1612. State of Ireland. CHAP. AFTER the subjection of Ireland by Elizabeth, XLVI. the more difficult task still remained; to civilize the inhabitants, to reconcile them to laws and industry, and to render their subjection durable and useful to the crown of England. James proceeded in this work by a steady, regular, and well-concerted plan; and in the space of nine years, according to Sir John Davis, he made greater advances towards the reformation of that kingdom, than had been made in the four hundred and forty years which had elapsed since the conquest was first attempted. • IT was previously necessary to abolish the Irish customs, which supplied the place of laws, and were calculated to keep that people for ever in a state of barbarism and disorder. By the Brehon law or custom, every crime, however enormous, was punished, not with death, but by a fine or pecuniary mulct, which was levied upon the criminal. Murder itself, as among all the ancient barbarous nations, was atoned for in this manner; and each man, according to his rank, had a different rate or value affixed to him, which if any one were willing to pay, he needed not fear assassinating his enemy. This rate was called his eric. When Sir William Fitzwilliams, being lord deputy, told Maguire, that he was to send a sheriff into Fermannah, which, a little before, had been made a county, and subjected to the English law; Your sheriff, said Maguire, shall be welcome to me: But let me know, beforehand, his eric, or the price of his head, that, if my people cut it off, I may levy the money upon the county. As for oppression, extortion, and other trespasses, so little were they regarded, that no penalty was affixed to them, and no redress for such offences could ever be obtained. THE Customs of Gavelkinde and Tanistry were attended with the same absurdity in the distribution of s King James's Works, p. 259, edit. 1613. Sir John Davis, p. 166. property. 1612. 59 property. The land, by the custom of Gavelkinde, CHAP. was divided among all the males of the sept or fa- XLVI. mily, both bastard and legitimate: And, after partition made, if any of the sept died, his portion was not shared out among his sons; but the chieftain, at his discretion, made a new partition of all the lands belonging to that sept, and gave every one his share ". As no man, by reason of this custom, enjoyed the fixed property of any land; to build, to plant, to enclose, to cultivate, to improve, would have been so much lost labour. THE chieftains and the tanists, though drawn from the principal families, were not hereditary, but were established by election, or more properly speaking, by force and violence. Their authority was almost absolute; and, notwithstanding that certain lands were assigned to the office, its chief profit resulted from exactions, dues, assessments, for which there was no fixed law, and which were levied at pleasure". Hence arose that common bye-word among the Irish, That they dwelt westward of the law, which dwelt beyond the river of the Barrow : Meaning the country where the English inhabited, and which extended not beyond the compass of twenty miles, lying in the neighbourhood of Dublin *. AFTER abolishing these Irish customs, and substituting English law in their place, James having taken all the natives under his protection, and declared them free citizens, proceeded to govern them by a regular administration, military as well as civil. A SMALL army was maintained, its discipline inspected, and its pay transmitted from England, in order to keep the soldiers from preying upon the country, as had been usual in former reigns. When Odogartie raised an insurrection, a reinforcement was * Id. p. 237. - Sir John Davis, p. 167. W w Id. p. 173. sent CHAP. sent over, and the flames of that rebellion were imXLVI. mediately extinguished. • 1612. ALL minds being first quieted by a general indemnity, circuits were established, justice administered, oppression banished, and crimes and disorders of every kind severely punished. As the Irish had been universally engaged in the rebellion against Elizabeth, a resignation of all the rights, which had been formerly granted them to separate jurisdictions, was rigorously exacted; and no authority, but that of the King and the law, was permitted throughout the kingdom". A RESIGNATION of all private estates was even required; and when they were restored, the proprietors received them under such conditions as might prevent, for the future, all tyranny and oppression over the common people. The value of the dues, which the nobles usually claimed from their vassals, was estimated at a fixed sum, and all farther arbitrary exactions prohibited under severe penalties". THE whole province of Ulster having fallen into the crown by the attainder of rebels, a company was established in London, for planting new colonies in that fertile country: The property was divided into moderate shares, the largest not exceeding two thousand acres: Tenants were brought over from England and Scotland: The Irish were removed from the hills and fastnesses, and settled in the open country: Husbandry and the arts were taught them: A fixed habitation secured: Plunder and robbery punished: And, by these means, Ulster, from being the most wild and disorderly province of all Ireland, soon became the best cultivated and most civilized c. SUCH were the arts, by which James introduced humanity and justice among a people, who had ever z Id. p. 264, 265, &c. c Id. P. 280. y Sir John Davis, p. 263. b Id. p. 278. been been buried in the most profound barbarism. Noble CHAP. cares! much superior to the vain and criminal glory XLVI. of conquests; but requiring ages of perseverance and attention to perfect what had been so happily begun. A LAUDABLE act of justice was, about this time, executed in England upon Lord Sanquhir, a Scottish nobleman, who had been guilty of the base assassination of Turner, a fencing-master. The English nation, who were generally dissatisfied with the Scots, were enraged at this crime, equally mean and atrocious;. but James appeased them, by preferring the severity of law to the intercession of the friends and family of the criminal d. d Kennet, p. 688. 1612. CHAP. 1612. Prince CHAP. XLVII. Death of Prince Henry. Marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palatine. Rise of Somerset. His Marriage.-Overbury poisoned. -Fall of Somerset.Rise of Buckingham. - Cautionary Towns delivered-Affairs of Scotland. Thus wees, diffused an universal grief through HIS year the sudden death of Henry, Prince out the nation. Though youth and royal birth, both Nov. 6th. of them strong allurements, prepossess men mightily Death of in favour of the early age of Princes; it is with peculiar fondness that historians mention Henry : And in every respect, his merit seems to have been extraordinary. He had not reached his eighteenth year, and he already possessed more dignity in his behaviour, and commanded more respect, than his father, with all his age, learning, and experience. Neither his high fortune, nor his youth, had seduced him into any irregular pleasures: Business and ambition seem to have been his sole passion. His inclinations, as well as exercises, were martial. The French ambassador, taking leave of him, and asking his commands for France, found him employed in the exercise of the pike; Tell your King, said he, in what occupation you left me engaged. He had conceived great affection and esteem for the brave Sir Walter Raleigh. It was his saying, Sure no King but my father would keep such a bird in a cage. He a The French Monarch had given particular orders to his ministers to cultivate the Prince's friendship; who must soon, said he, have chief authority in England, where the King and Queen are held in so little estimation. See Dep. de la Boderie, vol. i. p. 402. 415. vol. ii. p. 16. 349. Coke's Detection, p. 37. 10 seems |