James II
people were fairly represented would be an easy task. Nor would it be impossible to obtain the assent of James to such a bill. There was, however, another party to be reckoned with. It could scarcely be expected by the most sanguine Irishman that the English people would tamely submit to see property which they had bestowed upon men of their own blood and creed, restored to a despised and detested race. The English advisers of the Crown, indeed, were opposed to the repeal of the Act of Settlement, principally because they believed that such a step must inevitably lead to a separation of the two kingdoms.53 Tyrconnell, contemplating the question from a precisely opposite standpoint, was no less firmly convinced that it was only by a separation of the two kingdoms that the rights of the Irish gentry could be secured. With the full assent of his master he had, in August, 1687, entered into a negociation with the court of France, with the intention of making Ireland, should James die without male issue, an independent kingdom under the protection of that power.54 The King, it is true, had abandoned the idea two months later, the pregnancy of the Queen affording him a hope of a Catholic heir, of which he had long despaired; but it is at least doubtful whether Tyrconnell, who hated England much more than
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