I
 
 .1 GORDON, ATTORNEY
 
 A POPULAR 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 EARLIEST PERIOD 
 
 TO TUB 
 
 $ttwrrijm!iflu of 
 
 BT 
 
 THOMAS D'ARCY MoGEE, B.C.L 
 
 Corresponding Member of the New York Historical Society. 
 
 REVISED AND CONTINUED TO THE PBBSENT TIM, 
 BT 
 
 D. P. CONYNGHAM, LL.3). 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES, 
 VOL. II. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 P. J. KENEDY, 
 
 PUBLISHER TO THE HOLY SEE, 
 
 EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 5 BARCLAY STREET. 
 1903,
 
 Annex 
 
 5014281 
 
 H7STORT OF IRBLAffD. 465 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 FROM THE ACCESSION OP JAMES I. TILL 
 THE DEATH OF CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JAMES I. FLIGHT OF THE EARLS CONFISCATION OF ULSTEE 
 PENAL LAWS PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION. 
 
 JAMES THE SIXTH of Scotland was in his 87th year when he 
 ascended the throne under the title of " James the First, King 
 of Great Britain and Ireland." His accession naturally excited 
 the most hopeful expectations of good government in the 
 breasts of the Irish Catholics. He was son of Mary Queen of 
 Scots, whom they looked upon as a martyr to her religion, 
 and grandson of that gallant King James who styled himself 
 " Defender of the Faith," and " Dominus Hibernice" hi 
 introducing the first Jesuits to the Ulster Princes. His 
 ancestors had always been in alliance with the Irish, and the 
 antiquaries of that nation loved to trace their descent from 
 the Scoto-Irish chiefs who first colonized Argyle and were for 
 ages crowned at Scone. He himself was known to have 
 assisted the late Catholic struggle as effectually, though less 
 openly than the King of Spain, and it is certain that he had 
 employed Catholic agents like Lord Home and Sir James 
 Lindsay, to excite an interest in his succession among the 
 Catholics, both in the British Islands and on the Continent. 
 
 The first acts of the new sovereign were calculated to con- 
 firm the expectations of Catholic liberty thus entertained.
 
 468 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAXD. 
 
 He was anxious to make an immediate and lasting peace with 
 Spain ; refused to receive a special embassy from the Hollan- 
 ders ; his ambassador at Paris was known to be on terms of 
 intimacy with the Pope's Nnncio, and although personally he 
 assumed the tone of an Anglican Churchman, on crossing the 
 border he had invited leading Catholics to his Court, and con- 
 ferred the honor of Knighthood on some of their number. 
 The imprudent demonstrations in the Irish towns were easily 
 quieted, and no immediate notice was taken of their leaders 
 In May, 1603, Mountjoy, on whom James had conferred the 
 higher rank of Lord Lieutenant, leaving Carew as Lord Deputy, 
 proceeded to England, accompained by O'Neil, Roderick 
 O'Donnell, Maguire, and other Irish gentlemen. The veteran 
 Tyrone, now past threescore, though hooted by the London 
 rabble, was graciously received in that court, with which hf 
 had been familiar forty years before. He was at once con 
 firmed in his title, the Earldom of Tyrconnell was created foi 
 O'Donnell, and the Lordship of Enniskillen for Maguire. 
 Mountjoy, created Earl of Devonshire, retained the title of 
 Lord Lieutenant, with permission to reside in England, and 
 was rewarded by the appointment of Master of the Ordnance 
 and Warden of the New Forest, with an ample pension from 
 the Crown to him and his heirs forever, the grant of the county 
 of Lecale (Down), and the estate of Kingston Hall, in Dorset- 
 shire. He survived but three short year* to enjoy all tluse 
 riches and honors ; at the age of 44, wasted with dissipation 
 and domestic troubles, he passed to his final account. 
 
 The necessity of conciliating the Catholic party in England, 
 of maintaining peace in Ireland, and prosecuting the Spanish 
 negotiations, not less, perhaps, than his own original bias, led 
 James to deal favorably with the Catholics at first. But 
 having attempted to enforce the new Anglican Canons, 
 adopted in 1004, against the Puritans, that party retaliated by 
 raising against him the cry of favoring the Papists. This cry 
 alarmed the King, who had always before his eyes the fear of 
 Presbyterianism, and he accordingly made a speech in th 
 Star Chamber, declaring his utter detestation of Popery, and 
 published a proclamation banishing all Catholic missionaries
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 07 IRELAND. 461 
 
 from the country. All magistrates were instructed to enforce 
 the penal laws with rigor, and an elaborate spy system for the 
 discovery of concealed recusants was set on foot. This reign 
 of treachery and terror drove a few desperate men into the 
 gunpowder plot of the following year, and rendered it diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, for the King to return to the policy ol 
 toleration, with which, to do him justice, he seems to have set 
 out from Scotland. 
 
 Carew, President of Munster during the late, war, became 
 Deputy to Mountjoy on his departure for England. He was 
 succeeded in October, 1604, by Sir Arthur Chichester, who, 
 with the exception of occasional absences at Court, continued 
 in office for a period of eleven years. This nobleman, a native 
 of England, furnishes, in many points, a parallel to his cotem- 
 porary and friend, Robert Boyle, Earl of Cork. The object 
 of his life was to found and to endow the Donegal peerage 
 out of the spoils of Ulster, as richly as Boyle endowed his 
 earldom out of the confiscation of Munster. Both were Puri- 
 tans rather than Churchmen, in their religious opinions ; Chi- 
 chester, a pupil of the celebrated Cartwright, and a favorer 
 all his life of the congregational clergy in Ulster. But they 
 carried their repugnance to the interference of the civil mag- 
 istrate in matters of conscience so discreetly as to satisfy the 
 high church notions both of James and Elizabeth. For the 
 violence they were thus compelled to exercise against them- 
 selves, they seem to have found relief in bitter and continuous 
 persecution of others. Boyle, as the leading spirit in the 
 government of Munster, as Lord Treasurer, and occasionally 
 as Lord Justice, had ample opportunities, during his long 
 career of forty years, to indulge at once his avarice and hid 
 bigatry ; and no situation was ever more favorable than Chi- 
 Chester's for a proconsul, eager to enrich himself at the expensa 
 of a subjugated Province. 
 
 In the projected work of the reduction of the whole country to 
 the laws and customs of England, it is instructive to observe that 
 a Parliament was not called in the first place. The reformers 
 proceeded by proclamations, letters patent, and orders in 
 council, not by legislation. The whole island was divided int
 
 468 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 82 counties and 6 judicial circuits, all of which were visited 
 by Justices in the second or third year of this reign and after- 
 wards semi-annually. On the Northern Circuit Sir Edward 
 Pelham and Sir John Davis were accompanied by the Deputy 
 in person with a numerous retinue. In some places the towns 
 were BO wasted by the late war, pestilence, and famine, that 
 the Viceregal party were obliged to camp out in the fields, 
 and to carry with them their own provisions. The Courts 
 were held in ruined castles and deserted monasteries ; Irish 
 interpreters were at every step found necessary ; sheriffs were 
 installed in Tyrone and Tyrconnell for the first time; all law- 
 yers appearing in court and all justices of the peace were 
 tendered the oath ol supremacy the refusal of which neces- 
 sarily excluded Catholics both from the bench and the 
 bar. An enormous amount of litigation as to the law of real 
 property was created by a judgment of the Court of King's 
 Bench at Dublin, in 1606, by which the ancient Irish customs, 
 of tanistry and gavelkind, were declared null and void, and the 
 entire Feudal system, with ita rights of primogeniture, heredi- 
 tary succession, ntail, and vassalage, was held to exist in as 
 full force as in England. Very evidently this decision was not 
 less a violation of the articles of Mellifont than was the King's 
 proclamation against freedom of conscience issued about the 
 same time. 
 
 Sir John Davis, who has left us two very interesting tract* 
 on Irish affairs, speaking of the new legal regulations of 
 which he was one of the principal superintendents, observes 
 that the old-fashioned allowances to be found so often in the 
 Pipe-Rolls, pro guidagio et spiagio, into the interior, may 
 well be spared thereafter, since "the under sheriffs and 
 bailiffs errant are better guides and spies in time of peace 
 than they were found in time of war " He adds, what we 
 may very well believe, that the Earl of Tyrone complained hf 
 had HO many eyes upon him, that he could not drink a cup of 
 Back without the government being advertised of it within a 
 few hours afterwards. This system of social espionage, so re- 
 pugnant to all the habits of the Celtic family, was not the 
 only mode of annoyance resorted to against the veteran chiet
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 469 
 
 Every former dependant who could be Induced to dispute his 
 claims as a landlord, under the new relations established by 
 the late decision, was sure of a judgment in his favor. Dis- 
 putes about boundaries with O'Cane, about the commuta- 
 tion of chieftain-rents into tenantry, about church land* 
 claimed by Montgomery, Protestant Bishop of Deny, were 
 almost invariably decided against him. Harassed by these 
 proceedings, and all uncertain of the future, O'Neil listened 
 willingly to the treacherous suggestion of St. Lawrence, 
 Lord Howth, that the leading Catholics of the Pale, and those 
 of Ulster, should endeavor to form another confederation. 
 The execution of Father Garnet, Provincial of the Jesuits in 
 England, the heavy fines inflicted on Lords Stourton, Mor- 
 daunt, and Montague, and the new oath of allegiance, framed 
 by Archbishop Abbott, and sanctioned by the English Parlia- 
 ment all events of the year 1606 were calculated to inspire 
 the Irish Catholics with desperate councils. A dutiful remon- 
 strance against the Act of Uniformity the previous year had 
 been signed by the principal Anglo-Irish Catholics for trans- 
 mission to the King, but their delegates were seized and im- 
 prisoned in the Castle, while their principal agent, Sir Patrick 
 Barawell, was sent to London and confined in the Tower. A 
 meeting at Lord Howth's suggestion was held about Christ- 
 mas, 1606, at the Castle of Maynooth, then in possession of 
 the dowager Countess of Kildare, one of whose daughters was 
 married to Christopher Nugent, Baron of Delvin, and her 
 granddaughter to Bory, Earl of Tyrconnell. There were 
 preseht O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Cane, on the one part, 
 and Lords Delvin and Howth on the other. The precisa 
 result of this conference, disguised under the pretext of 
 a Christmas party, was never made known, but the fact that 
 it had been held, and that the parties present had enter- 
 tained the project of another confederacy for the defense 
 of the Catholic religion, was mysteriously communicated 
 in an anonymous letter, directed to Sir William Usher, 
 Clerk of the Council, which was dropped in the Council Cham- 
 ber of DuVMn Castle, in March, 1607. This letter it is now 
 generally believed was written by Lord Howth, who wai 
 40
 
 ,'0 POPULAB HKTORT Of IRELAND. 
 
 thought to have been employed by Secretary Cecil, to entrap 
 the northern Earls, in order to betray them. In May, O'Neil 
 and O'Donnell were cited to attend the Lord Deputy in Dublin, 
 but the charges were for the time kept in abeyance, and they 
 were ordered to appear in London before the feast of Michael- 
 mas. Early in September O'Neil was with Chichester at 
 SI me, in Meath, when he received a letter from Maguire, who 
 had been out of the country, conveying information on which 
 he immediately acted. Taking leave of the Lord Deputy aa 
 if to prepare for his journey to London, he made some stay 
 with his old friend, Sir Qarrett Moore, at Mellifont, on parting 
 from whose family he tenderly bade farewell to the children 
 and even the servants, and was observed to shed tears. A I 
 Dungannon he remained two days, and on the shore of Lough- 
 Swilly he joined O'Donnell and others of his connexions. The 
 French ship, in which Maguire had returned, awaited them off 
 Rathmullen, and there they took shipping for France. With 
 O'Neil in that sorrowful company, were his last countess, Cathe- 
 rine, daughter of Magennis, his three sons, Hugh, John, and 
 Brian ; his nephew Art, son of Comae, Rory O'Donnell, Caffar, 
 his brother, Nuala, his sister, who had forsaken her husband 
 Nial Garve, when he forsook his country ; the lady Rose 
 O'Doherty, wife of Caffar, and afterwards of Owen Roe 
 O'Neil; Maguire, Owen Mac Ward, chief bard of Tyrconnell, 
 and several others. " Woe to the heart that meditated, woe 
 to the mind that conceived, woe to the council that decided 
 on the project of that voyage !" exclaimed the Annalists of 
 Donegal, in the next age. Evidently it wan the judgment of 
 their immediate successors that the flight of the earls was a 
 rash and irremediable step for them ; but the information on 
 which they acted, if not long since destroyed, has, as yet, 
 never been made public. We can pronounce no Judgment a* 
 to the wisdom of their conduct, from the incomplete state- 
 ments at present in our possession. 
 
 There remained now few barriers to the wholesale confisca- 
 tion of Ulster, so long sought by " the Undertakers," and 
 these were rapidly removed. Sir Cahir O'Doherty, chief ol 
 Innishowen, although he bad earned his Knighthood while a
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 4*71 
 
 mere lad, fighting by the side of Dowcra, in an altercation 
 with Sir George Paulett, Governor of Deny, was taunted with 
 conniving at the escape of the Earls, and Paulett in his pas^ 
 sion struck him in the face. The youthful chief he was 
 scarcely one and twenty was driven almost to madness by 
 this outrage. On the night of the 3d of May, by a successful 
 tratagem he got possession of Culmore fort, at the mouth of 
 Lough Foyle, and before morning dawned had surprise! 
 Derry ; Paulett, his insulter, he slew with his own hand, most 
 of the garrison were slaughtered, and the town reduced to 
 ashes. Nial Garve O'Donnell, who had been cast off by ha 
 old protectors, was charged with sending him supplies and 
 men, and for three months he kept the field, hoping that every 
 gale might bring him assistance from abroad. But those 
 game summer mouths and foreign climes had already proved 
 fatal to many of the exiles, whose co-operation he invoked. 
 In July Rory O'Donnell expired at Rome, in August Maguiro 
 died at Genoa, on his way to Spain, and in September Caffar 
 O'Donnell was laid in the same grave with his brother, on St. 
 Peter's hill. O'Neil survived his comrades, as he had done his 
 fortunes, and like another Belisarius, blind and old and a pen- 
 sioner on the bounty of strangers, he lived on, eight weary 
 years, in Rome. O'Doherty, enclosed in his native peninsula, 
 between the forces of the Maishal \Vmgfield and Sir Oliver 
 Lambert, Governor of Connaught, fell by a chance shot, at 
 the rock of Doon, in Kilmacrenan. The superfluous traitor, 
 Nial Garve, was, with his sons, sent to London and imprisoned in 
 the tower for life. In those dungeons, Cormac, brother of 
 Hugh O'Neil, and O'Cane also languished out their days, vic- 
 tims to the careless or vindictive temper of King James. Sir 
 Arthur Chichester received, soon after these events, a 
 grant of the entire barony of Innishowen, and subsequently a 
 grant of the borough of Dungannon, with 1,300 acres adjoin- 
 ing ; Wingfield obtained the district of Percullan near Dublin, 
 with the title of Viscount Powerscourt ; Lambert was soon 
 after made Earl of Cavan, and enriched with the lands of 
 Carig, and other estates in that county. 
 
 To justify at once the measures he proposed, as well as t*
 
 4*12 POPULAR HI3TOBT OF IJltLAND. 
 
 divert from the exiles the sympathies of Europe, King Jamel 
 issued a proclamation bearing date the 5th of November, 
 1608, giving to the world the English version of the flight of 
 the Earls. The whole of Ulster was then surveyed in a cur- 
 sory manner by a staff over which presided Sir William Par- 
 sons as Surveyor-General. The surveys being completed 
 early in 1609, a royal commission was issued to Chichester, 
 Lambert, St. John, Bidgeway, Moore, David, and Parsous, 
 with the Archbishop of Armagh, and the Bishop of Derry, to 
 inquire into the portions forfeited. Before these Commission- 
 ers Juries were sworn on each particular case, and these 
 Juries duly found that, in consequence of "the rebellion" of 
 O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Doherty, the entire six counties of 
 Ulster, enumerated by baronies and parishes, were forfeited 
 to the Crown. By direction from England the Irish Privy 
 Council submitted a scheme for planting these counties " with 
 colonies of civil men well affected in religion," which scheme, 
 with several modifications suggested by the English Privy 
 Council, was finally promulgated by the royal legislator 
 under the title of " Orders and Conditions for the Planters." 
 According to the division thus ordered, upwards of 43,000 
 acres were claimed and conceded to the Primate and the 
 Protestant Bishops of Ulster; in Tyrone, Derry, and Armagh, 
 Trinity College got 30,000 acres with six advowsons in each 
 county. The various trading guilds of the city of London 
 such as the drapers, vintners, cordwainers, drysalters ob- 
 tained in the gross 209,800 acres, including the city of Derry, 
 which they rebuilt and fortified, adding London to its ancient 
 name. The grants to individuals were divided into three 
 classes 2,000, 1,600, and 1,000 acres each. Among the con- 
 dit ions on which these grants were given was this " that they 
 should not suffer any laborer, that would not take the oath of 
 upremacy," to dwell upon their lands. But this despotic 
 condition equivalent to sentence of death on tens of thou- 
 amlR of the native peasantry was fortunately found imprac- 
 ticable in the execution. Land was little worth without handf 
 to till it , laborers enough could not be obtained from Eng- 
 land and Scotland, and the Hamiltons, Stewarts, Folliots, Chi-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 473 
 
 cheaters, and Lamberts, having, from sheer necessity, to 
 choose between Irish cultivators and letting their new estates 
 lie waste and unprofitable, it is needless to say what choice 
 they made. 
 
 The spirit of religious persecution was exhibited not only in 
 the means taken to exterminate the peasantry, to destroy the 
 northern chiefs, and to intimidate the Catholics of ' the Pale" 
 by abuse of law, but by many cruel executions. The Prior 
 of the famous retreat of Lough Derg was one of the victims 
 of this persecution; a Priest named O'Loughrane, who had 
 accidentally sailed in the same ship with the Earls to France, 
 was taken prisoner on his return, hanged and quartered. 
 Conor O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor, an octogena- 
 rian, suffered martyrdom with heroic constancy at Dtfblin, in 
 1611. Two years before, John, Lord Burke of Brittas, was 
 executed in like manner on a charge of having participated 
 in the Catholic demonstrations which took place at Limerick 
 on the accession of King James. The edict of 1610 in relation 
 to Catholic children educated abroad has been quoted in a 
 previous chapter, apropos of education, but the scheme sub- 
 mitted by Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, to Chichester in 1611 went 
 even beyond that edict. In this project it was proposed that 
 whoever should be found to harbor a Priest should forfeit all 
 his possessions to the Crown that quarterly returns should be 
 made out by counties of all who refused to take the oath of 
 supremacy, or to attend the English Church service that no 
 Papist should be permitted to exercise the function of a 
 schoolmaster ; and, moreover, that all churches injured during 
 the late war should be repaired at the expense of the Papist 
 inhabitants for the use of the Anglican congregation. 
 
 Very unexpectedly to the nation at large, after a lapse of 
 27 years, during which no Parliament had been held, write 
 were issued for the attendance of both Houses, at Dublin, on 
 the 18th of May, 1613. The work of confiscation and planta- 
 tion had gone on for several years without the sanction of the 
 legislature, and men were at a loss to conceive for what pur- 
 pose elections were now ordered, unless to invent new penal 
 laws, or to impose fresh burdens on the country. With alj
 
 474 POPDLAB HISTORY OF IBUJLND. 
 
 the efforts which had been made to introduce civil men, well 
 affected in religion, it was certain that the Catholics would 
 return a large majority of the House of Commons, not only in 
 the chief towns, but from the fifteen old, and seventeen new 
 counties, lately created. To counterbalance this majority 
 over 40 boroughs, returning two members each, were created, 
 by royal charter, in places thinly or not at all inhabited, ot 
 where towns were merely projected on the estates of leading 
 " Undertakers." Against the issue of writs returnable by 
 these fictitious corporations, the Lords Gormanstown, Slane, 
 Killeen, Trimbleston, Dunsany, and Howth, signed an humble 
 remonstrance to the King, concluding with a prayer for the 
 relaxation of the penal laws affecting religion. The King, 
 whose notions of prerogative were extravagantly high, was 
 highly incensed at this petition of the Catholic peers of Leins- 
 ter, and Chichester proceeded with his full approbation to 
 pack the Parliament. At the elections, however, many " recu- 
 sant lawyers" and other Catholic candidates were returned, so 
 that when the day of meeting arrived 101 Catholic representa- 
 tives assembled at Dublin, some accompanied by bands of 
 from 100 to 200 armed followers. The supporters of the gov- 
 ernment claimed 125 votes, and six were found to be absent, 
 making the whole number of the House of Commons 282. 
 The Upper House consisted of 50 Peers, of whom there were 
 25 Protestant Bishops, so that the Deputy was certain of a ma- 
 jority in that chamber, on all points of ecclesiastical legislation, 
 at least. Although, with the facts before us, we cannot agree 
 with Sir John Davis that King James I. gave Ireland her " first 
 free Parliament," it is impossible not to entertain a high sense 
 of admiration for the constitutional firmness of the recusant or 
 Catholic party in that assembly. At the very outset they suc- 
 cessfully resisted the proposition to meet in the Castle, 
 surrounded by the Deputy's guards, as a silent menace. They 
 next contended that before proceeding to the election of 
 Speaker the Council should submit to the Judges the decision 
 nf the alleged invalid elections. A tumultuous and protracted 
 debate was had on this point. The Castle party argued that 
 .hey should first elect a Speaker and then proceed to try th
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IMLAKD. 475 
 
 ejections ; the Catholics contended that there were persons 
 present whose votes would determine the Speakership, but 
 who had no more title in law than the horseboys at the door. 
 This was the preliminary trial of strength. The candidate of 
 the Castle for the Speakership was Sir John Davis, of the 
 Catholics, Sir John Everard, who had resigned his seat on 
 the bench rather than take the oath of supremacy framed 
 by Archbishop Abbott. The Castle party having gone 
 into the lobby to be counted the Catholics placed Sir John 
 Everard in the Chair. On their return the government sup- 
 porters placed Sir John Davis in Everard's lap, and a scene 
 of violent disorder ensued. The House broke up in confusion ; 
 the recusants in a body declared their intention not to be pre- 
 sent at its deliberations, and the Lord Deputy finding them 
 resolute suddenly prorogued the session. Both parties ser.t 
 deputies to England to lay their complaints at the foot of the 
 throne. The Catholic spokesmen, Talbot and Lutrell, were 
 received with a storm of reproaches, and committed the for- 
 mer to the Tower, the other to the Fleet Prison. They were, 
 however, released after a brief confinement, and a Commission 
 was issued to inquire into the alleged electoral frauds. By the 
 advice of Everard and others of their leaders, a compromise was 
 effected with the Castle party ; members returned for boroughs 
 incorporated after the writs were issued were declared ex- 
 cluded, the contestation of seats on other grounds of irregular- 
 ity were withdrawn, and the House accordingly proceeded to 
 the business for which they were called together. The 
 chief acts of the sessions of 1614, '15 and '16, beside the 
 grant of four entire subsidies to the Crown, were an Act 
 joyfully recognizing the King's title ; acts repealing statutes 
 of Elizabeth and Henry VIII., as to distinctions of race ; an 
 act repealing the 3 and 4 of Philip and Mary, against " bring- 
 ing Scots into Ireland," and the acts of attainder against 
 O'Neil, O'Donnell and O'Doherty. The recusant minority have 
 been heavily censured by our recent historians for consenting 
 to these attainders. Though the censure may be in part de- 
 served, it is nevertheless clear that they had not the power to 
 prerent their passage, even if they had been unanimous it;
 
 476 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 their opposition ; but they had influence enough, fortunately, 
 to oblige the government to withdraw a sweeping penal law 
 which it was intended to propose. An Act of oblivion and 
 amnesty was also passed, which was of some advantage. On 
 the whole, both for the constitutional principles which they 
 upheld, and the religious proscription which they resisted, 
 the Recusant minority in the Irish Parliament of James I. 
 deserve to be held in honor by all who value religious and 
 ivil liberty. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LAST TEARS OF JAMES CONFISCATION OP THE MIDLAND COPN- 
 TIES ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. GRIEVANCES AID " GRACES" 
 ADMINISTRATION OP LORD STRAPFORD. 
 
 FROM the dissolution of James's only Irish Parliament in 
 October, 1616, until the tenth of Charles I. an interval of 
 twenty years the government of the country was again exclu- 
 sively regulated by arbitrary proclamations and orders in Coun- 
 cil. Chichester, after the unusually long term of eleven years, 
 had leave to retire in 1816 ; he was succeeded by the Lord 
 Grandison, who held the office of Lord Deputy for six years, 
 and he, in turn, by Henry Carey, Viscount Falkland, who gov- 
 erned from 1622 till 1629 seven years. Nothing could well 
 be more fluctuating than the policy pursued at different periods 
 by these Viceroys and their advisers ; violent attempts at 
 coercion alternated with the meanest devices to extort money 
 from the oppressed ; general declarations against recusants 
 were repeated with increased vehemence, while particular 
 treaties for a local and conditional toleration were notoriously 
 progressing ; in a word, the administration of affairs exhibited 
 all the worst vices and weaknesses of a despotism, without 
 any of the steadiness or magnanimity of a really paternal gov- 
 ernment. Some of the edicts issued deserve particular notice 
 as characterizing the administrations of Grandison and Falkland,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 471 
 
 The municipal authorities of Waterford, having invariably 
 refused to take the oath of supremacy, were by an order in 
 Council deprived of their ancient charter, which was withheld 
 from them for nine years. The ten shilling tax on recusants 
 for non-attendance at the Anglican service was rigorously 
 enforced in other cities, and was almost invariably levied with 
 costs, which not seldom swelled the ten shillings to ten pounds, 
 A new instrument of oppression was, also in Lord Qrandison's 
 time, invented " the Commission for the Discovery of Defect- 
 ive Titles." At the head of this Commission was placed Sir 
 William Parsons, the Surveyor-General, who had come into 
 the kingdom in a menial situation, and had, through a long 
 half century of guile and cruelty, contributed as much to the 
 destruction of its inhabitants, by the perversion of law, as any 
 armed conqueror could have done by the edge of the sword. 
 Ulster being already applotted, and Munster undergoing the 
 manipulation of the new Earl of Cork, there remained as a field 
 for the Parsons Commission only the Midland Counties and Con- 
 naught. Of these they made the most in the shortest space of 
 time. A horde of clerkly spies were employed under the name 
 of " Discoverers," to ransack old Irish tenures in the archives 
 of Dublin and London, with such good success, that in a very 
 ehort time 66,000 acres in Wicklow, and 385,000 acres in 
 Leitrim, Longford, the Meaths, and King's and Queen's 
 Counties, were " found by inquisition to be vested in the 
 Crown." The means employed by the Commissioners, in 
 some cases, to elicit such evidence as they required, were of 
 the most revolting description. In the Wicklow case, courts- 
 martial were held, before which unwilling witnesses were 
 tried on the charge of treason and some actually put to 
 death. Archer, one of the number, had his flesh burned with 
 red hot iron, and was placed on a gridiron over a charcoal 
 fire, till he offered to testify anything that was necessary. 
 Yet on evidence so obtained whole baronies and counties 
 were declared forfeited to the Crown. 
 
 The recusants, though suffering under every sort of injustice, 
 and kept in a state of continual apprehension a condition 
 worse even than the actual horrors they endured counted
 
 478 TOPCLIR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 many educated and wealthy persona in their ranks, besides 
 mustering fnlly ninety per cent of the whole population. 
 They were, therefore, far from being politically powerless. 
 The recall of Lord Grandison from the government was attri- 
 buted to their direct or indirect influence upon the King 
 When James Ussher, then Bishop of Meath, preached before 
 his successor from the text "He beareth not the sword in 
 rain," they were sufficiently formidable to compel him pub- 
 licly to apologize for his violent allusions to their body. Per- 
 haps, however, we should mainly see in the comparative tolera- 
 tion, extended by Lord Falkland, an effect of the diplomacy 
 then going on, for the marriage of Prince Charles to the 
 Infanta of Spain. When, in 1623, Pope Gregory XV. granted 
 a dispensation for this marriage, James solemnly swore to a 
 private article of the marriage treaty, by which he bound him- 
 self to suspend the execution of the Penal laws, to procure 
 their repeal in Parliament, and to grant a toleration of Catholic 
 worship in private houses. But the Spanish match was unex- 
 pectedly broken off, immediately after his decease (June, 
 1625), whereupon Charles married Henrietta Maria, daughter 
 of Henry IV. of France. 
 
 The new monarch inherited from his father three kingdoms 
 heaving in the throes of disaffection and rebellion. In Eng- 
 land the most formidable of the malcontents were the Puritans, 
 who reckoned many of the first nobility, and the ablest mem- 
 bers of the House of Commons among their chiefs ; the resto- 
 ration of episcopacy, and the declaration by the subservient 
 Parliament of Scotland, that no General Assembly should b 
 called without the King's sanction, had laid the sure foundations 
 of a religious insurrection hi the North; while the events, 
 which we have already described, filled the minds of all orders 
 of men in Ireland with agitation and alarm. The marriage of 
 Charles with Henrietta Maria gave a ray of assurance to the 
 coreligionists of the young Queen, for they had not then discov- 
 ered that it was ever the habit of the Stuarts " to sacrifice 
 their friends to the fear of their enemies." While he was yet 
 celebrating his nuptials at Whitehall, surrounded by Catholia 
 guoots, the Ilonse of Commons presented Charles " a piou*
 
 MPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 479 
 
 petition," praying him to put into force the laws against recu- 
 sants ; a prayer which he was compelled by motives of policy 
 to answer in the affirmati?e. The magistrates of England re- 
 ceiyed orders accordingly, and when the King of France re- 
 monstrated against this flagrant breach of one of the articles 
 of the marriage treaty (the same included in the terms of the 
 Spanish match), Charles answered that he had never looked 
 on the promised toleration as anything but an artifice to se- 
 cure the Papal dispensation. But the King's compliance failed 
 to satisfy the Puritan party in the House of Commons, and that 
 same year began their contest with the Crown, which ended 
 only on the scaffold before Whitehall in 1648. Of their twenty- 
 three years' struggle, except in so far as it enters directly into 
 our narrative, we shall have little to say, beyond reminding the 
 reader, from time to time, that though it occasionally lulled 
 down it was never wholly allayed on either side. 
 
 Irish affairs, in the long continued suspension of the func- 
 tions of Parliament, were administered in general by the Privy 
 Council, and in detail by three special courts, all established 
 in defiance of ancient constitutional usage. These were the 
 Court of Castle Chamber, modelled on the English Star Cham- 
 ber, and the Ecclesiastical High Commissioners Court, both 
 dating from 1663 ; and the Court of Wards and Liveries, ori- 
 ginally founded by Henry VIII., but lately remodelled by 
 James. The Castle Chamber was composed of certain selected 
 members of the Privy Council acting in secret with absolute 
 power ; the High Commission Court was constituted under 
 James and Charles, of the principal Archbishops and Bishops, 
 with the Lord Deputy, Chancellor, Chief Justice, Master of 
 the Rolls, Master of the Wards, and some others, laymen and 
 jurists. They were armed with unlimited power " to visit 
 reform, redress, order, correct and amend, all such errors, here- 
 sies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities," aa 
 came under the head of spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
 They were, in effect, the Castle Chamber, acting as a spiritual 
 tribunal of last resort; and were provided with their own 
 officers, Registers and Receivers of Fines, Pursuivants, Crien 
 and Gaolers. The Court of Wards exercised a jurisdiction, if
 
 480 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 possible, more repugnant to our first notions of liberty than 
 that of the High Commission Court. It retained its original 
 power " to bargain and sell the custody, wardship and mar- 
 riage," of all the heirs of such persons of condition as died ii 
 the King's homage ; but their powers, by royal letters-patent 
 of the year 1617, were to be exercised by a Master of Wards, 
 with an Attorney and Surveyor, all nominated by the Crown. 
 The Court was entitled to farm all the property of its Wards 
 during nonage, for the benefit of the Crown, " taking one 
 year's rent from heirs male, and two from heirs female," for 
 charges of stewardship. The first master, Sir William Par- 
 sons, wan appointed in 1622, and confirmed at the beginning 
 of the next reign, with a salary of 300 per annum, and the 
 right to rank next to the Chief Justice of the King's Bench at 
 the Privy Council. By this appointment the minor heirs of 
 all the Catholic proprietors were placed, both as to person 
 and property, at the absolute disposal of one of the most 
 intense anti-Catholic bigots that ever appeared on the scene 
 of Irish affairs. 
 
 ID addition to these civil grievances an order had lately 
 been issued to increase the army In Ireland by 5,000 men, 
 and means of subsistence had to be found for that aditional 
 force, within the kingdom. In reply to the murmurs of the 
 inhabitants they were assured by Lord Falkland that the 
 King was their friend, and that any just and temperate repre- 
 sentation of their grievances would secure his careful and 
 instant attention. So encouraged, the leading Catholics con- 
 voked a General Assembly of their nobility and gentry, " with 
 several Protestants of rank," at Dublin, in the year 1628, in 
 rder to present a dutiful statement of their complaints to the 
 King. The minutes of this important Assembly, it is to be 
 feared, are forever lost to us. We only know that it in'cluded 
 * large number of landed proprietors, of whom the Catholics 
 were Mill a very numerous section. " The entire proceedings 
 of this Assembly," says Dr. Taylor, " were marked by wisdom 
 and moderation. They drew up a number of articles, in th 
 nature of a Bill of Rights, to which they humbly solicited the 
 royal assent, and promised that, on their being granted,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELjlND. 481 
 
 would raise a voluntary assessment of 100,000 for the use of 
 the Crown. The principal articles in these ' graces,' as they 
 were called, were provisions for the security of property, the 
 due administration of justice, the prevention of military ex- 
 actions, the freedom of trade, the better regulation of th 
 clergy, and the restraining of the tyranny of the ecclesi- 
 astical courts. Finally, they provided that the Scots, wht 
 had been planted in Ulster, should be secured in their pos 
 sessions, and a general pardon granted for all offences." 
 Agents were chosen to repair to England with this petition, 
 and the Assembly, hoping for the best results, adjourned. But 
 the ultra Protestant party had taken the alarm and convoked 
 a Synod at Dublin to counteract the General Assembly. This 
 Synod vehemently protested against selling truth " as a slave," 
 and " establishing for a price idolatry in its stead." They 
 laid it down as a dogma of their faith that " to grant Papists 
 a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their 
 religion and profess their faith and doctrines, was a grievous 
 sin ;" wherefore they prayed God " to make those in authority 
 zealous, resolute and courageous against all Popery, super- 
 stition and idolatry." This declaration of the extreme Pro- 
 testants, including not only TTssher and the principal Bishops, 
 but Chichester, Boyle, Parsons, and the most successful 
 " Undertakers," all deeply imbued with Puritan notions, 
 naturally found among their English brethren advocates and 
 defenders. The King who had lately, for the third time, 
 renewed with France the articles of his marriage treaty, was 
 placed in a most difficult position. He desired to save his own 
 honor, he sorely needed the money of the Catholics, but he 
 trembled before the compact, well organized fanaticism of the 
 Puritans. In his distress he had recourse to a councillor, who, 
 since the assassination of Buckingham, his first favorite, 
 divided with Laud the royal confidence. This was Thomas, 
 Lord Wentworth, better known by his subsequent title of 
 Earl of Strafford, a statesman born to be the wonder and 
 the bane of three kingdoms. Strafford (for such for clear- 
 ness we must call him) boldly advised the King to grant 
 11 the graces" as his own personal act, to pocket the propose^ 
 
 41
 
 482 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 mbsidy, but to contrive that the promised concessions he 
 was to make should never go into effect. This infamous 
 deception was effected in this wise: the King signed, with 
 his own hand, a schedule of fifty-one " graces," and re- 
 ceived from the Irish agents in London bonds for 120,000, 
 (equal to ten times the amount at present), to be paid in three 
 annual instalments of 40,000. He also agreed that Parlia- 
 ment should be immediately called in Ireland, to confirm these 
 concessions, while at the same time he secretly instructed Lord 
 Falkland to see that the writs of election were informally pre- 
 pared, so that no Parliament could be held. This was accord- 
 ingly done ; the agents of the General Assembly paid their 
 first instalment; the subscribers held the King's autograph; 
 the writs were issued, but on being returned were found to be 
 technically incorrect, and so the legal confirmation of the 
 graces was indefinitely postponed, under one pretext or an- 
 other. As evidence of the national demands at this period, 
 we should add, that beside the redress of minor grievances, 
 the articles signed by the King provided that the recusants 
 should be allowed to practice in the courts of law ; to sue the 
 livery of their lands out of the Court of Wards, on taking an 
 oath of civil allegiance in lieu of the oath of supremacy . 
 that the claims of the Crown to the forfeiture of estates, under 
 the plea of defects of title, should not be held to extend be- 
 yond sixty years anterior to 1C28 ; that the " Undertakers" 
 should have time allowed them to fulfil the conditions of their 
 leases ; that the proprietors of Connaught should be allowed 
 to make a new enrollment of their estates, and that a Parlia- 
 ment should be held. A royal proclamation announced these 
 concessions, as existing in the royal intention, but, as we have 
 Jready related, such promises proved to be worth no more 
 than the paper on which they were written. 
 
 In 1029 Lord Falkland, to disarm the Puritan outcry against 
 him, had leave to withdraw, and for four years an unusually 
 long interregnum the government was left in the hands of 
 Robert Boyle, now Earl of Cork, and Adam Loftus, Viscount 
 Ely, one of the well dower'd offspring of Queen Elizabeth'! 
 Archbishop of Dublin. Ely held the office of Lord Chan-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 483 
 
 cellor, and Cork that of Lord High Treasurer ; as Justices, 
 they now combined in their own persons almost all the power 
 and patronage of the kingdom. Both affected a Puritan 
 austerity and enthusiasm, which barely cloaked a rapacity and 
 bigotry unequalled in any former administration. In Dublin, 
 on Saint Stephen's Day, 1629, the Protestant Archbishop, 
 Bulkley, and the Mayor of the city, entered the Carmelite 
 Chapel at the head of a file of soldiers, dispersed the congre- 
 gation, desecrated the altar, and arrested the officiating friars. 
 The persecution was then taken up and repeated wherever 
 the executive power was strong enough to defy the popular 
 indignation. A Catholic seminary lately established in the 
 capital was confiscated, and turned over to Trinity College as 
 a training school. Fifteen religious houses, chiefly belonging 
 to the Franciscan Order, which had hitherto escaped from tha 
 remoteness of their situation, were, by an order of the English 
 Council, confiscated to the Crown, and their novices compelled 
 to emigrate in order to complete their studies abroad. A 
 reprimand from the King somewhat stayed the fury of the 
 Justices, whose supreme power ended with Strafford's appoint- 
 ment in 1633. 
 
 The advent of Strafford was characteristic of his whole 
 course. The King sent over another letter concerning recu- 
 sants, declaring that the laws against them, at the suggestion 
 of the Lords Justices, should be put strictly in force. The 
 Justices proved unwilling to enter this letter on the Council 
 book, and it was accordingly withheld till Strafford's arrival, 
 but the threat had the desired effect of drawing " a voluntary 
 contribution" of 20,000 out of the alarmed Catholics. Equip- 
 ped partly with this money Strafford arrived in Dublin in July, 
 1633, and enterad at once on the policy, which he himself 
 designated by the one emphatic word " THOROUGH." He took 
 up his abode in the Castle, surrounded by a Body Guard, a 
 force hitherto unknown at the Irish Court ; he summoned only 
 a select number of the Privy Council, and, having kept 
 them waiting for hours, condescended to address them in a 
 speech full of arrogance and menace. He declared his inten- 
 tion of maintaining and augmenting the army ; advised then
 
 484 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to amend their grants forthwith ; told then, frankly he had 
 called them to Council, more out of courtesy than necessity, 
 and ended by requiring from them a year's subsidy in advance. 
 As this last request was accompanied by a positive promise to 
 obtain the King's consent to the assembling of Parliament, it 
 was at once granted ; and soon after writs were issued for the 
 meeting of both Houses in July following. 
 
 When this long prayed-for Parliament at last met, the Lord 
 Deputy took good care that it should be little else than a tri- 
 bunal to register his edicts. A great many officers of the 
 army had been chosen as Burgesses, while the Sheriffs of 
 counties were employed to secure the election of members 
 favorable to the demands of the Crown. In the Parliament 
 of 1613 the recusants were, admitting all the returns to be 
 correct, nearly one-half; but in that of 1634 they could not 
 have exceeded one-third. The Lord Deputy nominated their 
 speaker, whom they did not dare to reject, and treated them 
 invariably with the supreme contempt which no one knows so 
 well how to exhibit towards a popular assembly as an apostate 
 liberal. " Surely," he said in his speech from the throne, "so 
 great a meanness cannot enter your hearts, as once to suspect 
 his Majesty's gracious regards of you, and performance with 
 you, once you affix yourselves upon his grace." His object 
 in this appeal was the sordid and commonplace one to obtain 
 more money without rendering value for It. He accordingly 
 carried through four whole subsidies of 50,000 sterling each 
 in the session of 1634; and two additional subsidies of the 
 same amount at the opening of the next session. The Par* 
 liament, having thus answered his purpose, was summarily 
 dissolved in April, 1685, and for four years more no other waa 
 called. During both sessions he had contrived, according to 
 his agreement with the King, to postpone indefinitely the act 
 which was 10 have confirmed "the graces," guaranteed in 
 1^28. He even contrived to get a report of a Committee of 
 the House of Commons, and the opinions of some of the 
 Judges, against legislating on the subject at all, which report 
 gave Kiny Charles " a great deal of contentment," 
 
 With sufficient funds in hand for the ordinary expense* of
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 485 
 
 the government, Strafford applied himself earnestly to the 
 self-elected task of making his royal master " as absolute as 
 any King in Christendom" on the Irish side of the channel. 
 The plantation of Connaught, delayed by the late King's death, 
 and abandoned among the new King's graces, was resumed as 
 a main engine of obtaining more money. The proprietary of 
 that Province had, in the thirteenth year of the late reign, 
 paid 3,000 into the Record Office at Dublin, for the registra- 
 tion of their deeds, but the entries not being made by the 
 clerk employed, the title to every estate iu the five western 
 counties was now called in question. The " Commissioners tg 
 Inquire into Defective Titles" were let loose upon the devoted 
 Province, with Sir William Parsons at their head, and the 
 King's title to the whole of Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon, was 
 found by packed, bribed, or intimidated juries ; the grand jury 
 of Galway, having refused to find a similar verdict, were sum- 
 moned to the Court of Castle Chamber, sentenced to pay a fine 
 of 4,000 each to the Crown, and the Sheriff that empanneled 
 them a fine of 1,000. The lawyers who pleaded for the actual 
 proprietors were stripped of their gowns, the sheriff died in 
 prison, and the work of spoliation proceeded. The young 
 Earl of Ormond was glad to compound for a portion of his 
 estates ; the Earl of Kildare was committed to prison for re- 
 fusing a similar composition ; the Earl of Cork was compelled 
 to pay a heavy fine for his intrusion into lands originally 
 granted to the Church; the O'Byrnes of Wicklow commuted 
 for 15,000, and the London Companies, for their Derry estates, 
 paid no less than 70,000 : a forced contribution for which 
 those frugal citizens never forgave the thorough-going Deputy. 
 By these means, and others less violent, such as bounties to 
 the linen trade, he raised the annual revenue of the kingdom 
 to 80,000 a year, and was enabled to embody for the King's 
 service an army of 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse. 
 
 These arbitrary measures were entirely in consonance with 
 the wishes of Charles. In a visit to England in 1636, the 
 King assured Strafford personally of his cordial approbation 
 of all he had done, encouraged him to proceed fearlessly in 
 the same course, and conferred on him the higher rank o/
 
 486 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant. Three years later, on the first rumor of 
 Scottish invasion of England, Strafford was enabled to remit 
 his master 30,000 from the Irish Treasury, and to tender the 
 services of the Anglo-Irish army, as he thought they could be 
 eafely dispensed with by the country in which they had been 
 thus far recruited and maintained. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 LORD STRAFFOBD'S IMPEACHMENT AND EXECUTION PARLIA- 
 MENT OF 1639-'41 THE INSURRECTION OP 1641 THB IBI8H 
 ABROAD. 
 
 THE tragic end of the despot, whose administration we have 
 sketched, was now rapidly approaching. When he deserted 
 the popular ranks in the English House of Commons for a 
 Peerage and the government of Ireland, the fearless Pym pro- 
 phetically remarked, " though you have left us, I will not 
 leave you while your head is on your shoulders." Yet, although 
 conscious of having left able and vigilant enemies behind him 
 in England, Strafford proceeded in his Irish administration 
 as if he scomed to conciliate the feelings or interests of any 
 order of men. By the highest nobility, as well as the hum- 
 blest of the mechanic class, his will was to be received as law ; 
 BO that neither in Church, nor in State, might any man express 
 even the most guarded doubt as to its infallibility. Lord 
 Mountnorris, for example, having dropped a casual, and alto- 
 gether innocent remark at the Chancellor's table on the private 
 habits of the Deputy, was brought to trial by court martial 
 on a charge of mutiny, and sentenced to military execution. 
 Though he was not actually put to death, he underwent a long 
 and rigorous imprisonment, and at length was liberated without 
 apology or satisfaction. If they were not so fully authenti- 
 cated the particulars of this outrageous case would hardly be 
 credible
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 481 
 
 The examples of resistance to arbitrary power, which for 
 gome years had been shown by both England and Scotland, 
 were not thrown away upon the still worse used Irish. During 
 the seven years of Stafford's iron rule, Hampden had resisted 
 the collection of ship money, Cromwell had begun to figure in 
 the House of Commons, the Solemn League and Covenant 
 was established in Scotland, and the Scots had twice entered 
 England in arms to seal with their blood, if need were, their 
 opposition to an episcopal establishment of religion. It was 
 in 1640, upon the occasion of their second invasion, that 
 Strafford was recalled from Ireland to assume command of the 
 royal forces in the North of England. After a single indecisive 
 campaign, the King entertained Hie overtures of the Cove 
 nauters, and the memorable Long Parliament having met in 
 November, one of its first acts was the impeachment of Straf- 
 ford for high crimes and misdemeanors. The chief articles 
 against him related to his administration of Irish affairs, and 
 were sustained by delegates from the Irish House of Commons, 
 sent over for that purpose : the whole of the trial deserves to 
 be closely examined by every one interested in the constitu- 
 tional history of England and Ireland. 
 
 A third Parliament, known as the 14th, 15th and 16th 
 Charles I., met at Dublin on the 20th March, 1639, was pro- 
 rogued till June, and adjourned till October. Yielding the 
 point so successfully resisted in 1613, its sittings were held in 
 the Castle, surrounded by the viceregal guard. With one 
 exception, the acts passed in its first session were of little 
 importance, relating only to the allotment of glebe lands and 
 the payment of twentieths. The exception, which followed 
 the voting of four entire subsidies to the King, was an Act 
 ordaining " that this Parliament shall not determine by his 
 Majesty's assent to this and other Bills." A similar statute had 
 ben passed in 1635, but was wholly disregarded by Strafford, 
 who no doubt meant to take precisely the same course in the 
 present instance. The members of this Assembly have been 
 severely condemned by modern writers for passing a high 
 eulogium upon Strafford in their first session and reversing it 
 after his fall. But this censure Is not well founded. Th
 
 488 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 eulogium was introduced by the Castle party in the Lords, at 
 part of the preamble to the Supply Bill, which, on being 
 returned to the Common*], could only be rejected in toto, not 
 amended a proceeding in the last degree revolutionary 
 But those who dissented from that ingenious device, at the next 
 session of the House, took care to have their protest entered on 
 the journals and a copy of it despatched to the King. Thia 
 second proceeding took place in February, 1640, and as thj 
 Lord Lieutenant was not arraigned till the month of November 
 following, the usual denunciations of the Irish members are 
 altogether undeserved. At no period of his fortune was the 
 Earl more formidable as an enemy than at the very moment 
 the Protest against " his manner of government" was ordered 
 "to be entered among the Ordinances" of the Commons of 
 Ireland. Nor did this Parliament confine itself to mere pro- 
 testations against the abuses of executive power. At the very 
 opening of the second session, on the 20th of January, they 
 appointed a committee to wait on the King in England, with 
 instructions to solicit a bill in explanation of Poyning's law, 
 another enabling them to originate bills in Committee of their 
 own House, a right taken away by that law, and to ask the 
 King's consent to the regulation of the courts of law, the col- 
 lecting of the revenue, and the quartering of soldiers, by 
 statute instead of by Orders in Council. On the 16th of 
 February the House submitted a set of queries to the Judges, 
 the nature of which may be inferred from the first question, 
 viz. : " Whether the subjects of this Kingdom be a free 
 people, and to be governed only by the common law of 
 England, and statutes passed in this Kingdom 1" When the 
 answers received were deemed insufficient, the House itself, 
 turning th queries into the form of resolutions, proceeded to 
 vote on them, one by one, affirming in every point the righto, 
 th* liberties, and the privileges of their constituents. 
 
 The impeachment and attainder of Straffbrd occupied the 
 great pait of March and April, 1641, and throughout those 
 months the delegates from Ireland assisted at the pleadings in 
 Wostmi:.*ter Hall and the debates in the English Parliament. 
 The Houses at Dublin were themselves occupied in a similar
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 489 
 
 manner. Towards the end of February articles of impeach- 
 toent were drawn up against the Lord C hancellor, Bolton, Dl 
 Bramhall, Bishop of Derry Chief-Justice Lowther, and Sir 
 George Radciiff'e, for conspiring with Strafford to subvert the 
 constitution and laws, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyran- 
 nical government. In March, the King's letter for the con- 
 tinuance of Parliament was laid before the Commons, and on 
 the 3d of April, his further letter, declaring that all his ma- 
 jesty's subjects of Ireland " shall, from henceforth, enjoy the 
 benefit of the said graces [of 1628] according to the true in- 
 tent thereof." By the end of May the Judges, not under im- 
 peachment, sent in their answers to the Queries of the Com" 
 mons, which answers were voted insufficient, and Mr. Patrick 
 Darcy, Member for Navan, was appointed to serve as Procula- 
 tor at a Conference with the Lords, held on the 9th of June, 
 " in the dining-room of the Castle," in order to set forth the 
 insufficiency of such replies. The learned and elaborate ar- 
 gument of Darcy was ordered to be printed by the House ; and 
 on the 26th day of July, previous to their prorogation, they 
 resolved unanimously, that the subjects of Ireland " were a 
 free people, to be governed only by the common law of Eng- 
 land, and statutes made and established in the kingdom of 
 Ireland, and according to the lawful custom used in the same." 
 This was the last act of this memorable session ; the great 
 northern insurrection in October having, of course, prevented 
 subsequent sessions from being held. Constitutional agitators 
 in modern times have been apt to select their examples of a 
 wise and patriotic parliamentary conduct from the opposition 
 to the Act of Union and the famous struggles of the last cen- 
 tury ; but whoever has looked into such records as remain to 
 us of the 15th and 16th of Charles First, and the debates on 
 the impeachment of Lord Chancellor Bolton, will, in my 
 opinion, be prepared to admit, that at no period whatever was 
 constitutional law more ably expounded in Ireland than in 
 the sessions of 1640 and 1641 ; and that not only the principle! 
 of Swift and of Molyneux had a triumph in 1782, but th 
 older doctrines also of Sir Ralph Keliy, Audluy Mervin, and 
 Patrick Darcy.
 
 *90 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 Strafford'fl Deputy, Sir Christopher Wandesford, having 
 died before the close of 1640, the King appointed Robert, 
 Lord Dillon, a liberal Protestant, and Sir William Parsons, 
 Lords Justices. But the pressure of Puritan influence in Eng- 
 land compelled him in a short time to remove Dillon and sub- 
 stitute Sir John Borlace, Master of the Ordnance a mere 
 soldier in point of fanaticism a fitting colleague for Par- 
 sons. The prorogation of Parliament soon gave these admi- 
 nistrators opportunities to exhibit the spirit in which they 
 proposed to carry on the government. When at a public 
 entertainment in the capital Parsons openly declared that in 
 twelve months more no Catholic should be seen in Ireland, it 
 was naturally inferred that the Lord Justice spoke not merely 
 for himself but for the growing party of the English Puritans 
 and Scottish Covenanters. The latter had repeatedly avowed 
 that they never would lay down their arms until they had 
 wrought the extirpation of Popery, and Mr. Pym, the Puritan 
 leader in England, had openly declared that his party in- 
 tended not to leave a priest in Ireland. The infatuation of 
 the unfortunate Charles in entrusting at such a moment the 
 supreme power, civil and military, to two of the devoted par- 
 fcizans of his deadliest enemies, could not fail to arouse the 
 fears of all who felt themselves obnoxious to the fanatical 
 party, either by race or by religion. 
 
 The aspirations of the chief men among the old Irish for 
 entire freedom of worship, their hopes of recovering at least a 
 portion of their estates, the example of the Scots, who had 
 successfully upheld both their Church and nation against all 
 attempts at English supremacy, the dangers that pressed, and 
 the fears that overhung them, drove many of the very first 
 abilities and noblest characters into the conspiracy which ex- 
 ploded with such terriflc energy on the 23d of October, Ifill. 
 The project, though matured on Irish soil, was first conceived 
 among the exiled Catholics, who were to be found at that day 
 in all the schools and camps of Spain, Italy, France and the 
 Netherlands. Philip III. had an Irish legion, under the com- 
 mand of Henry O'Neil, son of Tyrone, which, after his death 
 was transferred to his brother John. In this legion, Oweu Ivua
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 491 
 
 O'Neil, nephew of Tyrone, learned the art of war, and rose to 
 the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The number of Irish serving 
 abroad had steadily increased after 1628, when a license of 
 enlistment was granted by the King James. An English emis- 
 sary, evidently well-informed, was enabled to report, about 
 the year 1630, that there were in the service of the Archdu- 
 chess Isabella, in the Spanish Netherlands alone, " 100 Irish 
 officers able to command companies, and 20 fit to be colonels." 
 The names of many others are given as men of noted courage, 
 good engineers, and " well-beloved" captains, both Milesiam 
 and Anglo-Irish, residing at Lisbon, Florence, Milan and 
 Naples. The emissary adds that they had long been provid- 
 ing arms for an attempt upon Ireland, "and had in readiness 
 5 or 6,000 arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, bought 
 out of the deduction of their monthly pay." After the death 
 of the Archduchess, in 1633, an attempt was made by the 
 Franco-Dutch, under Prince Maurice and Marshal Chatillon, 
 to separate the Belgian Provinces from Spain. In the san- 
 guinary battle at Avlen victory declared for the French, and 
 on their junction with Prince Maurice town after town surren- 
 dered to their arms. The first successful stand against them 
 was made at Louvain, defended by 4,000 Belgians, Walloons, 
 Spaniards and Irish ; the Irish, 1,000 strong, under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Preston, of the Gormanstown family, greatly 
 distinguished themselves. The siege was raised on the 4th of 
 July, 1635, and Belgium was saved for that time to Philip IV. 
 At the capture of Breda, in 1637, the Irish were again honora- 
 bly conspicuous, and yet more so in the successful defence of 
 Arras, the capital of Artois, three years later. Not yet 
 strengthened by the citadel of Vauban, this ancient Burgun- 
 dian city, famous for its cathedral and its manufactures, 
 dear to the Spaniards as one of the conquests of Charles 
 Vth, was a vital point in the campaign of 1640. Be- 
 sieged by the Prench, under Marshal Millerie, it held out fcr 
 several weeks under the command of Colonel Owen Roe 
 O'Neil. The King of France lying at Amiens, within conve- 
 nient distance, took care that the besiegers wanted for nothing ; 
 while the Prince-Cardinal, Ferdinand, the successor of the
 
 4'J2 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Archduchess in the government, marched to its relief at the 
 head of his main force with the Imperialists, under Launoy, 
 and the troops of the Duke of Lorrain, commanded by that 
 Prince in person. In an attack on the French lines the Allies 
 were beaten off with loss, and the brave commander was left 
 again unsuccored in the face of his powerful assailant. Sub- 
 sequently Don Philip de Silva, General of the Horse to the 
 Prince Cardinal, was despatched to its relief, but failed to effect 
 anything ; a failure for which he was court martial'd, but 
 acquitted. The defenders, after exhausting every resource, 
 finally surrendered the place on honorable terms, and marched 
 out covered with glory. These stirring events, chronicled 
 in prose and verse at home, rekindled the martial ardor which 
 had slumbered since the disastrous day of Einsale. 
 
 In the ecclesiastics who shared their banishment, the military 
 exiles had a voluntary diplomatic corps who lost no opportunity 
 of advancing the common cause. At Rome, their chief agent 
 was Father Luke Wadding, founder of Saint Isidore's, one 
 of the most eminent theologians and scholars of his age. 
 Through the friendship of Gregory XV. and Urban VIII., 
 many Catholic princes became deeply interested in the reli- 
 gious wars which the Irish of the previous ages had so bravely 
 waged, and which their descendants were now so anxious to 
 renew. Cardinal Richelieu who wielded a power greater 
 than that of Kings had favorably entertained a project of in? 
 vasion submitted to him by the son of Hugh O'Neil, a chief 
 who, while living, was naturally regarded by the exiles as their 
 future leader. 
 
 To prepare the country for such an invasion (if the return 
 of men to their own country can be called by that name), it 
 was necessary to find an agent with talents for organization, 
 and an undoubted title to credibility and confidence. Thii 
 agent was fortunately found in the person of Rory or Roger 
 O'Moore, the representative of the ancient chiefs of Leix, 
 who had grown up at the Spanish Court as the friend and 
 companion of the O'Neils. O'Moore was then in the prime of 
 life, of handsome person and most seductive manners ; his 
 knowledge of character was profound ; hU zeal for the Catho*
 
 BISTORT OP IRELAND. 493 
 
 lie cause, intense ; his personal probity, honor and courage, 
 undoubted. The precise date of O'Moore's arrival in Ireland 
 is not given in any of the cotemporary accounts, but he seems 
 to have been resident in tho country some time previous to hia 
 appearance in public life, as he is familiarly spoken of by his 
 English cotemporariee as " Mr. Roger Moore of Ballynagh.' 
 During the Parliamentary session of 1640 he took lodgings it 
 Dublin, where he succeeded in enlisting in his plans Conner 
 Maguiro, Lord Enniskillen, Philip O'Reilly, one- of the room- 
 bnrs for tho county of Cavan, Costelloe McMahon, and Thor- 
 logh O'Neil, all persons of great influence in Ulster. During 
 tUe ea^uing assizes in the Northern Province he visited several 
 county towns, where in the crowd of suitors and defendants 
 he could, without attracting special not'ce, meet and converse 
 with those he desired to gain over. On this tour he received 
 the important accession of Sir Phelim O'Neil of Kinnaird, 
 in Tyrone, Sir Con Mfigennia of Down, Colonel Hugh 
 McMahon of Monaghan, and Dr. Heber McMahon, Adminis- 
 trator of Clogher. Sir Phelim O'Neil, the most considerable 
 man of his name tolerated in Ulster, was looked upon 
 as the greatest acquisition, and at his castle of Kinnaird 
 his associates from tho neighboring counties, under a 
 variety of pretexts, contrived frequently to meet. From 
 Ulster, the indefatigable O'Moore carried the threads of the 
 conspiracy into Connaught with equal success, finding both 
 among the nobility and clergy many adherents. In Leinster, 
 among the Anglo-Irish, he experienced the greatest timidity 
 and indifference, but an unforeseen circumstance threw into 
 hia hands a powerful lever, to move that province. This was 
 the permission granted by the King to the native regiments, 
 embodied by Strafford to enter into the Spanish service, if 
 they o desired. His English Parliament made no demur to 
 the arrangement, which would rid the island of some thousands 
 of disciplined Catholics, but several of their officers, under 
 the inspiration of O'Moore, kept their companies together, 
 delaying their departure from month to month. Among these 
 wers Sir James Dillon, Colonel Plunfcett, Colonel Byrne, and 
 42
 
 494 POPUIJLR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Captain Fox, who, with O'Moore, formed the first directing 
 body of the Confederates in Leinster. 
 
 lu May, 1641, Captain Neil O'Neil arrived from the Nether- 
 lands with an urgent request from John, Earl of Tyrone, to 
 all his clansmen to prepare for a general insurrection. Ho 
 also brought them the cheering news that Cardinal Richelieu- 
 then at the summit of his greatness had promised the exiles 
 arms, money, and means of transport. He was sent back, 
 almost immediately, with the reply of Sir Phelim, O'Moore 
 and their friends, that they would be prepared to take tbe 
 field a few days before or after the festival of All Hallows- - 
 the 1st of November. The death of Earl John, shortly after- 
 xvnrd?, though it grieved the Confederates, wrought no change 
 i;. their jlniis. In his cousin-gerrnain, the distinguished de- 
 fender cif Arras, they reposed equal confidence, and their confi- 
 (.lenee could not have been more worthily bestowed. ' 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE INSURRECTION OF 1641. 
 
 THE plan agreed upon by the Confederates included four 
 main features. I. A rising after the harvest was gathered in, 
 and a campaign during the winter months, when supplies from 
 England were most difficult to be obtained by their enemies. 
 II. A simultaneous attack on one and the same day or night 
 on all the fortresses within reach of their friends. III. To 
 Biirprise the Castle of Dublin which was said to contain arms 
 for 12,000 men. IV. Aid in officers, munitions, and money 
 from abroad. All the details of this project were carried suc- 
 cessfully into effect, except the seizure of Dublin Castle the 
 most difficult as it would have been the most decisive blow to 
 strike 
 
 Towards the end of August a meeting of those who could 
 moat conveniently attend was held in Dublin. There wert
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 495 
 
 present 0'M< ore and Maguire, of the civilians, and Colonels 
 Plunkett, Byrne, and McMahon, of the army. At this meek- 
 ing the last week of October, or first of November, was fixed 
 upon as the time to rise ; subsequently Saturday, the 23d of 
 the first-named month, a market day in the capital, was se- 
 lected. The northern movements were to be arranged with 
 Sir Phelim O'Neil, while McMahon, Plunkett, and Byrne, with 
 200 picked men, were to surprise the Castle guard consisting 
 of only a few pensioners and 40 halbediers turn the guns 
 upon the city to intimidate the Puritan party, and thus make 
 sure of Dublin ; O'Moore, Lord Maguire, and other civilians, 
 were to be in town, in order to direct the next steps to be 
 taken. As the day approached, the arrangements went on 
 with perfect secresy but with perfect success. On the 22d of 
 October half the chosen band were in waiting, and the remain- 
 der were expected in during the night. Some hundreds of 
 persons, in and about Dublin, and many thousands throughout 
 the country, must have been in possession of that momentous 
 secret, yet it was by the mere accident of trusting a drunken 
 dependant out of sight, that the first knowledge of the plot 
 was conveyed to the Lords Justices on the very eve of its 
 execution. 
 
 Owen O'Connolly, the informant on this occasion, was one 
 of those ruffling squires or henchmen, who accompanied gen- 
 tlemen of fortune, in that age, to take part in their quarrels, 
 and carry their confidential messages. That he was not an 
 ordinary domestic servant, we may learn from the fact of his 
 carrying a sword, after the custom of the class to which we 
 have assigned him. At this period he was in the service of 
 Sir John Clotworthy, one of the most violent of the Puritan 
 Undertakers, and had conformed to the established religion. 
 Through what recklessness, or ignorance of his true character, 
 no came to be invited by Colonel Hugh McMahon to his lodg- 
 ings, and there, on the evening of the 22d, entrusted with a 
 knowledge of next day's plans, we have now no means of de- 
 ciding. O'Connolly's information, as tendered to the Justices, 
 states that on hearing of the proposed attack on the Castle, he 
 pretended an occasion to withdraw, leaving his sword in.
 
 *? POPTJLAR HTSTORT OP IRELAND. 
 
 McMahon's room to avoid suspicion, and that aftei jumping 
 over fences and palings, he made his way from the north side 
 of the city to Sir William Parsons at the Castle. Parsons at 
 first discredited the tale, which O'Connolly (who was in liquor) 
 told in a confused and rambling manner, but he finally decided 
 to consult his colleague, Borlase, by whom some of the Coun- 
 cil were summoned, the witness's deposition taken down, 
 orders issued to double the guard, and officers despatched, 
 who arrested McMahon at his lodgings. When McMahon came 
 to be examined before the Council, it was already the morning 
 of the 23d ; he boldly avowed his own part in the plot, and 
 declared that what was that day to be done was now beyond 
 the power of man to prevent. He was committed close pri- 
 soner to the Castle where he had hoped to command, and 
 search was made for the other leaders in town. Maguire was 
 captured the net morning, and shared McMahon's captivity; 
 but O'Moore, Plunkett, and Byrne succeeded in escaping out 
 of the city. O'Connolly was amply rewarded in lands and 
 money ; and we hear of him once afterwards, with the title of 
 Colonel, in the Parliamentary army. 
 
 As McMahon had declared to the Justices, the rising wai 
 now beyond the power of man to prevent. In Ulster, by stra- 
 tagem, surprise, or force, the forte of Charlemont and Mount- 
 joy, and the town of Dungannon, were seized on the night of 
 the 22d by Sir Phelim O'Neil or his lieutenants ; on the 
 next day Sir Connor Magennis took the town of Newry, the 
 McMahons possessed themselves of Carrickmacross and Castle- 
 blaney, the O'Hanlons Tandragee, while Philip O'Reilly and 
 Roger Maguire raised Cavan and Fermanagh. A proclamation 
 of the northern leaders appeared the same day, dated from Dun- 
 gannon, setting forth their " true intent and meaning" to be, 
 not hostility to his Majesty the King, " nor to any of his sub- 
 jects, neither English, nor Scotch ; but only for the defence 
 and liberty of ourselves and the Irish natives of this kingdom." 
 A more elaborate manifesto appeared shortly afterwards from 
 the pen of Bory O'Moore, in which the oppressions of the 
 Catholics for conscience' sake were detailed, th King'g 
 Intended " graces" acknowledged, and their frustration by thf
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 497 
 
 malice of the Puritan party exhibited : it also end \avored to 
 how that a common danger threatened the Protestants of the 
 Episcopal Church with Roman Catholics, and asserted in the 
 Strongest terms the devotion of the Catholics to the Crown. 
 In the same politic and tolerant spirit, Sir Connor Mageunis 
 wrote from Newry on the 25th to the officers commanding at 
 Down. " We are," he wrote, " for our lives and liberties. We 
 desire no blood to be shed, but if you mean to shed our blood, 
 be sure we shall be as ready as you for that purpose." This 
 threat of retaliation, so customary in all wars, was made on 
 the third day of the rising, and refers wholly to future contin 
 gencies ; the monstrous fictions which were afterwards circu- 
 lated of a wholesale massacre committed on the 23d were not 
 as yet invented, nor does any public document or private let- 
 ter, written in Ireland in the last week of October, or during 
 the first days of November, so much as allude to those tales of 
 blood and horror, afterwards so industriously circulated, and 
 BO greedily swallowed. 
 
 Fully aroused from their lethargy by McMahon's declaration, 
 the Lords Justices acted with considerable vigor. Dublin was 
 declared to be in a state of siege ; courts martial were estab- 
 lished ; arms were distributed to the Protestant citizens, and 
 some Catholics ; and all strangers were ordered to quit the 
 city under pain of death. Sir Francis Willoughby, Governor 
 of Galway, who arrived on the night of the 22d, was entrusted 
 with the command of the Castle, Sir Charles Coote was appointed 
 Military Governor of the city, and the Earl, afterwards Duke 
 of Ormond, was summoned from Carrick-on-Suir to take com- 
 mand of the army. As Coote played a very conspicuous part 
 in the opening scenes of this war, and Ormond till its close, it 
 may be well to describe them both, more particularly to the 
 reader : 
 
 Sir Charles Coote, one of the first Baronets of Ireland, like 
 Parsons, Boyle, Chichester, and other Englishmen, had come 
 over to Ireland during the war against Tyrone, in quest of 
 fortune. His first employments were in Connaught, where ha 
 filled the offices of Provost-Marshal and Vice-Governor in the 
 reign of James I. His success as an Undertaker entitles bin
 
 498 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to rank with the fortunate adventurers we have mentioned ; 
 in Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Queen's and other counties, 
 his possessions and privileges raised him to the rank of the 
 richest subjects of his time. In 1640 he was a colonel of foot, 
 with the estates of a Prince and the habits of a Provost-Mar- 
 shal. His reputation for ferocious cruelty has survived the 
 remembrance even of his successful plunder of other people'a 
 property ; before the campaigns of Cromwell there was no 
 better synonym for wanton cruelty than the name of Sir 
 Charles Coote. 
 
 James Butler, Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Ormond, 
 deservedly ranks amongst the principal statesmen of his time. 
 During a public career of more than half a century his con- 
 duct in many eminent offices of trust was distinguished by 
 supreme ability, life-long firmness and consistency. As a 
 courtier of the House of Stuart, it was impossible that he 
 should have served and satisfied both Charleses without par- 
 ticipating in many indefensible acts of government, and 
 originating some of them. Yet judged, not from the Irish but 
 the Imperial point of view, not by an abstract standard but 
 by the public morality of his age, he will be found fairly 
 deserving of the title of "the great Duke" bestowed on him 
 during his lifetime. When summoned by the Lords Justices to 
 their assistance in 1641, he was in the thirty-first year of his 
 age, and had so far only distinguished himself in political life 
 as the friend of the late Lord Strafford. He had, however; 
 the good fortune to restore in his own person the estates ot 
 his family, notwithstanding that they were granted in great 
 part to others by King James ; his attachment to the causn 
 of King Charles was very naturally augumented by the fact 
 that the partiality of that Prince and his ill-fated favorite had 
 nabled him to retrieve both the hereditary wealth and the 
 high political influence which formerly belonged to the 
 Ormond Butlers. Such an ally was indispensable to the Lord 
 Justices in the first panic of the insurrection ; but it was evi- 
 dent to near observers that Ormond, a loyalist and a church- 
 man, could not long act in concert with such devoted Puritani 
 as Parsons, Borlase, and Coot*.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 499 
 
 The military position of the several parties there were at 
 least three when Ormond arrived at Dublin, in the first week 
 of November, may be thus stated: I. In Munster and Con- 
 naught there was but a single troop of royal horse, each, left 
 as a guard with the respective Presidents, St. Leger and 
 Willoughby ; in Kilkenny, Dublin and other of the midland 
 counties, the gentry, Protestant and Catholic, were relied OD 
 to raise volunteers for their own defence ; in Dublin there had 
 been got together 1,600 old troops ; six new regiments of foot 
 were embodied ; and thirteen volunteer companies of 100 
 each. In the Castle were arms and ammunition for 12,000 
 men, with a fine train of field artillery, provided by Strafford 
 for his campaign in the north of England. Ormor-d, an 
 Lieutenant-General, had thus at his disposal, in one fortnight 
 after the insurrection broke out, from 8,000 to 10,000 well 
 fc ppoiiited men ; his advice was to take the field at once against 
 the northern leaders before the other Provinces became 
 equally inflamed. But his judgment was overruled by the 
 Justices, who would only consent, while awaiting their cue 
 from the Long Parliament, to throw reinforcements into 
 Drogheda, which thus became their outpost towards the 
 north. II. In Ulster there still remained in the possession of 
 " the Undertakers" Enniskillen, Derry, the Castles of Killeagh 
 and Crohan in Cavan, Lisburn, Belfast, and the stronghold of 
 Carrickfergus, garrisoned by the regiments of Colonel Chi- 
 cheater and Lord Conway. King Charles, who was at Edin- 
 burgh endeavoring to conciliate the Scottish Parliament when 
 news of the Irish rising reached him, procured the instant 
 despatch of 1,500 men to Ulster, and authorized Lords Chi- 
 chester, Ardes and Clandeboy, to raise new regiments from 
 among their own tenants. The force thus embodied which 
 may be called from its prevailing element the Scottish army 
 cannot have numbered less than 6,000 foot, and the propor- 
 tionate number of horse. III. The Irish in the field by the 
 first of November are stated in round numbers at 30,000 men 
 iu the northern counties alone ; but the whole number sup- 
 plied with arms and ammunition could not have reached one- 
 third of that nominal total. Before the surprise of Charlemonl
 
 500 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and Mountjoy forte, Sir Phelim O'Neil had but a barrel or Iwo 
 of gunpowder ; the stores of those forts, with 70 barrels taken 
 at Newry by Magennis, and all the arms captured in the 
 simultaneous attack, which at the outside could not well 
 exceed 4,000 or 6,000 stand constituted their entire equip- 
 ment. One of Ormond's chief reasons for an immediate cam- 
 pjign in the North was to prevent them having time to get 
 " pikes made" which shows their deficiency even in that 
 weapon. Besides this defect there was one, if possible, still 
 more serious. Sir Phelim was a civilian, bred to the profes- 
 sion of the larw ; Rory O'Moore, also, had never seen service ; 
 and although Colonel Owen O'Neil and others had promised to 
 join them " at fourteen days' notice," a variety of accidents 
 prevented the arrival of any officer of distinction during the 
 brief remainder of that year. Sir Phelim, however, boldly 
 assumed the title of " Lord General of the Catholic Army in 
 Ulster," and the still more popular title with the Gaelic speak- 
 ing population of " The O'Noil." 
 
 The projected winter campaign, after the first week's suc- 
 cesses, did not turn out favorably for the northern Insurgents. 
 The beginning of November was marked by the barbarous 
 slaughter committed by the Scottish garrison of Carrickfergus 
 in the Island Magee. Three thousand persons are said to hava 
 been driven into the fathomless north sea, orer the clifft of tint 
 island, or to have perished by the sword. The ordinary inha- 
 bitants could not have exceeded one tenth as many, but tho 
 presence of so large a number may be accounted for by the 
 supposition that they had fled from the mainland across th* 
 peninsula, which ia left dry at low water, and were pursued to 
 their last refuge by the infuriated Covenanters. From this 
 date forward until the accession of Owen Roe O'Neil to the 
 command, the northern war assumed a ferocity of character 
 foreign to the nature of O'Moore, O'Reilly and Magennis. 
 That Sir Phelim permitted, if he did not sometimes in his 
 gusta of stormy passion instigate, those acts of cruelty, which 
 have stained his otherwise honorable conduct, is too true; but 
 he *too1 nlone among his confederates in that crime, and thai 
 crime stands alone in his character. Brave to rashness and
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF iBELAND. 501 
 
 disinterested to excess, few rebel chiefs ever made a more 
 heroic end out of a more deplorable beginning. 
 
 The Irish Parliament which was to have met on the 16th of 
 November was indefinitely prorogued by the Lords Justices, 
 who preferred to act only with theii chosen quorum of Privy 
 Councillors. The Catholic Lords of the Pale, who at first had 
 arms granted for their retainers out of the public stores, were 
 now summoned to surrender them by a given day ; an insult 
 not to be forgiven. Lords Dillon and Taafe, then deputies to 
 the King, were seized at Ware by the English Puritans, their 
 papers taken from them, and themselves imprisoned. O'Moore, 
 whose clansmen had recovered Dunamase and other strong- 
 holds in his ancient patrimony, was still indefatigable in his 
 propaganda among the Anglo-Irish. By his advice Sir Phelim 
 inarched to besiege Drogheda, at the head of his tumultuous 
 bands. On the way southward he made an unsuccessful 
 attack upon Lisburn, where he lost heavily; on the 24th of 
 November he took possession of Mellifont Abbey, from whose 
 gate the aged Tyrone had departed in tears, twenty-five years 
 before. From Mellifont he proceeded to invest Drogheda ; Colo- 
 ncl Plunkett, with the title of General, being the sole experi- 
 enced officer as yet engaged in his ranks. A strongly walled 
 to - .vn as Drogheda was, well manned, and easily accessible 
 from the sea, cannot be carried without guns and engineers 
 by any amount of physical courage. Whenever the Catholics 
 were fairly matched in the open field, they were generally 
 successful, as at Julianstown, during this siege, whore one 
 of their detachments cut off" five out of six companies 
 marching from Dublin to reinforce the town ; but though 
 the investment was complte, the vigilsnt Governor, Sir Henry 
 Tiehburne, successfully repulsed the assailants. O'Moore, 
 who lay between Ardee and Dundaik with a reserve of 
 2,000 men, found time during the siege to continue his natu- 
 ral career, that of a diplomatist. T'je Puritan party, from 
 the Lord Justice downwards, were, indeed, every day hasten- 
 ing that union of Catholics of all origins which the founder of 
 the Confederacy so ardently desired to bring about. Their 
 avowed maxim was that the more men rebelled, tho mor
 
 502 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 estates there would be to confiscate. In Minister, theii chief 
 instruments were the aged Earl of Cork, still insatiable as ever 
 for other men's possessions, and the President St. Leger ; in 
 Leinster, Sir Charles Coote. Lord Cork prepared 1,100 indict 
 ments against men of property in his Province, which he sent 
 to the Speaker of the Long Parliament, with an urgent request 
 that they might be returned to him, with authority to proceed 
 against the parties named, as outlaws. In Leinster, 4,000 
 similar indictments were found in the course of two days by 
 the free use of the rack with witnesses. Sir John Bead, an 
 officer of the Kng's Bedchamber, and Mr. Barnwall, of Kil- 
 brue, a gentleman of three score and six, were among those 
 who underwent the torture. When these were the proceedings 
 of the tribunals in peaceable cities, we may imagine what 
 must have been the excesses of the soldiery in the open 
 country. In the South Sir William St. Leger directed a series 
 of murderous raids upon the peasantry of Cork, which at 
 length produced their natural effect. Lord Muskerry and 
 other leading rescusants, who had offered their services to 
 maintain the peace of the Province, were driven by an insult- 
 ing refusal to combine for their own protection. The 1,100 
 Indictments of Lord Cork soon swelled their ranks, and the 
 capture of the ancient city of Cashel by Philip O'Dwyer 
 announced the insurrection of the South. Waterford soon 
 after opened its gates to Colonel Edmund Butler ; Wexford 
 declared for the Catholic cause, and Kilkenny surrendered to 
 Lord Mountgarret. In Wicklow Coote's troopers committed 
 murders such as had not been equalled since the days of tlie 
 Pagan Northmen. Little children were carried aloft writhing 
 on the pikes of these barbarians, whose worthy commander 
 confessed that " he liked such frolics." Neither age nor sex 
 was spared, and an ecclesiastic was especially certain of 
 instant death. Fathers Higgins and White of Naas, in Kildare, 
 were given up by Coote to these " lambs," though each had 
 been granted a safe conduct by his superior officer, Lord 
 Ormond. And these murders were taking place at the very 
 time when the Franciscans and Jesuits of Cashel were pro- 
 tecting Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Chancellor of that Cathedra]
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 503 
 
 and other Protestant prisoners; while also the Castle of 
 Cloughouter, in Cavan, the residence of Bishop Bedell, was 
 crowded with Protestant fugitives, all of whom were carefully 
 guarded by the chivalrous Philip O'Reilly. 
 
 At length the Catholic Lords of the Pale began to feel the 
 general glow of an outraged people, too long submissive under 
 every species of provocation. The Lords Justices having sum- 
 moned them to attend in Dublin on the 8th of December they 
 met at Swords, at the safe distance of seven miles, and sent by 
 letter their reasons for not trusting themselves in the capital. 
 To the allegations in this letter the Justices replied by procla- 
 mation, denying most of them, and repeating their summons to 
 Lords Fingal, Qormanstown, Slane, Dunsany, Netterville, LoutL 
 and Trimleston, to attend in Dublin on the 17th. But before 
 the 17th came, as if to ensure the defeat of their own summons, 
 Coote was let loose upon the flourishing villages of Fingal, and 
 the flames kindled by his men might easily be discovered from 
 the round tower of Swords. On the 17th, the summoned Lords, 
 with several of the neighboring gentry, met by appointment 
 on the hill of Crofty, in the neighboring county of Meath ; while 
 they were engaged in discussing the best course to be taken, 
 a party of armed men on horseback, accompanied by a guard 
 of musketeers, was seen approaching. They proved to be 
 O'Moore, O'Reilly, Costelloe McMahon, brother of the pri- 
 soner, Colonel Byrne, and Captain Fox. Lord Qormanstown, 
 advancing in front of his friends, demanded of the new-comers 
 " why they came armed into the Pale 1" To which O'Moore 
 made answer " that the ground of their coming thither was 
 for the freedom and liberty of their consciences, the mainte- 
 nance of his Majesty's prerogative, in which they understood 
 he was abridged, and the making the subjects of this kingdom 
 as free as those of England." Lord Qormanstown, after con- 
 sulting a few moments with his friends, replied : " seeing these 
 be your true ends we will likewise join with you." The lead- 
 ers then embraced amid the acclamations of their followers, 
 and the general conditions of their union having been unani- 
 mously agreed upon, a warrant was drawn out authorizing the 
 Sheriff of Meath to summon the gentry of the county to a 
 final meeting at the Hill of Tara on the 24th of December.
 
 504 POITLAR HISTORY or IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION ITS CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND 
 MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 How a tumultuous insurrection grew into a national organ- 
 ization, with a senate, executive, treasury, army, ships and 
 diplomacy, we are now to describe. It may, however, be aa- 
 Humed throughout the narrative, that the success of the new 
 Confederacy was quite as much to be attributed to the per- 
 verse policy of its enemies as to the counsels of its best lead- 
 ers. The rising in the midland and Mnnster counties, and the 
 formal adhesion of the Lords of the Pale, were two of the 
 principal steps towards the end. A third was taken by the 
 Bishops of the Province of Armagh, assembled in Provincial 
 Synod at Kells, on the 22d of March, 1642, where, with th 
 exception of Dease, of Meath, they unanimously pronounced 
 " the war just and lawful." After solemnly condemning all 
 acts of private vengeance, and all those who usurped other 
 men's estates, this provincial meeting invited a national synod 
 to meet at Kilkenny on the 10th day of May following. On 
 that day accordingly, all the Prelates then in the country, 
 with the exception of Bishop Dease, met at Kilkenny. There 
 were present O'Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh, Butler, Arch- 
 bishop of Cashel, O'Kealy, Archbishop of Tuam, David Rothe, 
 the venerable Bishop of Ossory, the Bishops of Clonfert, 
 Elphin, Waterford, Lismore, Kildare, and Down and Connor; 
 the proctors of Dublin, Limerick and Killaloe, with sixteen 
 other dignitaries and heads of religious orders in all twenty- 
 nine prelates and superiors, or their representatives. The 
 most remarkable attendants were, considering the circum 
 stances of their Province, the prelates of Connaught. Straf- 
 ford's reign of terror w&s still painfully remembered west of 
 the Shannon, and the immense family influence of Ulick 
 Burke, then Earl, and afterwards Marquis of Claarickarde,
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 505 
 
 *as exerted to prevent the adhesion of the western population 
 to the Confederacy. Bat the zeal of the Archbishop of Tuam, 
 and the violence of the Governor of Galway, Sir Francis Wil- 
 loughby, proved more than a counterpoise for the authority ol 
 Clanrickarde and the recollection of Strafford: Connaught, 
 though the last to come into the Confederation, was also the 
 last to abandon it. 
 
 The Synod of Kilkenny proceeded with the utmost solem- 
 nity and anxiety to consider the circumstances of their own and 
 the neighboring kingdoms. No equal number of men could 
 have been found in Ireland, at that day, with an equal amount 
 of knowledge of foreign and domestic politics. Many of them 
 had spent years upon the Continent, while the French Hugue- 
 nots held their one hundred " cautionary towns," and " leagues" 
 and " associations" were the ordinary instruments of popular 
 resistance in the Netherlands and Germany. Nor were the 
 events transpiring in the neighboring island unknown or un- 
 weighed by that grave assembly. The true meaning and in- 
 tent of the Scottish and English insurrections were by this time 
 apparent to every one. The previous months had been espe- 
 cially fertile in events, calculated to rouse their most serious 
 apprehensions. In March the King fled from London to York ; 
 in April the gates of Hull were shut 5 n his face by Hotham, its 
 governor, and in May the Long Parliament -voted a levy of 
 16,000 without the royal authority. The Earl of Warwick had 
 been appointed the Parliamentary commander of the fleet, and 
 the Earl of Essex, their Lord General, with Cromwell as one 
 of his captains. From that hour it was evident the sword 
 alone could decide between Cha;les and his subjects. In 
 Scotland, too, events were occurring in which Irish Catholics 
 were vitally interested. The contest for the leadership of the 
 Scottish royalists between the Marquises of Hamilton and 
 Montrose had occupied the early months of the year, and 
 given their enemies of the Kirk aud the Assembly full time to 
 carry on their correspondence with the English Puritans. In 
 April all parties in Scotland agreed in despatching a force of 
 2,500 men, under "the memorable Major Monroe," for the 
 protection of the Scottish settlers in Ulster. On the 15th of 
 43
 
 bO 6 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 that month this officer landed at Carrickfergus, which WM 
 " given up to him by agreement," with the royalist Colonel 
 Chichester ; the fortress, which was hy much the strongest in 
 that quarter, continued for six years the head-quarters of the 
 Scottish general, with whom we shall have occasion to meet 
 again. 
 
 The state of Anglo-Irish affairs was for some months one of 
 disorganization and confusion. In January and February the 
 King had been frequently induced to denounce by proclama- 
 tion his " Irish rebels." He had offered the Parliament to 
 lead their reinforcements in person, had urged the sending of 
 arms and men, and had repeatedly declared that he would 
 never consent tc tolerate Popery in that country. He had 
 failed to satisfy his enemies, by these profuse professions had 
 dishonored himself, and disgusted many who were far from 
 being hostile to his person or family. Parsons and Borlase 
 were still continued in the government, and Coote was en- 
 trusted by them, on all possible occasions, with a command 
 distinct from that of Ormond. Having proclaimed the Lords 
 of the Pale rebels for refusing to trust their persons within 
 the walls of Dublin, Coote was employed during January to 
 destroy Swords, their place of rendezvous, and to ravage the 
 estates of their adherents in that neighborhood. In the same 
 month 1,100 veterans arrived at Dublin under Sir Simon Har- 
 court ; early in February arrived Sir Richard Orenville with 
 400 horse, and soon after Lieutenant-Colonel George Monk, 
 afterwards Duke of Albemarle, with Lord Leicester's regi- 
 ment, 1,500 strong. Up to this period Ormond had been 
 restrained by the justices, who were as timid as they were 
 cruel, to operations within an easy march of Dublin. He had 
 driven the O'Moores and their Allies out of Naas ; had rein- 
 forced some garrisons in Kildare ; he had broken up, though 
 not without much loss, an entrenched camp of the O'Byrnes 
 at Kilsalgen wood, on the borders of Dublin ; at last the 
 Justices felt secnre enough, at the beginning of March, to 
 allow him to march to the relief of Drogheda. Sir Phelira 
 O'Neil had invested the place for more than three months, 
 had been twice repulsed from its walls, made a last desperate
 
 fOTOLAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 507 
 
 attempt, towards the end of February, but with no better suc- 
 cess. After many lives were lost the impetuous lawyer-soldier 
 was obliged to retire, and on the 8th of March, hearing of 
 Ormond's approach at the head of 4,000 fresh troops, he 
 hastily retreated northward. On receiving this report the Jus- 
 tices recalled Ormond to the capital ; Sir Henry Tichburne and 
 Lord Moore were despatched with a strong force, on the rear 
 of the Ulster forces, and drove them out of Ardee and Dun- 
 dalk the latter after a sharp action. The march of Ormond 
 into Meath had, however, been prodcutive of offers of sub- 
 mission from many of the gentry of the Pale, who attended 
 the meetings at Crofty and Tara. Lord Dunsany and Sir John 
 Netterville actually surrendered on the Earl's guarantee, and 
 were sent to Dublin ; Lords Qormanstown, Netterville and 
 Slane offered by letter to follow their example ; but the two 
 former were, on reaching the city, thrust into the dungeons 
 of the Castle, by order of the Justices ; and the proposals of 
 the latter were rejected with contumely. About the same 
 time the Long Parliament passed an act declaring 2,500,000 
 acres of the property of Irish recusants forfeited to the State, 
 and guaranteeing to all English "adventurers" contributing 
 to the expenses of the war, and all soldiers serving in it, 
 grants of land in proportion to their service and con- 
 tribution. This act, and a letter from Lord Essex, the 
 Parliamentarian Commander-in-Chief, recommending the trans- 
 portation of captured recusants to the West Indian Colo- 
 nies, effectually put a stop to these negotiations. In Ulster, 
 by the end of April, there were 19,000 troops, regulars and vol- 
 unteers, in the garrison or in the field. Newry was taken by 
 Monroe and Chichester, where 80 men and womer> and 2 priests 
 were put to death. Magennis was obliged to abandon Down, 
 and McMahon Monaghan ; Sir Phelim was driven to burn 
 Armagh and Duncannon, and to take bis last stand at Charle- 
 mont. In a severe action with Sir Robert and Sir William 
 Stewart he had displayed his usual courage with better than 
 his usual fortune, which, perhaps, we may attribute to the 
 presence with him of Sir Alexander McDonnell, brother to 
 Lord Antrim, the famous Qolkitto of the Irish and Scottish
 
 ^ IRELAND. 
 
 wars. Bat the severest defeat which the Confederates had 
 was in the heart of Leinster, at the hamlet of Kilrush, within 
 four miles of Athy. Lord Orinond, returning from a second 
 reinforcement of Naas and other Kildare forts, at the head, by 
 English account, of 4,000 men, found on the 13th of April 
 the Catholics of the midland counties, under Lords Mountgar- 
 ret, Ikerrin and Dunboyne, Sir Morgan Cavenagh, Rory 
 O'.Vloore, and Hugh O'Byrne, drawn up, by his report, 8,000 
 strong, to dispute his passage. With Ormond were the Lord 
 Dillon, Lord Brabazon, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Charles 
 Coote, and Sir T. Lucas. The combat was short but murder- 
 ous. The Confederates left 700 men, including Sir Morgan 
 Cavenagh, and some other officers, dead on the field ; the 
 remainder retreated in disorder, and Ormond, with an inconsid- 
 erable diminution of numbers, returned in triumph to Dublin. 
 For this victory the Long Parliament, in a moment of enthu- 
 siasm, voted the Lieutenant-Oeneral a jewel worth 500. If 
 any satisfaction could be derived from such an incident the 
 violent death of their most ruthless enemy, Sir Charles Coote, 
 might have afforded the Catholics some consolation. That mer- 
 ciless saberer, after the combat at Kilrush, had been employed 
 in reiniorcing Birr, and relieving the Castle of Oeashill, which 
 the lady Letitia of Offally held against the neighboring tribe of 
 O'Dtnnpsey. On his return from this service he made a foray 
 n^ninst a Catholic force, which had mustered in the neighbor- 
 hood of Trim; here, on the night of the 7th of May, heading 
 a sally of his troop he fell by a musket shot not without sus- 
 picion of being fired from his own ranks. His son and name- 
 s;ik'\ who imitated him in all things, was ennobled at the 
 restoration by the title of the Earl of Mountrath. In M mister 
 the President St. Leger, though lately reinforced by 1,000 
 men from England, did not consider himself strong enough 
 for other than occasional forays into the neighboring county, 
 and little was effected in that Province. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs at home and abroad when 
 the National Synod assembled at Kilkenny. As the most 
 popular tribunal invested with the highest moral power in the 
 kingdom, it was their arduous task to establish order an<J
 
 WFTTI.AR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 509 
 
 thoritv among the chaotic elements of the revolution. By 
 the admission of those moet opposed to them they conducted 
 their deliberations for nearly three weeks with equal prudenc* 
 and energy. They first, on the motion of the venerable Bishop 
 Rothe, framed an oath of association to be publicly taken by 
 all their adherents, by the first part of which they were bound 
 to bear " true faith and allegiance" to King Charles and hie 
 lawful successors, " to maintain the fundamental laws of Ire- 
 land, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith and reli- 
 gion," By the second part of this oath all Confederate 
 Catholics for so they were to be called as solemnly bound 
 themselves never to accept or submit to any peace " without 
 the consent and approbation of the general assembly of the 
 said Confederate Catholics." They then proceeded to make 
 certain con titutions, declaring the war just and lawful ; con- 
 demning emulations and distinctions founded on distinctions 
 of race, such as "new" and " old Irish ;" ordaining an elective 
 council for each Province ; and a Supreme or National Coun- 
 cil for the whole kingdom ; condemning as excommunicate 
 all who should, having taken the oath, violate it, or who 
 should be guilty of murder, violence to persons, or plunder 
 under pretence of the war. Although the attendance of the 
 lay leaders of the movement at Kilkenny was far from general, 
 the exigencies of the case compelled them to nominate, with 
 the concurrence of the Bishops, the first Supreme Council of 
 which Lord Montgarret was chosen President, and Mr. 
 Richard Belling, an accomplished writer and lawyer, Secre- 
 tary. By this body a General Assembly of the entire Nation 
 was summoned to meet at the same city, on the 28d of October 
 following the anniversary of the Ulster rising, commonly 
 called by the English party " Lord Maguire's day." The 
 choice of such an occasion by men of Mountgarret's and 
 Selling's moderation and judgment, six months after the 
 date of the alleged " massacre," would form another proof, 
 if any were now needed, that none of the alleged atrocities 
 were yet associated with the memory of that particular day. 
 
 The events of the five months, which intervened behveer. 
 the adjournment of the National Syaod at the end of May,
 
 510 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and the meeting of the General Assembly on the 28d of Octo- 
 ber, may best be smamed up under the head of the respectiT 
 provinces. I. The oath of Confederation was taken with en- 
 thusiasm imMunster, a Provincial Council elected, and Gen- 
 eral Barry chosen Commander-in- Chief. Barry made an 
 attempt upon Cork, which was repulsed, but a few days later 
 the not loss important city of Limerick opened its gates to 
 tli? Confederates, and on the 21st of June the citadel was 
 breached and surrendered by Courtenay, the Governor. On 
 the 2d of July St. Leger died at Cork (it was said of vexation 
 for the loss of Limerick), and the command devolved on his 
 son-in-law, Lord InchSquin, a pupil of the school of Wards, 
 and a soldier of the school of Sir Charles Coote. With Inchi- 
 quin was associated the Earl of Barrymore for the civil admin- 
 istration, but on Barrymore's death in September both powers 
 remained for twelve months in the hands of the survivor. Th 
 gain of Limerick was followed by the taking of Loughgar 
 and Askeaton, but was counterbalanced by the defeat of Lis- 
 carroll, when the Irish loss was 800 men with several colors ; 
 Ir.chiquin reported only 20 killed, including the young lord 
 Kinalmeaky, one of the five sons whom the Earl of Cork gave 
 to this war. II. In Connaught Lord Clanrickarde was still 
 enabled to avert a general outbreak. In vain the western 
 Prelates besought him in a pathetic remonstrance to place 
 himself at the head of its injured inhabitants, and take the 
 command of tho Province. He continued to play a middle 
 part between the President, Lord Ranelagh, Sir Charles Coote 
 the younger, and Willonghby, Governor of Galway, until the 
 popular impatience burst all control. The chief of the O'Fla- 
 hertys seized Clanrickarde's castle, of Aughrenure, and the 
 young men of Galway, with a skill and decision quite equal to 
 that of the Derry apprentices of an after day, se!zed an English 
 Bhip containing arms and supplies, lying in the bay, marched 
 to the Church of Saint Nicholas, took the Confederate oath, 
 and shut Willoughby up in the citadel. Clanrickarde hastened 
 to extinguish this spark of resistance, and induced the towns- 
 men to capitulate on his personal guarantee. But Willoughby, 
 on the arrival of reinforcements, under the fanatical Lord.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 511 
 
 Ferbes, at once set the truce made by Clanrickarde at defiance, 
 burned the suburbs, sacked the Churches, and during August 
 and September exercised a reign of terror in the town. About 
 the same tkne local risings took place in Sligo, Mayo and Eos- 
 common, at first with such success that the President of tha 
 Province, Lord Ranelagh, shut himself up in the castle of Ath- 
 lone, where he was closely besieged. III. In Leinster, no mili- 
 tary movement of much importance was made, in consequence 
 of the jealousy the Justices entertained of Ormond, and the 
 emptiness of the treasury. In June, the Long Parliament re- 
 mitted over the paltry sum of 11,600 to the Justices, and 
 2,000 of the troops, which had all but mutinied for their pay. 
 were despatched under Ormond to the relief of Athlone. Com- 
 missioners arrived during the summer appointed by the Par- 
 liament, to report on the affairs of Ireland, to whom the Jus- 
 tices submitted a penal code worthy of the brain of Draco or 
 Domitian ; Ormond was raised to the rank of Marquis, by the 
 King ; while the army he commanded grew more and more 
 divided, by intrigues emanating from the castle and beyond 
 the channel. Before the month of October, James Touchet, 
 Earl of Castlehaven, an adventurous nobleman, possessed of 
 large estates both in Ireland and England, effected his 
 escape from Dublin Castle, where he had been imprisoned 
 on suspicion by Parsons and Borlase, and joined the Con- 
 federation at Kilkenny. In September, Colonel Thomas 
 Preston, the brave defender of Louvain, uncle to Lord Qor- 
 manstown, landed at Wexford, with three frigates and several 
 transports, containing a few siege guns, field pieces, and other 
 stores, 600 officers, and a number of engineers. IV. In Ulster, 
 where the first blow was struck and the first hopes were ex- 
 cited, the prospect had become suddenly overclouded. Monroe 
 took Dunluce from Lord Antrim by the same stratagem by 
 which Sir Phelim took Charlemont inviting himself as a 
 guest, and arresting his host at his own table. A want of cor- 
 dial co-operation between the Scotch commander and " the 
 Undertakers " alone prevented them extinguishing in one 
 vigorous campaign the Jiorthern insurrection. So weak and 
 disorganized were now the thousands who had risen at a bound
 
 512 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 one short year before, that? the garrisons of Enniekillen, T)erry 
 Newry and Drogheda, scoured almost unopposed the neigh- 
 boring counties. The troops of Cole, Hamilton, the Stewarta, 
 Chichesters and Con ways, found little opposition and gave no 
 quarter. Sir William Cole, among bis claims of service ren- 
 dered to the State, enumerated " 7,000 of the rebels famished 
 to death," within a circuit of a few miles from Enniskillen. 
 The disheartened and disorganized natives were seriously 
 deliberating a wholesale emigration to the Scottish highlands, 
 when a word of magic effect was whispered from the sea coast 
 to the interior. On the 6th of July Colonel Owen Eoe O'Neil 
 arrfved off Donegal with a single ship, a single company of 
 veterans, 100 officers, and a considerable quantity of ammu- 
 nition. He landed at Doe Castle, and was escorted by his 
 kinsman, Sir Phelim, to the fort of Charlemont. A general 
 meeting of the northern clans was quickly called at Clones, in 
 Monaghan, and there, on an early day after his arrival, Owen 
 O'Neil was elected "General-in-Chief of the Catholic Army" 
 of the North, Sir Phelim resigning in his favor, and taking 
 instead the barren title of " President of Ulster." At 
 the same moment Lord Lieven arrived from Scotland with 
 the remainder of the 10,000 voted by the Parliament of that 
 kingdom. He had known O'Neil abroad, had a high opinion 
 of his abilities, and wrote to express his surprise " that a man 
 of his reputation should be engaged in so bad a cause ;" to 
 which O'Neil replied that " he had a better right to come to 
 the relief of his own country than his lordship had to march 
 into England against his lawful King." Lieven, before return- 
 ing home, urged Monroe to act with promptitude, for that he 
 might expect a severe lesson if the new commander once suc- 
 ceeded in collecting an army. But Monroe proved deaf to 
 this advice, and while the Scottish and English forces in the 
 Province would have amounted, if united, to 20,000 foot and 
 1 ,000 horse, they gave O'Neil time enough to embody, officer, 
 drill, and arm (at least provisionally), a force not to 1> 
 despised by even twice their numbers.
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 rBX CONFEDERATE WAE. CAMPAIGN OF 1643. THE CESSATION. 
 
 The city of Kilkenny, which had become the capital of th 
 Confederacy, was favorably placed for the direction of the war in 
 Leinster and Munster. Nearly equidistant from Dublin, Cork, 
 and Limerick, a meeting place for most of the southern and 
 south-western roads, important in itself both as a place of tra<?, 
 and as the residence of the Duke of Ormond and the Bishop of 
 Ossory, a better choice could not, perhaps, have been made, HO 
 far as regarded the ancient southern " half-Kingdom." But it 
 seems rather surprising that the difficulty of directing the war 
 in the North and North-West, from a point so far south, did not 
 occur to the statesmen of the Confederacy. In the defective 
 communications of those days, especially during a war, partaking 
 even partially of the character of civil strife, it was hard, if not 
 impossible to expect, that a supervision could be exercised over 
 a general or an army on the Erne or the Bann, which might be 
 quite possible and proper on the Suir or the Shannon. A similar 
 necessity in England necessitated the creation of the Presidency 
 of the North, with its council and head-quarters in the city of 
 York ; nor need we be surprised to find that, from the first, th 
 confederate movements combined themselves into two groups" 
 the northern and the southern those which revolved round th* 
 center of Kilkenny, and those which took their law from the 
 head quarters of Owen O'Neil, at Belturbet, or wherever else hia 
 cuuip happened to be situated. 
 
 The General Assembly met, according to agreement, on the 28d 
 of October, 1642, at Kilkenny. Eleven bishops and fourteen lay 
 lords represented the Irish peerage ; two hundred and twenty-six 
 commoners, the large majority of the constituencies. Both bodies 
 sat in the same chamber, divided only by a raised dais. The 
 celebrated lawyer, Patrick Darcy, a member of the Commons' 
 house, was chosen as chancellor, am" everything was conducted
 
 514 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with the gravity and deliberation befitting so venerable an As. 
 sembly, and so great an occasion. The business most pressing, 
 and most delicate, was felt to be the consideration of a form o! 
 supreme executive government. The committee on this subject, 
 who reported after the interval of a week, was composed of Lorda 
 Gonaanstown and Castlehaven, Sir Phelim O'Neil, Sir Richard 
 Belling, and Mr. Darcy. A " Supreme Coracil " of six members 
 for each province was recommended, approved, and elected. The 
 Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, the Bishops of Down 
 and of Clonfert, the Lords Gormanstown, Mountgarrett, Roche, 
 and Mayo, with fifteen of the most eminent commoners, composed 
 this council. It was provided that the vote of two-thirds should 
 be necessary to any act affecting the basis of the Confederacy, 
 but a quorum of nine was sufficient for flie transaction of ordinary 
 business. A guard of honor of 500 foot and 200 horse was al- 
 lowed for their greater security. The venerable Mountgarrett, 
 the head of the Catholic Butlers, (son-in-law of the illustrious 
 Tyrone, who, in the last years of Elizabeth, had devoted his 
 youtliful sword to the same good cause,) was elected president of 
 this council ; and Sir Richard Belling, a lawyer, and a man of 
 letters, the continuator of Sir Phillip Sydney's Arcadia, wae ap- 
 pointed secretary. 
 
 The first act of this supreme council was to appoint General 
 O'Neill as commander in chief in Ulster ; General Preston, in 
 Leinster; General Barry, in Munster; and Sir John Burke as 
 lieutenant-general in Connaught; the supreme command in the West 
 being held over for Clanrickarde, who, it was still hoped, might 
 be led or driven into the Confederacy. We shall endeavor to 
 indicate in turn the operations of these commanders, thus chosen 
 or confirmed ; leaving the civil and diplomatic business transacted 
 by the General Assembly, or delegated to the supreme council, 
 for future mention. 
 
 Contrary to the custom of that age, the Confederate troops 
 were not withdrawn into winter quarters. In November, General 
 Pr8ton, at the head of 6,000 foot and 600 horse, encountered 
 Monk at Tytnahoe and Ballinakil, with some loss ; but before the 
 close of December he had reduced Birr, Banagher, Bums, and 
 Fort Falkland, and found himself master of King's county, from the
 
 POPULAR HISTORT OF IRE-LAND. 515 
 
 Shannon to the Barrow. In February, however, he sustained a 
 serious check at Rathconnell, in endeavoring to intercept the re 
 treat of the English troops from Connaught, under the command 
 of Lord Ranelagh, and the younger Coote ; and in March equaJ 
 ill success attended his attempt to intercept Ormond, in his re. 
 treat from the unsuccessful siege of the town of Ross. Lord 
 Castlehaven, who was Preston's second in command, attributes 
 both these reverses to the impetuosity of the general, whose im- 
 prudence seems to have been almost as great as his activity was 
 conspicuous. In April and May, Preston and Castlehaven took 
 several strongholds in Carlow, Kildare and Westmeath, and the 
 General Assembly, which met, for its second session, on the 20th 
 of May, 164", at Kilkenny, had, on the whole, good grounds to be 
 satisfied with the success of the war in Leinster. 
 
 In the Southern Province, considerable military successes might 
 also be claimed by the Confederates. The Munster troops, under 
 Purcell, the second in command, a capable soldier, who had learned 
 the art of war in the armies of the German Empire, relieved Ross, 
 when besieged by Ormond ; General Barry had successfully re- 
 pulsed an attack on his head quarters, the famous old Desmond 
 town of Killmallock. In June, Barry, Purcell and Castlehaven 
 drove the enemy before them across the Puncheon, and at Kil- 
 worth brought their main body, under Sir Charles Vavasour, to 
 action. Vavasour's force was badly beaten, himself captured, 
 with his cannon and colors, and many of his officers and men. 
 Inchiquin, who had endeavored to form a junction with Vavasoun 
 escaped to one of the few remaining garrisons open to him 
 probably YoughaL 
 
 In Connaught, the surrender of Galway, on the 20th of June, 
 eclipsed all the previous successes, and they were not a few, of 
 Lieutenant-General Burke. From the day Lord Ranelagh and 
 the younger Coote deserted the "Western province, the Confeder- 
 ate cause had rapidly advanced. The surrender of " the second 
 fort in the Kingdom " a sea-port in that age, not unworthy to be 
 ranked with Cadiz and Bristol, for its commercial wealth and re- 
 putation was a military event of the first importance. An English 
 fleet appeared three days after the surrender of Willoughby, in 
 Galway harbor ; but nine long years elapsed before the Con-
 
 Si 6 pdPULAB HiSTonr or 
 
 federate co ore were lowered from the towers of the Connanghl 
 citadel. 
 
 In the North, O'Neill, who, without injustice to any of hi 
 contemporaries, may certainly be said to have made during hia 
 seven years command the highest European reputation, among 
 the Confederate generals, gathered his recruits into a rugged 
 district which forms a sort of natural camp, in the northwest 
 corner of the island. Tho mountain plateau of Leitrim, which 
 sends its spurs downwards to the Atlantic, to wards Lough Erne, 
 and into Longford, accessible only by four or five lines of rcwu?. 
 leading over narrow bridges and through deep defiles, was the 
 nursery selected by this cautious leader, in which to collect and 
 organize his forces. In the beginning of May seven months 
 after the date of his commission, and ten from his solitary land- 
 ing at Doe Castle we find him a long march from his mountain 
 fortress in Leitrim, at Charlemont, which lie had strengthened 
 and garrisoned, and now saved from a surprise attempted by 
 Munroe, from Carrickfergus. Having effected that immediate 
 object, he again retired towards the Leitrim highlands, fighting 
 by the way a smart cavalry action at Clonish, with a superior 
 force, under Colonels Stewart, Balfour, and Mervyn. La this 
 affair, O'Neill was only too happy to have carried off his troop 
 with credit ; but a fortnight brought him consolation for Clonish 
 in the brilliant affair of Portlester. He had descended in force 
 from his hills and taken possession of the greater part of the 
 ancient Meath. General Monk and Lord Moore were dispatched 
 against him, but reinforced by a considerable body of Meathian 
 Confederates, under Sir James Dillon, he resolved to risk his first 
 regular engagement in the field. Taking advantage of the situa 
 tion of the ground, about five miles from Trim, he threw up some 
 field worts, placed sixty men in Portlester mill, and patiently 
 awaited the advance of the enemy. Their assault WM over confi- 
 dent, their route complete. Lord Moore, and a large portion of 
 the assailants were slain, and Monk fled back to Dublin. O'Neil 
 gathering fresh strength from these movements, abandoned hit 
 mountain stronghold, and established hid head quarters on the 
 river Erne between Longh Onghtcr (memorable in his life and 
 death) and the up{>er waters of Lough Erne. At this point stood
 
 TOPURAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 517 
 
 the town of Belturbet, which in " the Plantation" of James L, had 
 been turnei* over exclusively to British settlers, whose " cage- 
 work " hous3s, and four acres of garden ground each, had elicited 
 the approval of the surveyor Pynnar, frventy years before. The 
 surrounding country was covered with the fortified castles (aid 
 loopholed lawns of the chief Undertakers but few were found of 
 sufficient strength to resist the arms of O'Neill. At Belturbet, he 
 was within a few days' march of the vital points of four other 
 counties, and in case of the worst, within the same distance of his 
 protective fastness. Here, towards the end of September, busied 
 with present duties and future projects, he heard for the first 
 time, with astonishment and grief, that the requisite majority of 
 " the Supreme Council " had concluded, on the 13th of that month, 
 a twelve-months' truce with Ormond, thus putting in peril all the 
 advantages already acquired by the bravery of the Confederate 
 troops, and the skill of their generals. 
 
 The war had lasted nearly two years, and this was the first time 
 the Catholics had consented to negotiate. The moment chosen 
 was a critical one for all the three Kingdoms, and the interests 
 involved were complicated in the extreme. The Anglo-Irish who 
 formed the majority of the Supreme Council, connected by blood 
 and language with England, had entered into the war, purely aa 
 one of religious liberty. Nationally, they had, apart from th 
 civil disabilities imposed on religious grounds, no antipathy, no 
 interest, hostile to the general body of English loyalists, repre- 
 sented in Ireland by the King's lieutenant, Ormond. On his side, 
 that nobleman g-ave all his thoughts to, and governed all his actions 
 by the exigencies of the royal cause, throughout the three King- 
 doms. When Charles seemed strong in England, Ormond rated 
 the Catholics at a low figure ; but when reverses increased he 
 estimated their alliance more highly. After the drawn battle of 
 Edgehill, fought on the very day of the first meeting of the General 
 Assembly at Kilkenny, the King had established his headquarters 
 at Oxford, in the heart of four or five of the most loyal counties 
 in England. Here he at first negotiated with the Parliament, 
 but finally the sword was again invoked, and while the King pro- 
 claimod the Parliament rebels, " the solemn league and covenant 1 * 
 was entered into, at first separately, and afterwards jointly, hy th 
 44
 
 618 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 Puritans of England, and Presbyterians of Scotland. The military 
 events during that year, and in the first half of the next, were 
 upon the whole not unfavorable to the royal cause. The great 
 battle of Marston Moor, (July 2d, 1644,) which " extinguished th 
 hopes of the Royalists in the Northern counties," was the first 
 Parliamentary victory of national importance. It waa won mainly 
 by the energy and obstinacy of Lieutenant General Cromwellt 
 from that day forth the foremost English figure in the Civil War. 
 From his court at Oxford, where he had seen the ntter failure of 
 endeavoring to conciliate his English and Scottish enemies, the 
 King had instructed Ormond lately created a Marquis to treat 
 with the Irish Catholics, and to obtain from them men and mouey. 
 The overtures thus made were brought to maturity in September ; 
 the Cessation was to last twelve months ; each party was to remain 
 in possession of its own quarters, as they were held at the date of 
 the treaty ; the forces of each were to unite to punish any infrac- 
 tion of the terms agreed on ; the agents of the Confederates, during 
 the cessation, were to have free access and safe conduct to the 
 King ; and for these advantages, the Supreme Council were to 
 present his Majesty immediately with 16,000 in money, and pro- 
 visions to the value of 15,000 more. 
 
 Such was " the truce of Castlemartin," condemned by O'Neill, 
 by the Papal Nuncio, Scarampi, and by the great majority of the 
 old Irish, lay and clerical ; still more violently denounced by the 
 Puritan Parliament as favoring popery, and negotiated by popish 
 agents ; beneficial to Ormond and the Undertakers, as relieying 
 Dublin, freeing the channel from Irish privateers, and securing them 
 in the garrisons throughout the Kingdom which they still held ; 
 in one sense advantageous to Charles from the immediate supplier 
 it afforded, and the favorable impression it created of his liberality, 
 the courts of his Catholic allies ; but on the other hand disad- 
 vantageous to him in England and Scotland, from the pretexts it 
 furnished his enemies, of renewing the cry of his connivance with 
 Popery, a cry net ther easily answered, nor, of itself, liable quickl/ 
 to wear oat.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 519 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THE CESSATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 While the Confederate delegates, reverently uncoA'ered, and 
 Ormond, in hat and plume, as representing royalty, were signing 
 " the cessation " at Castlemartin, the memorable Munroe, with aP 
 his men, were taking the covenant, on their knees, in the church 
 of Carrickfergus, at the hands of the informer O'Connolly, now a 
 colonel in the Parliamentary army, and high in the confidence of 
 its chiefs. Soon after this ceremony, Munroe, appointed by th 
 English Parliament commander-in-chief of all their forces in 
 Ulster, united under his immediate leadership, of Scots, English, 
 and Undertakers, not less than 10,000 men. With this force he 
 marched southward as far as Isewry, which he found an easy 
 prey, and where he put to the sword, after surrender, sixty men, 
 eighteen women, and two ecclesiastics. In vain the Confederates 
 entreated Ormond to lead them against the common enemy in the 
 North ; pursuing always a line of policy of his own, in which 
 their interest had a very slender part, that astute politician neither 
 took the field, nor consented that they should do so of themselves. 
 But the supreme council, roused by the remontrances of the 
 clergy, ordered Lord Castlehaven, with the title of commander 
 in chief, to march against Munroe. This was virtually supersed- 
 ing O'Neill in his own province, and that it was so felt even 
 by its authors is plain from their giving him simultaneously the 
 command in Connaught. O'Neill, never greater than in acts of 
 Belf-denial and self-sacrifice, stifled his profound chagrin, and 
 cheerfully offered to serve under the English Earl, placed over 
 his head. But the northern movements were, for many months, 
 languid and uneventful : both parties seemed uncertain of their 
 irue policy ; both, from day to day, awaited breathlessly for tid- 
 ings from Kilkenny, Dublin, London, Oxford, or Edinburgh, to 
 learn what new forms the general contest was to take, in order to 
 guide their own conduct by the shiftinj; phases of that intricate 
 diplomacy. 
 
 Among the first consequences of the cessation were the d
 
 520 POPULAB HISTORY OF IBKLAKD. 
 
 barkAtion at Moetyn, in Scotland, of 8,000 well provided Irish 
 troops, under Colkitto, (the left-handed,) Alexander McDonnel, 
 brother of Lord Antrim. Following the banner of Montrose, 
 thcee regiments performed great things at Saint Johnstown, at 
 Aberdeen, at Inverlochy, all which have been eloquently re- 
 corded by the historians of that period. "Their reputation/' 
 eays a cautious writer, " more than their number, unnerved the 
 prowess of their enemies. No force ventured to oppose them in 
 the field ; and as they advanced, every fort was abandoned or 
 surrendered." A less agreeable result of " the cessation," for tho 
 court at Oxford, was the retirement from the royal army of tho 
 Earl of Newcastle, and most of his officers, on learning that such 
 favorable conditions had been made with Irish Papists. To others 
 of his supporters as the Earl of Shrewsbury Charles was forced 
 to assume a tone of apology for that truce, pleading the hard 
 necessities which compelled him : the truth seems to be, that 
 there were not a few then at Oxford, who, like Lord Spencer, 
 would gladly have been on the other side or at all events in 
 position of neutrality provided they could have found " a salve 
 for their honor," as gentlemen and cavaliers. 
 
 The year 1644 opened for the Irish with two events of great 
 significance the appointment of Ormond as viceroy, in January, 
 and the execution at Tyburn, by order of the English Parliament, 
 of Lord Maguire, a prisoner in the Tower since October, 1641. 
 Maguire died with a courage and composure worthy of his illus- 
 trious name, and his profoundly religious character. His long 
 absence had not effaced his memory from the hearts of his devoted 
 clansmen of Fermanagh, and many a prayer was breathed, and 
 many a vow of vengeance muttered among them, for what they 
 must naturally have regarded as the cold-blooded judicial murder 
 of their chief. 
 
 Two Irish deputations one Catholic, the other Protestant 
 proceeded this year to the king, at Oxford, with the approval of 
 Ormond, who took care to be represented by confidential agent* 
 of his own. The Catholics found a zealous auxiliary in the queen, 
 Henrietta Maria, who, as a co-religionist, felt with them, and, as 
 a Frenchwoman, was free from Insnlnr prejudices again?* them. 
 The Irish Protestants found a scarcely less influential advocaU
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 621 
 
 !n the venerable Archbishop Usher, whose presence and counte- 
 nance, as the most puritanical of his prelates, was most essential 
 to the policy of Charles. The king heard Loth par-ties graciously 
 censured some of the demands of both as extravagant and 
 beyond his power to concede admitted others to be reasonable 
 and worthy of consideration refused to confirm the churche* 
 Ihey had seized to the Catholics but was willing to allow them 
 their " seminaries of education" would not consent to enforce 
 the penal laws on the demand of the Protestants but declared 
 that neither should the Undertakers be disturbed in their posses- 
 sions or offices. In short he pathetically exhorted both partie* 
 to consider his case as well as their own ; promised them to call 
 together the Irish Parliament at the earliest possible period ; and 
 so got rid of both deputations, leaving Ormoiid master of the 
 position for some time longer. 
 
 The agents and friends of the Irish Catholics on the Continent 
 were greatly embarrassed, and not a little disheartened by the 
 cessation. At Paris, at Brussels, at Madrid, but above all at 
 Rome, it was regretted, blamed, or denounced, according to 
 the temper or the insight of the discontented. His Catholic 
 Majesty had some time before remitted a contribution of 20,000 
 dollars to the Confederate Treasury ; one of Richelieu's last acts 
 was to invite Con, son of Hugh O'Neil, to the French Court, and 
 to permit the shipment of some pieces of ordnance to Ireland ; 
 from Rome, the celebrated Franciscan, Father Luke Wadding, had 
 remitted 26,000 dollars, and the Nuncio Scarampi, had brought 
 further donations. The facility, therefore, with which the cessa' 
 tion had been agreed upon, against the views of the agents of the 
 Catholic powers at Kilkenny, without any apparently sufficient 
 cause, had certainly a tendency to check and chill the enthusiasm 
 of those Catholic Princes who had been taught to look on the 
 insurrection of the Irish as a species of Crusade. Remonstrances, 
 warm, eloquent, and passionate, were poured in upon the most 
 influential members of the Supreme Council, from those who had 
 either by delegation, or from their own free will, befriended them 
 abroad. These remonstrances reached that powerful body at 
 Waterford, at Limerick, or at Galway, whither they had gone on 
 to official visitation, to hear complaints, settle controversies, and 
 44*
 
 522 POPULAR BI8TOBT OT IRELAND. 
 
 provide for the better coDection of the assessments imposed on 
 each Province. 
 
 An incident which occurred in Ulster, soon startled the Supreme 
 Council from their pacific occupations. General Munroe, having 
 proclaimed that all Protestants within his command should take 
 " the solemn league and covenant," three thousand of that re- 
 ligion, still loyalists, met at Belfast, to deliberate on their answer. 
 Munroe, however, apprised of their intentions, marched rapidly 
 irom Carrickfergus, entered the town under cover of night, and 
 drove out the loyal Protestants at the point of the sword. The 
 fugitives threw themselves into Lisburn, and Munroe appointed 
 Colonel Hume as Governor of Belfast, for the Parliaments of 
 Scotland and England. Castlehaven, with O'Neill still second in 
 command, was now despatched northward against the army of 
 the Covenant. Munroe who had advanced to the borders of 
 Meath, as if to meet them, contented himself with gathering 
 in great herds of cattle ; as they advanced he slowly fell back 
 before them through Louth and Armagh, to his original head- 
 quarters ; Castlehaven then returned with the main body of the 
 Confederate troops to Kilkenny, and O'Neill, depressed but not 
 dismayed, carried his contingent to their former position at Bet 
 turbet. 
 
 In Munster, a new Parliamentary party had time to form it* 
 combinations under the shelter of the cessation. The Earl of 
 Inchiquin, who had lately failed to obtain the Presidency of Miuv 
 ster from the King at Oxford, and the Lord Broghill, son of the 
 great Southern Undertaker the first Earl of Cork, were at the 
 head of this movement. Under pretence that the quarters allot- 
 ted them by the cessation had been violated, they contrived to 
 seize upon Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale. At Cork, they publicly 
 executed Father Mathews, a Friar, and proceeding from violence 
 to violence they drove from the three places all the Catholic in- 
 habitants. They then forwarded a petition to the King, beseech- 
 ing him to declare the Catholics " rebels," and declaring their 
 ovn determination to " die a thousand deaths sooner than eonde- 
 cend to any peace with them." At the same time they entered 
 into, or avowed, their correspondence with the English Parlia- 
 ment, which naturally enough encouraged, and assisted then*
 
 POF7LAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 523 
 
 The Sapreme Council met these demonstrations with more strin- 
 gent instructions to General Purcell, now their chief in command, 
 (Barry having retired on account of advanced age,) to observe 
 the cessation, and to punish severely every infraction of it. At 
 the same time they permitted or directed Purcell to enter into a 
 truce with Inchiquin till the following April ; and then they rested 
 on their arms, in religious fidelity to the engagements they had 
 signed at Castlemartin. 
 
 The twelve-months' truce was fast drawing to a close, when the 
 battle of Marston Moor stimulated Ormond to effect a renewal 
 of the treaty. Accordingly, at his request, Lord Muskerry, and 
 five other commissioners, left Kilkenny on the last day of August 
 for Dublin. Between them and the Viceroy, the cessation wag 
 prolonged till the first of December following ; and when that 
 day came, it was further protracted, as would appear, for three 
 months, by which time, (March, 1 645,) Ormond informed them 
 that he had powers from the King to treat for a permanent settle- 
 ment. 
 
 During the six months that the original cessation was thus 
 protracted by the policy of Ormond, the supreme council sent 
 abroad new agents, " to know what they had to trust to, and 
 what succors they might really depend on from abroad." 
 Father Hugh Bourke was sent to Spain, and Sir Richard Belling 
 to Rome, where Innocent X. had recently succeeded to that 
 generous friend of the Catholic Irish, Urban VIII. The voyage of 
 these agents was not free from hazard, for, whereas, before the 
 cessation, the privateers commissioned by the council, sheltered and 
 supplied in the Irish harbors, had kept the southern coast clear 
 of hostile shipping, now that they had Inen withdrawn under the 
 truce, the parliamentary cruisers had the channel all to them- 
 selves. "Waterford and Wexford the two chief Catholic ports 
 in that quarter instead of seeing their waters crowded with 
 prizes, now began to tremble for their own safety. The strong 
 fort of Duncannon, on the Wexford side of Waterford harbor, 
 was corruptly surrendered by Lord Esmond, to Inchiquin and 
 ( the Puritans. After a ten-weeks' siege, however, and the expen- 
 diture of 19,000 pounds of powder, the Confederates retook the 
 fort, in spite of all the efforts made for its relief. Esmond, old
 
 524 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 ami blind, escaped by a timely death the penalty due to hii 
 treason. Following up this success, Castlehaven rapidly Invested 
 other southern strongholds in possession of the same party. 
 Cappoquin, Lismore, Mallow, Mitchelstown, Doneraile and Lis- 
 carroll surrendered on articles ; Rostellan, commanded by Inchi- 
 quin's brother, was stormed and taken ; Brogkill was closely be- 
 sieged in Youghall, but, being relieved from sea, successfully 
 defended himself. In another quarter, the Parliament TIS 
 equally active. To compensate for the loss of Galway, they had 
 instructed the younger Coote, on whom they had conferred the 
 Presidency of Connaught, to withdraw the regiment of Sir Frede- 
 rick Hamilton, and 400 other troops, from the command of 
 Alunroe, and with these, Sir Robert Stewart's forces, and such 
 others aa he could himself raise, to invest Sligo. Against the 
 force thus collected, Sligo could not hope to contend, and soon, 
 from that town, as from a rallying and resting place, 2,000 horse- 
 men were daily launched upon the adjoining country. Lord 
 Olanrickarde, the royal president of the province, as unpopular as 
 trimmers usually are in times of crisis, was unable to make head 
 against this new danger. But the Confederates, under Sir James 
 Dillon, ami Dr. O'Kealy.tlie heroic archbishop of Tuam, moved by 
 the pitiful appeals of the Sligo people, boldly endeavored to re- 
 cover the town. They succeeded in entering the walls, but were 
 subsequently repulsed and routed. The Archbishop was captured 
 and tortured to death ; some of the noblest families of the pro- 
 vince and of Meath had also to mourn their chiefs ; and several 
 valuable papers, found or pretended to be found in the Arch- 
 bishop's carriage, were eagerly given to the press of London by 
 the Parliament of England. This tragedy at Sligo occored oa 
 Sunday. October 26th, IMS.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELiND. 626 
 
 CHAPTER VIH. 
 
 aUUfOMAN'8 TREATY. THE NEW NUNCIO RDTUCOHCI. o'lfMLL** 
 
 POSITION. THE BATTLE OF BENBUBB. 
 
 OEMOND had amused the Confederates with negotiations for a 
 permanent peace and settlement, from spring till midsummer, 
 when Charles, dissatisfied with these endless delays, despatched 
 to Ireland a more hopeful embassador. This was Herbert, Earl 
 of Glamorgan, one of the few Catholics remaining among the 
 English nobility ; son and heir to the Marquis of Worcester, .and 
 son in-law to Henry O'Brien, Earl of Thomond. Of a family de- 
 voutly attached to the royal cause, to which it is said they had 
 contributed not less than 200,000, Glamorgan's religion, hia 
 rank, his Irish connections, the intimate confidence of the King 
 which he was known to possess, all marked out his embassy aa 
 one of the utmost importance. 
 
 The story of this mission has been perplexed and darkened by 
 many controversies. But the general verdict of historians seems 
 now to be, that Charles I., whose many good qualities as a man 
 and a ruler are cheerfully admitted on all hands, was yet utterly 
 deficient in downright good faith ; that duplicity was his besetting 
 sin ; and that Glamorgan's embassy is one, but only one, of the 
 trongest evidences of that ingrained duplicity. 
 
 It may help to the clearer understanding of the negotiations 
 conducted by Glamorgan in Ireland, if we give in the first place 
 the exact dates of the first transactions. The Earl arrived at 
 Dublin about the 1st of August, and, after an interview with 
 Ormond, proceeded to Kilkenny. On the 28th of that month, 
 preliminary articles were agreed to and signed by the Earl on 
 behalf of the King, and by Lords Mountgarrett and Muskerry on 
 behalf of the Confederates. It was necessary, it seems, to get tha 
 concurrence of the Viceroy to these terms, and accordingly the 
 negotiators on both sides repaired to Dublin. Here, Ormond 
 contrived to detain them ten long weeks in discussions on the ar- 
 ticles relating to religion; it was the 12th of November when
 
 528 FOPULIR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 they returned to Kilkenny, with a much modified treaty. On th 
 next day, the 13th, the new Papal Nuncio, a prelate who, by his 
 rank, his eloquence and his imprudence, was destined to exercise 
 a powerful influence on the Catholic councils, made his public 
 entry into that city. 
 
 This personage was John Baptist Rinuccini, Archbishop oi 
 Fermo, in the Marches of Ancona, which see he had preferred to 
 the more exalted dignity of Florence. By birth a Tuscan, the 
 new Nuncio had distinguished himself from boyhood by his pas- 
 sionate attachment to his studies. At Bologna, at Perugia, and 
 at Rome, his intense application brought him early honors, and 
 early physical debility. His health, partially restored in the se- 
 clusion of his native valley of the Arno, enabled him to return 
 again to Rome. Enjoying the confidence of Gregory XV. and 
 Urban VIII., he was named successively, Clerk of the Chamber, 
 Secretary of the Congregation of Rites, and Archbishop of Fermo. 
 This was the prelate chosen by the new Pope, Innocent X., for the 
 nunciature in Ireland : a man of noble birth, in the fifty-third 
 year of his age, of uncertain bodily health, of great learning, es- 
 pecially as a canonist, of a fiery Italian temperament, " regular 
 and even austere in his life, and far from any taint of avarice oi 
 corruption," such was the admission of his enemies. 
 
 Leaving Italy in May, accompanied by the Dean of Fermo, who 
 has left us a valuable record of the embassy, his other house- 
 hold officers, several Italian noblemen, and Sir Richard Belling, 
 the special agent at Rome, the Nuncio by way of Genoa and Mar- 
 seilles reached Paris. In France he was detained nearly five 
 months, in a fruitless attempt to come to some definite arrange- 
 ment as to the conduct of the Catholic war, through Queen Hen- 
 rietta Maria, then resident with the young Prince of Wales after- 
 wards Charles II, at the French court. The Queen, like most 
 persons of her rank, overwhelmed with adversity, was often un- 
 reasonably suspicious and exacting. Her sharp woman's tongue 
 did not spare those on whom her anger fell, and there were not 
 wanting those, who, apprehensive of the effect in England of her 
 negotiating directly with a papal minister, did their utmost to 
 delay, or to break off their correspondence. A nice point of court 
 etiquette further embarrassed the buiineM. The Nuncio could
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 527 
 
 not uncover his head before the Queen, and Henrietta would not 
 receive him otherwise than uncovered. Aftor three months lost 
 in Paris, he was obliged to proceed on his journey, contenting 
 himself with an exchange of complimentary messages with the 
 Queen, whom even the crushing blow of Naseby could not induce 
 to waive a point of etiquette with a Priest. 
 
 On reaching Eochelle, where he intended to take shipping, a 
 further delay of six weeks took place, as was supposed by the 
 machinations of Cardinal Mazarin. Finally, the Nuncio succeed- 
 ed in purchasing a frigate of 26 guns, the San Pielro, on which 
 he embarked with all his Italian suite, Sir Richard Belling, and 
 several Franco-Irish officers. He had also on board, a considerable 
 sum in Spanish gold, (including another contribution of 86,000 
 dollars from Father Wadding,) 2,000 muskets, 2,000 cartouch belts, 
 4,000 swords, 2,000 pike heads, 400 brace of pistols, 20,000 pounds 
 of powder, with match, shot and other stores. "Weighing from 
 St. Martin's in the Isle of Rhe, the San Pietro doubled the Land's 
 End, and stood over towards the Irish coast. The third day out 
 they were chased for several hours by two Parliamentary cruis- 
 ers, but escaped under cover of the night ; on the fourth morning, 
 being the 21st of October, they found themselves safely embayed 
 in the waters of Kenmare, on the coast of Kerry. 
 
 The first intelligence which reached the Nuncio on landing, was 
 the negotiation of Glamorgan, of which he had already heard, 
 while waiting a ship at Rochelle. The next was the surrender by 
 the Earl of Thomond, of his noble old castle of Bnnratty, com- 
 manding the Shannon within six miles of Limerick, to the Puri- 
 tans. This surrender had, however, determined the resolution of 
 the city of Limerick, which hitherto hnd taken no part in the 
 war, to open its gates to the Confederates. The loss of Bunratty 
 was more than compensated by the gaining of one of the finest 
 and strongest towns in Munster, and to Limerick accordingly the 
 Nincio paid the compliment of his first visit. Here he received 
 the mitre of the diocese in dutiful submission from the hands of 
 the Bishop, on entering the Cathedral ; and hore he celebrated A 
 solemn requiem mass for the repose of the soul of the Archbishop 
 of Tuam, lately slain before Sligo. From Limerick, borne along 
 on his litter, such was the feebleness of his health, he advanced
 
 B28 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 by slow stages to Kilkenny, escorted by a guard of h onor, de 
 patched on that duty, by the Supreme Council. 
 
 The pomp and splendor of his public entry into the Catholi* 
 capital was a striking spectacle. The previous night he slept ul 
 village three miles from the city, for which he set out early OB 
 the morning of the 13th of November, escorted by his guard, and 
 a vast multitude of the people. Five delegates from the Suprem* 
 Council accompanied him. A band of fifty students mounted 01 
 horseback met him on the way, and their leader, crowned with lau- 
 rel, recited some congratulatory Latin verses. At the city gate he 
 left the litter and mounted a horse richly housed ; here the procession 
 of the clergy and the city guilds awaited him ; at the Market Cross 
 a Latin oration was delivered in his honor, to which he graciously 
 replied in the same language. From the Cross he was escorted to 
 the Cathedral, at the door of which he was received by the aged 
 Bishop, Dr. David Rothe. At the high altar he intonated the Te 
 Drum, and gave the multitude the apostolic benediction. Then he 
 was conducted to his lodgings, where he was soon waited upon by 
 Lord Muskcrry and General Preston, who brought him to KiL 
 kenny Castle, where in the great gallery, which elicited even a 
 Florentine's admiration, he was received in stately formality by 
 the President of the Council Lord Mountgarret. Another Latin 
 oration on the nature of his embassy was delivered by the Nun- 
 cio, responded to by Heber, Bishop of Clogher, and so the cere- 
 mony of reception ended. 
 
 The Nuncio brought from rteris a new subjoct of difficulty, in 
 the form of a memorial from the English Catholics at Rome, pray- 
 ing that they might be included in the terms of any peace which 
 might be made by their Irish co-religionists with the King 
 Nothing could be more natural than that the members of the same 
 persecuted church should make common cause, but nothing could 
 he more impolitic than some of the demands made in the English 
 .memorial. They wished it to be stipulated with Charles, that he 
 would allow a distinct military organization to the English and 
 Irish Catholics in his service, under Catholic general officers, 
 subject only to the King's commands, meaning thereby, if they 
 nit-mit vh it they said, independence of all parliamentary an<i 
 ministerial control. Yet several of the stipula/ion* of toil
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 529 
 
 memorial, were after many modifications and discussions, adopted 
 by Glamorgan into his original articles, and under the treaty thu 
 ratified, the Confederates bound themselves to despatch 10.000 
 men, fully armed and equipped, to the relief of Chester and the 
 general succor of the King in England. Towards the close of 
 December, the English Earl with two Commissioners from the 
 Supreme Council, set forth for Dublin, to obtain the Viceroy's 
 sanction to the amended treaty. But in Dublin a singular coun- 
 terplot in this perplexed drama awaited them. On St. Stephen's 
 day, while at dinner, Glamorgan was arrested by Ormond, on a 
 charge of having exceeded his instructions, and confined a close 
 prisoner in the castle. The gates of the city were closed, and 
 every means taken to give eclat to this extraordinary proceeding. 
 The Confederate Commissioners were carried to the castle, and 
 told they might congratulate themselves on not sharing the cell 
 prepared for Glamorgan. " Go back," they were told, " to Kil- 
 kenny and tell the President of the Council, that the Protestants 
 of England would fling the King's person out at his window, if 
 they believed it possible that he lent himself to such an undertaking." 
 The Commissioners accordingly went back and delivered their 
 errand, with a full account of all the circumstances. Fortunately, 
 he General Assembly had been called for an early day in January 
 i646, at Kilkenny. When, therefore, they met, their first resolu- 
 tion was to despatch Sir Robert Talbot to the Viceroy, with a 
 letter suspending all negotiations till the Earl of Glamorgan waa 
 set at liberty. By the end of January, on the joint bail, for 
 40,000, of the Earls of Clanrrickarde and Kildare, the English 
 envoy was enlarged, and to the still further amazement of the 
 simpler-minded Catholics, on his arrival at Kilkenny he justified, 
 rather than censured the action of Ormond. To most observers 
 it appeared that these noblemen understood each other only too 
 well 
 
 From January till June, Kilkenny was delivered over to cabals, 
 intrigues, and recriminations. There was an " old Irish party," 
 to which the Nuncio inclined, and an " Anglo-Irish party "* 
 headed by Mountgarrett and the majority of the council. Tha 
 former sticrmntized the latter as Ormondists, and the latter ro- 
 te rted on them wnth the name of the Nuncio's party. In Feb- 
 45
 
 6dO POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ruary, came news of a foreign treaty made at Rome between Sh 
 Kenelra Digby and the Pope's Ministers, most favorable to the 
 English and Irish Catholics. On the 28th of March, a final modi- 
 fiuition of Glamorgan's articles, reduced to thirty in number, was 
 signed by Orrnond for the King, and Lord Muskerry and the 
 other Commissioners for the Confederates. These thirty articles 
 conceded, in fact, all the most essential claims of the Irish ; they 
 secured them equal rights as to property, in the Army, in the 
 Universities, and at the Bar ; they gave them seats in both Houses 
 and on the Bench ; they authorized a special commission of Oyer 
 and Terminer, composed wholly of Confederates ; they declared 
 that ' the independency of the Parliament of Ireland on that of 
 England,' should be decided by declaration of both houses 
 ' agreeably to the laws of the Kingdom of Ireland.' " In short, 
 this final form of Glamorgan's treaty gave the Irish Catholics, in 
 1646, all that was subsequently obtained either for the church or 
 the country, in 1782, 17 ( J3, or 1829. Though some conditions 
 were omitted, to which Rinuccini and a majority of the Prelates 
 attached importance, Glamorgan's treaty was, upon the whole, 
 a charter upon which a free church and a free people might well 
 have stood, as the fundamental law of their religious and civil 
 liberties. 
 
 The treaty, thus concluded at the end of March, was to lie as 
 an escroll in the hands of the Marquis of Clanrickarde till the 1st 
 of May, awaiting Sir Kenelm Digby with the Roman protocol 
 And then, notwithstanding the dissuasions of Rinuccini to the 
 contrary, it was to be kept secret from the world, though some of 
 its obligations were expected to be at once fulfilled on their side, 
 by the Catholics. The Supreme Council, ever eager to exhibit 
 their loyalty, gathered together 6000 troops for the relief of 
 Chester and the service of the King in England, so son as both 
 treaties the Irish and the Roman should be signed by Charles. 
 While so waiting, they I esieged and took Bunra '|ty castle already 
 referred to but Sir Kenelm Digby did not arrive with May, 
 and they now learned, to their renewed amazement, that Glamor- 
 gan's whole negotiation was disclaimed by the King in England. 
 In the same interval Chester fell, and the King was obliged to 
 throw himself into the hands of the Scottish Parliament, who 
 \
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 531 
 
 tumjndered him for a price to their English coadjutors. Thesa 
 tidings reached Ireland during May, and, varied with the capture 
 of an occasional fortress, lost or won, occupied all men's minds. 
 But the first days of June were destined to bring with them a 
 victory of national of European importance won by Owen 
 O'Neill, in the immediate vicinity of his grand-uncle's famoua 
 battlefield of the Yellow-ford. 
 
 During these three years of intrigue and negotiation, the posi- 
 tion of General O'Neill was hazardous and difficult in the extreme. 
 One campaign he had served under a stranger, as second on his 
 own soil. In the other two he was fettered by the terms of 
 " cessation " to his own quarters ; and to add to his embarras- 
 ments, his impetuous kinsman Sir Phelim, brave, rash, and am- 
 bitious, recently married to a daughter of his ungenerous rival, 
 General Preston, was incited to thwart and obstruct him amongst 
 their mutual clansmen and connections. The only recompense 
 which seems to have been awarded to him, was the confidence of 
 the Nuncio, who, either from that knowledge of character in 
 which the Italians excel, or from bias received from some other 
 source, at once singled him out as the man of his people. What 
 portion of the Nuncio's supplies reached the Northern General we 
 know not, but in the beginning of June, he felt himself in.a posi- 
 tion to bring on an engagement with Monroe, who, lately reinforced 
 by both Parliaments, had marched out of Carrickfergus, into Ty- 
 rone, with a view of penetrating as far south as Kilkenny. On 
 the 4th day of June, the two armies encountered at Benburb, on 
 the little river Blackwater, about six miles north of Armagh, and 
 the most signal victory of the war came to recompense the long- 
 enduring patience of O'Neill. 
 
 The battle of Benburb has been often and well described. In 
 a naturally strong position with this leader the choice of ground 
 seems to have been a first consideration the Irish, for four houre^ 
 received and repulsed the various charges of the Puritan horse, 
 Then as the sun began to descend, pouring its rays upon the 
 opposing force, O'Neill led his whole force five thousand men 
 against eight to the attack. One terrible onset swept away 
 every trace of resistance. There were counted on the field, 8,248 
 of the Covenanters and of the Catholics, but 70 killed and 100
 
 532 POPULAR HISTOBY OF IKELAND. 
 
 wounded. Lord Ardes, and 21 Scottish officers, 32 standard!, 
 1 600 draught horses, and all the guns and tents, were captured. 
 Munroe fled in panic to Lisburn, and thence to Carrickfergua, 
 where he shut himself np, till he could obtain reinforcements. 
 O'Neill forwarded the captured colors to the Nuncio, at Limerick, 
 by whom they were solemnly placed in the choir of St. Mary"a 
 Cathedral, and afterwards, at the request of Pope Innocent, sent 
 to Rome. Te J>eum was chanted in the Confederate Capital; 
 penitential psalms were sung in the Northern fortress. " Th* 
 Lord of Hosts," wrote Munroe, " had rubbed shame on our faces, 
 till once we are humbled ;" O'Neill emblazoned the cross and 
 keys on his banner with the Red Hand of Ulster, and openly r 
 Burned the title originally chosen by his adherents at Clones, " the 
 Catholic Army." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM THE BATTLE OF BENBURB TILL THE LANDING OF CROMWELL 
 AT DUBLIN. 
 
 THI Nuncio, elated by the great victory of O'Neill, to which h 
 felt he had personally contributed by his seasonable supplies 
 provoked und hritated by Ormond's intrigues and the King* 
 insincerity, rushed with all the ardor of his character into mak- 
 ing the war an uncompromising Catholic crusade. In this line 
 of conduct, he was supported by the Archbishops of Dublin and 
 Caslrel, by ten of the Bishops, including the eminent Prelates 01 
 Limerick, Killalla, Ferns, and Clogher; the Procurator of Ar 
 tnagh; nine Vicars-general, and the Superiors of the Jesuits 
 Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians. The peace party, 
 on the other hand, were nol without clerical adherents, but they 
 were inconsiderable, as to influence and numbers. They were 
 now become aa anxious to publish the Thirty Articles agreed 
 upon at the end of March, as they then were to keep them secret
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 683 
 
 Accordingly, with Ormoud's consent, copies of the treaty were 
 Bent early in August to the sheriffs of counties, mayors of cities, 
 and other leading persons, with instructions to proclaim it pub- 
 licly in due form ; upon hearing which, the Nuncio and his sup- 
 porters of the clergy, secular and regular, assembled in council 
 at Waterford, on the 12th of August, solemnly declared that they 
 gave no consent, and would not, " to any peace," that did not 
 grant " further, surer and safer considerations for their religion, 
 king and country," according to the original odth of the Confed- 
 eracy. 
 
 The rupture between the clergy and the laymen of the council 
 was now complete. The prelates who signed the decree of Water- 
 ford, of course, thereby withdrew from the body whose action 
 they condemned. In vain the learned Darcy and the eloquent 
 Plunkett went to and fro between the two bodies : concord and 
 confidence were at an end. The synod decided to address Lord 
 Mountgarret in future as president of " the late supreme council." 
 The heralds who attempted to publish the Thirty Articles in 
 Clonmel and Waterford were hooted or stoned ; while in Lime- 
 rick, the mayor, endeavoring to protect them, shared this rough 
 usage. Ormond, who was at Kilkenny at the critical moment of 
 the breach, did his utmost to sustain the resolution of those who 
 were stigmatized by his name ; while the Nuncio, suspicious of 
 Preston, wrote urgently to O'Neill to lead his army into Leinster, 
 and remove the remnant of the late council from Kilkenny. All 
 that those who held a middle course between the extremes could 
 do, was to advocate an early meeting of the General Assembly ; 
 but various exigencies delayed this 'much-desired meeting, till the 
 10th day of January, 1647. 
 
 The five intervening months were months of triumph for Ri- 
 nuccini. Lord Digby appeared at Dublin as a special agent from 
 the King, to declare his consent to Glamorgan's original terms; 
 but Ormond still insisted that he had no authority to go beyond 
 the Thirty Articles. Charles himself wrote privately to Rinuc- 
 cini, promising to confirm everything which Glamorgan had 
 proposed, as soon as he should come into " the Nuncio's hands." 
 Ormonr!, after a fruitless attempt to convert O'Neill to his views, 
 had mar ;hed southward with a guard of 1,500 foot and 500 horse, 
 45*
 
 B3-i POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to endeavor to conciliate the towns, and to win over the Earl ol 
 Inchiquin. In both these objects he failed. He found O'Neill 
 before him in his county palatinate of Tipperary, and the mayor 
 of Cashel informed him that he dared not allow him into that 
 city, for fear of displeasing the northern general. Finding him- 
 eelf thus unexpectedly within a few miles of " the Catholic Army," 
 10,000 strong, the viceroy retreated precipitately through Kil- 
 kenny, Carlo w, and Kildare, to Dublin. Lord Digby, who had 
 accompanied him, after an unsuccessful attempt to cajole the 
 Synod of Waterford, made the beat of his way back to France ; 
 the Marquis of Clanrickarde, who had also been of the expedition, 
 chared the flight of Ormond. Towards the middle of September, 
 O'Neill's army, after capturing Roscrea Castle, marched to Kil- 
 kenny, and encamped near that city. His forces had now aug- 
 mented to 12,000 foot and 1,500 horse; on the 18th of the mouth, 
 he escorted the Nuncio in triumph into Kilkenny, where the 
 Ormondist members of the old council were committed to close 
 custody in the castle. A new council, of four bishops and eight 
 laymen, was established on the 26th, with the Nuncio as pre- 
 sident ; Glamorgan succeeded Castlehaven, who had gone over to 
 Ormond, as commander in Munster ; while O'Neill and Preston 
 were ordered to unite their forces for the siege of Dublin. The 
 sanguine Italian dreamt of nothing less, for the moment, than 
 the creation of viceroys, the deliverance of the King, and the 
 complete restoration of the ancient religion. 
 
 O'Neill and Preston by different routes, on which they were 
 delayed in taking several garrisoned posts, united at Lucan in 
 the valley of the Liffey, seven miles west of Dublin, on the 9th 
 of November. Their j">int forces are represented at 16,000 fooi. 
 and 1 ,600 horse of which Preston had about one-third and O'Neill 
 the remainder. Preston's headquarters were fixed at Leixlip, and 
 O'Neill's at Newcastle points equi-distant, and each within two 
 hours' march of the capital Within the walls of that city there 
 rr igned the utmost consternation. Many of the inhabitants fled 
 beyond seas, terrified by the fancied cruelty of the Ulstermen. 
 But Ormond retained all his presence of mind, and readiness of 
 resources. He entered, at first covertly, into arrangements with 
 the Parliamentarians, who sent him a supply of po vder ; he wrote
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 580 
 
 urgently to Munroe to make a diversion in his favor ; he demolished 
 the mills and suburbs which might cover the approaches of the 
 enemy ; he employed soldiers, civilians, and even women, upon the 
 fortifications, Lady Orrnond setting an example to her sex, in 
 rendering her feeble assistance. Clanrickarde, in Preston's tent, 
 was doing the work of stimulating the old antipathy cf that Genera] 
 towards O'Neill, which led to conflicting advices in /ouncil, and 
 some irritating personal altercations. To add to the Confederate 
 embarrassment, the winter was the most severe known for many 
 years ; from twenty to thirty sentinels being frozen at night at 
 their posts. On the 13th of November, while the plan of the 
 Confederate attack was still undecided, commissioners of the Par- 
 liament arrived with ample stores in Dublin Bay. On the next 
 day they landed at Ringsend and entered into negotiations with 
 Ormond ; on the 16th the siege was raised, and on the 23d Or- 
 mond broke off the treaty, having unconsciously saved Dublin 
 from the Confederates, by the incorrect reports of supplies being 
 received, which were finally carried northward to Munroe. 
 
 The month of January brought the meeting of the General 
 Assembly. The attendance in the great gallery of Ormond Castle 
 was as large, and the circumstances upon the whole as auspicious 
 as could be desired, in the seventh year of such a struggle. The 
 members of the old council, liberated from arrest, were hi their 
 places. O'Neill and Preston, publicly reconciled, had signed a 
 solemn engagement to assist and sustain each other. The Nun. 
 cio, the Primate of Ireland, and eleven bishops took their seats ; 
 the peers of oldest title in the kingdom were present, two hund' 
 red and twenty-four members represented the Commons of Ire- 
 land, and among the spectators sat the ambassadors of France 
 and Spain, and of King Charles. The main subject of discussion 
 was the sufficiency of the Thirty Articles, and the propriety of 
 the ecclesiastical censure promulgated against those who had 
 signed them. The debate embraced all that may be said on the 
 question of clerical interference in political affairs, on conditional 
 and unconditional allegiance, on the power of the Pontiff speak- 
 ing ex cathedra, and the prerogatives of the temporal I overeign_ 
 It was protracted through an entire month, and ended with a 
 compromise, which declared that the Commissioners had acted in
 
 (ft 6 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 good faith in signing the articles, while it justified the Synod of 
 AVaterford for having, as judges of the nature and intent of tin 
 oath of confederation, declared them insufficient and unaccept- 
 able. A new oath of confederacy, solemnly binding the associ- 
 ates uot to lay down their arms till they had established th free 
 and public exercise of religion as it had existed in the reign of 
 Henry VII. , was framed and taken by the entire General Assem- 
 bly ; the Thirty Articles were declared insufficient and unaccept- 
 able by all but a minority of twelve votes ; a new Supreme Coun- 
 cil of twenty four was chosen, in whom there were not known to 
 be above four or five partisans of Ormond's policy. The church 
 plate throughout the kingdom was ordered to be coined into 
 money, and a formal proposal to cooperate with the Viceroy on 
 the basis of the new oath was made, but instantly rejected ; among 
 other grounds, on this, that the Marquis had, at that moment, his 
 son and other sureties with the Puritans, who, in the last resort, 
 he infinitely preferred to the Roman Catholics. 
 
 The military events of the year 1647 were much more decisive 
 than its politics. Glamorgan still commanded in Munster, Pres- 
 ton in Leinster, and O'Neill in both Ulster and Connaught The 
 nrst was confronted by Inchiquin, at the head of a corps of 5,000 
 foot and 1,500 horse, equipped and supplied by the English Pur- 
 itans ; the second saw the garrisons of Dundalk, Drogheda and 
 Dublin reinforced by fresh regiments of Covenanters, and fed by 
 Parliamentary supplies from the sea ; the latter was in the heart 
 of Connaught, organizing and recruiting, and attempting all 
 things within his reach, but hampered for money, clothing and 
 ammunition. In Connaught, O'Neill was soon joined by the 
 Nuncio, who, as difficulties thickened, began to lean more and 
 more on the strong arm of the victor of Benburb ; in Munster, 
 the army refused to follow the lead of Glamorgan, and clamored 
 for their old chief Lord Muskerry ; finally, that division of the 
 national troops was committed by the council to Lord Taafe, 
 politician of the school of Ormond and Clanrickarde, wholly des- 
 titute of military experience. The vigorous Inchiquin had little 
 difficulty in dealing with such an antagonist; Cashel was taken 
 without a blow in its defense, and a slaughter unparalleled till 
 tiit days of Drogheda and Wexford, deluged its struts and
 
 POPULAK HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 63? 
 
 charches. At Knocknos, later in the autumn (Nov. 12th), Taafe 
 was utterly routed ; the gallant Colkitto, serving under hiui, la- 
 nwntably sacrificed after surrendering his sword; and Tnchiqoit, 
 enabled to dictate a cessation covering Munster far less favo- 
 rable to Catholics than the truce of Castlemartin to the Supreme 
 Council. This truce was signed at Dungarvan, on the 20th of 
 May, 1648, and on the 27th the Nuncio published his solemn 
 decree of excommunication against all its aiders and abettors, and 
 himself made the best of his way from Kilkenny to Maryboro', 
 where O'Neill then lay. 
 
 The military and political situation of O'Neill, during the latter 
 months of 1647 and the whole of 1648, was one of the most 
 extraordinary in which any general had ever been placed. His 
 late sworn colleague Preston was now combineo with Inchiquin 
 against him ; the royalist Clanrickarde, in the western counties, 
 pressed upon his rear, and captured his garrison in Athlone ; 
 the Parliamentary general, Michael Jones, to whom Ormond had 
 finally surrendered Dublin, observed rather than impeded his 
 movements in Leinster; the lay majority of the Supreme Council 
 proclaimed him a traitor a compliment which he fully returned ; 
 the Nuncio threw himself wholly into his hands ; finally, at the 
 close of '48, Ormond, returning from France to Ireland, con- 
 cluded, on the 17th of January, a formal alliance with the lay 
 members, under the title of " Commissioners of Trust," for the 
 King and Kingdom ; and Rinuccini, despairing, perhaps, of a 
 cause so distracted, sailed in his own frigate, from Galway, on 
 the 23d of February. Thus did the actors change their parts, 
 alternately triumphing and fleeing for safety. The verdict of 
 history may condemn the Nuncio, of whom we have now seen 
 the last, for hi& imperious self-will, and his too ready recourse to 
 ecclesiastical censures ; but of his zeal, his probity, and bis dis- 
 interestedness, there can be, we think, no second opinion. 
 
 Under the treaty of 1649 which conceded full civil and reli- 
 gious equality to the Roman Catholics Ormond was once more 
 placed at the head of the government and in command of the 
 royal troops. A few days after the signing of that treaty, news 
 of the execution of Charles L having reached Ireland, the Vice- 
 roy proclaimed the Prince of "Wales by the title of Charles II., at
 
 fed 8 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 Cork and YougbaL Prince Rupert, whose fleet had entered Kin 
 Bale, caused the same ceremony to be gone through in that an 
 cient borough. With Ormond were now cordially united Preston, 
 Inchiquin, Clanrickarde, and Muskerry, on whom the lead of the 
 Supreme Council devolved, in consequence of the advanced age 
 of Lord Mountgarret, and the remainder of the twelve Com 
 missioners of Trust. The cause of the young Prince, an exile, 
 the eon of that Catholic queen from whom they had expected so 
 much, was far from unpopular in the southern half of the island. 
 The Anglican interest was strong and widely diffused through 
 both Leinster and Munster ; and, except a resolute prelate, like 
 Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns, or a brave band of townsmen like 
 those of Waterford, Limerick, and Galway, or some remnant of 
 mountain tribes, in Wicklow and Tipperary, the national, or 
 " old Irish policy," had decidedly lost ground from the hour of 
 the Nuncio's departure. 
 
 Owen O'Neill and the Bishops still adhered to that national 
 policy. The former made a three-months' truce with Genera] 
 Monck, who had succeeded Munroe in the command of all the 
 Parliamentary troops in his province. The singular spectacle 
 was even exhibited of Monck forwarding supplies to O'Neill, to 
 be used against Inchiquin and Orrnond, and O'Neill coming to the 
 rescue of Coote, and raising for him the siege of Londonderry. 
 Inchiquin, in rapid succession, took Drogheda, Trim, Dundalk, 
 Newry, and then rapidly countermarched to join Ormond in be- 
 sieging Dublin. At Rathmines, near the city, both general* 
 wore surprised and defeated by the Parliamentarians under Mi- 
 chael Jones. Between desertions, and killed and wounded, they 
 lost, by their own account, nearly 8,000, and by the Puritan 
 accounts above 6,000 men. This action was the virtual close of 
 Onnond's military career ; he never after made head against ths 
 Parliamentary forces in open field. The Catholic cities of Lime- 
 rick and Galway refused to admit his garrisons ; a synod of the 
 Bishops, assemb'ed at Jamestown (in Roscommon), strongly re- 
 commended his withdrawal from the kingdom ; and Cromwell 
 lad arrived, resolved to finish the war in a single campaign. 
 Ormond sailed again for France, before the end of 1649, to return 
 no more until the restoration of the monarchy, on the death of 
 the great Protector.
 
 POPtJLAtt EUSI'Jrtf OS- lii-iLjwNTi. 638 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 CEOMWELL'S CAMPAIGN 1649-1650. 
 
 An aotor was now to descend upon the scene, whose character 
 has excited more controversy than that of any other personage 
 of those times. Honored as a saint, or reprobated as a hypocrite, 
 worshiped for his extraordinary successes, or anathematized for 
 the unworthy artifices by which he rose who shall deal out, with 
 equal hand, praise and blame to Oliver Cromwell ? Not for the 
 popular writer of Irish history, is that difficult judicial task. Not 
 for us to reecho cries of hatred which convince not the indiffer- 
 ent, nor correct the errors of the educated or cultivated: the 
 simple, and, as far as possible, the uuimpassioned narrative of 
 facts, will constitute the whole of our duty towards the Protector's 
 campaign in Ireland. 
 
 Cromwell left London in great state, early in July, " in a coach 
 drawn by six gallant Flanders mares," and made a sort of royal 
 procession across the country to Bristol. From that famous port, 
 where Strongbow confederated with Dermid McMurrogh, and 
 from which Dublin drew its first Anglo-Norman colony, he went 
 on to Milford Haven, at which he embarked, arriving in Dublin, 
 on the 15th of August. He entered the city hi procession, and 
 addressed the townsfolk from " a convenient place." He had with 
 him two hundred thousand pounds in moiiey, eight regiments of 
 foot, six of horse, and some troops of dragoons ; besides the divi- 
 sions of Jones and Monck, already in the country, and subject to 
 his command. Among the officers were names of memorable 
 interest Henry Cromwell, second son of the Protector, and future 
 Lord Deputy ; Monck, Blake, Jones, Ireton, Ludlow, Hardresi 
 Waller, Sankey, and others equally prominent in accomplishing 
 the King's death, or in raising up the English commonwealth. 
 
 Cromwell's command in Ireland extends from the middle of 
 August, 1649, to the end of May, 1650, about nine months in all, 
 and is remarkable for the number of sieges of walled town*
 
 640 POPULAR fllSTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 crowded into thai brief period. There was, during the whok 
 time, no great action in the field, like Marston Moor, or Benburb 
 or Dunbar; it was a campaign of seventeenth century canno 
 against mediaeval masonry ; what else was done, was the supple 
 mental work of mutual bravery on both sides. Drogheda, Dun- 
 dalk, Newry, and Carlingford, fell in September; Arklow, 
 Enniscorthy, and Wexford in October; Ross, one of the first 
 seaports in point of commerce, surrendered the same month; 
 Waterford, was attempted and abandoned in November ; Dun 
 garvan, Kinsale, Bandon, and Cork, were won over by Lord 
 Broghill in December ; Fethard, Callan, and Cashel in January 
 and February ; Carrick and Kilkenny in March ; and Clonmel, 
 early in May. Immediately after this last capitulation, Cromwell 
 was recalled to lead the armies of the Parliament into Scotland : 
 during the nine months he had commanded in Ireland, he had 
 captured five or six county capitals, and a great number of less 
 considerable places. The terror of his siege-trains and Ironsides, 
 was spread over the greater part of three Provinces, and his well- 
 reported successes had proved so many steps to the assumption 
 of that rovereign power at which he already aimed. 
 
 Of the spirit in which these several sieges were conducted, it u 
 impossible to speak without a shudder. It was, in truth, a spirit 
 of hatred and fanaticism, altogether beyond the control of the 
 revolutionary leader. At Drogheda, the work of slaughter occu- 
 pied five entire days. Of the brave garrison of 3,000 men, not 
 thirty were spared, and these " were in hands for the Barbadoes;" 
 old men, women, children, and priests, were unsparingly put to 
 the sword. Wexford was basely betrayed by Captain James 
 Stafford, commander of the castle, whose midnight interview 
 with Cromwell, at a oetty rivulet without the walls, tradition 
 iti'.l recounts with horror and detestation. This port was par- 
 ticularly obnoxious to the Parliament, as from its advantageoni 
 position on the Bristol channel its emitters greatly annoyed ana 
 embarrassed their commerce. " There are," Cromwell writes to 
 Speaker Lenthall, " great quantities of iron, hides, tallow, salt, 
 pipe and barrel staves, which are under commissioners' hands to 
 be secured. We believe there are near a hundred cannon in the 
 fort and elsewhere in and about the town. Here is likewiN
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAHD. 541 
 
 ome very good shipping ; here are three vessels, one of them of 
 thirty-four guns, -which a week's time would fit for sea ; there ii 
 another of about twenty guns, very nearly ready likewise." H 
 also reports two other frigates, one on the stocks, which '' for 
 her handsomeness' sake " he intended to have finished for the 
 Parliament, and another "most excellent vessel for sailing," 
 taken within the fort, at the harbor's mouth. By the treachery 
 of Captain Stafford, this strong and wealthy town was at th 
 mercy of those " soldiers of the Lord and of Gideon," who had 
 followed Oliver to his Irish wars. The consequences were the 
 same as at Drogheda merciless execution on the garrison and 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 In the third month of Cromwell's campaign, the report of 
 Owen O'Neill's death went abroad, palsying the Catholic arms. 
 By common consent of friend and foe, he was considered the 
 ablest civil and military leader that had appeared in Ireland 
 during the reigns of the Stuart kings. Whether in native ability 
 he was capable of coping with Cromwell, was for a long time a 
 subject of discussion ; but the consciousness of irreparable national 
 loss, perhaps, never struck deeper than amid the crash of that 
 irresistible cannonade of the walled towns and cities of Leinster 
 and Munster. O'Neill had lately, despairing of binding the Scots 
 or the English, distrustful alike of Coote and of Monck, been 
 reconciled to Ormond, and was marching southward to his aid at 
 the head of 6,000 chosen men. Lord Chancellor Clarendon 
 assures us that Ormond had the highest hopes from this junction, 
 and the utmost confidence in O'Neill's abilities. But at a ball at 
 Derry, towards the end of August, he received his death, it ia 
 eaid, in a pair of poisoned russet leather slippers presented to 
 him by one Plunkett ; marching southward, borne, in a litter, h* 
 expired at Clough Oughter Castle, near his old Belturbet camp, 
 on the 6th of November, 1649. His last act was to order one of 
 his nephews Hugh O'Neill to form a junction with Ormond in 
 Munster without delay. In the chancel of the Franciscan Abbey 
 of Cavan, now grass-grown and trodden by the hoofs of cattle, 
 his body was interred ; his nephew and successor did honor to 
 his memory at Clonmel and Limeriok. It was now remembered 
 Tn by his enemies, with astonishment and admiration, how for
 
 642 POPULAR BISTORT OF IBBLASD. 
 
 eeven long years he bad subsisted and kept together an army, 
 the creature of his genius; without a government at bis back, 
 without regular supplies, enforcing obedience, establishing dia- 
 cipline, winning great victories, maintaining, even at the worst, 
 a native power in the heart of the kingdom. When the archive* 
 of those years are recovered (if they ever are), no name more 
 illustrious for the combination of great qualities will be found 
 preserved there than the name of this last national leader of th 
 illustrious lineage of O'Neill 
 
 The unexpected death of the Ulster general favored still farther 
 Cromwell's southern movements. The gallant, but impetuous 
 Bishop of Clogher, Heber McMahon, was the only northern leader 
 who could command confidence enough to keep O'Neill's force 
 together, and on him, therefore, the command devolved. OTer- 
 r;tll, one of Owen's favorite officers, was despatched to Waterford, 
 and mainly contributed to Cromwell's repulse before that city ; 
 Hugh O'Neill covered himself with glory at Clonmel and Limerick ; 
 Daniel O'Neill, another nephew of x Owen, remained attached to 
 Ormond, and accompanied him to France ; but within six months 
 from the loss of their Fabian chief, who knew as well when to 
 strike as to delay, the brave Bishop of Clogher sacrificed the rem- 
 nant of " the Catholic Army " at the pass of Scariff hollis, in Done- 
 gal, and, two days after, his own life by a martyr's death, at 
 Omagh. At the date of Cromwell's departure when Ireton took 
 command of the southern army there remained to the Confed- 
 erates, only some remote glens and highlands of the North and 
 West, the cities of Limerick and Galway, with the county of 
 Clare, and some detached districts of the province of Con- 
 naught, 
 
 The last act of Cromwell's proper campaign was the siege of 
 Clonmel, where he met the stoutest resistance he had any when 
 encountered. The Puritans, after effecting a breach, made an at- 
 tempt to enter, chanting one of their scriptural battle-songs. They 
 were, by their own account, " obliged to give back a while," and 
 finally night settled down upon the scene. The following day, 
 finding the place no longer tenaole, the garrison silently with- 
 drew to Waterford, and subsequently to Limerick. The inhabi- 
 tants demanded a parley, which was granted ; and Cromwell taljM
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 548 
 
 mdit, and deserves it, when we consider the men he had to 
 humor, for having kept conditions with them. 
 
 From before Clonmel he returned at once to England, where he 
 was received with royal honors. All London turned out to meet 
 the Conqueror who had wiped out the humiliation of Benburb, 
 and humbled the pride of the detested Papists. He was lodged 
 in the palace of the king, and chosen " Captain-general of all the 
 forces raised, or to be raised, by the authority of the Parliament 
 of England." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE CONFEDERATE WAB. 
 
 THE tenth year of the contest of which we have endeavored to 
 follow the most important events, opened upon the remaining 
 Catholic leaders, greatly reduced in numbers and resources, but 
 firm and undismayed. Two chief seaports, and some of the western 
 counties still remained to them ; and accordingly we find meet- 
 ings of the Bishops and other notables during this year (1650), 
 at Limerick, at Loughrea, and finally at Jamestown, in the neigh- 
 borhood of Owen O'Neill's nursery of the first " Catholic Army." 
 
 The Puritan commander was now Henry Ireton, son-in law of 
 Cromwell, by a marriage contracted about two years before. The 
 completion of the Protector's policy could have devolved upon 
 fw persons more capable of understanding, or more fearless in ex- 
 ecuting it ; and in two eventful campaigns he proved himself the 
 able successor of the Protector. In August following Cromwell's 
 depai ture, Waterford and Duncannon were taken by Ireton ; and 
 there only remained to the Confederates the fortresses of Sligo f 
 Athloue, Limerick, and Galway, with the country included withit 
 the irregular quadrangle they describe. The younger Coot* 
 making a feint against Sligo, which Clanrickarde hastened to de- 
 1nd, turned suddenly on his steps, and surprised Athlone. Sligo, 
 naturally a place of no great strength after the invention of artil- 
 lery, soon after fell, so that Galway and Limerick alone were left, at 
 the beginning of 1651, to bear all the brunt of Puritan hostility. 
 
 Pol/tical events of great interest ^aappenrd during the two
 
 644 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 short years of Ireton's command. The Assembly, which me; At 
 Jamestown in August, and again at Loughrea in November, 1680, 
 made the retirement of Ormond from the Government a condi- 
 tion of all future efforts in the royal cause, and that nobleman, 
 deeply wounded by this condition, had finally sailed from Galway, 
 in December, leaving to Clanrickarde the title of Lord Deputy, 
 and to Castlehaven the command of the forces which still kept the 
 field. The news from Scotland of the young king's subscription 
 to the covenant, and denunciation of all terms with Irish Papists, 
 came to aid the councils of those, who, like the eloquent French, 
 Bishop of Ferns, demanded a national policy, irrespective of the 
 exigencies of the Stuart family. An embassy was accordingly 
 despatched to Brussels, to offer the title of King-Protector to the 
 Duke of Lorraine, or failing with him, to treat with any " other 
 Catholic prince, state, republic, or person, as they might deem 
 expedient for the preservation of the Catholic religion and nation ;" 
 A wide latitude, dictated by desperate circumstances. The am- 
 bassadors were Bishop French and Hugh Rochfort ; the embassy 
 one of the most curious and instructive in our annals. 
 
 The Duke expressed himself willing to undertake an expedition 
 to Ireland to supply arms and money to the Confederates on 
 the condition of receiving Athlone, Limerick, Athenry and Gal- 
 way into his custody, with the title of Protector. A considerable 
 sum of money (20,000) was forwarded at once ; four Belgian 
 frigates laden with stores were made ready for sea ; the Canon De 
 Ilenin was sent as envoy to the Confederates, and this last ven- 
 ture looked most promising of success, had not Clanrickarde in 
 Galway, and Charles and Ormond in Paris, taking alarm at the 
 new dignity conferred upon the Duke, countermined the Bishop 
 of Ferns and Mr. Rochfort, and defeated by intrigue and corre- 
 apondence their hopeful enterprise. 
 
 The decisive battle of Worcester, fought on the 8d of Septem- 
 ber, 1651, drove Charles II. into that nine years' exile, from 
 which he only returned on the death of Cromwell. It may be 
 tonaidered the last military event of importance in the English 
 eivil war. In Ireland the contest was destined to drag out 
 another campaign, before the walls of the two gfllant citie, 
 Galway and Limerick.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 545 
 
 Limerick was the first object of attack. Ireton, leaving Sankey 
 to administer martial law in Tipperary, struck th.e Shannon oppo- 
 site Killaloe, driving Castlehaven before him. Joined by Coote 
 and Reynolds, fresh from the sieges of Athenry and Athlone, he 
 moved upon Limerick by the Connaught bank of the river, while 
 Castlehaven fled to Clanricarde in G alway, with a guard of forty 
 horse, all that remained intact of the 4,000 men bequeathed him 
 by Ormond. From the side of Minister, Lord Muskerry attempted 
 a diversion in favor of Limerick, but was repulsed at Castleishen, 
 by " the flyirg camp " of Lord Broghill. The besiegers were 
 thus not only delivered of a danger, but reinforced by native 
 troops if the " Undertakers " could be properly called so 
 which made them the most formidable army that had ever sur- 
 rounded an Irish city. From early summer till the last week of 
 October, the main force of the English and Anglo-Irish, supplied 
 with every species of arm then invented, assailed the walls of 
 Limerick. The plague, which during these months swept with 
 such fearful mortality over the whole kingdom, struck down its 
 defenders and filled all its streets with desolation and grief. The 
 heroic bishops, O'Brien of Emly, and O'Dwyer of Limerick, 
 exerted themselves to uphold, by religious exhortations, the con- 
 fidence of the besieged ; while Hugh O'Neill and General Purcell 
 maintained the courage of their men. Clanrickarde had offered 
 to charge himself with the command, but the citizens preferred 
 to trust in the skill and determination of the defender of Clonmel, 
 whose very name was a talisman among them. The municipal 
 government, however, composed of the men of property in the 
 city, men w^aose trade was not war, whose religion was not 
 enthusiastic, formed a third party, a party in favor of peace at 
 any price. With the mayor at their head, they openly encouraged 
 the surrender of one of the outworks to the besiegers, and this 
 betrayal, on the 27th of October, compelled the surrender of tha 
 entire works. Thus Limerick fell, divided within itself by mili- 
 tary, clerical and municipal factions ; thus glory an d misfortune 
 combined to consecrate its name in the national veneration, and 
 the general memory of mankind. The Bishop of Emly and Gen- 
 eral Purcell wore executed as traitors ; the Bishop of Limerick 
 escaped in the disguise of a common soldier, an 1 died at Brussels ; 
 46*
 
 46 POPULAR BISTORT Off 1KJELAHD. 
 
 O'NeilFs life was saved by a single vote ; Sir Geoffrey Galwey 
 Aldermen Stritch and Fanning and other leading Confederate! 
 expiated their devotion upon the scaffold. 
 
 On the 12th of May following seven months after the captui 
 of Liuierick, Galw ay fell. Ireton, who survived the former siegu 
 but a few days, was succeeded by Ludlow, a sincere republican 
 of the school of Pym and Hanipden if that school can be called, 
 ir our modern sense, republican. It was the sad privilege of 
 General Preston, whose name is associated with so many of the 
 darkest, arid with some of the brightest incidents of this war, to 
 order the surrender of Galway, as he had two years previously 
 given upWaterford. Thus the last open port, the last considerable 
 town held by the Confederates yielded to the overwhelming power 
 of numbers and munitions, hi the twelfth year of that illustrious 
 war which Ireland waged for her religious and civil liberties, 
 against the forces of the two adjoining kingdoms, sometimes 
 estranged from one another, but always hostile alike to the reli- 
 gious belief and the political independence of the Irish people. 
 
 With the fall of Galway, the Confederate war drew rapidly to 
 a close. Colonels Fitzpatrick, OVDwyer, Grace, and Thorlogh 
 O'Neill, surrendered their posts ; Lords Enniskillen and Westmeath 
 followed their example ; Lord Muskerry yielded Ross Castle, on 
 Killarney, in June ; Clanrickarde laid down his arms at Carrick, 
 in October. The usual terms granted were liberty to transport 
 themselves and followers to the service of any foreign state or 
 prince at peace with the commonwealth; a favored few were per- 
 mitted to live and die in peace on their own estates, under tin, 
 watchful eye of some neighboring garrison. 
 
 The chief actors in the Confederate war not already accounted 
 for, terminated their days under many different circumstances. 
 Mountgarrett and Bishop Rothe died before Galway fell, and were 
 buried in the capital of the Confederacy ; Bishop McMahon, oi 
 Cl gher, surrendered to Sir Charles Coote, and was executed like 
 a .'d(, n by one he had saved from destruction a year before at 
 Derry ; Coote, after the Restoration, became Earl of Mountrath, 
 and Broghill, Earl of Orrery; Clanrickarde died unnoticed on 
 Lia English estate, under the Protectorate; Inchiquin, after many 
 adventures in foreign lands, turned Catholic in his old age, und
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 547 
 
 this burner of churches bequeathed au annual alms for masses fo* 
 his soul; /ones, Corbet, Cook, and the fanatical preacher, Hugh 
 Petere, peri -bed on the scaffold with the other regicides executed 
 by order of the English Parliament ; Ormond having shared the 
 evils of exile with the King, shared also the splendor of bis res- 
 toration, became a Duke, and took his place, aa if by common 
 consent, at the head of the peerage of the empire ; his Irish 
 rental, which before the war was but 7,000 a year, swelled 
 suddenly on tho Restoration to 80,000 ; Nicholas French, after 
 some sojourn in Spain, where he was coadjutor to the Archbishop 
 of Saint James, returned to Louvain, where he made his first 
 studies, and there spent the evening of his days in the composition 
 of those powerful pamphlets which kept alive the Irish cause at 
 home and on the continent ; a Roman patrician did the honors of 
 sepulture to Luke "Wadding, and Cromwell interred James Usher 
 in Westminster Abbey ; the heroic defender of Clonmel and 
 Limerick, and the gallant, though vacillating Preston, were cor- 
 dially received in France ; while the consistent republican Lud- 
 low took refuge as a fugitive in Switzerland. 
 
 Sir Phelim O'Neill, the first author of the war, waa among the 
 last to suffer the penalties of defeat. For a moment, towards the 
 end, he renewed his sway over the remnant of Owen's soldiers, 
 took Ballyshannon and two or three other places. Compelled at 
 last to surrender, he was carried to Dublin, and tried on a charge 
 of treason, a committee closeted behind the bench dictating the 
 interrogatories to his judges, and receiving his answers in reply. 
 Condemned to death, as was expected, he was offered his life by 
 the Puritan colonel, Hewson, on the very steps of the scaffold, if 
 he would inculpate the late King Charles in the rising of 1641. 
 This he " stoutly refused to do," and the execution proceeded 
 with all its atrocious details. Whatever may have been the 
 excesses committed under his command by a plundered people, 
 at their first insurrection and we know that they have been 
 exaggerated beyond all bounds it must be admitted he died th* 
 death of a Christian, a soliier, and a gentleman.
 
 648 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAHD. 
 
 CHAPTER XEI. 
 
 tRKLAUD CHDKK THK PROTECTORATE. ADMINISTRATION Or HENRY 
 CROMWELL. DEATH OF OLIVER. 
 
 THE English republic rose from the scaffold of the King, in 
 1649 ; its first goyernment was a " Council of State" of forty-one 
 members ; under this council, Cromwell held at first the title of 
 Lord General ; but, on the 16th December, 1653, he was solemnly 
 installed, in Westminster Hall, as " Lord Protector of the Com- 
 monwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland." He was then in 
 his fifty-fourth year ; his reign if such it may be called lasted 
 less than fire years. 
 
 The policy of the Protector towards Ireland is even less defen- 
 sible than his military severities. For the barbarities of war 
 there may be some apology, the poor one at least that such 
 outrages are inseparable from war itself; but for the cold-blooded, 
 deliberate atrocities of peace, no such defense can be permitted 
 before the tribunal of a free posterity. 
 
 The Long Parliament, still dragging out its date, under the 
 shadow of Cromwell's great name, declared in its session of 1652, 
 the rebellion in Ireland " subdued and ended," and proceeded to 
 legislate for that kingdom as a conquered country. On the 12th 
 of August, they passed their Act of Settlement, the authorship 
 of which was attributed to Lord Orrery, in this respect the 
 worthy son of the first Earl of Cork. Under this Act, there were 
 four chief descriptions of persons whose status was thus settled : 
 1st. All ecclesiastics and royalist proprietors were exempted from 
 pardon of life or estate. 2d. All royalist commissioned officers 
 were condemned to banishment, and the forfeit of two-thirds of 
 their property, one third being retained for the support of their 
 wives and children. 3d. Those who had not been in arms, but 
 who could be shown, by a Parliamentary commission, to have 
 manifested " a constant, good affection," to the war, were to for- 
 feit one third of their estates, and receive " an equivalent " for thu 
 remaining two-thirds west of the Shannon. 4th. All hiibimii'l 
 men and others of fie inferior sort, " not possessed of lands 01
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 540 
 
 goode exceeding the value of 10,' were to have a free pardon, 
 on condition also of transporting themselves across the Shannon. 
 
 This last condition of the Cromwellian settlement distinguished 
 it, in our annals, from every other proscription of the native popu- 
 lation formerly attempted. The great river of Ireland, rising in 
 the mountains of Leitrim, nearly severs the five western counties 
 from the rest of the kingdom. The province thus set apart, though 
 one of the largest in superficial extent, had also the largest pro- 
 portion of waste and water, mountain and moorland. The new 
 inhabitants were there to congregate from all the other provinces 
 before the 1st day of May, 1654, under penalty of outlawry and 
 all its consequences ; and when there, they were not to appear 
 within two miles of the Shannon or four miles of the sea. A 
 rigorous passport system, to evade which was death without 
 form of trial, completed this settlement, the design of which was 
 to shut up the remaining Catholic inhabitants from all intercourse 
 with mankind, and all communion with the other inhabitants of 
 their own country. 
 
 A new survey of the whole kingdom was also ordered, undel 
 the direction of Dr. William Petty, the fortunate economist, who 
 founded the house of Lansdowne. By him the surface of the 
 kingdom was estimated at ten millions and a half plantation 
 acres, three of which were deducted for waste and water. Of 
 the remainder, above 5,000,000 were in Catholic hands in 1641 ; 
 800,000 were church and college lands; and 2,000,000 were in 
 possession of the Protestant settlers of the reigns of James and 
 Elizabeth. Under the Protectorate, 5,000,000 acres were confis- 
 cated ; this enormous spoil, two-thirds of the whole island, went 
 to the soldiers and adventurers who had served against the Irish, 
 or had contributed to the military chest, since 1641 except 
 700,000 acres given in " exchange" to the banished in Clare and 
 Connaught ; and 1,200,000 confirmed to " innocent Papists." 
 Such was the complete uprooting of the ancient tenantry or 
 clansmen, from their original holdings, that during the survey, 
 orders of Parliament were issued, to bring back individuals from 
 C< nnaught to point out the boundaries of parrishes in Munster. It 
 cannot be imputed among the sins so freely laid to the historical 
 account of the native legislature, that an Irish parliament had
 
 550 POPULAR BISTORT OF IBKLAHD. 
 
 any share in sanctioning this universal spoliation. Cron.well an 
 ticipated the union of the kingdoms by a hundred and fifty years, 
 when he summoned, in 1653, that assembly over which "Praise 
 God Barcbones " presided; members for Ireland and Scotland sat 
 on the same benches with the commons of England. Oliver 7 ! 
 first deputy in the government of Ireland was hia son-in-law, 
 Fleetwood, who had married the widow of Ireton ; but his real 
 representative was his fourth son, Henry Cromwell, commander- 
 iu-chief of the army. In 1657, the title of Lord Deputy was 
 transferred from Fleetwood to Henry, who united the supreme 
 civil and military authority in his own person, until the eve of 
 the restoration, of which he became an active partisan. We may 
 thus properly embrace the five years of the Protectorate as the 
 period of Henry Cromwell's administration. 
 
 In the absence of a parliament, the government of Ireland waa 
 vested iu the deputy, the commander-in-chief, and four commis- 
 sioners, Ludlow, Corbett, Jones, and Weaver. There was, more- 
 over, a High Court of Justice, which perambulated the kingdom, 
 and exercised an absolute authority over life and property, greater 
 than even Strafford's Court of Castle Chamber had pretended to. 
 Over this court presided Lord Lowther, assisted by Mr. Justice 
 Donnellan, by Cooke, solicitor to the Parliament on the trial of 
 King Charles, and the regicide, Reynolds. By this court, Sir 
 Phclim 0'.Neill, Viscount Mayo, and Colonels O'Toole and Bagnal], 
 were condemned and executed ; by them the mother of Colonel 
 Fitzpatrick was burnt at the stake ; and Lords Muskerry and 
 Clanmaliere set at liberty, through some secret influence. The 
 commissioners were not behind the High Court of Justice in execu- 
 tive offices of severity. Children under age, of both sexes, were 
 captured by thousands, and sold as slaves to the tobacco planter! 
 of Virginia and the West Indies. Secretary Thurloe informs Henrj 
 Cromwell that "the Committee o* the Council have authorized 
 1 000 girls and as many youths, to be taken up for that purpose.' 1 
 Sir William Petty mentions 6,000 Irish boys and girls shipped to 
 ihe West Indies. Some cotemporary accounts make the total 
 number of children and adults PO transported 100,000 soula. To 
 this decimation, we may add 84,000 men of fighting age, who had 
 permission to enter the armies of foreign powers, at peace with
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 661 
 
 the commonwealth. The chief commissioners, sitting at Dublin, 
 had their deputies in a commission of delinquencies, sitting at 
 Athlone, and another of transportation, sitting at Loughre*. 
 Under their superintendence, the distribution made of the soil 
 among the Puritans " was nearly as complete as that of Canada 
 by the Israelites." Whenever native laborers were found abso- 
 lutely necessary for the cultivation of the estates of their new 
 masters, they were barely tolerated "as the Gibeonites had been 
 by Joshua." Such Irish gentlemen as had obtained pardona, 
 were obliged to wear a distinctive mark on their dress under 
 pain of death ; those of inferior rank were obliged to wear a 
 round black spot on the right cheek under pain of the branding 
 iron and the gallows ; if a Puritan lost his life in iny district in- 
 habited by Catholics, the whole population were held subject to 
 military execution. For the rest, whenever " Tory" or recusant fell 
 into the hands of these military colonists, or the garrisons which 
 knitted them together, they were assailed with the war cry of the 
 Jews " That thy feet may be dipped in the blood of thine ene- 
 mies, and that the tongues of thy dogs may be red with the 
 same." Thus penned in between " the mile line " of the Shannon ( 
 and " the four-mile line " of the sea, the remnant of the Irish 
 nation passed seven years of a bondage unequaled in severity by 
 any thing which can be found in the annals of Christendom. 
 
 The conquest was not only a military but a religious subjuga- 
 tion. The 27th of Elizabeth the old act of uniformity waa 
 rigorously enforced. The Catholic lawyers were disbarred and 
 silenced ; the Catholic schoolmasters were forbidden to teach, un- 
 der pain of felony. Recusants, surrounded in glens and caves, 
 offering up the holy sacrifice through the ministry of some daring 
 priest, were shot down or smoked out like vermin. The ecclesi- 
 astics never, in any instance, were allowed to escape. Among 
 those who suffered death during the short space of the Protecto- 
 rate, are counted " three bishops and three hundred ecclesiastics." 
 The surviving prelates were in exile, except the bedridden Bishop 
 of Kilmore, who for years had been unable to officiate. So that, 
 now, that ancient hierarchy which in the worst Danish wars had 
 still recruited its ranks as fast as they were broken, seemed on 
 the very eve of extinction. Throughout all the island no epi
 
 552 POPULAR HISTORY 01* IRELAJTD. 
 
 copal hand remained to bless altars, to ordain priests, or to eon 
 firm the faithful The Irish church as well as the Irish state, 
 touched its lowest point of suffering and endurance in the decade 
 which intervened between the death of Charles L and the death 
 of Cromwell. 
 
 The new population imposed upon the kingdom, soon split up 
 into a multitude of sects. Some of them became Quakers ; many 
 adhered to the Anabaptists ; others, after the Restoration, con- 
 formed to the established church. That deeper tincture of 
 Puritanism which' may be traced in the Irish, as compared with 
 the English establishment, took it origin even more from tbe 
 Cromwellian settlement than from the Calvinistic teachings of 
 Archbishop Usher. 
 
 Oliver died in 1658, on his " fortunate day," the 3d of Sep- 
 tember, leaving England to experience twenty months of repub- 
 lican intrigue and anarchy. Eichard Cromwell Lambert Lud 
 low Monk each played his part in th : t stormy interval, till, the 
 time being ripe for a restoration, Charles II. landed at Dover on 
 the 23d of May, 1660, and WAS carried in triumph to London,
 
 POPULAR UISXOKY OS IRELAND 53 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II 
 TO THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE L 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REIGN OF CHARLES II. 
 
 HOPE is dear to the heart of man, and of all her votaries none 
 have been more constant than the Irish. Half a century of the 
 Stuarts had not extinguished their blind partiality for the de- 
 scendants of the old Scoto-Irish kings. The restoration of that 
 royal house was, therefore, an event which penetrated to the 
 remotest wilds of Connaught, lighting up with cheering expects 
 tion the most desolate hovels of the proscribed. To the Puritans 
 settled in Ireland, most of whom, from the mean condition of 
 menial servants, common soldiers and subaltern officers, had be- 
 come rich proprietors, the same tidings brought apprehension 
 and alarm. But their leaders, the Protestant gentry of an earlier 
 date, wealthy, astute and energetic, uniting all their influence for 
 the common protection, turned this event, which seemed at one 
 time to threaten their ruin, to their advantage and greater secu- 
 rity. The chief of these greater leaders was the accomplished 
 Lord Broghill, whom we are to know during this reign under his 
 more famous title of Earl of Orrery. 
 
 The position of the Irish as compared with the English Puri- 
 tans, was essentially different in the eyes of Ormond, Clarendon 
 and the other councillors of the king. Though the former repre- 
 sented dissent as against the church, they also represented the 
 English as against the Irish interest, in Ireland. As dissenters 
 they were disliked and ridiculed, but as colonists they could not 
 be disturbed. When national antipathy was placed in oae icalc 
 47
 
 654 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAKD. 
 
 and religious animosity in the other, the intensely national feeling 
 of England for the Cromwellians, as Englishmen settled in a hos- 
 tile country, prevailed over every other consideration. In this, 
 as in all other conjunctures, it has been the singular infelicity of 
 the one island to be subjected to a policy directly opposite to 
 that pursued in the other. While in England it was considered 
 wise and just to break down the Puritans as a party through the 
 court, the pulpit and the press ; to drive the violent into exile, 
 and to win the lukewarm to conformity ; in Ireland it was decided 
 to confirm them in their possessions, to leave the government of 
 the kingdom in their hands, and to strengthen their position by 
 the Acts of Settlement and Explanation. These acts were hailed 
 as " the Magna Chart* of Irish Protestantism," but so far as the 
 vast majority of the people were concerned, they were as cruelly 
 unjust as the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or the edieta 
 which banished the Moors and Jews from the Spanish peninsula. 
 The struggle for possession of the soil inaugurated by the con- 
 fiscations of Elizabeth and James, was continued against great 
 odds by the Catholic Irish, throughout this reign. Though the 
 royal declaration of Breda which preceded the restoration had 
 not mentioned them expressly, they still claimed under it not only 
 the "liberty to tender consciences," but that "just satisfaction" 
 to those unfairly deprived of their estates, promised in that decla- 
 ration. Accordingly, several of the old gentry returned from 
 Connaught or places abroad, took possession of their old hr mes, 
 or made their way at once to Dublin or London to urge their 
 claims to their former estates. To their dismay, they found in 
 Dublin, Coote and BroghSU established as Lords Justices, and the 
 new parliament the first that sal for twenty years composed of 
 an overwhelming majority of Undertakers, adventurers and Puri- 
 tan representatives of boroughs from which all the Catholic 
 "lectors had been long excluded. The Protestant interest, or 
 "ascendancy party," as it now began to be commonly called, 
 counted in the Commons 198 members to 64 Catholics; in the 
 House of Lords, *"2 Protestant to 21 Catholic peers. The former 
 elected Sir Audley Mervyn their Speaker, and the able but 
 curiously intricate and quaint discourses of the ancient colleague 
 of Kelly and Darcy in the assertion of Irish legiilative indepen-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 566 
 
 dence, shows how different was the spirit of Irish Protestantism 
 in 1661 as compared with 1641. The Lords chose Bramhall, the 
 long-exiled Bishop of Derry, now Archbishop of Armagh, as their 
 Speaker, and attempted to compel their members " to take the 
 sacrament " according to the Anglican ritual. The majority of 
 both houses, to secure the good will of Ormond voted him the 
 sum of 30,000, and then proceeded to consider " the Bill of Settle- 
 ment," in relation to landed property. The Catholic bar, which 
 had been apparently restored to its freedom, presented a striking 
 array of talent, from which their co-religionists selected those by 
 whom they desired to be heard at the bar of the House. The 
 venerable Darcy and the accomplished Belling were no longer 
 their oracles of the law ; but they had the services of Sir Nicholas 
 Plunkett an old confederate, of Sir Richard Nagle, author of the 
 famous " Coventry Letter," of Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, 
 and other able men. In the House of Lords they had m intrepid 
 ally hi the Earl of Kildare, and in England an agent equally in- 
 trepid, in Colonel Richard Talbot, afterwards Earl of TyrconneU. 
 The diplomatic and parliamentary struggle between the two in- 
 terests, the disinherited and the new proprietory, was too pro- 
 tracted, and the details are too involved for elucidation in every 
 part; but the result tells its own story. In 1676 in the fifteenth 
 year of the restoration the new settlers possessed above 4,500,000 
 acres, to about 2,250,000 still retained by the old owners. These 
 relative proportions were exactly the reverse of those existing 
 before the Cromwellian settlement ; a single generation had seen 
 this great revolution accomplished hi landed property. 
 
 The Irish parliament having sent over to England the htada 
 of their bill, according to the constitutional rule established by 
 Poyning's Act, the Irish Catholics sent over Sir Nicholas Plun- 
 kett to obtaii. modifications of its provisions. But Plunkett was 
 met in England with such an outcry from the mob and the press 
 as to the alleged atrocities of the confederate war, and his own 
 former negotiations on the continent, that he was unable to effect 
 anything ; while Colonel Talbot, for his too warm expostulations 
 with Ormond, was sent to the Tower. An order of council, for- 
 bidding Plunkett the presence, and declaring that " no petition 
 r further address be made from the Roman Catholics of Ireland,
 
 556 POPULAR HI8T3RY OF IRELAND. 
 
 as to the Bill of Settlement," closed the controversy, and the Ad 
 oon after received the ro^al assent. 
 
 Under this act, a court was established at Dublin, to try the 
 claims of " nocent" and " innocent" Notwithstanding every in 
 fluence which could be brought to bear on them, the judges, wh 
 were Englishmen, declared in their first session, one hundred an- 
 sixty eight innocent to nineteen nocent. Proceeding in this spirit 
 " to the great loss and dissatisfaction of the Protestants," the 
 latter, greatly alarmed, procured the interference of Ormond, now 
 Lord Lieutenant (1662), in effecting a modification of the com- 
 mission, appointing the court, by which its duration was limited 
 to an early day. The consequence was, that while less than 800 
 claims were decided on when the fatal day arrived, over 3,000 
 were left unheard, at least a third of whom were admitted even 
 by their enemies to be innocent. About 600 others had been 
 restored by name in the Act of Settlement itself; but, by the Act 
 of Explanation (1605), "no Papist, who had not been adjudged 
 innocent," under the former act, could be so adjudged thereafter, 
 " or entitled to claim any lands or settlemente." Thus, even the 
 inheritance of hope, and the reversion of expectation, were ex- 
 tinguished forever for the sons an* 1 daughters of the ancient 
 gentry of the kingdom. 
 
 The religious liberties of this people, so crippled in property 
 and political power, were equally at the mercy of the mob and of 
 the monarch. To combat the war of calumny waged against 
 them by the Puritan press and pulpit, the leading Catholics re- 
 solved to join in an official and authentic declaration of their true 
 principles, as to the spiritual power of the Pope, their allegiance 
 to the prince, end their relations to their fellow subjects of uther 
 denominations. With this intention a meeting was held at the 
 house of the Marquis of Clanrickarde, in Dublin, at which Lords 
 Clancarty, Cnrlingford, Fingnl, Castlehaven, and Inchiquin, and 
 the leading commoners of their faith, were present. At this 
 meeting, Father Peter Walsh, a Franciscan, and an old courtier 
 of Ormond's, as " Procurator of all the Clergy of Ireland," secular 
 and regular, produced credentials signed by the surviving 
 biphops or thoir vicars including the Primate O'Reilly, th 
 Bishops of Meath, Ardagh, Kilmore, and Ferns. Richard Bel-
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 667 
 
 ling, the secretary to the first Confederate Council, and envoy to 
 Rome, submitted the celebrated document known as " The Re- 
 monstrance," deeply imbued with the spirit of the Gallican 
 church of that day. It was signed by about seventy Catholic 
 peers and commoners, by the Bishop of Kilmore, by Procurator 
 Walsh, and by the townsmen of Wexford almost the only 
 urban community of Catholics remaining in the country. But 
 the propositions it contained as to the total independency of the 
 temporal on the spiritual power, and the ecclesiastical patronage 
 of princes, was condemned at the Sorbonne, at Louvain, and at 
 Rome. The regular orders, by their several superiors, utterly 
 rejected it; the exiled bishops withdrew their proxies from 
 Father Walsh, and disclaimed his conduct ; the Internuncio at 
 Brussels, charged with the affairs of the British Isles, denounced 
 it as contrary to the canons ; and the elated Procurator found 
 himself involved in a controversy from which he never after- 
 wards escaped, and with which his memory is still angrily 
 associated. 
 
 The conduct of Ormond in relation to this whole business of the 
 Remonstrance, was the least creditable part of his administra- 
 tion. Writhing under the eloquent pamplilets of the exiled 
 Bishop of Ferns, keenly remembering his own personal wrongs 
 against the former generation of bishops, of whom but three or 
 four were yet living, he resolved " to work that division among 
 the Romish clergy," which he had long meditated. With this 
 view, he connived at a meeting of the surviving prelates and the 
 superiors of regular orders, at Dublin, in 1666. To this synod 
 safe conduct was permitted to the Primate O'Reilly, banished to 
 Belgium nine years before ; to Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, 
 John Burke, Archbishop of Tuam, Patrick Plunkett, Bishop of 
 Ardagh, the vicars-general of other prelates, and the superiors 
 of the regulars. This venerable body deliberated anxiously for 
 an entire week, Father Walsh acting as embassador between 
 them and the Viceroy ; at length, in spite of all politic consider- 
 ations, they unanimously rejected the servile doctrine of tha 
 " Remonstrance." substituting instead a declaration of their own 
 dictation. Ormond now cast off all affectation of liberality ; Pri- 
 mate O'Reilly was sent back to hia banishment, th other prelate* 
 47*
 
 658 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 and clergy were driven back to their hiding-places, or into exile 
 abroad, and the wise, experienced, high-spirited duke, did not 
 hesitate to avail himself of " the Popish plot" mania, which soon 
 after broke out, to avenge himself upon an order of men whom he 
 could neither break nor bend to his purposes! Of 1,100 secular 
 priests, and 700 regulars, still left, only sixty-nine had signed 
 tho Claurickarde House .Remonstrance. 
 
 An incident of this same year 1666 illustrates more forcibly 
 than description could do, the malignant feeling which had been 
 cxi-itcd in England, against everything Irish. The importation 
 of Irish cattle had long been considered an English grievance, it 
 was now declared by law " a nuisance." The occasion taken tc 
 pass this statute was as ungracious as the act itself was despicable. 
 In consequence of " the great fire," wliich still glows for us in the 
 immortal verse of Dry den, the Irish had sent over to the distressed, 
 a contribution of 15,000 bullocks. This was considered by the 
 generous recipients a mere pretence to preserve the trade in cattle 
 between the two kingdoms, and accordingly both houses, after 
 some sharp resistance in the Lords', gravely enacted that the im- 
 portation of Irish beef into England was " a nuisance," to be abated. 
 From this period most probably dates the famous English sarcasm 
 against Irish build. 
 
 The act prohibiting the export of cattle from Ireland, and the 
 equally exelusive and unjust Navigation Act originally devised 
 by Cromwell so paralyzed every Irish industry, that the Puritan 
 party became almost as dissatisfied as the Catholics. They main- 
 tained a close correspondence with their brethren in England, 
 and began to speculate on the possibilities of another revolution. 
 Ormorid, to satisfy their demands, distributed 20,000 stand of 
 arms among them, and reviewed the Leinster Militia, on the Cur- 
 rngh, in 1 667. The next year ho was recalled, and Lords Robarta, 
 Berkely, and Essex, successively appointed to the government. 
 The first, a Puritan and almost a regicide, held office but a few 
 months ; the second, a cavalier and a friend of toleration, for two 
 years ; while Essex, one of those fair-minded but yielding charac- 
 ters known in the next reign as "Trimmers," petitioned for hi 
 own recall, and Ormond's restoration, in 1676. The only event* 
 which marked those hut nine years from Ormond'i removal til]
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 0V IRELAND. 559 
 
 his reappointment were the surprise of Carrickfergus by a party 
 of unpaid soldiers, and their desperate defence of that ancient 
 stronghold ; the embassies to and from the Irish Catholics and th* 
 court, of Colonel Richard Talbot; and the establishment of ex 
 tensive woollen manufactories at Thomastown, Oallan, and Kil 
 kenny, under the patronage of Ormond. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REIGN OF CHARLES H. (CONCLUDED.) 
 
 FOR the third tune, the aged Ormond, now arrived at the 
 period usually allotted to the life of man, returned to Ireland, with 
 the rank of viceroy. During the ensuing seven years, he clung 
 to power with all the tenacity of his youth, and all the policy 01 
 his prime ; they were seven years of extraordinary sectarian panic 
 and excitement the years of the Cabal, the Popish plot, and the 
 Exclusion Bill, in England and of fanatical conspiracies and ex~ 
 plosions almost as dangerous in Ireland. 
 
 The Popish plot mania held possession of the English people 
 much longer than any other moral epidemic of equal virulence. 
 In the month of October, 1678, its alleged existence in Ireland 
 was commuicated to Ormond ; in July, 1681, its most illustrious 
 victim, Archbishop Plunkett, perished on the scaffold at Tyburn. 
 "Within these two points of time what a chronicle of madnesa, 
 folly, perjury, and cruelty, might be written ? 
 
 Ormond, too old in statecraft to believe in the existence of these 
 incredible plots, was also too well aware of the dangerous element 
 of fanaticism represented by Titus Gates, and his imitators, to sub- 
 ject himself to suspicion. On the first intelligence of the plot, he 
 instantly issued his proclamation for the arrest of Archbishop Tal- 
 bot, of Dublin, who had been permitted to return from exile under 
 the rule of Lord Berkely, and had since resided with his brother 
 Colonel Talbot, at Cartown, near Maynooth. This prelate was 
 of Ormond' s own age, and of a family aa ancient ; while his learn*
 
 t>60 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 Ing, courage, and morality, made h m an ornament to his order 
 lit was seized in his sick bed at Cartowii, carried to Dublin in a 
 chair, and confined a close prisoner in the castle, where he died 
 two years later. He was the last distinguished captive destined 
 to end his days in that celebrated state prison, which has sine* 
 been generally dedicated to the peaceful purposes of a reflected 
 royalty. 
 
 Colonel Talbot was at the sume time arrested, but allowed to 
 retire beyond seas ; Lord Mountgarret, an octogenarian, and in ui 
 dotage, was seized, but nothing could be made out against him ; a 
 Colonel Peppard was also denounced from England, but no such 
 person was found to exist. So far the first year of the plot had 
 passed over, and proved nothing against the Catholic Irish. But 
 the example of successful villainy in England, of Gates idolized, 
 pensioned, and all-powerful, extended to the sister kingdom, and 
 brought an illustrious victim to the scaffold. This was Oliver 
 Plunkett, a scion of the noble family of Fingal, who had been 
 Archbishop of Armagh, since the death of Dr. O'Reilly, in exile, 
 in 1669. Such had been the prudence and circumspection of Dr. 
 Plunkett, during his perilous administration, that the agents of 
 Lord Shaftesbury, sent over to concoct evidence for the occasion, 
 were afraid to bring him to trial in the vicinage of his arrest, or 
 in his own country. Accordingly, they caused him to be removed 
 from Dublin to London, contrary to the laws and customs of both 
 Kingdoms, which had first been violated towards state prisoners 
 in the case of Lord Maguire, forty years before. 
 
 Dr. Plunkett after ten months' confinement without trial in Ire- 
 land, was removed, 1 680, and arraigned at London, on the 8th of 
 June, 1C81, without having had permission to communicate with 
 hia friends or to send for witnesses. The prosecution was con- 
 ducted by Maynard and Jeffries, in violation of every form of 
 law, and every consideration of justice. A " crown agent," whose 
 name is given as Gorman, was introduced by " a stranger " in 
 court, and volunteered testimony in his favor. The Earl of Essex 
 interceded with the king on his behalf, but Charles answered' 
 almost in the words of Pilate " I cannot pardon him, because I 
 dare not. Ilia blood be upon your conscience ; you could have 
 laved him if you plei sed. H The Jury after a quarter of an hour'f
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 561 
 
 deliberation brought in their verdict of guilty, and the brutal 
 chief-justice condemned him to be hung, emboweled, and quar- 
 tered on the 1st day of July, 1681. The venerable martyr, for 
 such he may well be called, bowed his head to the bench, and 
 exclaimed : De n gratias ! Eight years from the very day of his 
 execution, on the banks of that river beside which he had been 
 seized and dragged from his retreat, the last of the Stuart kings 
 was stricken from his throne; and his dynasty stricken from his- 
 tory ! Does not the blood of the innocent cry to Heaven for 
 vengeance ? 
 
 The charges against Dr. Plunkett were, that Le maintained 
 treasonable correspondence with France and Rome, and the Irish 
 on the continent ; that he had organized an insurrection in Louth, 
 Monaghon, Cavan, and Armagh ; that he made preparations for 
 the landing of a French force at Carlingford ; and that he had held 
 several meetings to raise men and money for these purposes. Utterly 
 absurd and false as these charges were, they still indicate the 
 troubled apprehensions which filled the dreams of the ascendency 
 party. The fear of French invasion, of new insurrections, of the 
 resumption of estates, haunted them by night and day. Every 
 sign was to them significant of danger, and every rumor of con- 
 spiracy was taken for fact. The report of a strange fleet off the 
 Southern coast, which turned out to be English, threw them all 
 into panic ; and the Corpus Christ! crosses which the peasantry 
 affixed to their doors, were nothing but signs for the Papist de- 
 stroyer to pass by, and to spare his fellows in the general mas- 
 sacre of Protestants. 
 
 Under the pressure of these panics, real or pretended, procla- 
 mation after proclamation issued from the castle. By one of 
 these instruments, Ormond prohibited Catholics from entering the 
 Castle of Dublin, or any other fortress ; from holding fairs or 
 markets within the walls of corporate towns, and from carrying 
 arms to such resorts. By another, he declared all relatives of 
 known Tories a Gaelic term for a driver of prey to be arrested, 
 and banished the kingdom, within fourteen days, unless such 
 Tories were killed, or surrendered, within that time. Where thii 
 device failed to reach the destined victims as in the celebrated 
 casa of Count Redmond O'Hanlon it is to be feared that he did.
 
 62 >OPtJLAR BISTORT 0* 
 
 not hesitate to whet the dagger of the assassia, which was stifl 
 sometimes employed, even in the British Islands, to remove 
 a dangerous antagonist. Count O'Hanlon, a gentleman of ancient 
 lineage, as accomplished as Orrery, or Ossory, was indeed an 
 outlaw to the code then in force ; but the stain of his cowardly 
 assassination must forever blet and rot the princely escutcheon 
 of James, Duke of Ormoud. 
 
 The violence of religious and social persecution began to sub- 
 side during the last two or three years of Charles II. Monmouth's 
 banishment, Shaftesbury's imprisonment, the execution of Russell 
 and Sidney on the scaffold, marked the return of the English 
 public mind to political pursuits and objects. Early in 1686, the 
 king was taken mortally ill. In bis last moments he received the 
 rites of the Catholic church, from the hands of Father Huddle 
 eton, who was said to have saved his life at the battle of Worces- 
 ter, and who was now even more anxious to save his souL 
 
 This event took place on the 16th of February. King Jamea 
 was immediately proclaimed successor to his brother. One of 
 his first acts was to recall Ormond from Ireland and to appoint 
 in his place the Earl of Clarendon, son of the historian and 
 statesman of the Restoration. Ormond obeyed, not without regret ; 
 he survived his fall about three years. He was interred in West- 
 minster in 1688, three months before the landing of William, and 
 the second banishment of the Stuarts. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 rat STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DDRINO THB 
 SEVENTEENTH OENTUBT. 
 
 BEFORE plunging into the troubled torrent of the revolution of 
 1688, let us cast a glance back on the century, and consider th 
 fate of learning and religion during those three generations. 
 
 If we divide the Irish literature of this century by subject*, 
 w shall find extant a respectable body both in quantity and
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 663 
 
 quality, of theology, history, law, politics, and poetry. If we 
 divide it by the languages in which that literature was written, 
 ire may consider it as Latin, Gaelic, and English. 
 
 I. Latin continued throughout Europe, even till this late day, 
 the language of the learned, but especially of theologians, jurists, 
 and historians. In Latin, the great tomes of O'Sullivan, Usher, 
 Colgan, Wadding, and White, were written volumes which re- 
 main as so many monuments of the learning and industry of that 
 age. The chief objects of these illustrious writers were, to 
 restore the ancient ecclesiastical history of Ireland, to rescue the 
 memory of her saints and doctors from oblivion, and to introduce 
 the native annals of the kingdom to the attention of Europe. 
 Though Usher differed in religion, and in his theory of the early 
 connection of the Irish with the Roman Church, from all the rest, 
 yet he stands preeminent among them for labor and research. 
 The Waterford Franciscan, Wadding, can omy be named with 
 him for inexhaustible patience, various learning, and untiring 
 seal. Both were honored of princes and parliaments. The Con- 
 'ederates would have made Wadding a cardinal ; Ki ag James 
 made Usher an archbishop : one instructed the Westminster 
 Assembly ; the other was sent by the King of Spain to maintain 
 the thesis of the Immaculate Conception at Rome, and subsequently 
 was entrusted by the Pope to report upon the propositions of Jan- 
 senius. O'Sullivan, Conde de Berehaven, in Spain, and Peter 
 White, have left us each two or three Latin volumes on the 
 history of th country, highly prized by all subsequent writers. 
 But the most indispensable of the legacies left us in this tongue, 
 are Colgan's ' Acta Sanctorum " from January to March, and 
 Dr. John Lynch's " Cambrensis E versus." Many other works 
 and authors might be mentioned, but these are the great Latinista 
 to whom we are indebted for the most important services rendered 
 to our national history. 
 
 IL In the Gaelic literature of the country we count Geoffrey 
 Keating, Dnald McFirbis, and " the Four Masters " of Donegal 
 Few writers have been more rashly judged than Keating. A 
 poet, as well as a historian, he gave a prominence in the early 
 chapters of his history to bardic tales, which English critics have 
 seized upon to damage hia reputation for truthfulness and good
 
 564 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 cense. But these tales be gives as tales as curious ai d illustratiTt 
 rather than as credible and unquestionable. The purity of Us 
 style is greatly extolled by Gaelic critics ; and the interest of his 
 narrative, even in a translation, is undoubted. McFirbis, n 
 annalist and genealogist by inheritance, is known to us not ouiy 
 for his profound native lore, and tragic death, but also for the 
 assistance he rendered Sir James Ware, Dr. Lynch, and Roderick 
 O'Flaherty. The master-piece, however, of our Gaelic literature 
 of this age, is the work now called " the Annals of the Four Mas- 
 ters." In the reign of James I., a few Franciscan friars, living 
 partly in Donegal Abbey and partly in St. Anthony's College, at 
 Lou vain, undertook to collect and collate all the manuscript re- 
 mains of Irish antiquity they could gather or borrow, or be 
 allowed to copy. Father Hugh Ward was the head of this group, 
 and by him the lay brother Michael O'Clery, one of the greatest 
 benefactors his country ever saw, was sent from Belgium to Ire- 
 land. From 1620 to 1630, O'Clery traveled through the kingdom, 
 buying or transcribing everything he could find relating to the 
 lives of the Irish saints, which he sent to Louvain, where Ward 
 and Colgan undertook to edit and illustrate them. Father Ward 
 died in the early part of the undertaking, but Father Colgan 
 spent twenty years in prosecuting the original design, so far as 
 concerned our ecclesiastical biography. 
 
 After collecting these materials, Father O'Clery waited, as he 
 tells us, on " the noble Fergall O'Gara," one of the two knighta 
 elected to represent the county of Sligo in the Parliament of 1 684, 
 and perceiving the anxiety of O'Gara, " from the cloud which at 
 present hangs over our anciei<t Milesian race," he proposed to 
 collect the civil and military annals of Erin into one large digest. 
 O'Gara, struck with this proposal, freely supplied the means, and 
 O'Clery and his coadjutors set to work, in the Franciscan Convent 
 of Donegal, which still stood, not more than half in ruins. 
 
 On the 2'2d of January, 1632, they commenced this digest, 
 i.J on thu l;jth of August, 1686, it was finished having occu- 
 pied them four years, seven months and nineteen days. Th 
 MS., dedicated to O'Gara, is authenticated by the superiors of 
 the convent; fr.mi that original two editions hav recently ben 
 printed in both languages.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 07 IRELAND. 565 
 
 These annals extend to the year 1616, the time of the com- 
 pilers. Originally they bore the title of " Annals of the Kingdom 
 of Ireland," but Colgan having quoted them as " The Annals of 
 thf IV. Masters " that name remains ever since. The " Four 
 M asters " were Brother Michael O'Clery, Conary and Peregrine 
 O'Clery, his brothers, both laymen and natives of Donegal, and 
 Florence Conroy, of Roscommon, another hereditary antiquary. 
 
 She first edition of the New Testament, in the Gaelic tongue, 
 so far as we are aware, appeared at Dublin, in 1603, in quarto. 
 The translation was the work of a native scholar, C'Cionga 
 (Anglicized, King). It was made at the expense and under the 
 supervision of Dr. William O'Donnell, one of the first fellows of 
 Trinity, and published at the cost of the people of Connaught. 
 Dr. O'Donnell, an amiable man, and an enemy of persecution, be. 
 came subsequently archbishop of Tuam, in which dignity he died, 
 in 1628. A translation of the Book of Common Prayer, by 
 O'Donnell, appeared early in the century, and towards its close 
 (1685), a translation of the Old Testament, made for Bishop Bedell 
 by the Gaelic scholars of Meath and Cavan, was published at the 
 expense of the famous Robert Boyle. Bedell had also caused to 
 be published Gaelic translations of certain homilies of Saint Leo 
 and Saint John Chrysostom, on the importance of studying the 
 holy Scriptures. The only other Gaelic publications of this 
 period were issued from the Irish colleges at Louvain and Rome. 
 Thence issued the devotional tracts of Conroy, of Gernon, and 
 O'Molloy, and the Irish grammars of O'Clery and Stapleton- 
 The devotional tracts, with their fanciful titles, of " Lamps," and 
 " Mirrors," were smuggled across from Ostend and Dunkirk with 
 other articles of contraband, and did much to keep alive the flame 
 of faith and hope in the hearts of the Gaelic-speaking popula- 
 tion. 
 
 The bardic order also, though shorn of much of their ancient 
 tplendor, and under the Puritan regime persecuted as vagrants, 
 loll flourished as an estate of the realm. The national tendency 
 to poetic writing was not confined to the hereditary verse makers, 
 but was illustrated by such men as the martyred Plunkett, and the 
 pishops of Meath and Kerry Dr. Thomas Dense, and Dr. John 
 O'Connell. But the gj-eat body of Gaelic verso of the first half 
 48
 
 66 POPULAR HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 
 
 of this century is known under the name of " the Content/ons of 
 the Bards," the subject being the relative dignity, power, and 
 prowess of the North and South. The gauntlet in this poetic 
 warfare, was thrown down by McDaire, the Bard of Donogh 
 O'Brien, fourth Earl of Thomond, and taken up on the part of 
 Ulster by Lewy O'Clery. Reply led to rejoinder, and one epistle 
 to another, until all the chief bards of the four provinces had 
 taken sides. Half a dozen writers, pro and con, were particularly 
 distinguished ; McDaire himself, Turlogh O'Brien, and Art oge 
 O'lveefe on behalf of the Southerners ; O'Clery, O'Donnell, the 
 two McEgans, and Robert McArthur on the side of the North. 
 
 An immense mass of devotional Gaelic poetry may be traced 
 to tliis period. The religious wars, the calamities of the church 
 Bud of the people, inspired many a priest and layman to seize 
 the harp of David, and pour forth his hopes and griefs in sacred 
 song. The lament of Mac Ward over the Ulster princes buried at 
 Rome, the odes of Dermod Conroy and Flan McNamee, in honor 
 of our Blessed Lady, are of this class. Thus it happened that 
 the bardic order, which in ancient tunes was the formidable 
 enemy of Christianity, became through adversity and affliction 
 its greatest supporter. 
 
 111. Our Hiberno-English literature is almost entirely the crea- 
 tion of this century. Except some few remarkable state papers, we 
 have no English writings of any reputation of an earlier period. 
 Now, however, when the language of the empire, formed and en- 
 riched by the great minds of Elizabeth's era, began to extend 
 its influence at home and abroad, a school of Iliberno English writ- 
 ers appeared, both numerous and distinguished. This school 
 was as yet composed mainly of two classes the dramatic poets, 
 and the pamphleteers. Of the latter were Bishop French, Sir 
 Richard Nagle, Sir Richard Belling, Lord Orrery, Father Peter 
 Walsh, and William Molyneuz ; of the former, Ludowick Barry, 
 Sir John Denham, the Earl of Roscommon, and Richard Flecknoe, 
 the Mac Flecknoe of Dryden. It is true there appeared as yet 
 no supreme name like Swift's ; but aa indicating the gradual ex- 
 tension of the English language into Ireland, the popular pam- 
 phlets and pieces written for the stage are illustrations of oui 
 mental life not to be overlooked.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT Or IRELAND. 567 
 
 Of the ancient schools of the island, after the final suppression 
 of the college at Galway in 1662, not one remained. A diocesan 
 tollege at Kilkenny, and the Dublin University, were alone open 
 o the youth of the country. But the University remained ex- 
 clusively in possession of the Protestant interest, nor did it give 
 to the world during the century, except Usher, Ware and Orrery, 
 any graduate of national, not to say, European reputation. In 
 the bye-ways of the South and West, in the Irish colleges on the 
 continent of Europe at Paris, Louvain, Lisle, Salamanca, Lis- 
 bon, or Rome the children of the proscribed *najority could 
 alone acquire a degree in learning, human or divine, It was as 
 impossible two centuries ago, to speak of Trinity Coflege with 
 respect, as it is in our time, remembering all it has since done, to 
 speak of it without veneration. 
 
 Though the established church had now completed its century 
 and a halt of existence, it was as far from the hearts of the Irish 
 as ever. Though the amiable Bedell and the learned O'Donnell 
 had caused the sacred Scriptures to be translated into the Gaelic 
 tongue, few converts had been made from the Catholic ranks, 
 while the spirit ot animosity was inflamed by a sense of the cruel 
 and undeserved disabilities inflicted in the name of religion. The 
 manifold sects introduced under Cromwell gave a keener edge to 
 Catholic contempt for the doctrines of the reformation; and 
 although the restoration of the monarchy threw the extreme sect, 
 aries into the shade, it added nothing to the influence of the 
 church, except the fatal gift of political patronage. For the first 
 time, the high dignity of Archbishop of Armagh began to be 
 regarded as the inheritance of the leader of the House of Lords ; 
 then Brahmall and Boyle laid the foundation of that primatial 
 power which Boulter and Stone upheld under another dynasty, 
 but which vanished before the first dawn of parliamentary inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 In the quarter of a century which elapsed from the restoration 
 to the revolution, the condition of the Catholic clergy and laity 
 was such as we have already described. In 1662, an historian of the 
 Jesuit missionaries in Ireland described the sufferings of ecclesi- 
 astics as deplorable ; they were forced to fly to the herds of cattle 
 In remote places, to eek a refuge in barns and stables, or to tleeji
 
 668 POPULAR HISTORY OF 
 
 at n.jjjht in the porticoes of temples, lest they should endanger 
 the safety of the laity. In that same year, Orrery advised Or- 
 mond to purge the walled towns of papists, who were still " three 
 to one Protestant ;" in 1672, Sir William Petty computed them at 
 " eight to one " of the entire population. 
 
 " So captive Israel multiplied in chains." 
 
 The martyrdom of the Archbishop of Dublin, in 1680, and of 
 the Archbishop of Armagh in 1681, were, however, the last of 
 a series of executions for conscience-sate, from the relation of 
 which the historian might well have been excused, if it was not 
 necessary to remind our emancipated posterity at what a price 
 they have been purchased. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ACCESSION OF JAKES II. TYRCO.VNELI/S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 FROM the accession of King James till his final flight from Ire- 
 land, in July, 1690, there elapsed an interval of five years and five 
 months ; a period fraught with consequences of the highest in- 
 terest to this history. The new king was, on his accession, in his 
 fifty-second year ; he had served, as Duke of York, with credit 
 both by land and sea, was an avowed Catholic, and married to a 
 Catholic princess, the beautiful and unfortunate Mary of Modena- 
 
 Within a month from the proclamation of the king, Ormond 
 quitted the government for the last time, leaving Primate Boyle, 
 and Lord Granard, as Justices. In January, 1686, Lord Claren- 
 don, son of the historian, assumed the government, in which he 
 cntlnued, till the 16th of March, 1687. The day following the 
 national anniversary, Colonel Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, 
 a Catholic, and the former agent for the Catholics, was installed 
 as Lord Deputy. Other events connecting these with each other, 
 had filled with astonishment and apprehension the ascendancy 
 party. 
 
 James proceeded openly with what he hoped to make a counter
 
 HISTORY QV IKKLAA'D. 69 
 
 reformation of England, and to accomplish which, he relied OU 
 France, on the one hand, and Ireland on the other. In both cades 
 he alarmed the fears and wounded the pride of England ; but when 
 he proceeded from one illegality to another, when he began to 
 exercise a dispensing power above the laws to instruct the judges, 
 to menace the parliament, and imprison the bishops the nobility, 
 the commons, and the army gradually combined against him, and 
 at last invited over the Prince of Orange, as the most capable vin- 
 dicator of their outraged constitution. 
 
 The headlong king had a representative equally rash, in Tyr- 
 connell. He was a man old enough to remember well the u 
 rising of 1641, had lived in intimacy with James as Duke of 
 York, was personally brave, well skilled in intrigue, but vain, 
 loud-spoken, confident, and incapable of a high command in mili- 
 tary affairs. The colonelcy of an Irish regiment, the earldom of 
 Tryconnell, and a seat in the secret council or cabinet of the 
 king, were honors conferred on him during the year of James' 
 accession. "When Clarendon was named lord-lieutenant, at the 
 beginning of 1686, Tyrconnell was sent over with him as lieu- 
 tenant-general of the army. At his instigation, a proclamation 
 issued, that " all classes" of his majesty's subjects might be al- 
 lowed to serve in the army ; and another that all arms, hitherto 
 given out, should be deposited, for greater security, at one of the 
 Kiug's stores provided for the purpose in each town and county. 
 Thus that exclusively Protestant militia, which for twenty yeara 
 had executed the Act of Settlement and the Act of Uniformity 
 in every quarter of the kingdom, found themselves suddenly dia. 
 armed, and a new Catholic army rising on their ruins. The num 
 bers disbanded are nowhere stated ; they probably amounted to 
 10,000 or 1 5,000 men ; and very naturally they became warm 
 partisans of the "Williamite revolution. The recriminations which 
 arose between the new and the old militia were not confined to the 
 nict namea Whig and Tory, or to the bandying of sarcasms on 
 each others' origin ; swords were not unfrequently drawn, and 
 muakets discharged, even in the streeia of Dublin, under the very 
 walls of the castle. 
 
 Through Tyrconnell's influence, a similar revolution had been 
 wrought in the exclusive character of the courts of justice, and 
 48*
 
 570 POPULAR BISTORT or IRELAND. 
 
 the corporations of towns, to that which remodeled the militia. 
 Rice, Daly, and Nugent, were elevated to the bench during Lord 
 Clarendon's tune ; the Corporation of Dublin having refused to 
 surrender their exclusive charter, were summarily ejected by a 
 quo warraiito, issued in the exchequer ; other towns were similarly 
 treated, or induced to make surrender, and a new series of char. 
 ters at once granted by James, entitling Catholics to the freedom 
 of the boroughs, and the highest municipal offices. And now, for 
 the first time in that generation, Catholk mayors and sheriffs, 
 escorted by Catholic troops as guards of honor, were seen march- 
 ing in open day to their own places of worship, to the dismay and 
 astonishment of the ascendancy party. Not that all Protestants 
 were excluded either from town councils, the militia, or the 
 bench, but those only were elected or appointed, who concurred 
 in the new arrangements, and were therefore, pretty certain to 
 forfeit the confidence of their co-religionists in proportion as they 
 deserved that of the deputy. Topham and Coghill, Masters in 
 Chancery, were deprived of their offices, and the Protestant Chan- 
 cellor was arbitrarily removed to make way for Baron Rice, a 
 Catholic. The exclusive character of Trinity College was next 
 assailed, and though James did not venture to revoke the charter 
 of Elizabeth, establishing communion with the Church of England 
 as the test of fellowship, the internal administration was in 
 several particulars interfered with, its plate was seized in the 
 King's name under plea of being public property, and the annual 
 parliamentary grant of 388, was discontinued. These arbitrary 
 acts filled the more judicious Catholics with apprehension, but 
 gained the loud applause of the unreasoning multitude. Dr. Mac- 
 guire, the successor of the martyred Plunkett, who felt in Ulster 
 the rising tide of resistance, was among the signers of a memorial 
 to the king, dutifully remonstrating against the violent proceed- 
 ings of his deputy. From Rome also, disapprobation was more 
 han once expressed, but all without avail ; neither James nor 
 Talbot could be brought to reason. The Protestants of the easteni 
 and southern towns and counties who could contrive to quit theii 
 homes, did so ; hundreds fled to Holland to return in the ranks 61 
 the Prince of Orange ; thousands fled to England, bringing with 
 thorn their tale of oppression, embellished with all the bitter ex
 
 BISTORT OP IRELAND. 671 
 
 Aggeratlon of exiles; ten thousand removed from Leuster into 
 Ulster, soon to recrose the Boyne, under very different auspices- 
 Very son a close correspondence was established between the 
 fugitives in Holland, England, and Ulster, and a powerful lever 
 was thus placed in the hands of the Prince of Orange, to work tho 
 downfall of his uncle and father-in-law. But the best allies of 
 William were, after all, the folly and fatuity of James. The Im- 
 portation of Irish troops, by entire battalions, gave the last and 
 sorest wound to the national pride of England, and still further 
 exasperated the hatred and contempt which his majesty's English 
 regiments had begun to feel for their royal master. 
 
 Tyrconnel, during the eventful summer months when the revo 
 lution was ripening both in Holland and England, had taken, 
 unknown even to James, a step of the gravest importance. To 
 him the first intelligence of the preparations of "William were 
 carried by a ship from Amsterdam, and by him they were com- 
 municated to the infatuated king, who had laughed at them as too 
 absurd for serious consideration. But the Irish ruler, fully be- 
 lieving his informants, and never deficient in audacity, had at 
 once entered into a secret treaty with Louis XIV. to put Ireland 
 under the protection of France, in the event of the Prince of 
 Orange succeeding to the British throne. No proposition cowld 
 more entirely suit the exigencies of Louis, of whom William was 
 by far the ablest and most relentless enemy. The correspondence 
 which has come to light in recent times, shows the importance 
 which he attached to Tyrconnel's proposition an importance 
 still further enhanced by the direct but unsuccessful overture 
 made to the earl by William himself, on landing in England, and 
 before embarking in the actual invasion of Ireland. 
 
 William Henry, Prince of Orange, now about to enter on the 
 scene, was in 1688 in the thirty-seventh year of his age. Fear- 
 less of danger, patient, silent, impervious to his enemies, rather 
 soldier than a statesman, indifferent in religion, and personally 
 adverse to pereection for conscience sake, his great and almost 
 his only public passion was the humiliation of France through 
 the instrumentality of a European coalition. As an anti-Gallican, 
 as the representative of the most illustrious Protestant family in 
 Euroje, as allied by blood and marriage to their kings, ha was
 
 072 POPULAR HIBTORT OT IBKLA1T*. 
 
 very fit and proper chief for the English revolutionists ; but for 
 the two former of these reasons he was just as naturally antipa 
 Jietic to the Catholic and Celtic majority of the Irish. Hli 
 designs Kad been long gradually maturing, when James's incredible 
 imprudence hastened his movements. Twenty-four ships of war 
 were assembled at Helvoetsluys ; 7,000 sailors were put on board ; 
 all the veterans of the Netherlands were encamped at Ninieguen, 
 where 0,000 recruits were added to their numbers. On the 5th 
 of November, the anniversary of the gunpowder plot, " the De- 
 liverer," as he was fondly called in England, landed at Tbrbay; 
 on the 26th of December, James, deserted by his nobles, his army, 
 and even his own unnatural children, arrived, a fugitive and a 
 suppliant, at the court of France. 
 
 A few Irish incidents of this critical moment deserve mention. 
 The mania against everything Irish took in England forms the 
 most ludicrous and absurd. Whartou's doggrel refrain of Lilli- 
 bullero, was heard in every circle outside the court; all London, 
 lighted with torches, and marshalled under arms, awaited during 
 the memorable " Irish night " the advent of the terrible and de- 
 tested regiments brought over by Tyrcoimel ; some companies of 
 these troops quartered in the country were fallen upon by tea 
 times their number and cut to pieces. Others, fighting and in- 
 quiring their way, forced a passage to Chester or Bristol, and 
 obtained a passage hou.e. They passed at sea, or encountered on 
 the landing-places, multitudes of the Protestant Irish, men, women 
 and children, flying in exactly the opposite direction. Tyrconnel 
 WUH known to meditate the repeal of the Act of Settlement ; the 
 general rumor of a Protestant massacre fixed for the 9th of De- 
 cember, originated no one knew how, was spread about no one 
 knew by whom. In vain the Lord Deputy tried to stay the 
 panic his assurance of protection and the still better evidence 
 of their own experience, which proved the Irish Catholics inca- 
 j>hlc 01 such a project, could not allay their terrors. They 
 rushed into England by every port, and inflamed still more the 
 hostility which already prevailed against King James. 
 
 In Ulster, David Cairnes, of Knockmany, the Rev. John Kelao, 
 of Ennislnllen, a Presbyterian, and Rev George Walker, of Donagh- 
 pK>re, ta\ Anglican minister, were active instruments of the Prinof
 
 FOPULA'R HISTORY OF IRKLAND. BTl 
 
 of Orange. On the 7th of December the gates of D^rry were shut 
 by " the youthhood '' egainst the Earl of Antrim and his High- 
 landers. Enniskillen was seized by a similar impulse of the popu- 
 lar will, and an association was quickly formed throughout Ulster 
 ji imitation of the English association which had invited over 
 William, under the auspices of Lord Blaney, Sir Arthur Raw- 
 don, Sir Clotworthy Skeffington, and others, "for the mainte- 
 nance of the Protestant religion and the dependancy of Ireland 
 upon England." By these associates, Sligo, Coleraine, and the 
 fort of Culmore, at the mouth of the Foyle, were seized for King 
 William. While the Town Council of Derry, in order to gain 
 time, despatched one ambassador with one set of instructions to 
 Tyrconnell, and another, with a very different set, to " the Com. 
 mittee for Irish Affairs," which sat at Whitehall, under the presi- 
 dency of the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 KINO JAMES IN IRKLAND. IRISH PARLIAMENT OF 1689. 
 
 A FEW DATS after his arrival in France, James despatched a 
 messenger to Tyrconnell, with instructions expressing great 
 anxiety as to the state of affairs in Ireland. " I am sure," wrote 
 the fugitive monarch, " you will hold crat to the utmost of your 
 power, and I hope this king will so press the Hollanders, that 
 the Prince of Orange will not have men to spare to attack you." 
 All the aid he could obtain from Louis at the moment was 7,000 
 or 8,000 muskets, which were sent accordingly. 
 
 Events succeeded each other during the first half of the year 
 1689 with revolutionary rapidity. The con mentions of England 
 and Scotland, though far from being unanimous, declared by im- 
 mense majorities, that James had abdicted, and that William and 
 Mary should be offered the crowns of both kingdoms. In February 
 thy were proclaimed as king and queen of " England, Franc*,
 
 374 POPULAR HMTORY OF 
 
 ai.<i Ireland," and in May, the Scottish commissioners brought 
 them the tender of the crown of Scotland. The double heritage 
 of the Stuart kings was thus, after nearly a century of pos- 
 session, transferred by election to a kindred prince, to the exclu- 
 sion of the direct dependents of the great champion of " the 
 right divine," who first united under his scepter the three .king- 
 doms. 
 
 James, at the Court of France, was duly informed of all that 
 passed at London and Edinburgh. He knew that he had power- 
 ful partisans in both conventions. The first fever of popular ex- 
 citement once allayed, he marked with exultation the symptoms 
 of reaction. There was much in the circumstances attending his 
 flight to awaken popular sympathy and to cast a veil over his 
 errors. The pathetic picture drawn of parental suffering by the 
 great dramatist in the character of King Lear, seemed realized 
 to the life in the person of King James. Message followed mes- 
 sage from the three kingdoms, urging him to return and place 
 himself at the head of his faithful subjects in a war against the 
 usurper. The French king approved of these recommendations, 
 for in fighting James's battle he was fighting his own, and a 
 squadron was prepared at Brest to carry the fugitive back to his 
 dominions. Accompanied by his natural sons, the Duke of Ber- 
 wick and the Grand Prior Fitzjames, by Lieutenant-Generals de 
 Rosen and de Maumont, Majors-General de Pusignan and de 
 Lory (or Geraldine), about a hundred officers of all ranks, and 
 1,200 veterans, James sailed from Brest, with a fleet of 83 ves- 
 sels, and landed at Kinsale on the 12th day of March (old style). 
 His reception by the Southern population was enthusiastic in the 
 extreme. From Kinsale to Cork, from Cork to Dublin, his pro- 
 gress was accompanied by Gaelic songs and dances, by Latin ora- 
 tions, loyal addresses, and all the decorationswith which a popular 
 favorite can be welcomed. Nothing was remembered by that 
 easily pacified people but his great misfortunes and his steady 
 fidelity to his and their religion. Fifteen chaplains, nearly all 
 Irish accompanied him, and added to the delight of the popu- 
 lace ; while many a long-absent soldier, now came back in the 
 following of the king, to bless the sight of some aged parent or 
 faithful lc>vr. The royal entry into Dublin WM the crowning
 
 POPULAR HISTORY C7 IRELAND. 575 
 
 pageant of this delusive restoration. With the tact and taste fof 
 Buch demonstrations hereditary in the citizens, the trades aad 
 arts were marshalled before him. Two venerable harpers played 
 on their national instruments near the gate by which he entered; 
 a number of religious in their robes, with a huge cross at their 
 head, chanted as they went ; forty young girls dressed in white, 
 danced the ancient Rinka, scattering flowers as they danced. 
 The Earl of Tyrconnell, lately raised to a dukedom, the judges, 
 the mayor and corporation, completed the procession, which 
 marched over newly sanded streets, beneath arc-hes of ever- 
 greens and windows hung with " tapestry and cloth of Arras." 
 Arrived at the castle the sword of state was presented to him 
 by the deputy, and the keys of the city by the recorder. At 
 the inner entrance, the primate, Dr. Dominick Macguire, waited 
 in his robes to conduct him to the chapel, lately erected by Tyr- 
 connell, where Te Dciun was solemnly sung. !Er-t of all the 
 incidents of that striking ceremonial, nothing more ^xmerfully 
 impressed the popular imagination than the green flag floating 
 from the main tower of the castle, bearing the significant inscrip- 
 tion " Now or Never Now and Forever." 
 
 A fortnight was devoted by James in Dublin to daUy and 
 nightly councils and receptions. The chief advisers who formed 
 his court were the Count d'Ayaux, Ambassador of France, the 
 Earl of Melfovt, principal Secretary of State, the Duke of Tyr- 
 connell, Lieutenant-General Lord MountcasheL, Chief Justice Nu- 
 gent, and the superior officers of the army, French and Irish, 
 One of the first things resolved upon at Dublin was the appoint- 
 ment of the gallant Viscount Dundee as Lieutenant-General in Scot- 
 land and the despatch to his assistance of an Irish auxiliary force 
 which served under that renowned chief with as much honor as 
 their predecessors had served under Montrose. Communicationa 
 were also opened through the Bishop of Chester with the west 
 of England Jacobites, always numerous in Cheshire, Shropshire, 
 and other counties nearest to Ireland. Certain changes were 
 then made in the Privy Council ; Chief Justice Keating's attend- 
 ance was dispensed with as one opposed to the new policy, but 
 his judicial functions were left untouched. Dr. Cartwright 
 Bishop of Chester, and the French Ambassador were sworn la,
 
 570 POPULAR BISTORT Of IRILAKI*. 
 
 and writs were issued convoking the Irish Parliament for the 7th 
 day of May following. 
 
 Intermitting, for the present, the military events which marked 
 the early months of the year, we will follow the acts and deliber- 
 ations of King James's parliament of 1689. The houses met, 
 according to summons, at the appointed time, in the building 
 known as "the Inns of Court," within a stone's throw of the 
 castle. There were present 228 Commoners, and 46 members 
 of the Upper House. In the Lords, several Protestant noblemen 
 and prelates took their seats, and some Catholic peers of ancient 
 date, whose attainders had been reversed, were seen for the first 
 time in that generation in the front rank of their order. In the 
 lower house the University and a few other constituencies were 
 represented by Protestants, but the overwhelming majority were 
 Catholics, either of Norman or Milesian origin. The Iring made 
 a judicious opening speech, declaring his intention to uphold the 
 rights of property, and to establish liberty of conscience alike for 
 Protestant and Catholic. He referred to the distressed state of 
 trade and manufactures, and recommended to the attention of the 
 houses those who had been unjustly deprived of their estates 
 under the " Act of Settlement." 
 
 Three measures passed by this Parliament entitle its members 
 to be enrolled among the chief assertors of civil and religious 
 liberty. One was the " Act for establishing Liberty of Conscience," 
 followed by the supplemental act, that all persons should pay 
 tithes only tc the clergy of their own communion. An act abol- 
 ishing writs of error and appeal into England, established the 
 judicial independance of Ireland; but a still more necessary 
 measure repealing Poyning's La\v, was defeated through the per- 
 onal hostility of the king. An act repealing the Act of Settle- 
 ment was alo passed, under protest from the Protestant lords, 
 and received the royal sanction. A bill to establish Inns of 
 Court, for the education of Irish law students, was, however, 
 rejected by the king, and lost; an " Act of Attainder," against 
 persons in arms against the sovereign, whose estates lay in Ire- 
 land, was adopted. Whatever may be the bias of historians, it 
 cannot be denied that this Parliament showed a spirit worthy of 
 the representatives of a free people. "Though Papists,"
 
 POPULAR HIBTORT OF IRELAND. 5 
 
 Mr. Grattan, our highest parliamentary authority, " they wer 
 not slaves ; they wrung a constitution from King James before 
 they accompanied him to the field." 
 
 The king, unfortunately, had not abandoned the arbitrary 
 principles of his family, even in his worst adversity. His inter 
 ference with the discussions on Poyning's Law, and the Inns of 
 Court bill, had shocked some of his most devoted adherents. But 
 he proceeded from obstructive to active despotism. He doubled, 
 by his mere proclamation, the enormous subsidy of 20,0^ 
 monthly voted him by the Houses. He established by the same 
 authority a bank, and decreed in his own name a bank-restriction 
 act. He debased the coinage, and established a fixed scale of 
 prices to be observed by all merchants and traders. In one 
 respect but in one only he grossly violated his own professed 
 purpose of establishing liberty of conscience, by endeavoring to 
 force fellows and scholars on the University of Dublin contrary 
 to its statutes. He even went so far as to appoint a provost and 
 librarian without consent of the senate. However we may con- 
 demn the exclusiveness of the college, this was not the way to 
 correct it ; bigotry on the one hand will not justify despotism on 
 the other. 
 
 More justifiable was the interference of the king for the resto- 
 ration of rural schools and churches, and the decent maintenance 
 of the clergy and bishops. His appointments to the bench were 
 also, with one or two ezceptious, men of tSie very highest charac- 
 ter. "The administration of justice during this brief period," 
 jays Dr. Cooke Taylor, " deserves the highest praise. With the 
 axeeption of Nugent and Fitton, the Irish judges would hare been 
 an honor to any bench."
 
 67S POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 U REVOLUTIONARY WAR. CAMPAIGN OF 1689. SIEGES OF DK&lf 
 AND EXMSKLLLEX. 
 
 WHEN Tyrconnell met the king at Cork, he gave his majesty 
 a plain account of the posture of military affairs. In Ulster, 
 Lieutenant-General Richard Hamilton, at the head of 2,500 regu- 
 lar troops, was holding the rebels in check, from Charlemont to 
 Coleraine ; in Munster, Lieutenaut-General Justin McCarthy, Lord 
 Monntcashel, had token Bandon and Castiemartyr ; throughout 
 the four provinces, the Catholics, to the number of fifty regiments 
 (probably 30,000 men), had volunteered their services ; but for all 
 these volunteers he had only 20,000 old arms of all kinds, not 
 over 1,000 of which were found really valuable. There were 
 besides these, regiments of horse, TyrconnelTs, Russell's, and Gal- 
 moy's, and one of dragoons, eight small pieces of artillery, but 
 neither stores in the magazines, nor cash in the chest While at 
 Cork, Tyrconnell, in return for his great exertions, was created 
 a duke, and general-in-chief, with De Rosen as second in com- 
 mand. 
 
 A week before James reached Dublin, Hamilton had beaten the 
 rebels at Dromore, and driven them in on Coleraine, from before 
 which he wrote urgently for reinforcements. On receipt of thia 
 communication, the council exhibited, for the first time, those 
 radical differences of opinion, amounting almost to factions oppo- 
 sition, which crippled all King James's movements at this period. 
 One party strenuously urged that the king himself should miuh 
 northward with such troops as could be spared ; that his personal 
 appearance before Derry, would immediately occasion the surren- 
 der of that city, and that he might, in a few weeks, finish in per- 
 son, the campaign of Ulster. Another, at whose head was 
 Tyrconnell, endeavored to dissuade his majesty from this course, 
 but he at length decided in favor of the plan of Melfort and his 
 friends. Accordingly, he marched out of Dublin, amid torrents of 
 A.pril rain, on the eighth of that month, intending to form a junction 
 with Hamilton, at Strabane, and thence to advance to Derry. The
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IBKLAND. 579 
 
 march was a weary one through a couiitry stripped bare of jvery 
 sign of life, and desolate beyond description. A week was spc nt be- 
 tween Dublin and Omagh ; at Omagh news of an English fleet 
 on the Foyle, caused the king to retrace his steps hastily to 
 Charlemont. At Charlemont, however, intelligence of fresh suc- 
 cesses gained by Hamilton and De Rosen, at Cladyford and 
 Strabane, came to restore his confidence ; he instantly set for- 
 ward despite tho tempestuous weather, and the almost impassable 
 roads, and on the eighteenth reached the Irish camp at Johns- 
 town, within four or five miles of Derry. 
 
 It was now four months since " the youthhood" of Derry had 
 shut the wr.^crgate against Lord Antrim's regiment, and established 
 within thc-ir walls a strange sort of government, including 
 eighteen clergymen and the town democracy. The military com- 
 mand remained with Leiuteiiant-Colonel Lundy, of Lord Mount- 
 joy's regiment, but the actual government of the town was vested 
 first, in " Governor " Baker, and afterwards in the Reverend 
 George Walker, Rector of Donaghmore, best known to us as Gov- 
 ernor Walker. The town council had despatched Mr. Cairnes, 
 and subsequently Captain Hamilton, founder of the Abercorn 
 peerage, to England for succor, and had openly proclaimed Wil- 
 liam and Mary as King and Queen. Defensive works were added, 
 where necessary, and on the very day of the affair of Cladyford, 
 480 barrels of gunpowder were landed from English ships and 
 conveyed within the walls. 
 
 As the Royalist forces concentrated towards Derry, the chiefs 
 of the Protestant Association fell back before them, each bringing 
 to its garrison the contribution of his own followers. From the 
 valley of the Bann, over the rugged summits of Carntogher, from 
 the glens of Donegal, and the western sea coast round to Mayo, 
 troops of the fugitives hurried to the strong town of the London 
 traders, as to a city of refuge. Enniskillen alone, resolute in iti 
 insular situation, and in a courage akin to that which actuated 
 the defenders of Derry, stood as an outpost of the main object of 
 attack, and delayed the junction of the Royalists under Mount- 
 cashel with those under Hamilton and De Rosen. Coleraine was 
 abandoned. Captain Murray, the commander of Culmore, forced 
 his way at the head of 1,500 men into Derry, contrary to th
 
 580 POPULAR HIBTOKY OF IBELASD. 
 
 wishes of the vacillating and suspected Lundy, and, from the m* 
 incut of his arrival, infused his own determined spirit into all ranks 
 of the inhabitants. 
 
 Those who had advised King James to present himself in person 
 before the Pro' estant stronghold, had not acted altogether upon 
 presumption. It is certain that there were Jacobites, even in 
 Derry. Lundy, the governor, either despairing of its defence, or 
 undecided in his allegiance between James and William, had 
 opened a correspondence with Hamilton and De Rosen. But the 
 true answer of the brave townsmen, when the king advanced too 
 near their walls, was a cannon shot which killed one of his staff, 
 and the cry of " No Surrender " thundered from the walls. James, 
 awakened from his self-complacent dream by this unexpected in- 
 ception, returned to Dublin, to open his Parliament, leaving 
 General Hamilton to continue the seige. Colonel Lundy, dis- 
 trusted, overruled, and menaced, escaped over the walls by night 
 disguised as a common laborer, and the party of Murray, Baker, 
 Walker, and Cairnes, reigned supreme. 
 
 The story of the siege of Derry of the heroic constancy of its 
 defender^ of the atrocities of De Rosen and Galmoy the clem- 
 ency of Maumont the forbearance of Hamilton the struggles 
 fur supremacy among its magnates the turbulence of the towns- 
 folk the joyful raising of the siege all these have worthily em- 
 ployed some of the most eloquent pens in our language. The 
 relief came by the breaking of the boom across the harbor's 
 mouth on the last day of July ; the bombardment had commenced 
 on the 21st of April ; the gates had been shut on the 7th of De* 
 cember. The actual siege had lasted above three months, and the 
 blockade about three weeks. The destruction of life on both side* 
 has never been definitely stated. The besieged admit a loss of 
 4,<X)0 men ; the besiegers of 6,000. The want of siege guns it 
 the Jacobite camp is admitted by both parties, but, nevertheless, 
 the defence of the place well deserres to be celebrated, as it has 
 been by an imperial historian, " as the most memorable in British 
 annals." 
 
 Scarcely inferior in interest and importance to the siege of 
 I)erry was the spirited defence of Enniskillen. That fine old 
 town, once the seat of the noble family of Maguire, is natup
 
 POPCIAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 581 
 
 ally dyked and moated round about, by the waters of Lough Erne. 
 In December, '88, it had closed its gates, and barricaded its cause, 
 ways to keep out a Jacobite garrison. In March, on Lord Gal 
 taoy*s approach, all the outlying garrisons, in Fermanagh and 
 Cavan, had destroyed their posts, and gathered into Enniqkillen- 
 The cruel and faithless Galmoy, instead of inspiring terror into 
 the united garrison, only increased their determination to die in 
 the breach. So strong in position and numbers did they find 
 themselves, with the absolute command of the lower Lough Erne 
 to bring in their supplies, that in April they sent off a detachment 
 to the relief of Derry, and in the months of May and June made 
 several successful forays to Ballincarrig, Omagh, and Belturbet. 
 In July, provided with a fresh supply of ammunition from the 
 fleet intended for the relief of Derry, they beat up the Duke of 
 Berwick's quarters at Trellick, but were repulsed with some loss. 
 The duke being soon after recalled to join De Rosen, the siege of 
 Enniskillen was committed to Lord Mountcashel, under whom aa 
 commander of the cavalry served Count Anthony Hamilton, au- 
 thor of the witty but licentious " Memoirs of Grammont," and 
 other distinguished officers. Mountcashel's whole force consisted 
 of three regiments of foot, two of dragoons, and some horse ; but 
 he expected to be joined by Colonel Sarsfield, from Sligo, and 
 Berwick, from Derry. The besieged had drawn four regiments 
 of foot from Cavan alone, and were probably twice that number 
 in all ; and they had, in Colonels "Wolseley and Berry, able and 
 energetic officers. The Enniskilleners did not await the attack 
 within their fortress. At Lisnaskea, under Berry, they repulsed 
 the advanced guard of the Jacobites under Anthony Hamilton 
 aad the same day the day of the relief of Derry their whole 
 force were brought into action with Mountcashel's at Newtown- 
 Butler. To the cry of " No Popery," Wolsely led them into an 
 action, the most considerable yet fought. The raw southern 
 levies on the Royalist side, were routed by the hardy Enniskil- 
 leners long familiar with the use of arms, and well acquainted with 
 every inch of the ground ; 2,000 of them were left on the field ; 
 400 prisoners were taken, among them dangerously, but not 
 mortally wounded, was the Lieutenant General himself. 
 
 The month of August was a month of general rejoicing for the 
 49*
 
 582 POPULAR HISrORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 "Williamites of Ulster. De Rosen and Berwick had retreated 
 from Deny ; Sarsfield on his way to join Mountcashel fell back 
 to Sligo on hearing of the defeat at Newtown-Butler ; Culraore, 
 Coleraine, and Ballyshannon, were retaken and well supplied , 
 fugitives returned triumphantly to their homes, in Cavan, Frv 
 managh, Tyrone, and Armagh. A panic, created by false reports 
 spread among his troops at Sligo, compelled Sarsfield to fall still 
 further back to Athlone. Six months after his arrival, with the 
 exception of the forts of Charlemont and Carrickfergus, King 
 James no longer possessed a garrison in that province, which had 
 been bestowed by his grandfather upon the ancestors of those 
 who now unanimously rejected and resisted him. 
 
 The fall of the gallant Dundee in the battle of Killicrankie, 
 five days before the relief of Derry, freed King William from 
 immediate anxiety on the side of Scotland, and enabled him to 
 concentrate his whole disposable force on Ireland. On the 13th 
 of August, an army of eighteen regiments of foot and four or five 
 of horse, under the Marshal Duke de Schomberg, with Count 
 Solmes as second in command, sailed into Belfast Lough, and 
 took possession of the town. On the 20th, the Marshal opened a 
 fierce cannonade on Carickfergus, defended by Colonels McCarthy 
 More and Cormac O'Neill, while the fleet bombarded it from sea. 
 After eight days' Incessant cannonade, the garrison surrendered 
 on honorable terms, and Schomberg faced southward towards 
 Dublin. Brave, and long-experienced, the aged duke moved ac- 
 cording to the cautious maxims of the military school in which 
 he had been educated. Had he advanced rapidly on the capital, 
 James must have fallen back, as De Rosen advised, on the line of 
 the Shannon; but O*Regan, at Charlemont, and Berwick, at 
 Newry, seemed to him obstacles so serious that nearly a month 
 waa wasted in advancing from Belfast to Dundalk, where be en 
 trenched himself in September and went into winter quarters. 
 Hero a terrible dysentery broke out among his troops, said to 
 have been introduced by some soldiers from Derry, and so de- 
 structive were its ravages, that there were hardly left healthy men 
 enough to bury the dead. Several of, the French Catholics under 
 bis command, also, deserted to James, who, from his headquarters 
 at Drogheda, offered every inducement to the deserters. Others
 
 POPULAR BISTORT 07 IRELAND. 683 
 
 disco\ ered in the attempt were tried and hanged, and others still, 
 suspected oi a similar intent, were marched down to Carlingford, 
 and shipped for England. In November, James returned from 
 Drogheda to Dublin, much elated that Duke Schomberg, whose 
 fatal camp at Dundalk he had in vain attempted to raise, had 
 Hhruuk from meeting him in the field. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 TOT! REVOLUTIONARY WAR. CAMPAIGN OF 1690. BATTLE OT THE 
 
 BOYNB. ITS CONSEQUENCES. THB SIEGES OF AT1ILONE AND 
 
 LIMERICK. 
 
 THE armies now destined to combat for two kings on Irish 
 soil, were strongly marked by those distinctions of race and re- 
 ligion which add bitterness to struggles for power, while they 
 present striking contrasts to the eye of the painter of military life 
 and manners. King James's troops were chiefly Celtic and Cath- 
 olic. There were four regiments commanded by O'Neills, two by 
 O'Briens, two by O'Kellys, one each by McCarthy More, Maguire. 
 O'More, O'Donnell, McMahon, and Magennis, principally re- 
 cruited among their own clansmen. There were also the regi- 
 ments of Sarsfield, Nugent, De Courcy, Fitzgerald, Grace, and 
 Burke, chiefly Celts, in the rank and file. On the other hand, 
 Schomberg led into the field the famous blue Dutch and white 
 Dutch regiments ; the Huguenot regiments of Schomberg, La Mil- 
 linier, Du Cambon, and La Callimotte ; the English regimer ta 
 of Lords Devonshire, Delamere, Lovelace, Sir John Lanier, Col- 
 onels Langston, Villiers and others ; the Anglo-Irish regiments 
 of Lords Meath, Rosconmon, Kingston, and Drogheda ; with the 
 Ulstermen, under Brigadier Wolseley, Colonels Gustayus Hamil- 
 ton, Mitchelburne, Loyd, "White, St. Johns, and Tiffary. Some 
 Important changes had taken place on both sides during the win- 
 ter months. D*Avaux and De Rosen had been recalled at James's 
 request ; Mountcashel, at lie head of the first Franco-Irish brigade.
 
 684 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 had been exchanged for 6,000 French, under De Lauzan, who 
 arrived the following March in tbs double character of genera] 
 and ambassador. The report that William was to command in 
 person in the next campaign, was, of itself, an indication preg 
 nant with other changes to the minds of his adherents. 
 
 Their abundant supplies of military stores from England, 
 wafted from every port upon the channel, where James had not 
 a keel afloat, enabled the Williamite army to take the initiative in 
 the campaign of 1690. At Cavan, Brigadier Wolseley repulsed 
 the Duke of Berwick, with the loss of 200 men and Borne valuable 
 officers. But the chief incident preceding William's arrival, was 
 the siege of Charlemont. This siege, which commenced apparently 
 in the previous autumn, had continued during several months, till 
 the garrison were literally starved out, in May. The famished 
 survivors were kindly treated, by order of Schomberg, and their 
 gallant and eccentric chief, O'Regan, was knighted by the king, 
 for his persistent resistance. A month from the day on which 
 Charlemont fell (June 14th), William landed at Carrickfergus, 
 accompanied by Prince George of Denmark, the Duke of Wur- 
 temburg, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, the second and last 
 Duke of Ormond, Major General Mackay, the earls of Oxford, 
 Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, General Douglas, and 
 other distinguished British and foreign officers. At Belfast, his 
 first headquarters, he ascertained the forces at his disposal to be 
 upwards of 40,000 men, composed of " A strange medley of all 
 nations" Scandinavians, Swiss, Dutch, Prussians, Huguenot- 
 French, English, Scotch, " Scotch-Irish," and Anglo-Irish. Per- 
 haps the most extraordinary element in that strange medley waa 
 the Danish contingent of horse and foot. Irish tradition and 
 Irish prophecy still teemed with tales of terror and predictions 
 of evil at the hands of the Danes, while these hardy mercenaries 
 observed with grim satisfaction, that the memory of their fierce 
 ancestors had not become extinct after the lapse of twenty gen- 
 erations. At the Boyne, and at Limerick, they could not conceal 
 their exultation as they encamped on some of the very earthworks 
 raised by men of their race seven centuries before, and it must 
 be admitted t) ey vindicated theii descent, I rt,h by their couragt 
 Mid their cruelty.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 585 
 
 On the 16th of June, James, informed of William's arrival 
 marched northward at the head of 20,000 men, French arid Irish, 
 to meet him. On the 22d James was at Dundalk and William at 
 Newry ; as the latter advanced, the Jacobites retired, and finally 
 chose their ground at the Boyne, resolved to hazard a battle, for 
 the preservation of Dublin, and the safety of the province of 
 Leinster. 
 
 On the last day of June, the hostile forces confronted each 
 other at the Btyne. The gentle, legendary river, wreathed in all 
 the glory of its abundant foilage, was startled with the cannon- 
 ade from the northern bank, which continued through the long 
 summer's evening, and woke the early echoes of the morrow. 
 William, strong in his veteran ranks, welcomed the battle ; Jamea 
 strong in his defensive position, and the goodness of his cause, 
 awaited it with confidence. On the northern bank near to the 
 ford of Oldbridge, William with his chief officers, breakfasting on 
 the turf, nearly lost his life from a sudden discharge of cannon ; 
 but he was quickly in the saddle, at all points reviewing his 
 army. James, on the hill of Donore, looked down on his devoted 
 defenders, through whose ranks rode Tyrconnell, lame and ill, the 
 youthful Berwick, the adventurous Lauzan, and the beloved Sare- 
 field everywhere received with cordial acclamations. The 
 battle commenced at the ford of Oidbridge, between Sir NeU 
 O'Neil, and the younger Schomberg ; O'Neil fell mortally wound 
 ed, and the ford was forced. By this ford, William ordered his 
 center to advance under the elder Schomberg, as the hour of 
 noon approached, while he himself moved with the left across the 
 river, nearer to Drogheda. Lauzan, with Sarsfield's horse, dread- 
 ing to be outflanked, had galloped to guard the bridge of Slane, 
 five miles higher up the stream, where alone a flank movement 
 was possible. The battle was now transferred from the gunners 
 to the swordsmen and pikemen from the banks to the fords and 
 borders of the river. William, on the extreme left, swam hii 
 faorse across, in imminent danger ; Schomberg and Callemotte feU 
 in the center, mortally wounded. News was brought to William, 
 that Dr. Walker recently appointed to the see of Derry had 
 al-o fallen. " What brought him there T was the natural com 
 ment of the soldier-prince. After seven hours' fighting the IrisJ
 
 686 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 
 
 fell back on Duleek, in good order. The assailants admitted firi 
 hundred killed, and as many wounded ; the defenders were e*iJ 
 to have lost from one thousand to fifteen hundred men less than 
 at Newtown-Butler. The carnage, compared with some great bat- 
 tles of that age, was inconsiderable, but the political consequences 
 vrere momentous. The next day, the garrison of Drogheda, one 
 thousand three hundred strong, surrendered ; in another week, 
 William was in Dublin, and James, terrified by the reports wbifch 
 had reached him, was en route for France. It is hardly an exag- 
 geration to say, that the fate of Europe was decided by the resnlt 
 of the battle" of the Boyne. At Paris, at the Hague, at Vienna, 
 at Rome, at Madrid, nothing was talked of but the great victory 
 of the Prince of Orange over Louis and James. It is one of the 
 strangest complications of history, that the vanquished Irish 
 Catholics, seem to have been never once thought of, by Spain, 
 Austria, or the Pope. In the greater issues of the European 
 coalition against France, their interests, and their very existence, 
 were for the moment forgotten. 
 
 The defeat at the Boyne, and the surrender of Dublin, uncov- 
 ered the entire province of Leinster. Kilkenny, Wexford, Water- 
 ford, Duncannon, Clonmel, and other places of less importance, 
 surrendered within six weeks. The line of the Shannon waa 
 fallen back upon by the Irish, and the points of attack and defence 
 were now shifted to Athlone and Limerick. What Enniskillen 
 and Derry had been, in the previous year, to the Williamite party 
 In the north, cities of refuge, and strongholds of hope, these 
 two towns upon the Shannon had now become, by the fortune 
 of war, to King James's adherents. 
 
 On the 17th of July, General Douglas appeared before Athlone, 
 and summoned it to surrender. The veteran commandant, Colonel 
 Richard Grace, a Confederate of 1641, having destroyed th 
 bridge, and the suburbs on the Leinster side of the Shannon, re- 
 plied by discharging his pistol over the head of the drum- 
 mer who delivered the message. Douglas attempted to crow 
 the river at Lanesborough, but fourd the for<? strongly guarded 
 by one of Grace's outposts ; after a week's ineffectual bombard- 
 ment, he withdrew from before Athlone, and proceeded to Llmer 
 Ick, ravaging and slaying M he went
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 681 
 
 Limerick had at first been abandoned by the French under 
 Lauzan, as utterly indefensible. That gay intriguer desired 
 nothing so much as to follow the king to France, while Tyrcon- 
 uell, broken down with physical suffering and mental anxiety, 
 feebly concurred in his opinion. They accordingly departed for 
 Galway, leaving the cily to its fate, and, happily for the national 
 reputation, to bolder counsels than their own. De Boisseleau did 
 not underrate the character of the Irish levies, who had retreated 
 before twice their numbers at the Boyne ; he declared himself 
 willing to remain, and sustained by Sarsfield, he was chosen as 
 commandant. More than ten thousand foot had gathered " a& if 
 by instinct " to that city, and on the Clare side Sarsfield still 
 kept together his cavalry, at whose head he rode to Galway and 
 brought back Tyrconnell. On the 9th of August, William, confi- 
 dent of an easy victory, appeared before the town, but more than 
 twelve months were to elapse before all his power could reduce 
 those mouldering walls, which the fugitive French ambassador had 
 declared " might be taken with roasted apples." 
 
 An exploit planned and executed by Sarsfield the day succeed- 
 ing William's arrival, saved the city for another year, and raised 
 that officer to the highest pitch of popularity. Along the Chare 
 side of the Shannon, under cover of the night, he galloped as 
 fast as horse could carry him, at the head of his dragoons, and 
 crossed the river at Killaloe. One Manus O'Brien, a Protestant 
 of Clare, who had encountered the flying horsemen, and learned 
 enough to suspect their design, hastened to William's camp with 
 the news, but he was at first laughed at for his pains. William, 
 however, never despising any precaution in war, despatched Sir 
 John Lanier with 500 horse to protect his siege-train then seven 
 miles in the rear, on the road between Limerick and CasheL 
 Sarsfield, however, was too quick for Sir John. The day after he 
 bid crossed at Killaloe he kept his men perdu in the hilly country, 
 bad the next night swooped down upon the convoy in charge of 
 the siege-train, who were quietly sleeping round the ruined church 
 of Ballanedy. The sentinels were sabred at their posts, the 
 guards, half dressed, fled in terror or were speedily killed. Th 
 gun-carriages were quickly yoked, and drawn together to a conr 
 venient place, where, planted in pits with ammunition, they werej
 
 588 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with two exceptions, su jcessfully blown to atoms. Lanier arrived 
 within view of the terrific scene in time to feol its stunning effects. 
 The ground for miles round shook as from an earthquake ; th 
 glare and roar of the explosion were felt in William's camp, and 
 through the beleagnred city. On the morrow, all was known. 
 Sarsfield was safely back in his old encampment, without the losa 
 of a single man ; Limerick was in an uproar of delight, while 
 William's army, to the lowest rank, felt the depression of so na- 
 expected a blow. A week later, however, the provident prince 
 had a new siege-train of thirty-six guns and four rnortars brought 
 up from Waterford, pouring red-hot shot on the devoted city. 
 Another week on the 27th of August a gap having been made 
 in the walls near Saint John's gate, a storming party of the Eng- 
 lish guards, the Anglo-Irish, Prussians and Danes, was launched 
 into the breach. After an action of uncommon fierceness and 
 determination on both sides, the besiegers retired with the loss 
 of 30 officers and 800 men killed, and 1,200 wounded. The be- 
 sieged admitted 400 killed their wounded were not counted. 
 Four days later, William abandoned the siege, retreated to Water- 
 ford, and embarked for England, with Prince George of Denmark, 
 the Dukes of Wurtetuburg and Ormond, and others of his prin- 
 cipal adherents. Tyrconnel, laboring with the illness of which 
 he ROOD after died, took advantage of the honorable pause thus 
 obtained, to proceed on his interrupted voyage to France, accom- 
 panied by the ambassador. Before leaving, however, the young 
 Duke of Berwick was named in his stead as cominander-in-chief ; 
 Fitton.Nagle and Plowden as Lords Justices; sixteen "senators" 
 were to form a sort of cabinet, and Sarsfield to be second in mili- 
 tary command. His enemies declared that Tyrconnel retired 
 from the contest because bis early spirit and courage had failed 
 him ; he himself asserted that hte object was to procure sufficient 
 mirrors from King Louis, to give a decisive issue to the war. 
 Ilis subsequent negotiations at Paris proved that though hi* 
 bodily In-all h might be wretched, his ingenuity and readiness of 
 resource had not deserted him. He justified himself both with 
 James and Louis, outwitted Lauzan, propitiated Louvois, di- 
 armed the prejudices of the English Jacobites, and, in short, 
 placed the military relations of France and Ireland on a footing
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 589 
 
 they had never hitherto sustained. The expedition of the follow- 
 Ing spring, under command of Marsha/ Saint Ruth was mainly 
 procured by his able diplomacy, and though he returned to Ire 
 land to survive but a few weeks the disastrous day of Aughrim 
 it is impossible from the Irish point of view, not to recall with 
 admiration, mixed indeed with alloy, but still with largely prevail- 
 ing admiration, the extraordinary energy, buoyancy and talents 
 f Richard, Duke of TyrconneL 
 
 CHAPTER VHL 
 
 THE WINTER OF 1690-01. 
 
 THE Jacobite party in England were not slow to exaggerate 
 tfie extent of William's losses before Athlone and Limerick. The 
 national susceptibility was consoled by the ready reflection, that 
 if the beaten troops were partly English, the commanders were 
 mainly foreigners. A native hero was needed, and was found in 
 the person of Marlborough, a captain, whose name was destined 
 to eclipse every other English reputation of that age. At his 
 suggestion an expedition was fitted out against Cork, Kinsale, 
 and other ports of the south of Ireland, and the command, 
 though not without some secret unwillingness on William's part, 
 committed to him. On the 23d of September, at the head of 
 8 000 fresh troops, amply supplied with all necessary munitions, 
 Marlborough assaulted Cork. After five days' bombardment, in 
 which the Duke of Grafton, and other officers and men were 
 slain, the governor, McEligot, capitulated on conditions, which, 
 in spite of all Marlborough's exertions, were flagrantly violated 
 The old town of Kinsale was at once abandoned as untenable the 
 same day, and the new fort, at the entrance to the harbor, was 
 surrendered after a fortnight's cannonade. Covered with glory 
 from a five weeks' campaign, Marlborough returned to England 
 to receive the acclamations of the people and the most gracioaa 
 compliments of the prince. 

 
 590 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Berwick and Sarsfield on the one side and Ginkle and Lanier 
 on the other, kept up the winter campaign till an advanced period, 
 on both banks of the Shannon. About the middle of September, 
 the former made a dash over the bridge of Banagher, against 
 Birr, or Parsonstown, the family borough of the famous Undtr- 
 tiiker. The English, in great force, under Lanier, Kirke, atl 
 Douglas, hastened to its relief, and the Irish fell back to Ban*- 
 glier. To destroy " that convenient pasa " became now the ob- 
 ject of one party, to protect it, of the other. After some skir 
 nashing and manoauvring on both sides, the disputed bridge 
 was left in Irish possession, and the English fell back to the 
 borough and castle of Sir Lawrence Parsons. During the siege 
 of the new fort at Kinsale, Berwick and Sarsfield advanced aa 
 far as Killmallock to its relief, but finding themselves so inferior 
 in numbers to Marlborough, they were unwillingly compelled to 
 leave its brave defenders to their fate. 
 
 Although the Duke of Berwick was the nominal commander- 
 in chief, his youth, and the distractions incident to youth, left 
 the more mature and popular Sarsfield the possession of real 
 power, both civil and military. Every fortunate accident had 
 combined to elevate that gallant cavalry officer into the position 
 of national leadership. 
 
 He was the son of a member of the Irish Commons, proscribed 
 for his patriotism and religion in 1641, by Anna O'Moore, daugh- 
 ter of the organizer of the Catholic Confederation. lie was t 
 Catholic in religion, spoke Gaelic as easily as English, was brave 
 impulsive, handsome, and generous to a fault, like the men lit) 
 led. In Tyrconnell's absence every sincere lover of the country 
 c*me to him with intelligence, and looked to him for direction. 
 Ear!y in November he learned through hie patriotic spies the 
 intention of the Willinmites to force the passage of the Shannon 
 in the depth of winter. On the lust day of December, accord- 
 ingly, they marched in great force under Kirke and Lanier to 
 Jonesboro", and under Douglas to Jamestown. At both point* 
 they found the indefatigable Sarsfield fully prepared for them, 
 and after a fortnight's intense suffering from exposure to the 
 weather, were glad to get back again to their snug quarters *t 
 Parsonstown.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OP IRELAND. 5t , 
 
 Early in February Tyrconnel lauded at Limerick with a 
 French fleet, escor'.ed by three vessels of war, aiid laden with 
 p ^visions, but bringing few arms and no reinforcements. Ha 
 had brought over, however, 14,000 golden louis, which were 
 found of the utmost service in re-clothing the army, beside* 
 10,000 more which he had deposited at Brest to purchase oat- 
 ineal for subsequent shipment. He also brought promises of 
 military assistance on a scale far beyond anything France had 
 yet afforded. It is almost needless to say he was received at 
 Galway and Limerick with an enthusiasm which silenced, if it 
 did not confute, his political enemies, both in Ireland and France. 
 
 During his absence intrigues and factions had been rifer than 
 ever in the Jacobite ranks. Sarsfield had discovered that the 
 English movement on the Shannon in December was partly 
 hastened by foolish or treacherous correspondence among hia 
 own associates. Lord Riverston and his brother were removed 
 from the Senate, or Council of Sixteen four from each province 
 and Judge Daly, ancestor of the Duusandle family, was placed 
 under arrest at Galway. The youthful Berwick sometimes com- 
 plained that he was tutored and overruled by Sarsfield ; but 
 though the impetuous soldier may occasionally have forgotten the 
 lessons learned in courts, his activity seems to have been the 
 greatest, his information the best, his advice the most disinter- 
 ested, and his fortitude the highest of any member of the coun- 
 cil. By the time of Tyrconnell's return he had grown to a 
 height of popularity and power, which could not well brook a 
 superior either in the cabinet or the camp. 
 
 On the arrival of the Lord Lieutenant, who was also com- 
 mander-in-chief, the ambition of Sarsfield was gratified by the 
 rank of Earl of Lucan, a title drawn from that pleasant hamlet, 
 in the valley of the Liffey, where he had learned to lisp the 
 catechism of a patriot at the knee of Anna O'Moore. But hii 
 real power was much diminished. Tyrconnell, Berwick, Sif 
 Richard Nagle, who had succeeded the Earl of Melfort as chief 
 secretary for King James, all ranked before him at the board, 
 and when Saint Ruth arrived to take command-in-chief, he might 
 fairly have complained that he was deprived of the chief rewaHl 
 to which he had looked forward.
 
 502 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The weary winter and the drenching spring months 
 away, and the Williamite troops, sorely afflicted by disease, hug- 
 ged their tents and huts. Some relief was sent by sea to the 
 Jacobite garrison of Sligo, commanded by the stout old Sit 
 Teague O'Regan, the former defender of Charlemont. Athlone, 
 too, received some succors, and the line of the Shannon was still 
 unbroken from Slieve-an-iron to the sea. But still the prormsed 
 French assistance was delayed. Men were beginning to doubt 
 both King Louis and King James, when, at length at the begin- 
 ning of May, the French ships were signaled from ,the cliffs of 
 Kerry. On the 8th, the Sieur de Saint Ruth with General* 
 d'Usson and de Tesse landed at Limerick and assisted at a solemn 
 Te Deum in St. Mary's Cathedral. They brought considerable 
 supplies of clothes, provisions and ammunitions, but neither veter- 
 ans to swell the ranks, nor money to replenish the chest Saint 
 Ruth entered eagerly upon the discharge of his duties as general- 
 isairao, while Sursfield continued the nominal second in com- 
 mand. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. CAMPAIGN OF 1691. BATTLE OF 
 
 AllOIIKIM. CAPITULATION OF LIMERICK. 
 
 SAINT RUTH, with absolute powers, found himself placed at the 
 head of from 20,000 to 25,000 men, in the field or in garrison, 
 regular or irregular, but all, with hardly an exception, Irish. His 
 and Tyrconnel's recent supplies had sufficed to renew the clothing 
 and equipment of the greater part of the number, but the whole 
 contents of the army chefit, the golden hinge on which war moves, 
 was estimated in the beginning of May to afford to each soldiev 
 only " a penny a day for three weeks." He had under him some 
 of the best officers that France could spare, or Ireland produce, 
 and tie had with him the hearts of nine tenths of the natives of 
 the country. 
 
 A singular illustration of the popular feeling occurred the prt
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF HUJLAKD. 593 
 
 rious August. The Milesian Irish had cherished the belief eyer 
 ince the disastrous day of Kinsale, that an O'Donnell from Spain, 
 having on his shoulder a red mark (ball dcry\ would return to 
 free them from the English yoke, in a great battle near Limerick. 
 Accordingly, when a representative of the Spanish O'Donnell* 
 actually appeared at Limerick, bearing as we know many of ht 
 family have done, even to our day, the umnistakeable red mark of 
 the ancient Tyrconnell line, immense numbers of the country 
 people who had held aloof from the Jacobite cause, obeyed the 
 voice of prophecy, and nocked round the Celtic deliverer. From 
 7,000 to 8,000 recruits were soon at his disposal, and it was not 
 without bitter indignation that the chief, so enthusiastically re- 
 ceived, saw regiment after regiment drafted from among his fol- 
 lowers, and transferred to other commanders. Bred up a SpanisL 
 subject the third in descent from an Irish prince it is not to be 
 wondered at that he regarded the Irish cause as all in all, and the 
 interests of King James as entirely secondary. He could hardly 
 consider himself as bound in allegiance to that king ; he was in 
 no way indebted to him or his family, and if we learn that when 
 the war grew desperate, but before it was ended, he had entered 
 into a separate treaty fir himself and his adherents, with Wil- 
 liam's generals, we must remember, before we condemn him, that 
 we are speaking of an Hiberno-Spaniard, to whom the house of 
 Stuart was no more Bared than the house of Orange. 
 
 The Williamite army rendevouzed at Mullingar towards the 
 end of May, under generals de Ginkle, Talmash and Mackay. 
 On the 7th of June, they moved in the direction of Athlone, 
 18,000 strong, " the ranks one blaze of scarlet, and the artillery 
 such as had never before been seen in Ireland." The capture of 
 Ballymore Castle, in Westmeath, detained them ten days ; on the 
 19th, joined by the Duke of WurtemVarg, the Prince of Hesse 
 and the Count of Nassau, with 7,000 foreign mercenaries, the 
 whole sat down before the English town of Athlone, which Saint 
 Ruth, contrary to his Irish advisers, resolved to defend. In 
 twenty-four hours those exposed outworks, abandoned by the 
 veteran Grace the previous year, fell, and the bombardment of 
 the Irish town on the opposite or Connaught bank, commenced. 
 For ten days from the 20th to the 30th of June that fearful can.- 
 50*
 
 594 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 nonade continued. Storey, the Willisn ate chaplain, to whom w 
 are indebted fo< many valuable particulars of this war, states that 
 the besiegers fired above 12,000 cannon shot, 600 shells and many 
 tons of stone, into the place. Fifty tons of powder were burne J 
 in the bombardment. The castle, an imposing but lofty and an- 
 tique structure, windowed as much for a residence as a fortress, 
 tumbled into ruins ; the bridge was broken down and impassable ; 
 the town a heap of rubbish, where two men could no longer walk 
 abreast. But the Shannon had diminished in volume as the sum- 
 mer advanced, and three Danes employed for that purpose found 
 a ford above the bridge, and at six o'clock on the evening of the 
 last day of June, 2,000 picked men, headed by Gustavus Hamil- 
 ton's grenadiers, dashed into the ford at the stroke of a bell. At 
 the same instant all the English batteries on the Leinster side 
 opened on the Irish town, wrapping the river in smoke, and dis- 
 tracting the attention of the besiegers. Saint Ruth was, at this 
 critical moment, at his camp two miles off, and D'TJsson, the com- 
 mandant, was also absent from his post. In half an hour the 
 Williamites were masters of the heap of rubbish which had once 
 been Athlone, with a loss of less than fifty men killed and wound- 
 ed. For this bold and successful movement De Ginkle was 
 created Earl of Athlone, and his chief officers were justly en- 
 nobled. Saint Ruth, over confident, in a strange country, with- 
 drew to Ballinasloe, behind the river Suck, and prepared to risk 
 everything on the hazard of a pitched battle. 
 
 De Ginkle moved slowly from Athlone in pursuit of his enemy. 
 On the morning of the llth of July, as the early haze lifted itself 
 in wreaths from the landscape, he found himself within range of 
 the Irish, drawn up, north and south, on the upland of Kilcom- 
 modan hill, with a morass on either flank, through which ran 
 two narrow causeways, on the right, " the pass of Urrachree," 
 on the left, the causeway leading to the little village of Aughrim. 
 Saint Ruth's force must have numbered from 15,000 to 20,000 
 men, with nine field pieces; De Ginkle commanded from 25,000 to 
 80,000, with four batteries two of which mounted six guns each. 
 During the entire day, attack after attack, in the direction of 
 Urrachree or of Aughrim was repulsed, and the assailants were 
 about to retire in despair. As the sun sank low, a last desperaU
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 598 
 
 attempt was made with equal ill success. " Now, my children," 
 cried the elated Saint Ruth, " the day is ours ! Now I shall drive 
 them back to the walls of Dublin ! " At that moment he fell by 
 a cannon shot to the earth, ami stayed the advancing tide of vic- 
 tory. The enemy marked the check, halted, rallied and returned. 
 Sarsfield, who had not been entrusted with his leader's plan of 
 action, was unable to remedy the mischief which ensued. Victory 
 arrested was converted into defeat. The sun went down on An 
 ghrim, and the last great Irish battle between the Reformed and 
 Roman religions. Four thousand of the Catholics were killed 
 and wounded, and three thousand of the Protestants littered tb 
 field. Above five hundred prisoners, with thirty-two pairs of 
 colors, eleven standards and a large quantity of small arms, feU 
 into the hands of the victors. One portion of the fugitive survi- 
 vors fled to Gal way, the larger part, including all the cavalry, to 
 Limerick. 
 
 This double blow at Athlone and Aughrim shook to pieces the 
 remaining Catholic power in Connaught. Galway surrendered 
 ten days after the battle; Balldearg O'Donnell, after a vain 
 attempt to throw himself into it in time, made terms with De 
 Ginkle, and carried his two regiments into Flanders to fight on 
 the side Spain and Rome had chosen to take in the European 
 coalition. Sligo, the last western garrison, succumbed, and the 
 brave Sir Teige O'Regan marched his 600 survivors southward 
 to Limerick. 
 
 Thus once more all eyes and all hearts in the British Islands 
 were turned towards the well-known city of the lower Shannon. 
 There, on the 14th of August, Tyrconnell expired, stricken down 
 by apoplexy. On the 25th, de Ginkle, reinforced by all the 
 troops he could gather in with safety, had invested the place on 
 three sides. Sixty guns, none of less than 12 pounds calibre, 
 opened their deadly fire against it. An English fleet ascended 
 the river, hurling its missiles right and left. On the 9th of Sep- 
 tember the garrison made an unsuccessful sally, with heavy loss ; 
 on the 10th, a breach, forty yards wide, was made in the wall 
 overhanging the river; on the night of the 15th, through the 
 treachery or negligence of Brigadier Clifford, on guard at the 
 Clare side of the river, a pontocn bridge was laid, and a strong
 
 596 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 English division crossed over in utter silence. The Irish horse, 
 which had hitherto kept open communications with the country 
 on that side, fell back to Six Mile bridge. On the 24th a truce ol 
 three days was agreed upon, and on the 3d of October the memo- 
 rable " Treaty of Limerick " was signed by the Williamite and 
 Jacobite commissioners. 
 
 The civil articles of Limerick will be mentioned farther on ; 
 the military articles, twenty-nine in number, provided that all 
 persons willing to expatriate themselves, as well officers and sol- 
 diers as rapparees and volunteers, should have free liberty to do 
 so, to any place beyond seas, except England and Scotland ; that 
 they might depart in whole bodies, companies or parties; that if 
 plundered by the way, William's government should make good 
 their loss ; that fifty ships of 200 tons each should be provided 
 for their transportation, besides two men-of-war for the principal 
 officers ; that the garrison of Limerick might march out with all 
 their arms, guns and baggage, " colors flying, drums beating and 
 matches lighting I " It was also agreed, that those who so wished 
 might enter the service of William, raining their rank and pay, 
 but though De Ginkle was most eager to secure for his master 
 some of those stalwart battalions, only 1,000 out of the 13,000 
 that marched out of Limerick filed to the left at King's Island. 
 Two thousand others accepted passes and protections; 4,600 
 sailed with Sarsfield from Cork, 4,700 with D'Usson and De Teas* 
 embarked in the Shannon on board a French fleet which arrived 
 a week too late to prevent the capitulation ; in English ships, 
 3,000 embarked with General Wauchop ; all which, added to 
 Mountcaahel's brigade over 6,000 strong, gave an Irish army of 
 from 20,000 to 26,000 men to the service of King Louis. 
 
 As the ships from Ireland reached Brest and the ports of Brit 
 tuny, James himself came down from Saint Germain to receive 
 thm. They were at once granted the rights of French citizen 
 chip without undergoing the forms of naturalization. Many of 
 them rose to eminent positions in war and in diplomacy, became 
 founders of distinguished families, or dying childless, left their 
 Lard-won gold to endow free bourses at Douay and Louvain, for 
 IXXT I:5sh scholars destined for the an vice of the church, for 
 which thoy had fought the good fight, in another sense, on the
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 597 
 
 Shannon and the Boyne. The migration of ecclesiastics wag 
 almost as extensive as that of the military. They were shipped 
 by dozens and by scores, from Dublin, Cork and Galway. I 
 seven years from the treaty, there remained but 400 secular and 
 800 regular clergy, in the country. Nearly double that number, 
 deported by threats or violence, were scattered over Europe, 
 pensioners on the princes and bishops of their faith, or the insti- 
 tutions of their order. In Rome, 72,000 francs annually were 
 allotted for the maintenance of the fugitive Irish clergy, and dur- 
 ing the first three months of 1699, three remittances from the 
 Holy Father, amounting to 90,000 livres, were placed In the 
 hands of the Nuncio at Paris, for the temporary relief of the fugi- 
 tives in France and Flanders. It may also be added here, that 
 till the end of the eighteenth century, an annual charge of 1,000 
 Roman crowns was borne by the Papal treasury for the encourage- 
 ment of Catholic Poor-schools in Ireland. 
 
 The revolutionary war, thus closed, had cost King William, or 
 rather the people of England, at least 10,000,000 of pounds ster- 
 ling, and with the other wars of that reign, laid the foundation 
 of the English national debt. As to the loss of life, the William- 
 ite chaplain, Storey, places it' " at 100,000, young and old, be- 
 sides treble the number that are ruined and undone." The chiei 
 consolation of the vanquished in that struggle was, that they had 
 wrung even from their adversaries the reputation of being " one 
 of the most warlike of nations " that they " buried the syna- 
 gogue with honor." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 REIGN OF KINO WILLIAM. 
 
 FROM the date of the treaty of Limerick, William was acknow- 
 ledged by all but the extreme Jacobites, at least de facto king 
 of Ireland. The prevailing party in Ulster had long recognized 
 him, and the only expression of the national will then possible 
 accepted his title, in the treaty signed at Limerick on the 3d of 
 0tobr, 1691 , For three years Ireland had resisted hie power,
 
 698 POPULAR BISTORT 07 IRELAND. 
 
 for twelve years locger she was to bear the joke of his govern 
 ment 
 
 Though the history of William's twelve years' reign in Ireland 
 is a history of proscription, the king himself is answerable only 
 as a consenting party to such proscription. He was neither by 
 temper nor policy a persecutor ; his allies were Spain, Austria 
 and Rome ; he had thousands of Catholics in his own army, and 
 he gave his confidence as freely to brave and capable men of one 
 creed as of another. But the oligarchy, calling itself the " Pro- 
 testant Ascendancy," which had grown so powerful under Crom- 
 well and Charles II., backed as they once again were by all the 
 religious intolerance of England, proved too strong for William's 
 good intentions. He was, moreover, pre-occupied with the grand 
 plans of the European coalition, in which Ireland, without an 
 army, was no longer an element of calculation. He abandoned, 
 therefore, not without an occasional grumbling protest, the van- 
 pnished Catholics to the mercy of that oligarchy, whose history 
 during the eighteenth century, forms so prominent a feature of 
 the history of the kingdom. 
 
 The civil articles of Limerick, which Sarsfield vainly hoped 
 might prove the Magna C/tarta of his coreligionists, were thirteen 
 in number. Art. I. guaranteed to members of that denomination, 
 remaining in the kingdom, " such privileges in the exercise of their 
 religion as are consistent with the law of Ireland, or as they en- 
 joyed in the reign of King Charles 1L ;" this article further pro- 
 vided, that " their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit 
 them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, will endeavor to 
 procure the said Roman Catholics such further security in that 
 particular as may preserve them from any disturbance on account 
 of their said religion." Art II. guaranteed pardon and protec- 
 tion u> all who had served King James, on taking the oath of 
 allegiance prescribed in Art. IX., as follows: 
 
 ' I, A. B., do solemnly promise and swear that I will be faith. 
 ful and bear true allegiance to their majesties, King William and 
 Queen Mary ; so help me God." 
 
 Arts. III., IV., V. and VI. extended the provisions of Arts. I. 
 and II. to merchants and other classes of men. Art VII. permit* 
 * every nobleman and gentleman compromised in the said articl
 
 FOPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. b99 
 
 to carry side arms, and keep " a gun in their houses." Art. VIIL 
 gives the right of removing gooda and chattels without search. 
 Art. IX. is as follows : 
 
 " The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as uub- 
 tnit to their majesties' government shall be the oath aforesaid, and 
 no other" 
 
 Art. X. guarantees that " no person or persons who shall at 
 any time hereafter, break these articles, or any of them, shall 
 thereby make or cause any other person or persons to forfeit or 
 lose the benefit of them." Arts. XI. and XII. relate to the ratifi- 
 cation of the articles " within eight months or sooner." Art. 
 XIII. refers to the debts of " Colonel John Brown, commissary 
 of the Irish army, to several Protestants," and arranges for their 
 satisfaction. 
 
 These articles were signed, before Limerick, at the well known 
 " Treaty Stone," on the Clare side of the Shannon, by Lord 
 Scravenmore, Generals Mackay, Talmash, and De Ginkle, and the 
 Lords-Justices Porter and Coningsby, for King William, and by 
 Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Sir Toby Butler, and 
 Colonels Purcell, Cusack, Dillon, and Brown, for the Irish. On 
 the 24th of February following, royal letters patent confirmatory 
 of the treaty were issued from Westminster, in the name of the king 
 and queen, whereby they declared, that " we do for us, our heirs, 
 and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm the same 
 and every clause, matter, and thing therein contained. And as 
 to such parts thereof, for which an act of Parliament shall be 
 found to be necessary, we shall recommend the same to be made 
 good by Parliament, and shall give our royal assent to any bill 
 or bills that shall be passed by our two houses of Parliament to 
 that purpose. And whereas it appears unto ns, that it was agreed 
 between the parties to the said articles, that after the words Lim- 
 erick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, or any of them, in the second 
 of the said articles ; which words having been casually omitted 
 by the writer of the articles, the words following, viz. : ' And all 
 such as are under their protection in the said counties,' should be 
 inserted, and be part of the said omission, was not discovered till 
 after the said articles were signed, but was taken notice of before 
 thp secor-.d town was surrendered, and that our said justices and
 
 600 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 generals, or one of them, did promise that the said clause should 
 be made good, it being within the intention of the capitulation, 
 and inserted in the foul draft thereof: Our further will and pleas- 
 ure is, and we do hereby ratify and confirm the said omitted 
 words, viz., ' And all such as are under their protection in the 
 Baid counties,' hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, ordaining 
 and declaring that all and every person and persons therein con- 
 cerned shall anfl may have, receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, 
 in such and the same manner as if the said words had been in- 
 serted in their proper place in the said second article, any omis- 
 sion, defect, or mistake in the said second article in any wise not- 
 withstanding. Provided always, and our will and pleasure is, 
 that these our letters patent shall be enrolled in our court of 
 chancery, in our said kingdom of Ireland, within the space of one 
 year next ensuing." 
 
 But the Ascendancy party were not to be restrained by the 
 filth of treaties, or the obligations of the sovereign. The Sun- 
 day following the return of the Lords Justices from Limerick, 
 Dopping, Bishop of Meath, preached before them at Christ's church, 
 on the crime of keeping faith with Papists. The grand jury of 
 Cork, urged on by Cox, the Recorder of Kinsale, one of the his- 
 torians of those times, returned in their inquest that the restor- 
 ation of the Earl of Clancarty's estates " would be dangerous to 
 the Protestant interest." Though both William and George I., 
 interested themselves warmly for that noble family, the hatred 01 
 the new oligarchy proved too strong for the clemency of kings, 
 and the broad acres of the disinherited McCarthys, remained to 
 enrich an alien and bigoted aristocracy. 
 
 In 1692, when the Irish Parliament met, a few Catholic peers, 
 and a very few Catholic commoners took their seats. One of the 
 first acts of the victorious majority was to frame an oath in dir- 
 ect contravention to the oath prescribed by the ninth civil article 
 of the treaty, to be taken by members of both Houses. This 
 oath solemnly ai.'l explicitly denied " that in the sacrament of 
 the Lord's supper there is any transubstantion of the elements ;" 
 and as solemnly affirmed, " that the invocation or adoration of 
 the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, 
 as they are now used in the church of Rome, are damnable and
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 601 
 
 idolatrous." As a matter of course, the Catholic peers and com 
 moners retired from both Houses, rather than take any such oath, 
 and thus the Irish Parliament assumed, in 1692, that exclusively 
 Protestant chsracter which it continued to maintain, till its ex- 
 tinction in 1800. The Lord-Justice Sydney, acting in the spirit 
 of his original instructions, made some show of resistance to the 
 proscriptive spirit thus exhibited. But to teach him how they 
 regarded his interference, a very small supply was voted, and the 
 assertion of the absolute control of the Commons over all sup- 
 plies a sound doctrine when rightly interpreted was vehem 
 ently asserted. Sydney had the satisfaction of proroguing and 
 lecturing the House, but they had the satisfaction soon after of 
 seeing him recalled through their influence in England, and a 
 more congenial viceroy in the person of Lord Capel sent over. 
 
 About the same tune, that ancient engine of oppression, a Com- 
 mission to inquire into estates forfeited, was established, and, in a 
 short time, decreed that 1,060,792 acres were escheated to the 
 crown. This was almost the last fragment of the patrimony of 
 the Catholic inhabitants. When King "William died, there did 
 not remain in Catholic hands " one-sixth part " of what their 
 grandfathers held, even after the passage of the Act of Settle- 
 ment. 
 
 In 1695, Lord Capel opened the second Irish Parliament, sum- 
 moned by King "William, in a speech in which he assured his 
 delighted auditors that the king was intent upon a firm settlement 
 of Ireland upon a Protestant interest." Large supplies were at 
 once voted to his majesty, and the House of Commons then pro- 
 ceeded to the appointment of a committee to consider what penal 
 laws were already in force against the Catholics, not for the pur. 
 pose of repealing them, but in order to add to their number. 
 The principal penal laws then in existence were : 
 
 1. An act, subjecting all who upheld the jurisdiction of the Se 
 of Rome, to the penalties of a premunire ; and ordering the oath 
 of supremacy to be a qualification for office of every kind, for holy 
 orders, and for a degree in the university. 
 
 2. An act for the uniformity of Common Prayer, imposing a 
 fine of a shilling on all who should absent themselves from placet 
 of worship of the established church on Sundays. 
 
 51
 
 602 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 8. An act, allowing the Chancellor to name a guardian to th 
 child of a Catholic. 
 
 4. An act to prevent Catholics from becoming private tutors 
 in families, without license from the ordinaries of their several 
 parishes, and taking the oath of supremacy. 
 
 To these, the new Parliament added, 1. An act to deprive 
 Catholics of the means of educating their children at home or 
 abroad, and to render them incapable of being guardians of their 
 own or any other person's children; 2. An act to disarm the 
 Catholics ; and, 3. Another to banish all the Catholic priests and 
 prelates. Having thus violated the treaty, they gravely brought 
 in a bill " to confirm the Articles of Limerick." " The very title 
 of the bill," says Dr. Cooke Taylor, " contains evidence of its in- 
 justice." It is styled, " A Bill for the Confirmation of Articles 
 (not t/ie articles) made at the Surrender of Limerick." And the 
 preamble shows that the little word the was not accidentally 
 omitted. It runs thus : " That the said articles, or so much of 
 them at may consist wiih the safety and welfare of your majesty't 
 tubjects in these kingdoms, may be confirmed," fec. The parts that 
 appeared to these legislators inconsistent with " the safety and 
 welfare of his majesty's subjects," were the first article, which 
 provided for the security of the Catholics from all disturbances 
 on account of their religion ; those parts of the second article 
 which confirmed the Catholic gentry of Limerick, Clare, Cork, 
 Kerry, and Mayo, in the possession of their estates, and allowed 
 all Catholics to exercise their trades and professions without ob- 
 struction ; the fourth article, which extended the benefit of the 
 peaoe to certait Irish officers then abroao ; the seventh article, 
 which allowed the Catholic gentry to ride armed ; the ninth 
 article, which provides that the oath of allegiance shall be the 
 only oath required from Catholics ; and one or two others of 
 Toinor importance. All of these are omitted in the bill for " The 
 tonfirmation of Articles made at the Surrender of Limerick." 
 
 The Commons passed the bill without much difficulty. The 
 House of Lords, however, contained some few of the ancient 
 nobility, and some prelates, who refused to acknowledge the dog- 
 ma, " that no faith should be kept with Papists," as an article cf 
 their creed. The bill waa strenuously resisted, and whn it wac
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 603 
 
 At length carried, a strong protest against it was signed by lordi 
 Londonderry, Tyrone, and Duncannon, the barons of Ossory, 
 Limerick, Killaloe, Kerry, Howth, Kingston, and Strabane, and, 
 to their eternal honor be it said, the Protestant bishops of Kildara 
 Elphin, Derry, Clonfert, and Killala 1 
 
 The only other political incidents of this reign, important to 
 Ireland, were the speech from the throne in answer to an addresa 
 of the English Houses, 'in which William promised to discourage 
 the woolen and encourage the linen manufacture in Ireland, and 
 the publication of the famous argument for legislative independ- 
 ance, " The Case of Ireland Stated." The author of this tract, 
 the bright precursor of the glorious succession of men, who, often 
 defeated or abandoned by their colleagues, finally triumphed in 
 1782, was William Molyneux, member for the University of 
 Dublin. Molyneux's book appeared in 1698, with a short, 
 respectful, but manly dedication to King William. Speaking of 
 his own motives in writing it, he says, " I am not at all concerned 
 in wool or the wool trade. I am no wnys interested in forfeiturea 
 or grants. I am not at all concerned whether the bishop or the 
 society of Derry recover the lands they contest about." Such 
 were the domestic politics of Ireland at that day; but Moly- 
 neux raised other and nobler issues when he advanced these 
 six propositions, which he supported with incontestible ability. 
 
 "1. How Ireland became a kingdom annexed to the crown 
 of England. And hers we shall at large give a faithful narrative 
 of the first expedition of the Britons into this country, and King 
 Henry II.'s arrival here, such as our best historians give us. 
 
 " 2. We shall inquire whether this expedition and the English 
 settlement that afterwards followd thereon, can properly be 
 called a conquest? or whether any victories obtained by the Eng- 
 lish in any succeeding ages in this kingdom, upon any rebellion, 
 may be called a conquest thereof ? 
 
 " 3. Granting that it were a conquest, we shall inquire what 
 title a conquest gives. 
 
 " 4. We shall inquire what concessions have been from time to 
 time made to Ireland, to take off what even the most rigorous 
 asserters of a conquerer'a title do pretend to. And herein wt 
 hall show by what degrees th English form of government,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 0> IRELAND. 
 
 and tin English statute laws, came to be received among as 
 and this shall appear to be wholly by the consent of the people 
 und the parliament of Ireland. 
 
 " 5. We shall inquire into the precedents and opinions of the 
 (earned in the laws relating to this matter, with observations 
 thereon. 
 
 " 6. We shall consider the reasons and arguments that may be 
 farther offered on one side and t'other; and we shall draw some 
 general conclusions from the whole." 
 
 The English Parliament took alarm at these bold doctrines 
 seldom heard across the channel since the days of Patrick Darcy 
 and the Catholic Confederacy. They ordered the book to be 
 burned by the hands of the common hangman as of " dangerous 
 tendency to the crown and people of England, by denying the 
 power of the king and parliament of England to bind the king- 
 dom and people of Ireland, and the subordination and depend- 
 ence that Ireland had, and ought to have, upon England, a being 
 united and annexed to the imperial crown of England.' They 
 voted an address to the king in the same tone, and received an 
 answer from his majesty assuring them that he would enforce the 
 laws securing the dependence of Ireland on the imperial crown 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 But William's days were already numbered. On the 8th of 
 March, 1702, when little more than fifty years of age, he died 
 from the effects of a fall from his horse. His reign over Ireland 
 is synonymous to the minda of that people of disaster, proscrip- 
 tion and spoliation ; of violated faith and broken compacts ; but 
 these wrongs were lone in his name rather than by his orders; 
 often without his knowledge, and sometimes against his will. 
 Kigid as that will was, it was forced to bend to the anti-Popery 
 utorin which swept over the British Islands after the abdication 
 of King James; but the vices and follies of his times ought no 
 more be laid to the personal account of William than of James 
 or Louis, against whom he fought
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 605 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 THI reign of Queen Anne occupies twelve years (1702 to 
 1714). The new sovereign, daughter of James by hia first mar- 
 riage, inherited the legacy of William's wars, arising out of the 
 European coalition. Her diplomatists, and her troops, under the 
 leadership of Marlborough, continued throughout her reign to 
 combat against France, in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands 
 the treaty of Utrecht being signed only the year before her 
 majesty's decease. In domestic politics, the main occurrences 
 were the struggle of the Whigs and Tories, immortalized for us in 
 the pages of Swift, Steele, Addison, and Bolingbroke ; the limita- 
 tion of the succession to the descendants of the Electress Sophia, 
 in the line of Hanover ; and the abortive Jacobite movement on 
 the queen's death which drove Ormond and Atterbury into 
 exile. 
 
 In Ireland, this la the reign, par excellence, of the penal code. 
 From the very beginning of the queen's reign, an insatiate spirit 
 of proscription dictated the councils of the Irish obligarchy. On 
 the arrival of the second and last Duke of Ormond, in 1708, as 
 Lord-Lieutenant, the commons waited on him in a body, with a 
 bill " for discouraging the further growth of Popery," to which, 
 the duke having signified his entire concurrence, it was accord- 
 ingly introduced, and became law. The following are among the 
 most remarkable clauses of this act : The third clause provides, 
 that if the son of an estated Papist, shall conform to the established 
 religion, the father shall be incapacitated from selling or mortga- 
 ging his estate, or disposing of any portion of it by will. The 
 fourth clause prohibits a Papist from being the guardian of hia 
 own child ; and orders, that if at any time the child, though ever 
 BO young, pretends to be a Protestant, it shall be taken from it 
 own father, and placed under the guardianship of the nearest 
 Protestant relation. The sixth clause renders Papists incapable 
 f purchasing any manors, tenements, hereditaments, or any rentt 
 51*
 
 606 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 or profits arising out of the same, or of holding any lease of liv* 
 or other lease whatever, for any term exceeding thirty-one years. 
 And with respect even to such limited leases, it further enacts, 
 that if a Papist should hold a farm producing a profit greater than 
 one-third of the amount of the rent, his right to such should im- 
 mediately cease, and pass over entirely to the first Protestant who 
 should discover the rate of profit. The seventh clause prohibits 
 Papists from succeeding to the properties or estates of their Pro- 
 testant relations. By the tenth clause, the estate of a Papist, not 
 having a Protestant heir, is ordered to be gavelled, or divided in 
 equal shares between all his children. The sixteenth and twenty- 
 fourth clauses impose the oath of abjuration, and the sacramental 
 test, as a qualification for office, and for voting at elections. The 
 twenty-third clause deprives the Catholics of Limerick and Gal- 
 way of the protection secured to them by the articles of the treaty 
 of Limerick The twenty-fifth clause vests in her majesty all 
 %dvowsons possessed by Papists. 
 
 Certain Catholic barristers, living under protection, not yet 
 excluded from the practice of their profession, petitioned to be 
 heard at the bar of the House of Commons. Accordingly, Mr. 
 Malone, the ancestor of three generations of scholars and orators, 
 Sir Stephen Rice, one of the most spotless characters of the age, 
 formerly chief-justice under King James, and Sir Theobald Butler, 
 were heard against the bill. The argument of Butler, who stood 
 at the very head of his profession, remains to us almost in its en- 
 tirety, and commands our admiration by its solidty and and dignity. 
 Never was national cause more worthily pleaded ; never was the 
 folly of religious persecution more forcibly exhibited. Alluding 
 to the monstrous fourth clause of the bill, the great advocate ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 " It is natural for the father to love the child ; but we all kn(nr 
 that children are but too apt and subject, without any such rberty 
 as this bill gives, to slight and neglect their duty to their 
 parents ; and surely such an act as this will not be an instrument 
 of restraint, but rather encourage them more to it 
 
 " It is but too common with the son, who has a prospect of an 
 estate, when once he arrives at the age of one and twenty, to think 
 the '>!! faflif-r t<*n long in the wny between him and it; and how
 
 POIULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 607 
 
 much more will he be subject to it, when, by this act, he shall 
 have liberty, before he comes to that age, to compel and force my 
 estate from me, without asking my leave, or being liable to account 
 with me for it, or out of his share thereof, to a moiety of the debts* 
 portions, or other encumbrances, with which the estate might 
 have been charged before the passing this act ! 
 
 " Is not this against the laws of God and man ? Against the 
 rules of reason and justice, by which all men ought to be governed ? 
 Is not this the only way in the world to make children become 
 undutiful ? and to bring the gray head of the parent to the grave 
 with grief and tears ? 
 
 " It would be hard from any man ; but from a son, a child, the 
 fruit of my body, whom I have nursed in my bosom, and tendered 
 more dearly than my own life, to become my plunderer, to rob me 
 of my estate, to cut my throat, and to take away my bread, is 
 much more grievous than from any other and enough to mako 
 the most flinty of hearts to bleed to think on it. And yet this 
 will be the case if this bill pass into a law; which I hope thia 
 honorable assembly will not think of, when they shall more seri- 
 ously consider, and have weighed these matters. 
 
 " For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider whether this is 
 according to the golden rule, to do as you would be done unto ? 
 And if not, surely you will not, nay, you cannot, without being liable 
 to be charged with the most manifest injustice imaginable, take 
 from us our birthrights, and invest them in others before our faces." 
 
 When Butler and Malone had closed, Sir Stephen Rice was 
 heard, not in his character of council, but as one of the petitioners 
 affected by the act. But neither the affecting position of that 
 great jurist, who from the rank of chief baron had descended to 
 the cuter bar, nor the purity of his life, nor the strength of hia 
 argument, had any effect upon the oligarchy who heard him. Ho 
 was answered by quibbles and cavils, unworthy of record, and 
 was finally informed that any rights which Papists " pretended to 
 be taken from them by the Bill, was in their own power to remedy, 
 by conforming, which in prudence they ought to do ; and that they 
 had none to blame but themselves." Next day the bill passed 
 into law. 
 
 The remnant of the clergy were next attacked. On the I7tl|
 
 608 POPULAR UI8TORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 of March, 1706, the Irish Commons resolved, that " infcrming 
 against Papists was an honorable service to the government," and 
 that all magistrates and others who failed to put the penal laws 
 into execution, " were betrayers of the liberties of the kingdom." 
 But even these resolutions, rewards, and inducements were in- 
 sufficient to satisfy the spirit of persecution. 
 
 A further act was passed, in 1 709, imposing additional penal- 
 ties. The first clause declares, that no Papist shall be capable of 
 holding an annuity for life. The third provides, that the child 
 of a Papist, on conforming, shall at once receive an annuity from 
 his father ; and that the Chancellor shall compel the father 
 to discover, upon oath, the full value of his estate, real and per- 
 sonal, and thereupon make an order for the support of such con- 
 forming child or children, and for securing such a share of the 
 property, after the father's death, as the court shall think fit. 
 The fourteenth and fifteenth clauses secure jointures to Popish 
 wives who shall conform. The sixteenth prohibits a Papist from 
 teaching, even as assistant to a Protestant master. The eigh- 
 teenth gives a salary of 30 per annum to Popish priests who 
 shall conform. The twentieth provides rewards for the discovery 
 of Popish prelates, priests, and teachers, according to the follow, 
 ing whimsical scale: For discovering an archbishop, bishop 
 vicar-general, or other person, exercising any foreign ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction, 60; for discovering each regular clergyman, and 
 each secular clergyman not registered, 20, and for discovering 
 each Popish schoolmaster or usher, 10. The twenty-first clause 
 empowers two justices to summon before them any Papist over 
 eighteen years of age, and interrogate him when and where he 
 last heard mass said, and the names of the persons present, and 
 likewise touching the residence of any Popish priest or school- 
 master ; and if he refuse to give testimony, subjects him to a fine 
 of 20, or imprisonment for twelve months. 
 
 Several other penal laws were enacted by the same parliament, 
 of which we can only notice one ; it excluded Catholics from the 
 office of sheriff, and from grand juries, and enacts, that, in trial* 
 upon any statute for strengthening the Protestant interest, th 
 plaintiff might challenge a juror for being a Papist, which clud- 
 jenge the judge was to allow.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELA1O. COS 
 
 By a royal proclamation of the same year, all "registered 
 priests " were to lake " the oath of abjuration before the 25th of 
 March, 1710," under penalty of premunire. Under this proclama 
 tion and the tariff of rewards just cited, there grew up a class of 
 men, infamous and detestable, known by the nickname of " priest 
 hunters." One of the most successful of these traffickers in blood, 
 was a Portuguese Jew, named Garcia, settled at Dublin. He was 
 very skillful at disguises. " He sometimes put on the mien of a 
 priest, for he affected to be one, and thus worming himself into 
 the good graces of some confiding Catholic, got a clue to the 
 whereabouts of the clergy." In 1718, Garcia succeeded in arrest- 
 ing seven unregistered priests, for whose detection he had a sum 
 equal to two or three thousand dollars of American money. To 
 such an excess was this trade carried, that a reaction set in, and 
 a Catholic bishop of Ossory, who lived at the time these acts 
 were still in force, records that " the priest-catchers' occupation 
 became exceedingly odious both to Protestants and Catholics," 
 and that himself had seen " ruffians of this calling assailed with 
 a shower of stones, flung by both Catholics and Protestants." 
 But this creditable reaction only became general under George 
 IL, twenty years after the passage of the act of Queen Anne. 
 
 We shall have to mention some monstrous additions made to 
 the code during the first George's reign, and 6ome attempts to 
 repair and perfect its diabolical machinery, even so late as 
 George III ; but the great body of the penal law received its 
 chief accessions from the oligarchical Irish parliament, under 
 Queen Anne. Hitherto, we have often had to point out, how 
 with all its constitutional defects with the law of Poynings, 
 obliging heads of bills to be first sent into England fettering its 
 freedom of initiative ; how, notwithstanding all defects, the 
 Irish parliament had asserted, at many critical periods, its own 
 and the people's rights, with an energy worthy of admiration. 
 But the collective bigots of this reign, were wholly unworthy 
 of the name of a parliament. They permitted the woolen trade 
 to be sacrificed without a struggle, they allowed the bold prop, 
 ositions of Molyneux, one of their own number, to be condemned 
 and reprobated without a protest. The knotted lash of Jonathan 
 Swift was never more worthily aprMed, than to "the Legion
 
 610 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRBLAND. 
 
 Club,' which he has consigned to such an unenviable immortal 
 ity. Swift's inspiration may have been mingled with bitter di 
 appointment and personal revenge; but, whatever motives am 
 mated him, his fearless use of his great abilities must alwayi 
 make him the first political, as he was certainly the first literary 
 character of Ireland at that day. In a country so bare and 
 naked as he found it; with a bigotry so rampant and united 
 before him ; it needed no ordinary courage and capacity to evoke 
 anything like public opinion or public spirit. Let us be just to 
 that most unhappy man of genius ; let us proclaim, that Irish 
 nationality, bleeding at every pore, and in danger of perishing 
 by the wayside, found shelter on the breast of Swift, and took 
 new heart from the example of that bold churchman, before 
 whom the parliament, the bench of bishops, and the viceroy 
 trembled. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD DURING THE REIGNS OK WILLIAM AND 
 ANNE. 
 
 THE close of the second reign from the seige of Limerick, im- 
 poses the duty of casting our eyes over the map of Europe, in 
 quest of those gallant exiles whom we have seen, in tens of 
 thousands, submitting to the hard necessity of expatriation. 
 
 Many of the Meath mnd Leinster Irish, under their native 
 commanders, the Kavanaghs and Nugents, carried their swords 
 into the service of William's ally, the Emperor of Austria, and 
 distinguished themselves in all the campaigns of Prince Eugene. 
 Spain attracted to her standard the Iiish of the northwest, the 
 O'Donnella, the O'Reillys and O'Garas, whose regiments, during 
 more than one reign, continued to be known by names of Ulster 
 origin. In 1707, the great battle of Almanza, which decided the 
 Bpanich succession, was determined by O'Mahony's foot and 
 Fitzj.'imes's Iri*h horse. The next year Spain had five Irish regi- 
 ments in her regular army, three of foot nnd two of dragoons, 
 under the command of Lacy, Lawless, Wogan, O'Reilly and 
 O'Gara. But it was in Franc*- that the Irish served in thi
 
 POPULAR HISTOKT OF IRELAND. Oil 
 
 greatest number, and made the most impressive history toi 
 themselves and their descendants. 
 
 The recruiting agents of France had long been in the habit of 
 crossing the narrow seas, and bringing back the stalwart son! 
 of the western Island to serve their ambitious kings, in every 
 corner of the continent. An Irish troop of horse served, in 1652, 
 under Turenne, against the great Conde\ In the campaigns of 
 1673, 1674 and 1675, under Turenne, two or three Irish regi- 
 ments were in every engagement along the Rhine. At Alten- 
 heim, their commander, Count Hamilton, was created a major- 
 general of France. In 1690, these old regiments, with the six 
 new ones sent over by James, were formed into a brigade, and from 
 1690 to 1693, they went through the campaigns of Savoy and Italy, 
 under Marshal Catinat, against Priuce Eugene. Justin McCar- 
 thy, Lord Mountcashel, who commanded them, died at Baregea 
 of wounds received at Staffardo. At Marsiglia, they routed, in 
 1693, the allies, killing Duke Schomberg, son to the Huguenot 
 general who fell at the Boyue. 
 
 The " New " or Sarsfield's brigade was employed under Lux- 
 embourg,against King William, in Flanders, in 1692 and 1693. 
 At Namur and Enghien, they were greatly distinguished, and 
 William more than once sustained heavy loss at their hands, 
 Sarsfield, their brigadier, for these services, was made mareschal- 
 de-camp. At Landen, on the 29th of July, '98, France again 
 triumphed to the cry, " Remember Limerick!" Sarsfield, lead- 
 ing on the fierce pursuers, fell moi-tally wounded. Pressing his 
 hand upon the wound, he took it away dripping with blood, and 
 only said, " Oh, that this was for Ireland I" 
 
 In the war of the Spanish succession, the remnants of both bri- 
 gades, consolidated into one, served under their favorite leader, 
 the Marshal Duke of Berwick, through nearly all his campaigns 
 in Belgium, Spain and Germany. The third Lord Clare, after- 
 wards Field-Marshal Count Thomond, was by the Duke's side 
 at Phillipsburg, in 1733, when he received his death-wound from 
 the explosion of a mine. These exiled Clare O'Briens commanded 
 for three generations their famous family regiment of dragoons. 
 The first who followed king James abroad died of wounds re- 
 ceived at the battle of Ramillies ; the third, with better fortune,
 
 612 POPULAR HJ6IO&X O I&KLAND. 
 
 outlived for nearly thirty years the glorious day of Fontenoy. 
 The Irish cavalry regiments in the service of France wer 
 She^on's, Galmoy's, Clare's, and Killmallock's ; the infantry were 
 known as the regiments of Dublin, Charlemont, Limerick and 
 Athlone. There were two other infantry regiments, known as 
 Luttrel's and Dorrington's and a regiment, of Irish marines, of 
 which the Grand Prior, Fitzjames, was colonel. During the latter 
 years of Louis XIV., there could not have been less, at any one 
 time, than from 20,000 to 3u,OOU Irish in his armies, and during 
 the entire century, authentic documents exist to prove that 
 450,000 natives of Ireland died in the military service of France. 
 
 In the dreary reigns of William, Anne, and the two first 
 Georges, the pride and courage of the disarmed and disinherited 
 population, abiding at home, drew new life and vigor from the 
 exploits of their exiled brethren. The channel smuggler and the 
 vagrant ballad-singer kept alive their fame for the lower class of 
 the population, while the memoirs of Marlborough and Eugene, 
 issuing from the Dublin press, communicated authentic accounts 
 of their actions, to the more prejudiced, or better educated. The 
 blows they struck at Landen, at Cremona, and at Almanza, were 
 sensibly felt by every British statesman ; when, in the bitterness 
 of defeat, an English king cursed " the laws that deprived him of 
 such subjects," the doom of the penal code was pronounced. 
 
 The high character of the famous captains of these brigades 
 was not confined to the field of battle. At Paris, Vienna, and 
 Madrid, their wit and courtesy raised them to the favor of princes, 
 over the jealousy of all their rivals. Important civil and diplo- 
 matic offices were entrusted to them embassys of peace and war 
 the government of provinces, and the highest administrative 
 offices of the state. While their kinsmen in Ireland were de- 
 clared incapable of filling the humblest public employments or 
 of exercising the commonest franchise, they met British ambas 
 sadora abroad as equals, and checked or countermined the im- 
 perial policy of Great Britain. It was impossible that such a 
 contrast of situations should not attract the attention of all think- 
 ing men ! It was impossible that such reputations should shin 
 before all Europe without reacting powerfully on the fallen for 
 tune? of Ireland I
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 613 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. TO 
 THE LEGISLATIVE UNION OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. SWIFTS LEADERSHIP. 
 
 THE last years of Queen Anne had been years of intrigue and 
 preparation with the Jacobite leaders throughout the three king- 
 doms. At their head stood Ormond, the second and last Duke 
 of his name, and with him were associated at one stage or another 
 of his design, Bolingbroke, Orrery, Bishop Atterbury, and other 
 influential persons. It was thought that had this party acted 
 promptly on the death of the queen, and proclaimed James III. 
 (or " the Pretender," as he was called by the partisans of the new 
 dynasty), the Act of Succession might have remained a dead 
 letter, and the Stuarts recovered their ancient sovereignty. But 
 the partisans of the elector were the first in the field, and King 
 George was accordingly proclaimed, on the 1st of August, st 
 London, and on the 6th of August, at Dublin. 
 
 In Dublin, where serious apprehensions of a Jacobite rising 
 were entertained, the proclamation was made by the glare of 
 torches at the extraordinary hour of midnight. Two or three 
 arrests of insignificant persons were made, and letters to Swift 
 being found on one of them, the dean was thought by his friends 
 to be in some danger. But it is not correct to say, as many 
 writers have done, that he found it necessary to retire from Dub- 
 lin. The only inconvenience he suffered was from the hootinga 
 and re^ings of the Protestant rabble in the street, and a brutal 
 threat of personal violence from a young nobleman, upjn whom 
 be revenged himself in a characteristic petition to the House of 
 52
 
 614 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 Lords " for j rotection against the said lord." Pretending not to b 
 quite sure of his assailant, he proceeds to explain : " Your petitioner 
 is informed that the person who spoke the words above mentioned 
 is of your Lordships' house, under the style and title of Lord 
 Blaney ; whom your petitioner remembers to have introduced to 
 Mr. Secretary Addison, in the Earl of Wharton's government, 
 aiid to have done him other good offices at that time, because he 
 was represented as a young man of some hopes and a broken 
 fortune." The entire document is a curious picture of the inso- 
 lence of the ascendancy party of that day, even towards digni- 
 taries of their own church who refused to go all lengths in the 
 only politics they permitted or tolerated. 
 
 It was while smarting under these public indignities, and ex- 
 cluded from the society of the highest class in his own country, 
 witli two or three exceptions, that Swift laid the foundations of his 
 own and his country's patriotism, among the educated middle class 
 of the Irish capital. From the college and the clergy he drew Dr. 
 Sheridan, ancestor of six generations of men and women of 
 genius ! Doctors Delaney, Jackson, Helsham, Walmsley, Stopford 
 (afterwards bishop of Cloyne), and the three reverend brothers 
 (i rat tan. In the city he selected as his friends and companions 
 four other G rattans, one of whom was lord-mayor, another phy- 
 sician to the castle, one a school master, the other a merchant. 
 " Do you know the Grattans ?" he wrote to the lord-lieutenant, 
 Lord Carteret ; " then pray obtain their acquaintance. The 
 Grattans, my lord, can raise 10,000 men." Among the class rep- 
 resented by this admirable family of seven brothers, and in that 
 of the tradesmen immediately below them, of which wo may take 
 his printers, Waters and Faulkner for types, Swift's haughty 
 and indignant denunciations of the oligarchy of the hour pro 
 duced striking effects. The humblest of the community began 
 to raise their heads, and to fix their eyes steadily on pub'io 
 affairs and public characters. Questions of currency, of trade, 
 of the administration of justice and of patronage, were earnestly 
 discussed in the press and in society, and thus by slow but grad- 
 ually ascending steps a spirit of independence was promoted 
 where hitherto only servility had reigned. 
 
 The obligations of his cotemporaries to Swift are not to t*
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 615 
 
 counted simply by what he was able to originate or to advocate in 
 their behalf for not much could be done in that way, in such 
 time*, and in such a position as his but rather in regaro to tha 
 enemies and inaligners of that people, whom he exposed and pun- 
 ished. To understand the value of his example and inspiration, we 
 must read over again his castigations of Wharton, of Burnet. of 
 Boulter, of Whitshed, of Allan, and all the leaders of the oligarchy, 
 in the Irish Parliament. When we have done so, we shall see at 
 once, how his imperial reputation, his personal position, and every 
 faculty of his powerful mind were employed alike to combat in- 
 justice and proscription, to promote freedom of opinion and of 
 trade, to punish the abuses of judicial power, and to cultivate and 
 foster, a spirit of self reliance and economy among all classes 
 especially the humblest. In his times, and in his position, with a 
 cassock " entangling his course," what more could have been ex- 
 pected of him ? 
 
 The Parliament which met in 1715 elected, according to the 
 then usage, for the lifetime of the king commenced its career by 
 an act of attainder against the Pretender, accompanied by a reward 
 of 50,000 for his apprehension. The Lords-Justices, the Duke of 
 Grafton and the Earl of Gal way, recommended in their speech to 
 the Houses, that they should cultivate such unanimity aimong 
 themselves as " at once to put an end to all other distinctions in 
 Ireland, but that of Protestant and Papist." In the same speech, 
 and in all the debates of that reign, the Catholics were spoken of 
 as " the common enemy," and all who sympathized with them, aa 
 " enemies of the constitution." But far as this Parliament was 
 from all our ideas of what a national legislature ought to be, it was 
 precisely at this period, when the administration could not be 
 worse, that the foundation was laid of the great contest for legis- 
 lative independence, which was to continue through three genera, 
 tiona, and to constitute the main staple of the Irish history of this 
 century. 
 
 In th year 1717, the English House of Lords entertained and 
 decided, as a court of last resort, an appeal from the Irish courts, 
 already passed on by the Irish Lords', in the famous real-estate 
 case of Annesley versus Sherlock. The proceeding was novel, 
 fciid was protested against in the English house nt the time by
 
 616 POFULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Duke of Leeds, and in the Irish, by the majority of the whole 
 house. But the British Parliament, not content with claiming 
 the power, proceeded to establish the principle, by the declaratory 
 act 6th George I. for securing the dependence of Ireland on the 
 crown of Great Britain. This statute, even more objectionable 
 than the law of Poynings, continued nnrepealed till 1782, not- 
 withstanding all the arguments and all the protests of the Irish 
 patriot party. The Lords of Ireland, unsupported by the bigoted 
 and unprincipled oligarchy in the Commons, were shorn of their 
 appellate jurisdiction, and their journals for many years contain 
 few entries of business done, beyond servile addresses to succes- 
 sive viceroys, and motions of adjournment. 
 
 In their session of 1728, the ascendancy party in the Common! 
 proceeded to their last extreme of violence against the prostrate 
 Catholics. An act was introduced founded on eight resolutions, 
 " further to prevent the growth of Popery." One of these resolu- 
 tions regularly transmitted to England by the viceroy proposed 
 that every priest, arrested within the realm, should suffer the 
 penalty of castration ! For the first time, a penal law was re- 
 jected with horror and indignation by the English Privy Council, 
 and the whole elaborate edifice, overweighted with these last pro- 
 positions, trembled to its base. But though badly shaken, it was 
 yet far from coming down. 
 
 " Do not tlie corruptions and villainies of men," said Swift to 
 his friend Delaney, " eat your flesh and exhaust your spirits?" 
 They certainly gnawed at the heart of the courageous dean, but 
 at the same time, they excited rather than exhausted his spirits. 
 In 1720 he resumed his pen, as a political writer, in his famous 
 pr^posa. " for the universal use of Irish manufactures." Waters, 
 the printer of this piece, was indicted for a seditious libel, before 
 Chief Justice Whitahed, the immortal " coram nobi*," of the 
 dean's political ballads. The jury were detained eleven hours, 
 and sent ou f nine times, to compel them to agree on a verdict. 
 They at length finally declared they could not agree, and a no/, 
 pro*, was soon after entered by the crown. This trial of Swift's 
 printer in 1720 is the first of a long series of duels with the 
 erown lawyers, which the Irish press has since maintained with 
 M much firmness and self-sacrifice, as any press ever exhibited.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 617 
 
 And it may be said that never, not even under martial law, was a 
 conspicuous example of civic courage more necessary, cr more 
 dangerous. Browne, Bishop of Cork, had been in danger of de- 
 privation for preaching a sermon against the well-known toast to 
 the memory of King William ; Swift was threatened, as we see, a 
 few years earlier, with personal violence by a Whig lord, and 
 pelted by a Protestant rabble, for his supposed Jacobitism ; his 
 friend, Dr. Sheridan, lost his Munster living for having accident- 
 ally chosen as his text, on the anniversary of King George's coro- 
 nation, " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." Such was the 
 intolerance of the oligarchy towards their own clergy. What 
 must it have been to others ! 
 
 The attempt to establish a National Bank, and the introduction 
 of a debased copper coinage, for which a patent had been granted 
 to one William Wood, next employed the untiring pen of Swift. 
 The half-penny controversy, was not, as is often said, a small mat- 
 ter ; it was nearly as important as the bank project itself. Of tbs 
 100,000 worth coined, the intrinsic value was shown to be not 
 more than 6,000. Such was the storm excited against the 
 patentee, that his Dublin agents were obliged to resign their con- 
 nection with him, and the royal letters-patent were unwillingly 
 canceled. The bank project was also rejected by Parliament, 
 adding another to the triumphs of the invincible Dean. 
 
 During the last years of this reign, Swift was the most power-- 
 fill and popular person in Ireland, and perhaps in the empire. 
 The freedom with which he advised Oarteret the viceroy, and 
 remonstrated with Walpole, the premier, on the misrule of his 
 country, was worthy of the ascendancy of his genius. No man 
 of letters, no churchman, no statesman of any country in anj 
 age, ever showed himself more thoroughly independent, in his 
 intercourse with men in office, than Swift. The vice of -Ireland 
 was exactly the other way, so that in this respect also, the patriot 
 was the liberator. 
 
 Rising with the rise of public spirit, the great churchman, in 
 his fourth letter, in the assumed character of M. B. Drapier, con- 
 fronted the question of legislative independence. Alluding to 
 the puLiphlet of ilolyneux, published tliirty years before, he 
 pronounced its arguments invincible, and the contrary ay stern 
 62*
 
 618 POPULAR H18TOBT OF IRELAND. 
 
 " the very definition of slavery." " The remedy," he conclude*, 
 addressing the Irish people, " is wholly in your own hands, and 
 therefore I have digressed a little, in order to refresh and con 
 tinue that spirit so seasonably raised among you, and to let yon 
 see, that, by the laws of God, of nature, of nations, and of your 
 country, you are, and ought to be, as free a people ax your brethren 
 in England." For this letter also, the printer, Harding, was in* 
 dieted, but the Dublin grand jury, infected with the spirit of the 
 times, unanimously ignored the bilL A reward of 300 was then 
 issued from the castle for the discovery of the author, but no 
 informer could be found base enough to betray him. For a time, 
 however, to escape the ovations he despised, and the excitement 
 which tried his health, Swill retired to his friend Sheridan's cot- 
 tage on the banks of Loch Rumor, in Cavan, and there recreated 
 himself with long rides about the country, and the composition 
 of the Travels of the immortal Gulliver. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, alarmed at the exhibition of popular intel- 
 ligence and determination evoked by Swift, committed the gov- 
 ernment of Ireland to his rival Lord Carteret whom he was 
 besides not sorry to remove to a distance and appointed to the 
 Bee of Armagh, which fell vacant about the tune of the currency 
 dispute, l)r. Hugh Boulter, Bishop of Bristol, one of his owr 
 areatures. This prelate, a politician by taste and inclination 
 modeled his policy on his patron's, as far as his more contracted 
 sphere and inferior talents permitted. To buy members in mar- 
 ket overt, with peerages, or secret service money, was his chief 
 means of securing a parliamentary majority. An Englishman 
 by birth and education ; the head of the Protestant establishment 
 in Ireland, it was inevitable that his policy should be English 
 and Protestant, in every particular. To resist, depress, disunite, 
 and defeat the believer* in the dangerous doctrines of Swift and 
 Molyneux, was the sole rule of his nearly twenty years' political 
 supremacy in Irish affairs. (1724-1742.) The master of a 
 princely income, endowed with strong passions, unlimited patron- 
 age, and great activity, he may be said to have reigned rather 
 than led, even when the nominal vicefoyalty was in the .ands 
 of such able and accomplished men as Lords Carteret, Donmt and 
 Devonshire. His failure in his first state trial, against Harding
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 619 
 
 th i :inter, nothing discouraged him ; he had come into Ireland 
 to secure the English interest, by uprooting the last vestiges of 
 Popery and independence, and he devoted himself to those objects 
 with persevering determination. In 1727 the year of George 
 the First's decease he obtained the disfranchisement of Catholic 
 electors by a clause quietly inserted without notice, in a Bill regu- 
 lating elections ; and soon after he laid the foundations of those 
 nurseries of proselytism, " the Charter Schools." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EBIGN OF GEORGE IT. GROWTH OF PUBLIC SPIRIT THE " PATEIOT * 
 
 PARTY LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 THE accession of King George II. in 1727, led to no consider- 
 able changes, either in England or Ireland. Sir Robert "Walpole 
 continued supreme in the one country, and Primate Boulter in 
 the other. The Jacobites, disheartened by their ill success in 
 1715, and repelled rather than attracted by the austere character 
 of him they called King James III., made no sign. The new king's 
 first act was to make public the declaration he had addressed to 
 the Privy Council, of his firm resolution to uphold the existing 
 constitution " in church and state." 
 
 The Catholic population, beginning once more to raise their 
 beads, thought this a suitable occasion to present a humble and 
 loyal address of congratulation to the Lords Justices, in the 
 absence of the viceroy. Lord Delvin and several of their num- 
 ber accordingly appeared at the Castle, and delivered their 
 address, which they begged might be forwarded to the foot of 
 the throne. No notice whatever was taken of this document, 
 either at Dublin or London, nor were the class who signed it 
 permitted by law to " testify their allegiance " to the sovereign, 
 for fifty years later down to 1778. 
 
 The Duke of Dorset, who succeeded Lord Carteret as viceroy 
 IE 1731, unlike his immediate predecessor, refrained from suggest 
 Ing additional severities against the Catholics. His firs*, term of
 
 020 POPULAR HISTORY 0V IRELAND. 
 
 office two years was almost entirely occupied with th 
 fiercest controversy which had ever waged in Ireland between the 
 Established Church and the Protestant Dissenters. The ground 
 of the dispute was the sacramental test, imposed by law upon 
 the members of both houses, and all burgesses and councillors of 
 corporate towns. By the operations of this law, when rigidly 
 enforced, Presbyterians and other dissenters were as effectually 
 excluded from political and municipal offices as Catholics them- 
 selves. Against this exclusion it was natural that a body ao 
 numerous, and possessed of so much property, especially in 
 Ulster, should make a vigorous resistance. Relying on the great 
 share they had in the revolution, they endeavored, though in 
 effectually, to obtain under King William the repeal of the Test 
 Act of King Charles II. Under Queen Anne they were equally 
 unsuccessful, as we may still read with interest in the pages of 
 Swift, De Foe, Tennison, Boyse, and King. Swift, especially, 
 brought to the controversy not only the zeal of a churchman, 
 but the prejudices of an Anglo Irishman, against the new-corners 
 in the north. He upbraids them in 1708, as glad to leave their 
 barren hills of Lochaber for the fruitful vales of Down and An- 
 trim, for their parsimony and their clannishnesa. He denied to 
 them, with bitter scorn, the title they had assumed of " Brother 
 Protestants," and as to the Papists, whom they affected to des- 
 pise, they were, in his opinion, as much superior to the Dissent- 
 ers, as a lion, though chained and clipped of its claws, is a 
 stronger and nobler animal than an angry cat, at liberty to fly at 
 the throats of true churchmen. The language of the Presby- 
 terian champions was equally bold, denunciatory, and explicit. 
 They broadly intimated, in a memorial to parliament, that under 
 the operatior of the test, they would be unable to take up arms 
 again, aa they ad done in 1688, for the maintenance of the 
 Protestant succession; a covert menace of insurrection, which 
 Swift and their other opponents did not fail to make the most of 
 Still farther to embarrass them, Swift got up a paper making out 
 much stronger case in favor of the Catholics than of " their 
 brethren, the Dissenter 5 ," and the controversy closed, for that 
 age, in the complete triumph of the established clergy. 
 This iniquitous deprivation of equal civil rights, accompanied
 
 POPULAR HISTORY Ol IRELAND. 621 
 
 with the onerous burthen of tithes falling heaviest on the culti- 
 vators of the soil, produced the first great Irish exodus to the 
 North American Colonies. The tithe of agistment or pasturage, 
 lately abolished, had made the tithe of tillage more unjust and 
 unequal. Outraged in their dearest civil and religious rights, 
 thousands of the Scoto-Irish of Ulster, and the Milesian and 
 Anglo-Irish of the other provinces, preferred to encounter the 
 perils of an Atlantic flitting rather than abide under the yoke and 
 lash of such an oligarchy. In the year 1729, five thousand six 
 hundred Irish landed at the single port of Philadelphia ; in the 
 next ten years they furnished to the Carolinas and Georgia the 
 majority of their immigrants ; before the end of this reign, several 
 thousands of heads of families, all bred and married in Ireland, 
 were rearing up a free posterity along the slopes of the Blue 
 Ridge in Virginia and Maryland, and even as far north as the 
 valleys of the Hudson and the Merrimac. In the ranks of the 
 thirteen United Colonies, the descendants of those non-conform- 
 ists were to repeat, for the benefit of George III., the lesson and 
 example their ancestors had taught to James II. at Enniskillen 
 and at Derry. 
 
 Swift, with all his services to his own order, disliked, and was 
 disliked by them. Of the bishops he has recorded his utter con- 
 \ tempt in some of the most cutting couplets that even he ever 
 te. Boulter he detested ; Narcissus Marsh he despised ; with 
 Dr. King, of Dublin, Dr. Bolton, of Cashel, and Dr. Horte, of 
 Tuam, he barely kept up appearances. Except Sterne, Bishop of 
 Clogher, Berkely, Bishop of Cloyne, and Stopford, his successor, 
 he entertained neither friendship nor respect for one of that 
 order. And on their part, the right reverend prelates cordially 
 reciprocated his antipathy. They resisted his being made a 
 member hi the Linen Board, a Justice of the Peace, or a Visito? 
 of Trinity College. Had he appeared amongst them in parlia 
 ment as their peer, they would have been compelled to accep. 
 him as a master, or combine against him as an enemy. No wonder, 
 then that successive viceroys shrank from nominating him to any 
 of the mitres which death had emptied ; " the original sin of hii 
 birth" was iggravat.ed in their eyes by the actual sin of his 
 patriotism. No wonder the sheets of paper that littered his desk,
 
 622 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 before he sunk into his last sad scene of dotage, were found 
 scribbled all over with his favorite lines 
 
 " Better we all were in our graves, 
 Than live in slavery to slaves." 
 
 But the seeds of manly thought he had so broadly sown, though 
 for a season hidden even from the sight of the sower, were not 
 dead, nor undergoing decay. With something of the prudence 
 of their founder, " the Patriot party," as the opposition to the 
 Castle party began to be called, occupied themselves at first with 
 questions of taxation and expenditure. In 1729, the Castle at- 
 tempted to make it appear that there was a deficit that in short 
 '' the country owed the goverment" the large sum of 274,000 1 
 The Patriots met this claim, by a motion for reducing the cost of 
 all public establishments. This was the chosen ground of both 
 parties, and a more popularly intelligible ground could not be 
 taken. Between retrenchment and extravagance, between high 
 taxes and low, even the least educated of the people could easily 
 decide; and thenceforward for upwards of twenty years, no 
 session was held without a spirited debate on the supplies, and 
 the whole subject of the public expenditure. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire, who succeeded the Duke of Dorset 
 as viceroy in 1737, contributed by his private munificence and 
 lavish hospitalities to throw a factitious popularity round his 
 administration. No Dublin tradesman could find it in his heart 
 to vote ngainst the nominee of so liberal a nobleman, and the 
 public opinion of Dublin was as yet the public opinion of Ire- 
 land. But the Patriot party though unable to stem successfully 
 the tide of corruption and seduction thus let loose, held their 
 difficult position in the legislature with great gallantry and ability. 
 New men had arisen during the dotage of Swift, who revered his 
 tun \5ira, and imitated his prudence. Henry Boyle, speaker of 
 the House of Commons, afterwards Earl of Shannon ; Anthony 
 Malone son of the confrere of Sir Toby Butler, and afterwards 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Edward O'Brien, member for 
 Clare, and his son, Sir Lucius, member for Ennie were the pillars 
 of the party. Out of doors, the most active spirit among the 
 Patriots, was Charles Lucas, a native of Clare, who from hui
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRSLAND. 623 
 
 fcpothecnry'd shop in Dublin, attempted, not without both talents, 
 zeal and energy, to play the part of Swift, at the press and 
 among the people. His public writings, commenced in 174.1, 
 brought him at first persecution and exile, but they afterwards 
 conducted him to the representation of the capital, and an honor- 
 able niche in his country's history. 
 
 The great event which may be said to divide into two epochs 
 the reign of George II. was the daring invasion of Scotland in 
 1746, by " the young Pretender" Charles Edward. This brave 
 and unfortunate Prince, whose adventures will live forever in 
 Scottish song and romance, was accompanied from France by Sir 
 Thomas Sheridan, Colonel O'Sullivau, and other Irish refugees, 
 Btill fondly attached to the house of Stuart. It is not to be sun- 
 posed that these gentlemen would be without correspondents in Ire- 
 land, nor that the state of that country could be a matter of indiffer- 
 ence to the astute advisers of King George. In reality, Ireland 
 was almost as much their difficulty as Scotland, and their choice 
 of a viceroy, at this critical moment, showed at once their esti- 
 mate of the importance of the position, and the talents of the 
 man. 
 
 Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, a great name in 
 the world of fashion, in letters, and in diplomacy, is especially 
 memorable to us, for his eight months' viceroyalty ever Ireland. 
 That office had been long the object of his ambition, and he could 
 hardly have attained it at a time better calculated to draw out 
 his eminent administrative abilities. By temper and conviction 
 opposed to persecution, he connived at Catholic worship under 
 the very walls of the Castle. The sour and jaundiced bigotry of 
 the local oligarchy he encountered with bon mots and raillery. 
 The only " dangerous Papist " he had seen in Ireland, he declared 
 to the king on his return, was a celebrated beauty of that religion 
 Miss Palmer. Relying on the magical effect of doing justice 
 to all classes, and seeing justice done, he was enabled to spare 
 four regiments of troops for the war in Scotland, instead of 
 demanding additions to the Irish garrisons. But whether to 
 diminish the influence which his brilliant administration had 
 created in England, or through the machinations of the oligarchy, 
 till powerful at Dublin, within ten days from the decisive bat
 
 C24 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 tie of Culloden, he was recalled. The fruits of bis policy might 
 be already observed, as he walked on foot, his countess on his 
 arm, to the place of embarkation, amid the acclamations of aD 
 ranks and classes of the people, and their affectionate prayers for 
 his speedy return. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 THX LAST JACOBITE MOVEMENT. THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD. 
 
 FRENCH EXPEDITION UNDER THTJROT, OR O'FARRELL. 
 
 THE mention of the Scottish insurrection of 1745 brings natu- 
 rally with it another reference to the history of the Irish soldiers 
 in the military service of France. This year was in truth the 
 most eventful in the annals of that celebrated legion, for while it 
 was the year of Fontenoy and victory on the one hand, it was on 
 the other the year of Culloden and defeat 
 
 The decisive battle of Fontenoy, in which the Franco-Irish 
 troops bore so decisive a part, was fought on the 1 1th of May, 
 1745. The French army, commanded by Saxe, and accompanied 
 by King Louis, leaving 18,000 men to besiege Namur, and 6,000 
 to guard the Scheldt, took a position between that river and the 
 %Uies, having their centre at the village of Fontenoy. The 
 British and Dutch, under the king's favorite son, the Duke of 
 Cumberland, were 65,000 strong; the French 45,000. After a 
 hard day's fighting, victory seemed to declare so clearly against 
 France, that King Louis, who was present, prepared for flight. 
 At this moment Marshal Saze ordered a final charge by the seven 
 Irish regiments under Counts Dillon and Thomond. The tid 
 wa turned, beyond expectation, to the cry of " Remember Limer- 
 ick P France was delivered, England checked, and Holland re 
 duced from a first to a second-rate power upon that memorable 
 day. But the victory was dearly bought One fourth of all th 
 Irish office, including Count Dillon, were killed, and one-third 
 of all the men. The whole number slain on the side of Franc*
 
 rOPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 625 
 
 was sel down at 7,000 by English accounts, while they admitted 
 for theuselves alont, 4,000 British and 3,300 Hanoverians and 
 Dutch "Foremost of all," says the just-minded Lord Mahon, 
 " were the gallant brigade of Irish exiles." It was this defeat of 
 his favorite son which wrung from King George II. the oft-quoted 
 malediction on the laws which deprived him of such subjects. 
 
 The expedition of Prince Charles Edward was undertaken and 
 conducted by Irish aid, quite as much as by French or Scottish. 
 The chief parties to it, besides the old Marquis of Tullibardin* 
 and the young Duke of Perth, were the Waterses, father and son, 
 Irish bankers at Paris, who advanced one hundred and eighty 
 thousand hvres between them; Walsh, an Irish merchant at 
 Kantz, who put a privateer of eighteen guns into the venture ; 
 Sir Thomas Geraldine, the Pretender's agent at Paris ; Sir Thomas 
 Sheridan, the prince's preceptor, who with Colonels O'Sullivan 
 and Lynch, Captain O'Neil, and other officers of the brigade, 
 formed the staff, on which Sir John McDonald, a Scottish officei 
 in the Spanish service, was also placed. Fathers Kelly and 
 O'Brien volunteered in the expedition. On the 22d of June, 
 1746, with seven friends, the prince embarked in Walsh's vessel, 
 the Doutelle, at St. Nazaire, on the Loire, and on the 19th of 
 July landed on the northern coast of Scotland, near Moidart. 
 The Scottish chiefs, little consulted or considered beforehand, 
 came slowly and dubiously to the landing-place. Under their 
 patriarchal control there were still in the kingdom about a hun- 
 dred thousand men, and about one-twelfth of the Scottish popu- 
 lation. Clanronald, Cameron of Lochiel, the Laird of McLeod, 
 and a few others, having arrived, the royal standard was unfurled 
 on the 19th of August, at Glenfinin, where that evening twelve 
 hundred men the entire army BO far were formed into camp, 
 under the orders of O'Sullivan. From that day until the day of 
 Cnlloden, O'Sullivan seems to have maneuvered the prince's for- 
 ces. At Perth, at Edinburgh, at Preston, at Manchester, at Cul- 
 loden, he took command in the field, or in garrison ; and even 
 after the sad result, he adhered to his sovereign's son with an 
 honorable fidelity which defied despair. 
 
 Charles, on his part, placed full confidence in his Irish officers. 
 In his proclamation after the battle of Preston, he declared it WM 
 ft
 
 626 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRKL1KD. 
 
 not bis intention to enforce on the people of England, Scotland 
 or Ireland, " a religion they disliked." In a subsequent paper, he 
 asks, " Have you found reason to love and cherish your govern- 
 ors as the fathers of the people of Great Britain and Ireland ? 
 Has a family upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed the dia- 
 dem of a rightful prince, retained a due sense of so great a trust 
 and favt>r ? " These and his other proclamations betrayed an 
 Irish pen ; probably Sir Thomas Sheridan's. One of Charles's 
 English adherents, Lord Elcho, who kept a journal of the cam- 
 paign, notes, complainingly, the Irish influence under which be 
 acted. " The prince and his old governor, Sir Thomas Sheridan/ 
 are especially objected to, and the " Irish favorites," are censured 
 in a body. While at Edinburgh, a French ship, containing some 
 arms, supplies, and " Irish officers," arrived ; at the same time 
 efforts were made to recruit for the prince in Ireland ; bit the 
 agents being taken in some cases, the channel narrowly watched, 
 and the people not very eager to join the service, few reeru~'ta 
 were obtained. 
 
 The Irish in France, as if to cover the inaction of their country- 
 men at home, strained every nerve. The Waterses and O'Brien 
 of Paris were liberal bankers to the expedition. Into their hands 
 James " exhausted his treasury " to support his gallant son. At 
 Fontainebleau, on the 23d of October, Colonel O'Brien, on the 
 part of the prince, and the Marquis D'Argeusson for Louis XV., 
 formed a treaty of " friendship and alliance," one of the clauses 
 of which was, that certain Irish regiments, and other French 
 troops, should be sent to sustain the expedition. Under Lord 
 John Drummond a thousand men were shipped from Dunkirk, 
 and arrived at Montrose in the Highlands about the time Charles 
 had penetrated as far south as Manchester. The officers, with 
 the prince, here refused to advance on London with so small a 
 force ; a retreat was decided on ; the sturdy defence of Carlisle, 
 and victory of Falkirk, checked the pursuit ; but the overwhelm- 
 ing force of the Duke of Cumberland compelled them to evacu- 
 aie Edinburgh, Perth, and Glasgow operations which consumed 
 February, March, and the first half of April, 1746. 
 
 The next plan of operations seems to have been to concentrate 
 b. the western Highlands, wil i Inveiness for headquarters. Tht
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 627 
 
 town Charles easily got, but Fort George, a powerful fortress, 
 built upon the site of the oastle where Macbeth was said to have 
 murdered Duncan, commanded the Lough. Stapleton and hii 
 Irish, captured it, however, as well as the neighboring Fort Au- 
 gustus. Joined by some Highlanders, they next attempted Fort 
 William, the last fortress of King George in the north, but on 
 the 3d of April were recalled to the main body. 
 
 To cover Inverness, his headquarters, Charles resolved to 
 give battle. The ground chosen, flanked by the river Nairn, 
 was spotted with marsh and very irregular ; it was called Cul- 
 loden, and was selected by O'Sullivan. Brigadier Stapleton and 
 Colonel Kerr reported against it as a field of battle ; but Charles 
 adopted O'Sullivan's opinion of its fitness for Highland warfare. 
 When the preparations for battle began, " many voices exclaimed, 
 ' We'll give Cumberland another Fontenoy !' " The Jacobites 
 were placed in position by O'Sullivan, " at once their adjutant 
 and quartermaster general," and, as the burghers of Preston 
 thought, " a very likely fellow." He formed two lines, the great 
 clans being in the first, the Ogilvies, Gordons, and Murrays; 
 the French and Irish in the second. Four pieces of cannon 
 flanked each whig, and four occupied the centre. Lord George 
 Murray commanded the right wing, Lord John Drummond the 
 left, and Brigadier Stapleton the reserve. They mustered in all 
 less than five thousand men. The British formed in three lines, 
 ten thousand strong, with two guns between every second regi- 
 ment of the first and second line. The action commenced about 
 noon of April 16th, and before evening half the troops of Prince 
 Charles lay dead on the field, and the rest were hopelessly bro- 
 ken. The retreat was pell-mell, except where " a troop of the Irish 
 pickets, by a spirited fire, checked the pursuit, which a body of 
 dragoons commenced after the Macdonalds, and Lord Lewis Gor- 
 don's regiments did similar service." Stapleton conducted the 
 French and Irish remnant to Inverness, and obtained for them 
 by capitulation " fair quarter and honorable treatment." 
 
 The unhappy prince remained on the field almost to the last. 
 " It required," says M r. Chambers, " all the eloquence, and in- 
 ded all the active exertion, of O'Sullivan to make Charles quit 
 the field. A cornet in his service, wht n questioned on this sub
 
 628 frOPULAB BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 ject at the point of death, declared he saw O'Sullivan, after using 
 entreaties in vain, turn the head of the prince's horse and drag 
 kirn away." 
 
 From that night forth, O'Sullivan, O'Neil, and a poor sedan 
 carrier of Edinburgh, called Burke, accompanied him in all hia 
 wan ierings and adventures among the Scottish islands. At Long 
 Island they were obliged to part company, the prince proceeding 
 aloue with Miss Flora McDonald. He had not long left, when a 
 French cutter hove in sight and took off O'Sullivan, intending to 
 touch at another point, and take in the prince and OTTeiL The 
 name night she was blown off the coast, and the prince, after many 
 other adventures, was finally taken off at Badenoch, on the 15th 
 of September, 1746, by the L'Heureux, a French armed vessel, in 
 which Captain Sheridan (son of Sir Thomas), Mr. O'Beirne, a 
 lieutenant in the French army, " and two other gentlemen," had 
 adventured in search of him. Poor O'Neil, in seeking to rejoin 
 his master, was taken prisoner, carried to London, and is lost 
 from the record. O'Sullivan reached France safely, where, with 
 Stapleton, Lynch, and the Irish and Scotch officers, he was wel- 
 comed and honored of all brave men. 
 
 Such was the last struggle of the Stuarts. For years after, the 
 popular imagination in both countries clung fondly to Prince 
 Charles. But the cause was dead. As if to bury it forever, 
 Charles, in despair, grew dissipated and desponding. In 1756, 
 "the British Jacobites" sent Colonel McNamara, as their agent, 
 to induce him to put away his mistress, Miss Walsingham, a de- 
 mand with which he haughtily refused to comply. In 1766, when 
 James III. died at Avignon, the French king and the Pope re- 
 fused to acknowledge the prince by the title of Charles III. 
 When the latter died, in 1788, at Rome, Cardinal York content*] 
 himself with having a medal struck, with the inscription " Henri. 
 CUB IX., Anglic Rex." He was the last of the Stuarta. 
 
 Notwithstanding the utter defeat of the Scottish expedition, 
 and the scatterment of the surviving companies of the brigade on 
 all sorts of service from Canada to India, there were many of the 
 exiled Irish in France, who did not yet despair of a national in- 
 Burreotion ngidnat the house of Hanover. In the year 1769, an 
 Imp ising expedition was fitted out at Brest under Admiral Co*
 
 *OPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAMD. 629 
 
 flans, and another at Dunkirk, under Commodore Thurot, whose 
 real name was O'Farrell. The former, soon after putting to sea, 
 was encountered at Quiberon by th English under Hawke, and 
 completely defeated ; but the latte entered the British channel 
 Unopposed, and proceeded to the appointed rendezvous. While 
 cruising in search of Conflaus, the autumnal equinox drove the 
 intrepid Thurot into the Northern ocean, and compelled him to 
 winter among the frozen friths of Norway and the Orkneys. One 
 of his five frigates returned to France, another was never heard 
 of, but with the remaining three he emerged from the Scottish 
 Islands, and entered Loch Foyle early in 1760. He did not, 
 however, attempt a landing at Derry, but appeared suddenly be- 
 fore Carrickfergus, on the 21st of February, and demanded its 
 surrender. Placing himself at the head of his marines and sail- 
 ors, he attacked the town, which, after a brave resistance by the 
 commandant, Colonel Jennings, he took by assault. Here, for the 
 first time, this earlier Paul Jones heard of the defeat of his admi- 
 ral ; after levying contributions on the rich burgesses and pro- 
 prietors of Carrickfergus and Belfast, he again put to sea. Hia 
 ships, battered by the wintry storms which they had undergone 
 in northern latitudes, fell in near the Isle of Man with three Eng- 
 lish frigates, just out of port, under Commodore Elliott. A gal- 
 lant action ensued, in which Thurot, or O'Farrell, and three hun- 
 dred of his men were killed. The survivors struck to the victors, 
 and the French ships were towed in a sinking state, into the port 
 of Ramsay. 
 
 The life thus lost in the joint service of France and Ireland, 
 was a life illustrative of the Irish refugee class among whom he 
 became a leader. Left an orphan in childhood, O'Farrell, though 
 of a good family, had been bred in France in so menial a condition 
 that he first visited England as a domestic servant. From that 
 condition he rose to be a dexterous and successful captain in the 
 contraband trade, so extensive in those times. In this capacity 
 he visited almost every port of either channel, acquiring that ac- 
 curate knowledge which added to his admitted bravery and 
 capacity, placed him at length at the head of a French squadron. 
 " Throughout the expedition," says Lord Mahon, " the honor and 
 humanity of this brave adventurer are warmly acknowledged bj 
 53*
 
 630 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his enemies. " He fought his ship," according to the same author, 
 " until the hold was almost filled with water, and the deck COT" 
 eued with dead bodies." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REIGN OF GEORGE H. (CONCLUDED.) MALONE*8 LEADERSHIP. 
 
 THE Earl of Harrington, afterwards, Duke of Devonshire, suc- 
 ceeded Lord Chesterfield in the government, in 1Y46. He waa 
 provided with a prime minister in the person of the new Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh, Dr. George Stone, whose character, if he waa 
 not exceedingly calumniated by his cotemporaries, might be com- 
 pared to that of the worst politicians of the worst ages of Europe. 
 Originally, the son of the jailor of Winchester, he had risen by 
 dint of talents, and audacity, to receive from the hands of hia 
 sovereign, the illustrious dignity of Primate of Ireland. But even 
 in this exalted office, the abominable vices of his youth accom- 
 panied him. His house at Leixlip, was at once a tavern and a 
 brothel, and crimes which are nameless, were said to be habitual 
 under his roof. " May the importation of Ganymedes into Ire- 
 land, be soon discontinued," was the public toast, which disguised 
 under the transparent gauze of a mythological allusion, the in- 
 famies of which ho was believed to be the patron. The prurient 
 page of Churchill, was not quite so scrupulous, and the readers of 
 the satire entitled " The Times," will need no further key to the 
 horrible charges commonly received on both sides of the channel, 
 against Primate Stone. 
 
 The viceroyalty of In-hind, which had become an object of 
 ambition to the first men in the empire, was warmly contested by 
 the Earl of Harrington and the Duke of Dorset. The former, 
 through his Stanhope influence and connections, prevailed over 
 his rival, and arrived in Ireland warmly recommended by the 
 popular Chesterfield. During his administration, Primate Stone, 
 proceeding from one extreme to another, first put forward th 
 dangerous theory, that all surplus revenue belonged of right to
 
 FOfULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 631 
 
 the crown, and might be paid over by the Vice-Treasurers, to 
 his majesty's order, without authority of Parliament. At this 
 period, notwithstanding, the vicious system of her land tenures, 
 and her recent losses by emigration, Ireland found herself in 
 possession of a considerable surplus revenue. 
 
 Like wounds and bruises in a healthy body, the sufferings and 
 deprivations of the population rapidly disappeared under the ap- 
 pearance even of improvement in the government. The observant 
 Chesterfield, who continued through life warmly attached to the 
 country in which his name was remembered with so much affec- 
 tion, expresses to his friend Chevenix, Bishop of "Waterford, in 
 1751, his satisfaction at hearing "that Ireland improves daily, 
 and that a spirit of industry spreads itself, to the great increase 
 of trade and manufactures." This new-born prosperity the pri- 
 mate and politicians of his school would have met by an annual 
 depletion of the treasury, instead of assisting its march by the 
 reduction of taxes, and the promotion of necessary public works. 
 The surplus was naturally regarded, by the Patriot party, in the 
 light of so much national capital ; they looked upon it as an im. 
 provement fund, for the construction of canals, highways and 
 breakwaters, for the encouragement of the linen and other manu- 
 factures, and for the adornment of the capital with edifices worthy 
 of the chief city of a flourishing kingdom. 
 
 The leader of the Patriot party, Anthony Malone, was compared 
 at this period, by an excellent authority, to " a great sea in a 
 calm." He was considered, even by the fastidious Lord Shel- 
 burne, the equal, in oratory, of Chatham and Mansfield. He seems 
 to have at all times, however, sunk the mere orator in the states- 
 man, and to have used his great powers of argument even more 
 in council, than in the arena. His position at the bar, as Prime 
 Sergeant, by which he took precedence even of the Attorney- 
 General, gave great weight to his opinions on all questions of 
 constitutional law. The roystering country gentlemen, who 
 troubled their heads but little with anything besides dogs and 
 horses, pistols and claret, felt secure in their new-fledged patriot- 
 ism, under the broad aegis of the law extended over them by 
 the most eminent lawyer of his age. The speaker of the Commons, 
 Henry Boyle, aided and assisted Malone, and when left free to oom
 
 632 POPULAR BISTORT Of IKELAKD. 
 
 bat OIL the floor, his high spirit and great fortune gave additional 
 force to his example and confidence to his followers. Both were 
 t en too cautious to allow their adversaries any parliamentary 
 advantage over them, but not so their intrepid coadjutor out of 
 doors, Apothecary Lucas. He, like Swift, rising from local and 
 municipal grievances to questions affecting the constitution of 
 Parliament itself, was in 174$, against all the efforts of his frienda 
 in the llouse of Commons declared by the majority of that house 
 to be, " an enemy to his country," and a reward was accordingly 
 Issued for his apprehension. For a tune he was compelled to 
 retire to England; but he returned, to celebrate in his Freeman's 
 Journal the humiliation of the primate, and the defeat of the 
 policy both of Lord Harrington, and his successor the Duke of 
 Dorset. 
 
 This nobleman, resolved to cast his predecessor into the shade 
 by the brilliancy of his success, proceeded to take vigorous meas- 
 ures against the patriots. In his first speech to Parliament in 
 1751, he informed them Ms majesty " consented " to the appro- 
 priation of the surplus revenue, by the House of Commons, and a 
 clause was added to the annual supply bill in the English council* 
 containing the same obnoxious word, " consent." On this occa- 
 sion, not feeling themselves strong enough to throw out the bill, 
 and there being no alternative but rejection or acceptance; the 
 Patriots permitted it to pass under protest. But the next session, 
 when a similar addition was made, the Commons rejected the 
 supply bill altogether, by a majority of 122 to 117. This was a 
 measure of almost revolutionary consequence, since it left every 
 branch of the public service unprovided for, for the ensuing 
 twelve months. 
 
 Both the advisers of the king in England, and the viceroy in 
 Ireland, seemed by their insane conduct as if they desired to pro. 
 voke such a collision. Malone's patent of precedence as Prime 
 Sergeant was canceled ; the speaker was dismissed from the Privy 
 Council, and the surplus revenue was withdrawn from the vice- 
 treasurer, by a king's letter. The indignation of the Dubliners at 
 these outrages rose to the utmost pitch. Stone, Healy, Hutchin- 
 on, and others of the Castle party, were waylaid and menaced 
 In the streets and the viceroy himself hooted wherever he ap-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 633 
 
 peared. Had the popular leaders been men less cautious, or less 
 influential, the year 1753 might have witnessed a violent revolu- 
 tionary movement. But they planted themselves on the authority 
 of the constitution, they united boldness with prudence, and they 
 triumphed. The primate and his creatures raised against them 
 in vain the cuckoo cry of disloyalty, both in Dublin and London. 
 The English Whigs, long engaged themselves in a similar strug- 
 gle with the overgrown power of the crown, sympathized with 
 the Irish opposition, and defended their motives both in society 
 and in Parliament. The enemies of the Dorset family as naturally 
 took their part, and the duke himself was obliged to go over to 
 protect his interest at court, leaving the odious primate, as one 
 of the Lords-Justices. At his departure his guards were hardly 
 able to protect him from the fury of the populace, to that water- 
 Bide to which Chesterfield had walked on foot, seven years before, 
 amid the benedictions of the same people. 
 
 The Patriots had at this crisis a great addition to their strength, 
 in the accession of James, the twentieth Earl of Kildare, succes. 
 eively Marquis and Duke of Leinster. This nobleman, in the 
 prime of life, married to the beautiful Emily Lennox, daughter 
 of the Duke of Richmond, followed Dorset to England, and pre- 
 sented to the king, with his own hand, one of the boldest memo- 
 rials ever addressed to a sovereign by a subject. After reciting the 
 past services of his family in maintaining the imperial connection, 
 he declared himself the organ of several thousands of his majesty's 
 liege subjects, " as well the nobles as the clergy, the gentry, and 
 the commonalty of the kingdom. He dwells on the peculation 
 and extravagance of the administration, under " the Duumvirate " 
 of the viceroy and the primate, which he compares with the 
 league of Strafford and Laud. He denounces more especially 
 Lord George Sackville, son to Dorset, for his intermeddling in 
 every branch of administration. He speaks of Dr. Stone as " a 
 greedy churchman, who affects to b a second Wolsey in the 
 senate." This high-toned memorial struck with astonishment the 
 English ministers, who did not hesitate to hint, that, in a reign 
 leas merciful, it would not have passed with impunity. In Ire- 
 land it raised the hardy earl to the pinnacle of popular favor. 
 A medal waa struck in his honor, representing him guarding a
 
 634 1OPULAR BISTORT OF IRKLAHD. 
 
 heap of treasure with u drawn sword, and the motto " Touch 
 not, says Kildare." At the opening of the next parliament, he 
 was a full hour making his way among the enthusiastic crowd, 
 from his house in Kildare street to College Green. In little more 
 than a year, the Duke of Dorset, whom English ministers had in 
 vain endeavored to sustain, was removed, and the primate, by his 
 majesty's orders, was struck from the list of privy councillors. 
 
 Lord Harrington, now Duke of Devonshire, replaced the dis- 
 graced and defeated Dorset, and at once surroui.4ed himself with 
 advisers from the ranks of the opposition. The Earl of Kildare 
 was his personal and political friend, and his first visit, on arriv- 
 ing, was paid at Carton. The speaker, Mr. Boyle, the Earl of 
 Bessborough, head of the popular family of the Ponsonbys, and 
 Mr. Malone, were called to the privy council. Lucas, exalted 
 rather than injured by years of exile, was elected one of the 
 members for the city of Dublin, and the whole face of affairs 
 promised a complete and salutaiy change of administration. 
 
 After a year in office, Devonshire returned to England in ill- 
 health, leaving Lord Kildare as one of the Justices, an office which 
 he continued to fill, till the arrival in September, 1756, of John, 
 fourth Duke of Bedford, as Lord Lieutenant, with Mr. Rigby 
 " a good four bottle man," as chief secretary. 
 
 The instructions of the Duke of Bedford, dictated by the 
 genius and wisdom of Chatham, were, to employ " all softening 
 and healing arts of government." His own desire, as a Whig, at 
 the head of the Whig families of England, was to unite and con- 
 solidate the same party in Ireland, so as to make them a powerful 
 auxiliary force to the English Whigs. Consistently with this 
 design, he wished well to the country he was sent to rule, and 
 was sincerely desirous of promoting measures of toleration. But 
 he found the Patriots distracted by success, and disorganized by 
 the possession of power. The speaker who had straggled so suc- 
 cessfully against his predecessors, was in the Upper House M 
 Earl of Shannon, and the chair of the Commons was filled by 
 John Ponsonby, of the Bessborough family. The Ponsonby 
 following, and the Earl of Kildare's friends were at this period 
 almost as much divided from each other in their views of public 
 policy, as either wore fronr. the party of the primate. The Poor
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 635 
 
 onby party, still directed by Malone, wished to follow up the 
 recent victory on the money bills, by a measure of Catholic 
 relief, a tax upon absentees, and a reduction of the pension list, 
 shamelessly burthened beyond all former proportion. Lord Kil- 
 dare and his friends were not then prepared to go such lengths, 
 though that high spirited nobleman afterwards came into most of 
 these measures. After endeavoring in vain to unite these two 
 interests, the Duke of Bedford found, or fancied himself com- 
 pelled, in order to secure a parliamentary majority, to listen to 
 the overtures of the obsequious primate, to restore him to the 
 council, and to leave him together with his old enemy, Lord Shan- 
 non, in the situation of joint administrators, during his journey 
 to England, in 1758. The Earl of Kildare, it should be remarked, 
 firmly refused to be associated with Stone, on any terms, or for 
 any time, long or short. 
 
 The closing of this important reign is notable for the first Catho- 
 lic meeting held since the reign of Queen Anne. In the spring 
 of 1757, four hundred respectable gentlemen attended by mutual 
 agreement, at Dublin, among whom were Lords Devlin, Taafe, 
 and Fingal, the antiquary Charles O'Conor, of Balanagar, the 
 historian of the Civil Wars, Dr. Curry, and Mr. Wyse, a merchant 
 of Waterford, the ancestor of a still better known laborer in the 
 same cause. The then recent persecution of Mr. Saul, a Dublin 
 merchant of their faith, for having harbored a young lady whose 
 friends wished to coerce her into a change of religion, gave par- 
 ticular significance to this assembly. It is true the proceedings 
 were characterized by caution amounting almost to timidity, but 
 the unanimous declaration of their loyal attachment to the throne, 
 at a moment when French invasion was imminent, produced the 
 best effect, and greatly strengthened the hands of the Clan- 
 brassils, Ponsonbys, Malones, Dalys, and other advocates of an 
 enlarged toleration in both houses. It is true no immediate legis- 
 lation followed, but the way was prepared for future ameliora- 
 tions by the discretion and tact of the Catholic delegates of 1757. 
 They were thenceforth allowed at least the right of meeting and 
 petitioning, of whinh they had long been deprived, and the restora- 
 tion of which marks the first step in their gradual recovery of 
 their wvil liberties.
 
 036 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 In 1759, a rumor broke out in Dublin that a legislative union 
 was in contemplation by the primate and his faction. On the 8d 
 of December, the citizens rose en masse, and surrounded the house* 
 of parliament. They stopped the carriages of members, and 
 obliged them to swear opposition to such a measure. Some of thw 
 Protestant bishops, and the Lord Chancellor, were roughly handled ; 
 i privy councillor was thrown into the river ; the attorney gen- 
 eral was wounded and obliged to take refuge in the college ; Lord 
 Inchiquin was al-used till he said his name was O'Brien, when 
 the rage of the people " was turned into acclamations. The 
 spoaker, Mr. Ponsonby, and the chief secretary, Mr. Rigby, had 
 to appear in the porch of the House of Commons, solemnly to 
 assure the citizens that no union was dreamed of, and if it was pro- 
 posed, that they would be the first to resist it Public spirit had 
 evidently grown bold and confident, and we can well believe 
 Secretary Rijrby when he writes to the elder Pitt, that "the 
 
 O J 
 
 mob " declared, " since they have no chance of numbers in the 
 house, they must have recourse to numbers out of doors." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACCESSION OF OBOROE III. FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP. OOTBXWIAL 
 PARLIAMENTS ESTABLISHED. 
 
 GBOROE III., grandson of the late king, commenced, in Octo- 
 oer, 1760, at the age of two and twenty, the longest reign in 
 British history. Including the period of the regency, he reigned 
 over his empire nearly sixty years, an extraordinary term of 
 royal power, and quite as extraordinary for ita events as for iU 
 extreme length. 
 
 The great movement of the Irish mind, at the beginning of 
 this reign, was the limitation of the duration of parliament, 
 hitherto elected for the king's life. This reform, long advocated 
 out of doors, and by the more progressive members within the 
 honse, wns reserved for the new parliament under the new reign. 
 To this parliament were returned several men of great promts^
 
 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAND. 637 
 
 inen of a new generation, nurtured in the school of Swift and Ma- 
 lone, but going even beyond their masters in their determination 
 to liberate the legislature of their country from the undue influ- 
 ence of the crown and the castle. Among those new members 
 were three destined to national celebrity, Dr. Lucas, Mr. Hussey 
 Burgh, and Mr. Dennis Bowes Daly ; and one destined to univer- 
 sal reputation Henry Flood. This gentleman, the son of a 
 former Chief Justice, intermarried into the powerful oligarchic al 
 family of the Beresfords, was only in his 28th year when first 
 elected member for Kilkenny ; but, in point of genius and acquire- 
 ments, he was even then the first man in Ireland, and one of the 
 first in the empire. For a session or two he silently observed 
 the forms of the house, preparing himself for the great contest to 
 come ; but when at last he obtained the ear of his party he waa 
 heard to some purpose. Though far from advocating extreme 
 measures, lie had abundant boldness ; he was not open to the ob- 
 jection leveled against the leader of the past generation, Mr. 
 Malone, of whom Grattan said, " he was a colony-bred man, and 
 he feared to bring down England upon Ireland," 
 
 The Duke of Bedford vacated the viceroyalty in 1761, and 
 Lord Halifax took his place. In the first parliamentary session, 
 Dr. Lucas introduced his resolutions limiting the duration of par- 
 liament to seven years, a project which Flood afterwards adopted 
 and mainly contributed to carry. The heads of the bill embody- 
 ing these resolutions were transmitted to London by the Lord- 
 Lieutenant, but never returned. In 1763, under the government 
 of the Marquis of Hertford, similar resolutions were introduced 
 and carried, but a similar fate awaited them. Again they were 
 passed, and again rejected, the popular dissatisfaction rising 
 higher and higher with every delay of the reform. At length, in 
 the session of 1767, "the Septennial Bill," as it was called, was 
 returned from England, changed to octennial, and with this alter- 
 ation it passed into law, in February, 1768. A new parliament 
 the same year was elected under the new act, to which all the 
 friends of the measure were triumphantly returned. The faithful 
 Lucas, however, survived his success little better than two years ; 
 be died amid the very sincere regrets of all men who wet-e not th 
 enemies of their country. At his funeral the pall was borne by 
 64
 
 638 POPULAR HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Marquis of Kildire, Lord Charlemont, Mr. Flood, Mr. 
 Burgh, Sir Lucius O'Brien and Mr. Ponsonby. 
 
 Lord Halifax, and his chief secretary, Mr. Hamilton (known 
 to us as " the single-speech Hamilton, " of literary history), re- 
 ceived very graciously the loyal addresses presented by the Catho- 
 lics, soon after his majesty's accession. In a speech from the 
 throne, the viceroy proposed, but was obliged to abandon the pro- 
 position, to raise six regiments of Catholics, under their own 
 officers, to be taken into the service of Portugal, the ally of Great 
 Britain. His administration was otherwise remarkable neither 
 for its length nor its importance ; nor is there anything else of 
 consequence to be mentioned of his lordship, except that hia 
 nephew, and chief secretary, had the honor to have Edmund 
 Burke for his private secretary, and the misfortune to offend him. 
 
 During the government of the Marquis of Hertford, and his 
 successor, Lord Townsend (appointed in 1768), the Patriot party 
 contended on the ground of rendering the judges independent, 
 diminishing the pension list, and modifying the law of Poynings, 
 requiring heads of bills to be sent into England, and certified by 
 both Privy Councils, before they could be passed upon by the legis- 
 lature. The question of supply, and that of the duration of 
 Parliament, being settled, these reforms were the next objects of 
 exertion. When we know that the late king's mistresses, the 
 Queen Dowager of Prussia, Prince Ferdinand, and other connec- 
 tions of the royal family, equally alien to the country, were pen- 
 sioners to the amount of thousands of pounds annually on the 
 Irish establishment, we can understand more clearly the bitterness 
 of the battle Mr. Flood and his colleagues were called upon to 
 fight in assailing the old system. But they fought it resolutely 
 snd perseveringly. Death had removed their most unscrupulous 
 enemy, Primate Stone, during the Hertford administration, and 
 the improved tone and temper of public opinion would not toler- 
 ate any attempt to raise up a successor of similar character. 
 Lord Townsend, an old campaigner and lion vivant, was expressly 
 chosen as most capable of restoring the old system of government by 
 closeting and corruption, but he found the Ireland of his day very 
 materially altered from the defenceless province, which Stone and 
 Dorset had attempted to cajole or to coerce, twenty yeara before,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAKD. 639 
 
 The Parliament of 1769 the first limited Parliament which 
 Ireland had seen since the revolution proved, in most repecta, 
 worthy of the expectations formed of it. John Ponsonby waa 
 chosen speaker, and Flood regarded, around him, well-filled 
 benches and cheering countenances. 1 he usual supply bill waa 
 passed and sent up to the castle, but on its return from England 
 was found to be altered 15,000 men, among other changes, being 
 charged to the Irish military establishment instead of 12,000, as 
 formerly. The Commons resolute to assert their rights, threw 
 out the bill, as had been done in 1753, and the Lord Lieutenant 
 protesting in the House of Lords against their conduct, ordered 
 them to be prorogued. Prorogation followed prorogation, till 
 February, 1771, the interval being occupied in closeting and 
 coquetting with members of the opposition, in the creation of new 
 places, and the disposal of them to the relatives of those capable 
 of being bought. No one was surprised, when the houses reas- 
 sembled, to find that a bare majority of the Commons voted a 
 fulsome address of confidence to the Lord Lieutenant. But this 
 address, speaker Ponsonby indignantly refused to present. He 
 preferred resignation to disgrace, and great was the amazement 
 and indignation when his friend, Mr. Perry, elected by a bare 
 majority, consented to take the post no longer a post of honor. 
 In justice to Mr. Perry, however, it must be added that in the 
 chair as on the floor of Parliament, he still continued the patriot 
 that if he advanced his own fortunes, it was not at the expense 
 of the country that some of the best measures passed by this 
 and the subsequent Parliament, owed their final success, if not 
 their first suggestion, to his far-seeing sagacity. 
 
 The methods taken by Lord Townsend to effect his ends, not 
 less than those ends themselves, aroused the spirit, and combined 
 the ranks of the Irish opposition. The press of Dublin teemed 
 with philippics and satires, upon his creatures and himself. The 
 wit, the scholarship, the elegant fancy, the irresistible torrent of 
 eloquence, as well as the popular enthusiasm, were against him, 
 nd in 1772, borne down by these combined forces, he confessed 
 his failure by resigning the sword of state into- the hands of Lord 
 Harcourt. 
 
 The new viceroy, according to custom, began his reign by taking
 
 640 POPCLAB HI8IOBT 0* 
 
 an exactly opposite course to his predecessor, and ended it by 
 falling into nearly the same errors and abuses. He suggested an 
 Absentee-tax, which was introduced by Flood, but rejected through 
 the preponderating influence of the landed aristocracy. In pre- 
 paring the tables of expenditure, he had caused arrears amounting 
 to 265,000, and an annual increase of 100,000, to be added to 
 the estimates. Moreover, his supply bill was discovered, at the 
 second reading, to extend over two years instead of one a dis- 
 covery which occasioned the greatest indignation. Flood raised 
 his powerful voice in warning, not unmingled with menace ; 
 Burgh declared, that if any member should again bring in such a 
 bill, he would himself move his expulsion from the House ; while 
 George Ogle, member for Wexford, proposed that the bill itself 
 should be burned before -the porch, by the common hangman. 
 He was reminded that the instrument bore the great seal ; to 
 which he boldly answered, that the seal would help to make it 
 burn the better. It was not thought politic to take notice of thia 
 revolutionary retort. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KLui.I/8 LEADERSHIP. 8TATK OF TH* COUNTRY 
 
 1760 AND 1776. 
 
 ENGLAND was engaged in two great ware during the period of 
 Flood's supremacy in the Irish parliament the seven years' war, 
 concluded by the peace of Paris in 17 63, and the American war, 
 concluded by the treaty of Versailles, in 1788. To each of these 
 Mars Ireland was the second largest contributor both aa to men 
 4i d money; and by both she was the severest sufferer, in her 
 manufactures, her provision trade and her general prosperity. 
 While army contracts and all sorts of military and naval expen- 
 diture in a varietyof ways returned to the people of England the 
 produce of their taxes, the Irish had no such compensation for 
 the burdens imposed on their more limited resourced. The natu- 
 ral result was, that that incipient prosperity which Chesterfield
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 641 
 
 hail 5d with pleasure in 17ol, was arrested in its growth, and fears 
 began to be seriously entertained that the country would be 
 driven back to the lamentable condition from which it had slowly 
 and laboriously emerged during the reign of George II. 
 
 The absence of employment in the towns threw the laboring 
 classes more and more upon the soil for sustenance, while the 
 landlord legislation of the period threw them as helplessly back 
 upon other pursuits than agriculture. Agrarian injustice was en- 
 countered by conspiracy, and for the first time in these pages, we 
 have to record the introduction of the diabolical machinery of 
 secret oath-bound association among the Irish peasantry. Of the 
 first of these combinations in the southern counties, a cotempo- 
 rary writer gives the following account : " Some landlords iu 
 Muuster," he says, " have let their lands to cotters far above their 
 value, and, to lighten their burden, allowed commonange to their 
 tenants by way of recompense: afterwards, in despite of all 
 equity, contrary to all compacts, the landlords enclosed these 
 commons, and precluded their unhappy tenants from the only 
 means of making their bargains tolerable." The peasantry of 
 Waterford, Cork, and other southern counties met in tumultuous 
 crowds, and demolished the new enclosures. The oligarchical 
 majority took their usual cue on such occasions: they pronounced, 
 at once, that the cause of the riots was " treason against the 
 state ; " they even obtained a select committee to " inquire into 
 the cause and progress of the Popish insurrection in Munster." 
 Although the London Gazette, on the authority of royal commis- 
 sioners, declared that the rioters " consisted indiscriminately ot 
 persons of different persuasions," the Castle party would have it 
 " another Popish plot." Even Dr. Lucas was carried away by the 
 passions of the honr, and declaimed against all lenity, as coward- 
 ly and criminal. 
 
 A large military force, under the Marquis of Drogheda, was 
 accordingly despatched to the suuth. The marquis fixed hia 
 headquarters at Clogheen, in Tipperary, the parish priest of 
 which was tl.e Rev. Nicholas Sheehy. The magistracy of the 
 county, especially Sir Thomas Maude, "William Bagnel, John Bag. 
 well. Daniel Toler and Parson Howitson, were among the chief 
 maintainers of the existence of a Popish plot, to bring in th 
 54*
 
 642 POPULAR HIBTORr OF IRELAND. 
 
 French and the Pretender. Father Sheehy had long been fixed 
 upon as their victim : largely connected with the minor gentry, 
 educated in France, young, popular, eloquent and energetic, a stern 
 denouncer of the licentious lives of the squires, and of the exact- 
 ing tithes of the parsons, he was particularly obnoxious. In 
 1763, he was arrested on a charge of high treason, for drilling 
 and enrolling Whiteboys, but was acquitted. Towards the close 
 of 1 h at year, Bridge, one of the late witnesses against him, sud- 
 denly disappeared. A charge of murder was then laid against 
 the priest of Clogheen, and a prostitute named Dunlea, a vagranl 
 lad named Lonergan, and a convicted horse stealer called Toohey 
 were produced in evidence against him, after he had lain nearly i 
 year in prison, heavily fettered. On the 12th of March, 1765, ht 
 was tried at Clonmel, on this evidence ; and notwithstanding an 
 alibi was proved, he was condemned and beheaded on the third 
 day afterwards. Beside the old ruined church of Shandraghan, 
 his well-worn tomb remains till this day. He died in his thirty- 
 eighth year. Two months later, Edward Sheehy, his cousin, and 
 two respectable young farmers named Buxton and Farrell, were 
 executed under a similar charge, and upon the same testimony- 
 All died with religious firmness and composure. The fate of their 
 enemies is notorious ; with a single exception, they met deatha 
 violent, loathsome and terrible. Maude died insane, Bagwell in 
 idiocy, one of the jury commitied suicide, another was found dead 
 in a privy, a third was killed by his horse, a fourth was drowned, 
 a fifth shot, and so through the entire list. Toohey was hanged 
 for felony, the prostitute Dunlea fell into a cellar and was killed, 
 and the lad Lonergan, after enlisting as a soldier, died of a loath- 
 some disease in a Dnblin infirmary. 
 
 In 1767, an attempt to revive the plot was made by the Muno- 
 ter oligarchy, without success. Dr. McEenna, Bishop of Cloyne, 
 was arrested but enlarged ; Mr. Nagle, of Garnavilla (a relative 
 of Edmund Burke), Mr. Robert Keating, and several respect- 
 able Catholic gentlemen, were also arrested. It api>ears that Ed- 
 mund Burke was charged by the ascendancy party with having 
 " sent his brother Richard, recorder of Bristol, and Mr. Nagle, 
 relation, on a mission to Monster, to levy money on the Popish 
 body for the ne of the Whiteboys, who were exclusively Papist*."
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 0V IRELAND. 643 
 
 The fact was, that Burke did originate a subscription for the de- 
 fence of the second batch of victims, who, through his ami other 
 exertions, were fortunately saved from the fate of their predecessors. 
 
 Contemporaneous with the Whiteboys were the northern agra- 
 rians called " Hearts of Steel," formed among the absentee Lord 
 Dowashire's tenants, in 1762; the "Oak Boys," so called from 
 wearing oak leaves in their hats ; and the " Peep o'Day Boys," 
 the precursors of the Orange Association. The infection of con- 
 spiracy ran through all Ireland, and the disorder was neither 
 Bhort-lived nor trivial. Right-Boys, Defenders, and a dozen 
 other denominations descended from the same evil genius, whoever 
 he was, that first introduced the system of signs, and passwords, 
 and midnight meetings, among the peasantry of Ireland. The 
 celebrated society of United Irishmen was the highest form which 
 that principle, in our politics, ever reached. In its origin, it was 
 mainly a Protestant organization. 
 
 From the first, the Catholic bishops and clergy strenuously 
 opposed these secret societies. The Bishop of Cloyne issued a 
 reprobatory pastoral ; Father Arthur O'Leary employed his facile 
 pen against them ; the Bishop of Ossory anathematized them in 
 his diocese. Priests in Kildare, Kilkenny and Munster were 
 often in personal danger from these midnight legislators j their 
 chapels had been frequently nailed up, and their bishops had been 
 often obliged to remove them from one neighborhood to another 
 to prevent worse consequences. The infatuation was not to be 
 Btayed : the evil was engrafted on society, and many a long year, 
 and woful scene, and blighted life, and broken heart, was to signal- 
 ize the perpetuation of secret societies among the population. 
 
 These startling symptoms of insubordination and lawlessness, 
 while they furnished plausible pretexts to the advocates of repres- 
 eion, still further confirmed the Patriot party in their belief, that 
 nothing short of a free trade in exports and imports, and a thorough 
 system of retrenchment in every branch of the public service, 
 could save the nation from bankruptcy and ruin. This was 
 Flood's opinion, and he had been long recognized as the leading 
 spirit of the party. The aged Malone, true to his principles of 
 conciliation and constitutionalism to the last, passed away from 
 the scene, in the midst of the exciting events of 1776. For som
 
 644 POPULAK HISTORY OF IKELAHD. 
 
 years before hia death, his former place had been filled by the 
 younger and more vigorous member for Kilkenny, who, however, 
 did not fail to consult him with all the deference due to his age, 
 his services, and his wisdom. One of his last official acts, Tag, 
 presiding ovci- the committee of the whole House, which voted 
 the American contingent, but rejected the admission of German 
 troops to supply their place. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ORATTAN'S LEADERSHIP. " FREE TRADE," AND THE VOUJNTEIRS, 
 
 THE revolt of the American colonies against the oppressive 
 legislation of the British parliament, was the next circumstance 
 that deeply affected the constitutional struggle, in which the Irish 
 parliament had so long been engaged. The similarity in the 
 grievances of Ireland and the colonies, the close ties of kindred 
 established between them, the extent of colonial commerce 
 involved in the result, contributed to give the American Decla- 
 ration of Independence more importance in men's eyes at Dublin, 
 than anywhere else out of the colonies, except, perhaps, London. 
 
 The first mention made of American affairs to the Irish legis- 
 lature, was in Lord Townsend's message in 1775, calling for the 
 despatch of 4,OuO men from the Irish establishment to America, 
 and offering to supply their place by as many foreign Protestant 
 (German) troops. The demand was warmly debated. The pro- 
 position to receive the proffered foreign troops wis rejected by 
 a majority of thirty -eight, and the contingent for America passed 
 on a division, upon Flood's plea that they would go out merely 
 as " 4,000 armed negotiators." This expression of the great 
 parliamentary leader was often afterwards quoted to his preju- 
 dice, but we must remember, that, at the time it was employed, no 
 ouu .11 either side of the contest had abandoned all hopes of 
 ,'romrn rlition, and that the significance of the phrase WM 
 rather pointed against Lord North than against the colooiea.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 645 
 
 The 4,000 men went out, among them Lord Rawdon (afterwards 
 Lord Moira), Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and many others, both 
 officers and men, who were certainly no enemies of liberty, or the 
 tolonies. 
 
 Some slight relaxation of the commercial restrictions which 
 operated so severely against Irish industry were made daring the 
 same year, but these were more than counterbalanced by the em- 
 bargo on the export of provisions to America, imposed in Febru- 
 ary. 1776. This arbitrary measure imposed by order in council 
 was so near being censured by the parliament then sitting, 
 that the house was dissolved a month afterwards, and a new 
 election ordered. To meet the new parliament it was thought 
 advisable to send over a new viceroy, and accordingly Lord 
 Buckinghamshire entered into office, with Sir Richard Herou as 
 chief secretary. 
 
 In the last session of the late parliament, a young protege of 
 Lord Charlemont he was only in his twenty ninth year had 
 taken his seat for the borough of Charlemont. This was Henry 
 Grattan, son of the Recorder of Dublin, and grandson of one of 
 those Grattans who, according to Dean Swift, " could raise 10,000 
 men." The youth of Grattan had been neither joyous nor 
 robust ; in early manhood he had offended his father's conserva- 
 tism ; the profession of the law, to which he was bred, he found 
 irksome and unsuited to his tastes ; society as then constituted 
 was repulsive to his over-sensitive spirit and high Spartan ideal of 
 manly duty ; no letters are sadder to read, than the early cor- 
 respondence of Grattan, till he had fairly found his inspiration in 
 listening enraptured to the eloquent utterances of Chatham, or 
 comparing political opinions with such a friend as Flood. At 
 length he found a seat in the House of Commons, where during 
 his first session he spoke on three or four occasions, briefly, 
 modestly, and with good effect ; there had been no sitting during 
 1776, nor before October of the following year ; it was, therefore, 
 in the sessions from "78 to '82 inclusive, that this young member 
 raised himself to the head of the most eloquent men, in one of 
 the most eloquent assemblies the world has ever seen. 
 
 The fact of Mr. Flood, after fourteen years of opposition, hav 
 tug accepted office under Lord Harcourf a administration, and
 
 646 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 defended the American expedition and the embargo, had greatly 
 lessened the popularity of that eminent man. There was indeed, 
 no lack of ability still left in the ranks of the opposition for 
 Burgh, Daly, and Yelverton were there ; but for a supreme spirit 
 like Grattan whose burning tongue was ever fed from his heart 
 of fire there is always room in a free senate, how many soever 
 able and accomplished men may surround him. 
 
 The fall of 1777 brought vital intelligence from America. Gen- 
 eral Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga, and France had de- 
 cided to ally herself with the Americans. The effect in England 
 and in Ireland was immense. When the Irish houses met, Mr. 
 Grattan moved an address to the king in favor of retrenchment, 
 and against the pension list, and Mr Daly moved and carried an 
 address deploring the continuance of the American war, with a 
 governmental amendment assuring his majesty that he might 
 still rely on the services of hifl faithful commons. The second 
 Catholic relief bill authorizing Papists to loan money on mortgage* 
 to lease lands for any period not exceeding 999 years to inherit 
 and bequeath real property, so limited, passed, not without some 
 difficulty, into law. The debate had been protracted, by adjourn- 
 ment after adjournment, over the greatest part of three months ; 
 the main motion had been further complicated by an amendment 
 repealing the Test Act in favor of Dissenters, which was, fortun- 
 ately, engrafted on the measure. The vote in the Commons, in 
 favor of the bill so amended, was 127 yean to 89 nays, and in the 
 Lords, 44 Content* to 28 Nonconients. 
 
 In the English House of Commons, Lord Nugent moved, in 
 April, a series of resolutions raising the embargo on the Irish 
 provision trade ; abolishing, so far as Ireland was concerned, the 
 most restrictive clauses of the Navigation Act, both as to ex- 
 ports and imports, with the exception of the article of tobacco. 
 Upon this the manufacturing and shipping interest of England 
 taking the alarm, raised such a storm in the towns and citiee 
 that the ministry of the day were compelled to resist the pro- 
 poeed changes, with a few trifling exceptions. But Grattan had 
 caught up, in the other island, the cry of " free trade," and the 
 people echoed it after their orator, until the whole anipire dhook 
 with the popular demand.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 64 
 
 But what gave pith and power to the Irish demands was the en- 
 rollment and arming of a numerous volunteer force, rendered abso- 
 lutely necessary by the defenceless state of the kingdom. Mr. 
 Flood had long before proposed a national militia, but being in op- 
 position and in the minority, he had failed. To him and to Mr. 
 Perry, as much as to Lord Charlemont and Mr. Grattan, the militia 
 bill of 1778, and the noble army of volunteers equipped under its 
 provisions, owed their origin. Whether this force was to be a regu- 
 lar militia, subject to martial law, or composed of independent 
 companies, was for some months a subject of great anxiety at the 
 castle; but necessity at length precipitated a decision in favor 
 of volunteer companies, to be supplied with arms by the state, 
 but drilled and clothed at their own expense, with power to elect 
 their own officers. The official announcement of this decision 
 once made, the organization spread rapidly over the whole king- 
 dom. The Ulster corps, first organized, chose as their com- 
 mander the Earl of Charlemont, while those of Leinster elected 
 the Duke of Leinster. Simultaneously, resolutions against the 
 purchase of English goods and wares were passed at public 
 meetings and by several of the corporate bodies Lists of the 
 importers of such goods were obtained at the custom houses, and 
 printed in handbills, to the alarm of the importers. Swift's sar- 
 donic maxim, " to burn everything coming from England, except 
 the coah" began to circulate as a toast in all societies, and the 
 consternation of the castle, at this resurrection of the redoubta- 
 ble Dean, wae almost equal to the apprehension entertained of 
 him while living. 
 
 While the castle was temporizing with both the military and 
 the manufacture movement, in a vague expectation to defeat both, 
 the press, as is usual in such national crises, teemed with publica- 
 tions of great fervor and ability. Dr. Jebb, Mr. (afterwards 
 Judge) Johnson, Mr. Pollock, Mr. Charles Sheridan, Father 
 Arthur O'Leary, and Mr. Dobbs, M. P., were the chief workers in 
 this department of patriotic duty. Cheered, instructed, re- 
 strained within due bounds by these writings and the reported 
 debates of parliament, the independent companies proceeded with 
 their organization. In July, 1779, after all the resources of pre. 
 YwicatJon had been exhausted, arms were issued to the several
 
 848 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 recognized corps, and the Irish volunteers became in reality 
 national army for domestic protection and defence. 
 
 When this point was reached, Mr. Grattan and his friends took 
 anxious council as to their future movements. Parliament was 
 to meet on the 12th of October, and in that sweet autumnal 
 month, Grattan, Burgh and Daly met upon the seashore, near 
 Bray, in view of one of the loveliest landscapes on earth, to form 
 their plan for the session. They agreed on an amendment to the 
 address in answer to the royal speech, demanding in explicit 
 terms " free export and import " for Irish commerce. When par- 
 liament met, and the address and amendment were moved, it was 
 fonnd that Flood, Burgh, Hutchinson, and Gardiner, though all 
 holding offices of honor and emolument under government, would 
 vote for it. Flood suggested to substitute the simple term " free 
 trade," and with this and one other verbal alteration suggested by 
 Burgh, the amendment passed with a single dissenting voice. 
 
 The next day the speaker, Mr. Perry, who was all along in the 
 confidence of the movers of the amendment, Daly, Grattan, Burgh, 
 Flood, Hutchinson, Ponsonby, Gardiner, and the whole house, 
 went up with the amended address to the castle. The streets were 
 lined with volunteers, commanded in person by the Duke of Lein- 
 ct IT, who presented arms to the patriotic commons as they passed. 
 Most of the leading members wore the uniform of one or other 
 of the national companies, and the people saw themselves at the 
 Bame moment under the protection of a patriotic majority in the 
 legislature, and a patriot force in the field. No wonder their en- 
 thusiastic cheers rang through the corridors of the castle with a 
 strangely jubilant and defiant emphasis. It was not simply the 
 spectacle of a nation recovering its spirit, but recovering it with 
 all military 'eclat and pageantry. It was the disarmed armed and 
 triumphant a revolution not only in national feeling," but in the 
 externa. manifestation of that feeling. A change so profound 
 Mtirrcd sentiments and purposes even deeper than itself, and sug- 
 gested to the ardent imagination of Grattan the establishment of en- 
 tire national independence, saving always the rights of the crown. 
 
 The next day, the houses, not to be outdone in courtesy, voted 
 their thanks to the volunteers for "their jnat and necessary exer. 
 tionfl in defence of their country I "
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND, 648 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 SATTAN'S LEADERSHIP. LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL INDEPEOTNC 
 ESTABLISHED. 
 
 THE task which Mr. Grattan felt called upon to undertake, was 
 not revolutionary, in the usually accepted sense of the term. He 
 was a Monarchist and a "Whig in general politics ; but he was an 
 Irishman, proud and fond of his country, and a sincere lover of 
 the largest religious liberty. With the independence of the judi- 
 ciary and the legislature, with freedom of commerce and of con- 
 ecience, he would be well content to stand by British connection. 
 " The sea," he said, in his lofty figurative language, " protests 
 against union the ocean against separation." But still, within 
 certain legal limits, his task was revolutionary, and was under- 
 taken under all the discouragements incident to the early stages 
 of great constitutional reforms. 
 
 Without awaiting the action of the English Parliament, in rela- 
 tion to free trade, a public-spirited citizen of Dublin, Alderman. 
 James Horan, demanded an entry at the custom house, for some 
 parcels of Irish woolens,which he proposed exporting to Rotterdam, 
 contrary to the prohibitory enactment, the 10th and llth of Wil- 
 liam III. The commissioners of customs applied for instructions 
 to the castle, and the castle to the Secretary of State, Franklin's 
 friend, Lord Hillsborough. For the moment a collision similar 
 to that which had taken place at Boston, on a not dissimilar issue, 
 seemed imminent. A frigate was stationed off Howth, with in- 
 structions, it was said, to intercept the prohibited woolens, but 
 Alderman Horan, by the advice of his friends, allowed his appli- 
 cation to remain on the custom house files. It had served its 
 purpose of bringing home practically to the people, the value of 
 the principle involved in the demand for freedom of exports and 
 imports. At the same time that this practical argument was dis- 
 fussed in every circle, Mr. Grattan moved in the House of Com- 
 mon?, in amendment to the supply bill, that, "At this time it is 
 inexpedient to grant new taxes." The government divided the 
 55
 
 PrO POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 house, but to their mortification found only 47 supporters ; fol 
 Grattan's amendment there were 170. A subsequent amendment 
 against granting duties for the support of the loan fund, was also 
 Jtrried by 138 to 100. 
 
 These adverse votes were commonicated with great trepidation, 
 by the Lord Lieutenant, to the British administration. At length 
 Lord North thought it essential to make some concessions, and 
 with this view he brought in resolutions, declaring the trade with 
 the British colonize in America and Africa, and the free export 
 of glass and woolens, open to the Irish merchant. A week later, 
 similar resolutions were passed in the Irish Commons, and in 
 February, 1780, " a free trade" hi the sense in which it had ben 
 demanded, was established by law, placing Ireland in most re- 
 spects, as to foreign and colonial commerce, on an equality with 
 England. 
 
 In February, the viceroy again alarmed the British administra- 
 tion, with the reported movement for the repeal of " Poyning's 
 law," the statute which required heads of bills to be transmitted 
 to, and appoved in England, before they could be legislated upon. 
 He received in reply, the royal commands to resist by every 
 means in his power, any attempted " change in the constitution," 
 and he succeeded in eliciting from the House of Lords, an address, 
 strongly condemnatory of " the misguided men," who sought to 
 raise such " groundless jealousies," between the two kingdoms. 
 But the Patriot Commoners were not to be so deterred. They 
 declared the repeal of Poyning's act, and the 6th of George I., to 
 be their ultimatum, and notices of motion to that effect, were im- 
 mediately placed on the journals of the House of Commons. 
 
 In the early days of April, Grattan, who, more than any of our 
 orators, except perhaps Burke, was sensitive to the aspects of 
 external nature, and imbued with the poetry of her works, retired 
 from the city, to his uncle Dean Mat-lay's house, Cellbridge Abbey, 
 f< rmerly the residence of Swift's ill-fated Vaanessa. " Along the 
 banks of that riyer," he said, many years afterwards, " amid the 
 grovca wid bowers of Swift and Vannessa, I grew convinced that 
 I was right ; arguments, unanswerable, came to ray mind, and 
 what I 'hen presaged, confirmed me in my determination to per- 
 *>ver*.' With an enthusiasm intensified and restrained but
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRKLAHD. fl5J 
 
 wonderful in the fire and grandeur of its utterance he rose in hia 
 place, on the 19th of the month, to move that "the King, Lords, 
 and Commons of Ireland, are the only power competent to enact 
 laws to bind Ireland." He was supported by Hussey Burgh, 
 Yelverton, and Forbes ; Flood favored postponement, and laid tho 
 foundation of his future estrangement from Grattan ; Daly was 
 also for delay ; Fitzgibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, Provost Hufc 
 chinson, and John Foster, afterwards Lord Oriel, resisted the 
 motion. The Castle party moved in amendment that, " there 
 being an equivalent resolution already on the journals of the House * 
 alluding to one of the resolutions against Strafford's tyranny in 
 lf>41 a new resolution was unnecessary. This amendment was 
 carried by 136 to 79, thus affirming the formula of independence 
 adopted in 1641, but depriving Grattan of the honor of putting it, 
 in his own words, on the record. The substantial result, how- 
 ever, was the same; the 19th of April was truly what Grattan 
 described it, " a great day for Ireland." " It is with the utmost 
 concern," writes the viceroy next day to Lord Hillsborough, " I 
 must acquaint your lordship that although so many gentlemen 
 expressed their concern that the subject had been introduced, the 
 Bense of the House against the obligation of any statutes of the 
 Parliament of Great Britain, within this kingdom, is represented 
 to me to have been almost unanimous." 
 
 Ten days later, a motion of Mr. Yelverton's to repeal Poyning's 
 law, as far as related to the Irish privy council's supervision of 
 heads of bills, was negatived by 180 to 105. 
 
 During the remainder of the session the battle of independ- 
 ence was fought on the Mutiny Bill The viceroy and the chief 
 secretary, playing the game of power, were resolved that the 
 influence of the crown should not be diminished, so far as the 
 military establishments were concerned. Two justices of the 
 peace in Sligo and Mayo, having issued writs of habeas corpux in 
 favor of deserters from the army, on the ground that neither th 
 British Mutiny Act, nor any other British statute, was binding 
 on Ireland, unless confirmed by an act of its own legislature, 
 brought up anew the whole question. Lord North, who, with al] 
 his proverbial tact and good humor, in the House of Commons, 
 ilways pursued the most arbitrary policy throughout the empire^
 
 054 FOPfLAB HISTORY OF IBKLAKD. 
 
 proposed a perpetual Mutiny Bill for Ireland, instead of the 
 Annual Bill, in force in England. It was introduced iu the Irish 
 House of Commons by Mr. Gervase Parker Bushe, and, by a vote 
 f>f two to one, postponed for a fortnight. During the interval, 
 the British authorities remained obdurate to argument and re- 
 monstrance. In vain, the majority of the Irish privy councillors 
 advised concession ; in vain, Flood, who was consulted, pointed 
 out the futility of attempting to force such a measure ; it was 
 forced, and, under the cry of loyalty, a draft bill was carried 
 through both houses, and remitted to England hi June. Early in 
 August it was returned ; on the 12th it was read a first tune ; on 
 the 16th a second; and it was carried through committee by 114 
 to 62. It was at this emergency the Volunteers performed the 
 second act of their great drama of Ireland's liberation. A series 
 of reviews were held, and significant addresses presented to Lord 
 Camden (then on a visit to the country), Lord Charlemont, Mr. 
 Flood, and Mr. Grattan. On the re-assembling of Parliament in 
 August, when the bill was referred to, Mr. Grattan declared thai, 
 he would resist it to the last ; that if passed into law, he and his 
 friends would secede, and would appeal to the people in " a formal 
 instrument." A new series of corporation and county meetings 
 was convened by the Patriot party, which warmly condemned 
 (lie Perpetual Mutiny Act, and as warmly approved the repeal 
 of Poyning*s Act, and the 6th of George I. : questions which were 
 all conceived to be intermixed together, and to flow from the 
 assertion of a common principle. Parliament being prorogued 
 in September, only threw the whole controversy back again into 
 the furnace of popular agitation. The British government tried 
 a lavish distribution of titles and a change of viceroys, Lord 
 Carlisle being substituted in December for Lord Buckingham 
 but the spirit abroad was too general and too earnest, to b 
 quelled by the desertion of individuals, however numerous or 
 influential. With Lord Carlisle, came, as chief secretary, Mr. 
 E Jen, afterwards Lord Auckland ; he had been, with his chief, a 
 peace commissioner to America, two years before, and had failed ; 
 he was anintriguing nnd accomplished man, buthe proved himself 
 as unequal as Heron or Rigby to combat the movement 
 Independence
 
 FOPCLAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 058 
 
 Parliament was not again called together till the month o! 
 October, 173- ; the interval being busily occupied on both sides 
 with endeavors to create and sustain n party. Soon after the 
 meeting, Mr. Grattan, seconded by Mr. Flood, moved for a limita- 
 tion of the Mutiny Bill, which was lost ; a little later, Mr. Flood 
 himself introduced a somewhat similar motion, which was also 
 outvoted two to one ; and again, during the session, Mr. Yelver- 
 ton having abandoned his promised motion against Poyning's 
 law, on news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender reaching Dublin, 
 Flood took it np, moved it, and was defeated. A further measure 
 of relief for Roman Catholics, introduced by Mr. Gardiner, author 
 of the act of 1778, and warmly supported by Grattan, was re- 
 sisted by Flood in the one house, and Lord Charlemont in the 
 other. It miscarried, and left another deposit of disagreement 
 between the actual and the former leader of the Patriot party. 
 
 Still no open rupture had taken place between the two Patriot 
 orators. When the convention of the volunteers was called at 
 Dungannon for the 16th of February, 1782, they consulted at 
 Charlemont House as to the resolutions to be passed. They were 
 agreed on the constitutional question ; Grattan, of his own gene- 
 rous free will, added the resolution in favor of emancipation. Two 
 hundred and forty-two delegates, representing 143 corps, unani- 
 mously adopted the resolutions so drafted, as their own, and, from 
 the old headquarters of Hugh O'Neil, sent forth anew an un- 
 equivocal demand for civil and religious liberty. The example 
 of Ulster soon spread through Ireland. A meeting of the Lein- 
 ster volunteers, Mr. Flood in the chair, echoed it from Dublin ; 
 the Munster corps endorsed it unanimously at Cork ; Lord Clan, 
 rickarde summoned together those of the western counties at 
 Portumna an historic spot, suggestive of striking associations. 
 Strengthened by these demonstrations of public opinion, Mr. 
 Grattan brought forward, on the 22d of February, his motion 
 declaratory of the rights of Ireland. An amendment in favor of 
 a six months' postponement of the question was carried ; but on 
 the 16th of April, just two years from his first effort on the sub- 
 ject (the administration of Lord North having fallen in the 
 meantime), the orator had the satisfaction of carrying his arHresg 
 declaratory of Irish legislative independence. It was on thi 
 55*
 
 654 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 occasion that he exclaimed : " I found Ireland on her knees ; 1 
 watched over her with a paternal solicitude ; I have traced her 
 progress from injury to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit 
 of Swift ! Spirit of Molyneux 1 your genius has prevailed I 
 Ireland is now a nation ! in that new character I hail her ! and 
 bowing to her august presence, I say, Esto perpetua I" 
 
 Never was a new nation more nobly heralded into existence ! 
 Never was an old nation more reverently and tenderly lifted up 
 and restored ! The houses adjourned to give England time to 
 consider Ireland's ultimatum. Within a month it was accepted 
 by the new British administration, and on the 27th of May, the 
 new Whig viceroy, the Duke of Portland, was authorized to 
 announce from the throne the establishment of the judicial and 
 legislative independence of Ireland. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE. FIR81 rCRIOD. 
 
 THE accession of the Rockingham administration to power, it 
 1782, was followed by the recall of Lord Carlisle, and the substi- 
 tution, as viceroy, of one of the leading Lords of the Whig party. 
 The nobleman selected to this office was William Henry, third 
 Duke of Portland, afterwards twice prime minister ; then in the 
 prime of life, possessed of a very ample fortune, and uniting in 
 his own person the two great Whig families of Bentinck and 
 Cavendish. The policy he was sent to represent at Dublin was 
 nndoubtedly an imperial policy ; a policy which looked as anxi- 
 ously to the integrity of the empire as any Tory cabinet could 
 have desired ; but it was, in most other respects, a policy of con- 
 ciliation and concession, dictated by the enlarged wisdom ef 
 Burke, and adopted by the magnanimous candor of Fox. Yet by 
 a genereus people, who always find it more difficult to resist 
 liberal than an illiberal administration, it was, in reality, a policy 
 more to be feared than welcomed ; for its almost certain effecti
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 655 
 
 were to divide their ranks into two sections a moderate and an 
 extreme paity between, whom the national cause, only half estab- 
 lished, might run great danger of being lost, almost as soon as it 
 was won. 
 
 With the Duke of Portland was associated, as chief secretary, 
 Colonel Fitzpatrick, of the old Ossory family, one of those Irish 
 wits and men of fashion, who form so striking a group in the 
 middle and later years of King George III. As the personal and 
 political friend of Flood, Charlemont, and Grattan, and the first 
 Irish secretary for several administrations, he shai ed the brilliant 
 ovation with which the Duke of Portland was received, on hia 
 arrival at Dublin ; but for the reason already mentioned, the im- 
 perial in so far as opposed to the national policy, found an addi- 
 tional advantage, in the social successes and great personal popu- 
 larity of the new secretary. 
 
 The critical months which decided the contest for independence 
 April and May passed over fortunately for Ireland. The 
 firmness of the leaders in both houses, the energy especially of 
 Grattan, whose cry was " no time, no tune !" and the imposing 
 attitude of the volunteers, carried the question. Lord Rocking- 
 ham and Mr. Fox by letter, the new viceroy and secretary in per- 
 son, had urged every argument for adjournment and delay, but 
 Grattan's ultimatum was sent over to England, and finally and 
 formally accepted. The demands were Jive. I. The repeal of 
 the 6th of George I. II. The repeal of the Perpetual Mutiny 
 Act. III. An Act to abolish the alteration or suppression of 
 Bills. IV. An Act to establish the final jurisdiction of the Irish 
 Courts and the Irish House of Lords. V. The repeal of Foy- 
 ning's Law. This was the constitutional charter of 1782, which 
 restored Ireland, for the first time in that century, to the rank and 
 dignity of a free nation. 
 
 Concession once determined on, the necessary bills were intro- 
 duced in both parliaments simultaneously, and carried promptly 
 intc law. On the 27th of May, the Irish houses were enabled to 
 congratulate the viceroy that " no constitutional question any 
 longer existed between the two countries." In England it wa 
 proclaimed no less explicitly by Fox and his friends, that the in- 
 dependency of the two legislatures, " was fixed and ascertaine4
 
 650 POPULAR msroRY OP IRELAKD* 
 
 forever." But there was, unfortunately, one ground for dispute 
 still left, and on that ground Henry Flood and Henry Grattan 
 farted, never to be reconciled. 
 
 The elder Patriot whose conduct from the moment of his retire- 
 ment from office, in consequence of his Free Trade vote and speech 
 in '79, had been, with occasional exceptions arising mostly from 
 bodily infirmity, as energetic and consistent as that of Grattan 
 himself, saw no sufficient constitutional guarantee, in mere acta 
 of parliament repealing other acts. He demanded " express re- 
 nunciation " of legislative supremacy on the part of England 
 while Grattan maintained the sufficiency of " simple repeal." It is 
 possible even in such noble natures as these men had so strangely 
 are we constituted that there was a latent sense of personal 
 rivalry, which prompted them to grasp, each, at the larger 
 share of patriotic honor. It is possible that there were other, 
 and inferior men, who exasperated this latent personal rivalry. 
 Flood had once reigned supreme, until Grattan eclipsed him in 
 the sudden splendor of his career. In scholarship and in genius 
 the elder Patriot was, taken all in all, the full peer of his suc- 
 cessor ; but Grattan had the national temperament, and he found 
 hia way more readily into the core of the national heart ; he was 
 the man of the later, the bolder, and the more liberal school ; 
 and such was the rapidity of his movements that even Flood, 
 from '79 to '82, seemed to be his follower, rather than his coadju- 
 tor. In the hopeful crisis of the struggle, the slower and more 
 experienced statesman was for the moment lost sight of. The 
 leading motions were all placed or left in the hands of Grattan 
 by the consent of their leading friends ; the bills repealing the 
 Mutiny Act, the 6th George I., and Poyning's law, were entrusted 
 to Burgh, Yelverton, and Forbes ; the thanks of the house were 
 voted to Grattan alone after the victory, with the substantial 
 addition of 50,000 to purchase for him an estate, which should 
 become an enduring monument of the national gratitude. 
 
 The open rupture between the two great orators followed fast 
 on the triumph of their common efforts. It was still the first 
 month the very honeymoon of independence. On the 18th of 
 June. Mr. Graf an took occasion to notice in his place, that a lsit 
 British act relating to the importation of sugars, was so generally
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 657 
 
 worded as apparently to include Ireland ; but this was explained 
 to be a mere error of the clerk, the result of haste, and on 
 which would be promptly corrected. Upon this Mr. Flood first 
 took occasion to moot the insufficiency of ".simple repeal," and 
 the necessity of "express renunciation," on the part of England. 
 On the 19th, he moved a formal resolution on the subject, which 
 was superseded by the order of the day; but on the 19th of July, 
 he again moved, at great length and with great power of logical 
 and historical argument, for leave to bring in an Irish Bill of 
 Rights, declaring " the sole and exclusive right of the Irish Par- 
 liament to make laws in all cases whatsoever, external and inter- 
 nal." He was supported by Sir Simon Bradstreet, Mr. English, 
 and Mr. Walshe, and opposed by Grattan, who, in one of his 
 finest efforts, proposed a counter resolution, "that the legislature 
 of Ireland is independent; and that any person who shall, by 
 writing or otherwise, maintain that a right in any other country, 
 to make laws for Ireland, internally or externally, exists or can be 
 revived, is inimical to the peace of both kingdoms." This ex- 
 treme proposition pointing out all who differed from himself as 
 public enemies the mover, however, withdrew, and substituted 
 in its stead the milder formula, that leave was refused to bring 
 in the bill, because the sole and exclusive right of legislation in 
 the Irish parliament in all cases, whether externally or internally, 
 hath been already asserted by Ireland, and fully, finally, and 
 irrevocably acknowledged by the British Parliament. Upon this 
 motion Flood did not think it advisable to divide the house, so it 
 passed without a division. 
 
 But the moot point thus voted down in parliament disquieted 
 and alarmed the minds of many out of doors. The volunteers as 
 generally sided with Flood as the parliament had sided with 
 Grattan. The lawyer corps of the city of Dublin, containing all 
 the great names of the legal profession, endorsed the constitu- 
 tional law of the member for Kilkenny ; the Belfast volunteers 
 did likewise ; and Grattan's own corps, in a respectful address, 
 urged him to give his adherence to the views of " the best in- 
 formed body of men in the kingdom," the lawyers' corps. Just 
 at that moment Lord Abingdon, in the English House of Lords, 
 gave notice of a mischievous motion to assert the external supr*
 
 658 POPULAR HISTORY or IRHLAHD. 
 
 macy of the English Parliament; and Lord Manslield, in ik 
 King's Bench, decided an Irish appeal case, notwithstanding the 
 recent statute establishing the judicial independence of the Irish 
 courts. It is true the case had been appealed before the statute 
 was passed ; and that Lord Abingdon withdrew his motion for 
 want of a seconder ; but the alarm was given, and fhe populat 
 mind in Ireland, jealously watchful of its new-born liberties, saw 
 in these attempts renewed cause for apprehension. In opposition 
 to all this suddenly awakened suspicion and jealousy, Grattan, 
 who naturally enough assumed his own interest in preserving the 
 new constitution to be quite equal to those who cast doubts on 
 its security, invariably held one language. The settlement already 
 made, according to his view, was final ; it was an international 
 treaty ; its maintenance must depend on the ability and disposi- 
 tion of the parties to uphold it, rather than on the multiplication 
 of declaratory acts. Ireland had gone to England with a charter, 
 not for a charter, and the nation which would insist upon the 
 humiliation of another, was a foolish nation. This was the lofty 
 light in which he viewed the whole transaction, and in this light, 
 it must be added, he continued to view it till the last. Many of 
 the chief English and Irish jurists of his time, Lord Camden, 
 Lord Kenyon, Lord Erskine, Lord Kilwarden, Judges Chamber- 
 lain, Smith and Kelly, Sir Samuel Rommilly, Sir Arthur Pigott, 
 and several others, agreed fully in Grattan's doctrine, that the 
 settlement of '82 was final and absolute, and " terminated all 
 British jurisdiction over Ireland." But although these are all 
 great names, the instinct of national self-preservation may be 
 considered in such critical moments more than a counterpoise to 
 the most matured opinions of the oracles of the law. Such must 
 have been the conviction also of the English Parliament, for, im- 
 loediately on their meeting in January, 1788, they passed the 
 Act of Renunciation (23d George III.), expressly declaring their 
 admission of the " exclusive rights of the parliament and court* 
 of Ireland in matters of legislature and judicature." This waa 
 Flood's greatest triumph. Six months before his doctrine ob- 
 tained but three supporters in the Irish Commons ; now, at hia 
 suggestion, and on his grounds, he saw it unanimously affirmed 
 by the British Parliament.
 
 POPULAB BISTORT OT IRELAND. 659 
 
 On two other questions of the utmost importance these jeading 
 spirits also widely differed. Grattan was in favor of, and Flood 
 opposed to Catholic emancipation ; while Flood was in favor of, 
 and Grattan, at that moment, opposed to, a complete reform of 
 parliamentary representation. The Catholic question had its 
 next great triumph after Flood's death, as will be mentioned fur- 
 ther on ; but the history of the Irish reform movement of 1788, 
 '84, and '86, may best be disposed of here. 
 
 The Reformers were a new party rising naturally out of the 
 popular success of 1782. They were composed of all but a few 
 of the more aristocratic corps of the volunteers, of the towns- 
 men, especially in the seaports and manufacturing towns, of the 
 admirers of American example, of the Catholics who had lately 
 acquired property and recognition, but not the elective franchise, 
 of the gentry of the second and third degree of wealth, over- 
 uled and overshadowed by the greater lords of the soil. The 
 substantial grievance of which they complained was, that of the 
 800 members of the House of Commons, only 72 were returned 
 by the people; 63 Peers having the power to nominate 123 and 
 secure the election of 10 others; while 52 Commoners nominated 
 91 and controlled the choice of 4 others. The constitution of 
 what ought to have been the people's house was, therefore, sub- 
 stantially in the hands of an oligarchy of about a hundred great 
 proprietors, bound together by the spirit of their class, by inter- 
 marriage, and by the hereditary possession of power. To reduce 
 this exorbitant influence within reasonable bounds, was the just 
 and wise design to which Flood dedicated all his energies, after 
 the passage of the Ad of Renunciation, and the success of which 
 would certainly have restored him to complete equality with 
 Grattan. 
 
 In the beginning of 1783, the famous coalition ministry, of 
 Lord North and Mr. Fox, was formed in England. They were* 
 at first represented at Dublin Castle, for a few months, by Lord 
 Temple, who succeeded the Duke of Portland, and established 
 the order of Knights of Saint Patrick ; then by Lord Northing- 
 ton, who dissolved Parliament early in July. A general election 
 followed, and the reform party made their influence felt in all 
 directions. County meetings were held ; conventions by district*
 
 660 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and by provinces were called by the reforming Volunteers, ii 
 July, Angust and September. The new Parliament was to b 
 opened on the 14th of October, and the Volunteers resolved to 
 call a convention of their whole body at Dublin, for the 10th of 
 November. 
 
 The Parliament met according to summons, but though search- 
 ing retrenchment was spoken of, no promise was held out of a 
 constitutional reform ; the limitation of the regular troops to a 
 fixed number was declared advisable, and a vote of thanks to the 
 Volunteers was passed without demur. But the proceedings of 
 the houses were soon eclipsed by the portentous presence of the 
 Volunteer Convention. One hundred ai. J sixty delegates of corps 
 attended on the appointed day. The Royal Exchange was too 
 small to aeeomodate them, so they adjourned to the Rotunda, 
 accompanied by mounted guards of honor. The splendid and 
 eccentric Bishop of Derry (Earl of Bristol), had his dragoon 
 guards ; the courtly but anxious Charlemont had his troop of 
 horse ; Flood, tall, emaciated, and solemn to sadness, was hailed 
 with popular acclamations ; there also marched the popular Mr. 
 Day, afterwards Judge, Robert Stewart, father of Lord Castle- 
 reagh, Sir Richard Musgrave, a reformer also, in his youth, who 
 lived to confound reform with rebellion in his old age. The Earl 
 of Charlemont was elected president of this imposing body, and 
 for an entire month Dublin was divided between the extraordinary 
 spectacle of two legislatures one sitting at the Rotunda, and the 
 other at College Green, many members of each being members 
 of the other ; the uniform of the volunteer sparkling in the 
 houses, and the familiar voices of both houses being heard de- 
 liberating and debating among the volunteers. 
 
 At length, on the 29th of November, after three weeks' labor- 
 ions gestation, Flood brought before Parliament the plan of re* 
 form agreed to by the convention. It proposed to extend the 
 franchise to every Protestant freeholder possessed of a lease worth 
 forty shillings yearly ; to extend restricted borough constituen- 
 cies by annexing to them neighboring populous parishes ; that 
 the voting should be held on one and the same day ; that pen. 
 loners of the crown should be incapable of election ; that mem. 
 bers accepting office should be subject to reelection ; that a stria
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 661 
 
 gent bribery oath should be administered to candidates returned , 
 and, finally, that the duration of Parliament should be limited 
 to three years. It was, indeed, an excellent Protestant Reform 
 bill, for though the convention had received Father Arthur 
 O'Leary with military honors, and contained many warm friends 
 of Catholic rights, the majority were still intolerant of religiou* 
 freedom. In this majority it is painful to have to record the 
 names of Flood and Charlemont. 
 
 The debate which followed the introduction of this proposed 
 change in the constitution, was stormy beyond all precedent. 
 Grattan, who just one month before (Oct. 28th) had that fierce 
 vituperative contest with Flood familiar to every school-boy, in 
 its worst and most exaggerated form, supported the proposal. 
 The law officers of the crown, Fitzgibbon, Yelverion, Scott, de- 
 nounced it as an audacious attempt of armed men to dictate to 
 the house its own constitution. The cry of privilege and prero- 
 gative was raised, and the measure was rejected by 157 to 77. 
 Flood, weary in mind and body, retired to his home ; the Con- 
 vention, which outsat the house, adjourned amid the bitter in- 
 dignation of some, and the scarcely concealed relief of others. 
 Two days later they met and adopted a striking address to th 
 throne, and adjourned tine die. This was, in fact, the last Im- 
 portant day of the Volunteers as a political institution. An 
 attempt a month later to reassemble the convention, was dexter- 
 ously defeated by the President, Lord Charlemont. The regular 
 army was next session increased to 15,000 men ; 20,000 were 
 voted to clothe and equip a rival force " the Militia " and the 
 Parliament which had three times voted them its thanks, now 
 began to look with satisfaction on their rapid disorganization 
 nd disbandment. 
 
 This, perhaps, is the fittest place to notice the few remaining 
 years of the public life of Henry Flood. After the session of 1785, 
 in which he had been outvoted on every motion he proposed, 
 he retired from the Irish Parliament, and allowed himself to be 
 persuaded, at the age of fifty-three, to enter the English. He was 
 elected for "Winchester, and made his first essay on the new scene, 
 on h'u favorite subject of representative reform. But his health 
 was undermined; he failed, except on one or two occasions, to 
 66
 
 602 rOPDLAB HIBTORT UF IRELAKD. 
 
 catch the ear of that fastidious assembly, and the figure he made 
 there somewhat disappointed his frends. He returned to Kil- 
 kenny fe > die in 1791, bequeathing a large portion of his fortune 
 to Trinhy College, to enrich its MS. library, and to found a per- 
 manent professorship of the Irish language. " He was an oak 
 of the forest," said Grattan, " too old to be transplanted at fifty." 
 " He was a man," eaid one who also knew him well, Sir Jonah 
 Barrington, "of profound abilities, high manners, and great ex- 
 perieuce in the affairs of Ireland. He bad deep information, an 
 extensive capacity, and a solid judgment" In his own magnifi- 
 cent " Ode to Fame " he has pictured his ideal of the Patriot 
 orator, who find* some consolation amid the unequal struggle 
 with the enemies of his country, foreign and domestic, in a pro- 
 phetic vision of his own renown. Unhappily, the works of this 
 great man come down to us in as fragmentary a state as those of 
 Chatham ; but enough remains to enable us to class him amongst 
 the greatest masters of our speech, and, as far as the drawbacks 
 allowed, among the foremost statesmen of his country. 
 
 It ia painful to be left in doubt, as we are, whether he was 
 ever reconciled to Grattan. The presumption, from the silence 
 of their cotemporaries, is, that they they never met again as 
 friends. But it is consoling to remember that in his grave, the 
 Hurvivor rendered him that tribute of justice which almost takes 
 the undying sting out of the philippic of 1783; it is well to know, 
 also, that one of Grattau's latest wishes, thirty years after the 
 death of Flood, when he felt his own last hours approaching, 
 was, that it should be known that he " did not speak the vile 
 buse reported in the Debates" in relation to his illustrious rival. 
 The beet proof that what he did say was undeserved, is that 
 that rival's reputation for integrity and public spirit has tor 
 rived even his terrible onslaught.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT 07 IRELAND. 663 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE. SECOND PERIOD., 
 
 THE second period of the era of independence may be taid to 
 embrace the nine years extending from the dissolution of the last 
 Volunteer Convention, at the end of 1784, to the passage of the 
 Catholic Relief Bill of 1*793. They were years of continued in- 
 terest and excitement, both in the popular and parliamentary 
 affairs of the country ; but the events are, with the exception of 
 the last named, of a more secondary order, than those of the pre- 
 vious period. 
 
 The session of 1785 was first occupied with debates relating to 
 what might be called the cross-channel trade between England 
 and Ireland. The question of trade brought with it, necessarily, 
 the question of revenue; of the duties levied in both kingdoms; 
 of the conflict of their commercial laws, and the necessity of their 
 assimilation ; of the appropriations to be borne by each, to the 
 general expense of the army and navy ; of the exclusive right of 
 the English East India Company to the Indian trade ; in short, 
 the whole of the fiscal and commercial relations of the two coun- 
 tries were now to be examined and adjusted, as their constitu- 
 tional relations had been in previous years. 
 
 The first plan came from the castle, through Mr. Thomas Orde, 
 then chief secretary, afterwards Lord Bolton. It consisted of 
 eleven propositions, embracing every division of the subject. 
 They had been arrived at by consultation with Mr. Joshua Pirn, 
 a most worthy Quaker merchant, the founder of an equally worthy 
 family, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Foster and others. They were passed 
 as resolutions in Ireland, and sent by Mr. Orde to England to see 
 whether they would be adopted there also : the second Pitt, then 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave his concurrence, but when he 
 Introduced to the English Parliament his resolutions twenty in 
 number it was found that in several important respects they 
 differed from the Irish propositions. On being taken up and pre- 
 sented to the Irish Parliament, in August, the administration
 
 664 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 found they could command, in a full house, only a aajority of 
 sixteen for their introduction, and so the whole arrangement wa* 
 abandoned. No definite commercial treaty between the two king- 
 doms was entered into until the Union, and there can be little 
 doubt that the miscarriage of the convention of 1785, was one of 
 the determining causes of that Union. 
 
 The next session was chiefly remarkable for an unsuccessful 
 attempt to reduce the Pension List. In this debate, Curran, who 
 had entered the House in 1783, particularly distinguished him- 
 self. A fierce exchange of personalities with Mr. Fitzgibbon led 
 to a duel between them, in which, fortunately, neither was wound- 
 ed, but their public hostility was transferred to the arena of the 
 courts, where some of the choicest morceaux of genuine Irish wit 
 were uttered by Curran, at the expense of his rival, first as Attor- 
 ney-General, and subsequently as Chancellor. 
 
 The session of 1787 was introduced by a speech from the 
 throne, in whtch the usual paragraph in favor of the Protestant 
 Charter Schools was followed by another advising the establish- 
 ment of a general system of schools. This raised the entire 
 question of education, one of the most difficult to deal with in the 
 whole range of Irish politics. On the 10th of April, Mr. Orde, 
 destined to be the author of just, but short-lived projects intro- 
 duced his plan of what might be called national education. He 
 proposed to establish four great provincial academies, a second 
 university in some north-western county, to reform the twenty- 
 two diocesan schools, so richly endowed under the 28th Henry 
 VIII., and to affiliate on Trinity College two principal preparatory 
 schools, north aud south. In 1784, and again in this very year, 
 the humane John Howard had reported of the Irish Charter 
 Schools, then half a century established, that they were " a di 
 grace to all society." Sir J. Fitzpatrick, the Inspector of Prisons, 
 confirmed the general impression of Howard : he found the chil- 
 dren in these schools " puny, filthy, ill clothed, without linen, in- 
 decent to look upon." A series of resolutions was introduced by 
 Mr. Orde, as the basis of butter legislation in the next session; 
 but it is to be regretted that the proposed reform never went far- 
 ther than the introduction and adoption of these resolutions. 
 The session of 1788 was signalized by a great domestic and *
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 665 
 
 great imperial discussion the Tithe question, and the Regency 
 question. 
 
 The Tithe question had slumbered within the walls of parliament 
 ince the days of Swift, though not in the lonely lodges of the se- 
 cret agrarian societies. Very recent outbreaks of the old agrarian 
 combinations against both excessive rents and excessive tithes, in 
 the Leinster as well as in southern counties, had called general at- 
 tention to the subject, when Grattan, in 1787, moved that, if it should 
 appear by the commencement of the following session that tran- 
 quillity had been restored in the disturbed districts, the House would 
 take into consideration the subject of tithes. Accordingly, very 
 early in the next ensuing session, he moved for a committee on 
 the subject, in a three-hours' speech, which ranks among the very 
 highest efforts of his own or any other age. He was seconded by 
 Lord Kingsborough, one of the most liberal men of his order, and 
 sustained by Curran and Brownlow ; he was opposed by Attorney- 
 General Fitzgibbon, and by Messrs. Hobart, Browne and Parsons. 
 The vote was, for the Committee of Inquiry 49; against it, 121. 
 A second attempt, a little later in the session, was equally unsuc- 
 cessful, except for the moral effect produced out of doors by an- 
 other of those speeches, which it is impossible to read even at 
 this day, without falling into the attitude, and assuming the into, 
 nation, and feeling the heartfelt inspiration of the orator. 
 
 The Regency question was precipitated upon both parliament* 
 by the mental disorder, which, for the second or third time, at- 
 tacked George III., in 1788. The question was, whether the Prince 
 of Wales should reign with as full powers as if his father were 
 actually deceased; whether there should be restrictions or no 
 restrictions. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues contended successfully 
 for restrictions in England, while Mr. Fox and the opposition 
 took the contrary position. The English Houses and people went 
 with Pitt, but the Irish Parliament went for an unconditional 
 regency. They resolved to offer the crown of Ireland to him 
 they considered de facto their sovereign, as freely as they had 
 rendered their allegiance to the incapable king ; but the Lord 
 Lieutenant the Marquis of Buckingham declined to transmit 
 their over-zealous address, and by the tune their joint delegation 
 ef both Houses reached London, George III. had recovered I 
 56*
 
 000 rOFULAfi BISTORT O? IRELAND. 
 
 They received the most gracious reception at Carlton House, bul 
 they incurred the implacable enmity of William Pitt, and creited 
 a second determining cause in his mind in favor of an early 
 legislative union. 
 
 The prospect of the accession of the prince to power, -wrought 
 a wonderful and a salutary change, though temporary, in the Irish 
 Commons. In the session of 1789, Mr. Grattan carried, by 105 to 
 85, a two months', in amendment to a twelve-months' supply bilL 
 Before the two months expired he brought in his police bill, hia 
 pension bill, and his bill to prevent officers of the revenue from 
 voting at elections, but e'er thea reforms could be passed into 
 law, the old king recovered, the necessary majority was reversed, 
 and the measures, of course, defeated or delayed till better times. 
 Tiie triumph of 'MG oligarchy was in proportion to their fright. 
 The House having passed a vote of censure on Lord Buckingham 
 the viceroy, for refusing to transmit their address to the Regent, 
 a threat was now held out that every one who had voted for the 
 censure, holding an office of honor oremolumeutin Ireland, would 
 be made " the victim of his vote." In reply to this threat a 
 " Round Robin," was signed by the Duke of Leinster. the Arch- 
 bishop of Timm, eighteen peers, all the leading Whig commoners 
 the Ponsonbys, Langrishes, Grattan, Connolly, Curran, O'Neill, 
 Day, Charles Francis Sheridan, Bowes Daly, George Ogle, etc., etc. 
 declaring that they would regard any such proscription as an 
 attack on the independence of Parliament, and would jointly 
 oppose any administration who should resort to such proscription. 
 But the bold and domineering spirit of Fitzgibbon the leader of 
 the Castle party, then, and long afterwards did not shrink before 
 even so formidable a phalanx. The Duke of Leinster was dis- 
 missed from the honorary office of Master of the Rolls, the Earl 
 of Shannon, from the Vice-Treasurership, William Ponsonby from 
 tlie office of Postmaster general, Charles Francis Sheridan, from 
 that of Secretary at War, and ten or twelve other prominent 
 members of the Irith administration lost places and pensions tc 
 the value of 20,000 a year, for their over-zeal for the Prince of 
 Wales. At the same time, Mr. Fitzgibbon was appointed Lord 
 Chancellor, a vacancy having opportunely occured, by She death 
 of Lord Lifford, in the very midst of the prescriptive crisia
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OT IRELAirD. 6dt 
 
 This elevation transferred him to the Upper House, where for the 
 remaining years of the Parliament he continued to dogmatize and 
 domineer, as he had done in the Commons, often rebuked, but never 
 abashed. Indeed, the milder manners of the patrician body were 
 ill suited to resist this ermined demagogue, whose motto through 
 life was audacity, again audacity, and always audacity. The names 
 of Wolfe, Toler, Corry, Coote, Beresford, and Cooke, are also 
 found among the promotions to legal and administrative office ; 
 names familiar to the last generation as the pillars of the oligar- 
 chical faction, before and after the Union. To swamp the oppo- 
 sition peers, the Earls of Antrim, Tyrone, and Hillsborough were 
 made Marquises of Antrim, Waterford, and Downshire ; the Vis- 
 counts Glenawley, Enniskillen, Erne, and Carysfort, were created 
 Earls of Annesley.Enniskillen. Erne, and Carysfort. Then Judge 
 Scott, became Viscount Clonmel ; then the Lordships of Loftus, 
 Londonderry, Kilmaine, Cloncurry, Mountjoy, Glentworth, and 
 Caledon, were founded for as many convenient Commoners, who 
 either paid for their patents, in boroughs, or in hard cash. It 
 was the very reign and carnival of corruption, over which pre- 
 sided the invulnerable chancellor a true " King of Misrule." In 
 reference to this appalling spectacle, well might Grattan exclaim 
 " In a free country the path of public treachery leads to the 
 block ; but hi a nation governed like a province, to the helm I" 
 But the thunders of the orator fell and were quenched in the 
 wide spreading waters of corruption. 
 
 The Whig Club an out-of-door auxiliary of the opposition 
 was a creation of this year. It numbered the chief signers of 
 the " Round Robin," and gained many adherents. It exercised 
 very considerable influence in the general election of 1790, and 
 for the few following years, until it fell to pieces in the presence 
 of the more ardent politics which preceded the storm of 1798. 
 
 Backed though he was by Mr. Pitt, both as his relative and 
 principal, the Marquis of Buckingham was compelled to resign 
 the government, and to steal away from Dublin, under cover of 
 night, like an absconding debtor. The Chancellor and the Spcake* 
 Fitzgibbon and Foster, Irishmen at least by bi-th and in nam 
 were sworn in as Justices, until the arriva] of the Earl of 
 Westmoreland, in the ensuing January.
 
 66 FoPULAft fliftTORY OF 
 
 The two last viceroys of the decade thus closed, form a marked 
 contrast worthy of particular portraiture. The Duke of Rutland, 
 a dashing profligate, wa sent over, it was thought, to ruin pur lit 
 liberty by undermining private virtue, a task in which he found 
 a willing helpmate in his beautiful but dissipated Duchess. 
 During his three years' reign were sown the seeds of that reckless 
 private expenditure, and general corruption of manners, which 
 drove so many bankrupt lords and gentlemen into the market 
 overt, where Lord Castlereagh and Secretary Cooke, a dozen 
 years later, pi-iced the value of their parliamentary cattle. Lord 
 Rutland died of dissipation at little over thirty, and was suc- 
 ceeded by the Marquis of Buckingham (formerly Lord Temple), 
 the founder of the Irish Order of Chivalry, a person of the great- 
 est pretensions, as a reformer of abuses and an enemy of govern, 
 ment by corruption. Yet with all his affected superiority to the 
 bse arts of his predecessor, the Marquis's system was still more 
 opposite to every idea of just government, than the Duke's. The 
 ore outraged public morals, the other pensioned and ennobled the 
 betrayers of public trusts; the one naturalized the gamingtable 
 and the keeping of mistresses as customs of Irish society ; the 
 other sold or allowed the highest offices and honors of the state 
 from a weighership in the butter market to an earl's coronet 
 to be put up at auction, and knocked down to the highest bidder. 
 How cheering in contrast with the shameful honors, flauntd 
 abroad in those shameful days, are even the negative virtues of 
 the Whig patricians, and how splendid the heroic constancy of 
 Charlemont, Grattan, Curran, and their devoted minority of 
 honest legislators I 
 
 With Lord Westmoreland, was associated, as chief secretary, 
 Mr. Hohnrt, formerly in the army, a man of gay, convivial habit* 
 rery accomplished, and, politically, very unprincipled. These 
 gentlemen, both favorites of Pitt, adopted the councillors, and 
 continued the policy of the late viceroy. In pursuance of tlm 
 policy a dissolution took place, and the general election of 1790 
 was ordered. We have already exhibited the influences which 
 controlled the choice of members of the House of Commons. Of 
 the one hundred and five groat proprietors, who owned two-thirdi 
 of the si-atB, perhaps a fourth might be found in the ranks of th
 
 tOlTJLAR HISTORY OF IRELAND^ C60 
 
 Whig club. The Only other hope for the national party -^a in the 
 boroughs, which possessed a class of freemen, engaged in trade, 
 too numerous to be bought, or too public spirited to be dictated 
 to. Both influences combined might hope to return a powerful 
 minority, and on this occasion (1790) they certainly did so. Grat- 
 tan and Lord Henry Fitzgerald were elected for Dublin, over the 
 Lord Mayor and one of the Aldermen, backed by the whole power 
 of the Castle ; Curran, Ponsonby, Brownlow, Forbes, and nearly 
 all " the victims of their vote," were reflected. To these old 
 familiar names were now added others destined to equal if not 
 still wider fame: Arthur Wellesley, member for Trim, Arthur 
 O'Connor, member for Phillipstown, Jonah Barrington, member 
 for Tuam, and Robert Stewart, one of the members for the county 
 Down, then only in his twenty-second year, and, next to Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald, lately elected for Athy, the most extreme reformer 
 among the new members. Arthur O'Connor, on the other hand, 
 commenced his career with the court by moving the address in 
 answer to the speech from the throne ! 
 
 The new Parliament which met in July, 1790, unanimously re- 
 elected Mr. Foster, Speaker ; passed a very loyal address, and after 
 a fortnight's sitting, was prorogued till the following January. The 
 session of '91 was marked by no event of importance ; the highest 
 opposition vote seems to have been from 80 to 90, and the minis- 
 terial majority never less than 60. The sale of Peerages, the 
 East India trade, the Responsibility (for money warrants) Bill, 
 the Barren Lands Bill, and the Pension Bill, were the chief 
 topics. A committee to inquire into the best means of encour- 
 aging breweries, and discouraging the use of spirituous liquors, 
 was also granted, and some curious facts elicited. Nothing 
 memorable was done, but much that was memorable was said, 
 for the great orator had still a free press, and a home au- 
 dience to instruct and elevate. The truth is, the barrenness 
 of these two sessions was due to the general prosperity of the 
 ccuntry, more even than to the dexterous management of Major 
 Hobart and the Cabinet balls of Lord Westmoreland. Thx;re was, 
 moreover, hanging over the minds of men the electric pressure 
 of the wonderful events with which France shook the continent 
 and made the Islands tremble. There was hasty hope, or idle
 
 POPULAR BISTORT O IRKLAXD. 
 
 exultation, or pious fear, or panic terror, in the, hearts of the le*(l 
 ing spectators of that awful drama, according to fihe prejudice! 
 or principles they maintained. Over all the three kingdom* 
 there was a preternatural calm, resembling that physical stillneM 
 which in other latitudes precedes the eruption of volcanoes 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE THIRD PERIOD: CATHOLIC RELIEF 
 
 BILL or 1793. 
 
 BEFORE relating the consequences which attended the spread 
 of French revolutionary opinions in Ireland, it is necessary to 
 exhibit the new and very important position assumed by the 
 Roman Catholic population at that period. 
 
 The relief bills in 1774 and 1778, by throwing open to catholics 
 the ordinary means of acquiring property, whether movable or 
 immovable, had enabled many of them to acquire fortunes, both 
 in land and in trade. Of this class were the most efficient lead 
 era in the formation of the Catholic Committee of 1790 Johi 
 Keogh, Edward Byrne, and Richard McCormick. They were all 
 men who had acquired fortunes, and who felt and cherished tho 
 independence of self-made men. They were not simply Catholio 
 agitators claiming an equality of civil and religious risrhts with 
 their Protestant fellow-countrymen.; they were nationalists, in the 
 broadest and most generous meaning of the term. They had con- 
 tributed to the ranks and the expenses of the Volunteers ; they 
 had swelled the chorus of Grattan's triumph, and borne their 
 nlwre of the cost in many a popular contest. The new generation 
 of Psotestant patriots such men as the Hon. Simon Bulter, 
 Wolfa Tone, and Thomas Addis Emmet, were thetr intimate asso- 
 ciates, shared their opinions, and regarded their exclusion from 
 the pale of the constitution as a public calamity. 
 
 Tnere was another and a smaller, but not less important clasa 
 the remnant of the ancient Catholic peerage and landed gentry, 
 Who, throngh four generations, had preferred civil death U> ro
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OP IRELAND. 67 1 
 
 ligious apostacy. It was impossible not to revere the heroic con 
 stancy of that class, and the personal virtues of many among 
 them. But they were, perhaps constitutionally, too timid aud too 
 punctilious to conduct a popular movement to a successful issue. 
 They had, after much persuasion, lent their presence to the com- 
 mittee, but on some alarm, which at that time seems to have been 
 premature, of the introduction of French revolutionary princi- 
 ples among their associates, they seceded in a mass. A formal 
 remonstrance against what remained, pretending to act for the 
 Catholic body, was signed by Lord Kenmare and sixty-seven 
 others, who withdrew. As a corrective, it was inadequate ; as a 
 preventive, useless. It no doubt hastened in the end the evil 
 it deprecated in the beginning ; it separated the Catholic gentry 
 from the Catholic democracy, and thrust the latter more and more 
 towards those liberal Protestants, mainly men of the middle class 
 like themselves, who began about this time to club together at 
 Belfast and Dublin, under the attractive title of " United Irish- 
 men." "Whatever they were individually, the union of so many 
 hereditary Catholic names had been of very great service to the 
 committee. So long as they stood aloof, the committee could not 
 venture to speak for all the Catholics ; it could only speak for a 
 part, though that part might be nine tenths of the whole : this 
 gave for a time a doubtful and hesitating appearance, to their 
 proceedings. So low was their political influence, in 1791, that 
 they could not get a single member of Parliament to present 
 their annual petition. When at last it was presented, it was 
 laid on the table and never noticed afterwards. To their 
 further embarrassment, Mr. McKenna and some others formed 
 " the Catholic Society," with the nominal object of spreading a 
 knowledge of Catholic principles, through the press, but, covertly, 
 to raise up a rival organization, under the control of the seceders. 
 At this period John Keogh's talents for negotiation and diplo- 
 macy saved the Catholic body from another term of anarchical 
 imbecility. 
 
 A deputation of twelve, having waited this year on the chief sec. 
 retary with a list of the existing penal laws, found no intention, at 
 the Castle, of further concession. They were "dismissed without 
 " answer." Under these circumstances, the Committee met at
 
 673 POPULAR HISTORY 07 IRELAND. 
 
 Allen's Court. " It was their determination," siiya Keogh, " to 
 give up the cause as desperate, lest a perseverance in what they 
 considered an idle pursuit might not only prove ineffectual, but 
 draw down a train of persecution on the body." Keogh endeaT- 
 ored to rally them ; proposed a delegation to London, to be sent 
 at the expense of the committee ; offered, at last, to go at his own 
 charge, if they authorized him. This proposal was accepted, 
 and Keogh went. " I arrived in London," he adds, " without any 
 introduction from this country, without any support, any assist- 
 ance, any instructions." He remained three months, converted 
 Mr. Dundas, brought back with him the son of Burke as secre- 
 tary, and a promise of four concessions: 1st. The magistracy. 
 3d. The grand juries. 3d. The sheriffs of counties. 4th. The 
 jar. It was in this interview that Keogh, after obtaining Mr. 
 Dundas's express permission and promise not to be offended, said 
 to him, according to Charles Butler's account, " Since you give 
 me this permission, and your deliberate promise not to be offended, 
 I beg leave to repeat, that there is one thing which you ought to 
 know, but which you don't suspect: yon, Mr. Dundaa, know 
 nothing of Ireland." Mr. Dundas, as may be supposed, was 
 greatly surprised ; but with perfect good humor told Mr. Keogh 
 that he believed this was not the case ; it was true that he never 
 had been in Ireland, but he had conversed with many Irishmen. 
 " I have drunk," he said " many a good bottle of wine with Lord 
 Ilillsborough, Lord Clare, and the Beresfords." " Yes, sir," said 
 Mr. Keogh, "I believe you have; and that you drank many a 
 good bottle of wine with them before you went to war with 
 America." 
 
 On the return of Keogh to Dublin, a numerous meeting was 
 held to hear his report At this meeting, the fair promises of 
 the English ministers were contrasted with the hostility of the 
 Castle. The necessity of a strong organization, to overcome the 
 > and hasten the ether, was felt by all : it was then decided to 
 me committee into a Convention. By this plan, the Catholic* 
 In each county and borough were called on to choose, in & private 
 manner, certain electors, who were to elect two or more dele- 
 gates, to represent the town or county in the general meeting at 
 Dublin, on the 3d day of December following. A circular, igued
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 673 
 
 by Edward Byrne, chairman, and Richard McCormick, secretary 
 explaining the plan and the mode of election, was issued on th 
 14th of January, aud the Catholics everywhere prepared to 
 obey it. 
 
 The corporations of Dublin and other cities, the grand juries 
 of Derry, Donegal, Lei trim, Roscomrnon, Limerick, Cork, and 
 other counties, at once pronounced most strongly against the 
 proposed Convention. They declared it " unconstitutional," 
 " alarming," " most dangerous ;" they denounced it as a copy of 
 the National Assembly of France ; they declared that they 
 would " resist it to the utmost of their power ;" they pledged 
 "their lives and fortunes" to suppress it. The only answer of 
 the Catholics was the legal opinion of Butler and Burton, two 
 eminent lawyers, Protestants and King's counsellors, that the 
 measule was entirely legal. They proceeded with their selection 
 of delegates, and on the appointed day the Convention met. 
 From the place of meeting, this convention was popularly called 
 " the Back Lane Parliament." Above 200 members were present. 
 
 The Convention proceeded (Mr. Byrne in the chair) to declare 
 itself the only body competent to speak for the Catholics of Ire- 
 land. They next discussed the substance of the proposed peti- 
 tion to the king. The debate on this subject, full of life and 
 color, has been preserved for us in the memoirs of Tone, who, 
 although a Protestant, had been elected secietary to the Catholic 
 committee. Great firmness was exhibited by Teeling, of Antrim, 
 Bellew, of Galway, McDermott, of Sligo, Devereux, of Wexford, 
 Sir Thomas French, and John Keogh. These ger.tlemen con. 
 tended, and finally carried, without a division, though not with- 
 out a two-days' debate, a petition asking complete and unrestricted 
 emancipation. With tbe addition of the chairman and secretary, 
 they were appointed as deputies to proceed to London, there to 
 place the Catholic ultimatum in the hands of King George. 
 
 The deputies, whether by design or accident, took Belfast on 
 their way to England. This great manufacturing town, at the 
 head of the staple industry of the north, had been in succession 
 the h jadquarters of the Volunteers, the Northern Whigs and the 
 United Irishmen. Bflf/ist had domardod in vain, for nearly* 
 generation, that its 20,00!"' inhabitants should no longer be di* 
 67
 
 674 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRKLAHD. 
 
 franchised, while a dozen burgesses creatures of Lore Donegal 
 controlled the representation. Community of disfranchis*- 
 ment had made the Belfastians liberal ; the Catholic deputiei 
 were publicly received with bonfires and ringing of bells, their 
 expenses were paid by the citizens, and their carriage drawn 
 along in triumph on the road to Port Patrick. 
 
 Arrived at London, after much negotiation and delay with 
 ministers, a day was fixed for their introduction to the king. It 
 was Wednesday, the 2d of January, 1793 ; they were presented 
 by Edmund Burke and the Home Secretary to George III., who 
 " received them very graciously;" they placed in his hands the 
 petition of their co-religionists, and, after some compliments, 
 withdrew. In a few days, they were assured their case would 
 be recommended to the attention of Parliament in the next royal 
 speech, and so, leaving one of their number behind as " charg 
 d' iffaires," they returned to Dublin highly elated. 
 
 The Ticeroy, on their return, was all attention to the Catholics ; 
 the secretary, who, a year before, would not listen to a petition, 
 now labored to fix a limit to concession. The demand of com- 
 plete emancipation, was not maintained in this negotiation aa 
 firmly as in the December debates of " the Back Lane Parlia- 
 ment." The shock of the execution of the King of France ; the 
 efforts of the secret committee of the House of Lords to incul- 
 pate certain Catholic leaders in the United-Irish system, and aa 
 patrons of the Defenders ; the telling argument, that to press all 
 ws to risk all, these causes combined to induce the sub-com- 
 mittee to consent to less than the Convention Imd decided to insist 
 npon. Negotiation was the strong ground of the government, 
 and they kept it. Finally, the bill was introduced by the Chief 
 Secretary, and warmly supported by Orattan, Cnrran, Ponsonby, 
 Forbes, and Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College. It was re- 
 sisted in the lower house by Mr. Speaker Foster, Mr. Ogle, and 
 Dr. Duigenan, an apostate, who exhibited all the bitterness of his 
 class ; and in the upper house, by the Chancellor, the son of an 
 apostate, and the majority of the lords spiritual. On the 9th day 
 of April, 1793 ; it became the law of Ireland. " By one compre- 
 honfiive clause." says Tone, " all penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, 
 and incapacities arc removed , the property of the Catholic u
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 675 
 
 compleU'ly discharged from the restraints and limitations of the 
 penal laws, and their liberty, in a great measure, restored, by the 
 restoration of the right of elective franchise, so long withheld, 
 so ardently pursued. The right of self-defence is established by 
 the restoration of the privilege to carry arms, subject to a re- 
 straint, which does not seem unreasonable, as excluding none but 
 the very lowest orders. The unjust and unreasonable distinctions 
 affecting Catholics, as to service on grand and petty juries, are 
 done away ; the army, navy, and all other offices and places of 
 trust are opened to them, subject to exceptions hereafter men- 
 tioned. Catholics may be masters or fellows of any college here- 
 after to be founded, subject to two conditions, that such college 
 be a member of the university, and that it be not fouaded exclu- 
 sively for the education of Catholics. They may be members of 
 any lay body corporate, except Trinity College, any law, statute, 
 or by-law of such corporation to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 They may obtain degrees in the University of Dublin. These, 
 and some lesser immunities and privileges, constitute the grant 
 of the bill, the value of which will be best ascertained by refer- 
 ring to the petition." 
 
 It is true, Catholics were still excluded from the high offices of 
 lord lieutenant, lord deputy, and lord chancellor. "What was much 
 more important, they were excluded from sitting in Parliament 
 from exercising legislative and judicial functions. Still the fran- 
 chise, the juries, the professions, and the university, were impor- 
 tant concessions. Their first fruits were Daniel O'Connell and 
 Thomas Moore ! 
 
 The committee having met to return thanks to the parliamen- 
 tary supporters of the bill, their own future operations came also 
 under debate. Some members advised that they should add 
 reform to their programme, as the remnant of the penal laws 
 were not sufficient to interest and attract the people. Some 
 would have gone much further than reform ; some were well con- 
 tent to rest on their laurels. There were ultras, moderate mon, 
 and conservatives, even in the twelve. The latter were more nu- 
 merous than "Wolfe Tone liked or expected. That ardent revolu- 
 tionist had, indeed, at bottom, a strong dislike of the Catholic 
 religion ; he united himself with that body because he needed a
 
 676 poruLJU IIISTOBT or IRELAND. 
 
 party; he remained with them because it gave him importance; 
 but he chiefly valued the position as it enabled him to further an 
 ulterior design an Irish revolution and a republic on the French 
 plan. The example of France had, however, grown by this time 
 rather a terror than an attraction to more cautions men than 
 Tone. Edward Byrne, Sir Thomas French, and other leading 
 Catholics, were openly hostile to any imitation of it, and the 
 dinner at Daly's, to celebrate the passage of the act, was strongly 
 anti-Gallican in spirit and sentiment. Keogh, McCormick, and 
 McXevin, however, joined the United Irishmen, and the two lat- 
 ter were placed on the Directory. Keogh withdrew, when, in 
 1795, that organization became a secret society. 
 
 The bishops who had cheered on, rather than participated in 
 the late struggle, were well satisfied with the new measure. 
 They were, by education and conviction, conservatives. Dr. 
 Plunkett, of Menth, Dr. Egan, of Waterford, Dr. Troy, of Dub- 
 lin, and Dr. Moylan, of Cork, were the most remarkable for influ- 
 ence and ability at this period. Dr. Butler, of Cashel, and his 
 opponent, Dr. Burke, of Ossory, the head of the resolute old 
 ultramontane minority, were both recently deceased. With tho 
 exception of Dr. James Butler, bishop of Cloyne and Ross, who 
 deserted his faith and order on becoming unexpectedly heir to an 
 earldom, the Irish prelates of the reign of George III. were a most 
 zealous and devoted body. Lord Dunboyne's fall was the only 
 cause of a reproach within their own ranks. That unhappy pre- 
 late made, many years afterwards, a death-bed repentance, was 
 reconciled to his church, and bequeathed a large part of his inher- 
 ited wealth to sustain the new national college, the founding of 
 which, ever since the outbreak of the French revolution, the far 
 aeein Burke was urging upon Pitt and all his Irish correspond- 
 ents. 
 
 In 1794, the Irish bishops having applied for " royal license" 
 to establish academies pnd seminaries, were graciously received, 
 and Lord Fitzwilliam's government the next session brought in 
 the Act of Incorporation. It became law on the 5th of June, 
 1795, and the college was opened the following October with fifty 
 Indents. Dr. ITusscy. afterwards bishop of Waterford, tho friend 
 of Burke, who stood by his death-bed, was first President som
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 677 
 
 refugee French divines were appointed to professorships ; and 
 the Irish Parliament voted the very handsome sum of 8,000 a 
 year to the new foundation. Maynooth, whatever its after lot, 
 was the creation in the first instance of the Irish Parliament. 
 We have thus, in the third century after the reformation, after 
 three great religious wars, after four confiscations, after the most 
 Ingenious, cruel, and unchristian methods of oppression and 
 proselytism, had been tried and had failed, the yrand spectacle of 
 the Catholics of Ireland restored, if not fully, yet to the most 
 precious of the civil and religious liberties of a people I So 
 powerless against conscience is and ever must be coercion ! 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE KEA OF INDEPENDENCE. EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 IN 1 IRELAND. SECESSION OF GRATTAN, CUKEAN, AND THEIR FRIENDS, 
 
 FROM PARLIAMENT, IN 1797. 
 
 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE which we have desired to mark dis- 
 tinctly to the reader's mind, may be said to terminate in 1797, 
 with the hopeless secession of Grattan and his friends from Par- 
 liament. Did the events within and without the house justify 
 that extreme measure? We shall proceed to describe them as 
 they arose, leaving the decision of the question to the judgment 
 of the reader. 
 
 The session of 1 793, which extended into July, was, besides the 
 Catholic Relief Bill, productive of other important results. Under 
 the plea of the spread of French principles, and the wide-spread 
 organization of seditious associations a plea not wanting in evi- 
 dence an Arms Act was introduced and carried, prohibiting the 
 Importation of arms and gunpowder, and authorizing domiciliary 
 visits, at any hour of the night or day, in search of such arm*. 
 Within a month from the passage of this bill, bravely but vainly 
 opposed by Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and the opposition gener- 
 ally, the surviving Volunteer corps, in Dublin and its vicinity, 
 57*
 
 678 POPULAR HISTORT OF IRBLAMD. 
 
 disbanded, their arms, artillery, and ammunition taken posGbasloa 
 of either by force or negotiation, and the very wreck of that one* 
 poworful patriot army s*ept away. In its stead, by nearly the 
 Miii i n- majority, the militia were increased to 16,000 men, and the 
 regulars from 12,000 to 17,000 thus placing at the absolute con- 
 trol of the coruuiandcr-in chief, and the chiefs of the oligarchy, a 
 standing army of 33,000 men. At the same period, Lord Clare (he 
 had bceu made an earl in 1792), introduced his Convention Act, 
 against the assemblage in convention of delegates purporting to 
 represent the people. With G rattan only 27 of the Commons 
 divided against this measure, well characterized as " the boldest 
 step that ever yet was made to Introduce military government" 
 " If this bill had been law," G rattan added, " the independence of 
 the Irish Parliament, the emancipation of the Catholics, and even 
 the English revolution of 1688, could never have taken place P 
 The teller in favor of the Convention Act was Major Wellesley, 
 member for Trim, twenty years later Duke of Wellington 1 It 
 became and still remains the law of Ireland. 
 
 Against this reactionary legislation we must credit the session 
 of '93, besides the Catholic Relief Bill and the East India Trade 
 Bill, with Mr. H rattan's Barren Lands Bill, exempting all newly 
 reclaimed lands from the payment of tithes for a period of seven 
 years; Mr. Forbes's Pension Bill, limiting the pension list to 
 80,( iOi) sterling per annum, and fixing the permanent civil list 
 at 250,000 per annum ; and the excellent measure of the same in- 
 valuable member, excluding from parliament all persons holding 
 offices of profit under the crown, except the usual ministerial offi- 
 cers, and those employed in the revenue service. This last salvo was 
 forced i^a the bill by the oligarchical faction, for whose junior 
 branohlHne revenue had long been a fruitful source of provision. 
 
 Parliament met next, on the 21st of January, '94, and held 
 hurt two-months' session. The most remarkable incidents of 
 these two months were the rejection of Mr. George Ponsonby'a 
 annual motion for parliamentary reform, and the sti iking posi- 
 tion taken by (JuitUn, Curran, and all but seven or eight of their 
 friends, in favor of the war agaiirst the French republic. MO 
 Ponsonby proposed, in the spirit of Flood's plan ten years earlie% 
 to unite to the boroughs four railed square of the adjoining cona
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 679 
 
 try, thus creating a counterpoise to the territorial aristocracy oq 
 the one hand, and the patrons of boroughs on the other ; he also 
 proposed to extend the suffrage to every tradesman who had 
 served five years' apprenticeship, and give each county three in- 
 stead of two members, leaving intact, of course, the forty-shilling 
 freehold franchise. Not more than 44 members, however, divided 
 in favor of the new project, while 142 voted against it ! Had it 
 passed, the parliamentary history of the next six years could never 
 have been written. 
 
 It was on this Reform bill, and on the debate on the address, 
 that Grattan took occasion to declare his settled and unalterable 
 hostility to those " French principles," then so fashionable with 
 all who called themselves friends of freedom, in the three king- 
 doms. In the great social schism which had taken place in Eu 
 rope, in consequence of the French revolution of 1789-'91, those 
 kingdoms, the favorite seat of free inquiry, and free discussion, 
 could not hope to escape. The effects were visible in every circle, 
 among every order of men ; in all the churches, workshops, 
 saloons, professions, into which men were divided. Amorg pub- 
 licists, most of all, the shock was most severely felt : in England 
 it separated Burke and Windham from Fox, Erskine, Sheridan, 
 and Grey ; in Ireland it separated Grattan and Curran from Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Connor, Addis Emmett, "Wolfe Tone, 
 and all those ardent, able, and honest men, who hailed the French, 
 as the forerunner of a complete series of European republics, in 
 which Ireland should shine out, among the brightest and the best. 
 
 Orn^nn, who agreed with and revered Burke, looked upon th 
 " auti-Jacobic war," as a just and necessary war. It was not in 
 his nature to do anything by halves, and he therefore cordially 
 supported the paragraph in the address pledging Ireland's sup- 
 port to that war. He was a constitutionalist of the British, not 
 of the French type. In the subsequent Reform debate he declared 
 that he would always and ever resist those who sought to remodel 
 the Irish constitution on a French original. He asserted, more- 
 over, that great mischief had been already done by the advocates 
 of such a design. " It" this design " has thrown back for the 
 present the chance of any rational improvement in the represent- 
 ation of the people," he cried, " and has betrayed > good reform
 
 680 *OFULAB HISTOBT Of I&BLAKO. 
 
 to the hopes of a shabby insurrection.'' Proceeding in his own coa- 
 deiised, cry-ialline antithesis, he thus enlarged on his own opin 
 ions : " There are two characters equally enemies to the reform 
 of parliament, and equally enemies to the government the level- 
 ler of the constitution and the friend of its abuses ; they take 
 different roads to arrive at the same end. The levellers propose 
 to subvert the king and parliamentary constitution by a rank and 
 unqualified democracy the fiends of its abused propose to sup- 
 port the king and buy the parliament, and in the end to overset 
 both, by a rank and avowed corruption. They arc both incendi- 
 aries ; the one would destroy government to pay his court to 
 liberty ; the other would destroy liberty to pay his court to gov- 
 ernment ; but the- liberty of the one would be confusion, and the 
 government of the other would be pollution." 
 
 We can well understand that this language pleased as little the 
 United Irishmen as the Castle. It was known that in private he 
 was accustomed to say, that " the wonder was not that Mr. Sheare* 
 should die on the scaffold, but that Lord Clare was uot there be- 
 side him." He stood in the midst of the ways, crying aloud, 
 with the wisdom of his age and his genius, but there were few to 
 heed his warnings. The sanguine innovator sneered or pitied ; 
 the truculent despot scowled or menaced; to tho one hfe authority 
 was an impediment, to the other his reputation was a reproach. 
 It was a public situation as full of conflict as man erer occupied, 
 and we ore not astonished, on a nearer view, that it led after three 
 years hoping against hope, to the despairing secession of 1797. 
 
 A bright gleam of better things shot for an mutant across the 
 gloomy prospect, with which the year '94 closed for the country. 
 Lord Westmoreland was recalled, and Lord Fitzwilliam, largely 
 connected with Ireland by property, and one of the most just and 
 liberal men in England, was to be his successor. The highest 
 jxpectations were excited ; the bet men congratulated each other 
 on the certain promise of bettA times close at hand ; and the 
 nation, ever ready to believe whatever it wished to believe, saw 
 in protect, the oligarchy restrained, the patriots triumphant, and 
 the unfinished fabric of independence completed, and crowned 
 with honor. 
 
 This new reign, though one of the shortest, was one of th*
 
 POPULAR HISTORY <OF 1KELAKD. 081 
 
 toost important Ireland ever saw. Lord Fitzwilliam, the nephew 
 of Lord Rockingham, the first to acknowledge the constitution of 
 1782, had married a Ponsonby ; he was a Burke whig one of 
 those who, with the Duke of Portland, Earl Spencer, and Mr 
 "VVindham, had followed the " great Edmund," in his secession 
 from the Fox-and-Sheridan majority of that party, in 1791, Pitt. 
 anxious to conciliate these new allies, had brought them all into 
 office ui 1794 Earl Fitzwilliam being placed in the dignified 
 position of President of the Council. When spoken of for the. 
 viceroyalty he wrote to G rattan, bespeaking his support, and 
 that of " his friends, the Ponsonbys ;" this letter and some others 
 brought Grattan to London, where he had two or three inter- 
 views with Pitt, the Duke of Portland, and Lord Fitzwilliam. 
 Better still, he made a pilgrimage to Beaconsfield, and had the 
 benefit of the last advice of the aged Burke. With Pitt he was 
 disappointed and dissatisfied, but he still hoped and expected 
 great good from the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam to the office 
 of viceroy. It seems to have been fully understood that the new 
 Lord Lieutenant would have very full powers to complete the gra- 
 cious work of Catholic emancipation : with this express under- 
 standing, Mr. Grattan was pressed to accept the Chancellorship 
 of the Exchequer, but steadily declined ; he upheld in that posi- 
 tion Sir Henry Parnell, an old personal, lather than political friend, 
 one of a family of whom Ireland has reason to retain a grateful 
 recollection. He was, however, with Ponsonby, Curran, and 
 others of his friends in both houses, added to the privy council, 
 where they were free to shape the measures of the new adminis- 
 tration. At the king's levee, on the 10th of December, when 
 Lord Fitzwilliam was sworn in, the aged Burke in deep mourning 
 for his idolized son, attended ; Grattan was so much spoken to by 
 the king as to draw towards him particular attention ; Mr. Pitt 
 th" Duke of Portland, and other ministers, were present. All 
 took and held the tone that complete emancipation was a thing 
 Bottled : Bnrke congratulated Grattan on the event, and the new 
 viceroy was as jubilant and as confident as anybody, that the 
 great controversy was at length to be finally closed under hia 
 usp'co i. 
 
 On the 4.th of January, Lord Fitzwilliam reached Dublin ; and
 
 682 POPULAR HI8TOBT 07 IKKLAHD. 
 
 on the 25th of March he was recalled. The history of these thn. 
 months of this short-lived attempt to govern Ireland on the ad- 
 vice of Gratban is full ef instruction. The viceroy had not for 
 a moment concealed his intention of thoroughly reforming the 
 Irish administration. On his arrival at the castle, Mr. Cooke was 
 removed from the secretaryship, and Mr. Beresford from the 
 revenue board. Great was the consternation, and unscrupulous 
 the intrigues of the dismissed. When the Parliament met at the 
 end of January, Grattan assumed the leadership of the House of 
 Commons, and moved the address in answer to the speech from 
 the throne. No opposition was offered and it passed without a 
 division. Immediately, a bill granting the Catholics complete 
 emancipation rendering them eligible even to the office of Chan- 
 cellor, withheld in 1829 was introduced by Grattan. Then the 
 oligarchy found their voices. The old cry of " the Church in 
 danger " was raised, delegations proceeded to London, and every 
 agency of influence was brought to bear on the king and the 
 English cabinet. From the tenor of his letters, Lord Fitzwilliam 
 felt compelled in honor to tell Mr. Pitt, that he might choose be- 
 tween him and the Beresfords. He did choose but not till the Irisk 
 Parliament, in the exuberance of its confidence and gratitude, had 
 voted the extraordinary subsidy of 20,000 men for the navy, and 
 a million, eight hundred thousand pound*, towards the expenses of 
 the war with fiance I Then, the popular viceroy was recalled, 
 amid the universal regrets of the people. The day of his depart- 
 ure from Dublin was a day of general mourning, except with the 
 oligarchical clique, whose leaders he had BO resolutely thrust 
 aside. To them it was a day of insolent and unconcealed rejoic- 
 ing ; and, what is not at all uncommon under such cirumstances, 
 the infatuated partisans of the French revolution, rejoiced hardly 
 less than the extremest Tories, at the sudden collapse of a gov- 
 ernment equally opposed to the politics of both. Grattan, than 
 whom no public man was ever more free from unjust suspicion of 
 ethers, always remained under the conviction, that Pitt had made 
 merely a temporary use of Lord Fitzwilliam'a popularity, in order to 
 cheat the Irish out of the immense supplies they had voted ; and all 
 the documents of the day, which have since seen the light, accord 
 well with that view of the transaction. Lord Fitzwilliam wu
 
 POPULAR HiaTORT OT IRK1AKD. 683 
 
 Immediately replaced by Lord Camdon, whose vicerojmlty ex- 
 terded into the middle of the year 1798 : a reign which embraced 
 all that remains to us to narrate, of the parliamentary politics of 
 the era of T ndependence. 
 
 The sittings of Parliament were resumed during April, May, 
 and June, but the complete emancipation bill was rejected three 
 to one 155 to 55 ; the debates were now marked, on the part of 
 Toler, Duigenan, Johnson and others, with the most violent anti- 
 Catholic spirit. All this tended to inflame still more the exasper- 
 ated feeling which already prevailed in the country between 
 Orangemen and Defenders. Thus it came, that the High Court 
 of Parliament which ought to have been the chief school of pub- 
 lic wisdom the calm correcting tribunal of public opinion was 
 made a principal engine in the dissemination of those prejudices 
 and passions, which drove honest men to despair of constitutional 
 redress, and swelled the ranks of the secret political societies, till 
 they became coextensive with the population. 
 
 The session of 1796 was even more hopeless than the immedi- 
 ately preceding one. A trade motion of Grattan's on the address 
 commanded only 14 votes out of 140 ; in the nest session his 
 motion in favor of equal rights to persons of all religious creeds, 
 obtained but 12 votes out of 160 I From these figures it is clear 
 that above a third of the members of the House no longer at- 
 tended ; that of those who did attend, the overwhelming and 
 invariable majority ten to one were for all the measures of re- 
 pression and coercion which marked these two sessions. The 
 Insurrection Act, giving power to the magistrates of any county 
 to proclaim martial law ; the Indemnity Act protecting magis- 
 trates from the consequences of exercising " a vigor beyond the 
 law ;" the Riot Act, giving authority to disperse any number of 
 persons by force of arms without notice ; the Suspension of the 
 habeas corpus (against which only 7 members out of a house of 
 164 voted) all were evidences to Grattan, that the usefulness of 
 the House of Commons, as then constituted, was, for the time, 
 lost or destroyed. It is quite clear that he came to this convic- 
 tion slowly and reluctantly ; that he struggled against it with 
 manly fortitude through three sessions ; that he yielded to it al 
 length, when there was no longer a possibility of resistance,
 
 584 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 when lo move or to divide the House, l.ad become a wretched 
 farce, humiliating to the country and unworthy of his own earnest 
 and enthusiastic patriotism. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the powerless leader and his devoted 
 staff resolved to withdraw, formally and openly, froit further 
 attendance on the House of Commons. The deplorable stat* of 
 the country, delivered over to an irresponsible magistracy and all 
 the horrors of martial law ; the spread among the patriotic rising 
 generation of French principles ; the scarcely concealed design 
 of the Castle to goad the people into insurrection, in order to 
 deprive them of their liberties ; all admonished the faithnd few 
 that the walls of Pnrlhment were no longer their sphere of use- 
 fulness. One lasi trial was, however, made in May, 1797, for a 
 reform of Parliament Mr. George Ponsonby moved his usual 
 motion, and Curran, Hardy, Sir Lawrence Parsons, Charles Ken- 
 dall Bushe, and others, ably supported him. The division was 
 30 to 117. It was on this debate, that G rattan, whose mournful 
 manner contrasted so strongly with his usual enthusiasm, con- 
 cluded a solemn exposition of the evils the administration were 
 bringing on the country, by these affecting words : " We have 
 offered you our measure you will reject it ; we deprecate yours 
 you will persevere ; having no hopes left to persuade or to dis- 
 suade, and having discharged our dutv, we shall trouble you no 
 more, and after tfiis day Khali not attend tiie House of Commons. 9 
 The secession thus announced was accomplished ; at the general 
 election two months later, G rattan and his colleague, Lord Henry 
 Fitzgerald, refused to stand again for Dublin ; Curran, Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Connor, and others, followed hU 
 example. A few patriots hoping against hope, were, however, 
 returned, a sort of forlorn hope, to man the last redoubt of the 
 Constitution. Of these was William Conyngham Plunkett, mcm- 
 her for Charleraont, Grattan's old borough, a constitutionalist of 
 the school of Edmund Burke, worthy to 'jo named among the 
 moat illustrious of his disciples. 
 
 In the siuno July, on the 7th of the month, on which the Irish 
 elections were held, that celebrated Anglo-Irish statesman expired 
 at Reaconsfield, in the rixtv-scvcnth jcar of his age. Hid last 
 thoughts his last wishes, like his first were with his native
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 885 
 
 land. His regards continued fixed on the state of Ireland, while 
 vision and faculty remained. His last efforts in writing and eon 
 versation were to plead for toleration, concession and concilia- 
 tion towards Ireland. The magisterial gravity of Burke was 
 not calculated to permit him to be generally popular with an im- 
 piilaive people, but an years roll on, and education extends its 
 dominion, his reputation rises and brightens u*bove every other 
 reputation of his age, British or Irish. Of him no less truly 
 than powerfully did Grattan say in the Imperial Parliament, in 
 1815 : "lie read everything, he saw everything, he foresaw every- 
 thing. His knowledge of history amounted to a power of fore- 
 telling ; and \vhen he perceived the wild work that was doing in 
 France, tliat great political physician, intelligent of symptoms, 
 distinguished between the access of fever and the force of health ; 
 and what other men conceived to be the vigor of her constitu- 
 tion, he knew to be no more than the paroxysm of her madness ; 
 and then, prophet-like, he denounced the destinies of France, and 
 in his prophetic fury, admonished nations." 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 THE UNITED IRISHMEN. 
 
 HALF measures of justice may satisfy the generation which 
 achieves them, but their successors will look with other eyes, as 
 well on what has been won as on that which is withheld. The 
 part in possession will appear to their youthful sense of abstract 
 right and wrong far less precious than the part in expectancy, 
 for it is in the nature of the young to look forward, as it is of thf 
 old to turn their regards to the past. The very recollection of 
 their fathers will stimulate the new generation to emulate their 
 example, and will render them averse to being bound by former 
 compromises. So necessary is it for statesmen, when (hey vield 
 to a just demand long withheld, to yield gracefully and to yield 
 til *hat tn fairly due. 
 
 The celebrated group known to u as " the United Irishmen,*
 
 686 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRIUUTD. 
 
 were the birth of a new generation, entering together on the p* tx 
 lie stage. With few exceptions, the leading characters were all 
 born within a few years of each other: Neilson in 1761, Tone 
 Arthur O'Connor and Lord Edward Fitzgerald in '62, McNevin ii 
 '63. Sampson and Thomas Addis Emmett in '64, and Russell iu 
 67. They bad emerged into manhood while the drums of the 
 Volunteers were beating victorious marches, when the public 
 hopes ran high, and the language of patriotism was the familiar 
 speech of every-day life. 
 
 In a settled state of society it would have been natural for the 
 first minds of the new generation to carrj^ their taleute, gratefully 
 and dutifully, into the service of the first reputations of the old ; 
 but Irish society, in the hist years of the last century, was not in 
 a settled condition ; the fascination of French example, and the 
 goading sense of national wrongs only half-lighted, inflamed the 
 younger generation with a passionate thirst for speedy and sum- 
 mary justice on their oppressors. We must not look, therefore, 
 to see the Tones and Emmetts continuing in the constitutional 
 line of public conduct marked out by Burke in the one kingdom, 
 and G rattan in the other. The new age was revolutionary, and 
 the new men were filled with the spirit of the age. Their actions 
 Btand apart ; they form an episode in tli history of the century 
 to which there may be parallels, but a chapter in the history of 
 their own country original and alone. 
 
 The United Irish Society sprung up at Belfast in October, 1791. 
 In that monf h, Theobold Wolfe Tone, then in his 28th year, a 
 native of Kildare, a member of the bar, and an excellent popular 
 pamphleteer, on a visit to his friend Thomas Russell, in the north- 
 ern capital, was introduced to Samuel Neilson, proprietor of the 
 Northern Star newspaper, and several other kindred spirit*, all 
 I nindi reformers, or " something more." Twenty of these gen. 
 tbrnen meeting together, adopted a programme prepared by Tone, 
 which contained these three simple propositions: that "English 
 influence " was the great danger of Irish liberty ; that a reform 
 of parliament could alone create a counterpoise to that influence 
 and that such a reform to be just should include Irishmen of all 
 religion* denomination}. On Tone's return to Dublin, early in 
 Kovember, a branch society was formed on the Belfast baaia,
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. $87 
 
 The Hon. Simon Butler, a leading barrister, was c hosen chairman, 
 and Mr. Napper Tandy, an active middle-aged merchant, with 
 strong republican principles, was secretary. The solemn decla- 
 ration or oath, binding every member " to forward a brotherhood 
 of affection, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and. 
 a union of power among Irishmen of all religious persuasions," 
 was drawn up by the Dubliu club, and became the universal 
 bond of organization. Though the Belfast leaders had been long 
 in the habit of meeting in " secret committee," to direct and con- 
 trol the popular movements in their vicinage, the new society 
 was not, in its inception, nor for three years afterwards, a secret 
 society. When that radical change was proposed, we find it re- 
 sisted by a considerable minority, who felt themselves at length 
 compelled to retire from an association the proceedings of which 
 they could no longer approve. In justice to those who remained, 
 adopting secrecy as their only shield, it must be said, that the 
 freedom of the press and of public discussion had been repeatedly 
 and frequently violated before they abandoned the original max- 
 ims and tactics of their body, which were all open and above-board. 
 
 In 1792, Simon Butler, and Oliver Bond a prosperous Dublin 
 merchant of northern origin were summoned to the bar of the 
 House of Lords, condemned to six months' imprisonment, and a 
 fine of 500 each, for having acted as chairman and secretary of 
 one of the meetings, at which an address to the people, strongly 
 reflecting on the corrupt constitution of Parliament, was adopted. 
 In '94, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, one of the purest and 
 most chivalrous characters of any age, was convicted by a packed, 
 jury of circulating the famous " Universal Emancipation " address 
 of his friend, Dr. William Drennan, the poet-politician of the party. 
 He was defended by Curran, in the still more famous speech in 
 which occurs his apostrophe to " the genius of Universal Eman- 
 cipation ;" but he atoned in the cells of Newgate, for circulating 
 the dangerous doctrine which Drennan had broached, and Curran 
 had immortalized. 
 
 The regular place of meeting of the Dublin society was th 
 Tailors' Hall, in Back Lane, a spacious building, called, from 
 the number of great popular gatherings held in it, " the Back 
 Lane Parliament." Here Tandy, in the uniform of his new National
 
 088 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 Guard, whose standard bore the harp without the crown, addreaced 
 his passionate harangues to the applaudiag multitude ; here, Tone, 
 whose forte, however, was not oratory, constantly attended ; here, 
 also, the leading Catholics, Keogh and McCorinack, the "Gog" 
 and " Magog," of Tone's extraordinary Memoirs, were occasionally 
 present. And here, on the night of the 4th of May, 1794, the Dublin 
 society, found themselves suddenly assailed by the police, their 
 papers seized, their officers who were present arrested, and their 
 meeting dispersed. From that moment we may date the new and 
 ktcrd organization of the brotherhood, though it was not in gen- 
 eral operation till the middle of the following year. 
 
 This new organization, besides its secresy, had other revolu- 
 tionary characteristics. For " reform of Parliament," was substi- 
 tuted in the test, or oath, representation " of all the people of 
 Ireland," and for petitions and publications, the enrollment of 
 men, by baronies and counties, and the appointment of officers, 
 from the least to the highest in rank, as in a regular army. The 
 unit was a lodge of twelve members with a chairman and secre- 
 tary, who were also their corporal and sergeant ; five of these 
 lodges formed a company, and the officers of five such companies 
 a baronial committee, from which again, in like manner, tin- county 
 committees were formed. Each of the provinces liad its Direct- 
 ory, while in Dublin the supreme authority was established, in 
 an " Executive Directory" of five members. The orders of the 
 Executive were communicated to not more than one of the Pro- 
 vincial Directors, and by him to one of each County Committee, 
 and so in a descending scale till the rank and file were readied ; 
 an elaborate contrivance, but one which proved wholly insuffi- 
 cient to protect the secrets of the organization from the uhiquit 
 cms espionage of the government 
 
 Ii May, 1795, the new organization lost the services of Wolfe 
 Tone, who was compromised by a strange incident, t' a very 
 serious extent. The incident was the arrest and trial of the Rev. 
 "Will 'mi ii Jackson, an Anglican clergyman, who had imbibed the 
 opinions of Price and Priestley, and had been sent to Ireland by 
 the French Republic, on a secret embassy. Betrayed by a friend 
 and countryman named Cockayne, the unhappy Jackson book 
 poison in prison, and expire! in the dock. Tone h&'l been seea
 
 POPULAR HISTOBY OF IRBLAUI). 689 
 
 with Jackson, and through the influence of his friends, was alone 
 protected from arrest. He was compelled, however, to quit the 
 country, in order to preserve his personal liberty. ITe proceeded 
 with his family to Belfast, where before taking shipping for 
 America, he renewed with his first associates, their vows and 
 projects, on the summit of " the Cave Hill," which looks down 
 upon the rich valky of the Lag-gan, and the noble town and port 
 at its outlet. Before quitting Dublin, he had solemnly prom- 
 ised Emmett and Russell, in the first instance, as he did his Bel- 
 fast friends in the second, that he would make the United States 
 his route to France, where he would negotiate a formidable national 
 alliance, for " the United Irishmen." 
 
 In the year in which Tone left the country, Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald, brother of the Duke of Leinster, and formerly a Major in 
 the British army, joined the society ; in the next year near ita 
 close Thomas Addis Emmett, who had long been in the confi- 
 dence of the promoters, joined ; as did, about the same time, Arthur 
 O'Connor, nephew of Lord Longueville, and ex-member for Phil- 
 lipstown, and Dr. William James McNevin, a Connaught Catholic, 
 educated in Austria, then practicing his profession with eminent 
 success in Dublin. These were felt to be important accessions, 
 and all four were called upon to act on " the Executive Directory,* 
 from time to time, during 1796 and 1797. 
 
 The coercive legislation carried through Parliamerrt, session 
 after session the Orange persecutions in Armagh and elsewhere 
 the domiciliary visits the military outrages in town and coun- 
 try the free quarters, whipping and tortures the total suppres- 
 sion of the public press the bitter disappointment of Lord Fitz- 
 william's recall the annual failure of Ponsonby's motion for 
 reform finally, the despairing secession of Grattan and his friends 
 from Parliament had all tended to expand the system, which six 
 years before was confined to a few dozen enthusiasts of Belfast 
 and Dublin, into the dimensions of a national confederacy. By 
 the close of this year, 600,000 men had taken the test, in every 
 part of the country, and nearly 300,000 were reported as armed, 
 either with firelocks or pikes. Of this total, 110,000 alone were 
 returned for Ulster ; about 60,000 for Leinster, and the remainder 
 from Connaught and Munster. A fund, ludicrously small, 1,400 
 58*
 
 600 POPULAR HI6TORT Of IRE LAUD, 
 
 sterling, remained in the hands of the Executive after all tin 
 outlay which had taken place, in procuring arms, in extending 
 the union, and in defending prisoners arrested as members of the 
 society. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was chosen Commander-in-chief; 
 but the main reliance, for munitions, artillery, and officers, WM 
 placed upon the French republic. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WITH > RANGE AND HOLLAND. THE THREE EXPEDI- 
 TIONS NEGOTIATED BY TONX AND LEWINES. 
 
 THE close of the year 1795 saw France under the government 
 of the Directory, with Carnot in the cabinet, and Pichegru, Jour- 
 dain, Moreau, Iloche, and Buonaparte at the head of its armies. 
 This government, with some change of persons, lasted from Octo- 
 ber 1795 to November '99, when it was supplanted by the con- 
 sular revolution. Within the compass of those four years lie the 
 negotiations which were carried on and the three great expeditions 
 which were fitted out by France and Holland, at the instance of 
 the United Irishmen. 
 
 On the 1st of February, 1796, Tone, who had sailed from Bel- 
 last the previous June, arrived at Havre from New York, pos- 
 sessed of a hundred guineas and some useful letters of introduc- 
 tion. One of these letters, written in cipher, waa from the 
 French Minister at Philadelphia to the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, Charles Lacroix; another wa& to the American Minister 
 in France, Mr. Monroe, afterwards President of the United States, 
 by whom he was most kindly received, and wisely advised, on 
 reaching Paris. Lacroix received him courteously and referred 
 him to a subordinate called Madgett, but after nearly three 
 months wasted in interviews and explanations, Tone, by the ad- 
 vice of Monroe, presented himself at the Luxembourg palace, 
 and demanded audience of the " Organizer of Victory." Carnot 
 also listened to him attentively, asked and obtained his true name.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 691 
 
 and gave him another rendezvous. He was next introduced to 
 Clarke (afterwards Due de Feltre), Secretary at "War, the son of 
 an Irishman, whom he found wholly ignorant of Ireland ; and 
 finally, on the 12th of July, General Hoche, in the most frank 
 and winning manner, introduced himself. At first the Directory 
 proposed sending to Ireland no more than 5,000 men, while Tone 
 pleaded for 20,000 ; but when Hoch6 accepted tlte command, he 
 assured Tone he would go " in sufficient force." The " pacificator 
 of La Vendee," as the young general was called he was only 
 thirty-two, won at once the heart of the enthusiastic founder of 
 the United Irishmen, and the latter seems to have made an equally 
 favorable impression. He was at once presented with the com- 
 mission of a chef de brigade of infantry a rank answering to 
 that of colonel with us and was placed as adjutant on the gen- 
 eral's staff. Hoch6 w.is all ardor and anxiety ; Carnot cheered 
 him on by expressing his belief that it would be " a most brilliant 
 operation ;" and certainly Tone was not the man to damp such 
 expectations, or allow them to evaporate in mere complimentary 
 assurances. 
 
 During the autumn months the expedition was busily being 
 fitted out at Brest, and the general headquarters were at Rennes. 
 The Directory, to satisfy themselves that all was as represented 
 by Tone, had sent an agent of their own to Ireland, by whom a 
 meeting was arranged on the Swiss frontier between Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Connor, Dr. MacXevin, and Hoche\ From 
 this meeting the secret of which he kept to himself the young 
 general returned in the highest spirits, and was kinder than ever 
 to his adjutant. At length, early in December, all was ready, 
 and on the 16th the Brest fleet stood out to sea: 17 sail of the 
 line, 13 frigates, and 13 smaller ships, carrying 15,000 picked 
 troops, the elite of " the Army of the Ocean," and abundance of 
 artillery and munitions of war. Tone was in the Indomptable, 80 
 guns, commanded by a Canadian named Bedout ; HochS and the 
 Admiral in the frigate Fraternite ; Grouchy, so memorable for 
 the part he played then and afterwards, was second in command. 
 On the third morning, after groping about and losing each other 
 In Atlantic fog, one-half the fleet (with the fatal exception of th 
 Fraternite] found themselves close in with the coast of Kerry
 
 692 FOPULAft HIST CRT OF IRELAND. 
 
 They entered Bantry Bay, and came to anchor, ten ships of wr, 
 and " a long line of dark hulls resting on the green water." Three 
 or four days they lay dormant and idle, waiting for che General 
 and Admiral; Bouvet, the Vice-Admiral, was opposed to moving 
 in the absence of his chief; Grouchy was irresolute and nervous; 
 but at lengt'h, on Christmas day, the council of war decided in 
 favor of debarkation. The landing was to take place next morn- 
 ing ; 6,50i> veterans were prepared to step ashore at daylight, but 
 without their artillery, their military chest, and their general 
 Two hours beyond midnight Tone was roused from sleep by the 
 wind, which he found blowing half a gale. Pacing the gallery 
 of the Indomptable till day dawned, he felt it rising louder and 
 angrier, every hour. The next day it was almost a hurricane, 
 and the Vice- Admiral's frigate, running under the quarter of the 
 great 80 gun ship, ordered them to slip anchor and stand out tc 
 sea. Tlie whole fleet was soon driven off the Irish coast; that 
 part of it, in which Grouchy and Tone were embarked, made its 
 entrance into Brest on New Year's day; the ship which carried 
 Hoch6 and the Admiral, only arrived at La Rochelle on the 16th. 
 The Directory and the General, so far from being discouraged by 
 this failure, consoled themselves by the demonstration they had 
 inudc, of the possibility of a great fleet passing to and fro, in 
 British waters, for nearly a month, without encountering a single 
 British vessel of war. Not so the Irish negotiator ; on him, light- 
 hearted and daring as he was, the disappointment fell with crush- 
 ing weight ; but he magnanimously carried GrouchVs report to 
 1'aris, and did his utmost to defend the unlucky general from a 
 cabal which had been formed against him. 
 
 While Tone was reluctantly following his new chief to the Meuse 
 and the Rhine with a promise that the Irish expedition was delay- 
 ed, not abandoned another, and no less fortunate negotiator, was 
 raising up a new ally for the same cause, in an unexpected quar- 
 tor. The Batavian republic, which had risen in the steps of 
 J'icliegra's victorious army, In 1794, waa now eager to imitate the 
 example of France. With a powerful fleet, and an unemployed 
 army, its chiefs were quite ready to listen to any proposal which 
 would rontore the maritime ascendancy of Holland, and bring 
 back to the recollection of Europe the memory of the puissant
 
 POPULAR BISTORT Of IRELAND. 693 
 
 Dutch republic. In this state of affairs, the new agent of the 
 Irish Directory, Edward John Lewines, a Dublin attorney, a man 
 of great ability and energy, addressed himself to the Batavian 
 government. He had been sent abroad with very general pow- 
 ers, to treat with Holland, Spain, France, or any other govern- 
 ment at war with England, for a loan of half a million sterling, 
 and a sufficient auxiliary force to aid the insurrection. During two 
 mouths' stay at Hamburg, the habitual route in those days from 
 the British ports to tie continent, he had placed himself in com- 
 munication with the Spanish agent there, and had, in forty days, 
 received an encouraging answer from Madrid. On his way, pro- 
 bably to Spain, to follow up that fair prospect, he reached the 
 Netherlands, and rapidly discovering the state of feeling in the 
 Dutch, or as it was then called the Balavian republic, he addressed 
 himself to the Directors, who consulted Hoche, by whom iu turn 
 Tone was consulted. Tone had a high opinion of Lewines, and 
 at once proceeded with him to the Hague, where they were joined, 
 according to agreement, by Hoche. The Dutch Committee of 
 Foreign Affairs, the Commander-in-chief, General Dandaels, and 
 the Admiral, De Winter, entered heartily into the project. There 
 were in the Texel 16 ships of the line and 10 frigates, victualled 
 for three months, with lo,000 men and 80 field guns on board. 
 The only serious difficulty in the way was removed by the dis- 
 interestedness of Hoche; the French Foreign Minister having 
 demanded that 6,000 French troops should be of the expedition, 
 and that Hoche should command in chief; the latter, to conciliate 
 Dandaels and the Dutch, undertook to withdraw the proposal, 
 aud gracefully yielded his own pretensions. All then was set- 
 tled: Tone was to accompany Dandaels with the same rank he 
 had in the Brest expedition, and Lewines to return, and remain, 
 as " Minister-resident " at Paris. On the 8th of July, Tone was 
 on board the flag-ship, the Vryheid, 74 guns, in the Texel, and 
 " only waiting for a wind," to lead another navy to the aid of hia 
 compatriots. 
 
 But the winds, " the only unsubsidized allies of England," were 
 strangely adverse. A week, two, three, four, five, passed heavily 
 awav, without affording a sintrle-dav in which that mighty fleet 
 
 ' O J > - 
 
 could make an offing. Sometimes for an hour or two it shifted to
 
 694 POPULAR HIBTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 the desired point, the sails were unclewed and the anchors short 
 entd, but then, as if to torture the impatient exiles on board, it 
 veered back again and settled steadily in the fatal south-west. At 
 length, at the end of August, the provisions being nearly con- 
 sumed, and the weather still unfavorable, the Dutch Directory 
 resolved to land the troops and postpone the expedition. Do 
 Winter, as is known, subsequently found an opportunity to work 
 out, and attack Lord Duncan, by whom he was badly beaten. 
 Thus ended Irish hopes of aid from Holland. The indomitable 
 Tone rejoined his chief on the Rhine, where, to his infinite re- 
 gret, Iloclto died the following month September 18th, 1797 
 of a rapid consumption, accelerated by cold and carelessness. 
 " Heche"," said Napoleon to Barry O'Meara at Saint Helena, " was 
 one of the first generals France ever produced. He was brave, 
 intelligent, abounding in talent, decisive and penetrating. Had 
 he landed in Ireland, he would have succeeded. He was accus- 
 tomed to civil war, had pacified La Vend6e, and was well adapted 
 for Ireland. He had a fine, handsome figure, a good address, was 
 prepossessing and intriguing." The loss of such a patron, who 
 felt himself, according to Tone's account, especially bound to fol- 
 low up tlie object of separating Ireland from England, was a 
 calamity greater and more irreparable than the detention of one 
 fleet or the dispersion of the other. 
 
 The third expedition, in promoting which Tone and Lewines 
 bore the principal part, was decided upon by the French Direc- 
 tory, immediately after the conclusion of peace with Austria, in 
 October, 1797. The decree for the formation of "the Army of 
 England," named Buonaparte Commander-in-Chief, with Desair 
 as his second. Buonaparte consulted Clarke as to who he most 
 confided in among the numerous Irish refugees then in Paris 
 there were some twenty or thirty, all more or less known, and 
 more or less in communication with the Directory and Clarke 
 answered at once, " Tone, of course." Tone, with Lewines, the 
 one in a military, the other in an ambassadorial capacity, had 
 frequent interviews with the young conqueror of Italy, whom 
 they usually found silent and absorbed, always attentive, some- 
 times asking sudden questions betraying great want of knowledge 
 of the British Islands, and occasionally, though rarely breaking
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 695 
 
 out into irresistible invectives against Jacobinism and the Eng- 
 lish system, both of which he so cordially detested. Every 
 assurance was given by the General, by the Directors, by Merlin 
 du Douai, Barras, and Talleyrand especially, that the expedition 
 against England would never be abandoned. Tone, in high spirits 
 as usual, joined the division under the command of his country- 
 nan, General Kilmaine, and took up his quarters at Havre, where 
 ho had landed without knowing a soul in France two years before. 
 
 The winter wore away in busy preparations at Havre, at 
 Brest, and at La Rochelle,--and, which seemed mysterious to the 
 Irish exiles at Toulon. All the resources of France, now without 
 an enemy on the continent, were put forth in these preparations, 
 But it soon appeared they were not put forth for Ireland. On 
 the 20th of May, 1798 within three days of the outbreak in 
 Dublin, W oxford, and Kildare Buonaparte sailed with the elite 
 of all that expedition for Alexandria, and " the Army of Eng- 
 land " became, in reality, " the Army of Egypt." 
 
 The bitterness, the despondency, and desperation which seized 
 on the Irish leaders in France, and on the rank and file of the 
 United Irishmen at home, on receiving this intelligence, are suf- 
 ficiently illustrated in the subsequent attempts under Humbert 
 and Bompart, and the partial, ineffectual risings in Leinster, 
 Ulster, and Connaught, during the summer and autumn of 1798. 
 After all their high hopes from France and her allies, this was 
 what it had come to at last I A few frigates, with three or four 
 thousand men, were all that could be spared for the succor of a 
 kingdom more populous than Egypt and Syria combined ; the 
 granary of England, and the key of her Atlantic position. It 
 might have been some comfort to the family of Tone to havs 
 read, thirty years afterwards, in their American asylum, or foT 
 the aged Lewines to have read in the Parisian retreat in which 
 he died, the memorable confession of Napoleon at Saint Helena. 
 " If instead of the expedition to Egypt, I had undertaken that to 
 Ireland, what," he asked, " could England do now 1 On such 
 chances," he mournfully added, "depend the deetiniee of en*
 
 696 POPULA& HISTOBT OF 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE INSURRECTION OP 
 
 IT is nc longer matter of assertion merely, but simple matter 
 of fact, thf.t the English and Irish ministers of George III., re- 
 garded the insurrectionary movement of the United Irishmen, 
 as at once a pretext and a means, for effecting a legislative union 
 between the two countries. Lord Camdcn, the viceroy who suc- 
 ceeded Lord Fitzwilliam in March '95 with Mr. Pelham as his 
 chief secretary, in a letter to his relative, the Hon. Robert Stewart, 
 afterwards Lord Castlereagh, announced this policy, in unmistake- 
 able terms, so early as 1793 ; and all the official correspondence 
 published of late years, concerning that period of British and 
 Irish history, establishes the fact beyond the possibility of 
 denial. 
 
 Such being the design, it was neither the wish nor the interest 
 of the government, that the insurrection should be suppressed, 
 unless the Irish constitution could be extinguished with it. To 
 that end they proceeded in the coercive legislation described in a 
 previous chapter ; to that end they armed with irresponsible 
 power the military officers and the oligarchical magistracy ; with 
 that view they quartered those yeomanry regiments which were 
 known to be composed of Orangemen, on the wretched peasantry 
 of the most Catholic counties, while the corps in which Catholic* 
 or United Irishmen were most numerous, were sent over to Eng- 
 land, in exchange for Scotch fencibles and Welsh cavalry. The 
 outrages committed by all these volunteer troops, but above all 
 by the Orange yeomanry of the country, were so monstrous that 
 the gallant and humane Sir John Moore exclaimed, " if I were an 
 Irishman, 1 would be a rebel F 
 
 It was, indeed, impossible for any man however obscure, *r 
 however eminent, to live longer in the country, without taking 
 ides. Yet the choice was at best a hard and unhappy one. On 
 the one side was the Castle, hardly concealing its intention of 
 gotdiug on the people, in order to rob them of their Parliament ;
 
 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 69) 
 
 on the othar was the injured multitude, bound together by a secret 
 system which proved in reality no safeguard against traitors in 
 their own ranks, and which had been placed by its Protestant 
 chiefs under the auspices of an infidel republic. Between th 
 two courses men made election according to their bias or their 
 necessities, or as they took local or general, political or theologi- 
 cal views of the situation. Both houses of the legislature unani- 
 mously sustained the government against the insurrection ; aa 
 did the judges, the bar, and the Anglican clergy and bishops. 
 The Presbyterian body were in the beginning all but unanimous 
 for a republican revolution and the French alliance ; the great 
 majority of the Catholic peasantry were, as the crisis increased, 
 driven into the same position, while all their bishops and a major- 
 ity of the Catholic aristocracy, adhered to that which they, with 
 the natural tendency of their respective orders, considered the 
 side of religion and authority. Thus was the nation sub- divided 
 within itself; Protestant civilian from Protestant ecclesiastic, 
 Catholic layman from Catholic priest, tenant from lord, neighbor 
 from neighbor, father from son, and friend from friend. 
 
 During the whole of '97, the opposing parties were iu a ferment 
 of movement and apprehension. As the year wore on, the admin- 
 istration, both English and Irish, began to feel that the danger 
 was more formidable than they had foreseen. The timely storm 
 which had blown Grouchy out of Bantry Bay, the previous Christ- 
 ma. 1 ?, could hardly be reckoned on again, though the settled hos- 
 tility of the French government knew no change. Thoroughly 
 well informed by their legion of spies both on the Continent and 
 in Ireland, every possible military precaution was taken. Tho 
 Lord Lieutenant's proclamation for disarming the people issued 
 iu May, was rigorously enforced by General Johnstone in the 
 South, General Ilutchinson in the West, and Lord Lake in the 
 North. Two hundred thousand pikes and pike heads were said 
 to have been discovered or surrendered, during the year, and 
 several thousand firelocks. The yeomanry, and English and 
 Scotch corps amounted to 35,000 men, while the regular troops 
 wjre increased to 50,000 and subsequently to 80,000, including 
 three regiments of the Guards. The defensive works at Cork, 
 and ether vulnerable points were strengthened at an immense cost; 
 59
 
 698 POPULAR HISTORY Or IRELAND. 
 
 the " Pigeon House " fort, near Dublin, waa enlarged, for tke city 
 Itself waa pronounced by General Vallancey, Colonel Packenham, 
 and other engineer authorities dangerously weak, if not wholly 
 untenable. A system of telegraphic signals was established from 
 all points of the coast with the Capital, and every precaution 
 taken against the surprise of another French invasion. 
 
 During the summer assize, almost every considerable town and 
 circuit had its state trial The sheriffs had been carefully selected 
 beforehand by the Castle, and the juries were certain to be of 
 " the right sort," under the auspices of such sheriffs. Immense 
 sums in the aggregate were contributed by the United Irish for 
 ttie defence of their associates ; at the Down assizes alone, not 
 less than seven hundred or eight hundred guineas were* spent in 
 fees and retainers ; but at the close of the term, Mr. Beresford 
 was able to boast to his friend Lord Auckland, that but one of all 
 the accused had escaped the penalty of death or banishment ! 
 The military tribunals, however, did not wait for the idle formal- 
 ities of the civil courts. Soldiers and civilians, yeomen and towns- 
 men, against whom the informer pointed his finger, were taken 
 out, and summarily executed. Ghastly forms hung upon the 
 thick-set gibbets, not only in the market places of country towns, 
 and before the public prisons, but on all the bridges of the metro- 
 polis. Many of the soldiers, in every military district were shot 
 weekly and almost daily for real or alleged complicity with the 
 rebels. The horrid torture of picketing, and the blood-stained 
 Utah, were constantly resorted to, to extort accusations or con- 
 fessions. Over all these atrocities the furious and implacable 
 spirit of Lord Clare presided in Council, and the equally furious 
 and implacable Luttrel, Lord Carhampton, as commander-in-chief. 
 All moderate councils were denounced as nothing short of trea- 
 son, and even the elder Beresford, the Privy Councillor, waa corn- 
 pi Hod to complain of the violence of his noble associates, and hi* 
 Inability to restrain the ferocity of hi* own nearest relatives 
 meaning probably his son John Claudius, and his son in law, Sir 
 George llill. 
 
 It was while this spirit was abroad, a spirit as destructive M 
 ver animated the councils of Sylla or Marius in old Rome, or 
 prompted the decrees of Robesp.erro or Marat in France, that the
 
 POtWLAft Histomr o* IRELAND. 690 
 
 genius and courage of one man, redeemed the tost reputation of 
 the law, and upheld against all odds the sacred claims of per- 
 sonal liberty. This man was John Philpot Curran, the most 
 dauntless of advocates, one of the truest and bravest of his race. 
 Although a politician of the school of Grattan, and wholly un- 
 tainted with French principles, he identified himself absolutely 
 with his unhappy clients, " predoomed to death." The genius of 
 patriotic resistance which seemed to have withdrawn from the 
 Island with Grattan's secession from Parliament, now reappeared 
 in the last place where it might have been expected in those 
 courts of death, rather t'han of justice before those predeter- 
 mined juries, beside the hopeless inmates of the crowded dock, 
 personified in the person of Curran. Often at midnight, amid 
 the dash of arms, his wonderful pleadings were delivered ; some- 
 times, as in Dublin, where the court rooms adjoined the prisons, 
 the condemned, or the confined, could hear, in their cells, his pierc- 
 ing accents breaking the stillness of the early morning, pleading 
 for justice and mercy pleading always with superhuman per 
 severance, but almost always in vain. Neither menaces of arrest, 
 nor threats of assassination, had power to intimidate that all- 
 daring spirit ; nor, it may be safely said, can the whole library 
 of human history present us a form of heroism superior in kind 
 or degree to that which this illustrious advocate exhibited during 
 nearly two years, when he went forth daily, with his life in his 
 hand, in the holy hope to snatch some human victim from the 
 clutch of the destroyer thirsting for his blood. 
 
 In November, '97, some said from fear of personal consequen- 
 ces, some from official pressure in a high quarter, Lord Carhamp- 
 ton resigned the command of the forces, and Sir Ralph Aber- 
 croinby was appointed in his stead. There could not be a more 
 striking illustration of the system of terror patronized by goT- 
 ernment than was furnished in the case of Sir Ralph as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. That distinguished soldier, with his half 
 century of services at his back, had not been a week in Dublin 
 before he discovered the weakness of the viceroy, and the violence 
 of his principal advisers, the chancellor, tie speaker, Lord Castle- 
 reagh and the Bereaforda. Writing in confidence to his son, he 
 ays. " The abuses of all kinds T found here can scarcely be be-
 
 YOU I JPULAK BISTORT OJ IBELAM). 
 
 lieved or enumerated." The instances he cites of such abuse* 
 are sufficiently horrible to justify the strong language wliich 
 brought d\vn on hia head so much hostility, when he declared in 
 his proclamation of February, '98, that the Irish army wa 
 " formidable to every one but the enemy." These well-known 
 opinions were so repugnant to the Castle policy that that party 
 held a caucus in the speaker's chambers, at which it was proposed 
 to pass a rote of censure in Parliament on the General, whom 
 they denounced as ' a sulky mule," " a Scotch beast," and by 
 other similar names. Though the Parliamentary censure dropped' 
 they actually compelled Lord Camden to call on him to retract 
 his magnanimous order. To this humiliation the veteran 
 etooped "for the sake of the king's service," but at the same time 
 he proffered his resignation. After two months' correspondence, 
 it was finally accepted, and the soldier who was found too jealous 
 of the rights of the people to be a fit instrument of their des- 
 truction, escaped from his high position, not without a profound 
 sentiment of relief. His verdict upon the barbarous policy pur- 
 sued in his time was always expressed, frankly and decisively. 
 His entire correspondeifcce, private and public, bears one and the 
 wune burthen the violence, cruelty, and tyranny of Lord Cam- 
 den a chief advisers, and the pitiful weakness of the viceroy him- 
 self Against the infamous plan of letting loose a lustful and 
 bnit:il soldiery to live at " free quarters " on a defenceless and 
 disarmed people an outrage against which Englishmen had 
 taken perpetual security at their revolution, as may be see?) iu 
 " the Bill of Rights," he struggled during hia six months' com- 
 mand, but with no great success. The plan, with all its horrors, 
 was upheld by the Lord-Lieutenant, and more than any other 
 cause, precipitated the rebellion which exploded at last, just as 
 Sir Ralph was allowed to retire from the country. His tempo, 
 rary successor, Lord Lake, was troubled with no such scruples 
 as the gallant old Scotsman. 
 
 K vents followed each other in the first months of 1798, fast 
 and furiously. Towards the tnd of February, Arthur O'Con lor. 
 Father James Quigley, the brothers John and Benjamin iiinna, 
 were arrested at Margate on their wny to France; on the Gth of 
 March, the Proa newspaper^ the Dublin organ of the party, afl
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 701 
 
 the Star had been the ti later organ, was seized by government 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald and William Sampson being at the time 
 in the office. On the 12th of March, on the information of the 
 traitor, Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster delegates were seized in 
 conclave, with all their papers, at the house of Oliver Bond, in 
 Bridge street, Dublin. On the same information, Addis Emmett 
 and Dr. MacNevin were taken in their own houses, and Sampson 
 in the north of England : of all the executive, Lord Edward alone 
 escaping those sent in search of him. This was, as Tone notes 
 in his journal, on the ill news reaching France, "a terrible blow." 
 O'Connor's arrest in Kent, Sampson's in Carlisle, and the other 
 arrests in Bedfast and Dublin, proved too truly that treason waa 
 at work, and that the much prized oath of secresy was no pro- 
 tection whatever against the devices of the Castle and the de- 
 pravity of its secret agents. The extent to which that treason 
 extended, the number of their associates who were in the pay of 
 their deadly enemies, was never known to the United Irish lead- 
 ers ; time has, however, long since " revealed the secrets of the 
 priaon-house," and we know now, that men they trusted with all 
 their plans and hopes, such as McNally and McGucken, were 
 quite as deep in the conspiracy to destroy them as Mr. Reynolds 
 and Captain Armstrong. 
 
 The most influential members of the Dublin Society remain- 
 ing at large contrived to correspond with each other, or to meet 
 by stealth after the arrest at Bond's. The vacancies in the 
 Executive were filled up by the brothers John and Henry Sheares, 
 both barristers, sons of a wealthy Cork banker, and former mem- 
 ber of Parliament, and by Mr. Lawless, a surgeon. For two 
 months longer these gentlemen continued to act in concert with 
 Lord Edward, who remained undetected notwithstanding all the 
 efforts of government, from the 12th of March till the 19th of 
 May following. During those two months the new Directors 
 devoted themselves with the utmost energy to hurrying on the 
 armament of the people, and especially to making proselytes 
 among the militia, where the gain of one man armed and di- 
 ciplined was justly accounted equal to the enlistment of three or 
 four ordinary adherents. This part of their plan brought tltt 
 brothers Sheares into contac 1 ,, among others, with Captain John 
 69*
 
 702 POPULAR HISTORY or IRKLAKD. 
 
 'Warnefo'.-d ArmBtrong, of the Queen's County Yeomanry, vhom 
 they supposed they had won over, but who was, in reality, a 
 better-class spy, acting under Lord Castlereagh's instructions. 
 Armstrong cultivated them sedulously, dined at their table, 
 echoed their opinions, and led the credulous brothers on to their des- 
 truction. All al last was determined on ; the day of the rising waa 
 fixed the 23d day of May and the signal was to be the simul- 
 taneous stoppage of the mail coaches, which started nightly from 
 the Dublin post office, to every quarter of the kingdom. But the 
 counter-plot anticipated the plot Lord Edward, betrayed by a 
 person called Higgins, proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, was 
 taken on the 19th of May, after a desperate struggle with Majors 
 Swan and Sirr, and Captain Ryan, in his hiding place in Thomas 
 street ; the brothers Sheares were arrested in their own house on 
 the morning of the 21st, while Surgeon Lawless, escaped from 
 the city, and finally, from the country, to France. Thus for the 
 second time was the insurrection left without a head ; but the 
 organization had proceeded too far to be any longer restrained, 
 and the Castle, moreover, to use the expression of Lord Castle- 
 reagh, " took means to make it explode." 
 
 The first intelligence of the rebellion was received in Dublin on 
 the morning of the 24th of May. At Rathfarnham, within three 
 miles of the city, 600 insurgents attacked Lord Ely's yeomanry 
 corps with some success, till Lord Roden's dragoons, hastily des- 
 patched fiom the city, compelled them to retreat, with the loss 
 of some prisoners and two men killed, whom Mr. Beresford saw 
 the next day, literally " ait to piece* a horrid sight" At Dun- 
 boyne the insurgents piked an escort of the Reay Fcnciblea 
 (Scotch) passing through their village, and carried off their bag- 
 gage. At Niias, a large popular force attacked the garrison, . n- 
 eislin of regulars, Ancient Britons (Welsh), part of a regiment 
 of dragoons, and the Armagh militia; the attack waa renewed 
 three times with great braTery, but fioclly, discipline, as it always 
 A ill. prevailed over mere numbers, and the assailants were re- 
 pulsed with the loss of 140 of their comrades. At Prosperous, 
 where they cut off to a man a strong garrison composed of north 
 Cork militia, under Captain Swayne, the rising was more success- 
 ful. The commander in this exploit was Dr. Esmonde, brother
 
 POPl LAR BISTORT 07 IRELAHD. 703 
 
 ol the Wexford baronet, who, being betrayed by one of his own 
 subalterns, was the next morning arrested at breakfast in the 
 neighborhood, and suffered death at Dublin on the 14th of the 
 following month. 
 
 There could hardly be found a more unfavorable field for a 
 peasant war than the generally level and easily accessible county 
 of Kildare, every parish of which is within a day's inarch of 
 Dublin. From having been the residence of Lord Edward, it 
 was, perhaps, one of the most highly organized parts of Lein- 
 ster, but as it had the misfortune to be represented by Thomas 
 Reynolds, as county delegate, it labored under the disadvantage 
 of having its organization better known to the government 
 than any other. We need hardly be surprized, therefore, to 
 find that the military operations in this county were all over 
 in ten days or a fortnight ; when those who had neither surren- 
 dered nor fallen, fell back into Meath or Connaught, or effected a 
 junction with the Wicklow .rebels in their mountain fastnesses. 
 Their struggle, though so brief, had been creditable for personal 
 bravery. Attacked by a numerous cavalry and militia under 
 General "Wilford, by 2,500 men, chiefly regulars, under Genera] 
 Dundas, and by 800 regulars brought up by forced marches from 
 Limerick, under Sir James Duff, they showed qualities, which if 
 well directed, would have established for their possessors a high 
 military reputation. At Monastereven they were repulsed with 
 loss, the defeml*-i'a of the town being in part Catholic loyalists, 
 under Captain Cassidy ; at Rathangan they were more success- 
 ful, taking and holding the town for several days ; at Clane, the 
 captors of Prosperous were repulsed; while at Old Killcullen, 
 their associates drove back General Dundas' advance, with the 
 loaj of 22 regulars and Captain Erskine killed. Sir James Duff's 
 wanton cruelty in sabring and shooting down an unarmed multi- 
 tude on the Curragh, won him the warm approval of the exter- 
 mination party in the capital, while Generals Wilford and Dun- 
 das narrowly escaped being reprimanded for granting a truce to 
 the insurgents under Aylmer, and accepting of the surrender of 
 that leader and his companions. By the beginning of June th* 
 be Kildare encampments of insurgents were totally dispersed, 
 and their most active officers in prison or fugitives west or south,
 
 704 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 By a preconcerted arrangement, the local chiefs of the insur- 
 rection in Dublin and Meath, gathered with their men on the 
 third day after the outbreak, at the historic lull of Tara. Hera 
 they expected to be joined by the men of Cavan, Longford, Louth 
 and Monaghan ; but before the northerners reached the trysting 
 place, three companies of the Reay Fencibles, under Captain Mo> 
 Clean, the Kells and Navan yeomanry under Captain Preston, 
 (afterwards Lord Tara,) and a troop of cavalry under Lord Fin- 
 gal, surrounded the royal lull. The insurgents, commanded by Gil- 
 shine and other leaders, entrenched themuelves in the graveyard 
 which occupies the summit of Tara, and stoutly defended their 
 position. Twenty-six of the Highlanders and six of the Yeo- 
 inuury fell in the assault, but the bullet reached farther than the 
 pike, and the defenders were driven, after a sharp action, over 
 the brow of UK- eminence, and many of them shot or sabred 
 down as they fled. 
 
 Southward from the capital the long pent up flame of disaf- 
 fection broke out on the same memorable day, May 28d. At 
 Dunlavin. OH abortive attempt on the barrack revealed the fact 
 that many of the yeomanry were thoroughly with the insurgents. 
 Hardly had the danger from without passed over, when a mili- 
 tary inquiry was improvised. By this tribunal, nineteen Wex- 
 ford, and nine Kildare yeomanry, were ordered to be shot, and 
 the execution of the sentence followed immediately on its finding. 
 At Blessington, the town was seized, but a nocturnal attack on 
 Carlow was repulsed with great loss. In this last affair, the rebels 
 had rendezvoused in the domain of Sir Edward Crosbie, within 
 two miles of the town. Here arms were distributed and orders 
 given by their leader, named Roche. Silently and quickly 
 they reached the town they hoped to surprise. But the regular 
 troops, of which the garrison was chiefly composed, were on the 
 alert though their preparations were made full as silently. When 
 the (.oAHaiitry emerged from Tallow street, into an exposed space, 
 a deadly fire was opened upon them from the houses on all sides. 
 The regulars, in perfect security themselves, and abundantly sup* 
 plied with ammunition, shot them down with deadly, unerring 
 aim. The peplo soon found there was nothing for it but retreat^ 
 and carrying off as best they could their killed and wounded,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 705 
 
 Wey retired sorely discomfited. For alleged complicity in this 
 attack, Sir Edward Crosbie was shortly afterward arrested, tried 
 and executed. There was not a shadow of proof against him, 
 but he was known to sympathize with the sufferings of his coun- 
 trymen, to have condemned in strong language the policy of pro 
 vocation, and that was sufficient. He paid with the penalty of 
 hia head for the kindness and generosity of his heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THK INSDKRKCTION OF 1798. THE W1OCFORD INSUBREOTIOfr. 
 
 THE'most formidable insurrection, indeed the only really for- 
 midable one, broke out in the county of Wexford, a county in 
 which it was stated there were not 200 sworn United Irishmen, 
 and which Lord Edward Fitzgerald had altogether omitted from 
 his official list of counties organized in the month of February. 
 In that brief interval, the government policy of provocation had 
 the desired effect, though the explosion was of a nature to startle 
 those who occasioned it. 
 
 Wexford, geographically, is a peculiar county, and its people 
 are a peculiar people. The county fills up the south-eastern 
 corner of the island, with the eca south cast, the river Barrow to 
 the west, and the woods and mountains of Carlow and Wicklow 
 to the north. It is about forty miles long by twenty-four broad ; 
 the surface undulating and rising into numerous groups of de- 
 tached hills, two or more of which are generally visible from 
 each conspicuous summit. Almost in the midst flows the river 
 Slaney, springing from a lofty Wicklow peak, which sends <lown 
 on its northern slope the better known river Lift'ey. On th* estn- 
 ary of the Slaney, some seventy miles south of Dublin, stands 
 the county town, the traveller journeying to which by the usual 
 route then taken, passed in succession through Arklow, Gorey, 
 Ferns, Enniscorthy, and other places of less consequence, though 
 familiar enough in the fiery records of 17P8. North-westward, 
 the only road in those days from Carlow and Kilkenny, crossed
 
 706 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Blackstairs at Scollagh-gap, entering the county at Newtown- 
 barry, the ancient Bunclody ; westward, some twenty miles, on 
 the river Barrow, stands New ROBS, often mentioned in this his- 
 tory, the road from which to the county town passes through 
 Scullabogue and Taghmon (Tetmun), the former at the foot of 
 Oarrickbyrne rock, the latter at the base of what is rather hyper- 
 helically called " the mountain of Forth." South and west of th 
 town, towards the estuary of "Waterford, lie the taronies of 
 Forth and Bargy, a great part of the population of which, even 
 within our own time, spoke the language Chaucer and Spenser 
 wrote, and retained many of the characteristics of their Saxon, 
 Flemish, and Cambrian ancestors. Through this singular dis- 
 trict lay the road towards Duncannon fort, on Waterford harbor, 
 with branches running off to Bannow, Ballyhack and Dunbrody. 
 We shall therefore speak of all the localities we may have occa- 
 sion to mention as on or near one of the four main roads of the 
 county, the Dublin, Carlow, Ross, and Waterford roads. 
 
 The population of this territory was variously estimated in 
 1798, at 150,000, 180,000, and 200,000. They were, generally 
 speaking, a comfortable and contented peasantry, for the Wexford 
 landlords were seldom absentees, and the farmers held under 
 them by long leases and reasonable rents. There were in the 
 county few great lords, but there was little poverty and no pau- 
 perism. In such a soil, the secret societies were almost certain 
 to fail, and if it had not been for the diabolical experiments of 
 Lord Kingsborough's North Cork Militia, it is very probable that 
 that orderly and thrifty population would have seen the eventful 
 year we are describing pass over their homes without experienc- 
 ing any of the terrible trials which accompanied it. But it was 
 impossible for human nature to endure the provocations inflicted 
 upon this patient and prosperous people. The pitch-cap and the 
 triangle were resorted to on the slightest and most frivolous pre- 
 text*. "A seigeant of the North Cork Militia," says Mr. Hay, 
 the county historian, "nicknamed, Tom the Devil, was most 
 Ingenious in devising new modes of torture. Moistened gun- 
 powder was frequently rubbed into the hair cut close and then 
 set on fire ; some, while shearing for this purpose, had the tips 
 of their ears snipt off; sometimes an entire ear, and often both
 
 POPULAR HISTORY )F IRELAND. Y07 
 
 ears were completely cut off; and many lost part of their nosei 
 during the like preparation. But, strange to tell," adds Mr. Hay, 
 '' these atrocities were publicly practised without the least reserve 
 in open day, and no magistrate or officer evei interfered, but 
 shamefully connived at this extraordinary mode of quieting the 
 people ! Some of the miserable sufferers on these shocking occa- 
 sions, or some of their relations or friends, actuated by a principle of 
 retaliation, if not of revenge, cut short the hair of several persona 
 whom they either considered as enemies or inspected of having 
 pointed them out as objects for such desperate treatment. This 
 was done with a view that those active citizens should fall in for 
 a little experience of the like discipline, or to make the fashion 
 of short hair so general that it might no longer be a mark of 
 party distinction." This was the origin of the nickname " Croppy," 
 by which, during the remainder of the insurrection, it was cus- 
 tomary to designate all who were suspected or proved to be 
 hostile to the government. 
 
 Among the magistracy of the county were several persons who, 
 whatever might have been their conduct in ordinary times, now 
 showed themselves utterly unfit to be entrusted with those large 
 discretionary powers, which Parliament had recently conferred 
 upon all justices of the peace. One of these magistrates, sur- 
 rounded by his troops, perambulated the county with an execu- 
 tioner, armed with all the equipments of his office; another 
 carrie f away the lopped hands and fingers of his victims, with 
 whict he stirred his punch in the carousals that followed every 
 expedition. At Carnew, midway between the Dublin and Carlow 
 roads, on the second day of the insurrection, twenty eight prison- 
 ers were brought out to be shot at as targets in the public ball 
 alley ; on the same day Enniscorthy witnessed its first execution 
 for treason, and the neighborhood of Ballaghkeen was harried 
 by Mr. Jacob, one of the magistrates whose method of preserving 
 the peace of the county has been just referred to. The majority 
 of the bench, either weakly or willingly, sanctioned thsae atroci- 
 ties, but some others, among them a few of the first men in the 
 county, did not hesitate to resist and condemn them. Among 
 these were Mr. Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, of Bargy Castle, 
 Mr. Fitzgerald, of Newpark, and Mr. John Henry Colclough, o/
 
 VOd PurC LAB BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 Tintern Abbey ; but all these gentlemen were arrested on Satur- 
 day, the 20th of May the same day, or more strictly speaking; 
 the eve of the day on which the Wexford outbreak occurred. 
 
 On the day snccoeding these arrests, being Whitsunday, Father 
 John Murphy, parish priest of Kilcormick, the son of a small 
 farmer of the neighborhood, educated in Spain, on coming to his 
 little wayside chapel, found it laid in ashes. To hfe flock as 
 they surrounded him in the open nir, he boldly preached that 
 it would be much better for them to die in a fair field than to 
 await the tortures inflicted by such magistrates as Archibald 
 Jacob, Hunter Gowan, and Hawtrey White. He declared his 
 readiness to share their fate, whatever it might be, and in re- 
 Bponse.about 2,000 of the country people gathered in a few hours 
 upon Oulart Hill, situated about half-way between Enniscorthy 
 aixl the sea, and eleven miles north of Wexford. Here they were 
 attacked on the afternoon of the same day by the North Cork 
 militia, Colonl Foote, the Shilmalier Yeoman cavalry, Colonel 
 Le Hunte, and the Wexford cavalry. The rebels, strong in their 
 position, and more generally accustomed to the use of arms than 
 persons in their condition in other parts of the country, made a 
 brave and successful stand. Major Lambert, the Hon. Captain 
 De Courcey (brother of Lord Kinsale), and some other officers, 
 fell before the long-shore guns of the Shilmalier fowlers ; of the 
 North Cork detachment, only the Colonel, a Sergeant, and two 
 or three privates escaped ; the cavalry, at the top of their speed, 
 galloped back to the county town. 
 
 The people were soon thoroughly aroused. Another popular 
 priest of the diocese, Michael Murphy, on reaching Gorey, find- 
 ing his chapel also rifled, and the altar desecrated, turned hie 
 horses head and joined the insurgents, who had gathered on Kil- 
 thomas hill, near Carnew. Signal fires burned that night on all 
 th eminences of the county, which seemed as if they had been 
 designed for so many watch-towers ; horns resounded ; horsemen 
 galloped far and near ; on the morrow of Whitsunday all Wex- 
 ford arose, animated with the passions and purposes of civil 
 war. 
 
 On tho 2Sth, Ferns, Cam f din, *nd Enriscorthy were taken by 
 the insurgents ; Utc latter after an action of four hours, in which
 
 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAND. 09 
 
 captain, two lieutenants, and eighty of the local yeomanry fell. 
 The survivors fled to "Wexford, which was as rapidly as possible 
 placed in a state of defence. The eld walls and gates were ejill 
 in good repair, and 300 North Cork, 200 Donegal, and 700 local 
 militia ought to have formed a strong garrison within such ram- 
 parts, against a mere tumultuous peasantry. The yeomen, how- 
 ever, thought otherwise, and two of the three imprisoned popular 
 magistrates were sent to Enniscorthy to exhort and endeavor to 
 disperse the insurgents. One of them only returned, the other, 
 Mr. Fitzgerald, joined the rebels ; who. continuing their march, 
 were allowed to take possession of the county town without 
 striking a blow. Mr. Bagenal Harvey, the magistrate still in 
 prison, they insisted on making their commander-in-chief ; a gen- 
 tleman of considerable property, by no means destitute of cour- 
 age, but in every other respect quite unequal to the task imposed 
 upon him. After a trial of his generalship at the battle of Ross, 
 he was transferred to the more pacific office of President of the 
 Council, which continued to sit and direct operations from "Wex- 
 ford, with the cooperation of a sub-committee at Enniscorthy. 
 Captain Matthew Keogh, a retired officer of the regular army, 
 aged but active, was made governor of the town, in which a 
 couple of hundred armed men were left as his guards. An attempt 
 to relieve the place from Duncannon had utterly failed. General 
 Fawcett, commanding that important fortress set out on his march 
 with this object on the 80th of May his advanced guard of 70 
 Meathian yeomanry, having in charge three howitzers, whose 
 slower movements it was expected the main force would overtake 
 long before reaching the neighborhood of danger. At Taghmon 
 this force was joined by Captain Adams with his command, and 
 thus reinforced they continued their march to Wexford. "Within 
 three miles of the town the road wound round the base of the 
 " three rock " mountain ; evening fell as the royalists approached 
 this neighborhood, where the victors of Oulart, Enniscorthy, and 
 Wexford had just improvised a new camp. A sharp volley from 
 the long-shore-men's guna, and a furious onslaught of pikes threw 
 the royal detachment into the utmost disorder. Three officers of 
 the Meathian cavalry, and nearly one hundred men were placed 
 hors de combat; the three howitzers, eleven gunners, and several 
 60
 
 UO POPULAR HIBTOBT Of IRELAND. 
 
 prisoners taken ; making (he third considerable success of th 
 insurgents within a week. 
 
 Wexford county now became the theater of operations, on which 
 all eyes were fixed. The populace gathered as if by instinct into 
 three great encampments, on Vinegar hill, above Enniscorthy ; 
 an Carrickbyrne, on the road leading to Ross, and on the liill of 
 Corrigrua, seven miles from Gorey. The principal leaders of the 
 first division were lathers Kearns and Clinch, and Messrs. Fitz- 
 gerald, Doyle and Redmond ; of the second, Bagenal Harvey, and 
 Father Philip Roche ; of the last, Anthony Perry of Inch, Es- 
 oiond Kyan, and the two Fathers Murphy, Michael and John. 
 The general plan of operations was that the third division should 
 move by way of Arklow and Wicklow on the capital ; the second 
 to open communication with Carlow, Kilkenny, and Kildare by 
 Newtownbarry and Scollagh-gap ; while the first was to attack 
 New Ross, and endeavor to hasten the rising in Munster. 
 
 On the 1st of June, the advance of the northern division march- 
 ing upon Gorey, then occupied in force by General Loflus, were 
 encountered four miles from the town, and driven back with the 
 loss of about a hundred killed and wounded On the 4th of June, 
 Loftus, at the instance of Colonel Walpole, aid-de-camp to the 
 Lord Lieutenant, who had lately joined him wilh considerable 
 reinforcements, resolved to beat up the rebel quarters at Corri- 
 grua. It was to be a combined movement ; Lord Ancram, posted 
 with his militia and dragoons at the bridge of Scaramalsh, where 
 the poetic Banna joins the Slaney, was to prevent the arrival of 
 uccors from Vinegar hill ; Captain McManus with a couple of 
 companies of yeomanry, stationed at another exposed point from 
 which intelligence could be obtained and communicated ; while 
 the General and Colonel Walpole, marched to the attack by roadi 
 some distance apart, which ran into one within two miles of Cor 
 rigrua camp. The main body of the king's troope were commil- 
 ted to the lead of Walpole, who had also two six-pounders and * 
 howitzer. After an hour and a half s march he found the country 
 changed its character near the village of Clogh (do'), where the 
 road descending from the level arable land, dips suddenly into 
 the rarrow and winding paaa of Tubberneering. The sides of 
 the pass were lined with a bushy shrubbery, and the roadwpjr **
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 711 
 
 the bottom embanked with ditch and dyke. On came the confi- 
 dent Walpole, never dreaming that these sileat thickets were so 
 Boon to re-echo the cries of the onslaught. The 4th dragoon 
 guards, the Ancient Britons under Sir Watkyn Wynne, the An" 
 trim militia under Colonel Cope, had all entered the defile before 
 the ambuscade was discovered. Then, at the first volley "Walpole 
 fell with several of those immediately about his person ; out from 
 the shrubbery rushed the pikemen, clearing ditch and dyke at a 
 bound ; dragoons and fencibles went down like the sward before 
 the scythe of the mower; the three guns were captured and 
 turned on the flying survivors ; the regimental flags taken, with 
 all the other spoils pertaining to such a retreat. It was, in truth f 
 an immense victory for a mob of peasants, marshalled by men who 
 that day saw their first, or at most their second action. Before 
 forty-eight hours they were masters of Gorey, and talked of noth- 
 ing less than the capture of Dublin, within another week or fort- 
 night I 
 
 From Vinegar hill the concerted movement was made against 
 Newtownbarry, on the 2d of June, the rebels advancing by both 
 banks of the Slaney, under cover of a six-pounder the only gun 
 they had with them. The detachment in command of the beau- 
 tiful little town, half hidden in its leafy valley, was from 600 to 
 800 strong, with a troop of dragoons, and two battalion guns, 
 under command of Colonel L'Estrange ; these after a sharp fu- 
 silade on both sides were driven out, but the assailants, instead 
 of following up the blow dispersed for plunder or refreshment, 
 were attacked in turn, and compelled to retreat with a reported 
 loss of 400 killed. Three days later, however, a still more impor- 
 tant action, and a yet more disastrous repulse from the self-same 
 cause, took pkce at New Ross, on the Barrow. 
 
 The garrison of Ross, on the morning of the 6th of June, when 
 General Harvey appeared before it, consisted of 1,400 men Dub- 
 lin, Heath, Donegal and Clare militia, Mid-Lothian fencibles, and 
 English artillery. General Johnston a veteran soldier was in 
 command, and the place, strong in its well preserved old walls, 
 had not heard a shot fired in anger, since the time of Cromwell. 
 Harvey was reported to have with him 20,000 men ; but if we 
 allow for the exaggeration of numbers common to all such move-
 
 Y12 rOPCUUl H1BTOBY OF IBKLAHD. 
 
 meats, we may perhaps deduct one-hal and still leave Mm at UM 
 head of a formidable force 10,000 men, with three field pieces. 
 Mr. Furlong, a favorite officer, being sent forward, to summon the 
 town, was shot dowc. by a sentinel, and the attack began. Th 
 main point of assault was the gate known as " three bullet gate," 
 and the hour, five o'clock of the lovely summer's morning. The 
 obstinacy with which the town was contested, may be judged 
 from the fact, that the fighting continued for nearly ten hours, 
 with the interruption of an hour or two at noon. This was the 
 fatal interruption for the rebels. They had, at a heavy cost, 
 driven out the royalists, with the loss of a colonel (Lcrd Mount- 
 joy), three captains, and above 200 men killed; but of their 
 friends and comrades treble the number had fallen. Still the 
 town, an object of the first importance, was theirs, when worn out 
 with heat, fatigue, and fasting since sunrise, they indulged their.- 
 eelves in the luxury of a deep unmeasured carouse. The fugi- 
 tive garrison finding themselves nnpursued, halted to breathe on 
 the Kilkenny bank of the river, were rallied by the veteran John- 
 son, and led back again across the bridge, taking the surprized 
 revellers completely unprepared. A erf was raised that this waa 
 a fresh force from Waterford ; the disorganized multitude endeav- 
 ored to rally in turn, but before the leaders could collect their 
 men, the town was once more in possession of the king's troops. 
 The rebels, in their turn, unpursued by their exhausted enemies, 
 fell back upon their camping ground of the night before, at Cor- 
 bet hill and Slieve-kielter. At the latter, Father Philip Roche, 
 dissatisfied with Harvey's management, established a separate com- 
 mand, which he transferred to a layman of his own name, Edward 
 Roche, with whom he continued to act and advise during the re- 
 mainder of this memorable month. 
 
 The summer of 1798 was for an Irish summer remarkably dry 
 and warm. The heavy Atlantic rains which at all seasons art 
 poured out upon that soil, seemed suspended in favor of the in- 
 surgent multitudes, amounting to 80,000 or 40,000 at the highest, 
 who oil the different hill summits posted their nightly sentinel*, 
 and threw themselves down on turf and heather to snatch a short 
 reposo. The kindling of a beacon, the lowing of caltlp, or th 
 hurried arrival of scout or messenger, hardly interfered with
 
 oruLAB msioar or I&BLAKD. 713 
 
 lumbers which the fatigues of the day, and, unhappily also, the 
 potations of the night rendered doubly deep. An early morning 
 mass mustered all the Catholics, unless the very depraved, to tha 
 chaplain's tent for several of the officers, and the chaplains alwayg 
 Were supplied with tents ; and then a hasty meal was snatched 
 before the sun was fairly above the horizon, and the day's work 
 commenced. The endurance exhibited by the rebels, their per- 
 sonal strength, swiftness and agility ; their tenacity of life, and 
 the ease with which their worst wounds were healed, excited the 
 astonishment of the surgeons and officers of the regular army. 
 The truth is, that the virtuous lives led by that peaceful peasantry 
 before the outbreak, enabled them to withstand privations and 
 hardships under which the better fed and better clad Irish yeomen 
 and English guardsmen would have sunk prostrate in a week. 
 
 Several signs now marked the turning of the tide against the 
 men of Wexford. Waterford did not rise after the battle of Ross > 
 while Munster, generally, was left to undecided councils, or held 
 back in hopes of another French expedition. The first week of 
 June had passed over, and neither northward nor westward waa 
 there any movement formidable enough to draw off from the de- 
 voted _county the combined armies which were now directed 
 against its camps. A gunboat fleet lined the coast from Bannow 
 round to Wicklow, which soon after appeared off "Wexford bar, 
 and forced an entrance into the harbor. A few days earlier, Gen- 
 eral Needham marched from Dublin, and took up his position at 
 Arklow, at the head of a fore variously stated at 1,600 to 2,000 
 men, composed of 120 cavalry under Sir Watkyn Wynne, two 
 brigades of militia under Colonels Cope and Maxwell, and a 
 brigade of English and Scotch fencibles under Colonel Skerrett. 
 There were also at Arklow about 300 of the Wexford and Wick- 
 low mounted yeomanry raised by Lord Wicklow, Lord Mount- 
 norris, and other gentlemen of the neighborhood. Early on the 
 morning of the 9th of June, the northern division of the rebels 
 left Gorey in two columns, in order if possible to drive this force 
 from Arklow. One body proceeding by the coast road hoped to 
 turn the English position by way of the strand, the other taking 
 the inner line of the Dublin road, was to assail the town &t its 
 opper or inland suburb. But General Needham had made th 
 60+
 
 714 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 most of Ms two days' possession; barricades were erected acroM 
 the road, and at the entrance to the main street ; the graveyard 
 and bridge commanding the approach by the shore road, were 
 mounted with ordnance; the cavalry were posted where they 
 could best operate, near the strand ; the barrack wall was lined 
 with a baiufuette or stage, from which the musketeers could pour 
 their fire with the greatest advantage, and every other precaution 
 taken to give the rebels a warm reception. The action commenced 
 early in the afternoon, and lasted till eight in the evening five 
 or six hours. The inland column suffered most severely from the 
 marksmen on the banquette, and the gallant Father Michael Mur- 
 phy, whom his followers believed to be invulnerable, fell leading 
 them on to the charge for the third time. On the side of the sea, 
 Esmond Kyan was badly wounded in the arm, which he was sub 
 eequently obliged to have amputated, and though the fearless 
 Shilmaliers drove the cavalry into and over the Ovoca, discipline 
 and ordnance prevailed once again, over numbers and courage. 
 As night fell, the assailants retired slowly towards Coolgreney, 
 carrying off nine carloads of their wounded, and leaving, perhaps, 
 as many more on the field ; their loss was variously reported 
 from 700 to 1,000, and even 1,600. The opposite force returned 
 less than 100 killed, including Captain Enoz, and about as many 
 wounded. The repulse was even more than that at Ross, dispirit- 
 ing to the rebels, who, as a last resort, now decided to concentrate 
 all their strength on the favorite position at Vinegar HUL 
 
 Against this encampment, therefore, the entire available force 
 of regulars and militia within fifty miles of the spot were con. 
 centrated by orders of Lord Lake, the comraander-in chief. 
 General Dundas from Wicklow was to join General Loftus at 
 Carnew on the 18th ; General Needham was to advance simulta- 
 neously to Gorey ; General Sir Henry Johnson to unite at Old 
 Ross with Sir James Duff from Carlow ; Sir Charles Asgill was to 
 occupy Gore's bridge and Borris ; Sir John Moore was to land at 
 BallyhLck ferry, march to Foulke's mill, and united with Johnson 
 and Duff, to assail the rebel camp on Carrickbyrne. These vari- 
 ous movements ordered on the 18th, were to be completed by the 
 20th, on which day from their various new positions, the entire 
 force, led by these six general officers, was to surround Vinegar
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 07 IRELAND. 71* 
 
 Hill, and make a simultaneous attack upon the last stronghold of 
 the Wexford rebellion. 
 
 This elaborate plan failed of complete execution in two points. 
 first, the camp on Carrickbyrne, instead of waiting the attack, 
 Bent down its fighting men to Foulke's Mill, where, in the afternoon 
 of the 20th they beat up Sir John Moore's quarters, aud maintain- 
 ed from 3 o'clock till dark, what that officer calls " a pretty sharp 
 action." Several times they were repulsed and again formed be- 
 hind the ditches and renewed the conflict ; but the arrival of two 
 fresh regiments, under Lord Dalhousie, taught them that there 
 was no farther chance of victory. By this affair, however, though 
 at a heavy cost, they had prevented the junction of all the troops, 
 and, not without satisfaction, they now followed the two Roches, 
 the priest and the layman, to the original posftion of the moun- 
 tain of Forth; Sir John Moore, on his part, taking the same 
 direction, until he halted within sight of the walls of Wexford. 
 The other departure from Lord Lake's plan was on the side of Gen- 
 eral NeedJiam, who was ordered to approach the point of attack 
 by the circuitous route of Oulart, but who did not come up in 
 time to complete the investment of the hill. 
 
 On the morning of the appointed day, about 13,000 royal 
 troops were in movement against the 20,000 rebels whom they 
 Intended to dislodge. Sir James Duff obtained possession of an 
 eminence which commanded the lower line of the rebel encamp- 
 ment, and from this point a brisk cannonade was opened against 
 the opposite force ; at the same time the columns of Lake, Wil- 
 ford, Dundas, and Johnson, pushed up the south-eastern, northern 
 and western sides of the eminence, partially covered by the fire 
 of these guns, so advantageously placed. After an hour and a 
 half's desperate fighting, the ret ds broke and fled by the unguarded 
 side of tike hill. Their route was complete, and many were cut 
 down by the cavalry, as they pressed in dense masses on each 
 other, over the level fields and out on the open highways. Still 
 this action was far from being one of the most fatal as to loss of 
 life, fought in that county ; the rebel dead were numbered only 
 at 400, and th 3 royalists killed and wounded at less than half 
 that number. 
 
 It was the last considerable action of the Wexford rising, and
 
 716 POPULAR UI8TORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 all the consequences which followed being attributed arbitrarily 
 to this cause, helped to invest it with a disproportionate import- 
 ance The only leader lost on the rebel side was Father Clinch, 
 of Enniscorthy, who encountered Lord Roden hand to hand in 
 the retreat, but who, while engaged with his lordship whom he 
 wounded, was shot down by a trooper. The disorganization, 
 however, which followed on the dispersion, was irreparable. One 
 column had taken the "nad by Gorey to the mountains of Wick- 
 low another to Wexloro, where they split into two parts, a 
 portion crossing the Slaney into the sea-coast parishes, and facing 
 northward by the shore road, the other falling back on " the 
 three rocks" encampment, where the Messrs. Roche held together 
 a fragment of their former command. Wexford town, on the 
 2'Jd, was abandoned to Lord Lake, who established himself in the 
 house of Governor Keogh, the owner being lodged in the common 
 jail. Within the week, Bagenal Harvey, Father Phillip Roche, 
 and Kelly of KiHane, had surrendered in despair, while Messrs. 
 Grognn and Colclough, who had secreted themselves in a cave in 
 the great Saltee Island, were discovered, and conducted to the 
 itainc prison. Notwithstanding the capitulation agreed to by Lord 
 Kingsborough, the execution and decapitation of all these gentle- 
 men speedily followed, and their ghastly faces looked down for many 
 a day from the iron spikes above the entrance of Wexford Couifc 
 House. Mr. Esmond Kyan, the popular hero of the district, as 
 merciful as brave, was discovered some time subsequently paying 
 a stealthy visit to his family ; he was put to death on the spot, 
 and his body weighted with heavy stones, thrown into the har- 
 bor. A few mornings afterwards the incoming tide deposited it 
 close by the dwelling of his father-in law, and the rites of Chris- 
 tian burial, BO dear to all his race, were hurriedly rendered to 
 the beloved remains. 
 
 The insurrection in this county, while it abounded in instances 
 of individual and general heroism, was stained also, on both 
 sidec by many acts of diabolical cruelty. The aggressors, both 
 in tin) and in crime were the yeomanry and military; but the 
 popular movemen dragged wretches to the surface who delighted 
 In repaying torture with torture, and death with death. Th 
 Butcheries of Dunlavin and Carnew were repaid by the mass*
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRKLAKD. 717 
 
 ers at Scullabogue and Wexford bridge, in the former of which 
 110, and in the latter 35 or 40 persons were put to death in cold 
 blood, by the monsters who absented themselves from the battles 
 of Ross and Vinegar Hill The executions at Wexford bridge 
 would probably have been swelled to double the number, had not 
 Father Corrin, one of the priests of the town, rushing in between 
 his Protestant neighbors and the ferocious Captain Dixon, and 
 summoning all present to pray, invoked the Almighty " to show 
 them the same mercy " they showed their prisoners. This awful 
 supplication calmed even that savage rabble, and no further 
 execution took place. Nearly forty years afterwards, Captain 
 Kellet, of Clonard, ancestor of the Arctic discoverer, and" others 
 whom he had rescued from the very grasp of the executioner, 
 followed to the grave that revered and devoted minister of 
 mercy I 
 
 It would be a profitless task to draw out a parallel of the crimes 
 committed on both sides. Two facts only need be recorded: 
 that although from 1Y98 to 1800, not less than sixty-five places of 
 Catholic worship were demolished or burned in Lekister, (twenty- 
 two of which were in Wexford county), only one Protestant 
 church, that of Old Boss, was destroyed in retaliation ; and that 
 although towards men, especially men in arms, the rebels acted 
 on the fierce Mosaic maxim of " an eye for an eye and a tooth for 
 tooth," no outrage upon women is laid to their charge, even by 
 their most exasperated enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 TKK rNSCfiRECTION ELSEWHERE. FATE OF THE LEADING UHITU) 
 
 IRISHMEN. 
 
 ON the 21st of June, the Marquis Cornwallis, whose name is so 
 familiar in American and East Indian history, arrived in Dublin, 
 to assume the supreme power, both civil and military. As hia 
 cldef secretary, he recommenced Lord Casllereagh, who had acted
 
 16 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 in that capacity during the latter part of Lord Camden'a admin- 
 istration in consequence of Mr. Pelham'a illness ; and tire Pitt- 
 Portland administration appointed his lordship accordingly, be- 
 cause among other good and sufficient reasons " he was so unlike 
 an Iriakman." 
 
 Wkile the new viceroy came to Ireland still more resolute than 
 his predecessor to bring about the long-desired legislative union, 
 it is but justice to his memory to say, that he as resolutely re- 
 sisted the policy of torture and provocation pursued under Lord 
 Cunuleii. That policy had, indeed, served its pernicious purpose^ 
 and it.was now possible for a new ruler to turn a new leaf; this 
 Lord Cornwallis did from th hour of his arrival, not without in- 
 curring the ill-concealed displeasure of the Castle caboL But hia 
 position gave him means of protection which Sir Ralph Aber- 
 oroniby had not ; he was known to enjoy the personal confidence 
 of the king ; and those who did not hesitate three months before 
 to assail by every abusive epithet the humane Scottish baronet, 
 hesitated long before criticising with equal freedom the all- 
 powerful viceroy. 
 
 The sequel of the insurrection may be briefly related : next to 
 Wexford, the adjoining county of Wkklow, famous throughout 
 the world for its lakes and glens, maintained the chief brunt of 
 the Leinster battle. The brothers Byrne, of Ballymanus, with 
 Holt, Kackett, and other local leaders, were for months, from the 
 difficult nature of the country, enabled to defy those combined 
 movements by which, as hi a huge net, Lord Lake had swept up 
 the camps of Wexford. At Hacketstown, on the 26th of June, 
 the Byrnes were repulsed with considerable loss, but at Ballyellis, 
 on the 30th, fortune and skill gave them and their Wexford com- 
 fcdes a victory, resembling in many respects that of dough, 
 "teneral Needham, who hud again established his headquarters at 
 Corey, detaclred Colonel Preston, with some troops of Ancient 
 Brit out), the -H1i and 5th Dragoons, and tiiree yeomanry corps, to 
 attack the insurgents wko were observed in force in the neigh- 
 borhood of Monaseed. Aware of this movement, the Byrnes 
 prepared in the ravine of Ballyellis a well-laid ambuscade, barri- 
 eadiig with carts and trees the farther end of the pass. Attacked 
 by the royalists they retreated towards thia pass, were hotfy pop-
 
 POPULAR BISTORT O IRELAND. 71 
 
 ved. mnd then turned on their pursuers. Two officers anil sixty 
 ciea were killed in the trap, wlrle the terrified roar- rank lied for 
 their lives to the shelter of their headquarters. At BullyraLeene, 
 on the 2d of July, the king's troops sustained another check in 
 which they loet two officers and ten men, but at Ballygullen, on 
 the 4th, the insurgents were surrounded between the forces of 
 General Needham, Sir James Duff, and the Marquis of Huntley. 
 This was the last considerable action in which the Wicklow aaid 
 Wexford men were unitedly engaged. In the dispersion which 
 followed, " Billy Byrne of Ballymanus," the hero of his county, 
 paid the forfeit of his life ; while his brother Garrett subse- 
 quently surrendered, and was included in the Banishment Act. 
 
 Anthony Perry, of Inch, and Father Kearns, leading a much 
 diminished band into Kildare, formed a junction with Aylmer and 
 Reynolds of that county, and marched into Meath, with a view 
 of reaching and surprising Athlone. The plan was boldly and 
 well conceived, but their means of execution were deplorably de- 
 ficient. At Clonard they were repulsed by a handful of troopa 
 well armed and postad ; a combined movement always possible 
 in Meath, drove lliem from side to side during the mid-week of 
 July, until at length, hunted down as they were, they broke up 
 in twos and threes to seek any means of escape. Father Kearns 
 and Mr. Perry were, however, arrested, and executed by martial 
 '.aw at Endenderry. Both died bravely; the priest sustaining 
 and exhorting his companion to the last. 
 
 Still another band of the Wexford men unVler Father John 
 Murphy and Walter Devereux crossed the Barrow at Gore's 
 bridge, and marched upon Kilkenny. At Lowgrange they sur- 
 prised an outpost ; at Castlecomer, after a sharp action, they took 
 the town, which Sir Charles Asgill endeavored, but without suc- 
 cess, to relieve. Thence they continued their march towards 
 Athy iu Kildare, but being caught between two or rather three 
 fires, that of Major Mathews, from Maryboro', General Dunne, 
 from Athy, and Sir Charles Asgill, they retreated on Old Leigh- 
 lin, as if seeking the shelter of the Carlow mountains. At Kil- 
 comney hill, however, they were forced into action under most 
 unfavorable circumstances, and utterly routed. One Father Mur- 
 phy, fell in the engagement, the other, the precursor of the insnr
 
 720 
 
 reotion, was captured three days afterward, and conveyed A 
 prisoner to General Duff 'a headquarters at Tullow. Here he w m 
 put on hie trial before a military commission composed of Sir 
 James Duff, Lord Roden, Colonels Eden and Foster, and Major 
 IlalL Hall had themeanness to put to him, prisoner aa he was, 
 several insulting questions, which at length the high-spirited 
 rebel answered with a blow. The commission thought him highly 
 dangerous, and instantly ordered him to execution. His body waa 
 burned, his head spiked on the market house of Tullow, and his 
 memory gibbetted in all the loyal publications of the period. On 
 his person, before execution, were found a crucifix, a pix, and let- 
 ters from many Protestants, asking his protection ; as to his repu- 
 tation, the priest who girded on the sword only when he found Ins 
 altar overthrown and his flock devoured by wolves, need not fear 
 to look posterity in the face. 
 
 Of the other Leinster leaders, Walter Devereux, the last col 
 league of Father Murphy, was arrested at Cork, on the eve of 
 sailing for America, tried and executed ; Fitzgerald and Aylmer 
 were spared on condition of expatriation ; months afterwards, Holt 
 surrendered, was transported, and returned after several yeass, 
 to end his days where he began his career; Dwyer alone main- 
 tained the life of a Rapparee for five lon^ yearj among the hills 
 of Wicklow, where his adventures were often of such a nature as 
 to throw all fictitious conceptions of an outlaw's life into common- 
 place by comparison. Except in the fastnesses frequented by 
 this extraordinary man, and in the wood of Killaughram, in 
 Wexford, wliere the outhiws with the last stroke of national hu- 
 mor, assumed the name of T/ie Babes in Hue Wood, the Leinster 
 insurrection w&a utterly trodden out within two mouths from its 
 first beginning, on the 23d of May. So weak against discipline, 
 arms, munitions and money, are all that mere naked valor and 
 devoti<">a can accomplish I 
 
 In Ulster, on the organization of which so much time and labor 
 bad been expended for four or five years preceding, the rising 
 was nut more general than in Leinster, and the actual Htruggle 
 lasted only a week. The two counties which moved en mastt 
 were Down ni>d Antrim, the original chiefs of which, sm % h at 
 Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson, were unfortunately In prison,
 
 HISTORY OF INLAND. 721 
 
 The next leader on whom the men of Antrim relied, resigned Mi 
 command on the very eve of the appointed day ; this disappoint- 
 ment and the arrest of the Rev. Steele Dickson in Down, com- 
 pelled a full fortnight's delay. On the 7th of June, however, tha 
 more determined spirits resolved on action, and the first move- 
 ment was to seize the town of Antrim, which, if they could have 
 held it, would have given them command of the communications 
 with Donegal and Down, from both of which they might have 
 expected important additions to their ranks. The leader in this 
 enterprise was Henry John McCracktn, a cotton manufacturer of 
 Belfast, thirty -two years of age, well educated, accomplished and 
 resolute, with whom was associated a brother of William Orr, the 
 proto-martyr of the Ulster Union. The town of Antrim waa 
 occupied by the 22d light dragoons, Colonel Lumley, and the local 
 yeomanry under Lord O'Neill. In the first assault the insurgents 
 were successful, Lord O'Neill, five officers, forty-seven rank and 
 file having fallon, and two guns being captured; but Lumley's 
 dragoons had hardly vanished out of sight, when a strong rein- 
 forcement from Blaris camp arrived and renewed the action, 
 changing premature exultation into panic and confusion. Between 
 two and three hundred of the rebels fell, and McCracken and his 
 staff deserted by their hasty levies, were arrested wearied and 
 hopeless, about a month later, wandering among the Antrim 1 ills. 
 The leaders wre tried at Belfast and executed. 
 
 In Down two actions were fought, one at Saintfield on ihe 7th 
 of June, under Dr. Jackson where Colonel Stapleton was severely 
 handled and another and more important one at BallynaMnch, 
 under Henry MUETO, on the 13th, where Nugent the district 
 General, commanded in person. Here, after a gallant defense, 
 the men of Down were utterly routed ; their leader, alone and on 
 foot, was captured some five or six miles from the field, and ftxe- 
 cuted two days afterward before his own door at Lisburn. H 
 died with the utmost composure ; his wife and mother looking 
 down on the awful scene from the windows of his own house. 
 
 In Munster, with the exception of a trifling skirmish between 
 
 the Westmeath yeomanry under Sir Hugh O'Reilly, with whom 
 
 were the Caithness legion under Major Innes, and a body of 300 
 
 or 400 ill-armed peasants who attacked them on the 19th of Jno^ 
 
 61
 
 722 POPULAR H1S10UY OP IEELAMU. 
 
 on the road from Clonakilty to Bandon, there was uo notablt 
 attempt at insurrection. But iu Conuaught very unexpectedly, 
 &e late as the end of August, the flame extinguished in blood iu 
 Leinster and Ulster, again blazed up for some days with portent- 
 ous brightness. The counties of Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon and 
 Gal way, had been partially organized by those fugitives from 
 Orange oppression in the North, who, in the years '95, '96 and '97, 
 hud been compelled to flee for their lives into Oonnaught, to the 
 number of several thousands. They brought with the tale of their 
 sufferings the secret of Defenderism ; they first taught the peas- 
 antry of the West, who, safe in their isolated situation and their 
 overwhelming numbers, were more familiar with poverty than 
 with persecution, what manner of men then held sway over all 
 the rest of the country, and how easily it would be for Irishmen 
 once united and backed by France, to establish, under their own 
 green flag, both religious and civil liberty. 
 
 When, therefore, three French frigates cast anchor in Killalla 
 Bay, on the 22d of August, they did not find the country wholly 
 unprepared, though far from being as ripe for revolt as they ex- 
 pected. These ships had on board 1,000 men, with arms for 1,000 
 more, under command of General Humbert, who had taken on 
 himself in the state of anarchy which Chen prevailed in France, 
 to sail from La Rochelle, with this handful of men, in aid of the 
 insurrection. With Humbert were Mathew Tone and Bartholo- 
 mew Teeling; and immediately on his arrival he was joined by 
 Messrs. McDonnell, Moore, Bullew, Barrett, O'Dowd, and O'Don- 
 nell of Mayo, Blake of Galway, Plunkett of Roscommou, and a 
 few other influential gentlemen of that Province almost all Cath- 
 olics. Three days were spent at Killalla which was easily taken, 
 in landing stores, enrolling recruits, and sending out parties of 
 observation. On the 4th, (Sunday,) Humbert entered Ballina 
 without resistance, and on the same night set ovt for Costlebar, 
 the county town. By this time intelligence of his landing was 
 spread over the whole country, and both Lord Lake and General 
 Hutchinson had advanced to Castlebar, where they had from 2,000 
 to 8,000 men under their command. The place could be reached 
 only by two routes from the northwest by the Fozford road, or a 
 long deserted mountain road which led over the pass of Barn*
 
 POPUIAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 723 
 
 gee, within sight of the towi. Humbert accustomed to the long 
 marches and difficult country of La Vendee, chose the unfre- 
 quented and therefore unguarded route, and to the consternation 
 of the British generals descended through the pass of Barnagee, 
 soon after sunrise, on the morning of Monday, August 27th. His 
 force consisted of 900 French bayonets, and between 2,000 and 
 8,000 new recruits ; the action which commenced at 7 o'clock, 
 was short, sharp, and decisive ; the yeomanry and regulars broke 
 and fled, some of them never drawing reiii till they reached 
 Tuam, while others carried their fears and their falsehoods as far 
 inland as Athlone more than sixty miles from the scene of action. 
 In this engagement, still remembered as " the races," the royalists 
 confessed to the loss killed, wounded, or prisoners, of 18 officers, 
 and about 350 men, while the French commander estimated the 
 killed alone at 600. Fourteen British guns and five stand of 
 colors were also taken. A hot pursuit was continued for some 
 distance by the native troops under Mathew Tone, Teeling, and 
 the Mayo officers ; but Lord Roden's famous corps of " Fox-hun- 
 ters," covered the retreat and checked the pursuers at French 
 hill. Immediately after the battle a Provincial Government was 
 established at Castlebar, with Mr. Moore of Moore Hall, as Presi- 
 dent ; proclamations addressed to the inhabitants at large, com- 
 missions to raise men, and assignats payable by the future Irish 
 Republic, were issued in its name. 
 
 Meanwhile the whole of the royalist forces were now in move- 
 ment toward the capital of Mayo, as they had been toward Vine- 
 gar hill two months before. Sir John Moore and General Hunter 
 marched from Wexford towards the Shannon. General Taylor 
 with 2,500 men advanced from Sligo towards Castlebar ; Colonel 
 Maxwell was ordered from Enniskillen to assume command at 
 Sligo; General Nugent from Lisburn occupied Enniskillen, and 
 the Viceroy, leaving Dublin in person, advanced rapidly through 
 the midland counties to Kilbeggan, and ordered Lord Lake and 
 General Hufrchinson, with such of their command as could be de- 
 pended on, to assume the aggressive from the direction of Tuam. 
 Thus Humbert and his allies found themselvee surrounded on all 
 ides their retreat cut off by sea, for their frigates had returned 
 to France immediately on their landing; three thousand men
 
 724 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 against not less than thirty thousand, with at least aa ma / moN 
 in reserve, ready to be called into action at a day's notice. 
 
 The French general determined if possible to rench the moun- 
 tains of Leitrim, and open communications with Ulster, and the 
 northern coast, upon which he hoped soon to see succor arrive 
 from France. With this object he marched from Castlebar to 
 Cooloney, (35 miles), in one day ; here he sustained a check from 
 Colonel Vereker's militia, which necessitated a change of route ; 
 turning aside, he passed rapidl}' through Dromahaine, Manor- 
 Hamilton, and Ballintra, making for Granard from which accounts 
 of a formidable popular outbreak had just reached him. In three 
 days and a half he had marched 110 miles, flinging half his guns 
 into the rivers that he crossed, lest they should fall into the 
 hands of his pursuers. At Ballinamuck, county Longford, on the 
 borders of Leitrim, he found himself fairly surrounded, on the 
 morning of the 8th of September ; and here he prepared to make 
 a last desperate stand. Tl e end could not be doubtful, the numbers 
 against him being ten to one; after an action of hal f an hour's 
 duration, two hundred of the French having thrown down their 
 arms, the remainder surrendered, as prisoners of war. For the 
 rebels no torius were thought of, and the full vengeance of the 
 victors was reserved for them. Mr. Blake, who had formerly 
 boon a British officer was executed on the field ; Mathew Tone 
 and Teeling were executed within the week In Dublin ; Mr. Moore, 
 President of th Provisional Government was sentenced to banish- 
 ment by the clemency of Lord Cornwallis, but died on shipboard ; 
 ninety of the Longford and Kilkenny militia who had joined the 
 French were hanged, and the country generally given up to pil- 
 lage and massacre. As an evidence of the excessive thirst for 
 blood it may be mentioned that at the recapture of KHlaila a few 
 days later, four hundred persons were killed, of whom fully oiie- 
 kalf were non-combatants. 
 
 T 1/e disorganization of all government in France in the latter 
 half of y.s, was illustrated not only by Humbert's unauthorized 
 adventure, but by a still weaker demonstration under General 
 Beay and Napper Tandy, about the Bauie time. With a single 
 armed bri those daring allies made a descent on the 17th of Sep- 
 tember, cm Uul Min Island, wH equipped with eloquent proclama-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 25 
 
 lions, bearing the date " first year of Irish liberty." From th 
 postmaster of the island they ascertained Humbert's fate, and 
 immediately turned the prow of their solitary ship in'the opp<- 
 eite direction ; Reay, to rise in after times to honor and 
 power ; Tandy, to continue in old age, the dashing career of his 
 manhood, and to expiate in exile the crime of preferring the coun- 
 try of his birth to the general centralizing policy of the empire 
 with which she was united. Twelve days after the combat at 
 Ballinamuck, while Humbert and his men were on their way 
 through England to France, a new French fleet, under Admiral 
 Bompart, consisting of one H-gun ship, " the Hoche," eight 
 frigates, and two smaller vessels, sailed from Brest. On board 
 this fleet were embarked 3,000 men under General Hardi, the 
 remnant of the army once menacing England. In this fleet 
 sailed Theobald Wolfe Tone, true to his motto nil despera'idum, 
 with two or three other refugees of less celebrity. The troops 
 of General Hardi however, were destined never to land. On the 
 12th of October, after tossing about for nearly a month in the 
 German ocean and the North Atlantic, they appeared off the coast 
 of Donegal, and stood in for Lough Swilly. But another fleet 
 also was on the horizon. Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, 
 with an equal number of ships, but a much heavier armament, 
 had been cruising on the track of the French during the whole 
 time they were at sea. After many disappointments the flag-ship 
 and three of the frigates were at last within range and the action 
 began. Six hours fighting laid the Hoche a helpless log upon the 
 water ; nothing was left her but surrender ; two of the frigates 
 shared the same fate on the same day ; another was captured on 
 the 14th, and yet another on the 17th. The remainder of the 
 fleet escaped back to Franca 
 
 The French officers landed in Donegal were received with cour- 
 tesy by the neighboring gentry, among whom was the Earl of 
 Cavan, who entertained them at dinner. Here it was that Sir 
 George Hill, son-in-law ta Commissioner Beresford, an old college 
 friend of Tone's, identified the founder of the United Irishmen under 
 the uniform of a French Adjutant-general. Stepping up to hist Id 
 schoolmate he .addressed him by name, which Tone instantly ac- 
 knowledged, inquiring politely for Lady Hill, and other memberi 
 61*
 
 ^26 POPULAB H1STUKV OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Sir George's family. He was instantly arrested, ironed, and 
 conveyed to Dublin under a strong guard. On the 10th of Nov- 
 ember, he was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged : 
 he begged only for a soldier's death " to be shot by a platoon 
 of grenadiers." This favor was denied him, and the next morning 
 he attempted to commit suicide. The attempt did not immedi- 
 ately succeed ; but one week later on the 19th of November he 
 died from the results of his self inflicted wound, with a compli- 
 ment to the attendant physician upon his lips. Truth compels 
 us to say he died the death of a Pagan ; but it was a Pagan of 
 the noblest and freest type of Grecian and Roman times. Had it 
 occurred in ancient days, beyond the Christian era, it would have 
 been a death every way admirable ; as it was, that fatal final act 
 must always stand between "Wolfe Tone and the Christian people 
 for whom he suffered, sternly forbidding them to invoke him in 
 their prayers, or to uphold him as an example to the young men 
 of their country. So closed the memorable year 1798, on the 
 baffled and dispersed United Irishmen. Of the chiefs imprisoned 
 in March and May, Lord Edward had died of his wounds and 
 vexation ; Oliver Bond of apoplexy ; the brothers Sheares, Fa- 
 ther Quiijley, and William Michael Byrne on the gibbet. In 
 July, on Samuel Nelson's motion, the remaining prisoners in New- 
 gate, Bridewell, and Kilmainham, agreed, in order to stop the effu- 
 sion of blood, to expatriate themselves to any country, not at war 
 with England, and to reveal the general secrets of their system, 
 without inculpating individuals. These terms were accepted, aa 
 the Castle party needed their evidence to enable them to promote 
 the cherished scheme of legislative Union. But that evijence 
 delivered before the Committees of Parliament by Emmett, Mac- 
 Nevin, and O'Connor, did not altogether serve the purposes of 
 government. The patrirtic prisoners made it at once a protcrt 
 against, and an exposition of, the despotic policy under which 
 their country had been goaded into rebellion. For their firmness 
 they were punished by three years confinement in Fort George, 
 in the Scottish Highlands, where, however, a gallant old soldier, 
 Colonel Stuart, endeavored to soften the hard realities of a prison 
 by all the kind attentions his instructions permitted him to show 
 these unfortunate gentlemen. At the peace of Aniens, (1802),
 
 FOPULAB HIS10FY OF IRELAND. 
 
 they were at 'ast allowed the melancholy privilege of expatri- 
 ation. Russell and Dowdall were permitted to return to Ireland, 
 where they shared the fate of Robert Emmett in 1803 ; O'Connor, 
 Corbet, Allen, Ware, and others cast their lot in France, where 
 they all rose to distinction ; Emmett, MacNevin, Sampson, atd 
 the family of Tone were reunited in New York, where the many 
 changes and distractions of a great metropolitan community have 
 not even yet obliterated the memories of their virtues, their tal- 
 ents, and their accomplishments. 
 
 It is impossible to dismiss this celebrated group of men whose 
 principles and conduct so greatly influenced their country's des- 
 tiny, without bearing explicit testimony to their heroic qualities 
 as a class. If ever a body of public men deserved the character 
 of a brotherhood of heroes, so far as disinterestedness, courage, 
 self denial, truthfulness and glowing love of country constitute 
 heroism, these men deserved that character. The wisdom of 
 their conduct, and the intrinsic merit of their plans, are other 
 questions. As between their political system and that of Burke, 
 Grattan and O'Connell, there always will be, probably, among 
 their countrymen, very decided differences of opinion. That ia 
 but natural : but as to the personal and political virtues of the 
 United Iri&hmen there can be no difference ; the world baa nevei 
 seen a more sincere or more self sacrificing generation. 
 
 CHAPTER XVni. 
 
 ABHnnSTKATION Of JX)RD CORNWALUS. BEFORE THE UNIOX. 
 
 " NOTHING strengthens a dynasty," said the first Napoleon, 
 " more than an unsuccessful rebellion." The partial uprising of 
 the Irish people in 1*798 was a rebellion of this class, and the us 
 of such a failure to an able and unscrupHlous administration, wae 
 Illustrated in the extinction of the ancient legislature of the king- 
 dom, before the recurrence of the third anniversary of the in- 
 urrection. 
 
 This project, the favorite and long-cherished design of Mr. Pitt,
 
 5" 2 8 POPULAR HISTORY 0V IRBLlVD. 
 
 was cordially approved by his principal colleagues, the Duke of 
 Portland, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Dundas; indeed it may be 
 questioned whether it was not as much Lord Grenville's de- 
 sign as Pitt's, and as much George the Third's personal project 
 as that of any of his ministers. The old king's Irish policy was 
 always of the most narrow and illiberal description. In his 
 memorandum on the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, he explains his 
 views with the business-like brevity which characterized all his 
 communications with his ministers while he retained possession 
 of his faculties ; he was totally opposed to Lord Fitzwilliain'i 
 emancipation policy, which he thought adopted " in implicit 
 obedience to the heated imagination of Mr. Burke." To Lord 
 Camden his instructions were, " to support the old English inter- 
 est as well as the Protestant religion," and to Lord Cornwallis, 
 that no further ' indulgence could be granted to Catholics," but 
 that he should steadily pursue the object of effecting the union 
 of Ireland and England. 
 
 The new viceroy entered heartily into the views of his sover- 
 eign. Though unwilling to exchange his English position as a 
 Cabinet Minister and Master-General of Ordnance for the troubled 
 life of a Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he at length allowed him- 
 self to be persuaded into the acceptance of that office, with a view 
 mainly to carrying the Union. He was ambitious to connect his 
 name with that great imperial measure, so often projected, but never 
 formally proposed. If he could only succeed in incorporating 
 the Irish with the British legislature, he declared he would feel 
 satisfied to retire from all other public employments; that he 
 would look on his day as finished, and his evening of ease and 
 dignity fully earned. He was not wholly unacquainted with the 
 kingdom against which he cherished these ulterior views; for he 
 had been, nearly thirty years before, when he fell under the lash 
 of Jnnivs, one of the Vice-Treasurers of Ireland. For the rest he 
 a* & man of great information, tact, and firmness; indefatigable 
 int-isineas; tolerant by temperament and conviction; but both 
 as a general and a politician it was hia lot to be identified in 
 India arid in Ireland with successes which might better have 
 been failures, and in America, with failures which were muck 
 more beneficial to mankind than his successes.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAKD. Y29 
 
 In his new sphere of action his two principal agents wer 
 Lord Clarn and Lord Castlereagh, both Irishmen ; the Chancellor, 
 the son of what in that country is called " a spoiled priest," and 
 the Secretary, the son of .an ex-volunteer and member of Flood's 
 Reform Convention. It is not possible to regard the conduct of 
 these high officials in undermining and destroying the ancient 
 national legislature of their own country, in the same light as 
 that of Lord Cornwallis, or Mr. Pitt, or Lord Grenville. It was 
 but natural, that as Englishmen, these ministers should consider 
 the empire in the first pla<"> ; that they should desire to centralize 
 all the resources and all the authority of both Islands in London ; 
 that to them the existence of an independent Parliament at Dub- 
 lin, with its ample control over the courts, the revenues, the de- 
 fences, and the trade of that kingdom, should appear an obstacle 
 and a hindrance to the unity of the imperial system. From their 
 point of view they were quite right, and had they pursued their 
 end, complete centralization, by honorable means, no stigma 
 could attach to them even in the eyes of Irishmen; but with 
 Lords Clare and Castlereagh the case was wholly different. Born 
 in the land, deriving income as well as existence from the soil, 
 elected to its parliament by the confidence of their countrymen, 
 attaining to posts of honor in consequence of such election, that 
 they should voluntarily offer their services to establish an alien 
 and a hostile policy on the rnins of their own national constitu- 
 tion, which, with all its defects, was national, and was corrigible ; 
 this betrayal of their own, at the dictate of another State, will 
 always place the names of Clare and Castlereagh on the detested 
 list of public traitors. Yet though in such treason united and 
 identified, ro two men could be more unlike in all other respects. 
 Lord Clare was fiery, dogmatic, and uncompromising to the last 
 degree ; while Lord Castlereagh was stealthy, imperturbable, in- 
 sidious, bland, and adroit. The Chancellor endeavored to carry 
 everything with a high hand, with a bold, defiant, confident 
 swagger; the Secretary, on the contrary, trusted to management, 
 expediency, and silent tenacity of purpose. The one had faith in 
 violence, the other in corruption ; they were no inapt personifi- 
 cations of the two chief agencies by which the union was effected 
 
 -Force and Fraud.
 
 }30 *OFULAB JUST OKI 07 1KBLAKD. 
 
 The Irish Parliament which had been of necessity adjourned 
 daring the greater part of the time the insurrection lasted, 
 assembled within a week of Lord Cornwallis' arrival. BotU 
 Houses voted highly loyal addresses to the king and lord-lieu- 
 tenant, the latter seconded in the Commons by Charles Kendal 
 Bushe, the college companion of Wolfe Tone I A vote of 100,000 
 to indemnify those who had suffered from the rebels subsequently 
 increased to above 1,000,000 was passed una voce ; another 
 placing on the Irish establishment certain English militia regi- 
 ments passed with equal promptitude. In July, five consecutive 
 acts a complete code of penalties and proscription were intro- 
 duced, and after various debates and delays, received the royal 
 sanction on the 6th of October, the last day of the session of 
 1798. These acts were : 1. The Amnesty Act, the exceptions to 
 which were so numerous " that few of those who took any active 
 part in the rebellion," were, according to the Cornwallis' corres- 
 pondence, "benefited by it." 2. An Act of Indemnity, by which 
 all magistrates who had " exercised a vigor beyond the law " 
 against the rebels, were protected from the legal consequence? of 
 nidi acts. 3. An Act for attainting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 
 Mr. Harvey and Mr. Grogan, against which Curran, taking " his 
 instructions from the grave," pleaded at the bar of the House of 
 Lords, but pleaded in vain. (This act was finally reversed by the 
 Imperial Parliament in 1819.) 4. An act forbidding communi- 
 cation between persons in Ireland and those enumerated in the 
 Banishment Act, and making the return to Ireland after sentence 
 of Banishment by a court-mai tial a transportable felony. 5. An 
 ftct to compel fifty -one persons therein named to surrender before 
 1st of December, 1798, under pain of high treason. Among the 
 fifty-one were the principal refugees at Paris and Hamburg: 
 Tone, Lewines, Tandy, Deane Swift, Major Plunkett, Anthony 
 McCunn, Harvey Morrcs, etc. On the same day in which the 
 session terminated, and the royal sanction was given to these 
 acts, the name of Henry Grattan was, a significant coincidence, 
 formally struck, by the king's commands, from the roll of the 
 Irish Privy Council 1 
 
 This legislation of the session of 1798, was fatal to the Irish 
 Parliament. The partisans of the Union, who had used the re-
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. T3I 
 
 Oelliou to discredit the constitution, now used the Parliament t 
 discredit itself. Under the influence of a fierce reactionary 
 spirit, when all merciful and moderate councils were denounced 
 as treasonable, it was not difficult to procure the passage of 
 sweeping measures of proscription. But with their passage 
 vanished the former popularity of the domestic legislature. And 
 what followed ? The constitution of '82 could only be upheld in 
 the hearts of the people ; and, with all its defects, it had been 
 popular before the sudden spread of French revolutionary 
 notions distracted aud dissipated the public opinion which had 
 grown up within the era of independence. To make the once 
 cherished authority, which liberated trade in "J 9, and half eman- 
 cipated the Catholics in '93, the last executioner of the vengeance 
 of the Castle against the people, was to place a gulf between it 
 and the affections of that people in the day of trial. To make 
 the anti-unionists in Parliament, such as the speaker, Sir Law- 
 rence Parsons, Plunkett, Ponsonby and Bushe, personally re- 
 sponsible for this vindictive code, was to disarm them of the 
 power, aad almost of the right, to call on the people whom they 
 turned over, bound hand and foot, to the mercy of the minister 
 in '98, to aid them against the machinations of that same min- 
 ister in '99. The last months of the year were marked besides 
 by events already referred to, and by negotiations incessantly 
 carried on, both in England and Ireland, in favor of the Union. 
 Members of both Huses were personally courted and canvassed 
 by the prime minister, the secretaries of state, the viceroy and 
 the Irish secretary. Titles, pensions and offices were freely 
 promised. Vast sums of secret service money, afterwards added 
 as a charge to the public debt of Ireland, were remitted from 
 Whitehall. An army of pamphleteers marshalled by under- 
 secretary Cooke, and confidentially directed by the able but 
 ami national Bishop of Heath, (Dr. Beirne,) and by Lord 
 Castlereagh personally, plied tl .eir pens in favor of " the con- 
 solidation of the empire." The lord chancellor, the chief secre- 
 tary and Mr. Beresford, made journeys to England, to assist th 
 prime minister with their local information, and to receive his 
 imperial confidence in return. The Orangemen were neutralized 
 by securing a majority of their leaders ; the Catholics, by th
 
 32 POPULAR HISTORY OF HBL1ND. 
 
 establishment of familiar communication with the bishops. Th* 
 Ticeroy complimented Dr. Troy at Dublin; the Duke of Port- 
 land lavished personal attentions on Dr. Moylan, in England. 
 The Protestant clergy were satisfied with the assurance that the 
 maintenance of their establishment would be made a fundamental 
 article of the Union, while the Catholic bishops were given to 
 understand that complete Emancipation would be one of the first 
 measures submitted to the Imperial Parliament The oligarchy 
 were to be indemnified for their boroughs, while the advocates of 
 reform were shown how hopeless it was to expect a House consti- 
 tuted of their nominees, ever to enlarge or amend its own exclu- 
 sive constitution. Thus for every description of people a particular 
 Bet of appeals and arguments was found, and for those who discard* 
 ed the affectation of reasoning on the surrender of their national 
 existence, there wore the more convincing arguments of titles, em- 
 -ployments, and direct pecuniary purchase. At the close of the 
 year of the rebellion, Lord Cornwallis was able to report to Mr. 
 Pitt that the prospects of carrying the measure were better than 
 could have been expected, and on this report he was authorized 
 to open the matter formally to Parliament in his speech at the 
 opening of the following session. 
 
 On the 2'2d of January, 1799, the Irish legislature met under 
 circumstances of great interest and excitement The city of 
 Dublin, always keenly alive to its metropolitan interests, sent it* 
 eager thousands by every avenue, towards College Green. The 
 viceroy went down to the Houses, with a more than ordinary 
 guard, and being seated on the throne in the House of Lords, the 
 CoiHiuorvs were summoned to the bar. The House was considered 
 a full one, 217 members being present The viceregal speech 
 congratulated both Itotwes on the suppression of the late rebel- 
 lion, on the defeat of Bompart's squadron, and the recent French 
 Yictorie.s af Lord Nelson; then came, amid profound expectation, 
 this concluding sentence: "The unremitting industry," said the 
 vicero 1 '. " with which our enemies persevere in their avowed de- 
 sign of endeav oring to effect a separation of this kingdom from 
 Great Britain, must have engaged your attention, and his majesty 
 commands me to express htb anxious hope that thin consideration, 
 joined to the sentiment of mutual affuotion and common intere*^
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 733 
 
 toy dispose the parliaments in both kingdoms to provide the 
 most effectual means of maintaining and improving a connection 
 essential to their common security, and of consolidating, as far a 
 possible, into one firm and lasting fabric, the strength, the power 
 and the resources of the British empirfc." On the paragraph of 
 the address, reechoing this sentiment, which was carried by a 
 large majority in the Lords, a debate ensued in the Commons 
 which lasted till one o'clock of the following day, above twenty 
 consecutive hours. Against the suggestion of a Union spoke 
 Ponsonby, Parsons, Fitzgerald, Barrington, Plunkett, Lee, O'Don- 
 nell and Bushe ; in its favor, Lord Castlereagh, the Knight of 
 Kerry, Corry, Fox, Osborne, Duigenan, and some other members 
 little known. The galleries and lobbies were crowded all night 
 by the first people of the city, of both sexes, and when the 
 division was being taken, the most intense anxiety was mani- 
 fested, within doors and without. At length the tellers made 
 their report to the speaker, himself an ardent anti-Unionist, and 
 it was announced that the numbers were "for the address 105, 
 for the amendment 106," so the paragraph in favor of " consoli- 
 dating the empire " was lost by one vote 1 Tne remainder of the 
 address tainted with the association of the expunged paragraph, 
 was barely carried by 10V to 105. Mr. Ponsonby had attempted 
 to follow his victory by a solemn pledge binding the majority 
 never again to entertain the question, but to this several members 
 objected and the motion was withdrawn. The ministry found 
 some consolation in this withdrawal, which they characterized aa 
 " a retreat after a victory," but to tbe public at large, unused to 
 place much stress on the minor tactics of debate, nothing appeared 
 but the broad, general fact, that the first overture for a Union had 
 been rejected. It was a day of immense rejoicing in Dublin ; the 
 leading anti Unionists were escorted in triumph to their homes, 
 while the Unionists were protected by strong military esooi'ts from 
 the popular indignation. At night the city was illuminated, and 
 the patrols were doubled as a protection to the obnoxious minority. 
 Mr. Ponsonby's amendment, affirmed by the House of Commons, 
 was in these words : " That the House would be ready to enter 
 Into any measure short of surrendering their free, resident and 
 independent legislature as established in 1 782." This was thq
 
 734 POPULAR insroitr Or 
 
 iMmatun ji the great party which rallied in January, 1799, to 
 the defence of the established constitution of their country. Th 
 arguments with which they sustained their position were few, 
 bold, and intelligible to every capacity. There was the argument 
 from Ireland's geographical situation, and the policy incident to 
 it; the historical argument; the argument for a resident gentry 
 occupied and retained in the country by their public duties-; the 
 commercial argument; the revenue argument; but above all, the 
 argument of the incompetency of Parliament to put an end to ita 
 own existence. " Yourselves," exclaimed the eloquent Plunkett, 
 "you may extinguish, but Parliament you cannot extinguish. It 
 is enthroned in the hearts of the people it is enshrined in the 
 sanctuary of the constitution it is as immortal as the island that 
 protects it. As well might the frantic suicide imagine that the 
 act which destroys his miserable body should also extinguish his 
 eternal soul. Again, therefore, I warn you. Do not dare to lay 
 your hands on the Constitution it is above your powers I * 
 
 These arguments were combatted on the grounds that the isl- 
 ands were already united under one crown that that species of 
 union was uncertain and precarious that the Irish Parliament 
 was never in reality a national legislature ; that it existed only 
 as an instrument of class legislation ; that the Union would bene- 
 fit Ireland materially as it had benefited Scotland; that she 
 would come in for a full share of imperial honors, expenditure 
 and trade ; that such a Union would discourage all future hostile 
 attempts by France or any other foreign power against the con- 
 nection, and other similar arguments. But the division which 
 followed the first introduction of the subject showed clearly to 
 the Unionists that they could not hope to succeed with the House 
 of Commons as then constituted ; that more time and more prepa- 
 ration were necessary. A ccordingly, Lord Castlereagh was autho- 
 rized in March, to state formally in his place, that it was rot the 
 intention of the government to bring up the question again dur- 
 ing that session ; an announcement which was hailed with a new 
 outburst of rejoicing in the city. 
 
 But thos) who imagined the measure was abandoned were 
 adly deceived. Steps were immediately taken by the Castle to 
 deplete the House of its majority, and to supply their places bf-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 735 
 
 fore another session with forty or fifty new members, who would 
 be entirely at the beck of the chief secretary. With this view, 
 thirty-two new county judgeships were created ; a great number 
 of additional inspectorships and commissioners were also placed 
 at the Minister's disposal ; thirteen members had peerages for 
 themselves or for their wi/cs, with remainder to their cluldren, 
 and nineteen others were presented to various lucrative offices. 
 The " Escheatopship of Munstcr " a sort of Chiltern Hundreds 
 office was accepted by those who agreed to withdraw from op- 
 position, for such considerations, but who could not be got ta 
 reverse their votes. By these means, and a lavish expenditure 
 of secret service money, it was hoped that Mr. Pitt's stipulated 
 majority of " not less than fifty" could be secured during the year. 
 The other events of the session of '99, though interesting in 
 themselves, are of little importance compared to the union de- 
 bates. In the English Parliament, which met on the same day 
 as the Irish, a paragraph identical with that employed by Lord 
 Cornwallis in introducing the subject of the Union, was inserted 
 in the king's speech. To this paragraph, repeated in the ad- 
 dress, an amendment was moved by the celebrated Richard 
 Brinsley Sheridan, and resisted with an eloquence scarcely in- 
 ferior to his own, by his former protege and countryman, George 
 Canning. Canning, like Sheridan, had sprung from a line of 
 Irish literateurs and actors ; he had much of the wit and genius 
 of his illustrious friend, with more worldly wisdom, and a higher 
 sentiment of personal pride. In very early life, distinguished by 
 great oratorical talents, he had deliberately attached himself tr 
 Mr. Pitt, while Sheridan remained steadfast to the last, in the 
 ranks of the Whig or liberal party. For the land of their ances- 
 tors both had, at bottom, very warm, good wishes ; but Canning 
 looked down on her politics from the heights of empire, while 
 Sheridan felt for her honor and her interests with the affection of 
 an expatriated son. We can well credk his statement to Grate 
 tan, years afterwards, when referring to his persistent opposition 
 to the Union, he said, he would " have waded in blood to hia 
 knees," to preserve the Constitution of Ireland. In taking thia 
 course he had with him a few eminent friends. General Fitz- 
 patrick, the former Irish Secretary Mr. Tierney, Mr. Hobhouse,
 
 730 POPTLAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Dr. Lawrerce, the executor of Edmund Burke, and Mr. afterwards 
 Earl Grey. Throughout the entire discussion these just-minded 
 Englishmen stood boldly forward for the rights of Ireland, and 
 this highly honorable conduct was long remembered as one of 
 I.-eland's real obligations to the Whig party. 
 
 The resolutions intended to i^rve as "the basis of union," were 
 introduced by Mr. Pitt, on the 21st of January, and after anothet 
 powerful speech in opposition, from Mr. Grey, who was ably sus- 
 tained by Mr. Sheridan, Dr. Lawrence, and some twenty others, 
 were put and carried. The following are the resolutions: 
 
 1st. " In order to promote and secure the essential interests of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the strength, power, 
 and resources of the British empire, it will be advisable to con- 
 cur in such measures as may tend to unite the two kingdoms of 
 Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such manner, and 
 on such terms and conditions as may be established by acts of 
 the respective parliaments of his majesty's said kingdoms. 
 
 2d. " It would be fit to propose as the first article, to serve as 
 a basis of the said ui.ion, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain 
 and Ireland shall, on a day to be agreed upon, be united into one 
 kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland. 
 
 3d. " For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the 
 succession to the monarchy and the imperial crown of the said 
 united kingdom, shall continue limited and settled, in the same 
 manner as the imperial crown of the said Great Britain and Ire- 
 land now stands limited and settled, according to the existing 
 law, and to the terms of the union between England and Scotland. 
 
 4th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose that the 
 said united kingdom be represented in one and the same parlia- 
 ment, to be styled the parliament of the United Kingdom of great 
 Britain and Iraland ; and that such a number of lords, spiritual 
 and temporal, and such a number of members of the house of 
 commons, as shall be hereafter agreed upon by the acts of the 
 respective parliaments as aforesaid, shall sit and vote in the said 
 pailiament on tt 3 part of Ireland, and shall be summoned, chosen, 
 nd returned, in such manner as shall be fixed by an act of the 
 parliament ot Ireland previous to the said union ; and that every
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 0* IRELAHD. 8 
 
 nsrrber hereafter to sit and vote in the said parliament of the 
 United Kingdom sh;>ll, until the said parliament shall otherwise 
 provide, take, and subscribe the said oaths, and make the same 
 declarations as are required by law to be taken, subscribed, and 
 made by the members of the parliaments of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 6th. " For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that 
 the churches of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, worship, 
 discipline, and government thereof, shall be preserved as now by 
 law established. 
 
 6tK " For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that hia 
 majesty's subjects in Ireland shall at all times be entitled to the 
 same privileges, and be on the same footing in respect of trade 
 and navigation in all ports and places belonging to Great Britain, 
 and in all cases with respect to which treaties shall be made by 
 his majesty, his heirs, or successors, with any foreign power, as 
 his majesty's subjects in Great Britain ; that no duty shall be inv 
 posed on the import or export between Great Britain and Ire- 
 land, of any articles now duty free, and that on other articles 
 there shall be established, for a time to be limited, such a moderate 
 rate of equal duties as shall, previous to the union, be agreed 
 upon and approved by the respective parliaments, subject, after 
 '.he expiration of such limited time, to be diminished equally 
 with respect to both kingdoms, but in no caso to be increased ; 
 that all articles, which may at any time hereafter be imported 
 into Great Britain from foreign parts shall be importable through 
 either kingdom into the other, subject to the like duties and regu- 
 lations, as if the same were imported directly from foreign parts : 
 that where any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of 
 either kingdom, are subject to an internal duty in one kingdom, 
 such counter-vailing duties (over and above any duties on import 
 to be fixed as aforesaid) shall be imposed as shall be necessary 
 to prevent any inequality in that respect ; and that all matters of 
 trade and commerce, other than the foregoing, and than such 
 others as may before the union be specially agreed upon for the 
 due encouragement of the agriculture and manufactures of the 
 respective kingdoms, shall remain to be regulated from time to 
 time by the united parliament. 
 62*
 
 ^38 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 7th. " For the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that tht 
 charge arising from the payment of the interests or sinking fund 
 for the reduction of the principal of the debt incurred n eithel 
 kingdom before the union, shall continue to be separatel} lefrayed 
 by Great Britain and Ireland respectively; that, for a number of 
 years to be limited, the future ordinary exjienses of the United 
 Kingdom, in peace or war, shall be defrayed by Great Britain and 
 Ireland jointly, according to such proportions as shall be estab- 
 lished by the respe:tive parliaments previous to the union; and 
 that, after the expiration of the time to be BO limited, the pro- 
 portion shall not be liable to be varied, except according to such 
 rates and principles as shall be in like manner agreed upon pre- 
 vious to the union. 
 
 8th. " For the like purpose, that all laws in force at the time 
 of the union, and all the courts of civil or ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law 
 established within the same, subject only to such alterations or 
 regulations from time to time as circumstances may appear to the 
 parliament of the United Kingdom to require." 
 
 Mr. Pitt, on the passage of these resolutions, proposed an ad- 
 dress, stating that the commons had proceeded with the utmost 
 attention to the consideration of the important objects recom- 
 mended in the royal message, that they entertained a firm per- 
 suasion of the probable benefits of a complete and entire union 
 between Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal 
 principles ; that they were therefore induced to lay before his 
 majesty such propositions as appeared to them to be best cal- 
 culated to form the basis of such a settlement, leaving it to his 
 wisdom in due time and in proper manner, to communicate thei. 
 K> the lords and commons of Ireland, with whom they would b 
 at all times ready to concur in all such measures as might be 
 found most conducive to the accomplishment of that great and 
 alntary work. 
 
 On the 19th of March, Lord Grenville introduced the same 
 resolutions in the Lords, where they were passed after a E'irited 
 opposition speech from Lord Holland, and the basis, so far ns tha 
 King, Lords, and Commons of England were concerned, was laid. 
 In proroguing the Irish houses on the 1st of June, Loi i Corn-
 
 HI8TOKT OF IRELAND. >t 
 
 wallSfl alluded to these resolutions, and the anxiety cf the king, aa 
 the common father of his people, to see both kingdoms united in 
 the enjoyment of the blessings of a free constitution. 
 
 This prorogation was originally till August, but in August 
 it was extended till January, 1800. In this long interval of eight 
 months, the two great parties, the Unionists and anti-Unionists 
 were incessantly employed, through the press, in social inter- 
 course, in the grand jury room, in county and city meetings, by 
 correspondence, petitions, addresses, each pushing forxard its 
 own views with all the zeal and warmth of men who felt that oiv 
 one side they were laboring for the country, on the other for the 
 empire. Two incidents of this interval were deeply felt in the 
 patriot ranks, the death at an advanced age of the venerable 
 Charlemont, the best member of his order Ireland had ever 
 known, and the return to the kingdom and to public life of Lord 
 Charlemont's early friend and protege, Henry Grattan. He had 
 spent above a year in England, chiefly in Wales and the Isle of 
 Wight. His health all this time had been wretched; his spirits 
 low and despondent, and serious fears were at some moments 
 entertained for his life. He had been forbidden to read or write, 
 or to hear the exciting news of the day. Soothed and cheered 
 by that admirable won? an, whom Providence had given him, he 
 passed the crisis, but he returned to breathe his native air, 
 greatly enfeebled in body, and sorely afflicted in mind. The 
 charge of theatrical affectation of illness has been brought against 
 Grattan by the Unionists, against Grattan who, as to his per- 
 onal habits, was simplicity itself! It is a charge undeserving 
 of serious contradiction. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IMH 8K80IOX OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. THE LEC-;8LATI7I VX109 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 WHEW the Irish Parliament met for the last time, on the 18th 
 of January, 1800, the position of the Union question rtood thiu;
 
 40 POPULAR BISTORT OV IRELAND. 
 
 27 new Peers had been added to the House of Lords where tta 
 Castle might therefore reckon with safety on a majority of thr 
 vo one. Of the Lords spiritual, only Dr. Marlay of Waterford, an J 
 Dr. Dixon of Down and Connor, had the courage to side with theii 
 country against their order. In the Commons there was an infn- 
 won of eome 60 new borough members, many of them general 
 officers, such as Needham, and Packenham, all of them nominees 
 of the Castle, except Mr. Saurin returned for Blessington, and 
 Mr. G rattan, at the last moment, for Wicklow. The great con- 
 stitutional body of the bar had, at a general meeting, the previous 
 December, declared against the measure by 162 to 33. Another 
 powerful body, the bankers, had petitioned against It, ir the inter- 
 est of the public credit. The Catholic bishops in their annual 
 meeting had taken up a position of neutrality as a body, but 
 under the artful management of Lord Castlereagh, the Archbishops 
 of Dublin and Tuam, with the Bishop of Cork, and some others, 
 were actively employed in counteracting anti-Union movements 
 among the people. Although the vast majority of that people 
 had too much reason to be disgusted and discontented with the 
 legislation of the previous three years, above 700,000 of them 
 petitioned against the measure, while all the signatures which 
 could be obtained in ite favor, by the use of every means at the 
 command of the Castle, did not much exceed 7,000. 
 
 The Houses were opened on the 15th of January. The vice- 
 roy not going down, his message was read in the Lords, by th 
 Chancellor, and in the Commons, by the Chief Secretary. It did 
 not directly refer to the basis laid down in England, nor to the 
 subject matter itself ; but the leaders of the Castle party in both 
 houses, took care to supply the deficiency. In the Lords, proxies 
 included, Lord Clare bad 75 to 26, for his Union address ; in the 
 Commons, Lord Castlercagh congratulated the country on the 
 improvement which had taken place in public opinion, since the 
 former session. He briefly sketched his plan of Union, which, 
 while embracing the main propositions of Mr. Pitt, secured the 
 Church establishment, bid high for the commercial interests, hinted 
 darkly of emancipation to the Catholics, and gave the proprietor* 
 of boroughs to understand that their interest 5n those cvmvenJenl 
 onBtitueni'ies would be capitaliaed, and ft good round sum givn
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^41 
 
 to buy out their perpetual patronage. In amendment to the ad- 
 dress, Sir Lawrence Parsons moved, seconded by Mr. Savage of 
 Down, that the House would maintain intact the Constitution of 
 '82, and the debate proceeded on this motion. Ponsonby replied 
 to Castlereagh ; Plunkett and Bushe were answered by the future 
 judges, St. George Daly and Luke Fox ; Toler contributed his farce, 
 and Dr. Duigenan his fanaticism. Through the long hours of 
 the winter's night the eloquent war was vigorously maintained. 
 One who was himself a distinguished actor in the struggle, (Sir 
 Jonah Barrington,) has thus described it : " Every mind " he says 
 " was at its stretch, every talent was in its vigor : it was a mo- 
 mentous trial ; and never was so general and so deep a sensation 
 felt in any country. Numerous British noblemen and commoner! 
 were^ present at that and the succeeding debate, and they expressed 
 opinions of Irish eloquence which they had never before con- 
 ceived, nor ever after had an opportunity of appreciating. Every 
 man on that night seemed to be inspired by the subject. Speeches 
 more replete with talent and energy, on both sides, never were 
 heard in the Irish Senate ; it was a vital subject. The sublime, 
 the eloquent, the figurative orator, the plain, the connected, the 
 metaphysical reasoner, the classical, the learned, and the solemn 
 declaimer, in a succession of speeches so full of energy and en- 
 thusiasm, so interesting in their nature, so important in their con- 
 sequence, created a variety of sensations even in the bosom of a 
 stranger, and could scarcely fail of exciting some sympathy with 
 m nation which was doomed to close for ever that school of elo- 
 quence which had so long given character and celebrity to Irish 
 talent." 
 
 At the early dawn, a special messenger from Wicklow, juct 
 arrived in town, roused Henry Grattan from his bed. He had 
 been elected the previeus night for the borough of Wicklow, 
 (which cost him 2,400 sterling), and this was the bearer of the 
 returning officer's certificate. His friends, weak and feeble as he 
 was, wished him to go down to the House, and his heroic wife 
 seconded their appeals. It was seven o'clock in the morning of 
 the 16th when he reached College Green, the scene of his first 
 triumphs twenty years before. Mr. Egan, one of the staunches! 
 nti-Unionists, was at, the moment, on some rumor, probably, f
 
 ^42 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his approach, apostrophising warmly tLe father of the Cons*itu 
 tion of '82, when that striking apparition appeared at the bar. 
 Worn and emaciated beyond description, h3 appeared leaning on 
 two of his friends, Arthur Moore and W. B. Pousonby. He wore 
 his volunteer uniform, blue with red facings, and advanced to the 
 table, where he removed his cocked hat, bowed to the speaker, 
 and took the oaths. After Mr. Egan had concluded, he begged 
 pormission from his seat beside Plunkett, to address the House 
 sitting, which was granted, and then in a discourse of two houra 
 duration, full of his ancient fire and vigor, he asserted once again, 
 by the divine right of intellect, his title to be considered the first 
 Commoner of Ireland. Gifted men were not rare in that assembly ; 
 but the inspiration of the heart, the uncontrollable utterance of 
 a supreme spirit, not less than the extraordinary faculty of con- 
 densation, in which, perhaps, he has never had a superior in our 
 language, gave the Grattan of 1800 the same preeminence among 
 his cotemporaries, that wae conceded to the Grattan of 1782. 
 After eighteen hours discussion the division was taken, when the 
 result of the long recess was clearly seen ; for the amendment 
 there appeared 96, for the address 188 members. The Union major- 
 ity, therefore, was 42. It was apparent from that moment that 
 the representation of the people in Parliament had been effectu- 
 ally corrupted ; that that assembly was no longer the safeguard 
 of the liberties of the people. Other ministerial majorities con- 
 firmed this impression. A measure to enable 10,000 of the Irish 
 militia to enter the regular army, and to substitute English militia 
 in their stead, followed ; an inquiry into outrages committed by 
 the sheriff and military in King's county, was voted down ; a 
 similar motion somewhat later, in relation to officials in Tipper- 
 ary met the same fate. On the 6th of February, a formal mes- 
 sago I'roposing a basis of Union was received from his Excellency, 
 ind debated for twenty consecutive hours from 4 o'clock of on 
 day, tih 12 of the next Grattan, Plunkett, Parnell, Ponsonby, 
 Saurin, were, as always, eloquent and able, but again the divisirn 
 told for the minister, 160 to 117 majority 48. On the 17th of 
 February, the House went inU committee on the proposed ai t idea 
 of Union, and the Speaker (John Foster) being now on the floor, 
 ad'lrossed the House with great ability in review of Mr. Pitt'i
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELJLNl). 748 
 
 recent Union speech, which he designated " a paltry production." 
 But again, a majority mustered at the nod of the minister 161 to 
 140 a few not fully committed showing some last faint spark of 
 independence. It was on this occasion that Mr. Corry, Chancel- 
 lor of the Exchequer, member for Newry, made for the third or 
 fourth time that session, an attack on Grattan which brought out, 
 on the instant, that famous " phillipic against Corry," unequalled 
 hi our language, for its well-snppressed passion, and finely con- 
 densed denunciation. A duel followed, as soon as there was suffi- 
 cient light ; the Chanceilor was wounded, after which the Castle- 
 reagh tactics of "fighting down the opposition," received an 
 immediate and lasting check. 
 
 Throughout the months of February and March, with an occasional 
 adjournment, the Constitutional battle was fought, on every point 
 permitted by the forms of the House. On the 25th of March, 
 the Committee, after another powerful speech from the Speaker, 
 finally reported the resolutions which were passed by 154 to 107 
 a majority of 47. The Houses then adjourned for six weeks to 
 allow time for corresponding action to be taken in England. 
 There, there was little difficulty in carrying the measure. In the 
 Upper House, Lords Derby, Holland, and King only opposed it ; 
 in the Lower, Sheridan, Tierney, Grey, and Lawrence mustered 
 on a division, 30 votes against Pitt's 206. On the 21st of May, 
 in the Irish Commons, Lord Castlereagh obtained leave to bring 
 in the Union Bill by 160 to 100 ; on the 7th of June the final 
 passage of the measure was effected. That closing scene has been 
 often described, but never so graphically, as by the diamond pen 
 of Jonah Barrington. 
 
 " The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable. They 
 were no longer crowded with those who had been accustomed to 
 witness the eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted 
 assembly. A monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through 
 the benches ; scarcely a word was exchanged amongst the mem- 
 bers ; nobody seemed at ease ; no cheerfulness was apparent ; and 
 the ordinary business, for a short time, proceeded in the usual 
 manner . 
 
 * At length, the expected moment arrived: the order of th 
 dy for ,he third reading of the bill for a ' legislative union he-
 
 44 POPULAR msroRr OJP 
 
 tween Great Britain and Ireland,' was moved by Lord Castle 
 reagli. Uuyaried, tauie, cold-blooded, the words seemed frozen 
 as they issued from his lips ; and, as if a simple citizen of the 
 world, he seemed to have no sensation on the subject. 
 
 " At that moment he had no country, no God, but his ambi 
 tion. He made his motion, and resumed his seat, with the utmost 
 composure aud indifference. 
 
 " Confused murmurs again ran through the house. It was visi- 
 bly affected. Every character, in a moment, seemed involun- 
 tarily rushing to its index some pale, some flushed, some agi- 
 tated there were few countenances to which the heart did not 
 despatch some messenger. Several members withdrew before 
 the question could be repeated, and an awful, momentary silence 
 succeeded their departure. The speaker rose slowly from that 
 chair which had been the proud source of his honors and of his 
 high character. For a moment he resumed his seat, but the 
 strength of his mind sustained him in his duty, though his strug- 
 gle was apparent. With that dignity which never failed to sig- 
 nalize his official actions, he held up the bill for a moment in 
 silence. He looked steadily around him on the last agony of the 
 expiring parliament. He at length repeated, in an emphatic 
 tone, ' As many as are of opinion that THIS BILL do pass, say ay.' 
 The affirmative was languid, but indisputable. Another momen- 
 tary pause ensued. Again his lips seemed to decline their office. 
 At length, with an eye averted from the object he hated, he pro- 
 claimed, with a subdued voice, ' The AYES have it.' The fatal sen- 
 tence was now pronounced. For an instant he stood statue-like ; 
 then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the bill upon the table, 
 and sank into his chair with an exhausted spirit An independent 
 country was thus degraded into a province. Ireland, as a nation, 
 was extinguished." 
 
 The ti nal division in the Commons was 1 68 to 88, nearly 60 
 members absenting themselves, and in the Lords, 76 to 17. In 
 England all the stages were passed in July, and on the 2d of 
 August, the anniversary of the accession of the House of Bruns- 
 wick, the royal assent was given to the legislation, which dcolarcd 
 tho kingdom* of Orat Britain and Ireland, one nnd inseparable J 
 
 By the provisions of this statute, compact, or treaty , the SOT
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 45 
 
 ereignty of the United Kingdom was to follow the order of the 
 Act of Succession; the Irish peerage was to be reduced by the 
 filling of one vacancy for every three de.aths, to the number of 
 one hundred'; from among these twenty-eight representative peers 
 were to be elected for life, and four spiritual Icrds to sit in suc- 
 cession. The number of Irish representatives in the Imperial 
 Parliament was fixed at one hundred (increased to one hundred 
 and five) ; the churches of England and Ireland were united like 
 the kingdoms, and declared to be one in doctrine and discipline. 
 The debt of Ireland, which was less than 4,000,000 in 1797, in- 
 creased to 14,000,000 in '99, and had risen to nearly 17,000,000 
 in 1801, was to be alone chargeable to Ireland, whose propor- 
 tionate share of general taxation was then estimated at 2-17tha 
 of that of the United Kingdom. The Courts of Law, the Privy 
 Council, and the Viceroyalty, were to remain at Dublin, the ceno- 
 taph and the shadows of departed nationality. 
 
 On the 1st day of January, 1801, in accordance with this great 
 Constitutional change, a new imperial standard was run up on 
 London Tower, Edinburgh Castle, and Dublin Castle. It was 
 formed of the three crosses of St. Patrick, Saint Andrew, and 
 Saint George, and is that popularly known to us as " the Union 
 Jack." The jleur de lis and the word " France," were struck from 
 the royal title, which was settled by proclamation to consist 
 henceforth of the words Dei Gratia, Britanniarum Rex, Fidei 
 Defensor. 
 
 The foul means by which this counter revolution was accom- 
 plished have, perhaps, been already sufficiently indicated. It 
 may be necessary, however, in order to account for the continued 
 hostility of the Irish people to the measure, after more than sixty 
 years' experience of its results, to recapitulate them very briefly. 
 Of all who voted for the Union, in both houses, it was said that 
 only six or seven were known to have done so on conviction. 
 Great borough proprietors, like Lord Ely and Lord Shannon, 
 received as much as 45,000 sterling in " compensation " for their 
 loss of patronage ; while proprietors of single seats received 
 15,000. That fhe majority was avowedly purchased, in both 
 hoi]=*r>?. 's no longer matter <;f inference, nay, tint pome of them 
 trere purchased twice over is now well known. Lord Carysfort, 
 63
 
 746 ropcLAK ins i out or IRBLAND. 
 
 an active partizan of the measure, writing in February, 1800, U 
 his friend the Marquis of Buckingham, frankly says : " The ma- 
 jority, which has been bought at an enormous price, must be 
 b night over again, perhaps more than once, before all the de- 
 tails can be gone through." His lordship himself, and the order 
 to which he belonged, and those who aspired to enter it, were, it 
 must be added, among the most insatiable of these purchased 
 supporters. The Dublin Gazette for July, 1800, announced not 
 less than sixteen new peerages, and the same publication for the 
 last week of the year, contained a fresh list of twenty -six others. 
 Forty two creations in six months was a stretch of prerogative 
 far beyond the most arbitrary of the Stuarts or Tudors, and 
 forms one, not of the least unanswerable evidences, of the utterly 
 corrupt considerations which secured the support of the Irish 
 majority in both houses. 
 
 It was impossible that a people like the Irish, disinterested and 
 unselfish to a fault, should ever come to respect a compact 
 brought about by such means and influences as these. Had, 
 however, the Union, rile as were the means by which it was 
 accomplished, proved to the real benefit of the country had 
 equal civil and religious rights been freely and at once extended 
 to the people of the lesser kingdom there is no reason to doubt 
 that the measure would have become popular in time, and the 
 vices of the old system be better remembered than its benefits, 
 real or imaginary. But the Union was never utilized for Ireland; 
 it proved in reality what Samuel Johnson had predicted, when 
 spoken of in his day : " Do not unite with us, sir," said the gruff 
 old moralist to an Irish acquaintance ; " it would be the union of 
 the shark with his prey ; we should unite with you only to des- 
 troy you." 
 
 In glancing backward over the long political connexion of Ire- 
 Vid and England we mark four great epochs. The Anglo-Norman 
 Livasion in 1169; the statute of Kilkenny decreeing eternal 
 wparation between the races, "the English palp" and -'the Irish 
 enemy," 1367; the Union of the Crowns, in 1541, and the Legis- 
 lative Union, in 1801 One more cardinal event remains to b 
 recorded, the Emancipation of the Catholics, in 1829.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. Y47 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 FROM THE UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 AND IRELAND TO THE EMANCIPATION 
 OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 ATTER THE UNION DEATH OF LORD GtARE. ROBERT MMETT > 
 
 EMEUTE. 
 
 THE plan of this brief compendium of Irish history obliges 
 us to sketch for some years farther on, the political and religious 
 annals of the Irish people. Having described in what manner 
 their distinctive political nationality was at length lost, it only 
 remains to show how their religious liberties were finally re- 
 covered. 
 
 The first striking effect of the Union was to introduce Catholic 
 Emancipation into the category of imperial difficulties, and to 
 assign it the very first place on the list. By a singular retribu- 
 tion, the Pitt administration with its 200 of a House of Commons 
 majority, its absolute control of the Lords, and its seventeen 
 years' prescription in its favor, fell upon this very question, after 
 they had used it to carry the Union, within a few weeks of the 
 consummation of that Union. The cause of this crisis was the 
 invincible obstinacy of the king, who had taken into his head, at 
 the time of Lord Fitz\villiam's recall from Ireland, that his coro- 
 nation oath bound him in conscience to resist the Cafliolic claims. 
 The suggestion of this obstacle was originally Lord Clare's ; and 
 th ough Lord Kenyon and Lord Stowell had declared it unfounded 
 in law, Lord Loughborough and Lord Eldon were unfortunately 
 of a different opinion. With George III., the idea became
 
 748 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAIH). 
 
 mor omaniac certainty, and there is no reason to doubt that h 
 woijd have preferred abdication to it* abandonment 
 
 The king was not for several months aware how far his prime 
 minister had gone on the Catholic question in Ireland. But those 
 who were wear}- of Pitt's ascendancy, were, of course, interested 
 hi giving him this important information. The minister himself, 
 wrapped in his austere self-reliance, did not volunteer explana- 
 tions even to his sovereign, and the king broke silence very un- 
 expectedly a few days after the first meeting ot the Imperial Par- 
 liament (January 22d, 1801). Stepping up to Mr. Dundas at the 
 levee, he began in his usual manner, "What's this? what's this? 
 this, that this young Lord (Castlereagh) has brought over from 
 Ireland to throw at my head? The most Jacobinical thing I 
 ever heard of ! Any man who proposes such a thing is my per- 
 sonal enemy." Mr. Dundas replied respectfully but firmly, and 
 immediately communicated the conversation to Mr. Pitt The 
 king's remarks had been overheard by the bystanders, so that 
 either the minister or the sovereign had now to give way. Pitt, 
 at first, was resolute ; the king then offered to impose silence on 
 himself as regarded the whole subject, provided Mr. Pitt would 
 agree to do likewise, but the haughty minister refused, and ten- 
 dered his resignation. On the 5th of February, within five weeks 
 of the consummation of the Union, this tender was most reluct- 
 antly and regretfully accepted. Lord Grenville, Mr. Dundas, aud 
 others of his principal colleagues went out of office with him ; 
 Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh following their example. 
 Of the new cabinet, Addington, the speaker, was premier, with 
 Lord Ilardwicke as lord-lieutenant of Ireland. By the enemiei 
 of Pitt this was looked upon as a mere administration ad interim ; 
 as a concerted arrangement to enable him to evade an unfavor- 
 able oeace that of Amiens which he saw coming ; but it is 
 only fair to say, that the private letters of the period, since pub- 
 li>hed, do not sanction any such imputation. It is, however, to 
 be observed, per contra, that three weeks after his formal resigna- 
 tion, lie had no hesitation in assuring the king, who had just re- 
 covered from one of his attack* brought on by this crisis, that h 
 would never attain ur^e the Catholic claims on hfo mnjcsty't 
 notice. On this understanding he returned to office in the spring
 
 POPULAR HISTO IT OF IRELAND. 749 
 
 rf 1804 ; to this compact he adhered till his death, in January 
 1806. 
 
 In Irelar d, the events immediately consequent upon the Union, 
 ware such as might have been expected. Many of those who had 
 been instrument*?! in carrying it, were disappointed and discon- 
 tent with their new situation in the empire. Of these, the most 
 conspicuous and the least to be pitied, was Lord Clare. That 
 haughty, domineering spirit, accustomed to dictate with almost 
 absolute power to the privy councillors and peerage of Ireland, 
 experienced nothing but mortification in the Imperial House of 
 Lords. The part he hoped to play on that wider stage he found 
 impossible to assume ; he confronted there in the aged Thurlow 
 and the astute Loughborough, law lords as absolute as himself, 
 who soon made him conscious that, though a main agent of the 
 Union, he was only a stranger in the united legislature. The 
 Duke of Bedford reminded him that "the Union had not trans- 
 ferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament ; " othef 
 noble lords were hardly less severe. Pitt was cold, and Gren- 
 ville ceremonious; and in the arrangements of the Addington 
 ministry he was not even consulted. He returned to Ireland be- 
 fore the first year of the Union closed, in a state of mind and 
 temper which preyed upon his health. Before the second session 
 of the Imperial Parliament assembled, he had been borne to the 
 grave amid the revilings and hootings of the multitude. Dublin, 
 true to its ancient disposition, which led the townsfolk of the 
 twelfth century to bury the ancestor of Dermid McMurrogh with 
 the carcass of a dog, filled the grave of the once splendid Lord 
 Chancellor with every description of garbage. 
 
 On the other hand Lord Castlereagh, younger, suppler, and 
 mor-e accommodating to English prejudices, rose from one Cabinet 
 office to another, until at length, in fifteen years from the Union, 
 he directed the destinies of the Empire, as absolutely, as he had 
 moulded the fate of Ireland. To Castlereagh and the Wellesley 
 feuiily, the Union was in truth, an era of honor and advance- 
 ment. The sons of the spendthrift amateur, Lord Mornir.gtoj, 
 were reserved to rule India, and lead the armies of Europe ; while 
 the son of Flood's colleague in tbe Reform convention of 1783, \va 
 destined to give law to Christendom, at the Congress of Vienna 
 63*
 
 V60 POPULAR BISTORT OT IRELAND. 
 
 A career very different in all respects from those just mention 
 ed, closed in the second year of Dublin's widowhood as a metro- 
 polis. It was the career of a young man of four-and4wenty, who 
 snatched at immortal fame and obtained it, in the very agony of 
 a public, but not for him, a shameful death. This was Robert, 
 youngest brother of Thomas Addis Emmett, whose emeute of T803 
 would long since have sunk to the level of othet city riots, but 
 for the matchless dying speech of which it was the prelude and 
 the occasion. This young gentleman was in hia 20th year when 
 expelled with nineteen others from Trinity College, in 1798, by 
 order of the visitors, Lord Clare and Dr. Duigenan. His repu- 
 tation as a scholar and debater was already established within 
 the college walls, and the highest expectations were naturally 
 entertained of him by his friends. One of his early college com- 
 panions Thomas Moore who lived to know all the leading men 
 of his age, declares that of all he had ever known, he would place 
 among " the highest of the few " who combined in " the greatest 
 degree pure moral worth with intellectual power" Robert Em- 
 mett. After the expatriation of his brother, young Emmett visited 
 him at Fort George, and proceeded from thence to the Continent. 
 During the year the Union was consummated he visited Spain, 
 and travelled through Holland, France, and Switzerland till the 
 peace of Amiens. Subsequently he joined his brother's family 
 in Paris, and was taken into the full confidence of the exiles, then 
 in direct communication with Buonaparte and Talleyrand. It 
 was not concealed from the Irish by either the First Consul, or 
 his minister, that the peace with England was likely to have a 
 ppeedy termination ; and accordingly, they were not unprepared 
 for the new declaration of war between the two countries, which 
 was officially made at London and Paris, in May, 1803 little 
 more than twelve months after the proclamation of the peace of 
 Amiens. 
 
 It was in expectation of this rupture, and a consequent ina- 
 Ion of Ireland, that Robert Emmett returned to Dublin, in Octo- 
 ber, 1802, to endeavor to reestablish la some degree the old 
 organization of the United Irishmen. la the same expectation, 
 MacNevin, Corbet, and others of the Irish in France, formed them, 
 elves, by permission ef the First Consul, into a legion, under
 
 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAND. 761 
 
 oommand of Tone's trusty aid-de-camp, McSheehey ; while Thomaa 
 Addis Emmett and Arthur O'Connor remained at Paris, the pleni- 
 potentiaries of their countrymen. On the rupture with England 
 Buonaparte took up the Irish negotiation with much earnestness ; 
 he even suggested to the exiles the colors and the motto under 
 which they were to fight, when once landed on their own soil. 
 The flag on a tricolor ground, was to have a green center, bearing 
 the letters R. /. Republique Irlandaixe. The legend at large waa 
 to be: L 'independence de FIrlandc LVisrte dt Conscience ; a motto 
 which certainly told the whole story. The First Consul also 
 suggested the formation of an Irish Committee at Paris, and the 
 preparation of statements of Irish grievances for the Moniteur, 
 and the semi-official papers. 
 
 Robert Emmett seems to have been confidently of opinion soon 
 after his return to Dublin, that nineteen out of the thirty-two 
 counties would rise ; and, perhaps, if a sufficient French force had 
 landed, his opinion might have been justified by the fact. So did 
 iot think, however, John Keogh, Valentine Lawless (Lord Clon- 
 curry), and other close observers of the state of the country. But 
 Emmett was enthusiastic, and he inspired his own spirit into 
 many. Mr. Long, a merchant, placed 1,400 sterling at his dis- 
 posal ; he had himself, in consequence of the recent death of hid 
 father, stock to the amount of 1,500 converted into cash, and 
 with these funds he entered actively on his preliminary prepara- 
 tions. His chief confidants and assistants were Thomas RusselJ 
 and Mathew Dowdall, formerly prisoners at Fort George, but now 
 permitted to return; William Putnam McCabe, the most adven- 
 turous of all the party, a perfect Protons in disguise ; Gray, a 
 Wexford attorney; Colonel Lumm of Kildare, an old frie'id of 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald ; Mr. Long, before mentioned ; Hamil- 
 ton, an EnnisMUen barrister, married to Russell's niece ; Jamea 
 Hop* of Templepatrick, and Michael Dwyer, the Wicklow out- 
 law, who had remained since '98 uncaptured in the mountains. 
 
 In the month of March, when the renewal of hostilities with 
 France was decided on in England, the preparations of the con 
 spirators were pushed forward with redoubled energy. The still 
 wilder conspiracy headed by Colonel Despard in London, the pr- 
 rious winter, the iecret and the fate of which was well known to
 
 752 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAKD. 
 
 the Dublin leaders Dowdall be'lng Despard's agent did net In 
 the Ieaa4 intimidate Emmett or his friends. Despard suffered 
 death in February, with nine of his followers, but his Irish con- 
 federates only went on with their arrangements with A more 
 reckless resolution. Their plan was the plan of O'Moore and 
 Maguire, to surprise the Castle, seize the authorities and secure 
 the capital; but the Dublin of 1803 was in many respects very 
 different from the Dublin of 1641. The discontent, however, arising 
 from the recent loss of the Parliament might have turned the city 
 scale in Emmett's favor, had his first stroke been successful. The 
 emissaries at work in the Leinster and Ulster counties gave besides 
 sanguine reports of success, so that, judging by the information 
 in his possession, an older and cooler head than Robert Emmett's 
 might well have been misled into the expectation of nineteen 
 counties rising if the signal could only be given from Dublin 
 Castle. If the blow could be withheld till August, there was 
 every reason to expect a French invasion of England, which 
 would drain away all the regular army, and leave the people 
 merely the militia and the volunteers to contend asainst. But 
 all the Dublin arrangements exploded in the melancholy emeutt 
 of the 23d of July, 1803, in which the chief-justice, Lord Kilwat' 
 den, passing through the disturbed quarter of the city at the 
 time, was cruelly murdered ; for which, and for his cause, Emmett 
 suffered death on the same spot on the 20th of September follow- 
 ing. For the same cause, the equally pure-minded and chivalrous 
 Thomas Russell was executed at Downpatrick : Kearney, Roche, 
 Redmond and Ilowley also suffered death at Dublin; Allen, 
 Putnam McCabe and Dowdall escaped to France, where the for- 
 mer became an officer of rank in the army of Napoleon; Michael 
 Dwyer, who had surrendered on condition of being allowed to 
 emigrate to North America, died in exile in Australia, in 1825. 
 Others of Emmett's known or suspected friends, after undergoing 
 two, three, mid even four years' imprisonment, were finally dis- 
 charged without trial Mr. Long, his generous banker, and 
 James Ilope, his faithful emissary, were both permitted to end 
 their days in Ireland. 
 
 The trial of Robert Emmett, from the wonderful death speech 
 delivered at it, is perfectly well known. But in justice to A mag
 
 POPCLAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 753 
 
 of genius equal if not superior to his own an Irishman, whose 
 memory is national property, as well as Emmett's, it must here be 
 observed, that the latter never delirered, and had no justification 
 to deliver the vulgar diatribe against Plunkett, his prosecutor, 
 now constantly printed in the common and incorrect versions of 
 that speech. Plunkett, as attorney-general, in 1803, had no option 
 but to prosecute for the crown ; he was a politician of a totally 
 different school from that of Emmett ; he shared all Burke and 
 Grattan's hoiror of French revolutionary principles. In the 
 fervor of his accusatory oration he may have gone too far ; he 
 may have, and in reading it now, it is clear to us that he did, 
 press too hard upon the prisoner in the dock. He might have 
 performed his awful office with more sorrow and less vehemence, 
 for there was no doubt about his jury. But withal, he gave no fair 
 grounds fur any such retort as is falsely attributed to Emmett, 
 the very style of which proves its falsity. It is now well known 
 that the apostrophe in the death speech, commencing " you 
 viper," alleged to have been addressed to Plunkett, was the inter- 
 polation many years afterwards of that literary Ishmaelite Wal- 
 ter Oox of the Hibernian Magazine; who through such base 
 means endeavored to aim a blow at Plunkett's reputation. The 
 personal reputation of the younger Emmett, the least known to 
 his countrymen of all the United Irish leaders, except by the 
 crowning act of his death, is safe beyond the reach of calumny, 
 or party zeal, or time's changes. It is embalmed in the verse of 
 Moore and Southey, and the precious prose of Washington Irving. 
 Men of genius in England and America Imve done honor to hit 
 memory ; in the annals of his own country his name deserves to 
 stand with those youthful chiefs, equally renowned, and equally 
 ready to seal their patriotism with their blood Sir Cahix 
 O'Doherty and Hugb Roe O'Donnell
 
 POPULAR BISTORT O? IRSLAKD. 
 
 CHAPTER EL 
 
 ADMUOBT&ATICK OF LORD HARD WICKS (1801 TO 1806), AHD Of TH1 
 DUKE OF BEDFORD (1806 TO 1808). 
 
 DURING the five years in which Lord Hardwicke was viceroy 
 of Ireland, the habeas corpus remained suspended, and the Insur- 
 rection Act continued in forca These were the years in which 
 the power of Napoleon made the most astonishing strides; the 
 years in which he remodeled the German Empire, placed on hia 
 own head the iron crown of Lombardy, on his sister's that of 
 Etruria, and on his brother's that of Holland ; when the Consulate 
 gave place to the Empire, and Dukedoms and Principalities were 
 freely distributed among the marshals of the Grand Army. Dur- 
 ing all these years, Napoleon harassed England with menaces of 
 invasion, and excited Ireland with corresponding hopes of inter- 
 vention. The more far seeing United Irishmen, however, had so 
 little faith in these demonstrations that Emmett and MacNevin 
 emigrated to the United States, leaving behind them in the ranks 
 of the French army, those of their compatriots who, either from 
 habit or preference, had become attached to a military life. It 
 must however be borne in mind, for it is essential to the under- 
 standing of England's policy towards Ireland, in the first twelve 
 or fourteen years after the Union, that the wild hope of a French 
 invasion never forsook the hearts of a large portion of the Irish 
 people, so long as Napoleon Buonaparte continued at the head of 
 the government of France. During the whole of that period the 
 British government were kept in constant apprehension for Ire- 
 land ; under this feeling they kept up and increased the local 
 militia; strengthened garrisons, and replenished magazine*: 
 constructed a chain of Martello towers round the entire coaat, 
 and maintained in full rigor the Insurrection Act. They refused, 
 indeed, to the Munster magistrates in 1808, and subsequently, the 
 power of summary convictions which they possessed in '98 ; bat 
 they sent special Commissions of their own into the suspected 
 counties, who put men to death with M little reinorte M if thej
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 55 
 
 had been so many hydrophobic dogs. Ten, twelve, and eren 
 twenty capital executions was no uncommon result of a single 
 sitting of one of those murderous commissions, over which Lord 
 Nbrbury presided ; but it must be added that there were other 
 judges, who observed not only the decencies of every-day life, 
 but who interpreted the law in mercy as well as in justice. They 
 were a minority, it is true, but there were some such, neverthe- 
 less. 
 
 The session of the Imperial Parliament of 1803-'4, was chiefly 
 remarkable for its war speeches and war budget. In Ireland 
 60,000 men of the regular militia were under arms and under 
 pay ; 70,000 volunteers were enrolled, battalioned and ready to 
 be called out in case of emergency, to which it was proposed to 
 add 25,000 sta-fencibles. General Fox, who it was alleged had 
 neglected taking proper precaution at the time of Robert Emmett'a 
 emeute, was replaced by Lord Cathcart, as commander-in-chief. 
 The public reports at least of this officer, were highly laudatory 
 of the discipline and conduct of the Irish militia. 
 
 In May, 1804, Mr. Pitt returned to power, as Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer and Prime Minister, when the whole Pitt policy to- 
 wards Ireland, France, and America, was of course resumed ; a 
 policy which continued to be acted on during the short remainder 
 of the life of its celebrated author. 
 
 The year 1806 may be callsd the first year of the revival of 
 public spirit and public opinion after the Union. In that year 
 Grattan had allowed himself to be persuaded by Fox, into enter- 
 ing the Imperial Parliament, and his old friend Lord Fitzwilliam 
 found a constituency for him, in his Yorkshire borough of Malton. 
 About the same time, Pitt, or his colleagues, induced Plunkett to 
 enter the same great assembly, providing him with a constituency 
 at Midhurst, in Sussex. But they did not succeed if they ever 
 attempted to match Plunkett with Grattan. Those great men 
 were warm and close friends in the Imperial as they had been in 
 the Irish Parliament ; very dissimilar in their genius, they were 
 both decided anti-Jacobins ; both strenuous advocates of the Catho- 
 lic claims, and both proud and fond of their original country. 
 Grattan had more poetry, and Plunkett more science ; but tht 
 h*art of the man of colder exterior opened and swelled out, is
 
 V56 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 one of the noblest tributes ever paid by one great orator U 
 another, w.ien Plunkett introduced in 1821, in the Imperial Par- 
 liament, his allusion to his illustrious Mend, then recently de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Preparatory to the meeting of Parliament in 1805, the mem- 
 bers of the old Catholic Committee who had not met for any such 
 purpose for several years, assembled in Dublin, and prepared a 
 petition which they authorized their chairman, Lord Fingall, to 
 place in such hands as he might choose, for presentation in both 
 Houses. His lordship on reaching London waited on Mr. Pitt, 
 and entreated him to take charge of the petition ; but he found 
 that the Prime Minister had promised the king one thing and the 
 Catholics another, and, therefore, declined acceding to hia request. 
 He then gave the petition into the charge of Lord Grenville and 
 Mr. Fox, and by them the subject was brought accordingly before 
 the Lords and Commons. This debate in the Commons was remark- 
 able in many respects, but most of all for G rattan's cKbut. A 
 lively curiosity to hear one of whom so mucn had been said in 
 his own country, pervaded the whole House, as Grattan rose, 
 His grotesque little figure, his eccentric action, and his strangely 
 cadenced sentences rather surprised than attracted attention, but 
 as he warmed with the march of ideas, men of both parties 
 warmed to the genial aod enlarged philosophy, embodied in the 
 interfused rhetoric and logic of th orator ; PUt was seen to beat 
 time with his hand to every curiously proportioned period, and 
 at length both sides of the House broke into hearty acknowledge- 
 ments of the genius of the new member for Malton. But as yet 
 their cheers were not followed by their votes ; the division against 
 going into Committee was 336 to 124. 
 
 In sustaining Fox's motion, Sir John Cox Hippesley had sug- 
 gested " the Veto" as a safeguard against the encroachments of 
 Rome, which the Irish bishops would not be disposed to refuse. 
 Archbishop Troy, and Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, gave consid- 
 erable praise to this speech, and partly at their request it was 
 published in pamphlet form. TbiB brought up directly s discus- 
 sion among the Catholics, which lasted until 1810, was renewed 
 in 1813, and not finally set at rest till the passage of the bill of 
 1829, without any such safeguard Sir John C, Hippesley had
 
 POPULAR HISTOBT OF IRKULHD. 757 
 
 modeled his proposal, he said, on the liberties of the Galilean 
 Church. " Her privileges," he added, " depended on two promi- 
 nent maxims : 1st. That the Pope had no authority to order or 
 interfere in anything in which the civil rights of the kingdom 
 were concerned. 2d. That notwithstanding the Pope's suprem- 
 acy was acknowledged in cases purely spiritual, yet, in other re 
 epects, his power was limited by the decrees of the ancient COUD 
 cils of the realm." The Irish church, therefore, was to be similarlj 
 administered, to obviate the objections of the opponents of com- 
 plete civil emancipation. 
 
 In February, 1806, on the death of Pitt, Mr. Fox came into 
 power, with an uncertain majority and a powerful opposition. In 
 April, the Duke of Bedford arrived, as viceroy at Dublin, and 
 the Catholics presented, through Mr. Keogh, a mild address, ex- 
 pressive of their hopes that " the glorious development " of their 
 emancipation would be reserved for the new government. The 
 Duke returned an evasive answer in public, but privately, both 
 at Dublin and London, the Catholics were assured that, as soon 
 as the new premier could convert the king as soon as he was in 
 a position to act he would make their cause his own. No doubt 
 Fox, who had great nobleness of soul, intended to do so ; but on 
 the 13th of September of the same year, he followed his great 
 rival, Pitt, to the vaults of Westminster Abbey. A few montha 
 only had intervened between the death of the rivals.' 
 
 Lords Grey and Grenville, during the next recess, having 
 formed a new administration, instructed their Irish secretary, Mr. 
 Elliot, to put himself in communication with the Catholics, in re- 
 lation to a measure making them eligible to naval and military 
 offices. The Catholics accepted this proposal with pleasure, but 
 at the opening of the session of 1807, in a deputation to the Irish 
 government, again urged the question of complete emancipation. 
 The bill in relation to the army and navy had, originally, the 
 king's acquiescence ; but early in March, after it had passed the 
 Commons, George III. changed his mind if the expression may 
 be used of him at that time. He declared he had not consid- 
 ered it at first eo important as he afterwards found it ; he inti- 
 mated that it could not receive his sanction ; he went farther 
 he required a written pledge from Lords Grey and Gpjnville 
 64
 
 *T58 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 never again to bring forward such a measire, " nor ever to pro- 
 pose anything connected with the Catholic question." This un 
 constitutional pledge they refused to give, hurried the bill into 
 law and resigned. Mr. Spencer Perceval was then sent for, and 
 what was called " the No-Popery cabinet," in which Mr. Canning 
 and Lord Castlereagh were the principal secretaries of state, was 
 formed. Thus, for the second time in six years, had the Catholic 
 question, made and unmade cabinets. 
 
 The Catholics were a good deal dispirited in 1805, by the over- 
 whelming majority by which their petition of that year was 
 refused to be referred to a committee. In 1806, they contented 
 themselves with simply addressing the Duke of Bedford, on hia 
 arrival at Dublin. In 1807, the " No-Popery cabinet," by the 
 result of the elections, was placed in possession of an immense 
 majority a fact which excluded all prospects of another change 
 of government. But the Committee were too long accustomed to 
 disappointments to despair even under these reverses. Early in 
 the next session their petition was presented, by Mr. Gratten in 
 the Commons, and Lord Donoughmore in the Lords. The major 
 ity against going into committee was, in the Commons, 153 ; in 
 the Lords, 87. Similar motions in the session of 1808, made by 
 lie same parties, were rejected by majorities somewhat reduced, 
 and the question, on the whole, might be said to have recovered 
 some of its former vantage ground, in despite of the bitter, per 
 tinacious resistance of Mr. Perceval, in the one House, and the 
 Duke of Portland in the other. 
 
 The short-lived administration of Mr. Fox, though it was said 
 to include " all the talents." had been full of nothing but disap- 
 pointment to his Irish supporters. The Duke of Bedford was, 
 Indeed, a great improvement on Lord Hardwicke, and Mr. Pon- 
 sonby on Lord Redesdale, as Chancellor, and the liberation of the 
 political prisoners confined since 1803 did honor to the new ad- 
 ministration. But there the measures of justice so credulously 
 expected, both as to persons and interests, ended. Curran, whose 
 professional claims to advancement were far beyond those of 
 dozens of men who had been, during the past ten years, lifted over 
 his head, was neglected, and very naturally dissatisfied ; rattan, 
 never well adaf ted for a courtier, could not obta'n even raloof
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 75d 
 
 Appointments for his oldest and stauuchest adherents ; while the 
 Catholics found their Whig friends, now that they were in offica, 
 as anxious to exact the hard conditions of the Veto as Castle- 
 reagh himself. 
 
 In truth, the Catholic body at this period, and for a few year* 
 subsequently, was deplorably disorganized. The young genera- 
 tion of Catholic lawyers who had grown up since the relief act 
 of '93 threw the profession open to them, were men of another 
 stamp from the old generation of Catholic merchants, who had 
 grown up under the relief act of 17Y8. In the ten years before 
 the Union, the Catholic middle class was headed by men of busi- 
 ness ; in the period we have now reached, their principal spokes- 
 men came from " the Four Courts." John Keogh, the ablest, 
 wisest and firmest of the former generation, was now passing into 
 the decline of life, was frequently absent from the Committee, and 
 when present, frequently overruled by younger and more ardent 
 men. In 1808, his absence, from illness, was regretted by Mr. 
 O'Connell in an eloquent speech addressed to the Committee on 
 the necessity of united action and incessant petitions. " Had he 
 been present," said the young barrister, " his powers of reason- 
 ing would have frightened away the captious objections " to that 
 course, " and the Catholics of Ireland would again have to thank 
 their old and useful servant for the preservation of their honor 
 and the support of their interests." It was a strange anomaly, 
 and one which continued for some years longer, that the states- 
 men of the Catholic body should be all Protestants. A more 
 generous or tolerant spirit than Grattan's never existed ; a clearer 
 or more fearless intellect than Plunkett's was not to be found ; 
 nobler and more disinterested friends than Ponsonby, Curran, 
 Burroughs and Wallace, no people ever had ; but still they were 
 fiiends from without; men of another religion, or of DO particu- 
 lar religion, advising and guiding an eminently religious peopla 
 In their struggle for religious liberty. This could not always 
 last ; it was not natural, it was not desirabk that it should last, 
 though some years more were to pass away before Catholic 
 Emancipation was to be accomplished by the union, the energy 
 and "iie strategy of th-9 Catholics themselves.
 
 760 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER ni 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF THE DPK OF RICHMOND (1807 TO 1818). 
 
 CHARLES, fourth Duke of Richmond, succeeded the Duke of 
 Bedford, aa viceroy, in April, 1807, with Lord Manners as Lord 
 Chancellor, John Foster, Chancellor of the Exchequer for the 
 separate exchequer of Ireland continued to exist till 1820 and 
 Sir Arthur Wellcsley, aa Chief Secretary. Of these names, tha 
 two last were already familiar to their countrymen, in connection 
 with the history of their own Parliament; but the new Chief 
 Secretary had lately returned home covered with Indian laurels, 
 and full of the promise of other honors and victories to come. 
 
 The spirit of this administration was repressive, anti-Catholic 
 and high Tory. To maintain and strengthen British power, to 
 keep the Catholics quiet, to get possession of the Irish represen- 
 tation and convert it into a means of support for the Tory party 
 in England, these were the leading objects of the seven years' ad- 
 ministration of the Duke of Richmond. Lcag afterwards, when 
 the chief secretary of 1807, had become " the most high, mighty 
 and noble prince," whom all England, and nearly all Europe de- 
 lighted to honor, he defended the Irish administration of which 
 he had formed a part, for its habitual use of corrupt means and 
 influence, in arguments which do more credit to his frankness 
 than his morality. He had " to turn the moral weakness of in- 
 dividuals to good account/' such was his argument. He stoutly 
 denied that " the whole nation IB, or ever was corrupt ; " bat aa 
 " almost every man of mark has his price," the Chief Secretary 
 waa obliged to use corrupt influences " to command a majority in 
 favor of order ; " however the particular kinds of influence em- 
 ployed might go against hid grain, he had, as he contended, no 
 other alternative but to employ them. 
 
 With the exception of a two months campaign in Denmark- 
 July to September, 1807 Sir Arthur Wellesley continued to fill 
 the office of Chief Secretary, until his departure for rtio Peninsula, 
 In July, 1808. Even then he was expressly requested to reUU
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. Y6l 
 
 ttie nominal office, with power to appoint a deputy, and receiv* 
 meanwhile the very handsome salary of 8,000 sterling a year 
 lu the wonderful military events, in which during the next seven 
 years Sir Arthur was to play a leading part, the comparatively 
 unimportant particulars of his Irish Secretariate have been long 
 since forgotten. We have already described the general spirit at 
 that administration: it is only just to add, that the dispassionate 
 and resolute secretary, though he never shrank from his share of 
 the jobbery done daily at the Castle, repressed with as much 
 firmness the over- zeal of those he calls "red-hot Protestants," as 
 he showed in resisting, at that period, what he considered the un- 
 constitutional pretensions of the Catholics. An instance of the im- 
 partiality to which he was capable of rising, when uninfluenced by 
 partisan or religious prejudices, is afforded by his letter dissuad- 
 ing the Wexford yeomanry from celebrating the anniversary of 
 the battle of Vinegar Hill. He regarded such a celebration as 
 certain " to exasperate party spirit," and " to hurt the feelings 
 of others ; " he, therefore, in the name of the lord lieutenant, 
 strongly discouraged it, and the intention was accordingly aban- 
 doned. It is to be regretted that the same judicious rule was not 
 at the same time enforced by government as to the celebration 
 of the much more obsolete and much more invidious anniversaries 
 of Aughrim and the Boyne. 
 
 The general election which followed the death of Fox, in No- 
 vember, 1806, was the first great trial of political strength under 
 the Union. As was right and proper, Mr. Grattan, no longer 
 indebted for a seat to an English patron however liberal, was re- 
 turned at the head of the poll for the city of Dublin. His asso- 
 ciate, however, the banker, La Touche, was defeated ; the second 
 member elect being Mr. Robert Shaw, the Orange candidate. 
 The Catholic electors to a man, under the vigorous prompting of 
 John Keogh and his friends, polled their votes for their Protestant 
 dyocate; they did more, they subscribed the sum of 4,000 
 sterling to pay the expenses of the contest, but this sum Mrs. 
 Grattan induced the treasurer to return to the subscribers. Ever 
 watchful for her husband's honor, that admirable woman, as ar- 
 dent a patriot as himself, refused the generous tender of the 
 Catholics of Dublin. Although his several elections had coat
 
 62 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 Mr. Grattan above 54,000 more than the whole national grant 
 of 1782 she would not, in this case, that any one else should 
 bear the cost of his last triumph in the widowed capital of his 
 own country. 
 
 The great issue tried in this election of 1807, in those of 1812, 
 1818, and 1826, was still the Catholic question. All other Irish, 
 and most o f ,her imperial domestic questions were subordinate to 
 this. In one shape or another, it came up in every session of 
 Parliament. It entered into the calculations of eveiy statesman 
 of e very party ; it continued to make and unmake cabinets ; in 
 the press and in every society, it was the principal topic of dis- 
 cussion. While tracing, therefore, its progress, from year to 
 year, we do but follow the main stream of national history ; all 
 other branches come back again to this centre, or exhaust 
 themselves in secondary and forgotten results. 
 
 The Catholics themselves, deprived in Ireland of a parliament 
 on which they could act directly, were driven more and more 
 into permanent association, as the only means of operating a 
 change in the Imperial legislature. The val'ie of a legal, popu- 
 lar, systematic, and continuous combination of " the ^people " act- 
 ing within the law, by means of meetings, resolutions, corres- 
 pondence, and petitions, was not made suddenly, nor by all the 
 party interested, at one and the same time. On the minds of the 
 more sagacious, however, an impression, favorable to such organ- 
 ized action, grew dl-cper year by year, and at hist settled into a 
 certainty which was justified by success. 
 
 In May, 1809, the Catholic Committee had been reconstructed, 
 and its numbers enlarged. In a series of resolutions it was agreed 
 that the Catholic lords, the surviving delegates of 1798, the com- 
 mittee which managed the petitions of 1805 and 1807, and such 
 persons " as shall distinctly appear to them to possess the confi- 
 dence of the Catholic body," do form henceforth the General 
 Committee. It was proposed by O'Connoll, to avoid " the Con- 
 vention Act," " that the noblemen and gentlemen aforesaid are not 
 representatives of the Catholic body, or any portion thereof." 
 The Committee were authorized to collect funds for defraying ex- 
 penses; a treasurer was chosen, and a permanent Secretary, Mr 
 Edward Hay, the historian of the Wex'ord rebellion an activt
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRKLAWD. Y6I 
 
 And intelligent officer. The new committee acted with great 
 judgment in 1810, but in 1811 Lord Fingal and his friends pro- 
 jected a General Assembly of the leading Catholics, contrary to 
 the Convention Act, and to the resolution just cited. O'Connell 
 was opposed to this proposition ; yet the assembly met, and were 
 dispersed by the authorities The chairman, Lord Fingal, and 
 Drs. Sheridan and Kirwan, secretaries, were arrested. Lord 
 Fingal, however, was not prosecuted, but the Secretaries were, 
 and one of them expiated by two years' imprisonment his viola- 
 tion of the act. To get rid of the very pretext of illegality, the 
 Catholic Committee dissolved, but only to reappear under a less 
 vulnerable form, as " the Catholic Board." 
 
 It is from the year 1810 that we must date the rise, among 
 the Catholics themselves, of a distinctive line of policy, suited to 
 the circumstances of the present century, and the first appear- 
 ance of a group of public men, capable of maintaining and en- 
 forcing that policy. Not that the ancient leaders of that body 
 were found deficient, informer times, either in foresight or deter- 
 mination ; but new times Called for new men ; the Irish Catholics 
 were now to seek their emancipation from the imperial govern- 
 ment ; new tactics and new combinations were necessarv to suc- 
 cess ; and, in fcrief, instead of being liberated from their bonds at 
 the good will and pleasure of benevolent Protestants, it was now 
 to be tested whether they were capable of contributing to their 
 own emancipation, whether they were willing and able to assist 
 their friends and to punish their enemies. 
 
 Though the Irish Catholics could not legally meet in conven- 
 tion any more than their Protestant fellow-countrymen, there was 
 nothing to prevent them assembling voluntarily, from every part 
 of the kingdom, without claim to delegation. With whom the 
 happy idea of " the aggregate meetings " originated is not cer- 
 tainly known, but to O'Connell and the younger set of leading 
 spirits this was a machinery capable of being worked with good 
 effect No longer confined to a select Committee, composed 
 mainly of a few aged and cautious, though distinguished persons, 
 the fearless " agitators," as they now began to be called, stood 
 face to face with the body of the people themselves. The disused 
 theatre in Fishamble street waa their habitual place of meeting
 
 764 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 in Dublin, and there, in 1811 and 1812, the orators met to criticiM 
 the conduct of the Duke of Richmond to denounce Mr. Welles- 
 ley Pole to attack secretaries of state and prime ministers tc 
 return thanks to Lords Grey and Grenville for refusing to gira 
 the unconstitutional anti-Catholic pledge required by the king 
 and to memorial the Prince Regent. From those meetings, espe- 
 cially in the year 1812, the leadership of O'Conneil must be dated. 
 After seven years of wearisome probation, after enduring seven 
 years the envy and the calumny of many who, as they were hia 
 fellow-laborers, should have been his friends ; after demonstrating 
 for seven years that his judgment and his courage were equal to 
 his eloquence, the successful Kerry barrister, then in his thirty- 
 seventh year, was at length generally recognized as " the coun- 
 sellor " of his co-religionists as the veritable " Man of the Peo- 
 ple." Dangers, delays and difficulties lay thick and dark in the 
 future, but from the year, when in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, 
 the voice of the famous advocate was recognized as the voice of 
 the Catholics of Ireland, their cause was taken ont of the cate- 
 gory of merely ministerial measures, and exhibited hi its true 
 light as a great national contest, entered into by the people them- 
 selves, for complete civil and religious freedom. 
 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley had been succeeded in 1810 in the 
 secretaryship by his brother, Mr. Wellesley Pole, .who chiefly 
 signalized his administration by a circular against conventions, 
 and the prosecution of Sheridan and Kirwan, in 1811. He was 
 in turn succeeded by a much more able and memorable person 
 Mr., afterwards Sir Robert Peel. The names of Peel and Wel- 
 lington come thus into juxtaposition in Irish politics in 1812, aa 
 they wiT be found in juxtaposition on the some subject twenty 
 and thirty years later. 
 
 Early in the session of 1812, Mr. Perceval, the prereier, had 
 been assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, by 
 Bellingham, and a new political crisis was precipitated on the 
 country. In the government which followed, Lord Liverpool 
 became the chief, with Castlereagh and Canning as members of 
 hia administration. In the general election which followed, Mr. 
 Gra'.tan wns nnin retimed for Dublin, and Mr Plunkett WM 
 fleeted for Trinity College, but Mr. Curran was defeated at Newnr,
 
 POPULAR HI8TORH OF IRELAWD. 766 
 
 Abd Mr. Christopher Hely Hutchineon, the liberal candidate, at 
 Cork. Upon the whole, however, tLe result was favorable to the 
 Catholic cause, and the question was certain to have several ad- 
 ditional Irish supporters in the new House of Commons. 
 
 In the administrative changes that followed, Mr. Peel, thongh 
 only in his twenty-fourth year, was appointed to the important 
 post of Chief Secretary. The son of the first baronet of the 
 name this youthful statesman had first been elected for Cashel, 
 almost as soon as he came of age, in 1809. He continued Chief 
 Secretary for six years, from the twenty-fourth to the thirtieth 
 year of his age. He distinguished himself in the House of Com- 
 mons almost as soon as he entered it, and the predictions of his 
 future premiership were not, even then, confined to members of 
 his own family. No English statesman, since the death of Wil- 
 liam Pitt, has wielded so great a power in Irish affairs as Sir 
 Robert Peel, and it is, therefore, important to consider, under 
 what influence, and by what maxims he regulated his public con- 
 duct during the time he filled the most important administrative 
 office in that country. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel brought to the Irish government, notwithstand- 
 his Oxford education and the advantages of foreign travel which 
 he had enjoyed, prejudices the most illiberal, on the subject of all 
 others on which a statesman should be most free from prejudice 
 religion. An anti-Catholic of the school of Mr. Perceval and 
 Lord Eldon, he at once constituted himself the principal oppo- 
 nent of Grattan's annual motion in favor of Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion. That older men, born in the evil tune, should be bigots and 
 defenders of the Penal Code, was hardly wonderful, but a young 
 statesman, exhibiting at that late day, such studied and active 
 hostility to so large a body of his fellow subjects, naturally drew 
 upon his head the execrations of all those whose enfranchisement 
 he so stubbornly resisted. Even his great abilities were most 
 bsurdly denied, under this passionate feeling of wrong and in- 
 justice. His Constabulary and his Stipendiary Magistracy were 
 resisted, ridiculed and denounced, as outrages on the liberty of 
 the subject, and assaults on the independence of the bench. Tha 
 term Peeler became synonymous with spy, informer and traitor, 
 iul thw Chief Secretary was detested not only for the illiberal
 
 766 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sentiments be had expressed, but for tbe machinery of order h 
 bad established. After half a century's experience, we may safely 
 say, that the Irish Constabulary have shown themselves to be 
 a most valuable po ice, and as little deserving of popular ill- will 
 AS any such body can ever expect to be, but they were judged 
 very differently during the secretaryship of their founder ; for, at 
 that time, being new and intrusive, they may, no doubt, have de- 
 served many of the hard and bitter things which were generally 
 Sinid of them. 
 
 The first Session of the new Parliament in the year 1813 the 
 last of the Duke of Richmond's viceroyalty was remarkable for 
 the most important debate which had yet arisen on the Catholic 
 question. In the previous year, a motion of Canning's, in 
 favor of " a final and conciliatory adjustment," which was carried 
 by an unexpected majority of 235 to 106, encouraged Grattan to 
 prepare a detailed Emancipation Bill, instead of making his usual 
 annual motion of referring the Catholic petitions to the consider- 
 ation of the Committee. This bill recited the establishment of 
 the Protestant succession to the crown, and the establishment of 
 tle Protestant religion in the State. It then proceeded to pro- 
 vide that Roman Catholics might sit and vote in Parliament; 
 might hold all offices, civil and military, except the offices of 
 Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal in England, or Lord 
 Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, or Chancellor of Ireland ; another sec- 
 tion threw open to Roman Catholics all lay corporations, while 
 proviso excluded them either from holding or bestowing benefices 
 in the Established Church. Such was the Emancipation Act of 
 1813, proposed by Grattan; an act far less comprehensive than 
 that introduced by the same statesman in 1795, into the Parlia- 
 ment of Ireland, but still, in many of its provisions, a long stride 
 in advance. 
 
 Restricted and conditioned as this measure was, it still did not 
 me*t the objections of the opponents of the question, in giving 
 tne crown a Veto in the appointment of the bishops. Sir John 
 Heppesley's pernicious suggestion reviving a very old traditional 
 policy was embodied by Canning in one set of amendments, and 
 by Castlereagh in another. Canning's amendments, as summarised 
 by the eminent Catholic jurist, Charles Butler, were to this effect
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 767 
 
 * He first appointed a certain number of Commissioners, who 
 irere to profess the Catholic religion, and to be lay peers of Great 
 Britain or Scotland, possessing a freehold estate of one them- 
 sand pounds a year ; to be filled up, from time to tune, by his 
 majesty, his heirs, or successors. The Commissioners were to 
 take an oath for the faithful discharge of their office, and the 
 observance of secrecy in all matters not thereby required to be 
 disclosed, with power to appoint a Secretary with salary (pro- 
 posed to be five hundred pounds a year), payable out of the con- 
 solidated fund. The Secretary was to take an oath similar to 
 that of the Commissioners. 
 
 " It was then provided, that every person elected to the dis 
 charge of Roman Catholic episcopal functions in Great Britain 01 
 Scotland should, previously to the discharge of his office, notify 
 his then election to the Secretary ; that the Secretary should 
 notify it to the Commissioners, and they to the Privy Council, 
 with a certificate ' that they did not know or believe any thing 
 of the person nominated, which tended to impeach his loyalty or 
 peaceable conduct ;' unless they had knowledge of the contrary, 
 in which case they should refuse their certificate. Persons ob- 
 taining such a certificate were rendered capable of exercising 
 episcopal functions within the United Kingdom; if they exer- 
 cised them without a certificate, they were to be considered guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, and liable to be sent out of the kingdom. 
 
 " Similar provisions respecting Ireland were then introduced." 
 
 " The second set of clauses," says Mr. Butler, " was suggested 
 by Lord Castlereagh, and provided that the commissioners under 
 the preceding clauses with the addition, as to Great Britain, of 
 the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper, or first commissioner of th 
 Great Seal for the time being, and of one of his majesty's princi 
 pal Secretaries of State, being a Protestant, or such other Pro 
 testant member of his Privy Council as his majesty should appoint 
 and with a similar addition in respect to Ireland and with the 
 farther addition, as to Great Britain, of the person then exercis- 
 ing episcopal functions among the Catholics in London and, in 
 respect to Ireland, of the titular Roman Catholic Archbishops of 
 Armagh and Dublin, should be Commissioners for the purpose* 
 thereinafter mentioned.
 
 768 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 " The Commissioners thus appointed were to take an oath fal 
 the discharge of their office, and observance of secrecy, similar 
 to the former, and employ the same Secretary, and three of them 
 were to form a quorum. 
 
 " The bill then provided, that subjects of his majesty, receiv- 
 ing any bull, dispensation, or other instrument, from the see of 
 Kome, or any person in foreign parts, acting under the authority 
 of that see, should, within six weeks, send a copy of it, signed 
 with his name, to the secretary of the Commissioners, who should 
 transmit the same to them. 
 
 " But with a proviso, that if the person receiving the same 
 should deliver to the Secretary of the Commission, within the 
 time before prescribed, a writing under his hand, certifying the 
 fact of his having received such a bull, dispensation, or other in- 
 strument, and accompanying his certificate with an oath, declar- 
 ing that ' it related, wholly and exclusively, to spiritual concerns, 
 and that it did not contain, or refer to, any matter or thing which 
 did or could, directly or indirectly, affect or interfere with the 
 duty and aUegiance which he owed to his majesty's sacred per- 
 son uiid government, or with the temporal, civil, or social rights, 
 properties, or duties of any other of his majesty's subjects, then 
 the Commissioners were, in their discretion, to receive such cer- 
 tificate and oath, in lieu of the copy of the bull, dispensation, or 
 other instrument. 
 
 " Persons conforming to these provisions were to be exempted 
 from nil pains and penalties, to which they would be liable under 
 the existing statutes ; otherwise, they were to be deemed guilty 
 of a high misdemeanor ; and in lieu of the pains and penalties, 
 under the former statutes, be liable to be sent out of the king- 
 dom. 
 
 "The third set of clauses provided that, within a time to be 
 specified the Commissioners were to meet and appoint their Sec- 
 retary, an;! give notice of it to his majesty's principal Secretaries 
 of State in Great Britain and Ireland; and the provisions of the 
 act were to be in force from that time." 
 
 On the second reading, in May, the Committee of Parliament, 
 on motion of the Spnikor, then on the floor, struck out the clans* 
 enabling Catholics " to ait and vote in either house of Parliament,"
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 709 
 
 by a majority of four votes: 251 against 247. Mr. Ponsonbj 
 immediately rose, and, observing that, as " the bill without the 
 clause," was unworthy both of the Catholics and its authors, h3 
 moved the chairman do leave the chair. The comnattee rose, 
 without a division, and the Emancipation Bill of 1813 was aban- 
 doned. 
 
 Unhappily, the contest in relation to the Veto, which had 
 originated in the House of Commons, was extended to the Catho- 
 lic body at large. Several of the noblemen, members of the 
 board, were not averse to granting some such power as was 
 claimed to the crown ; some of the professional class, more 
 anxious to be emancipated than particular as to the means, 
 favored the ^aine view. The bishops at the time of the Union, 
 were known to have entertained the idea, and Sir John Hippesley 
 had published their letters, which certainly did not discourage 
 his proposal. But the second order of the clergy, the immense 
 majority of the laity, and all the new prelates, called to preside 
 over vacant sees, in the first decade of the century, were strongly 
 opposed to any such connexion with the head of the State. Of 
 this party, Mr. O'Connell was the uncompromising organ, and, 
 perhaps, it was his course on this very subject of the Veto, more 
 than anything else, which established his pretensions to be con- 
 sidered the leader of the Catholic body. Under the prompting 
 of the majority, the Catholic prelates met and passed a resolution 
 declaring that they could not accept the bill of 1813 as a satisfao. 
 tory settlement. This resolution thev formally communicated tr 
 the Catholic Board, who voted them, on O'Connell's motion, en- 
 thusiastic thanks. The minority of the Board were silent rather 
 than satisfied, and their dissatisfaction was shown rather by theii 
 absence from the Board meetings than by open opposition. 
 
 Mr. O'Connell's position, from this period forward, may be best 
 understood from the tone in which he was spoken of in the de 
 bates of parliament. At the beginning of the session of 1815, 
 we find the chief secretary (Mr. Peel) stating that he " possesses 
 more influence than any other person " with the Irish Catholics, 
 and that no meeting of that body was considered complete unlesi 
 vote of thanks to Mr. O'Connell was among the resolutions* 
 65
 
 770 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRILAVD. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 O'COXNELL'S LEADERSHIP 1813 TO 1821. 
 
 WHILE the Veto controversy was carried into the press and thi 
 Parliamentary debates, the extraordinary events of the last yeari 
 of Napoleon's reign became of such extreme interest as to cast 
 into the shade all questions of domestic policy. The parliamen- 
 tary fortunes of the Catholic question varied with the fortunes of 
 the war, and the remoteness of external danger. Thus, in 1815, 
 Sir Henry Parnell's motion for a committee was rejected by a 
 majority of 228 to 147 ; in 1816, on Mr. Grattan's similar motion, 
 the vote was 172 to 141; in 1817, Mr. Grattan was again defeated 
 by 245 to 221 ; in this session an act exempting officers in the 
 army and navy from forswearing Transubstantiation passed and 
 became law. The internal condition of the Catholic body, both 
 in England and Ireland, during all those years, was far from en- 
 viable. In England there were Cisalpine and Ultramontane fac- 
 tions ; in Ireland, Vetoista and anti-Vetoisis. The learned and 
 amiable Charles Butler among jurists, the ornament of hia order, 
 was fiercely opposed to the no less learned Dr. Milner, author of 
 " The End of Controversy," and " Letters to a Prebendary." In 
 Ireland, a very young barrister, who had hardly seen the second 
 anniversary of his majority, electrified the aggregate meetings 
 with a new Franco-Irish order of eloquence, naturally enough 
 employed in the maintenance of Galilean ideas of church gov- 
 ernment. This was Richard Lalor Shiel, the author of two or 
 three successful tragedies, and the man, next to O'Connell, who 
 wielded the largest tribunitian power over the Irish populace 
 during tin whole of the subsequent agitation. Educated at 
 Stoneyhurst, he imbibed from refugee professors French idioms 
 "1 a French standard of taste, while, strangely enough, O'Connell, 
 tu whom he was at first opposed, and of wlom he became after- 
 wards the fir.-t lieutenant, educated in France by British refugees, 
 .quired the cumbrous English style of the Douay Bible and the 
 Bheims Testament The contrast between the two men was 
 every way extreme ; physically, mentally and politically ; but it
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 771 
 
 IB pleasant to know, that their differences never degenerated into 
 distrust, envy or malice; that, in fact, Daniel O'Connell had 
 throughout all his after life no more steadfast personal friend 
 than Richard Lalor Shiel. 
 
 In the progress of the Catholic agitation, the next memorable 
 incident was O'Connell's direct attack on the Prince Regent 
 That powerful personage, the de facto sovereign of the realm, had 
 long amused the lrk-h Catholics with proruiaas and pledges of 
 being favorable to their cause. At an aggregate meeting, in June, 
 1812, Mr. O'Connell maintained that there were four distinct 
 pledges of this description in existence. 1. One given in 1806, 
 through the Duke of Bedford, then Lord Lieutenant, to induce the 
 Catholics to withhold their petitions for a time. 2. Another 
 given the same year in the prince's name by Mr. Ponsonby, then 
 Chancellor. 3. A pledge given to Lord Kenmare, in writing, when 
 at Cheltenham. 4. A verbal pledge given to Lord Fingal, in the 
 presence of Lords Clifford and Petre, and reduced to writing and 
 signed by these three noblemen, soon after quitting the Prince's 
 presence. Over the meeting at which this indictment was pre- 
 ferred, Lord Fingal presided, and the celebrated "witchery" 
 resolutions, referring to the influence then exercised on the prince 
 by Lady Hertford, were proposed by his lordship's son, Lord 
 Killeen. It may, therefore, be fairly assumed, that the existence 
 of the fourth pledge was proved, the first and second were never 
 denied, and as to the third that given to Lord Kenmare the 
 only correction ever made was, that the Prince's message was 
 delivered verbally, by his Private Secretary, Colonel McMahon, 
 and not in writing. Lord Kenmare, who died in the autumn of 
 1812, could not be induced, from a mofive of delicacy, to reduce 
 his recollection of this message to writing, but he never denied 
 that he had received it, and O'Connell, therefore, during the fol 
 lowing years, always held the Prince accountable for this, as for 
 hia other promises. Much difference of opinion arose as to the 
 wisdom of attacking a person in the position of the Prince ; but 
 O'Connell, fully persuaded of the utter worthlessness of the de- 
 clarations made m that quarter, decided for himself that the bold 
 course was the wise course. The effect already was various. The 
 English Whigs, the Prince's early and constant friends, who had
 
 Y2 roruLAR HIBTOBY or IBKLAKD. 
 
 followed him to lengths that honor could hardly sanction, and wb 
 had experienced his hollow-heartedness when lately called to 
 govern during his father's illness ; they, of course, were not sorry 
 to see him held np to odium in Ireland, as a dishonored gentle- 
 man and a fair e friend. The Irish Whigs, of whom Lord Moir 
 and Mr. Ponsonby were the leaders, and to whom Mr. Grattan 
 might be said to be attached rather than to belong, saw the rup- 
 ture with regret, but considered it inevitable. Among " the 
 Prince's friends" the attacks upon him in the Dublin meetings 
 were regarded as little short of treason ; while by himself, it is 
 well known the "witchery" resolutions of 1812 were Beither for- 
 gotten nor forgiven. 
 
 The political position of the Holy See, at this period was such 
 ua to induce and enable an indirect English influence to be exer- 
 cised, through that channel, upon the Irish Catholic movement. 
 Pope Pius VII., a prisoner in France, had delegated to several 
 persons at Rome certain vicarious powers, to be exercised in his 
 name, in case of necessity ; of these, more than one had followed 
 him into exile, so that the position of his representative devolved 
 at length upon Monsignor Quarrantotti, who, early in 1 814, addres- 
 sed a rescript to Dr. Poynter, vicar-apostolic of the London district, 
 commendatory of the Bill of 1813, including the Veto, and the 
 Ecclesiastical Commission proposed by Canning and Castlereagh. 
 Apninst those dangerous concessions, as they considered them, the 
 Irish Catholics dispatched their remonstrances to Rome, through 
 the agency of the celebrated Wford FransSscan, Father Richard 
 Hayes ; but this clergyman, having spoken with too great free. 
 d< H ii, was arrested,- and suffered several months' confinement in the 
 Eternal City. A subsequent embassy of Dr. Murray, coadjutor 
 to the Archbishop of Dublin, on behalf of his brother prelates, 
 was attended with no greater advantage, though the envoy him- 
 eh was more properly treated. On his return to Ireland, at a 
 meeting held to hear his report, several strong resolutions were 
 unanimously adopted, of which the spirit may be judged from 
 the following the concluding one of the series" Though we 
 sincerely venerate the supreme pontiff as visible head of the 
 church, we do not conceive that our apprehensions for the safety 
 of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland can or ought to be rr
 
 POPULAR HISXOKY Or IRELAND. 778 
 
 tuoved by any determination of His Holiness, adopted, or intended 
 to be adopted, not only without our concurrence, but in direct 
 opposition to our repeated resolutions and the Tery energetic 
 memorial presented on our behalf, and so ably supported by 
 our deputy, the Most Reverend Dr. Murray; who, in that 
 quality, was more competent to inform His Holiness of the real 
 state and interests of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland than 
 hny other with whom he ia said to have consulted." 
 
 The resolutions were transmitted to Rome, signed by the two 
 archbishops present, by Dr. Everard, the coadjutor of the Arch- 
 bishop of Cashel, by Dr. Murray, the coadjutor of the Archbishop 
 of Dublin, by the Bishops of Meath, Cloyne, Clonfert, Kerry, Water- 
 ford, Derry, Achonry, Killala, Killaloe, Kilmore, Ferns, Limerick, 
 Elphin, Cork, Down and Connor, Ossory, Raphoe, Clogher, Dro- 
 more, Kildare and Leighlin, Ardagh, and the Warden of Galway. 
 Dr. Murray, and Dr. Murphy, Bishop of Cork, were commis- 
 sioned to carry this new remonstrance to Rome, and the greatest 
 anxiety was felt for the result of their mission. 
 
 A strange result of this new embroglio in the Catholic cause 
 was, that it put the people on the defensive for their religious 
 liberties, not so much against England as against Rome. The 
 unlucky Italian Monsignor who had volunteered hie sanction of 
 the Veto, fared scarcely better at the popular gatherings than Lord 
 Castlereagh, or Mr. Peel. " Monsieur Forty eight," as he was 
 nicknamed in reference to some strange story of his ancestor tak- 
 ing his name from a lucky lottery ticket of that number, was 
 declared to be no better than a common Orangeman, and if the 
 bitter denunciations uttered against him, on the Liffey and the 
 Shannon, had only been translated into Italian, the courtly Pre- 
 late must have been exceedingly amazed at the democratic fury 
 of a Catholic population, as orthodox as himself, but much more 
 jealous of state interference with things spiritual. The second 
 order of the clergy were hardly behind the laity, in the fervor 
 of their opposition to the rescript of 1814. Their entire body, 
 secular and regular, residing in and about Dublin, published 
 very strong protest against it, headed by Dr. Blake, after wardi 
 Bishop of Dromore, in which it was denounced as " pregnant 
 with mischief" and entirely "non-obligatory upon the Catholic 
 65*
 
 774 POPULAR flISTOBT OF IEKLAKD. 
 
 Church in Ireland." The several ecclesiastical provinces followed 
 up these declarations with a surprising unanimity, and although 
 a Vetoistical address to Ills Holiness was dispatched by the Cis- 
 alpine club in England, the Irish ideas of Church government 
 triumphed at Rome. Drs. Murray and Milner were received with 
 his habitual kindness by Pius VII.; the illustrious Cardinal Gon- 
 salvi was appointed by the Pope to draw up an explanatory re- 
 script, and Monsignor Quarrantotti was removed from his official 
 position. The firmness manifested at that critical period by the 
 Irish church has since been acknowledged with many encomiums 
 by all the successors of Pope Pius VIL 
 
 The Irish government, under the new Viceroy, Lord Whitwortl 
 (the former ambassador to Napoleon), conceiving that the time 
 had come, in the summer of 1814, to suppress the Catholic Board, 
 a proclamation forbidding his majesty's subjects to attend future 
 meetings of that body issued from Dublin Castle, on the 3d of 
 June. The leaders of the body, after consultation at Mr. O'Con- 
 nell's residence, decided to bow to this proclamation and to meet 
 no more as a Board ; but this did not prevent them, in the follow- 
 ing winter, from holding a new series of Aggregate meetings, far 
 more formidable, in some respects, than the deliberative meetings 
 which had been suppressed. In the vigorous and somewhat ag- 
 gressive tone taken at these meetings, Lord Fingal, the chief of 
 the Cutliolic peerage, did not concur, and he accordingly with- 
 drew for some years from the agitation, Mr. Sheil, the Bellews, 
 Mr. Ball, Mr. Wyse of Waterford, and a few others, following hi* 
 example. With O'Connell remained the O'Connor Don, Messrs. 
 Finlay and Lidwell (Protestants), Purcell O'Gorman, and other 
 popular persons. But the cause sustained a heavy blow in the 
 temporary retirement of Lord Fingal and his friends, and an 
 attempt to form a " Catholic Association," in 1815, without their 
 cooperation, signally failed. 
 
 During the next five years, the fortunes of the great Irish 
 question fluctuated with the exigencies of Imperial parties. The 
 second American war had closed, if not gloriously, at least with- 
 out considerable loss to England ; Napoleon had exchanged Elba 
 tor St. Helena ; Wellington was the Achilles of the Empire, and 
 CMtlereagh its Ulysses. Yet it was not in the nature of thoe
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAHD. 
 
 free Islanders, the danger and pressure of foreign war removed, 
 to remain always indifferent to the two great questions of domes- 
 tic policy Catholic Emancipation and Parliamentary Reform. 
 In the session of 1816, a motion of Sir John Newport's to inquire 
 into the state of Ireland, was successfully resisted by Sir Robert 
 Peel, but the condition and state of public feeling in England 
 could not be as well ignored by a Parliament sitting in London. 
 In returning from the opening of the Houses in January 1817, 
 the Regent was hooted in the street, and his carriage riddled with 
 stones. A reward of 1,000, issued for the apprehension of the 
 ringleaders, only gave additional edat to the fact, without leading 
 to the apprehension of the assailants. 
 
 The personal unpopularity of the Regent seems to have in- 
 creased, in proportion as death removed from him all those who 
 Btood nearest to the throne. In November, 1817, his oldest child, 
 the Princess Charlotte, married to Leopold, since King of Belgium, 
 died in childbed ; in 1818, the aged Queen Charlotte died ; in Janu- 
 ary, 1820, the old king in the eighty-second year of his age, departed 
 this life. Immediately afterwards the former Princess of Wales, 
 long separated from her profligate husband, returned from the 
 Continent to claim her rightful position as Queen Consort The 
 disgraceful accusations brought against her, the trial before the 
 House of Lords which followed, the courage and eloquence of her 
 counsel, Brougham and Denman, the eagerness with which the 
 people made her cause their own, are all well remembered events, 
 and all beside the purpose of this history. The unfortunate lady 
 died after a short illness, on the 7th of August, 1821 ; the sam 
 month in which his Majesty George IV. departed on that Irish 
 Journey, so satirized in the undying verse of Moore and Byron. 
 
 Two other deaths, far more affecting than any among the mor- 
 talities of royalty, marked the period at which we have arrived. 
 These were the death of Curran in 1817, and the death of Grattan, 
 in 1820. 
 
 Curran, after his failure to be returned for Newry, in 1812, had 
 never again attempted public life. He remained in his office of 
 Master of the Rolls, but his health began to fail sensibly. Dur- 
 ing the summers of 1816 and '17, he sought for recreation in 
 Scotland, England and France, but the charm which travel could
 
 V76 HIBTO&Y OF IRELAND. 
 
 Dot give the charm of a cheerful spirit was wanting. In Octo 
 br, 1817, his friend, Charles Phillips, was suddenly called to hl 
 bed ide at Brompton, near London, and found him with one side 
 of his face and body paralyzed cold. " And this was all," says 
 his friend, " that remained of Cnrran the light of society the 
 glory of the forum the Fabricius of the senate the idol of hia 
 country." Yes I even to less than this, was he soon to sink. On 
 the evening of the 14th of October, he expired, in the 68th year 
 of his age, leaving a public reputation as free from blemish as 
 ever did any man who had acted a leading part, in times like 
 those through which he had passed. He was interred in London, 
 but twenty years afterwards, the committee of the Glasnevin 
 Cemetery, near Dublin, obtained permission of his representa- 
 tives to remove his ashes to their grounds, where they now 
 finally repose. A tomb modeled from the tomb of Scipio covers 
 the grave, bearing the simple but sufficient inscription CURRAN. 
 Thus was fulfilled the words he had uttered long before " The 
 last duties will be paid by that country on which they are de- 
 volved ; nor will it be for charity that a little earth will be given 
 to my bones. Tenderly will those duties be paid, as the debt of 
 well-earned affection, and of gratitude not ashamed of her tears " 
 Grattan's last days were characteristic of his whole life. As 
 the session of 1820 progressed, though suffering from his last 
 struggle with disease, he was stirred by an irresistible desire to 
 make his way to London, and present once more the petition of 
 the Catholics. Since the defeat of his Relief Bill of 1813, there 
 had been some estrangement between him and the more advanced 
 section of the agitators, headed by O'Connell, This lie was 
 nnxious, perhaps, to heal or to overcome. Ho thought, moreover, 
 that even if he should die in the effort, it would be, as he said 
 himself, " a good end." Amid 
 
 " The trees which a nation bad given, and which bowed 
 As if each brought a new ciric crown to his head," 
 
 be consulted with the Catholic delegates early in May. O'Connell 
 was the spokesman, and the scene may yet be rendered Immortal by 
 cm? great national artint. All present felt thnt the a:r*d patriot 
 was dying, bnt still he would go once more to London, to fall, as h
 
 frOPULAK HIBTOBY OF UIELAH0. 777 
 
 Mid, " at Ms post." In leaving Ireland he gave to his oldest 
 friends directions for his funeral that he might be buried in th 
 little churchyard of Moyanna, on the estate the people gave lina 
 in 1782 ! He reached London, by slow stages, at the end of 
 May, and proposed to be in his place in the House on the 4th of 
 June. But this gratification was not permitted him: on the 
 morning of the 4th, at six o'clock, he called his son to his bed- 
 side, and ordered him to bring him a paper containing his hist 
 political opinions. " Add to it," he said, with all his old love of 
 antithesis, "that I die with a love of liberty in my heart, and 
 this declaration in favor of my country, in my hand." 
 
 So worthily ended the mortal career of Henry Grattan. He 
 was interred by the side of his old friend, Charles James Fox, in 
 Westminster Abbey ; the mourners included the highest imperial 
 statesmen, and the Catholic orphan children ; his eulogium waa 
 pronounced in the House of Commons by William Conyngham 
 Plunkett, and in the Irish capital by Daniel O'ConnelL 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RETROSPECT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING 
 THE REIGN OF GEOEGE in. 
 
 BEFORE relating the decisive events in the contest for Catholio 
 emancipation, which marked the reign of George IV., we may be 
 permitted to cast a glance backward over the religious and secu- 
 lar state of Ireland, during the sixty years' reign of George III. 
 
 The relative position of the great religious denomination! 
 underwent a slow but important revolution during this long reign. 
 In the last days of George II., a Chief-Justice was bold enough to 
 declare that " the laws did not presume a Papist to exist in the 
 kingdom ;" but under the sway of his successor, though much 
 against that successor's will, they advanced from one constito- 
 ti'.ial victory to another, till they stood, in the person of the 
 Earl Marshal, on the very steps of the throne. In the town*
 
 77.8 POrULJLB HISTORY OF IB1LAKO. 
 
 and cities, the Catholic laity, once admitted to commerce and tk 
 professions, rose rapidly to wealth and honor. A Dublin FupUt 
 was at the head of the wine trade ; another was the wealthiest 
 graziar in the kingdom ; a third, at Cork, was the largvst pro- 
 vision merchant. With wealth came social ambition, and the 
 Leirs of these enfranchised merchants were by a natural conao 
 qacnce the judges and legislators of the next generation. 
 
 The ecclesiastical organization of Ireland, as described in 1800 
 by the bishops in answer to queries of the Chief Secretary, was 
 simple and inexpensive. The four archbishops and twenty bishops, 
 were sustained by having certain parishes attached to their cathe- 
 drals, in commendam : other Catliedraticum there seems to have been 
 none. Armagh had then 350 parish priests, Tuam 206, Cashel 
 314, and Dublin 156: in all 1126. The number of curates or co- 
 adjutors was at least equal to that of the parish priests ; while 
 of regulars then returned the number did not exceed 450. This 
 large body of religious 24 prelates, nearly 3,000 clergy exclu- 
 sive of female religious were then, and have ever since been, 
 sustained by the voluntary contributions of the laity, paid onlefly 
 at the two great festivals of Christmas and Easter, or by cnstom 
 ary offerings made at the close of the ceremonies of marriages, 
 baptisms, and death. Though the income of some of the chnrchea 
 was considerable, in the great majority of cases the amouut re 
 ceived barely sufficed to fulfil the injunction of St. Patrick to 
 his disciples, that " the lamp should take but that where* tth it 
 was fed." 
 
 The Presbyterian clergy, though in some respecta mow de 
 pendent on their congregations than the Catholics were, did not 
 always, nor in all cases, depend on the voluntary principle for 
 their maintenance. The Irish Supply Bill contained an annual 
 item before the Union of 7,700 for the Antrim synod, and some 
 other dissenting bodies. The regium donum was not, indeed, 
 general ; but that it might be made so, was one of the induce- 
 uiuiits held out to many of that clergy to secure their countenance 
 for the Legislative Union. 
 
 The Established Church continued, of course, to monopolize 
 University honors, and to enjoy ite princely revenues and all 
 political advantages. Trinity College continued annually to fans
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. i 
 
 Its 200,000 acres at a rental .averaging 100,000 sta.Iing. ltd 
 wealth, and the uses to which it is put, are thus described by a 
 recent writer: "Some of Trinity's senior fellows enjoy higher 
 incomes than cabinet ministers ; many of her tutors have reve- 
 nues above those ef cardinals ; and junior fellows, of a few days' 
 standing, frequently decline some of her thirty-one church livings 
 with benefices which would shame the poverty of scores of con- 
 tinental, not to say Irish, Catholic archbishops. Even eminent 
 judges hold her professorships ; some of her chairs are vacated 
 for the Episcopal bench only ; and majors and field officers would 
 acquire increased pay by being promoted to the rank of head 
 porter, first menial, in Trinity College. Apart from her princely 
 fellowships and professorships, her seventy Foundation, and six- 
 teen non-Foundation Scholarships, her thirty Sizarships, and her 
 fourteen valuable Studentships, she has at her disposal an aggre- 
 gate, by bequests, benefactions, and various endowments, of 117 
 permanent exhibitions, amounting to upwards of 2,000 per 
 annum." The splendor of the highest Protestant dignitaries may 
 be inferred from what has been said formerly of the Bishop of 
 Derry, of the Era of Independence. The state maintained by the 
 chief bishop Primate Robinson, who ruled Armagh from 1765 
 to 1795 is thus described by Mr. Cumberland in his Memoirs. 
 " I accompanied him," says Cumberland, " on Sunday forenoon 
 to his cathedral. We went in his chariot of six horses attended 
 by three footmen behind, whilst my wife and daughters, with Sir 
 William Robinson, the primate's elder brother, followed in my 
 father's coach, which he lent me for the journey. At our ap- 
 proach the great western door was thrown open, and my friend 
 (in person one of the finest men that could be seen) entered, like 
 another Archbishop Laud, in high prelatical state, preceded by 
 his officers and ministers of the church, conducting him in file* 
 to the robing chamber, and back again to the throne." It may 
 well be conceived with what invidious eyes the barely tolerated 
 Papists of the city of Saint Patrick must have looked on all tliia 
 pageantry, and their feelings were no doubt those in some degree 
 of all their coreligionists throughout the kingdom. 
 
 The Irih Establishment, during the reign of George III, num 
 bered amr>ng its prelates and clergy many able and amiabie mea
 
 V80 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRELAIHJ. 
 
 At the period of the Union, the two most distinguished were Dr. 
 (XBeirne, Bishop of Heath, nn ex-priest, and Dr. Young, Bi&hop 
 of Clonfert, a former fellow of Trinity College. As a Bibl 
 scholar, Dr. Young ranked deservedly high, but as a variously 
 accomplished writer, Dr. O'Beirne was the first man of his order. 
 His political papers, though occasionally disfigured with the 
 bigotry natural to an apostate, are full of a vigorous sagacity; 
 his contributions to general literature, such as his paper on 
 Tanixtrif, in Vallency's Collectanea, show how very much greater 
 things ptill he was capable of. It is not a little striking that the 
 most eminent bishop, as well as the most celebrated Anglican 
 preacher of that age, in Ireland (Dean JDrwan), should both have 
 been ordained as Catholic priests. 
 
 The national literature which we have noted a century earlier, at 
 changing gradually its tongue, was now mainly, indeed we might 
 almost say solely, expressed in English. It is true the songs of 
 " Carolan the Blind," were sung in Gaelic by the Longford fire- 
 sides, where the author of " the Deserted Village " listened to 
 their exquisite melody, moulding his young ear to a sense of 
 harmony full as exquisite ; but the glory of the Gaelic muse was 
 past. He, too, unpromising as was his evterior, was to be one of 
 the bright harbingers of another great era of Hiberno-English 
 literature. When, within two generations, out of the same ex- 
 ceedingly restricted class of educated Irishmen and women, we 
 count the names of Goldsmith, Samuel Madden, Arthur Murphy, 
 Henry Brooke, Charles Macklin, Sheridan, Burke, Edmund Ma- 
 lone, Maria Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, "Psyche" Tighe, and 
 Thomas Moore, it is impossible not to entertain a very high 
 op'riion of the mental resources of that population, if only they 
 were fnirly wrought and kindly valued by the world. 
 
 Ono memorable incident of literary history the Ossianic oat. 
 break of 1760 aided powerfully though indirectly in the revival 
 of the study of the ancient Celtic history of Scotland and Ireland. 
 Something was done then, by the Royal Irish Academy, to meet 
 tha* Btorm of Anglo Norman incredulity and indignation ; much 
 more has been done since, to place the original records of tha 
 Three Kingdoms on a sound critical basis. The dogmatism of 
 the unbelievers in the existence of a genuine body of ancient
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 71 
 
 Celtic literature has been rebuked ; and the folly of the theorist* 
 who, upon imaginary grounds, constructed pretentious sy sterna, 
 has been exposed. The exact originals of MacPherson's oded 
 have not been found, after a century of research, and may be 
 given up, as non-existant ; but the better opinion seems now to 
 be, by those who have studied the fragments of undoubted antiq- 
 uity attributed to the son of the warrior Fion, that whatever the 
 modern translator may have invented, he certainly did not invent 
 Ossian. 
 
 To the stage, within the same range of time, Ireland gave some 
 celebrated names : QuSnn, Barry, Sheridan, Mrs. "Woffington, Mrs. 
 Jordan, and Miss O'Neill ; and to painting, one preeminent name 
 the eccentric, honest, and original, James Barry. 
 
 But of all the arts, that in which the Irish of the Georgian era 
 won the highest and most various triumphs was the art of Ora- 
 tory. What is now usually spoken of as " the Irish School of 
 Eloquence," may be considered to have taken its rise from the 
 growth of the Patriot party in Parliament, in the last years of 
 George II. Every contemporary account agrees in placing its 
 first great name Anthony Malone on the same level with Chat> 
 ham and Mansfield. There were great men before Malone, aa 
 before Agamemnon ; such aa Sir Toby Butler, Baron Rice, and 
 Patrick Darcy ; but he was the first of our later succession of 
 masters. After him came Flood and John Hely Hutchmson 
 then Grattan and Curran ; then Plunkett and Bushe ; then O'Con- 
 nell and Shiel. In England, at the same time, Burke, Barr6, 
 Sheridan, and Sir Phillip Francis, upheld the reputation of Irish 
 oratory ; a reputation generously acknowledged by all parties, a- 
 it was illustrated in the ranks of alL The Tories, within our own 
 recollection, applauded as heartily the Irish wit and fervor of 
 Canning, Croker, and North, as the "Whigs did the exhibition of 
 similar qualities in their Emancipation allies. 
 
 Nothing can be less correct, than to pronounce judgment on 
 the Irish School, either of praise or blame, in sweeping genera* 
 terms. Though a certain family resemblance may be traced 
 among its great masters, no two of them will be found nearly 
 alike. There are no echoes, no servile imitators, among them. 
 In vigorous argumentation and severe simplicity, Plunkett re 
 66
 
 V82 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAKft. 
 
 eembled Flood, but the temperament of the two men and Or* 
 tory is nearly as ranch a matter of temperament as of intellect 
 was widely different Flood's movement was dramatic, while 
 Plunkett's was mathematical. In structural arrangement, Sheil 
 occasionally very occasionally reminds us of Grattnn ; but if 
 he has not the wonderful condensation of thought, neither has ho 
 the frequent antithetical abuses of that great orator. Burke and 
 Sheridan are as distinguishable as any other two of their contem- 
 poraries ; Curran stands alone ; O'Connell never had a mo^el, and 
 never had an imitator who rose above mimicry. Every combin- 
 ation of powers, every description of excellence, and every variety 
 of style and character, may be found among the masterpieces of 
 this great school. Of their works many will live forever. Most 
 of Burke's, many of Grattan's, and one or two of Curran's have 
 reached us in such preservation as promises immortality. Selec- 
 tions from Flood, Sheridan, Canning, Plunkett and O'Connell will 
 survive ; Sheil will be more fortunate, for he was more artistic, 
 and more watchful of his own fame. His exquisite finish will do 
 for him, what the higher efforts of men, indifferent to the grand 
 audience of posterity, will have forfeited for them. 
 
 It is to be observed, farther, that the inspiration of all these 
 men was drawn from the very hearts of the people, among whom 
 they grew. With one or two exceptions, sons of humble peas- 
 ants, of actors, of at most middle class men, they were true, 
 through every change of personal position, to the general inter- 
 ests of the people to the common weal From generous thoughts 
 and a lofty scorn of falsehood, fanaticism and tyranny, they took 
 their inspiration ; and as they were true to human nature, so will 
 mankind, through successive ages, dwell fondly on their works 
 led guard 'ovingly their tomb*.
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 78J 
 
 OHA.PTER VI. 
 
 . THE IRISH ABROAD, DURING THE REKT.i OF GBJR3E HI. 
 
 THE fond tenacity with which the large numbers of the Irish 
 people who have established themselves in foreign states have 
 always clung to their native country ; the active sympathy they 
 have personally shown for their relatives at home ; the repeated 
 efforts they have made to assist the Irish in Ireland, in all their 
 public undertakings, requires that, as an element in Q'Connell'a 
 final and successful struggle for Catholic Emancipation, we should 
 take a summary view of the position of " the Irish ;;broad." 
 
 While the emigrants of that country to America, naturally pur- 
 sued the paths of peace, those who, from choice or necessity, 
 found their way to the European Continent, were, with few excep- 
 tions, employed mainly in two departments war and diplomacy. 
 An Irish Abbe, like the celebrated preacher, McCarthy or an 
 Irish merchant firm, such as the house of the same name at Bor 
 deaux, might be met with, but most of those who attained any 
 distinction did so by the sword or the pen, in the field or the 
 cabinet. 
 
 In France, under the revolutionary governments from '91 to '99, 
 the Irish were, with their old-world notions of God and the Devil, 
 wholly out of place ; but under the Consulate and the Empire, 
 they rose to many employments of the second clr.sn, and a few of 
 the very first. From the ranks of the expatriated of '98, Buona- 
 parte promoted Arthur O'Connor and William Corbet to the rank 
 of General ; Ware, Allen, Byrne, the younger Tone, and Keating 
 to that of Colonel. As individuals, the Emperor was certainly a 
 benefactor to many Irishmen ; but as a nation, it was one of their 
 most foolish delusions, to expect in him a deliverer. On the 
 restoration of the Bourbons, the Irish officers who had acquired 
 distinction under Napoleon, adhered generally to his fortunes, and 
 tendered their resignations ; in their place, a new group of Franco- 
 Irish descendants of the old Brigades-men, began to show them- 
 selves in the salmis of Paris, and the Bureaus of the Ministers. 
 The last swords drawn for " the legitimate branch" in '91, wa|
 
 784 POPULAtt BISTORT OF IRELAWB, 
 
 by Count Dillon and hia friend, Count Wall ; their last defender, 
 in 1830, was General Wall of the same family. 
 
 Though the Irish in France, especially those resident at Paris, 
 exercised the greatest influence in favor of their original conn- 
 try an influence which met all traveled Englishmen wherever 
 the French language was understood their compatriots in Spain 
 and Austria had also contributed their share to range Continen- 
 tal opinion on the side of Ireland. Three times, during the cen- 
 tury, Spain was represented at London by men of Irish birth, or 
 Irish origin. The British merchant who found Alexander O'Reilly 
 Governor of Cadiz, or the diplomatist who met him as Spanish 
 ambassador, at the Court of Louis XVI., could hardly look with 
 uninstructed eyes, upon the lot of his humblest namesake hi 
 Cavan. This family, indeed, produced a succession of eminent 
 men, both in Spain and Austria. " It is strange," observed Napo- 
 leon to those around him, on his second entry into Vienna, in 
 1809, " that on each occasion in November, 1805, as this day 
 on arriving in the Austrian capital, I find myself in treaty and 
 in intercourse with the respectable Count O'Reilly." Napoleon 
 had other reasons for remembering this officer ; it was his dra- 
 goon regiment which saved the remnant of the Auetrians, at 
 A n.-t .-rlit /. In the Austrian army list at that period, when she was 
 the ally of England, there were above forty Irish names, from th 
 grade of Colonel up to that of Field-marshal. In almost every 
 field of the Peninsula, Wellington and Anglesea learned the value 
 of George the Second's imprecation on the Penal Code, which 
 deprived him of such soldiers as conquered at Fontenoy. It 
 cannot be doubted that even the constant repetition of the names 
 of the Blakes, O'Donnolls, and Sarsfields, in the bulletins sent 
 homu to England, tended to enforce reflections of that description 
 ou the statesmen and the nation, and to inspirit and sustain the 
 trng^ling Catholics. A powerful argument for throwing open 
 the British army and navy to men of all religions, was drawn 
 from these foreign experiences ; and, if such men were worthy to 
 hold military commissions, why not also to sit in Parliament, and 
 on the Bench ? 
 
 The frtunpp of tho Irish in America, though less brilliant for 
 (he few, were more advantageous as to the many. They werf
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OB 1 IRELAND. 785 
 
 during the war of the revolution, and the war of 1812, a very 
 3onsiderf.ble element in the American republic. It was a violent 
 exaggeration to say, as Lord Mountjoy did, in moving for the 
 repeal of the Penal laws, " that England lost America, by Ire- 
 land ;" but it is very certain that Washington placed great weight 
 on the active aid of the gallant Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
 Southern Irish troops, and the sturdy Scotch-Irish of New Hamp- 
 shire. Franklin in his visit to Ireland, before the rupture, and 
 Jefferson in his correspondence, always enumerates the Irish, aa 
 one element of reliance, in the contest between the Colonies and 
 the Empire. 
 
 In the immediate cause of the war of 1812, this people were 
 peculiarly interested. If the doctrines of " the right of search " 
 and " once a subject always a subject," were to prevail, no Irish 
 emigrant could hope to become or having become, could hope 
 to enjoy the protection of an American citizen. It was, there- 
 fore, natural that men of that origin should take a deep interest 
 In the war, and it seems something more than a fortuitous ciroum- 
 Btance, when we find in the chairman of the Senatorial Commit- 
 tee of 1812, which authorized the President to raise the necessary 
 levies an Irish emigrant, John Smilie, and in the Secretary-at-war, 
 who acted under the powers thus granted, the son of an Irish emi- 
 grant, John Caldwell Calhoun. On the Canadian frontier, during 
 the war which followed, we find in posts of importance, Brady, 
 Mullnny, McComb, Croghan and Reilly ; on the lakes, Commodore 
 McDonough, and on the ocean, Commodores Shaw and Stewart 
 all Irish. On the Mississippi, another son of Irish emigrant 
 parents, with his favorite lieutenants, Carroll, Coffee and Butler, 
 brought the war to a close by his brilliant defence of New Or- 
 leans. The moral of that victory was not lost upon England ; 
 the life of Andrew Jackson, with a dedication " to the People of 
 Ireland " was published at London, and Dublin, by the most gen- 
 erally popular writer of that day William Cobbett. 
 
 In the cause of South American independence, the Irish under 
 O'Higgins and McKenna in Chili, and under Bolivar and San 
 Martin in Colombia and Peru, were largely engaged, and honor- 
 ably aiptingui?hed. Colonel O'Connor, nephew to Arthur, waa 
 Ban Martin's chief of the staff; General Devereux, with his Irish 
 66*
 
 786 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRBLAND. 
 
 legion rendered distinguished services to Bolivar and Don Bw 
 nanlo. O'Higgina was hailed as the Liberator of Chili. During 
 that long ten years' struggle, which ended with the evacuation of 
 Carraccas in 1823, Irish names are conspicuous on almost every 
 field of action. Bolivar's generous heart was warmly attached 
 to persons of that nation. " The doctor who constantly attends 
 him," says the English General, Miller, " is Dr. Moore, an Irish- 
 man, who had followed the Liberator from Venezuela to Peru. 
 He is a man of great skill in his profession, and devotedly attached 
 to the person of the Liberator. Bolivar's first aide de-camp, Col- 
 onel O'Leary, is a nephew of the celebrated Father O'Leary. In 
 1818, hi- embarked, at the age of seventeen, in the cause of South 
 American independence, in which he has served with high dis- 
 tinction, having been present at almost every general action 
 fought in Colombia, and has received several wounds. He has 
 been often employed on diplomatic missions, and in charges of 
 great resposibility, in which he has always acquitted himself with 
 great ability." 
 
 That these achievements of the Irish abroad produced a favor- 
 able influence on the situation of the Irish at home, we know from 
 many collateral sources ; we know it also from the fact, that when 
 O'Connell succeeded in founding a really national organization, 
 subscriptions and words of encouragement poured in on him, 
 not only from France, Spain and Austria, but from North and 
 South America, not only from the Irish residents in those coun- 
 tries, but from their native inhabitants soldiers and statesmen- 
 of the first consideration. The services and virtues of her di 
 tinguishcd children in foreign climes, stood to the mother country 
 Inutead of treaties and alliaixm 
 
 ,.vo
 
 POPULAR HI8TORT OF IRBLANB. 78? 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 O'OONNELL'S LEADERSHIP. THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 
 1821 TO 1826. 
 
 AT the beginning of the year 1821, O'Connell, during the inter- 
 vals of his laborious occupations in court and on circuit, addressed 
 a series of stirring letters to " the People of Ireland," remark- 
 able as containing some of the best and most trenchant of hii 
 political writings. His object was to induce the postponement of 
 the annual petition for Emancipation, and the substitution instead 
 of a general agitation for Parliamentary reform, in conjunction 
 with the English reformers. Against this. conclusion which he 
 ridiculed " as the fashion for January, 1821 " Mr. Shiel published 
 a bitter, clever, rhetorical reply, to which O'Conuell at once sent 
 forth a severe and rather contemptuous rejoinder. Shiel was 
 quite content to have Mr. Plunkett continue Grattan's annual 
 motion, with all its " conditions " and " securities." O'Connell 
 declared he had no hope in petitions except from a reformed Par- 
 liament, and he, therefore, was opposed to such motions altogether, 
 especially as put by Mr. Plunkett, and the other advocates of a 
 Veto. Another session was lost in this controversy, and when 
 Parliament rose, it was announced that George IV. was coming 
 to Ireland " on a mission of Conciliation." 
 
 On this announcement Mr. O'Connell advised that the Catholics 
 should take advantage of his Majesty's presence to assemble and 
 consider the state of their affairs, but a protest against " con- 
 necting in any manner the king's visit with Catholic affairs," waa 
 circulated by Lords Fingal, Netterville, Gormanstown, and K51- 
 leen, Messrs. Baggott, Shiel, Wyse, and other Commoners. 
 O'Connell yielded, as he often did, for the sake of unanimity. 
 The king's visit led to many meetings and arrangements, in some 
 of which his advice was taken, while in others he was outvoted 
 or overruled. Nothing could exceed the patience he exhibited at 
 this period of his life, when his naturally impetuous temperament 
 was still far from being subdued by the frosts of age. 
 
 Many liberal Protestants at this period the king's brief visit
 
 788 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 were so moved with admiration for the judicious and proper con- 
 duct of the Catholic leaders, that a new but short-lived orgaiuza- 
 tion called " the Conciliation Committee," was formed. Theultit 
 Orange zealots, however, were not to he restrained even by the 
 presence of the sovereign for whom they professed BO much devo- 
 tion. In the midst of the preparations for his landing, they cele- 
 brated, with all its offensive accompaniments, the 12th of July, 
 and at the Dublin dinner to the king though after he had left 
 the room they gave their charter toast of " the glorious, pious, 
 and immortal memory." The Committee of Conciliation soon 
 dwindled away, and like the visit of George IV., left no good re- 
 sult behind. 
 
 The year 1822 was most remarkable, at its commencement, for 
 the arrival of the Marquis of Wellesley, as Lord-Lieutenant, and 
 at its close, for the assault committed on him in the theatre, by 
 the Dublin Orangemen. Though the Marquis had declined to 
 interfere in preventing the annual Orange celebration, he was 
 well known to be friendly to the Catholics ; their advocate, Mr. 
 Plunkett, was his Attorney General; and many of their leaders 
 were cordially welcomed at the Castle. These proofs were suffi- 
 cient for the secret tribunals which sat upon his conduct, and 
 when his lordship presented himself, on the night of the 14th of 
 December, at the theatre, he was assailed by an organized mob, 
 one of whom flung a heavy piece of wood, and another a quart 
 bottle, towards the state box. Three Orangemen, mechanics, 
 were arrested and tried for the offence, but acquitted on a techni- 
 cal defect of evidence ; a general feeling of indignation was ex- 
 cited among all classes in consequence, and it is questionable if 
 Orangeiam, in Dublin, ever recovered the disgust occasioned by 
 that dastardly outrage. 
 
 The great and fortunate event, however, for the Catholics, wit 
 the foundation of their new Association, which was finally re- 
 solved tipon at an Aggregate Meeting held in " Townsend Street 
 Chapel," on the 10th of May, 1828. Thia meeting had been 
 called by an imposing requisition signed with singular unanimity 
 by nil the principal Catholic gentleman. Lord Killeeu presided, 
 Mr O Coanell moved the formation of the As3<*c. r 
 
 Thomas Esmonde seconded the motion; Mr. Shiel lately anrf
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^89 
 
 sincerely reconciled to O'Connell sustained it. The plan was 
 simple and popular. The Association was to consist of members 
 paying a guinea a year, and associates paying a shilling ; a stand- 
 ing committee was to form the government ; the regular meetings 
 urere to be weekly every Saturday ; and the business to consist 
 of organization, correspondence, public discussions, and petitions. 
 It was, in effect, to be a sort of extern and unauthorized Parlia- 
 nwnt, acting always within the Constitution, with a view to the 
 modification of the existing laws, by means not prohibited in 
 those laws themselves. It was a design, subtle in conception, but 
 simple in form ; a natural design for a lawyer-liberator to form 
 and for a people strongly prepossessed in his favor to adopt ; but 
 one, at the same time, which would require a rare combination of 
 circumstances to sustain for any great length of time, under a 
 leader less expert, inventive, and resolute. 
 
 The parliamentary position of the Catholic question, at the 
 moment of the formation of the Association, had undergone an 
 other strange alteration. Lord Castlereagh, having attained the 
 highest honors of the empire, died by his own hand the previous 
 year. Lord Liverpool remained Premier, Lord Elbn Chancel- 
 lor, Mr. Canning became Foreign Secretary, with Mr. Peel, Home 
 Secretary, the Duke of Wellington continuing Master-General 
 of the Ordnance. To this cabinet, so largely anti- Catholic", the 
 chosen organ of the Irish Catholics, Mr. Plunkett, was necessarily 
 associated as Irish Attorney General. His situation, therefore, 
 was in the session of 1823 one of great difficulty ; this Sir Fran- 
 cis Burdett and the radical reformers at once perceived, and in 
 the debates which followed, pressed him unmercifully. They 
 quoted against him his own language denouncing cabinet com- 
 promises on so vital a question, in 1813, and to show their indig- 
 nation, when he rose to reply, they left the house in a body. 
 His speech, as always, was most able, but the house, when he 
 eat down, broke into an uproar of confusion. Party spirit ran 
 exceedingly high; the possibility of advancing the question 
 during the session was doubtful, and a motion to adjourn pre- 
 vailed. A fortnight later, at the first meeting of the Catholio 
 Association, a very cordial vote of thanks to Pluikelt, was carried 
 by acclamation.
 
 90 POPULAB USTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 The new Catholic organization was laboring hard to merit 
 popular favor. Within the year of its organization we fiad th 
 Saturday meetings engaged with such questions as church rates; 
 secret societies ; correspondence with members of both houses ; 
 voting public thanks to Mr. Brougham ; the penal laws relating 
 to the rights of sepulture ; the purchase of a Catholic cemetery 
 near Dublin ; the commutation of tithes ; the admission of Catho- 
 lic freemen into corporations; the extension of the Association 
 into every county in Ireland, and other more incidental subjects. 
 The business-like air of the weekly meeting?, at this early period, 
 is remarkable : they were certainly anything but mere occasions 
 for rhetorical display. But though little could be objected against, 
 and so much might be said in favor of the labors of the Associa- 
 tion, it was not till nearly twelve months after its organization, 
 when O'Connell proposed and carried his system of monthly 
 penny subscriptions to the " Catholic Rent," that it took a firm 
 and far-reaching hold on the common people, and began to excite 
 the serious apprehensions of the oligarchical factions in Ireland 
 and England. 
 
 This bold, and at this time much ridiculed step, infused new life 
 and a system hitherto unknown into the Catholic population. 
 The parish collectors, corresponding directly with Dublin, estab- 
 lished a local agency, coextensive with the kingdom ; the smallest 
 contributor felt himself personally embarked in the contest; and 
 the movement became, in consequence, what it had not been be- 
 fore, an eminently popular one. During the next six months the 
 receipts from penny subscriptions exceeded 100 sterling per 
 month, representing 24,000 subscribers; during the next year 
 they averaged above 500 a week, representing nearly half A 
 million enrolled Associates 1 
 
 With the additional means at the disposal of the Finance 
 Committee of the Association, its power rose rapidly. A morning 
 and an evening journal were at its command in Dublin ; many 
 thousands of pounds were expended in defending the people ia 
 the courts, and prosecuting their Orange and other enemies. 
 Annual subsidies, of 5,000 each, were voted for the Catholic 
 Poor schools, and the education of missionary priest* for Amer- 
 ica ; the expenses of parliamentary and electioneering agents wer
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND, 791 
 
 Jso hea^y. But for all these purposes " the Catholic Rent," of a 
 penny per month from each associate, was found amply sufficient. 
 
 At the close of 1824, the government, really alarmed at the 
 formidable proportions assumed by the agitation, caused criminal 
 informations to be filed against Mr. O'Connell, for an alleged 
 seditious allusion to the example of Bolivar, the liberator of 
 South America ; but the Dublin grand jury ignored the bills of 
 Indictment founded on these informations. Early in the follow- 
 Ing session, however, a bill to suppress " Unlawful Associations in 
 Ireland," was introduced by Mr. Goulburn, who had succeeded 
 Sir Robert Peel as Chief Secretary, and was supported by Plunkett 
 a confirmed enemy of all extra-legal combinations. It waa 
 aimed directly at the Catholic Association, and passed both 
 houses ; but O'Connell found means " to drive," as he said. " a 
 coach and six through it." The existing Association dissolved on 
 the passage of the act ; another, called " the New Catholic Asso- 
 ciation," was formed for " charitable and other purposes," and the 
 agitators proceeded with their organization, with one word added 
 to their title, and immensely additional eclat and success. 
 
 In Parliament, the measure thus defeated was followed by an- 
 other, the long-promised Relief Bill. It passed in the Commons 
 in May, accompanied by two clauses, or as they were called, 
 " wings," most unsatisfactory to the Catholic body. One clause 
 disfranchised the whole class of electors known as the " forty- 
 shilling freeholders ;" the other provided a scale of state mainte- 
 nance for the Catholic clergy. A bishop was to have 1,000 per 
 annum ; a dean 300 ; a parish priest 200 ; a curate 60. This 
 measure was thrown out by the House of Lords, greatly to the 
 satisfaction, at least, of the Irish Catholics. It was during this 
 debate in the upper house, that the Duke of York, presumptive 
 heir to the throne, made what was called his " ether speech " 
 from his habit of dosing himself with that stimulant on trying 
 occasions. In this speech he declared, that so " help him God," 
 be would never, never consent to acknowledge the claims put for- 
 ward by the Catholics. Before two years were over, death had 
 removed him to the presence of that Awful Being whose name 
 be had so rashly invoked, and his brother, the Duke of Clarence, 
 assumed his position, as next in succession to the throne.
 
 ^92 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Catholic delegates, Lord Killeen, Sir Thomas Esmond*, 
 Lawless, and Shiel, were in London at the time the Duke of 
 York made his memorable declaration. If, on the one hand, 
 they were regarded with dislike amounting to hatred, on the 
 other, they were welcomed with cordiality by all the leaders of 
 the liberal party. The venerable Earl Fitzwilliam emerged from 
 lib retirement to do them honor ; the gifted and energetic 
 Brougham entertained them with all hospitality; at Norfolk 
 House they were banqueted in the room in which George III. was 
 born: the millionaire-demagogue Burdett, the courtly, liberal 
 Lord Grey, and the flower of the Catholic nobility, were invited 
 to meet them. The delegates were naturally cheered and grati- 
 fied ; they felt, they must have felt, that their cause had a grasp 
 upon Imperial attention, which nothing but concession could ever 
 loosen. 
 
 Committees of both houses, to inquire into the state of Ire- 
 land, had Rat during a great part of this Session, and among the 
 witnesses were the principal delegates, with Drs. Murray, Curtis, 
 Kelly, and Doyle. The evidence of the latter the eminent Pre- 
 late of Kildare and Leighlin attracted most attention. His 
 readiness of resource, clearness of statement, and wide range of 
 information, inspired many of his questioners with a feeling of 
 respect, such as they had never before entertained for any of his 
 order. His writings had already made him honorably distin- 
 guished among literary men ; his examination before the Commit- 
 tees made him equally so among statesmen. From that period he 
 could reckon the Marquises of Angleseaand Wellesley, Lord Lana- 
 downe and Mr. Brougham, among his correspondents and friends, 
 and, what he valued even more, among the friends of his cause. 
 Mr. O'Connell, on the other hand, certainly lost ground in Ireland 
 by his London journey. He had, unquestionably, given his assent 
 to both " wings," in 1825, as he did to the remaining one in 1828, 
 and (hereby greatly injured his own popularity. His frank and 
 full recantation of hi- error, on his return, soon restored him to 
 the favor of the multitude, and enabled him to employ, with the 
 bst effect, the enormous influence which he showed he posse-used 
 t the general elections of 1826. By him mainly the Bercaforde 
 vere beaten in Waterford, the Fosters in Louth, and tie Lealiea
 
 *OP0LAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 93 
 
 In Monaghan. The independence of Limerick city, of Tipperary. 
 Cork, Kilkenny, Lougford, and other important constituencies, 
 was secured. The parish machinery of the Association was found 
 iiivnlunblo for the purpose of bringing up the electors, and '*je 
 people's treasury was fortunately able to protect to some exten* 
 the fearless voter, who, in despite of his landlord, voted accord- 
 ing to the dictates of his own heart. 
 
 The efl'ect of these elections on the empire at large was very 
 great. When, early in the following spring, Lord Liverpool, 
 after fifteen years' possession of power, died unexpectedly, George 
 IV. sent for Canning and gave him carte blanche to form a cabinet 
 without excepting the question of Emancipation. That high 
 spirited and really liberal statesman associated with himself a 
 ministry, three-fourths of whom were in .favor of granting the 
 Catholic claims. This was in the month of April; but to the 
 consternation of those whose hopes were now so justly raised, 
 the gifted Premier held office only four months; his lamented 
 death causing another " crisis," and one more postponement of 
 " the Catholic question." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 O'OONNELL'B LEADERSHIP. THE CLARE ELECTION. EMANCIPATION OF 
 THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 A VERY little reflection will enable us to judge, even at this day, 
 the magnitude of the contest in which O'Connell was the great 
 popular leader, during the reign of George IV. In Great Britain, 
 a very considerable section of the ancient peerage and gentrv, 
 with the Earl Marshal at their head, were to be restored to 
 political existence, by the act of Emancipation ; a missionary, and 
 barely tolerated clergy were to be clothed, in their own country, 
 with the commonest rights of British subjects protection to life 
 and property. In Ireland, seven-eighths of the people, one-third 
 87
 
 ?94 POPULAR HIBTORT OF IRELAND. 
 
 of the gentry, the whole of the Catholic clergy, the nnmeroni 
 and distinguished array of the Catholic bar, and all the Catholic 
 townsmen, taxed but unrepresented in the corporate bodies, wore 
 to enter on a new civil and social condition, on the passage of the 
 act. In the colonies, except Canada, where that church was pro 
 tcted by treaty, the change of Imperial policy towards Catholic* 
 was to be felt in every relation of life, civil, military and ecclesi 
 astical, by all persons professing that religion. Some years ago, 
 a bishop of Southern Africa declared, that, until O'Connell's 
 time, it was impossible for Catholics to obtain any consideration 
 from the officials at the Cape of Good Hope. Could there be a 
 more striking illustration of the magnitude of the movement, 
 which, rising in the latitude of Ireland, flung its outermost wave 
 of influence on the shores of the Indian ocean ? 
 
 The adverse hosts to be encountered in this great contest, in- 
 cluded a large majority of the rank and wealth of both king- 
 doms. The king, who had been a Whig in his youth, had grown 
 into a Tory in his old age ; the House of Lords were strongly 
 hostile to the measure, as were also the universities, both in Eng- 
 land and Ireland ; the Tory party, in and out of Parliament ; the 
 Orange organization in Ireland ; the civil and military authorities 
 generally, with the great bulk of the rural magistracy and the 
 municipal authorities. The power to overcome this power should 
 be indeed formidable, well organized and wisely directed. 
 
 The Lord Lieutenant selected by Mr. Canning, was the Marquis 
 of Anglesea, a frank soldier, as little accustomed to play the 
 politician as any man of his order and distinction could be. He 
 came to Ireland, in many respects the very opposite of Lord 
 Wellesley ; no orator certainly, and so far as he had spoken for- 
 merly, an enemy rather than a friend to the Catholics. But ha 
 had not been three months in office when he began to modify his 
 views ; he was the first to prohibit, in Dublin, the annual Orange 
 onlrage on the 12th of July, and by subsequent, though slow de- 
 grees, he became fully convinced that the Catholic claims could 
 be settled only by Concession. Lord Francis Leveson Gower 
 afterwards Earl of Ellesmere, accompanied the Marquis as Chief 
 Secretary. 
 
 The accession to office of a prime minister friendly to the Catb
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 795 
 
 tholics, was the signal for a new attempt to raise that " No. 
 Popery " cry which had already given twenty years of political 
 supremacy to Mr. Perceval, and Lord Liverpool. In Ireland, this 
 feeling appeared under the guise of what was called " the 
 New Reformation," which, during the summer of 1827, raged with 
 all the proverbial violence of the odiwn theolngicitm from Cork to 
 Derry. Priests and parsons, laymen and lawyers, took part in 
 this general politico-religious controversy, in which every possible 
 subject of difference between Catholic and Protestant was pub- 
 licly discussed. Archbishop Magee of Dublin, the Rev. Sir Har- 
 court Lees, son of a former English placeman at the Castle, and the 
 Rev. Mr. Pope, were the clerical leaders in this crusade ; Exeter- 
 Hall sent over to assist them the Honorable and Reverend Baptist 
 Noel, Mr. Wolff, and Captain Gordon, a descendant of the hero 
 of the London riot of 1789. At Derry, Dublin, Carlow, and Cork, 
 the challenged agreed to defend their doctrines. Father Maginn, 
 Maguire, Maher, Mc^weeney, and some others, accepted these 
 challenges ; Messrs. O'Connell, Shiel, and other laymen, assisted, 
 and the oral discussion of theological and historical questions 
 became as common as town talk in every Irish community. 
 Whether, in any case, these debates conduced to conversion ia 
 doubtful ; but they certainly supplied the Catholic laity with a 
 body of facts and arguments very necessary at that time, and 
 which hardly any other occasion could have presented. The 
 Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, however, considered them far from bene- 
 ficial to the cause of true religion ; and though he tolerated a 
 first discussion in his diocese, he positively forbade a second. 
 The Archbishop of Armagh and other prelates issued their man. 
 dates to the clergy to refrain from these oral disputes, and the 
 practice fell into disuse. 
 
 The notoriety of " the Second Reformation " was chiefly c'ue to 
 the ostentatious patronage of it by the lay chiefs of the Irish oiig&r. 
 chy. Mr. Synge, in Clare, Lord Lorton, and Mr. McClintock at 
 Dundalk, were indefatigable in their evangelizing exertions. The 
 Earl of Roden to show his entire dependence on the translated 
 Bible threw all his other books into a fish pond on his estate. 
 Lord Farnham was even more conspicuous in the revival ; ho 
 spared neither patronage nor writs of ejectment to convert his
 
 706 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELASD. 
 
 tenantry. The reports of conversions upon his lordship's estate^ 
 and throughout his county, attracted so much notice, that Drs. 
 Curtis, Crolly, Magauran, O'Reilly, and McHale, met on the 9th 
 of December, 1826, at Cavan, to inquire into the facts. They 
 found, while there had been much exaggeration on the part of tht 
 reformers, that some hundreds of the peasantry had, by various 
 powerful temptations, been led to change their former religion. 
 The Bishops received back some of the converts, and a jubilee 
 established among them completed their re conversion. The Hou. 
 Mr. Noel and Captain Gordon posted to Cavan, with a challenge 
 to discussion for their lordships ; of course, their challenge was 
 not accepted. Thomas Moore's inimitable satire was the most 
 effective weapon against such fanatics. 
 
 The energetic literature of the Catholic agitation attracted 
 much more attention than its oral polemics. Joined to a blight 
 army of Catholic writers including Dr. Doyle, Thomas Moore, 
 Thomas Furlong, and Charles Butler, there was the powerful 
 phalanx of the Edinburgh Review led by Jeffrey and Sidney 
 Smith, and the English liberal press, headed by William Cobbett. 
 Thomas Campbell, the Poet of Hope, always and everywhere the 
 friend of freedom, threw open his New JUontldy, to Shell, and 
 William Henry Curran, whose sketches of the Irish Bar and 
 Bench, of Dublin politics, and the county elections of 1826, will 
 live as long as any periodical papers of that day. The indefa- 
 tigable Shiel, writing French as fluently aa English, contributed 
 besides, to the Gazette de France, a series of papers, which were 
 read with great interest on the Continent. These articles were 
 the precursors of many others, which made the Catholic question 
 at length an European question. An incident quite unimportant in 
 itself, gave additional zest to those French articles. The Duke 
 de Montebcllo, with two of his friends, Messrs. Duvergier and 
 Thnyer, visited Ireland in 1 826. Duvergier wrote a series of 
 tery interesting letters on the " State of Ireland," which, at the 
 time, went through several editions. At a Catholic meeting in 
 Ballinasloc, the Duke had some compliments paid him, which he 
 gracefully acknowledged, expressing his wishes for the success of 
 their cnuse. This simple act excited a great deal of critic'inm io 
 England. The Paris press was roused In consequence, and tbf
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND, 791 
 
 French Catholics, becoming more and more interested, voted an 
 address and subscription to the Catholic association. The Bava- 
 rian Catholics followed their example, and similar communications 
 were received from Spain and Italy. 
 
 But the movement abroad did not end in Europe. An address 
 from British India contained a contribution of three thousand 
 pounds sterling. From the West Indies and Canada, generous 
 assistance was rendered. 
 
 In the United States sympathetic feeling was most active. New 
 York felt almost as much interested in the canse as Dublin. In 
 1826 and 1827, associations of " Friends of Ireland " were formed 
 at New York, Boston, Washington, Norfolk, Charleston, Augusta, 
 Louisville, and Bardstown. Addresses in English and French 
 were prepared for these societies, chiefly by Dr. McNevin, at 
 New York, and Bishop England, at Charleston. The American, 
 like the French press, became interested in the subject, and elo- 
 quent allusions were made to it in Congress. On the 20th of 
 January, 1828, the veteran McNevin wrote to Mr. O'Connell 
 " Public opinion in America is deep, and strong, and universal, 
 in your behalf. This predilection prevails over the broad bosom 
 of our extensive continent. Associations similar to ours are 
 everywhere starting into existence in our largest and wealthiest 
 cities in our hamlets and our villages in our most remote sec- 
 tions ; and at this moment, the propriety of convening, at Wash 
 ington, delegates of the friends of Ireland, of all the states, ia 
 under serious deliberation. A fund will erelong be derived from 
 American patriotism in the United States, which will astonish 
 your haughtiest opponents." 
 
 The Parliamentary fortunes of the great question were at the 
 same time brightening. The elections of 1826, had, upon the 
 whole, given a large increase of strength to its advocates. In 
 England and Scotland, under the influence of the " No Popery " 
 cry, they had lost some ground, but in Ireland they had had an 
 Immense triumph. The death of the generous hearted Canning, 
 hastened as it was by anti-Catholic intrigues, gave a momentary 
 check to the progress of liberal ideaa ; but they were retarded only 
 to acquire a fresh impulse destined to bear them, in the next few 
 years, farther than they had before advanced in an entire century, 
 67*
 
 798 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The ad interim administration of Lord Goderich gave wy, by 
 ita o\vn internal discords, in January, 1828, to the Wellington and 
 Peel administration. The Duke was Premier, the Baronet leader 
 of the House of Commons ; with Mr. Huskisson, Lord Palmer- 
 Bton, in the cabinet ; Lord Anglcsea remained as Lord Lieutenant 
 But this coalition with the friends of Canning was not destined 
 to outlive the session of 1828 ; the lieutenants of the late Premier 
 were doomed, for some time longer, to suffer for their devotion to 
 his principles. 
 
 This session of 1828, is in the history of religious liberty 
 the most important and interesting in the annals of the British 
 Parliament. Almost at its opening, the extraordinary spectacle 
 was exhibited of a petition signed by 800,000 Irish Catholics, 
 praying for the repeal of "the Corporation and Test Acts," en- 
 acted on the restoration of Charles II., against the non Conform- 
 ists. Monster petitions, both for and against the repeal of these 
 Acts, as well as for and against Catholic emancipation, soon be- 
 came of common occurrence. Protestants of all sects petitioned 
 for, but still more petitioned against equal rights for Catholics ; 
 while Catholics petitioned for the rights of Protestant dissenters. 
 It is a spectacle to look back upon with admiration and instruc- 
 tion ; exhibiting as it does, so much of a truly tolerant spirit in 
 Christians of all creeds, worthy of all honor and imitation. 
 
 In April, "the Corporation and Test Acts" were repealed; 
 in May the Canningites seceded from the Duke's government, and 
 one of the gentlemen brought in to fill a vacant seat in the Cabi- 
 net Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, member for Clare issued his address 
 to his electors, asking a renewal of their confidence. Out of this 
 event grew another, which finally and successfully brought to an 
 issue the century old Catholic question. 
 
 The Catholic Association, on the accession of the Wellington- 
 Peel Cabinet, had publicly pledged itself to oppose every man 
 who would accept office under these statesmen. The memory of 
 both as ex-secretaries but especially Peel's was odious in Ire- 
 land. When, however, the Duke had sustained, and ensured 
 thereby the passage of the repeal of ' the Corporation and Tert 
 Acts," Mr. O'Connell at the suggestion of Lord John Russell, th 
 piover of the repeal, endeavored to get MB angry and uncompro-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 199 
 
 raising resolution against the Duke's government rescinded. 
 Powerful as he was, however, the Association refused to go with 
 him, and the resolution remained. So it happened that when 
 Mr. Fitzgerald presented himself to the Electors of Clare, as the 
 colleague of Peel and Wellington, the Association at once endeav- 
 ored to bring out an opposition candidate. They pitched with 
 this view on Major McNamara. a liberal Protestant of the county 
 at the head of one of its oldest families and personally popular ; 
 but this gentleman after keeping them several days in suspense, 
 till the time of nomination was close at hand, positively declined 
 to stand against his friend, Mr. Fitzgerald, to the great dismay 
 of the associated Catholics. 
 
 Li their emergency, an idea, so bold and original, that it was at 
 first received with general incredulity by the external public, 
 was started. It was remembered by Sir David De Roose, a per- 
 sonal friend of O'Counell's, that the late sagacious John Keogh 
 had often declared the Emancipation question would never be 
 brought to an issue till some Catholic member elect stood at the 
 bar of the House of Commons demanding his seat. A trusted 
 few were at first consulted on the daring proposition, that O'Con 
 nell himself, in despite of the legal exclusion of all men of his reli 
 gion, should come forward for Clare. Many were the consultations, 
 and diverse the judgments delivered on this proposal, but at length, 
 on the reception of information from the county itself, which gave 
 strong assurance of success, the hero of the adventure decided for 
 himself. The bold course was again selected as the wise course, 
 and the spirit-stirring address of "the arch-Agitator" to the 
 electors, was at once issued from Dublin. " Your county," he be- 
 gan by saying, " wants a representative. I respectfully solicit 
 yonr suffrages, to raise me to that station. 
 
 ' Of my qualification to fill that station, I leave you to judge. 
 The habits of public speaking, and many, many years of public 
 business, render me, perhaps, equally suited with most men to 
 attend to the interests of Ireland in Parliament. 
 
 " You will be told I am not qualified to be elected ; the asser- 
 tion, my friends, is untrue. I am qualified to be elected, and to 
 be your representative. It is trie that as a Catholic, I cannot, 
 and of course never will, take the onfjis at present preserved t
 
 800 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRSLAfffc. 
 
 members of Parliament ; but the authority which created theot 
 oaths (the Parliament), can abrogate them : and I entertain 
 confident hope that, if you elect me, the most bigoted of oui 
 enemies will see the necessity of removing from the chosen repre 
 sentative of the people, an obstacle which would prevent hirn 
 from doing his duty to his king and to his country." 
 
 This address was followed instantly by the departure of all the 
 most effective agitators to the scene of the great contest Shiel 
 went down as conducting agent for the candidate ; Lawless left 
 his Belfast newspaper, and Father Maguire his Leitrim flock; 
 Messrs. Steele and O'Gorman Mahon, both proprietors in the 
 county, were already in the field, and O'Connell himself sooa 
 followed. On the other hand, the leading county families, the 
 O'Briens, McNainaras, Vandeleurs, Fitzgerald* and others, de- 
 clared for their old favorite, Mr. Fitzgerald. He was personally 
 much liked in the county ; the son of a venerable anti-Unionist, 
 the well-remembered Prime Sergeant, and a man besides of supe 
 rior abilities. The county itself was no easy one to contest: it* 
 immense constituency (the 40-shilling freeholders had not yet 
 been abolished), were scattered over a mountain and valley region, 
 more than fifty wiles long by above thirty wide. They were 
 almost everywhere to be addressed in both languages English 
 and Irish and when the canvass was over, they were still to be 
 brought under the very eyes of the landlords, upon the breath of 
 whose lips their subsistence depended, to vote the overthrow and 
 conquest of those absolute masters. The little county town of 
 Kim is, situated on the river Fergus, about 110 miles south-west 
 of Dublin, was the centre of attraction or of apprehension, and the 
 hills that rise on either side of the little prosaic river soon swarmed 
 with an unwonted population, who had resolved, subsist how they 
 might, to see the election out It is hardly an exaggeration to 
 lay that the eyes of the empire were turned, during those dayi 
 vif June, on the ancient patrimony of King Brian. " I fear the 
 Clare election will end ill," wrote the Viceroy to the hader of the 
 House of Commons. " This business," wrote the Lord Chancellor 
 (Eldon), " must bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and 
 a conclusion." " May the God of truth and justice protect and 
 prosper you," was the public invocation for O'Connell's succes%
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 801 
 
 by the bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. " It was foreseen," saia 
 Sir Robert Peel, long afterwards, " that the Clare election would 
 "ce the turning point of the Catholic question." In all its aspects, 
 and to all sorts of men, this then, was no ordinary election, but a 
 national event of the utmost religious and political consequence. 
 Thirty thousand people welcomed O'Connell into Ennis, and uni- 
 versal sobriety and order characterized the proceedings. The 
 troops called out to overawe the peasantry, infected by the pre- 
 vailing good humor, joined in their cheers. The nomination, the 
 polling and the declaration, have been described by the graphic 
 pen of Shiel. At the close of the poll the numbers were 
 O'Connell, 2,057 ; Fitzgerald, 1,075; so Daniel O'Connell was de- 
 clared duly elected, amidst the most extraordinary manifestation* 
 of popular enthusiasm. Mr. Fitzgerald, who gracefully bowed to 
 the popular verdict, sat down, and wrote his famous dispatch to 
 Sir Robert Peel : " All the great interests," he said, " my dear 
 Peel, broke down, and the desertion has been universal. Such a 
 scene as we hare had ! Such a tremendous prospect as is open 
 before us ! " 
 
 This " tremendous prospect," disclosed at the hustings of 
 Ennis, was followed up by demonstrations which bore a strongly 
 revolutionary character. Mr. O'Connell, on his return to Dublin, 
 was accompanied by a levee en masse, all along the route, of a 
 highly imposing description. Mr. Lawless, on his return to Bel- 
 fast, was escorted through Meath and Monaghan by a multitude 
 estimated at 100,000 men, whom only the most powerful persua- 
 sions of the Catholic clergy, and the appeals of the well-known 
 liberal commander of the district, General Thornton, induced 
 to disperse. Troops from England were ordered over in con- 
 siderable numbers, but whole companies, composed of Irish 
 Catholics, signalized their landing at Waterford and Dublin by 
 cheers for O'Connell. Reports of the continued hostility of the 
 government suggested desperate councils. Mr. Ford, a Catholic 
 solicitor, openly proposed, in the Association, exclusive dealing 
 and a run on the banks for specie, while Mr. John Claudius Berea. 
 ford, and other leading Orangemen, publicly predicted a reviva. 
 of the scenes and results of 1798. 
 
 The Clare election was. indeed, decisive : Lord Anglesea, who
 
 802 POPULAR BISTORT OP IRBLAWD. 
 
 landed, fully resolved to make no terms with those he lud w 
 garded from a distance as no better than rebels, became now one ol 
 their warmest partisans. H'9 favorite councillor was Lord Clon 
 curry, the early frieni of Emmett and O'Connor; the true friend 
 to the last of every national interest. For a public letter to 
 Bishop Curtis, towards the close of 1828, in which he advises th 
 Catholics to stand firm, he was immediately recalled from the gov- 
 ernment ; but his former and his actual chief, within three months 
 from the date of his recall, was equally obliged to surrender to 
 the Association. The great duke was, or affected to be, really 
 alarmed for the integrity of the empire, from the menacing aspect 
 of events in Ireland. A call of parliament was accordingly 
 made for an early day, and, on the 5th of March, Mr. Peel moved 
 a committee of the whole house, to go into a " consideration of 
 the civil disabilities of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects." 
 This motion, after two days' debate, was carried by a majority 
 of 188. On the 10th of March the Relief Bill was read for the 
 first time, and passed without opposition, such being the arrange- 
 ment entered into while in committee. But in five days all the 
 bigotry of the land had been aroused ; nine hundred and fifty- 
 seven petitions had already been presented against it ; that from 
 the city of London was signed by more than " an hundred thou- 
 sand freeholders." On the 17th of March it passed to a second 
 reading, and on the 30th to a third, with large majorities in each 
 stage of debate. Out of 320 members who voted on the final 
 reading, 178 were in its favor. On the 31st of March it was 
 carried to the Lords by Mr. Peel, and read a first time ; two days 
 later, on the 2d of April, it was read a second time, on motion of 
 the Duke of Wellington ; a bitterly contested debate of three 
 days followed; on the 10th, it Was read a third time, and passed 
 by a majority of 104. Three days later the bill received the 
 royal assent and became law. 
 
 The only drawbacks on this great measure of long-withheld 
 justice, were, that it disfranchised the " forty-shilling freeholders " 
 throughout Ireland, and condemned Mr. O'Connell, by the inser- 
 tion of the single word " hereafter," to go back to Clare for re- 
 election. In this there was little difficulty for him, but much 
 petty spleen in the framers of the measure.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 803 
 
 While the Relief Bill was still under discussion, Mr. O'Connell 
 presented himself, with his counsel, at the bar of the House of 
 Commons, to claim his seat as member for Clare. The pleadings 
 in the case were adjourned from day to day, during the months 
 of March, April and May. A committee of the House, of which 
 Lord John Russell was Chairman, having been appointed in the 
 meantime to consider the petition of Thomas Mahon and others, 
 against the validity of the election, reported that Mr. O'Connell 
 had been duly elected. On the 15th of May, introduced by Lords 
 Ebrington and Duncannon, the new member entered the House, 
 and advanced to the table to be sworn by the Clerk. On the oath 
 of abjuration, being tendered to him, he read over audibly thesa 
 words " that the sacrifice of the mass, and the invocation of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints, as now practiced in the 
 church of Rome, are impious and idolatrous :" at the subsequent 
 passage, relative to the falsely imputed Catholic " doctrine of the 
 dispensing power " of the Pope, he again read aloud, and paused. 
 Then slightly raising his voice, he bowed, and added, " I decline, 
 Mr. Clerk, to take this oath. Part of it I know to be false ; an- 
 other part I do not believe to be true." 
 
 He was subsequently heard at the bar, in his own person, in 
 explanation of his refusal to take the oath, and, according to cus- 
 tom, withdrew. The house then entered into a very animated 
 discussion on the Solicitor General's motion, " that Mr. O'Connell, 
 having been returned a member of this House before the passing 
 of the Act for the Relief of the Roman Catholics, he is not en- 
 titled to sit or vote in this House unless he first takes the oath of 
 supremacy." For this motion the vote on a division was 190 
 against 116: majority, 74. So Mr. O'Connell had again to seek 
 the suffrages of the electors of Clare. 
 
 A strange, but well authenticated incident, struck with a som& 
 what superstitious awe both Protestants and Catholics, in a cor- 
 ner of Ireland the most remote from Clare, but not the least 
 interested in the result of its memorable election. A lofty 
 column on the walls of Derry bore the efBgy of Bishop Walker, 
 who fall at the Boyne, armed with a sword, typical of his martial 
 inclinations, rather than of his religious calling. Many long years, 
 by day and night, had his sword, sacred to liberty or ascendancy;
 
 (k>4 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRKLAHD. 
 
 According to the eyee with which the spectator regarded it, turned 
 its steadfast point to the broad estuary of Loch Foyle. Neither 
 wintry storms nor summer rains had loosened it in the grasp of 
 the warlike churchman's effigy, until, on the 13th day of April, 1829 
 the day the royal signature was given to the Act of Emancipa- 
 tion the sword of Walker fell with a prophetic crash upon the 
 ramparts of Derry, and was shattered to pieces. So, we may 
 now say, without bitterness and almost without reproach, so may 
 fall and shiver to pieces, every code, in every land beneath the 
 BUO. which impiously attempts to shackle conscience, or endowj 
 ar oxclusive caste with the rights and franchisee which belong 
 U> entire People I
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 BOOK XIII; 
 
 FROM THE EMANCIPATION OF THE CATH- 
 OLICS TO THE DUBLIN EXHIBITION 
 OF 1882, EMBRACING A FULL 
 ACCOUNT OF THE LAND 
 LEAGUE. 
 
 By David P, Oonyngham, L.LD,, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 EOSE PAKNELL, THE FLOWER OP AVONDALE ; 
 
 THE O'MAHONEY; THE O'DONNELLS OP 
 
 GLEN COTTAGE; THE LIVES OF THE 
 
 IBISH SAINTS AND MARTYB8, 
 
 ETC., ETC.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 BOOK XTTL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Results of Catholic Emancipation. The Tithe War. Poor 
 Law, Tithe, and Municipal Reform Acts. 
 
 CHARTER II. 
 
 The Repeal Movement. The Monster Meetings. Arrest 
 and Imprisonment of O'Couuell and the Repeal 
 
 Leaders 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Famine Period. Frightful Scones. England's Heart- 
 less Treatment of the Famine. Foreign Aid and 
 Sympathy. Split in the Repeal Ranks. The Va- 
 grancy Act. Death of O'Connell. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Young Ireland and the "Forty-Eight" Movement The 
 Encumbered Estates Act. The Tenant League. The 
 Ecclesiastical Tithes Bill. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Alarm in England at the Attitude of France. The Sadller- 
 Keogh Treachery. The Crimean War A RomantU 
 Abduction.
 
 BOOK XIII* 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 RESULTS OF CATHOLIC EMANCEPATIOW. THE TITHB 
 WAR POOR LAW, TITHE AND MUNICIPAL REFORM 
 ACTS. 
 
 Emancipation was in the eyes of Catholics a boon 
 of such immense magnitude, that in their gratitude 
 for the religious toleration it extended to them they 
 were rather lavish of their thankfulness to England 
 for the concession, and had it been followed by 
 wise and conciliatory concessions, the bitter feeling 
 against England that rankles in the Irish heart 
 might have been softened into one of contented 
 sufferance. Though the act struck the shackles 
 from the souls of the Catholics of Ireland, it seemed 
 to have only fastened the more those that fettered 
 the limbs. True, it removed all obstacles from the 
 free and full exercise of their religious functions 
 and duties. It threw open the learned professions, 
 with all their honors and emoluments, to the sona 
 of the gentry, only, in many cases, to denationalize 
 them by making them more zealous to secure Govern- 
 ment patronage than to redress Irish grievances. 
 
 * HcGee's History of Ireland, continued from 1829 down to 
 1882, by David P. Conyngham, L.LD., author of th "Lives of 
 the Irish Saints and Martyrs," and other works.
 
 80S POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 "Religiously, Catholic Emancipation had trampled 
 upon the bloody penal codes that had so long perse- 
 cuted the people and proscribed their religion ; 
 politically, it only embittered the strife existing 
 between the landlord class and the tenantry. The 
 victory gained by O'Connell by his election for Clare 
 made the landlords feel that they had lost hold on 
 the forty-shilling freeholders, and therefore they 
 had influence enough to saddle the bill with a 
 clause disfranchising this large body of Irish yeo- 
 men. 
 
 The result was that the epidemical spirit of con- 
 solidating the small farms seized the landlords, and 
 wholesale evictions followed. The consequence was, 
 that the people thus robbed of their means, and 
 worried by cruel and unprincipled persecution, 
 banded themselves in many parts of the country 
 with lawless bodies and secret societies as a bond 
 of mutual protection, and too often with the spirit 
 of retaliation upon their oppressors. 
 
 The treatment of the farmers, who had frightened 
 England by their sturdy independence, and the 
 disturbed state of the country, convinced O'Connell 
 that there was no salvation for Ireland except in 
 the protection of her own laws, administered by 
 her own Parliament. Discontent and disappoint- 
 ment prevailed throughout the country. Crime and 
 outrage prevailed especially in Tipperary, where an 
 internecine war rageil between the landlords and 
 their tenants, and in the North, where religious hate 
 *and Orange fanaticism were inflamed by the poor 
 toleration extended to the Catholics,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 809 
 
 The very Act which emancipated the people dis- 
 franchised thousands of them, and led to their over- 
 throw and ruin. Though the law qualified them to 
 hold high office, it took the bread out of their chil- 
 dren's mouths and flung themselves homeless and 
 houseless adrift on the world. 
 
 The grievance of paying tithes for the mainte- 
 nance of a Church in which the people did not believe 
 became a prominent subject of agitation, and asso- 
 ciations soon sprang into existence for the purpose 
 of opposing this monstrous iniquity. The tithes 
 represented Protestant Ascendency, and always 
 stared the people in the face in the person of a tithe- 
 proctor, who was only too ready to strip them of their 
 goods to satisfy the cupidity of an alien Church and 
 resident ministers who gave nothing in return but 
 hate and the rigid enforcement of the powers in- 
 vested in them by law. 
 
 The Catholics naturally reasoned thus : " We are 
 as five to one to our Protestant neighbors; have we 
 not as good a right to demand that they should con- 
 tribute to the support of our priests as that we 
 should support their ministers without parishioners, 
 or their churches without congregations?" 
 
 In 1830 King George IV. died, and was succeeded 
 by his brother, King William IV., an event of little 
 or no consequence to Ireland, for, no matter who 
 reigned in St. James's, her treatment was the same. 
 
 On the 4th of February, 1830, Parliament opened 
 but was soon dissolved, and a general election took 
 place. This time O'Connell was elected for Water- 
 ford, and was succeeded in Clare by O'Gorman
 
 810 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Mahon. Several other Catholic gentlemen now 
 entered Parliament for the first time. William 
 Smith O'Brien was elected for Ennis, so that he took 
 a prominent part in Irish politics when quite young. 
 
 A new organization called the " Society of the 
 Friends of Ireland " took the place of the Catholic 
 Association. The Government felt irritated because 
 Catholic Emancipation did not fill the people with 
 abject loyalty, and they resolved to resort to the old 
 but always new system of dealing with Irish griev- 
 ances, namely, by oppression and coercion. 
 
 The Marquis of Anglesea revived an old statute, 
 just as Mr. Gladstone did, to suppress agitation in 
 Ireland, and the Association had to be dissolved. 
 It was immediately succeeded by another, whose 
 constitution was carefully drafted by O'Connell, 
 called " The Anti-Union Association." 
 
 Though O'Connell never omitted an opportunity 
 of proclaiming that Ireland would never be happy 
 or contented until her Parliament was restored to 
 her, still this was the first organized movement in 
 behalf of Repeal of the Union. 
 
 The feeling in behalf of repeal ran high in Dublin, 
 and the 27th of December was set down for a 
 great public demonstration of the trades-unions of 
 Dublin in honor of O'Connell and the cause. 
 
 Lord Anglesea issued a proclamation forbidding 
 the meeting, and made preparations to disperse it by 
 force in case it was held. O'Connell very wisely 
 prevented any demonstration, and therefore left 
 him without excuse to fire upon the people. 
 This was the beginning of a long and bitter conflict
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. gJJ 
 
 between O'Connell and Lord Anglesea, in which the 
 latter was always victorious, for he invariably re- 
 sorted to the weapons of tyrants, namely, brute 
 force and coercion. Any association could be pro- 
 nounced " illegal and dangerous," with an accomo- 
 dating sheriff, a bribed jury and a garrison of troops 
 at the behest of the Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 It is truly said that history repeats itself, for the 
 conflict between Gladstone and Parnell in our own 
 time is simply a brutal repetition of that between 
 Anglesea and O'Connell. On the one hand are might 
 and power, exercised in defiance of all constitutional 
 law; and on the other, protests and passive resistance, 
 aided by the moral influence of public opinion. 
 
 O'Connell resolved to test the legality of Lord 
 Anglesea's proclamation, and in connection with Mr. 
 Lawless, Tom Steele, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Eedmond, 
 Mr. Clooney, and a few other gentlemen, attended 
 the meeting, and were arrested, but admitted to bail. 
 A great crowd filled the street in front of the mag- 
 istrates' office, and when O'Connell made his appear- 
 ance among them, he was received with wild demon- 
 strations. He exclaimed: "Yesterday I was only half 
 an agitator; to-day I am a whole one. Day and 
 night will I now strive to fling off despotism, to re- 
 deem my country, to repeal the Union." 
 
 The " Agitator," as he was called, had now thrown 
 down the -gauntlet, and resolved to try issues with 
 the Government. 
 
 O'Connell adroitly postponed his trial until he 
 found the "Whig Ministry in an embarrassing posi- 
 tion, when they could not afford to antagonize him
 
 812 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and other elements against their Reform Bffl; he then 
 let judgment by default go against him, but was 
 never brought up for sentence. 
 
 In 1831 the National School System was estab- 
 lished in Ireland, by virtue of a bill introduced by 
 Lord Stanley. 
 
 The tithes war raged fiercely this year ; the people 
 resisted their collection, and several serious conflicts 
 took place in -various parts of the country. On the 
 18th of June, 1831, a sale was advertised to take place 
 for tithes at the little village of Newtownbarry, County 
 Wexford. The market-place was crowded with peo- 
 ple and their miserable effects. The Kev. Mr. Mo- 
 Clintock, the Christian Minister who was selling the 
 beds of the poor for the good of the Lord, was keep- 
 ing guard over them, protected by a large force of 
 police and yeomen. The sale commenced, some 
 little hooting followed, and with little or no provoca- 
 tion, and acting, as has been asserted, under orders 
 from this meek follower of Christ, the police and 
 yeomen opened a murderous fire upon the unarmed 
 peasantry. Thirteen men were slain, and about 
 twenty more lay wounded upon the streets. No 
 one was punished for this legal murder, and indeed 
 the Orange faction, and many Protestants, too, 
 lauded the act as a salutary warning to recusant 
 Papists who were unwilling to contribute their very 
 beds to the support of Protestant Ascendency. 
 
 But all this, instead of coercing the people, only 
 irritated them to further resistance. Some tithe-proc- 
 tors were slain, and six months afterwards occurred 
 the bloody massacre at Carrickshock, County Kil-
 
 POPULAK HISTOBY OF IRELAND. 813 
 
 kenny, where a process-server and thirteen police- 
 men were killed by the infuriated peasantry. 
 
 This continued resistance to tithes was denounced 
 in England as another Popish plot for the subversion 
 of the established religion and the restoration of 
 Popery. Indeed, grave English statesmen, and even 
 historians, treated it in that light. Alison, the Tory 
 historian, discovered in it " The Pope's influence in 
 Ireland," and even looked upon the cholera, which 
 raged in the Summer of 1832, as a blessing, as it 
 abated the mania for agitation. This reminds us 
 of the savage publication of the London Times in '48. 
 "When the people were dying in thousands of starva- 
 tion and fleeing a plague-stricken country in plague- 
 stricken ships, its only sympathy was the blasphem- 
 ous exclamation: "Providence is settling the Irish 
 question. The Irish are gone gone with a ven- 
 geance, the Lord be praised." 
 
 All this time the most of Ireland was under coer- 
 cion, for the writ of Habeas Corpus was conveniently 
 suspended as soon as agitation of any kind made 
 much headway. When studying the history of the 
 period, we have oftentimes to pause and ask our- 
 selves, Is not this the history of the present time ? 
 
 Coercion, the atrocious instrument for torturing 
 a people into desperation, for suppressing allpeaceful 
 expressions of public opinion, is now, as well as then, 
 the law of the land, and has been almost continually 
 in force ever since. 
 
 In 1832 the act abolishing negro slavery in the 
 West Indies, and appropriating twenty millions to 
 compensate the planters, was passed, and in the fol
 
 814 POPCTAtt HISTORY OP IHELAlfD. 
 
 lowing year the "Church Temporalities Act" for 
 Ireland was passed. Church rates were abolished; 
 but this was only a boon to the landlords, for they im- 
 mediately raised the rents of their unfortunate ten- 
 ants-at-will, while the parsons were consoled by the 
 appropriation of one million dollars to indemnify 
 them for arrears of tithes. 
 
 In 1834 O'Connell renewed the Repeal agitation, 
 and brought the question before Parliament. On the 
 23d of April he formally brought forward his motion 
 for a Repeal of the Union between Great Britain 
 and Ireland. The question was debated for four 
 days. O'Connell's greatest opponent was Mr. Spring 
 Rice, afterwards Lord Monteagle. Of course, O'Con- 
 nell's motion was voted down. The House of Peers 
 rejected the proposition unanimously, declaring, 
 in an address to the King, their firm resolution to 
 maintain " the integrity of the Empire." 
 
 In December, 1834, another tithe-carnage scene 
 took place at Rathcormack, a village in the County 
 Waterford, where the Protestant rector had seized 
 on the last stack of corn owned by a poor widow. 
 The people made some show of resistance, and were 
 fired upon by the police and yeomen, who killed 
 and wounded several of them. The excitement and 
 indignation caused by this murder was widespread. 
 Archbishop McHale wrote a public letter to the 
 Duke of Wellington, in which he said : " All the 
 united authorities and the Senate can never annex 
 the conscientious obligations of law to enactments 
 that are contrary to right, reason and justice. And 
 hence the stubborn and unconquerable resistance
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IBELAHD. 815 
 
 of the people of Ireland to those odious acts I will 
 not call them laws which have forced them to pay 
 tribute to the teachers of an adverse creed. I shall 
 fully declare my own resolve ; I Lave leased a small 
 farm, just sufficient to qualify for the exercise of 
 this franchise. After paying the landlord his rent, 
 neither to parson, proctor or agent shall I consent 
 to pay, in the shape of tithes or any other tax, a 
 penny which shall go to the support of the greatest 
 nuisance in this or any other country." 
 
 Such a declaration as this, coming from such a 
 dignitary of the Catholic Church, affirming that the 
 laws were unjust and iniquitous and should not be 
 obeyed, fired on the people to greater resistance, and 
 made the authorities pause in their unchristian work 
 of robbing Catholics for the support of the Protest- 
 ant Church. 
 
 On the morning of June 20th, 1837, William IV. 
 breathed his last in Windsor Castle. There were 
 eulogies, of course, pronounced upon his virtues and 
 noble qualities, in and out of Parliament, though all 
 the world were fully aware that he was a rough old 
 sailor, of an irascible temper, self-willed, and stub- 
 born almost beyond forbearance. 
 
 William had left no legitimate children, and the 
 Crown passed therefore to the daughter of his 
 brother, the Duke of Kent. This was the Princess 
 Alexandrina Victoria, who was born at Kensington 
 Palace, on May 24, 1819. 
 
 The Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, the Lord 
 Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the 
 Marquis of Conyngham, immediately left Windsor on
 
 81 G POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 the death of the King, and waited on the Princess at 
 Kensington, where the Coronation Oath was admin- 
 istered to her. 
 
 When Victoria ascended the throne, amidst the 
 rejoicings of her English subjects, there was little 
 or no enthusiasm in Ireland. The people there felt 
 that it mattered little to them who reigned in Egypt, 
 for their plagues and burdens were the same. 
 
 Within the first three years of her reign three 
 important measures relating to Ireland passed 
 through the British Parliament. Though on the 
 surface plausible laws, the serpent lay hid beneath, 
 and like everything emanating from England for Ire- 
 land, they were rank with poison in their conception 
 and application. These acts were no other than the 
 Poor Law, the Tithe Act and the Law of Municipal 
 Reform. 
 
 The Poor Law had been in force in England since 
 the reign of Henry VIH., the first Poor Law having 
 been enacted in the twenty-seventh year of that 
 monarch's reign. Indeed, such a law had at once 
 become necessary in England on the suppression by 
 Henry of the Catholic monasteries, which had been 
 endowed by charitable people with a view princi- 
 pally to the support of the poor. Henceforth pov- 
 erty was regarded as a crime, and the most brutal 
 laws were directed against beggars. With the ad- 
 vent of the Reformation, as the non-Catholic histo- 
 rian Cobbett so forcibly points out, all Christian char- 
 ity, all tender consideration for the wants of the 
 poor, became things of the past. This Poor Law 
 system, which was now at length to be applied to
 
 POH7LAB HI8TOBY OF IBELAND. 
 
 Ireland, was not, it is almost needless to say, con- 
 ceived in a philanthropic or benevolent spirit. 
 
 The sinister design of the Government was at once 
 perceived by O'Connell, who pointed out that the 
 object of this enactment was twofold first, to secure 
 absolute control of the great mass of the poor, who 
 within the prison-walls of the workhouse would not 
 be likely to enter as a factor into any possible insur- 
 rection; and secondly, to promote the work of 
 depopulation of the "surplus inhabitants," for unscru- 
 pulous landlords, seeing that the law had made pro- 
 vision for the homeless poor, would be thereby en- 
 couraged in their work of eviction. 
 
 At this period a Scotchman named Nicholl was 
 commissioned to go to Ireland and report on the 
 condition of the poor. He saw much suffering and 
 destitution in the island, and reported that during 
 half the year no fewer than five hundred and eighty- 
 five thousand persons, with two million three hun- 
 dred thousand more dependent on them, were in a 
 state of utter destitution. Upon the presentation 
 of Nicholl's report, Lord John Russell prepared and 
 introduced his Poor Law Bill, which, in spite of the 
 most strenuous opposition of O'Connell and the 
 Irish Hierarchy, became law in July, 1838. In a 
 short time poorhouses dotted the land, and were fast 
 filled by the terrible impetus given to the work of 
 eviction. 
 
 This Poor Law system will ever be regarded by 
 Irishmen as one of the most deadly of the many 
 treacherous laws which, under the guise of friend- 
 ship, England has enacted for Ireland.
 
 818 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Tithe Bill, the next of these measures, became 
 law in May, 1838. This was a grossly dishonest and 
 disingenuous enactment, for while ostensibly reliev- 
 ing the tenant of the tithe-charge, it in reality made 
 the landlord the medium through which the parson 
 was to receive his tithes, under the name of " rent- 
 charge." It seems scarcely credible, but it is never- 
 theless true, that in the face of this, the people were 
 assured that they were relieved from the obnoxious 
 tithe-charge. 
 
 The next important measure was the Municipal 
 Reform Act. Notwithstanding the Emancipation 
 Act, Catholics were virtually debarred from taking 
 part in the municipal corporations, which were 
 almost exclusively Protestant in their composition, 
 there being only two hundred Catholics among a 
 total of thirteen thousand corporators in Ireland. 
 To remedy this glaring injustice, a Municipal Reform 
 Bill was introduced into Parliament in 1836, by 
 Attorney-General O'Loghlen. The object of the 
 bill was to render the close corporations more repre- 
 sentative and popular in their character, by invest- 
 ing in the citizens, with certain restrictions as to 
 rating, the right to elect town-councilors. This 
 very reasonable bill was defeated in the House of 
 Lords, but the defeat only made louder and more 
 persistent the demand of the Irish people for reform. 
 
 Every year for the next three years (1837-8-9) 
 the bill, with certain modifications, was only passed 
 in the Commons to be unceremoniously thrown out 
 in the Lords. Finally, in 1840, the bill, in modified 
 chape, passed both houses, and became law on the
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 819 
 
 14th of February. This enactment would certainly 
 be useful were it not for the introduction of a clause 
 providing that the office of sheriff should not be 
 elective as in England, but that the appointment 
 should rest with the Lord Lieutenant. The injust- 
 ice of this provision becomes apparent when it is 
 considered that the functions of the sheriff are to 
 take charge of the jury-list. But the Government 
 were not to be deprived of an agency which in the 
 subsequent history of Ireland stood them in good 
 need in the manipulation of juries. One result of the 
 passage of the Municipal Keform Act, it may here 
 be mentioned, was the election of Daniel O'Connell 
 as first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin, 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE REPEAL MOVEMENT THE MONSTER MEErraoa 
 ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT or O'CONNELL AND THE 
 REPEAL LEADERS. 
 
 THE years 1841 and 1842 were barren of import- 
 ant events, but the year 1843 will ever be memo- 
 rable in Irish history as the Repeal Year. O'Connell 
 had in 1839 organized what is called the "Precursor 
 Society," a name given it from the fact that this 
 organization was to make a final appeal to, the Brit- 
 ish Government for justice, and if this were denied, 
 the banner of Repeal of the Union was to be un- 
 furled. The appeal was unanswered, and Repeal be- 
 came the watchword. O'Connell went heart and soul 
 into the new movement. He called for three millions 
 of enrolled Repealers, and decided to get up and ad-
 
 g20 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 dress meetings throughout the country, and in order 
 to do this the more effectually he ceased attending 
 the London Parliament. In the Dublin Corporation 
 he moved his famous resolution for the adoption of 
 a petition to Parliament demanding a repeal of the 
 union -with England in other words, a recurrence 
 to the Irish Parliament of 1800, in which Ireland 
 had her own House of Peers and House of Com- 
 mons, the English Sovereign being also Sovereign of 
 Ireland. His speech in support of this resolution 
 was a masterpiece of eloquence, and the petition was 
 adopted by a vote of forty-one to fifteen. The peti- 
 tion was soon afterwards adopted by the Cork Cor- 
 poration. 
 
 O'Connell now left Dublin for the provinces, and 
 then followed the monster repeal gatherings all over 
 the island. Wherever he went to speak, the people, 
 with the priests at their head, turned out en masse. 
 An idea of the hold he had acquired on the people 
 may be gathered from the simple statement that at 
 the meeting at Tara no less than four hundred thou- 
 sand people were present 1 
 
 The great Irish Tribune at the outset proclaimed 
 his intention to adhere strictly to legal and constitu- 
 tional method in the achievement of his purpose. 
 " Is it by force or violence, bloodshed or turbulence," 
 he cried at one of those meetings, "that I shall 
 achieve this victory, [repeal], dear above all earthly 
 considerations to my heart ? No I perish the thought 
 forever. I will do it by legal, peaceable and consti- 
 tutional means alone by the electricity of public 
 opinion, by the moral combination of good men,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. gOJ. 
 
 and by the enrollment of four millions of Repealers. 
 I am a disciple of that sect of politicians who believe 
 that the greatest of all sublunary blessings is too 
 dearly purchased at the expense of a single drop of human 
 blood." This last assertion was of course carrying 
 his theory to a ridiculous extreme, but it goes to 
 show how earnest and emphatic was his belief incon- 
 stitutional agitation for the redress of grievances. 
 O'ConnelTs injunctions to the public to preserve the 
 peace were, however, strictly obeyed. One circum- 
 stance which contributed greatly to the preservation 
 of order at O'Connell's leviathan gatherings was the 
 fact that the vast mass of the people had become 
 disciples of the great Father Mathew, "The Apostle 
 of Temperance." 
 
 Father Mathew was in truth one of the greatest 
 benefactors of the Irish race, and of humanity, the 
 world over. The great temperance advocate was 
 born at Thomastown House, near Cashel, County 
 Tipperary, on the 10th of October, 1790. The fam- 
 ily was of Welsh origin, and seem to have been set- 
 tled in Tipperary since the civil war of 1641. Young 
 Theobald was sent at an early age to Maynooth Col- 
 lege, to be educated for the priesthood ; but for 
 some slight transgression he retired from that college, 
 and completed his education for the priesthood at 
 the Capuchin College, Kilkenny, where he was or- 
 dained in 1814. The first few years of his ministry 
 were spent in Kilkenny, after which he was trans- 
 ferred to Cork City. 
 
 It is often erroneously considered that Father 
 Mathew was the founder of the temperance more-
 
 823 fOFULAB HISTOBY OT IBZLAND. 
 
 ment This honor, however, belongs to a little "band 
 of Cork Quakers, the leading spirit of which was one 
 Lonest William Martin. Mr. A. M. Sullivan, in his 
 interesting work "New Ireland," describes very 
 graphically how Father Mathew was led to 
 espouse the total abstinence cause. " One day, while 
 honest Bill Martin and Father Mathew were making 
 their morning visitation of a hospital, the constantly- 
 suggested theme of the miseries which drink brought 
 on the people came uppermost Mr. Martin, in a 
 burst of passionate grief or invective, suddenly 
 stopped and turned to his companion, exclaiming: 
 ' Oh ! Theobald Mathew, Theobald Mathew, what thou 
 couldst do, if thou wouldst only take up this work of 
 banishing the fiend that desolates the houses of thy 
 people sol" The words of the honest Quaker fell 
 on Father Mathew'e ears with a wondrous power. 
 For i lay s and nights afterwards he pondered on the 
 words of William Martin, and one morning after 
 lising from prayer he exclaimed aloud: 'Here goes, 
 iu the name of God !' and instantly repaired to the 
 office of Mr. Martin and announced his intention of 
 joining the little temperance band. The good 
 Quaker in the fullness of his joy actually wept like a 
 child, and embracing the friar, cried out, " Thank 
 God! thank God!'" 
 
 Thus entered Father Mathew in his great crusade 
 against drunkenness. The announcement of his 
 accession to the "teetotal" band, which, though re- 
 spected in Cork, were nevertheless unable to make 
 much impression on the masses of the people, cre- 
 ated something of a sensation in the city. Men
 
 POPTTLAB HISTORY OP IRELAND. 823 
 
 began to loot at the question more seriously, they 
 began to think. The temperance gatherings at once 
 swelled into large proportions, and Father Mathew, 
 with the approbation of the originator of the move- 
 ment, established an organization under his own 
 presidency, on the 10th of April, 1838. Thenceforth 
 Father Mathew pushed forward the great movement 
 with all the intense enthusiasm of his nature. He 
 traveled all over the island, administering the pledge 
 to thousands. In the Orange North, he was re- 
 ceived with as much warmth as in " Rebel Cork." 
 He did not confine his labors to Ireland, but cross- 
 ing the Channel in 1843, preached the gospel ol 
 temperance in London and the large English cities. 
 In 1849, he visited America, where he remained 
 till the close of 1851, conferring untold benefit on 
 thousands of his own race and of others. After this 
 period his health broke down and he was compelled 
 to abandon his labors in the cause of temperance. 
 This great and good man died at Queenstown, on 
 the 8th of December, 1856, universally lamented. 
 
 As we have said, Father Mathew's labors contri- 
 buted greatly to O'Conn ell's wonderful success in 
 keeping the people within the bounds of the law, 
 while at the same time firing them with the ardent 
 determination to get back their native Parliament. 
 Throughout the summer of 1843, monster Repeal 
 gatherings were held all over the island. 
 
 The Government did not view these things im- 
 passively; on the 27th of April, Mr. Lane FJX 
 Tory member, gave notice in the House of Commons, 
 '* That it is the duty of Her Majesty's Government
 
 824 FOPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAXB. 
 
 to take immediate steps to put an end to the agita- 
 tion for Repeal"; and on the 9th of May, an Arms 
 Bill for Ireland was introduced by Lord Eliot, Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland. This bill provided : " That 
 no man could keep arms of any sort, without first 
 having a certificate from two householders rated to 
 the poor at above 20, and then producing that 
 certificate to the Justices at Sessions." If the appli- 
 cation for arms was granted, they were to be branded 
 and registered. After procuring a license, it was 
 forbidden to remove, sell or bequeath any arms 
 without a new registry. To have a pike or spear, or 
 instrument serving for a pike or spear, was punish- 
 able by seven years' transportation. To prevent as 
 far as'possible the manufacture of pikes, blacksmiths 
 were required to take out a license to pursue their 
 trade. Domiciliary visits by the police on the mere 
 " suspicion " of a magistrate was also a feature of the 
 precious bill But the most odious provision of the 
 bill was that which declared that should any 
 weapon be found in any house, out-house or stock- 
 yard, the occupier was to be convicted, unless he could 
 prove that it was there without his knowledge. 
 
 The introduction of this despotic measure only 
 gave a further impetus to the Repeal movement. 
 O'Connell was serene and imperturbable, the people 
 kept \vithin the limits of the law, and the huge gath- 
 erings became huger than ever. A powerful agency 
 in keeping alive the spirit of patriotism was the 
 Nation newspaper, founded in the autumn of 1842 
 by Mr. (now Sir) Charles Gavan Dnffy, with whom 
 were associated Thomas Davis and John Dillon.
 
 HISTORY OP IRELAHD. 26 
 
 The Natwn was a surprise to friends and foes alike. 
 It was conducted with consummate ability, and its 
 galaxy of writers shed imperishable lustre on Ireland. 
 
 The Arms Bill was most strenuously resisted by the 
 patriotic Irish members, conspicuous among whom 
 was Mr. Smith O'Brien, who had not up to that time 
 joined the ranks of the Repealers. But resistance 
 was futile, and the Arms Bill became law. Simul- 
 taneously with the passage of the Arms Act, addition- 
 al troops, principally English and Scotch, were dis- 
 patched to Ireland. War-steamers cruised around 
 the coasts, and the police barracks were fortified. 
 O'Connell and his Repealers, however, were not 
 daunted by these warlike displays, and the meetings 
 continued to be held with intensified enthusiasm. 
 Many of the Irish members quitted Westminster 
 and gathered round O'Connell, believing that the 
 battle for Repeal could be most successfully waged 
 in Ireland. The Government tried by divers petty 
 persecutions to goad the people into rebellion. 
 Catholic justices of the peace who had become Re- 
 pealers were deprived of their commissions by the 
 Lord Chancellor (Sir Edward Sugden), in the most 
 insulting manner. Some twenty magistrates, includ- 
 ing O'Connell and Lord French, were thus removed. 
 O'Connell retaliated by having the dismissed magis- 
 trates appointed as "arbitrators," and calling on the 
 people in all disputes to apply to the " arbitrators " 
 in preference to the Queen's justices. 
 
 A. great source of uneasiness to the British Gov- 
 ernment was the fact that in the United States the 
 Repeal movement was taken up as ardently as in Ire-
 
 826 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAOT). 
 
 land. In the large cities of the Kepublic meet- 
 ings were held week after week, while O'Connell's 
 exchequer was considerably augmented by remit- 
 tances from America. 
 
 French expression of sympathy for Ireland was 
 not wanting either, and the Paris Constitutionnel was 
 outspoken in its encouragement of O'Connell and 
 the Eepeal movement. 
 
 Thus backed up by his people at home, and en- 
 couraged from abroad, the monster meetings went 
 on. At the meeting in Mallow, at which at least two 
 hundred thousand people attended, O'Connell in the 
 course of his speech said : " Suppose for a moment 
 that England found the Act of Union to operate not 
 for her benefit if, instead of decreasing her debt, 
 it added to her taxation and liabilities, and made her 
 burden more onerous and, if she felt herself entitled 
 to call for a repeal of that act, I ask Peel and Wel- 
 lington, and let them deny it if they dare, and if 
 they did they would be the scorn and by-word of 
 the world, would she not have the right to call for a 
 repeal of that act And what are Irishmen that they 
 should be denied the same privilege ? Have we not 
 the ordinary courage of Englishmen ? Are we to be 
 trampled under foot ? Oh, they shall never trample 
 me, at least I was wrong they may trample me, 
 under foot I say they may trample me, but it will 
 be my dead body they will trample on, not the living 
 man I" Thunders of applause greeted these words, 
 and the people felt that in the last extremity, at 
 least, O'Connell would not adhere to his "peace 
 policy."
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 827 
 
 A grand and imposing meeting was that held at 
 " Tara of the Kings," in the County Meath, on the 
 15th of August. A vast multitude was present, esti- 
 mated in the Nation at seven hundred and fifty 
 thousand, but Mitchell in his history, thinks that a 
 gross exaggeration, and places the number at three 
 hundred and fifty thousand. Probably a fair esti- 
 mate would be half a million. 
 
 O'Connell stood beside the " Stone of Destiny," 
 used in long-past ages for the coronation of the 
 Monarchs of Ireland ; beneath him was spread a 
 boundless human ocean. It was a truly grand and 
 impressive spectacle. 
 
 He successively addressed meetings of monster 
 proportions in Roscommon, Clifden and Loughrea, 
 but the crowning success of all was the leviathan 
 gathering which met at Mullaghmast, in the County 
 Kildare, on the 1st of October. 
 
 Mullaghmast was memorable in Irish history as 
 the scene of the treacherous massacre of the Chiefs 
 of Offaly and Leix with hundreds of their clansmen, 
 by the English of the Pale, in 1577. Fully half a 
 milh'on people attended this meeting, and when 
 O'Connell appeared in his aldermanic robes, sur- 
 rounded by members of town corporations and distin- 
 guished priests and laymen, he received an ovation 
 such as a king might envy. The eminent Irish 
 sculptor John Hogan, amid breathless silence, came 
 forward and placed on the head of " the uncrowned 
 King of Ireland " an exquisitely embroidered cap, 
 fashioned after the ancient Irish crown, exclaiming 
 at the same time : " Sir, I only regret this cap is not
 
 gog POPULAB HISTORY OF 
 
 of gold ! " And half a million shouts rent the air in 
 approbation of the sentiment. The great tribune 
 once more assured his audience that England could 
 not continue much longer to refuse their just de- 
 mand. He told them that he had already prepared 
 his "plan for the renewed action of the Irish Par- 
 liament," as previously submitted at a meeting of 
 the Repeal Association in Dublin. This Parlia- 
 ment was to consist of three hundred members, and 
 O'Connell had already gone so far as to announce 
 that he would convene three hundred representa- 
 tive Irishmen in Dublin, in December. The people 
 were jubilant, and all believed that the full frui- 
 tion of their hopes was near at hand. Little did 
 they dream that all those fair hopes were to be 
 blasted in the near future, and that the very assem- 
 blage at which they were now present was to be the 
 last of the monster Repeal meetings of Ireland. 
 Tet so an adverse destiny decided. 
 
 The Government now became thoroughly alarm- 
 ed, and determined to grapple in deadly earnest 
 with the Repeal movement. But as this movement 
 was carried on within constitutional lines, some pre- 
 text for interference on the part of the Government 
 was wanted. 
 
 England, however, always needed but a very 
 flimsy pretext for interference with the rights of 
 "the mere Irish," and the opportunity soon pre- 
 sented itself. A great metropolitan gathering 
 was announced to be held at historic Clontarf, on 
 Sunday, the 8th of October. For da}'s previously 
 tho subject of the great meeting was uppermost in
 
 POPtTLAB HISTOBY OP IRELAHD. 829 
 
 men's minds. It was the great topic of discourse 
 in Dublin and for miles around. All preparations 
 for the great event were completed, when lo! outside 
 the police barracks, and on the dead-walls of Dub- 
 lin, on the day before the meeting, and just as the 
 shades of evening were falling, appeared ominous 
 proclamations, prohibiting the projected meeting to 
 take place ! Here was a dilemma for O'Connell. 
 He had frequently dared the Government to attack 
 him. Well, they have now at length thrown down 
 the gage of battle ; would he take it up ? 
 
 The object of the Government in keeping back 
 the proclamation until almost the last moment 
 was apparent. It was simply to goad the people 
 into insurrection. But O'Connell, who, it had now 
 become apparent, never seriously contemplated 
 physical resistance to the authorities, took imme- 
 diate steps to prevent what to him seemed a terri 
 ble calamity. He issued a proclamation forbidding 
 the contemplated meeting, and calling on the people 
 to obey the orders of the Lord Lieutenant. This 
 proclamation, aided by the almost superhuman exer- 
 tions of the members of the Repeal Committee, had 
 the desired effect, and when the troops horse, 
 foot and artillery in strong force reached Clontarf, 
 they encountered no enemy. The Government at 
 once instituted proceedings against O'Connell and 
 eight others, including John O'Connell (the Lib- 
 erator's son), who was at the time Member of Par- 
 liament for Kilkenny ; Charles Gavan Duffy, then 
 i !;tor of the Nation; Rev. Father Tyrrel, of Lusk, 
 C .unty Dublin j Rev. Father Tierney, of Clontibret,
 
 830 POHJLAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 County Monaghan; Richard Barrett, editor of the 
 Pilot, Dublin; Thomas Steele, "Head Pacificator 
 of Ireland"; Dr. Gray, of the Freeman's Journal; 
 and Thomas M. Ray, Secretary of the Repeal Asso- 
 ciation. Of the nine traversers, Father Tyrrel died 
 during the course of the trials, his death being 
 caused by over-exertion in preventing his parish- 
 ioners from going to the Clontarf meeting. 
 
 The trials extended over a period of several 
 months,and meanwhile the Repeal agitation went on 
 apace. A large hall christened by O'Connell 
 " Conciliation Hall," to typify the necessity of all 
 Irishmen uniting and sinking party differences 
 which had been in progress for some time, was now 
 completed, and on the 22d of October was opened 
 with great enthusiasm. This, the first meeting was 
 a monster gathering, and was presided over by 
 John Augustus O'Neill, of Bonowen Castle, a re- 
 tired cavalry officer and formerly M. P. of Hull, 
 England. This meeting was signalized by William 
 Smith O'Brien who had up to that time been an 
 obedient Whig giving in his adhesion to the popu- 
 lar cause. O'Brien was the representative of the 
 great and ancient house of Thomond, his family 
 was Protestant, and by all social ties was bound to 
 the pro-British faction in Ireland. His accession 
 to the Repeal ranks, therefore, was hailed with joy 
 by the people and with alarm on the part of their 
 enemies. His noble and patriotic example was fol- 
 lowed by many other Protestants of high social 
 position ; the funds of the Repeal Association 
 swelled into large proportions, and a fresh impetus
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OP IRELAND. g31 
 
 was given to the national movement. Friendly 
 encouragement and sympathy, as well as pecuniary 
 aid from America, was not wanting, and the action 
 of the Government seemed altogether to have a 
 contrary effect to what was intended. 
 
 After a farce of a trial in which a packed jury, 
 composed exclusively of Protestants, was impan- 
 eled by the vilest methods known to a vile Govern- 
 ment, the traversers were found guilty, and on the 
 30th of May, 1844, O'Connell was sentenced to 
 twelve months' imprisonment and a fine of 2,000, 
 the others receiving lighter sentences. An appeal was 
 taken to the House of Lords on a writ ctf error, and 
 in the meantime O'Connell and his fellow-prisoners 
 were confined in Richmond Penitentiary. 
 
 But the victory of the Government was a Pyrrhic 
 one. Repeal meetings continued to be held, and 
 patriotic Protestants were more and more drawn 
 into the popular ranks. Smith O'Brien flung him- 
 self into the fight with ardor, and his services at this 
 juncture were invaluable. After various delays, the 
 appeal to the House of Lords was heard in Septem- 
 ber, 1844, the case being left in the hands of the 
 Law Lords of that assembly. Three of the five 
 Law Lords, Denman, Cottenham and Campbell, 
 were in favor of reversing the sentence, and it was 
 accordingly set aside. The Lord Chancellor (Lynd- 
 hurst) and Lord Brougham voted in the minority. 
 The memorable words Lord Denman employed in 
 condemning the manner in which the jury-lists 
 were obtained are well known ; such practices, he 
 declared, would make of the law " a mockery, a de-
 
 832 POPtTLAB HOTORY OF IRBLAK1X 
 
 lusion and a snare.** There was great rejoicing 
 throughout Ireland over the action of the Lords, 
 and a monster triumphal procession escorted the 
 prisoner* on their liberation through the streets of 
 Dublin to O'ConnelPs residence. As O'Connell'a 
 carriage came in front of the old Parliament 
 House, the Liberator rose from his seat and pointed 
 to the stately portico. This little incident, eloquent 
 however in its significance, was received with 
 thundering cheers. 
 
 The people now looked forward with almost ago- 
 nizing suspense to O'Connell's next move. His power 
 was still unquestioned ; indeed, it is doubtful if at 
 any period of his wonderful career Irishmen were 
 more ready to obey his behests. In their steady and 
 unfaltering allegiance to their leader, they had made 
 many and bitter sacrifices, and they were ready to 
 do and dare much more. Indeed, they would have 
 hailed with joy a declaration of war from O'Con- 
 nell on the English garrison in Ireland, and there is 
 little doubt that if they had been properly armed 
 they would have made short work of British 
 rule in the island. But O'Connell wasnow a changed 
 man ; he was nearly seventy years of age, and his 
 incarceration had had a visible effect on his system 
 and spirits. In his speech there was henceforth an 
 absence of that bold and defiant tone which had so 
 often thrilled his people. He gradually alienated 
 from himself the more fiery spirits of the Associa- 
 tion, until finally an open rupture was created be- 
 tween him and the "Young Ireland "party, of which 
 more shall be said by-and-by. Few even among
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OP IRELAND. 833 
 
 O'Connell's most obedient followers could indorse 
 his declaration that "liberty was not worth the 
 shedding of a drop of human blood !" But O'Con- 
 nell when he gave expression to this absurd doc- 
 trine was entirely shattered in health, and soften- 
 ing of the brain had already set in. Indeed, he 
 might now be said to have come to the end of his 
 great career. The Repeal movement dragged on in 
 a half-hearted manner; its power for usefuluess was 
 gone. 
 
 It will be well just now to glance at some Govern- 
 mental measures which were heralded forth with a 
 great flourish of trumpets as calculated to be of 
 inestimable benefit to Ireland. On the 2d of April, 
 1845, Sir Robert Peel sent what he called a " mes- 
 sage of peace to Ireland," in the shape of a pro- 
 posed bill providing for a considerable increase in 
 the grant to the College of Maynooth. This con- 
 cession, such as it was, was made at a time when 
 war was threatened between England and the Uni- 
 ted States, owing to a dispute about Oregon. An- 
 other of those "'ameliorative " measures was the 
 bill ci'eating and endowing the three " Queen's Col- 
 leges." O'Connell vehemently denounced " the god- 
 less colleges," and, although some of the clergy, and 
 even some of the bishops, at first regarded them as 
 a substantial boon, all were afterwards brought 
 around to the views of O'Connell. Those ingeniously 
 devised measures, however, accomplished the pur- 
 poses of the Government in tending to still further 
 disintegrate the Repeal Association. Religious dis- 
 putes were engendered by the Colleges Bill, and
 
 151 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Protestants were alienated from the Association. 
 The next of those so-called remedial measures was 
 the " Compensation of Tenants in Ireland" Bill. This 
 bill proposed to do away with tenant-right by com- 
 pensating tenants for all future improvements. It 
 also proposed to get rid of a portion of Ireland's 
 "surplus population" by a comprehensive scheme 
 of emigration. Provision was likewise made where- 
 by large numbers of laborers were to be employed 
 on the waste lands of Ireland. This bill, which 
 was denounced by Irish landlords and tenants 
 alike, was defeated chiefly through the opposition 
 of the landlord influence, who would not admit that 
 tenants had any right whatsoever to "compensa- 
 tion." Thus Peel's scheme for disposing of Ire- 
 land's "surplus population" was frustrated; but 
 his fell purpose was soon to be accomplished by a 
 more terrible and deadly agency viz., the famine. 
 Misfortunes to nations as to individuals seldom 
 come singly, and the gloom which was now begin- 
 ning to overshadow the island was still further 
 deepened by the death of the pure and noble 
 Thomas Davis, which sad event for Ireland took 
 place in September, 1845. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 THE FAMINE PERIOD. FRIGHTFUL SCENES. ENGLAND'S 
 
 HEARTLESS TREATMENT OF THE FAMINE. FOREIGN 
 
 AID AND SYMPATHY. SPLIT IN THE REPEAL BANES. 
 
 THE VAGRANCY Aor. DEATH OF O'CONNELL. 
 
 The great bulk of the Irish people were known to 
 
 depend for subsistence principally on the potato crop.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 835 
 
 Now, the long continuance of cold wet weather in 
 the Summer of 1845 all but completely ruined this 
 crop. The blight was startlingly sudden in its rav- 
 ages, and what at one time promised to be an abun- 
 dant harvest was in the short space of a week 
 transformed into blasted and withered fields. A 
 cry of terror arose in the land. Before the famine 
 had really set in hundreds of people perished of 
 hunger on the roadsides. The evils of an alien 
 Parliament never received a more terrible illustra- 
 tion than in the bungling incompetence rather, we 
 should say, the criminal apathy of the English 
 Government to meet the dreadful crisis in Ireland. 
 Not but that they got repeated warnings of the 
 dreaded calamity that was impending. As early as 
 October, the Irish Mansion House Belief Committee 
 implored the Government to call Parliament toge- 
 ther and throw open the ports. The Government 
 refused. The Corporation of Dublin sent a memo- 
 rial to the Queen praying her to convene the Parlia- 
 ment, and to recommend the appropriation of some 
 public money for public works, especially railways, 
 in Ireland. The Town Council of Belfast took sim- 
 ilar action. And on the 8th of December, O'Connell, 
 addressing the Repeal Association, said : " If they 
 ask me what are my propositions for relief of the 
 distress, I answer, first, tenant-right. I would pro- 
 pose a law, giving to every man his own. I would 
 give the landlord his land, and a fair rent for it ; but 
 I would give the tenant compensation for every shil- 
 ling he might have laid out on the land in permanent 
 improvements. And what next do I propose ? Repeal
 
 CC6 tOrULAR HISTOKY OF IEELAKD. 
 
 of the Union." Further on he said that if Ireland 
 had her own Parliament, the ports would be thrown 
 open, and that "the abundant crops with which 
 Heaven has blessed her would be kept for the peo- 
 ple of Ireland." Indeed, almost the universal voice 
 of Ireland called for the opening of the ports. But 
 the Government was inexorable, and the voice of 
 the nation was unheeded. The executive, indeed, 
 on the first appearance of the blight, commissioned 
 Messrs. Play fair, Lindley, and Dr. (now Sir Robert) 
 Kane, to examine and report upon the nature of the 
 potato disease, &c. 
 
 Meanwhile immense shipments to England of 
 grain (the Irish grain crops of '45 were abundant), 
 cattle, sheep and hogs from Ireland were daily tak- 
 ing place. Indeed we have it from a Government 
 source Thorn's Official Directory that more grain 
 was shipped from Ireland to England in 1845 the 
 first of the famine years than in any previous year 1 
 The exports of grain and cattle to England in '45 
 amounted to about seventeen millions sterling. 
 Most of the Irish grain crops was gone by the first 
 of January, '46. 
 
 At length, after much valuable time was lost, dur- 
 ing which hundreds perished of hanger, Parliament 
 assembled late in January, 1846. 
 
 Theirs/ measure introduced was, characteristically 
 enough a coercion bill I Driven to desperation, it 
 is not to be wondered that some of the unfortunate 
 peasantry wreaked bloody ven^ ance on their heart- 
 less oppressors, who were only too ready to take 
 advantage of the terrible situation in Ireland to
 
 K)PULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 837 
 
 carry on the congenial work of eviction. Those 
 agrarian outrages afforded the Government a pretext 
 to introduce a most vile and odious coercive meas- 
 ure. The other measure which was introduced to 
 meet the Irish crisis was a bill for the repeal of the 
 corn laws. It was also proposed to abolish the 
 duties on foreign beef, mutton and bacon. Though 
 this measure looked plausible enough on the surface, 
 it was in reality a cruel delusion. Ireland imported 
 no corn or beef on the contrary, she exported those 
 commodities and the bill might thus be said to be 
 for England's exclusive benefit, that country being a 
 large importer of those staples. The measure waa 
 in truth adverse to the interests of the Irish 
 farmer, who hitherto had an advantage over 
 the foreign corn-growers in the English market, be- 
 cause there was a duty on foreign but not on Irish 
 provisions. Henceforth, the agricultural produce 
 of the world was to be admitted on the same terms, 
 to the evident disadvantage of the Irish farmer. 
 The vast mass of the Irish people were obliged, as 
 usual, to sell their corn and cattle in order to meet 
 the rent. Throwing open the ports, therefore, in so 
 far as that course was intended to grapple with the 
 famine, was a mockery. The Irish ports were open 
 to English ships, to carry away their cargoes of 
 cattle and corn, while the Irish people were being 
 decimated by hunger. If during those terrible 
 times the Irish ports had been closed against all 
 exports a precaution which would undoubtedly 
 have been taken had Ireland had a native Parlia- 
 ment there would have been no famine.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 As immediate relief measures, a grant was made o! 
 50,000 for public works, and an equal amount for 
 drainage of estates both grants being made to the 
 Commissioners of Public Works, and to be adminis- 
 tered by that body. The utter inadequacy of this 
 grant must have been as apparent to the English 
 ministry as it was to the Irish people. Mr. Secre- 
 tary Labouchere, in a statement in Parliament, in 
 that very session, estimated the total money-loss 
 accruing by the potato-blight at sixteen millions ster- 
 ling. Now to replace this absolutely necessary food 
 by foreign corn, taking into account the higher 
 price of grain over potatoes, besides freight, an ap- 
 propriation of twenty millions sterling would have 
 been necessary. Thus the actual grant was about 
 the two-hundredth part of what the occasion de- 
 manded I Miserably inadequate as it was, no effect- 
 ive measures were taken for its prompt application. 
 The first three months of the year passed away, and 
 the people found no relief. There was forsooth much 
 preparation in the way of appointing commissions 
 and clerks, and preparing stationery, schedules, 
 specifications and red-tape. 
 
 Some of the Repeal leaders, including O'Connell, 
 Smith O'Brien and others, proceeded to London in 
 March, to endeavor to stir up the Ministry, or at 
 least to ascertain their intentions. As to the relief 
 grants, Smith O'Brien declared in the House that not 
 one single guinea had up to that time been expended 
 on the starving people. He wn- iiaughtily told that 
 the Government had taken tic matter in hand, 
 and that was sufficient It was evident that no
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 839 
 
 satisfaction could be had from the Government. 
 And while famine was claiming its victims by the 
 thousand, the crow-bar brigade completed the work 
 of desolation. One landlord in County Galway, a 
 Mrs. Gerrard, cleared out a whole village, contain- 
 ing two hundred and seventy souls! 
 
 The Coercion Bill, to which we have referred as 
 having been introduced simultaneously with the 
 bill for the repeal of the corn laws, proved the 
 downfall of the Peel Ministry. On the 25th of May, 
 1846, the former measure was defeated by a coalition 
 ot the Whigs, Protectionists and Repealers, Sir Rob- 
 ert Peel immediately resigning office. The sincer- 
 ity of the Waigs in voting against the Coercion Bill 
 was attesled soon afterwards by that party intro- 
 ducing and passing a still more stringent measure ! 
 
 Peel, before retiring from office, hit upon an expe- 
 dient for breaking up f he Repeal Association. This 
 was the imprisonment of Smith O'Brien for several 
 weeks in the cellar of the Hou ie of Commons. The 
 Repeal M. P.'s, believing that they could accomplish 
 more for the cause by remaining in Ireland than by 
 any efforts they could make in a hostile legislature, 
 habitually absented themselves from Parliament. It 
 was in vain that they were nominated on English 
 railroad and other committees. They replied that 
 they had more important business to attend to. But 
 on the introduction of the Coercion Act, they pro- 
 ceeded to London to oppose that measure, and the 
 Government soon took advantage of the situation 
 by placing their names on railroad committees. 
 O'Connell and his son obeyed the call, but O'Brien
 
 840 JOPULAB HISTOBY or IRELAND. 
 
 refused and was imprisoned in the cellar for "con- 
 tempt," whereupon all England became jubilant over 
 the successful ruse of the Government. O'Brien's im- 
 prisonment had a most disastrous effect on the Repeal 
 Association. The more ardent members applauded 
 O'Brien's action, which was impliedly a censure on 
 the course pursued by O'ConnelL At first a soii of 
 patched-up settlement was effected between the jar- 
 ring elements ; but it was short-lived. The "Eighty- 
 two Club " yoted a warm address to the imprisoned 
 leader, thoroughly indorsing his conduct, and dis- 
 patched several members to present it to him in his 
 dungeon. By the time the Whigs came in, the divi- 
 sions in the Repeal Association came to a crisis. 
 O'Connell, who always had a lurking distrust of the 
 " juvenile members," as he sneeringly styled them, 
 now abandoned all agitation of the Repeal question, 
 and took measures to sever himself from the advanced 
 section, or " Young Ireland." Mr. Smith O'Brien thus 
 concisely describes how the split was produced : 
 
 "Negotiations were opened between Mr. O'Con- 
 nell and the Whigs at Chesham Place. ' Young Ire- 
 land ' protested in the strongest terms against an 
 alliance with the Whigs; Mr. O'Connell took offense 
 at the language used by Mr. Meagher and others. 
 When I arrived in Dublin, after the resignation of 
 Sir Robert Peel, I learned that he contemplated a 
 rupture with the writers of the Nation. Before I 
 went to the County of Clare, I communicated 
 through Mr. Ray a special message to Mr. O'Con- 
 nell, who was then absent from Dublin, to the effect, 
 that though I was most anxious to occupy a neutral
 
 JOPULAB H1STOBY OF IBELAND. 841 
 
 position, I could not silently acquiesce in any attempt 
 to expel the Nation or its party from the Association. 
 Next came the Dungarvan election, and the new 
 'moral force' resolutions. I felt it my duty to 
 protest against both at the Kilrush dinner. Upon 
 my return to Dublin, I found a public letter from 
 Mr. O'Connell, formally denouncing the Nation; and 
 no alternative was left me but to declare that if 
 that letter were acted upon I coulJ not co-operate 
 any longer with the Bepeal Association. The cele- 
 brated two-day debate then took place. Mr. J. 
 O'Connell opened an attack upon the Nation and 
 upon its adherents. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Meagher 
 defended themselves in language which it seemed to 
 me did not transgress the bounds of decorum or of 
 legal safety. Mr. John O'Connell interrupted Mr. 
 Meagher in his speech, and declared that he could 
 not allow him to proceed with the line of argument 
 necessary to sustain the principles which had been 
 arraigned. I protested against this interruption. 
 Mr. J. O'Connell then gave us to understand that 
 unless Mr. Meagher desisted, he (Mr. J. O'Connell) 
 must leave the hall. I could not acquiesce in this 
 attempt to stifle a fair discussion, and sooner than 
 witness the departure of Mr. J. O'Connell from an 
 Association founded by his father, I preferred to 
 leave the assembly." The " moral force " resolu- 
 tions alluded to above, condemned, at least by im- 
 plication, as wrongful any and every effort, in any age 
 or time, clime or country, to redress political wrongs 
 by armed resort ! It is no wonder that they called 
 forth the righteous indignation of young Meagher,
 
 842 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 who, in words of burning eloquence, refused to " ab- 
 hor or stigmatize the sword." O'Brien's departure 
 from Conciliation Hall was followed by that of Mit- 
 chell, Meagher, and the other " Young Irelanders," 
 and there was practically an end to the Repeal Associa- 
 tion. Meantime the twin destroyers, famine and fever, 
 were doing their terrible work, and the exterminat- 
 ing landlords were in many cases enabled to regain 
 their lands by the mere taking, all the inmates hav- 
 ing perished. During 1846, not less than three hun- 
 dred thousand people perished by famine, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly. But the British Government being 
 sedulous to conceal the amount of the carnage, the 
 Census Commissioners, in their Report for 1851, put 
 the number of " registered " deaths by hunger alone 
 excluding, of course, the deaths by fever, the 
 direct outcome of hunger at 2,o41. The value of 
 those figures is therefore apparent. 
 
 In addition to the Coercion Act, the "Whig Minis- 
 try brought in and carried this year the Labor-rate 
 Act. The Poor Law System having utterly broken 
 clown in Ireland, this Labor-rate was intended as a 
 sort of additional Poor-rate. The Labor-rate was pay- 
 able by the same persons who were liable to the other 
 Poor-rates, and the proceeds were to be applied to 
 the execution of such public works (strictly useless 
 works) as the Government might choose to sanction, 
 all control and superintendence to be vested in 
 Government officers. The Treasury was to advance 
 the money in order to set the people immediately to 
 work ; and the advance was to be repaid in ten 
 years by means of the increased rate.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. g43 
 
 Now the class who suffered most from the potato- 
 blight were those small farmers, who, after paying 
 their rents, were barely able to keep themselves 
 above starvation. With this new tax on them, the 
 terrible struggle which these people had been making 
 to keep themselves from becoming subjects for relief 
 was given up in great part, and they sank into the 
 class of able-bodied paupers, and enrolled them- 
 selves as Government navvies, thus throwing them- 
 selves for support upon those who still strove to live 
 by their own labor on their own land. In addition 
 to the proceeds of the new Poor-rate, Parliament 
 appropriated a further sum of 50,000 to be applied 
 in giving work in some absolutely pauper districts, 
 where there was no hope of ever raising rates to re- 
 pay it. It is needless to say that the great majority 
 of the Irish people, who had denounced the Poor 
 Law System from its very inception, strongly con- 
 demned the new Act ; their objections were brushed 
 aside as being unworthy of serious consideration. 
 
 According to the wise dictates of their political 
 economists, the Government decided that those re- 
 lief works should be useless in character, and the 
 strange spectacles were to be witnessed of men 
 building bridges where there was no water, and cut- 
 ting roads where there was no hill. The labor was 
 absolutely wasted, the laborers utterly demoralized, 
 and the way paved for next year's famine. The 
 Labor-rate Act played into the hands of the exter- 
 minating landlords, who plied their nefarious game 
 more vigorously than ever. Of the many thousands 
 who had been evicted, those who could scrape up
 
 844 POPTTLAB HIStOBY OF IRELAND. 
 
 enough money to pay their passage emigrated to 
 America The great " exodus 1 " to the United States, 
 which, has been kept up more or less to the present 
 day, get in with a rush. Men fled to the seas as if 
 pursued by savage beasts. Many of these uerer 
 reached their destination they perished by hun- 
 dreds in the terrible fever-ships of the period. And 
 while so large a proportion of the bone and muscle 
 of the country was being driven across the seas, 
 nearly all of the agricultural laborers remaining 
 were, by the operations of the Labor-rate Act, di- 
 verted from their proper pursuits. The Dublin 
 Evening Mail of the time, a pro-British organ, speak- 
 ing of the death of agricultural laborers in County 
 Limerick, says : "There is not a laborer employed 
 in the county, except on public works ; and there is 
 every prospect of the lands remaining untilled and 
 unsown for next year." The Cork Constitution, 
 another pro-British organ, bears similar testimony. 
 Thus the Government by their own action insured 
 the famine of '47 the most terrible year of the 
 three famine years. 
 
 During the winter of 1846-1847 there was a fright- 
 ful amount of extermination. In the same winter 
 about four hundred thousand people perished of hun- 
 ger and typhus-fever, while at least seventeen mil- 
 lions worth of the Irish harvests again went over to 
 England. 
 
 The third and most destructive of the Bo-called 
 "Relief measures was the "Out-door Relief Act," 
 passed in February, 1847. A new loan of ten mil- 
 lions sterling was to be raised, and to be applied
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 845 
 
 from time to time for relief of the famine the half 
 of the advances to be repaid by additional Poor 
 Law rates the other half to be a grant from the 
 Treasury to pay able-bodied paupers for doing use- 
 less work. In this act was a clause called the 
 " Quarter Acre Clause " providing that where a 
 farmer who held land should be forced to apply for 
 relief, he should not get it unless he first surrendered 
 his farm to his landlord. One-quarter of an acre 
 he might retain ; but all the rest must be given up, 
 Henceforth farms were daily given up without even 
 the formality of a Notice-to-Quit. 
 
 The Labor-rate Act having been now pronounced 
 a failure in England, steps were taken by the new 
 act for dismissing in batches the laborers employed 
 on the public works. On the 6th of March, there 
 were seven hundred and thirty thousand heads of 
 families on the public works, representing nearly 
 four millions of people. On the 10th of April, the 
 number was reduced to 600,723. "Within the next 
 few months batches of 100,000 or so were in like 
 manner dismissed. Most of these had now neither 
 house nor home; and their only resource was the Out- 
 door Relief. For this they were ineligible if they 
 held but one rood of land. Under the new law it 
 was able-bodied idlers only who could be fed ; an 
 attempt to till even one rood of ground was death. 
 
 It was in this year ('47), that the world, as if by a 
 common impulse, moved by the terrible stories of 
 Ireland's suffering, sent forth their contributions to 
 that hapless land. Many charitable English peo- 
 ple, let it be told to their credit, acted nobly in thia
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 crisis ; the good Society of Friends were conspicuous 
 in their works of charity and humanity. The sym- 
 pathy and substantial succor of la belle France 
 were not wanting ; while even poor Turkey sent 
 forward a liberal contribution. But above all will 
 Ireland ever remember the generous sympathy and 
 Rid of the people of the United States, who, in addi- 
 tion to large sums of money, sent two war-ships, 
 the Macedonian and the Jamestown, to Ireland, 
 loaded with provisions. Those contributions, either 
 owing to the criminal intent or bungling incapacity 
 of ths British Government, did not accomplish any- 
 thing like what they would have done had there 
 been no Government, interference. Before sending 
 the Jamestown, the Americans had forwarded several 
 cargoes of corn, intrusting its distribution to the 
 ii<rents of the Government Relief Committees, who 
 locked it up in Government stores and allowed it to 
 l>o very gradually distributed among the famishing 
 people. They considered that its prompt applica- 
 tion to the purpose for which it was sent would 
 derange the Liverpool market. The Americans, 
 therefore, seeing that by this mode of distribution 
 their efforts had scarcely an appreciable effect 
 towards diminishing Irish suffering, sent the James- 
 town into Cork Harbor, and intrusted the disposal 
 of its cargo to a committee of Cork citizens. Even 
 here, the good intentions of the Americans were to a 
 largo extent frustrated. As the cargo of the James- 
 town eamo into consumption, prices became a shade 
 lower, and speculators made a rich harvest in ship- 
 ping to Liverpool, and the heartless spectacle was
 
 K>PULAK HISTORY Of IRELAKD. 847 
 
 presented in many an Irish port of ships leaving for 
 England laden with grain and cattle. 
 
 In 1847 was passed that infamous piece of legisla- 
 tion known as the " Vagrancy Act." As thousands 
 of the unfortunate Irish were fleeing to England, in 
 the hope of earning a livelihood, there the Govern- 
 ment took alarm about typhus fever. Orders in 
 council were suddenly issued, subjecting all vessels 
 having deck-passengers to troublesome examinations 
 and quarantine, and in less than a week afterwards 
 four of the steamship companies between England 
 and Ireland, on request of Ministers, raised the pas- 
 sage rate for deck-passengera. In this same year, 
 vast numbers of destitute Irish people in England, 
 whose labors for a large, perhaps the better, portion 
 of their lives Lad gone to enrich that country, were 
 sent back by parish and town authorities, and liter- 
 ally dumped on the Irish coasts. 
 
 The people were now in a terrible plight. They had 
 no money to emigrate, and in their own country they 
 had neither food nor shelter. The poor-houses were 
 crammed ; each of them was an hospital for typhus 
 fever, and it was anything but an uncommon sight 
 to see three or four fever patients in one bed, some 
 dead and others not yet dead. Several unions, 
 overwhelmed with rates, refused to provide coffins 
 for the dead paupers, and in heaps they were thrown 
 coffinless into holes. Other unions, with some out- 
 ward show of decency, procured a coffin which had 
 its bottom hinged at one side, and closed with a 
 latch on the other, and this did duty in hundreds of 
 cases of interment. The horrors of those famine
 
 848 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 years no pen could exaggerate. It is no wonder 
 that they excited the sympathy of a civilized world. 
 But while Ireland received friendly aid and sympa- 
 thy from almost every civilized country, it must be 
 repeated emphatically that she never once during 
 those terrible times solicited alms : that was done 
 for her by her humane rulers, who deprived her of 
 her substance with one hand, and held out the other 
 to the world's charity for her. All Ireland wanted, 
 was the use of her own, and this she could only have 
 by Eepeal of the Union. This England would not grant, 
 but insisted instead that she should remain a nation of 
 beggars. Thus, on the 17th of October, 1847, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury issued a form of thanks- 
 giving for an " abundant harvest," to be read in all 
 the churches, and on the same day a Royal Letter 
 was issued, asking alms in those same churches for 
 the starving Irish. 
 
 In February, 1847, the great Tribune, weighed 
 down by grief over the horrors of the famine and 
 the destruction of his fond hopes for Eepeal of the 
 Union, quitted Ireland for Home. He desired to see 
 the Pope, and then resign his spirit into the hands ol 
 its Creator in the Eternal City. In the inscrutable 
 wisdom of Providence, these wishes were not des 
 tined to be realized ; for on the 16th of May he 
 died at Genoa, on the way. His death created the 
 most profound grief amongst Irishmen the world 
 over, and even his enemies heard with emotion the 
 announcement of the sad event. 
 
 The horrid spectacle of his people perishing be- 
 fore hia eyee, and the utter collapse of his schemei
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 1<5 
 
 for Repeal assuredly hastened his death. 0*Conne11 
 was always a sincere Catholic, and his death was a 
 truly edifying one. He bequeathed his body to Ire- 
 land and his heart to Eome, " not," as he said, "that 
 he loved Ireland less, but that he loved Eome more." 
 The funeral procession in Dublin was of monster 
 proportions. Smith O'Brien and his confederates 
 wished to attend the obsequies, and the fact that 
 John O'Connell positively forbade their taking part 
 will show how great was the breach between O'Con- 
 nell's party and the Young Irelanders. 
 
 The Irish harvest of 1847 was again an abundant 
 one, and if it could only be kept in the country 
 there would have been no danger of famine. The 
 terrible consequences of the unrestricted shipment 
 of grain and cattle to England in the preceding 
 years of the famine had by this time thoroughly 
 exasperated the people. Indeed, John Mitchell and 
 his compatriots boldly advocated the forcible stop- 
 page of all convoys of Irish grain or cattle on their 
 way to the seacoast for shipment. Their teachings 
 aroused their countrymen, and in the County Clare 
 mobs were beginning to stop the transport of pro- 
 Tisions. Lord Clarendon was sent over in this year 
 (1847), as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, He was full 
 of conciliation and promises to stamp out the fam- 
 ine. To combat the teachings of the Mitchell School 
 and to turn the thoughts and hopes of the people 
 towards the Government, he recommended a tour 
 of agricultural " lectures," the expense to be pro- 
 vided by the Royal Agricultural Society, aided by 
 public grants. The lecturers were to go on every
 
 850 POPUIAR HTSTOttT OF 
 
 estate, call the tenants together, and enlighten them 
 on the principles of scientific agriculture. This cruel 
 mockery of delivering highly scientific agricultural 
 lectures to a people who expected to be turned out 
 of their holdings the following spring was bad 
 enough, but baser and more treacherous was Lord 
 Clarendon's attempt to subsidize the Dublin press. It 
 is to the credit of that press, however, that only one 
 paper, a disreputable sheet called the World, edited 
 by a blackmailer named Birch, was willing to sell 
 itself to the enemy. This Birch, who lived by hush- 
 money, and who was several times tried and con- 
 victed as A blackmailer, the Government were not 
 above taking into their service, and paying for mak- 
 ing weekly attacks of the most revolting character 
 on Mitchell, O'Brien and Meagher, and the other 
 leaders. All those things afterwards came to light, 
 and much racy evidence was eh' cited in the case 
 of Birch vs. Sir T. Kedington, hi which the worthy 
 Government tool brings suit for "further sums" 
 due him for " work and labor " performed. 
 
 Another measure of Lord Clarendon, ingenuously 
 devised to cause division amongst the Irish people, 
 was his great liberality towards Catholic lawyers in 
 the distribution of patronge. Mr. Monahan, a 
 Catholic barrister, for instance, was made Attorney- 
 General for Ireland, and subsequently raised to the 
 bench. It is needless to say that Monahan and 
 others like him became most pliant and useful tools 
 of the Government. 
 
 Meantime Mitchell and the writers in the Nation 
 iiad been endeavoring to turn the miuds of the peo-
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 851 
 
 pie to the only true remedy for their evils that is, 
 a combined effort to prevent export of provisions, 
 and to resist process of ejectment. Indeed, they 
 would go further, and destroy root and branch the 
 accursed system of landlordism in which was the real 
 cause of Ireland's many ills. They knew that this 
 could only be accomplished by a successful armed 
 revolution, but they boldly declared at the same 
 time that it were better to die with arms in their 
 hands, fighting for the right to live, than die of starv- 
 ation in a ditch. The Government took alarm at 
 these bold doctrines, and another stringent Coer- 
 cion Act was the result. 
 
 Unhappy Ireland 1 This year was truly for her a 
 " Black Forty-seven." Assailed at once by famine 
 and fever, the crow-bar brigades, emigration and 
 coercion, she was a truly pitiable object. Captain 
 Larcom, a Government Commissioner, be it remem- 
 bered, in 1848, furnished a Keport, from which it 
 appears that in 1847 there were in all Ireland about 
 seventy thousand heads of families evicted from 
 their holdings. He says : " In the number of farms 
 of from one to five acres, the decrease has been 
 24,147 ; from five to fifteen acres, 27,379 ; from fif- 
 teen to thirty acres, 4,274 ; whilst of farms above 
 thirty acres, the increase has been 3,670." When 
 the famine was over, and its results came to be esti- 
 mated, it was found that Ireland had lost two mil- 
 lions and a half of her people. The census of Ire- 
 land in 1841 gave a population of 8,175,125. At the 
 usual rate of increase there must have been in 1846, 
 when the famine commenced, at least eight and a
 
 852 POFULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 half millions. At the same rate of increase there 
 ought to have been in 1851 (famine was in the land 
 till this latter year, though in a mitigated form after 
 1848), 9,018,799. But the census showed that in 
 1851 there were only 6,552,385 that is, a deficit of 
 two millions and a hall Of this number, something 
 like a million and a half died of hunger directly, or 
 of fever superinduced by hunger. 
 
 OHAPTEB IV. 
 
 YOUNG IRELAND AND THE " FORTY-EIGHT " MOVEMENT. 
 THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACT. THE TENANT 
 LEAGUE. THE ECCLESIASTICAL TITHES BILL. 
 
 The split in the Repeal ranks, and the formation 
 of the Young Ireland party on a distinct basis, have 
 been already briefly noticed, but it seems necessary 
 that a more extended account should be given of 
 the status, aims and policy of an organization which 
 has been such a powerful factor in shaping the 
 course of Irish political life in our days. It is a big 
 mistake and a great injustice to regard the Young 
 Irelanders merely as a set of wild enthusiasts, only 
 capable of producing a ridiculous farce of an insur- 
 rection, such as they did at Ballingary in 1848. 
 They worked loyally with O'Oonnell until circum- 
 stances, which were none of their creation, rendered 
 their secession inevitable, and in their subsequent 
 history, if we except the ill-advised insurrectionary 
 attempt at Ballingary, there was nothing which 
 Irishmen need have cause to excuse.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 853 
 
 To them belongs the credit of essaying, for the 
 first time in our generation, the task of purifying 
 the Irish political atmosphere. The parliamentary- 
 representation of that country was long known to 
 be grossly corrupt. Indeed, many a parliamentary 
 seat came to be regarded as the exclusive prop- 
 erty of some autocrat who had nothing in common 
 with his constituents. The Young Icelanders boldly 
 assailed this vicious system, and their resistance, 
 though not followed in many cases by direct visible 
 results, paved the way for that spirit of political 
 independence which now happily prevails in Ireland. 
 
 The motto of the Young Irelanders, and the key- 
 note of their policy, was, " Educate, that you may be 
 free." They accordingly at an early period of their 
 career determined to establish a weekly newspaper, 
 which should tend " to create and foster public 
 opinion in Ireland, and make it racy of the soil." 
 The originators of this ambitious scheme were 
 Charles Gavan Duffy, Thomas Osborne Davis and 
 John Blake Dillon. The new paper was christened 
 the Nation, the first number appearing on the 15th 
 of October, 1842. At one bound the Nation sprang 
 into popularity. The ability with which it was con- 
 ducted surprised friends and foes alike. It was not 
 so much a gleaner of news as a popular educator. 
 A.S Mr. A. M. Sullivan so beautifully expresses in his 
 ** Young Ireland," " fervid prose and thrilling verse, 
 literary essay and historical ballad, were all pressed 
 into the service of Irish nationality. The effect was 
 beyond all anticipation. The country seemed to 
 awaken to a new life ; ' a soul had come into Erin.' M
 
 854 POPTTAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Another laudable undertaking of the Yoang Ire- 
 landers was the bringing of good, healthy literature 
 within reach of the masses This they did in a 
 series of monthly publications, known as " Duffy's 
 Library of Ireland." Those publications were a 
 powerful factor in the education of the masses. 
 
 But the greatest service, perhaps, the Young Ire- 
 lander srendered their country, was their noble, and 
 in a large degree successful, efforts to destroy reli- 
 gious hatred in Ireland, and to bring Protestants 
 and Catholics to work together for their common 
 country. There can be no doubt that their labors 
 in that direction were most beneficent for Ireland, 
 aiid that the fraternal spirit which now, more than 
 at any previous period of Ireland's history, is abroad, 
 may in a large degree be credited to their patriotic 
 efforts. 
 
 Of the many distinguished men comprised in the 
 Young Ireland party, in addition to those already 
 named, we might mention the name of Thomas 
 D'Arcy McGee, who as a minister of the Crown in 
 Canada won high distinction, and whose brilliant 
 career was prematurely closed by an assassin's bul- 
 let at Ottawa, in 1868. The gifted Thomas Francis 
 Meagher won high distinction as a soldier and ora- 
 tor in America, and, after the war, was made Gov- 
 ernor of Montana Territory, but unfortunately was 
 accidentally drowned in the Missouri, as he was pro- 
 ceeding to assume office. "Honest John Martin" 
 and J. P. lionayne, both dead, have done good work 
 for Ireland as parliamentary representatives. Hon. 
 Richard O'Gomian is now one of the most honored
 
 POPOLAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 855 
 
 citizens of New York, and has been many times 
 elected to some of the highest positions in the gift 
 of the people. Mitchell went home to Ireland to 
 die in 1875, and before his death was elected as 
 Tipperary's parliamentary representative. R. D. Wil- 
 liams, whose exquisite lays and humorous poetical 
 contributions are prized by all Irishmen, sleeps in a 
 Louisiana grave. Dr. Kevin Izod O'Doherty, John 
 O'Hogan, Samuel Ferguson, Michael Doheny, Dennis 
 Florence McCarthy, Rev. Charles Meehan, Denny 
 Laue, James Clarence Mangan, John Kells Ingram 
 the author of " Who fears to speak of Ninety-eight?" 
 and though last, not least, the three poetesses of 
 the Nation, "Speranza," or Lady Wilde; "Eva," 
 or Eva May Kelly, now Mrs. Kevin Izod O'Doherty ; 
 and "May," or Miss Ellen Downing those are 
 the most prominent of that brilliant band that made 
 up the Young Ireland party. 
 
 William Smith O'Brien was the recognized leader 
 of the Young Ireland party. He was a man of high 
 social position, connected with some of the most 
 aristocratic families in Ireland, and an extensive 
 land-owner. He was a lineal descendant of King 
 Brian Boru, the hero of Clontarf, and was justly 
 proud of his ancient and noble lineage. His public 
 and private character was above reproach ; he was 
 the very impersonation of truth and honor. 
 
 The opening of 1848 found the Nation and the 
 Young Ireland party bolder and more defiant than 
 ever in their language. Witnessing the cruel work 
 of the famine, and the operation of an Algerian Code, 
 which stifled almost the last vestige of human
 
 85G POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 liberty in Ireland, it is no wonder that the idea of 
 physical resistance to an intolerable tyranny began 
 to take a firm hold in the minds of many of the 
 Young Irelanders. It is true the physical force 
 doctrine was not yet openly or even privately advo- 
 cated, except perhaps by a very few of the more 
 ardent spirits, but it was evident to any observant 
 person that things were drifting in that direction. 
 For a considerable time after their withdrawal from 
 the O'Connell party, the Young Irelanders worked 
 earnestly and loyally in the Kepeal interest, and had 
 no idea of employing other than moral means 
 towards the attainment of the end which both par- 
 ties had then in view. The Young Ireland organi- 
 zation was known as the " Irish Confederation," and 
 recognized William Smith O'Brien as its leader ; 
 while the " Old " or original Repeal Association was 
 conducted by John O'Connell. Now, long before 
 the great Tribune's death, the original Repeal Asso- 
 ciation had become much emasculated, and under 
 the feeble leadership of O'ConnelTs son, this condi- 
 tion of things became aggravated ; and the result was 
 that there was much dissatisfaction in the ranks of 
 the Young Irelanders, many of whom abandoned all 
 hope of wringing any concessions from England by 
 constitutional means. Indeed, towards the close of 
 1847, it became evident that in the Irish Confedera- 
 tion itself there were two parties one, tinder the 
 leadership of John Mitchell, favoring armed resist- 
 ance ; the other counseling a more prudent course. 
 In an article in the Nation, Mitchell declared that 
 the time had come for calling upon the Irish people
 
 POPTOAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 857 
 
 1 
 
 to face an armed struggle. This line of action was 
 repudiated by Mitchell's colleagues on the Nation, 
 Duffy and McGee, and the consequence was that 
 Mitchell retired from the paper, and carried the 
 controversy into the council-room of the Confedera- 
 tion. Mitchell's policy was strongly condemned by 
 Smith O'Brien, Gavan Duffy, John B. Dillon, T. F. 
 Meagher, Richard O'Gorman, D'Arcy McGee, and 
 others, and after two days' debate, on the 5th of 
 February, 1848, when the question was submitted 
 to a vote, was overwhelmingly rejected. Mitchell 
 and his party thereupon withdrew from the Confed- 
 eration. 
 
 Mitchell's indomitable spirit, however, was not so 
 easily to be subjugated. He started a paper called 
 the United Irishman, in which he boldly advocated 
 his policy of insurrection. Though his course at the 
 time was regarded by all except his immediate fol- 
 lowers as foolhardy, within a few days an event oc- 
 curred which was destined to make him master of 
 the situation, so far as the Confederates were con- 
 cerned. This was the French Eevolution of '48. 
 The 24th of February saw King Louis Philippe a 
 fugitive, and the French Republic proclaimed. The 
 astounding news set Ireland ablaze. It filled the 
 hearts of the people with hope, and the vision of Ire- 
 land as a nation free and disinthralled fired the 
 popular mind. Popular upheavals were the order 
 of the day all over the Continent. From Paris, from 
 Berlin, from Vienna, came the same thrilling news 
 the people were rising in their might against 
 oppression.
 
 858 ropuLAB HISTORY or IRELAND. 
 
 The United Irishman was now sought for by aU, 
 and its contents devoured with avidity. It became 
 Btill bolder in its tone, and published instructions 
 on barricading and street warfare. Even the Con- 
 federate leaders, who had only a short time before 
 opposed Mitchell's policy, were seized with the pop- 
 ular enthusiasm. They, too, believed that Ireland's 
 opportunity had come. Confederate "clubs" were 
 formed all over the country, in which instruction in 
 military tactics occupied the first attention. Even 
 binith O'Brien, though conservative in his views, at 
 a meeting of the Confederation, on the 16th of 
 March, introduced a resolution that an address of 
 congratulation be presented to the French people. 
 The citizens of Dublin, at a meeting held subse- 
 quently, adopted a similar resolution. 
 
 The Government was not an unattentive spectator 
 of all these things. On the 21st of March, O'Brien, 
 Meagher and Mitchell were arrested, the first two 
 charged with seditious speeches; Mitchell, with sedi- 
 tious writings and it soon became evident that the 
 Executive intended to strike hard. Before the trials, 
 O'Brien and Meagher, in company with an intelli- 
 gent and patriotic tradesman named Hollywood, pro- 
 ceeded to France, to present M. de Lamartine, Pres- 
 ident of the Provisional Government, with the ad- 
 dresses of congratulation from the Irish Confedera- 
 tion and the citizens of Dublin. On their return, 
 O'Brien found the British House of Commons en- 
 gaged in discussing a new bill " for the further se- 
 curity of Her Majesty's Crown." The law which 
 they were now to enact for Ireland was the " Trea-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 859 
 
 son-felony Law," under the provisions of which the 
 writing and printing, or open and advised speaking, 
 of incitements to insurrection in Ireland should be 
 deemed a felony, punishable by transportation. 
 When O'Brien, from his place in Parliament, con- 
 demned this bill, the scene in the House of Com- 
 mons was scandalously and outrageously indecent. 
 "Honorable " members had recourse to howls, cat- 
 calls and other unseemly demonstrations worthy of 
 an assembly of Yahoos. The measure was of course 
 passed_^by overwhelming majorities, and a new 
 weapon for the oppression of Ireland was thus 
 forged. 
 
 The deputies, on their return to Dublin, were re- 
 ceived with enthusiasm, and Meagher, at a monster 
 meeting, presented the citizens of Dublin with a 
 magnificent Irish Tricolor of green, white and orange, 
 surmounted by a pikehead. The Government prose- 
 cutions of the Confederate leaders now came on, 
 the cases of O'Brien and Meagher being first tried. 
 To the great joy of the people, the juries disagreed, 
 and the prosecutions fell through. Mitchell, how- 
 ever, was not allowed to escape so easily. Before 
 his trial took place, on the 22d of May, the " Trea- 
 son-felony Act " was in operation, and his conviction 
 was a foregone conclusion ; on the 26th he was sen- 
 tenced to fourteen years' transportation beyond 
 the seas! That sentence gave a deathblow to the 
 insurrectionary movement of 1848, of which Mit- 
 chell was the life and soul. That movement was 
 utterly condemned and discountenanced by all the 
 conservative elements of the population, including
 
 800 POPULAR HISTORY OP TRELAIOX 
 
 the Catholic clergy and the O'Connell Repealers. To 
 the opposition of the clergy in particular was due 
 the fact that the movement was confined to narrow 
 limits, and that anything like a general rising was 
 averted. 
 
 The forcible removal of Mitchell from their midst 
 inflamed -the Confederates, who now redoubled their 
 exertions in preparing for the inevitable. The 
 Council of the Confederation was reconstructed, 
 and the clubs all over the country exhorted to pro- 
 cure arms, to be ready for the rising, which it was 
 now understood should take place in the Autumn of 
 1848. The Irish Tribune, edited by Kevin Izod 
 O'Doherty and R. D. Williams, was started to take 
 the place of the United Irishman. It was a bold and 
 ably conducted paper, one of its contributors being 
 John Savage. Still another organ the Irish Felon, 
 owned and edited by John Martin made its appear- 
 ance two weeks afterwards, its first issue being on 
 the 24th of June. Those papers, in fiery language, 
 continued for successive weeks to openly and boldly 
 in-each the gospel of insurrection. This was allowed 
 to proceed for a few weeks, when suddenly the Gov- 
 ernment interfered, the police were ordered to stop 
 the sale of the " seditious" papers by venders in the 
 streets, and warrants were issued for the arrest of 
 the editors, Martin, Duffy, O'Doherty and Williams. 
 Searches for arms were instituted all over the coun- 
 try, and it soon became evident that the Government 
 was bent on forcing an insuiTection before the har- 
 vest. Parliament passed a bill for the Suspension 
 of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, and warrants
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 861 
 
 were issued for the arrest of O'Brien, Meagher, and 
 the other Confederate leaders. O'Brien, when he 
 heard of this, was stopping at the house of a friend 
 in Ballinkule, County Wexford. He was joined by 
 Dillon and Meagher, and the three betook them- 
 selves to the hills of Tipperary, where they resolved 
 to raise a force and march on Kilkenny, the inten- 
 tion being to make this city the headquarters, for the 
 time being, of .a provisional government. 
 
 But it was a forlorn hope that Smith O'Brien waa 
 leading. Famine stih 1 held its deadly grasp upon 
 the land, and in thousands the starved and dispirited 
 people were flung out from their holdings, to seek 
 refuge in the poorhouse or the grave. Add to this 
 the fact that the clergy certainly from the most 
 conscientious motives were strenuous in dissuading 
 the people from entering into so hopeless a struggle, 
 and it is no wonder that the movement collapsed 
 almost at its inauguration. There is no question, 
 however, that but for this clerical opposition O'Brien 
 would soon have found himself at the head of thou- 
 sands, instead of the straggling band of peasants 
 which he led in the miserable attempt at Ballingary. 
 At Farrenrary House since known in the surround- 
 ing district, as if in bitter irony, as the " War House " 
 a body of forty-five armed policemen, under the 
 command of a Captain Trant, barricaded themselves. 
 There was but one prompt and effectual way of 
 reducing the place, and that was by firing it. Some 
 bay and straw was brought up, and as, in the midst 
 of a deadly fusillade from the police, the house was 
 about to be set on fire, O'Brien interfered and for-
 
 b62 POPULAR HISTORY Of IRELAND. 
 
 bade the attempt The house was the residence of 
 a widow named McCormack, whose five children 
 were at the moment within, and the Confederate 
 leader could not refuse the appeal of the mother to 
 spare her Kttle ones. O'Brien's followers were disgust- 
 ed at what they deemed his faintheartedness, and the 
 siege was abandoned. Of the insurgents, two were 
 killed and a few were wounded. The casualties on the 
 side of the constabulary were not known ; bat it was 
 believed that one or two were killed and several 
 wounded. Thus ended the " insurrection" of ** Forty- 
 eight." Thus vanished the brilliant hopes of the 
 Confederates. 
 
 It must be said that O'Brien was by nature en- 
 tirely unsuited to play the part of a military leader. 
 His refined and sensitive nature would shrink from 
 the performance of many things which, from a mili- 
 tary point of view, might, perhaps, be regarded as of 
 prime necessity. After this abortive rising, O'Brien 
 scarcely made any attempt to avoid arrest, and was 
 soon in the hands of the authorities. Indeed, thanks 
 to the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the Gov- 
 ernment soon had nearly all the Confederate leaders 
 in prison. O'Gorman, Dillon and Doheny, however, 
 managed to escape to America. The trials followed 
 in due course. The editors were tried under the 
 Treason-felony Act, and O'Brien and his immediate 
 followers under the Common Law for " high treason," 
 having appeared in arms against the Government. 
 The trial of the insurgents, O'Brien, Meagher, Mao- 
 Manus and O'Donohne, took place at Clonmel, under 
 a Special Commission. The juries were, packed.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAm 863 
 
 and, of course, the prisoners were convicted. They 
 were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. 
 
 In October and November, 1848, Duffy, of the 
 Nation, Williams and O'Doherty, of the Tribune, and 
 Martin, of the Felon, were tried in Green Street, 
 Dublin. O'Doherty and Martin were convicted, 
 Williams was acquitted, while the jury disagreed in 
 the case of Duffy. The latter, however, was retained 
 in prison, and not even after a second jury had 
 failed to convict him would the Government let him 
 go. When, however, the trouble was all over, the 
 prosecution against him was abandoned. It is a 
 most suggestive fact that this man afterwards became 
 Prime Minister of Victoria. The sentences of those 
 who were condemned to death were, by a special 
 Act of Parliament, commuted to transportation for 
 life. They were accordingly transported to Van 
 Diemen's Land, O'Doherty and Martin, who had 
 been each sentenced to ten years' transportation, 
 accompanying them. 
 
 The situation of Ireland was now gloomy in the 
 extreme ; a black pall of despair seemed to over- 
 shadow the land. " Now for the first time these six 
 hundred years," triumphantly shouted the London 
 Times, " England has Ireland at her mercy, and can 
 deal with her as she pleases." The ravages of fam- 
 ine during 1848 were hardly less horrible than in 
 the preceding year. "Upwards of one hundred 
 and fifty ass-hides," so said an item in the commer- 
 cial reports of a Dublin paper, " have been delivered 
 in Dublin from the County Mayo, for exportation to 
 Liverpool. The carcasses, owing to the scarcity of
 
 804 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 provisions, had been used as food." Emigration 
 during 1848, as in 1847, went on on a huge scale. 
 The 7\mes said the Celts were " going with a ven- 
 geance." This " Irish exodus " is almost without a 
 parallel in history. It is true that emigrations 
 from Germany have gone on on a large scale, but 
 they have not been attended by the frightful scenei 
 of suffering and death which characterized the 
 Irish exodus. The sentimental ties, too, that bind 
 an Irishman to his little holding are unknown to the 
 German, who leaves his country in a purely practi- 
 cal spirit, with the hope of bettering his condition. 
 But aside from mere sentiment, the terrible horrors 
 attendant on the Irish exodus of those times can 
 hardly be exaggerated. The emigrants, flying from 
 fever-stricken hovels, carried the plague with them 
 on board, and the vessels were transformed into 
 huge floating charnel-houses. A large proportion 
 of them never reached their destination. They died 
 in thousands on the voyage, and the ocean-bed was 
 strewn with their corpses. An idea may be had of 
 the frightful havoc thus wrought, from some figures 
 given by Mr. Labouchere, in a speech delivered in 
 the House of Commons, on the llth of February, 
 1848. " Out of 106,000 emigrants," says Mr. Labou- 
 chere, " who during the past twelve months crossed 
 the Atlantic for Canada and New Brunswick, 6,100 
 perished on the voyage; 4,100, on their arrival; 5,200, 
 in the hospitals; and 1,900, in the towns to which they 
 repaired. The entire mortality was no less than 17 
 per cent, of the total number emigrating to those 
 places ; the number of deaths being 17,300." And
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 865 
 
 these are the statistics for only one of several such 
 years of horror and misery 1 
 
 Meanwhile the Government kept up a show of 
 coercion for the starving Irish people. "When Par- 
 liament met late in January, 1849, the Queen's 
 Speech called attention with regret to the fact that 
 there had been another failure of the potato crop in 
 1848. Ireland, too, was to continue to receive the 
 benefit, " for a limited period," of the Coercion Act 
 Thus in 1849 as in 1882 coercion and conciliation 
 were to go hand in hand. Feeble and ineffectual 
 were the measures taken by England to avert the 
 famine in the preceding years, and her remedies 
 this year must be characterized in the same terms. 
 If, when the first season of famine appeared, she had ; 
 appropriated to stay its course as much as she ex- ( 
 pended to purchase the freedom of the slaves in the 
 British West India Islands, the world would have 
 been spared one of the most horrible chapters in its 
 history. 
 
 The Encumbered Estates Act was one result of 
 the Irish famine. Before famine visited Ireland, 
 many of the landlords were deeply involved in debt 
 indeed, many of them were landlords only in 
 name. Loaded down with mortgages and tied with 
 divers family settlements, they could scarcely be 
 said to be the owners of the estates they claimed. 
 The annual rent-roll might be high, yet the landlord 
 found that but a small proportion of the income 
 reverted to him. This condition of things had the 
 natural effect, in the case of the less conscientious 
 of the class, of extorting ruinous rack-rents from
 
 866 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAOT). 
 
 the tenants, who in default of payment were ruthlessly 
 evicted. The Encumbered Estates Act was designed 
 " to enable a court especially constituted to order 
 the sale of estates encumbered by indebtedness, on 
 the petition so praying of any person sufficiently 
 interested as owner or creditor ; all statutes, settle- 
 ments, deeds or covenants to the contrary notwith- 
 standing ; to the end that debts justly due might 
 be paid so far as the property could answer them ; 
 that a proprietary emancipated from the injurious 
 restraints of family settlement and the crushing 
 burdens of family debts might be brought to the aid 
 of the Irish land system ; and that a concise, simple 
 and indefeasible form of title might be substituted 
 for the voluminous, confused and ponderous legal 
 scrolls in which title to landed property was hith- 
 erto set forth." Early in February, 1848, this mea- 
 sure was introduced in the House of Lords, but, 
 owing to various delays, it was not till the 8th of 
 May that it reached its final stages in that body. 
 On the 24th of July, 1848, it was read a third time 
 in the House of Commons, and in a few days more 
 became law. 
 
 There can be no question but the Encumbered 
 Estates Act was a useful measure in various respects. 
 In the breaking up and selling of estates, consequent 
 on its operations, many Catholics were among the 
 purchasers. The time of its enactment, however, 
 was anything but an opportune one for the class 
 whose interests it most closely touched. Landed 
 property was at that period a drug in the market. 
 Estates were sold at ruinously low prices ; in man;?
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 867 
 
 cases the proceeds were insufficient to meet the 
 mortgages, and the proprietors were utterly ruined. 
 As an instance of the depreciation in value, it may 
 be cited that Lough Cooter Castle, in County Gal- 
 way, the seat of Lord Gort, which was built at a cost 
 of 70,000 was sold for 17,000 ; and an estate that 
 should have left a handsome income after all liabili- 
 ties were paid was unable to free the mortgage. 
 Much sympathy was manifested towards Lord Gort, 
 who was a good landlord and popular with his ten- 
 antry ; but there were many others whose fate the 
 Irish people contemplated with equanimity, if not 
 with satisfaction. Many of them had ruthlessly 
 plundered and persecuted their tenants, and Nemesis 
 had now overtaken themselves. 
 
 We have seen that evictions on a gigantic scale 
 have been one terrible outcome of the famine. By 
 1850, the number of evictions going on attracted 
 profound alarm, and the very spirit of self-preserva- 
 tion urged some organized effort to stay this terri- 
 ble outpouring of the nation's blood. As early, 
 indeed, as the Spring of 1849, public meetings were 
 held in condemnation of the wholesale clearances 
 which were going on. Following upon the public 
 meetings came the formation of " Tenant Protection 
 Societies." Cullum, in the County Kilkenny, has 
 had the honor of organizing the first of those socie- 
 ties. Others were rapidly formed all over the coun- 
 try. Ulster, led on by the high-minded William 
 Sharman Crawford, M.P., was not less determined 
 and energetic in this respect than the others. Now, 
 although Ulster enjoyed a great advantage over the
 
 868 fcOPULAB HISTOBY OF IRELAND. 
 
 other provinces, in that the system of tenant-right 
 was recognized there, yet, as the rent was always a 
 first lien on the tenant-right, the Ulster farmers, 
 with the pressure of famine times, soon began to 
 feel the evil effects of landlordism. As conserva- 
 tive a body as the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster, at 
 a meeting held in May, 1850, adopted a resolution 
 that a petition be presented to Parliament in favor 
 of tenant-right. 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1850, a truly national Con- 
 ference was held in Dublin, to devise measures 
 looking towards the arrest of the terrible extermi- 
 nating process which was in operation all over the 
 island. The Conference lasted four days, and was 
 presided over by Dr. James McKnight, of the Ban- 
 ner of Ulster. Resolutions were adopted declaring 
 that " a fair valuation of rent between landlord and 
 tenant in Ireland " was indispensable ; that " the 
 tenant should not be disturbed in his possession so 
 long as he paid such rent"; and that "the tenant 
 should have a right to sell his interest with all its 
 incidents at the highest market value." And m 
 view of the fact that crushing arrears of rent had 
 been accruing during the famine years, the following 
 resolution was also adopted : 
 
 "That, in any valuation which shall be made 
 before the 31st of December the valuators shall, 
 on the demand of either landlord or tenant, inquire 
 into the arrears of rent due by the tenant ; shall 
 estimate the amount which during the famine years 
 would have been due and payable for rent under it 
 valuation., if such had been made, according to the
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 869 
 
 prices and circumstances of same years, and also the 
 amount which during the same period has actually 
 been paid for rent to the landlord ; shall award the 
 balance, if any, to be the arrears then due ; and 
 that the amount so awarded for arrears be payable 
 by installments, at such period as shall be fixed by 
 the valuators, and shall be recoverable in all re- 
 spects as if it were rent." 
 
 On the third day, a new organization was estab- 
 lished, called "The Irish Tenant League." Before 
 the Conference separated, a Council was chosen of 
 one hundred and twenty. 
 
 The new movement was taken up throughout the 
 country with enthusiasm. Everything boded well 
 for the cause. Protestants and Catholics were 
 working shoulder to shoulder, when the Durham 
 Letter of Lord John Russell, issued on the 4th of 
 November, 1850, was cast as a firebrand into the 
 ranks. The Catholic Church in England had been 
 just organized on a basis of diocesan and parochial 
 divisions. This was another "Popish encroach- 
 ment," and was not to be tolerated. Lord John 
 Russell would have an act passed to prevent it. 
 The fierce controversies and passions arising out of 
 the Durham Letter broke up that bond of union 
 between Catholics and Protestants which had been 
 happily forming at the time, and the Tenant League 
 Buffered in consequence. In 1851 the Ecclesiastical 
 Titles Bill was passed, and it became an offense for 
 a Catholic prelate to write " Archbishop of West- 
 minister " or " Bishop of Cork " after his name.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 871 
 
 CHAPTEB V. 
 
 ALARM ra ENGLAND AT THE ATTITUDE OF FRANCE. ' 
 THE SADUER-KEOQH TREACHERY. THE CRIMEAN 
 WAS. A KOMANTIO ABDUCTION.* 
 
 The year 1852 was one of considerable emotion 
 and excitement in England, and consequently, of 
 unfeigned satisfaction in Ireland. The steady pro- 
 gress of the Prince President of France to Imperial- 
 ism had alarmed all Europe, and revived the mili- 
 tary spirit which hurled his great uncle from a 
 throne to a prison. In England, both terror and 
 enthusiasm were strangely combined, and the form- 
 ation of a volunteer army served as a kind of safety- 
 valve to allay the fears of invasion and to strengthen 
 the military ardor of the country. There seemed 
 good cause for all this trepidation and preparation, 
 for it was too evident that the Bonapartist Empire 
 was to be restored, with all its military prestige and 
 traditional hatred of England. These fears, to a 
 certain extent, were justified, for before the end of 
 the year Prince Louis Napoleon, President of the 
 French Kepublic, was Napoleon the Third. His 
 accession to the throne greatly increased public appre- 
 hension, for it was generally supposed that he would 
 inaugurate a European war, in order to arouse the 
 martial spirit of the French people, and to divert their 
 
 * Mitchell's History of Ireland, continued from 1862 to 1889, by 
 David P. Conyngham, L.LD., author of the "Lives of the Irish 
 Saints and Martyrs " and other works.
 
 872 K>PULAB mSTOBY OP IBELAND. 
 
 criticisms upon his violation of faith and honor. 
 Thus was England and other European nations kept 
 in a state of suspense, and compelled to place both 
 their armies and navies upon a war footing. 
 
 Lord John Russell's Whig Ministry having been 
 defeated on the Militia Bill, he resigned and was 
 succeeded by Lord Derby and a Tory Administra- 
 tion. Under him the Free Trade League was reor- 
 ganized, and secured much support from the coun- 
 tenance of the Minister. In July a dissolution of 
 Parliament took place, and a general election fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 The Elections in Ireland were characterized by a 
 strong partisan spirit. Tenant-right had become a 
 national issue. There was also much bitterness of 
 feeling on the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, which, 
 though allowed to fall into disuse, had irritated the 
 people by its futile attempt at a revival of the penal 
 laws. 
 
 The supporters of " The Irish Tenant League," 
 which had been established in 1850, flung themselves 
 into the election contest with a fierce energy, and 
 with the determination of sending to Parliament so 
 many Irish Members pledged to their policy as 
 would seriously impede the action of Parliament, if 
 not force from it a settlement of the land question. 
 All the earthly hopes of the Irish people were fixed 
 on the return of an honest, independent party. 
 The crowbar brigade was equally active, and as 
 there was no vote by ballot then, and the helpless 
 tenants were confronted with the terrible alternatives 
 of either supporting their oppressors and strength-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 873 
 
 ing their power to tyrannize over them, or of opposing 
 them and thus court certain eviction. 
 
 A new party had sprung up outside the Tenant 
 League. Their bitter opposition to Lord John Rus- 
 sell's Titles Bill, and their zealous officiousness in 
 defense of the Catholic Church, gained over to their 
 side many adherents among the clergy. The con- 
 trolling spirits among these defenders of the Church 
 were Mr. John Sadlier, Member of Parliament for 
 Carlow, and William Keogh, an adventurous bar- 
 rister, who had been elected for Athlone. 
 
 The outburst of "Papal Aggression" in England 
 opened a wide field for the ambitious fanaticism of 
 these designing knaves. The Tenant League lead- 
 ers, led on by such men as Frederick Lucas, Dr. 
 Gray, John Francis Maguire and Dr. James Mc- 
 Knight, tried hard to unite both Protestants and 
 Catholics upon one common national platform, and 
 had succeeded to a great extent in reconciling secta- 
 rian differences, and allaying the fanaticism of the 
 North. On the other hand,the Keogh and Sadlier party 
 tended to hopelessly antagonize Protestants and 
 Catholics, by their bitter denunciations of the 
 former, and by the establishment of a Catholic De- 
 fense Association. So adroitly did these place-hunt- 
 ing intriguers play their game, that they secured the 
 confidence and support of the Most Rev. Dr. Mur- 
 ray, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, and of his 
 successor, the Most Rev. Dr. Cullen, at that time 
 Archbishop of Armagh. 
 
 Despite the marked favor shown by the prelates 
 and priests to Keogh and Sadlier, they were the
 
 874 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 objects of suspicion and distrust to keen observers 
 of events in Ireland. They were conscious of this 
 themselves, and protested overmuch against such 
 base slanders. At a banquet given in Athlone, at 
 which Archbishop McHale presided, Mr. Keogh, in 
 earnest and solemn language, said : " Whigs or To- 
 nes, Peelites or Protectionists, are all the same to 
 me; I will fight for my religion and my country, scorn- 
 ing and defying calumny. I declare, in the most 
 solemn manner, before this august assembly, I shall 
 not regard any party. I know that the road I take 
 docs not lead to preferment. I do not belong to 
 the "Whigs ; I do not belong to the Tories. Here, 
 in the presence of my constituents and my country 
 and I hope I am not so base a man as to make an 
 avowal which could be contradicted to-morrow, if I 
 was capable of doing that which is insinuated 
 againfit me I solemnly declare, if there was a Peelite 
 administration in office to-morrow, it would be noth- 
 ing to me. I will not support any party which does 
 not make it the first ingredient of its political exist- 
 ence to Repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Act." 
 
 In like manner he pledged himself not to support 
 any party which did not undertake to settle the 
 laud question and abolish the Established Church. 
 The Irish landlords he denounced as "the most 
 heartless, the most thriftless, and the most indefen- 
 sible landocracy on the face of the earth." The 
 marvelous eloquence of Mr. Keogh, his oath-bound 
 abjurations, and his vehement protestations, did 
 much to silence the doubts of those who looked upon 
 him and bis associates with suspicion and mistrust
 
 POPULAE HISTOEY OF IBELAND. 875 
 
 In the Most Rev. Dr. Cullen, who, on the 7th 
 of April, 1852, was named as successor to Dr. Mur- 
 ray in the Archbishopric of Dublin, he had found a 
 warm friend and supporter, and his party was recog 
 nized by the prelate as the champions of the Church. 
 
 Some impulsive writers in the Nation and other 
 journals, who were loud in their praise of the Car- 
 bonari Mazzini and Young Italy, helped to preju- 
 dice the Archbishop against the National party, and 
 looking upon Messrs. Sadlier and Keogh as the or- 
 thodox defenders of order and religion, his influence 
 leaned towards them in the ensuing election. 
 
 Ireland was sorely distracted by the conflicting 
 issues and rival parties engaged in the election of 
 1852. The landlord interests were represented by 
 Whigs and Tories alike, and the tenants were ex- 
 pected to vote, without any regard to their own con- 
 victions, for either, just as the landlord desired, 
 otherwise they could reckon the consequences. 
 
 The Irish parties were divided into "Tenant 
 Leaguers " and " Catholic Defenders," who opposed 
 each other just as bitterly as they did the common 
 enemy, and in several places they came into open 
 conflict, and blood was shed, not for principle, but 
 for party. 
 
 The result of the election was strongly in favor of 
 the Tenant League party. Lucas was returned for 
 Meath ; Gavan Duffy, for New Koss ; Maguire, for 
 Dungarvan ; and Henry Moore, for Mayo ; but Dr. 
 Gray was beaten for Monaghan. On the other hand, 
 John Sadlier, hia brother James, his three cousins, 
 Frank and Vincent Scully and Kobert Keating, as
 
 876 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELATO. 
 
 well as Mr. Keogh, were all returned. The result of 
 this election gave a narrow majority to the Liberal 
 party. 
 
 On Wednesday, September 8th, a general confer- 
 ence of Irish Members of Parliament favorable to 
 tenant-right was held in Dublin, at which forty 
 members were present. At this meeting a resolution 
 was passed declaring their future parliamentary 
 policy and action, in which they pledged to hold 
 themselves " perfectly independent of, and to act in 
 opposition to, any government which did not make 
 it a part of their policy and a Cabinet question to 
 give to the tenantry of Ireland a measure embody- 
 ing the principles of Mr. Sherman Crawford's bill." 
 
 On September 14th, 1852, the Duke of Wellington 
 died at Walmer Castle, in the eighty-fourth year of 
 his age. His end was as calm and peaceful as his 
 life had been turbulent and glorioua 
 
 On November the 4th, the new Parliament opened. 
 Its existence was short-lived, for on the 17th of the 
 following month the Derby Government was defeated 
 and went out of office a few days afterwards, and 
 Lord Aberdeen was called on to form a new Cabinet. 
 
 The Derby Ministry was defeated by the weight 
 of the votes of Irish Members, consequently there 
 was great rejoicing in Ireland at the event, and all 
 eyes turned hopefully to the Irish party, for it was 
 evident that the fate of the Ministry, nay, even of 
 Ireland itself, was in their hands. 
 
 The news from London was eagerly looked for. 
 Whispers of treason and disaster were abroad, un 
 fortunately to be realized. Ireland's curse of treach*
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 877 
 
 ery and disunion again handed her over a manacled 
 slave to England. Lord Aberdeen had formed his 
 Ministry. John Sadlier was Lord of the Treasury, 
 and William Keogh, the Irish Solicitor-General. 
 
 This treacherous desertion of the cause of the 
 people by Messrs. Sadlier and Keogh was a sad 
 blow to the Clerical party, who had looked upon 
 them as their champions, and it also paralyzed the 
 efforts of the National party in general The people 
 had made terrible sacrifices at the polls, opposing 
 their landlords almost in the face of certain eviction. 
 What had they gained by all this? They had sim- 
 ply succeeded in placing in office a few men who had 
 merely used them as stepping-stones to power and 
 place. It is not to be wondered at that under these 
 circumstances they were becoming heartily sick of 
 Parliamentary agitation. A kind of political torpor 
 seized the nation ; agitation had ceased, and England 
 pointed to the fact as proof that Ireland was content 
 and prosperous. Though the national aspirations 
 were dumb, they were not dead. There was a kind 
 of sullen indifference and deep despair everywhere. 
 The Government had bought off the leaders, and 
 exploded the hopes and plans of the honest men 
 among the tenant-leaguers. It was no wonder, 
 therefore, that the people lost faith in one another, 
 their confidence in the leaders, and their reliance on 
 constitutional agitation. The chill of disappoint- 
 ment, the shock of recent betraj'als, drove some of 
 the best men in disgust into retirement. As Duffy 
 truly said, Ireland lay " like a corpse on the dissect- 
 ing-table;" but he might have added, that "she only
 
 878 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sleepeth," for both the Phoenix conspiracy and the 
 Fenian organization breathed new life and hopes into 
 her, and resuscitated her from her apathetic slumber. 
 
 Times of repose afford poor materials to the his- 
 torian, therefore little of importance occurred in 
 Ireland from the treason of the Sadlier party until 
 Fenianism commenced to inspire the people with 
 hope and life. 
 
 The new Parliament seemed to ignore Irish affairs, 
 as if the fact that John Sadlier was a Cabinet Min- 
 ister should satisfy the people of that country. In 
 the new Coalition Ministry, formed by Lord Aber- 
 deen, Mr. Gladstone first appeared as a Cabinet 
 Member, for he was appointed Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, with Lord Palmerston as Home Secre- 
 tary, and Lord John Eussell in the Foreign Office. 
 
 England had enjoyed a profound peace since 
 Waterloo, but it seemed as if the death of Welling- 
 ton was the signal for foreign diplomacy and rational 
 complications. The so-called Eastern Question, 
 which simply meant England's dread of Russian 
 encroachment upon her Indian possessions, con- 
 stantly loomed up as a sort of national bugbear. 
 
 England felt that she had a deep interest in 
 watching over every movement that threatened in 
 any way to interfere with India. Turkey had ceased 
 to be a cause of terror to either England or Rus- 
 sia, but the latter nation showed strong indications 
 of her desire to absorb Turkey, making Constanti- 
 nople the capital of her great empire. England 
 was alive to the danger of allowing her to get con- 
 trol of the high road to India. This Eastern Ques-
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OP IRELAND. 879 
 
 tion seemed to increase in intensity and interest, 
 and it soon became evident that nothing less than war 
 could settle it. Any doubt on this point was re- 
 moved when the Kussians destroyed the Turkish 
 fleet in the Black Sea, in November, 1853. Thus, 
 while the "Western Powers kept talking about peace 
 and busied themselves with unmeaning conventions, 
 Russia had commenced the conflict and inaugurated 
 the Crimean "War. 
 
 England's ultimatum to Russia was dispatched on 
 February 27th, 1854, and was soon followed by a 
 declaration of war. The fact that an alliance de- 
 fensive and offensive existed between England 
 and France gave considerable backbone to the 
 latter. On the 14th of September, 1854, twenty- 
 seven thousand English, thirty thousand French and 
 seven thousand Turks landed on the shores of the 
 Crimea. The battle of the Alma followed a few 
 days afterwards, in which victory leaned towards 
 the Allies, for Prince Mentschikoff was forced to 
 abandon his entrenched position and fall back 
 towards Sebastopol. 
 
 There was great rejoicing in England at the news 
 of this victory, which in itself was of little import- 
 ance. All the gasconaders of Parliament and the 
 press indulged in liberal laudation of the irresist- 
 ible bravery of the English soldiers ; indeed, one 
 should fancy, on reading the papers of the day, that 
 the French were simply spectators of the conflict, 
 while the fact is, on them fell the brunt of the battle. 
 This laudation was soon turned into murmuring, for 
 the battles at Sebastopol, Balaklava and Inkermann
 
 880 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 which followed, brought consternation to England, 
 and made her tremble for her Indian possessions. 
 The whole campaign seemed to be a muddle on the 
 pail ot the English, and only for their French allies 
 they could not sustain it one month. To make the 
 matter worse, the commissariat supplies were de- 
 layed or so damaged as to be unfit for use, and the 
 soldiei's had to pass through a terrible Crimean 
 winter with poor supplies of tents, food and clothing. 
 The officers and men were alike exposed to hunger 
 and bitter cold, and more perished in this way than 
 in actual battle. 
 
 It is not our province to follow the Crimean war, 
 as Ireland was little affected by it, except so far as 
 to open up a good market to the farmers for their 
 produce, and to give an excellent pretext to the 
 landlords to raise the rents on their tenants, which, 
 by-thc-way, they did not lower with the subsequent 
 depression of prices. The Crimean war, though, might 
 have inculcated a salutary lesson on Irish patriots. 
 England, in her need of troops, had to leave Ireland 
 to be garrisoned by policemen, who are only 
 loyal while England has the upper hand, and militia 
 who were simply disciplined rebels. Yet, with such 
 advantages in her favor, Ireland was helpless and 
 powerless. 
 
 The '48 movement had evaporated in a miserable 
 fiasco ; had it husbanded its strength until '54 it 
 might have built up a republic out of the ruins of a 
 nation. It is ever thus with Irish revolutionary 
 movements: they are sure to take place to suit the 
 interest of England, and at a time that she can
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 881 
 
 J 
 
 easily crush them out, either by the bayonet or the 
 dungeon. 
 
 Though this may appear accidental, it is, on the 
 contrary, the result of cool calculation on the part of 
 England. Should she smell trouble ahead, and 
 should any disaffection in Ireland threaten to para- 
 lyze her movements in European affairs, she in- 
 trigues and plots until she forces the Hotspurs of the 
 enterprise into overt acts that render them amenable 
 to English law. The Irish have yet to learn to be 
 patient under taunts, to unite and organize, but 
 above all to watch and wait, for a few years amount 
 to nothing in the life of a nation, while success is 
 everything. 
 
 With the close of the siege of Sebastopol, which 
 lasted nearly a year, the Crimean war may be said 
 to have ended. The death of the Czar Nicholas, 
 who embodied the military spirit of Russia, was 
 taken advantage of by Austria, and chiefly through 
 the friendly interference of that power the Crimean 
 war was brought to a close. 
 
 Two events which occurred about this time, 
 though not of national importance, still created con- 
 siderable excitement both in England and Ireland. 
 The one was the suicide of John Sadlier; the other, 
 nothing less than the romantic affair of an abduction, 
 which, only for the high social standing of the par- 
 ties concerned, would have created little or no at- 
 tention, particularly in Ireland. 
 
 John Garden, of Barnane House, one of the mag- 
 nates of the County Tipperary, a great landlord, 
 grand juror, magistrate, deputy-lieutenant, and.
 
 882 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 general exterminator, was a frequent visitor at 
 Rathronan, the residence of the Hon. George Gough, 
 eldest son of Field-Marshal Gough, the hero 
 of Sobraon. Captain Gough had married an 
 English lady of the name of Arbuthnot, whose sister, 
 Eleanor, resided with him. With this lady Mr. 
 Garden fell desperately in love, but his passion was 
 not reciprocated. Maddened by his rejection and 
 disappointment, he resorted to the terrible alterna- 
 tive of abducting the young lady. 
 
 On Sunday, July 2d, 1854, Mrs. Gough and her 
 sister, accompanied by a Miss Linden, attended 
 divine worship at Rathronan church, which is sit- 
 uated about midways between Fothard and Clon- 
 mel. Captain Gough was absent in Dublin, so that 
 the ladies were escorted only by the driver. On 
 their return from church they were attacked by Mr. 
 Garden and a party of six men, who tried to drag Miss 
 Arbuthnot from the carriage. The ladies made a 
 desperate resistance, while the driver, named Dwyer, 
 fought heroically to protect his charge. A young 
 peasant named McGrath, aiid a man named South- 
 wick, hearing the screams of the ladies, rushed to 
 their assistance, and gave such opposition that Mr. 
 Garden and his desperadoes were forced to retreat 
 without the object of their criminal intent The 
 result was that "the Lord of Barnane"was flung 
 into prison, and at the Gloumel assizes, which took 
 place on the 27th of the month, he was sentenced to 
 two years' imprisonment, with hard labor, in the 
 county jail, which sentence was fully carried out 
 
 On the 4th of August, 1866, Mr. Gavan Duffy, the
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 883 
 
 founder of the Nation newspaper, announced that 
 he was about throwing up his seat in Parliament, 
 to leave for Australia. He was succeeded in the 
 management of the Nation by John Corhel Hoey, 
 A. M. Sullivan, and M. Clery. In his valedictory 
 address, Mr. Duffy described, in moving language, 
 the then hopeless state of Ireland. "A change 
 might come," he said ; "but unless the existing con- 
 dition of things alter, there is no more hope for 
 Ireland than for a corpse on the dissecting- table." 
 
 Duffy sailed for Australia in November, but not 
 until he had closed the eyes of his gifted friend, 
 Frederick Lucas, who died on the 23d of October, 
 1855. 
 
 As has been stated, the tide of Irish politics had 
 turned in 1854 with the treachery of Sadlier and 
 Keogh. Retribution seemed to follow in their track. 
 It is well known that Keogh indulged freely in 
 drink and dissipation, in his vain efforts to still the 
 voice of conscience, and that he finally died the 
 death of an idiotic drunkard. As for John Sadlier, 
 his gilded life was a hell to him, and while the world 
 was lost in admiration at his overmastering talents 
 and great financial schemes, this man of envied 
 success, the millionaire, the Lord of the Treasury, 
 was propping up his tottering power and broken for- 
 tunes by forging deeds, conveyances and bills, for 
 hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling. Driven 
 by overpowering disasters, and the exposure of his 
 frauds, he finally ended the terrible conflict by com- 
 mitting suicide. 
 
 On Sunday morning, February 17th, 1866, on a
 
 884 POPULAB HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 
 
 little mound on Hampstead Heath, near London, 
 the passers-by noticed a gentleman stretched as if 
 in sleep. A silver tankard lay on the ground beside 
 him. It smelt strongly of pmssic acid. It was the 
 corpse of John Sadlier, the banker. 
 
 The news flashed through the kingdom. There 
 was alarm in London; there was a wild panic in Ire- 
 land. The Tipperary Bank closed its doors, and 
 thousands of poor people who had their savings in 
 it were irretrievably ruined. 
 
 About this time Mr. Cyrus W. Field visited Eng- 
 land, to enlist capitalists in his great scheme of con- 
 structing an electric telegraph line under the 
 Atlantic. Though his plan was listened to with 
 polite curiosity, he found it difficult to secure any 
 active co-operation from the merchants and scien- 
 tific men before whom he laid his news. 
 
 M. de Lesseps visited England a few months 
 later, full of his Suez Canal project. He was re- 
 ceived with coldness, and his schemes denounced as 
 impracticable ; besides, it was said that such a canal; 
 if it could be constructed, would be a standing 
 menace to England's interests in Turkey and Egypt 
 Luckily neither Mr. Field nor M. de Lesseps were 
 persons to be discouraged by such rebuffs. When 
 tiie success of both schemes became apparent, Eng- 
 land's appreciation was even more marked than her 
 former disapprobation. 
 
 The year 1857 was made memorable by the Sepoy 
 outbreak in India, which threatened the power nnd 
 ascendency of England in that vast empire. Though 
 called a revolt, it was a rebellion of a combination of
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 885 
 
 the natives against England a combination of mili- 
 tary grievances, national hatred and religious fana- 
 ticism. Though the ostensible cause was opposition 
 to greased cartridges, as being repulsive to the reli- 
 gious convictions both of Hindoo and Mohammedan, 
 this quarrel was but the spark that fired the combus- 
 tible materials which England's crushing despotism 
 had prepared for the holocaust. 
 
 The native troops at Meerut had broken into 
 mutiny, killing their officers and massacreiug several 
 Europeans. They then marched on Delhi, and pro- 
 claimed the aged king Emperor of India. The 
 mutiny was transfigured into a revolutionary war, 
 and India was deluged with blood. 
 
 The massacres of Lucknow, Cawpore and else- 
 where were avenged by similar brutality on the 
 part of the English, who tied their prisoners to the 
 cannon's mouth and blew them to pieces. 
 
 Among the most cruel and relentless of England's 
 enemies was Nana Sahib, heir to one of the deposed 
 princes of India. This man has been painted by 
 English writers as a fiend, a monster of vice and 
 savage cruelty, whilst in India his memory is still 
 revered as that of an avenger raised up by the Prophet 
 to punish the unbelieving Ghour. But, then, Eng- 
 land's policy has ever been to slander her enemies 
 in order to justify her own aggression ; thus we find 
 in Irish history the men whom she has branded as 
 traitors loved and revered by the nation as pa- 
 triots and martyrs. 
 
 The Indian outbreak is purely a matter of Eng- 
 lish history, and therefore we cannot enter into the
 
 886 *OPUIAB HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 terrible details of the atrocious massacres and 
 butcheries that characterized it. Suffice it to say that 
 the bloody campaign came to an end, and that on 
 May 1st, 1859, there was public thanksgiving in 
 England for the pacification of India. 
 
 On January 14th, Felice Orsini and his fellow-con- 
 spirators attempted the assassination of the Emperor 
 Napoleon, in the Rue Lepelletier, in Paris, by fling- 
 ing into his carriage and among his attendants three 
 bombs, which, though the Emperor escaped without 
 a scratch, killed ten persons, wounding one hundred 
 and fifty-six more, most of whom were harmless and 
 unconcerned spectators of the procession. Orsini paid 
 for his rash attempt on the scaffold, but Napoleon, 
 no doubt, fearing a repetition of the terrible missiles, 
 warmly entered into the cause of Italy. 
 
 This affair created an outburst of popular indig- 
 nation in France against England. One of the per- 
 sons implicated was a Frenchman, long resident in 
 London ; the plot was hatched in England, the 
 bombs were manufactured in Birmingham by an 
 Englishman, and were ordered for Orsini by an 
 Englishman. 
 
 In 1859 the astute policy of Count Cavour, Min- 
 ister to Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, forced a 
 rupture between France and Austria. Cavour's 
 policy was to establish a united Italian kingdom 
 under his sovereign. With this object in view, he 
 precipitated a war between Italy and Austria, hav- 
 ing first compromised the Emperor Napoleon in the 
 interest of the former. Lombardy had revolted, and 
 on the 9th of April fifty thousand men had set out
 
 POPULAB HTSTOBT OF IRELAND. 887 
 
 from Vienna. On the 21st, an Austrian ultimatum 
 was dispatched to Turin, calling on Piedmont to 
 disarm the menacing forces it had been assembling 
 for some time. 
 
 To this Victor Emmanuel replied by issuing an ad- 
 dress to his army, declaring hostilities against Aus- 
 tria. Count Cavour had meanwhile telegraphed to 
 the French Emperor : " Help, help ! The Auatrians 
 are upon us I" 
 
 The French army marched immediately from 
 Paris for Italy. On the same day the Austrians at 
 one point and the Sardinians at another crossed the 
 Ticino. Montebello was fought on the 20th of May; 
 Palestro, on the 31st; Magenta, on the 4th of June; 
 and Solferino on the 24th. Suddenly Napoleon 
 offered terms of peace, and the Treaty of Villa- 
 franca, on the llth of July, closed the Italian war 
 of 1859. 
 
 During the conflict, a curious struggle of sym- 
 pathies prevailed in Ireland. The people cherished 
 love for France; and apprehensions for the Pope, on 
 the other hand, placed them in an unpleasant 
 dilemma. The Catholic prelates and clergy de- 
 nounced the conduct of Napoleon as treacherous and 
 perfidious. His assurances of safety and protec- 
 tion for the Pope they looked upon as delusive, for 
 they justly reasoned that when Francis Joseph had 
 been crushed, the Pope's turn would corae next. 
 Popular feeling in Ireland followed the French 
 Hag, the more so as the descendant of an Irishman, 
 General Patrick MacMahon, had turned the tide of 
 victory at Magenta, aud for his dissliuguished her vices
 
 888 POPULAR BISTORT OF IBEULND. 
 
 was honored by the Emperor with the title of Duke 
 of Magenta and Marshal of France. 
 
 A sword of honor was presented to him by the 
 Irish, a mark of regard which the Marshal accepted 
 with gratitude, stating in his address to the 
 deputation which went to France to present it: 
 " I will leave one day to my eldest son, Patrick, 
 this magnificent sword. It will be for him, as it is 
 for myself, a new pledge of those close ties which 
 should unite him forever to the noble country of 
 his ancestors." 
 
 While Napoleon was theorizing over his chimer- 
 ical project of an Italian Confederation with the 
 Pope at its head, the wily Cavour was secretly 
 laying plans to foil him and to place Victor 
 Emmanuel at the head of a United Italy. He had 
 used France to strangle Austria, and his policy was 
 to neutralize France either by her interests or 
 dread of the intervention of some other power. 
 
 Savoy and Nice were ceded to France at the con- 
 clusion of peace, while the Romagna, Parma and 
 Modena were appropriated by the Sardinian King. 
 Victor Emmanuel openly rejected the Villafranca 
 treaty, thus making it evident that he was perfectly 
 in the hands of Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini, and 
 the Carbonari of Italy, all of whom were bent on 
 the overthrow of the Pope. 
 
 The year 1860 found Ireland heaving with intense 
 excitement. Her Catholic enthusiasm was stirred 
 to the profoundest depths. The Papacy was 
 threatened, and it was evident that the Pope would 
 bo openly attacked. Meetings were held all over
 
 TOPULAB HISTORY OF ICELAND. 889 
 
 the country to tender sympathy and support to His 
 Holiness. A large sura of money was collected for 
 his aid. 
 
 In England the Italian movement was hailed 
 with applause and delight, and even the press pro- 
 claimed that the Pope should not be allowed to 
 stand in the way of a United Italy and liberty. In 
 Ireland, on the other hand, it was denounced as the 
 rapacity of a dishonest state to undermine the 
 Pontifical power, and as a blow aimed at the 
 Church. 
 
 The more zealous the English journals became in 
 hounding on the Italians, the more earnest became 
 the Irish in support of the Pope. England sent 
 forth public addresses, men and money to help 
 Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel Ireland poured 
 forth her treasures into the lap of the Pope, and 
 soon sent her young manhood to fight his battles. 
 
 Within a month after the matter was broached, 
 nearly two thousand Irish Pontifical Zouaves were 
 on their way in small parties to the Roman States, 
 where they safely arrived, and were mobilized under 
 General Lamoriciere. 
 
 Had the means allowed their transportation, over 
 twenty thousand young men could have been sent 
 within two months. 
 
 Startling events followed each other in rapid suc- 
 cession in Italy. Sicily fell into the hands of 
 Garibaldi and his legion. On the 8th of Septem- 
 ber Naples fell without opposition, Francis II. 
 having fled to Gaeta. The following day Victor 
 Emmannel was proclaimed King of Naples. On
 
 S3J tOPULAB HISTORT OF ffiELAinX 
 
 the 9th of September Cavour demanded from Car- 
 dinal Antonelli the disbandment of Lamoriciere'a 
 army. Without waiting a reply, the Sardinian army 
 surprised Lamoriciere, and in a brief campaign the 
 Pontifical troops, which had not time to arm or 
 organize, were surprised and defeated at all points. 
 
 The Irish soldiers, under command of Major 
 Myles W. O'Reilly, were nnder drill and imper- 
 fectly armed in Spoleto, Perugia and Faligno. 
 General Fanti's Corps, after taking Perugia, sum- 
 moned Spoleto to surrender. The town was held 
 by Major O'Reilly and three hundred Irishmen, 
 besides a few Franco-Belgians, Austrians and native 
 Italians. 
 
 The gallant defense made by the Irish commanded 
 won even the respect of General Brignone, of the 
 Italian army, who, in the articles of capitulation, says: 
 "The officers and soldiers shall be treated in all 
 respects with that urbanity and the regard which 
 bent honorable and brave troops, as they have 
 proved themselves to be in this fight." 
 
 On the 2Bth of September Ancona also surrendered. 
 Here, too, a handful of Irish greatly distinguished 
 themselves. General Lamoriciere, in bis official re- 
 port of the campaign, bears testimony to the bravery 
 and gallantry of the Irish at Perugia, at Spoleto, at 
 Cartelfidardo and at Ancona. " At Perugia," he says, 
 "the Irish company and the greater part of the 
 battalion of the 2d Regiment of the line alone showed 
 themselves determined to do their duty." "At 
 Spoleto," he says, " the Irish defended themselvei 
 with great gallantry." " At Castelfidardo," he says,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 891 
 
 " two howitzers were moved forward under a very 
 sharp fire, with the aid of the Irish. These brave 
 soldiers, after having accomplished the mission 
 with which they were charged, reunited themselves 
 with the tirailleurs, and during the rest of the bat- 
 tle distinguished themselves in their ranks." 
 
 The Irish Papal Zouaves were welcomed home with 
 demonstrations of admiration and joy. At every 
 town where a detachment alighted crowds assem- 
 beled, wearing green boughs and flags. They were 
 feted in every town and village which had sent forth 
 a recruit to swell the ranks of the Pontifical Zouaves, 
 Their enthusiastic reception at home was stimulated 
 by the sneaking taunts of the English press, which 
 as usual, when anything Irish is concerned, tried to 
 throw ridicule on the movement, and branded the 
 men themselves as cowards and fanatical hirelings, 
 who, Like the superstitious Hindoos, were ready and 
 willing to immolate themselves at the dictation of their 
 priesta The taunts and invectives, of the English 
 press called forth fierce rejoinders on the part of the 
 Irish. But as slander and vilification is England's 
 stock in trade, where Ireland is concerned, it would 
 be wiser to have passed over her abuse in silence. 
 
 The year 1860 opened in England with a new 
 and strong Ministry, with Lord Palrnerston at its 
 head, Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 and Lord John Russell, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 
 
 They had come into power in troublous times. 
 AJ1 over the world there seemed to be an upheaving, 
 and beneath it a seething volcano. A new war had 
 broken out in China, Fenianism was gaining stead-
 
 892 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 fly in Ireland, while across the Atlantic were heard 
 the first munnurings of the civil war in America. 
 
 John Brown had made his famous raid into Har- 
 per's Ferry, a town on the borders of Virginia and 
 Maryland, in order to aid the escape of slaves. He 
 was executed for the offense we will not call it a 
 crime and with his last sigh on that gibbet tree 
 went out the life of slavery. 
 
 During this year, the relations between England 
 and China were much disturbed, while in England 
 the old bngbear of a French invasion gained such 
 hold that even Lord Palmerston had yielded so far 
 to public alarm as to propose a vote of two million 
 pounds to fortify the coasts against the Emperor of 
 the French. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE Crra, WAB IN AMERICA. THB ENGLISH IN FAVOB 
 
 OF THE SOUTH, THE IRISH IN FAVOR OF THE NORTH. 
 
 THE " ALABAMA." THE FENIAN MOVEMENT. THE 
 RISING. THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS. 
 
 The Civil War in the United States, which broke 
 out in 1861, helped to intensify the bitter feeling 
 existing between England and Ireland. England 
 was not long in openly giving expression to her 
 sympathies with the South. Though her lecturers 
 and writers had aroused a very bitter feeling through- 
 out the country against negro slavery in tho Southern 
 States, though " Uncle Tom's Cabin " was a textbook
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 893 
 
 with them almost as sacred as the Gospel, still, when 
 the issue came which would either perpetuate slavery 
 or abolish it forever, the duplicity and mock philan- 
 thropy of England were made manifest. 
 
 The cause of the South meant slavery and the 
 disruption of the Great Republic; the cause of the 
 North meant the death of slavery and the triumph of 
 a republican form of government. 
 
 England was not long in choosing. She went in 
 for slavery and monarchy against freedom and re- 
 publicanism. Not so in Ireland. To the Irish people 
 America was the Mecca of all their hopes ; and its 
 republican form of government, their idol and 
 model. It was the land of their hopes, the home of 
 their kindred, and for it and its free, liberal institu- 
 tions they were as ready and willing to lay down 
 their lives as if it were the land of their birth. 
 
 The struggle in America was one for life and 
 death between slavery and the principles of modern 
 society between monarchy and republicanism. We 
 are chiefly concerned in the history of the American 
 Civil War in so far as it concerned England and Ire- 
 land. From the fact that the Irish contributed largely 
 to the ranks of the Federal armies, and that England 
 supplied to the Confederates pirate-ships, men, 
 arms and ammunition, the struggle has become 
 part of the history of both England and Ireland. 
 
 On the 4th of March, President Lincoln was 
 formally sworn into office. The President announced 
 in his message that he had no intention to interfere 
 with the institution of slavery where it existed; that 
 the law gave him no power to do so, even if he had
 
 894 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the inclination; but that, on the other hand, no State 
 could, upon its own mere motion, lawfully get out of 
 the Union, and that acts of violence against the 
 United States must be regarded as insurrectionary 
 and revolutionary. 
 
 On February 18th, 1861, Mr. Jefferson Davis 
 announced the determination of the South to main- 
 tain its independence by the final arbitrament of the 
 sword, "if passion or lust of dominion should 
 cloud the judgment or influence the ambition of the 
 North." 
 
 The State of South Carolina, which, with that of 
 Massachusetts, did more to fan the feeling on the 
 slavery and anti-slavery question into war than ah 1 
 the other States combined, was the first to precipitate 
 the conflict, thus doing away with all possible chances 
 of a compromise. 
 
 Fort Sumter guarded the entrance to Charleston, 
 and was at the time garrisoned by Federal soldiers, 
 and floated the flag of the United States. A vessel 
 sent with men to re-enforce this little garrison was 
 fired upon by the Confederates, and a few days 
 later, April 12th, 1861, they opened fire on the fort 
 from batteries which they had erected on the main- 
 land. 
 
 The little garrison had no means of resistance, 
 and after a harmless siege of two days, it surren- 
 dered. 
 
 This put an end to all arbitration and com- 
 promise, aud as a consequence, the Great, Rebellion 
 followed. Four days after the surrender of Fort 
 Sumter, President Lincoln issued his call for seventy-
 
 JPOPDLAR HI8TOBT OP IRELAND. 895 
 
 five thousand men, which was cheerfully responded 
 to, and by none more readily than by the Irish, who 
 were to be found in every regiment and company in 
 the Federal armies, and who subsequently gave 
 several distinct organizations, such as Meagher's 
 Irish Brigade and the Corcoran Legion, to the 
 services of their adopted country. 
 
 With indecent haste England recognized the 
 Southern Confederacy. On May 8th Lord John 
 Russell announced in the House of Commons that, 
 after consulting the law officers of the Crown, the 
 Government were of opinion that the Southern Con- 
 federacy must be recognized as a belligerent power. 
 
 On the 13th, a neutrality proclamation was issued 
 by the Government, which was de facto a recognition 
 of the Southern States. 
 
 The dispute between the Cabinets at Washington 
 and St. James's was intensified by the determination 
 of the English Government not to surrender to the 
 States the Confederate envoys, Slidell and Mason, 
 who were captured on the Trent. 
 
 Far more serious than this, as a cause of quarrel, 
 was the fitting-out of the Alabama and other priva- 
 teers from English ports, in order to prey on Ameri- 
 can ships, and the aid given by the English Govern- 
 ment, at the prompting of the French Emperor, to 
 the Mexican expedition, which was a diversion in 
 favor of the Confederates. 
 
 Englishmen insisted that the Northern statesmen 
 were not going into the war with an unmixed 
 motive; as if any state ever yet went to war with 
 one single and undiluted purpose. A good deal
 
 896 POPULAR HISTORY OF 
 
 was heard about the manner in which the colored 
 race were excluded from society in New York and 
 the Northern States generally. 
 
 The exclusivenesa was assuredly narrow-minded 
 and bad enough; but it is one thing to say a 
 colored man shall not sit next us in a theatre or a 
 church, that he shall not go to school with one's 
 son or marry one's daughter, and it is quite another 
 thing to say that we have a right to scourge the 
 colored man to death, to buy his son for a slave, 
 and sell his daughter at the auction-block. 
 
 Not a few Englishmen condemned, boldly and 
 out of hand, the whole principle of coercion iu 
 political affairs. They declared that the North had 
 no right to put down secession; that the South had 
 a right to secede. Yet the same men had upheld 
 the heaven-appointed right of England to put 
 down the rebellion in India, and would have 
 drenched, if need were, Ireland in blood rather 
 than allow her to withdraw from a partnership into 
 which, after all, unlike the Southern States, she had 
 never voluntarily entered. 
 
 It is important, for the fair understanding and 
 appreciation of the events that followed, to remem- 
 ber that there was, among all the advocates of the 
 South in England, a very general conviction that 
 the North was sure to be defeated and broken up, 
 and was therefore in no sense a formidable power. 
 It is well also to bear in mind that there were only 
 two European states which entertained this feeling 
 and allowed it to be everywhere understood. The 
 ochenie found support only in England
 
 POPTTLAK HISTORY OF IRELAND. 897 
 
 and in France. In all other European countries the 
 sympathy of people and Government alike went 
 with the North. In most places the sympathy arose 
 from a detestation of slavery. In Russia, or at 
 least with the Russian Government, it arose from a 
 dislike of rebellion. But the effect was the same : 
 that assurances of friendship came from all civilized 
 countries to the Northern States except from Eng- 
 land and France alone. One of the latest instruc- 
 tions given by Cavour on his deathbed, was that an 
 assurance should be sent to the Federal Government 
 that Italy could give its sympathies to no move- 
 ment which tended to the perpetuation of slavery. 
 The Pope, Pius IX., and Cardinal Antonelli repeat- 
 edly expressed their hopes for the success of the 
 Northern cause. On the other hand, the Emperor 
 of the French fully believed that the Southern 
 cause was sure to triumph, and that the Union 
 would be broken up; he was even very willing to 
 hasten what he assumed to be the unavoidable end. 
 He was anxious that England should join with him 
 in some measures to facilitate the success of the 
 South by recognizing the Government of the South- 
 ern Confederation. He got up the Mexican inter- 
 vention, of which we shall have occasion presently 
 to speak, and which assuredly he would never have 
 attempted if he had not been persuaded that the 
 Union was on the eve of disruption. He was not 
 without warning. Many eminent Frenchmen well 
 acquainted with America urged on him the necessity 
 of caution. His cousin, Prince Napoleon, went 
 over to America and surveyed the condition of
 
 898 K)PULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 affairs from both points of view, talked with the 
 leaders of both sides, visited both camps, and came 
 back impressed with the conviction that the South- 
 ern movement for independence would be a failure. 
 The Emperor Napoleon, however, held to his own 
 views and his own schemes. He had afterward 
 reason to curse the day when he reckoned on the 
 break-up of the Union and persuaded himself that 
 there was no occasion to take account of the North- 
 ern strength. Yet in France the French people in 
 general were on the side of the North. Only the 
 Emperor and his Government were on that of the 
 South. In England, on the other hand, the vast 
 majority of what are called the influential classes 
 canJ to be heart and soul with the South. 
 
 The death of Prince Albert, or as he was called 
 in court circles, the Prince Consort, which occurred 
 about midnight, December 14th, 1861, removed one 
 whose conservative counsel was in favor of a non- 
 intervention policy. 
 
 After the dispute about the Trent, the feeling 
 between England and the United States became 
 one of distrust, and almost of hostility. We can- 
 not help thinking that the manner in which the 
 English Government managed the dispute, the 
 superfluous display of force, like a pistol thrust at 
 the head of a disputant whom mere argument is 
 already bringing to reason, had a great deal to do 
 with the growth of this bitter feeling. The contro- 
 versy about the Trent was hardly over when Lord 
 John Russell and Mr. Adams were engaged in the 
 more prolonged and far more serious controversy
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 899 
 
 about the Confederate privateers. The ad- 
 ventures of the Confederate cruisers began 
 with the escape of a small schooner, the Savannah, 
 from Charleston, in June, 1861. It scoured the seas 
 for a while as a privateer, and did some 
 damage to the shipping of the Northern States. 
 The Sumter had a more memorable career. She was 
 under the command of Captain Semmes, who after- 
 ward became famous, and during her time she did 
 Borne damage. The Nashville and the Petrel were 
 also well known for a while. These were, however, 
 but small vessels, and each had only a short run of 
 it. The first privateer which became really formid- 
 able to the shipping of the North was a vessel 
 called in her earlier history the Oreto, but after- 
 ward better known as the Florida. Within three 
 months she had captured fifteen vessels. Thirteen 
 of these she burned, and the other two were con- 
 verted into cruisers by the Confederate Government. 
 The Florida was built in Birkenhead, nominally for 
 the use of the Italian Government. She got out of 
 the Mersey without detention or difficulty, although 
 the American Minister had warned the English 
 Government of her real purpose. From that time 
 Great Britain became what an American writer calls 
 without any exaggeration " the naval base of the 
 Confederacy." As fast as ship-builders could work, 
 they were preparing in British shipping yards a 
 privateer navy for the Confederate Government. 
 Mr. Gladstone said in a speech, which was the sub- 
 ject of much comment, that Jefferson Davis had 
 made a navy. The statement was at all events not
 
 $00 FOPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 literally correct The English ship-builders made 
 the navy. Mr. Davis only ordered it and paid for it 
 But seven Confederate privateers were really for- 
 midable to the United States, and of these, five were 
 built in British dock-yards. We are not including 
 in the list any of the actual war-vessels, the rama 
 and ironclads, that British energy had built for the 
 Confederate Government. 
 
 Of these privateers, the most famous by far was the 
 Alabama. It was the fortune of this vessel to be the 
 occasion of the establishment of a new rule in the 
 law of nations. It had nearly been her fortune to 
 bring England and the United States into war. The 
 Alabama was built expressly for the Confederate 
 service in one of the dock-yards of the Mersey. 
 She was built by the house of Laird, a firm of the 
 greatest reputation in the ship-building trade, and 
 whose former head was the representative of Birken- 
 head in the House of Commons. While in process 
 of construction she was called the "290"; and it 
 was not until she had put to sea and hoisted the 
 Confederate flag, and Captain Semmes, formerly 
 commander of the Sumier, had appeared on her 
 deck in full Confederate uniform, that she took the 
 name of the Alabama. During her career the Ala- 
 bama captured nearly seventy Northern vessels. 
 Her plan was always the same. She hoisted the 
 British flag, and thus decoyed her intended victim 
 within her reach ; then she displayed the Confeder- 
 ate colors and captured her prize. Unless when 
 there was some particular motive for making use of 
 the captured vessels, they were burned. Sometime*
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 901 
 
 the blazing wreck became the means of decoying a 
 new victim. Some American captain saw far off in 
 the night the flames of a burning vessel reddening 
 the sea. He steered to her aid, and when he came 
 near enough, the Alabama, which was yet in the 
 same waters and had watched his coming, fired her 
 shot across his bows, hung out her flag, and made 
 him her prisoner. One American captain bitterly 
 complained that the fire, which, seen across the 
 waves at any other time, became a summons to 
 every seaman to hasten to the rescue, must thence- 
 forward be a signal to him to hold his course and 
 keep away from the blazing ship. The Alabama 
 and her captain were, of course, much glorified in 
 England. But the Alabama did not do much fight- 
 ing ; she preyed on merchant vessels that could not 
 fight. She attacked where instant surrender must 
 be the reply to her summons. Only twice, so far as 
 we know, did she engage in a fight. The first time 
 was with the Hatteras, a small blockading ship whose 
 broadside was so unequal to that of the Alabama 
 that she sunk in a quarter of an hour. The second 
 time was with the United States ship-of-war Kear- 
 sarge, whose size and armament were about equal 
 to her own. The fight took place off the French 
 shore, near Cherbourg, and the career of the Ala- 
 bama was finished in an hour. The Confederate 
 rover was utterly shattered, and went down. Cap- 
 tain Semmes was saved by an English steam-yacht, 
 and brought to England to be made a hero for a 
 while, and then forgotten. The cruise of the Ala- 
 bama had lasted nearly two years. During this time
 
 902 POFULAB HISTOBT OF IBELAKD. 
 
 ehe had contrived to drive American commerce from 
 the seas. Her later cruising days were unprofitable, 
 for American owners found it necessary to keep 
 their vessels in port. 
 
 We need not follow any further the Civil War in 
 America. The surrender of Lee and Johnston, the 
 restoration of the Union, the emancipation of the 
 colored race, and the assassination of President Lin- 
 coln, belong to American, and not to Irish, history. 
 However, it is not out of place to say a few words 
 relative to the part the Irish took in this terrible 
 conflict. 
 
 The second regiment to leave New York in re- 
 sponse to the President's call for the defense of the 
 National Capital was Colonel Corcoran's Sixty-ninth 
 Irish Regiment, and it was soon followed by 
 Heagher's Zouaves, and other Irish organizations. 
 
 Though General Corcoran was under arrest at 
 the opening of the war, for refusing to parade his 
 regiment in honor of the Prince of Wales, he at 
 once offered his services in defense of the Union, 
 they were immediately accepted, and he and his 
 gallant regiment hastily left for Washington. 
 
 General Corcoran was captured at the battle of 
 Bull Run, and the three months term of service 
 having expired, the command returned to New York 
 
 Thomas Francis Meagher was commissioned Brig- 
 adier General and empowered to raise a brigade. 
 In a few weeks the Sixty-ninth, Sixty-third, and 
 Eighty-eighth Regiments were enrolled and ready to 
 take the field. These were followed by several other 
 Irish organizations throughout various parts of the
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 903 
 
 country. When Corcoran was subsequently released 
 fromLibby Prison he organized the Corcoran Legion, 
 which did such signal service in the Virginia cam- 
 paigns. Besides independent organizations such as 
 the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment, composed ex- 
 clusively of Irishmen, there was not a command in 
 the army but had a large complement of Irish in its 
 composition.* 
 
 It is computed that in the Federal armies alone 
 about two hundred thousand Irishmen served from 
 the firing on Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee. 
 Most of these were amalgamated with various com- 
 mands scattered from the Empire State to sunny 
 Florida, from Eappahannock's banks to the Pacific 
 Slope. 
 
 On the bloody fields of Virginia, down amid the 
 cotton-fields of Georgia and the swamps of the 
 Carolinas, lie the bleached bones of thousands of 
 Irish soldiers and chiefs. 
 
 Whether storming the bloody heights of Fredericks- 
 burg, or checking the enemy's advance at Fair 
 Oaks and Malvern Hill, or making that fearful dash 
 at Antietam, or rescuing the abandoned cannon at 
 Chancellorsville, or driving Early from the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, or planting the stars and stripes on 
 the walls of Charleston, Atlanta or Savannah, the 
 Irish soldier in the American war has left behind 
 him a reputation that the greatest detractor of his 
 race, even the London Times itself, dare not call 
 into question. 
 
 Bee history of 'The Irish Brigade and its Campaigns," by 
 Major D. P. Conyngham.
 
 904 ropULAB nisTOBi OF IBEIAJTD. 
 
 \ 
 
 The American war had given great vitality to 
 Fenianism both at home and in America. Thousands 
 of young men had entered the American army actu- 
 ated as much by the desire to acquire a military 
 knowledge which they might turn to practical ac- 
 count against England as by devotion to their 
 adopted country. These brave but enthusiastic 
 soldiers fed themselves with the hope that when the 
 American war was over they had nothing to do but 
 turn their arms against England. They filled their 
 friends at home with this notion, and therefore 
 scarcely a young man of spirit in Ireland but had 
 flung himself into the arms of Fenianism. 
 
 The disaffected state of Ireland and the fear of an 
 American invasion had haunted the last days of 
 Lord Palmerston, and when he died in 1865, he left 
 to his successor, Lord John Russell, a rich heritage 
 of American complications and Irish discontent 
 
 Of all the organized efforts of the Irish people to 
 break the British yoke and raise Ireland to the po- 
 sition of a nation, that of Fenianism was the most 
 formidable of modern timea This vast confedera- 
 tion of the Irish race, as it may justly be termed, 
 succeeded for a time in uniting under its standard 
 nearly all the organizations and societies which ex- 
 isted throughout the United Kingdom for revolu- 
 tionary purposes. Fenianism may be said to have 
 sprung into life, when, in 1858, James Stephens 
 gathered up the shattered remnants of the Phoenix 
 Society and brought the leading spirits of the move- 
 ment under his control The organization over 
 which Mr. Stephens presided at this time was
 
 POPULAR HISTORY 0V IBELAND. 1 905 
 
 known as the "Irish Eevolutionary Brotherhood," 
 and it was not until some three years later that the 
 title of "Fenians" was given to it by John O'Ma- 
 hony, on account of his Gaelic traditions, for this 
 was the name of the Irish national militia which 
 flourished in the second century. 
 
 In 1863 a convention of representatives from all 
 branches of the organization, both in Ireland ard 
 the United States, was held in Chicago, on which 
 occasion the work to be done by the branches in 
 America and Ireland was mapped out for them. 
 The Fenians in America were to aid the men in 
 Ireland with money, arms and munitions of war, 
 and were also to supply them with trained officers 
 and men when the contemplated rising was about 
 taking place. Accordingly the work went steadily 
 on until the close of the American war gave a fresh 
 and powerful impetus to the movement, and appa- 
 rently presented to Irishmen the grand opportunity 
 for which they had so long patiently waited. The 
 feeling against England on account of the part she 
 had taken in favor of the South, in supplying her with 
 men, arms, ammunition and privateers, was so 
 strong, that a war between the two powers seemed 
 imminent. Even President Johnson, who had suc- 
 ceeded President Lincoln after the lamentable as- 
 sassination of the latter, gave color to the rumor in 
 an interview a delegation of Irish-American officers 
 and Fenians had with him. 
 
 As soon as the Irish-American officers were mus- 
 tered out of service, some hundreds of them lost no 
 time in going to Ireland and placing themselves
 
 906 JOFULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 under the control of the 0. O. L B., as the council 
 of the Irish Republic was called. Their presence 
 soon became known, and set the secret machinery of 
 the Government at work. Accordingly a privy coun- 
 cil was held at the Castle, and on that night, Sep- 
 tember 15th, 1865, the Irish People newspaper was 
 seized, and with it O'Donovan Eossa, Thomas Clark 
 Luby, John O'Leary, William Roantree, and others. 
 Stephens had escaped so far. That there was an 
 informer among them was too evident. A few days 
 later, when the prisoners were placed in the dock, 
 their tried and trusted associate, the man who was 
 to swear away their lives, Pierce Nagle, stood in the 
 witness stand. Of course the prisoners were con- 
 victed. There could be no hope before an English 
 judge, a packed jury, and an Irish informer. O'Don- 
 ovan Rossa was sentenced for life ; O'Leary and 
 Luby, twenty years each ; Roantree and others, from 
 ten to fifteen years each. Mr. George Hopper, 
 brother-in-law of James Stephens, pleaded guilty 
 and was let off with two years' confinement 
 
 A military council was held, at which the Irish- 
 American officers insisted on immediate action, but 
 in this they were overruled by Mr. Stephens. The 
 result of the conference was to put off the rising for 
 three months longer. 
 
 After this, mistrust seized the minds of some of 
 Stephens's best followers ; for the fact that the most 
 prominent men were picked up by the authorities, 
 day after day, convinced them that treason lurked 
 in their midst, and that there was another informer 
 among them.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 907 
 
 On Saturday morning, November llth, 1865, 
 James Stephens was arrested at his residence, Fair- 
 field House, at Sandymount, where he resided under 
 the name of Herbert. With him were also arrested 
 Charles J. Kickham, Hugh Brophy and Edward 
 Duffy. 
 
 This coup d'etat, it was surmised by the Crown 
 authorities, would end the struggle. Their surmises 
 were doomed to disappointment. Steps were taken 
 to effect Mr. Stephens's release from Richmond 
 Bridewell, in which he was immured, which was ac- 
 complished mainly through the agency of Daniel 
 Byrne, a warden in the prison, and now a member of 
 the New York police force. On the night of the 
 24th of November the plan was put into execution, 
 and on the following day the country was startled 
 with the announcement that Stephens had escaped. 
 
 Stephens, before leaving prison, pledged himself 
 that the year should not pass over without the rising 
 taking place, but outside its walls more cautious 
 counsels prevailed, and he threw all possible obstacles 
 in the way of the contemplated outbreak. 
 
 In not striking at the time suggested the Fenians 
 made their great mistake, for there is no doubt but 
 the army and constabulary were largely disaffected ; 
 hundreds of trained Irish-American officers were in 
 the country; and so strong was the feeling in Amer- 
 ica against England, that an outbreak in Ireland 
 could not fail to precipitate an armed conflict be- 
 tween the two nations. America was irritated by 
 the part which England took doling the Civil War. 
 On every battle-field of the South was found beside
 
 908 POPULAR HISTORY OF IBELAND. 
 
 a fallen Confederate, a rifle, a sabre or a revolver 
 stamped with the British crown. Eebel ship^ were 
 built and manned and armed by Englishmen to de- 
 stroy American commerce. The crews of these 
 ships who had been adjudged pirates according to 
 all the usages of international law were disbanded 
 in English ports in defiance of the official protest of 
 the United States Minister, and not only allowed to 
 go free, but were also honored and feted. British 
 emissaries had invaded American territory, robbed 
 American banks and murdered American citizens. 
 It was no wonder, therefore, that the disbanded sol- 
 diers burned to wipe out the stain; but diplomacy 
 and policy bridged over the unpleasantness, and 
 America to-day obsequiously pays homage to 
 ' Mother England." 
 
 The year 1865, on which the rising was to take place, 
 had passed, and nearly two months of '66, yet Mr. 
 Stephens managed to defer it. The American officers, 
 growing impatient of this delay, called a military 
 council, which met on the night of February 16th. No 
 definite conclusion was arrived at, but before noon 
 next day every Irish-American officer in Dublin, to 
 the number of over two hundred, found himself an 
 inmate of Kilmainham Jail. 
 
 Though the arrests were made under the sus- 
 pension of the Habeas Corpus Act, it was not until 
 the following day (Sunday) that it had become law. 
 But when did England observe or regard law in her 
 dealings with Ireland ? 
 
 Meanwhile these wholesale arrests continued until 
 the prisons of Ireland were filled with " suspects."
 
 POHJLAB mSTOET Off lEELAUD. 909 
 
 The minions of the Castle were now in their glory. 
 They had in their power a class of men whom they 
 feared, and whom they delighted to insult and per- 
 secute. 
 
 A short time after these February arrests, Mr. 
 Stephens, who had been concealed in the house of a 
 Mrs. Butler, Summer Hill, Dublin, took his departure 
 for France, from where, after two months, he sailed 
 for the United States. Thus vanished from the 
 scene of Irish revolutionary politics the "Central 
 Organizer of the Irish Republic." A man, it is true, 
 who had built up the most powerful organization 
 for military purposes that ever existed in Ireland, 
 but a man nevertheless who contributed more than 
 all others to neutralize the very power he had 
 created. 
 
 James Stephens was an organizer and a natural- 
 born conspirator ; had he been a patriot as well, 
 whose actions were controlled by love of country 
 and not egotistical vanity, he would have stepped 
 aside when his work of organization was done, and 
 permitted other heads and other hands to guide the 
 powerful machinery which he had constructed, and 
 which he lacked moral courage enough to put in 
 active motion. 
 
 Every day the Fenian trials went on before Judge 
 Keogh and a packed jury, and of course to be 
 brought before such a tribunal was equivalent to 
 conviction. A considerable amount of correspond- 
 ence took place between the American officers in 
 prison and Mr. Adams, the American Minister in 
 London, and Mr. West, the American Consul in
 
 910 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Dublin, with a view of influencing the American 
 Government to claim the right of trial or liberation 
 for American citizens. These gentlemen seemed to 
 favor England's claim "once a subject, a subject 
 for ever" so that the suspects, though some of them 
 had been in America since childhood and had served 
 all through the American war, were still treated by 
 England as her subjects, though disloyal and dis- 
 obedient ones. 
 
 Mr. Seward, then Secretary of State, took a dif- 
 ferent view of the matter, and as America was in no 
 humor to be trifled with at the time, the release of 
 the Irish-American prisoners was insisted upon and 
 finally granted. 
 
 In the meantime the Fenian organization in 
 America was disorganized by divided councils, and 
 the Fenian Senate had deposed CoL John O'Mahony 
 and elected William B. Roberts in his place, so that 
 in America there were two organizations with two 
 presidents at their head. The Roberts party de- 
 cided on an invasion of Canada, and in May, 1866, 
 an effort was made in that direction. On June 2d 
 the handful of Irish under General O'Neill, who had 
 crossed the border, met the Canadian forces, com- 
 posing the " Queen's Own " and a spirited encounter 
 took place which resulted in the rout of the British. 
 On the 7th of June a proclamation was issued by 
 President Johnson against the Fenian invasion of 
 Canada, and troops having been sent to the borders, 
 the whole movement soon collapsed. The O'Mahony 
 party made a ridiculous movement about the same 
 time on Canada, by seizing on an island called
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 911 
 
 Campo-Calla, but the fiasco soon fizzled out. 
 About this time James Stephens arrived in New 
 York, and at a monster meeting held in Jones' Wood 
 he again pledged himself to immediate action in 
 Ireland. Many retired from the movement in dis- 
 gust. Stephens had been deposed and Col. Thomas 
 J. Kelly filled his place. The following November 
 Col. Kelly sailed for Ireland on the forlorn hope 
 of preparing the way for an outbreak. On his ar- 
 rival there a secret council was held, and the 12th 
 of February, 1867, was set down for the rising. In 
 the meantime a daring attempt was made to seize 
 Chester Castle, England, which would have suc- 
 ceeded only for the treachery of the informer Cory- 
 don, who imposed himself on Stephens as an officer 
 of the Irish Brigade and seemed to gain his entire 
 confidence. This notorious informer had never 
 risen higher than private in the Brigade, was hos- 
 pital steward to Dr. Reynolds, and at one time servant 
 to the writer. 
 
 The rising, which was adjourned from the 12th of 
 February to the 6th of March, was now crushed out. 
 The fact is, the people found themselves without 
 competent heads or leaders ; the Government being 
 fully aware of their movements through the agency 
 of their spies and informers, was everywhere pre- 
 pared to receive them, and the whole affair subsided 
 after a few sharp conflicts between the police and 
 the people. 
 
 The so-called rising of 1867 was Utopian in con- 
 ception and without head or leaders to bring it to a 
 successful execution. Though it filled the English
 
 912 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 dungeons with more suspects and Fenians, it showed 
 one thing, namely, that the people of Ireland, pro- 
 perly organized and led, will fight desperately foi their 
 independence. The news of the uprising in Ireland 
 caused the greatest excitement in America, and a 
 small vessel called the Jackmel, but which was sub- 
 sequently christened Erin's Hope, was fitted out to 
 convey men and arms to Ireland. This vessel 
 landed on the Irish shore some thirty officers, who 
 were soon enjoying the hospitalities of Kilmainham. 
 
 This might be said to be the end of the long- 
 threatened rising, but though a failure, it has sown 
 such a crop of disaffection and self-reliance as to 
 compel England's rule in Ireland to depend on bay- 
 onets and military garrisons. 
 
 The saddest record of this ill-timed rising was the 
 execution of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, commonly 
 called the Manchester Martyrs. Col. Thos. Kelly, 
 in company with Captain Deasy, was arrested in 
 Manchester the following September. In an at- 
 tempt to rescue them a policeman named Brett was 
 shot and killed. 
 
 A special commission was convened to try the 
 men arrested, namely, William Allen, Michael Lar- 
 kin, Michael O'Brien, Thomas Maguire and Edward 
 Condon. The men were all convicted and sentenced 
 to be hanged, on the evidence of vile informers. 
 Though it was evident that Brett was shot accident- 
 ally and that none of the prisoners fired the shot, 
 still a sacrifice should be made to appease English 
 thirst for Irish blood, and Allen, Larkin and O'Brien 
 were executed on the 23rd of November. Maguire
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 913 
 
 was pardoned and Condon was reprieved, though 
 there was no evidence to show that they were more 
 or less guilty of the crime than the men who were 
 executed. The prisoners, at the conclusion of the 
 trial, as well as on the fatal drop, all declared their 
 innocence. As sentence was about being passed 
 upon tnem, one of the prisoners said: "You will 
 soon send us before God, and I am perfectly pre- 
 pared to go. I have nothing to regret, or to retract, or 
 to take back. I can only say, " GOD SAVE IRELAND." 
 Stepping to the front of the dock, with their hands 
 and eyes raised with solemn earnestness to heaven, 
 these five noble patriots and martyrs, in a loud, firm 
 voice repeated, "GOD SAVE IRELAND I" 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IRELAND'S FIRST CARDINAL. DISESTABLISHMENT OF THK 
 IRISH CHURCH. THE HOME RULE AGITATION. 
 GLADSTONE AS A REFORMER. -THE IRISH LAND 
 BILL OF 1870. THE FRENCH WAR AND DETHRONE- 
 MENT OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 The elevation of the Most Reverend Paul Cullen 
 from the Archbishopric of Dublin to the Cardinalate, 
 which took place in 1866, was a source of much re- 
 joicing to the clergy of Ireland as well as to a large 
 portion of their congregations. England had been 
 honored by His Holiness Pius IX. with a special 
 mark of his favor, by elevating the Most Rev. Dr. 
 Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, to the 
 Cardinalate in 1850. The faithful of Ireland justly
 
 914 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 thought that after centuries of persecution of th 
 Church in that country, they should not beugnored ; 
 therefore the press and people earnestly pressed the 
 consideration of raising Archbishop Cullen to the 
 dignity of Cardinal, which the Pope finally consented 
 to do. To the National element in Ireland Dr. Cullen's 
 elevation was anything but pleasing. He had given a 
 strong opposition to the Fenian movement, and this 
 rendered him unpopular with the extremists, who 
 bitterly denounced him as a " Castle-hack." 
 
 The truth is, though Cardinal Cullen was a man 
 of liberal and patriotic views, he considered that he 
 was in duty bound to oppose a movement which he 
 believed was the offspring of secret societies, and 
 which, in his opinion, should end in failure. What- 
 ever difference of opinion there may be regarding 
 his political views and actions, there can be but one 
 regarding him as an ecclesiastic, namely, that he 
 was a zealous, charitable, and in every sense an ex- 
 emplary churchman. Since his translation from the 
 Archbishopric of Armagh, which he had filled for 
 three years, to that of Dublin, in 1852, and up until 
 the time of his death, on the 24th of October, 1878, 
 his labors on behalf of the Church in Ireland, over 
 which he presided, were crowned with success and 
 blessed with the most salutary fruits. 
 
 In 1868, Lord Derby, who had retired from the 
 Ministry, was succeeded by Mr. Disraeli as Prime 
 Minister. A liberal and enlightened policy was ex- 
 pected from the new administration, but so far as 
 Ireland was concerned, the change of Ministry sim- 
 ply meant a change of masters. The duplicity ol
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 915 
 
 Disraeli's policy was fully a verification of what he 
 meant in Vivian Grey, when he declared that, for 
 statesmen who would rule, " wisdom must be con- 
 cealed under folly, and constancy under caprice." 
 
 Few changes were made in the Cabinet, and few 
 bills of importance were introduced in the early 
 part of Disraeli's administration. A bill was passed 
 putting a stop to public executions, and the Govern- 
 ment ventured on the step of acquiring possession 
 of all the lines of telegraph, and making the control 
 of communication by wire a part of the business of 
 the Post Office. The Abyssinian war took place 
 about this time, which terminated by the capture of 
 Magdala and the death of King Theodore, who, in 
 despair and in true Koman fashion, died by his own 
 hand. { 
 
 In the year 1868 a new element was introduced 
 into Irish politics, or it might with more propriety 
 be said that an old grievance was revived : we al- 
 lude to the disestablishment of the Irish Church. 
 Denis F. McCarthy happily says : " The Irish Peas- 
 ant to his Mistress " is the name of one of Moore's 
 finest songs. The Irish peasant tells his mistress of 
 his undying fidelity to her. "Through grief and 
 through danger" her smile has cheered his way. 
 " The darker our fortunes the purer thy bright love 
 burned ;" it turned shame into glory; fear into zeaL 
 Slave as he was, with her to guide him he felt free. 
 She had a rival ; and the rival was honored, "while 
 thou wert mocked and scorned." The rival wore a 
 crown of gold ; the other's brows were girt with 
 thorns* The rival wooed him to temples, while the
 
 916 fcOPULAB HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 
 
 loved one lay hid in caves. " Her friends were aH 
 masters, while thine, alas, are slaves ! " " Yet," he 
 declares, "cold in the earth at thy feet I would 
 rather be than wed one I love not, or turn one 
 thought from thee." 
 
 The reader already understands the meaning of 
 this poetic allegory. If he failed to appreciate its 
 feeling it would be hardly possible for him to under- 
 stand the modern history of Ireland. The Irish 
 peasant's mistress is the Catholic Church. The rival 
 is the State Church, set up by English authority. 
 The worshipers in the Catholic faith had long to 
 lie hid in caves, while the followers of the State 
 Church worshiped hi temples. The Irish peasant 
 remained through centuries of persecution devotedly 
 faithful to the Catholic Church. Nothing could win 
 or wean him from it. The Irish population of Ire- 
 land were made apparently by nature for the Cath- 
 olic faith. Hardly any influence on earth could 
 make the genuine Celtic Irishman a Materialist, or 
 what is called in France a Voltairean. Half his 
 thoughts, half his life, belong to a world other than 
 the material world around him. The supernatural 
 becomes almost the natui'al for him. The streams, 
 the valleys, the hills of his native country are peo- 
 pled by mystic forms and melancholy legends, which 
 are all but living things for him. Even the railway 
 has not banished from the land his familiar fancies 
 and dreams. The " good people " still linger around 
 the raths and glens. The banshee even yet laments, 
 in dirge-like wailings, the death of the representa- 
 tive of each ancient house. The very superstitions
 
 POPULAR HISTOBY OF IRELAND. 917 
 
 of the Irish peasant take a devotional form. They 
 are never degrading. His piety is not merely sin- 
 cere, it is even practical. It sustains him against 
 many hard trials, and enables him to bear, in cheer- 
 ful patience, a lifelong trouble. He praises God for 
 everything, not as an act of mere devotional formality, 
 but as by instinct, the praise naturally rising to his 
 lips. Old men and women in Ireland, who seem to 
 the observer to have lived lives of nothing but pri- 
 vation and suffering, are heard to murmur with 
 their latest breath the fervent declaration that the 
 Lord was good to them always. Assuredly this 
 genuine piety does not always prevent the wild Celtic 
 nature from breaking forth into fierce excesses. 
 Stormy outbursts of passion, gusts of savage revenge, 
 too often sweep away the soul of the Irish peasant 
 from the quiet moorings in which his natural piety 
 and the teachings of his Church would hold it. But 
 deep down in his nature is that faith in the other 
 world and its visible connection and intercourse 
 with this ; his reverence for the teaching which 
 shows him a clear title to immortality. For this 
 very reason, when the Irish peasant throws off alto- 
 gether the guidance of religion, he is apt to rush 
 into worse extravagances and excesses than most 
 other men. He is not made to be a rationalist ; he 
 is made to be a believer. 
 
 The Irishman was bound by ties of indescribable 
 strength and complication to his own Church. It 
 was the teacher of that faith which especially com- 
 mended itself to his nature and bis temperament 
 It was made to be the symbol and the synonym oi
 
 918 POPULAR HISTORY Or IRELAND. 
 
 patriotism and nationality. Centuries of the cruel, 
 futile attempt to force another religion on him in 
 the name of his English conquerors had made him 
 regard any effort to change his faith, even by argu- 
 ment, as the attempt of a spy to persuade a soldier 
 to forsake his flag. To abandon the Catholic Church 
 was, for him, not merely to renounce his religion, 
 but to betray his country. It seemed to him that 
 he could not become a Protestant without also be- 
 coming a renegade to the National cause. The State 
 Church set up in Ireland was to him a symbol of 
 oppression. It was Gessler's hat stuck up in the 
 market-place ; only a slave would bow down to it. 
 It was idle to tell him of the free spirit of Protest- 
 antism ; Protestantism stood represented for him 
 by the authority which had oppressed his fellow- 
 countrymen and fellow-Catholics for generations ; 
 which had hunted men to the caves and the moun- 
 tains for being Catholic, and had hanged and disem- 
 boweled them for being Irish. Almost every page 
 of the history of the two countries was read with a 
 different interpretation by the Irishman and the 
 Englishman. To the English student Spenser was 
 a patriot as well as a poet ; to the Irish scholar he 
 was the bitterest and most unthinking enemy of 
 Ireland. To the Englishman of modern days Crom- 
 well was a great statesman and patriot ; the Irish- 
 man thought of him only as the remorseless op- 
 pressor of Ireland and the author of the massacre of 
 Drogheda. The Englishman hated James II. be- 
 cause he fought against England at the Boyne ; the 
 Irishman despised him because he gave up the fight
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 919 
 
 BO soon. Chesterfield was to Englishmen a fribble 
 and a fop ; he was to Irishmen of education the one 
 English Lord-Lieutenant who ever seemed to have 
 any comprehension of the real needs of Ireland. 
 Fox was denounced in England and adored in Ire- 
 land, because he made himself the champion of the 
 principle of governing Ireland according to Irish 
 ideas. One of Bvron's chief offenses in the eyes of 
 English Conservatives was that his enthusiasm for 
 Ireland was almost equal to his enthusiasm for 
 Greece. Again and again, in every generation, the 
 object of admiration to Englishmen was the object 
 of distrust or dislike, or both, to all Irishmen who 
 professed to have in them anything of the sentiment 
 of nationality. All this feeling of antagonism 
 was undoubtedly strengthened and sharpened by 
 the existence of the State Church. There was not 
 one rational word to be said on principle for the 
 maintenance of such an institution. Sydney Smith 
 said, in his humorous way: "There is no abuse like 
 it in all Europe, in all Asia, in all the discovered 
 parts of Africa, and in all we have heard of Timbuc- 
 too." No foreign statesman probably ever admired 
 English institutions more than Count Cavour did. 
 Yet Cavour wrote that the State Church in Ireland 
 "remains to the Catholics a representative of the 
 cause of their miseries, a sign of defeat and oppres- 
 sion. It exasperates their sufferings, and makes 
 their humiliation more keenly felt." Every argu- 
 ment in favor of the State Church in England was 
 an argument against the State Church in Ireland. 
 The English Church, as an institution, is defended
 
 20 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAOTX 
 
 on the ground that it represents the religious con- 
 victions of the great majority of the English people, 
 and that it is qualified to take welcome charge of 
 those who would otherwise be left without any re- 
 ligious care or teaching in England. 
 
 On March 16th, 1868, a remarkable debate took 
 place in the House of Commons. It had for its 
 subject the condition of Ireland, and it was intro- 
 duced by a series of resolutions which Mr. John 
 Francis Maguire, an Irish member, proposed. Mr. 
 Maguire was a man of high character and great 
 ability and earnestness. When therefore he invited 
 the attention of the House of Commons to the con- 
 dition of Ireland, the house knew that it was likely 
 to have a fair and a trustworthy exposition of the 
 subject. In the course of his speech, Mr. Maguire 
 laid great stress upon the evil effect wrought upon 
 Ireland by the existence of the Irish Church. He 
 described it as "a scandalous and monstrous anom- 
 aly!" During the debate Lord Mayo, then Irish 
 Secretary, made a speech in which he threw out 
 some hint about a policy of equalizing all religious 
 denominations in Ireland without sacrificing the 
 Irish Church. He talked in a mysterious way of 
 "leveling up, and not leveling down." It has 
 never since been known for certain whether he was 
 giving a hint of a scheme actually in the mind of 
 the Government ; whether he was speaking as one 
 set up to feel his way into the opinion of the House 
 of Commons and the public ; or whether he was 
 only following out some sudden and irresponsible 
 speculations of his own. The words, however, pro-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 921 
 
 Sliced a great effect on the House of Commons. It 
 became evident at once that the question of the 
 Irish Church was making itself at last a subject for 
 the practical politician. Mr. Bright in the course 
 of the debate strongly denounced the Irish Esta- 
 blishment, and enjoined the Government and all the 
 great English parties to rise to the occasion and re- 
 solve to deal in some serious way with the condit.i n 
 of Ireland. 
 
 Mr. McCarthy in his History of our Times speak- 
 ing of the debate says : 
 
 "Public expectation was not long kept in sus- 
 pense. A few days after the debate on Mr. Ma- 
 guire's motion, Mr. Gladstone gave notice of a 
 series of resolutions on the subject of the Irish State 
 Church. The resolutions were three in number. 
 The first declared that in the opinion of the House 
 of Commons it was necessary that the Established 
 Church of Ireland should cease to exist as an estab- 
 lishment, due regard being had to all personal 
 interests and to all individual rights of property. 
 The second resolution pronounced it expedient to 
 prevent the creation of new personal interests by 
 the exercise of any public patronage ; and the third 
 asked for an address to the Queen, praying that 
 her Majesty would place at the disposal of Parlia- 
 ment her interest in the temporalities of the Irish 
 Church. The object of these resolutions was sim- 
 ply to prepare for the actual disestablishment of 
 the Church, by providing that no further appoint- 
 ments should be made, and that the action of pa- 
 tronage should be stayed until Parliament should
 
 922 fOPULAR HISTORY OF 1BELAND. 
 
 decide the fate of the whole institution. On March 
 30th, 1868, Mr. Gladstone proposed his resolutions. 
 Not many persons could have had much doubt as 
 to the result of the debate. But if there were any 
 such, their doubts must have begun to vanish when 
 they read the notice of amendment to the resolu- 
 tions which was given by Lord Stanley. The 
 amendment proclaimed even more surely than the 
 resolutions the impending fall of the Irish Church. 
 Lord Stanley must have been supposed to speak in 
 the name of the Government and the Conservative 
 party; and his amendment merely declared that 
 the House, while admitting that considerable mod- 
 ifications in the temporalities of the Church in 
 Ireland might appear to be expedient, was of 
 opinion ' that any proposition tending to the dises- 
 tablishment or disendowment of that Church ought 
 to be reserved for the decision of the new Parlia- 
 ment.* Mr. Gladstone seized on the evidence 
 offered by the terms of such an amendment. He 
 observed that before the hour at which notice was 
 given of that amendment he had thought the 
 thread of the remaining life of the Irish Established 
 Church was short, but since the notice was given 
 he thought it shorter still. 
 
 The debate was one of great power and interest. 
 Some of the speakers were heard at their very best. 
 Mr. Bright made a speech which was well worthy 
 of the occasion and the orator. Mr. Gathorne 
 Hardy was in his very element He flung aside all 
 consideration of amendment, compromise, or delay, 
 and went in for a vehement defense of the Irish
 
 POPULAR HISTORf OF IRELAND. 923 
 
 Church. On the other hand, Mr. Lowe threw an 
 intensity of bitterness remarkable even for him 
 into the unsparing logic with which he assailed the 
 Irish Church. That Church, he said, was ' like an 
 exotic brought from a far country, tended with in- 
 finite pains and useless trouble. It is kept alive 
 with the greatest difficulty, and at great expense, 
 in an ungenial climate and an ungrateful soil. The 
 curse of barrenness is upon it. It has no leaves, 
 puts forth no blossom, and yields no fruit. Cut it 
 down ; why cumbereth it the ground?' Not the 
 least remarkable speech of the debate was that 
 made by Lord Cranbourne, who denounced the 
 Government of which he was not long since a 
 member with an energy of hatred almost like 
 ferocity. He accused his late colleagues of having 
 in every possible way betrayed the cause of Con- 
 servatism, and he assailed Mr. Disraeli personally 
 in a manner which made older members think of the 
 days when Mr. Disraeli was denouncing Sir Robert 
 Peel. No eloquence and no invective however 
 could stay the movement begun by Mr. Gladstone. 
 When the division was called there were 331 votes 
 for the resolutions and only 270 against them. 
 The doom of the Irish Church was pronounced by 
 a majority of 61. Mr. Disraeli made a wild effort, 
 by speech and by letter, to get up an alarm in the 
 country on the score of some imaginary alliance or 
 conspiracy between 'High Church Ritualists' and 
 'Irish Romanists.' The attempt was a complete 
 failure ; there was only a little flash ; no explosion 
 came.
 
 FOPULAB HISTORY OF 1BELAND. 
 
 " Mr. Gladstone's first resolution came to a division 
 about a month after the defeat of Lord Stanley's 
 amendment. It was carried by a majority some- 
 what larger than that which had rejected the 
 amendment : 330 votes were given for the resolu- 
 tion ; 265, against it. The majority for the resolu- 
 tion was therefore 65. Mr. Disraeli quietly observed 
 that the Government must take some decisive step 
 in consequence of that vote ; and a few days after- 
 ward it was announced that as soon as the necessary 
 business could be got through, Parliament would 
 be dissolved, and an appeal made to the country. 
 On the last day of July the dissolution took place, 
 and the elections came on in November. Not for 
 many years had there been so important a general 
 election. The keenest anxiety prevailed as to its 
 results. The new constituencies created by the 
 Reform Bill were to give their votes for the first 
 time. The question at issue was not merely the 
 existence of the Irish State Church. It was a <*en- 
 
 O 
 
 eral struggle of advanced Liberalism against Tory- 
 ism. No one could doubt that Mr. Gladstone, if 
 lie came into power, would enter on a policy of 
 more decided Liberalism than had ever been put 
 into action since the days of the Reform Bill of 
 Lord Grey and Lord John Russell. The result of 
 the elections wtia on the whole what might have 
 been expected. The Liberals had a great majority." 
 Mr. Disraeli did not meet the new Parliament as 
 Prime Minister. He at once resigned his office, 
 and a new administration was formed, with Glad- 
 stone at its head. The disestablishment bill wag
 
 POPULAR HISTOItf OF IRELAND. 925 
 
 soon introduced in the new Parliament. Disraeli 
 and his supporters gave the measure a violent op- 
 position, but the bill was sent to the House of 
 Lords by a vast majority. The Lords were prudent 
 enough not to set themselves up in opposition to 
 the public will, and the bill was carried by 179 to 
 146 votes, and on the 26th, of July, 1869, the mea- 
 sure for the disestablishment of the Irish Church 
 received the royal assent. 
 
 Meantime, as Mr. McCarthy says, "the wildest 
 excitement prevailed out of doors among the de- 
 fenders of the State Church. Furious denuncia- 
 tions of the Government resounded from platform 
 and from pulpit. Even in measured and solemn 
 convocation itself the most impassioned and vehe- 
 ment outcries were heard. One divine spoke of 
 the measure as a great national sin. Another stig- 
 matized it as altogether ungodly, wicked, and 
 abominable. A third called upon the Queen to 
 interfere personally, and exhorted her rather to 
 jeopardize her crown in the effort than leave the 
 Irish Church to be destroyed before her eyes. A 
 great meeting was held in Exeter Hall, at which 
 Mr. Gladstone was stigmatized as ' a traitor to his 
 Queen, his country, and his God,' and one reverend 
 gentleman described the Government as ' a cabinet 
 of brigands.' At a meeting held in Ireland, a Pro- 
 testant clergyman reminded the pastors of every 
 Protestant church, that, sooner than give their 
 churches up to any apostate system, a barrel of 
 gunpowder and a box of matches would send them 
 flying to the winds of heaven. This was, however,
 
 92G POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 only superfluous fury. No one proposed to turn 
 the Protestant clergymen out of their churches. It 
 is not impossible that the fiery ecclesiastic who 
 gave this Guy Fawkes advice was himself minister- 
 ing in a church which had been taken by force 
 from its Catholic owners. The agitation against 
 the bill produced, however, no sensible effect upon 
 the mind of the country at large. It thundered 
 and blazed for a few days or weeks here and there, 
 and then, after occasional grumblings and sputter- 
 ings, sank into mere silence." 
 
 Lord Derby did not long survive the passing of 
 the measure which he had opposed with such fervor 
 and so much pathetic dignity. His last speech was 
 that which he delivered in the House of Lords 
 against the second reading of the Irish Church Bill, 
 on June 17th, 1869. "I am an old man," he said ; 
 " I have already passed three-score years and ten. 
 My official life is entirely closed, my political life 
 is nearly so, and in the course of nature my natural 
 life cannot now be long." It was sooner ended 
 perhaps than any one expected who heard him de- 
 liver that last eloquent protest against a measure 
 of reform which he was unable to oontrol, for, on 
 the 23d of tht following October, he died at 
 Knowsley. 
 
 A iew agitation had sprung np in Ireland. It 
 was simply the revival of O'Connell's Repeal move- 
 ment. It was called the Home Rule Organization, 
 and embraced among its members some of the 
 ablest and most influential men in the country, 
 among whom were Isaac Butt, Edward Purdon,
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 927 
 
 Lord Mayor of Dublin, Sir John Barrington, Rev. 
 Joseph E. Galbraith, F.T., C.D., the Venerable 
 Archdeacon Goold, A. M. Sullivan, William Shaw, 
 M.P., King-Harinan, and about fifty other gentle- 
 men of national prominence, besides a number of 
 merchants and professional men. A meeting was 
 held in the room of the Kilton Hotel, Dublin, on 
 the 19th of May, 1870. Though it was private, the 
 Orangeman and the Ultramontane, the staunch 
 Conservative and sturdy Liberal, the Nationalist, 
 Repealer, the Fenian and the Loyalist, all sat to- 
 gether discussing the subject in a friendly and 
 sympathetic manner. Out of that meeting, of such 
 incongruous elements, sprang what was known as 
 the Home Kule Club. 
 
 At this conference was one man who quietly 
 listened to the arguments, pro and con. Though he 
 had strong Irish sympathies, though he had de- 
 fended the Fenians in their hour of trial, he had 
 heretofore never identified himself with Irish affairs. 
 That man was Isaac Butt. 
 
 After a time he rose to his feet and spoke with 
 great earnestness and emphasis in replying to some 
 allusion to Irish sedition and Fenianism. "It is we 
 it is our inaction, our desertion of the people and 
 the country, the abdication of our position and du- 
 ties that have cast these men into the eddies and 
 whirlpools of rebellion !" he exclaimed. "If you 
 are ready to lead them by constitutional courses to 
 their legitimate national rights, they are ready to 
 follow you. Trust me, we have all grievously 
 wronged the Irish Catholics, priests and laymen.
 
 928 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAOT. 
 
 As for the men whom misgovernment has driven 
 into revolt, I say for them, that if they cannot aid 
 you, they will not thwart your experiment. Arise I 
 Be bold I Have faith, have confidence, and you will 
 save Ireland ; not Ireland alone, but England also 1" 
 
 He concluded by proposing : 
 
 " That it is the opinion of this meeting that the 
 true remedy for the evils of Ireland is the establish- 
 ment of an Irish Parliament, with full control over 
 our domestic affairs." 
 
 This motion, which was the birth of Home Rule, 
 was unanimously carried by acclamation. 
 
 The organization was called "The Home Gov- 
 ernment Association of Ireland." A set of fun- 
 damental resolutions were also adopted, specifying 
 the aim and object of the organization. Their tone 
 and spirit may be inferred from the following 
 clause, viz.: 
 
 " To obtain for our country the right and privilege 
 of managing our own affairs, by a Parliament 
 assembled in Ireland, composed of her Majesty 
 the Sovereign and her successors, and the Lords 
 and Commons of Ireland ; 
 
 " To secure for that Parliament, tinder a federal 
 arrangement, the right of legislating for and regu- 
 lating all matters relating to the internal affairs of 
 Ireland, and control over Irish resources and revenues, 
 subject to the obligation of contributing our just 
 proportion of the Imperial expenditure." 
 
 The Home Rule agitation made steady progress, 
 and the popular sentimeut in its favor was shown 
 by the election of several candidates pledged to ita
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 929 
 
 principles : for instance, Mr. John Martin, a Home 
 Rule candidate, was returned member for Meath; 
 Mr. Mitcliel Henry, for Galway ; Mr. P. J. Smyth, 
 for West Meath ; and crowning all, Mr. Butt, for 
 Limerick. 
 
 The Irish Land question had also become an 
 important issue in Irish politics, and Gladstone 
 recognizing the fact that the land system was a 
 monstrous grievance, resolved to grapple with it as 
 he had done with the Established Church. 
 
 The land of Ireland was owned by a comparatively 
 small number of landlords, the majority of whom 
 were absentees, the representatives of titles acquired 
 by conquest or confiscation. The old occupiers 
 were compelled to become mere serfs or tenants at 
 will to their conquerors, who, in order the better to 
 keep them in subjection, kept them poor and 
 oppressed. The unfortunate tenants had no interest 
 in being industrious or in improving their farms. 
 
 If they improved the patch of soil they worked 
 on, their rent was almost certain to be raised, or 
 they were turned out of the land without receiving 
 a farthing of compensation for their improvements. 
 Of course there were many excellent landlords, 
 humane and kindly men men, too, who saw the 
 wisdom of being humane and kind. But in the 
 majority of cases the landlords and the agents held 
 firmly by what seemed to them the right of property 
 the right to get as high a price for a piece of land 
 as it would fetch in open competition. The demand 
 for land was so great, the need of land was so vital, 
 that men would offer any price for it. Men would
 
 930 POPULAR HISTORY 07 TBELAITO. 
 
 offer prices which they must have known they could 
 never pay, which they must have known the land 
 would never enable them to pay. Offering land for 
 hire in Ireland was like offering money on loan to 
 needy spendthrifts ; any terms would be snatched 
 at by the desperate borrower to-day, no matter 
 what was to happen to-morrow. When the tenant 
 had got hold of his piece of land, he had no idea of 
 cultivating it to the best of his strength and oppor- 
 tunities. Why should he ? The moment his hold- 
 ing began to show a better appearance, that moment 
 he might look to having his rent raised, or to being 
 turned out in favor of some competitor who offered 
 higher terms for occupation. "Why should he im- 
 prove ? Whenever he was turned out of the land 
 he would have to leave his improvements for the 
 benefit of the landlord or the newcomer. He was, 
 therefore, content to scratch the soil instead of 
 really cultivating it He extracted all he could from 
 it in his short day. He lived from hand to mouth, 
 from hour to hour. The whole system of feudal 
 tenure of laud under a master was new to Ireland. 
 It began with Ireland's conquest, and it was identi- 
 fied in the mind of the Irish peasant with Ireland's 
 degradation. Everything was there that could 
 make oppression bitter. The landlord began to be 
 looked upon at last as the tenant's natural enemy. 
 Ribbon societies were formed for the protection of 
 the tenant. The protection afforded was only too 
 often that of terrorism and assassination. The 
 ribbonism of the south and west of Ireland was as 
 strictly the product of the land system of the couu-
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 931 
 
 try as the trades-union outrages in America are the 
 offspring of the unequal and unjust legislation that 
 gave all the power to the master and lent no protec- 
 tion to the workman. All the while five out of every 
 six English writers and political speakers were dis- 
 coursing gravely on the incurable idleness and law- 
 lessness of the Celtic race and the Irish peasant. 
 The law gave the Irish tenant no security for the 
 fruit of his labor, and Englishmen wondered that he 
 was not laborious. The law told him that when he 
 had sown he should not be entitled to reap, and 
 Englishmen were angry that he would not persist in 
 sowing. Imperial legislation showed itself his stead- 
 fast enemy, and Englishmen marveled at his want 
 of respect for the law. 
 
 An eminent American traveler, writing on the 
 state of Ireland, says : 
 
 "No one can conceive how terribly, sadly, wretch- 
 edly poor human beings can be and live, until he haa 
 ridden by cabin and crib, burrow and stile, and all 
 the nameless shifts for shelter that offend the eye in 
 the poorer parts of Ireland. Not one decent home, 
 not one comfortable, tidy dwelling, not one cleanly, 
 well-fed, neat human being. Troops of sad, wan, 
 starved children, nearly naked, smeared to the eyes 
 with dirt and ashes, and their unkempt heads power- 
 fully garrisoned with ' Scotch grays,' followed us 
 mile after mile, plaintively wailing, ' A peuny if ye 
 plaze, sur.' Men and women with the dull, dead 
 expression of despair in their eyes, waded out to 
 gaze upon us from their cabins and holes in the 
 ground, or between the rocks, literally ankle deep in
 
 932 POPULAR EISTOBY 01 EEELAND. 
 
 mud and filth, and clad, or, rather, unclad, in such 
 tattered tatters, that Lazarus was attired in princely 
 robes in comparison. Deer stood in the fields and 
 birds sat upon the trees, fearless of man, for no 
 Irishman is permitted to have a gun, or to touch 
 bird or beast, even though his family starve before 
 his eyes. I also noticed that in the whole long ride 
 of fifty -four miles I never saw a dog. Think of 
 people too poor to keep a dog ! But all through 
 this country, amid mountain wilds and rugged 
 passes, by cabin and den, through solitudes and des- 
 olation, ran a road better than rich and prosperous 
 Springfield possesses. I might say all that, and 
 still leave the impression that the road was a very 
 poor one, and therefore I add that it was very good, 
 smooth, even free from stones, and hard. The con- 
 dition of Ireland is a burning, glaring disgrace and 
 shame. The statesmanship that through all these 
 years has been unable to devise and apply remedies 
 for the amelioration of the sufferings of this gener- 
 ous, kindly and well-meaning people is weak and 
 criminal, and deserves to be wiped out, peaceably or 
 forcibly, as circumstances may require. If England 
 cannot govern Ireland decently, so that it will cease 
 to offend the sense and wring the hearts of civilized 
 beholders, she ought to be made to ' step down and 
 out' We rode forty miles through lauds wholly 
 owned by two men, and one of these men had not 
 been upon his estate for more than three years. The 
 estates are managed by agents, who are instructed 
 and compelled to squeeze and wrench every possible 
 dollar, yes, farthing, from the starving tenants and
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 933 
 
 forward it to the owner, who spends it in London or 
 the continental cities. If the tenant improves the 
 estate, as soon as his lease expires his rent is raised 
 to the full value of the improvements, or he is at 
 once evicted and robbed of all his labors. The land- 
 lords refuse to give long leases, and thus no im- 
 pulse of ambition, no light of hope, is permitted 
 birth in the poor man's heart. I made a point of 
 talking with the peasantry, and found they fully 
 understand their grievances, and, although they 
 have no definite plan for their redress, some leader 
 will be raised up who will direct and guide their 
 desperation into such effective form that English 
 selfishness and conceit will be compelled to give it 
 heed." 
 
 When we read such statements from the impartial 
 pens of foreigners, we ask, Is it any wonder that 
 Ireland is disloyal and rebellious, and only thirsting 
 for the opportunity to fling off the English yoke? 
 
 The cry of land reform had been taken up from 
 time to time by able men in Ireland and England ; 
 for generations it had been the subject of political 
 agitation and parliamentary debate. The Devon 
 Commission had made ample investigation of its 
 principles and its operation. Mr. Sharman Craw- 
 ford had in vain devoted an honest life to the 
 advocacy of tenant-right. Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Chi- 
 chester Fortescue and Lord Naas had introduced 
 measures trying more or less feebly to deal with 
 Irish land tenure. Nothing came of all this. The 
 supposed right of the landlord stopped the way. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone came into power as a reformer, and
 
 834 POPULAB HISTOBY OF IRELAND. 
 
 in justice to him it must be said that he has done 
 much to break down the feudal barriers that hedged 
 in landlordism. In truth he was the first English 
 statesman to recognize the fact that the tillers of the 
 soil had b^ino right in its products ; and he 
 declared in a speech delivered by him on an election- 
 eering tour, that the Irish upas tree had three great 
 branches the State Church, the Land Tenure Sys- 
 tem, and the System of Education and that he 
 meant to hew them all down if he could. 
 
 After such an announcement as this, no one was 
 surprised when, on February 15th, 1870, Mr. Glad- 
 stone introduced his Irish Land Bill into the House 
 of Commons. The measure was one of far greater 
 importance as regarded its principles than it proved 
 to be in its practical operation. In plain words, 
 what it did was to recognize the fact that the whole 
 system of land tenure in Ireland, so far as it was the 
 creature of law, was based upon a wrong principle. 
 Mr. Gladstone's measure overthrew once for all the 
 doctrine of the landlord's absolute and unlimited 
 right. It recognized a certain property or partner- 
 ship of the tenant in the land which he tilled. 
 
 After considerable discussion, the bill passed both 
 houses without any substantial changes or alterations, 
 and on August 1st it received the royal assent 
 
 Gladstone's Irish Land Bill did not prove as great 
 a boon as was anticipated. 
 
 The landlord class, always alive to their selfish in- 
 terest, found means to frustrate the good intentions 
 of the bill, and the result was increased evictions 
 followed by agrarian outrage*
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OE IRELAND. 935 
 
 An event which caused much sorrow in England 
 and throughout the civilized world was the sudden 
 death of Charles Dickens, which took place on June 
 8th, 1870. 
 
 Gladstone, as a proof of his sincerity to effect 
 judicious reforms, introduced other important mea- 
 sures. 
 
 He had pledged himself to abolish the State 
 Church, which he had accomplished ; to reform the 
 Irish land tenure, which he found a herculean 
 task ; and to establish vote by ballot, which he 
 finally succeeded in doing. While the Government 
 was thus wrestling with public opinion in Ireland, 
 and making certain concessions in the shape of 
 reforms, the war broke out between France and 
 Germany, which proved so disastrous to the former, 
 and ended by the dethronement of Napoleon and 
 the establishment of a French Republic. 
 
 In Ireland the Home Rule party were daily in- 
 creasing in power and influence, and on the 18th of 
 September, 1873, a conference was held in Dublin 
 in the great circular hall of the Rotunda, where the 
 celebrated Convention of the Irish Volunteers, under 
 the Earl of Charlemont, held their deliberations in 
 1783. 
 
 Mr. William Shaw, M. P. for Cork, was elected 
 president. With scarcely an alteration, the principles 
 and programme of the Home Government Associa- 
 tion were affirmed by national authority, and that 
 organization thereupon being dissolved, a new one, 
 "The Irish Home Rule League," was established to 
 take charge of the national movement.
 
 936 *OPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Nothing could better exemplify the temper of the 
 people in favor of Home Eule than the fact that 
 when vacancies occurred in the representation of 
 Kilkenny and other counties, the Home Rule candi- 
 dates were elected under most trying circumstances, 
 and when Gladstone suddenly dissolved Parliament 
 in January, 1874, and appealed to the country, the 
 Home Rulers returned to Parliament with about 
 sixty members pledged to support the movement. 
 
 The death of Louis Napoleon in 1873 allayed the 
 fears of England and Germany, as well as of the 
 young Republic of France, against a monarchical 
 restoration in favor of the Napoleon dynasty. 
 
 About this time, too, Lord Lytton, the brilliant 
 novelist ; Dr. Livingstone, the famous explorer and 
 missionary ; John Stuart Mill, and other eminent 
 men, died. 
 
 If Mr. Gladstone in his coup d'etat had surprised 
 the country, the country in return surprised him, for 
 on the assembling ol the new Parliament Mr. Glad- 
 stone found himself in a hopeless minority, and 
 therefore resigned the Premiership in favor of 
 Disraeli. 
 
 The new Parliament opened with a Conservative 
 ministry not only in office but in power. Mr. 
 Disraeli found liimself at the head of three hundred 
 and sixty devoted followers ; while not more than 
 about two hundred and forty stood beneath the 
 banner of the late Premier. As to the remaining 
 sixty, a state of things previously unknown was 
 about to present itself. Immediately on the conclu- 
 sion of the elections, the Irish Home Rule members
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 937 
 
 assembled in the council-chamber of the City Hall, 
 Dublin, and after deliberation earnest and prolonged 
 adopted resolutions constituting themselves "a 
 separate and distinct party in the House of Com- 
 mons." In truth it was upon this understanding, 
 expressed or implied, they were one and all returned. 
 They forthwith proceeded to make the requisite 
 arrangements to such an end. Nine of their body 
 were elected to act as an executive council. Secre- 
 taries and " whips " were duly appointed. Motions 
 and measures were agreed upon for introduction. 
 Thus constituted, marshaled, and organized, the 
 Irish Home Rulers took their seats in the imperial 
 Parliament. 
 
 They decided to offer a bridge to the opposing 
 forces of Irish demand and English refusal. Apart 
 from the question of Home Rule, which they knew 
 would require much time, they resolved to lay before 
 the House of Commons several schemes of practical 
 legislation, the merits of which could hardly be con- 
 tested, and the success of which might fairly be 
 expected. The concession of these would, on the 
 one hand, lead the English people gradually to look 
 into the nature of Irish claims, and, on the other 
 hand, lead the Irish people to place more confidence 
 in constitutional effort. It was probably the best 
 and wisest policy such a party could devise. " You 
 will gain nothing by it," said some amongst them ; 
 " you will accomplish nothing by this moderation. 
 You will be blindly voted down all the same. It is 
 a policy of combat you should set yourselves to 
 pursue." "We s r ^ll try that, if we must; but not
 
 938 lOPULAB HISTORY OF IBELAND. 
 
 if we can avoid it," answered the Home Rule 
 chiefs. 
 
 Amidst such circumstances, beset by such diffi- 
 culties, inspired by such hopes, facing so grave a 
 problem, the Irish Home Rule Party pushed for- 
 ward from 1874 to 1877, the exponents of a new 
 policy, the representatives of a New Ireland at 
 Westminster. 
 
 Mr. A. M. Sullivan sums up their hopes, their 
 fears and disappointment as follows : 
 
 " From 1874 to 1878 the policy thus stated was 
 steadily pursued. For the first two or three years, 
 with a hopefulness of spirit that was blind to all dis- 
 couragement, Mr. Butt led his forces to the cheerless 
 endeavor. The gloomy prophecies were but too 
 darkly fulfilled. He was, indeed, 'blindly voted 
 down all the same.' It was not merely that his 
 Home Rule motions were overwhelmed ; but even 
 on what his adversaries themselves would call 
 practical questions of the simplest character and 
 most notorious utility, the strength of a combined 
 Conservative and Liberal majority was mercilessly 
 used to crush him. In every division the vote of 
 Ireland that is, the votes given by Irish represent- 
 atives of every section and party showed a remark- 
 able preponderance in one direction ; while the over- 
 bearing vote of Great Britain, on these purely 
 domestic Irish affairs, was just as preponderatingly 
 in the other. As to the Home Rule motions, the 
 first (Amendment to the Address, on the 20th March, 
 1874), exhibited these results : Irish vote ayes, 48; 
 noes, 26 defeated by 288 British votes. The second
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 939 
 
 (2nd July, 1874), Irish vote ayes, 53 ; noes, 37 
 defeated by 421 British votes. The third (30th 
 June, 1876), Irish vote ayes, 52 ; noes, 33 rejected 
 by 258 British votes. The fourth (24th April, 1877) 
 showed similar results. 
 
 "This, however, it may be said, was on a question 
 held by all British parties to be ' beyond the range 
 of practical politics.' But the Irish questions within 
 that range fared just the same. The questions of 
 this latter class, which the Irish members declared 
 to be of most importance, were a Land Bill and a 
 Grand Jury Reform Bill. Besides these, they 
 exhibited, moreover, a perseverance, nay, a pertina- 
 city, that might well have moved their foes to admi- 
 ration, in endeavors to assimilate the laws relating to 
 Borough and Municipal Franchise in Ireland and 
 England. Again and again, session after session, 
 they pointed to the indisputable fact that they sought 
 nothing for Irish municipalities or Irish voters, in 
 borough or county, that English municipalities and 
 English voters did not already enjoy. In vain all 
 in vain." 
 
 Though the Home Rule agitation in Ireland was 
 kept under the lash and frown of the British Gov- 
 ernment, the people showed their utter contempt of 
 British law and the British Parliament by electing 
 O'Donovan Rossa, who was then serving out his term 
 in prison, as member of Parliament for Tipperary. 
 The Government and their auxiliaries in Ireland 
 became furious at this outrage, and of course 
 declared the election illegal In the next contest, 
 Charles Kickham, who had been just released from
 
 940 POPULAB HISTORY OF IBELAKD. 
 
 prison, and whose death we have lately to lament 
 was taken up by the gallant people of Tipperary, 
 and though the Government threw into the scales all 
 its influence, men, money and arms, against the 
 people, Kickham was defeated only by four votes in 
 such a vast constituency, and this small victory was 
 secured by bribery and intimidation. 
 
 The bold peasantry of Tipperary chafed under 
 this defeat, and demanded the resignation of Mr. 
 White, the successful candidate, alleging that he 
 was not the choice of the people, and with a unani- 
 mous shout they called on John Mitchell, the felon, 
 to fill his place. He responded by leaving for Ire- 
 land, and on Saturday, July 25th, 1874, he arrived in 
 Queenstown, the port from whence he was carried 
 away hi chains twenty-six years before, in the convict 
 ship the Scourge. * 
 
 He returned to New York after visiting his friends 
 in Ulster, as no vacancy occurred just then ; but, in 
 January, 1875, Colonel White resigned, and Mitchell 
 was telegraphed to leave for Ireland, which he did, 
 but before his arrival there he was elected member 
 of Parliament for Tipperary. 
 
 The Government at once moved Parliament to 
 quash the return, on the ground that John Mitchell 
 was an unpardoned " felon," basing their action on 
 the precedent set by Mr. Gladstone in the case of 
 O'Donovan Rossa. The cases were widely different. 
 
 * It ueems the Scourge quitted the harbor in a shower of rain, 
 whlcb, to Mitchell's regret, noon hid the land from view. It hap- 
 pened that when the steamer by which he arrived in 1874 ent< red 
 the port, rain was falling heavily. "Good Godl" he exclaimed, 
 with a humorous emile, "La not that shower oror vet ?"
 
 POPT7LAB HISTOBT OF IRELAND. 941 
 
 It was held by competent lawyers that John Mitchell'i 
 term of "transportation" had been endured and 
 fulfilled " beyond the seas " ; and as to his escape 
 from Australia in 1854, the Crown lawyers, though 
 again and again explicitly charged and challenged 
 on the subject, flinched from the fatal point that 
 (owing to circumstances needless to detail here) 
 Mitchell was not in legal custody when taken from 
 Cape Town to Tasmania. The House of Commons, 
 however, in dealing with Irish disaffection, cares 
 little for law or constitution, but goes straight to the 
 object of " supporting the Government." The elec- 
 tion of Mitchell was annulled. A new writ was 
 issued. Again he was put in nomination this time 
 despite the remonstrances of the Home Rule leaders, 
 who saw what was at hand. A local ultramarine 
 Conservative had himself nominated, polled a hand- 
 ful of votes, and successfully claimed the seat, though 
 Mitchell headed him by thousands. Before any 
 formal decision on the subject could be delivered, 
 the controversy was tragically ended. While the 
 voices of the multitude were saluting John Mitchell 
 victor, Death was claiming him as his own. He 
 returned to the old family seat at Dromolane, where 
 he quietly breathed his last, and was laid to rest in 
 the old family burying-ground, where within a week 
 the incorruptible John Martin was laid beside him. 
 The vacancy in the representation of Meath, 
 caused by the death of John Martin, was filled by a 
 young man who was destined to effect a revolution 
 greater than O'ConnelTs in Irish politics.
 
 942 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 This Protestant young gentleman was no other 
 than Charles Stewart ParnelL 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. THE LAND LEAGUE AGITA- 
 TION. EXCITEMENT IN IRELAND. SUSPENSION OF 
 THE HABEAS CORPUS. ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT. 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF LORD CAVENDISH AND MR. 
 BURKE. THE CEREMONIES OF THE UNVAILING OF 
 THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT AND THE OPENING OF 
 THE DUBLIN EXHIBITION, AUGUST ISra, 1882. 
 
 Charles Stewart Parnell came of a family always 
 dear and faithful to the Irish people. 
 
 On the roll of the Irish Parliament, in the crisis 
 of its fate, the names of Sir John Parnell, and of 
 Henry Parnell, his son, filled a prominent and an 
 honorable place. The former had been Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer ; but, recoiling from Pitt's proposal 
 to subvert the Irish Constitution, he refused to 
 support the Government in such a policy, and, after 
 bribes and blandishments had failed to allure him, 
 was dismissed to make room for the celebrated Isaac 
 Corry. In the column of "Observations" in the 
 famous " Red List " of Sir Jonah Harrington, there 
 appears opposite the name of " Right Hon. Sir John 
 Parnell " the one word, " Incorruptible." Both oi 
 these Parnells, father and son, stood by Henry 
 Grattau to the last. We know of no family in whom,
 
 K>FtTLAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 943 
 
 for a well-authenticated record of two hundred years, 
 the virtues of public integrity and private worth, as 
 well as rare gifts of intellect, have been more con- 
 spicuously hereditary than in the Parnells. 
 
 Here it might not be out of place to say a few 
 words about this remarkable young man himself. 
 
 Mr. Parnsll was born in the ancestral mansion at 
 Avondale, in June, 1846. Not only was he wholly 
 educated in England and by Englishmen, but it may 
 be said" that from the age of six years until he had 
 reached man's estate his life was passed on the Eng- 
 lish side of the Channel. The Parnells, although 
 so intensely Irish, and such devoted friends of the 
 Catholics, were always earnestly religious Protestants; 
 and Mrs. Parnell tells us " particular pains were taken 
 to place Charles with manifestly kind and religious 
 people." At the age of six years he was placed at 
 school in Yeovil, Somersetshire ; next, with the Rev. 
 Mr. Barton, at Kirk-Langley, Derbyshire ; next, 
 with the Rev. Mr. "Wishaw, in Oxfordshire ; and 
 eventuaUy at Cambridge University the University 
 of which his father was a graduate. Although the 
 strong individuality of his American republican 
 mother a lady of remarkable intellectual power 
 cannot have been without its effect on him, young 
 ParnelTs political leanings up to the year 1867 were 
 rather conservative and aristocratic. 
 
 The executions of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, at 
 Manchester, made a deep impression on the heart of 
 young Parnell, and his Irish feeling and patriotism 
 soon after asserted themselves. After completing 
 his education he spent a few years in travel, ancl
 
 944 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 returned to bis ancestral home at Avondale in 1871, 
 to enter on his duties as a landed proprietor. He 
 soon afterwards formed the Home Rule League. 
 
 A vacancy having occurred in the County Dublin, 
 the League decided on running young Parnell 
 against Colonel Taylor. It was a forlorn hope. 
 
 Mr. A. M. Sullivan says, speaking of the public 
 meeting held to select a candidate : 
 
 " Mr. Parnell made his debut in public life. The 
 resolution which I had moved in his favor having 
 been adopted with acclamation, he came forward to 
 address the assemblage. To our dismay he broke 
 down utterly. He faltered, he paused, went on, got 
 confused, and, pale with intense but subdued 
 nervous anxiety, caused e<Fery one to feel deep sym- 
 pathy for him. The audience saw it all, and cheered 
 him kindly and heartily ; but many on the platform 
 shook their heads, sagely prophesying that if ever he 
 got to Westminster, no matter how long he stayed 
 there, he would either be a "Silent Member," or be 
 known as " Single-speech Parnell." 
 
 A silent member, or single-speech Parnell! Oh, 
 far-sighted individuals! Oh, men of prophetic 
 power! What would the House of Commons not 
 give what would Her Majesty's Ministers not give 
 to-day that your words had come true ! 
 
 Colonel Taylor was re-elected easily ; but "Young 
 Parnell " had borne himself so gallantly in the fight 
 that, on the death of John Martin, as already men- 
 tioned, in the spring of 1875, he was adopted as the 
 Home Rule candidate for Meath, and, despite a 
 severe contest, was triumphantly returned.
 
 POPTTLAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 945 
 
 As it now turns out, that was a not uneventful day 
 in the parliamentary history of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Parnell was at first a rather taciturn member of 
 Parliament, but gradually he gained confidence, and 
 assailed Government measures with such scathing 
 vehemence, that those who looked upon him with 
 feelings of forbearance now began to wonder and 
 admire. 
 
 He thwarted the Government in their schemes, 
 and exposed their crimes and their weakness in a 
 scathing, cold-blooded manner. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1877, the Mutiny Bill was 
 brought before the House, and never did Parnell 
 appear to better advantage than in the debate that 
 followed. He showed up the brutality of the lash, 
 the triangle, and other means of torturing the un- 
 fortunate soldier, in such a light that English mem- 
 bers almost felt ashamed of themselves as well as of 
 these relics of barbarism. 
 
 "Meantime," says Mr. Sullivan, "around the 
 young Meath member and his headlong followers 
 the popular opinion of Ireland had gathered and 
 intensified day by day. Every shriek of anger in the 
 English press was answered by a shout of rapturous 
 exultation on the Irish shore. Every attempt of 
 Parliament to censure, to punish, or to humiliate 
 Mr. Parnell, raised him higher and higher in the 
 esteem of his countrymen. Although still professing 
 himself merely a private member of the Irish Party 
 under Mr. Butt, he utterly dominated the titular 
 leader. The Man of Moderation, the Policy of
 
 946 K>PULAR HI8TOKY OP IBELAND. 
 
 Conciliation, had had their day. The Man and the 
 Policy of Combat were now to have their turn. " 
 
 The Irish people soon began to realize the terrible 
 fact that the frightful scenes of the famine years 
 again threatened them. The harvest of 1877 was a 
 i'ailure, yet the landlords exacted their rents to the 
 last penny. The harvest of 1878 was also a failure, 
 and a gloomy foreboding began to seize men's minds. 
 The poor farmers borrowed and raised money by 
 every possible means, in order to pay the landlords. 
 
 In the winter of 1878, the Irish farmers woke up 
 to the terrible fact that, on the hazard of yet another 
 crop, that of 1879, their very existence hung. The 
 desperate rack-rents of the rising times lay heavy on 
 them. They were deeply in debt to the banks, to 
 the guano agents, and seedsmen. Yet at all sacri- 
 fices, and at any price, further credit must be had, or 
 means obtained to put in the 1879 crop, and tide 
 over the months to the autumn of that year. Now, 
 indeed, they bitterly realized that the Land Act of 
 1870 was but a " monument of good intentions." It 
 had been wholly impotent to protect them from the 
 dexterous and relentless confiscation wrought by a 
 yearly twist of the rent-screw. And Parliament 1 At 
 the very moment these gloomy apprehensions were 
 silently darkening the land, the House of Commons 
 had once more contemptuously refused even an 
 inquiry into the Irish Land Question. * 
 
 *For facts connected with the parliamentary career of Mr. 
 Parnell and Irish affairs, we are greatly indebted to Mr. A. M. 
 Sullivan's Neva Ireland.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 947 
 
 The winter months of 1878-'79 were tided over 
 with great difficulty by the poor farmers, but starva- 
 tion threatened thousands who had nothing but 
 their daily wages to live upon. 
 
 The peasantry of Conneruara and other parts of 
 Connaught were actually starving, and the " begging- 
 box " was already going around for them. In April, 
 1879, a meeting was held in Mayo at which Michael 
 Davitt came to the front as a land agitator. The 
 history of this remarkable man was full of suffering 
 and devotion. Michael Davitt's father was evicted 
 in the terrible famine years, and he and his family 
 crossed over to England, and settled at Haslingden, 
 Lancashire. He never forgot his early wrongs and 
 Buffering, and the boy grew up to be a Fenian and a 
 bitter hater of England. 
 
 He lost his arm by its being crushed by a wheel in 
 the mill where he worked. He had then to take up 
 other pursuits, which brought him more closely in 
 connection with the Fenians. 
 
 In 1870 young Davitt was arrested in London, 
 charged with being an arms-agent for the Fenians, 
 tried, convicted, and sentenced to fifteen years penal 
 servitude. A painful shock, a keen sense of wanton 
 severity, went through all who knew him, for they all 
 loved the frank, fearless, honorable young Irishman, 
 and wept at his fate. For seven years he endured the 
 horrors of penal servitude in association with crimi- 
 nals of such loathsome character that he never spoke 
 of them afterwards save with a shudder. In 1878 he 
 was, as it was called, " amnestied," the " amnesty " 
 taking the shape of the ordinary ticket-of-leave
 
 948 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 given to murderers and burglars ; but this the 
 Government said was only a matter of form. Along 
 with him were liberated Sergeant-Major MacCarthy 
 and two or three others of the political prisoners 
 MacCarthy being now in the last gasp of heart dis- 
 ease, and it may be said, liberated only to die. On 
 their arrival in Dublin, an immense concourse of 
 the inhabitants more than a hundred thousand 
 people with bands and banners, turned out to 
 greet them. Next morning Davitt and MacCarthy 
 were about to breakfast with Mr. Parnell at his 
 hotel, when MacCarthy complained of a sudden 
 faintness. Davitt sprang to his side, evidently 
 fearing the worst. Putting his arm tenderly around 
 his much-loved fellow-prisoner, he bore him to a 
 sofa. The others rushed to his aid, and saw that it 
 was all over with MacCarthy that the wife and 
 children in the south of Ireland whom he was hur- 
 rying off by that day's train to meet would hear 
 his voice no more. Davitt, sobbing like a child, 
 bent over him, and soon the faithful comrade's tears 
 were falling on the face of the dead. 
 
 Davitt paid a hasty visit to the United States to 
 see his mother, and sister who resided there. 
 While there he held council with Fenians and others 
 prominently identified with Irish national matters, 
 lie had a scheme which was no other than the total 
 abolition of landlordism and the substitution of 
 peasant proprietors. 
 
 "Having," writes Mr. Sullivan, "secured the 
 good-will, if not actual co-operation, of a fair num- 
 ber of influential friends amongst the Advanced
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IltELAND. 949 
 
 Irishmen in the States, he returned to Ireland ; for 
 the question still remained whether this New 
 DepartHre, with its novel eclecticism, would take at 
 home. How would the Home Rulers like to see a 
 movement pushed to the front that might, for a time 
 at all events, hide away their own ? How would 
 the remnants of the Fenian battalions broken, dis- 
 rupted, scattered, weakened, but not destroyed 
 take to a course of action which was to be open and 
 above-board, avoiding violence and illegality, and 
 working only by the ordinary modes of political 
 warfare ? Above all and this seemed his greatest 
 obstacle how would the public men, the Catholic 
 clergy, and the existing Tenant-Right Organizations 
 (all pledged to a joint-proprietary-interest or Laiid- 
 lord-and-Tenant scheme of settlement) receive a 
 project, the first principle of which was to decry 
 and contemn as utterly inadequate " the Three F's," 
 till now the maximum of the tenants' demands ? 
 Davitt faced all these difficulties. After much, 
 quiet, patient, unobtrusive but arduous labor, he 
 determined to raise the standard in his native coun- 
 try, and almost on the site of the ruined hearth 
 that, thirty years ago, was his father's home. This 
 he did by organizing the demonstration above 
 referred to, held at Irishtown on the 28th of April, 
 1879. He himself was prevented from being present 
 by missing a railway train, but the meeting was 
 attended and addressed by Mr. Daly, of Castlebar 
 (who presided) ; by Mr. O'Connor Power, M.P. ; 
 Mr. John Ferguson, of Glasgow ; Mr. Thomai 
 Brennan, and Mr. J. J. Louden, B.L,"
 
 950 POPULAR HISTORY OF ERELAXD. 
 
 This was the beginning of the Irish Land War of 
 1879-1882. 
 
 At first the Irish members and Home Rule 
 leaders took no part in the new departure. They 
 anxiously watched it. They knew that it was a 
 scheme not to be lightly embraced. 
 
 Meantime it became evident that there was a 
 famine in Ireland, and the Irish members appealed 
 to the House, only to be laughed at for their ground- 
 less fears. On the 27th of May, 1879, the Irish 
 members, finding that Parliament was about being 
 adjourned without doing anything for Ireland, 
 resolved to force the subject on the attention of 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnell said " he rose for the purpose of 
 calling attention to the deplorable and unendurable 
 condition of the landed interests in Ireland. The 
 Land Bill of the Right Hon. gentleman, the mem- 
 ber for Greenwich (Mr. Gladstone), was a monument 
 of the good intentions of that Right Hon. gentle- 
 man rather than of the capacity of English parties 
 to deal with Irish questions." 
 
 He then proceeded to entreat the attention of the 
 Government and of Parliament to the troubles that 
 were gathering in Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Justin McCarthy said "he was perfectly 
 certain that the distress in Ireland had become so 
 great as to render an attempt by Parliament to 
 deal with the question imperative and unavoidable. 
 They (the Irish members) heard from farmers, from 
 priests, and peasants alike that the crisis was immi- 
 nent, urgent, and even perilous."
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 951 
 
 Mr. O'Connor Power said "bow long did they 
 think the Irish people would submit to have their 
 grievances postponed for the convenience of the 
 Government ? If Parliament did not come forward, 
 within a reasonable time, with some measure of 
 legislation calculated to relieve the depression of 
 the present state of agriculture in Ireland, scenea 
 would arise in Ireland that would be far more dan- 
 gerous to the rights of property, and to the order 
 and tranquillity which should prevail in that country, 
 than any that Ireland had been afflicted with in her 
 long struggle with the ignorance, if not incompe- 
 tency, of the English Parliament. If those warnings 
 were now unheeded, and Pai-liament should plead 
 for further delay, the consequences must be fixed 
 on their own shoulders." 
 
 Mr. A. M. Sullivan said " there could be no doubt 
 that there was alarming distress among the agricul- 
 tural interests, not only of Ireland, but of Great 
 Britain. He would neither express, nor join in ex- 
 pressing, any wholesale indictment against the land- 
 lords of Ireland. They fell, in his opinion, far short 
 in many respects ; but he had never failed to admit 
 that in their errors and shortcomings they might be 
 the creatures of circumstances, and that they pos- 
 sessed a great many excellent qualities which were 
 
 not always remembered There was yet 
 
 sufficient time to grapple with the evil." 
 
 Mr. Parnell said " he knew from experience that 
 great agricultural distress prevailed in Ireland. He 
 was talking the other day with a cess-collector who 
 told him that he had never had such difficulty,
 
 952 POPUIAB HISTOBY OP IBELAKD. 
 
 since 1847, in getting money from the farmers. 
 . . . . He would not prolong the discussion 
 on that occasion ; but unless the Government were 
 ready to afford some opportunities for the consider- 
 ation of these subjects after Whitsuntide, and unless 
 they intended, at all events, to do something in the 
 direction of the recommendations of Mr. Shaw 
 Lefevre's Committee, the question was one which 
 would have to be taken up by the Irish members in 
 a firm and determined fashion. It was one which 
 deeply affected their constituencies, and even if 
 they were disposed to hang back a little on the 
 subject, the constituencies would not allow them." 
 
 Mr. T. P. O'Connor, T. M. Healy, Biggar, Gray, 
 Sexton, Kelly, Dillon, Sullivan, and other members, 
 recognized leaders of advanced ideas, followed in 
 the same strain. 
 
 The House resented the idea that there was any 
 danger of starvation in Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Lowther, Secretary for Ireland, pooh-poohed 
 the 'whole affair, laughed at the idea of a crisis 
 in Ireland, and angrily resented the interference of 
 the Irish members. 
 
 That debate sealed the fate of landlordism in Ire- 
 land. The Irish members left the House, sore at 
 heart, and feeling that concessions could be 
 wrung from England only through menace and 
 fear. Parnell declared himself in favor of Davitt's 
 desperate scheme, and proceeded to Ireland to join 
 the movement. 
 
 On the 8th of June, 1879, he appeared on the 
 itand with Davitt at the Westport meeting, when
 
 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 963 
 
 he uttered the memorable sentence : "Keep a firm 
 grip of your homesteads." 
 
 On the 21st of October, at a meeting in Dublin of 
 tenant-farmer delegates from all parts of Ireland, 
 was founded " The Irish National Land League." 
 
 The principles and purposes of the organization 
 were set forth in the following resolutions : 
 
 1. That the objects of the League are, first, to 
 bring about a reduction of rack-rents ; second, to 
 facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil 
 by the occupiers. 
 
 2. That the objects of the League can be best 
 obtained by promoting organization among tenant- 
 farmers ; by defending those who may be threatened 
 with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by 
 facilitating the working of the Bright Clauses of 
 the Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining 
 such reform in the laws relating to land as will 
 enable every tenant to become the owner of his 
 holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number 
 of years. 
 
 Thus was founded, perhaps, the most powerful 
 political organization that Ireland has ever had. 
 At this meeting Mr. Parnell was elected President ; 
 Mi\ Patrick Egan, Treasurer ; Mr, Michael Davitt 
 and Mr. Thomas Brennan, Secretaries. 
 
 The Government at once recognizing the weight 
 of this new power, denounced its members as Fen- 
 ians in disguise, concealed rebels, and the like. 
 While the fact was, the National element was 
 bitterly opposed to the organization, for they looked 
 upon it as a revival of agitation in which they had
 
 954 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 no faith. They might have clashed had not th 
 counsel of cool-headed men prevailed, who made a 
 kind of compromise, so that one organization might 
 be a prop to the other without interfering with its 
 internal affairs. 
 
 The Catholic clergy soon came to look upon the 
 movement favorably, and many of them became its 
 warmest advocates. 
 
 A new and terrible agent gave a powerful impe- 
 tus to the Land League movement. This was 
 famine famine which threatened Ireland with the 
 terrible visitations of '47 and '48. The harvest of 
 '79 was a failure, the potato crop blighted beyond 
 hope. The black worst had come. Famine was 
 stalking through the land. 
 
 Mr. Parnell saw that the League must convert 
 itself into a relief committee. He and John 
 Dillon decided on going to the United States to 
 appeal to the Irish there for the relief of their kin- 
 dred at home. 
 
 John Dillon was the second son of John Dillon 
 who was so prominently connected with the '48 
 movement, and was the worthy successor of his 
 patriotic father. 
 
 On the 14th of December, 1879, Messrs. Parnell 
 and Dillon sailed from Queenstown for America. 
 They were greeted in New York with public and 
 ofiicial reception, and in all the chief cities of the 
 Union were welcomed with military parade and 
 popular enthusiasm as the Ambassadors of Ireland 
 to America. A few weeks later they were joined 
 by Mr. T. M. Healy. Mr. Healy was just then
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 955 
 
 known to the outer world only as "Private Secre 
 tary to Mr. Parnell," but he was destined to make 
 his mark in the British Parliament. An honor, 
 never but once before, since the days of Washington, 
 vouchsafed by the Congress of the United States to 
 any man, citizen or stranger, was extended to Mr. 
 Parnell ; he was invited to address the Chamber on 
 the Case of Ireland. From State to State, from 
 town to town, he and his colleagues sped ; speaking 
 to immense and enthusiastic masses of people. In 
 three months they obtained not far from 250,000 
 dollars for the relief of distress in Ireland, besides 
 several thousands for the political purposes of the 
 Land League. 
 
 They obtained something much more serious. 
 This embassy, it may be said, resulted in the intro- 
 duction of a new and important factor into Irish, or 
 rather into British politics, namely, a strong, a per- 
 manent and systematized supply of financial support 
 for political purposes in Ireland. 
 
 Meantime, throughout all the western districts of 
 Ireland scenes harrowing and heart-rending beyond 
 description were to be witnessed. The cry of anguish 
 and despair rose on every breeze. It was like a 
 ghastly recurrence of " Forty-Seven." In the schools 
 as some of the teachers, with moistened eyes, told 
 the story the terrible state of affairs at home could 
 be read in the pinched and haggard countenances 
 of the children. Inquiry revealed the fact in thou- 
 sands and thousands of cases that they came to 
 school every morning without a morsel of food since 
 the previous day, and could at best only hope for
 
 956 POPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 their share once a day of whatever the father or 
 mother might beg or borrow from others nearly aa 
 poor as themselves. Next, the teachers observed 
 the clothing, on the little girls especially, getting 
 lanker and thinner, as the under-garments, few at 
 best, went, shred by shred, to the village pawn-shop. 
 Day by day, teacher and monitor could mark the 
 gradual effects of gnawing hunger on the little faces, 
 until one by one they were missed altogether from 
 the school and added to the cemetery.* 
 
 The " process " in Ireland is a veritable terror to 
 the people ; it means eviction, death by the road- 
 side or the poor-house. A party of bailiffs started 
 out with a load of these death-sentences of the poor, 
 to a place called Carraroe, Connemara, on the 6th of 
 January, 1880. It was a matter of death to the 
 wretched peasants, and women for few men were at 
 home fiercely assailed the bailiffs, actually flinging 
 themselves on the bayonets of the police who guarded 
 them. 
 
 The bailiffs and police were routed. This was the 
 Lexington of the agrarian revolution in Ireland. It 
 was the first blow in the war against rent 
 
 Relief committees were established in various 
 places, while the bailiffs and the police were abroad 
 seizing on the starving peasants' wretched furniture 
 and clothing for rent, and serving them with notices 
 to quit. Is it any wonder that there were outrages 
 and bloody reprisals over the West of Ireland ? 
 
 Famine was spreading. The Government was 
 apathetic and listless, and not until shamed into it 
 
 "New Ireland," bj A.. M.
 
 *6i>tfLAR BISTORT Of IRELAND. 967 
 
 by the action of America did they even recognize its 
 existence. 
 
 Three Central organizations for the relief of the 
 famine districts were formed. One was got up by 
 the Duchess of Marlborough, her husband being 
 then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The other waa 
 the Mansion House Committee, which was established 
 by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Edward Dwyer Gray, M. P., 
 and the. third was under the management of the 
 Land League. 
 
 The Mansion House Committee, despite the ill- 
 concealed jealousy of the good Duchess's rival 
 organization, was the most important and successful 
 of the three Relief Bodies, thanks to the indomitable 
 zeal and energy of Mr. Gray, the Lord Mayor. But 
 for its efforts (bravely supplemented by the Duchesa 
 and the Land League) the trap-coffin of '47 would 
 have been at work again. Even as it was, hunger 
 and plague made a grim score on the western sea- 
 board. 
 
 In March, 1880, Lord Beaconsfield suddenly 
 dissolved Parliament. Casting about for a good 
 election " cry," he decided to go to the country on 
 the charge that Mr. Gladstone and the Liberals had 
 dangerous sympathies with the Irish Home Rule 
 Party meditated the concession of Home Rule, in 
 fact a "policy of decomposition" he called it. 
 His own policy, however, in the raising of such a 
 cry, proved to be the real " policy of decomposition," 
 for in a few short weeks it effectually decomposed 
 the Conservative party. Never was rout more dis- 
 astrous than that which they suffered at the polls,
 
 958 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Home Rule leaders called upon Irishmen every- 
 where to sink every other consideration, and strike 
 hard against the Minister who thus had made hos- 
 tility to Ireland his battle-cry. This call was 
 responded to with strong enthusiasm; and it is 
 beyond all question that in England alone some 
 thirty or forty seats were carried by the Irish vote. 
 Mr. Sullivan, writing of the contest that followed, 
 says : " Mr. Parnell hurried home instantly. He 
 was not greatly pleased with what had been done ; 
 but he cordially recognized that we had acted for 
 the best. I informed him that I was one of those 
 most responsible for the course of action taken in 
 thus flinging all our force into the anti-ministerial 
 array ; and I gave him my reasons. He told me it 
 would have been infinitely better for Ireland to keep 
 the Conservatives in power, as Lord Beaconsfield 
 would infallibly bring England into some disastrous 
 European complication, the occurrence of which 
 would be the signal for concessions to Ireland far 
 beyond anything Gladstone would ever conceive. 
 It was now, however, undesirable or impracticable to 
 undo what had been done, but not all too late, as 
 Mr. Parnell considered, to accomplish a good deal 
 of what he had planned to do in Ireland. This was 
 to wage unsparing war, not so much on the Tories 
 as on the Nominal Home Rulers and confessed 
 Whigs. He struck at them fiercely North, South, 
 East and West. His great hindrance was a dearth 
 of suitable candidates ; but his theory was that any 
 candidate who ccfcdd be trusted for implicit obedience 
 to orders was preferable to the (personally) most
 
 2OFULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 estimable of men who could not. Pure luck, or 
 perhaps I should say the policy of desperate daring, 
 made Mr. Paruell in a few weeks ' The Organizer of 
 Victory.'" 
 
 The new Ministry, under Mr. Gladstone, was 
 constituted in May, 1880. Never were the hopes of 
 the people of Ireland so bright or full of promise 
 under any administration. Gladstone, who had dis- 
 endowed the Established Church, who had passed 
 the Land Bill of 1870, who was so generous in his 
 views on Irish subjects, was now at the head of the 
 Government. 
 
 His ad , out to office was hailed with warm sympa- 
 thies and bright hopes which were soon to be sadly 
 dissipated. 
 
 The state of Ireland was now desperate, poverty 
 and actual want and hunger overspread the land. 
 
 The doctrine that the people should not starve 
 though the landlords went without their rent, waa 
 preached broadcast, and was acted upon. The 
 farmers bound themselves into leagues not to pay 
 any more rack-rents, and only such as they could 
 afford after supporting themselves. This right of 
 the people to live was declared communistic by the 
 landlords and the Government, and they resolved to 
 crush it out by wholesale evictions. But they did 
 not calculate on the opposition they were to encounter 
 or the compact power of the organization raised up 
 against them. 
 
 When a landlord evicted a tenant, he found that 
 no one would take the farm, no one would work or 
 till it, so that it became a perfect waste on his hands.
 
 960 POPULAB HISTORY Of IBELAHIX 
 
 Worse than ibis, the other tenants on the estate 
 refused to pay any rent until the evicted tenant or 
 tenants were restored to their holding. 
 
 Some landlords wisely made concessions, and got 
 in return a fair rent, while others, who felt bound to 
 support the laws and Constitution that protected 
 Irish landlordism in its heartless extortions and ex- 
 terminations, evicted their tenants wholesale. To 
 do this, police and soldiers with cavalry patrols were 
 called into requisition, and soon Ireland was con- 
 verted into one vast garrison. The mischief was, 
 though, that as soon as the invading army was with- 
 drawn from one estate to carry out evictions on 
 others, the evicted tenants quietly retook possession 
 of their holdings, and the unfortunate landlord was 
 driven to beggary and desperation. Some notorious 
 oppressors, such as Lord Leitrim and Lord Mount- 
 morris, fared even worse, for they were mercilessly 
 shot down by their infuriated victims. 
 
 About this time the Boycotting system was 
 adopted. It took its name from a Captain Boycott, 
 who was a cruel and exacting agent of Lord Erne, 
 County Mayo. He defied the people, showing much 
 pluck and determination ; but, then, he was always 
 accompanied by a strong guard of police. His 
 servants left him, no one would work for him, no one 
 would associate with him or his family, and the 
 shopkeepers of the neighboring towns or villages 
 would not sell him anything. 
 
 Here was a trial of strength between the landlords 
 and the people. A hundred Orangemen from the 
 North volunteered to go to Mayo to eat and harvest
 
 20PULAB HISTORY OF IRELiND. 961 
 
 Captain Boycott's crops. They came escorted by 
 squadrons of infantry, artillery and cavalry. They 
 passed through the county like an invading army. 
 
 The people of Mayo contented themselves with 
 hooting, but would not sell them a morsel of food of 
 any kind, so that supplies had to be forwarded from 
 Dublin, and the soldiers had to encamp out as if in 
 actual war. At length Boycott's crops were harvested, 
 but at an expense of about four times their value, so 
 that both the Government and the landlords had to 
 abandon this mode of saving the harvest and of 
 collecting the rents, as it was too costly, and only 
 tended to expose them to ridicule. After this, when 
 any one was ostracised, it was said he was " Boycot- 
 ted,*' an application given to the name by Father 
 O'Malley and Mr. James Eedpath, the latter a gentle- 
 man sent over by the New York Tribune to write up 
 the state of Ireland, and who freely used his scathing 
 pen in excoriating the landlords and the tyrannical 
 oppression of the British Government in Ireland. 
 
 The Land League had spread over all Ireland. 
 Blanches were established in almost every town and 
 village, and a regular agrarian war was inaugurated. 
 
 In the United States the organization spread 
 rapidly after Mr. Parnell's visit to that country. In 
 1881 a convention of delegates met in Chicago, and 
 pledged themselves to support by every means in 
 their power the Land League in Ireland and their 
 platform as laid down at the Dublin Convention, 
 The officers elected at the convention wste ; P. A* 
 Collins, Boston, President; Bev. Lawrence Welsh, 
 Waterbury, Conn., Treasurer ; and Thomas Flattery
 
 962 K)PUUUR HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 Boston, Secretary. The organization soon spread 
 over the United States, and money was remitted in 
 tens of thousands of dollars. Between the holding 
 of the Chicago Convention in 1881 to that of the 
 "Washington Convention, April 12th, 1882, fully 
 one-half million of dollars was remitted to the 
 Land League at home from the United Statei 
 alone. 
 
 This money was employed in forwarding the 
 nt erests of the organization, and in relieving distress, 
 iparticularly among those who had been evicted from 
 their farms. 
 
 Meantime great things were expected from Glad- 
 stone's administration ; he had advocated a sweeping 
 land reform in Ireland, and now that he was in 
 power, great hopes were entertained. Even Parnell's 
 warning voice was unheeded in the general jubila- 
 tion. 
 
 Gladstone, as if in manifestation of his friendlj 
 disposition toward Ireland, introduced the "Dis- 
 turbance Bill," which was simply a short measure oi 
 two clauses, to render eviction for non-payment of 
 rent a disturbance of tenure within the meaning of 
 the 1870 Act that is to say, enabling the evicted 
 tenant to sue for compensation for loss of tenure and 
 for unexhausted improvements. It was to extend 
 only to tenants within certain specified "Distressed 
 Districts," and only such tenants as could show that 
 they were unable to pay by reason of the prevalent 
 distress. 
 
 It was whispered around that this was only the 
 prelude of his great land reform mtasura.
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF ISViLAND. 963 
 
 But when the Lords rejected the "Disturbance 
 Bill " the Irish members felt that there was no hope 
 of forcing through either House any bill worth 
 accepting. This was waging war on the Irish mem- 
 bers and the Irish tenantry. They recognized this 
 &ct, and those who were heretofore the staunch 
 advocates of land reform now went in for the total 
 abolition of landlordism. 
 
 Mr. Parnell, who had been elected to represent 
 three constituencies, but selected that of Cork, 
 ounded the note of alarm, and Davitt, Dillon, T. P. 
 O'Connor, Healy, Kelly, O'Donnell, Biggar, and the 
 other prominent members of the League, sustained 
 him. 
 
 It was evident that the Lords were influenced in 
 their action by the landlords, whose power of 
 eviction would be curtailed had the bill passed. 
 The Land Leaguers knew this, and knew, further, 
 that the same influence would prevent the passage 
 of any land bill worth accepting, so they resolved on 
 waging an agrarian war on the landlords and 
 humbling them in the dust. There was but one 
 opinion, there was but one decision, among the 
 leaders of public opinion in Ireland. The people 
 must be fully organized to resist the attempts, which 
 were sure to follow, of the landlords to exterminate 
 them. The League leaders felt reluctant to give 
 such advice, yet submission would be the triumph 
 of the landlords, the extermination of the people. 
 To conduct a panic-stricken, excited and angered 
 people successfully through a policy of passivg 
 resistance was a critical business. This, however,
 
 JOPDLAB HKTOBT OP IBZLAITD. 
 
 was the only course open to the League, and on ihii 
 policy they went to work with a will. 
 
 The landlords raised the usual howl against thia 
 invasion of the rights of property, and accused 
 Gladstone of being in league with the Irish mem- 
 bers. 
 
 Mr. Forster, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland, 
 had been heretofore a reformer, an advocate of the 
 rights of the people, but this landlord cry and Castle 
 influence soon converted him into Ireland's most 
 hated enemy. 
 
 Gladstone and Forster started out by a vain effort 
 at placating English clamor and landlord greed, and 
 Land League prosecution and coercion were re- 
 sorted to. 
 
 In October, 1880, Ireland was startled by the 
 announcement that the Government intended to 
 institute a prosecution against Mr. Parnell and his 
 colleagues. This rumor was soon confirmed, for at 
 the opening of the Dublin Law Courts in November, 
 informations were exhibited in the Queen's Bench 
 against Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P. ; John Dillon, 
 M.P. ; T. D. Sullivan, M.P. ; Thomas Sexton, M.P. ; 
 Joseph G. Biggar, M.P. members of the Land 
 League Executive Patrick Egan, Honorary Treas- 
 urer ; Thomas Brennan, Honorary Secretary ; and 
 M. P. Boyton, Mathew Harris, P. J. Sheridan, John 
 W. Walsh and M. M. O'Sullivan, "organizers"; 
 together with Mr. P. J. Gordon and John W. Nally, 
 holding no official position in the organization. This 
 was the first act of war on the part of the Cabinet 
 gainst the Irish Land movement From November
 
 POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND. 965 
 
 to January the state trials formed the one all- 
 engrossing topic ; the anti-landlordism agitation 
 being, nevertheless, pressed as fiercely as ever. The 
 trial was held " at Bar," before the Lords-Justices 
 Fitzgerald and Barry, and opened on the 28th of 
 December, 1880. The charge against the traversera 
 was seditious conspiracy; a conspiracy to "im- 
 poverish landlords" and to induce tenants not to 
 pay debts they had contracted to pay, namely, rent 
 
 After a trial lasting nineteen days, ten jurors were 
 for acquittal and two only for conviction. 
 
 While this trial was pending, the battle was trans- 
 ferred from Dublin to Westminster. Parliament 
 opened on the 6th of January, 1881. 
 
 It was to be an Irish session, and the programme 
 was Coercion first and Land Reform to follow. The 
 good old times when the Habeas Corpus Act was 
 suspended in a day were to be rivaled. An Algerine 
 Code was to be swept through the House, and the 
 Land League broken up at a blow. 
 
 This was stunning news. Any such sudden de- 
 struction of the open organization could have but 
 one result the Ribbonite and other secret organ- 
 izations, with whom even as things stood the League 
 had had a troublesome and ticklish time of it, would 
 have possession of the field. 
 
 This Coercion Bill was a deplorable mistake, and 
 led to consequences such as had never been witnessed 
 in the British Parliament before. Here was Glad- 
 stone with the scorpion of Coercion in one hand and 
 a makeshift Land Bill in the other. It was the 
 refinement of arrogance and despotism.
 
 966 POPULAR HISTORY 07 IRELAND. 
 
 The Land League members fought coercion inch 
 by inch, and obstructed the passage of the measure 
 until the Speaker even violated law to repress 
 opposition, and ordered members under arrest. 
 Had it been the lives and liberties of the English 
 people that were at stake, the Speaker's acts would 
 mean revolution ; as it was, it only meant the sup- 
 pression of Irish sedition. 
 
 The Coercion Bill was passed, and on the 7th of 
 April, 1881, Mr. Gladstone introduced his celebrated 
 Land Bill with an oratorical flourish of trumpets. 
 
 This bill, which was a great inroad on vested 
 rights and landlord ascendency, in many respects, 
 fell far short of all that was expected ; however, it 
 might have received a warm approval from the Irish 
 people had they not been embittered by the Coercion 
 Bill, and their hearts filled with exasperation and 
 hate. 
 
 The Irish members gave the bill a bitter opposition, 
 and fought it clause by clause. Seen in the light of 
 subsequent events, their opposition was wise and 
 well-timed. Mr. Gladstone was deaf to all argument, 
 to all entreaty. Twelve months of civil commotion, 
 of social war, of strife, outrage, tumult and blood- 
 shed, were required to bring him, in May, 1882, to 
 the view which the Irish members offered to his 
 acceptance in May, 1881. 
 
 On the 29th of July, 1881, the Irish Land Bill 
 passed the Commons, and was sent before the Lords, 
 who considerably mutilated it. It was thus returned 
 to the Commons, where it was again restored to ita 
 original shape, and returned to the Lords, who
 
 FOFULAB HISTORY OP IEELAND. 967 
 
 yielding to the popular wrath, and the cry raised 
 against class legislation, finally passed it. 
 
 The landlords in desperation took measures to 
 clear off all the tenants who had been served with 
 eviction notices before the bill became law, and a 
 cene of heartless cruelty on their part and bloody 
 retaliation on that of the people, that baffles de- 
 scription, followed. 
 
 Angered at the still unsettled state of the country, 
 and the opposition given to the Land Bill by the 
 leaders of the Land League, Mr. Forster resolved on 
 a stern course, so as to break down the spirit of the 
 Irish people. He even induced Gladstone to sup- 
 port his repression policy. He soon filled the pri- 
 sons with suspects by virtue of his Coercion law. 
 
 Even Parnell, Dillon, Father Sheehy, Davitt, and 
 several others of their colleagues, did not escape his 
 brutal suppression policy, for they and other sus- 
 pects, to the number of six hundred, soon found 
 themselves inmates of Kilmainham and other pri- 
 sons. 
 
 Forster found Ireland alarmed and disturbed. He 
 left it a volcano of human anger and passion on the 
 one side, a Government Bastile on the other. The 
 "village ruffians" and midnight assassins went by 
 untouched, while innocent men, whose only crime 
 was to openly discuss and agitate the grievances of 
 ike country, soon found themselves inmates of 
 dungeons. Legitimate political agitation was 
 crushed out, the voice of the people was silenced by 
 prison-walls, and riots, outrages, and bloodshed over* 
 pread the land with a network of crime.
 
 968 POPULAB BISTOBT OF IBELAKD. 
 
 Gladstone at length began to open his eyes to the 
 terrible mistake he had made. He found that 
 Coercion was a failure and a disaster. Mr. Forster 
 was recalled ; the prison-doors were unbarred ; 
 Parnell, Dillon, Davitt, and others, were released, 
 and a shout of joy went up from relieved Ireland. 
 A new policy was to be inaugurated ; the Land Act 
 was to be made complete; an Arrears Bill was to be 
 introduced, and a peasant proprietorship to be 
 established. Indeed, it was hinted at, and with 
 much semblance of truth, that the measures 
 recommended by Parnell and his colleagues were to 
 be adopted. This fancied happiness was soon to be 
 dissipated by the murderous hands of assassins. 
 
 Lord Frederick Cavendish, a liberal and popular 
 young nobleman, was appointed Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland, in place of Mr. Forster. 
 
 On the evening of the 6th of May, 1882, he was 
 walking through the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in com- 
 pany with Mr. T. H. Burke, the Under Secretary, 
 when they were set upon by four men, who drove 
 up to them on a jaunting-car, and cruelly butchered 
 them with knives and daggers. The murder took 
 place in view of the Vice-Regal Lodge, and the 
 assassins made good their escape. 
 
 There was much conjecture as to the motives that 
 inspired this foul murder. Some argued that it was 
 the work of the landlords and their agents, in order 
 to frustrate the conciliatory designs of Gladstone by 
 exciting public indignation in England, whilst 
 others maintained that Cavendish had been mistaken 
 for Forster, for he had only landed in Ireland the day
 
 POPULAR BISTORT OF IRELAND. 969 
 
 previous, and was not personally known to the 
 public. That Forster and Burke were unpopular 
 enough to be assassinated was only too true, but 
 why should there be such a feeling of revenge 
 against Lord Cavendish ? But all conjectures soon 
 merged into certainty. It was discovered that the 
 dreadful deed of that May evening had been the 
 work of the " Invincibles," another of the evil pro- 
 ducts of which tyranny on one hand, and reckless- 
 ness on the other, have been so prolific during Ire- 
 land's unhappy ages of English rule. 
 
 The " Invincibles " were soon apprehended. The 
 evidence of one of themselves, and one, at that, who 
 had been most active in compassing the bloody 
 work, sufficed to convict them. 
 
 But a few days after the anniversary of this crime, 
 the first of the " Invincibles," Joseph Brady, expiated 
 it upon the scaffold. His execution was followed a 
 few days later by that of Daniel Curley, and so it 
 went on, until by the middle of June, Michael 
 Fagan, Thomas Caffray and Timothy Kelly had 
 perished under the hands of Marwood, and Joseph 
 Mullet, Lawrence Hanlon, James Fitzharris, been 
 sentenced to penal servitude for life. James Mullet 
 and Edward McCaffray, Edward O'Brien, William 
 Mooney and Daniel Delany, each received ten years ; 
 Thomas Doyle, five years. 
 
 Peter Doyle, who had been ill during the commis- 
 sion of the crime, was remanded, and his case has 
 not since been heard of. 
 
 Of course Dublin could now be no longer a home 
 for Carey, branded as he was, with the worst
 
 70 2OPULAB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 pithet in the Irish vocabulary, Informer! The 
 English Government fully realized this, and, accord- 
 ingly, he was conveyed on board the Kinnfaun's 
 Castle, bound for Cape Town, which was deemed a 
 gafe place for him on account of the fewness of its 
 Irish settlers. 
 
 But all precautions were to prove abortive. The 
 Kinnfaun's Castle was carrying out not only Carey, but 
 Carey's slayer. The voyage was accomplished in 
 safety. Carey had almost reached his destination, 
 when he was shot by O'Donnell, and expired almost 
 instantly. 
 
 O'Donnell, who claimed that the shooting had 
 been done in self-defence, was at once brought back 
 to England. On being told of the death of Marwood, 
 the famous English executioner, which had taken 
 place a few days before his landing, he is said to 
 have smiled. His trial is now pending. 
 
 The Irish both at home and in America denounced 
 any sympathy with the Phoenix Park murder, and 
 mingled their sorrow and regret with those of England 
 over the loss of one who had been sent to Ireland 
 as an envoy of peace and reconciliation. 
 
 Despite the repudiation of any sympathy with the 
 rime on the part of the Irish people, the old cry of 
 vengeance ran through England, and again Glad- 
 stone showed his weakness by yielding to this bitter 
 spirit of hatred, and introduced his "Repression 
 Bill " for Ireland, which has been frankly declared 
 to be the worst coercive measure of its class con- 
 ceived in the most glaring and despotic history of 
 that unfortunate country.
 
 POFULAB HJSTOEY OP IRELAND. 971 
 
 Mr. Parnell experienced a sad bereavement in the 
 death of his sister, Miss Fanny Parnell, which took 
 place at Bordentown, N. J., on the 20th of July, 
 1882. 
 
 She was a highly cultivated young lady, a beauti- 
 ful writer, and possessed of much of the calm resolu- 
 tion of her brother. 
 
 When the Government aimed at the suppression 
 of the Land League, by arresting the leaders, she 
 and her sister Anna took up the torch from the 
 altar and kept alive the sacred fire through the 
 agency of the Ladies' Land League. Ireland 
 lost about this time another of her gifted children 
 and purest patriots, in the death of Charles J. 
 Kickham. 
 
 The opening of the Dublin Exhibition and the 
 unveiling of the O'Connell Monument, which took 
 place on Lady Day, August 16th, were events that 
 marked a new era in Irish patriotism and Irish 
 industry. 
 
 Foley's great monument to O'Connell, which now 
 graces Saokville Street, Dublin, is perhaps the finest 
 and most artistic piece of sculpture in all Europe. 
 The magnificent O'Connell Bridge, near which it 
 stands, is but the old Carlisle Bridge, widened to 
 the full breadth of Sackville Street, and rechristened 
 by the patriotic corporation in honor of the great 
 Liberator. 
 
 It was calculated that fully one hundred thousand 
 persons had assembled to witness the ceremony of 
 unveiling O'Connell's statue, and when the Lord 
 Mayor of Dublin, Mr. Charles Dawson, drew aside
 
 979 POPULAR HISTOBT 07 
 
 the veil that concealed the figure, and exposed the 
 lifelike statue of the grand old man, a shout went 
 up from a hundred thousand throats that seemed 
 like the knell of English rule in Ireland. 
 
 The opening of the Industrial Exhibition on the 
 same day was another great triumph for the people. 
 
 All aid towards its erection from the aristocratic 
 habitues of the Castle, or even from the Viceroy him- 
 self, had Seen ignored, and the magnificent edifice 
 raised, by the shillings of tfee people, and the contri- 
 butions of merchants and traders. The designers 
 spurned aristocratic patronage and aid, and for once 
 self-reliance triumphed in Ireland. 
 
 The Exhibition was well patronized; its stalls 
 were amply supplied with all kinds of Irish manu- 
 factures, and its successful inauguration is, we trust, 
 the harbinger of brighter days for Ireland, of a new 
 era of prosperity and independence, when the voices 
 of shuttle and wheel, and the busy hum of 
 industry, shall be heard from Cape Clear to the 
 Giant's Causeway, from the Claddagh to Mullagh- 
 mast, and when every man shall enjoy in the fullest 
 security the blessed fruits of his toil under the 
 protecting rule and fostering care of a Home Gov- 
 ernment I
 
 INDEX. 
 
 IbcLsatioi of James (I de- 
 
 c arcd . 573 
 
 ibercrombie, resignaliou of, 
 
 as Comma'er-in-Chief. 700 
 Sir Ralph, opinions of. . 700 
 
 Accession of Charles 1 478 
 
 George 1 613 
 
 George II 619 
 
 George III 636 
 
 James I 465 
 
 James II 568 
 
 Queen Elizabeth 370 
 
 Act of Renunciation passed 
 the British Parliament 
 
 1783 658 
 
 Uniformity 382 
 
 Acts of First Christian Kings 21 
 the Native Princes 298 
 
 Administration of Anglesea, 
 
 Marquis of. 794 
 
 Bedford, Duke of 634 
 
 Bedford, Duke of 757 
 
 Buckingham, Lord 645 
 
 Camden, Lord 683 
 
 Capel, Lord, in 1695 601 
 
 Carlisle, Lord 652 
 
 Carteret, Lord 618 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord 623 
 
 Chicbester, Sir Arthur. . 467 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord 717 
 
 Cromwell, Henry 550 
 
 Devonshire, the Duke of 622 
 
 Drury, Sic William 457 
 
 Falkland, Viscount 476 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord 675 
 
 Grandison, Lord 476 
 
 Grey, Lord 414 
 
 Gray, Lord Leonard .... 350 
 
 Halifax, Lord 637 
 
 Harcourt, Lord 639 
 
 Hardwicke, Lord.... 754 
 
 Harrington, Lord 630 
 
 MM 
 
 Administration of Hertford, 
 
 Marquis of. 687 
 
 Liverpool, Lord ........ 764 
 
 March, Earl of. 27 
 
 Mountjoy, Lord 438 
 
 Ormond, Earl of 557 
 
 Portland, Duke of. 654 
 
 Richmond, Duke of 760 
 
 Russell, Sir William ... 421 
 
 Sidney, Sir 'Henry 891 
 
 StraSord, Lord 484 
 
 Talbot, Sir John 294 
 
 Townsend, Lord 638 
 
 Tyrconnell 568 
 
 Wellesley, Marquis 788 
 
 Westmoreland, Earl of... 668 
 
 Whitworth, Lord 774 
 
 York, Richard, Duke of. 307 
 Age and rule of Gerald, 8th 
 
 Earl of Kildare 315 
 
 Aggregate Meeting of Ca- 
 tholics 763 
 
 Agitators, active operations 
 of, to elect O'Connell 
 
 for Clare 800 
 
 face to face with the 
 
 people 768 
 
 Agrarian combinations a- 
 gainst excessive rents 
 and excessive tithes ... 665 
 
 Injustice 641 
 
 Agricola, Roman Governor 
 
 of Britain 4 
 
 Almain, battle, between Lein- 
 
 ster and the Monarch. 85 
 Amergin, Poet, Priest and 
 
 Prophet 4 
 
 American War of 1812 784 
 
 Ancient Irish Constitution... 17 
 Anglesea, Marquis of, Ad- 
 ministration of. 794 
 
 Anglo-Irish, effects of Civil 
 War iu Euglund on 
 
 the 254 
 
 (975)
 
 97S 
 
 IKDKZ. 
 
 MM 
 
 Ai^lc-Irish, desire of to 
 
 naturalize themselves 256 
 Noblemen of the 15th 
 Century, Mental re- 
 sources of. .... 382 
 
 Peerage, a new 861 
 
 towns under native Pro- 
 tection 801 
 
 Anglo-Norman Invasion.For- 
 eign Relations, pre- 
 vious to 149 
 
 Religion and Learning 
 among the Irish pre- 
 vious to 133 
 
 Social condition previous 
 
 to 141 
 
 Anne, reign of Queen 605 
 
 Ardee, Ford of, battle at 80 
 
 Ard-righ, or High-King .... 5 
 
 Anns Act, passed, 1793 677 
 
 Armor and Tactics of the 
 
 Normans and Irish. . . 163 
 Armstrong, Capt. Jn.Warne- 
 
 ford, treachery of. .... T01 
 Arrest and seizure of officers 
 and papers of Back 
 
 Lane Parliament 688 
 
 of the Earl of Glamorgan 629 
 
 United Irishmen 701 
 
 Articles of Mellifont 457 
 
 the Treaty of Limerick.. 598 
 Art JI'Murrogh, expedition 
 
 against 282 
 
 Art M'Murrogh, Lord of Lein- 
 
 ster 268 
 
 Arts during the Georgian 
 
 era 781 
 
 Ascendancy of the Gerald- 
 
 ines of Kildare 818 
 
 AUi-senaid, battle of 87 
 
 Assemblies, general, of Au- 
 
 cien* Erin 21 
 
 Athenry, battle of 245 
 
 Athlone, siege of. 586 
 
 4tiiios|)iieric Wonders./.... 89 
 Atrocities perpetrated on the 
 
 United Irishmen 698 
 
 iughrim, buttle of 594 
 
 B. 
 
 Back Lane Parliament 087 
 
 Back Lane Parliament, arrest 
 
 MM 
 and seizure of officers 
 
 and papers 688 
 
 Bale's, Bishop, destruction of 
 
 shrines 874 
 
 Baliol, John, of Scotland. . . 234 
 
 Bann River 1 
 
 Bardic order, preservation of 28 
 
 Bards and Story-tellers 3 
 
 Bards, histrionic 5 
 
 Barrington, Jonah, descrip- 
 tion of the passage of 
 the Union Resolutions 744 
 Battle of Almain, between 
 Leinster and the Mon- 
 arch 35 
 
 Athenry 245 
 
 Ath-senaid 37 
 
 Aughrim. 694 
 
 Belan 84 
 
 Benburb.... 531 
 
 Boyne, its consequences, 586 
 
 Breagh 77 
 
 Castle Dennot 66 
 
 Clontarf 99 
 
 Gurlieu mountains 4G3 
 
 Dublin 81 
 
 Faughard 249 
 
 Fontenoy 624 
 
 Ford of "Ardee 80 
 
 Fore 66 
 
 Glenfesk 889 
 
 Glenamalure 418 
 
 Invernabark 62 
 
 Killicrankie 583 
 
 Killucan 294 
 
 Kilmainham 2V3 
 
 Kmsale 449 
 
 Knockdoe 825 
 
 Moira,in637, 80 
 
 Monabraher 326 
 
 NearTara 84 
 
 Newry 78 
 
 Rathfarnham 76 
 
 Rathfarnham 703 
 
 Rathmines 588 
 
 Rathmore, in Antrim, in 
 
 680 and 684. 81 
 
 Slane 81 
 
 Sulchoid 88 
 
 The Boyne 588 
 
 Thurles 1*4 
 
 V.-llo-.v Ford 41 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, adminis- 
 tration of, 634
 
 IlfDIX. 
 
 977 
 
 MM 
 
 Bedford, Dike of, adminis- 
 tration of, 757 
 
 Belan, battle of, 84 
 
 Bellinghara,Sir Ediv-'d, Lord- 
 Deputy 371 
 
 Benburb, battle of, 531 
 
 Benignus, coadjutor of Pat- 
 rick 18 
 
 Berwick, Scotland, siege of.. 234 
 
 Bill of Settlement 555 
 
 Bishops appointed by the ' 
 
 Crown 305 
 
 Bog of Allen 2 
 
 Bombardment, first, by " a 
 vessel carrying great 
 
 guns," 331 
 
 Bomb'ament of Carickfergus. 582 
 Bondage of the Irish race... 551 
 Bond, Oliver, condemned to 
 
 fine and imprisonment 687 
 
 Book of Articles 395 
 
 Borough, Thomas, Lord, ad- 
 ministration of 426 
 
 Boulter, Primate, high posi- 
 tion of, 619 
 
 Boyne, Battle of the 583 
 
 Breagh, battle of, 77 
 
 Brian Boru 85 
 
 Brian Boru, death of, 100 
 
 Brian Boru, fortunes of the 
 
 family of 114 
 
 Brian Boru, great battle of 
 
 Clontarf, 99 
 
 Brian Boru, munificence of.. 95 
 
 Brian Burn, tributes to 94 
 
 Bridget, Suint, 57 
 
 Broghill, Lord, Protestant 
 
 leader 553 
 
 Brown, Archbishop, 867 
 
 Bruais, or Farmers 8 
 
 Bruce, King Edward, conse- 
 quences of his inva- 
 sion 250 
 
 death of, 249 
 
 era of, 5*82 
 
 Irish opinion of 252 
 
 mcj, Robert, arrival and 
 
 first campaign of, 247 
 
 coronation of, at Dun- 
 
 dalk 242 
 
 Northern Irish enter into 
 
 alliance with, 237 
 
 of Scotland 284 
 
 second Campaign of 242 
 
 MM 
 
 Bryan, Sir Francis, ambition 
 
 of 371 
 
 Buckingham, Lord, adminis- 
 tration of, 645 
 
 Burgoyne, surrender of, at 
 
 Saratoga . . . . 346 
 
 Burke, Edmnnd, death of, in 
 
 1797 684 
 
 Burke, Lieut. Gen. surrender 
 
 of Gal way to 515 
 
 Butler, Hon. Simon, con- 
 demned to fine and 
 
 imprisonment 687 
 
 of the United Irishmen.. 687 
 
 C. 
 
 Camden, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 683 
 
 Campaign of 1595 423 
 
 of Essex in 1599 431 
 
 of 1643 516 
 
 of 1689 579 
 
 of 1690 583 
 
 of 1C91 593 
 
 Canning, death of, 1826. .... 793 
 Canute, founded his Danish 
 
 dynasty in England. . . 107 
 Capel, Lord, administration 
 
 of, 1695 601 
 
 Capitulation of Limerick .... 595 
 Career and death of John 
 
 O'Neill, " the Proud," 384 
 Carew's wit and cunning. ... 441 
 Carickfergus, bombardment. 583 
 Carlisle, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 653 
 
 Carnival of corruption, 1789, 667 
 Carteret, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 618 
 
 Cashel, chief seat of power 
 
 for Mundter 7 
 
 Castle Dermot, battle of 6 
 
 Castle Martin, truce of 518 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, high po- 
 sition of 749 
 
 Cathal Crordearg, rise of. . . 199 
 Catholic addresses to George 
 
 III 688 
 
 agitation, literature of... 784 
 
 army, the 533 
 
 association, foundation 
 of... .... . 7M
 
 t;a 
 
 MM 
 
 Catholic Associations, ques- 
 tions for consideration 
 
 of. 790 
 
 Bishops, opposition of, 
 
 to secret societies 643 
 
 Board, i .siiti tinn of, 
 
 1311 763 
 
 Board, suppression of. . 774 
 
 concessions to, 1807 757 
 
 Committee, dissolution 
 
 of, 1811 763 
 
 Catholic Confederation 504 
 
 adherence of the Lords 
 
 of the Pale 503 
 
 civil government of 508 
 
 Connanght, events in.. 510 
 
 Leiuster, events in 511 
 
 Lords of the Pule pro- 
 claimed rebels 506 
 
 meeting of Bislnps 504 
 
 military, Establishment 
 
 of 506 
 
 Munster, events in 510 
 
 National Synod of Kil- 
 kenny 508 
 
 Ormond's operations.... 506 
 rising in the Midland 
 and Minister Counties 499 
 
 Ulster, events in 511 
 
 Catho'.:c Convention, 1792-3. 678 
 deputation to Charles I.. 520 
 Catb.nc Emancipation, Ad- 
 dress of Mr. Keogh.. 757 
 agitation of, after the 
 
 Union 747 
 
 committee reconstruct- 
 ed, 1809 762 
 
 complete, hopes for. .... 782 
 complete, introduction 
 of; into the Irish Par- 
 liament. 688 
 
 complete, rejected 688 
 
 debate on petition, lost, 
 
 1805 756 
 
 defeat of Bill for, 1818. . . 769 
 defeat of Pitt adminis- 
 tration 747 
 
 discussions upon, 1810, 
 
 1818 756 
 
 distinct line of policy in 
 
 favor of 768 
 
 final Passage of, 13th 
 
 April, H29 802 
 
 Flood opposed to 659 
 
 Catholic Emancipation, 
 
 Grattan's annual motion 
 
 in favor of 765 
 
 Grattan's dfbut 756 
 
 Grattan's detailed Bill 
 
 for 766 
 
 Grattan's motion defeat- 
 ed, 1816 770 
 
 Grattan's motion defeat- 
 ed, 1817 773 
 
 G rattan in favor of 659 
 
 great Irish Questions , 
 
 fluctuations of 774 
 
 great issue of, in elec- 
 tions of 1807, '12, '18, 
 
 and '26 762 
 
 important Debate, 1818. 766 
 
 in 1816 775 
 
 inquiry into state of Ire- 
 land", 1324 79* 
 
 Keogh, address of 757 
 
 magnitude of the ques- 
 tion, 1826 798 
 
 movement in favor a- 
 
 broad. 797 
 
 no-popery Cabinet, 1807 758 
 Parnell's motion for a 
 committee rejected, 18- 
 
 15 770 
 
 Pell's resolutions, 1828, 
 
 carried 808 
 
 petition of 800,000 in 
 
 1828 798 
 
 petition of old Catholic 
 
 committee, 1305 756 
 
 petitions of 1807 rejected 758 
 petitions of 1803 reject- 
 ed 7M 
 
 question of, again urged. 757 
 Relief Bill in Commons, 
 
 passed 809 
 
 Relief Bill, in Lords, 
 
 passed 80J 
 
 Resolutions in favor of.. 659 
 
 " Veto, the " 75 
 
 Catholic meeting, firtt, since 
 
 Queen Anne 635 
 
 Catholic relief bill, the second 646 
 
 Relief Bill of 1798 671 
 
 Rent 790 
 
 Statesmen of, all Pro- 
 
 taH Tit 
 
 Celebrities in Ancient His- 
 tory f
 
 IHDEX. 
 
 979 
 
 PAOK 
 
 CaStao unity in Irish govern- 
 ment lost 104 
 
 Cessation and its consequen- 
 ces 519 
 
 Ciinuge of dynasty in Eng- 
 land 288 
 
 Charlemout, death of the ven- 
 erable 739 
 
 Charles I., accession of 478 
 
 I., execution of. 537 
 
 II., restoration of 552 
 
 II., proclaimed king.... 537 
 
 II., death of. 562 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, adminis- 
 tration of 623 
 
 Chichester, Sir Arthur, ad- 
 ministration of 467 
 
 Chief officers of ancient kings 5 
 Christian immigration to Ar- 
 
 gyle 24 
 
 Christianity, first dawn of. . 8 
 preached at Tara, and 
 
 results 10 
 
 Civil affairs after the death 
 
 of Brian 104 
 
 war in England 253 
 
 war in England again. . . 308 
 Clare election, 1828, turning 
 point of the Catholic 
 
 question 801 
 
 Clare, Lord, death of in 1806 749 
 Lord, unenviable posi 
 
 tion 749 
 
 Clarence, Duke of, lord-lieu- 
 tenant 261 
 
 Clarendon, Earl of, lord 
 
 deputy 562 
 
 Cloncnrry, Lord, public let- 
 ter of. 802 
 
 Cloncnrry, Lord, O'Connell's 
 
 favorite counsellor. . . 802 
 
 Clonmacnoise, buttle of 88 
 
 C'.ontarf, great battle of, un- 
 der Brian Boru. 99 
 
 CUae of the career of De 
 
 Courcy and De Burgh 200 
 of the Confederate war. . 566 
 of the revolutionary war 597 
 Coalition ministry in Eng- 
 land, 1788 659 
 
 Coikitto, the left-handed, de- 
 
 '. ;iikuUo;i at Mo.vtyn. . 520 
 
 Columbkill, Bishop M 
 
 death of in 596 28 
 
 HOI 
 
 Columbkill. Saint 43 
 
 Commercial restrictions, re- 
 laxation of. 64* 
 
 Conciliation committee form- 
 ed, 1821 788 
 
 Confederation, Catholic 504 
 
 Confederate delegates sign- 
 ing the "Cessation". 519 
 Confederacy, Ulster, formed 418 
 
 Confederate war, the 513 
 
 war, the close of. 546 
 
 Confiscation of the midland 
 
 counties 477 
 
 Confiscation of Ulster 478 
 
 Congall II., king 35 
 
 III., king 80 
 
 Counall and Kelluch, joint 
 
 reign of, 640 29 
 
 Connaught, ancient 7 
 
 rising in 244 
 
 Conor II., king 67 
 
 Conor Hoinmoy, death of. . . 193 
 
 Conquest of Munster 451 
 
 Contest between the North 
 
 and South 120 
 
 Controversy between Estab- 
 lished Church and 
 Protestant Dissenters 620 
 Consolidation of the empire, 
 
 pens in favor 731 
 
 Constitutional charter of 1782 656 
 Constitution, first prepared 
 under auspices of St. 
 
 Patrick 17 
 
 Constitution, how the kings 
 
 kept it. 17 
 
 Constitution of 1782, resolu- 
 tion to remain intact.. 741 
 Convention act, passed, 1793 67i 
 
 of the volunteers 65| 
 
 of volunteers in 1783 . . . 66* 
 Corbet, William, in France. 783 
 Cormac, the prince bishop. . 78 
 Coruwallis, Lord, adminis- 
 tration of 717 
 
 surrender of, effects of. . 658 
 Coronation of Edward Bruce 
 
 at Dundalk 24* 
 
 service, oldest form of. 21 
 Corporation and Test Acts, 
 800,000 Irish Catholics 
 praying fur repeal of*. 799 
 Corporation and Test Acts, 
 
 repeal of in 1828 791
 
 030 
 
 WDM. 
 
 MM 
 
 Croft, Sir James, lord-deputy 878 
 
 Crom, Die god of fire 7 
 
 Cromer, pnmatc, death of... 366 
 Cromwell's campaign of 
 
 1G49-1650 539 
 
 death of 552 
 
 Henry, administration of 550 
 
 Henry, lord-deputy 540 
 
 Oliver, death ot 552 
 
 Crosbie, Sir Edward, ar- 
 rest of and execu- 
 tion 705 
 
 Crowning of ancient mon- 
 
 archs 20 
 
 Crowns united 860 
 
 Cruchain, chief seat of power 
 
 for Connaught 7 
 
 Cumberland, Duke of, fights 
 the French at Fonte- 
 noy, and is defeated . . 625 
 Curlieu mountains, battle of 488 
 Currau, distinguished in de- 
 bate 64 
 
 John I'll il pot, genius and 
 
 courage of 699 
 
 last days of 777 
 
 neglect of the adminis- 
 tration 758 
 
 rejected at Newry 764 
 
 retirement from public 
 
 life, 1818 776 
 
 death of, in 1817 775 
 
 D. 
 
 Danes of Dublin, first con- 
 versions to Christian- 
 ity, in 948 81 
 
 Daniel O'Connell, first men- 
 tion of 676 
 
 Danish descent on the Coast 
 
 of Ulster 40 
 
 Invasion 49 
 
 Darcy, Patrick 514 
 
 Dark ages of Ireland 140 
 
 Death of Brian Boru 100 
 
 Chafes II 562 
 
 Cromwell 562 
 
 Dermid M'Murrogh .... 175 
 
 Donald III 88 
 
 Karl of March 279 
 
 Lord Hfaflbrd 488 
 
 JiiaUII 64 
 
 MM 
 Death of Oliver Cromwell. . 559 
 
 Willam 604 
 
 DC Bermingham, John 245 
 
 De Burgh, close of the career 
 
 of 200 
 
 Richard, conflicts of. ... 238 
 Decay of English interest in 
 
 1376 267 
 
 De Courcy, close of the career 
 
 of 200 
 
 John, expeditions of. ... 198 
 Defeat and death of Sir James 
 
 Fitzmaurice 406 
 
 De Lacy, Hugh 182 
 
 Dermid and Blathmac, joint 
 . succession of, in 656.. 29 
 M'Murrogh's death at 
 
 Fernamore 175 
 
 M'Murrogh's Negotia- 
 tions and success with 
 
 Henry II 156 
 
 Derry, siege of 580 
 
 Desmond, Earl of, Execution 
 
 of 318 
 
 Destruction of relics, etc 867 
 
 Shrines 874 
 
 the Spanish Armada 417 
 
 Devonshire, Duke of, admin- 
 istration of. 622 
 
 Popularity of 622 
 
 Dill union of Printing in 1591 462 
 
 Disabilities of Papists 60ft 
 
 Dissolution of Parliament, 
 
 1789 668 
 
 Division and decline, con- 
 tinued, of the " Eng- 
 lish Interest" 805 
 
 Donald II., succession of, in 
 
 624 29 
 
 III., king 87 
 
 IV.,kinz 88 
 
 Donough I king 88 
 
 IL.king 77 
 
 Dorset, Duke of, administra- 
 tion of. 619 
 
 Dowdal, Archbishop 877 
 
 Doyle, Dr., distinguished 
 
 position of . . 70S 
 
 Druidism, the religion of an- 
 cient Erin 7 
 
 Drury , Sir William, adminis- 
 tration of 4. r >7 
 
 Dublin, battle of 71 
 
 sig Of 81
 
 mix. 
 
 981 
 
 PA6B 
 
 Dnke of York, Richard, ad- 
 ministration of 807 
 
 Dunboyne, Lord, apostacy of. 676 
 Dundee, fall of the gallant.. . 582 
 Duvergier's series of letters 
 
 on the State of Ireland 796 
 Dynasty, change of, in Eng- 
 land 288 
 
 E. 
 
 Larldom of Ulster, extinction 
 
 of. 251 
 
 Earl Richard, death of 185 
 
 first Campaign of 169 
 
 second Campaign of. ... 175 
 
 Earls, flight of the 470 
 
 Early Geography of Ireland. 1 
 Educational question, 1787.. 664 
 
 Edward I., of England 232 
 
 il., of England 232 
 
 IV., events of the reign 
 
 of. 870 
 
 Eighth Century, kings of. . . 85 
 Election, ancient forms of.. . 20 
 Elizabeth Queen, accession of 380 
 
 death of Queen 456 
 
 Emania, chief seat of power 
 
 for Ulster 7 
 
 Embargo on export of pro- 
 visions to America. . . . 645 
 on export of provisions, 
 
 proposed removal of. . 646 
 Embassy of the Earl of Gla- 
 morgan 526 
 
 Eminent Irish Saints 45 
 
 Bmmett, Robert, emeutt of in 
 
 1803 752 
 
 execution of in 1804. ... 752 
 expulsion from Trinity 
 
 College 750 
 
 personal reputation of. . 753 
 return to Dublin of. .... 750 
 
 travels of 750 
 
 wonderful death speech 
 
 of 752 
 
 Bmmett, Thomas Addis, of 
 
 the United Irishmen . . 686 
 England and Ireland, union 
 
 of the Crowns of 841 
 
 England, civil war in 253 
 
 civil war ugnin in 308 
 
 England'! seven years' war.. 640 
 England's war with America 640 
 
 MM 
 
 English and Anglo-Irish in- 
 terest 289 
 
 English and Spanish negoti- 
 ations 42S 
 
 English hostilities with 
 
 France 751 
 
 English interest, decay of in 
 
 1376.. 267 
 
 continued division and 
 
 decline of 805 
 
 tide begins to turn for. . 316 
 English power, low ebb of. . 317 
 
 English Republic 548 
 
 Enniskillen, siege of. 581 
 
 Epochs, four great, Anglo- 
 Norman invasion in 
 
 1169 746 
 
 Legislative union in 1801 746 
 Statute Kilkenny, Eng- 
 lish Pale, and Irish 
 
 enemy, 1887 746 
 
 Union of the Crowns in 
 
 1541 746 
 
 Era of Independence, first 
 
 period of. 654 
 
 second period of. 663 
 
 third period of 670 
 
 termination of in 1797. . 677 
 Era of King Richard Bruce. 232 
 
 Era of the Reformation 370 
 
 Erin, ancient, state of society 
 
 in 5 
 
 Esmonde, Dr., execution of. 702 
 Essex's campaign in 1599. . . 481 
 Essex, Lord, the " Under- 
 taker," 401 
 
 Establishment of Maynooth 
 
 College 676 
 
 Estrangement of Flood and 
 
 Grattan 651 
 
 Eugenian race of the South. . 6 
 Events of the reign of Ed- 
 ward VI 870 
 
 Philip and Mary 376 
 
 Events of the 13th Century.. 201 
 Excommunication of Queen 
 
 Elizabeth 394 
 
 Execution of Charles 1 587 
 
 Earl of Desmond 313 
 
 Lord Mapiire 520 
 
 Expedition ofPrince Charles 
 
 Edward 625 
 
 Exodus to the North Ameri- 
 can Colonies iu 1729.. 621
 
 982 
 
 MM 
 
 Expedition of Admiral Con- 
 
 flaus 629 
 
 Commodore Thnrot.... 629 
 
 Express renunciation, reso- 
 lution of. 657 
 
 F. 
 
 Failure of the groat Expedi- 
 tion from Brest, 1796. 692 
 
 Falkland, Viscount, adminis- 
 tration of 476 
 
 FallofGalway 546 
 
 Fall of Limerick 545 
 
 Fate of the Leading United 
 
 Irishmen 726 
 
 Fautjhard, battle of 249 
 
 Feargal, king 86 
 
 Felonj to introduce armed 
 Scotchmen into Ire- 
 land 379 
 
 Fifteenth Century, relations 
 
 of the Races in the... 303 
 
 Final passage of Catholic 
 Emancipation Act, 13th 
 April, 1829 802 
 
 Finn, father of Osaian 6 
 
 Finnacta, death of 84 
 
 Finnacta, reigned twenty 
 years in the seventh 
 century 80 
 
 Firearms, first employment 
 
 of, in 1489 881 
 
 First campaign of Earl Rich- 
 ard 169 
 
 expedition of Richard II. 
 
 to Ireland 272 
 
 inhabitants 1 
 
 First Period of Era of Inde- 
 pendence 654 
 
 first Story of Ireland before 
 
 it became Christian.. . 2 
 
 Pltxgerald. Lord Edward, of 
 
 the United Irishmen. . 630 
 Margaret, decision of, 
 
 character of 829 
 
 Mr. Vesey, address of to 
 the Clare Electors 798 
 
 PSaiaurice, James, insur- 
 
 rectior inder 897 
 
 Sir James 898 
 
 Hir James, defeat and 
 death of.. .. 406 
 
 Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of 
 
 Armagh 88S 
 
 Fitzstephen, Rt. a prisoner.. 178 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord Deputy. . . 41* 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord, adminis- 
 tration of 675 
 
 Flaherty, king 86 
 
 Flan, king 69 
 
 Flight of the Earls 470 
 
 Flood and Grattan, final dis- 
 agreement between. . . 656 
 
 death of, in 17&1 . . 662 
 
 decline of popularity . . . 646 
 entry of, into the Eng- 
 lish Parliament 662 
 
 estrangement from Grat- 
 
 tan, foundation of .... 651 
 greatest triumph of .... 658 
 
 leadership of 636 
 
 " Ode to Fame" of 668 
 
 opposed to Catholic 
 
 Emancipation 659 
 
 outvoted on every motion 661 
 plea of, refusal to receive 
 
 foreign troops 644 
 
 professorship of the Irish 
 language in Trinity 
 
 Colleee 668 
 
 proposed extension of 
 
 the franchise rejected 660 
 remaining years of the 
 
 public Fife of 660 
 
 retiremeiit from the Irish 
 
 Parliament 661 
 
 Firbolgs, or Belgsu, the third 
 immigration into Ire- 
 land S 
 
 Fontenov, battle of 624 
 
 Forbes, Pension bill of 678 
 
 Fore, battle of 66 
 
 Foreign Relations of the 
 Irish previous to the 
 Anglo-Norman Inva- 
 sion 149 
 
 ForgarUh, king 86 
 
 Formorians, or Sea Kings; 
 
 descendants of Ham.. 8 
 Four ancient provinces, the. 7 
 Ftur great Epochs in Irish 
 
 history 741 
 
 Fox, death ol, in September, 
 
 l-io 75T 
 
 General, replaced by 
 Lord CutLcurt . . . . 781
 
 IWDEX. 
 
 983 
 
 MM 
 
 frno and Holland, negotia- 
 tions with 690 
 
 alliance of, with America 646 
 
 Franchise, extension of, re- 
 jected 6fiO 
 
 Freedom of Trade, a law 650 
 
 Free Trade, and the Volun- 
 teers 647 
 
 resolutions passed 648 
 
 French Invasion, precautions 
 
 against 698 
 
 G. 
 
 Gaelic poetry of the Seven- 
 teenth Century 567 
 
 the fifth immigration, 
 
 and final Colony 8 
 
 Galilean Church, liberties of 
 
 the 757 
 
 Gal way, fall of 546 
 
 River 1 
 
 General Assembly in 1647 .. 535 
 
 meeting in 1643 515 
 
 meeting of, at Kilkenny, 
 
 in 1642 518 
 
 Geographical situation of Ire- 
 
 land 1 
 
 George I., accession of. 613 
 
 II , accession of 619 
 
 III., accession of. 636 
 
 III., death of, in 1820. . . 775 
 George IV., mission of con- 
 ciliation 785 
 
 Geraldine League 346 
 
 second 896 
 
 sequel of the second .... 407 
 
 Gerald, Saint, of Mayo 86 
 
 Geraldines, of Kildare, as- 
 cendency of 318 
 
 Minister, important ac- 
 tion of 396 
 
 Glamorgan, Earl of, arrest of 529 
 
 treaty 525 
 
 Glance at Military Tactics.. . 226 
 
 Glentesk, battle of 889 
 
 Qlenmalure, battle of. 418 
 
 Gruudison, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 476 
 
 Grattan, again returned for 
 
 Dubfin, 1812 764 
 
 amendment to Supply 
 
 Bill, carried. '. 666 
 
 and Burke 679 
 
 turn 
 
 Grattan and Flood, final dis- 
 
 agreement between... 65* 
 appearance of, in the 
 House .............. r42 
 
 Barren Lands Bill of.. 678 
 Bill defeated, 1813 ...... 769 
 
 death of, in 1317 ........ 775 
 
 debut of, in Imperial 
 
 detailed bill of, for Ca- 
 
 tholic Emancipation . . 766 
 elected for Dublin, 1306. 761 
 election of, for Wicklow. 741 
 enters the Imperial Par- 
 
 liament .............. 755 
 
 equal rights to persons 
 
 of all religious creeds. 683 
 five demands of ........ 655 
 
 enters ilie Irish House of 
 
 Commons ............ 645 
 
 hostility to French prin- 
 
 ciples .............. 679 
 
 in favor of Catholic 
 
 emancipation ........ 659 
 
 last days of ............ 776 
 
 leadership of. .......... 644 
 
 leadership of, continua- 
 
 tion of. .............. 649 
 
 leader of the House of 
 
 Commons ............ 682 
 
 neglect of the adminis- 
 
 tration ............... 75<J 
 
 re-entry of, into the Irish 
 
 Parliament ........... 740 
 
 resolutions of, on tithe 
 
 question, failure of ... 665 
 retirement from House 
 
 of Commons ......... 684 
 
 return of, to the King- 
 
 dom and public life... 739 
 struck from the Irish 
 
 Privy Council Roll. . . 730 
 thanks of the House 
 
 voted to ............. 655 
 
 Trade motion of ........ 683 
 
 ultimatum of, accepted.. 655 
 Grievances and "Graces"... 480 
 Growth of public spirit ..... 620 
 
 Grey, Lord, contest with Earl 
 
 ofKildare ............ 817 
 
 Lord, administration of. 414 
 Orey, Lord Leonard, admin- 
 
 istration of. .......... 3*0 
 
 Guns, great, first use of...,, 831
 
 984 
 
 rDKI. 
 
 Half penny controversy 617 
 
 Halifax, Lord, administration 
 
 of 687 
 
 Harcourt, Lord, administra- 
 tion of. 639 
 
 Hanlwicke, Lord, adminis- 
 tration of 764 
 
 Harrington, Earl of, admin- 
 istration of 630 
 
 Hearts of Steel 843 
 
 Henrietta Maria, queen of 
 
 Charles 1 626 
 
 Henry II., in Ireland 178 
 
 Henry II., return to England 181 
 Henry VIII., proclaimed at 
 
 London and Dublin... 860 
 Hertford, Marquis, adminis- 
 tration of 637 
 
 Hiberno-Norman town-life. . 228 
 Hiberno-Scotcb alliance.... 305 
 Hippesley, Sir John C., liber- 
 ties of the Qallican 
 
 Church 757 
 
 Hoche, Commander of the 
 
 French Expedition... 691 
 
 death of, in 1797 694 
 
 Holy See, political position of 772 
 Hospitality of the old Irish. 828 
 Hostages, a form of ratifying 
 
 a treaty 89 
 
 Hugh II., reign of 38 
 
 Hugh, king or Ireland, death 
 
 of, in 595 28 
 
 Hugh III., succession of. ... 29 
 Hugh IV., succession of, in 
 
 599 29 
 
 Hugh V., king 86 
 
 Hugh VI., king 49 
 
 Hugh VII., king 68 
 
 Hugh de Lacy, assassination 
 
 of 196 
 
 Hugh of the Fetters 419 
 
 Uy'-Ni:il race of the north... I 
 
 I. 
 
 Impeachment of Lord Straf- 
 
 ford 488 
 
 Imperial Standard, new, run 
 up ru Dublin Castle, 
 1B01 , .. 745 
 
 Independence, era of, first 
 
 period of 654 
 
 second period of. 668 
 
 third period of 670 
 
 termination of in 1797.. 677 
 Independence of 1641 affirm- 
 ed in 1780 651 
 
 Iniquitous deprivation of 
 
 equal civil rights 620 
 
 Insurrection of Silken Tho- 
 mas 848 
 
 of 1641 490 
 
 of 1798 696 
 
 under Fitzmaurice 897 
 
 Invasion of Scotland by the 
 
 Young Pretender 628 
 
 Invernabark, battle of 63 
 
 lona, growth of, under Co- 
 
 Tumbkill 84 
 
 islet of 24 
 
 Ireland and Scotland, rela- 
 tions of 288 
 
 Ireland, as a nation, extin- 
 guished 744 
 
 under the Protectorate. . 548 
 
 rish abroad 493 
 
 abroad, in the reign of 
 
 George III 788 
 
 abroad, in O'Connell's 
 final and successful 
 struggle for Catholic 
 
 Emancipation 788 
 
 Administration, reform of 683 
 and Anglo-Irish Society, 
 state of during the 
 14th and 15th centu- 
 ries 887 
 
 beef imported into Eng- 
 land a nuisance 558 
 
 Chiefs, negotiations of 
 with James V. of Scot- 
 land 859 
 
 Constabulary, 1812 76 
 
 exodus to 'the North 
 
 American Colonies... 631 
 immigration, first, into 
 
 Scotland in 258 2t 
 
 in America, fortunes of. 784 
 opinion of Ed ward Bruce 853 
 Parliament, last session 
 
 of. 744 
 
 policy of Henry VIII. 
 during time of Cardi- 
 nal Wolsev 841
 
 IBDM. 
 
 985 
 
 trkk Prelates o( reign of 
 
 George III 678 
 
 reform movement 659 
 
 Saints, lives of the 584 
 
 Scriptures, first version 
 
 of 246 
 
 soldiers abroad 462 
 
 soldiers abroad during 
 the reign of William 
 
 and Anne 610 
 
 Whigs, Lord Moiria and 
 Mr. Ponsouby, leaders 
 of. 772 
 
 J. 
 
 Jacobites disheartened 619 
 
 Jacobite movement 624 
 
 risings, anticipations of. 613 
 James I., accession of, until 
 
 death of Cromwell... 465 
 
 James II., abdication of.... 573 
 
 accession of. 568 
 
 in Ireland 573 
 
 James V., death of 884 
 
 " Defender of the Faith" 853 
 of Scotland, negotiations 
 
 of Irish Chiefs with. . 353 
 Judicial and legislative inde- 
 pendence established. 649 
 
 K. 
 
 Keating, Jeffrey 563 
 
 Kenmare, Lord, death of, 13- 
 
 12 771 
 
 Kenneth, King 36 
 
 Keogh, John, leader of, 
 
 Catholics 759 
 
 stgacious declarations of 799 
 Kenfala, reigned four years 
 
 in the seventh century 80 
 
 Kildare, Eurl of, death of. 850 
 
 Gerald, 3th Earl of.. . . 314 
 
 James, 20th Earl of. . . 633 
 
 ninth and last Earl of. 345 
 
 Thomas, 7th Earl of . . 813 
 
 Kilkenny, city of, capital of 
 
 the Confederacy 513 
 
 statute of 263 
 
 Killicraukie, battle of 532 
 
 Kilmainham, battle of 293 
 
 Killucan, battle of 294 
 
 MM 
 Kf ngs of the eighth century 85 
 
 ninth century 49 
 
 seventh century 29 
 
 tenth century 76 
 
 Kinsale, abandonment of. . .. 589 
 
 battle of 449 
 
 landing of James II. at.. 574 
 
 Knighthoods conferred 861 
 
 Knights of St. John 257 
 
 Knights of St. Patrick, order 
 
 of 659 
 
 Knockdoe, battle of 826 
 
 L. 
 
 Lancastenans and Yorkists. 289 
 
 Last session of the Irish Par- 
 liament 740 
 
 Last struggle of the Stuarts. 627 
 
 Latin helps to early history. 4 
 
 Latter days of the Northmen 
 
 in Ireland 107 
 
 Leadership of Grattan 644 
 
 continuation of. 649 
 
 Leadership of O'Connell, 1812 785 
 to 1821 770 
 
 Legislation of 1798, fatal to 
 to the Irish Parlia- 
 ment 780 
 
 Legislative and judicial in- 
 dependence establish- 
 ed 649 
 
 Legislative independence es- 
 tablished 656 
 
 Legislative union of Great 
 
 Britain and Ireland... 611 
 
 Legislature, ancient, of the 
 Kingdom, pro posed ex- 
 tinction of 721 
 
 Leighlin, chief seat of power 
 
 for Leinster 7 
 
 Leinster, ancient 7 
 
 Lewines, Edward John, with 
 
 the Dutch expedition. 698 
 
 LiaFail, the 8 
 
 Liffey, battle on the, three 
 
 days, 68 
 
 Limerick, capitulation of. ... 596 
 
 fall of 545 
 
 siege of 587 
 
 Lionel, duke of Clarence, lord 
 
 lieutenant 281 
 
 Literature of the Catholic 
 
 agitation 794
 
 980 
 
 INDM. 
 
 MM 
 ( jrerpool, I crd, adminietra- 
 
 tionof 764 
 
 death of. 1828 798 
 
 Lives of the Irish Saints.... 564 
 
 Lucas, Dr., death of 637 
 
 resolutions of 637 
 
 Lord and tenant, new rela- 
 tions of 863 
 
 Loi'igsech, succ*"miou of, in 
 
 693 30 
 
 Lough Corrib 1 
 
 M. 
 
 Mageunis, Arthur, Bishop of 
 
 Dromore 872 
 
 Magna Gharta of Irish Pro- 
 testantism 554 
 
 Maguire, Lord, execution of 520 
 
 Jlahon, King of Cashel, mur- 
 der of? 89 
 
 Malachy, I., King 65 
 
 II., King 8 
 
 Malcolm of Scotland 101 
 
 Malone, Anthony, leader of 
 
 the Patriot party 681 
 
 Malone, death of. 648 
 
 Mant, Bishop 872 
 
 March, Earl of, administra- 
 tion of. 279 
 
 lieutenancy and death of 279 
 
 Marlborougli, assault of, upon 
 
 Cork 589 
 
 first mention of 589 
 
 leadership of, under 
 
 Queen Anne 605 
 
 return of to England.... 589 
 
 Mary, Queen, legul difficulty 
 iu title to Queen of Ire- 
 land 877 
 
 Mass, first celebrated in a 
 
 burn 12 
 
 Maynooth College, establish- 
 ment of 676 
 
 McNamnra, Major, declin- 
 ation of 799 
 
 McNevin, of the United Irish- 
 men 686 
 
 Meath, ancient 6 
 
 Mellifont, articles of 467 
 
 Memorial of the English Ca- 
 tholics at Rome 528 
 
 Mental resources of an Anglo- 
 Irish nobleman. 882 
 
 Midland counties, confisca- 
 tion of. 47T 
 
 Milesian Kings, the first .... 8 
 
 Milesians 8 
 
 Militia Bill of 1778 647 
 
 Militia, increase of, 1793... 73 
 
 Military events, 1647 f>36 
 
 subjugation of Ireland. . 551 
 McMurrogh, Art, Lord of 
 
 Lemster 2(',S 
 
 Moira, battle of, in 687 ..... 80 
 
 Mouabiaher, battle of. 1)26 
 
 Moore, inimitable satire of.. . 7(6 
 Thomas, first mention of 675 
 Mountgarret, Lord, arrest of. 560 
 Mountjoy, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 4S8 
 
 Moynitb, plain of, battle on. 68 
 Muuroe, leader of the Scot- 
 tish forces 519 
 
 Munster, ancient 7 
 
 conquest of 451 
 
 plantation of. 411 
 
 Murkertach, " Hector of the 
 
 West." 77 
 
 of Aileach 129 
 
 Music in the early Church.. . 44 
 Mutiny Bill, discussion on 
 
 the repeal of 661 
 
 N. 
 
 Napoleon, power of, increas- 
 ing 754 
 
 Napper Tandy, of the United 
 
 Irishmen 687 
 
 National Bank 61T 
 
 National, or old Irish policy 
 
 losing ground 588 
 
 Native, naturalized and Eng- 
 lish interest 258 
 
 Native Princes, acts of 298 
 
 Native protection, Anglo- 
 
 Irish towns under. .. 301 
 
 Navigation Act, unjust 558 
 
 No-Popery cry in 1827 795 
 
 Necromancers and Soothsay- 
 ers *. . S 
 
 Negotiations, English and 
 
 Spanish 428 
 
 with France and Holland 690 
 with Spain, O'NltH'ft.... IM 
 Neilson, Samuel of iV 
 
 United Irishmen. ... 669
 
 nroxx. 
 
 987 
 
 BAM 
 
 Vtmedh, the .eader of the 
 second immigration 
 
 into Ireland 2 
 
 the, leaders of the fourth 
 
 immigration 8 
 
 Newcastle, Earl of, retire- 
 ment of. 520 
 
 New Catholic association 791 
 
 "few Nuncio Riuuccini .... 526 
 New principle of primogeni- 
 ture 878 
 
 New relations of lord and 
 
 tenant 363 
 
 Newry, battle of. 78 
 
 New Testament in Gaelic, 
 
 first edition of 585 
 
 Hial II., king 88 
 
 tfial III., king 68 
 
 NiallV., king 76 
 
 Non-intercourse resolved on 
 
 in England 260 
 
 Norman period, retrospect of 
 
 the 220 
 
 state of society and learn. 
 
 ing 228 
 
 Normans and Irish, arms, ar- 
 mor and tactics of 168 
 
 Normans, first expedition of, 
 
 into Ireland 163 
 
 in Connaught 202 
 
 in Ireland 156 
 
 in M fiith and Ulster. ... 218 
 in Minister and Leinster 207 
 North and South, contest be- 
 tween 120 
 
 Northern Irish enter into alli- 
 ance with King Rob- 
 ert Bruce 238 
 
 Northmen in Ireland, latter 
 days of 107 
 
 0. 
 
 Oak Boys 642 
 
 O'Brien, Murrogh, adhesion of 861 
 O'Brien, Thaddens, attempt 
 of, to restore the mon- 
 archy 802 
 
 O'Brien, Thorlogh, singular 
 
 incident to 119 
 
 O' Byrne, Feagh MacHugh.. 422 
 O'Curroll, Afu'ijruret, piety 
 
 and hospitality of. .... 329 
 , family of S28 
 
 MM 
 
 O'Oonnell, attack of on Prince 
 
 Regent 771 
 
 criminal information fHed 
 
 against, 1824 791 
 
 Daniel, first mention of. 675 
 
 elected for Clare 301 
 
 eloquent speech on the 
 
 absence of Mr. Keogh. 759 
 energetic measures to 
 
 elect for Clare 800 
 
 extraordinary patience of 785 
 final triumph of, in 
 
 emancipation 802 
 
 friendship of Shiel for. . 771 
 
 leadership of, 1813 770 
 
 leadership of, 1821 785 
 
 leadership of the Catho- 
 lics 764 
 
 letter of Dr. McNevin to 797 
 moves the formation of 
 the Catholic associa- 
 tion , 788 
 
 nomination for Clare. . . 799 
 political writings of. . . . 785 
 popularity of, injured 792 
 presentation of, at the 
 bar of the House of 
 
 Commons 808 
 
 proposition regarding 
 
 Convention Act 768 
 
 reelection for Clare, 1829 808 
 refuses to take oath in 
 
 House of Commons. . 803 
 return to Dublin after 
 
 Clare election 801 
 
 the " man of the people" 764 
 O'Connell's vituperation of 
 
 the Prince Regent. . . . 772 
 O'Conor, Arthur, arrest of 700 
 
 in France 788 
 
 of the United Irishmen . . 686 
 rise of the family of. ... 120 
 O'Conor, Roderick, acces- 
 sion of 131 
 
 last years of. ... 188 
 
 O'Conor, Thorlogh More 128 
 
 O'Donnell, death of, in Spain 450 
 Hugh Roe, escape of, 
 from Dublin Castle... 429 
 
 Manus, adhesion of 381 
 
 of Spain 598 
 
 O'Farrell, expedition of 629 
 
 O'Haclon, Count Redmond, 
 
 assassination of. 663
 
 988 
 
 IHDKX. 
 
 P1B1 
 
 Oligarchy usual cry of. . . 682 
 Oliver Crcjfiwell, death of.. 552 
 
 O'Niell, Art, death of 420 
 
 O'Nioll, Con, adhesion of 361 
 
 O'Niell, Hugh, early career of 412 
 
 in Leitrim 516 
 
 O'Niell, John, career and 
 
 death of 890 
 
 the proud 876 
 
 military and political po- 
 sition of 537 
 
 O'Niell's negotiations with 
 
 Spain 435 
 
 O'Niell, Owen, death of 541 
 
 Sir Phelim 547 
 
 submission of 456 
 
 O'Moore, Rory, leader of the 
 
 insurrection of 1641.. 493 
 Operations in Ulster and 
 
 Munster 441 
 
 Orangemen, arrest of. 788 
 
 Orange, Prince of, active 
 
 agents of 572 
 
 William Henry.Prince of 571 
 Oratory, state of, during the 
 
 (Georgian era 781 
 
 Ormond, Duke of, arrival in 
 
 1708 605 
 
 Earl of 806 
 
 Earl of, death of 562 
 
 Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant 656 
 Earl of, viceroy in 1644. 520 
 Onnond's military career, 
 
 close of 638 
 
 O'Rielly. Alexander, in Spain 784 
 
 Orrery, Earl of 558 
 
 O'Ruarc, Tiernan, lord of 
 
 Breffin 182 
 
 O'Sullivan, Prince Charles' 
 
 General 625 
 
 Ortsian, first mention of. .... 6 
 Oasianic outbreak of 1760... 780 
 Ora,Battleof 119 
 
 P. 
 
 Pagans, earliest emigrants to 
 
 Argyle 24 
 
 Parliament of 1/>60 882 
 
 of 1569 894 
 
 of 1585 412 
 
 of 1G1.V15 470 
 
 of 1634.... 484 
 
 Of 103-'tl 487 
 
 MMi 
 
 Parliament of 1661 654 
 
 of 1689 57 
 
 of 1692 600 
 
 of 1695 601 
 
 of 1715 615 
 
 of 1769 689 
 
 of 1775 644 
 
 of 1775, dissolu non of . . 645 
 
 of 1781 653 
 
 of 1782 655 
 
 of 1788 660 
 
 of 1785 663 
 
 of 1789, dissolution of. . 663 
 
 of 1790 689 
 
 of 1796 683 
 
 of 1798, penalties and 
 
 proscription 780 
 
 of 1799 -great interest 
 
 and excitement. 782 
 
 of 1800 740 
 
 Imperial, of 1803-'4 766 
 
 of 1818 766 
 
 0/1828 798 
 
 of Kilkenny 268 
 
 Parliamentary reform, last ef- 
 fort for 684 
 
 Parties within "the Pale".. 289 
 Partholan, the double parri- 
 cide, leader of the first 
 immigration into Ire- 
 land S 
 
 Patrick, attempts to assas- 
 sinate 15 
 
 birth of 11 
 
 confronts the Pagan 
 
 princes 14 
 
 first Christian teacher.. 11 
 mission commenced 482 11 
 
 triumphs of 16 
 
 death of, in 498 17 
 
 Patriot party 621 
 
 Peel, Mr.. Secretaryship of . . 7M 
 Sir Robert, Chief Secre- 
 tary for Ireland, 181>. 765 
 
 Peep o* Day Boys 84* 
 
 Peerage, a new Anglo-Irish. 861 
 
 Penal code of race. 261 
 
 Penal code, reign of in Ire- 
 land 60S 
 
 Laws 471 
 
 against the Catholics . . . 601 
 Perceval, assassination of. . . 7tf4 
 Pen )tt, Sir John, adminis- 
 tration of 4Ii
 
 PAOI 
 
 Philip and Mary, events of 
 
 \he reigu of 376 
 
 Pitt administration, defeat of, 
 on Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion 747 
 
 death of, in February, 
 
 1806 757 
 
 Mr., returned to pov\cr, 
 
 1804 755 
 
 return to office in 1804.. 749 
 Piratical pursuits of the 
 
 Danes 58 
 
 Plain of Moynith, battle on. . 63 
 Plan of the Confederates 
 
 Insurrection of, 1641.. 494 
 
 Plantation of Muns4er 411 
 
 Plunkett, Archbishop, exe- 
 cution of. 560 
 
 elected for Trinity Col- 
 lege 764 
 
 eloquent exclamation of 734 
 enters the Imperial Par- 
 liament 755 
 
 eulogy of Grattan 756 
 
 Irish Attorney General. 789 
 Policy of non-intercourse re- 
 solved on in England. 260 
 
 Wolsey, instances of 342 
 
 Political incidents during the 
 
 reign of William 603 
 
 position of the Holy See. 772 
 Ponsouby, George, rejection 
 of. annual motion for 
 Parliamentary reform, 
 
 1794 678 
 
 last effort for Parliament- 
 ary reform 684 
 
 refusal of, to present ad- 
 dress to Lord Lieu- 
 tenant 639 
 
 remark of, on Catholic 
 Emancipation I3ill of 
 
 1813 769 
 
 reply of, to Castlereagh. 741 
 
 Pi-pish piOt, 641 
 
 Portland, Duke of, adminis 
 
 tration of 654 
 
 Portugal, Irish troops re^js 
 
 ed to be raised for 638 
 
 Poyning's Act, repeal of, 
 
 agitated <50 
 
 pariiamuut o23 
 
 Press, the, movement of, in 
 
 favor of free trade... . . 647 
 
 MM 
 
 Pretender, the young, inva- 
 sion of Scotland 321 
 
 Primogeniture, new prin- 
 ciple of 878 
 
 Prince John, arrival of, in 
 
 Ireland .. 19 
 
 Regent, O'Connell's at- 
 tack on . 771 
 
 promises and pledges of 
 in favor of Catholics . . 771 
 
 unpopularity of 775 
 
 Proceedings of Richard II. . 276 
 Protectorate, Ireland under 
 
 the 518 
 
 Protector, the, policy of, to- 
 wards Ireland 549 
 
 Protestant massacre, rumor 
 
 of 573 
 
 deputation to Charles I.. 520 
 reformation, arrest of.... 379 
 attempt to introduce.... 355 
 opposition of the clergy. 356 
 
 Parliament of 1541 359 
 
 Proctors excluded 856 
 
 restored under Elizabeth 382 
 state of the country .... 858 
 Provinces, the four ancient.. 7 
 Provisions, export of, em- 
 bargo on 645 
 
 Public Life of Flood, remain- 
 ing years of 660 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quern, or ancient flour mill.. 8 
 Quigley, Father James, ar- 
 rest of 700 
 
 Race, penal code of. 268 
 
 Rathfarnham, battle of 7ft 
 
 battle at 70S 
 
 Rat hn i i nes, battle of. 588 
 
 Rathmore, battles at, in 680 
 
 and 684 81 
 
 Raymond the Fat 175 
 
 Rebellion of 1798 Arklow, 
 
 repulse of. 714 
 
 of 1798 Bagnal Harvey, 
 
 surrender of. 71S 
 
 Castlebar, action at 728 
 
 Connaught, bold rising 
 in.., .... 7*
 
 690 
 
 Rebellion of 1798, Corn wallis, 
 
 arrival of 717 
 
 Cruelties in the Wexford 
 
 insurrection 717 
 
 executions for treason in 
 
 Wexford 707 
 
 final attack on Vinegar 
 
 Hill 715 
 
 first battle of the 702 
 
 French fleet, second dis- 
 persion of. 725 
 
 French frigates, arrival 
 
 of at KillallaBay 722 
 
 fugitives from Orange 
 oppression arrive in 
 
 Connaught 722 
 
 Harvey, Mr. Baguall.... 709 
 
 Kildare, rising in 719 
 
 Kilkenny, march upon.. 719 
 Leinster insurrection 
 
 trodden out 720 
 
 March upon Gorey 710 
 
 Meath, marching on. ... 719 
 Munster, no notable at- 
 tempt at insurrection.. 721 
 Napper Tandy and Gen- 
 
 eral Reay 724 
 
 New Ross, repulse at. . . 711 
 Newtownbarry, move- 
 ment against. 711 
 
 Parallel of the crimes 
 committed on both 
 
 sides 717 
 
 Provisional Government 
 established at Castle- 
 bar 728 
 
 Retreat of Humbert 724 
 
 Surrender of Humbert at 
 
 Balliuamuck. 724 
 
 Tone, arrest of 726 
 
 Tone, death of. 728 
 
 Ulster, rising iu 720 
 
 Vinegar Hill, encamp- 
 ment 710 
 
 Wcxford insurrection.. . 706 
 
 Wicklow, rising in 718 
 
 Kecall of Lord Fttzwilliam. . 683 
 Recall of Lord Westmoreland 
 
 iu 17U4 680 
 
 Red Earl, the, rise of. 282 
 
 Reformation, era of the 870 
 
 Bi*r>nn mov. -merit 659 
 
 Regency question, 1788 665 
 
 Reign of Charles 11 658 
 
 PAM 
 
 Reign of King WUliam.... 597 
 
 Relations of Ireland and Soot- 
 land 233 
 
 Relations of the Races in the 
 
 Fifteenth century 808 
 
 Relaxation of Commercial 
 
 restrictions 645 
 
 Religion and learning among 
 the Irish previous to 
 the Anglo-Norman in- 
 vasion 188 
 
 Religion and learning during 
 14th and 15th centu- 
 ries 83S 
 
 Religious subjugation of Ire- 
 land 551 
 
 Rescript of 1814, opposition 
 
 to 778 
 
 Resolutions limiting parlia- 
 ment to seven years. . 637 
 
 Restoration of Charles II. ... 558 
 
 Results of the first preach- 
 ing of Christianity. . . 16 
 
 Retrospect, 15411547 868 
 
 Retrospect of the Norman 
 period 220 
 
 Retrospect of the state of Re- 
 ligion and Learning 
 during the reign of 
 George III 777 
 
 Revenue questions between 
 
 England and Ireland.. 668 
 
 Revolt of American Colonies. 644 
 
 Revolutionary war 678 
 
 close of 597 
 
 Richard II. of England, first 
 expedition of, to Ire- 
 land. 278 
 
 proceedings of 276 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, adminis- 
 tration of 760 
 
 Righ (king), Ard-righ, (High 
 King) 5 
 
 Rinuccini, the new Nuncio. . 624 
 
 Rise of the Family of O'Con- 
 
 or 124 
 
 Rising in Connaught 244 
 
 Rivalry of Brian and Mai 
 
 achy, effects of 101 
 
 Robert Brnae in Ireland. . . . 247 
 
 Roderick O'Conor 181 
 
 Rowan, II uiiiltoii, ii:i[iti<jn- 
 
 HH'Ilt of 687 
 
 Roydaiuua, or chief successor 6
 
 UTDKS. 
 
 591 
 
 RAM 
 
 Bnpert, Prince 688 
 
 Hussell, of the United Irish- 
 men 686 
 
 Sir William, administra- 
 tion of 421 
 
 Thomas, execution of in 
 1804... . 752 
 
 Sacred Scriptures, first ver- 
 sion in Irish...., 462 
 
 Saiat Bridget 57 
 
 Saint Gerald, of Mayo 6 
 
 Saints, eminent Irish 45 
 
 Sarsfield, Earl of Lncan .... 591 
 Scotland, Highlands, conver- 
 sion or 23 
 
 Scoti, from Scota mother of 
 
 Milesius 8 
 
 School and Scholars of the 
 three first Christian 
 
 Centuries 40 
 
 School of Lismore, celebrated 30 
 Secession, threatened, of Mr. 
 
 Grattan 652 
 
 Second Campaign of Ear! 
 
 Richard 175 
 
 campaign Robert Bruce 242 
 expedition of Richard 
 against Art McMur- 
 
 rogh 283 
 
 " Geraldine League "... 896 
 period of Era of Indepen- 
 dence 663 
 
 reformation in 1827. .. 795 
 story of Ireland before it 
 
 became Christian .... 2 
 Secret organization of United 
 
 Irishmen, 1794 688 
 
 societies, opposition to. . 648 
 
 Septennial Bill 637 
 
 Shanasagh, reigned six years 
 
 in the seventh Century 30 
 Bhiol, educated at Stoney- 
 
 hurst 770 
 
 reply of to O'Connell, 
 
 1821 785 
 
 Richard Lalor, eloquence 770 
 Sidney, Sir Henry, adminis- 
 tration of. ." 691 
 
 Sir llenry, deputyship. . 391 
 
 Sir Henry, lord-deputy 381 
 
 Bi*ge of Athtone 686 
 
 MM 
 
 Siege of Derry 680 
 
 ofDublin U9 
 
 of Enniskillen 581 
 
 of Limerick 587 
 
 Silken Thomas, insurrection 34 1 
 Simnel and Warbrck, York- 
 ist pretenders SiO 
 
 Slane, battle of 81 
 
 Slaughter at Droghedd 540 
 
 Sligo, castle and town sacke-1 241 
 Social condition of the Irish 
 previous to the Anglo- 
 Norman Invasion 141 
 
 Spaniards, landing of, in the 
 
 South 445 
 
 Spanish Armada 416 
 
 Stage, the, during the Georg- 
 ian Era 781 
 
 State of the Country between 
 
 1760 and 1776 610 
 
 Irish and Anglo-Irish 
 the 14th and loth cen- 
 turies 327 
 
 Statute of Kilkenny, and 
 some of its conse- 
 quences 263 
 
 State of Religion and Learn- 
 ing during 14th and 
 
 15th centuries. 333 
 
 religion and learning 
 during the reign of 
 
 Elizabeth 457 
 
 religion and learning in 
 
 the 17th century 563 
 
 religion and learning 
 during the :eign of 
 
 George III 777 
 
 society and learning dur- 
 ing the Norman Period 227 
 St. Lger, Sir Anthony, lord- 
 deputy 854 
 
 Stone, Dr. George, Primate 
 
 of Ireland 8M 
 
 Stone of destiny S 
 
 St. Patrick, Knights of. ... 669 
 Stratford, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 484 
 
 impeachment of and exe- 
 cution 487 
 
 lord-deputy 484 
 
 Subdivision of Tribes and 
 
 Territories 29fl 
 
 Succession disputed in Scot- 
 laud... .. Ml
 
 IXDJU. 
 
 MM 
 
 Unlchoid, battle of 88 
 
 Superstitious incident at 
 
 Derry, 13th April, 182? 804 
 Surrey of "the whole King- 
 
 "dom 549 
 
 Sussex, Lord Deputy 881 
 
 Swamps and marshes, ex- 
 tent of. 2 
 
 iwift, antipathies to the cler- 
 
 gr 621 
 
 leadership 817 
 
 peculiarities of. 621 
 
 T. 
 
 Talbot, archbishop of Dub- 
 lin, arrest of 559 
 
 Sir John, administration 
 
 of 294 
 
 Tandy, Napper, of the United 
 
 Irishmen 687 
 
 Tara, battle near 84 
 
 chief seat of power 7 
 
 Tan 1st, or successor 5 
 
 Taxation, resistance of, by 
 
 Columbkill 27 
 
 Third era of Independence. . 670 
 Thirteenth century, events 
 
 of the 201 
 
 no conquest of the coun- 
 try in the 220 
 
 Thirty articles, the, publica- 
 tion of. 683 
 
 Thomond, Prince of, attempt 
 to restore 'the Monar- 
 chy 803 
 
 Three davs' battle on the 
 
 Liffey 66 
 
 Thurles, ba'ttle of. 184 
 
 Tithe question, 1788 695 
 
 Tone and Lewines, third ex- 
 pedition of, not con- 
 summated 695 
 
 Tone, Theobold Wulfe, arri- 
 val of, at Havre 690 
 
 death of, in 1798 726 
 
 new negotiations of. ... 698 
 sailing of the great ex- 
 pedition from Brest.. 691 
 rows and projects of. ... 689 
 
 Totness, Earl of 441 
 
 Touch ix. t, says Kildare .... 684 
 f ownnend, Lord, administra- 
 tion of 688 
 
 Trade questions between 
 England and Ireland, 
 
 1735 668 
 
 Traditions of Ireland 8 
 
 Treachery of Capt. Jobn W. 
 
 Armstrong 701 
 
 Treaty of Limerick 596 
 
 Treaty of 1649 587 
 
 Tribes and Territories, sub- 
 division of 298 
 
 Tuatha, d Danant. 8 
 
 Turgesius, death of C4 
 
 Tyrconnell, Earl of, adminis- 
 tration of 568 
 
 landing with a French 
 
 fleet 591 
 
 Tyrone, Earl of, at Dublin... 423 
 Earl of, early career of.. 418 
 John, Earl of, death of.. 494 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulster, ancient T 
 
 Ulster and Leinster, " the 
 
 undertakers " in 400 
 
 Ulster and Munster, opera- 
 tions in 441 
 
 Ulster confederacy formed. . 418 
 
 Ulster, confiscation of. 478 
 
 earldom of, extinction of 251 
 Undertakers, the, in Ulster 
 
 and Leinster 400 
 
 Uniformity, act ef 888 
 
 Union, an era of honor and 
 advancement to some 
 
 Irish families 749 
 
 final passage of resolu- 
 tions of 748 
 
 history after the 747 
 
 in the English Parlia- 
 
 liament 785 
 
 Legislative, of Great 
 
 Britain and Ireland.. 618 
 negotiations carried on 
 
 in favor of 781 
 
 of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land 741 
 
 of the crowns of Eng- 
 land and Ireland 841 
 
 resolutions passed in the 
 British Parliament. . . 741 
 
 speeches against 788 
 
 United Irishmen, atrocities 
 
 perpetrated upon. .... CM
 
 VVii 
 
 rum 
 .'*Bit4 Irishmen baffled and 
 
 dispersed 726 
 
 deprivation of the ser- 
 vices of Wolfe Tone, 
 1795 688 
 
 fate of the leading 726 
 
 Fitzgerald chosen com- 
 mander in chief 690 
 
 insurrectionary move- 
 ment of, in 1798 696 
 
 secret organization of, 
 in 1194 688 
 
 the 684 
 
 three great expeditions 
 fitted out by France 
 and Holland at the in- 
 stance of the 690 
 
 vast expansion of. .... 689 
 
 Universal Deluge 2 
 
 Uiquebagh, first mention of 
 
 its use 881 
 
 V. 
 
 Feto, approbation of, by 
 
 Quarrantotti 772 
 
 controversy in 1818 770 
 
 Tolunteer convention of 1788 660 
 
 convention of the. 658 
 
 of!778 647 
 
 the, and Free Trade.... 647 
 
 W 
 
 War of succession 114 
 
 |fUeley, Colonel, teller on 
 
 the Convention Act... 878 
 
 um 
 
 Wellesley, Marquis, adtniau- 
 
 tration of 78t 
 
 Sir Arthur, impartiality 
 
 of. 701 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, first 
 
 mention of. 678 
 
 Westmoreland, Earl of, ad 
 
 ministration of. 868 
 
 Lord, recall of, in 1794. 880 
 Wexford Insurrection, 1798. 705 
 Whig club, creation of, 1789 667 
 Whiskey (usquebagh), first 
 
 mention of its use .... R81 
 
 Whiteboys 842 
 
 Whit worth, Lord, admini 
 
 tration of 774 
 
 William and Mary proclaim 
 
 ed king and queen .... 574 
 losses before Limerick 
 
 and Athlone 589 
 
 Winter of 1690 '91 688 
 
 Witchcraft, charges o M .... 880 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal 143 
 
 Women, high estimation o. 128 
 Wooded state of the country S 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yellow Ford, battle of tit 
 
 consequences of the 
 
 battle o 180 
 
 plague in 664 81 
 
 York, Duke of, death of .... W 
 Duke of, memorable de- 
 claration of in 
 
 Yorkist pretenders, SUBMT 
 
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