Above : Picture Of Sir John Perrott

The Established Church the Deputy regarded as a State Department, to be strictly controlled by the Government, but at the same time to be maintained in such a position of dignity and honour as would command the respect of the people.

Anything likely to conflict with this aim, such as absenteeism or neglect of their duties on the part of the clergy ; the alienation of episcopal lands ; carelessness regarding the conduct of church ceremonies or the condition of the churches themselves, met with severe rebuke, and at times sharp punishment, at his hands.

Like his friend Laud, then Archbishop of Canterbury, he desired general uniformity. In order to attain it, he summoned a meeting of Convocation, and directed it to supersede the ” Confession of Faith,” passed in 1615, and to substitute the English Articles of 1562. When the bishops and clergy hesitated to comply with this order, he called certain of them before him, and so violently rated and threatened them that in terror they submitted, as did the whole body of Convocation subsequently, so that the desired Articles were passed (1634).

To maintain what he conceived to be proper discipline amongst the clergy, he erected on the king’s order alone, and therefore illegally, a Court of High Commission to deal with ecclesiastical offences. The Connacht Plantation Scheme.—In spite of all Wentworth’« efforts, the Irish revenue was far from yielding the sums which he desired, and he began to consider other methods for obtaining from the country money for the royal Treasury.

A new Plantation appeared to him about the most feasible expedient to which he could resort, and Connacht the most suitable part of Ireland for such a Plantation.

The compact made by Sir John Perrott with the chief Connacht land-owners in 1585 has already been mentioned. Most of the land-owners had agreed to the conditions, and the rent had

None of these considerations had any weight with Wentworth. He resolved to brush them aside, and to procure the confiscation, nominally at least, of all the lands of the entire province of Connacht. His Majesty could afterwards restore to the ejected pro¬prietors whatever proportion of their estates he thought fit. In order to ensure a proper zeal on the part of the Judges who were to try the cases, he arranged with them, in advance, that they should receive four shillings in each pound of the profits derived in the first year from the projected Plantation.

He himself made a journey through the Connacht counties, to see that juries suitable for his purpose had been returned in each.In Roscommon, where the Commission opened its proceedings, he harangued the jurors at some length. His Majesty’s title to the land was plain, he told them, and he did not require them to find for him, since without their finding he could take the lands.

If they found against him, it would really be best for him ; for he, so the Deputy implied, would then seize and retain all the estates, whereas otherwise he intended to give back probably the greater part. Cowed by this language, and by private threats, the Roscommon jury decided in the way that Wentworth desired, and those of Mayo and Sligo followed their example.

In Galway, however, things turned out otherwise. The influence of the Burkes, who were extensive landowners, was there very strong. Several dependants of the Earl of Clanrickard, the head of the southern branch of the family, were on the jury. All but two jurors ” obstinately and perversely ” refused to find for the King. Swift punishment followed their audacity. D’Arcy the sheriff was fined £1,000 and thrown into prison where he died. The jurors were fined £4,000 each, which they did not pay. Terrified at these measures, the Clare jury meekly submitted to Wentworth’s demands.

All was now (1636) ready for the plantation, but the Plantation did not take place. It is difficult to explain this, especially as Wentworth held office for four years more. It may be that he decided, on reflection, that the lands of Connacht, poor and unfertile and inhabited by a numerous and warlike population, were scarcely worth the expen¬diture of blood and of money which it would cost to acquire them, and also were little likely, when acquired, to attract English farmers to settle on them.