The Stuart Restoration

The Protectorate and the Commonwealth soon passed away, and the inevitable wave of reaction set in, bringing on its crest the monarchy of Charles II. The majority of the Irish, especially among the higher orders, had by this time worked themselves into the belief that the Stuarts were their best or only friends in England. The sufferings inflicted by Strafford for the benefit of the selfish and insincere Charles I. had already been almost forgotten, and the Irish people were thinking only of the hardships more lately inflicted on them by Cromwell. There was expectation all over the island that the return of the Stuarts would bring a new and happy era.