CHAPTER VII. 



THE IRISH LANDLORD AND HIS ESTATE. 



Even to-day Ireland is a country of large 

 estates. The proprietory rights of the present 

 owners go back in most cases to conquest. 

 English conquerors overran Ireland at four 

 different periods. First in May, 1169, came 

 a host of Norman-Welsh Conquistadors ; then 

 followed under Elizabeth the colonization of 

 Munster, and of Ulster under James I,, when the 

 foundations of the present Anglo-Scottish colony 

 in Ulster were laid. A further great outburst of 

 colonizing activity took place under the govern- 

 ment of Cromwell, which however came to a 

 standstill under the Restoration. The fourth 

 and last seizure of Irish land by conquest took 

 place after the second or "glorious" revolution. 

 In all these plantation schemes it was sought to 

 establish not only large owners but also small 

 peasants and labourers, an object which was 

 partially attained, in Ulster only, by the '' Plan- 

 tation of Ulster." The present landowners of 

 Ireland are to a large extent descendants of 

 these colonists who were invested with the 

 conquered land by King or Commonwealth. 



