Assimilation

Justin McCarthy
1903
Chapter III | Start of Chapter

The victory, however, did not accomplish much for the pacification of Ireland. In a certain sense it made things worse. The Anglo-Irish nobles who had not thrown off their allegiance to the English Sovereign saw only too plainly what an immense effort it had cost him to send into Ireland an army strong enough to defeat the insurgents and their allies in the open field. They knew they could not count on the English Government for continuous protection if the great majority of the Irish were still bitterly opposed to them. It was one thing to gather together an army strong enough to win a single battle, and quite another to maintain such a force in Ireland as should assure the safety of the settlers who professed allegiance to English rule. The result was that many of the settlers who had up to this time resisted the process of amalgamation with the Irish Chieftains began to find that they could secure quieter daily lives for themselves by following in the steps of the Geraldines. Statute after statute was passed to prohibit this.