Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/142

James II A little later, Colonel Richard Talbot, now created Earl of Tyrconnell, was raised to the rank of Lieutenant-General and entrusted with the important task of reorganizing the Irish army. An address from the Catholic clergy was drawn up about this time, eulogising the services which that nobleman had rendered to his co-religionists during the recent persecution, and desiring his Majesty to "establish the said Earl of Tyrconnell in such authority here as may secure us in the exercise of our function"; but with this request it was not yet thought prudent to comply.

Before the close of the same year the Earl of Clarendon took the oath of office as Lord Lieutenant; and on the 9th of January, 1686, he landed at Dublin. The new viceroy's own sympathies, like those of almost every Englishman of his time, were altogether on the side of the Protestant caste; but he brought with him instructions to remodel the government in the interests of the native Irish; and his timid and servile temper, as well as his close connection with the King, rendered it certain that those instructions would not be set aside.

Since the Restoration the judicial bench, the privy council, the municipal corporations, and the magistracy had, as we have seen, been filled exclusively with English settlers, and had been 130