The basis of taxation and compensation.
From the Commissioners’ letter of April 22, 1653, quoted above, it is evident that the Bill for satisfaction of Adventurers and soldiers was before the Long Parliament for some time. The changes consequent upon its expulsion caused further delay, and it was not till just before Michaelmas that the action of the Lord General and Council was legalised, so far as any legal force could attach to the new Parliament’s sanction. The Act confirmed what had been done, and further empowered the Commissioners to shorten proceedings by transplanting the Irish at once, ‘although their claims be not first determined or their qualifications distinguished,’ and to give them lands in occupation ‘proportionable to the estate by them claimed or competent to such stock as each of the said persons shall have.’ Adventurers and soldiers receiving lands were relieved for five years from the payment of quit-rents imposed by the Act of 1642, and taxation for the same period was not to exceed one-fourth of the annual value. When the Commissioners in Ireland received the Act with its final directions they published a declaration for enforcing it. All who took part in or abetted ‘the rebellions, murders, or massacres’ during the first year, all who at any time were in actual arms as rebels, and all who had any land entitling them to compensation by the Act of Settlement, were to remove across the Shannon by May 1, 1654. Protestants who had not joined the rebels before the first cessation on September 15, 1643, were excepted, and so was any woman who married an English Protestant before December 2, 1650, on condition of openly renouncing Popery. All persons not excepted, or without special licence, found east of the Shannon after the appointed day were to be treated as hostile spies, ‘tried by martial law, and suffer death.’ All transplantable persons were to report themselves to the commissioners of revenue in the precinct where they lived, giving the names of their families, particulars as to tenants and others who would accompany them voluntarily, with their ages, colour and height, and an account of the cattle and tillage ‘for which they pay contribution in the places from whence they remove.’ After satisfying themselves that the information was true, the Commissioners were to issue certificates, and regulations were made as to how these documents might be converted into land in Connaught or Clare.[264]
The transplantation. Slow progress.
Whatever may be the exact meaning of this declaration, or however it may be reconciled with the Acts of Settlement and of Satisfaction, it soon became quite clear that the transplantation could not be effected by May 1, 1654. As a matter of fact the procedure was applied only to landowners and their families, and to such tenants as might choose to go with them. A few did go early in the day, but the vast majority clung to their homes. Licences to remain were freely granted to the aged and infirm and to those who could show that they had befriended the English. Even in cases where the service was too slight to deserve permanent exemption, Colonel Lawrence assures us that indulgence was shown for considerable periods, ‘that a cup of cold water might not go unrequited.’ The time was extended generally, first to December, so that seed time and harvest might be included, and afterwards to March 1655, the doomed proprietors remaining on their old property as tenants at will to the State. When March arrived most of the work was still to be done, for the officers and soldiers ‘and other faithful Protestants’ of Leinster, petitioned the Irish Government to execute the ‘further instructions’ of July 2, 1653, and to transplant ‘all the Irish into Connaught excepting males of fourteen years of age and females of twelve.’ The first reason was lest the settlers should become idolaters from intermarriage with the natives, many who came over in Queen Elizabeth’s time having thus fallen away and been concerned in the late murders and massacres. Among many Old Testament texts the petitioners gave precedence to the verses of Ezra, where the Israelites were forbidden to take Gentile wives, ‘that they might be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to their children for ever.’ If this principle was neglected even the Parliamentary soldiers might join with the natives to attack the colonists, having first learned the vices that reigned in the land, such as swearing, drunkenness, dissembling, and deceiving. The second argument was ‘grounded on the law of nature, which teacheth self-preservation.’ Experience showed that the priests would go to any lengths to advance their Church, and that the people would follow them, and Edmund Campion the Jesuit is quoted as to the perfidiousness of the Irish. The great thing was to get rid of the Tories out of three provinces, and thus encourage honest men to come from England and strengthen those who were already committed to Ireland. As things actually stood the English were confined to garrisons and forced to fold their cattle, while the Irish occupied the best land, keeping their flocks and herds in the fields by day and night. When it was a question of paying taxes they hid their stock in the woods, ‘which the English cannot do, who by that means will be liable to bear a greater proportion of contribution than the Irish.’[265]
The Protectorate established.
Fleetwood Deputy.
Cromwell became Protector in December 1653, and Fleetwood was one of the Council of State. Ludlow takes credit to himself for delaying the assent of Ireland, but Oliver was nevertheless proclaimed on January 30, the Secretary’s name only appearing. The other Commissioners effaced their signatures when Ludlow refused to add his, and they seem to have disliked the change. Ludlow rested his case upon the engagement of January 1650, which he and his colleagues had taken to support ‘the Commonwealth of England as it is now established without a King or House of Lords.’ Afterwards he refused to have any share in the civil government, while retaining his military command; and this was attributed by Henry Cromwell and others to his love for pay and allowances. There is nevertheless a real distinction between acting as a minister and serving one’s country as a soldier, even under a usurped government. The Anabaptist party, who were hostile to the Protectorate, showed signs of adopting the discontented general as their leader. Cromwell sent over his son Henry to report, and he remained about a month in Ireland, being received with as much honour as if he were indeed a prince. He found Jones as well as Ludlow discontented, but made rather light of their opposition, which indeed came to nothing, William Kiffin and others advising their Baptist friends to accept the new government. Henry nevertheless suggested that Fleetwood was not a satisfactory representative, and advised his father to replace him by Desborough, at least for a time. We have no means of knowing what passed between father and son after the latter’s return, but the result was to soften the effect of the transplantation policy. Vincent Gookin was in England, and if he was consulted, as is at least probable, his influence would have worked in that direction. Fleetwood became Lord Deputy in August 1654, when the term of the Commissioners came to an end. Ludlow and Jones were not reappointed to the Irish Council, and the latter went to England, but Corbet was retained, and others were sent over. Among the latter were Colonel Robert Hammond of Isle of Wight celebrity; Richard Pepys and William Steele, eminent lawyers; Robert Goodwin, who had been over twelve years before; and Colonel Matthew Tomlinson, who had been appointed one of Charles I.’s judges, but had declined to act.[266]
Cromwell’s First Parliament.
The Irish members.