The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the TimesGodkin, James
History
The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the Times
Godkin, James
Ireland -- Economic conditions; Land tenure -- Ireland
'There lives not a people more hardy, active, and painful ... neither
is there any will endure the miseries of warre, as famine, watching,
heat, cold, wet, travel, and the like, so naturally and with such
facility and courage that they do. The Prince of Orange's excellency
uses often publiquely to deliver that the Irish are souldiers the
first day of their birth. The famous Henry IV., late king of France,
said there would prove no nation so resolute martial men as they,
would they be ruly and not too headstrong. And Sir John Norris was
wont to ascribe this particular to that nation above others, that he
never beheld so few of any country as of Irish that were idiots and
cowards, which is very notable.'
At the end of 1653, the parliament made a division of the spoil among
the conquerors and the adventurers; and, on September 26, an act was
passed for the new planting of Ireland by English. The Government
reserved for itself the towns, the church lands, and the tithes, the
established church, hierarchy and all, having been utterly abolished.
The four counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork were also
reserved. The amount due to the adventurers was 360,000 l. This they
divided into three lots, of which 110,000 l. was to be satisfied in
Munster, 205,000 l. in Leinster, and 45,000 l. in Ulster, and the
moiety of ten counties was charged with their payment--Waterford,
Limerick, and Tipperary, in Munster; Meath, Westmeath, King's and
Queen's Counties, in Leinster; and Antrim, Down, and Armagh, in
Ulster. But, as all was required by the Adventurers Act to be done by
lot, a lottery was appointed to be held in Grocers' Hall, London, for
July 20, 1653, to begin at 8 o'clock in the morning, when lots should
be first drawn in which province each adventurer was to be satisfied,
not exceeding the specified amounts in any province; lots were to
be drawn, secondly, to ascertain in which of the ten counties
each adventurer was to receive his land--the lots not to exceed in
Westmeath 70,000 l., in Tipperary 60,000 l., in Meath 55,000 l., in
King's and Queen's Counties 40,000 l. each, in Limerick 30,000 l., in
Waterford 20,000 l., in Antrim, Down, and Armagh 15,000 l. each. And,
as it was thought it would be a great encouragement to the adventurers
(who were for the most part merchants and tradesmen), about to plant
in so wild and dangerous a country, not yet subdued, to have soldier
planters near them, these ten counties, when surveyed (which was
directed to be done immediately, and returned to the committee for
the lottery at Grocers' Hall), were to be divided, each county by
baronies, into two moieties, as equally as might be, without dividing
any barony. A lot was then to be drawn by the adventurers, and by
some officer appointed by the Lord General Cromwell on behalf of the
soldiery, to ascertain which baronies in the ten counties should be
for the adventurers, and which for the soldiers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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