Above:Picture of English peasants

laborate calculations were made of the rate at which the colony might be expected to increase, but these were all falsified by the event. It was found easy enough to induce a sufficient number of enterprising gentlemen to take up the lands, but a supply of English peasants willing to exchange the peace and security of their own country for the unknown perils of a ” barbarous ” land was not so easily forthcoming.

Frequently, too, the hostility of the natives, who, not unnaturally, entertained no friendly feelings towards these intruders ; the conditions of life and of work to which they were unaccustomed ; the disappointment of the hopes which they had entertained of becoming rich quickly and with little labour, so discouraged the English farmers that, after a short stay, they departed in disgust. On the other hand, there were Irish enough available ; some of them were the old proprietors or their sons, eager to gain the right to return, even as tenants, and to cultivate a portion of the estates that had once been th irs. They were willing to pay, or to promise, high rents, and to accept hard conditions, if only they might occupy the lands which would otherwise remain, in most cases, untitled and vacant. It is not surprising that, given such temptations, the undertakers commonly ignored the conditions under which they had received their grants, and admitted the Irish as tenants.

This was so generally the case that the English colony, of which so rapid an increase had been expected, dwindled and diminished more and more. From the first it had not been on at all so extensive a scale as, according to the original plan, it should have been.

Above:Map of the Munster Plantation

Much of the land which at first was supposed to be forfeit by the rebellion of the Desmonds was found not to be so, as it had not in reality belonged to them. An investigation held in 1592 showed only thirty-two English head undertakers altogether and 245 English tenant families—probably about 1,000 individuals. The rest of the tenants were Irish. The O’Neill Insurrection swept away almost all remaining traces of the Munster Plantation. The few English who stayed married Irish wives, became Catholics, adopted the speech and manners of the country, and merged in the general population.

The only result, permanent except for a short interval during the O’Neill Insurrection, was that English law was introduced and administered over almost the whole of Munster. Gradually the traces of war were effaced. Again the fields were tilled. Again cattle grazed in the pasture lands. The population increased ; huts and mansions were rebuilt. For a while Munster flourished and tasted the fruit of peace.