies and disputations which, during the sixteenth century, had spread war and bloodshed through Europe, terminated amongst many of its most enlightened nations, by establishing the opinions of the reformists-the native Irish, however, remained in their former attachment to the religion of Rome; nor should this excite our surprise; but it is certainly remarkable that many descendants of the English, (thenceforth distinguished as Catholics of the Pale) at first in matters of religion, and afterwards in matters of policy, ranged themselves on the side of the Irish. Hence arose, in addition to motives already assigned, a new cause of suspicion and enmity; hence by one party the terms of Irish Catholic and Rebel became synonymous; hence on the other side, that unhappy facility with which the enemies of Britain, in connexion with Rome, found means to excite so many rebellions in Ireland; and hence also those statutes of severity which have been deemed necessary for the maintenance of the English dominion and of the Protestant establishment in this portion of the British empire. I trust that what is here advanced, though in a concise and cursory manner, will be found to have noticed the principal causes which at the close of the sixteenth century, retarded in Ireland the growth of those civil and social improvements, which the neighbouring countries, by no means superior in natural advantages, had long before begun to cultivate and enjoy. I shall now proceed to particulars more intimately connected with the purpose of this narrative. In the year fifteen hundred and sixty, when Shan O'Neil raised a formidable revolt through the whole province of Ulster, the entire revenue which Queen Elizabeth derived from Ireland amounted only to six thousand pounds per annum : yet the expense of defraying the government in this kingdom exceeded this sum by no less than twenty thousand pounds. The army in general consisted of one thousand men, which on occasions of emergency was augmented to double that number.* When we reflect on the incompetency of these resources, we need scarcely be surprised that O'Neil, at the head of all the powerful Septs of Ulster, was encouraged to revolt, * See Cambden, page 542. |