James II
through the Act of Settlement, and who now proceeded to make good his words by discovering a number of technical flaws in the titles of the new owners49; but a general restoration could only be effected by an Act of Parliament. Tyrconnell, who had at one time been inclined to more moderate measures, was now fully convinced of the necessity of this course; and James, though he still concealed his real sentiments from his English councillors, appears to have been at length persuaded by the representations of the Lord Deputy. Rice, who had been long notorious for his implacable hostility to the Act of Settlement, and Nagle, who had recently written in favour of repeal of that Act, were the persons most consulted; and, after prolonged deliberation, it was decided that the former should proceed to England to lay the case of his countrymen before the King.50 While he was still in Dublin, however, Chief Justice Nugent, who, before his elevation to the bench, had been an active agitator51 in the same cause, ascertained the object of his mission and insisted on accompanying him, to the intense irritation of his colleague, who entertained a well-grounded distrust of his tact and judgment.52
To carry a bill for the repeal of the Act of Settlement in a Parliament in which the Irish
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