Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/185

James II composed of three classes. By an Act to which Charles the First had been compelled to give a reluctant assent the Long Parliament had assigned a great portion of the soil of Ireland to "adventurers" or speculators who had advanced money to carry on the war against the Irish. After the triumph of the Puritan faction eleven years later the greater part of what had escaped the clutches of these persons had been granted to Cromwell's soldiers in compensation for arrears of pay. It cannot be thought surprising that the services for which these two classes had been so lavishly rewarded should not have been regarded by the Irish Catholics as deserving much consideration, or that they and their representatives should now have been treated with something less than justice. In contending that an actual ownership of thirty-seven years and a legal ownership of twenty-four years could not establish a prescriptive title as against proprietors fraudulently despoiled after an undisturbed possession of centuries the Irish Parliament can hardly be said to have acted unjustly. But the men of the new interest had in many cases expended large sums upon the improvement of their estates, and for this expenditure they had a clear right to compensation. No such compensation was granted. Twenty-seven years 173