ned them to Connaught and the county
of Clare; and among those who had thus been forfeited, were many whose
innocence was altogether unquestionable. Several Protestants likewise,
and Ormond among the rest, had all along opposed the Irish rebellion;
yet having afterwards embraced the king's cause against the parliament,
they were all of them attainted by Cromwell. And there were many
officers who had from the commencement of the insurrection served in
Ireland, and who, because they would not desert the king, had been
refused all their arrears by the English commonwealth.

To all these unhappy sufferers some justice seemed to be due: but the
difficulty was, to find the means of redressing such great and extensive
iniquities. Almost all the valuable parts of Ireland had been measured
out and divided, either to the adventurers, who had lent money to
the parliament for the suppression of the Irish rebellion, or to the
soldiers, who had received land in lieu of their arrears. These could
not be dispossessed, because they were the most powerful and only armed
part of Ireland; because it was requisite to favor them, in order to
support the Protestant and English interest in that kingdom; and because
they had generally, with a seeming zeal and alacrity, concurred in the
king's restoration. The king, therefore, issued a proclamation, in which
he promised to maintain their settlement, and at the same time engaged
to give redress to the innocent sufferers. There was a quantity of land
as yet undivided in Ireland; and from this and some other funds, it was
thought possible for the king to fulfil both these engagements.

A court of claims was erected, consisting altogether of English
commissioners, who had no connection with any of the parties into which
Ireland was divided. Before these were laid four thousand claims of
persons craving restitution on account of their innocence; and the
commissioners had found leisure to examine only six hundred. It already
appeared, that if all these were to be restored, the funds, whence the
adventurers and soldiers must get reprisals, would fall short of giving
them any tolerable satisfaction. A great alarm and anxiety seized all
ranks of men: the hopes and fears of every party were excited: these
eagerly grasped at recovering their paternal inheritance; those were
resolute to maintain their new acquisitions.

The duke of Ormond was created lord lieutenant; being the only person
whose prudence a