The defection of Fedlim from the English cause was followed by that of several other Irish princes ; so that the Scotch were enabled to march front the north towards Dublin; and having educed the strong fortress of Ca• rickfergus, they invested the capital. But though Ed ward's army was now still further increased by a body of troops which his brother Robert hrought from Scotland, and by the junction even of some English families of dis tinction, yet he found himself unable to make any impres sion upon Dublin ; and at the same time, he learnt that very formidable measures were taking to arrest his further pre press. In fact, an army amounting to nearly S0,000 troops, most of them indeed ill disciplined and ill equipped, was assembled at Kilkenny, and a new governor, Roger Mor timer, was sent over. Retreat now became absolutely ne cessary; but Ulster;into which the Scotch retreated, having been utterly devastated by them on their first landing, could not support them. Famine and pestilence attacked them so dreadfully, that they were soon greatly reduced in num bers. The new governor resolved to take advantage of this circumstance ; but he did not entrust the attack to the rabble assembled at Kilkenny. A regular army of 1500 men, under Sir John de Birmingham, was sent against the Scotch, whom, though nearly double their numbers, they defeated with great slaughter at Dundalk in 1318. In this battle Edward Bruce was slain. The English government, after this great effort to preserve their Irish territories, seem to have relapsed into their accustomed indifference about them ; and the usual consequences followed. In stead of the native Irish being stimulated or guided towards improvement by the English, the latter in great numbers renounced the name, character, and privileges of English subjects ; the English troops, unpaid and undisciplined, were permitted, and even ordered to levy exactions, to sup ply the place of their pay ; and this they did with so much rapacity and cruelty, that the settlements in the south, over which, as at the greatest distance from the seat of govern ment, they tyrannized in the most dreadful manner, were deserted by the English, and occupied by a horde of law less and savage banditti, over whom even some of the English lords placed themselves, with the title of Irish princes. These princes were constantly at war either with one another, or with the English ; but the circumstances of these petty warfares are too uninteresting for detail.
Ireland, thus reduced to a state of barbarism, and its constant attendants misery and poverty, was doomed to suffer still more from the unjust, as well as impolitic mea sures of Edward III. This prince, impoverished by his wars with France, resolved to draw money from Ireland, by the only mode in which it was capable of supplying it. With this view he resumed all grants of estates made by himself or his father ; and declared, that none except Eng lishmen, who possessed property in England, should hold offices in Ireland. This violent measure naturally excited deep and general alarm, while, at the same time, it as na turally gave rise to two parties or factions, viz. those that were English by birth, and those who were English only by blood. Edward probably was soon sensible of his error, for he returned a gracious and favourable answer to the remonstrances of the parliament on the subject of his or dinances, and at the same time promised a redress of the grievances which they enumerated.
As a repetition of the disturbances and petty rebellions by which the history of Ireland is at this period, and for some time afterwards, principally distinguished, would be tiresome and uninstructive, we shall pass them over, and select only such circumstances and transactions as tended to improve the condition of this country ; these, unfortu nately, have always been few, and "far between ;" and, till within a very recent period, indeed, rather deviations from, than in strict conformity with, the principles on which the English have ruled over Ireland.
In 1356, Ireland was favoured with a wise, humane, and just governor, Sir Thomas Rokeby ; his favourite saying was, let my dishes be wooden, rather than my creditors unpaid." Convinced that no good could be done to Ire land, which did not proceed from the highest source, and that the mass of the people must remain barbarous and un restrained by law, so long as the higher orders were so, his first steps were to improve the latter. Ile brought the Irish parliament as nearly as possible to the model of the English, and when, by this means, he could depend upon their judgment and impartiality, he assigned to it the decision of all appeals from inferior courts: these had been carried heretofore into England. He thus lessened the ex pence and trouble of law-suits, while at the same time he habituated the Irish to a knowledge of law, and by putting confidence in them, rendered them worthy of confidence. Unfortunately, however, the wise measures of the chief governor were counteracted by the unjust and impolitic proceedings of the king : he forbade any more Irishmen from being admitted into any office or place of trust, in any city, borough, or castle, or into any ecclesiastical benefice; thus proclaiming his suspicions of the Irish, without doing any thing to remove their dislike of the English. Finding this measure not productive of all the benefit lie expected, he next adopted a most bold measure. His second son, Lionel, in right of his wife, claimed the lands and the title of Earl of Ulster ; and to ertalne him to carry these claims into effect, he was appointed by his father chief governor, and sent over with an army of I 5C0 men ; hut his attempts were ineffectual ; and he left Ireland with no other proof of his having been there, except an increased hatred be tween the two factions, occasioned by his preference of those of English birth, and his persecution of those of Eng lish blood. It is probable that experience taught him the folly of his proceedings, for during both his subsequent governorships, his conduct was extremely politic and judicious.
The parliament, which enacted the statute of Kilkenny in 1367, was summoned by him. The leading object of this statute was, to keep the English distinct from the Irish in character, manners, feelings, and interests. For this pur pose, all connection with the Irish, by marriage, or foster age, was forbidden under the penalty affixed to high trea son : if an Irish name, or the Irish language, dress, or cus toms, were adopted, the forfeiture of lands, or imprison ment, was the punishment. War was not to be levied against the Irish without special license front govern ment ; no Irishman was to be received into a monastery, or presented to a benefice, nor was any Irish bard or news monger to be entertained. The quartering of soldiers on English subjects, without their consent, was forbidden, under the punishment attached to felony. It is evident that if it had been practicable to have carried this statute into full and regular operation, it would have entirely cut off all connection between the Irish and the English ; but its execution was impracticable from yam ious causes, and it probably became rather the instrument of tyranny and op pression, even to those it was meant to benefit, than of any real good.