The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Conquest of Ireland by Henry II., and its subsequent Oppression by the English.
At length the King of Leinster, being expelled from his rule, fled into England, to our ., for succour. had shortly before (in ) made a grant of to , on the condition that he compelled every Irish family to pay a carolus to the Holy See, and that he held it as a fief of the Church. therefore gave his ready consent to the restoration of the exiled ruler. An armament was fitted out, and the English, in , con- quered the entire island. Henry afterwards visited , received the submission of the King of that country, as well as of the petty princes, and from that time our Sovereigns have taken the title of " King of ." [1] | |
The country was at this period portioned out among the English con- querors, and English laws and- customs were soon after introduced. By the time of ., a law of this description had been passed:-" That it be lawful to all manner of men who find any thieves robbing by day or night, or going or coming to rob or steal, or any persons going or coming, having no faithful men of good name and fame in their company in English apparel, that it shall be lawful to take and kill those, and to cut off their heads, without any impeachment of our Sovereign Lord the King. And of any head so cut off in the county of Meath, that the cutter and his ayders there to him, cause the said head so cut off to be brought to the portreffe to put it upon a stake, or spear, upon the castle of Trim; and that the said portreffe shall testify the bringing of the same to him. And that it shall be lawful for the said bringer of the said head to distrain and levy by his own hand (as his reward) of every man having half a ploughland, one penny; and of every man having one house and goods, value 40 shillings, one penny; and of every other cottier having house and smoak, one half- penny." " Here was a fruitful source of murder! All the evidence required of the cutter of the head was, that it was | |
249 | the head of a Milesian, or Irishman; that the man was not in company with any of the English settlers; and that, in his opinion, he was 'going to, or coming from, some bad errand.' " [2] |
In the same year, in , an Act was passed, called compelling the Irish to dress like the English and to adopt their surnames. "For some centuries after the settlement of the English, efforts to improve the people by religion and literary educa- tion were conducted on a principle as unjust as impolitic. All attempts at bettering their condition were limited to the English settlers or the inhabitants of the pale, those of the rest of the island being treated as enemies. To such a height was the distinction carried, that whilst the murder of an Englishman was death, that of a native was suffered to go unpunished, provided that it could be proved he was mere Irish, and not one of the 5 bloods of the O'Neills, O'Melaghlins, O'Connors, O'Briens, and M'Marroughs, who were admitted, by special favour, to the privileges of English subjects. It was not till the reign of . that the whole of the island was allowed to participate in the protection afforded by English law." [3] | |
Till the time of our ., there were constant efforts on the part of the Irish to shake off our authority, to which they were very averse, as we sought to force our habits upon them, which were much in opposition to those to which they were tenaciously attached, and the efforts were as constant on our part to oppress and subjugate them. | |
Footnotes: [1] For some period, however, they were called only "Lords of Ireland." [2] Taaffe's " History of Ireland." [3] Cyclop. Britannica, article, Ireland, contributed by the Rev. Edward Groves, Record Office, Dublin. |