Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/305

After Limerick were given to Englishmen who lived most of their lives out of Ireland; in fact, Ireland was regarded as the happy hunting-ground of English adventurers and courtiers, of king's favourites, and all sorts of scandalous persons, of every Englishman who had come to the end of his resources and wanted a lift in life. Never had any country a more complete control over the destinies of another than had England over the destinies of Ireland during the greater part of the eighteenth century. The confiscations of Irish land which disorganised all social conditions, the commercial legislation which ruined Ireland's chance of becoming a rich industrial nation, the financial corruption and misapplication of patronage, were all the direct work of the English Parliament or of the English Government. It is true that the blame of the Penal Laws rests in the first instance on the Irish Parliament, but this Parliament, after 1691, was wholly subservient to England; it was merely an institution for registering the edicts of the English Privy Council, and can, therefore, not be regarded as having pursued any independent policy. The resources of Ireland, both in her land and in the characteristics of her people, were great. That they were nearly completely wasted was due to a long series of causes produced in the first instance by 293