The plan for which the Catholics of both Irish and English extraction now united was a very far-reaching one. It involved making the Catholic religion altogether dominant in Ireland: even of the old nobility none but the Catholics were to be tolerated: all the lands that had been seized for the new settlements were to be given back to the previous possessors or their heirs. In each district a distinguished family was to be answerable for order, and to maintain an armed force for the purpose. They would not revolt from the King, but still would leave him no real share in the government. Two lords justices, both Catholic, one of Irish, the other of old English family, were to be at the head of the government. In the Parliament, which should no longer be in any way subordinate to the English, the clergy also were to have seats and voices. In the negotiations which preceded the rising, the question had already been discussed, what should be done with the Irish Protestants in case of victory. At a meeting of the political and spiritual leaders held on St. Francis’ day in the Franciscan convent at Mullifarvan in Westmeath, this question, as well as the form of the future state, was taken into consideration. The advice of the monks was to drive them out, as Philip III had driven the Moors out of Spain, without staining the land with their blood. Others [A.D. 1641.] remarked that that prince would have done better to destroy the Moors, since a lasting evil, the strength of the pirate states, had been increased by his clemency: in the same way it would be better to exterminate the Protestants in Ireland than to incur their future hostility--a consideration of disastrous omen. We do not hear how they decided at the moment, but the sequel showed what feelings were supreme in their hearts.