The History of Ireland: 17th Century. Bagwell Richard

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СКАЧАТЬ have been accepted if Chichester’s original idea had been followed. He wished first to distribute among the Irish as much land as they could cultivate, and to plant colonists on the remainder. What really happened was that everything was done to attract the undertakers, and as the rule of plantation allowed no Irish tenants to have leases under them the natives who remained were reduced to an altogether inferior position. The servitors were allowed to give leases to the Irish, whom they might keep in order by their reputation and by the possession of strong houses. But the amount of land assigned for this purpose was inadequate, and the Irish tenants, who for the most part were not given to regular agriculture, soon found themselves poor and without much hope of bettering their condition. Very light ploughs attached to the tails of ponies were not instruments by which the wilderness could be made to blossom like the rose. This system of ploughing certainly shows a low condition of agriculture, and it was general wherever estates were allotted to native gentlemen. ‘Tirlagh O’Neale,’ says Pynnar, ‘hath 4,000 acres in Tyrone. Upon this he hath made a piece of a bawn which is five feet high and hath been so a long time. He hath made no estates to his tenants, and all of them do plough after the Irish manner.’ Mulmory Oge O’Reilly had 3,000 acres in Cavan, lived in an old castle with a bawn of sods, and ‘hath made no estates to any of his tenants, and they do all plough by the tail.’ Brian Maguire, who had 2,500 acres in Fermanagh, lived in a good stone house and gave leases to some of his tenants, but even they held to the Irish manner of ploughing. A good many of the undertakers made no attempt to build, and of course the lands were in the occupation of Irishmen who were liable to be disturbed at any moment, and therefore very unlikely to improve.[56]

      First schemes of settlement.

The injustice of confiscating several counties for the default of certain chiefs is obvious to us, even if we admit that their forfeiture was just. But no Englishman at the time, not even Bacon, seems to have had any misgivings. The packet in which the flight of the Earls was announced contained a letter from Sir Geoffrey Fenton to Salisbury with the first rough sketch of the Ulster settlement. The old secretary pointed out that the opportunity had at last come for pulling down the proud houses of O’Neill and O’Donnell, for vesting all in the Crown, and for improving the revenue, ‘besides that many well-deserving servitors may be recompensed in the distribution, a matter to be taken to heart, for that it reaches somewhat to his Majesty’s conscience and honour to see these poor servitors relieved, whom time and the wars have spent even unto their later years, and now, by this commodity, may be stayed and comforted without charge to his Majesty.’ A few days later Chichester wrote more in detail. His idea was to divide the land among the inhabitants as far as they were able to cultivate it. After that there would be plenty left for colonists, and to reward those who had served the King in Ireland. This was the course he advised; otherwise he saw nothing for it but to transplant all the people of Tyrone, Donegal, and Fermanagh with their cattle into waste districts, ‘leaving only such people behind as will dwell under the protection of the garrisons and forts,’ which were to be strengthened and multiplied. Sir Oliver St. John advised some garrisons and corporations, but relied rather upon making the Irish tenants of the Crown at high rents. The Irish, he said, were more used to esteem a landlord whom they knew than a king of whom they seldom heard. Make the King their landlord and they will turn to him, neglecting ‘their wonted tyrants whom naturally they love not.’ Salisbury had already turned his attention to the subject, and the Privy Council in England lost no time in expressing their general approval of Chichester’s plan.[57]

      Bacon on colonisation.

Bacon’s attention was much drawn to Ireland at this critical time, and Chichester’s secretary, Henry Perse, kept him well informed. Davies wrote to him at length about the flight of the Earls, and he saw that the opportunity had come for making a fresh start. ‘I see manifestly,’ he told Davies, ‘the beginning of better or worse.’ It may therefore be assumed that he had some hand in the proceedings that followed. Both he and Chichester were naturally thinking of the scheme of American colonisation which had just so nearly failed, and were anxious that the mistakes made should not be repeated. ‘I had rather labour with my hands,’ said the Lord Deputy, ‘in the plantation of Ulster than dance or play in that of Virginia.’ The American enterprise, said the Lord Chancellor, ‘differs as much from this, as Amadis de Gaul differs from Cæsar’s Commentaries.’ Bacon warned the Government against sending over needy broken-down gentlemen as settlers. Men of capital were to be preferred, such as were fit to ‘purchase dry reversions after lives or years, or to put out money upon long returns.’ They might not go themselves, but they would send younger sons and cousins to advance them, while retaining the property ‘for the sweetness of the expectation of a great bargain in the end.’ He thought enough was not done to encourage the growth of towns and fortified posts, and yet the example of the Munster failure was ready to hand as to ‘the danger of any attempts of kernes and swordsmen.’ The wisdom of this advice was seen in 1641, when Londonderry alone stood out in all the planted counties. Bacon discouraged facilities for making under-tenancies, for the excluded natives would offer tempting rents and fines, the interest of the grantee waning when he parted with actual possession. Here also the advice was good. The undertakers took Irish tenants, in spite of the rules, because they could get no others, and these tenants turned against them when the day of trial came.[58]

      Scots in Ulster. Bishop Montgomery

The Scottish element in the north of Ireland has played an important part in history. One of James’s first acts was to nominate Denis Campbell, who had long been Dean of Limerick, to the sees of Derry, Raphoe, and Clogher. Campbell died before consecration, and George Montgomery was appointed instead. Montgomery was of the family of Braidstane in Ayrshire, an offshoot of the House of Eglinton, who found his way to the English Court and made himself useful both to Cecil and to the King of Scots. His elder brother Hugh remained in Scotland and retailed the news to his own sovereign. George received the living of Chedzoy in Somerset, and the deanery of Norwich, and through life he showed a remarkable aptitude for holding several preferments together. Queen Elizabeth died, and the laird of Braidstane took part in the great Scotch invasion. Having lodged himself at Westminster, says the family historian, ‘he met at Court with the said George (his only then living brother), who had with long expectations waited for those happy days. They enjoyed one the other’s most loving companies, and meditating of bettering and advancing their peculiar stations. Foreseeing that Ireland must be the stage to act upon, it being unsettled, and many forfeited lands thereon altogether wasted, they concluded to push for fortunes in that kingdom.’ The laird accordingly devoted himself to acquiring an estate and a peerage in Down at the expense of the O’Neills, and the parson to enriching the Church and himself in other parts of Ulster.[59]

      A lady colonist.

The idea that high Irish preferment involved corresponding duties seems to have been very imperfectly understood at this time. Mrs. Montgomery, writing from Chedzoy, informed her relations that the King had bestowed on her husband three Irish bishoprics, ‘the names of them I cannot remember, they are so strange, except one which is Derye.’ Fifteen months later, on the eve of their departure from London, she reported that the King had dismissed the Bishop with many gracious words. ‘I hope we shall not long stay in Ireland, but once he must needs go.’ They were met and escorted into Derry ‘by a gallant company of captains and aldermen,’ and found it a much nicer place than they expected. Their house was English built, small but very pretty and capable of enlargement if Sister Peggy and her husband would come over. There were several ladies and gentlemen ‘as bravely apparelled as in England. The most that we do mislike is that the Irish do often trouble our house, and many times they doth lend to us a louse, which makes me many times remember my daughter Jane, which told me that if I went into Ireland I should be full of lice.’ Excellent flax was to be bought at sixpence a pound, and thread at one shilling, the land was good, and the tenants were continually bringing in СКАЧАТЬ