A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — CompleteMcGee, Thomas D'Arcy
History
A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — Complete
McGee, Thomas D'Arcy
Ireland -- History
years later, Maurice, Earl of Desmond, the leader of the opposition,
was appointed to the office of Lord Justice for life! Unfortunately
that high-spirited nobleman died the year of his appointment, before
its effects could begin to be felt. The only legal concession which
marked his period was a royal writ constituting the "Parliament" of the
Pale the court of last resort for appeals from the decisions of the
King's courts in that province. A recurrence to the former favourite
policy signalized the year 1357, when a new set of ordinances were
received from London, denouncing the penalties of treason against all
who intermarried, or had relations of fosterage with the Irish; and
proclaiming war upon all kernes and idle men found within the English
districts. Still severer measures, in the same direction, were soon
afterwards decided upon, by the English King and his council.
Before relating the farther history of this penal code as applied to
race, we must recall the reader's attention to the important date of
the Kilkenny Remonstrance, 1342. From that year may be distinctly
traced the growth of two parties among the subjects of the English
Kings in Ireland. At one time they are distinguished as "the old
English" and "the new English," at another, as "English by birth" and
"English by blood." The new English, fresh from the Imperial island,
seem to have usually conducted themselves with a haughty sense of
superiority; the old English, more than half _Hibernicized_, confronted
these strangers with all the self-complacency of natives of the soil on
which they stood. In their frequent visits to the Imperial capital, the
old English were made sensibly to feel that their country was not
there; and as often as they went, they returned with renewed ardour to
the land of their possessions and their birth. Time, also, had thrown
its reverent glory round the names of the first invaders, and to be
descended from the companions of Earl Richard, or the captains who
accompanied King John, was a source of family pride, second only to
that which the native princes cherished, in tracing up their lineage to
Milesius of Spain. There were many reasons, good, bad, and indifferent,
for the descendants of the Norman adventurers adopting Celtic names,
laws, and customs, but not the least potent, perhaps, was the fostering
of family pride and family dependence, which, judged from our present
stand-points, were two of the worst possible preparations for our
national success in modern times.
CHAPTER II.
LIONEL, DUKE OF CLARENCE, LORD LIEUTENANT—THE PENAL CODE OF RACE—"THE
STATUTE OF KILKENNY," AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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