or in their possession on the 7th May 1659, excepting church-lands, and with certain other exceptions; and such of the officers who had served before 5th June, 1649, whose arrears were yet unsatisfied, were to receive a satisfaction out of the forfeited lands, in certain counties, and out of the houses and tenements in walled and corporate towns. Those protestants whose estates had been given to adventurers and soldiers (except such as had been in rebellion before the cessation of arms in September, 1643, or had taken out decrees for lands in Connaught` or Clare in recompence of their former estates) were to be forthwith restored and the others reprised; and innocent papists also, who had been dispossessed, (although they had obtained decrees of innocence and were possessed of lands in Connaught and Clare) were to be restored to their former estates; and the adventurers and soldiers removed to make room for such papists, were to be forthwith reprised; and every adventurer and soldier so settled, and every person so restored or reprised was by this declaration to pay to the king 3d. by the acre in Leinster, 2d. in Munster, 1d. in Connaught, and 1d. in Ulster, according to the English measure; and out of houses in corporations, 1s. 6d. out of every 20s. of Commission for rent. And accordingly by a commission under the great executing it. seal of Ireland bearing date 30th April in the 13th year of his reign, his majesty appointed commissioners for putting into execution the several matters contained in his said declaration. But this declaration, though intended to provide for all interests, did not satisfy all par*Carte's Or- tics,* and being only an act of state was not therefore mond, vol. 2. considered of sufficient authority for disposing of men's p. 220. properties; the proceedings of the commissioners for executing it were consequently ineffectual. To remove some objections to the king's declaration and to carry it into legal execution, the Act of Settlement 14 & 15 Car. 2. c. 2. Ir. was therefore passed, by which all lands, &c. which from the 23d Oct. 1641, had been seized and sequestered into the hands of or to the use of king Charles I. or king Charles II. or otherwise disposed of or set out to any person or use for adventurers, arrears, reprisals, or

Act of Settle="

ment.

14 & 15 Car. 2. c. 2. Ir.

otherwise,

éstates in the king.

otherwise, whereof king Charles I. or king Charles II. Clause vesting or any adventurer, soldier, reprisable person or other, was in the seisin or possession on the 7th May 1659 by reason of the rebellion or war; or which were set apart towards the satisfaction of any adventurers, soldiers, or others; or reserved for reprisals or otherwise; or whereof any custodiam lease for years or other grant had been made; or unto which the king's father or himself were entitled upon account of the said rebellion or war; or which were then wrongfully detained or concealed; as also all chantries, and all lands, &c. to them belonging which were in the seisin, &c. of any persons who should not be adjudged innocent according to the qualifications of this act; as also all lands, &c. belonging to any ecclesiastical persons, in their politic capacity that had been let in fee farm, or for any other term to persons who should not be adjudged innocent, were declared forfeited to the king as from the 23d October, 1641, and were from that time vested in the crown without any office or inquisition found, notwithstanding the former proprietors were not attainted for the said rebellion or war. But these rights which were so declared to be vested in the crown, were by subsequent parts of the act devested in favour of such persons as since the 23d Clause devesting Oct. 1641, had obtained any conveyance from protestant of the king in adventurers, soldiers, or others, of such estates as would certain cases. otherwise have been confirmed by this act, or from persons transplanted to Connaught or Clare; and this act was also declared not to extend to lands belonging to the College of Dublin, or to the church, or to any corporation; and a number of officers and persons distinguished for their loyalty (therein enumerated) are also excepted; and an exception was thereby also made in favour of all innocert protestants or papists and their heirs, &c. But all persons to whom any lands belonging to such innocent protestant or papists had been assigned were to be first reprised before any others. And this act s. 7. declared that all estates and interests hereby vested in the king, with such exceptions as aforesaid, should remain in the king, to be settled, confirmed, restored, or disposed of

to

these estates cut

3. 7.

s. 103.

s. 104.

s. 107.

to such uses and in such manner as by the king's decla-. ration and instructions aforesaid, (which are herein ins. 102. corporated) were limited and appointed. By s. 102. provision was made for restoring ecclesiastical persons to such church property as they were in possession of in the year 1641, and of which they were unlawfully dispossessed through the fury of the times; and as to the leases by ecclesiastics, which were by s. 1. declared to be forfeited and vested in the king, they were by s. 103. confirmed to the respective sees or bodies politic to whom they belonged, except so far as they had been made a security for the arrears of the officers who had served before the year 1649; and the lands let by ecclesiastics to fee farm, which were also declared to be forfeited, were by s. 104. to be allotted by way of augmentation to several archbishopricks and bishopricks therein named, and a part thereof to the provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and his successors. And by s. 107. the impropriations or appropriated tithes forfeited or vested in the king by this act, are thereby given to the church for ever, and settled upon the incumbents having cure of souls in those parishes where such impropriations were, reserving such portion thereof to be settled upon the vicars and choirmen of each cathedral church for the. increase of their maintenance, as the lord lieutenant and council should think fit; such incumbents however paying the accustomed rent and duties thereout to the crown, or sucli increased rents as the lord lieutenant, &c. should think reasonable. And a power was also reserved by s. 109. to the lord lieutenant, of making reasonable recompence out of said impropriations, to those to whom they would have been restored, if no such annexation to the church had been made: In order to provide for the erecting of churches, and for the maintenance of ministers, it, was enacted by s. 110 that out of every 100 acres of forfeited land not then actually disposed of, 2 acres should be set apart for glebe, in every parish, barony, and county as should be most contiguous to the several parish churches; and that out of such as were before distributed, and confirmed by this act, the respective

s. 109..

110.

possessors

s. 111.

possessors should pay so much money, as should be sufficient to purchase said number of acres, within the parish, of the same quality as the lands out of which the said acres would otherwise have been taken; but that out of said glebes the same rent should be reserved as the forfeited lands out of which they were to be taken were, to be subject to by this act, By s. 111. the forfeited chantries which were set out to officers serving before 1649, were made liable to the rent formerly paid to the church, or 2s. per pound of the improved value at the election of the bishop, which was to be in lieu of allcrown rents thereout. All lands which belonged to any hospital, alms-house, or other charitable use were by s. 177. to be restored and settled under the inspection . 177. and regulation of the lord lieutenant and council: and by s. 210. the lord lieutenant and council were empowered .210. out of the lands vested in his majesty to settle a yearly allowance for ever, not exceeding £1000. per annum, for the erecting and endowing of hospitals and workhouses, for soldiers maimed or wounded in the service of Ireland, or in deficiency of such persons, towards other public and pious uses. This act was by s. 204. declared not to extend to Trinity College, Dublin, but that said lands and all derivative interests which were forfeited by the late rebellion should be confirmed to said college, subject however to such rents as adventurers were to pay within the provinces where such lands lie; and by s. 219. the lord lieutenant and council were empowered to erect another college, or member of the university of Dublin, and to endow it with a yearly allowance for ever not exceeding £2000. per annum, to be raised by an equal charge on every 1000 acres, or lesser quantities proportionably to the lands, &c. vested by this act in his majesty. By. s. 187. all lands, &c. which were confirmed by, this act, were declared to be chargeable with such quit rents and annual payments, wherewith the lands of adventurers or soldiers then stood respectively charged. But this act of settlement having also failed of giving satisfaction to all parties interested, and several proposi tions having been made on the part of the Roman catho

lics

s. 204.

s. 219.

s. 187.

mond, vol. 2.

p. 304.

lics on the one side, and of the soldiers and adventurers on the other, a settlement was however at last effected by Carte's Or. the common consent* of all the several interests concerned; and the English council on the 18th May, 1665, ordered, that the adventurers and soldiers should have two-thirds. only of the lands whereof they stood possessed on the 7th May, 1659; that the Connaught purchasers should have two-thirds of what was in their possession in September, 1663; that what any person wanted of his two-thirds. should be supplied, and whatever he had more should be retrenched, and that the officers who had served under king Charles I. from the beginning of the rebellion, to the time of his execution and the arrival of Cromwell in Ireland, in 1649, should be established in their present pos17 & 18 Car.3. sessions. And accordingly the 17 & 18 Car. 2. c. 2. Ir. was c. 2. Ir. 譬 passed which in substance pursued these resolutions, Act of explana- and amongst other things provided that all lands vested in the king, or restored by virtue of any decrees, or by virtue of any clause in this or the former act, and not expressly excepted from quit rents, should be subject to such quit rents as were reserved by the former acts; Quit rent in Ul. save only that the lands in the province of Ulster, which by the former act were charged with 1d. should be thenceforth charged with 2d. by the acre for quit rent. By this act (s. 27.) provision was also made for increasing the glebes of parochial churches from 2 acres, to which they were limited by the act of settlement, to 10 acres, except where they were already endowed with that quantity of land, and except also within great cities and walled

tion.

ster increased.

Forfeitures in 1691,

11 & 12 W. 3.

Vested in trustees.

towns.

In deducing the history of the revenue arising from quit rents, I have been necessarily led to give a short c. 2. s. 1. Eng. sketch of the principal provisions of the Act of Settlement and Act of Explanation: and it seems to be also proper in this place to refer to the 11 & 12 W. 3. c. 2. s. 1. Eng. as connected with the history of the Irish revenue and of the settlement of property in Ireland. This act was passed in consequence of the rebellion which broke out in Ireland in favour of king James II. encouraged and assisted by the French king, the forfeitures incurred

thereby