The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869

Front matter

PRINCETON : NEW JERSEY

BX 5500 .E8 1929 Evans, Anna Laura,

1892- lishment of the

Preface

OnE of the very difficult problems which confronted modern Britain for many years was that of Ireland. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Irish question came to the forefront in English politics, and various attempts were made—for reasons political or otherwise—to reach a solution of this difficult problem. It is the purpose of this monograph to examine one phase of the relations between Ireland and England, the Irish Church, and to trace the conditions and circumstances which led to its disestablishment in 1869. This study had its origin in an investigation of Gladstone and social politics begun under the direction of Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes of Columbia University. Inasmuch as the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland was one of Gladstone’s most significant achievements, it was decided to concentrate attention on the Irish Church question.

The research on this subject has been carried on in the libraries of Columbia University, Union Theological Seminary, the General Theological Seminary and the New York Public Library.

The writer owes a special debt of gratitude to Professor Robert Livingston Schuyler of Columbia University for many valuable suggestions concerning the treatment of the subject, as well as for his painstaking care in reading the entire manuscript and offering helpful criticisms on it. Others to whom grateful acknowledgment is made for generous assistance are Professors W. W. Rockwell, F. J. Foakes-Jackson and James Moffatt of Union Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. J. Elliot Ross, C. S. P., Chaplain of the Newman Club of Columbia University. To Miss

Vv vi DISESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH OF IRELAND

Mary A. Reilly and Miss Myrtle Cline the writer also desires to express her appreciation for their untiring labor in the preparation of the manuscript for the press. ANNA L. EVANS.

PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, PITTSBURGH, PA.

October, 1928.

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER) f

SKETCH OF THE [IRISH CHURCH FROM 450 TO I800..............

CHAPTER. It

Chapter I Sketch Of The Irish Church From 450 To 1800

InasMuUCH as the Restoration in 1660 was really the period at which the Church of Ireland assumed the character which it kept until its disestablishment in 1869, only a brief survey of the origin and early history of the institution will be necessary for the purposes of this study.

The planting of Christianity in Ireland

The conversion of the Irish to Christianity dates from the middle of the fifth century and was effected by missionaries from Rome. From the sixth to the eighth centuries the constitution of the Irish Church was essentially monastic in character. The rulers of the Church were the abbots of the monasteries, commonly known as the coarbs, the successors of the founders. Sometimes these abbots were bishops, but whether bishops or lower clergy, their authority was inherent in their office of coarb. Some bishops served as subordinate officers in the monasteries and executed their special functions, such as ordination, at the command of the abbots. Ecclesiastical authority was vested in the abbots, and the episcopal office was conferred on certain individuals as a personal distinction. This system persisted as late as the eleventh century.

When the Danes invaded Ireland about 800, their principal object was to pillage and they accordingly attacked ecclesiastical institutions everywhere. Ireland lost many centers of learning.t Under these conditions it was not possible to develop Church organization. However, in 1014, the Danes met defeat at the battle of Clontarf. Following this, those Danes who remained in Ireland settled

I principally in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Limerick. Late in the eleventh century they adopted the Christian faith and began to organize churches, which were ruled over by bishops instead of abbots. But these bishops of the early Danish dioceses were of native Irish birth, a fact that bound the churches of these Danish colonists to the Church of Celtic Ireland. Some of these bishops studied or traveled on the Continent and became familiar with the Roman methods of Church government. They desired to reform the Celtic Church. Conspicuous leaders in this reform movement were Gilbert of Limerick, Malchus of Waterford and O’Dunan of Meath.’

Early reform movement im the Church of Ireland

Gilbert became one of the foremost leaders in the movement for reform. In 1110 he was appointed Papal Legate, and as such was virtually the head of the Church in Ireland.* He addressed to the bishops and presbyters of the whole of Ireland a plan for church reform. Many of these officials were eager to bring the Irish Church into conformity with the Roman Church. The two main points in the program were that the Church should be ruled by bishops and the number of dioceses should be carefully determined. Even the monasteries were to be subject to the bishops. Thus an inherited tradition—that the abbots were the true ecclesiastical rulers—would be overthrown. This virtually meant that the old hierarchy would be replaced by a new one. Gilbert also sketched the organization of a properly ordered church. The higher ranks of the ministry were to belong to the general Church as distinct from particular churches. In regard to particular churches, he planned that at the head of each parish there should be a priest bound to obey the bishop. The immediate superior of the bishop should be an archbishop; above the archbishop should be the Primate. Primates and archbishops were to be consecrated by the

Pope at Rome, or at least they must secure from him the pall, the emblem of their office.*

This early reform movement was strengthened by the

work of several church synods. In 1101 there was held at Cashel a great assembly, composed of Celtic and Danish clergy and laymen. O’Dunan, Bishop of Meath, presided. At this time, Murtough O’Brien, King of Munster and one of the strongest Irish rulers, gave Cashel to the Church as an offering to God and to St. Patrick. Cellach, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1110 created at Cashel a second archiepiscopal see, subject to Armagh. In the same year or soon thereafter, Malchus was transferred from Waterford to this new see. By making the archbishopric of Cashel subject to Armagh, Cellach secured for himself and his successors the title of Primate of all Ireland. From this time on, there was a great extension in the movement of forming dioceses.”

Another important Synod, that of Rathbreasail in 1110, marked the second stage of this reform movement in Ireland. This assembly was called by the newly appointed Papal Legate, Gilbert of Limerick, and its purpose was to bring the Irish Church into conformity with the Roman system by establishing in it diocesan episcopacy. Leaders from all districts in which there was a reforming party— chiefly from Munster, Ulster and Meath—were present. It was decided at this meeting that, including the archbishops, there should be twelve bishops in the south of Ireland and twelve in the north. The assembly also provided for the dioceses of provinces in this fashion: there were to be five in Ulster, five in Connaught, two in Meath, seven in Munster and five in Leinster. The Synod defined the boundaries of these dioceses, but in many cases they disregarded the tribal boundaries when these did not fit in with their geographical scheme.®

One of the most active leaders in the reform movement was Saint Malachy. As a youth he became interested in church reform. Archbishop Cellach ordained him first as a deacon, then as a priest, and in 1119 made the young man, then only twenty-four years of age, his vicar. Malachy’s duty as vicar was to administer the diocese of Armagh and he immediately set to work to introduce therein the rites of the Roman Church. Not satisfied with his own knowledge, he spent three years studying with Malchus who had retired from the archbishopric of Cashel and was living at Lismore. In 1124 Archbishop Cellach installed Malachy as Abbot of Bangor and Bishop of Connor. The new Abbot made Bangor his headquarters, and he administered his diocese with the same reforming vigor he had used at Armagh. Before Archbishop Cellach died in 1128, he nominated Malachy as his successor because he knew Malachy to be as ardent a reformer as himself. There was a fierce struggle over the election but in 1137, with the aid of two kings of Munster—Connor O’Brien of Thomond and Cormac Mac- Carthy of Desmond—Malachy was elected by the people and clergy as Archbishop of Armagh. He remained, however, only long enough to be elected and to consecrate Gelasius as his successor. Then he returned to his abbacy at Bangor. Two years later when Gilbert of Limerick resigned his legate’s commission, Pope Innocent II made Malachy his Legate.*

Another phase of this reform movement concerned the question of obtaining the pall from the Pope. Gilbert had declared that no archbishop should exercise his functions before receiving the pall, but neither Cellach nor Malachy nor Gelasius nor Malchus had ever received this symbol of authority and therefore, in view of the Papal theory, did not have the right to the title of archbishop. But until the middle of the twelfth century the Church of Ireland maintained its character as an independent Church, without acknowledging any subordination to the See of Rome. The Archbishop of Armagh exercised a spiritual power throughout the country and erected bishoprics without communicating with the Pope. When they became vacant, successors were elected by the clergy, or by the clergy and laity, of the diocese. Then the bishop so elected was usually sent to the Archbishop of Armagh for consecration. The people of Dublin, Waterford and Limerick, however, considered themselves fellow-countrymen of the Normans, so they sent their bishops to Canterbury to be consecrated. In 1139 Malachy decided to journey to Rome to ask the Pope for two palls, one for Armagh, and one for Cashel. He probably did this because he was trying to assimilate the usages of the Irish Church to those of the Church at Rome. The Pope told him it would be necessary to summon a national synod, and at the request of such a synod, the palls would be granted. Accordingly, in 1148, Malachy called a Synod at Inispatrick. This body asked for the palls and sent Malachy to receive them. But he died on the way, and the Pope then sent Cardinal Paparo, a special legate from Rome, to carry the palls to Ireland. A Synod was held at Kells in 1152 to receive them. The legate had four palls which he presented not only to Armagh and Cashel but also to Dublin and Tuam. This meant that at last the Church in Ireland, which had previously embraced within it only the Celtic parts of the island, now included also the Danish dioceses.®

The Church of Ireland in 1172

Prior to the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), no decisive steps were taken to annex Ireland to England. Shortly after Henry’s accession to the throne, however, he sent his chaplain, John of Salisbury, to Rome to obtain the Pope’s approval of a scheme for the subjugation of Ireland. The time was most propitious because the Pope, Adrian IV, was an Englishman by birth and was extremely anxious to gratify so powerful a monarch as Henry II. Henry’s envoy represented that Ireland was almost beyond the pale of civilization and that Henry must therefore subdue it for the Catholic Church. The Pope ought to have known something about the ecclesiastical condition of Ireland, for the life of Malachy written by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had already appeared and had doubtless found its way to Rome. Moreover, the Pope had received his education from an Irishman, Marianus Scotus.*® Nevertheless, a papal bull was drawn up in 1155, authorizing Henry to take possession of the whole of Ireland.** Its authenticity was later questioned but it is now regarded ha the most competent Roman Catholic authorities as genuine.’

For some time Henry II, due to the state of affairs in England and Normandy, did not take advantage of the Pope’s bull. It is not necessary to go into detail concerning the invasion of Ireland by Strongbow and his companions. When in 1171 Henry went in person to Ireland, some of the bishops did not hesitate to acknowledge his title to the dominion of Ireland, for they knew that a powerful King could sustain their dignities better than could the petty Irish princes. The following year a synod was assembled at Cashel to study the condition of the Church. A number of canons were adopted. The sanction of the King gave effect to these regulations and the worship of the Church of Ireland in all outward appearances conformed to that of the Catholic Church in England. But the subjugation of Ireland was by no means complete. The English occupation was confined to Dublin and the adjacent coast, later known as the Pale, and it was only the Pale that was administered in English fashion under English law.** As to the other parts of the country, it was enough if the suzerainty of the English King was acknowledged by the native chiefs and by the Anglo-Norman barons, If such recognition was made, there was no interference in internal affairs. Irish princes frequently asserted their independence and caused a lasting hostility between the English settlers and the native

THE IRISH CHURCH FROM 450 TO 1800 rf population. Several acts, especially the statute of Kilkenny in Edward III’s reign, sought for the sake of English interests to prevent a fusion of the two nationalities in Ireland— the Celtic-Irish and the Anglo-Irish. Thus Henry II’s intervention, instead of bringing peace and order to Ireland, only added one more element of discord.”

Henry VIII and the Church of Ireland

The centuries between the Anglo-Norman conquest of 1172 and the Reformation under Henry VIII in the sixteenth century are not important for this study. Nor is it necessary to narrate all the circumstances under which Henry VIII with the consent of Parliament broke with Rome. Ireland was not at all desirous of ecclesiastical change. Few of the population had heard anything about the great religious movement on the Continent. Henry as head of a reformed church was regarded by the mass of the people as a foreign oppressor. The Church of Ireland had already reached a condition of decadence. The chiefs in their wars with each other had destroyed many churches and monasteries, and the English Pale, left unprotected by a feeble government, was most miserable. The native Irish clergy and the Anglo-Irish clergy were at deadly enmity. Many of the religious houses had fallen into decay and many of the monks refused to acknowledge the Anglo-Irishmen appointed as their superiors.*” While Henry VIII was taking final steps to shake off the papal yoke, a series of uprisings broke out in Ireland under the leadership of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald. When Henry finally suppressed this rebellion in 1535, he began to carry his measures against the papacy into effect in Ireland as well as in England. With this object in view, he procured the election of George Brown, a monk of the Augustinian Order in England, to the archbishopric of Dublin. Brown’s sympathies with the Reformation made him valuable in Ireland, and he was assigned the mission of negotiating with the nobility and of winning its support for the King’s church policy.® Unfortunately, these negotiations bore no fruit.

On the contrary, Henry’s policy encountered stubborn resistance from the overwhelming majority of the clergy, especially in the districts under the control of the Archbishop of Armagh. Legal enactments were resorted to by the Irish Parliament which met in May, 1537.*" This body declared Henry to be the Supreme Head of the Church of Ireland, and it interdicted all appeals to Rome. Officials of every class were required to take the oath of supremacy. Twelve monasteries were suppressed. Throughout the Pale the use of the English language was made compulsory. Naturally there was much opposition. Moreover, Brown had little of the true spirit of an evangelist. In an effort to convince the people that they were superstitious, he destroyed their images and relics, but by so doing he only offended their prejudices and gained nothing. At the same time, his English sermons made little impression on the Irish, nine-tenths of whom understood only the Irish Janguage. Even the better educated of the population did not understand the doctrines that were creating excitement elsewhere. The Act of Supremacy, therefore, produced little change in the accustomed worship, but it led eventually to the extension of English influence. Although Henry repudiated the doctrine of papal supremacy, he continued till his death to adhere to the other doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Under such conditions the Reformation was not likely to make much progress in Treland.* |

In the period of transition which followed the reform laws of Henry VIII, the method of filling the episcopal sees in Ireland was not determined. Henry made some appointments independently, without resistance on the part of the people. In other cases he confirmed papal nominations. By 1570 bishops representing the papacy and bishops representing Henry were found in the greater number of Irish dioceses, and this led to the formation of two parties which henceforth grew to be independent of one another.”

Elizabeth and the Church of Ireland

Passing over the reigns of Edward VI (1547-1553) and Mary (1553-1558), one comes to the period of _ Elizabeth (1558-1603) which presented complications in the Irish Church situation. The Queen soon showed her determination to reestablish the worship inaugurated by Henry VIII. Consequently the Irish Government received instructions in 1559 to set up the reformed worship in that country. In January, 1560, a Parliament assembled in Dublin to ratify this order. Elizabeth secured the adoption by this Parliament of laws reforming the Church,” which with a few variations were like those passed in England at the beginning of her reign.”* But in the native parts of Ireland, Elizabeth, like her predecessors, met with opposition. One must remember that up to this time the idea of toleration for dissenters was foreign to statesmen, and the vested interests of conscientious clergymen who refused to conform were quite disregarded. Nor were the laws which were placed on the statute books such as to recommend alterations in religious practices to an uneducated and oftimes superstitious people. The fine of a shilling a Sunday for absence from church only served to create a prejudice against the reformed worship. Then, too, to require that the service be read in English where English-speaking clergy could not be obtained was a foolish piece of legislation. As a matter of fact, many of the clergy who did not understand English resorted to the celebration of the Mass as before.” Some historians, in attempting to explain the attitude toward these acts relating to the Church, maintain that the laws were passed when the Lords Spiritual were absent,”* and that when later they ventured to remonstrate, they were told by

10) DISESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH OF JRELAND the Lord Lieutenant that the enforcement of these statutes was not seriously contemplated.** At least the evidence would lead one to conclude that few of the clergy fully conformed; those who approved the alterations made by Elizabeth must have been greatly in the minority.” Since at this time the authority of the english Sovereigns was very feeble outside the Pale, it is not surprising that so large a number of the bishops disregarded the Act of Uniformity. Neither can it be thought extraordinary that they persisted in their adherence to Catholicism. In the practices of Protestantism as exhibited in Ireland they saw no evidence of superiority. Besides, the law came from a hated country.

With so many of the bishops, rectors and magistrates opposed to the new legislation, the Government found it expedient to proceed cautiously with ecclesiastical changes.” Catholics continued to enjoy the temporalities of the bishoprics, as well as of the parochial rectories of the Church, in various parts of Ireland. Toward the close of the century when the fear of the Spanish Armada was past, Elizabeth | began to insist more strenuously on conformity. Yet in the last years of her reign, there were still some of the highest officials of the Church who had not taken the oath of Supremacy.*" Thus far, the Reformation had done little for the Church of Ireland except to alienate its revenues to the Crown and to introduce elements of discord.

The reign of James I

Early in the reign of James I (1603-1625) a new and less tolerant policy was inaugurated. The priests, many of whom were trained abroad, seem to have provoked this severity. They had been ringleaders in the cities of Munster in the attacks on the Government.** At the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, Jatnes complained that all he had of the Irish was their bodies; the Pope had their souls. The Irish, however, had welcomed the accession of James, hoping that

THE IRISH CHURCH FROM 450 TO 1800 II as a son of the Catholic Mary Stuart, he would be devoted to the faith they loved. They were speedily undeceived by a new publication of the Act of Uniformity of 1560. No one might thereafter plead ignorance of the original act, and the King ordered its enforcement in Dublin. In August, 1604, a proclamation was also published, commanding all priests who would not conform to withdraw by September 30 from all the corporate towns of Munster. And in July, 1605, a royal ordinance was issued, requiring “all Jesuits, Seminary priests, or other priests whatsoever to depart out of the kingdom of Ireland” before the tenth of December. Another proclamation, on October 16, ordered the people of Ireland to attend the Established service ‘‘ on pain of His Majesty’s high displeasure.”

An unsuccessful rising in the north of Ireland in 1611 led to the confiscation of vast estates, which were utilized by the Crown for the celebrated Plantation of Ulster.*° Most of this land was given to English and Scottish settlers, which increased English power and aided Protestantism, but caused a new bitterness which bore fruit in a rebellion thirty years later.**

To all appearances there was no religious distinction in the Irish Parliament at this time. At the election of 1613, all those of Irish stock, including even those who refused the oath of supremacy, were declared eligible to the lower House. The manner in which constituencies were divided served however to secure a preponderance of Protestants.*° In this Parliament, the laws which aimed at keeping the Irish as a people permanently separated from the English were repealed.** In addition, a Convocation of the Clergy was summoned for the first time in Ireland.** Its first meeting occurred in May, 1613. The next year, the attention of the Convocation was called to the Eleven Articles of Faith of 1566 which were then in use in Ireland.** It was decided that these Articles were brief and imperfect, so a license was obtained from the Crown to prepare new articles of religion. The new Articles, without abolishing the episcopal constitution of the Church, did not ratify it. They passed over in silence many of the differences of the bishops and priests regarding the Articles, but in some respects they took into account Puritan differences of opinion.*® Other differences from the Thirty-nine Articles were owing to the greater number of subjects considered rather than to doctrinal differences. The Articles when agreed upon by the Convocation were signed by the President of the upper House and by the Procurator of the lower House, ratified by the Lord Lieutenant and assented to by the King in 1615.

The hopes of the Catholics again revived when Charles I (1625-1649) became King, for he had married a Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France. Knowing of the King’s financial difficulties, they hoped by an offer of a voluntary contribution to prevail on him to grant them toleration. They even began to celebrate Mass openly. Furthermore, the general condition of the Irish Episcopal Church was at this time most unsatisfactory, and Archbishop James Ussher endeavored to improve its status. William Bedell, who in 1627 had been made Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, had become Bishop of Kildare two years later, and he did much to aid the Archbishop. Bedell also had the entire Bible translated into Irish.*

The ecclesiastical situation was further complicated by the appointment in 1632 of Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterward Earl of Strafford, as Viceroy of Ireland. Adopting Archbishop Laud’s policy, Wentworth was determined to assimilate the Church of Ireland with the Church of England. He had brought with him, as his chaplain, Dr. Bramhall, who believed that religion ought to be enforced by state authority. Bramhall was immediately appointed on a Royal Commission to examine the state of the Church of Ireland and to report to the Government. This investigation merely brought to light certain abuses, such as misappropriation of property and simony.*® In 1634 Wentworth called a Convocation of the Clergy, by which the Church of Ireland was radically changed. Dr. Bramhall, who had in the meantime been appointed Bishop of Derry, dominated the upper House, and Wentworth by sheer force of will compelled the lower House to yield to his wishes.*® One hundred canons —the first one of which sanctioned the Thirty-nine Articles —were framed and adopted. William Bedell obtained the consent of the Convocation for the religious instruction of the native Irish in their own tongue. No notice was taken of the canons on the Confession ** drawn up by Ussher in 1615,** which up to this time had been the acknowledged creed of the Irish Church. Primate Ussher (1581-1656) himself believed that the English Articles were merely advanced to a position of coordinate importance with the Articles of 1615, and he required candidates for ordination to sign both the English and the Irish Articles.**

For a brief time after Wentworth’s efforts at reform, Ireland appeared at peace, although there was much latent discontent. His attempt to invalidate the tithes of the proprietors had created great dissatisfaction.** With few exceptions the Irish peasantry still remained attached to the Catholic faith, and they were constantly at the mercy of the existing administration. The conflict in England between the King and Parliament seemed to give an opportunity to the discontented elements in Ireland, and in 1641 a rebellion broke out. It began in Ulster and revealed an intense hatred for everything British and Protestant.*° Measures were taken by Parliament for the repression of the rebellion. Charles I had so completely lost the confidence of the English Parliament that the Puritan leaders were not willing to entrust him with an army to suppress the Irish rebellion, although the Scottish Covenanters offered to aid them in this emergency.** It was not until after the execution of

Charles that Cromwell and his successors crushed the Irish uprising,*‘ and swept away the indulgences that the King had granted to the Roman Catholics. By an act of Barebones’ Parliament, September, 1653, a large part of the land which had not been confiscated by a law passed in 1642 was now confiscated and distributed among the English soldiers.* Many Irish landowners were expelled from the northern part of the country but were permitted to settle in Connaught. Irish Protestants who remained loyal to the cause of Parliament, during the time of the civil war, were not affected by these measures.”

The Restoration

At the time of the Restoration Ireland was divided into twenty-two dioceses. The episcopate of the Church of Ireland consisted of four archbishoprics—Tuam, Cashel, Armagh and Dublin—which were divided into eighteen bishoprics, Armagh and Cashel each having five and Tuam and Dublin each four. The archbishop of Armagh was Primate of all freland.°° This arrangement continued for a period of nearly a hundred and seventy years. It was designed to meet the wants of the entire country, yet there were whole parishes in which there was not a single Protestant, but from which the curate derived considerable revenue, without performing any duties. These conditions supplied the enemies of the Church with a fruitful ground of complaint.

After the Restoration, Charles II began to fill the vacancies in the hierarchy of the Irish Church which had occurred during the Cromwellian era.** In the selection of the new clergy, political services or family connections counted for more than piety or education. Most of the clergy of the Irish Church agreed by 1661 to require all subjects of the Kingdom to conform to the Episcopal mode of church government and to use the English liturgy.°* There were doubtless reasons for this subserviency, the chief of which was that many of them held their estates by doubtful tenure, a large share of them being lands lately confiscated.** But the enforcement of the Irish Act of Uniformity of 1560 was so bitterly resented by the Nonconformists and Catholics, that the Irish government had to insist on its discontinuance. The Irish Catholics gained little by the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne. The distribution of land which Cromwell had ordered and executed was confirmed by a parliamentary enactment in 1662; and three years later, legislative measures similar to the English Act of Uniformity of 1662 were passed by the Irish Parliament.°* The clergy were by these enactments obliged to declare their assent to the liturgy, to make a declaration against resisting the King, and one against the Solemn League and Covenant, and to agree to a law for disabling persons to hold benefices both in England and in Ireland.*°

James II and ‘the Irish Church

The reign of James II (1685-1688) marks a vigorous and sustained effort to weaken the power of the Protestants. The King appointed the Earl of Tyrconnell as Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief of the army. The Ear] was a Catholic, and it was reported that his appointment caused fifteen hundred Protestant families to leave Dublin alone.°° When James was driven from the throne of England, the Irish Catholics openly espoused his cause, being assisted by French auxiliaries landed in their country. They were defeated, however, by William at the battle of the Boyne in 1690. With this defeat, the Catholic ascendancy in Ireland passed away. Limerick, the last of the fortresses held by the Irish, surrendered in 1691. This surrender was accompanied by an agreement, according to which the Catholics of Ireland were to have only such privileges as were consistent with the laws of Ireland, and which they had enjoyed in the reign of Charles II.°* This was an ambiguous provision, since during Charles’ reign, the Catholics had been treated with harshness at one time and with great toleration at another time. Soon, however, owing to the dissatisfaction of the Protestants concerning these concessions, numerous restrictive laws were passed against the Catholics and their clergy. This legislation marked the beginning of the severe laws known as the Penal Code. By oaths and religious tests Catholics were excluded from Parliament and public office. It was only in the late eighteenth century that a fear of popular uprisings led to a modification of these laws.