Note 73 — Front matter (continued 2)

Although we do not intend to excuse the system of the Penal Laws, it is fair to mention, that these measures of restraint were considered at the time to be necessary for the protection of the liberty and religion of the country, and that they were imposed at the conclusion of a desperate struggle, the renewal of which was for a long time a source of serious apprehension. The battles of the Boyne, Enniskillen, and Aughrim, the sieges of Londonderry and Limerick, and the critical operations at Athlone, ushered in the Penal Laws, the real object of which was to keep in check the great political party which had arrayed itself on the side of the Stuarts and of their principles of Government; and as the danger diminished, these Laws were gradually relaxed until they were finally abolished by the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. It will also be remembered that the Penal Laws were passed by the Irish Parliament and repealed by that of the United Kingdom.