class, who were innocent of the rebellion, lost "their inheritance, as well from the difficulties imposed upon them by the court of claims, in the "proofs required of their innocence, as from a deficiency in the fund for reprisal to English adven"turers, arising principally from a profuse grant "made by the crown to the duke of York. The parliament of Ireland, having made this settle"ment of the island,-in effect on themselves,— granted an hereditary revenue to the crown, as "an indemnity for the forfeitures thus relinquished by Charles the second."

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By this act," says Mr. O'Conor*, "which "closed the settlement of Ireland, the catholics were robbed of 2,700,000 acres of arable and "pasture, besides immense wastes, which had been guaranteed to them by the peace of 1649, as well as by their long faithful services to his majesty; "and by every title, which immemorial possession,

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and the laws of every society, in which trans"missible possession is recognized, could bestow. "The chief,--indeed it may be said, the only suf

ferers, were those of Irish name and descent. "Whatever remnant had been left of former con"fiscations was now absorbed in the vortex and abyss of the Restoration-settlement. The

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M'Guires, M'Mahons, M'Gwinnesses, M'Carthys, O'Rourkes, O'Sullivans, O'Moors, O'Conors Roe, O'Conors Sligo, O'Creans, were in"volved in one promiscuous ruin. Henceforth

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they disappear from the page of history."

* History of Ireland, p. 98.

LXXX. 11.

The Remonstrance of the Irish Catholics, presented to Charles the second in 1661.

ALMOST immediately after the Restoration of Charles the second, his majesty advanced the marquis of Ormond,-so often mentioned in the preceding section,-to the dignity of duke, and appointed him to the lieutenancy of Ireland. The general body of the catholics hoped to find a friend in his grace; but he was distrusted by several, and opinions on his conduct towards the catholics are still divided. In Mr. Plowden's Historical Review of the State of Ireland, strong facts and arguments are produced to fix on his administration, the charge of cruelty and duplicity: In Dr. O'Conor's Letters of Columbanus*, his grace

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* The title of this singular work is, " Columbanus ad Hiber"nos; or, A Letter from Columban to his friend in Ireland, on "the present mode of appointing Catholic Bishops in his native "Country, 8vo." It appeared in seven numbers, in 1810-1816. The "Historical Addresses," which are inserted in it, “ on the "calamities occasioned by foreign influence in the nomination of bishops to the Irish sees," abound with important information. It is greatly to be wished, that the reverend author would favour the public with a fall, temperate, and methodical history of the Irish catholics, since the Reformation. It is the greatest desideratum in the religious history of the catholics ;-and no one,-parcat modo viribus, is so well qualified for the execution of it, as Columbanus :-particularly on account of his access to the literary treasures at Stow, without which, and the perusal of the Memoirs of the Nuncio Rinuccini, in the Holkham library, a complete history of the Irish catholies, during the

has found a powerful advocate: the testimonies too of archdeacon Lynch and father Walsh are highly favourable to him; and even Dr. Talbot, afterwards the catholic archbishop of Dublin, in his "Friar Disciplined," extols him. Still, in the opinion of the present writer, Mr. Plowden, to use professional language, has made a strong case against the lord lieutenant; but, before the duke is absolutely acquitted or condemned, much further investigation of his conduct seems to be necessary.

The part which he took respecting the document, to which the attention of the reader is now called,

period in question, cannot be written. The writer suspects that the Ormond manuscripts contain much important matter, which Carte has not brought forward;-but that still more interesting information might be found in the printed and manuscript collections in the Vatican.

"The Memoirs of the Nuncio," says Carte, in his preface to his Life of Ormond, "take up above 7,000 pages in folio, "consisting of several volumes, and are written in Latin; the "title of it being, De Haresis Anglicana intrusione et pro

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gressu, et de bello catholico ad annum 1641, in Hiberniú cepto, "exindeque per aliquot annos gesto, commentarius.' It was wrote "after the nuncio's death, by an Irish roman-catholic priest, "whom Thomas Baptista Rinuccini, great chamberlain to the "grand duke of Tuscany, employed to digest his brother's i papers, and reduce them into the form of a narration."

The whig bishops of Columbanus are very interesting: many of them retired to St. Malo, an episcopal town on the coast of Brittany, and printed, in that city, several works of importance on the events of the times; these are now become extremely scarce. The writer employed a gentleman to search for them at St. Malo he could not discover any; but found that the venerable exiles, their virtues and sufferings, were still remembered with respect.

has also been a subject of discussion.-It had been suggested to the general body of the Irish catholics, by all their friends, that it was highly advisable for them to come forward, in a prominent manner, in the congratulations addressed to his majesty, at his restoration; and that, on account of the prejudice raised against them, by the proceedings of the nuncio and the clergy who adhered to him, they should avail themselves of that opportunity to declare unreserved allegiance to the sovereign, and unqualified rejection of the ultramontane principle of the divine right of the pope to temporal power.

The measure was set on foot by Peter Walsh, a Franciscan friar, professor of divinity in his order, and then residing in London. He has left a full account of all that passed respecting it, in his "History and Vindication of the Loyal Formu"lary, or Irish Remonstrance, so graciously re"ceived by his majesty in 1661," a folio volume of 763 pages, closely printed, tediously written, and full of digressions; but abounding with curious and interesting matter.-We shall extract from it the following historical minutes.

1. At the time, of which we are now speaking, Edmund O'Reilly, archbishop of Armagh, Anthony Mac Geohegan, bishop of Meath, and Owen O'Swinney, bishop of Kilmore,-- (who was then bed-ridden),--were the only three catholic prelates remaining in Ireland. The two first,-and James Dempsey, vicar-apostolic of Dublin and capitulary of Kildare,-Oliver Dease, vicar-gene

ral of Meath, Cornelius Gaffney, vicar-general of Ardagh, Barnaby Barnewell, superior general of the Capuchins, father Browne, superior-general of the Carmelites, and father Scurlog, prior of the Dominicans, signed on the 1st of January 1660, old style, a power of attorney, authorizing father Walsh to attend his majesty in their names,-to congratulate him on his restoration,-to solicit the free exercise of their religion, and the Graces promised and confirmed to them, in 1648, by the marquis of Ormond*. The procuration was afterwards signed by other ecclesiastics, and particularly the bishops subsequently appointed to the sees of Dromore, Ardagh, and Ferns.

The year 1660, and the greater part of the year 1661, passed without any further proceeding in this business; but, towards the close of the latter year, it was determined to present an address to his majesty, to the effect which has been mentioned. The framing of it was entrusted to Mr. Richard Bellings. He adopted the Declaration, inserted by father Cressy, in his " Exomologesis.” Of this work there are two editions; the first was printed at Paris in 1647, and contains the Declaration;-in the second edition, it is omitted.—It is expressed in the following words:

It has been explained, what the Graces were, this time the Irish catholics solicited.

which at