In the counties a bare handful of the inhabitants possessed the franchise. The voting was a mere taking of “voices” in the sheriff’s parlour. A “Legislature” constituted in this fashion consummated in 1662-5 the confiscations which the Acts of “Settlement” and “Explanation” enshrine. Lord Chancellor Eustace summed up the result in a letter to the Duke of Ormonde:—“Those who fought against his Majesty are to have the estates of those who fought for him.” The King’s secretary, Nicholas, in a letter to Eustace expressed his regret that the “soldiers” should command such influence in the new Parliament. Still his Majesty yielded himself up to those who helped to betray his father, declaring he was determined never to go “on his travels” again. In the island which had been the most faithful of the Three Kingdoms to the Crown, Cromwellianism survived as hardily as in the days of Oliver himself. A packed Parliament, a ruthless Executive, and a venal judiciary made or declared the law to a prostrate people. In England and Scotland the Royalists came into their own again. In Ireland they were betrayed or plundered or forgotten. The only clog on the Republican triumph was the King’s scruple against allowing the leading regicides to retain their booty. Estates in Ireland had been grabbed by Cromwell, Ireton, Ludlow, Bradshaw, Corbett, Jones, Axtell, and others, whose hands reeked with the blood of Charles I. These were declared forfeit; but their rightful owners were not allowed to get them back. Over 111,000 acres in seventeen counties, at a rent of £8,726 a year (which would now represent ten times that amount), awaited disposal. To prevent their restitution to the natives, it was slyly proposed to Charles II. that his dear brother, the Duke of York (afterwards James II.), should take them as a gift. James accepted the lands, and Charles consented—to the disgrace of both. After that, no assailant of the doings of the Dublin Parliament could lightly accuse it of unreasonableness to the King. CHAPTER XXII. THE “FAMOUS PAPER.” In July, 1660 (two months after the Restoration), Clotworthy learnt that Sir Arthur Chichester, now Earl of Donegall, was travelling to London to greet the new sovereign. Lord Donegall and his father had fought for the royal cause as strongly as Sir John and his brother had supported the usurpers. An earldom was conferred on Sir Arthur in his father’s lifetime, at the request of the Duke of Ormonde, for services certified to have been performed in Ulster when the Scotch troops deserted Charles I. Lord Donegall was coming to town, relying on Ormonde’s help and the King’s gratitude, to work for the restitution of the fisheries surrendered to Strafford. Doubtless he knew of Cromwell’s lease to Clotworthy, but he also knew that such grants had become nullities. So, too, did Clotworthy, and a race hotly contested began between them for time and favour.