Cromwell held all Irish Catholics responsible for the rebellion of 1641 and said he would deal with them according to their "respective de-merits" – meaning sanctions varying from execution in worst cases, to partial land confiscation even for those who had taken no part in the wars. The Long Parliament had been committed to mass confiscation of land in Ireland since 1642, when it passed the Adventurers Act, which raised loans secured with the lands of Irish rebels' that it anticipated confiscating. The Act of Settlement (1652) stated that anyone who had held arms against Parliament was to forfeit their lands. Those who did not would lose only three-quarters of their lands – and were compensated with other land, in Connacht.