1569.
11 Elizabeth, cap. 4.
There are only two of the Acts passed by the Irish parliament in Elizabeth’s reign calling for notice, and this rather as exhibiting the condition of the country at that time, than as directly connected with our subject. The first of these is The 11th Elizabeth, cap. 4, entitled ‘An Act that five persons of the best and eldest of every nation amongst the Irishrie, shall bring in all the idle persons of their surname, to be justified by law.’ It declares that her Majesty’s “most humble and obedient subjects have been these many years past grieved with a generation of vile and base conditioned people (bred and maintained by coynie and liveries), the ancient enemies to the prosperity of this realm, of which sort the lords and captains of this land hath to raise and stirr up some to be maintained as outlaws to annoy each other’s rules, and so serving the iniquitie of the time, hath not only in attending those practices imbased their own particular estates, but also brought the whole public wealth of their supposed rules to ruin and utter decay.” For remedy whereof, it is now ordained, “that five persons of the best and eldest of everie stirpe or nation of the Irishrie, and in the countries that be not as yet shire grounds, and till they be shire ground, shall be bound to bring in to be justified by law, all idle persons of their surname which shall be hereafter charged with any offence, or else satisfie of their own proper goods the hurts by them committed to the parties grieved, and also such fines as shall be assessed upon them for their offences.” The Act we see applies to parts of the country beyond the pale, “which be not yet shire grounds,” where “the lords and captains of the land” were in the habit of maintaining a number of base-conditioned people in a state of outlawry to annoy each other’s rules, which practice it is said hath not only injured their own estates, but also brought the whole country under their supposed rule to ruin and utter decay. The remedy for these evils now sought to be applied, is by making five of the principal people of each sept or nation of the “Irishrie” answerable for the rest of the clan, and it seems likely that nothing better could have been devised under the circumstances; but the resorting to it is nevertheless an indication of the lawlessness and insecurity which prevailed, and how imperfectly the country had yet been brought under subjection.
1570.
12 Elizabeth, cap. 1.
The other Irish Act of Elizabeth’s reign requiring notice, is The 12th Elizabeth, cap. 1, entitled ‘An Act for the erection of Free Schools.’ It commences by reciting—“Forasmuch as the greatest number of the people of this realm hath of long time lived in rude and barbarous states, not understanding that Almighty God hath by his divine laws forbidden the manifold and heinous offences which they spare not daily and hourly to commit and perpetrate, nor that He hath by His Holy Scriptures commanded a due and humble obedience from the people to their princes and rulers, whose ignorance in these so high points touching their damnation proceedeth only of lack of good bringing up of the youth of this realm, either in public or private schools, where through good discipline they might be taught to avoid those loathsome and horrible errours”—Wherefore it is enacted that there shall be a free school established in every diocess of Ireland, and that the schoolmaster shall be an Englishman, “or of the English birth of this realm.” The archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and the bishops of Meath and Kildare and their successors, are to appoint the schoolmasters within their respective diocesses, and the lord deputy for the time being is to have the appointment in the other diocesses. The schoolhouses are to be built in the principal shire towns, at the cost and charge of the whole diocess, under direction of the ordinary, the vicars general, and the sheriff; and the lord deputy for the time being is “according to the quality and quantities of every diocess,” to appoint a yearly salary for every schoolmaster, whereof the ordinary of every diocess is to bear the third part, and the parsons, vicars, prebendaries, and other ecclesiastical persons of the diocess, by an equal contribution, are to bear the other two parts. The whole charge of these free schools was therefore, we see, to be borne by the clergy, on whom their superintendence also devolved.
The Reformation had at this time been established in Ireland, and the clergy whom the state recognised were necessarily all Protestant. The desire for extending education as a means for improving and enlightening the people, was therefore to be expected from them; and it is not improbable this desire was accompanied, and perhaps strengthened, by a belief that education would bring about the conversion of such of the people as were not yet of their flock, but still adhered to the church of Rome. That such were the motives of the Protestant clergy in the prominent part taken by them with regard to these free schools, and that the government and the proprietary classes generally were influenced by similar motives, can hardly admit of doubt. The result turned out different however from what was anticipated. The great bulk of the people remained in ignorance, and devotedly attached to the old religion, as it was and still is called; and thus a separation sprung up between one class and another, between the more English and Protestant class, and the more Irish and Romanist class, which has been a fruitful source of evil to each, and in spite of the countervailing efforts which have of late years been made, can hardly be said to have altogether disappeared even at the present day. How strange it seems that religion, which ought, and we must believe was designed to be, a bond of concord and union, should be perverted into an occasion for hatred and strife!—Yet so it unhappily too often has been, and in no country perhaps more than in Ireland.
1612.
11 and 12 James I. cap. 5.
Little was done in the way of legislation during the reign of James the First, and only one of the Acts of the Irish parliament in his reign requires to be noticed, namely The 11th and 12th James 1st, cap. 5.—It is entitled ‘An Act of Repeal of divers Statutes concerning the natives of this kingdom of Ireland.’ The preamble declares, that “in former times the natives of this realm of Irish blood, were for the most part in continual hostility with the English and with those that did descend of the English, and therefore the said Irish were held and accounted, and in divers statutes and records were termed and called Irish enemies.” But—“Forasmuch as the cause of the said difference and of making the said laws doth now cease, in that all the natives and inhabitants of this kingdom, without difference and distinction, are taken under his Majesty’s gracious protection, and do now live under one law as dutiful subjects, by means whereof a perfect agreement is and ought to be settled betwixt them”—Wherefore it is enacted, “that all the said Acts and statutes, and every clause and sentence in them conteyned, shall for ever be utterly and thoroughly repealed, frustrated, annihilated, and made void to all intents and purposes.” The passing of this Act manifests a change in public feeling, and was certainly a step in the right direction. To treat a people as enemies, is the sure way to make them such; and that the native Irish had long been so treated, the records of the antecedent period abundantly prove. The present was therefore a healing measure. By abolishing the distinction of race, and bringing all alike under protection of the law, the Act was no doubt intended to pave the way for an entire amalgamation of the two people. National distinctions and national grievances are however not easily obliterated or forgotten; time, intercourse, and the mutual interchange of good offices being necessary for effecting the one, or blotting out the remembrance of the other. And even after this has been accomplished, and a kind of oblivion of the past established, ancient feuds are too apt to be revived by the occurrence of some circumstance, trivial perhaps in itself, and race to be again put at enmity with race, class to be arrayed against class, and sect against sect. The history of Ireland abounds in examples of such revival of enmities, promoting discord and disorder, retarding improvement, and exercising a baneful influence on the character as well as on the condition of the people.
1634-5.
10 and 11 Charles I. cap 4.
The Irish parliament was somewhat more active in the reign of Charles the First, than it had been in that of his predecessor, and four of its Acts, all passed in the same year, we will now proceed to notice, the first of these being—The 10th and 11th Charles 1st, cap. 4—entitled ‘An Act for the erecting of Houses of Correction, and for the punishment of Rogues Vagabonds sturdy Beggars and other lewd and idle persons’—For which purpose it is enacted, that before Michaelmas in the following year “there shall be built or otherwise provided within every county of Ireland, one or more fit and convenient house or houses of correction, with convenient backside thereunto adjoining, together with mills, working-cards, and other necessary implements, to set the said rogues and other idle and disordered persons on work; the same houses to be built or provided in some convenient place or town in every county, which houses shall be purchased conveyed or assured unto such person or persons as by the justices of peace, or the most part of them shall be thought fit, upon trust, to the intent the same shall be used and employed for the keeping correcting and setting to work of the said rogues, vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and other idle and disorderly persons.” The justices are empowered to make orders from time to time, for raising money upon the inhabitants of the county for providing the said houses, and for the government and ordering thereof, and for setting to work such persons as shall be committed to the same; and also for the yearly payment of the governor and such others as they shall think necessary to be employed therein. The justices are moreover to appoint honest and fit persons to be governors of such houses,—which governors “shall have power and authority to set such rogues vagabonds idle and disorderly persons as shall be sent to the said houses, to work and labour (being able) for such time as they shall there continue, and to punish the said rogues &c. by putting fetters or gyves upon them, and by moderate whipping.” And it is further ordered, that the said rogues and vagabonds during the time they remain in such house of correction, “shall in no sort be chargeable to the country for any allowance, either at their bringing in or going forth, or during the time of their abode there, but shall have such and so much allowance as they shall deserve by their own labour and work.”
The justices at their quarter session of the peace are required to assign to the governors of the said houses a fitting salary, to be paid quarterly in advance by the treasurer of the county, which if the treasurer neglect to pay, the governor is empowered to levy upon him by distress of his goods. And in order that more care may be taken by the governors of such houses of correction, “when the country hath been at trouble and charge to bring all such disorderly persons to their safe keeping,” it is directed that they shall at every quarter session yield a true account to the justices of all persons committed to their custody; and if any of such persons “shall be troublesome to the country by going abroad, or otherwise shall escape away from the said house of correction before they shall be from thence lawfully delivered, the justices may impose such fines and penalties upon the said governor as they shall think fit.” The justices are to meet at least twice a year for the better execution of this statute, and are by warrant to command the constables of every barony, town, parish, village and hamlet within the county (“who shall be assisted with sufficient men of the same places”) to make a general privy search in one night for finding out and apprehending all rogues, vagabonds, wandering and idle persons, who are to be brought before the justices to be examined of their wandering idle life, and punished accordingly, or otherwise sent to the house of correction and there set to labour and work.