ACT OF SETTLEMENT, IRISH

Decisive legislative measure of 1662; it began the reduction of land owned by Irish Catholics from 61 percent in 1641 to 22 percent in 1688 and 15 percent in 1703. Consequently, the Protestant ascendancy dominated Ireland until, after Catholic Emancipation (1829), Daniel o'connell compelled the English government to give equality to Catholics. Socially and economically, the landed system of Ireland remained stereotyped except for the brief Catholic ascendancy under James II, for 200 years, from Oliver cromwell until after the famine of the 1840s.

Provisions of the Act. The act, which was passed on July 31, 1662, virtually confirmed the Cromwellian settlement in favor of the adventurers who invested money in the parliamentarian war in Ireland and the soldiers who fought against the Catholics and Royalists. Charles II was restored on terms that maintained political power in the hands of the English conquerors in the Irish Civil War (1641–53), except for the regicides. Some initial endeavor was made to be favorable to those Catholics who had supported the king in arms, notably in the king's declaration of Nov. 30, 1660, but in Ireland pressure from the ex-Cromwellians was so great that is diminished the chances of Catholic Restoration in succeeding months. Finally, even those who were made secure by the Act of Settlement were denied justice. The government became alarmed at the Puritan Castle Plot of May 1663 that nearly succeeded in capturing James, Duke of Ormond, the Lord Lieutenant; as a result, before the end of 1665 the Act of Explanation was passed, restricting to some 50 the restoration of Catholics under the preceding act, but also compelling the new Protestant interest to surrender one-third. The Declaration of November 1660 had promised to restore royalist Irish who were "innocent" of rebellion against Charles I, but it also had confirmed to the adventurers all lands possessed by them on May 7, 1659, with provision for deficiencies claimed before the following May. In regard to the soldiers, the lands already assigned to them to compound for wages due, even if only in valuation at 13 in every pound sterling (20), were confirmed, except where it could be established before the following December twelvemonth, that there had been bribery or false admeasurements in allotting their land.

Exceptions involved those regicides and others exempted from pardon by the English Act of Oblivion (1660), the Protestant Church of ireland lands, the estates of those opposing the Restoration, and the estates restored to "innocent" owners by decree of the king's courts, although previously set out to adventurers and soldiers. Satisfaction would be given to adventurers and soldiers holding lands when it could be proved that these properly belonged to legal encumbrancers from before Oct. 22, 1641 (the day before the outbreak of the Irish Catholic Rebellion). Provision was to be made, where this had not already been done, for those officers who had served Charles II or his father before June 5, 1649, at a rate comparable to the provision for parliamentarian soldiers, but they were to be satisfied with sixpence less on the pound. Protestants were to be restored to their estates where these had been taken from them under the Cromwellian Settlement, and a reprisal of equal value was to be assigned to the adventurers and soldiers who would have to be removed for this purpose. There was to be no benefit for those persons who entered the rebellion before Sept. 15, 1643 (the date of the cessation of hostilities between the Catholic Confederates of Kilkenny and King Charles I, leading to their payment of subsidies and lending of troops to him). Nor was there to be any benefit for those who had taken out decrees in land in Connaught or Clare (under the Cromwellian provision transporting innocent Catholics from their lands east of the Shannon so as to leave the three other provinces for the adventurers and soldiers).

Special provisions in favor of the Earl of Ormond and his wife and the Earl of Inchiquin safeguarded such actions as they had taken in mortgaging their lands. "Innocent papists" who had never acted against the king since Oct. 22, 1641, were to be restored by May 2, 1661 (subsequently extended by a further Act for one year), provided they restored to the king those transplantees' lands to which they had been removed compulsorily in Connaught and Clare. This provision marked them off from those who had voluntarily taken out decrees for Connaught and Clare land, as these were held bound by their own decision. Again "innocent popish inhabitants" of towns, especially of Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale, were not to be restored specifically to their own property, but instead were to be allotted undisposed lands near these towns. Lands set out to persons for money lent for the army in the beginning of the rebellion were to remain disposable for the most deserving.

Lands allotted by the Cromwellians to certain persons, notably George Monck, Duke of Albemarle; Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery; and the orphans of Owen O'Connolly, who had revealed the 1641 rising plans, were confirmed. The Declaration provided for a sequence of priorities in accommodating these various interests. Those who had adhered to the articles of peace deserved consideration, but not those who rejected or abandoned them or those who took Connaught certificates, unlike those who served the king's ensigns abroad, some of whom were specifically named for restoration. Many others were also named ("nominees"), but not for immediate restoration.

Enactment. The Declaration of 1660 had provided for action in this order. First, the English who were to be dispossessed were to be settled; then precedence was to be observed in restitution as follows: (1) innocent Protestants and papists without decrees in Connaught and Clare; (2) those with such decrees being innocents; (3) transplanted persons dispossessed hereby of lands decreed in Connaught and Clare; and (4) Irish papists who served the king's ensigns abroad. After these reprisals, the debts for the army before 1649 were to be satisfied. Rents were reserved on lands of every adventurer, soldier, and person settled, restored, or reprised. The Declaration was followed by a commission for its execution on April 30, 1661. Meanwhile, the Catholic position had been worsened by the production at court of the Catholic Confederates' negotiations with Urban VIII in the 1640s, making him their final court of appeal in their disputes with the king. In consequence, the instruction for the execution of the commission discriminated specifically against those who had supported the papal nuncio Giovanni Battista rinuccini or who, having opposed him, subsequently sought absolution from excommunication. The act itself, incorporating the Declaration and the commission, was passed only under threat that the government would not pardon activities during the interregnum. Subsequently, the court of claims to determine those who were innocent operated for nine months before the termination of such restorations by the Act of Explanation. An abortive attempt to reopen the question in 1672 by individual royal grants led to parliamentary pressure in England to banish the Catholic clergy. In 1864 a Commission of Grace restored a few others, and the abortive Irish Parliament of James II attempted to repeal the Restoration acts. The Act of Settlement remained a standing grievance with the Catholic aristocracy.

Bibliography: Statutes at Large, Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland, 20 v. (2d. ed., Dublin 1786–1801). w. s. mason, Collation of the Irish Statutes (Trinity College, Dublin, MSS Add. w.8). Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland … 625–1670, 8 v. (London 1900–10). Irish Manuscripts Commission, The Civil Survey … 1654–1656, 10 v. (Dublin 1931–61). j. g. simms, Williamite Confiscation in Ireland, 1690–1703 (London 1956). w. f. t. butler, Confiscation in Irish History (Dublin-London 1917).

[r. d. edwards]