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THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



in Dublin; and about the same period some of 

 the native princes were induced to acknowledge 

 him as their sovereign, and to accept p.- 

 The doctrines of the Reformation met little favor 

 either with the descendants of the old English 

 settlers or with the native Irish. The attempts 

 of the English Government in Ireland to intro- 

 duce the Reformed faith and English institutions 

 stirred up great dissensions in Ireland. The 

 country was divided into shires in 1,569; printing 

 in Iri>h characters introduced by Walsh, Chan- 

 cellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin. 1671; in 1601-02 

 occurred the famous insurrection of Tyrone, 

 who invited the Spaniards to assist him, but 

 they were all defeated by the Lord Deputy 

 Mountjoy in the latter year. In consequence of 

 repeated rebellions 511,466 acres of land in the 

 Province of Ulster became forfeited to the 

 English Crown, and James I. divided his land 

 among such of his English and Scottish subjects 

 as chose to settle there. In 1641 occurred More 

 and Maguire's Rebellion, which was an endeavor 

 to expel the Protestant settlers in Ulster, many 

 of whom are believed to have been massacred. 

 Between the years 1649-56, Cromwell and his 

 son-in-law, General Ireton, reduced the whole 

 island to subjection, and Ireland was compara- 

 tively tranquil until the Revolution. At the 

 Revolution the native Irish generally took the 

 part of James II., the English and Scotch 

 "colonists" of William and Mary; and the war 

 was kept up for four years (1688-92). From 

 this time till 1778 history records little beyond 

 the passing of penal statutes against the Roman 

 Catholics. In 1778, Parliament relaxed the 

 stringent pressure of these acts; but the widely- 

 >pread disaffection which they caused gave birth 

 to numerous societies, resulting in the rebellion 

 of 1798, which was not suppressed till 1800. On 

 January 1. 1801, the legislative union of Great 

 Britain with Ireland was consummated, and 

 from this period the history of the country 

 merges in that of Great Britain. In 1879, Ireland 

 suffered severely from famine, and since 1880 

 from agrarian and "home rule" disturbances. 

 The latest home rule bill known as the 

 Birrell Bill was defeated in 1907. 



Ironsides* Cromwell's troopers, a thousand 

 strong, and raised by him in the Eastern counties 

 of England, so-called at first from the invinci- 

 bility displayed by them at Marston Moor; were 

 selected by Cromwell "as men," he says "that 

 had the fear of God before them, and made 

 conscience of what they did. . . . They 

 were never beaten," he adds, "and wherever 

 they were engaged against the enemy, they beat 

 continually." 



Israelites (Hebrew Yisreeli), the descend- 

 ants of Jacob, "the chosen people." The twelve 

 tribes descended from Jacob's children were 

 called " Israel " in Egypt, and throughout the Pen- 

 tateuch, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, 

 and Kings. The name was afterward given to 

 the larger portion, or ten northern tribes, after 

 the death of Saul, a distinction that obtained 

 even in David's time. But more definitely 

 was the name applied to the schismatical 

 portion of the nation, including all the tribes 

 save Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, which 

 set up a separate monarchy in Samaria after the 



death of Solomon. After the exile the two 

 branches became blended, and are again called 

 by the old name by Ezra and Nehemiah. But 

 by degrees the name ".lews" (q. r.) supplanted 

 this appellation, especially among foreigners. 

 The history of the Israelites, especially during 

 the early periods, is inseparably bound up with 

 that of their rulers, patriarchs, etc., as Abraham, 

 Jacob, MOM-S. Joshua, the Judges, David, Solo- 

 mon, etc., to all of which the reader is referred. 

 The following is a short summary of the leading 

 points in the history of the Israelites: Abraham 

 called, B. C. 1921; Isaac born, 1896; Esau and 

 Jacob born, 1837; death of Abraham, 1822; 

 Joseph sold into Egypt, 1729; Moses born, 1571; 

 institution of the Passover and the Exodus, 1491 ; 

 promulgation of the Law from Sinai, 1491; the 

 tabernacle set up, 1490; Joshua leads the 

 Israelites into Canaan, 1451; the first bondage, 

 1413; the second, 1343; the third, 1304; the 

 fourth, 1252; the fifth, 1206; the sixth, 1157; 

 Sampson slays the Philistines, 1136; Samuel 

 governs as Judge, about 1120; Samson pulls 

 down the temple of Dagon, 1117; Saul made 

 king, 1095; David kills Goliath, about 1063; 

 death of Saul and accession of David, 1055; 

 David captures Jerusalem and makes it his 

 capital, 1048; Solomon lays the foundations of 

 the temple, 1012; it is dedicated, 1004; death 

 of Solomon and division of the kingdom, 975. 



In the reign of Solomon the prophet Ahijali 

 was intrusted with the announcement to Jero- 

 boam that, in punishment for the many acts of 

 disobedience to the divine law, and particularly 

 of the idolatry so extensively practiced by Solo- 

 mon, the greater part of the kingdom would be 

 transferred to him. This breach was never 

 healed. A spirit of disaffection had long been 

 rife, even in the reigns of David and Solomon, 

 fostered by various causes, not the least among 

 which was the burdensome taxes imposed by the 

 i latter monarch for the support of his luxurious 

 court and for the erection of his numerous build- 

 ings. But however much these causes may 

 have operated to create a breach between the 

 North and South districts of Palestine, certain 

 it is that God Himself expressly forbade all at- 

 tempts on the part of Rehoboam or his succes- 

 sors to subdue the revolted provinces, and, with 

 slight exceptions, the subsequent history of the 

 two nations still more widely separated them. 

 The precise amount of territory contained in the 

 Kingdom of Israel cannot be accurately ascer- 

 tained; it was approximately as nine to four 

 compared with the sister Kingdom of Judah; the 

 ten tribes included in Israel, it is supposed, were 

 Ephraim and Manasseh (East and West), Issa- 

 char, Zebulon, Asher, Naphtali, Gad, Reuben, 

 and part of Dan; the population was probably, 

 at the separation, about 4,000,000 It was not 

 long before the new kingdom showed signs of 

 weakness. It developed no new power, which 

 is not surprising when we consider that it was 

 but a section of David's Kingdom shorn of many 

 sources of strength. "The history of the King- 

 dom of Israel is, therefore, the history of its 

 decay and dissolution." The first symptom of 

 decline was shown in the emigration of many 

 families who adhered to the old religion of 

 the Israelites back to Judah; and to check 



