Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 1 (of 3), 1603-1642Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 1 (of 3), 1603-1642
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 17th century
It was not till towards the end of 1618 that the conditions of the
plantation were at last settled. The correspondence and notes of the
survey were submitted to a committee of the Privy Council consisting of
Archbishop Abbot, Sir George Carew, the Earl of Arundel, and Secretary
Naunton, and their report was acted upon; but a commission to carry out
the scheme was not appointed until the following autumn. Chichester as
well as St. John were members, and the great care which was taken seems
to have made the plantation less unpopular than that of Wexford. Many
objections indeed were made to acting upon such an old title as the
King had to Longford, and to ignoring grants made in the late reign;
though perhaps the lawyers could show that they had for the most part
been nullified by the non-performance of conditions. The O'Ferralls had
on the whole been loyal, and promises had been made to them. Whatever
the arrangements were, it was evident that many natives would have no
land, and it was urged that they would be better subjects it if was all
given to them. Having no other means of living they would be driven
to desperation and commit all manner of villanies, as the tribesmen
of Ulster were ready to do if they got the chance. The King, however,
was determined to carry out his plan, and the O'Ferralls yielded with
a tolerably good grace, objecting not so much to giving up one-fourth
of the country to settlers as to having to redeem Shaen's and Malby's
rents out of the remainder. The Wexford misunderstanding was avoided
by having a careful survey taken from actual measurements, and it
was found that in Longford 57,803 acres of arable and pasture were
available for the purposes of the plantation, the remainder, amounting
to over 72,000 acres, being occupied by old grantees or by bogs and
woods. Ely was better, 32,000 acres out of 54,000 being described as
arable and pasture. The general order was that no freeholder should
have less than 100 acres, and those who had less were to have leases
for three lives or forty-one years under a planter or some more
fortunate native. The unlucky ones generally and naturally complained
that the measurements were inaccurate, and that they were thus
unfairly reduced to 'fractions.' The undertakers, whether English or
Irish, were to keep 300 acres in demesne about their houses. There seem
to have been some cases of hardship even in the opinion of the Irish
Government. Of these the most important was that of Sir John MacCoghlan
in King's County, who had fought bravely on the side of Government, but
who, nevertheless, lost part of his property. As late as 1632 he was
noted as a discontented man who ought to be watched, and his clansmen
generally joined in the rebellion of 1641. As in the case of Wexford
trouble came from those who were excluded from freehold grants. They
were to have taken up the position of tenants, but could get no land
at reasonable rates, and in 1622, after St. John had left Ireland, the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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