The despotism of the Earl of Strafford. the Vieeroy of Charles 1., produced order and pros perity in Ireland. 'By balancing the number of Catholics and Protestants in Parliament and holding out to the former the promise of tolera tion. he succeeded in obtaining liberal supplies for the King in his conflict with the English Parliament. The native Irish, who had been dis possessed by the plantations in Ulster and el-e %%here, made use of the English situation to re gain their possessions. Under the leadership of Roger tOlonre.a conspiraey was formed in 1641 to seize Dahl n and expel the English. They sueceeded in driving the English settlers out of Ulster. and committed many outrages; not, however, so ninny as has been supposed. Tt has been estimated by English writers that at least :10.000 people were put to death. but this number is certainly exag gerated. The Scotch were. as a rule. spared. The insurgents were soon joined by the Catholic. lord- of the Pale. and together they chose a Su preme Council to govern Ireland. Charles T. sent over the Earl of Glamorgan to treat with them. and the Earl went so far as to promise them the predominancy of the Catholic Church in Ireland as the price of their assistance to the King. But the strun•gle in England was termi nated in favor of the Parliament before the Trish Catholics could render effective assistance to the King. In lilt; the alliance between the lords of the Pale. who desired nothing beyond toleration for their religion, and the Celts, who hoped for the restoration of the ancient land system, came to an end. In 164R the Earl of Ormond returned as the Viceroy of Charles I., and made an alli ance with the lords, thus securing Ire land to the Royalist party. In Isitti Crinnwell landed at Dublin„ which the ('atholic, had been unable to take. With his well-disciplined army, 10,000 men of the New 11)(1(.1, lie stormed Dro gheda and put its garrison of 2000 to the sword. At Wexford there was another slaughter, tint Cromwell'. orders. Ili, successors, Ire ton and Ludlow. finished the war, and a great ]mart of the best I, NIunster, Leinster, anti Ulster was confiscated and diytded among the of the Parliamentary Army. The Catho lics and Loyalist landowners were banished to onnaught. A portion of the land confiscated this time restored under Charles 11., but at least two-thirds of the land in Ireland re mained in the bands of the Protestants. The viceroyalty of Ormond did much to restore order and industry, but the as eendeney was maintained. James IL, however, reversed this policy. Paler his viceroy, the Earl of Tyrconnell. Catholics were advanced to positions of State and placed in control of the militia, which Ormond had previously organized. ('onsequently. the entire Catholic population took sides with James iT. in the English Revolution of litss, and when in ICS!) .lame, landed at Dub lin with his French linkers, Tyrconnell had an Irish army ready to assist him. The Protestant settlers were driven from their home, and sound refuge in Enniskillen and T.(indimilerry. .Tames attempted to capture Londonderry, hut he hampered by the lack of artillery and the city was by way of the sea. His Parliament of Ifitill restored all the lands that had been eon tiscateil since 11141, and passed an act of attainder against the partisans of NVilliain III. in the tot lowing year William landed in Ireland, and in the battle of the Boyne duly. Iii90) defeated the Irish forces. Ile failed. however. to capture Limerick. which was bravely defended. A brilliant sally of the Irish patriot Sarstield destroyed William's heavy artillery, and he was forced to retire. The next year his generals defeated the Trish Army at Aughrim, and Limerick was forced to capitulate. By the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, Catholies were permitted a certain amount of religious free dom. and the lands they had possessed under Charles IT. were to be restored.
The Parliament of England forced •illiam to hreak the concession uf the Treaty of Limerick, regarding the restoration of the lands. and the Parliament of Ireland violated the terms grant ing religious toleration by enacting the penal laws. directed mainly against the Roman Catho lics. The peasants were annoyed by erne] and vexatious restriction- alike on their religious worship and innocent anueseinents. An act passed under George T. made all laws enacted by the British Parliament extend over Ireland. Iler commerce and industries were deliberately erushed. in 1663, and again in 111913. all Trish trade with the English colonic, was prohibited, and in and 1690 the Irish import trade to England in cattle, milk. butter, and cheese was forbidden. The trade in woolens, which had grown up among the Irish Protestants, was like wise cnislied by an enactment of 1(199, which pro hibited the export of woolen goods from Ireland to any country whatever. Small amends for
these injuries were made by leaving the linen trade undisturbed. The result of all these meas ures was the gradual decline of Ireland. A large percentage of the best elements of the population emigrated—the Catholics to serve in the armies of Spain and France, the Protestants to carry their industries to America.
The American Revolution awakened much sym pathy in Ulster, especially among the Presby terians, who, being disqualified from holding office, desired a general emancipation, including the Catholics. In I77S the Irish Parliament passed the Relief Act, removing some of the most oppressive disabilities, Meanwhile, the Irish Protestants, under pretext of defending the coun try from the French, who had formed an alli ance with the Americans, bad formed associations of volunteers, S0,000 strong. Backed by this military force, they, under the lead of Grat tan, demanded legislative independence for Ireland, and on motion of the younger Fox the British Parliament repealed both the Poy nings law and the act of George I. mentioned above. But the Irish Parliament was composed entirely of the Protestants of the Established Church, who were unwilling to extend the suf frage, and it was even more corrupt and in need of reform than the British Parliament. The prin ciples of the French Revolution found their most powerful expression in Ireland in the Society of United Irishmen, which 'organized the rebellion of 1798. The peasantry rose in Wexford, and, al though miserably armed, made a brave fight. At one time Dublin was in danger, but the in surgents were defeated by the regular forces at Vinegar Hill. A French force of 1100 landed in Killala Bay, but too late to render effective as sistance. A reign of terror ensued, of which even the English Governor disapproved. Pitt, the British Prime Minister, thought a legislative union of the two countries, together with Catholic emancipation, the only remedy for Catholic re bellion and Protestant tyranny. By a lavish use of money and distribution of patronage. lie ac cordingly induced the Irish Parliament to pass the Act. of Union. On .January 1, 1801, the Union was formally proclaimed.
The history of Ireland since the Union is the story of a continuous struggle for civic and re ligious freedom, and for separation from Great Britain. Hardly had the Union been carried out when the universal dissatisfaction gitve rise to the outbreak of July 23, 1803, under Robert Emmet (q.v.). It was easily suppressed, and for sonic time there were no further armed revolts. In stead a conflict was carried on along Parliament ary lines under the leadership of Daniel O'Con nell (q.v.). In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association, which demanded first of all Catholic emancipation. This was finally obtained, for in IS2S Catholics were permitted to hold office, and in 1829 they were allowed to sit in Parliament. The struggle now turned upon the tithes, which ail, Catholics included, were compeller] to pay for the maintenance of the Anglican Church in Ire land. Great cruelties were perpetrated on both sides during the so-called 'Tithe War' which about IS31 became coupled with a renewed em phatic demand for the repeal of the Act of Union. O'Connell formed various societies to carry on the agitation, and there was consider able lawlessness, which was fostered by the so called Ribbon Society (see RIBBONISM The reform of Parliament in 1832 aided the Irish leaders, for it increased the number of Irish members from 100 to 105, and, more important still, it gave the middle class more power, in place of the pro-English aristocracy. In 1838 a bill was passed converting the tithe; into rent charge, to be paid by the landlords, and agitation in connection with the Church erased to be acute for a time. O'Connell had for a long period been supported by the more extreme of the Irish Na tionalists, but in 1843 it became evident that lie would never make an appeal to arms. The con sequence was the formation of the Young Ireland Party, whose leaders were all young men. the most notable being William Smith O'Brien, John Blake Dillon, Thomas Francis Meagher, and John Mitchel. The last-named in turn seceded from the Young Ireland Party, and advocated an Irish republic. For a while Peel, the English Prime Minister, tried concessions, but in vain, the more so as from 1845 to 1847 rent-racked Ireland suf fered from a terrible famine, due to the failure of the potato crop. Vast numbers emigrated. espe cially to America, whither they carried with them the hatred toward England. and continued to give effective support to the Irish cause. Many also died, and it is said that in all one and a half million of people had disappeared by 1848. In the latter year the Young Ireland Party sought to bring about a revolt, but the whole attempt proved a miserable failure; the leaders were cap tured and transported.