O’Neill was sentenced to death for high treason and for four murders proved against him, according to the judge’s notes. That he had levied war against the King is obvious, and the question is not worth discussing. He was not accused of murdering any one with his own hand, but as an accessory before the fact or by giving orders to the actual assassins. In the case of Lord Caulfield the fragments of evidence which we possess do not make the facts absolutely clear. The original capture was treacherous in the highest degree, and the murder was committed by Sir Phelim’s foster-brother. The young lord had been over five months O’Neill’s prisoner at or near Charlemont, and according to one witness he directed the escort to take him to Cloughoughter, in Cavan. Sir Phelim’s own house at Kinard was the first halting-place, and there the deed was done, fifteen or sixteen of Caulfield’s Scotch and English dependants being slaughtered at the same time. O’Neill was not present, but he had used very suspicious language shortly before, and the assassin was allowed to escape in his gaoler’s company, and was not caught. Of three warders, one who was an Irishman was not punished, while the other two, being English and Scotch, were duly hanged by Sir Phelim’s orders. The gaoler was restored to his post at Armagh. In all the cases much of the evidence is hearsay; but the murders charged, with many others, were committed within a few miles of Charlemont, and Sir Phelim, who commanded in chief, never punished anybody. Michael Harrison swore that in December 1641 he heard O’Neill say, ‘with great ostentation, that he would never leave off the work he had begun until mass should be sung or said in every church in Ireland, and that a Protestant should not live in Ireland, be he of what nation he would.’[249]

O’Neill was hanged, drawn, and quartered, one quarter being impaled at Lisburn, which he had burned; another at Dundalk, which he had taken; a third at Drogheda, which he had vainly besieged; and a fourth, with the head, at Dublin, which he had plotted to surprise. Tirlogh Groom O’Quin, who was captured with him and who had been his close associate in the early days of the rebellion, was executed later, and his head set upon the west gate of Carrickfergus. There has been much discussion as to the exact relation of Sir Phelim and the other original conspirators to Charles I., and the declaration of Dean Ker in 1681 was long accepted as evidence. Attempts have been made to set aside Ker’s statement, on the ground that he wanted to be a bishop, that he spoke twenty-eight years after the fact, and that it was impossible that things which happened in open court should have remained doubtful for so long. It is certain that he never became a bishop, and there is nothing to prove that he wished to be one. By his own showing he had often mentioned the matter to his friend or patron, Lord Lanesborough, who at last persuaded him to write it down. There is never anything extraordinary in London being ignorant of what happens in Dublin; and after the Restoration no one had any interest in recalling the proceedings of the Cromwellian High Court there. The late King’s position as a saint and martyr was then undisputed, and the Church of England was not on her defence. A more important difficulty is that the Dean says he heard Michael Harrison, who only saved his life by acting as secretary to Sir Phelim, confess in open court that he attached the Great Seal to a sham commission, and that O’Neill, when pressed by the judges, answered ‘that no man could blame him to promote that cause he had so far engaged in.’ In his sworn deposition Harrison says Sir Phelim had often spoken of a commission from the King, but he had never been able to get a sight of it, though it was generally believed to exist. It seems certain that a sham commission of some sort was shown not only in Ulster but in Munster; and there is no difficulty about believing that O’Neill should not have wished to die with a lie in his mouth, or that hopes of mercy should have been held out to him if he would implicate Charles. If the commission were forged, it matters little whether the seal was that of England or Scotland; either would do to exhibit at a distance. We know from the judge’s notes that O’Neill was believed to have altered a genuine document, and that a copy was produced in court. It is not impossible that Harrison may have been employed to affix a seal to some instrument which he had not been allowed to read. The memory of Charles I. has much to bear, but he could not have given a commission authorising a general insurrection. He had been angling for Roman Catholic help before the outbreak of the rebellion, and many may have been persuaded that they were doing his will by rising against the Lords Justices; but it is not at all likely that any of the leaders were of this opinion.[250]

Lord Muskerry was not one of the first conspirators, but he joined the movement soon after it had spread to Munster. After the surrender of Ross Castle he went to Spain, but he had been a determined opponent of Rinuccini, and he found the clergy so hostile that his life was not safe. At Lisbon his reception was little better, and he gave up his plan of raising troops for the Peninsula, returned to Cork, and threw himself upon the mercy of Parliament. This was in February 1653, and he remained a prisoner in Dublin until his trial in December. In the meantime Lady Ormonde had arrived there, and naturally interested herself in his behalf. If Carte was rightly informed, Lowther did what he could by privately informing her of the line which the prosecution would take, and so enabling the prisoner to be prepared for his defence at all points. He was not tried for treason, but as accessory to the murder of Mrs. Hussey and others in 1642; and this resulted in an acquittal. There was another charge for the murder of William Deane and others, also in 1642, and it was held that the prosecutors had proved the facts, but that the prisoner had no real share in what was done, and was in any case protected by the Ross articles. It was, moreover, shown that he often acted a humane and merciful part. A separate count, for the murder of Roger Skinner, also resulted in an acquittal. Muskerry was not finally discharged for some months, and this delay may have been caused by the discovery that a printed copy of the Ross articles produced on the trial differed from the original which had been retained by Ludlow. He was charged in May 1654 with the murder of a man and woman unknown, but there was a verdict of ‘Not Guilty.’ Muskerry’s speech after his acquittal on the Hussey and Deane charges has been preserved. He admitted that he had had a fair trial, and that if there had been any leaning it was in his favour. ‘I met,’ he said, ‘many crosses in Spain and Portugal. I could get no rest till I came hither, and the crosses I met here are much affliction to me; but when I consider that in this court I come clear out of that blackness of blood by being so sifted, it is more to me than my estate. I can live without my estate, but not without my credit.’ He raised men for the Venetian service, and went later to Poland, and regained most of his property after the Restoration.[251]

Another remarkable case was that of Edmund O’Reilly, then or later vicar-general of Dublin and afterwards Primate, for the murder of John Joyce and others at Wicklow in December 1642. They appear to have been burned in Wicklow Castle in cold blood. Most of the evidence was hearsay, and does not perhaps amount to much more than that O’Reilly made rather light of what had been done. Luke Byrne, indeed, swore that in a conversation when Joyce was mentioned O’Reilly had advised him to kill all the English about him, and had afterwards excommunicated him for favouring them. The prisoner answered that this Byrne was his enemy, and that he had excommunicated him for living in adultery. Perhaps the strongest point against O’Reilly was made by Peter Wickham, who had been High Sheriff of Wicklow, and who stated that Edward Byrne was put off the jury because he, as foreman, was prepared to say that Joyce and the rest were murdered. Edward Byrne himself corroborated this. On the other hand, a witness bearing the English name of Pemberton swore that O’Reilly had done many acts of kindness and preserved many English lives, including those of five Protestant clergymen. These cases were all a good deal later than Joyce’s murder, and it is not improbable that, while favouring the rebellion at first, he became afterwards disgusted at the outrages that attended it. He was found guilty, but received a pardon. Peter Walsh, who was bitterly opposed to O’Reilly, speaks of him as rather a good-natured and merciful man, but adds that he escaped owing to ‘his former services to the Parliament, especially that of betraying the royal camp at Rathmines to Jones.’ He was certainly engaged in secret negotiations between Jones and Owen Roe O’Neill in 1648, and it may well be that there was no wish to deal hardly with him. Walsh says he was under protection within the Parliament’s lines, and in that unsafe position was rash enough to appear in Dublin as a witness for the prosecution in a criminal trial. He was recognised and named by a person in court, who called upon the judge to arrest him as priest and vicar-general and chief author of seizing and burning in cessation time the black castle of Wicklow, and consequently too of murdering all those within it. ‘Now whether this accusation was in itself true or false I know not.’[252]

Sir Theodore Bourke, third Viscount Mayo, submitted on July 14, 1652, and was one of the seven who signed on behalf of a large number. Those guilty of robbery or murder during the first year of the war were excluded from any benefit by the articles. Lord Mayo was tried at Galway as accessory to the Shrule massacre by a commission consisting of Sir Charles Coote and ten others. He was undoubtedly present at the murders, and he rode away without fighting for the victims, who were supposed to be under his protection; but there was evidence to show that he did make some effort to save them, and that he fled only to secure his own life. Four of the commissioners were for an acquittal, but he was condemned by a majority and shot.[253]

War is a costly business. First there is the blood-tax, withdrawing thousands of young men from remunerative work. Then there is the expenditure on war materials, and the destruction of property, which may take long to replace. In modern times soldiers are paid punctually, but some part of the waste has to be met by loans, and so the expense of war goes on when its causes are half forgotten. In the case of the Irish rebellion, it was seen at once that the work could not be paid for out of revenue. Except for a moment under Strafford, Ireland had never been self-supporting, and Parliament, upon whom the King at once cast the responsibility, as yet commanded no regular income and could not pledge the national credit. The city of London was willing enough to give money, but security for repayment was required, and 2500 acres of Irish land were hypothecated for this purpose. It was assumed, judging by the great area affected, and by the experience of former rebellions, that a very much larger amount would be forfeited. Those who subscribed would have something to sell as soon as their money had done its work. In addition to this it proved, just as in Elizabeth’s time, that there was never ready cash enough to pay the soldiers in full, and their arrears also were made a charge upon the Irish forfeitures. There were also many miscellaneous creditors who expected to be paid out of the same fund.[254]

It is unnecessary to set out in detail the negotiations which led to the passing of the Act for the speedy reduction of the rebels in Ireland, but it received the royal assent and was therefore a legal statute forming the basis of what is known as the Cromwellian settlement. Charles II. was bound by it, for the original contract could not be denied. Six hundred and twenty-five thousand acres were pledged in each province, and the money advanced was to be repaid with land distributed by lot at the rate of 1000 acres in Ulster for every 200l., in Connaught for every 300l., in Munster for every 450l., and in Leinster for every 600l. Profitable land only was counted, bogs, loughs, and barren mountains with the woods growing on them, being thrown in without measurement. A quit-rent was reserved to the Crown of one penny per acre in Ulster, three halfpence in Connaught, twopence farthing in Munster, and threepence in Leinster. Patents and pardons before attainder since the fatal October 23, 1641, were declared void, and so were assignments made after March 1 in that year. A special cause of forfeiture was entering after the said March 1 into ‘any compact, bond, covenant, oath, promise, or agreement to introduce or bring into the said realm of Ireland the authority of the see of Rome in any case whatsoever or to maintain or defend the same.’ The money subscribed was all to be paid in London, and it was specially provided that no part of it was to be devoted to any purpose except the reduction of the Irish rebels until Parliament should declare that the thing was done. But it very soon became evident that there would be war nearer home and long before the time limited for closing the collection. One hundred thousand pounds was borrowed by the House of Commons for their own purposes ‘upon the public faith.’ Charles protested, as he had every right to do, but he set up his standard at Nottingham only nine days later, having already proclaimed Essex a traitor. The Irish difficulty could not be effectively dealt with until it was decided who was to be master in England.[255]

Three Acts to explain or extend the original one were passed soon afterwards. By the first special arrangements were made for admitting Scotch adventurers and Dutch Protestants on or before May 10, 1642; by the second, subscribers who paid all their money before July 20, 1642, were to have Irish acres based upon a perch of twenty-one feet, new contributors and those who were not so prompt, being still confined to English measure, with a perch of sixteen and a half feet, by the third corporations and companies were admitted to contribute as well as individuals. A permanent committee sat in London to watch the interests of the adventurers. Ordinances affecting them were made from time to time, of which one of the most important was that of July 14, 1643, doubling the amount of land to be given in Irish acres for an additional one-fourth to the original subscription, and encouraging merchants and manufacturers to advance money on the security of the towns and neighbourhoods of Limerick, Waterford, Galway, and Wexford. All chantry lands ‘given, unto superstitious uses for maintenance of popish priests and idolatrous masses’ were thrown in, and also all lands ‘given for maintenance of lazars and lazarous people and concealed in possession and occupation of such who are now or shall be rebels, and have been by their ancestors enjoyed by many descents.’ Some months before this, at the beginning of October 1642, the House of Commons sent a committee to Ireland consisting of Robert Goodwin and Robert Reynolds, adventurers and members of Parliament, and of Captain William Tucker, who was associated with them by the City of London. They disagreed among themselves, and effected nothing for the adventurers, but their pretensions gave the King an opportunity of interfering. Dublin was secured in Ormonde’s hands, and so it remained until Charles was overthrown in England. But civil government was in abeyance long after that, and it was not until August 1652, when the Irish war seemed to be nearly over, that Parliament was able to declare how Irish land should be dealt with.[256]

CHAPTER XXXVII

PEACE, SETTLEMENT, AND TRANSPLANTATION, 1652-1654

At the beginning of 1652 the Commissioners in Ireland could see that the war was near its end, but there were still about 30,000 men in arms against them. Their first object was to get these fighting men out of Ireland, in which they succeeded, and after that to begin the scheme of colonisation which had been contemplated from the first. They adhered to the original idea of the Act of March 1642, by which forfeited lands were to be assigned to the Adventurers in each of the four provinces, the counties earmarked for the purpose being Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow, Westmeath, and Longford in Leinster, Limerick and Kerry in Munster, Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh, and Donegal in Ulster, Clare, Galway, Leitrim, and Sligo in Connaught, as the divisions then ran, others being held in reserve in case the above-named should be insufficient. By this means the settlers would be near one another, and afford mutual protection. It was also proposed to make a permanent Pale between the Boyne and the Barrow with a strong garrison in Wicklow, and another between the Suir and the southern Blackwater. The territory within those rivers could be easily and cheaply protected, and would soon be well inhabited, and the soldiers who held it were to be fixed in Roman fashion with reduced pay and farms instead of arrears, ‘provided that such of them as marry with Irish women shall lose their commands, forfeit their arrears, and be made incapable to inhabit lands in Ireland.’ After the receipt of the Commissioners’ despatch, the Committee of Adventurers were called upon to make proposals for a speedy plantation. They accordingly claimed 281,812l. for original advances, and 12,283l. under the ordinance of 1643, involving grants of 1,038,234 acres. They objected to the suggested arrangements, and demanded contiguous lands in Leinster and Munster, including the city of Waterford. The war was not yet over, and Tories were numerous, so that there would be no safety otherwise, and English labourers were scarce on account of the disafforestations at home. They therefore refused to be bound to time or to pay taxes until the country was really settled, lest they should be ruined while their highly paid servants grew rich, as had happened in New England. Weaver was sent over in April to represent the Irish Government, but the Adventurers stood their ground. Three years from September 29, 1652, had been proposed as the limit of time to be occupied in planting, but it would be impossible within it to provide dwellings for 40,000 men and their families. Less than that number would not do, nor could the work begin until the counties assigned were ‘cleared of Tories or of other Irish which by the propositions may not be admitted to be in the plantation, though Protestants.’ They only waited till the country was made safe, and till they knew more accurately what lands they had to escheat, ‘and that all men’s estates not forfeited should be cleared and known.’ Otherwise they might be involved in hopeless litigation with Lord Cork and many others, who were not at all implicated in the rebellion. On April 17, one month before this answer was given, the general and field officers in Ireland, including Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones, met at Kilkenny, where they heard Dr. Jones’s abstract of the depositions taken concerning murders committed during the rebellion. They were already inclined to think that some of the capitulations had been too lenient, and the reading of this terrible paper confirmed them. To many the facts were new, others, who had been in Ireland since 1641, had never known them in so concrete a form, and they feared that men at a distance might be moved through ignorance to lenity, ‘which we have found no small temptation in ourselves ... and considering that so many murders have been committed that few of the former English were left undestroyed (especially men who had any particular knowledge of the massacre, and of those the greater part are since deceased) so that few of the rebels can be particularly discriminated by any evidence now to be produced, as the usual course of justice doth require, yet those barbarous, cruel murders having been so generally joined in and since justified by the whole nation, &c.’ And they suggested to Parliament that ‘in duty towards God, the great avenger of such villainies,’ they should not delay to decide upon the ‘qualifications and exceptions’ desirable. The abstract of evidence which had so greatly impressed the officers accompanied their despatch, which was read in Parliament on May 18, and we may well believe that its effect was considerable in moulding legislation. In the interval between May and August the idea of transplantation took shape, and Connaught was left out of the area within which Adventurers and soldiers might seek their reward.[257]

The Act of Settlement upon which all subsequent proceedings were founded declared that it was ‘not the intention of the Parliament to extirpate that whole nation.’ Pardon might be extended to the inferior sort of people on condition of submission and peaceable behaviour. Those of higher rank, ‘according to the respective demerits and considerations under which they fell,’ were divided into ten classes or qualifications, of which the first five were excepted from pardon for life and estate. The first comprised all who before November 10, 1642, when the Kilkenny assembly first met, had anything to say to the rebellion, murders, or massacre. The second clause included all ecclesiastical persons in Roman orders who had been so concerned, the penalty in their cases extending to ‘violences’ less than murder or open insurrection. The third consisted of one hundred and four persons excepted by name, including Ormonde, Castlehaven, Clanricarde, Inchiquin, Muskerry, and seventeen other temporal peers. Bishop Bramhall came next, and among the rest were Sir Phelim O’Neill, General Preston, and Roger O’More. The fourth qualification covered those who at any time after October 1, 1641, had a hand in killing any one except soldiers, and all Irishmen who, not being soldiers themselves, had killed Englishmen who were. The fifth clause condemned all who did not lay down their arms within twenty-eight days of the Act being published by authority in Ireland. The sixth clause provided for the banishment of all superior military officers and for the forfeiture of two-thirds of their estates, the value of the remaining third to be enjoyed by their wives and children ‘in such places in Ireland as the Parliament, in order to the more effectual settlement of the peace of this nation, shall think fit to appoint for that purpose.’ The seventh clause empowered the Commissioners to pardon others who had fought and submitted, and they also were deprived of two-thirds of their property, but might continue in Ireland upon the equivalent of one-third wherever the Parliament might assign it. The eighth applied to Papists who had lived in Ireland since October 23, 1641, ‘and had not manifested their constant good affection to the interest of the Commonwealth of England’; they were to forfeit one-third, and other persons who might have helped the Parliament and failed to do so were deprived of only one-fifth. The ninth clause granted pardon for life and estate to those who had no land and not more than ten pounds personalty, provided they laid down their arms within the prescribed time. The tenth clause swept into the net all estates tail and trusts created after March 25, 1639, but English Protestants who purchased for value before the beginning of the rebellion were protected. There was a final proviso granting to all the benefit of any articles granted provided they had observed them on their part, but the Commissioners had, nevertheless, power to ‘transplant’ them to any such place in Ireland as should be ‘judged most consistent with public safety,’ where they were to have land equivalent to what they would have enjoyed had they not been so removed.[258]

At the end of January 1652, a little more than two months after Ireton’s death, Lambert was named by Parliament as Deputy to Cromwell, who was still Lord Lieutenant; and he made preparations for filling the place brilliantly. Mrs. Hutchinson says he laid out five thousand pounds on his outfit, and gave himself airs of superiority, ‘looking upon all the Parliament men who had conferred this honour on him as underlings, and scarcely worth the great man’s nod.’ Weaver’s influence was cast against him, and before Cromwell’s commission had actually expired the House resolved to abolish the Lord Lieutenancy and to appoint no Deputy. Lambert was told he might command the army as Ludlow had been doing, sharing the civil power with the other commissioners; but he refused this offer, and Cromwell, who became Captain-General, appointed Fleetwood. Ludlow says this was a deep-laid plot on the part of Cromwell, who was jealous of his steadfast republicanism, and that he was thus able to secure a useful servant in his son-in-law, and at the same time to set such a dangerous rival as Lambert against the Parliament. On the other hand there is evidence that Cromwell thought him badly treated, and he requested that 2000l. of arrears due to himself as Lord Lieutenant might be paid to Lambert. Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones remained in Ireland as Fleetwood’s colleagues, but Weaver, though reappointed, became obnoxious to the military party, and never returned thither. Fresh instructions were issued as soon as the Act of Settlement had passed, and Fleetwood landed at Waterford in September 1652. The Commissioners were ordered to publish and circulate the Act, and to put it in force in Ireland, as well as all ordinances affecting the estates of delinquents and Papists and of the bishops and chapters. They were to raise a revenue not exceeding 40,000l. a month upon lands and goods in Ireland, and to watch the financial interests of the State in every way, and they were given power ‘to send into England or such other places as you shall think fit, any persons whose residence in those parts from which they are so to be removed, you shall judge dangerous to this Commonwealth.’[259]

The Act of Settlement only laid foundations, and further legislation was required before the work of colonisation could be actually undertaken. At the end of 1652, although the war was not quite over, the Commissioners urged upon Parliament the necessity of expedition. ‘The two great businesses,’ they wrote a few weeks later, ‘which now lie before us are how to lessen your charge and how to plant the country, but neither of these can be done to any effect till we do hear your pleasure about the Bill before you for giving satisfaction to the Adventurers and also to satisfy the arrears of the soldiers.’ The dilatoriness of the sovereign assembly was at least one of the reasons why Cromwell turned it out of doors. The Lord General and his new Council in their declaration make no reference to Ireland except that it had pleased God to reduce the country. It was published a week later in Dublin, the Commissioners reminding all in positions of trust that ‘notwithstanding the present alteration’ they were bound to use great diligence, and that they would be held to strict account. May 4 and 11 were fixed for ‘solemn seeking the Grace of the Lord by all his people in Ireland.’[260]

Oliver Cromwell was virtually dictator during the few weeks that intervened between his dismissal of the much purged House of Commons and the meeting of that curious assembly sometimes called the Little and sometimes the Nominated Parliament, but which will always be remembered in connection with Praise-God Barebone. It was intended to legislate for the British Islands, and representatives of Scotland and Ireland were accordingly added. The 140 members were named by the new Council of State without any pretence of election, and summoned by Oliver as Lord General. The English members were assigned to various parts of the kingdom, but the Scotch and Irish, to their respective countries at large. Five of the Irish members were Colonels, Sir Robert King, who was born in Ireland, Hewson the regicide, who became a Councillor of State, John Clarke, Daniel Hutchinson, and Henry Cromwell. The only civilian associated with them was Vincent Gookin, whose father had fallen foul of Strafford’s Parliament. The Speaker chosen by the assembly was Francis Rous, author of a metrical version of the Psalms which still retains some reputation in Scotland. The House, which had been partly composed according to Harrison’s idea of a Sanhedrin, took care to appoint no officer or servant, ‘but such as they were first well satisfied of their real godliness.’ The new Council of State was reappointed with some alterations, and included Cromwell and Fleetwood. After these preliminaries were settled the House spent a summer’s day until four o’clock ‘in seeking the Lord in a special manner for counsel and a blessing on the proceedings,’ some twelve members speaking and praying. ‘The Lord General was present, and it was a comfortable day.’ His long speech at the opening contains no special reference to Irish policy.[261]

Cromwell handed over the supreme authority to the new assembly, which by a majority voted itself a Parliament, but he and his Council of State had already begun to take action on the Act of Settlement. Methusaleh Turner, linen-draper of London, and eight other persons were appointed to meet at Grocers’ Hall, on June 20, at eight o’clock in the morning, and there hold a lottery to decide upon the Adventurers’ claims. No one lot was to exceed 10,000l., Connaught was excluded, and the total to be provided for in the other three provinces was 360,000l. One penny in the pound was to be deducted for expenses. Two days after the lottery began a commission was given to Fleetwood, Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones, declaring the war ended and empowering them to administer the Acts and ordinances concerning the Adventurers, and to make a survey for the purpose of all forfeited lands in Ireland. They were instructed first to take in hand ten counties, namely Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford in Munster, King’s and Queen’s Counties, Meath, and Westmeath in Leinster, Down, Antrim and Armagh in Ulster, ‘and to divide all the forfeited lands, meadow, arable, and profitable pasture with the woods and bogs and barren mountains thereunto respectively belonging into two equal moieties’ of which one was intended for the Adventurers and the other for the soldiers’ arrears. Louth was then to be surveyed separately. The counties of Dublin, Cork, Kildare, and Carlow were specially reserved, and the Commissioners were authorised to assign any five counties not hitherto named to pay arrears accrued since June 5, 1649, of soldiers to be disbanded. All grants made by ‘any Act, ordinance, or order of Parliament’ since November 1, 1641, were excluded from survey, and the manor of Blarney was specially excepted. Blarney, which was part of Muskerry’s great estate, fell to Broghill’s share, and we may infer that his advice was much followed in all matters connected with the settlement.[262]

When the commission and instructions reached Dublin, the Commissioners there had begun to negotiate with the officers as to who should be disbanded and how their arrears should be satisfied ‘until the supreme authority of the Commonwealth were convened.’ The army were not pleased when they heard that their satisfaction was to be limited to five counties and to those who had served since June 1649. Those who had been longest in the Parliamentary service seemed to have greater claims, and they had certainly greater arrears due. It became necessary to issue further instructions as to the transplantation contemplated by the Act of Settlement. The Commissioners in Ireland were to announce publicly that parts of Ireland would be planted with English and Protestants for their security, and ‘to the end that all persons who have right to articles or to any favour and mercy held forth by any of the qualifications in the said Act, may enjoy the benefit intended unto them, and every of them respectively.’ These words at once excluded all who were excepted from pardon for life and estate by the first five clauses: their lives might for the most part not be in much danger, but their property was gone. All who had claims were ordered to transplant into Connaught and Clare before May 1, 1654, there to receive such portions of land as their qualifications entitled them to. All who were found east of the Shannon after that day without licence from the Government were to be ‘reputed spies and enemies, and for the same offence suffer death,’ but a little later it was ordered that the capital penalty should not be inflicted without special order from the Lord Deputy and Council. All who removed in time were to be pardoned for every offence except murder; but they were not to possess arms nor to reside in any town without licence, on penalty of death by martial law. Ecclesiastical persons in Roman orders were not to be ‘pardoned, tolerated, or admitted.’ The obligation to transplant was not extended to Protestants who did not adhere to or join the rebels before September 15, 1643, nor to any woman married to an English Protestant before December 2, 1650, on condition of renouncing Popery and professing Protestantism. Boys under fourteen and girls under twelve were allowed to remain among the English as servants, their masters undertaking to train them ‘in the true Protestant religion.’ Protestants, whether English or Irish, who had land in Connaught or Clare, and had ‘constantly adhered to the English against the rebels,’ might on application receive an equivalent in one of the English counties. All transplantable persons were to be gone before May 1, 1654, and within two months of receiving their allotments, which were only provisional pending a regular survey. On September 12, 1653, these instructions were transmitted by the Commissioners to their officers in every part of Ireland, with directions to make them public.[263]