Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/156

 Protestants whose lands had been given to Adventurers or soldiers, and innocent Papists, were to be at once restored to their estates, and the persons removed were to be compensated elsewhere. Special provisoes were also inserted in favour of the Commission officers under the King who had served in Ireland against the Irish rebels before 1649, and in favour of the Duke of Ormonde and thirty-six other particular objects of the royal favour termed 'mero motu men.' All Church and capitular lands were to be restored to their ecclesiastical owners, and enormous grants were made to the Duke of York and a few special favourites. The still undistributed lands, the lands of the regicides, and of some other prominent partisans—amongst others Sir Hierome Sankey — were to form the reprisal fund.

A Commission was appointed under the Declaration of November 30 to carry out the Act, and Sir William Petty received a place upon it. It consisted of thirty-six persons, and they proceeded to appoint a Court of Claims to hear cases, with full authority to decide and arbitrate. Satisfactory to the army as the scheme adopted at first appeared, in practice it worked very differently from what was expected. The 'dubious' lands had been stated to the King as representing one million acres; and to these the lands of the Regicides and other prominent 'fanaticks' were to be added in order to swell the amount. But so favourable to the old Irish proprietors and Royalists did the majority of the Executive Court of Claims, instituted by the Commission, prove itself in judging 'innocency,' that a loud outcry began to arise, as the compensation fund was seen to be totally inadequate to meet the claims upon it. The Protestant interest became seriously alarmed, and the mutterings of an intended insurrection began to be heard. Soon an actual outbreak took place. The Irish Parliament once more intervened and the so-called 'Act of Explanation' was passed. The Army and