Results of the Cromwellian Settlement

The story of the Munster and of the Ulster Plantations was repeated. The English who remained, especially the soldiers, ignored the prohibition against intermarrying with the native Irish. They took to themselves Irish Catholic wives, and their children, following the mothers, became Irish in habit, tongue and creed. Some of the sons and daughters of Oliver’s soldiers, we hear, could not speak a word of English. How great a failure the Settlement had been, as regards the anglicization of Ireland or the spreading within its shores of the Reformed Doctrines, is clearly shown by the results of the Census of Ireland taken by order of the Parliament in 1659.

The figures for 27 of the 32 counties are extant, and show the following results : The relative proportions of Irish to English was in Leinster 13 to 2 ; in Ulster 5 to 2 ; in Munster 10 to 1 ; while, of 87,352 inhabitants of Connacht, only 7,672 were English. In this connection the term ” English ” may be taken as equivalent to ” Protestants,” and ” Irish ” to ” Catholics.”