SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.

CHAPTER XXXI.

The Irish transported as Slaves to Barbadoes—The Three Beasts who were to be hunted: the Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory—Origin and Causes of Agrarian Outrages—Cases of Individual Wrongs—Lord Roche—Mr. Luttrel Accession of Charles II.—His Base Conduct towards the Irish Loyalists—Gross Injustice towards the Irish Catholic Landowners—The Remonstrance opposed by the Clergy—A Quarrel in the House of Lords The Popish Plot—Ormonde's Difficulties—Seizure and Imprisonment of the Archbishop of Dublin—Imprisonment and Execution of the Most Rev. Dr. Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.

[A.D.-1655-1681.]

any of the Irish soldiers who had entered into the service of foreign princes, were obliged to leave their wives and families behind. When we recall the number of those who were thus expatriated, it will not seem surprising that thousands of young children were left utterly destitute. These boys and girls, however, were easily disposed of by the Government; and Sir William Petty states, that 6,000 were sent out as slaves to the West Indies. The Bristol sugar merchants traded in these human lives, as if they had been so much merchandize; and merchandize, in truth, they were, for they could be had for a trifle, and they fetched a high price in the slave-market. Even girls of noble birth were subjected to this cruel fate. Morison mentions an instance of this kind which came to his own knowledge. He was present when Daniel Connery, a gentleman of Clare, was sentenced to banishment, by Colonel Ingoldsby, for harbouring a priest. Mrs. Connery died of destitution, and three of his daughters, young and beautiful girls, were transported as slaves to Barbadoes.[[498]]

A court was established for the punishment of "rebels and malignants;" the former consisting of persons who refused to surrender their houses and lands, and the latter being those who would not act contrary to their conscientious convictions in religious matters. These courts were called "Cromwell's Slaughter-houses." Donnellan, who had acted as solicitor to the regicides, at the trial of Charles I., held the first court at Kilkenny, October 4, 1652. Lord Louther held a court in Dublin, in February, 1653, for the special purpose of trying "all massacres and murders committed since the 1st day of October, 1641." The inquiries, however, were solely confined to the accused Catholics; and the result proved the falsehood of all the idle tales which had been circulated of their having intended a great massacre of Protestants, for convictions could only be obtained against 200 persons, and even these were supported by forged and corrupt evidence.[[499]] Sir Phelim O'Neill was the only person convicted in Ulster, and he was offered his life again and again, and even on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would consent to criminate Charles I.

As the majority of the nation had now been disposed of, either by banishment, transportation, or hanging, the Government had time to turn their attention to other affairs. The desolation of the country was such, that the smoke of a fire, or the sign of a habitation, was considered a rare phenomenon. In consequence of this depopulation, wild beasts had multiplied on the lands, and three "beasts" were especially noted for destruction. In the Parliament held at Westminster in 1657, Major Morgan, member for the county Wicklow, enumerated these beasts thus: "We have three beasts to destroy that lay burdens upon us. The first is the wolf, on whom we lay £5 a head if a dog, and £10 if a bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay £10; if he be eminent, more. The third beast is a Tory, on whose head, if he be a public Tory, we lay £20; and forty shillings on a private Tory."[[500]]

Wolves had increased so rapidly, that the officers who left Ireland for Spain, in 1652, were forbidden to take their dogs with them, and were thus deprived of the pleasure and the pride (for Irish dogs were famous) of this consolation in their exile. Public hunts were ordered, and every effort made to keep down beasts of prey. But the whole blame was thrown on the second beast. It was declared solemnly that if there had been no priests there would have been no wolves.[[501]] The syllogism ran somewhat in this fashion:—