CH. V.] CONSOLIDATION OF FARMS. 83 



REMARKS. 



Neither ancient nor modern history presents 

 any state of society at all comparable to this. We 

 must examine the causes, as the Inquiries have 

 not even approached the subject. 



We have seen that the seizure of Ireland was 

 made by the English, who, having divided it into 

 fiefs, appropriated the land for the most part to 

 themselves. They founded, as in England, religious 

 orders, making at the same time grants of land. 

 In Ireland, as in England, these lands were the 

 best cultivated. The English nobility embraced the 

 Reformation with the greatest zeal, as, by abolish- 

 ing the religious orders, they confiscated their lands 

 in favour of the lords of the manor. During 1 50 

 years, however, the efforts of the English to establish 

 the Reformation had been fruitless, when, in 1640, 

 an army of 30,000 men, under Cromwell, landed 

 in Ireland. Discipline overcame numbers, and the 

 Irish were conquered. 



Confiscations followed, not only of the property 

 of the religious orders, but of all the lands of those 

 who did not espouse the Reformation, and the 

 most cruel laws were put in force against the Ca- 

 tholic priests and their flocks ; these confiscations 

 were granted to the officers in Cromwell's army. 

 Ireland at that period had only 800,000 inhabitants. 



G 2 



