Act For The Settlement of Ireland 1652 - Preamble

Preamble

Whereas the Parliament of England, after the expense of much blood and treasure for suppression of the horrid rebellion in Ireland, have by the good hand of God upon their undertakings, brought that affair to such an issue, as that a total reducement and settlement of that nation may, with God's blessing, be speedily effected... —Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 Preamble

Ten named leaders of the Royalist forces in Ireland, together with anyone who had participated in the Irish Rebellion’s early stages and who had killed an Englishman other than in battle, lost their lives and estates.

The Act made a distinction between the rebels of 1641 – who were deemed unlawful combatants – as against those who had fought in the regular armies of Confederate Ireland, who were treated as legitimate combatants provided that they had surrendered before the end of 1652. The 1641 rebels and the above mentioned Royalist leaders were not included in the pardon given to soldiers who had surrendered: they were to be executed when captured. Roman Catholic clergy were also excluded from the pardon, as the Cromwellians held them responsible by fomenting the 1641 Rebellion.

The remaining leaders of the Irish army lost two-thirds of their estates. To have been merely a bystander was itself a crime, and anyone who had resided in Ireland any time from 1 October 1649, to 1 March 1650 and had not "manifested their constant good affection to the interest of the Commonwealth of England" lost one-third of their land. The Commissioners in Ireland had power to give them, in lieu thereof, other (poorer) lands in Connacht or Clare in proportion of value and were authorised "to transplant such persons from the respective places of their usual habitation or residence, into such other places within that nation, as shall be judged most consistent with public safety."

This was interpreted by the English Parliamentarian authorities in Ireland who ordered all Irish land owners to leave for those lands before 1 May 1654 or be executed. However, in practice, most Catholic landowners stayed on their land as tenants and the numbers of those either transplanted or executed was small.

Protestant Royalists, on the other hand, could avoid land confiscations if they had surrendered by May 1650 and had paid fines to the Parliamentarian government. The Commonwealth initially had harsh plans to remove the formerly-Scottish Presbyterians from north east Ulster – as they had fought with the Royalists in he latter stages of the war. However this was reversed in 1654, and it was ruled that the plantation would apply to Catholics only.

In Irish popular memory of the Cromwellian Plantation, the Commonwealth is said to have declared that the Irish must go, "to Hell or to Connacht", west of the River Shannon. However according to historian Padraig Lenihan, "The Cromwellians did not proclaim 'To Hell or to Connacht'. Connacht was chosen as a native reservation not because the land was poor, The Commonwealth rated Connacht above Ulster in this respect". Lenihan suggests that Co. Clare was chosen instead for security reasons – to keep Catholic landowners penned between the sea and the river Shannon. Another persistent myth is that all Irish Catholics were to be forcibly removed to Connacht, but in fact the majority of the population remained at home, being needed as servants and tenant farmers by the new ruling class.

Some Irish prisoners were forcibly sent on ships to the West Indies where they became indentured servants on sugar cane plantations belonging to British colonialists. One of the best known islands the Irish flocked to when their period of indenture came to an end was Montserrat.