Page 235 - Demo

Chapter Seven 235 only to set aside the penal legislation afecting his co-religionists, but even to appoint
many of them to important civil and military positions.”
James 11 - Portrait By Peter Lely
This policy cost him his crown. What it meant for Ireland will soon become clear.
Almost immediately James began to withdraw the penal measures against Catholics in England and Ireland. He appointed his Protestant brother-in-law, Henry Hyde, the Earl of Clarendon, as his Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, after which he then appointed a Catholic, Richard Talbot, as commander of the army. Posterity shows that Clarendon was a mere puppet, while Talbot, later created Earl of Tyrconnell, and one who favoured the Anglo- Irish party and had little love for the native people, was the real power.
One of Tyrconnell’s irst acts was to disarm the militia, who were all Protestants. This done, he then appointed Roman Catholic oicers throughout the army, as well as appoint- ing Catholic judges on the bench, many other important posts he also illed with Catholics. Furthermore, he also made an attempt to have the Act of Settlement repealed; but this failed. In 1687, Clarendon was recalled, and when Tyrconnell succeeded him as Lord Lieu- tenant, the already panicked Protestants became further alarmed, anxiously fearing that under a Catholic Deputy, their positions, and perhaps their estates, would be taken from them also. Alongside the concerns for their positions and property, terriic rumours ran rife