1691. noticed. They evidently prove in what estimation for valour and steadiness King William held the Irish, after the many advantages he had gained over them. Thus was Ireland formally and finally reduced by force of arms to the revolutionary government of King William. And this was really the first conquest of Ireland by the English *. The following compendious sketch of this reign by the late Earl of Clare is submitted to the impartial observer of 1rish affaisr. "After the expulsion of James from the throne of England, the old inhabitants made a final effort for the recovery of their ancient power, in which they were once more defeated by an English army; and the slender relicks of Irish possessions became the subject of fresh confiscation. From the report made by the commissioners appointed by the parliament of England in 1698, it appears, that the Irish subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1688 amounted to three thousand nine hundred and seventy eight, and that their Irish possessions, as far as could be computed, were of the annual value of two hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and twenty-three pounds; comprising one million sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety-two acres. This fund was sold under the authority of an English act of parliament, to defray the expenses incurred by England in reducing the rebels of 1688; and the sale introduced into Ireland a new set of adventurers." "It is a very curious and important speculation to look back to the forfeitures of Ireland incurred in the last century. The superficial contents of the island are calculated at eleven million fortytwo thousand six hundred and eighty-two acres. Let us now examine the state of forfeitures :" "In the reign of James I. the whole of the province of Ulster was confiscated, containing Acres. 2,836,837 7,800,000 1,060,792 Total 11,697,629 "So that the whole of your island has been confiscated, with the exception of the estates of five or six families of English blood, some of whom had been attainted in the reign of Henry the VIIIth, but recovered their possessions before Tyrone's rebellion, and had the good fortune to escape the pillage of the English republic inflicted by Cromwell; and no inconsiderable portion of the island has been confiscated twice, or perhaps thrice, in the course of a century, The situation, therefore, of the Irish nation, at the revolution, stands unparalleled in the history of the inhabited world. If the wars of England carried on here, from the reign of Elizabeth, had been waged against a foreign enemy, the inhabitants would have retained their possessions under the established law of civilized nations, and their country have been annexed as a province to the British empire." (Speech on the Union). 1691. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. |