308 
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among the inhabitants of Ireland received’ the full fanc- 
tion of the legiflature, and the feffion clofed with the 
grant of a liberal fubfidy. Meanwhile a convocation of 
the clergy was held in Dublin, chiefly for the purpofe of 
framing a confeflion of faith for the eftablifhed church. 
This talk was committed to Dr. James Ulher, afterwards 
a diftinguifned prelate of the Irifh church, whofe formu¬ 
lary, containing one hundred and four articles, vvas ap¬ 
proved by the convention and the lord-deputy. 
The difcovery and fuppreflisn of a confpiracy for ex¬ 
terminating the'Britifh fettlers in Ulfter, tended only to 
confirm the king in his fyftem of colonization. Out of 
65,000 acres adjudged to the crown between the rivers 
Ovoca and Slaney, one fourth was defiined for an Englifh 
colony, and the remainder for the natives, on the lame 
terms as in Ulfter. In like manner 385,000 acres in the 
King’s and Queen’s Counties, Leitrim, Longford, and 
Weftmeath, were allotted for diftribution, principally in 
re-grants to the old proprietors. This mode of planta¬ 
tion, however, could not be carried into effedl without 
abufes of power the molt opprefiive to many of the na¬ 
tives, who were deprived by fraud or violence of the pof- 
fefiions referved for them by command of the king. The 
refentments of fuch fufferers were infome cafes exafperated 
by finding their lands transferred to hungry adventurers 
who had no fervices to plead, and fometimes to thofe who 
had been rebels and traitors. Neither the adtors nor the 
©bjedts of fuch grievances were confined to one religion. 
The nioft zealous in the fervice of government, and the 
sxioft peaceable conformifts, were involved in the ravages 
of avarice and rapine, without any diltinction of princi¬ 
ples and profeflions. It is only furprifing that, with fuch 
juft caufe of irritation, and amidft all the violence of re¬ 
ligious rancour, no infurredtion .was attempted ; efpeci- 
ally, as the military force maintained in Ireland was to¬ 
tally inadequate to the luppreflion of any revolt. By the 
inftitution of baronets, the king provided for the railing 
of a fund capable of fupporting 6000 men; but, fo low 
were bis finances, from his oum prodigality and the par- 
fimony of the Englifh parliament, that the army in Ire¬ 
land was reduced to 1350 foot and 200 cavalry. Even 
this contemptible eftablifhment vvas feldom complete, and 
coft the crown upwards of 52,000k a year, which exceed¬ 
ed by more than i6,oool. the annual-revenues of the 
kingdom. 
Such was the ftate of Ireland in 1625, on the acceftion 
of Charles I. to the Britifh throne. Engaged, through 
the caprices of his favourite, the duke of Buckingham, 
in a war with Spain, and apprehenfive of attempts from 
that power in Ireland, the king refolved to increafe his 
military force in this ifiand ; but, having no money to 
pay his troops, he'directed them to be quartered on the 
inhabitants of the feveral counties and towns, who w r ere 
to fupply them with clothes, provifions, and other necef- 
faries, at each place for three months alternately. To 
obtain a cheerful fubmiflion to this arrangement, the de¬ 
puty, lord Falkland, promifed that the ulual compoiition 
fhould be fufpended, and other graces granted by his ma- 
jefty. So fuccefsful was this expedient, that, after a con¬ 
ference with the principal nobility and gentry, they made 
an offer of a voluntary contribution of 40,000k per an¬ 
num for three years. This propofal was accepted, and 
the folicited graces were conferred by the king, under the 
form of inftrudlions tranfmitted to the chief governor and 
council. Thefe inftrudlions extended to the removal of 
various opprefftons and abufes. The fubjects were fecured 
in the poffeffion of their lands by a limitation of the 
king’s title to fixty antecedent years ; and recufants were 
permitted to pradtife in the courts of law, on their oath 
to defend the king as their legitimate fovereign. A de¬ 
tail of all the articles embraced by the royal inftrudlions 
would be tedious to the reader but one more from its 
Angularity may here be noticed. The ufe of fhort ploughs 
fattened to the tails of horfes had been prohibited by the 
legiflature under a penalty of ten {hillings a-year on each 
AND. 
plough. The king’s officers bad been careful not to fup- 
prefs this barbarous cuftom, but contrived to render it a 
fubjedt of taxation, as the principal part of the money thus 
railed found its way into their own hands. This penalty 
was now annulled, and the prevention of the practice re¬ 
ferred to a future parliament, which was tobefummoned for 
the pafling of an ait of general pardon, and a confirmation 
of all proprietors in the pofTeffioh of tlieir refpedtive eftates. 
Means were found to evade the fulfilment of thefe pro- 
miles as far as related to the convocation of a parliament. 
The zeal of the catholics was meanwhile incefl’antly ex¬ 
erted to reftore the papal authority; and to fuch a height 
did they carry their oppofition to the eftablifhed govern¬ 
ment, that, in defiance of the law, a fraternity of Carme¬ 
lites, in the habit of their order, aflembled a multitude of 
people for the performance of religious rites in one of the 
molt frequented ftreets of Dublin. A body of troops, led 
by the archbifliop and chief magiftrate to difperfe the af- 
fembly, was furioufly afiailed and put to flight. To crufh, 
this alarming fpirit, fifteen religious houfes were feized 
for the king’s ufe; andaRomifh college, which had been 
eredfted in the capital, was affigned to the Univerfity for 
a place of proteftaut education. 
In 1632, Thomas vifcount Wentworth vvas appointed 
lord-deputy of Ireland. From the meafures of his admi- 
niftration, this auftere and imperious, but adtive and in¬ 
telligent, viceroy, feeins to have confidered the ifiand as 
a' conquered country, and its inhabitants as folely depen¬ 
dent on the royal bounty for what they were permitted 
to enjoy. The rigour with which he enforced the claims 
of the royal prerogative, and the cruelty with which he 
revenged perfonal affronts, could not have failed to rouze 
the dormant, not extinguifhed, fpirit of difaffediion in 
the Irifh, under a governor of inferior talents and energy. 
In 1634, the king reludfantly complied with the gene¬ 
ral defire of the nation for convening a parliament. 
The commons, on this occafion, manifelted a timid ac- 
quiefcence in all the meafures propofed by the chief go¬ 
vernor; but the peers adted upon the whole with more 
dignity. The young earl of Ormond in particular, by 
his bold and fteady condudt, daggered the deputy himfelf. 
Wentworth having ordered that no perfon fhould enter 
either houfe of parliament with a fword, the ufher of the 
black rod infilled on Ormond’s compliance with the regu¬ 
lation, which the earl pofitively refufed; declaring, that, 
if he mufl deliver his fword, the ufher fhould receive it in 
his body ; on which, be proceeded to his feat with an air 
of offended dignity. Being fummoned before the coun¬ 
cil to anfwer for this contempt of authority, Ormond 
avowed his intentional difobedience of the order, affert- 
ing, that he had received the inveftiture of his earldom 
per cinEluram gladii, and was both entitled, and bound by 
the royal command, to attend his duty in parliament gla- 
dio cinftHS. Wentworth deemed it more politic to at¬ 
tempt to reconcile than to crufh this daring fpirit; and 
Ormond, foon afterwards, appeared a diltinguifhed fa¬ 
vourite at the Irifh court. 
One of the meafures enforced by Wentworth in regard 
to this parliament was, that two diltincl feflions fhoftld 
be held ; the firft to provide for the army and the debts 
of the crown, and the fecond to enadl laws and graces 
for the benefit of the fubjedts. Having, however, gained 
his point refpedting the fubfidies in the firft feffion, he 
evaded the grant of the graces in the fecond, and even 
abfolutely refufed two of the mod material; the limiting 
of the king’s title to fixty years, and the paffing of new 
patents for eftates in Connaught and the county of Clare; 
for both of which the royal word had been pledged. In 
open violation of this promife, he proceeded to the projedt 
of a vveftern plantation, for which purpofe he refolved to 
fubvert the title to all lands in that quarter of the ifiand. 
Intimidated by the threats and the determined character 
of Wentworth, the jurors in feveral of the counties pro¬ 
nounced without hefitation a verdidl in favour of the 
king ; but, in the county of Galway, where he was not 
treated 
