The dispensing power.
A perfectly regular statute provided that the Long Parliament should not be dissolved without its own consent, and the usurping House of Commons, which had killed the King and abolished the monarchy and House of Lords, was thus able to make some pretence of legality. In the Parliament elected under the Instrument of Government thirty members were assigned to Ireland, and Cromwell left it to those on the spot to decide whether elections were possible in the state of the country. Fleetwood, Jones, and Corbet replied that several counties were waste and others very unsettled, and that they did not see how the business was to be done. The writs were, however, sent over, and Ludlow persuaded them that even the shadow of representation would be better than nothing. He says the influence of the clergy secured a few results not pleasing to the Government; but all the chief officers were chosen, Broghill being returned for the county of Cork, and Gookin, whose interests also lay there, for Bandon and Kinsale. Henry Cromwell was chosen for Cambridge University, and Fleetwood both for Oxfordshire and for Marlborough. The new Parliament met on Cromwell’s lucky September 3, but before that day he had given Fleetwood and his Council power to ‘dispense with the orders and instructions made and given by the late Parliament or Council of State for the transplantation of the Irish,’ and also with the penalties upon those who neglected or refused to go. A clause to the same effect had been rejected when the Act of Satisfaction was passed twelve months before.[267]
Declaration as to transplantation, Nov. 30, 1654.
Vincent Gookin’s pamphlet against transplantation.
Divisions among Protestants.
The earth-tillers indispensable
The dispensing power remained with the Irish Government, who exercised it; but Fleetwood was not inclined to make indulgence a matter of course, and the military party were always pressing him in the direction of severity. On November 30, 1654, a declaration was issued repeating the order in the Act of Settlement for the transplantation of landed proprietors, of those in arms against the Commonwealth since October 21, 1641, and of those who aided the rebellion during the first year of the war. They were ordered to be gone with their wives and families by March 1 following, or to incur the penalties already declared. How far Oliver was influenced by Vincent Gookin must be a matter of conjecture, but he certainly liked him, and the latter would scarcely have appeared in print against the Protector’s known wishes. At the very beginning of 1655 Gookin published a pamphlet against general transplantation, and sent a copy to every member of Parliament. He was impressed with the idea that the Irish generally might be converted to Protestantism, and that this was much more likely if they were left intermixed with the English. The country had been conquered, and there were garrisons everywhere, but no ministers, ‘as if our business in Ireland was only to set up our own interest and not Christ’s.’ Another difficulty lay in the divisions among Protestants, who were so bitter against each other that ‘the Papist sees not where to fix if he should come to us.’ If the Irish remained among the English they would ‘enjoy the labours of godly able ministers, the encouragement of Protestant professors, and the catechisings of private Christians,’ all which influences would be wanting if they were crowded together beyond the Shannon. It is hardly worth while to inquire what might have happened if there had been no Restoration, but Gookin declares that the priests had ‘universally departed’ as well as the most dangerous of the soldiers, and it is possible for people with a great deal of imagination to argue that Ireland might have become Protestant if they had all been kept out for ever. What really prevented the transplantation from being fully carried out was the impossibility of cultivating the land without the help of the natives, who might be spared under the first clause of the Act of Settlement. The Irish, says Gookin, lived on the roots and fruits of their ‘gardens,’ that is mainly on potatoes, and sold their corn to the English to pay the taxes. The country, moreover, was not generally suited to corn, on account of the uncertain climate and the amount of labour required, and if the Irish all left no contribution could be made out of lands east of the Shannon. The women, too, were for the most part able to spin and weave flax and wool, and there were plenty of masons ‘more handy and ready in building ordinary houses and much more prudent in supplying the defects of instruments and materials than English artificers.’ Gookin reckoned that a capital of 1500l. or 2000l. would be required for each thousand Irish acres, and that it would be impossible to bring over English labour in sufficient quantity. The Irish might refuse to go into Connaught—indeed, many had already done so, saying that their position was hopeless and that they might as well face ruin where they were as travel to look for it. And he adds, ‘there is one thing more which wise men will consider, and that is, the impossibility of this transplanting ... can it be imagined that a whole nation will drive like geese at the wagging of a hat upon a stick?’[268]
Definition of a Tory.
Intolerable taxation.
Whatever may be the etymology of the name Tory, it was officially applied in 1647 to masterless men living a life of brigandage and preying upon all who had anything to lose. No doubt it was in popular use before that date. Gookin says the English dreaded the Tories ‘more than armies, and woods and bogs than camps,’ and he believed that transplantation would make matters worse. The Irish proprietors would be unable to support their followers beyond Shannon, the river would be no barrier, and they would become Tories against their will. They had already been forced into such courses by the intolerable taxation necessary to support the Parliament’s army, and by the violence and oppression of some soldiers which often went unpunished. Most of the really active rebels were dead or exiled, and it was unwise as well as unjust to assume universal guilt. The Irish nation, indeed, ‘were generally engaged in the rebellion, either through ignorance of the design and apprehending they acted by the King’s commission and for his and God’s service; or through infirmity, partly fearing their priests’ threats, partly their landlords’ frowns, partly the violence of others, of the English who at the beginning reckoned an Irishman and a rebel tantamount, and on that score forced many into war (who desired peace) with the Irish in arms, who accounted and declared all enemies that joined not (at least seemingly) with them, and proceeded with more severity against dissenting natives than English.’