OUSE OF LORDS.

James landed at Kinsale, 12th March, 1689, about a month after the
election of William and Mary by the English convention. He entered
Dublin in state on the 24th March, accompanied by D'Avaux, as
Ambassador from France, and a splendid court. His first act was to
issue five proclamations--the first, requiring the return and aid of
his Irish absentee subjects; the second, urging upon the local
authorities the suppression of robberies and violence which had
increased in this unsettled state of affairs; the third, encouraging
the bringing provisions for his army; the fourth, creating a currency
of such metal as he had, conceiving it preferable to a paper currency
(a gold or silver currency was out of his power, for of the two
millions promised him by France, he only got L150,000); the fifth
proclamation summoned a parliament for the 7th May, 1689.

James also issued a proclamation promising liberty of conscience,
justice and protection[17] to all; and, after receiving many
congratulatory addresses, set out for Derry to press the blockade. On
the 29th April he returned to Dublin. On the 7th May Ireland possessed
a complete and independent government. Leaving the castle, over which
floated the national flag, James proceeded in full procession to the
King's Inns, where the Parliament sat, and the Commons having assembled
at the bar of the Peers, James entered, "with Robe and Crown," and
addressed the Commons in a speech full of manliness and dignity. At the
close of the speech, the Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Gosworth, directed
the Commons to retire and make choice of a Speaker. In half an hour the
Commons returned and presented Sir Richard Nagle as their Speaker, a
man of great endowments and high character. The Speaker was accepted,
and the Houses adjourned.

The peers who sat in this parliament amounted to fifty-four. Among
these fifty-four were six dignitaries of the Protestant Church, one
duke, ten earls, sixteen viscounts, and twenty-one barons. It contained
the oldest families of the country--O'Brien and DeCourcy, MacCarty and
Bermingham, De Burgo and Maguire, Butler and Fitzpatrick. The bishops
of Meath, Cork, Ossory, Limerick, and Waterford, and the Protestant
names of Aungier, Le Poer, and Forbes sat with the representatives of
the great Roman Catholic houses of Plunket, Barnewell, Dillon, and
Nugent. Nor were some fresher honours wanting; Talbot and Mountcashel
were the darlings of the people, t