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Charles II the restoration of their sovereign would be promptly followed by their own. Their hopes were doomed to a speedy disappointment. The Lord Chief Justice of Ireland urged the claims of the adventurers with an ardour scarcely suited to the dignity of his office: Sir Nicholas Plunket, an Irish lawyer of eminence, pleaded the cause of his countrymen: after six months of wrangling, bribery and vacillation the Government dictated a compromise in the interest of the Cromwellians.

The declaration which the King published in November, 1660, confirmed to the adventurers all lands granted to them under the Act of 1642 in return for money advanced to carry on the Irish war. It confirmed to the soldiers of the Cromwellian army—regicides and persons who had resisted the Restoration alone excepted—all lands allotted to them instead of pay. Protestant Royalists were to be at once restored to their inheritance; ecclesiastical property was to revert to the Anglican priesthood; and the adventurers and soldiers removed to make room for these two classes were to be indemnified—presumably at the expense of the Papists. Protestant officers, who had served against the Irish in the early years of the war, but who, having continued faithful to the royal cause, had received no lands from the Protector, were also to be provided for; 71