Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-08-02


ton and sense Of injury OF million plundered
lrshuen found vent ia the rebellion Of l64l
All the Irish Of Ulster, whom James had ex.
PEELED from their domains, 90 pe. English and
Scotch 10 Their places, rose en- aasse. and fell on
the Protestant settlers. IL was then that civil
and religious war displayed itself in all its hor
rots. 10 short time more than $4,000 Anglo
Saxons were massscred. wbilc those not deprived
OF life were driven from their lands and houses
which we're resx med By their old proprstors. The
sanguinsry ferocity Of the rebels WAS met, on
the part OF ihe Parliamentary army, with spirit
still more sanguinsry AID ordinance yet stains
the journals OF Parliament. declaring 4" that no
quarter shall be given TO any Irshm&n or Papist
who shall be taken in hostility against the Par
Lament. either upon tee sea o. in England"
To sustain the expense Of this merciless war,
Parliament borrowed immense sum, for the
payment o. which it mortgaged, beforehand. all
the properties OF the Catholics of Ireland. Two
million five hundred thousand acres were thus
pledged; and re find The Judges. and other En-
Qiish officers in ireland, actually fornenfin9 the
reUoit, IN order that, BY augmenting the number
OF the guilty. the harvest OF conhscatlons, after
the war. shoald be increased.
Oliver Cromwell became the leader OF the
British army, and the DISCRIMINATION OF Ireland
was the motto written upon his banner We
have space to fill with the strocious history of
this bloody and remorseless crusade; the mAssa-
ores OF Drogheda, Wexford. and Danganhil, are
everlastingly linked with the memory OF the
worst religious war which has ever disgraeed the
annals OF England.
The very act Of Parliament, which provided
"for reducing the rebels of Ireland TO their due
obedience" enacted that the :, 500 600 acres OF
profitable lands, to be taken equally out OF the
four Provinces, should be "assigned and decided
among dirers toorthy, and ,reH affected persons, "
who were ready to advance tue Government
sums OF money. Thus, each man who invested
f200, was 10 be presented with deed of 200
acres in Ulster, while he who invested t3OO, was
to be the possessor Of / 900 acres In Connaught.
This was a legislative bounty upon buccaneerng
a premium for robbery by wholesale. For
at the time the vote passed. no forfeiture had
been declared-no lands conhscated Neverthe
less. il was provided that such only were 10 be
seized as were OF the best description, and the
rent reserved to the Government was 10 be one
penny per acre On this scheme, Parliament
soon raised the sum of E400 600 for the Irish
war.
The rspdty with which this general confisca-
ton was carried into effect is seen in the fact
that, in taco days, all the Catholic nobility and
gentry OF the counties OF Meath, Wicklow and
Dublin, with three hundred gentlemen Of Kill
dare, were indicted for high treason, and true
bills found agsins; them The English judges
in 1913, transmitted the assurance that forfeit
ures to the amount of E300, 900 had already been
effected
During distracted term OF twelve years, both
the King and the Parliament bad been declaring
forfeitures and making grants, and their respec
tive followers had been Selling upon lands as the
varying fortunes of the gave them oppor-
tunity At length, in 1853, Cromwell tried ths
difficult task of adjusting by legal sanction the
81
much violence and rapine. But the claims of bis
oun party rere already so great, that il wa.
doubtful whether all Ireland would suffice t.
satisfy them. 1t was deemed pruden; 10 preiscC
the proposed settlement by declaration that il
was mot intended 10 extirpste the l.sh nation ,
But the seizure of Irish property was carried to
the extreme verge OF the proverb which -enteu
tiously declares that you can't have snv more
of fox than Bic skin contains Cromwell.
soldiers in fact, msy be said to have wrested the
whole country to themselves All the Papist.
in the kingdom whose estate was over fl0 in
value, tcere diUided into four classes. The first
class, being the priests and other most obnox
ious persons were declared to have forfeited fh,
rhoie of their estates. The second class, con
sisting OF those who bad borne arms against the
Parliament, forfeited two thirds OF their estates
and were banished during the pleasure of the Par
lament their wives and children, however, were
to be assigned lands TO the value of the other
third The thitd class. being persons who had
not manifested their attachment to the Common
wealth. were mulcted of one third their estates
being supposed 10 retain the remainder. The
fourth and last class. consisting of all ,rho had
not been in arms for the Parliament, land in-
cluded in the other three classes were TO forfeit
one fifth of their estates By curions applica-
| ton of terms, this statute was called An act for
settling Ireland" the grim bumor of which ap-
pellation is sufficiently evident.
As if the bosom of prescription under Crom-
well had not swept clean enough, it was reserved
for the Governm ent of the Restoration to Cypress
the Irish still further. The new prcprietors un-
der the settlement Of the commonwealth, had
barely established themselves in their posses
sons, when the accession Of Charles III opened
all the rights aud claims anew, and afforded a
fresh opportunity for sweeping Injustice. Ii wa
universally expected that sovereign who was
Catholic, ct least in name, would restore to their
possessions bis Catholic subjects, who had rsked
so much in the cause of royalty. But they who
counted upon so rational a course of action, IN
derstood little of the nature of the Stuarts.
Charles III consulted bis own political interests
alone, and threp aside all considerations of gene
rosity and sense of justice. The Cromwelians
were in actual possession of the country, and be
concluded that it would De safest not to attempt
to eject them A declaration for the settlement
OF Ireland was accordingly signed, November
30, 1860, IN which Charles confirmed the posses
sion OF any lands held under the acts of the En-
glish Parliament, COMMONLY called the "Adven-
turers Acts" Special exceptions were, indeed
made OF persons obnoxious TO the royal interest,
but these were few in number
\ ears were consumed in disseDsions, negotia-
tiOns. and appeals, upon this exciting question
the " act OF settlement had TO be followed by
an act OF explanation" but the nam condi-
tons of the original award were preserved
throughout. If the most malignant fanatic in
the army OF the Commonwealth bad exhausted
his intellect in feigning case to illustrate the
baseness OF kings, and the worthlessneSs of the
StuaIts, he could not have produced one more
caustic or conclusive than the real facts OF this
conduct OF Charles III toward bis own trusty ad
herents He prescribed the Catholic worship in
Ireland; he ordered that the penal laws should
be executed against then; he imprisoned, fac
tious, those icho came 10 London 10 make com
plant; he proclaimed as rebels those toho had
uentured to resume possession Of hetr property
The glowing injustice OF this conduct, as com.
pared with former arrangements in Eng
land, lie manifest All whose property
bad been con6sclted in England, at once en-
tered again on their ancient rights when the
King resumed bis crown. This they did, even
though the property thus recovered had been
sold after its con6scation, and fairly purchased
by those who were now dispossessed. But in
Ireland, where 70 King owed more to his loyal
subjects thousa j. told Tor their trials. suffer
lngs and losses IN his cause. they were thus
basely "whistled doyn the wind" when their