Government.—Ireland, by the Act of Union, became in 1801 an integral part of the United Kingdom, and shares in its legislation by means of 28 representative peers in the House of Lords, and 103 rep resentatives in the House of Commons. The representative peers are elected for life by the whole of the Irish peers. The lord-lieutenant, who represents the sov ereign, is the head of the executive, and holds his court in Dublin Castle. He is assisted by a privy council and a chief secretary, who takes the most active part in the administration of affairs. As in England, the chief legal functionaries are a lord chancellor, a lord chief-justice, and a master of the rolls. The Irish police force is a semi-military body, paid out of the Consolidated Fund.
-Cyc--11 History.—As in Western Europe gen erally, the earliest inhabitants are be lieved to have been of Iberian race, and, therefore, akin to the modern Basques. Divided among a number of hostile kings or chiefs, it had been long torn by in ternal wars, and for nearly two centuries ravaged by the Danes, numbers of whom settled in the country, when, in the begin ning of the llth century, Brian Boroimhe united the greater part of the island un der his scepter, restored tranquillity, and subdued the N. invaders.
After the death of Brian at the close of the battle of Clontarf, 1014, gained against the Danes and their Irish allies, the island relapsed into its former state of division and anarchy. In this state before borne as a vassal of the Pope, and the Irish chiefs generally acknowl edged his authority; but the change of religion was bitterly opposed, and Mary was easily able to undo all that had been done in this direction by her two pre decessors. Elizabeth imposed a Protest ant clergy on the people, and her reign was marked by a series of risings, which terminated in the reduction of the whole island. Great stretches were taken from the Irish chiefs, and distributed among English noblemen and others, who were to settle their new estates with English farmers. Little was done in this way, however, compared with the great plan tation of the N. by James I., under whom 800,000 acres of land in Ulster were of matters Henry II. of England obtained a papal bull giving him the right to sub due it, and the way was paved to this when Dermot, Prince of Leinster, who had been driven from the country, was reinstated by the aid of Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and other Norman nobles.
In 1172 Henry entered Ireland himself, and partly through the favor of the clergy and his affability, the great princes did homage to him and acknowledged his supremacy. Many Norman barons and their followers now settled in the country, but the English power was far from being established over it.
Henry VIII. assumed (by act of the Irish Parliament) the title of King of Ireland, instead of "Lord," which he had declared forfeited, a large part of this being entirely withdrawn from the Irish, and divided among Scotch or English set tlers. In 1641 there began an attempt to shake off the English yoke, in which great atrocities were perpetrated on both sides. In 1649 Cromwell was appointed lieutenant, and energetically, but cruelly reduced the whole country within nine months. The next struggle was that which followed the Revolution, when James II. landed in 1689, and hoped to regain his crown by French and Irish aid. He failed to reduce Londonderry, which held out, enduring the extremity of famine, till it was relieved by some ships from England. In the following year (1690) William III. arrived, and on July 1 gained a decisive victory over the forces of James on the Boyne, near Drog heda.
In 1778 the penal laws against the Catholics, though not repealed, were made much more lenient. The French Revolution had a great effect on the minds of the Irish people, and it was partly through this influence that the Society of United Irishmen was formed, and that rebellion broke out in 1798. Great atrocities were perpetrated, but the rising was speedily crushed. A body of French soldiers, 1,500 strong, landed in Killala Bay, but were compelled to surrender.
The British Government now resolved to unite the Irish and English Parlia ments, and an act providing for the legislative union of the two countries during the Civil War in that country hoped for a rupture between it and Eng land, of which they might take advan tage. This conspiracy, the members of which called themselves "Fenians" (See FENIANS), soon spread to Ireland; but before they could take any overt actica in that island their design was stifled by the British Government (1865-1866). The ministry now resolved to do all in their power to render the Irish people loyal and contented; and accordingly the Irish Episcopal Church was disestab lished in 1869, and another act was passed to improve the tenure of land, in 1870.