THE SCOT IN ULSTER

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gomery set to work to fulfil his part of the agreement, with the help of his brother, who held position at Court; but his influence proving insufficient, he was compelled to have recourse to another Scot, whose word had more weight with the King. This "kindly brother Scot" was James Hamilton, who had settled in Dublin some years before the Union as a schoolmaster. He had been employed by James VI. as a political agent for various purposes, and especially to gain the adhesion of the Irish leaders to James's claims to the crown of the United Kingdom. Hamilton's influence proved sufficiently potent. Con was admitted to the royal presence, and kissed the King's hand, received pardon for the offences of himself and his kinsmen, and returned in triumph to his ancestral halls of Castlereagh. Yes; but a new agreement had been found necessary, and poor Con's lands had to be made broad enough to satisfy James Hamilton as well as Hugh Montgomery. So, on the 16th April 1605, letters-patent were issued under the Great Seal, "on the humble petition of Conn M'Neale M'Bryan Feartagh O'Neale, and of Hugh Montgomery, Esq., and of James Hamilton, Esq.," granting to the said James Hamilton all the lands in the Upper Clannaboye and the Great Ards which had been possessed by Con or by his father, Bryan Feartagh O'Neale, in his lifetime. Hamilton became bound to "plant" the lands with English and Scottish colonists, and to grant them only to those of English and Scottish blood, "and not to any of the mere Irish (excepting the said Conn...continue reading »

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Page 10

The Scot in Ulster:
Sketch of the History of the Scottish Population of Ulster

by John Harrison

1888