“No, Mike.  I have been but three years in the French army, but I have seen enough of fighting, and, worse still, of fighting against men of our own nation.  Besides, if the queen grants me the estates of my father, I shall consider myself bound in honour not to draw my sword against her, or to mix myself up in any plot or conspiracy, but to remain strictly neutral whatever may be going on.  Indeed, the more I think of it, the more I doubt whether it would be for the good of Ireland did the Stuarts return to the throne.  It could only be done at a further cost of blood and misery.  The old religious quarrels would break out more fiercely than ever, there would be risings and civil wars, confiscations and massacres, whichever side happened to get the upper hand.  That James the Third is the lawful sovereign of the three kingdoms, I shall always uphold, but there are cases when it is to the benefit of the country, at large, that there should be a change in the succession.”

“Sure that may be so, your honour; and yet, it is hard that a man should be kept out of his own.”

“No doubt it is hard; but it is far harder that thousands of people should be killed, and tens of thousands ruined, for the sake of one man.”

“So it is, sir.  So it is, sure enough, when one comes to think of it.  Ireland has suffered mightily in the cause of the Stuarts, and I don’t suppose that, if King James succeeded to the throne, his English ministers would let him turn out all the men who have taken the places and lands of the old families.”

“That they certainly would not, Mike.  When Charles the Second returned from exile, all those who had fought and suffered for him thought that they would recover their estates, and turn out Cromwell’s men, to whom they had been granted.  But they were disappointed.  The king found that he could not make so great a change, without upsetting the whole country, and that an attempt to do so would cost him his crown; and you may be sure that James would find an equal difficulty, were he to come to the throne.”

“Well, well, your honour, you know more of such matters than I do; but I have no doubt that you are right.  I am sure we don’t want the bad times to come over again, in Ireland.”

Three days later, Gerald received a message from Lord Godolphin, saying that he wished to see him; and, on going to his house, the minister handed to him the paper with the full pardon, and the confirmation of his ownership in his father’s estates; together with a letter to the lord lieutenant, and the Lord Chief Justice Cox.

The next day, he took ship for Dublin, and on arriving there presented his letters, and was well received by those to whom they were directed.

The lord lieutenant said: 

“It is enough for me, Mr. O’Carroll, that Lord Godolphin speaks of you in such high terms, and I question not that he has thoroughly satisfied himself as to your right to these estates.  At the same time, I should be glad if you will give me a brief outline of how it is that you never claimed them before, though perhaps it is as well that you did not do so, for, until the passions excited by the war had somewhat subsided, a friend of the Government would hardly have interposed for the benefit of the son of one who had died fighting for James.”