IRELAND-. 



tlicfe prerogatives to themfelves : for tHcy governed tlicir 

 people by tile Brolion L ' , . ■ 



ds Ihci 



ir own ma 



tlic year (2 to. H? bi-oiifrlit with him a cor.riieniblc fcrcr, 

 thoiijvh not perhaps fufficicnt for tin- con-.plcte reduilion ot 

 the ifland, even if he had remained m fiilHcient time to per- 

 form fo great an affion. This, Iiowevcr, he did not, for 

 li.> arrived in June and returned in September the fame year. 

 Tlie Irilh lords, for the moil part, fnbmitted themfclvcs to 

 him, as they liad done before to his father ; " wliich," fays 

 lir John D.-ivics, " was but a mere mockery and impolturc : 

 for his back was no foontr turned, but tiiey rc:urned to their 

 former rebellion : and yet this was rcpuUd a feeond con- 

 quelt.'' At this time twelve tonnlies were eflaMiflied in 

 Leinllcr and Munller, and fheriffs appointed for them, 

 and courts of judicature were alfo fettled in Dublin, foi: 

 the regular and effectual execution of the laws of England 

 in that part of the ifland which acknowledged allegiance 

 to the crown. Some callles were built upon the borders 

 of the Engliih colonies, but the king carrying back with 

 him the army he had brought, the former feltlers were 

 left to defend their poffeffions, and incieafe them in the beil 

 maimer they were able. 



The long and t'.irbulent reign of HL'nry III. was diilin- 

 contrib-.ited guiflied by no remarkable change in the Hate of I 

 The families of iiurgh and Fitzgerald received a la!_^ 

 cefiion ot power and terntiiry, and the clergy, though 

 thenifelvcs opprelTed both by the king and the pope, were not 

 d; hcient ,n turbulence and'prefumption. Edward I. an ac- 

 tiv monaieli, w.js too much engaged in rejiukiting th.e dif- 

 oidcrcd ihite »f England,, and in reducing ^Va!es and Scot- 

 land, to devote much attention to the aifairs of Ireland. 

 At the commencentent of his reign, the Englifh fettlers ex- 



trates and officers ; they pardoned and punitlied all male- 



faelors within their feveral countries ; they made war and 



peace- one with another without controlment ; and this they 



did, not only during the reign of Henry II. but afterwards, 



in all times, even until the reign of queen Elizabeth." In 



faft, the Irilh only acknowledged the fuperiority of Henry in 



the fame way as the Welfli princes often did before their 



fubjeClion ; and in the fame way as Henry himfelf did 



homage to the king of France, as his liege lord for the vail 



territories he held in France. Henry hiinfelf, in the treaty 



of agreement made in 1175, acknowledged Roderic as king 



of Connaiight, and in his commiirion to William Fit/.- 



Adeline gave the Irilh lords the title and llyle of kings. It 



is unnecelfary to enter into a detail of the petty wars be- 

 tween the Englidi fettlers and Irifh chieftains,' or of the 

 jealoufy entertained of the former by their foveroigns, who, 

 though prevented by family dillrelles from going over, fent 

 agents to watch and check them. Had Ireland been at 

 this time fubdued by a competent force, and the Englilh laws 

 introduced into every part of it, it wo'ild ha 

 to the quiet and happinels of all c'laffes ; but as it was, the 

 Enghfli fettlers added to the confulion. Their only objeft 

 appears to have been to acquire territories for themfcKvs ; and 

 few crolTed to Ireland except rude and barbarous warriors, 

 little, if at all, fuperior to thofe amongll whom they went. 

 In 1 18 J, Henry fent' John, his youngelt fon, whom he had 

 previoully m.ide lord of Ireland, to that country. This 

 young j)rince, being but i 2 years of age, with a train of 



young noblemen and gentlemen to the number of 300, but perienced fome heavy loffes, and were nearly expelled from 

 not with any coniiderable army, arrived at Waterford, and was their fouthern pofleflions, but the Irifh were not united, 

 attended there by the Irifli chieftains, who, difunited among and the advantages gained in one year were often loft the 



■d. 

 je ac- 



themfelves, and terriliedby the reprefentations of his force, 

 flocked to Waterford to pay their refpedls and do homage. 

 Y)M the youthful courtiers about the prince were not calcu- 

 lated to conciliate ; they treated their vifitors with the ut- 

 moil fconi and contetnpt, and fo highly roufed their indig- 

 nation as to produce a general fpirit of refillance. The 



original fettlers, too, were ill u fed, ar.d theEnglifli interell an IriQiman 



was with great difficulty maintained in the towns which a])plication 



they had fortilied. Henry found it neceffaiy to recal his govern r, u 



fon, and the government of Ireland was committed to John giM:: ilu- t 



de Courcy, a valiant knight, who had already acquired con- Inih iiih.;l'. 



fiderable pofleflions in Ulfter. " From this time forward," reliding u u 



fays that judicious writer fir John Davief, " until the 12th reft were 1. 1 



year of king .John, (which was a fpaceof more than 30 years,) be adverle i 



there was no army tranfmitted out of England to flinlh the probable tli 



eonqued. Howbeit, in the mean time, the Englifli adventurers biia;iis had 



and colonies already planted in Ireland did win much ground h.ive been L 



upon the Irilh ; nam.ely, the earl Strongbow, having The king w 



married tlie daughter of Mac Morrogh in Leinller ; the the petitiont 



Eucies in Meath ; the Giraldians and other adventurers in and opprefli' 



Munller ; the Audelics, Gernons, Clintons, R ilfels, ai-d influence w; 



next, through the dilfentions of the conquerors. Many of 

 the Irilh were at this time anxious to fli.ire the protedion of 

 the Englilh laws, for, to the difgraee of the Englifli govern- 

 ment, tills ailvant.ige had been withheld, and whilit the mur 

 der of an En^litliman by one of the mere Iri/o, as they were 

 termed, wa 



?d with the utnioft rigour, the murder of 

 was i'carcely deemed a pnnilhable offence. An 

 vas made early in this reign to Uflbrd, the chief 



II ring the king 8000 marks, provided he would 

 .e enjoyment of the laws of England to the 

 .r.r,. Tile jjelitioners mufl have been the Irifli 

 liii .\':,i: '...1, called the " Englifli pale," for ihe 

 I'lLi .1 It till J to their own Brehon laws, as to 

 ' a I M,,; .;i at a much later period ; though it is 

 It ;t tlie wiie policy of alTimilating «//ihe inlia- 

 Imtu now adopted, the objce'tion to it would 

 "s than at the time it was aftually attempted. 

 1., well inclined to comply with the- rcquell of 

 rs, but this did not fnit thofe, whofe vi-jlcr;ce 



III would have been thus controlled, and wl-.ofe 

 s great enough to counteract the intended 



other volunteers of fir John de Courey's retinue in Uifler; meafure. Individuals, however, of the Irifn race iced for, 



and the Bourkes (planted by William Fitz-Adt !iiie) in and obtained charters of denization, particularly on their 



Connaught. Yet were the Englifli reputed but part owners intermarriage with the Englilh. That fuch condudi 



of Ireland at this time, as appears by the commiliion of the irritated the old inhabitants cannot be furpriflng. " A» 



pope's legate in the time ot king Kicliard I., when by he long as they (the Irifli) were out of the proteiflion 



had power to exercife his jurifditti;;H in England, Wales, of the law," fays lir John Davies, " fo as eviry Eiig- 



and /A^' /irfr/j &/" /rf/rt/j(/ ill which John earl of Morton has lilhman might opprefs, fpoil, and kill them witliout co^-- 



power and dominion, as it is recorded by Matthew Pans.'' trolment, how was it poflible they flionld be other than 



During this interval, not orly the Irifli chief'ains frequently oullav.-s, and enemies to the crown of England ? If the 



revolted, but fome of the great Englifli fettlers affumed in- king would not admit them to the condition ot fubjects. how 



dependeiic". This was particularly tlie cafe after the nc- could they learn to acknowledge and obey him as their fo- 



cefiion of John to the Englifli throne, and the fupprelfion of vereign ? When they might not converfe or commerce « ilh 



one of thefe was. the avowed objcft of his vifit to Ireland in. a.iy civil men, ucr cuter into any town or city without peril 



