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foreign colonizers-whether they
were Danes, Normans, English or
Scottish. The Irish also fought
among themselves. There were
feuds between families, battles
between tribes and wars between
provinces.
After the time of Nial the Great ,
Irish people called themselves " Hy–
Nials." During the fifth century,
the Hy-Nials of the North attacked
the Hy-Nials of the South. Today
there is another conftict between
the Nor th and South. History has a
way of repeating itself in Ireland
even if for different reasons.
The current conft ict has devel–
oped after centuries of trouble
because of racial and religious prej–
udice.
1
reland, in t he reign of
Edward 11 , was divided between
the lrish and English who had dif–
ferent languages, habits and laws.
Their deep a nd dead ly hatred
toward eacb other was evident even
then. The di scrimin a t ion that
developed between the English and
Irish systems of Iand tenure, prop–
erty and inheritance increased the
resentment and bitterness between
the two factions. The religious con–
flict deve loped later.
In the 12th century, Pope
Adrian appealed to King Henry
11
for help in reforming Ireland by
establishing full papal authority.
Pope Adrian's document to the
king said, "You shall enter that
island and execute whatever may
tend to the honour of God and the
welfare of the land; and also that
the people of that land shall receive
you wi th honour and revere you as
their lord ..." (Text of
Laudabili–
ter
in
lrish Historical Documents,
edited by Curtís and McDowell,
pages 17, 18).
The lrlsh Question
But England never fully conquered
Ireland until the time of Elizabeth
l.
During the reign of Henry VIII,
"The lrish question rose before
English statesmen, Was England to
hold l reland, and if so, how? Long
the Tudor princes shrunk from
looking this difficulty in the face;
they temporised , vacillated, and
sought sorne middle course, sorne
compromise.
"But the Irish question became
at length (amid the complications
of the sixteenth century) the ques-
24
tion of English politics. England
found that she must either conquer
Ireland, or herself succumb in the
struggle" (page 397, vol. XXI,
The
Historians' Hi stor y of the
World) .
King Henry VIII abolished papal
authority by declaring himself tbe
head of the Irish church. But tbe
Catholic friars were beyond Hen–
ry's power. They continued to
preach everywhere among the
people. Later toward the end of
Henry's reign, the Jesuits carne to
lreland under the protection of Con
O 'Neill, "prince of the Irish of
Ulster." Because they helped keep
Roman Catholic traditions alive,
most of lreland remained faithful
to Rome.
In 1541, the English Parliament
declared Henry VIII " King of this
land of Ireland, annexed and knit
forever to the imperial crown of the
realm of England." This paved the
way for the effective conquest of
l reland by Queen Elizabeth
l.
After the queen's army con–
quered Ireland and routed Catholic
forces , the O 'Connor tribe near
Dublin supported the rebellion in
favor of the Cat ho li c church.
Queen El izabeth embarked on a
deliberate program of colonization
to subdue the Catholic Irish who
were in rebellion.
The land in O 'Connor territory
was confiscated and placed under
crown control. Tribal rights along
with Celtic Iaws, Ianguage and man–
ners were to disappear under the
inftuence of Ioyal English colonists
"planted" there. This was the first
English settlement or plantation.
The Ulster Plantatlons
Ulster was the next area to demand
the immediate attention of Queen
Elizabetb.
It
was here that the Earl
of Tyrone led the last pocket of
Gaelic I rish resistance against
English conquest and colonization.
After his army was defeated at
Kinsdale in 1601, his lands-com–
prising six of the nine counties of
Ulster- were settled with Scottish
Protestants.
Later, under James 1, massive
tracts of land were seized from the
native settlers and granted to Scot–
tish and English colonizers. By
1640, Protestants owned three mil–
lion out of 3.5 million acres.
These "Ulster Plantations" di–
vided Ireland into two antagonistic
communities. The conquered Cath–
olic natives remained side by side
with the Protestant settlers. When
Sjr George Carew reported on the
plantation in 161 1, he clearly fore–
saw t hat t he Irish would rebel
again.
S ince that time in history, there
was an automatic conftict between
the Scots and Irish. The Scots who
settled in Ulster were considered
by the native I rish as being proud
and haughty aliens. To the Scots,
the I rish were barbarie in manners
and customs. Thus the scorn of the
Scot was met by the curse of the
Cel t- "the wild Irish" as they
appeared to the eyes of the Scots.
In many parts of Irel a nd ,
English colonists became absorbed
by the nat ive population. But in
Ulster, Presbyter ian Scots didn't
intermarry with the native I rish
because of their intense hatred of
Catholicism- a c haracteristic of
the Scottish mind during that peri–
od of time. The result is the racial
and religious conflict we see in
Northern Ireland today.
The Rellglous Conflict
From that time on, bitterness and
resentment began to mount up in
the minds of the Irish Catholics.
They resented being ruled by per–
sons of a different religion. To
them, it was the Protestant mon–
archs in England who had exploited
and oppressed them for hundreds
of years. They felt discriminated
against in respect to land tenure,
housing, employment and political
opportunity. This discrimination
led to the uprisings in 1641, 1798,
1916, 1922 and 1968.
The Ulster Presbyterians be–
carne involved in politics as early as
1820. Sir John Peck, former Brit–
ish Ambassador to Dublin, de–
scr ibed the history of this period:
"After an interna! power struggle
among the Presbyterians, the vic–
tor, Henry Cooke, a rigid discipli–
narían from a Calvinist and strong–
ly anti-Catholic family, devoted
himself to two main aims: as a cler–
gyman, to preaching the gospel of
hatred against all men and things
Catholic and promoting violence by
incitement from the pulpit; and as a
(Con tinued on page 44)
The PLAIN TRUTH