In Ireland, in the eighteenth century there was, in spite of all conflicts, a certain amount of fusion. Of the upper classes a fairly large number adopted Protestantism, and so became identified with the ruling caste, while preserving a certain amount of sympathy with their Catholic kindred. The poorer among the colonists in many cases adopted the religion of the people among whom they dwelled. And for the mass of the people there was always the possibility of escape from all disabilities, and of a rise into the dominant caste provided only that they embraced the dominant religion. The history of families such as that of Hely Hutchinson, of O'Callaghan, Lord Lismore, and of Fitzgibbon, Lord Clare, shows that such a rise into the governing classes was by no means uncommon.
There is one special feature of Irish social organisation, springing directly from the confiscations, to which Bonn draws attention. In scarcely any other country of Europe was the power of the landowner so absolute. It was not checked by any manorial system such as prevailed in England, nor by any communal system such as we find on the Continent. The Irish peasant stood alone in an individual relationship to the landlord. He had no rights based on immemorial custom, and strengthened by being enjoyed by an organised community. The German or Hungarian serf, the English manorial tenant formed part of a definite organisation, recognised by the law, possessing certain rights as against the landowner. The serf could not be dispossessed of his holding; it was therefore contrary to the interests of the lord to let
