Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 2 (of 3), 1642-1660Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 2 (of 3), 1642-1660
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 17th century
A month after its publication, Gookin's pamphlet was denounced by
Fleetwood as a 'very strange scandalous book,' and Colonel Lawrence,
'at the request of several persons in eminent place in Ireland,'
undertook to refute it. He was able to show that former settlements had
succeeded only where the colonists were placed near one another, 'as
for instance the barony of Ards, in the county of Down and province of
Ulster, which being entirely planted by British people did preserve
themselves by keeping guards upon their frontiers when all the country
besides was totally ruined.' He gives many horrible details of the
rebellion, 'wherein neither age nor sex were spared.... English cattle
and houses were destroyed for their being of an English kind, and all
this without the least provocation, yet this bloody inhuman act with
all its aggravations were espoused by this people as a national quarrel
and a war waged thereupon'; but admits that some of the Irish gentry
'(whose kindness I hope either hath been or will be rewarded both by
God and man)' did really help the English, so that a few escaped like
Job's messengers to bring the bad news. Lawrence points out that in
all official declarations only landed proprietors and men in arms were
marked for transplantation, and that nothing further was intended, but
he maintains that it was quite possible to extend it greatly without
danger. Gookin's rejoinder is dedicated to Fleetwood, whom he praises
for his kindness to all, whereby the necessary hardships were much
diminished. He shows how very few exceptions there would be among the
Irish if the declaration of October 14, 1653, were strictly acted upon,
acknowledges the authorship of the first pamphlet, and maintains his
position. 'Let no poor sufferer by the Irish betray his reason or
religion to his passion here, to think no evils can be too great to be
brought on the Irish. It was their being cruel makes us hate them so
much: to punish them do not run into their sin, lest God punish thee.
Do not think that he that writes this and the Case of Transplantation
pleads for them, but thy cause; 'tis safe and profitable for thee that
some be removed, not all. This Colonel Lawrence says shall be done and
this I desired might be done: where is my offence against authority
more than his, my love to the Irish more than his, or my care of thee
less than his?' After all there is not much difference between the two
writers. That the English did not think Gookin's ideas hostile to the
settlement may be inferred from their electing him to Parliament, and
proposing to pay his expenses there, an offer which he refused.[269]
[Sidenote: Effect of the Waldensian massacre.]
[Sidenote: Officers in Ireland protest against leniency.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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